Yield Response of ‘Whatley-Loretan’ Sweetpotato (Ipomoea Batatas (L.)) Transplanted in Single And Double Row at Different Dates in A Wiregrass Tunnel House

A split-plot study was conducted to evaluate the yield response of ‘Whatley-Loretan’ sweetpotato when planted in single and double rows at four planting dates (March, April, May, and June) in a Wiregrass Tunnel House located at S&B Farm in Eufaula, Alabama. The main plots consisted of planting dates, sub-plots single, and double rows, with each treatment combination, replicated three times. The results showed a significant linear and quadratic effect for US#1 grade of sweetpotato and total marketable yields. Yields were highest at the first and second planting dates and declined at the two later planting dates. Single vs. double row planting significantly affected canner grade of sweetpotatoes, while the other grades were unaffected

The Effect of A Fifty Percent Leaf Harvest From Three Varieties of Collards (Brassica Oleracea(L)/Cultivar Group Acephala) Cropped at Selected Intervals When Grown in A Wiregrass Tunnel House

A study was conducted to determine the effects of a 50% leaf harvest from ‘Heirloom’, ‘Georgia’, and ‘Hi-Crop Hybrid’ collards on yield, when leaves were removed at 18-, 21-, and 25- day intervals, over four harvest periods of 102, 127, 152, and 177 days after transplanting in a Wiregrass Tunnel House. The experimental design used was a split-split plot with three replications, where harvest periods were main plots, cropping intervals (3) were sub-plots, and varieties were sub-sub-plots. Yield data (lbs./acre) showed significant interactions between harvest periods x cropping intervals for leaf numbers and yield, harvest periods x varieties, and cropping intervals x varieties. The 18-day cropping interval had the highest yields over all harvest periods; while varieties responded differently for each harvest period, and cropping intervals. ‘Hi-Crop Hybrid’ had the highest yield over all harvest periods and cropping intervals, followed by ‘Georgia ‘and ‘Heirloom.

Advancements in Wind Integration Study Data Modeling: The Wind Integration National Dataset (WIND) Toolkit; Preprint

Regional wind integration studies in the United States require detailed wind power output data at many locations to perform simulations of how the power system will operate under high-penetration scenarios. The wind data sets that serve as inputs into the study must realistically reflect the ramping characteristics, spatial and temporal correlations, and capacity factors of the simulated wind plants, as well as be time synchronized with available load profiles. The Wind Integration National Dataset (WIND) Toolkit described in this paper fulfills these requirements. A wind resource dataset, wind power production time series, and simulated forecasts from a numerical weather prediction model run on a nationwide 2-km grid at 5-min resolution will be made publicly available for more than 110,000 onshore and offshore wind power production sites

Duty, desire or indifference? A qualitative study of patient decisions about recruitment to an epilepsy treatment trial

BACKGROUND: Epilepsy is a common neurological condition, in which drugs are the mainstay of treatment and drugs trials are commonplace. Understanding why patients might or might not opt to participate in epilepsy drug trials is therefore of some importance, particularly at a time of rapid drug development and testing; and the findings may also have wider applicability. This study examined the role of patient perceptions in the decision-making process about recruitment to an RCT (the SANAD Trial) that compared different antiepileptic drug treatments for the management of new-onset seizures and epilepsy. METHODS: In-depth interviews with 23 patients recruited from four study centres. All interviews were tape-recorded and transcribed; the transcripts were analysed thematically using a qualitative data analysis package. RESULTS: Of the nineteen informants who agreed to participate in SANAD, none agreed for purely altruistic reasons. The four informants who declined all did so for very specific reasons of self-interest. Informants' perceptions of the nature of the trial, of the drugs subject to trial, and of their own involvement were all highly influential in their decision-making. Informants either perceived the trial as potentially beneficial or unlikely to be harmful, and so agreed to participate; or as potentially harmful or unlikely to be beneficial and so declined to participate. CONCLUSION: Most patients applied 'weak altruism', while maintaining self-interest. An emphasis on the safety and equivalence of treatments allowed some patients to be indifferent to the question of involvement. There was evidence that some participants were subject to 'therapeutic misconceptions'. The findings highlight the individual nature of trials but nonetheless raise some generic issues in relation to their design and conduct

Explanatory pluralism in the medical sciences: theory and practice

Explanatory pluralism is the view that the best form and level of explanation depends on the kind of question one seeks to answer by the explanation, and that in order to answer all questions in the best way possible, we need more than one form and level of explanation. In the first part of this article, we argue that explanatory pluralism holds for the medical sciences, at least in theory. However, in the second part of the article we show that medical research and practice is actually not fully and truly explanatory pluralist yet. Although the literature demonstrates a slowly growing interest in non-reductive explanations in medicine, the dominant approach in medicine is still methodologically reductionist. This implies that non-reductive explanations often do not get the attention they deserve. We argue that the field of medicine could benefit greatly by reconsidering its reductive tendencies and becoming fully and truly explanatory pluralist. Nonetheless, trying to achieve the right balance in the search for and application of reductive and non-reductive explanations will in any case be a difficult exercise

Exploring the development of a cultural care framework for European caring science

The aim of this paper is to discuss the development of a cultural care framework that seeks to inform and embrace the philosophical ideals of caring science. Following a review of the literature that identified a lack of evidence of an explicit relationship between caring science and cultural care, a number of well-established transcultural care frameworks were reviewed. Our purpose was to select one that would resonate with underpinning philosophical values of caring science and that drew on criteria generated by the European Academy of Caring Science members. A modified framework based on the work of Giger and Davidhizar was developed as it embraced many of the values such as humanism that are core to caring science practice. The proposed caring science framework integrates determinants of cultural lifeworld-led care and seeks to provide clear directions for humanizing the care of individuals. The framework is offered to open up debate and act as a platform for further academic enquiry