12,096 research outputs found
The influence of long-term inputs of catch crops and cereal straw on yield, protein composition and technological quality of a spring and a winter wheat
Under conditions of restricted nitrogen (N) input such as in organic farming systems, crop N uptake must rely on N mineralised from applied animal manure, crop residues and native soil organic matter. Scarcity of N may impede the production of quality grain for bread production, and input and retention of N in soil are therefore important parameters for soil fertility. Toretain N in the crop-soilsystem, catch crops may be grown in breaks between main crops where they provide a significant sink for N mineralised in late summer and autumn (Thomsen, 2005). In corporation of straw may likewise retain mineralised N by microbial immobilisation (Christensen, 1986) and will also directly add to the N mineralisation potential when the N supplied in the straw accumulates (Thomsen & Christensen, 2004). Under northern European conditions, winter wheat may generally be of lower quality than spring wheat, but winter wheat has a higher yield potential. When the N uptake is mainly based on N mineralised from either applied or indigenous soil organic matter, however, this may even out the quality difference between winter and spring wheat as the longer growing season of winter wheat may boost its N utilisation. Growing conditions are highly important for protein quantity whereas main lygenetic factors influence protein composition (Amesetal., 1999; Luoetal., 2000). Wheat grain proteins have been classified as albumins, globulins, gliadins and glutenins on the basis of their solubility (Osborne, 1907). Reverse-phase (RP) high performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) allows the quantitative determination of these different flour protein groups together with single proteins (α5-, α1,2-, α-, γc-type gliadins, x- and γ-type high (HMW) and low (LMW) molecular weights subunits of glutenin) (Wieser & Seilmeier, 1998). The proteins can also be divided into polymers (glutenins) or monomers (gliadins, albumins, globulins) based on their aggregating properties. The polymeric proteins are critical for governing wheat flour processing properties, and their quantity and size distribution reliably measured by size-exclusion (SE) HPLC techniques have been shown to be important indicators of baking quality (Dachkevitch & Autran, 1989; Bateyetal., 1991). The aim of this study was to examine whether wheat yield and baking quality determined by chromatographic techniques together with rheological and chemical quality measurements could be improved by combining agronomic strategies consisting of wheat cultivars and long-term organic matter inputs. The variables tested were (A) a winter wheat and a spring wheat cultivar, (B) three catch crop strategies and (C) four straw incorporation rates
Dirac model of electronic transport in graphene antidot barriers
In order to use graphene for semiconductor applications, such as transistors
with high on/off ratios, a band gap must be introduced into this otherwise
semimetallic material. A promising method of achieving a band gap is by
introducing nanoscale perforations (antidots) in a periodic pattern, known as a
graphene antidot lattice (GAL). A graphene antidot barrier (GAB) can be made by
introducing a 1D GAL strip in an otherwise pristine sheet of graphene. In this
paper, we will use the Dirac equation (DE) with a spatially varying mass term
to calculate the electronic transport through such structures. Our approach is
much more general than previous attempts to use the Dirac equation to calculate
scattering of Dirac electrons on antidots. The advantage of using the DE is
that the computational time is scale invariant and our method may therefore be
used to calculate properties of arbitrarily large structures. We show that the
results of our Dirac model are in quantitative agreement with tight-binding for
hexagonal antidots with armchair edges. Furthermore, for a wide range of
structures, we verify that a relatively narrow GAB, with only a few antidots in
the unit cell, is sufficient to give rise to a transport gap
Electronic and optical properties of graphene antidot lattices: Comparison of Dirac and tight-binding models
The electronic properties of graphene may be changed from semimetallic to
semiconducting by introducing perforations (antidots) in a periodic pattern.
The properties of such graphene antidot lattices (GALs) have previously been
studied using atomistic models, which are very time consuming for large
structures. We present a continuum model that uses the Dirac equation (DE) to
describe the electronic and optical properties of GALs. The advantages of the
Dirac model are that the calculation time does not depend on the size of the
structures and that the results are scalable. In addition, an approximation of
the band gap using the DE is presented. The Dirac model is compared with
nearest-neighbour tight-binding (TB) in order to assess its accuracy. Extended
zigzag regions give rise to localized edge states, whereas armchair edges do
not. We find that the Dirac model is in quantitative agreement with TB for GALs
without edge states, but deviates for antidots with large zigzag regions.Comment: 15 pages, 7 figures. Accepted by Journal of Physics: Condensed matte
Radiation effects in MOS integrated circuits
High energy electron irradiation effects on field effect transistors in integrated circuit device
The phonon dispersion of graphite by inelastic x-ray scattering
We present the full in-plane phonon dispersion of graphite obtained from
inelastic x-ray scattering, including the optical and acoustic branches, as
well as the mid-frequency range between the and points in the Brillouin
zone, where experimental data have been unavailable so far. The existence of a
Kohn anomaly at the point is further supported. We fit a fifth-nearest
neighbour force-constants model to the experimental data, making improved
force-constants calculations of the phonon dispersion in both graphite and
carbon nanotubes available.Comment: 7 pages; submitted to Phys. Rev.
Constraints on (Omega_m,Omega_Lambda) using distributions of inclination angles for high redshift filaments
In this paper we present a scale free method to determine the cosmological
parameters (Omega_m, Omega_Lambda). The method is based on the requirement of
isotropy of the distribution of orientations of cosmological filaments. The
current structure formation paradigm predicts that the first structures to form
are voids and filaments, causing a web-like structure of the matter
distribution at high redshifts. Recent observational evidence suggests that the
threads, or filaments, of the cosmic web most easily are mapped in Ly-alpha
emission. We describe how such a 3D map can be used to constrain the
cosmological parameters in a way which, contrary to most other cosmological
tests, does not require the use of a standard rod or a standard candle. We
perform detailed simulations in order to define the optimal survey parameters
for the definition of an observing programme aimed to address this test, and to
investigate how statistical and observational errors will influence the
results. We conclude that observations should target filaments of comoving size
15-50 Mpc in the redshift range 2-4, and that each filament must be defined by
at least four Ly-alpha emitters. Detection of 20 filaments will be sufficient
to obtain a result, while 50 filaments will make it possible to place
significant new constraints on the values of Omega_m and Omega_Lambda permitted
by the current supernova observations. In a future paper we study how robust
these conclusions are to systematic velocities in the survey box.Comment: 8 pages, 6 figures, accepted for publication in A&
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