Forward pi^0-meson production at HERA

The production of high transverse momentum piz^0-mesons has been measured in deep-inelastic e-p scattering events at low Bjorken-$x$ taken with the H1 detector at HERA. The production of high p_T particles is strongly correlated to the emission of hard partons in QCD and is therefore sensitive to the dynamics of the strong interaction. For the first time the measurement of single particles has been extended to the region of small angles w.r.t. the proton remnant (forward region) and down to very low values of x ~ 5x10^-5. This region is expected to be particularly sensitive to QCD evolution effects in final states. Differential cross sections of inclusive pi^0-meson production have been measured as a function of Bjorken-x and the four-momentum transfer Q^2, and also as a function of the transverse momentum and the polar angle of the pi^0-mesons. A recent BFKL calculation and QCD models based on the DGLAP splitting functions are compared to the data. The best description of the data is achieved by the BFKL calculation.Comment: 3 pages, 2 figures, talk given on behalf of the H1 collaboration at DIS99, Zeuthe

Ackerwildkrautschutz in Luxemburg durch Schutzäcker, Feldflorareservate und Ökologische Landwirtschaft

Arable plants are becoming increasingly rare in today's cultural landscape and belong to the most endangered plant species in Luxemburg. Their main threat is the intensification of agriculture, where high usage of pesticides and fertilizer, better seed cleaning methods and the abandonment of marginal yield sites all negatively affect arable plant communities. Another factor is the loss of (potential) habitat due to the expansion of settlements and subsequent loss of agricultural lands. The dire situation calls for urgent action. Within the framework of the bachelor thesis of the first author, a concept for the protection of arable plants in Luxembourg was developed. The following article describes and discusses the four most promising applied approaches to arable plant conservation identified in the course of this work, namely organic farming, two types of “conservation fields” (“Schutzacker” and “Feldflorareservat”) and pesticide-free field margins

The effect of crop residues, cover crops, manures and nitrogen fertilization on soil organic carbon changes in agroecosystems: a synthesis of reviews

International initiatives are emphasizing the capture of atmospheric CO2 in soil organic C (SOC) to reduce the climatic footprint from agroecosystems. One approach to quantify the contribution of management practices towards that goal is through analysis of long-term experiments (LTEs). Our objectives were to analyze knowledge gained in literature reviews on SOC changes in LTEs, to evaluate the results regarding interactions with pedo-climatological factors, and to discuss disparities among reviews in data selection criteria. We summarized mean response ratios (RRs) and stock change rate (SCR) effect size indices from twenty reviews using paired comparisons (N). The highest RRs were found with manure applications (30%, N = 418), followed by aboveground crop residue retention and the use of cover crops (9–10%, N = 995 and 129), while the effect of nitrogen fertilization was lowest (6%, N = 846). SCR for nitrogen fertilization exceeded that for aboveground crop residue retention (233 versus 117 kg C ha−1 year−1, N = 183 and 279) and was highest for manure applications and cover crops (409 and 331 kg C ha−1 year−1, N = 217 and 176). When data allows, we recommend calculating both RR and SCR because it improves the interpretation. Our synthesis shows that results are not always consistent among reviews and that interaction with texture and climate remain inconclusive. Selection criteria for study durations are highly variable, resulting in irregular conclusions for the effect of time on changes in SOC. We also discuss the relationships of SOC changes with yield and cropping systems, as well as conceptual problems when scaling-up results obtained from field studies to regional levels

Karlstadter Positionspapier zum Schutz der Ackerwildkräuter. Erarbeitet von den Teilnehmerinnen und Teilnehmern der "Tagung zum Schutz der Ackerwildflora" am 25./26.6.2004 in Karlstadt am Main

Der Erhalt von Ackerwildkräutern, die historisch erst mit der Landbewirtschaftung in Mitteleuropa heimisch geworden sind, ist eine Kulturaufgabe, damit auch künftige Generationen die Arten- und Farbenvielfalt in der Kulturlandschaft erleben können

Carbenoxolone induced depression of rhythmogenesis in the pre-Bötzinger Complex

This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution Licens

Precondition Inference via Partitioning of Initial States

Precondition inference is a non-trivial task with several applications in program analysis and verification. We present a novel iterative method for automatically deriving sufficient preconditions for safety and unsafety of programs which introduces a new dimension of modularity. Each iteration maintains over-approximations of the set of \emph{safe} and \emph{unsafe} \emph{initial} states. Then we repeatedly use the current abstractions to partition the program's \emph{initial} states into those known to be safe, known to be unsafe and unknown, and construct a revised program focusing on those initial states that are not yet known to be safe or unsafe. An experimental evaluation of the method on a set of software verification benchmarks shows that it can solve problems which are not solvable using previous methods.Comment: 19 pages, 8 figure

Review of Top Quark Physics Results

As the heaviest known fundamental particle, the top quark has taken a central role in the study of fundamental interactions. Production of top quarks in pairs provides an important probe of strong interactions. The top quark mass is a key fundamental parameter which places a valuable constraint on the Higgs boson mass and electroweak symmetry breaking. Observations of the relative rates and kinematics of top quark final states constrain potential new physics. In many cases, the tests available with study of the top quark are both critical and unique. Large increases in data samples from the Fermilab Tevatron have been coupled with major improvements in experimental techniques to produce many new precision measurements of the top quark. The first direct evidence for electroweak production of top quarks has been obtained, with a resulting direct determination of $V_{tb}$. Several of the properties of the top quark have been measured. Progress has also been made in obtaining improved limits on potential anomalous production and decay mechanisms. This review presents an overview of recent theoretical and experimental developments in this field. We also provide a brief discussion of the implications for further efforts.Comment: 119 pages, 55 figure

Measurement of the forward-backward asymmetries for charm- and bottom-quark pair productions at <s><\sqrt{s}>=58GeV with electron tagging

We have measured, with electron tagging, the forward-backward asymmetries of charm- and bottom-quark pair productions at $$=58.01GeV, based on 23,783 hadronic events selected from a data sample of 197pb$^{-1}$ taken with the TOPAZ detector at TRISTAN. The measured forward-backward asymmetries are $A_{FB}^c = -0.49 \pm 0.20(stat.) \pm 0.08 (sys.)$ and $A_{FB}^b = -0.64 \pm 0.35(stat.) \pm 0.13 (sys.)$, which are consistent with the standard model predictions.Comment: 19 pages, Latex format (article), 5 figures included. to be published in Phys. Lett.