Predicting soil wind erosion potential under different corn residue management scenarios in the central Great Plains

Various models and simplified equations are available to predict wind erosion potential. However, their performance can be often site-specific, depending on soil characteristics and agronomic practices, warranting sitespecific model validations. Thus, in this study, we 1) validated the wind erodible fraction (WEF) predictive equations by Fryrear et al. (1994) and López et al. (2007) and 2) estimated the total soil loss with the Singleevent Wind Erosion Evaluation Program (SWEEP) using 3-yr measured data from six experiments located across a precipitation gradient in the central Great Plains. Each site had three corn (Zea mays L.) residue removal treatments: control (no removal), grazed, and baled. The measured and predicted WEF were significantly correlated. While the Fryrear et al. (1994) equation performed better than the López et al. (2007) equation, it underestimated WEF with 59% uncertainty across site-years. To reduce this underestimation and uncertainty, we developed a new statistical equation (WEF%=84.3+2.64×% silt-0.30×% clay-7.43×% organic matter- 0.15×% residue cover; r2=0.56). The predictive ability of the new equation was, however, no better than that of the existing predictive equations, suggesting the need for further refinement of WEF equations for the region. Simulated total soil loss by wind using the SWEEP model indicated that corn residue baling may increase soil loss if residue cover drops below 20% in the study region. Overall, the existing WEF equations could under- or overestimate WEF based on site-specific residue management, warranting further model refinement and site-specific validation, whereas the SWEEP estimated soil loss corroborates the critical importance of maintaining sufficient residue cover (\u3e 20%) to reduce wind erosion

Indicators and Benchmarks for Wind Erosion Monitoring, Assessment and Management

Wind erosion and blowing dust threaten food security, human health and ecosystem services across global drylands. Monitoring wind erosion is needed to inform management, with explicit monitoring objectives being critical for interpreting and translating monitoring information into management actions. Monitoring objectives should establish quantitative guidelines for determining the relationship of wind erosion indicators to management benchmarks that reflect tolerable erosion and dust production levels considering impacts to, for example, ecosystem processes, species, agricultural production systems and human well-being. Here we: 1) critically review indicators of wind erosion and blowing dust that are currently available to practitioners; and 2) describe approaches for establishing benchmarks to support wind erosion assessments and management. We find that while numerous indicators are available for monitoring wind erosion, only a subset have been used routinely and most monitoring efforts have focused on air quality impacts of dust. Indicators need to be related to the causal soil and vegetation controls in eroding areas to directly inform management. There is great potential to use regional standardized soil and vegetation monitoring datasets, remote sensing and models to provide new information on wind erosion across landscapes. We identify best practices for establishing benchmarks for these indicators based on experimental studies, mechanistic and empirical models, and distributions of indicator values obtained from monitoring data at historic or existing reference sites. The approaches to establishing benchmarks described here have enduring utility as monitoring technologies change and enable managers to evaluate co-benefits and potential trade-offs among ecosystem services as affected by wind erosion management

Enhancing wind erosion monitoring and assessment for U.S. rangelands

Wind erosion is a major resource concern for rangeland managers because it can impact soil health, ecosystem structure and function, hydrologic processes, agricultural production, and air quality. Despite its significance, little is known about which landscapes are eroding, by how much, and when. The National Wind Erosion Research Network was established in 2014 to develop tools for monitoring and assessing wind erosion and dust emissions across the United States. The Network, currently consisting of 13 sites, creates opportunities to enhance existing rangeland soil, vegetation, and air quality monitoring programs. Decision-support tools developed by the Network will improve the prediction and management of wind erosion across rangeland ecosystems. © 2017 The Author(s)The Rangelands archives are made available by the Society for Range Management and the University of Arizona Libraries. Contact [email protected] for further information

Individual and culture-level components of survey response styles: a multi-level analysis using cultural models of selfhood

Variations in acquiescence and extremity pose substantial threats to the validity of cross-cultural research that relies on survey methods. Individual and cultural correlates of response styles when using two contrasting types of response mode were investigated, drawing on data from 55 cultural groups across 33 nations. Using seven dimensions of self-other relatedness that have often been confounded within the broader distinction between independence and interdependence, our analysis yields more specific understandings of both individual- and culture-level variations in response style. When using a Likert scale response format, acquiescence is strongest among individuals seeing themselves as similar to others, and where cultural models of selfhood favour harmony, similarity with others and receptiveness to influence. However, when using Schwartz’s (2007) portrait-comparison response procedure, acquiescence is strongest among individuals seeing themselves as self-reliant but also connected to others, and where cultural models of selfhood favour self-reliance and self-consistency. Extreme responding varies less between the two types of response modes, and is most prevalent among individuals seeing themselves as self-reliant, and in cultures favouring self-reliance. Since both types of response mode elicit distinctive styles of response, it remains important to estimate and control for style effects to ensure valid comparisons

Being oneself through time: bases of self-continuity across 55 cultures

Self-continuity – the sense that one’s past, present, and future are meaningfully connected – is considered a defining feature of personal identity. However, bases of self-continuity may depend on cultural beliefs about personhood. In multilevel analyses of data from 7287 adults from 55 cultural groups in 33 nations, we tested a new tripartite theoretical model of bases of self-continuity. As expected, perceptions of stability, sense of narrative, and associative links to one’s past each contributed to predicting the extent to which people derived a sense of self-continuity from different aspects of their identities. Ways of constructing self-continuity were moderated by cultural and individual differences in mutable (vs. immutable) personhood beliefs – the belief that human attributes are malleable. Individuals with lower mutability beliefs based self-continuity more on stability; members of cultures where mutability beliefs were higher based self-continuity more on narrative. Bases of self-continuity were also moderated by cultural variation in contextualized (vs. decontextualized) personhood beliefs, indicating a link to cultural individualism-collectivism. Our results illustrate the cultural flexibility of the motive for self-continuity

Joining of CVD-SiC coated and uncoated fibre reinforced ceramic matrix composites with pre-sintered Ti3SiC2 MAX phase using Spark Plasma Sintering

CVD-SiC coated and uncoated ceramic matrix composites (Cf/SiC and SiCf/SiC) were joined to their counterparts with a pre-sintered Ti3SiC2 foil using Spark Plasma Sintering. For the first time pre-sintered Ti3SiC2 foil was used as a joining filler. The joining parameters were carefully selected to avoid the decomposition of Ti3SiC2 and the reaction between the joining filler and the CVD-SiC coating, which would have deteriorated the oxidation protective function of the coating. Conformal behaviour of the Ti3SiC2 foil during the diffusion joining and the infiltration of the joining filler into the surface cracks in the CVD -SiC coating allowed the filler to be more integrated with the matrix material. While diffusion bonding occurred during joining of the coated composites, a combination of both solid-state reaction and diffusion bonding was observed for the uncoated Cf/SiC composites. This produced the lower shear strength (19.1 MPa) when compared to the diffusion bonded CVD-SiC coated Cf/SiC (31.1 MPa

U.S. Billion-ton Update: Biomass Supply for a Bioenergy and Bioproducts Industry

The Report, Biomass as Feedstock for a Bioenergy and Bioproducts Industry: The Technical Feasibility of a Billion-Ton Annual Supply (generally referred to as the Billion-Ton Study or 2005 BTS), was an estimate of “potential” biomass within the contiguous United States based on numerous assumptions about current and future inventory and production capacity, availability, and technology. In the 2005 BTS, a strategic analysis was undertaken to determine if U.S. agriculture and forest resources have the capability to potentially produce at least one billion dry tons of biomass annually, in a sustainable manner—enough to displace approximately 30% of the country’s present petroleum consumption. To ensure reasonable confidence in the study results, an effort was made to use relatively conservative assumptions. However, for both agriculture and forestry, the resource potential was not restricted by price. That is, all identified biomass was potentially available, even though some potential feedstock would more than likely be too expensive to actually be economically available. In addition to updating the 2005 study, this report attempts to address a number of its shortcoming

Indicators and benchmarks for wind erosion monitoring, assessment and management

Wind erosion and blowing dust threaten food security, human health and ecosystem services across global drylands. Monitoring wind erosion is needed to inform management, with explicit monitoring objectives being critical for interpreting and translating monitoring information into management actions. Monitoring objectives should establish quantitative guidelines for determining the relationship of wind erosion indicators to management benchmarks that reflect tolerable erosion and dust production levels considering impacts to, for example, ecosystem processes, species, agricultural production systems and human well-being. Here we: 1) critically review indicators of wind erosion and blowing dust that are currently available to practitioners; and 2) describe approaches for establishing benchmarks to support wind erosion assessments and management. We find that while numerous indicators are available for monitoring wind erosion, only a subset have been used routinely and most monitoring efforts have focused on air quality impacts of dust. Indicators need to be related to the causal soil and vegetation controls in eroding areas to directly inform management. There is great potential to use regional standardized soil and vegetation monitoring datasets, remote sensing and models to provide new information on wind erosion across landscapes. We identify best practices for establishing benchmarks for these indicators based on experimental studies, mechanistic and empirical models, and distributions of indicator values obtained from monitoring data at historic or existing reference sites. The approaches to establishing benchmarks described here have enduring utility as monitoring technologies change and enable managers to evaluate co-benefits and potential trade-offs among ecosystem services as affected by wind erosion management

Beyond the ‘East-West’ dichotomy: global variation in cultural models of selfhood

Markus and Kitayama’s (1991) theory of independent and interdependent self-construals had a major influence on social, personality, and developmental psychology by highlighting the role of culture in psychological processes. However, research has relied excessively on contrasts between North American and East Asian samples, and commonly used self-report measures of independence and interdependence frequently fail to show predicted cultural differences. We revisited the conceptualization and measurement of independent and interdependent self-construals in 2 large-scale multinational surveys, using improved methods for cross-cultural research. We developed (Study 1: N = 2924 students in 16 nations) and validated across cultures (Study 2: N = 7279 adults from 55 cultural groups in 33 nations) a new 7-dimensional model of self-reported ways of being independent or interdependent. Patterns of global variation support some of Markus and Kitayama’s predictions, but a simple contrast between independence and interdependence does not adequately capture the diverse models of selfhood that prevail in different world regions. Cultural groups emphasize different ways of being both independent and interdependent, depending on individualism-collectivism, national socioeconomic development, and religious heritage. Our 7-dimensional model will allow future researchers to test more accurately the implications of cultural models of selfhood for psychological processes in diverse ecocultural contexts