Golden Rain : Nocturne

https://digitalcommons.library.umaine.edu/mmb-ps/3371/thumbnail.jp

The challenge of modelling nitrogen management at the field scale : simulation and sensitivity analysis of N2O fluxes across nine experimental sites using DailyDayCent

Peer reviewedPublisher PD

Modelling spatial and inter-annual variations of nitrous oxide emissions from UK cropland and grasslands using DailyDayCent

This work contributes to the Defra funded projects AC0116: ‘Improving the nitrous oxide inventory’, and AC0114: ‘Data Synthesis, Management and Modelling’. Funding for this work was provided by the UK Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) AC0116 and AC0114, the Department of Agriculture, Environment and Rural Affairs for Northern Ireland, the Scottish Government and the Welsh Government. Rothamsted Research receives strategic funding from the Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council. This study also contributes to the projects: N-Circle (BB/N013484/1), U-GRASS (NE/M016900/1) and GREENHOUSE (NE/K002589/1).Peer reviewedPublisher PD

Exploring meaningful experiences of black women with HIV: a qualitative study of relational care practices and spirituality

Black women living with HIV share a common history of oppression and marginalization as people of African descent, as women, and as individuals living with HIV. The purpose of this study is to explore meaningful and health-giving relationships of Black women living with HIV in Massachusetts, a largely marginalized and invisible group of people, and to discover the relational experiences that they identify as contributing to their psychological and spiritual well-being. The method includes a literature review of therapeutic approaches drawn from medical science, psychology, and Black feminism. The medical literature in nursing and community health care reveals the value of holistic approaches to care for Black women with HIV, especially care that affirms the women’s strengths and internal resources, including spiritual life. The psychotherapeutic and Black feminist/womanist literature reveals the value of attending to Black women’s experience and trusted relationships. The research method of this dissertation also includes a qualitative study with seventeen self-identified Black women who are HIV-positive, with varied religious and spiritual beliefs, from the Boston area, using semi-structured interviews to elicit their experiences. Drawing on principles of grounded theory and an ethogenic approach to analysis, the results reveal that participants value relationships that offer institutional support and intimate support. Such relationships that offer institutional support are: relationship with support groups facilitated by health clinic staff; relationship with trustworthy, accessible, skilled medical caregivers; and relationship with medication and medication providers. The relationships that offer intimate support are: relationship with comfortable spaces and special people, like homes and family members; relationship with self; and relationship with divinity, named in diverse ways. The study concludes with the recommendation that community leaders, medical professionals, and psychotherapists improve their expertise in relational care, especially the forms of care that Black women living with HIV name as meaningful to their psychological and spiritual wellbeing

Gay As A Lark : Idyl

https://digitalcommons.library.umaine.edu/mmb-ps/2994/thumbnail.jp

Autumn Thoughts : Reverie

https://digitalcommons.library.umaine.edu/mmb-ps/1381/thumbnail.jp

Spatial and temporal variations in Pb concentrations and isotopic composition in road dust, farmland soil and vegetation in proximity to roads since cessation of use of leaded petrol in the UK

Results are presented for a study of spatial distributions and temporal trends in concentrations of lead (Pb) from different sources in soil and vegetation of an arable farm in central Scotland in the decade since the use of leaded petrol was terminated. Isotopic analyses revealed that in all of the samples analysed, the Pb conformed to a binary mixture of petrol Pb and Pb from industrial or indigenous geological sources and that locally enhanced levels of petrol Pb were restricted to within 10 m of a motorway and 3 m of a minor road. Overall, the dominant source of Pb was historical emissions from nearby industrial areas. There was no discernible change in concentration or isotopic composition of Pb in surface soil or vegetation over the decade since the ban on the sale of leaded petrol. There was an order of magnitude decrease in Pb concentrations in road dust over the study period, but petrol Pb persisted at up to 43% of the total Pb concentration in 2010. Similar concentrations and spatial distributions of petrol Pb and non petrol Pb in vegetation in both 2001 and 2010, with enhanced concentrations near roads, suggested that redistribution of previously deposited material has operated continuously over that period, maintaining a transfer pathway of Pb into the biosphere. The results for vegetation and soil transects near minor roads provided evidence of a non petrol Pb source associated with roads/traffic, but surface soil samples from the vicinity of a motorway failed to show evidence of such a source

Isolating the effect of soil properties on agricultural soil greenhouse gas emissions under controlled conditions

Agricultural soils are important sources of greenhouse gases (GHGs). Soil properties and environmental factors have complex interactions which influence the dynamics of these GHG fluxes. Four arable and five grassland soils which represent the range of soil textures and climatic conditions of the main agricultural areas in the UK were incubated at two different moisture contents (50 or 80 % water holding capacity) and with or without inorganic fertiliser application (70 kg N ha-1 ammonium nitrate) over 22 days. Emissions of N2O, CO2 and CH4 were measured twice per week by headspace gas sampling and cumulative fluxes were calculated. Multiple regression modelling was carried out to determine which factors (soil mineral N, organic carbon and total nitrogen contents, C:N ratios, clay contents and pH) that best explained the variation in GHG fluxes. Clay, mineral N and soil C contents were found to be the most important explanatory variables controlling GHG fluxes in this study. However, none of the measured variables explained a significant amount of variation in CO2 fluxes from the arable soils. The results were generally consistent with previously published work. However, N2O emissions from the two Scottish soils were substantially more sensitive to inorganic N fertilisation at 80% water holding capacity than the other soils, with the N2O emissions being up to 107 times higher than the other studied soils

A microanalytical study of iron, aluminium and organic matter relationships in soils with contrasting hydrological regimes

It is recognised that interactions between mineral oxides and soil organic matter (SOM) are an important factor in the stabilisation of soil organic carbon (SOC). The nature of these interactions is particularly complex in gleyed soils that experience periodic waterlogging and changeable redox conditions. This study explores the complex patterns of iron (Fe) (hydr)oxides and SOM in three soils with contrasting hydrological regimes (Gleysol, Stagnosol and Cambisol). Micromorphological examination of undisturbed soil thin sections was teamed with SEM-EDS analysis and sequential dissolution of Fe pedofeatures to gain a better understanding of the mechanisms involved in SOM stabilisation by mineral oxides. All soils contained a diverse range of particulate SOM forms and Fe pedofeatures; the degree of impregnation of the Fe pedofeatures was found to increase with depth and a strong correlation between the presence of SOM and Fe pedofeatures was found to exist through all soils. Weakly crystalline Fe (hydr)oxides were found in association with partially degraded tissue residues and amorphous fine organic matter (OM). Strongly crystalline Fe (hydr)oxides were found in all impregnative Fe pedofeatures and high Fe/C ratios suggested precipitative processes rather than sorption dominate SOC sequestration in these features. In addition, at the core of some strongly impregnated Fe nodules, occluded well preserved organic tissues were identified. The study highlights the range of processes and complexity involved in SOC sequestration over mm to cm scales and untangling this complexity is vital to understanding and modelling terrestrial C fluxes. Whilst the methods used here are not without their complications, the value of micro-scale studies of undisturbed soil thin sections is clearly demonstrated