Breaking Corn Yield Barriers: A Cropping Systems Approach

During 2015, four corn research trials were conducted in dryland and irrigated environments. Two trials were at Scandia, KS and two were in Topeka, KS. The objective of these trials was to study the contribution of different farming management approaches for developing efficient and high-yielding corn production systems. Treatment layout consisted of five combinations: common practices (CP), comprehensive fertilization (CF), production intensity (PI), ecological intensification (CF + PI), and advanced plus (AD). Under dryland and irrigation scenarios, EI and AD treatments presented the highest yields relative to the other combinations. Under irrigation, absolute yield gap was larger in both locations as compared to the dryland scenario. The EI and AP treatments produced better yields than all other treatments at all sites and water conditions

Breaking Soybean Yield Barriers: A Cropping Systems Approach

During 2015, four soybean research trials were conducted in dryland and irrigated environments. Two trials were at Scandia, KS, and two were in Topeka, KS. The objective of these trials was to study the contribution of different farming systems to developing efficient and high-yielding soybean production systems. Each experiment had five treatments: common practices (CP), comprehensive fertilization (CF), production intensity (PI), ecological intensification (CF + PI), and advanced plus (AD). Under dryland and irrigation EI and AD treatments had the maximum yield in both locations. Under irrigation, yield gap was the largest as compared to the dryland environment in both locations. In all four experiments common practices had the lowest yield

Breaking Corn Yield Barriers: A Cropping Systems Approach

A corn research trial was conducted at Scandia, KS, during the 2014 growing season. The objective was to study the contribution of different farming systems in developing efficient and high-yielding corn production systems. The experiment had five treatments: farmer practices, comprehensive fertilization, production intensity, ecological intensification, and advanced plus. Farmer practice was the lowest-yielding treatment, and ecological intensification and advanced plus treatment presented similar yields

<i>Vibrio breoganii</i> sp. nov., a non-motile, alginolytic, marine bacterium within the <i>Vibrio halioticoli</i> clade

Seven non-motile, facultatively anaerobic, alginolytic marine bacteria were isolated from the cultured clams Ruditapes philippinarum and Ruditapes decussatus. Phylogenetic analysis based on 16S rRNA gene sequences showed that these marine bacteria were closely related to the recently described species Vibrio comitans, Vibrio rarus and Vibrio inusitatus (=99.0?% sequence similarity). Phylogenetic analysis based on the housekeeping genes rpoA, recA and atpA grouped the isolates together and allocated them to the Vibrio halioticoli species group. Amplified fragment length polymorphism DNA fingerprinting also grouped them together and enabled them to be differentiated from recognized species of the V. halioticoli clade. DNA–DNA hybridizations showed that the isolates belonged to a novel species; phenotypic features such as the ability to grow at 4 °C and in the presence of 6?% NaCl also enabled them to be separated from other species. The DNA G+C content of RD 15.11T is 44.4 mol%. The genotypic and phenotypic data showed that the isolates represent a novel species in the V. halioticoli clade. The name Vibrio breoganii sp. nov. is proposed, with RD 15.11T (=CECT 7222T =LMG 23858T) as the type strain

Closing Soybean Yield Gaps via Improved Management: A Systems Approach

Three soybean research trials were conducted during the 2016 growing season. Two studies were conducted at Scandia, KS, (dryland and irrigated) and one at Topeka, KS (dryland). The objective of this study was to investigate the contribution of different farming systems for closing soybean yield gaps. Each experiment consisted of five treatments: common practices (CP), comprehensive fertilization (CF), production intensity (PI), ecological intensification (CF + PI), and advanced plus (AD). The EI and AD treatments presented the maximum yields at both locations. Under irrigation conditions, yield gap was larger at Scandia relative to Topeka site. Across all three soybean experiments, CP presented the lowest yield. EI yielded 79 bu/a at Topeka, and 83 and 86 bu/a at Scandia dryland and irrigated scenarios, respectively

Closing Corn Yield Gaps via Improved Management: A Systems Approach

Three corn research trials were conducted during the 2016 growing season. Two studies were conducted at Scandia, KS, (dryland and irrigated) and one at Topeka, KS (dryland). The objective of these trials was to investigate the contribution of different farming systems for closing corn yield gaps. Each experiment consisted of five treatments: common practices (CP), comprehensive fertilization (CF), production intensity (PI), ecological intensification (CF + PI), and advanced plus (AD). Across all three experiments and under dryland and irrigation scenarios, CP presented the lowest yield. In environments with yield response, intensifying production without a balanced nutrition program did not increase yields. A balanced nutrition program substantially increased yields in corn with more relative impact in dryland environments. The absolute yield gap was 86 bu/a for dryland and 75 bu/a for irrigated condition

Best Management Systems to Intensify Soybean Production

The aim of this study was to evaluate different management systems to close the yield gap in soybean production. A soybean experiment was established in Scandia, KS, evaluating five management systems under both rainfed and irrigated conditions. For the 2017 season, dryland and irrigated average yields were similar (63–65 bu/a) due to herbicide injury on the irrigated phase. In both water scenarios, intensification (high input) increased yields compared with common practice (low input) systems. Under irrigation, a consistent response to a balanced nutrition program was documented

Mixed hydrogen-deuterium plasmas on JET ILW

A study of mixed hydrogen-deuterium H-mode plasmas has been carried out in JET-ILW to strengthen the physics basis for extrapolations to JET D-T operation and to support the development of strategies for isotope ratio control in future experiments. Variations of input power, gas fuelling and isotopic mixture were performed in H-mode plasmas of the same magnetic field, plasma current and divertor configuration. The analysis of the energy confinement as a function of isotope mixture reveals that the biggest change is seen in plasmas with small fractions of H or D, in particular when including pure isotope plasmas. To interpret the results correctly, the dependence of the power threshold for access to type-I ELMing H-modes on the isotope mixture must be taken into account. For plasmas with effective mass between 1.2 and 1.8 the plasma thermal stored energy (Wth) scales as m 0.1 eff, which is weaker than that in the ITER physics basis, IPB98 scaling. At fixed stored energy, deuterium-rich plasmas feature higher density pedestals, while the temperature at the pedestal top is lower, showing that at the same gas fuelling rate and power level, the pedestal pressure remains constant with an exchange of density and temperature as the isotope ratio is varied. Isotope control was successfully tested in JET-ILW by changing the isotope ratio throughout a discharge, switching from D to H gas puffing. Several energy confinement times (300 ms) are needed to fully change the isotope ratio during a discharge.EUROfusion Consortium Grant Agreement No. 633 053RCUK Energy Programme (Grant Number EP/I501 045)H2020 Marie-Sklodowska Curie programme (Grant No. 708 257)Spanish Ministry of Economy and Competitiveness (Grant No. FJCI-201 422 139

The role of middle managers in tobacco control after a national smoke-free hospital campus ban

Background: Much of the recent health services research on tobacco control implementation has explored general views and perceptions of health professionals and has rarely taken into account middle management's perspectives. We state that middle managers may facilitate the implementation of smoke-free campus bans and thereby improve their effectiveness. The aim of this study was to assess middle managers' behaviors to enforce a new national smoke-free hospital campus ban, to evaluate their perceptions of the level of compliance of the new regulation, and to explore their attitudes towards how smoking affects the work environment. Methods: We used a cross-sectional survey, conducted online to evaluate middle managers of a general hospital in Catalonia, Spain. Close-ended and open-ended questions were included. Results were analyzed by using quantitative and qualitative methods. The managers' open opinions to the proposed topics were assessed using UCINET, and a graph was generated in NetDraw. Results: Sixty-three of the invited managers (78.7 %) participated in the survey. 87.2 % of them agreed that the hospital complied with the smoke-free campus ban and 79.0 % agreed that managers have an important role in enforcing the ban. They also perceived that smoking disturbs the dynamics of work, is a cause of conflict between smokers and non-smokers, and harms both the professional and the organization images. However, 96.8 % of respondents have never given out fines or similar measures and their active role in reminding others of the policy was limited; in addition, 68.2 % considered that hospitals should provide tobacco cessation treatments. Smoker middle managers were more likely than non-smokers to perceive that smoking has little impact on work. Conclusions: Middle managers play a limited role in controlling tobacco consumption; smokers are less prone to think that smoking disturbs work dynamics than non-smokers. Tailored training and clear proceedings for middle managers could encourage more active roles

Perception of electronic cigarettes in the general population: does their usefulness outweigh their risks?

Objective: To describe and compare the perceptions of the general population about the harmful effects of electronic cigarettes (e-cigarettes) on users and on those passively exposed to e-cigarettes and the perceptions about e-cigarette usefulness for reducing or eliminating tobacco smoking. Design, setting, and participants: We analysed cross-sectional data from a longitudinal study of a representative sample of the general adult (≥16 years) population of Barcelona, Spain (336 men and 400 women). The fieldwork was conducted between May 2013 and February 2014. We computed the percentages, adjusted OR and their corresponding 95% CI among participants with some awareness of e-cigarettes (79.2% of the sample). Primary and secondary outcome measures: We assessed the perception about harmfulness for e-cigarette users and for passively exposed non-e-cigarette users, as well as the perception of usefulness for smokers of cigarette cessation and reduction