The impact of the grazing animal on phosphorus, nitrogen, potassium and suspended solids loss from grazed pastures, Part A

Teagasc wishes to acknowledge the support of the Environmental Research Technological Development and Innovation (ERTDI) Programme under the Productive Sector Operational Programme which was financed by the Irish Government under the National Development Plan 2000-2006.End of project reportIn Ireland 90% of the 4.2 million ha of farmland is grassland. Phosphorus deficiency limited grassland production in Ireland and this was corrected by chemical fertiliser use in the 1960s and 1970s. The increased inputs of fertilisers led to increased intensification of grassland with a doubling of grass yield and of grazing animal numbers, from about 3 million to over 6 million livestock units. There is little information on relative contribution of increased chemical fertiliser use compared to increased grazing animal numbers on phosphorus loss to water. The main objective of this study was to obtain information on nutrient loss, particularly phosphorus, in overland flow from cut and grazed grassland plots, with a range of soil test phosphorus levels over three years and implications.Environmental Protection Agenc

‘Our voice started off as a whisper and now it is a great big roar’ : The Salford Dementia Associate Panel as a model of involvement in research activities

This paper presents the work of the ‘Salford Dementia Associate Panel’, based at the Salford Institute for Dementia, Salford University (UK). We discuss the roles of the Dementia Associates, in particular around the areas of engagement and research. The panel is made up of people living with dementia, and current and former care partners. It highlights the development of this group over a four-year period and demonstrates over time how the role of a Dementia Associate member has evolved. The panel is involved in research, education and public engagement activities conducted by staff and students within the Institute. The motivations for becoming involved are clearly articulated and demonstrate how the personal backgrounds of individuals have driven the collective involvement and desire to bring about change. The benefits and challenges associated with working as part of a panel are discussed. We conclude by bringing together our experiences as a set of suggestions for others who may wish to create a similar forum to promote the involvement of people living with dementia and former and current care partners

Improving professional practice in the disclosure of a diagnosis of dementia : a modeling experiment to evaluate a theory-based intervention

The original publication is available at www.springerlink.com.Peer reviewedPostprin

The development of a theory-based intervention to promote appropriate disclosure of a diagnosis of dementia

Background: The development and description of interventions to change professional practice are often limited by the lack of an explicit theoretical and empirical basis. We set out to develop an intervention to promote appropriate disclosure of a diagnosis of dementia based on theoretical and empirical work. Methods: We identified three key disclosure behaviours: finding out what the patient already knows or suspects about their diagnosis; using the actual words 'dementia' or 'Alzheimer's disease' when talking to the patient; and exploring what the diagnosis means to the patient. We conducted a questionnaire survey of older peoples' mental health teams (MHTs) based upon theoretical constructs from the Theory of Planned Behaviour (TPB) and Social Cognitive Theory (SCT) and used the findings to identify factors that predicted mental health professionals' intentions to perform each behaviour. We selected behaviour change techniques likely to alter these factors. Results: The change techniques selected were: persuasive communication to target subjective norm; behavioural modelling and graded tasks to target self-efficacy; persuasive communication to target attitude towards the use of explicit terminology when talking to the patient; and behavioural modelling by MHTs to target perceived behavioural control for finding out what the patient already knows or suspects and exploring what the diagnosis means to the patient. We operationalised these behaviour change techniques using an interactive 'pen and paper' intervention designed to increase intentions to perform the three target behaviours. Conclusion : It is feasible to develop an intervention to change professional behaviour based upon theoretical models, empirical data and evidence based behaviour change techniques. The next step is to evaluate the effect of such an intervention on behavioural intention. We argue that this approach to development and reporting of interventions will contribute to the science of implementation by providing replicable interventions that illuminate the principles and processes underlying change.This project is funded by UK Medical Research Council, Grant reference number G0300999. Jeremy Grimshaw holds a Canada Research Chair in Health Knowledge Transfer and Uptake. Jill Francis is funded by the Chief Scientist Office of the Scottish Government Health Directorate. The views expressed in this study are those of the authors

Rapid Guest Exchange and Ultraâ Low Surface Tension Solvents Optimize Metalâ Organic Framework Activation

Exploratory research into the critical steps in metalâ organic framework (MOF) activation involving solvent exchange and solvent evacuation are reported. It is discovered that solvent exchange kinetics are extremely fast, and minutes rather days are appropriate for solvent exchange in many MOFs. It is also demonstrated that choice of a very low surface tension solvent is critical in successfully activating challenging MOFs. MOFs that have failed to be activated previously can achieve predicted surface areas provided that lower surface tension solvents, such as nâ hexane and perfluoropentane, are applied. The insights herein aid in the efficient activation of MOFs in both laboratory and industrial settings and provide best practices for avoiding structural collapse.An exchange for the better: Activation involving solvent exchange and evacuation is crucial to achieve maximum surface area and gasâ storage properties in metalâ organic frameworks (MOFs). Porosity is preserved when fast solvent exchange kinetics and ultraâ low surface tension solvents are exploited yielding MOFs without structural collapse.Peer Reviewedhttps://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/140054/1/anie201709187_am.pdfhttps://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/140054/2/anie201709187-sup-0001-misc_information.pdfhttps://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/140054/3/anie201709187.pd

Rapid Guest Exchange and Ultraâ Low Surface Tension Solvents Optimize Metalâ Organic Framework Activation

Exploratory research into the critical steps in metalâ organic framework (MOF) activation involving solvent exchange and solvent evacuation are reported. It is discovered that solvent exchange kinetics are extremely fast, and minutes rather days are appropriate for solvent exchange in many MOFs. It is also demonstrated that choice of a very low surface tension solvent is critical in successfully activating challenging MOFs. MOFs that have failed to be activated previously can achieve predicted surface areas provided that lower surface tension solvents, such as nâ hexane and perfluoropentane, are applied. The insights herein aid in the efficient activation of MOFs in both laboratory and industrial settings and provide best practices for avoiding structural collapse.Ein Wechsel des Lösungsmittels mit anschlieà ender Evakuierung aktiviert Metallâ organische Gerüste (MOFs), maximiert ihre Oberflächen und verbessert ihre Eigenschaften bei der Gasspeicherung. Wenn der Austausch schnell erfolgt und Lösungsmittel mit sehr niedriger Oberflächenspannung verwendet werden, bleibt die Porosität erhalten, und die MOFâ Struktur fällt nicht in sich zusammen.Peer Reviewedhttps://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/139930/1/ange201709187.pdfhttps://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/139930/2/ange201709187_am.pdfhttps://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/139930/3/ange201709187-sup-0001-misc_information.pd

Evaluation of the Good Life Festival : a model for co-produced dementia events

The article presents an evaluation of The Good Life Festival, a co-produced event between people living with dementia, Salford University Dementia Institute, Alzheimer’s Society, Salford and Salford Adventures. This was a new way of working but important because people living with dementia said they thought there should be an event organised ‘for people with dementia by people with dementia’. A dementia friendly evaluation form was circulated asking: did you enjoy the event, did you learn something new, and do you feel more positive about living with dementia following the event. Thirty five of the eighty people who attended completed the evaluation form all of whom said they enjoyed it. 32 (91%) learned something new, and 27 (77%) left feeling more positive about living with dementia. Qualitative feedback is also included in this article including planning group reflections. Recommendations based on what we learned from planning and running the event are provided which includes having a media strategy in place and to send a follow up letter to remind people of information about resources/services advertised on the da

Long-range pollution transport during the MILAGRO-2006 campaign: a case study of a major Mexico City outflow event using free-floating altitude-controlled balloons

One of the major objectives of the Megacities Initiative: Local And Global Research Observations (MILAGRO-2006) campaign was to investigate the long-range transport of polluted Mexico City Metropolitan Area (MCMA) outflow and determine its downwind impacts on air quality and climate. Six research aircraft, including the National Center for Atmospheric Research (NCAR) C-130, made extensive chemical, aerosol, and radiation measurements above MCMA and more than 1000 km downwind in order to characterize the evolution of the outflow as it aged and dispersed over the Mesa Alta, Sierra Madre Oriental, Coastal Plain, and Gulf of Mexico. As part of this effort, free-floating Controlled-Meteorological (CMET) balloons, commanded to change altitude via satellite, made repeated profile measurements of winds and state variables within the advecting outflow. In this paper, we present an analysis of the data from two CMET balloons that were launched near Mexico City on the afternoon of 18 March 2006 and floated downwind with the MCMA pollution for nearly 30 h. The repeating profile measurements show the evolving structure of the outflow in considerable detail: its stability and stratification, interaction with other air masses, mixing episodes, and dispersion into the regional background. Air parcel trajectories, computed directly from the balloon wind profiles, show three transport pathways on 18–19 March: (a) high-altitude advection of the top of the MCMA mixed layer, (b) mid-level outflow over the Sierra Madre Oriental followed by decoupling and isolated transport over the Gulf of Mexico, and (c) low-level outflow with entrainment into a cleaner northwesterly jet above the Coastal Plain. The C-130 aircraft intercepted the balloon-based trajectories three times on 19 March, once along each of these pathways; in all three cases, peaks in urban tracer concentrations and LIDAR backscatter are consistent with MCMA pollution. In comparison with the transport models used in the campaign, the balloon-based trajectories appear to shear the outflow far more uniformly and decouple it from the surface, thus forming a thin but expansive polluted layer over the Gulf of Mexico that is well aligned with the aircraft observations. These results provide critical context for the extensive aircraft measurements made during the 18–19 March MCMA outflow event and may have broader implications for modelling and understanding long-range transport