We cordially invite you to the seminar on 28 October at 2 p.m., organized by the University of Information, Technology, and Management in Rzeszów in cooperation with the SOLARIS National Synchrotron Radiation Centre.
Prof. Josef Hormes (from the Louisiana State University, Baton Rouge (USA) and Rheinisch Friedrich-Wilhelms University, Bonn, Germany), a world expert in the field, will give the seminar “Agricultural research using synchrotron radiation-based techniques.” The seminar is addressed to scientists at every stage of their careers, from students to advanced professionals. The talk will introduce synchrotron techniques and be supported by a number of research examples.
Synchrotron radiation (SR) provides “light” in all spectral regions from the Infra-red to the hard X-ray range. SR is by far the most intense source in the vacuum ultraviolet (VUV) and the X-ray range. The tunability and the high intensity of SR allow to improve “conventional” X-ray techniques regarding e.g. special resolution and detection limits for example for X-ray fluorescence (XRF) but also to develop completely new techniques such as X-ray absorption spectroscopy (XAS) and element specific microtomography.
Specifically X-ray absorption spectroscopy has tremendous advantages (as compared e.g. to X-ray diffraction (XRD)) as it allows to determine the chemical state(s) and the chemical environment of each element of interest individually in a sample. These results are also obtained when the elements are not in a crystalline environment as is the case for most agricultural samples. In many cases also time resolved in situ experiments are possible, giving additional insight into biological processes (e.g. digestion).
In this talk some of the SR based techniques are introduced (of course without too much physics and without formulas) and then some “typical” examples crisscross through agricultural research will be presented from soil science, minerals in soil, plants and their uptake of minerals, phytoremediation, nutrients in plants and in food supplements to digestion processes in piglets and humans.
