The Interplay of Botany and Identity in John Steinbeck’s Of Mice And Men

<p>High Latitude Dust (HLD) contributes 5% to the global dust budget, but HLD measurements are sparse. Iceland has the largest area of volcaniclastic sandy desert on Earth where dust is originating from volcanic, but also glaciogenic sediments. Total Icelandic desert areas cover 44,000 km<sup>2</sup> which makes Iceland the largest Arctic as well as European desert. Icelandic volcanic dust can be transported distances > 1700 km towards the Arctic and deposited on snow, ice and sea ice. It is estimated that about 7% of Icelandic dust can reach the high Arctic (N>80°). It is known that about 50% of Icelandic dust storms occurred during winter or subzero temperatures in the southern part of Iceland. The vertical distributions of dust aerosol in high atmospheric profiles during these winter storms and long-range transport of dust during polar vortex condition were unknown.</p><p>Dust observations from Iceland provide dust aerosol distributions during the Arctic winter for the first time, profiling dust storms as well as clean air conditions. Five winter dust storms were captured during harsh conditions.  Mean number concentrations during the non-dust flights were < 5 particles cm<sup>-3 </sup>for the particles 0.2-100 µm in diameter and > 40 particles cm<sup>-3</sup> during dust storms. A moderate dust storm with > 250 particles cm<sup>-3</sup> (2 km altitude) was captured on 10<sup>th</sup> January 2016 as a result of sediments suspended from glacial outburst flood Skaftahlaup in 2015. Similar particle number concentrations were reported previously in the Saharan air layer. Detected particle sizes were up to 20 µm close to the surface, up to 10 µm at 900 m altitude, up to 5 µm at 5 km altitude, and submicron at altitudes > 6 km.</p><p>Dust sources in the Arctic are active during the winter and produce large amounts of particulate matter dispersed over long distances and high altitudes. HLD contributes to Arctic air pollution and has the potential to influence ice nucleation in mixed-phase clouds and Arctic amplification.</p><p> </p><p>Reference:</p><p>Dagsson-Waldhauserova, P., Renard, J.-B., Olafsson, H., Vignelles, D., Berthet, G., Verdier, N., Duverger, V., 2019. Vertical distribution of aerosols in dust storms during the Arctic winter. <strong>Scientific Reports </strong>6, 1-11.</p>

High Latitude Dust (HLD) contributes 5% to the global dust budget, but HLD measurements are sparse. Dust observations from Iceland provide dust aerosol distributions during the Arctic winter for the first time, profiling dust storms as well as clean air conditions. Five winter dust storms were captured during harsh conditions. Mean number concentrations during the non-dust flights were <5 particles cm−3 for the particles 0.2–100 µm in diameter and >40 particles cm−3 during dust storms. A moderate dust storm with >250 particles cm−3 (2 km altitude) was captured on 10th January 2016 as a result of sediments suspended from glacial outburst flood Skaftahlaup in 2015. Similar concentrations were reported previously in the Saharan air layer. Detected particle sizes were up to 20 µm close to the surface, up to 10 µm at 900 m altitude, up to 5 µm at 5 km altitude, and submicron at altitudes >6 km. Dust sources in the Arctic are active during the winter and produce large amounts of particulate matter dispersed over long distances and high altitudes. HLD contributes to Arctic air pollution and has the potential to influence ice nucleation in mixed-phase clouds and Arctic amplification.

ANYONE UNCERTAIN about intellectual rewards of a career in public history should talk with Wayne Rasmussen. Retired in 1986 as Chief of Agricultural History Branch of United States Department of Agriculture, the most interesting job in world as he once called it,' Rasmussen at seventy-six continues to pursue a demanding professional life, serving as consultant to Department of Agriculture and as Executive Secretary of Agricultural History Society. This veteran of a half century's service with federal bureaucracy did not find road to Washington without one or two detours, however. Born on a farm in Ryegate, Montana, he reached adulthood just as family's finances were decimated by Great Depression and death of his father. Going straight to college was out of question, so he worked for a while as a ranch hand, then as a surveyor for General Land Office and as an accountant for Corps of Engineers. Later, after a year or so of college, he was able to get a job as a teacher in a one-room country school. At that time he aimed to teach high school and, when he

Dust storms are a common natural phenomenon in the world, especially in the arid and semi-arid regions of the world. This phenomenon, like other natural hazards, can have harmful effects on the plants. This study investigates the effects of dust under simulated conditions on the biochemical properties of wild pistachio (Pistacia atlantica). Two-year-old seedlings were provided by a state nursery. As a completely randomized design, seedlings were put in simulated dust chamber. The dust was applied at concentrations of 5000, 7000 and 9000 mg/m3 for 10 weeks with intervals of 12 days. At the same time, ten seedlings were selected as control seedlings. At the end of each dusting period, the leaves of the treated and control seedlings were collected from the middle part of the crowns and stored in the freezer for further analysis. The results showed a decrease in chlorophyll pigments and carotenoids with increasing dust concentration, while carbohydrates and catalase and peroxidase enzymes increased. No significant differences were observed in the proline content of the treated and control seedlings. This could be due to the short time of treatment as well as the intensity of the induced dust storm stress. In conclusion, the results can be considered as basic information on the variations of physiological characteristics of forest trees to natural dust storms and their adaptability to climatic changes.

Reviewed by: The Worst Hard Time: The Untold Story of Those Who Survived the Great American Dust Bowl by Timothy Egan George O’har The Worst Hard Time: The Untold Story of Those Who Survived the Great American Dust Bowl. By Timothy Egan. New York: Houghton Mifflin, 2006. Pp. 340. $28.95. The Worst Hard Time was the winner of the 2006 National Book Award for nonfiction. And while the work is directed toward a popular rather than an academic audience, it is well researched and benefits from a knowledge of the relevant scholarship. The narrative employed by Timothy Egan as a frame for his forty-year (1901–39) tale of the dust bowl is the by-now-familiar explanation of what happened in that storm-cursed corridor extending from the Texas and Oklahoma panhandles up into southwestern Kansas and southeastern Colorado, about a hundred million acres of land. Prior to Hurricane Katrina, the windstorms that ripped across the dust bowl during the Great Depression and ruined the lives of thousands of settlers and “sodbusters” were considered the greatest natural disaster to hit the United States. Even after Katrina, these storms may still hold the record for the human misery and environmental devastation they left in their wake. In each case, Katrina and the dust bowl, misery was exacerbated by human ineptitude, although the degree to which that was the case, especially regarding the dust bowl, is open to debate. Egan’s position is best summed up by Melt White, one of the survivors he interviewed: “God didn’t create this land here to be plowed up. He created it for Indians and buffalo. Folks raped this land. Raped it bad” (p. 9). Egan’s version of the settlement of the High Plains is hardly the tale told by Walter Prescott Webb in The Great Plains (1931). Yet Egan admires the fortitude of the settlers and farmers, especially those who stayed behind to fight bad luck and weather. Overall, though, he is skeptical about the enterprise—farming on the arid plains—and more caught up in what might be called the dark side of empire and technology. His tale is a cautionary one. Settlement of the plains by Anglo Americans, most of them farmers, was driven largely by land speculation and the post–Civil War extension of the railroads into the territories. The Homestead Acts of 1862 and 1909 also played a significant role. Between 1880 and 1925,“roughly two-hundred million acres” were homesteaded, and of that number, “nearly half was considered marginal for farming” (p. 56). Farming methods and machinery that worked well in the humid eastern half of the nation (east of the 98th meridian) had to be modified in order for them to be effective in the windy, arid, treeless plains. The disc plow, barbed wire, dry farming, windmills, and the siphoning of the aquifer, a well-known saga to students of Webb, made it possible to grow wheat. Then the weather turned bad, and the land failed. Dry to begin with, the soil was only made worse when plows ripped up the native grasses—by the roots, so they could not be replenished. Areas the size of entire states back east were stripped bare, and then high winds, drought, and [End Page 872] loose soil brought on a disaster almost biblical in scope: plagues of grasshoppers, spiders, air that literally stuck to your skin. While the particulars may not be known to the general reader, the larger story—giant dust clouds said to be ten thousand feet high, haunted faces staring out at the camera, shacks covered up to their roofs with dirt—has become part of American folklore. Egan remarks that the archaeological record indicates that Native Americans were farming on the plains as far back as “the time of Christ” (p. 122). Deep deposits of wind-blown soils show up in the record as well, which tells us that dust storms are a constant feature of life on the plains. During the Depression, dust storms also struck areas of the plains where native grasses had barely been disturbed. So the extent to which land-use practices of a particular moment in time exacerbated...

Topic Category: Health in the Working Environment: Extreme Environment Title: "Coping with the extremes of the Sahara" Objectives &amp; Scope of Study:- To identify and implement suitable and sufficient health and safety measures to cope with demands of working and traveling within the Hassi Messaoud South Satellite Revamping Project which covers an area of approximately 1500Km2 and is located in the one of the harshest and most extreme environments on earth. This being the Sahara Desert which has long, extremely hot summers and short, warm winters with little rainfall and intense sand storms. Methods, Procedures, Process: Interaction and discussion with personnel from the region and where possible, talks with the Tuareg nomads. To help gain a better understanding of how to possibly improve working conditions in such a hostile environment, especially during Ramadan when workers are fasting in some of the highest yearly temperatures but manage to work 8 hours continually. Set up of a detailed journey management programme using plot maps and journey timings to assist in locating personnel who are commuting between satellites, should they not arrive at planned destination and cannot be contacted due to loss of signal coverage etc. Results &amp; Observations:- This summer, temperatures have been in the 50- 53°C range continually, and there have been many sand storms with winds gusting up to 50Km/h. However despite such harsh conditions there has been surprising results in that only one notable incident of heat stress was reported with the IP receiving first aid at site before being evacuated to the local hospital / clinic for further treatment and examination. It was expected that incident numbers would be higher with regards to the harsh weather conditions and poor road conditions that cover the 1500Km2. However, the methods procedures and processes implemented have proved a surprising success so far in the 300 plus days the project has been in progress in that no one has been seriously injured, went missing, suffered any lasting effects from heat stress or suffered heat stroke. Novel/Additive Information:- This author has tried to interact with the some of Tuareg Nomads encountered, to try and gain some insight into how they survive in such extreme conditions, with other projects facing such conditions may be able to implement. There is also a need to further research the sustainability of the region in that oil and gas will eventually run out and solar power should be considered as a viable power alternative.

Wooyeol Choi from the University of Dallas at Texas talks to Electronics Letters about his paper ‘450 × 580 µm2 pixel incorporating TX and coherent RX in CMOS for mm-wave active imaging using a single reflector’, page 982. Wooyeol Choi My main research field is integrated circuits (ICs) for high frequency operation. These are already a crucial part of everyday devices, such as cellular phones, wireless LANs, and automotive radars. With my research, I am trying to improve the performance of such devices, push the limits of the technologies, and explore new and exciting applications. Now, I am interested in potential applications of extremely high frequency (EHF) electromagnetic waves commonly known as millimetre (mm)-wave and terahertz. Many useful everyday applications, such as imaging through obstacles, high-data-rate wireless and wired communications, and gas sensing/electronic smelling with absolute specificity, should become possible using these parts of the spectrum. Millimetre-wave radars provide an effective way to ‘see’ objects through obstacles or harsh weather conditions. One of the fundamental ways to improve the lateral resolution of active imaging radar at a given form factor is to use a higher frequency. For instance, 300 GHz radars will have 3.8 times better resolution than conventional 79 GHz ones with the same form factor. However, existing radar systems at around 300 GHz are prohibitively bulky and costly for high volume consumer applications. With this work, my colleagues and myself are trying to demonstrate the feasibility of 300 GHz imaging radar using CMOS technologies that can remove these limitations so that this technology can hopefully be widely used in the near future. The paper reports a compact transceiver that can perform signal generation and detection concurrently at 260 GHz. A voltage controlled oscillator, which doubles as a transmitter and a local oscillator, a downconversion mixer, and an antenna are integrated into an area of less than half wavelength in width and height (450 × 580 µm2). This technology enables multi-pixel digital cameras which can see at mm-wave instead of visible lights without using external sources. More importantly, since the transceiver is implemented using CMOS technologies, it should be possible to integrate hundreds or thousands of the transceivers in a single chip or package, and manufacture a large number of them affordably. The most challenging part is achieving the useful performance of a radio that includes both transmitter and receiver in such a small area. This is even more challenging because we are using a CMOS technology whose transistors have almost no gain at 260 GHz. We have exploited the nonlinearity of the devices in the process technology to overcome the limitation. We are now working to make this pixel operate with a reflector to form an image. We are also working on a linear array of pixels. This will be followed by that on 2-dimensional arrays. This paper reported a compact pixel that has more than 10 times better sensitivity. In addition it provides phase information. Medium-to-long range active imaging through obstacles will be an immediate application. As the community figures out ways to improve the performance of pixel, this imaging technology can enable self-driving cars and other autonomous systems to work in harsh conditions such as fog, dust storm, smog, smoke and others. Since the first report of terahertz circuits using CMOS technologies in 2008, more than 10 to 100 times improvements have been achieved for almost all the performance metrics. It is clear now that it is possible to build affordable terahertz systems using CMOS technologies, and it is being transferred to various industrial partners who are investigating commercialization for everyday applications. I really hope within next ten years there will be products based on this technology for everyday applications.

Ranging from huge cacti and broadleaf trees to tiny arctic flowers, flowering plants are the most vital component of global biodiversity. They provide the crops that feed us, medicines, oils, fibres, herbs, spices, dyes, beverages, timber and habitats for countless animals. This updated and revised successor to a classic book, Flowering Plants of the World is an authoritative, fascinating introduction to the Earth's most colourful flora comprising comprehensive accounts of more than 500 flowering plant families. Each entry describes distribution, diagnostic features, classification, structures, uses and ecology of flowering plants. Over 1,000 visually stunning and precisely scaled illustrations display the major characteristics of key plants and detailed maps show worldwide distribution. Written by a team of acknowledged experts, this is the definitive survey of flowering plants worldwide and brings to the forefront the latest views on their classification. An extensive and meticulously illustrated glossary describes the specialist terms used in the text, and a comprehensive index includes plant names in both Latin and English. Both as a book of breathtaking beauty and a discourse on the science of flowering plants, this essential reference is sure to become a horticultural and botanical classic and part of every gardening enthusiast's and plant scientist's library.

Flowers and plants industry is one of the green environmental industries in 21th century. At the depression era, the environment of such industry is encountering many variables and effects caused by the uncertain factors: thriving technologies and well-developed communication; rapid changes and high degree competitions of industry environment; and the treacherous circumstances of international politic stage. The above-mentioned variables have brought high degree uncertain pressures for flowers and plants industry. Every member of agricultural production and marketing unit should cultivate attitudes of lifelong learning and keeping pace with the times; gaining new knowledge, skills in order to raise professional ability through attending educational trainings. Learn to produce creativities and competitive abilities; value market needs and found the advantages of competition, raise the training effect to reach the expected management results. The research proceeded in ways of survey and adopted the original samples within the three Southern Taiwan counties’ agricultural production and marketing unit members as the survey objects: Tainan, Kaohsiung, and Ping Tong. The researchers applied SPSS suit programs to proceed descriptive statistics, credibility analysis, effectiveness analysis, variables analysis, and independent sample examination, and route analyze approach; examine the background characteristics of the population joining the educational trainings, and the mutual relations among their motivations, requirements, effects of joining the trainings and the management results. The research results revealed: the flowering plant producers’ motivations, requirements of joining the educational trainings had the immediate influence relations to the training effect; the educational trainings effects had the immediate influence relations to the management results; the motivations, requirements of joining the educational trainings had the indirect influence relations to the management results through the effects of joining the educational trainings.

Since the author (1929) found that the resistance of the toxic action of KClO3 correlated positively with the drought resitance in seedlings of rice varieties, the close relationships of the toxicant resistance to the other several kinds of characteristics of certain plants have feen observed by him as well as others, the results hitherto obtained being briefly summarized as follows. (1) Cold resistance: The cold resistant varieties are less resistant to the toxicant (Wheat, Barley, Rape, Genge, Radish, Brassica, Loquat and pine trees.) (2) Drought resistance: The drought resistant varieties are more resistant to the toxicant (Rice-Paddy and Upland rice-Upland rice only.) (3) Earliness in ripening: The earlier varieties are less resistant to the-toxicant than the later ones (Rice and Sugar-cane) (4) Sex: (a) The males are more resistant than the females (Hemp, Spinach Aucula Japonica and Remux Acetosa L.) (b) The males are less resistant than the females. (Papaya, Strawberry and Asparagus) (5) Double flowered and single flowered plants: Double flowered plants are more resistant than the single flowered ones. (Matthila incana and other many kinds of flower plants) (5) Virus diseased plants: Diseased plants are less resistant than healthy ones (Many kinds of vegetable crops and Tobacco plant.) (7) F1 plants: F1 plants are more resistant than either of their parents (Egg-plant) (8) Teratological forms: Teratological forms, especially in sexual organs, are more resistant than the normal ones (Rice) showing the materials used in the auther's experiments. Basing on the results of various kinds of tests with rice and wheat plants, the auther has ever put forward the hypothesis pertaining to the physiological cause of the toxicant resistace as is shown below: The chlorate itself is practically harmless to plants, but the salts are reduced by the reducing substances contained in plants, such as glucose, aldehydes, etc., resulting in the formation of hypochlorite which acts directly poisenous on plants and consequently the resistance to the toxicant is dependent on the amount of the substances concerned, i. e., the more the amount of the latter, the less the resistance to the toxicant. (Here, the amount of the reducing mattersiod in plants was compared by that of the ine consumed by the oxidation.) By the further study, the above-noted hypothesis is found also applicable in the case of the toxicant resistance with thesex es as well as double versus single flowering. The reducing substances, it may be believed, have much to do with the problem of the oxidation-reduction within plants. This idea is supported by estimating the activity of catalase (oxidizing agent) and the amount of the ascorbic acid (reducing agent) with rice, wheat and flower plants. From the results of the present research, it may be noticed of most importance to find out the reason why the characteristics conserned have the certain relationships with the oxidation-reduction reaction within plants for which some study along this line is now under way in the author's laboratory.

Multiple causes of wind erosion in the Dust Bowl

There were two great crises in thirties America, one economic and the other environmental. The first has been relentlessly examined in plays, films, dance, and song. The second, however—the onslaught of droughts, floods, dust storms, and unregulated pollution that assaulted an already desperate United States—has been less catalogued. Recent works such as Timothy Egan’s The Worst Hard Time, the continuing debate over global warming, and the work of scholars such as Neil Maher (Nature’s New Deal) have restimulated interest in the environmental issues of the Great Depression, which increasingly bear a remarkable similarity to our own fragile times. This chapter examines how the theater of this most socially conscious decade reflected on the environmental disasters of the thirties.KeywordsDust StormHead LouseEmpire State BuildingVassar CollegeTheatrical DepictionThese keywords were added by machine and not by the authors. This process is experimental and the keywords may be updated as the learning algorithm improves.

The COVID-19 global pandemic impacted the mental health of frontline workers of all disciplines across the world. The purpose of this study was to examine the protective and risk factors associated with depression scores (PHQ-9) and anxiety scores (GAD-7) of physicians practicing within the United States during the earliest phase of the pandemic. Anonymous online survey data was collected from 1,724 U.S. physicians between April – June of 2020 for this cross-sectional observational study. Recruitment was conducted via email and social media outlets. Multiple linear regression with multiple imputation of missing data was used to explore associations between each risk factor and outcome measure (PHQ-9 and GAD-7 scores). Worry related to COVID-19 was associated with greater depression and anxiety scores. COVID-related changes (i.e. decreased exercise, increased alcohol intake, and decreased sleep) were each associated with greater mean depression and anxiety scores. Greater perception of employer support was associated with lower mean depression and anxiety scores while greater increase in telehealth usage was associated with greater mean depression and anxiety scores. Identification of protective and risk factors associated with depression and anxiety remains important to consider as the global pandemic continues to evolve, and healthcare workers continue to face ongoing stressors within the occupational setting.

Migrant farmwork is often characterized by harsh working conditions that carry significant physical and mental health consequences. Using a learned helplessness framework, the current study examined the extent to which discrimination, immigration legal status difficulties, and adverse childhood experiences moderated the effects of harsh working conditions on depression and anxiety. The study also examined the extent to which harsh working conditions mediated the effects of discrimination, immigration legal status difficulties, and adverse childhood experiences on depression and anxiety. Participants were 241 migrant farmworkers recruited in the Midwest. Participants completed interviews consisting of the Migrant Farmworker Stress Index (MFWSI), Adverse Childhood Events scale (ACEs), Everyday Discrimination Scale, the Centers for Epidemiology Scale for Depression (CES-D), and the seven item Generalized Anxiety Disorder scale (GAD-7). Tests of indirect effects suggested, working conditions mediated the effects of ACEs, immigration legal status fears, and discrimination on CES-D and GAD-7 scores (p-values < .05). Higher ACEs and discrimination also appeared to be associated with larger effects of harsh working conditions on depression and anxiety (p-values < .05), while legal status fears did not significantly moderate the effect of harsh working conditions on either outcome (p-values > .05). Likely through different mechanisms, adverse childhood experiences, discrimination and immigration legal status are associated with higher risk of harsh working conditions and subsequently these conditions account for much of the relations between these three stressors with depression and anxiety. Additionally, discrimination and adverse childhood experiences appear to then enhance the effects of working conditions.

In case of using rapid vacuum-freeze drying for high quality dry flower of flowering plant, the morphological and physiological characteristics of dry rose showed as the following. The dry ratio of about 82% presented after 1 day in case of using rapid vacuum-freeze drying and it was reached that the optimum storage water content of general dry products was 18%. The dry ratio of about 89% presented after 4 days. This result indicates very short dry time comparing with natural dry time of 12 days. Also, the morphological characteristics of flowering plant in case of vacuum-freeze drying showed similar shape with real flower. The contraction decreased about 9% comparing with real flower under dry time of 72 hours. But the contraction in case of natural dry decreased 36% and showed noticeable difference. The brightness which affects physiological characteristics of dry flowering plant showed lower values according to the dry process and chromaticity was thick. After 4 days, natural dry was thick with about 2 times comparing with vacuum-freeze drying. In case of vacuum-freeze drying, the quantity of anthocyanin and chlorophyl which affect discoloration and bleaching of dry flowering plant showed the clear difference comparing with natural dry method due to the sublimation by vacuum after rapid freeze with short initial time.