Effectiveness of the Agricultural Research System in Kenya

ABSTRACT

This paper discusses the organizational mechanisms affecting policy-making in the creation of agricultural scientific information in Kenya. Specifically, an attempt is made to determine how well the general policy framework fits the particular case of agriculture. It is concluded that the state suffers from organizational inefficiency in both the policy-formulation mechanisms and the policy-implementing institutions in the agricultural research system.     

Investigating the Research Practices of Agriculture Scholars: Findings From the University of Florida

ABSTRACT

The University of Florida (UF) George A. Smathers Libraries is one of 19 institutions that participated in an Ithaka S+R Research Support Services investigation of agricultural sciences. The authors conducted a qualitative analysis of research support services based on one-on-one semistructured interviews with 15 faculty of the UF Institute of Food and Agricultural Sciences in 2016. A number of core themes emerged from the analysis of research practices in the local study at UF. Core themes included finding appropriate literature, data management issues and tools, repositories for sharing research products, and research dissemination. This report summarizes a subset of these results, focusing on themes related to academic library services that support agricultural scholars research needs.     

农业科技信息传播效果的分析方法

对农业信息传播效果科学评价的方法做了简单的探讨,分析了农业信息传播与传播效果的实质内涵,列举了传播效果评价的主要方法,并重点讨论了理论分析法在传播效果评价中的应用。由于在传播学效果研究中,理论分析还处于刚刚起步阶段,因此,有待补充大量的实例,从而进行有效的科学分析,为农业科技信息的有效传播提供科学途径与理论支持。     

Partnership Between CAB International and China in Information Access,Management and Dissemination: Past,Present and Future

ABSTRACT

The partnership between CAB International (CABI) and China which began in 1980 reached a major milestone in 1992 with agreement to collaborate on a national information project financed by a grant from the Asian Development Bank. China became a Member Country of CABI in 1995. This opened the way to further partnership between CABI and China in working toward capacity building of Chinese agricultural information systems and improvement of information access, management and dissemination in China. China's joining CABI was also a major boost to full internationalisation of CABI and led to a considerable expansion of CABI's interests and activities throughout Asia.     

Research Practices and Support Needs of Scholars in the Field of Agriculture at Cornell University

ABSTRACT

This article presents the results of one of numerous and coordinated qualitative studies carried out at land-grant universities across the United States, to improve our understanding of agricultural research practices and identify new avenues for library services to meet the changing needs of agricultural faculty and research staff. We interviewed agricultural researchers across several departments at Cornell University about their research practices including research dissemination methods, data sharing, their use of primary and secondary resources, and current challenges in conducting agricultural research. Emerging themes included stakeholder engagement, collaboration and interdisciplinarity, the impact of technology, and research inputs and outputs.     

构建省级农业科研绩效评价体系的探讨

农业科研机构是国家科技创新体系的重要组成部分,开展科研绩效评价能够衡量创新能力和发展水平。为促进科技资源高效调配利用,提升农业科研绩效管理效率,探讨了省级农业科研绩效评价体系构建的原则及指标,提出了进一步完善科研绩效评价的建议。     

A Primer on Agricultural Communications for Student,Librarians and Researchers

ABSTRACT

Libraries have often played a major role in preserving our agricultural heritage. Many special libraries have helped to assemble the agricultural literature, much of which is in formats traditionally difficult to collect and maintain, particularly those of agricultural significance. This paper presents a brief overview of the changing nature of agricultural communications and how units within special libraries, such as the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign's Agricultural Communications Documentation Center (ACDC), play an important role in the creation, dissemination, and archiving of this vital information. Other specialized collections and services, such as the materials of The National Association of Farm Broadcasters (NAFB) and the Agriculture Network Information Center (AgNIC) will also be discussed.     

农业科研试验基地数据管理标准体系构建

农业科学数据作为重要战略性资源,在推动农业科技创新、增强农业科技竞争力方面发挥重要作用。农业科研试验基地是一手科研数据的主要来源,其数据管理标准体系的建立不仅是试验基地数据规范化管理的基础,也是规范化数据管理工作的重要一环,对于提高数据可复用性,最大程度发挥数据价值有重要意义。该研究通过国内外涉农长期观测网络、试验站数据管理标准体系内容梳理,以及对中国农业科研试验基地数据特点、数据全生命周期管理流程调研,构建了农业科研试验基地数据管理统一工作流;基于"霍尔三维结构"从标准适用数据管理阶段、标准性质、标准专业领域3个维度构建农业科研试验基地数据管理标准体系框架,并编制了农业科研试验基地数据管理标准体系基本构成表,梳理出涵盖数据全生命周期管理的标准20项,首期必建标准12项,以期为推进农业科研试验基地建设和数据管理共享提供支撑。     

Supporting the Research Practices of Agricultural Scientists at Oregon State University

ABSTRACT

As part of a cross-institutional collaboration organized by Ithaka S+R, Oregon State University Libraries faculty interviewed 15 faculty members in the College of Agricultural Sciences about their research, publishing, and information management practices. The work of Agricultural Sciences faculty is uniquely influenced by their regional geography and climate, as well as by their local and disciplinary communities of practice, which includes both growers and scholars. Findings showed that publishing decisions, access to research, barriers to access, and a systems thinking approach were influenced by behaviors and standards established by these various communities. Implications for the libraries' role in discovery, access, and dissemination are considered and discussed.     

Investigating the Needs of Agriculture Scholars: The Purdue Case

ABSTRACT

To better understand the complexity of agricultural research, two Purdue University Libraries’ faculty members conducted a series of interviews with subjects from across the College of Agriculture. Interview questions addressed research methodologies and outputs, research data management, primary information resources, and other aspects of the research cycle and the researchers’ professional lives. Interviews were recorded, transcribed, and analyzed using nVivo software. The results are summarized and presented here.     

Thematic Evolutionary Analysis of Core Agricultural and Natural Resource Academic Journals in Iran

ABSTRACT

For a core journal to be developed, fruitful research articles, diversity, and continuity of research topics are essential. The main goal of this study was to trace the thematic evolution (historical development) of agricultural and natural resource academic journals (ANAJs) published by public academic institutions in Iran. To this end, the study analyzed 2,961 articles published from 1905–2003 in all publicly-funded ANAJs in all contributing agricultural and natural resource academic majors (subfields), examining the scientific domain, research subject, research method, citations, impacts, and the aggregation level of journals on academic majors and academic majors on journals. Less than 5% of the articles were qualitative and cited theoretical frameworks. Over 95% were quantitative articles as their publications progressed. Thematically, agronomy and plant breeding, with 31.68%, had the highest aggregation level among academic majors; whereas, agricultural extension and education, with 2.08%, had the lowest.     

Technical Intelligence in a Dot.com Milieu: A Dialog/Dialog DataStar Perspective

ABSTRACT

Technical intelligence in an Internet-oriented environment requires an awareness of the role of information in a research and development/technically-driven organization. This paper will describe an integrated system of intellectual property analysis using the Dialog/Dialog DataStar family of products. Boolean-based systems such as Dialog/Dialog DataStar permit access to the building blocks of research and intellectual property–scientific and patent prior art precedence–through a standardized search language and, unlike Web-based search engines, offer iterative search capability. This paper will examine scientific and intellectual property searching on both systems and discuss the merits of each system for scientific researchers and information professionals.     

信息技术提升农业机械化水平

为适应中国现代农业建设的需要,保持中国农业机械化水平持续增长,实现中国农业可持续发展,该文提出,应将先进的信息技术融入中国农业机械的设计、制造、作业和管理等环节,使农业机械装备实现信息化和智能化,从而整体提升农业机械化水平。文中介绍了参数化设计、基于知识工程的农机产品设计、基于产品数据管理的并行协同设计等农机产品设计的关键技术;柔性制造、计算机集成制造、虚拟与网络制造等农机产品制造的关键技术;农情信息采集、农业机械导航、田间管理等农业机械作业的关键技术;农业机械管理、农业机械调度等关键技术。分析了这些关键技术信息化的不足,总结了世界各国的发展趋势,指出了用信息技术提升中国农业机械化水平应解决的核心问题。为加强农机装备的信息技术创新,该文建议,应突破一批智能农业装备数字化设计技术、自动导航协调控制技术及农业装备现场总线技术等关键技术;研发一批大田和设施农业生产作业系统、果园作业智能装备和畜禽水产精准生产装备等重大技术产品;构建一批水肥药田间精准作业系统、畜禽水产自动饲喂系统和自动化加工生产线等农业机械精准作业系统,从而进一步用信息技术提升农业机械化水平。     

农业信息化过程中信息资源整合的研究

在农业信息化进程中，农业信息资源的整合已成为一个至关重要的话题，而有效的整合必须求助于较为完整的信息标准体系和法律保障体系，以及信息管理部门的协调才能实现。为了进一步加快农业信息资源整合，必须加强农业信息的规范化和标准化的建设，健全信息采集、整理与传播体制。介绍了信息资源整合的意义、策略、重要性，以及如何健全农业信息服务体系。     

Research Practices of Agricultural Scientists at The Ohio State University

ABSTRACT

The Ohio State University Libraries was one of 19 institutions collaborating in the Ithaka S+R Research Support Services for the Field of Agriculture study. Based on a series of individual, semistructured interviews with faculty researchers affiliated with the agricultural sciences at the Ohio State University, the study gathered information about current research practices. The study highlighted challenges of the agricultural research process and identified opportunities for improving research support services for agricultural scientists.     

Comparison of sampling designs for sediment source fingerprinting in an agricultural watershed in Atlantic Canada

Purpose

Sediment fingerprinting is increasingly being used to improve the understanding of sediment dynamics within the critical zone and provide information that can help guide management decisions at the watershed scale. The objectives of this study were to investigate both the implications of different sediment fingerprinting sampling designs and spatial scales on the characterization of sediment dynamics in a predominantly agricultural watershed in northwestern New Brunswick, Canada.

Materials and methods

Color and radionuclide fingerprints were used to discriminate between three potential sediment sources: agricultural topsoil, agricultural streambanks, and forested areas (topsoil and streambanks). Suspended sediment was collected seasonally, between 2008 and 2014, at five sites with drainage areas ranging from 3.0 to 13.4 km². Using the same source and sediment data set, multiple-, nested-, and local-location fingerprinting sampling designs were employed to investigate the influence of scale of observation, geomorphic connectivity, land use, and the heterogeneity of source fingerprints on apportionment results.

Results and discussion

Sediment collected in the headwaters was primarily derived from forested areas while the sediment collected at the outlet of the watershed was primarily from agricultural topsoil. When comparing the multiple- and nested-location designs, it was found that accounting for the spatial variability in the fingerprint properties of each source had a small difference in the sediment apportionment results. Furthermore, the local-location design demonstrated that the sediment collected at each location was composed of predominately local sources as opposed to upstream sediment entering the local catchment.

Conclusions

Assessment of the sources of sediment at a range of spatial scales better accounts for both geomorphic connectivity and differences in land use throughout the watershed. Overall, each of the three fingerprinting sampling designs provided different information that can be used to guide soil and water conservation management.

     

From Their Mouths to Our Ears: Research Practices and Needs of Agricultural Scientists at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln

ABSTRACT

University of Nebraska-Lincoln (UNL) Libraries was one of 19 participants in a national study of the research practices and needs of agricultural researchers. Two UNL Libraries faculty members interviewed 11 UNL scholars during the summer of 2016. The ethnographic research approach revealed four core themes: interdisciplinarity and collaborations, scientific communication practices, scientific research data issues and practices, and challenges and opportunities. Illustrated by the sample of faculty comments presented here, the themes have direct implications for the UNL Libraries, while in other cases these point to concerns and opportunities for the university, the academy, and the nation.     

基于模糊综合评判模型的东北三省水资源承载力研究

[目的]定量分析东北三省(辽宁省、吉林省、黑龙江省)2012—2016年水资源承载力的具体情况,为东北三省水资源开发利用和生态保护提供科学依据。[方法]基于2012—2016年东北三省的水资源条件、社会经济发展水平以及生态环境状况3个方面相关数据,选取人均水资源量、水资源利用率、供水模数、人均GDP、人均日生活用水量、万元工业增加值用水量、万元农业增加值用水量、耕地灌溉率、生态用水率以及森林覆盖率10个主要影响区域水资源承载力的因素作为评价因子,应用模糊综合评判模型进行研究。[结果]东北三省2012年—2016年综合评分均值分别为:辽宁省0.468 6,吉林省0.684 0,黑龙江省0.550 2。[结论]东北三省的水资源开发已有一定规模,虽然水资源供给在一定程度上能满足各省份的发展需要,但仍存在水资源短缺的现象。     

Seventeen Interviews With Virginia Tech CALS Faculty: State of Research and How Information Professionals Can Help

ABSTRACT

This article is a report of the 17 interviews conducted in 2016 at Virginia Tech by the agriculture librarian to examine the current state of research and how information professionals can support agricultural researchers. This is one of the reports connected with the larger Ithaka S+R Agriculture Project.