Temporal Considerations Research Articles

The Post-Anthropocene Diet: Navigating Future Diets for Sustainable Food Systems

This article examines how future diets could reduce the environmental impacts of food systems, and thus, enable movement into the post-Anthropocene. Such non-anthropocentric diets are proposed to address global food systems challenges inherent in the current geological epoch known as the Anthropocene—a period when human activity is the dominant cause of environmental change. Using non-anthropocentric indigenous worldviews and object-oriented ecosophy, the article discusses changes in ontologies around diets to consider choices made in the present for sustainable future food systems. This article conceptually addresses, how can pre-Anthropocene ontologies guide an exit of current approaches to diets? Considering temporality, what post-Anthropocene ontologies are possible in future diets for sustainable food systems? Through the ontological positions defining three distinct temporalities, considerations for guiding future diets in(to) the post-Anthropocene are proposed. Indigenous ontologies are presented as pre-Anthropocene examples that depict humans and non-humans in relational diets. Underlying Anthropocene ontologies define current unsustainable diets. These ontologies are described to present the context for the food systems challenges this article aims to address. A post-Anthropocene illustration then employs object-oriented ecosophy along with indigenous ontologies as theoretical foundations for shifting from the dominant neoliberal paradigm in current ontologies. Ontologically-based dietary guidelines for the post-Anthropocene diet present the ontological turns, consideration of temporality, and outline technological orientations proposed for sustainable future food systems. This is a novel attempt to integrate non-anthropocentric theories to suggest possible futures for human diets in order to exit the Anthropocene epoch. These non-anthropocentric ontologies demonstrate how temporal considerations and relational worldviews can be guidelines for transforming diets to address public health concerns, the environmental crisis, and socioeconomic challenges.

Spatial and temporal tourism considerations in liminal landscapes

Anthropogenic geographic studies in tourism should consider the liminality of the experience. Tourism by definition means a temporal and/or spatial movement takes place. How the tourist interacts and behaves during this transitory experience is a logical progression into human leisure behaviour. Several recent international gatherings of geographers provide the foundation to explore liminality in tourism and we build on those papers in this special issue. The papers are varied in geographies, yet have a central theoretical basis in all things liminal. Invited papers in this special issue are founded on the research presented at two international geography conferences in sessions devoted to tourism. The American Association of Geographers meeting in Boston, Massachusetts in 2017 and the Royal Geographic Society with the Institute of British Geographers in Cardiff, Wales in 2018 gathered geographers from around the world to study this theme. The following papers give the most comprehensive geographic review in tourism to date and we encourage additional dialogue.

Review of Watershed-Scale Water Quality and Nonpoint Source Pollution Models.

Watershed-scale nonpoint source (NPS) pollution models have become important tools to understand, evaluate, and predict the negative impacts of NPS pollution on water quality. Today, there are many NPS models available for users. However, different types of models possess different form and structure as well as complexity of computation. It is difficult for users to select an appropriate model for a specific application without a clear understanding of the limitations or strengths for each model or tool. This review evaluates 14 more commonly used watershed-scale NPS pollution models to explain how and when the application of these different models are appropriate for a given effort. The models that are assessed have a wide range of capacities that include simple models used as rapid screening tools (e.g., Long-Term Hydrologic Impact Assessment (L-THIA) and Nonpoint Source Pollution and Erosion Comparison Tool (N-SPECT/OpenNSPECT)), medium-complexity models that require detail data input and limited calibration (e.g., Generalized Watershed Loading Function (GWLF), Loading Simulation Program C (LSPC), Source Loading and Management Model (SLAMM), and Watershed Analysis Risk Management Frame (WARMF)), complex models that provide sophisticated simulation for NPS pollution processes with intensive data and rigorous calibration (e.g., Agricultural Nonpoint Source pollution model (AGNPS/AnnAGNPS), Soil and Water Assessment Tool (SWAT), Stormwater Management Model (SWMM), and Hydrologic Simulation Program Fortran (HSPF)), and modeling systems that integrate various sub-models and tools, and contain the highest complexity to solve all phases of hydrologic, hydraulic, and chemical dynamic processes (e.g., Automated Geospatial Watershed Assessment Tool (AGWA), Better Assessment Science Integrating Point and Nonpoint Sources (BASINS) and Watershed Modeling System (WMS)). This assessment includes model intended use, components or capabilities, suitable land-use type, input parameter type, spatial and temporal scale, simulated pollutants, strengths and limitations, and software availability. Understanding the strengths and weaknesses of each watershed-scale NPS model will lead to better model selection for suitability and help to avoid misinterpretation or misapplication in practice. The article further explains the crucial criteria for model selection, including spatial and temporal considerations, calibration and validation, uncertainty analysis, and future research direction of NPS pollution models. The goal of this work is to provide accurate and concise insight for watershed managers and planners to select the best-suited model to reduce the harm of NPS pollution to watershed ecosystems.

Making Space for Past Futures: Rural Landscape Temporalities in Roman Britain

In this paper, we seek to explore the ways in which landscapes become venues not only for manipulations of the past in a present, but also for shaping possible futures. Considerations of temporality and being in the landscape have been more strongly focused on the past and social memory than the future, anticipation and projectivity, but these are vital considerations if we are to preserve the possibility that past people imagined alternative futures. A fruitful archaeological context for an exploration of past futures can be found in the choices people made during the late Iron Age and Roman period in Britain, which has an increasingly rich and high-resolution material record for complex changes and continuities during a period of cultural interactions and imperial power dynamics. More specifically, recent research into the architectural and material practices evident on rural settlement sites and across landscapes forces us to challenge preconceptions about the reactive/reactionary culture of rural societies. Case-studies from Kent and the West Country will be deployed to develop the argument that in the materializing of time, the future has a very significant part to play.

The subject of education in the information society: cognitive identity of a media culture carrier

The article substantiates that the temporality of being of the subject as synchronization of communicative, cognitive demands on a person with dynamic changes of information reality, is the basis for the development of media education. It is justified that the formation of competencies of the carrier of modern culture is a difficult task, since such traits as critical thinking, free possession of judgments about content quality, preventive measures in guarantees of dangers of communicative activity and others, fall into the scope of the main threats “ leveling of important conditions of cognitive activity, multiplicity of models of communicative interaction, complex of semiotic systems of media culture, etc. Identified symptomatic cognitive features of the modern subject of information activity indicate the need for an urgent educational response, which means the formation of requirements and criteria for media literacy, a balanced approach to the consideration of temporality, procedural thinking in terms of knowledge, memory, self-identification. It is stated that mastering the semantics, topology, and navigation of the basics of audiovisual communication is an important vector of media education. The article emphasizes the importance of a comprehensive response from the education system to the civilizational challenges of the transition to the information society.

Chapter 6 - A conceptual framework for plasticity in the developing brain

In this chapter, we highlight the various definitions of early brain plasticity commonly used in the scientific literature. We then present a conceptual framework of early brain plasticity that focuses on plasticity at the level of the synapse (synaptic plasticity) and the level of the network (connectivity). The proposed framework is organized around three main domains through which current theories and principles of early brain plasticity can be integrated: (1) the mechanisms of plasticity and constraints at the synaptic level and network connectivity, (2) the importance of temporal considerations related to the development of the immature brain, and (3) the functions early brain plasticity serve. We then apply this framework to discuss some clinical disorders caused by and/or associated with impaired plasticity mechanisms. We propose that a careful examination of the relationship between mechanisms, constraints, and functions of early brain plasticity in health and disease may provide an integrative understanding of the current theories and principles generated by experimental and observational studies.

Collectors, Investors and Speculators: Gatekeeper use of audience categories in the art market

This research examines gatekeepers’ categorization work to assess and sort audience members. Using a multi-sited ethnography and interpretivist qualitative lens, we explore how high-value art gallerists sort buyers via categories, but also encourage conformity with preferred audience categories, both for artistic consecration goals and to discourage disruptive speculation. Categories served as reference points, with preferred and problematic buyer categories providing a discursive socialization tool, but also informing gatekeeping strategies, for example, problematic behaviors and buyer categories led to value-protecting gatekeeping and exclusion, often justified in moral terms. Monitoring continued throughout the relationship, with decisions considered both fair and necessary for gallerists’ professional practice. Gatekeeping decisions included long-term temporal considerations, prompting strategies including ‘placement’, monitoring and audience recategorization. This extends gatekeeping beyond simply passing muster at the ‘gate’. We also illustrate the dynamic and fluid nature of hidden categories, which provide gatekeepers with heightened abilities to punish perceived wrongdoing.

Spatial and temporal considerations in the performance of wastewater heat recovery systems

Abstract In December 2018, wastewater was officially recognized by the European Union as a renewable source of energy, thus wastewater heat recovery can be included in efforts to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. Given the fact that wastewater treatment plants can generate enormous heat surpluses, this decision gives leeway to couple the wastewater infrastructure with the energy system in order to increase energy efficiency at the system level, allow for power to heat solutions in order to integrate volatile renewable electricity generation and, thus, foster a sustainable energy transition and cleaner production. Yet, the success of these system integrations depends on the availability of energy consumers in proximity of the wastewater treatment plants, and the temporal patterns of energy supply and energy demand. So far, the importance of both temporal and spatial variations in performance of wastewater heat recovery systems have been discussed in literature, but only as separate considerations to date. In order to exhaust the potential of wastewater energy, the combination of both aspects still has to be studied sufficiently, and this paper aims at filling that gap. A three-step methodology is proposed, including an energetic analysis at the wastewater treatment plant, a spatio-temporal analysis of supply and demand in potential supply areas, and an integrated analysis, overlaying the supply and demand profiles. This allows to account for both the proximity of consumers and potential temporal mismatches between supply and demand. The methodology was applied on a case study in Ireland, being able to clearly identify potentials and pitfalls for laying out grids and dimensioning the energy generation systems. It can be concluded, that wastewater energy is a well-suited source of energy to supply baseloads, but the spatio-temporal patterns reveal that both periods of excess wastewater heat potentials as well as additional heating in bivalent systems is required. Therefore, the spatial – urban and regional – fabric, the mix of land uses and their density, largely determine the layout and the useable amount of this renewable energy source. Finally, it can be concluded, that the use of wastewater energy provides feasible and valuable contributions for sustainable urban energy supply systems and cleaner production if the electricity sources for the respective heat pump systems are renewable guaranteeing low-to zero-emission operation.

Teacher orchestration of classroom interaction in science: exploring dialogic and authoritative passages in whole-class discussions

ABSTRACTWhereas science is fundamentally a result of a dialogic debate, the authoritative approach has been conceived of as a fundamental part of school science. Dialogic interactions encompass the mutual appreciation of different ideas manifested in teacher supportiveness toward students and, in authoritative interactions, the focus is more on the science’s or teacher’s point of view. Whereas dialogic and authoritative interactions have been viewed as oppositional in recent educational research, authoritative interactions could well be the seed for and give strength and meaning to dialogic interactions, and thus, to the overall dialogue. The focus in this study is on the interplay between authoritative and dialogic interactions rather than on the rivalry between them. In other words, we present how both dialogic and authoritative interactions can be essential for teacher orchestration of whole-class discussions. This is achieved through a temporal consideration of the interactions and an in-depth analysis of selected episodes of a case science teacher. Interpretations are complemented with teacher reflections to shed light on the on-the-fly decisions made by the teacher when orchestrating dialogue. Implications for educational research and teacher education are discussed.

3D Fluid Flow Estimation with Integrated Particle Reconstruction

The standard approach to densely reconstruct the motion in a volume of fluid is to inject high-contrast tracer particles and record their motion with multiple high-speed cameras. Almost all existing work processes the acquired multi-view video in two separate steps, utilizing either a pure Eulerian or pure Lagrangian approach. Eulerian methods perform a voxel-based reconstruction of particles per time step, followed by 3D motion estimation, with some form of dense matching between the precomputed voxel grids from different time steps. In this sequential procedure, the first step cannot use temporal consistency considerations to support the reconstruction, while the second step has no access to the original, high-resolution image data. Alternatively, Lagrangian methods reconstruct an explicit, sparse set of particles and track the individual particles over time. Physical constraints can only be incorporated in a post-processing step when interpolating the particle tracks to a dense motion field. We show, for the first time, how to jointly reconstruct both the individual tracer particles and a dense 3D fluid motion field from the image data, using an integrated energy minimization. Our hybrid Lagrangian/Eulerian model reconstructs individual particles, and at the same time recovers a dense 3D motion field in the entire domain. Making particles explicit greatly reduces the memory consumption and allows one to use the high-res input images for matching. Whereas the dense motion field makes it possible to include physical a-priori constraints and account for the incompressibility and viscosity of the fluid. The method exhibits greatly (~70%) improved results over our recently published baseline with two separate steps for 3D reconstruction and motion estimation. Our results with only two time steps are comparable to those of sota tracking-based methods that require much longer sequences.

A study on the reform of income security act for the disabled to ensure minimum income—Application of comparative perspectives among some OECD countries—

본 연구는 장애가 초래하는 경제적 비보장에 직면해 있는 장애인들의 자립 및 삶의 질을 제고하기 위해 최저소득보장을 위한 장애인 소득보장법제의 개편 방안을 제시하는 것을 목적으로 하고 있다. 이를 위해 소득보장정책을 포함한 우리나라 장애인 정책의 통시적 고찰과 미래 전망을 토대로 개편의 기본 방향을 도출하고, 장애인연금법 등 장애인 소득보장정책의 현 법제에 대한 비판적 검토를 토대로 장애인 소득보장 법제 개편의 핵심 쟁점을 도출하고 국제비교적 관점에 입각하여 합리적 개선 방안을 제시하고 있다최저소득보장을 위한 장애인 소득보장법제 개편 방안으로서, ‘장애인 권리보장 및 복지지원에 관한 법률안’의 소득보장 조문을 장애인 소득보장에 관한 개별 법률인 장애인연금법에 반영하여 전면 개정하되, 법률의 명칭을 ‘장애인 소득보장법’으로 변경하는 것을 제안하고 있다. 장애인 소득보장법에 포함될 핵심 내용으로서, 최저소득보장을 위한 장애급여는 성인 장애인 대상의 소득보전급여인 장애인연금과 추가비용급여인 장애수당(장애아동수당)으로 급여 성격에 따라 이원화되며, 소득보전급여의 수급 요건인 소득활동능력 평가는 기존의 의학적 손상 평가에서 기능적 소득활동능력과 상황적 요인 등을 추가적으로 고려하는 다차원적 평가로 전환하는 것을 제안하고 있다. 또한 장애연금의 지급액 준거는 생산가능인구 특성을 반영하여 기초연금 지급액이 아닌 최저임금과 연동되어 소득활동능력 손상 정도에 따라 차등하여 지급되며, 장애로 인한 추가비용 지출을 보전하는 추가비용 급여는 정확한 추가비용 계측을 토대로 소득수준에 관계없이 장애정도와 장애유형을 고려하여 차등화하는 완전 사회수당급여로 단계적으로 전환하는 것을 제안하고 있다.The purpose of this study is to propose a reform plan of the Income Security Act for the Disabled for the minimum income guarantee. To achieve this goal, we derived the basic direction of reorganization based on the temporal considerations and future prospects of Korea s disability policy, and the core issues of reform of income security act based on the critical review of the current legislation of disability income security policy such as disability pension law and suggested a rational improvement plan based on international comparative perspective among OECD countries. As a measure to reform the Income Security Act for the Disabled to ensure minimum income, the Act on the disability pension is fully amended to reflec the Protection of Rights and Welfare Support for Persons with Disabilities. The core contents to be included in the Income Security Act for the Disabled are dualization of disability benefits such as disability pensions, which are income preservation benefits for adults with disabilities, and disability allowances, which are additional costs. It is proposed to switch from the conventional medical impairment assessment to a multidimensional assessment that additionally considers functional income activity capacity and situational factors. In addition, the criteria for the payment of disability pensions are based on the characteristics of the working population and are linked to the minimum wage, not the basic pension, depending on the amount of impairment of income activity. Based on the measurement of additional costs, it is proposed to gradually transition to a full social allowance, which is differentiated in consideration of the degree of disability and the type of disability regardless of income level.

Prologue: considering how fit changes

ABSTRACTThis prologue to the European Journal of Work and Organizational Psychology special issue “Experiencing fit and misfit: Process views, dynamic interactions, and temporal considerations” identifies three themes shared by the papers in this issue: perception of fit and misfit, actions taken in pursuit of fit, and the influence of time in considering fit. Each of the papers speaks to one or more of these themes and I explore each paper’s contributions in turn. Together they extend our understanding of the experience of fit and misfit as subjective and dynamic. I also comment on the practical implications of the research presented in this issue and provide recommendations for future research exploring these themes.

Epilogue: Frontiers in person–environment fit research

ABSTRACTIn this editorial, that accompanies this special issue “Experiencing fit and misfit: Process views, dynamic interactions and temporal considerations”, the guest editorial team reflects on the pressing issues and new research directions that emanated from our reading of the papers, our interactions with the authors and reviewers, and (in)formal discussions that were held with them and others in the lead up to this special issue.

A Bottom Up Perspective to Understanding the Dynamics of Team Roles in Mission Critical Teams.

There is a long history, dating back to the 50 s, which examines the manner in which team roles contribute to effective team performance. However, much of this work has been built on ad hoc teams working together for short periods of time under conditions of minimal stress. Additionally, research has been conducted with little attention paid to the importance of temporal factors, despite repeated calls for the importance of considering time in team research (e.g., Mohammed et al., 2009). To begin to understand team roles and how temporal aspects may impact the types of team roles employed when teams are working in extreme mission critical environments, the current manuscript uses a data-driven, bottom-up approach. Specifically, we employ the use of retrospective historical data as our input and a historiometric approach (Simonton, 2003). Source documents consist primarily of autobiographies, memoires, biographies, and first-hand accounts of crew interaction during spaceflight. Critical incidents regarding team interaction were extracted from these source documents and independently coded for team roles by two trained raters. Results of the study speak to the importance of task and social roles within teams that are predominantly intact and operating in extreme environments where mistakes can be life threatening. Evidence for the following task (i.e., coordinator, boundary spanner, team leader, evaluator, critic, information provider, team player, and innovator) and social roles (i.e., team builder, nurturer, harmonizer, entertainer, jokester, and the negative roles of attention seeker and negativist) were found. While it is often task roles that receive the greatest attention, results point to the importance of not neglecting the socioemotional health of the team (and the corresponding roles). Results also indicated that while some roles were consistently enacted independent of temporal considerations (e.g., mission length), the degree to which others were enacted varied across missions of differing lengths. Additionally, based on the current sample we see the following trends: (1) increased enactment of the team builder role as mission duration increases, (2) prominence of the entertainer role, and (3) increased emphasis on the visionary/problem solver role on missions over 2 years.

STUDI POTENSI VARIABEL ANGIN ZONAL SEBAGAI PREDIKTOR UNTUK WILAYAH BENUA MARITIM (STUDI KASUS SUMATERA)

Prediksi curah hujan menggunakan model global (Global Circulation Model) memiliki resolusi yang rendah sehingga tidak bisa memberikan informasi lokal. Untuk mendapatkan informasi skala lokal digunakan metode statistical downcsaling. Keandalan prediksi diperoleh dengan memilih variabel prediktor yang berhubungan erat dengan curah hujan. Pemilihan variabel prediktor dilakukan berdasarkan pertimbangan analisis spasial dan temporal di wilayah dengan pola hujan tahunan dan semi-tahunan. Analisis korelasi prediktor dan curah hujan dilakukan dengan metode SVD (Singular Value Decomposition). Hasil mode dominan koefisien ekspansi deret waktu dari hasil SVD dianalisis dengan transformasi wavelet. Hasil korelasi menunjukkan variabel angin zonal U850 terkait erat dengan curah hujan di Sumatera dengan korelasi 0,77 dan kesamaan keragamaan pasangan data (kovariansi) 92%. Variabel angin U850 milibar dapat menangkap pola monsun (1 dan 0,5 tahunan) dan pola antar tahunan yaitu ENSO (El Nino Southern Ocillation) dengan periode 2, 4, dan 12 tahunan. Korelasi antara angin zonal (observasi) sekitar Sumatera dengan index Nino 3.4 (>0,6). Kemampuan prediktor U850 mb lebih andal di bagian selatan Sumatera Utara dibandingkan selatan Sumatera. Secara umum predictor dapat digunakan untuk wilayah benua maritime yang berpola curah hujan tahunan dan semitahunan.

Locating the “Digital” in Digital Journalism Studies: Transformations in Research

This essay applies six commitments for journalism studies to research involving digital technologies, namely: contextual sensitivity, holistic relationality, comparative inclination, normative awareness, embedded communicative power, and methodological pluralism. We argue that the emergent characteristics of digital journalism – as reflected in algorithms, automation, networking tools, and mass posting, sharing, and production with a click of a button – bring on transformations that must be theorized holistically, contextually, and relationally as part of a subfield of journalism studies called “digital journalism studies.” Spatial and temporal considerations inform this argument and complicate how the field of journalism studies examines news production and consumption. It is within the studies of “transformation” that we as researchers find an emergent theory that not only reveals the disruption of norms and introduction of new developments, but also exposes enduring power dynamics. By locating the “digital” in digital journalism studies through the lens of these six commitments, scholars can better identify evolving and blurring boundaries of news content and its production, distribution, and consumption processes.

Micellar Formulation of Talazoparib and Buparlisib for Enhanced DNA Damage in Breast Cancer Chemoradiotherapy.

Chemoradiation is an effective combined modality therapeutic approach that utilizes principles of spatial cooperation to combat the adaptability associated with cancer and to potentially expand the therapeutic window. Optimal therapeutic efficacy requires intelligent selection and refinement of radiosynergistic pharmaceutical agents, enhanced delivery methods, and temporal consideration. Here, a monodisperse sub-20 nm mixed poloxamer micelle (MPM) system was developed to deliver hydrophobic drugs intravenously, in tandem with ionizing radiation. This report demonstrates in vitro synergy and enhanced radiosensitivity when two molecularly targeted DNA repair inhibitors, talazoparib and buparlisib, are encapsulated and combined with radiation in a 4T1 murine breast cancer model. Evaluation of in vivo biodistribution and toxicity exhibited no reduction in particle accumulation upon radiation and a lack of both acute and chronic toxicities. In vivo efficacy studies suggested the promise of combining talazoparib, buparlisib, and radiation to enhance survival and control tumor growth. Tissue analysis suggests enhanced DNA damage leading to apoptosis, thus increasing efficacy. These findings highlight the challenges associated with utilizing clinically relevant inclusion criteria and treatment protocols because complete tumor regression and extended survival were masked by an aggressively metastasizing model. As with clinical treatment regimens, the findings here establish a need for further optimization of this multimodal platform.

U.S. end-of-life electric vehicle batteries: Dynamic inventory modeling and spatial analysis for regional solutions

While electric vehicles (EVs) have been promoted for green consumption, improper or inadequate management of end-of-life (EOL) EV batteries, as the current practice, compromises the benefits of EV adoption. This study aims to contribute to both theoretical research of material flow analysis and timely management of EOL EV batteries at various geographic scales (i.e., national, state, and county).Theoretically, this study tests two battery lifespan scenarios (i.e., constantly at 3–8 years and dynamically increasing over time), three discard probability functions (i.e., uniform, truncated normal, and Weibull), and three EV sale projections (i.e., low, moderate, and high). Results show that the short-term EOL volume (by 2025) can be particularly sensitive to the lifespan parameter. The long-term estimates involve most uncertainties related to the EV market penetration. Various discard probability functions generally derive similar results.In practical terms, the results suggest that necessary infrastructure for proper EOL EV battery management is needed sooner than the public may have perceived. This study urges for regional planning that incorporates both temporal and spatial considerations. To illustrate an example of regional solutions, this study adopts empirical data in California to simulate and spatially match EOL EV battery clusters and the renewable energy facilities that can potentially reuse EV batteries as energy storage. Meanwhile, the spatial mis-match between the supply and demand, as can be the case in other regions, calls for region-wide coordination in terms of both infrastructure development and transportation planning.

Combining Environmental Monitoring and Remote Sensing Technologies to Evaluate Cropping System Nitrogen Dynamics at the Field-Scale

Nitrogen (N) losses from cropping systems in the U.S. Midwest represent a major environmental and economic concern, negatively impacting water and air quality. While considerable research has investigated processes and controls of N losses in this region, significant knowledge gaps still exist, particularly related to the temporal and spatial variability of crop N uptake and environmental losses at the field-scale. The objectives of this manuscript study were (i) to describe the unique application of environmental monitoring and remote sensing technologies to quantify and evaluate relationships between artificial subsurface drainage nitrate (NO3-N) losses, soil nitrous oxide (N2O) emissions, soil N concentrations, corn (Zea mays L.) yield, and remote sensing vegetation indices, and (ii) to discuss the benefits and limitations of using recent developments in technology to monitor cropping system N dynamics at field-scale. Preliminary results showed important insights regarding temporal (when N losses primarily occurred) and spatial (measurement footprint) considerations when trying to link N2O and NO3-N leaching losses within a single study to assess relationship between crop productivity and environmental N losses. Remote sensing vegetation indices were significantly correlated with N2O emissions, indicating that new technologies (e.g. unmanned aerial vehicle platform) could represent an integrative tool for linking sustainability outcomes with improved agronomic efficiencies, with lower vegetation index values associated with poor crop performance and higher N2O emissions. However, the potential for unmanned aerial vehicle to evaluate water quality appears much more limited because NO3-N losses happened prior to early-season crop growth and image collection. Building on this work, we encourage future research to test the usefulness of remote sensing technologies for monitoring environmental quality, with the goal of providing timely and accurate information to enhance the efficiency and sustainability of food production.

Effect of Gestational Age on Maternofetal Vascular Function Following Single Maternal Engineered Nanoparticle Exposure

Normal pregnancy outcome is accomplished, in part, by rapid and expansive physiological adaptations to the systemic circulation, the extent of which is specific to gestational day (GD) and anatomical location. Pregnancy-related hemodynamic changes in uterine placental blood flow stimulate compensatory vascular signaling and remodeling that begins early and continues throughout gestation. Exposure of the maternal environment to engineered nanomaterials (ENM) during pregnancy has been shown to impact health of the dam, fetus, and adult offspring; however, the consequences of specific temporal (gestational age) and spatial (vascular location) considerations are largely undetermined. We exposed pregnant Sprague–Dawley rats to nano-TiO2 aerosols at three critical periods of fetal development (GD 4, 12, and 17) to identify vascular perturbations associated with ENM exposure at these developmental milestones. Vascular reactivity of the maternal thoracic aorta, the uterine artery, the umbilical vein, and the fetal thoracic aorta were evaluated using wire myography on GD 20. While impairments were noted at each level of the maternofetal vascular tree and at each exposure day, our results indicate the greatest effects may be identified within the fetal vasculature (umbilical vein and fetal aorta), wherein effects of a single maternal inhalational exposure to nano-TiO2 on GD 4 modified responses to cholinergic, NO, and α-adrenergic signaling.