Framing the frontier - Tracing issues related to soybean expansion in transnational public spheres

Unidad de excelencia María de Maeztu CEX2019-000940-MAltres ajuts: Acord transformatiu CRUE-CSICRapid soybean expansion in South America has been linked to numerous socio-environmental problems, including deforestation in sensitive biomes. As a major importing region of soybeans, wider public awareness has also put pressure on the European Union. Different governance initiatives involving various groups of stakeholders have sought to address these issues. However, what is identified as a relevant problem, as a region of interest or which actors are mentioned in this context are all matters of claims-making processes between different groups and mediated through various channels of communication. This study uses a text-mining approach to trace the construction of socio-ecological problems related to soybean expansion and the actors and regions linked with these issues in public discourse. The focus lies on print media from the European Union, but several additional sources are included to investigate the similarities and differences between various communication channels and regions. These include newspaper articles from producing countries and international news agencies, scientific abstracts, corporate statements, and reports from advocacy groups gathered from the mid-1990s to 2020. The results show that European mass media have shifted their focus from consumer labeling, health, and concerns over genetically modified organisms towards more distant or abstract phenomena, such as deforestation and climate change. This has been accompanied with a broader view on different stakeholders, but also with a strong regional focus on the Amazon biome. There has also been much less attention on direct concerns for communities in producing regions, such as land conflicts or disputes over intellectual property rights. We conclude that while European public spheres appear to become more receptive to issues related to impacts in sourcing regions, there remains a narrow focus on specific problems and regions, which reflects a fundamental asymmetry in different stakeholders' ability to shape transnational deliberations and resulting governance processes

Visualization of leukocyte transendothelial and interstitial migration using reflected light oblique transillumination in intravital video microscopy

Dynamic visualization of the intravascular events leading to the extravasation of leukocytes into tissues by intravital microscopy has significantly expanded our understanding of the underlying molecular processes. In contrast, the detailed observation of leukocyte transendothelial and interstitial migration in vivo has been hampered by the poor image contrast of cells within turbid media that is obtainable by conventional brightfield microscopy. Here we present a microscopic method, termed reflected light oblique transillumination microscopy, that makes use of the optical interference phenomena generated by oblique transillumination to visualize subtle gradients of refractive indices within tissues for enhanced image contrast. Using the mouse cremaster muscle, we demonstrate that this technique makes possible the reliable quantification of extravasated leukocytes as well as the characterization of morphological phenomena of leukocyte transendothelial and interstitial migration

Increased Occurrence of Record-Wet and Record-Dry Months Reflect Changes in Mean Rainfall

Climate change alters the hydrological cycle, which is expected to increase the risk of heavy rainfall events and prolonged droughts. Sparse rainfall data, however, have made it difficult to answer the question of whether robust changes can already be seen in the short observational time period. Here we use a comprehensive statistical tool to quantify changes in record-breaking wet and dry months. The global-mean number of record-wet months has significantly increased over the recent decades and is now nearly 20% higher than would be expected in a stationary climate with no long-term trends. This signal primarily comes from pronounced changes in the northern middle to high latitudes where the occurrence of record-wet months has increased by up to 37% regionally. The tropics have seen opposing trends: More record-wet months in Southeast Asia in contrast to more record-dry months in Africa. These changes are broadly consistent with observed trends in mean rainfall

Potential Applications of Food-Scanners in Fruit and Vegetable Supply Chains and Possible Consequences for the German Market

Originally advertised as tools for end-consumers, food-scanners have recently gained publicity and show potential as instruments for quality assessment along the fruit and vegetable supply chain. The current study explores preferences and concerns of chain actors regarding the implementation of this technology through semi-structured interviews. Results indicate that food-scanners could facilitate quality control at different levels of the fresh produce supply chain by providing fast, non-destructive and objective measurements. Concerns about the application of food-scanners could be identified with respect to potential additional requirements of trading companies resulting in more pressure on producers. The use of food-scanners by end-consumers is discussed critically. To further a goal-oriented and user-directed development of this new technology, future research should be directed at its impacts on perception of fruit quality along the chain as well as end-consumers’ readiness to use these devices in everyday life

Determination of tomato quality attributes using portable NIR-sensors

As part of a research project a multidisciplinary approach of different research institutes is followed to investigate the possibility of using a commercially available miniaturized NIR-sensor for the determination of tomato fruit quality parameters in postharvest. Correlation of spectra and tomato reference values of firmness, dry matter and total soluble solids showed good prediction accuracy. Additionally the decline of firmness over storage time with respect to storage temperature of tomatoes could be modelled. Therefore, the decline of firmness as an indicator for shelf-life can be predicted using this portable NIR-Sensor

Evaluating the practicability of commercial food-scanners for non-destructive quality assessment of tomato fruit

The assessment  of  tomato  fruit  quality  depends  on  a  variety  of  extrinsic and intrinsic quality parameters such as color, firmness and sugar content. Conventional measurement methods of these quality parameters  are  time  consuming,  require  various  measurement  de-vices,  and  in  case  of  intrinsic  quality,  involve  destructive  measurements. Latest research focused on the non-destructive determination of these parameters by using spectroscopic measurements. The goal of  this  study  was  to  evaluate  the  capability  of  three  commercially  available  portable  and  miniaturized  VIS /NIR spectrometers, so called food-scanners, in predicting various tomato quality attributes in a non-destructive way. Additionally, this study evaluated the software provided by manufacturers for building of prediction models by comparing the results derived from those software tools to state-of-the-art software for multivariate analysis. Evaluation of food-scanner spectra resulted in prediction models of high accuracy (r² > 0.90) for tomato fruit firmness, dry matter, total soluble solids and color values L*, a* and h°. Prediction models computed with manufacturer’s soft-ware showed similar accuracy to those derived from state-of-the-art evaluation software. Results of this study illustrate the great potential of  commercial  food-scanners  for  non-destructive  quality  measurement.  Further  important  features  of  food-scanners  with  respect  to  the application along the fresh produce supply chain are addressed

Intravital Microscopy Visualizing Immunity in Context

AbstractRecent advances in photonics, particularly multi-photon microscopy (MPM) and new molecular and genetic tools are empowering immunologists to answer longstanding unresolved questions in living animals. Using intravital microscopy (IVM) investigators are dissecting the cellular and molecular underpinnings controlling immune cell motility and interactions in tissues. Recent IVM work showed that T cell responses to antigen in lymph nodes are different from those observed in vitro and appear dictated by factors uniquely relevant to intact organs. Other IVM models, particularly in the bone marrow, reveal how different anatomic contexts regulate leukocyte development, immunity, and inflammation. This article will discuss the current state of the field and outline how IVM can generate new discoveries and serve as a “reality check” for areas of research that were formerly the exclusive domain of in vitro experimentation

Probing the Effects of the Well-mixed Assumption on Viral Infection Dynamics

Viral kinetics have been extensively studied in the past through the use of spatially well-mixed ordinary differential equations describing the time evolution of the diseased state. However, emerging spatial structures such as localized populations of dead cells might adversely affect the spread of infection, similar to the manner in which a counter-fire can stop a forest fire from spreading. In a previous publication (Beauchemin et al., 2005), a simple 2-D cellular automaton model was introduced and shown to be accurate enough to model an uncomplicated infection with influenza A. Here, this model is used to investigate the effects of relaxing the well-mixed assumption. Particularly, the effects of the initial distribution of infected cells, the regeneration rule for dead epithelial cells, and the proliferation rule for immune cells are explored and shown to have an important impact on the development and outcome of the viral infection in our model.Comment: LaTeX, 12 pages, 22 EPS figures, uses document class REVTeX 4, and packages float, graphics, amsmath, and SIunit

European cities in the face of sustainable development

Motivation: The paper rises the issue of sustainable development in the context of challenges that present cities face. Development of innovative and sustainable economy is an aim for the whole society in the European Union. Three pillars of sustainable development: economic growth, environmental management and social inclusion are fundamental and occur across all economic sectors. Predominantly, they influence cities e.g. fast urbanization process, infrastructure, energy development as well as transportation. Cities in Europe are precursors of the transformation towards a low carbon and resource efficient economy. City authorities are planning and acting towards a more sustainable future characterized by investing in innovative, integrated technologies and services such as buildings, mobility, lighting and broadband communications.Aim: The aim of the article is to present challenges facing European cities in the light of sustainable development. The paper explores trends in regional policy undertaken by the European Union relating to sustainable development. The first part outlines the global vision of present and future goals of sustainable development in the world. The next part focuses on the cities and challenges they face referring to sustainable and smart development.Results: The conducted research shows sustainable development as still valid, important and topical. The research indicates that the structures of the EU are not the exclusively supportive and responsible for sustainable development in Europe. The entities such as cities play a very important role in achieving sustainability. Numerous European cities are still establishing programs integrating the energy, transport and ICT sectors in order to deliver more efficient services to their inhabitants. Finally, more and more cities are going to become smart in the nearest future.</p