Tradition, Dynamics and Sustainability of Plant Species Composition and Management in Homegardens on Organic and Non-Organic Small Scale Farms in Alpine Eastern Tyrol, Austria

In Eastern Tyrol (Austria), homegardens are an integral part of the farming system. The aim of this paper is to present evidence for the development of gardening in the study area and to identify differences/similarities between gardens at organic and non-organic farms. In 1997 and 1998, in homegardens on 91 organic and 105 non-organic farms from 12 communities, occurrence and abundance of cultivated plant species were surveyed and interviews were carried out about garden history, management and plant use. For the factor organic/non-organic, differences between gardens were statistically tested. Garden management is similar in organic/non-organic gardens, except mixed cropping and the use of alternative remedies to combat diseases, both with significantly higher occurrence on organic farms. Popular innovations from organic farming did not have a strong and clearly visible impact on management of homegardens. The population of cultivated plant species, until the 1960s approx. 51; nowadays approx. 587 species in all gardens, and main use of garden produce has been in a process of change with an increase in importance of species used as food and for decoration, but with no significant differences concerning organic/non-organic. Women farmers gardening in Eastern Tyrol are highly sympathetic to the principles of organic farming, even on non-organic farms. Sustainability can be increased when methods from organic gardening are promoted and tested locally more effectively. Science and policy should recognize the work of women farmers who maintain homegardens with high agrobiodiversity as part of their culture

Urban Organic Farming in Austria with the concept of Selbsternte ("self -harvest"): An agronomic and socio-economic analysis

In Vienna, consultants, organic farmers and green-minded consumers have developed a new concept of urban organic farming, called Selbsternte (`self-harvest'). Organic farmers prepare a plot of arable land (the Selbsternte plot) and sow or plant rows composed of 18-23 plant species. In mid-May the plots are divided into subplots that contain 2-6m of every sown species and are rented to so-called self-harvesters for a period of about 136 days. In 2002 Selbsternte was being practiced at 15 plots in Vienna or in neighboring cities, represented by 861 subplots, with a total area of 68,740m2, and managed by 12 organic farmers for 861 registered self-harvesters. At the Roter Berg plot, experimental subplots were established to evaluate yields and the value of the harvested produce, and interviews were conducted with 27 self-harvesters, the eight Selbsternte farmers and one Selbsternte consultant. The experimental subplots were managed in two different ways, namely, `with low intensity' (LIS) and `with high intensity' (HIS; meaning additional harrowing, mulching and sowing of additional plants). At the LIS 24.2 h and at the HIS 38.9 h of work were invested over 51 days. Monetary investment was US$184 for the LIS and US$259 for the HIS subplots. The total harvest of fresh produce was: 163 kg/subplot for LIS and 208 kg/subplot for HIS subplots. The total value of the harvest at the HIS was US$364 for conventional and US$766 for organic prices. All self- arvesters saw the rental of a subplot and the work as an activity of leisure. More than half of the self-harvesters reported `trying something new' at their subplots. The most frequently mentioned innovation for them was growing an unknown species. Twenty-five self-harvesters sowed 54 different, additional plant species. The motivating factors in establishing Selbsternte plots, as reported by all the farmers, were, primarily, better relations with consumers and work diversifcation, and only then were economic factors a consideration. The contribution of Selbsternte to income varied at the farms, being between 0 and 30% of the total farm income. As a main success factor, all of the farmers reported a close relationship between the self-harvesters and the farmers. Selbsternte subplots can be understood as small experimental stations where self-harvesters merge traditional horticultural techniques with urban ideas on permaculture, sustainable land use and participatory farming. Selbsternte has potential value for the improvement of urban agriculture, but also for the development of organic farming in general

Organic Agriculture in Austria

Organic farming has a long history in Austria, not least due to the fact that Rudolf Steiner, the founder of the bio-dynamic farming movement, was an Austrian. Currently approximately 10% of Austrian farms are certified organic, the highest percentage in the EU

Production and processing of organically grown fiber nettle (Urtica dioica L.) and its potential use in the natural textiles industry: A review

In Europe, the perennial stinging nettle was cultivated during the 19th century until the Second World War and has a long history as a fiber plant. Clone varieties dating back to the early 20th century are still maintained at European research institutions. The fiber content of clones ranges from 1.2 to 16% dry matter, and fiber yields range from 0.14 to 1.28 Mg/ha. Varietal purity of fiber nettle can only be achieved by planting cuttings. The harvesting of fiber starts in the second year of growth and the crop may produce well for several years. Several agronomic practices influence fiber quality, but causal relations are not yet well understood. Various parts of the fiber nettle plant can be used as food, fodder and as raw material for different purposes in cosmetics, medicine, industry and biodynamic agriculture. Organically produced fibers are in demand by the green textile industry and show potential that is economically promising

Comparing Hemp Seed Yields (Cannabis sativa L.) of an On-Farm Scientific Field Experiment to an On-Farm Agronomic Evaluation Under Organic Growing Conditions in Lower Austria

Hemp seed yields of the variety Fedora-19 in an on-farm scientific field experiment on small plots and in an on-farm evaluation in 11 hemp fields under practical organic growing conditions in Lower Austria were compared to give a realistic view of the variability of yields. Dry matter seed yields from the on-farm field experiment ranged from 127 to 143 g/m2. Under practical growing conditions, yields ranged from 34 to 151 g/m2 in the sample plots. The reported hemp seed yield after combine harvesting, drying, and cleaning was between 324 kg/ha and 717 kg/ha. The results of the experiment show that harvesting by hand considerably influences yields. Yields of the manual harvest in sample plots indicate a high correlation with yields harvested by the combine harvester (R2 = 0.91). The commercial yield is 71% of the yields recorded in sample plots in the fields. Our data questions the transfer of results and conclusions drawn from the data of scientific field experiments that employ manual harvest to that of practical circumstances, and support the notion of on-farm research

Spectroscopy of atomic rubidium at 500 bar buffer gas pressure: approaching the thermal equilibrium of dressed atom-light states

We have recorded fluorescence spectra of the atomic rubidium D-lines in the presence of several hundreds of bars buffer gas pressure. With additional saturation broadening a spectral linewidth comparable to the thermal energy of the atoms in the heated gas cell is achieved. An intensity-dependent blue asymmetry of the spectra is observed, which becomes increasingly pronounced when extrapolating to infinitely high light intensity. We interpret our results as evidence for the dressed (coupled atom-light) states to approach thermal equilibrium.Comment: 4 page

Book I, Otto Vogl: Papers and Patents, 1948-1970

Books I-XII include citations to Otto Vogl\u27s publications and patents. Printed versions of these twelve volumes are also available in the Integrated Sciences and Engineering Library of the University of Massachusetts in Amherst. MA, Lederle Graduate Research Center. The printed volumes include the full reprints of all cited publications

Book V, Otto Vogl: Publications, 1981-1984

Books I-XII include citations to Otto Vogl\u27s publications and patents. Printed versions of these twelve volumes are also available in the Integrated Sciences and Engineering Library of the University of Massachusetts in Amherst. MA, Lederle Graduate Research Center. The printed volumes include the full reprints of all cited publications

Methodical aspects of urinary metabolomics by liquid chromatography-mass spectrometry

With recent instrumental improvements, untargeted high-resolution liquid chromatography mass spectrometry (LC-MS) has been increasingly applied to the analysis of complex biological matrices such as urine. The latter is a preferred matrix in large scale metabolomics studies, because it can be obtained non-invasively in sufficient quantities. However, the widely varying concentrations of urine metabolites, mostly due to different fluid intake, pose analytical challenges, such as ion suppression, detector saturation, column overload or failure to detect low abundant metabolites. In this doctoral thesis, both targeted and untargeted analysis of urine by LC-MS was investigated to address some of these challenges. Further, the question was addressed if untargeted fingerprinting of urine specimens is adequate for the quantitative analysis of these specimens. First, five different dilution and normalization strategies of spot urinary speci-mens were compared. Specimens were adjusted either to a uniform creatinine concentration or osmolality without any further normalization of the acquired data, or they were uniformly diluted and post-acquisition normalized to creatinine, osmolality, or sum of all integrals. Spot urine specimens from both an apparently healthy cohort and two different cohorts suffering from chronic kidney disease (CKD) were investigated to test the effect of the various strategies on sample classification. The advantages of pre-acquisition dilution of urine to a fixed creatinine concentration in the acquisition of metabolite fingerprints by LC coupled to a high resolution time-of-flight mass spectrometer (LC-HRTOFMS) were demonstrated. These included the absence of significant correlations of missing values with either the original urine creatinine concentration (r = 0.216, p = 0.133) or osmolality (r = - 0.074, p = 0.608). Moreover, pre-acquisition dilution to a uniform creatinine concentration was the only method to correctly assign urine specimens of controls (national cohort, NC) and CKD patients to their respective clusters in hierarchical cluster analysis, while the other dilution and normalization methods yielded indistinct clusters. Therefore, time and labor associated with pre-acquisition dilution to a uniform creatinine concentration are more than justified. Next, a targeted liquid chromatography triple quadrupole mass spectrometry (LC-QqQMS) method for the quantification of urine metabolites associated with CKD was developed. Some of these metabolites had been identified during the testing of different pre-acquisition dilution and normalization strategies. The dynamic range of the method showed adequate sensitivity for all urine metabolites investigated. The lower limits of quantification (LLOQs) ranged between 0.04 nM to 11 nM except for creatinine (CRE), creatine (CRT), hypoxanthine (HX) and xanthurenic acid (XA), which featured LLOQs of 65.9 nM, 700 nM, 87.8 nM, and 22.0 nM, respectively. Spike-in experiments yielded recoveries of 86% to 121%. The method was applied successfully to the determination CRE, C-mannosyltryptophan (CMT) and pseudouridine (PSU) in urine (Sekula et al. 2017, Scientific Reports 7(1): 17400) and to CRE and CRT in plasma (Wallmeier et al. 2017, Journal of Proteome Research 16(4): 1784-1796). Finally, targeted and untargeted measurements of urine specimens were compared with respect to the quantitative performance of untargeted measurements. Combining both targeted and untargeted analysis of urine in a single analysis would constitute a tremendous saving of time and resources. First, calibration curves of selected metabolites were compared, measured in both full scan and MRM mode on a Bruker Maxis Impact quadrupole time-of-flight and a Sciex 4000 QTRAP mass spectrometer, respectively. The LLOQs on the former instrument ranged from 5.49 nM to 1730 nM, whereas the corresponding range on the latter instrument was 1.37 nM to 65.9 nM. The linear ranges were also narrower for the untargeted than the targeted method. Reproducibility over the linear range compared well to the targeted approach. All relative standard deviation (RSD) values for the selected metabolites were below 10%. Next, targeted and untargeted measurements of 200 CKD and 100 non-CKD urine specimens were compared to examine the quantitative performance of the untargeted platform. For the CKD samples, targeted and untargeted measurements of PSU, XA, CMT and tryptophan (TRP) yielded Spearman’s rank correlation coefficients ranging from 0.67 to 0.87, while the corresponding coefficients for urine specimens from apparently healthy individuals ranged from 0.73 to 0.95. PSU yielded consistently the weakest correlation coefficient, most likely due to matrix effects as a consequence of its low retention and, thus, co-elution with many other analytes. It is concluded, that the correlation of quantitative data gained by targeted and non-targeted analysis depends on the instruments and methods used as well as the metabolites and their abundance

Astrophysical neutrino point sources as a probe of new physics

Recently, the IceCube collaboration observed a neutrino excess in the direction of NGC 1068 with high statistical significance. This constitutes the second detection of an astrophysical neutrino point source after the discovery of a variable emission originating from the blazar TXS~0506+056. Neutrinos emitted by these sources traverse huge, well-determined distances on their way to Earth. This makes them a promising tool to test new physics in the neutrino sector. We consider secret interactions with the cosmic neutrino background and discuss their impact on the flux of neutrino point sources. The observation of emission from NGC 1068 and TXS 0506+056 can then be used to put limits on the strength of the interaction. We find that our ignorance of the absolute neutrino masses has a strong impact and, therefore, we present limits in two benchmark scenarios with the sum of the neutrino masses around their lower and upper limits.Comment: 7 pages + appendix, 5 figure