Nitrous Oxide Emissions from New Zealand Agriculture – key Sources and Mitigation Strategies

In most countries, nitrous oxide (N₂O) emissions typically contribute less than 10% of the CO₂ equivalent greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. In New Zealand, however, this gas contributes 17% of the nation’s total GHG emissions due to the dominance of the agricultural sector. New Zealand’s target under the Kyoto Protocol is to reduce GHG emissions to 1990 levels. Currently total GHG emissions are 17% above 1990 levels. The single largest source of N₂O emission in New Zealand is animal excreta deposited during grazing (80% of agricultural N₂O emissions), while N fertilizer use currently contributes only 14% of agricultural emissions. Nitrogen fertilizer use has, however, increased 4-fold since 1990. Mitigation strategies for reducing N₂O emissions in New Zealand focus on (i) reducing the amount of N excreted to pasture, e.g. through diet manipulation; (ii) increasing the N use efficiency of excreta or fertilizer, e.g. through grazing management or use of nitrification inhibitors; or (iii) avoiding soil conditions that favour denitrification e.g. improving drainage and reducing soil compaction. Current estimates suggest that, if fully implemented, these individual measures can reduce agricultural N₂O emissions by 7–20%. The highest reduction potentials are obtained from measures that reduce the amount of excreta N, or increase the N use efficiency of excreta or fertilizer. However, New Zealand’s currently used N₂O inventory methodology will require refinement to ensure that a reduction in N₂O emissions achieved through implementation of any of these mitigation strategies can be fully accounted for. Furthermore, as many of these mitigation strategies also affect other greenhouse gas emissions or other environmental losses, it is crucial that both the economic and total environmental impacts of N₂O mitigation strategies are evaluated at a farm system’s level.     

A comparison of partially acetylated nanocellulose,nanocrystalline cellulose,and nanoclay as fillers for high‐performance polylactide nanocomposites

Partially acetylated cellulose nanofibers (CNF) were chemically extracted from sisal fibers and the performance of those CNF as nanofillers for polylactide (PLA) for food packaging applications was evaluated. Three PLA nanocomposites; PLA/CNF (cellulose nanofibers), PLA/CNC (nanocrystalline cellulose), and PLA/C30B (Cloisite^TM 30B, an organically modified montmorillonite clay) were prepared and their properties were evaluated. It was found that CNF reinforced composites showed a larger decrease on oxygen transmission rate (OTR) than the clay‐based composites; (PLA/CNF 1% nanocomposite showed a 63% of reduction at 23°C and 50% RH while PLA/C30B 1% showed a 26% decrease) and similar behavior on terms of water vapor barrier properties with 46 and 43%, respectively of decrease on water vapor transmission rate at 23°C and 50% RH (relative humidity). In terms of mechanical and thermomechanical properties, CNF‐based nanocomposites showed better performance than clay‐based composites without affecting significantly the optical transparency. © 2015 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J. Appl. Polym. Sci. 2016 , 133, 43257.     

Driver training conditions affect sensitivity to the impairing effects of alcohol on a simulated driving test to the impairing effects of alcohol on a simulated driving test.

[Correction Notice: An erratum for this article was reported in Vol 16(2) of Experimental and Clinical Psychopharmacology (see record 2008-03846-009). The correct title of the article should read "Driver training conditions affect sensitivity to the impairing effects of alcohol on a simulated driving test".] Research shows that prior behavioral training in a challenging environment reduces alcohol-induced impairment on simple psychomotor tasks. However, no studies have examined if this relationship generalizes to driving performance. The present study examined simulated driving performance and tested the hypothesis that a challenging training history would protect against the impairing effects of alcohol on driving performance. The challenging training history involved driving in a visually-impoverished environment. Thirty adults were randomly assigned to one of three groups. Two groups were tested under alcohol (0.65 g/kg) after prior experience performing the task under either a visually-impoverished environment or a normal visual environment. The remaining group served as a control and was trained and tested under the visually-impoverished condition environment. Results showed that individuals trained in the impoverished environment displayed sober levels of performance when their performance was subsequently tested under alcohol. By contrast, volunteers trained in a normal environment showed impairment under alcohol. The findings suggest that differences in driving training history can affect a driver's sensitivity to the impairing effects of alcohol. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Dissociative antagonistic effects of caffeine on alcohol-induced impairment of behavioral control.

The present study examined the separate and combined effects of alcohol and caffeine on behavioral control in a context in which preliminary cues signaled the likelihood that a response should be executed or inhibited. Social drinkers (N = 12) performed a cued go/no-go task that measured control as the quick execution of responses to go targets and sudden suppression of responses to no-go targets. Performance was tested under 3 doses of caffeine (0.0 mg/kg, 2.0 mg/kg, and 4.0 mgl/g) in combination with 2 doses of alcohol (0.0 g/kg and 0.65 g/kg). Alcohol impaired both inhibitory and activational aspects of behavioral control. Caffeine antagonized alcohol effects on response execution but had no effect on inhibitory control. The findings highlight potential differences in how activational and inhibitory aspects of behavioral control respond to drug interactions. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Dynamics and diversity of non-Saccharomyces yeasts during the early stages in winemaking

This detailed study observed the yeasts present in the ecological niche of "wine must". The dynamics and identity of non-Saccharomyces yeasts during the cold maceration and alcoholic fermentation of grape must were investigated under real production conditions in the Bordeaux region. Furthermore, we studied the impact of two oenological parameters on the development and diversity of non-Saccharomyces yeasts during cold maceration: temperature management and the timing of dried yeast addition. The non-Saccharomyces community underwent constant changes throughout cold maceration and alcoholic fermentation. The highly diverse non-Saccharomyces microflora was present at 10(4)-10(5) CFU/mL during cold maceration. The population increased to a maximum of 10(6)-10(7) CFU/mL at the beginning of alcoholic fermentation, then declined again at the end. The population at this point, evaluated at around 10(3)-10(4) CFU/mL, was shown to be dependent on the timing of yeast inoculation. The choice of temperature was the key factor for controlling the total yeast population growth, as well as the species present at the end of cold maceration. Hanseniaspora uvarum was a major species present in 2005 and 2006, while Candida zemplinina was very abundant in 2006. A total of 19 species were isolated.     

Real-time monitoring of events applied to syndromic surveillance

Abstract

This article focuses on monitor plans aimed at the early detection of the increase in the frequency of events. The literature recommends either monitoring the time between events (TBE) if events are rare or counting the number of events per unit non-overlapping time intervals otherwise. Some authors advocate using the Bernoulli model for rare events, applying presence or absence of events within non-overlapping and exhaustive time intervals. This Bernoulli model does improve the real-time monitoring assessment of these events compared to counting events over a larger interval, making them less rare. However this approach became inefficient if more than one event starts occurring within the intervals. Monitoring TBE is the real-time option for outbreak detection, because outbreak information is accumulated when an event occurs. This is preferred to waiting for the end of a period to count events. If the TBE reduces significantly, then the incidence of these events increases significantly. This article explores this TBE option relative to using the monitoring of counts when the TBEs are either Exponentially, Gamma or Weibull distributed for moderately low count scenarios. The article will discuss and compare the approaches of using an Exponentially Weighted Moving Average (EWMA) statistic for the TBEs to the EWMA of counts. Several robust options will be considered when the future change in event frequency is unknown. Our goal is to have a robust monitoring plan which is able to efficiently detect many different levels of shifts. These robust plans are compared to the more traditional event monitoring plans for both small and large changes in the event frequency.     

Trends and interactions of physical and bio-geo-chemical features in the Adriatic Sea as derived from satellite observations

Time series of satellite data, generated by the AVHRR (1981-1999), CZCS (1979-1985) and SeaWiFS (1998-2002), have been used to assess trends and interactions of physical and bio-geo-chemical features in the Adriatic Sea. The images were processed to estimate Sea Surface Temperature (SST) and Chlorophyll-like Pigment Concentration (CPC). Long-term composites and climatologies were derived, using fixed geographical grids and projections. The AVHRR data show an apparent warming trend, when plotting the sequence of seasonal cycles (monthly mean SST, averaged over the whole basin) against time, due to a steady rise of summer values. Considering 3 regions (north, central and south), split into east and west sections, the northern Adriatic shows high SST fluctuations (possibly associated with the cycle of winter cooling and summer warming, typical of the relatively shallow sub-basin), while the southern Adriatic exhibits a lower variability (possibly influenced by the periodic water incoming from, and outflowing to the Ionian Sea). During summer, an east-west gradient prevails, while during winter only a general north-south gradient can be found. The SeaWiFS-derived CPC values, distributions and trends appear to be consistent with the historical CZCS record. Persistent differences in the quantitative assessment of CPC for coastal waters is due to the use of improved algorithms, less influenced by the presence of dissolved organics and suspended sediments in the water column, for the processing of SeaWiFS data. Apparent incongruities of the space and time patterns in the SeaWiFS record with respect to the reference climatology, obtained by CZCS more than a decade before, occur chiefly when considering the spring bloom in the southern Adriatic and the summer development of the north Adriatic front. The comparison of the long-term times series of satellite data shows that there is a high correlation between patterns in the thermal field and in the colour field. This suggests that different surface waters, identified by the SST index, are also traced by different ecological features, identified by the CPC index. Both indices also show a high correlation with the classical cyclonic circulation scheme of the Adriatic Sea, proposing once again an intimate relationship between the water dynamics and its bio-geo-chemistry.     

Measurement of intrinsic properties of amyloid fibrils by the peak force QNM method

We report the investigation of the mechanical properties of different types of amyloid fibrils by the peak force quantitative nanomechanical (PF-QNM) technique. We demonstrate that this technique correctly measures the Young's modulus independent of the polymorphic state and the cross-sectional structural details of the fibrils, and we show that values for amyloid fibrils assembled from heptapeptides, α-synuclein, Aβ(1-42), insulin, β-lactoglobulin, lysozyme, ovalbumin, Tau protein and bovine serum albumin all fall in the range of 2-4 GPa.     

Redox initiated free radical polymerization of 4‐methylstyrene

Studies of the thermally initiated polymerization of 4‐methylstyrene using alkylperoxide in conjunction with cobalt and tertiary amine catalysts are reported. Addition of cobalt salts leads to a facile low temperature initiation of the polymerization process. The polymerization process was investigated using differential scanning calorimetry [DSC] and vibrating probe rheological measurements. Color changes which occur when the cobalt complex and peroxide are combined were studied using UV‐visible spectroscopy. The kinetics of polymerization was investigated using two different cobalt complexes. The initiation step in the polymerization is the conversion of the cobalt (II) to cobalt (III). The presence of the tertiary amine does not affect the oxidation state of the cobalt complex. The cobalt (III) complex gives a better rate of conversion than the cobalt (II) complex. The polymerization process is discussed in terms of redox reaction between the cobalt complex and the alkyperoxide. At low temperatures, the rate of conversion obeys simple Arrhenius kinetics. At higher temperatures the effects of gelation and catalysts inhibition influence the polymerization process. The polymerization process is sensitive to the level of available oxygen during the initiation step and inhibition by aldehyde is observed. © 2011 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Appl Polym Sci, 2012