The legacy of cover crops on the soil habitat and ecosystem services in a heavy clay, minimum tillage rotation

Abstract Cover crops are grown as potential ways to improve soil fertility, soil structure, and biodiversity, while reducing weed/pest burdens. Yet, increased costs (in both time and fuel), farmer knowledge requirements, and yield uncertainty (green bridge effect and variable crop establishment) have led to hesitation among farmers. This study was conducted at the field scale (covering an area of nearly 20 hectares) to determine whether different cover crop mixtures affected soil properties and ecosystem services on a heavy clay soil. Measurements of soil chemistry, physics, biology, weed abundance, and subsequent crop performance were taken within a minimum tillage management system, across three cover crop mixtures (commonly sold to UK farmers). The cover crop mixtures included oats (Avena sativa), radish (Raphanus sativus), phacelia (Phacelia tanacetifolia), vetch (Vicia sativa), legumes, buckwheat (Fagopyrum esculentum) and a bare stubble control followed by a spring oat crop. Soil physics (penetrometer and bulk density) and chemistry (N, P, K, Mg, Ca, and organic matter) varied little across treatments, although there was significantly lower Mg in the cover crop including legumes and an increase in NO3 within this treatment. Soil biology and botanical composition were also assessed, monitoring earthworm and mesofauna abundance; and sown and unsown (weed) biomass. Epigeic earthworms were found to have significantly larger abundance in cover crop mixtures with radish present, although other meso- and macrofauna did not differ. Significant weed suppression was found during both the cover crop growing period and as a legacy in the subsequent crop, leading to significant yield increases and economic benefits in some treatments. Our study confirms that cover crops are providing benefits, even on heavy clay soils, including improvements in nutrient leaching risk reduction, weed suppression, and crop yield, coupled with wider ecosystem benefits. We therefore consider cover crops to have a role in sustainable management of arable rotations

Charge-sensitive vibrational modes in the (EDT-TTF-OX)2AsF6 chiral molecular conductors

Infrared and Raman spectra of three chiral molecular conductors (EDT-TTF-OX)2AsF6, comprising of two salts based on enantiopure EDT-TTF-OX donor molecules and one based on their racemic mixture, have been measured as a function of temperature. In the frequency range of the C=C stretching vibrations of EDT-TTF-OX, charge-sensitive modes are identified based on theoretical calculations for neutral and oxidized EDT-TTF-OX using density functional theory (DFT) methods. The positions of C=C stretching modes in both Raman and infrared spectra of the (EDT-TTF-OX)2AsF6 materials are analyzed assuming a linear relationship between the frequency and charge of the molecule. The charge density on the EDTTTF-OX donor molecule is estimated to be +0.5 in all investigated materials and does not change with temperature. Therefore we suggest, that M-I transition observed in (EDT-TTF-OX)2AsF6 chiral molecular conductors at low temperature is not related to the charge ordering mechanism

Hartley transform and the use of the Whitened Hartley spectrum as a tool for phase spectral processing

The Hartley transform is a mathematical transformation which is closely related to the better known Fourier transform. The properties that differentiate the Hartley Transform from its Fourier counterpart are that the forward and the inverse transforms are identical and also that the Hartley transform of a real signal is a real function of frequency. The Whitened Hartley spectrum, which stems from the Hartley transform, is a bounded function that encapsulates the phase content of a signal. The Whitened Hartley spectrum, unlike the Fourier phase spectrum, is a function that does not suffer from discontinuities or wrapping ambiguities. An overview on how the Whitened Hartley spectrum encapsulates the phase content of a signal more efficiently compared with its Fourier counterpart as well as the reason that phase unwrapping is not necessary for the Whitened Hartley spectrum, are provided in this study. Moreover, in this study, the product–convolution relationship, the time-shift property and the power spectral density function of the Hartley transform are presented. Finally, a short-time analysis of the Whitened Hartley spectrum as well as the considerations related to the estimation of the phase spectral content of a signal via the Hartley transform, are elaborated

Deterministic polarization chaos from a laser diode

Fifty years after the invention of the laser diode and fourty years after the report of the butterfly effect - i.e. the unpredictability of deterministic chaos, it is said that a laser diode behaves like a damped nonlinear oscillator. Hence no chaos can be generated unless with additional forcing or parameter modulation. Here we report the first counter-example of a free-running laser diode generating chaos. The underlying physics is a nonlinear coupling between two elliptically polarized modes in a vertical-cavity surface-emitting laser. We identify chaos in experimental time-series and show theoretically the bifurcations leading to single- and double-scroll attractors with characteristics similar to Lorenz chaos. The reported polarization chaos resembles at first sight a noise-driven mode hopping but shows opposite statistical properties. Our findings open up new research areas that combine the high speed performances of microcavity lasers with controllable and integrated sources of optical chaos.Comment: 13 pages, 5 figure

The politicisation of evaluation: constructing and contesting EU policy performance

Although systematic policy evaluation has been conducted for decades and has been growing strongly within the European Union (EU) institutions and in the member states, it remains largely underexplored in political science literatures. Extant work in political science and public policy typically focuses on elements such as agenda setting, policy shaping, decision making, or implementation rather than evaluation. Although individual pieces of research on evaluation in the EU have started to emerge, most often regarding policy “effectiveness” (one criterion among many in evaluation), a more structured approach is currently missing. This special issue aims to address this gap in political science by focusing on four key focal points: evaluation institutions (including rules and cultures), evaluation actors and interests (including competencies, power, roles and tasks), evaluation design (including research methods and theories, and their impact on policy design and legislation), and finally, evaluation purpose and use (including the relationships between discourse and scientific evidence, political attitudes and strategic use). The special issue considers how each of these elements contributes to an evolving governance system in the EU, where evaluation is playing an increasingly important role in decision making

Abrasive, Silica Phytoliths and the Evolution of Thick Molar Enamel in Primates, with Implications for the Diet of Paranthropus boisei

Background: Primates—including fossil species of apes and hominins—show variation in their degree of molar enamel thickness, a trait long thought to reflect a diet of hard or tough foods. The early hominins demonstrated molar enamel thickness of moderate to extreme degrees, which suggested to most researchers that they ate hard foods obtained on or near the ground, such as nuts, seeds, tubers, and roots. We propose an alternative hypothesis—that the amount of phytoliths in foods correlates with the evolution of thick molar enamel in primates, although this effect is constrained by a species ’ degree of folivory. Methodology/Principal Findings: From a combination of dietary data and evidence for the levels of phytoliths in plant families in the literature, we calculated the percentage of plant foods rich in phytoliths in the diets of twelve extant primates with wide variation in their molar enamel thickness. Additional dietary data from the literature provided the percentage of each primate’s diet made up of plants and of leaves. A statistical analysis of these variables showed that the amount of abrasive silica phytoliths in the diets of our sample primates correlated positively with the thickness of their molar enamel, constrained by the amount of leaves in their diet (R 2 = 0.875; p,.0006). Conclusions/Significance: The need to resist abrasion from phytoliths appears to be a key selective force behind the evolution of thick molar enamel in primates. The extreme molar enamel thickness of the teeth of the East African homini