A survey exploring private farm advisor perspectives of agri-environment schemes : The case of England's Environmental Stewardship programme

Most stakeholder-based research concerning agri-environmental schemes (AES) derives from work engaging with farmers and land managers. Consequently, the voices and opinions of other actors involved in AES tends to be unrepresented in the wider literature. One group of actors that seem particularly overlooked in this respect are private (independent) farm advisors (i.e., the consultants contracted by farmers and land managers to advise-on AES and agronomic matters). To begin to rectify this knowledge gap we developed an exploratory online survey to explore private farm advisor perspectives in the UK; specifically, the situation in England and advisors' experience of Natural England's Environmental Stewardship programme. A total of 251 Natural England registered farm advisors (29.9%) completed our survey. The majority of these had knowledge and expertise in relation to two (31.5%) or three (42.2%) Environmental Stewardship schemes, with proficiency in ELS (93.4%) and HLS (82.8%) being the most common. On average, advisors had 9.6 ± 5.6 yrs of experience and operated (75.3%) in a single region of England. Although our results concentrated upon a relatively simple set of initial topics of inquiry, the survey revealed a number of interesting findings. Firstly; for example, that in the opinion of the advisors working with farmers applying for Environmental Stewardship schemes, the 'knowledge-exchange encounter' occurring between themselves, their clients and Natural England is fundamental to the environmental effectiveness of these schemes as well as their farm business compatibility. Secondly, respondents suggested that beneath this 'encounter' lie tensions arising from the competing agendas and objectives of the different actors involved which can affect the content of agreements; for instance, farmer selection of management options versus Natural England's target environmental objectives. Farm advisors suggested that they had to negotiate this balance whilst also serving the needs of their clients. Thirdly, respondents raised issues concerning the complicated nature of scheme arrangements, both from their own and farmers' perspectives, as well as the adequacy of payments to cover input costs and matters regarding contractual compliance, all of which theyproposed affected farmer participation. Looking ahead, we believe that future AES should account for all of these issues in their design to aid long-term farmer participation, effective agreement implementation and beneficial environmental management

Drag Reduction by Polymers in Wall Bounded Turbulence

We address the mechanism of drag reduction by polymers in turbulent wall bounded flows. On the basis of the equations of fluid mechanics we present a quantitative derivation of the "maximum drag reduction (MDR) asymptote" which is the maximum drag reduction attained by polymers. Based on Newtonian information only we prove the existence of drag reduction, and with one experimental parameter we reach a quantitative agreement with the experimental measurements.Comment: 4 pages, 1 fig., included, PRL, submitte

Production and Decay of Double \u3ci\u3eL\u3c/i\u3e Vacancies in Argon and Phosphorus

Measurements have been made at two laboratories which indicate that the structure reported at 450-550eV in the electron spectrum from Ar+-Ar collisions by Ogurtsov, Flaks, and Avakyan is spurious. It is argued that the double L vacancies which they invoke to explain the structure are more likely to decay by the two-step Auger process L 2→LM2→M4 than by the one-step process L2→M3 suggested by these authors. Evidence supporting this is found in our electron spectra from P+-Ar collisions, where it is known from energy-loss and charge-state measurements that double L vacancies are produced in phosphorus

Two-Center Effect on Low-Energy Electron Emission in Collisions of 1-MeV/u Bare Ions with Atomic Hydrogen, Molecular Hydrogen, and Helium: II. H\u3csub\u3e2\u3c/sub\u3e and He

We have studied the energy and angular distributions of low-energy electron emission in collisions of bare carbon ions of 1-MeV/u energy with He and H2 targets. The double-differential cross sections (DDCS’s) are measured for electrons with energies between 0.5 and 300 eV emitted within an angular range of 15° to 160°. The large forward-backward asymmetry observed in the angular distributions is explained in terms of the two-center effect. Single differential cross sections (SDCS’s) and total cross sections are also derived by integrating the DDCS’s over emission angles and energies. The data are compared with different theoretical calculations based on the first Born, CDW (continuum-distorted-wave), and CDW-EIS (eikonal-initial-state) approximations. The angular distributions of DDCS’s and SDCS’s are shown to deviate largely from the predictions of the B1 calculations, and are in much better agreement with both the continuum distorted-wave models. The CDW approximation provides a better agreement with the data compared to the CDW-EIS approximation, especially at higher electron energies. The total ionization cross sections for all three targets are shown to follow a scaling rule approximately

Two-Center Effect on Low-Energy Electron Emission in Collisions of 1-MeV/u Bare Ions with Atomic Hydrogen, Molecular Hydrogen, and Helium: II. H\u3csub\u3e2\u3c/sub\u3e and He

We have studied the energy and angular distributions of low-energy electron emission in collisions of bare carbon ions of 1-MeV/u energy with He and H2 targets. The double-differential cross sections (DDCS’s) are measured for electrons with energies between 0.5 and 300 eV emitted within an angular range of 15° to 160°. The large forward-backward asymmetry observed in the angular distributions is explained in terms of the two-center effect. Single differential cross sections (SDCS’s) and total cross sections are also derived by integrating the DDCS’s over emission angles and energies. The data are compared with different theoretical calculations based on the first Born, CDW (continuum-distorted-wave), and CDW-EIS (eikonal-initial-state) approximations. The angular distributions of DDCS’s and SDCS’s are shown to deviate largely from the predictions of the B1 calculations, and are in much better agreement with both the continuum distorted-wave models. The CDW approximation provides a better agreement with the data compared to the CDW-EIS approximation, especially at higher electron energies. The total ionization cross sections for all three targets are shown to follow a scaling rule approximately

Cisplatin-induced emesis: systematic review and meta-analysis of the ferret model and the effects of 5-HT3 receptor antagonists

PURPOSE: The ferret cisplatin emesis model has been used for ~30 years and enabled identification of clinically used anti-emetics. We provide an objective assessment of this model including efficacy of 5-HT(3) receptor antagonists to assess its translational validity. METHODS: A systematic review identified available evidence and was used to perform meta-analyses. RESULTS: Of 182 potentially relevant publications, 115 reported cisplatin-induced emesis in ferrets and 68 were included in the analysis. The majority (n = 53) used a 10 mg kg(−1) dose to induce acute emesis, which peaked after 2 h. More recent studies (n = 11) also used 5 mg kg(−1), which induced a biphasic response peaking at 12 h and 48 h. Overall, 5-HT(3) receptor antagonists reduced cisplatin (5 mg kg(−1)) emesis by 68% (45–91%) during the acute phase (day 1) and by 67% (48–86%) and 53% (38–68%, all P < 0.001), during the delayed phase (days 2, 3). In an analysis focused on the acute phase, the efficacy of ondansetron was dependent on the dosage and observation period but not on the dose of cisplatin. CONCLUSION: Our analysis enabled novel findings to be extracted from the literature including factors which may impact on the applicability of preclinical results to humans. It reveals that the efficacy of ondansetron is similar against low and high doses of cisplatin. Additionally, we showed that 5-HT(3) receptor antagonists have a similar efficacy during acute and delayed emesis, which provides a novel insight into the pharmacology of delayed emesis in the ferret