AGRICULTURAL POLICY RESEARCH - PAST CONTRIBUTIONS AND FUTURE POTENTIALS

Research and Development/Tech Change/Emerging Technologies,

Effect of laboratory heat stress on mortality and web mass of the common house spider, Parasteatoda tepidariorum (Koch 1841) (Araneae: Theridiidae)

We determined the effects of chronic heat stress on web construction of Parasteatoda tepidariorum (Araneae: Theridiidae) by measuring the survival and web mass of specimens after a 48-h period within a temperature chamber at 21, 30, 35, 40, or 50°C. The 21, 30 and 35°C treatments had the highest mean survival rate (100%), the 50°C treatment had the lowest (0%), and the 40°C treatment was intermediate (58%). The 21, 30, and 35°C treatments had the highest mean web mass, and the 40 and 50°C treatments had the lowest. Web mass did not correlate with spider mass for specimens across all temperature treatments. While acclimation temperature and humidity fluctuated throughout the 3 weeks of the study, neither variable affected web mass. This study demonstrates the sublethal effect of temperature on web construction, an effect that would ultimately be lethal in nature if a spider was unable to construct its web

Letter from Tennessee Valley Authority Chairman Aubrey J. Wagner to Winfield Dunn, Governor of Tennessee

Text of a letter from Aubrey J. Wagner, Chairman of the Tennessee Valley Authority\u27s Board of Directors, to Winfield Dunn, Governor of Tennessee. Wagner rejects Dunn\u27s previous request that the TVA halt construction on the Tellico Dam and shift its focus to developing the potential for tourism and other recreational uses for the Little Tennessee River. Wagner outlines the TVA\u27s reasons for continuing with the original project, focusing on the development of waterfront industry

Remote sensing in the coastal and marine environment. Proceedings of the US North Atlantic Regional Workshop

Presentations were grouped in the following categories: (1) a technical orientation of Earth resources remote sensing including data sources and processing; (2) a review of the present status of remote sensing technology applicable to the coastal and marine environment; (3) a description of data and information needs of selected coastal and marine activities; and (4) an outline of plans for marine monitoring systems for the east coast and a concept for an east coast remote sensing facility. Also discussed were user needs and remote sensing potentials in the areas of coastal processes and management, commercial and recreational fisheries, and marine physical processes

The Value of Comparative Animal Research : Krogh’s Principle Facilitates Scientific Discoveries

There are no conflicts of interest to declare. This paper developed from the 2016 Early Career Impact Award from the Federation of Associations in Behavioral & Brain Sciences to TJS. TJS has received funding from The Leverhulme Trust. FJPE is in receipt of funding from the BBSRC (BB/M001555/1). The National Institutes of Health has funded RDF (NS 034950, NS093277, NIMH 087930), AGO (HD079573, IOS-1354760) and AMK (HD081959). BAA is an Arnold O. Beckman postdoctoral fellow.Peer reviewedPostprin

Guide for Planning Church Buildings for the Churches of Christ

Describes history, beliefs, church government buildings, and other planning considerations for architects designing for Churches of Christ. Includes bibliography

Determination of Interface Atomic Structure and Its Impact on Spin Transport Using Z-Contrast Microscopy and Density-Functional Theory

We combine Z-contrast scanning transmission electron microscopy with density-functional-theory calculations to determine the atomic structure of the Fe/AlGaAs interface in spin-polarized light-emitting diodes. A 44% increase in spin-injection efficiency occurs after a low-temperature anneal, which produces an ordered, coherent interface consisting of a single atomic plane of alternating Fe and As atoms. First-principles transport calculations indicate that the increase in spin-injection efficiency is due to the abruptness and coherency of the annealed interface.Comment: 16 pages (including cover), 4 figure

Seasonal trends in air temperature and precipitation in IPCC AR4 GCM output for Kansas, USA: evaluation and implications

Understanding the impacts of future climate change in Kansas is important for agricultural and other socioeconomic sectors in the region. To quantify these impacts, seasonal trends in air temperature and precipitation patterns from decadally averaged monthly output of 21 global climate models under the Special Report on Emissions Scenarios A1B scenario used in the Intergovernmental Panel of Climate Change Assessment Report 4 are examined for six grid cells representing Kansas. To ascertain the performance of the models, we compared model output to kriged meteorological data from stations in the Global Historical Climate Network for the period from 1950 to 2000. Agreement between multimodel ensemble mean output and observations is very good for temperature (r2 all more than 0.99, root mean square errors range from 0.84 to 1.48°C) and good for precipitation (r2 ranging between 0.64 and 0.89, root mean square errors range from 322 to 1144 mm). Seasonal trends for the second half of the 20th century are generally not observed except in modelled temperature trends. Linear trends for the 21st century are significant for all seasons in all grid cells for temperature and many for precipitation. Results indicate that temperatures are likely to warm in all seasons, with the largest trends being on the order of 0.04 °C/year in summer and fall. Precipitation is likely to increase slightly in winter and decrease in summer and fall. These changes have profound implications for both natural ecosystems and agricultural land uses in the region. Copyright 2009 Royal Meteorological SocietyLand Institute Climate and Energy Project (NFP #49780-720) and the National Science Foundation EPSCoR program (NSF EPS #0553722