Chickpea root nodulation and yield response to fertilizer treatments

Non-Peer Reviewe

An evaluation of the efficacy of the exercise on referral scheme in Northumberland, UK: association with physical activity and predictors of engagement. A naturalistic observation study

Objectives Exercise on referral schemes (ERS) are widely commissioned in the UK but there is little evidence of their association with physical activity levels. We sought to assess the Northumberland exercise on referral scheme in terms of increased levels of physical activity and identify predictors of engagement. Design A naturalistic observational study. Setting 9 local authority leisure sites in Northumberland. Participants 2233 patients referred from primary and secondary care between July 2009 and September 2010. Intervention A 24-week programme including motivational consultations and supervised exercise sessions for participants. Outcome measures Uptake, 12-week adherence, 24-week completion, changes in Godin Leisure-Time Exercise Questionnaire scores after 24-weeks and attendance levels at supervised exercise sessions during the scheme. Three binary logistic regressions were used to examine demographic and referral factors associated with initial uptake, 12-week adherence and 24-week completion. Results Uptake was 81% (n=1811), 12-week adherence was 53.5% (n=968) and 24-week completion was 42.9% (n=777). Participants who completed significantly increased their self-reported physical activity levels at 24-weeks t (638)=−11.55, p<0.001. Completers attended a mean of 22.87 (12.47 SD) of a target 48 supervised sessions. Increasing age, being female and leisure site were associated with uptake, increasing age, Index of Multiple Deprivation and leisure site were associated with 12-week adherence and Body Mass Index and leisure site were associated with 24-week completion. Each regression significantly increased the prediction accuracy of stage of exit (non-starters vs starters 81.5%, dropouts before 12 weeks vs 12-week adherers 66.9%, and dropouts between 13 and 24 weeks 82.2%). Conclusions Completers of the Northumberland ERS increased physical activity at 24 weeks, although the levels achieved were below the current UK guidelines of 150 min of moderate exercise per week. Leisure site was associated with uptake, adherence and completion

Comparing Bowen ratio-energy balance systems for measuring ET

Two Bowen ratio-energy balance (BREB) systems for measuring evapotranspiration (ET) under wet and dry conditions were compared. The study sites were an irrigated grass sod near Kimberly, Idaho and a sagebrush-grass range site on the Reynolds Creek Experimental Watershed near Boise, Idaho. One Bowen ratio system used positive-head, ceramic-wick, aspirated psychrometers. The other system measured the vapor gradients with a cooled-mirror, dew-point hygrometer. Differences in the amounts of ET measured by the two systems were very small and of little practical consequence. The system using a single-mirror, dew-point hygrometer was the most reliable, required the least maintenance, and was the easiest to use

Long-Term Protection from Bovine Viral Diarrhea Virus in Feedlot Cattle

Bovine viral diarrhea virus (BVDV) causes respiratory and reproductive disease. The duration of immunity of an inactivated vaccine (Virashield 5: Grand Laboratories, Freeman, SD) was measured in two challenge studies. In both studies the vaccinated animals demonstrated fewer clinical signs when challenged with Type II BVDV at 11 or 13 months post vaccination. These results indicate that an inactivated vaccine administered properly can protect animals against disease up to at least a year post vaccination

Rhizobium inoculant formulation and placement in lentil and chickpea in the semiarid Canadian prairies

Non-Peer ReviewedLentil and chickpea are the major pulse crops grown in western Canada, but little is known about the responses of these annual legumes to rhizobium inoculant formulation, placement, and their interaction to fertilizers under semiarid environments. A field study was conducted from 1999 to 2002 on a medium-textured soil at Swift Current and on a heavy clay soil at Stewart Valley, both in Saskatchewan. The objectives were to (i) determine the effects of rhizobium inoculation and fertilization on nodule formation, N2-fixation, and their impacts on growth, yield, and seed quality in chickpea and lentil, and (ii) develop recommendations for optimizing rhizobium inoculation, P-solublizing inoculation, and fertilizer N and P application for direct-seeding of chickpea and lentil with 1-, 2-, and 3-tank delivery systems. The results of the six site-years showed that use of rhizobium inoculation increased seed yield by 35% for desi, 7% for kabuli, and 23% for lentil. Inoculation reduced desi plant population by 10%, but not in kabuli or lentil. Granular inoculant increased yield by 7% in chickpea and 8% in lentil, compared to peat-based powder inoculant. Placement of granular inoculant (seed-row vs side-banding) had the same effect in all three pulses. Starter-N and starter-P at a rate of 15 kg ha-1 each had a marginal effect on plant growth and seed yield, but a higher rate of P (34 kg P2O5 ha-1) increased kabuli seed size. Chickpea and lentil did not show any response to Penicillium bilaii (fungus contained in the products JumpStart® and TagTeam®) under the semiarid growing conditions

Exercise on referral – symposium hosted by the Physical Activity Special Interest Group for the Wolfson Research Institute for Health and Wellbeing, Durham University

The article discusses a symposium on exercise referral schemes (ERS) that was held at the College of St Hild and St Bede, Durham on October 14, 2016. It mentions that exercise referral schemes have increased in popularity to address society's significant chronic disease burden. It also presents the views of Emily Oliver, from Physical Activity Special Interest Group, regarding the same

Tune in to your emotions: a robust personalized affective music player

The emotional power of music is exploited in a personalized affective music player (AMP) that selects music for mood enhancement. A biosignal approach is used to measure listeners’ personal emotional reactions to their own music as input for affective user models. Regression and kernel density estimation are applied to model the physiological changes the music elicits. Using these models, personalized music selections based on an affective goal state can be made. The AMP was validated in real-world trials over the course of several weeks. Results show that our models can cope with noisy situations and handle large inter-individual differences in the music domain. The AMP augments music listening where its techniques enable automated affect guidance. Our approach provides valuable insights for affective computing and user modeling, for which the AMP is a suitable carrier application

Spin-orbit effects on two-electron states in nanowhisker double quantum dots

We investigate theoretically the combined effects of the electron-electron and the Rashba spin-orbit interactions on two electrons confined in quasi-one-dimensional AlInSb-based double quantum dots. We calculate the two-electron wave functions and explore the interplay between these two interactions on the energy levels and the spin of the states. The energy spectrum as a function of an applied magnetic field shows crossings and anticrossings between triplet and singlet states, associated with level mixing induced by the spin-orbit coupling. We find that the fields at which these crossings occur can be naturally controlled by the interdot barrier width, which controls the exchange integral in the structure.Comment: 5 pages, 6 figure

A First Search for coincident Gravitational Waves and High Energy Neutrinos using LIGO, Virgo and ANTARES data from 2007

We present the results of the first search for gravitational wave bursts associated with high energy neutrinos. Together, these messengers could reveal new, hidden sources that are not observed by conventional photon astronomy, particularly at high energy. Our search uses neutrinos detected by the underwater neutrino telescope ANTARES in its 5 line configuration during the period January - September 2007, which coincided with the fifth and first science runs of LIGO and Virgo, respectively. The LIGO-Virgo data were analysed for candidate gravitational-wave signals coincident in time and direction with the neutrino events. No significant coincident events were observed. We place limits on the density of joint high energy neutrino - gravitational wave emission events in the local universe, and compare them with densities of merger and core-collapse events.Comment: 19 pages, 8 figures, science summary page at http://www.ligo.org/science/Publication-S5LV_ANTARES/index.php. Public access area to figures, tables at https://dcc.ligo.org/cgi-bin/DocDB/ShowDocument?docid=p120000