Gene flow in agricultural crops is important for risk assessment of genetically modified (GM) crops, particularly in countries with a large informal agricultural sector of subsistence cultivation. We present a pollen flow model for maize (Zea mays), a major staple crop in Africa. We use spatial properties of fields (size, position) in three small-scale maize farming communities in Zambia and es...

Sludge Treatment Reed Beds (STRBs) are widely used in Northern Europe to dewater and mineralize surplus sludge from activated sludge systems used to treat urban domestic sewage. STRBs are low-technology, energy-efficient, and do not require addition of chemicals. They dewater and stabilize the sludge and produce a final product that can be safely used as a fertilizer for agricultural crops. Lon...

What is a corvid? There are just over 120 species of corvids, a family of songbirds that includes the crows, ravens, rooks and jackdaws, as well as the more colourful jays, magpies and nutcrackers. Although belonging to the same order as nightingales and other birds with melodious songs (Oscines), corvids tend to be identified by their raucous calls. Little is known about corvid songs, perhaps ...

There has been a growing recognition that the narrow linear strips of uncultivated vegetation that lie between roads and agricultural crops, referred to as roadside right-of-ways or verges, can serve as areas for the conservation of wildlife. The features of right-of-ways that should influence the composition of wildlife communities vary considerably. Our goal was to determine what features of ...

Pest detection and identification of diseases in agricultural crops is essential to ensure good productivity. The productivity of plants will reduce due to diseases and presence of pests. Image processing can be used to identify the pests and thereby can reduce the use of pesticides. Image processing involves capturing the image and applying various preprocessing techniques and detect the pest ...

Effects of agricultural intensification (AI) on biodiversity are often assessed on the plot scale, although processes determining diversity also operate on larger spatial scales. Here, we analyzed the diversity of vascular plants, carabid beetles, and birds in agricultural landscapes in cereal crop fields at the field (n = 1350), farm (n = 270), and European-region (n = 9) scale. We partitioned...

Research has demonstrated the health and financial cost to working caregivers of older adults and the cost to business in lost productivity. This paper describes the implementation of the Worker Interactive Networking (WIN) project, a Web-based program designed to support employed caregivers at work. WIN innovatively linked working caregivers via the Internet to home to monitor elders' status u...

Pesticides are ubiquitous neurotoxicants, and several lines of evidence suggest that exposure may be associated with depression. Epidemiologic evidence has focused largely on organophosphate exposures, while research on other pesticides is limited. We collected detailed pesticide use history from farmers recruited in 1998-2000 in France. Among 567 farmers aged 37-78 years, 83 (14.6%) self-repor...

Transgenic Crops describes the basics of genetic modifi cation for agricultural purposes and a brief history of the technology and the governing policies surrounding it. This publication offers a brief overview of the main agricultural crops that have been genetically modifi ed, the characteristics they express, and the market roles they play. Unintended consequences, economic considerations, a...