UNCERTAINTY AND THE MANAGEMENT OF SALINITY WITH IRRIGATION WATER

The impact of uncertain salt balances in irrigate fields is assessed with a hydroeconomic model that incorporates the effects of salinity. Uncertainty in two parameters that jointly determine root zone salinity is investigated and the conclusions prove to depend upon the way in which these parameters enter the mass-balance equation for soil salinity. It is shown that water has a risk reducing marginal effect on output when growers are risk averse and, under certain conditions, when they are risk neutral. The effects of prices, water quality, and crop salt sensitivity on the conclusions are analyzed and an empirical example is employed to illustrate the magnitude of the impacts.Crop Production/Industries,

Challenges and Opportunities in the Hydrologic Sciences

This is the Table of Contents and Introduction of a Report published as Hornberger, G. M., E. Bernhardt, W. E. Dietrich, D. Entekhabi, G. E. Fogg, E. Foufoula-Georgiou, W. J. Gutowski, W. B. Lyons, K. W. Potter, S. W. Tyler, H. J. Vaux, C. J. Vorosmarty, C. Welty, C. A. Woodhouse, C. Zheng, Challenges and Opportunities in the Hydrologic Sciences. 2012: Water Science and Technology Board, Division on Earth and Life Studies, National Academy of Sciences, Washington, DC. 173 pp. Posted with permission.</p

“It Was Only Harmless Banter!” The development and preliminary validation of the moral disengagement in sexual harassment scale.

Sexual harassment represents aggressive behavior that is often enacted instrumentally, in response to a threatened sense of masculinity and male identity. To date, however, theoretical attention to the social cognitive processes that regulate workplace harassment is scant. This article presents the development and preliminary validation of the Moral Disengagement in Sexual Harassment Scale (MDiSH); a self-report measure of moral disengagement in the context of hostile work environment harassment. Three studies (total N = 797) document the excellent psychometric properties of this new scale. Male U.K. university students (Study 1: N = 322) and U.S. working males (Studies 2 and 3: N = 475) completed the MDiSH and an array of measures for construct validation. The MDiSH exhibited positive correlations with sexual harassment myth acceptance, male gender identification, and hostile sexism. In Study 3, participants were exposed to a fictitious case of hostile work environment harassment. The MDiSH attenuated moral judgment, negative emotions (guilt, shame, and anger), sympathy, and endorsement of prosocial behavioral intentions (support for restitution) associated with the harassment case. Conversely, the MDiSH increased positive affect (happiness) about the harassment and attribution of blame to the female complainant. Implications for practice and future research avenues are discussed

Determining Signalling Nodes for Apoptosis by a Genetic High-Throughput Screen

With the ever-increasing information emerging from the various sequencing and gene annotation projects, there is an urgent need to elucidate the cellular functions of the newly discovered genes. The genetically regulated cell suicide of apoptosis is especially suitable for such endeavours as it is governed by a vast number of factors.We have set up a high-throughput screen in 96-well microtiter plates for genes that induce apoptosis upon their individual transfection into human cells. Upon screening approximately 100,000 cDNA clones we determined 74 genes that initiate this cellular suicide programme. A thorough bioinformatics analysis of these genes revealed that 91% are novel apoptosis regulators. Careful sequence analysis and functional annotation showed that the apoptosis factors exhibit a distinct functional distribution that distinguishes the cell death process from other signalling pathways. While only a minority of classic signal transducers were determined, a substantial number of the genes fall into the transporter- and enzyme-category. The apoptosis factors are distributed throughout all cellular organelles and many signalling circuits, but one distinct signalling pathway connects at least some of the isolated genes. Comparisons with microarray data suggest that several genes are dysregulated in specific types of cancers and degenerative diseases.Many unknown genes for cell death were revealed through our screen, supporting the enormous complexity of cell death regulation. Our results will serve as a repository for other researchers working with genomics data related to apoptosis or for those seeking to reveal novel signalling pathways for cell suicide

Molecular mechanisms of cell death: recommendations of the Nomenclature Committee on Cell Death 2018.

Over the past decade, the Nomenclature Committee on Cell Death (NCCD) has formulated guidelines for the definition and interpretation of cell death from morphological, biochemical, and functional perspectives. Since the field continues to expand and novel mechanisms that orchestrate multiple cell death pathways are unveiled, we propose an updated classification of cell death subroutines focusing on mechanistic and essential (as opposed to correlative and dispensable) aspects of the process. As we provide molecularly oriented definitions of terms including intrinsic apoptosis, extrinsic apoptosis, mitochondrial permeability transition (MPT)-driven necrosis, necroptosis, ferroptosis, pyroptosis, parthanatos, entotic cell death, NETotic cell death, lysosome-dependent cell death, autophagy-dependent cell death, immunogenic cell death, cellular senescence, and mitotic catastrophe, we discuss the utility of neologisms that refer to highly specialized instances of these processes. The mission of the NCCD is to provide a widely accepted nomenclature on cell death in support of the continued development of the field

In situ nutrient assays of periphyton growth in a lowland Costa Rican stream

Nutrient limitation of primary production was experimentally assessed using an in situ bioassay technique in the Quebrada Salto, a third-order tropical stream draining the northern foothills of the Cordillera Central in Costa Rica. Bioassays employed artificial substrata enriched with nutrients that slowly diffuse through an agar-sand matrix (Pringle & Bowers, 1984). Multiple comparisons of regression coefficients, describing chlorophyll- a accrual through time for different nutrient treatments, revealed positive micronutrient effect(s). Micronutrient treatment combinations (Fe, B, Mn, Zn, Co, Mo, EDTA), supplemented with and without nitrate and phosphate, exhibited significantly greater chlorophyll- a accrual over all other treatments (P < 0.05), supporting over three times that of the control after 14-d of substratum colonization. Neither of the major nutrients (N or P) produced a significant stimulation, although the N treatment displayed ≃50% more chlorophyll- a than the control after 14-d. Similarly, Si, EDTA, and Si + N + P treatments did not exhibit chlorophyll- a response curves that were significantly different from the control. During the experiment, mean NH 4 -N and (NO 2 + NO 3 )-N concentrations in the Salto were 2.0 µM (28.6 µg · l −1 ) and 7.2 µM (100.2 µg · l −1 ), respectively. High concentrations of PO 4 -P ( = 2.0 µM; 60.9 µg · l −1 ) and TP ( = 3.0 µM; 94.0 µg · l −1 ) were also found, and consequently low molar N:P ratios = 4.7). Despite the potential for N limitation in the system, both N and P appear to be at growth saturating levels. This may be due to micronutrient limitation and/or light limitation of periphyton growth in densely shaded upstream portions of the stream.Peer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/42872/1/10750_2004_Article_BF00008489.pd