The role of rainfall intensity and soil in determining rates of flow through cryoturbated chalk

The effects of different water application rates (3, 10, 15 and 30 mm/h) and of topsoil removal on the rate of downward water movement through the cryoturbated chalk zone in southern England were investigated in situ. During and after each application of water, changes in water content and matric potential of the profile were monitored and percolate was collected in troughs. The measured water breakthrough time showed that water moved to 1.2 m depth quickly (in 8.2 h) even with application rate as low as 3 mm/h and that the time was only 3 h when water was applied at a rate of 15 mm/ h. These breakthrough times were about 150 and 422 fold shorter, respectively, than those expected if the water had been conducted by the matrix alone. Percolate was collected in troughs within 3.5 h at 1.2 m depth when water was applied at 30 mm/h and the quantity collected indicated that a significant amount of the surface applied water moved downward through inter-aggregate pores. The small increase in volumetric water content (about 3%) in excess of matrix water content resulted in a large increase in pore water velocities, from 0.20 to 5.3 m/d. The presence of soil layer had effect on the time taken for water to travel through the cryoturbated chalk layer and in the soil layer, water took about 1-2 h to pass thorough, depending on the intensity.

Using learning networks to understand complex systems: a case study of biological, geophysical and social research in the Amazon

Developing high-quality scientific research will be most effective if research communities with diverse skills and interests are able to share information and knowledge, are aware of the major challenges across disciplines, and can exploit economies of scale to provide robust answers and better inform policy. We evaluate opportunities and challenges facing the development of a more interactive research environment by developing an interdisciplinary synthesis of research on a single geographic region. We focus on the Amazon as it is of enormous regional and global environmental importance and faces a highly uncertain future. To take stock of existing knowledge and provide a framework for analysis we present a set of mini-reviews from fourteen different areas of research, encompassing taxonomy, biodiversity, biogeography, vegetation dynamics, landscape ecology, earth-atmosphere interactions, ecosystem processes, fire, deforestation dynamics, hydrology, hunting, conservation planning, livelihoods, and payments for ecosystem services. Each review highlights the current state of knowledge and identifies research priorities, including major challenges and opportunities. We show that while substantial progress is being made across many areas of scientific research, our understanding of specific issues is often dependent on knowledge from other disciplines. Accelerating the acquisition of reliable and contextualized knowledge about the fate of complex pristine and modified ecosystems is partly dependent on our ability to exploit economies of scale in shared resources and technical expertise, recognise and make explicit interconnections and feedbacks among sub-disciplines, increase the temporal and spatial scale of existing studies, and improve the dissemination of scientific findings to policy makers and society at large. Enhancing interaction among research efforts is vital if we are to make the most of limited funds and overcome the challenges posed by addressing large-scale interdisciplinary questions. Bringing together a diverse scientific community with a single geographic focus can help increase awareness of research questions both within and among disciplines, and reveal the opportunities that may exist for advancing acquisition of reliable knowledge. This approach could be useful for a variety of globally important scientific questions.

Cultural geography and enchantment: the affirmative constitution of geographical research

Thrift [2008. Non-representational theory: space, politics, affect, 65. Abingdon: Routledge] has identified disenchantment as “[o]ne of the most damaging ideas” within social scientific and humanities research. As we have argued elsewhere, “[m]etanarratives of disenchantment and their concomitant preoccupation with destructive power go some way toward accounting for the overwhelmingly ‘critical’ character of geographical theory over the last 40 years” [Woodyer, T. and Geoghegan, H., 2013. (Re)enchanting geography? The nature of being critical and the character of critique in human geography. Progress in Human Geography, 37 (2), 195–214]. Through its experimentation with different ways of working and writing, cultural geography plays an important role in challenging extant habits of critical thinking. In this paper, we use the concept of “enchantment” to make sense of the deep and powerful affinities exposed in our research experiences and how these might be used to pursue a critical, yet more cheerful way of engaging with the geographies of the world.

Which factors drive rental depreciation rates for office and industrial properties?

As new buildings are constructed in response to changes in technology or user requirements, the value of the existing stock will decline in relative terms. This is termed economic depreciation and it may be influenced by the age and quality of buildings, amount and timing of expenditure, and wider market and economic conditions. This study tests why individual assets experience different depreciation rates, applying panel regression techniques to 375 UK office and industrial assets. Results suggest that rental value depreciation rates reduce as buildings get older, while a composite measure of age and quality provides more explanation of depreciation than age alone. Furthermore, economic and local real estate market conditions are significant in explaining how depreciation rates change over time.

Efficient and cost-effective experimental determination of kinetic constants and data: the success of a Bayesian systematic approach to drug transport, receptor binding, continuous culture and cell transport kinetics

Details about the parameters of kinetic systems are crucial for progress in both medical and industrial research, including drug development, clinical diagnosis and biotechnology applications. Such details must be collected by a series of kinetic experiments and investigations. The correct design of the experiment is essential to collecting data suitable for analysis, modelling and deriving the correct information. We have developed a systematic and iterative Bayesian method and sets of rules for the design of enzyme kinetic experiments. Our method selects the optimum design to collect data suitable for accurate modelling and analysis and minimises the error in the parameters estimated. The rules select features of the design such as the substrate range and the number of measurements. We show here that this method can be directly applied to the study of other important kinetic systems, including drug transport, receptor binding, microbial culture and cell transport kinetics. It is possible to reduce the errors in the estimated parameters and, most importantly, increase the efficiency and cost-effectiveness by reducing the necessary amount of experiments and data points measured. (C) 2003 Federation of European Biochemical Societies. Published by Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Kinetic modeling of the generation of 2-and 3-methylbutanal in a heated extract of beef liver

Quantitative control of aroma generation during the Maillard reaction presents great scientific and industrial interest. Although there have been many studies conducted in simplified model systems, the results are difficult to apply to complex food systems, where the presence of other components can have a significant impact. In this work, an aqueous extract of defatted beef liver was chosen as a simplified food matrix for studying the kinetics of the Mallard reaction. Aliquots of the extract were heated under different time and temperature conditions and analyzed for sugars, amino acids, and methylbutanals, which are important Maillard-derived aroma compounds formed in cooked meat. Multiresponse kinetic modeling, based on a simplified mechanistic pathway, gave a good fit with the experimental data, but only when additional steps were introduced to take into account the interactions of glucose and glucose-derived intermediates with protein and other amino compounds. This emphasizes the significant role of the food matrix in controlling the Maillard reaction.