Factors Affecting Technology Adoption in Small Community Farmers in Relation to Reproductive Events in Tropical Cattle Raised under Dual Purpose Systems

The impact of technology adoption among farmers in developing countries has been an issue difficult to measure and interpret. Hence, research to improve production has been centered in technology that possible is not adequate for this region. The present review aims to utilize subjects such as Genetics, Reproduction, Nutrition, Management and Animal Health as examples of research endeavors illustrating the scarcely bond existing between research and adoption of technology. A final section is an attempt to illustrate the possible reasons why the transfer of technology is failing to be of any consequence at least under the conditions of developing countries.

On Redefining the Onset of Baseflow Recession on Storm Hydrographs

Two methods that define the point of baseflow recession onset were compared using storm hydrograph data for 27 storm events that occurred between 1982-1995 in the Upeo watershed located in the Andes mountain range in central Chile (Figure 1). Three well-known baseflow recession equations were used to determine whether the method we are proposing here, that defines baseflow recession onset as the third inflection point on the logarithmic graph of the falling limb of the storm hydrograph, more accurately models observed data than the most widely used method that defines baseflow onset as the second inflection point on the same graph. Five time intervals were used to modify the recession coefficient in search of a more accurate fit. Results from the coefficient of determination, standard error, Mann-Whitney U test, and Bland-Altman test suggest that redefining baseflow recession onset via the proposed approach more accurately models baseflow recession behavior.

Quality Requirements for Multimedia Interactive Informative Systems

Multimedia Interactive Informative Systems (MIIS) are software applications resulting from the convergence of multiples technologies such as audiovisual, computing and communication. They aim to transmit information to a large, diverse and dispersed public. As with other mass media, the fulfillment of MIIS goals depends largely on the quality of communication between the system and end users. Therefore, those systems should be developed in order to ensure that this quality requirement is satisfied. If MIIS are constructed according to usual software engineering practices, the analysis discipline of the development process includes requirements identification and specification;however, these techniques are focused on functional requirements, and they do not give much importance to non-functional requirements. In this paper, we propose a development process based on the production of videogames which has two different phases: preproduction and production. The first phase, corresponding to requirements identification, derives into the concept of system. In order to translate this concept into a specification, we propose the use of new communicational attributes and a MIIS metamodel. The establishment of MIIS non-functional specification is the result of analyzing class diagrams through quality attributes. In order to evaluate if the specifications are responding to communicational attributes, a functional prototype is built and evaluated with end users. The proposed methodology is applied to a real case study.

A High-Resolution Modeling Strategy to Assess Impacts of Climate Change for Mesoamerica and the Caribbean

Mesoamerica and the Caribbean are low-latitude regions at risk for the effects of climate change. Global climate models provide large-scale assessment of climate drivers, but, at a horizontal resolution of 100 km, cannot resolve the effects of topography and land use as they impact the local temperature and precipitation that are keys to climate impacts. We developed a robust dynamical downscaling strategy that used the WRF regional climate model to downscale at 4 - 12 km resolution GCM results. Model verification demonstrates the need for such resolution of topography in order to properly simulate temperatures. Precipitation is more difficult to evaluate, being highly variable in time and space. Overall, a 36 km resolution is inadequate;12 km appears reasonable, especially in regions of low topography, but the 4 km resolution provides the best match with observations. This represents a tradeoff between model resolution and the computational effort needed to make simulations. A key goal is to provide climate change specialists in each country with the information they need to evaluate possible future climate change impacts.

BRI 10th Anniversary Letter from the DGI of Uruguay

Dear colleagues,Greetings from the Dirección General Im-positiva(DGI)of Uruguay!It is a pleasure for our tax administration to join the Belt and Road Initiative Tax Administra-tion Cooperation Mechanism(BRITACOM)and to be one of its founding members.BRITACOM is important for the DGI of Uruguay for providing a platform in which the ex-change of opinions and experience of the different tax administrations takes place,as well as train-ing in tax issues.

Stem cells and tissue engineering: an alternative treatment for craniofacial congenital malformations and articular degenerative diseases

The life quality of patients with craniofacial malformations is severely affected by the physical disabilities caused by the malformation itself,but also by being subjected to bullying,which leads to a series of relevant psychological and societal effects that have an economic impact on the health sector.Orofacial clefts,notably cleft lip(CL),cleft palate,and microtia,are the most common craniofacial birth defects in humans and represent a substantial burden,both personal and societal.On the other hand,osteoarthritis is a widespread degenerative disease that is becoming more common due to the extension of the human lifespan and to an increase in injuries in young people as a result of their lifestyle.Advances in tissue engineering as a part of regenerative medicine offer new hope to patients that can benefit from new tissue engineering therapies based on the supportive action of tailored 3D biomaterials and the synergic action of stem cells that can be driven to the process of bone and cartilage regeneration.This review provides an update on recent considerations for stem cells and studies on the use of advanced biomaterials and cell therapies for the regeneration of craniofacial congenital malformations and articular degenerative diseases.