428 research outputs found
Barriers for developing more robust organic arable farming systems in practice
There is a gap between the scientific idea of robust and economically viable organic arable farming systems with optimized crop rotations for nutrient and pest management and how these systems look like in practice. In order to explore this gap, we visited and interviewed ten organic arable farms in Denmark. Our main findings are: 1) Organic arable farming operates in a very dynamic and changing environment in terms of prizing and market opportunities, and the main focus of the farm managements was the coping strategy within this changing environment; 2) The farming systems were continuously changing and developing, buying and renting more land, changing manure agreements and other forms of cooperation and arrangements; 3) Short term profit was paid much more attention than more theoretical expectation on long term profit or opportunities in relation to optimizing the production system. This again seems logical in relation to the very dynamic world that the farmers have to operate within; 4) Most of the farmers do not see their farm as a coherent system but as a coordination of a series of separate operations, which means that most decisions are taken with specific reference to the individual field in at the present situation without considering the long-term effects. Management focus is thus much more on solving problems as they are occurring, by adjusting their practice, than it is on developing a robust system preventing problems to occur. This partial focus is also strongly supported by the way in which extension services mostly operate
Influence of Iron on Production of the Antibacterial Compound Tropodithietic Acid and Its Noninhibitory Analog in <i>Phaeobacter inhibens</i>
Tropodithietic acid (TDA) is an antibacterial compound produced by some Phaeobacter and Ruegeria spp. of the Roseobacter clade. TDA production is studied in marine broth or agar since antibacterial activity in other media is not observed. The purpose of this study was to determine how TDA production is influenced by substrate components. High concentrations of ferric citrate, as present in marine broth, or other iron sources were required for production of antibacterially active TDA. However, when supernatants of noninhibitory, low-iron cultures of Phaeobacter inhibens were acidified, antibacterial activity was detected in a bioassay. The absence of TDA in nonacidified cultures and the presence of TDA in acidified cultures were verified by liquid chromatography–high-resolution mass spectrometry. A noninhibitory TDA analog (pre-TDA) was produced by P. inhibens, Ruegeria mobilis F1926, and Phaeobacter sp. strain 27-4 under low-iron concentrations and was instantaneously converted to TDA when pH was lowered. Production of TDA in the presence of Fe(3+) coincides with formation of a dark brown substance, which could be precipitated by acid addition. From this brown pigment TDA could be liberated slowly with aqueous ammonia, and both direct-infusion mass spectrometry and elemental analysis indicated a [Fe(III)(TDA)(2)](x) complex. The pigment could also be produced by precipitation of pure TDA with FeCl(3). Our results raise questions about how biologically active TDA is produced in natural marine settings where iron is typically limited and whether the affinity of TDA to iron points to a physiological or ecological function of TDA other than as an antibacterial compound
Produktion og anvendelse af ClimOptic specialgødninger fra biogasanlæg
Notat og præsentationer fra workshop
Freshwater flux to Sermilik Fjord, SE Greenland
Terrestrial inputs of freshwater flux to Sermilik Fjord, SE Greenland, were estimated, indicating ice discharge to be the dominant source of freshwater. A freshwater flux of 40.4 &plusmn; 4.9&times;10<sup>9</sup> m<sup>3</sup> y<sup>−1</sup> was found (1999–2008), with an 85% contribution originated from ice discharge (65% alone from Helheim Glacier), 11% from terrestrial surface runoff (from melt water and rain), 3% from precipitation at the fjord surface area, and 1% from subglacial geothermal and frictional melting due to basal ice motion. The results demonstrate the dominance of ice discharge as a primary mechanism for delivering freshwater to Sermilik Fjord. Time series of ice discharge for Helheim Glacier, Midgård Glacier, and Fenris Glacier were calculated from satellite-derived average surface velocity, glacier width, and estimated ice thickness, and fluctuations in terrestrial surface freshwater runoff were simulated based on observed meteorological data. These simulations were compared and bias corrected against independent glacier catchment runoff observations. Modeled runoff to Sermilik Fjord was variable, ranging from 2.9 &plusmn; 0.4&times;10<sup>9</sup> m<sup>3</sup> y<sup>−1</sup> in 1999 to 5.9 &plusmn; 0.9&times;10<sup>9</sup> m<sup>3</sup> y<sup>−1</sup> in 2005. The sub-catchment runoff of the Helheim Glacier region accounted for 25% of the total runoff to Sermilik Fjord. The runoff distribution from the different sub-catchments suggested a strong influence from the spatial variation in glacier coverage, indicating high runoff volumes, where glacier cover was present at low elevations
From Relational Data to Graphs: Inferring Significant Links using Generalized Hypergeometric Ensembles
The inference of network topologies from relational data is an important
problem in data analysis. Exemplary applications include the reconstruction of
social ties from data on human interactions, the inference of gene
co-expression networks from DNA microarray data, or the learning of semantic
relationships based on co-occurrences of words in documents. Solving these
problems requires techniques to infer significant links in noisy relational
data. In this short paper, we propose a new statistical modeling framework to
address this challenge. It builds on generalized hypergeometric ensembles, a
class of generative stochastic models that give rise to analytically tractable
probability spaces of directed, multi-edge graphs. We show how this framework
can be used to assess the significance of links in noisy relational data. We
illustrate our method in two data sets capturing spatio-temporal proximity
relations between actors in a social system. The results show that our
analytical framework provides a new approach to infer significant links from
relational data, with interesting perspectives for the mining of data on social
systems.Comment: 10 pages, 8 figures, accepted at SocInfo201
The reaction and the magnetic dipole moment of the resonance
The reaction has been measured with
the TAPS calorimeter at the Mainz Microtron accelerator facility MAMI for
energies between = 1221--1331 MeV. Cross sections differential in
angle and energy have been determined for all particles in the final state in
three bins of the excitation energy. This reaction channel provides access to
the magnetic dipole moment of the resonance and, for the
first time, a value of has been extracted
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The filamentous fungus Stachybotrys chartarum is known for its toxic metabolites and has been associated with serious health problems, including mycotoxicosis, among occupants of contaminated buildings. Here, we present results from a case study, where an ultra-high performance liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry (UHPLC-MS/MS) method was developed for known and tentatively identified compounds characterized via UHPLC-quadruple time-of-flight (QTOF) screening of fungal culture extracts, wall scrapings and reference standards. The UHPLC-MS/MS method was able to identify 12 Stachybotrys metabolites, of which four could be quantified based on authentic standards and a further six estimated based on similarity to authentic standards. Samples collected from walls contaminated by S. chartarum in a water-damaged building showed that the two known chemotypes, S and A, coexisted. More importantly, a link between mycotoxin concentrations found on contaminated surfaces and in settled dust was made. One dust sample, collected from a water-damaged room, contained 10Â pg/cm(2) macrocyclic trichothecenes (roridin E). For the first time, more than one spirocyclic drimane was detected in dust. Spirocyclic drimanes were detected in all 11 analysed dust samples and in total amounted to 600Â pg/cm(2) in the water-damaged room and 340Â pg/cm(2) in rooms adjacent to the water-damaged area. Their wide distribution in detectable amounts in dust suggested they could be good candidates for exposure biomarkers. [Figure: see text] ELECTRONIC SUPPLEMENTARY MATERIAL: The online version of this article (doi:10.1007/s00216-016-9649-y) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users
Photoproduction of eta-mesic 3He
The photoproduction of eta-mesic 3He has been investigated using the TAPS
calorimeter at the Mainz Microtron accelerator facility MAMI. The total
inclusive cross section for the reaction gamma+3He->eta+X has been measured for
photon energies from threshold to 820 MeV. The total and angular differential
coherent eta cross sections have been extracted up to energies of 745 MeV. A
resonance-like structure just above the eta production threshold with an
isotropic angular distribution suggests the existence of a resonant quasi-bound
state. This is supported by studies of a competing decay channel of such a
quasi-bound eta-mesic nucleus into pi^0+p+X. A binding energy of (-4.4+-4.2)
MeV and a width of (25.6+-6.1) MeV is deduced for the quasi-bound eta-mesic
state in 3He.Comment: v1: 4 pages, 4 figures, submitted to PRL; v2: minor revisions and
corrections, new figure added, 4 pages, 5 figs; v3: minor change
In-medium modifications of the interaction in photon-induced reactions
Differential cross sections of the reactions
and have been measured for several
nuclei (H,C, and Pb) at an incident-photon energy of
=400-460 MeV at the tagged-photon facility at MAMI-B using the TAPS
spectrometer. A significant nuclear-mass dependence of the
invariant-mass distribution is found in the channel. This
dependence is not observed in the channel and is
consistent with an in-medium modification of the interaction in the
==0 channel. The data are compared to -induced measurements and to
calculations within a chiral-unitary approach
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