Reconstruction of Integers from Pairwise Distances

Given a set of integers, one can easily construct the set of their pairwise distances. We consider the inverse problem: given a set of pairwise distances, find the integer set which realizes the pairwise distance set. This problem arises in a lot of fields in engineering and applied physics, and has confounded researchers for over 60 years. It is one of the few fundamental problems that are neither known to be NP-hard nor solvable by polynomial-time algorithms. Whether unique recovery is possible also remains an open question. In many practical applications where this problem occurs, the integer set is naturally sparse (i.e., the integers are sufficiently spaced), a property which has not been explored. In this work, we exploit the sparse nature of the integer set and develop a polynomial-time algorithm which provably recovers the set of integers (up to linear shift and reversal) from the set of their pairwise distances with arbitrarily high probability if the sparsity is O(n^{1/2-\eps}). Numerical simulations verify the effectiveness of the proposed algorithm.Comment: 14 pages, 4 figures, submitted to ICASSP 201

Agroforestry for a Changing Climate

The brief tackles the role of agroforestry in achieving food and nutritional security, climate change mitigation and environmental resilience. The publication is based on the small agroforestry project in Guinayangan Climate-Smart Village in Quezon Province, Philippines implemented by the International Institute of Rural Reconstruction and CCAFS Southeast Asia

Climate Smart Agriculture: Models for Empowering Women Livestock Producers

The brief documents the experience of the International Institute of Rural Reconstruction (IIRR) and its farmer co-operator in implementing the Native Pigs Initiative in Guinayangan Climate-Smart Village in Quezon Province, Philippines. The main objective of the project is to develop an evidence-base for sustainable outscaling of climate-resilient agricultural practices to enhance livelihood, resilience, and adaptive capacities particularly in the livestock sector. CCAFS and the Department of Agriculture, through its Bureau of Agricultural Research, supported this initiative to demonstrate that small livestock are a socially relevant and economically profitable project for the poor

Towards a Portfolio of Climate Resilient Technological Options: Community level participatory adaptive research

Farmers in the Philippines are already being challenged by climate change. This is often manifested by climate variability (too much rain, periods of drought, extreme weather, etc.). Household livelihoods, income and nutritional well-being are affected adversely. The impacts of climate change are often unique to specific locations and tend to differ considerably, even from community to community. Solutions need to be derived locally and in partnership with local communities and local governments. Both livelihood and climate risks need to be addressed (for different socio-cultural contexts and agro-ecologies). Community-level participatory action help develop adaptive capacities of local communities to address current and future climate risks. Farmers need a range of options that they can choose from. This publication chronicles lessons from the field from the Municipality of Guinayangan, Quezon. This work has been supported by the Department of Agriculture through the Bureau of Agricultural Research (BAR) and the Systems-Wide Climate Change Office (SWCCO) under the Adaptation and Mitigation Initiative in Agriculture (AMIA) Program and CCAFS Southeast Asia

Building Community-Based Models for Climate Resilient Agriculture and Fisheries Across Landscapes within the Municipality of Ivisan, Capiz

A recent Inter-governmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) report states that climate change is unequivocal and its immediate impact is the modification of the worlds’ biophysical and natural systems resulting to changes in interspecies dynamics, movement of range, altered abundance, and shift in seasonal activities in various ecosystems. Agriculture will be the hardest hit sector globally as its productivity is primarily based on the integrity of agro-ecosystems. Adverse impacts to agriculture will have direct impacts on livelihoods, food security, and nutrition in rural areas. Climate resilient or smart agriculture (CRA/CSA), as a climate change response, provides an option for resource poor farmers in rural areas through its three- tiered objectives, which are: (a) increasing agriculture productivity and income in a sustainable, environmentally sound manner; (b) building capacity of households and food systems to adapt to climate change; and (c) reducing emissions of Greenhouse Gases (GHG’s) while increasing carbon sequestration of agro-ecosystems. Healthy landscapes support food security, livelihoods, and ecosystem functions (helping build resilience). Global knowledge and experience on CRA/CSA is already vast. IIRR believes that its greater adoption by small-holder farmers, especially in the Philippine context, could be facilitated and accelerated, if and when, interventions are coordinated and done through community-based approaches. Communitybased participatory adaptation will be facilitated if interventions are undertaken through multiscalar and multisectoral approaches, with public and private actors converging their services at community and sub-national levels

Resilience Building and Climate Change Adaptation for Coastal Communities (Model building for small municipalities in the Philippines)

CCAFS supported the International Institute of Rural Reconstruction (IIRR) and the local government unit of Guinayangan to test and develop an initial set of coastal interventions, such as: mangrove nursery establishment; and reforestation and restoration of mangroves

Epitaxial growth and surface reconstruction of CrSb(0001)

Smooth CrSb(0001) films have been grown by molecular beam epitaxy on MnSb(0001) – GaAs(111) substrates. CrSb(0001) shows (2 × 2), triple domain (1 × 4) and (√3×√3)R30° reconstructed surfaces as well as a (1 × 1) phase. The dependence of reconstruction on substrate temperature and incident fluxes is very similar to MnSb(0001)