Geology and Wine in Missouri: Spatial Analysis of Terroir Using a Geographic Information System and Remote Sensing

The concept of terroir, based on the French word meaning \u27sense of place,\u27 suggests that flavor and quality of wine is associated with certain physical characteristics of the earth as well as viticulture and viniculture practices. The physical characteristics of terroir include soil, geology, topography, and climate. Designated American Viticultural Areas (AVAs) are discrete appellations in the United States that have well-established and historic viticultural practices, but the relationship between terroir and AVA appellations is complex. Wineries are a growing industry in the United States and the use of a GIS and remote sensing has proved useful in many other studies on terroir and in consulting vineyard owners on management practices. This study examines the relationships between terroir and viticultural areas in Missouri. USDA National Agriculture Imagery Program (NAIP) aerial photographs and soil maps, USGS digital elevation models, and Missouri Division of Geology and Land Survey geologic maps are used to develop a Missouri vineyard geodatabases for four study areas. These data are used to create suitability maps for viticulture regions, describe the physical characteristics of vineyards in these four Missouri wine regions, and finally describe the terroir of each region and propose a new AVA appellation be created in the Ste. Genevieve wine-region of Missouri

An exploratory study to help clarify the nurse's role, as a mental health team member, in assisting the family with the health care of its pre-school mentally retarded child

Thesis (M.S.)--Boston Universit

The Terroir of Pinot Noir Wine in the Willamette Valley, Oregon : A Broad Analysis of Vineyard Soils, Grape Juice and Wine Chemistry

Terroir is determined by a combination of factors in the vineyard including the grape varietal, geology and soil, soil hydrology, physiography, and climate. Although most studies have examined regional differences in wine flavors and associated provenance of wine based on chemistry, few have examined the chemistry of the soil and the ability to trace that chemistry to grape juice and, finally, to the wine. This dissertation examines what soil physical and chemical differences specific to this region might influence grape juice chemistry and wine chemistry. Wine-grapes in the Willamette Valley, Oregon, are grown on three major soil parent materials: volcanic, marine sediments, and loess/volcanic. Winemakers have observed differences in the flavor of Pinot Noir wine made from grapes grown on these different parent materials. This dissertation examines differences in the soil properties and elemental chemistry of the soil parent materials at various vineyards to document their effect on wine chemistry as a step towards understanding differences in flavor. All aspects of the terroir are controlled by carefully selecting vineyards with similar exposure and elevation, the same grape varietal and wine making techniques, and only the soils vary. The hypothesis is that the chemistry of the grape juice and wine reflect the soil in which the grapes were grown and that the three parent materials have soils that can be distinguished by their physical and chemical characteristics. Soil pits were excavated in 20 vineyards, soil properties were described in the field, and soil samples were later analyzed in the laboratory particle size, organic matter, color, pH, cation exchange capacity (ammonium acetate method), clay mineralogy (x-ray diffraction), and elemental chemistry (ICP-MS/AES). X-ray fluorescence was used to examine the pisolites. ICP-MS/AES was used for elemental analysis of grape juice and wines produced from these vineyards. Principal component analysis was used to compare soil physical and chemical characteristics, grape juice and wine chemistry. The physical characteristics of soils from all the three parent materials indicate: they are old (\u3e50,000 years) based on their high clay content, low cation exchange capacity, red colors, and high Fe and Al content. These features indicate enough time has passed to reduce organic matter and other cations at depth, leave behind insoluble Fe and Al, and develop pedogenic clays. In my study region, volcanic and marine sediment soils are more developed with slightly lower acidity than the loess/volcanic soils. A new finding for this region is the presence of pisolites (Fe/Mg concretions) in the volcanic and the loess/volcanic soils, but absent in the marine sediment soils. Winemakers hypothesized that pisolites were present only in loess soils and influenced wine flavor in some way. Volcanic soils have the highest P, S, Fe, Co, Mn, and V concentrations and the lowest As and Sr values. Marine sediment soils have higher Cl and Sr and lower P, Co, Mn, Ba, and V concentrations than volcanic soils. Loess soils have the highest values of K and Mg and are similar to volcanic soils with higher P and V values and similar to marine sediment soils with higher Sr values. The main elements found to be significant in determining one parent material from another are V and Mn (volcanic soils), Mg and K (loess soils), and Sr (marine sediment or loess soils). Sr is slightly higher in grape juice and wine from vines grown on marine sediment parent material compared to volcanic and loess parent material, whereas Mn is higher in the juice and wine from grapes grown in volcanic parent material. P, S, Fe, Co, V, Cl, Ba, Mg, and K did not maintain their relative concentration levels from soil to grape juice to wine. The principal component analysis shows that soil and wine chemistry differs between parent material, but is inconclusive for grape juice chemistry

Students’ Willingness to Purchase Vegan Menu Items in the National School Lunch Program

Offering plant-based options in school lunches may help schools meet U.S. Department of Agriculture nutrient standards by providing students with options that are low in fat and cholesterol-free. Research indicates that well- planned vegetarian and vegan diets are appropriate for all ages and have certain health benefits; however, it is not clear whether students are willing to incorporate vegetarian foods into their diets. We assessed students’ willingness to purchase vegan menu items in school lunches and evaluate the nutrient profiles of vegan and nonvegan menu items offered. Vegan items were offered once per week for four weeks in elementary and middle school cafeterias located in a demographically diverse school district. Researchers tracked menu items sold, nutrients of menu items offered, and ease of vegan item preparation. Vegan options accounted for more than half of the average number of meals sold at each school on study days. Vegan menu items were lower in total fat, saturated fat, and energy and provided more dietary fiber compared with the competing foods. Food service managers indicated that vegan menu items were easy to prepare. Students are willing to purchase vegan options offered in the school lunch line. Offering vegan school lunches on a regular basis may help food service directors meet nutrient standards and improve child nutrition

Using automated voice messages linked to telephone counselling to increase post-menstrual regulation contraceptive uptake and continuation in Bangladesh: study protocol for a randomised controlled trial.

BACKGROUND: Adoption of modern contraceptive methods after menstrual regulation (MR) is thought to reduce subsequent unwanted pregnancy and abortion. Long-acting reversible contraceptives (LARCs) are highly effective at reducing unintended pregnancy, but uptake in Bangladesh is low. Providing information on the most effective methods of contraception increases uptake of more effective methods. This protocol describes a randomised controlled trial of an intervention delivered by mobile phone designed to support post-MR contraceptive use in Bangladesh. METHODS: This is a multi-site single blind individual randomised controlled trial. At least 960 women undergoing MR procedures at selected facilities will be recruited after their procedure by female research assistants. Women will be randomised into the control or intervention group with a 1:1 ratio. All participants will receive usual clinic care, including contraceptive counselling and the telephone number of a non-toll-free call centre which provides counselling on MR and contraception. During the 4 months after their MR procedure, intervention participants will be sent 11 recorded interactive voice messages to their mobile phone about contraception with a focus on their chosen method and LARCs. Each message allows the participant to connect directly to the call centre. The intervention is free to the user. The control group will receive no messages delivered by mobile phone. All participants will be asked to complete an in-person questionnaire at recruitment and follow-up questionnaires by telephone at 2 weeks, 4 months and 12 months after their MR. The primary outcome for the trial will be self-reported LARC use 4 months post-MR. Secondary outcomes include LARC use at 2 weeks and 12 months post-MR, use of any effective modern contraceptive method at 2 weeks, 4 months and 12 months post-MR, and contraceptive discontinuation, contraceptive method switching, pregnancy, subsequent MR and experience of violence during the 12 month study period. DISCUSSION: Mobile phones offer a low-cost mechanism for providing individualised support to women with contraception outside of the clinic setting. This study will provide information on the effects of such an intervention among MR clients in Bangladesh. TRIAL REGISTRATION: Trial registered with clinicaltrials.gov Registration number: NCT02579785 Date of registration: 16th October 2015

Anti-Inflammatory Diet for Inflammatory Bowel Disease (IBD-AID)

Background: Inflammatory Bowel Disease (IBD), including Crohn’s disease (CD) and ulcerative colitis (UC), are chronic, immune-mediated inflammatory conditions of the gastrointestinal tract, which have increasingly been linked to dysbiosis, or an imbalance in the gut microbiome. Standard of care for IBD involves an often-evolving combination of anti-inflammatory, antibiotic, and immunomodulatory medications; however, the pharmacological approach is never curative, and medications routinely become ineffective for individual patients. Partially fueled by the increasing inadequacy of pharmacologic treatment regimens, there is emerging interest from patients regarding diet and its role in the pathogenesis and treatment of inflammatory diseases, demanding more in-depth and substantiating research from the medical community. The Anti-Inflammatory Diet for IBD (IBD-AID), which is derived and augmented from The Specific Carbohydrate Diet (SCD), is a nutritional regimen that restricts the intake of pro-inflammatory carbohydrates such as refined sugar, lactose, and most grains, while maximizing anti-inflammatory foods including those with prebiotic and probiotic properties. We have previous results from a case series of 11 patients with IBD showing symptomatic improvement (by Harvey Bradshaw Index scores) and downscaling of medication regimens in all 11 patients after 4 weeks on the IBD-AID. Objectives: The purpose of this small prospective study was to further assess the efficacy and feasibility of the IBD-AID intervention for the treatment of CD, and to provide pilot data for a larger application. Methods: The sample included 17 patients with biopsy-confirmed Crohn’s disease. Participants were offered the treatment diet (IBD-AID) (n=12) or standard medical care alone (control) (n=5). Patients in the IBD-AID group were required to attend one individual nutrition counseling session and three IBD-AID-specific cooking classes at the University of Massachusetts Medical School’s Shaw Building teaching kitchen. The control group continued with usual care. For all participants, demographic, clinical, and symptom data were obtained from baseline and follow-up questionnaires; dietary composition was monitored by weekly dietary recalls and food journals. All participants continued to follow with their gastroenterologists throughout the study duration. Study duration was 2 months after 70% adherence to the diet for IBD-AID participants, and 2 months after baseline for control participants. Consistent with the goals for any treatment used for CD, efficacy measures included: 1) reduction in symptomology, as measured by the validated Harvey Bradshaw Index (HBI); 2) reduction in the need of immunomodulatory and anti-inflammatory medications; and 3) normalizing trend in circulating inflammatory markers (i.e., CRP and ESR), albumin, and hematocrit. Feasibility measures included participant retention, dietary compliance, and participants’ self-assessments of difficulty in maintaining the diet. Results: A total of 15 enrolled patients with confirmed diagnosis of Crohn’s Disease, 5 in observation arm, 10 in intervention arm. Significant trends in dietary composition included significant increases in prebiotic and favorable dietary components, and decrease in adverse foods for the group as a whole (paired t-test values 0.0016, 0.0344, 0.0085, and 0.0014, respectively). For those patients on medication at baseline and with complete follow-up (n=9), one-third were able to decrease doses of or discontinue these medications. In addition, lab values reflected symptomatic improvements in two of our intervention patients, with changes in CRP, ESR, and hematocrit levels of -55.9 and -1.4, -30.0 and -15.0, and +5.4 and +0.3, respectively, with corresponding symptomatic improvements (HBI scores 1à7 and 8à0, respectively). No significance can be assigned, however, due to low sample size and loss to follow-up. Feasibility measures include a significant loss to follow-up rate of 33.3%, as well as an average “difficulty score” of 3.1, reflecting participants’ views on the difficult nature of “sticking with” the IBD-AID (scored on scale of 1-5, very easy to very difficult). Conclusion: Despite the study’s limitations, as well as because of them, several conclusions can be drawn. The trends noticed in the participants’ dietary component reports, and supported by participants’ self-evaluation, reveal that it is relatively easy to eliminate problem foods from the diet, but adding unfamiliar foods, particularly from the probiotic category such as plain yogurt, kimchi, miso, sauerkraut, etc., is a huge barrier to maintaining compliance. This trend may be a partial reflection of the Western food and dieting culture in which our daily meals are relatively homogenous. We are also brought up from a young age learning that “dieting” and “healthy eating” means cutting out the bad, but not necessarily bringing in the good and/or new. Despite lack of statistical significance, the two patients who exhibited normalizing lab values, in combination with their improved HBI scores, suggest the possibility of a real and meaningful benefit from IBD-AID for those able to comply with the dietary and lifestyle changes. In terms of the diet’s feasibility, the considerable loss to follow-up in this study may reflect a variety of issues, one of which may be the well-established medical and psychosocial complexity of IBD patients. This element is important for clinicians to keep in mind, and reflects the need for additional support and close follow-up when it comes to facilitating lifestyle change in this population. It also has implications for the diet itself, which should be re-examined to simplify or reframe in order to maximize generalizability and access for a greater percentage of IBD patients. Overall, this small study highlights the need for larger-scale research to draft clinical nutrition guidelines and further legitimize the utility of preventive clinical nutrition in Western medicine

Light Water Reactor Sustainability Program Integrated Program Plan

Nuclear power has safely, reliably, and economically contributed almost 20% of electrical generation in the United States over the past two decades. It remains the single largest contributor (more than 70%) of non-greenhouse-gas-emitting electric power generation in the United States. Domestic demand for electrical energy is expected to experience a 31% growth from 2009 to 2035. At the same time, most of the currently operating nuclear power plants will begin reaching the end of their initial 20-year extension to their original 40-year operating license for a total of 60 years of operation. Figure E-1 shows projected nuclear energy contribution to the domestic generating capacity. If current operating nuclear power plants do not operate beyond 60 years, the total fraction of generated electrical energy from nuclear power will begin to decline - even with the expected addition of new nuclear generating capacity. The oldest commercial plants in the United States reached their 40th anniversary in 2009. The U.S. Department of Energy Office of Nuclear Energy's Research and Development Roadmap (Nuclear Energy Roadmap) organizes its activities around four objectives that ensure nuclear energy remains a compelling and viable energy option for the United States. The four objectives are as follows: (1) develop technologies and other solutions that can improve the reliability, sustain the safety, and extend the life of the current reactors; (2) develop improvements in the affordability of new reactors to enable nuclear energy to help meet the Administration's energy security and climate change goals; (3) develop sustainable nuclear fuel cycles; and (4) understand and minimize the risks of nuclear proliferation and terrorism. The Light Water Reactor Sustainability (LWRS) Program is the primary programmatic activity that addresses Objective 1. This document summarizes the LWRS Program's plans

Semi-annual, annual and Universal Time variations in the magnetosphere and in geomagnetic activity: 4. Polar Cap motions and origins of the Universal Time effect

We use the am, an, as and the a-sigma geomagnetic indices to the explore a previously overlooked factor in magnetospheric electrodynamics, namely the inductive effect of diurnal motions of the Earth’s magnetic poles toward and away from the Sun caused by Earth’s rotation. Because the offset of the (eccentric dipole) geomagnetic pole from the rotational axis is roughly twice as large in the southern hemisphere compared to the northern, the effects there are predicted to be roughly twice the amplitude of those in the northern hemisphere. Hemispheric differences have previously been discussed in terms of polar ionospheric conductivities generated by solar photoionization, effects which we allow for by looking at the dipole tilt effect on the time-of-year variations of the indices. The electric field induced in a geocentric frame is shown to also be a significant factor and gives a modulation of the voltage applied by the solar wind flow in the southern hemisphere that is typically a 30% diurnal modulation for disturbed intervals rising to about 76% in quiet times. For the northern hemisphere these are 15% and 38% modulations. Motion towards/away from the Sun reduces/enhances the directly-driven ionospheric voltages and reduces/enhances the magnetic energy stored in the tail and we estimate that approximately 10% of the effect appears in directly driven ionospheric voltages and 90% in changes of the rate of energy storage or release in the near-Earth tail. The hemispheric asymmetry in the geomagnetic pole offsets from the rotational axis is shown to be the dominant factor in driving Universal Time (UT) variations and hemispheric differences in geomagnetic activity. Combined with the effect of solar wind dynamic pressure and dipole tilt on the pressure balance in the near-Earth tail, the effect provides an excellent explanation of how the observed Russell-McPherron pattern with time-of-year F and UT in the driving power input into the magnetosphere is converted into the equinoctial F - UT pattern in average geomagnetic activity (after correction is made for dipole tilt effects on ionospheric conductivity), added to a pronounced UT variation with minimum at 02-10UT. In addition, we show that the predicted and observed UT variations in average geomagnetic activity has implications for the occurrence of the largest events that also show the nett UT variation

Semi-annual, annual and universal time variations in the magnetosphere and in geomagnetic activity: 1. geomagnetic data

We study the semi-annual variation in geomagnetic activity, as detected in the geomagnetic indices am, aa_{H}, AL, Dst and the four a-{\sigma} indices derived for 6-hour MLT sectors (around noon, dawn, dusk and midnight). For each we compare the amplitude of the semi-annual variation, as a fraction of the overall mean, to that of the corresponding variation in power input to the magnetosphere, P_{\alpha} , estimated from interplanetary observations. We demonstrate that the semi-annual variation is amplified in the geomagnetic data compared to that in P_{\alpha}, by a factor that is different for each index. The largest amplification is for the Dst index (factor ~10) and the smallest is for the a-{\sigm} index for the noon MLT sector (a_{sigma} -noon, factor is approximately 1.1). By sorting the data by the prevailing polarity of the Y-component (dawn-dusk) of the Interplanetary Magnetic Field (IMF) in the Geocentric Solar Equatorial (GSEQ) reference frame, we demonstrate that the Russell-McPherron (R-M) effect, in which a small southward IMF component in GSEQ is converted into geoeffective field by Earth’s dipole tilt, is a key factor for the semi-annual variations in both P_{\alpha} and geomagnetic indices. However, the variability in the southward component in the IMF in the GSEQ frame causes more variability in power input to the magnetosphere P_{alpha} than does the R-M effect, by a factor of more than two. We show that for increasingly large geomagnetic disturbances, P_{\alpha} delivered by events of large southward field in GSEQ (known to often be associated with coronal mass ejections) becomes the dominant driver and the R-M effect declines in importance and often acts to reduce geoeffectiveness for the most southward IMF in GSEQ: the semi-annual variation in large storms therefore suggests either preconditioning of the magnetosphere by average conditions or an additional effect at the equinoxes. We confirm that the very large R-M effect in the Dst index is because of a large effect at small and moderate activity levels and not in large storms. We discuss the implications of the observed “equinoctial” time-of-year (F) - Universal Time (UT) pattern of geomagnetic response, the waveform and phase of the semi-annual variations, the differences between the responses at the June and December solstices and the ratio of the amplitudes of the March and September equinox peaks. We also confirm that the UT variation in geomagnetic activity is a genuine global response. Later papers will analyse the origins and implications of the effects described

Semi-annual, annual and Universal Time variations in the magnetosphere and in geomagnetic activity: 3. Modelling

This is the third in a series of papers that investigate the semi-annual, annual and Universal Time variations in the magnetosphere. In this paper, we use the Lin et al. (2010) empirical model of magnetopause locations, along with the assumption of pressure equilibrium and the Newtonian approximation of magnetosheath pressure. We show that the equinoctial pattern arises in both the cross-tail current at the tail hinge point and in the total energy stored in the tail. The model allows us to study the effects of both dipole tilt and hemispheric asymmetries. As a test of the necessary assumptions made to enable this analysis, we also study simulations by the BATSRUS global MHD magnetosphere model. These also show that the reconnection voltage in the tail is greatest when the dipole tilt is small but this only applies at low solar wind dynamic pressure pSW and does not, on its own, explain why the equinoctial effect increases in amplitude with increased pSW, as demonstrated by Paper 2. Instead, the effect is consistent with the dipole tilt effect on the energy stored in the tail around the reconnection X line. A key factor is that a smaller/larger fraction of the open polar cap flux threads the tail lobe in the hemisphere that is pointed toward/away from the Sun. The analysis using the empirical model uses approximations and so is not definitive; however, because the magnetopause locations in the two hemispheres were fitted separately in generating the model, it gives a unique insight into the effect of the very different offsets of the magnetic pole from the rotational pole in the two hemispheres. It is therefore significant that our analysis using the empirical model does predict a UT variation that is highly consistent with that found in both transpolar voltage data and in geomagnetic activity