Economic Evaluation of Organic and Inorganic Resources for Recapitalizing Soil Fertility in Smallholder Maize-based Cropping Systems of Central Kenya

Structural adjustments programs (SAPs) in the last two decades have eliminated all farm-support programs leading to low usage of fertilizers by Kenyan smallholders. One way of addressing this problem is use of organic nutrient resources. This paper examines their cost-effectiveness as capital investments in replenishment of Nitrogen (N), Phosphorus (P), Potassium (K) and soil organic matter (SOM) in smallholder, Maize-based cropping systems. On-farm trials were established in Maragwa and Kirinyaga Districts in 2003/04. Maize was planted in 3 replicates in randomised complete block design (RCBD) using different levels of organic and inorganic fertilizer resources. A blanket rate of 40kg P/ha was applied in all treatment except the control to increase organic N-utilization efficiency. The test crop was harvested, oven-dried and weighed. Net Present Values (NPV) were computed using Partial Budgeting Analysis Model. Increasing levels of inorganic N increased maize yields significantly (P<0.05). However, higher yields were necessary but not sufficient criteria to determine profitability of different treatments. Manure + 60 kg N/ha gave highest NPV (USD 564), Manure + 40kg N/ha gave second highest NPV (USD 511) in Maragwa District while Manure + 60kg N/ha gave highest NPV (USD 633) and Manure + 40kg N/ha second highest NPV (USD 618) in Kirinyaga District. These results suggested that higher N-levels were not necessarily the most economical. Use of organic resources with modest amounts of mineral fertilizers seemed more profitable and held the key to enhancement of nutrient budgets, food security and rural livelihoods.Natural resource capital, Net present values (NPV), Nutrient budgets, Smallholder farmers, Soil organic matter (SOM), Structural adjustment programs (SAPs), Crop Production/Industries, Land Economics/Use,

¿Pastores o asalariados? Estrategias de vida en la continuidad y la Coyuntura política en las altas montañas del noroeste de Argentina

Este trabajo pretende mostrar las transformaciones ocurridas en relación con la orientación productiva y la administración familiar de los recursos disponibles en las altas montañas del Noroeste Argentino, a partir de la observación de su trayectoria histórica y las coyunturas políticas y socioeconómicas que condicionaron y acotaron su capacidad de elección. Hablamos aquí de los pastores de una localidad en particular, Suripujio en la puna jujeña, territorio limítrofe entre Bolivia y Argentina, realizando un recorrido histórico regional y luego local, que intenta mostrar algunos de los escenarios que fueron marcando cambios de rumbo en las formas de vida y de trabajo de las familias del lugar. También mostraremos datos que ejemplifican las estrategias de vida actuales de las familias de las tierras altas jujeñas y de Suripujio en particular

Influence of temperature fluctuations on plasma turbulence investigations with Langmuir probes

The reliability of Langmuir probe measurements for plasma-turbulence investigations is studied on GEMR gyro-fluid simulations and compared with results from conditionally sampled I-V characteristics as well as self-emitting probe measurements in the near scrape-off layer of the tokamak ASDEX Upgrade. In this region, simulation and experiment consistently show coherent in-phase fluctuations in density, plasma potential and also in electron temperature. Ion-saturation current measurements turn out to reproduce density fluctuations quite well. Fluctuations in the floating potential, however, are strongly influenced by temperature fluctuations and, hence, are strongly distorted compared to the actual plasma potential. These results suggest that interpreting floating as plasma-potential fluctuations while disregarding temperature effects is not justified near the separatrix of hot fusion plasmas. Here, floating potential measurements lead to corrupted results on the ExB dynamics of turbulent structures in the context of, e.g., turbulent particle and momentum transport or instability identification on the basis of density-potential phase relations

Towards Higher Quality Internal and Outside Multilingualization of Web Sites

International audienceThe multilingualization of Web sites with high quality is increasingly important, but is unsolvable in most situations where internal quality certification is needed, and not solved in the majority of other situations. We demonstrate it by analyzing a variety of techniques to make the underlying software easily localizable and to manage the translation of textual content in the classical internal mode, that is by modifying the language-dependent resources. A new idea is that volunteer final users should be able to contribute to the improvement oreven production of translated resources and content. For this, we have developed a PHP piece of code which naive webmasters (not computer scientists nor professional translators) can add to a Web site to enable internal multilingualization by users with enough access rights: in management mode, these users can edit the texts of titles, button labels, messages, etc. in text areas appearing in context in the Web page. If Web site developers follow some recommendations, all textual interface elements should be localizable in this way. Another angle of attack, applicable in all cases where navigating a site though a gateway is possible, consists in replacing the problem of diffusion by the problem of access in multiple lang uages. We introduce the concept of iMAG (interactive Multilingual Access Gateway, dedicated to a Web site or domain) to solve the problem of higher quality multilingual access. First, by using available MT systems or by default morphological processors and bilingual dictionaries, any page of an elected website is made instantly accessible in many languages, with a generally low quality profile, as through usual translation gateways. Over time, the quality profile of textual GUI elements, Web pages and even documents (if accessible in html) will improve thanks to outside contributors, who will post-edit or produce the translations from the reading context. This is only possible because the iMAG associated to the website stores the translations in its translation memory (TM) and the contributed dictionary items it its dictionary. The TM has quality levels, according to the users' profiles, and scores within levels. An API will be proposed so that the developers of the elected website can connect their to its iMAG, retrieve the best level translations, certify them if necessary, and put them in their localized resources. At that point, external localization meets internal localization

Relationships of Children with Autism Spectrum Disorders and their Fathers

This phenomenological study investigated the relationships between 7 fathers and their sons with autism spectrum disorder (ASD). Seven major themes emerged: Shared Activities, Developmental Sensitivity, Emotional Understanding, Fighting the Label, Fatherhood Expectations, Parent Responsibility, and Fatherhood Isolation. Fathers were sensitive to their sons’ emotional needs and developmental milestones. Clinicians can help fathers to develop appropriate relationships with their children that involve shared activities. Clinicians can also assist fathers in coping with isolation and expectations regarding fatherhood, developing desired fatherhood roles, and finding appropriate shared activities with their children

Causality detection and turbulence in fusion plasmas

This work explores the potential of an information-theoretical causality detection method for unraveling the relation between fluctuating variables in complex nonlinear systems. The method is tested on some simple though nonlinear models, and guidelines for the choice of analysis parameters are established. Then, measurements from magnetically confined fusion plasmas are analyzed. The selected data bear relevance to the all-important spontaneous confinement transitions often observed in fusion plasmas, fundamental for the design of an economically attractive fusion reactor. It is shown how the present method is capable of clarifying the interaction between fluctuating quantities such as the turbulence amplitude, turbulent flux, and Zonal Flow amplitude, and uncovers several interactions that were missed by traditional methods.Comment: 26 pages, 14 figure

Four years of experience in the use of multidetector computer tomography in pancreas transplantation: a lesson learned together with surgeons

Objetivo. Conocer la anatomía normal posquirúrgica del paciente con trasplante de páncreas en tomografía computada multidetector (TCMD) y describir las complicaciones más frecuentes. Revisión de tema. El trasplante pancreático ha aumentado en los últimos años como estrategia terapéutica en pacientes diabéticos, siendo en la actualidad el único tratamiento eventualmente curativo. Según cifras del Instituto Nacional Central Único Coordinador de Ablación e Implante (INCUCAI), en el 2001 se realizaron 9 trasplantes renopancreáticos/pancreáticos, mientras que en el 2011 se practicaron 74. Esto nos obliga como radiólogos a conocer la anatomía normal posquirúrgica y a aprender a identificar las complicaciones más frecuentes. Los métodos imagenológicos utilizados son la ecografía/Doppler, la tomografía computada multidetector (TCMD), la angiografía convencional y la resonancia magnética (RM). En pacientes con buena función renal y ecografía no concluyente, para categorizar las complicaciones, la evaluación por tomografía computada multidetector es el paso siguiente. En nuestro hospital se realizaron 25 trasplantes pancreáticos en el período 2008-2012. Durante el posoperatorio, en 19 de ellos se sospecharon, por clínica o ecografía, complicaciones (a 15 de los cuales se les realizó tomografía computada). Conociendo la técnica quirúrgica, describimos la anatomía normal y desarrollamos las complicaciones posquirúrgicas más frecuentes: vasculares (trombosis, fístula arteriovenosa, pseudoaneurisma) y no vasculares (pancreatitis, fístulas pancreáticas, colecciones, neumoperitoneo, íleo). Conclusión. La tomografía computada multidetector es un método de gran utilidad al momento de evaluar pacientes con trasplante pancreático. Un conocimiento cabal de la particular anatomía posquirúrgica y sus posibles complicaciones es crucial para el radiólogo, con el fin de orientar el seguimiento y tratamiento de estos pacientes.Purpose. To gain knowledge of normal postoperative findings on Multidetector Computed Tomography (MDCT) in patients with pancreas transplant and describe the most frequent complications. Topic review. Pancreatic transplantation is currently the only definitive treatment for diabetic patients. In recent years, its use has increased as therapeutic strategy. According to the INCUCAI, in 2001 9 transplants were performed, increasing to 74 in 2011. This increase creates a need for radiologists to gain knowledge of the normal postoperative anatomy and learn to identify the most frequent postoperative complications. The imaging methods used are Doppler / ultrasound, MDCT, conventional angiography and MRI. In patients with good renal function in whom ultrasound is not diagnostic for characterization of complications, the next step is MDCT. At our hospital, 25 pancreatic transplants were performed in 2008-2012. Postoperative complications were suspected clinically or by ultrasound in 19 of them. Fifteen of them were evaluated by CT for further characterization Imaging findings or procedure details. As we learn the surgical techniques that were performed, normal images are described, allowing a correct interpretation of MDCT findings in these patients. The most common post operative complications were: - Vascular: thrombosis, arteriovenous fistula, pseudoaneurysm - Non vascular: pancreatitis, pancreatic fistulas, collections, pneumoperitoneum, ileus. Conclusion: MDCT is a useful method for assessing patients with pancreas transplantation. A clear understanding of the unique anatomy and possible postoperative complications is crucial for the radiologist to guide the monitoring and treatment of this patient.Fil: Paladín, Hugo José. Fundación Favaloro; ArgentinaFil: Neira Sepúlveda, Angela Patricia. Fundación Favaloro; ArgentinaFil: González, Maria Bernardina. Fundación Favaloro; ArgentinaFil: Ramisch, Diego. Fundación Favaloro; ArgentinaFil: Gondolesi, Gabriel Eduardo. Fundación Favaloro; Argentina. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas; ArgentinaFil: Haberman, Diego Mariano. Fundación Favaloro; Argentin

Arsenite sorption and co-precipitation with calcite

Sorption of As(III) by calcite was investigated as a function of As(III) concentration, time and pH. The sorption isotherm, i.e. the log As(III) vs. log [As(OH)3 degrees / Assat] plot is S-shaped and has been modelled on an extended version of the surface precipitation model. At low concentrations, As(OH)3 degrees is adsorbed by complexation to surface Ca surface sites, as previously described by the X-ray standing wave technique. The inflexion point of the isotherm, where As(OH)3 degrees is limited by the amount of surface sites (ST), yields 6 sites nm-2 in good agreement with crystallographic data. Beyond this value, the amount of sorbed arsenic increases linearly with solution concentration, up to the saturation of arsenic with respect to the precipitation of CaHAsO3(s). The solid solutions formed in this concentration range were examined by X-ray and neutron diffraction. The doped calcite lattice parameters increase with arsenic content while c/a ratio remains constant. Our results made on bulk calcite on the atomic displacement of As atoms along [0001] direction extend those published by Cheng et al., (1999) on calcite surface. This study provides a molecular-level explanation for why As(III) is trapped by calcite in industrial treatments.Comment: 9 page

Indicators of soil quality: a South-South development of a methdological guide for linking local and technical knowledge

The increasing attention paid to local soil knowledge results from a greater recognition that farmer knowledge can offer many insights into the sustainable management of tropical soils and that the integration of local and technical knowledge systems helps extension workers and scientists work more closely with farmers. A participatory approach and a methodological guide were developed to identify and classify local indicators of soil quality and relate them to technical soil parameters, and thus develop a common language between farmers, extension workers and scientists. This methodological guide was initially developed and used in Latin America and the Caribbean-LAC (Honduras, Nicaragua, Colombia, Peru, Venezuela, Dominican Republic), and was later improved during adaptation and use in eastern African (Uganda, Tanzania, Kenya, Ethiopia) through a South–South exchange of expertise and experiences. The aim of the methodological guide is to constitute an initial step in the empowerment of local communities to develop a local soil quality monitoring and decision-making system for better management of soil resources. This approach uses consensus building to develop practical solutions to soil management constraints identified, as well as to monitor the impact of management strategies implemented to address these constraints. The particular focus on local and technical indicators of agroecosystem change is useful for providing farmers with early warnings about unobservable changes in soil properties before they lead to more serious and visible forms of soil degradation. The methodological approach presented here constitutes one tool to incorporate local demands and perceptions of soil management constraints as an essential input to relevant research for development activities. The participatory process followed was effective in facilitating farmer consensus; for example, about which soil related constraints were most important and what potential soil management options could be used. Development of local capacities for consensus building constitute a critical step prior to collective action by farming communities resulting in the adoption of integrated soil fertility management strategies at the farm and landscape scale