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This work has been developed under the AGROinLOG Project, “Demonstration of innovative integrated biomass logistics centres for the Agro-industry sector in Europe”. An Integrated Biomass Logistics Center (IBLC), is based on the introduction of new production chains into existing agro-industries by using new biomass feedstock. The AGROinLOG Project has dedicated great attention to investigate the potential of cereal chaff as a valuable resource.Chaff is the fine fraction of the thrashing residues, not usually collected. Chaff is made up of glumes, seed husks, rachis and the tinner part of the cereal stems, whole and cracked kernels, as well as weed seeds.Currently there are several mechanical solutions available on the market for chaff recovery, and others are still at prototype stage, but theyare not so common and very often unknown to the farmers.So far, the literature reportsfew cases of chaff collection with the specific purpose of weed seeds removal, but it still lacks specificexperiments on these machinesintentionally used for biomass collection.For this reason, during the Project AGROinLOG a series of large field tests were performed using an independent scientific approach with different kind of chaff harvesting technologiesin France, Sweden and Italy from 2017 to 2019.The present study collects the results of these activities with the aim to fill that gap and provide deeper understanding in the possibility to enhance the current cereal harvesting method, in order to improve the quantity of biomass collected by including the chaff. Proceedings of the 29th European Biomass Conference and Exhibition, 26-29 April 2021, Online, pp. 62-68

Cholera epidemics have a recorded history in eastern Congo dating to 1971. A study was conducted to find out the linkage between climate variability/change and cholera outbreak and to assess the related economic cost in the management of cholera in Congo.This study integrates historical data (20 years) on temperature and rainfall with the burden of disease from cholera in South-Kivu province, eastern Congo.Analyses of precipitation and temperatures characteristics in South-Kivu provinces showed that cholera epidemics are closely associated with climatic factors variability. Peaks in Cholera new cases were in synchrony with peaks in rainfalls. Cholera infection cases declined significantly (P<0.05) with the rise in the average temperature. The monthly number of new Cholera cases oscillated between 5 and 450. For every rise of the average temperature by 0.35 °C to 0.75 °C degree Celsius, and for every change in the rainfall variability by 10-19%, it is likely cholera infection risks will increase by 17 to 25%. The medical cost of treatment of Cholera case infection was found to be of US$50 to 250 per capita. The total costs of Cholera attributable to climate change were found to fall in the range of 4 to 8% of the per capita in annual income in Bukavu town.It is likely that high rainfall favor multiplication of the bacteria and contamination of water sources by the bacteria (Vibrio cholerae). The consumption of polluted water, promiscuity, population density and lack of hygiene are determinants favoring spread and infection of the bacteria among human beings living in over-crowded environments.

Increasing agricultural productivity is one of the most important aims of modern biotechnology. One way to enhance the productivity of crop species is to enhance the efficiency of photosynthesis. In C3 plants the oxygenase activity of Ribulose-1,5-bisphosphate carboxylase/oxygenase (RuBisCo) limits the photosynthetic efficiency. The green microalgae Chlamydomonas reinhardtii has evolved a CO2 concentration mechanism (CCM) by increasing the CO2 concentration in the chloroplast stroma where RuBisCO is located. Four independent transgenic tobacco genotypes (LA, LB, C1 and C3) were generated producing the low CO2-inducible protein A and B (LCIA and LCIB) or the carbonic anhydrases I and III (CAH1 and CAH3) from C. reinhardtii CCM in the envelope, stroma, intermembrane space or thylakoid lumen of tobacco chloroplasts, respectively. All four recombinant proteins were active in planta, which had a substantial impact on carbon and nitrogen metabolism. Increasing the CO2 concentration near RuBisCO resulted in an enhanced rate of photosynthesis (by up to 15%), efficiency of photosystem II (by up to 18%) and chlorophyll content (by up to 19%). Although to differing extents, all four transgenic genotypes grew faster than wild-type plants, produced more shoot biomass (up to 45% more fresh weight or 38% more dry weight in the LA lines) and accumulated more photosynthetic end products, reflecting the higher rate of photosynthetic CO2 fixation. The proteome analysis revealed that the proteins changed in the transgenic genotypes compared to the wild-type plants were primarily associated with the regulation of the Calvin cycle and the amino acid biosynthesis. Metabolic analysis of the transgenic LA, LB and C3 plants revealed an increase in the levels of carbohydrates and also of most amino acids. Furthermore, transgenic LA and LB plants could maintain the enhanced biomass under low nitrogen conditions, where similarly-treated wild-type plants grew more slowly. The data generated in the present study confirmed that even single Chlamydomonas CCM components can be integrated into C3 plants to increase biomass, suggesting that transgenic lines combining multiple components or even a complete CCM could further increase the productivity and yield of C3 crops. RWTH Aachen University, Diss., 2017; Aachen, 1 Online-Ressource (151 Seiten) : Illustrationen, Diagramme(2017). = RWTH Aachen University, Diss., 2017 Published by Aachen

The paper discusses a case study of the Trás-os-Montes region to assess the resilience and sustainability of the local sheep sector. The area is a low-density mountainous region where small ruminant production is a relevant sector of the economy and is mainly based on natural resources. The study employed a mixed methodological approach to identify the socio-economic profile of different actors and the main obstacles and opportunities of this livestock activity. The research found that the main strength of the sector is the intrinsic quality of the products with origin in the various indigenous sheep breeds. However, marketing channels associated with this mechanism are generally limited, and its market shares are minimal. The analysis highlights the constraints resulting from the holdings’ small average size, the advanced age of most farmers, the lack of successors, the low profitability of the lamb meat, and producers’ weak bargaining power. Also, wool's lack of economic interest is an economic and environmental problem for farmers. info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersion

Ressourcen stellen die Basis für eine erfolgreiche industrielle und technologische Entwicklung dar und somit auch für den Wohlstand heutiger und zukünftiger Generationen. Mit steigender Ressourcennutzung nehmen auch die (physische und sozio-ökonomische) Verfügbarkeit abiotischer und biotischer Ressourcen, die Umweltverschmutzung und die sozialen Auswirkungen durch den Abbau und Nutzung der Ressourcen zu. Um den Erfolg implementierter Strategien (und deren Maßnahmen) hinsichtlich ihres Beitrags zu einem effizienten und nachhaltigen Umgang mit Ressourcen zu bewerten, bedarf es an entsprechenden Bewertungsmethoden. Diese Dissertation stellt vier Methoden bereit um die Bewertung abiotischer und biotischer Ressourcennutzung im Kontext der Nachhaltigkeit auf Produkt- und regionaler Ebene in konsistenter Weise zu bewerten. Die Methode zur Bewertung abiotischer Ressourcen auf Produktebene betrachtet insgesamt 21 relevante Aspekte und stellt Indikatoren zur Quantifizierung bereit. Für die Bewertung der sozio-ökonomischen Einschränkungen von Lieferketten ist eine neuer Ansatz entwickelt, der geopolitische, politische und regulative Aspekte berücksichtigt. Des Weiteren sind Screening-Indikatoren verfügbar, die die gesellschaftliche Akzeptanz der Ressourcennutzung adressieren. Um die Verfügbarkeit terrestrischer biotischer Ressourcen in Produktsystemen zu bewerten, wurde eine umfassende Methode mit 25 Indikatoren erstellt. Des Weiteren wird ein Ansatz vorgestellt, der es ermöglicht eine konsistente Zusammenführung und somit auch Bewertung verschiedener Ressourcentypen zu ermöglichen. Er findet bei der Zusammenführung der entwickelten Methoden zur Bewertung abiotischer und biotischer Ressourcen Anwendung. Da die Nutzung von Ressourcen auch auf Macro-Ebene betrachtet werden muss, wurde eine Methode zur Bewertung abiotischer Ressourcen auf regionaler Ebene entwickelt, die 25 Indikatoren für die Bewertung der Kritikalität (Verfügbarkeit von Ressourcen und Vulnerabilität der Region) und der gesellschaftlichen Akzeptanz zur Verfügung stellt. Verschiedene Fallstudien wurden durchgeführt um die Anwendbarkeit der entwickelten Methoden aufzuzeigen und zu verdeutlichen, warum eine umfassende Bewertung der Ressourcennutzung notwendig ist. Die Fallstudien umfassen u.a. die Bewertung eines Smartphones, Pkw-Herstellung und Biokraftstoffe. Die Anwendbarkeit der Methoden wird zudem erhöht, indem Indikatorwerte für 36 Metalle und 4 fossile Rohstoffe zur Verfügung gestellt werden. Die Bewertung der Nutzung abiotischer und biotischer Ressourcen auf Produkt- und regionaler Ebene wird mit dieser Dissertation signifikant verbessert, indem vier wissenschaftliche Methoden zur robusten und umfassenden Bewertung aller drei Nachhaltigkeitsdimensionen bereitgestellt werden. Resources are the basis for a thriving industrial and technological development and therefore for prosperity of present and future generations. With increasing resource use, challenges with regard to (physical and socio-economic) availability of abiotic and biotic resources and raw materials, pollution of the environment as well as social impacts associated with resource extraction and use arise. To evaluate the success of strategies managing resource use more efficiently and sustainably methodologies are required to comprehensively assess resource use and related impacts. This thesis provides four methodologies to improve the assessment of abiotic and biotic resource use in the context of sustainability on product and regional level. For the method to assess abiotic resources use on product level overall 21 aspects are considered as relevant and indicator for quantification are provided. In order to determine socio-economic supply chain restrictions a new approach is developed, considering geopolitical, political and regulatory aspects affecting resource extraction and use. Further, screening indicators are established to evaluate the societal acceptance of resources with regard to compliance with social and environmental standards. To assess the availability of terrestrial biotic resources in product systems a comprehensive methodology is established, which includes 25 indicators. Further, an approach is proposed to combine assessment methodologies in a consistent way. This approach is applied to the developed method of this thesis leading to a combined methodology. The use of resources also has to be considered on macro-economic. Thus, a methodology is developed providing 25 indicators for the two dimensions criticality, consisting of the sub-dimensions (physical and socio-economic) availability and vulnerability, as well as societal acceptance. Several case studies are carried out to demonstrate the applicability of the developed methods and to confirm the need for a comprehensive assess of resource use on micro and macro level, e.g. case studies for smart phones and cars, for biofuels produced from rapeseed and soybean. The applicability of the methodologies is further enhanced by providing indicator results for 36 metals and four fossil raw materials. The assessment of abiotic and biotic resource use on product and regional level is improved significantly by establishing four scientifically robust yet applicable methodologies, which consider multiple aspects of resource use in all three sustainability dimensions.

This presentation gives an overview of the Sustainable Agriculture and Natural Resource Management Collaborative Research Support Program (SANREM CRSP). The SANREM CRSP utilizes a systems approach to promote many goals including the improvement of agricultural productivity, the empowerment of smallholders, and the promotion of sustainable development. This presentation shows the different components, partners, and structure of the SANREM CRSP, the extent of capacity building efforts, and the long-term research activities for Phase IV. ME (Management Entity)

Obesity is common and related to many health problems including various forms of cancer. The condition arises from the imbalance between food intake and energy expenditure, and is strongly influenced by genetic factors. Weight loss has several health benefits, but for many of the obesity-related diseases such as cancer, the impact of obesity treatment is not clarified. Unfortunately, weight loss is in most cases difficult to sustain, and obesity treatment today is insufficient. The adipose tissue and the gastrointestinal tract play active roles in the regulation of whole-body energy balance, and therapeutic targets for the treatment of obesity may be found within these sites. Also, these organs may be responsible for mediating some of the adverse effects of obesity. Special attention has been drawn to visceral adipose tissue, i.e. the fat surrounding the intestines, as being particularly harmful. The aim of this thesis was to increase our understanding of the mechanisms behind human obesity and the consequences of obesity treatment. We used population-based cross-sectional studies, as well as longitudinal intervention studies with short- and long-term weight loss. CIDEA and CIDEC are two genes with putative functions in adipose tissue, and we therefore studied their transcriptional regulation in relation to energy balance and body composition as an attempt to elucidate their role in human obesity. The genes were predominantly expressed in adipose tissue as compared to other human tissues, both CIDEA and CIDEC gene transcription were highly responsive to changes in energy availability, and CIDEA correlated with body fat and insulin levels. CIDEA expression also correlated with basal metabolic rate and uncoupling protein 1, suggesting a role in the regulation of energy expenditure. In gene silencing experiments in cultured adipocytes, we showed that CIDEC is involved in the regulation of basal as well as stimulated lipolysis, and mitochondrial fatty acid oxidation. Together, our results support a role of CIDEC and CIDEA in human obesity. There are indications that impaired intestinal barrier with increased passage of gut-derived antigens may drive visceral adipose tissue accumulation, and we therefore investigated if increased intestinal permeability is associated with visceral obesity in humans. Study subjects were recruited from a population-based cohort of Swedish women. Intestinal permeability was assessed using the urinary excretion of orally ingested sucralose and mannitol. We used computed tomography to measure visceral and liver fat. Intestinal permeability of the large intestine correlated with visceral fat area (P=0.0003) and liver fat content (P=0.004). The results indicate that gut leakiness should be further explored as a possible cause of visceral fat accumulation. The Swedish Obese Subjects (SOS) study in combination with the Swedish National Cancer Register makes it possible to, for the first time, study the effects of bariatric surgery on cancer incidence in a prospective, controlled study setting. The SOS study started in 1987 and involves severely obese subjects, 2010 of which underwent bariatric surgery, and 2037 contemporaneously matched obese controls who received conventional treatment. Bariatric surgery resulted in a sustained weight reduction, whereas the average weight change in the control group was minimal. In women, the number of first-time cancers during on average 11 years after inclusion was lower in the surgery group compared to the control group (HR= 0.58, 95% CI: 0.44-0.77, p<0.001). In men, we could not detect any difference between treatment groups (HR=0.97, p=0.91). In summary, the results of this thesis suggest that the CIDEA and CIDEC genes play a role in obesity, impaired intestinal barrier function contributes to visceral fat accumulation, and bariatric surgery reduces the risk of developing cancer in severely obese women.

Research in the field of precision agriculture is becoming increasingly important due to the growing world population whilst area for cultivation remains constant or declines. In this context, methods of monitoring in?season plant development with high resolution and accuracy are necessary. Studies show that terrestrial laser scanning (TLS) can be applied to capture small objects like crops. In this contribution, the results of multi-temporal field campaigns with the terrestrial laser scanner Riegl LMS-Z420i are shown. Four surveys were carried out in the growing period 2012 on a field experiment where various barley varieties were cultivated in small-scale plots. In order to measure the plant height above ground, the TLS-derived point clouds are interpolated to generate Crop Surface Models with a very high resolution of 1 cm. For all campaigns, a common reference surface, representing the Digital Elevation Model was used to monitor plant height in the investigated period. Manual plant height measurements were carried out to verify the results. The very high coefficients of determination (R² = 0.89) between both measurement methods show the applicability of the approach presented. Furthermore, destructive biomass sampling was performed to investigate the relation to plant height. Biomass is an important parameter for evaluating the actual crop status, but non-destructive methods of directly measuring crop biomass do not exist. Hence, other parameters like reflectance are considered. The focus of this study is on non-destructive measurements of plant height. The high coefficients of determination between plant height and fresh as well as dry biomass (R² = 0.80, R² = 0.77) support the usability of plant height as a predictor. The study presented here demonstrates the applicability of TLS in monitoring plant height development with a very high spatial resolution. Proceedings of the Workshop on UAV-based Remote Sensing Methods for Monitoring Vegetation Kölner geographische Arbeiten, 94 ISSN:0454-1294

After green cane harvesting, between 6 and 30 tons of dry matter per hectare of trash remains in the field. The aim of this paper was to evaluate the dynamics of sugarcane residue decomposition, and to study nutrient release from harvest residue. The trial was conducted in Tucumán-Argentina. The soil was a typical Haplustol. Sugarcane varieties LCP 85-384 and RA 87-3 were used in the trial, which lasted from 2008 to 2012. Every 25-35 days we evaluated: 1) quantity of residue (fresh weight and dry weight), and 2) C/N ratio in the residue. Besides, at the beginning and end of each cycle we evaluated P and K contents in the residue. In the four crop cycles considered (ratoon 1 to ratoon 4), the amount of residue left on the ground, expressed as tons of dry matter per hectare, was high. In LCP 85-384, initial trash amount ranged from 11.6 t/ha (ratoon 3) to 15.2 t/ha (ratoon 2), whereas decomposition percentages varied between 43% and 59% in a period of 260 to 323 days. In RA-87-3 initial trash amount ranged from 12.5 t/ha (ratoon 4) to 18.1 t/ha (ratoon 1), with decomposition percentages between 36% and 60% for a period of 194 to 323 days. In general, fresh residue C/N ratios were high (over 60). Initial C/N ratio varied among the following values: 79.2 (2008/2009), 77.4 (2009/2010) and 68.8 (2010/2011), and 93.5 (2008/2009), 102.9 (2009/2010) and 60.5 (2010/2011) for LCP 85-384 and RA 87-3, respectively. Final C/N ratio ranged from 30.8 (2010/2011) to 31.9 (2008/2009) and 39.3 (2009/2010) for LCP 85-384, and from 29.9 (2010/2011) to 33.9 (2008/2009) and 43.4 (2009/2010) for RA 87-3. This represented a reduction in at least 50% in all situations studied. Trash initial C concentration, expressed as percentage of dry matter, amounted to values between 42% and 45.5%, and between 38.8% and 47.5% in LCP 85-384 and RA 87-3, respectively. Residue initial N concentration varied between 0.53% and 0.71% and between 0.43% and 0.66% in LCP 85-384 and RA 87-3, respectively. As expected, N contents were more variable than C contents. Trash final C and N concentrations ranged from 30.4% to 33.2% and from 0.84% to 1.00% in LCP 85-384, whereas these values varied from 27.8% to 34.5% and from 0.82% to 1.1% in RA 87-3. Residue initial P concentrations reached 0.05% and 0.07% in LCP 85-384, and 0.06% and 0.1% in RA 87-3. Final P concentration ranged from 0.06% to 0.08% in both varieties. Residue initial K concentrations were between 0.64% and 0.75% for LCP 85-384, and between 0.56% and 0.67% for RA 87-3, respectively. Final K concentration varied from 0.09% to 0.19% and from 0.11% and 0.19% for LCP 85-384 and RA 87-3, respectively. K release values were high, whereas P ones were generally low.