A new functional for charge and mass identification in Delta E-E telescopes

We propose a new functional for the charge and mass identification in Delta E-E telescopes. This functional is based on Bethe's formula, allowing safe interpolation or extrapolation in regions with low statistics. When applied to telescopes involving detectors delivering a linear response, as silicon detectors or ionization chambers, a good mass and charge identification is achieved. For other detectors, as caesium-iodide used as a final member of a telescope, a good accuracy is also obtained except in the low residual energy region. A good identification is however recovered if a non-linear energy dependence of the light output is included.Comment: 16 pages, 8 figures, LaTeX2e + EPS figures reduced in size Submitted to Elsevie

Sequential Detection and Identification of a Change in the Distribution of a Markov-Modulated Random Sequence

The problem of detection and identification of an unobservable change in the distribution of a random sequence is studied via a hidden Markov model (HMM) approach. The formulation is Bayesian, on-line, discrete-time, allowing both single- and multiple- disorder cases, dealing with both independent and identically distributed (i.i.d.) and dependent observations scenarios, allowing for statistical dependencies between the change-time and change-type in both the observation sequence and the risk structure, and allowing for general discrete-time disorder distributions. Several of these factors provide useful new generalizations of the sequential analysis theory for change detection and/or hypothesis testing, taken individually. In this paper, a unifying framework is provided that handles each of these considerations not only individually, but also concurrently. Optimality results and optimal decision characterizations are given as well as detailed examples that illustrate the myriad of sequential change detection and identification problems that fall within this new framework

Science and user‐based co‐development of a farmland earthworm survey facilitated using digital media: insights and policy implications

Science–farming partnerships can improve our understanding of how land management behaviours sustain or enhance life-sustaining soil ecosystems. However, it remains a challenge to establish partnerships between researchers and practitioners that complement the ways in which farmers acquire and value knowledge and can also advance soil science. A pilot study was conducted to explore these issues in relation to earthworm monitoring. It showed that farmers were interested in comparing their field results to research experiments to inform their decision-making. Social media was used to support farmers' earthworm monitoring schemes, with a concomitant sampling of research experiments to create capacity for shared learning. Constructive feedback from the scientific community was sought using an online questionnaire. An Autumn 2018 survey generated 152 field analyses from farmlands in England, and 48% of participants' fields and the research experiment showed no evidence for earthworms being widespread and/or the presence of all three ecological groups of earthworms. A Spring 2019 survey generated earthworm population data from farmland soils around the world, amassing 11,464 earthworms assessed over 2,200 ha in the UK. A total of 12 scientists (from 30 questionnaire invitations) volunteered their time and expertise to support the survey. Conclusions helped to prioritise future improvements in earthworm monitoring, which should include photographs of earthworms for verification of the data, long-term monitoring and integration with soil properties. Most (83%) perceived this earthworm survey would likely improve farmland soil health and so would recommend its use in the UK. The survey is being independently taken forward and used as a metric by both private and public stakeholders, demonstrating authentic knowledge transfer in soil science

The barriers to and enablers of providing reasonably adjusted health services to people with intellectual disabilities in acute hospitals: evidence from a mixed-methods study.

OBJECTIVE: To identify the factors that promote and compromise the implementation of reasonably adjusted healthcare services for patients with intellectual disabilities in acute National Health Service (NHS) hospitals. DESIGN: A mixed-methods study involving interviews, questionnaires and participant observation (July 2011-March 2013). SETTING: Six acute NHS hospital trusts in England. METHODS: Reasonable adjustments for people with intellectual disabilities were identified through the literature. Data were collected on implementation and staff understanding of these adjustments. RESULTS: Data collected included staff questionnaires (n=990), staff interviews (n=68), interviews with adults with intellectual disabilities (n=33), questionnaires (n=88) and interviews (n=37) with carers of patients with intellectual disabilities, and expert panel discussions (n=42). Hospital strategies that supported implementation of reasonable adjustments did not reliably translate into consistent provision of such adjustments. Good practice often depended on the knowledge, understanding and flexibility of individual staff and teams, leading to the delivery of reasonable adjustments being haphazard throughout the organisation. Major barriers included: lack of effective systems for identifying and flagging patients with intellectual disabilities, lack of staff understanding of the reasonable adjustments that may be needed, lack of clear lines of responsibility and accountability for implementing reasonable adjustments, and lack of allocation of additional funding and resources. Key enablers were the Intellectual Disability Liaison Nurse and the ward manager. CONCLUSIONS: The evidence suggests that ward culture, staff attitudes and staff knowledge are crucial in ensuring that hospital services are accessible to vulnerable patients. The authors suggest that flagging the need for specific reasonable adjustments, rather than the vulnerable condition itself, may address some of the barriers. Further research is recommended that describes and quantifies the most frequently needed reasonable adjustments within the hospital pathways of vulnerable patient groups, and the most effective organisational infrastructure required to guarantee their use, together with resource implications

Post-Harvest to Consumer Driver Review of the Aquatic Supply Chain

This paper provides an overview of the key current features of the international markets for aquatic food and appraises how the future drivers of the post-harvest/consumption aspects of the value chain will interact. This encompasses product from both wild capture fisheries and aquaculture. Here, ‘post-harvest’ covers all those activities involved in delivering aquatic products from the water to the plate, in particular those concerned with their processing and trading. The system is highly diverse, and a wide range of aquatic species and products, changing patterns of demand and supply, in a spectrum of cultural, economic and political contexts give rise to a variety of post-harvest configurations and future directions. The only constant across the sector is product perishability, at higher rates than for most terrestrial foods, and a critical element to be managed if values are to be delivered without loss and if the potential for adding value can be realised

A Tale of Two Narrow-Line Regions: Ionization, Kinematics, and Spectral Energy Distributions for a Local Pair of Merging Obscured Active Galaxies

We explore the gas ionization and kinematics, as well as the optical--IR spectral energy distributions for UGC 11185, a nearby pair of merging galaxies hosting obscured active galactic nuclei (AGNs), also known as SDSS J181611.72+423941.6 and J181609.37+423923.0 (J1816NE and J1816SW, $z \approx 0.04$). Due to the wide separation between these interacting galaxies ($\sim 23$ kpc), observations of these objects provide a rare glimpse of the concurrent growth of supermassive black holes at an early merger stage. We use BPT line diagnostics to show that the full extent of the narrow line emission in both galaxies is photoionized by an AGN and confirm the existence of a 10-kpc-scale ionization cone in J1816NE, while in J1816SW the AGN narrow-line region is much more compact (1--2 kpc) and relatively undisturbed. Our observations also reveal the presence of ionized gas that nearly spans the entire distance between the galaxies which is likely in a merger-induced tidal stream. In addition, we carry out a spectral analysis of the X-ray emission using data from {\em XMM-Newton}. These galaxies represent a useful pair to explore how the [\ion{O}{3}] luminosity of an AGN is dependent on the size of the region used to explore the extended emission. Given the growing evidence for AGN "flickering" over short timescales, we speculate that the appearances and impact of these AGNs may change multiple times over the course of the galaxy merger, which is especially important given that these objects are likely the progenitors of the types of systems commonly classified as "dual AGNs."Comment: 15 pages, 10 figures, accepted by the Astrophysical Journa

UAV mapping of rhizoctonia bare patch for targeted treatment

Rhizoctonia patches can be easily identified on both normal (RGB) and NDVI images captured by UAV. Mapping shows the pattern of patch distribution across a paddock, highlighting areas of crop with high and low levels of rhizoctonia patches

The MASSIVE Survey - X. Misalignment between Kinematic and Photometric Axes and Intrinsic Shapes of Massive Early-Type Galaxies

We use spatially resolved two-dimensional stellar velocity maps over a $107"\times 107"$ field of view to investigate the kinematic features of 90 early-type galaxies above stellar mass $10^{11.5}M_\odot$ in the MASSIVE survey. We measure the misalignment angle $\Psi$ between the kinematic and photometric axes and identify local features such as velocity twists and kinematically distinct components. We find 46% of the sample to be well aligned ($\Psi < 15^{\circ}$), 33% misaligned, and 21% without detectable rotation (non-rotators). Only 24% of the sample are fast rotators, the majority of which (91%) are aligned, whereas 57% of the slow rotators are misaligned with a nearly flat distribution of $\Psi$ from $15^{\circ}$ to $90^{\circ}$. 11 galaxies have $\Psi \gtrsim 60^{\circ}$ and thus exhibit minor-axis ("prolate") rotation in which the rotation is preferentially around the photometric major axis. Kinematic misalignments occur more frequently for lower galaxy spin or denser galaxy environments. Using the observed misalignment and ellipticity distributions, we infer the intrinsic shape distribution of our sample and find that MASSIVE slow rotators are consistent with being mildly triaxial, with mean axis ratios of $b/a=0.88$ and $c/a=0.65$. In terms of local kinematic features, 51% of the sample exhibit kinematic twists of larger than $20^{\circ}$, and 2 galaxies have kinematically distinct components. The frequency of misalignment and the broad distribution of $\Psi$ reported here suggest that the most massive early-type galaxies are mildly triaxial, and that formation processes resulting in kinematically misaligned slow rotators such as gas-poor mergers occur frequently in this mass range.Comment: Accepted to MNRA