Economic and Environmental Contributions of Wetlands in Agricultural Landscapes

The purpose of this project was to determine key environmental and economic relationships between agricultural practices and wetlands in the Prairie Pothole Region (PPR) of eastern South Dakota. Water quality and water quantity variables were the key environmental parameters examined. Economic cost and returns by farm management system and wetland proximity were the key economic parameters. The three farm management systems examined were conventional (CON) transitional no-till (TNT), and organic (ORG). The TNT and CON management systems used synthetic fertilizers and chemical pesticides. The ORG system used no synthetic fertilizers and generally no chemical pesticides. The ORG system had greater emphasis on alfalfa and lower emphasis on corn and soybean production. Water budgets were determined for upland and wetland sites. At the wetland site, run-on was the major input to the water budget (60%). Overflow accounted for 3 6% of the wetland output and surface storage /seepage accounted for 40%. Evapotranspiration at the wetland site was much lower than at the upland site. Nitrate concentrations were consistently higher in the semi-permanent wetland areas than the seasonal wetland areas. The data show a steady decrease in phosphate concentration as we move upland in the landscape. Higher concentrations in wetland than upland groundwater may indicate that some soluble P is moving through the system and/or the sorption capacity of wetland soils is exceeded. Economic returns and costs of the three farming systems were estimated for 1992 - 1994 at the whole-farm and crop field level. The relative ranking of net returns by management systems were: TNT \u3e CON \u3e ORG, unless organic premiums are a major source of gross income. Production costs per acre by management system from lowest to highest were ORG \u3c TNT \u3c CON. The organic (ORG) system had lower reported average yields and considerably lower production costs per acre than the other management systems. The TNT system had the least diversity of crop rotations, intermediate-level production costs, and similar yields or higher yields than reported in the CON system. The added costs of more tillage and machinery operations in the CON system exceeded any reduction in chemical costs compared to the TNT system. Biomass production and most corn/soybean yields were lowest adjacent to wetland sites and increased to peak production at 150 to 300 feet out. Several years of crop budget estimates for ORG, CON, and TNT fields adjacent to monitored wetland sites indicated substandard net returns in most years

Neighbourhood deprivation and the Big Five personality traits : associations with adolescent problem behaviour and educational attainment

Funding: The UK Medical Research Council and Wellcome (Grant ref: 102215/2/13/2) and the University of Bristol provide core support for ALSPAC. A comprehensive list of grants funding is available on the ALSPAC website. This research was specifically funded by the European Research Council under the European Union's Seventh Framework Programme (FP/2007-2013) / ERC Grant Agreement n. 615159 (ERC Consolidator Grant DEPRIVEDHOODS, Socio-spatial inequality, deprived neighbourhoods, and neighbourhood effects).We studied the relation between cumulative exposure to neighbourhood deprivation and adolescents’ Big Five personality traits, and the moderating role of personality in the relation between neighbourhood deprivation and the development of problem behaviour and educational attainment. We studied 5365 British adolescents from ages 10 to 16, with neighbourhood information from birth onwards. Extraversion, agreeableness, emotional stability, and openness to experience moderated the relation between deprivation and problem behaviour. For educational attainment, only extraversion was a moderator. This means that higher values on personality traits were related to weaker relations between neighbourhood deprivation and problem behaviour and educational attainment. The results showed the importance of taking into account adolescents’ personality when assessing developmental outcomes in relation to neighbourhood deprivation.Publisher PDFPeer reviewe

Gonadotropin-Releasing Hormone and Adipokinetic Hormone Signaling Systems Share a Common Evolutionary Origin

Gonadotropin-releasing hormone (GnRH) is a critical and central hormone that regulates vertebrate reproduction. The high conservation of GnRH signaling within the chordates (deuterostomians) raises the important question as to whether its appearance might date back prior to the divergence of protostomian and deuterostomian lineages, about 700 million years ago. This leads to several important questions regarding the evolution of the GnRH family. Has GnRH been retained in most protostomian lineages? And was regulation of reproduction already a function of ancestral GnRH? The first question can undoubtedly be answered affirmatively since several GnRH-like sequences have been found in wide variety of protostomian and deuterostomian phyla. However, based on their different primary functions in different phyla – which implies a less unanimous answer on the second question – consistency in the nomenclature of this peptide family has been lost. A comparative and phylogenetic approach shows that the ecdysozoan adipokinetic hormones (AKHs), lophotrochozoan GnRHs and chordate GnRHs are structurally related and suggests that they all originate from a common ancestor. This review supports the view that the AKH–GnRH signaling system probably arose very early in metazoan evolution, prior to the divergence of protostomians and deuterostomians

Start a Math Teacher Circle: Connect K-12 Teachers with Engaging, Approachable, and Meaningful Mathematical Problems

Many K-12 math teachers are not ready to teach from a conceptual and inquiry-oriented perspective because they have an algorithmic understanding of mathematics. One solution is to create a math teacher circle (MTC), which provides conceptual and inquiry-based learning activities and builds professionalism among the teachers. In this paper, we describe the origins of two such MTCs, highlighting the process of identifying leadership team members, submitting the grant proposal for seed money, and hosting launch events, intensive summer workshops, and monthly meetings during the academic year. We also share opportunities for professional development for college and university faculty, including research linked to shifts in in-service teacher attitudes. We finish the paper with several of this year’s best activities used at our MTC meetings, including fair division, extensions and generalizations of numerical and algebraic patterns, and applications in cryptography

Experimental and simulation study on heat transfer in fluidized beds with heat production: An integrated DIA/PIV/IR technique and CFD-DEM

As a result of highly exothermic reactions taking place in gas-phase olefin polymerization fluidized bed reactors, difficulties concerning the heat management play an important role in the optimization of these reactors. To get a better understanding of the particle temperature distribution in fluidized beds, a high speed infrared (IR) camera and a visual camera have been coupled to obtain the hydrodynamics and thermal aspects of a pseudo-2D fluidized bed (1), as shown in figure 1. The hydrodynamics are characterized by digital image analysis and particle image velocimetry (DIA/PIV) and the heat properties by IR. The experimental data is used to validate an in-house developed computational fluid dynamics and discrete element model (CFD-DEM). In order to mimic the heat effect due to the exothermic polymerization reaction in the pseudo-2D fluidized bed reactor, a model system was used. In this model system, heat is released in zeolite 13X particles (1.8~2.0 mm) due the adsorption of CO­2. Characteristics of the adsorption kinetics, isotherm and reaction enthalpy have been achieved by performing Thermogravimetric Analysis (TGA) and Simultaneous Thermal Analysis (STA). By feeding gas mixtures of CO­2 and N2 uniformly to the reactor, the rate of adsorption can be controlled in order to obtain a pseudo-steady state of heat production in the bed. The combined technique provides insightful information on the particle temperature distribution for different CO2 concentrations, bed aspect ratios and background superficial velocities. Furthermore, the comparison of the spatial and temporal distribution of the particle temperature distribution in fluidized beds with the simulation results of CFD-DEM provides qualitative and quantitative validation of the CFD-DEM, in particular concerning the thermal aspects. Please click Additional Files below to see the full abstract

Symptomatic and Functional Remission in Young Adults with a Psychotic Disorder in a Rehabilitation Focused Team

The aim of this study is to assess symptomatic remission (SR) and functional remission (FR) in a rehabilitation focused program for young adults with a psychotic disorder in the Netherlands, and to investigate which individual and mental health care factors are associated with SR and/or FR, by using Routine Outcome Monitoring data and data on met needs and unmet needs for care. Data of 287 young adults were collected. Almost 40% achieved or maintained SR, 34% FR, and 26% achieved or maintained both. In addition to sociodemographic factors, living independently, paid employment, higher levels of compliance with treatment, and better fulfillment of unmet needs for care in relation to psychological distress, company and daytime activities were associated with better outcomes on SR and/or FR. Our findings underscore that to successfully improve and sustain remission in young adults with a psychotic disorder, it is needed to conduct specific research into the relationship between SR and FR