20566 research outputs found
Sort by
Modeling U.S. Corn Production Archetypes in the Agricultural Policy/Environmental eXtender Model to Generate Life Cycle Assessment Inventory Data
No full textCorn (Zea mays) is an important crop grown across the US for many uses such as grain for animal feed, bio-ethanol production, food products, and industrial products. Corn is produced in almost every state in the US, but most corn production is concentrated in the Corn Belt Region including Iowa, Illinois, Ohio, Indiana, Minnesota, and Nebraska. Although technologies and production practices are improving corn production efficiency primarily through increased yields (improved land use), corn production at this scale greatly impacts the environment through emissions from fertilizer and pesticide runoff and leaching, soil degradation due to improper field practices, as well as greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions associated with pumping large amounts of water for irrigation. Since the 1990’s, LCA has become a valuable tool for providing an overall framework for quantifying sustainability characteristics of agricultural production and consumption patterns. Crop production simulation models such as APEX have been increasingly used to analyze the impact of agricultural management at the field and watershed-level. Average regional and state-level corn production practices vary. Existing models of corn production in the United States do not account for differences in soil type and climate condition. Because production practices vary across the US, a framework for this project was developed to differentiate between production practices and include climate (precipitation, minimum and maximum temperature) and soil type. This framework included modeling county-level corn production using the APEX model and integrating results from APEX and other data into the LCA models to assess environmental impacts, such as global warming potential. When used in combination with LCA, the crop production model provides LCI across a variety of production practices and regions, allowing us to estimate potential regional environmental impacts of crop production more accurately. The body of work discussed in this article is an overview of the modeling process for a much broader research project performing a Life Cycle Assessment of the production of corn in the United States (Thoma et al., 2018). The Agricultural Policy/Environmental eXtender (APEX) model was used to simulate 90% of the US corn production by using 73 different archetypical farm models from the top 15 corn producing states. We created lifecycle inventory data sets based on county-level survey data, state budgets, and model simulation data. We succeeded in calibrating 98% of our models to within our desired accuracy. During the calibration portion of this process, it was determined that the denitrification subprogram within APEX led to ammonia loss values that were higher than expected and nitrogen dioxide emissions that were lower than expected given the model inputs. The LCA developed from this modeling effort provides a basis for regional comparisons of corn production
Bilingual Program Implementation and Programming in the Midwestern and Southeastern United States: Lessons Learned for Application in Arkansas
No full textAs of 2025, the state of Arkansas has no state-approved bilingual or dual-language education programs, despite passing legislation in 2021 to allow for their creation. This literature review synthesizes findings from recent empirical studies conducted in the Midwestern and Southeastern United States—regions with demographic and policy contexts more similar to Arkansas than states with long-time bilingual programs. This literature review explores both beneficial and complicating factors in bilingual program implementation, addressing themes such as policy, leadership, stakeholder involvement, program design, and prevailing ideological mindsets, before summarizing lessons learned from these studies. The implications are clear: effective bilingual programming requires intentional, collective investment across classroom, district, and community levels. This literature review offers the start of a roadmap for educators, policymakers, and stakeholders seeking to translate legislative potential into equitable and sustainable educational practice, with the goal of improving outcomes for multilingual learners across the state
Rice Cultivar \u27Ozark\u27
No full textA rice cultivar designated ‘Ozark’ is disclosed herein. The present invention provides seeds, plants, and plant parts derived from rice cultivar Ozark. Further, it provides methods for producing a rice plant by crossing Ozark with itself or another rice variety. The invention also encompasses any rice seeds, plants, and plant parts produced by the methods disclosed herein, including those in which additional traits have been transferred into Ozark through the introduction of a transgene or by breeding Ozark with another rice cultivar
The Effects of Background Child-directed and Adult-directed Singing on Reading Comprehension Performance
No full textAlthough music features in speech, such as those found in child-directed speech and song, are known to enhance language processing, the underlying mechanism of this benefit remains unclear. Prior research has primarily compared verbal materials presented in a musical, child-directed style to those in a less musical, adult-directed style, leaving it uncertain whether the benefit stems from the music style of verbal presentation or mere exposure to musical features. This study examined whether the language benefits of child-directed input persist when it is presented as background auditory stimuli rather than the primary focus of cognitive tasks. Experiment 1 found that background child-directed songs in a familiar language, but not adult-directed songs, disrupted reading performance compared to silence. Experiment 2 found that this interference disappeared when child-directed song was in an unfamiliar language. Experiment 3 confirmed that the child-directed song used in Experiment 1 did not impair non-linguistic spatial reasoning performance. Together, these findings suggest that the widely reported language benefits of child-directed input do not result from passive exposure to musical features. Therefore, these benefits should require a musical, child-directed presentation of verbal material. Moreover, the effect appears to involve language-specific mechanisms activated only when the language is familiar and the task is language-based. Overall, these findings demonstrate that the language benefits of child-directed input are familiarity-based and language-specific, highlighting the importance of active linguistic processing rather than passive exposure to musical features. These insights are particularly valuable for supporting the cognitive and linguistic development of young adults
Assessment of Nitrogen Source Utilization During Nitrogen Fixation and Nitrogenase Regulation by Methanosarcina acetivorans
No full textNitrogen is a crucial element in biomolecules such as proteins and DNA, essential for all cellular life. Biological nitrogen fixation, a process utilized by certain bacteria and archaea, reduces dinitrogen (N₂) to ammonia (NH₃), enabling growth in the absence of fixed nitrogen sources like NH₃. This process is driven by the metalloenzyme nitrogenase, which catalyzes the reaction: N₂ + 16ATP + 8e⁻ + 8H⁺ → 2NH₃ + H₂ + 16ADP + 16Pi. Due to its high energy demand, nitrogenase production and activity are tightly regulated. Among archaea, nitrogenase is found exclusively in methanogens, where its regulation remains poorly understood. We employed Methanosarcina acetivorans as a model organism to investigate fixed nitrogen source utilization and nitrogenase regulation in methanogens. Using a mutant strain of M. acetivorans incapable of fixing N₂, we assessed the utilization of various nitrogen sources, including all 20 common amino acids and biologically relevant inorganic nitrogen compounds (e.g., nitrate). Surprisingly, only glutamine, trimethylamine (also a carbon source), and NH₃ supported the growth of the mutant strain, indicating a narrow range of fixed nitrogen source utilization in M. acetivorans. Notably, growth with glutamine as the sole nitrogen source was poor compared to NH₃. Further investigation using another mutant strain deficient in hydrogenase activity revealed H₂ production during growth with glutamine, suggesting functional nitrogenase activity despite the presence of glutamine as a fixed nitrogen source. Thus, in the absence of NH₃ or trimethylamine, M. acetivorans resorts to energy-intensive N₂ fixation, even when provided with a significant concentration of glutamine, a usable fixed nitrogen source and key intermediate in nitrogen assimilation. However, upon reexamining growth with glutamine as the sole nitrogen source, the results differed from initial observations. The previously noted poor growth was attributed to an inadequate glutamine concentration. Future studies will investigate how increased glutamine levels affect nitrogenase activity
Tokugawa Nationalism: The Decline of Chûgoku and the Restoration of Traditional Identity
No full textThis paper discusses the rise of Japanese nationalism as a response to Confucian centering around Chinese superiority and the rigidity of the Japanese class system
Cellulose Based Anti-viral Anti-microbial Spray Coating
No full textA cellulose based anti-viral/anti-microbial coating
Sustainable and profitable broiler nutrition
No full textThese proceedings accompany a presentation on optimizing protein nutrition of broilers while minimizing environmental impacts of nitrogen excretion. The continual advancement of muscle development in modern broilers requires constant alignment of amino acid needs. These proceedings outline the importance and progression of feed grade amino acid supplementation in broiler nutrition