Identifying Locally Important Farmland: A Novel Approach to Cooperative GIS Analysis

Geographic information systems can be powerful and highly utilitarian tools for making land use decisions. However many local units of government may lack skills in the use and understanding of the capabilities of GIS. As an Extension educator, one could showcase GIS skills or educate the local units of government in terms of what GIS can do. By working with local government, educators could help develop basic and realistic expectations for GIS technical services. This support could reinforce Extension educators place in the decision-making process and facilitate the development of land use decisions based on real data and local input

Spatial redistribution of organic phosphorus in hay and grass pastures of eastern West Virginia following longterm animal manure applications

This study was conceived to investigate the fate of organic P (Po) in typical hay and grass pasture of eastern West Virginia. It is not uncommon in this region of West Virginia for hay and grass pastures to receive annual applications of animal manure, often on a nitrogen basis. As P management has evolved, many farms in the region have begun to use management tools such as a P index to continue use of animal manure as N fertilizer. However, many hay and grass pastures in the region already have a high degree of P saturation. There are reasonable expectations that in time the P saturation at these sites may reach thresholds whereby actions to lower P saturation become necessary. At such time it may become necessary to develop interception strategies to prevent movement of P into surface and ground water from there extremely saturated locations. While most P research focuses on P loss via surface erosion, or on tile drained land, and rarely is Po considered. To fully evaluate the risks of P loss and develop remediation and interception strategies, data specific to Po movement at field scales across complex landscapes is needed to increase assurances that existing research is compatible with or applicable to West Virginia pastures. To develop this data, sequentially extracted P fractions were measured in samples from both spatially-explicit locations across typical hay and grass pastures and from bench top experiments to evaluate the applicability of existing research. I examined patterns in Po distributions to determine if Po levels significantly exceeded what could be explained by changes in soil properties. Results support the presence of spatial structure in the variability of the NaHCO3 and HCl extractable Po fractions in some locations, but no purely spatial component is present in the variability of the NaOH and H2O extractable fractions. Various topographic parameters were evaluated to determine their efficacy in explaining Po variability and soil-landscape modeling techniques were successfully used to develop relatively simple models based on soil test P results and topographic data to predict the distributions of the sequential extracted Po fractions across these landscapes. The bench top experiment indicated no significant effects from actively growing plants or P sources on the disposition of Po. As such, the bench top results support the acceptance of existing data in decision making processes, and the field scale data supports development of soil landscape models to afford future environment professional a higher degree of understanding relative to the spatial distribution of sequentially extracted Po fractions at a landscape scale

Preferential flow and phosphorus translocation in benchmark soils of West Virginia

Preferential flow is a mechanistic description of water movement in a soil profile where much of the soil matrix is bypassed during periods of rapid infiltration. The occurrence of preferential flow could lead to the movement of phosphorus (P) down through the soil profile. The objectives of this research were (i) to verify the presence of preferential flow in benchmark West Virginia soil series and (ii) measure soil test phosphorus (STP) levels within the preferential flow pathways and the surrounding soil matrix to determine the effects of preferential flow on phosphorus distribution within the soil profile. A non-reactive dye (Brilliant Blue FD&C) was applied in a ponding application to identify the preferential flow pathways in selected benchmark soil series in pasture management schemes with long-term historical applications of animal waste. The dye applications were excavated and digital images of the preferential flow pathways were taken. Soil samples from the stained (preferential flow paths) and unstained (surrounding soil matrix) portions of the soil profile were collected within each pedogenic horizon and analyzed for STP. All selected series, exhibited preferential flow. STP levels were statistically higher (p=\u3c0.05) in the stained soil matrix

Reduction in size and unsteadiness of a VTOL ground vortex by ground fences

A ground vortex, produced when a jet impinges on the ground in the presence of cross flow, is encountered by V/STOL aircraft hovering near the ground and is known to be hazardous to the aircraft. The objective of this research was to identify a ground-based technique by which both the mean size and fluctuation in size of the ground vortex could be reduced. A simple passive method was identified and examined in the laboratory. Specifically, one or two fine wire mesh screens (ground fences) bent in a horseshoe shape and located on the ground in front of the jet impingement point proved to be very effective. The ground fences work by decreasing the momentum of the upstream-traveling wall jet, effectively causing a higher freestream-to-jet velocity ratio (V(sub infinity)/V(sub j)) and thus, a ground vortex smaller in size and unsteadiness. At(V(sub infinity)/V(sub j)) = 0.15, the addition of a single ground fence resulted in a 70 percent reduction in mean size of the ground vortex. With two ground fences, the mean size decreased by about 85 percent. Fluctuations in size decreased nearly in proportion to the mean size, for both the single and double fence configurations. These results were consistent over a wide range of jet Reynolds number (10(exp 4) less than Re(sub jet) less than 10(exp 5)); further development and full-scale Reynolds number testing are required, however, to determine if this technique can be made practical for the case of actual VTOL aircraft

Fighting HIV/AIDS: Reconfiguring the State?

The author wishes to thank the anonymous reviewers of the article and the ESRC for funding part of this research

Multiscale modeling of accidental explosions and detonations

pre-printAccidental explosions are exceptionally dangerous and costly, both in lives and money. Regarding worldwide conflict with small arms and light weapons, the Small Arms Survey has recorded more than 297 accidental explosions in munitions depots across the world that have resulted in thousands of deaths and billions of dollars in damage in the past decade alone.1 As the recent fertilizer plant explosion that killed 15 people in the town of West, Texas demonstrates, accidental explosions aren't limited to military operations. Transportation accidents also pose risks, as illustrated by the occasional train derailment/explosion in the nightly news, or the semi-truck explosion detailed in the following section. Unlike other industrial accident scenarios, explosions can easily affect the general public, a dramatic example being the Pacific Engineering and Production Company of Nevada (PEPCON) plant disaster in 1988, where windows were shattered, doors were blown off their hinges, and flying glass and debris caused injuries up to 10 miles away

Family practices and temporality at breakfast: hot spots, convenience and care

Drawing on 34 semi-structured interviews, this study investigates the temporality of family practices taking place in the hot spot (Southerton, 2003). It does so by looking at how breakfast is inserted in the economy of family time in Italy. Our data show that breakfast, contrary to other meals, allows the adoption of more individualised and asynchronous practices, hinged on the consumption of convenience products. These time-saving strategies are normalised as part of doing family. Although the existing literature suggests that convenience and care are in opposition, and consumers of convenience products can experience anxiety and a lack of personal integrity, such features were not a dominant feature of our participants’ accounts. These findings suggest that the dichotomies of hot/cold spots and care/convenience are not always experienced in opposition when embedded within family practices. Hence, this study furthers understandings of family meals, temporality and the distinction between hot and cold spots