A.E.S. Circular, No. 39

During 1979 and 1980, soil fertility research was conducted at two locations in the Delta Clearwater area. One of the test sites, Lee F ett’s Farm, was cleared in the mid-1950s and has been in production for about 25 years. The other test site is situated on a tract of newly cleared land owned by Dennis Green. The new lands site was cleared by the traditional berm-pile method during the winter of 1978-79. This method removes much of the moss layer, and in some cases, part o f the topsoil. Land cleared by this procedure is lower in natural fertility, but has the advantage of enabling the farmer to plant a crop the first summer after clearing. In this publication, progress reports are given for several research projects involving fertilizer use and rates of application.Introduction -- Weather Summary for the 1979 and 1980 Growing Season: Table 1: Climatic Data for Delta Junction During the 1979 and 1980 Growing Season -- Response of Barley to Nitrogen and Phosphorus Fertilizer Applications on New Land: Table 2: Response of Barley to Nitrogen and Phosphorus Fertilizers on New Land in the Delta-Clearwater Area of Alaska -- Variety-Fertilizer Interactions of Barley Grown on Newly Cleared Land: Table 3: Variety-Fertilizer Interactions of Barley Grown on New Land in the Delta-Clearwater Area of Alaska -- Response of Barley and Rapeseed to Sulfur Fertilization: Table 4: Response of Barley to Sulfur Fertilization When Grown Under Different Crop Rotations; Table 5: Response of Sulfur Fertilization When Grown Under Different Crop Rotation

Circular 62

This is the eighth publication of grain performance trials in the Tanana River Valley. The first, published 7 years ago, included the results of spring cereal-variety tests conducted at Fairbanks and Delta Junction during the 1978 and 1979 growing seasons. Beginning in 1980, the variety-test results were annual publications. This report, like last year’s, is a shorter version than the first 6 publications of the series. It reflects continued budget constraints caused by Alaska’s sagging economy

Proposed methods for reviewing the outcomes of health research: the impact of funding by the UK's Arthritis Research Campaign

Background: External and internal factors are increasingly encouraging research funding bodies to demonstrate the outcomes of their research. Traditional methods of assessing research are still important, but can be merged into broader multi-dimensional categorisations of research benefits. The onus has hitherto been on public sector funding bodies, but in the UK the role of medical charities in funding research is particularly important and the Arthritis Research Campaign, the leading medical charity in its field in the UK, commissioned a study to identify the outcomes from research that it funds. This article describes the methods to be used. Methods: A case study approach will enable narratives to be told, illuminating how research funded in the early 1990s was (or was not) translated into practice. Each study will be organised using a common structure, which, with careful selection of cases, should enable cross-case analysis to illustrate the strengths of different modes and categories of research. Three main interdependent methods will be used: documentary and literature review; semi-structured interviews; and bibliometric analysis. The evaluative framework for organising the studies was previously used for assessing the benefits from health services research. Here, it has been specifically amended for a medical charity that funds a wide range of research and is concerned to develop the careers of researchers. It was further refined in three pilot studies. The framework has two main elements. First, a multi-dimensional categorisation of benefits going from the knowledge produced in peer reviewed journal articles through to the health and potential economic gain. The second element is a logic model, which, with various stages, should provide a way of organising the studies. The stock of knowledge is important: much research, especially basic, will feed into it and influence further research rather than directly lead to health gains. The cross-case analysis will look for factors associated with outcomes. Conclusions: The pilots confirmed the applicability of the methods for a full study which should assist the Arthritis Research Campaign to demonstrate the outcomes from its funding, and provide it with evidence to inform its own policies

Using Experimental Evolution to Understand the Relationship between the Motile Strategies and Biosurfactant Production on a Nutrient Gradient, in Pseudomonas fluorescens.

The role of flagellar based motility is well established amongst strains of Pseudomonas fluorescens. The benefits and overall necessity of motility give a large selection pressure for bacteria to be motile, especially in the colonisation of the plant root rhizosphere. As flagellar based motility is so important to P. fluorescens, non-motile P. fluorescens have a great benefit in evolving towards motility. Here I investigate the strength of reviving flagellar regulation in previously non motile strains of P. fluorescens. I show that the evolved flagella mechanisms are far weaker than the wild-type system and thus the mutant bacteria rely on other motile secondary metabolites, particularly the biosurfactant viscosin. I also investigate the different swarming phenotypes P. fluorescens express when introduced to a varied nutrient environment. I find that when bacteria are in a stress free nutrient rich environment, a smooth swarming phenotype is favoured. When the bacteria are under stress and starved of nutrients, the spidery phenotype is preferred. I also introduce a new novel swarming phenotype I have nicknamed ‘sun-like’, which appears to be a combination of both smooth and spidery motility. I theorise these distinct phenotypes can be directly influenced by the amount of biosurfacant present, where smooth spreading require increased biosurfacants and spidery spreading require the least. Moreover, I believe the phenotypes are a response to colonisation versus exploration, where biosurfacant can aid colonisation but is a hindrance to exploration

Natural Strange Beatitudes: Geoffrey Hill's The Orchards of Syon, Poetic Oxymoron and Post-Secular Poetics AND An Atheist's Prayer-Book

The poem 'After God' appears in the Manchester Cathedral publication, Poetry Competition 2013 Judged by Nicola Slee. The poem 'yud, hay, vav, hay' appears in Poetry Competition 2014 Judged by Helen Tookey.Geoffrey Hill’s The Orchards of Syon (2002) occupies a contradictory position in twenty-first century poetry in being a major religious work in a post-religious age. Contemporary secular and atheistic insistence on the fundamentally crafted and flawed nature of religious faith has led Hill not to the abandoning of religious vision, but to a theologically disciplined approach to syntax, grammar and etymology. This dissertation examines Hill’s claim to a poetics of agnostic faith that mediate his alienation from a cynical and debased Anglophone contemporaneity. The oxymoronic nature of a faith co-existent with existential loss is the primary focus. The semantic distinction between paradox and poetic oxymoron is examined, and the agonistic and aporetic dimensions of the oxymoron are considered as affording theological significance. Poetic oxymoron as site of both foolish babbling and Pentecostal exuberance is made explicit, as is Hill’s relation to the oxymoronic nature of beatitudinous expression and the Kenotic Hymn. Hill’s reading of and relation to other theologically engaged poets is outlined. Thomas Hardy’s tragic-comic vision, Gerard Manley Hopkins’ restrained rapture in ‘The Windhover’, and T. S. Eliot’s expression of kenotic dissolution in ‘Marina’ are read as precursors to Hill’s revisionary God-language. William Empson’s significant difficulties with aspects of Hopkins’ and Eliot’s poetics is appraised as evidence of an oxymoronic and theological dimension within poetic ambiguity. Hill’s imperative to embody and enact theological vision and responsibility is tested in a reading of The Orchards of Syon. Paul Ricoeur’s perception of the religious significance of atheism is provocation for my own creative practice, as is the performative theology implicit in both Graham Shaw’s hermeneutic approach, and Hill’s visionary philology. Creative process draws on Simone Weil’s notion of decreation, the kenotic paradigm as exemplified in the life and writings of Dietrich Bonhoeffer, and the continuing secular vitality of the apostrophic lyric mode

Heuristics, not plumage: A response to Osterloh and Frey's discussion paper on ‘Borrowed plumes’

At its simplest, ‘How to avoid borrowed plumes in academia’ by Margit Osterloh and Bruno Frey (Osterloh & Frey, 2020) is a paper about how using Journal Impact Factor (JIF) to judge academic papers and their authors is a bad idea; their suggestion of why people nevertheless persist in doing so; and what might be done to stop them. More broadly, it is a paper about heuristics (or rules-of-thumb) – why they are used; when they should not be used; and how to stop them being used in those contexts. I agree with Osterloh and Frey that JIF is a bad heuristic for judging research, but I find their arguments about why it is used and what might be done to stop people using it unconvincing and impractical. In this short Note, I argue that the use of heuristics is inevitable and, if effectively selected, they can improve decision-making. The challenge for an individual is to decide which heuristics are worth using. The policy challenge is to dissuade people from using inappropriate heuristics – and doing this requires good evidence on how and why the heuristics are being used, something that is missing from Osterloh and Frey’s paper.Non

Circular 57

This is the seventh publication of grain perform ance trials in the Tanana River Valley. The first, published 6 years ago, included the results of spring cereal-variety tests conducted at Fairbanks and Delta Junction during the 1978 and 1979 growing seasons. Beginning in 1980, the variety-test results were annual publications. The length and content of this report is much less than for previous years. This is the result of a cost-saving measure to help cope with a shrinking budget

Olfaction: It Makes a World of Scents

SummaryMutations in odorant receptor genes predict olfactory perception of common compounds in foods and flowers. Through recombination they can generate extensive combinatorial variation in sensory ability among individuals

The preparation and dispersion of magnetic ferrite particles

Magnetic fluids containing magnetite (Fe(_3)O(_4)) have been prepared using colloidal size particles, obtained by alkaline treatment of mixed iron(II)/iron(III) chloride solutions. The particles have been dispersed in a variety of carrier liquids employing a wide range of surfactant materials. In non-aqueous carrier liquids, a single layer of surfactant is chemically adsorbed at the particle surface to effect steric stabilization. In aqueous media, a primary layer of chemisorbed surfactant interpenetrates a secondary layer which is physically adsorbed. This arrangement places hydrophilic charged groups at the surfactant/water interface, thereby maintaining a favourable interaction between the two phases. A wide variety of surfactants, including a range of straight-chain fatty acids, have been evaluated for use in aqueous magnetic fluids. Fluids incorporating up to 32 wt. % magnetite have been prepared. Stability towards dilution, changes in pH and quantity of dispersing agent have all been studied. Charge-stabilized magnetic fluids, in both acidic and alkaline aqueous media, have been investigated. Control of Fe(_3)O(_4) particle size, between 60Ǻ and 80Ǻ diameter, has-been achieved by altering the conditions under which precipitation occurs, namely temperature, reagent concentrations, viscosity and solvent composition. In addition, water was found to be capable of dispersing larger particles than organic carrier liquids. Particles as small as 30Ǻ diameter have been prepared by in situ magnetite precipitation with naturally occurring polymeric surfactants, such as proteins and polysaccharides. Functional groups along the polymer backbone are thought to coordinate to Fe(^2+) ions, thus maximising the number of particle nucleation sites. Small particles with narrow size distributions result. In this way, magnetic fluids have been prepared, stabilized with low toxicity naturally occurring materials for possible medical applications. Magnetite particles, too large for use in magnetic fluids, have been made by condensing iron(II) hydroxide with a variety of hydrated iron(III) oxide species. Particle size was dependent upon the size and solubility of the iron(III) precursor. Non-colloidal magnetite particles were also obtained by the aerial oxidation of iron(II) hydroxide suspensions at temperatures > 60 C

Project Retrosight. Understanding the returns from cardiovascular and stroke research: Case Studies

Copyright @ 2011 RAND Europe. All rights reserved. The full text article is available via the link below.This project explores the impacts arising from cardiovascular and stroke research funded 15-20 years ago and attempts to draw out aspects of the research, researcher or environment that are associated with high or low impact. The project is a case study-based review of 29 cardiovascular and stroke research grants, funded in Australia, Canada and UK between 1989 and 1993. The case studies focused on the individual grants but considered the development of the investigators and ideas involved in the research projects from initiation to the present day. Grants were selected through a stratified random selection approach that aimed to include both high- and low-impact grants. The key messages are as follows: 1) The cases reveal that a large and diverse range of impacts arose from the 29 grants studied. 2) There are variations between the impacts derived from basic biomedical and clinical research. 3) There is no correlation between knowledge production and wider impacts 4) The majority of economic impacts identified come from a minority of projects. 5) We identified factors that appear to be associated with high and low impact. This report presents the key observations of the study and an overview of the methods involved. It has been written for funders of biomedical and health research and health services, health researchers, and policy makers in those fields. It will also be of interest to those involved in research and impact evaluation.This study was initiated with internal funding from RAND Europe and HERG, with continuing funding from the UK National Institute for Health Research, the Canadian Institutes of Health Research, the Heart and Stroke Foundation of Canada and the National Heart Foundation of Australia. The UK Stroke Association and the British Heart Foundation provided support in kind through access to their archives