Advances in Alfalfa Variety Development and Testing

Alfalfa (Medicago sativa) is historically the highest yielding, highest quality forage legume grown in Kentucky. It forms the basis of Kentucky\u27s cash hay enterprise and is an important component in dairy, horse, beef and sheep diets. Over 300,000 acres of alfalfa are grown annually in Kentucky, with state yields averaging between 3 and 4 tons per acre. The development and testing of alfalfa varieties is a dynamic process that impacts all Kentucky farmers. The Kentucky Alfalfa Variety Testing program was re-started in 1990 and is carried out through the efforts of several people, including Leonard Lauriault, Linda Brown (Western Kentucky University), Garry Lacefield, Paul Vincelli, and John Parr. Alfalfa varieties are being studied for yield in 6 plot studies over 3 locations (Lexington, Bowling Green, and Princeton). Other research being conducted include the effect of aphanomyces root rot on variety yield and persistence and the effect of variety on forage quality

The Application of Archival Concepts to a Data-Intensive Environment: Working with Scientists to Understand Data Management and Preservation Needs

The collection, organization, and long-term preservation of resources are the raison d’être of archives and archivists. The archival community, however, has largely neglected science data, assuming they were outside the bounds of their professional concerns. Scientists, on the other hand, increasingly recognize that they lack the skills and expertise needed to meet the demands being placed on them with regard to data curation and are seeking the help of “data archivists” and “data curators.” This represents a significant opportunity for archivists and archival scholars but one that can only be realized if they better understand the scientific context.National Science Foundation under Grant No. 0724300Peer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/86738/1/Akmonetal2011.pd

Scented cybercartography: Exploring possibilities

Olfactory cartography is part of the emerging discipline of cybercartography (Taylor 2003), a transdisciplinary endeavour that investigates, among other things, the integration of multimedia, multi-sensory, and multimodal data into digital atlases and maps. The physiology and psychology of the olfactory system, its special characteristics, its influence on performance and memory, and some of the issues that make the study of olfaction difficult are addressed. Characterizing, classifying, and labelling scents is problematic, and it is recommended that methods from other communities of practice be adopted and adapted by cartographers. Literature from a wide range of disciplines, including olfactory geography, is reviewed, and a number of innovative ideas are provided. In addition, olfactory applications in different areas such as marketing, art installations, film, and virtual environments are described, as are a range of currently available olfactory diffusion devices. These, however, have not been explored in a cartographic context, nor have they undergone usability testing. We conclude that it is too early to provide cartographic guidelines and methods but that scented applications, odour diffusion technologies, and olfactory data collection methods provide knowledge that can be applied toward developing a scented cartography

Data and the city

There is a long history of governments, businesses, science and citizens producing and utilizing data in order to monitor, regulate, profit from, and make sense of the urban world. Data have traditionally been time-consuming and costly to generate, analyse and interpret, and generally have provided static, often coarse, snapshots of urban phenomena. Recently, however, we have entered the age of big data, with data related to knowing and governing cities increasingly becoming a deluge; a wide, deep torrent of timely, varied, resolute and relational data (Kitchin 2014a; Batty 2016). This has been accompanied by an opening up of state data, and to a much lesser degree, business data, the production of volunteered geographic information, and the emergence of open data cultures and practices (Goodchild 2007; Bates 2012). As a result, evermore aspects of everyday life - work, consumption, travel, communication, leisure - and the worlds we inhabit are being captured and stored as data, made sense of through new data analytics, mediated through data-driven technologies, normalized through data-driven infrastructures, and shared through data infrastructures and data brokers (Amoore 2013; Kitchin 2014b; Offenhuber and Ratti 2014)

Relay Intercropping with Cover Crops Improved Autumn Forage Potential of Sweet Maize Stover

Maize (Zea mays L.) stover is used globally as winter feed for livestock but the nutritive value is low, requiring supplementation. A 2-year randomized complete block study with three replicates at New Mexico State University’s Alcalde Sustainable Agriculture Science Center compared sweet maize (Zea mays var. rugosa; maize-alone) with sweet maize relay intercropped with oat (Avena sativa L.; maize-oat) or turnip (Brassica rapa L.; maize-turnip). Relay intercropping had no effect (p > 0.05) on sweet maize stover dry matter (DM) yield and there was no difference in aboveground biomass DM yield of the intercropped species. Turnip aboveground biomass had greater crude protein concentration and 48-h in vitro dry matter disappearance (IVDMD) than oat aboveground biomass. Relay intercropping with turnip improved sweet maize stover IVDMD (443, 439, and 515 g IVDMD kg−1 for maize-alone, maize-oat, and maize-turnip, respectively, p < 0.0001). Intercropping increased animal gains compared to maize-alone (0.36, 0.52, and 0.59 kg/day for maize-alone, maize-oat, and maize-turnip, respectively, p < 0.02), likely due to provision of additional crude protein. Relay intercropping oat or turnip into sweet maize is viable for improving sweet maize stover for fall forage. In addition turnip, specifically, had a positive effect on stover nutritive value