Rural Income Generating Activities: A Cross Country Comparison

This paper uses a newly constructed cross country database composed of comparable variables and aggregates from household surveys to examine the full range of income generating activities carried out by rural households in order to determine: 1) the relative importance of the gamut of income generating activities in general and across wealth categories; 2), the relative importance of diversification versus specialization at the household level; and 3) the influence of rural income generating activities on poverty and inequality. Analysis of the RIGA cross country dataset paints a clear picture of multiple activities across rural space and diversification across rural households. This is true across countries in all four continents, though less so in the African countries included in the dataset. For most countries the largest share of income stems from off farm activities, and the largest share of households have diversified sources of income. Diversification, not specialization, is the norm, although most countries show significant levels of household specialization in non-agricultural activities as well. Nevertheless, agricultural based sources of income remain critically important for rural livelihoods in all countries, both in terms of the overall share of agriculture in rural incomes as well as the large share of households that still specialize in agricultural sources of income.Community/Rural/Urban Development, Consumer/Household Economics,

Rural Household Access to Assets and Agrarian Institutions: A Cross Country Comparison

Agriculture is at the core of the livelihoods of a large share of rural households throughout the developing world. Agricultural growth is a major engine for overall economic growth and possibly the single most important pathway out of poverty in the rural space. This paper characterizes household access to assets and agrarian institutions of households engaged in agricultural activities in a sample of developing countries. The evidence presented in the paper draws from 15 nationally representative household surveys from four regions of the developing world. We find that the access of rural households to a range of agricultural-specific assets (including land and livestock) and institutions is in general low, though highly heterogeneous across countries, and by categories of households within countries. A large share of rural agricultural households do not use or have access to basic productive inputs, agricultural support services or output markets, and in general it is the landless and the smallest landowners who suffer significantly more from this lack of access. We relate this to the households' ability to engage successfully in commercial farming and find consistent supporting evidence for the hypothesis that this lack of access is significantly constraining their potential to engage successfully in agriculture.rural non farm, assets, agrarian institutions, household surveys, Consumer/Household Economics, O13, O57, Q12,

Bioaerosol emissions during organic waste treatment for biopolymer production: A case study

Environmentally sustainable methods of waste disposal are a strategic priority. For organic waste management and innovative biological treatments present advantageous opportunities, although organic waste treatment also includes environmental drawbacks, such as bioaerosol pro-duction. This study aims to evaluate bioaerosol spread during an innovative experimental treatment. The process consists of two anaerobic steps: acidogenesis, which includes polyhydroxyalkanoate accumulation, followed by methanogenesis. Bioaerosol, PM10, and endotoxin concentrations were measured at three sampling points during different campaigns to evaluate: (1) the background levels, (2) the contamination produced in the pre-treatment stage, and (3) the residual contamination of the outgoing digested sludge. Environmental PM10 seemed to be generally quite contained, while the endotoxin determination was close to 90 EU/m3. Significant microbial concentrations were detected during the loading of the organic fraction of municipal solid waste (fungi > 1300 CFU/m3, Bacillus genus (≈103 CFU/m3), higher Clostridium spp. and opportunistic human pathogens such as Pseudomonas aeruginosa and Klebsiella pneumoniae), suggesting a significant contamination level. Such results are useful for hazard identification in the risk assessment of innovative processes, as they reveal contaminants potentially harmful to both workers’ health and the environment

Variabilidade genética em progênies de segunda geração de Grevillea robusta Cunn. em Avaré-SP.

EVINCI. Resumo

Chromatin differentiation between Theobroma cacao L. and T. grandiflorum Schum

A comparative analysis of mitotic chromosomes of Theobroma cacao (cacao) and T. grandiflorum (cupuaçu) was performed aiming to identify cytological differences between the two most important species of this genus. Both species have symmetric karyotypes, with 2n = 20 metacentric chromosomes ranging in size from 2.00 to 1.19 μm (cacao) and from 2.21 to 1.15 μm (cupuaçu). The interphase nuclei of both species were of the arreticulate type, displaying up to 20 chromocentres, which were more regularly shaped in cacao than in cupuaçu. Prophase chromosomes of both species were more condensed in the proximal region, sometimes including the whole short arm. Both species exhibited only one pair of terminal heterochromatic bands, positively stained with chromomycin A 3 , which co-localized with the single 45S rDNA site. Each karyotype displayed a single 5S rDNA site in the proximal region of another chromosome pair. Heterochromatic bands were also observed on the centromeric/pericentromeric regions of all 20 chromosomes of cacao after C-banding followed by Giemsa or DAPI staining, whereas in cupuaçu they were never detected. These data suggest that the chromosomes of both species have been largely conserved and their pericentromeric chromatin is the only citologically differentiated region

Análisis de regresión de los primeros ensayos de un prototipo de molino de viento de eje vertical con geometría variable

La finalidad perseguida por este trabajo, es realizar un análisis estadístico de las primeras pruebas en vacío y en carga de un generador eólico de eje vertical con geometría variable desarrollado íntegramente en nuestra institución. Con esto se pretende predecir el comportamiento del dispositivo, a través de dichos análisis, teniendo en cuenta el nivel de confianza de los mismos, y complementar estos con las pruebas realizadas en el túnel de viento. Las fuerzas ejercidas por el viento son aprovechables al máximo en las paletas dispuestas en tal sentido gracias a su geometría variable, siendo totalmente despreciable la resistencia que ofrecen las paletas opuestas, las cuales modifican su posición cuando no corresponde recibir de frente la fuerza del viento. Debido a esta cualidad geométrica, es posible aprovechar la fuerza del viento cualquiera sea su dirección.The objective of this project is to do a statistical analysis of the first tests, with and without charge, of a vertical-shaft windmill with variable geometry, which was developed entirely in our institution. It expects predict the behavior of the device through aforementioned analysis considering confidence level of it, and complementing it whit test in a wind tunnel. The wind applies useful strengths over rotor’s flaps which changes its direction due to its geometrical variability, being totally insignificant resistance of opposite flaps which changes its position when they do not have to receive the wind’s strength. The variable geometry enables the mill’s rotor to rotate no matter where the wind is blowing from.Tema 9: Nuevas Tecnologías.Facultad de Arquitectura y Urbanism

Análisis de regresión de los primeros ensayos de un prototipo de molino de viento de eje vertical con geometría variable

La finalidad perseguida por este trabajo, es realizar un análisis estadístico de las primeras pruebas en vacío y en carga de un generador eólico de eje vertical con geometría variable desarrollado íntegramente en nuestra institución. Con esto se pretende predecir el comportamiento del dispositivo, a través de dichos análisis, teniendo en cuenta el nivel de confianza de los mismos, y complementar estos con las pruebas realizadas en el túnel de viento. Las fuerzas ejercidas por el viento son aprovechables al máximo en las paletas dispuestas en tal sentido gracias a su geometría variable, siendo totalmente despreciable la resistencia que ofrecen las paletas opuestas, las cuales modifican su posición cuando no corresponde recibir de frente la fuerza del viento. Debido a esta cualidad geométrica, es posible aprovechar la fuerza del viento cualquiera sea su dirección.The objective of this project is to do a statistical analysis of the first tests, with and without charge, of a vertical-shaft windmill with variable geometry, which was developed entirely in our institution. It expects predict the behavior of the device through aforementioned analysis considering confidence level of it, and complementing it whit test in a wind tunnel. The wind applies useful strengths over rotor’s flaps which changes its direction due to its geometrical variability, being totally insignificant resistance of opposite flaps which changes its position when they do not have to receive the wind’s strength. The variable geometry enables the mill’s rotor to rotate no matter where the wind is blowing from.Tema 9: Nuevas Tecnologías.Facultad de Arquitectura y Urbanism

Postural counseling represents a novel option in pain management of fibromyalgia patients

Background: Chronic pain is a key symptom in fibromyalgia (FM), and its management is still challenging for rheumatologists in daily practice. FM patients show psychological and psychiatric manifestations, going from mood and emotional disorders to depression and alexithymia that negatively impact their quality of life, limiting their daily activities. Since pharmacological strategies have a limited efficacy in FM pain, alternative or complementary non-pharmacological approaches have been introduced in the clinical management of FM. Patients and methods: This is a retrospective study on FM patients (n=52) treated with a novel integrated postural counseling (PC) rehabilitation program carried out by a counselor physiotherapist. The clinical impact of PC was evaluated by 1) a semi-structured interview using an ad hoc modified questionnaire McGill Illness Narrative Interview (MINI) 1 to obtain data on pain management by highlighting everyday experience of living with pain and 2) an FM impact questionnaire (FIQ) total score. Results: Two main structures of narrative emplotment of FM illness were recognized: 1) the cumulative life narrative structure (46.15%) and 2) the broken life (53.85%) narrative structure. Baseline FIQ score was 77.38±7.77, and it was significantly reduced after PC to 39.12±13.27 (P<0.0001). Although well-being still requires further definition as outcome in pain management, it is important for FM patients, dealing with pain-related sensations, thoughts and feelings and limiting their daily activities. In our study, 87.5% of interviewed FM patients reported an improvement in their well-being after PC. Conclusion: Our data suggest that an integrated PC program positively impacts chronic pain and fatigue based on self-management strategies. PC allows FM patients to resume their own life and regenerate their own image. Finally, we propose the introduction of the evaluation of the ability to resume daily activities as the target of rehabilitation programs in FM