Artificial irradiation for lettuce plant raising - technical and economic aspects.

In November and December lettuce seeds were sown direct in soil blocks and the seedlings raised under natural light alone or supplemented with 200 W/m2 for 16 h daily. A night temperature of 7 deg C and a day temperature of 12, 15, 18 or 21 deg plus a 3 deg light-dependent increase were maintained. The seedlings were planted out in mid-January and harvested in mid-March. Plant growth was far more rapid, resulting in early maturity, where supplementary lights had been used initially and in addition the foliage was sturdier and broader. However, a comparison of the costs of production for lighted and unlighted plants of the same weight at planting showed that the extra cost of lighting was not justified by a marked increase in yield under the conditions of the trial. (Abstract retrieved from CAB Abstracts by CABI’s permission

Incompressible viscous flow near the leading edge of a flat plate admitting slip

The shear stress at the leading edge, calculated on basis of the Navier-Stokes equations and the no-slip boundary condition, approaches infinity. However, taking into account the mean free path of the molecules, which implies admitting a certain slip, the shear stress becomes inversely proportional to the square root of the Knudsen number κ if κ→0. κ is defined as the ratio between the mean free path and the viscous length. The new boundary condition modifies the shear stress only within the Knudsen region of which the size is of the order of 3 to 4 times the mean free path.

The climate glasshouse at Naaldwijk.

The layout of an experimental glasshouse with 24 separate compartments is described. A process computer with peripheral units is used to control the glasshouse climate and to record the climatic data inside and outside the glasshouse. (Abstract retrieved from CAB Abstracts by CABI’s permission

Western European markets for biosimilar and generic drugs: worth differentiating

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The flower inducing mechanism of Silene armeria L.

Investigations on the flower induction were carried out with Silene armeria L., a plant species flowering under all conditions after a treatment at LD, 5° C or 32° C. Two strains E 1 and L 1 differing in their photoperiodic and temperature requirements, were used in the present research, which completes former investigations (VAN DE VOOREN 1969a, b, 197 1 a, b).High temperaturePlants under short day conditions at 32° C are induced to flower bud formation. A quantitative juvenility for 32° SI), interaction between 32° SD and L 20° , partial induction by 32° SD and desinduction of this partial induction in SD 20° exist in both strains, but E 1 is more sensitive than L 1 .High temperature action on flower induction is maximal during the middle of a 16 h dark period for both E 1 and L 1 . Maximal action in E 1 is more precisely 7 h after the onset of darkness, independent on the length of the dark period for 8-16 h photoperiods. There is no action for 20 and 24 h photoperiod.No influence of temperatures on flower induction during SD is apparent in the range 10°-30°C and an increasing response in the range 35°-50° C.LightLight intensity is an important factor in flower induction. Increasing light intensities during SD or CL increase the flowering response. The optimal light intensity during CL is rather low in E 1 and has not been reached in L 1 in our experiments.Photoperiodic response curves at 20° and 32° C for E 1and L 1For photoperiods from 8 to 18 h more numbers of cycles necessary for 50% flowering are needed for 20° C than for 32° C. The curves run parallel for both E, and L, at photoperiods from 18 to 24 h. In this range E 1 needs an equal number and L 1 decreasing numbers of cycles.HypothesisThe mechanism of flower induction is a balance between two processes:1. A deblocking process in high intensity light, increasing light intensities accelerating it with an optimum, temperature insensitive.2. A reblocking process in darkness, starting about 4 h after the onset of darkness° reaching its maximum after 6-7 h and decreasing for about 5 h, temperature sensitive, temperatures higher than 30°-35° C slowing it down increasingly. Incandescent light postpones the onset of darkness and hence the reblocking.When these 2 processes are out of balance and more deblocking than reblocking occurs, a critical level or disappearance of the block is reached and flower induction is completed.ModelsModels, based on the foregoing hypothesis, are presented for induction by LD 20° high intensity light, LD 20° - high+low intensity incandescent light, 32° SD. These models fit well and can be used to predict time of flowering under specific conditions

Data-driven summarization of broadcasted cycling races by automatic team and rider recognition

The number of spectators for cycling races broadcasted on television is decreasing each year. More dynamic and personalized reporting formats are needed to keep the viewer interested. In this paper, we propose a methodology for data-driven summarization, which allows end-users to query for personalized stories of a race, tailored to their needs (such as the length of the clip and the riders and/or teams that they are interested in). The automatic summarization uses a combination of skeleton-based rider pose detection and pose-based recognition algorithms of the team jerseys and rider faces/numbers. Evaluation on both cyclocross and road cycling races show that there is certainly potential in this novel methodology