Thermal Band Heating for Intra-Row Weed Control

Surface steaming of soil is a very energy-intensive process, and consequently, efforts have been made to develop a machine for narrow-band steaming of the soil under and around rows of cultivated plants prior to seeding. The use of this machine may achieve up to 90% energy savings, and will also reduce the amount of damage to the flora and fauna. A special test rig has been developed with the objective of obtaining new information about narrow-band soil steaming. For a detailed analysis of the temperature profile in a cross-section of the processed band, an apparatus has been developed especially to record the temperatures obtained at 63 locations and at seven levels across the ditch. On the basis of the results from the test rig, a prototype band-steamer for field use has been developed. Tests have shown that soil temperatures exceeding 70C will be needed to protect against germination of weed seeds. For band heating such a treatment in 50 cm rows requires about 5.8 GJ/ha

Pløjefri dyrkning: effekter på jordens frugtbarhed

Interessen for pløjefri dyrkning er steget voldsomt gennem de seneste år. Fokus har primært været på de kortsigtede økonomiske gevinster som følge af mindsket tidsforbrug og lavere maskinomkostninger og i langt mindre grad på de langsigtede gavnlige effekter af pløjefri dyrkning på jordens frugtbarhed. Forskellen er slående i forhold til Nordamerika, hvor den udbredte brug af pløjefri dyrkning i høj grad er båret af et ønske om en langsigtet sikring af jordens frugtbarhed (jfr. betegnelsen ”conservation tillage” anvendt for pløjefri jordbearbejdning. I Nordamerika har man især været optaget af pløjefri dyrkning, som et middel til bekæmpelse af vind- og vanderosion. Pløjefri dyrkning er også et anvendeligt redskab til at begrænse pakningen i dybden og den omfattende jordflytning ved jordbearbejdning – såkaldt jordbearbejdsningserosion. De danske erfaringer med pløjefri dyrkning i 1970 og 80’erne var brogede. Der var problemer med håndtering af planterester og i mange tilfælde fandtes skadelig pakning af overjorden. Nyt effektivt udstyr til snitning og fordeling af halm og avner kan afhjælpe problemerne med planterester, mens problemet med skadelig pakning af overjorden fortsat eksisterer. Til løsning af pakning i overjorden anbefales ikke-vendende jordløsning til den behovsbestemte dybde, der sikrer at jorden ikke opblandes og en skånsom påvirkning af regnorme m.v. Genpakning af jorden er dog et problem, der skal tages højde for ligegyldigt hvilken strategi og hvilket redskab, der vælges til ikke-vendende løsning. Forebyggelse er det bedste middel imod pakning af overjorden, hvilket kan ske ved kontrolleret trafik i spor, der anvendes år efter år. Mindsket afhængighed af ukrudtsmidler og optimeret gødningsudnyttelse bør også være centrale elementer i fremtidige pløjefri dyrkningssystemer

BioConcens: Biomass and bioenergy production agriculture – consequences for soil fertility, environment, spread of animal parasites and socio-economy

The research programme called “international research cooperation and organic integrity” was commenced for a period 2006-2010. It is coordinated by DARCOF (The Danish Research Centre for Organic Farming). The whole programme, with acronym DARCOF III, consists of 15 projects (http://www.darcof.dk/research/darcofiii/index.html). One of them is BIOCONCENS - Biomass and bioenergy production in organic farming – consequences for soil fertility, environment, spread of animal parasites and socio-economy (http://www.bioconcens.elr.dk/uk/). The production of bioenergy in organic agriculture (OA) can reduce its dependency of fossil fuels and decrease green house gasses emission; consequently it will increase sustainability of organic farms. Biorefinery concept based on co-production of biogas, bioethanol and protein fodder in organic farming will be developed within the BIOCONCENS project and the background for the project and the different work packages will be presented in this paper

Biomass and bioenergy production in organic agriculture. Consequences for soil fertility, environment, spread of animal parasites and socio-economy. BioConcnes, a 4-year interdisciplinary project.

Energy production and energy use in organic agriculture (OA) need to be addressed in order to reduce the reliance on non-renewable fossil fuels and minimize greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. Thus, there is an obligation to find consensus between the apparent opposing aims of renewable (bio) energy production and soil fertility in OA. This project aims at designing and evaluate a combined concept for biomass and bio-energy production in OA, while considering soil fertility

The DanTIN project – creating a platform for describing the grammar of Danish talk-in-interaction

The article introduces a new website, samtalegrammatik.dk ('grammar of talk-in-interaction'), it describes the methods used for constructing the website, and it provides descriptions of three new grammatical phenomena in Danish talk-in-interaction. The website is a result of investigations carried out by the research group DanTIN ('Danish talk-in-interaction') since 2009. Until 2013, the group has published analyses of quite diverse phenomena, such as different versions of the word hvad 'what' that seem to belong to different word classes and have different functions in talk-ininteraction, the distribution of the hesitation marker øh(m) 'uh(m)', or different word orders after the conjunction fordi ('because'). These phenomena were selected because they were clearly different from written Danish. By launching the website samtalegrammatik.dk the group takes a step towards building a comprehensive grammar of Danish talk-in-interaction. It offers a template for a description of all aspects of the grammar of Danish talk-in-interaction, even though at the time of the launching only a little part of the entries will be filled in. The idea is that the investigations will be continued in many years to come, and, thus, the website will grow and become more complete. The three phenomena reported in some detail here all have intonation as an important part of their grammatical descriptions. They are (1) the particle nå (roughly 'oh'), (2) exaggerated pitch as a story ending device, and (3) the interjection ej, which is an intranslatable exclamation word. FGW – Publications without University Leiden contrac

Slewing Mirror Telescope optics for the early observation of UV/optical photons from Gamma-Ray Bursts

We report on design, manufacture, and testing of a Slewing Mirror Telescope (SMT), the first of its kind and a part of Ultra-Fast Flash Observatory-pathfinder (UFFO-p) for space-based prompt measurement of early UV/optical light curves from Gamma-Ray Bursts (GRBs). Using a fast slewing mirror of 150 mm diameter mounted on a 2 axis gimbal stage, SMT can deliver the images of GRB optical counterparts to the intensified CCD detector within 1.5∼1.8 s over ± 35 degrees in the slewing field of view. Its Ritchey-Chrétien telescope of 100 mm diameter provides a 17 × 17 arcmin2 instantaneous field of view. Technical details of design, construction, the laboratory performance tests in space environments for this unique SMT are described in conjunction with the plan for in-orbit operation onboard the Lomonosov satellite in 2013. © 2013 Optical Society of America.This research was supported by the Korean Creative Research Initiatives (RCMST) of MEST/NRF, the Basic Science Research program of MEST/NRF (2010-0025056), the World Class University program of MEST/NRF (R32-2009-000-10130-0), the Spanish MINECO project AYA-2009-14027-C05-01, AYA-2011-29936-C05-01, AYA-2012-39727-C03-01, and AYA 2009-14000-C03-01/ESP, Taiwan's National Science Council Vanguard Program (100-2119-M-002-025) LeCosPA of National Taiwan University, Program of development of Lomonosov Moscow State University and Korean programs NRF 2012-0006632, 20100029390 and Yonsei-KASI joint research for the Frontiers of Astronomy and Space Science Program 2012Peer Reviewe

National identity predicts public health support during a global pandemic

Changing collective behaviour and supporting non-pharmaceutical interventions is an important component in mitigating virus transmission during a pandemic. In a large international collaboration (Study 1, N = 49,968 across 67 countries), we investigated self-reported factors associated with public health behaviours (e.g., spatial distancing and stricter hygiene) and endorsed public policy interventions (e.g., closing bars and restaurants) during the early stage of the COVID-19 pandemic (April-May 2020). Respondents who reported identifying more strongly with their nation consistently reported greater engagement in public health behaviours and support for public health policies. Results were similar for representative and non-representative national samples. Study 2 (N = 42 countries) conceptually replicated the central finding using aggregate indices of national identity (obtained using the World Values Survey) and a measure of actual behaviour change during the pandemic (obtained from Google mobility reports). Higher levels of national identification prior to the pandemic predicted lower mobility during the early stage of the pandemic (r = −0.40). We discuss the potential implications of links between national identity, leadership, and public health for managing COVID-19 and future pandemics.publishedVersio

Galaxy bulges and their massive black holes: a review

With references to both key and oft-forgotten pioneering works, this article starts by presenting a review into how we came to believe in the existence of massive black holes at the centres of galaxies. It then presents the historical development of the near-linear (black hole)-(host spheroid) mass relation, before explaining why this has recently been dramatically revised. Past disagreement over the slope of the (black hole)-(velocity dispersion) relation is also explained, and the discovery of sub-structure within the (black hole)-(velocity dispersion) diagram is discussed. As the search for the fundamental connection between massive black holes and their host galaxies continues, the competing array of additional black hole mass scaling relations for samples of predominantly inactive galaxies are presented.Comment: Invited (15 Feb. 2014) review article (submitted 16 Nov. 2014). 590 references, 9 figures, 25 pages in emulateApJ format. To appear in "Galactic Bulges", E. Laurikainen, R.F. Peletier, and D.A. Gadotti (eds.), Springer Publishin