The cosmic evolution of the chemical elements from the Big Bang to the present time is driven by nuclear fusion reactions inside stars and stellar explosions. A cycle of matter recurrently re-processes metal-enriched stellar ejecta into the next generation of stars. The study of cosmic nucleosynthesis and this matter cycle requires the understanding of the physics of nuclear reactions, of the conditions at which the nuclear reactions are activated inside the stars and stellar explosions, of the stellar ejection mechanisms through winds and explosions, and of the transport of the ejecta towards the next cycle, from hot plasma to cold, star-forming gas. Due to the long timescales of stellar evolution, and because of the infrequent occurrence of stellar explosions, observational studies are challenging, as they have biases in time and space as well as different sensitivities related to the various astronomical methods. Here, we describe in detail the astrophysical and nuclear-physical processes involved in creating two radioactive isotopes useful in such studies, $^{26}\mathrm{Al}$ and $^{60}\mathrm{Fe}$ . Due to their radioactive lifetime of the order of a million years, these isotopes are suitable to characterise simultaneously the processes of nuclear fusion reactions and of interstellar transport. We describe and discuss the nuclear reactions involved in the production and destruction of $^{26}\mathrm{Al}$ and $^{60}\mathrm{Fe}$ , the key characteristics of the stellar sites of their nucleosynthesis and their interstellar journey after ejection from the nucleosynthesis sites. This allows us to connect the theoretical astrophysical aspects to the variety of astronomical messengers presented here, from stardust and cosmic-ray composition measurements, through observation of $\gamma$ rays produced by radioactivity, to material deposited in deep-sea ocean crusts and to the inferred composition of the first solids that have formed in the Solar System. We show that considering measurements of the isotopic ratio of $^{26}\mathrm{Al}$ to $^{60}\mathrm{Fe}$ eliminate some of the unknowns when interpreting astronomical results, and discuss the lessons learned from these two isotopes on cosmic chemical evolution. This review paper has emerged from an ISSI-BJ Team project in 2017–2019, bringing together nuclear physicists, astronomers, and astrophysicists in this inter-disciplinary discussion.

Rhizobacteria have been shown to be phytotoxic to leafy spurge in laboratory assays. This field study investigated the influence of two strains of Pseudomonas fluorescens [Trevisan, (Migula)], deleterious rhizobacteria (DRB), on root weight, root bud number, and root carbohydrate content of leafy spurge at three sites located in northeast and north-central South Dakota. Soils were inoculated with 2 g of starch-based granules containing no bacteria or starch granules containing 108colony-forming units (cfu)/g of either bacterial strain LS102 (Montana origin) or LS174 (South Dakota origin). Bacterial strains were detected on root samples from treated areas. Root weight and root carbohydrate content were reduced about 20% compared to roots from control plots.

Field studies were conducted to examine weed control efficacy and crop injury with SAN 582 (proposed name, dimethenamid) in irrigated ‘Russet Burbank’ potato. SAN 582 applied preemergence (PRE) at 1.1 to 1.7 kg ai/ha controlled light to moderate infestations of redroot pigweed, common lambsquarters, and hairy nightshade > 90%. Season-long control of these species with mixtures of SAN 582 plus metribuzin or rimsulfuron was > 98% and was similar to or better than registered mixtures. Green foxtail control with SAN 582 alone ranged from 83 to 100%, depending on rate and year. SAN 582 mixtures with metribuzin or rimsulfuron usually controlled green foxtail > 90%. In weed-free plots, SAN 582 was applied alone PRE or early postemergence (EPOST) at rates up to 3.4 kg/ha. SAN 582 applied EPOST usually caused 10 to 30% more potato injury than when applied PRE, but U.S. No. 1 yield was not reduced by SAN 582 applied either PRE or EPOST. SAN 582 shows good potential for PRE use in irrigated potato.

A collection of over 1,700 small theropod teeth from the Judith River Group (Campanian;˜79.5–74 Ma) allows our understanding of the diversity and variation of small theropods in this assemblage to be refined. In addition to the previously recognized taxa, a series of morphologically distinct groups are recognized that may represent distinct taxa in some cases. Teeth with the Paronychodon-like features of a flat surface with longitudinal ridges on one side are resolved into a few discrete morphotypes. Two of these are included in Paronychodon lacustris and two additional morphotypes are hypothesized to represent distinct taxa, here referred to as ?Dromaeosaurus morphotype A and Genus and species indet. A. The teeth of Paronychodon lacustris and ?Dromaeosaurus morphotype A share a distinctive wear pattern that suggests tooth functioning involved contact between the flat surfaces of opposing teeth. Two species of Richardoestesia, R. gilmorei and R. isosceles, are present in the assemblage. Additionally, bird teeth are identified in the assemblage and are described in this review.

Bivariate plots were used to document the variation in the theropod teeth, especially in the features that distinguish between Richardoestesia gilmorei, R. isosceles, Saurornitholestes, and Dromaeosaurus. Considerable overlap is present in all plots, so although the teeth are morphologically distinct, they are not easily distinguished by quantitative means.

Although a few studies consider the sustainability of animal farming systems along the three classical main pillars (economy, environment and society), most studies on pig farming systems address only one of these pillars. The present paper is the introduction to a series of companion papers presenting the results of a study undertaken within the EU-supported project Q-PorkChains, aiming at building a comprehensive tool for the evaluation of pig farming systems, which is robust to accommodate the large variability of systems existing in Europe. The tool is mostly based on questions to farmers and comprises a total of 37 dimensions distributed along eight themes: Animal Welfare, Animal Health, Breeding Programmes, Environmental Sustainability, Meat Safety, Market Conformity, Economy and Working Conditions. The paper describes the procedure that was used for building the tool, using it on 15 contrasted pig farming systems and analysing the results. The evaluated systems are briefly described and a short overview of the dimensions is provided. Detailed descriptions of the theme-wise tools and results, as well as the results of an integrated evaluation, are available in the companion papers.

Infectious gastroenteritis causes a considerable burden of disease worldwide. Effective control should be targeted at diseases with the highest burden and costs. Therefore, an accurate understanding of the relative importance of the different microorganisms is needed. The objective of this study was to determine the incidence and aetiology of gastroenteritis in adults requiring hospital admission in The Netherlands. Five hospitals enrolled patients admitted with gastroenteritis for about 1 year during the period May 2008 to November 2009. Participants completed questionnaires and provided a faecal sample. The hospital completed a clinical questionnaire. In total, 44 adults hospitalized for gastroenteritis were included in the study. The cases had serious symptoms, with 31% subsequently developing kidney failure. One or more pathogens were found in 59% of cases. Overall, rotavirus (22%) was the most common infection. Co-infections were observed relatively often (22%). This study emphasizes that rotavirus can also cause serious illness in adults.

We investigate the environmental dependence of galaxy properties in the local universe based on the data of the Sloan Digital Sky Survey. We focus on how star formation and morphology of galaxies correlate with luminosity, local environment, and global environment. We find that galaxy properties abruptly change at a critical local density of $\log \Sigma_{\rm crit}\sim 0.4\ {\rm galaxies}\ h_{75}^{2}\ \rm Mpc^{-2}$. The ‘break’ at the critical density is found only for faint galaxies ($M^*_r+1 < M_r < M^*_r+2$). Bright galaxies ($M_r < M^*_r+1$) show no break. That is, the star formation-density and the morphology-density relations depend on galaxy luminosity. Next, we focus on global environment, i.e., richness of galaxy groups and clusters. Most galaxies are not forming stars in groups as poor as $\sigma\sim200\rm\ km\ s^{-1}$. This fact suggests that environmental mechanisms that are effective only in rich clusters, such as ram-pressure stripping of cold gas and harassment, have not played a major role in suppressing galaxy star formation. Our results may suggest that evolution of bright galaxies is not strongly related to galaxy systems such as groups and clusters. On the other hand, evolution of faint galaxies may have a close connection.To search for other articles by the author(s) go to: http://adsabs.harvard.edu/abstract_service.html

In this article, we discuss a combinatorial problem arising from the National Lottery. The question considered is the following: Given a works (or any other) National Lottery syndicate of say n persons, how small can n be and still allow to ensure that at least one person in the syndicate has a winning ticket? Of course we will only be able to ensure that the required ticket wins the minimum prize of £10. However, we will show that a system to achieve this end can be constructed using some remarkable combinatorics which are well-known parts of modern mathematics. In fact, the system we propose for this problem has n = 290 and at least two tickets will win £10 prizes. It will be perfectly possible that the system will result in some members of the syndicate winning a fourth, third, second or even first prize. Although the combinatorics are quite interesting, it is not possible to ‘beat’ the National Lottery using our system. We have applied our system to the actual results of the National Lottery since its inception. Our experimental evidence shows that even using our seemingly efficient scheme, payout averages only about 28% of expenditure (showing an average loss of about 72%). However, in a typical draw, our system would actually have produced 5 or so ‘winning’ tickets for the syndicate.

This article, Part II in a series, reports on the grain refining performance of the Al–Ti–C alloys produced by reactive synthesis. Grain refinement was tested as a function of the following parameters in the reaction synthesis process: Ti content, Ti/C ratio, and cooling rate after the reaction. The grain refining performance of the alloys in the as-synthesized condition was limited due to either a shortage of TiC particles or an insufficient amount of aluminum matrix. Dilution of the alloys to a nominal composition of 3 wt% Ti, followed by extrusion improved the grain refinement to the level of commercially available Al–Ti–C grain refining alloys. A prerequisite for successful secondary processing is that the conversion of carbon is completed in the reaction synthesis; otherwise Al4C3 is formed rather than TiC.

The first part of this article reports on the reactive synthesis and characterization of Al–Ti–C alloys intended as master alloys for aluminum grain refining. The alloys were produced from elemental powders by the thermal explosion mode and analyzed with x-ray diffraction, scanning electron microscopy, and differential scanning calorimetry. Parameters were the titanium concentration (15 and 30 wt%) and the Ti/C ratio (9/1, 20/1, and 120/1) in the reactant powder mixture and the cooling rate after the reactive synthesis (1 and 120 °C/min). Full conversion of titanium and carbon into Al3Ti and TiC was achieved for the 30 wt% Ti mixtures but not for the 15 wt% Ti mixtures where the reaction was not exothermic enough. The Ti/C ratio did not affect the phase composition after reactive synthesis in the 30 wt% Ti alloys and could be used to tailor the microstructure of the alloy. The formation of Al4C3 was suppressed with a high cooling rate after the exothermic formation reactions.

Sol gel solutions have been modified with hydrogen peroxide to improve the durability of photo-irradiated films to water and acidic solvents for photo-patterning. The solutions used for film fabricati.on are aqueous based and contain acetylacetonate (acac). UV-Vis absorption studies indicate that peroxide modifies the acetylacetonate ligand (in this case the zirconium precursor) creating a new absorbing species at longer wavelength which also affects the response of the acac ligand to UV radiation. Precursor modification and UV treatments have also been shown to impact the texture and improve the microstructure of resulting films. Depth profiling by radio-frequency glow discharge atomic emission spectroscopy indicates reduction in the carbon to hydrogen ratios of films crystallized after exposure to UV radiation.

A method is described for the production of dense aluminum matrix composites from elemental powders in one processing step by reactive hot pressing (RHP). It encompasses both the exothermic conversion of reactants to composite product and the following hot compaction of the porous composite product. The RHP method described in this paper takes into account the gas evolution accompanying the exothermic process, ensures complete conversion of reactants, and avoids adverse reactions between aluminum matrix and graphite tooling material. In situ sample temperature measurements enable proper process control, in particular the timing of the full densification step of the hot reaction product.

A TEM study is presented charting the development of a MOVPE growth process for the deposition of CdTe//ZnTe superlattices. In addition, MBE grown (Cd,Zn)Te//CdTe superlattices deposited onto GaAs and InSb substrates are compared.