Technology and teachers in rural schools: creating future advantage

While there seem to be compelling arguments for the incorporation of computers and their applications into curricula, the reality is far from ideal. Problems are particularly evident for teachers and students in rural areas. This paper reports on a project situated in regional and rural areas of Victoria (Australia) in which a group of 16 primary and secondary teachers participated in an intensive program of professional development designed to assist them in embedding ICT into their classroom. The project provides some insight into the availability and use of current technological resources in the rural schools and examines the impact of an intensive professional development program of instruction on the implementation of ICT into the curriculum.

A nurse managed kidney disease program in regional and remote Australia

Health services that aim to prevent and manage chronic kidney disease (CKD) in rural and remote Aboriginal communities in Australia, including the Goldfields region of Western Australia (WA), require innovative approaches. Nursing roles can significantly improve access to renal services in rural and remote areas as they are able to address a range of renal health promotion and prevention activities, and provide renal clinical education and support to Aboriginal people. The Goldfields Kidney Disease Nursing Management Program (GKDNMP), funded through the Council of Australian Governments (COAG) National Partnership Agreements, was developed to provide a comprehensive approach to primary health care that incorporates a range of health promotion and disease management activities. In the first year, the program increased home dialysis rates and decreased patient travel due to expanded access to renal care within the region. Context-specific health programs generated in response to local needs can be successful in addressing specific health care challenges in rural and remote health.

Characteristics of cancer diagnoses and staging in South Western Victoria: a rural perspective

Australian states and territories have legislation mandating reporting of cancer diagnoses; however, tumour stage at diagnosis, treatment plan and associated outcomes are not routinely recorded in cancer registries for all tumour types. This study describes the Evaluation of Cancer Outcomes study that collects detailed information for patients diagnosed with cancer in south-western Victoria.

Global and diffuse solar irradiances in urban and rural areas in southeast Brazil

The seasonal evolution of daily and hourly values of global and diffuse solar radiation at the surface are compared for the cities of São Paulo and Botucatu, both located in Southeast Brazil and representative of urban and rural areas, respectively. The comparisons are based on measurements of global and diffuse solar irradiance carried out at the surface during a six year simultaneous period in these two cities. Despite the similar latitude and altitude, the seasonal evolution of daily values indicate that São Paulo receives, during clear sky days, 7.8% less global irradiance in August and 5.1% less in June than Botucatu. on the other hand, São Paulo receives, during clear sky days, 3.6% more diffuse irradiance in August and 15.6% more in June than Botucatu. The seasonal variation of the diurnal cycle confirms these differences and indicates that they are more pronounced during the afternoon. The regional differences are related to the distance from the Atlantic Ocean, systematic penetration of the sea breeze and daytime evolution of the particulate matter in São Paulo. An important mechanism controlling the spatial distribution of solar radiation, on a regional scale, is the sea breeze penetration in São Paulo, bringing moisture and maritime aerosol that in turn further increases the solar radiation scattering due to pollution and further reduces the intensity of the direct component of solar radiation at the surface. Surprisingly, under clear sky conditions the atmospheric attenuation of solar radiation in Botucatu during winter - the biomass burning period due to the sugar cane harvest - is equivalent to that at São Paulo City, indicating that the contamination during sugar cane harvest in Southeast Brazil has a large impact in the solar radiation field at the surface.

The outlook for agriculture and rural development in the Americas: a perspective on Latin America and the Caribbean, 2010

Includes Bibliography

The Outlook for Agriculture and Rural Development in the Americas: A Perspective on Latin America and the Caribbean 2015-2016

In this, the sixth in the series of documents entitled “Outlook for Agriculture and Rural Development in the Americas,” the Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC), the Regional Office for Latin America and the Caribbean of the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), and the Inter-American Institute for Cooperation on Agriculture (IICA) analyze the trends in, and outlook for, the macroeconomic and sectoral contexts, agriculture, rural well-being, and policies and the institutional framework in the sector. The document presents proposals for policies needed to enable the region’s agriculture to regain its former buoyancy and to enhance the development of rural areas. It also includes recommendations designed to mitigate the impact of the economic slowdown in agriculture, spur higher agricultural productivity in the region, foster the integrated management of natural resources, and facilitate the successful incorporation of family farmers, young people, and rural women into agricultural value chains.

Analyzing convergence of Agricultural and Rural Areas in the Enlarged EU: The case of Hungary

The fall of the Berlin Wall opened the way for a reform path – the transition process – which accompanied ten former Socialist countries in Central and South Eastern Europe to knock at the EU doors. By the way, at the time of the EU membership several economic and structural weaknesses remained. A tendency towards convergence between the new Member States (NMS) and the EU average income level emerged, together with a spread of inequality at the sub-regional level, mainly driven by the backwardness of the agricultural and rural areas. Several progresses were made in evaluating the policies for rural areas, but a shared definition of rurality is still missing. Numerous indicators were calculated for assessing the effectiveness of the Common Agricultural Policy and Rural Development Policy. Previous analysis on the Central and Eastern European countries found that the characteristics of the most backward areas were insufficiently addressed by the policies enacted; the low data availability and accountability at a sub-regional level, and the deficiencies in institutional planning and implementation represented an obstacle for targeting policies and payments. The next pages aim at providing a basis for understanding the connections between the peculiarities of the transition process, the current development performance of NMS and the EU role, with particular attention to the agricultural and rural areas. Applying a mixed methodological approach (multivariate statistics, non-parametric methods, spatial econometrics), this study contributes to the identification of rural areas and to the analysis of the changes occurred during the EU membership in Hungary, assessing the effect of CAP introduction and its contribution to the convergence of the Hungarian agricultural and rural. The author believes that more targeted – and therefore efficient – policies for agricultural and rural areas require a deeper knowledge of their structural and dynamic characteristics.

Quantifying entrepreneurship and its impact on local economic performance: A spatial assessment in rural Switzerland

Regional and rural development policies in Europe increasingly emphasize entrepreneurship to mobilize the endogenous economic potential of rural territories. This study develops a concept to quantify entrepreneurship as place-dependent local potential to examine its impact on the local economic performance of rural territories in Switzerland. The short-to-medium-term impact of entrepreneurship on the economic performance of 1706 rural municipalities in Switzerland is assessed by applying three spatial random effects models. Results suggest a generally positive relationship between entrepreneurship and local development: rural municipalities with higher entrepreneurial potential generally show higher business tax revenues per capita and a lower share of social welfare cases among the population, although the impact on local employment is less clear. The explanatory power of entrepreneurship in all three models, however, was only moderate. This finding suggests that political expectations of fostering entrepreneurship to boost endogenous rural development in the short-to-medium term should be damped.

Developments in the Agricultural and Rural Capital Market of the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia. Factor Markets Working Paper No. 9, October 2011

The undeveloped rural capital market in the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia is constrained by an urban–rural development gap, with limited capacities for rural development and imperfections in the rural capital market. Among the most striking hindrances are the illegal status of a large share of agricultural buildings and other real estate in rural areas, particularly on the individual family farms that prevail in the country, and the insufficient knowledge and abilities of individual farmers in applying for credit. National, EU and other donor funds are being used to improve knowledge, skills and other human resources, and to address the illegal status of buildings and facilities. In recent years, government support for agricultural, rural and regional development has been introduced to promote good agricultural practices, production and economic activity in rural areas. The elimination of imperfections and improvements to the functioning of the capital market – making access to credit and funds easier, especially for small-scale family farms and for rural development – are seen as measures contributing to agriculture and more balanced rural and regional development.

Multilingualism and local-global identities: Japanese language education in rural Australia

The purpose of this article is to examine the value accruing to a regional area in Australia from the location of an undergraduate Japanese language education program in a university in that area. The focus is on the manner in which the inclusion of such a program enhances the sustainability of the area. Sustainability is here defined as the resilience demonstrated by social subjects in the absence of the full range of services available in more densely populated and resource advantaged areas. Such resilience implies an ongoing capacity on the part of subjects to contribute productively to social and economic networks in the area. The discussion includes two cases of graduates of the program under review. On the basis of these cases, the argument is advanced that local regional and rural area access to a tertiary sector second language program offers a unique and valuable strategic dimension to the personal and professional development of social agents in regional areas and to the sustainability of these areas generally.

Between Bacchus and Dionysus: European Union policies on rural development: the cases of Nemea and Basto wine regions

A actividade vitivinícola possui um conjunto diverso de características presentes no solo, território e comunidade que fazem parte do património cultural de uma determinada região. Quando a tradição se traduz num conceito como terroir que é formado por características territoriais, sociais e culturais de uma região rural, o vinho apresenta uma “assinatura” que se escreve “naturalmente” no paladar regionalmente identificado. Os vinhos da Região de Nemea, na Grécia e de Basto (Região dos Vinhos Verdes) em Portugal, estão ambos sob a proteção dos regulamentos das Denominações de Origem. No entanto, apesar de ambos serem regulados por sistemas institucionais de certificação e controlo de qualidade, afigura-se a necessidade de questionar se o património cultural e a identidade territorial específica, “impressa” em ambos os terroirs, pode ser protegida num sentido mais abrangente do que apenas origem e qualidade. Em Nemea, a discussão entre os produtores diz respeito ao estabelecimento de sub-zonas, isto é incluir na regulação PDO uma diferente categorização territorial com base no terroir. Ou seja, para além de estar presente no rótulo a designação PDO, as garrafas incluirão ainda informação certificada sobre a área específica (dentro do mesmo terroir) onde o vinho foi produzido. A acontecer resultaria em diferentes status de qualidade de acordo com as diferentes aldeias de Nemea onde as vinhas estão localizadas. O que teria possíveis impactos no valor das propriedades e no uso dos solos. Para além disso, a não participação da Cooperativa de Nemea na SON (a associação local de produtores de vinho) e como tal na discussão principal sobre as mudanças e os desafios sobre o terroir de Nemea constitui um problema no sector vitivinícola de Nemea. Em primeiro lugar estabelece uma relação de não-comunicação entre os dois mais importantes agentes desse sector – as companhias vinícolas e a Cooperativa. Em segundo lugar porque constituiu uma possibilidade real, não só para os viticultores ficarem arredados dessa discussão, como também (porque não representados pela cooperativa) ficar impossibilitado um consenso sobre as mudanças discutidas. Isto poderá criar um ‘clima’ de desconfiança levando a discussão para ‘arenas’ deslocalizadas e como tal para decisões ‘desterritorializadas’ Em Basto, há vários produtores que começaram a vender a sua produção para distribuidoras localizadas externamente à sub-região de Basto, mas dentro da Região dos Vinhos Verdes, uma vez que essas companhias tem um melhor estatuto nacional e internacional e uma melhor rede de exportações. Isto está ainda relacionado com uma competição por uma melhor rede de contactos e status mais forte, tornando as discussões sobre estratégias comuns para o desenvolvimento rural e regional de Basto mais difícil de acontecer (sobre isto a palavra impossível foi constantemente usada durante as entrevistas com os produtores de vinho). A relação predominante entre produtores é caracterizada por relações individualistas. Contudo foi observado que essas posições são ainda caracterizadas por uma desconfiança no interior da rede interprofissional local: conflitos para conseguir os mesmos potenciais clientes; comprar uvas a viticultores com melhor rácio qualidade/preço; estratégias individuais para conseguir um melhor status político na relação com a Comissão dos Vinhos Verdes. Para além disso a inexistência de uma activa intermediação institucional (autoridades municipais e a Comissão de Vinho Verde), a inexistência entre os produtores de Basto de uma associação ou mesmo a inexistência de uma cooperativa local tem levado a região de Basto a uma posição de subpromoção nas estratégias de promoção do Vinho Verde em comparação com outras sub-regiões. É também evidente pelos resultados que as mudanças no sector vitivinícolas na região de Basto têm sido estimuladas de fora da região (em resposta também às necessidades dos mercados internacionais) e raramente de dentro – mais uma vez, ‘arenas’ não localizadas e como tal decisões desterritorializadas. Nesse sentido, toda essa discussão e planeamento estratégico, terão um papel vital na preservação da identidade localizada do terroir perante os riscos de descaracterização e desterritorialização. Em suma, para ambos os casos, um dos maiores desafios parece ser como preservar o terroir vitivinícola e como tal o seu carácter e identidade local, quando a rede interprofissional em ambas as regiões se caracteriza, tanto por relações não-consensuais em Nemea como pelo modus operandi de isolamento sem comunicação em Basto. Como tal há uma necessidade de envolvimento entre os diversos agentes e as autoridades locais no sentido de uma rede localizada de governança. Assim sendo, em ambas as regiões, a existência dessa rede é essencial para prevenir os efeitos negativos na identidade do produto e na sua produção. Uma estratégia de planeamento integrado para o sector será vital para preservar essa identidade, prevenindo a sua desterritorialização através de uma restruturação do conhecimento tradicional em simultâneo com a democratização do acesso ao conhecimento das técnicas modernas de produção vitivinícola.