Supply Chain Analysis of Fresh Fruit and Vegetables in Germany

With a population of 82.5 million, the German market is the largest in the EU and therefore of special interest for the trade partners. Despite an unsatisfying economic development in the last years (lowest GDP growth in the EU and rising unemployment, see Table 9 in the annex) Germany is still a very attractive market with well funded consumers. Although agriculture has a small and declining contribution to the country?s gross domestic product, in the wider definition of the agribusiness, it is still one of the most important sectors with regard to turnover and employment. Taking consumers? expenditure for food as a proxy for the total turnover of the agribusiness yields a figure of 240 billion – in 2003, nearly as much as the turnover of the car industry in Germany. In total, 4.5 million people are employed in the agribusiness, which is 11.6% of Germany?s total labour force. Among agricultural markets, the market of fruit and vegetables is of special interest for the trade with Mediterranean countries and also of special importance for the food industry and the food consumption. In 2003 consumers? expenditure for fresh fruit and vegetables were more than 10 billion ?. The processing industry of fruit and vegetables generated another 6.5 billion – turnover, demonstrating the importance of fruit and vegetables in Germany. Bearing in mind that the self sufficiency ratios for fruit and vegetables in Germany are low (13% respectively 50%), the extent of market opportunities for the Mediterranean countries become obvious. Against this background it is the objective of this report to analyse the supply chain of fresh fruit and vegetables in Germany. In the second chapter the current market situation is briefly presented with regard to production, consumption and trade in Germany. Other aspects covered in this chapter are the demographic structure in Germany, important consumer trends and food quality issues. The third chapter is devoted in depth to the analysis of the supply chains for both fruit and vegetables. In this chapter the different actors and market channels are described with regard to their task and importance in the supply chain. In the fourth chapter the overall institutional structure is analysed. After the conclusions in the fifth chapter extensive tables and figures can be found in the annex. --

Meta-analysis reveals ammonia-oxidizing bacteria respond more strongly to nitrogen addition than ammonia-oxidizing archaea

Shifts in microbial communities driven by anthropogenic nitrogen (N) addition have broad-scale ecological consequences. However, responses of microbial groups to exogenous N supply vary considerably across studies, hindering efforts to predict community changes. We used meta-analytical techniques to explore how amoA gene abundances of ammonia-oxidizing archaea (AOA) and bacteria (AOB) respond to N addition, and found that N addition increased AOA and AOB abundances by an average of 27% and 326%, respectively. Responses of AOB varied by study type, ecosystem, fertilizer type, and soil pH, and were strongest in unmanaged wildland soils and soils fertilized with inorganic N sources. Increases in nitrification potential with N addition significantly correlated with only AOB. Our analyses suggest that elevated N supply enhances soil nitrification potential by increasing AOB populations, and that this effect may be most pronounced in unmanaged wildland soils

Monitoring and Predicting Air Quality in Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia Using IoT IoT

Air quality is a concern for people living all over the world. Pollutants in the air we breathe causes quality of life issues for everyone, particularly for those who are at risk, such as the very young, the elderly and those with lung disease. At very high levels, even healthy people suffer adverse effects. Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia is a city of a million and a half people, in Central Asia, surrounded by high hills. In the winter temperatures average below 0 degrees C from November to March, and most of the city is heated by coal. Beginning in 2015, the U.S. State Department has been monitoring the air quality at the US Embassy in Mongolia, and that data is available online through the Internet of Things, (IoT). Using this data we are seeking to use Extreme Value Analysis to predict future maximum levels of pollutants during the year, so that organizations within the country can plan appropriately. One of the benefits of continuous monitoring using IoT, is that data that in the past was difficult or extremely costly to get is becoming much more available. Because of this, one type of analysis that is becoming more common is Extreme Value Analysis, where statistics such as the maximums or minimums of samples are studied, as opposed to the more common analysis of mean averages. While a mean is often a very important measure of a population, it may not be the most interesting statistic. For example, when building a bridge over a river, the expected water level of the river is important, but far more important would be the expected highest water level over the next ten years, especially during periods of flooding. Likewise, when measuring levels of air pollution, the average level of pollution is important, but knowing when the highest and lowest levels of pollution during the day might be critical, especially for people in sensitive groups. The data that is available indicates strong seasonality, making the data set an excellent teaching tool for educators wanting to demonstrate statistical techniques necessary for handling such data, while the specific technique, Extreme Value Analysis, is quite appropriate to the study of pollution and other environmental issues

Monopole clusters in Abelian projected gauge theories

We show that the monopole currents which one obtains in the maximally Abelian gauge of SU(2) fall into two quite distinct classes (when the volume is large enough). In each field configuration there is precisely one cluster that permeates the whole lattice volume. It has a current density and a magnetic screening mass that scale and it produces the whole of the string tension. The remaining clusters have a number density that follows an approximate power law proportional to the inverse cube of l where l is the length of the monopole world line in lattice units. These clusters are localised in space-time with radii which vary as the square root of l. In terms of the radius r these `lumps' have a scale-invariant distribution proportional to (dr/r . 1/{r^4}). Moreover they appear not to contribute at all to the string tension. The fact that they are scale-invariant at small distances would seem to rule out an instanton origin.Comment: LaTeX, 31 pages, 11 PostScript figures. Typo in Table 2 correcte

On the glueball spectrum in O(a)-improved lattice QCD

We calculate the light `glueball' mass spectrum in N_f=2 lattice QCD using a fermion action that is non-perturbatively O(a) improved. We work at lattice spacings a ~0.1 fm and with quark masses that range down to about half the strange quark mass. We find the statistical errors to be moderate and under control on relatively small ensembles. We compare our mass spectrum to that of quenched QCD at the same value of a. Whilst the tensor mass is the same (within errors), the scalar mass is significantly smaller in the dynamical lattice theory, by a factor of ~(0.84 +/- 0.03). We discuss what the observed m_q dependence of this suppression tells us about the dynamics of glueballs in QCD. We also calculate the masses of flux tubes that wind around the spatial torus, and extract the string tension from these. As we decrease the quark mass we see a small but growing vacuum expectation value for the corresponding flux tube operators. This provides clear evidence for `string breaking' and for the (expected) breaking of the associated gauge centre symmetry by sea quarks.Comment: 33pp LaTeX. Version to appear in Phys. Rev.

Beyond the quark model of hadrons from lattice QCD

Lattice QCD can give direct information on OZI-violating contributions to mesons. Here we explore the contributions that split flavour singlet and non-singlet meson masses. I discuss in detail the spectrum and decays for scalar mesons (ie including glueball effects). I also review the status of hybrid mesons and their decays.Comment: to appear in proceedings of QNP2002, 3 pages, LATEX, 2 ps figure

A question of Mazurov on groups of exponent dividing 12

Mazurov asked whether a group of exponent dividing 12, which is generated by x, y and z subject to the relations $$x^3=y^2=z^2=(xy)^3=(yz)^3=1$, has order at most 12. We show that if such a group is finite, then the answer is yes