7,977 research outputs found
An overview of tea research in Tanzania - with special reference to the Southern Highlands.
The history of tea development in Tanzania from the early part of this century
to the present is summarised. Average yields of made tea from well managed
estates in the Mufindi district have increased from around 600 kg ha-1 in the
late 1950s to 3000 kg ha-1 at the present time: by comparison, yields from
smallholder farms have remained much lower, averaging only 400-500 kg ha-1.
There have been a large number of technical, economic and other changes over the
last 30 to 40 years. The removal of shade trees, the use of herbicides, the
application of NPK compound fertilisers, the introduction of irrigation (on some
estates) and changes in harvesting policy have all contributed to the increases
in yield. Financial and infrastructural problems have contributed to the low
yields from many smallholders and others, and have limited the uptake of new
technology. The contribution of research is reviewed, from the start of the Tea
Research Institute of East Africa in Kenya in 1951, through to the development
of the Marikitanda Tea Research Centre in Amani in 1967; the Ngwazi Tea Research
Unit in Mufindi (1967 to 1970, and from 1986), and lastly the Kifyulilo Tea
Research Station, also in Mufindi in 1986. The yield potential of well
fertilized and irrigated clonal tea, grown at an altitude of 1800 m, is around
6000 kg ha-1. This potential is reduced by drought, lack of fertilizer, bush
vacancies and inefficient harvesting practices. The corresponding potential
yields at high (2200 m) and low (1200 m) altitude sites range from 3000-3500 kg
ha-1 up to 9000-10000 kg ha-1 and are largely a function of temperature. The
opportunities for increasing yields of existing tea, smallholder and estate, are
enormous. Tea production in the Southern Highlands of Tanzania is about to
expand rapidly. Good, appropriate research is needed to sustain this development
over the long term, and suggestions on how best this is done in order to assist
the large scale producers as well as the smallholders, are discussed
A comparison of the responses of mature and young clonal tea to drought.
To assist commercial producers with optimising the use of irrigation water, the
responses to drought of mature and young tea crops (22 and 5 years after field
planting respectively) were compared using data from two adjacent long-term
irrigation experiments in Southern Tanzania. Providing the maximum potential
soil water deficit was below about 400-500 mm for mature, and 200-250 mm for
young plants (clone 6/8), annual yields of dry tea from rainfed or partially
irrigated crops were similar to those from the corresponding well-watered crops.
At deficits greater than this, annual yields declined rapidly in young tea (up
to 22 kg (ha mm)-1) but relatively slowly in mature tea (up to 6.5 kg (ha mm)-
1). This apparent insensitivity of the mature crop to drought was due
principally to compensation that occurred during the rains for yield lost in the
dry season. Differences in dry matter distribution and shoot to root ratios
contributed to these contrasting responses. Thus, the total above ground dry
mass of well-irrigated, mature plants was about twice that for young plants.
Similarly, the total mass of structural roots (>1 mm diameter), to 3 m depth,
was four times greater in the mature crop than in the young crop and, for fine
roots (<1 mm diameter), eight times greater. The corresponding shoot to root
ratios (dry mass) were about 1:1 and 2:1 respectively. In addition, each unit
area of leaf in the canopy of a mature plant had six times more fine roots (by
weight) available to extract and supply water than did a young plant. Despite
the logistical benefits resulting from more even crop distribution during the
year when crops are fully irrigated, producers currently prefer to save water
and energy costs by allowing a substantial soil water deficit to develop prior
to the start of the rains, up to 250 mm in mature tea, knowing that yield
compensation will occur later
The water relations and irrigation requirements of lychee (litchi chinensis sonn.): a review
The results of research into the water relations and irrigation requirements of lychee are collated and reviewed. The stages of plant development are summarised, with an emphasis on factors influencing the flowering process. This is followed by reviews of plant water relations, water requirements, water productivity and, finally, irrigation systems. The lychee tree is native to the rainforests of southern China and northern Vietnam, and the main centres of production remain close to this area. In contrast, much of the research on the water relations of this crop has been conducted in South Africa, Australia and Israel where the tree is relatively new. Vegetative growth occurs in a series of flushes. Terminal inflorescences are borne on current shoot growth under cool (<15 °C), dry conditions. Trees generally do not produce fruit in the tropics at altitudes below 300 m. Poor and erratic flowering results in low and irregular fruit yields. Drought can enhance flowering in locations with dry winters. Roots can extract water from depths greater than 2 m. Diurnal trends in stomatal conductance closely match those of leaf water status. Both variables mirror changes in the saturation deficit of the air. Very little research on crop water requirements has been reported. Crop responses to irrigation are complex. In areas with low rainfall after harvest, a moderate water deficit before floral initiation can increase flowering and yield. In contrast, fruit set and yield can be reduced by a severe water deficit after flowering, and the risk of fruit splitting increased. Water productivity has not been quantified. Supplementary irrigation in South-east Asia is limited by topography and competition for water from the summer rice crop, but irrigation is practised in Israel, South Africa, Australia and some other places. Research is needed to determine the benefits of irrigation in different growing areas. Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2013
Bound and resonance states of the nonlinear Schroedinger equation in simple model systems
The stationary nonlinear Schroedinger equation, or Gross-Pitaevskii equation,
is studied for the cases of a single delta potential and a delta-shell
potential. These model systems allow analytical solutions, and thus provide
useful insight into the features of stationary bound, scattering and resonance
states of the nonlinear Schroedinger equation. For the single delta potential,
the influence of the potential strength and the nonlinearity is studied as well
as the transition from bound to scattering states. Furthermore, the properties
of resonance states for a repulsive delta-shell potential are discussed.Comment: 19 pages, 10 figure
Tunable tunneling: An application of stationary states of Bose-Einstein condensates in traps of finite depth
The fundamental question of how Bose-Einstein condensates tunnel into a
barrier is addressed. The cubic nonlinear Schrodinger equation with a finite
square well potential, which models a Bose-Einstein condensate in a
quasi-one-dimensional trap of finite depth, is solved for the complete set of
localized and partially localized stationary states, which the former evolve
into when the nonlinearity is increased. An immediate application of these
different solution types is tunable tunneling. Magnetically tunable Feshbach
resonances can change the scattering length of certain Bose-condensed atoms,
such as Rb, by several orders of magnitude, including the sign, and
thereby also change the mean field nonlinearity term of the equation and the
tunneling of the wavefunction. We find both linear-type localized solutions and
uniquely nonlinear partially localized solutions where the tails of the
wavefunction become nonzero at infinity when the nonlinearity increases. The
tunneling of the wavefunction into the non-classical regime and thus its
localization therefore becomes an external experimentally controllable
parameter.Comment: 11 pages, 5 figure
Density wave instabilities of tilted fermionic dipoles in a multilayer geometry
We consider the density wave instability of fermionic dipoles aligned by an
external field, and moving in equidistant layers at zero temperature. Using a
conserving Hartree-Fock approximation, we show that correlations between
dipoles in different layers significantly decrease the critical coupling
strength for the formation of density waves when the distance between the
layers is comparable to the inter-particle distance within each layer. This
effect, which is strongest when the dipoles are oriented perpendicular to the
planes, causes the density waves in neighboring layers to be in-phase for all
orientations of the dipoles. We furthermore demonstrate that the effects of the
interlayer interaction can be understood from a classical model. Finally, we
show that the interlayer correlations are important for experimentally relevant
dipolar molecules, including the chemically stable NaK and
KCs, where the density wave regime is within experimental reach.Comment: 18 pages, 11 figures; new version with expanded discussion on
experimental relevance including one new figur
Macroscopic quantum tunnelling of Bose-Einstein condensates in a finite potential well
Bose-Einstein condensates are studied in a potential of finite depth which
supports both bound and quasi-bound states. This potential, which is harmonic
for small radii and decays as a Gaussian for large radii, models experimentally
relevant optical traps. The nonlinearity, which is proportional to both the
number of atoms and the interaction strength, can transform bound states into
quasi-bound ones. The latter have a finite lifetime due to tunnelling through
the barriers at the borders of the well. We predict the lifetime and stability
properties for repulsive and attractive condensates in one, two, and three
dimensions, for both the ground state and excited soliton and vortex states. We
show, via a combination of the variational and WKB approximations, that
macroscopic quantum tunnelling in such systems can be observed on time scales
of 10 milliseconds to 10 seconds.Comment: J. Phys. B: At. Mol. Opt. Phys. in pres
Cosmological expansion and local physics
The interplay between cosmological expansion and local attraction in a
gravitationally bound system is revisited in various regimes. First, weakly
gravitating Newtonian systems are considered, followed by various exact
solutions describing a relativistic central object embedded in a Friedmann
universe. It is shown that the ``all or nothing'' behaviour recently discovered
(i.e., weakly coupled systems are comoving while strongly coupled ones resist
the cosmic expansion) is limited to the de Sitter background. New exact
solutions are presented which describe black holes perfectly comoving with a
generic Friedmann universe. The possibility of violating cosmic censorship for
a black hole approaching the Big Rip is also discussed.Comment: 17 pages, LaTeX, to appear in Phys. Rev.
Systematic review of global functioning and quality of life in people with psychotic disorders
Aims People with psychotic disorders face impairments in their global functioning and their quality of life (QoL). The relationship between the two outcomes has not been systematically investigated. Through a systematic review, we aim to explore the presence and extent of associations between global functioning and QoL and establish whether associations depend on the instruments employed.Methods In May 2016, ten electronic databases were searched using a two-phase process to identify articles in which associations between global functioning and QoL were assessed. Basic descriptive data and correlation coefficients between global functioning and QoL instruments were extracted, with the strength of the correlation assessed according to the specifications of Cohen 1988. Results were reported with reference to the Meta-analysis of Observational Studies in Epidemiology guidelines and PRISMA standards. A narrative synthesis was performed due to heterogeneity in methodological approaches.Results Of an initial 15 183 non-duplicate articles identified, 756 were deemed potentially relevant, with 40 studies encompassing 42 articles included. Fourteen instruments for measuring global functioning and 22 instruments for measuring QoL were used. Twenty-nine articles reported linear associations while 19 assessed QoL predictors. Correlations between overall scores varied in strength, primarily dependent on the QoL instrument employed, and whether QoL was objectively or subjectively assessed. Correlations observed for objective QoL measures were consistently larger than those observed for subjective measures, as were correlations for an interviewer than self-assessed QoL. When correlations were assessed by domains of QoL, the highest correlations were found for social domains of QoL, for which most correlations were moderate or higher. Global functioning consistently predicted overall QoL as did depressive and negative symptoms.Conclusions This review is the first to explore the extent of associations between global functioning and QoL in people with psychotic disorders. We consistently found a positive association between global functioning and QoL. The strength of the association was dependent on the QoL instrument employed. QoL domains strongly associated with global functioning were highlighted. The review illustrates the extensive array of instruments used for the assessment of QoL and to a lesser extent global functioning in people with psychotic disorders and provides a framework to understand the different findings reported in the literature. The findings can also inform the future choice of instruments by researchers and/or clinicians. The observed associations reassure that interventions for improving global functioning will have a positive impact on the QoL of people living with a psychotic disorder
A complete classification of spherically symmetric perfect fluid similarity solutions
We classify all spherically symmetric perfect fluid solutions of Einstein's
equations with equation of state p/mu=a which are self-similar in the sense
that all dimensionless variables depend only upon z=r/t. For a given value of
a, such solutions are described by two parameters and they can be classified in
terms of their behaviour at large and small distances from the origin; this
usually corresponds to large and small values of z but (due to a coordinate
anomaly) it may also correspond to finite z. We base our analysis on the
demonstration that all similarity solutions must be asymptotic to solutions
which depend on either powers of z or powers of lnz. We show that there are
only three similarity solutions which have an exact power-law dependence on z:
the flat Friedmann solution, a static solution and a Kantowski-Sachs solution
(although the latter is probably only physical for a1/5, there are
also two families of solutions which are asymptotically (but not exactly)
Minkowski: the first is asymptotically Minkowski as z tends to infinity and is
described by one parameter; the second is asymptotically Minkowski at a finite
value of z and is described by two parameters. A complete analysis of the dust
solutions is given, since these can be written down explicitly and elucidate
the link between the z>0 and z<0 solutions. Solutions with pressure are then
discussed in detail; these share many of the characteristics of the dust
solutions but they also exhibit new features.Comment: 63 pages. To appear in Physical Review
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