Approaches and achievements of biodynamic vegetable breeding by Kultursaat e.V. (Germany) using the example of RODELIKA one of the first certified biodynamic varieties

Since 1998 RODELIKA is officially registered as a newly bred carrot variety. It had been developed by positive mass-selection over a 13 year period, based on an old-established variety within a farm based biodynamic system. The goal was a fine root with good health and a focus on taste and ability of maturation. Thus a selection-scheme in organoleptic characteristics sweetness and aroma was created. Numerous investigations demonstrate the very high inner quality of RODELIKA. Property rights of this open-pollinated variety are held by the charitable association Kultursaat eV as a common heritage

Channeling 5-min photospheric oscillations into the solar outer atmosphere through small-scale vertical magnetic flux tubes

We report two-dimensional MHD simulations which demonstrate that photospheric 5-min oscillations can leak into the chromosphere inside small-scale vertical magnetic flux tubes. The results of our numerical experiments are compatible with those inferred from simultaneous spectropolarimetric observations of the photosphere and chromosphere obtained with the Tenerife Infrared Polarimeter (TIP) at 10830 A. We conclude that the efficiency of energy exchange by radiation in the solar photosphere can lead to a significant reduction of the cut-off frequency and may allow for the propagation of the 5 minutes waves vertically into the chromosphere.Comment: accepted by ApJ

Representing space for practical reasoning

This paper describes a new approach to representing space and time for practical reasoning, based on space-filling cells. Unlike R n, the new models can represent a bounded region of space using only finitely many cells, so they can be manipulated directly. Unlike Z n, they have useful notions of function continuity and region connectedness. The topology of space is allowed to depend on the situation being represented, accounting for sharp changes in function values and lack of connectedness across object boundaries. Algorithms based on this model of space are neither purely region-based nor purely boundary-based, but a blend of the two. This new style of algorithm design is illustrated by a new program for finding edges in grey-scale images. Although the program is based on a relatively conventional second directional difference operator, it can detect fine texture in the presence of camera noise, produce connected boundaries around sharp corners, and return thin boundaries without "feathering. " New algorithms are presented for combining directional differences, suppressing the effects of camera noise, reconstructing image intensities from the second difference values and merging results from different scales (including suppression of spurious boundaries in staircase patterns).

Canonical Quantization of the Maxwell-Chern-Simons Theory in the Coulomb Gauge

The Maxwell-Chern-Simons theory is canonically quantized in the Coulomb gauge by using the Dirac bracket quantization procedure. The determination of the Coulomb gauge polarization vector turns out to be intrincate. A set of quantum Poincar\'e densities obeying the Dirac-Schwinger algebra, and, therefore, free of anomalies, is constructed. The peculiar analytical structure of the polarization vector is shown to be at the root for the existence of spin of the massive gauge quanta.The Coulomb gauge Feynman rules are used to compute the M\"oller scattering amplitude in the lowest order of perturbation theory. The result coincides with that obtained by using covariant Feynman rules. This proof of equivalence is, afterwards, extended to all orders of perturbation theory. The so called infrared safe photon propagator emerges as an effective propagator which allows for replacing all the terms in the interaction Hamiltonian of the Coulomb gauge by the standard field-current minimal interaction Hamiltonian.Comment: 21 pages, typeset in REVTEX, figures not include

Züchtungsmethoden in der Diskussion - Brauchen wir Kohl aus Protoplastenfusion?

Bei Kohl aus ökologischem Anbau scheiden sich die Bio-Geister: Kohrabi-, Brokkoli- und Blumenkohlsorten aus Europa und den USA werden zunehmend mit Hilfe umstrittener Züchtungsmethoden wie der gentechnik-nahen Protoplastenfusion angebaut. Werte des Ökolandbaus wie der Erhalt der Artenvielfalt und der Schutz der natürlichen Reproduktionsfähigkeit von Pflanzen werden durch solche Techniken in Frage gestellt. Warum und mit welchem Nutzen sich diese Züchtungsmethode in den letzten Jahren im Gemüseanbau etabliert hat, wird von Fachleuten unterschiedlich beantwortet. Nur mit welchen Konsequenzen? Was sind die Alternativen für Anbau und Handel? Die Protoplastenfusion wird bei Kohl angewendet, um die erbliche Pollensterilität (cytoplasmatic male sterility = CMS) des Rettichs auf verschiedene Kohlarten zu übertragen. Sie erleichtert die Züchtung von Hybriden, die mittlerweile auch im Öko-Landbau weit verbreitet sind - unverdientermaßen, aber das wäre ein weiteres Diskussionsthema..

Pattern formation during diffusion limited transformations in solids

We develop a description of diffusion limited growth in solid-solid transformations, which are strongly influenced by elastic effects. Density differences and structural transformations provoke stresses at interfaces, which affect the phase equilibrium conditions. We formulate equations for the interface kinetics similar to dendritic growth and study the growth of a stable phase from a metastable solid in both a channel geometry and in free space. We perform sharp interface calculations based on Green's function methods and phase field simulations, supplemented by analytical investigations. For pure dilatational transformations we find a single growing finger with symmetry breaking at higher driving forces, whereas for shear transformations the emergence of twin structures can be favorable. We predict the steady state shapes and propagation velocities, which can be higher than in conventional dendritic growth.Comment: submitted to Philosophical Magazin

Mechanism of the reorientation of stripes in the cuprates

Using the mean field theory in the slave-boson approach we analyzed the electron correlation effects in the stripe phases. One finds that a finite next-nearest neighbor hopping $t'$ plays an important role in the low doping regime, where it controls the crossover from the filled diagonal to half-filled vertical/horizontal stripes at doping $x\simeq 1/16$.Comment: 2 pages, 1 figur