Modelling the Gross Cost of Transporting Pig Slurry to Tillage Spread Lands in a Post Transition Arrangement within the Nitrates Directive.

working paperThe context of this paper is in the phasing out of the transitional arrangement under the Nitrates Directive. As there is relatively little grassland capable of taking significant amounts of pig slurry available in the vicinity of the main pig production areas, in this paper we attempt to quantify the cost of transporting this slurry to the nearest available tillage land. The approach taken was to examine the geographic structure underlying the pig sector in Ireland using Geographic Information Systems (GIS) technology. The study highlighted the differential cost with, amounting to 10% of gross margin on average and as high in major pig producing areas as 21.5% in Longford and 16.6% in Cavan, while lower at 7-9% in South Tipperary and Cork. Thus while the problem is significant, the impact is not constant across the country, highlighting the value of a spatial analytical approach. Future work should assess the existing cost of spreading manure in order to be able to ascertain the net cost of spreading on tillage lands. The robustness of the results also need to be tested to assess the implications of changes in the prices of fossil fuels and fertilisers, both in terms of the cost function and in terms of the cost of substitutable mineral fertilise

Quasi-soliton scattering in quantum spin chains

The quantum scattering of magnon bound states in the anisotropic Heisenberg spin chain is shown to display features similar to the scattering of solitons in classical exactly solvable models. Localized colliding Gaussian wave packets of bound magnons are constructed from string solutions of the Bethe equations and subsequently evolved in time, relying on an algebraic Bethe ansatz based framework for the computation of local expectation values in real space-time. The local magnetization profile shows the trajectories of colliding wave packets of bound magnons, which obtain a spatial displacement upon scattering. Analytic predictions on the displacements for various values of anisotropy and string lengths are derived from scattering theory and Bethe ansatz phase shifts, matching time evolution fits on the displacements. The time evolved block decimation (TEBD) algorithm allows for the study of scattering displacements from spin-block states, showing similar scattering displacement features.Comment: 15 pages, 7 figures. (v2: citations added

A personal, distributed exposimeter: procedure for design, calibration, validation, and application

This paper describes, for the first time, the procedure for the full design, calibration, uncertainty analysis, and practical application of a personal, distributed exposimeter (PDE) for the detection of personal exposure in the Global System for Mobile Communications (GSM) downlink (DL) band around 900 MHz (GSM 900 DL). The PDE is a sensor that consists of several body-worn antennas. The on-body location of these antennas is investigated using numerical simulations and calibration measurements in an anechoic chamber. The calibration measurements and the simulations result in a design (or on-body setup) of the PDE. This is used for validation measurements and indoor radio frequency (RF) exposure measurements in Ghent, Belgium. The main achievements of this paper are: first, the demonstration, using both measurements and simulations, that a PDE consisting of multiple on-body textile antennas will have a lower measurement uncertainty for personal RF exposure than existing on-body sensors; second, a validation of the PDE, which proves that the device correctly estimates the incident power densities; and third, a demonstration of the usability of the PDE for real exposure assessment measurements. To this aim, the validated PDE is used for indoor measurements in a residential building in Ghent, Belgium, which yield an average incident power density of 0.018 mW/m(2)

Narrative review of primary care point-of-care testing (POCT) and antibacterial use in respiratory tract infection (RTI)

Antimicrobial resistance is a global problem and is being addressed through national strategies to improve diagnostics, develop new antimicrobials and promote antimicrobial stewardship. A narrative review of the literature was undertaken to ascertain the value of C reactive protein (CRP) and procalcitonin, measurements to guide antibacterial prescribing in adult patients presenting to GP practices with symptoms of respiratory tract infection (RTI). Studies that were included were randomised controlled trials,controlled before and after studies, cohort studies and economic evaluations. Many studies demonstrated that the use of CRP tests in patients presenting with RTI symptoms reduces antibiotic prescribing by 23.3% to36.16%. Procalcitonin is not currently available as a point-of-care testing (POCT), but has shown value for patients with RTI admitted to hospital. GPs and patients report a good acceptability for a CRP POCT and economic evaluations show cost-effectiveness of CRP POCT over existing RTI management in primary care. POCTs increase diagnostic precision for GPs in the better management of patients with RTI. CRP POCT can better target antibacterial prescribing by GPs and contribute to national antimicrobial resistance strategies. Health services need to develop ways to ensure funding is transferred in order for POCT to be implemented

Shock Waves in Weakly Compressed Granular Media

We experimentally probe nonlinear wave propagation in weakly compressed granular media, and observe a crossover from quasi-linear sound waves at low impact, to shock waves at high impact. We show that this crossover grows with the confining pressure $P_0$, whereas the shock wave speed is independent of $P_0$ --- two hallmarks of granular shocks predicted recently. The shocks exhibit powerlaw attenuation, which we model with a logarithmic law implying that local dissipation is weak. We show that elastic and potential energy balance in the leading part of the shocks.Comment: 7 pages, 8 figure

Metallicities of Emission-Line Galaxies from HST ACS PEARS and HST WFC3 ERS Grism Spectroscopy at 0.6 < z < 2.4

Galaxies selected on the basis of their emission line strength show low metallicities, regardless of their redshifts. We conclude this from a sample of faint galaxies at redshifts between 0.6 < z < 2.4, selected by their prominent emission lines in low-resolution grism spectra in the optical with the Advanced Camera for Surveys (ACS) on the Hubble Space Telescope (HST) and in the near-infrared using Wide-Field Camera 3 (WFC3). Using a sample of 11 emission line galaxies (ELGs) at 0.6 < z < 2.4 with luminosities of -22 < M_B < -19, which have [OII], H\beta, and [OIII] line flux measurements from the combination of two grism spectral surveys, we use the R23 method to derive the gas-phase oxygen abundances: 7.5 < 12+log(O/H) < 8.5. The galaxy stellar masses are derived using Bayesian based Markov Chain Monte Carlo (\piMC^2) fitting of their Spectral Energy Distribution (SED), and span the mass range 8.1 < log(M_*/M_\sun) < 10.1. These galaxies show a mass-metallicity (M-L) and Luminosity-Metallicity (L-Z) relation, which is offset by --0.6 dex in metallicity at given absolute magnitude and stellar mass relative to the local SDSS galaxies, as well as continuum selected DEEP2 samples at similar redshifts. The emission-line selected galaxies most resemble the local "green peas" galaxies and Lyman-alpha galaxies at z~0.3 and z~2.3 in the M-Z and L-Z relations and their morphologies. The G-M_{20} morphology analysis shows that 10 out of 11 show disturbed morphology, even as the star-forming regions are compact. These galaxies may be intrinsically metal poor, being at early stages of formation, or the low metallicities may be due to gas infall and accretion due to mergers.Comment: 24 pages with 7 figure

Imaging spectroscopy to assess the composition of ice surface materials and their impact on glacier mass balance

Glacier surfaces are not only composed of ice or snow but are heterogeneous mixtures of different materials. The occurrence and dynamics of light-absorbing impurities affect ice surface characteristics and strongly influence glacier melt processes. However, our understanding of the spatial distribution of impurities and their impact on ice surface characteristics and the glacier's energy budget is still limited. We use imaging spectroscopy in combination with in-situ experiments to assess the composition of ice surface materials and their respective impact on surface albedo and glacier melt rates. Spectroscopy data were acquired in August 2013 using the Airborne Prism EXperiment (APEX) imaging spectrometer and were used to map the abundances of six predominant surface materials on Glacier de la Plaine Morte, Swiss Alps. A pixel-based classification revealed that about 10% of the ice surface is covered with snow, water or debris. The remaining 90% of the surface can be divided into three types of glacier ice, namely ~ 7% dirty ice, ~ 43% pure ice and ~ 39% bright ice. Spatially distributed spectral albedo derived from APEX reflectance data in combination with in-situ multi-angular spectroscopic measurements was used to analyse albedo patterns present on the glacier surface. About 85% of all pixels exhibit a low albedo between 0.1 and 0.4 (mean albedo 0.29 ± 0.12), indicating that Glacier de la Plaine Morte is covered with a significant amount of light-absorbing impurities, resulting in a strong ice-albedo feedback during the ablation season. Using a pixel-based albedo map instead of a constant albedo for ice (0.34) as input for a mass balance model revealed that the glacier-wide total ablation remained similar (10% difference). However, the large local variations in mass balance can only be reproduced using the pixel-based albedo derived from APEX, emphasizing the need to quantify spatial albedo differences as an important input for glacier mass balance models

New protective battle-dress impregnated against mosquito vector bites

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Mixing repellent and organophosphate (OP) insecticides to better control pyrethroid resistant mosquito vectors is a promising strategy developed for bed net impregnation. Here, we investigated the opportunity to adapt this strategy to personal protection in the form of impregnated clothes.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>We compared standard permethrin impregnated uniforms with uniforms manually impregnated with the repellent KBR3023 alone and in combination with an organophosphate, Pirimiphos-Methyl (PM). Tests were carried out with <it>Aedes aegypti</it>, the dengue fever vector, at dusk in experimental huts.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>Results showed that the personal protection provided by repellent KBR3023-impregnated uniforms is equal to permethrin treated uniforms and that KBR3023/PM-impregnated uniforms are more protective.</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>The use of repellents alone or combined with OP on clothes could be promising for personal protection of military troops and travellers if residual activity of the repellents is extended and safety is verified.</p

Comparison of RNAi efficiency mediated by tetracycline-responsive H1 and U6 promoter variants in mammalian cell lines

Conditional expression of short hairpin RNAs (shRNAs) to knock down target genes is a powerful tool to study gene function. The most common inducible expression systems are based on tetracycline-regulated RNA polymerase III promoters. During the last years, several tetracycline-inducible U6 and H1 promoter variants have been reported in different experimental settings showing variable efficiencies. In this study, we compare the most common variants of these promoters in several mammalian cell lines. For all cell lines tested, we find that several inducible U6 and H1 promoters containing single tetracycline operator (tetO) sequences show high-transcriptional background in the non-induced state. Promoter variants containing two tetO sequences show tight suppression of transcription in the non-induced state, and high tet responsiveness and high gene knockdown efficiency upon induction in all cell lines tested. We report a variant of the H1 promoter containing two O2-type tetO sequences flanking the TATA box that shows little transcriptional background in the non-induced state and up to 90% target knockdown when the inducer molecule (dox–doxycycline) is added. This inducible system for RNAi-based gene silencing is a good candidate for use both in basic research on gene function and for potential therapeutic applications