Social and Behavioral Sciences Commons^™

Analysis Of The Impact Of The Changes In The Prices Of Rice And Fuel On Poverty In The Philippines, Celia M. Reyes, Alellie B. Sobreviñas, Joel Bancolita, Jeremy De Jesus

Angelo King Institute for Economic and Business Studies (AKI)

In 2008, prices of rice and fuel in the Philippines have dramatically increased following the trends in the global market. Although the movements in the farmgate (producer) and retail (consumer) prices of rice is fairly stable during the period January 2006 to December 2007, prices significantly increased starting January 2008 (Figure 1). The average retail prices of rice for the period January to September 2008, in fact, increased by 34.3 percent as compared to 3.7 percent growth in the previous year. Meanwhile, farmgate prices increased by 26.7 percent in January to September 2008 as compared to the previous year’s growth …

Learning Expressive Ontologies, Johanna Volker, Peter Haase, Pascal Hitzler

Computer Science and Engineering Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.

Hrests: An Html Microformat For Describing Restful Web Services, Jacek Kopecky, Karthik Gomadam, Tomas Vitvar

Kno.e.sis Publications

The Web 2.0 wave brings, among other aspects, the Programmable Web: increasing numbers of Web sites provide machine-oriented APIs and Web services. However, most APIs are only described with text in HTML documents. The lack of machine-readable API descriptions affects the feasibility of tool support for developers who use these services. We propose a microformat called hRESTS (HTML for RESTful Services) for machine-readable descriptions of Web APIs, backed by a simple service model. The hRESTS microformat describes main aspects of services, such as operations, inputs and outputs. We also present two extensions of hRESTS: SA-REST, which captures the facets of …

Joint Extraction Of Compound Entities And Relationships From Biomedical Literature, Cartic Ramakrishnan, Pablo N. Mendes, Rodrigo A.T.S. De Gama, Guilherme C.N. Ferreira, Amit P. Sheth

Kno.e.sis Publications

In this paper we identify some limitations of contemporary information extraction mechanisms in the context of biomedical literature. We present an extraction mechanism that generates structured representations of textual content. Our extraction mechanism achieves this by extracting compound entities, and relationships between them, occuring in text. A detailed evaluation of the relationship and compound entities extracted is presented. Our results show over 62% average precision across 8 relationship types tested with over 82% average precision for compound entity identification1.

Targeted Content Delivery For Social Media Content, Meenakshi Nagarajan, Kamal Baid, Amit P. Sheth, Shaojun Wang

Kno.e.sis Publications

Spotting contextually relevant keywords is fundamental to effective content suggestions on the Web. In this regard, misspellings, entity variations and off-topic discussions in content from Social Media pose unique challenges. Here, we present an algorithm that assists content delivery systems by identifying contextually relevant keywords and eliminating off-topic keywords. A preliminary user study over data from MySpace and Facebook clearly suggests the usefulness of our work in delivering more targeted content suggestions.

Traveling The Semantic Web Through Space, Theme And Time, Amit P. Sheth, Matthew Perry

Kno.e.sis Publications

In this installment of Semantics and Services, we further develop the idea of spatial, temporal, and thematic (STT) processing of semantic Web data and describe the Web infrastructure needed to support it. Starting from Ramesh Jain's vision of the EventWeb as a view of what's possible with a Web that better accommodates all three dimensions of event-related information (thematic, spatial, and temporal), we outline the architecture needed to support it and current research that aims to realize it.

Contents, Discovery Editors

Discovery, The Student Journal of Dale Bumpers College of Agricultural, Food and Life Sciences

No abstract provided.

Letter From The Dean, Lalit R. Verma

Discovery, The Student Journal of Dale Bumpers College of Agricultural, Food and Life Sciences

No abstract provided.

Earthworm Abundances In Endophyte-Infected Tall Fescue Pastures In Northwest Arkansas, Ashley Rashe, Mary C. Savin

Discovery, The Student Journal of Dale Bumpers College of Agricultural, Food and Life Sciences

The ecology of organisms that co-evolve within an ecosystem is likely to be distinct from that involving organisms recently introduced into an area. To better understand the relationship of earthworms with endophyte-infected tall fescue, earthworms in novel and toxic endophyte-infected tall fescue pastures were enumerated and identified as adults or juveniles. We hypothesized that differences in endophyte infection of the fescue would influence earthworm abundances. Earthworms in two toxic and two novel endophyte-infected tall fescue fields in Fayetteville, Ark., were sampled weekly from January through July 2007. Each type of endophyte-infected pasture was established in 1997 and 2003. Sampling was …

Genome-Wide Identification Of Qtl For Age At Puberty In Gilts Using A Large Intercross F2 Population Between White Duroc And Erhualian, Guangcheng Yang, Jun Ren, Shijun Li, Huirong Mao, Yuanmei Guo, Zhengzhi Zou, Dongren Ren, Junwu Ma, Lusheng Huang

Psychology Faculty Publications

Puberty is a fundamental development process experienced by all reproductively competent adults, yet the specific factors regulating age at puberty remain elusive in pigs. In this study, we performed a genome scan to identify quantitative trait loci (QTL) affecting age at puberty in gilts using a White Duroc × Erhualian intercross. A total of 183 microsatellites covering 19 porcine chromosomes were genotyped in 454 F₂ gilts and their parents and grandparents in the White Duroc × Erhualian intercross. A linear regression method was used to map QTL for age at puberty via QTLexpress. One 1% genome-wise significant QTL and …

Psycho-Social Effects Of A Brain-Training Program Among Healthy Older Adults, Desma Hurley, M. Jean Turner, William C. Bailey

Discovery, The Student Journal of Dale Bumpers College of Agricultural, Food and Life Sciences

Grounded in cognitive neuroscience and social exchange theory, this research evaluated the relationship between changes in cognitive functioning and two psycho-social dimensions of life among healthy adults over the age of 70 (N=12). Specific psycho-social dimensions examined were social interaction and depression. Six females and six males participated in the study. All were white, college-educated individuals residing in a life-care residential retirement community. The participants used the Posit Science® Brain Fitness Program™, an auditory-based computer training program that improves memory and speed of processing, for forty hours over an eight-week period. Pre- and post-tests related to social interaction and depressive …

Impact Of Stressing A Pen Mate On Physiological Responses Of Growing Pigs, Brent Koonce, Elizabeth B. Kegley, Doug Galloway, Jason Apple

Discovery, The Student Journal of Dale Bumpers College of Agricultural, Food and Life Sciences

Crossbred barrows and gilts (n = 36), weighing 16.59 ± 2.1 kg, were used to test the effects of stressing a pen mate on the physiological responses of growing pigs. Pigs were randomly allotted to 6 groups after stratifying according to gender, litter origin, and body weight. Dominance order was determined within each group, and 1 to 3 d prior to the stress treatment the most- and least-dominant pigs within a group were fitted with indwelling catheters in their vena cavas. Over 3 d, groups were either: 1) isolated from audile and visual contact with stressed pigs in a separate …

Investigating Current Efficacies Of Several Nematocides For Use In Cattle According To The Fecal Egg Count Reduction Test, Tifanie Silver, Chris Tucker, Jeremy Powell, Jana Reynolds, Zelpha Johnson, Bill Lindsey, Pete Hornsby, T. A. Yazwinski

Discovery, The Student Journal of Dale Bumpers College of Agricultural, Food and Life Sciences

Utilizing small groups of naturally infected replacement heifers, fecal egg count reduction tests (FECRT) were conducted in the later months of 2007 at the University of Arkansas Savoy Research Station. Each test was 28 d in length, consisting of individual fecal nematode egg counts (EPG) and coprocultures. For the first test, the calves were ranked by beginning EPG, blocked, and randomly assigned treatment within each block. Nine to ten animals were in each treatment group. In this test, neither IVOMEC (® Merial) or IVERMECTIN (® Durvet), both delivered as an injectable at the rate of 0.2 mg of ivermectin kg-1 …

Investigating The Effectiveness Of Malic Acid, Nisin, And Grape Seed Extract Incorporated Into Whey-Protein Coatings To Inhibit The Growth Of Listeria Monocytogenes On Ready-To-Eat Poultry, Amanda Bettasso, Navam Hettiarachychy, Vidya Chitturi, Michael Johnson

Discovery, The Student Journal of Dale Bumpers College of Agricultural, Food and Life Sciences

The ability to control growth of Listeria monocytogenes on ready-to-eat poultry products with the antimicrobials nisin, malic acid, and grape seed extract incorporated into whey-protein coatings was evaluated. The antimicrobials were incorporated into the coating solution alone and in combinations. One gram pieces of turkey frankfurters were coated with the coating solutions and then inoculated with L. monocytogenes and stored at 4°C for 28 days. The inhibitory effect of the coatings on turkey frankfurter pieces was evaluated on d 0, 7, 14, 21, and 28. Coatings containing 2% malic acid, 3% malic acid, and the combination of nisin (6,000 IU/g) …

Agricultural Systems: Agroecology And Rural Innovations For Development [Book Review], Charles A. Francis

Department of Agronomy and Horticulture: Faculty Publications

To welcome yet another book on sustainable development, a reviewer must look for what is unique and what adds value to the volumes already published. In Agricultural Systems, editors Sieglinde Snapp and Barry Pound have assembled a collection of chapters that goes beyond the usual praise and criticism of the green revolution and the focus on economic development. Their book provides a first-hand story by people with lengthy experiences in the field, especially in Africa, who have developed and tested grassroots, participatory development approaches. The result is a valuable set of principles, strategies and case studies that paint a new …

Relationship Between Physical Activity Level, Telomere Length, And Telomerase Activity, Andrew T. Ludlow, Jo B. Zimmerman, Sarah Witkowski, Joe W. Hearn, Bradley D. Hatfield, Stephen M. Roth

Exercise and Sport Studies: Faculty Publications

The purpose of this study was to examine the relationship of exercise energy expenditure (EEE) with both telomere length and telomerase activity in addition to accounting for hTERT C-1327T promoter genotype.

Use Of Palm Trees As A Sleeping Site By Hamadryas Baboons In Ethiopia, Amy Schreier, Larissa Swedell

Publications and Research

Hamadryas baboons sleep on cliffs throughout their range, and this can be attributed to the safety cliffs provide against predators in the absence of tall trees. In this paper, we report the first documented occurrence of hamadryas baboons sleeping in doum palm trees rather than on cliffs. Data derive from a study of hamadryas baboons at the Filoha site in lowland Ethiopia. During all-day follows, data were collected on travel patterns, band activity, and location. Variation in the baboons’ home range was characterized using vegetation transects. We discovered that one band in this population, Band 3, occasionally slept in doum …

Composition And Seasonality Of Diet In Wild Hamadryas Baboons: Preliminary Findings From Filoha, Larissa Swedell, Getenet Hailemeskel, Amy Schreier

Publications and Research

Here we report the first year-round quantitative data on dietary composition and seasonality in wild hamadryas baboons. Study subjects were adult male members of Band 3 at the Filoha field site in central lowland Ethiopia. Data collection consisted of 10-minute focal samples during all-day follows 4-6 days per month over the course of one year. The two largest contributors to the diet were Hyphaene thebaica and Acacia senegal, and these were the only plant species found in the diet during every month of the year. Other relatively major contributors to the diet, such as Cyperus grandibulbosus, Seddera bagshawei, …

Seasonal Adaptation Of Vegetation Color In Satellite Images, Srinivas Jakkula, Vamsi K.R. Mantena, Ramu Pedada, Yuzhong Shen, Jiang Li, Hamid R. Arabnia (Ed.)

Electrical & Computer Engineering Faculty Publications

Remote sensing techniques like NDVI (Normal Difference vegetative Index) when applied to phenological variations in aerial images, ascertained the seasonal rise and decline of photosynthetic activity in different seasons, resulting in different color tones of vegetation. The rise and fall of NDVI values decide the biological response, either the green up or brown down [1]. Vegetation in green up period appears with more vegetative vigor and during brown down period it has a dry appearance. This paper proposes a novel method that identifies vegetative patterns in satellite images and then alters vegetation color to simulate seasonal changes based on training …

Demographic Effects Of Canine Parvovirus On A Free-Ranging Wolf Population Over 30 Years, L. David Mech, Sagar M. Goyal, William J. Paul, Wesley E. Newton

United States Geological Survey, Northern Prairie Wildlife Research Center: Publications

We followed the course of canine parvovirus (CPV) antibody prevalence in a subpopulation of wolves (Canis lupus) in northeastern Minnesota from 1973, when antibodies were first detected, through 2004. Annual early pup survival was reduced by 70%, and wolf population change was related to CPV antibody prevalence. In the greater Minnesota population of 3,000 wolves, pup survival was reduced by 40–60%. This reduction limited the Minnesota wolf population rate of increase to about 4% per year compared with increases of 16–58% in other populations. Because it is young wolves that disperse, reduced pup survival may have caused reduced …

Weight Changes In Wild Wolves, Canis Lupus, From Ages 2 To 24 Months, L. David Mech

United States Geological Survey, Northern Prairie Wildlife Research Center: Publications

Weights of 118 female and 141 male Minnesota Wolves (Canis lupus) aged 2-24 months increased almost linearly from about 8 kg for females and 10 kg for males at 3 months to 30 kg for females and 32 kg for males at 10-12 months and then tended to increase much more slowly in an overall curvilinear trend. Considerable variation was apparent for both sexes during their first year.

Spatial And Temporal Differences In Giant Kidney Worm, Dictophyma Renale, Prevalence In Minnesota Mink, Mustela Vison, L. David Mech

United States Geological Survey, Northern Prairie Wildlife Research Center: Publications

Examination of 110 Mink (Mustela vison) carcasses from 1998 through 2007 indicated that the giant kidney worm, Dioctophyma renale, occurred in Pine and Kanabec Counties of eastern Minnesota with annual prevalences of 0-92%. Worm prevalence increased from 20% in 1999 to 92% in 2001 and decreased to 6% in 2005. During 2000 to 2007, no worms were found in Mink from Anoka and Chisago Counties (n = 54), and in 2000, none in 107 Mink from LeSeur, Freeborn, Redwood, Brown and Watonwan Counties. Changes in kidney worm prevalence were positively related to trapping success, considered an index …

Wolf Body Mass Cline Across Minnesota Related To Taxonomy?, L. David Mech, William J. Paul

United States Geological Survey, Northern Prairie Wildlife Research Center: Publications

Recent genetic studies suggest that in northern Minnesota two species of wolves (Canis lupus L., 1758 or western wolf and Canis lycaon Schreber, 1775 (= Canis rufus Audubon and Bachman, 1851) or eastern wolf) meet and hybridize. However, little morphological information is available about these two types of wolves in Minnesota. We analyzed the mass of 950 female wolves and 1006 males older than 1 year from across northern Minnesota and found that it increased from 26.30 ± 0.56 kg (mean ± SE) for females and 30.60 ± 0.72 kg for males in northeastern Minnesota to 30.01 ± 0.43 …

Parasite Pathoecology Of Salmon Pueblo And Other Chacoan Great Houses: The Healthiest And Wormiest Ancestral Puebloans, Karl Reinhard

Karl Reinhard Publications

Two fields of paleopathological investigation originated in the Southwest. Archaeoparasitology is the study of ancient parasite infection (Reinhard 1990, 1992b). It includes comparisons between time periods of single societies as well as comparisons of parasitism between different, contemporaneous cultures. For example, Fry (1980) compared Fremont and Anasazi parasitism, and also Archaic hunter-gatherer and ancestral Pueblo parasitism. All of these studies fall into the definition of archaeoparasitology.

By contrast, pathoecology is the reconstruction of relationships among behavior, environment, and disease organisms in the development of illness (Martinson et al. 2003; ReinhardandBuikstra2003; Reinhardet al. 2003; Santoro et al. 2003).1his field developed from …

Cranial Deformation As The Cause Of Death For A Child From The Chillon River Valley, Peru, Shelia M.F. Medoncade Souza, Karl J. Reinhard, Andrea Lessa

Karl Reinhard Publications

Two small mummy bundles, found in a tomb at the Chillon River Valley, Lima Plains, Peru exist in the collections of the Museu Nacional, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. They were donated to the collections at the beginning of the 20th century. A multidisciplinary team is now curating and studying them. CT scans confirmed both skeletons were of individuals less than one year old at death. One of the bundles is intact and will be preserved and displayed. The other one was partly decomposed and the authors received permission to unwrap it to analyze the bones in details. Mites and pollen …

A Child And His Fate: Tuberculosis, Perimortem Trauma And Mummification, Sheila M. M.De Souza, Karl J. Reinhard, Bernardo Tessarollo, Jose Fernando Cardona Zannier, Adauto Araujo

Karl Reinhard Publications

A male child, sitting, 7 years, circumferential deformation, skin marked by coiled fibers, nostril plugs, consistent with Aymara practices was CT scanned. Puppae in the skin suggest exposition of the body previous to the funeral. Dark brown color at the skin suggest blood perfusion. A broken area at the right frontal with the skin partially inside is suggestive of perimorten trauma. There were no bone debris inside the skull and the CT images show two confluent fractures defined by radiating lines extending beyond the missing bone surface. The right eyeball is projected out, the tongue is outside the mouth, the …

Pathoecology And The Future Of Coprolite Studies In Bioarchaeology, Karl J. Reinhard, Vaughn M. Bryant Jr.

Karl Reinhard Publications

Human coprolites currently provide an expanding array of information about the diet, health, and ecology of prehistoric people in the Southwest, but for many years coprolites were not recognized or preserved, or they were not considered important and thus were not saved (Bryant and Dean 2006). With the expansion of archaeological field work during the last half of the twentieth century archaeologists have increasingly explored the "complete" potentials of sites, including the collection and analysis of geomorphologic, botanical, and faunal data. In some ideal habitats (e.g., very dry or frozen) this includes exploring the scientific potential of human coprolite studies. …

Pathoecology Of Two Ancestral Pueblo Villages, Karl Reinhard

Karl Reinhard Publications

Pathoecology is the study of the biotic, abiotic, and cultural environments of disease (Martinson et al. 2003). A parasitic infection is the result of the pathoecological interaction of host behavior, parasite life cycle, the environment in which both life forms live, the nutritional status of the host, and host physiological responses to all of these factors. Parasites contribute to anemia in many ways. Some, such as hookworm, actually consume blood and cause iron loss through their activities. For other parasites, symptoms such as profuse diarrhea reduce intestinal absorption of nutrients. Others, such as certain fish tapeworms, actually compete for absorption …

Paleoparasitology: Perspectives With New Techniques, Adauto Araújo, Karl Reinhard, Otilio M. Bastos, Ligia C. Costa, Claude Pirmez, Alena Iñighez, Ana Carolina Vicente, Carlos M. Morel, Luiz Fernando Ferreira

Karl Reinhard Publications

Paleoparasitology is the study of parasites found in archaeological material. The development of this field of research began with histological identification of helminth eggs in mummy tissues, analysis of coprolites, and recently through molecular biology. An approach to the history of paleoparasitology is reviewed in this paper, with special reference to the studies of ancient DNA identified in archaeological material.

Paleoparasitologia: perspectivas com novas técnicas
Paleoparasitologia é o estudo de parasitos encontrados em material arqueológico. O desenvolvimento deste campo da pesquisa teve início com a identificação de ovos de helmintos em tecidos mumificados, análise de coprólitos e, recentemente, através da …

Enterobius Vermicularis Ancient Dna In Pre-Columbian Human Populations, Alena Mayo Iniguez, Karl J. Reinhard, Luiz Fernando Ferreira, Adauto Araujo, Ana Carolina, Paulo Vincente

Karl Reinhard Publications

In prehistoric populations the paleoparasitological findings show an Enterobius vennicularis homogeneous distribution among North American hunter-gatherers intensified with the advent of agriculture. The same occurred in the transition from nomad hunter-gatherers to sedentary farmers in South America, although E. vermicularis infection encompasses only the ancient Andean peoples. Since molecular techniques are sensitive in detecting ancient DNA (aDNA), in this work we have performed a molecular paleoparasitological study of E. vermicularis. aDNA was recovered from North and South American coprolites (4110 BC-AD 900). Human (cox 2 and HVR) and pinworm (5S rRNA spacer) sequences were determined. The sequence analysis confirmed E. …