The engineering geology of the Nottingham area, UK

Nottingham was built near a crossing point on the River Trent in the East Midlands of England. Initially, the City developed on a low sandstone hill close to the north bank of the river, which provided a secure, well-drained location above the marshes that bordered the river. Geologically, Nottingham stands at the boundary between Palaeozoic rocks to the north and west, and Mesozoic and Cainozoic strata to the south and east. The area is underlain by coal-bearing Carboniferous Coal Measures, Permian dolomitic limestones, Permo-Triassic mudstones and weak sandstones, Jurassic clays and Quaternary glacial and alluvial deposits. Artificial deposits, resulting from the social, industrial and mineral extraction activities of the past cover the natural deposits over much of the area. This geological environment has underpinned the economic development of the area through the mining of coal (now largely ceased), oil extraction that was important during the Second World War, brickmaking from clays, alluvial sand and gravel extraction from the Trent Valley and gypsum extraction from the Permo-Triassic mudstones. The Permo-Triassic sandstone is a nationally important aquifer and has also been exploited at the surface and from shallow mines for sand. However, this history of the use and exploitation of mineral deposits has created a number of environmental problems including rising groundwater levels, abandoned mine shafts and mining subsidence, and, within the City itself, the occasional collapse of artificial cavities in the sandstone and contaminated land left by industrial activities. Natural constraints on development include gypsum dissolution, landslides, rockfalls, swell-shrink problems in Jurassic clays and flooding. Occasional minor earthquakes are attributed to movements due to coal mining or natural, deep geological structures. Thus, Nottingham’s geological context remains an important consideration when planning its future regeneration and development

Short communication: Development of an equation for estimating methane emissions of dairy cows from milk Fourier transform mid-infrared spectra by using reference data obtained exclusively from respiration chambers

Evaluation and mitigation of enteric methane (CH4) emissions from ruminant livestock, in particular from dairy cows, have acquired global importance for sustainable, climate-smart cattle production. Based on CH4 reference measurements obtained with the SF6 tracer technique to determine ruminal CH4 production, a current equation permits evaluation of individual daily CH4 emissions of dairy cows based on milk Fourier transform mid-infrared (FT-MIR) spectra. However, the respiration chamber (RC) technique is considered to be more accurate than SF6 to measure CH4 production from cattle. This study aimed to develop an equation that allows estimating CH4 emissions of lactating cows recorded in an RC from corresponding milk FT-MIR spectra and to challenge its robustness and relevance through validation processes and its application on a milk spectral database. This would permit confirming the conclusions drawn with the existing equation based on SF6 reference measurements regarding the potential to estimate daily CH4 emissions of dairy cows from milk FT-MIR spectra. A total of 584 RC reference CH4 measurements (mean ± standard deviation of 400 ± 72 g of CH4/d) and corresponding standardized milk mid-infrared spectra were obtained from 148 individual lactating cows between 7 and 321 d in milk in 5 European countries (Germany, Switzerland, Denmark, France, and Northern Ireland). The developed equation based on RC measurements showed calibration and cross-validation coefficients of determination of 0.65 and 0.57, respectively, which is lower than those obtained earlier by the equation based on 532 SF6 measurements (0.74 and 0.70, respectively). This means that the RC-based model is unable to explain the variability observed in the corresponding reference data as well as the SF6-based model. The standard errors of calibration and cross-validation were lower for the RC model (43 and 47 g/d vs. 66 and 70 g/d for the SF6 version, respectively), indicating that the model based on RC data was closer to actual values. The root mean squared error (RMSE) of calibration of 42 g/d represents only 10% of the overall daily CH4 production, which is 23 g/d lower than the RMSE for the SF6-based equation. During the external validation step an RMSE of 62 g/d was observed. When the RC equation was applied to a standardized spectral database of milk recordings collected in the Walloon region of Belgium between January 2012 and December 2017 (1,515,137 spectra from 132,658 lactating cows in 1,176 different herds), an average ± standard deviation of 446 ± 51 g of CH4/d was estimated, which is consistent with the range of the values measured using both RC and SF6 techniques. This study confirmed that milk FT-MIR spectra could be used as a potential proxy to estimate daily CH4 emissions from dairy cows provided that the variability to predict is covered by the model

Detailed Study of the Ursa Major Supercluster of Galaxies Using the 2MASS and SDSS Catalogs

We study the infrared (K_s band) properties of clusters of galaxies in the Ursa Major supercluster using data from 2MASS (Two-Micron All-Sky Survey) and SDSS (Sloan Digital Sky Survey). We identified three large filaments with mean redshifts of z = 0.051, 0.060, and 0.071. All clusters of the supercluster are located in these filaments. We determined the total K_s-band luminosities and masses for 11 clusters of galaxies within comparable physical regions (within a radius R_200 close to the virial radius) using a homogeneous method. We constructed a combined luminosity function for the supercluster in this region, which can be described by the Schechter function with the following parameters: M*_K = -24^m.50 and \alpha = -0.98. The infrared luminosities of the clusters of galaxies correlate with their masses; the M/L_K ratios of the systems increase with their masses (luminosities), with most of the Ursa Major clusters of galaxies (particularly the richer ones) closely following the relations derived previously for a large sample of clusters and groups of galaxies. The total mass-to-infrared-luminosity ratio is 52 M_{\odot}/L_{\odot} for six Abell clusters and 49 M_{\odot}/L_{\odot} for all of the clusters, except Anon2.Comment: 16 pages, 5 figure

Rings and bars: unmasking secular evolution of galaxies

Secular evolution gradually shapes galaxies by internal processes, in contrast to early cosmological evolution which is more rapid. An important driver of secular evolution is the flow of gas from the disk into the central regions, often under the influence of a bar. In this paper, we review several new observational results on bars and nuclear rings in galaxies. They show that these components are intimately linked to each other, and to the properties of their host galaxy. We briefly discuss how upcoming observations, e.g., imaging from the Spitzer Survey of Stellar Structure in Galaxies (S4G), will lead to significant further advances in this area of research.Comment: Invited review at "Galaxies and their Masks", celebrating Ken Freeman's 70-th birthday, Sossusvlei, Namibia, April 2010. To be published by Springer, New York, editors D.L. Block, K.C. Freeman, & I. Puerari; minor change

A measurement of the tau mass and the first CPT test with tau leptons

We measure the mass of the tau lepton to be 1775.1+-1.6(stat)+-1.0(syst.) MeV using tau pairs from Z0 decays. To test CPT invariance we compare the masses of the positively and negatively charged tau leptons. The relative mass difference is found to be smaller than 3.0 10^-3 at the 90% confidence level.Comment: 10 pages, 4 figures, Submitted to Phys. Letts.

Measurement of the B0 Lifetime and Oscillation Frequency using B0->D*+l-v decays

The lifetime and oscillation frequency of the B0 meson has been measured using B0->D*+l-v decays recorded on the Z0 peak with the OPAL detector at LEP. The D*+ -> D0pi+ decays were reconstructed using an inclusive technique and the production flavour of the B0 mesons was determined using a combination of tags from the rest of the event. The results t_B0 = 1.541 +- 0.028 +- 0.023 ps, Dm_d = 0.497 +- 0.024 +- 0.025 ps-1 were obtained, where in each case the first error is statistical and the second systematic.Comment: 17 pages, 4 figures, submitted to Phys. Lett.

First Measurement of Z/gamma* Production in Compton Scattering of Quasi-real Photons

We report the first observation of Z/gamma* production in Compton scattering of quasi-real photons. This is a subprocess of the reaction e+e- to e+e-Z/gamma*, where one of the final state electrons is undetected. Approximately 55 pb-1 of data collected in the year 1997 at an e+e- centre-of-mass energy of 183 GeV with the OPAL detector at LEP have been analysed. The Z/gamma* from Compton scattering has been detected in the hadronic decay channel. Within well defined kinematic bounds, we measure the product of cross-section and Z/gamma* branching ratio to hadrons to be (0.9+-0.3+-0.1) pb for events with a hadronic mass larger than 60 GeV, dominated by (e)eZ production. In the hadronic mass region between 5 GeV and 60 GeV, dominated by (e)egamma* production, this product is found to be (4.1+-1.6+-0.6) pb. Our results agree with the predictions of two Monte Carlo event generators, grc4f and PYTHIA.Comment: 18 pages, LaTeX, 5 eps figures included, submitted to Physics Letters

Search for Higgs Bosons in e+e- Collisions at 183 GeV

The data collected by the OPAL experiment at sqrts=183 GeV were used to search for Higgs bosons which are predicted by the Standard Model and various extensions, such as general models with two Higgs field doublets and the Minimal Supersymmetric Standard Model (MSSM). The data correspond to an integrated luminosity of approximately 54pb-1. None of the searches for neutral and charged Higgs bosons have revealed an excess of events beyond the expected background. This negative outcome, in combination with similar results from searches at lower energies, leads to new limits for the Higgs boson masses and other model parameters. In particular, the 95% confidence level lower limit for the mass of the Standard Model Higgs boson is 88.3 GeV. Charged Higgs bosons can be excluded for masses up to 59.5 GeV. In the MSSM, mh > 70.5 GeV and mA > 72.0 GeV are obtained for tan{beta}>1, no and maximal scalar top mixing and soft SUSY-breaking masses of 1 TeV. The range 0.8 < tanb < 1.9 is excluded for minimal scalar top mixing and m{top} < 175 GeV. More general scans of the MSSM parameter space are also considered.Comment: 49 pages. LaTeX, including 33 eps figures, submitted to European Physical Journal

A Measurement of the Product Branching Ratio f(b->Lambda_b).BR(Lambda_b->Lambda X) in Z0 Decays

The product branching ratio, f(b->Lambda_b).BR(Lambda_b->Lambda X), where Lambda_b denotes any weakly-decaying b-baryon, has been measured using the OPAL detector at LEP. Lambda_b are selected by the presence of energetic Lambda particles in bottom events tagged by the presence of displaced secondary vertices. A fit to the momenta of the Lambda particles separates signal from B meson and fragmentation backgrounds. The measured product branching ratio is f(b->Lambda_b).BR(Lambda_b->Lambda X) = (2.67+-0.38(stat)+0.67-0.60(sys))% Combined with a previous OPAL measurement, one obtains f(b->Lambda_b).BR(Lambda_b->Lambda X) = (3.50+-0.32(stat)+-0.35(sys))%.Comment: 16 pages, LaTeX, 3 eps figs included, submitted to the European Physical Journal

WW Production Cross Section and W Branching Fractions in e+e- Collisions at 189 GeV

From a data sample of 183 pb^-1 recorded at a center-of-mass energy of roots = 189 GeV with the OPAL detector at LEP, 3068 W-pair candidate events are selected. Assuming Standard Model W boson decay branching fractions, the W-pair production cross section is measured to be sigmaWW = 16.30 +- 0.34(stat.) +- 0.18(syst.) pb. When combined with previous OPAL measurements, the W boson branching fraction to hadrons is determined to be 68.32 +- 0.61(stat.) +- 0.28(syst.) % assuming lepton universality. These results are consistent with Standard Model expectations.Comment: 22 pages, 5 figures, submitted to Phys. Lett.