Public crises, public futures

This article begins to map out a novel approach to analyzing contemporary contexts of public crisis, relationships between them and possibilities that these scenes hold out for politics. The article illustrates and analyses a small selection of examples of these kinds of contemporary scenes and calls for greater attention to be given to the conditions and consequences of different forms and practices of public and political mediation. In offering a three-fold typology to delineate differences between ‘abject’, ‘audience’ and ‘agentic’ publics the article begins to draw out how political and public futures may be seen as being bound up with how the potentialities, capacities and qualities that publics are imagined to have and resourced to perform. Public action and future publics are therefore analysed here in relation to different versions of contemporary crisis and the political concerns and publics these crises work to articulate, foreground and imaginatively and practically support

A search for 21 cm HI absorption in AT20G compact radio galaxies

We present results from a search for 21 cm associated HI absorption in a sample of 29 radio sources selected from the Australia Telescope 20 GHz survey. Observations were conducted using the Australia Telescope Compact Array Broadband Backend, with which we can simultaneously look for 21 cm absorption in a redshift range of 0.04 < z < 0.08, with a velocity resolution of 7 km/s . In preparation for future large-scale H I absorption surveys we test a spectral-line finding method based on Bayesian inference. We use this to assign significance to our detections and to determine the best-fitting number of spectral-line components. We find that the automated spectral-line search is limited by residuals in the continuum, both from the band-pass calibration and spectral-ripple subtraction, at spectral-line widths of \Deltav_FWHM > 103 km/s . Using this technique we detect two new absorbers and a third, previously known, yielding a 10 per cent detection rate. Of the detections, the spectral-line profiles are consistent with the theory that we are seeing different orientations of the absorbing gas, in both the host galaxy and circumnuclear disc, with respect to our line-of-sight to the source. In order to spatially resolve the spectral-line components in the two new detections, and so verify this conclusion, we require further high-resolution 21 cm observations (~0.01 arcsec) using very long baseline interferometry.Comment: 16 pages, 8 figures and 5 tables; accepted for publication in MNRAS (version 2 based on proof corrections

Simulated filtration pond to remove Escherichia coli from irrigation water.

The United States Food and Drug Administration?s (FDA) proposed water rules to implement the Food Safety Modernization Act (FSMA) could leave some growers, especially those who rely on an irrigation system based on recycled water, unable to irrigate fresh produce with their irrigation water, especially those who rely on an irrigation system based on recycled water. Irrigation water could be treated with chlorine, ozone, or other product to reduce the bacterial load in the water; however, at present not one of these options has been approved by the Environmental Protection Agency for treating irrigation water. In an attempt to reduce the number of bacteria present in irrigation water entering a farm, a simulated filter pond was constructed using gravel, sand, and silt-loam soil. The filter pond sought to utilize in part what occurs naturally with the filtration of water through the soil profile. This natural process provides clean water in wells and aquifers. The simulated pond reduced the Escherichia coli load in water by 95% with a flow rate of 3.9 gal/h/yd2. In order to increase the water productivity of the simulated filter pond, most of the dirt was removed; subsequently the E. coli filtration rate went to 55% and 46%, with flow rates of 12.9 gal/h/yd2 and 17.6 gal/h/yd2, respectively

Core Concepts for Future Cataloguers

The Linked Open Bibliographic Data project at UCL is developing an Open Educational Resource to enable the teaching and learning of BIBFRAME, the new RDF-based framework designed to take over from MARC. A new bibliographic dataset based on BIBFRAME, which will be linked with other online datasets, has been created for that purpose. The learning resource, which will be publicly available under an open licence on completion, will allow learners to access, explore, query and update the dataset through an intuitive interface built on top of the SPARQL query language. This masterclass shares experience in converting MARC records to BIBFRAME using the Library of Congress’s conversion tools [http://bibframe.org/tools/]. More fundamentally, it provides examples of how our model for Cataloguing is changing from linking record:record to field:field. Using publication data from library academics, we’ll look at what’s new in BIBFRAME and why this matters. Finally, we’ll discuss the extent to which those responsible for inputting data may (or may not) need to get to grips with the new data structure and ways that the enthusiastic can keep up

Special issue ‘bifidobacteria: Insights from ecology to genomics of a key microbial group of the mammalian gut microbiota’

In recent years, substantial efforts have been made to dissect the composition of microbial communities that are present in the human gut, and to investigate their interactions with their host [...]

Movement of Escherichia coli in soil as applied in irrigation water.

The US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has proposed that If irrigation water exceeds 235 colony-forming units (CFU) of E. coli /100 ml in any one sample or 126 CFU/100 ml in the average of any five consecutive samples, growers would have to cease using that water in any way that directly contacts the surface of fresh produce (FDA 2013). The FDA has proposed that these E. coli levels are an indication of high risk of bacterial contamination of fresh onion (Allium cepa L.) bulbs regardless of the irrigation system. If onion irrigation exceeds 235 CFU, it is not known whether the contaminated water applied by furrow or drip irrigation actually reaches the onion bulb. Soil could filter E. coli and other bacteria before irrigation water reaches onion bulbs. ?Vaquero? onions were grown on Owyhee silt loam. In our preliminary studies reported here, well water free of E. coli was applied to onions through drip irrigation or through furrow irrigation. A second water source was intentionally enriched with E. coli by being run across a pasture and recaptured prior to use. Furrow and drip irrigation were used to apply this water containing 218 to >2400 MPN/100ml for 11+ hours per irrigation. E. coli was monitored in the soil water at the end of irrigation cycles through direct sampling of the soil. Soil water was also sampled using sterile soil solution capsules (SSSC) to sample E. coli in the soil water that moved into place, to differentiate the movement of soil water from the soil water already in place. Soil water measurements were made adjacent to the water source, half way to the bulbs, and immediately adjacent to the onion bulbs. For furrow irrigation with ditch water the E. coli counts in the soil next to the onion bulbs was only 0% and 21% of the counts in the irrigation water following the first and second irrigations, respectively. During subsequent furrow irrigations, the E. coli counts in the soil water next to the onion bulbs exceeded the counts in the irrigation water. For drip irrigation with ditch water, the E. coli counts in the soil solution next to the onion bulbs remained very low. The soil water sampled by the SSSC adjacent to the onion bulbs drip-irrigated with ditch water also had very low E. coli counts

Survival of Escherichia coli on onion during field curing and packout.

The Food and Drug administration has expressed concern that Onions (Allium cepa) irrigated with water contaminated with high rates of Escherichia coli could harbor E. coli on their surface or interior. On the other hand, since onions contain antimicrobial compounds and field conditions may not be conducive to E. coli survival, the E. coli population on the surface of onions might become negligible through the course of field curing. Further, the relationship between the E. coli in the irrigation water to the E. coli on onion bulbs after field curing, harvest, and packout has not been studied. To determine if E. coli should be of concern in onion production, we sought to measure the die-off of E. coli on onions between the last irrigation and harvest and the presence of E. coli on onions after packout. Well water was tested and had no E. coli; ditch water intentionally run across a pasture prior to use had 218 to > 2400 MPN of E. coli/100ml. Onions were sampled from those furrow irrigated (ditch water) and those drip irrigated (well water) starting at lifting 3 September 2013 for four consecutive weeks. At 0 and 28 days after lifting, both interior and exterior of the onions were tested for E. coli. At 7, 14, and 21 days after lifting, only the exterior of the onions was tested. None of the onions contained E. coli internally at 0 or 28 days after lifting. At lifting E. coli was present on the exterior of both the drip and furrow irrigated onions and seemed to be largely unrelated to the irrigation water. The exterior E. coli contamination decreased rapidly after lifting. After harvest and packout on 14 October 2013, no E. coli was detected on the onion bulb exteriors from either irrigation treatment. E. coli introduced into the onion field through furrow irrigation was not present on or in the packed out onion bulbs

The Structure of the [Zn_In - V_P] Defect Complex in Zn Doped InP

We study the structure, the formation and binding energies and the transfer levels of the zinc-phosphorus vacancy complex [Zn_In - V_P] in Zn doped p-type InP, as a function of the charge, using plane wave ab initio DFT-LDA calculations in a 64 atom supercell. We find a binding energy of 0.39 eV for the complex, which is neutral in p-type material, the 0/-1 transfer level lying 0.50 eV above the valence band edge, all in agreement with recent positron annihilation experiments. This indicates that, whilst the formation of phosphorus vacancies (V_P) may be involved in carrier compensation in heavily Zn doped material, the formation of Zn-vacancy complexes is not. Regarding the structure: for charge states Q=+6 to -4 the Zn atom is in an sp^2 bonded DX position and electrons added/removed go to/come from the remaining dangling bonds on the triangle of In atoms. This reduces the effective vacancy volume monatonically as electrons are added to the complex, also in agreement with experiment. The reduction occurs through a combination of increased In-In bonding and increased Zn-In electrostatic attraction. In addition, for certain charge states we find complex Jahn-Teller behaviour in which up to three different structures, (with the In triangle dimerised, antidimerised or symmetric) are stable and are close to degenerate. We are able to predict and successfully explain the structural behaviour of this complex using a simple tight binding model.Comment: 10 pages text (postscript) plus 8 figures (jpeg). Submitted to Phys. Rev.