Nematofauna as indicator of soil N availability in mixed plantations? A case study from tropical forest of Eucalyptus and Acacia in Congo. [P2.179]

Nitrogen is a limiting factor for the growth of Eucalyptus plantations, particularly in subtropical areas characterized by very low soil fertility (e.g.degraded pastures). The association with N2- fixing species such as Acacia mangium is an alternative for ecological intensification of these ecosystems. Enhancement of Eucalyptus trees growth may happen by direct transfer of N fixed by Acacia trees or indirectly through litter decomposition. Field assessments in Congo showed that the productivity of Eucalyptus trees in mixed plantations was significantly increased compared with Eucalyptus alone. Higher N contents in soil of mixed plantations explained such positive impact. In a microcosm experiment, we measured N mineralization in soil sampled from pure stands of Acacia, pure stands of Eucalyptus and from the mixed plantations. The results showed an accumulation of nitrate in the rhizosphere of Acacia. We found that the introduction of Acacia trees changed significantly the structure of the community of nematodes by increasing the proportion of bacterial-feeding nematodes. Similar results were obtained in mixed-plantations in Brazil and in France, suggesting that nematofauna could be a key indicator of N availability in soil. Microbial communities involved in nitrification were also studied by targeting AOA and AOB genes using the quantitative PCR method. An increase of the number of copies of AOA gene was observed in the rhizosphere of Acacia while AOB gene was difficult to detect. This suggests that Archae communities may play an important role in N cycling in soil of Eucalyptus plantations. Our results demonstrate that the introduction of Acacia in mixed plantations systems influences the N cycle in the soil and associated biological activities. (Résumé d'auteur

Exploring what patients think when answering the Interpersonal Skills Questionnaire (ISQ): A ‘think aloud’ study

Background: The Interpersonal Skills Questionnaire (ISQ) was developed to collect patient feedback on consultation skills of practitioners. However, it has not yet been evaluated with pharmacists. Objective: To explore the thinking process of patients as they completed the ISQ following a consultation with a pharmacist. Methods: A qualitative think aloud (TA) methodology was used to explore patients' thinking while completing the ISQ following a consultation with a pharmacist. The study was conducted in secondary care with outpatients ≥18 years old. Interviews were carried out in rounds and were informally analysed (i.e., by writing notes while listening to recordings) to identify any associated major problem(s). Discussions were held between researchers to determine whether changes were needed based on patients' comments. Results: Eight patients in total (50% females) participated in this study (mean age: 48 years). Three rounds of TA were conducted. Most items of the ISQ were interpreted similarly by all participants with no major problems necessitating refining the ISQ. Conclusions: Modification of the ISQ was unnecessary as interviews demonstrated no major problems with its use. The ISQ is thus a potentially suitable tool to collect patient feedback on pharmacists' consultations

Critical Parenting’s Role in Asthma Severity: How Does A Child\u27s Emotional Adjustment Matter?

OBJECTIVE: Research shows that children with asthma are at risk for behavioral maladjustment, particularly internalizing symptoms (McQuaid et al., 2001), and that negative parenting behavior compromises child mental and physical health (Lim et al., 2011). However, pathways of effect are not clear. This study examined the relation between critical/harsh parenting and child asthma severity. A model was tested to assess whether children’s internalizing symptoms mediate the relation between maternal rejection/harshness and asthma severity. METHODS: 215 children with asthma (ages 5-12) and their families participated. Mothers reported child internalizing symptoms (CBCL) and functional asthma severity (CHAS); a Pediatric Pulmonologist reported lung function via spirometry results. Maternal criticism was observed in a 15-minute family activity; harsh/critical behavior was coded on a 1-5 scale. RESULTS: We conducted bootstrapping analyses, with 5000 samples, to examine the indirect effect of maternal rejection/criticism on pulmonary functioning via child internalizing symptoms, while controlling for child age, SES, and adherence, using the PROCESS SPSS Macro (Hayes, 2013). The estimate of the indirect effect between maternal rejection/criticism and objective lung functioning was supported, with a point estimate of -.03 (SE = .02; 95% CI = -.0846 to -.0007). However, the estimate of the indirect effect between maternal rejection/criticism and subjective/parent-reported lung functioning was not supported. CONCLUSION: Results support a theorized pathway, in which critical parenting indirectly affects a child’s lung functioning by increasing his/her internalizing symptoms (Wood et al., 2007). These findings only apply to objective physiological measures of asthma severity, perhaps suggesting a unique way that internalizing symptoms may impact lung functioning. Proposed psychological interventions include helping families understand connections between emotional and physical well-being, reducing critical parenting behavior, and treating child internalizing symptoms.https://scholarscompass.vcu.edu/gradposters/1004/thumbnail.jp

Enhancing BER performance limit of BCH and RS codes using multipath diversity

Modern wireless communication systems suffer from phase shifting and, more importantly, from interference caused by multipath propagation. Multipath propagation results in an antenna receiving two or more copies of the signal sequence sent from the same source but that has been delivered via different paths. Multipath components are treated as redundant copies of the original data sequence and are used to improve the performance of forward error correction (FEC) codes without extra redundancy, in order to improve data transmission reliability and increase the bit rate over the wireless communication channel. For a proof of concept Bose, Ray-Chaudhuri, and Hocquenghem (BCH) and Reed-Solomon (RS) codes have been used as FEC to compare their bit error rate (BER) performances. The results showed that the wireless multipath components significantly improve the performance of FEC. Furthermore, FEC codes with low error correction capability and employing the multipath phenomenon are enhanced to perform better than FEC codes which have a bit higher error correction capability and did not utilise the multipath. Consequently, the bit rate is increased, and communication reliability is improved without extra redundancy

Spontaneous and stimulated emission tuning characteristics of a Josephson junction in a microcavity

We have investigated theoretically the tuning characteristics of a Josephson junction within a microcavity for one-photon spontaneous emission and for one-photon and two-photon stimulated emission. For spontaneous emission, we have established the linear relationship between the magnetic induction and the voltage needed to tune the system to emit at resonant frequencies. For stimulated emission, we have found an oscillatory dependence of the emission rate on the initial Cooper pair phase difference and the phase of the applied field. Under specific conditions, we have also calculated the values of the applied radiation amplitude for the first few emission maxima of the system and for the first five junction-cavity resonances for each process. Since the emission of photons can be controlled, it may be possible to use such a system to produce photons on demand. Such sources will have applications in the fields of quantum cryptography, communications and computation

Introducing Australia’s first hybrid testing facility for performance-based assessment of structures

Hybrid simulation is a cost-effective cyber-physical testing technique, in which computational models and physical components are integrated at run-time. This method can be viewed as conventional finite element analysis, where physical models of some portions of the structure are embedded in the numerical model. In such a way, the errors related to the simplification of the theoretical modeling of complex nonlinear structures or subassemblies can be effectively mitigated as they are tested physically in the lab. This paper introduces Australia’s first hybrid testing facility, referred to as the Multi-Axis Substructure Testing (MAST) system, which is capable of simulating the complex three-dimensional time-varying boundary effects on large-scale structural components. The MAST system is unique in Australasia and is capable to serve the research community and practice, nationally and internationally. An application of the MAST system to investigate the performance of a CFRP-repaired limited-ductile RC column under sequential ground motions from linear-elastic response range through collapse is also presented