How to engage across sectors: Lessons on leveraging agriculture for nutrition from the Brazilian school meal program

OBJECTIVE: To provide insights for nutrition and public health practitioners on how to engage with other sectors to achieve public health goals. Specifically, this study provides lessons from the example of integrating family farming and a nutrition into a legal framework in Brazil on how to successfully shift other sectors toward nutrition goals. METHODS: The study analyzed policy processes that led to a Brazilian law linking family farming with the National School Feeding Program. Main actors involved with the development of the law were interviewed and their narratives were analyzed using a well-established theoretical framework. RESULTS: The study provides five key lessons for promoting intersectorality. First, nutrition and health practitioners can afford to embrace bold ideas when working with other sectors. Second, they should engage with more powerful sectors (or subsectors) and position nutrition goals as providing solutions that meet the interests of these sector. Third is the need to focus on a common goal – which may not be explicitly nutrition-related – as the focus of the intersectoral action. Fourth, philosophical, political, and governance spaces are needed to bring together different sectors. Fifth, evidence on the success of the intersectoral approach increases the acceptance of the process. CONCLUSIONS: This study on policy processes shows how a convergence of factors enabled a link between family farming and school feeding in Brazil. It highlights that there are strategies to engage other sectors toward nutrition goals which provides benefits for all sectors involved. DESCRIPTORS: School Feeding. Sustainable Agriculture. Farmers Associations. Nutrition Programs and Policies. Food and Nutrition Security

Electric field inversion asymmetry: Rashba and Stark effects for holes in resonant tunneling devices

We report experimental evidence of excitonic spin-splitting, in addition to the conventional Zeeman effect, produced by a combination of the Rashba spin-orbit interaction, Stark shift and charge screening. The electric-field-induced modulation of the spin-splitting are studied during the charging and discharging processes of p-type GaAs/AlAs double barrier resonant tunneling diodes (RTD) under applied bias and magnetic field. The abrupt changes in the photoluminescence, with the applied bias, provide information of the charge accumulation effects on the device.Comment: 4 pages, 2 figure

Potential acidity estimated by SMP pH in soils of the State of Pará.

O uso do pH SMP na estimativa da acidez potencial (H + Al) apresenta maior praticidade em relação ao método do acetato de cálcio 0,5 mol L-1 para laboratórios de rotina. Objetivou-se com este trabalho ajustar uma equação para estimar H + Al, a partir dos valores de pH SMP de solos do Estado do Pará. Foram utilizadas 177 amostras de solo das várias regiões do estado, em que se realizaram as determinações de pH SMP, em solução de CaCl2 0,01 mol L-1, e H + Al, em acetato de cálcio 0,5 mol L-1; os resultados foram relacionados por análise de regressão. A equação H + Al = 77.77 + 20.61 SMP pH - 1.435 SMP pH2 (R2 = 0,90) foi a que melhor expressou os valores H +Al em cmolc dm-3. Quando se utilizaram os valores de pH SMP em equações de outras regiões ou estados brasileiros, ocorreu subestimativa ou superestimava dos valores de H + Al. A acidez potencial pode ser estimada pelo método do pH SMP em solos paraenses

Protecting a quantum state from environmental noise by an incompatible finite-time measurement

We show that measurements of finite duration performed on an open two-state system can protect the initial state from a phase-noisy environment, provided the measured observable does not commute with the perturbing interaction. When the measured observable commutes with the environmental interaction, the finite-duration measurement accelerates the rate of decoherence induced by the phase noise. For the description of the measurement of an observable that is incompatible with the interaction between system and environment, we have found an approximate analytical expression, valid at zero temperature and weak coupling with the measuring device. We have tested the validity of the analytical predictions against an exact numerical approach, based on the superoperator-splitting method, that confirms the protection of the initial state of the system. When the coupling between the system and the measuring apparatus increases beyond the range of validity of the analytical approximation, the initial state is still protected by the finite-time measurement, according with the exact numerical calculations.Comment: REVISED VERSION: 37 pages, 3 figure

Labilidade do carbono orgânico em latossolo amarelo sob sistema integração lavoura-pecuária no Cerrado do Sudoeste Piauiense.

A estabilidade dos compartimentos de C no solo é influenciada pelas práticas de uso e manejo. O presente estudo teve por objetivo avalia as alterações na quantidade de carbono nas fraçõe lábil (CL) e não lábil (CNL), assim como estimar o Índice de Manejo de Carbono (IMC) em Latossolo Amarelo sob sistema integração lavoura-pecuária no cerrado do Sudoeste piauiense. Foram estudado cinco sistemas: Cerrado nativo sem histórico de interferência humana em uso agrícola (CN); plantio convencional com uso de grade pesada intermediária e niveladora, com três anos (PC3) plantio direto com três e cinco anos (PD3 e PD5 respectivamente) e sistema integração lavoura pecuária, com dois anos (SILP). As amostras do solo foram coletadas em quatro profundidades (0-5, 5-10 10-20 e 20-40 cm), durante a fase de desenvolvimento vegetativo da cultura da soja. Com base na determinação do carbono orgânico tota (COT) e no CL foram determinados os seguinte índices: Índice de Compartimento de Carbono (ICC), Labilidade de Carbono (L) e Índice de Labilidade (IL) usados para estimar IMC. O sistema PD5 demonstrou maior estabilidade tanto para o CL como para o CNL. O IMC para o PD adotado do cerrado do Piauí, associado ou não ao sistema integração lavoura-pecuária apresentou valores superiores (p<0,05) ao sistema de referência, exceto na camada superficial, com maior destaque para o CN.FertBio 2010

Potencial de seqüestro de carbono em latossolo amarelo sob sistema integração lavoura-pecuária no Cerrado do Piauí.

A matéria orgânica do solo (MOS) determina a qualidade do solo e influencia a produção de gases do efeito estufa (GEE) para atmosfera. O presente estudo teve por objetivo avaliar o estoque e o potencial de seqüestro de carbono em Latossolo Amarelo sob sistema integração lavoura-pecuária no cerrado do Piauí. Foram estudados cinco sistemas: Cerrado nativo sem histórico de interferência humana em uso agrícola (CN); plantio convencional com uso de grade pesada, intermediária e niveladora, com três anos (PC3); plantio direto com três e cinco anos (PD3 e PD5, respectivamente) e sistema integração lavoura-pecuária, com dois anos (SILP). As amostras do solo foram coletadas em quatro profundidades (0-5, 5-10, 10-20 e 20-40 cm), durante a fase de desenvolvimento vegetativo da cultura da soja. Com base na determinação do carbono orgânico total (COT) foi determinado o estoque de C (Est C), sendo utilizado para determinação da emissão ou seqüestro de C. O PD5 demonstrou (p<0,05) potencial para seqüestrar C em todo o perfil do solo estudado, com destaque para a camada de 5-10 cm, a qual obteve o maior valor, cerca de 3,9 Mg há -1ano-1. De modo geral, nas profundidades de 10-20 cm e 20-40 cm o PD5 juntamente com o SILP mostraram-se vantajosos quanto ao estoque e seqüestro de C para o cerrado do Piauí.FertBio 2010

Natural regeneration for restoration of degraded areas after bauxite mining: a case study in the Eastern Amazon.

Natural regeneration is becoming more frequently used on a global level as a method of ecological restoration after mining operations. The objective of this study was to investigate forest restoration as a function of the exclusive use of natural regeneration in systems with two (NR2) and seven (NR7) years of age after bauxite mining in Eastern Amazon, Brazil (3° 14' 51" -3° 15' 48" S and 47° 44' 14" -47° 43' 09" W). Soil?s physical and chemical parameters (organic matter, bulk density, porosity, infiltration, and fertility), landscape-level quantification of vegetation in the areas surrounding the study sites and attributes of the established vegetation (abundance of individuals and families, Shannon diversity index, evenness index, and ecological dominance index) were assessed. The method of natural regeneration, in seven years, was efficient to occupy and cover the soil by regenerating tree and shrub species, as well to contribute to the recovery of important surface-depth attributes of the quality of rebuilt soils, such as organic matter, nutrient availability, density, porosity, and water infiltration. The regenerating tree and shrub species had low diversity and high dominance of a few pioneer species, which indicates the necessity of introducing early and late secondary successional species to correct the successional trajectory in order to ensure the ecosystem restoration