Learning by Doing – Farmers’ Specialized Cooperatives Development in China

 In many of the developing (transition) countries, government is promoting the use of cooperatives as organizations that can help enhance the development of farmers and other communities. Agricultural cooperatives are believed to function as a tool for the government in promoting the economic and social development, in particular by creating employment, generating income, eradicating poverty and strengthen farmers’ (market) power within the modern value chain. As for most transitional countries, Chinese government played a primary important role in agricultural cooperatives development. The government attempted to restructure the agro-food system to a modernized and industrialized one by supporting farmer cooperatives and producer organizations...

Äldre döva och kommunikation : en kvalitativ studie av kommunikationens betydelse

The purpose was to study what significance communication has for the psychosocial health of elderly deaf people who live in old peoples homes. I also explored how communication works between the staff. - How do the staff feel the communication works between members of the staff and between the staff and the residents? - How do the staffs think that the staffs' knowledge of the culture of the deaf community and sign language affects the psychological health of the residents? - What changes have the staff noticed in the residents since they moved to the ward? In order to accomplish study this area I have used semi-structured qualitative interviews and observations. The main conclusion of this paper was that the possibility to communicate in ones own language was fundamental for the psychosocial health of the residents. The people I interviewed expressed that communication between the residents and the staff worked well, but communication was a problem between the staff members. Knowledge of the culture of the deaf and sign language, within the staff, had a positive influence on the psychosocial health of the residents. The people I interviewed have noticed a positive psychological and social change in the residents

Tropical cyclone low-level wind speed, shear, and veer: sensitivity to the boundary layer parametrization in the Weather Research and Forecasting model

Mesoscale modeling can be used to analyze key parameters for wind turbine load assessment in a large variety of tropical cyclones. However, the modeled wind structure of tropical cyclones is known to be sensitive to the boundary layer scheme. We analyze modeled wind speed, shear, and wind veer across a wind turbine rotor plane in the eyewall and outer cyclone. We further assess the sensitivity of wind speed, shear, and veer to the boundary layer parametrization. Three model realizations of Typhoon Megi are analyzed over the open ocean using three frequently used boundary layer schemes in the Weather Research and Forecasting (WRF) model. All three typhoon simulations reasonably reproduce the cyclone track and structure. The boundary layer parametrization causes up to 15 % differences in median wind speed at hub height between the simulations. The simulated wind speed variability also depends on the boundary layer scheme. The modeled median wind shear is smaller than or equal to 0.11 used in the current IEC (International Electrotechnical Commission) standard regardless of the boundary layer scheme for the eyewall and outer cyclone region. However, up to 43.6 % of the simulated wind profiles in the eyewall region exceed 0.11. While the surface inflow angle is sensitive to the boundary layer scheme, wind veer in the lowest 400 m of the atmospheric boundary layer is less affected by the boundary layer scheme. Simulated median wind veer reaches values up to 1.7×10-2° m−1 (1.2×10-2° m−1) in the eyewall region (outer cyclone region) and is relatively small compared to moderate-wind-speed regimes. On average, simulated wind speed shear and wind veer are highest in the eyewall region. Yet strong spatial organization of wind shear and veer along the rainbands may increase wind turbine loads due to rapid changes in the wind profile at the turbine location.</p