Biologische Landwirtschaft als Strategie für einen pro-aktiven und nachhaltigen Wasserschutz in Luxemburg

In 2009, the water resource management plan came into force in Luxembourg, an implementation of the water framework directive 2000/60/EG. However the main goal, to improve the quality of the water bodies to Through the new management plan (2015-2021) this goal should be reached. The organic cultivation is one of these actions of the old and new management plan, although it was rarely implemented so far. Therefore, the aims of the study were to identify potential barriers for the conversion to organic and to develop strategies in order to promote water protection through organic farming. At first, the existing barriers, mainly in the socio-economic and the political fields as well as the water-related regulations, should be gradually eliminated. Subsequently an ideal concept combining e cooperation between actors of the government, the water industry and the agricultural sector is needed

Pepperdine One Semester Abroad: Group Satisfaction & Emotional Well-being

Students who decide to study abroad experience great transition as they adapt from one culture to the next. Interestingly, with so many students studying abroad, it is recognizable that during this change, some students thrive while others do not. Therefore, this study explores the possible factors of what might cause students to report having a positive abroad experience. Specifically, this study analyzes Pepperdine University students to collect data and examine the effects of extraversion and subjective well-being on group satisfaction levels. Although the results could not be generalized, the results concluded that subjective well-being more than extraversion predicted an individual’s group satisfaction and overall abroad experience satisfaction. Finally, the study concluded with the limitations and suggestions for future research

A Machine Learning Analysis of the Non- academic Employment Opportunities for Ph.D. Graduates in Australia

Can Australia's PhD graduates be better utilised in the non-academic workforce? There has been a historic structural decline in the ability of PhD graduates to find work within academia for the last couple of decades (Forsyth 2014). Around 60% of PhD graduates in Australia now find jobs outside the academy, and the number is growing year on year (McGagh et al. 2016). The PhD is a degree designed in the early 20th century to credential the academic workforce. How to make it fit contemporary needs, when many if not most graduates do not work in academia, is a question that must be addressed by higher education managers and policymakers. Progress has been slow, partly because of the lack of reliable data-driven evidence to inform this work. This paper puts forward a novel hybrid quantitative/qualitative approach to the problem of analysing PhD employability. We report on a project using machine learning (ML) and natural language processing to perform a 'big data' analysis on the text content of non-academic job advertisements. This paper discusses the use of ML in this context and its future utility for researchers. Using these methods, we performed an analysis of the extent of demand for PhD student skills and capabilities in the Australian employment market. We show how these new methods allow us to handle large, complex datasets, which are often left unexplored because of human labour costs. This analysis could be reproduced outside of the Australian context, given an equivalent dataset. We give an outline of our approach and discuss some of the advantages and limitations. This paper will be of interest for those involved in re-shaping PhD programs and anyone interested in exploring new machine learning methods to inform education policy work.The project team would like to thank the Australian Department of Industry and Seek.com.au for their generous support of this project

The Assistant Director

My thesis addresses the role of the assistant director within the realm of today\u27s American theatre. I determine who the assistant director is in today\u27s theatre, what qualities they need to possess, and how a director can use an assistant director most effectively. To come to these conclusions, I analyze my experiences as an assistant director and a director over the last four years, as well as conduct interviews with directors and assistant directors currently working in professional and academic

Anbauwürdigkeit und Vorfruchtwert verschiedener Körnerleguminosen-Anbausysteme im Praxisversuch in Luxemburg

Due to the protein deficit in Europe and the many negative impacts related to soy imports from overseas, it is important to increase the cultivation of grain legumes for regional fodder production. Therefore, as part of the COBRA project, two on-farm trial of different grain legume cropping systems were set up at two Luxembourgish organic farms, with the aim to demonstrate the practicality of growing grain legumes and to study their fodder and pre-crop value, as well as their suitability for cultivation under organic growing conditions in Luxembourg. Overall, all the tested grain legumes, with the exception of winter faba bean in Colmar-Berg, showed good suitability for regional high-protein fodder production. Both lupin species showed a good previous crop value at both locations, as well as good suitability for cultivation. However, due to the high anthracnose susceptibility of white lupin, this crop cannot be recommended for cultivation on a larger scale

Dysfunction of the CaV2.1 calcium channel in cerebellar ataxias

Mutations in the CACNA1A gene are associated with episodic ataxia type 2 (EA2) and spinocerebellar ataxia type 6 (SCA6). CACNA1A encodes the α-subunit of the P/Q-type calcium channel or CaV2.1, which is highly enriched in the cerebellum. It is one of the main channels linked to synaptic transmission throughout the human central nervous system. Here, we compare recent advances in the understanding of the genetic changes that underlie EA2 and SCA6 and what these new findings suggest about the mechanism of the disease

Recognition of facial emotion and affective prosody in children at high risk of criminal behaviour

Objective: Emotion recognition is an important aspect of emotion processing, which is needed for appropriate social behavior and normal socialization. Previous studies in adults with antisocial personality disorder or psychopathy, in those convicted of criminal behavior, or in children with conduct disorder show impairments in negative emotion recognition. The present study investigated affective facial and prosody recognition in a sample of children at high risk of developing future criminal behavior. Methods: Participants were 8- to 12-year-old children at high risk of developing criminal behavior (N=219, 83.1% boys) and typically developing controls (N=43, 72.1% boys). The high-risk children were recruited through an ongoing early intervention project of the city of Amsterdam, that focuses on the underage siblings or children of delinquents, and those failing to attend school. Facial and vocal recognition of happy, sad, angry, and fear was measured with the Facial Emotion Recognition (FER) test and the prosody test of the Amsterdam Neuropsychological Tasks (ANT), respectively. Results: The high-risk group was significantly worse in facial affect recognition and had particular problems with fear and sadness recognition. No hostile attribution bias was found. The high-risk group did not differ from controls in affective prosody recognition but needed significantly more time to recognize emotions. Conclusions: The emotion-specific deficits found in forensic and clinical populations are already present in a sample of children at high risk of developing future criminal behavior. These findings help us understand a possible underlying mechanism of antisocial behavior that could provide directions for tailored interventions

Bub1 and Bub3 promote the conversion from monopolar to bipolar chromosome attachment independently of shugoshin

The eukaryotic spindle assembly checkpoint (SAC) delays anaphase in the presence of chromosome attachment errors. Bub3 has been reported to be required for SAC activity in all eukaryotes examined so far. We find that Bub3, unlike its binding partner Bub1, is not essential for the SAC in fission yeast. As Bub3 is needed for the efficient kinetochore localization of Bub1, and of Mad1, Mad2 and Mad3, this implies that most SAC proteins do not need to be enriched at the kinetochores for the SAC to function. We find that Bub3 is also dispensable for shugoshin localization to the centromeres, which is the second known function of Bub1. Instead, Bub3, together with Bub1, has a specific function in promoting the conversion from chromosome mono-orientation to bi-orientation

Boys with oppositional defiant disorder/conduct disorder show impaired adaptation during stress: an executive functioning study

Evidence for problems in executive functioning (EF) in children with oppositional defiant disorder/conduct disorder (ODD/CD) is mixed and the impact stress may have on EF is understudied. Working memory, sustained attention, inhibition and cognitive flexibility of boys with ODD/CD (n = 65) and non-clinical controls (n = 32) were examined under typical and stressful test conditions. Boys with ODD/CD showed impaired working memory under typical testing conditions, and impairments in working memory and sustained attention under stressful conditions. In contrast to controls, performance on sustained attention, cognitive flexibility and inhibition was less influenced by stress in boys with ODD/CD. These results suggest that boys with ODD/CD show impairments in adaptation to the environment whereas typically developing boys show adaptive changes in EF

Experience sampling of positive affect in adolescents with autism: Feasibility and preliminary findings

Experience sampling is a powerful method for obtaining ecologically valid data from research participants in real-world contexts. Given the urgent need for innovative and sensitive outcome measures in autism spectrum disorder (ASD) research, the present study sought to examine the feasibility of using experience sampling of positive affect and behavior in adolescents with ASD