Critical review of the impacts of grazing intensity on soil organic carbon storage and other soil quality indicators in extensively managed grasslands

Acknowledgements This work contributes to the N-Circle project (grant number BB/N013484/1), and CINAg (BB/N013468/1) Virtual Joint Centres on Agricultural Nitrogen (funded by the Newton Fund via UK BBSRC/NERC), U-GRASS (grant number NE/M016900/1), the Belmont Forum/FACCE-JPI DEVIL project (grant number NE/M021327/1), Soils-R-GGREAT (grant number NE/P019455/1), ADVENT (grant number NE/M019713/1), Sêr Cymru LCEE-NRN project, Climate-Smart Grass and the Scottish Government’s Strategic Research Programme.Peer reviewedPublisher PD

7-Li(p,n) Nuclear Data Library for Incident Proton Energies to 150 MeV

We describe evaluation methods that make use of experimental data, and nuclear model calculations, to develop an ENDF-formatted data library for the reaction p + Li7 for incident protons with energies up to 150 MeV. The important 7-Li(p,n_0) and 7-Li(p,n_1) reactions are evaluated from the experimental data, with their angular distributions represented using Lengendre polynomial expansions. The decay of the remaining reaction flux is estimated from GNASH nuclear model calculations. The evaluated ENDF-data are described in detail, and illustrated in numerous figures. We also illustrate the use of these data in a representative application by a radiation transport simulation with the code MCNPX.Comment: 11 pages, 8 figures, LaTeX, submitted to Proc. 2000 ANS/ENS International Meeting, Nuclear Applications of Accelerator Technology (AccApp00), November 12-16, Washington, DC, US

New age data on the geological evolution of Southern India

The Peninsular Gneisses of Southern India developed over a period of several hundred Ma in the middle-to-late Archaean. Gneisses in the Gorur-Hassan area of southern Karnataka are the oldest recognized constituents: Beckinsale et al. reported a preliminary Rb-Sr whole-rock isochron age of 33558 + or - 66 Ma, but further Rb-Sr and Pb/Pb whole-rock isochron determinations indicate a slightly younger, though more precise age of ca 3305 Ma (R. D. Beckinsale, Pers. Comm.). It is well established that the Peninsular Gneisses constitute basement on which the Dharwar schist belts were deposited. Well-documented exposures of unconformities, with basal quartz pebble conglomerates of the Dharwar Supergroup overlying Peninsular Gneisses, have been reported from the Chikmagalur and Chitradurga areas, and basement gneisses in these two areas have been dated by Rb-Sr and Pb/Pb whole-rock isochron methods at ca 3150 Ma and ca 3000 Ma respectively. Dharwar supracrustal rocks of the Chitradurga schist belt are intruded by the Chitradurga Granite, dated by a Pb/Pb whole-rock isochron at 2605 + or - 18 Ma. These results indicate that the Dharwar Supergroup in the Chitradurga belt was deposited between 3000 Ma and 2600 Ma

Thermoelastic Damping in Micro- and Nano-Mechanical Systems

The importance of thermoelastic damping as a fundamental dissipation mechanism for small-scale mechanical resonators is evaluated in light of recent efforts to design high-Q micrometer- and nanometer-scale electro-mechanical systems (MEMS and NEMS). The equations of linear thermoelasticity are used to give a simple derivation for thermoelastic damping of small flexural vibrations in thin beams. It is shown that Zener's well-known approximation by a Lorentzian with a single thermal relaxation time slightly deviates from the exact expression.Comment: 10 pages. Submitted to Phys. Rev.

Metal β-diketoiminate precursor use in aerosol assisted chemical vapour deposition of gallium- and aluminium-doped zinc oxide

Aerosol assisted chemical vapour deposition (AACVD) has been used to deposit thin films of ZnO from the single-source precursor [Zn(OC(Me)CHC(Me)N( i Pr)) 2 ] (1) affording highly transparent ( > 80%) and conductive films (sheet resistance ∼70 KΩ/sq). Extension of this AACVD method whereby related precursors of the type, [R 2 M(OC(Me)CHC(Me)N( i Pr))] (R = Et, M = Al (2); R = Me, M = Ga (3)), isolated as oils, were added to the precursor solution allowed for the deposition of aluminium- and gallium-doped ZnO (AZO and GZO) films, respectively. Complexes 1–3 were characterised by elemental analysis, NMR and mass spectrometry. Films were deposited in under 30 min at 400 °C, from CH 2 Cl 2 /toluene solutions with a N 2 carrier gas. Herein we report the bulk resistivity, ρ, of AZO (0.252 Ω cm) and GZO (0.756 Ω cm) films deposited from this novel approach. All the films transparency exceeded 80% in the visible, X-ray diffraction (XRD) showed all films to crystallise in the wurtzite phase whilst X-ray photoemission spectroscopy (XPS) confirmed the presence of the Al and Ga dopants in the films, and highlighted the low C-contamination ( < 5%) this route offers. Investigation of a mechanism analogous to the Kirkendall effect confirmed that heating of GZO films at 1000 °C produced the spinel structure GaZn 2 O 4

Evaluation of one-step luminescent cyanoacrylate fuming

© 2016 Elsevier Ireland Ltd. One-step luminescent cyanoacrylates have recently been introduced as an alternative to the conventional cyanoacrylate fuming methods. These new techniques do not require the application of a luminescent post-treatment in order to enhance cyanoacrylate-developed fingermarks. In this study, three one-step polymer cyanoacrylates: CN Yellow Crystals (Aneval Inc.), PolyCyano UV (Foster + Freeman Ltd.) and PECA Multiband (BVDA), and one monomer cyanoacrylate: Lumikit™ (Crime Scene Technology), were evaluated against a conventional two-step cyanoacrylate fuming method (Cyanobloom (Foster + Freeman Ltd.) with rhodamine 6G stain). The manufacturers' recommended conditions or conditions compatible with the MVC™ 1000/D (Foster + Freeman Ltd.) were assessed with fingermarks aged for up to 8 weeks on non-porous and semi-porous substrates. Under white light, Cyanobloom generally gave better development than the one-step treatments across the substrates. Similarly when viewed under the respective luminescent conditions, Cyanobloom with rhodamine 6G stain resulted in improved contrast against the one-step treatments except on polystyrene, where PolyCyano UV and PECA Multiband gave better visualisation. Rhodamine 6G post-treatment of one-step samples did not significantly enhance the contrast of any of the one-step treatments against Cyanobloom/rhodamine 6G-treated samples

The challenge of modelling nitrogen management at the field scale : simulation and sensitivity analysis of N2O fluxes across nine experimental sites using DailyDayCent

Peer reviewedPublisher PD

Renal health after long-term exposure to tenofovir disoproxil fumarate (TDF) in HIV/HBV positive adults in Ghana

Objectives: The study assessed markers of renal health in HIV/HBV co-infected patients receiving TDF- containing antiretroviral therapy in Ghana. Methods: Urinary protein-to-creatinine ratio (uPCR) and albumin-to-protein ratio (uAPR) were measured cross-sectionally after a median of four years of TDF. At this time, alongside extensive laboratory testing, patients underwent evaluation of liver stiffness and blood pressure. The estimated glomerular filtration rate (eGFR) was measured longitudinally before and during TDF therapy. Results: Among 101 participants (66% women, median age 44 years, median CD4 count 572 cells/mm 3 ) 21% and 17% had detectable HIV-1 RNA and HBV DNA, respectively. Overall 35% showed hypertension, 6% diabetes, 7% liver stiffness indicative of cirrhosis, and 18% urinary excretion of Schistosoma antigen. Tubular proteinuria occurred in 16% of patients and was independently predicted by female gender and hypertension. The eGFR declined by median 1.8 ml/min/year during TDF exposure (IQR −4.4, −0.0); more pronounced declines ( ≥5 ml/min/year) occurred in 22% of patients and were associated with receiv-ing ritonavir-boosted lopinavir rather than efavirenz. HBV DNA, HBeAg, transaminases, and liver stiffness were not predictive of renal function abnormalities. Conclusions: The findings mandate improved diagnosis and management of hypertension and suggest targeted laboratory monitoring of patients receiving TDF alongside a booster in sub-Saharan Africa

The Complex Wind Torus and Jets of PSR B1706-44

We report on Chandra ACIS imaging of the pulsar wind nebula (PWN) of the young Vela-like PSR B1706-44, which shows the now common pattern of an equatorial wind and polar jets. The structure is particularly rich, showing a relativistically boosted termination shock, jets with strong confinement, a surrounding radio/X-ray PWN and evidence for a quasi-static `bubble nebula'. The structures trace the pulsar spin geometry and illuminate its possible relation to SNR G343.1-2.3. We also obtain improved estimates of the pulsar flux and nebular spectrum, constraining the system age and energetics.Comment: To appear in the Astrophysical Journal. 15pp, 4 figures in 7 file