Discovering genetic diversity of Changmaogu, a rice landrace, for conservation and rural development

Changmaogu is a very rare and endangered rice landrace cultivated in a very limited area by Lama people, a branch of Bai ethnic group in Lanping County, Yunnan, China. No study on this precious landrace had been reported. This study was intended to explore the genetic diversity so as to develop strategy for conserving Changmaogu. The Changmaogu samples were compared with other three varieties (Hejing 16, Nipponbare and Hongxiangmi), using 24 pairs of SSR markers. Among all varieties, Changmaogu showed the richest genetic diversity. Cluster analysis also showed that Changmaogu can be distinguished in the genetic distance of 0.68. These data suggested that landrace is of great significance for the selection of rice varieties under the harsh environment and the acquisition of parents in the breeding work. The high altitude, low temperature and complex microbial community may be the important factors of genetic diversity in Changmaogu. The influence of ‘agriculture-processing-marketing’ mode of landraces should be continuously tracked. The strategy for conservation and sustainable development of Changmaogu was proposed in the present paper. Highlights - Changmaogu, a very rare and endangered rice landrace cultivated in a very limited area by Lama people, has more abundant genetic diversity than the three compared cultivars-Hejing 16, Nipponbare and Hongxiangmi, which enables it to adapt to changing environmental conditions, ensures local food supply and agricultural economic development, and makes it an effective supplement to the rice gene pool. - The result of UPGMA clustering analysis based on genetic distance led to the formation of three clusters, which Changmaogu had further genetic distance compared with hybrid rice Hejing 16 and rice parents Nipponbare, further revealing the utilization potential of Changmaogu in crop breeding. - The genetic diversity of Changmaogu and Hongxiangmi was compared to reveal the important position of Changmaogu in the protection of landrace, and to explore the potential impact of commercial activities on the genetic diversity of landrace. - According to the case of Changmaogu, this paper puts forward reasonable and effective strategies for the protection, which can be derived and applied to the protection of other landraces.

The Relationship Between Students’ Writing Process, Text Quality, and Thought Process Quality in 11th-Grade History and Philosophy Assignments

Source-based writing is a common but difficult task in history and philosophy. Students are usually taught how to write a good text in language classes. However, it is also important to address discipline-specificity in writing, a topic likely to be taught by content teachers. In order to design discipline-specific writing instruction, research needs to identify which reading and writing activities during the source-based writing process affect students’ thought process quality and text quality, as assessed by content teachers. We conducted a think-aloud study with 15 (11th grade) students who performed two source-based writing assignments, each representative of its discipline. From the data, we derived 11 activities, which we analyzed for duration, frequency, and time of occurrence. Results showed that the disciplines required different approaches to writing. For philosophy, the writing process was dominant and influenced quality, leading us to conclude that philosophical thinking and writing are intertwined. For history, the planning process appeared to be paramount, but it influenced text quality only and not the quality of the thought process. In other words, historical thinking and writing appear to be separate processes. Our findings can be used to develop strategy instruction that reinforces better writing, adapted to discipline-specific writing processes.

Change Management Practices and Performance of National Government Constituencies Development Funded Projects in Bomet County, Kenya

The purpose of change management is to implement strategies for effecting change, controlling change and helping people to adapt to change. Change management is a systematic approach to dealing with the transition or transformation of an organization's goals, processes or technologies. The National government Constituency development fund to counties has made a great impact, with numerous projects coming up throughout the country. The initiation of the development projects at grassroots level have led to significant rise in wellbeing of citizens in the constituency and county at large. The general objective of this study was to assess change management practices and how it relates to performance of national government CDF funded projects in Bomet County in Kenya. The specific objectives of the study were; to determine the influence of leadership on performance of the national development funded projects in Bomet County, to establish how stakeholder’s involvement influences the performance of the national development funded projects in Bomet County, to assess the influence of resources allocation on performance of the national development funded projects in County and to find out the extent to which monitoring and evaluation influences the performance of the national development funded projects in Bomet County. The study was anchored on Kotter’s 8 step model and the theory of planned change. The study adopted a Census research design targeting all CDFC members and officials managing CDF projects in each of the five wards in Bomet County. The study utilized primary data. Primary data was collected using semi structured questionnaires. Data was analyzed using SPSS. Descriptive and inferential statistics were employed in the study. Analyzed data was presented in percentages, frequencies, mean and standard deviation. From the findings, the researcher can conclude that, change management practices through leadership, stakeholders’ involvement, resources, and monitoring and evaluation has a significant and positive composite effect on performance of NG-CDF in County. Leadership aspects that contribute to this performance includes leaders’ role model and championship capacity towards change management, ability to develop strategy, create mission, motivate people to achieve objectives, employees’ empowerment, and organizational culture change. The researcher therefore recommends that, NG-CDF leadership should observe change management practices by ensuring there is frequent stakeholders’ engagement, role model and championship capacity towards change management, ability to develop strategy, create mission, motivate people to achieve objectives, employees’ empowerment, and sound organizational culture change. https://www.ijcab.org/ ,[email protected] https://journals.ijcab.org/journals/index.php

Fuzzy rule based cluster analysis to segment consumers’ preferences to eco and non-eco friendly products

Environment protection and basic health improvement of all social communities is now considered as one of the key parameters for the development. It has become a responsibility for both industry and academia to optimize the usage of finite natural resources and preserve them. Efficient promotion and strategic marketing of Eco Friendly products can contribute to this development. It is important to consider any market as a heterogeneous mix, which requires well-organized and intelligent split or segmentation. A survey was conducted in Kolkata, metropolitan city in India, through a structured questionnaire to measure Perceived Environmental Knowledge, Perceived Environmental Attitude and Green Purchase Behavior associated to 18 product categories identified by Central Pollution Control Board for Eco Mark Scheme, 2002. Two hundred and twenty three data inputs from the respondents were analysed for this study. Here in this study a fuzzy rule based clustering technique was performed to segregate customers into two sections considering three parameters like Perceived Environmental Knowledge, Perceived Environmental Attitude and Green Purchase Behavior associated to Eco friendly product, which acts as an input variable. The rule base has linguistic variables like Significantly High, Little High, Medium, Little Low and Significantly Low and output as “Eco friendly” or “Non-ecofriendly” consumers. A set of 5×5×5= 125 rules were developed for output determination. They were designed manually and the method is applied for detection of a set of good rules. Thirteen such good rules were identified through Fuzzy Reasoning Tool, which can lead to better Decision Making and facilitate the marketers to develop strategy and take up effective marketing decisions.

CLINICAL AND PHYSIOLOGICAL JUSTIFICATION OF WEANING FROM MECHANICAL VENTILATION IN CHILDREN WITH RESPIRATORY FAILURE

Children frequently are admitted to pediatric intensive care units due to acute respiratory failure and up to 64 % of them need to be mechanically ventilated and later weaned. The aim was to develop strategy of weaning from mechanical ventilation in children with different types of respiratory failure. Materials and methods. The work was based on results of treatment of 237 patients aged from 1 month to 18 years old, who were divided into control and study group. Patients of study group were randomized into group I (83 patients) and received traditional ICU monitoring and treatment and group II (79 patients), where was used proposed by us methods of monitoring and treatment. Results. There was supplemented data on the etiology of respiratory failure in children with taking into account function of diaphragm, changes in hemodynamics, nutritional status, electrolyte balance and central nervous system function. It was established new mechanisms of inadequacy of spontaneous breathing during mechanical ventilation and found causes of unsuccessful weaning from mechanical ventilation. In addition, it was developed a weaning strategy with goal-directed therapy for disorders treatment according the type of respiratory failure and children`s age. As a result, important scientific problem was solved and the results of treatment of children with respiratory failure was improved. Conclusions. It was found that proposed strategy of weaning from mechanical ventilation allowed to reduce the duration of mechanical ventilation and the frequency of complications (reintubations). There were no significant differences in the frequency of tracheostomy among patients of I and II groups.

The Crusader Strategy

Medieval states, and particularly crusader societies, often have been considered brutish and culturally isolated. It seems unlikely that they could develop “strategy” in any meaningful sense. However, the crusaders were actually highly organized in their thinking and their decision making was rarely random. This book draws on a rich array of primary sources to reassess events on the ground and patterns of behavior over time. The book shows how, from aggressive castle building to implementing a series of invasions of Egypt, crusader leaders tenaciously pursued long-term plans and devoted single-minded attention to clear strategic goals. Crusader states were permanently on the brink of destruction; resources were scarce and the penalties for failure severe. Intuitive strategic thinking, the book argues, was a necessity, not a luxury.

Measuring the performance of strategy

Purpose This paper aims to look at the problems of measuring the performance of business strategy. The authors look at the problem using two classical performance management paradigms and suggest a third approach which treats strategy as a stochastic network of actors and manoeuvres between those actors. Design/methodology/approach This has been developed using action research in a number of strategy projects with a range of organisations in the private, public and third sectors. Findings The two normal paradigms in use for performance measurement and management both struggle when applied to strategy. The problems are not merely ones of execution, they are much more fundamental and sit at the level of conceptual design. Modelling strategy as a series of manoeuvres between different actor organisations is both a more useful way to develop strategy but also provides a simple way to develop measures of strategic performance that can tell us not merely whether the strategy is being executed but also whether it is working. Originality/value The paper describes a totally new approach to measuring strategy – both its execution and also its effectiveness which contrasts with both the two prevailing paradigms commonly used in the field of strategy.