Food value chain development in Central New York: CNY bounty

Includes bibliographical references (pages 139-141).In the past 10 years, demand for locally grown food has increased dramatically. Concomitantly, small, commercial farms have declined disproportionately to small and large farms. The decline may be due to the lack of appropriately scaled marketing and distribution resulting from changing markets. This article presents a case study of a component of a food value chain started in 2007, Central New York (CNY) Bounty. CNY Bounty markets and distributes products produced by 119 small, commercial farms and processors to individual households, restaurants, natural food stores, and universities. In the past four years, CNY Bounty has experienced mixed success in terms of its economic viability, which can offer some important lessons for practitioners and contributions for food value chain research

Using synchronization to improve earthquake forecasting in a cellular automaton model

A new forecasting strategy for stochastic systems is introduced. It is inspired by the concept of anticipated synchronization between pairs of chaotic oscillators, recently developed in the area of Dynamical Systems, and by the earthquake forecasting algorithms in which different pattern recognition functions are used for identifying seismic premonitory phenomena. In the new strategy, copies (clones) of the original system (the master) are defined, and they are driven using rules that tend to synchronize them with the master dynamics. The observation of definite patterns in the state of the clones is the signal for connecting an alarm in the original system that efficiently marks the impending occurrence of a catastrophic event. The power of this method is quantitatively illustrated by forecasting the occurrence of characteristic earthquakes in the so-called Minimalist Model.Comment: 4 pages, 3 figure

Ion transport and selectivity in nanopores with spatially inhomogeneous fixed charge distributions

Polymeric nanopores with fixed charges show ionic selectivity when immersed in aqueous electrolyte solutions. The understanding of the electrical interaction between these charges and the mobile ions confined in the inside nanopore solution is the key issue in the design of potential applications. The authors have theoretically described the effects that spatially inhomogeneous fixed charge distributions exert on the ionic transport and selectivity properties of the nanopore. A comprehensive set of one-dimensional distributions including the skin, core, cluster, and asymmetric cases are analyzed on the basis of the Nernst-Planck equations. Current-voltage curves, nanopore potentials, and transport numbers are calculated for the above distributions and compared with those obtained for a homogeneously charged nanopore with the same average fixed charge concentration. The authors have discussed if an appropriate design of the spatial fixed charge inhomogeneity can lead to an enhancement of the transport and selectivity with respect to the homogeneous nanopore case. Finally, they have compared the theoretical predictions with relevant experimental [email protected] [email protected]

Testing a model for the monitoring of worked-out algebra-problem examples: from behaviours to outcomes on a math task

This study aimed at testing an extension of a theoretical model for the metacognitive monitoring mechanism implied in the detection of inconsistencies when the information provided includes abstract symbols in addition to plain text. Ninety-four postgraduates of STEM specialities were asked to read a worked-out algebra-problem example and to report any incoherence, inconsistency, or error detected in the statement or in the solving procedure. A set of model inspired indexes was defined to describe participants¿ behaviour along the task. The Read & Answer software was used to record online individual processing data and participants¿ reports. Results supported model predictions. Indexes correctly predicted participants¿ outcomes in the task with high accuracy. Specific students¿ behaviours could be associated to observed task outcomes with sufficient reliability within the limitations of the study. In addition, algebra processing was compared with plain text processing

EL PROCESO DE CONSTRUCCIÓN TERRITORIAL DE LA ORINOQUIA COLOMBIANA EN EL SIGLO XIX

TRANSFORMACIONES TERRITORIALES DURANTE EL SIGLO XIX Las guerras de Independencia significaron una pérdida enorme para la Orinoquia, ya que se destruyeron tres siglos de formación territorial que se habían logrado por medió de una extrema crueldad y sacrificio. Durante el período colonial el Estado español y las Misiones jesuíticas lograron crear pueblos de tipo europeizante, abrir haciendas ganaderas, establecer la navegación en numerosos ríos y trazar caminos para el comercio. Una enorme riqueza social estructurada con el sudor y la destrucción cultural de las comunidades indígenas de la región que, mal que bien, ya hacían parte de esa nueva realidad. La guerra significó la desocupación de pueblos enteros, de los cuales la mayoría de sus habitantes sucumbieron en la lidia, más por hambre y enfermedades que por las balas. Los indígenas que no perecieron en la lucha se retiraron a las montañas en busca del sustento y para huir de las numerosas enfermedades que se desataron por las hambrunas y por la falta de salud pública. Las haciendas fueron desocupadas, porque los combatientes tomaron las reses y los caballos como impuesto de guerra, llevándolas a la ruina. Sin gente, sin pueblos y sin haciendas se acabó el comercio y los caminos y la navegación perdieron su objeto

Epidemic Incidence in Correlated Complex Networks

We introduce a numerical method to solve epidemic models on the underlying topology of complex networks. The approach exploits the mean-field like rate equations describing the system and allows to work with very large system sizes, where Monte Carlo simulations are useless due to memory needs. We then study the SIR epidemiological model on assortative networks, providing numerical evidence of the absence of epidemic thresholds. Besides, the time profiles of the populations are analyzed. Finally, we stress that the present method would allow to solve arbitrary epidemic-like models provided that they can be described by mean-field rate equations.Comment: 5 pages, 4 figures. Final version published in PR

Measurement of CP-violating asymmetries in D0→π +π - and D0→K +K - decays at CDF

We report on a measurement of CP-violating asymmetries (A CP) in the Cabibbo-suppressed D0→π +Ï€ - and D0→K +K - decays reconstructed in a data sample corresponding to 5.9fb -1 of integrated luminosity collected by the upgraded Collider Detector at Fermilab. We use the strong decay D *+→D0Ï€ + to identify the flavor of the charmed meson at production and exploit CP-conserving strong ccÌ„ pair production in ppÌ„ collisions. High-statistics samples of Cabibbo-favored D0→K -Ï€ + decays with and without a D *± tag are used to correct for instrumental effects and significantly reduce systematic uncertainties. We measure A CP(D0→π +Ï€ -)=(+0.22±0.24(stat) ±0.11(syst))% and A CP(D0→K +K -)=(-0.24±0.22(stat)±0.09(syst))%, in agreement with CP conservation. These are the most precise determinations from a single experiment to date. Under the assumption of negligible direct CP violation in D0→π +Ï€ - and D0→K +K - decays, the results provide an upper limit to the CP-violating asymmetry in D0 mixing, |ACPind(D0)|<0.13% at the 90% confidence level. © 2012 American Physical Society.This work was supported by the U.S. Department of Energy and National Science Foundation; the Italian Istituto Nazionale di Fisica Nucleare; the Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology of Japan; the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada; the National Science Council of the Republic of China; the Swiss National Science Foundation; the A.P. Sloan Foundation; the Bundesministerium fü̈r Bildung und Forschung, Germany; the Korean World Class University Program, the National Research Foundation of Korea; the Science and Technology Facilities Council and the Royal Society, UK; the Russian Foundation for Basic Research; the Ministerio de Ciencia e Innovación, and Programa Consolider-Ingenio 2010, Spain; the Slovak R&D Agency; and the Academy of Finland.Peer Reviewe

Altered predictive capability of the brain network EEG model in schizophrenia during cognition

[EN]The study of the mechanisms involved in cognition is of paramount importance for the understanding of the neurobiological substrates in psychiatric disorders. Hence, this research is aimed at exploring the brain network dynamics during a cognitive task. Specifically, we analyze the predictive capability of the pre-stimulus theta activity to ascertain the functional brain dynamics during cognition in both healthy and schizophrenia subjects. Firstly, EEG recordings were acquired during a three-tone oddball task from fifty-one healthy subjects and thirty-five schizophrenia patients. Secondly, phase-based coupling measures were used to generate the time-varying functional network for each subject. Finally, pre-stimulus network connections were iteratively modified according to different models of network reorganization. This adjustment was applied by minimizing the prediction error through recurrent iterations, following the predictive coding approach. Both controls and schizophrenia patients follow a reinforcement of the secondary neural pathways (i.e., pathways between cortical brain regions weakly connected during pre-stimulus) for most of the subjects, though the ratio of controls that exhibited this behavior was statistically significant higher than for patients. These findings suggest that schizophrenia is associated with an impaired ability to modify brain network configuration during cognition