Human Social and Cultural Capitals among Latino Gardeners in Denison and Marshalltown, Iowa

Presentation made at Latinos in the Heartland (9th : 2011 : Columbia, Mo.) and published in the annual conference proceedings.This paper explores different community capitals among Latinos participating in community gardens and farmer starter programs in Denison and Marshalltown, Iowa. Using the community capital framework, this study describes what makes it possible for Latinos to become gardeners in two rural Iowa communities and the circumstances that facilitate the process. For the methodology of this study, four in-depth interviews were carried out in Denison and four in Marshalltown, with Latino gardeners who have different backgrounds and purposes for their participation in farming. In addition, participatory observation at people's homes and garden plots was used to understand the programs. This research analyzes how human, social, and cultural capitals are essential elements for Latino gardeners and how the interaction between this three capitals build the structure for their motivation to become farmers, be civically engaged, and have access to food. This study also describes how the participants have previous knowledge related to agriculture, fresh food and local marketing, which is a result of not only their original countries, but also as a consequence of their migration patterns among rural communities in the US. This study concludes with some recommendations for Latino gardener programs and initiatives

Graduate Students Research Presentation Series

Governance and its Role in Community Adaptations to Environmental Stresses under Decentralization Programs in Southwestern Uruguay Abstract: Since the turn of the 21st century, climate change and globalization have critically affected the southwestern region of Uruguay. Community responses to environmental stresses created by natural and anthropogenic phenomena have been addressed by recent political decentralization policies and programs. Based on semi-structured interviews with key informants from the market, state, and civil society, participant observation and reports from local public meetings and assemblies, this study explores how community governance processes under the decentralization programs promoted through Municipios and Mesas de Desarrollo Rural influenced adaptive actions to environmental stresses in four communities of southwestern Uruguay. The governance processes focused on consultancy, involvement, and collaboration, which mostly facilitated adaptive actions from the national government. Decentralized governance facilitated information exchange between the actors involved, but community empowerment represented a challenge for the development of adaptive actions at the local level due to the limited resources and dependency on outside state institutions

The right to the city in informal settlements:: two case studies of post-disaster adaptation in Latin America

Today small-towns in western Uruguay are facing challenges related to informal settlements development, intensification of industrial agriculture, and climate change. In the last decade, different strategic plans and policies carried out by governments at multiple levels have attempted to regularize and/or resettle informal settlements in different towns and cities. Despite governmental efforts, informal settlements continue to grow in areas that are at high environmental risk, and where social-spatial fragmentation has increased between the formal and informal fabric. Lefebvre's concept "right to the city” is a response to social-spatial inequalities and it emphasizes the idea that disenfranchised communities have the right to occupy and transform urban space. Using Lefebvre's "right to the city” and "the production of space”, this paper studies informal housing and informal settlements in two neighborhoods in a small-town in western Uruguay and how they adapt to climate change consequences. It reveals how local residents occupy and transform space in two informal neighborhoods to solve their housing needs and to access to resources and infrastructure after an extreme weather event. Based on two case studies, this article reveals spatial patterns of informal settlements, the relationship between formal and informal fabric, and the ways post-disaster informal settlements and environments are represented. Field- work was conducted in 2018 and methods included spatial mapping analysis, semi-structured interviews with key actors, participant observation, and analyses of secondary data. Findings suggest that top-down bureaucratic decision-making process during post-disaster reconstruction limited residents' agency and their right to participate and transform the urbanization process and the places they inhabit. This decision-making process was guided by restricted representations of space determining whether or not residents would qualify for subsidized housing programs. This study aims to encourage communities to develop community-based initiatives that could allow them not only to anticipate and react to environmental stresses but to thrive in the long-term future

Defining a Zeroth Homotopy Invariant for Graphs

We define a zeroth homotopy π0(G) for a graph G. Our definition is a variation on the usual set of connected components and has the structure of a graph, and not just a set. We prove that our π0 is functorial and respects products: π0(G x H) ≅ π0(G) x π0(H), a property that the set of components fails to have

Environmental stresses and community responses in four communities of southwestern Uruguay

Worldwide, communities are becoming more vulnerable, facing new environmental stresses driven by globalization and climate change. Since the turn of the 21st century, climate change and globalization have critically affected the southwestern region of Uruguay. Community responses to environmental stresses can be influenced by cultural capital, significant changes in all community capitals, and by social and political capitals under decentralizing governance and programs. This study explores the community capitals that influenced community adaptations to environmental stresses in Nueva Helvecia (NH), Nueva Palmira (NP), Cardona, and Dolores, in southwestern Uruguay. Research methods of this study include semi-structured interviews with key local informants from market, state, and civil society, and participant observation and reports from local public meetings and assemblies. Results from NH show that social and political capitals were influenced by community cultural capital. Cultural capital strengthened social and political capital to develop local adaptations rooted in the local culture/s. Results from NP and Dolores, show that collective mobilization of social and political capitals (collective agency) for local adaptations occurred when negative changes in all community capitals (especially financial, built, and human capitals) undermined community well-being. Decentralized multi-level governance organized by Municipios and Mesas de Desarrollo Rural (MDRs) made environmental stresses more visible at the four communities. Decentralized multi-level governance (social and political capitals) facilitated consultation and information exchange between the actors involved, but community empowerment for adaptive actions at the local level was minimal, due to the limited resources and historic dependency on regional and national governmental institutions

Tensoativos ecológicos na formulação de glifosato

Weeds affect various crops worldwide, causing low yields and, therefore, significant economic losses. These losses can be minimized by the use of herbicides such as glyphosate. However, the efficiency of glyphosate depends on the type of agrochemical formulations. The most widely used surfactant is polyethoxylated tallow amine. Nevertheless, the disadvantage of these compounds is that their toxicity is greater than that of glyphosate itself. Thus, this study aimed to develop an environmentally-friendly combination of surfactants that can increase the performance of glyphosate compared to other currently used formulations. Saponin (S) is environmentally friendly and has a unique ability to go through the waxy cuticle of the weed leaf. However, its interfacial properties are very poor. In contrast, the alkyl glucoside (AG) mixture has shown excellent interfacial properties, being an environmentally safe surfactant, but cannot pass through the cuticle. In the present study, we mixed both surfactants. Two formulations were made with 20% (F1) and 2% (F2) of S with 4% AG. To verify the usefulness of our formulations, they were compared against a commercial product. The results showed that the commercial product had better CMC 0.3±0.1% and pC20 1.155±0.099 than our formulations F1 and F2. Formulations F1 and F2 showed better gCMC than the commercial product 36.5±4.1 mN/m and 30.9±1.4 mN/m, respectively. Field tests showed that F2 was more effective than the commercial product in eliminating weeds at the end of the test at 30 days. Our results allowed confirming that the use of saponin improves the efficiency of glyphosate. The work showed that structures similar to cyclopentaneperhydrophenanthrene are very effective for introducing drugs into plants through the leaves. This is an advance in general and in particular for the increase of the yield in certain crops.As ervas daninhas afetam várias culturas em todo o mundo, causando baixos rendimentos e perdas econômicas significativas. Essas perdas podem ser minimizadas pelo uso de herbicidas como o glifosato, cuja eficiência depende do tipo de formulação agroquímica. O surfactante mais amplamente utilizado é a amina de sebo polietoxilada. No entanto, a desvantagem desses compostos é que sua toxicidade é maior do que a do próprio glifosato. Este estudo teve como objetivo desenvolver uma combinação de surfactantes ecologicamente correta que pode aumentar o desempenho do glifosato em comparação com outras formulações utilizadas atualmente. A saponina (S) é ecologicamente correta e tem a capacidade única de atravessar a cutícula cerosa da folha da erva daninha. No entanto, suas propriedades interfaciais são muito pobres. Em contraste, a mistura de alquil glicosídeo (AG) apresentou excelentes propriedades interfaciais, sendo um surfactante ambientalmente seguro, mas não pode passar pela cutícula. No presente estudo, misturamos os dois surfactantes. Duas formulações foram feitas com 20% (F1) e 2% (F2) de S com 4% AG. Para verificar a utilidade das nossas formulações, elas foram comparadas com um produto comercial. Os resultados mostraram que o produto comercial apresentou melhor CMC 0,3±0,1% e pC20 1,155±0,099 do que nossas formulações F1 e F2. As formulações F1 e F2 mostraram gCMC melhor do que o produto comercial 36,5±4,1 mN/m e 30,9±1,4 mN/m, respectivamente. Os testes de campo mostraram que o F2 foi mais eficaz do que o produto comercial na eliminação de ervas daninhas no final do teste aos 30 dias. Nossos resultados permitiram confirmar que o uso da saponina melhora a eficiência do glifosato. O trabalho mostrou que estruturas semelhantes ao ciclopentanoperidrofenantreno são muito eficazes para a introdução de drogas nas plantas através das folhas. Este é um avanço em geral e, em particular, para o aumento da produtividade de certas safras

Does Infall End Before the Class I Stage?

We have observed HCO+ J=3-2 toward 16 Class I sources and 18 Class 0 sources, many of which were selected from Mardones et al. (1997). Eight sources have profiles significantly skewed to the blue relative to optically thin lines. We suggest six sources as new infall candidates. We find an equal "blue excess" among Class 0 and Class I sources after combining this sample with that of Gregersen et al. (1997). We used a Monte Carlo code to simulate the temporal evolution of line profiles of optically thick lines of HCO+, CS and H2CO in a collapsing cloud and found that HCO+ had the strongest asymmetry at late times. If a blue-peaked line profile implies infall, then the dividing line between the two classes does not trace the end of the infall stage.Comment: 21 pages, 8 figures, accepted by ApJ for April 20, 2000, added acknowledgmen

Involving Immigrant Latino Farmers in Local Food Systems A Community Capitals Approach

Presentation made at Latinos in the Heartland (10th : 2012 : Kansas City, Mo.) and published in the annual conference proceedings.Using the community capital framework, this study analyzes two projects that engage immigrants (Latinos) in gardening. The first project focuses on creation and implementation of a farm incubator program for both immigrant Latino farmers and beginning native (Anglo) farmers and the subsequent organization of a local foods group in a non-metropolitan Iowa community. The second project revitalizes a community garden by involving immigrants (Latinos). The paper uses multiple sources and methods to document the successes and shortcomings in building a multicultural food system. These include focus groups with Latino/a farmers and organizers of the program, participant observation, notes from steering committee meetings, analysis of participatory evaluations, and content analysis of documents from meetings and classes. Human, social, and cultural capitals are essential elements for these programs to succeed. The interaction among these three capitals mobilizes other community capitals for program improvement. However, in a multicultural situation, these capitals can inadvertently challenge continuity and success. The intergroup relations that emerge from the interaction among these capitals can be unpredictable. Recommendations center on how to reduce risk in mobilizing the most critical community capitals