Should organic farmers be rewarded for sequestering C in soil?

The question of whether farmers, and organic farmers in particular, should be rewarded for sequestering C in soils is controversial. A review of the literature on long term experiments comparing organic and conventional systems, demonstrates that soils under organic management tend to have higher soil organic carbon (SOC) contents than conventionally managed soils. But the logistics of designing a system that compensates individual farmers for this ecosystem service are challenging. Agreements would have to be reached on the baseline system used for calculation of relative gains in SOC, values for emissions of other GHGs from soils (e.g. methane and nitrous oxide), the direct and indirect CO2 emissions associated with energy use and crop production inputs in the C sequestering system, and emissions associated with sources of SOC imported onto the farm. Alternatively, the evidence for generally higher SOC under organic management could justify an additional payment, for example under the UK Government’s Organic Entry Level Scheme

TILMAN - the final report

After five years, the TILMAN-ORG project has ended, and one of the researchers, Julia Cooper of Newcastle University, provides a final report

ANALYSIS OF NUTRACEUTICALS FOR TOXIC METALS: DEVELOPMENT AND VALIDATION OF SAMPLE PREPARATION METHOD

With increasing numbers of health-conscious consumers purchasing nutraceutical supplements, total sales in the nutrition industry have soared to over $200 billion in 2006. It is important to assess the safety of these nutraceutical products, with specific regards to toxic metals, including arsenic, cadmium, lead, and mercury. Because species of these metals may be more toxic than others, they can have hazardous health effects if ingested in excess quantities. The work described in this thesis focuses on the development of a sample preparation method for nutraceutical products, specifically ethanolic tinctures and glycerin-based matrices, and analysis of these products by inductively coupled plasma atomic emission spectrometry (ICP-AES) for toxic metal content. Botanical standard reference materials (SRMs) of Ephedra sinica stapf and Gingko biloba were analyzed for arsenic, cadmium, lead, and mercury to assess the validity of the developed sample preparation method

Reduced tillage and green manures

Julia Cooper and Oliver Crowley discuss the use of reduced tillage and green manures in organic arable and horticultural rotations

Effect of Different Types of Physical Activity on Activities of Daily Living in Older Adults : Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis

Peer reviewedPostprin

The Origin of Double-Peaked Narrow Lines in Active Galactic Nuclei III: Feedback from Biconical AGN Outflows

We apply an analytic Markov Chain Monte Carlo model to a sample of 18 AGN-driven biconical outflows that we identified from a sample of active galaxies with double-peaked narrow emission lines at z < 0.1 in the Sloan Digital Sky Survey. We find that 8/18 are best described as asymmetric bicones, 8/18 are nested bicones, and 2/18 are symmetric bicones. From the geometry and kinematics of the models, we find that these moderate-luminosity AGN outflows are large and energetic. The biconical outflows axes are randomly oriented with respect to the photometric major axis of the galaxy, implying a randomly oriented and clumpier torus to collimate the outflow, but the torus also allows some radiation to escape equatorially. We find that 16/18 (89%) outflows are energetic enough to drive a two-staged feedback process in their host galaxies. All of these outflows geometrically intersect the photometric major axis of the galaxy, and 23% of outflow host galaxies are significantly redder or have significantly lower specific star formation rates when compared to a matched sample of active galaxies.Comment: 32 pages, 11 figures, accepted for publication in MNRAS; See Figure 7 for a summary of the finding

The Telomere Bouquet Controls the Meiotic Spindle

SummaryBouquet formation, in which telomeres gather to a small region of the nuclear membrane in early meiosis, has been observed in diverse eukaryotes, but the function of the bouquet has remained a mystery. Here, we demonstrate that the telomere bouquet plays a crucial role in controlling the behavior of the fission yeast microtubule-organizing center (known as the spindle pole body or SPB) and the meiotic spindle. Using mutations that specifically disrupt the bouquet, we analyze chromosome, SPB, and spindle dynamics throughout meiosis. If the bouquet fails to form, the SPB becomes fragmented at meiosis I, leading to monopolar, multiple, and mislocalized spindles. Correct SPB and spindle behavior require not only the SPB recruitment of telomere proteins but also that the proteins are properly bound to telomeric DNA. This discovery illuminates an unanticipated level of communication between chromosomes and the spindle apparatus that may be widely conserved among eukaryotes

Facing up to the phosphorus challenge

The loss of phosphorus in exported products is a concern for all organic producers. The team of CORE Organic Project "Improve-P" assess attitudes to alternative phosphorus fertilisers among organic stakeholders. This paper reports on results collected via a questionnaire at the National Soil Symposium in Solihull, UK November 2014. 58 respondents showed a large interest in recycled P fertilisers, e.g. derived from human urine. One respondent who summed up the workshop in this way: Ultimately for sustainability we have to replace P, lost off farm but balance between purity and recycling is a difficult one. We need to focus on making best use of P reserves in soil, for example deep-rooting green manures, efficient composting, P scavenging plants, that is, getting more P into the organic fraction and sourcing less contaminated sources of P

Negotiating the Transnationality of Social Control: Stories of Immigrant Women in South Florida

Históricamente, las mujeres jóvenes han sido objeto de control social, a menudo en nombre de la filial de honor. Este artículo aborda un fenómeno en particular de este tipo de control social, cómo es experimentado por primeras y segundas generaciones de mujeres inmigrantes de Cuba y Haití que están viviendo en el Sur de la Florida de los Estados Unidos. Se explora este tema a través del análisis de historias de vida de seis mujeres inmigrantes de estos países. Los relatos biográficos de estas mujeres inmigrantes revelan cómo opera el control social en el contexto del trasnacionalismo, mediante el control de los procesos de internalización de las expectativas de género y dominando el discurso. También se discute cómo el control social manipula y limita los espacios de mujeres y opera trasnacionalmente a través de ellos desde las patrias de origen hasta las naciones de acogida. La principal conclusión del estudio es que la reubicación de la familia en los Estados Unidos con el propósito de libertad política, social, o económica no necesariamente resulta en la liberación del control social restrictivo sobre las mujeres jóvenes de esas familias de inmigrantes. La "trasnacionalidad del control social", es por lo tanto, entendida como la dominación hegemónica de los cuerpos de las mujeres y sus comportamientos a través de la mimesis de la reificación y recuerdo de los espacios de las patrias en las sociedades de acogida. URN: urn:nbn:de:0114-fqs0903142Aus historischer Sicht waren junge Frauen Objekte sozialer Kontrolle, und dies oft im Namen töchterlicher Ehre. Dieser Artikel befasst sich mit einem bestimmten Phänomen dieser sozialen Kontrolle, wie es von Immigrantinnen der ersten und zweiten Generation aus Kuba und Haiti in Südflorida in den Vereinigten Staaten erlebt wird. Wir nähern uns dieser Thematik durch die Analyse der Lebensgeschichten von sechs Immigrantinnen dieser Länder. Die biografischen Studien dieser Immigrantinnen zeigen, wie soziale Kontrolle im Zusammenhang mit Transnationalismus durch Kontrollprozesse, Verinnerlichung von geschlechtsspezifischen Erwartungen und dominantem Diskurs operiert. Zudem wird dargelegt, wie soziale Kontrolle weiblichen Raum manipuliert und begrenzt und über Räume auf transnationale Weise von den Heimatländern zu den Gastgeberländern agiert. Das zentrale Ergebnis der Studie ist, dass die Umsiedlung einer Familie in die Vereinigten Staaten, um politische, soziale oder ökonomische Freiheit zu erlangen, nicht zwangsläufig zur Befreiung aus der restriktiven sozialen Kontrolle der jungen Frauen aus solchen Immigrant/innenfamilien führt. Der "Transnationalismus der sozialen Kontrolle" wird daher als die hegemonische Domination von weiblichen Körpern und Verhaltensweisen durch die Mimesis von vergegenständlichten und erinnerten Räumen der Heimatländer in den Gastgebergesellschaften verstanden. URN: urn:nbn:de:0114-fqs0903142Historically, young women have been the object of social control, often in the name of filial honor. This article addresses a particular phenomenon of such social control as it is experienced by first- and second-generation female immigrants from Cuba and Haiti who are living in South Florida in the United States. This theme is explored by analyzing the life stories of six immigrants from these countries. The biographical stories of immigrant women reveal how social control operates in the context of transnationalism through controlling processes, internalization of gender expectations, and dominating discourse. It is also argued how social control manipulates and restricts female spaces and operates across spaces in a transnational manner from homelands to host nations. The main conclusion of the study is that a family's relocation to the United States for the purpose of political, social, or economic freedom does not necessarily result in liberation from restrictive social control for young women from such immigrant families. The "transnationality of social control" is therefore understood as the hegemonic domination of female bodies and behaviors through the mimesis of reified and remembered spaces of homelands in host societies. URN: urn:nbn:de:0114-fqs090314