Factors Influencing Farmers’ Adoption of Best Management Practices: A Review and Synthesis

Best management practices (BMPs) for reducing agricultural non-point source pollution are widely available. However, agriculture remains a major global contributor to degradation of waters because farmers often do not adopt BMPs. To improve water quality, it is necessary to understand the factors that influence BMP adoption by farmers. We review the findings of BMP adoption studies from both developed and developing countries, published after (or otherwise not included in) two major literature reviews from 2007 and 2008. We summarize the study locations, scales, and BMPs studied; the analytical methods used; the factors evaluated; and the directionality of each factor’s influence on BMP adoption. We then present a conceptual framework for BMP adoption decisions that emphasizes the importance of scale, the tailoring or targeting of information and incentives, and the importance of expected farm profits. We suggest that future research directions should focus on study scale, on measuring and modeling of adoption as a continuous process, and on incorporation of social norms and uncertainty into decision-making. More research is needed on uses of social media and market recognition approaches (such as certificate schemes and consumer labeling) to influence BMP adoption

Data communication at the CERN computer centre

The growing interest for on-line computer service and process control at CERN decentralises certain computer activities. Small process computers, remote batch stations and user terminals are to be backed by a powerful central computer. The present data network is principally star shaped. At the centre of it is a CDC 6600-6500 computer combination. It has a front end CDC 3100 computer with a Hewlett Packard 2116 as multiplexer. Some details about the fast parallel connections between the CDC 3100 and the HP 2116B are given in the paper, as well as descriptions of some computer simulation techniques used to test the present systems. Finally some plans on a future network are given. (12 refs)

Nucleon described by the chiral soliton in the chiral quark soliton model

We give a survey of recent development and applications of the chiral quark soliton model (also called the Nambu-Jona-Lasinio soliton model) with $N_f$=2 and $N_f$=3 quark flavors for the structure of baryons. The model is an effective chiral quark model obtained from the instanton liquid model of the quantum chromodynamics. Mesons appear as quark-antiquark excitations and baryons arise as non-topological solitons with three valence quarks and a polarized Dirac sea. In this model, a wide variety of observables of baryons is considered.Comment: A talk given in the international conference on "Quark Lepton Nuclear Physics" in Osaka, Japan from May 20 to 23 in 1997. Proceedings will be published in Nuclear Physics A. (5 pages + figures

Succesfactoren kleine schaal

Onze maatschappij ondergaat momenteel de transitie van een op aardolie gebaseerde economie naar een biobased economy. Hiervoor worden vele nieuwe bioraffinage processen ontwikkeld. Kleine schaal bioraffinage kan voordelen hebben, niet alleen vanuit een sociaal een duurzaam oogpunt, maar ook puur economisch. Succesvolle voorbeelden zijn in dit rapport geanalyseerd en de drijfveren voor kleinschalige bioraffinage zijn verder uitgewerkt. Daarnaast is er gezocht naar een eenduidige definitie voor kleinschalige bioraffinage. Hier zijn specifieke getallen uitgekomen, maar nog geen generieke beschrijving

Relativistic Quark Spin Coupling Effects in the Correlations Between Nucleon Electroweak Properties

We investigate the effect of different relativistic spin couplings of constituent quarks on nucleon electroweak properties. Within each quark spin coupling scheme the correlations between static electroweak observables are found to be independent of the particular shape of the momentum part of the nucleon light-front wave function. The neutron charge form factor is very sensitive to different choices of spin coupling schemes once the magnetic moment is fitted to the experimental value. However, it is found rather insensitive to the details of the momentum part of the three-quark wave function model.Comment: 23 pages, 13 figures, requires axodraw.sty 1 figure corrected, 1 refs. added, some changes in tex

Characteristics of self-care interventions for patients with a chronic condition: A scoping review

Background: Self-care is a fundamental element of treatment for patients with a chronic condition and a major focus of many interventions. A large body of research exists describing different types of self-care interventions, but these studies have never been compared across conditions. Examination of heterogeneous interventions could provide insights into effective approaches that should be used in diverse patient populations. Objectives: To provide a comprehensive and standardized cross-condition overview of interventions to enhance self-care in patients with a chronic condition. Specific aims were to: 1) identify what self-care concepts and behaviors are evaluated in self-care interventions; 2) classify and quantify heterogeneity in mode and type of delivery; 3) quantify the behavior change techniques used to enhance self-care behavior; and 4) assess the dose of self-care interventions delivered. Design: Scoping review DATA SOURCES: Four electronic databases - PubMed, EMBASE, PsychINFO and CINAHL - were searched from January 2008 through January 2019. Eligibility criteria for study selection: Randomized controlled trials (RCTs) with concealed allocation to the intervention were included if they compared a behavioral or educational self- care intervention to usual care or another self-care intervention and were conducted in adults. Nine common chronic conditions were included: hypertension, coronary artery disease, arthritis, chronic kidney disease, heart failure, stroke, asthma, chronic obstructive lung disease, and type 2 diabetes mellitus. Diagnoses that are psychiatric (e.g. schizophrenia), acute rather than chronic, or benefitting little from self-care (e.g. dementia) were excluded. Studies had to be reported in English with full-text available. Results: 9309 citations were considered and 233 studies were included in the final review. Most studies addressed type 2 diabetes mellitus (n = 85; 36%), hypertension (n = 32; 14%) or heart failure (n = 27; 12%). The majority (97%) focused on healthy behaviors like physical activity (70%), dietary intake (59%), and medication management (52%). Major deficits found in self-care interventions included a lack of attention to the psychological consequences of chronic illness, technology and behavior change techniques were rarely used, few studies focused on helping patients manage signs and symptoms, and the interventions were rarely innovative. Research reporting was generally poor. Conclusions: Major gaps in targeted areas of self-care were identified. Opportunities exist to improve the quality and reporting of future self-care intervention research. Registration: The study was registered in the PROSPERO database (#123,719)

Hadron Polarizabilities and Form Factors

This is the summary of the working group on Hadron Polarizabilities and Form Factors of the Chiral Dynamics Workshop in Mainz, September 1-5, 1997.Comment: 21 pages LaTeX2e, uses epsf, 9 fig

Extended Gari-Krumpelmann model fits to nucleon electromagnetic form factors

Nucleon electromagnetic form factor data (including recent data) is fitted with models that respect the confinement and asymptotic freedom properties of QCD. Gari-Krumpelmann (GK) type models, which include the major vector meson pole contributions and at high momentum transfer conform to the predictions of perturbative QCD, are combined with Hohler-Pietarinen (HP) models, which also include the width of the rho meson and the addition of higher mass vector meson exchanges, but do not evolve into the explicit form of PQCD at high momentum transfer. Different parameterizations of the GK model's hadronic form factors, the effect of including the width of the rho meson and the addition of the next (in mass) isospin 1 vector meson are considered. The quality of fit and the consistency of the parameters select three of the combined HP/GK type models. Projections are made to the higher momentum transfers which are relevant to electron-deuteron experiments. The projections vary little for the preferred models, removing much of the ambiguity in electron-nucleus scattering predictions.Comment: 18pp, 7 figures, using RevTeX with BoxedEPS macros; 1 new figure, minor textual changes; email correspondence to [email protected]

Ontwerp en werkwijze om emissie uit “Teelt-de- grond-Uit”- systemen te voorkomen: Wat te doen met het jaarlijks neerslagoverschot?

In buitenteelten, die uit de grond in substraat of een recirculerende waterlaag worden geteeld, valt meer regenwater dan de gewassen op jaarbasis nodig hebben. Het neerslagoverschot komt afhankelijk van het gewas in het teeltsysteem terecht en wordt dan vervuild met nutriënten en mogelijk gewasbeschermingsmiddelen geloosd. De grootte van de mogelijk te lozen stroom is onbekend en teeltsysteemafhankelijk. In deze studie is een overzicht gemaakt voor de verschillende teeltsystemen die bij “Teelt de Grond Uit” worden toegepast en wat daar de gevolgen van zijn als het neerslagoverschot moet worden geloosd en hoe groot die stroom is op jaarbasis