Local agency, adaptation and the shadow system: The institutional architecture of social learning in rural areas of the UK and India

Rural communities across the world face at times a range of environmental, social and economic pressures that threaten their viability in their current form. The ability of local actors to exercise agency in response to potential and emerging threats is of key interest in understanding their capacity to adapt. This paper argues that top-down narratives which focus on canonical organisations and formal institutions are at best a partial account of rural adaptation. More attention needs to be paid to the shadow system, the web of informal and often hidden relationships that permeate public and private life. In the organisational and institutional literature, shadow systems have been discounted as either too complex to be tractable or an inevitable source of corruption and nepotism. Two case studies are presented to establish that neither claim is inexorably true: (i) the adaptation of dairy farmers to market and climate change in Carmarthenshire, South Wales and (ii) NGO mediation of community/state interaction in Tamilnadu, South India. In conclusion, some theoretical and methodological themes are highlighted for further research. These hold the potential to enable a better understanding of the shadow system, and its potential and pitfalls as a site of local agency in rural adaptation. Acnowledgements: This paper draws on learning from two research projects: (i) 'Rapid climate change in the UK: towards an institutional theory of adaptation', funded by the UK Economic and Social Science Research Council's Environment and Human Behaviour Programme, and (ii) 'Thaan Vuzha Nilam Tharisu: The land without a farmer becomes barren', carried out by SPEECH, a Tamil NGO, as part of a larger International Institute for Environment and Development research programme – 'Policies that Work for Sustainable Agriculture and Regenerating Rural Economies.� The authors gratefully acknowledge the financial and institutional assistance that made this research possible

Influence of Seaweed Liquid Fertilizer on Growth and Biochemical Characteristics of Arachis hypogea L. under field trial

In the present study, an attempt has been made to investigate the effect of Seaweed Liquid Fertilizer (SLF) of the brown seaweed Sargassum wightii Grev. on the growth, biochemical and pigment characteristics of Arachis hypogea. The 1.0% concentration of water extract showed better results of growth parameters, biochemical and pigments constitutions. Combined effect of 1.0% SLF plus different proportions of recommended rate of chemical fertilizers were also made on A. hypogea. Among the different concentrations of SLF investigated, the plants that received with 1.0% SLF showed maximum fresh weight, dry weight, root and shoot length, number of branches, leaf area and content of total chlorophyll, chlorophyll a and b, protein, carbohydrate and lipid. Similarly the plants that applied with 1.0% SLF plus 25% recommended rate of chemical fertilizers showed enhanced characteristics. Arachis hypogea treated with 1.0% SLF of S. wightii plus 25% recommended rate of chemical fertilizers showed an increased the above parameters

Thaan Vuzha Nilam Tharisu: the land without a farmer becomes barren

This report forms a part of the international research project on policy and sustainable agriculture, Policies that Work for Sustainable Agriculture and Regenerated Rural Economies. The report details the findings of one of the constituent studies, undertaken by an Indian NGO, the Society for People's Education and Economic Change (SPEECH). The Importance of this project is that it concentrated on rainfed rather than irrigated agriculture - i.e. the sharp end of rural development in India, and that the focus was very much on the micro-level, looking at policy as seen from the ground. One of the recurring themes throughout the research was the importance of appreciating people as individuals, and in this spirit some of the personal qualities of the research team are shared. The research covers events in sites in the Virudhunagar district of Tamilnadu: Tiruchuli Panchayat Union and the Villur chain of tanks. This is an essentially rural area, where the need for sustainable forms of agriculture and rural livelihoods is clear. The political landscape is fractured and complex (§2.3), and the officials with the responsibility of implementing policy face significant obstacles and disincentives in doing so in response to the needs of local communities

Simulation and Analysis of Electro Mechanical Actuator with Position Control

In recent times, Electro-Mechanical Actuator (EMA) is widely employed in various aerospace applications because of its compactness, ease of maintenance, and cost efficiency. It attracts most of the researcher for simulation and performance analysis. It is very much important to study its control system behaviour. In general, EMA requires, three loop cascade control, but for aerospace application two loop cascade control is used for speed and position controls due to dynamic load changing requirement. Most research efforts on EMA system has used a transfer function model of all its subsystems. Nevertheless, this technique does not yield complete outcomes for analysing its performance. To analyse its performance and characteristics in dynamic condition, an experimental model is essential. In addition, this model needs to cater for analysing performance of different capacity EMA. The primary goal of this work is to simulate unique EMA model with position control using a practical data and analyse its performance. In this design, EMA is modelled by three-phase Brushless Direct Current (BLDC) motor, six-step commutation logic, a speed sensor (Tacho) and a position sensor using Linear Variable Differential Transformer (LVDT). Position and speed controls are handled by Proportional (P) and Proportional plus Integral (PI) controllers respectively. The process reaction curve method is used to tune the controllers. This tuning approach is adequate to enable accurate and robust speed and position control. This paper focus on the simulation and performance analysis of a practical EMA system with position and speed controls in matlab-simulink. The performance analysis results shows that simulated model characteristic is close to physical system and reliable

Tensile failure of blended spun yarns under dynamic condition: Part I –Yarn failure during warping

The failure behaviour of polyester/viscose blended ring, rotor and air-jet spun yarns has been studied on the basis of fibre failure coefficient, yarn broken end configuration and failure zone length. The failure behaviour of spun yarns under warping process is simulated in the dynamic tensile tester. The tensile failure behaviour of ring, rotor and air-jet yarns are found to be different owing to their difference in fibre consolidation mechanism. The yarn failure is observed to be more and more dominated by fibre slippage once moving from ring to rotor and finally to air-jet yarns. The study also reports mathematical modeling of spun yarn failure behaviour during warping process. The mathematical model indicates that the spun yarn failure is non-linearly related to yarn structural parameters

Effect of some feed filament parameters and weave on compressional properties of air-jet textured yarn fabrics

9-13The influence of some feed filament parameters and weave on compression and recovery behaviour of air-jet textured yarn fabrics has been studied and compared with their corresponding parent yarn fabrics. Fabric low load compression-recovery behaviour has been analysed by defining initial thickness, compression parameter, recovery parameter and resiliency. Fabrics made from coarser yarn (larger total yarn dtex) have higher initial thickness and compression parameter while lower recovery parameter and resiliency, as compared to fabrics made from finer yarn. Fabrics are woven with two woven structures, namely plain and twill weave to assess the effect of fabric structure on compression and recovery behaviour of the fabrics. Twill woven fabrics exhibit a higher value of all compressional parameters compared to their equivalent plain woven fabrics. Parent yarn fabrics exhibit a low value of all compressional properties, irrespective of change in any feed yarn characteristics as compared to their equivalent textured yarn fabrics

Effect of linear density of feed yarn filaments and air-jet texturing process variables on compressional properties of woven fabrics

The influence of yarn feed and process parameters used in the production of air-jet textured yarn on compression and recovery behavior of air-jet textured yarn fabric has been studied. Yarn linear density per filament and air-jet texturing process parameters, such as overfeed, air pressure and texturing speed are the key factors which influence yarn structure and hence fabric properties. The individual effect of feed yarn properties and air-jet process variables in the production of air-jet textured yarn has been studied in term of potential contribution and normalized regression coefficient on fabric low load compression behavior. Fabric low load compression-recovery behavior has been analyzed by defining compression parameter, recovery parameter and resiliency. Analysis shows that most dominating factor to explain the air-jet textured yarn fabric low-load compression properties is overfeed percentage, while linear density per filament is most dominating factor affecting fabric resiliency

Effect of some feed filament parameters and weave on compressional properties of air-jet textured yarn fabrics

The influence of some feed filament parameters and weave on compression and recovery behaviour of air-jet textured yarn fabrics has been studied and compared with their corresponding parent yarn fabrics. Fabric low load compression-recovery behaviour has been analysed by defining initial thickness, compression parameter, recovery parameter and resiliency. Fabrics made from coarser yarn (larger total yarn dtex) have higher initial thickness and compression parameter while lower recovery parameter and resiliency, as compared to fabrics made from finer yarn. Fabrics are woven with two woven structures, namely plain and twill weave to assess the effect of fabric structure on compression and recovery behaviour of the fabrics. Twill woven fabrics exhibit a higher value of all compressional parameters compared to their equivalent plain woven fabrics. Parent yarn fabrics exhibit a low value of all compressional properties, irrespective of change in any feed yarn characteristics as compared to their equivalent textured yarn fabrics

Effect of linear density of feed yarn filaments and air-jet texturing process variables on compressional properties of fabrics

Effect of filament fineness and process parameters employed in the production of air-jet textured yarns has been studied on the compression and recovery of union fabrics made from air-jet textured yarns as weft and twisted filament yarns as warp. Filament linear density and process parameters such as overfeed, air pressure and texturing speed affect the textured yarn structure and hence fabric properties. The individual effect of filament fineness and process variables in the production of air-jet textured yarn has been studied in terms of potential contribution and normalized regression coefficient on fabric low load compression behavior. Fabric low load compression-recovery behavior has been analyzed in terms of compression parameter, recovery parameter and resiliency. Analysis shows that most dominating factor to explain the low load compression properties of air-jet textured yarn fabric is overfeed percentage, while linear density per filament is most dominating factor affecting fabric resiliency

Optimization Study in Dunaliella salina EU5891200 Isolated in Salt pans of Tamil Nadu, South India

This study examined the effect of different pH, light intensity and different concentrations of NaNO3, NaH2PO4 and NaCl on the kinetics of growth, total carotenoids accumulated in Dunaliella salina EU5891200, a micro algal strain isolated from the salt pans of Tamil Nadu, South India. Results indicated that the highest amount of carotenoids detected grown at pH 8, 40 µEm-2s-1 light intensity had maximum production of total carotenoids. Lower salinity of 1.0 M NaCl favored high accumulation of total carotenoids. The amounts of total carotenoids recorded at 1.0 mM NaNO3 for D. salina had 20% more than the control. Phosphate was found to greatly influence the accumulation of total carotenoids (120.0µg/mL) in the isolate