Effect of Turf Fungicides on Earthworms

Numerous turf fungicides were tested under various conditions for possible deleterious effects upon the earthworm Eisenla foetida. Earthworms treated by immersion for one minute in 0.1% solutions of 10 different fungicides died insignificant numbers after benomyl and thiophanate methyl treatments. After 1% fungicide treatments, there was significant mortality from benomyl, ethazole, Kromad, and thiophanate methyl fungicides. With 2% fungicide solutions, significant numbers died after benomyl, cadmium succinate, ethazole, thiophanate methyl, and thiram treatments. Earthworms fed bermudagrass clippings treated with 10 different fungicides showed a significant decrease in longevity from clippings treated with benomyl, dinocap, ethazole, and thiophanate methyl. Earthworms reared for 84 days in soil treated with 15 different turf fungicides showed a significant decrease in longevity from soil treated with aniyaline, benomyl, chlorothalonil, Duoson, ethazole, fenaminosulf, Kromad, mancozeb, PCNB, thiabendazole, thiophanate methyl, and thiram. Cadmium succinate, dinocap, and RP 26019 did not cause a decrease in longevity. There was no reproduction by worms in soil treated with Duosan, PCNB, thiophanate methyl, and thiram, and only trace amounts in soil treated with chlorothalonil, ethazole, and Kromad. The toxicity of benomyl, thiabendazole, and thiophanate methyl to earthworms was confirmed in the present study, and additional fungicides used for turf disease control were also found to cause significant amounts of mortality

Organic farming and gene transfer from genetically modified crops

This is the final report of MAFF/Defra project OF0157. Genetically modified (GM) crops cannot be released into the environment and used as food, feed, medicines or industrial processing before they have passed through a rigorous and internationally recognised regulatory process designed to protect human and animal health, and the environment. The UK body that oversees standards in organic farming, the United Kingdom Register of Organic Food Standards (UKROFS), has ruled that genetically modified (GM) crops have no role to play in organic farming systems. They, therefore, have concerns about the possibility and consequences of the mixing of GM crops with organic crops. The two main sources of mixing are through pollen and seed. Pollen from GM crops may pollinate an organic crop. Seed from a GM crop, or plants established from them, may become mixed with organic crops or their products. Minimising genetic mixing is an important feature of the production of all high quality seed samples of plant varieties supplied to farmers. Extensive experience has been obtained over many decades in the production of high purity seed samples. Crop isolation distances, and crop rotational and management practices are laid down to achieve this. These procedures for the production of seed of high genetic purity could be used for the production of organic crops. No system for the field production of seed can guarantee absolute genetic purity of seed samples. Very rarely long distance pollination or seed transfer is possible, so any criteria for organic crop production will need to recognise this. There has always been the possibility of hybridisation and seed mixing between organic crops and non-organic crops. Organic farming systems acknowledge the possibility of spray or fertiliser drift from non-organic farming systems, and procedures are established to minimise this. In practice, detecting the presence of certain types of GM material in organic crops, especially quantification, is likely to be difficult. Some seed used by organic farmers are currently obtained from abroad. After January 2001, or a modified deadline thereafter, UK organic farmers will be required to sow seed produced organically. There is little or no organic seed produced in the UK at present, so it has to be obtained from abroad. Seed obtained from outside the UK or the European Union, may have different seed production criteria. This may make it difficult to guarantee that it is absolutely free from any GM material. Organic farmers and/or GM crop producers will need to ensure that their crops are isolated from one another by an appropriate distance or barrier to reduce pollen transfer if the crop flowers. To reduce seed mixing, shared equipment will need to be cleaned and an appropriate period of time allowed before organic crops are grown on land previously used for GM crops. Responsibility for isolation will need to be decided before appropriate measures can be implemented. The report highlights the need for acceptable levels of the presence of GM material in organic crops and measures identified to achieve this

Automating the parallel processing of fluid and structural dynamics calculations

The NASA Lewis Research Center is actively involved in the development of expert system technology to assist users in applying parallel processing to computational fluid and structural dynamic analysis. The goal of this effort is to eliminate the necessity for the physical scientist to become a computer scientist in order to effectively use the computer as a research tool. Programming and operating software utilities have previously been developed to solve systems of ordinary nonlinear differential equations on parallel scalar processors. Current efforts are aimed at extending these capabilities to systems of partial differential equations, that describe the complex behavior of fluids and structures within aerospace propulsion systems. This paper presents some important considerations in the redesign, in particular, the need for algorithms and software utilities that can automatically identify data flow patterns in the application program and partition and allocate calculations to the parallel processors. A library-oriented multiprocessing concept for integrating the hardware and software functions is described

Slave finite element for non-linear analysis of engine structures. Volume 2: Programmer's manual and user's manual

The programming aspects of SFENES are described in the User's Manual. The information presented is provided for the installation programmer. It is sufficient to fully describe the general program logic and required peripheral storage. All element generated data is stored externally to reduce required memory allocation. A separate section is devoted to the description of these files thereby permitting the optimization of Input/Output (I/O) time through efficient buffer descriptions. Individual subroutine descriptions are presented along with the complete Fortran source listings. A short description of the major control, computation, and I/O phases is included to aid in obtaining an overall familiarity with the program's components. Finally, a discussion of the suggested overlay structure which allows the program to execute with a reasonable amount of memory allocation is presented

Travelling waves in wound healing

We illustrate the role of travelling waves in wound healing by considering three different cases. Firstly, we review a model for surface wound healing in the cornea and focus on the speed of healing as a function of the application of growth factors. Secondly, we present a model for scar tissue formation in deep wounds and focus on the role of key chemicals in determining the quality of healing. Thirdly, we propose a model for excessive healing disorders and investigate how abnormal healing may be controlled

Unilateral and Exclusionary/Strategic Effects of Common Agency: Price Impacts in a Repeated Common Value English Auction

The business justification for multiple principals to hire a common agent is efficiency. Our empirical study demonstrates that the creation of the common agent unilaterally depresses winning bids. Additionally, the common agent was not only observed to be the dominant bidder but also paid significantly lower prices than fringe competitors (price/quantity differential). The observed price/quantity differential is consistent with the almost common value English auction theory developed by Rose and Kagel (2008) in which a cost advantaged bidder is able to reduce competition by credibly raising the costs of disadvantaged rivals associated with the winner’s curse.Common Value Auctions, Common Agency, Antitrust, Industrial Organization, D44, K21, K23,

Women's experiences of pregnancy, childbirth, and the postnatal period in the Gambia: A qualitative study

Objective: In sub-Saharan African countries, there are unique cultural factors and adverse physical conditions that contribute to women's experiences of pregnancy and birth. The objective of this study was to qualitatively explore women's experiences of pregnancy, childbirth, the postnatal period, and maternal psychological distress in The Gambia. Design and methods: Semi-structured interviews were carried out with 55 women who had given birth within the previous year. Results: Thematic analysis identified five themes: (1) transition to adulthood, (2) physical difficulties, (3) value of children in relation to others, (4) children as a strain, and (5) going through it alone. The results suggest that having a child is a defining point in women's lives associated with happiness and joy. However, women also described situations which could lead to unhappiness and distress in the perinatal period. A child conceived out of wedlock or a baby girl can be sources of distress because of negative cultural perceptions. The strain of having a child, particularly the additional financial burden, and minimal support from men were also a concern for women. Finally, women recognized the danger associated with delivery and expressed recurrent worries of complications during childbirth which could result in the death of them or the baby. Conclusions: Further research is needed to identify women vulnerable to psychological distress so that health services and target interventions can be developed accordingly

SOUTHERNMOST OCCURRENCE OF THE SUWANNEE COOTER, PSEUDEMYS CONCINNA SUWANNIENSIS (TESTUDINES: EMYDIDAE)

The Suwannee Cooter, Pseudemys concinna suwanniensis, the largest member of the speciose turtle family Emydidae, inhabits a small number of rivers that drain into the northeastern Gulf of Mexico along the northwest coast of Florida from just west of Tallahassee to just south of Tampa. The status of this state-protected subspecies in the southernmost of these rivers, the Alafia, is unknown and hence of conservation concern. We provide recent evidence confirming that a reproducing population still exists in this river, and review available specimens and both published and unpublished records documenting the southern limit of distribution. At least within the eastern United States, our observations also extend confirmed knowledge of the geographic occurrence of hatchling turtles overwintering in the nest southward by 285 km