In 1998, the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) published FAO Irrigation and Drainage Paper No. 56, a revision of the earlier and widely used Paper No. 24 for calculating evapotranspiration (ET) and crop water requirements. The revision uses a single method, the FAO Penman-Monteith equation, for calculating reference evapotranspiration (ET o). In addition to the "mean" crop coefficient (K c) values of FAO-24, FAO-56 provides tables of "basal" crop coefficients that represent ET under conditions having a dry soil surface. Associated equations for predicting evaporation from bare soil associated with crop transpiration are based on a water balance of the soil surface layer. Comparisons of daily ET from three agricultural crops are made between lysimeter measured ET and the basal K c method of FAO-56 and the time-based basal K c procedure of Wright (1982). Standard errors of estimate and accuracies were similar between the two methods and averaged about 0.77 mm/day or 15%.

Crop coefficient curves provide simple, reproducible means to estimate crop evapotranspiration (ET) from weather-based reference ET values. The dual crop coefficient ͑K c ͒ method of the Food and Agricultural Organization of the United States (FAO) Irrigation and Drainage Paper No. 56 (FAO-56) is intended to improve daily simulation of crop ET by considering separately the contribution of evaporation from soil. The dual method utilizes "basal" crop coefficients representing ET from crops having a dry soil surface and separately predicts evaporation from bare soil based on a water balance of the soil surface layer. Three extensions to the evaporation calculation procedure are described here that are intended to improve accuracy when applications warrant the extra complexity. The first extension uses parallel water balances representing the portion of the soil surface wetted by irrigation and precipitation together and the portion wetted by precipitation alone. The second extension uses three "stages" for surface drying and provides for application to deep cracking soils. The third extension predicts the extraction of the transpiration component from the soil surface layer. Sensitivity and analyses and illustrations indicate moderate sensitivity of daily calculated ET to application of the extensions. The dual K c procedure, although relatively simple computationally and structurally, estimates daily ET as measured by lysimeter relatively well for periods of bare soil and partial and full vegetation cover.

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Many of today's healthcare personnel find themselves in a double-bind. The question is how to remain connected, caring and compassionate with patients, while mitigating the impact of chronic workplace stress? Mindfulness is emerging as a means to address this dilemma; it has the potential to both reduce workplace stress and boost employee resilience, while enhancing the patient experience. This article describes the development of a unique collaboration between local hospitals, primary care teams and a university, aimed at bringing mindfulness to life in healthcare. This is a conventional story of program development and evaluation, as well as an unconventional story of personal discovery, community-building, and organizational transformation. Each section of the paper highlights a critical success factor that we have uncovered in our journey, and poses a series of questions for contemplation. This paper aims to fill a gap in the literature by describing the key ingredients for developing and sustaining collaborations aimed at integrating mindfulness into the healthcare system.

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