Nitrate reductase activity and oxalate content of sugar-beet leaves.

Diploid sugar beet was grown in controlled environment at 25/17 deg C in 14-h photoperiods in well aerated, regularly changed nutrient solution containing 6 meq NO3/l. When 6 leaves had been expanded, the total carboxylate content of the oldest leaf (leaf 1) was found to be 5836 meq/kg DM, while that of leaf 6 was only 2312 meq/kg; the difference was mainly due to oxalate content, which was 5236 meq/kg in leaf 1 and 1744 meq/kg in leaf 6. Nitrate-N content was about 50% higher in leaf 1 than in leaf 4. Nitrate-reductase activity fell to very low values as leaves aged. Experiments in which young and old leaf material was mixed, or oxalate at 0-4000 meq/kg DM was added to leaf samples, showed that oxalate had no substantial effect on nitrate-reductase activity. (Abstract retrieved from CAB Abstracts by CABI’s permission

Vijftig jaar monitoring en beheer van de Friese en Groninger kwelderwerken: 1960-2009

Dit WOt-werkdocument is een update van het kwelderboek uit 2001 en gaat ook over de bescherming door de kwelderwerken tegen de Allerheiligenvloed van 2006, over de Kaderrichtlijn Water en over de Sylt Conferentie van 2010. In 2007 verscheen in de WOT IN serie al een deel over Monitoring van kwelders in de Waddenzee, met beheermaatregelen voor alle kwelders (www.waddenzee.nl/Kwelders.1982.0.html). In de publicaties is ook aandacht voor beweiding, vegetatiekaarten, veroudering van de vegetatie, zeegras, grondwerk, ontwatering, en duurzaamheid van de rijshoutdammen

Detection of vascular morphology by high frequency intravascular ultrasonic imaging

This study was designed to validate the potential clinical utility of intravascular ultrasonic imaging in vitro and in vivo. In vitro studies were performed to assess the accuracy of dimensional and morphological information. In vitro images of human vessels (n = 75) demonstrated that lesion thickness determined echographically closely related with histological samples (r = 0.83). Morphologically, muscular and elastic arteries could be distinguished echographically based on the echogenicity of the arterial media. Close relation was also found in the morphological subtypes of atherosclerosis. Subsequently, intravascular ultrasound was used percutaneously in vivo in 20 patients to obtain images of the iliac and superficial femoral artery. High quality real-time images were obtained. Normal vessels were seen showing pulsatile circular images with a hypoechoic muscular media resulting in a typical three-layered appearance. Diseased arteries revealed non-obstructive and obstructive lumen. At the site of obstruction thinning of the muscular media was evident. Pulsation was not always present. Following dilatation of the obstructive lesion using balloon angioplasty the ultrasonic cross-sections changed drastically revealing plaque rupture, dissection, plaque-free wall rupture, rest stenosis and oedema. We conclude that intravascular ultrasonic imaging is a promising technique to document accurate dimensional and morphological characteristics of human vascular disease for guidance of therapeutic interventions

A Problem with Empirical Studies of Party Policy Shifts: Alternative Measures of Party Shifts are Uncorrelated

Many recent cross-national studies analyze the causes and electoral consequences of party policy shifts, using party position measures derived from (1) election manifestos, (2) expert surveys, or (3) voter surveys. However few studies validate their findings by analyzing multiple measures of party policy shifts. We analyze data on European parties’ position shifts on both European integration and Left-Right ideology and show that this is problematic, because while alternative measures of party policy positions correlate strongly in cross-sectional analyses, alternative measures of parties’ policy shifts are essentially uncorrelated in longitudinal analyses. We offer suggestions on how to address this problem

Renormalizability of N=1\mathcal{N}=1 super Yang-Mills theory in Landau gauge with a Stueckelberg-like field

We construct a vector gauge invariant transverse field configuration $V^H$, consisting of the well-known superfield $V$ and of a Stueckelberg-like chiral superfield. The renormalizability of the Super Yang Mills action in the Landau gauge is analyzed in the presence of a gauge invariant mass term $m^2 \int dV \mathcal{M}(V^H)$, with $\mathcal{M}(V^H)$ a power series in $V^H$. Unlike the original Stueckelberg action, the resulting action turns out to be renormalizable to all orders.Comment: 19 page

Visie onderbouwend ecologisch onderzoek Milieu- en Natuurplanbureau : graadmeters, scenario's, modellen, meetnetten en data

Voor het waarborgen van de kwaliteit van (ruimtelijke) gegevens en indicatoren is centrale ontsluiting en gestandaardiseerde beschrijving van megadata noodzakelijk. Recent is een inventarisatie gemaakt van bestanden, die betrekking hebben op de beleidsdomeinen natuur, groene ruimte, recreatie en landbouw (beschikbaar via de website van Natuurplanbureau). Voor de beleidssectoren milieu en water zal een aanvullende inventarisatie nodig zij