Effects of tank mixes of MON 3539 and selected compounds in RoundupReady Flex® cotton – 2005

Field experiments were conducted in 2005 to evaluate potential weed control interactions when MON 3539 (glyphosate) was applied with several insecticides and a plant growth regulator to RoundupReady Flex® cotton. Applications were made at the 1-3 leaf stage, the 6-8 node stage, and at the 12-14 node stage. Different combinations of tank mixes were used in each of the three applications. In the first application, all plots received the same treatment: MON 3539 at a rate of 0.75 lb ae/a. A second application was made to evaluate crop injury. Only the MON 3539 + Dimate (dimethoate) mixture significantly increased crop injury 7 days after treatment two (DAT2) when compared with MON 3539 alone (20 vs. 13% injury). Bidrin (dicrotophos), Trimax (imidacloprid), Mustang Max (zeta-cypermethrin), Karate Z (lambda-cyhalothrin), Baythroid (cyfluthrin), Intrepid (methoxyfenozide), Steward (indoxacarb), Denim (emamectin benzoate), insecticides or Mepichlor (mepiquat chloride) plant growth regulator in combination with MON 3539 showed less than 8% crop injury at 7 DAT2, which was significantly less than MON 3539 applied alone (13% injury). Crop injury ratings were taken following a third application and only the MON 3539 + Mepichlor mixture significantly increased crop injury at 7 days after treatment three (DAT3) when compared with MON 3539 alone (13 vs. 5% injury). None of the remaining treatments in the third application significantly differed from that of MON 3539 alone. Weed control rating indicated that MON 3539 + Centric (thiamethoxam) significantly reduced weed control at 15 DAT2 when compared with MON 3539 alone (72 vs. 84% control). MON 3539 tank mixed with each of the following significantly differed from the 95% rating of MON 3539 alone at 14 DAT3: Bidrin at 75%, Centric at 72%, and Denim at 79%

Power moves : Houston, Texas and the politics of mobility, 1950-1985

This dissertation argues that between 1950 and 1985 a diverse collection of residents from the Houston, Texas metropolitan area used debates about the planning, construction, and meaning of transportation structures—primarily highways and mass transit systems—as opportunities to claim political power and to influence the future of their neighborhoods and city. As they contested these systems, Houstonians articulated competing notions of the politics of mobility. In addition to concrete political decisions about transportation, this term also encompasses the daily transportation decisions of Houstonians and the meanings those residents ascribed to the infrastructure that carried them across the city. The politics of mobility uniquely illuminates the intersection of politics, culture, and urban development in Houston. Who wielded the power to make choices about Houston’s transportation networks and how the balance of that power changed over time are central questions of this dissertation. Until the late 1950s and early 1960s, a collection of nearly all white and male elected officials, professional planners, and private developers held immense power over the city’s decision-making process, but never completely controlled it. The actions of citizens outside that group forced leaders to acknowledge, if rarely embrace, the perspectives that citizens held about transportation and the politics of mobility. By the mid-1970s, aided by changes in federal oversight and citizen participation regulations, as well as by their own assertions of political power, an increasingly diverse set of Houstonians—African American, ethnic Mexican, and white, urban and suburban, rich and poor—possessed more influence over the city’s transportation choices. By engaging in these debates, Houstonians challenged the city’s racial, economic, and decision-making status quo. The choices made in Houston’s struggle over the placement of highways and the creation of a public transit authority sheds light onto the foundations of Houston’s unique built environment and offers a model for understanding similar forces at work in other auto-centric southern and western, “Sunbelt” cities, such as Los Angeles and Atlanta. Further, these conflicts illuminate why older cities in the Northeast and Midwest and younger ones in the West and the South developed such divergent urbanization patterns and transportation practices.Histor

Therapeutic Camps as Respite Care Providers: Benefits for Families of Children with Disabilities

This study examines the utilization of a therapeutic summer camp for children with disabilities as a respite care provider for parents of camp participants. Interviews were conducted with nine parents, from seven different families of recent camp participants at Camp LIFE, a camp for children with disabilities located in Burton, TX. The interviews were qualitative in nature, and utilized Atlas.ti research software to guide the data analysis process. The findings centered on five areas: the daily life of a family with a disabled child, the respite needs of these families, the value of respite care in general, the value of respite as provided by Camp LIFE in particular (both while the child attended camp, as well as after the child returned home), the qualities of Camp LIFE that contributed to respite, and suggestions from parents for improvement of service provision. These findings suggest that, as has been found in previous research, raising a child with a disability is often difficult; however, this study found that none of the parents would opt to alter their situation, given the opportunity. It was also reported by parents that respite care is often hard to obtain (for a variety of reasons), but that it is a much-needed and desired service. In terms of Camp LIFE, the interviews showed that the parents did see the camp as a source of respite care, and that each family "did something" with the time their child was at camp in such a way as to maximize these respite benefits. This study is in agreement with an argument raised by previous research; that overnight therapeutic camps are a much-valued source of rest for many parents, and that without such respite, parents would report much higher levels of stress related to the care of a disabled child. Further research should be conducted which further examines the specific processes that allow parents to feel comfortable with obtaining respite from therapeutic camps, as well as research into ways to provide financial support and assistance to further the ability of these camps to provide such services

Synthetic and Enhanced Vision Systems for NextGen (SEVS) Simulation and Flight Test Performance Evaluation

The Synthetic and Enhanced Vision Systems for NextGen (SEVS) simulation and flight tests are jointly sponsored by NASA's Aviation Safety Program, Vehicle Systems Safety Technology project and the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA). The flight tests were conducted by a team of Honeywell, Gulfstream Aerospace Corporation and NASA personnel with the goal of obtaining pilot-in-the-loop test data for flight validation, verification, and demonstration of selected SEVS operational and system-level performance capabilities. Nine test flights (38 flight hours) were conducted over the summer and fall of 2011. The evaluations were flown in Gulfstream.s G450 flight test aircraft outfitted with the SEVS technology under very low visibility instrument meteorological conditions. Evaluation pilots flew 108 approaches in low visibility weather conditions (600 ft to 2400 ft visibility) into various airports from Louisiana to Maine. In-situ flight performance and subjective workload and acceptability data were collected in collaboration with ground simulation studies at LaRC.s Research Flight Deck simulator

Transition of Attention in Terminal Area NextGen Operations Using Synthetic Vision Systems

This experiment investigates the capability of Synthetic Vision Systems (SVS) to provide significant situation awareness in terminal area operations, specifically in low visibility conditions. The use of a Head-Up Display (HUD) and Head-Down Displays (HDD) with SVS is contrasted to baseline standard head down displays in terms of induced workload and pilot behavior in 1400 RVR visibility levels. Variances across performance and pilot behavior were reviewed for acceptability when using HUD or HDD with SVS under reduced minimums to acquire the necessary visual components to continue to land. The data suggest superior performance for HUD implementations. Improved attentional behavior is also suggested for HDD implementations of SVS for low-visibility approach and landing operations

Digital tools for climate change adaptation and mitigation

KEY MESSAGES ◼ Digital tool functions for agricultural technical advice and performance assessment related to climate change adaptation and mitigation are limited. ◼ Tools for technical advice provided functions related to climate change adaptation more often than mitigation. Yet most tools (92%) addressed three or fewer climate change adaptation indicators. ◼ Technical advice with access to weather information or early warning systems for hazardous weather was the most common function of the tools analyzed. ◼ Performance assessment tools were predominantly GHG emission calculators. ◼ Features for inclusive communication with tool users (e.g., iconography, video or audio messages) included messaging (31% of tools) and voice and video (28%). ◼ Exemplary tool features for climate change adaptation and mitigation should inform future digital tool development for agriculture and food systems. ◼ Tools that provide coaching functions and support farmer input enable farmers to weigh the trade-offs of their decisions and add context on how to achieve and sustain change. ◼ Achieving scale for climate-informed digital tools does not just mean increasing farmers’ access to tools, but also supporting action recommendations in tools and identifying priority, large-scale impacts in terms of the level of climate risk mitigated and resilience built, or climate change mitigation achieved

Exemplary features of digital tools for agroecology: A global review

KEY MESSAGES ◼ Few digital tools support agroecology comprehensively, but many have agroecological components. ◼ Features that improved two-way farmer communication, targeting of farmer subgroups, farmer-driven content and use of human intermediaries were exemplary features for social inclusion. ◼ Exemplary features for technical advisory tools included context-specific technical options, use of videos, integration with coaching and hotlines for questions, and two-way communication. ◼ Exemplary features for performance assessment included collaborative definition of indicators with farmers, easy to use spreadsheets (for researchers) and easily digestible quick view reporting such as pie charts

Visual Advantage of Enhanced Flight Vision System During NextGen Flight Test Evaluation

Synthetic Vision Systems and Enhanced Flight Vision System (SVS/EFVS) technologies have the potential to provide additional margins of safety for aircrew performance and enable operational improvements for low visibility operations in the terminal area environment. Simulation and flight tests were jointly sponsored by NASA's Aviation Safety Program, Vehicle Systems Safety Technology project and the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) to evaluate potential safety and operational benefits of SVS/EFVS technologies in low visibility Next Generation Air Transportation System (NextGen) operations. The flight tests were conducted by a team of Honeywell, Gulfstream Aerospace Corporation and NASA personnel with the goal of obtaining pilot-in-the-loop test data for flight validation, verification, and demonstration of selected SVS/EFVS operational and system-level performance capabilities. Nine test flights were flown in Gulfstream's G450 flight test aircraft outfitted with the SVS/EFVS technologies under low visibility instrument meteorological conditions. Evaluation pilots flew 108 approaches in low visibility weather conditions (600 feet to 3600 feet reported visibility) under different obscurants (mist, fog, drizzle fog, frozen fog) and sky cover (broken, overcast). Flight test videos were evaluated at three different altitudes (decision altitude, 100 feet radar altitude, and touchdown) to determine the visual advantage afforded to the pilot using the EFVS/Forward-Looking InfraRed (FLIR) imagery compared to natural vision. Results indicate the EFVS provided a visual advantage of two to three times over that of the out-the-window (OTW) view. The EFVS allowed pilots to view the runway environment, specifically runway lights, before they would be able to OTW with natural vision