Understanding Soybean Plant Population Recommendations for Iowa

Concerns over rapidly escalating seed prices have caused farmers, agronomists, and seed suppliers to revisit soybean planting rates. This publication discusses optimum soybean planting rates in Iowa and surrounding states. This is a must read for those who want to reduce their seed input costshttps://lib.dr.iastate.edu/extension_ag_pubs/1179/thumbnail.jp

Use of the wound healing trajectory as an outcome determinant for acute wound healing

Peer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/72454/1/j.1524-475x.2000.00511.x.pd

Conversion between evapotranspiration references and methods

Ratios of reference evapotranspiration for alfalfa (ET r) and for grass (ET0) are evaluated using measured ETr and ET,, from lysimeter systems at Kimberly, Idaho and Bushland, Texas. In addition, ratios are evaluated using estimates by the Kimberly Penman and ASCE Penman-Monteith evapotranspiration methods. An ET reference conversion equation from FAO-56 is also compared. The ASCE-PM and Kimberly Penman methods predict differently for both ET, and ET0 so that ratios of ETr / ET° computed from both methods behave differently Ratios of ETr / ET0 from lysimeter measurements averaged 1.15 at both locations

Increased reticulocytosis during infancy is associated with increased hospitalizations in sickle cell anemia patients during the first three years of life

Objective Among older children with sickle cell anemia, leukocyte counts, hemoglobin, and reticulocytosis have previously been suggested as disease severity markers. Here we explored whether these blood parameters may be useful to predict early childhood disease severity when tested in early infancy, defined as postnatal ages 60–180 days. Study Design Data from fifty-nine subjects who were followed at Children’s National Medical Center’s Sickle Cell Program for at least three years was retrospectively analyzed. Comparisons were made between white blood cell counts, hemoglobin and reticulocyte levels measured at ages 60–180 days and the clinical course of sickle cell anemia during infancy and childhood. Results A majority of subjects had demonstrable anemia with increased reticulocytosis. Only increased absolute reticulocyte levels during early infancy were associated with a significant increase in hospitalization during the first three years of life. Higher absolute reticulocyte counts were also associated with a markedly shorter time to first hospitalizations and a four-fold higher cumulative frequency of clinical manifestations over the first three years of life. No significant increase in white blood cell counts was identified among the infant subjects. Conclusions These data suggest that during early infancy, increased reticulocytosis among asymptomatic SCA subjects is associated with increased severity of disease in childhood

Predicting Changes in Bee Assemblages Following State Transitions at North American Dryland Ecotones

Drylands worldwide are experiencing ecosystem state transitions: the expansion of some ecosystem types at the expense of others. Bees in drylands are particularly abundant and diverse, with potential for large compositional differences and seasonal turnover across ecotones. To better understand how future ecosystem state transitions may influence bees, we compared bee assemblages and their seasonality among sites at the Sevilleta National Wildlife Refuge (NM, USA) that represent three dryland ecosystem types (and two ecotones) of the southwestern U.S. (Plains grassland, Chihuahuan Desert grassland, and Chihuahuan Desert shrubland). Using passive traps, we caught bees during two-week intervals from March–October, 2002–2014. The resulting dataset included 302 bee species and 56 genera. Bee abundance, composition, and diversity differed among ecosystems, indicating that future state transitions could alter bee assemblage composition in our system. We found strong seasonal bee species turnover, suggesting that bee phenological shifts may accompany state transitions. Common species drove the observed trends, and both specialist and generalist bee species were indicators of ecosystem types or months; these species could be sentinels of community-wide responses to future shifts. Our work suggests that predicting the consequences of global change for bee assemblages requires accounting for both within-year and among-ecosystem variation

A Scalable Correlator Architecture Based on Modular FPGA Hardware, Reuseable Gateware, and Data Packetization

A new generation of radio telescopes is achieving unprecedented levels of sensitivity and resolution, as well as increased agility and field-of-view, by employing high-performance digital signal processing hardware to phase and correlate large numbers of antennas. The computational demands of these imaging systems scale in proportion to BMN^2, where B is the signal bandwidth, M is the number of independent beams, and N is the number of antennas. The specifications of many new arrays lead to demands in excess of tens of PetaOps per second. To meet this challenge, we have developed a general purpose correlator architecture using standard 10-Gbit Ethernet switches to pass data between flexible hardware modules containing Field Programmable Gate Array (FPGA) chips. These chips are programmed using open-source signal processing libraries we have developed to be flexible, scalable, and chip-independent. This work reduces the time and cost of implementing a wide range of signal processing systems, with correlators foremost among them,and facilitates upgrading to new generations of processing technology. We present several correlator deployments, including a 16-antenna, 200-MHz bandwidth, 4-bit, full Stokes parameter application deployed on the Precision Array for Probing the Epoch of Reionization.Comment: Accepted to Publications of the Astronomy Society of the Pacific. 31 pages. v2: corrected typo, v3: corrected Fig. 1

Herbicide-resistant weeds : from research and knowledge to future needs

Synthetic herbicides have been used globally to control weeds in major field crops. This has imposed a strong selection for any trait that enables plant populations to survive and reproduce in the presence of the herbicide. Herbicide resistance in weeds must be minimized because it is a major limiting factor to food security in global agriculture. This represents a huge challenge that will require great research efforts to develop control strategies as alternatives to the dominant and almost exclusive practice of weed control by herbicides. Weed scientists, plant ecologists and evolutionary biologists should join forces and work towards an improved and more integrated understanding of resistance across all scales. This approach will likely facilitate the design of innovative solutions to the global herbicide resistance challenge

Community proteogenomics reveals the systemic impact of phosphorus availability on microbial functions in tropical soil.

Phosphorus is a scarce nutrient in many tropical ecosystems, yet how soil microbial communities cope with growth-limiting phosphorus deficiency at the gene and protein levels remains unknown. Here, we report a metagenomic and metaproteomic comparison of microbial communities in phosphorus-deficient and phosphorus-rich soils in a 17-year fertilization experiment in a tropical forest. The large-scale proteogenomics analyses provided extensive coverage of many microbial functions and taxa in the complex soil communities. A greater than fourfold increase in the gene abundance of 3-phytase was the strongest response of soil communities to phosphorus deficiency. Phytase catalyses the release of phosphate from phytate, the most recalcitrant phosphorus-containing compound in soil organic matter. Genes and proteins for the degradation of phosphorus-containing nucleic acids and phospholipids, as well as the decomposition of labile carbon and nitrogen, were also enhanced in the phosphorus-deficient soils. In contrast, microbial communities in the phosphorus-rich soils showed increased gene abundances for the degradation of recalcitrant aromatic compounds, transformation of nitrogenous compounds and assimilation of sulfur. Overall, these results demonstrate the adaptive allocation of genes and proteins in soil microbial communities in response to shifting nutrient constraints