The impact of grazing cattle on soil physical properties and nutrient concentrations in overland flow from pasture, Part B

This report has been prepared as part of the Environmental Research Technological Development and Innovation Programme 2000–2006. The programme is financed by the Irish Government under the National Development Plan 2000–2006.End of project reportThe loss of nutrients from agricultural land to water bodies is a serious concern in many countries. To gain information on the contribution of grazing animals to diffuse nutrient losses from pasture areas to water, this study looked at the impact of cattle on nutrient concentrations in overland flow and on soil hydrology (bulk density, macroporosity and resistance to penetration). Rainfall simulations to produce overland flow were conducted and soil physical measurements were taken on experimental plots assigned to one of two treatments: 1) cattle had unrestricted access to the plot; 2) cattle could graze the plot but they could neither walk on the plot area nor deposit excrements on it. Areas to which the cattle had free access were characterised by 57%-83% lower macroporosity, by 8%-17% higher bulk density and by 27%-50% higher resistance to penetration than areas from which the cattle were excluded. The nutrients in overland flow from grassland that were affected by the presence of grazing animals were mainly the particulate nitrogen, the organic phosphorus and the potassium concentrations. Overall, the presence of cattle had a longer lasting effect on the soil hydrological parameters measured than on the nutrient concentrations in overland flow.Environmental Protection Agenc

An Advanced, Three-Dimensional Plotting Library for Astronomy

We present a new, three-dimensional (3D) plotting library with advanced features, and support for standard and enhanced display devices. The library - S2PLOT - is written in C and can be used by C, C++ and FORTRAN programs on GNU/Linux and Apple/OSX systems. S2PLOT draws objects in a 3D (x,y,z) Cartesian space and the user interactively controls how this space is rendered at run time. With a PGPLOT inspired interface, S2PLOT provides astronomers with elegant techniques for displaying and exploring 3D data sets directly from their program code, and the potential to use stereoscopic and dome display devices. The S2PLOT architecture supports dynamic geometry and can be used to plot time-evolving data sets, such as might be produced by simulation codes. In this paper, we introduce S2PLOT to the astronomical community, describe its potential applications, and present some example uses of the library.Comment: 12 pages, 10 eps figures (higher resolution versions available from http://astronomy.swin.edu.au/s2plot/paperfigures). The S2PLOT library is available for download from http://astronomy.swin.edu.au/s2plo

Historical Grassland Turboveg Database Project. 2067 Relevés recorded by Dr Austin O’ Sullivan 1962 – 1982

User Guide and CD of Database are availableEnd of project reportThe more common grassland types occupy about 70% of the Irish landscape (O’Sullivan, 1982), but information on these vegetation types is rare. Generally, Irish grasslands are distinguished based on the intensity of their management (improved or semi-natural grasslands), and the drainage conditions and acidity of the soil (dry or wet, calcareous or acidic grassland types) (Fossitt, 2000). However, little is known about their floristic composition and the changes in floristic composition over time. The current knowledge on grassland vegetation is mostly based on a survey of Irish grasslands by Dr. Austin O’Sullivan completed in the 1960’s and 1970’s (O’Sullivan, 1982). In this survey O’Sullivan identified Irish grassland types in accordance with the classification of continental European grasslands based on the principles of the School of Phytosociology. O’Sullivan distinguished five main grassland types introducing agricultural criteria as well as floristic criteria into grassland classification (O’Sullivan, 1982). In 1978, O’Sullivan made an attempt at mapping Ireland’s vegetation types including the five grassland types distinguished in his later publication as well as two types of peatland vegetation (Figures 1 and 2). This map was completed using 1960’s soils maps (National Soil Survey, Teagasc, Johnstown Castle) and a subsample of the dataset on the composition of Irish grasslands. Phytosociological classification of vegetation is based on the full floristic composition of the vegetation as determined by assessing the abundance and spatial structure of the plant species in a given area. The actual area of the survey (or relevé) is determined according to strict criteria, which include how representative the sample area is for the wider vegetation (i.e. how many of the species found in the wider area are also present in the survey area).National Parks and Wildlife Service of the Department of the Environment, Heritage and Local Government, Dublin, Ireland

Future Directions in Astronomy Visualisation

Despite the large budgets spent annually on astronomical research equipment such as telescopes, instruments and supercomputers, the general trend is to analyse and view the resulting datasets using small, two-dimensional displays. We report here on alternative advanced image displays, with an emphasis on displays that we have constructed, including stereoscopic projection, multiple projector tiled displays and a digital dome. These displays can provide astronomers with new ways of exploring the terabyte and petabyte datasets that are now regularly being produced from all-sky surveys, high-resolution computer simulations, and Virtual Observatory projects. We also present a summary of the Advanced Image Displays for Astronomy (AIDA) survey which we conducted from March-May 2005, in order to raise some issues pertitent to the current and future level of use of advanced image displays.Comment: 13 pages, 2 figures, accepted for publication in PAS

Developing Sous Vide/Freezing Systems for Ready-Meal omponents

End of project reportSous vide cooking involves sealing raw or par-cooked food in a vacuumised laminated plastic pouch or container, cooking by controlled heating, rapid chilling and then re-heating for consumption. The chilled storage period is up to 21 days at 0 to 3oC. The recommended thermal process for sous vide products is 90oC for 10min or its time-temperature equivalent. Concerns about the safety of sous vide products, mainly due to the potential for temperature abuse in the chill chain, has prevented the widespread use of this technology. The role of the current project, therefore, was to investigate sous vide cooking followed by freezing, as a safe alternative to sous vide/chilling for 10 ready-meal components i.e. carbohydrates (potatoes, pasta, rice), vegetables (carrots, broccoli) and muscle foods (salmon, cod, chicken, beef and lamb).National Development Plan (NDP

Immersive Gaming in a Hemispherical Dome Case study: Blender Game Engine

In the following we will discuss a cost effectiveimmersive gaming environment and the implementation inBlender [1], an open source game engine. This extends traditionalapproaches to immersive gaming which tend to concentrateon multiple flat screens, sometimes surrounding the player, orcylindrical [2] displays. In the former there are unnatural gapsbetween each display due to screen framing, in both cases theyrarely cover the 180 horizontal degree field of view and areeven less likely to cover the vertical field of view required tofully engage the field of view of the human visual system. Thesolution introduced here concentrates on seamless hemisphericaldisplays, planetariums in general and the iDome [3] as a specificcase study. The methodology discussed is equally appropriateto other realtime 3D environments that are available in sourcecode form or have a suitably powerful means of modifying therendering pipeline

Spitzer spectral line mapping of protostellar outflows: I. Basic data and outflow energetics

We report the results of spectroscopic mapping observations carried out toward protostellar outflows in the BHR71, L1157, L1448, NGC 2071, and VLA 1623 molecular regions using the Infrared Spectrograph (IRS) of the Spitzer Space Telescope. These observations, covering the 5.2 - 37 micron spectral region, provide detailed maps of the 8 lowest pure rotational lines of molecular hydrogen and of the [SI] 25.25 micron and [FeII] 26.0 micron fine structure lines. The molecular hydrogen lines, believed to account for a large fraction of the radiative cooling from warm molecular gas that has been heated by a non-dissociative shock, allow the energetics of the outflows to be elucidated. Within the regions mapped towards these 5 outflow sources, total H2 luminosities ranging from 0.02 to 0.75 L(solar) were inferred for the sum of the 8 lowest pure rotational transitions. By contrast, the much weaker [FeII] 26.0 micron fine structure transition traces faster, dissociative shocks; here, only a small fraction of the fast shock luminosity emerges as line radiation that can be detected with Spitzer/IRS.Comment: 38 pages including 17 figures. Accepted for publication in Ap

Dynamical structure of the inner 100 AU of the deeply embedded protostar IRAS 16293-2422

A fundamental question about the early evolution of low-mass protostars is when circumstellar disks may form. High angular resolution observations of molecular transitions in the (sub)millimeter wavelength windows make it possible to investigate the kinematics of the gas around newly-formed stars, for example to identify the presence of rotation and infall. IRAS 16293-2422 was observed with the extended Submillimeter Array (eSMA) resulting in subarcsecond resolution (0.46" x 0.29", i.e. $\sim$ 55 $\times$ 35~AU) images of compact emission from the C$^{17}$O (3-2) and C$^{34}$S (7-6) transitions at 337~GHz (0.89~mm). To recover the more extended emission we have combined the eSMA data with SMA observations of the same molecules. The emission of C$^{17}$O (3-2) and C$^{34}$S (7-6) both show a velocity gradient oriented along a northeast-southwest direction with respect to the continuum marking the location of one of the components of the binary, IRAS16293A. Our combined eSMA and SMA observations show that the velocity field on the 50--400~AU scales is consistent with a rotating structure. It cannot be explained by simple Keplerian rotation around a single point mass but rather needs to take into account the enclosed envelope mass at the radii where the observed lines are excited. We suggest that IRAS 16293-2422 could be among the best candidates to observe a pseudo-disk with future high angular resolution observations.Comment: Accepted for publication in ApJ, 18 pages, 10 figure

Prevalence of atrial fibrillation in a regional Victoria setting, findings from the crossroads studies (2001–2003 and 2016–2018)

Objective: To estimate the prevalence of atrial fibrillation (AF) in regional Victoria at two time points (2001-2003 and 2016-2018), and to assess the use of electrocardiogram rhythm strips in a rural, community-based study for AF investigation. Design: Repeated cross-sectional design involving survey of residents of randomly selected households and a clinic. Predictors of AF were assessed using Firth penalised logistic regression, as appropriate for rare events. Setting: Goulburn Valley, Victoria. Participants: Household residents aged >= 16years. Non-pregnant participants aged 18+ were eligible for the clinic. Main outcome measures: Atrial fibrillation by 12 lead electrocardiogram (earlier study) or electrocardiogram rhythm strip (AliveCor (R) device) (recent study). Results: The age standardised prevalence of AF was similar between the two studies (1.6% in the 2001-2003 study and 1.8% in the 2016-2018 study, 95% confidence interval of difference -0.010, 0.014, p = 0.375). The prevalence in participants aged >= 65years was 3.4% (1.0% new cases) in the recent study. Predictors of AF in the earlier study were male sex, older age and previous stroke, while in the recent study they were previous stroke and self-reported diabetes. AliveCor (R) traces were successfully classified by the in-built algorithm (91%) vs physician (100%). Conclusion: The prevalence of AF among community-based participants in regional Victoria was similar to predominantly metropolitan-based studies, and was unchanged over time despite increased rates of risk factors. Electrocardiogram rhythm strip investigation was successfully utilised, and particularly benefited from physician overview