Antarctic Sea Ice variations 1973 - 1975

Variations in the extent and concentration of sea ice cover on the Southern Ocean are described for the three-year period 1973-75 using information derived from the Nimbus-5 passive microwave imager

Colza – La discipline reine des grandes cultures bio

La culture du colza est risquée mais intéressante: elle permet de réaliser une marge brute aussi élevée qu’avec du blé. Et la demande d’huile de colza pressée à froid est nettement supérieure à l’offre. Les temps sont donc favorables pour ceux qui – bien préparés – désirent s’attaquer à la «discipline reine» des grandes cultures biologiques. Depuis 2005, la surface des cultures biologiques de colza a passé en Suisse de 5 à 150 hectares. Une histoire à succès qui continue: les coopératives Biofarm et PROGANA cherchent de nouveaux producteurs pour couvrir la demande durablement forte d’huile de colza biologique pressée à froid

Raps – die Königsdisziplin im Bioackerbau

Der Rapsanbau ist risikobehaftet, aber durchaus interessant: Es lässt sich ein ähnlich hoher Deckungsbeitrag erwirtschaften wie mit Weizen. Und die Nachfrage nach kalt gepresstem Biorapsöl übersteigt das Angebot deutlich. Gute Zeiten für Einsteigerinnen und Einsteiger die sich – gut vorbereitet – an die «Königsdisziplin» des Bioackerbaus wagen wollen. Die Anbaufläche von Bioraps in der Schweiz konnte seit dem Jahr 2000 von 5 auf 150 Hektaren gesteigert werden. Eine Erfolgsgeschichte mit Fortsetzung: Die Biofarm Genossenschaft sucht weitere Produzenten, um die anhaltend grosse Nachfrage nach kalt gepresstem Biorapsöl zu decken

Skylab floating ice experiment

The author has identified the following significant results. Coupling of the aircraft data with the ground truth observations proved to be highly successful with interesting results being obtained with IR and SLAR passive microwave techniques, and standard photography. Of particular interest were the results of the PMIS system which operated at 10.69 GHz with both vertical and horizontal polarizations. This was the first time that dual polarized images were obtained from floating ice. In both sea and lake ice, it was possible to distinguish a wide variety of thin ice types because of their large differences in brightness temperatures. It was found that the higher brightness temperature was invariably obtained in the vertically polarized mode, and as the age of the ice increases the brightness temperature increases in both polarizations. Associated with this change in age, the difference in temperature was observed as the different polarizations decreased. It appears that the horizontally polarized data is the most sensitive to variations in ice type for both fresh water and sea ice. The study also showed the great amount of information on ice surface roughness and deformation patterns that can be obtained from X-band SLAR observations

Ökologische Fallenwirkung von einjährigen Blühstreifen – Laufkäfer als Ökozeiger

Werden Blühstreifen von Nützlingen und Bestäubern als Nistplatz gebraucht, könnte ein Umbrechen zu einer Zerstörung der Nachkommen führen. Dies würde den Blühstreifen zu einer ökologischen Falle machen. In der vorliegenden Studie konnte die Hypothese einer ökologischen Falle für Nützlinge und Bestäuber jedoch nicht bestätigt werden. Es wurden 35 verschiedene Arten Laufkäfer gefangen, sechs davon stehen auf der Roten Liste

The state and perspectives of development of the domestic shipbuilding in the North in the first half of the 19th century through the eyes of provincial officials (data of the State Archive of the Arkhangelsk region)

Based on the data from the State Archive of the Arkhangelsk Region, the article assesses the status of merchant and folk Pomor shipbuilding in the North in the 20th century. The key method of the research is the induction method, which is actively used in the historical school of economics, which set as its goal, including the analysis of specific economic situations in a state at a certain stage of its historical de-velopment. During the process of research, the analysis has been made of the certain cases and documents of the Arkhangelsk Society for the Study of the Russian North, as well as historical reviews of the Arkhangelsk Governorate Statistical Committee. The conclusion was made overall about the negative perception of regional authorities of the level of development of commodity turnover in the Empire, the absence of high-quality “logistics,” bureaucratic red tape, legal barriers to support shipbuilders, as well as technological advantages of foreign fishing vessels. A constructive reform of the regional authorities in the second half of the 19th century meant the plan for the development of road infrastructure between Arkhangelsk and the town of Povenets in the Olonets Province (Governorate), the development of skipper courses, the creation of a typical improved model of a karbas and a cargo schooner for training future shipbuilders, skippers

Synovial hemangioma of the knee joint in a 12-year-old boy: a case report

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Introduction</p> <p>Synovial hemangioma is a rare condition and is frequently misdiagnosed, leading to a diagnostic delay of many years.</p> <p>Case presentation</p> <p>We present a case of an atypical synovial hemangioma in a 12-year-old Caucasian boy with a diagnostic delay of 3 years.</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>It is important to know that synovial hemangioma mostly affects the knee joint, showing recurrent bloody effusions without a history of trauma. If there are no intermittent effusions, the diagnosis will be even more difficult. In cases of nonspecific symptoms and longstanding knee pain the diagnosis of a synovial hemangioma should also be considered in order to avoid diagnostic delay. Magnetic resonance imaging is the main diagnostic tool to evaluate patients with synovial hemangioma, showing characteristic lace-like or linear patterns.</p> <p>Angiography can identify feeder vessels and offers the possibility of embolisation in the same setting. Surgical excision, either done per arthroscopy or per arthrotomy, is recommended as soon as possible to avoid the risk of damage to the cartilage.</p

Existing benchmark systems for assessing global warming potential of buildings – Analysis of IEA EBC Annex 72 cases

Life cycle assessment (LCA) is increasingly being used as a tool by the building industry and actors to assess the global warming potential (GWP) of building activities. In several countries, life cycle based requirements on GWP are currently being incorporated into building regulations. After the establishment of general calculation rules for building LCA, a crucial next step is to evaluate the performance of the specific building design. For this, reference values or benchmarks are needed, but there are several approaches to defining these. This study presents an overview of existing benchmark systems documented in seventeen cases from the IEA EBC Annex 72 project on LCA of buildings. The study characterizes their different types of methodological background and displays the reported values. Full life cycle target values for residential and non-residential buildings are found around 10-20 kg CO$_2$e/m$^2$/y, whereas reference values are found between 20-80 kg CO$_2$e/m$^2$/y. Possible embodied target- and reference values are found between 1-12 kg CO$_2$e/m$^2$/y for both residential and non-residential buildings. Benchmark stakeholders can use the insights from this study to understand the justifications of the background methodological choices and to gain an overview of the level of GWP performance across benchmark systems

From DNA sequence to application: possibilities and complications

The development of sophisticated genetic tools during the past 15 years have facilitated a tremendous increase of fundamental and application-oriented knowledge of lactic acid bacteria (LAB) and their bacteriophages. This knowledge relates both to the assignments of open reading frames (ORF’s) and the function of non-coding DNA sequences. Comparison of the complete nucleotide sequences of several LAB bacteriophages has revealed that their chromosomes have a fixed, modular structure, each module having a set of genes involved in a specific phase of the bacteriophage life cycle. LAB bacteriophage genes and DNA sequences have been used for the construction of temperature-inducible gene expression systems, gene-integration systems, and bacteriophage defence systems. The function of several LAB open reading frames and transcriptional units have been identified and characterized in detail. Many of these could find practical applications, such as induced lysis of LAB to enhance cheese ripening and re-routing of carbon fluxes for the production of a specific amino acid enantiomer. More knowledge has also become available concerning the function and structure of non-coding DNA positioned at or in the vicinity of promoters. In several cases the mRNA produced from this DNA contains a transcriptional terminator-antiterminator pair, in which the antiterminator can be stabilized either by uncharged tRNA or by interaction with a regulatory protein, thus preventing formation of the terminator so that mRNA elongation can proceed. Evidence has accumulated showing that also in LAB carbon catabolite repression in LAB is mediated by specific DNA elements in the vicinity of promoters governing the transcription of catabolic operons. Although some biological barriers have yet to be solved, the vast body of scientific information presently available allows the construction of tailor-made genetically modified LAB. Today, it appears that societal constraints rather than biological hurdles impede the use of genetically modified LAB.

Comparison of the greenhouse gas emissions of a high-rise residential building assessed with different national LCA approaches – IEA EBC Annex 72

Introduction: The international research project IEA EBC Annex 72 investigates the life cycle related environmental impacts caused by buildings. The project aims inter alia to harmonise LCA approaches on buildings. Methods: To identify major commonalities and discrepancies among national LCA approaches, reference buildings were defined to present and compare the national approaches. A residential high-rise building located in Tianjin, China, was selected as one of the reference buildings. The main construction elements are reinforced concrete shear walls, beams and floor slabs. The building has an energy reference area of 4566 m2 and an operational heating energy demand of 250 MJ/m2a. An expert team provided information on the quantities of building materials and elements required for the construction, established a BIM model and quantified the operational energy demand. Results: The greenhouse gas emissions and environmental impacts of the building were quantified using 17 country-specific national assessment methods and LCA databases. Comparisons of the results are shown on the level of building elements as well as the complete life cycle of the building. Conclusions: The results of these assessments show that the main differences lie in the LCA background data used, the scope of the assessment and the reference study period applied. Despite the variability in the greenhouse gas emissions determined with the 17 national methods, the individual results are relevant in the respective national context of the method, data, tool and benchmark used. It is important that environmental benchmarks correspond to the particular LCA approach and database of a country in which the benchmark is applied. Furthermore, the results imply to include building technologies as their contribution to the overall environmental impacts is not negligible. Grant support: The authors thank the IEA for its organizational support and the funding organizations in the participating countries for their financial support.IEA -International Energy Agency(undefined