5,504 research outputs found
Tropical and Subtropical Maize in Asia: Production Systems, Constraints, and Research Priorities
This book examines future technological and policy prospects for the sustainable intensification of rainfed upland maize production in Asia, and derives R&D priorities for specific maize production environments and markets. Village-level and farmer-group surveys were conducted to characterize upland maize production environments and systems in China, India, Indonesia, Nepal, the Philippines, Thailand, and Vietnam. Survey findings, particularly farmer-identified constraints to maize production, complemented with other relevant data, were used in country-level, R&D priority-setting workshops. High on the list of farmer constraints was drought, estimated to affect three production environments that are home to about 48 million rural poor and produce an estimated 16 million tons of maize, and others such as downy mildew, stem borers, soil erosion/landslides, waterlogging, poor agricultural extension/ technology transfer services, and poor access to low-interest credit and markets. Farmers felt that socioeconomic and policy-related constraints impact maize productivity more than technical constraints do. It is important to recognize that technology is not the only key to increasing productivity and bettering the conditions of marginal maize farmers in Asia. There is a growing trend towards commercializing and intensifying maize production that is different from the staple food self-sufficiency paradigm that has been the cornerstone of agricultural policy in most developing countries. Appropriate government policies could help alleviate the adverse consequences of commercialization and promote sustainable intensification of maize production, especially in marginal environments inhabited by resource-poor subsistence farmersMaize, Agricultural development, Farming systems, Production policies, Environmental factors, Cropping systems, Research projects, Project management, Asia, Crop Production/Industries, E10,
Towards Reduced Pesticide Use for Cereal Crops in Asia
Several opportunities are available for dramatically reducing the use of agrochemicals in Asian cereal crop production. The first section of this paper summarizes past trends and future prospects for pesticide use in Asia for the three major cereal crops: rice, wheat, and maize. The second section identifies factors that have contributed to rising farm-level demand for pesticides and factors that could lead to a reduction in their demand. The third section highlights the advances that have been made in generating and disseminating cereal crops with resistance to insects and diseases. It focuses on conventional breeding strategies for host-plant resistance as well as the current and potential contributions of biotechnology. Pesticide productivity, yield variability, and their relation to host-plant resistance are reviewed, along with evidence from trials and farmers' fields. The paper concludes with a discussion of the integrated management approaches that will be necessary for maximizing and sustaining the productivity gains offered by resistant varieties.Crop Production/Industries,
Maize in the Philippines: Production Systems, Constraints, and Research Priorities
Crop Production/Industries,
Putting Women's Health Care Disparities on the Map: Examining Racial and Ethnic Disparities at the State Level
Assesses the racial/ethnic disparities in women's health status, access to and utilization of health care, and social factors such as poverty and gender wage gap by state. Examines how healthcare payment and worker shortages affect access to care
Maize in India: Production Systems, Constraints, and Research Priorities
Crop Production/Industries, Research and Development/Tech Change/Emerging Technologies,
Sex Selection and Technology In the United States: Is It Playing GOD?
Preferences for selecting male firstborn children have been well established through research in countries such as India, China, and the Middle East. The effects of this phenomenon have been devastating to these populations’ sex ratios and have led to a number of violent crimes against women. The number of participants who indicated a willingness to use sex selection technology (8%) was too small to calculate any relationship between potential users and firstborn sex preference.https://engagedscholarship.csuohio.edu/u_poster_2012/1033/thumbnail.jp
Effects of virtual acoustics on dynamic auditory distance perception
Sound propagation encompasses various acoustic phenomena including
reverberation. Current virtual acoustic methods, ranging from parametric
filters to physically-accurate solvers, can simulate reverberation with varying
degrees of fidelity. We investigate the effects of reverberant sounds generated
using different propagation algorithms on acoustic distance perception, i.e.,
how faraway humans perceive a sound source. In particular, we evaluate two
classes of methods for real-time sound propagation in dynamic scenes based on
parametric filters and ray tracing. Our study shows that the more accurate
method shows less distance compression as compared to the approximate,
filter-based method. This suggests that accurate reverberation in VR results in
a better reproduction of acoustic distances. We also quantify the levels of
distance compression introduced by different propagation methods in a virtual
environment.Comment: 8 Pages, 7 figure
Maize in Indonesia: Production Systems, Constraints, and Research Priorities
Crop Production/Industries, Research and Development/Tech Change/Emerging Technologies,
Surface Acoustic Wave Single-Electron Interferometry
We propose an experiment to observe interference of a single electron as it
is transported along two parallel quasi-one-dimensional channels trapped in a
single minimum of a travelling periodic electric field. The experimental device
is a modification of the surface acoustic wave (SAW) based quantum processor.
Interference is achieved by creating a superposition of spatial wavefunctions
between the two channels and inducing a relative phase shift via either a
transverse electric field or a magnetic field. The interference can be used to
estimate the decoherence time of an electron in this type of solid-state
device
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