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2012

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Information Extraction From Text, Jing Jiang Jan 2012

Information Extraction From Text, Jing Jiang

Research Collection School Of Computing and Information Systems

Information extraction is the task of finding structured information from unstructured or semi-structured text. It is an important task in text mining and has been extensively studied in various research communities including natural language processing, information retrieval and Web mining. It has a wide range of applications in domains such as biomedical literature mining and business intelligence. Two fundamental tasks of information extraction are named entity recognition and relation extraction. The former refers to finding names of entities such as people, organizations and locations. The latter refers to finding the semantic relations such as FounderOf and HeadquarteredIn between entities. In …

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Effect Of Solar Disinfestation And Purdue Improved Crop Storage Bagging The Control Of Prostephanus Truncatus Horn In Maize, Anastasia Wanjiru Njoroge Jan 2012

Effect Of Solar Disinfestation And Purdue Improved Crop Storage Bagging The Control Of Prostephanus Truncatus Horn In Maize, Anastasia Wanjiru Njoroge

All Master’s Theses

This work demonstrates how an integrated approach can be used for controlling Larger Grain Borer (Prostephanus truncatus) in maize (Zea mays L.) using solar disinfestation followed by hermetic storage in Purdue Improved Crop Storage (PICS) bags. PICS bags work by sealing grains in an airtight environment for long-term pest-free storage. In order to provide safe food with no inputs of chemical pesticides, the combination of solar disinfestation and the PICS bagging is likely to be a promising integrated approach for controlling P. truncatus. The first experiment of this work was the heat disinfestation experiment. The aim of this experiment was …

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Identification Of Kairomones Mediating Interactions Of The Malaria Vector Anopheles Gambiae With Its Host Plants, Vincent Odhiambo Nyasembe Jan 2012

Identification Of Kairomones Mediating Interactions Of The Malaria Vector Anopheles Gambiae With Its Host Plants, Vincent Odhiambo Nyasembe

All Master’s Theses

Malaria remains a major health problem in africa, with anopheles gambiae giles as the principle vector. Plant nectar feeding forms an integral part of the vectorial capacity of this mosquito species, yet paucity of information on the nature of this behaviour persists. While it is recognized that olfactory cues play an important role in mediating orientation and attraction of mosquitoes to host plants as sources of sugar, little effort has been made to identify the kairomones involved in this behaviour. This study sought to investigate the effect of plasmodium falciparum welch infection on the mosquitoes-plant interactions and to identify kairomones …

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Research And Development Of A Weighted Most Recent Common Ancester Algorithm For Metagenomic Taxonomic Assignment, Hellen Butungi Jan 2012

Research And Development Of A Weighted Most Recent Common Ancester Algorithm For Metagenomic Taxonomic Assignment, Hellen Butungi

All Master’s Theses

The new generation of metagenomics has gained tremendous popularity in recent years. This has been majorly due to rapid advances in DNA sequencing technology, which has produced large amounts of sequence data in relatively shorter times, compared to conventional DNA sequencing methods. There is a need to taxonomically characterise these data by assigning individual sequence reads to their constituent taxa. However, there is lack of up-to-date and customized software tools to accomplish this task, and for taxonomic characterisation, an automated taxonomic classification scheme is necessary. The overall objective of this study was to improve the accuracy of the most recent …

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Mass Spectrometric Studies Of Sterol Metabolites To Elucidate The Biosynthetic Pathway Of Ecdysone In The Desert Locust Schistocerca Gregaria, Xavier Cheseto Jan 2012

Mass Spectrometric Studies Of Sterol Metabolites To Elucidate The Biosynthetic Pathway Of Ecdysone In The Desert Locust Schistocerca Gregaria, Xavier Cheseto

All Master’s Theses

Ecdysone is a prohormone for 20-hydroxyecdysone, in locusts it is biosynthesized in the prothoracic gland where dietary sterol, in particular cholesterol is sequestered from circulating hemolymph and converted into ecdysone or closely related ecdysteroids via two proposed synthetic pathways. The objective of this work was to a) identify by coupled gas chromatography-mass spectrometry sterols and their trimethylsilyl derivatives present in wheat seedlings, oral secretion, gut, frass, hemolymph, fat bodies and prothoracic glands of the desert locust after feeding on wheat plant, b) propose a pathway for biosynthesis of ecdysone in the locust based on the results. Sterols were identified by …

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A Note On India’S Attempt To Reconcile Diversity And Intellectual Property Issues, Srividhya Ragavan Jan 2012

A Note On India’S Attempt To Reconcile Diversity And Intellectual Property Issues, Srividhya Ragavan

Faculty Scholarship

For developing countries, the concept of diversity holds great promises not least because of the protection it promises for the fast depleting natural resources leading to catastrophic effect on the environment. The concept of diversity also holds great promises from a trade perspective. In reality, appropriate protection of diversity can be the solution to balance the effects of the trade regime to achieve sustainable development. The term sustainable development, as opposed to rapid pockets of development, embodies great promises for the socio-political framework in poorer nations, apart from the obvious benefit of sustainability. In fact, sustainable development, if it ensues, …

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Fabrication And Mechanical Properties Of Chitosan Composite Membrane Containing Hydroxyapatite Particles, Hr Le, S Qu, Re Mackay, R Rothwell Jan 2012

Fabrication And Mechanical Properties Of Chitosan Composite Membrane Containing Hydroxyapatite Particles, Hr Le, S Qu, Re Mackay, R Rothwell

School of Biological and Marine Sciences

This paper described the development of chitosan composites containing precipitated hydroxyapatite particles for potential applications in orthopaedic surgery or waste water treatment. The synthetic process and morphology of hydroxyapatite were reported. The effects of hydroxyapatite content on the microstructure and mechanical properties of composites were investigated. It was found that the Young’s Modulus of the composites decreases with hydroxyapatite content while the failure strength and strain increase with the hydroxyapatite content.

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Development Of Capillary Electrophoresis For The Analysis Of Phenolics And Glucoraphanin In Brassica Oleracea, Iris Lee Jan 2012

Development Of Capillary Electrophoresis For The Analysis Of Phenolics And Glucoraphanin In Brassica Oleracea, Iris Lee

Theses: Doctorates and Masters

Capillary electrophoresis (CE) has been used increasingly more over the last decade in the area of food analysis. Numerous food products and food components have been analysed using this technique because of its high efficiency and short separation times. However, the inherent lack of detection sensitivity in CE combined with the complex matrices present in many food samples, especially those of plant origins, is one of the contributing factors to the limited development on CE in this particular area of food analysis. In this project, the potential of CE as a tool in the analysis of vegetables belonging to the …

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The Impact Of Black Swan (Cygnus Atratus) Grazing On The Seagrass Halophila Ovalis In The Lower Swan River Estuary, Gary Choney Jan 2012

The Impact Of Black Swan (Cygnus Atratus) Grazing On The Seagrass Halophila Ovalis In The Lower Swan River Estuary, Gary Choney

Theses: Doctorates and Masters

Grazing is an important ecosystem process, influencing community structure and rates of ecosystem processes. Although grazing on seagrasses is generally considered to be minor in many temperate regions of the world, waterfowl are often considered significant grazers in temperate lagoons and estuaries. This study examined spatial and temporal variation in swan abundance, grazing pressure and the impact grazing has on seagrass. Little is known on how grazing rates vary on larger water bodies in the southern hemisphere at different times of year and whether temporal changes in grazing rates affect the ability of seagrasses to tolerate grazing. The plant response …

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The Gendered Body In Virtual Space : Sexuality, Performance And Play In Four Second Life Spaces, Judith Elund Jan 2012

The Gendered Body In Virtual Space : Sexuality, Performance And Play In Four Second Life Spaces, Judith Elund

Theses: Doctorates and Masters

This work is principally an investigation into visual and screen culture, using four specific regions of the three-dimensional virtual world of ‘Second Life’ as case studies. The analysis follows a thematic application of discourse analysis as a basis for critiquing Western screen culture, most importantly the cultural and social conditions that replicate dominant paradigms of power and agency. Of particular pertinence to this study are the framing, representational and spatial practices of gendered and sexual identities within ‘Second Life’ spaces. As is typical of the internet, sexual freedom is a given, yet representational performance (how one appears through their embodied …

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Deconstructing Sex: An In-Depth, Qualitative Exploration Of Women’S Sexual Experiences And Difficulties, Madalena Grobbelaar Jan 2012

Deconstructing Sex: An In-Depth, Qualitative Exploration Of Women’S Sexual Experiences And Difficulties, Madalena Grobbelaar

Theses: Doctorates and Masters

Epidemiological research on sexual difficulties in women has reported high rates of sexual problems and dissatisfaction across the lifespan. Nevertheless, feminist scholars and social science researchers argue that an absence of research exploring women’s subjective interpretations of their sexuality and sexual difficulties exists, since prevalence studies do not address how the range of diverse socio-cultural, relational, biological and psychological processes interact to influence women’s sexuality across the lifespan. The current study aimed to narrow this research dearth by presenting an in-depth, qualitative exploration of heterosexual women’s accounts of their sexual experiences and their perceived sexuality. A phenomenological approach was utilised …

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An Exploration Of The Experience And Social Construction Of Ageing: Perspectives From Older Adults In A Healthy Ageing Program And Those From Western Australian And Welsh Communities, Sasha A. Stumpers Jan 2012

An Exploration Of The Experience And Social Construction Of Ageing: Perspectives From Older Adults In A Healthy Ageing Program And Those From Western Australian And Welsh Communities, Sasha A. Stumpers

Theses: Doctorates and Masters

In recent years, a strong focus has emerged towards developing and implementing guidelines, policies, governmental strategies and research agendas that best support a growing ageing population (United Nations, 1983, 1990, 1991, 1999, 2001, 2002, 2012; United Nations Programme on Ageing/International Association of Gerontology and Geriatrics, 2007; United Nations/Department of Economic and Social Affairs, 2008; World Health Organization, 2002, 2004a). Locally in Western Australia (WA), nationally and internationally, this attention has culminated in a focus on promoting the notion of “healthy ageing” (Commonwealth of Australia, 1999; Commonwealth States and Territories, 2000; Office for Seniors Interests and Volunteering, 2006; U.S. Department of …

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Estimating The Heritability Of Reporting Stressful Life Events Captured By Common Genetic Variants, J. P. Rice, Et Al Jan 2012

Estimating The Heritability Of Reporting Stressful Life Events Captured By Common Genetic Variants, J. P. Rice, Et Al

Open Access Publications

No abstract provided.

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Human Cytomegalovirus Pul29/28 And Pul38 Repression Of P53-Regulated P21cip1 And Caspase 1 Promoters During Infection, John P. Savaryn, Justin M. Reitsma, Tarin M. Bigley, Brian D. Halligan, Zhikang Xian, Dong Yu, Scott S. Terhune Jan 2012

Human Cytomegalovirus Pul29/28 And Pul38 Repression Of P53-Regulated P21cip1 And Caspase 1 Promoters During Infection, John P. Savaryn, Justin M. Reitsma, Tarin M. Bigley, Brian D. Halligan, Zhikang Xian, Dong Yu, Scott S. Terhune

Open Access Publications

No abstract provided.

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Differential Replication Of Pathogenic And Nonpathogenic Strains Of West Nile Virus Within Astrocytes, Katherine L. Hussmann, Melanie A. Samuel, Kwang S. Kim, Michael S. Diamond, Brenda L. Fredericksen Jan 2012

Differential Replication Of Pathogenic And Nonpathogenic Strains Of West Nile Virus Within Astrocytes, Katherine L. Hussmann, Melanie A. Samuel, Kwang S. Kim, Michael S. Diamond, Brenda L. Fredericksen

Open Access Publications

No abstract provided.

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No Evidence Of Xenotropic Murine Leukemia Virus-Related Virus Transmission By Blood Transfusion From Infected Rhesus Macaques, Dhanya K. Williams, Teresa A. Galvin, Yamei Gao, Christina O'Neill, Dustin Glasner, Arifa S. Khan Jan 2012

No Evidence Of Xenotropic Murine Leukemia Virus-Related Virus Transmission By Blood Transfusion From Infected Rhesus Macaques, Dhanya K. Williams, Teresa A. Galvin, Yamei Gao, Christina O'Neill, Dustin Glasner, Arifa S. Khan

Open Access Publications

No abstract provided.

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Current Perspectives On Skeletal Health And Cancer Progression Across The Disease Continuum In Breast Cancer—The Role Of Bisphosphonates, R. Aft Jan 2012

Current Perspectives On Skeletal Health And Cancer Progression Across The Disease Continuum In Breast Cancer—The Role Of Bisphosphonates, R. Aft

Open Access Publications

No abstract provided.

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Essential Cell-Autonomous Role For Interferon (Ifn) Regulatory Factor 1 In Ifn-Γ-Mediated Inhibition Of Norovirus Replication In Macrophages, Nicole S. Maloney, Larissa B. Thackray, Gautam Goel, Seungmin Hwang, Erning Duan, Punit Vachharajani, Ramnik Xavier, Herbert W. Virgin Jan 2012

Essential Cell-Autonomous Role For Interferon (Ifn) Regulatory Factor 1 In Ifn-Γ-Mediated Inhibition Of Norovirus Replication In Macrophages, Nicole S. Maloney, Larissa B. Thackray, Gautam Goel, Seungmin Hwang, Erning Duan, Punit Vachharajani, Ramnik Xavier, Herbert W. Virgin

Open Access Publications

No abstract provided.

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Induction Of Alternatively Activated Macrophages Enhances Pathogenesis During Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus Infection, Carly Page, Lindsay Golcohea, Krystal Matthews, Yong Zhang, Peter Klover, Michael J. Holtzman, Lothar Hennighausen, Matthew Frieman Jan 2012

Induction Of Alternatively Activated Macrophages Enhances Pathogenesis During Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus Infection, Carly Page, Lindsay Golcohea, Krystal Matthews, Yong Zhang, Peter Klover, Michael J. Holtzman, Lothar Hennighausen, Matthew Frieman

Open Access Publications

No abstract provided.

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The Measure Of A Mac: A Quasi-Experimental Protocol For Tokenizing Force Majeure Clauses In M&A Agreements, Eric L. Talley, Drew O'Kane Jan 2012

The Measure Of A Mac: A Quasi-Experimental Protocol For Tokenizing Force Majeure Clauses In M&A; Agreements, Eric L. Talley, Drew O'Kane

Faculty Scholarship

This paper develops a protocol for using a familiar data set on force majeure provisions in corporate acquisitions agreements to tokenize and calibrate a machine-learning algorithm of textual analysis. Our protocol, built on regular expression (RE) and latent semantic analysis (LSA) approaches, serves to replicate, correct, and extend the hand-coded data. Our preliminary results indicate that both approaches perform well, though a hybridized approach improves predictive power further. Monte Carlo simulations suggest that our results are generally robust to out-of-sample predictions. We conclude that similar approaches could be used more broadly in empirical legal scholarship, especially including in business law.

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Fantasies And Illusions: On Liberty, Order, And Free Market, Bernard E. Harcourt Jan 2012

Fantasies And Illusions: On Liberty, Order, And Free Market, Bernard E. Harcourt

Faculty Scholarship

Critical thinkers have used various terms to describe the collective imaginary that has real effects on individuals, society, and politics. Freud used the term “einer Illusion” to characterize religious belief in his work, The Future of an Illusion, though many others in the psychoanalytic tradition would turn to the notion of fantasy. Marx sometimes used the term illusion and he notoriously deployed the optical illusion and the phantasmagoria in his famous discussion of commodity fetishism. (And Marx, of course, is the father of Ideologiekritic). Foucault at times used the language of fantasy and phantasms, in an early period deployed the …

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Optimization Of Conditions For Vitrification Of Aqueous Solutions Of Relevance To Cryobiology, Michael J. Baker Jan 2012

Optimization Of Conditions For Vitrification Of Aqueous Solutions Of Relevance To Cryobiology, Michael J. Baker

EWU Masters Thesis Collection

"Cryopreservation is a technology with wide ranging applications including helping to prevent specis extinction (Hopkins and Herr, 2010). However, the current applicability of cryopreservation protocols is limited. This limitation warranted experimentation that could contribute to the optimization of current protocols for cryopreservation. The experiments presented herein were designed to contribute to the plunge-cooling method of cryopreservation. The importance for further development of current plunge-cooling methods is for the cryopreservation of cell-types sensitive to the other method of cryopreservation, slow-equilibrium freezing. The purpose for plunge-cooling is to cool a sample from ambient temperature to liquid nitrogen temperature at a fast rate. …

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Reassessing The Cultural Distance Between China And The United States As Perceived By Students From The Sino-American 1+2+1 Dual Degree Program, Cynthia Letts Jan 2012

Reassessing The Cultural Distance Between China And The United States As Perceived By Students From The Sino-American 1+2+1 Dual Degree Program, Cynthia Letts

EWU Masters Thesis Collection

"As a result of the exponential growth of international commerce and academic exchange between Mainland China and the United States, this thesis examines the present-day validity of those Chinese and American cultural characteristics, such as practices and values, historically understood as defining cultural differences. Using Babiker's Cultural Distance Index (Babiker, Cox, & Miller, 1980) questionnaire (an institutionally established instrument since 1980), 45 Mainland Chinese student-sojourners conveyed their perceptions of cultural differences found in daily living. Chinese participants identified many cultural attributes that still affect the migrant's perceptions of difference. These attributes are language, food, education costs, and leisure activities. Participants …

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Climate Change At The Pleistocene-Holocene Boundary In The Pacific Northwest: A Comparison Of Proxy Datasets And The Archaeologicial Record, Tiffany J. Fulkerson Jan 2012

Climate Change At The Pleistocene-Holocene Boundary In The Pacific Northwest: A Comparison Of Proxy Datasets And The Archaeologicial Record, Tiffany J. Fulkerson

EWU Masters Thesis Collection

"The relationship between climate change at the Pleistocene-Holocene Boundary (ca. 12,600-10,200 cal B.P.) and cultural responses to attendant shifts in the environment remains a vexing issue for archaeologists. This study compiles and analyzes glacial, palynological, faunal, and stratigraphic/geomorphological proxy datasets for climate change in the Pacific Northwest of North America and compares them to the coeval archaeological record. The primary purpose of this exercise is to consider the potential ways in which climate change at the Pleistocene-Holocene Boundary affected cultural development for Late Paleoindian-Early Archaic peoples in the Pacific Northwest. Results indicate that climatic and environmental change at this interval …

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Effects Of Predator Urine On Deterring Ungulate Browsing Of Aspen On The Turnbull National Wildlife Refuge, Savanah Walker Jan 2012

Effects Of Predator Urine On Deterring Ungulate Browsing Of Aspen On The Turnbull National Wildlife Refuge, Savanah Walker

EWU Masters Thesis Collection

"In the Pacific Northwest, quaking aspen (Populus tremuloides) support large amounts of biodiversity and are considered second only to riparian zones. Due to aspen's ecological importance and recent decline on Turnbull National Wildlife Refuge (TNWR), increasing aspen regeneration is of high priority. The elk (Cervus elaphus) population on TNWR has greatly increased over the last decade and over browsing is attributed as a factor affecting aspen regeneration. In response to the decline of aspen regeneration, TNWR initiated an elk hunt in 2010 to cull and disperse elk. However, hunting is not a viable solution in public use areas of the …

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An Assessment Of Antibiotic Resistant Bacteria In Biosolid Used As Garden Fertilizer, Gwendolyn Lenore Hartman Jan 2012

An Assessment Of Antibiotic Resistant Bacteria In Biosolid Used As Garden Fertilizer, Gwendolyn Lenore Hartman

EWU Masters Thesis Collection

"Fertilizer grade biosolid is sold to the general public by the Cheney Wastewater Treatment Plant for use as garden fertilizer and as a soil conditioner. Moist biosolid samples were obtained from the Cheney Wastewater Treatment Plant and antibiotic resistant gram negative bacteria were isolated from it. Bacteria isolated from these samples were resistant to tetracycline, ampicillin, streptomycin, kanamycin and chloramphenicol. Tetracycline resistant bacteria were isolated on MacConkey's agar supplemented with tetracycline and their resistance to ampicillin, streptomycin, chloramphenicol and kanamycin were also determined. A total of 48 isolates cultivated to determine the presence of plasmids which often contain antibiotic resistance …

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Physiological Response To Three Environmental Stressors Predicts Fitness And Genome Quality But Not Base Substitution Rate In Caenorhabditis Elegans, Jacob R. Andrew Jan 2012

Physiological Response To Three Environmental Stressors Predicts Fitness And Genome Quality But Not Base Substitution Rate In Caenorhabditis Elegans, Jacob R. Andrew

EWU Masters Thesis Collection

"Since DNA mutations occur all the time and may have deleterious effects on fitness (survival and reproduction), organisms expend substantial metabolic resources to find and repair mutations. This metabolic expenditure is termed the cost of fidelity. If an organism is in "poor" condition and does not have enough metabolic resources, it may no longer be able to find and repair mutations (Agrawal 2002). In this thesis, we looked at whether physiological condition, measured as survival and development in the presence of an exogenous stress ('robustness'), correlated with mutation rate (experiments 1 and 2) or fitness (experiment 2). We measured physiological …

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Why Marriage?, Suzanne B. Goldberg Jan 2012

Why Marriage?, Suzanne B. Goldberg

Faculty Scholarship

In a well-known New Yorker cartoon, a man and a woman sit together on a couch, clearly in the midst of a conversation about marriage for gay and lesbian couples. “Haven't they suffered enough?” one of them asks. Although the cartoon characters jest, the question of why gay people are fighting so hard for the right to marry is a serious one. After all, marriage rates have been dropping steadily in the United States and in much of the world, and divorce rates remain high. Why, then, are lesbians and gay men fighting so hard to join an institution that …

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Illinois Local Food Systems: A Geospatial Analysis, Abu S. Khan Jan 2012

Illinois Local Food Systems: A Geospatial Analysis, Abu S. Khan

Research Papers

Recently, more attention has been paid to studies of local food systems that are specific to a particular place as a potential solution for providing healthy food, reducing carbon emissions, and promotion of local agriculture sustainability. In the United States, the demands of locally produced foods have increased substantially in recent years. There are several reasons for this increase, including long-distance food transportation’s contribution to greenhouse gas emissions, the community food-security movement, and the increase of negative environmental problems related to large scale agriculture, etc., have contributed to the shift of attention from global food systems to local ones. Moreover, …

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Biol 4903: Senior Capstone, Steelman Library, Jerm J. Day-Storms Dr. Jan 2012

Biol 4903: Senior Capstone, Steelman Library, Jerm J. Day-Storms Dr.

Syllabus Repository

No abstract provided.

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