Nitrous Oxide Emissions

End of project reportNitrous oxide (N2O) is one of the three most important greenhouse gases (GHG). Nitrous oxide emissions currently account for approximately one third of GHG emissions from agriculture in Ireland. Emissions of N2O arise naturally from soil sources and from the application of nitrogen (N) in the form of N fertilizers and N in dung and urine deposition by grazing animals at pasture. Nitrous oxide emission measurements were conducted at three different scales. Firstly, a large-scale field experiment was undertaken to compare emission rates from a pasture receiving three different rates of N fertilizer application and to identify the effects of controlling variables over a two-year period. Variation in emission rates was large both within and between years. Two contrasting climatic years were identified. The cooler and wetter conditions in year 1 gave rise to considerably lower emission levels than the warmer and drier year 2. However, in both years, peak emissions were associated with fertilizer N applications coincident with rainfall events in the summer months. A small-plot study was conducted to identify the individual and combined effects of fertilizer, dung and urine applications to grassland. Treatment effects were however, difficult to obtain due to the overriding effects of environmental variables. Thirdly, through the use of a small-scale mini-lysimeter study, the diurnal nature of N2O emission rates was identified for two distinct periods during the year. The occurrence of a diurnal pattern has important implications for the identification of a measurement period during the day which is representative of the true daily flux. The research presented aims to identify the nature and magnitude of N2O emissions and the factors which affect emission rates from a grassland in Ireland. Further work is required to integrate the effects of different soil types and contrasting climatic regimes across soil types on N2O emissions.Environmental Protection Agenc

Human Resource Strategies for Improving Organizational Performance to Reduce Medical Errors

Preventable medical errors are the third leading cause of death in the United States. Healthcare leaders must consistently promote the delivery of quality and safe care of patients to reduce unnecessary errors and prevent harm. The purpose of this case study was to explore human resource strategies for improving organizational performance to reduce medical errors. The study included face-to-face interviews with 5 healthcare clinical managers who work within a multifaceted health system in the Midwestern region of the United States. Complex adaptive systems theory was used to frame this study. Interview notes, publicly available documents, and audio recordings were transcribed and analyzed to identify themes regarding strategies used by managers to find effective ways for improvement. Four themes emerged: addressing seminal/never events, ongoing training programs, communication/collaboration, and promoting a culture of safety and quality. Results may directly benefit healthcare managers by facilitating successful strategies to reduce preventable medical errors through education, feedback, innovation, and leadership. Implications for social change for healthcare managers include continued training, building a culture of safety, and using collaborative and communicative efforts while making contributions to the best practices within healthcare organizations to reduce the likelihood of medical errors

Separation of Parallel Encoded Complex-Valued Slices (SPECS) From A Single Complex-Valued Aliased Coil Image

Purpose Achieving a reduction in scan time with minimal inter-slice signal leakage is one of the significant obstacles in parallel MR imaging. In fMRI, multiband-imaging techniques accelerate data acquisition by simultaneously magnetizing the spatial frequency spectrum of multiple slices. The SPECS model eliminates the consequential inter-slice signal leakage from the slice unaliasing, while maintaining an optimal reduction in scan time and activation statistics in fMRI studies. Materials and Methods When the combined k-space array is inverse Fourier reconstructed, the resulting aliased image is separated into the un-aliased slices through a least squares estimator. Without the additional spatial information from a phased array of receiver coils, slice separation in SPECS is accomplished with acquired aliased images in shifted FOV aliasing pattern, and a bootstrapping approach of incorporating reference calibration images in an orthogonal Hadamard pattern. Result The aliased slices are effectively separated with minimal expense to the spatial and temporal resolution. Functional activation is observed in the motor cortex, as the number of aliased slices is increased, in a bilateral finger tapping fMRI experiment. Conclusion The SPECS model incorporates calibration reference images together with coefficients of orthogonal polynomials into an un-aliasing estimator to achieve separated images, with virtually no residual artifacts and functional activation detection in separated images

Prolactin Increases N&/Taurocholate Cotransport in Isolated Hepatocytes fromPostpartum RatsandOvariectomized Rats―2

ABSTRACT The role of prolactin (PAL) in regulating the transport of the bile acid taurocholate (TC) was assessed using isolated rat hepato cytes. Na4-depandent TC cotransportwas determinedin hepa tocytes from female nonpregnant, pregnant (19-20 days preg nant), postpartum (48 hr postpartum) and postpartum rats treated with bromocnptine to block PAL secretion. In separate experiments ovariectomized rats were infused i.v. with solvent alone (OVX) or with ovine PAL (100, 300 and 600 ,@g/day) for 7 days (OVX + oPAL). The least squares estimates of Km(AM) and Vrna@x (nmol/min/mg protein) for Na4-dependent TC uptake were, respectively: 15 and I in nonpregnant, 9 and 0.4 in pregnant, 9 and 1.1 in postpartum and 15 and 1 in bromocriptine-treated postpartum rats, and were 15 and 1 in OVX, 15 and 1 in OVX + oPRL (100 pg/day), 30 and 2 in OVX + oPAL (300 ,@g/day)and 18 and 2 in OVX + oPRL (600 ag/day) rats, respectively. Calculationof the 95% joint confidencelimits for Km9fld Vmsx showed that Na-dependent TC uptake was slgnfficantly de creased in pregnant rats, and significantly increased in postpar turn rats relative to nonpregnant controls. Bromocriptine-treated postpartum rats were not different from COntrOlS. Infusion of 300 and 600 ag/day oPAL significantly increased Na4-dependentTC transport relative to OVX rats. Na@-K'-ATPaseactMty did not differ among the groups. These data indicate that PRL is re sponsible for the increased Na-dependent transport of TC in the maternal liver postpartum, and that administration of oPRL to ovariectomized rats Increases this transport In a dose-de pendantmanner. Bile formation is a complex process involving concentrative and vectorial transport of osmotically active solutes, primarily bile acids, from the plasma into the bile canalicuii leading to a passive movement of water and counterions (Blitzer and Boyer, 1982; Nathanson and Boyer, 1991). TC is the major bile acid in the rat and its hepatic transport is well characterized (Meier, 1989). TC is taken up by the basolateral domain of the plasma membrane via a carrier-mediated process driven by the in wardily directed Na4 gradient that is maintained by the baso lateral Na@-K4-ATPase (secondary active symport) ABBREVIATIONSTC taurocholatePRL prolactinOVX ovarlectomizedSRm seO@tOfy rate maximumoPRL ovinePAL. 8

Use of waveform lidar and hyperspectral sensors to assess selected spatial and structural patterns associated with recent and repeat disturbance and the abundance of sugar maple (Acer saccharum Marsh.) in a temperate mixed hardwood and conifer forest.

Abstract Waveform lidar imagery was acquired on September 26, 1999 over the Bartlett Experimental Forest (BEF) in New Hampshire (USA) using NASA\u27s Laser Vegetation Imaging Sensor (LVIS). This flight occurred 20 months after an ice storm damaged millions of hectares of forestland in northeastern North America. Lidar measurements of the amplitude and intensity of ground energy returns appeared to readily detect areas of moderate to severe ice storm damage associated with the worst damage. Southern through eastern aspects on side slopes were particularly susceptible to higher levels of damage, in large part overlapping tracts of forest that had suffered the highest levels of wind damage from the 1938 hurricane and containing the highest levels of sugar maple basal area and biomass. The levels of sugar maple abundance were determined through analysis of the 1997 Airborne Visible/Infrared Imaging Spectrometer (AVIRIS) high resolution spectral imagery and inventory of USFS Northern Research Station field plots. We found a relationship between field measurements of stem volume losses and the LVIS metric of mean canopy height (r2 = 0.66; root mean square errors = 5.7 m3/ha, p \u3c 0.0001) in areas that had been subjected to moderate-to-severe ice storm damage, accurately documenting the short-term outcome of a single disturbance event

The Lantern Vol. 9, No. 3, May 1941

• The Deluge • I Am the Ecstasy of Night • Nocturne • The Killer • A Proposal • On Plastering • Spring Dilemma • To the First Robin • Pictorial • A Philosopher\u27s Parable • Richard • Commencement • I Want a Pair of High Tops • Past • Hypothesishttps://digitalcommons.ursinus.edu/lantern/1024/thumbnail.jp