Spatial application of a cotton growth model for analysis of site-specific irrigation in the Texas High Plains

Limited water supplies for agriculture in the Texas High Plains will require new irrigation technologies and techniques for agriculture to continue in this area. The potential for using one such technology, site-specific irrigation, was evaluated using the Cotton2k crop simulation model. This model and two other simulation models were evaluated for their ability to track water movement and usage over three growing seasons. The models were tested for sites in Lubbock and Hale County, Texas. Cotton2k performed well compared to the other two models on tests of cumulative evapotranspiration and applied water yield relations and equal to the other models for tracking soil water profiles. A global optimization method, simulated annealing, was tested for its ability to spatially calibrate soil water parameters of Cotton2k. The algorithm found multiple parameter sets for the same objective function results. This result runs contrary to expectations for the simulated annealing algorithm, but is possibly from the relationship between available water capacity and crop yield. The annealing algorithm was applied to each sampling point at the Hale County site and improved yield predictions for 32 of 33 points as compared to simulations made with soil textural information alone. The spatially calibrated model was used with historic weather from five seasons to evaluate a site-specific strategy where water was shifted from lower to higher yielding areas of fields. Two irrigation strategies, one with irrigations weekly and one with irrigations applied when 30% of available water was depleted, were tested. With sitespecific management, the weekly interval strategy produced higher yields for two of three water levels, as compared to uniform management. With the soil moisture depletion strategy, site-specific management produced lower yields than uniform management for all three water levels examined. Yield improvement and water savings were also demonstrated for implementing site-specific irrigation when non-producing portions of fields were previously being watered

An Examination of the Challenges Experienced by Canadian Ice-Hockey Players in the National Hockey League

Semistructured interviews were used in this study to learn about the challenges experienced by four groups of National Hockey League (NHL) players (N=11): prospects (n=3), rookies (n=3), veterans (n=2), and retirees (n=3). The database is comprised of 757 meaning units grouped into 11 contextual challenges pertaining to scouting demands, training camp, increased athletic demands, team expectations, and earning team trust. The veterans spoke mostly of challenges including scouting demands, athletic demands, and team expectations. Retirees considered mostly challenges pertaining to team expectations, athletic demands, lifestyle, media demands, transactions, cross-cultural encounters, and playoffs. An expert panel ensured that the interview guide, data analysis, and the findings represented the participants’ experiences in the NHL. Recommendations for practitioners and researchers working with NHL players are proposed

Meeting Report: Soybean Genomics Assessment and Strategy Workshop

http://www.soybiotechcenter.org/archives/?id=195&id2=12On July 19 - 20, 2005, approximately 50 researchers and administrators with expert knowledge of soybean genomics participated in a workshop in St.Louis, MO, which was hosted by the Soybean Genetics Executive Committee and supported by the United Soybean Board. The workshop began with a series of presentations by experts in the topics discussed below. Each presentation was designed to update the audience on the current status of soybean resources and related genomics technologies. Following the presentations the participants divided into discussion groups to assess the status of soybean genomics, identify needs, and identify milestones to achieve objectives. The discussion groups included the general areas of Functional Genomics A (Transcriptome and Proteome), Functional Genomic B (Reverse Genetics), Physical and Genetic Maps, and Bioinformatics. After each discussion section the entire group reconvened to hear group reports and to further discuss each topic. The following is the report from this Workshop. It represents a consensus of the participants of the Workshop and it is structured to integrate with a White Paper generated in 2003 so that progress can be better monitored over time. The results of this report are consistent with those of a National Science Foundation soybean genomics workshop held in 2004 (St. Louis, MO) and a Cross-Legume workshop also held in 2004 (Santa Fe, NM).National Science Foundatio

Striatal neuroinflammation promotes parkinsonism in rats

The specific role of neuroinflammation in the pathogenesis of Parkinson's disease remains to be fully elucidated. By infusing lipopolysaccharide (LPS) into the striatum, we investigated the effect of neuroinflammation on the dopamine nigrostriatal pathway. Here, we report that LPS-induced neuroinflammation in the striatum causes progressive degeneration of the dopamine nigrostriatal system, which is accompanied by motor impairments resembling parkinsonism. Our results indicate that neurodegeneration is associated with defects in the mitochondrial respiratory chain related to extensive S-nitrosylation/nitration of mitochondrial proteins. Mitochondrial injury was prevented by treatment of L-N^6^-(l-iminoethyl)-lysine, an inducible nitric oxide synthase (iNOS) inhibitor, suggesting that iNOS-derived NO is responsible for mitochondrial dysfunction. Furthermore, the nigral dopamine neurons exhibited intracytoplasmic [alpha]-synuclein and ubiquitin accumulation. These results demonstrate that degeneration of nigral dopamine neurons by neuroinflammation is associated with mitochondrial malfunction induced by NO-mediated S-nitrosylation/nitration of mitochondrial proteins