Assessment of processing technologies which may improve the nutritional composition of dairy products – Overview of progress

Among consumers there is a growing demand for food products with a natural nutritional-physiological advantage over comparable conventional products. As part of an EU funded project, ALP is examining the possible impact of processing on nutritionally valuable milk components, using the example of conjugated linoleic acids (CLA). The extent to which processing influences the CLA content of the end product was determined by literature research and own investigations of organic and conventional butter. Furthermore, new chemical, sensory-based and bio crystallization methods were evaluated by ALP and the University of Kassel to determine the oxidation stability of butter. In a further step the storage stability of CLA enriched and conventional butter was examined and the different methods will be compared. As a third objective a process for low-input CLA enrichment of milk fat (with a focus on alpine butter) has been developed. Since the process selected for the work is a physical enrichment process, it is accepted by international organic farming and food groups. Among the many benefits ascribed to CLA, it is believed to be an effective agent against cancer. The demand for foods with properties that promote human health is growing. The dairy industry has the opportunity to meet this demand by developing new dairy products with a nutritional-physiological function for the functional food market

Influence of enhanced Asian NOx emissions on ozone in the upper troposphere and lower stratosphere in chemistry–climate model simulations

The Asian summer monsoon (ASM) anticyclone is the most pronounced circulation pattern in the upper troposphere and lower stratosphere (UTLS) during northern hemispheric summer. ASM convection plays an important role in efficient vertical transport from the surface to the upper-level anticyclone. In this paper we investigate the potential impact of enhanced anthropogenic nitrogen oxide (NOx) emissions on the distribution of ozone in the UTLS using the fully coupled aerosol–chemistry–climate model, ECHAM5-HAMMOZ. Ozone in the UTLS is influenced both by the convective uplift of ozone precursors and by the uplift of enhanced-NOx-induced tropospheric ozone anomalies. We performed anthropogenic NOx emission sensitivity experiments over India and China. In these simulations, covering the years 2000–2010, anthropogenic NOx emissions have been increased by 38 % over India and by 73 % over China with respect to the emission base year 2000. These emission increases are comparable to the observed linear trends of 3.8 % per year over India and 7.3 % per year over China during the period 2000 to 2010. Enhanced NOx emissions over India by 38 % and China by 73 % increase the ozone radiative forcing in the ASM anticyclone (15–40° N, 60–120° E) by 16.3 and 78.5 mW m−2 respectively. These elevated NOx emissions produce significant warming over the Tibetan Plateau and increase precipitation over India due to a strengthening of the monsoon Hadley circulation. However, increase in NOx emissions over India by 73 % (similar to the observed increase over China) results in large ozone production over the Indo-Gangetic Plain and Tibetan Plateau. The higher ozone concentrations, in turn, induce a reversed monsoon Hadley circulation and negative precipitation anomalies over India. The associated subsidence suppresses vertical transport of NOx and ozone into the ASM anticyclone

Multitimescale variations in modeled stratospheric water vapor derived from three modern reanalysis products

Stratospheric water vapor (SWV) plays important roles in the radiation budget and ozone chemistry and is a valuable tracer for understanding stratospheric transport. Meteorological reanalyses provide variables necessary for simulating this transport; however, even recent reanalyses are subject to substantial uncertainties, especially in the stratosphere. It is therefore necessary to evaluate the consistency among SWV distributions simulated using different input reanalysis products. In this study, we evaluate the representation of SWV and its variations on multiple timescales using simulations over the period 1980–2013. Our simulations are based on the Chemical Lagrangian Model of the Stratosphere (CLaMS) driven by horizontal winds and diabatic heating rates from three recent reanalyses: ERA-Interim, JRA-55 and MERRA-2. We present an intercomparison among these model results and observationally based estimates using a multiple linear regression method to study the annual cycle (AC), the quasi-biennial oscillation (QBO), and longer-term variability in monthly zonal-mean H2O mixing ratios forced by variations in the El Niño–Southern Oscillation (ENSO) and the volcanic aerosol burden. We find reasonable consistency among simulations of the distribution and variability in SWV with respect to the AC and QBO. However, the amplitudes of both signals are systematically weaker in the lower and middle stratosphere when CLaMS is driven by MERRA-2 than when it is driven by ERA-Interim or JRA-55. This difference is primarily attributable to relatively slow tropical upwelling in the lower stratosphere in simulations based on MERRA-2. Two possible contributors to the slow tropical upwelling in the lower stratosphere are suggested to be the large long-wave cloud radiative effect and the unique assimilation process in MERRA-2. The impacts of ENSO and volcanic aerosol on H2O entry variability are qualitatively consistent among the three simulations despite differences of 50&thinsp;%–100&thinsp;% in the magnitudes. Trends show larger discrepancies among the three simulations. CLaMS driven by ERA-Interim produces a neutral to slightly positive trend in H2O entry values over 1980–2013 (+0.01&thinsp;ppmv&thinsp;decade−1), while both CLaMS driven by JRA-55 and CLaMS driven by MERRA-2 produce negative trends but with significantly different magnitudes (−0.22 and −0.08&thinsp;ppmv&thinsp;decade−1, respectively).</p

A multi-scenario Lagrangian trajectory analysis to identify source regions of the Asian tropopause aerosol layer on the Indian subcontinent in August 2016

The Asian tropopause aerosol layer (ATAL) is present during the Asian summer monsoon season affecting the radiative balance of the atmosphere. However, the source regions and transport pathways of ATAL particles are still uncertain. Here, we investigate transport pathways from different regions at the model boundary layer (MBL) to the ATAL by combining two Lagrangian transport models (CLaMS, Chemical Lagrangian Model of the Stratosphere; MPTRAC, Massive-Parallel Trajectory Calculations) with balloon-borne measurements of the ATAL performed by the Compact Optical Backscatter Aerosol Detector (COBALD) above Nainital (India) in August 2016. Trajectories are initialised at the measured location of the ATAL and calculated 90 d backwards in time to investigate the relation between the measured, daily averaged, aerosol backscatter ratio and source regions at the MBL. Different simulation scenarios are performed to find differences and robust patterns when the reanalysis data (ERA5 or ERA-Interim), the trajectory model, the vertical coordinate (kinematic and diabatic approach) or the convective parameterisation are varied. The robust finding among all scenarios is that the largest continental air mass contributions originate from the Tibetan Plateau and the Indian subcontinent (mostly the Indo-Gangetic Plain), and the largest maritime air mass contributions in Asia come from the western Pacific (e.g. related to tropical cyclones). Additionally, all simulation scenarios indicate that the transport of maritime air from the tropical western Pacific to the region of the ATAL lowers the backscatter ratio (BSR) of the ATAL, while most scenarios indicate that the transport of polluted air from the Indo-Gangetic Plain increases the BSR. While the results corroborate key findings from previous ERA-Interim-based studies, they also highlight the variability in the contributions of different MBL regions to the ATAL depending on different simulation scenarios.</p

Horizontal transport affecting trace gas seasonality in the Tropical Tropopause Layer (TTL)

We analyze horizontal transport from midlatitudes into the tropics (in-mixing) and its impact on seasonal variations of ozone, carbon monoxide and water vapor in the Tropical Tropopause Layer (TTL). For this purpose, we use three-dimensional backward trajectories, driven by ECMWF ERA-Interim winds, and a conceptual one-dimensional model of the chemical composition of the TTL. We find that the fraction of in-mixed midlatitude air shows an annual cycle with maximum during NH summer, resulting from the superposition of two inversely phased annual cycles for in-mixing from the NH and SH, respectively. In-mixing is driven by the monsoonal upper-level anticyclonic circulations. This circulation pattern is dominated by the Southeast Asian summer monsoon and, correspondingly, in-mixing shows an annual cycle. The impact of in-mixing on TTL mixing ratios depends on the in-mixed fraction of midlatitude air and on the meridional gradient of the particular species. For CO the meridional gradient and consequently the effect of in-mixing is weak. For water vapor, in-mixing effects are negligible. For ozone, the meridional gradient is large and the contribution of in-mixing to the ozone maximum during NH summer is about 50%. This in-mixing contribution is not sensitive to the tropical ascent velocity, which is about 40% too fast in ERA-Interim. As photochemically produced ozone in the TTL shows no distinct summer maximum, the ozone annual anomaly in the upper TTL turns out to be mainly forced by in-mixing of ozone-rich extratropical air during NH summer

Perceptions and attitudes to sustainable roundworm control by European sheep farmers

Trabajo presentado al: 28th International Conference of the World Association for the Advancement of Veterinary Parasitology (WAAVP). Dublín. 19-22 julio. Virtual meeting

Between Smart Technologies and Soviet Guns: Imaging the New Heroic Figure in Postdigital Warfare

In March 2017, I travelled to the frontline between the Ukrainian army and Pro-Russian separatist forces in the Donbass region, East Ukraine, as part of a research project into the return of 20th century weapons in digital culture across Europe. While embedded in a patrol with soldiers of the Ukraine Volunteer Corps, an organization affiliated with the nationalist Right Sector movement, I ended up in a firefight on the edge of the no man’s land. I documented how the soldiers alternatingly operated Soviet-era Kalashnikov assault rifles and contemporary consumer technologies, such as smartphones an action cameras. I will read the simultaneous performance of the soldiers with weapon and consumer technologies from different eras from the perspective of Russell Davies’ concept of the post-digital, in relation to selfie practices and microcelebrity performance in networked culture. In this context, I will reflect on Alain Badiou’s concept of the soldier as ‘heroic figure’. In response to Badiou’s claim that the traditional soldier is no longer an effective symbolic trope in a highly technologized culture, I will reflect on the – embodied and digitally networked – soldiers I accompanied as possible heroic figures of the post-digital

Ganzheitliche Untersuchungsmethoden zur Erfassung und Prüfung der Qualität ökologischer Lebensmittel: Stand der Entwicklung und Validierung

In dem wachsenden Markt ökologischer Lebensmittel werden Methoden zur produktorientierten Qualitätserfassung gefordert. Dabei geht es u.a. um die Unterscheidung von Produkten aus unterschiedlichen Anbauverfahren. Die Ziele des Projektes waren daher: 1. ausgewählte ganzheitliche Methoden gemäß ISO 17025 zu validieren, d.h. Laborprozesse festzulegen, sowie Einflussgrößen und Verfahrensmerkmale zu bestimmen, 2. zu testen, ob diese Verfahren eine Differenzierung von definierten Proben statistisch abgesichert zeigen können. . Diese Ziele konnten erreicht werden. Es wurde bestätigt, dass einige der Methoden auf Grundlage dokumentierter Prozeduren Lebensmittel aus definierten Anbauversuchen (u.a. aus dem DOK-Versuch am FIBL/CH) reproduzierbar unterscheiden können. Die Koordination und die Validierung der Kupferchlorid-Kristallisation sowie die Messung der Polyphenole lag bei der Universität Kassel, FG Ökologische Lebensmittelqualität und Ernährungskultur. Die KWALIS GmbH, Dipperz, validierte die Fluoreszenz-Anregungsspektroskopie und die Bestimmung des Physiologischen Aminosäurestatus, die EQC GmbH, Weidenbach die elektrochemischen Messungen. Dr. Kromidas, Saarbrücken übernahm die Beratung der Validierungsprozeduren. . An Blindproben wurde untersucht, ob die Verfahren für Weizen- und Möhrenproben aus definierten Anbau- und Sortenversuchen geeignet sind (Fragestellung der Validierung). Die Proben wurden von unabhängiger Stelle (OEL-FAL, Trenthorst) codiert. Die Proben wurden gleichzeitig an alle Partner versandt; dadurch konnten die Methoden auch untereinander verglichen werden. Die Methoden Kupferchlorid-Kristallisation, Fluoreszenz-Anregungsspektroskopie und Physiologischer Aminosäurestatus sind für die Fragestellung geeignet. Mit allen drei Methoden konnten die Proben differenziert und gruppiert werden. Darüber hinaus konnten mit der Fluoreszenz-Anregungsspektroskopie und über den physiologischen Aminosäurestatus die Proben auch den Anbauweisen richtig zugeordnet werden. Allerdings ist damit noch keine Aussage über die Fähigkeit dieser Verfahren möglich, generell Proben aus ökologischer und konventioneller Herkunft zu unterscheiden. Dafür sind weitere Untersuchungen sowohl an Proben definierter Herkunft als auch an Marktproben notwendig