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Precision Agriculture (PA) manages field heterogeneities and enables informed site-specific management. While PA helps improve farming efficiency and profitability, challenges prior to and following PA adoption can prevent many farmers from widely using it. This paper aims to understand producers' challenge perceptions using 1119 survey responses from U.S. Midwest farmers. The majority (59%) of respondents have adopted at least one PA technology, while the minority (14%) had not adopted any PA technologies. Cost (equipment and service fee), brand compatibility, and data privacy concerns topped other concerns from the average producer's point of view. Among all producers, 60% regarded PA equipment and service fee as too high, followed by 50% who viewed brand compatibility and data privacy as their major concerns. Producers at more advanced adoption stage indicated reduced concerns in most categories. Yet, there were similar concerns towards data privacy issue regardless of the adoption status. Furthermore, brand compatibility issue is more of a concern for adopters than for non-adopters. Estimation results from partial proportional odds (PPO) models show that factors that frequently affect producers' perceived challenges include adoption status, cropland acres, age, education, information sources, farming goals, soil characteristics, and region variables. Findings from this study can aid PA stakeholders in identifying target groups, tailoring future development, research, and outreach efforts, and ultimately promoting efficient PA usage on a broader scale. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Although China, now the world’s second largest economy and largest goods trading nation, has rolled out the ambitious currency internationalization protocol while maintaining strict capital controls for nearly a decade, the implications of this unique reform path on the international economy still present uncertainties. In this paper, we fill in this gap by developing a two country, two-goods model to investigate the impacts of currency internationalization on the international price system, which consists of goods market and factor market interactions. We propose a critical condition of sustainable currency internationalization and reveal high international price sensitivity to exchange rate adjustments. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Immunotoxins with selective cytotoxicity are frequently used as therapeutic immunosuppressive agents in solid-organ transplantation because of their efficiency and high specificity. In this study, we present a new recombinant immunotoxin termed anti-CTLA-4-scFv–melittin prepared from Escherichia coli aimed at clearing activated T cells at the same time avoiding all-round decline in systematic immunity. This fusion protein is composed of anti-CTLA-4-scFv unit and melittin analog unit with properties of low immunogenicity and selective cytotoxicity to CTLA-4-positive T cells. In preliminary biological activity assays, our results confirmed the feasibility of activated T cell clearance strategy and there were significant differences in cell survival rates between CTLA-4-positive group and control group at all experimental concentrations of the immunotoxin. The selective cytotoxicity, low immunogenicity, and low production cost make it an attractive alternate to traditional immunosuppressants. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Immunosuppressive lymphocytes, such as regulatory T cells (Tregs) and plasmacytoid dendritic cells (pDCs), play crucial roles in tumor escape. To investigate the roles of Tregs and pDCs in papillary thyroid cancer (PTC) plus multinodular non-toxic goiter (MNG), thyroid tissue and blood samples from 30 patients with PTC plus MNG and 30 MNG alone were analyzed for CD4 T cell, CD8 T cell, FoxP3 Treg, ICOSFoxP3 Treg, and pDC numbers by immunohistochemistry (IHC), immunofluorescence, and flow cytometry. Plasma concentration of the cytokines interleukin 10 (IL-10) and transforming growth factor β (TGF-β) were measured by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay as well. Both in thyroid tissue and peripheral blood, the numbers of Foxp3 Treg were significantly higher in patients with PTC plus MNG compared to patients with MNG alone; and as a prognostic marker, ICOSFoxp3 Tregs represent a stronger predictor of disease progression than the total numbers of Foxp3 Tregs. Furthermore, a positive correlation between pDC and ICOSFoxp3 Treg numbers in tissue of patients with PTC plus MNG was observed, suggesting that PTC-derived pDCs may induce the differentiation of naive CD4 T cells into ICOSFoxp3Tregs. This may be one of the mechanisms underlying tumor escape in PTC plus MNG patients. Our results suggest that Tregs and pDCs together contribute to the tumor escape in patients with PTC plus MNG. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Presents a study that focused on the strontium, neodymium, lead and oxygen isotopes of basic dyke swarms in the Wudang Block and basic volcanics of the Yaolinghe Group in China. General geology; Sample and analysis; Isotope geochemistry of the elements.