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Cardiometabolic Benefits of a Non-industrialized-type Diet Are Linked to Gut Microbiome Modulation
No full textIndustrialization adversely affects the gut microbiome and predisposes individuals to chronic non-communicable diseases. We tested a microbiome restoration strategy comprising a diet that recapitulated key characteristics of non-industrialized dietary patterns (restore diet) and a bacterium rarely found in industrialized microbiomes (Limosilactobacillus reuteri) in a randomized controlled feeding trial in healthy Canadian adults. The restore diet, despite reducing gut microbiome diversity, enhanced the persistence of L. reuteri strain from rural Papua New Guinea (PB-W1) and redressed several microbiome features altered by industrialization. The diet also beneficially altered microbiota-derived plasma metabolites implicated in the etiology of chronic non-communicable diseases. Considerable cardiometabolic benefits were observed independently of L. reuteri administration, several of which could be accurately predicted by baseline and diet-responsive microbiome features. The findings suggest that a dietary intervention targeted toward restoring the gut microbiome can improve host-microbiome interactions that likely underpin chronic pathologies, which can guide dietary recommendations and the development of therapeutic and nutritional strategies
Tax Compliance, Social Norms, and Influencers
No full textWhile attaining perfect tax compliance is unachievable, more can and must be done. In the past, the country has relied primarily on a traditional system of sticks (e.g., audits and penalties) and carrots (e.g., refunds and whistleblower awards) to help narrow the “tax gap,” or the difference between what taxpayers owe in taxes and what they actually pay. Now, in the social media era, Congress and the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) should look beyond these traditional enforcement mechanisms. To achieve an even higher voluntary compliance rate, this Article advocates for policymakers to invest greater resources to enhance the social norm related to tax compliance. While scholars have long suggested that social norms play a role in tax compliance, this Article suggests a revolutionary approach, one that attempts to foster a social norm of compliance by employing the use of social media influencers.
The internet and other electronic media have revolutionized and amplified the stunning impact that influencers can have. Virtually everyone, particularly the younger generation, is keenly aware of the dramatic impact that influencers can have in shaping social norms. Thus, now is the time for Congress and the IRS to capitalize on this power by strategically employing social media influencers. A well-crafted influencer campaign could educate taxpayers on how to fulfill their tax obligations, remind taxpayers of the laudatory impact of the tax system, and foster a positive social norm of compliance. Such a change in compliance orientation could help policymakers narrow the tax gap, yielding billions of dollars of additional tax revenue without the need to raise tax rates.
I. Introduction
II. Traditional Tax Compliance Methods ... A. Sticks ... 1. Civil and Criminal Penalties ... 2. Recordkeeping Requirements ... 3. Audit Threats ... B. Carrots ... 1. Tax Refunds ... 2. Safe Harbors ... 3. Whistleblower Awards
III. The Role of Social Norms in Tax Compliance Behavior ... A. Social Norms as a Deterrent: Shaming ... B. Using Social Norms to Encourage Tax Compliance
IV. Influencers ... A. The Emergence of Influencers ... B. Influencers and Their Ability to Shape Social Norms ... C. Use of Influencers to Shape Behavior ... D. Summary of Factors for Successful Influencer Campaigns
V. Deployment of Influencers to Enhance Tax Compliance ... A. The Role of Influencers in Narrowing the Nation’s Tax Gap ... 1. Launching Regular Influencers’ Tax Compliance Campaigns ... a. The Message ... b. The Target Audience ... c. The Influencers ... 2. Measuring and Analyzing the Results of These Campaigns ... a. National Attitude Surveys Regarding Tax Compliance ... b. Tax Gap Studies ... B. Challenges in Using Influencers
VI. Conclusio
The Earliest University of Nebraska Graduate Degrees, 1886-1909
No full textThis list of the earliest graduate degrees awarded by the University of Nebraska (NU) in Lincoln was assembled to learn about the university’s research activity that preceded its admission to the prestigious Association of American Universities (AAU) in 1909
\u3cem\u3eThe Bone Lady\u3c/em\u3e: \u3cem\u3eLife as a Forensic Anthropologist\u3c/em\u3e: Book Review
No full textReview of The Bone Lady: Life as a Forensic Anthropologist (2000) by M. H. Manhein
Effectiveness of Academic Library Research Guides for Building College Students’ Information Literacy Skills: A Scoping Review
Full text linkAcademic library research guides, ubiquitous tools for teaching information literacy, lack robust evidence for their effectiveness. This scoping review considered 1,724 publications, ultimately reporting on findings from 61 studies meeting inclusion criteria. Studies reviewed were highly individualized and primarily exploratory and correlational, with most using mixed methods designs analyzing data from student surveys and web traffic sources. Most studies focused on student satisfaction or guide usability as indicators of learning effectiveness, with few assessments of skills acquisition. We undertook this scoping review to assist practitioners in developing more impactful learning tools and practices as they create and assess guides
Annual Forage Insurance as a Risk Management Tool
No full textPlanting annual forages can be a smart way to supplement feed for livestock whether through grazing, hay, or silage. However, unpredictable rainfall often puts forage production at risk. To help producers manage that uncertainty, the Annual Forage (AF) Insurance Program provides protection tied directly to precipitation during key growth periods.
Annual Forage insurance is designed specifically for crops planted annually and used as livestock feed. It works much like Pasture, Rangeland, and Forage (PRF) insurance, using a rainfall index instead of individual farm yield data. This means indemnity payments are triggered by rainfall amounts measured within a producer’s grid, not by actual harvested production
Up in Smoke: How Recent Court Rulings Have Torched Big Tech’s Litigation Strategy and Why it Matters
No full textAs the title of this paper suggests, there are parallels between what happened to Big Tobacco and what could happen to Big Tech should its litigation strategy fail. Big Tech, like Big Tobacco before it, could stand to lose billions of dollars in judgments and settlements. More importantly, regulations—if allowed to take root—could upend Big Tech’s platform business model. Either outcome, or both, could fundamentally rewrite the relationship between Big Tech and its users. If Big Tech’s litigation strategy truly goes up in smoke, these colossal corporations could find themselves in a magnificent mess
Introduction to \u3ci\u3eRoots of Justice: A History of Race and Racism in Nebraska\u3c/i\u3e
No full textNebraska has made racism a way of life through most of its history. It is still the way of life for many. In 2020, a Nebraska columnist wrote the following about Nebraska: “[T]he issues stemming from racism can seem like foreign concepts, confined to the larger cities (or the American South) and relics of a distant past.”2 The column goes on to show that these issues were not confined to large cities or to the South; they rested on our back door in Nebraska. Yet, one often heard back as far as one could remember that Nebraska is not and was never a racist state. The chapters in this study do not allow this perception to stand.
Nebraska’s land was stolen from the Native American nations that preceded the United States. In 1879, a federal court had to tell Nebraska that a Nebraska Native American, Standing Bear, was a person in the “full meaning of the law.”3 Less than seventy years ago a person of color and a white person did not have the right to marry one another under Nebraska law.4 Until the 1960s, federal housing rules applied in Nebraska with respect to lending practices did not allow financial institutions to lend to people of color who were mostly Blacks who wished to buy a house in most neighborhoods in Nebraska.5 The state accepted the situation; hence perpetuating segregated housing in many of its cities and towns. Three Blacks and two Hispanics during the late 1800s and early 1900s were among the fifty-seven total lynchings accounted for in Nebraska.6 Hispanic people worked “to the bone” in the fields of Nebraska without serious governmental labor protections until the mid-twentieth century.
Frontmatter and Foreword to \u3cem\u3eRoots of Justice\u3c/em\u3e: \u3cem\u3eA History of Race and Racism in Nebraska\u3c/em\u3e
No full textCovers, Table of Contents, and Foreword:
There is much to understand about the history of Nebraska and how the past shapes the present. This book attempts to bring into clearer focus the triumphs and trials of five broad groups whose lives have often been overlooked when the state’s history is told. The authors know some of this history of racism firsthand: Most of them have lived as people of color in Nebraska. They’ve experienced “the good, the bad and the ugly” that makes up our state story. We encourage educators, scholars and family historians to continue to dig, to document and to tell these stories. And then to ask: How can we best acknowledge the racism that is part of our history? How might Nebraskans remedy the wrongs of the past and create a future in which racism is no longer a divisive issue? Can we imagine a culture in which differences and stereotypes do not rule the future for our children and grandchildren? How is it possible for all Nebraskans, through what organizations and institutions, to work for the common good in Nebraska? May this history compel us all to imagine a better future – and then to take action to make it happen
Notes on Reproduction, Seasonality, and Roost Sites for Silver-haired Bats (\u3ci\u3eLasionycteris noctivagans\u3c/i\u3e) in Western Nebraska
No full textSilver-haired Bats (Lasionycteris noctivagans) are a migratory species found throughout the United States, southern Canada, and northern Mexico. Throughout their range, Silver-haired Bats roost in various tree species, generally within decaying features like cavities and exfoliated bark. Herein we report on additional reproductive and seasonal data as well as the first data on trees used as roost sites by Silver-haired Bats in Nebraska. We captured individuals along a small tributary of the North Platte River at Ash Hollow State Historical Park, Garden County, Nebraska, and tracked bats to their roosts. At this location, we documented lactation on 17 June 2023 and volant young on 18 July 2024. Our dates of reproductive activity were within the known timing for lactation and volant young reported in Nebraska and Iowa. On 4 May 2024, one Silver-haired Bat was opportunistically observed roosting inside a building, which was the third earliest record for the species in the state. On 28 May 2024, we captured 2 adult males and 4 adult females and tracked 1 male and 2 females in subsequent days to 8 total roosts, all located in Eastern Cottonwood (Populus deltoides) trees. Roosts appeared to be in cavities or exfoliated bark on decaying portions of trees in areas with an open understory below roosts. Roost trees had significantly larger DBHs and heights compared to reference trees, with all other metrics not significantly different. Use of only Eastern Cottonwoods might be related to their overall abundance and large size at the site, and this tree species also commonly cavitates under stressful conditions creating potential roosts. To conserve roosting habitats for Silver-haired Bats in the Great Plains, large, tall Eastern Cottonwoods should be maintained and preserved along riparian corridors, especially in areas where females are known to bear and raise young