Tuesday, November 8, 2011

CAS SciFinder for Biological Research









SciFinder for Biological Research
 

Wed., Nov. 9, 1-2pm Central Time
Tues., Nov. 15, 5-6am Central Time
Tues., Nov. 15, 11am-12noon Central Time 
Tues., Nov. 15, 5-6pm Central Time

Register: http://casevents.webex.com 

SciFinder Web (Chemical Abstracts) supports interdisciplinary research by covering topics such as drug-target interactions, biomarkers and enzymes, as well as many other topics of interest for the biomedical scientist. 

Learn how to:
- Locate literature on your research topics.
- Find target molecules.
- Stay current with "Keep Me Posted" alerts

After you register, you'll receive an e-mail confirmation containing the teleconference phone numbers.

If you can't attend the e-Seminar broadcasts, the presentation will be available for on-demand viewing from the same URL after Nov. 15.

Thursday, September 29, 2011

OECD iLibrary = international development e-books + more

Find international development e-books, research papers, and statistical publications by the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development in UW-Madison's subscription to OECD iLibrary.

Selected recent titles of interest:
  • Apples: International Standards
  • Apricots: International Standards
  • Asparagus: International Standards
  • Bioheat, Biopower and Biogas: Developments and Implications for Agriculture
  • Challenges for Agricultural Research
  • Citrus Fruits: International Standards
  • Climate Change and Agriculture: Impacts, Adaptation and Mitigation
  • Evaluation of Agricultural Policy Reforms in the United States
  • Innovative Soil-Plant Systems for Sustainable Agricultural Practices
  • OECD Agriculture Statistics
  • Peaches and Nectarines: International Standards  
  • Safety Assessment of Transgenic Organisms
  • Sustainable Management of Water Resources in Agriculture
  • Test No. 227: Terrestrial Plant Test: Vegetative Vigour Test - OECD Guidelines for the Testing of Chemicals, Section 2: Effects on Biotic Systems

Tuesday, April 12, 2011

Preserving biodiversity: Seed saving and Seed banks

Who preserves and controls crop biodiversity?  
How and why do they do it? 

* Agriculture, biodiversity and markets : livelihoods and agroecology in comparative perspective


* Agrobiodiversity hotspots : access and benefit sharing

* Banishing the biopirates : a new approach to protecting traditional knowledge


* Biopiracy of biodiversity : global exchange as enclosure

* Confronting biopiracy : Challenges, cases and international debates 

* Conserving plant genetic diversity in protected areas : population management of crop wild relatives


* Economics of managing crop diversity on-farm : Case studies from the Genetic Resources Policy Initiative


* Future control of food : a guide to international negotiations and rules on intellectual property, biodiversity and food security

* Garden seed inventory : an inventory of seed catalogs listing all non-hybrid vegetable seeds available in the United States and Canada

* Gardening with heirloom seeds : tried-and-true flowers, fruits, and vegetables for a new generation



* Genetic resources, traditional knowledge and the law : solutions for access and benefit sharing

* Governing agrobiodiversity : plant genetics and developing countries

* Heirloom tomato : from garden to table : recipes, portraits, and history of the world’s most beautiful fruit

* Heirloom vegetable gardening : a master gardener’s guide to planting, growing, seed saving, and cultural history

* Orchard invisible : a natural history of seeds

* Patenting lives : life patents, culture and development

* Plant conservation genetics

* Saving seeds : the economics of conserving crop genetic resources ex situ in the future harvest centres of the CGIAR

* Seed conservation : turning science into practice

* Seed diversity in the drylands : women and farming in South India

* Seed hunter [film]

* Seed to seed : seed saving and growing techniques for vegetable gardeners

* Seed trade in rural markets : implications for crop diversity and agricultural development

* Seeds, sex and civilization : how the hidden life of plants has shaped our world

* Sowing autonomy : gender and seed politics in semi-arid India



* Viking in the wheat field : a scientist’s struggle to preserve the world’s harvest





Thursday, March 17, 2011

Bio-contamination & Bio-remediation


Toxic contamination of soil, water, air, plants, animals and humans is on my mind lately, as a result of Japan's earthquake, tsunami, and nuclear power plant crisis.

One path to detoxification is "bioremediation" - the application of biological processes to sequester or break down contaminants, either on- or off-site.










  • Biochemical mechanisms of detoxification in higher plants: basis of phytoremediation
  • Biodegradation and bioremediation
  • Bioremediation: a critical review
  • Bioremediation: applied microbial solutions for real-world environmental cleanup
  • Bioremediation of contaminated soils
  • Biotransformations: bioremediation technology for health and environmental protection 
  • Ecology of industrial pollution
  • Environmental biotreatment: technologies for air, water, soil, and waste
  • Fungi in bioremediation
  • Mycoremediation: fungal bioremediation
  • Natural and enhanced remediation systems
  • Natural processes and systems for hazardous waste treatment
  • Phytoremediation: transformation and control of contaminants
  • Produce contamination problem: causes and solutions
  • Remediation of contaminated environments
  • War and nature: the environmental consequences of war in a globalized world
Conference Proceedings:
  • Proceedings of the 12th International Conference on Environmental Remediation and Radioactive Waste Management 2009
  • Proceedings of the 11th International Conference on Environmental Remediation and Radioactive Waste Management 2007
  • Mutational analysis of root characters in food plants: proceedings of a final research coordination meeting, organized by the Joint FAO/IAEA Programme of Nuclear Techniques in Food and Agriculture and held in Antalya, Turkey 11-15 October 2004
  • Scientific basis for nuclear waste management XXVI: symposium held December 2-5, 2002, Boston
  • Agricultural aspects of nuclear and/or radiological emergency situations; OECD/NEA Workshop, Fontenay-aux-Roses, France, 12-14 June 1995
  • Relative effectiveness of agricultural countermeasure techniques, REACT : proceedings of a workshop organised by the Commission of the European Communities DG XII-D-3 Radiation Protection Research, DG XI-A-I Radiation Protection, Brussels, 1-4 October 1991
  • Arrangements for preparedness for a nuclear or radiological emergency: safety guide
  • Bioremediation of munitions contaminated soil: annual report
  • Citizen’s guide to bioremediation
  • Classification of soil systems on the basis of transfer factors of radionuclides from soil to reference plants
  • Comparison of the models and assumptions used in the DandD 1.0, RESRAD 5.61, and RESRAD-Build 1.50 computer codes with respect to the residential farmer and industrial occupant scenarios provided in NUREG/CR-5512
  • Environmental consequences of the Chernobyl accident and their remediation: twenty years of experience
  • Management of waste from the use of radioactive material in medicine, industry, agriculture, research and education: safety guide
  • Nuclear waste: DOE’s environmental management initiatives report is incomplete
  • Preparedness and response for a nuclear or radiological emergency : safety requirements
  • Probabilistic accident consequence uncertainty analysis: food chain uncertainty assessment 
  • Soil-to-plant concentration ratios for assessing food-chain pathways in biosphere models
  • Technical basis for assessing uranium bioremediation performance
  • Use of bioremediation at Superfund sites
  • Use of plants for the removal of toxic metals from contaminated soils

Thursday, January 6, 2011

Bee populations collapsing worldwide

"Four previously abundant species of bumblebee are close to disappearing in the United States" 
~ Reuters news story about the research article "Patterns of widespread decline in North American bumble bees"











Colony Collapse Disorder + Bee pathology
Bees + Beekeeping
Also of interest...

    Thursday, October 14, 2010

    Rooftops come alive













    "Living roofs" are sprouting up around the country, along with businesses providing associated products and services.

    Books:

    * Green roof systems : a guide to the planning, design, and construction of landscapes over structure




    * Green roof plants : a resource and planting guide

    * Ken Smith, landscape architect : urban projects  [includes: The Museum of Modern Art, roof garden]

    * Green roofs : ecological design and construction

    * Groundswell : constructing the contemporary landscape  [includes: The Museum of Modern Art roof garden, New York]

    * Sky gardens : rooftops, balconies, and terraces


    * Roof gardens : history, design, and construction

    * Eco-pioneers : practical visionaries solving today’s environmental problems  [includes: Urban rooftop agriculture] > online e-book

    * World of environmental design  [includes: v.4 Roof gardens]

    * Apartment farmer : the hassle-free way to grow vegetables indoors, on balconies, patios, roofs, and in small yards




    Conference proceedings:

    * Low impact development : new and continuing applications : 2nd National Low Impact Development Conference, March 12-14, 2007, Wilmington, NC  [includes: Using Green Roofs and Other BMPs to Reduce the Need for Stormwater Retention Capacity Requirements -- Selecting the Proper Components for a Green Roof Growing Media -- Evaluating a Spreadsheet Model to Predict Green Roof Stormwater Management -- Selecting a Green Roof Media to Minimize Pollutant Loadings in Roof Runoff]

    * Low impact development for urban ecosystem and habitat protection : International Low Impact Development Conference, November 16-19, 2008, Seattle, WA  [includes: A Laboratory Comparison of Green-Roof Runoff Water Quality -- A Study of Green Roof Hydrologic Performance in the Cascadia Region -- Early-Life Roof Runoff Quality: Green vs. Traditional Roofs -- Flow Monitoring of Three Ecoroofs in Portland, Oregon -- The Stormwater Control Potential of Green Roofs in Seattle -- Green Envelopes: Contribution of Green Roofs, Green Facades and Green Streets to Reducing Stormwater Runoff, CO2 Emissions and Energy Demand in Cities -- A Deterministic Lumped Dynamic Green Roof Model -- Quantifying Evapotranspiration Rates for New Zealand Green Roofs -- Cost-Benefit Evaluation of Ecoroofs] 

    * World Environmental and Water Resources Congress 2009 : great rivers : May 17-21, 2009, Kansas City, MO  [includes: Monitoring the Hydrologic Effects of an Extensive Green Roof -- Rainwater Harvesting for Non-Potable Use in Gardens: A Comparison of Runoff Water Quality from Green vs. Traditional Roofs -- The Lawrence Technological University Greenroof Performance Evaluation Project -- McCormick Place West Hall Conference Center Stormwater Reclamation Tunnel and "Green Roof" Helps Advance Chicago’s Clean Water Agenda] 

    * GeoCongress 2008 : geosustainability and geohazard mitigation : March 9-12, 2008, New Orleans, LA  [includes: Design of an Instrumented Model Green Roof Experiment] 

    * World Environmental and Water Resources Congress 2008 : AhupuaÊ»a : May 12-16, 2008, Honolulu, HI  [includes: Green Roofs : A BMP for Urban Stormwater Quality? -- A Water Quality Assessment of Two Green Roof Stormwater Treatment Systems] 

    * World Environmental and Water Resources Congress 2007 : restoring our natural habitat : May 15-19, 2007, Tampa, FL  [includes: Selecting a Green Roof Medium for Water Quality Benefits -- An Assessment of Green Roof Stormwater Treatment Systems for Stormwater Volume Reduction]

    * Geosynthetics research and development in progress : Geo-Frontiers 2005 Congress, January 24-26, 2005, Austin, TX  [includes: State of the Green Roof Industry in the United States]

    * Managing watersheds for human and natural impacts : engineering, ecological, and economic challenges : Watershed 2005, July 19-22, 2005, Williamsburg, VA  [includes: Green Roof Hydrologic and Water Quality Performance from Two Field Sites in North Carolina]

    * World Water and Environmental Resources Congress 2003 : June 23-26, 2003, Philadelphia, PA  [includes: Stormwater Detention and Retention Abilities of Green Roofs -- A North Carolina Field Study to Evaluate Greenroof Runoff Quantity, Runoff Quality, and Plant Growth]

    Government documents:



    * Vegetated roof cover : Philadelphia, Pennsylvania 

    Videos:
    * Design e² : the economies of being environmentally conscious  ["The third program, The green machine, follows Mayor Richard M. Daley as he strives to make Chicago "the greenest city in America" with numerous LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design)-certified buildings, a solar-powered public transportation system, and many green roofs, including one on Chicago’s City Hall."]

    Thursday, September 30, 2010

    Golf courses go greener

    Turfgrass managers have taken up the mantle of sustainability.  Over the past decade, a number of golf courses around the country have even started to "go organic"!

    Some of the alternatives to synthetic pesticides proposed by one golf course site include:

    1. Beneficial insects
    2. Beneficial nematodes
    3. Bt (Bacillus thuringiensis)
    4. Compost
    5. Corn gluten
    6. Fish emulsion
    7. Garlic oil/juice
    8. Horticultural oils (vegetable-based instead of petrochemical based)
    9. Kelp/seaweed extracts
    10. Lemon & vinegar formulations
    11. Lime
    12. Beneficial microbes and microbial derivatives
    13. Milky spore
    14. Neem
    15. 100% "organic" fertilizers
    16. Pheromone lures
    17. Pyrethrin/pyrethrum
    18. Rock dust minerals
    19. Biopesticides
    20. Products on the national list of approved substances established under the Organic Foods Product Act of 1990
    21. Products approved as organic by duly accredited certifying organizations such as the Northeast Organic Farming Association (NOFA) and the Organic Materials Review Institute (OMRI)

    And some of the proposed prohibited substances include:

    1. All synthetic chemical pesticides
    2. Arsenic
    3. Biosolids derived from sewage sludge or industrial waste (i.e. Milorganite)
    4. Genetically modified products, ingredients, or seeds (endophytically enhanced seed and improved grass seed cultivars produced through conventional breeding programs are not GM and therefore are permitted.)
    5. Piperonyl butoxide and other synthetic ingredients
    6. Pyrethroids
    7. Tobacco
    8. Pesticides dispensed by automatic misting systems

    For further reading:

    * Sustainable golf courses: a guide to environmental stewardship

    * Ecological golf course management

    * "Pesticide Exposure from Residential and Recreational Turf" and "Lawn and Turf: Management and Environmental Issues of Turfgrass Pesticides" in Hayes’ handbook of pesticide toxicology

    * Alternative turfgrasses for more environmentally sustainable golf course management: velvet bentgrass putting greens and fine fescue/colonial bentgrass fairways

    * Turfgrass chemicals and pesticides: a practitioner’s guide

    * Turf problem solver: case studies and solutions for environmental, cultural, and pest problems

    * Proceedings of the IInd International Conference on Turfgrass Science and Management for Sports Fields: Beijing, China June 24-29, 2007

    * Golf course irrigation: environmental design and management practices

    * Water quality and quantity issues for turfgrasses in urban landscapes
     
    * Managing wetlands on golf courses

    * USGA Turfgrass and Environmental Research Online (TERO)

    Wednesday, September 22, 2010

    9/29-10/3: Wisconsin Book Festival

    This year's WI Book Festival theme is "Beliefs."  Events of particular interest to plant and insect researchers:

    A Legacy of Conservation
    Wednesday, September 29  |  3:30-6 PM
    Venue: Wisconsin Union Theater/Memorial Union
    Please join us for a special program to celebrate the 75th anniversary of the USDA Natural Resources Conservation Service, and to explore Wisconsin's historic and continuing legacy of conservation leadership and innovation. Featured speakers will include Deputy Secretary Kathleen Merrigan of the USDA, USDA NRCS Chief Dave White, and Neil Maher, Rutgers University historian and author of Nature's New Deal: The Civilian Conservation Corps and the Roots of the American Environmental Movement.

    The Beast Within, & Becoming Animal
    Wednesday, September 29  |  5:30-6:30 PM
    Venue: A Room of One's Own Feminist Bookstore
    Are humans merely animals or are we something more? Our beliefs about where we stand in the chain of creation shape both our sense of identity and our actions. The Beast Within, by Joyce Salisbury, examines the moment in the West when our confident assertion of our superiority gave way to our awareness of the bestial lurking within our humanity. Becoming Animal: An Earthly Cosmology by David Abram draws readers ever deeper into their animal senses, showing that from the awakened perspective of the human animal, awareness is not an exclusive possession of our species but a lucid quality of the biosphere itself-- a quality in which we, along with the oaks and the spiders, steadily participate. 

    Season of Water and Ice, & Jerry Apps
    Wednesday, September 29  |  5:30-6:30 PM
    Venue: Quivey's Grove
    Sometime after turning fifty, Donald Lystra wrote and published his first novel: Season of Water and Ice, a poignant coming-of-age tale set in 1950s rural northern Michigan. The accolades haven’t stopped, and his work has received Special Mention in the Pushcart Prize anthology. Lystra joins Jerry Apps in a special location, Quivey’s Grove, chosen because the barn appears in Apps’ Barns of Wisconsin. Apps will also present a selection of his books, including Cranberry Red and The Travels of Increase Joseph, which chronicle the joys and challenges of farm life with his trademark blend of gentle humor, drama and storytelling.

    Moral Ground: Why It's Wrong to Wreck the World
    Thursday, September 30  |  7:30-9 PM
    Venue: Promenade Hall/Overture
    This townhall-style meeting led by Moral Ground editors Kathleen Dean Moore and Michael P. Nelson gathers people for an evening of music, readings by contributing authors Curt Meine and Gary Nabhan, and a guided audience discussion about our obligations to justice and compassion.

    The Poisoner's Handbook
    Friday, October 1  |  5:30-6:30 PM
    Venue: Wisconsin Studio/Overture
    Long before "CSI" became common parlance, two intrepid scientists defined the art of crime scene investigation and elevated forensic chemistry into a formidable science, establishing a legacy for future generations. UW professor and Pulitzer Prize winner Deborah Blum, writing with the high style and skill for suspense that is characteristic of the very best mystery fiction, shares the untold story of how poison rocked Jazz Age New York City. In A Poisoner's Handbook Blum draws from highly original research to track the fascinating, perilous days when a pair of forensic scientists began their trailblazing chemical detective work, fighting to end an era when untraceable poisons offered an easy path to the perfect crime.

    Climate Wars: The Fight for Survival as the World Over-heats
    Friday, October 1  |  8-9 PM
    Venue: Madison Public Library-Main Branch
    Dwindling resources. Massive population shifts. Natural disasters. Epidemics. Drought. Rising sea levels. Plummeting agricultural yields. Crashing economies. These are some of the expected consequences of climate change in the decades ahead, and any of them could tip the world towards conflict. In Climate Wars, geopolitical analyst Gwynne Dyer gives us a terrifying glimpse of the not-so-distant future, when climate change will force the world's powers into a desperate struggle for advantage and even survival.

    Global Warming Facts for Faith-Based Decisions
    Saturday, October 2  |  10-11:30 AM
    Venue: Promenade Hall/Overture
    As a climate scientist and a Christian, committed to truth in both science and faith, Katharine Hayhoe balances passion with civility to present a compelling case for why addressing climate change is a part of what it means to be a Christian today. Co-written with her husband, pastor Andrew Farley, A Climate for Change untangles the complex science and tackles many long-held misconceptions about global warming.

    Atoms and Eden, & God and Nature
    Saturday, October 2  |  3-4:30 PM
    Venue: Promenade Hall/Overture
    The relationship between science and religion is a subject that has grown increasingly visible-- and controversial-- in the world today. In Atoms and Eden, Peabody Award-winning journalist Steve Paulson (of To the Best of Our Knowledge) presents twenty interviews with some of the most prominent scientists, religious figures, and intellectuals of the day. Ronald Numbers, historian of science and medicine at the UW-Madison, also addresses the complicated relationship between science and religion. Author of The Creationists, a history of the modern revival of creationism, and co-editor of the collection God and Nature, Numbers tangles with many questions relating to faith, fact, and fiction.

    A Short History of Wisconsin, & Bill Lueders
    Sunday, October 3  |  12-1:30 PM
    Venue: Wisconsin Studio/Overture
    With A Short History of Wisconsin, Erika Janik packs several centuries of Wisconsin's remarkable past into two hundred lively pages, recounting the landscapes, people, and traditions that have made this state the multi-faceted place it is today. Bill Lueders' newest release showcases twenty years of in-depth stories, from a retrospective on The Progressive's H-bomb case to a profile on Tommy Thompson, plus columns about events in Madison and the state.

    Every Natural Fact: Five Seasons of Open-Air Parenting, & Across America by Bicycle
    Sunday, October 3  |  12:30 - 2:00 PM
    Venue: A Room of One's Own Feminist Bookstore
    Every Natural Fact by Amy Lou Jenkins is a narrative of nature outings across the state of Wisconsin. A mother and son explore parallels in the world of people and nature. These explorations of natural history, flora and fauna, and parenting themes demonstrate that the mythic thread that winds through everything can still be found, even in a world of wounds. Ride along with Alice Honeywell and Bobbi Montgomery as they embrace retirement with gusto and live their dream. Pedaling Across America By Bicycle they test and deepen their friendship, defy aches and pains, experience the varied beauties of their country, and discover the challenges and satisfaction of a scaled-down lifestyle. Join this dynamic duo as they face scorching sun, driving rain, buffeting winds, equipment failures, killer hills, wild fires, and even a plague of grasshoppers.

    [Adapted from WI Book Festival website]

    Thursday, September 2, 2010

    Bedbugs: infestations on the rise

















    You may have heard that blood-sucking bedbugs are spreading throughout the country and world, years after they were thought to have been largely eradicated in the United States.

    Bedbugs are insects in the Cimicidae family.
    Unfortunately, the 'common bedbug' Cimex lectularius now shows resistance to multiple types of pesticides.  Luckily, however, they have not been found to act as human disease vectors.

    Online:

    * Bed Bugs in Wisconsin [2008 UW Extension publication]

    Insect resistance management: biology, economics, and prediction

    * Encyclopedia of insects

    * How to control bed bugs [1976 USDA publication]

    * Results of experiments with miscellaneous substances against bedbugs, cockroaches, clothes moths, and carpet beetles [1918 USDA publication]

    * Bedbug [1916 USDA publication]

    * Treatise on the Cimex lectularius; or, bed bug [1793]

    Journals:
     



    In the libraries:

    * Global pesticide resistance in arthropods

    * Dark banquet: blood and the curious lives of blood-feeding creatures

    * Battling resistance to antibiotics and pesticides: an economic approach

    * Colour atlas of medical entomology

    * Evolution explosion: how humans cause rapid evolutionary change

    * Medical insects and arachnids

    * Biochemical sites of insecticide action and resistance

    * Plague of the Philistines, and other medical-historical essays

    * Insecticide resistance: from mechanisms to management

    * Monograph of Cimicidae (Hemiptera, Heteroptera)

    * Morphology and functional anatomy of the male and female reproductive systems of Cimex lectularius Linn.


    * Get rid of bedbugs for a clean house [1967 USDA publication]

    * Bed bugs: how to control them [1953 USDA publication]

    * Bedbug: its habits and life history and methods of control [1944 US Public Health Office publication]

    [Image: Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 2.0 Generic. louento.pix - http://www.flickr.com/photos/lou_bugs_pix/324776034/ ]

    Friday, July 30, 2010

    Precision agriculture

    Journals:
    Highly-cited Articles:
    • Pinter, P.J., Hatfield, J.L., Schepers, J.S., Barnes, E.M., Moran, M.S., Daughtry, C.S.T., Upchurch, D.R. (2003). Remote sensing for crop management. Photogrammetric Engineering and Remote Sensing, 69(6): 647-664.
    Books, Proceedings, Theses, Documents: