Greenhouse gas emissions of regionally produced alternative feedstuffs rich in protein for Austrian dairy production

The aim of this study was to analyse the potential greenhouse gas emissions (GHGE) of locally and regionally produced, alternative protein‐rich feedstuffs (APRFs) which can be utilised in dairy cattle feeding as compared to extracted soybean meal (SBME) in a complete life‐cycle chain for Austria. In addition to GHGE from soil (N2O), from the production of mineral fertilizers and pesticides, industrial processes (oil milling, distillery, and drying plant) and use of fuels, the effects of land use change (LUC) were included in the calculation of GHGE. Currently, SBME, which is mainly imported from South‐America, is the most important protein feedstuff for livestock in Austria, but recently it was started to replace it by APRFs in diets for dairy cows for various reasons. In this study, the GHGE of SBME was compared to those of regionally cultivated and locally processed APRFs. Furthermore, mixtures of APRFs were evaluated which provided energy and available protein equivalent to one kg of SBME. In conclusion, utilisation of more locally produced APRFs shows clear advantages in terms of GHGE. Balanced mixtures of APRFs may offer specific benefits in this regard. On average of all four balanced mixtures of APRFs presented in this study, they result in a reduction of GHGE of about 55% as compared to SBME

Hunter-Gatherer-Annotator science : characterizing regulatory elements in the genome of dog and zebrafish with public and not yet public data

In order to study gene regulation, large amounts of sequencing data are necessary. We can either generate (hunt) them ourselves or use (gather) publicly available data sets. In order to guarantee the reliability and reusability of the hunted and gathered data, we need to also annotate them with the correct metadata. In this thesis, I will touch on all three of these aspects. I was part of two international consortia which applied these approaches to two different model organisms. The DANIO-CODE consortium was initiated to systematically annotate the zebrafish genome. Similarly, the Dog Genome Annotation (DoGA) project aims to improve the annotation of genomic elements in the dog genome. Both zebrafish and dogs are popular model organisms for studying biological processes and pathologies in humans. Despite their popularity, both organisms lack a large-scale annotation of regulatory elements. Before analyzing any data, we designed an annotation structure that captures all aspects of a sequencing experiment that are essential for the processing and analysis of the data. We implemented this structure in a web-platform, which allows easy upload, query, and download of the sequencing data and associated metadata. We present the structure and implementation in Study I, which also contains a comparison to similar and well-established annotation schemata. We use this annotation structure and the web platform for Study II to collect sequencing data from 1,803 samples from 38 different research groups looking from transcriptomic, epigenomic, and methylomic perspectives at different stages of zebrafish development. We identified more than 140,000 new cis-regulatory elements active during development and provide them together with the sequencing data and genome browser tracks as a resource for the community. In Study III, we present a biobank for dog tissues established for the DoGA consortium. For both Study III and Study IV, we used 88 and 37 tissues from the biobank, respectively, to catalog promoter regions and their tissue activity using STRT and CAGE-seq. In Study III we also present the web-platform, based on the structure in Study I, where we make the data and the corresponding metadata available. In Study IV, we used the data from CAGE-seq to also identify active enhancer regions and their corresponding tissue activity. We identify regulatory networks between enhancers and promoters and show their conservation in human

Greenhouse Gas Emissions of Organic and Conventional Foodstuffs in Austria

The consumer´s choice in quality of foodstuffs can influence GHG-emissions from the food sector. Organic agriculture is discussed as a possible way to reduce GHG-emissions. However the amount of reducing CO2eq per kg of organic products is unclear especially under supermarket conditions. The primary goal of the present study was to compare greenhouse gas emissions (CO2-eq) of organic foodstuffs with conventionally grown ones. All balanced foodstuffs are retail products, processed and marketed by nationwide supermarket companies in Austria

CO2-eq-emissions of organic and conventional foodstuffs in Austria

To date 74 products (in each case KONV, Bio-ZZU and, in part Bio-EU) have been evaluated: dairy products (47 products), fruit and vegetables (currently 15 products), bread products (currently 12 products). This summary only presents the results of selected products in the KONV and Bio-ZZU categories

Bewertung der sozialen Nachhaltigkeit von Lebensmittel-Bereitstellungsketten – Überlegungen zur Eignung von LCA-Ansätzen

Der Beitrag stellt einen quantitativen LCA-basierten methodischen Ansatz vor, um wesentliche Aspekte sozialer Nachhaltigkeit von Lebensmittel-Bereitstellungsketten zu analysieren. Dabei wird für alle betrachteten Indikatoren ein gemeinsamer Wirkungsindikatorwert (Zeit je kg Produkt), gewichtet mit Lebens- und Arbeitsqualität von Arbeitsschritten, verwendet. Dies erlaubt eine Integration zentraler sozialer Wirkungen und ermöglicht eine Darstellung von Unterschieden in Lebensmittel-Wertschöpfungsketten, einschließlich Faktoren wie ökologische und herkömmliche Bewirtschaftung, unterschiedliche Arbeitsbedingungen oder Unterschiede bei Mitspracherechten von Arbeitnehmern

*-DCC: A platform to collect, annotate, and explore a large variety of sequencing experiments.

BackgroundOver the past few years the variety of experimental designs and protocols for sequencing experiments increased greatly. To ensure the wide usability of the produced data beyond an individual project, rich and systematic annotation of the underlying experiments is crucial.FindingsWe first developed an annotation structure that captures the overall experimental design as well as the relevant details of the steps from the biological sample to the library preparation, the sequencing procedure, and the sequencing and processed files. Through various design features, such as controlled vocabularies and different field requirements, we ensured a high annotation quality, comparability, and ease of annotation. The structure can be easily adapted to a large variety of species. We then implemented the annotation strategy in a user-hosted web platform with data import, query, and export functionality.ConclusionsWe present here an annotation structure and user-hosted platform for sequencing experiment data, suitable for lab-internal documentation, collaborations, and large-scale annotation efforts

Von der Kaufzeitung zum Gratisblatt

Untersuchungsgegenstand der vorliegenden Arbeit ist die Gratis-Wochenzeitung „Bezirksrundschau“ aus Oberösterreich, welche einen besonderen Stellenwert hinsichtlich ihrer Entstehungsgeschichte in der österreichischen Medienlandschaft einnimmt. Die Vorgängerzeitung der Bezirksrundschau ist die „Kremstaler Rundschau“, eine Kaufzeitung mit lokalem Erscheinungsgebiet. Nach der Übernahme der Rundschau durch die Tiroler Verlagsgruppe Moser Holding im November 2008 wurde das Konzept der Kremstaler Rundschau total umgestellt, daraus entstand die nun per Post gratis verteilte Bezirksrundschau. Im Mittelpunkt der Untersuchung steht die Frage, wie diese Umstellung einer Kaufzeitung auf ein Gratismedium vom Publikum beurteilt wird. Wie wirkt sich diese Veränderung auf die LeserInnen-Blatt-Bindung aus? Wird die Bezirksrundschau nun als weniger qualitativ bewertet? Um diese Fragen zu beantworten, wurden mittels der Methode des lauten Denkens Gespräche mit 14 LeserInnen der Bezirksrundschau geführt. Als ProbandInnen wurden Personen im Alter zwischen 40 und 49 Jahren gewählt, da bei dieser Altersgruppe die Reichweite der Oberösterreichischen Rundschau am höchsten war. Ausgewertet wurden die Ergebnisse anschließend mit der dokumentarischen Methode von Ralf Bohnsack. Festgestellt kann werden, dass sich die LeserInnen-Blatt-Bindung durch die Umstellung der Erscheinungsweise negativ verändert hat. Lediglich sechs der befragten Personen würden die Bezirksrundschau vermissen, wenn sie nicht mehr erscheinen würde. Besonders negativ bewertet wurde die Qualität: Im Vergleich zur Kremstaler Rundschau seien die Berichte kürzer und weniger ausführlich, auch die sehr beliebte lokale Berichterstattung nimmt einen kleineren Umfang ein. Die Menge der Werbung wird ebenso als störend empfunden, die darin enthaltenen Informationen werden kaum nachgefragt

Die Entwicklung österreichischer Museen und ihrer Preispolitik

Diese Arbeit beschäftigt sich mit den Entwicklungen, denen die österreichische Museumslandschaft in den letzten 20 Jahren unterlag. Museen entwickelten sich von ausschließlich von öffentlichen Subventionen abhängigen Regiebetrieben hin zu besucherorientierten Dienstleistungsbetrieben. Die zentrale Frage dieser Arbeit lautet: Können Museen am Markt bestehen? ? Eine weitere Frage ist: Wie weit sind österreichische Museen auf diesem Weg

Ökobilanzen von Recycling-Phosphor-Düngemitteln

Whereas fertilisers based on phosphate rock show a high abiotic resource depletion potential, phosphorous (P) recycling fertilisers such as struvite are related to a high fossil primary energy demand. Compost can result in very high acidification, eutrophication and global warming potentials. Sewage sludge, its ash and P-recycling fertilisers based thereon, Thomas phosphate or meat and bone meal as well as especially wood ash provide significantly lower environmental impacts but have partially other disadvantages, e.g. P-availability or pollutant accumulation. For future P-supply in agriculture, it is important to recover P from urban waste disposal. The life cycle assessment (LCA) represents an important contribution to analyse strengths and weaknesses of P-recycling pathways

Product-Carbon-Footprint von Lebensmitteln in Österreich: biologisch und konventionell im Vergleich

The aim of this broad conceived study was to analyse greenhouse gas emissions (GHGE) of more than 130 foodstuffs from two organic agricultural production methods (Organic premium brand and Organic EU-standard) as compared to conventional farming in Austria. The system boundaries of the life-cycle study ranged from agriculture and its upstream supply chain to the retailer, including changes in soil organic carbon (humus) and land use change. In conclusion, all organic products in both organic methods showed lower GHGE per hectare but also per kg of foodstuff than comparable, conventional products. Therefore, the product carbon footprint (PCF) of organic products was lower throughout the implemented study. Organic dairy products resulted in 10 to 21 % lower CO2-eq per kg of product than conventional foodstuffs, organic wheat bread showed 22 to 25 %, bread products 34 to 42% and organic vegetables 10 to 35 % lower CO2-eq per kg of product. Furthermore, this detailed calculation throughout the whole value chain pointed out “hot spots” of CO2-eq-emissions for producers and retailers with existing GHG reducing potentials