Plant organ abscission is a developmental process regulated by the environment, stress, pathogens and the physiological status of the plant. In particular, seed and fruit abscission play an important role in seed dispersion and plant reproductive success and are common domestication traits with important agronomic consequences for many crop species. Indeed, in natural populations, shedding of the seed or fruit at the correct time is essential for reproductive success, while for crop species the premature or lack of abscission may be either beneficial or detrimental to crop productivity. The use of model plants, in particular Arabidopsis and tomato, have led to major advances in our understanding of the molecular and cellular mechanisms underlying organ abscission, and now many workers pursue the translation of these advances to crop species. Organ abscission involves specialized cell layers called the abscission zone (AZ), where abscission signals are perceived and cell separation takes place for the organ to be shed. A general model for plant organ abscission includes (1) the differentiation of the AZ, (2) the acquisition of AZ cells to become competent to respond to various abscission signals, (3) response to signals and the activation of the molecular and cellular processes that lead to cell separation in the AZ and (4) the post-abscission events related to protection of exposed cells after the organ has been shed. While this simple four-phase framework is helpful to describe the abscission process, the exact mechanisms of each stage, the differences between organ types and amongst diverse species, and in response to different abscission inducing signals are far from elucidated. For an organ to be shed, AZ cells must transduce a multitude of both endogenous and exogenous signals that lead to transcriptional and cellular and ultimately cell wall modifications necessary for adjacent cells to separate. How these key processes have been adapted during evolution to allow for organ abscission to take place in different locations and under different conditions is unknown. The aim of the current proposal is to present and be able to compare recent results on our understanding of organ abscission from model and crop species, and to provide a basis to understand both the evolution of abscission in plants and the translation of advances with model plants for applications in crop species.

So many of us have asked the question: What is my purpose? Or my why. I grew up in Iowa, made a stop of fourteen years in Salt Lake City, Utah, and then transplanted to Dallas upon meeting my husband, Kevin Thompson. He lived in Texas and I in Utah, so after dating just over a year, we decided the over one thousand four hundred miles apart could only go on so long. Growing up in an average American family with functional dysfunction, graduated from Drake University, lived in three different states, experienced a divorce after fourteen years, and now remarried nine years, I've come face-to-face with ample discipline. And after moving eight times in the same nine years, you don't just clean your house, you clear your mind. This story of why and how the art of living a minimalistic lifestyle will do more than create harmony in your home. It's shifted us from investing in our flesh to an ongoing investment in the Spirit. We also wish to be understood like the millennials you may not agree with all our choices, home decor, or facets of life we've carved out like artwork, literally. I'd like to say it's been a quick, simple shift, but we've had to make some eye-opening and major decisions in our behaviors. Not because of lack but for the greater cause as our goals, dreams, and desires have shifted. In order to move forward, you must look for a moment to learn from life's challenges and be disciplined. Discipline brings about wisdom because we learn something through every challenge no matter its size. Not only did our goals shift, but the mind-set for why we were creating these goals has changed. So when asked what does being a minimalist mean, just remember one word: humble. I pray and hope through my testimonies I'll share from my journey, you'll humble your heart, create your own goals, and integrate those pieces of minimalism that speak to you throughout this book. Most importantly, remember to move not just the stuff from your life but make it a lifetime journey to be more with less. Abscission will tell our story of the paradigm shift we made toward living an intentionally simple life and finding where needing less left us wanting more: more time, more appreciation, more quality, more freedom, more meaning, more purpose, more creating, more hope, more health, more wisdom, more discipline, and more life to be lived fully. Like a tree has its seasons shedding old leaves and bearing new fruit, abscission is the full circle definition of how minimalism takes place in your life once you fully understand what it has to offer.

Abscission is a passionate journey through varied emotions experienced in human life. It voices from the pain of loneliness and yearning of heart for love to the radiance of such idealism that can transcend all pain and sacrifice all joy for the sake of service above self. It glorifies the innocence of romantic love to the height of divinity and then breaks all barriers of individualism to mingle itself with universal love. On one hand it speaks of the beauty of friendship, love, hope and purity of the lover in us and on the other hand, it reveals the ugliness and evils that exist in loneliness and tarnish friendships after long relationships. The simplicity of the language can convey its message to people from all walks of life and the depth of feelings reflected in the words can touch evey soul, which has never seen the world through the melody of poems, and make it love poetry.

Poetry has been a constant, if distant presence throughout the life of Marc Andre Meyers. It determined, by some tortuous path, his destiny, and impelled him into scientific research. The poems in Abscission/Implosion present the evolution of the author's thoughts and dreams, from late childhood to mature adulthood. The themes of love, justice, honor permeate these poems that have a sensuality that is clearly Latin American, tempered perhaps with North American sel-assuredness.They are easily readable and contain little of the hermeticism of many contemporary literary convolutions. A feast for the senses!