Armenia's Agricultural Sector: From the Subsistence Line to Discrete Take-Off?

This contribution discusses the overall lay-out and (re-) orientation of Armenia's agricultural sector since it decreased to subsistence levels and a virtual standstill in the early 1990s. Promising due to both a set of favorable, natural-physical conditions and agricultural traditions, part of which survived Soviet agricultural policies and the country's "transition" and integration in the world economy following its collapse. Armenia's agriculture and agro-industry have had a timid resurgence in the past few years. Driven by the emergence of small and medium-sized farms and the regionalization of a number of primary sector activities and the presence of markets in Russia and the Persian-Arab Gulf, the potential of Armenia's agriculture remains stunted, however, by the country's land-locked position and the border blockades that have been in effect since the Nagorno-Karabakh War, both of which are obstacles for proper agricultural exports

Development and mechanical characterization of porous titanium bone substitutes

The authors wish to thank Dr J.-M. Hiver from Institut Jean Lamour, Ecole des Mines de Nancy for his participation in the computed tomography analysis of the porous samplesCommercially Pure Porous Titanium (CPPTi) can be used for surgical implants to avoid the stress shielding effect due to the mismatch between the mechanical properties of titanium and bone. Most researchers in this area deal with randomly distributed pores or simple architectures in titanium alloys. The control of porosity, pore size and distribution is necessary to obtain implants with mechanical properties close to those of bone and to ensure their osseointegration. The aim of the present work was therefore to develop and characterize such a specific porous structure. First of all, the properties of titanium made by Selective Laser Melting (SLM) were characterized through experimental testing on bulk specimens. An elementary pattern of the porous structure was then designed to mimic the orthotropic properties of the human bone following several mechanical and geometrical criteria. Finite Element Analysis (FEA) was used to optimize the pattern. A porosity of 53% and pore sizes in the range of 860 to 1500 μm were finally adopted. Tensile tests on porous samples were then carried out to validate the properties obtained numerically and identif the failure modes of the samples. Finally, FE elastoplastic analyses were performed on the porous samples in order to propose a failure criterion for the design of porous substitutes

Relating Fragile States to Social and Human Fragilities

Fragile States is a way of naming this particular category of states that have weak performance, insufficient service delivery, weak administrative and government power, and lack of legal rules. Little consideration is usually made to the fact that their own societies may also be fragile and easily jeopardised by inappropriate economic measures or external events. Poverty traps and social exclusion, unjust inequalities with lack of equity, feelings of insecurity and vulnerability, usually undermine the social fabric. Moreover, the people bear their own internal fragilities, which are based on the lack of capabilities and recognition, and interfere in the relationships between the groups that constitute the society. Therefore, dealing with the issue of fragility requires to consider various decision levels, from the personal one to the State level. Such an approach could allow fragile states to conceive preventive policies that would avoid the surge of a political crisis resulting from the combination of social conflict and individual failure.La notion d’Etats fragiles permet de caractériser des pays dont le pouvoir de gouvernement est faible, le cadre juridique et légal insuffisant, l’administration peu efficace et, en conséquence, la délivrance de services publics insuffisante. Mais elle prend peu en compte le fait que leurs propres sociétés peuvent aussi être fragiles et facilement détruites par des mesures economiques inappropriées ou par des événements extérieurs. Ainsi, les trappes à pauvreté, les structures d’inégalité pérennes, l’absence d’équité, de même que l’exclusion sociale, le sentiment d’insécurité et de vulnérabilité, ont tous pour effet de miner la cohésion sociale. De plus, les gens eux-mêmes, au sein d’une société donnée, portent aussi leur propres fragilités internes, basées sur un manque de capabilité et de reconnaissance, et ceci interfère dans les relations sociales. Si bien que si l’on veut aborder le problème de la fragilité dans toute sa dimension, il faut alors prendre en compte l’articulation des différents niveaux d’analyse où cette fragilité se déploie, du niveau personnel au niveau propre à l’Etat. L’intérêt d’une telle démarche est qu’elle permet aux Etats fragiles de concevoir des mesures de politique préventives qui leur permettraient d’éviter l’apparition de crises politiques graves, comme conséquence de la combinaison de situations sociales conflictuelles et d’échecs individualisés

Insights from Zootaxa on potential trends in zoological taxonomic activity

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>An opinion currently shared by taxonomists and non taxonomists alike is that the work of inventorying biodiversity is unbalanced: firstly, in favour of countries in which taxonomy has been studied for a long time, and, secondly, in favour of vertebrates. In the current context of threats of species extinction, access for taxonomists to biological material and information becomes crucial if the scientific community really aims at a better knowledge of biological diversity before it is severely and irreversibly impoverished. We performed an analysis of 748 papers published in Zootaxa in 2006 and 2007, as well as 434 questionnaires sent to their authors to test these opinions. A generalization of these results to zoological taxonomy as a whole is discussed.</p> <p>Discussion</p> <p>We found that the disequilibrium is not exactly what it usually considered to be. The USA, China and Brazil are currently the three leading countries in zoological taxonomy. Each of them presents, however, a different pattern. Taxonomists from Asia and South America are younger and mainly work in universities, not museums. A bias in favour of vertebrates still exists if we refer to the effort invested in each group to produce taxonomic data, but not to the number of papers. Finally, we insist on the idea that "describing a species" is very different from "knowing a species".</p> <p>Summary</p> <p>The <it>taxonomic involvement </it>of a country, in terms of manpower and funding, appears to be a key factor in the development of fruitful taxonomic research. This message seems to have been understood by the countries that recently decided to increase considerably their taxonomic involvement. It still has to be received by those who did not.</p

Les multiples visages des voies vertes et du vélo : une analyse de la perspective des planificateurs et gestionnaires de la Route Verte au Québec

Bien connu pour ses vertus non seulement en termes de mobilité, mais aussi sur les plans social, environnemental, économique et de la santé, le vélo est un mode de déplacement que de nombreuses villes valorisent dans leur planification locale. En dehors des grands centres urbains, des voies vertes comme la Route Verte au Québec font partie des infrastructures concernées par la promotion du vélo. Or, la planification de ces infrastructures cyclables s’inscrit dans une diversification croissante de l’utilisation du vélo et des pratiques d’aménagement. De quelle façon les planificateurs se représentent-ils les différents usages de la Route Verte et du vélo et comment les intègrent-ils dans la planification des réseaux cyclables en milieux périurbain et régional ? Cette recherche explore les liens entre la planification cyclable et les représentations entretenues à l’égard de la Route Verte par les planificateurs et gestionnaires au Québec. L’étude a été menée auprès de fonctionnaires municipaux et provinciaux ainsi que de gestionnaires de sentiers dans les municipalités de Granby, Saint-Jérôme et Victoriaville. À partir de dix entretiens semi-dirigés en profondeur et de l’analyse de documents de planification, cette étude révèle que la Route Verte est considérée comme la colonne vertébrale qui structure les réseaux cyclables locaux. Or, les représentations à l’égard des usages de cette infrastructure sont non seulement variées, mais aussi en décalage et sont tributaires de spécificités régionales, d’une diversité des modèles de gouvernance ainsi que d’échelles d’intervention. Ces décalages rendent difficile le développement d’un réseau dont la polyvalence constitue, paradoxalement, un attrait et un défi à la fois, notamment en termes de gestion de la cohabitation. Cette étude ouvre des perspectives intéressantes de recherche et met de l’avant l’importance des processus de planification cyclable à l’extérieur des grands centres urbains.Well-known for its mobility, public health, social, environmental and economic benefits, cycling is a mean of transport considered in urban planning by many cities. Outside big urban areas, greenways like the Route Verte in Quebec are part of the infrastructures related to cycling promotion. However, planning these greenways is in line with a growing diversification of bike use as well as planning practices. How are planners representing themselves the uses of the bicycle and the Route Verte and how are they integrating it in the cycling network planning in regional contexts ? This research explores the relations between cycling planning and the planners’ and managers’ representations of the Route Verte in Quebec. The study was conducted with municipal and provincial employees, as well as cycling path managers in the cities of Granby, Saint-Jérôme and Victoriaville in the province of Quebec. The data of ten in-depth semi-directed interviews and the analysis of municipal planning documents revealed that the Route Verte is considered by many as a backbone structuring local cycling networks. Yet, the representations with regard to cycling infrastructures are not only various, but also showing a gap, which is dependent on particular regional context and a wide range of governance models and intervention scales. These discrepancies make difficult the development of a network characterized by multifonctionality which is, paradoxically, appealing but also challenging in terms of cohabitation. This study opens new and interesting research perspectives while putting forward the importance of cycling planning outside big urban centres

Archive ouverte pour la mémoire institutionnelle de la Direction du développement et de la coopération (DDC): une solution pertinente ?

Ce travail a pour objectif d’étudier la possibilité d’intégrer dans une archive ouverte la mémoire institutionnelle de la Direction du développement et de la coopération (DDC) à Berne. Actuellement, la multiplicité des systèmes d’information en place ne permet pas l’accès simple et unifié aux documents qui constituent la mémoire de l’institution, ce qui n’est pas sans conséquence pour elle. La réalisation d’un tel défi représente un enjeu stratégique qui nécessite une planification scrupuleuse mettant en oeuvre des ressources humaines, techniques et financières importantes. Il s’agit là d’un projet de grande envergure, lié à la philosophie générale de l’OAI-PMH et aux concepts d’interopérabilité et de saisie des métadonnées. Les professionnels de l’information et de la documentation sont de fervents défenseurs du mouvement des archives ouvertes car l'accès à l'information se situe au coeur même de leurs préoccupations. Pas étonnant donc que l’initiative visant à implanter une archive ouverte au sein d’une unité de l’administration fédérale émane de la Section Information + Documentation (Section I+D) de la DDC. Espérons que cette dernière se montrera disposée à s’insérer dans ce mouvement

Texas public relations association members' perceptions of an academic major in agricultural communications and journalism

The purpose of this study was to determine Texas Public Relations Association (TPRA) members' perception of the word agriculture and how that perception influences perceptions of the skills and qualifications of graduates from agricultural communications and journalism (AGCJ) programs. A researcher-developed electronic questionnaire was used for data collection. Of accessible population of 148 TPRA members, 83 responded to the questionnaire, yielding a response rate of 56.08%. This descriptive study found that TPRA members did not have a negative perception of agriculture or the AGCJ major, but there was a lack of awareness of the AGCJ major and respondents had low self-perceived agricultural knowledge. Writing, interpersonal skills, public relations, editing, and media relations were considered to be the five most important skills in the public relations profession; however, AGCJ graduates were perceived to be only somewhat competent in these skills. Respondents ranked AGCJ as seventh of eight majors according to how well prepared graduates were perceived to be for entry-level public relations positions. Results indicated a positive correlation between awareness of the AGCJ major and perception of the major; therefore, the lack of awareness influenced the less positive perception of the major

Triterpene saponins from wisteria floribunda "macrobotrys" and "rosea"

Five oleanane-type saponins were isolated from two cultivars of Wisteria floribunda (Willd.) DC. (Fabaceae): From the roots of Wisteria floribunda "macrobotrys", one new oleanane derivative elucidated as 3- O-β-D-xylopyranosyl-(1→2)-β-D-glucuronopyranosyl-22- O-acetyl-3p,22p,24-trihydroxyolean-12-en-30-oic acid, and two known glycosides, and from the roots of Wisteria floribunda "rosea", two known ones. Their structures were elucidated by a detailed 600 MHz NMR analysis including 1D and 2D NMR (1H, 13C, COSY, TOCSY, ROESY, HSQC, HMBC) experiments and mass spectrometry. Chemotaxonomic conclusions were proposed