Evaluation of Benzobicyclon in Midsouth Rice (Oryza sativa) Production Systems

Controlling weedy rice postemergence is challenging for rice producers in the United States because of the lack of herbicide options. Weedy rice is genetically similar to cultivated rice, thus making it difficult to control with mid-season postemergence herbicide applications without also damaging the crop. Hence, there is a need for a new effective postemergence weedy rice control herbicide. Findings from this research indicate that the use of benzobicyclon in current standard quizalofop- and imidazolinone-resistant rice herbicide programs provides tremendous utility for Midsouth rice producers. In both of these production systems, the addition of benzobicyclon to the respective standard herbicide programs resulted in comparable or improved weedy rice control compared to the standard program alone. Additionally, minimal injury was observed from treatments containing the current standard herbicide program followed by the postflood application of benzobicyclon. To validate that benzobicyclon is a viable weed control option for rice growers, research was conducted to evaluate varietal tolerances of commonly grown rice cultivars to the application of benzobicyclon. Plants are typically more sensitive to herbicides when they are small, and that sensitivity tends to decrease as the plant produces more vegetative growth. In the first year of this research, 4-leaf and tillering rice exhibited sufficient tolerance to benzobicyclon, whereas 2-leaf rice did not. However, in the second year, all treatments, or combinations of application timing/rice cultivar were not injurious to rice, which was partially attributed to loss of the herbicide from the field as a result of a rainfall event. Some rice cultivars, depending on genealogical lineage, are extremely susceptible to benzobicyclon and other 4-hydroxyphenylpyruvate dioxygenase (HPPD)-inhibiting herbicides. More specifically, japonica-type rice cultivars show much better crop safety to benzobicyclon than indica-type or japonica- x indica-type. In this research, the indica-type rice cultivar ‘Rondo’ was severely injured, regardless of benzobicyclon application timing. Since benzobicyclon is a pro-herbicide, it does not directly inhibit HPPD enzymes in plants. Rather, benzobicyclon must undergo (in the presence of water) a non-enzymatic hydrolytic reaction to be converted to the potent and phytotoxic compound benzobicyclon hydrolysate. Therefore, since benzobicyclon requires the presence of water to be phyto-active, it must be applied postflood, and applications will likely occur in proximity to actively growing soybean. In this research, treatments containing benzobicyclon alone, regardless of reduced rate applied, injured soybean ≤8% at 14 days after treatment, indicating that benzobicyclon can be safely applied to rice near soybean with minimal risk for injury to the adjacent crop

Establishing a Research Framework to Assess Permeable Pavement Sites at Ohio State

ENR 2367Ohio State has several permeable pavement sites, but university officials are not convinced that permeable pavement is right for campus. This project is a framework for student-led research that will assess permeable pavement's durability and impact on soil quality at Ohio State.Academic Major: Environment, Economy, Development, and SustainabilityAcademic Major: Environmental Scienc

Laser frequency noise characterisation using high-finesse plano-concave optical microresonators

Characterising laser frequency noise is essential for applications including optical sensing and coherent optical communications. Accurate measurement of ultranarrow linewidth lasers over a wide frequency range using existing methods is still challenging. Here we present a method for characterising the frequency noise of lasers using a high finesse plano-concave optical microresonator (PCMR) acting as frequency discriminator. To enable noise measurements at a wide range of laser frequencies, an array of PCMRs was produced with slight variations of thickness resulting in a series of discriminators operating at a series of periodical frequencies. This method enables measuring the frequency noise over a wide linewidth range (15Hz to <100MHz) over the 1440nm-1630nm wavelength range. To assess the performance of the method, four different lasers were characterised, and the results were compared to the estimations of a commercial frequency noise analyser

Global Assessment of Urological Endoscopic Skills (GAUES):development and validation of a novel assessment tool to evaluate endourological skills

Objective: To develop and evaluate an assessment tool for endourological skills during simulation including cystoscopy, ureteroscopy (URS) and transurethral resection (TUR) procedures. Methods: We designed a Global Assessment of Urological Endoscopic Skills (GAUES) tool, comprised of nine endourology task-specific and two global-rating skills items. The tool was developed through two rounds of the Delphi process. The GAUES tool was used to assess acquisition of URS and TUR skills of novices (Year 2 core surgical trainees, CT2) and intermediate level trainees (residents at the start of the UK higher surgical training programme in Urology, Speciality Trainee Year 3, ST3) at the Urology Simulation Boot Camp (USBC) between 2016 and 2018. Validity was evaluated by comparing scores between trainees with different levels of urological experience. Inter-rater reliability was also assessed. Results: We evaluated 130 residents, 52% of trainees were at an intermediate stage of training and 39% were novices. In all, 9% of the anonymous forms were missing demographics. The completion rate of the GAUES tool during the USBC for URS and TUR was 85% and 89%, respectively. Our analysis demonstrated a significant difference in all domains between intermediates and novices at assessment in URS, except for one domain more suited to clinical assessment (P\ua0=\ua00.226). There was excellent intraclass correlation (ICC) overall between the two experts’ judgements, ICC\ua0=\ua00.841 (95% confidence interval 0.767–0.893; P\ua

Integrating Biological and Social Processes in Relation to Early-Onset Persistent Aggression in Boys and Girls

This study examined the relationship between biological and social risk factors and aggressive behavior patterns in an Australian high-risk sample of 370 adolescents. Perinatal, temperamental, familial, sociodemographic, and behavioral data were collected during interviews completed during pregnancy, immediately postpartum, and when the children were 6 months old and 5, 14, and 15 years old. Youths were given tests of verbal and neuropsychological functioning at the age 5 and age 15 follow-ups. Youths were divided into early-onset persistent aggression, adolescent-onset aggression, and nonaggressive behavior groups. Results revealed that the interaction of biological and social risk factors was significantly related to early-onset persistent aggression. Gender and developmental phase of measurement moderated the relationship between biosocial risks and the outcomes of early-onset persistent aggression and adolescent-onset aggression

Concert recording 2013-12-04

[Track 01]. Omaggio / Manuel de Falla -- [Track 02]. Bossa cancao / Frank Basan -- [Track 03]. Spanish study / Frederick Noad -- [Track 04]. Adelita / Francisco Tarrega -- [Track 05]. Everything happens to me / Dennis & Adair -- [Track 06]. 4 on 6 / Wes Montgomery -- [Track 07]. All of me / Simons and Marks -- [Track 08]. Exactly like you / McHugh & Fields -- [Track 09]. Pent up house / Sonny Rollins -- [Track 10]. Ornithology / Charlie Parker -- [Track 11]. Black Orpheus / Luiz Bonfa -- [Track 12]. Bluesette / Toots Thielemans -- [Track 13]. Asturias / Isaac Albeniz

Mapping alterations to the endogenous elemental distribution within the lateral ventricles and choroid plexus in brain disorders using X-ray fluorescence imaging

The choroid plexus and cerebral ventricles are critical structures for the production of cerebral spinal fluid (CSF) and play an important role in regulating ion and metal transport in the brain, however many aspects of its roles in normal physiology and disease states, such as psychiatric illness, remain unknown. The choroid plexus is difficult to examine in vivo, and in situ ex vivo, and as such has typically been examined indirectly with radiolabeled tracers or ex vivo stains, making measurements of the endogenous K+, Cl-, and Ca+ distributions unreliable. In the present study, we directly examined the distribution of endogenous ions and biologically relevant transition metals in the choroid plexus and regions surrounding the ventricles (ventricle wall, cortex, corpus callosum, striatum) using X-ray fluorescence imaging (XFI). We find that the choroid plexus was rich in Cl- and Fe while K+ levels increase further from the ventricle as Cl- levels decrease, consistent with the known role of ion transporters in the choroid plexus CSF production. A polyI:C offspring displayed enlarged ventricles, elevated Cl- surrounding the ventricles, and intraventricular calcifications. These observations fit with clinical findings in patients with schizophrenia and suggest maternal treatment with polyI:C may lead to dysfunctional ion regulation in offspring. This study demonstrates the power of XFI for examining the endogenous elemental distributions of the ventricular system in healthy brain tissue as well as disease models

Concept, Design and Implementation of a Cardiovascular Gene-Centric 50 K SNP Array for Large-Scale Genomic Association Studies

A wealth of genetic associations for cardiovascular and metabolic phenotypes in humans has been accumulating over the last decade, in particular a large number of loci derived from recent genome wide association studies (GWAS). True complex disease-associated loci often exert modest effects, so their delineation currently requires integration of diverse phenotypic data from large studies to ensure robust meta-analyses. We have designed a gene-centric 50 K single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) array to assess potentially relevant loci across a range of cardiovascular, metabolic and inflammatory syndromes. The array utilizes a “cosmopolitan” tagging approach to capture the genetic diversity across ∼2,000 loci in populations represented in the HapMap and SeattleSNPs projects. The array content is informed by GWAS of vascular and inflammatory disease, expression quantitative trait loci implicated in atherosclerosis, pathway based approaches and comprehensive literature searching. The custom flexibility of the array platform facilitated interrogation of loci at differing stringencies, according to a gene prioritization strategy that allows saturation of high priority loci with a greater density of markers than the existing GWAS tools, particularly in African HapMap samples. We also demonstrate that the IBC array can be used to complement GWAS, increasing coverage in high priority CVD-related loci across all major HapMap populations. DNA from over 200,000 extensively phenotyped individuals will be genotyped with this array with a significant portion of the generated data being released into the academic domain facilitating in silico replication attempts, analyses of rare variants and cross-cohort meta-analyses in diverse populations. These datasets will also facilitate more robust secondary analyses, such as explorations with alternative genetic models, epistasis and gene-environment interactions

Moving in the anthropocene: global reductions in terrestrial mammalian movements

Animal movement is fundamental for ecosystem functioning and species survival, yet the effects of the anthropogenic footprint on animal movements have not been estimated across species. Using a unique GPS-tracking database of 803 individuals across 57 species, we found that movements of mammals in areas with a comparatively high human footprint were on average one-half to one-third the extent of their movements in areas with a low human footprint. We attribute this reduction to behavioral changes of individual animals and to the exclusion of species with long-range movements from areas with higher human impact. Global loss of vagility alters a key ecological trait of animals that affects not only population persistence but also ecosystem processes such as predator-prey interactions, nutrient cycling, and disease transmission