Differential retention of carbon, nitrogen and phosphorus in grassland soil profiles with long-term manure application

Liquid hog manure (LHM) is a valuable source of nutrients for farm production. Long-term experimental plots that had received LHM applications of 0, 50, and 100 m³ ha^?1 annually for 20 years were analyzed for total soil C, N and P storage. Applications increased total soil N and P by 1,200 kg N ha^?1 and 850 kg P ha^?1 at 100 m^?3 LHM year^?1, compared to the control treatment. However, C storage did not increase with LHM rates and was lower in the 50 m³ ha^?1 LHM treatment (86 Mg C ha^?1) than in the 0 or 100 m³ ha^?1 treatments (100 Mg C ha^?1). In addition to the limited quantities and high decomposability of the C supplied by LHM, it is hypothesized that LHM stimulated the mineralization of both native soil C and fresh root-derived material. This priming effect was particularly apparent in deeper soil horizons where the decomposability of native C may be limited by the supply of fresh C. This study indicates that while LHM can be a significant source of crop nutrients, it has limited capacity for maintaining or increasing soil C.     

Elevated Circulating and Placental SPINT2 Is Associated with Placental Dysfunction

Biomarkers for placental dysfunction are currently lacking. We recently identified SPINT1 as a novel biomarker; SPINT2 is a functionally related placental protease inhibitor. This study aimed to characterise SPINT2 expression in placental insufficiency. Circulating SPINT2 was assessed in three prospective cohorts, collected at the following: (1) term delivery (n = 227), (2) 36 weeks (n = 364), and (3) 24–34 weeks’ (n = 294) gestation. SPINT2 was also measured in the plasma and placentas of women with established placental disease at preterm (<34 weeks) delivery. Using first-trimester human trophoblast stem cells, SPINT2 expression was assessed in hypoxia/normoxia (1% vs. 8% O2), and following inflammatory cytokine treatment (TNFα, IL-6). Placental SPINT2 mRNA was measured in a rat model of late-gestational foetal growth restriction. At 36 weeks, circulating SPINT2 was elevated in patients who later developed preeclampsia (p = 0.028; median = 2233 pg/mL vs. controls, median = 1644 pg/mL), or delivered a small-for-gestational-age infant (p = 0.002; median = 2109 pg/mL vs. controls, median = 1614 pg/mL). SPINT2 was elevated in the placentas of patients who required delivery for preterm preeclampsia (p = 0.025). Though inflammatory cytokines had no effect, hypoxia increased SPINT2 in cytotrophoblast stem cells, and its expression was elevated in the placental labyrinth of growth-restricted rats. These findings suggest elevated SPINT2 is associated with placental insufficiency.     

Verbal working memory and language production: Common approaches to the serial ordering of verbal information.

[Correction Notice: An erratum for this article was reported in Vol 136(3) of Psychological Bulletin (see record 2010-07936-010). In the article “Verbal Working Memory and Language Production: Common Approaches to the Serial Ordering of Verbal Information” by Daniel J. Acheson and Maryellen C. MacDonald (Psychological Bulletin, 2009, Vol. 135, No. 1, pp. 50–68), the initial sentence of the text of the article (p. 50) contains an error. The first name of the researcher Andrew W. Ellis was listed incorrectly. The sentence should read as follows: Nearly 30 years ago, Andrew W. Ellis (1980) observed that errors on tests of verbal working memory (WM) paralleled those that occur naturally in speech production.] Verbal working memory (WM) tasks typically involve the language production architecture for recall; however, language production processes have had a minimal role in theorizing about WM. A framework for understanding verbal WM results is presented here. In this framework, domain-specific mechanisms for serial ordering in verbal WM are provided by the language production architecture, in which positional, lexical, and phonological similarity constraints are highly similar to those identified in the WM literature. These behavioral similarities are paralleled in computational modeling of serial ordering in both fields. The role of long-term learning in serial ordering performance is emphasized, in contrast to some models of verbal WM. Classic WM findings are discussed in terms of the language production architecture. The integration of principles from both fields illuminates the maintenance and ordering mechanisms for verbal information. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Rating formats and rater training redux: A context-specific approach for enhancing the effectiveness of performance management.

In this paper, we critically examine previous research on rating formats and rater training in the context of performance appraisal. Historically, the goal of this body of research has been to search for ways of maximizing the psychometric quality of performance evaluation data. Our central thesis is that there are a number of avenues for broadening this research. Accordingly, we propose a conceptual model that hopefully serves as a conceptual framework for future work in these 2 traditional performance appraisal research streams. For example, both rating formats and rater training research may be useful for facilitating and improving the feedback and employee development process, as well as reducing the potential existence of rater biases. In addition, format and training research may focus upon ways of enhancing both rater and ratee reactions to the appraisal system. A key feature of our model is the integration of national culture as a moderator of the relations between specific formats, training programs, and various outcomes. We consider both the national culture of raters and ratees, and focus specifically on comparisons between Western and East Asian cultures. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Fatal G-CSF-induced pulmonary toxicity

Inherited thrombophilia has been suggested as a cause of Legg-Calvé-Perthes disease in up to 75% of patients. This prevalence seems high compared to the prevalence of inherited thrombophilia in other thrombotic disorders (average, 30%). Therefore, we investigated 44 patients with Legg-Calvé-Perthes disease for antithrombin-III, protein-C, and protein-S deficiency and activated protein C (APC) resistance. Three (6.8%) of our patients were positive for APC resistance, and one patient (2.2%) showed deficiency of protein-C activity. Our results suggest that inherited thrombophilia is not associated with avascular necrosis of the femoral head (Legg-Calvé-Perthes disease).     

The use of visual search for knowledge gathering in image decision support

This paper presents a new method of knowledge gathering for decision support in image understanding based on information extracted from the dynamics of saccadic eye movements. The framework involves the construction of a generic image feature extraction library, from which the feature extractors that are most relevant to the visual assessment by domain experts are determined automatically through factor analysis. The dynamics of the visual search are analyzed by using the Markov model for providing training information to novices on how and where to look for image features. The validity of the framework has been evaluated in a clinical scenario whereby the pulmonary vascular distribution on Computed Tomography images was assessed by experienced radiologists as a potential indicator of heart failure. The performance of the system has been demonstrated by training four novices to follow the visual assessment behavior of two experienced observers. In all cases, the accuracy of the students improved from near random decision making (33%) to accuracies ranging from 50% to 68%.     

Design and initial operation of a 367-m2 rectangular ring laser

The design and operation of a proof-of-principle rectangular He-Ne ring laser resonator with a cavity perimeter of 77.0 m and an area of approximately 367 m2 are described. With unevacuated beam lines this device gave an Earth-induced Sagnac frequency of 1513 Hz, with a relative Allan deviation over 1000 s down to 3 parts per million. The Earth's rotation provided a bias that eliminated the lock-in susceptibility. The use of increased pressure in the plasma tube facilitated single-mode operation by increasing the homogeneous pressure-broadened linewidth.     

Enhancement of CsNO3 extraction in 1,2-dichloroethane by tris(2-aminoethyl)amine triamide derivatives via a dual-host strategy

A systematic study of a dual-host system exhibiting pairwise anion/cation separations has been performed for CsNO3 extraction. Tripodal triamides 1-4 and 9 derived from condensation of hexanoic (for 1), octanoic (for 2), decanoic (for 3), lauric (for 4), and p-tert-butylbenzoic (for 9) acid with tris(2-aminoethyl)amine (tren) were used together with tetrabenzo-24-crown-8, a well-known Cs+ cation receptor. By using 5 mM crown ether in the organic phase and 10 mM CsNO3 with 0.1 mM HNO3 in the aqueous phase, tripods 1, 2, and 9 enhance CsNO3 extraction by factors of 2.4, 1.7, and 4.4, respectively (for 50 mM amide concentration), while the corresponding monoamide controls 5-8 derived from n-propylamine (5, 6) or N,N'-dimethylethylenediamine (7, 8) and hexanoic (5, 7) or octanoic (6, 8) acid derivatives gave no significant enhancement under the same conditions. This behavior may be ascribed to nitrate complexation by the triamides, which lowers the overall thermodynamic barrier for the salt transfer to the organic phase. The nitrate binding was confirmed by 1H NMR titration of receptor solutions, using tetrabutylammonium nitrate. Association constants for the formation of the anion-nitrate complexes were found to vary between 33 and 52 M-1 for the more soluble triamides. The synergistic effects for CsNO3 extraction are in reasonable agreement with the values predicted theoretically from the measured association constants. Electrospray ionization mass spectrometry confirmed the predominant formation of 1:1 tripod-nitrate complexes. Monoamide controls gave no evidence of anion complexation.     

Use of accelerometers as an ergonomic assessment method for arm acceleration-a large-scale field trial

Ergonomists need easy-to-use, quantitative job evaluation methods to assess risk factors for upper extremity work-related musculoskeletal disorders in field-based epidemiology studies. One device that may provide an objective measure of exposure to arm acceleration is a wrist-worn accelerometer or activity monitor. A field trial was conducted to evaluate the performance of a single-axis accelerometer using an industrial population (n=158) known to have diverse upper limb motion characteristics. The second phase of the field trial involved an examination of the relationship between more traditional observation-based ergonomic exposure measures and the monitor output among a group of assembly-line production employees (n=48) performing work tasks with highly stereotypic upper limb motion patterns. As expected, the linear acceleration data obtained from the activity monitor showed statistically significant differences between three occupational groups known observationally to have different upper limb motion requirements. Among the assembly-line production employees who performed different short-cycle assembly work tasks, statistically significant differences were also observed. Several observation-based ergonomic exposure measures were found to explain differences in the acceleration measure among the production employees who performed different jobs: hand and arm motion speed, use of the hand as a hammer, and, negatively, resisting forearm rotation from the torque of a power tool. The activity monitors were found to be easy to use and non-intrusive, and to be able to distinguish arm acceleration among groups with diverse upper limb motion characteristics as well as between different assembly job tasks where arm monitors were performed repeatedly at a fixed rate.     

Second harmonic generation in ion-exchanged waveguides of semiconductor microcrystallite-doped glasses

Waveguides written in semiconductor microcrystalline-doped glasses using the ion-exchange method have been optically encoded for second harmonic generation of Nd:YAG radiation.<>