Agricultural, forest and rural policy sectors' receptiveness to agroforestry intercropping systems in Quebec (Canada)

PosterIn Quebec (Canada), intercropping trees and crops is a new practice in the agricultural landscape dominated by conventional monocropping systems. As research goes on and slowly reveals the potential of these systems to address some key issues in agriculture, forestry and rural development, and as farmers’ awareness increases, there is a pressing need to find public support for these systems. In order to help the promoters of agroforestry intercropping systems in their search of support in the political arena, we conducted a comparative study of the receptiveness of the agricultural, forest and rural policy sectors to these systems. As the literature on public policy processes has stressed the importance of policy stakeholders’ ideas in the implementation of new policies, we used a conceptual framework based on cognitive schemes to compare the ideas driving these policy sectors with the ideas supporting agroforestry intercropping systems. Results based on the analysis of formal publications and semi-directed interviews conducted with agroforestry experts and policy stakeholders underline that agroforestry intercropping systems are mostly featured by their promoters as sustainable and multifunctional systems. The rural policy sector has proven to be the most receptive and the forest sector the less receptive, while the agricultural sector lies in-between, offering small-scale support to agroforestry intercropping systems. The analysis highlights that policy sectors integrating multifunctionality in their core ideas are supportive of agroforestry intercropping systems, while sectors remaining largely focused on specialization and productivity are less receptive. Our study also shows that public incentives might not be sufficient to drive the adoption of agroforestry intercropping systems since major barriers to their implementation remain in some policy sectors. Featuring these systems as productive might be a necessary argument shift to tear down policy barriers and increase public support

Noise-induced behaviors in neural mean field dynamics

The collective behavior of cortical neurons is strongly affected by the presence of noise at the level of individual cells. In order to study these phenomena in large-scale assemblies of neurons, we consider networks of firing-rate neurons with linear intrinsic dynamics and nonlinear coupling, belonging to a few types of cell populations and receiving noisy currents. Asymptotic equations as the number of neurons tends to infinity (mean field equations) are rigorously derived based on a probabilistic approach. These equations are implicit on the probability distribution of the solutions which generally makes their direct analysis difficult. However, in our case, the solutions are Gaussian, and their moments satisfy a closed system of nonlinear ordinary differential equations (ODEs), which are much easier to study than the original stochastic network equations, and the statistics of the empirical process uniformly converge towards the solutions of these ODEs. Based on this description, we analytically and numerically study the influence of noise on the collective behaviors, and compare these asymptotic regimes to simulations of the network. We observe that the mean field equations provide an accurate description of the solutions of the network equations for network sizes as small as a few hundreds of neurons. In particular, we observe that the level of noise in the system qualitatively modifies its collective behavior, producing for instance synchronized oscillations of the whole network, desynchronization of oscillating regimes, and stabilization or destabilization of stationary solutions. These results shed a new light on the role of noise in shaping collective dynamics of neurons, and gives us clues for understanding similar phenomena observed in biological networks

Photonic crystal fibre source of photon pairs for quantum information processing

We demonstrate two key components for optical quantum information processing: a bright source of heralded single photons; and a bright source of entangled photon pairs. A pair of pump photons produces a correlated pair of photons at widely spaced wavelengths (583 nm and 900 nm), via a $\chi^{(3)}$ four-wave mixing process. We demonstrate a non-classical interference between heralded photons from independent sources with a visibility of 95%, and an entangled photon pair source, with a fidelity of 89% with a Bell state.Comment: 4 pages, 3 figure

Transitioning to a national health system in Cyprus: a stakeholder analysis of pharmaceutical policy reform

Objective To review the pharmaceutical sector in Cyprus in terms of the availability and affordability of medicines and to explore pharmaceutical policy options for the national health system finance reform expected to be introduced in 2016. Methods We conducted semi-structured interviews in April 2014 with senior representatives from seven key national organizations involved in pharmaceutical care. The captured data were coded and analysed using the predetermined themes of pricing, reimbursement, prescribing, dispensing and cost sharing. We also examined secondary data provided by the Cypriot Ministry of Health; these data included the prices and volumes of prescription medicines in 2013 Findings We identified several key issues, including high medicine prices, underuse of generic medicines and high out-of-pocket drug spending. Most stakeholders recommended the national government review existing pricing policies to ensure medicines within the forthcoming national health system are affordable and available, introduce a national reimbursement system and incentivize the prescribing and dispensing of generic medicines. There were disagreements over how to (i) allocate responsibilities to governmental agencies in the national health system, (ii) reconcile differences in opinion between stakeholders and (iii) raise awareness among patients, physicians and pharmacists about the benefits of greater generic drug use. Conclusion In Cyprus, if the national health system is going to provide universal health coverage in a sustainable fashion, then the national government must address the current issues in the pharmaceutical sector. Importantly, the country will need to increase the market share of generic medicines to contain drug spending

A comparison of generic drug prices in seven European countries: a methodological analysis

Background Policymakers and researchers frequently compare the prices of medicines between countries. Such comparisons often serve as barometers of how pricing and reimbursement policies are performing. The aim of this study was to examine methodological challenges to comparing generic drug prices. Methods We calculated all commonly used price indices based on 2013 IMS Health data on sales of 3156 generic drugs in seven European countries. Results There were large differences in generic drug prices between countries. However, the results varied depending on the choice of index, base country, unit of volume, method of currency conversion, and therapeutic category. The results also differed depending on whether one looked at the prices charged by manufacturers or those charged by pharmacists. Conclusions Price indices are a useful statistical approach for comparing drug prices across countries, but researchers and policymakers should interpret price indices with caution given their limitations. Price-index results are highly sensitive to the choice of method and sample. More research is needed to determine the drivers of price differences between countries. The data suggest that some governments should aim to reduce distribution costs for generic drugs

Ondersoek na seleksiemaatstawwe by Afrinoskape. Genetiese parameters van groei- en woleienskappe

Investigation of selection criteria for Afrino sheep. Genetic parameters of growth and wool traits. The data used in this study were obtained from the Carnarvon Afrino stud. The genetic and phenotypic parameters for the various growth and wool traits were estimated by means of Henderson's Method III. The following traits were considered as possible selection criteria for ram selection: weaning weight (h2 = 0,21 ± O,07), yearling weight (h2 = 0,22 ± 0,07), ADG: weaning-year-old (h2 = 0,22 ± 0,07), Kleiber: weaning-year-old (h = 0,23 ± 0,07), and eighteen-month mass (h2 = 0,28 ± 0,08). However, the traits yearling weight, ADG: weaning-year-old and eighteen month mass cannot be considered as possible selection criteria because of their undesirable genetic correlations with birth mass and eighteen-month mass. Kleiber: weaning-year-old had a non-significant negative genetic correlation of -0,12 ± 0,22 with birth mass, a medium positive correlation with yearling weight (0,35 ± 0,21) and it is almost unrelated to eighteen-month mass (rg = 0,10 ± 0,22). At 12 months of age, rams can be selected on the basis of the following selection index: I=3 X weaning mass -- 1 X Kleiber: weaning-year-old- 18 X fibre diameter.Ondersoek is ingestel na geskikte seleksiemaatstawwe vir Afrino-skape. Data vanaf die Camarvonse Afrinokudde is vir hierdie ondersoek gebruik. Genetiese en fenotipiese parameters van die onderskeie groei- en woleienskappe is met behulp van Henderson se Metode III beraam. Die volgende eienskappe is as moontlike seleksiemaatstawwe vir ramseleksie oorweeg: speenmassa (h2 = 0,21 ± 0,07), jaarmassa (h2 = 0,22 ± 0,07), GDT: speen-jaar (h2 = 0,22 ± 0,07), Kleiber: speen-jaar (h2 = 0,23 ± 0,07), en agtienmaandemassa (h2 = 0,28 ± 0,08). Jaarmassa, GDT: speenjaar en agtienmaandemassa is as gevolg van hul ongunstige genetiese korrelasies met geboortemassa en agtienmaandemassa as seleksiemaatstawwe geelimineer. Kleiber: speen-jaar het 'n nie-betekenisvolle negatiewe korrelasie van -0,12 ± 0,22 met geboortemassa, 'n matig-positiewe korrelasie van 0,35 ± 0,21 met jaarmassa en is feitlik onafhanklik van agtienmaandemassa (rg = 0,10 ± 0,22). Ramme kan op 12-maande-ouderdom op grond van die volgende seleksie-indeks geselekteer word: I = 3 X speenmassa + 1 X Kleiber: speen-jaar - 18 X veseldikte.Keywords: Afrino, genetic parameters, growth traits, Kleiber ratio

Magnetic resonance studies of the fundamental spin-wave modes in individual submicron Cu/NiFe/Cu perpendicularly magnetized disks

Spin wave spectra of perpendicularly magnetized disks with trilayers consisting of a 100 nm permalloy (Py) layer sandwiched by two Cu layers of 30 nm, are measured individually with a Magnetic Resonance Force Microscope (MRFM). It is demonstrated by 3D micromagnetic simulations that in disks having sub-micron size diameters, the lowest energy spin wave mode of the saturated state is not spatially uniform but rather is localized at the center of the Py/Cu interface in the region of a minimum demagnetizing field

Stability of Monitoring Weak Changes in Multiply Scattering Media with Ambient Noise Correlation: Laboratory Experiments

Previous studies have shown that small changes can be monitored in a scattering medium by observing phase shifts in the coda. Passive monitoring of weak changes through ambient noise correlation has already been applied to seismology, acoustics and engineering. Usually, this is done under the assumption that a properly reconstructed Green function as well as stable background noise sources are necessary. In order to further develop this monitoring technique, a laboratory experiment was performed in the 2.5MHz range in a gel with scattering inclusions, comparing an active (pulse-echo) form of monitoring to a passive (correlation) one. Present results show that temperature changes in the medium can be observed even if the Green function (GF) of the medium is not reconstructed. Moreover, this article establishes that the GF reconstruction in the correlations is not a necessary condition: the only condition to monitoring with correlation (passive experiment) is the relative stability of the background noise structure

Practical learning method for multi-scale entangled states

We describe a method for reconstructing multi-scale entangled states from a small number of efficiently-implementable measurements and fast post-processing. The method only requires single particle measurements and the total number of measurements is polynomial in the number of particles. Data post-processing for state reconstruction uses standard tools, namely matrix diagonalisation and conjugate gradient method, and scales polynomially with the number of particles. Our method prevents the build-up of errors from both numerical and experimental imperfections