Central State University

This paper examines the hypothesis that the persistence of low spatial and marital mobility in rural India, despite increased growth rates and rising inequality in recent years, is due to the existence of sub-caste networks that provide mutual insurance to their members. Unique panel data providing information on income, assets, gifts, loans, consumption, marriage, and migration are used to link caste networks to household and aggregate mobility. Our key finding, consistent with the hypothesis that local risk-sharing networks restrict mobility, is that among households with the same (permanent) income, those in higher-income caste networks are more likely to participate in caste-based insurance arrangements and are less likely to both out-marry and out-migrate. At the aggregate level, the networks appear to have coped successfully with the rising inequality within sub-castes that accompanied the Green Revolution. The results suggest that caste networks will continue to smooth consumption in rural India for the foreseeable future, as they have for centuries, unless alternative consumption-smoothing mechanisms of comparable quality become available.

Landsat-7 ETM + scenes were acquired for the western Arctic Coastal Plain of Alaska extending from 152° to 162° W longitude. A segmentation algorithm was used to classify lakes and drained thaw lake basins (DTLBs) exceeding 1 ha in size. A total of 13,214 lakes and 6539 DTLBs were identified. Several indices were obtained from the image processing software and used for a comparative analysis of lakes and basins including object size, goodness of elliptic fit, shape complexity, shape asymmetry, and orientation of the major axis. Nonparametric statistical analyses indicate that lakes and basins share similar orientation only. Three subregions of the western Arctic Coastal Plain were identified based on landscape age, as demarcated by ancient shorelines. The surfaces become progressively older inland and include the Younger Outer Coastal Plain, the Outer Coastal Plain, and the oldest Inner Coastal Plain. Lakes and basins in all subregions have statistically similar orientation, indicating that summer wind direction has not changed appreciably over the past several thousand years. Basin orientation is less clustered than lake orientation. Lakes are highly elliptical, while basins have more complex shapes. Lake coverage (%) is fairly constant across the three subregions, while DTLB coverage decreases on older surfaces. Lake and basin size decreases on progressively older surfaces, but the number of features per unit area increases. It is uncertain if surface age is responsible for differences in regional metrics as an analysis of the Inner Coastal Plain demonstrates significant internal variation. Distance from the coast, ground ice content, surficial sediments, and local relief may also influence lake morphometry. Copyright © 2005 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

Smallholder farmers play an important role in ensuring world food security. In addition to food security, small-scale farming also provides numerous other direct and indirect environmental, social, cultural, and economic benefits by improving crop diversification, job security, and self-sufficiency. However, small-scale agriculture faces several challenges which are further exacerbated by climate change, population increase, water scarcity, and soil degradation. Agriculture has seen a lot of technological advancements in the last few decades. However, access to these advancements has not always been economically viable for small or medium farm operations. This article aimed to review the major barriers to small-scale farming and to review the status and potential opportunities offered by advanced technologies that can benefit small-scale holders. Based on the review, we found that economics, marketing, climate change, lack of awareness, educational resources, infrastructure, information, and technology are the major challenges to small-scale farming. Technologies such as unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs), the IoT (internet of things), irrigation automation, and the use of smartphones are already becoming mainstream in small-scale farming and other technologies like robotics, artificial intelligence (AI), yield monitoring, and food traceability have potential opportunities to solve the challenges that hamper the success of small-scale growers.

This article presents the technical aspects of a linear filter, referred to as eigenimage filtering, and its applications in magnetic resonance (MR) imaging. The technique is used to obtain a single composite image depicting a particular feature of interest while suppressing one or more interfering features. The appropriate weighting components to be used in the linear filter are determined on the criterion that the desired feature is enhanced while the interfering features are suppressed. The criterion is expressed mathematically as a ratio. By applying Rayleigh's principle, the ratio is maximized by finding the eigenvector associated with the maximum eigenvalue of the corresponding generalized eigenvalue problem. The appropriate weighting factors for the linear filter are the elements of the eigenvector which maximize the ratio. The utilization of the technique is demonstrated in its application to a simulated MR image sequence as well as to acquired MR image sequences of a normal and an abnormal brain.

Organizations have changed dramatically over the last 2 decades as the pace of change has increased and the world has grown smaller. Computer technology penetrates all facets of the workplace. Connectivity afforded by the Internet provides access to information, suppliers, and customers for firms large and small worldwide. Organizations compete globally in an often virtual and multicultural world. The demands created by these changes have pressured organizations to build their human capital— broad, deep, and flexible knowledge and skills—to survive and thrive in this rapidly changing world.

Marketing managers can increase shareholder value by structuring a customer portfolio to reduce the vulnerability and volatility of cash flows. This article demonstrates how financial portfolio theory provides an organizing framework for (1) diagnosing the variability in a customer portfolio, (2) assessing the complementarity/similarity of market segments, (3) exploring market segment weights in an optimized portfolio, and (4) isolating the reward on variability that individual customers or segments provide. Using a seven-year series of customer data from a large business-to-business firm, the authors demonstrate how market segments can be characterized in terms of risk and return. Next, they identify the firm's efficient portfolio and test it against (1) its current portfolio and (2) a hypothetical profit maximization portfolio. Then, using forward- and back-testing, the authors show that the efficient portfolio has consistently lower variability than the existing customer mix and the profit maximization portfolio. The authors provide guidelines for incorporating a risk overlay into established customer management frameworks. The approach is especially well suited for business-to-business firms that serve market segments drawn from diverse sectors of the economy.

Abstract Nutritional zinc can be studied in the male rat as a pharmacologic agent. Responses to zinc in respect to body growth, hematologic effects, blood and tissue levels, and body temperature control are all log-dose related. Copper levels in liver and kidney are influenced by zinc intake. Cadmium alters these responses inversely in relation to the zinc intake, and thus can be considered as an antimetabolite of zinc. Cadmium was localized in liver and kidney but not in testes of our animals. Our data indicate that there is very minimal storage of readily available zinc in the male rat.

Abstract In this study, the authors surveyed U.S. business schools to investigate frequency of use and perceived effectiveness of methods used in assessment of student learning. The authors found that case studies were used frequently, which is consistent with high perceptions of their effectiveness. Their finding that group-process observation and item analysis were used infrequently is consistent with low perceptions of these methods' effectiveness. Five other methods were used fairly frequently. The findings show that, though faculty members use methods appropriate for assigning grades, they demonstrate infrequent use of methods that might be more effective for overall assessment of a program.

Abstract Student developmental theory can provide a useful framework for understanding challenges students with disabilities may face, providing services, and creating a welcoming campus climate.

Several studies have found an inverted U‐shaped relationship between stress and performance levels for individuals. The present study determined whether such a relationship exists between stress and the perceived effectiveness of formal organization groups. Analysis of data from four firms provided no support for the existence of such a relationship. Instead, a negative relationship between stress and perceived organizational effectiveness was found. The results suggest that the type of stress moderates the stress and effectiveness relationship. Dysfunctional stress was the dominant type of stress in all four firms. Further, the level of dysfunctional stress provided a better explanation of variations in effectiveness levels than total stress levels.

The hearts and ascending aortae of 11 Weddell seals, Leptonychotes weddelli, three adult Crabeater seals, Lobodon carcinophagus, two adult Ross seals, Ommatophoca rossi, and one adult Leopard seal, Hydrurga leptonyx, were examined for comparison with terrestrial forms. The Weddell seal specimens were from animals ranging in age from midterm in fetal development to mature adults. All specimens were collected in 1971, 1972, and 1973, from McMurdo Sound and the Ross Sea, Antarctica. The phocid hearts were characteristically broader and flatter than those of other carnivore families and they tended toward bifid apices. The heart form indices (height/circumference) averaged 31.5 compared to 39.0 for felids. The right ventricular chambers of the Antarctic seals were found to average longer in Weddells and narrower in all, than those reported for four other carnivore families. An elastic enlargement was present in the ascending aortae of all seals. The largest diameter of the aortic bulb averaged 25.5 mm more than the base of the aorta in the adult Weddell seals which represented an increase of 72.5% over the base. It is suggested that the general heart form, and especially the ascending aortae, are anatomical adaptations to diving. The compressed heart makes possible unimpaired function when the chest is compressed during deep dives. The aortic bulb maintains mean arterial blood pressure and perfusion of the brain and cardiac tissue during diving bradycardia.

Artificial intelligence refers to the ability of a computer system to perform human tasks (such as thinking and learning) that usually can only be accomplished using human intelligence. AI technology in education is allowing a degree of flexibility and customization that was never before possible. It is revolutionalizing schools and classrooms, making educator’s job a lot easier. It is poised to revolutionize education. This paper provides various applications of AI in education.

Abstract Using the percentage of mitotic figures in the cells as an index, a study was made of the distribution of cell multiplication in the development of the chick embryo. Counts were made of all regions in embryos ranging from the embryonic shield stage to sixteen somites, and of the neural and sensory epithelia and axial mesoderm of older embryos. Figures are presented which are believed to establish the sufficiency of mitotic division in producing the cell increases in the early embryo. In the developing primitive streak, areas of superior division rate were found in the presumptive medullary plate ectoderm at the sides of the streak. The node and the primitive plate tend to exhibit lower rates than the axis of the streak. The posterior nerve cells multiply more rapidly than the average of the neural tube, and areas of activity in the mesoderm tend to be located near the posterior end. An antero‐posterior gradient of the index is indicated in the anterior neural tube, meeting a transient postero‐anterior gradient of the hinder cord in the yolk‐sac region. A lower rate of division in the floor than in the sides of the neural ectoderm may be implicated in the inrolling of the medullary plate and in the ventral ourvature of older embryos. All indices drop progressively with advancing age and differentiation.

Effective and efficient methods are needed to map agricultural subsurface drainage systems. Visible-color (VIS-C), multispectral (MS), and thermal infrared (TIR) imagery obtained by unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) may provide a means for determining drainage pipe locations. Aerial surveys using a UAV with VIS-C, MS, and TIR cameras were conducted at 29 agricultural field sites in the Midwest U.S.A. to evaluate the potential of this technology for mapping buried drainage pipes. Overall results show VIS-C imagery detected at least some drain lines at 48 % of the sites (14 out of 29), MS imagery detected drain lines at 59 % of the sites (17 out of 29), and TIR imagery detected drain lines at 69 % of the sites (20 out of 29). Three key findings, listed as follows and emphasized in this article by site examples, were extracted from the overall results. (1) Although TIR generally worked best, there were sites where either VIS-C or MS proved more effective than TIR for mapping subsurface drainage systems. Consequently, to ensure the greatest chance for successfully determining drainage pipe patterns in a field, UAV surveys need to be carried out with all three types of cameras, VIS-C, MS, and TIR. (2) Timing of UAV surveys relative to recent rainfall can sometimes have an important impact on drainage pipe detection results. (3) Linear features representing drain lines and farm field operations can be confused with one another and are often both depicted on site aerial imagery. Knowledge of subsurface drainage system installation and farm field operations can be employed to distinguish linear features representing drain lines from those representing farm field operations. The overall results and extracted key findings from this study clearly indicate that VIS-C, MS, and TIR imagery obtained with UAVs have significant potential for use in mapping agricultural drainage pipe systems.

Abstract Variables contributing to grade retention among 243 African American 13–17-year-old boys were investigated. The instrument administered was the Children's Structured Assessment for the Genetics of Alcoholism interview scale, which pertains to alcohol use, discipline in the home, and conduct disorder. Results of the multiple-regression analyses revealed that 3 variables were positively associated with grade retention: (a) number of suspensions from school (the strongest predictor), (b) conduct disorder (violence against others), and (c) lack of discipline in the home. Thirty-one percent of the variation in grade retention was accounted for by the variables included in the model. Suggestions were made for alternatives to school suspension.

Researchers continually demonstrated through published literature how LiDAR could create unparalleled measurements of ecosystem structure and forest height. There are a number of studies conducted utilizing waveform LiDAR products for terrestrial monitoring, but those that deal specifically with the assessment of space-borne waveform LiDAR for monitoring and modeling of phenology is very limited. This review highlights the waveform LiDAR system and looks into satellite sensors that could link waveform LiDAR and vegetation phenology, such as the proposed NASA’s Global Ecosystem Dynamics Investigation (GEDI) and the Japanese Experimental Module (JEM)-borne LiDAR sensor named MOLI (Multi-footprint Observation LIDAR and Imager). Further, this work examines the richness and utility of the waveform returns and proposes a spline-function-derived model that could be exploited for estimating the leaf-shooting date. The new approach may be utilized for ecosystem-level phenological studies.

Currently, Heart failure disease is considered a multifaceted clinical disease affecting millions of people worldwide. Hospitals and cardiac centers rely heavily on ECG as a regular tool for evaluating and diagnosing Heart failure disease as an initial stage. The process of Heart failure disease identification from the ECG signal aims to reduce the time of the diagnostic process for patients with heart failure and to improve the outcomes of the detection process applied to these patients. The information acquired from the ECG signal simplifies the laboratory evaluation and other traditional diagnosis methods to evaluate and diagnose Heart failure disease. Unluckily, the problem of segmentation of the ECG signal is complicated because of similarities in time interval and amplitude between several ECG signal as well as the presence of noise in ECG signals. Most cardiologists use the ECG signal to identify Heart failure disease and their decision depends on the identification process, to determine whether surgery or medical treatment is required. This paper offers a new identification technique to overcome the current problems, such as overlapping in heart rate duration from the time interval from one PQRST wave to the next. In this study, the aim is to develop a new automatic method using improved support vector machine to diagnosis HFD from ECG signals. This is particularly relevant to ECG signals for the diagnosis of HFD as the first step to treatment and care of patients in general and specifically those with early heart disease to increase their overall survival. This paper outlines a hybrid approach of dual SVM and nonparametric algorithm to spot HFD in ECG signals leading to increase reliability and accuracy of identification and diagnosis of heart failure classes in the early stages using the proposed algorithm. The nonparametric algorithm is used to train SVM and its dual to get two models of SVM. The dual problem gives a different view that is better and sometimes simpler than the original problem. This feature is used to detect Heart failure disease in ECG signals by comparing the outputs of SVM model and those of dual SVM model. Experiments show that the hybrid approach produces good results, is more efficient and increases accuracy of Heart failure disease detection with an acceptable accuracy of 94.97% when compared with other algorithms to which the paper refers to. This is especially noted in patients with multiple diseases who were not initially identified as heart failure.

Diabetes mellitus is a metabolic disorder, characterized by elevated blood sugar levels (hyperglycemia) and insulin dysregulation. This disease is associated with morbidity and mortality, including significant potential vascular complications. High levels of hyperglycemia lead to not only elevated levels of reactive oxygen species but also advanced glycation end products, which are detrimental to the vascular endothelium and reduce protective compounds such as nitric oxide and prostacyclin. This damage contributes to the development of both macrovascular and microvascular complications. The present investigation explores the pathophysiological mechanisms of diabetic vascular complications and evaluates current management strategies, including lifestyle modifications, pharmacological treatments, and emerging therapies. The review underscores the importance of ongoing progress in diabetes management and patient education to lead to optimal patient-health outcomes and quality of life for individuals with diabetes mellitus.

The residue of pesticides in bee products such as beebread and honey threaten the survival of pollinators and human health. Apis cerana cerana is one of the leading managed honey bees in China. However, little is known about the residues of pesticides in hive products of A. c. cerana in China. Here, we investigated the pesticide residues in beebread and honey. The risk of detected residues of pesticides to honey bees was evaluated with hazard quotient (HQ) and BeeREX. Furthermore, we assessed the chronic and acute risks to humans according to the dietary exposure. Our results suggest that the pesticide residues detection ratio (25.4% for beebread and 2.8% for honey) and the concentrations of these residues is lower than previously reported. Additional risk assessments indicate that the residue levels of pesticides in tested honey of A. c. cerana do not pose a risk for human consumers. Among all identified pesticides, only thiamethoxam raises the concern for further risk assessment in the risk evaluation of honey bee colonies and thiamethoxam was safe for colonies in higer tier studies.

The oxidative potential (OP) of particulate matter (PM) is a major driver of PM-associated health effects. In India, the emission sources defining PM-OP, and their local/regional nature, are yet to be established. Here, to address this gap we determine the geographical origin, sources of PM, and its OP at five Indo-Gangetic Plain sites inside and outside Delhi. Our findings reveal that although uniformly high PM concentrations are recorded across the entire region, local emission sources and formation processes dominate PM pollution. Specifically, ammonium chloride, and organic aerosols (OA) from traffic exhaust, residential heating, and oxidation of unsaturated vapors from fossil fuels are the dominant PM sources inside Delhi. Ammonium sulfate and nitrate, and secondary OA from biomass burning vapors, are produced outside Delhi. Nevertheless, PM-OP is overwhelmingly driven by OA from incomplete combustion of biomass and fossil fuels, including traffic. These findings suggest that addressing local inefficient combustion processes can effectively mitigate PM health exposure in northern India.