The Farm as an Enterprise – The European Perspective

Farming conditions in Europe are changing substantially. The liberalisation of agricultural commodity markets is accompanied by an increasing societal demand for environmental services to be provided by the farming sector. Significant changes are necessary to enable the farming sector to cope with these challenges. The paper describes some general developments of the past and outlines perspectives for the future. Explicit consideration is given to the future of single ownership family farms on one hand, and the perspectives and structural requirements of large scale farming in crop and livestock production on the other hand. The analysis shows that the future competitiveness of the European farming sector largely depends on political decisions. Given the romantic views of the majority of the population as well as many politicians it is everything but certain that the agricultural policy will provide the basis for an economically efficient and therefore globally competitive farming sector in Europe.Agricultural and Food Policy, Farm Management,

Omar und Leila : eine romantische Oper in 3 Acten / in Musik gesetzt von F. E. Fesca. [Text] von L. Robert. Vollst. vom Comp. verfertigter Clavierausz.

INHALT Atto I Overtura 1. Intr. Rec . ed Aria. lch fürcht' euch nicht, ihr Götter. 2. Rec. Aria e Coro. Genossen der Nacht ! 3. Romanze. Dort in der Laub' am Gitter 4. Terzetto e Coro. Meine Taube ! 5. Duetto . Zerbinchen, Zerbinchen! 6. Finale. Leela, hör' ! Atto II 7. Aria e Coro. Leise von Ort zu Ort 8. Rec. ed Aria. Wär sie am Leben nur 9. Aria. Die Katz' die in die Küche kommt 10. Cavatina. 11. Terzetto e Coro. Herbei, ihr Geister 12. Duetto e Coro. Hört uns da unten! 13. Finale. Nein,nein! wenn ich von hier Atto III 14. Intr. Aria con Coro. Habt ihr das Werk begonnen? 15. Marcia e Coro . Der Gott der Schlachten 16. Romanze. Wenn ich mich peinlich quäle 17. Rec. e Quintetto. Nein, du kennst nicht meine Leiden! 18. Duetto. Bist du's der mich einst entzückte? 19. Aria con Coro. Herbei, ihr Geister! 20. Finale. Omar! höre! 21. Aria (eingelegt.) Ihr erhabnen Himmelsmächt

Light shifts in atomic Bragg diffraction

Bragg diffraction of an atomic wave packet in a retroreflective geometry with two counterpropagating optical lattices exhibits a light shift induced phase. We show that the temporal shape of the light pulse determines the behavior of this phase shift: In contrast to Raman diffraction, Bragg diffraction with Gaussian pulses leads to a significant suppression of the intrinsic phase shift due to a scaling with the third power of the inverse Doppler frequency. However, for box-shaped laser pulses, the corresponding shift is twice as large as for Raman diffraction. Our results are based on approximate, but analytical expressions as well as a numerical integration of the corresponding Schr\"odinger equation.Comment: 6 pages, 5 figure

Optical analogue gravity physics : resonant radiation

Data from figures 3–5 available at: https://osf.io/h4u8k Funding: UK ESPRC Grant No. EP/N509759/1.The photonic crystal fiber (PCF) is a unique medium giving us the opportunity to perform experiments in carefully chosen regimes with precision and control. Using PCFs, we can perform analogue gravity experiments to study the physics of Hawking radiation and related processes such as resonant radiation. We discuss the similarities and differences between these processes and experimentally investigate the limits of effects of this type, discovering a new regime of record efficiency. We measure a 60% energy conversion efficiency from a pump to a visible femtosecond pulse by the process of resonant radiation, and demonstrate its extraordinary tunability in wavelength and bandwidth. Beyond analogue gravity, these femtosecond visible pulses provide a desirable laser source useful across a variety of modern scientific fields.PostprintPeer reviewe

Determination of islet cell antibodies using an ELISA system with a preparation of rat insulinoma (RIN A2) cells

An enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) was established for the detection of islet cell antibodies in human sera. The antigen was prepared from rat insulinoma (RIN A2) cells. Cells were dissociated in lysis buffer and the lysate was centrifuged at 100,000 x g. The supernatant was used to coat microtiter ELISA plates (10 micrograms protein/ml in PBS pH 7.2). Non-specific binding sites on the plates were blocked with 2% PBS-BSA. Human test sera were preabsorbed on separate plates using 2% PBS-BSA and incubated on precoated plates at an optimal dilution of 1/10 in 60 mM PBS for 60 min at 37 degrees C. Phosphatase-labeled anti-human IgG serum and phosphatase substrate were applied and the reaction was stopped by adding 3 M NaOH. Out of 90 sera from type I diabetic patients, 47 (52.2%) reacted in the new ELISA whereas none of 15 type II diabetics, 50 sera containing non-islet specific antibodies or 100 normal controls were positive. In the same group of patients, ICA were positive in 63.3%. When both, the ELISA and conventional ICA testing were applied, the number of positives was increased to 83%. The ICA-ELISA with the above described antigen preparation provides a well standardized and reproducible test method which is highly specific for type I diabetes. It may therefore be useful for large screening procedures

The β Subunit of the Na+/K+-ATPase Follows the Conformational State of the Holoenzyme

The Na+/K+-ATPase is a ubiquitous plasma membrane ion pump that utilizes ATP hydrolysis to regulate the intracellular concentration of Na+ and K+. It is comprised of at least two subunits, a large catalytic α subunit that mediates ATP hydrolysis and ion transport, and an ancillary β subunit that is required for proper trafficking of the holoenzyme. Although processes mediated by the α subunit have been extensively studied, little is known about the participation of the β subunit in conformational changes of the enzyme. To elucidate the role of the β subunit during ion transport, extracellular amino acids proximal to the transmembrane region of the sheep β1 subunit were individually replaced for cysteines. This enabled sulfhydryl-specific labeling with the environmentally sensitive fluorescent dye tetramethylrhodamine-6-maleimide (TMRM) upon expression in Xenopus oocytes. Investigation by voltage-clamp fluorometry identified three reporter positions on the β1 subunit that responded with fluorescence changes to alterations in ionic conditions and/or membrane potential. These experiments for the first time show real-time detection of conformational rearrangements of the Na+/K+-ATPase through a fluorophore-labeled β subunit. Simultaneous recording of presteady-state or stationary currents together with fluorescence signals enabled correlation of the observed environmental changes of the β subunit to certain reaction steps of the Na+/K+-ATPase, which involve changes in the occupancy of the two principle conformational states, E1P and E2P. From these experiments, evidence is provided that the β1-S62C mutant can be directly used to monitor the conformational state of the enzyme, while the F64C mutant reveals a relaxation process that is triggered by sodium transport but evolves on a much slower time scale. Finally, shifts in voltage dependence and kinetics observed for mutant K65C show that this charged lysine residue, which is conserved in β1 isoforms, directly influences the effective potential that determines voltage dependence of extracellular cation binding and release