Characterization of a Li-6 loaded liquid organic scintillator for fast neutron spectrometry and thermal neutron detection

The characterization of a liquid scintillator incorporating an aqueous solution of enriched lithium chloride to produce a scintillator with 0.40% Li-6 is presented, including the performance of the scintillator in terms of its optical properties and neutron response. The scintillator was incorporated into a fast neutron spectrometer, and the light output spectra from 2.5 MeV, 14.1 MeV, and Cf-252 neutrons were measured using capture-gated coincidence techniques. The spectrometer was operated without coincidence to perform thermal neutron measurements. Possible improvements in spectrometer performance are discussed.Comment: Submitted to Applied Radiation and Isotopes. 11 pages, 7 figures, 3 tables. Revision addresses reviewers' comment

Looking forward through the past: identification of 50 priority research questions in palaeoecology

1. Priority question exercises are becoming an increasingly common tool to frame future agendas in conservation and ecological science. They are an effective way to identify research foci that advance the field and that also have high policy and conservation relevance. 2. To date, there has been no coherent synthesis of key questions and priority research areas for palaeoecology, which combines biological, geochemical and molecular techniques in order to reconstruct past ecological and environmental systems on time-scales from decades to millions of years. 3. We adapted a well-established methodology to identify 50 priority research questions in palaeoecology. Using a set of criteria designed to identify realistic and achievable research goals, we selected questions from a pool submitted by the international palaeoecology research community and relevant policy practitioners. 4. The integration of online participation, both before and during the workshop, increased international engagement in question selection. 5. The questions selected are structured around six themes: human–environment interactions in the Anthropocene; biodiversity, conservation and novel ecosystems; biodiversity over long time-scales; ecosystem processes and biogeochemical cycling; comparing, combining and synthesizing information from multiple records; and new developments in palaeoecology. 6. Future opportunities in palaeoecology are related to improved incorporation of uncertainty into reconstructions, an enhanced understanding of ecological and evolutionary dynamics and processes and the continued application of long-term data for better-informed landscape management

Significance testing testate amoeba water table reconstructions

Transfer functions are valuable tools in palaeoecology, but their output may not always be meaningful. A recently-developed statistical test ('randomTF') offers the potential to distinguish among reconstructions which are more likely to be useful, and those less so. We applied this test to a large number of reconstructions of peatland water table depth based on testate amoebae. Contrary to our expectations, a substantial majority (25 of 30) of these reconstructions gave non-significant results (P > 0.05). The underlying reasons for this outcome are unclear. We found no significant correlation between randomTF P-value and transfer function performance, the properties of the training set and reconstruction, or measures of transfer function fit. These results give cause for concern but we believe it would be extremely premature to discount the results of non-significant reconstructions. We stress the need for more critical assessment of transfer function output, replication of results and ecologically-informed interpretation of palaeoecological data

Efficient high-gain erbium-doped fibre amplifier pumped with a frequency-doubled Nd:YAG laser

An optical amplifier consisting of an erbium-doped germanosilicate fibre optically pumped at 532nm is described. Negligible excited-state absorption at 532nm allows efficient pumping, enabling a gain of 34dB at 1536nm to be obtained for only 25mW of pump power. Since the early demonstrations of optical amplification in rare-earth-doped fibres, erbium-doped fibres have generated much interest as optical amplifiers in the third telecommunications window around 1.55µm

Operation of erbium-doped fibre amplifiers and lasers pumped with frequency-doubled Nd:YAG lasers

An optical amplifier consisting of an erbium-doped germanosilicate fiber optically pumped at 532 nm is described. Negligible excited-state absorption at 532 nm allows efficient pumping, enabling a gain of 34 dB at 1536 nm to be obtained for only 25 mW of pump power. The pulsed pump source produces negligible noise on the small signal if the pump repetition rate is above 10 kHz. Pulsed laser operation is achieved by pumping a Fabry-Perot erbium doped fiber laser with a frequency doubled Q-switched Nd-YAG laser. Pulses of 0.9-W peak power and 280 ns duration at 1.538µm were obtained

Recovery of cardiac function in cardiomyopathy caused by titin truncation

10.1001/jamacardio.2016.0208JAMA Cardiology12234-23