Evidence of bad recycling practices:BFRs in children's toys and food-contact articles

Brominated flame retardants (BFRs) have been used intentionally in a wide range of plastics, but are now found in an even wider range of such materials (including children's toys and food contact articles) as a result of recycling practices that mix BFR-containing waste plastics with “virgin” materials.</p

A novel method for quantification of decabromodiphenyl ether in plastics without sample preparation using direct insertion probe-magnetic sector high resolution mass spectrometry

We report a rapid, efficient analytical method for detecting Brominated Flame Retardants (BFRs) in plastic materials using direct insertion probe with double focusing magnetic sector high resolution mass spectrometry.</p

Transcriptional Analysis of serk1 and serk3 coreceptor mutants

Somatic embryogenesis receptor kinases (SERKs) are ligand-binding coreceptors that are able to combine with different ligandperceiving receptors such as BRASSINOSTEROID INSENSITIVE1 (BRI1) and FLAGELLIN-SENSITIVE2. Phenotypical analysis of serk single mutants is not straightforward because multiple pathways can be affected, while redundancy is observed for a single phenotype. For example, serk1serk3 double mutant roots are insensitive toward brassinosteroids but have a phenotype different from bri1 mutant roots. To decipher these effects, 4-d-old Arabidopsis (Arabidopsis thaliana) roots were studied using microarray analysis. A total of 698 genes, involved in multiple biological processes, were found to be differentially regulated in serk1-3serk3-2 double mutants. About half of these are related to brassinosteroid signaling. The remainder appear to be unlinked to brassinosteroids and related to primary and secondary metabolism. In addition, methionine-derived glucosinolate biosynthesis genes are up-regulated, which was verified by metabolite profiling. The results also show that the gene expression pattern in serk3-2 mutant roots is similar to that of the serk1-3serk3-2 double mutant roots. This confirms the existence of partial redundancy between SERK3 and SERK1 as well as the promoting or repressive activity of a single coreceptor in multiple simultaneously active pathways.</p

Transcriptional Analysis of serk1 and serk3 coreceptor mutants

Somatic embryogenesis receptor kinases (SERKs) are ligand-binding coreceptors that are able to combine with different ligandperceiving receptors such as BRASSINOSTEROID INSENSITIVE1 (BRI1) and FLAGELLIN-SENSITIVE2. Phenotypical analysis of serk single mutants is not straightforward because multiple pathways can be affected, while redundancy is observed for a single phenotype. For example, serk1serk3 double mutant roots are insensitive toward brassinosteroids but have a phenotype different from bri1 mutant roots. To decipher these effects, 4-d-old Arabidopsis (Arabidopsis thaliana) roots were studied using microarray analysis. A total of 698 genes, involved in multiple biological processes, were found to be differentially regulated in serk1-3serk3-2 double mutants. About half of these are related to brassinosteroid signaling. The remainder appear to be unlinked to brassinosteroids and related to primary and secondary metabolism. In addition, methionine-derived glucosinolate biosynthesis genes are up-regulated, which was verified by metabolite profiling. The results also show that the gene expression pattern in serk3-2 mutant roots is similar to that of the serk1-3serk3-2 double mutant roots. This confirms the existence of partial redundancy between SERK3 and SERK1 as well as the promoting or repressive activity of a single coreceptor in multiple simultaneously active pathways.</p

Building a data set over 12 globally distributed sites to support the development of agriculture monitoring applications with Sentinel-2

Developing better agricultural monitoring capabilities based on Earth Observation data is critical for strengthening food production information and market transparency. The Sentinel-2mission has the optimal capacity for regional to global agriculture monitoring in terms of resolution (10-20 meter), revisit frequency (five days) and coverage (global). In this context, the European Space Agency launched in 2014 the "Sentinel-2 for Agriculture" project, which aims to prepare the exploitation of Sentinel-2 data for agriculture monitoring through the development of open source processing chains for relevant products. The project generated an unprecedented data set, made of "Sentinel-2 like" time series and in situ data acquired in 2013 over 12 globally distributed sites. Earth Observation time series were mostly built on the SPOT4 (Take 5) data set, which was specifically designed to simulate Sentinel-2. They also included Landsat 8 and RapidEye imagery as complementary data sources. Images were pre-processed to Level 2A and the quality of the resulting time series was assessed. In situ data about cropland, crop type and biophysical variables were shared by site managers, most of them belonging to the "Joint Experiment for Crop Assessment and Monitoring" network. This data set allowed testing and comparing across sites the methodologies that will be at the core of the future "Sentinel-2 for Agriculture" system. © 2015 by the authors

Building a data set over 12 globally distributed sites to support the development of agriculture monitoring applications with Sentinel-2

Developing better agricultural monitoring capabilities based on Earth Observation data is critical for strengthening food production information and market transparency. The Sentinel-2mission has the optimal capacity for regional to global agriculture monitoring in terms of resolution (10-20 meter), revisit frequency (five days) and coverage (global). In this context, the European Space Agency launched in 2014 the "Sentinel-2 for Agriculture" project, which aims to prepare the exploitation of Sentinel-2 data for agriculture monitoring through the development of open source processing chains for relevant products. The project generated an unprecedented data set, made of "Sentinel-2 like" time series and in situ data acquired in 2013 over 12 globally distributed sites. Earth Observation time series were mostly built on the SPOT4 (Take 5) data set, which was specifically designed to simulate Sentinel-2. They also included Landsat 8 and RapidEye imagery as complementary data sources. Images were pre-processed to Level 2A and the quality of the resulting time series was assessed. In situ data about cropland, crop type and biophysical variables were shared by site managers, most of them belonging to the "Joint Experiment for Crop Assessment and Monitoring" network. This data set allowed testing and comparing across sites the methodologies that will be at the core of the future "Sentinel-2 for Agriculture" system. © 2015 by the authors