The development of sustainable cropping systems in the highlands of South-East Asia: general lessons for development projects

Hosted by 'Open Journal Systems'Soil conservation in the highlands of South-East Asia is essential for sustainable agro-environmental development. The effectiveness of soil conservation treatments developed in runoff plots was investigated in farmer-managed plots on a natural catchment. This was achieved by the development and scientific evaluation of modified and novel cropping practices in a representative highland catchment in Yunnan Province, China. Wang Jia Catchment covers 40.1 hectares near Kedu, in Xundian County, north-east Yunnan (25o28'N, 102o53'E). The initial project consisted of an evaluation of the effects of modified cropping practices on maize productivity and soil properties. This programme was extended to investigate ways of increasing the productivity of maize, wheat and soybean on fragile slopes in a sustainable and environmentally-friendly way. The approach incorporates modified and novel agronomic and soil conservation measures, with the evaluation of their agricultural, environmental and socio-economic impacts using multidisciplinary approaches. This European Union funded project involved an international research team from Belgium, China, Ireland, Thailand and the U.K. Five co-ordinated work packages were implemented. Involving: (1) Background agricultural and environmental assessment of Wang Jia Catchment. (2) Implementation and evaluation of modified and novel cropping systems for wheat, maize and soybean in the catchment. (3) Cost-benefit analyses of the socio-economic impacts of the changed cropping practices. (4) Comparative scientific evaluation of the cropping techniques in the highlands of northern Thailand. (5) Dissemination of project outcomes and establishment of training programmes for best practice in highland rural development. The lessons of the Project for promoting sustainable agro-environmental development in tropical and subtropical highlands include: (1) Recognizing the importance of both ‘north-south’ and ‘south-south’ co-operation in development projects, (2) Integrating local people as full partners in the research programme, (3) Matching the different ‘time horizons’ of the different stakeholders and (4) Developing multidisciplinary teams, including biophysical scientists and socio-economists

Avaliação de linhagem e cultivares de feijoeiro comum, grupo preto, no período de inverno, em Uberlândia-MG.

Em esforço conjunto, a Universidade Federal de Uberlândia e a Embrapa, conduziram ensaios de competição de linhagens e cultivares no município de Uberlândia, MG com objetivo de avaliar o comportamento agronômico, dentre estes a produtividade, de cultivares de feijoeiro comum, do grupo preto, na época de inverno, em 2006 e 2007

Silence in the Coffee Plantation: The Painting-poetics of Candido Portinari

This article wants to analyze how Candido Portinari in his paintings with rural theme, engages a poetry of silence. To understand the functioning of this poetic language, we will adopt the Groupe μ analysis method (both the General Rhetoric andthe Treatise on theVisual Sign). Whereas the language is manifold as the forms of representation, and it present in all media, whatever the lack of speech -silence -would find its richest form in both directions through the metaphors and metonymy engaged in metasememes of the paintings studied

Cultivares e linhagens de feijoeiro comum, do grupo carioca, no período de inverno, em Uberlândia-MG.

A Universidade Federal de Uberlândia e a Embrapa, conduziram ensaios de competição de linhagens e cultivares em Uberlândia, MG, com o objetivo de avaliar o comportamento agronômico, dentre estes a produtividade, de genótipos de feijoeiro comum, do grupo comercial carioca, na época de inverno, em 2006 e 2007

VOCAL REPERTORY OF TWO SPECIES OF THE LEPTODACTYLUS PENTADACTYLUS GROUP (ANURA, LEPTODACTYLIDAE)

Among frogs, vocalizations play important roles in their social interactions. Herein we describefi ve new types of vocalizations for two foam-nesting species of the Leptodactylus pentadactylusgroup, L. syphax and L. labyrinthicus. Behavioral observations and recordings were done in fourlocalities within the Cerrado biome, at southeast and central Brazil. Before emitting advertisementcalls, males of L. syphax often started producing a sequence of notes, which gradually turned into theadvertisement call. These different notes may be an introductory call, which would serve to preparethe vocal structures for the emission of the high-frequency/amplitude advertisement calls. A male ofL. syphax was emitting advertisement calls when a female approached and started to emit brief andlow-amplitude calls; these vocalizations probably are reciprocation calls. Males of L. labyrinthicusinvolved in agonistic interactions can emit vocal cracks (encounter call) and deep rough sounds (territorialcalls). Five courting males of L. labyrinthicus released screams with their mouth slightly openedin response to the approach of human observers. We conclude that these screams do not representdistress or territorial calls

Independent External Monitoring Agricultural Report 2013 Syngenta, Brazil Uberlândia Corn

This document is part of a digital collection provided by the Martin P. Catherwood Library, ILR School, Cornell University, pertaining to the effects of globalization on the workplace worldwide. Special emphasis is placed on labor rights, working conditions, labor market changes, and union organizing.FLA_2013_Syngenta_IEMAR_Brazil_Uberlandia_Corn.pdf: 14 downloads, before Oct. 1, 2020

Técnica e domínio: O homem sob o estado totalitário e a crítica marcuseana

O objeto deste artigo é realizar a retomada das múltiplas formas de exercício da pressão totalitária sobre os indivíduos. A interpretação deste tema no âmbito do nacional-socialismo pela filosofia marcuseana pode ser útil para invalidar os sofisticados discursos técnico-políticos contemporâneos. Sugerimos que aconsecução do objetivo deste artigo encontra uma de suas possibilidades por intermédio da análise do impacto da técnica no exercício do domínio e de sua agudização na forma do Estado totalitário

Algebraic Cayley Differential Space–Time Codes

Cayley space-time codes have been proposed as a solution for coding over noncoherent differential multiple-input multiple-output (MIMO) channels. Based on the Cayley transform that maps the space of Hermitian matrices to the manifold of unitary matrices, Cayley codes are particularly suitable for high data rate, since they have an easy encoding and can be decoded using a sphere-decoder algorithm. However, at high rate, the problem of evaluating if a Cayley code is fully diverse may become intractable, and previous work has focused instead on maximizing a mutual information criterion. The drawback of this approach is that it requires heavy optimization which depends on the number of antennas and rate. In this work, we study Cayley codes in the context of division algebras, an algebraic tool that allows to get fully diverse codes. We present an algebraic construction of fully diverse Cayley codes, and show that this approach naturally yields, without further optimization, codes that perform similarly or closely to previous unitary differential codes, including previous Cayley codes, and codes built from Lie groups

Complete Genome Sequence of Xanthomonas arboricola pv. juglandis 417, a Copper-Resistant Strain Isolated from Juglans regia L.

Here, we report the complete genome sequence of Xanthomonas arboricola pv. juglandis 417, a copper-resistant strain isolated from a blighted walnut fruit (Juglans regia L. cv. Chandler). The genome consists of a single chromosome (5,218 kb)