3,083 research outputs found
Mixed cropping systems for control of weeds and pests in organic oilseed crops
Agricultural advantages of mixed cropping are gained from biological effects like light competition offering weed-suppressing capacities, or by diversification of plant covers to break development cycles of pests. These effects were measured in a two-year project on mixed cropping with organic oilseed crops. It was found that weeds can be efficiently suppressed in organic linseed (Linum usitatissivum) grown in combination with wheat (Triticum aestivum) or false flax (Camelina sativa). Linseed growth was, however, impaired. In organic pea production (Pisum sativum) also, growing the crop as a mixture with false flax led to a significant decrease of weed population. Either culture showed a balanced plant development. In winter rape (Brassica napus) there were suggestions that infestation by insect pests can be directly reduced in mixtures with cereals or legumes and that parasitoids of insect pests are supported
A study on various methods of supplying propellant to an orbit insertion rocket engine
Various types of pumps and pump drives were evaluated to determine the lightest weight system for supplying propellants to a planetary orbit insertion rocket engine. From these analyses four candidate propellant feed systems were identified. Systems Nos. 1 and 2 were both battery powered (lithium-thionyl-chloride or silver-zinc) motor driven pumps. System 3 was a monopropellant gas generator powered turbopump. System 4 was a bipropellant gas generator powered turbopump. Parameters considered were pump break horsepower, weight, reliability, transient response and system stability. Figures of merit were established and the ranking of the candidate systems was determined. Conceptual designs were prepared for typical motor driven pumps and turbopump configurations for a 1000 lbf thrust rocket engine
Tsirelson's problem and Kirchberg's conjecture
Tsirelson's problem asks whether the set of nonlocal quantum correlations
with a tensor product structure for the Hilbert space coincides with the one
where only commutativity between observables located at different sites is
assumed. Here it is shown that Kirchberg's QWEP conjecture on tensor products
of C*-algebras would imply a positive answer to this question for all bipartite
scenarios. This remains true also if one considers not only spatial
correlations, but also spatiotemporal correlations, where each party is allowed
to apply their measurements in temporal succession; we provide an example of a
state together with observables such that ordinary spatial correlations are
local, while the spatiotemporal correlations reveal nonlocality. Moreover, we
find an extended version of Tsirelson's problem which, for each nontrivial Bell
scenario, is equivalent to the QWEP conjecture. This extended version can be
conveniently formulated in terms of steering the system of a third party.
Finally, a comprehensive mathematical appendix offers background material on
complete positivity, tensor products of C*-algebras, group C*-algebras, and
some simple reformulations of the QWEP conjecture.Comment: 57 pages, to appear in Rev. Math. Phy
Abundance, horizontal and vertical distribution of the invasive ctenophore Mnemiopsis leidyi in the central Baltic Sea, November 2007
The distribution and abundance of the invasive ctenophore Mnemiopsis leidyi in the Bornholm Basin, an important spawning ground of several fish stocks, and in adjacent areas in the central Baltic Sea was studied in November 2007. The study showed that M. leidyi were relatively small (body length 18.6 ± 7.6 mm) and they were patchily distributed over a large part of the investigated area. Specimens were found on 68 and 59% of stations sampled with a Bongo net (n=39) and an Isaac-Kidd midwater trawl (n=51), respectively. Vertically, the highest densities of M. leidyi occurred at 40 to 60 m around the halocline.
Horizontally, the highest abundances were found north and west of Bornholm, but relatively high densities were also observed in the Slupsk Furrow. The mean abundance was 1.58 ± 2.12 ind. m-2, the peak abundance was 8.92 ind. m-2, and the average and peak population density were 0.03 ± 0.05 and 0.28 ind. m-3, respectively. The abundances are low compared to densities recently observed in other areas of the Baltic region (e. g. Limfjorden, Åland Sea) and the estimated predation impact on zooplankton by M. leidyi was negligible in November 2007. However, because of the ctenophore’s wide distribution in the central Baltic Sea, its ability for rapid population growth, and its potential influence on fish stocks by competing for food and by preying on fish eggs and newly hatched larvae, close monitoring of the future development of M. leidyi in the Baltic Sea is strongly recommended
Superconductivity and magnetic order in the non-centrosymmetric Half Heusler compound ErPdBi
We report superconductivity at K and magnetic order at K in the semi-metallic noncentrosymmetric Half Heusler compound ErPdBi.
The upper critical field, , has an unusual quasi-linear temperature
variation and reaches a value of 1.6 T for . Magnetic order is
found below and is suppressed at T for . Since , the interaction of superconductivity and magnetism
is expected to give rise to a complex ground state. Moreover, electronic
structure calculations show ErPdBi has a topologically nontrivial band
inversion and thus may serve as a new platform to study the interplay of
topological states, superconductivity and magnetic order.Comment: 6 pages, 5 figures; accepted for publication in Europhysics Letter
Development of phosphatase and dehydrogenase activities in soils of annual cropland and permanent grassland in an organic farm
The essential nature of Phosphorus (P) in plant growth and the finite amount of P resources have result in the question: what kind of management in farming systems can lead to P sufficiency in organic farming? The release of acid and alkaline phosphatases of plant and microbes promote the plant availability of soil P. The presented results show a significant higher enzyme activity at permanent grassland (PG) than at arable land with annual crops at an organic farm in Northern Germany. Therefore livestock systems with PG for grazing ruminants seem to have high potential to improve on-farm P-cycles via feed and manure flows even to annual cropland. These systems can profit from the nutrient transfer from PG to arable land through the use of manures. Enhance the soil-plant P cycle by better use of P sources with low availability from PG could be component of sufficiency P management in organic and also conventional production
Connes' embedding problem and Tsirelson's problem
We show that Tsirelson's problem concerning the set of quantum correlations
and Connes' embedding problem on finite approximations in von Neumann algebras
(known to be equivalent to Kirchberg's QWEP conjecture) are essentially
equivalent. Specifically, Tsirelson's problem asks whether the set of bipartite
quantum correlations generated between tensor product separated systems is the
same as the set of correlations between commuting C*-algebras. Connes'
embedding problem asks whether any separable II factor is a subfactor of
the ultrapower of the hyperfinite II factor. We show that an affirmative
answer to Connes' question implies a positive answer to Tsirelson's.
Conversely, a positve answer to a matrix valued version of Tsirelson's problem
implies a positive one to Connes' problem
Typical local measurements in generalised probabilistic theories: emergence of quantum bipartite correlations
What singles out quantum mechanics as the fundamental theory of Nature? Here
we study local measurements in generalised probabilistic theories (GPTs) and
investigate how observational limitations affect the production of
correlations. We find that if only a subset of typical local measurements can
be made then all the bipartite correlations produced in a GPT can be simulated
to a high degree of accuracy by quantum mechanics. Our result makes use of a
generalisation of Dvoretzky's theorem for GPTs. The tripartite correlations can
go beyond those exhibited by quantum mechanics, however.Comment: 5 pages, 1 figure v2: more details in the proof of the main resul
Zum Einfluss der Fütterung von Leindotterpresskuchen auf die Mast- und Schlachtleistung von Broilern aus ökologischer Mast
False flax (Camelina sativa) is a very beneficial oil seed in organic plant production. Its added value could be enhanced by using the oil cake in animal nutrition, which is very interesting for organic feeding due to the demand of farm grown crude protein and energy delivering plants. But European feed law does not allow such an use. An application for an amendment of the ordinance only seems promising, if it is possible to make a scientifically based proposal concerning the unproblematic amount of Camelina oil cake in the diet. Therefore in an organic feeding trial with a total of 192 broilers the effects of different amounts of Camelina oil cake (0%, 2.5%, 5% and 5% heat and pressure treated) in the diet concerning performance, carcass and meat quality were tested. The substitution of Camelina oil cake against soy cake till 5% caused inconsistent results concerning performance. Treated oil cake significantly caused poor performance and enlarged thyroid glands and livers. Carcass, meat, and fat quality remained unaffected. But anyway, a recommendation concerning the rea-sonable amount of Camelina oil cake in a broiler diet based on this single trial seems not feasible. Therefore further research has to be done
An ultra-low field SQUID magnetometer for measuring antiferromagnetic and weakly remanent magnetic materials at low temperatures
A novel setup for the measurement of magnetic fields external to certain antiferromagnets and generally weakly remanent magnetic materials is presented. The setup features a highly sensitive Super Conducting Quantum Interference Device (SQUID) magnetometer with a magnetic field resolution of approx. 10 fT, non-electric thermalization of the sample space for a temperature range of 1.5 - 65 K with a non-electric sample movement drive and optical position encoding. To minimize magnetic susceptibility effects, the setup components are degaussed and realized with plastic materials in sample proximity. Running the setup in magnetically shielded rooms allows for a well-defined ultra low magnetic background field well below 150 nT in situ. The setup enables studies of inherently weak magnetic materials which cannot be measured with high field susceptibility setups, optical methods or neutron scattering techniques, giving new opportunities for the research on e.g. spin-spiral multiferroics, skyrmion materials and spin ices
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