976 research outputs found
Diseases of winter linseed : occurrence, effects and importance
In 1998, a survey of the incidence and severity of diseases was carried out on 30 crops of winter linseed at early flowering and again at crop maturity. Five crops each were selected in south west, east, east Midlands, west Midlands and north of England and from Scotland. Crops were predominantly cv. Oliver (90% crops), grown from certified seed (83%) and sown in September (97%). Pasmo (Mycosphaerella) was the most important disease, affecting leaves of 73% crops at early flowering and 90% crops at maturity. Powdery mildew (70% crops), Alternaria (30% crops) on leaves and Botrytis on capsules (70% crops) were also common. Regional differences were apparent for powdery mildew, which was present in all regions except the southwest, whilst Alternaria predominated in the Midlands. Half of the crops surveyed had received fungicide sprays, but this appeared to have made limited impact on disease severity. Pasmo is a new threat to UK linseed crops and this raises concerns about the threat it poses to spring linsee
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OER Evidence Report 2013-2014
The Open Educational Resources Research Hub (OER Research Hub) provides a focus for research, designed to give answers to the overall question ‘What is the impact of OER on learning and teaching practices?’ and identify the particular influence of openness. We do this by working in collaboration with projects across four education sectors (K12, college, higher education and informal) extending a network of research with shared
methods and shared results.
The project combines:
– Targeted research collaboration with high profile OER projects
– A programme of international fellowship
– Global networking and expertise in OER implementation and evaluation
– A hub for research data and excellence in practice
This report is an interim review of evidence recorded against the key hypotheses that focus the research of the
OER Research Hub project
First Astronomical Application of a Cryogenic TES Spectrophotometer
We report on the first astronomical observations with a photon counting pixel
detector that provides arrival time- (delta t = 100ns) and energy- (delta
E_gamma < 0.15eV) resolved measurements from the near IR through the near UV.
Our test observations were performed by coupling this Transition Edge Sensor
(TES) device to a 0.6m telescope; we have obtained the first simultaneous
optical near-IR phase-resolved spectra of the Crab pulsar. A varying infrared
turnover gives evidence of self-absorption in the pulsar plasma. The potential
of such detectors in imaging arrays from a space platform are briefly
described.Comment: 4 pages, 5 figure
A conjugate gradient algorithm for the astrometric core solution of Gaia
The ESA space astrometry mission Gaia, planned to be launched in 2013, has
been designed to make angular measurements on a global scale with
micro-arcsecond accuracy. A key component of the data processing for Gaia is
the astrometric core solution, which must implement an efficient and accurate
numerical algorithm to solve the resulting, extremely large least-squares
problem. The Astrometric Global Iterative Solution (AGIS) is a framework that
allows to implement a range of different iterative solution schemes suitable
for a scanning astrometric satellite. In order to find a computationally
efficient and numerically accurate iteration scheme for the astrometric
solution, compatible with the AGIS framework, we study an adaptation of the
classical conjugate gradient (CG) algorithm, and compare it to the so-called
simple iteration (SI) scheme that was previously known to converge for this
problem, although very slowly. The different schemes are implemented within a
software test bed for AGIS known as AGISLab, which allows to define, simulate
and study scaled astrometric core solutions. After successful testing in
AGISLab, the CG scheme has been implemented also in AGIS. The two algorithms CG
and SI eventually converge to identical solutions, to within the numerical
noise (of the order of 0.00001 micro-arcsec). These solutions are independent
of the starting values (initial star catalogue), and we conclude that they are
equivalent to a rigorous least-squares estimation of the astrometric
parameters. The CG scheme converges up to a factor four faster than SI in the
tested cases, and in particular spatially correlated truncation errors are much
more efficiently damped out with the CG scheme.Comment: 24 pages, 16 figures. Accepted for publication in Astronomy &
Astrophysic
Simulated Extragalactic Observations with a Cryogenic Imaging Spectrophotometer
In this paper we explore the application of cryogenic imaging
spectrophotometers. Prototypes of this new class of detector, such as
superconducting tunnel junctions (STJs) and transition edge sensors (TESs),
currently deliver low resolution imaging spectrophotometry with high quantum
efficiency (70-100%) and no read noise over a wide bandpass in the visible to
near-infrared. In order to demonstrate their utility and the differences in
observing strategy needed to maximize their scientific return, we present
simulated observations of a deep extragalactic field. Using a simple analytic
technique, we can estimate both the galaxy redshift and spectral type more
accurately than is possible with current broadband techniques. From our
simulated observations and a subsequent discussion of the expected migration
path for this new technology, we illustrate the power and promise of these
devices.Comment: 30 pages, 10 figures, accepted for publication in the Astronomical
Journa
Testing general relativity by micro-arcsecond global astrometry
The global astrometric observations of a GAIA-like satellite were modeled
within the PPN formulation of Post-Newtonian gravitation. An extensive
experimental campaign based on realistic end-to-end simulations was conducted
to establish the sensitivity of global astrometry to the PPN parameter \gamma,
which measures the amount of space curvature produced by unit rest mass. The
results show that, with just a few thousands of relatively bright,
photometrically stable, and astrometrically well behaved single stars, among
the ~10^9 objects that will be observed by GAIA, \gamma can be estimated after
1 year of continuous observations with an accuracy of ~10^{-5} at the 3\sigma
level. Extrapolation to the full 5-year mission of these results based on the
scaling properties of the adjustment procedure utilized suggests that the
accuracy of \simeq 2x10^{-7}, at the same 3\sigma level, can be reached with
\~10^6 single stars, again chosen as the most astrometrically stable among the
millions available in the magnitude range V=12-13. These accuracies compare
quite favorably with recent findings of scalar-tensor cosmological models,
which predict for \gamma a present-time deviation, |1-\gamma|, from the General
Relativity value between 10^{-5} and 10^{-7}.Comment: 7 pages, 2 figures, to be published in A&
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