Nitrous oxide emission as affected by liming an acidic mineral soil used for arable agriculture

The effect of liming an acidic mineral soil (Dystric Nitosol from southern China), used for arable agriculture, on N₂O emission was studied in an incubation experiment. After the soil pH had been raised from pH 4.4 to 5.2, 6.7 and 8.1, soil samples were either amended with NH₄ ⁺ and incubated aerobically, favoring nitrification or, after application of NO₃ ^–, the incubation took place under anaerobic conditions, favoring denitrification. Gas sampling for N₂O determination and soil analyses were performed at regular intervals up to 13 days. Under nitrification conditions only small N₂O emission rates were observed (max. 6 g N kg^–1 d^–1) with significant differences between high and low pH values during the first 2 days of incubation. The nitrifying activity was low, even with high pH, and this, together with good aeration conditions, could partly explain the small N₂O evolution. During denitrification, however, cumulative N₂O emissions reached much higher values (1600 g N kg^–1 in comparison to 40 g N kg^–1 under nitrification conditions). N₂O emission during denitrification was significantly enhanced by increasing soil pH. Under alkaline conditions (pH 8.1) a large nitrite accumulation occurred, which was in line with the highest nitrate reductase activity determined in this treatment. The limited availability of organic carbon is probably the main reason for the absence of further reduction of NO₂ ^– to N₂O or N₂. At pH 6.7 the total N₂O emission was slightly higher than at pH 8.1, although the start of pronounced emissions was retarded and only small amounts of NO₂ ^– accumulated. Acid soil conditions caused either negligible (pH 4.4) or only small (pH 5.2) N₂O emissions. It can be concluded that these kinds of soil, used alternatively for production of upland crops or paddy rice, are prone to high N₂O emissions after flooding, particularly under neutral to alkaline conditions. In order to avoid major N₂O evolution and accumulation of nitrite, which can be leached into groundwater, the pH should not be raised to values above 5.5–6.     

Effects of irrelevant stimulus orientation on visually guided grasping movements.

The present study investigated the effects of irrelevant stimulus orientation on visually guided grasping movements. Participants had to grasp a rectangular object at either the ends or the sides, depending on the color of a visual stimulus. In this task, correspondence between stimulus orientation and object orientation (stimulus-object congruency) and correspondence between stimulus orientation and hand orientation (stimulus-hand congruency) varied independently. Two experiments, with different sets of object orientations, revealed a consistent pattern of results. In particular, there were significant effects of stimulus-hand congruency, suggesting that perceiving an object activates congruently oriented hand movements. However, stimulus-object congruency had no effects, indicating that participants did not benefit from a preactivation of object orientation in the present task. The pattern of congruency effects implies that the cognitive representation, which is affected by irrelevant visual information, entails only those object or response features that are needed to select and control a response. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

An operational tool to quality control 2D radar reflectivity data for assimilation in COSMO-DE

An operational tool has been designed to enhance the quality of 2D radar reflectivity data for assimilation in COSMO-DE within the German Weather Service (DWD). This article describes the operational algorithms including their testing, the creation of local and composite quality-index fields and their application to improve data assimilation. In the first step, algorithms have been developed and tested to define and identify some of the most severe errors in radar data: corrupt images, low-reflectivity phenomena, which occur under special meteorological conditions, spokes, rings and clutter remnants/speckles. The algorithms use simple but effective tests based on statistical and textural characteristics of spurious signals. The results are stored in an 8-bit quality-index field created concurrently with the radar data at each radar station. It contains quality flags for each individual range bin plus some header information on the overall quality of the underlying data set. The independent coding of error bits enables a differentiated a posteriori decision on whether a range bin is to be used for a given application. These local quality index fields are then used to create a radar precipitation composite, accompanied by a quality-index composite, covering Germany. This tool has now been applied operationally throughout the German radar network. As a result, the radar data quality in data assimilation could be increased.     

Evaluation of structural similarity based on reduced dimensionality representations of protein structure

Protein similarity estimations can be achieved using reduced dimensional representations and we describe a new application for the generation of two-dimensional maps from the three-dimensional structure. The code for the dimensionality reduction is based on the concept of pseudo-random generation of two-dimensional coordinates and Monte Carlo-like acceptance criteria for the generated coordinates. A new method for calculating protein similarity is developed by introducing a distance-dependent similarity field. Similarity of two proteins is derived from similarity field indices between amino acids based on various criteria such as hydrophobicity, residue replacement factors and conformational similarity, each showing a one factor Gaussian dependence. Results on comparisons of misfolded protein models with data sets of correctly folded structures show that discrimination between correctly folded and misfolded structures is possible. Tests were carried out on five different proteins, comparing a misfolded protein structure with members of the same topology, architecture, family and domain according to the CATH classification.     

Short communication: Genomic prediction using imputed whole-genome sequence variants in Brown Swiss Cattle

The accuracy of genomic prediction determines response to selection. It has been hypothesized that accuracy of genomic breeding values can be increased by a higher density of variants. We used imputed whole-genome sequence data and various single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) selection criteria to estimate genomic breeding values in Brown Swiss cattle. The extreme scenarios were 50K SNP chip data and whole-genome sequence data with intermediate scenarios using linkage disequilibrium-pruned whole-genome sequence variants, only variants predicted to be missense, or the top 50K variants from genome-wide association studies. We estimated genomic breeding values for 3 traits (somatic cell score, nonreturn rate in heifers, and stature) and found differences in accuracy levels between traits. However, among different SNP sets, accuracy was very similar. In our analyses, sequence data led to a marginal increase in accuracy for 1 trait and was lower than 50K for the other traits. We concluded that the inclusion of imputed whole-genome sequence data does not lead to increased accuracy of genomic prediction with the methods.     

Understanding employee resourcing in construction organizations

In recent years the literature on employee resourcing has consistently advocated the importance of adopting a holistic, strategic approach to employee deployment decision making rather than adopting a reactive needs‐based approach. This is particularly problematic in construction where the multi‐project environment leads to constantly changing resource requirements and to changing demands over a project's life cycle. This can lead to inappropriate decisions, which fail to meet the longer‐term needs of both construction organizations and their employees. A structured and comprehensive understanding of the current project team deployment practices within large construction organizations was developed. Project deployment practices were examined within seven case study contracting firms. The emergent themes that shaped the decision‐making processes were grouped into five broad clusters comprising human resource planning, performance/career management, team deployment, employee involvement and training and development. The research confirms that a reactive and ad hoc approach to the function prevails within the firms investigated. This suggests a weak relationship between the deployment process and human resource planning, team deployment, performance management, employee involvement and training and development activities. It is suggested that strategic HR–business partnering could engender more transparent and productive relationships in this crucial area.     

Characterization of Oleogels Based on Waxes and Their Hydrolyzates

In this paper, the structuring of liquid oils, also known as oleogelation, is systematically investigated for the first time using a quasi-quaternary mixing system approach. Native waxes with different quantities of wax esters (WE), n-alkanes (hydrocarbons (HC)), fatty acids (FA), and fatty alcohols (FaOH) are applied in mixtures with hydrolyzed waxes to systematically change the composition. Hydrolyzed waxes contain high levels of FA and FaOH. The model systems are investigated on microscopic level (brightfield light microscopy (BFM), cryogenic scanning electron microscopy (cryo-SEM)) as well as on their macroscopic properties (rheology, gel hardness) and calorimetric behavior (differential scanning calorimetry (DSC)). It is found that sunflower wax (SFW)-based gels (12% structurant) become less hard on any admixture. Beeswax (BW)-based gels show significant increases in hardness when 25% and 50% (w/w) hydrolyzate are admixed. This could be related to stepwise crystallization. Further analysis reveals that the dissolution/melting behavior of the wax ester mixtures can be surprisingly well described as ideal solubility of a single pseudocomponent. The approach to unravel the individual contributions of the different species present in waxes is successful and marks a first step to better understand the systematic of wax functionality as oleogelators. Practical Application: The substitution of hardstock fats in structured oil phases is of interest for two reasons. The improved nutritional profile oleogels offer are beneficial for public health while the elimination of palm oil based ingredients appears to be a general public desire. Among the technical solutions for non-TAG oil structuring waxes are very promising. This is primarily due to their availability, prior consumption, potentially low cost for functionality. Currently waxes are technically and scientifically wrongly treated as single components. In order to better utilize the potential of waxes and design future sourcing strategies it is necessary to understand the wax functionality at a compositional/molecular level. This contribution marks the first step into this direction by considering classes of molecules with respect to their contribution to functionality. This understanding is considered as a key for future compositional design.