SP0 is conceived for coordination of the ICON research, for internal and external scientific exchange as well as for investigating development pathways of land use on the Philippines. The SP0 team will supervise the project activities as a whole, including reporting and final synthesis. It will design the ICON homepage, establish and maintain a web-based database and present the project and its results in scientific forums and public media. It will organize collaboration and scientific exchange with international networks dealing with atmospheric processes, global carbon, nitrogen, water and energy cycles, and long-term ecological research. Specifically, SP0 is devoted to ensuring a sound integration of the ICON project within the scientific communities of Germany and SE Asia. Supported by the ICON local research coordinator based at and employed by IRRI, it will coordinate with the IRRI farm management to assist other ICON subprojects with field setup, routine data collection and technical backstopping.
In Fragebogen-Untersuchungen zur Lärmwirkung wurden bisher sehr unterschiedliche Operationalisierungen von Wirkungsvariablen (wie z.B. Belästigung, Störung von Aktivitäten) und außer-akustischen Faktoren (sog. Moderatoren wie z.B. Lärmempfindlichkeit, misfeasance) verwendet. Deshalb hat sich die Arbeitsgruppe community response der International Commission on the Biological Effects of Noise (ICBEN, Team No. 6) als langfristiges Ziel die Entwicklung von Fragebogen-Guidelines und die Formulierung eines Muster-Fragebogens für die Lärmwirkungsforschung gesetzt. D.h. es soll ein Vorschlag erarbeitet werden, in welcher Form globale und spezifische Lärmwirkungen in Befragungen erhoben werden sollten. Um dieses Vorhaben zu unterstützen, hat der Arbeitskreis Ökologische Lärmforschung die Erstellung einer systematischen Übersicht über vorhandene Fragebögen aus Lärmwirkungsstudien auf internationaler Ebene in Angriff genommen. Diese Übersicht soll es u.a. ermöglichen, die Struktur von verschiedenen Fragebögen sowie die in ihnen verwendeten Operationalisierungen für Lärmwirkungs- und Moderatorvariablen (hinsichtlich Art der Frageformulierung sowie der Antwortformate) zu vergleichen. Für den/die einzelne/n Lärmforscher/in bietet diese Übersicht die Möglichkeit, sich auf sehr effiziente Art und Weise darüber zu informieren, wie bestimmte Konstrukte in bisherigen Untersuchungen operationalisiert worden sind bzw. welche Alternativen zu den bereits selbst angewandten Operationalisierungen bestehen. Nach einer systematischen Ermittlung von Namen und Adressen einschlägiger Lärmforscher/innen, wurden diese um die Zusendung von Fragebögen sowie ergänzender Materialien aus eigenen Lärmwirkungsstudien gebeten. Die zugesandten Fragebögen werden gegebenenfalls übersetzt und mit der Methode der qualitativen Inhaltsanalyse ausgewertet. Hierbei werden die Fragebögen im Hinblick auf formelle Aspekte (z.B. Jahr der Erhebung, Sprache, Art der Befragungsmethode) wie auch im Hinblick auf strukturelle Aspekte (z.B. Umfang des Fragebogens, abgefragte Variablengruppen, Antwortformate) ausgewertet. Hauptgegenstand der Auswertung ist aber insbesondere die Auswertung der Lärmwirkungsvariablen (z.B. die Abfrage der globalen Lärmbelästigung, Aktivitätenstörungen, Kommunikationsstörungen) sowie der Moderatorvariablen (z.B. Lärmempfindlichkeit, Lärmbewältigungsvermögen, misfeasance). Parallel dazu wurde eine Datenbank entwickelt, in der die Ergebnisse der Analysen dargestellt und verwaltet werden. Diese Datenbank wird ab November 2001 im Internet unter http://www.eco.psy.ruhr-uni-bochum.de/nqd für jede/n interessierte/n Forscher/in zugänglich und nutzbar sein. Langfristig ist darüber hinaus geplant, ein Archiv mit den Original-Fragebögen aufzubauen, in dem einzelne Fragebögen auf Wunsch eingesehen werden können.
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To ward off an attack by herbivorous insects, plants produce a variety of toxic or repulsive compounds. However, specialized insects have developed counter-strategies to deal with these defence compounds, which explains why many of these insects have become agricultural pests. It is becoming increasingly clear that these plant-insect interactions can only be understood by investigating the function of plant toxins from the perspective of the plant and the insect simultaneously. In a preliminary study carried out in the FARCE laboratory at the University of Neuchâtel, we have demonstrated that benzoxazinoids (BXDs), a specific class of nitrogen-containing secondary metabolites produced by grasses, strongly affect the metabolism, the behaviour and the fitness of an important, highly specialized pest of maize: caterpillars of the moth Spodoptera frugiperda. We have found that maize changes its BXD production after detecting caterpillar feeding, and that Spodoptera frugiperda has evolved mechanisms to circumvent their negative effects. The BXD-mediated interaction between maize and Spodoptera caterpillars complex an ideal model to study the role of plant secondary metabolites at the interface between plants and insects. The current project brings together knowledge from molecular biology, plant and insect biochemistry, phytochemistry, ecology and behaviour, as well as agricultural sciences to track the fate of BXDs from their production in the plant to their conversion inside the target insect. By using such a highly interdisciplinary, cross-species approach we will be able to elucidate the precise role of BXDs in plant-insect interactions. As BXDs consume a significant fraction of the nitrogen available to a plant, but at the same time serve as a potentially important barrier against pests, our study goes beyond purely fundamental research and opens up interesting possibilities for application in agriculture. The project is headed by UniNE, represented by the FARCE laboratory and the Analytical Chemistry Service of the Swiss Plant Science Web, and involves partners from the Federal Research Station Agroscope Changins-Wädenswil, the University of Geneva and the Max Planck Institute for Chemical Ecology in Jena (Germany).
Studying resource-scarce areas in South Asia and East Africa, this research project seeks to identify new livelihood strategies for groups vulnerable to exclusion, particularly strategies that diminish reliance on natural resources. Special attention is given to the governing institutional context in order to reveal ways of supporting equity-effective institutions. We thereby ask the following guiding questions: How the livelihoods are secured at present, and what is the situation specifically of food security? What kind of alternative livelihood options (including options to secure food) do exist in these contexts, or are being fostered by development interventions? Who has access to these opportunities (i.e. is included), and who not (i.e. is excluded)? What are the institutional processes that produce these exclusions or inclusion? And how could equity-effectiveness of the institutional context be supported? Finally - looking into the future, which scenarios of impacts of climate change on livelihood security (food production etc.) exist? Which impacts could these processes have onto the already contested field of securing livelihoods; and which policies are necessary to cope with this? Our in-depth study of the changing patterns of livelihood strategies and identification of enabling livelihood options for marginal communities in the face of resource and food scarcity and social conflicts - especially beyond the (presently dominant) focus on natural resources - contributes to a comprehensive understanding of social conflicts and processes of exclusion and inclusion of certain social groups in the marginal areas, and reveals avenues for alternative livelihood options and support structures. These insights will then be used for a 'research informed constructive dialogue' with concerned stakeholders and practitioners to find ways of improving existing practices by using transdisciplinary approach. Case studies: Transnational Land Deals and Local Livelihoods in Tanzania (Martina Locher) In recent years there has been a rapid growth in the number of investors from Western, Asian and Gulf countries acquiring large shares of agricultural land in poorer countries, in order to plant food or biofuel crops, for forestry plantations and many other purposes. The strong increase of such investments triggered a lively debate on their impacts in host countries. Supporters claim that they entail new income opportunities, improved technologies and infrastructure in rural areas. Critics draw attention to violations of (formal and informal) land rights held by local people, decreasing access to and degradation of natural resources, and ultimately increased food insecurity in the respective areas. In sub-Saharan Africa, a hotspot region for foreign investment, the rush for foreign land happens in a context of unstable farming existences. Population growth and climate change lead to increased pressure on natural resources. usw.
This request R'Equip is within the context of a research project dealing with an experimental investigation of unsaturated soils behavior under very high temperature, suction, and pressure loadings. The aims of this research program require the development of a new specific apparatus adapted to these extreme testing conditions for LMS-EPFL. Defining the thermo-hydro-mechanical behavior of materials is one of the main modern issues in soil mechanics. In recent years, thermal-geomechanical problems have strongly increased as a result of the demand for new and enlarged types of applications such as high-level nuclear waste disposal, energy extraction from pressurized geothermal reservoirs, heat storage, zones around buried high-voltage cables, geothermal structures, and so on. For sure, one of the fundamental challenges in this field is an insight in the understanding of unsaturated soil behavior at high pressures and temperatures for host rocks and buffer materials for radioactive waste. Several of the leading research teams around the world have now implemented research programs in this area. The aim of the proposed research is therefore the development of a new multi-purpose triaxial cell able to perform tests on unsaturated materials for wide ranges of temperature (20-150 C) and cell pressure (up to 30 MPa) along with suction control. The LMS-EPFL is already involved in two important research projects in the field of the safety study of disposal for vitrified High Level Wastes. The TIMODAZ (Thermal Impact on the Damaged Zone around a Radioactive Waste Disposal in Clay Host Rocks) European project investigates the behavior of two host rocks (Boom Clay from Mol (Belgium) and Opalinus Clay from Mont Terri (Switzerland)) for high level waste repository and a collaboration with the NAGRA (National Cooperative for the Disposal of Radioactive Waste - Switzerland) characterizes the thermo-hydro-mechanical behavior of granular bentonite as a buffer material. To conduct these experimental programs in the best way, the laboratories need to acquire such a triaxial cell adapted for very high thermo-hydro-mechanical loadings. The decisiveness of these experimental programs is to use the test results to define for each material the parameters of ACMEG-TS (Advanced Constitutive Model for Environmental Geomechanics) model developed by the LMS, which takes into account at the same time the temperature and the suction effects on soil behavior. This model will permit to predict the evolution of the clay host rocks or the granular bentonite in order to take into account all the thermo-hydro-mechanical processes in the safety study of disposal for vitrified High Level Wastes.
Objective: Countries in the Western Balkan region have great unexploited potential of renewable energy sources (RES), which could by efficient use significantly contribute to security of supply within the region and wider. Special care has to be devoted to sound solu tions for electricity supply of undeveloped and isolated regions due to war damage. The main objectives of the VBPC are: (i) transfer of know-how in RES technology and their implementation for isolated regions, (ii) to identify main economic and legislativ e factors influencing investment decisions in RES including barriers and local specifics, and to identify options to improve penetration of RES, and (.ii) awareness building and education on modes, means and benefits of renewable energy sources. The work w ithin the VBPC will be organized in 4 work packages (WP). First WP will deal with transfer of best practice and best technologies in RES for isolated regions, comprising energy transformation, distribution, operation and control, connection to the local ne twork, energy storage and organizational as also other implementation issues. In the second WP the regulatory framework of each WB country will be analyzed to identify barriers and local specifics. This will be archived by exchange ofinformation on establi shing incentives for promotion of RES and experiences with harmonisation with EU legislation in EU, AS and WB countries. Communication and dissemination with key focus groups (policy makers, utilities and SMEs, higher education system) will be the objectiv e of the WP3. Fore each key focus group of actors important for RES implementation in the region a special dissemination program will be carried out comprising targeted workshops, conferences, public reports and summer schools. The fourth WP will be devote d to project management issues and to support actions and activities in the first three work packages.
The proposal suggests the organisation of the 7th EC Conference on Cultural Heritage Research in Prague, in 2006. The scope of the project stems from the SSP priorities, and the conference aims at the consolidation and impact assessment of results achieved in EU research projects related to movable and immovable cultural heritage, with a special focus on exploitation and spin-off of cultural heritage research results and testing of the acceptability of new sustainability approaches and new technologies by the user community, SMEs, owners, managers and restorers or conservationists of the cultural heritage. The Prague conference has been designed to further define the role of Europes cultural heritage research within the international context and as part of international cooperation, to explore the possibilities for SMEs in contributing to competitiveness and job creation, to define the support of cultural heritage research to policy needs and to contribute to the 7th Framework Programme establishment through support of the European Construction Technology Platform concept and research infrastructure development. The wider public will be addressed by means of special accompanying events, too, in order to ensure feedback and response from non-professional stakeholders. The Conference will consist of sessions dealing with political exploitation and public dissemination of cultural heritage research, the international role of European cultural heritage research, poster displays and verbal presentations of policy impact assessment, research infrastructure achievements, innovative applications and new ideas, as well as coordination of national education and research into cultural heritage issues. Public and professional awareness shall be increased by special demonstration and post-conference activities, including publication of the Conference Proceedings. The results and continuing activities will be supported by IT tools and follow-up working groups, after the event.