Vegetable Fertility Management Trial

Many organic vegetable producers have been relying heavily on livestock composts as a source of fertility on farm. Often, high rates of compost are applied to meet the nitrogen (N) needs of crops. When this strategy is implemented it can lead to over application of phosphorus (P) and potassium (K). As an example, a grower may apply poultry manure at 6 tons ac-1 for 3 consecutive years. This contributes 225 lbs ac-1 of P per year, where vegetable crop removal of P ranges from 10-80 lbs ac-1 per season. In this scenario, there is an over application of P, leading to an excess of 900 lbs ac-1 in 3 years in cases where the soil already had sufficient P levels. After multiple seasons of using composts, P levels may accumulate in the soil to the point where applying additional P poses an environmental risk to nearby waterways. Phosphorus loading and associated risk depends on soil type, slope, and proximity to water. However, with impending water quality regulations, farmers will be required to account for their nutrient balance

Cannabidiol Hemp Plant Spacing x Planting Date Trial

Hemp is a non-psychoactive variety of cannabis sativa L. The crop is one of historical importance in the U.S. and re-emerging worldwide importance as medical providers and manufacturers seek hemp as a renewable and sustainable resource for a wide variety of consumer and industrial products. Hemp grown for all types of end-use (health supplement, fiber, and seed) contains less than 0.3% tetrahydrocannabinol (THC). Some hemp varieties intended to produce a health supplement contain relatively high concentrations of a compound called cannabidiol (CBD), potentially 10-15%. The compound CBD has purported benefits such as relief from inflammation, pain, anxiety, seizures, spasms, and other conditions. The CBD compound is the most concentrated in the female flower buds of the plant, however, it is also in the leaves and other plant parts as well. To grow hemp for CBD production, the crop is generally grown intensively as a specialty crop and the flowers are cultivated for maximum growth. The CBD oil is extracted and incorporated into topical products (salves, lip balm, lotion) and food and is available in pill capsules, powder form, and more, which can be found in the market today. Industrial hemp is poised to be a “new” cash crop and market opportunity for Vermont farms that is versatile and suitable as a rotation crop with other specialty crops, small grains, and grasses

Rainfall infiltration and soil hydrological characteristics below ancient forest, planted forest, and grassland in a temperate northern climate

How rainfall infiltration rate and soil hydrological characteristics develop over time under forests of different ages in temperate regions is poorly understood. In this study, infiltration rate and soil hydrological characteristics were investigated under forests of different ages and under grassland. Soil hydraulic characteristics were measured at different scales under a 250-year-old grazed grassland (GL), 6-year-old (6yr) and 48-year-old (48yr) Scots pine (Pinus sylvestris) plantations, remnant 300-year-old individual Scots pine (OT) and a 4000-year-old Caledonian Forest (AF). In situ field-saturated hydraulic conductivity (Kfs) was measured, and visible root:soil area was estimated from soil pits. Macroporosity, pore structure and macropore connectivity were estimated from X-ray tomography of soil cores, and from water-release characteristics.At all scales, the median values for Kfs, root fraction, macroporosity and connectivity values tended to AF > OT > 48yr > GL > 6yr, indicating that infiltration rates and water storage increased with forest age. The remnant Caledonian Forest had a huge range of Kfs (12 to >4922 mm h−1), with maximum Kfs values 7 to 15 times larger than those of 48-year-old Scots pine plantation, suggesting that undisturbed old forests, with high rainfall and minimal evapotranspiration in winter, may act as important areas for water storage and sinks for storm rainfall to infiltrate and transport to deeper soil layers via preferential flow. The importance of the development of soil hydrological characteristics under different aged forests is discussed

Perceptions by adult patients with Type 1 and 2 diabetes of current and advanced technologies of blood glucose monitoring : a prospective study

ObjectiveIntensive self-monitoring of blood glucose levels by patients with diabetes achieves optimal glucose control, hence reducing the likelihood of complications.MethodsThis is a prospective, cross-sectional study targeting adults with diabetes through community pharmacies and patient groups in Central and West London over a period of 10 weeks.ResultsIn all, 195 adults with diabetes were included in the analysis of the results. When monitoring adherence was examined, 43.4% (n=33/76) of participants with type 1 diabetes reported that their health care professionals had asked them to monitor their blood glucose levels between 3 and 4 times per day; however, 10% of this group was not following their health-care professionals' directions. Participants with type 2 diabetes were asked the same question; 42.9% (n=51/119) were asked to monitor their blood glucose between 3 and 4 times a day, but only 2.5% (n=3/119) were following their health-care professionals' directions. When questioned about their reasons for poor adherence, the cohort indicated that it was due to the painful (29.2%, n=57/195), uncomfortable (33.8%, n=66/195) or inconvenient (36.9%, n=72/195) nature of testing. In addition, 75.3% (n=147/195) of the participants expressed their desire for a noninvasive monitoring device, and 74.3% (n=145/195) said they would be satisfied to use one of the preselected advanced technologies to monitor their blood glucose levels.ConclusionsThe favoured advanced technology, selected by 49.7% (n=97/195) of participants, was the wristband. Statistical significance was seen between the type of diabetes and the device selected; patients with type 1 diabetes preferred contact lenses (p<0.05) and tattoos (p<0.0001), whereas participants with type 2 diabetes preferred earlobe sensors (p<0.0001) and saliva analyzers (p<0.0001). Participants' gender, age and ethnicity also influenced device selection

Enantioselective construction of biaryl part in the synthesis of stegane related compounds

A Pd-mediated intramolecular aryl-aryl coupling reaction of phenyl benzoate derivatives were examined to form benzo[c]chromen-6-ones, and then enantioselective lactone-opening reaction with a borane-oxazaborolidine combination was carried out. The resulting biphenyl was transformed into a key intermediate for the stegane related compounds. The absolute configuration of the biphenyl is also discussed. Stegane and related compounds are important because of their interesting biological activities such as antileukemic properties.1 One of the most outstanding features of their chemical structures is an unsymmetrical 2,2’-disubstituted biphenyl moiety with an axial chirality (Figure 1). For the formation of such a biphenyl part in the syntheses of the stegane families, several approaches have been attempted such as photocyclization,2 Suzuki coupling,3 oxidative biaryl coupling,4 the SNAr reaction,5 Ullmann coupling,6 and the [2+2+2] three-component cyclization reaction.7</p

Issues and Approaches to Generalizing Two-Party Authentication Protocols for Multi-Party Authentication

The design of cryptographic protocols with well understood properties is a difficult problem. Many simple cryptographic protocols that have been designed over the years by experienced designers have been found to have subtle flaws that have lead to attacks against them. As a result, designers will often attempt to modify protocols that have well understood properties to address new requirements. Such an approach can introduce flaws into the new protocol that are not present in the original protocol as assumptions under which the original protocol was designed are changed. In this paper, we will look at the issues associated with modifying two party authentication protocols to address group authentication by looking at efforts to modify the Needham-Schroeder-Lowe (NSL) protocol for use in group authentication. We will carefully review the assumptions under which the NSL protocol was proven to provide authentication and the changing assumptions when moving from a two party setting to a group setting. Several approaches to modifying the NSL protocol will be analyzed and flaws that result in the new protocols will be exposed, as well as approaches that maintain the properties of the protocol. Finally, we develop the requirements that any group authentication protocol would need to meet the same authentication goals as the NSL protocol against the same Dolev-Yao intruder

Issues and Approaches to Generalizing Two-Party Authentication Protocols for Multi-Party Authentication

The design of cryptographic protocols with well understood properties is a difficult problem. Many simple cryptographic protocols that have been designed over the years by experienced designers have been found to have subtle flaws that have lead to attacks against them. As a result, designers will often attempt to modify protocols that have well understood properties to address new requirements. Such an approach can introduce flaws into the new protocol that are not present in the original protocol as assumptions under which the original protocol was designed are changed. In this paper, we will look at the issues associated with modifying two party authentication protocols to address group authentication by looking at efforts to modify the Needham-Schroeder-Lowe (NSL) protocol for use in group authentication. We will carefully review the assumptions under which the NSL protocol was proven to provide authentication and the changing assumptions when moving from a two party setting to a group setting. Several approaches to modifying the NSL protocol will be analyzed and flaws that result in the new protocols will be exposed, as well as approaches that maintain the properties of the protocol. Finally, we develop the requirements that any group authentication protocol would need to meet the same authentication goals as the NSL protocol against the same Dolev-Yao intruder