Is automatic milking acceptable in organic dairy farming? Quantification of sustainability indicators

The objective of this research, was to quantify sustainability indicators of organic dairy farms using Automatic Milking Systems (AMS), and a comparative group of organic dairy farms using conventional milking systems (CMS). Milk yield per cow was higher for AMS farms but did not result in higher net return to management. Nitrogen surplus per ha of available land was higher for AMS farms, Animal health was unaffected by AMS use, as also most milk quality aspects; somatic cell count, clostridium spores and urea. Acid degree value (ADV), measured as free fatty acids (FFA) in the milk, was higher in milk from AMS users. Labour time was decreased by almost 50% for AMS users, to 2.3 min/cow/day. It could be concluded from quantification of selected indicators on economy, environment, cow health, milk quality, and labour time, that the organic dairy farms using AMS, in spite of the substantial decrease in grazing time, show potential for a sustainable development

Environmental evaluation of three alternative futures for organic dairy in Denmark.

Objective of this study was to explore sustainability of scenarios for organic dairy farming based on visions and goals of the future, by parameterization at farm level. The scenarios were in agreement with the scope of principles for organic farming; health, ecology, fairness and care. Scenarios were designed using stakeholder and expert opinions and then translate them through choice of relevant production parameters to a farm unit design. This resulted in three vision-based scenarios, one animal welfare (ANW), one environmental (ENV) and one using all possible new technologies to enhance productivity and efficiency (business as usual, BAU). The amount of milk produced per ha was, 9500, 7215 and 5188 kg ECM respectively for BAU, ANW and ENV. Stocking density was 1.41, 1.38, and 0.88 Livestock Units respectively for BAU, ANW and ENV, parallel to large differences in required import of feed. The different organic farms of the future are to be evaluated on the environmental impacts, green house gas (GHG) emissions, nitrogen surplus and energy use, economy, and social acceptance

Современные представления о супружеских конфликтах и супружеской дезадаптации

Рассмотрены современные данные о семейных конфликтах и связанной с ними супружеской дезадаптации. Сделан вывод о необходимости дальнейшей разработки этой проблемы.Modern data about family conflicts and the associated spouse deadaptation are discussed. The author concludes about the necessity of further investigation of the issue

Українська сангха японського Ордену Ніппондзан Мьоходзі

Стаття присвячена дослідженню історії української сангхи японського буддистського Ордену Ніппондзан Мьоходзі. Автор, враховуючи специфіку даної школи, намагався намітити загальний шлях для подальшого дослідження, виявити основні тенденції та періоди розвитку української сангхи Ніппондзан Мьоходзі. Значна увага приділяється діяльності членів української сангхи за межами України, що обумовлено світовими масштабами діяльності Дзюнсея Терасави, безпосереднього вчителя для українських монахів даного ОрденуСтатья посвящена исследованию истории украинской сангхи японского буддийского Ордена Ниппондзан Мёходзи. Автор, учитывая специфику данной школы, старался наметить общий путь для дальнейшего исследования, выявить основные тенденции и периоды развития украинской сангхи Ниппондзан Мёходзи. Значительное внимание уделяется деятельности членов украинской сангхи за пределами Украины, что обусловлено мировыми масштабами деятельности Дзюнсея Терасавы, непосредственного учителя монахов данного Ордена.This article is devoted to the history of Ukrainian Sangha of Japanese Buddhist Order Nippondzan Mehodzi. Taking into account the specificity of the school, the author trying to direct a common way for further research, to identify the key trends and periods of development of Ukrainian Sangha Nippondzan Mehodozi. Considerable attention has been given to the activities of the Ukrainian Sangha members outside of Ukraine, wich is caused by the global scale of Dzyunsey Terasava activity

Do contrasting patterns of migration movements and disease outbreaks between congeneric waterfowl species reflect differing immunity?

Environmental Biolog

Search for Doubly-Charged Higgs Boson Production at HERA

A search for the single production of doubly-charged Higgs bosons H^{\pm \pm} in ep collisions is presented. The signal is searched for via the Higgs decays into a high mass pair of same charge leptons, one of them being an electron. The analysis uses up to 118 pb^{-1} of ep data collected by the H1 experiment at HERA. No evidence for doubly-charged Higgs production is observed and mass dependent upper limits are derived on the Yukawa couplings h_{el} of the Higgs boson to an electron-lepton pair. Assuming that the doubly-charged Higgs only decays into an electron and a muon via a coupling of electromagnetic strength h_{e \mu} = \sqrt{4 \pi \alpha_{em}} = 0.3, a lower limit of 141 GeV on the H^{\pm\pm} mass is obtained at the 95% confidence level. For a doubly-charged Higgs decaying only into an electron and a tau and a coupling h_{e\tau} = 0.3, masses below 112 GeV are ruled out.Comment: 15 pages, 3 figures, 1 tabl

Epidemiology, Prehospital Characteristics and Outcomes of Severe Traumatic Brain Injury in The Netherlands: The BRAIN-PROTECT Study

Objective: A thorough understanding of the epidemiology, patient characteristics, trauma mechanisms, and current outcomes among patients with severe traumatic brain injury (TBI) is important as it may inform potential strategies to improve prehospital emergency care. The aim of this study is to describe the prehospital epidemiology, characteristics and outcome of (suspected) severe TBI in the Netherlands. Methods: The BRAIN-PROTECT study is a prospective observational study on prehospital management of patients with severe TBI in the Netherlands. The study population comprised all consecutive patients with clinical suspicion of TBI and a prehospital GCS score ≤ 8, who were managed by one of the 4 Helicopter Emergency Medical Services (HEMS). Patients were followed-up in 9 trauma centers until 1 year after injury. Planned sub-analyses were performed for patients with “confirmed” and “isolated” TBI. Results: Data from 2,589 patients, of whom 2,117 (81.8%) were transferred to a participating trauma center, were analyzed. The incidence rate of prehospitally suspected and confirmed severe TBI were 3.2 (95% CI: 3.1;3.4) and 2.7 (95% CI: 2.5;2.8) per 100,000 inhabitants per year, respectively. Median patient age was 46 years, 58.4% were involved in traffic crashes, of which 37.4% were bicycle related. 47.6% presented with an initial GCS of 3. The median time from HEMS dispatch to hospital arrival was 54 minutes. The overall 30-day mortality was 39.0% (95% CI: 36.8;41.2). Conclusion: This article summarizes the prehospital epidemiology, characteristics and outcome of severe TBI in the Netherlands, and highlights areas in which primary prevention and prehospital care can be improved