University of Hohenheim

About: University of Hohenheim is a education organization based out in Stuttgart, Germany. It is known for research contribution in the topics: Population & Soil water. The organization has 8585 authors who have published 16406 publications receiving 567377 citations.

How to Respond to the Fourth Industrial Revolution, or the Second Information Technology Revolution? Dynamic New Combinations between Technology, Market, and Society through Open Innovation

Abstract: Since Klaus Schwab and the World Economic Forum declared the arrival of the Fourth Industrial Revolution, there has been much discussion about it. However, there is no commonly agreed-upon definition of the Fourth Industrial Revolution. Therefore, we attempted to answer the following four research questions. “What is the definition of the Fourth Industrial Revolution?”, “How can we respond to the Fourth Industrial Revolution in terms of institutions?”, “How can we respond to the Fourth Industrial Revolution in terms of technology?”, “How can we respond to the Fourth Industrial Revolution in terms of firm innovation and start-up strategy?” Brainstorming was conducted by 11 scholars from several countries to answer these four research questions. Therefore, this research is not the end product of four research questions, but a kind of advanced template to answer the four research questions for continuing research.

The effect of nitrification inhibitors on the nitrous oxide (N2O) release from agricultural soils—a review

Abstract: The use of nitrification inhibitors (NI) is a technique which is able to improve N fertilizer use efficiency, to reduce nitrate leaching and to decrease the emission of the climate‐relevant gas N₂O simultaneously, particularly in moderately fertilized agricultural systems adapted to plant N demand. The ammonia monooxygenase (AMO) is the first enzyme which is involved in the oxidation of NH$ _4^+ $ to NO$ _3^ - $ in soils. The inhibition of the AMO by NIs directly decreases the nitrification rate and it reduces the NO$ _3^- $ concentration which serves as substrate for denitrification. Hence, the two main pathways of N₂O production in soils are blocked or their source strength is at least decreased. Although it has been shown that archaea are also able to oxidize NH₃, results from literature suggest that the enzymatic activity of NH₃oxidizing bacteria is the most important target for NIs because it was much stronger affected. The application of NIs to reduce N₂O emissions is most effective under conditions in which the NI remains close to the N ‐ fertilizer. This is the case when the NI was sprayed on mineral ‐ N fertilizer granules or thoroughly mixed with liquid fertilizers. Most serious problems of spatial separation of NI and substrate emerge on pasture soils, where N₂O hotspots occur under urine and to a lesser extent under manure patches. From the few studies on the effect of different NI quantities it seems that the amount of NI necessary to reduce N₂O emissions is below the recommendations for NI amounts in practice. NIs can improve the fertilizer value of liquid manure. For instance, the addition of NIs to slurry can increase N uptake and yield of crops when NO$ _3^ - $ ‐ N leaching losses are reduced. It has clearly been demonstrated that NIs added to cattle slurry are very effective in reducing N₂O as well as NO emissions after surface application and injection of slurry into grassland soils. In flooded rice systems NIs can reduce CH₄emission significantly, whereas the effect on CO₂emission is varying. On the other hand, as an effect of the delay of nitrification by NIs, NH₃emission might increase when N fertilizers are not incorporated into the soil. As compared to other measures NIs have a high potential to reduce N₂O emissions from agricultural soils. Further, no other measure has so consistently been proofed according its efficiency to reduce N₂O emissions. From the published data [Akiyama et al. (2010) and more recent data from the years 2010–2013; 140 data sets in total] a reduction potential of approx. 35% seems realistic; however, further measurements in different management systems, particularly in regions with intense frost/thaw cycles seem necessary to confirm this reduction potential. These measurements generally should cover a whole annual cycle.

Consumer perception of fresh meat quality: a framework for analysis

Abstract: A model for analysis of consumer behaviour towards food is developed. This model is intended to bridge the gap between the objective quality approach pursued in food sciences, the product characteristics approach, and the subjectively perceived quality approach, the product attribute approach as pursued in the consumer behaviour literature. The focus is on the information processing by the consumer. Information on the product quality is supplied to the consumer in the form of cues received while shopping or consuming. A distinction is made between extrinsic and intrinsic cues, and between search‐, experience‐, and credence‐quality attributes. Within the credence attributes, three categories are distinguished: food safety, health, and all other credence quality attributes. It is demonstrated that public policy should use minimum standards for regulating food safety, information and consumer education on health issues and definitional standards to regulate the other credence qualities. In the case of search quality, no public intervention is needed. In the case of experience quality, reputation is a means of reducing the quality erosion inherent for experience quality attributes. In the case of those foods which are not sold prepacked over the counter, these means are restricted. Here the public regulators could consider backing up the private quality policy efforts on labelling by implementing traceability schemes and defining the requirements for specific label claims.

Utilization of mango peels as a source of pectin and polyphenolics

Abstract: Two different options for the combined recovery of pectin and phenolic compounds from mango peels, a byproduct of industrial mango processing, were developed. After extraction of dried mango peels with diluted sulfuric acid, the phenolic compounds were adsorbed using a styrene–divinylbenzene copolymerisate resin, and pectin was obtained from the effluent by precipitation with ethanol. Phenolic compounds were recovered from the resin with methanol and the eluate was lyophilized (Process I). Alternatively, the pectin was precipitated by adding the crude extract to ethanol. After removal of the organic solvent, the phenolic compounds were obtained from the aqueous phase of the precipitation bath using the adsorbent resin as described before (Process II). While in total, 129.4 mg/g polyphenols were detected in the lyophilizate obtained from Process I, only 71.0 mg/g dm could be recoverd from Process II. The profiles of the polyphenols were almost identical, revealing that during pectin precipitation preferential adsorption of polyphenolic compounds to the pectin may be excluded. Besides the characterization of the pectins and the phenolic compounds, investigations into the influence of the drying temperature on the polyphenolic content of the peels were carried out, indicating a significant loss of flavonol glycosides depending on heat exposure. On the other hand, some xanthone glycosides were formed during the drying process. Furthermore, antioxidative capacities of the lyophilized eluates were investigated using the DPPH, TEAC and FRAP assays. The antioxidative capacity of the extracts exceeded that of mangiferin and quercetin 3-O-glucoside, respectively, thus demonstrating mango peels to be a suitable source of health-beneficial compounds. The lyophilizates obtained from Process I showed higher antioxidative capacities in all three assays. These findings indicate a correlation between the amount of phenolic compounds and the antioxidative capacity. Industrial relevance Byproducts of mango processing amount to 35–60% of the total fruit weight. Their complete exploitation for further product recovery is a promising measure from both an environmental and economic point of view. In our previous study mango peels were found to be a rich source of pectin, with a high degree of esterification and phenolic compounds, like flavonol O- and xanthone C-glycosides. Therefore, two alternative processes for the combined recovery of pectin and polyphenols, which can easily be integrated in an existing pectin production process, were developed in the present study.

Impacts of Soil Faunal Community Composition on Model Grassland Ecosystems

Abstract: Human impacts, including global change, may alter the composition of soil faunal communities, but consequences for ecosystem functioning are poorly understood. We constructed model grassland systems in the Ecotron controlled environment facility and manipulated soil community composition through assemblages of different animal body sizes. Plant community composition, microbial and root biomass, decomposition rate, and mycorrhizal colonization were all markedly affected. However, two key ecosystem processes, aboveground net primary productivity and net ecosystem productivity, were surprisingly resistant to these changes. We hypothesize that positive and negative faunal-mediated effects in soil communities cancel each other out, causing no net ecosystem effects.