The Nitrogen Dynamics of Newly Developed Lignite-Based Controlled-Release Fertilisers in the Soil-Plant Cycle

(c) The Author/sThe effect of newly developed controlled-release fertilisers (CRFs); Epox5 and Ver-1 and two levels of Fe2+ applications (478 and 239 kg-FeSO4 ha−1) on controlling nitrogen (N) losses, were tested on ryegrass, in a climate-controlled lysimeter system. The Epox5 and Ver-1 effectively decreased the total N losses by 37 and 47%, respectively, compared to urea. Nitrous oxide (N2O) emissions by Ver-1 were comparable to urea. However, Epox5 showed significantly higher (p < 0.05) N2O emissions (0.5 kg-N ha−1), compared to other treatments, possibly due to the lock-off nitrogen in Epox5. The application of Fe2+ did not show a significant effect in controlling the N leaching loss and N2O emission. Therefore, a dissimilatory nitrate reduction and chemodenitrification pathways were not pronounced in this study. The total dry matter yield, N accumulation, N use efficiency and soil residual N were not significantly different among any N treatments. Nevertheless, the N accumulation of CRFs was lower in the first month, possibly due to the slow release of urea. The total root biomass was significantly (p < 0.05) lower for Epox5 (35%), compared to urea. The hierarchical clustering of all treatments revealed that Ver-1 outperformed other treatments, followed by Epox5. Further studies are merited to identify the potential of Fe2+ as a controlling agent for N losses.fals

Can the quality of social research on ethnicity be improved through the introduction of guidance? Findings from a research commissioning pilot exercise

As the volume of UK social research addressing ethnicity grows, so too do concerns regarding the ethical and scientific rigour of this research domain and its potential to do more harm than good. The establishment of standards and principles and the introduction of guidance documents at critical points within the research cycle might be one way to enhance the quality of such research. This article reports the findings from the piloting of a guidance document within the research commissioning process of a major funder of UK social research. The guidance document was positively received by researchers, the majority of whom reported it to be comprehensible, relevant and potentially useful in improving the quality of research proposals. However, a review of the submitted proposals suggested the guidance had had little impact on practice. While guidance may have a role to play, it will need to be strongly promoted by commissioners and other gatekeepers. Findings also suggest the possibility that guidance may discourage some researchers from engaging with ethnicity if it raises problems without solutions; highlighting the need for complementary investments in research capacity development in this area

Learning To Be Affected: Social suffering and total pain at life’s borders.

The practice of Live Sociology in situations of pain and suffering is the author’s focus. An outline of the challenges of understanding pain is followed by a discussion of Bourdieu’s ‘social suffering’ (1999) and the palliative care philosophy of ‘total pain’. Using examples from qualitative research on disadvantaged dying migrants in the UK, attention is given to the methods that are improvised by dying people and care practitioners in attempts to bridge intersubjective divides, where the causes and routes of pain can be ontologically and temporally indeterminate and/or withdrawn. The paper contends that these latter phenomena are the incitement for the inventive bridging and performative work of care and Live Sociological methods, both of which are concerned with opposing suffering. Drawing from the ontology of total pain, I highlight the importance of (i) an engagement with a range of materials out of which attempts at intersubjective bridging can be produced, and which exceed the social, the material, and the temporally linear; and (ii) an empirical sensibility that is hospitable to the inaccessible and non-relational

Formulation and characterization of polyester-lignite composite coated slow-release fertilizers

CAUL read and publish agreement 2022Two polyester-lignite composite coated urea slow-release fertilizers (SRFs; Poly3 and Poly5) were developed and their physicochemical properties were studied. Both these SRFs significantly (p < 0.05) extended the urea release compared to uncoated urea; Poly3 and Poly5 by 117 and 172 h, respectively. The urea release characteristics of Poly5 were further enhanced by linseed oil application (Poly5-linseed). The SEM images demonstrated the coatings were in contact with the urea and encase urea particles completely with the average coating thickness of 167.2 ± 15 µm. The new interactions between polyester and lignite in the composite coating were confirmed by the FTIR analysis. Polyester-calcium carbonate (Polyester-CaCO3) coated SRFs (Calc3 and Calc5) were developed using CaCO3 as a filler in place of lignite and the urea dissolution rate was compared with Poly3 and Poly5. The urea release times for the polyester-CaCO3 formulations, 48 and 72 h, were significantly (P < 0.05) lower than the polyester-lignite formulation, showing that lignite imparted greater control over release time than CaCO3. Findings from this work showed that polyester-lignite composites can be used as a coating material for SRFs.fals

A new model for diabetes-focused capacity building – lessons from Sri Lanka

Abstract Sri Lanka is experiencing a rapid increase in the number of people with diabetes mellitus (DM) due to population growth and aging. Physician shortages, outdated technology, and insufficient health education have contributed to the difficulties associated with managing the burden of disease. New models of chronic disease management are needed to address the increasing prevalence of DM. Medical students, business students, and faculty members from the University of Michigan partnered with the Grace Girls’ Home, Trincomalee General Hospital, and Selvanayakapuram Central Hospital to identify and train diabetes-focused medical assistants (MAs) to collect and enter patient data and educate patients about their disease. Return visits to these MAs were encouraged so that patient progress and disease progression could be tracked longitudinally. Data entry was conducted through a cloud-based mechanism, facilitating patient management and descriptive characterization of the population. We implemented this pilot program in June 2016 in coordination with Trincomalee General Hospital and Selvanayakapuram Central Hospital. Over a 12-month period, 93 patients were systematically assessed by the medical assistants. All patients received education and were provided materials after the visit to better inform them about the importance of controlling their disease. Fifteen percent (14/93) of patients returned for follow-up consultation. Trained MAs have the potential to provide support to physicians working in congested health systems in low-resource settings. Public investment in training programs for MAs and greater acceptance by physicians and patients will be essential for handling the growing burden associated with chronic illnesses like DM. Trained MAs may also play a role in improved patient education and awareness regarding diabetes self-management.https://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/146742/1/40842_2018_Article_74.pd

Negotiating professional and social voices in research principles and practice

This paper draws on work conducted for a qualitative interview based study which explores the gendered racialised and professional identifications of health and social care professionals. Participants for the project were drawn from the professional executive committees of recently formed Primary Care Trusts. The paper discusses how the feminist psychosocial methodological approach developed for the project is theoretically, practically and ethically useful in exploring the voices of those in positions of relative power in relation to both health and social care services and the social relations of gender and ethnicity. The approach draws on psychodynamic accounts of (defended) subjectivity and the feminist work of Carol Gilligan on a voice-centred relational methodology. Coupling the feminist with the psychosocial facilitates an emphasis on voice and dialogic communication between participant and researcher not always captured in psychosocial approaches which tend towards favouring the interviewer as ‘good listener’. This emphasis on dialogue is important in research contexts where prior and ongoing relationships with professional participants make it difficult and indeed undesirable for researchers to maintain silence

Talk the talk, walk the walk: Defining Critical Race Theory in research

Over the last decade there has been a noticeable growth in published works citing Critical Race Theory (CRT). This has led to a growth in interest in the UK of practical research projects utilising CRT as their framework. It is clear that research on 'race' is an emerging topic of study. What is less visible is a debate on how CRT is positioned in relation to methodic practice, substantive theory and epistemological underpinnings. The efficacy of categories of data gathering tools, both traditional and non-traditional is a discussion point here to explore the complexities underpinning decisions to advocate a CRT framework. Notwithstanding intersectional issues, a CRT methodology is recognisable by how philosophical, political and ethical questions are established and maintained in relation to racialised problematics. This paper examines these tensions in establishing CRT methodologies and explores some of the essential criteria for researchers to consider in utilising a CRT framework. © 2012 Copyright Taylor and Francis Group, LLC

Learning on the move: exploring work with vulnerable young men through the lens of movement

This paper discusses a practice context in which process and movement are central to the provision of care and support. It draws on data from a research project conducted with The Men’s Room, Manchester, England which used ethnographic and mobile methods to explore the complex task staff undertake in engaging and supporting highly vulnerable young men. The organisation’s commitment to getting alongside these young men includes a mobile and highly improvised use of temporary city centre spaces for delivering its work. In this paper, I argue that these movements of practice are not simply a logistical necessity or a physical activity, but involve a kinetic way of attending, reflecting, thinking and knowing in which the organisation’s movements are intrinsic to the provision of care and support

Racism, anti-racist practice and social work: articulating the teaching and learning experiences of Black social workers

In the mid 1990s a Black practice teacher programme was established in Manchester and Merseyside with the primary aim to increase the number of Black practice teachers in social work organisations, and in turn provide a supportive and encouraging learning environment for Black student social workers whilst on placement. In the north‐west of England research has been undertaken, to establish the quality of the practice teaching and student learning taking place with Black practice teachers and students. This paper is an exploration of the ideas generated within the placement process that particularly focused on the discourse of racism and ant‐racist practice. Black students and practice teachers explain their understanding of racism and anti‐racist practice within social work. From the research, the paper will critique some of the ideas concerning anti‐racism. In particular, it will question whether anti‐racist social work practice needs to be re‐evaluated in the light of a context with new migrants, asylum seekers and refugees. It will concluded, by arguing that whilst the terms anti‐racism, Black and Minority Ethnic have resonance as a form of political strategic essentialism, it is important to develop more positive representations in the future

Earthing the Anthropos? From ‘socializing the Anthropocene’ to geologizing the social

Responding to claims of Anthropocene geoscience that humans are now geological agents, social scientists are calling for renewed attention to the social, cultural, political and historical differentiation of the Anthropos. But does this leave critical social thought’s own key concepts and categories unperturbed by the Anthropocene provocation to think through dynamic earth processes? Can we ‘socialize the Anthropocene’ without also opening ‘the social’ to climate, geology and earth system change? Revisiting the earth science behind the Anthropocene thesis and drawing on social research that is using climatology and earth systems thinking to help understand socio-historical change, this article explores some of the possibilities for ‘geologizing’ social thought. While critical social thought’s attention to justice and exclusion remains vital, it suggests that responding to Anthropocene conditions also calls for a kind of ‘geo-social’ thinking that relates human diversity and social difference to the potentiality and multiplicity of the earth itself