Deep reconditioning of batteries during DSCS 3 flight operations

Deep reconditioning of batteries is defined as discharge below the 1.0 volt/cell level to a value of about 1.0 volt/battery. This type of reconditioning was investigated for use on the Defense Satellite Communications System (DSCS) spacecraft, and has been used during the first year of orbital operation. Prior to launch of the spacecraft, the deep reconditioning was used during the battery life test, which has now complete fourteen eclipse periods. Reconditioning was performed prior to each eclipse period of the life test, and is scheduled to be used prior to each eclipse period in orbit. The battery data for discharge and recharge is presented for one of the life test reconditioning cycles, and for each of the three batteries during the reconditioning cycles between eclipse period no.1 and eclipse period no.2 in Earth orbit

The adaptive capacity of maize-based conservation agriculture systems to climate stress in tropical and subtropical environments: A meta-regression of yields

Conservation agriculture is widely promoted across sub-Saharan Africa as a sustainable farming practice that enhances adaptive capacity to climate change. The interactions between climate stress, management, and soil are critical to understanding the adaptive capacity of conservation agriculture. Yet conservation agriculture syntheses to date have largely neglected climate, especially the effects of extreme heat. For the sub-tropics and tropics, we use meta-regression, in combination with global soil and climate datasets, to test four hypotheses: (1) that relative yield performance of conservation agriculture improves with increasing drought and temperature stress; (2) that the effects of moisture and temperature stress exposure interact; (3) that the effects of moisture and temperature stress are modified by soil texture; and (4) that crop diversification, fertilizer application rate, or the time since no-till implementation will enhance conservation agriculture performance under climate stress. Our results support the hypothesis that the relative maize yield performance of conservation agriculture improves with increasing drought severity or exposure to high temperatures. Further, there is an interaction of moisture and heat stress on conservation agriculture performance and their combined effect is both non-additive and modified by soil clay content, supporting our second and third hypotheses. Finally, we found only limited support for our fourth hypothesis as (1) increasing nitrogen application rates did not improve the relative performance of conservation agriculture under high heat stress; (2) crop diversification did not notably improve conservation agriculture performance, but did increase its stability with heat stress; and (3) a statistically robust effect of the time since no-till implementation was not evident. Our meta-regression supports the narrative that conservation agriculture enhances the adaptive capacity of maize production in sub-Saharan Africa under drought and/or heat stress. However, in very wet seasons and on clay-rich soils, conservation agriculture yields less compared to conventional practices

Traumatic rupture of the descending thoracic aorta

The management of acute traumatic rupture of the descending thoracic aorta at Groote Schuur Hospital between January 1984 and December 1989 is reviewed. Aortic rupture was diagnosed angiographically in 18 of 150 patients (12%), who underwent aortography because this injury was suspected. However. 3 of these patients had false-positive angiograms. The diagnosis was initially missed in 31% of patients, and this contributed to morbidity and mortality. Simple aortic crossclamping (N = 8) was used before September 1988 and 3 patients died - 1 intra-operatively from cardiac arrhythmia and 2 postoperatively, where major peri-operative haemorrhage had occurred. In contrast, partial heparin-less bypass (N = 5) using a centrifugal vortex pump was used after September 1988, and there were no haemorrhagic or paraplegic complications or mortality in this group. This technique is safe and appears to be superior to simple aortic crossclamping in managing this condition

Critical reflection on knowledge and narratives of conservation agriculture

In the context of contemporary concerns about climate change and food security, Conservation Agriculture (CA) has emerged as a well-supported and central component of the agricultural sector development strategy across sub-Saharan Africa, including in Zambia, which is the focus of this paper. A variety of narratives about the benefits of CA over conventional agricultural systems underpin endeavours towards ‘scaling up’ CA and increasing rates of adoption amongst smallholder farmers nationwide. However, there is a knowledge politics underlying the translation of a weak evidence base around CA into persuasive narratives and financial and political support. In this paper, we trace the evolution of five narratives around CA in Zambia in relation to changing political agendas and the involvement of new public and private sector actors, and review the development of evidence bases and knowledge that support and challenge each of these narratives. We discuss the potential to open up space within this knowledge politics to alternative narratives and the contestation of the pervasive CA scaling up agenda. Critical reflection is essential to ensure that national and local evidence is more effectively used to guide national climate and agricultural policy developments and international donor initiatives

Soil moisture content and maize grain yield under conventional and conservation agriculture practices - results of short term field tests in liselo, Namibia

This article focuses on the results from trials developed to monitor the short-term effects of conventionally tilled systems versus CA on soil quality and crop productivity under conditions of the major cropping systems in central, north-central and north-eastern regions of Namibia. Conventional tillage (CT), Minimum tillage (MT), Minimum tillage, mulch (MT-M), Minimum tillage, rotation (MT-R) and Minimum tillage, mulch and rotation (MT-MR) were the primary treatments tested. Significant differences (p≤0.000) among the treatments were observed in the 0-60 cm soil profiles where MT-M plots had the highest soil moisture content (39.8 mm, Standard Error of Mean 0.2815) over the study period. A significant difference (p=0.0206) in grain yield was observed in the second season with CT plots yielding the highest grain yield (3852.3 kg ha-1, standard error of mean 240.35). Results suggest that CA has the potential to increase water conservation and contribute to reduction of the risk of crop failure. Climate change driven degradation under conventional tillage necessitate alternative sustainable tillage methods. Conservation tillage methods and conservation agricultural practices that minimize soil disturbance while maintaining soil cover need to be adopted more locally as viable alternatives to conventional tillage

A Short-Term Assessment of Carbon Dioxide Fluxes under Contrasting Agricultural and Soil Management Practices in Zimbabwe

Two of the biggest problems facing humankind are feeding an exponentially growing human population and preventing the accumulation of atmospheric greenhouse gases and its climate change consequences. Refined agricultural practices could address both of these problems. The research addressed here is an exploration of the efficacy of alternative agricultural practices in sequestering carbon (C). The study was conducted in Zimbabwe with the intent to (a) demonstrate the utility of micrometeorological methods for measuring carbon dioxide (CO2) exchange between the surface and the atmosphere in the short-term, and (b) to quantify differences in such exchange rates for a variety of agricultural practices. Four Bowen ratio energy balance (BREB) systems were established on the following agricultural management practices: (1) no-till (NT) followed by planting of winter wheat (Triticum aestivum), (2) NT followed by planting of blue lupin (Lupinus angustifolios L.), (3) maize crop residue (Zea mays L.) left on the surface, and (4) maize crop residue incorporated with tillage. Over a period of 139 days (from 15 June to 31 October 2013) the winter wheat cover crop produced a net accumulation of 257 g CO2-C m-2, while the tilled plot with no cover crop produced a net emission of 197 g CO2-C m-2 and the untilled plot with no cover emitted 235 g CO2-C m-2. The blue lupin cover crop emitted 58 g CO2-C m-2, indicating that winter cover crops can sequester carbon and reduce emissions over land left fallow through the non-growing season. The micrometeorological methods described in this work can detect significant differences between treatments over a period of a few months, an outcome important to determine which smallholder soil management practices can contribute towards mitigating climate change

Fooling the size–weight illusion - Using augmented reality to eliminate the effect of size on perceptions of heaviness and sensorimotor prediction

This is the final version. Available on open access from Springer via the DOI in this recordData Availability: All project files are publicly available at the Open Science Framework website: https://osf.io/fz368/ (Rohrbach et al. 2020a). This includes the perceptual data and fingertip force data as well as exemplary videos demonstrating the experimental setup from the first-person perspective.Code availability: The full project code is available on GitHub https://github.com/athierfelder/size-weight-illusion (Rohrbach et al. 2020b).Augmented reality, whereby computer-generated images are overlaid onto the physical environment, is becoming significant part of the world of education and training. Little is known, however, about how these external images are treated by the sensorimotor system of the user – are they fully integrated into the external environmental cues, or largely ignored by low-level perceptual and motor processes? Here, we examined this question in the context of the size–weight illusion (SWI). Thirty-two participants repeatedly lifted and reported the heaviness of two cubes of unequal volume but equal mass in alternation. Half of the participants saw semi-transparent equally sized holographic cubes superimposed onto the physical cubes through a head-mounted display. Fingertip force rates were measured prior to lift-off to determine how the holograms influenced sensorimotor prediction, while verbal reports of heaviness after each lift indicated how the holographic size cues influenced the SWI. As expected, participants who lifted without augmented visual cues lifted the large object at a higher rate of force than the small object on early lifts and experienced a robust SWI across all trials. In contrast, participants who lifted the (apparently equal-sized) augmented cubes used similar force rates for each object. Furthermore, they experienced no SWI during the first lifts of the objects, with a SWI developing over repeated trials. These results indicate that holographic cues initially dominate physical cues and cognitive knowledge, but are dismissed when conflicting with cues from other senses.Bavarian State Ministry of Science and the Art