High tech garbage can help engineering colleges to improve hands-on education

This paper presents a discussion on the potential use of high tech garbage, including electronic waste (e-waste), as a source of mechanisms, sensors and actuators, that can be adapted to improve the reality of microprocessor systems labs, at low cost. By means of some examples, it is shown that entire subsystems withdrawn of high tech equipments can be easily integrated into existing laboratory infrastructure. As examples, first a precision positioning mechanism is presented, which was taken from a discarded commercial ink jet printer and interfaced with a microprocessor board used in the laboratory classes. Secondly, a read/write head and its positioning mechanism has been withdrawn of a retired CD/DVD drive and again interfaced with the microprocessor board. Students who have been using these new experiments strongly approve their inclusion in the lab schedules. © 2011 IEEE.

Two decades of adjustment and agricultural development in Latin America and the Caribbean

Includes bibliography

Networked control system for the guidance of a four-wheel steering agricultural robotic platform

A current trend in the agricultural area is the development of mobile robots and autonomous vehicles for precision agriculture (PA). One of the major challenges in the design of these robots is the development of the electronic architecture for the control of the devices. In a joint project among research institutions and a private company in Brazil a multifunctional robotic platform for information acquisition in PA is being designed. This platform has as main characteristics four-wheel propulsion and independent steering, adjustable width, span of 1,80m in height, diesel engine, hydraulic system, and a CAN-based networked control system (NCS). This paper presents a NCS solution for the platform guidance by the four-wheel hydraulic steering distributed control. The control strategy, centered on the robot manipulators control theory, is based on the difference between the desired and actual position and considering the angular speed of the wheels. The results demonstrate that the NCS was simple and efficient, providing suitable steering performance for the platform guidance. Even though the simplicity of the NCS solution developed, it also overcame some verified control challenges in the robot guidance system design such as the hydraulic system delay, nonlinearities in the steering actuators, and inertia in the steering system due the friction of different terrains. Copyright © 2012 Eduardo Pacincia Godoy et al.

Scope, objectives and special problems of planning for agricultural development with reference to Barbados

Describe la organización, metas y objetivos del proceso de planificación para el desarrollo de la agricultura en Barbados.

El mercado común de productos agropecuarios en Centroamérica = The Central American common market for agricultural commodities

Incluye Bibliografía

Política agropecuaria subregional en los países signatarios del Pacto Andino = Agricultural policy in the countries signatory to the Andean subregional integration programme

Incluye Bibliografía

Agricultural development and macroeconomic balance in Latin America: an overview of some basic policy issues

Includes bibliography

Agricultural planning in the countries of the Caribbean Community (CARICOM)

Includes bibliography

Agricultural sector policy and macro-economic planning

Hace algunas observaciones respecto de los principales acontecimientos macroeconomicos en Trinidad y Tabago desde 1973, y procura insertar el desempeno del sector agricola en ese contexto.

Argentina: crisis, adjustment policies and agricultural development, 1980-1985

Analiza las tendencias dominantes en la agricultura y en la economia hasta la crisis de los anos 70, los programas de ajuste y sus efectos en el sector, y algunas consideraciones acerca de los principales desafios y el papel que le corresponderia a la agricultura en ellos.

The external crisis, adjustment policies and agricultural development in Brazil

Includes bibliography

Colombia: effects of the adjustment policy on agricultural development

Includes bibliography

Mexico: study on the financial crisis, the adjustment policies and agricultural development

Se pasa revista al desarrollo de la economia mexicana en general y del sector agropecuario en particular, desde la segunda guerra mundial hasta la crisis de 1982.

The world agricultural outlook in the 1990s

Includes bibliography