“We can't just be a county that supports inebriants”: Voices of the noncannabis agricultural community

Legalized recreational cannabis poses uncertainty and challenges for the noncannabis agricultural and ranching community in Northern California, including what it might mean in terms of the price of farmland and ranchland and the effects on the regional culture of diverse crop production. In-depth interviews in Humboldt, Mendocino and Sonoma counties with noncannabis farmers, ranchers and key individuals closely tied to the community revealed insight and an overarching concern about the future for noncannabis producers in those counties. The research was conducted in the summer and fall of 2017, when the state and counties were ramping up development and implementation of recreational cannabis cultivation policies. Interviewees expressed concern about land prices, potential crop shifts, and outside investment in the cannabis sector, and recognized the parallels and emerging alliances between wine and cannabis producers. They also identified opportunities for diversifying their production and for improving the environmental impacts of cannabis production

The effects of whole-body vibration exercise on muscular strength in seniors

Sarcopenia, the associated decline in muscle strength that occurs during the normal aging process, contributes to seniors\u27 impairment of activities of daily living (ADLs) and overall independence. Previous research suggests resistance (RES) training, and more recently whole-body vibration (WBV) exercise, can help combat sarcopenia. While WBV exercise is now more prevalent in the literature, there is little known about its potential impact on seniors\u27 upper body strength. This study aims to further evaluate the effectiveness of WBV exercise on seniors\u27 lower body strength and explore the potential effects WBV training has on upper body strength. 55 community dwelling participants (33 males and 22 females; age range: 55-90 years; mean age: 73.3 ± 7.9 years) were divided into either a WBV or RES exercise group. Both exercise groups trained twice a week. Participants were assessed at baseline, after 8 sessions, and after 16 sessions. Outcome measures included the chair rise, 8-foot timed up-and-go (TUG), arm curl, tricep extension, and grip strength tests. There was a significant main effect of time found in 4 of the 5 dependent measures: chair rise, TUG, arm curl, and tricep extension tests. Consistent with previous WBV literature, improvements from baseline in both groups suggests WBV exercise is as effective as conventional RES training

Managing at the Speed of Light: Improving Mission-Support Performance

The House and Senate Energy and Water Development Appropriations Subcommittees requested this study to help DOE's three major mission-support organizations improve their operations to better meet the current and future needs of the department. The passage of the Recovery Act only increased the importance of having DOE's mission-support offices working in the most effective, efficient, and timely manner as possible. While following rules and regulations is essential, the foremost task of the mission-support offices is to support the department's mission, i.e., the programs that DOE is implementing, whether in Washington D.C. or in the field. As a result, the Panel offered specific recommendations to strengthen the mission-focus and improve the management of each of the following support functions based on five "management mandates":- Strategic Vision- Leadership- Mission and Customer Service Orientation- Tactical Implementation- Agility/AdaptabilityKey FindingsThe Panel made several recommendations in each of the functional areas examined and some overarching recommendations for the corporate management of the mission-support offices that they believed would result in significant improvements to DOE's mission-support operations. The Panel believed that adopting these recommendations will not only make DOE a better functioning organization, but that most of them are essential if DOE is to put its very large allocation of Recovery Act funding to its intended uses as quickly as possible

Daily associations between sleep and physical activity : a systematic review and meta-analysis

The day-to-day variations of sleep and physical activity are associated with various health outcomes in adults, and previous studies suggested a bidirectional association between these behaviors. The daily associations between sleep and physical activity have been examined in observational or interventional contexts. The primary goal of the current systematic review and meta-analysis was to summarize existing evidence about daily associations between sleep and physical activity outcomes at inter- and intra-individual level in adults. A systematic search of records in eight databases from inception to July 2019 identified 33 peer-reviewed empirical publications that examined daily sleep – physical activity association in adults. The qualitative and quantitative analyses of included studies did not support a bidirectional daily association between sleep outcomes and physical activity. Multilevel meta-analyses showed that three sleep parameters were associated with physical activity the following day: sleep quality, sleep efficiency, and wake after sleep onset. However, the associations were small, and varied in terms of direction and level of variability (e.g. inter- or intra-individual). Daytime physical activity was associated with lower total sleep time the following night at an inter-person level with a small effect size. From a clinical perspective, care providers should monitor the effects of better sleep promotion on physical activity behaviours in their patients. Future studies should examine sleep and physical activity during a longer period and perform additional sophisticated statistical analyses

Functional expression of human cathepsin S in Saccharomyces cerevisiae. Purification and characterization of the recombinant enzyme.

A cDNA encoding the human lysosomal cysteine proteinase cathepsin S precursor has been expressed in yeast using the pVT100-U expression vector containing the alpha-factor promoter. The procathepsin S gene was expressed either as a fusion protein with the pre-region or with the prepro-region of the yeast alpha-factor precursor gene. Following in vitro processing both constructs gave an identical active mature enzyme with a molecular weight of 24,000. After prolonged cultivation of the cells the recombinant protein is also found as an active proteinase in the culture supernatant. The precursor can be activated in vitro at pH 4.5 and 40 degrees C under reducing conditions. The in vitro activated enzyme has a 6-amino acid NH2-terminal extension when compared with the native bovine enzyme. The purified enzyme displays a bell-shaped pH activity profile with a pH optimum of 6.5 and pK values of 4.5 and 7.8. The isoelectric point of the recombinant human cathepsin S is between 8.3 and 8.6 and about 1.5 pH units higher than for the bovine enzyme. The kinetic data for several synthetic substrates and inhibitors reveal a preference for smaller amino acid residues in the binding subsites S2 and S3 of cathepsin S. Like the bovine enzyme, the recombinant human cathepsin S is characterized by a broader range of pH stability (pH 5-7.5) than cathepsins B and L

Cavity Magnonics

Cavity magnonics deals with the interaction of magnons - elementary excitations in magnetic materials - and confined electromagnetic fields. We introduce the basic physics and review the experimental and theoretical progress of this young field that is gearing up for integration in future quantum technologies. Much of its appeal is derived from the strong magnon-photon coupling and the easily-reached nonlinear regime in microwave cavities. The interaction of magnons with light as detected by Brillouin light scattering is enhanced in magnetic optical resonators, which can be employed to manipulate magnon distributions. The cavity photon-mediated coupling of a magnon mode to a superconducting qubit enables measurements in the single magnon limit