Is current irrigation sustainable in the United States? An integrated assessment of climate change impact on water resources and irrigated crop yields.

While climate change impacts on crop yields has been extensively studied, estimating the impact of water shortages on irrigated crop yields is challenging because the water resources management system is complex. To investigate this issue, we integrate a crop yield reduction module and a water resources model into the MIT Integrated Global System Modeling framework, an integrated assessment model linking a global economic model to an Earth system model. We assess the effects of climate and socioeconomic changes on water availability for irrigation in the U.S. as well as subsequent impacts on crop yields by 2050, while accounting for climate change projection uncertainty. We find that climate and socioeconomic changes will increase water shortages and strongly reduce irrigated yields for specific crops (i.e., cotton and forage), or in specific regions (i.e., the Southwest) where irrigation is not sustainable. Crop modeling studies that do not represent changes in irrigation availability can thus be misleading. Yet, since the most water-stressed basins represent a relatively small share of U.S. irrigated areas, the overall reduction in U.S. crop yields is small. The response of crop yields to climate change and water stress also suggests that some level of adaptation will be feasible, like relocating croplands to regions with sustainable irrigation or switching to less irrigation intensive crops. Finally, additional simulations show that greenhouse gas (GHG) mitigation can alleviate the effect of water stress on irrigated crop yields, enough to offset the reduced CO2 fertilization effect compared to an unconstrained GHG emission scenario

Examining Population Structure of Rajasthan with Implications for Public Health Planning and rate Standardization to support Eye and Vision Care Public Health Programming

Introduction: Scientific thinking and methods are necessary in order to make valid comparisons of the distribution of health outcomes within and across populations. To date, no prior report has been identified as examining the population structure of Rajasthan and its implication for public health planning applied to eye health and vision care service utilization. In this report, the population structure of Rajasthan was examined based on official projections. A brief discussion was offered for the use of population structure data in public health planning, specifically to support eye health and vision care public health programming in Rajasthan.Methods: Using an ecological design, secondary data were used to examine the projected population structures of Rajasthan and India from 2016 to 2026. The data were abstracted from publically-available reports and organized by age group and sex for 2016, 2021, and 2026. Population pyramids were constructedfor the data from each of the three aforementioned years for both the population of Rajasthan and the corresponding data for the population of India.Results: The projected population of Rajasthan is expected to rise from 2016 to 2026. During this tenyear time span, the proportion of individuals in the younger age groups (birth to 34 years) will represent a sizable number of individuals compared to those in the older age groups. A comparison of the projected population structures, by age-group strata and sex, showed differences in population pyramids.Discussion: These findings suggest that, when making public health planning decisions for Rajasthan, public health planners concerned with eye conditions and vision care service utilization might consider the distribution of population by age grouping. Furthermore, it might be appropriate to establish a “standardreference population” for Rajasthan in order to compare age-standardized rates of eye conditions and vision care utilization through 2026

Slavery and the Search for Belonging in Modern Sudan

For many Sudanese, the migration of Islamic society into Sudan has produced difficulties in identifying belonging. Centuries in the making, Sudan has become a split nation in which the south has retained much of its African identity, while the north has become increasingly Islamized. While no discernable traits separate the divided portions of Sudan, the division has allowed the dominant north to forcibly gain control of the entire nation. This phenomenon has led to increased discontent among the regions, resulting in civil war and the reintroduction of slavery. Although the physical division in Sudan is as blurred as the ethnic lines of its people, the conflict has now spread into the Darfur region with disastrous results. In response, the international community, led by China, has hesitated to get involved while the African identity of Sudan is systematically swept away

"Push" and "Pull" Moves in Hispanic and Swedish Negotiation Talk

In negotiations recorded on video-tape under near-identical conditions in Mexico, Spain and Sweden, two types of action were studied, defined as (1) affirming one's own party's position or image ("push"), and (2) attracting the other party by means of strengthening that party's position and image, or by underscoring the bonds between each parties ("pull"). A tentative typology of "push" vs. "pull" moves is proposed, including three mixed types, which are named "disguised", "linked" and "ambiguous" push/pull moves. The three nationality groups are compared in terms of the suggested typology, and analogous features are found between conversational analysis data and sociological/anthropological reports on Scandinavian, Spanish and Mexican culture

"Oh no, it's not like that..." : a portrait series

Bodies outside of or between a perceived monolithic identity are understood and coded by others differently compared to those within them. Individuals with middle identities such as those who are mixed race, bisexual, and gender nonconforming exist at a unique site of identity negotiation and policing. This portrait series is of three individuals with middle identities. Using an artistic approach, I explore how three of these individuals perceive, construct, and exist in the everyday. Through interviewing them about their experiences and then producing a drawn translation of their faces, I seek to celebrate and find a coherence between myself as the artist and the bodies I research.Thesis (B.?)Honors Colleg

Oats in the diet of dairy cows : milk production and enteric methane emissions

The overall aim of this thesis was to investigate whether replacing barley with oats as a grain supplement for dairy cows could reduce enteric methane (CH4) emissions without compromising milk production. Barley is a more common grain supplement in Sweden, mainly due to higher tabulated feeding values suggesting higher milk production with barley than with oats. In the first paper, different varieties of oats and barley were evaluated in vitro. Predicted in vivo CH4 emissions were lower from the oat diets than from the barley diets. In the second paper, barley was replaced by hulled oats as a grain supplement to dairy cows fed a grass silage-based diet. Replacing barley with oats decreased organic matter digestibility and metabolisable energy intake but did not affect milk or energy-corrected milk (ECM) yield. Daily CH4 emissions (g/d) and CH4 intensity (g/kg ECM) decreased by 4.7 and 4.8%, respectively. In the third paper, dairy cows were fed one of four grain supplements: barley, hulled oats, dehulled oats, or a mix of hulled and dehulled oats. Organic matter digestibility and metabolisable energy intake were similar between the barley diet and the oat diets, but milk and ECM yield were higher with the oat diets. Replacing hulled oats with dehulled oats did not affect milk or ECM yield. Daily CH4 emissions were similar between the barley diet and the oat diets. Yet, due to higher ECM yield, CH4 intensity was 5.7% lower with the oat diets. In the fourth paper, we investigated fatty acid composition of milk. Milk fat from cows fed oats contained lower concentrations of saturated fatty acids and higher concentrations of unsaturated fatty acids. In conclusion, replacing barley with oats in the diet of dairy cows does not compromise milk production and could offer a practical strategy to slightly reduce enteric CH4 emissions and to change milk quality to be more in line with dietary guidelines

Alcune considerazioni su polemica antiebraica e polemica anticlericale alla fine dell'Ottocento

Tra la polemica antiebraica e la polemica anticlericale che si sviluppano negli ultimi decenni dell'Ottocento, è possibile delineare un confronto che consente di contestualizzare meglio ciascuna di esse, evidenziando le analogie esistenti, ma anche gli specifici tratti distintivi. È questo un campo di ricerca ancora poco esplorato, soprattutto per quanto concerne l'Italia, e in questo breve saggio ci si limiterà ad abbozzare la questione, cogliendo qualche spunto dall'esperienza italiana e da quella francese, che alla fine del XIX secolo appaiono per molti versi largamente "comunicanti"

Monolithic Millimeter-ware Frequency Multipliers

l'obbiettivo di questa tesi è la progettazione di moltiplicatori di frequenza monolitici in tecnologia INFINEON SiGe bipolare. I moltiplicatori progettati sono frequency octuplers basati su tre frequency doublers in cascata seguiti da un buffer d'uscita.Due differenti frequency octuplers sono stati progettati. Ciascun frequency doubler è basato sulla cella di GilbertopenEmbargo temporane