Interview with Richard Grimm

Dick Grimm talks about mushroom farming.https://digital.kenyon.edu/lak_interviews/1023/thumbnail.jp

The relationship of marine stratus to synoptic conditions

The marine stratus which persistently covered most of the eastern Pacific Ocean, had large clear areas during the FIRE Intensive Field Operations (IFO) in 1987. Clear zones formed inside the large oceanic cloud mass on almost every day during the IFO. The location and size of the clear zones varied from day to day implying that they were related to dynamic weather conditions and not to oceanic conditions. Forecasting of cloud cover for aircraft operations during the IFO was directed towards predicting when and where the clear and broken zones would form inside the large marine stratus cloud mass. The clear zones often formed to the northwest of the operations area and moved towards it. However, on some days the clear zones appeared to form during the day in the operations area as part of the diurnal cloud burn off. The movement of the clear zones from day to day were hard to follow because of the large diurnal changes in cloud cover. Clear and broken cloud zones formed during the day only to distort in shape and fill during the following night. The field forecasters exhibited some skill in predicting when the clear and broken cloud patterns would form in the operations area. They based their predictions on the analysis and simulations of the models run by NOAA's Numeric Meteorological Center. How the atmospheric conditions analyzed by one NOAA/NMC model related to the cloud cover is discussed

Erfolgreiche Bekämpfung des Apfelschorfs mit Kalziumhydroxid

In an attempt to control scab, a 12-year-old apple orchard was treated with suspensions of 5 g/l hydrated lime (Ca(OH)2) using overhead irrigation for 15 min. No other fungicides were used. In treatment A, irrigation was started when infection according to Mills had taken place. In treatments B and C, treatment was delayed by 6 h and 20 h, respectively. Irrigation was initiated when the scab warning system signaled even very low infection risk, and a total of 62 treatments were applied. At harvest, the fruits of ‘Golden Delicious’ and ‘Jonagold’ varieties of untreated controls were scabbed, while those of ‘Elstar’, ‘Fiesta’, and ‘Kent’ had no visible scab symptoms. During both conventional and ULO storage for 7.5 months, all control fruits developed scab symptoms. All fruits from A, B, and C treatments were free of scab at harvest and after storage. All control trees had scabbed leaves at harvest time; treated trees were free of scab on their upper leaf surfaces, while up to 15% of the leaves had at least one scab lesion on their lower surfaces. This was attributed to poor wetting of these surfaces by sprinkler irrigation, while the fruits and upper leaf surfaces were fully covered with hydrated lime suspensions. At harvest, leaves and fruits were covered with whitish calcium carbonate residues which could be removed by a brief dip in 20 g/l aqueous citric acid. There were no signs of phytotoxicity on either leaves or fruits

Successful control of apple scab with hydrated lime

In an attempt to control scab, a 12-year-old apple orchard was treated with suspensions of 5 g/l hydrated lime (Ca(OH)2) using overhead irrigation for 15 min. No other fungicides were used. In treatment A, irrigation was started when infection according to Mills had taken place. In treatments B and C, treatment was delayed by 6 h and 20 h, respectively. Irrigation was initiated when the scab warning system signaled even very low infection risk, and a total of 62 treatments were applied. At harvest, the fruits of ‘Golden Delicious’ and ‘Jonagold’ varieties of untreated controls were scabbed, while those of ‘Elstar’, ‘Fiesta’, and ‘Kent’ had no visible scab symptoms. During both conventional and ULO storage for 7.5 months, all control fruits developed scab symptoms. All fruits from A, B, and C treatments were free of scab at harvest and after storage. All control trees had scabbed leaves at harvest time; treated trees were free of scab on their upper leaf surfaces, while up to 15% of the leaves had at least one scab lesion on their lower surfaces. This was attributed to poor wetting of these surfaces by sprinkler irrigation, while the fruits and upper leaf surfaces were fully covered with hydrated lime suspensions. At harvest, leaves and fruits were covered with whitish calcium carbonate residues which could be removed by a brief dip in 20 g/l aqueous citric acid. There were no signs of phytotoxicity on either leaves or fruits

Geometric quantum gate for trapped ions based on optical dipole forces induced by Gaussian laser beams

We present an implementation of quantum logic gates via internal state dependent displacements of ions in a linear Paul trap caused by optical dipole forces. Based on a general quantum analysis of the system dynamics we consider specific implementations with alkaline earth ions. For experimentally realistic parameters gate infidelities as low as $10^{-4}$ can be obtained.Comment: 10 pages, 4 figure

NTRC and TRX-f Coordinately Affect the Levels of Enzymes of Chlorophyll Biosynthesis in a Light-Dependent Manner

This article was supported by the German Research Foundation (DFG) and the Open Access Publication Fund of Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin.Redox regulation of plastid gene expression and different metabolic pathways promotes many activities of redox-sensitive proteins. We address the question of how the plastid redox state and the contributing reducing enzymes control the enzymes of tetrapyrrole biosynthesis (TBS). In higher plants, this metabolic pathway serves to produce chlorophyll and heme, among other essential end products. Because of the strictly light-dependent synthesis of chlorophyll, tight control of TBS requires a diurnal balanced supply of the precursor 5-aminolevulinic acid (ALA) to prevent the accumulation of photoreactive metabolic intermediates in darkness. We report on some TBS enzymes that accumulate in a light intensity-dependent manner, and their contents decrease under oxidizing conditions of darkness, low light conditions, or in the absence of NADPH-dependent thioredoxin reductase (NTRC) and thioredoxin f1 (TRX-f1). Analysis of single and double trxf1 and ntrc mutants revealed a decreased content of the early TBS enzymes glutamyl-tRNA reductase (GluTR) and 5-aminolevulinic acid dehydratase (ALAD) instead of an exclusive decrease in enzyme activity. This effect was dependent on light conditions and strongly attenuated after transfer to high light intensities. Thus, it is suggested that a deficiency of plastid-localized thiol-redox transmitters leads to enhanced degradation of TBS enzymes rather than being directly caused by lower catalytic activity. The effects of the proteolytic activity of the Clp protease on TBS enzymes were studied by using Clp subunit-deficient mutants. The simultaneous lack of TRX and Clp activities in double mutants confirms the Clp-induced degradation of some TBS proteins in the absence of reductive activity of TRXs. In addition, we verified previous observations that decreased chlorophyll and heme levels in ntrc could be reverted to WT levels in the ntrc/Δ2cp triple mutant. The decreased synthesis of 5-aminolevulinic acid and porphobilinogen in ntrc was completely restored in ntrc/Δ2cp and correlated with WT-like levels of GluTR, ALAD, and other TBS proteins

Trapping of Rb atoms by ac electric fields

We demonstrate trapping of an ultracold gas of neutral atoms in a macroscopic ac electric trap. Three-dimensional confinement is obtained by switching between two saddle-point configurations of the electric field. Stable trapping is observed in a narrow range of switching frequencies around 60 Hz. The dynamic confinement of the atoms is directly visualized at different phases of the ac switching cycle. We observe about 10^5 Rb atoms in the 1 mm^3 large and several microkelvins deep trap with a lifetime of approximately 5 s.Comment: 4 pages, 4 figures; updated version, added journal referenc

Safe Handling and Deep-discharging of End-of-Life Battery Modules during Battery Disassembly

Achieving a circular economy for batteries requires further technological advances to handle the volumes and diversity of returned batteries. A key challenge is considering the safety of handling these batteries in the disassembly process and their partial reuse in second-life applications. In the case of the secondary use of battery systems, fast and safe electrical diagnosis of returned batteries during the disassembly process is necessary. When selectively reusing cells in a module, the damaged or aged cells must be deactivated. For possible recycling of the complete module, the batteries must be deep-discharged, which can potentially lead to a dangerous reversal of cell polarity if different cell conditions exist within the module. In this work, a contacting unit is proposed to enable fast diagnosis, safe discharge of single cells in the module, and deep discharge of the complete module. This technology represents an essential building block for the economic disassembly as part of a circular economy for batteries

Konjunktur zwischen geldpolitischer Dämpfung und Hoffnung auf den gemeinsamen Markt: Thesen zum 39. Kieler Konjunkturgespräch

Inhaltsverzeichnis: I. Kräftiger Aufschwung in den Industrieländern (S. 3). II. Geldpolitischer Kurswechsel (S. 4). III. Finanzpolitik in etwa konjunkturneutral (S. 7). IV. Kostendruck verstärkt sich (S. 9). V. Produktionsanstieg schwächt sich ab (S. 10). VI. Nachhaltig stärkere Wachstumsdynamik? (S. 14). VII. EG 1992: Impulse für rascheres Wachstum und mehr Arbeitsplätze (S. 17). Literaturverzeichnis (S. 23)