A model for estimating time-variant rainfall infiltration as a function of antecedent surface moisture and hydrologic soil type

Recent research indicates that the use of remote sensing techniques for the measurement of near surface soil moisture could be practical in the not too distant future. Other research shows that infiltration rates, especially for average or frequent rainfall events, are extremely sensitive to the proper definition and consideration of the role of the soil moisture at the beginning of the rainfall. Thus, it is important that an easy to use, but theoretically sound, rainfall infiltration model be available if the anticipated remotely sensed soil moisture data is to be optimally utilized for hydrologic simulation. A series of numerical experiments with the Richards' equation for an array of conditions anticipated in watershed hydrology were used to develop functional relationships that describe temporal infiltration rates as a function of soil type and initial moisture conditions

The ecosystem and evolutionary contexts of allelopathy

Plants can release chemicals into the environment that suppress the growth and establishment of other plants in their vicinity, a process known as ‘allelopathy’. However, chemicals with allelopathic functions have other ecological roles, such as plant defense, nutrient chelation, and regulation of soil biota in ways that affect decomposition and soil fertility. These ecosystem-scale roles of allelopathic chemicals can augment, attenuate or modify their community-scale functions. In this review we explore allelopathy in the context of ecosystem properties, and through its role in exotic invasions consider how evolution might affect the intensity and importance of allelopathic interactions

Nonlithographic epitaxial Sn_xGe_(1–x) dense nanowire arrays grown on Ge(001)

We have grown 1-µm-thick Sn_xGe_(1–x)/Ge(001) epitaxial films with 0 < x < 0.085 by molecular-beam epitaxy. These films evolve during growth into a dense array of Sn_xGe_(1–x) nanowires oriented along [001], as confirmed by composition contrast observed in scanning transmission electron microscopy in planar view. The Sn-rich regions in these films dominate optical absorption at low energy; phase-separated Sn_xGe_(1–x) alloys have a lower-energy band gap than homogeneous alloys with the same average Sn composition

Telos: The Destination for Nazarene Higher Education

A collection of essays that attempts to articulate the common “center pole” around which Nazarene higher educators stand and the theological and pedagogical commitments that draw them together. An end product of the Pole Project, the volume is a values document for Nazarene educational institutions and was produced and reviewed by 51 faculty at 16 institutions from six countries. The title, Telos, comes from the Greek term used in the New Testament to address the perfect end, or destination, for which Christians are designed. We achieve this when we are perfectly aimed by God. Each contribution in the collection discusses where Nazarene higher education is headed and seeks to explain why the end goal of Nazarene education is unique. The volume is organized into three sections. The first provides theological and epistemological foundations. The second illustrates how those commitments are applied to particular academic disciplines. Finally, four Nazarene educators from various parts of the world balance these North American views with cultural commentary.https://digitalcommons.olivet.edu/acaff_books/1000/thumbnail.jp

Telos: The Destination for Nazarene Higher Education

A collection of essays that attempts to articulate the common “center pole” around which Nazarene higher educators stand and the theological and pedagogical commitments that draw them together. An end product of the Pole Project, the volume is a values document for Nazarene educational institutions and was produced and reviewed by 51 faculty at 16 institutions from six countries. The title, Telos, comes from the Greek term used in the New Testament to address the perfect end, or destination, for which Christians are designed. We achieve this when we are perfectly aimed by God. Each contribution in the collection discusses where Nazarene higher education is headed and seeks to explain why the end goal of Nazarene education is unique. The volume is organized into three sections. The first provides theological and epistemological foundations. The second illustrates how those commitments are applied to particular academic disciplines. Finally, four Nazarene educators from various parts of the world balance these North American views with cultural commentary.https://digitalcommons.olivet.edu/acaff_books/1000/thumbnail.jp

Cap And Trade Allowance Accounting: A Divergence Between Theory And Practice

This study concerns one of the most significant and glaring divergences between theory and practice that has emerged since the accounting discipline&rsquo;s conceptual framework was developed in the late 1970s.&nbsp; Through an extensive empirical examination of extant practices with respect to cap and trade allowances allotted to U.S. electric utilities under the Clean Air Act Amendments of 1990, this research demonstrates a surprising&mdash;and possibly unsupportable&mdash;divergence between expected and actual practice.&nbsp; The results of this research show that practice and theory diverge in a substantial and negative way.&nbsp; EPA-issued emissions allowances meet the accepted definition of an economic resource that will provide a future benefit, i.e., an asset.&nbsp; Yet, examination of five years&rsquo; of public financial disclosures for the entities affected by the CAAA shows scant recognition for the acquisition, disposition, or year-end existence of these tradable emissions permits.&nbsp; Financial statement users and other stakeholders of the affected entities may be seriously misled by the failure to recognize the allowances.&nbsp; This divergence between theory and practice does not appear to be justifiable

Integrating hierarchical controlled vocabularies with OWL ontology: A case study from the domain of molecular interactions

Many efforts at standardising terminologies within the biological domain have resulted in the construction of hierarchical controlled vocabularies that capture domain knowledge. Vocabularies, such as the PSI-MI vocabulary, capture both deep and extensive domain knowledge, in the OBO (Open Biomedical Ontologies) format. However hierarchical vocabularies, such as PSI-MI which are represented in OBO, only represent simple parent-child relationships between terms. By contrast, ontologies constructed using the Web Ontology Language (OWL), such as BioPax, define many richer types of relationships between terms. OWL provides a semantically rich structured language for expressing classes and sub-classes of entities and properties, relationships between them and domain-specific rules or axioms that can be applied to extract new information through semantic inferencing. In order to fully exploit the domain knowledge inherent in domain-specific controlled vocabularies, they need to be represented as OWL-DL ontologies, rather than in formats such as OBO. In this paper, we describe a method for converting OBO vocabularies into OWL and class instances represented as OWL-RDF triples. This approach preserves the hierarchical arrangement of the domain knowledge whilst also making the underlying parent-child relationships available to inferencing engines. This approach also has clear advantages over existing methods which incorporate terms from external controlled vocabularies as literals stripped of the context associated with their place in the hierarchy. By preserving this context, we enable machine inferencing over the ordered domain knowledge captured in OBO controlled vocabularie

Mycorrhizae Indirectly Enhance Competitive Effects of an Invasive Forb on a Native Bunchgrass

Mycorrhizae are important mediators of plant competition, but little is known about the role of mycorrhizae in the intense competitive effects that exotic plants can have on native species. In the greenhouse, we tested the effect of arbuscular mycorrhizal (AM) fungi on interspecific competition between Centaurea maculosa and Festuca idahoensis, on intraspecific competition between individuals of both species, and the growth of C. maculosa with either inorganic or organic phosphorus. Mycorrhizae had no direct effect on either species, but mycorrhizae increased C. maculosa\u27s negative effect on F. idahoensis. When competing with C. maculosa, nonmycorrhizal F. idahoensis were 171% larger than they were when mycorrhizae were present. In a second experiment, C. maculosa grown with larger F. idahoensis were 66% larger, in the presence of AM fungi, than when AM fungi were absent. Centaurea maculosa biomass was not affected by AM fungi, in either phosphorus treatment, in the absence of F. idahoensis. Root:shoot ratios differed between phosphorus treatments, but this difference seemed to be a result of slower growth in the organic phosphorus treatment. Our results were unusual in that the direct effects of mycorrhizae on both species were weak, but the indirect effect of AM fungi on the interactions between C. maculosa and F. idahoensis was strong. Our results suggest that AM fungi strongly enhance the ability of C. maculosa to invade native grasslands of western North America

Business Warehouse Modeling Using SAP: Simulating A Business Case To Apply Strategic Enterprise Management To Accounting

The goal of this research project is to develop a simulation model specifically for the Management Accounting Information Systems course – an SAP enabled course for junior Accounting majors at Saint Joseph's University. The purpose of this simulation is to present students with a set of business scenarios, and have the students make a knowledgeable decision using SAP Business Warehouse software. The scenarios will act as a simplified replication of the business environment; thus, they will provide the students with an integrated learning experience. They will make business decisions to ensure the profitability and cash flow of a corporation. While making these decisions, students participate in the application and analysis provided by PC4YOU, which is a simulated company within SAP for demonstration and education purposes. Eventually, the students will need to justify the existence of their strategic plans by evaluating benefits of the system using the reporting tools available within SAP. To provide a “learning by doing” experience, the scenarios will be used to demonstrate the reporting functionality within PC4YOU, the simulated company integrated into the SAP SEM system. Today’s global economy is putting a premium on the ability of students to evaluate a broad range of decisions in collaboration with adaptive supply chains. A critical component of the evolving accounting curriculum lies in the ability to extend students beyond the numbers to evaluate the effective and efficient delivery of these supply chains

Kinematic structure of massive star-forming regions - I. Accretion along filaments

The mid- and far-infrared view on high-mass star formation, in particular with the results from the Herschel space observatory, has shed light on many aspects of massive star formation. However, these continuum studies lack kinematic information. We study the kinematics of the molecular gas in high-mass star-forming regions. We complemented the PACS and SPIRE far-infrared data of 16 high-mass star-forming regions from the Herschel key project EPoS with N2H+ molecular line data from the MOPRA and Nobeyama 45m telescope. Using the full N2H+ hyperfine structure, we produced column density, velocity, and linewidth maps. These were correlated with PACS 70micron images and PACS point sources. In addition, we searched for velocity gradients. For several regions, the data suggest that the linewidth on the scale of clumps is dominated by outflows or unresolved velocity gradients. IRDC18454 and G11.11 show two velocity components along several lines of sight. We find that all regions with a diameter larger than 1pc show either velocity gradients or fragment into independent structures with distinct velocities. The velocity profiles of three regions with a smooth gradient are consistent with gas flows along the filament, suggesting accretion flows onto the densest regions. We show that the kinematics of several regions have a significant and complex velocity structure. For three filaments, we suggest that gas flows toward the more massive clumps are present.Comment: accepted by A&