CSA Practices for Sustainable Cocoa Farming Systems

Climate change will shape the future production of cocoa and requires mutual cooperation amongst sector stakeholders to tailor responses to its differentiated impacts. Identifying and prioritizing climate smart agriculture (CSA) responses requires integration of multiple objectives and managing trade-offs between food security, adaptation and mitigation. Impact of future climates on growing regions is needed to select locally appropriate CSA practices. Zones of adaptation needs in Indonesia are identified and the ‘why?’ and ‘how?’ of tailored CSA practices are illustrated in an accessible guidebook format

Carbon assessment for cocoa cropping systems in Lampung, Indonesia

Cocoa (Theobroma cacao L.) production plays a key role in the economics of Indonesia, the world’s fourth largest cocoa bean producing country. With more than 1.6 million hectares of land planted with cocoa, small improvements in emissions efficiencies or carbon sequestration opportunities can have a relatively large mitigating effect on emissions from agroforestry and land use. The carbon assessment in Lampung, Sumatra was done to evaluate environmental impacts of cocoa as a commodity through estimation of carbon stock and carbon footprint, GHG emissions during the cultivation of cocoa in different cropping systems. Segmentation of cropping systems along density of intercropping, inputs use intensity and residue management practices identify opportunities for climate smart practices tailored to each segment

The MobiCert Mobile Information Community for Organic Primary Producers: a South Australian Prototype

Mobile technology and m-Commerce are transforming our digital economy to a mobile one, with new markets and mobile services worldwide. Today, the importance of communication and information access in a timely and efficient manner is critical for many industries: particularly those in rural and regional areas, due to their often limited Internet access and mobile coverage. This paper presents the findings of the MobiCert project, which investigated the use of mobile technology to improve communication and information access within one of these rural industries using a Rapid Appraisal approach. As a proof-of-concept project, MobiCert focused the development of a mobile information community for organic primary producers in rural South Australia to improve their stakes in the Mobile Revolution. The extremely positive acceptance of the MobiCert solution by organic primary producers illustrated the significant potential mobile technology has to improve rural farm life in Australia

Carbon assessment for Robusta coffee production systems in Vietnam: a case study in Dak Lak

Carbon assessments have proliferated to identify climate friendly practices in Arabica producing systems, though little attention is given to Robusta. In this study, we evaluated the climate impact of Robusta production via quantification of carbon stock and greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions in the intensive shaded and unshaded coffee farms of the world’s largest Robusta producing region, Vietnam’s Central Highlands. We find due to the linear relationship between fertilizer use and yields, emissions from input use on a per unit product basis are not significantly different between the intensive and less intensive systems. However, when accounting for carbon sequestered in shade and coffee trees, the less intensive systems are carbon positive (sequestering more than they emit) per unit of green coffee bean produced

SELECTION OF FITNESS AND TECHNICAL EVALUATION TESTS FOR MALE FOOTBALL PLAYERS AGED 15 TO 16 YEARS OLD IN BA RIA - VUNG TAU PROVINCE, VIETNAM

This paper is written to select fitness and technical tests for male football players in the province of Ba Ria - Vung Tau who are between the ages of 15 and 16. The study executes three processes of document synthesis, interviews, and reliability assessment of each test by using traditional research methods in sports including reference materials, interviews, pedagogical tests, and statistical analysis. In order to evaluate the fitness and technical competence of young male football players in Ba Ria - Tau province, the research has chosen 09 tests (05 fitness tests and 04 technical tests): 15m sprint (s), 5x30m Running (s), Long jump (cm), Test Cooper (m), Doing a short throw-in without momentum (cm); Dribbling a ball to go through poles and shoot the goal (s), Juggling a ball with feet (times), Shooting a ball from a distance of 16.5 meters (times), Doing a standard pass (times).  Article visualizations

Bactericidal effect of iron oxide nanoparticles on Staphylococcus aureus

In order to study the effects of iron oxide (IO) nanoparticles on Staphylococcus aureus, IO nanoparticles were synthesized via a novel matrix-mediated method using polyvinyl alcohol (PVA). The IO nanoparticles were characterized by transmission electron microscopy and dynamic light scattering. Further, S. aureus were grown in the presence of three different IO nanoparticle concentrations for four, 12, and 24 hours. Live/dead assays were performed and the results provide evidence that IO/PVA nanoparticles inhibited S. aureus growth at the highest concentration (3 mg/mL) at all time points

Endoparasites in pigs raised in smallholder farms in Hung Yen province of Vietnam

As being part of an ongoing project, assessing animal health and food safety risks in smallholder pig value chains in Hung Yen province of Vietnam, the presence of endoparasites was investigated in a repeated study. Three communes, with a total of 545 smallhoder pig farms, from three districts were selected. In each commune, ten farms were randomly chosen. On farm data including farm management and biosecurity measures were recorded by using a checklist and observations. From each farm, one pooled fecal sample was collected from a randomly chosen barn monthly and followed from June to December 2014 for seven months. Fecal samples were analyzed for intestinal parasites by floatation and sedimentation methods. The intensity of most commonly seen parasites was determined by the McMaster counting technique. In 198 collected fecal samples, six types of parasites were detected, namely Eimeria 89 (44.95%), Ascaris suum 43 (21.72%), Strongyloides sp. 41 (20.71%), Trichocephalus suis 19 (9.60%), Fasciolopsis buski 10 (5.05%), and Fasciola 2 (1.01%). Highest intensities were observed for Eimeria (maximum 80900 oocyst/g), followed by Ascaris suum (2400 egg/g), Strongyloides sp. (1900 egg/g), and Trichocephalus suis (1300 egg/g); the others were reported at much lower intensities. Infection levels and intensities of the parasites tended to be higher during the hot months, June to September. No significant difference between communes was found. At least one type of parasites was present in 137 samples (69.19%). Most of farms (96.67%) were positive for at least one type of parasites in at least one sample. There was a significant difference in infection level of endoparasites between biogas and non-biogas farms. The general high parasite burden reported in this study will be addressed in future interventions which will include parasite control apart from other measures

Attitudes of students from south-east and east Asian countries to slaughter and transport of livestock

Attitudes to animals have been extensively studied for people in developed countries, but not for those in developing countries. The attitudes of prospective stakeholders in the livestock sectors in south-east and east Asia toward transport and slaughter were examined by surveying university students studying veterinary medicine and animal science in Malaysia, Thailand, China and Vietnam, with a total of 739 students taking part. Students had greater acceptability of transport than slaughter issues for livestock, and female students found most transport and slaughter issues of greater concern than male students. Veterinary students were more accepting of several issues than animal science students, in particular killing animals that were injured or ill. Religion had a major effect on attitudes. Muslim students found using animals that died naturally for products least acceptable. Compared to them, Hindu students were less accepting of killing injured or ill animals and Buddhist students less accepting of euthanasing healthy pets. Students with more experience of pets were less accepting of both transport and slaughter issues. It is concluded that concern was exhibited by future stakeholders in the SE and E Asian livestock industries for slaughter and, to a lesser extent, transport issues, although attitudes were influenced by their religion, gender and experience of pet-keeping

Alkaloids and Their Pharmacology Effects from <em>Zanthoxylum</em> Genus

Zanthoxylum genus (Rutaceae) comprises about 212 species distributed in warm temperature and subtropical areas in the worldwide. Zanthoxylum species have been used in traditional for the treatment of tooth decay, snakebites, blood circulation problems, stomach problems, inflammation, rheumatic, and parasitic diseases. The chemical investigations of Zanthoxylum have been studied by many scientists over the world. Several classes of compounds have been isolated from this genus such as alkaloids, coumarins, and monoterpenes. Of these, alkaloids are the main components and play an important role in Zanthoxylum species. Alkaloids have been shown the potential promise about biological activities: cytotoxic, antimalarial, leishmanicidal, anti-inflammatory, analgesic, antiviral, and antibacterial activities. This chapter will focus on the structure elucidation and pharmacological activities of alkaloids from Zanthoxylum species. In addition, the absolute configuration of some alkaloids from Zanthoxylum genus will be also discussed