Enterprising Rural Families: Making It Work

Enterprising Rural Families (ERFTM) is an international course for the rural family in business. ERFTM teaches a process of finding success, resilience and satisfaction for rural families engaged in enterprises; including agriculture. Instructors from the United States, Canada and Australia have teamed together to offer this course that focuses on the three main components of a family business: individuals, the family unit and the business enterprise. This course also allows families in business to increase their awareness of cultural differences and similarities and improve their understanding of global issues. The course consists of written presentations, online chat sessions, threaded discussions, readings, videos, case studies and individual projects. Using these mechanisms, the online interaction provides rural families with both the tools and skills to resolve immediate family business issues and build a profitable business for the future.Consumer/Household Economics, Farm Management,

Estimating the potential impact of canine distemper virus on the Amur tiger population (Panthera tigris altaica) in Russia

Lethal infections with canine distemper virus (CDV) have recently been diagnosed in Amur tigers (Panthera tigris altaica), but long-term implications for the population are unknown. This study evaluates the potential impact of CDV on a key tiger population in Sikhote-Alin Biosphere Zapovednik (SABZ), and assesses how CDV might influence the extinction potential of other tiger populations of varying sizes. An individual-based stochastic, SIRD (susceptible-infected-recovered/dead) model was used to simulate infection through predation of infected domestic dogs, and/or wild carnivores, and direct tiger-to-tiger transmission. CDV prevalence and effective contact based on published and observed data was used to define plausible low- and high-risk infection scenarios. CDV infection increased the 50-year extinction probability of tigers in SABZ by 6.3% to 55.8% compared to a control population, depending on risk scenario. The most significant factors influencing model outcome were virus prevalence in the reservoir population(s) and its effective contact rate with tigers. Adjustment of the mortality rate had a proportional impact, while inclusion of epizootic infection waves had negligible additional impact. Small populations were found to be disproportionately vulnerable to extinction through CDV infection. The 50-year extinction risk in populations consisting of 25 individuals was 1.65 times greater when CDV was present than that of control populations. The effects of density dependence do not protect an endangered population from the impacts of a multi-host pathogen, such as CDV, where they coexist with an abundant reservoir presenting a persistent threat. Awareness of CDV is a critical component of a successful tiger conservation management policy

Pathology, Distribution, Morphological and Genetic Identity of Deladenus proximus (Tylenchida: Neotylenchidae) a Parasitic Nematode of the Woodwasp, Sirex nigricornis in the Eastern United States

The woodwasp, Sirex nigricornis (Hymenoptera: Siricidae), is solitary and utilizes a symbiotic fungus to extract nourishment from pine trees to feed its larvae. The woodwasp has a brief adult life, but the larvae develop for 1–3 years in the tree xylem. Infections with the nematode Deladenus proximus have been documented in the native woodwasp, S. nigricornis in the eastern United States and Canada. These nematodes appear to sterilize female woodwasps; however, the extent of the pathology and other aspects of the biology of D. proximus remain unknown. In this study we examined the effects of D. proximus on S. nigricornis using fresh – not preserved – specimens. Between 2009 and 2012, a total of 1639 woodwasps were examined for internal nematodes from emerging sites in Illinois, Louisiana and South Carolina. From this total, only 112 individuals were infected with the nematode D. proximus, with varying prevalence across localities and years. Nematodes were found inside every egg of infected females, as well as the hemocoel and the mycangia. Morphometric analyses of mycetophagous reared adult nematodes suggest that a single species is present in localities from Arkansas, Illinois, Louisiana, New York and South Carolina. The screening of the mitochondrial cytochrome oxidase subunit 1 (cox1) of these organisms is consistent with this pattern in that all of these individuals belong to a single clade. Deladenus proximus appears to be an efficient sterilizer, yet its prevalence is relatively low. Experimental infections of the invasive Sirex noctilio are recommended to test the viability of using this nematode as a biological control agent

Future Views of the Past: Models of the Development of the Early Church

Models of historiography often drive the theological understanding of persons and periods in Christian history. This article evaluates eight different models of the early church period and then suggests a model that is appropriate for use in a Seventh-day Adventist Seminary. The first three models evaluated are general views of the early church by Irenaeus of Lyon, Walter Bauer and Martin Luther. Models four through eight are views found within Seventh-day Adventism, though some of them are not unique to Adventism. The ninth model, proposed by the author, is expressed colloquially for the sake of simplicity and memorability: The good guys are the bad guys/The bad guys are the good guys. The lessons of history must be learned from actual people with their successes and failures. There was no golden age when exemplars thought and acted in perfect virtue. History was lived by very human people