The commercially available collar device MooMonitor+ was evaluated with regards to accuracy and application potential for measuring grazing behavior. These automated measurements are crucial as cows feed intake behavior at pasture is an important parameter of animal performance, health and welfare as well as being an indicator of feed availability. Compared to laborious and time-consuming visual observation, the continuous and automated measurement of grazing behavior may support and improve the grazing management of dairy cows on pasture. Therefore, there were two experiments as well as a literature analysis conducted to evaluate the MooMonitor+ under grazing conditions. The first experiment compared the automated measurement of the sensor against visual observation. In a second experiment, the MooMonitor+ was compared to a noseband sensor (RumiWatch), which also allows continuous measurement of grazing behavior. The first experiment on n=12 cows revealed that the automated sensor MooMonitor+ and visual observation were highly correlated as indicated by the Spearman’s rank correlation coefficient (rs)=0.94 and concordance correlation coefficient (CCC)=0.97 for grazing time. An rs-value of 0.97 and CCC=0.98 was observed for rumination time. In a second experiment with n=12 cows over 24-h periods, a high correlation between the MooMonitor+ and the RumiWatch was observed for grazing time as indicated by an rs-value of 0.91 and a CCC-value of 0.97. Similarly, a high correlation was observed for rumination time with an rs-value of 0.96 and a CCC-value of 0.99. While a higher level of agreement between the MooMonitor+ and both visual observation and RumiWatch was observed for rumination time compared to grazing time, the overall results showed a high level of accuracy of the collar device in measuring grazing and rumination times. Therefore, the collar device can be applied to monitor cow behavior at pasture on farms. With regards to the application potential of the collar device, it may not only be used on commercial farms but can also be applied to research questions when a data resolution of 15 min is sufficient. Thus, at farm level, the farmer can get an accurate and continuous measurement of grazing behavior of each individual cow and may then use those data for decision-making to optimize the animal management.

Precision technologies and data have had relatively modest impacts in grass-based livestock ruminant production systems compared with other agricultural sectors such as arable. Precision technologies promise increased efficiency, reduced environmental impact, improved animal health, welfare and product quality. The benefits of precision technologies have, however, been relatively slow to be realised on pasture based farms. Though there is significant overlap with indoor systems, implementing technology in grass-based dairying brings unique opportunities and challenges. The large areas animals roam and graze in pasture based systems and the associated connectivity challenges may, in part at least, explain the comparatively lower adoption of such technologies in pasture based systems. With the exception of sensor and Bluetooth-enabled plate metres, there are thus few technologies designed specifically to increase pasture utilisation. Terrestrial and satellite-based spectral analysis of pasture biomass and quality is still in the development phase. One of the key drivers of efficiency in pasture based systems has thus only been marginally impacted by precision technologies. In contrast, technological development in the area of fertility and heat detection has been significant and offers significant potential value to dairy farmers, including those in pasture based systems. A past review of sensors in health management for dairy farms concluded that although the collection of accurate data was generally achieved, the processing, integration and presentation of the resulting information and decision-support applications were inadequate. These technologies’ value to farming systems is thus unclear. As a result, it is not certain that farm management is being sufficiently improved to justify widespread adoption of precision technologies currently. We argue for a user need-driven development of technologies and for a focus on how outputs arising from precision technologies and associated decision support applications are delivered to users to maximise their value. Further cost/benefit analysis is required to determine the efficacy of investing in specific precision technologies, potentially taking account of several yet to ascertained farm specific variables.

This paper introduces a new measure to capture dynamic losses for exporting firms on markets that exhibit hysteresis on the supply side. Our indicator aims to quantify dynamic losses caused by sunk adjustment costs in case of exchange rate fluctuations. While the standard procedure in welfare analysis is to compare two equilibria, we focus on welfare effects that take place during dynamics. We analyze negative dynamic effects on producers' income that are generated due to writing off sunk adjustment costs. As an example, we investigate Italian wine exports to the United States over the period 1995–2013. After testing for hysteresis on the market, we present the indicator of hysteresis losses. It captures a continuous increase of dynamic losses during the period 2003–2008. Moreover, over-proportionately large hysteresis losses are generated in comparison to the exchange rate changes if the pain threshold of the exchange rate (ca. 1.25$/€) is passed.

A nonequilibrium calculation for the chemistry in a classical protoplanetary accretion disk is presented. Slow radial particle transport moves grains from the cold outer regions of a protoplanetary accretion disk into its warm central part where grains are destroyed. We consider the destruction processes for the silicate and carbon dust component and follow the chemical composition of the gas as a function of the radial distance from the protostar. The main result of this calculation is the presence of huge amounts of methane at a distance of ~ 1 AU from the protostar as product of the carbon dust destruction. It is very likely that more complex organics also are present' in this region.

We measured the hydrogen and oxygen isotope composition (δ2H and δ18O) of precipitation and stream water from the Soft Plume River at multiple spatiotemporal scales on sub-Antarctic Marion Island, Indian sector of the Southern Ocean. Monthly precipitation δ2H and δ18O values ranged from -43.7‰ to -14.7‰ and from -7.0‰ to -3.3‰ (n=13), respectively. Stream water values ranged from -48.0‰ to -25.4‰ for δ2H and from -7.6‰ to -4.0‰ for δ18O (n=92). The monthly precipitation data yielded a local meteoric water line with the equation δ2H=8.4δ18O+11.4. There was no clear seasonality in isotope composition present in precipitation and stream water. Along the stream, no significant difference was observed between sites. However, δ2H and δ18O values were lower and more variable at the highest site. This is probably the result of the ‘amount effect’, where more precipitation fell at a higher elevation compared with a downstream site in the catchment. The findings illustrate spatiotemporal patterns in precipitation and stream water isotopes and provide insight into mechanisms affecting their composition on sub-Antarctic Marion Island.

It is encouraging to see the diversity of sources cited in the top introductory textbooks in industrial-organizational (I-O) psychology. It is not surprising that the Journal of Applied Psychology (JAP) and Personnel Psychology are off the charts in terms of the two most-cited sources in these six textbooks. However, I would not have expected that in these books, “77% of the top-cited articles were published in cross-disciplinary journals” (Aguinis et al., 2017, p. 507). I wish to build on Aguinis et al. (2017), with a focus on the relationship between I-O psychology and human resource development (HRD). I am the author of an HRD textbook (Werner, 2017a). The journal I co-edit, Human Resource Development Quarterly, is one of those “cross-disciplinary journals” on Aguinis et al.’s list of most-cited sources (56th out of 110, 40th in academic journals), with 16 citations. Finally, my article on legal issues in performance appraisal was cited in five of the six textbooks (Werner & Bolino, 1997).

Clear evidence for the formation of mixed clathrate hydrates of air and hydrochlorofluorocarbon densifier (known as HCFC-141b, sometimes also called R-141b) is found by means of synchrotron X-ray diffraction and Raman spectroscopy on a sample recovered from the bottom of the EPICA Dronning Maud Land deep borehole in Antarctica. Subglacial water (SGW) appears to have reacted with the drilling liquid to build a large lump of clathrate hydrate. The hydrate growth may well have been accelerated by the stirring of the SGW–densifier mixture during drilling. Moreover, dissolved air in the SGW appears to have participated in the formation of mixed hydrates of air and HCFC-141b as evidenced by the concomitant appearance of Raman signals from both constituents. Our findings elucidate to some extent the meaning of earlier accounts of the formation of ‘heavy chips’ that may sink to the bottom of the borehole, possibly affecting or even impeding the drilling advance. These observations raise concerns with respect to the use of HCFC-141b densifiers in ice-core drilling liquids under warm ice conditions.

We report on the discovery of a new PG 1159 star in the ROSAT XRT all sky survey and give results of a model atmosphere analysis. The X-ray source RX J2117.1+3412 is relatively faint (0.33 cnts−1) and extremely soft. Ground based optical follow-up spectroscopy (OHP, France) proofs its PG 1159 nature: It belongs to the “low gravity emission” spectral subtype. Optically, it is the second brightest PG1159 star. CCD [O III] imagery reveals that the star is surrounded by an old arc-shaped planetary nebula of faint surface brightness. The spectral analysis of the central star was performed with non-LTE line blanketed model atmospheres (Werner 1992). We find a complete agreement between the atmospheric parameters determined at optical wavelengths and in the ROSAT PSPC energy range.

Terrestrial radar interferometry (TRI) is a new technique for studying ice motion and volume change of glaciers. TRI is especially useful for temporally and spatially dense measurements of highly dynamic glacial termini. We conducted a TRI survey of Breiðamerkurjökull, a marine-terminating glacier in Iceland, imaging its terminus near the end of the melt season in 2011, 2012 and 2013. The ice velocities were as high as 5 m d−1, with the fastest velocities near the calving front. Retreat of the glacier over the 3 year observation period was accompanied by strong embayment formation. Iceberg tracking with the radar shows high current velocities near the embayment, probably indicating strong meltwater outflow and mixing with relatively warm lagoon water.

The spatial distribution of interstellar dust is clearly important in understanding not only galactic dynamics but also the processing of the dust and the interstellar medium in general. Probably the best spectral region for investigating interstellar dust is the infrared (IR), where the cool dust is likely to radiate. Indeed, one of the most prominent features of the IRAS sky is the ubiquitous cirrus emission, thought to be due to interstellar dust heated by the interstellar radiation field (ISRF), seen at 60 and 100 μm (Low 1984). However, it is difficult to use the cirrus to probe the dust distribution, both because we have no depth information and also because the cirrus, due to its low temperatures (~20 K), is a probe of high-density dust regions. A far more sensitive search could be made if the dust were hotter, that is, in the presence of a greater ultraviolet (UV) flux. We have made use of this fact to search for dust in the vicinity of hot, bright stars, where even a small amount of dust will dominate the total emission along that line of sight.

Based on seven measured sections from Svalbard, the marine strata of the Permian Kapp Starostin Formation are arranged into seven transgressive–regressive sequences (TR1–TR7) of c. 4–5 Ma average duration, each bound by a maximum regressive surface. Facies, including heterozoan-dominated limestones, spiculitic cherts, sandstones, siltstones and shales, record deposition within inner, middle and outer shelf areas. The lowermost sequence, TR1, comprises most of the basal Vøringen Member, which records a transgression across the Gipshuken Formation following a hiatus of unknown duration. Temperate to cold, storm-dominated facies established in inner to middle shelf areas between the latest Artinskian and Kungurian. Prolonged deepening during sequences TR2 and TR3 was succeeded by a long-term shallowing-upward trend that lasted until the latest Permian (TR4–TR7). A major depocentre existed in central and western Spitsbergen while to the north, Dickson Land remained a shallow platform, leading to a shallow homoclinal ramp in NE Spitsbergen and Nordaustlandet. The Middle Permian extinction (late Capitanian) is recorded near the base of TR6 in deeper parts of the basin only; elsewhere this sequence is not recorded. Likewise the youngest sequence, TR7, extending to the upper formational contact of latest Permian age, is found only in the basin depocentre. Comparison with age-equivalent strata in the Sverdrup Basin of Canada reveals a remarkably similar depositional history, with, for example, two (third-order) sea-level cycles recorded in the Late Permian of both regions, in keeping with the global record. Sequence stratigraphy may therefore be a powerful correlative tool for onshore and offshore Permian deposits across NW Pangaea.

The luminosity of the central 5 pc of the Galaxy -encompassing the inner regions of the rotating ring of dust and gas which surrounds the galactic center - emerges primarily at infrared wavelengths in the form of thermal emission from heated dust. The nature and location of the sources which heat the dust can be inferred from the spatial and temperature distribution of the thermal infrared emission (λ>20um), from studies of the ionized gas in this region, and from direct imaging in the near infrared. These observations show that the principal heating sources within this 5-pc region are concentrated within the central parsec of the Galaxy and indicate that the luminosity of these sources is within a factor of two of 107 LO. The near-infrared observations of the compact sources at the galactic center do not reveal a single dominant source but suggest instead that the several components of the IRS-16 complex, taken together, may contribute the bulk of the luminosity; however, the data also permit a single object to dominate the energetics of this region. We draw attention to the striking morphological similarities between the galactic center and the innermost regions of the 30 Doradus nebula in the Large Magellanic Cloud and speculate that the luminosity sources in the galactic center may resemble the early-type supergiants in 30 Doradus.

This paper summarizes radiocarbon measurements of mainly botanical samples from the Iceman (“Ötzi”) and from his discovery site, an Alpine glacier at the Austrian-Italian border. The results were obtained by accelerator mass spectrometry (AMS) at 3 different laboratories (Vienna, Austria; Uppsala, Sweden; Gif-sur-Yvette, France) between 1992 and 1997. All the dates, except 2, are consistent with the time period 3360–3100 BC, as previously determined from bone and tissue samples from the Iceman himself. The 2 exceptional dates from wooden artifacts suggest that the site of the Iceman was used as a mountain pass for millennia prior to and after the lifetime of “Ötzi”.

For a 2nd sample complex, we studied logs from the beginning of salt mining in the world's oldest salt mines at Hallstatt in Upper Austria. 14C AMS measurements were performed in Vienna on spruce samples found in the prehistoric mines and from a log-house on the surface. Data evaluation included “wiggle matching” of different sets of tree rings. The results suggest that salt mining in the Hallstatt region took place in the 14th–13th century BC, well before the so-called Hallstatt period.

We discuss in some detail the chemical pretreatment of the samples and the data evaluation. We also present a comprehensive survey of 14C dates available in the literature concerning both botanical remains from the vicinity of the Iceman and from the earliest salt mining in Hallstatt.