Mustard is better suited to the warmer and drier semiarid prairie than canola

Non-Peer ReviewedCanola is a risky crop in the warm and dry semiarid prairie. Mustard is reported to be less susceptible to stress, although very little evidence is available to support this view. Nitrogen is the second most important factor limiting potential yield on the semiarid prairie. Therefore, a three year field study over 14 site years was conducted to compare the adaptability of different canola and mustard cultivars, with special interest in canola quality mustard, under low, normal and high risk levels of N. Differences in Brassica spp. were noticed for growth duration, biomass production, seed yield and yield parameters. Seed yield of Cutlass was 15 and 32% higher than Quantum and Maverick cultivars, respectively. Canola quality mustard, J90-4316 produced seed yield similar to Quantum, but was lower than Cutlass, suggesting further breeding to improve agronomic quality of J90-4316 is needed. Mustards produced higher pods per plant and lower seeds per pod and seed weight compared to Quantum, while the lowest pods per plant, seeds per pod and seed weights were observed in Maverick. All Brassica spp. responded to N application by increasing growth duration, biomass and seed and yield component production. However, availability of water limits response of some of the parameters to higher levels N application. N application reduced oil content, but overall oil yield increased with N application. Interaction between B. spp. and N application or environment was also observed. Thus, the results suggest that mustards, especially, cutlass is better adapted to semiarid prairie than canola cultivars

Water use and water use efficiency of field pea and chickpea under the semiarid Canadian prairie conditions

Non-Peer Reviewe

The development of coal-based technologies for Department of Defense facilities: Phase 1 final report. Volume 1: Technical report

The first phase of a three-phase project investigating the development of coal-based technologies for Department of Defense facilities has been completed. The objectives of the project are to: decrease DOD`s dependence on foreign oil and increase its use of coal; promote public and private sector deployment of technologies for utilizing coal-based fuels in oil-designed combustion equipment; and provide a continuing environment for research and development of coal-based fuel technologies for small-scale applications at a time when market conditions in the US are not favorable for the introduction of coal-fired equipment in the commercial and industrial capacity ranges. The Phase 1 activities were focused on developing clean, coal-based combustion technologies for the utilization of both micronized coal-water mixtures (MCWMs) and dry, micronized coal (DMC) in fuel oil-designed industrial boilers. The specific objective in Phase 1 was to deliver fully engineered retrofit options for a fuel oil-designed watertube boiler located on a DOD installation to fire either MCWM or DMC. This was achieved through a project consisting of fundamental, pilot-sale, and demonstration-scale activities investigating coal beneficiation and preparation, and MCWM and DMC combustion performance. In addition, detailed engineering designs and an economic analysis were conducted for a boiler located at the Naval Surface Warfare Center, near Crane, Indiana. Results are reported on MCWM and DMC combustion performance evaluation; engineering design; and cost/economic analysis

Theory of excited state absorptions in phenylene-based π\pi-conjugated polymers

Within a rigid-band correlated electron model for oligomers of poly-(paraphenylene) (PPP) and poly-(paraphenylenevinylene) (PPV), we show that there exist two fundamentally different classes of two-photon A$_g$ states in these systems to which photoinduced absorption (PA) can occur. At relatively lower energies there occur A$_g$ states which are superpositions of one electron - one hole (1e--1h) and two electron -- two hole (2e--2h) excitations, that are both comprised of the highest delocalized valence band and the lowest delocalized conduction band states only. The dominant PA is to one specific member of this class of states (the mA$_g$). In addition to the above class of A$_g$ states, PA can also occur to a higher energy kA$_g$ state whose 2e--2h component is {\em different} and has significant contributions from excitations involving both delocalized and localized bands. Our calculated scaled energies of the mA$_g$ and the kA$_g$ agree reasonably well to the experimentally observed low and high energy PAs in PPV. The calculated relative intensities of the two PAs are also in qualitative agreement with experiment. In the case of ladder-type PPP and its oligomers, we predict from our theoretical work a new intense PA at an energy considerably lower than the region where PA have been observed currently. Based on earlier work that showed that efficient charge--carrier generation occurs upon excitation to odd--parity states that involve both delocalized and localized bands, we speculate that it is the characteristic electronic nature of the kA$_g$ that leads to charge generation subsequent to excitation to this state, as found experimentally.Comment: Revtex4 style, 2 figures inserted in the text, three tables, 10 page

Use of Coronary Computed Tomographic Angiography to guide management of patients with coronary disease

Background In a prospective, multicenter, randomized controlled trial, 4,146 patients were randomized to receive standard care or standard care plus coronary computed tomography angiography (CCTA). Objectives The purpose of this study was to explore the consequences of CCTA-assisted diagnosis on invasive coronary angiography, preventive treatments, and clinical outcomes. Methods In post hoc analyses, we assessed changes in invasive coronary angiography, preventive treatments, and clinical outcomes using national electronic health records. Results Despite similar overall rates (409 vs. 401; p = 0.451), invasive angiography was less likely to demonstrate normal coronary arteries (20 vs. 56; hazard ratios [HRs]: 0.39 [95% confidence interval (CI): 0.23 to 0.68]; p < 0.001) but more likely to show obstructive coronary artery disease (283 vs. 230; HR: 1.29 [95% CI: 1.08 to 1.55]; p = 0.005) in those allocated to CCTA. More preventive therapies (283 vs. 74; HR: 4.03 [95% CI: 3.12 to 5.20]; p < 0.001) were initiated after CCTA, with each drug commencing at a median of 48 to 52 days after clinic attendance. From the median time for preventive therapy initiation (50 days), fatal and nonfatal myocardial infarction was halved in patients allocated to CCTA compared with those assigned to standard care (17 vs. 34; HR: 0.50 [95% CI: 0.28 to 0.88]; p = 0.020). Cumulative 6-month costs were slightly higher with CCTA: difference $462 (95$303 to $621). Conclusions In patients with suspected angina due to coronary heart disease, CCTA leads to more appropriate use of invasive angiography and alterations in preventive therapies that were associated with a halving of fatal and non-fatal myocardial infarction. (Scottish COmputed Tomography of the HEART Trial [SCOT-HEART]; NCT01149590

Maternal Morbidity Outcomes in Idiopathic Moyamoya Syndrome in New York State

Background: Pregnancy is associated with an increased risk of stroke in young women. Idiopathic moyamoya syndrome (IMMS) is a rare condition characterized by progressive narrowing of large cerebral arteries resulting in flimsy collaterals prone to rupture or thrombosis. Data are limited on pregnancy outcomes in women with IMMS. We hypothesized that IMMS would be associated with increased pregnancy morbidity, including stroke. Conclusion: Pregnancies within 1 year prior or any time after IMMS diagnosis did not have increased maternal morbidity compared to unexposed pregnancies after adjusting for age and clustering of women with multiple pregnancies. Prospective studies are needed to better characterize increased maternal risks for women with moyamoya syndrome and develop preventive strategies

Nonlocal Effects and Shrinkage of the Vortex Core Radius in YNi2B2C Probed by muSR

The magnetic field distribution in the vortex state of YNi2B2C has been probed by muon spin rotation (muSR). The analysis based on the London model with nonlocal corrections shows that the vortex lattice has changed from hexagonal to square with increasing magnetic field H. At low fields the vortex core radius, rho_v(H), decreases with increasing H much steeper than what is expected from the sqrt(H) behavior of the Sommerfeld constant gamma(H), strongly suggesting that the anomaly in gamma(H) primarily arises from the quasiparticle excitations outside the vortex cores.Comment: 4 pages, 4 figures, submitted to Phys. Rev.

Long distance regularization in chiral perturbation theory with decuplet

We investigate the use of long distance regularization in SU(3) baryon chiral perturbation theory with decuplet fields. The one-loop decuplet contributions to the octet baryon masses, axial couplings, S-wave nonleptonic hyperon decays and magnetic moments are evaluated in a chirally consistent fashion by employing a cutoff to implement long distance regularization. The convergence of the chiral expansions of these quantities is improved compared to the dimensionally regularized version which indicates that the propagation of Goldstone bosons over distances smaller than a typical hadronic size, which is beyond the regime of chiral perturbation theory but included by dimensional regularization, is removed by use of a cutoff.Comment: 31 page

Particle interactions with single or multiple 3D solar reconnecting current sheets

The acceleration of charged particles (electrons and protons) in flaring solar active regions is analyzed by numerical experiments. The acceleration is modelled as a stochastic process taking place by the interaction of the particles with local magnetic reconnection sites via multiple steps. Two types of local reconnecting topologies are studied: the Harris-type and the X-point. A formula for the maximum kinetic energy gain in a Harris-type current sheet, found in a previous work of ours, fits well the numerical data for a single step of the process. A generalization is then given approximating the kinetic energy gain through an X-point. In the case of the multiple step process, in both topologies the particles' kinetic energy distribution is found to acquire a practically invariant form after a small number of steps. This tendency is interpreted theoretically. Other characteristics of the acceleration process are given, such as the mean acceleration time and the pitch angle distributions of the particles.Comment: 18 pages, 9 figures, Solar Physics, in pres

High-statistics measurement of the pion form factor in the rho-meson energy range with the CMD-2 detector

We present a measurement of the pion form factor based on e+e- annihilation data from the CMD-2 detector in the energy range 0.6<sqrt(s)<1.0 GeV with a systematic uncertainty of 0.8%. A data sample is five times larger than that used in our previous measurement.Comment: 18 pages, 10 figures. Added comparison with KLOE measurement, minor updates. Accepted by PL