Synthetic Nitrogen Fertiliser in South Asia: Production, Import, Export, and Use for Crops, South Asia Nitrogen Hub (SANH) Policy Brief

This policy brief is produced by the UKRI GCRF South Asian Nitrogen Hub (SANH). It provides an overview of the patterns and trends in synthetic nitrogen (N) fertiliser use in crop production, import, export and emission in the South Asian Region (SAR) and its member countries; Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Bhutan, Nepal, India, Maldives, Pakistan, and Sri Lanka. In summary, reactive nitrogen (Nr) in fertilisers is essential for meeting global food and animal feed demands, but Nr pollution has become a major environmental issue across all scales. For SAR, inefficient use of synthetic N fertiliser is a key factor contributing to water pollution, air pollution, climate change, biodiversity loss and soil degradation. Further insights are provided on major fertiliser products, as well as in crop production, import and export. These data are essential for informing and promoting sustainable nitrogen management. Evidence based policy is more important than ever. The SANH is supported by UK Research and Innovation (UKRI) through its Global Challenge Research Fund (GCRF) to gather evidence on nitrogen issues to support countries in the South Asian Region (SAR) comprising eight countries (Nepal, Bangladesh, Pakistan, India, Bhutan, Sri Lanka, Afghanistan, and Maldives) to identify solutions and reduce nitrogen waste. SANH is pioneering a UK-SAR research partnership to catalyse transformational change in SAR to tackle the nitrogen challenge, benefi ting the economy, people’s health and the environment. SANH brings together 32 leading research organisations with governments and other partners. This policy brief provides key insights into national fertiliser trends for all eight SAR countries

Synthetic Nitrogen Fertiliser in South Asia: Production, Import, Export, and Use for Crops, South Asia Nitrogen Hub (SANH) Policy Brief

This policy brief is produced by the UKRI GCRF South Asian Nitrogen Hub (SANH). It provides an overview of the patterns and trends in synthetic nitrogen (N) fertiliser use in crop production, import, export and emission in the South Asian Region (SAR) and its member countries; Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Bhutan, Nepal, India, Maldives, Pakistan, and Sri Lanka. In summary, reactive nitrogen (Nr) in fertilisers is essential for meeting global food and animal feed demands, but Nr pollution has become a major environmental issue across all scales. For SAR, inefficient use of synthetic N fertiliser is a key factor contributing to water pollution, air pollution, climate change, biodiversity loss and soil degradation. Further insights are provided on major fertiliser products, as well as in crop production, import and export. These data are essential for informing and promoting sustainable nitrogen management. Evidence based policy is more important than ever. The SANH is supported by UK Research and Innovation (UKRI) through its Global Challenge Research Fund (GCRF) to gather evidence on nitrogen issues to support countries in the South Asian Region (SAR) comprising eight countries (Nepal, Bangladesh, Pakistan, India, Bhutan, Sri Lanka, Afghanistan, and Maldives) to identify solutions and reduce nitrogen waste. SANH is pioneering a UK-SAR research partnership to catalyse transformational change in SAR to tackle the nitrogen challenge, benefi ting the economy, people’s health and the environment. SANH brings together 32 leading research organisations with governments and other partners. This policy brief provides key insights into national fertiliser trends for all eight SAR countries

Gender Differences in Russian Colour Naming

In the present study we explored Russian colour naming in a web-based psycholinguistic experiment (http://www.colournaming.com). Colour singletons representing the Munsell Color Solid (N=600 in total) were presented on a computer monitor and named using an unconstrained colour-naming method. Respondents were Russian speakers (N=713). For gender-split equal-size samples (NF=333, NM=333) we estimated and compared (i) location of centroids of 12 Russian basic colour terms (BCTs); (ii) the number of words in colour descriptors; (iii) occurrences of BCTs most frequent non-BCTs. We found a close correspondence between females’ and males’ BCT centroids. Among individual BCTs, the highest inter-gender agreement was for seryj ‘grey’ and goluboj ‘light blue’, while the lowest was for sinij ‘dark blue’ and krasnyj ‘red’. Females revealed a significantly richer repertory of distinct colour descriptors, with great variety of monolexemic non-BCTs and “fancy” colour names; in comparison, males offered relatively more BCTs or their compounds. Along with these measures, we gauged denotata of most frequent CTs, reflected by linguistic segmentation of colour space, by employing a synthetic observer trained by gender-specific responses. This psycholinguistic representation revealed females’ more refined linguistic segmentation, compared to males, with higher linguistic density predominantly along the redgreen axis of colour space

"I won't be staying here for long": a qualitative study on the retention of migrant nurses in Ireland

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Although international nurse recruitment campaigns have succeeded in attracting large numbers of migrant nurses to countries such as Ireland, where domestic supply has not kept pace with demand, the long-term success of such initiatives from a workforce planning perspective will depend on the extent to which these nurses can be retained in destination countries.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>This paper draws on qualitative, in-depth interviews undertaken with 21 migrant nurses in Ireland, focusing specifically on their future migration intentions.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>Our findings indicate that more than half of the respondents are considering migration onwards, for the most part because the destination country has failed to provide them with sufficient stability, particularly in terms of citizenship and family reunification. In considering onward migration, factors outside the health system were of most concern to those interviewed.</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>This demonstrates the need for destination countries to take a broader and more long-term approach to international nurse recruitment, rather than regarding it as an inexpensive way to fill gaps within the health care system.</p

Negotiating employability: migrant capitals and networking strategies for Zimbabwean highly skilled migrants in the UK

In this paper we focus on highly skilled migration from Zimbabwe to the UK, exploring these migrants’ social capital sources/structures and content. In doing so we pay attention to routes of migration and how they shape migrants’ networking capabilities and patterns. We further take a Bourdieusian perspective and explore the intersection between social capital and cultural capital in the process of migrants’ negotiation of employment opportunities, giving closer attention to how the distinctive habitus associated with being highly skilled migrants from Zimbabwe shape migrants’ attitudes towards work. By exploring the interplay between external processes and internalised structures, we bring to the fore the multiple positioning of our participants, who we see not as simply depending on social networks, but as complex actors whose negotiation of employability in the UK is shaped by various factors including intersecting aspects of differentiation

Effect of fenugreek (Trigonella foenum-graecum L.) intake on glycemia: A meta-analysis of clinical trials

10.1186/1475-2891-13-7Nutrition Journal131

PDZ domains and their binding partners: structure, specificity, and modification

PDZ domains are abundant protein interaction modules that often recognize short amino acid motifs at the C-termini of target proteins. They regulate multiple biological processes such as transport, ion channel signaling, and other signal transduction systems. This review discusses the structural characterization of PDZ domains and the use of recently emerging technologies such as proteomic arrays and peptide libraries to study the binding properties of PDZ-mediated interactions. Regulatory mechanisms responsible for PDZ-mediated interactions, such as phosphorylation in the PDZ ligands or PDZ domains, are also discussed. A better understanding of PDZ protein-protein interaction networks and regulatory mechanisms will improve our knowledge of many cellular and biological processes