Regulation of Glyphosate-Resistant Sugar Beets: Challenges and Uncertainty

Roundup Ready Sugar Beets, Regulation, Deregulation, Environmental Impact Statement, Environmental Assessment, Uncertainty, Agricultural and Food Policy, Crop Production/Industries, Q18, Q55, Q58,

Acoustic scattering from a thermally driven buoyant plume

An examination is made of the use of broad bandwidth high-frequency acoustic scattering to infer remotely the spatial structure of the temperature field of a thermally driven buoyant plume. Application of the far-field Born approximation results in a linear relationship between the transfer function of the scattering process, G, the ratio of received to transmitted pressure, to the spatial Fourier transform of the temperature field, φ (K), where K = ks – ki is the Bragg wave-number vector. A series of experiments are devised to test this hypothesis. These experiments involve a geometry of scattering in which pairs of sources and receivers are placed on opposite sides and equidistant from the scattering volume, a buoyant plume generated by a small circular heating element at the base of a water tank. It is shown that the far-field approximation assuming incident plane waves breaks down when the scales of temperature variability of the plume are of order the Fresnel radius. These results are discussed for both an unstable and turbulent plume. Conditions for the recovery of the Bragg scattering condition are established. © 1996 Acoustical Society of America

Uncertainties of predictions of future atmospheric CO2 concentrations

Linear carbon cycle models, tuned to reproduce the CO2 increase observed at Mauna Loa, independently of their individual assumptions, predict almost identical CO2 concentration trends for fossil energy scenarios assuming a slightly increasing production in the next few decades. The basic information for such prognoses therefore is the airborne fraction observed over the last 20 years. Uncertainties in this quantity are due to possible errors in the estimate of fossil fuel consumption and the corresponding CO2 emission, possible natural fluctuations in the baseline CO2 level, and uncertainties regarding the biospheric CO2 input and uptake as a result of deforestation and reforestation and land management. Depending on different assumptions the effective airborne fraction, defined as the ratio of CO2 increase due to fossil fuel CO2 alone to the integrated CO2 production, might be as low as 0.38 or as high as 0.72, compared to the apparent airborne fraction of 0.55. The effective airborne fraction derived from carbon cycle models, considering only the CO2 uptake by the ocean, lies in the range 0.60–0.70. A value as low as 0.40 seems therefore highly improbable. A high biospheric anthropogenic CO2 input therefore must have been accompanied by a high CO2 fertilization effect. Model considerations, however, are not in contradiction with a high biospheric input with the maximum production before 1958, which also would imply low preindustrial CO2 concentrations in the range 270–280 ppm as reported recently

Axisymmetric diffusion kurtosis imaging with Rician bias correction: A simulation study

Purpose: To compare the estimation accuracy of axisymmetric diffusion kurtosis imaging (DKI) and standard DKI in combination with Rician bias correction (RBC).Methods: Axisymmetric DKI is more robust against noise-induced variation in the measured signal than standard DKI because of its reduced parameter space. However, its susceptibility to Rician noise bias at low signal-to-noise ratios (SNR) is unknown. Here, we investigate two main questions: first, does RBC improve estimation accuracy of axisymmetric DKI?; second, is estimation accuracy of axisymmetric DKI increased compared to standard DKI? Estimation accuracy was investigated on the five axisymmetric DKI tensor metrics (AxTM): the parallel and perpendicular diffusivity and kurtosis and mean of the kurtosis tensor, using a noise simulation study based on synthetic data of tissues with varying fiber alignment and in-vivo data focusing on white matter.Results: RBC mainly increased accuracy for the parallel AxTM in tissues with highly to moderately aligned fibers. For the perpendicular AxTM, axisymmetric DKI without RBC performed slightly better than with RBC. However, the combination of axisymmetric DKI with RBC was the overall best performing algorithm across all five AxTM in white matter and axisymmetric DKI itself substantially improved accuracy in axisymmetric tissues with low fiber alignment.Conclusion: Combining axisymmetric DKI with RBC facilitates accurate DKI parameter estimation at unprecedented low SNRs ( ≈15) in white matter, possibly making it a valuable tool for neuroscience and clinical research studies where scan time is a limited resource. The tools used here are available in the open-source ACID toolbox for SPM

Values in the School Curriculum from Teachers' Perspective: A mixed-methods Study

The transmission of human values plays a key role in the educational landscape around the world (Matthes, 2014; Beck, 1990; Halstead, 1996), and educational frameworks (c.f. OECD , 2019; Council of Europe , 2016) as well as national school curricula (c.f. National Curriculum , Ofsted, 2018 ; Lehrplan 21 , D -EDK, 2016) are based on values that are considered important. However, empirical research into how values are structurally reflected in school curricula and how these values are perceived in the school environment by teachers is very limited. This mixed-methods study is the first of its kind to provide findings based on data from Switzerland, where a new comprehensive curriculum has recently been introduced. Schwartz's theory of basic human values (1992), the most widely researched values framework, serves as its conceptual framework. A Qualitative Content Analysis of the Swiss educational curriculum ( Lehrplan 21 , D -EDK, 2016) revealed a wealth of references to values, with a focus on values belonging to Schwartz' higher order values Openness to Change (Basic values: Self-Direction and Stimulation ), Conservation ( Tradition, Conformity and Security ) and Self-Transcendence ( Benevolence and Universalism ). On the other hand, values belonging to the higher order value of Self-Enhancement ( Power and Achievement ) did not play an important role in the investigated curriculum. In a complementary quantitative study, the value statements from the Swiss educational curriculum were embedded in a questionnaire, which 108 (102 female (94.4%), 6 male (5.6%)) primary school teachers completed with regard to how they perceive the value-oriented curricular contents in their school environment. Multidimensional Scaling revealed that teachers' perception of value-oriented curricular contents in their school environment was structured alongside Schwartz's motivational continuum of values, with values of Openness to Change being opposed to values of Conservation , and values of Self-Transcendence being opposed to values of Self-Enhancement

Axisymmetric diffusion kurtosis imaging with Rician bias correction: A simulation study

Purpose: To compare the estimation accuracy of axisymmetric diffusion kurtosis imaging (DKI) and standard DKI in combination with Rician bias correction (RBC). Methods: Axisymmetric DKI is more robust against noise-induced variation in the measured signal than standard DKI because of its reduced parameter space. However, its susceptibility to Rician noise bias at low signal-to-noise ratios (SNR) is unknown. Here, we investigate two main questions: first, does RBC improve estimation accuracy of axisymmetric DKI?; second, is estimation accuracy of axisymmetric DKI increased compared to standard DKI? Estimation accuracy was investigated on the five axisymmetric DKI tensor metrics (AxTM): the parallel and perpendicular diffusivity and kurtosis and mean of the kurtosis tensor, using a noise simulation study based on synthetic data of tissues with varying fiber alignment and in-vivo data focusing on white matter. Results: RBC mainly increased accuracy for the parallel AxTM in tissues with highly to moderately aligned fibers. For the perpendicular AxTM, axisymmetric DKI without RBC performed slightly better than with RBC. However, the combination of axisymmetric DKI with RBC was the overall best performing algorithm across all five AxTM in white matter and axisymmetric DKI itself substantially improved accuracy in axisymmetric tissues with low fiber alignment. Conclusion: Combining axisymmetric DKI with RBC facilitates accurate DKI parameter estimation at unprecedented low SNRs ((Formula presented.)) in white matter, possibly making it a valuable tool for neuroscience and clinical research studies where scan time is a limited resource. The tools used here are available in the open-source ACID toolbox for SPM

Der Effekt von Nahrungsmittel-Labels auf die korrekte Einschätzung der Produktgesundheit : eine experimentelle Studie

Chronische ernährungsbedingte Krankheiten nehmen in unserer Gesellschaft stets zu, Ärzte sind hinsichtlich Ernährungsberatungen nicht ausreichend geschult, und der Konsument ist aufgrund der hohen Lebensmittelvielfalt und überfüllten Supermarktregalen überfordert, sodass es ihm schwer fällt zu entscheiden, welche Produkte als gesund einzuordnen sind. Der Einsatz von sogenannten Front-of-Package Labels (FoPLs), die dem Konsumenten dabei helfen sollen, gesündere Kaufentscheidungen zu treffen, gilt als Lösung für das genannte Problem. Welche Art von FoPL dabei am effektivsten die Einschätzung der Produktgesundheit resp. das Verständnis von Nährstoffqualität verbessert, wurde in dieser Masterthesis experimentell erforscht. Die neu entwickelte Lebensmittel-Ampel namens "Nutri-Score" führt gegenwärtig innerhalb der Lebensmittelindustrie und Public-Health Politik zu kontroversen Diskussionen. Die Literaturrecherche zeigt, dass die derzeitige Evidenzlage des Nutri-Scores noch sehr lückenhaft ist. Diese experimentelle Studie untersucht mittels kontrollierter Randomisierung und einem between-subject Studiendesign den Effekt der FoPLs "Nutri-Score", der eine neue Intervention repräsentiert, und "Reference Intakes" (RI), eine zahlenbasierte bereits seit längerem in der Praxis verwendete Nährwertkennzeichnung, auf die korrekte Einschätzung der Produktgesundheit. Hierbei wurde eine No-Label Gruppe als Kontrolle verwendet. Das Experiment wurde mittels eines Online-Fragebogens durchgeführt. Um die Einschätzung der Produktgesundheit zu operationalisieren, wurden drei Produkte einer homogenen Produktkategorie, deren Nährstoffprofile jedoch stark voneinander vari-ieren, den Probanden vorgeführt. Diese wurden daraufhin gebeten, die drei Produkte nach deren Produktgesundheit (Nährstoffqualität) einzuordnen. Zusätzlich wurde der wahrgenommene Schwierigkeitsgrad der Produkteinschätzungen erfasst. Bei der statistischen Datenanalyse wurden mehrere Auswertungsverfahren eingeschlossen: Varianzanalysen, Kruskal-Wallis Tests und univariate, als auch multivariate Regressionsmodelle