A stochastic model for early placental development

In the human, placental structure is closely related to placental function and consequent pregnancy outcome. Studies have noted abnormal placental shape in small-for-gestational age infants which extends to increased lifetime risk of cardiovascular disease. The origins and determinants of placental shape are incompletely under-stood and are difficult to study in vivo. In this paper we model the early development of the placenta in the human, based on the hypothesis that this is driven by dynamics dominated by a chemo-attractant effect emanating from proximal spiral arteries in the decidua. We derive and explore a two-dimensional stochastic model for these events, and investigate the effects of loss of spiral arteries in regions near to the cord insertion on the shape of the placenta. This model demonstrates that placental shape is highly variable and disruption of spiral arteries can exert profound effects on placental shape, particularly if this disruption is close to the cord insertion. Thus, placental shape reflects the underlying maternal vascular bed. Abnormal placental shape may reflect an abnormal uterine environment, which predisposes to pregnancy complications

Eddleston groundwater and soil moisture monitoring

This report describes work undertaken to continue monitoring at two experimental sites on the Eddleston Water, a tributary of the River Tweed. These experimental sites were set up as part of the wider Eddleston Water Project, which aims to reduce the impact of flooding in and downstream of the village of Eddleston. For a full description of the project, including how and why the monitoring network was established, please see Spray et al. (2016). The first experimental site is part of Darnhall Mains Farm, adjacent to the village of Eddleston (Ó Dochartaigh et al. 2019). It is approximately 0.2 km2 (approximately 400 m by 500 m) and covers most of the width of the Eddleston Water floodplain on both sides of the river (Figure 1). The site is farmland predominately comprising mixed livestock farming on improved grassland, but part of the floodplain has been fenced off, which has allowed trees to be planted and vegetation to recover. The monitoring at this site comprises eight boreholes in which groundwater level is recorded. The data are stored with the National Geoscience Data Centre (https://www.bgs.ac.uk/geological-data/national-geoscience-data-centre/, ID 128585). A key objective of the experimental site is to improve understanding of the role of groundwater in floodplain environments and during flooding. In particular, we want to understand the role of antecedent conditions in controlling the ability of the floodplain to act as a buffer between hillslope and river. The second experimental site is the Cringletie hillslope observatory (Figure 1, Peskett et al. 2020). The site is approximately 2500 m2 (approximately 50 m by 50 m) and comprises two transects parallel to the slope: one through a narrow forest strip and one on improved grassland used for mixed livestock farming (see Peskett et al. 2020). The installed monitoring equipment comprises soil moisture sensors, rain gauges and piezometers fitted with pressure transducers. The site was set up by Dr Leo Peskett as part of his PhD and was handed over to the BGS in 2020. The aim of the experimental site is to determine whether forest strips planted perpendicular to a hillslope can reduce surface runoff during flood events. In 2020, the BGS received funding from the Scottish Government to check the monitoring equipment; download all data and reset the loggers; replace broken equipment; and collate, process and quality check the data. In 2020/21, fieldwork was affected by the Covid-19 restrictions with colleagues travelling separately to the sites and maintaining social distancing, among other precautions

Quantum isometries and noncommutative spheres

We introduce and study two new examples of noncommutative spheres: the half-liberated sphere, and the free sphere. Together with the usual sphere, these two spheres have the property that the corresponding quantum isometry group is "easy", in the representation theory sense. We present as well some general comments on the axiomatization problem, and on the "untwisted" and "non-easy" case.Comment: 16 page

Eddleston groundwater and soil moisture monitoring

This report describes work undertaken to continue monitoring at two experimental sites on the Eddleston Water, a tributary of the River Tweed. The Eddleston experimental sites were set up as part of the wider Eddleston Water Project, which aims to reduce the impact of flooding in and downstream of the village of Eddleston. The first experimental site is part of Darnhall Mains Farm, adjacent to the village of Eddleston (Ó Dochartaigh et al. 2019). It is approximately 0.2 km2 (approximately 400 m by 500 m) and covers most of the width of the Eddleston Water floodplain on both sides of the river (Figure 1). The site is farmland predominately comprising mixed livestock farming on improved grassland, but part of the floodplain has been fenced off, which has allowed trees to be planted and vegetation to recover. The monitoring at this site comprises eight boreholes in which groundwater level is recorded. The data are stored with the National Geoscience Data Centre (https://www.bgs.ac.uk/geological-data/national-geoscience-data-centre/, ID 128585). A key objective of the experimental site is to improve understanding of the role of groundwater in floodplain environments and in flooding, and of how groundwater interacts with climate, rivers and soils. The second experimental site is the Cringletie hillslope observatory (Figure 1, Peskett et al. 2020). The site is approximately 2500 m2 (approximately 50 m by 50 m) and comprises two transects parallel to the slope: one through a narrow forest strip and one on improved grassland used for mixed livestock farming (see Peskett et al. 2020). The installed monitoring equipment comprises soil moisture sensors, rain gauges and piezometers fitted with pressure transducers. The site was set up by Dr Leo Peskett as part of his PhD and was handed over to the BGS in 2020. The aim of the experimental site is to determine whether forest strips planted perpendicular to a hillslope can reduce surface runoff during flood events. Further information about the observatory is available in Peskett et al, 2020 (© 2019 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved). In 2022/23, the BGS received funding from the Scottish Government to check the monitoring equipment; download all data and reset the loggers; replace broken equipment; and collate, process and quality check the dat

The contribution of qualitative behavioural assessment to appraisal of livestock welfare

Animal welfare is increasingly important for the Australian livestock industries, to maintain social licence to practice as well as ensuring market share overseas. Improvement of animal welfare in the livestock industries requires several important key steps. Paramount among these, objective measures are needed for welfare assessment that will enable comparison and contrast of welfare implications of husbandry procedures or housing options. Such measures need to be versatile (can be applied under a wide range of on- and off-farm situations), relevant (reveal aspects of the animal’s affective or physiological state that is relevant to their welfare), reliable (can be repeated with confidence in the results), relatively economic to apply, and they need to have broad acceptance by all stakeholders. Qualitative Behavioural Assessment (QBA) is an integrated measure that characterises behaviour as a dynamic, expressive body language. QBA is a versatile tool requiring little specialist equipment suiting application to in situ assessments that enables comparative, hypothesis-driven evaluation of various industry-relevant practices. QBA is being increasingly used as part of animal welfare assessments in Europe, and although most other welfare assessment methods record ‘problems’ (e.g. lameness, injury scores, and so on), QBA can capture positive aspects of animal welfare (e.g. positively engaged with their environment, playfulness). In this viewpoint, we review the outcomes of recent QBA studies and discuss the potential application of QBA, in combination with other methods, as a welfare assessment tool for the Australian livestock industries

The effect of spring burning on competitive ranking of prairie species

A common explanation for the changes in species abundance following a fire is a shift in competitive ranking. However, experimental tests have been inconsistent and generally do not support this explanation. I examined the competitive ability of an abundant C 4 grass, Andropogon gerardii , and a C 3 forb, Ratibida pinnata , in a prairie remnant in northern Ohio, USA, for each of three years following a spring burn in 1996. While the abiotic environment directly influenced both species similarly, relative competitive abilities in terms of growth changed markedly: in 1996 Andropogon was less inhibited by neighbors; in 1997 both Andropogon and Ratibida had similar competitive abilities; and in 1998 Ratibida was less inhibited by neighbors. This shift in competitive response ranking paralleled the changes in relative abundance for the two species. In contrast, the effect of neighbors on survival changed markedly over time but did not differ among the two species. Thus, fire may influence species abundance through changing species competitive response ranking, at least in terms of growth.Peer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/72362/1/3236873.pd

Dimensional Reduction of the 5D Kaluza-Klein Geodesic Deviation Equation

In the work of Kerner et al. (2001) the problem of the geodesic deviation in a 5D Kaluza Klein background is faced. The 4D space-time projection of the resulting equation coincides with the usual geodesic deviation equation in the presence of the Lorenz force, provided that the fifth component of the deviation vector satisfies an extra constraint which takes into account the $q/m$ conservation along the path. The analysis was performed setting as a constant the scalar field which appears in Kaluza-Klein model. Here we focus on the extension of such a work to the model where the presence of the scalar field is considered. Our result coincides with that of Kerner et al. when the minimal case $\phi=1$ is considered, while it shows some departures in the general case. The novelty due to the presence of $\phi$ is that the variation of the $q/m$ between the two geodesic lines is not conserved during the motion; an exact law for such a behaviour has been derived.Comment: 9 page

Anisotropic optical properties of single-crystal GdBa2Cu3O7-delta

The optical spectrum of reduced-T(c) GdBa2Cu3O7-delta has been measured for polarizations parallel and perpendicular to the ab plane. The sample was an oxygen-deficient single crystal with a large face containing the c axis. The polarized reflectance from this face was measured from 20-300 K in the spectral region from 30-3000 cm-1, with 300 K data to 30 000 cm-1. Kramers-Kronig analysis was used to determine the spectral dependence of the ab and the c components of the dielectric tensor. The optical properties are strongly anisotropic. The ab-plane response resembles that of other reduced-T(c) materials whereas the c axis, in contrast, shows only the presence of several phonons. There is a complete absence of charge carrier response along c above and below T(c). This observation allows us to set an upper limit to the free-carrier spectral weight for transport perpendicular to the CuO2 planes

Review of livestock welfare indicators relevant for the Australian live export industry

Animal welfare is an important issue for the live export industry (LEI), in terms of economic returns, community attitudes and international socio-political relations. Mortality has traditionally been the main welfare measure recorded within the LEI; however, high mortality incidents are usually acted upon after adverse events occur, reducing the scope for proactive welfare enhancement. We reviewed 71 potential animal welfare measures, identifying those measures that would be appropriate for use throughout the LEI for feeder and slaughter livestock species, and categorised these as animal-, environment- and resource-based. We divided the live export supply chain into three sectors: (1) Australian facilities, (2) vessel and (3) destination country facilities. After reviewing the relevant regulations for each sector of the industry, we identified 38 (sector 1), 35 (sector 2) and 26 (sector 3) measures already being collected under current practice. These could be used to form a ‘welfare information dashboard’: a LEI-specific online interface for collecting data that could contribute towards standardised industry reporting. We identified another 20, 25 and 28 measures that are relevant to each LEI sector (sectors 1, 2, 3, respectively), and that could be developed and integrated into a benchmarking system in the future

Giant Multipole Resonances in the (3-He,t) Reaction at 200 MeV

This work was supported by the National Science Foundation Grants NSF PHY 78-22774 A03, NSF PHY 81-14339, and by Indiana Universit