We describe system verification tests and early science results from the pulsar processor (PTUSE) developed for the newly commissioned 64-dish SARAO MeerKAT radio telescope in South Africa. MeerKAT is a high-gain ( ${\sim}2.8\,\mbox{K Jy}^{-1}$ ) low-system temperature ( ${\sim}18\,\mbox{K at }20\,\mbox{cm}$ ) radio array that currently operates at 580–1 670 MHz and can produce tied-array beams suitable for pulsar observations. This paper presents results from the MeerTime Large Survey Project and commissioning tests with PTUSE. Highlights include observations of the double pulsar $\mbox{J}0737{-}3039\mbox{A}$ , pulse profiles from 34 millisecond pulsars (MSPs) from a single 2.5-h observation of the Globular cluster Terzan 5, the rotation measure of Ter5O, a 420-sigma giant pulse from the Large Magellanic Cloud pulsar PSR $\mbox{J}0540{-}6919$ , and nulling identified in the slow pulsar PSR J0633–2015. One of the key design specifications for MeerKAT was absolute timing errors of less than 5 ns using their novel precise time system. Our timing of two bright MSPs confirm that MeerKAT delivers exceptional timing. PSR $\mbox{J}2241{-}5236$ exhibits a jitter limit of $<4\,\mbox{ns h}^{-1}$ whilst timing of PSR $\mbox{J}1909{-}3744$ over almost 11 months yields an rms residual of 66 ns with only 4 min integrations. Our results confirm that the MeerKAT is an exceptional pulsar telescope. The array can be split into four separate sub-arrays to time over 1 000 pulsars per day and the future deployment of S-band (1 750–3 500 MHz) receivers will further enhance its capabilities.

We are developing a purely commensal survey experiment for fast (<5 s) transient radio sources. Short-timescale transients are associated with the most energetic and brightest single events in the Universe. Our objective is to cover the enormous volume of transients parameter space made available by ASKAP, with an unprecedented combination of sensitivity and field of view. Fast timescale transients open new vistas on the physics of high brightness temperature emission, extreme states of matter and the physics of strong gravitational fields. In addition, the detection of extragalactic objects affords us an entirely new and extremely sensitive probe on the huge reservoir of baryons present in the IGM. We outline here our approach to the considerable challenge involved in detecting fast transients, particularly the development of hardware fast enough to dedisperse and search the ASKAP data stream at or near real-time rates. Through CRAFT, ASKAP will provide the testbed of many of the key technologies and survey modes proposed for high time resolution science with the SKA.

We report here on two years of timing of 168 pulsars using the Parkes radio telescope. The vast majority of these pulsars have spin-down luminosities in excess of 1034 erg s−1 and are prime target candidates to be detected in gamma-rays by the Fermi Gamma-Ray Space Telescope. We provide the ephemerides for the ten pulsars being timed at Parkes which have been detected by Fermi in its first year of operation. These ephemerides, in conjunction with the publicly available photonlist, can be used to generate gamma-ray profiles from the Fermi archive. We will make the ephemerides of any pulsars of interest available to the community upon request. In addition to the timing ephemerides, we present the parameters for 14 glitches which have occurred in 13 pulsars, seven of which have no previously known glitch history.The Parkes timing programme, in conjunction with Fermi observations, is expected to continue for at least the next four years.

Supercritical CO2 (sc-CO2) was first time utilized to make germanium (Ge) nanocrystals by thermolysis of diphenylgermane (DPG) or tetraethylgermane (TEG) with octanol as capping ligand at 500°C and 27.6 MPa. A new approach to prepare Ge nanocrystals of high chemical yield by reduction of GeI2 with LiAlH4 in trioctylphosphine (TOP) at 300°C is also presented. In both cases, Ge nanoparticles with high crystallinity were observed with high resolution transmission electron microscopy (HRTEM), and the presence of Ge was confirmed by X-ray diffraction (XRD) pattern. Compared to the supercritical organic solvents investigated in the previous study to make Ge nanoparticles, the reaction in sc-CO2 produced much less organic contaminants and made the removal of by-products and cleaning of the nanocrystals much easier. While Ge nanoparticles were synthesized in sc-CO2 with DPG and octanol, bulk Ge instead of nanoparticles was obtained without the presence of CO2 at the same concentration of DPG and octanol. High chemical yield of up to 75% was achieved for the Ge nanoparticles made from GeI2 with TOP, and only minimal cleaning is required to obtain Ge nanocrystals with high purity.

Size-monodisperse, stable 15 Å diameter silicon nanocrystals were synthesized in significant quantities using supercritical octanol as a capping ligand. The silicon nanocrystals exhibit an indirect band gap with discrete electronic transitions in the absorbance and photoluminescence excitation (PLE) spectra. The octanol-capped clusters show efficient blue band-edge photoemission with a luminescence quantum yield of 23 % at room temperature.

The speed and duration of cutting the coagulum were varied during the commercial manufacture of Cheddar cheese in nine Damrow cheese vats on each of 3 consecutive days. The effects of the variations were assessed by determining the curd particle size distribution and fat and fines losses into the whey at draining. Short durations of cutting at slow speeds produced small curd particles and high fat losses into the whey. As the duration and/or speed of cutting was increased, average curd particle size increased while fat losses into the whey decreased. A maximum particle size and minimum fat level were reached after the Damrow's knife panels had completed approximately 37 revolutions. Further increases in speed and/or duration of cutting decreased curd particle size. Fat losses did not increase significantly. The hypothesis suggested to explain the results of these trials is that curd particle size is determined not by the cutting programme alone, but by a combination of the speed and duration of cutting and the subsequent speed of stirring prior to cooking. Fat losses in the whey are also influenced by this combination. Based on this hypothesis, a model is proposed which explains how variation in cutting speed and duration, followed by a constant stirring speed, determines curd particle size distribution in a Damrow cheese vat. Implications of the present findings in relation to cheese yield (losses of fat and fines into the whey) are discussed.