Evaluation of the NDICEA model

Within the N-Toolbox project the NDICEA nitrogen model, one of the key tools in the virtual Toolbox, has been improved and tested in England, Denmark and Spain. The model performance was evaluated on datasets from these three countries by means of visual observation, RMSE and RSR from the soil nitrogen dynamics. In England the scenarios with organic fertilizer performed better than those with artificial fertilizer, leading to the suggestion that the calculated nitrogen release out of fertilizer could be improved. Timing of the soil sampling on soil inorganic nitrogen is important to realize a good model evaluation; two samples only, before sowing and after harvest, is not enough. When soil mineral nitrogen samples were taken during crop growth, model calculation and measured values showed sometimes big differences. It is suggested to improve the plant nitrogen uptake sub-model. In the Danish dataset the soil mineral N of the topsoil was well described, but that of the subsoil was not. This might be caused by the depth of the subsoil, which was up to 2.5 meters. The model performance could be improved by introducing a multi-layer soil sub-model instead of the actual two-layer soil sub-model. Spain, with its different climatic and soil conditions, needed an adaptation of the evapotranspiration calculation and a calibration of the scenarios to reach an acceptable model performance. If more Spanish datasets were studied, the NDICEA model could be enriched with standard Spanish soils and evapotranspiration data. For the improvement of the model, equations from the EU-ROTATE_N model are used to describe root growth and nitrogen uptake in more detail

Organic agriculture and climate change mitigation - A report of the Round Table on Organic Agriculture and Climate Change

Summary and next steps Participants of the workshop were able to draw from their discussions and from the input of guest speakers and synthesize a set of conclusions that can be used to guide future activities concerning LCAs and other activities that seek to identify and quantify the potential contributions of organic agriculture to climate change mitigation. - LCA is the best tool for measuring GHG emissions related to agricultural products. - There is a risk of oversimplification when focusing on climate change as a single environmental impact category. - Farm production and transport (at least for plant products) are important hotspots for agricultural products. - Studies have shown no remarkable difference in GHG emissions between organic and conventional but, traditionally, soil carbon changes have not been included – which can have a major impact, especially for plant products. - The challenges of LCA of organic products – accounting for carbon sequestration and interactions in farming systems, including the environmental costs of manure – need to be addressed. - Attempts should be made to secure a consistent LCA methodology for agricultural products, including organic products

Development and Validation of an In‐Line API Quantification Method Using AQbD Principles Based on UV‐Vis Spectroscopy to Monitor and Optimise Continuous Hot Melt Extrusion Process

open access journalA key principle of developing a new medicine is that quality should be built in, with a thorough understanding of the product and the manufacturing process supported by appropriate process controls. Quality by design principles that have been established for the development of drug products/substances can equally be applied to the development of analytical procedures. This paper presents the development and validation of a quantitative method to predict the concentration of piroxicam in Kollidon® VA 64 during hot melt extrusion using analytical quality by design principles. An analytical target profile was established for the piroxicam content and a novel in‐line analytical procedure was developed using predictive models based on UV‐Vis absorbance spectra collected during hot melt extrusion. Risks that impact the ability of the analytical procedure to measure piroxicam consistently were assessed using failure mode and effect analysis. The critical analytical attributes measured were colour (L* lightness, b* yellow to blue colour parameters—in‐process critical quality attributes) that are linked to the ability to measure the API content and transmittance. The method validation was based on the accuracy profile strategy and ICH Q2(R1) validation criteria. The accuracy profile obtained with two validation sets showed that the 95% β‐expectation tolerance limits for all piroxicam concentration levels analysed were within the combined trueness and precision acceptance limits set at ±5%. The method robustness was tested by evaluating the effects of screw speed (150–250 rpm) and feed rate (5–9 g/min) on piroxicam content around 15% w/w. In‐line UV‐Vis spectroscopy was shown to be a robust and practical PAT tool for monitoring the piroxicam content, a critical quality attribute in a pharmaceutical HME process

The Grid[Way] Job Template Manager, a tool for parameter sweeping

Parameter sweeping is a widely used algorithmic technique in computational science. It is specially suited for high-throughput computing since the jobs evaluating the parameter space are loosely coupled or independent. A tool that integrates the modeling of a parameter study with the control of jobs in a distributed architecture is presented. The main task is to facilitate the creation and deletion of job templates, which are the elements describing the jobs to be run. Extra functionality relies upon the GridWay Metascheduler, acting as the middleware layer for job submission and control. It supports interesting features like multi-dimensional sweeping space, wildcarding of parameters, functional evaluation of ranges, value-skipping and job template automatic indexation. The use of this tool increases the reliability of the parameter sweep study thanks to the systematic bookkeping of job templates and respective job statuses. Furthermore, it simplifies the porting of the target application to the grid reducing the required amount of time and effort.Comment: 26 pages, 1 figure

OTC derivatives: financial stability challenges and responses from authorities.

The importance of well-functioning over-the-counter (OTC) derivatives markets for fi nancial stability was highlighted during the financial market turmoil, when significant shortcomings in risk management and market transparency were exposed. In response to these experiences, public authorities have launched a series of measures to strengthen OTC derivatives markets. This article provides an overview of this work. It explains the significance of well-functioning OTC derivatives markets and discusses the main lessons from the financial crisis regarding the need to strengthen their resiliency and transparency. Then, we describe the main tools under consideration, relating to the use of sound market infrastructures – central counterparties and trade repositories –, enhanced bilateral risk management as well as to cooperation between regulators and overseers of infrastructures and banking supervisors. We finally describe the state of play of the main initiatives within these areas.

The economics of garbage collection

This paper argues that economic theory can improve our understanding of memory management. We introduce the allocation curve, as an analogue of the demand curve from microeconomics. An allocation curve for a program characterises how the amount of garbage collection activity required during its execution varies in relation to the heap size associated with that program. The standard treatment of microeconomic demand curves (shifts and elasticity) can be applied directly and intuitively to our new allocation curves. As an application of this new theory, we show how allocation elasticity can be used to control the heap growth rate for variable sized heaps in Jikes RVM

Indonesia Sustainable Fisheries Value Chain Assessments

Wilderness Markets, with the support of the David and Lucile Packard Foundation and the Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation, undertook a series of fishery value chain assessments to better understand the opportunities and constraints for private impact capital to flow into wild-capture fisheries markets in Indonesia. Building on extensive impact-focused investment experience in agricultural value chains, the objectives were to:*  Identify and categorize potential impact investment opportunities in wild-capture fisheries utilizing a combination of impact investment frameworks.*  In the absence of impact investment opportunities, document value chain constraints preventing such opportunities.*  Support the creation of sustainable wild-capture fisheries investment strategies by identifying appropriate frameworks for the assessment and development of intervention opportunities.Wilderness Markets assessed four developing country fisheries (DCFs) in two countries, with a particular focus on Indonesia, plus one fishery in California, US, for comparison. This document focuses on Indonesia and summarises our assessment of the blue swimming crab, snapper, yellowfin and skipjack tuna seafood value chains. Each fishery assessed provided a piece of a larger puzzle, allowing Wilderness Markets to identify the components of a sustainable seafood value chain and its relationship to stock health which, in turn, drives value chain health.This document provides a summary of the findings in Indonesia