Impaction of spray droplets on leaves: Influence of formulation and leaf character on shatter, bounce and adhesion

This paper combines experimental data with simple mathematical models to investigate the influence of spray formulation type and leaf character (wettability) on shatter, bounce and adhesion of droplets impacting with cotton, rice and wheat leaves. Impaction criteria that allow for different angles of the leaf surface and the droplet impact trajectory are presented; their predictions are based on whether combinations of droplet size and velocity lie above or below bounce and shatter boundaries. In the experimental component, real leaves are used, with all their inherent natural variability. Further, commercial agricultural spray nozzles are employed, resulting in a range of droplet characteristics. Given this natural variability, there is broad agreement between the data and predictions. As predicted, the shatter of droplets was found to increase as droplet size and velocity increased, and the surface became harder to wet. Bouncing of droplets occurred most frequently on hard to wet surfaces with high surface tension mixtures. On the other hand, a number of small droplets with low impact velocity were observed to bounce when predicted to lie well within the adhering regime. We believe this discrepancy between the predictions and experimental data could be due to air layer effects that were not taken into account in the current bounce equations. Other discrepancies between experiment and theory are thought to be due to the current assumption of a dry impact surface, whereas, in practice, the leaf surfaces became increasingly covered with fluid throughout the spray test runs.

Eating for health and the environment: Australian regulatory responses for dietary change

The Australian food system significantly contributes to a range of key environmental issues including harmful greenhouse gas emissions, air pollution, soil desertification, biodiversity loss and water scarcity. At the same time, the Australian s food system is a key cause of public health nutrition issues that stem from the co-existence of over- and under-consumption of dietary energy and nutrients. Within these challenges lie synergies and opportunities because a diet that has a lower environmental impact generally aligns with good nutrition. Australian State and Federal initiatives to influence food consumption patterns focus on individual body weight and ‘soft law’ interventions. These regulatory approaches, by focusing on select symptoms of food system failures, are fragmented, reductionist and inefficient. In order to illustrate this point, this paper will explore Australian regulatory responses to diet-related illnesses. The analysis will support the argument that only when regulatory responses to diets become embedded within reform of the current food system will substantial improvements to human and planetary health be achieved.

Heat-producing element enrichment in granitic rocks, the role of crustal composition and evolution

This study greatly enhanced our knowledge of the potential for geothermal energy development in Queensland as a viable clean energy source in the coming decades. Key outcomes of the project were understanding the first-order controls on the concentration of the heat-producing elements: uranium, thorium and potassium in granitic rocks, and constraining where rocks with the greatest heat-producing potential lie at depth in Queensland. Importantly, new temperature and heat flow maps for southwest Queensland were developed that will greatly assist future exploration efforts.

Multiple sulfur isotope analyses support a magmatic model for the volcanogenic massive sulfide deposits of the Teutonic Bore volcanic complex, Yilgarn Craton, Western Australia

We report sensitive high mass resolution ion microprobe, stable isotopes (SHRIMP SI) multiple sulfur isotope analyses (32S, 33S, 34S) to constrain the sources of sulfur in three Archean VMS deposits—Teutonic Bore, Bentley, and Jaguar—from the Teutonic Bore volcanic complex of the Yilgarn Craton, Western Australia, together with sedimentary pyrites from associated black shales and interpillow pyrites. The pyrites from VMS mineralization are dominated by mantle sulfur but include a small amount of slightly negative mass-independent fractionation (MIF) anomalies, whereas sulfur from the pyrites in the sedimentary rocks has pronounced positive MIF, with ∆33S values that lie between 0.19 and 6.20‰ (with one outlier at −1.62‰). The wall rocks to the mineralization include sedimentary rocks that have contributed no detectable positive MIF sulfur to the VMS deposits, which is difficult to reconcile with the leaching model for the formation of these deposits. The sulfur isotope data are best explained by mixing between sulfur derived from a magmatic-hydrothermal fluid and seawater sulfur as represented by the interpillow pyrites. The massive sulfide lens pyrites have a weighted mean ∆33S value of −0.27 ± 0.05‰ (MSWD = 1.6) nearly identical with −0.31 ± 0.08‰ (MSWD = 2.4) for pyrites from the stringer zone, which requires mixing to have occurred below the sea floor. We employed a two-component mixing model to estimate the contribution of seawater sulfur to the total sulfur budget of the two Teutonic Bore volcanic complex VMS deposits. The results are 15 to 18% for both Teutonic Bore and Bentley, much higher than the 3% obtained by Jamieson et al. (2013) for the giant Kidd Creek deposit. Similar calculations, carried out for other Neoarchean VMS deposits give value between 2% and 30%, which are similar to modern hydrothermal VMS deposits. We suggest that multiple sulfur isotope analyses may be used to predict the size of Archean VMS deposits and to provide a vector to ore deposit but further studies are needed to test these suggestions.

Dementia and the population health approach: Promise, pitfalls and progress. An Australian perspective

The increasing prevalence of dementia in Australia (and worldwide) over the next few decades poses enormous social, health and economic challenges. In the absence of a cure, strategies to prevent, delay the onset of, or reduce the impact of dementia are required to contain a growing disease burden, and health and care costs. A population health approach has the potential to substantially reduce the impact of dementia. Internationally, many countries have started to adopt population health strategies that incorporate elements of dementia prevention. The authors examine some of the elements of such an approach and barriers to its implementation. International dementia frameworks and strategies were reviewed to identify options utilized for a population health approach to dementia. Internationally and nationally, dementia frameworks are being developed that include population health approaches. Most of the frameworks identified included early diagnosis and intervention, and increasing community awareness as key objectives, while several included promotion of the links between a healthy lifestyle and reduced risk for dementia. A poor evidence base (especially for illness prevention), diagnostic and technical limitations, and policy and implementation issues are significant barriers in maximizing the promise of population health approaches in this area. The review and analysis of the population health approach to dementia will inform national and jurisdictional policy development.

Authentically ambiguous, credibly anonymous: Perceptually reframing the personal narrative towards effective persuasion in aggressive human rights contexts

Testing the strategies of discourse and materiality, this practice-based and practice-led research experiments with how anonymous storytelling by vulnerable communities, like that of the sexual minorities and their allies in Malaysia, can better speak to their human rights issues without further subjecting them to personal attacks and targetted persecution. The research identifies the critical role of the voice in lending authenticity and credibility to first person narratives; and contextual credibility as a form of credibility which personal stories naturally aspire to achieve with audiences. Adopting a discursive view of persuasion and recognising too that the power of persuasion may in effect lie with those who receive these stories rather than with those who tell them, the insights and knowledge gained from the research informed the development of the field output, Persuasive Storytelling by Vulnerable Communities in Aggressive Contexts: A Human Rights Communication Framework.

ERAP2 is associated with ankylosing spondylitis in HLA-B27-positive and HLA-B27-negative patients

The association of endoplasmic reticulum aminopeptidase 2 (ERAP2) with ankylosing spondylitis (AS) was recently described in the large International Genetics of AS Consortium Immunochip study...

Crystal structures of the potassium and rubidium salts of (3,5-dichlorophenoxy)acetic acid: Two isotypic coordination polymers

The two-dimensional coordination polymeric structures of the hydrated potassium and rubidium salts of (3,5-dichlorophenoxy)acetic acid, (3,5-D) namely, poly[mu-aqua-bis[mu3-2-(3,5-dichlorophenoxy)acetato]potassium, [K2(C8H5Cl2O3)2 (H2O)]n (I) and poly[mu-aqua-bis[mu3-2-(3,5-dichlorophenoxy)acetato]dirubidium] [Rb2(C8H5Cl2O3)2 (H2O)]n (II), respectively have been determined and are described. The two compounds are isotypic and the polymer is based on centrosymmetric dinuclear bridged complex units. The irregular six-coordination about the metal centres comprises a bridging water molecule lying on a twofold rotation axis, the phenoxy O-atom donor and and a triple bridging carboxylate O-atom of the oxoacetate side chain of the 3,5-D ligand in a bidentate chelate mode, the second carboxy O-donor, also bridging. The K-O and Rb-O bond-length ranges are 2.7238(15)--2.9459(14) and 2.832(2)--3.050(2) \%A respectively and the K...K and Rb...Rb separations in the dinuclear unit are 4.0214(7) and 4.1289(6) \%A, respectively. Within the two-dimensional layers which lie parallel to (100), the coordinated water molecule forms an O---H...O hydrogen bond to the single bridging carboxylate O atom.

Two-dimensional coordination polymeric structures in caesium complexes with ring-substituted phenoxyacetic acids

The two-dimensional polymeric structures of the caesium complexes with the phenoxyacetic acid analogues (4-fluorophenoxy)acetic acid, (3-chloro-2-methylphenoxy)acetic acid and the herbicidally active (2,4-dichlorophen­oxy)acetic acid (2,4-D), namely poly[[5-(4-fluorophenoxy)acetato][4-(4-fluorophenoxy)acetato]dicaesium], [Cs2(C8H6FO3)2]n, (I), poly[aqua[5-(3-chloro-2-methylphenoxy)acetato]caesium], [Cs(C9H8ClO3)(H2O)]n, (II), and poly[[7-(2,4-di­chlorophenoxy)acetato][(2,4-dichlorphenoxy)acetic acid]caesium], [Cs(C8H5Cl2O3)(C8H6Cl2O3)]n, (III), are described. In (I), the Cs+ cations of the two individual irregular coordination polyhedra in the asymmetric unit (one CsO7 and the other CsO8) are linked by bridging carboxylate O-atom donors from the two ligand molecules, both of which are involved in bidentate chelate Ocarboxy,Ophenoxy interactions, while only one has a bidentate carboxylate O,O'-chelate inter­action. Polymeric extension is achieved through a number of carboxylate O-atom bridges, with a minimum CsCs separation of 4.3231 (9) Å, giving layers which lie parallel to (001). In hydrated complex (II), the irregular nine-coordination about the Cs+ cation comprises a single monodentate water molecule, a bidentate Ocarboxy,Ophenoxy chelate interaction and six bridging carboxylate O-atom bonding interactions, giving a CsCs separation of 4.2473 (3) Å. The water mol­ecule forms intralayer hydrogen bonds within the two-dimensional layers, which lie parallel to (100). In complex (III), the irregular centrosymmetric CsO6Cl2 coordination environment comprises two O-atom donors and two ring-substituted Cl-atom donors from two hydrogen bis[(2,4-dichlorophenoxy)acetate] ligand species in a bidentate chelate mode, and four O-atom donors from bridging carboxyl groups. The duplex ligand species lie across crystallographic inversion centres, linked through a short O-HO hydrogen bond involving the single acid H atom. Structure extension gives layers which lie parallel to (001). The present set of structures of Cs salts of phenoxyacetic acids show previously demonstrated trends among the alkali metal salts of simple benzoic acids with no stereochemically favourable interactive substituent groups for formation of two-dimensional coordination polymers.

Major histocompatibility complex associations of ankylosing spondylitis are complex and involve further epistasis with ERAP1

Ankylosing spondylitis (AS) is a common, highly heritable, inflammatory arthritis for which HLA-B*27 is the major genetic risk factor, although its role in the aetiology of AS remains elusive. To better understand the genetic basis of the MHC susceptibility loci, we genotyped 7,264 MHC SNPs in 22,647 AS cases and controls of European descent. We impute SNPs, classical HLA alleles and amino-acid residues within HLA proteins, and tested these for association to AS status. Here we show that in addition to effects due to HLA-B*27 alleles, several other HLA-B alleles also affect susceptibility. After controlling for the associated haplotypes in HLA-B, we observe independent associations with variants in the HLA-A, HLA-DPB1 and HLA-DRB1 loci. We also demonstrate that the ERAP1 SNP rs30187 association is not restricted only to carriers of HLA-B*27 but also found in HLA-B*40:01 carriers independently of HLA-B*27 genotype.

Identification of multiple risk variants for ankylosing spondylitis through high-density genotyping of immune-related loci

Ankylosing spondylitis is a common, highly heritable inflammatory arthritis affecting primarily the spine and pelvis. In addition to HLA-B*27 alleles, 12 loci have previously been identified that are associated with ankylosing spondylitis in populations of European ancestry, and 2 associated loci have been identified in Asians. In this study, we used the Illumina Immunochip microarray to perform a case-control association study involving 10,619 individuals with ankylosing spondylitis (cases) and 15,145 controls. We identified 13 new risk loci and 12 additional ankylosing spondylitis-associated haplotypes at 11 loci. Two ankylosing spondylitis-associated regions have now been identified encoding four aminopeptidases that are involved in peptide processing before major histocompatibility complex (MHC) class I presentation. Protective variants at two of these loci are associated both with reduced aminopeptidase function and with MHC class I cell surface expression.

Some remarks on the symplectic pairing on the moduli space of representations of the fundamental group of surfaces

This work grew out of an attempt to understand a conjectural remark made by Professor Kyoji Saito to the author about a possible link between the Fox-calculus description of the symplectic structure on the moduli space of representations of the fundamental group of surfaces into a Lie group and pairs of mutually dual sets of generators of the fundamental group. In fact in his paper [3] , Prof. Kyoji Saito gives an explicit description of the system of dual generators of the fundamental group.

Rattling modes and the intrinsic vibrational spectrum of beetle-type scanning tunneling microscopes

It is known that the vibrational spectra of beetle-type scanning tunneling microscopes with a total mass of ≈3–4 g contain extrinsic ‘rattling’ modes in the frequency range extending from 500 to 1700 Hz that interfere with image acquisition. These modes lie below the lowest calculated eigenfrequency of the beetle and it has been suggested that they arise from the inertial sliding of the beetle between surface asperities on the raceway. In this paper we describe some cross-coupling measurements that were performed on three home-built beetle-type STMs of two different designs. We provide evidence that suggests that for beetles with total masses of 12–15 g all the modes in the rattling range are intrinsic. This provides additional support for the notion that the vibrational properties of beetle-type scanning tunneling microscopes can be improved by increasing the contact pressure between the feet of the beetle and the raceway.

Families of asymptotic tensile crack tip stress fields in elastic-perfectly plastic single crystals

In this work, two families of asymptotic near-tip stress fields are constructed in an elastic-ideally plastic FCC single crystal under mode I plane strain conditions. A crack is taken to lie on the (010) plane and its front is aligned along the [(1) over bar 01] direction. Finite element analysis is first used to systematically examine the stress distributions corresponding to different constraint levels. The general framework developed by Rice (Mech Mater 6:317-335, 1987) and Drugan (J Mech Phys Solids 49:2155-2176, 2001) is then adopted to generate low triaxiality solutions by introducing an elastic sector near the crack tip. The two families of stress fields are parameterized by the normalized opening stress (tau(A)(22)/tau(o)) prevailing in the plastic sector in front of the tip and by the coordinates of a point where elastic unloading commences in stress space. It is found that the angular stress variations obtained from the analytical solutions show good agreement with finite element analysis.

X-ray Topographic Assessment of Dislocations in Crystals Grown from Solution

Crystals growing from solution, the vapour phase and from supercooled melt exhibit, as a rule, planar faces. The geometry and distribution of dislocations present within the crystals thus grown are strongly related to the growth on planar faces and to the different growth sectors rather than the physical properties of the crystals and the growth methods employed. As a result, many features of generation and geometrical arrangement of defects are common to extremely different crystal species. In this paper these commoner aspects of dislocation generation and configuration which permits one to predict their nature and distribution are discussed. For the purpose of imaging the defects a very versatile and widely applicable technique viz. x-ray diffraction topography is used. Growth dislocations in solution grown crystals follow straight path with strongly defined directions. These preferred directions which in most cases lie within an angle of ±15° to the growth normal depend on the growth direction and on the Burger's vector involved. The potential configuration of dislocations in the growing crystals can be evaluated using the theory developed by Klapper which is based on linear anisotropic elastic theory. The preferred line direction of a particular dislocation corresponds to that in which the dislocation energy per unit growth length is a minimum. The line direction analysis based on this theory enables one to characterise dislocations propagating in a growing crystal. A combined theoretical analysis and experimental investigation based on the above theory is presented.