Infinitesimal cohomology and the Chern character to negative cyclic homology

There is a Chern character from K-theory to negative cyclic homology. We show that it preserves the decomposition coming from Adams operations, at least in characteristic 0. This is done by using infinitesimal cohomology to reduce to the case of a nilpotent ideal (which had been established by Cathelineau some time ago).Comment: Included reference for identification of relative Chern and rational homotopy theory characters; some minor editing for clarit

The Yoneda algebra of a graded Ore extension

Let A be a connected-graded algebra with trivial module k, and let B be a graded Ore extension of A. We relate the structure of the Yoneda algebra E(A) := Ext_A(k,k) to E(B). Cassidy and Shelton have shown that when A satisfies their K_2 property, B will also be K_2. We prove the converse of this result.Comment: 9 page

Development of an Organic Table Grape Production and Market in Switzerland

In Switzerland there is an increasing consumer demand for residue-free, organic table grapes. The organic cultivation of table grapes, however, is very delicate in humid climates and experience to advice organic growers is still lacking. The goal of our project that has started in 2004 is to develop and establish a cultivation system for organic table grapes under Swiss climatic and economic conditions with a high yield security and fulfilling the high quality demands of the market. Preliminary results: Interesting cultivars to produce are e.g. Fanny, Lilla, Palatina. However they are disease susceptible and must be produced under a rain roof. Better suited cultivars still need to be found. Consumer acceptance for organic table grapes produced in Switzerland is very positive. However changes towards new cultivars and lower production costs are necessary. Spray programs to achieve sufficient disease protection and no spray blotch seem to be realizable, mainly for production under rain roof

The K-theory of toric varieties in positive characteristic

We show that if X is a toric scheme over a regular ring containing a field then the direct limit of the K-groups of X taken over any infinite sequence of nontrivial dilations is homotopy invariant. This theorem was known in characteristic 0. The affine case of our result was conjectured by Gubeladze.Comment: Companion paper to arXiv:1106.138

Potential and Limits of Pesticide Free Apple Growing by a Self-Regulating Orchard Set-Up: Project Presentation and First Experiences

Different research groups have already proven that flowering plants in orchards can enhance beneficial arthropods. Even within the tree rows different beneficial can be supported by selected plant species. In most experimental work done to stabilize the apple production system only single interaction effects were tested. However until now, no research group has quantified the additive effects of multiple measures on systembiodiversity and on the production economy. Our experiment combines all known measures of indirect pest and disease control measures in a near-to practical production model orchard without the use of any pesticide (not even organic ones). The orchard is split in 4 blocks: in two of them bio-control measures e.g. application of Granulosis Virus against codling moth (C. Pomonella) are applied; in the other two blocks no bio-control is applied. Standard commercial organic and integrated orchards with the disease-susceptible cultivar Gala in the vicinity of the model orchard are assessed by the same methods and serve as reference. Our intermediate results reveal that the self-regulating orchard developed already in the 2nd and 3rd leaf a clearly higher flora and fauna biodiversity compared to the reference orchards. The same happened in relation to the specific fruit beneficial e.g. the populations of aphid predators. In the self-regulating orchard they were capable to keep the aphid damages – in particular of the powdery apple aphid (D. plantaginea) - on trees and fruits under a commercially relevant level although the initial abundance of aphid colonies in spring was by far over the common threshold value. It is planned to continue the experiment until 2016