Water Supply in Developing Countries: Student Experiences in the Dominican Republic

In 2010, the United Nations established access to safe drinking water as a basic human right; however, many areas around the globe still lack access. The interdisciplinary service-learning course “Water Supply in Developing Countries” was established at Purdue in 2012 to address the complex issue of water insecurity around the world. Over the past five years, the course has produced teams involving students from nursing, engineering, agricultural economics, biology, and food science working together to develop sustainable, community-scale drinking water treatment systems. In partnership with Aqua Clara International, the student team in 2017 established a drinking water treatment system at the Ana Julia Diaz Luna primary school in the rural community of Las Cañas, Dominican Republic. In addition to the focus on a physical water system, they also collaborated with local educators to design a water, sanitation, and hygiene (WASH) education program. Students guided development of sustainable economic strategies to utilize the system for generation of revenue to reinvest in maintenance and improvements. The observations and lessons learned from the completed stages of this project have been applied to improve the effectiveness and efficiency of subsequent interventions

Cacao para la paz

Saber cómo funciona la cadena de valor de cacao en Colombia; Reconocer el rol del cacao en las economías rurales sostenibles; Conocer los puntos claves para mejorar la competitividad; Determinar las fortalezas del sector agrícola de Colombia; Identificar los limitantes para el acceso y sostenibilidad en mercados de alto valor; Orientar futuras inversiones de la cooperación internacional en cacao

Cacao para la Paz: Un Análisis de la Cadena Productiva de Cacao en Colombia

U.S. Agency for International Developmen

The SOS-framework (Systems of Sedentary behaviours): an international transdisciplinary consensus framework for the study of determinants, research priorities and policy on sedentary behaviour across the life course: a DEDIPAC-study.

BACKGROUND: Ecological models are currently the most used approaches to classify and conceptualise determinants of sedentary behaviour, but these approaches are limited in their ability to capture the complexity of and interplay between determinants. The aim of the project described here was to develop a transdisciplinary dynamic framework, grounded in a system-based approach, for research on determinants of sedentary behaviour across the life span and intervention and policy planning and evaluation. METHODS: A comprehensive concept mapping approach was used to develop the Systems Of Sedentary behaviours (SOS) framework, involving four main phases: (1) preparation, (2) generation of statements, (3) structuring (sorting and ranking), and (4) analysis and interpretation. The first two phases were undertaken between December 2013 and February 2015 by the DEDIPAC KH team (DEterminants of DIet and Physical Activity Knowledge Hub). The last two phases were completed during a two-day consensus meeting in June 2015. RESULTS: During the first phase, 550 factors regarding sedentary behaviour were listed across three age groups (i.e., youths, adults and older adults), which were reduced to a final list of 190 life course factors in phase 2 used during the consensus meeting. In total, 69 international delegates, seven invited experts and one concept mapping consultant attended the consensus meeting. The final framework obtained during that meeting consisted of six clusters of determinants: Physical Health and Wellbeing (71% consensus), Social and Cultural Context (59% consensus), Built and Natural Environment (65% consensus), Psychology and Behaviour (80% consensus), Politics and Economics (78% consensus), and Institutional and Home Settings (78% consensus). Conducting studies on Institutional Settings was ranked as the first research priority. The view that this framework captures a system-based map of determinants of sedentary behaviour was expressed by 89% of the participants. CONCLUSION: Through an international transdisciplinary consensus process, the SOS framework was developed for the determinants of sedentary behaviour through the life course. Investigating the influence of Institutional and Home Settings was deemed to be the most important area of research to focus on at present and potentially the most modifiable. The SOS framework can be used as an important tool to prioritise future research and to develop policies to reduce sedentary time

The Profitability of Cover Crops: Investigating the Effect of Additional Soil Organic Carbon

This thesis analyzes one element of the question of cover crop profitability in Indiana. It investigates in isolation the crop yield benefit of additional soil organic carbon (SOC) from cover crop use and the economic implications thereof. The analysis is divided into three parts. First, the relationship between SOC and yield is analyzed using publicly available agronomic data. Next, an integrated modeling system is used to analyze the contribution of SOC by a 100% cereal rye cover crop. The third part combines the results of the first two and assesses the economic benefit of the increased SOC derived from the cover crop use within the context of corn and soybean cropping systems in the state of Indiana. The first part revealed that higher levels of SOC contribute to higher crop yields in both corn and soybeans for the majority of cropland soils in Indiana. The effect of SOC on yield was positive up to a tipping point after which the modeled effect of additional SOC on yield was negative. Soils with lower initial levels of SOC were estimated to have larger gains in yield per additional unit of SOC. These results were robust to varying the climate controls, as well as to varying input parameters to broaden and narrow the range of soil types tested. The second step showed that cover crops increase SOC, with larger gains at lower initial levels of SOC, and most of the gain in SOC occurring during the first four years of cover crop use. While cover crops contributed more SOC under a corn-soybean rotation, the total gain in SOC was higher in a continuous corn rotation with cover crops, which can be attributed to the higher total amount of organic matter produced in this rotation. Combining these two steps, we found an estimated increase in yield for corn of 1.41 bushels/acre after the 16-year cereal rye cover crop simulation, and of 0.79 bushels/acre for soybeans in a soil with an initial SOC of 3000 g C/m2 to a depth of 50cm. Most of this gain is accrued during the first four-year cycle of cover crop use, and the gain in the last four-year cycle is negligible. This converts to a monetary value of approximately $6.34 per acre for corn, and$8.40 per acre for soybeans. This estimated yield increase, though significant does not cover the annual cost of implementing a 100% cereal rye cover crop. However, increases in yield through SOC are only one of the agronomic benefits of cover crop use discussed in the literature. Further research is needed to evaluate the full economic benefit of cover crop use

An analysis of the supply chain of cacao in Colombia

Mayor información: Tamara J Benjamin (Universidad PURDUE), [email protected] ; Mark Lundy (CIAT), [email protected] informe comienza con una presentación general del cacao en Colombia y la región, seguida por una explicación a fondo de nuestra metodología. Las secciones siguientes abarcan temas específicos sobre la manera en que funcionan los mercados de cacao, información sobre prácticas poscosecha y precios, así como un desglose minucioso de la cadena productiva en Colombia, incluidos los actores principales en el país. La sección de recomendaciones se encuentra dividida por temas y se basa en la evidencia presentada dentro del informe, en tanto las conclusiones exponen algunos de nuestros hallazgos más importantes