Extent and impacts of dryland salinity

The extent and impact of dryland salinity in Western Australia was based on analysis of groundwater depth and trend and the risk of shallow watertables is derived from these two attributes. As dryland salinity is caused by shallow watertables, the risk of salinity is inferred from the risk of shallow watertables

Cardiac Output Dependency on Exercising Muscle Mass During Ergometer Exercise in Healthy Women

Please refer to the pdf version of the abstract located adjacent to the title

Energetic proton spectra in the 11 June 1991 solar flare

The June 11, 1991 gamma-ray flare seen by the Compton Gamma-ray Observatory (CGRO) displays several features that make it a dynamic and rich event. It is a member of a class of long duration gamma-ray events with both 2.223 MeV and greater than 8 MeV emission for hours after the impulsive phase. It also contains an inter-phase between the impulsive and extended phases that presents a challenge to the standard gamma-ray line (GRL) flare picture. This phase has strong 2.223 MeV emission and relatively weak 4.44 MeV emission indicative of a very hard parent proton spectrum. However, this would indicate emission greater than 8 MeV, which is absent from this period. We present the application of new spectroscopy techniques to this phase of the flare in order to present a reasonable explanation for this seemly inconsistent picture

Parental stress increases body mass index trajectory in pre-adolescents.

What is already known about this subjectRates of childhood obesity have increased since the mid-1970s. Research into behavioural determinants has focused on physical inactivity and unhealthy diets. Cross-sectional studies indicate an association between psychological stress experienced by parents and obesity in pre-adolescents.What this study addsWe provide evidence of a prospective association between parental psychological stress and increased weight gain in pre-adolescents. Family-level support for those experiencing chronic stress might help promote healthy diet and exercise behaviours in children.ObjectiveWe examined the impact of parental psychological stress on body mass index (BMI) in pre-adolescent children over 4 years of follow-up.MethodsWe included 4078 children aged 5-10 years (90% were between 5.5 and 7.5 years) at study entry (2002-2003) in the Children's Health Study, a prospective cohort study in southern California. A multi-level linear model simultaneously examined the effect of parental stress at study entry on the attained BMI at age 10 and the slope of change across annual measures of BMI during follow-up, controlled for the child's age and sex. BMI was calculated based on objective measurements of height and weight by trained technicians following a standardized procedure.ResultsA two standard deviation increase in parental stress at study entry was associated with an increase in predicted BMI attained by age 10 of 0.287 kg m(-2) (95% confidence interval 0.016-0.558; a 2% increase at this age for a participant of average attained BMI). The same increase in parental stress was also associated with an increased trajectory of weight gain over follow-up, with the slope of change in BMI increased by 0.054 kg m(-2) (95% confidence interval 0.007-0.100; a 7% increase in the slope of change for a participant of average BMI trajectory).ConclusionsWe prospectively demonstrated a small effect of parental stress on BMI at age 10 and weight gain earlier in life than reported previously. Interventions to address the burden of childhood obesity should address the role of parental stress in children

A prototype for SONTRAC, a scintillating plastic fiber tracking detector for neutron imaging and spectroscopy

We report on tests of a prototype detector system designed to perform imaging and spectroscopy on 20 to 250 MeV neutrons. Although developed for the study of high-energy solar flare processes, the detection techniques employed for SONTRAC, the SOlar Neutron TRACking experiment, can be applied to measurements in a variety of disciplines including atmospheric physics, radiation therapy and nuclear materials monitoring. The SONTRAC instrument measures the energy and direction ofneutrons by detecting double neutron-proton scatters and recording images of the ionization tracks of the recoil protons in a densely packed bundle of scintillating plastic fibers stacked in orthogonal layers. By tracking the recoil protons from individual neutrons, the kinematics of the scatter are determined. This directional information results in a high signal to noise measurement. SONTRAC is also capable of detecting and measuring high-energy gamma rays \u3e20 MeV as a “solid-state spark chamber”. The self-triggering and track imaging features of a prototype for tracking in two dimensions are demonstrated in calibrations with cosmic-ray muons, 14 to ~65 MeV neutrons and ~20 MeV protons