Missouri River Flood Coordination Task Force Report, September 25, 2011

The Missouri River floods of 2011 will go down in history as the longest duration flooding event this state has seen to date. The combination of above normal snowfall in the upper Missouri River basin followed by the equivalent of nearly one year’s worth of rainfall in May created an above normal runoff situation which filled the Missouri River and the six main reservoirs within the basin. Compounding this problem was colder than normal temperatures which kept much of the snow pack in the upper basin on the ground longer into the spring, setting the stage for this historic event.

Coordination between zinc and phosphate homeostasis involves the transcription factor PHR1, the phosphate exporter PHO1, and its homologue PHO1;H3 in Arabidopsis.

Interactions between zinc (Zn) and phosphate (Pi) nutrition in plants have long been recognized, but little information is available on their molecular bases and biological significance. This work aimed at examining the effects of Zn deficiency on Pi accumulation in Arabidopsis thaliana and uncovering genes involved in the Zn-Pi synergy. Wild-type plants as well as mutants affected in Pi signalling and transport genes, namely the transcription factor PHR1, the E2-conjugase PHO2, and the Pi exporter PHO1, were examined. Zn deficiency caused an increase in shoot Pi content in the wild type as well as in the pho2 mutant, but not in the phr1 or pho1 mutants. This indicated that PHR1 and PHO1 participate in the coregulation of Zn and Pi homeostasis. Zn deprivation had a very limited effect on transcript levels of Pi-starvation-responsive genes such as AT4, IPS1, and microRNA399, or on of members of the high-affinity Pi transporter family PHT1. Interestingly, one of the PHO1 homologues, PHO1;H3, was upregulated in response to Zn deficiency. The expression pattern of PHO1 and PHO1;H3 were similar, both being expressed in cells of the root vascular cylinder and both localized to the Golgi when expressed transiently in tobacco cells. When grown in Zn-free medium, pho1;h3 mutant plants displayed higher Pi contents in the shoots than wild-type plants. This was, however, not observed in a pho1 pho1;h3 double mutant, suggesting that PHO1;H3 restricts root-to-shoot Pi transfer requiring PHO1 function for Pi homeostasis in response to Zn deficiency.

2014 Transportation Coordination in Iowa

The 2012 Iowa Code section 324A.4, subsection 2, states the Iowa Department of Transportation (DOT) “shall biennially prepare a report to be submitted to the general assembly and the governor prior to December 15 of even-numbered years. The report shall recommend methods to increase transportation coordination and improve the efficiency of federal, state, and local government programs used to finance public transit services and may address other topics as appropriate.” Iowa has long been a leader in transportation coordination, from designated public transit agencies covering all 99 counties with little duplication, to requiring any agency receiving public dollars for the provision of transportation to first coordinate with the local public transit agency before providing the transportation on their own, to the creation of the Iowa Transportation Coordination Council. Coordination allows Iowa to provide much needed transportation services to the citizens of Iowa with the most efficient use of public funds. Coordination has been an important topic in Iowa for many years, but during these times of economic constraint and restraint and Iowa’s changing demographics, coordination of transportation services becomes even more critical.

Evolution of Coordination in Social Networks: A Numerical Study

Coordination games are important to explain efficient and desirable social behavior. Here we study these games by extensive numerical simulation on networked social structures using an evolutionary approach. We show that local network effects may promote selection of efficient equilibria in both pure and general coordination games and may explain social polarization. These results are put into perspective with respect to known theoretical results. The main insight we obtain is that clustering, and especially community structure in social networks has a positive role in promoting socially efficient outcomes.

Differences based on fine motor behaviour in Parkinson's patients compared to an age matched control group in proprioceptive and visuo-proprioceptive test conditions

Personality differences based on fine motor precision performance were studied in early stage Parkinson's patients and an age-matched control group under two different test conditions: proprioceptive + visual information and proprioceptive information alone. A comparative data analysis for deviations of three measured movement types (transversal, frontal and sagittal) was done for both hands (dominant and non-dominant) with relation to personality dimensions. There were found significant differences between the two groups in decision making dimension and emotionality. After splitting the data for gender subgroups, some significant differences were found for men but not for women. The differences in fine motor task performance varied, being better in some directions for the Parkinson"s patients and worse in others. The findings may suggest that medication has both positive and negative effects on motor performance and provoke personality changes, being more pronounced in men.

Organization and Coordination of the Highway Planning Function in Iowa, HR-150, 1971

The Engineering Research Institute at Iowa State University studied the organization and procedures for highway planning by all levels of government and the coordination among various state agencies and local governments in Iowa. Study information was derived from interviews, questionnaires, and a review of the literature. Representatives from state transportation or highway organizations in all states responded to questionnaires. Additionally, selected upper and intermediate level personnel from highway organizations in seven other states were interviewed and a visit was made to one state transportation department. Within Iowa, employees were interviewed in the Highway Commission, Office for Planning and Programming, Development Commission, Commerce Commission, Conservation Commission, and Highway Patrol. Nearly 600 officials of local governments in Iowa contributed factual data and opinions through questionnaires and interviews. Private citizens and consultants also provided input to the investigation through their responses to questionnaires. Twelve recommendations to improve highway planning in Iowa were formulated as a result of this study.

Coordination on Networks: Does Topology Matter?

Effective coordination is key to many situations that affect the well-being of two or more humans. Social coordination can be studied in coordination games between individuals located on networks of contacts. We study the behavior of humans in the laboratory when they play the Stag Hunt game - a game that has a risky but socially efficient equilibrium and an inefficient but safe equilibrium. We contrast behavior on a cliquish network to behavior on a random network. The cliquish network is highly clustered and resembles more closely to actual social networks than the random network. In contrast to simulations, we find that human players dynamics do not converge to the efficient outcome more often in the cliquish network than in the random network. Subjects do not use pure myopic best-reply as an individual update rule. Numerical simulations agree with laboratory results once we implement the actual individual updating rule that human subjects use in our laboratory experiments.