An overview on the role and potential of forage production on lowland organic livestock farms

This report was presented at the UK Organic Research 2002 Conference of the Colloquium of Organic Researchers (COR). This paper outlines some of the factors influencing the level of forage production on organic lowland farms. Optimal forage production is achieved by maintaining soil fertility, providing a balance between N-fixing and N-demanding crops and producing sufficient quantities of quality feed to meet the requirements of the organic livestock enterprise. A key objective for organic systems is to increase the efficiency of forage production by improving the nutrient input/output balance of the wholefarm system. Improving forage quality reduces the requirement for external feed sources, leading to increased self-sufficiency in the wholefarm system. Legumes provide the main source of nitrogen for forage production with energy shortage and an erratic supply of protein the main limiting factors in the provision of balanced diets from home-grown crops

Gauge Coupling Unification in MSSM + 5 Flavors

We investigate gauge coupling unification at 2-loops for theories with 5 extra vectorlike SU(5) fundamentals added to the MSSM. This is a borderline case where unification is only predicted in certain regions of parameter space. We establish a lower bound on the scale for the masses of the extra flavors, as a function of the sparticle masses. Models far outside of the bound do not predict unification at all (but may be compatible with unification), and models outside but near the boundary cannot reliably claim to predict it with an accuracy comparable to the MSSM prediction. Models inside the boundary can work just as well as the MSSM.Comment: 28 pages, 13 figures. Added references, fixed minor typos. No changes to content. Page count was incorrect in v1 Comment

Application of LANDSAT images to wetland study and land use classification in west Tennessee, part 1

The author has identified the following significant results. densitometric analysis was performed on LANDSAT data to permit numerical classification of objects observed in the imagery on the basis of measurements of optical density. Relative light transmission measurements were taken on four types of scene elements in each of three LANDSAT black and white bands in order to determine which classification could be distinguished. The analysis of band 6 determined forest and agricultural classifications, but not the urban and wetlands. Both bands 4 and 5 showed a significant difference existed between the confirmed classification of wetlands-agriculture, and urban areas. Therefore, the combination of band 6 with either 4 or 5 would permit the separation of the urban from the wetland classification. To enhance the urban and wetland boundaries, the LANDSAT black and white bands were combined in a multispectral additive color viewer. Several combinations of filters and light intensities were used to obtain maximum discrimination between points of interest. The best results for enhancing wetland boundaries and urban areas were achieved by using a color composite (a blue, green, and red filter on bands 4, 5 and 6 respectively)

Maladaptive rumination moderates the effects of written emotional disclosure on ambulatory blood pressure levels in females.

Written emotional disclosure (WED) has beneficial effects on health outcomes. However, its effectiveness is influenced by a number of variables. This exploratory study tested whether trait rumination, which comprises brooding, a maladaptive component, and reflection, an adaptive component, moderated the effects of WED on ambulatory blood pressure (ABP) in female participants. Fifty-two participants were randomized to write about their most stressful/traumatic life experience(s) or non-emotive topics, for 20 minutes, on 3 consecutive days. Two weeks and 14 weeks later, ABP was recorded over a single day. Using hierarchical linear modelling, an effect of condition was found at 2 weeks but not at 14 weeks indicating that higher levels of ABP were observed following WED. There was also a significant condition by brooding interaction at two weeks such that higher ABP was observed in low brooders in the WED condition compared with low brooders in the control condition. However, within the WED condition, the lowest ABP was exhibited by participants high in brooding. The findings indicated that WED led to short-lived increases in ABP which disappeared in the medium term. Researchers ought to build upon this exploratory study and investigate further the potential moderating role of brooding within WED. Individual differences in brooding may account for (some of) the mixed and inconsistent findings in past WED research

Remote sensing application to regional activities

Two agencies within the State of Tennessee were identified whereby the transfer of aerospace technology, namely remote sensing, could be applied to their stated problem areas. Their stated problem areas are wetland and land classification and strip mining studies. In both studies, LANDSAT data was analyzed with the UTSI video-input analog/digital automatic analysis and classification facility. In the West Tennessee area three land-use classifications could be distinguished; cropland, wetland, and forest. In the East Tennessee study area, measurements were submitted to statistical tests which verified the significant differences due to natural terrain, stripped areas, various stages of reclamation, water, etc. Classifications for both studies were output in the form of maps of symbols and varying shades of gray

State-of-the-art of turbofan engine noise control

The technology of turbofan engine noise reduction is surveyed. Specific topics discussed include: (1) new fans for low noise; (2) fan and core noise suppression; (3) turbomachinery noise sources; and (4) a new program for improving static noise testing of fans and engines

Salt-gradient Solar Ponds: Summary of US Department of Energy Sponsored Research

The solar pond research program conducted by the United States Department of Energy was discontinued after 1983. This document summarizes the results of the program, reviews the state of the art, and identifies the remaining outstanding issues. Solar ponds is a generic term but, in the context of this report, the term solar pond refers specifically to saltgradient solar pond. Several small research solar ponds have been built and successfully tested. Procedures for filling the pond, maintaining the gradient, adjusting the zone boundaries, and extracting heat were developed. Theories and models were developed and verified. The major remaining unknowns or issues involve the physical behavior of large ponds; i.e., wind mixing of the surface, lateral range or reach of horizontally injected fluids, ground thermal losses, and gradient zone boundary erosion caused by pumping fluid for heat extraction. These issues cannot be scaled and must be studied in a large outdoor solar pond

Inverse Compton Emission from Galactic Supernova Remnants: Effect of the Interstellar Radiation Field

The evidence for particle acceleration in supernova shells comes from electrons whose synchrotron emission is observed in radio and X-rays. Recent observations by the HESS instrument reveal that supernova remnants also emit TeV gamma-rays; long awaited experimental evidence that supernova remnants can accelerate cosmic rays up to the ``knee'' energies. Still, uncertainty exists whether these gamma-rays are produced by electrons via inverse Compton scattering or by protons via neutral pion decay. The multi-wavelength spectra of supernova remnants can be fitted with both mechanisms, although a preference is often given to neutral pion decay due to the spectral shape at very high energies. A recent study of the interstellar radiation field indicates that its energy density, especially in the inner Galaxy, is higher than previously thought. In this paper we evaluate the effect of the interstellar radiation field on the inverse Compton emission of electrons accelerated in a supernova remnant located at different distances from the Galactic Centre. We show that contribution of optical and infra-red photons to the inverse Compton emission may exceed the contribution of cosmic microwave background and in some cases broaden the resulted gamma-ray spectrum. Additionally, we show that if a supernova remnant is located close to the Galactic Centre its gamma-ray spectrum will exhibit a ``universal'' cutoff at very high energies due to the Klein-Nishina effect and not due to the cut-off of the electron spectrum. As an example, we apply our calculations to the supernova remnants RX J1713.7-3946 and G0.9+0.1 recently observed by HESS.Comment: 4 pages, 4 figures. Uses emulateapj.cls. Accepted by ApJ