The National Weather Service\u27s Polygon Method: Warning Dissemination of the Future

The National Weather Service (NWS) is continuously improving its forecasting skills, but forecasters still cannot accurately predict the path of a tornado or a severe thunderstorm. The NWS has developed a new warning system in which the warned area is outlined by a polygon, not a county boundary. The polygon-waming approach is expected to significantly reduce the total square-mile area of warnings not followed by an event, called the False Alarm Area. There are three central issues concerning the failure of the polygon-warning method: I) the size of the counties impacted by a storm, 2) the impact of the new warning system on visual and auditory warning methods, and 3) the communication between the NWS, media, and emergency management. If the polygon-warning method is going to be a practical alternative to the countywarning method, then warning disseminators will have to work together to provide the most consistent method of communicating severe-weather wamings to citizens who are in immediate danger

A Survey of Drought Impacts and Mitigation Planning in Kentucky

Drought is a well-known and costly climate-related natural hazard. Unlike other climate-related natural hazards, droughts are usually long in duration and may cover a large region, the physical boundaries of areas affected by drought are sometimes arbitrary, and the impacts are sometimes difficult to identify. Climate records since 1895 show that drought has occurred periodically in Kentucky. The drought of 2007 was the most recent drought to affect Kentucky and is the primary focus of this research. The purpose of this research is to identify impacts of drought and potential vulnerabilities to various drought impact sectors in Kentucky so that policymakers can develop a drought plan that addresses these vulnerabilities and emphasizes mitigation efforts. An historical analysis of drought was provided for the following droughts that occurred in Kentucky: 1930-31, 1940-42, 1952-55, 1987-88, and 1999-2001. A more indepth analysis of the development and impacts of the drought of 2007 was conducted. Weekly drought reports from the drought of 2007 that were published by the Kentucky Division of Water were used for analysis.The reports discussed streamflows, PDSI values, precipitation deficits, lake levels reports from the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, and other information that documented the progress of the drought. Impacts caused by the drought of 2007 were identified mostly through news reports. Agriculture and water supplies were determined to be most impacted by drought; therefore, two separate surveys (one regarding drought impacts on agriculture in 2007, the other regarding drought impacts on water supplies in 2007) were created to increase the understanding of how the drought of 2007 affected agriculture and water supplies in Kentucky. Other impacts from the drought of 2007 that were studied include impacts on recreation and tourism, the number of fires and wildland fires, plant and animal species, and small businesses. It was found that droughts that have affected Kentucky have originated in all directions and have spread northward, southward, eastward, and westward into Kentucky. The temporal scale of these droughts has also varied. Impacts caused by the drought of 2007 in Kentucky were very similar to impacts caused by historical droughts. However, the documentation of drought impacts that occur in Kentucky needs improvement. Agricultural impacts are documented better than any other impact, while impacts on water supplies, recreation and tourism, the occurrence of wildland fires, plant and animal species, and small businesses are not as well documented. It is recommended that conducting an extensive analysis of how various sectors are vulnerable to drought in Kentucky and educating the public on the importance of drought awareness should be addressed by policymakers involved in the development of Kentucky’s state drought plan

BUILDING A SUSTAINABLE NETWORK OF DROUGHT COMMUNITIES

The first step in managing large-scale (national) collaborations and networks is to consider and address how a group and a potential partnership may match up (Luther, 2005). To explore this concept and many other collaborative concepts, the National Integrated Drought Information System (NIDIS) hosted a workshop, “Building a Sustainable Network of Drought Communities,” which was facilitated by the National Drought Mitigation Center (NDMC) in Chicago, IL, June 8-9, 2011. The workshop explored current examples of good communication and lessons learned within the realm of drought planning in order to address a future NIDIS Engaging Preparedness Communities (EPC) working group that is solution-focused and collaborative. With the diversity and experience of the participants at this meeting, a wealth of good practices or lessons learned in drought planning, preparedness, and general stakeholder engagement set the pathway for building a sustainable community of drought practitioners. In his opening remarks, NIDIS Director Roger Pulwarty noted that adaptive institutions can show robustness in the following ways: Levels of alertness—monitoring the external world for early warning signs that key assumptions are likely to verify/fail and a commitment to rigorous monitoring of performance; Agility—the ability to react to early warning signs of problems or opportunities; flow of knowledge across components, and to adjust strategies and tactics rapidly to meet changes in the environment; and Alignment—the ability to align the whole organization (and partners) to its mission-policies and practices that give rise to failures/successes. Through an interactive workshop format that used Appreciative Inquiry (framing breakout sessions on success), the group was able to effectively discuss topics such as: • Integrating Planning Efforts • Planning Under Uncertainty • Evaluating, Assessing, and Updating Drought Plans • Leveraging Resources for Risk Management • Implementing Plans and Planning Information • Synthesizing Success Stories and Lessons Learned • Creating a Sustainable Network of Drought Professionals The most common themes resulting from the workshop included: • Importance of networking and collaboration—this is a necessity. Figuring out how to make it seamless is the main goal that the NIDIS EPC Community should foster. Good communication is the key among the drought practitioners and their stakeholders. • Celebrate success—in this future drought network, successes related to drought efforts should be highlighted within the community and to the public. This will help drive future positive interactions and collaborations. It also gives the community a sense of pride. • “Stakeholder Buy-In”—why should stakeholders stay engaged in an ongoing drought community? Especially when there is no drought? Again, good communication and collaborations with other multi-hazard, sustainability, and natural resources planning efforts will help keep drought a priority. • Economic, environmental, and social aspects of planning for drought—these should always be considered. This was a recurrent theme in the workshop. • Planners should not “reinvent the wheel”—planners involved in climate adaptation work can and should reference the best drought planning resources and case studies to help them incorporate drought in their overall planning efforts. • “Have a plan for the plan”—how and who will make it happen? What kind of leadership is needed within the NIDIS EPC community to track its progress and success? • Sharing of resources—as budgets become slimmer, a central location of available resources and the sharing of resources in the area of drought preparedness and mitigation is necessary. Communication regarding these potential resources should also be integrated into this NIDIS EPC community. Since the occurrence of the workshop, several EPC-related activities have taken place, including a webinar in December 2011. This workshop report and additional EPC updates will be placed on the U.S. Drought portal (www.drought.gov). Currently, the American Planning Association (APA), NIDIS and the NDMC are collaborating to produce a Planning Advisory Service (PAS) Report to connect drought mitigation resources with the planning practices of local, regional, tribal and state governments. This builds on the work of the APA’s Hazard Planning Center, which produced a similar PAS Report (sponsored by FEMA) on how to integrate multi-hazard planning into planning practices. In May 2012: The APA’s drought planning project webpage went live and can be found at: http://www.planning.org/research/drought/index.ht

Draft Genome Sequences from a Novel Clade of <i>Bacillus cereus Sensu Lato </i>Strains, Isolated from the International Space Station

The draft genome sequences of six Bacillus strains, isolated from the International Space Station and belonging to the Bacillus anthracis-B. cereus-B. thuringiensis group, are presented here. These strains were isolated from the Japanese Experiment Module (one strain), U.S. Harmony Node 2 (three strains), and Russian Segment Zvezda Module (two strains)

The Role of Presenilin and its Interacting Proteins in the Biogenesis of Alzheimer’s Beta Amyloid

The biogenesis and accumulation of the beta amyloid protein (Aβ) is a key event in the cascade of oxidative and inflammatory processes that characterises Alzheimer’s disease. The presenilins and its interacting proteins play a pivotal role in the generation of Aβ from the amyloid precursor protein (APP). In particular, three proteins (nicastrin, aph-1 and pen-2) interact with presenilins to form a large multi-subunit enzymatic complex (γ-secretase) that cleaves APP to generate Aβ. Reconstitution studies in yeast and insect cells have provided strong evidence that these four proteins are the major components of the γ-secretase enzyme. Current research is directed at elucidating the roles that each of these protein play in the function of this enzyme. In addition, a number of presenilin interacting proteins that are not components of γ-secretase play important roles in modulating Aβ production. This review will discuss the components of the γ-secretase complex and the role of presenilin interacting proteins on γ-secretase activity

The Drosophila melanogaster Genetic Reference Panel

A major challenge of biology is understanding the relationship between molecular genetic variation and variation in quantitative traits, including fitness. This relationship determines our ability to predict phenotypes from genotypes and to understand how evolutionary forces shape variation within and between species. Previous efforts to dissect the genotype&ndash;phenotype map were based on incomplete genotypic information. Here, we describe the Drosophila melanogaster Genetic Reference Panel (DGRP), a community resource for analysis of population genomics and quantitative traits. The DGRP consists of fully sequenced inbred lines derived from a natural population. Population genomic analyses reveal reduced polymorphism in centromeric autosomal regions and the X chromosome, evidence for positive and negative selection, and rapid evolution of the X chromosome. Many variants in novel genes, most at low frequency, are associated with quantitative traits and explain a large fraction of the phenotypic variance. The DGRP facilitates genotype&ndash;phenotype mapping using the power of Drosophila genetics

Improving Drought Management for Transboundary River Basins in the United States through Collaborative Environmental Planning

Increasing demand for water and the uncertainty of climate change have put pressure on the global water supply, presenting one of the greatest challenges of the 21st Century for human development. Drought is a natural hazard that further compromises water supply and increases competition among water use sectors. These challenges confirm the need for comprehensive water supply and drought planning. Planning for water, however, is often conducted within political boundaries that are not consistent with the water resource’s natural boundaries, which can result in conflict. Collaborative environmental planning is a sub-discipline of planning that can address the occurrence of drought in a transboundary river basin. Little research has been done to explore drought planning for transboundary basins at the U.S. state level. This research answers the following question: How are water planning agencies using collaborative planning to improve the management of drought in transboundary basins in the U.S.? To address this question, 12 basins in the U.S. that are planning for drought were identified, and semi-structured phone interviews were conducted with basin-level drought planners. Participants were interviewed about drought management strategies, the role of collaboration and coordination in the planning process, and recommendations for drought planning in a transboundary basin based on experiences with successes and barriers. It was found that while the drought planning process is similar for all basins, each basin implements drought management strategies that are unique to their circumstances in the basin. The research also found that collaboration and coordination are necessary components of drought planning for transboundary basins. Recommendations made by interview participants based on their experiences with successes and barriers centered upon increasing collaboration and coordination, increasing communication, addressing government and legal matters, improving the quality of information, refining the planning process, and identifying and engaging stakeholders. Further research is recommended to determine the necessity of having an institution for coordination to assist with planning in a transboundary basin. Adviser: Michael J. Haye