Sustainable Soil Management: Its perception and the need for policy Intervention in the European context

As stated in the strategic objectives of the Global Soil Partnership “healthy soils and sustainable soil management are the precondition for human well-being and economic welfare and therefore play the key role for sustainable development”. Although the functional properties of a healthy soil are well understood, in practice it is easily overlooked what is necessary to achieve and sustain healthy agricultural soils. This contribution intends: to discuss the concept of sustainable soil management in agricultural production with regard to soil health, and to highlight its importance in the achievement of both Sustainable Development Goals and the 4 per mille objectives, as well as for the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP). In Europe, soil and the need for its conservation and stewardship gained visibility at the beginning of this century during the discussions related to the Soil Thematic Strategy. This higher level of awareness concerning the status of Europe’s soils led to the introduction of soil conservation standards into the cross-compliance and recently into the greening mechanisms within the 1st Pillar of CAP. However, the business-as-usual model of tillage based agriculture continues and soil degradation through erosion, soil organic matter and soil biodiversity decline and compaction together with general yields’ stagnation continues. In light of the above, urgent action is needed to extend the timid European efforts of agricultural soil conservation and to include measures that would cover and apply directly to a much larger area under agricultural production while preserving and enhancing the production potential and capacity of the farmland. Crop production and agricultural land management based on the principles of Conservation Agriculture (no-till seeding and weeding, maintaining soil mulch cover, crop diversification) has proven to improve decisively the delivery of all soil-mediated productivity and ecosystem services, including soil carbon sequestration (4 per mille), the efficient use of natural resources and external inputs, and thus improved cost efficiency and profit, while maintaining or increasing productivity. However, especially in Europe, institutional and policy support is needed to mainstream this truly agro-ecological approach of Conservation Agriculture to sustainable farming and land management

Opportunities for Conservation Agriculture in the EU Common Agricultural Policy 2014-2020

In the past, many relevant European Union (EU) documents made reference to the environmental problems caused by agriculture. In those papers, the concept of Conservation Agriculture (CA) as a possible solution was either omitted or timidly named, although sustainable agriculture was proclaimed as an objective of the EU in the Amsterdam treaty in 1999. EU’s position regarding several worldwide environmental problems, i.e. climate change, water and soil threats, is well known. However, to which extent these positions will be reflected in EU agricultural and environmental policies and concrete and binding measures in all member states for the period of 2014-2020 is still an open question. Through its Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) EU claims to address the main concerns of its agriculture and rural development. In this context, EU launched a Communication (COM (2010) 672 final) named “The CAP towards 2020. Meeting the food, natural resources and territorial challenges of the future”. Based on this paper we analyse the deliverables that CA could provide to achieve the overall objectives established for the CAP in the horizon 2014-2020

Frequency response of Valencia oranges to selective harvesting by vibration

Citrus mechanical harvesting has been investigated since the 1960’s. Even though mechanical harvesting could significantly lower production costs, the implementation by the private sector has been slow. The current harvesting technologies detach the fruits with trunk, canopy or branch vibration. For late-season sweet orange varieties which simultaneously bear mature fruit, immature fruitlets and flowers shaker harvesting decreases the subsequent year’s yield. This study, investigated the frequency response of mature fruits and immature fruitlets to determine the optimum frequency range for an efficient and selective harvest. Laboratory vibration transmission tests were conducted with 14 branches bearing 76 mature fruits and 151 immature ‘Valencia’ fruitlets. The fruit and branch response to the forced vibration was measured by several sets of five triaxial accelerometers with a dynamic signal analyser. Three frequency ranges with the highest vibration transmission values were identified for mechanical harvesting lower than 10 Hz. The first frequency range (1.5-2.5 Hz) corresponded best with the most efficient vibration transmission, involving more than 90% of fruit. The second frequency range (4.5-5 Hz) successfully discriminated between mature fruit and immature fruitlets. In this frequency range, 53.4% of mature fruit amplified the acceleration a mean value of 2.2 times, while only 7.3% of immature fruitlets amplified the acceleration with a mean value of 4.4 times. The lowest third frequency range had a vibration transmission value of 7-8 Hz. The frequency response of mature citrus fruits, and their markedly higher fruit mass, were significant factors in efficient selective mechanical harvesting

OTELO survey: Deep BVRI broad-band photometry of the Groth strip

Context. The Groth field is one of the sky regions that will be targeted by the OTELO (OSIRIS Tunable Filter Emission Line Object) survey in the optical 820 nm and 920 nm atmospheric windows. A complementary broad-band photometric catalogue of the field is essential for several purposes, in particular the inequivocal identification of sources, photometric redshift estimation, and population synthesis fitting.Aims. We aim to describe the OTELO survey and present deep BVRI imaging data of the Groth field. Galaxy number counts, colour distributions and galaxy clustering are analysed.Methods. BVRI deep images (?8 ks) were obtained with the Prime Focus Camera at the WHT (La Palma) and reduced with the IRAF package. The extraction and photometry of the sources was done with SExtractor software. We analysed the final catalogue to obtain galaxy number counts, as well as galaxy correlation functions as a function of I magnitude and V - I colour. It is also compared with estimations from mock catalogues of the Virgo-Millenium consortium.Results. We find excellent agreement between observed and mock data number counts. We also find evidence of galaxy clustering evolution and strong dependence of the angular correlation function on the V - I observed colour. Our data favour a flattening of the clustering amplitude with median apparent magnitude. The good general agreement between our clustering analysis and the estimates from the mock data is remarkableAcknowledgements. This work was supported by the Spanish Plan Nacional de Astronomía y Astrofísica under grants AYA2005–04149 and AYA2006–2358. We thank the referee for helpful comments that improved the clarity of this paper. The Millennium Simulation databases used in this paper and the web application providing online access to them were constructed as part of the activities of the German Astrophysical Virtual Observatory. IRAF is distributed by the National Optical Astronomy Observatory, which is operated by the Association of Universities for Research in Astronomy (AURA) under cooperative agreement with the National Science Foundation. This publication makes use of data products from the Two Micron All Sky Survey, which is a joint project of the University of Massachusetts and the Infrared Processing and Analysis Center California Institute of Technology, funded by the National Aeronautics and Space Administration and the National Science Foundation

Condição física e imagem corporal de estudantes de ciências do esporte

Introducción: Los cambios que se producen en la adolescencia y la juventud influyen de manera importante en el desarrollo de la persona, moldeándola así para su etapa adulta. Estos cambios se pueden dar de forma biológica y psicológica.Objetivos: El objetivo del presente estudio es analizar los niveles de condición física y la imagen corporal de los estudiantes de la Facultad de Ciencias del Deporte de la UMU.Métodos: Se evaluó la frecuencia cardíaca y tensión arterial, la fuerza, los saltos SJ, CMJ y ABKJ, el sprint en distancias de 10, 20 y 30 m, el test de ida y vuelta (150 m) y Course Navette. Resultados y discusión: Los resultados mostraron que los sujetos que estaban insatisfechos con su cuerpo (deseo de ser más delgado) tuvieron valores significativamente menos saludables de condición física (salto, velocidad y resistencia).Conclusión: En función del sexo se observó que existían diferencias significativas entre sexos en todas las variables a favor del sexo masculino. Respecto a la relación entre condición física e imagen corporal, se ha comprobado que aquellos alumnos que creen que deben adelgazar son los que han mostrado peores valores de condición física.Introduction: The changes that occur in adolescence and youth influence significantly in the development of the person, shaping themselves for their adult stage. These changes can occur in a biological and psychological way. Aim:The aim of the present study is to analyze different levels of physical fitness and body image of Sport Sciences students of the Faculty of Sport Sciences of the UMU Methods:The variables analyzed were heart rate and blood pressure, strength, jumps SJ, CMJ and ABKJ, the sprint in distances on 10, 20 and 30 metres, the test of 150 m, and Course Navette test. Results & discussion: Results show showed that students that were dissatisfied with their body (desire to be thinner) had significantly less healthy fitness values (jump, speed and aerobic capacity). Conclusion: According to sex, it was observed that there were significant differences between sexes in all the variables in favor of the male sex. Regarding the relationship between physical condition and body image, it has been proven that those students who believe they should lose weight are those who have shown worse values of physical condition.Introdução:As mudanças que ocorrem na adolescência e juventude influenciam de maneira importante no desenvolvimento da pessoa, moldando-a para o seu estágio adulto. Essas mudanças podem ocorrer biologicamente e psicológicamente. Objectivos: O objetivo do presente estudo é analisar os níveis de condição física e imagem corporal dos alunos da Faculdade de Ciências do Esporte da UMU. Métodos:Avaliaram-se a freqüência cardíaca e a pressão arterial, a força, os saltos SJ, CMJ e ABKJ, o sprint em distâncias de 10, 20 e 30 m, o teste de ida-e-volta (150 m) e o Course Navette. Resultados e discussão:Os resultados mostraram que os indivíduos que estavam insatisfeitos com o seu corpo (desejo de ser mais magro) apresentaram valores de aptidão física significativamente menores (salto, velocidade e resistência). Conclusões: De acordo com o sexo, observou-se que houve diferenças significativas entre os sexos em todas as variáveis a favor do sexo masculino. Em relação à relação entre condição física e imagem corporal, ficou comprovado que aqueles estudantes que acreditam que devem perder peso são aqueles que apresentam valores piores de condição físic

Evidence for a mixed mass composition at the `ankle' in the cosmic-ray spectrum

We report a first measurement for ultra-high energy cosmic rays of the correlation between the depth of shower maximum and the signal in the water Cherenkov stations of air-showers registered simultaneously by the fluorescence and the surface detectors of the Pierre Auger Observatory. Such a correlation measurement is a unique feature of a hybrid air-shower observatory with sensitivity to both the electromagnetic and muonic components. It allows an accurate determination of the spread of primary masses in the cosmic-ray flux. Up till now, constraints on the spread of primary masses have been dominated by systematic uncertainties. The present correlation measurement is not affected by systematics in the measurement of the depth of shower maximum or the signal in the water Cherenkov stations. The analysis relies on general characteristics of air showers and is thus robust also with respect to uncertainties in hadronic event generators. The observed correlation in the energy range around the `ankle' at $\lg(E/{\rm eV})=18.5-19.0$ differs significantly from expectations for pure primary cosmic-ray compositions. A light composition made up of proton and helium only is equally inconsistent with observations. The data are explained well by a mixed composition including nuclei with mass $A > 4$. Scenarios such as the proton dip model, with almost pure compositions, are thus disfavoured as the sole explanation of the ultrahigh-energy cosmic-ray flux at Earth.Comment: Published version. Added journal reference and DOI. Added Report Numbe

Anisotropy studies around the galactic centre at EeV energies with the Auger Observatory

Data from the Pierre Auger Observatory are analyzed to search for anisotropies near the direction of the Galactic Centre at EeV energies. The exposure of the surface array in this part of the sky is already significantly larger than that of the fore-runner experiments. Our results do not support previous findings of localized excesses in the AGASA and SUGAR data. We set an upper bound on a point-like flux of cosmic rays arriving from the Galactic Centre which excludes several scenarios predicting sources of EeV neutrons from Sagittarius $A$. Also the events detected simultaneously by the surface and fluorescence detectors (the `hybrid' data set), which have better pointing accuracy but are less numerous than those of the surface array alone, do not show any significant localized excess from this direction.Comment: Matches published versio

Measurement of the Bottom-Strange Meson Mixing Phase in the Full CDF Data Set

We report a measurement of the bottom-strange meson mixing phase \beta_s using the time evolution of B0_s -> J/\psi (->\mu+\mu-) \phi (-> K+ K-) decays in which the quark-flavor content of the bottom-strange meson is identified at production. This measurement uses the full data set of proton-antiproton collisions at sqrt(s)= 1.96 TeV collected by the Collider Detector experiment at the Fermilab Tevatron, corresponding to 9.6 fb-1 of integrated luminosity. We report confidence regions in the two-dimensional space of \beta_s and the B0_s decay-width difference \Delta\Gamma_s, and measure \beta_s in [-\pi/2, -1.51] U [-0.06, 0.30] U [1.26, \pi/2] at the 68% confidence level, in agreement with the standard model expectation. Assuming the standard model value of \beta_s, we also determine \Delta\Gamma_s = 0.068 +- 0.026 (stat) +- 0.009 (syst) ps-1 and the mean B0_s lifetime, \tau_s = 1.528 +- 0.019 (stat) +- 0.009 (syst) ps, which are consistent and competitive with determinations by other experiments.Comment: 8 pages, 2 figures, Phys. Rev. Lett 109, 171802 (2012

Search for direct production of charginos and neutralinos in events with three leptons and missing transverse momentum in √s = 7 TeV pp collisions with the ATLAS detector

A search for the direct production of charginos and neutralinos in final states with three electrons or muons and missing transverse momentum is presented. The analysis is based on 4.7 fb−1 of proton–proton collision data delivered by the Large Hadron Collider and recorded with the ATLAS detector. Observations are consistent with Standard Model expectations in three signal regions that are either depleted or enriched in Z-boson decays. Upper limits at 95% confidence level are set in R-parity conserving phenomenological minimal supersymmetric models and in simplified models, significantly extending previous results