Assessing and managing soil quality for urban agriculture in Ohio

Food, Agricultural, and Environmental Sciences (FAES): 3rd Place (The Ohio State University Edward F. Hayes Graduate Research Forum)Urban agriculture (UA) is rapidly expanding in the majority of Ohio's cities and is widely recognized as a means of improving the ecological conditions, quality of life, and food security in urban areas. This project will apply the soil quality evaluation process to soils being used for specialty crop production in urban areas in Ohio with the goal of better understanding their soil properties and identifying appropriate management strategies. The project is focused around two major components: an experimental research site and a field study of production sites. The experimental site is located in a series of adjacent vacant urban lots in Youngstown OH where vacant houses were recently demolished and removed. The demolition process often leaves soils severely degraded and this experiment will document the soil's initial condition following demolition, as well as the ability for the soil to be improved for UA by applying organic matter. Experimental treatments focused on applying organic soil amendments produced from urban green wastes will be applied in a replicated, complete block experimental design, including the following treatments: 1) control, 2) leaf compost, 3) leaf compost + intensive cover cropping, 4) leaf compost + hardwood biochar. All plots are split plots comparing in ground cultivation with cultivation in 20cm raised beds. The experiment will be run for the 2011 and 2012 growing seasons. Data will be collected on vegetable crop yield and on soil physical, chemical and biological properties and analyzed through both hypothesis testing and soil quality indexing. Compaction is a primary constraint at the site with bulk density values of 1.79 g cm-3 for in ground plots and 1.55 g cm-3 for raised beds. Crop yield data from 2011 demonstrate strong treatment effects on both crop yield (p=0.002) and harvest index (p=0.008). Both compost amended and compost + biochar amended plots had significantly greater crop yields than control plots, while compost + biochar plots had the highest harvest index values. An additional study in 2012 will conduct soil quality assessment at urban market gardens in Ohio and provide producers with a soil quality report and management recommendations. Expected outcomes include improved knowledge and management of UA soils in the region.A one-year embargo was granted for this item

Mountain Climates and Climatic Change: An Overview of Processes Focusing on the European Alps

This contribution provides an overview of the intricacies of mountain climates, particularly as they pertain to the European Alps. Examples will be given of issues that are related to climatic change as observed in the Alps during the course of the 20th century, and some of the physical mechanisms that may be responsible for those changes. The discussion will then focus on the problems related to assessing climatic change in regions of complex topography, the potential shifts in climate during the 21st century that the alpine region may be subjected to, and the associated climate-generated impacts on mountain environment

Mountain Weather and Climate: A General Overview and a Focus on Climatic Change in the Alps

Meteorological and climatic processes in mountain regions play a key role in many environmental systems, in particular the quantity and quality of water that influences both aquatic ecosystems and economic systems often far beyond the boundaries of the mountains themselves. This paper will provide a general overview of some of the particular characteristics of mountain weather and climate, to highlight some of the unique atmospheric features that are associated with regions of complex topography. The second part of the paper will focus upon characteristics of climate and climatic change in the European Alps, a region with a wealth of high quality data that allows an assessment on how climate and dependent environmental systems have evolved in the course of the 20th century and how alpine climate may undergo further changes to "global warming” in the 21st century, as the atmosphere responds to increasing levels of greenhouse gases that are expected in coming decade

HPV-18 transformed cells fail to arrest in G1 in response to quercetin treatment

Previous work with primary human keratinocytes demonstrated that quercetin, a potent mutagen found in high levels in bracken fern (Pteridium aquilinum), arrested cells in G1 with concomitant elevation of the cyclin-dependent kinase inhibitor (cdki) p27Kip1. Expression of the human papillomavirus type 16 (HPV-16) E6 and E7 oncoproteins, under transcriptional control of a heterologous promoter, in transformed keratinocytes failed to abrogate this arrest [Beniston, R., Campo, M.S., 2003. Quercetin elevates p27(Kip1) and arrests both primary and HPV-16 E6/E7 transformed human keratinocytes in G1. Oncogene 22, 5504–5514]. Given the link between papillomavirus infection, bracken fern in the diet and cancer of the oesophagus in humans, we wished to investigate further whether cells transformed by the whole genome of HPV-16 or HPV-18, with E6 and E7 under the transcriptional control of their respective homologous promoters, would be similarly arrested in G1 by quercetin. In agreement with earlier work, quercetin arrested HPV-16 transformed cells in G1 with an increase in the cyclin-dependent kinase inhibitor p27Kip1. However, HPV-18 transformed cells did not arrest after quercetin treatment. The failure of HPV-18 transformed cells to arrest in G1 was linked to the up-regulation of the HPV-18 long control region (LCR) by quercetin, maintaining high expression of the viral transforming proteins. Transcriptional up-regulation of the HPV-18 LCR was mediated by a “quercetin responsive element” homologous to the one identified previously in the bovine papillomavirus type 4 (BPV-4) LCR

Mountain weather and climate: a general overview and a focus on climatic change in the Alps

Meteorological and climatic processes in mountain regions play a key role in many environmental systems, in particular the quantity and quality of water that influences both aquatic ecosystems and economic systems often far beyond the boundaries of the mountains themselves. This paper will provide a general overview of some of the particular characteristics of mountain weather and climate, to highlight some of the unique atmospheric features that are associated with regions of complex topography. The second part of the paper will focus upon characteristics of climate and climatic change in the European Alps, a region with a wealth of high quality data that allows an assessment on how climate and dependent environmental systems have evolved in the course of the 20th century and how alpine climate may undergo further changes to “global warming” in the 21st century, as the atmosphere responds to increasing levels of greenhouse gases that are expected in coming decades

Relationship between hailfall intensity and hail damage on ground, determined by radar and lightning observations

Wetterradargeräte werden mittlerweile in vielen Ländern zur Beobachtung und Messung von Hagelstürmen verwendet und liefern einen detaillierten Überblick über die Entwicklung und die Struktur von starken Gewittern. Viel Aufwand wurde in die quantitative Messung von Hagelschlägen und Kurzfristprognosen (Nowcasting) von hagelträchtigen Gewittern investiert, was für nationale Wetterdienste und Flughäfen (Warnungen), die Landwirtschaft (Hagelschutz) und Versicherungen (Schadenabschätzung und Prävention) von grossem Interesse ist. Obwohl Dual-Polarisation Techniken in letzter Zeit entscheidend verbessert wurden, basieren Methoden zur Hagelerkennung und –messung immer noch auf Single-Polarisations Radargeräten. Eine der besten Methoden zur Bestimmung der Hagelintensität mit Single-Polarisation Radargeräten ist die kinetische Hagelenergie, die aus der Radarreflektivität berechnet wird und das gesamte Hagelvolumen pro Fläche repräsentiert. Es hat sich gezeigt, dass die radarvermessene kinetische Hagelenergie (EKINPIX) gut mit Bodenmessungen von Hagel (Hailpads) und Hagelschäden an landwirtschaftlichen Kulturen korreliert. Aufgrund der guten Beziehung zwischen radar- und bodenvermessener Hagelintensität, wird EKINPIX in dieser Dissertation in Beziehung zu Hagelschäden an Autos, an Gebäuden und zur Häufigkeit von Wolken-Boden Blitzen (WB) gesetzt und anhand einer grossen Anzahl Hagelzellen analysiert. Die Dissertation besteht aus den folgenden drei Teilen: einer Einführung, drei wissenschaftlichen Publikationen (eingereicht oder publiziert in (Athmospheric Research) die in einzelnen Kapiteln wiedergegeben sind, und einem abschliessenden Kapitel, in dem zwei methodische Ansätze wie aus räumlichen Verteilungen von WB Blitzen gesamte Hagelflächen abgeleitet werden könnten. Artikel 1 zeigt die Beziehung zwischen Hagelintensitäten und Hagelschäden an Autos, während in Artikel 2 der Zusammenhang mit Schäden an Wohn- und Landwirtschaftsgebäuden untersucht wird. Die Radardaten stammen vom C-Band Doppler-Radar, der von der Eidgenössischen Technischen Hochschule (ETH) in der Nähe von Zürich (Schweiz) betrieben wird. Hagelschäden an Autos waren durch die Winterthur Versicherungen (1992-1998) und Hagelschäden an Gebäuden durch verschiedene Kantonale Gebäudeversicherungen (1992-1999) erhältlich. Die Beziehung zwischen Hagelintensitäten (EKINPIX) und Schäden an Autos (Gebäuden) wurden für 12 (neun) Hagelzellen analysiert, mit den folgenden Resultaten: Da das Ausmass eines Hagelschadens sehr stark vom Exposure und den physikalischen Eigenschaften der versicherten Objekte abhängt, wurden verschiedene Annahmen getroffen und Vereinfachungen eingeführt. Die Beziehung zwischen den mittleren Schäden und EKINPIX hängt von der Hagelsaison ab: Hagelzellen der Hauptsaison (15. Juni-15. August) produzierten generell höhere Schäden als Gewitter der Nebensaison (vorher und nachher). Ein saisonaler Unterschied in der Hagelintensität zeigt sich auch aus der Anzahl und der maximalen Hagelkorngrösse von Hailpad Daten, die aus dem Grossversuch IV stammen, welcher in der Zentralschweiz durchgeführt wurde (1976-1983). Die nicht-linearen Beziehungen zwischen EKINPIX und den Schadenvariablen lassen sich am besten mit logistischen Funktionen beschreiben, wobei Korrelationskoeffizienten von 0.80 resultieren. Nach entsprechender Verifikation und Kalibrierung generierten die logistischen Funktionen für die Schadenrate (Verhältnis zwischen Schäden und Gesamtversicherungssumme) Schäden an Wohn- und Landwirtschaftsgebäuden, die in der Grössenordnung der tatsächlich vorgekommenen Schäden liegen. Der relative Fehler zwischen realen und mit den Schadenfunktionen geschätzten Schäden liegt für die stärksten Stürme unter 30%. Die erarbeiteten logistischen Schadenfunktionen zwischen radarvermessener kinetischen Hagelenergie und Hagelschäden könnten von Versicherungen zur Bestimmung von maximal möglichen Schäden (PMLs) gebraucht werden, indem eine radarvermessene Hagelzelle über ein Auto- und/oder Gebäudeportefeuille eines bestimmten Gebietes (z.B. einer grösseren Stadt) verschoben werden kann. In Artikel 3 werden WB Blitze, die von den Blitzmessnetzen der Schweiz und Süddeutschland geortet wurden, miteinander verglichen, um eine Angabe über die relative Erfassungseffizienz zu erhalten. WB Blitzmessungen des Schweizer Ortungssystems werden einzelnen Hagelzellen (5 min. Auflösung) zugeordnet, so dass der gesamte Lebenszyklus einer Zelle erfasst und in Beziehung zur radarvermessenen kinetischen Hagelenergie (ETH C-Band Doppler-Radar) gesetzt werden kann. Die Auswertung von 41 Hagelzellen die über das Schweizer Mittelland gezogen sind (1992-1995), zeigt die folgenden Resultate: Die totale kinetische Hagelenergie steht in einer linearen Beziehung (Korrelationskoeffizient von 0.95) mit der totalen Anzahl negativer WB Blitzen (–WB). Kein direkter Zusammenhang wurde dagegen mit der Anzahl positive geladener WB Blitzen (+WB) gefunden, obwohl zwischen verschiedenen Gewittertypen unterschieden wurde. Positionen von maximaler Hagelintensität korrelieren mit zeitlichen (0.88) und räumlichen (0.84) Höchstwerten in der Häufigkeit von –WB Blitzen. Die meisten Hagelzellen (66%) zeigen, dass –WB Blitze im Mittel 22 min. (0-65 min.) und 19 km (3-58 km) vor der höchsten Hagelintensität vorkommen. Im Bezug zur maximalen Hagelenergie zeigt sich eine grosse Varianz in Positionen von Höchstwerten in der Anzahl von +WB Blitzen. In schwachen Hagelzellen befindet sich der Höchstwert von +WB Blitzen im Mittel 10 min. vor und 3.5 km nach der höchsten Hagelintensität. In grossen isolierten Zellen liegt hingegen die Position der meisten +WB Blitze 30 min. und 45 km nach der höchsten Hagelintensität. Die Resultate der relativ grossen Anzahl untersuchter Gewitter bestätigen den Einfluss des nicht-induktiven Graupel-Eis Ladungsmechanismus. Dieser erklärt die Tatsache, dass die Mehrheit der –WB Blitze zu Beginn der Gewitterentwicklung vorkommen, während die meisten +WB Blitze eher am Ende der Gewittertätigkeit, während einer Umkehrung der Ladungsteilung beim Ausfall des Niederschlags, auftreten. Die zeitliche und räumliche Beziehung zwischen Höchstwerten von WB Blitzen und maximaler Hagelintensität könnte in der Zukunft für die Verbesserung der Kurzvorhersagen (Nowcasting) von starken Gewittern verwendet werden, speziell durch eine frühere Erkennung eines Hagelschlags anhand von WB-Blitz Informationen. Im letzten Kapitel wird die räumliche Beziehung zwischen Mustern von –WB Blitzen und radarvermessener kinetischer Hagelenergie für 18 ausgewählte Hagelzellen untersucht. Kreuzkorrelationen zwischen den Blitz- und Energiemuster ergeben Koeffizienten zwischen 0.33 und 0.66, was ein vielversprechender Ansatz für eine direkte Bestimmung von Hagelflächen mittels Blitzdaten ist. Zwei methodische Ansätze zur räumlichen Verteilung der Hagelenergie werden in diesem Kapitel diskutiert, wobei die vollständige Ausarbeitung der Methoden nicht mehr im Rahmen dieser Arbeit liegt. Falls dies jedoch gelingt, können Hagelflächen für grosse Gebiete bestimmt werden, ohne direkt auf Radardaten angewiesen zu sein.Weather radars are now available in many countries for operational observations and measurements of hailstorms and provide detailed information on the formation and structure of severe thunderstorms. Much research has been devoted to the quantitative measurement of hailfalls and the nowcasting of hail-bearing thunderstorms which is of interest for national weather services and airports (warning), the agricultural community (protection) and the insurance industry (damage estimation and mitigation). Although dual-polarization techniques have been improving in recent years, hail detection and measuring methods still have to rely on single-polarization radars. One of the most successful methods to derive hailfall intensities from single-polarization radars is hail kinetic energy that is calculated from radar reflectivity measurements and represents the total volume of hailfall per surface unit. Radar-derived hail kinetic energy (EKINPIX) showed valuable results in relation to ground-based measurements of hailfalls (hailpads) and amounts of hail damage to various crops. Based on the good agreement between radar- and ground-measured hailfall intensity, EKINPIX is related in this thesis to hail damage amounts on automobiles, buildings and cloud-to-ground (CG) lightning activity in analyzing a large number of radar-measured hail cells. The thesis consists of three parts: an introduction, three articles (submitted or published in Atmospheric Research) that are reproduced in individual chapters and a final chapter that presents two methodological approaches of how CG lightning location data could be used in the future to directly determine hailfall areas. Article 1 deals with the relationship between hailfall intensities and damages to automobiles, whereas Article 2 investigates a corresponding relationship for residential and agricultural buildings in Switzerland. Radar measurements were available from the C-band Doppler radar located at the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology (ETH) near Zurich, Switzerland. Damage claim data on automobiles were available from Winterthur Insurance (1992-1998) and several cantonal building insurance companies provided hail damage data of buildings (1992-1999). Relationships between hailfall intensity (EKINPIX) and damages to automobiles (buildings) have been analyzed for 12 (nine) hail cells with the following result: As the amount of hail damage depends strongly on the exposure and the physical characteristics of the units insured, some assumptions and simplifications were necessary. The relationship between mean damages and EKINPIX depends on the hailstorm season: high season storms (15 June-15 August) produced higher damages than low season storms vi (before and after). A seasonal difference in hailfall intensity between high and low season storm appears also from numbers and maximum hailstone diameters that were available from hailpad measurements conducted during Grossversuch IV in central Switzerland (1976-1983). The nonlinear relationships between EKINPIX and the damage variables are best described by logistic damage functions that yield correlation coefficients of 0.80. After suitable verification and calibration, logistic functions for total loss ratios (ratio between damage amounts and total sums insured) of both residential and agricultural buildings, predicted damages that are in the range of occurred losses from hailfall. Relative prediction errors for the most severe hailstorms are below 30%. The results suggest that the established logistic damage functions between radar-derived hail kinetic energy and hail damage amounts could be used by insurance companies to determine possible maximum losses (PMLs), shifting a radar-measured hail cell over a motor and/or a building portfolio of interest (e.g., over a major city). In Article 3, CG lightning measurements from Lightning Location and Tracking Systems (LPATS) of Switzerland and southern Germany are compared to determine relative detection efficiencies. CG lightning measurements of the Swiss LPATS are attributed to individual hail cells (5-min resolution), so that the entire lifecycle can be assessed and be related to radar-derived hail kinetic energy (ETH C-band Doppler radar). Analyzes of 41 hail cells that propagated over the Swiss Mittelland (1992-1995) show the following key results: Total hail kinetic energy (EKINTOT) shows good linear correspondence (correlation coefficient of 0.95) with totals of negative CG (–CG) stroke counts but reveals no direct relationship regarding positive CG (+CG) stroke totals, although hail cells were stratified according to the type of cell organization. Temporal and spatial locations of maximally expected hailfall correlate with temporal (0.88) and spatial (0.84) peaks of –CG strokes. Most hail cells (66%) show –CG stroke peaks on the average 22 min (0-65 min) and 19 km (3-58 km) prior to maximally expected hailfall. Locations of +CG stroke peaks reveal large variance relative to maximally expected hailfall. +CG strokes in weak cells tend to peak on the average 10 min before and 3.5 km after maxima in hail kinetic energy, whereas +CG stroke peaks in strong large isolated cells lag maximally expected hailfall up to 30 min and 45 km. The results of the relatively large data sample confirm the importance of the non-inductive graupel-ice charging mechanisms that explains the majority of –CG strokes at the beginning of thunderstorm development and the fact that most CG discharges are of positive polarity at mature storm phase, when an electrical charge reversal occurs in the thunderstorm with the fallout of precipitation. The spatial-temporal relationship between peaks in CG strokes and maximum hailfall intensity could be used to improve nowcasting systems of severe thunderstorms, particularly through an increase of the time of onset between CG lightning initiation and the fallout of hail. In the last chapter, the spatial relationship between patterns of –CG strokes and radar-derived hail kinetic energy is analyzed for 18 selected hail cells. Cross-correlations between lightning and energy patterns produced coefficients between 0.33 and 0.66, which are the basis for a promising approach to determine hailfall surfaces directly from lightning location data. This chapter shows two methodological approaches of how hail kinetic energy could be distributed in space, whereas the full implementation of these methods is not covered in the thesis. Once accurate methods are available, it would be possible to determine entire areas of hailfall without relying on radar data