Individual and Societal Factors Influencing Technology Adaptation of Rice Farmers in Northern Samar

This study examined individual and societal factors influencing technology adaptation of rice farmers in Northern Samar. This study was carried out in purposively selected Barangays in the municipalities of San Roque, Pambujan and Rosario in Northern Samar. Data were collected from selected seven farmers through pre-tested interview schedule. Various qualitative analyses techniques were applied to arrive at meaningful results. Findings show that farmers have very low level of participation in various organizations. Factors affecting adaptation to new technologies included farmers’ perception to technologies, education and physical conditions of the area. Personal barriers to their adaptation to new technologies include low educational leveland lack of technical knowledge to technologies. Other factors include high cost of technologies and high interest rates of lending institutions. The municipal agriculture office did not provide enough technical support on how to use and acquire farming technologies. Generally, lack of technical skill and high financial requirements hinder farmers in technology adaptation. Mechanization does not even exist in harvestingand post harvesting due to high cost. Keywords: Farm practices, Adaptation, Personal and Societal Factor

Resilience and well-being among children of migrant parents in South-East Asia

There has been little systematic empirical research on the well-being of children in transnational households in South-East Asia—a major sending region for contract migrants. This study uses survey data collected in 2008 from children aged 9, 10 and 11 and their caregivers in Indonesia, the Philippines, and Vietnam (N=1,498). Results indicate that while children of migrant parents, especially migrant mothers, are less likely to be happy compared to children in non-migrant households, greater resilience in child well-being is associated with longer durations of maternal absence. There is no evidence for a direct parental migration effect on school enjoyment and performance. The analyses highlight the sensitivity of results to the dimension of child well-being measured and who makes the assessment.Publisher PDFPeer reviewe

Limnological Comparisons of Threats to Aquatic Life Owing to Thermal Stratification in two Morphometrically Different Urban Shallow Lakes

A minimum value in the Dissolved Oxygen distribution of two shallow lakes namely, Rabindra Sarobar in south Kolkata and Subhas Sarobar in East Kolkata in the Gangetic Delta plain, has been observed to develop in the Hypolimnion during the stratified period. This minimum is usually explained by the accumulation of organic matter from the overlying layer of water. The introduction of organic matter from allochthonous and autochthonous sources is also a likely contributor to the accelerated oxygen depletion within Hypolimnion. The thermal stratification, in general, which occurs in these tropical lakes, is of direct relevance in maintaining the water quality standards, particularly for higher aquatic life. The present article attempts to investigate the possible depletion of hypolimnetic oxygen depletion as a result of the impact of thermal stratification.  These investigations will be the basic guidelines for the fishermen and their livelihoods potentially depend upon the different varieties of fishing on daily basis. The massive summer fish kills in these lakes is a major devastating happenings that is reported by the fishermen and also it is well evident from our experimental observations.  The comparison of the biodiversity of these two lakes is attempted in the present investigation. Key Words: Thermal stratification, Dissolved Oxygen, Tropical Shallow Lake, Hypolimnion, biodiversit

Potential of alternate wetting and drying irrigation practices for the mitigation of ghg emissions from rice fields: Two cases in central luzon (philippines)

Reducing methane (CH$_{4}$) emission from paddy rice production is an important target for many Asian countries in order to comply with their climate policy commitments. National greenhouse gas (GHG) inventory approaches like the Tier-2 approach of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) are useful to assess country-scale emissions from the agricultural sector. In paddy rice, alternate wetting and drying (AWD) is a promising and well-studied water management technique which, as shown in experimental studies, can effectively reduce CH$_{4}$) emissions. However, so far little is known about GHG emission rates under AWD when the technique is fully controlled by farmers. This study assesses CH$_{4}$) and nitrous oxide (N$_{2}$)O) fluxes under continuous flooded (CF) and AWD treatments for seven subsequent seasons on farmers’ fields in a pumped irrigation system in Central Luzon, Philippines. Under AWD management, CH$_{4}$) emissions were substantially reduced (73% in dry season (DS), 21% in wet season (WS)). In all treatments, CH$_{4}$) is the major contributor to the total GHG emission and is, thus, identified as the driving force to the global warming potential (GWP). The contribution of N$_{2}$)O emissions to the GWP was higher in CF than in AWD, however, these only offset 15% of the decrease in CH$_{4}$) emission and, therefore, did not jeopardize the strong reduction in the GWP. The study proves the feasibility of AWD under farmers’ management as well as the intended mitigation effect. Resulting from this study, it is recommended to incentivize dissemination strategies in order to improve the effectiveness of mitigation initiatives. A comparison of single CH$_{4}$) emissions to calculated emissions with the IPCC Tier-2 inventory approach identified that, although averaged values showed a sufficient degree of accuracy, fluctuations for single measurement points have high variation which limit the use of the method for field-level assessments

Rhoptry proteins ROP5 and ROP18 are major murine virulence factors in genetically divergent South American strains of Toxoplasma gondii

Toxoplasma gondii has evolved a number of strategies to evade immune responses in its many hosts. Previous genetic mapping of crosses between clonal type 1, 2, and 3 strains of T. gondii, which are prevalent in Europe and North America, identified two rhoptry proteins, ROP5 and ROP18, that function together to block innate immune mechanisms activated by interferon gamma (IFNg) in murine hosts. However, the contribution of these and other virulence factors in more genetically divergent South American strains is unknown. Here we utilized a cross between the intermediately virulent North American type 2 ME49 strain and the highly virulent South American type 10 VAND strain to map the genetic basis for differences in virulence in the mouse. Quantitative trait locus (QTL) analysis of this new cross identified one peak that spanned the ROP5 locus on chromosome XII. CRISPR-Cas9 mediated deletion of all copies of ROP5 in the VAND strain rendered it avirulent and complementation confirmed that ROP5 is the major virulence factor accounting for differences between type 2 and type 10 strains. To extend these observations to other virulent South American strains representing distinct genetic populations, we knocked out ROP5 in type 8 TgCtBr5 and type 4 TgCtBr18 strains, resulting in complete loss of virulence in both backgrounds. Consistent with this, polymorphisms that show strong signatures of positive selection in ROP5 were shown to correspond to regions known to interface with host immunity factors. Because ROP5 and ROP18 function together to resist innate immune mechanisms, and a significant interaction between them was identified in a two-locus scan, we also assessed the role of ROP18 in the virulence of South American strains. Deletion of ROP18 in South American type 4, 8, and 10 strains resulted in complete attenuation in contrast to a partial loss of virulence seen for ROP18 knockouts in previously described type 1 parasites. These data show that ROP5 and ROP18 are conserved virulence factors in genetically diverse strains from North and South America, suggesting they evolved to resist innate immune defenses in ancestral T. gondii strains, and they have subsequently diversified under positive selection

'Diverse mobilities': second-generation Greek-Germans engage with the homeland as children and as adults

This paper is about the children of Greek labour migrants in Germany. We focus on two life-stages of ‘return’ for this second generation: as young children brought to Greece on holidays or sent back for longer periods, and as young adults exercising an independent ‘return’ migration. We draw both on literature and on our own field interviews with 50 first- and second-generation Greek-Germans. We find the practise of sending young children back to Greece to have been surprisingly widespread yet little documented. Adult relocation to the parental homeland takes place for five reasons: (i) a ‘search for self’; (ii) attraction of the Greek way of life; (iii) the actualisation of the ‘family narrative of return’ by the second, rather than the first, generation; (iv) life-stage events such as going to university or marrying a Greek; (v) escape from a traumatic event or oppressive family situation. Yet the return often brings difficulties, disillusionment, identity reappraisal, and a re-evaluation of the German context

Microvessel rupture induced by high-intensity therapeutic ultrasound—a study of parameter sensitivity in a simple in vivo model

Safety analyses of transcranial therapeutic ultrasound procedures require knowledge of the dependence of the rupture probability and rupture time upon sonication parameters. As previous vessel-rupture studies have concentrated on a specific set of exposure conditions, there is a need for more comprehensive parametric studies. Probability of rupture and rupture times were measured by exposing the large blood vessel of a live earthworm to high-intensity focused ultrasound pulse trains of various characteristics. Pressures generated by the ultrasound transducers were estimated through numerical solutions to the KZK (Khokhlov-Zabolotskaya-Kuznetsov) equation. Three ultrasound frequencies (1.1, 2.5, and 3.3 MHz) were considered, as were three pulse repetition frequencies (1, 3, and 10 Hz), and two duty factors (0.0001, 0.001). The pressures produced ranged from 4 to 18 MPa. Exposures of up to 10 min in duration were employed. Trials were repeated an average of 11 times. No trends as a function of pulse repetition rate were identifiable, for either probability of rupture or rupture time. Rupture time was found to be a strong function of duty factor at the lower pressures; at 1.1 MHz the rupture time was an order of magnitude lower for the 0.001 duty factor than the 0.0001. At moderate pressures, the difference between the duty factors was less, and there was essentially no difference between duty factors at the highest pressure. Probability of rupture was not found to be a strong function of duty factor. Rupture thresholds were about 4 MPa for the 1.1 MHz frequency, 7 MPa at 3.3 MHz, and 11 MPa for the 2.5 MHz, though the pressure value at 2.5 MHz frequency will likely be reduced when steep-angle corrections are accounted for in the KZK model used to estimate pressures. Mechanical index provided a better collapse of the data (less separation of the curves pertaining to the different frequencies) than peak negative pressure, for both probability of rupture and rupture time. The results provide a database with which investigations in more complex animal models can be compared, potentially establishing trends by which bioeffects in human vessels can be estimated.https://doi.org/10.1186/s40349-017-0082-

Needs and Design Assessment for Corn Production Enterprise in Selected Agrarian Reform Communities of Cagayan de Oro City and Lanao del Norte, Southern Philippines

The needs and design assessment was conducted in the Agrarian Reform Communities of Cagayan de Oro City and Lanao del Norte. It aimed to identify performance requirements, knowledge, skills, and abilities of the Agrarian Reform Beneficiaries Organizations (ARBO), as well as the technology and facility needs for a corn production enterprise. Among the ARBOs assessed were: Pagalungan and Tagpangi Tribal and Settlers Association of Women Agrarian Reform Beneficiaries Cooperative, Taglimao Farmers Multi-purpose Cooperative, Indahag Agrarian Reform Community Multipurpose Cooperative, Taguanao Agrarian Reform Community Multipurpose Cooperative and Palambu Cooperative. The needs assessment revealed that the ARBOs still need technologies, as well as facilities and machineries for corn production and marketing. The ARCs offer biophysical condition suitable for corn production. They have natural assets that would favor corn production as the main economic activity. Corn is an appropriate commodity for the ARCCESS project in the ARCs mentioned. The farmers in the ARCs have extensive experience and training related to corn production. The ARBOs have other needs, such as capability development, common service facility on pre- and post-harvest facilities, project monitoring and enterprise development, and financial management and assistance. With the provision of the aforementioned recommended activities and facilities, this should result in increased production, improved quality of products, increased income and realized more profits; thereby improving their standard of living. This will eventually lead to economic growth and development of the community and to the economy as a whole

miSolRNA: A tomato micro RNA relational database

Background: The economic importance of Solanaceae plant species is well documented and tomato has become a model for functional genomics studies. In plants, important processes are regulated by microRNAs (miRNA). Description: We describe here a data base integrating genetic map positions of miRNA-targeted genes, their expression profiles and their relations with quantitative fruit metabolic loci and yield associated traits. miSolRNA provides a metadata source to facilitate the construction of hypothesis aimed at defining physiological modes of action of regulatory process underlying the metabolism of the tomato fruit. Conclusions: The MiSolRNA database allows the simple extraction of metadata for the proposal of new hypothesis concerning possible roles of miRNAs in the regulation of tomato fruit metabolism. It permits i) to map miRNAs and their predicted target sites both on expressed (SGN-UNIGENES) and newly annotated sequences (BAC sequences released), ii) to co-locate any predicted miRNA-target interaction with metabolic QTL found in tomato fruits, iii) to retrieve expression data of target genes in tomato fruit along their developmental period and iv) to design further experiments for unresolved questions in complex trait biology based on the use of genetic materials that have been proven to be a useful tools for map-based cloning experiments in Solanaceae plant species