A participatory methodology for large scale field trials in the UK

Farmer participation was essential in developing a uniquely useful set of wheat variety trials data on a wide range of organic farms over two years. Although the trials were successful, it became clear that some of the participating farmers felt there were some limitations in the process. These included a lack of ownership in the project and a concern for more researcher help. It was clear that a greater time in-vestment was needed at the start of the project to help with farmer understanding and ownership. De-spite the negative comments, farmers appreciated their involvement, particularly in contrasting their own views and information with that from the wider scene. Farmer participation is essential for systems-level research and this project helped to develop a small core of trained farmers and researchers

A participatory approach to variety trials for organic systems

A participatory research methodology was used to compare the performance of UK wheat varieties under organic conditions. Plots of three breadmaking winter wheat varieties (Hereward, Solstice and Xi19) and a mixture (1:1:1) of the varieties were grown at 19 UK farms in two seasons (2003/04 and 2004/05). Meas-urements were taken of growth habit, yield and grain quality. Grain yields in both seasons showed significant site by variety interactions, although the variation among sites was greater than among varieties in both instances. Wheat grown at Western sites was significantly shorter and higher-yielding than that grown at Eastern sites in 2003/04 but significantly taller in 2004/05. As with grain yield, greater variation among site than variety was found in the Hagberg Falling Number and protein concentra-tion results in both seasons. The results from the two years of trials illustrate the variability of organic systems and the difficulty in selecting a single variety suitable for organic farms

Chinese Energy Security: The Myth of the PLAN\u27s Frontline Status

This monograph examines the dynamics of China’s energy security dilemma and the role of the People’s Liberation Army Navy (PLAN). Following this, PLAN development is discussed and its future role in regional security is hypothesized. This report argues that it is domestic market inefficiencies and poor management practices that pose the greatest threat to China’s energy security. Further, less and less of Chinese energy imports are making their way to the country by sea, and as such, the PLAN actually has a minimal role to play. Given these realities, Chinese fears of a naval blockade that deprives it of energy supplies, and American confidence that this is a realistic strategic option in the event of hostilities are implausible. In addition, Beijing’s desire to develop aircraft carriers and other high-tech naval capabilities, combined with its contribution to the anti-piracy mission in the Gulf of Aden, have led many analysts to erroneously conclude that China seeks to engage in global power projection like the United States. However, the focus of the PLAN will remain regional and on asymmetric capabilities, namely the effective use of submarines and other undersea “unknowns” that ultimately seek to deter American and possible Japanese involvement in a conflict over Taiwan and/or maritime features in the South China Sea, such as the Spratly Islands, which China views as inalienable parts of its territory. Although China’s interests are expanding and becoming more international in nature, recovering from the Century of Humiliation and ensuring domestic legitimacy remain the top priorities of China’s leadership.https://press.armywarcollege.edu/monographs/1344/thumbnail.jp

Lashkar-I-Taiba: The Fallacy of Subservient Proxies and the Future of Islamist Terrorism in India

A discussion of the foundation of Lashkar-i-Taiba (LeT), the development of its modus operandi, and engages in an investigation of LeT’s activities in India, Pakistan, and the Kashmir region are discussed. Further, LeT’s fundraising methods are touched upon, and LeT’s relationships with regional state and nonstate actors such as Pakistan’s Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) and Dawood Ibrahim’s D-Company are analyzed. Also, the impact that these developments have on domestic Islamist terrorism in India are addressed. The author argues that although LeT has been a vital component of Islamabad’s regional strategy in the past, the organization has grown beyond the control of its former patron, is largely self-sufficient and operates independently of the political process, and has expanded its agenda well beyond Kashmir. These developments challenge the long-held notion that irregulars can be sustainably used to achieve limited objectives in an asymmetric conflict and should serve as a clear warning to other state sponsors of terrorism. However, contrary to many analyses, LeT is not likely to sacrifice its independence and come under Al-Qaeda’s umbrella. Rather, LeT will continue to evolve into a distinctive, South Asia-centric terrorist actor in its own right while still receiving aid from fringe elements in Pakistan’s security and intelligence apparatus and elsewhere. This will not only allow LeT to continue to plan future Mumbai-style terrorist attacks in India from safe havens in Pakistan, but will also allow LeT to guide and assist the predominantly indigenous Indian Mujahideen (IM).https://press.armywarcollege.edu/monographs/1347/thumbnail.jp

Structure and superconductivity of LiFeAs

The lithium ions in Lithium iron arsenide phases with compositions close to LiFeAs have been located using powder neutron diffraction. These phases exhibit superconductivity at temperatures at least as high as 16 K demonstrating that superconductivity in compounds with [FeAs]- anti-PbO-type anionic layers occurs in compounds with at least three different structure types and occurs for a wide range of As-Fe-As bond angles.Comment: 3 pages, 3 figures, 3 table

Regularity of solutions to higher-order integrals of the calculus of variations

We obtain new regularity conditions for problems of calculus of variations with higher-order derivatives. As a corollary, we get non-occurrence of the Lavrentiev phenomenon. Our main regularity result asserts that autonomous integral functionals with a Lagrangian having coercive partial derivatives with respect to the higher-order derivatives admit only minimizers with essentially bounded derivatives

Integrating Traditional Research-Journal Based Sources with Trade and Web-Based Sources in Coursework

Due to the rapidly changing nature of telecommunications, it is challenging to be able to introduce timely topics into this curriculum. At the same time, educators are challenged with preparing students to function in the workplace where change is a given, as on average workers spend an average of 9.25 hours per week looking for or analyzing data [4]. Initiatives to keep instruction relevant and prepare students to be information literate mandate that students be able to discover, digest, and put into context new information about technologies. This skill is developed and enhanced through the use of research projects. This work describes the reengineering of the traditional research paper project for a telecommunications course

Elm Farm Organic Research Centre Bulletin 83 April 2006

Regular bulleting with technical updates from Organic Advisory Service Issue contains: Testing for Tolerance - a pragmatic view GM Debate Vaccination nation - to jab or not to jab Future shape of OCIS Evolutionary wheat makes the grade? NIAB tracks health of organic cereal seed Stopping erosion of soil quality - the organic way Care needed to halt butterfly collapse Aspects of poultry behaviour: How free range is free range? On choosing an organic wheat A local education challenge New Wakelyns Science Building Organic vegetable market growt