Erarbeitung von Schwellenwerten zur gezielten Bekämpfung von Zwergsteinbrand (Tilletia controversa) und Steinbrand (Tilletia caries) sowie deren praktische Umsetzung im Öko- Landbau

Dwarf bunt of wheat (Tilletia controversa) and common bunt of wheat (Tilletia caries) are the most important pathogens in organic cereal production. The aim of this research work is to find out whether a threshold value for seed is sufficient or whether the infection potential in the soil must be considered additionally. For dwarf bunt of wheat two-years-lasting field trials are performed at 3 sites with susceptible and low-susceptible wheat and spelt cultivars, 4 infection levels and 4 replications. The field trials are designed in a randomized split-block design with additional marginal-plots, so (1) sowing and harvest will be possible without greater interaction between the field plots, (2) spore contamination of the soil during harvest will be assured and (3) the determination of spore inoculum density in the soil after harvest will be enabled. Only fields with natural spore contamination are chosen. The field trials for common bunt of wheat are carried out in a similar design with 4 replicates at 4 sites with susceptible and low-susceptible wheat cultivars and two different sowing times. For an infestation with dwarf bunt of wheat, diffuse light is sufficient. The wheat cultivar Capo showed a significantly lower infestation than the cultivar Saturnus. The infestation of the spelt cultivar Franckenkorn was significantly lower than that of the cultivar Oberkulmer Rotkorn, with the infestation of spelt cultivars being in principle lower because of morphological features. The greatest significant number of infested spikes per m² was found in the variant soil infection. With the dwarf bunt of wheat results from the first year no threshold values can be determined neither for seed nor for soil. In the case of infestation with common bunt of wheat, there were no significant differences between the early and late sowing dates, nor between the cultivars Capo and Tommi. The highest bunt spore potential in the soil was found at the field trial site in Saxony; however, the highest number of infested spikes per m² was not found there

Using pictograms improves the understanding of Stock-Flow Systems

We examined if we could improve performance in so-called Stock- Flow Systems (SF-systems). SF-systems are dynamic systems, which consist of a stock and two flows – the inflow and the outflow. The stock changes depending on the flows’ patterns. Many persons have problems understanding these systems (Sterman, 2002). Up to now, only one modification of the flows’ representation format led to rather strongly enhanced SF-performance: using pictograms instead of line graphs (Brockhaus, Arnold, Schwarz, & Sedlmeier, 2013). The present experiment analyzed if pictograms led to better performance when the SF-task was somewhat changed; this time, we focused on basic SF-understanding. Additionally, it analyzed, if further modifications of the diagram – emphasizing the distinction of the two flows and emphasizing the calculated difference of inflow minus outflow – could improve SF- performance. Results showed, the effect was smaller, and participants working on pictograms only solved about 50% or less of the tasks correctly. However, using pictograms improved SF-performance again

Kinematic studies of transport across an island wake, with application to the Canary islands

ArXiv pre-print: http://arxiv.org/abs/nlin/0605051.-- Final full-text version of the paper available at: http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/j.1600-0870.2006.00199.x.Transport from nutrient-rich coastal upwellings is a key factor influencing biological activity in surrounding waters and even in the open ocean. The rich upwelling in the North-Western African coast is known to interact strongly with the wake of the Canary islands, giving rise to filaments and other mesoscale structures of increased productivity. Motivated by this scenario, we introduce a simplified two-dimensional kinematic flow describing the wake of an island in a stream, and study the conditions under which there is a net transport of substances across the wake. For small vorticity values in the wake, it acts as a barrier, but there is a transition when increasing vorticity so that for values appropriate to the Canary area, it entrains fluid and enhances cross-wake transport.M.S. and U.F. would like to acknowledge the financial support by the DFG grant FE 359/7-1(2003). E.H-G. and C.L. acknowledge financial support from MEC (Spain) and FEDER through project CONOCE2 (FIS2004-00953). Both groups have benefited from a MEC-DAAD joint program. C.L. is a Ramón y Cajal fellow of the Spanish MEC

How we remember the emotional intensity of past musical experiences

Listening to music usually elicits emotions that can vary considerably in their intensity over the course of listening. Yet, after listening to a piece of music, people are easily able to evaluate the music's overall emotional intensity. There are two different hypotheses about how affective experiences are temporally processed and integrated: (1) all moments' intensities are integrated, resulting in an averaged value; (2) the overall evaluation is built from specific single moments, such as the moments of highest emotional intensity (peaks), the end, or a combination of these. Here we investigated what listeners do when building an overall evaluation of a musical experience. Participants listened to unknown songs and provided moment-to-moment ratings of experienced intensity of emotions. Subsequently, they evaluated the overall emotional intensity of each song. Results indicate that participants' evaluations were predominantly influenced by their average impression but that, in addition, the peaks and end emotional intensities contributed substantially. These results indicate that both types of processes play a role: All moments are integrated into an averaged value but single moments might be assigned a higher value in the calculation of this average

Functional neuroanatomy of meditation: A review and meta-analysis of 78 functional neuroimaging investigations

Meditation is a family of mental practices that encompasses a wide array of techniques employing distinctive mental strategies. We systematically reviewed 78 functional neuroimaging (fMRI and PET) studies of meditation, and used activation likelihood estimation to meta-analyze 257 peak foci from 31 experiments involving 527 participants. We found reliably dissociable patterns of brain activation and deactivation for four common styles of meditation (focused attention, mantra recitation, open monitoring, and compassion/loving-kindness), and suggestive differences for three others (visualization, sense-withdrawal, and non-dual awareness practices). Overall, dissociable activation patterns are congruent with the psychological and behavioral aims of each practice. Some brain areas are recruited consistently across multiple techniques - including insula, pre/supplementary motor cortices, dorsal anterior cingulate cortex, and frontopolar cortex - but convergence is the exception rather than the rule. A preliminary effect-size meta-analysis found medium effects for both activations (d = .59) and deactivations (d = -.74), suggesting potential practical significance. Our meta-analysis supports the neurophysiological dissociability of meditation practices, but also raises many methodological concerns and suggests avenues for future research

One, two, three: portable sample size in agricultural research

Determination of sample size (the number of replications) is a key step in the design of an observational study or randomized experiment. Statistical procedures for this purpose are readily available. Their treatment in textbooks is often somewhat marginal, however, and frequently the focus is on just one particular method of inference (significance test, confidence interval). Here, we provide a unified review of approaches and explain their close interrelationships, emphasizing that all approaches rely on the standard error of the quantity of interest, most often a pairwise difference of two means. The focus is on methods that are easy to compute, even without a computer. Our main recommendation based on standard errors is summarized as what we call the 1-2-3 rule for a difference of two treatment means

Regensburger Land. Der Landkreis Regensburg in Geschichte und Gegenwart 2 (2009)

Die Schriftenreihe „Regensburger Land. Der Landkreis Regensburg in Geschichte und Gegenwart“ soll im Stile eines Almanachs möglichst jährlich mit einem Band erscheinen und informative Beiträge zur regionalen Geschichte und Kultur enthalten. Ansprechend aufgemacht und reich bebildert, ist sie an eine breite Leserschaft gerichtet

Framework and baseline examination of the German National Cohort (NAKO)

The German National Cohort (NAKO) is a multidisciplinary, population-based prospective cohort study that aims to investigate the causes of widespread diseases, identify risk factors and improve early detection and prevention of disease. Specifically, NAKO is designed to identify novel and better characterize established risk and protection factors for the development of cardiovascular diseases, cancer, diabetes, neurodegenerative and psychiatric diseases, musculoskeletal diseases, respiratory and infectious diseases in a random sample of the general population. Between 2014 and 2019, a total of 205,415 men and women aged 19–74 years were recruited and examined in 18 study centres in Germany. The baseline assessment included a face-to-face interview, self-administered questionnaires and a wide range of biomedical examinations. Biomaterials were collected from all participants including serum, EDTA plasma, buffy coats, RNA and erythrocytes, urine, saliva, nasal swabs and stool. In 56,971 participants, an intensified examination programme was implemented. Whole-body 3T magnetic resonance imaging was performed in 30,861 participants on dedicated scanners. NAKO collects follow-up information on incident diseases through a combination of active follow-up using self-report via written questionnaires at 2–3 year intervals and passive follow-up via record linkages. All study participants are invited for re-examinations at the study centres in 4–5 year intervals. Thereby, longitudinal information on changes in risk factor profiles and in vascular, cardiac, metabolic, neurocognitive, pulmonary and sensory function is collected. NAKO is a major resource for population-based epidemiology to identify new and tailored strategies for early detection, prediction, prevention and treatment of major diseases for the next 30 years. SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1007/s10654-022-00890-5

The preparatory Set: A Novel Approach to Understanding Stress, Trauma, and the Bodymind Therapies

Basic to all motile life is a differential approach/avoid response to perceived features of environment. The stages of response are initial reflexive noticing and orienting to the stimulus, preparation, and execution of response. Preparation involves a coordination of many aspects of the organism: muscle tone, posture, breathing, autonomic functions, motivational/emotional state, attentional orientation, and expectations. The organism organizes itself in relation to the challenge. We propose to call this the preparatory set (PS). We suggest that the concept of the PS can offer a more nuanced and flexible perspective on the stress response than do current theories. We also hypothesize that the mechanisms of body-mind therapeutic and educational systems (BTES) can be understood through the PS framework. We suggest that the BTES, including meditative movement, meditation, somatic education, and the body-oriented psychotherapies, are approaches that use interventions on the PS to remedy stress and trauma. We discuss how the PS can be adaptive or maladaptive, how BTES interventions may restore adaptive PS, and how these concepts offer a broader and more flexible view of the phenomena of stress and trauma. We offer supportive evidence for our hypotheses, and suggest directions for future research. We believe that the PS framework will point to ways of improving the management of stress and trauma, and that it will suggest directions of research into the mechanisms of action of BTES