Composting rapidly degrades DNA from genetically modified plants

Organic farmers are concerned about the use of genetically modified plants (GM plants) in conventional agriculture. The concern is mainly focused on the risk of spreading of pollen or seeds from GM plans to adjacent fields. There has been less focus on the environmental impact of exposing the soil to genetically modified DNA (i.e. transgenic DNA) from GM plants residues left in the field. Yet, the new EU directive on the deliberate release into the environment of genetically modified organisms (EU, 2001) requires a "description of post-release treatment methods for the genetically modified plant material including wastes"

A SHORT FORM MEASURE OF CAREER ORIENTATIONS: A PSYCHOMETRIC EVALUATION

This paper reports on the results of two studies involving the development and construct validation of a short form of the Career Orientations Inventory. The short form was factor analytically derived and tested in two separate field studies of IS employees. The short form measures nine career orientations: technical, managerial, autonomy, job security, geographic security, service, pure challenge, lifestyle and entrepreneurship. Extensive evidence of the reliability and validity of the measure was demonstrated in both studies (the development - Study 1- and the validation - Study 2). A nomological network of the relationships between career orientations and various individual difference and satisfaction measures was tested and provided additional evidence of the construct validity of the short form measure.Information Systems Working Papers Serie

Three new systems for recycling of urban organic waste to agriculture

Short-Circuit is an on-going EU-LIFE ENVIRONMENT funded project (KVL is project leader) with the aim of 'short-circuiting' the carbon and nutrient cycle between urban and rural districts by establishing three new systems for source separation, collection and composting of organic waste in the greater Copenhagen area. The project is a collaboration between research institutions (KVL and Küngl. Tekniska Högskolan in Stockholm), and industry represented by the composting firm Solum Ltd. and the Internet-based box scheme business Aarstiderne Ltd. KVL´s part of the activity is co-funded by the Danish Research Centre for Organic Farming, via the CRUCIAL project. These two projects form part of a coherent effort to re-invent urban waste management with emphasis on closing the rural-urban nutrient cycle. The main objectives of the Short-Circuit project are: * To develop three new full-scale source separation and composting systems designed to optimise recycling of organic urban waste to agriculture by establishing a close relation between the sources, households, and the end users. * To optimise the systems via technical solutions as well as through increased public participation to improve source separation with minimum amounts of contaminants in the waste. * To evaluate the environmental impact of the three systems by systems analysis

AN EXAMINATION OF GENDER EFFECTS ON THE CAREER SUCCESS OF INFORMATION SYSTEMS EMPLOYEES

In this paper we examined the differences and similarities in the human capital variables of male and female information system (IS) workers and the affect these differences had on job outcomes. The human capital variables studied included: age, education, organization and job tenure, and number of years in the IS occupation. We found that, even when controlling for the differences in human capital, women in IS still tended to be employed at lower levels of the organization, made less money, and had greater intentions to leave the organization.Information Systems Working Papers Serie

Østrogener fra human urin i miljøet

Human urin indeholder mange værdifulde næringsstoffer. I stedet for at oprense næringsstofferne fra spildevandet, kan urin med fordel tilbageføres til landbruget som organisk gødning. Samtidig ville man mindske østrogenbelastningen til de meget sårbare vandmiljøer. Men hvordan vil østrogenbelastningen i jord være ved brug af human urin i forhold til almindelige organiske gødninger

Catch Crops in Organic Farming Systems without Livestock Husbandry - Model Simulations

During the last years, an increasing number of stockless farms in Europe converted to organic farming practice without re-establishing a livestock. Due to the lack of animal manure as a nutrient input, the relocation and the external input of nutrients is limited in those organic cropping systems. The introduction of a one-year green manure fallow in a 4-year crop rotation, including clover-grass mixtures as a green manure crop is the classical strategy to solve at least some of the problems related to the missing livestock. The development of new crop rotations, including an extended use of catch crops and annual green manure (legumes) may be another possibility avoiding the economical loss during the fallow year. Modelling of the C and N turnover in the soil-plant-atmosphere system using the soil-plant-atmosphere model DAISY is one of the tools used for the development of new organic crop rotations. In this paper, we will present simulations based on a field experiment with incorporation of different catch crops. An important factor for the development of new crop rotations for stockless organic farming systems is the expected N mineralisation and immobilisation after incorporation of the plant materials. Therefore, special emphasise will be put on the simulation of N-mineralisation/-immobilisation and of soil microbial biomass N. Furthermore, particulate organic matter C and N as an indicator of remaining plant material under decomposition will be investigated

Sparse 3D Point-cloud Map Upsampling and Noise Removal as a vSLAM Post-processing Step: Experimental Evaluation

The monocular vision-based simultaneous localization and mapping (vSLAM) is one of the most challenging problem in mobile robotics and computer vision. In this work we study the post-processing techniques applied to sparse 3D point-cloud maps, obtained by feature-based vSLAM algorithms. Map post-processing is split into 2 major steps: 1) noise and outlier removal and 2) upsampling. We evaluate different combinations of known algorithms for outlier removing and upsampling on datasets of real indoor and outdoor environments and identify the most promising combination. We further use it to convert a point-cloud map, obtained by the real UAV performing indoor flight to 3D voxel grid (octo-map) potentially suitable for path planning.Comment: 10 pages, 4 figures, camera-ready version of paper for "The 3rd International Conference on Interactive Collaborative Robotics (ICR 2018)

Charge-remote fragmentation in a hybrid (BEqQ) mass spectrometer to determine isotopic purity in selectively polydeuterated surfactants

AbstractThe combination of fast atom bombardment with charge-remote fragmentation using a hybrid (BEqQ) mass spectrometer was used successfully to assess and localize the extent of selective deuterium isotope labeling of tetradecyltrimethylammonium bromdes. Spectral details reveal a new reaction that can give rise to ions isobaric with those formed by charge-remote fragmentation

Exploration the extrudability of aluminum matrix composite (LM6/TIC) through modeling, simulation and experimental process

Aluminum matrix composites (LM6/TiC) is a mix of excellent properties of aluminum casting alloy (LM6), and particles of (TiC) which make it the first choice in many applications like airplane and marine industries. During this research the extrudability and mechanical specifications of this composite (LM6/TiC) are investigated before and after extrusion theoretically and experimentally. In this research; ABAQUS/CAE software has been successfully employed for Modeling and simulation the extrusion process before experiments in order to predict any error before fabrication. The experimental works includes design and fabrication the extrusion mold. The extruded parts are test by (SEM) to show the microstructure properties. Simulation results indicate the positions of stresses concentration (Mises stresses), and also the velocity of dislocation elements during extrusion. Experimental results show that, many mechanical properties are improved and enhanced after extrusion like stiffness and wear resistance. The microstructure test show that, the addition of (5%) wt. of (TiC) particulate with (T6) heat treatment (treating the solution in (525°C) and then ageing for (8) h at 180 °C) to the master alloy (LM6) will improve the strength about more than (15%) comparing with original matrix (LM6). Comparison between theoretical and practical results before and after extrusion indicates significant improvements after adding (TiC) particulates. This improvement is due to the high interference and bonding forces between the master alloy and composite particulates, which result in a fine grain size after the process. Keywords: Aluminum, Extrusion, Composite, TiC, LM6

Fast upsetting of circular cylinders of aluminium metal matrix composites: experimental results and numerical analysis

Cylindrical specimens of Al/Cu and Al/Li metal matrix composite (MMC) were subjected to dynamic compression at room temperature using an experimental drop hammer. Force-time and displacement-time traces were recorded. The experimental results are compared with theoretical results obtained using finite-difference analysis proposed in a previous paper by the authors [1]. The computational results obtained for the force-time histories agree reasonably with the experimental observation. Effect of strain rate and thermal softening on the mechanical behaviour of Al/Cu MMC and Al/Li MMC were examined