An On-Farm experimental philosophy for farmer-centric digital innovation

In this paper, we review learnings gained from early On-Farm Experiments (OFE) conducted in the broad acre Australian grain industry from the 1990s to the present day. Although the initiative was originally centered around the possibilities of new data and analytics in precision agriculture, we discovered that OFEs could represent a platform for engaging farmers around digital technologies and innovation. Insight from interacting closely with farmers and advisors leads us to argue for a change in the ways we approach OFE research. Acknowledging that conditions have changed and drawing from business and social sciences, we suggest that OFE approaches today should develop aspects related to skill development, value generation and value sharing, the social dimension of change, and a renewed focus on farmer-centric research to better bridge industry requirements and scientist inputs

MHC-correlated preferences in diestrous female horses (Equus caballus).

Genes of the major histocompatibility complex (MHC) have been shown to influence communication in many vertebrates, possibly with context-specific MHC-correlated reactions. Here we test for MHC-linked female preferences in the polygynous horse (Equus caballus) by repeatedly exposing 19 mares to a group of seven sexually experienced stallions. Each mare was tested four times during two consecutive reproductive cycles, twice during estrus and twice during diestrus. Male plasma testosterone concentrations were determined from weekly blood samples, and equine leukocyte antigen (ELA) class I and II alleles were determined serologically at the end of the experiments. Perception of male attractiveness was strongly dependent on estrous cycle: mean preference scores did not correlate for mares in diestrus and estrus and varied more during estrus than during diestrus. We found elevated female interests for MHC-dissimilar stallions, but only during diestrus, not during estrus. Female preferences were not significantly predicted by mean male testosterone plasma concentrations. However, testosterone concentrations changed during the 11 weeks of the experiment. By the end of the experiment, average testosterone concentration was significantly correlated to the average number of MHC alleles the stallions shared with the mares. We conclude that the MHC affects female preferences for stallions, but non-MHC linked male characteristics can overshadow effects of the MHC during estrus

Femtosecond x-ray diffraction from an aerosolized beam of protein nanocrystals

We demonstrate near-atomic-resolution Bragg diffraction from aerosolized single granulovirus crystals using an x-ray free-electron laser. The form of the aerosol injector is nearly identical to conventional liquid-microjet nozzles, but the x-ray-scattering background is reduced by several orders of magnitude by the use of helium carrier gas rather than liquid. This approach provides a route to study the weak diffuse or lattice-transform signal arising from small crystals. The high speed of the particles is particularly well suited to upcoming MHz-repetition-rate x-ray free-electron lasers

Climate, soil and land-use based land suitability evaluation for oil palm production in Ghana

In the past decade, oil palm (Elaeis guineensis Jacq.) has become the world’s most important oil crop. The large demand for palm oil has resulted in a rapid expansion of oil palm cultivation across the globe. Because of the dwindling availability of land in Southeast Asia, most expansion of the industry is expected in Central and South America and sub-Saharan Africa, where land with suitable agro-ecological conditions is available. Using Ghana as a case study, a method for evaluating areas that are both suitable and available for oil palm production is presented. Our assessment used spatial data and GIS techniques, and showed that areas with suitable climatic conditions (annual average water deficit <400 mm) is about 20% greater than was previously identified. The observed differences are the result of using different methods to determine suitability, and climate change. A major climatic factor limiting suitability for oil palm production in Ghana is the annual water deficit, with the most suitable areas located in the rainforest and semi-deciduous forest zones with higher rainfall in southern Ghana. Opportunities for large-scale oil palm plantation development is limited, however, because of the lack of availability of large and contiguous tracts of land that are required for commercial plantation oil palm development. A feasible strategy for oil palm expansion is therefore smallholder production, which can make use of smaller parcels of land. Alternatively, oil palm production in Ghana can be increased by yield intensification on land already planted to oil palm. This can also reduce the requirement for further land clearance for new plantations to meet the growing demand for palm oil. Such assessments will be essential for guiding government policy makers and investors considering investments in oil palm development

Adapting oil palm best management practices to Ghana: opportunities for production intensification.

Smaller yields in Western Australia (WA), Australia, are partly the result of sub-optimal climate conditions and poor management practices. Water stress is the main yield-determining factor outside management control in WA. In order to guide government policy makers and investors, it is essential to know where the most suitable conditions for the expansion of oil palm production in WA exists. Using Ghana as a case study, this paper describes a framework for evaluating areas that are both suitable and available for oil palm production based upon land suitability evaluation methods and geographical information system techniques. The suitability assessment shows that highly fragmented suitable areas for oil palm production in Ghana are limiting the expansion of large-scale plantings. Therefore, a feasible strategy for expansion of smallholder production is needed, provided there are enough and efficient milling facilities to process the fruit. Some recommendations are given for sustainable development of the oil palm sector in Ghana

On the use of multilayer Laue lenses with X-ray Free Electron Lasers

Multilayer Laue lenses were used for the first time to focus x-rays from an X-ray Free Electron Laser (XFEL). In an experiment, which was performed at the European XFEL, we demonstrated focusing to a spot size of a few tens of nanometers. A series of runs in which the number of pulses per train was increased from 1 to 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 10, 20 and 30 pulses per train, all with a pulse separation of 3.55 us, was done using the same set of lenses. The increase in the number of pulses per train was accompanied with an increase of x-ray intensity (transmission) from 9% to 92% at 5 pulses per train, and then the transmission was reduced to 23.5 % when the pulses were increased further. The final working condition was 30 pulses per train and 23.5% transmission. Only at this condition we saw that the diffraction efficiency of the MLLs changed over the course of a pulse train, and this variation was reproducible from train to train. We present the procedure to align and characterize these lenses and discuss challenges working with the pulse trains from this unique x-ray source

Benchmarking Yield for Sustainable Intensification of Oil Palm Production in Indonesia using PALMSIM

The physiological oil palm growth model PALMSIM can be used to estimate yield ceilings that provide benchmarks for sustainable intensification of oil palm production, either by expansion of cultivation to degraded sites or by increasing production from areas under cultivation. This is demonstrated using two case studies. In the first case study, PALMSIM estimates of water-limited yield for Kalimantan was overlaid onto a recently published map showing degraded sites potentially suitable for oil palm cultivation. A large proportion (35.6%; or 115,300 km2) of the identified areas fell into the potential productivity range of 35 to 40 tonnes FFB per hectare. In the second case study, PALMSIM was used to estimate potential yield for six plantation sites in Indonesia where best management practices (BMP) were assessed for yield intensification by the International Plant Nutrition Institute (IPNI) Southeast Asia Program (SEAP) and its collaborating plantation partners. Potential yields are generally higher in Sumatra than in Kalimantan due to higher solar radiation. Water deficit was a problem at two sites. The gap between water-limited yield and actual yield differs from location to location, and therefore requires a site-specific analysis. In these two case studies, the scope for sustainable intensification at regional and at plantation level was explored in a quantitative manner - a novel approach to oil palm production

Regaining momentum for international climate policy beyond Copenhagen

The 'Copenhagen Accord' fails to deliver the political framework for a fair, ambitious and legally-binding international climate agreement beyond 2012. The current climate policy regime dynamics are insufficient to reflect the realities of topical complexity, actor coalitions, as well as financial, legal and institutional challenges in the light of extreme time constraints to avoid 'dangerous' climate change of more than 2°C. In this paper we analyze these stumbling blocks for international climate policy and discuss alternatives in order to regain momentum for future negotiations

Survival prediction from clinico-genomic models - a comparative study

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Survival prediction from high-dimensional genomic data is an active field in today's medical research. Most of the proposed prediction methods make use of genomic data alone without considering established clinical covariates that often are available and known to have predictive value. Recent studies suggest that combining clinical and genomic information may improve predictions, but there is a lack of systematic studies on the topic. Also, for the widely used Cox regression model, it is not obvious how to handle such combined models.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>We propose a way to combine classical clinical covariates with genomic data in a clinico-genomic prediction model based on the Cox regression model. The prediction model is obtained by a simultaneous use of both types of covariates, but applying dimension reduction only to the high-dimensional genomic variables. We describe how this can be done for seven well-known prediction methods: variable selection, unsupervised and supervised principal components regression and partial least squares regression, ridge regression, and the lasso. We further perform a systematic comparison of the performance of prediction models using clinical covariates only, genomic data only, or a combination of the two. The comparison is done using three survival data sets containing both clinical information and microarray gene expression data. Matlab code for the clinico-genomic prediction methods is available at <url>http://www.med.uio.no/imb/stat/bmms/software/clinico-genomic/</url>.</p> <p>Conclusions</p> <p>Based on our three data sets, the comparison shows that established clinical covariates will often lead to better predictions than what can be obtained from genomic data alone. In the cases where the genomic models are better than the clinical, ridge regression is used for dimension reduction. We also find that the clinico-genomic models tend to outperform the models based on only genomic data. Further, clinico-genomic models and the use of ridge regression gives for all three data sets better predictions than models based on the clinical covariates alone.</p