Woodland Improvement and Crop Trees in Iowa, 2005

Vigorous and Healthy woodlands in Iowa have the unique distinction of being able to provide a wealth of benefits for the landowner and residents of the state. Benefits from a healthy forest include timber and wood resources, watershed protection, fragile site protection, wildlife and bird habitat, aesthetics and beauty, and recreational opportunities.

E85 Retail Station Locations in Iowa

House File 2754, relating to renewable fuel and energy, was enacted on May 30, 2006. The Act established goals and incentives for the use of renewable fuel, including E85 gasoline (85 percent ethanol and 15 percent gasoline). Section 33 of the Act states: Sec. 33. DEPARTMENTAL STUDY – E85 GASOLINE AVAILABILITY. The state department of transportation and the department of natural resources shall cooperate to conduct a study to provide methods to inform persons of the availability of E85 gasoline offered for sale and distribution by retail dealers of motor fuel in this state, including the location of each retail motor fuel site where a retail dealer offers E85 gasoline for sale and distribution. The department's study shall include methods for identifying those locations for the convenience of the traveling public including but not limited to the identification of those locations on roadside signs and on the official Iowa map published pursuant to section 307.14. The departments shall jointly prepare and deliver a report to the governor and general assembly, which includes findings and recommendations, not later than January 10, 2007.

Seasonality and Temperature:Turtles in Hot Water?

Variation in temperature affects the biology of sea turtles at a range of scales. To elucidate the drivers of seasonality of nesting and duration of season, databases across four species of sea turtles (Caretta caretta n=37, Chelonia mydas n=64, Dermochelys coriacea n=44 and Eretmochelys imbricata n=36) at a global scale were created. By using remotely sensed sea surface temperature data, thermal profiles across the nesting season were generated. Duration of nesting season was correlated with latitude in all species but was more tightly coupled with temperature; seasons were significantly longer with increased mean SST. In general, nesting seasonality occurred at warmest time of the year. SST for the month before, month after and the month of peak nesting significantly affected the month of peak nesting.

Costs of reusable and disposable aprons in a public teaching hospital

Objective To analyze the direct cost of reusable and disposable aprons in a public teaching hospital. Method Cross-sectional study of quantitative approach, focusing on the direct cost of reusable and disposable aprons at a teaching hospital in northern Paraná. The study population consisted of secondary data collected in reports of the cost of services, laundry, materials and supplies division of the institution for the year 2012 Results We identified a lower average cost of using disposable apron when compared to the reusable apron. The direct cost of reusable apron was R$ 3.06, and the steps of preparation and washing were mainly responsible for the high cost, and disposable apron cost was R$ 0.94. Conclusion The results presented are important for hospital managers properly allocate resources and manage costs in hospitals
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STRATEGIES TO SURPASS THE VULNERABILITY OF THE SMALL ISLAND STATES WITH FEW RESOURCES: THE CASE OF CAPE VERDE

The problem of small Island Developing States (SIDS) is quite recent, end of the 80s and 90s, still looking for a theoretical consolidation. SIDS, as small states in development, formed by one or several islands geographically dispersed, present reduced population, market, territory, natural resources, including drinkable water, and, in great number of the cases, low level of economic activity, factors that together, hinder the gathering of scale economies. To these diseconomies they come to join the more elevated costs in transports and communications which, allies to lower productivities, to a smaller quality and diversification of its productions, which difficult its integration in the world economy. In some SIDS these factors are not dissociating of the few investments in infrastructures, in the formation of human resources and in productive investments, just as it happens in most of the developing countries. In ecological terms, many of them with shortage of natural resources, but integrating important ecosystems in national and world terms, but with great fragility relatively to the pollution action, of excessive fishing, of uncontrolled development of tourism, factors that, conjugated and associated to the stove effect, condition the climate and the slope of the medium level of the sea water and therefore could put in cause the own survival of some of them. The drive to the awareness of the international community towards its problems summed up with the accomplishment by the United Nations in the Barbados’s Conference, 1994 where the right to the development was emphasized, through the going up the appropriate strategies and the Programme of Action for the Sustainable Development of the SIDS. The orientation of the regional and international cooperation in that sense, sharing technology (namely clean technology and control and administration environmental technology), information and creation of capacity-building, supplying means, including financial resources, creating non discriminatory and just trade rules, it would drive to the establishment of a world system economically more equal, in which the production, the consumption, the pollution levels, the demographic politics were guided towards the sustainability. It constituted an important step for the recognition for the international community on the specificities of those states and it allowed the definition of a group of norms and politics to implement at the national, regional and international level and it was important that they continued in the sense of the sustainable development. But this Conference had in its origin previous summits: the Summit of Rio de Janeiro about Environment and Development, accomplished in 1992, which left an important document - the Agenda 21, in the Conference of Stockholm at 1972 and even in the Conference of Ramsar, 1971 about “Wetlands.” CENTRO DE ESTUDOS AFRICANOS Occasional Papers © CEA - Centro de Estudos Africanos 4 Later, the Valletta Declaration, Malta, 1998, the Forum of Small States, 2002, get the international community's attention for the problems of SIDS again, in the sense that they act to increase its resilience. If the definition of “vulnerability” was the inability of the countries to resist economical, ecological and socially to the external shocks and “resilience” as the potential for them to absorb and minimize the impact of those shocks, presenting a structure that allows them to be little affected by them, a part of the available studies, dated of the 90s, indicate that the SIDS are more vulnerable than the other developing countries. The vulnerability of SIDS results from the fact the they present an assemblage of characteristics that turns them less capable of resisting or they advance strategies that allow a larger resilience to the external shocks, either anthropogenic (economical, financial, environmental) or even natural, connected with the vicissitudes of the nature. If these vulnerability factors were grouped with the expansion of the economic capitalist system at world level, the economic and financial globalisation, the incessant search of growing profits on the part of the multinational enterprises, the technological accelerated evolution drives to a situation of disfavour of the more poor. The creation of the resilience to the external shocks, to the process of globalisation, demands from SIDS and of many other developing countries the endogen definition of strategies and solid but flexible programs of integrated development. These must be assumed by the instituted power, but also by the other stakeholders, including companies and organizations of the civil society and for the population in general. But that demands strong investment in the formation of human resources, in infrastructures, in investigation centres; it demands the creation capacity not only to produce, but also to produce differently and do international marketing. It demands institutional capacity. Cape Verde is on its way to this stage.

Brushy Creek Lake: Improving Our Lake for the Future, 2006

While the quality of water in Brushy Creek Lake is currently adequate, a number of factors in the watershed (the surrounding area that drains into the lake) could put that water quality at risk. Sediment from the large watershed could fill in the lake and affect water clarity. Nutrients, like nitrogen and phosphorus, could cause algae blooms and other problems. Without preventative measures, potential manure and chemical spills could harm aquatic life in the lake. Using conservation farming practices and building structures like wetlands will work to maintain and even improve the lake’s water quality. Taking steps now to implement these critical practices will help prevent water quality problems, preserving water quality for future generations.

Iowa's Water - Ambient Monitoring Program: Biological Assessment of Iowa's Streams and Rivers, February 2001

The Iowa Department of Natural Resources has produced an 4 page article about how to assess Iowa's streams and rivers. How to use ambient monitoring.

Reconciliation of metabolites and biochemical reactions for metabolic networks.

Genome-scale metabolic network reconstructions are now routinely used in the study of metabolic pathways, their evolution and design. The development of such reconstructions involves the integration of information on reactions and metabolites from the scientific literature as well as public databases and existing genome-scale metabolic models. The reconciliation of discrepancies between data from these sources generally requires significant manual curation, which constitutes a major obstacle in efforts to develop and apply genome-scale metabolic network reconstructions. In this work, we discuss some of the major difficulties encountered in the mapping and reconciliation of metabolic resources and review three recent initiatives that aim to accelerate this process, namely BKM-react, MetRxn and MNXref (presented in this article). Each of these resources provides a pre-compiled reconciliation of many of the most commonly used metabolic resources. By reducing the time required for manual curation of metabolite and reaction discrepancies, these resources aim to accelerate the development and application of high-quality genome-scale metabolic network reconstructions and models.

Érosion des sols au Cap Vert : étude des processus et quantification à l’échelle de trois bassins versants de l’île de Santiago

Erosão dos solos em Cabo Verde: estudo dos processos e quantificação à escala de três bacias hidrográficas O arquipélago de Cabo Verde é constituído por 10 ilhas vulcânicas pertence à zona do Sahel que se estende do Atlântico ao Mar Vermelho. Desde então, várias décadas, Cabo Verde é afectado pela desertificação causada principalmente pela recessão climatica e a erosão do solo. Esses fatores, aliados à alta pressão humana sobre os recursos, a topografia acidentada e chuvas tropicais por vezes torrenciais, causam sérios danos aos solos. No entanto, desde sua independência em 1975, o Governo realizou um amplo programa de arborização, recuperação de áreas degradadas e a correcção dos leitos das ribeiras. No entanto, a investigação, muito pouco foi realizada para avaliar as acções de protecção e conservação do solo e da água. Portanto, não há dados sobre o problema da degradação das terras nem balanços. Como parte deste trabalho, foram estudados vários factores que controlam a erosão do solo pela água. Especificamente, buscou-se diferenciar os efeitos das actividades humanas, incluindo a agricultura, os factores climáticos, como chuva e geração de escoamento. Também estabeleceu os primeiros balanços das exportações de matérias em suspensão e em solução no contexto do arquipélago de Cabo Verde. O estudo foi realizado em três bacias hidrográficas da ilha de Santiago, Cabo Verde. Estas três bacias hidrográficas (Longueira, Grande e Godim) estão localizadas na parte central da ilha de Santiago e representam os diversos tipos de uso da terra e as diferentes zonas bioclimaticas da ilha. Existe um gradiente climático entre as três bacias hidrográficas. Na verdade, Longueira que abrange uma área de 4,18 km2, tem um declive médio de 47 %, uma zona florestada de 69% e uma área agrícola de 17 %. Grande com uma área de 1,87 km2, é localizada numa zona sub humida com um declive médio de 50%, é essencialmente agrícola. Godim, com uma área de 2,0 km2, é localizado numa zona semi-árida com um declive médio de 32%, é particularmente uma zona agricola. Para estes três bacias hidrográficas, as cheias foram medidas e amostradas de 2004 a 2009. A bacia de Longueira teve um maior acompanhamento, nomeadamente em termos de amostragem e monitoramento dos escoamentos. Em cada amostra foram feitas a determinação da concentração de matérias em suspensão e a análise dos principais elementos quimicos. Os resultados mostram que a erosão mecânica nas três bacias hidrográficas é caracterizada por uma forte variabilidade espacial e temporal. Durante o período de 2005-2009, o balanço anual média para as bacias hidrográficas de Longueira, Grande e Godim é: 4266, 157 e 10,1 t.km2.an-1, respectivamente. A estação das chuvas de 2006 foi a mais erosiva para as três bacias, particularmente em Longueira, com 2 cheias excepcionais, que têm gerado uma concentração média de sólidos em suspensão superior a 100 g / l. Porém, as estações do ano de 2005 e 2008 foram de uma forma geral menos erosivas porque as concentrações médias não inferiores a 20 g / l. Além disso, não houve cheias para as temporadas 2005 e 2007 para a bacia do Godim. Na bacia de Longueira, o estudo dos fenómenos de histerese na caracterização das cheias mostrou que a evolução temporal das exportações de sólidos em suspensão durante a temporada é fortemente influenciada pelas atividades agrícolas. Na verdade, a primeira cheia causou uma exportação maciça de sedimento disponível e localizado no leito da ribeira. Assim, a segunda cheia exportou menos sedimentos. Um mês após as primeiras chuvas, a prática da monda que reduz a densidade da cobertura vegetal e destructura a camada superficial do solo, gerou uma grande quantidade de sedimento que novamente permitiu uma exportação muito forte de sedimentos durante a terceira forte cheia. Os resultados da erosão química na bacia de Longueira indicam que a taxa de erosão é de 45 t.km2.an-1 com uma forte variabilidade temporal. Na verdade, as temporadas de 2006 e 2007 são as mais erosivas, enquanto 2005 teve uma exportação de matérias disolvidas baixa. A utilização do modelo EMMA (End- Members Mixing Analysis) mostra que os escoamentos hipodermico e profundo, alimentandos os fluxos de elementos dissolvidos são os principais factores da erosão química. É mostrado que esses fluxos causam mais de 90% dos fluxos de erosão química. O escoamento superficial, que contribui com cerca de 70% na formação das cheias, é o maior factor da erosão mecânica do solo.

Iowa Natural Resources, Agency Performance Plan, 2007

Annual Report, Agency performance plan

River and Stream Health in Iowa, 2001

A report by the Iowa Department of Natural Resources on how the health of Iowa's River and Stream are today.

Iowa's Hidden Water Resources, 2001

Water fact sheet for Iowa Department of Natural Resources and the Geological Bureau.

Iowa Energy and Waste News, Winter 2007, Vol. 1, no.1

Newsletter produced by Iowa Department of Natural Resources about energy and waste in Iowa

Bacteria in Iowa's Water Resources, 2003

This fact sheet answers questions such as, is it safe to swim in the water and who is monitoring the beaches in Iowa

REMAP - A Probabilistic Survery of Iowa's Perennial Rivers and Streams, 2007

This monthly report from the Iowa Department of Transportation is about the water quality management of Iowa's rivers, streams and lakes.