The Thirst for Population Control: Water Hookup Moratoria and the Duty to Augment Supply

The California Water Code authorizes a water distributor to refuse to connect new water service connections during periods of water shortage. This note analyzes the provisions of the Water Code to determine when and for how long such a refusal is justified. The author suggests that a duty to augment the water supply is implicit in the statutes and that the satisfaction of this duty by an exhaustion of all powers, including the power to conserve water by rationing, is a requirement for the continuation of a water hookup moratorium

A Semantic Markov Field Model of Text Recall

A probabilistic model of text recall is proposed which assigns a probability mass to a given recall protocol. Knowledge analyses of semantic relationships among events identified in the text are used to specify the architecture of the probability model. Twelve subjects (the training data group) were then asked to recall twelve texts from memory. The recall protocols generated by the twelve subjects were then used to estimate the strengths of the semantic relationships in the probabilistic model. The Gibbs Sampler algorithm (a connectionist-like algorithm) was then used to sample from the probabilistic model in order to generate synthesized recall protocols. These synthesized recall protocols were then compared with the original set of recall data and recall data collected from an additional group of twelve human subjects (the test data group)

Determining Proper Row Orientation and Seeding Population for Soybean Production

Soybean planting seed cost is the greatest expense in most growing seasons. The objective of this study was to evaluate row orientations on 40-in rows (single-row [SR] vs twin-row [TR]) and planting populations (78,400, 104,500, 130,800 and 156,800) seed/acre. In 2017 and 2018 a field study in the Mississippi Delta was designed to determine whether canopy closure was impacted by treatment and the effect on yield and plant characteristics. Mapping data showed that soybean yield was maintained at low seeding rates. Data indicated that planting population could be reduced provided the existing stand was uniform in emergence

Lipid Thermotropic Transitions in Human Stratum Corneum

The techniques of differential scanning calorimetry (DSC) and thermal perturbation infrared (IR) spectrometry were used to investigate thermal transitions in intact, fractionated, and lipid-extracted human stratum corneum. The DSC results show 3 major and one minor thermal transition in the range of 30-120°C. Of particular interest to this study are 2 transitions seen near 65° and 75°C in intact stratum corneum and a stratum corneum membrane preparation, but absent from lipid-extracted samples. Results of IR spectrometry show that thermally induced spectral changes related to enhanced motion of the lipid acyl chains also occur in the region of about 60-80°C. The combined DSC and IR results show that the thermal transitions near 65° and 75°C depend on water concentration in a manner identical to that seen for a variety of lipid-water systems. Taken together, these results suggest that thermal transitions occurring near 65° and 85°C involve increased acyl chain motion of stratum corneum lipids