Sulfur management strategies to improve partial sulfur balance with irrigated peanut production on deep sands

Sands have favourable physical properties for harvesting peanut, but improving S and water use efficiency on these soils remains a challenge. We studied partial S balance in irrigated peanut crops on sands of Central Vietnam to identify key factors of S fertiliser management affecting S inputs and outputs. Field trials were conducted in the spring seasons of 2015 and 2016 to determine the effects of S application rates (0, 15, 30, 45 kg ha−1) on peanut yield and partial S balance. Sulfur balances were negative (-28.3 to 5.6 kg S ha−1) at rates < 30 kg S ha−1, while at higher rates of S fertiliser application that produced maximum pod yield (30 - 45 kg S ha−1), three of four sites showed neutral to slightly positive S balance (1.5 - 5.6 kg S ha−1). The negative partial S balance decreased with increasing S rates but was mostly attributable to the large S removal in peanut shoots (9.7 - 22.3 kg S ha−1) which are used on farms for animal feed. The negative partial S balance results in depletion of soil S reserves and hence efficient recycling of S on farms is critical for sustainable crop production on sands of VN

Priorities for Pig Research in Southeast Asia and the Pacific to 2010

Livestock Production/Industries, Research and Development/Tech Change/Emerging Technologies,

Antiinflammatory activity and biochemical parameters of the ethanol extract of Nopalea cochenillifera (L.) Salm-Dyck (Cactaceae)

We evaluated the antiinflammatory activity of ethanol 70 % extract of Nopalea cochenillifera in a model of induction of granulomatous tissue and the kidney and liver toxicity through serum dosage in rats. During 7 days were administered orally 1.5 ml, 3 times a day, of the ethanol extract of cladodes of N. cochenillifera. We used nimesulide 5 mg/kg/day as positive control and 20 % propylene glycol as a negative control. After the treatment period, we assessed the formation of granulomas and the serum levels of AST, ALT, albumin, creatinine and urea in all groups, noting that the animals treated with the extract showed 53.5 % inhibition formation of granulomatous tissue while the positive control group showed 58.5 %, confirming a significant antiinflammatory activity. There was not a significant elevation of biochemical markers in relation to negative control.Colegio de Farmacéuticos de la Provincia de Buenos Aire

Search for direct production of charginos and neutralinos in events with three leptons and missing transverse momentum in √s = 7 TeV pp collisions with the ATLAS detector

A search for the direct production of charginos and neutralinos in final states with three electrons or muons and missing transverse momentum is presented. The analysis is based on 4.7 fb−1 of proton–proton collision data delivered by the Large Hadron Collider and recorded with the ATLAS detector. Observations are consistent with Standard Model expectations in three signal regions that are either depleted or enriched in Z-boson decays. Upper limits at 95% confidence level are set in R-parity conserving phenomenological minimal supersymmetric models and in simplified models, significantly extending previous results

Jet size dependence of single jet suppression in lead-lead collisions at sqrt(s(NN)) = 2.76 TeV with the ATLAS detector at the LHC

Measurements of inclusive jet suppression in heavy ion collisions at the LHC provide direct sensitivity to the physics of jet quenching. In a sample of lead-lead collisions at sqrt(s) = 2.76 TeV corresponding to an integrated luminosity of approximately 7 inverse microbarns, ATLAS has measured jets with a calorimeter over the pseudorapidity interval |eta| < 2.1 and over the transverse momentum range 38 < pT < 210 GeV. Jets were reconstructed using the anti-kt algorithm with values for the distance parameter that determines the nominal jet radius of R = 0.2, 0.3, 0.4 and 0.5. The centrality dependence of the jet yield is characterized by the jet "central-to-peripheral ratio," Rcp. Jet production is found to be suppressed by approximately a factor of two in the 10% most central collisions relative to peripheral collisions. Rcp varies smoothly with centrality as characterized by the number of participating nucleons. The observed suppression is only weakly dependent on jet radius and transverse momentum. These results provide the first direct measurement of inclusive jet suppression in heavy ion collisions and complement previous measurements of dijet transverse energy imbalance at the LHC.Comment: 15 pages plus author list (30 pages total), 8 figures, 2 tables, submitted to Physics Letters B. All figures including auxiliary figures are available at http://atlas.web.cern.ch/Atlas/GROUPS/PHYSICS/PAPERS/HION-2011-02

Mapping geographical inequalities in childhood diarrhoeal morbidity and mortality in low-income and middle-income countries, 2000–17 : analysis for the Global Burden of Disease Study 2017

Background Across low-income and middle-income countries (LMICs), one in ten deaths in children younger than 5 years is attributable to diarrhoea. The substantial between-country variation in both diarrhoea incidence and mortality is attributable to interventions that protect children, prevent infection, and treat disease. Identifying subnational regions with the highest burden and mapping associated risk factors can aid in reducing preventable childhood diarrhoea. Methods We used Bayesian model-based geostatistics and a geolocated dataset comprising 15 072 746 children younger than 5 years from 466 surveys in 94 LMICs, in combination with findings of the Global Burden of Diseases, Injuries, and Risk Factors Study (GBD) 2017, to estimate posterior distributions of diarrhoea prevalence, incidence, and mortality from 2000 to 2017. From these data, we estimated the burden of diarrhoea at varying subnational levels (termed units) by spatially aggregating draws, and we investigated the drivers of subnational patterns by creating aggregated risk factor estimates. Findings The greatest declines in diarrhoeal mortality were seen in south and southeast Asia and South America, where 54·0% (95% uncertainty interval [UI] 38·1–65·8), 17·4% (7·7–28·4), and 59·5% (34·2–86·9) of units, respectively, recorded decreases in deaths from diarrhoea greater than 10%. Although children in much of Africa remain at high risk of death due to diarrhoea, regions with the most deaths were outside Africa, with the highest mortality units located in Pakistan. Indonesia showed the greatest within-country geographical inequality; some regions had mortality rates nearly four times the average country rate. Reductions in mortality were correlated to improvements in water, sanitation, and hygiene (WASH) or reductions in child growth failure (CGF). Similarly, most high-risk areas had poor WASH, high CGF, or low oral rehydration therapy coverage. Interpretation By co-analysing geospatial trends in diarrhoeal burden and its key risk factors, we could assess candidate drivers of subnational death reduction. Further, by doing a counterfactual analysis of the remaining disease burden using key risk factors, we identified potential intervention strategies for vulnerable populations. In view of the demands for limited resources in LMICs, accurately quantifying the burden of diarrhoea and its drivers is important for precision public health

Operation and performance of the ATLAS semiconductor tracker

The semiconductor tracker is a silicon microstrip detector forming part of the inner tracking system of the ATLAS experiment at the LHC. The operation and performance of the semiconductor tracker during the first years of LHC running are described. More than 99% of the detector modules were operational during this period, with an average intrinsic hit efficiency of (99.74±0.04)%. The evolution of the noise occupancy is discussed, and measurements of the Lorentz angle, δ-ray production and energy loss presented. The alignment of the detector is found to be stable at the few-micron level over long periods of time. Radiation damage measurements, which include the evolution of detector leakage currents, are found to be consistent with predictions and are used in the verification of radiation background simulations