Changes of traditional farming systems and their effects on land degradation and socio-economic conditions in the Inle Lake region, Myanmar

At many locations in Myanmar, ongoing changes in land use have negative environmental impacts and threaten natural ecosystems at local, regional and national scales. In particular, the watershed area of Inle Lake in eastern Myanmar is strongly affected by the environmental effects of deforestation and soil erosion caused by agricultural intensification and expansion of agricultural land, which are exacerbated by the increasing population pressure and the growing number of tourists. This thesis, therefore, focuses on land use changes in traditional farming systems and their effects on socio-economic and biophysical factors to improve our understanding of sustainable natural resource management of this wetland ecosystem. The main objectives of this research were to: (1) assess the noticeable land transformations in space and time, (2) identify the typical farming systems as well as the divergent livelihood strategies, and finally, (3) estimate soil erosion risk in the different agro-ecological zones surrounding the Inle Lake watershed area. GIS and remote sensing techniques allowed to identify the dynamic land use and land cover changes (LUCC) during the past 40 years based on historical Corona images (1968) and Landsat images (1989, 2000 and 2009). In this study, 12 land cover classes were identified and a supervised classification was used for the Landsat datasets, whereas a visual interpretation approach was conducted for the Corona images. Within the past 40 years, the main landscape transformation processes were deforestation (- 49%), urbanization (+ 203%), agricultural expansion (+ 34%) with a notably increase of floating gardens (+ 390%), land abandonment (+ 167%), and marshlands losses in wetland area (- 83%) and water bodies (- 16%). The main driving forces of LUCC appeared to be high population growth, urbanization and settlements, a lack of sustainable land use and environmental management policies, wide-spread rural poverty, an open market economy and changes in market prices and access. To identify the diverse livelihood strategies in the Inle Lake watershed area and the diversity of income generating activities, household surveys were conducted (total: 301 households) using a stratified random sampling design in three different agro-ecological zones: floating gardens (FG), lowland cultivation (LL) and upland cultivation (UP). A cluster and discriminant analysis revealed that livelihood strategies and socio-economic situations of local communities differed significantly in the different zones. For all three zones, different livelihood strategies were identified which differed mainly in the amount of on-farm and off-farm income, and the level of income diversification. The gross margin for each household from agricultural production in the floating garden, lowland and upland cultivation was US$ 2108, 892 and 619 ha-1 respectively. Among the typical farming systems in these zones, tomato (Lycopersicon esculentum L.) plantation in the floating gardens yielded the highest net benefits, but caused negative environmental impacts given the overuse of inorganic fertilizers and pesticides. The Revised Universal Soil Loss Equation (RUSLE) and spatial analysis within GIS were applied to estimate soil erosion risk in the different agricultural zones and for the main cropping systems of the study region. The results revealed that the average soil losses in year 1989, 2000 and 2009 amounted to 20, 10 and 26 t ha-1, respectively and barren land along the steep slopes had the highest soil erosion risk with 85% of the total soil losses in the study area. Yearly fluctuations were mainly caused by changes in the amount of annual precipitation and the dynamics of LUCC such as deforestation and agriculture extension with inappropriate land use and unsustainable cropping systems. Among the typical cropping systems, upland rainfed rice (Oryza sativa L.) cultivation had the highest rate of soil erosion (20 t ha-1yr-1) followed by sebesten (Cordia dichotoma) and turmeric (Curcuma longa) plantation in the UP zone. This study indicated that the hotspot region of soil erosion risk were upland mountain areas, especially in the western part of the Inle lake. Soil conservation practices are thus urgently needed to control soil erosion and lake sedimentation and to conserve the wetland ecosystem. Most farmers have not yet implemented soil conservation measures to reduce soil erosion impacts such as land degradation, sedimentation and water pollution in Inle Lake, which is partly due to the low economic development and poverty in the region. Key challenges of agriculture in the hilly landscapes can be summarized as follows: fostering the sustainable land use of farming systems for the maintenance of ecosystem services and functions while improving the social and economic well-being of the population, integrated natural resources management policies and increasing the diversification of income opportunities to reduce pressure on forest and natural resources.

Maths Methods for Chemists

Exam questions, exercises and solutions for a first year course in mathematical methods for chemists. Diagrams for the questions are all together in the support.zip file, as .eps files

Comparison of methodologies for degree-day estimation using numerical methods

O desenvolvimento de projetos relacionados ao desempenho de diversas culturas tem recebido aperfeiçoamento cada vez maior, incorporado a modelos matemáticos sendo indispensável à utilização de equações cada vez mais consistentes que possibilitem previsão e maior aproximação do comportamento real, diminuindo o erro na obtenção das estimativas. Entre as operações unitárias que demandam maior estudo estão aquelas relacionadas com o crescimento da cultura, caracterizadas pela temperatura ideal para o acréscimo de matéria seca. Pelo amplo uso dos métodos matemáticos na representação, análise e obtenção de estimativas de graus-dia, juntamente com a grande importância que a cultura da cana-de-açúcar tem para a economia brasileira, foi realizada uma avaliação dos modelos matemáticos comumente usados e dos métodos numéricos de integração na estimativa da disponibilidade de graus-dia para essa cultura, na região de Botucatu, Estado de São Paulo. Os modelos de integração, com discretização de 6 em 6 h, apresentaram resultados satisfatórios na estimativa de graus-dia. As metodologias tradicionais apresentaram desempenhos satisfatórios quanto à estimativa de grausdia com base na curva de temperatura horária para cada dia e para os agrupamentos de três, sete, 15 e 30 dias. Pelo método numérico de integração, a região de Botucatu, Estado de São Paulo, apresentou disponibilidade térmica anual média de 1.070,6 GD para a cultura da cana-de-açúcar.

On the solution of mathematical programming problems with equilibrium constraints

Mathematical programming problems with equilibrium constraints (MPEC) are nonlinear programming problems where the constraints have a form that is analogous to first-order optimality conditions of constrained optimization. We prove that, under reasonable sufficient conditions, stationary points of the sum of squares of the constraints are feasible points of the MPEC. In usual formulations of MPEC all the feasible points are nonregular in the sense that they do not satisfy the Mangasarian-Fromovitz constraint qualification of nonlinear programming. Therefore, all the feasible points satisfy the classical Fritz-John necessary optimality conditions. In principle, this can cause serious difficulties for nonlinear programming algorithms applied to MPEC. However, we show that most feasible points do not satisfy a recently introduced stronger optimality condition for nonlinear programming. This is the reason why, in general, nonlinear programming algorithms are successful when applied to MPEC.

The Devil’s Calculus: Mathematical Models of Civil War

In spite of the movement to turn political science into a real science, various mathematical methods that are now the staples of physics, biology, and even economics are thoroughly uncommon in political science, especially the study of civil war. This study seeks to apply such methods - specifically, ordinary differential equations (ODEs) - to model civil war based on what one might dub the capabilities school of thought, which roughly states that civil wars end only when one side’s ability to make war falls far enough to make peace truly attractive. I construct several different ODE-based models and then test them all to see which best predicts the instantaneous capabilities of both sides of the Sri Lankan civil war in the period from 1990 to 1994 given parameters and initial conditions. The model that the tests declare most accurate gives very accurate predictions of state military capabilities and reasonable short term predictions of cumulative deaths. Analysis of the model reveals the scale of the importance of rebel finances to the sustainability of insurgency, most notably that the number of troops required to put down the Tamil Tigers is reduced by nearly a full order of magnitude when Tiger foreign funding is stopped. The study thus demonstrates that accurate foresight may come of relatively simple dynamical models, and implies the great potential of advanced and currently unconventional non-statistical mathematical methods in political science.

Mathematical analysis of a model of chemotaxis arising from morphogenesis

We consider non-negative solution of a chemotaxis system with non constant chemotaxis sensitivity function X. This system appears as a limit case of a model formorphogenesis proposed by Bollenbach et al. (Phys. Rev. E. 75, 2007).Under suitable boundary conditions, modeling the presence of a morphogen source at x=0, we prove the existence of a global and bounded weak solution using an approximation by problems where diffusion is introduced in the ordinary differential equation. Moreover,we prove the convergence of the solution to the unique steady state provided that ? is small and ? is large enough. Numerical simulations both illustrate these results and give rise to further conjectures on the solution behavior that go beyond the rigorously proved statements.

The Learning of the Mathematical Models to Aid Decision Making in the High Level Engineering Schools?

At present, in the University curricula in most countries, the decision theory and the mathematical models to aid decision making is not included, as in the graduate program like in Doctored and Master´s programs. In the Technical School of High Level Agronomic Engineers of the Technical University of Madrid (ETSIA-UPM), the need to offer to the future engineers training in a subject that could help them to take decisions in their profession was felt. Along the life, they will have to take a lot of decisions. Ones, will be important and others no. In the personal level, they will have to take several very important decisions, like the election of a career, professional work, or a couple, but in the professional field, the decision making is the main role of the Managers, Politicians and Leaders. They should be decision makers and will be paid for it. Therefore, nobody can understand that such a professional that is called to practice management responsibilities in the companies, does not take training in such an important matter. For it, in the year 2000, it was requested to the University Board to introduce in the curricula an optional qualified subject of the second cycle with 4,5 credits titled " Mathematical Methods for Making Decisions ". A program was elaborated, the didactic material prepared and programs as Maple, Lingo, Math Cad, etc. installed in several IT classrooms, where the course will be taught. In the course 2000-2001 this subject was offered with a great acceptance that exceeded the forecasts of capacity and had to be prepared more classrooms. This course in graduate program took place in the Department of Applied Mathematics to the Agronomic Engineering, as an extension of the credits dedicated to Mathematics in the career of Engineering.

Methods of visualization and analysis of cardiac depolarization in the three dimensional space

The master thesis presents methods for intellectual analysis and visualization 3D EKG in order to increase the efficiency of ECG analysis by extracting additional data. Visualization is presented as part of the signal analysis tasks considered imaging techniques and their mathematical description. Have been developed algorithms for calculating and visualizing the signal attributes are described using mathematical methods and tools for mining signal. The model of patterns searching for comparison purposes of accuracy of methods was constructed, problems of a clustering and classification of data are solved, the program of visualization of data is also developed. This approach gives the largest accuracy in a task of the intellectual analysis that is confirmed in this work. Considered visualization and analysis techniques are also applicable to the multi-dimensional signals of a different kind.

Inputs of phosphorus from precipitation to Lake Michigan /

"Grant No. 802647."

National Acid Precipitation Assessment Program [microform] : hearing before the Subcommittee on Natural Resources, Agriculture Research, and Environment of the Committee on Science, Space, and Technology, U.S. House of Representatives, One Hundredth Congress, second session, April 27, 1988.

"No. 125."

Geological and hydrochemical sensitivity of the eastern United States to acid precipitation /

Mode of access: Internet.

Mountain precipitation summary for Utah : federal, state, private cooperative snow surveys /

Cover title: Summary of mountain precipitation measurements in Utah ... 1930-78.

Climatography of the United States, no. 70-26 [etc.] Precipitation data from storage-gage stations.

No more published?

Interduration precipitation relations for storms, Southeast states /

Mode of access: Internet.