Herbaceous Tropical Legume Integration into Small-Holder Crop-Livestock Systems in Eastern Indonesia: Results of 10-Years of Multi-Disciplinary Systems Research

Integration a forage legume into crop-livestock systems of Eastern Indonesia was tested to establish the capacity to improve nitrogen supply and yields of staple cereal crops (maize and rice) and allow for intensification of beef production to ultimately increase farm income and alleviate rural poverty in the region. Species evaluation sites across a diversity of environments showed Clitoria ternatea (butterfly pea) to be the most resilient and adaptable forage legume for use in association with cropping systems. Crop rotation experiments demonstrated that legumes grown in rotation with maize or rice can increase grain yields by 50% where legume was cut and removed, and by 90% where legume biomass was retained – the legume providing the equivalent of 100-150 kg of urea fertiliser. Forage establishment and cutting management were shown to be critical to maximising legume productivity but labour inputs required are important constraints. Lower-labour options can be used effectively without dramatically compromising productivity. Providing legumes as supplements to cattle have been shown to have significant benefits for livestock productivity in various production systems; preventing liveweight losses of reproductive cows during the dry season, doubling calf growth rates and halving calf mortality, and increasing growth rates of growing cattle by 0.3-0.5 kg LW/d. Whole-farm bioeconomic modelling and participatory on-farm evaluation has found that livestock-oriented farmers with available land resources will benefit most from forage legumes with potential increases of farm income of up to 30%. Local seed production is critical for ongoing use of herbaceous forage legumes, and our research has refined locally relevant recommendations for agronomy for seed production methods and processing. Our research has confirmed that herbaceous forage legumes can be integrated into cropping systems to improve crop yields, livestock production and livelihoods of small-holder farmers in East Nusa Tenggara, Indonesia

Constraints on Galaxy Density Profiles from Strong Gravitational Lensing: The Case of B 1933+503

We consider a wide range of parametric mass models for B 1933+503, a ten-image radio lens, and identify shared properties of the models with the best fits. The approximate rotation curves varies by less than 8.5% from the average value between the innermost and the outermost image (1.5h^{-1} kpc to 4.1h^{-1} kpc) for models within 1 \sigma of the best fit, and the radial dependence of the shear strength and angle also have common behavior for the best models. The time delay between images 1 and 6, the longest delay between the radio cores, is \Delta t = (10.6^{+2.4}_{-1.1})h^{-1} days (\Omega_0=0.3, \lambda_0=0.7) including all the modeling uncertainties. Deeper infrared observations, to more precisely register the lens galaxy with the radio images and to measure the properties of the Einstein ring image of the radio source's host galaxy, would significantly improve the model constraints and further reduce the uncertainties in the mass distribution and time delay.Comment: 24 pages, 10 figures, final version to appear in ApJ. Some minor corrections (e.g. constraint on central unseen image was stronger than intended earlier, now agrees with text, conventions on angles fixed in text/plots). Resulting model fits have some change in chi squareds and best parameters (e.g. cores, flatness of rotation curve) have some changes. Properties of model families and trends for best fitting models very close to earlier results; general conclusions the sam

Determination of Inflationary Observables by Cosmic Microwave Background Anisotropy Experiments

Inflation produces nearly Harrison-Zel'dovich scalar and tensor perturbation spectra which lead to anisotropy in the cosmic microwave background (CMB). The amplitudes and shapes of these spectra can be parametrized by $Q_S^2$, $r\equiv Q_T^2/Q_S^2$, $n_S$ and $n_T$ where $Q_S^2$ and $Q_T^2$ are the scalar and tensor contributions to the square of the CMB quadrupole and $n_S$ and $n_T$ are the power-lawspectral indices. Even if we restrict ourselves to information from angles greater than one third of a degree, three of these observables can be measured with some precision. The combination $130^{1-n_S}Q_S^2$ can be known to better than $\pm 0.3\%$. The scalar index $n_S$ can be determined to better than $\pm 0.02$. The ratio $r$ can be known to about $\pm 0.1$ for $n_S \simeq 1$ and slightly better for smaller $n_S$. The precision with which $n_T$ can be measured depends weakly on $n_S$ and strongly on $r$. For $n_S \simeq 1$ $n_T$ can be determined with a precision of about $\pm 0.056(1.5+r)/r$. A full-sky experiment with a $20'$beam using technology available today, similar to those being planned by several groups, can achieve the above precision. Good angular resolution is more important than high signal-to-noise ratio; for a given detector sensitivity and observing time a smaller beam provides significantly more information than a larger beam. The uncertainties in $n_S$ and $r$ are roughly proportional to the beam size. We briefly discuss the effects of uncertainty in the Hubble constant, baryon density, cosmological constant and ionization history.Comment: 28 pages of uuencoded postscript with 8 included figures. A postscript version is also available by anonymous ftp at ftp://astro.uchicago.edu/pub/astro/knox/fullsim.p

The resuscitation-promoting factors of Mycobacterium tuberculosis are required for virulence and resuscitation from dormancy but are collectively dispensable for growth in situ

Mycobacterium tuberculosis contains five resuscitation-promoting factor (Rpf)-like proteins, RpfA-E, that are implicated in resuscitation of this organism from dormancy via a mechanism involving hydrolysis of the peptidoglycan by Rpfs and partnering proteins. In this study, the rpfA-E genes were shown to be collectively dispensable for growth of M. tuberculosis in broth culture. The defect in resuscitation of multiple mutants from a ‘non-culturable’ state induced by starvation under anoxia was reversed by genetic complementation or addition of culture filtrate from wild-type organisms confirming that the phenotype was associated with rpf-like gene loss and that the ‘non-culturable’ cells of the mutant strains were viable. Other phenotypes uncovered by sequential deletion mutagenesis revealed a functional differentiation within this protein family. The quintuple mutant and its parent that retained only rpfD displayed delayed colony formation and hypersensitivity to detergent, effects not observed for mutants retaining only rpfE or rpfB. Furthermore, mutants retaining rpfD or rpfE were highly attenuated for growth in mice with the latter persisting better than the former in late-stage infection. In conjunction, these results are indicative of a hierarchy in terms of function and/or potency with the Rpf family, with RpfB and RpfE ranking above RpfD

Limits on a Stochastic Background of Gravitational Waves from Gravitational Lensing

We compute the effects of a stochastic background of gravitational waves on multiply imaged systems or on weak lensing. There are two possible observable effects, a static relative deflection of images or shear, and an induced time dependent shift or proper motion. We evaluate the rms magnitude of these effects for a COBE normalized, scale-invariant spectrum, which is an upper limit on spectra produced by inflation. Previous work has shown that large-scale structure may cause a relative deflection large enough to affect observations, but we find that the corresponding effect of gravity waves is smaller by $\sim 10^4$ and so cannot be observed. This results from the oscillation in time as well as the redshifting of the amplitude of gravity waves. We estimate the magnitude of the proper motion induced by deflection of light due to large-scale structure, and find it to be $\sim 10^{-8}$ arcsec per year. This corresponds to $\sim 50$ km/s at cosmological distances, which is quite small compared to typical peculiar velocities. The COBE normalized gravity wave spectrum produces motions smaller still by $\sim 10^2$. We conclude that light deflection due to these cosmological perturbations cannot produce observable proper motions of lensed images. On the other hand, there are only a few known observational limits on a stochastic background of gravity waves at shorter, astrophysical wavelengths. We calculate the expected magnitudes of the effects of lensing by gravity waves of such wavelengths, and find that they are too small to yield interesting limits on the energy density of gravity waves.Comment: 14 pages, LaTex + 1 PS Figure, accepted version to be published in Phys. Rev. D15, Dec. 1996. An incorrect assumption was removed, also various other minor change

Gravitational lensing on the Cosmic Microwave Background by gravity waves

We study the effect of a stochastic background of gravitational waves on the gravitational lensing of the Cosmic Microwave Background (CMB) radiation. It has been shown that matter density inhomogeneities produce a smoothing of the acoustic peaks in the angular power spectrum of the CMB anisotropies. A gravitational wave background gives rise to an additional smoothing of the spectrum. For the most simple case of a gravitational wave background arising during a period of inflation, the effect results to be three to four orders of magnitude smaller than its scalar counterpart, and is thus undetectable. It could play a more relevant role in models where a larger background of gravitational waves is produced.Comment: 6 pages, RevTeX file, 1 figur

High heterotrophic CO2 emissions from a Malaysian oil palm plantations during dry-season

Background Tropical peatlands are currently being rapidly cleared and drained for the establishment of oil palm plantations, which threatens their globally significant carbon sequestration capacity. Large-scale land conversion of tropical peatlands is important in the context of greenhouse gas emission factors and sustainable land management. At present, quantification of carbon dioxide losses from tropical peatlands is limited by our understanding of the relative contribution of heterotrophic and autotrophic respiration to net peat surface CO2 emissions. Methods In this study we separated heterotrophic and autotrophic components of peat CO2 losses from two oil palm plantations (one established in ‘2000’ and the other in 1978, then replanted in ‘2006’) using chamber-based emissions sampling along a transect from the rooting to non-rooting zones on a peatland in Selangor, Peninsular Malaysia over the course of three months (June-August, 2014). Collar CO2 measurements were compared with soil temperature and moisture at site and also accompanied by depth profiles assessing peat C and bulk density. Results The soil respiration decreased exponentially with distance from the palm trunks with the sharpest decline found for the plantation with the younger palms. The mean heterotrophic flux was 1244.7 ± SE 149.2 mg m-2h-1 and 663.8 ± SE 102.2 mg m-2h-1 at the 2000 and 2006 plantations, respectively. Autotrophic emissions adjacent to the palm trunks were 944 ± SE 99.7 mg m-2h-1 and 1962 ± SE 246 mg m-2h-1 at the 2000 and 2006 plantations, respectively. Heterotrophic CO2 flux was positively related to peat soil moisture, but not temperature. Total peat C stocks were 60 kg m-2 (down to 1 m depth) and did not vary among plantations of different ages but SOC concentrations declined significantly with depth at both plantations but the decline was sharper in the second generation 2006 plantation. Conclusions The CO2 flux values reported in this study suggest a potential for very high carbon (C) loss from drained tropical peats during the dry season. This is particularly concerning given that more intense dry periods related to climate change are predicted for SE Asia. Taken together, this study highlights the need for careful management of tropical peatlands, and the vulnerability of their carbon storage capability under conditions of drainage

Effets de l’amprolin-300 Ws sur quelques paramètres de croissance et de reproduction chez le lapin mâle (Oryctolagus cuniculus)

Objectif : L’objectif de la présente étude a été de rechercher les effets de l’Amprolin-300, un anticoccidien largement utilisé en médecine vétérinaire, sur quelques paramètres de croissance et de reproduction chez le lapin mâle de race locale. Méthodologie et résultats : Vingt-quatre (24) lapins âgés de 5 mois environ et pesant entre 2,01 et 2,78 kg ont été répartis en 4 lots comparables de 6 lapins chacun. Ils ont été traités pendant 60 jours avec différentes doses d’Amprolin-300 ws via l’eau de boisson : 0 ; 30 ; 60 et 110 mg/kg de poids corporel. Les résultats obtenus ont révélé que la consommation d’eau a significativement (p<0,05) diminué chez les lapins traités aux doses 60 et 110 mg/kg de poids corporel par rapport aux témoins. Le gain de poids et le gain moyen quotidien ont diminué de manière significative (p<0,05) chez les animaux traités aux doses 30 et 60 mg/kg de poids corporel par rapport aux animaux du lot témoin. Par contre, l’indice de consommation a diminué de façon significative (p<0,05) chez les animaux témoins et chez ceux qui ont ingéré la plus forte dose d’Amprolin-300 ws (110 mg/kg de poids corporel) comparé aux lapins traités avec les doses 30 et 60 mg/kg respectivement. Le pH de la semence a significativement (p<0,05) augmenté chez les mâles traités aux doses 30 et 60 mg/kg de poids corporel par rapport Aux mâles du lot témoin. La motilité individuelle et la concentration des spermatozoïdes ont diminué de manière significative (p<0,05) chez les lapins qui ont ingéré la plus forte dose d’anticoccidien par rapport aux lapins témoins. Conclusion et application des résultats : Ainsi, à la dose de 110 mg/kg de poids corporel, l’Amprolin-300 ws a réduit la consommation alimentaire, le gain de poids, le gain moyen quotidien, le poids spécifique et le pH de la semence. Cette dose a également inhibé la spermatogenèse et réduit le pourcentage de spermatozoïdes mobiles. Son usage devrait donc être règlementé.Mots clés : Amprolin-300 ws, lapin mâle, production et fertilité.Objective: In this study, the effects of Amprolin-300 ws, an anticoccidiostat abundantly used in veterinary medicine, on some growth and reproductive parameters in male rabbits were investigated. Methodology and results: Twenty four (24) rabbits aged 5 months and weighing between 2.01 and 2.78 kg were divided into 4 comparable groups of six rabbits each and treated for 60 days with different doses of Amprolin-300 ws from drinking water: 0, 30, 60 and 110 g/kg of body weight. The results showed that water consumption was significantly (p<0.05) decreased in rabbits treated with 60 and 110 mg/kg of body weight of Amprolin-300 compared to control rabbits. Body weight gain and average daily gain decreased significantly (p<0.05) in animals treated with 30 and 60 mg/kg of body weight compared to control rabbits. On the other hand, feed efficiency decreased significantly (p<0.05) in control animals and those who ingested the highest dose (110 mg/kg of body weight) compared to rabbits treated with 30 and 60 mg/kg of body weight respectively. The pH of semen increased significantly (p<0.05) in animals treated with 30 and 60 mg/kg of body weight compared to control animals. Individual motility and sperm concentration decreased significantly (p<0.05) in rabbits who received the highest dose of Amprolin-300 compared to control rabbits. Conclusion and application of results: Thus, at the dose of 110 mg/kg body weight, Amprolinws-300 reduced in male rabbit, food consumption, body and average daily weight gain, specific weight and pH of semen. It inhibited spermatogenesis and reduced sperm mobility. Therefore its use should be regulated

Tsunami waves extensively resurfaced the shorelines of an early Martian ocean

It has been proposed that ~3.4 billion years ago an ocean fed by enormous catastrophic floods covered most of the Martian northern lowlands. However, a persistent problem with this hypothesis is the lack of definitive paleoshoreline features. Here, based on geomorphic and thermal image mapping in the circum-Chryse and northwestern Arabia Terra regions of the northern plains, in combination with numerical analyses, we show evidence for two enormous tsunami events possibly triggered by bolide impacts, resulting in craters ~30 km in diameter and occurring perhaps a few million years apart. The tsunamis produced widespread littoral landforms, including run-up water- ice-rich and bouldery lobes, which extended tens to hundreds of kilometers over gently sloping plains and boundary cratered highlands, as well as backwash channels where wave retreat occurred on highland-boundary surfaces. The ice-rich lobes formed in association with the younger tsunami, showing that their emplacement took place following a transition into a colder global climatic regime that occurred after the older tsunami event. We conclude that, on early Mars, tsunamis played a major role in generating and resurfacing coastal terrains