Farm Forestry: Land Availability, Take-up Rates and Economics.

End of Project ReportOf the Member States in the European Union Ireland has the lowest proportion of land area covered by forest. Given the large surpluses of agricultural commodities and expected future increases in farm productivity, less land resources will be needed to produce EU food requirements. The Irish government has, therefore, adopted a target to plant 25,000 ha of new forest annually to the year 2000 and thereafter a target of 20,000 ha annually. Substantial incentives to promote afforestation are in place, but with the exception of 1995, the area of land planted has been considerably below target. The objectives of this study is to examine (i) the availability of land for afforestation, (ii) the factors which impede or promote the uptake of forestry and (iii) the relative economic returns from forestry in a farm context. The availability of land via the market has steadily diminished between 1990 and 1998. The area of agricultural land sold in the period fell from 33,282 ha to 8,656 ha, a fall of 74 per cent. At the same time average price increased from £3,964 per ha to £6,865, an increase of 72 per cent. Surveys of the opinions of landholders indicate that attitudes toward afforestation are becoming more positive in the 1990s. This is reflected in a substantial increase in the area of farm forestry during the decade. However, a survey of opinions of farmers who had already planted forestry indicated a perception that it is not a suitable replacement for conventional farm enterprises on `good' farmland. Land planted in 78 per cent of sites in this survey was previously utilised as either summer grazing or rough grazing. The principal motivation for planting was the favourable returns to forestry on land that had limited alternative use. The relative economic returns of forestry in comparison with farm enterprises such as dairying and cattle were assessed post CAP reform (2007), using linear programming techniques. Scenarios involved alternative uses of the farm resources such as extensive/intensive land use, forestry/no forestry and off farm job/no off farm job. The objective was to examine the profitability of forestry on farms in situations in which livestock enterprises qualified for REPS and extensification payments and in which off farm jobs were (a) not available and (b) available at different wage levels. Non economic considerations, such as the perceived unsuitability of forestry as a replacement for agricultural enterprises on `good' land and the irrevocability of the decision to plant forestry could, come into play. In order to reflect these non-economic considerations, together with the higher risk associated with investment by individuals, a high discount rate (10%) was used in calculating returns to forestry. The analysis shows that in situations in which off farm jobs are either not available or are available at a low wage level, extensification and REPS payments enable efficient livestock enterprises to compete with forestry. In these situations forestry is a profit maximiser only on farms which have surplus land, having first qualified for both extensification and REPS on existing livestock enterprises. However, the availability of off farm earnings at or near the industrial wage rate leads to increases in the forestry area, sometimes to the exclusion of cattle enterprises. Economic criteria therefore could mean that large areas of land could be transferred to forestry from conventional agriculture in the post 1999 CAP reform situation. Economics may not, however, be the most appropriate arbiter of such a decision

Palladium catalysed sequential imine arylation/Suzuki–Miyaura coupling: synthesis of a-(biarylyl)benzylamines

report an innovative, high yielding one-pot sequential catalytic imine arylation/SuzukieMiyaura cross-coupling reaction, which converts suitably activated imine substrates to various biarylarylmethyl amine products using several commercial Pd catalysts. Many biarylarylmethyl amine molecules are biologically active. Insightful computational studies detail the mechanism of the imine arylation process. The sequence of reactions is likely to be dependent on the reaction conditions

Strange Particle Production at RHIC

We report STAR measurements of mid-rapidity yields for the $\Lambda$, $\bar{\Lambda}$, $K^{0}_{S}$, $\Xi^{-}$, $\bar{\Xi}^{+}$, $\Omega^{-}$, and $\bar{\Omega}^{+}$ particles in Cu+Cu and Au+Au $\sqrt{s_{NN}} = 200$ GeV collisions. We show that at a given number of participating nucleons, bulk strangeness production is higher in Cu+Cu collisions compared to Au+Au collisions at the same center of mass energy, counter to predictions from the Canonical formalism. We compare both the Cu+Cu and Au+Au yields to AMPT and EPOS predictions, and find they reproduce key qualitative aspects of the data. Finally, we investigate other scaling parameters and find bulk strangeness production for both the measured data and theoretical predictions, scales better with the number participants that undergo more than one collision.Comment: Conference proceedings for Hot Quarks 2008, 5 pages and 4 figure

Child-computer interaction, ubiquitous technologies, and big data

In this forum we celebrate research that helps to successfully bring the benefits of computing technologies to children, older adults, people with disabilities, and other populations that are often ignored in the design of mass-marketed products. The children’s technology landscape is changing quickly. The ubiquity of interactive technologies means children can access them just about anytime, anywhere. At the same time, these technologies constantly collect data from and about children, bringing them into the age of big data, voluntarily or not. These developments have the potential to significantly change children’s relationship to technology and the long-term impact of technology use. To discuss these changes, the child-computer-interaction community held a special interest group (SIG) meeting during the CHI 2018 conference

Experimental determination of the effective strong coupling constant

We present a first attempt to experimentally extract an effective strong coupling constant that we define to be a low Q2 extension of a previous definition by S. Brodsky et al. following an initial work of G. Grunberg. Using Jefferson Lab data and sum rules, we establish its Q2-behavior over the complete Q2-range. The result is compared to effective coupling constants inferred from different processes and to calculations based on Schwinger-Dyson equations, hadron spectroscopy or lattice QCD. Although the connection between the experimentally extracted effective coupling constants and the calculations is not established it is interesting to note that their behaviors are similar.Comment: Published in Physics Letters B 650 4 24

Chemostratigraphy of Neoproterozoic carbonates: implications for 'blind dating'

The delta C-13(carb) and Sr-87/Sr-86 secular variations in Neoproteozoic seawater have been used for the purpose of 'isotope stratigraphy' but there are a number of problems that can preclude its routine use. In particular, it cannot be used with confidence for 'blind dating'. The compilation of isotopic data on carbonate rocks reveals a high level of inconsistency between various carbon isotope age curves constructed for Neoproteozoic seawater, caused by a relatively high frequency of both global and local delta C-13(carb) fluctuations combined with few reliable age determinations. Further complication is caused by the unresolved problem as to whether two or four glaciations, and associated negative delta C-13(carb) excursions, can be reliably documented. Carbon isotope stratigraphy cannot be used alone for geological correlation and 'blind dating'. Strontium isotope stratigraphy is a more reliable and precise tool for stratigraphic correlations and indirect age determinations. Combining strontium and carbon isotope stratigraphy, several discrete ages within the 590-544 Myr interval, and two age-groups at 660-610 and 740-690 Myr can be resolved

An introduction to neonatal EEG

Electroencephalography (EEG) is used in neonatal care to assess encephalopathy, seizure recognition and classification, to make epilepsy syndrome diagnoses and to assess the maturity of neonatal brain activity. A basic understanding of the EEG is very helpful in ensuring that clinicians gain as much information as possible from this helpful, non-invasive investigation. The neonatal EEG is complex and accurate reporting requires detailed clinical information to be provided on request forms. Even when this is provided EEG reports are frequently returned to the neonatal unit loaded with technical details, making it difficult for neonatal staff to fully understand them. This article reviews the basics of EEG, the changes seen with increasing gestational age, and changes seen in common pathologies. We also provide a structured approach to the interpretation of the neonatal EEG report, and discuss its role in prognostication. Amplitude integrated EEG is reviewed in our companion paper

How to avoid a swift kick in the chameleons

Recently, it was argued that the conformal coupling of the chameleon to matter fields created an issue for early universe cosmology. As standard model degrees of freedom become non-relativistic in the early universe, the chameleon is attracted towards a “surfing'' solution, so that it arrives at the potential minimum with too large a velocity. This leads to rapid variations in the chameleon's mass and excitation of high energy modes, casting doubts on the classical treatment at Big Bang Nucleosynthesis. Here we present the DBI chameleon, a consistent high energy modification of the chameleon theory that dynamically renders it weakly coupled to matter during the early universe thereby eliminating the adverse effects of the `kicks'. This is done without any fine tuning of the coupling between the chameleon and matter fields, and retains its screening ability in the solar system. We demonstrate this explicitly with a combination of analytic and numerical results

Neonatal cerebral function monitoring – understanding the amplitude integrated EEG

Amplitude integrated electroencephalography (aEEG) is produced by cerebral function monitors (CFM), and is increasingly used in neonates following research into hypothermia for hypoxic ischaemic encephalopathy in term infants. Formal training packages in aEEG in term infants are limited. aEEG is used less often in clinical practice in preterm infants, and requires an understanding of the normal changes seen with increasing gestational age. A number of classifications for aEEG interpretation exist; some purely for term neonates born, and others encompassing both preterm and term neonates. This article reviews the basics of aEEG, its indications and limitations. We also discuss its role in prognostication in term and preterm infants