Self-organization, embodiment, and biologically inspired robotics

Robotics researchers increasingly agree that ideas from biology and self-organization can strongly benefit the design of autonomous robots. Biological organisms have evolved to perform and survive in a world characterized by rapid changes, high uncertainty, indefinite richness, and limited availability of information. Industrial robots, in contrast, operate in highly controlled environments with no or very little uncertainty. Although many challenges remain, concepts from biologically inspired (bio-inspired) robotics will eventually enable researchers to engineer machines for the real world that possess at least some of the desirable properties of biological organisms, such as adaptivity, robustness, versatility, and agility.     

An astronomical 2175 angstrom feature in interplanetary dust particles

The 2175 angstrom extinction feature is the strongest (visible-ultraviolet) spectral signature of dust in the interstellar medium. Forty years after its discovery, the origin of the feature and the nature of the carrier(s) remain controversial. Using a transmission electron microscope, we detected a 5.7-electron volt (2175 angstrom) feature in interstellar grains embedded within interplanetary dust particles (IDPs). The carriers are organic carbon and amorphous silicates that are abundant in IDPs and in the interstellar medium. These multiple carriers may explain the enigmatic invariant central wavelength and variable bandwidth of the astronomical 2175 angstrom feature.     

Untersuchungen zur Stickstoff-Immobilisation in mineralisch gedüngten Ackerböden aus Löß während der Vegetationszeit von Winter-Weizen

Experiments on nitrogen immobilization in minerally fertilized soils from loess during the growing season of winter wheat The nitrogen regime has been simulated during the growing period of winter wheat 1984/85 on a stagnigleyic cambisol using a simple, functional computer model. The model includes N mineralization from soil organic matter, transport of water and nitrate as well as growth of wheat and N uptake by the crop. Simulation starts at harvest of the previous crop. Simulated and measured N supply (soil mineral nitrogen plus N uptake by the plant) were in good agreement between september and december 1984. On this loess plot as well as on 10 other ones an over-estimation of mineral nitrogen in the soil up to 40 kg/ha was observed with beginning of december/january 1984/85 reflecting a seasonal trend. Experiments with ¹⁵N enriched Ca-nitrate 1984/85 on microplots of the same field point to a non-consideration of nitrogen immobilization. Fertilizer-N-immobilization amounted up to 35 kg/ha in the soil and to further 15 kg/ha in the straw material. The pool of fixed ammonium was of no importance with respect to the mobilization-immobilization-turn-over of fertilizer nitrogen. Experiments 1988/89 on microplots of a colluvial loess soil indicate a change of biomass nitrogen being responsible for the seasonal N-immobilization. An increase of biomass-N of about 30 kg/ha was observed under the growing wheat crop. An additional N-immobilization of nearly 40 kg/ha was observed with straw incorporation. A similar increase of microbial biomass nitrogen under winter wheat has been observed during the growing period 1987/88.     

Effect of Antarctic krillmeal on quality of farmed Atlantic cod (Gadus morhua L.)

Farmed Atlantic cod with a mean weight of 4.8 kg were maintained for 9 weeks in sea cages and fed diets where the dietary fishmeal component was substituted with increasing proportions (0%, 22%, 63% and 100%) of meal from Antarctic krill, Euphausia superba. Wild‐caught cod were included in the study as external control. At termination of feeding, all fish were slaughtered and muscle pH was immediately recorded. The fish were then stored on ice for three days and assessed for muscle pH and objective (skin and fillet colour, and fillet texture) and subjective (sensory evaluation) quality criteria. Replacement of fishmeal with krillmeal in the diets resulted in the skin colour above and below the lateral line to be more red than the control group without krillmeal substitutions, even though this difference was not significant, and with more yellow hue. Additions of krillmeal increased the muscle whiteness and yellow hue compared with the control group and wild fish. There was no difference in red hue between the groups. Muscle pH, texture or sensory attributes were unaffected by dietary inclusion level of krillmeal. Wild‐caught cod deviated in several aspects from the farmed cod. It is concluded that the replacement of fishmeal with Antarctic krillmeal in the diets two months before slaughter did not move the sensory attributes more towards wild fish.     

Der Genfonds anMalus-Arten in der DDR und seine Nutzung

Zusammenfassung Die ursprüngliche Naumburger Malus-Artenkollektion wurde in das Institut für Obstforschung Dresden-Pillnitz überführt. Sie umfaßt 237 Arten und Varietäten und damit die wichtigsten Vertreter der 5 Sektionen vonMalus - Malus, Sorbomalus, Chloromeles, Eriobolus, Docyniopsis (nachRehder 1954). Die bereits vorliegenden Untersuchungsergebnisse an dieser Kollektion über Pollenfertilität, Apomixis, Schorf-, Mehltau- und Blutlausresistenz sowie Virustoleranz werden mitgeteilt.Auf die nationale und internationale Bedeutung dieses Genfonds, der für den Austausch zur Verfügung steht, wird hingewiesen.

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Genetic resources ofMalus in the GDR and their utilization

Summary The collection ofMalus germplasm originally located in Naumburg has been transfered to the Institute of Fruit Research in Dresden-Pillnitz. It contains 237 species and forms and therewith important representatives of the 5 sections ofMalus - Malus, Sorbomalus, Chloromeles, Eriobolus, Docyniopsis (according toRehder 1954). The results already obtained on the basis of this germplasm concerning pollen fertility, apomixis, resistance to scab, mildew, woolly aphid, and virus tolerance are presented here. The national and international importance of thisMalus collection which is available for distribution is stressed.

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Malus

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Detection of colostrum-derived alloantibodies in calves with bovine neonatal pancytopenia

Receptors of the immunoglobulin-like superfamily are critically involved in virtually every aspect of immune responses. One large chromosomal area encoding such immunoregulatory receptors is the leukocyte receptor cluster. Here we review various aspects of the chicken Ig-like receptor (CHIR) family, located on microchromosome 31, an orthologous position to the mammalian leukocyte receptor cluster. The CHIR family has been massively expanded with over hundred CHIR genes that are further distinguished into activating, inhibitory and bifunctional receptors. Comparisons of various features such as amino acid motifs, genomic structure, expression and associated adaptor molecules reveal the homology of CHIR to both the killer Ig-like and the leukocyte Ig-like receptor families, with most pronounced correlation of certain CHIR to the NK cell receptor KIR2DL4. To date the CHIR ligands remain largely obscure with the exception of CHIR-AB1 that binds to chicken IgY. Detailed analyses of CHIR-AB1, its crystal structure, the interaction to IgY and functional capabilities allow us to draw conclusions regarding Fc receptor phylogeny and function.     

Modeling irrigated cotton with shallow groundwater in the Aral Sea Basin of Uzbekistan: I. Water dynamics

In Khorezm, a region located in the Aral Sea basin of Uzbekistan, water use for irrigation of predominantly cotton is high whereas water use efficiency is low. To quantify the seasonal water and salt balance, water application, crop growth, soil water, and groundwater dynamics were studied on a sandy, sandy loam and loamy cotton field in the years 2003 and 2005. To simulate and quantify improved management strategies and update irrigation standards, the soil water model Hydrus-1D was applied. Results showed that shallow groundwater contributed a substantial share (up to 399 mm) to actual evapotranspiration of cotton (estimated at 488–727 mm), which alleviated water stress in response to suboptimal quantities of water applied for irrigation, but enhanced concurrently secondary soil salinization. Thus, pre-season salt leaching becomes a necessity. Nevertheless, as long as farmers face high uncertainty in irrigation water supply, maintaining shallow groundwater tables can be considered as a safety-net against unreliable water delivery. Simulations showed that in 2003 around 200 mm would have been sufficient during pre-season leaching, whereas up to 300 mm of water was applied in reality amounting to an overuse of almost 33%. Using some of this water during the irrigation season would have alleviated season crop-water stress such as in June 2003. Management strategy analyses revealed that crop water uptake would only marginally benefit from a permanent crop residue layer, often recommended as part of conservation agriculture. Such a mulch layer, however, would substantially reduce soil evaporation, capillary rise of groundwater, and consequently secondary soil salinization. The simulations furthermore demonstrated that not relying on the contribution of shallow groundwater to satisfy crop water demand is possible by implementing timely and soil-specific irrigation scheduling. Water use would then not be higher than the current Uzbek irrigation standards. It is argued that if furrow irrigation is to be continued, pure sandy soils, which constitute <5% of the agricultural soils in Khorezm, are best to be taken out of annual cotton production.