Interdisciplinary natural resource and environmental policy program at Utah State University

The Natural Resource and Environmental Policy Program at Utah State University (USU) is an interdisciplinary, graduate, educational program that has been developed since the fall of 1991. The program administers and awards a graduate certificate, sponsors invited speakers, oversees student policy presentations, and facilitates interdisciplinary collaboration. The program has earned broad, campus-wide support and participation. All eight colleges at USU supported approval of the certificate program in 1994. At present, sixteen academic units are represented on its Faculty Advisory Committee, which oversees and makes decisions about the program. Fifty graduate students from fourteen academic units have pursued the Interdisciplinary Certificate in Natural Resource and Environmental Policy, eight students have received the certificate, and sixty-three faculty representing twenty academic units are affiliated with the program. The graduate certificate program appears to be enhancing students\u27 employment options in applied resource management and coordination roles. This paper reviews program development efforts, describes the program, analyzes some of the challenges and opportunities that have confronted program developers, and offers a preliminary assessment of outcomes

Differentiating Urban Forms: A Neighborhood Typology for Understanding Urban Water Systems

With rising populations and changing climates, urban areas need water systems capable of meeting a range of social, economic and environmental sustainability objectives. Different configurations of urban growth and development also produce varying water system outcomes. In this paper we develop a multi-dimensional classification scheme that identifies distinct configurations of ‘urban forms’ in Northern Utah, USA. We identified characteristics within urban landscapes that have been linked in the scientific literature to three types of water outcomes: water demand, water budgets, and water quality. Using publicly-available data at the census block scale, we create a typology of urban neighborhoods that share distinctive combinations of natural, built, and social structures that are expected to shape water system dynamics. The resulting typology provides a conceptual and empirical basis to generate hypotheses and design studies of complex urban water systems. We illustrate the value of the typology by using data from surveys of urban residents. While our typology classifications are unique to this region, the methodology relies on publicly available data and could be replicated in other urban areas

iSAW: Integrating Structure, Actors, and Water to Study Socio-Hydro-Ecological Systems

Urbanization, climate, and ecosystem change represent major challenges for managing water resources. Although water systems are complex, a need exists for a generalized representation of these systems to identify important components and linkages to guide scientific inquiry and aid water management. We developed an integrated Structure-Actor-Water framework (iSAW) to facilitate the understanding of and transitions to sustainable water systems. Our goal was to produce an interdisciplinary framework for water resources research that could address management challenges across scales (e.g., plot to region) and domains (e.g., water supply and quality, transitioning, and urban landscapes). The framework was designed to be generalizable across all human–environment systems, yet with sufficient detail and flexibility to be customized to specific cases. iSAW includes three major components: structure (natural, built, and social), actors (individual and organizational), and water (quality and quantity). Key linkages among these components include: (1) ecological/hydrologic processes, (2) ecosystem/geomorphic feedbacks, (3) planning, design, and policy, (4) perceptions, information, and experience, (5) resource access and risk, and (6) operational water use and management. We illustrate the flexibility and utility of the iSAW framework by applying it to two research and management problems: understanding urban water supply and demand in a changing climate and expanding use of green storm water infrastructure in a semi-arid environment. The applications demonstrate that a generalized conceptual model can identify important components and linkages in complex and diverse water systems and facilitate communication about those systems among researchers from diverse disciplines

Transcriptional Activation of the Adenoviral Genome Is Mediated by Capsid Protein VI

Gene expression of DNA viruses requires nuclear import of the viral genome. Human Adenoviruses (Ads), like most DNA viruses, encode factors within early transcription units promoting their own gene expression and counteracting cellular antiviral defense mechanisms. The cellular transcriptional repressor Daxx prevents viral gene expression through the assembly of repressive chromatin remodeling complexes targeting incoming viral genomes. However, it has remained unclear how initial transcriptional activation of the adenoviral genome is achieved. Here we show that Daxx mediated repression of the immediate early Ad E1A promoter is efficiently counteracted by the capsid protein VI. This requires a conserved PPxY motif in protein VI. Capsid proteins from other DNA viruses were also shown to activate the Ad E1A promoter independent of Ad gene expression and support virus replication. Our results show how Ad entry is connected to transcriptional activation of their genome in the nucleus. Our data further suggest a common principle for genome activation of DNA viruses by counteracting Daxx related repressive mechanisms through virion proteins

Epigenetic mechanisms in virus-induced tumorigenesis

About 15–20% of human cancers worldwide have viral etiology. Emerging data clearly indicate that several human DNA and RNA viruses, such as human papillomavirus, Epstein–Barr virus, Kaposi’s sarcoma-associated herpesvirus, hepatitis B virus, hepatitis C virus, and human T-cell lymphotropic virus, contribute to cancer development. Human tumor-associated viruses have evolved multiple molecular mechanisms to disrupt specific cellular pathways to facilitate aberrant replication. Although oncogenic viruses belong to different families, their strategies in human cancer development show many similarities and involve viral-encoded oncoproteins targeting the key cellular proteins that regulate cell growth. Recent studies show that virus and host interactions also occur at the epigenetic level. In this review, we summarize the published information related to the interactions between viral proteins and epigenetic machinery which lead to alterations in the epigenetic landscape of the cell contributing to carcinogenesis

Measuring Spatio-temporal Trends in Residential Landscape Irrigation Extent and Rate in Los Angeles, California Using SPOT-5 Satellite Imagery

Irrigation is a large component of urban water budgets in semi-arid regions and is critical for the management of landscape vegetation and water resources. This is particularly true for Mediterranean climate cities such as Los Angeles, where water availability is limited during dry summers. These interactions were examined by using 10-m resolution satellite imagery and a database of monthly water use records for all residential water customers in Los Angeles in order to map vegetation greenness, the extent and distribution of irrigated areas, and irrigation rates. A water conservation ratio between rates of irrigation and vegetation water demand was calculated to assess over-irrigation. The analyses were conducted for the water years (WY) 2005–2007, which included wet, average, and dry extremes of annual rainfall. Although outdoor water usage was highest in the dry year, vegetation greenness could not be maintained as well as in wetter years, suggesting that lower greenness was due to water stress. However, annual rainfall from WY 2005 to 2007 did not significantly influence the variability in the magnitude and spatial pattern of irrigation, with mean irrigated rates ranging only from 81 to 86 mm. The water conservation ratio showed that 7 % of the postal carrier routes across the city were over-irrigated in the dry year, but 43 % were over-irrigated in the wet year. This was largely because the climatic demand for water by vegetation decreased in wet years, but irrigation rates changed little from year-to-year. This overwatering can be addressed by water conservation, planning and public education, especially in the current California drought. The approach demonstrated here should be transferable to other cities in semi-arid climates