Chiral probe development for circularly polarised luminescence: comparative study of structural factors determining the degree of induced CPL with four heptacoordinate europium(III) complexes

A series of bright, europium(III) complexes has been prepared based on an achiral heptadentate triazacyclononane ligand bearing two strongly absorbing, coordinated aralkynyl pyridyl moieties. The binding of chiral carboxylates, including α-hydroxy acids such as lactate and mandelate, has been monitored by emission spectroscopy and is signalled by the switching on of strong circularly polarised emission. In each case, an R-chiral carboxylate gave rise to emission typical of a Δ complex, most clearly shown in the form of the ΔJ = 4 transition manifold around 700 nm. Variations in the sign and magnitude of the CPL allow the enantiomeric purity and absolute configuration of the acid to be assessed in a sample. Analysis of the relative energies of the parent aqua complexes and their stereoisomeric adducts has been aided by lifetime measurements and density functional theory calculations

A review of evidence on the environmental impact of Ireland’s Rural Environment Protection Scheme (REPS)

peer-reviewedSince its inception in 1994, there has been strong demand for evidence of the environmental effectiveness of the Rural Environment Protection Scheme (REPS), which paid farmers in the Republic of Ireland over €3 billion by 2010. A variety of research projects have been undertaken that investigate the environmental effects of REPS through an examination of either specific environmental measures or specific geographical areas. A review of available publications confirmed the absence of a comprehensive, national-scale study of the environmental impacts of REPS. Because of this, there is insufficient evidence with which to judge the environmental effectiveness of the national-scale implementation of the whole scheme. For some specific measures, however, sufficient evidence is available to inform an objective assessment in some cases, and to help learn how to improve environmental effectiveness in most cases. The majority of the REPS payments are now dedicated toward biodiversity objectives. Thus, biodiversity measures and options should be a priority for any national-scale environmental assessment of the scheme. Such a study would help identify the environmental benefits of REPS, the specific elements of REPS that are performing adequately, and those elements that are in need of improvement. Given the considerable overlap between REPS measures and options and those included in the 2010 Agri-Environment Options Scheme (AEOS), assessment of REPS measures could also be used to inform the likely environmental performance of the AEOS

Performance of murray cod, Maccullochella peelii peelii (Mitchell) in response to different feeding schedules

The Australian freshwater fish Murray cod, Maccullochella peelii peelii (Mitchell) is gaining popularity as a suitable species for intensive culture, particularly in closed systems. The aim of this study was to evaluate the performance of Murray cod in response to different feeding schedules. Growth, survival, food conversion and a range of other related parameters including carcass proximate composition were evaluated for fish in five feed management regimes. The feeding regimes used in the experiment were hand fed to satiation twice daily (SAT), a pre-determined ration of 1.2% of the body weight day&minus;1 which was hand fed twice daily (HFR), and belt fed through the day only (B/D), belt fed through the night only (B/N) and belt fed for 24 h (B/DN). Each of the five feeding regimes was randomly allocated to three tanks (triplicates). All of the feeding regimes used a commercially prepared diet formulated specifically for Murray cod, containing &asymp;50% protein and &asymp;16% lipid. The experiment was conducted for 84 days. Specific growth rate ranged from 0.89&plusmn;0.01 to 1.07&plusmn;0.04% day&minus;1. Food conversion ratio (FCR) ranged from 1.09&plusmn;0.02 to 0.92&plusmn;0.03. The fastest growth and greatest final body weight were observed in the SAT treatment; however, the highest FCR, visceral fat index (VFI %) and hepatosomatic index (HSI %) were also observed in this treatment. Significant differences were found in specific growth rate and final mean weight between fish in the B/D and SAT treatments. B/N and B/DN feeding regimes appeared to result in the most favourable fish performance.<br /

PRISM (Polarized Radiation Imaging and Spectroscopy Mission): an extended white paper

Contains fulltext : 126057.pdf (preprint version ) (Open Access