Intra-Row Weed Control by use of Band Steaming

Disinfection of the soil by means of steaming has been a common method for eliminating weeds and fungal diseases. However, 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. 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

Rækkedampning, effekter og økonomi

Der er udviklet en maskine til dampbehandling af jorden inden såning med henblik på at ødelægge ukrudtsfrøs spireevne. Princippet i maskinen er, at processen sker i et lukket kammer, som trækkes hen over det bånd der ønskes behandlet. Dampen ledes ind i kammeret og penetrerer effektivt ind i jordpartiklerne. Resultater har vist, at der kan opnås en effektiv ukrudtskontrol ved en behandlingstemperatur på 80-90 grader. Energiforbruget har ligget på ca. 400 l olie per ha. Økonomiske overslagsberegninger viser at der for et 4-rækket system vil være økonomisk balance i økologisk dyrkede gulerødder og løg ved arealstørrelser på ca. 8 ha

Kapitalismens nye ånd og økonomiske hamskifte - Boltanski og Chiapello og tesen om den kognitive kapitalisme

Boltanski og Chiapellos må krediteres for at have rehabiliteret kapitalismekategorien og kapitalismekritikken i en sociologisk og postmarxistisk sammenhæng. Le Nouvel Esprit du capitalisme føjer sig imidlertid til andre forsøg på at forstå de aktuelle transformationer af økonomien og kapitalismen. Med deres fokus på kapitalismens nye ånd ser Boltanski og Chiapello delvist bort fra de økonomiske transformationer af kapitalismen som akkumulationsregime. Tesen er, at deres analyse derfor med held kan komplementeres med indsigterne fra et andet ambitiøst forsøg på at forstå den nye form for kapitalisme – nemlig teserne om den såkaldte kognitive kapitalisme. ENGELSK ABSTRACT: Jens Erik Kristensen: The New Spirit of Capitalism and the Shedding of the Economic Boltanski and Chiapello must be credited for rehabilitating the category of ca-pitalism and capitalism critique in a sociological and post-Marxist context. However Le nouvel ésprit du capitalisme follows other attempts to understand the current transformations of the economy and of capitalism itself. In their focus on the new spirit of capitalism Boltanski and Chiapello ignore in part the eco-nomic transformations of capitalism as a regime of accumulation. The thesis of this article, therefore, is that their analysis can be complemented with insights from another ambitious attempt to understand the new forms of capitalism – namely the theses on the so-called cognitive capitalism. Key words: New spirit of capitalism, cognitive capitalism, knowledge economy, the immaterial, exploitation, network

Uddannelsesvidenskab – mellem pædagogik og uddannelsesforskning? - om uddannelsesforskningens indtog og pædagogikkens tilbagetog

I et komparativt perspektiv undersøger artiklen indledningsvist, hvordan og hvorfor koncepterne ’uddannelsesforskning’ og ’uddannelsesvidenskab’ er dukket op i Danmark, Norge og Sverige de seneste to-tre årtier. Det er i alle tre lande sket som led i en primært forskningspolitisk reorganisering og internationalisering af det pædagogiske forskningsfelt, der afspejler en international tendens, hvor den tysk-kontinentale forståelse af pædagogik somen selvstændig forskningsdisciplin er kommet under pres fra en angloamerikansk forståelse baseret på ’educational research’ og ’educational sciences’ som et interdisciplinært forskningsfelt. Artiklen argumenterer for, at det i Danmark især er det policy-orienterede begreb om empirisk, anvendelsesorienteret og evidensbaseret ’uddannelsesforskning’, der siden årtusindskiftet har haft uheldige konsekvenser for den pædagogiske forskning og for forståelsen af pædagogik og pædagogisk praksis i det hele taget. For at indkredse, hvad ’uddannelsesvidenskab’ til forskel fra ’uddannelsesforskning’ på denne baggrund kunne og burde være, argumenteres der i et videnskabsteoretisk og videnspolitisk perspektiv for, at det i dag er blevet nødvendigt at skelne mellem ’videnskab’ og ’forskning’. Sidstnævnte betegner en generaliseret og transdisciplinær form for vidensproduktion, hvor det i mindre grad er videnskabelige normer, kriterier og metoder end den herskende forsknings- og videnspolitik, der afgør, hvad der skal prioriteres og fremmes som acceptabel, relevant og nyttig viden. På denne baggrund diskuteres og vurderes den eksisterende uddannelse i og afdeling for Uddannelsesvidenskab ved DPU, før der afslutningsvis samles op og peges på det spændingsfyldte forhold mellem pædagogik og uddannelsesforskning samt uddannelsesvidenskabens mulige mediering imellem dem

Krise, kritik og samtidsdiagnostik

Det er i dag blevet populært blandt sociologer at omtale det, de laver, som “samtidsdiagnoser“. En diagnostisk selvbevidsthed har tilsyneladende afløst tidligere tiders kritiske bevidsthed, og parallelt hermed taler man i dag hellere om “sociale patologier“ end om “kriser“. Sociologer tager dog sjældent de teoretiske, analytiske og retoriske implikationer af diagnoseperspektivet alvorligt. Af samme grund bemærker man heller ikke farerne ved en ureflekteret og metaforisk omgang med diagnose-termen, f.eks. den at man uforvarende kommer til at forskrive sig til den medicinske diskurs’ dualismer (sund-syg, normal-patologisk). I takt hermed ignorerer man imidlertid som oftest diagnosekategoriens ikke-medicinske og specifikt tidsdiagnostiske og samtidskritiske potentialer. Artiklen belyser i et etymologisk og idéhistorisk perspektiv forholdet mellem krise, kritik og diagnostik. Tesen er, at det etymologiske og idehistoriske forhold mellem krise, kritik og diagnostik kan bruges til at skandere forskelle og ligheder mellem aktuelle typer af kritik og samtidsdiagnostik. I dette øjemed præsenteres og kontrasteres tre nyere former for samtidsdiagnostik, nemlig fornyelsen af den Kritiske Teori fra Habermas til Honneth, Foucaults historisk-genealogiske form for kritik og samtidsdiagnostik, samt den form for socialanalytisk samtidsdiagnostik, der herhjemme er udviklet af filosoffen Lars-Henrik Schmidt i kølvandet på Marx, Nietzsche, Freud og Foucault. ENGELSK ABSTRACT: Jens Erik Kristensen: Crisis, Critic and Social Diagnosis In certain currents of contemporary sociology today, the expression “critical“ has been dropped in favour of the expression “diagnostics“ – and the concept of “crisis“ has almost disappeared. It has become popular and more or less self-evident for sociologists to characterize what they are doing as “a diagnosis of the contemporary time“, particularly when they examine social trends and tendencies. However, most sociologists fail to appreciate the interpretive, evaluative, judgmental and, hence, “critical“ moments and potential of the category of diagnosis. They don’t take the theoretical, analytical and rhetorical implications of the diagnostic perspective seriously and, therefore, don’t notice the dangers of an unreflective metaphorical use of the term diagnosis. Therefore they inadvertently subscribe to the dualisms of medical discourse (normal-pathological) and to the associated concepts of medical diagnosis (diagnosis-prognosis-therapy). As a result, they describe social phenomena and tendencies as “pathological“, and inadvertently contribute to a promotion and idealization of medicinal discourse. In order to clarify these questions and categorical shifts, the first part of the article develops the etymological and historical relationship between crisis, critique and diagnostics. The etymological and historical relationship between these three words are used in the second part of the article to scan differences and similarities between three current forms of criticism and types of diagnoses of the times, each with their divergent view and emphasis on “crisis“, “critique“ and “diagnosis“ and the relationship between them: the rejuvenation of Critical Theory in the direction of social philosophy and a diagnosis of the times from Habermas to Honneth; the historical-genealogical forms of critique and diagnoses of the times in Foucault, and finally, the form of social analytic diagnosis of contemporary times which has been developed in Denmark by the philosopher Lars-Henrik Schmidt in the wake of Marx, Nietzsche, Freud and Foucault. Key words: Diagnosis of contemporary times, critic, crisis, history of philosophy, tendency, social analytic

KOMPETENCEUDVIKLING – PSYKOLOGISK INDERLIGGØRELSE PÅ DÅSEFORM?

Artiklen forsøger at demonstrere, at kompetencebegrebet og kompetenceudvikling på forskellige samfundsfelter kan ses som konvergerende svar på globalisering som nye konkurrencevilkår og individualisering fortolket som almengørelsen af det dynamiske, fleksible og refleksive selv som senmoderne mønstersubjektivitet. Der gøres rede for, hvordan kompetencebegrebet og kompetenceudvikling på forskellige områder besvarer og udtrykker en individualisering, der er en inderliggørelse, en personalisering, der med kompetencebegrebet som oversættelseskode gøres alment kommunikerbar. Denne tendens gør traditionelle magtteoretiske koncepter som tvang/frihed, indre/ydre styring utilstrækkelige, da kompetenceudvikling snarere aftegner en ledelseskunst, hvor opførsel ledes gennem individuelle psykiske forhold som lyst, motivation, aspirationer, valg snarere end ydre styring af adfærd på trods og på tværs af individuel lyst, motivation mv

Organic Food and Health: A new project to study the effects of plant cultivation methods (organic and conventional) on nutritional value, health and reproduction in an animal experiment

Many consumers believe that food from plants grown under certain conditions, such as organic agriculture, will benefit health more than conventional food. This cannot be determined simply by analysing the material, since our understanding of the connections between food components and health is still to imprecise for such a purpose. Rather than waiting until basic research provides the knowledge needed for this approach, in the spring of 2001 we have initiated a project to study physiological effects of plant quality directly, in an animal experiment. The following cultivation treatments are used to grow plants that are typical ingredients for a human diet (potato, mature peas, kale, spring wheat, oilseed rape, carrots and apples): 1. A model of a distinct conventional cultivation system, with high input of mineral nutrients and use of as much pesticides as is allowed. 2. A model of a distinct organic cultivation system, with low input of organic plant nutrients and no use of pesticides. 3. A combination of model 1 and 2, with low input of nutrients and use of pesticides. The materials from each cultivation treatment will be thoroughly characterised, by measuring contents of nutrients (protein, minerals, energy content, vitamins), the biological value of major protein sources of feed plants will be assessed, selected secondary metabolites including known anti-nutrients will be measured and other quality indicators will be assessed including biocrystallization. Based on these results, 3 feed mixtures will be prepared, either based on defined weight percentages of each material from each treatment, or, if large variation in biological value is found, one or two feed mixtures can be adjusted to provide the same availability of protein and energy as the reference treatment (model 1). Potato, mature peas and kale will be cooked and freeze-dried, wheat is ground and baked to biscuits, oil is produced from the rapeseed, and raw carrots and apples are shredded and freeze dried, before feed pellets with the desired composition are prepared from the material. Three groups of rats are each provided one of the dietary treatments during 2.5 generation, and reproductive characteristics and performance are recorded. Subgroups of the last generation are selected for an intensive study in which uptake and excretion of energy and protein and selected micronutrients are determined. Respiration trials are performed to assess the energy metabolism, and simultaneous measurements of the activity levels of the rats are performed. In addition, blood and tissue samples of the rats will be obtained to study the effect of the dietary treatments on the immunological and antioxidant status of the rats. Data from the experiments are assembled and analysed using relevant statistical models, and the relationship to the nutritional characteristics of the plant material is described. Funding for the core project for a 4-year period is secured from the Danish Research Centre for Organic Farming (DARCOF). However, the intention is to provide a platform for international collaboration, since the well-documented material of plants and animals can provide multiple opportunities for associated projects. To investigate other aspects of plant composition or health than what is foreseen in the present project, or to follow up on it with additional experiments

Prolonged grief, post-traumatic stress, and functional impairment in parents and siblings 8 years after the 2011 Utøya terror attack

Background: Research on bereavement after terrorism is limited and primarily aiming on short-term consequences. Objective: To better understand the long-term health consequences of terrorism, we studied bereaved parents and siblings eight years after the Utøya terrorist attack in Norway. We examined the participants’ symptom levels of prolonged grief (PG) and post-traumatic stress (PTS), as well as their psychosocial functioning and employment status. Method: Bereaved parents (n = 88) and siblings (n = 34) aged 19 and above (mean age = 49.7 years, SD = 13.8 years, 59.8% female) completed the Inventory of Complicated Grief (ICG), the Impact of Event Scale-Revised (IES-R), and the Work and Social Adjustment Scale (WSAS) to assess PG, PTS, and functional impairment, respectively. In addition, information about employment status was obtained. The proportion of participants scoring above recommended thresholds on the ICG, IES-R, and WSAS was calculated. Differences between parents and siblings and gender differences on these measures were examined. Results: In total, 62.3% of the participants had scores on the ICG indicating a risk for prolonged grief, while 45.9% scored over cutoff on the IES. There was a high overlap between symptoms of PG and PTS. Females had significantly higher scores on both the ICG and the IES compared to males. There were no differences between parents and siblings regarding PG and PTS symptoms. One out of three showed severe functional impairment on the WSAS. Approximately 30% of all the bereaved were outside the labour force, and one third of the parents had become unable to work after the terrorist attack. Conclusion: Many bereaved parents and siblings, following the Utøya terror attack, report long-lasting health consequences with symptoms of PG and PTS and functional impairment. The results suggest a need for follow up of bereaved after a terror attack and identify family members in need of health services

Gait pattern in 9-11-year-old children with generalized joint hypermobility compared with controls:a cross-sectional study

BACKGROUND: To study differences in gait patterns in 10-year-old children with Generalized Joint Hypermobility (GJH) and with no GJH (NGJH). METHODS: A total of 37 children participated (19 GJH, 18 NGJH, mean age 10.2 (SD 0.5) years). Inclusion criteria for GJH were a Beighton score of ≥5, with at least one hypermobile knee joint; for NGJH a Beighton score of ≤4, and no hypermobile knees and for both groups no knee pain during the previous week. All children were recorded by five video cameras, while they walked across three force platforms. Net joint moments were calculated in 3D by inverse dynamics and peak values provided input to statistical analyses. RESULTS: In the frontal plane, children with GJH had a significantly lower peak knee abductor moment and peak hip abductor moment. In the sagittal plane, the peak knee flexor moment and the peak hip extensor moment were significantly lower in the GJH group although the absolute difference was small. CONCLUSIONS: The walking pattern was the same for children with GJH and for healthy children, as there were no differences in kinematics, but it was, however, performed with different kinetics. Children with GJH walked with lower ankle, knee and hip joint moments compared to children with NGJH. However, the clinical importance of these differences during normal gait is unknown. To obtain this knowledge, children with GJH must be followed longitudinally. TRIAL REGISTRATION: The study was approved by the Committee on Biomedical Research Ethics for Copenhagen and Frederiksberg, Denmark (jnr. KF01-2006-178)