Executive Order Number Seventeen, September 25, 2009

This Executive Order expects the State of Iowa executive agencies and Regent Institutions own, purchase, build and lease property, including office space, worth billions of dollars for educational, correctional, recreational, conservation, transportation, communication, public health, workforce and related public functions and the placement of state offices in historic central business districts "downtown" can strengthen and revitalize Iowa's cities and towns.

Aplicatiu per gestionar la informació administrativa, tècnica i comptable per una empresa constructora

Les tendencies del mercat actual i futur obliguen a les empreses a ser cada vegada més competitives. Tota empresa que desitgi competir en el mercat actual ha de considerar la informació com un dels seus principals actius. Per aquesta raó, és necessari que l’empresa disposi dels sistemes d’informació adequats per ser gestionada. En les pimes ( petites i mitjanes empreses ), i en la majoria dels casos, la seva informació es troba repartida en diversos aplicatius informàtifcs. Això comporta principalment una duplicitat de dades, costos de manteniment i possibles errades en la informació. Dins del sector de les pimes, es troben empreses contructores d’un volum petit o mig, les quals enmagatzemen molta informació tècnica i de planificació per desemvolupar els seus projectes. Aquesta necessitat els hi suposa, tenir un aplicatiu eficient per la gestió i seguiment de la producció de les seves tasques i per altra banda l’aplicatiu necessari com qualsevol pime a nivell administratiu i comptable. L’objectiu principal d’aquest treball és generar un aplicatiu que integri la informació administrativa, comptable i tècnica per una empresa constructora. Amb l’assoliment d’aquest objectiu l’empresa constructora guanya temps en l’entrada i accés a les dades, evita la seva duplicitat i redueix el seu manteniment. En resum, redueix els costos de l’empresa i augmenta la seva seguretat en la informació. Un el mercat, existeixen aplicatius anomenats ERP ( Enterprise resource planning o sistemes de planificació de recursos ) els quals la seva gran virtud es la integració de les dades. Aprofitant aquests aplicatius i seleccionant-ne el més adequat, s’ha generat la part de gestió i planificació necessària per l’empresa constructora integrant-la i personalitzant-la en els processos existents de l’aplicació ( comptabilitat, ventes, compres, recursos humans, magatzems, etc… ) Entre les conclusions més rellevants obtingudes en aquest treball, voldriem destacar la millora i reducció d’entrada, accés i manteniment de la informació, l’històric que proporciona l’eina i per tan la millora de la gestío i planificació de l’empresa.

A novel dominant mutation of the Nav1.4 alpha-subunit domain I leading to sodium channel myotonia.

BACKGROUND: Mutations in SCN4A may lead to myotonia. METHODS: Presentation of a large family with myotonia, including molecular studies and patch clamp experiments using human embryonic kidney 293 cells expressing wild-type and mutated channels. RESULTS: In a large family with historic data on seven generations and a clear phenotype, including myotonia at movement onset, with worsening by cold temperature, pregnancy, mental stress, and especially after rest after intense physical activity, but without weakness, the phenotype was linked with the muscle sodium channel gene (SCN4A) locus, in which a novel p.I141V mutation was found. This modification is located within the first transmembrane segment of domain I of the Na(v)1.4 alpha subunit, a region where no mutation has been reported so far. Patch clamp experiments revealed a mutation-induced hyperpolarizing shift (-12.9 mV) of the voltage dependence of activation, leading to a significant increase (approximately twofold) of the window current amplitude. In addition, the mutation shifted the voltage dependence of slow inactivation by -8.7 mV and accelerated the entry to this state. CONCLUSIONS: We propose that the gain-of-function alteration in activation leads to the observed myotonic phenotype, whereas the enhanced slow inactivation may prevent depolarization-induced paralysis.

Monitoring natural hazards

Few subjects have caught the attention of the entire world as much as those dealing with natural hazards. The first decade of this new millennium provides a litany of tragic examples of various hazards that turned into disasters affecting millions of individuals around the globe. The human losses (some 225,000 people) associated with the 2004 Indian Ocean earthquake and tsunami, the economic costs (approximately 200 billion USD) of the 2011 Tohoku Japan earthquake, tsunami and reactor event, and the collective social impacts of human tragedies experienced during Hurricane Katrina in 2005 all provide repetitive reminders that we humans are temporary guests occupying a very active and angry planet. Any examples may have been cited here to stress the point that natural events on Earth may, and often do, lead to disasters and catastrophes when humans place themselves into situations of high risk. Few subjects share the true interdisciplinary dependency that characterizes the field of natural hazards. From geology and geophysics to engineering and emergency response to social psychology and economics, the study of natural hazards draws input from an impressive suite of unique and previously independent specializations. Natural hazards provide a common platform to reduce disciplinary boundaries and facilitate a beneficial synergy in the provision of timely and useful information and action on this critical subject matter. As social norms change regarding the concept of acceptable risk and human migration leads to an explosion in the number of megacities, coastal over-crowding and unmanaged habitation in precarious environments such as mountainous slopes, the vulnerability of people and their susceptibility to natural hazards increases dramatically. Coupled with the concerns of changing climates, escalating recovery costs, a growing divergence between more developed and less developed countries, the subject of natural hazards remains on the forefront of issues that affect all people, nations, and environments all the time.This treatise provides a compendium of critical, timely and very detailed information and essential facts regarding the basic attributes of natural hazards and concomitant disasters. The Encyclopedia of Natural Hazards effectively captures and integrates contributions from an international portfolio of almost 300 specialists whose range of expertise addresses over 330 topics pertinent to the field of natural hazards. Disciplinary barriers are overcome in this comprehensive treatment of the subject matter. Clear illustrations and numerous color images enhance the primary aim to communicate and educate. The inclusion of a series of unique ?classic case study? events interspersed throughout the volume provides tangible examples linking concepts, issues, outcomes and solutions. These case studies illustrate different but notable recent, historic and prehistoric events that have shaped the world as we now know it. They provide excellent focal points linking the remaining terms in the volume to the primary field of study. This Encyclopedia of Natural Hazards will remain a standard reference of choice for many years.

Main Street Messenger, 2009, Vol. 3

News from the Iowa Downtown Resource Center and Main Street Iowa office.

Una mirada retrospectiva: de l'Escola Superior de Bibliotecàries a la Facultat de Biblioteconomia i Documentació (1915-2005)

November 2005 marked the 90th anniversary of the founding of the Escola Superior de Bibliotecàries [Superior School of Librarians] of the Mancomunitat de Catalunya, which was the predecessor of the current Facultat de Biblioteconomia i Documentació of the Universitat de Barcelona. This article offers text and images from an exhibit organised by the Facultat in order to commemorate this anniversary. A historic review is provided of different stages marking the evolution of the centre

Cedar Rock, Lowell Walter House : Built in 1950, 2001.

Information brochure on Cedar Rock, Lowell Walter House, designed by Frank Lloyd Wright.

American Gothic House : Built in the 1880's, 2001.

Information brochure on the American Gothic House made famous by Iowan Grant Wood

Abbie Gardner Cabin : Built in 1856, 1999.

Information brochure on the Abbie Gardner Cabin, one of the sites of the "Spirit Lake Massacre"

Hometown architecture : changes in Central Iowa towns and farms,1981.

This book is a product of a two year project, the extensive surveys CIRALG and the Division of Historic Preservation undertook to identify culturally significant structures in central Iowa. It discloses the aspirations, tastes, building abilities and needs of earlier Iowans.

Main Street Messenger, 2011 Vol. 2

Main Street Iowa News from the Iowa Downtown Resource Center of the Iowa Department of Economic Development

Stochastic Population Projection for Germany - based on the Quadratic Spline approach to modelling age specific fertility rates

This contribution builds upon a former paper by the authors (Lipps and Betz 2004), in which a stochastic population projection for East- and West Germany is performed. Aim was to forecast relevant population parameters and their distribution in a consistent way. We now present some modifications, which have been modelled since. First, population parameters for the entire German population are modelled. In order to overcome the modelling problem of the structural break in the East during reunification, we show that the adaptation process of the relevant figures by the East can be considered to be completed by now. As a consequence, German parameters can be modelled just by using the West German historic patterns, with the start-off population of entire Germany. Second, a new model to simulate age specific fertility rates is presented, based on a quadratic spline approach. This offers a higher flexibility to model various age specific fertility curves. The simulation results are compared with the scenario based official forecasts for Germany in 2050. Exemplary for some population parameters (e.g. dependency ratio), it can be shown that the range spanned by the medium and extreme variants correspond to the s-intervals in the stochastic framework. It seems therefore more appropriate to treat this range as a s-interval covering about two thirds of the true distribution.

Rainfall erosivity and rainfall return period in the experimental watershed of Aracruz, in the coastal plain of Espirito Santo, Brazil

Knowledge on the factors influencing water erosion is fundamental for the choice of the best land use practices. Rainfall, expressed by rainfall erosivity, is one of the most important factors of water erosion. The objective of this study was to determine rainfall erosivity and the return period of rainfall in the Coastal Plains region, near Aracruz, a town in the state of Espírito Santo, Brazil, based on available data. Rainfall erosivity was calculated based on historic rainfall data, collected from January 1998 to July 2004 at 5 min intervals, by automatic weather stations of the Aracruz Cellulose S.A company. A linear regression with individual rainfall and erosivity data was fit to obtain an equation that allowed data extrapolation to calculate individual erosivity for a 30-year period. Based on this data the annual average rainfall erosivity in Aracruz was 8,536 MJ mm ha-1 h-1 yr-1. Of the total annual rainfall erosivity 85 % was observed in the most critical period October to March. Annual erosive rains accounted for 38 % of the events causing erosion, although the runoff volume represented 88 % of the total. The annual average rainfall erosivity return period was estimated to be 3.4 years.

An Architectural and Historical Survey of Public Libraries in Iowa 1870-1940, 1980

The public library movement f the early twentieth century was a national phenomenon, in which Iowa, along with its neighboring states, played a prominent role. In 1900, the Iowa Library Commission noted 48 free public libraries in the state. Today there are approximately 500, in towns ranging in size from Beaman, with a population of 222, the Des Moines, the state capitol. Iowans took enthusiastic advantage of Andre Carnegie's library philanthropy. In 1919, the Carnegie Corporation stopped funding libraries, 101 building has been erected in Iowa with Carnegie funds. Iowa place fourth among the states in terms of the number of communities obtaining Carnegie buildings, fifth in dollar appropriation per one hundred population and eighth in the total amount of money given by Carnegie to a state. These figures provide some measure by which interest in popular education among Iowans of the period can be judged. Today these early libraries, often the most distinctive public libraries in small or medium-sized towns, are physical foci in the townscapes of their communities and centers for a variety of educational and social activities. This survey was initiated by the Division of Historic Preservation in 1977. It grew out of the need to provide a framework within which libraries could be evaluated for National Register action. Several libraries (Des Moines, Grinnell, Eagle Grove, Carroll) has been recent candidates for the Register. There was every indication that enthusiasm for old library buildings was increasing and that more nominations could be expected in the future. The attrition rate among early library buildings was (and is) growing. Most libraries were built on limited budgets (Carnegie did not squander his money) and, despite the fact that future expansion was usually a conscious consideration in their design, they are rapidly becoming obsolete, due to expanding collections and changing styles of librarianship. If the protection of the threatened with demolition or alteration, action needed to be taken.