225 research outputs found
Biological activity of glucosinolate derived compounds isolated from seed meal of Brassica crops and evaluated as plant and food protection agents
Glucosinolates are amino acid derived allelochemicals characteristic of plants of the order Capparales. These compounds are present in seeds of agriculturally common Brassica crops in varying quantities depending on the species (ref). The use of the remaining seed cake after oil extraction has traditionally been limited by the concentration of these compounds. However, the extraction of glucosinolates from seed meal is nowadays possible and it further contributes to an increased quality of the seed meal for feed (Sørensen et al., this conference). Glucosinolates are hydrolysed by endogenous enzymes (myrosinases; EC 3.2.1.147) and a number of compounds are produced depending on the parent glucosinolate and the environmental conditions.1 Among these compounds, oxazolidine-2-thiones are known for their antinutritional effects on monogastric animals, whereas isothiocyanates are fungicidal, nematocidal and herbicidal.2,3 The possibility for using glucosinolates as precursors for environmental friendly biocides therefore exists, which could contribute to increase the value of the Brassica seed meal
Star and Planet Formation with ALMA: an Overview
Submillimeter observations with ALMA will be the essential next step in our
understanding of how stars and planets form. Key projects range from detailed
imaging of the collapse of pre-stellar cores and measuring the accretion rate
of matter onto deeply embedded protostars, to unravelling the chemistry and
dynamics of high-mass star-forming clusters and high-spatial resolution studies
of protoplanetary disks down to the 1 AU scale.Comment: Invited review, 8 pages, 5 figures; to appear in the proceedings of
"Science with ALMA: a New Era for Astrophysics". Astrophysics & Space
Science, in pres
Fluctuations in the Cosmic Microwave Background I: Form Factors and their Calculation in Synchronous Gauge
It is shown that the fluctuation in the temperature of the cosmic microwave
background in any direction may be evaluated as an integral involving scalar
and dipole form factors, which incorporate all relevant information about
acoustic oscillations before the time of last scattering. A companion paper
gives asymptotic expressions for the multipole coefficient in terms of
these form factors. Explicit expressions are given here for the form factors in
a simplified hydrodynamic model for the evolution of perturbations.Comment: 35 pages, no figures. Improved treatment of damping, including both
Landau and Silk damping; inclusion of late-time effects; several references
added; minor changes and corrections made. Accepted for publication in Phys.
Rev. D1
Implementation of an Optimal First-Order Method for Strongly Convex Total Variation Regularization
We present a practical implementation of an optimal first-order method, due
to Nesterov, for large-scale total variation regularization in tomographic
reconstruction, image deblurring, etc. The algorithm applies to -strongly
convex objective functions with -Lipschitz continuous gradient. In the
framework of Nesterov both and are assumed known -- an assumption
that is seldom satisfied in practice. We propose to incorporate mechanisms to
estimate locally sufficient and during the iterations. The mechanisms
also allow for the application to non-strongly convex functions. We discuss the
iteration complexity of several first-order methods, including the proposed
algorithm, and we use a 3D tomography problem to compare the performance of
these methods. The results show that for ill-conditioned problems solved to
high accuracy, the proposed method significantly outperforms state-of-the-art
first-order methods, as also suggested by theoretical results.Comment: 23 pages, 4 figure
An autonomous robot for feeding outdoor pigs
The objective of this is to develop a rational feeding technique for outdoor pigs and at the same time improve the outdoor system with regard to environmental impact and health. For a rational and competitive free ranch system ensuring high animal welfare and low environmental strain automation is crucial
Effects of farming system and simulated drought on biodiversity, food webs and ecosystem functions in the DOK trial
Organic agriculture promotes overall biodiversity in arable fields, with well-documented positive effects on plant and pollinator diversity and abundance. Responses of soil-living decomposers, aboveground herbivores and predators to organic farming are less uniform and not equally well understood. The DOK trial offers ideal conditions to assess the long-term effects of organic compared to conventional farming practices on these above- and belowground invertebrate communities. Organic treatments in the DOK trial have a pronounced effect on abundances, diversity and species composition across taxonomic borders. Application of farmyard manure promotes nematode and earthworm numbers, whereas mineral fertilizers detrimentally affected potworm and fly larvae numbers. Aboveground predators are more abundant under organic agriculture and herbivores show an opposite response. However, effects go beyond simple numeric responses as organic agriculture alters the species composition of local communities significantly
Comparison of reflector antenna measurements and simulations
In antenna measurement, well-established procedures are consolidated to determine the associated measurement uncertainty for a given antenna and measurements scenario [1-2]. Similar criteria for establishing uncertainties in numerical modeling of the same antenna are still to be established. In this paper, we investigate the achievable agreement between antenna measurement and simulation when external error sources are minimized. The test object, is a reflector fed by a wideband dual ridge horn (SR40-A and SH4000) manufactured by MVG. This highly stable reference antenna has been selected to minimize uncertainty related to finite manufacturing and material parameter accuracy. Two frequencies, 10.7GHz and 18GHz have been selected for detailed investigation. The antenna has been measured by several measurement facilities (spherical, cylindrical and planar near field ranges) across Europe in the ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? activity. The purpose of this intercomparison campaign is the comparison of the different antenna measurement facilities, throughout Europe, considering measurement procedures and uncertainty estimates. The antenna has been simulated using a full CAD model, in step compatible format and using different numerical methods from different software vendor
Slewing Mirror Telescope and the Data-Acquisition System for the UFFO-Pathfinder
The Ultra-Fast Flash Observatory (UFFO) aims to detect the earliest moment of Gamma-Ray
Bursts (GRBs) which is not well known, resulting into the enhancement of GRB mechanism
understanding. The pathfinder mission was proposed to be a scaled-down version of UFFO,
and only contains the UFFO Burst Alert & Trigger Telescope (UBAT) measuring the
X-ray/gamma-ray with the wide-field of view and the Slewing Mirror Telescope (SMT) with a
rapid-response for the UV/optical photons. Once the UBAT detects a GRB candidate with the
position accuracy of 10 arcmin, the SMT steers the UV/optical photons from the candidate
to the telescope by the fast rotatable mirror and provides the early UV/optical photons
measurements with 4 arcsec accuracy. The SMT has a modified Ritchey-Chrètien telescope
with the aperture size of 10 cm diameter including the rotatable mirror and the image
readout by the intensified charge-coupled device. There is a key board called the UFFO
Data Acquisition system (UDAQ) that manages the communication of each telescope and also
of the satellite and the UFFO overall operation. This pathfinder is designed and built
within the limited size and weight of ~20 kg and the low power consumption up to
~30 W. We will discuss the design and performance of the UFFO-pathfinder, and its
integration to the Lomonosov satellite
- …