Scoping biological indicators of soil quality Phase II. Defra Final Contract Report SP0534

This report presents results from a field assessment of a limited suite of potential biological indicators of soil quality to investigate their suitability for national-scale soil monitoring

Positron lifetime spectroscopy applied to the study of defects in metals and semiconductors

Studies have been made of fast timing techniques in various types of positron lifetime spectrometer and of the analysis procedures used for extracting positron lifetime and intensity values. Evaluation is made in terms of their usefulness and reproducibility in high resolution studies of lattice defects and their formation. The optimisation of a Fast-Slow 4-Way Routing Positron Lifetime Spectrometer has been attempted and the results are discussed in terms of changes in important spectrum parameters which have possibly been overlooked on comparative systems. Its viability as a non-destructive testing technique is considered. A Fast-Slow and a Fast-Fast Positron Lifetime Spectrometer have been constructed and studied. The Fast-Fast system has been developed such that it utilises the detector dynode pulses for timing, rather than the conventional anode pulse. By further optimisation of the time-pickoff method, a substantial improvement in the resolution has resulted. The system has been applied to studies of materials in which the defect types, their concentration and their specific trapping rates for positrons, are in question. A study has been made of the uncertainties arising from different approaches to the computer-aided analysis of multi-component decay spectra. Three analysis programs, all in common use, have been investigated and compared. Results are presented that clearly indicate the underlying reason for discrepancies in published positron lifetime data. A temperature study has been made of thermal vacancy creation in polycrystalline indium from 290 to 425 K by observing the variation in the positron trapping rate. Results are discussed in terms of a simple 2-state trapping model although attention has been paid to the question of pre-thermalisation trapping of positrons as the melting point is approached. Values of the monovacancy formation energy, E, are estimated using several types of analysis method for spectra from three sets of similar temperature measurements using the same sample, each made at differing stages of anneal. Differences in trapping rate variation with temperature (and thus in E) is interpreted as a sign of inadequate annealing and this is used to explain the discrepancies between previously published results. The nature of the defects in various types of gallium arsenide single crystal have been investigated by studying the effect of different dopants and their concentrations upon the rate and intensity of positron trapping at room temperature. Positron lifetimes and intensities in e and n&deg;-irradiated samples have been similarly measured. To determine further the characteristics of the defects, an isochronal anneal study was performed using n&deg;-irradiated gallium arsenide over the temperature range 290 to 725 K. This study was combined with infra-red spectroscopy measurements at each anneal stage in an attempt to correlate the variation of specific lifetime component intensities with those of a selection of infra-red spectral peaks whose origin is in question. The high defect concentrations created by the irradiation are shown to give rise to pre-thermalisation trapping of positrons.<p

Classifying Data Deposited by Scientists into a Library\u27s Data Repository

In 2014, a team of librarians at Brown University began a concerted effort to ingest, describe, and publish scientific data and digital scholarship into the Brown Library’s data repository, the Brown Digital Repository (BDR). The Library targeted outreach towards student, staff, and faculty researchers in the sciences to encourage them to deposit their digital scholarship, such as digital research products related to grants and data related to their publications, into the BDR. This poster presents a snapshot of the types of scholarship that were deposited by scientists during a 2-year period and classifies the nature of these digital objects. The authors looked at the total number of files deposited by scientists over this period and created a tool to classify and categorize these objects in order to characterize the nature of digital scholarship that scientists were depositing. The instrument classified these objects into several categories and subcategories based on concrete criteria. The first category described digital objects associated with a publication. Data in this category were further classified into the subcategories “underlying data” and “supplementary data”. Underlying data included files that contained the results reported in the publication, files necessary for the peer review of the paper’s reported results and/or necessary for replication or reproduction of research results, such as code that was used to analyze results. The supplementary data were files accompanying a publication, including tables, graphs or visualizations that were not able to be included in the paper or were referenced by authors. The second category was files created by student, staff or faculty researchers not related to a publication but could stand alone as scholarly products equivalent to a publication, such as research posters, animations, visualizations, or software. The last category described digital collections, and included three subcategories: legacy data, digital libraries, and grants. Legacy data were digital products published by retiring faculty or faculty nearing the end of their research careers. Digital libraries included the published collections of scientific data not associated with a single publication. These collections could be published by individual researchers, a collaborative team, labs, and/or departments, and their purpose is to make these items available for other researchers to access and reuse. Lastly, the subcategory grant data contained collections of scientific data and/or other types of digital scholarship associated with a funded-project. These collections could be published by individual researchers, a collaborative team, labs, and/or departments, and the purpose is to disseminate items resulting from sponsored research and/or make these resulting grant-funded digital objects available for other researchers and/or the public

Post-traumatic amnesia and the nature of post-traumatic stress disorder after mild traumatic brain injury

The prevalence and nature of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) following mild traumatic brain injury (MTBI) is controversial because of the apparent paradox of suffering PTSD with impaired memory for the traumatic event. In this study, 1167 survivors of traumatic injury were assessed for PTSD symptoms and post-traumatic amnesia during hospitalization, and were subsequently assessed for PTSD 3 months later. At the follow-up assessment, 90 patients met criteria for PTSD; MTBI patients were more likely to develop PTSD than no-TBI patients, after controlling for injury severity. Longer post-traumatic amnesia was associated with less severe intrusive memories at the acute assessment. These findings indicate that PTSD may be more likely following MTBI, however, longer post-traumatic amnesia appears to be protective against selected re-experiencing symptoms

Tunable control of the hydrophilicity and wettability of conjugated polymers by a postpolymerization modification approach.

A facile method to prepare hydrophilic polymers by a postpolymerization nucleophillic aromatic substitution reaction of fluoride on an emissive conjugated polymer (CP) backbone is reported. Quantitative functionalization by a series of monofunctionalized ethylene glycol oligomers, from dimer to hexamer, as well as with high molecular weight polyethylene glycol is demonstrated. The length of the ethylene glycol sidechains is shown to have a direct impact on the surface wettability of the polymer, as well as its solubility in polar solvents. However, the energetics and band gap of the CPs remain essentially constant. This method therefore allows an easy way to modulate the wettability and solubility of CP materials for a diverse series of applications

NN/LM NER e-Science Program, Researcher Support Committee White Paper on Supporting Researcher Needs

As more libraries become involved with Research Data Management (RDM) services, and the new strategic plan of the National Library of Medicine has a data focus, it is important to consider the researchers who create or collect data. There are many surveys and reviews in the literature about how researchers are managing their research data, as well as many case studies and surveys on how libraries are working to provide data management services. But anecdotal evidence and some surveys show that researchers aren’t always going to the library for data support. What can be done to change these perceptions and insure that libraries and librarians are valued partners in research data management? The Committee reviewed the literature and online information to learn more about what researchers actually want help with for data management, as well as what they probably need help with, although they don’t realize it. Whether surveys were conducted by librarians or other researchers, the top things researchers want are storage, including help with the various formats of data that need to be combined, help with analytics and other computational needs, and help with sharing. Many surveys show a need for metadata help, although researchers aren’t asking for it. This suggests that libraries developing data services need to provide, or facilitate access to, data storage and data analysis. They also need to learn about funder sharing policies and required and/or reliable outlets for sharing all types of data. Another survey result is the lack of awareness many researchers have about library data services. Some researchers do not think libraries are capable of storing data or helping with research, but others just aren’t aware that the service exists. Librarians setting up data services will need to make sure that outreach and marketing are part of the planning process from the beginning

\u3csup\u3e1\u3c/sup\u3eH, \u3csup\u3e15\u3c/sup\u3eN, and \u3csup\u3e13\u3c/sup\u3eC Chemical Shift Assignments of the Regulatory Domain of Human Calcineurin

Calcineurin (CaN) plays an important role in T-cell activation, cardiac system development and nervous system function. Previous studies have demonstrated that the regulatory domain (RD) of CaN binds calmodulin (CaM) towards the N-terminal end. Calcium-loaded CaM activates the serine/threonine phosphatase activity of CaN by binding to the RD, although the mechanistic details of this interaction remain unclear. It is thought that CaM binding at the RD displaces the auto-inhibitory domain (AID) from the active site of CaN, activating phosphatase activity. In the absence of calcium-loaded CaM, the RD is disordered, and binding of CaM induces folding in the RD. In order to provide mechanistic detail about the CaM–CaN interaction, we have undertaken an NMR study of the RD of CaN. Complete 13C, 15N and 1H assignments of the RD of CaN were obtained using solution NMR spectroscopy. The backbone of RD has been assigned using a combination of 13C-detected CON-IPAP experiments as well as traditional HNCO, HNCA, HNCOCA and HNCACB-based 3D NMR spectroscopy. A 15N-resolved TOCSY experiment has been used to assign Hα and Hβ chemical shifts

An Assessment of Climate Induced Increase in Soil Water Availability for Soil Bacterial Communities Exposed to Long-Term Differential Phosphorus Fertilization

The fate of future food productivity depends primarily upon the health of soil used for cultivation. For Atlantic Europe, increased precipitation is predicted during both winter and summer months. Interactions between climate change and the fertilization of land used for agriculture are therefore vital to understand. This is particularly relevant for inorganic phosphorus (P) fertilization, which already suffers from resource and sustainability issues. The soil microbiota are a key indicator of soil health and their functioning is critical to plant productivity, playing an important role in nutrient acquisition, particularly when plant available nutrients are limited. A multifactorial, mesocosm study was established to assess the effects of increased soil water availability and inorganic P fertilization, on spring wheat biomass, soil enzymatic activity (dehydrogenase and acid phosphomonoesterase) and soil bacterial community assemblages. Our results highlight the significance of the spring wheat rhizosphere in shaping soil bacterial community assemblages and specific taxa under a moderate soil water content (60%), which was diminished under a higher level of soil water availability (80%). In addition, an interaction between soil water availability and plant presence overrode a long-term bacterial sensitivity to inorganic P fertilization. Together this may have implications for developing sustainable P mobilization through the use of the soil microbiota in future. Spring wheat biomass grown under the higher soil water regime (80%) was reduced compared to the constant water regime (60%) and a reduction in yield could be exacerbated in the future when grown in cultivated soil that have been fertilized with inorganic P. The potential feedback mechanisms for this need now need exploration to understand how future management of crop productivity may be impacted.</p