Evaluation of cover crops in high tunnel vegetable rotation

Organic vegetable production within high tunnels allows for an extended growing season, crop protection, and environmental control. The USDA National Organic Program (NOP) standards mandate evidence that the soil has been maintained and improved over the course of production. Previous studies have indicated the potential of cover crops for reducing competitive vegetation, and improving soil quality, thus resulting in greater plant growth, nutrient uptake, and yield. However, there has been limited work in the confines of high tunnels as part of a tunnel-system rotation. Ten nitrogen-fixing and ten non-legume cover crops were established under a high tunnel and evaluated for their effects on the yield of ‘De Cicco’ broccoli (Brassica oleracea L. var. italica) and ‘Champion’ collards (Brassica oleracea L. var. acephala), aboveground biomass, and plant C and N contents. All treatments received recommended levels of appropriate certified organic fertilizers, water status was maintained, and vegetables received standard organic maintenance for insects and disease. The cover crops hairy indigo (Indigofera hirsuta L.), Catjang cowpea (Viana unguicalata L.), and Sunn hemp (Crotalaria juncea L.) consistently produced higher yields than Tifleaf III hybrid pearl millet (Pennisetum glaucum L.), Dairymaster brown midrib (BMR) hybrid grain sorghum (Sorghum spp.), and Wild Game Food sorghum (Sorghum bicolor L.). Nitrogenfixing legumes produced horticulturally significantly higher yields than the non-nitrogen-fixing grass species. This experiment demonstrated that not all cover crops are equal; they created variation in response. Cover crops provide a viable option for organic producers to maintain or improve soil quality over the course of production

The organisational and human resource challenges facing primary care trusts : protocol of a multiple case study

BACKGROUND: The study is designed to assess the organisational and human resource challenges faced by Primary Care Trusts (PCTs). Its objectives are to: specify the organisational and human resources challenges faced by PCTs in fulfilling the roles envisaged in government and local policy; examine how PCTs are addressing these challenges, in particular, to describe the organisational forms they have adopted, and the OD/HR strategies and initiatives they have planned or in place; assess how effective these structures, strategies and initiatives have been in enabling the PCTs to meet the organisational and human resources challenges they face; identify the factors, both internal to the PCT and in the wider health community, which have contributed to the success or failure of different structures, strategies and initiatives. METHODS: The study will be undertaken in three stages. In Stage 1 the key literature on public sector and NHS organisational development and human resources management will be reviewed, and discussions will be held with key researchers and policy makers working in this area. Stage 2 will focus on detailed case studies in six PCTs designed to examine the organisational and human resources challenges they face. Data will be collected using semi-structured interviews, group discussion, site visits, observation of key meetings and examination of local documentation. The findings from the case study PCTs will be cross checked with a Reference Group of up to 20 other PCG/Ts, and key officers working in organisational development or primary care at local, regional and national level. In Stage 3 analysis of findings from the preparatory work, the case studies and the feedback from the Reference Group will be used to identify practical lessons for PCTs, key messages for policy makers, and contributions to further theoretical development

Scoping studies: towards a methodological framework

This paper focuses on scoping studies, an approach to reviewing the literature which to date has received little attention in the research methods literature. We distinguish between different types of scoping studies and indicate where these stand in relation to full systematic reviews. We outline a framework for conducting a scoping study based on our recent experiences of reviewing the literature on services for carers for people with mental health problems. Where appropriate, our approach to scoping the field is contrasted with the procedures followed in systematic reviews. We emphasize how including a consultation exercise in this sort of study may enhance the results, making them more useful to policy makers, practitioners and service users. Finally, we consider the advantages and limitations of the approach and suggest that a wider debate is called for about the role of the scoping study in relation to other types of literature reviews

The Synthesis and Evaluation of Flavone and Isoflavone Chimeras of Novobiocin and Derrubone

The natural products novobiocin and derrubone have both demonstrated Hsp90 inhibition and structure–activity relationships have been established for each scaffold. Given these compounds share several key structural features, we hypothesized that incorporation of elements from each could provide insight to structural features important for Hsp90 inhibition. Thus, chimeric analogues of novobiocin and derrubone were constructed and evaluated. These studies confirmed that the functionality present at the 3-position of the isoflavone plays a critical role in determining Hsp90 inhibition and suggests that the bicyclic ring system present in both novobiocin and derrubone do not share similar modes of binding

Energy Release from Impacting Prominence Material Following the 2011 June 7 Eruption

Solar filaments exhibit a range of eruptive-like dynamic activity, ranging from the full or partial eruption of the filament mass and surrounding magnetic structure as a coronal mass ejection to a fully confined or failed eruption. On 2011 June 7, a dramatic partial eruption of a filament was observed by multiple instruments on board the Solar Dynamics Observatory (SDO) and Solar-Terrestrial Relations Observatory. One of the interesting aspects of this event is the response of the solar atmosphere as non-escaping material falls inward under the influence of gravity. The impact sites show clear evidence of brightening in the observed extreme ultraviolet wavelengths due to energy release. Two plausible physical mechanisms for explaining the brightening are considered: heating of the plasma due to the kinetic energy of impacting material compressing the plasma, or reconnection between the magnetic field of low-lying loops and the field carried by the impacting material. By analyzing the emission of the brightenings in several SDO/Atmospheric Imaging Assembly wavelengths, and comparing the kinetic energy of the impacting material (7.6 10(exp 26) - 5.8 10(exp 27) erg) to the radiative energy (approx. 1.9 10(exp 25) - 2.5 10(exp 26) erg), we find the dominant mechanism of energy release involved in the observed brightening is plasma compression

Healthcare choice: Discourses, perceptions, experiences and practices

Policy discourse shaped by neoliberal ideology, with its emphasis on marketisation and competition, has highlighted the importance of choice in the context of healthcare and health systems globally. Yet, evidence about how so-called consumers perceive and experience healthcare choice is in short supply and limited to specific healthcare systems, primarily in the Global North. This special issue aims to explore how choice is perceived and utilised in the context of different systems of healthcare throughout the world, where choice, at least in policy and organisational terms, has been embedded for some time. The articles are divided into those emphasising: embodiment and the meaning of choice; social processes associated with choice; the uncertainties, risks and trust involved in making choices; and issues of access and inequality associated with enacting choice. These sociological studies reveal complexities not always captured in policy discourse and suggest that the commodification of healthcare is particularly problematic

The Legacy of the U. S. Public Health Service Study of Untreated Syphilis in African American Men at Tuskegee on the Affordable Care Act and Health Care Reform Fifteen Years after President Clinton's Apology

http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/10508422.2012.73080

Spring 1970

Response of Coastal Bermudagrass to Nitrogen by D.A. Mays and G. L. Terman (page 3) Soil & Water Resources by Fred P. Miller (7) Organization Against Oil by R. B. Clark (9) 1970 Turf Conference Program (12) Principles for Any Green by Wayne Morgan (16) An Effective Technique for Recognition by Howard Gaskill (18) Ten Years of Decisions by James W. Brandt (21

Symptom complexes in patients with seropositive arthralgia and in patients newly diagnosed with rheumatoid arthritis: a qualitative exploration of symptom development

Objective: The aim of this study was to explore symptoms and symptom development during the earliest phases of rheumatoid arthritis (RA) in patients with seropositive arthralgia and patients newly diagnosed with RA