556 research outputs found
Denitrification and nitrous oxide emissions from riparian forests soils exposed to prolonged nitrogen runoff
Compared to upland forests, riparian forest soils have greater potential to remove nitrate (NO3) from agricultural run-off through denitrification. It is unclear, however, whether prolonged exposure of riparian soils to nitrogen (N) loading will affect the rate of denitrification and its end products. This research assesses the rate of denitrification and nitrous oxide (N2O) emissions from riparian forest soils exposed to prolonged nutrient run-off from plant nurseries and compares these to similar forest soils not exposed to nutrient run-off. Nursery run-off also contains high levels of phosphate (PO4). Since there are conflicting reports on the impact of PO4 on the activity of denitrifying microbes, the impact of PO4 on such activity was also investigated. Bulk and intact soil cores were collected from N-exposed and non-exposed forests to determine denitrification and N2O emission rates, whereas denitrification potential was determined using soil slurries. Compared to the non-amended treatment, denitrification rate increased 2.7- and 3.4-fold when soil cores collected from both N-exposed and non-exposed sites were amended with 30 and 60 ÎŒg NO3-N g-1 soil, respectively. Net N2O emissions were 1.5 and 1.7 times higher from the N-exposed sites compared to the non-exposed sites at 30 and 60 ÎŒg NO3-N g-1 soil amendment rates, respectively. Similarly, denitrification potential increased 17 times in response to addition of 15 ÎŒg NO3-N g-1 in soil slurries. The addition of PO4 (5 ÎŒg PO4âP g-1) to soil slurries and intact cores did not affect denitrification rates. These observations suggest that prolonged N loading did not affect the denitrification potential of the riparian forest soils; however, it did result in higher N2O emissions compared to emission rates from non-exposed forests
Voltage-programmable liquid optical interface
Recently, there has been intense interest in photonic devices based on microfluidics, including displays and refractive tunable microlenses and optical beamsteerers, that work using the principle of electrowetting. Here, we report a novel approach to optical devices in which static wrinkles are produced at the surface of a thin film of oil as a result of dielectrophoretic forces. We have demonstrated this voltage-programmable surface wrinkling effect in periodic devices with pitch lengths of between 20 and 240 ”m and with response times of less than 40 ”s. By a careful choice of oils, it is possible to optimize either for high-amplitude sinusoidal wrinkles at micrometre-scale pitches or more complex non-sinusoidal profiles with higher Fourier components at longer pitches. This opens up the possibility of developing rapidly responsive voltage-programmable, polarization-insensitive transmission and reflection diffraction devices and arbitrary surface profile optical devices
Multiple-length-scale elastic instability mimics parametric resonance of nonlinear oscillators
Spatially confined rigid membranes reorganize their morphology in response to
the imposed constraints. A crumpled elastic sheet presents a complex pattern of
random folds focusing the deformation energy while compressing a membrane
resting on a soft foundation creates a regular pattern of sinusoidal wrinkles
with a broad distribution of energy. Here, we study the energy distribution for
highly confined membranes and show the emergence of a new morphological
instability triggered by a period-doubling bifurcation. A periodic
self-organized focalization of the deformation energy is observed provided an
up-down symmetry breaking, induced by the intrinsic nonlinearity of the
elasticity equations, occurs. The physical model, exhibiting an analogy with
parametric resonance in nonlinear oscillator, is a new theoretical toolkit to
understand the morphology of various confined systems, such as coated materials
or living tissues, e.g., wrinkled skin, internal structure of lungs, internal
elastica of an artery, brain convolutions or formation of fingerprints.
Moreover, it opens the way to new kind of microfabrication design of
multiperiodic or chaotic (aperiodic) surface topography via self-organization.Comment: Submitted for publicatio
Reconstructing âthe Alcoholicâ: Recovering from Alcohol Addiction and the Stigma this Entails
Public perception of alcohol addiction is frequently negative, whilst an important part of recovery is the construction of a positive sense of self. In order to explore how this might be achieved, we investigated how those who self-identify as in recovery from alcohol problems view themselves and their difficulties with alcohol and how they make sense of othersâ responses to their addiction. Semi-structured interviews with six individuals who had been in recovery between 5 and 35 years and in contact with Alcoholics Anonymous were analysed using Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis. The participants were acutely aware of stigmatising images of âalcoholicsâ and described having struggled with a considerable dilemma in accepting this identity themselves. However, to some extent they were able to resist stigma by conceiving of an âaware alcoholic selfâ which was divorced from their previously unaware self and formed the basis for a new more knowing and valued identity
Recommended from our members
Trends in the availability of the vulture-toxic drug, diclofenac, and other NSAIDs in South Asia, as revealed by covert pharmacy surveys
SummaryThe catastrophic declines of three species of âCritically Endangeredâ Gyps vultures in South Asia were caused by unintentional poisoning by the non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drug (NSAID) diclofenac. Despite a ban on its veterinary use in 2006 (India, Nepal, Pakistan) and 2010 (Bangladesh), residues of diclofenac have continued to be found in cattle carcasses and in dead wild vultures. Another NSAID, meloxicam, has been shown to be safe to vultures. From 2012 to 2018, we undertook covert surveys of pharmacies in India, Nepal and Bangladesh to investigate the availability and prevalence of NSAIDs for the treatment of livestock. The purpose of the study was to establish whether diclofenac continued to be sold for veterinary use, whether the availability of meloxicam had increased and to determine which other veterinary NSAIDs were available. The availability of diclofenac declined in all three countries, virtually disappearing from pharmacies in Nepal and Bangladesh, highlighting the advances made in these two countries to reduce this threat to vultures. In India, diclofenac still accounted for 10â46% of all NSAIDs offered for sale for livestock treatment in 2017, suggesting weak enforcement of existing regulations and a continued high risk to vultures. Availability of meloxicam increased in all countries and was the most common veterinary NSAID in Nepal (89.9% in 2017). Although the most widely available NSAID in India in 2017, meloxicam accounted for only 32% of products offered for sale. In Bangladesh, meloxicam was less commonly available than the vulture-toxic NSAID ketoprofen (28% and 66%, respectively, in 2018), despite the partial government ban on ketoprofen in 2016. Eleven different NSAIDs were recorded, several of which are known or suspected to be toxic to vultures. Conservation priorities should include awareness raising, stricter implementation of current bans, bans on other vulture-toxic veterinary NSAIDs, especially aceclofenac and nimesulide, and safety-testing of other NSAIDs on Gyps vultures to identify safe and toxic drugs.</jats:p
Wet Granular Materials
Most studies on granular physics have focused on dry granular media, with no
liquids between the grains. However, in geology and many real world
applications (e.g., food processing, pharmaceuticals, ceramics, civil
engineering, constructions, and many industrial applications), liquid is
present between the grains. This produces inter-grain cohesion and drastically
modifies the mechanical properties of the granular media (e.g., the surface
angle can be larger than 90 degrees). Here we present a review of the
mechanical properties of wet granular media, with particular emphasis on the
effect of cohesion. We also list several open problems that might motivate
future studies in this exciting but mostly unexplored field.Comment: review article, accepted for publication in Advances in Physics;
tex-style change
Cognitive ability and physical health:A Mendelian randomization study
Causes of the association between cognitive ability and health remain unknown, but may reflect a shared genetic aetiology. This study examines the causal genetic associations between cognitive ability and physical health. We carried out two-sample Mendelian randomization analyses using the inverse-variance weighted method to test for causality between later life cognitive ability, educational attainment (as a proxy for cognitive ability in youth), BMI, height, systolic blood pressure, coronary artery disease, and type 2 diabetes using data from six independent GWAS consortia and the UK Biobank sample (Nâ=â112 151). BMI, systolic blood pressure, coronary artery disease and type 2 diabetes showed negative associations with cognitive ability; height was positively associated with cognitive ability. The analyses provided no evidence for casual associations from health to cognitive ability. In the other direction, higher educational attainment predicted lower BMI, systolic blood pressure, coronary artery disease, type 2 diabetes, and taller stature. The analyses indicated no causal association from educational attainment to physical health. The lack of evidence for causal associations between cognitive ability, educational attainment, and physical health could be explained by weak instrumental variables, poorly measured outcomes, or the small number of disease cases
Seasonal and annual fluxes of nutrients and organic matter from large rivers to the Arctic Ocean and surrounding seas
Author Posting. © The Author(s), 2011. This is the author's version of the work. It is posted here by permission of Springer for personal use, not for redistribution. The definitive version was published in Estuaries and Coasts 35 (2012): 369-382, doi:10.1007/s12237-011-9386-6.River inputs of nutrients and organic matter impact the biogeochemistry of arctic
estuaries and the Arctic Ocean as a whole, yet there is considerable uncertainty about the
magnitude of fluvial fluxes at the pan-arctic scale. Samples from the six largest arctic
rivers, with a combined watershed area of 11.3 x 106 km2, have revealed strong seasonal
variations in constituent concentrations and fluxes within rivers as well as large
differences among the rivers. Specifically, we investigate fluxes of dissolved organic
carbon, dissolved organic nitrogen, total dissolved phosphorus, dissolved inorganic
nitrogen, nitrate, and silica. This is the first time that seasonal and annual constituent
fluxes have been determined using consistent sampling and analytical methods at the pan
arctic scale, and consequently provide the best available estimates for constituent flux
from land to the Arctic Ocean and surrounding seas. Given the large inputs of river water
to the relatively small Arctic Ocean, and the dramatic impacts that climate change is
having in the Arctic, it is particularly urgent that we establish the contemporary river
fluxes so that we will be able to detect future changes and evaluate the impact of the
changes on the biogeochemistry of the receiving coastal and ocean systems.This work was supported by the National Science Foundation through grants
OPP-0229302, OPP-0519840, OPP-0732522, and OPP-0732944. Additional support was
provided by the U. S. Geological Survey (Yukon River) and the Department of Indian
and Northern Affairs (Mackenzie River)
Comparing ultrastable lasers at 7âĂâ10â17 fractional frequency instability through a 2220âkm optical fibre network
Ultrastable lasers are essential tools in optical frequency metrology enabling unprecedented measurement precision that impacts on fields such as atomic timekeeping, tests of fundamental physics, and geodesy. To characterise an ultrastable laser it needs to be compared with a laser of similar performance, but a suitable system may not be available locally. Here, we report a comparison of two geographically separated lasers, over the longest ever reported metrological optical fibre link network, measuring 2220 km in length, at a state-of-the-art fractional-frequency instability of 7âĂâ10â17 for averaging times between 30âs and 200âs. The measurements also allow the short-term instability of the complete optical fibre link network to be directly observed without using a loop-back fibre. Based on the characterisation of the noise in the lasers and optical fibre link network over different timescales, we investigate the potential for disseminating ultrastable light to improve the performance of remote optical clocks
- âŠ