The vegetation of the Coonavitra area, Paroo Darling National Park, western New South Wales

The vegetation of Coonavitra area, Paroo Darling National Park (latitude 31°00’–32° 40’S and longitude 142°10’–144°25’E) in north western New South Wales was assessed using intensive quadrat sampling and mapped using extensive ground truthing and interpretation of aerial photograph and Landsat Thematic Mapper satellite images. In the survey 261 vascular plants species including 37 (14%) exotic species, from 50 families were recorded. Eighteen vegetation communities were identified and mapped, the most widespread being Casuarina pauper/Alectryon oleifolius low open woodland, Acacia loderi tall open shrubland, Flindersia maculosa low open woodland and Acacia aneura open-shrubland. Of particular significance are the extensive areas of Acacia loderi and Acacia melvillei tall open shrubland and one of the northernmost occurrences of Eucalyptus socialis tall open shrubland. Many of these communities have been impacted by a history of 150 years of pastoral use

The vegetation of the Mount Murchison and Wilga areas, Paroo Darling National Park, western New South Wales

The vegetation of the Mount Murchison and Wilga areas, Paroo Darling National Park (latitude 31o00’-32o 40’S and longitude 142o10’-144o25’E) in north western New South Wales was assessed using intensive quadrat sampling and mapped using extensive ground truthing and interpretation of aerial photograph and Landsat Thematic Mapper satellite images. In the survey 237 vascular plant species including 37 (15.6%) exotic species, from 46 families were recorded. Seventeen vegetation communities were identified and mapped, 15 for Mount Murchison area and 13 for the Wilga area. The most widespread for Mount Murchison being Maireana pyramidata low open shrubland, Flindersia maculosa low open woodland, Muehlenbeckia florulenta open shrubland and Eucalyptus coolabah / Eucalyptus largiflorens open woodland. The most widespread for Wilga being Muehlenbeckia florulenta open shrubland and Eucalyptus coolabah / Eucalyptus largiflorens open woodland. Many of these communities have been impacted by a history of 150 years of pastoral use

Planting Food or Fuel: Developing an Interdisciplinary Approach to Understanding the Role of Culture in Farmers’ Decisions to Grow Second-Generation Biofuel Feedstock Crops

Recent interest in biofuels as an alternative energy source has spurred considerable changes in agricultural practice worldwide. These changes will be more pronounced as second-generation biofuels, such as switch grass, gain prominence; this article examines the cultural factors associated with the decisions U.S. farmers face in targeting crops for fuel production instead of food. Through an interdisciplinary assessment of the dynamics of farmers' behavior, developed herein is a theoretical framework to analyze how farmers grapple with shifting expectations of their function.National Science Foundation EPS-0903806, KU-Transportation Research Institut

Developing sustainable small-scale fisheries livelihoods in Indonesia: Trends, enabling and constraining factors, and future opportunities

Small-scale fisheries (SSF) provide crucial contributions to livelihoods, food and nutrition security, and the well-being of coastal communities worldwide. In Indonesia, 2.5 million households are involved in SSF production, yet these households are characterised by high poverty rates and vulnerability due to declining ecosystem health and climatic change. In this study we applied the Sustainable Livelihoods Framework to analyse the characteristics and immediate and longer-term outcomes of 20 SSF livelihood-focused intervention programs implemented in coastal communities across the Indonesian Archipelago over the last two decades. Projects covered a wide range of spatial scales, funding providers and key participants. Factors supporting positive program outcomes included application of inclusive and holistic approaches to sustainable livelihoods, implemented and supported over appropriate time frames; use of participatory capacity development methodologies and locally-situated project facilitators; and collaborative engagement with local government, non-government organisations and private-sector actors. However, it was impossible to identify evidenced successes from a longer-term sustainability perspective. Short project timeframes, absence of baseline or monitoring data, pressure for satisfactory reports to donors, and limited post-project evaluation, together with invisibility of women’s work and non-commercial exchanges, affected the adequacy of assessments. Given the lack of post-project assessment among projects studied, a thorough review of longer-term project impacts is recommended, guided by the Sustainable Livelihoods Framework, to evaluate sustained improvements in livelihoods outcomes and environmental sustainability. This would support best-practice design and implementation of SSF livelihood-focused interventions, disseminated beyond academia, to influence policy and development to achieve socio-economic equity and environmental goals

Changes in gastrointestinal cell integrity after marathon running and exercise-associated collapse

Purpose Endurance exercise and hyperthermia are associated with compromised intestinal permeability and endotoxaemia. The presence of intestinal fatty acid-binding protein (I-FABP) in the systemic circulation suggests intestinal wall damage, but this marker has not previously been used to investigate intestinal integrity after marathon running. Methods Twenty-four runners were recruited as controls prior to completing a standard marathon and had sequential I-FABP measurements before and on completion of the marathon, then at four and 24 h later. Eight runners incapacitated with exercise-associated collapse (EAC) with hyperthermia had I-FABP measured at the time of collapse and 1 hour later. Results I-FABP was increased immediately on completing the marathon (T0; 2593 ± 1373 ng·l−1) compared with baseline (1129 ± 493 ng·l−1; p < 0.01) in the controls, but there was no significant difference between baseline and the levels at four hours (1419 ± 1124 ng·l−1; p = 0.7), or at 24 h (1086 ± 302 ng·l−1; p = 0.5). At T0, EAC cases had a significantly higher I-FABP concentration (15,389 ± 8547 ng.l−1) compared with controls at T0 (p < 0.01), and remained higher at 1 hour after collapse (13,951 ± 10,476 ng.l−1) than the pre-race control baseline (p < 0.05). Conclusion I-FABP is a recently described biomarker whose presence in the circulation is associated with intestinal wall damage. I-FABP levels increase after marathon running and increase further if the endurance exercise is associated with EAC and hyperthermia. After EAC, I-FABP remains high in the circulation for an extended period, suggesting ongoing intestinal wall stress

Depletion of nitrogen-vacancy color centers in diamond via hydrogen passivation

We show a marked reduction in the emission from nitrogen-vacancy (NV) color centers in single crystal diamond due to exposure of the diamond to hydrogen plasmas ranging from 700{\deg}C to 1000{\deg}C. Significant fluorescence reduction was observed beneath the exposed surface to at least 80mm depth after ~10 minutes, and did not recover after post-annealing in vacuum for seven hours at 1100{\deg}C. We attribute the fluorescence reduction to the formation of NVH centers by the plasma induced diffusion of hydrogen. These results have important implications for the formation of nitrogen-vacancy centers for quantum applications, and inform our understanding of the conversion of nitrogen-vacancy to NVH, whilst also providing the first experimental evidence of long range hydrogen diffusion through intrinsic high-purity diamond material.Comment: 6 pages, 3 figure

L-VRAP-a lunar volatile resources analysis package for lunar exploration

The Lunar Volatile Resources Analysis Package (L-VRAP) has been conceived to deliver some of the objectives of the proposed Lunar Lander mission currently being studied by the European Space Agency. The purpose of the mission is to demonstrate and develop capability; the impetus is very much driven by a desire to lay the foundations for future human exploration of the Moon. Thus, LVRAP has design goals that consider lunar volatiles from the perspective of both their innate scientific interest and also their potential for in situ utilisation as a resource. The device is a dual mass spectrometer system and is capable of meeting the requirements of the mission with respect to detection, quantification and characterisation of volatiles. Through the use of appropriate sampling techniques, volatiles from either the regolith or atmosphere (exosphere) can be analysed. Furthermore, since L-VRAP has the capacity to determine isotopic compositions, it should be possible for the instrument to determine the sources of the volatiles that are found on the Moon (be they lunar per se, extra-lunar, or contaminants imparted by the mission itself

A study of the radiative transfer equation using a spherical harmonics-nodal collocation method

[EN] Optical tomography has found many medical applications that need to know how the photons interact with the different tissues. The majority of the photon transport simulations are done using the diffusion approximation, but this approximation has a limited validity when optical properties of the different tissues present large gradients, when structures near the photons source are studied or when anisotropic scattering has to be taken into account. As an alternative to the diffusion model, the PL equations for the radiative transfer problem are studied. These equations are discretized in a rectangular mesh using a nodal collocation method. The performance of this model is studied by solving different 1D and 2D benchmark problems of light propagation in tissue having media with isotropic and anisotropic scattering.This work has been partially supported by the Spanish Ministerio de Economia y Competitividad under project ENE-2014-59442-P and by the Generalitat Valenciana under project PRO-METE II/2014/008.Capilla Romá, MT.; Talavera Usano, CF.; Ginestar Peiro, D.; Verdú Martín, GJ. (2017). A study of the radiative transfer equation using a spherical harmonics-nodal collocation method. Journal of Quantitative Spectroscopy and Radiative Transfer. 189:25-36. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jqsrt.2016.11.008S253618