Predicting the Effects of Contingency Contracting on Local Economies

In recent years, Air Force personnel have been deployed in support of contingency operations to various points on the globe. The Department of Defense spends millions of dollars to support and sustain forces during contingency operations. The Air Force deploys Contingency Contracting Officers (CCO) to support personnel during these operations. During a contingency operation contracting officers will normally establish short-term contracts as quickly as possible to meet mission requirements with little concern for the local economy. This research concluded that the actions of Air Force CCOs can affect the local economy in a deployed location. By providing contingency contracting officers the ability to know how their actions will affect local economies, the AF can mitigate the effect to the local economy while at the same time reducing costs to the Department of Defense

A Pipeline Strategy for Grain Crop Domestication

In the interest of diversifying the global food system, improving human nutrition, and making agriculture more sustainable, there have been many proposals to domesticate wild plants or complete the domestication of semidomesticated orphan crops. However, very few new crops have recently been fully domesticated. Many wild plants have traits limiting their production or consumption that could be costly and slow to change. Others may have fortuitous preadaptations that make them easier to develop or feasible as high-value, albeit low-yielding, crops. To increase success in contemporary domestication of new crops, we propose a pipeline approach, with attrition expected as species advance through the pipeline. We list criteria for ranking domestication candidates to help enrich the starting pool with more preadapted, promising species. We also discuss strategies for prioritizing initial research efforts once the candidates have been selected: developing higher value products and services from the crop, increasing yield potential, and focusing on overcoming undesirable traits. Finally, we present new-crop case studies that demonstrate that wild species’ limitations and potential (in agronomic culture, shattering, seed size, harvest, cleaning, hybridization, etc.) are often only revealed during the early phases of domestication. When nearly insurmountable barriers were reached in some species, they have been (at least temporarily) eliminated from the pipeline. Conversely, a few species have moved quickly through the pipeline as hurdles, such as low seed weight or low seed number per head, were rapidly overcome, leading to increased confidence, farmer collaboration, and program expansion.Fil: DeHaan, Lee R.. The Land Institute; Estados UnidosFil: Van Tassel, David L.. The Land Institute; Estados UnidosFil: Anderson, James A.. University of Minnesota; Estados UnidosFil: Asselin, Sean R.. University of Manitoba; CanadáFil: Barnes, Richard. University of Minnesota; Estados UnidosFil: Baute, Gregory J.. University of British Columbia; CanadáFil: Cattani, Douglas J.. University of Manitoba; CanadáFil: Culman, Steve W.. Ohio State University; Estados UnidosFil: Dorn, Kevin M.. University of Minnesota; Estados UnidosFil: Hulke, Brent S.. United States Department of Agriculture. Agriculture Research Service; Estados UnidosFil: Kantar, Michael. University of British Columbia; CanadáFil: Larson, Steve. Forage and Range Research Laboratory; Estados UnidosFil: David Marks, M.. University of Minnesota; Estados UnidosFil: Miller, Allison J.. Saint Louis University; Estados UnidosFil: Poland, Jesse. Kansas State University; Estados UnidosFil: Ravetta, Damián Andrés. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas; Argentina. Museo Paleontológico Egidio Feruglio; ArgentinaFil: Rude, Emily. University of Wisconsin; Estados UnidosFil: Ryan, Matthew R.. Cornell University; Estados UnidosFil: Wyse, Don. University of Minnesota; Estados UnidosFil: Zhang, Xiaofei. University of Minnesota; Estados Unido

The Physics of the B Factories

This work is on the Physics of the B Factories. Part A of this book contains a brief description of the SLAC and KEK B Factories as well as their detectors, BaBar and Belle, and data taking related issues. Part B discusses tools and methods used by the experiments in order to obtain results. The results themselves can be found in Part C

Taxon-Specific Growth and Loss Rates for Dominant Phytoplankton Populations from the Northern Gulf-of-Mexico

Taxon-specific growth and sedimentation rates of dominant phytoplankton were measured during 2 cruises (summer 1990 and spring 1991) in the northern Gulf of Mexico as part of the NOAA Nutrient-Enhanced Coastal Ocean Productivity (NECOP) program. Microzooplankton grazing rates also were measured during the summer cruise. During each of the cruises, a series of stations from the Mississippi River mouth to the hypoxia region (located ca 50 to 100 km west) were sampled to examine variability of growth and loss processes along a strong environmental gradient. Significant taxa- and group-specific differences were noted for both growth and loss rates. Growth rates ranged from \u3c0.1 to 3.0 d(-1) with highest rates in the plume region during the summer cruise, where surface rates were close to or exceeded previous mu(max), values for several taxa. For all taxa, growth rates were lower in the hypoxia region (mean = 0.5 d(-1)) than in the plume region (mean = 1.1 d(-1)); soluble nitrogen concentrations explained over 50 % of the variability in growth rates. Diatom growth rates were similar to non-diatoms in the plume region, but were significantly lower in the hypoxia region, which suggests that silica limitation may exist in this region. The fate of phytoplankton appeared to be controlled by size and by the degree of silicification. Significant microzooplankton grazing loss rates were noted only for small taxa (\u3c20 mu m). For microflagellates, microzooplankton grazing rates averaged 82 % (range 42 to 214%) of the growth rate; sedimentation rates were always \u3c1% of the growth rate. Sedimentation was an important loss for several diatoms, with significant taxon-specific and seasonal differences noted. Large colonial diatoms, such as Skelelonema costatum and Thalassiosira rotula, exhibited the highest sedimentation rates in the plume region during the spring cruise(0.2 to 1.0 d(-1)), whereas the lowest rates (\u3c 0.01 d(-1)) were noted for Rhizosolenia fragilissima and Cera tulina pelagica in the hypoxia region during the summer cruise. Our results suggest that in the northern Gulf of Mexico, phytoplankton rate processes proceed very rapidly, with growth rates primarily controlled by the supply of nitrogen via the Mississippi River and the fate controlled primarily by size and density (silicification)