The engineering geology of the Nottingham area, UK

Nottingham was built near a crossing point on the River Trent in the East Midlands of England. Initially, the City developed on a low sandstone hill close to the north bank of the river, which provided a secure, well-drained location above the marshes that bordered the river. Geologically, Nottingham stands at the boundary between Palaeozoic rocks to the north and west, and Mesozoic and Cainozoic strata to the south and east. The area is underlain by coal-bearing Carboniferous Coal Measures, Permian dolomitic limestones, Permo-Triassic mudstones and weak sandstones, Jurassic clays and Quaternary glacial and alluvial deposits. Artificial deposits, resulting from the social, industrial and mineral extraction activities of the past cover the natural deposits over much of the area. This geological environment has underpinned the economic development of the area through the mining of coal (now largely ceased), oil extraction that was important during the Second World War, brickmaking from clays, alluvial sand and gravel extraction from the Trent Valley and gypsum extraction from the Permo-Triassic mudstones. The Permo-Triassic sandstone is a nationally important aquifer and has also been exploited at the surface and from shallow mines for sand. However, this history of the use and exploitation of mineral deposits has created a number of environmental problems including rising groundwater levels, abandoned mine shafts and mining subsidence, and, within the City itself, the occasional collapse of artificial cavities in the sandstone and contaminated land left by industrial activities. Natural constraints on development include gypsum dissolution, landslides, rockfalls, swell-shrink problems in Jurassic clays and flooding. Occasional minor earthquakes are attributed to movements due to coal mining or natural, deep geological structures. Thus, Nottingham’s geological context remains an important consideration when planning its future regeneration and development

Diagnosing nutrient limitations to lentil and chickpea in acid soils of Bangladesh

Lentil and chickpea are dietary staple crops in Bangladesh but their local production has been markedly declining in recent decades, mainly due to competition with irrigated cereals. However, in northern Bangladesh, an additional problem to their cultivation is acid surface soil conditions, potentially causing deficiencies of molybdenum (Mo) and boron (B), and toxicities of aluminium (Al), manganese (Mn) or hydrogen ion (H+). In an attempt to rehabilitate lentil and chickpea in northern Bangladesh on-farm trials were conducted to determine the response of these crops to Mo, B, and lime and Rhizobium inoculation. Despite earlier reports of widespread B deficiency in the region a response to B was only found in chickpea. Responses to Mo and Rhizobium, applied through seed priming, were found. There were responses to lime even after B, Mo, and Rhizobium had been applied, suggesting Al toxicity. Recommendations for fertilizer requirement, to fit into an overall integrated crop management package for lentil and chickpea, were modified accordingly

<i>Bayerotrochus belauensis</i>, a new species of pleurotomariid from the Palau Islands, western Pacific (Gastropoda: Pleurotomariidae)

A new pleurotomariid species, Bayerotrochus belauensis new species, collected from the Palau Islands, western Pacific, is described and illustrated. This new species is most similar in shell morphology to B. teramachii (Kuroda, 1955), from which it may be distinguished by its thinner, lighter shell with a taller, more stepped spire and lack of pronounced spiral sculpture along the shell base. Molecular data (COI) show B. belauensis new species to be more closely related to B. boucheti from New Caledonia and B. delicatus from Yap, than to B. teramachii. Bayerotrochus boucheti (Anseeuw and Poppe, 2001) differs in having a broader, more conical spire, a more depressed aperture, and a more darkly pigmented shell with spiral sculpture on the shell base. The recently described B. delicatus S.-P. Zhang, S.Q. Zhang, and Wei, 2016 is easily distinguished by its much smaller size and distinctive shell profile

Physics results from the National Spherical Torus Experiment

The National Spherical Torus Experiment (NSTX) at the Princeton Plasma Physics Laboratory is designed for studying toroidal plasma confinement at very low aspect-ratio, A=R/a = 0.85m/0.68m {approximately} 1.25, with cross-section elongation up to 2.2 and triangularity up to 0.5, for plasma currents up to 1 MA and vacuum toroidal magnetic fields up to 0.6 T on axis. Conducting plates are installed close to the plasma on the outboard side to stabilize kink modes. This should permit operation with toroidal-{beta} approaching 40%. The plasmas will be heated by up to 6 MW High-Harmonic Fast Waves (HHFW) at a frequency 30 MHz and by 5 MW of 80 keV deuterium Neutral Beam Injection. Inductive plasma startup can be supplemented by the process of Coaxial Helicity Injection (CHI)

Deuterium-tritium plasmas in novel regimes in the Tokamak Fusion Test Reactor

Experiments in the Tokamak Fusion Test Reactor (TFTR) have explored several novel regimes of improved tokamak confinement in deuterium-tritium (D-T) plasmas, including plasmas with reduced or reversed magnetic shear in the core and high-current plasmas with increased shear in the outer region (high-l{sub i}). New techniques have also been developed to enhance the confinement in these regimes by modifying the plasma-limiter interaction through in-situ deposition of lithium. In reversed-shear plasmas, transitions to enhanced confinement have been observed at plasma currents up to 2.2 MA (q{sub a} {approx} 4.3), accompanied by the formation of internal transport barriers, where large radial gradients develop in the temperature and density profiles. Experiments have been performed to elucidate the mechanism of the barrier formation and its relationship with the magnetic configuration and with the heating characteristics. The increased stability of high-current, high-l{sub i} plasmas produced by rapid expansion of the minor cross-section, coupled with improvement in the confinement by lithium deposition has enabled the achievement of high fusion power, up to 8.7 MW, with D-T neutral beam heating. The physics of fusion alpha-particle confinement has been investigated in these regimes, including the interactions of the alphas with endogenous plasma instabilities and externally applied waves in the ion cyclotron range of frequencies. In D-T plasmas with q{sub 0} > 1 and weak magnetic shear in the central region, a toroidal Alfven eigenmode instability driven purely by the alpha particles has been observed for the first time. The interactions of energetic ions with ion Bernstein waves produced by mode-conversion from fast waves in mixed-species plasmas have been studied as a possible mechanism for transferring the energy of the alphas to fuel ions

Long Pulse High Performance Plasma Scenario Development for the National Spherical Torus Experiment

The National Spherical Torus Experiment [Ono et al., Nucl. Fusion, 44, 452 (2004)] is targeting long pulse high performance, noninductive sustained operations at low aspect ratio, and the demonstration of nonsolenoidal startup and current rampup. The modeling of these plasmas provides a framework for experimental planning and identifies the tools to access these regimes. Simulations based on neutral beam injection (NBI)-heated plasmas are made to understand the impact of various modifications and identify the requirements for (1) high elongation and triangularity, (2) density control to optimize the current drive, (3) plasma rotation and/or feedback stabilization to operate above the no-wall limit, and (4) electron Bernstein waves (EBW) for off-axis heating/current drive (H/CD). Integrated scenarios are constructed to provide the transport evolution and H/CD source modeling, supported by rf and stability analyses. Important factors include the energy confinement, Zeff, early heating/H mode, broadening of the NBI-driven current profile, and maintaining q(0) and qmin>1.0. Simulations show that noninductive sustained plasmas can be reached at IP=800 kA, BT=0.5 T, 2.5, N5, 15%, fNI=92%, and q(0)>1.0 with NBI H/CD, density control, and similar global energy confinement to experiments. The noninductive sustained high plasmas can be reached at IP=1.0 MA, BT=0.35 T, 2.5, N9, 43%, fNI=100%, and q(0)>1.5 with NBI H/CD and 3.0 MW of EBW H/CD, density control, and 25% higher global energy confinement than experiments. A scenario for nonsolenoidal plasma current rampup is developed using high harmonic fast wave H/CD in the early low IP and low Te phase, followed by NBI H/CD to continue the current ramp, reaching a maximum of 480 kA after 3.4 s

Creating Bell states and decoherence effects in quantum dots system

We show how to improve the efficiency for preparing Bell states in coupled two quantum dots system. A measurement to the state of driven quantum laser field leads to wave function collapse. This results in highly efficiency preparation of Bell states. The effect of decoherence on the efficiency of generating Bell states is also discussed in this paper. The results show that the decoherence does not affect the relative weight of $|00>$ and $|11>$ in the output state, but the efficiency of finding Bell states.Comment: 4 pages, 2figures, corrected some typo

Disease consequences of higher adiposity uncoupled from its adverse metabolic effects using Mendelian randomisation

Background:Some individuals living with obesity may be relatively metabolically healthy, whilst others suffer from multiple conditions that may be linked to adverse metabolic effects or other factors. The extent to which the adverse metabolic component of obesity contributes to disease compared to the non-metabolic components is often uncertain. We aimed to use Mendelian randomisation (MR) and specific genetic variants to separately test the causal roles of higher adiposity with and without its adverse metabolic effects on diseases.Methods:We selected 37 chronic diseases associated with obesity and genetic variants associated with different aspects of excess weight. These genetic variants included those associated with metabolically ‘favourable adiposity’ (FA) and ‘unfavourable adiposity’ (UFA) that are both associated with higher adiposity but with opposite effects on metabolic risk. We used these variants and two sample MR to test the effects on the chronic diseases.Results:MR identified two sets of diseases. First, 11 conditions where the metabolic effect of higher adiposity is the likely primary cause of the disease. Here, MR with the FA and UFA genetics showed opposing effects on risk of disease: coronary artery disease, peripheral artery disease, hypertension, stroke, type 2 diabetes, polycystic ovary syndrome, heart failure, atrial fibrillation, chronic kidney disease, renal cancer, and gout. Second, 9 conditions where the non-metabolic effects of excess weight (e.g. mechanical effect) are likely a cause. Here, MR with the FA genetics, despite leading to lower metabolic risk, and MR with the UFA genetics, both indicated higher disease risk: osteoarthritis, rheumatoid arthritis, osteoporosis, gastro-oesophageal reflux disease, gallstones, adult-onset asthma, psoriasis, deep vein thrombosis, and venous thromboembolism.Conclusions:Our results assist in understanding the consequences of higher adiposity uncoupled from its adverse metabolic effects, including the risks to individuals with high body mass index who may be relatively metabolically healthy.Funding:Diabetes UK, UK Medical Research Council, World Cancer Research Fund, National Cancer Institute

Disease consequences of higher adiposity uncoupled from its adverse metabolic effects using Mendelian randomisation

Background:Some individuals living with obesity may be relatively metabolically healthy, whilst others suffer from multiple conditions that may be linked to adverse metabolic effects or other factors. The extent to which the adverse metabolic component of obesity contributes to disease compared to the non-metabolic components is often uncertain. We aimed to use Mendelian randomisation (MR) and specific genetic variants to separately test the causal roles of higher adiposity with and without its adverse metabolic effects on diseases.Methods:We selected 37 chronic diseases associated with obesity and genetic variants associated with different aspects of excess weight. These genetic variants included those associated with metabolically ‘favourable adiposity’ (FA) and ‘unfavourable adiposity’ (UFA) that are both associated with higher adiposity but with opposite effects on metabolic risk. We used these variants and two sample MR to test the effects on the chronic diseases.Results:MR identified two sets of diseases. First, 11 conditions where the metabolic effect of higher adiposity is the likely primary cause of the disease. Here, MR with the FA and UFA genetics showed opposing effects on risk of disease: coronary artery disease, peripheral artery disease, hypertension, stroke, type 2 diabetes, polycystic ovary syndrome, heart failure, atrial fibrillation, chronic kidney disease, renal cancer, and gout. Second, 9 conditions where the non-metabolic effects of excess weight (e.g. mechanical effect) are likely a cause. Here, MR with the FA genetics, despite leading to lower metabolic risk, and MR with the UFA genetics, both indicated higher disease risk: osteoarthritis, rheumatoid arthritis, osteoporosis, gastro-oesophageal reflux disease, gallstones, adult-onset asthma, psoriasis, deep vein thrombosis, and venous thromboembolism.Conclusions:Our results assist in understanding the consequences of higher adiposity uncoupled from its adverse metabolic effects, including the risks to individuals with high body mass index who may be relatively metabolically healthy.Funding:Diabetes UK, UK Medical Research Council, World Cancer Research Fund, National Cancer Institute

Trapped ions in the strong excitation regime: ion interferometry and non--classical states

The interaction of a trapped ion with a laser beam in the strong excitation regime is analyzed. In this regime, a variety of non--classical states of motion can be prepared either by using laser pulses of well defined area, or by an adiabatic passage scheme based on the variation of the laser frequency. We show how these states can be used to investigate fundamental properties of quantum mechanics. We also study possible applications of this system to build an ion interferometer.Comment: 9 pages, Revtex format, 5 compressed postscript figure