LSST: from Science Drivers to Reference Design and Anticipated Data Products

(Abridged) We describe here the most ambitious survey currently planned in the optical, the Large Synoptic Survey Telescope (LSST). A vast array of science will be enabled by a single wide-deep-fast sky survey, and LSST will have unique survey capability in the faint time domain. The LSST design is driven by four main science themes: probing dark energy and dark matter, taking an inventory of the Solar System, exploring the transient optical sky, and mapping the Milky Way. LSST will be a wide-field ground-based system sited at Cerro Pach\'{o}n in northern Chile. The telescope will have an 8.4 m (6.5 m effective) primary mirror, a 9.6 deg$^2$ field of view, and a 3.2 Gigapixel camera. The standard observing sequence will consist of pairs of 15-second exposures in a given field, with two such visits in each pointing in a given night. With these repeats, the LSST system is capable of imaging about 10,000 square degrees of sky in a single filter in three nights. The typical 5$\sigma$ point-source depth in a single visit in $r$ will be $\sim 24.5$ (AB). The project is in the construction phase and will begin regular survey operations by 2022. The survey area will be contained within 30,000 deg$^2$ with $\delta<+34.5^\circ$, and will be imaged multiple times in six bands, $ugrizy$, covering the wavelength range 320--1050 nm. About 90\% of the observing time will be devoted to a deep-wide-fast survey mode which will uniformly observe a 18,000 deg$^2$ region about 800 times (summed over all six bands) during the anticipated 10 years of operations, and yield a coadded map to $r\sim27.5$. The remaining 10\% of the observing time will be allocated to projects such as a Very Deep and Fast time domain survey. The goal is to make LSST data products, including a relational database of about 32 trillion observations of 40 billion objects, available to the public and scientists around the world.Comment: 57 pages, 32 color figures, version with high-resolution figures available from https://www.lsst.org/overvie

Brushing Pansy (\u3cem\u3eViola tricolor\u3c/em\u3e L.) Transplants: A Flexible, Effective Method for Controlling Plant Size

Though brushing is an effective method for controlling excessive elongation in many species, its adoption by the commercial plug transplant industry will depend on the ease and flexibility of its application. Brushing was applied to pansy (Viola tricolor L.) seedlings growing at a density of 1500 plants m-2 by daily stroking with 20/20 gauge netting. In dose response experiments, final petiole length appeared to approach a lower asymptote as number of brush strokes increased, and the number of strokes required to give near full reduction in length increased under environmental conditions favouring extension growth. Ten or 20 daily strokes, typically gave a 25-30% reduction in petiole elongation without causing plant damage or affecting subsequent flowering. Reductions in shoot dry weight tended to parallel those for petiole length. Increasing the interval between strokes by up to 10 rain resulted in similar reductions as continuous brushing. There was no difference between brushing the plants at 09:00 or 16:00 h, or between brushing 1 or 2 times day-1. Plants required at least 5 days treatment week-1 for significant size control. Brushing is an effective, flexible method for controlling petiole length in pansy and it should find application in the commercial transplant industry

Commercial Adaptations of Mechanical Stimulation for the Control of Transplant Growth

The commercial use of mechanical stimulation to control transplant growth is quite limited. To be commercially successful, the technique must be simple and flexible, and must not reduce plant quality. Brushing was applied to tomato (Lycopersicon esculentum) seedlings growing at a density of 2100 plants m-2 by daily stroking with a piece of polystyrene. Ten or twenty daily strokes typically provided significant height control without plant damage. Increasing the interval between strokes to up to 10 minutes resulted in the same amount of height control as continuous brushing. There were typically no differences between treating the plants at 0800 or at 1700 hours. Significant height control was achieved if treatments were begun at the first or second true leaf stage, but treatments begun at a later stage of development resulted in leaf damage. Brushing before transplanting to the field resulted in a significant decrease in stem elongation (~20%). However, there were no significant differences between brushed and unbrushed plants in long-term growth or final fruit yield after transplanting to the field. Preliminary studies were also conducted on four bedding plant species: geranium (Pelargonium x hortorum), impatiens (Impatiens holstii), petunia (Petunia hybrida) and pansy (Viola tricolor). Brushing was applied to seedlings growing at a density of 1500 plants m-2 using either polythene or plastic netting. For geranium and impatiens, any reductions in plant stature were associated with significant plant damage. Brushing induced a prostrate growth habit and leaf distortion in petunia and significantly reduced leaf area and shoot dry weight. Pansy plants were undamaged by 10 or 20 brush strokes per day and showed a significant (17–22%) decrease in petiole length, typically without significant effects on leaf area, dry weight or days to flower. Brushing provides a flexible, effective method for controlling tomato and pansy transplant size without adversely affecting quality or long-term growth

Governing inclusive finance workshop: towards a manifesto for change

The Governing Inclusive Finance Workshop was designed to foster new conversations between academics and multiple stakeholder groups in response to problems of financial exclusion, and possibilities for fostering progressive change. On Wednesday 27 June 2018, a diverse group of credit unions, community banks, alternative lenders, local-, county- and regional- government officials, advisory organizations and academic researchers – each involved or interested in financial provision for historically excluded people, families and communities – joined one another in conversation around three core themes: Making visible the lived realities of financial exclusion in the UK; Alleviating financial hardship: organizational successes and ongoing governance challenges; and Developing a manifesto for financial justice. By coming together as a group around these themes – discussing them freely and sharing experiences, challenges and ideas – our overarching aim was to begin an ongoing conversation around financial inclusion in the UK with a view to imagining more socially just forms of financial inclusion: i.e. forms of finance that have 'inclusiveness' at their heart. The day was arranged around three sessions in which a panel of experts each spoke for ten minutes about their experiences and ideas. The goal was to keep the format as relaxed as possible (no power point presentations!) – just the participants sharing themselves, their organizations and the people they deal with day-to-day. An academic Chair kept the sessions moving and on time, firing animating questions at the panel members, then guiding all participants through the various breakout discussions and plenary conversations. All in all, the day was filled with lively conversation and mutual engagement as a sense of purpose and potential filled the air