How can private standard accelerate the development of organic production?

It is possible to use private standards to increase the speed in development of organic production in a wide range of areas and to do that on a solid scientific basis. KRAV has recently improved the standard performance in reducing climate impact of the production and the methodology from this work will be possible to use in several areas such as reduction of environmental impact, animal welfare and reduction of health risk for consumers It is obvious, though, that we need to get more knowledge on how consumers value our extra requirements in the standard and their willingness to pay for these since this is of crucial importance to motivate the producers to accept more stringent standards

Expected and Predicted Realignments: The FF/DM Exchange Rate During the EMS

An empirical model of time-varying realignment risk in an exchange rate target zone is developed. Expected rates of devaluation are estimated as the difference between interest race differentials and estimated expected rates of depreciation within the exchange rate band, using French Franc/Deutsche Mark data during the European Monetary System. The behavior of estimated expected rates of depreciation accord well with the theoretical model of Bertola-Svensson (1990) . We are also able to predict actual realignments with some success.

Superdeformed bands in neutron-rich Sulfur isotopes suggested by cranked Skyrme-Hartree-Fock calculations

On the basis of the cranked Skyrme-Hartree-Fock calculations in the three-dimensional coordinate-mesh representation, we suggest that, in addition to the well-known candidate 32S, the neutron-rich nucleus 36S and the drip-line nuclei,48S and 50S, are also good candidates for finding superdeformed rotational bands in Sulfur isotopes. Calculated density distributions for the superdeformed states in 48S and 50S exhibit superdeformed neutron skinsComment: 18 pages including 10 ps figure

Trade and ethnozoological use of African lorisiformes in the last 20 years

Trade in primates is considered a major impediment to primate conservation globally. The bushmeat trade in West and Central Africa is considered largely unsustainable and represents one of the main threats to biodiversity. Furthermore, the use of primates in traditional practices and medicine includes a third of the African primate species. Little is known about the trade in the African mainland lorisiforms; pottos, angwantibos and galagos. Aiming to fill this knowledge gap we created an online survey, conducted a literature review, and analyzed CITES trade records, focusing on the last two decades. We obtained 188 questionnaire responses from researchers and people working in 31 different countries in sub-Saharan Africa. We found a total of 33 publications reporting on trade in African lorisiforms, and CITES records indicate that almost 2000 lorisiforms were traded internationally from African range countries. Fifty-three percent of respondents provided meaningful details about aspects of the trade in African lorisiforms from 50% of the range countries. Galagos were reported by respondents in larger numbers than pottos and angwantibos, and mainly occurred in the pet trade. Pottos were the most frequently mentioned taxon in the literature, when all trade types were combined. Across all of the sources (online survey, literature and CITES database), trade in pottos and angwantibos was reported from 12 countries, and galagos from 23 countries. Trade was reported to occur mainly within rural settings (64%), potentially indicating that demand is not high enough to fuel long distance trading. However, as seen in the Asian lorisiforms, once quantitative studies were conducted, the threat that trade posed became alarmingly apparent and is now considered a major impediment to their conservation. Our insight into the trade of African lorisiforms should be followed up with concerted studies, with an emphasis on quantifying trade to the species level

An analysis of the Bayesian track labelling problem

In multi-target tracking (MTT), the problem of assigning labels to tracks (track labelling) is vastly covered in literature, but its exact mathematical formulation, in terms of Bayesian statistics, has not been yet looked at in detail. Doing so, however, may help us to understand how Bayes-optimal track labelling should be performed or numerically approximated. Moreover, it can help us to better understand and tackle some practical difficulties associated with the MTT problem, in particular the so-called ``mixed labelling'' phenomenon that has been observed in MTT algorithms. In this memorandum, we rigorously formulate the optimal track labelling problem using Finite Set Statistics (FISST), and look in detail at the mixed labeling phenomenon. As practical contributions of the memorandum, we derive a new track extraction formulation with some nice properties and a statistic associated with track labelling with clear physical meaning. Additionally, we show how to calculate this statistic for two well-known MTT algorithms

Housing, Feeding and Management of Calves and Replacement Heifers in Swedish Dairy Herds

A questionnaire was sent to 1500 randomly selected dairy herds in Sweden, asking for general information about the herds, including routines from birth to first calving and also routines at breeding, calving and during the grazing period. Fifty-eight percent of the questionnaires were returned. The preweaned calves were kept in individual calf pens in 68% and in group housing systems in 28% of the herds. Pens with slatted floors were the main housing system for replacement heifers from weaning to breeding, and tie stalls from breeding to first calving. Whole milk was used in 44% and milk replacements in 42% of the herds. The calves received, as a median, 2.5 litres of milk per meal and 2 meals per day. The median age at weaning was 8 weeks. Age was the single most common criteria used for deciding both weaning and breeding time. The median age when the heifers were first turned out to pasture was 6 months. Prophylactic anthelmintic treatment was used by 65% of the herds. The most common diet for replacement heifers before calving was a combination of grain, hay and silage

Journal Staff

The aluminum–zinc-vacancy (Al Zn −V Zn ) complex is identified as one of the dominant defects in Al-containing n -type ZnO after electron irradiation at room temperature with energies above 0.8 MeV. The complex is energetically favorable over the isolated V Zn , binding more than 90% of the stable V Zn ’s generated by the irradiation. It acts as a deep acceptor with the (0/− ) energy level located at approximately 1 eV above the valence band. Such a complex is concluded to be a defect of crucial and general importance that limits the n -type doping efficiency by complex formation with donors, thereby literally removing the donors, as well as by charge compensation

Spinal release of tumour necrosis factor activates c-Jun N-terminal kinase and mediates inflammation-induced hypersensitivity.

BackgroundMounting evidence points to individual contributions of tumour necrosis factor-alpha (TNF) and the c-Jun N-terminal kinase (JNK) pathway to the induction and maintenance of various pain states. Here we explore the role of spinal TNF and JNK in carrageenan-induced hypersensitivity. As links between TNF and JNK have been demonstrated in vitro, we investigated if TNF regulates spinal JNK activity in vivo.MethodsTNF levels in lumbar cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) were measured by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay, spinal TNF gene expression by real-time polymerase chain reaction and TNF protein expression, JNK and c-Jun phosphorylation by western blotting. The role of spinal TNF and JNK in inflammation-induced mechanical and thermal hypersensitivity was assessed by injecting the TNF inhibitor etanercept and the JNK inhibitors SP600125 and JIP-1 intrathecally (i.t.). TNF-mediated regulation of JNK activity was examined by assessing the effect of i.t. etanercept on inflammation-induced spinal JNK activity.ResultsTNF levels were increased in CSF and spinal cord following carrageenan-induced inflammation. While JNK phosphorylation followed the same temporal pattern as TNF, c-jun was only activated at later time points. Intrathecal injection of TNF and JNK inhibitors attenuated carrageenan-induced mechanical and thermal hypersensitivity. TNF stimulation induced JNK phosphorylation in cultured spinal astrocytes and blocking the spinal actions of TNF in vivo by i.t. injection of etanercept reduced inflammation-induced spinal JNK activity.ConclusionsHere we show that spinal JNK activity is dependent on TNF and that both TNF and the JNK signalling pathways modulate pain-like behaviour induced by peripheral inflammation