Carabid beetle assemblages in three environments in the Araucaria humid forest of southern Brazil

Carabid beetle assemblages in three environments in the Araucaria humid forest of southern Brazil. Carabidae is composed mainly by ground-dwelling predator beetles. It is the fourth most diverse group within Coleoptera, but its diversity in the Neotropical region is understudied. Here we describe and analyze the diversity of carabid beetles in a region of subtropical rain forest dominated by Araucaria angustifolia with different landscapes. Three areas were chosen in an environmental integrity gradient: primary forests, secondary forests and old Pinus plantations. Pitfall traps were taken monthly, in a total of 14 samples per area. 1733 adult carabid beetles, belonging to 18 species, were sampled. There were differences in richness and abundance between the sampled areas. The total scores followed the same tendency: primary forests (14 species/747 individuals), secondary forests (13/631) and Pinus forests (10/355). An analysis of similarity shows differences in species composition, for both areas and seasons. Galerita lacordarei was the most abundant species for all samples and seasons. Carabid species show similar responses in accordance with habitat heterogeneity and disturbance. The abundance of Galerita lacordarei was influenced by temperature, for all sampled sites. Environmental changes affect the carabid assemblages and decrease diversity, possibly interfering in local dynamics. Seasonality patterns seem to indicate an increase in individual movement during summer, probably in search of resources. It is suggested that microhabitat patchiness is probably an important factor affecting carabid beetle diversity at small spatial scales.

Cognitive Issues in Fingerprint Analysis: Inter- and Intra-Expert Consistency and the Effect of a "Target" Comparison

Deciding whether two fingerprint marks originate from the same source requires examination and comparison of their features. Many cognitive factors play a major role in such information processing. In this paper we examined the consistency (both between- and within-experts) in the analysis of latent marks, and whether the presence of a 'target' comparison print affects this analysis. Our findings showed that the context of a comparison print affected analysis of the latent mark, possibly influencing allocation of attention, visual search, and threshold for determining a 'signal'. We also found that even without the context of the comparison print there was still a lack of consistency in analysing latent marks. Not only was this reflected by inconsistency between different experts, but the same experts at different times were inconsistent with their own analysis. However, the characterization of these inconsistencies depends on the standard and definition of what constitutes inconsistent. Furthermore, these effects were not uniform; the lack of consistency varied across fingerprints and experts. We propose solutions to mediate variability in the analysis of friction ridge skin.

Predicting root defence against herbivores during succession

P>1. Root herbivores and pathogens interfere with basic below-ground plant function, and can thereby affect plant fitness and spatial and temporal patterns in natural plant communities. However, there has been little development of concepts and theories on below-ground plant defence, a deficit that is in contrast to the abundance of theorizing for above-ground plant parts.2. A review of the past 10 years of research on below-ground plant-herbivore interactions has revealed that, similar to above-ground tissues, root defences can be expressed constitutively or induced upon herbivore attack, and can be classified into direct and indirect traits, tolerance, and escape. Indeed, it has been shown that roots tolerate herbivory by outgrowing or re-growing lost tissues, or resist it by producing secondary metabolites that are toxic to herbivores or attract natural enemies of herbivores.3. We propose that, similar to above-ground plant-herbivore theories, the partition of abiotic and biotic factors over ecological succession can serve as the basis for predicting investment in defence strategies below-ground.4. Investigation of herbivore pressure and root responses along primary and secondary successional gradients suggests that: (i) roots are often fast growing, thinner and softer in early compared to later succession. (ii) Insect and nematode herbivore pressure increases until mid-succession and later decreases. (iii) Mycorrhizal abundance increases with succession, and the composition of fungal species changes through succession, often shifting from arbuscular mycorrhizae to ecto-mycorrhizae.5. Based on these findings, and on classical (above-ground) plant defence theory, we suggest the following set of testable hypotheses for below-ground plant defence: (i) During succession, early plants invest most of their resources in growth and less in defences (associated with a general lack of herbivores and pathogens, and with limited availability of resources in the system), therefore relying more on re-growth (tolerance) strategies. (ii) During mid-succession, a buildup of herbivore pressure facilitates replacement by plant species that exhibit greater direct and indirect defence strategies. (iii) Constitutive and inducible levels of defences may trade-off, and early successional plants should rely more on induction of defences after herbivore attack, whereas late successional plants will increasingly rely on constitutively produced levels of physical and chemical defence. (iv) Successional changes in microbial associations have consequences for root defence by improving plant nutrition and defence expression as well as directly competing for root space; however, toxic or impenetrable root defences may also limit association with root symbionts, and so may constrain the expression of root defence.

Stationarity analysis of historical flood series in France and Spain (14th-20th centuries)

Interdisciplinary frameworks for studying natural hazards and their temporal trends have an important potential in data generation for risk assessment, land use planning, and therefore the sustainable management of resources. This paper focuses on the adjustments required because of the wide variety of scientific fields involved in the reconstruction and characterisation of flood events for the past 1000 years. The aim of this paper is to describe various methodological aspects of the study of flood events in their historical dimension, including the critical evaluation of old documentary and instrumental sources, flood-event classification and hydraulic modelling, and homogeneity and quality control tests. Standardized criteria for flood classification have been defined and applied to the Isère and Drac floods in France, from 1600 to 1950, and to the Ter, the Llobregat and the Segre floods, in Spain, from 1300 to 1980. The analysis on the Drac and Isère data series from 1600 to the present day showed that extraordinary and catastrophic floods were not distributed uniformly in time. However, the largest floods (general catastrophic floods) were homogeneously distributed in time within the period 1600¿1900. No major flood occurred during the 20th century in these rivers. From 1300 to the present day, no homogeneous behaviour was observed for extraordinary floods in the Spanish rivers. The largest floods were uniformly distributed in time within the period 1300-1900, for the Segre and Ter rivers.

The costs of soil erosion

The aim of this study was a survey of the estimated costs of soil erosion, an issue of fundamental importance in view of the current worldwide discussions on sustainability. A list was drawn up of research papers on erosion (on-site and off-site effects) and their respective costs. The estimates indicate the amount of resources spent in the process of soil degradation, raising a general awareness of the need for soil conservation. On-site costs affect the production units directly, while off-site costs create a burden borne by the environment, economy and society. In addition, estimating the costs of soil erosion should be effective to alert the agricultural producers, society and government for the need for measures that can be implemented to bring erosion under control. Among the various estimates of soil erosion costs between 1933 a 2010, the highest figure was 45.5 billion dollars a year for the European Union. In the United States, the highest figure was 44 billion dollars a year. In Brazil, estimates for the state of Paraná indicate a value of 242 million dollars a year, and for the state of São Paulo, 212 million dollars a year. These figures show, above all, that conservation measures must be implemented if crop and livestock farming production are to be sustainable.

Optimal Usage of De-Icing Chemicals when Scraping Ice, November 2003

One of the challenges that faces the winter maintainer is how much chemical to apply to the road under given conditions. Insufficient chemical can lead to the road surface becoming slick, and the road thus becoming unsafe. In all likelihood, additional applications will have to be made, requiring additional effort and use of resources. However, too much chemical can also be bad. While an excess of chemical will ensure (in most circumstances) that a safe road condition is achieved, it may also result in a substantial waste of chemical (with associated costs for this waste) and in ancillary damage to the road itself and to the surrounding environment. Ideally, one should apply what might be termed the “goldilocks” amount of chemical to the road: Not too much, and not too little, but just right. Of course the reality of winter maintenance makes achieving the “goldilocks” application rate somewhat of a fairy tale. In the midst of a severe storm, when conditions are poor and getting worse, the last thing on a plow operator’s mind is a minute adjustment in the amount of chemical being applied to the road. However, there may be considerable benefit and substantial savings to be achieved if chemical applications can be optimized to some degree, so that wastage is minimized without compromising safety. The goal of this study was to begin to develop such information through a series of laboratory studies in which the force needed to scrape ice from concrete blocks was measured, under a variety of chemical application conditions.

U.S. 61 From the Muscatine County Line to Two Miles south of Grandview Louisa County, Iowa NHS-61-3(48) - -19-58, October 19, 2011

The Transportation Equity Act of the 21st Century mandated environmental streamlining in order to improve transportation project delivery without compromising environmental protection. In accordance with TEA-21, the environmental review process for this project has been documented as a Streamlined Environmental Assessment. This document addresses only those resources or features that apply to the project. This allowed study and discussion of resources present in the study area, rather than expend effort on resources that were either not present or not impacted. Although not all resources are discussed in the EA, they were considered during the planning process and are documented in the Streamlined Resource Summary.

Insight into oversight : how information commissioners contribute to the achievement of access-to-information policy objectives

This thesis examines how oversight bodies, as part of an ATI policy, contribute to the achievement of the policy's objectives. The aim of the thesis is to see how oversight bodies and the work they do affects the implementation of their respective ATI policies and thereby contributes to the objectives of those policies using a comparative case study approach. The thesis investigates how federal/central government level information commissioners in four jurisdictions - Germany, India, Scotland, and Switzerland - enforce their respective ATI policies, which tasks they carry out in addition to their enforcement duties, the challenges they face in their work and the ways they overcome these. Qualitative data were gathered from primary and secondary documents as well as in 37 semi-structured interviews with staff of the commissioners' offices, administrative officials whose job entails complying with ATI, people who have made ATI requests and appealed to their respective oversight body, and external experts who have studied ATI implementation in their particular jurisdiction. The thesis finds that while the aspect of an oversight body's formal independence that has the greatest impact on its work is resource control and that although the powers granted by law set the framework for ensuring that the administration is properly complying with the policy, the commissioner's leadership style - a component of informal independence - has more influence than formal attributes of independence in setting out how resources are obtained and used as well as how staff set priorities and utilize the powers they are granted by law. The conclusion, therefore, is that an ATI oversight body's ability to contribute to the achievement of the policy's objectives is a function of three main factors: a. commissioner's leadership style; b. adequacy of resources and degree of control the organization has over them; c. powers and the exercise of discretion in using them. In effect, the thesis argues that it is difficult to pinpoint the value of the formal powers set out for the oversight body in the ATI law, and that their decisions on whether and how to use them are more important than the presumed strength of the powers. It also claims that the choices made by the commissioners and their staff regarding priorities and use of powers are determined to a large extent by the adequacy of resources and the degree of control the organization has over those resources. In turn, how the head of the organization leads and manages the oversight body is crucial to both the adequacy of the organization's resources and the decisions made about the use of powers. Together, these three factors have a significant impact on the body's effectiveness in contributing to ATI objectives.

Less Risk, More Effort : Demand Risk Allocation in Incomplete Contracts

This article investigates the allocation of demand risk within an incomplete contract framework. We consider an incomplete contractual relationship between a public authority and a private provider (i.e. a public-private partnership), in which the latter invests in non-verifiable cost-reducing efforts and the former invests in non-verifiable adaptation efforts to respond to changing consumer demand over time. We show that the party that bears the demand risk has fewer hold-up opportunities and that this leads the other contracting party to make more effort. Thus, in our model, bearing less risk can lead to more effort, which we describe as a new example of âeuro~counter-incentivesâeuro?. We further show that when the benefits of adaptation are important, it is socially preferable to design a contract in which the demand risk remains with the private provider, whereas when the benefits of cost-reducing efforts are important, it is socially preferable to place the demand risk on the public authority. We then apply these results to explain two well-known case studies.

Iowa 86 from Iowa 9 to 700 feet South of 110th Street Dickinson County, Iowa, May 2011

The Transportation Equity Act of the 21st Century (TEA-21) (23 CFR) mandated environmental streamlining in order to improve transportation project delivery without compromising environmental protection. In accordance with TEA-21, the environmental review process for this project has been documented as a Streamlined Environmental Assessment (EA). This document addresses only those resources or features that apply to the project. This allowed study and discussion of resources present in the study area, rather than expend effort on resources that were either not present or not impacted. Although not all resources are discussed in the EA, they were considered during the planning process and are documented in the Streamlined Resource Summary, shown in Appendix A. The following table shows the resources considered during the environmental review for this project. The first column with a check means the resource is present in the project area. The second column with a check means the impact to the resource warrants more discussion in this document. The other listed resources have been reviewed and are included in the Streamlined Resource Summary.

A Mendelian randomization approach to assess the causal relationship of gamma-glutamyl transferase with blood pressure and insulin

Background: Elevated levels of g-glutamyl transferase (GGT) have been associated with subsequent risk of elevated blood pressure (BP), hypertension and diabetes. However, the causality of these relationships has not been addressed. Mendelian randomization refers to the random allocation of alleles at the time of gamete formation. Such allocation is expected to be independent of any behavioural and environmental factors (known or unknown), allowing the analysis of largely unconfounded risk associations that are not due to reverse causation. Methods: We performed a cross-sectional analysis among 4361 participants to the population based CoLaus study. Associations of sex-specific GGT quartiles with systolic BP, diastolic BP and insulin levels were assessed using multivariable linear regression analyses. The rs2017869 GGT1 variant, which explained 1.6% of the variance in GGT levels, was used as an instrument to perform a Mendelian randomization analysis. Results: Median age of the study population was 53 years. After age and sex adjustment, GGT quartiles were strongly associated with systolic and diastolic BP (all p for linear trend <0.0001). After multivariable adjustment, these relationships were significantly attenuated, but remained significant for systolic (b(95%CI)¼1.30 (0.32;2.03), p¼0.007) and diastolic BP (b (95%CI)¼0.57 (0.02;1.13), p¼0.04). Using Mendelian randomization, we observed no positive association of GGT with either systolic BP (b (95%CI)¼-5.68 (-11.51-0.16), p¼0.06) or diastolic BP (b (95%CI)¼ -2.24 (-5.98;1.49) p¼0.24). The association of GGT with insulin was also attenuated after multivariable adjustment. Nevertheless, a strong linear trend persisted in the fully adjusted model (b (95%CI)¼0.07 (0.04;0.09), p<0.0001). Using Mendelian randomization, we observed a similar positive association of GGT with insulin (b (95%CI)¼0.19 (0.01-0.37), p¼0.04). Conclusion: In this study, we found evidence for a direct causal relationship between GGT and insulin, suggesting that oxidative stress may be causally implicated in the pathogenesis of type 2 diabetes mellitus.

Juvenile Crime Prevention Community Grand Fund Outcomes Report and FY2002 Juvenile Justice Youth Development Program Summary, January 2002

This document contains two related, but separate reports. The Juvenile Crime Prevention Community Grant Fund Outcomes Report is a summary of outcomes from services and activities funded through the Juvenile Crime Prevention Community Grant Fund in FY2001. The Juvenile Justice Youth Development Program Summary describes Iowa communities’ current prevention and sanction programs supported with funding from the Division of Criminal and Juvenile Justice Planning (CJJP) during FY2002. The material in Juvenile Crime Prevention Community Grant Fund Outcomes Report is presented in response to a legislative mandate to report specific prevention outcomes for the community Grant Fund. It includes a brief description of a Youth Development Results Framework established by the Iowa Collaboration for Youth Development. Outcomes are reported using this results framework, which was developed by a number of state agencies as a common tool for various state programs involving youth development related planning and funding processes. Included in this report is a description of outcomes from the prevention activities funded, all or in part, by the Community Grant Fund, as reported by local communities. The program summaries presented in the Juvenile Justice Youth Development Program Summary provide an overview of local efforts to implement their 2002 Juvenile Justice Youth Development plans and include prevention and sanction programs funded through the combined resources of the State Community Grant Fund and the Federal Title V Prevention, Juvenile Justice & Delinquency Prevention Act Formula Grant and Juvenile Accountability Incentive Block Grant programs. These combined funds are referred to in this document as the Juvenile Justice Youth Development (JJYD) funds. To administer the JJYD funds, including funds from the Community Grant Fund, CJJP partners with local officials to facilitate a community planning process that determines the communities’ priorities for the use of the funds. The local planning is coordinated by the Iowa’s Decategorization Boards (Decats). These local officials and/or their staff have been leaders in providing oversight or staff support to a variety of local planning initiatives (e.g. child welfare, Comprehensive Strategy Pilot Projects, Empowerment, other) and bring child welfare and community planning experience to the table for the creation of comprehensive community longterm planning efforts. The allocation of these combined funds and the technical assistance received by the Decats from CJJP is believed to have helped enhance both child welfare and juvenile justice efforts locally and has provided for the recognition and establishment of connections for joint child welfare/juvenile justice planning. The allocation and local planning approach has allowed funding from CJJP to be “blended” or “braided” with other local, state, and federal dollars that flow to communities as a result of their local planning responsibilities. The program descriptions provided in this document reflect services and activities supported with JJYD funds. In many cases, however, additional funding sources have been used to fully fund the programs. Most of the information in this document’s two reports was submitted to CJJP by the communities through an on- line planning and reporting process established jointly by the DHS and CJJP.

Contribution of microbial and invertebrate communities to leaf litter colonization in a Mediterranean stream

Leaf litter inputs and retention play an important role in ecosystem functioning in forested streams. We examined colonization of leaves by microbes (bacteria, fungi, and protozoa) and fauna in Fuirosos, an intermittent forested Mediterranean stream. Black poplar (Populus nigra) and plane (Platanus acerifolia) leaf packs were placed in the stream for 4 mo. We measured the biomasses and calculated the densities of bacteria, fungi, protozoa, meiofauna, and macroinvertebrates to determine their dynamics and potential interactions throughout the colonization process. Colonization was strongly correlated with hydrological variability (defined mainly by water temperature and discharge). The 1st week of colonization was characterized by hydrological stability and warm water temperatures, and allocation of C from microbial to invertebrate compartments on the leaf packs was rapid. Clumps of fine particulate organic matter (FPOM) were retained by the leaf packs, and enhanced rapid colonization by microfauna and meiofaunal collector-gatherers (ostracods and copepods). After 2 wk, an autumnal flood caused a 20-fold increase in water flow. Higher discharge and lower water temperature caused FPOM-related fauna to drift away from the packs and modified the subsequent colonization sequence. Fungi showed the highest biomass, with similar values to those recorded at the beginning of the experiment. After 70 d of postflood colonization, fungi decreased to nearly 40% of the total C in the leaf packs, whereas invertebrates became more abundant and accounted for 60% of the C. Natural flood occurrence in Mediterranean streams could be a key factor in the colonization and processing of organic matter.

Examination of Closing the Existing Highway Maintenance Garage at Hamlin, Iowa, 1983

An optimum allocation model has been utilized to examine the existing allocation of highway segments to maintenance garages in the Hamlin study area. The model has also been used to evaluate the financial effect of closing the garage at Hamlin. The examination of the study area shows that only three of 48 highway segments should be reallocated at an annual operational savings of approximately $1,400. The study concludes there would be an annual operational savings of approximately 128,700 if the garage at Hamlin were closed.

Examination of Existing Highway Maintenance Garage Locations in Tama and Blairstown Study Area, 1983

An optimum allocation model has been utilized to examine the existing allocation of highway segments to maintenance garages in the Tama and Blairstown study area. The model has also been used to evaluate the financial impact of closing the highway maintenance garages at Tama and Blairstown and building a new garage at the junction of U.S. 30 and Iowa 21. The examination of the study area shows that only 13 of 91 highway segments were reallocated under optimum procedures at an annual operational savings of approximately $13,200. The study concludes there would be an annual operational savings of approximately $48,200 if the garages at Tama and Blairstown were closed and a new garage was built at the junction of U.S. 30 and Iowa 21.