Response of winter wheat and rye to N and P fertilization

Non-Peer Reviewe

Crop tolerance to saline soil conditions in north east Saskatchewan

Non-Peer Reviewe

Towards the development of the psychosocial impact of assistive devices scale for continence (C-PIADS)

BACKGROUND: Current outcome measures for continence management devices do not adequately address psychosocial impact. The PIADS is an assessment tool that has been shown to reliably predict the adoption and use of assistive technology devices, but it is not widely used for continence devices. OBJECTIVE: To explore whether the PIADS requires modification to address the particular needs of continence device users and to inform any subsequent item development. METHODS: The study used interpretive methods in which qualitative information from semi-structured interviews was combined with the findings from cognitive interviews for questionnaire pre-testing. A total of 40 participants in UK and Canada were interviewed. RESULTS: Few participants had difficulty in understanding or relating to the majority of PIADS items. Several items were not considered relevant to continence and some areas for potential new items were uncovered. Embarrassment and concealment of urinary incontinence from others were common topics. CONCLUSIONS: The PIADS appears to fundamentally address many, but not all, of the important psychosocial concerns of adults who have continence difficulties. A version for continence, the C-PIADS, will require modification of the PIADS and is likely to contain some new items

Marketing to Liminal Consumers:Migrant Workers as an Emerging Segment in Transitional Economies

Though most acculturation research investigates movement across national boundaries, many other types of boundaries may exist (e.g. rural to urban migration). Rural migrant workers focus on their adaptive and exploratory consumption practices to assemble a liquid identity in China. In essence, this research examines the nature of the transitions that the vast group of Chinese (over 280 million) endures as migrant workers seek to assemble new identities through consumption activities in a liminal space. We find that family relations and government policy hinder migrants’ adjustments to urban life. Thus, we contribute to macromarketing by enriching the theories of liquid identity, boundary work, and acculturation

A Measurement of the Cosmic Ray Spectrum and Composition at the Knee

The energy spectrum and primary composition of cosmic rays with energy between $3\times 10^{14}$ and 3\times10^{16}\unit{eV} have been studied using the CASA-BLANCA detector. CASA measured the charged particle distribution of air showers, while BLANCA measured the lateral distribution of Cherenkov light. The data are interpreted using the predictions of the CORSIKA air shower simulation coupled with four different hadronic interaction codes. The differential flux of cosmic rays measured by BLANCA exhibits a knee in the range of 2--3 PeV with a width of approximately 0.5 decades in primary energy. The power law indices of the differential flux below and above the knee are $-2.72\pm0.02$ and $-2.95\pm0.02$. We present our data both as a mean depth of shower maximum and as a mean nuclear mass. A multi-component fit using four elemental species shows the same composition trends given by the mean quantities, and also indicates that QGSJET and VENUS are the preferred hadronic interaction models. We find that an initially mixed composition turns lighter between 1 and 3 PeV, and then becomes heavier with increasing energy above 3 PeV.Comment: 25 pages, 10 figures. Submitted to Astroparticle Physic

Improving wrist imaging through a multicentre educational intervention: The challenge of orthogonal projections

YesIn relation to wrist imaging, the accepted requirement is two orthogonal projections obtained at 90°, each with the wrist in neutral position. However, the literature and anecdotal experience suggests that this principle is not universally applied. Method: This multiphase study was undertaken across eight different hospitals sites. Compliance with standard UK technique was confirmed if there was a change in ulna orientation between the dorsi-palmar (DP) and lateral wrist projections. A baseline evaluation for three days was randomly identified from the preceding three months. An educational intervention was implemented using a poster to demonstrate standard positioning. To measure the impact of the intervention, further evaluation took place at two weeks (early) and three months (late). Results: Across the study phases, only a minority of radiographs demonstrated compliance with the standard technique, with an identical anatomical appearance of the distal ulna across the projections. Initial compliance was 16.8% (n = 40/238), and this improved to 47.8% (n = 77/161) post-intervention, but declined to 32.8% (n = 41/125) within three months. The presence of pathology appeared to influence practice, with a greater proportion of those with an abnormal radiographic examination demonstrating a change in ulna appearances in the baseline cohort (

Infrared activity of hydrogen molecules trapped in Si

The rovibrational-translational states of a hydrogen molecule moving in a cage site in Si, when subjected to an electrical field arising from its surroundings, are investigated. The wave functions are expressed in terms of basis functions consisting of the eigenfunctions of the molecule confined to move in the cavity and rovibrational states of the free molecule. The energy levels, intensities of infrared and Raman transitions, effects of uniaxial stress, and a neighboring oxygen defect are found and compared with existing experimental data

Estimating the inelasticity with the information theory approach

Using the information theory approach, in both its extensive and nonextensive versions, we estimate the inelasticity parameter $K$ of hadronic reactions together with its distribution and energy dependence from $p\bar{p}$ and $pp$ data. We find that the inelasticity remains essentially constant in energy except for a variation around $K\sim 0.5$, as was originally expected.Comment: 14 pages, 8 figures. Misprints correcte

The Composition of Cosmic Rays at the Knee

The observation of a small change in spectral slope, or 'knee' in the fluxes of cosmic rays near energies 10^15 eV has caused much speculation since its discovery over 40 years ago. The origin of this feature remains unknown. A small workshop to review some modern experimental measurements of this region was held at the Adler Planetarium in Chicago, USA in June 2000. This paper summarizes the results presented at this workshop and the discussion of their interpretation in the context of hadronic models of atmospheric airshowers.Comment: 36 pages, 10 figure

Governing processes for reactive nitrogen compounds in the atmosphere in relation to ecosystem climatic and human health impacts

Reactive nitrogen (Nr) compounds have different fates in the atmosphere due to differences in governing processes of physical transport, deposition and chemical transformation. Nr compounds addressed here include reduced nitrogen (NHx: ammonia (NH3) and its reaction product ammonium (NH4+)), oxidized nitrogen (NOy: nitrogen monoxide (NO) + nitrogen dioxide (NO2) and their reaction products) as well as organic nitrogen compounds (organic N). Pollution abatement strategies need to take into account these differences in the governing processes of these compounds when assessing their impact on ecosystem services, biodiversity, human health and climate. NOx (NO + NO2) emitted from traffic affects human health in urban areas where the presence of buildings increases the residence time in streets. In urban areas this leads to enhanced exposure of the population to NOx concentrations. NOx emissions have little impact on nearby ecosystems because of the small dry deposition rates of NOx. These compounds need to be converted into nitric acid (HNO3) before removal through deposition is efficient. HNO3 sticks quickly to any surface and is thereby either dry deposited or incorporated into aerosols as nitrate (NO3−). In contrast to NOx compounds, NH3 has potentially high impacts on ecosystems near the main agricultural sources of NH3 because of its large ground-level concentrations along with large dry deposition rates. Aerosol phase NH4+ and NO3− contribute significantly to background PM2.5 and PM10 (mass of aerosols with a diameter of less than 2.5 and 10 μm, respectively) with an impact on radiation balance as well as potentially on human health. Little is known quantitatively and qualitatively about organic N in the atmosphere, other than that it contributes a significant fraction of wet-deposited N, and is present in both gaseous and particulate forms in the atmosphere. Further studies are needed to characterize the sources, air chemistry and removal rates of organic N emissions