Evaluation of Best Management Practices to Reduce Nutrients Runoff in Watersheds in Arkansas

There are many non point sources (NPS) of pollution issues across the state of Arkansas. Each region of the state has different concerns. Many watersheds have been included in the Arkansas\u27s 2008 303(d) list for NPS impairments with sediment and nutrients being the primary causes of concern. This research hypothesized that there are no cost or net returns risks when adopting best management practices (BMPs) to control nutrients runoff and that selection, timing, placement and cost have no impact on the implementation of BMPs. Using two priority watersheds, the L\u27Anguille River and the Lincoln Lake, as examples, the environmental benefits and the cost-effectiveness of several BMPs were compared to representative systems that producers currently use. Current systems were rice and soybeans production under various tillage, buffers and nutrient management practices. Also analyzed were alternative pasture management systems, buffers and poultry litter applications for bermudagrass production. For each system, total phosphorous (TP) loss estimates were linked with production costs, BMP costs and risk premiums within a watershed to create an environmental-economic model. The model was used to analyze the impact of BMPs in reducing nutrient runoff while minimizing the producers\u27 exposure to additional risk. To accomplish this goal, two mathematical techniques were used: stochastic dominance and genetic algorithm. Findings showed that BMPs have the potential for reducing nutrient pollutant losses from agricultural land areas. However, ranking BMPs solely in terms of their effectiveness to reduce nutrient runoff can lead to cost-prohibited recommendations. Since producer\u27s risk aversion level matters, for producers to adopt any of the BMPs analyzed in this study, they would have to receive a risk premium. This is true for both row crop and forage producers. Still, there are some BMPs that can reduce nutrient runoff, maintain agricultural production and improve water quality without affecting producers\u27 cost or net returns dramatically. Consequently, decision makers need to weight trade-offs between nutrient runoff reduction and net cost increase when selecting BMPs. Cost-savings from selecting BMPs become evident when critical factors for reducing TP runoff are analyzed using an environmental-economic model

Cost and benefits of using best management practices to control non-point sources of pollution under environmental and economic uncertainty

The economy of northwest Arkansas, including the Lincoln Lake watershed (a sub-watershed of the Illinois River), relies greatly upon livestock and poultry production. The supply of production by-products is increasingly under scrutiny as one of the potential sources of water pollution in the region. In light of the recent economic crisis, methodologies that help producers to evaluate the environmental and economic impacts of several practices before implementing them may be a cost-effective means of increasing BMP adoption. This study uses stochastic dominance techniques to evaluate, environmentally and economically, ten best management practices (BMPs) combinations to lessen water pollution in the Lincoln Lake watershed. All BMP combinations analyzed were effective in reducing total phosphorous (TP) losses. However, six combinations also decreased net returns (NR) when compared to a baseline. This suggests that including BMPs in the bermudagrass production systems may lead to increased NR risk. Without additional incentives, producers will not likely implement these BMP combinations regardless of their TP reduction benefits. Although, as expected, rankings of BMP combinations in terms of TP or NR differed from each other, four scenarios established that environmental and economic goals are not necessarily conflicting; they may be complementary. Additionally, this analysis revealed that producers’ risk preferences did not matter when selecting among the top-four BMP combinations but it could be a factor for other less preferred scenarios.nonpoint pollution, watershed, best management practices, risk analysis, stochastic dominance, Environmental Economics and Policy, Risk and Uncertainty, Q25, Q53,

Zoonosis, cambio climático y sociedad

La sociedad contemporánea se enfrenta a uno de los retos más grandes de la historia humana, el calentamiento global, mismo que acarrea enormes consecuencias, tales como los disturbios climáticos, así como los patrones de las enfermedades de origen animal transmisibles al hombre. Precisamente ante este escenario las instituciones educativas de nivel superior deben dar cumplimiento a su responsabilidad y ser las generadoras de alternativas de solución mediante el trabajo especializado de investigación; y para ello, la pesquisa científica es la mejor de las alternativas a nuestro alcance para comprender y encarar estos desafíos.Universidad Autónoma del Estado de México y Ediciones y Gráficos Eón, S.A. de C.V

Clonal chromosomal mosaicism and loss of chromosome Y in elderly men increase vulnerability for SARS-CoV-2

The pandemic caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2, COVID-19) had an estimated overall case fatality ratio of 1.38% (pre-vaccination), being 53% higher in males and increasing exponentially with age. Among 9578 individuals diagnosed with COVID-19 in the SCOURGE study, we found 133 cases (1.42%) with detectable clonal mosaicism for chromosome alterations (mCA) and 226 males (5.08%) with acquired loss of chromosome Y (LOY). Individuals with clonal mosaic events (mCA and/or LOY) showed a 54% increase in the risk of COVID-19 lethality. LOY is associated with transcriptomic biomarkers of immune dysfunction, pro-coagulation activity and cardiovascular risk. Interferon-induced genes involved in the initial immune response to SARS-CoV-2 are also down-regulated in LOY. Thus, mCA and LOY underlie at least part of the sex-biased severity and mortality of COVID-19 in aging patients. Given its potential therapeutic and prognostic relevance, evaluation of clonal mosaicism should be implemented as biomarker of COVID-19 severity in elderly people. Among 9578 individuals diagnosed with COVID-19 in the SCOURGE study, individuals with clonal mosaic events (clonal mosaicism for chromosome alterations and/or loss of chromosome Y) showed an increased risk of COVID-19 lethality

Search for dark matter produced in association with bottom or top quarks in √s = 13 TeV pp collisions with the ATLAS detector

A search for weakly interacting massive particle dark matter produced in association with bottom or top quarks is presented. Final states containing third-generation quarks and miss- ing transverse momentum are considered. The analysis uses 36.1 fb−1 of proton–proton collision data recorded by the ATLAS experiment at √s = 13 TeV in 2015 and 2016. No significant excess of events above the estimated backgrounds is observed. The results are in- terpreted in the framework of simplified models of spin-0 dark-matter mediators. For colour- neutral spin-0 mediators produced in association with top quarks and decaying into a pair of dark-matter particles, mediator masses below 50 GeV are excluded assuming a dark-matter candidate mass of 1 GeV and unitary couplings. For scalar and pseudoscalar mediators produced in association with bottom quarks, the search sets limits on the production cross- section of 300 times the predicted rate for mediators with masses between 10 and 50 GeV and assuming a dark-matter mass of 1 GeV and unitary coupling. Constraints on colour- charged scalar simplified models are also presented. Assuming a dark-matter particle mass of 35 GeV, mediator particles with mass below 1.1 TeV are excluded for couplings yielding a dark-matter relic density consistent with measurements

Differential cross section measurements for the production of a W boson in association with jets in proton–proton collisions at √s = 7 TeV

Measurements are reported of differential cross sections for the production of a W boson, which decays into a muon and a neutrino, in association with jets, as a function of several variables, including the transverse momenta (pT) and pseudorapidities of the four leading jets, the scalar sum of jet transverse momenta (HT), and the difference in azimuthal angle between the directions of each jet and the muon. The data sample of pp collisions at a centre-of-mass energy of 7 TeV was collected with the CMS detector at the LHC and corresponds to an integrated luminosity of 5.0 fb[superscript −1]. The measured cross sections are compared to predictions from Monte Carlo generators, MadGraph + pythia and sherpa, and to next-to-leading-order calculations from BlackHat + sherpa. The differential cross sections are found to be in agreement with the predictions, apart from the pT distributions of the leading jets at high pT values, the distributions of the HT at high-HT and low jet multiplicity, and the distribution of the difference in azimuthal angle between the leading jet and the muon at low values.United States. Dept. of EnergyNational Science Foundation (U.S.)Alfred P. Sloan Foundatio

Penilaian Kinerja Keuangan Koperasi di Kabupaten Pelalawan

This paper describe development and financial performance of cooperative in District Pelalawan among 2007 - 2008. Studies on primary and secondary cooperative in 12 sub-districts. Method in this stady use performance measuring of productivity, efficiency, growth, liquidity, and solvability of cooperative. Productivity of cooperative in Pelalawan was highly but efficiency still low. Profit and income were highly, even liquidity of cooperative very high, and solvability was good

Juxtaposing BTE and ATE – on the role of the European insurance industry in funding civil litigation

One of the ways in which legal services are financed, and indeed shaped, is through private insurance arrangement. Two contrasting types of legal expenses insurance contracts (LEI) seem to dominate in Europe: before the event (BTE) and after the event (ATE) legal expenses insurance. Notwithstanding institutional differences between different legal systems, BTE and ATE insurance arrangements may be instrumental if government policy is geared towards strengthening a market-oriented system of financing access to justice for individuals and business. At the same time, emphasizing the role of a private industry as a keeper of the gates to justice raises issues of accountability and transparency, not readily reconcilable with demands of competition. Moreover, multiple actors (clients, lawyers, courts, insurers) are involved, causing behavioural dynamics which are not easily predicted or influenced. Against this background, this paper looks into BTE and ATE arrangements by analysing the particularities of BTE and ATE arrangements currently available in some European jurisdictions and by painting a picture of their respective markets and legal contexts. This allows for some reflection on the performance of BTE and ATE providers as both financiers and keepers. Two issues emerge from the analysis that are worthy of some further reflection. Firstly, there is the problematic long-term sustainability of some ATE products. Secondly, the challenges faced by policymakers that would like to nudge consumers into voluntarily taking out BTE LEI

Search for stop and higgsino production using diphoton Higgs boson decays

Results are presented of a search for a "natural" supersymmetry scenario with gauge mediated symmetry breaking. It is assumed that only the supersymmetric partners of the top-quark (stop) and the Higgs boson (higgsino) are accessible. Events are examined in which there are two photons forming a Higgs boson candidate, and at least two b-quark jets. In 19.7 inverse femtobarns of proton-proton collision data at sqrt(s) = 8 TeV, recorded in the CMS experiment, no evidence of a signal is found and lower limits at the 95% confidence level are set, excluding the stop mass below 360 to 410 GeV, depending on the higgsino mass