Ensemble yield simulations: crop and climate uncertainties, sensitivity to temperature and genotypic adaptation to climate change

Estimates of the response of crops to climate change rarely quantify the uncertainty inherent in the simulation of both climate and crops. We present a crop simulation ensemble for a location in India, perturbing the response of both crop and climate under both baseline (12 720 simulations) and doubled-CO2 (171 720 simulations) climates. Some simulations used parameter values representing genotypic adaptation to mean temperature change. Firstly, observed and simulated yields in the baseline climate were compared. Secondly, the response of yield to changes in mean temperature was examined and compared to that found in the literature. No consistent response to temperature change was found across studies. Thirdly, the relative contribution of uncertainty in crop and climate simulation to the total uncertainty in projected yield changes was examined. In simulations without genotypic adaptation, most of the uncertainty came from the climate model parameters. Comparison with the simulations with genotypic adaptation and with a previous study suggested that the relatively low crop parameter uncertainty derives from the observational constraints on the crop parameters used in this study. Fourthly, the simulations were used, together with an observed dataset and a simple analysis of crop cardinal temperatures and thermal time, to estimate the potential for adaptation using existing cultivars. The results suggest that the germplasm for complete adaptation of groundnut cultivation in western India to a doubled-CO2 environment may not exist. In conjunction with analyses of germplasm and local management practices, results such as this can identify the genetic resources needed to adapt to climate change

Tin Sulfide (SnS) Films Deposited by an Electric Field-Assisted Continuous Spray Pyrolysis Technique with Application as Counter Electrodes in Dye-Sensitized Solar Cells

The deposition of tin sulfide (SnS) nanostructured films using a continuous spray pyrolysis technique is reported with an electric field present at the nozzle for influencing the atomization and the subsequent film deposition. In the absence of the electric field, the X-ray diffraction pattern shows the orthorhombic phase of SnS with a crystallographic preferred orientation along the (040) plane. The application of the electric field results in significant improvement in the morphology and a reduction in surface roughness (28 nm from 37 nm). The direct optical band gap of the films deposited with and without the electric field is estimated to be 1.5 and 1.7 eV, respectively. The photothermal deflection spectroscopy studies show a lower energetic disorder (no Urbach tail), which indicates an annealing effect in the SnS films deposited under the electric field. The improvement in the film properties is reflected in the expected improvement in the power conversion efficiency (PCE) of dye-sensitized solar cells fabricated using the SnS film as a counter electrode. An enhancement of PCE from 2.07% for the film deposited without the electric field to 2.89% for the film deposited with the electric field shows the role of the electric field in the fabrication of improved SnS film

Design and optimisation of process parameters in an in-line CIGS evaporation pilot system

This is the final version of the article. Available from Elsevier via the DOI in this record.Substantial efforts have been made globally towards improving Cu(In,Ga)Se2 thin film solar cell efficiencies with several organisations successfully exceeding the 20% barrier on a research level using the three-stage CIGS process, but commercial mass production of the three-stage process has been limited due to the technological difficulties of scaling-up. An attempt has been made to identify these issues by designing and manufacturing an in-line pilot production deposition system for the three-stage CIGS process which is capable of processing 30 cm × 30 cm modules. The optimisation of the process parameters such as source and substrate temperature, deposition uniformity, flux of copper, indium, gallium and selenium and thickness control has been presented in this investigation. A simplistic thickness distribution model of the evaporated films was developed to predict and validate the designed deposition process, which delivers a comparable simulation compared with the experimental data. These experiments also focused on the optimisation of the temperature uniformity across 30 cm × 30 cm area using a specially designed graphite heating system, which is crucial to form the correct α-phase CIGS in the desired time period. A three-dimensional heat transfer model using COMSOL Multiphysics 4.2a software has been developed and validated with the help of experimental data.This research work was supported partially through the funding support received from EPSRC UK–India programme APEX (EP/H040218/1) and partially supported by Excitonic Supergen (EPSRC (EP(G03101088/1)) programme

Knowledge of Maternal and Newborn Care Among Primary Level Health Workers in Kapilvastu District of Nepal

Background: Higher maternal and neonatal deaths are common in low‑ and middle‑income countries; due to less access to skilled help. Adequate knowledge and skills on maternal and newborn care (MNC) of community health workers can improve maternal and newborn health.Aims: To identify the knowledge of primary level health workers on some components of MNC.Subjects and Methods: Respondents were selected using simple random sampling method. For collecting the data, enumerators visited health institutions for 2 months from 1|st October to 31st November 2012, and structured interview schedule was used to gather the information. A cross‑sectional study was conducted in a total of one hundred and thirty‑seven primary level health workers in Kapilvastu district, Nepal. The Chi‑square test was employed to examine the association between the knowledge of health workers on MNC and designation and work experience. Data were analyzed using SPSS version 17.Results: In a total of 137 primary level health workers, more than half 53.2% (73/137) were senior auxiliary health workers/health assistant. Health workers having correct knowledge on contents of MNC were‑registration 32.1% (44/137), major components of antenatal care 57.7% (79/137), danger signs of pregnancy 39.4% (54/137), five cleans 59.1% (81/137), postnatal health problems 54.0% (74/137), majority to health action to newborn care, newborn bath and meaning of exclusive breastfeeding. There was a statistical association between designation of health workers and above‑mentioned components of MNC (P < 0.05).Conclusions: The differentials in the knowledge of MNC among primary level health suggest improving knowledge of the grass root level health workers with appropriate training and development programs.Keywords: Knowledge, Maternal and newborn care, Primary level health worker

(2E)-1-(5-Chloro­thio­phen-2-yl)-3-(2,4,5-trimeth­oxy­phen­yl)prop-2-en-1-one

In the title mol­ecule, C16H15ClO4S, the chloro­thio­phene and trimeth­oxy­phenyl rings make a dihedral angle of 31.12 (5)°. The C=C double bond exhibits an E conformation. In the crystal, C—H⋯O inter­actions generate bifurcated bonds, linking the mol­ecules into chains along the b axis

Investigation of complete and incomplete fusion in 7^{7}Li+124^{124}Sn reaction around Coulomb barrier energies

The complete and incomplete fusion cross sections for $^{7}$Li+$^{124}$Sn reaction were measured using online and offline characteristic $\gamma$-ray detection techniques. The complete fusion (CF) cross sections at energies above the Coulomb barrier were found to be suppressed by $\sim$ 26 \% compared to the coupled channel calculations. This suppression observed in complete fusion cross sections is found to be commensurate with the measured total incomplete fusion (ICF) cross sections. There is a distinct feature observed in the ICF cross sections, i.e., $\textit{t}$-capture is found to be dominant than $\alpha$-capture at all the measured energies. A simultaneous explanation of complete, incomplete and total fusion (TF) data was also obtained from the calculations based on Continuum Discretized Coupled Channel method with short range imaginary potentials. The cross section ratios of CF/TF and ICF/TF obtained from the data as well as the calculations showed the dominance of ICF at below barrier energies and CF at above barrier energies.Comment: 9 pages, 8 figure

Performance Evaluation of Wide-Angle Ultrathin Microwave Metamaterial Absorber with Polarization Independence

A novel dual-band wide-angle ultra-thin absorber composed of dual closed-concentric ten-point stars with polarization independence is presented in this article. The ten-point stars formed resonators are engraved on low cost FR4 substrate. The EM absorber performance is studied in terms of electrical and physical parameters. The polarization independence is practically demonstrated using waveguide measurement method. The measured results are in good agreement with simulated results. The absorbance values of 99.37% and 97.18% are achieved at 2.13 GHz and 2.52 GHz, respectively. The presented absorber design is wide-angle RF absorber with high absorbance values of about 80% up to 60° under TE mode and 87% up to 75° of oblique incidence angle for TM mode excitations. The experimental results demonstrate the absorption effectiveness of the proposed design to be utilized in RF energy harvester modules for capturing ambient UMTS band signals and in RF absorber applications for S band radar systems. The presented absorber unit cell is ultrathin and compact with the thickness and size less than λ/56 mm and λ/5 mm, respectively, at lowest absorption frequency