Anaerobic digestion of poultry litter - A consequential life cycle assessment.

Concentrated land spreading of poultry litter has the potential to cause nutrient build-up in soils, eutrophication of water bodies, air pollution and the spread of pathogens. As a result, alternative routes for the disposal of poultry litter are being sought. A consequential life cycle assessment was conducted to examine several scenarios where biogas produced from poultry litter is used to generate heat and electricity or is upgraded to biomethane which can substitute natural gas.

Quadrupole collectivity in neutron-rich Fe and Cr isotopes.

Intermediate-energy Coulomb excitation measurements are performed on the N ≥ 40 neutron-rich nuclei (66,68)Fe and (64)Cr. The reduced transition matrix elements providing a direct measure of the quadrupole collectivity B(E2;2(1)(+) → 0(1)(+)) are determined for the first time in (68)Fe(42) and (64)Cr(40) and confirm a previous recoil distance method lifetime measurement in (66)Fe(40). The results are compared to state-of-the-art large-scale shell-model calculations within the full fpgd neutron orbital model space using the Lenzi-Nowacki-Poves-Sieja effective interaction and confirm the results of the calculations that show these nuclei are well deformed.

Collectivity and configuration mixing in 186,188Pb and 194Po.

Lifetimes of prolate intruder states in 186Pb and oblate intruder states in 194Po have been determined by employing, for the first time, the recoil-decay tagging technique in recoil distance Doppler-shift lifetime measurements. In addition, lifetime measurements of prolate states in 188Pb up to the 8+ state were carried out using the recoil-gating method. The B(E2) values have been deduced from which deformation parameters |beta2|=0.

Breakdown of K selection in 178Hf.

Coulomb activation of the four quasiparticle Kpi=16+ 178Hf isomer (t1/2=31 y) has led to the measurement of a set of Elamda matrix elements coupling the isomer band to the ground band. The present data combined with earlier 178 Hf Coulomb excitation data have probed the components in the wave functions and revealed the onset and saturation of K mixing in low-K bands, whereas the mixing is negligible in the high-K bands. The implications can be applied to other quadrupole-deformed nuclei.

Signature for vibrational to rotational evolution along the yrast line.

We present a simple method for discerning the evolution from vibrational to rotational structure in nuclei as a function of spin. The prescription is applied to the yrast cascades in the A approximately 110 region and a clear transition from vibrational to rotational motion is found.

B(E2) values in 150Nd and the critical point symmetry X(5).

Lifetimes of states in 150Nd were measured using the recoil distance method following Coulomb excitation of 150Nd by a 132 MeV 32S beam. The experiment was performed at the Yale Tandem accelerator, employing the SPEEDY gamma-ray detector array and the New Yale Plunger Device. Reduced transition probabilities in 150Nd are compared to the predictions of the critical point symmetry X(5) of the phase/shape transition that occurs for the N = 90 rare earth isotones.

Introduction to qualitative research.

The purpose of this article is to introduce practicing nurses to qualitative research. Qualitative research terms are defined, philosophy of science is briefly discussed, and several types of qualitative research studies are described. A hermeneutic phenomenological study of infant colic is described as an example of qualitative research useful in gastroenterology nursing.

Crossing of shears bands in (197)Pb: B(M1) values and semiclassical description.

Subpicosecond lifetimes of states in shears band 1 in (197)Pb were measured by means of the recoil distance method employing Gammasphere and the New Yale Plunger Device. The extracted reduced matrix elements, B(M1), show a clear sensitivity to the crossing of different shears configurations reflecting the closing and reopening of the shears blades. The energies and B(M1) values in the band crossing region are successfully described in the framework of the semiclassical model of the shears bands.

Personal stories of growing up sexually.

Prevention of problems related to sexuality during adolescence continues to be a major public health challenge. Describing childhood perceptions of sexuality is an important step in understanding sexual issues during adolescence. However, there is a paucity of information about sexuality in early life.

Young western women's experiences of menarche and menstruation.

A qualitative approach was used to examine young women's experiences of menarche and menstruation that were included in personal stories of growing up sexually. The personal experiences were examined by cross-case analysis to learn more about the narrators' attitudes toward menarche and their menstrual-related education. This was a secondary analysis using data collected for a study of common themes in the stories gathered in a 1998 study by Beausang.

Chiral doublet structures in odd-odd n = 75 isotones: chiral vibrations.

New sideband partners of the yrast bands built on the pi(h11/2)nu(h11/2) configuration were identified in 55Cs, 57La, and 61Pm N = 75 isotones of 134Pr. These bands form with 134Pr unique doublet-band systematics suggesting a common basis. Aplanar solutions of 3D tilted axis cranking calculations for triaxial shapes define left- and right-handed chiral systems out of the three angular momenta provided by the valence particles and the core rotation, which leads to spontaneous chiral symmetry breaking and the doublet bands.