Mechanical losses in low loss materials studied by Cryogenic Resonant Acoustic spectroscopy of bulk materials (CRA spectroscopy)

Mechanical losses of crystalline silicon and calcium fluoride have been analyzed in the temperature range from 5 to 300 K by our novel mechanical spectroscopy method, cryogenic resonant acoustic spectroscopy of bulk materials (CRA spectrocopy). The focus lies on the interpretation of the measured data according to phonon-phonon interactions and defect induced losses in consideration of the excited mode shape.Comment: 4 pages, 4 figures, proceedings of the PHONONS 2007, submitted to Journal of Physics: Conference Serie

Nutritive und antinutritive Inhaltsstoffe in Körnerleguminosen: Einfluss von Jahr und Standort auf den Futterwert

Die meisten Körnerleguminosen enthalten antinutritive Substanzen, abhängig von den Sorten und den Wachstumsbedingungen. Ziel der Studie war es, verschiedene Körnerleguminosenarten zu vergleichen, um ihren Futterwert unter Berücksichtigung ihrer nutritiven und antinutritiven Inhaltsstoffe zu ermitteln. Die Feldversuche wurden 2012 und 2013 in Karelshaff, Colmar-Berg, in Luxemburg und 2014 und 2015 an der Hessischen Staatsdomäne Frankenhausen in Grebenstein durchgeführt. Erste Ergebnisse für antinutritive Inhaltsstoffe zeigen, dass die Standorte und die jährlichen Schwankungen einen Einfluss auf den Gehalt haben und stark von den in der Literatur angegebenen Werten abweichen können

Evaluation of grain legume cropping systems for animal fodder potential and impacts on subsequent wheat yield under less favourable soil conditions in organic agriculture in Luxembourg

Körnerleguminosen sind wichtige Kulturen für die Bereit­stellung von Protein in der Tierernährung. Ziel dieser Studie war es: (i) die Eignung verschiedener Körnerleguminosen-Anbausysteme für den Anbau als proteinreiches Futtermittel zu prüfen, (ii) der Vergleich von Sommer- und Winterform von Ackerbohnen und Erbsen, sowie der Erbse in Reinsaat und im Gemenge mit Getreide, und (iii) der Vergleich des Einflusses der Leguminosen als Vorfrüchte auf den nachfolgenden Weizen unter ungünstigen Bodenbedingungen im ökologischen Landbau. In einem Feldversuch auf einem kommerziellen landwirtschaftlichen Betrieb in Luxemburg, wurden acht Körnerleguminosen-Anbausysteme (wie in ii beschrieben plus Sojabohne und Blaue Lupine) und eine nicht Stickstoff fixierende Kontroll-Kultur (Triticale) in zwei aufeinanderfolgenden Jahren, in einem vollständig randomisierten Blockdesign mit vier Wiederholungen, angebaut. Als Folgekultur wurde Weizen angebaut. Alle Anbausysteme, mit Ausnahme der Winter-Erbse in Reinsaat, waren für den Anbau als proteinreiches Futtermittel geeignet. Bei ausreichender Bodenfeuchte stellte die Ackerbohne die beste Wahl dar (Proteinertrag: 961–1193 kg ha–1). Halbblattlose Erbsen erzielten einen signifikant höheren Ertrag in Reinsaat (p ≤ 0.05; 3539–4154 kg ha–1) als im Gemenge mit Getreide (2920–3852 kg ha–1), wobei Voll­blatt-Typen im Gemenge mit Getreide angebaut werden sollten. Es wurden keine signifikante Unterschiede festgestellt zwischen Winter- und Sommer-Ackerbohnen, dage­gen schnitt die Sommerung bei den Erbsen besser ab, dies war wahrscheinlich eher abhängig vom Blatt-Typ als vom Saatzeitpunkt. Der niedrigere Vorfruchtwert von Getreide-Monokultur (Ertrag Jahr 1: 2056 kg ha–1) im Vergleich zu Getreide mit Körnerleguminosen in der Fruchtfolge wurde bestätigt, wobei der Weizen am besten nach Sommer-Erbse in Reinsaat abschnitt (Ertrag Jahr 1: 3661 kg ha–1). Körnerleguminosen-Reinsaaten erzielten einen höheren Vorfruchtwert, als Winter-Triticale oder Körnerleguminosen im Gemenge mit Getreide. Körner­leguminosen sind demnach vielversprechende Kulturen für die Bereitstellung proteinreicher Futtermittel auch unter ungünstigen Bodenbedingungen im ökologischen Landbau in Luxemburg. DOI: 10.5073/JfK.2016.06.02, https://doi.org/10.5073/JfK.2016.06.02Grain legumes are important crops required for protein-rich animal fodder. The aim of this study was to (i) examine the suitability of grain legume cropping systems for cultivation as protein-rich fodder, (ii) compare the performance of winter and spring types of faba beans and peas, as well as to compare the performance of peas sown in pure stand and in mixture with cereals, and (iii) determine the impact of previous legume crop on succeeding wheat under less favorable soil conditions in organic agriculture. In a field trial on a commercial farm in Luxembourg, eight grain legume cropping systems (as given under ii plus soybean and blue lupin) and a non-nitrogen fixing control crop (triticale) were cultivated followed by wheat in two consecutive seasons, employing a randomized complete block design with four replicates. All cropping systems except for winter pea in pure stand, were suitable for cultivation as protein-rich fodder even under less favourable soil conditions. Given sufficient soil moisture, faba beans constituted the best choice (protein yield: 961–1193 kg ha–1). Semi-leafless peas reached a significantly better yield when sown in pure stand (p ≤ 0.05; 3539–4154 kg ha–1) compared with the mixture (2920–3852 kg ha–1), whereas full-leaf types should be cultivated with a cereal partner. Winter vs. spring faba beans did not perform significantly different while for peas, the spring form performed best, likely again depending on leaf type rather than sowing time. The lower previous crop value of mono-cropped cereals (yield first experimental sequence: 2056 kg ha–1) compared with cereals in mixture with grain legumes was confirmed, with best performance of wheat succeeding spring pea in pure stand (first experimental sequence, yield: 3661 kg ha–1). Grain legumes in pure stand exhibited a higher previous crop value than winter triticale or grain legumes grown in mixture. In conclusion, grain legumes were promising candidates for generating protein-rich feedingstuffs, even under less favorable soil conditions in organic agriculture in Luxembourg. DOI: 10.5073/JfK.2016.06.02, https://doi.org/10.5073/JfK.2016.06.0

Integrated analysis of the impacts of organic farming at farm and food system level in Luxembourg

The Luxembourg government aims to achieve 20% organic agriculture until 2025 and 100% organic agriculture until 2050. The aim of the project is to analyse the impact such a change will have at the farm, as well as on the food system level in Luxembourg. This will be done by conducting a sustainability assessment at the farm-level and the food system-level. For the farm-level sustainability assessment, farm management systems and their respective sustainability implications according to the FAO SAFA Guidelines (Guidelines for the Sustainability Assessment of Food and Agriculture Systems) will be assessed using the SMART-Farm Tool. At the food system-level, the mass-flow model of the agriculture and food sector Soil and Organic Livestock (SOL)-Model will be employed to analyse the environmental implications of dietary patterns and agriculture production systems, where the data from the farm-level assessment will be used to increase specificity of the scenarios

Climate SMART Agriculture: How well does the agricultural sector in Luxembourg perform in terms of climate change?

peer reviewedIn Luxembourg, the agricultural sector was responsible for 711.7 Gg CO2-equivalents in 2016, which corresponds to 6.95 % of the total country greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. Over 50 % of the farms are specialist grazing livestock farms. The beef and cattle milk production account globally together for over 60 % of the sector’s global emissions. Thus, the climate impact of the whole agricultural sector in Luxembourg can be significantly lowered by reducing the GHG emissions of the specialist grazing livestock sector. However, beyond farm type, the GHG emissions of a farm are also influenced by other factors, such as management systems and farming practices. To enable a transition towards a more climate-positive agriculture, insights into the sustainability performance in terms of climate change are needed. The aim of this study is to determine the current sustainability performance of the Luxembourgish specialist grazing livestock sector in terms of climate change. The climate impact of the different specialist grazing livestock farm types (OTE (orientation technico-économique) 45 - Specialist dairying; OTE 46 - Specialist cattle - rearing and fattening and OTE 47 - Cattle - dairying, rearing and fattening combined) and of different management systems (conventional or organic) was assessed at farm-level. Furthermore, the relationship between the sustainability performance in terms of climate change and other areas of sustainability is being studied. Farming practices of 60 farms typical for Luxembourg in regard to their share of arable land and permanent grassland (OTE 45: 3 farms; OTE 46: 15; OTE 45: 11; Conventional: 44; Organic: 16) and their respective sustainability implications were assessed in 2019 according to the FAO SAFA Guidelines (Guidelines for the Sustainability Assessment of Food and Agriculture Systems, 2014) using the Sustainability Monitoring and Assessment RouTine (SMART)-Farm Tool (v5.0). Organic farms were highly overrepresented, with 26.7 % in the sample compared to 5 % of all Luxembourgish farms. The data was collected during a farm visit and a 3 h interview with the farm manager. The impact of management system and farm type on the SAFA-goal achievement for the sub-theme Greenhouse Gases (GHG) were studied. The results show that the sustainability performances of the participating farms were moderate to good. Goal achievement for the sub-theme GHG was moderate and did not differ significantly between the three farm types (OTE 45: 53.3 % ±3.9 SD goal achievement; OTE 46: 55.6 % ±7.3 SD; OTE 47: 54.6 % ±6.9 SD). Organic farms showed a significantly higher mean goal achievement for GHG than conventional farms (p-value < 0.001) (organic: 58.3 % ±6.0 SD; conventional: 52.6 % ±4.4 SD). For indicators positively impacting GHG, the organic and the OTE 46 farms had generally higher ratings. Correlations between GHG and the other sub-themes were mainly in the Environmental Integrity dimension, showing that implementing climate-positive farming practices can also improve other ecological aspects. The indicator analysis identified the following linchpins: increase in protein autarky, closing of farming cycles and holistic approach with strategic decision making leading to harmonized actions towards a sustainable and climate positive farming system

Climate SMART Agriculture: How well does the agricultural sector in Luxembourg perform in terms of climate change?

In Luxembourg, the agricultural sector was responsible for 711.7 Gg CO2-equivalents in 2016, which corresponds to 6.95 % of the total country greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. Over 50 % of the farms are specialist grazing livestock farms. The beef and cattle milk production account globally together for over 60 % of the sector’s global emissions. Thus, the climate impact of the whole agricultural sector in Luxembourg can be significantly lowered by reducing the GHG emissions of the specialist grazing livestock sector. However, beyond farm type, the GHG emissions of a farm are also influenced by other factors, such as management systems and farming practices. To enable a transition towards a more climate-positive agriculture, insights into the sustainability performance in terms of climate change are needed. The aim of this study is to determine the current sustainability performance of the Luxembourgish specialist grazing livestock sector in terms of climate change. The climate impact of the different specialist grazing livestock farm types (OTE (orientation technico-économique) 45 - Specialist dairying; OTE 46 - Specialist cattle - rearing and fattening and OTE 47 - Cattle - dairying, rearing and fattening combined) and of different management systems (conventional or organic) was assessed at farm-level. Furthermore, the relationship between the sustainability performance in terms of climate change and other areas of sustainability is being studied. Farming practices of 60 farms typical for Luxembourg in regard to their share of arable land and permanent grassland (OTE 45: 3 farms; OTE 46: 15; OTE 45: 11; Conventional: 44; Organic: 16) and their respective sustainability implications were assessed in 2019 according to the FAO SAFA Guidelines (Guidelines for the Sustainability Assessment of Food and Agriculture Systems, 2014) using the Sustainability Monitoring and Assessment RouTine (SMART)-Farm Tool (v5.0). Organic farms were highly overrepresented, with 26.7 % in the sample compared to 5 % of all Luxembourgish farms. The data was collected during a farm visit and a 3 h interview with the farm manager. The impact of management system and farm type on the SAFA-goal achievement for the sub-theme Greenhouse Gases (GHG) were studied. The results show that the sustainability performances of the participating farms were moderate to good. Goal achievement for the sub-theme GHG was moderate and did not differ significantly between the three farm types (OTE 45: 53.3 % ±3.9 SD goal achievement; OTE 46: 55.6 % ±7.3 SD; OTE 47: 54.6 % ±6.9 SD). Organic farms showed a significantly higher mean goal achievement for GHG than conventional farms (p-value < 0.001) (organic: 58.3 % ±6.0 SD; conventional: 52.6 % ±4.4 SD). For indicators positively impacting GHG, the organic and the OTE 46 farms had generally higher ratings. Correlations between GHG and the other sub-themes were mainly in the Environmental Integrity dimension, showing that implementing climate-positive farming practices can also improve other ecological aspects. The indicator analysis identified the following linchpins: increase in protein autarky, closing of farming cycles and holistic approach with strategic decision making leading to harmonized actions towards a sustainable and climate positive farming system

Design of the Magnet System of the Neutron Decay Facility PERC

The PERC (Proton and Electron Radiation Channel) facility is currently under construction at the research reactor FRM II, Garching. It will serve as an intense and clean source of electrons and protons from neutron beta decay for precision studies. It aims to contribute to the determination of the Cabibbo-Kobayashi-Maskawa quark-mixing element $V_{ud}$ from neutron decay data and to search for new physics via new effective couplings. PERC's central component is a 12m long superconducting magnet system. It hosts an 8m long decay region in a uniform field. An additional high-field region selects the phase space of electrons and protons which can reach the detectors and largely improves systematic uncertainties. We discuss the design of the magnet system and the resulting properties of the magnetic field.Comment: Proceedings of the International Workshop on Particle Physics at Neutron Sources PPNS 2018, Grenoble, France, May 24-26, 201

The Adaptive Gain Integrating Pixel Detector at the European XFEL

The Adaptive Gain Integrating Pixel Detector (AGIPD) is an x-ray imager, custom designed for the European x-ray Free-Electron Laser (XFEL). It is a fast, low noise integrating detector, with an adaptive gain amplifier per pixel. This has an equivalent noise of less than 1 keV when detecting single photons and, when switched into another gain state, a dynamic range of more than 10$^4$ photons of 12 keV. In burst mode the system is able to store 352 images while running at up to 6.5 MHz, which is compatible with the 4.5 MHz frame rate at the European XFEL. The AGIPD system was installed and commissioned in August 2017, and successfully used for the first experiments at the Single Particles, Clusters and Biomolecules (SPB) experimental station at the European XFEL since September 2017. This paper describes the principal components and performance parameters of the system.Comment: revised version after peer revie