Swiss CAT+, a Data-driven Infrastructure for Accelerated Catalysts Discovery and Optimization

The Catalysis Hub – Swiss CAT+ is a new infrastructure project funded by ETH-domain, co-headed by EPFL and ETHZ. It offers the scientific community a unique integrated technology platform combining automated and high-throughput experimentation with advanced computational data analysis to accelerate the discoveries in the field of sustainable catalytic technologies. Divided into two hubs of expertise, homogeneous catalysis at EPFL and heterogeneous catalysis at ETHZ, the platform is open to academic and private research groups. Following a multi-year investment plan, both hubs have acquired and developed several high-end robotic platforms devoted to the synthesis, characterization, and testing of large numbers of molecular and solid catalysts. The hardware is associated with a fully digitalized experimental workflow and a specific data management strategy to support closed-loop experimentation and advanced computational data analysis

Carbone des sols en Afrique

Les sols sont une ressource essentielle à préserver pour la production d’aliments, de fibres, de biomasse, pour la filtration de l’eau, la préservation de la biodiversité et le stockage du carbone. En tant que réservoirs de carbone, les sols sont par ailleurs appelés à jouer un rôle primordial dans la lutte contre l’augmentation de la concentration de gaz à effet de serre. Ils sont ainsi au centre des objectifs de développement durable (ODD) des Nations unies, notamment les ODD 2 « Faim zéro », 13 « Lutte contre le changement climatique », 15 « Vie terrestre », 12 « Consommation et production responsables » ou encore 1 « Pas de pauvreté ». Cet ouvrage présente un état des lieux des sols africains dans toute leur diversité, mais au-delà, il documente les capacités de stockage de carbone selon les types de sols et leurs usages en Afrique. Il propose également des recommandations autour de l’acquisition et de l’interprétation des données, ainsi que des options pour préserver, voire augmenter les stocks de carbone dans les sols. Tous les chercheurs et acteurs du développement impliqués dans les recherches sur le rôle du carbone des sols sont concernés par cette synthèse collective. Fruit d’une collaboration entre chercheurs africains et européens, ce livre insiste sur la nécessité de prendre en compte la grande variété des contextes agricoles et forestiers africains pour améliorer nos connaissances sur les capacités de stockage de carbone des sols et lutter contre le changement climatique

Demand for hired labor in rural Madagascar

This paper estimates structural labor demand equations separately for farm and non-farm enterprises in rural Madagascar. We adapt recent labor supply estimation methods that address the general unobservability of both wage rates – due to widespread self-employment – and employers’ non-wage costs of hiring workers in order to fill a significant void in the existing literature. Labor demand in rural Madagascar appears strongly increasing in enterprise owners’ educational attainment, in enterprises’ capital stock, and in community-level public goods. Furthermore, labor demand appears wage inelastic, especially in the non-farm sector where government labor market policies, such as minimum wage laws, are more commonly enforced

Productivity in Malagasy Rice Systems: Wealth-Differentiated Constraints and Priorities

This study explores the constraints on agricultural productivity and priorities in boosting productivity in rice, the main staple in Madagascar, using a range of different data sets and analytical methods, integrating qualitative assessments by farmers and quantitative evidence from panel data production function analysis and willingness-to-pay estimates for chemical fertilizer. Nationwide, farmers seek primarily labor productivity enhancing interventions, e.g., improved access to agricultural equipment, cattle and irrigation. Shock mitigation measures, land productivity increasing technologies and improved land tenure are reported to be much less important. Poorer farmers have significantly lower rice yields than richer farmers, as well as significantly less land. Estimated productivity gains are greatest for the poorest with respect to adoption of climatic shock mitigation measures and chemical fertilizer. However, fertilizer use on rice appears only marginally profitable and highly variable across years. Research and interventions aimed at reducing costs and price volatility within the fertilizer supply chain might help at least the more accessible regions to more readily adopt chemical fertilizer

Productivity in Malagasy Rice Systems: Wealth-Differentiated Constraints and Priorities

This study explores the constraints on agricultural productivity and priorities in boosting productivity in rice, the main staple in Madagascar, using a range of different data sets and analytical methods, integrating qualitative assessments by farmers and quantitative evidence from panel data production function analysis and willingness-to-pay estimates for chemical fertilizer. Nationwide, farmers seek primarily labor productivity enhancing interventions, e.g., improved access to agricultural equipment, cattle and irrigation. Shock mitigation measures, land productivity increasing technologies and improved land tenure are reported to be much less important. Poorer farmers have significantly lower rice yields than richer farmers, as well as significantly less land. Estimated productivity gains are greatest for the poorest with respect to adoption of climatic shock mitigation measures and chemical fertilizer. However, fertilizer use on rice appears only marginally profitable and highly variable across years. Research and interventions aimed at reducing costs and price volatility within the fertilizer supply chain might help at least the more accessible regions to more readily adopt chemical fertilizer.Crop Production/Industries, O1, O3, Q12,

Analysis of a Real-World Power Plant in Ivovona, Madagascar

International audienc

Winding fault diagnosis of induction machine connected to a harmonically polluted power system

International audienc

Modeling and faults detection of small power wound rotor induction machine

International audienc