Base‐metal catalysts capable of enabling the assembly of heteroatom‐dense molecules by cross‐coupling of primary heteroarylamines and (hetero)aryl chlorides, while sought‐after given the ubiquity of ...unsymmetrical di(hetero)arylamino fragments in pharmacophores, are unknown. Herein, we disclose the new “double cage” bisphosphine PAd2‐DalPhos (L2). The derived air‐stable NiII pre‐catalyst C2 functions well at low loadings in challenging test C−N cross‐couplings with established substrates, and facilitates the first Ni‐catalyzed C−N cross‐couplings of primary five‐ or six‐membered ring heteroarylamines and activated (hetero)aryl chlorides, with synthetically useful scope that is competitive with Pd catalysis.
Cage match: A nickel(II) pre‐catalyst featuring the new double cage PAd2‐DalPhos ancillary ligand enables the first examples of Ni‐catalyzed C−N cross‐couplings of primary five‐ or six‐membered ring heteroarylamines and (hetero)aryl chlorides with synthetically useful scope.
We present a precision gravimeter based on coherent Bragg diffraction of freely falling cold atoms. Traditionally, atomic gravimeters have used stimulated Raman transitions to separate clouds in ...momentum space by driving transitions between two internal atomic states. Bragg interferometers utilize only a single internal state, and can therefore be less susceptible to environmental perturbations. Here we show that atoms extracted from a magneto-optical trap using an accelerating optical lattice are a suitable source for a Bragg atom interferometer, allowing efficient beamsplitting and subsequent separation of momentum states for detection. Despite the inherently multi-state nature of atom diffraction, we are able to build a Mach-Zehnder interferometer using Bragg scattering which achieves a sensitivity to the gravitational acceleration of Δg g = 2.7 × 10−9 with an integration time of 1000 s. The device can also be converted to a gravity gradiometer by a simple modification of the light pulse sequence.
Summary
Background
Validated diagnostic tools that are accurate, cost effective and acceptable to patients are required for disease stratification and monitoring in NAFLD.
Aims
To investigate the ...performance and cost of multiparametric MRI alongside existing biomarkers in the assessment of NAFLD.
Methods
Adult patients undergoing standard of care liver biopsy for NAFLD were prospectively recruited at two UK liver centres and underwent multiparametric MRI, blood sampling and transient elastography withing 2 weeks of liver biopsy. Non‐invasive markers were compared to histology as the gold standard.
Results
Data were obtained in 50 patients and 6 healthy volunteers. Corrected T1 (cT1) correlated with NAFLD activity score (ρ = 0.514, P < .001). cT1, enhanced liver fibrosis (ELF) test and liver stiffness differentiated patients with simple steatosis and NASH with AUROC (95% CI) of 0.69 (0.50‐0.88), 0.87 (0.77‐0.79) and 0.82 (0.70‐0.94) respectively and healthy volunteers from patients with AUROC (95% CI) of 0.93 (0.86‐1.00), 0.81 (0.69‐0.92) and 0.89 (0.77‐1.00) respectively. For the risk stratification of NAFLD, multiparametric MRI could save £150,218 per 1000 patients compared to biopsy. Multiparametric MRI did not discriminate between individual histological fibrosis stages in this population (P = .068).
Conclusions
Multiparametric MRI accurately identified patients with steatosis, stratifies those with NASH or simple steatosis and reliably excludes clinically significant liver disease with superior negative predictive value (83.3%) to liver stiffness (42.9%) and ELF (57.1%). For the risk stratification of NAFLD, multiparametric MRI was cost effective and, combined with transient elastography, had the lowest cost per correct diagnosis.
Linked content
This article is linked to Ferraioli paper. To view this article visit https://doi.org/10.1111/apt.14501.
Estuaries are dynamic systems at the transition between freshwater and marine ecosystems. In this study, a spatially and temporally explicit Bayesian network (BN) was developed for a tidally ...connected estuary in southeastern Australia. The BN provides an environmental risk assessment (ERA) for the probability of a shift to a eutrophied state based on markers of pelagic and benthic primary production. The model was created to provide an initial framework of system knowledge based on empirical data, with the intention that the model and its linkages be iteratively developed as more information becomes available. The BN was investigated for its potential to predict trophic shifts and provide a framework for evidence-based decision making. Model assessment was conducted through both sensitivity analysis and scenario tests. Through evaluation and updating, the BN can provide information on the key nutrients and bio-physical mechanisms regulating changes in trophic state in estuarine ecosystems.
•Investigate the biophysical and chemical mechanisms regulating trophic shifts.•Develop a best-practice Bayesian Network for shifts to a eutrophied state.•Provide an ecological risk assessment to inform decision making for trophic shifts.•Outline an approach for the prediction of trophic shifts in estuarine ecosystems.
The Indo-Gangetic aquifer is one of the world’s most important transboundary water resources, and the most heavily exploited aquifer in the world. To better understand the aquifer system, typologies ...have been characterized for the aquifer, which integrate existing datasets across the Indo-Gangetic catchment basin at a transboundary scale for the first time, and provide an alternative conceptualization of this aquifer system. Traditionally considered and mapped as a single homogenous aquifer of comparable aquifer properties and groundwater resource at a transboundary scale, the typologies illuminate significant spatial differences in recharge, permeability, storage, and groundwater chemistry across the aquifer system at this transboundary scale. These changes are shown to be systematic, concurrent with large-scale changes in sedimentology of the Pleistocene and Holocene alluvial aquifer, climate, and recent irrigation practices. Seven typologies of the aquifer are presented, each having a distinct set of challenges and opportunities for groundwater development and a different resilience to abstraction and climate change. The seven typologies are: (1) the piedmont margin, (2) the Upper Indus and Upper-Mid Ganges, (3) the Lower Ganges and Mid Brahmaputra, (4) the fluvially influenced deltaic area of the Bengal Basin, (5) the Middle Indus and Upper Ganges, (6) the Lower Indus, and (7) the marine-influenced deltaic areas.
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•Different crop establishment methods were compared with traditional conventional tillage (CT) in rice-wheat cropping system.•Net returns and benefit cost ratio were increased by 11 ...and 28 % under conservation agriculture (CA) -based systems than CT.•System productivity was at par while earthworm population was two times higher under CA-based production system than CT.•CA-based systems had 15 % less energy input and 14–36 % higher energy productivity than CT.•Direct seeded rice consumed 6.8 % less water and had 56.2 % less methane emission than puddled transplanted rice.
In the eastern Indo-Gangetic Plains (EIGP), conventional rice-wheat system has led to a decline in productivity, input-use efficiency, and profitability. To address these, a four-year field study was conducted to evaluate the performance of tillage and crop establishment (TCE) methods in rice-wheat-greengram rotation. The treatments included: 1) random puddled transplanted rice (RPTR) - conventional-till broadcast wheat (BCW) - zero-till greengram (ZTG); 2) line PTR (LPTR) - conventional-till drill sown wheat (CTW) - ZTG; 3) machine transplanted rice in puddled soil (CTMTR) - zero tillage wheat (ZTW) - ZTG; 4) machine transplanted rice in zero-till wet soil (ZTMTR) - ZTW - ZTG; 5) system of rice intensification (SRI) - system of wheat intensification (SWI) - ZTG; 6) direct-seeded rice (DSR) - ZTW - ZTG; and 7) zero-till DSR - ZTW - ZTG. During the initial two years, conventional rice system (PTR) recorded a 16.2 % higher rice grain yield than DSR system. Whereas in the fourth year, the rice yields under DSR and PTR were comparable. As compared to SRI/SWI, the average wheat yield in ZT system was significantly high, whereas in rice, SRI/SWI system was comparable with CT system. ZTW after non-puddled rice was at par to CTW after PTR. The ZT wheat produced 4.6 % more yield than CT system. DSR production system consumed 6.8 % less water compared to transplanted system. On the system basis, 10.8 % higher net returns were recorded with CA-based system compared to conventional system. The system energy productivity under CA-based production system was 14–36 % higher than PTR-based systems. CA-based system also led to 8–10 % lower global warming potential (GWP) than conventional methods. The current study indicated that as compared to conventional system, a significant gain in productivity, profitability and energy-use efficiency, and reduction in the environmental mitigation are possible with emerging alternative TCE methods. Long-term expansion and further refinement of these technologies in local areas need to be explored for the second green revolution.
This paper presents the first realization of a simultaneous 87Rb-85Rb Mach-Zehnder atom interferometer with Bose-condensed atoms. A number of ambitious proposals for precise terrestrial and space ...based tests of the weak equivalence principle rely on such a system. This implementation utilizes hybrid magnetic-optical trapping to produce spatially overlapped condensates with a repetition rate of 20 s. A horizontal optical waveguide with co-linear Bragg beamsplitters and mirrors is used to simultaneously address both isotopes in the interferometer. We observe a non-linear phase shift on a non-interacting 85Rb interferometer as a function of interferometer time, T, which we show arises from inter-isotope scattering with the co-incident 85Rb interferometer. A discussion of implications for future experiments is given.
We present new low-frequency observations of the nearby radio galaxy Fornax A at 154 MHz with the Murchison Widefield Array, microwave flux-density measurements obtained from WMAP and Planck data, ...and gamma-ray flux densities obtained from Fermi data. We also compile a comprehensive list of previously published images and flux-density measurements at radio, microwave and X-ray energies. A detailed analysis of the spectrum of Fornax A between 154 and 1510 MHz reveals that both radio lobes have a similar spatially averaged spectral index, and that there exists a steep-spectrum bridge of diffuse emission between the lobes. Taking the spectral index of both lobes to be the same, we model the spectral energy distribution of Fornax A across an energy range spanning 18 orders of magnitude, to investigate the origin of the X-ray and gamma-ray emission. A standard leptonic model for the production of both the X-rays and gamma-rays by inverse-Compton scattering does not fit the multiwavelength observations. Our results best support a scenario where the X-rays are produced by inverse-Compton scattering and the gamma-rays are produced primarily by hadronic processes confined to the filamentary structures of the Fornax A lobes.
Weeds are one of the key threats in sustaining the productivity of the rice-wheat cropping system in the Indo-Gangetic Plains. The development of sound integrated weed management technologies ...requires knowledge of mechanisms that influence weed flora composition and weed seedbank dynamics. A long-term study was initiated in 2015 at Patna, Bihar, India to evaluate the effect of seven tillage and crop establishment methods on weed density, weed seedbank composition, and crop productivity in rice-wheat-mungbean rotation. All the treatments included zero-till mungbean after wheat. Tillage and crop establishment methods had differential effects on weed and weed seedbank composition. In rice, zero-till direct-seeded rice recorded 62% lower emergence of Cyperus iria, 82–90% of Echinochloa colona, and 81–83% of total weeds compared to tilled systems, but the system of rice and wheat intensification favoured E. colona. In wheat, the system of wheat intensification favoured the Phalaris minor and Solanum nigrum. Zero-till rice and wheat reduced the seedbank of Trianthema portulacastrum by 95%, and total weed seedbank by 62% compared to the system of rice and wheat intensification. Nearly, 72% of C. iria seeds, 62% of grasses, and 64% of broad-leaved weeds were in 0–15 cm soil layer. Zero-till direct-seeded rice produced a 13% lower rice grain yield than conventional puddled transplanted rice. Compared to the system of wheat intensification, zero-till wheat under triple zero-till systems produced an 11.5% higher grain yield. Managing weed seedbank is a long-term endeavour. The present study revealed that tillage and crop establishment methods influence weed density and diversity. Under zero-till rice-wheat system, rice yield decreases marginally, but the system productivity maintains due to improvement in succeeding wheat yield. This system is also helpful in reducing the weed flora density and soil weed seedbank. Regular monitoring and management of emerging pests such as armyworm (Mythimna separata) are, however, required. The study suggests that the adoption of triple zero-tillage can be a viable option for reducing the weed density and weed seedbank concurrently increasing the system productivity of the rice-wheat-mungbean cropping system in eastern Indo-Gangetic Plains.
•Effect of tillage and crop establishment on soil weed seedbank in rice-wheat-mung bean system is poorly explored.•Direct-seeded rice (DSR)-based conservation agriculture (CA) system reduced weed density and seedbank than conventional.•More than 60% weed seeds were placed in 0–15 cm soil depth.•Zero-till wheat after DSR produced higher yield than conventional till wheat after puddled transplant rice.•After five years, CA system favoured infestation of armyworm (Mythimna separata) in wheat.
Objective: To assess the impact of graphic Canadian cigarette warning labels on current adult smokers. Design: A random-digit-dial telephone survey was conducted with 616 adult smokers in south ...western Ontario, Canada in October/November 2001, with three month follow up. Main outcome measures: Smoking behaviour (quitting, quit attempts, and reduced smoking), intentions to quit, and salience of the warning labels. Results: Virtually all smokers (91%) reported having read the warning labels and smokers demonstrated a thorough knowledge of their content. A strong positive relation was observed between a measure of cognitive processing—the extent to which smokers reported reading, thinking about, and discussing the new labels—and smokers’ intentions to quit (odds ratio (OR) 1.11, 95% confidence interval (CI) 1.07 to 1.16; p < 0.001). Most important, cognitive processing predicted cessation behaviour at follow up. Smokers who had read, thought about, and discussed the new labels at baseline were more likely to have quit, made a quit attempt, or reduced their smoking three months later, after adjusting for intentions to quit and smoking status at baseline (OR 1.07, 95% CI 1.03 to 1.12; p < 0.001). Conclusions: Graphic cigarette warning labels serve as an effective population based smoking cessation intervention. The findings add to the growing literature on health warnings and provide strong support for the effectiveness of Canada’s tobacco labelling policy.
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