Air cargo planning for small/medium hub airports

This study reviews the domestic air cargo industry, how it has developed and how it is influenced by other modes of transportation, in particular the important relationship with the trucking industry. Individual airports were surveyed to develop an understanding how they planned and prepared for air cargo growth. Air cargo planning studies were obtained for several airports. In addition, a survey was mailed to eleven airports requesting information on their approach to forecasting, development on a speculative basis and marketing. Enplaned passenger, air cargo and mail data was obtained from the U. S. Department of Transportation, Bureau of Transportation Statistics for selected years from 1977 to 1998. This data was analyzed for growth trends. The findings of the study revealed the air cargo industry in the United States is still developing and growing at a rate faster than the gross domestic product. The small and medium hub airports are gaining market share from the large hub airports, unlike passenger service. Forecasting future air cargo demand for individual airports is difficult due to the lack of available detailed data on shipments. This is compounded by the close relationship between the trucking and air modes. With decreasing prices, the integrated express carriers are forced to rely on trucking to a greater degree. Air cargo has Influenced industry on their methods of operation and decisions on where to locate. Growth of air cargo is a complex phenomenon depending on the interaction of location of the airport, economic growth, competition from other modes, facility constraints, and many other factors. Airports need to be as proactive and flexible as possible within their environment to maximize their growth potential in the cargo market. It is important for local airport management to be aware of the needs of the cargo airlines and the needs of their community to be able to tailor their facilities to meet the needs of both parties

With a Map and a Compass: Planning for the Online Journey

With rising enrollments in online courses, institutions must decide how they will respond. Institutions offering online courses through distance programs are moving those courses into the mainstream, increasing the demand for courses and instructors. Faculty must choose how they will be involved. Institutions will be challenged to find ways to encourage faculty to be involved. This qualitative study examined perceptions of faculty and administrators to discover how well those perceptions matched. Participants were interviewed at two institutions, using a grounded theory approach. Faculty and administrators’ perceptions differed about their institution’s initial motive for offering online courses. Administrators claimed online courses were a part of their institutional mission and a way to extend resources to distance education students. Faculty believed online courses originated because of the potential for profit. Faculty and administrators agreed shared ownership of online courses was a reasonable alternative, but few participants had knowledge of the existence or the specifics of their institution’s intellectual property agreement. Quality standards were also a concern. Faculty and administrators were divided over who would devise the standards, who would monitor them, and how information about quality standards would be used. In terms of compensation, release time emerged as preferable to a stipend, but neither option was offered to faculty unless they were willing to design the course as “work for hire” and then release control. Participants believed revising the definition of scholarship might encourage more faculty to consider designing and teaching online courses if the efforts would apply towards tenure and promotion. An unanticipated finding was that faculty had altered the way they taught in their traditional classrooms after their experience designing and teaching online. Faculty and administrators acknowledged they had heard a number of other faculty make similar comments. I offered a series of recommendations for participants to consider at their institution, most importantly that they attempt to convince senior administrators of the need to engage in a long term visioning process to determine how the institution saw its role in online education. All participants said this had not been done prior to their institution’s entry into online education

Subunit interactions influence the biochemical and biological properties of Hsp104

Point mutations in either of the two nucleotide-binding domains (NBD) of Hsp104 (NBD1 and NBD2) eliminate its thermotolerance function in vivo. In vitro, NBD1 mutations virtually eliminate ATP hydrolysis with little effect on hexamerization; analogous NBD2 mutations reduce ATPase activity and severely impair hexamerization. We report that high protein concentrations overcome the assembly defects of NBD2 mutants and increase ATP hydrolysis severalfold, changing V(max) with little effect on K(m). In a complementary fashion, the detergent 3-[(3-cholamidopropyl)dimethylammonio]-1-propanesulfonate inhibits hexamerization of wild-type (WT) Hsp104, lowering V(max) with little effect on K(m). ATP hydrolysis exhibits a Hill coefficient between 1.5 and 2, indicating that it is influenced by cooperative subunit interactions. To further analyze the effects of subunit interactions on Hsp104, we assessed the effects of mutant Hsp104 proteins on WT Hsp104 activities. An NBD1 mutant that hexamerizes but does not hydrolyze ATP reduces the ATPase activity of WT Hsp104 in vitro. In vivo, this mutant is not toxic but specifically inhibits the thermotolerance function of WT Hsp104. Thus, interactions between subunits influence the ATPase activity of Hsp104, play a vital role in its biological functions, and provide a mechanism for conditionally inactivating Hsp104 function in vivo

Rigid open-cell polyurethane foam for cryogenic insulation

Lightweight polyurethane foam assembled in panels is effective spacer material for construction of self-evacuating multilayer insulation panels for cryogenic liquid tanks. Spacer material separates radiation shields with barrier that minimizes conductive and convective heat transfer between shields

Data Associated with A Simplified Approach to Stakeholder Engagement in Natural Resource Management: The Five-Feature Framework

This paper distills complex frameworks for stakeholder engagement to five main principles that scientists and natural resource managers can use in planning stakeholder engagement efforts. Many natural resource management professionals, including practitioners and scholars, increasingly recognize the need for and potential benefits of engaging stakeholders in complex decision-making processes, yet the implementation of these efforts varies wildly, reflecting great methodological and conceptual diversity. Given the dynamic and diverse natural resource management contexts in which engagement occurs and the often significant stakes involved in making decisions about natural resources, we argue that stakeholder engagement would benefit from a theoretical framework that is both agile and robust. To this end, five essential elements of stakeholder engagement are evaluated and organized to form the Five-Feature Framework, providing a functional and approachable platform with which to consider engagement processes. Aside from introducing and developing the Five-Feature Framework, this paper applies the framework as a measure to evaluate the empirical case-study literature involving SE in natural resource management in an effort to better understand the obstacles facing robust and genuine engagement in natural resource management. Our results suggest that the most basic principles of engagement are often absent from stakeholder engagement projects, confirming the need for a functional framework. The Five-Feature Framework can be used to plan flexible, adaptable, and rigorous engagement projects in a variety of contexts and with teams that have varying backgrounds and experience. By virtue of its simplicity and functionality, the framework demystifies stakeholder engagement in order to help natural resource professionals build opportunities for collaborative decision-making and integrate citizen values and knowledge into complex management issues

Influence of Planting Date and Weed Interference on Sweet Corn Growth and Development

Crop planting date and canopy density influence interactions between weeds and sweet corn (Zea mays L.); however, little is known about sweet corn growth response to weed interference. Field studies were conducted in 2004 and 2005 near Urbana, IL, to quantify the influence of planting date and weed interference on growth of sweet corn height, leaf area, aboveground biomass, and phenological development. Crop growth response to weed interference (presence or absence) was determined for sweet corn planted early May (EARLY) and late June (LATE). Dominant weed species included barnyard-grass [Echinochloa crus-galli (L.) Beauv.], common lambsquarters (Chenopodium album L.), common purslane (Portulaca oleracea L.), green foxtail [Setaria viridus (L.) Beauv.], redroot pigweed (Amaranthus retroflexus L.), and velvetleaf (Abutilon theophrasti Medicus) at densities ranging from 95 to 256 plants m-2. Weed interference reduced sweet corn’s absolute height growth rate, maximum leaf area index (LAI), absolute LAI growth rate, with some of the largest effects on crop growth observed in the EARLY planting date. Silk emergence was delayed by weeds for EARLY planted sweet corn, but not LATE. Moreover, the LATE planting date resulted in 9% taller crop plants with 36% lower maximum LAI. Relative to an EARLY planting date, lower yield losses due to weeds for LATE sweet corn correspond to greater resiliency of crop growth and silk emergence to weed interference

Modeling shattercane dynamics in herbicide-tolerant grain sorghum cropping systems

Traditional breeding technology is currently being used to develop grain sorghum [Sorghum bicolor (L.) Moench ssp. bicolor] germplasm that will be tolerant to acetolactate synthase (ALS)-inhibiting herbicides. This technology (InzenTM, DuPontTM) has the potential to improve sorghum production by allowing for the postemergence control of traditionally hard-to-control grasses. However, grain sorghum and shattercane [weedy Sorghum species; Sorghum bicolor (L.) Moench ssp. drummondii (Nees ex Steud.) de Wet ex Davidse] can interbreed and introduced traits such as herbicide tolerance could increase the weediness of the weedy relative. Our objective was to develop a simulation model to assess management options to mitigate risks of ALS-resistance evolution in shattercane populations in US sorghum production areas. Assuming a single major gene confers resistance and gene frequencies change according to the Hardy-Weinberg ratios we constructed a stage-structured (seedbank, plants) matrix model with annual time steps. The model explicitly considered gene flow from Inzen plants to shattercane populations. The management strategies considered in the model were: a) continuous sorghum, b) sorghum followed by (fb) soybeans and c) sorghum fb fallow fb winter wheat, where postemergence ALS-inhibiting herbicides were only used in Inzen years. During sorghum years two options were tested: continuous Inzen and Inzen fb conventional sorghum, for a total of six management strategies. The parameter values used in the model were obtained from our research, the literature, and expert opinion. For each management strategy we ran deterministic and stochastic simulations (with stochastic levels of herbicide efficacy). The time for resistance evolution was predicted to decrease with increased cropping system complexity (more crop diversity than continuous production of Inzen). Evolution of resistance was predicted to occur rapidly if Inzen sorghum is planted continuously because of high selection pressure (ALS-inhibiting herbicide application) and crop-to-weed gene flow. Rotating Inzen with conventional sorghum did not assist with shattercane management. Rotating Inzen with non-sorghum crops where effective herbicide options are available assisted with keeping shattercane density at low levels while postponing resistance evolution to some extent. Crop and herbicide rotation will be key strategies for shattercane management in Inzen sorghum