Independent Expert Scientific Panel – Report on Unconventional Oil and Gas

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Multi-scale analysis and validation of the Envisat MERIS Terrestrial Chlorophyll Index (MTCI) in woodland

Satellite remote sensing can be used to estimate and monitor the chlorophyll content of vegetation canopies which are a key and dynamic component of global terrestrial ecosystems. The red-edge algorithm can be used to estimate chlorophyll content from remotely sensed data but is unsuitable for use with most satellite sensor imagery. To overcome this problem, the new Envisat MERIS Terrestrial Chlorophyll index (MTCI) has been developed. It is the only operational satellite chlorophyll index and MTCI data are available as a Level 2 product from the European Space Agency. However, there is a need to ‘validate’ the MTCI over a wide range of environmental conditions. This paper reports on research that attempts to validate the MTCI using Compact Airborne Spectrographic Imager (CASI) imagery and ground data of chlorophyll content. The study site was predominantly woodland in the south of England (New Forest National Park) and had a wide range of chlorophyll contents. A transfer function derived from CASI data was used to produce a reference map of chlorophyll content, when aggregated it was compared to MERIS MTCI data and used to derive the MTCI – chlorophyll content relationship (R squared = 0.56)

Phenological trends of vegetation in Southern England From Envisat MERIS Terrestrial Chlorophyll Index (MTCI) data

Given the close association between climate change and vegetation response there is a pressing requirement to monitor the phenology of vegetation and understand how its metrics vary over space and time. This paper explores the viability of the Envisat MTCI dataset for monitoring vegetation phenology via its estimates of chlorophyll content. The MTCI was used to construct the phenological profile of and to extract key phenological dates from mixed woodland in Southern England. Woodland phenological cycles for the time period 2003 to 2007, a period with known temperature anomalies forcing variability in the phenology of the vegetation, were derived from MERIS MTCI data. Comparisons were made with ground indicators of phenology, and furthermore, crosscomparisons with other vegetation indices, namely the NDVI and EVI derived from MODIS data were conducted. Close correspondence between MTCI and canopy phenology as indicated by ground observations was evident. Also observed was a difference between MTCI-derived phenological transition curves and key transition dates and those derived from the NDVI and EVI. Overall the research presented in this paper supports the use of the Envisat MTCI for monitoring vegetation phenology, principally due to its sensitivity to canopy chlorophyll content, a vegetation property that is a useful proxy for the canopy physical and chemical alterations associated with phenological change

A New Formation Channel for Double Neutron Stars Without Recycling: Implications for Gravitational Wave Detection

We report on a new evolutionary path leading to the formation of close double neutron stars (NS), with the unique characteristic that none of the two NS ever had the chance to be recycled by accretion. The existence of this channel stems from the evolution of helium-rich stars (cores of massive NS progenitors), which has been neglected in most previous studies of double compact object formation. We find that these non-recycled NS-NS binaries are formed from bare carbon-oxygen cores in tight orbits, with formation rates comparable to or maybe even higher than those of recycled NS-NS binaries. On the other hand, their detection probability as binary pulsars is greatly reduced (by about 1000) relative to recycled pulsars, because of their short lifetimes. We conclude that, in the context of gravitational-wave detection of NS-NS inspiral events, this new type of binaries calls for an increase of the rate estimates derived from the observed NS-NS with recycled pulsars, typically by factors of 1.5-3 or even higher.Comment: Accepted for publication in ApJ Letters; 5 pages, 1 figure, 2 tables. Two new paragraphs and one formula adde

The effect of exogenous glucose infusion on early embryonic development in lactating dairy cows

peer-reviewedThe objective of this study was to examine the effect of intravenous infusion of glucose on early embryonic development in lactating dairy cows. Nonpregnant, lactating dairy cows (n = 12) were enrolled in the study (276 ± 17 d in milk). On d 7 after a synchronized estrus, cows were randomly assigned to receive an intravenous infusion of either 750 g/d of exogenous glucose (GLUC; 78 mL/h of 40% glucose wt/vol) or saline (CTRL; 78 mL/h of 0.9% saline solution). The infusion period lasted 7 d and cows were confined to metabolism stalls for the duration of the study. Coincident with the commencement of the infusion on d 7 after estrus, 15 in vitro-produced grade 1 blastocysts were transferred into the uterine horn ipsilateral to the corpus luteum. All animals were slaughtered on d 14 to recover conceptuses, uterine fluid, and endometrial tissue. Glucose infusion increased circulating glucose concentrations (4.70 ± 0.12 vs. 4.15 ± 0.12 mmol/L) but did not affect milk production or dry matter intake. Circulating β-hydroxybutyrate concentrations were decreased (0.51 ± 0.01 vs. 0.70 ± 0.01 mmol/L for GLUC vs. CTRL, respectively) but plasma fatty acids, progesterone, and insulin concentrations were unaffected by treatment. Treatment did not affect either uterine lumen fluid glucose concentration or the mRNA abundance of specific glucose transporters in the endometrium. Mean conceptus length, width, and area on d 14 were reduced in the GLUC treatment compared with the CTRL treatment. A greater proportion of embryos in the CTRL group had elongated to all length cut-off measurements between 11 and 20 mm (measured in 1-mm increments) compared with the GLUC treatment. In conclusion, infusion of glucose into lactating dairy cows from d 7 to d 14 post-estrus during the critical period of conceptus elongation had an adverse impact on early embryonic development

On the Eccentricities and Merger Rates of Double Neutron Star Binaries and the Creation of "Double Supernovae"

We demonstrate that a natural consequence of an asymmetric kick imparted to neutron stars at birth is that the majority of double neutron star binaries should possess highly eccentric orbits. This leads to greatly accelerated orbital decay, due to the enormous increase in the emission of gravitational radiation at periastron as originally demonstrated by Peters (1964). A uniform distribution of kick velocities constrained to the orbital plane would result in ~24% of surviving binaries coalescing at least 10,000 times faster than an unperturbed circular system. Even if the planar kick constraint is lifted, ~6% of bound systems still coalesce this rapidly. In a non-negligible fraction of cases it may even be possible that the system could coalesce within 10 years of the final supernova, resulting in what we might term a "double supernova''. For systems resembling the progenitor of PSR J0737-3039A, this number is as high as \~9% (in the planar kick model). Whether the kick velocity distribution extends to the range required to achieve this is still unclear. We do know that the observed population of binary pulsars has a deficit of highly eccentric systems at small orbital periods. In contrast, the long-period systems favour large eccentricities, as expected. We argue that this is because the short-period highly eccentric systems have already coalesced and are thus selected against by pulsar surveys. This effect needs to be taken into account when using the scale-factor method to estimate the coalescence rate of double neutron star binaries. We therefore assert that the coalesence rate of such binaries is underestimated by a factor of several.Comment: 7 pages, 6 figures, submitted to Ap

Quantum Symmetries and Strong Haagerup Inequalities

In this paper, we consider families of operators $\{x_r\}_{r \in \Lambda}$ in a tracial C$^\ast$-probability space $(\mathcal A, \phi)$, whose joint $\ast$-distribution is invariant under free complexification and the action of the hyperoctahedral quantum groups $\{H_n^+\}_{n \in \N}$. We prove a strong form of Haagerup's inequality for the non-self-adjoint operator algebra $\mathcal B$ generated by $\{x_r\}_{r \in \Lambda}$, which generalizes the strong Haagerup inequalities for $\ast$-free R-diagonal families obtained by Kemp-Speicher \cite{KeSp}. As an application of our result, we show that $\mathcal B$ always has the metric approximation property (MAP). We also apply our techniques to study the reduced C$^\ast$-algebra of the free unitary quantum group $U_n^+$. We show that the non-self-adjoint subalgebra $\mathcal B_n$ generated by the matrix elements of the fundamental corepresentation of $U_n^+$ has the MAP. Additionally, we prove a strong Haagerup inequality for $\mathcal B_n$, which improves on the estimates given by Vergnioux's property RD \cite{Ve}

Effectiveness of common household cleaning agents in reducing the viability of human influenza A/H1N1

In the event of an influenza pandemic, the majority of people infected will be nursed at home. It is therefore important to determine simple methods for limiting the spread of the virus within the home. The purpose of this work was to test a representative range of common household cleaning agents for their effectiveness at killing or reducing the viability of influenza A virus