157 research outputs found
Managing Spent Mushroom Compost
End of Project ReportThis project addressed how to manage spent mushroom compost (SMC), an
issue of critical importance to the continued development of the Irish mushroom
industry. The most important aim of the project was to devise a feasible strategy
for the management of this material on an industry wide basis. There were two
main components of the project, which were conducted in parallel. One analysed
the structure of the mushroom industry and the logistics of handling, transporting
and processing SMC. The other studied the agronomic properties of SMC in an
effort to develop improved guidelines on the best use of SMC in crop production.
Our analysis of the SMC management problem led us to conclude that a
centralised approach should be taken when developing the solution strategy. The
model solution that was formulated is based on the establishment of centrally
located depots for SMC collection, temporary storage and possible processing.
This approach facilitates a variety of environmentally acceptable SMC end uses
ranging from land application to incineration.
We examined a variety of possible end uses for SMC, including its use as an
alternative fuel. In the immediate future, we believe the predominant end use for
SMC will be as an organic manure for field crop production and as a soil
conditioner in the landscaping industry. Uses of this type are in line with both
Irish and EU legislation regarding waste management. Our analysis suggests that tillage and horticulture offer the best promise for realising the beneficial
properties of SMC.
We have tested SMC on field crops such as winter and spring wheat and
potatoes and on glasshouse crops such as tomatoes. These experiments have
shown that SMC increases soil organic matter and improves soil structure.
SMC is a very effective source of K and P and also provides trace elements. It
makes a contribution to N nutrition but most of the N does not become available
to the crop in the first year. For best results therefore, supplementary N must be
applied.
Overall, our results indicate that SMC can be used with beneficial effects in field
crop production.
The mushroom industry should move forward with establishing centralised SMC
handling facilities to enable the efficient collection, temporary storage, further
processing and transportation of SMC to end users.
An education and awareness campaign should be conducted amongst farmers,
in areas removed from mushroom production, to introduce them to the benefits of
SMC and ways to effectively utilise this material.Department of Agriculture, Food and the MarineEuropean Union Structural Funds (EAGGF
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Findings: LANL outsourcing focus groups
In March 1996, a series of 24 3-hour dialog focus groups were held with randomly selected Laboratory employees and contractors to gain their perceptions regarding potentials and problems for privatization and consolidation. A secondary goal was to educate and inform the workforce about potentials and issues in privatization and consolidation. Two hundred and thirty-six participants engaged in a learning session and structured input exercises resulting in 2,768 usable comments. Comments were categorized using standard qualitative methods; resulting categories included positive and negative comments on four models (consolidation, spin offs, outsourcing, and corporate partnering) and implications for the workforce, the Laboratory, and the local economy. Categories were in the areas of increasing/decreasing jobs, expertise, opportunity/salary/benefits, quality/efficiency, and effect on the local area and economy. An additional concern was losing Laboratory culture and history. Data were gathered and categorized on employee opinion regarding elements of successful transition to the four models, and issues emerged in the areas of terms and conditions of employment; communication; involvement; sound business planning; ethics and fairness; community infrastructure. From the aggregated opinion of the participants, it is recommended that decision-makers: Plan using sound business principles and continually communicate plans to the workforce; Respect workforce investments in the Laboratory; Tell the workforce exactly what is going on at all times; Understand that economic growth in Northern New Mexico is not universally viewed as positive; and Establish dialog with stakeholders on growth issues
Incipient Separation in Shock Wave Boundary Layer Interactions as Induced by Sharp Fin
The incipient separation induced by the shock wave turbulent boundary layer
interaction at the sharp fin is the subject of present study. Existing theories
for the prediction of incipient separation, such as those put forward by McCabe
(1966) and Dou and Deng (1992), can have thus far only predicting the direction
of surface streamline and tend to over-predict the incipient separation
condition based on the Stanbrook's criterion. In this paper, the incipient
separation is firstly predicted with Dou and Deng (1992)'s theory and then
compared with Lu and Settles (1990)' experimental data. The physical mechanism
of the incipient separation as induced by the shock wave/turbulent boundary
layer interactions at sharp fin is explained via the surface flow pattern
analysis. Furthermore, the reason for the observed discrepancy between the
predicted and experimental incipient separation conditions is clarified. It is
found that when the wall limiting streamlines behind the shock wave becomes\
aligning with one ray from the virtual origin as the strength of shock wave
increases, the incipient separation line is formed at which the wall limiting
streamline becomes perpendicular to the local pressure gradient. The formation
of this incipient separation line is the beginning of the separation process.
The effects of Reynolds number and the Mach number on incipient separation are
also discussed. Finally, a correlation for the correction of the incipient
separation angle as predicted by the theory is also given.Comment: 34 pages; 9 figure
The Five Factor Model of personality and evaluation of drug consumption risk
The problem of evaluating an individual's risk of drug consumption and misuse
is highly important. An online survey methodology was employed to collect data
including Big Five personality traits (NEO-FFI-R), impulsivity (BIS-11),
sensation seeking (ImpSS), and demographic information. The data set contained
information on the consumption of 18 central nervous system psychoactive drugs.
Correlation analysis demonstrated the existence of groups of drugs with
strongly correlated consumption patterns. Three correlation pleiades were
identified, named by the central drug in the pleiade: ecstasy, heroin, and
benzodiazepines pleiades. An exhaustive search was performed to select the most
effective subset of input features and data mining methods to classify users
and non-users for each drug and pleiad. A number of classification methods were
employed (decision tree, random forest, -nearest neighbors, linear
discriminant analysis, Gaussian mixture, probability density function
estimation, logistic regression and na{\"i}ve Bayes) and the most effective
classifier was selected for each drug. The quality of classification was
surprisingly high with sensitivity and specificity (evaluated by leave-one-out
cross-validation) being greater than 70\% for almost all classification tasks.
The best results with sensitivity and specificity being greater than 75\% were
achieved for cannabis, crack, ecstasy, legal highs, LSD, and volatile substance
abuse (VSA).Comment: Significantly extended report with 67 pages, 27 tables, 21 figure
Temperature-dependent magnetization in diluted magnetic semiconductors
We calculate magnetization in magnetically doped semiconductors assuming a
local exchange model of carrier-mediated ferromagnetic mechanism and using a
number of complementary theoretical approaches. In general, we find that the
results of our mean-field calculations, particularly the dynamical mean field
theory results, give excellent qualitative agreement with the experimentally
observed magnetization in systems with itinerant charge carriers, such as
Ga_{1-x}Mn_xAs with 0.03 < x < 0.07, whereas our percolation-theory-based
calculations agree well with the existing data in strongly insulating
materials, such as Ge_{1-x}Mn_x. We comment on the issue of non-mean-field like
magnetization curves and on the observed incomplete saturation magnetization
values in diluted magnetic semiconductors from our theoretical perspective. In
agreement with experimental observations, we find the carrier density to be the
crucial parameter determining the magnetization behavior. Our calculated
dependence of magnetization on external magnetic field is also in excellent
agreement with the existing experimental data.Comment: 17 pages, 15 figure
Introme accurately predicts the impact of coding and noncoding variants on gene splicing, with clinical applications
Predicting the impact of coding and noncoding variants on splicing is challenging, particularly in non-canonical splice sites, leading to missed diagnoses in patients. Existing splice prediction tools are complementary but knowing which to use for each splicing context remains difficult. Here, we describe Introme, which uses machine learning to integrate predictions from several splice detection tools, additional splicing rules, and gene architecture features to comprehensively evaluate the likelihood of a variant impacting splicing. Through extensive benchmarking across 21,000 splice-altering variants, Introme outperformed all tools (auPRC: 0.98) for the detection of clinically significant splice variants. Introme is available at https://github.com/CCICB/introme .Patricia J. Sullivan, Velimir Gayevskiy, Ryan L. Davis, Marie Wong, Chelsea Mayoh, Amali Mallawaarachchi, Yvonne Hort, Mark J. McCabe, Sarah Beecroft, Matilda R. Jackson, Peer Arts, Andrew Dubowsky, Nigel Laing, Marcel E. Dinger, Hamish S. Scott, Emily Oates, Mark Pinese, and Mark J. Cowle
The Mathematical Universe
I explore physics implications of the External Reality Hypothesis (ERH) that
there exists an external physical reality completely independent of us humans.
I argue that with a sufficiently broad definition of mathematics, it implies
the Mathematical Universe Hypothesis (MUH) that our physical world is an
abstract mathematical structure. I discuss various implications of the ERH and
MUH, ranging from standard physics topics like symmetries, irreducible
representations, units, free parameters, randomness and initial conditions to
broader issues like consciousness, parallel universes and Godel incompleteness.
I hypothesize that only computable and decidable (in Godel's sense) structures
exist, which alleviates the cosmological measure problem and help explain why
our physical laws appear so simple. I also comment on the intimate relation
between mathematical structures, computations, simulations and physical
systems.Comment: Replaced to match accepted Found. Phys. version, 31 pages, 5 figs;
more details at http://space.mit.edu/home/tegmark/toe.htm
The Future of Psychopharmacological Enhancements: Expectations and Policies
The hopes and fears expressed in the debate on human enhancement are not always based on a realistic assessment of the expected possibilities. Discussions about extreme scenarios may at times obscure the ethical and policy issues that are relevant today. This paper aims to contribute to an adequate and ethically sound societal response to actual current developments. After a brief outline of the ethical debate concerning neuro-enhancement, it describes the current state of the art in psychopharmacological science and current uses of psychopharmacological enhancement, as well as the prospects for the near future. It then identifies ethical issues regarding psychopharmacological enhancements that require attention from policymakers, both on the professional and on the governmental level. These concern enhancement research, the gradual expansion of medical categories, off-label prescription and responsibility of doctors, and accessibility of enhancers on the Internet. It is concluded that further discussion on the advantages and drawbacks of enhancers on a collective social level is still needed
Macroinvertebrate Diversity in Urban and Rural Ponds: Implications for Freshwater Biodiversity Conservation
Ponds are among the most biodiverse freshwater ecosystems, yet face significant threats from removal, habitat degradation and a lack of legislative protection globally. Information regarding the habitat quality and biodiversity of ponds across a range of land uses is vital for the long term conservation and management of ecological resources. In this study we examine the biodiversity and conservation value of macroinvertebrates from 91 lowland ponds across 3 land use types (35 floodplain meadow, 15 arable and 41 urban ponds). A total of 224 macroinvertebrate taxa were recorded across all ponds, with urban ponds and floodplain ponds supporting a greater richness than arable ponds at the landscape scale. However, at the alpha scale, urban ponds supported lower faunal diversity (mean: 22 taxa) than floodplain (mean: 32 taxa) or arable ponds (mean: 30 taxa). Floodplain ponds were found to support taxonomically distinct communities compared to arable and urban ponds. A total of 13 macroinvertebrate taxa with a national conservation designation were recorded across the study area and 12 ponds (11 floodplain and 1 arable pond) supported assemblages of high or very high conservation value. Pond conservation currently relies on the designation of individual ponds based on very high biodiversity or the presence of taxa with specific conservation designations. However, this site specific approach fails to acknowledge the contribution of ponds to freshwater biodiversity at the landscape scale. Ponds are highly appropriate sites outside of protected areas (urban/arable), with which the general public are already familiar, for local and landscape scale conservation of freshwater habitats
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