Understanding the Past and Present and Predicting the Future: Farmers’ Use of Multiple Nutrient Best Management Practices in the Upper Midwest

Understanding what drives farmers’ voluntary adoption of nutrient and soil best management practices has important consequences for many environmental outcomes including water quality. We build on research revealing the need for simultaneous use of multiple nitrogen best management practices to achieve water quality improvement goals. Using social, economic and attitudinal variables we predict the use of multiple nitrogen best management practices at three time points: current use (2013), past use (before 2013), and likelihood of use on their largest field in the next three years. Our empirical analysis uses structural equation modeling with latent variables and 2014 farmer survey data from three Midwestern US states. Most farmers in our sample used at least one of the six best management practices. Our results reveal that farmers’ attitudes, use of information sources, and conservation program participation affect the number of nitrogen best management practices concurrently in use at multiple time points.     

Detection of Methanol Maser Flares Near 19.9 and 20.9 GHz toward the Massive Source of Active Star Formation G358.931-0.030

Astronomy Letters - We have investigated the methanol CH3OH lines at frequencies of 19.967 GHz [21-30 E(vt = 0) transition] and 20.971 GHz [101-112 E+(vt = 1) transition] toward the massive region...     

Molecular distribution, 13C‐isotope,and enantiomeric compositions of carbonaceous chondrite monocarboxylic acids

The water‐soluble organic compounds in carbonaceous chondrite meteorites constitute a record of the synthetic reactions occurring at the birth of the solar system and those taking place during parent body alteration and may have been important for the later origins and development of life on Earth. In this present work, we have developed a novel methodology for the simultaneous analysis of the molecular distribution, compound‐specific δ¹³C, and enantiomeric compositions of aliphatic monocarboxylic acids (MCA) extracted from the hot‐water extracts of 16 carbonaceous chondrites from CM, CR, CO, CV, and CK groups. We observed high concentrations of meteoritic MCAs, with total carbon weight percentages which in some cases approached those of carbonates and insoluble organic matter. Moreover, we found that the concentration of MCAs in CR chondrites is higher than in the other meteorite groups, with acetic acid exhibiting the highest concentration in all samples. The abundance of MCAs decreased with increasing molecular weight and with increasing aqueous and/or thermal alteration experienced by the meteorite sample. The δ¹³C isotopic values of MCAs ranged from ?52 to +27‰, and aside from an inverse relationship between δ¹³C value and carbon straight‐chain length for C₃–C₆ MCAs in Murchison, the ¹³C‐isotopic values did not correlate with the number of carbon atoms per molecule. We also observed racemic compositions of 2‐methylbutanoic acid in CM and CR chondrites. We used this novel analytical protocol and collective data to shed new light on the prebiotic origins of chondritic MCAs.     

Documentation of shock features in impactites from the Dhala impact structure,India

The fundamental approach for the confirmation of any terrestrial meteorite impact structure is the identification of diagnostic shock metamorphic features, together with the physical and chemical characterization of impactites and target lithologies. However, for many of the approximately 200 confirmed impact structures known on Earth to date, multiple scale‐independent tell‐tale impact signatures have not been recorded. Especially some of the pre‐Paleozoic impact structures reported so far have yielded limited shock diagnostic evidence. The rocks of the Dhala structure in India, a deeply eroded Paleoproterozoic impact structure, exhibit a range of diagnostic shock features, and there is even evidence for traces of the impactor. This study provides a detailed look at shocked samples from the Dhala structure, and the shock metamorphic evidence recorded within them. It also includes a first report of shatter cones that form in the shock pressure range from ~2 to 30 GPa, data on feather features (FFs), crystallographic indexing of planar deformation features, first‐ever electron backscatter diffraction data for ballen quartz, and further analysis of shocked zircon. The discovery of FFs in quartz from a sample of the MCB‐10 drill core (497.50 m depth) provides a comparatively lower estimate of shock pressure (~7–10 GPa), whereas melting of a basement granitoid infers at least 50–60 GPa shock pressure. Thus, the Dhala impactites register a strongly heterogeneous shock pressure distribution between <2 and >60 GPa. The present comprehensive review of impact effects should lay to rest the nonimpact genesis of the Dhala structure proposed by some earlier workers from India.     

Petrological,petrofabric, and oxygen isotopic study of five ungrouped meteorites related to brachinites

Northwest Africa (NWA) 6112, Miller Range (MIL) 090206 (plus its pairs: MIL 090340 and MIL 090405), and Divnoe are olivine‐rich ungrouped achondrites. We investigated and compared their petrography, mineralogy, and olivine fabrics. We additionally measured the oxygen isotopic compositions of NWA 6112. They show similar petrography, mineralogy, and oxygen isotopic compositions and we concluded that these five meteorites are brachinite clan meteorites. We found that NWA 6112 and Divnoe had a c axis concentration pattern of olivine fabrics using electron backscattered diffraction (EBSD). NWA 6112 and Divnoe are suggested to have been exposed to magmatic melt flows during their crystallization on their parent body. On the other hand, the three MIL meteorites have b axis concentration patterns of olivine fabrics. This indicates that the three MIL meteorites may be cumulates where compaction of olivine grains was dominant. Alternatively, they formed as residues and were exposed to olivine compaction. The presence of two different olivine fabric patterns implies that the parent body(s) of brachinite clan meteorites experienced diverse igneous processes.     

Light Scattering and Extinction in M 82

Published low-resolution measurements of colour and polarisation over the face of M82 are discussed to separate the contribution of starlight and scattered light. We show that in all places of the middle and outer halo the scattered light comes predominantly from a central source of very high ultraviolett excess, the contribution of the disc is negligble there. The projected distributions of H_α-light and scattered continuum are of considerable similarity. Major extinction occurs in the southern half of the main body and of the inner halo; the northern half of the bright body, and the northern halo, are free of extinction, excluding some regions near the minor axis. The light of the central source is reddened only before it is scattered in the halo. The variation of the true degree of polarisation (after correction for starlight) is interpreted in terms of the variation of the mean scattering angle. From this, conclusions can be drawn concerning the location of the dust and the geometry of the illumination. The high brightness of the scattered light near the minor axis is caused axis is caused by a bright illuminating beam there, strengthened in some places by comparatively low scattering angles (45°) and a higher (projected) density of the scattering material. The stellar populations seen in M82 are different in the northern and in the southern halfs of the galaxy. The main body and the region of the northern “halo” consist of an old population of normal metal content (pop. I); the colours of the southern parts – which are partly considerably influenced by extinction – can be due to either metal poor F-stars (pop. II) or to young B-stars. To solve the latter ambiguity and at the same time the question in what direction the plane of the galaxy is tilted, good spectra of the faint southern parts of M82 outside the minor axis are needed.