The 21st Century Utility: Securing a Sustainable Water Supply

All water utilities and private wells rely on natural assets to provide water. These assets include watersheds, open space, rivers, lakes, groundwater, and aquifers. Natural and built (man-made) capital assets provide and filter clean water for every sector of the economy including agriculture, industry, businesses and households. Healthy watersheds reliably provision and filter water, saving ratepayers billions of dollars compared to filtration plants. These same watersheds provide a suite of other benefits including biodiversity, habitat, recreation, flood protection, aesthetic and cultural value.Many utilities want to invest more in their watersheds. Some own, manage or hold easements on parts or all of their watersheds. But there’s a problem: These watersheds are only valued (on the balance sheets) for the bare land and timber value. The most important element of these lands – water provisioning and filtration of water – count for zero value. In contrast, more expensive, less resilient, and relatively short-lived built capital options including filtration plants, pipes, or desalinization plants have clear asset value. This leaves the natural capital assets of watersheds underfunded for acquisition, restoration, easements, and maintenance. Today’s accounting rules for utilities, local and state government were created a century ago to accommodate the construction of built water utility infrastructure. The rules for state and local government are set by the Government Accounting Standards Board (GASB). With their focus on built capital, these rules present a major barrier to securing watershed health and water supply: only built capital counts on the balance sheets of utilities, biasing funding mechanisms towards built solutions that are often more costly and less efficient than natural systems.Earth Economics and several major water utilities in the United States are leading a national effort to explore the implications of a change in national accounting standards. Following a recent workshop, the working group was formed to propose and justify changes to GASB rules for natural capital, look at rate structures, review asset management plans, and to identify funding mechanisms for watershed management activities. A change in national accounting rules would apply to government assets at all levels and shift needed investment towards green infrastructure. The case of water utilities presents a clear and definitive case of the need for better natural capital accounting

Salud Reproductiva de Mujeres en Edad Fertil de la Zona de Intag: Deteccion Oportuna del Cancer Cervico Uterino (DOC) Papanicolaou

El cáncer delcuello uterino es el segundo más frecuente tipo de cáncer entre las mujeres a nivel mundial (15). La falta de planificación resulta en una alta incidencia de partos y abortos. Estos factores, junto con otros, significan una predisposición al cáncer del cuello uterino (18). El tratamiento más efectivo en la lucha contra este cáncer, es la prevención a través de la detección temprana por el examen de papanicolaou (16, 15,17). En la zona de Intag, localizada en Ecuador, 289 mujeres se realizaron papanicolaou y fueron encuestadas sobre su salud reproductiva. El estudio presente tiene por objetivo determinar si existe una relación entre el nivel de educación de una mujer, su conocimiento de papanicolaou y si ella está en riesgo de padecer de cáncer. Una mujer que asistió la secundaria es 3,5 veces menos probable que tenga más que 6 partos,1,4 veces menos probable que tenga un aborto y1,5 veces más probable que se haya realizado alguna vez un papanicolaou. Este estudio muestra la importancia de la educación en la salud reproductiva de la mujer. Cervical cancer is the second most common type of cancer among women worldwide (15). Lack of family planning which subsequently leads to a high amount of births and miscarriages composes, among other factors, a predisposition to cervical cancer (18). The most effective treatment of cervical cancer is early detection by papanicolaou or Pap smear (16, 15,17, 18). In the Intag region of Ecuador, 289 women had a pap smear and were interviewed about their reproductive health. This goal of this study was to determine if a relationship exists between the education level of a woman and her knowledge of the pap test and her vulnerability to cervical cancer. A woman who has gone to high school is 3.5 times likely to have less than 6 parities, 1.4 times less likely to have a miscarriage and 1.5 times more likely to have had a previous papanicolaou than her counterpart without an education. This study highlights the importance education plays in the role of women\u27s reproductive health

Implementing a Fitness and Nutrition Program for Special Olympics Athletes

Introduction: Only 17-30% of individuals with ID meet the recommendations for daily exercise Populations of individuals with ID have higher BMI, lower cardiovascular fitness and lower muscle strength compared to the general population Individuals with ID also have many dietary challenges necessitating nutritional education and interventions One study following four athletes with ID, showed that pairing athletes with and without (unified sports) resulted in a positive change in social self-concept for athletes with ID Given the above, we: Created a 6-week pilot training and nutrition program for Special Olympics Vermont (SOVT). Paired athletes with ID with college athletes without ID to promote wellness during the athlete’s off season.https://scholarworks.uvm.edu/comphp_gallery/1229/thumbnail.jp

From theoretical to actual ecosystem services: Mapping beneficiaries and spatial flows in ecosystem service assessments

Ecosystem services mapping and modeling has focused more on supply than demand, until recently. Whereas the potential provision of economic benefits from ecosystems to people is often quantified through ecological production functions, the use of and demand for ecosystem services has received less attention, as have the spatial flows of services from ecosystems to people. However, new modeling approaches that map and quantify service-specific sources (ecosystem capacity to provide a service), sinks (biophysical or anthropogenic features that deplete or alter service flows), users (user locations and level of demand), and spatial flows can provide a more complete understanding of ecosystem services. Through a case study in Puget Sound, Washington State, USA, we quantify and differentiate between the theoretical or in situ provision of services, i.e., ecosystems\u27 capacity to supply services, and their actual provision when accounting for the location of beneficiaries and the spatial connections that mediate service flows between people and ecosystems. Our analysis includes five ecosystem services: carbon sequestration and storage, riverine flood regulation, sediment regulation for reservoirs, open space proximity, and scenic viewsheds. Each ecosystem service is characterized by different beneficiary groups and means of service flow. Using the ARtificial Intelligence for Ecosystem Services (ARIES) methodology we map service supply, demand, and flow, extending on simpler approaches used by past studies to map service provision and use. With the exception of the carbon sequestration service, regions that actually provided services to people, i.e., connected to beneficiaries via flow paths, amounted to 16-66% of those theoretically capable of supplying services, i.e., all ecosystems across the landscape. These results offer a more complete understanding of the spatial dynamics of ecosystem services and their effects, and may provide a sounder basis for economic valuation and policy applications than studies that consider only theoretical service provision and/or use. © 2014 by the author(s)

The Perfect Spill: Solutions for Averting the Next Deepwater Horizon

In this article the authors comment on the oil spill incident from the Deepwater Horizon, particularly on its economic and ecological damages. The authors highlighted the disaster as an event wherein much is needed to be learned so that future oil spills can be avoided. One lesson refers to the valuability of natural capital assets and other public entities that are at risks due to private interests and that better regulations and incentives are needed to protect these assets against risks

A methodology for adaptable and robust ecosystem services assessment

Ecosystem Services (ES) are an established conceptual framework for attributing value to the benefits that nature provides to humans. As the promise of robust ES-driven management is put to the test, shortcomings in our ability to accurately measure, map, and value ES have surfaced. On the research side, mainstream methods for ES assessment still fall short of addressing the complex, multi-scale biophysical and socioeconomic dynamics inherent in ES provision, flow, and use. On the practitioner side, application of methods remains onerous due to data and model parameterization requirements. Further, it is increasingly clear that the dominant one model fits all paradigm is often ill-suited to address the diversity of real-world management situations that exist across the broad spectrum of coupled human-natural systems. This article introduces an integrated ES modeling methodology, named ARIES (ARtificial Intelligence for Ecosystem Services), which aims to introduce improvements on these fronts. To improve conceptual detail and representation of ES dynamics, it adopts a uniform conceptualization of ES that gives equal emphasis to their production, flow and use by society, while keeping model complexity low enough to enable rapid and inexpensive assessment in many contexts and for multiple services. To improve fit to diverse application contexts, the methodology is assisted by model integration technologies that allow assembly of customized models from a growing model base. By using computer learning and reasoning, model structure may be specialized for each application context without requiring costly expertise. In this article we discuss the founding principles of ARIES - both its innovative aspects for ES science and as an example of a new strategy to support more accurate decision making in diverse application contexts

Reenvisioning Water Jurisdictions and Value in Our Puget Sound Watersheds

Batker will discuss the social benefits of water in the Puget Sound. He will set the stage by reviewing economic background conditions, and then move on to propose a new way of considering ecological economics in this region: 1. Ecological sustainability as a foundation for economic sustainability. 2. The need to make decisions about fairness and property rights, equity, etc. 3. The need to create economic progress and efficiency. 4. Getting good governance -- how do we create institutions that govern well and do good, for resources management?Earth Economics

Ethnic women\u27s literature and politics: The cultural construction of gender in early twentieth-century America

Ethnic women in early twentieth-century America constituted a significant literary and political presence. Their gender politics were varied, according to the specifics of historical and cultural location. My dissertation demonstrates the heterogeneity of gender politics early in this century by detailing how ethnic women\u27s fiction contests the political discourses of ethnic women. I use the multiplicity of issues in Native American, African American, and Jewish American women\u27s texts to illustrate the importance of grounding gender in a particular historical moment. In addition, my study examines the ways in which ethnic women in the United States have used discourse to empower themselves. By reading fiction in relation to political history, I demonstrate how literary strategies of resistance are culturally constructed. An exploratory venture in method, this work develops a historically specific critical practice. Drawing on current feminist criticism as well as poststructuralist theory, I focus initially on the ways in which contemporary critical practices continue to obscure the political agendas in ethnic women\u27s texts. The subsequent four chapters demonstrate how narrative contests rather than reflects history. History, like literature, is dynamic and conflicted; accordingly, I construct pluralistic histories in each chapter, detailing the debates over class, sexual, and ethnic politics within ethnic women\u27s communities. I argue that novels appropriate and rewrite political discourses acting as interpreters, using history to legitimate particular politics. I argue, for instance, that Their Eyes Were Watching God employs the language of the black women\u27s club movement and the Classic Blues to refute racist and classist sexual ideologies which position African American women as libidinous, while it simultaneously struggles to advocate sexual subjectivity for women. Drawing upon the writings of Jewish women labor organizers and social workers, as well as Orthodox teachings and the literature of the Haskalah movement, I suggest that Bread Givers challenges notions of femininity which were opposed to manual and wage labor. My final two chapters argue that Mourning Dove\u27s Cogewea employs Native American women\u27s writing from the turn-of-the-century Pan-Indian movement to counter assimilationist ideology and represent gender as a specific means of resisting cultural imperialism

Mitogen activated protein kinase expression in murine C2C12 myogenesis in vitro

Mitogen Activated Protein Kinases (MAPKs) are a conserved family of enzymes that form distinct signaling cascades. MAPKs play a vital role in the organism, responding to growth factors and chemical and physical stresses by phosphorylating cytoplasmic proteins, thereby initiating short term changes or activating specific transcription factors which initiate long term cellular changes (Chang and Karin 2001; Widegren et al., 2000). There are three specifically regulated MAP kinases: extracellular signal-related kinases (ERK 1/2/5), p38 proteins (p38α/β/γ/δ)) and c-Jun amino-terminal kinases (JNK1/2/3). JNK and p38 can be induced by cytokines and are associated with inflammation and apoptosis induction and regulation (Cwalina, 2006; Chang and Karin 2001). ERKs are activated predominantly by growth factors and as a result regulate cell growth and promote hypertrophy (Chang and Karin 2001). Limited research exists which tracks the expression, phosphorylation and subsequent activation of all four differentially regulated MAPK pathways throughout myogenesis. The present research sought to determine the expression, phosphorylation and activation of five MAPKs: ERK1, ERK2, p38Ф±, JNK2 and ERK5, throughout C2C12 murine myogenesis. Myogenesis is the process by which muscle cells proliferate and later differentiate from mononucleated myoblasts to myofibrils. The process of myogenesis is modeled in vitro with the C2C12 cell line where samples were taken at three different time points myoblasts (day 0 (DO) from differentiating medium step down), early myotubes (D4) and late myotubes (D10). To determine that the C2C12 cell line underwent myogenesis, two proteins PCNA and cyclin D1 whose expression are linked to the cell cycle were utilized. As myoblasts progressed to myotubes there was a significant decrease in the amount of both PCNA and cyclin D1. Furthermore throughout myogenesis, ERK1 and ERK2 activation (phosphorylation/expression) increased significantly while p38α activation had no significant change and JNK2 and ERK5 activation decreased significantly. The results indicate that ERK1 and ERK2 activation must be essential for myoblast maturation to early and late myotubes