The impact of soil erosion on soil-related ecosystem services: development and testing a scenario-based assessment approach

The ecosystem service (ES) approach usually addresses soil erosion as the regulating service control of erosion rates or soil retention. In addition to the assessment of this regulating ES, mitigated impacts on soil-related ES by preventing soil erosion can be assessed. This study presents a scenario-based approach for the assessment of the impact of soil erosion on soil-related ES. The assessment approach was tested in agricultural landscapes in Northern Germany, combining mapping and assessment of soil-related ES. In six scenarios, the degradation of soils due to soil erosion was simulated by the calculation of soil profile reductions. The scenarios represent two levels of impact with three time steps (+50, +100, +150 years). In the scenarios for the structural impact, the potential soil erosion rates were extrapolated into the future to generate spatially explicit information on degraded soils. In the scenarios for the mitigated impact, the actual soil erosion rates were extrapolated. Four soil-related ES were assessed for the initial state and the scenarios crop provision, water filtration, water flow regulation and fresh water provision. The comparison of the potential service supply of the four soil-related ES in the scenarios enabled the assessment of the long-term effect of the ES control of erosion rates. The mitigated reduction in the potential service supply for three of the considered ES (crop provision, water filtration, water flow regulation) is large and highlights the importance of sustainable soil management. Contrary to this, the ES fresh water provision benefits of erosion-induced soil profile reductions. © 2021, The Author(s)

Gravitational Spin-Orbit Hamiltonian at NNNLO in the post-Newtonian framework

We present the result of the spin-orbit interaction Hamiltonian for binary systems of rotating compact objects with generic spins, up to NNNLO corrections within the post-Newtonian expansion. The calculation is performed by employing the effective field theory diagrammatic approach, and it involves Feynman integrals up to three loops, evaluated within the dimensional regularization scheme. We apply canonical transformations to eliminate the non-physical divergences and spurious logarithmic behaviours of the Hamiltonian, and use the latter to derive the gauge-invariant binding energy and the scattering angle, in special kinematic regimes.Comment: 28 page

Simulating thick atmospheric turbulence in the lab with application to orbital angular momentum communication

We describe a procedure by which a long ($\gtrsim 1\,\mathrm{km}$) optical path through atmospheric turbulence can be experimentally simulated in a controlled fashion and scaled down to distances easily accessible in a laboratory setting. This procedure is then used to simulate a 1-km-long free-space communication link in which information is encoded in orbital angular momentum (OAM) spatial modes. We also demonstrate that standard adaptive optics methods can be used to mitigate many of the effects of thick atmospheric turbulence.Comment: Rewritten abstract and introductory section to emphasize the importance of the work and to make it accessible to a more general audience. Section 2 was expanded to include some background on the physics of turbulence to allow the paper to be self-contained and understood by nonspecialist

Vaccine-preventable haemophilus influenza type B disease burden and cost-effectiveness of infant vaccination in Indonesia.

BACKGROUND: Most of Asia, including Indonesia, does not use Haemophilus influenzae type b (Hib) conjugate vaccines. We estimated total vaccine-preventable disease burden and the cost-effectiveness of Hib conjugate vaccine in Indonesia. METHODS: Hib pneumonia and meningitis incidences for children with access to health care were derived from a randomized vaccine probe study on Lombok Island, Indonesia during 1998-2002. Incidences were adjusted for limited access to care. Health system and patient out-of-pocket treatment cost data were collected concurrent with the probe study. For Hib vaccine in monovalent and combined (with DTP-HepB) presentations, we used 2007 UNICEF vaccine prices of US$3.30 and$3.75 per dose. RESULTS: For the 2007 Indonesian birth cohort, Hib vaccine would prevent meningitis in 1 of every 179 children, pneumonia in 1 of every 18 children, and 4.9% of mortality among those younger than 5 years. The total incremental societal costs of introducing Hib vaccine in monovalent and pentavalent presentations were, respectively, US$11.74 and$8.93 per child vaccinated. Annual discounted treatment costs averted amounted to 20% of pentavalent vaccine costs. For the pentavalent vaccine, the incremental costs per discounted death and disability adjusted life-year averted amounted to US$3102 and$74, respectively, versus $4438 and$102 for monovalent vaccine. CONCLUSIONS: Routine infant Hib vaccination would prevent a large burden of pediatric illness and death in Indonesia. Even without external funding support, Hib vaccine will be a highly cost-effective intervention in either a monovalent or pentavalent presentation based on commonly used benchmarks

Performance analysis of d-dimensional quantum cryptography under state-dependent diffraction

Standard protocols for quantum key distribution (QKD) require that the sender be able to transmit in two or more mutually unbiased bases. Here, we analyze the extent to which the performance of QKD is degraded by diffraction effects that become relevant for long propagation distances and limited sizes of apertures. In such a scenario, different states experience different amounts of diffraction, leading to state-dependent loss and phase acquisition, causing an increased error rate and security loophole at the receiver. To solve this problem, we propose a pre-compensation protocol based on pre-shaping the transverse structure of quantum states. We demonstrate, both theoretically and experimentally, that when performing QKD over a link with known, symbol-dependent loss and phase shift, the performance of QKD will be better if we intentionally increase the loss of certain symbols to make the loss and phase shift of all states same. Our results show that the pre-compensated protocol can significantly reduce the error rate induced by state-dependent diffraction and thereby improve the secure key rate of QKD systems without sacrificing the security.Comment: 10 pages, 6 figure

Gravitoelectric dynamical tides at second post-Newtonian order

We present a gravitoelectric quadrupolar dynamical tidal-interaction Hamiltonian for a compact binary system, that is valid to second order in the post-Newtonian expansion. Our derivation uses the diagrammatic effective field theory approach, and involves Feynman integrals up to two loops, evaluated with the dimensional regularization scheme. We also derive the effective Hamiltonian for adiabatic tides, obtained by taking the appropriate limit of the dynamical effective Hamiltonian, and we check its validity by verifying the complete Poincar\'e algebra. In the adiabatic limit, we also calculate two gauge-invariant observables, namely, the binding energy for a circular orbit and the scattering angle in a hyperbolic scattering. Our results are important for developing accurate gravitational waveform models for neutron-star binaries for present and future gravitational-wave observatories.Comment: 20 pages, 2 figures, 1 tabl

Comparison of different culture media and storage temperatures for the long-term preservation of Streptococcus pneumoniae in the tropics

Objective: The preservation of Streptococcus pneumoniae by standard freezing methods for subsequent tests- such as serotyping and antibiotic susceptibility-is not possible or is difficult in many developing countries because of the high cost of equipment, inadequate equipment maintenance, and irregular power supply. We evaluated alternative low-cost methods, by comparing different culture media and storage temperatures. Methods: Clinical isolates of five capsular types (1, 5, 7, 19, and 23) of S. pneumoniae were preserved in rabbit blood, sheep blood, skimmed milk, or glycerol-chocolate broth, and stored at -20 °C or -70 °C. The cultures were also preserved by lyophilization or sand desiccation, followed by storage at room temperature and 4 °C. The viability of the preserved cultures was determined by making serial colony counts on day 0 and after 1 week, 4 weeks, 4 months and 16 months. The viability of cultures preserved by sand desiccation and storage at 4 °C was also determined every 6 months for up to 68 months. Findings: Irrespective of the media used, cultures maintained at -20 °C became nonviable by the fourth month, while those maintained at -70 °C were still viable at 16 months. Cultures preserved by lyophilization or sand desiccation lost their viability by the fourth month when maintained at local room temperature (30-42 °C), but remained viable when stored at 4 °C for up to 68 months. Conclusions: Our results confirm that freezing at -70 °C, or lyophilization and storage at 4 °C are the ideal methods for the preservation of S. pneumoniae. In laboratories where lyophilization is not feasible, sand desiccation and storage at 4 °C offers an alternative low-cost method for the long-term preservation of S. pneumoniae

Hamiltonian of a spinning test-particle in curved spacetime

Using a Legendre transformation, we compute the unconstrained Hamiltonian of a spinning test-particle in a curved spacetime at linear order in the particle spin. The equations of motion of this unconstrained Hamiltonian coincide with the Mathisson-Papapetrou-Pirani equations. We then use the formalism of Dirac brackets to derive the constrained Hamiltonian and the corresponding phase-space algebra in the Newton-Wigner spin supplementary condition (SSC), suitably generalized to curved spacetime, and find that the phase-space algebra (q,p,S) is canonical at linear order in the particle spin. We provide explicit expressions for this Hamiltonian in a spherically symmetric spacetime, both in isotropic and spherical coordinates, and in the Kerr spacetime in Boyer-Lindquist coordinates. Furthermore, we find that our Hamiltonian, when expanded in Post-Newtonian (PN) orders, agrees with the Arnowitt-Deser-Misner (ADM) canonical Hamiltonian computed in PN theory in the test-particle limit. Notably, we recover the known spin-orbit couplings through 2.5PN order and the spin-spin couplings of type S_Kerr S (and S_Kerr^2) through 3PN order, S_Kerr being the spin of the Kerr spacetime. Our method allows one to compute the PN Hamiltonian at any order, in the test-particle limit and at linear order in the particle spin. As an application we compute it at 3.5PN order.Comment: Corrected typo in the ADM Hamiltonian at 3.5 PN order (eq. 6.20

Children of prisoners: exploring the impact of families' reappraisal of the role and status of the imprisoned parent on children's coping strategies

Qualitative data from a larger study on the impact of parental imprisonment in four countries found that children of prisoners face fundamentally similar psychological and social challenges. The ways that children cope, however, are influenced by the interpretative frame adopted by the adults around them, and by how issues of parental imprisonment are talked about in their families. This article argues that families have to reappraise their view of the imprisoned parent and then decide on their policy for how to deal with this publicly. Their approach may be based on openness and honesty or may emphasise privacy and secrecy, or a combination of these. Children are likely to be influenced by their parents'/carers' views, although these may cause conflict for them. Where parents/carers retain a positive view of the imprisoned parent, children are likely to benefit; where parents/carers feel issues of shame and stigma acutely, this is likely to be transmitted to their children. This is important for social workers and practitioners involved in supporting prisoners' families and for parenting programmes