Erfolgreiche Bekämpfung des Apfelschorfs mit Kalziumhydroxid

In an attempt to control scab, a 12-year-old apple orchard was treated with suspensions of 5 g/l hydrated lime (Ca(OH)2) using overhead irrigation for 15 min. No other fungicides were used. In treatment A, irrigation was started when infection according to Mills had taken place. In treatments B and C, treatment was delayed by 6 h and 20 h, respectively. Irrigation was initiated when the scab warning system signaled even very low infection risk, and a total of 62 treatments were applied. At harvest, the fruits of ‘Golden Delicious’ and ‘Jonagold’ varieties of untreated controls were scabbed, while those of ‘Elstar’, ‘Fiesta’, and ‘Kent’ had no visible scab symptoms. During both conventional and ULO storage for 7.5 months, all control fruits developed scab symptoms. All fruits from A, B, and C treatments were free of scab at harvest and after storage. All control trees had scabbed leaves at harvest time; treated trees were free of scab on their upper leaf surfaces, while up to 15% of the leaves had at least one scab lesion on their lower surfaces. This was attributed to poor wetting of these surfaces by sprinkler irrigation, while the fruits and upper leaf surfaces were fully covered with hydrated lime suspensions. At harvest, leaves and fruits were covered with whitish calcium carbonate residues which could be removed by a brief dip in 20 g/l aqueous citric acid. There were no signs of phytotoxicity on either leaves or fruits

Successful control of apple scab with hydrated lime

In an attempt to control scab, a 12-year-old apple orchard was treated with suspensions of 5 g/l hydrated lime (Ca(OH)2) using overhead irrigation for 15 min. No other fungicides were used. In treatment A, irrigation was started when infection according to Mills had taken place. In treatments B and C, treatment was delayed by 6 h and 20 h, respectively. Irrigation was initiated when the scab warning system signaled even very low infection risk, and a total of 62 treatments were applied. At harvest, the fruits of ‘Golden Delicious’ and ‘Jonagold’ varieties of untreated controls were scabbed, while those of ‘Elstar’, ‘Fiesta’, and ‘Kent’ had no visible scab symptoms. During both conventional and ULO storage for 7.5 months, all control fruits developed scab symptoms. All fruits from A, B, and C treatments were free of scab at harvest and after storage. All control trees had scabbed leaves at harvest time; treated trees were free of scab on their upper leaf surfaces, while up to 15% of the leaves had at least one scab lesion on their lower surfaces. This was attributed to poor wetting of these surfaces by sprinkler irrigation, while the fruits and upper leaf surfaces were fully covered with hydrated lime suspensions. At harvest, leaves and fruits were covered with whitish calcium carbonate residues which could be removed by a brief dip in 20 g/l aqueous citric acid. There were no signs of phytotoxicity on either leaves or fruits

On the mysterious Hylobius huguenini Reitter, 1891 (Coleoptera: Curculionidae: Molytinae)

During verifications of museum material for the Catalogue of the Palaearctic Coleoptera, the type specimen of Hylobius huguenini Reitter, 1891 conserved in the Hungarian National Museum was examined. The type specimen had been found by Gustav Huguenin in the Emmental region in Switzerland. The species was never found again and remained therefore mysterious. After the examination of the type specimen, it became clear that Hylobius huguenini belongs to the American genus Heilipodus Kuschel, 1955 (comb. nov.), and there it ranks as a good species next to Heilipodus goeldii sp. nov., described here, and H. polyspilus (Pascoe, 1889), both from Brazil. The type specimens of Heilipodus goeldii sp. nov. were found in the Emil August Göldi-collection in the Natural History Museum of the Burgergemeinde Bern

Prediction of functional outcome after spinal cord injury: a task for the rehabilitation team and the patient

Study design: Descriptive analysis of data gathered in an information system.Objectives: To explore the predictions of professionals and patients regarding functional outcome after spinal cord injury related to the final results after inpatient rehabilitation, in order to make prognostics of rehabilitation outcome more successful and enlarge the role of the patient in selecting realistic rehabilitation goals.Methods: Data from 55 patients with spinal cord injury admitted to the rehabilitation centre. Expectations of the rehabilitation team and the patients regarding future independence in performing six daily activities were compared to the functional results at discharge. The results of patients with different level and extent of lesion were analyzed.Results: In 52% of all performed skills, independence was achieved at discharge. Professionals and patients made similar predictions. If they both expected independence after rehabilitation, 90% of the skills were performed independently at discharge. If they both did not expect independence only 3% of the functional results were positive. Of all combined predictions 64% was correct. Correct predictions were most often found regarding self-care skills of patients with paraplegia and regarding mobility of patients with complete lesions. Prediction of self-care outcome of patients with tetraplegia is far more complicated. There was a considerable variation in predictions of mobility potential, especially regarding patients with incomplete lesions. If the team and patients agreed upon expected independence in mobility skills of these patients, the final results were mostly positive.Conclusions: Prediction of functional outcome after spinal cord injury was most successful if the expectations of the team and patients were combined. Prognosis of self-care outcome of patients with paraplegia and mobility potential of patients with complete spinal cord lesions was usually clear at admission. However, selection of realistic goals concerning self-care skills of patients with tetraplegia and mobility skills of patients with incomplete lesions is far more complicated. Gradual adjustment of objectives is needed during the rehabilitation process in close collaboration between the professionals and the patients

Theorie, Politik und Rezeption: Kommentar zu Hans-Martin Schönherr-Manns Artikel "Politisches Ordnungsdenken aus christlichem Glauben. Eric Voegelins Antwort auf das Zeitalter der Ideologien" (ÖZP 1/2001)

Hans-Martin Schönherr-Manns Aufsatz wendet sich einem hierzulande weithin vergessenen, im anglo-amerikanischen Sprachraum dafür umso bekannteren Denker zu: Eric Voegelin. Schönherr-Manns Darstellung bleibt allerdings mangelhaft und wird der Person und dem Werk Voegelins kaum gerecht. Erstens wird Voegelin vom Autor vorschnell und fälschlich als "religiöser Mensch" und "gläubiger Christ" dargestellt. Zweitens wird dann die Theorieposition selbst über diese Religiosität definiert ("Ordnungsdenken aus christlichem Glauben"), ehe sie drittens politisiert wird, indem sie im amerikanischen "Bibelgürtel" und in der "religiösen Rechten" verortet wird. Voegelin erscheint in der Folge als Botschafter einer "missionarischen Gewissheit des religiösen Glaubens", in dessen Werken die McCarthy-Ära "widerhallen" würde. Diese Darstellung Schönherr-Manns ist zu korrigieren, wenn eine seriöse und kritische Auseinandersetzung mit der politischen Philosophie Eric Voegelins ermöglicht werden soll.Hans-Martin Schönherr-Mann's essay approaches a political philosopher well known in the anglo-american world but nevertheless largely unnoted in Austria: Eric Voegelin. Schönherr-Mann's presentation, however, remains inadequate and does not do justice to the work of Voegelin who fled Austria in 1938 and became an American citizen. It is particularly three steps in the presentation that are unsatisfactory: first, Voegelin is presented as a "religious man" and "faithful Christian"; second, his theory is defined and explained through this religiousness ("philosophy of order by means of Christian belief"); and third, the theory itself is politicized by contextualizing it in the American "Bible belt" and the "religious right". Finally, Voegelin appears as a religious missionary whose work, furthermore, is described as an "echo" of the McCarthy era. This presentation has to be corrected in order to enable a serious and critical discussion of the political philosophy of Eric Voegelin

First record of Xenopsylla gratiosa Jordan & Rothschild, 1923 from the Maltese Islands (Siphonaptera: Pulicidae)

Xenopsylla gratiosa is reported for the first time from the Maltese Islands. The species was found in an abandoned nest of a Cory’s Shearwater, Calonectris diomedea on the island of Filfla. Brief notes are included on previous records of fleas from the Maltese Islands and taxonomic, distributional and ecological notes are provided for Xenopsylla gratiosapeer-reviewe

Development and Evaluation of Data Processing Techniques in Magnetoencephalography

With MEG, the tiny magnetic fields produced by neuronal currents within the brain can be measured completely non-invasively. But the signals are very small (~100 fT) and often obscured by spontaneous brain activity and external noise. So, a recurrent issue in MEG data analysis is the identification and elimination of this unwanted interference within the recordings. Various strategies exist to meet this purpose. In this thesis, two of these strategies are scrutinized in detail. The first is the commonly used procedure of averaging over trials which is a successfully applied data reduction method in many neurocognitive studies. However, the brain does not always respond identically to repeated stimuli, so averaging can eliminate valuable information. Alternative approaches aiming at single trial analysis are difficult to realize and many of them focus on temporal patterns. Here, a compromise involving random subaveraging of trials and repeated source localization is presented. A simulation study with numerous examples demonstrates the applicability of the new method. As a result, inferences about the generators of single trials can be drawn which allows deeper insight into neuronal processes of the human brain. The second technique examined in this thesis is a preprocessing tool termed Signal Space Separation (SSS). It is widely used for preprocessing of MEG data, including noise reduction by suppression of external interference, as well as movement correction. Here, the mathematical principles of the SSS series expansion and the rules for its application are investigated. The most important mathematical precondition is a source-free sensor space. Using three data sets, the influence of a violation of this convergence criterion on source localization accuracy is demonstrated. The analysis reveals that the SSS method works reliably, even when the convergence criterion is not fully obeyed. This leads to utilizing the SSS method for the transformation of MEG data to virtual sensors on the scalp surface. Having MEG data directly on the individual scalp surface would alleviate sensor space analysis across subjects and comparability with EEG. A comparison study of the transformation results obtained with SSS and those produced by inverse and subsequent forward computation is performed. It shows strong dependence on the relative position of sources and sensors. In addition, the latter approach yields superior results for the intended purpose of data transformation

Patterns of Surface Immobilized Block Copolymer Vesicle Nanoreactors

The immobilization and positioning of ultra small reaction vessels on solid supports open new pathways in applications such as lab-on-a-chip, sensors, microanalyses and microreactors. In our work block copolymer vesicles made from polystyrene-block-polyacrylic acid (PS-b-PAA) were immobilized from aqueous medium onto 3-amino propyl trimethoxysilane functionalized silicon surfaces exploiting electrostatic interactions. The immobilization of the vesicles was investigated by Fourier transform infrared (FTIR) spectroscopy, as well as fluorescence optical and atomic force microscopy (AFM). In addition, the influence of pH and ionic strength on the surface coverage of vesicles bound to the surface was elucidated. Finally micro-molding in capillaries (MIMIC) was utilized to create line patterns of the vesicles containing the enzyme trypsin and the fluorogenic substrate rhodamine 110 bisamide. The selective positioning of vesicle nanoreactors in conjunction with electrostatic immobilization serves as a proof of principle for potential applications in real-time observation of confined chemical reaction inside vesicles as nanocontainers and for the fabrication of integrated microarray systems

Using simulations to investigate the apparent fracture toughness of microcantilevers

In the past decade, micrometer cantilevers were frequently used to evaluate the fracture toughness of single phases and the fracture toughness of particular grain and phase boundaries. The calculation of the fracture toughness relies on the cantilever geometry and the experimentally determined maximum force. To quantify the toughness, the geometry and force enter analytical models, which are based on simulations that use an isotropic elastic material, perfect beam geometry and in many cases a two-dimensional configuration. However, the vast majority of materials have a limited amount of plasticity and are anisotropic. Moreover, the intentionally prepared pre-crack is seldom straight due to the focused ion beam (FIB) production method. This study uses thousands of 3D finite element method (FEM) simulations to investigate the influence of anisotropy, imperfect pre-crack shape and plasticity on the apparent fracture toughness of the material. Initially, we will discuss the influence of anisotropy on the apparent fracture toughness. To that end, the ratio of anisotropy between the cantilever axis and the transversal axis is varied to establish the effect on the fracture toughness. More, we investigate the influence of Poisson\u27s ratio and beam geometry because these values interact with the anisotropy. We find that typical metals with an anisotropy ratio less than 3 and typical cantilever geometries with an l/h ratio of more than 4 are only slightly affected by the anisotropy. We present view-graphs that allow the user to determine the influence of anisotropy for other cantilevers and highly anisotropic materials. Secondly, we investigate the influence of material bridges that are frequently used to ensure straight pre-cracks at the start of crack propagation. Additionally, we investigate the influence of pre-crack front rounding, i.e. the material bridges are omitted. We varied the geometry of the material bridge and crack front rounding to establish the influence of the geometry on the apparent fracture toughness. We discuss the difference between load controlled experiments with an internal feedback loop and displacement controlled experiments. We argue about the geometric requirements to ensure stable crack growth and the optimal experiments. We close with a discussion on the influence of plasticity on the fracture toughness and the applicability of the plastic zone size according to Rice for microcantilever experiments. Please click Additional Files below to see the full abstract

Społeczna odpowiedzialność biznesu w Polsce w czasie pandemii COVID-19 a Cele Zrównoważonego Rozwoju ONZ

Theoretical background: In 2015, the UN announced 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), which set global lines for action by 2030. It is quite common to believe that the COVID-19 pandemic will negatively affect the implementation of SDGs. Business is both a partner and a recipient of SDGs and without its involvement achievement of sustainable development is not possible. In addition to the studies on business activity in the pandemic era, initiatives collecting good business practices have begun to emerge. One of them is the action called #BiznesReagujeOdpowiedzialnie of Responsible Business Forum.Purpose of the article: An attempt to assess Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) business leaders’ actions in Poland undertaken in response to socio-economic consequences of COVID-19 pandemic, made from the point of view of the concept of corporate social responsibility and the UN SDGs.Research methods: A critical analysis of literature on this subject and web research.Main findings: Actions of Responsible Business Forum’s strategic business partners are primarily an ad-hoc and direct response to the pandemic, focused on the groups most affected. While some actions will certainly have positive long-term effects, it is currently difficult to assess their long-term netto effect on sustainable development.Uzasadnienie teoretyczne: W 2015 roku Organizacja Narodów Zjednoczonych (ONZ) ogłosiła 17 Celów Zrównoważonego Rozwoju (Sustainable Development Goals, SDGs), które wyznaczają globalne kierunki działań do 2030 roku. Dość powszechne jest przekonanie, że pandemia COVID-19 negatywnie wpłynie na realizację SDGs. Biznes jest zarówno partnerem, jak i adresatem SDGs. Bez jego zaangażowania osiągnięcie zrównoważonego rozwoju nie jest możliwe. Obok opracowań wycinkowo prezentujących aktywność biznesu w dobie pandemii zaczęły się pojawiać inicjatywy zbierające dobre praktyki biznesowe. Jedną z nich jest akcja zainicjowana przez Forum Odpowiedzialnego Biznesu pn. #BiznesReagujeOdpowiedzialnie.Cel artykułu: Próba oceny działań podejmowanych przez liderów społecznej odpowiedzialności biznesu (Corporate Social Responsibility, CSR) w Polsce w dobie pandemii COVID-19 w reakcji na jej skutki społeczno-ekonomiczne, dokonana z punktu widzenia koncepcji społecznej odpowiedzialności biznesu i SDGs.Metody badawcze: Przegląd literatury przedmiotu i krytyczna analiza web research.Główne wnioski: Podejmowane przez partnerów strategicznych Forum Odpowiedzialnego Biznesu działania stanowią przede wszystkim ad hoc i bezpośrednią reakcję na pandemię, skupioną na grupach najbardziej ją odczuwających. I choć część działań z pewnością przyniesie pozytywne długofalowe skutki, to obecnie trudno ocenić ich długofalowy efekt netto z punktu widzenia zrównoważonego rozwoju