Assessment of agrobiodiversity resources in the Borotse flood plain, Zambia

Concerns about perceived loss of indigenous materials emerged from multiple stakeholders during consultations to plan and design the CGIAR Research Program on Aquatic Agricultural Systems for the Borotse hub in Zambia’s Western Province. To come to grips with and address the concerns, the AAS Borotse hub program of work included an assessment of agrobiodiversity to inform community-level and program initiatives and actions. The agrobiodiversity assessment comprised three components: key informant and expert surveys complemented by review of grey and published literature, focus group discussions in the communities, and individual household surveys. This working paper reports the findings from assessments of agrobiodiversity resources in the Borotse hub by key informants and local experts working in government ministries, departments and agencies, and non-governmental organizations operating in the communities. This working paper covers the following topics: agriculture in the Borotse flood plain; major agricultural land types in the Borotse flood plain; soils and their uses; production systems; crops, including the seed sector and ex-situ resources; indigenous materials collected from the wild, including non-perennial and perennial plants, aquatic plants, and forest biodiversity; fish resources, including both capture fisheries and aquaculture; livestock resources; dietary diversity; and indigenous and local knowledge on management systems.

Proceedings of an international workshop on the value of computer-based engineering tools, held in Cambridge in April 1997

There is increasing adoption of computer-based tools to support the product development process. Tolls include computer-aided design, computer-aided manufacture, systems engineering and product data management systems. The fact that companies choose to invest in tools might be regarded as evidence that tools, in aggregate, are perceived to possess business value through their application to engineering activities. Yet the ways in which value accrues from tool technology are poorly understood.

This report records the proceedings of an international workshop during which some novel approaches to improving our understanding of this problem of tool valuation were presented and debated. The value of methods and processes were also discussed. The workshop brought together British, Dutch, German and Italian researchers. The presenters included speakers from industry and academia (the University of Cambridge, the University of Magdeburg and the Politechnico de Torino)

The work presented showed great variety. Research methods include case studies, questionnaires, statistical analysis, semi-structured interviews, deduction, inductive reasoning, the recording of anecdotes and analogies. The presentations drew on financial investment theory, the industrial experience of workshop participants, discussions with students developing tools, modern economic theories and speculation on the effects of company capabilities.

An experimental study on engine dynamics model based in-cylinder pressure estimation

The information provided by the in-cylinder pressure signal is of great importance for modern engine management systems. The obtained information is implemented to improve the control and diagnostics of the combustion process in order to meet the stringent emission regulations and to improve vehicle reliability and drivability. The work presented in this paper covers the experimental study and proposes a comprehensive and practical solution for the estimation of the in-cylinder pressure from the crankshaft speed fluctuation. Also, the paper emphasizes the feasibility and practicality aspects of the estimation techniques, for the real-time online application. In this study an engine dynamics model based estimation method is proposed. A discrete-time transformed form of a rigid-body crankshaft dynamics model is constructed based on the kinetic energy theorem, as the basis expression for total torque estimation. The major difficulties, including load torque estimation and separation of pressure profile from adjacent-firing cylinders, are addressed in this work and solutions to each problem are given respectively. The experimental results conducted on a multi-cylinder diesel engine have shown that the proposed method successfully estimate a more accurate cylinder pressure over a wider range of crankshaft angles. Copyright © 2012 SAE International.

Steering manufacturing firms towards service business model innovation

Increasingly, manufacturing firms are turning to services as a new way of creating and capturing value. Despite its potential benefits, many new product-service providers struggle to deploy service activities effectively, not least because they fail to refect the presence of service activities in their performance management systems. This article reports the results of an in-depth case study, which examines how manufacturers can steer the transition towards services. It shows that manufacturing firms need to emphasize two separate but related dimensions of the market performance of service activities: "service adoption," refecting the proportion of customers who purchase the manufacturer's services; and "service coverage," signaling the range of service elements or the comprehensiveness of the service contract that customers opt for. These two indicators, refecting service market performance, should be supplemented with a "complementarity index" designed to disclose whether the relationship between products and services is reinforcing or substitutive. When combined, these indicators allow manufacturing firms to deploy a service-based business model in an integrated and sustainable manner. © 2013 by The Regents of the University of California. All rights reserved.

Conceptual transformation framework for servitization

This paper presents a Conceptual Transformation Framework for Servitization. The challenges experienced by manufacturers on their journey to servitization are investigated in order to develop our understanding of the transformation that traditional manufacturers undergo to become servitized manufacturers. Three change theories are applied to develop the Framework: Lewin's force field analysis, Senge's system thinking and Pettigrew and Whipp's framework of strategic change. The Framework includes the dimensions of the change that takes place and the elements of change when transforming towards Product-Service Systems.

基于ISO9000和CMM的软件配置管理系统的研究

1 概述随着软件系统的日益复杂化和用户需求、软件更新的频繁化,配置管理逐渐成为软件生命周期中的重要控制过程,成为软件工程中质量管理中的重要内容。软件配置管理(Software Configuration Management)是通过技术或行政手段对软件产品及其开发过程和生命周期进行控制、规范的一系列措施。配置管理的目标是记录软件产品的演化过程,确保软件开发者在软件生命周期中各个阶段都能得到精确的产品配置。它通过控制、记录、追踪对软件的修改和每个修改生成的软件组成部件来实现对软件产品的管理功能。为了保证对产品有效地进行控制和追踪,配置管理过程不能仅仅对静态的、成形的产品进行管理,而必须对动态的、成长的产品进行管理。由此可见,配置管理同软件开发过程紧密相关。配置管理必须紧扣软件开发过程的各个环节,使整个开发团队象一个交响乐

油气勘探风险评价与决策技术研究

PetroChina and other national petroleum incorporations need rigorous procedures and practical methods in risk evaluation and exploration decision at home and abroad to safeguard their international exploration practice in exploration licence bidding, finding appropriate ratio of risk sharing with partners, as well as avoiding high risk projects and other key exploration activities. However, due to historical reasons, we are only at the beginning of a full study and methodology development in exploration risk evaluation and decision. No rigorous procedure and practical methods are available in our exercises of international exploration. Completely adopting foreign procedure, methods and tools by our national incorporations are not practical because of the differences of the current economic and management systems in China. The objective of this study is to establish a risk evaluation and decision system with independent intellectual property right in oil and gas exploration so that a smooth transition from our current practice into international norm can take place. The system developed in this dissertation includes the following four components: 1. A set of quantitative criteria for risk evaluation is derived on the basis of an anatomy of the parameters from thirty calibration regions national wide as well as the characteristics and the geological factors controlling oil and gas occurrence in the major petroleum-bearing basins in China, which provides the technical support for the risk quantification in oil and gas exploration. 2. Through analysis of existing methodology, procedure and methods of exploration risk evaluation considering spatial information are proposed. The method, utilizing Mahalanobis Distance (MD) and fuzzy logic for data and information integration, provides probabilistic models on the basis of MD and fuzzy logic classification criteria, thus quantifying the exploration risk using Bayesian theory. A projection of the geological risk into spatial domain provides a probability map of oil and gas occurrence in the area under study. The application of this method to the Nanpu Sag shows that this method not only correctly predicted the oil and gas occurrence in the areas where Beibu and Laoyemiao oil fields are found in the northwest of the onshore area, but also predicted Laopu south, Nanpu south and Hatuo potential areas in the offshore part where exploration maturity was very low. The prediction of the potential areas are subsequently confirmed by 17 exploration wells in the offshore area with 81% success, indicating this method is very effective for exploration risk visualization and reduction. 3. On the basis of “Methods and parameters of economic evaluation for petroleum exploration and development projects in China”, a ”pyramid” method for sensitivity analysis was developed, which meets not only the need for exploration target evaluation and exploration decision at home, but also allows a transition from our current practice to international norm in exploration decision. This provides the foundation for the development of a software product “Exploration economic evaluation and decision system of PetroChina” (EDSys). 4. To solve problem in methodology of exploration decision, effort was made on the method of project portfolio management. A drilling decision method was developed employing the concept of geologically risked net present value. This method overcame the dilemma of handling simultaneously both geological risk and portfolio uncertainty, thus casting light into the application of modern portfolio theory to the evaluation of high risk petroleum exploration projects.

基于GIS的高速公路养护管理信息系统的设计与开发

China is experiencing a rapid development of highway ever since 1990s. By the end of 2004, the total length of the highway summed up to 33 thousand kilometers, ranking 2n in the world. After the open of highway, the accumulation of time and traffic causes the decrease of its capability. To ensure its good quality, security and operation functions, we should take some reasonable measures to maintain it periodically. At present, a big problem is that the traditional maintain measures can no longer meet the increasing requirements. Due to the characters of highway, the relationship of various maintenance data and geographic positions is even closer than any others. If we wan to improve the quality and efficiency of the maintenance work, particularly when there is need for decision-making, a great number of data that is related to geographic positions are absolutely necessary. Evidently, Geographical Information System (GIS) has incomparably advantages in dealing with these spatial information. As a result, a management system for highway maintenance work based on GIS became inevitable for the development of the maintenance of highway. The purpose of this paper is to establish a management system for highway maintenance work base on Geographical Information System (GIS), Global Positioning System (GPS) and spatial database, to manage all kinds of problems encountered in the work, and to provide support on information and methods. My study mainly includes: (1) Analysis on the current status of the maintenance and management work; overview on the history of domestic and international highway maintenance management systems; identifying the necessity and importance for establishing a management system for highway maintenance work based on GIS. (2) Based on the requirement analysis, I proposed a general design for this management system, and discussed the objective, design principles, framework, systematical structure and function design. (3) Outdoor data collection is not only a prime way to understand the current situation of the road, but also an important method for data update after the system is put into use. This paper also intends to establish a set of plan to collect data efficiently and precisely which is based on GIS and GPS technologies. (4) The maintenance management database is a supporting platform for various maintenance decision-makings. Such decisions need the support of a great amount of data, which would cause other problems, such as the diversity of the data source, difference of data formats. This paper also discussed how to deal with these problems and establish such a database. (5) To propose an approach to assess the condition of pavement, based on GIS and related maintenance models. Among all the maintenance models, the two for assessing and forecasting pavement condition are the most important and mature. This paper also analyzed these two models and introduced them in terms of the integration of models. (6) This paper took the Guangshen Highway for example, explaining how to realize a GIS for management of highway maintenance work.

Program, abstracts and related documents.

The context: Soil biodiversity and sustainable agriculture; Abstracts - Theme 1: Monitoring and assessment: Bioindicators of soil health: assessment and monitoring for sustainable agriculture; Practical tools to measure soil health and their use by farmers; Biological soil quality from biomass to biodiversity - importance and resilience to management stress and disturbance; Integrated management of plant-parasitic nematodes in maize-bean cropping systems; Microbial quantitative and qualitative changes in soils under different crops and tillage management systems in Brazil; Diversity in the rhizobia associated with Phaseolus vulgaris L: in Ecuador and comparisons with Mexican bean rhizobia; Sistemas integrados ganadería-agricultura en Cuba; Soil macrofauna as bioindicator of soil quality; Biological functioning of cerrado soils; Hydrolysis of fluorescein diacetate as a soil quality indicator in different pasture systems; Soil management and soil macrofauna communities at Embrapa Soybean, Londrina, Brazil; Soil macrofauna in a 24 - year old no-tillage system in Paraná, Brazil; Invertebrate macrofauna of soils inpastures under different forms of management in the cerrado (Brazil); Soil tillage modifies the invertebrate soil macrofauna community; Soil macrofauna in various tillage and land use systems on an oxisols near Londrina, Paraná, Brazil; Interference of agricultural systems on soil macrofauna; Scarab beetle-grub holes in various tillage and crop management systems at Embrapa Soybean, Londrina, Brazil; Biological management of agroecosystems; Soil biota and nutrient dynamics through litterfall in agroforestry system in Rondônia, Amazônia, Brazil; Soil-C stocks and earthworm diversity of native and introduced pastures in Veracruz, Mexico; Theme 2 : Adaptive management: Some thoughts on the effects and implications of the transition from weedy multi-crop to wead-free mono-crop systems in Africa; Towards sustainable agriculture with no-tillage and crop rotation systems in South Brazil; Effect of termites on crusted soil rehabilitation in the Sahel; Management of macrofauna in traditional and conventional agroforestry systems from India with special reference to termites and earthworms; Adaptive management for redeveloping traditional agroecosystems; Conservation and sustainable use of soil biodiversity: learning with master nature!; Convergence of sciences: inclusive technology innovation processes for better integrated crop/vegetation, soil and biodiversity management; Potential for increasing soil biodiversity in agroecosystems; Biological nitrogen fixation and sustainability in the tropics; Theme 3: Research and innovation: Plant flavonoids and cluster roots as modifiers of soil biodiversity; The significance of biological diversity in agricultural soil for disease suppressiveness and nutrient retention; Linking above - and belowground biodiversity: a comparison of agricultural systems; Insect-pests in biologically managed oil and crops: the experience at ICRISAT; Sistemas agricolas micorrizados en Cuba; The effect of velvetbean (Mucuna pruriens) on the tropical earthworm Balanteodrilus pearsei: a management option for maize crops in the Mexican humid tropics; The potential of earthworms and organic matter quality in the rehabilitation of tropical soils; Research and innovation in biological management of soil ecosystems; Application of biodynamic methods in the Egyptian cotton sector; Theme 4: Capacity building and mainstreaming: Soil ecology and biodiversity: a quick scan of its importance for government policy in The Netherlands; Agrotechnological transfer of legume inoculants in Eastern and Southern Africa; Agricultura urbana en Cuba; Soil carbon sequestration for sustaining agricultural production and improving the environment; Conservation and sustainable management of below-ground biodiversity: the TSBF-BGBD network project; The tropical soil biology and fertility institute of CIAT (TSBF); South-South initiative for training and capacity building for the management of soil biology/biodiversity; Strategies to facilititate development and adoption of integrated resource management for sustainable production and productivity improvement; The challenge program on biological nitrogen fixation (CPBNF); Living soil training for farmers: improving knowledge and skills in soil nutrition management; Do we need an inter-governmental panel on land and soil (IPLS)? Protection and sustainable use of biodiversity of soils; Cases Studies -- Plant parasitic nematodes associated with common bean (Phaseolus vulgaris L.) and integrated management approaches; Agrotechnological transfer of legume inoculants in Eastern and Southern Africa; Restoring soil fertility and enhancing productivity in Indian tea plantations with earthworms and organic fertilizers; Managing termites and organic resources to improve soil productivity in the Sahel; Overview and case studies on biological nitrogen fixation: perspectives and limitations; Soil biodiversity and sustainable agriculture: an overview.

Diretrizes para escolha de um Sistema de Gerenciamento de Conteúdos.

O objetivo deste documento é apresentar as diretrizes básicas para escolha de um CMS tomando por base a experiência adquirida com o desenvolvimento do Agritempo.

Applications of outsourcing theory to collaborative purchasing and licensing

Urquhart, C. (2003). Applications of outsourcing theory to collaborative purchasing and licensing. VINE: The Journal of Information and Knowledge Management Systems, 32(4), 63-70.

International retail divestment activity

Alexander, N.; Quinn, B.; and Cairns, P. (2005). International retail divestment activity. International Journal of Retail and Distribution Management. 33(1), pp.5-22 RAE2008

Stosunki pomiędzy uprawnionym autorsko a organizacjami zbiorowego zarządzania w prawie polskim

Wydział Prawa i Administracji: Katedra Prawa Cywilnego, Ubezpieczeniowego i Handlowego

Multi-version Speculative Concurrency Control with Delayed Commit

This paper presents an algorithm which extends the relatively new notion of speculative concurrency control by delaying the commitment of transactions, thus allowing other conflicting transactions to continue execution and commit rather than restart. This algorithm propagates uncommitted data to other outstanding transactions thus allowing more speculative schedules to be considered. The algorithm is shown always to find a serializable schedule, and to avoid cascading aborts. Like speculative concurrency control, it considers strictly more schedules than traditional concurrency control algorithms. Further work is needed to determine which of these speculative methods performs better on actual transaction loads.

Miniaturised multi-MEMS sensor development

Complex systems, from environmental behaviour to electronics reliability, can now be monitored with Wireless Sensor Networks (WSN), where multiple environmental sensors are deployed in remote locations. This ensures aggregation and reading of data, at lower cost and lower power consumption. Because miniaturisation of the sensing system is hampered by the fact that discrete sensors and electronics consume board area, the development of MEMS sensors offers a promising solution. At Tyndall, the fabrication flow of multiple sensors has been made compatible with CMOS circuitry to further reduce size and cost. An ideal platform on which to host these MEMS environmental sensors is the Tyndall modular wireless mote. This paper describes the development and test of the latest sensors incorporating temperature, humidity, corrosion, and gas. It demonstrates their deployment on the Tyndall platform, allowing real-time readings, data aggregation and cross-correlation capabilities. It also presents the design of the next generation sensing platform using the novel 10mm wireless cube developed by Tyndall.