The impact of financial constraints on the local price of farm land

Most farm land acquisitions involve a significant commitment of money capital. The proportion of owned versus borrowed wealth used to meet the purchase commitment is reflected in the down-payment ratio. The larger the down-payment ratio, the greater the proportion of owned wealth employed in the acquisition of the land. The availability of wealth from either or both sources may impose a constraint on land acquisition and may influence the market price of land;A model of firm behavior under a money capital constraint has been developed in order to examine this influence. This model shows the firm\u27s demand for fixed inputs (i.e. farm land) to be a function of the price of the firm\u27s output, the prices of all inputs, and the availability of money capital constraint is binding, an easing of the constraint, ceteris paribus, can change the level of input use at which equality between marginal value product and marginal factor cost is achieved. Assuming the level of factor use to be fixed, this change may be translated into a change in factor price (i.e. land price);A single equation econometric model was specified in order to test three hypotheses derived from the theoretical model. First, given a fixed equity level, the required down-payment percentage, as a reflection of the constraint on money capital, should be negatively related to the price of farm land. Second, existing buyer wealth, also deemed a measure of money capital availability, should be positively related to land price. Third, an interaction between existing wealth and required down-payment percentage exists whereby land buyers with different levels of wealth react differently, in terms of the price they bid, to changes in the required down-payment percentage. The direction of this interaction, ambiguous in the sense that it depends on factors which might vary over a given sample of land buyers, was deemed to be negative in light of the characteristics of the present sample;The results of the estimation, using data on farm sales in Iowa over the years 1975 through 1979, failed to reject the first two hypotheses. The hypothesized interaction between wealth and down-payment percentage, although of the predicted sign, was acceptable only at lower levels of confidence

Political Recruitment to the Ontario Legislative Assembly: A Research Schema

Political recruitment is a process by which individuals with certain expectations and occupying certain specified social positions ln their community are screened by representatives of political institutions for elective office. In this inquiry, three pairs of variables corresponding to the three elements of the process -- resources, opportunities, and motivation (interpreted as expectations )-- are structured into a research schema. This schema is applied to the Members of the Ontario Legislative Assembly with the objective of identifying recurring uniformities of activity among the recruitment experiences of those political actors.Master of Arts (MA

Becoming a Trauma Informed Care Organization

The Brockton Area Mutli Services Inc or BAMSI is a private, non-profit human services organization providing services to adults and children with developmental disabilities, mental illness, behavioral health, and public health needs. Founded in 1975, BAMSI is in the business of “bringing people and services together.” BAMSI transforms lives by building the capacity of individuals, families, organizations, and communities to learn, thrive, and achieve their goals. BAMSI services promote the recovery, resiliency, and self-determination of the people we serve. As a human services leader, we strive to be the provider of choice. (Duffy, 2019) With an emphasis on respect and affirming the dignity of the individual, BAMSI assists persons served to manage whatever aspect of their life is causing concern. Persons served are offered choices and are empowered to make guided decisions at each step along their journey. (Duffy, 2019) BAMSI’s mission embraces the belief that individuals need a variety of activities and supports that are designed to fulfill the agency’s mission of “empowering people and enriching their lives one individual, one family at a time.” (Duffy, 2019) With more than 40 years of experience working with individuals with developmental and intellectual disabilities, physical disabilities, those with visual and hearing impairments, as well as its more recent work with those with traumatic or acquired brain injury, the organization has the experience in and dedication to creating innovative and genuine opportunities for meaningful community participation. (Duffy, 2019

Assessment of low-dose cisplatin as a model of nausea and emesis in beagle dogs, potential for repeated administration

Cisplatin is a highly emetogenic cancer chemotherapy agent, which is often used to induce nausea and emesis in animal models. The cytotoxic properties of cisplatin also cause adverse events that negatively impact on animal welfare preventing repeated administration of cisplatin. In this study, we assessed whether a low (subclinical) dose of cisplatin could be utilized as a model of nausea and emesis in the dog while decreasing the severity of adverse events to allow repeated administration. The emetic, nausea-like behavior and potential biomarker response to both the clinical dose (70 mg/m2) and low dose (15 mg/m2) of cisplatin was assessed. Plasma creatinine concentrations and granulocyte counts were used to assess adverse effects on the kidneys and bone marrow, respectively. Nausea-like behavior and emesis was induced by both doses of cisplatin, but the latency to onset was greater in the low-dose group. No significant change in plasma creatinine was detected for either dose groups. Granulocytes were significantly reduced compared with baseline (P = 0.000) following the clinical, but not the low-dose cisplatin group. Tolerability of repeated administration was assessed with 4 administrations of an 18 mg/m2 dose cisplatin. Plasma creatinine did not change significantly. Cumulative effects on the granulocytes occurred, they were significantly decreased (P = 0.03) from baseline at 3 weeks following cisplatin for the 4th administration only. Our results suggest that subclinical doses (15 and 18 mg/m2) of cisplatin induce nausea-like behavior and emesis but have reduced adverse effects compared with the clinical dose allowing for repeated administration in crossover studies

Curcumin and derivatives function through protein phosphatase 2A and presenilin orthologues in Dictyostelium discoideum.

Natural compounds often have complex molecular structures and unknown molecular targets. These characteristics make them difficult to analyse using a classical pharmacological approach. Curcumin, the main curcuminoid of turmeric, is a complex molecule possessing wide-ranging biological activities, cellular mechanisms and roles in potential therapeutic treatment including Alzheimer's disease and cancer. Here, we investigate the physiological effects and molecular targets of curcumin in Dictyostelium discoideum We show curcumin causes acute effects on cell behaviour, reduces cell growth, and slows multicellular development. We then employ a range of structurally related compounds to show the distinct role of different structural groups cell behaviour, growth, and development, highlighting active moieties in cell function, and showing that these cellular effects are unrelated to the well-known antioxidant activity of curcumin. Molecular mechanisms underlying the effect of curcumin and one synthetic analogue (EF24) were then investigated to identify a curcumin-resistant mutant lacking the protein phosphatase 2A regulatory subunit (PsrA) and an EF24-resistant mutant lacking the presenilin 1 orthologue (PsenB). Using in-silico docking analysis, we then show that curcumin may function through direct binding to a key regulatory region of PsrA. These findings reveal novel cellular and molecular mechanisms for the function of curcumin and related compounds

Entrepreneurial Attitudes Of MBA Students In The United States Relative To The CIS: The Case Of Armenia

This paper compares the entrepreneurial attributes of MBA students in Armenia to those in the United States.  If entrepreneurial attributes are more learned cultural behaviors and not only inherent personality factors, business students in a recently-privatized economy such as Armenia would not score as high on an entrepreneurial personality index as would business students in the U.S. where both models of entrepreneurship and expectations of certain proactive characteristics in individuals entering the business world are widespread

Investigating the effect of emetic and aversive compounds on Dictyostelium identifies a novel non-sentient model for bitter tastant research

Nausea and vomiting are common but serious side effects associated with many therapeutic drugs. Whilst the physiological mechanisms behind the generation of the vomiting response are well characterised, the range of emetic stimuli that can generate the response are poorly understood. The potential of using Dictyostelium discoideum, a eukaryotic amoeba, as a model for predicting emetic liability was examined in this thesis. The effects of a range of known emetic and aversive compounds on Dictyostelium cell behaviour was investigated, resulting in the identification of a small number that strongly inhibited cell migration in a concentration-dependent and reversible manner. These active compounds included a range of bitter compounds and the pungent taslant, capsaicin. A Dictyostelium mutagenesis screen was then used to identify genes controlling sensitivity to bitter tastants. This screen identified a mutant containing a disrupted grlJ gene as showing partial resistance to phenylthiourea in growth and behavioural changes in movement. GrlJ is a Gprotein coupled receptor that regulates a phenylthiourea-dependent effect by inhibition of a phosphatidylinositol (PIP3) signalling pathway. A search for proteins sharing homology to GrlJ identified an uncharacterised GABAB-like receptor, QaNHA5, involved in the detection of phenylthiourea in Dictyostelium. This thesis has therefore identified Dictyostelium as a potentially useful model for the identification of bitter and pungent tastants. In addition, this thesis has identified the Dictyostelium protein, GrIJ, as well as an uncharacterised human protein, Q8NHA5, involved in the detection of the bitter tastant, phenylthiourea.EThOS - Electronic Theses Online ServiceGBUnited Kingdo