The mineralization of commercial organic fertilizers at 8°C temperature

In organic production only organic fertilizers and soil conditioners can be used to supply the soil with nitrogen. The mineralization of these products is slow and so there can be problems with the supply of nitrogen, when the demand of the plants is high. The supply of nitrogen from organic products depends on the speed of their mineralization which is primarily influenced by the composition and formulation of their raw material. In apple production in the Alps-region especially during spring problems with nitrogen supply are common. In that period, the weather conditions are sometimes bad, the temperature in the soil is low and mineralization starts slowly - apple trees demand more nitrogen than the soil can deliver. To compensate the demand of the apple tree organic growers can not use mineral fertilizers but only organic fertilizers and soil conditioners whose mineralization rate is often unknown. There is a strong need in organic fruit production to receive more information about the behaviour of fertilizers in the soil especially concerning their N-release under different conditions. To acquire that information, incubation experiments under controlled conditions (temperature, type of soil, humidity of the soil) were carried out in the laboratory to determine the mineralization-rate of different organic fertilizers and soil conditioners which are available in our region

Health worker performance, practice and improvement

Health worker performance is a complex and contested concept. The World Health Report defines health worker performance as a composite function of health worker availability, competence, productivity and responsiveness (World Health Organization (WHO), 2006). A well-performing health workforce is thus one that “works in ways that are responsive, fair and efficient to achieve the best health outcomes possible, given the available resources and circumstances” (WHO, 2006, p. 67). This inclusive definition factors in both technical and relational aspects of health worker performance and forms a touchstone for this chapter’s examination of different approaches to performance measurement and evaluation. Nonetheless, this chapter clearly distinguishes health worker performance from the related concept of quality, viewing quality of care as the product of concurrent and synergistic actions to ensure effective, efficient, equitable, patient-centred and timely care (Institute of Medicine, 2001). Health worker performance is thus a critical and necessary – but not sufficient or always dominant – component of overall quality of care

The Lancet global health commission on high quality health systems—where's the complexity?

[Extract] The Lancet Global Health Commission on High Quality Health Systems in the Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) Era (HQSS Commission).1 The launch draws attention to the fact that high quality health care, rather than just access to health care, will be necessary to meet the health-related SDGs. The Commission aims to address the lack of an “agreed upon single definition” of high quality health systems and produce “science-led, multidisciplinary, actionable work with […] measurable indicators”. But phrases like single definition and measurable indicators in the context of an exercise seeking to strengthen quality in highly variable health systems in low-income and middle-income countries (LMICs) should raise red flags

Geographic distribution of genetic variation in ten species of North American forest birds: island endemism and transcontinental ranges

Thesis (M.S.) University of Alaska Fairbanks, 2008Comparative genetic studies of geographically co-occurring species can lend insight into current and historic relationships among populations and species. This enables examination of similarities and differences among species and provides information about historic processes leading to current genetic and geographic distributions. I used this approach to study two different types of avian co-distribution: island endemism and transcontinental ranges. The Queen Charlotte Islands (QCI), Canada, have many endemic subspecies; historically it may have been a glacial refugium. I used genetic analyses to determine subspecies uniqueness and to identify units of conservation for five species, four with endemic QCI subspecies. I found that QCI populations were genetically differentiated from mainland populations, although each species had a different isolation history, and that QCI is an important area for avian conservation and management. East-to-west genetic splits across North America are seen in vertebrates and may be the result of Pleistocene glacial cycles. Five migratory thrushes successfully colonized northern North America. They have overlapping transcontinental ranges and similar ecological niches in woodland communities. I used genetics to determine how these thrushes established continent-wide ranges. Despite their ecological and distributional similarities these five thrush species had different patterns of colonization across North America.1. Genetic patterns of differentiation among five landbird species from the Queen Charlotte Islands, British Columbia -- 1.1. Abstract -- 1.2. Introduction -- 1.3. Methods -- Sampling -- Mitochondrial DNA -- Phyogenetic analyses -- Population structure and differentiation -- Divergence levels -- 1.4. Results -- Haplotype variation and networks -- Phylogenetic patterns -- Genetic differentiation -- Divergence levels -- 1.5. Discussion -- Differentiation -- Patterns across species -- Conservation and management -- 1.6. Acknowledgements -- 1.7. Literature cited -- Figures -- Tables -- Appendix I -- 2. How migratory thrushes conquered northern North America : a community genetics approach -- 2.1. Abstract -- 2.2. Introduction -- 2.3. Methods -- Sampling and mtDNA sequencing -- Summary statistics and haplotype networks -- Phylogenetic analysis -- Historic population changes -- Coalescent analyses -- Testing divergence hypotheses -- 2.4. Results -- Genetic variation -- Phylogenetic patterns -- Historic population changes -- Coalescent analyses -- Testing divergence hypotheses -- 2.5. Discussion -- Colonization of North America -- Patterns shared with other vertebrates -- Divergences among thrushes -- Conclusion -- 2.6. Acknowledgements -- 2.7. Literature cited -- Figures -- Tables -- Appendix 2 -- Conclusions -- Island endemics -- Transcontinental ranges

Power and politics: the case for linking resilience to health system governance

[Extract:] Since the watershed moment of the 2014 Ebola epidemic in West Africa and again in the midst of the current COVID-19 crisis, the concept of health system resilience has been a recurring theme in global health discussions.1 2 Although most frequently used in the context of epidemic response, resilience has also been framed as a ‘key pillar’ of health,3 and invoked in high-level calls for countries to ‘lead the work on building health system resilience’.4 Yet, as the authors of one of several recent reviews observed, the concept of health systems resilience remains ‘highly confusing’ and ‘still polysemic’.5 What it means ‘depends on one’s perception, one’s discipline, one’s function and what one wants to achieve’.5 In this editorial, I will, from the perspective of a health policy and systems researcher, draw out and reflect on some of these tensions, and make some suggestions about how we might achieve greater clarit

Indicator systems - resource use in organic systems

A balanced use of resources within organic farming systems is required to maintain sustainable systems. Hence, it is essential to have tools that can assess the use of resources within the farming system and their impact on the environment. The range of tools that have been developed include those assessing local farm-scale issues together with those that assess impacts at the global scale. At the global scale assessments are usually made on the basis of a unit of product whereas at the local scale assessments can also be made on an area basis. In addition, the tools also assess a variety of issues, e.g. biodiversity, pollution potential, energy and water use. The level of detail required for the different assessment tools differs substantially; nevertheless it is essential that the indicator systems developed are based on sound knowledge, are acceptable to the farmers and can guide their future actions

Translating, Contexting, and Institutionalising Knowledge Translation Practices in Northern Australia: Some Reflections; Comment on “Sustaining Knowledge Translation Practices: A Critical Interpretive Synthesis”

In this commentary, we reflect on how the three processes of translating, contexting, and institutionalising knowledge translation (KT) practices, as introduced in a critical interpretive synthesis on sustaining KT, might be drawn on to improve KT sustainability in the northern Australian health system, and some likely challenges. The synthesis provides a useful reminder that health systems are social systems and offers an analytical framework against which to map approaches that aim to align knowledge production and utilisation. By positioning “places” of knowledge utilisation and actor roles and networks as key to KT sustainability, the framework also offers the potential to draw attention to non-clinical settings, actors, and relationships that are central to improving health, but that may be historically neglected in KT research and scholarship

Adaptation with robustness: the case for clarity on the use of 'resilience' in health systems and global health

[Extract] In the last 3 years, the concept of resilience has received much attention in the health systems and global health literature, triggered by the Ebola outbreak in West Africa (which, in 2014, exposed a lack of health system and global health resilience) and followed in 2016 by the Global Symposium on Health Systems Research (with the theme ‘Resilient and responsive health systems in a changing world’). Resilience has been widely embraced in the literature,1–5 and also by the immediate past6 and current7 WHO Director General. BMJ Global Health has also published several reports applying the concept of resilience to how health systems respond to acute shocks and chronic stress

Call for papers-the Alma Ata Declaration at 40: reflections on primary healthcare in a new era

[Extract] The Declaration of AlmaAta was a watershed moment in global health. Indeed, in the four decades since its launch, there is a sense in which all declarations or communiques issued at global health conferences have been aiming for comparable historical impact. Launched in 1978 at the International Conference on Primary HealthCare, the declaration called for 'Health for All by the Year 2000 and promoted comprehen-sive primary healthcare as the preferred back-bone of national health systems alongside a number of other key elements including an emphasis on global cooperation and peace; a new economic order to underpin it; acknowledgement of the social determinants of health; involvement of all sectors in the promotion of health; community participation in planning, implementation and regulation of primary healthcare; and a focus on achieving equity in health status. In totality, these elements—which became known as the 'primary healthcare approach' —flagged a paradigm shift away from the medical model of health planning and service delivery and towards a 'social model' with an emphasis on addressing social determinants of health via intersectoral public health and preventive strategies based on local ownership and community participation