G84-690 Estimating Soil Moisture by Appearance and Feel

This NebGuide provides a guide to determining how much mositure is in different soil textures, and where it is located in the soil profile. Evaluating soil moisture is one of an irrigator\u27s most important management tools. Determining the status of the soil moisture reservoir guides the decision of not only how much to irrigate, but also when to irrigate. The appearance and feel method of monitoring soil moisture using a soil probe is still a valid procedure no matter how sophisticated the irrigation scheduling system. A measurement of soil moisture is essential to update knowledge of the need for and timing of irrigation, and the appearance and feel method can be used to obtain that information. In addition to indicating how much moisture is in the soil, this method also reveals where that moisture is located in the profile. This information is important to the irrigator as well as the dryland farmer. The depth of water penetration from irrigation or rainfall is useful in planning and making management decisions. For example, problem areas with compacted soil layers that restrict water penetration may be detected with the soil probe

An automated cirrus classification

Cirrus clouds play an important role in determining the radiation budget of the earth, but many of their properties remain uncertain, particularly their response to aerosol variations and to warming. Part of the reason for this uncertainty is the dependence of cirrus cloud properties on the cloud formation mechanism, which itself is strongly dependent on the local meteorological conditions. In this work, a classification system (Identification and Classification of Cirrus or IC-CIR) is introduced to identify cirrus clouds by the cloud formation mechanism. Using re-analysis and satellite data, cirrus clouds are separated in four main types: orographic, frontal, convective and synoptic. Through a comparison to convection-permitting model simulations and back- trajectory based analysis, it is shown that these observation-based regimes can provide extra information on the cloud scale updraughts and the frequency of occurrence of liquid-origin ice, with the convective regime having higher updraughts and a greater occurrence of liquid-origin ice compared to the synoptic regimes. Despite having different cloud formation mecha- nisms, the radiative properties of the regimes are not distinct, indicating that retrieved cloud properties alone are insufficient to completely describe them. This classification is designed to be easily implemented in GCMs, helping improve future model-observation comparisons and leading to improved parametrisations of cirrus cloud processe

On high-speed turning of a third-generation gamma titanium aluminide

Gamma titanium aluminides are heat-resistant intermetallic alloys predestined to be employed in components suffering from high mechanical stresses and thermal loads. These materials are regarded as difficult to cut, so this makes process adaptation essential in order to obtain high-quality and defect-free surfaces suitable for aerospace and automotive parts. In this paper, an innovative approach for longitudinal external high-speed turning of a third-generation Ti-45Al-8Nb- 0.2C-0.2B gamma titanium aluminide is presented. The experimental campaign has been executed with different process parameters, tool geometries and lubrication conditions. The results are discussed in terms of surface roughness/integrity, chip morphology, cutting forces and tool wear. Experimental evidence showed that, due to the high cutting speed, the high temperatures reached in the shear zone improve chip formation, so a crack-free surface can be obtained. Furthermore, the use of a cryogenic lubrication system has been identified in order to reduce the huge tool wear, which represents the main drawback when machining gamma titanium aluminides under the chosen process condition

Tips to Advance Business Writing Skills at EFL Classes (Through the Example of "Letter of Complaint")

Writing is a creative communicative skill to express thoughts. It is cognitively complex, requires much practice and is best learned through experience. Writing is one of the most challenging, time-consuming tasks in acquiring a foreign language. To improve students’ writing skills and accuracy, a teacher should encourage writing-thinking, provide instructions and examples of good writing in the target language, and give feedback focusing both on error correction (cohesion) and organization of writing (clarity, idea development, coherence). This paper explores difficulties of the development of business writing skills and gives recommendations on writing a letter of complaint at English as a foreign language classes

Gesellschaftliche Leistungen der biologischen Landwirtschaft

Zusammenfassuung: In diesem Bericht werden die wissenschaftlichen Ergebnisse nationaler und internationaler Studien zu den gesellschaftlichen Leistungen des Biolandbaus zusammengefasst. Als Referenzen werden dabei sowohl die konventionelle wie auch die integrierte Landwirtschaft herangezogen. Es ist den Autoren bewusst, dass alle Landwirtschaftsmethoden in der Schweiz und im Ausland eine grosse Streubreite aufweisen, da der Einfluss der regionalen sozioökonomischen Rahmenbedingungen, der Standortfaktoren, der Betriebsleiter und der unterschiedlichen staatlichen und privaten Regulierungen gross ist. Trotzdem ergeben sich für die verschiedenen Landwirtschaftsmethoden klare Unterschiede, die bei den agrarpolitischen Massnahmen berücksichtigt werden müssen. Bezüglich der positiven Externalitäten weist der Biolandbau klare Mehrleistungen in der Biodiversität auf. Dies sowohl auf der Ebene der Genetik, der Arten und besonders auch der Habitate. Deutlich sind die Mehrleistungen des Biolandbaus auch im Bereich des Humusaufbaus, was eine höhere CO2-Sequestrierung zur Folge hat. Obwohl eine dauerhafte Honorierung der Vermeidung negativer Externalitäten im bisherigen Konzept der Weiterentwicklung des Direktzahlungssystems (WDZ) nicht vorgesehen ist, sind hier die Vorteile der biologischen Landwirtschaft beträchtlich. Dies betrifft die Nährstoff- und Pflanzenschutzmittelverluste in Grund- und Oberflächengewässer sowie in andere Umweltkompartimente, der Verbrauch von nicht erneuerbarer Energie, die Emissionen von Klimagasen und die Belastungen mit Tiermedikamenten. Die nationalen und internationalen Studien zeigen auf, dass der Biolandbau sich besonders durch Systemwirkungen auszeichnet: erhöhte Biodiversität, verbesserter Schutz des Bodens, wirksame Vermeidung von Umweltbelastungen, effiziente Nutzung von natürlichen Ressourcen, geringer Verbrauch nicht erneuerbarer Energie und verbessertes Tierwohl. Dies sind die Effekte von komplexen Response-Massnahmen der Betriebsleiter auf einfach zu kontrollierende Einschränkungen und Verbote. Dadurch entstehen nicht zu unterschätzende Zusatzleistungen und Synergien bei der Erreichung der vom Bund definierten Ziele. Um den Mehrleistungen des Biolandbaus gerecht zu werden, schlagen die Autoren zwei neue Massnahmen vor: 1) Biodiversitätsbeitrag für Acker, Sonderkulturen und intensive Wiesen und 2) CO2-Sequestrationsbeiträge. Damit sind aber die gesellschaftlich wichtigen Mehrleistungen des Biolandbaus noch nicht abgegolten. Bei der Vermeidung negativer Externalitäten werden höhere umweltschutzrelevante Effekte erzielt. Diese können i) durch die Einführung eines negativen Anreizsystems nach dem Polluter-Pays-Principle (z.B. Stickstoffsteuer, CO2 - Abgabe), ii) durch ein höheres Einstiegsniveau bei den Cross-Compliance-Massnahmen für alle Betriebe (ÖLNplus) oder iii) durch einen finanziellen Ausgleich für die Mehrleistungen des Biolandbaus abgegolten werden. Die „Förderung des Biolandbaus“ als systemorientierte Massnahme macht auch nach dem Grundsatz des effizienten Einsatzes von Steuermitteln Sinn und stellt eine kosteneffektive Massnahme dar. Einerseits können damit die deutlich höheren positiven Externalitäten abgegolten werden, andererseits wird die stärkere Vermeidung von negativen Externalitäten genügend berücksichtigt

The Commonwealth Trans-Antarctic Expedition 1955-58 - How the crossing of Antarctica moved New Zealand to recognise its Antarctic heritage and take an equal place among Antarctic nations

The thesis analyses the expedition (TAE) led by Dr.Vivian Fuchs and Sir Edmund Hillary from three vantage points: 1)the years from 1948 to 1955 leading up to the expedition 2) the interaction between the IGY and the TAE projects and 3) the role of the US Navy as the expedition unfolded. The thesis also investigates key events including the purchase of the ship Endeavour from Britain, the competition for leadership of the UK and NZ parties, the 'dash to the Pole' by Hillary, and the search for base sites and routes to the Polar Plateau. The thesis contains an overview historical introduction, a comprehensive literature review as well as a broad-based set of conclusions

Socioeconomic inequalities in health among Swedish adolescents - adding the subjective perspective

Abstract Background Socioeconomic inequalities in adolescent health predict future inequalities in adult health. Subjective measures of socioeconomic status (SES) may contribute with an increased understanding of these inequalities. The aim of this study was to investigate socioeconomic health inequalities using both a subjective and an objective measure of SES among Swedish adolescents. Method Cross-sectional HBSC-data from 2002 to 2014 was used with a total sample of 23,088 adolescents aged 11–15 years. Three measures of self-rated health (dependent variables) were assessed: multiple health complaints, life satisfaction and health perception. SES was measured objectively by the Family Affluence Scale (FAS) and subjectively by “perceived family wealth” (independent variables). The trend for health inequalities was investigated descriptively with independent t-tests and the relationship between independent and dependent variables was investigated with multiple logistic regression analysis. Gender, age and survey year was considered as possible confounders. Results Subjective SES was more strongly related to health outcomes than the objective measure (FAS). Also, the relation between FAS and health was weakened and even reversed (for multiple health complaints) when subjective SES was tested simultaneously in regression models (FAS OR: 1.03, CI: 1.00;1.06 and subjective SES OR: 0.66, CI: 0.63;0.68). Conclusions The level of socioeconomic inequalities in adolescent health varied depending on which measure that was used to define SES. When focusing on adolescents, the subjective appraisals of SES is important to consider because they seem to provide a stronger tool for identifying inequalities in health for this group. This finding is important for policy makers to consider given the persistence of health inequalities in Sweden and other high-income countries