Digital Commons Network^™

Center For Sustainable Agricultural Systems Newsletter, September/October 1994

Center for Sustainable Agricultural Systems: Newsletter (1993–2000)

Contents:

New UNL Center for Grassland Studies

BioNet Bulletin Board

New NSAS Director and New Extension Director

What Happens to Pesticides in Soil and Water?

In the Seminar Spotlight

Paul Thompson

Joel Salatin

Symposium to Focus on Future of Great Plains

Farm Bill Focus of midwest Governors' Conference

Ag Waste Database

Sustainable Development Framework for the Great Plains

USDA Drafting National Organic Standards

Environmental Reserve Proposed

Sustainable Ag Directors Workshop on February

EPA and USDA Agreement on Pest Management

Congress Approves Funding for Sustainable Ag and Related Programs

President Clinton's Sustainable Development Awards

Futuristic Symposium at ASA Meetings

Black Bears, Scott E. Hygnstrom

Prevention and Control of Wildlife Damage Handbook

The black bear (Ursus americanus) is the smallest and most widely distributed of the North American bears. Black bears east of the Mississippi are predominantly black, but in the Rocky Mountains and westward various shades of brown, cinnamon, and even blond are common. The head is moderately sized with a straight profile and tapering nose. The ears are relatively small, rounded, and erect. It is important to be able to distinguish between black bears and grizzly/brown bears (Ursus arctos). The grizzly/brown bear is typically much larger than the black bear.

Red Fox, Robert L. Phillips, Robert H. Schmidt

Prevention and Control of Wildlife Damage Handbook

The red fox (Vulpes vulpes) is the most common of the foxes native to North America. Most depredation problems are associated with red foxes, although in some areas gray foxes (Urocyon cinereoargenteus) can cause problems. The red fox is dog-like in appearance, with an elongated pointed muzzle and large pointed ears that are usually erect and forward. It has moderately long legs and long, thick, soft body fur with a heavily furred, bushy tail. Red foxes occur over most of North America, north and east from southern California, Arizona, and central Texas. The red fox is …

Badgers, Fred Lindzey

Prevention and Control of Wildlife Damage Handbook

The badger (Taxidea taxus) is a stocky, medium-sized mammal with a broad head, a short, thick neck, short legs, and a short, bushy tail. Its front legs are stout and muscular, and its front claws are long. It is silver-gray, has long guard hairs, a black patch on each cheek, black feet, and a characteristic white stripe extending from its nose over the top of its head. Badgers are members of the weasel family and have the musky odor characteristic of this family. They are especially adapted for burrowing, with strong front legs equipped with long, well-developed claws. …

Grizzly/Brown Bears, Charles Jonkel

Prevention and Control of Wildlife Damage Handbook

Grizzly/brown bears (Ursus arctos) of the world include numerous subspecies in Asia, Europe, and North America. The interior grizzly (Ursus arctos horribilis) is generally smaller than the coastal (Ursus arctos gyas) or island (Ursus arctos middendorffi) subspecies of North American brown bear, and it has the classic “grizzled” hair tips. Brown bears in general are very large and heavily built. Wherever brown bears live, their size is influenced by their subspecies status, food supply, and length of the feeding season. Bone growth continues throughthe sixth year, so subadult nutrition often dictates their …

Polar Bears, Peter L. Clarkson, Ian Stirling

Prevention and Control of Wildlife Damage Handbook

The polar bear is the largest member of the family Ursidae. Polar bears have a heavy build overall, large feet, and a longer neck relative to their body size than other species of bears. The fur is white, but the shade may vary among white, yellow, grey, or almost brown, depending on the time of year or light conditions. The vitamin A content of the liver ranges between 15,000 and 30,000 units per gram and is toxic to humans if consumed in any quantity. Polar bears are distributed throughout the circumpolar Arctic. In North America, their range extends from the …

House Cats (Feral), William D. Fitzwater

Prevention and Control of Wildlife Damage Handbook

The cat has been the most resistant to change of all the animals that humans have domesticated. All members of the cat family, wild or domesticated, have a broad, stubby skull, similar facial characteristics, lithe, stealthy movements, retractable claws (except the cheetah), and nocturnal habits. Feral cats are house cats living in the wild. They are small in stature, weighing from 3 to 8 pounds, standing 8 to 12 inches high at the shoulder, and 14 to 24 inches long. The tail adds another 8 to 12 inches to their length. Colors range from black to white to orange, and …

Simulation Of Hydrologic Influences On Wetland Ecosystem Succession, Robert A. Pompilio

Theses and Dissertations

This research focuses on the development of a simulation model to determine the effects of hydrological influences on a wetland ecosystem. The model allows perturbations to the inputs of various wetland data which in turn, influences the successional development of the ecosystem. This research consisted of converting a grassland ecosystem model to one which simulates wetland conditions. The critical factor in determining the success of wetland creation is the hydrology of the system. There are four of the areas of the original model which are affected by the hydrology. The model measures the health or success of the ecosystem through …

Chromium(Vi) Reduction By Ascorbate: Role Of Reactive Intermediates In Dna Damage In Vitro, D M. Stearns, K D. Courtney, P H. Giangrande, L S. Phieffer, Karen E. Wetterhahn

Dartmouth Scholarship

Reaction of chromium(VI) with one equivalent of ascorbate was studied by electron paramagnetic resonance spectroscopy in the presence of 0.10 M 5,5-dimethyl-1-pyrroline-1-oxide (DMPO) at room temperature in 0.10 M (N-[2-hydroxyethyl]piperazine-N'-[2-ethanesulfonic acid]) (HEPES) and 0.05 M tris(hydroxymethyl)aminomethane hydrochloride (Tris-HCl) buffers (pH 7.0 room temperature). Chromium(V), ascorbyl radical, and carbon-based DMPO-radical adducts were observed. A higher level of Cr(V) was observed in HEPES buffer and a higher level of the DMPO-radical adducts was observed in Tris-HCl buffer. Chromium-DNA binding studies were carried out in vitro for calf thymus DNA incubated with Cr(VI) and ascorbate in both buffers at 37 degrees C. Higher …

Experiment Using Infrared Spectroscopy To Study The Effect Of Soil Characteristics Upon The Rate Of Trichloroethylene Desorption, Benjamin T. Kindt

Theses and Dissertations

This research investigated the influence of soil characteristics on the desorption of trichloroethylene (TCE). TCE is one of the most common contaminants at Superfund sites. Unfortunately, extraction of TCE from contaminated soils has been hindered by its slow and poorly understood desorption from soil particles. The rate and progress of desorption of TCE from seven types of soil with varying particle diameters and elemental compositions was measured using optical absorption techniques. Fitting the data to the Langmuir Isotherm functional form predicted in the literature yielded parameters for the desorption rate and total amount desorption each soil type. These parameters were …

Modeling Trihalomethane Formation Potential From Wastewater Chlorination, Carol A. Mccormick

Theses and Dissertations

The deletion of federally mandated fecal coliform limits has led many states to review and modify their wastewater disinfection requirements. One issue in analyzing wastewater disinfection is the discharge of potentially carcinogenic halogenated organics formed during the chlorination process. This research investigates the formation of one class of the halogenated organics, the trihalomethanes. The applicability of using drinking water trihalomethane formation models for use with wastewater effluent is examined. Three models are compared for predictive capability by using measured trihalomethane values from previous research data. The results show that a previously developed model is applicable for use based on assumptions …

Optimal Pulsed Pumping For Aquifer Remediation When Contaminant Transport Is Affected By Rate-Limited Sorption: A Calculus Of Variation Approach, Richard T. Hartman

Theses and Dissertations

The remediation of groundwater contamination continues to persist as a social and economic problem due to increased governmental regulations and public health concerns. Additionally, the geochemistry of the aquifer and the contaminant transport within the aquifer complicates the remediation process to restore contaminated aquifers to conditions compatible with health-based standards. Currently, the preferred method for aquifer cleanup pump-and-treat has several limitations including, the persistence of sorbed chemicals on soil matrix and the long term operation and maintenance expense. The impetus of this research was to demonstrate that a calculus of variations approach could be applied to a pulsed pumping aquifer …

Comparison Of Environmental Risk Provisions In The 103d Congress, Linda-Jo Schierow

RISK: Health, Safety & Environment (1990-2002)

Dr. Schierow, an Analyst in Environmental Policy with the Congressional Research Service, presents a tabulated summary of comparable provisions in several bills with special attention to the Risk Assessment Improvement Act of 1994.

Preferences For Exposure Control Of Power-Frequency Fields Among Lay Opinion Leaders, Ann Bostrom, M. Granger Morgan, Jack Adams, Indira Nair

RISK: Health, Safety & Environment (1990-2002)

The authors report on surveys, differing according to focus on remedial costs, of Pittsburgh-area adults indicating beliefs about possible health effects of electromagnetic fields and the acceptability of options for reducing or eliminating the potential impact.

Exposure Of A Food Crop To Trichloroethylene From A Contaminated Aquifer, Richard G. Baringer

Theses and Dissertations

This research developed a methodology for assessment of the exposure of a mature corn crop to trichloroethylene from a contaminated aquifer. The methodology was then applied to the case of Hill AFB to determine the ability of the methodology to provide information about a specific exposure. Current procedures sample for food contamination but do not attempt to predict exposure problems. A review of the potential exposure pathways from the aquifer to the crop was conducted. Based on this review, the exposures due to soil gas and irrigation were modeled. Empirical estimated were used to approximate the expected flux of soil …

Development Of An Analysis Method To Identify The Root Causes Of Finding From The Air Force Environmental Compliance Assessment And Management Program (Ecamp), Frederick B. Cade

Theses and Dissertations

The Air Force is committed to being a national leader in achieving environmental compliance. This commitment is exemplified by the Air Force Chief of Staffs goal of no 'notices of violation.' This goal, however, has proven to be elusive. In the early 1990s, the number of Air Force notices of violation (NOVs) increased by 73%, from 103 to 178. One of the reasons may be findings from the Environmental Compliance Assessment and Management Program (ECAMP) are not being utilized effectively. This research developed an analysis method to identify root causes of ECAMP findings. The model emphasized the use of performance …

Coherence And Usability Of An Environmental Impact Statement, Jill A. Easterly

Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of this research effort was to investigate the application of certain principles of effective communication to improve the comprehension, and ultimately the usability, of an Environmental Impact Statement (EIS). Principles from cohesion theory (an area of research describing effective design) were used to manipulate the design of select sections of two sample EISs. Each sample EIS was altered to manipulate the presence and/or absence of visual and linguistic cohesion. Subjects were required to read select versions from each section of the two sample EISs and answer four short answer questions. The dependent variables were accuracy in answering the …

How Effective Has The Air Force Been In Eliminating Its Dependence On Ozone Depleting Chemicals?, L. Susan Willard

Theses and Dissertations

This research was undertaken to determine how effectively the Air Force had eliminated its dependence on Ozone Depleting Chemicals. The research was limited to analyzing the impact of ODCs on major acquisition programs. Results indicated existing variables which may be impeding full implementation. Also identified were lessons learned which could be applied to future environmental legislation with potential impact on acquisition programs. In- depth telephonic interviews were conducted with Program Directors responsible for the development and fielding of major Air Force acquisition programs. Analysis revealed that ODCs substantially impacted the acquisition programs to the extent that many programs had classified …

Ambient Surface Water Monitoring Report, Data Year January, 1992 - December, 1992 Pinellas County, Florida, Pinellas County Department Of Environmental Management-Water Resources Management Section, Donald Moores, Earl "Gene" Quinn, Pamela Leasure, Nancy Page, Mariben Anderson, Sean Coats, Susan Myers, Donald Hicks, Lisa Baltus

Reports

Whereas ambient surface water monitoring in Pinellas County had been limited and sporadic in the past, there has recently been a renewed interest in monitoring programs. Partly this has been encouraged by the activities of the National Estuary Program and the mandates of the federal NPDES Municipal Storm Sewer permitting program. In the case of Pinellas County, the County's Comprehensive Plan, adopted in 1989, mandated the implementation of ambient water quality monitoring in the waters of the County. The first annual report of monitoring results was published in December, 1992 (Moores, et. al., 1992).

This is the second annual report …

Dissection Of An Antibody-Catalyzed Reaction, Jon D. Stewart, Joseph F. Krebs, Gary Siuzdak, Anthony J. Berdis, David B. Smithrud, Stephen J. Benkovic

Chemistry Faculty Publications

Antibody 43C9 accelerates the hydrolysis of a p-nitroanilide by a factor of 2.5 x 10(5) over the background rate in addition to catalyzing the hydrolysis of a series of aromatic esters. Since this represents one of the largest rate accelerations achieved with an antibody, we have undertaken a series of studies aimed at uncovering the catalytic mechanism of 43C9. The immunogen, a phosphonamidate, was designed to mimic the geometric and electronic characteristics of the tetrahedral intermediate that forms upon nucleophilic attack by hydroxide on the amide substrate. Further studies, however, revealed that the catalytic mechanism is more complex and involves …

John Muir Newsletter, Fall 1994, John Muir Center For Regional Studies

Muir Center Newsletters (1981-2015)

John Muir Newsletter fall 1994 university of the pacific volume 4, number 4 JOHN MUIR'S PHOTOGRAPH COLLECTION By Janene Ford Library/Archives Assistant Holt-Atherton Library It is said a picture is worth a thousand words. John Muir could easily turn out a thousand words, but as far as we know he seldom, if ever, used a camera. However, it is evident that Muir recognized and respected the value of visual images. During his lifetime he amassed a collection of nearly 3,000 photographs, many of which were taken by acquaintances and friends such as William Keith, Charles Lummis, Theodore Lukens, Marion Delany, …

Water Current, Volume 26, No. 4, August 1994

Water Current Newsletter

CRP Reduces Flood Damage
From the Director
Glossary of Water-Related Terms
Pesticide Fate Vital Factor
California Citrus Production Tied to Groundwater
Research Brief: Pesticide Levels in Storm Runoff From Agricultural Stream Sites with Different Riparian Buffer Strips
Festival of Color
USGS Team Visits Two Projects
Symposium to Take on Water Challenge

The Relationship Of Dietary And Lifestyle Factors To Bone Mineral Density Of Healthy Singaporean Chinese Women, Ampai Dana Aimsiri

Loma Linda University Electronic Theses, Dissertations & Projects

Few studies have examined the risk factors associated with reduced bone mass in Asians, but none specifically investigated Singaporean Chinese women. The subjects in this study were 16 premenopausal, 8 perimenopausal and 13 postmenopausal women who participated in a larger study which began in 1986. Bone density was measured in 1986 and 1992. Dietary and lifestyle data were collected for this study by personal interview. Association between dietary and lifestyle factors and bone density variables and change in bone density at the end of the 6 year period were assessed by univariate regression analyses.

Postmenopausal women had significantly lower baseline …

Reply To D. E. Watt, A. S. Alkharam, M. B. Child And M. S. Salikin, “Dose As A Damage Specifier In Radiobiology For Radiation Protection." A Comment On "Dose" (Radiat. Res. 137, 410-413, 1994), Robert Katz

Robert Katz Publications

The authors are generous in observing that "the high degree of success achieved by (Katz's δ-ray theory of track structure) in fits to survival curves for heavy ions, and in analysis and prediction of other biological effects is almost legend." We remind them that the model is physical, and has little to do with biology in an explicit way, except that an oversimplified "bean bag" model of a eukaryotic cell is used, in which the bag represents the cell nucleus and the beans represent internal targets. No explicit biologically mechanistic structure or response is inferred. No reference is made to …

Use Of Infrared Spectrometry To Determine The Effect Of Temperature On The Description Rates Of Trichloroethylene From Plastic Clay 98b, Abdellatif Fares

Theses and Dissertations

This thesis investigated the influence of temperature on the desorption rated of trichloroethylene (TCE) from plastic clay. It was expected that an increase in temperature will cause an increase in both the desorption rates of TCE and in the desorbed quantity. Previous studies on other chemicals indicated a faster decrease in the remaining sorbed concentration with an increase in temperature. This research made use of the infrared optical absorption technique. IR spectroscopy was used to measure the concentration of the vapor TCE that desorbed from the soil. The soil was exposed to liquid TCE for 2 days then placed inside …

Modeling Of Ground Water Aquifer Remediation By Pulsed Pumping When Contaminant Transport Is Affected By Physical, Non-Equilibrium Sorption And Desorption, Jeffrey L. Caspers

Theses and Dissertations

This research postulates and demonstrates a modification incorporating rate-limited sorption effects in the USGS SUTRA code for cleanup of a hypothetical sandy aquifer by pump-and-treat remediation methods. Contaminant transport is assumed to be affected by advection, dispersion, and rate-limited sorption/desorption. Sorption is assumed to be either equilibrium or rate-limited, with the rate-limitation described by either a first-order law, or by Fickian diffusion of contaminant through a spherical immobile pore region. Solutions are arrived at by split operator methods for the transport and one-dimensional Galerkin solutions for the solute concentration equations. The resulting model is tested against an analytical Laplace transform …

36th Rocky Mountain Conference On Analytical Chemistry

Rocky Mountain Conference on Magnetic Resonance

Program, abstracts, and information about the 36th annual meeting of the Rocky Mountain Conference on Analytical Chemistry, co-sponsored by the Colorado Section of the American Chemical Society and the Rocky Mountain Section of the Society for Applied Spectroscopy. Held in Denver, Colorado, July 31 - August 5, 1994.

Prairie Dogs, Scott E. Hygnstrom, Dallas R. Virchow

Prevention and Control of Wildlife Damage Handbook

Prairie dogs are stocky burrowing rodents that live in colonies called “towns.” French explorers called them “little dogs” because of the barking noise they make. Their legs are short and muscular, adapted for digging. The tail and other extremities are short. Their hair is rather coarse with little underfur, and is sandy brown to cinnamon in color with grizzled black and buff-colored tips. The belly is light cream to white.
Five species of prairie dogs are found in North America: the black-tailed (Cynomys ludovicianus), Mexican (C. mexicanus), white-tailed (C. leucurus), Gunnison’s (C. gunnisoni), and Utah prairie dog (C. parvidens). The …

Belding's, California, And Rock Ground Squirrels, Rex E. Marsh

Prevention and Control of Wildlife Damage Handbook

Twenty-three species and 119 subspecies of ground squirrels exist in the United States (Hall 1981). At least 10 species can be of considerable economic importance to agriculture or have a significant impact on public health. This chapter covers the three species found in the far west and southwest. All three species range over extensive regions. While the California (Spermophilus beecheyi) and the Belding’s (S. beldingi) ground squirrels are considered pests over large agricultural areas, they are not pests throughout their entire range. The rock ground squirrel (S. variegatus) is not a major pest but is important because of its involvement …

Mountain Beavers, Dan L. Campbell

Prevention and Control of Wildlife Damage Handbook

The mountain beaver (Aplodontia rufa) is a medium-sized rodent in the family Aplodontiadae. There are no other species in the family. Average adults weigh 2.3 pounds (1,050 g) and range from 1.8 to 3.5 pounds (800 to 1,600 g). Average overall length is 13.5 inches (34 cm), including a rudimentary tail about 1 inch (2.5 cm) long. The body is stout and compact. The head is relatively large and wide and blends into a large neck with no depression where it joins the shoulders. The eyes and ears are relatively small and the cheeks have long silver “whiskers.” The hind …