The focus of the current study was on the market potential for grass-fed beef in the Appalachian region, given that these products embody observed, experiential, nutritional, and process attributes that may appeal to a large consumer base. An in-store variant of the Becker-DeGroot-Marschack experimental auction mechanism was employed in the region to determine consumer preferences and willingness to pay. A majority of respondents preferred the grass-fed product over conventional grain-fed samples and were willing to pay a price premium to obtain it. Preferences for grass-fed were rooted largely in the associated superior nutritional content and core observed attributes.

This paper presents a quantitative analysis of the model developed by Galor and Moav [Galor, Oded and Omer Moav (2002) Natural selection and the origin of economic growth. Quarterly Journal of Economics 117(4), 1133–1191] in which agents vary genetically in their preference for quality and quantity of children. The simulation produces a pattern of income and population growth that resembles the period of Malthusian stagnation before the Industrial Revolution and the take-off into a modern growth era. We also investigate the stability of the modern growth era as an absorbing state of the model under the introduction of a strongly quantity-preferring genotype. We show that, given the absence of a scale effect of population in the model, the economy can regress to a Malthusian state under this change in the initial distribution of genotypes.

A retrospective case–case control study was conducted, including 60 cases with daptomycin-nonsusceptible vancomycin-resistant enterococci (DNS-VRE) matched to cases with daptomycin-susceptible VRE and to uninfected controls (1:1:3 ratio). Immunosuppression, presence of comorbid conditions, and prior exposure to antimicrobials were independent predictors of DNS-VRE, although prior daptomycin exposure occurred rarely. In summary, a case–case control study identified independent risk factors for the isolation of DNS-VRE: immunosuppression, multiple comorbid conditions, and prior exposures to cephalosporines and metronidazole.

Phase diagrams have been established to describe very high frequency (vhf) plasma-enhanced chemical vapor deposition (PECVD) processes for intrinsic hydrogenated silicon (Si:H) and silicon-germanium alloy (Si1-xGex:H) thin films using crystalline Si substrates that have been over-deposited with n-type amorphous Si:H (a-Si:H). The Si:H and Si1-xGex:H processes are applied for the top and middle i-layers of triple-junction a-Si:H-based n-i-p solar cells fabricated at University of Toledo. Identical n/i cell structures were co-deposited on textured Ag/ZnO back-reflectors in order to correlate the phase diagram and the performance of single-junction solar cells, the latter completed through over-deposition of the p-layer and top contact. This study has reaffirmed that the highest efficiencies for a-Si:H and a-Si1-xGex:H solar cells are obtained when the i-layers are prepared under maximal H2 dilution conditions.