The reactions pertaining to zinc-silver and cadmium-silver batteries First quarterly report

Zinc precipitates and thermogravimetric studies of silver oxide for zinc-silver and cadmium-zinc batterie

The reactions pertaining to zinc-silver and cadmium-silver batteries Quarterly report

Electrochemical oxidation of zinc, thermal decomposition of silver oxide, and solubility determinations of silver oxides in potassium hydroxide

Improving green manure quality with phosphate rocks in Ontario Canada

Phosphate rock (PR) was applied to one conventional and two organic dairy fields and planted with buckwheat (Fagopyrum esculentum) as a green manure crop. In total, five types of PR were applied at three application rates in order to determine the yield, concentration of P in the aboveground tissue and the P uptake of buckwheat. It was found that PR of relatively high carbonate substitution and small particle diameter could increase buckwheat tissue concentrations to a quality such that mineralization of the buckwheat mulch could occur. Buckwheat mulch and residual PR increased soil P flux as determined by anion exchange membranes in situ in the following spring. This provides evidence that buckwheat of high P quality has the potential to supply P to a subsequent crop

Een handreiking voor familieleden over palliatieve zorg bij dementie: evaluatie door zorgverleners en familieleden.

De familie van verpleeghuisbewoners met dementie is meestal betrokken bij de zorg en bij behandelbeslissingen over de bewoner. Hiertoe dienen familieleden geïnformeerd te zijn over het beloop van dementie en mogelijkheden tot palliatieve zorg. Op basis van een Canadese brochure ontwikkelden wij een handreiking met schriftelijke informatie toegesneden op de Nederlandse situatie. Deze handreiking en mogelijke toepassing werden beoordeeld door specialisten ouderengeneeskunde (n = 30), verzorging/verpleging (n = 38), en familieleden (n = 59) na het overlijden van de bewoner. Alle respondenten gaven aan dat er grote behoefte bestaat aan een dergelijke handreiking. De meeste familieleden (93%) hadden de handreiking eerder willen hebben. De verzorging/verpleging dacht vergeleken met specialisten oudergeneeskunde vaker dat de handreiking nuttig zou zijn voor alle of veel families (p = 0,04). De acceptatie van de handreiking onder de respondenten, gemeten op een schaal met 8 stellingen, was het grootst onder familieleden en het kleinst onder specialisten ouderengeneeskunde. Veel respondenten beoordeelden het nut positief (gemiddeld 7,9 tot 8,3 op een schaal van 0-10; SD 0,9 tot 1,4) en het nut verschilde niet tussen de respondentgroepen (p = 0,29). Alle respondenten zagen een rol voor zorgverleners in het overhandigen van de handreiking. Daarnaast vond de helft van de respondenten (53%; geen significant verschil tussen de groepen) dat de handreiking ook zonder tussenkomst van zorgverleners beschikbaar moet zijn; soms zelfs al vóór opname. Concluderend is er grote behoefte aan schriftelijke uitleg over palliatieve zorg bij dementie. De handreiking wordt geschikt gevonden. Een op punten aangepaste versie kan mogelijk zorgverleners en familie in de praktijk ondersteunen

Should medical assistance in dying be extended to incompetent patients with dementia? : research protocol of a survey among four groups of stakeholders from Quebec, Canada

Background: Alzheimer's disease and related disorders affect a growing number of people worldwide. Quality of life is generally good in the early stages of these diseases. However, many individuals fear living through the advanced stages. Such fears are triggering requests for medical assistance in dying (MAiD) by patients with dementia. Legislation was recently passed in Canada and the province of Quebec allowing MAiD at the explicit request of a patient who meets a set of eligibility criteria, including competence. Some commentators have argued that MAiD should be accessible to incompetent patients as well, provided appropriate safeguards are in place. Governments of both Quebec and Canada are currently considering whether MAiD should be accessible through written requests made in advance of loss of capacity. Objective: Aimed at informing the societal debate on this sensitive issue, this study will compare stakeholders' attitudes towards expanding MAiD to incompetent patients with dementia, the beliefs underlying stakeholders' attitudes on this issue, and the value they attach to proposed safeguards. This paper describes the study protocol. Methods: Data will be collected via a questionnaire mailed to random samples of community-dwelling seniors, relatives of persons with dementia, physicians, and nurses, all residing in Quebec (targeted sample size of 385 per group). Participants will be recruited through the provincial health insurance database, Alzheimer Societies, and professional associations. Attitudes towards MAiD for incompetent patients with dementia will be elicited through clinical vignettes featuring a patient with Alzheimer's disease for whom MAiD is considered towards the end of the disease trajectory. Vignettes specify the source of the request (from the patient through an advance request or from the patient's substitute decision-maker), manifestations of suffering, and how close the patient is to death. Arguments for or against MAiD are used to elicit the beliefs underlying respondents' attitudes. Results: The survey was launched in September 2016 and is still ongoing. At the time of submission, over 850 respondents have returned the questionnaire, mostly via mail. Conclusions: This study will be the first in Canada to directly compare views on MAiD for incompetent patients with dementia across key stakeholder groups. Our findings will contribute valuable data upon which to base further debate about whether MAiD should be accessible to incompetent patients with dementia, and if so, under what conditions

Investigation of electrode materials for alkaline batteries

A number of amalgam electrode systems were investigated for possible use as high rate anodes and cathodes. The systems examined include: lithium, sodium, and potassium in Group 1, magnesium, calcium, and barium in Group 2, aluminum in Group 3, lead in Group 4, copper in Group 1b, and zinc and cadmium in Group 2b. The K(Hg) and Na(Hg) anodes in 10 VF and 15 VF (an unambiguous expression of concentration that indicates the number of formula weights of solute dissolved in a liter of solution) hydroxide solutions have proven satisfactory; some of these have produced current densities of more than 8 A/sq cm. None of the amalgam cathodes have approached this performance although the TI(Hg) has delivered 1 A/sq cm. Se(Hg) and Te(Hg) cathodes have given very stable discharges. Zn(Hg) and Cd(Hg) electrodes did not show good high rate characteristics, 200 to 300 mA/sq cm being about the maximum current densities obtainable. Both anodes are charged through a two-step process in which M(Hg) is first formed electrochemically and subsequently reduces Zn(II or Cd(II) to form the corresponding amalgam. The second step is extremely rapid for zinc and very slow for cadmium

Differences in soil microbial communities in organic and conventional management systems alter soil nutrient dynamics

Non-Peer Reviewe

Nitrogen supply from belowground residues of lentil and wheat to a subsequent wheat crop

Non-Peer ReviewedLentil (Lens culinaris) plants can form an association with rhizobia and thereby biologically fix much of the nitrogen (N) required for their growth. This not only reduces the need for expensive N fertilizer when the lentil crop is grown, but there is a potential to contribute a net increment of N to the soil that can be utilized by the subsequent crop. However, estimating this net increment of N remains a challenge, because of the difficulty in estimating the amount of root and root-derived N. The purpose of this greenhouse study was to quantify the belowground N (BGN) of lentil and wheat (Triticum aestivum) using shoot 15N labeling and to trace the 15N from BGN into subsequently grown wheat plants. Belowground N comprised 34 and 51 % of total plant N in lentil and wheat, respectively. Biomass production and N uptake by wheat grown on lentil belowground residues (BGR) were 49 and 14 % higher than wheat grown on wheat BGR. Moreover, a higher proportion of added 15N from lentil BGN was recovered in the succeeding wheat crop, indicating that lentil BGN was more readily mineralized than wheat BGN. The disproportionately high increase in yield vs. N uptake for wheat grown on lentil BGR, however, indicates that non-N factors also contributed to the increase in wheat yield. This study highlights the importance of including estimates of BGN when evaluating the positive effects of including lentil crops in rotation with cereals

Determining soil nitrogen (N) processes using enzymology in response to varying N treatments across four diverse Brassica napus (canola) lines

Non-Peer ReviewedNitrogen (N) is an important plant nutrient, and it is the primary constituent of plant nucleotides and proteins, but it is usually the most limiting nutrient in the soil. Improving N use efficiency in agricultural crops has become an important goal in sustainable agriculture. Accordingly, understanding enzymes involved in N reactions is increasingly critical as they are important in controlling N in the environment. The objective of this study is to determine N transformation after varying rates of urea fertilizer is applied to a field; and how N transformation may differ between diverse Brassica napus L. (canola) lines. Two diverse B. napus parent lines and two hybrid lines were grown on Dark Brown Chernozemic soil in Saskatchewan, Canada. Root-associated soils were collected from each line at bolting and flowering, and analyzed for urease and ammonium oxidation enzymes, as well, soil nitrate and ammonium content was determined. Both urease and ammonium oxidation enzyme results showed significant differences between B. napus growth stages (bolting and flowering), and N fertilizer rate after mixed effect models were used to analyze the results. We predict that both nitrate-N and ammonium-N will have significant differences between the canola lines and N rate application. Mixed effect analyses will be used to analyze soil nitrate-N and ammonium-N, with regards to canola line differences, and growth stage differences, and N fertilizer rate differences. By characterizing soil N transformations, this research will advance our knowledge in improving N availability for B. napus lines