The geography of wine in North Carolina: terroir, site selection efficacy, and implications for Pierce’s Disease resistant grape varieties in the Southeastern U.S

North Carolina has a broad range of physical environments that produce wine from a breadth of grape species/varietals. Its wine industry has grown rapidly for over a decade and the nature of its climates, soils, and topography are varied and unique in the wine world, yet North Carolina remains relatively unknown outside of the Southeastern portion of the United States. In this study, North Carolina’s vineyards and their specific site characteristics were considered both on the basis of their terroir and the extent to which they followed Cooperative Extension advice on site selection. One characteristic risk of growing grapes in the Southeastern U.S. is a plant illness known as Pierce's Disease, which is deadly to the vines of Vitis vinifera parentage. This research used a novel method to reveal the dividing line between V. vinifera and Pierce’s Disease resistant grape variety suitability zones across the Southeast. The quantification of the physical elements of terroir and test of the effectiveness of vineyard site selection has revealed the character of North Carolina’s wine regions and commercial vineyards. In addition, the modeling of the Southeastern U.S. Pierce's Disease zone provided clarification on where Pierce’s Disease resistant winegrapes might present new wine industry options for vineyards across the Southeastern U.S

A mesoscale geophysical capability/suitability model for Vitis vinifera vineyard site selection in the North Carolina Piedmont Triad region, case study: Rockingham County NC

The North Carolina wine industry is growing at a fast pace; many new vineyards are being planted with European varieties. Vitis vinifera varieties in general are the most challenging species of grape grown and the cost of vineyard establishment is high. While many grapes are native to North Carolina, V. vinifera are not; they require considerable effort to consistently produce good quality grapes for wine making. The challenges of growing V. vinifera in this region are primarily due to the warm humid climate which encourages the presence of many insect pests as well as a broad host of viral, bacterial, and fungal diseases. When these risks are considered alongside the possibilities of late spring frost and heavy rain from harvest time tropical systems, it is apparent that there is a need for a system which mitigates these risks and helps guide the choices for vineyard location. The model produced in this research was designed to help guide site selection for V. vinifera vineyard sites in the North Carolina Piedmont. The area of interest for this case study is Rockingham County North Carolina. The primary goal is to give the prospective vineyard operator every opportunity for success by choosing the best possible place to establish a vineyard. This is accomplished using a model based on the science of Geographic Information Systems (GIS) along with predictive geophysical parameters. The model consists of four physical sub model composites which represent the capability/suitability of: climate, land cover, soil, and topography. Using the concepts of map algebra, the four sub model composites are combined to produce the final output that summarizes the physical site suitability of the study area at a spatial resolution of 10 meters

Paradoxical enhancement of chemoreceptor detection sensitivity by a sensory adaptation enzyme

A sensory adaptation system that tunes chemoreceptor sensitivity enables motile Escherichia coli cells to track chemical gradients with high sensitivity over a wide dynamic range. Sensory adaptation involves feedback control of covalent receptor modifications by two enzymes: CheR, a methyltransferase, and CheB, a methylesterase. This study describes a CheR function that opposes the signaling consequences of its catalytic activity. In the presence of CheR, a variety of mutant serine chemoreceptors displayed up to 40-fold enhanced detection sensitivity to chemoeffector stimuli. This response enhancement effect did not require the known catalytic activity of CheR, but did involve a binding interaction between CheR and receptor molecules. Response enhancement was maximal at low CheR:receptor stoichiometry and quantitative analyses argued against a reversible binding interaction that simply shifts the ON-OFF equilibrium of receptor signaling complexes. Rather, a short-lived CheR binding interaction appears to promote a long-lasting change in receptor molecules, either a covalent modification or conformation that enhances their response to attractant ligands

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

Data from: Automated Detection of On-Farm Irrigation Reservoirs: A Necessary Precursor for Conjunctive Water Management in Two Critical Groundwater Regions of Arkansas

The Inventory from Model (White)Model Reservoirs (Red)Mary and Co's reservoirs (Blue)NHD water (Orange)CDL water (Yellow) The Inventory from Model map (1) represents all the water found within the three areas identified the 2023 project; (2) is where the model indicates a reservoir based on the elevation difference based on the Yeager et al. (2017) reservoirs; (3) is based on the Yeager et al. (2017) reservoir boundaries which were plugged into the fifth step of the model (the water identification steps were skipped). Then the model was used to evaluate and classify them into elevation classes. NHD Water map (4) is every waterbody polygon from the National Hydrography Dataset that falls within the three study area areas. The CDL Water map (5) is every open water and aquaculture polygon vectorized from the Cropland Data Layer raster within the three study areas. This Data is a zipped, ArcGIS Pro (V3.1.2) project. The project geodatabase contains the model. In this project there are five maps representing different datasets:</p

Small Unmanned Aircraft Systems and Agro-Terrestrial Surveys Comparison for Generating Digital Elevation Surfaces for Irrigation and Precision Grading

Advances in remote sensing and small unmanned aircraft systems (sUAS) have been applied to various precision agriculture applications. However, there has been limited research on the accuracy of real-time kinematic (RTK) sUAS photogrammetric elevation surveys, especially in preparation for precision agriculture practices that require precise topographic surfaces, such as increasing irrigation system efficiency. These practices include, but are not limited to, precision land grading, placement of levees, multiple inlet rice irrigation, and computerized hole size selection for furrow irrigation. All such practices rely, in some way, on the characterization of surface topography. While agro-terrestrial (ground-based) surveying is the dominant method of agricultural surveying, aerial surveying is emerging and attracting potential early adopters. This is the first study of its kind to assess the accuracy, precision, time, and cost efficiency of RTK sUAS surveying in comparison to traditional agro-terrestrial techniques. Our findings suggest sUAS are superior to ground survey methods in terms of relative elevation and produce much more precise raster surfaces than ground-based methods. We also showed that this emergent technology reduces costs and the time it takes to generate agricultural elevation surveys

Second Duke Adaptation Study, 1968-1976

The purpose of the study was to understand normal development during the middle years as participants entered old age; to examine the process by which individuals adapt to normative life transitions (e.g., empty nest, retirement, widowhood); and to identify the "normal" psychological, social, and biomedical changes that characterize middle and later life. It was initiated to complement features of the First Duke Longitudinal Study through the inclusion of a younger sample of late middle age adults (i.e., 46-71 years of age), through its emphasis on "adaptation" in late middle age, and through its utilization of a cross-sequential design. Conceived of as a short-term longitudinal study, the study included 10 age-sex cohorts delineated by five-year age intervals ranging from 46 to 71 years of age at the start of data collection. Data were collected in four waves during a six-year period: 1968-1970, 1970-1972, 1972-1974, and 1974-1976. The sample consisted of 502 White American participants, 261 men and 241 women, ages 45 to 71 at the first wave of data collection. Of these, a core sample of 347 participants provided complete data for each of the initial four waves of data collection. The sampling frame for the study consisted of enrollees from the membership lists of the major health insurance association in Durham County, North Carolina. Data collected during the initial six-year phase of the study focused on physical, psychological, and social domains. Psychological data were collected on intelligence, personality, and vigilance functioning. Social data included a set of self-report scales also related to the psychological measures. Participants were also examined and rated by a medical doctor, given various laboratory tests, and medical histories were obtained. The Murray Research Archive numeric file data from all four waves. Follow-up of study participants is not permitted.

Understanding the Processes that Maintain the Oxygen Levels in the Deep Gulf of Mexico: Synthesis Report

Technical report generated as a result of a grant with the goal of understanding oxygen levels in the Gulf of Mexico at depths greater than 400 meter