Nitrogen fixation and productivity of winter annual legume cover crops in Upper Midwest organic cropping systems

Nutrient Cycling in Agroecosystems - Legume cover crops can play a valuable role in maintaining and increasing soil quality and nitrogen availability, but are infrequently grown in the Upper...     

Stearidonic Acid Increases the Red Blood Cell and Heart Eicosapentaenoic Acid Content in Dogs

Plant sources of omega-3 fatty acids (FA) are needed that can materially raise tissue levels of long-chain omega-3 FA [i.e., eicosapentaenoic acid (EPA; 20:5n-3) and docosahexaenoic acid (DHA; 20:6n-3)]. Stearidonic acid (SDA; 18:4n-3) is the delta-6 desaturase product of alpha-linolenic acid (ALA; 18:3n-3), and when fed to humans, increases red blood cell (RBC) content of EPA to a greater extent than does ALA. This study was undertaken to determine the dose-dependence and time course of the increase in the EPA and DHA content of the heart and RBC in dogs. Adult male Beagles were fed 21, 64, or 193 mg/kg of SDA in in their food daily for up to 12 weeks. Positive and negative controls were given EPA (43 mg/kg) or high oleic acid sunflower oil, respectively. The baseline EPA content of RBC was 0.38 ± 0.03% which increased (P < 0.01) in a dose-dependent manner, with the high dose of SDA and EPA achieving levels of 1.33 ± 0.26 and 1.55. ± 0.28%, respectively. In the heart, the content of EPA rose from 0.06 ± 0.01 to 1.24 ± 0.22% in the EPA group and to 0.81 ± 0.32% in the high SDA group (both P < 0.01). In both tissues, DHA did not change. Compared to dietary EPA, SDA was 20–23% as efficient in raising tissue EPA levels. In conclusion, SDA supplementation increased the EPA content of RBC and heart and may have utility as a plant-based source of omega-3 FA.     

Investigation on mining subsidence over Appin–West Cliff Colliery using time-series SAR interferometry

Advanced Time Series InSAR (ATS-InSAR) generally refers to those TS-InSAR methods with an external distributed scatterer selection module, e.g. SqueeSAR?, and GEOS-ATSA (Advanced Time-Series Analysis). It is being known as a very efficient tool for monitoring ground deformation over suburban or non-urban regions with great success. However, research conducted using C-band Envisat-based ATS-InSAR failed to produce reasonable outcome within Appin Colliery primarily due to the underground mining effect, which is located in the southeastern corner of the Southern Coalfield, New South Wales, Australia; thus, the general underground mining pattern cannot be formed. This work presents a modified ATS-InSAR method for mapping the ground deformation over underground mining region. More specifically, in order to achieve the best outcome, a modified measurement scatterer (MS) pixel selection method is introduced by including less reliable MS pixels through an Inverse Distance Weighted-based integration method. In addition, the proposed method is also applied to C-band Sentinel-1 image stacks for testing purpose, and the final result proved to be efficient to offer sufficient information to the mining industry and government for risk management purpose.