The value of commodity biographies: integrating tribal farmers in India into a global organic agro-food network

The production of organic food has been regarded for a long time as being synonymous with ecological regional production systems. However, the increased production of organic food products has led to an ongoing industrialisation and also to a global spread of network structures within this segment of agriculture. This paper provides a case study of the integration of organic pepper farmers from an indigenous tribe in Kerala, India, into global agro-food networks, linking them to a German producer of organic meat products. The results of this study show that the importance of the territorial embeddedness and the abandonment of the exercise of power can be crucial for the success of global organic agro-food networks.     

Large scale mass movements triggered by the Kashmir earthquake 2005, Pakistan

The SPOT image analysis in Muzaffarabad Azad Kashmir,northwest Himalayas,Pakistan reveals that the Kashmir earthquake 2005 triggered a number of coseismic mass movements along the hanging wall block of the Muzaffarabad Fault.The Neelidandi and Langarpura rock falls have been identified as two major reactivated mass movements with an estimated volume of 3.1 × 106m3and 5.76 × 106m3,respectively.The Neelidandi and Langarpura mass movements were initiated during earthquake in the direction of northwest-southeast extension and northeastsouthwest directed thrusting,respectively.The Neelidandi rock fall occurred in sheared cherty dolomites and limestones of the Cambrian Muzaffarabad Formation,whereas the Langarpura rock fall occurred in alternating clays,shales,claystones,siltstones and sandstones of the Miocene Murree Formation.These rock units along the fault are highly fractured and jointed.The geotechnical maps and geological longitudinal profiles show the relationship between the geometrical characteristics and mechanism of these mass movements.Their characteristics were analyzed according to the role of topographic,seismic,geological and tectonic factors.The steep topography,sheared rocks,lithology,coseismic uplift and strong ground shaking of the hanging wall block along Muzaffarabad Fault facilitated the gravity collapse of these mass movements.     

Barnacle fouling in the Mediterranean sponges Axinella polypoides and Axinella verrucosa

Secondary metabolites protect many marine sponges (Phylum: Porifera) from settlement by fouling organisms. Previous studies on the subtidal demosponge Axinella verrucosa collected in the Western Mediterranean led to the isolation of compounds that inhibited the settlement of cyprids larvae of the intertidal barnacle Balanus amphitrite, and the enzyme chitinase, which plays a key role in the molting cycle of crustaceans. However, in a field survey conducted at three locations in Israel, Eastern Mediterranean Sea, we observed that A. verrucosa is fouled by the subtidal barnacle Balanus trigonus, a previously unknown association. Settlement inhibition assays using B. amphitrite with chemical extracts from Israeli A. verrucosa and Axinella polypoides, a sympatric, congeneric sponge that seems not to be fouled by B. trigonus, showed that cyprid larvae of B. amphitrite were inhibited by the extracts of both sponges from settlement at concentrations several magnitudes lower than natural volumetric extract concentration in the sponges. These results indicate that, unlike the intertidal barnacle B. amphitrite, the subtidal B. trigonus is unaffected by the compounds from A. verrucosa, stressing and underlining the importance of using suitable target organisms (i.e. from the same habitat) to test for ecologically relevant antifouling activities.     

Evidence of NAO control on subsurface ice accumulation in a 1200 yr old cave-ice sequence, St. Livres ice cave, Switzerland

Mid-latitude ice caves are assumed to be highly sensitive to climatic changes and thus represent a potentially interesting environmental archive. Establishing a precise chronology is, however, a prerequisite for the understanding of processes driving the cave-ice mass balance and thus allows a paleoenvironmental interpretation. At St. Livres ice cave (Jura Mountains, Switzerland), subfossil trees and organic material are abundant in the cave-ice deposit, therefore allowing the dating of individual ice layers. The dendrochronological analysis of 45 subfossil samples of Norway spruce (Picea abies (L.) Karst.) from the overhanging front of the ice outcrop as well as the dating of seven wood samples with ¹⁴C dating allowed for a reconstruction of the St. Livres cave-ice sequence and for the determination of periods of ice accumulation and ablation. Results suggest a maximal age of 1200 ± 50 ¹⁴C yr BP for the observed ice sequence and indicate the presence of four major deposition gaps dated to the 14th, 15th, mid-19th and late 19th century, which can be related with periods of positive North Atlantic Oscillation anomalies (NAO+) over the winter half-year and/or anthropogenic cave-ice abstraction. Similarly, there is evidence that periods of cave-ice accumulation as observed between AD 1877-1900 and AD 1393-1415 would correspond with phases of negative NAO indices. Cave ice represents therefore an original climate archive for the winter half-year and is complementary to other continental proxies recording preferentially summer conditions (e.g., tree rings, varves).     

Preliminary Characterisation of New Reference Materials for Microanalysis: Chinese Geological Standard Glasses CGSG‐1, CGSG‐2, CGSG‐4 and CGSG‐5

Four silicate glasses were prepared by the fusion of about 1 kg powder each of a basalt, syenite, soil and andesite to provide reference materials of natural composition for microanalytical work. These glasses are referred to as ‘Chinese Geological Standard Glasses’ (CGSG) ‐1, ‐2, ‐4 and ‐5. Micro and bulk analyses indicated that the glasses are well homogenised with respect to major and trace elements. Some siderophile/chalcophile elements (e.g., Sn, Pt, Pb) may be heterogeneously distributed in CGSG‐5. This paper provides the first analytical data for the CGSG reference glasses using a variety of analytical techniques (wet chemistry, XRF, EPMA, ICP‐AES, ICP‐MS, LA‐ICP‐MS) performed in nine laboratories. Most data agree within uncertainty limits of the analytical techniques used. Discrepancies in the data for some siderophile/chalcophile elements exist, mainly because of possible heterogeneities of these elements in the glasses and/or analytical problems. From the analytical data, preliminary reference and information values for fifty‐five elements were calculated. The analytical uncertainties [2 relative standard error (RSE)] were estimated to be between about 1% and 20%.     

Image Processing Techniques and Feature Recognition in Solar Physics

This review presents a comprehensive and systematic overview of image-processing techniques that are used in automated feature-detection algorithms applied to solar data: i) image pre-processing procedures, ii) automated detection of spatial features, iii) automated detection and tracking of temporal features (events), and iv) post-processing tasks, such as visualization of solar imagery, cataloguing, statistics, theoretical modeling, prediction, and forecasting. For each aspect the most recent developments and science results are highlighted. We conclude with an outlook on future trends.     

Restructuring Governance of New Zealand Seaports: Geographical Impacts of Corporatisation

This study examines the rationales for and geographical outcomes of the post 1988 changes in port governance in New Zealand and their implications from a policy perspective. The study offers insights into the interrelationship between global processes and local places in the context of economic deregulation, a devolved infrastructure planning mandate and intra‐industry competitive dynamics. A trend towards port concentration consequent on globalisation has been long recognised in the international literature. In New Zealand, the trend towards port concentration can be described as selective, limited primarily to import trade while export trade is more dispersed. This new port geography is part of wider political and socio‐economic development geographies of the national and global hinterlands and forelands these ports interact with.     

The Herschel-PACS photometer calibration

This paper provides an overview of the PACS photometer flux calibration concept, in particular for the principal observation mode, the scan map. The absolute flux calibration is tied to the photospheric models of five fiducial stellar standards (α Boo, α Cet, α Tau, β And, γ Dra). The data processing steps to arrive at a consistent and homogeneous calibration are outlined. In the current state the relative photometric accuracy is ～2 % in all bands. Starting from the present calibration status, the characterization and correction for instrumental effects affecting the relative calibration accuracy is described and an outlook for the final achievable calibration numbers is given. After including all the correction for the instrumental effects, the relative photometric calibration accuracy (repeatability) will be as good as 0.5 % in the blue and green band and 2 % in the red band. This excellent calibration starts to reveal possible inconsistencies between the models of the K-type and the M-type stellar calibrators. The absolute calibration accuracy is therefore mainly limited by the 5 % uncertainty of the celestial standard models in all three bands. The PACS bolometer response was extremely stable over the entire Herschel mission and a single, time-independent response calibration file is sufficient for the processing and calibration of the science observations. The dedicated measurements of the internal calibration sources were needed only to characterize secondary effects. No aging effects of the bolometer or the filters have been found. Also, we found no signs of filter leaks. The PACS photometric system is very well characterized with a constant energy spectrum νF _ν = λF _λ = const as a reference. Colour corrections for a wide range of sources SEDs are determined and tabulated.     

Calcium Carbonate and Phosphate Reference Materials for Monitoring Bulk and Microanalytical Determination of Sr Isotopes

In situ laser ablation analyses rely on the microanalytical homogeneity of reference materials (RMs) and a similar matrix and mass fraction between unknown samples and RMs to obtain reliable results. Suitable carbonate and phosphate RMs for determination of Sr isotope ratios in such materials are limited. Thus, we determined ⁸⁷Sr/⁸⁶Sr ratios of several carbonate (JCt‐1, JCp‐1, MACS‐1, MACS‐3) and phosphate (MAPS‐4, MAPS‐5, NIST SRM 1400, NIST SRM 1486) international RMs using dissolved samples and two different multi‐collector inductively coupled plasma‐mass spectrometers (MC‐ICP‐MS). Our Sr isotope data are in agreement with published data and have an improved measurement precision for some RMs. For MACS‐1, we present the first ⁸⁷Sr/⁸⁶Sr value. We tested the suitability of these materials for microanalytical analyses by LA‐MC‐ICP‐MS, with two different laser ablation systems: a conventional nanosecond laser and a state‐of‐the‐art femtosecond laser. We investigated the RMs micro‐homogeneity and compared the data with our solution data. Both laser ablation systems yielded identical ⁸⁷Sr/⁸⁶Sr ratios within uncertainty to the solution data for RMs with low interferences of REEs. Therefore, these carbonate and phosphate RMs can be used to achieve accurate and precise results for in situ Sr isotope investigations by LA‐MC‐ICP‐MS of similar materials.