63 research outputs found

    Energy analysis of organic crop systems. Impact of intensification level.

    Get PDF
    This study reveals a wide variability in the major parameters of the energy analysis applied to 44 four-year-long organic crop sequences. The intensification level of the systems in terms of the use or nonuse of organic fertilisation on cereals and of irrigation on summer crops (mainly pulses) is largely responsible for this variability. Average energy consumption ranges from 5 000 to 12 270 MJ/ha/year depending on the intensification level. Energy production varies from 35 500 to 43 950 MJ/ha/year. Since energy consumption and production both vary in the same direction with the degree of intensification, the energy gain is stable at an average value of 29300 MJ/ha/year. Energy efficiency decreases from 7.1 MJ/MJ for unfertilised and unirrigated crop sequences, to 3.5 MJ/MJ for fertilised and irrigated sequences, where soy and faba bean are among the major crops

    Winery website loyalty: the role of sales promotion and service attributes

    Get PDF
    Purpose: toward buying wine on mobile phones and m-commerce website loyalty by examining a) the mediating role of sales promotion and b) the moderating role of service attributes of the m-commerce websites in influencing the mediation. Design/methodology/approach: A total of 3,318 completed surveys were collected. Drawing on a large non-probability criterion based purposive sample across six countries (France, Germany, Greece, South Africa, United States and Canada) mediation analysis was performed to examine hypothesized relationships. Findings: Results show that sales promotion mediates the relationship between feelings towards buying wine on mobile phones and m-commerce website loyalty. Moderated mediation reveals that the indirect pathways (sales promotion) through which feelings towards buying wine over mobile exert its effect on m-commerce website loyalty is dependent on the value of service (wine delivery) attributes of the website. The results demonstrate that sales promotion and service are of paramount importance to wineries and wine marketers. Research implications/limitations: Wine producers and retailers should consider the use of sales promotion to enhance sales and loyalty to m-commerce websites. Practical implications: Wine producers and retailers should consider use sales promotion (such as SMS or push notifications) to enhance sales and influence consumer feelings and hence their loyalty. Originality/value: Wine m-commerce studies are limited, especially with an international perspective comparing 6 different countries: 3 from the old world (such as France, Germany and Greece) and 3 from the New World (North America with USA and Canada; and South Africa). Altogether those 6 countries represent around 40% of the world consumption

    Don't believe the hype: a grounded exploratory six country wine purchasing study

    Get PDF
    The purpose of this exploratory study was to understand the extent that consumers report purchasing wine on mobile devices and to empirically examine potential drivers of m-wine purchasing across six countries to guide theoretical research enquiry moving forward. Purposive sampling was employed. An online survey involving 2853 respondents from France, Germany, Greece, Canada, US and South Africa forms the basis for the current study. The results of the study indicate that though mobile phone usage, wine consumption and purchasing rates are high, mobile-wine purchasing prevalence is low within all six countries. While technology hype has us believe an online presence is essential for business revenue growth and performance; the current study indicates wineries should carefully consider consumer readiness towards mobile-wine purchasing. Limitations and recommendations for future research are identified

    The SWAP EUV Imaging Telescope Part I: Instrument Overview and Pre-Flight Testing

    Full text link
    The Sun Watcher with Active Pixels and Image Processing (SWAP) is an EUV solar telescope on board ESA's Project for Onboard Autonomy 2 (PROBA2) mission launched on 2 November 2009. SWAP has a spectral bandpass centered on 17.4 nm and provides images of the low solar corona over a 54x54 arcmin field-of-view with 3.2 arcsec pixels and an imaging cadence of about two minutes. SWAP is designed to monitor all space-weather-relevant events and features in the low solar corona. Given the limited resources of the PROBA2 microsatellite, the SWAP telescope is designed with various innovative technologies, including an off-axis optical design and a CMOS-APS detector. This article provides reference documentation for users of the SWAP image data.Comment: 26 pages, 9 figures, 1 movi

    Deep learning enables spatial mapping of the mosaic microenvironment of myeloma bone marrow trephine biopsies

    Get PDF
    Bone marrow trephine biopsy is crucial for the diagnosis of multiple myeloma. However, the complexity of bone marrow cellular, morphological, and spatial architecture preserved in trephine samples hinders comprehensive evaluation. To dissect the diverse cellular communities and mosaic tissue habitats, we developed a superpixel-inspired deep learning method (MoSaicNet) that adapts to complex tissue architectures and a cell imbalance aware deep learning pipeline (AwareNet) to enable accurate detection and classification of rare cell types in multiplex immunohistochemistry images. MoSaicNet and AwareNet achieved an area under the curve of >0.98 for tissue and cellular classification on separate test datasets. Application of MoSaicNet and AwareNet enabled investigation of bone heterogeneity and thickness as well as spatial histology analysis of bone marrow trephine samples from monoclonal gammopathies of undetermined significance (MGUS) and from paired newly diagnosed and post-treatment multiple myeloma. The most significant difference between MGUS and newly diagnosed multiple myeloma (NDMM) samples was not related to cell density but to spatial heterogeneity, with reduced spatial proximity of BLIMP1+ tumor cells to CD8+ cells in MGUS compared with NDMM samples. Following treatment of multiple myeloma patients, there was a reduction in the density of BLIMP1+ tumor cells, effector CD8+ T cells, and T regulatory cells, indicative of an altered immune microenvironment. Finally, bone heterogeneity decreased following treatment of MM patients. In summary, deep-learning based spatial mapping of bone marrow trephine biopsies can provide insights into the cellular topography of the myeloma marrow microenvironment and complement aspirate-based techniques

    Pathogen-Mediated Proteolysis of the Cell Death Regulator RIPK1 and the Host Defense Modulator RIPK2 in Human Aortic Endothelial Cells

    Get PDF
    Porphyromonas gingivalis is the primary etiologic agent of periodontal disease that is associated with other human chronic inflammatory diseases, including atherosclerosis. The ability of P. gingivalis to invade and persist within human aortic endothelial cells (HAEC) has been postulated to contribute to a low to moderate chronic state of inflammation, although how this is specifically achieved has not been well defined. In this study, we demonstrate that P. gingivalis infection of HAEC resulted in the rapid cleavage of receptor interacting protein 1 (RIPK1), a mediator of tumor necrosis factor (TNF) receptor-1 (TNF-R1)-induced cell activation or death, and RIPK2, a key mediator of both innate immune signaling and adaptive immunity. The cleavage of RIPK1 or RIPK2 was not observed in cells treated with apoptotic stimuli, or cells stimulated with agonists to TNF-R1, nucleotide oligomerization domain receptor 1(NOD1), NOD2, Toll-like receptor 2 (TLR2) or TLR4. P. gingivalis-induced cleavage of RIPK1 and RIPK2 was inhibited in the presence of a lysine-specific gingipain (Kgp) inhibitor. RIPK1 and RIPK2 cleavage was not observed in HAEC treated with an isogenic mutant deficient in the lysine-specific gingipain, confirming a role for Kgp in the cleavage of RIPK1 and RIPK2. Similar proteolysis of poly (ADP-ribose) polymerase (PARP) was observed. We also demonstrated direct proteolysis of RIPK2 by P. gingivalis in a cell-free system which was abrogated in the presence of a Kgp-specific protease inhibitor. Our studies thus reveal an important role for pathogen-mediated modification of cellular kinases as a potential strategy for bacterial persistence within target host cells, which is associated with low-grade chronic inflammation, a hallmark of pathogen-mediated chronic inflammatory disorders
    corecore