Thinking with Disaster

The Foreigner’s Home is a compelling and poetic film that explores two central concepts in Toni Morrison’s work; the foreigner and the home. The film starts with footage from 2006 when Ms. Morrison was invited by the Louvre in Paris to curate an exhibition. With the same title, The Foreigner's Home, Ms. Morrison decided to put the focus of the exhibition on the pain of exile and displacement. Engaging footage of the exhibition, intertwining with Ms. Morrison’s words, and animations, the film eloquently poses fundamental questions of our time: Who is the foreigner? How long does a foreigner remain a foreigner? Who decides what the foreignness is in a person? What, rather than where, is a home? What is the relationship between houselessness (lacking lodging) and homelessness (existential or politically imposed unbelonging)? Throughout the film Toni Morrison’s words and visions engage us into a conversation which is vital to understanding: ‘what does it mean to be human?

Cosmic Strings Collision in Cosmological Backgrounds

The collisions of cosmic strings loops and the dynamics of junctions formations in expanding backgrounds are studied. The key parameter controlling the dynamics of junctions formation, the cosmic strings zipping and unzipping is the relative size of the loops compared to the Hubble expansion rate at the time of collision. We study analytically and numerically these processes for large super-horizon size loops, for small sub-horizon size loops as well as for loops with the radii comparable to the Hubble expansion rate at the time of collision.Comment: 24 pages, 13 figure

Zipping and Unzipping of Cosmic String Loops in Collision

In this paper the collision of two cosmic string loops is studied. After collision junctions are formed and the loops are entangled. We show that after their formation the junctions start to unzip and the loops disentangle. This analysis provides a theoretical understanding of the unzipping effect observed in numerical simulations of a network of cosmic strings with more than one type of cosmic strings. The unzipping phenomena have important effects in the evolution of cosmic string networks when junctions are formed upon collision, such as in a network of cosmic superstrings.Comment: references added, typos corrected, PRD versio

Screening of Organic Substrates for Solid-State Fermentation, Viability and Bioefficacy of Trichoderma harzianum AS12-2, a Biocontrol Strain Against Rice Sheath Blight Disease

The present study was undertaken to find the most suitable organic substrates for the biomass production, viability and efficacy of the biocontrol strain Trichoderma harzianum AS12-2 in the solid-state fermentation system. In total, 13 inexpensive, locally available substrates (agricultural wastes or by-products) were inoculated with the antagonist, and following one month of incubation at room temperature, all colonized substrates were air dried and ground to powder. The shelf life and viability of the Trichoderma strain were assessed as colony-forming units per gram (CFUs g−1) of each substrate on a monthly basis for up to one year at room temperature (25 ± 2 °C) and in the refrigerator (4 °C). In order to find out the effect of the substrate on the bioefficacy of T. harzianum AS12-2, the biocontrol potential of the formulations was evaluated against rice sheath blight disease caused by Rhizoctonia solani. The results showed that the fungus colonized more or less all substrates after one month, although the degree of colonization and conidiation was different among the substrates, being especially high in broom sorghum grain, rice husk, rice straw, rice bran and sugar beet pulp. Analysis of variance (ANOVA) of the population in the substrates in “Month 0” showed that the effect of treatment was significant, and the means were significantly different. The maximum population was recorded for broom sorghum grain and rice straw (6.4 × 1010 and 5.3 × 1010 CFUs g−1, respectively). The population declined in all substrates after one year of incubation at room temperature. This decline was relatively smaller in broom sorghum grain, rice straw and rice husk. On the other hand, the population in the same substrate incubated in the refrigerator was decreased in a mild slope, and the final population was high. In addition, the results of greenhouse assay showed that all bioformulations were effective in controlling the disease, and there were no significant differences among the substrates. According to the results of this study, broom sorghum grain, rice husk, rice straw, sugar beet pulp and cow dung could be recommended as suitable fermentation media for the industrial-scale production of T. harzianum strains

Biological control of rice sheath blight disease with formulation of indigenous Trichoderma strains under paddy field conditions

The effectiveness of indigenous Trichoderma strains in preventing sheath blight disease was evaluated during two growing seasons under paddy field conditions. Broom sorghum seeds were used for mass production of Trichoderma strains. Colonized seeds were ground to powder and mixed with talc and carboxymethyl cellulose. Suspensions were made from the bioformulations and sprayed onto rice plants. Effects of Trichoderma strains on disease incidence and severity as well as yield and other growth parameters were determined and compared with a chemical fungicide and a commercial biofungicide. A combined analysis of variance across two years was performed and a statistically significant effect of year, treatment and their interaction was reported. Results indicate that environmental factors and different biological fungicides had a strong effect on disease development under natural conditions. According to the results, propiconazole and T. harzianum AS12-2 resulted in the least disease severity and incidence. Overall, the efficacy of T. harzianum AS12-2 in reducing sheath blight development was significantly better than other Trichoderma treatments and was comparable to the conventional fungicide

The relative contribution of applied inputs of rapeseed (Brassica napus L.) agro-ecosystem on environmental factors

In this study, the environmental impacts of rapeseed production were studied using the SimaPro software. The initial data were collected from 30 farmers in the Alborz Province by face-to-face questionnaire method. The selected functional unit (FU) was one Mton-1 rapeseed production. Five environmental indices were evaluated, including the potential of abiotic depletion, acidification, eutrophication, global warming and ozone layer depletion. To produce each ton of rapeseed, 84 kg of nitrogen, 63 kg of phosphate, 63 kg of potassium, 133.5 l of diesel fuel and 586 kW of electricity were used. Also, the CO2, CO, N2O and NOX (different types of oxides of nitrogen) emissions were about 361, 4.1, 11.5 and 4.8 kg per ton of rapeseed respectively. The results indicate that the global warming potential amounts to 1629.52 kg CO2 eq. Also, the acidification and eutrophication potentials were found to be 8.31 kg SO2 eq. and 2.73 kg PO4 eq. respectively. It was also revealed that the chemical fertilizers had the highest contribution among the evaluated inputs within the rapeseed growing period. Overall, this study showed that reducing the consumption of chemical fertilizers, especially nitrogen-based ones, is important for reducing environmental footprints in rapeseed production