Integrating Water Resources and Land Use Planning

Information and recommendations were developed pertaining to the integrating of water resource and land use planning at a conceptual level. In the accomplishment of this goal, the report acts as a vehicle of information transfer to facilitate recognition of the interrelationships between land use and winter resources planning by practitioners in both areas. The approach that was used includes six basic components: 1) the clarification of current planning theory as it pertains to both water and land use planning, 2) analysis and review of historical and current land use planning practices, 3) review of historical and current land use planning practices, 4) identification of problems and concepts which would affect the integration of land and water planning, 5) the design of a conceptual framework (the IRUM model) which would facilitate the integration of land and water planning, and 6) a case study of a selected planning region for small scale applications of the IRUM model. In connection with the case study, a general population survey was taken to identify social and environmental values, land and water use preferences, and other conditions which would affect an integrated planning effort. The recommendations developed in the report cover institutional issues such as culture, law, and organizational arrangements, and also methodological issues such as conceptual framework development and procedural problems which will confront actual efforts to integrate land and water resource planning

Levels of Analysis in Comprehensive River Basin Planning

Since nearly every water resource managment choice has two or more sides, differences must be resolved in decision making. Equitable resolution requires an understanding of the reasons for the differences. These reasons originate in the implemented plans have physical-environmental, economic, social, cultural, and political impacts at levels ranging from local to national or international in scope. Decisions are made by individuals and groups impacted in all of these dimensions and at all of these levels; the decisions generate additional impacts; and the entire interactive process changes water management practice in ways outside the control of any one decision point or even dicision dimension. The objective of this study is to conceptualize this process in a way that will help in establishing institutional mechanisms for reconciling differences among levels of analysis. The conceptualization used viewed differences in choices being made at the various levels of analysis as associated with perspective differences having value, jurisdiction, action, and temporal elements. The possible combinations of differences within and between these elements were used to identify ten categories of institutional obstacles to efficient water planning (differences in values, conflicts between value and jurisdiction, etc.). The history of water resources planning on the Colorado River basin was then examined to identify 17 specific institutional obstacles, and a computerized policy simulation was applied to levels of analysis in the Uintah basin of Utah to identify three more. These 20 obstacles were shown to be broadly distributed over the ten categories, and the nature of the obstacles defined provides valuable insight into the common characteristics of the major institutional obstacles to water management. The priciples of logic as applicable to rationality in decision making were then used to identify two root causes of levels\u27 conflicts. If alternatives are evaluated from a single perspective, the ostensible causal relationships commonly used lead to estimates of the sum of the consequences from the parts of a water management program being far more than the total consequences of the entire program. Looked at another way, since available water resources planning tools do not properly allocate consequences from interactive processes to individual causal sources, decisions made to acheive a desired impact are not based on reliable information. In fact, different decisions made over time from a single perspective have conflicting impacts. When multiple perspectices are considered, one finds that individual values do not aggregate linearly in forming social values, many actions are not efficient in achieving preferred values, and decision makers are not able to implement their plans as desired. Real world situations combine interacting perspectives and partial contributions. Nine recommendations are made on what to do next in improving water resources planning in an interactive, nonlinear world

Foreyt

This study evaluated the effectiveness of nondieting versus dieting treatments for overweight, bingeeating women. Participants (N = 219) were randomly assigned to 1 of 3 groups: diet treatment (DT), nondiet treatment (NDT), or wait-list control (WLC). DT received a balanced-deficit diet reinforced with behavioral strategies. NDT received therapy designed to help participants break out of their dieting cycles. Treatment in both conditions was administered in weekly groups for 6 months, followed by 26 biweekly maintenance meetings, for a total of 18 months of contact. At 6 months posttreatment, DT lost 0.6 kg while NDT gained 1.3 kg. Both treatment groups reduced their Binge Eating Scale scores significantly more than WLC. At 18-month follow-up, both treatment groups experienced weight gain but maintained similar reductions in binge eating. Results indicate that neither intervention was successful in producing short-or long-term weight loss. Therapist biases, which may have affected treatment integrity, and other methodological issues are discussed in relation to the small weight losses achieved. Estimates of binge eating among obese patients range from 20% to 50%, depending on the criteria used and the study population (Bruce & Wilfiey, 1996; It is unclear whether or not binge-eating obese patients experience greater difficulty in treatment programs as a result of these liabilities. Obese binge eaters have been found to respond to weight loss programs similarly to nonbingers, and experience similar or lower attrition rates This research was supported by National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases Grant DK43109 and by a Minority Scientist Development Award from the American Heart Association and its Puerto Rican Affiliate. Correspondence concerning this article should be addressed to G. Ken Goodrick, Behavioral Medicine Research Center, Baylor College of Medicine, 6535 Fannin, Mailstop F-700, Houston, Texas 77030. outcomes Several nondieting therapeutic approaches have been developed for the treatment of obesity The purpose of this prospective, randomized, controlled study was to evaluate the effectiveness of this nondieting approach in the treatment of obese, binge-eating women, compared with a standardized, behavioral dieting treatment and a control group. Method Participants The mean age of participants was 40 years (SD = 6.3, range = 25 to 50 years). Participants' mean pretreatment weight was 88 kg (SD = 9.6, range = 66 to 110 kg). The mean body mass index (BMI) was 33 kg/m 2 (SD = 3.4), with a range of 26 to 43 kg/m 2. The ethnic-racial composition of the sample was 85% White, 8% Black, and 7% Hispanic. Of the total participants, 62% were married, 21% were single or divorced, and 17% were never married. Twenty-four percent of the participants had a college degree, 65% had some college, and 11% had a high school diploma or less. Sixty-nine percent were employed full time, and 9% part time. Procedure Female participants were recruited from Houston and the surrounding area using print and electronic media to publicize the study. Those 36

Hitomi (ASTRO-H) X-ray Astronomy Satellite

The Hitomi (ASTRO-H) mission is the sixth Japanese x-ray astronomy satellite developed by a large international collaboration, including Japan, USA, Canada, and Europe. The mission aimed to provide the highest energy resolution ever achieved at E  >  2  keV, using a microcalorimeter instrument, and to cover a wide energy range spanning four decades in energy from soft x-rays to gamma rays. After a successful launch on February 17, 2016, the spacecraft lost its function on March 26, 2016, but the commissioning phase for about a month provided valuable information on the onboard instruments and the spacecraft system, including astrophysical results obtained from first light observations. The paper describes the Hitomi (ASTRO-H) mission, its capabilities, the initial operation, and the instruments/spacecraft performances confirmed during the commissioning operations for about a month

Finishing the euchromatic sequence of the human genome

The sequence of the human genome encodes the genetic instructions for human physiology, as well as rich information about human evolution. In 2001, the International Human Genome Sequencing Consortium reported a draft sequence of the euchromatic portion of the human genome. Since then, the international collaboration has worked to convert this draft into a genome sequence with high accuracy and nearly complete coverage. Here, we report the result of this finishing process. The current genome sequence (Build 35) contains 2.85 billion nucleotides interrupted by only 341 gaps. It covers ∼99% of the euchromatic genome and is accurate to an error rate of ∼1 event per 100,000 bases. Many of the remaining euchromatic gaps are associated with segmental duplications and will require focused work with new methods. The near-complete sequence, the first for a vertebrate, greatly improves the precision of biological analyses of the human genome including studies of gene number, birth and death. Notably, the human enome seems to encode only 20,000-25,000 protein-coding genes. The genome sequence reported here should serve as a firm foundation for biomedical research in the decades ahead