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As the debate over a new farm bill ratchets up it is worth noting that the legislation will affect not only agriculture and nutrition but rural development. Achieving a healthy crop and bottom line may be the driving focus of a farmer but those achievements are done within his community and all it entails -- infrastructure, hospitals, schools, commerce. Too often those community's populations are shrinking while infrastructure crumbles and business opportunities are lacking.
And rural America is not getting even close to its fair share of federal funds to halt the decay, says Charles Fluharty, vice-president of the Rural Policy Research Institute. Fluharty said exactly that at a Feb. 15 Senate Agriculture Committee hearing, the first of a planned series of hearings on the farm bill. Fluharty urged legislators – who called the hearing to consider "policies that make investments in jobs and opportunities for farmers and rural businesses through new markets, entrepreneurship, regional strategies and energy innovation" according to the committee's website – to allow two key numbers to be "seared into your consciousness: $28 billion and 1 percent.
"The $28 billion are additional rural community and economic development resources that would have been available in 2010, if non-metro counties received the same per capita federal funding resources as metro counties. … With Rural Development Budget Authority being further reduced, where is rural America to turn in the future?"
For more on RUPRI, see here.
It won't be to U.S. philanthropic foundations. "Here, in the same year – 2010 -- of the $46 billion given by foundations, only 1 percent went to rural programming. This geographic inequity has grown no better over time, while rural community capacity shrinks and rural safety net needs grow exponentially."
Shortly after his testimony Fluharty spoke with Farm Press about RUPRI, how rural communities can band together to better themselves, the need to combine various government efforts farm country, and why philanthropic tax breaks should be scrutinized. Among his comments:
On the genesis of the University of Missouri-based RUPRI…
"We were formed in 1990 by a bipartisan group of senators on the agriculture committee. Originally, it was Dale Bumpers from Arkansas, Bob Kerrey from Nebraska and Kit Bond from Missouri.
"Heading into discussions about the 1992 (farm bill) -- and there was already a lot of good work and rigorous analysis being done by FAPRI on commodity programs – these senators saw there was an increasing relationship between agriculture and economic development. More and more farm families were working off the farm.
"So, they wanted to create something external to government that wouldn't be controlled by any institution – not the USDA, not the agriculture committees, not advocacy groups – and would do analysis on the broader issues in rural America. Specifically, they wanted to look at domestic policy issues other than agriculture affect rural regions.
"At that time, I'd been an executive with the Indiana Beef Cattle Association and was about to go to work for the Indiana Farm Bureau. Instead, I came in to RUPRI.
"Over the last 20 years, we've been funded by Congress through ag appropriations to do external, non-partisan, objective analysis of the rural impacts of public policy. That includes everything from Medicare and Medicaid to transportation to entrepreneurship to health and human services.
"Because there isn't really enough rigorous rural policy research in any one institution – we're a small piece of a larger puzzle – we've built teams of researchers, practitioners and analysts across the country and world. That way when there's a set of issues in public choice in Congress, the administration, in a governor's office down to the county or regional level, we can put the best research together around that with those who can explain what these policies will mean in the dirt. We try to provide the view of what the rural differential impact of a specific public policy will be.
"We're now in our third decade and we don't search for a lot of headlines. We're just trying to help public servants understand what the impacts their decisions have on rural America."
Looking at some of your testimony before the agriculture committees since 2000, you're repeating a lot of the same things. Is it frustrating for you to not see your concerns tackled by Congress?
"You've hit a soft spot for me because this is the fourth farm bill where we're basically saying the same things. But we're actually getting there…
"We're blessed and take our autonomous, non-partisan status very seriously. There simply aren't enough rural votes any more in either party. I've worked just as closely with Democratic as I have with Republican administrations.
"It's a great advantage, I believe, for rural places and people that there's a policy shop that both sides go to and trust to provide the straight story.
"The other beauty is the folks that care about the rural future still mostly treat it in a non-partisan way. But there are issues where there are divides – we've been in a very partisan political environment for the last 10 or 15 years. Generally, though, most rural elected officials realize they need to reach across the aisle to get things done.
"However, it is somewhat frustrating to know where we're heading and what we need to do and yet see the policy development process in the ag committees, frankly, get there slower than it might."
A tour
On an eye-opening tour of Europe's farm country…
"A few years ago, during the Bush administration when Tom Dorr was USDA undersecretary for rural development, we organized a trip to the EU. We brought either the elected president or the CEO of all the major ag organizations in the country, Dorr and several rural development directors. We did an entire study/tour week in Europe with that group – from northern Scotland to the south of France.
"The reason for the tour was to get guys out of buildings and onto farms in five or six European countries to see where they were with regards to rural entrepreneurship connection to agricultural policy. The point was not to adopt a European model but to suggest that in Europe, more and more, rural development and agricultural commodity producers are aligning to say 'we're in a very urban-centric policy arena and must work closely together. The same guys that farm are the same guys that need good healthcare, good roads, good entrepreneur financing programs, good education for the kids.'
"At the end of the trip in France, a state Farm Bureau president got up and spoke. He said 'the reality is I've learned more on this trip than, probably, any other trip I've been on. Here's what bothers me: every rural town in Europe than we've seen looks better than my (Midwest) hometown. We may not want to adopt European policies, but we have to figure out how U.S. ag and rural development can be more closely aligned.'
"Unfortunately, in the United States, we're not quite as smart in thinking about how rural innovation relates to the future of agriculture. And since that trip, as every producer knows in everything from regional food to energy, we're going to see agriculture increasingly being a tremendously viable development engine beyond agriculture itself."
On the pace of policy development…
"As I said in my testimony, I honestly believe the people are way out in front of the policy development process. But it is coming around.
"Of course, to be honest, there is no money for the agriculture committees. They're going to have to work smarter, going to have rethink things. We have far too many programs that don't have goals – they're just out there with an important constituency. But we can no longer afford them all and must think about how to align and integrate smarter.
"To do that will require: regional innovations, value chains, asset-based development strategies in multi-county regions in rural America and, clearly, entrepreneurship development."
On policy recommendations…
Fluharty said the Senate Agriculture Committee should consider three specific policy recommendations. His first: Given current budgetary challenges, it is critical that this committee create a more innovative, streamlined, flexible, and regional approach to enable USDA RD (Rural Development) to administer the remaining suite of recently-downsized, but very effective economic development programs in a more integrated, aligned, and leveraged framework, and wherever possible, in a regional context.
"There are a lot of RD programs. There are over 40 different economic development programs in the RD suite. Many of your readers have likely used them for energy infrastructure, to build a critical access hospital, a community center or the like.
"There are Rural Business Opportunity grants, Rural Business Enterprise grants, the Intermediary Relending Program, the Rural Community Development Initiative, the Micro Enterprise Loan Program, on and on. These are mid-sized, 'boutique' policy – almost project design and development programs – that, frankly, are very hard to qualify for. It's rather onerous to secure an RD loan.
"So, in a lot of cases, the last shot for an economic development director in, say, the Kansas region is 'well, maybe we'll have to go with the USDA.' That isn't because of the people running the programs – they're great public servants. But the committee has created a statue situation that makes the programs really hard to qualify for, to seek grants under and to follow through on. If you're a small county with a limited research staff and no grant writer (it's too difficult).
"If you go to the Small Business Administration or the like, the process is a heck of a lot simpler and responds more quickly.
"We need to say 'instead of all these programs, let's figure out a way to give the state RD directors and the regional USDA program folks more flexibility to work with county commissioners and economic development practitioners. Let's create a set of options that will streamline the process, make program application less onerous.'"
Fluharty's second recommendation: The regional framework should advance asset-based innovation and entrepreneurship, and above all else, align much more effectively and efficiently with other programs at sister federal agencies addressing similar needs.
"Again, there is no money. We must think about linking various investment streams.
"For example, the Economic Development Administration (under the Commerce Department) has a program called Comprehensive Economic Development Strategy (CEDS). It used to be that a region had to fill out an application to get a grant. It was pro forma and you have to slap some stuff together showing some statistics and you'd get a grant.
"That has changed with the recognition that value chains and the global economy means rural regions really must think about competitive advantage. CEDS has gotten good – it's rigorous, the private sector has bought in and local jurisdictions are, as well. Those projects are being built all over the country.
"So, why not align USDA grants to CEDS or a similar program where there's some rigor? The reality is there are a lot of folks trying to bring projects to rural areas but it isn't their full-time job. It isn't like what's happening in cities. And they're trying to make good decisions with limited tools.
"We must align these programs better. And it's starting to happen. The (Obama) administration has done a really good job trying to align Small Business, Commerce and the USDA. There have been several GAO (Government Accountability Office) studies that have backed that effort. My hope is the agriculture committees will provide USDA with the ability to be more flexible."
Fluharty's third recommendation, which he says is the "most critical" of the bunch:Given past, current and future RD funding reductions, this committee must ensure a sufficient level of rural debt, venture and equity capital, as well as an appropriate and flexible suite of federal instruments through which they are delivered, to meet rural financing need. In addition, the committee should also explore why there continues to be a glaring lack of rural investment by our nation's major foundations.
"The Economic Research Service just released their Farm Household Income report. It showed that in 2010 the median farm household income was $54,000. Almost $50,000 was earned off the farm.
"Those operating larger farms with $250,000 in sales earned 75 percent of their income off the farm. Even on the largest farms it's still 20 percent.
"In 2010, if the federal government had returned the same level of tax resources to rural areas, per capita, that urban areas received, we'd have had $28 billion more for economic and community development. That's a very stark differential.
"And that discrepancy is bound to get worse. The budget authority for RD has gone down and down and down. We all recognize – just as the folks working on direct payments do – we'll have to move to risk-management because of a lack of money.
"The reality, though, is that folks trying to build rural economies have been squeezed for the last decade. That's a huge disadvantage and we're talking about the main federal programs for economic and community developments.
"These numbers mean almost $600 per person less is provided to rural America."
More discrepancies
On foundations and the 'red-lining' of rural America…
"Can we say the foundations now working on economic development might be something rural America could fall back on? Well, in 2010, the major national foundations gave $46 billion. Only one percent of that went to rural America. One percent! That's a rural red-lining.
"Some foundations have argued for years that the government is red-lining certain populations. Well, that one percent is a de facto red-lining of rural America.
"This is huge because you're talking about the public trust. These foundations, their boards, executives and donors are receiving huge tax advantages for creating a public good. But the reality is if your proportion of that public good as a rural region is only one percent of total national philanthropy we must ask if the public trust is being violated. Is it worth the proportion of tax revenues we've lost in the tax structure? Well, it certainly is if you're getting that money – but rural America is getting one percent."
On another disparity…
"Unlike metropolitan areas, rural areas don't get Community Development Block Grants (CDBG) as a right. If you have a population of 50,000 you have a 'place entitlement' to money from the federal government. Without that population you must compete at the state level. At this point, rural areas need community development much more than do central cities.
"Outside CDBG, what is going on in other federal programs? Again, there is a $600 per capita disadvantage and the philanthropic sector is giving rural areas one percent of their total payout. It's obvious why rural America isn't doing as well.
"Let's look at rural Kansas and the Bronx in New York. In the Bronx, massive federal monies and large foundations are producing multiple grants for multiple developments of urban centers. Rural Kansas has none of that."
So maybe the farm bill should be considered along with, say, the transportation bill?
"Exactly! We aren't cross-walking investments nearly well enough in rural regions.
"We have to figure out how to align federal government programs better. That way there won't be 22 programs that require you to apply 22 times to get into them. That is getting better.
"At the state level, legislatures and counties must work smarter.
"Third, we must create something that's much more regional in scale. There just isn't enough money for every town and county to this. I wish there was but we must make smarter decisions.
"All this is beginning to happen. Southeast Kansas communities are banding together to do it. The Kansas Farm Bureau has been fantastic on this and they've been out in front on it. As an outgrowth of these things, the national Farm Bureau actually now has an RD department doing good work.
"Similar work has just begun in a 10-county area of northwest Missouri. (Agriculture Secretary Tom) Vilsack and I were there about a month ago, in St. Joe, and 500 people showed up.
"One key is to find rural leadership to move in that direction."
Why Fluharty is encouraged and what rural citizens should do to change the dynamic…
"Before, I was asking that this regional approach be adopted because it was the right thing to do for rural America. Now, it's the only thing to do. So, it will be seen more and more.
"Rural agriculture must get involved to push this. They need to engage the farmer advocacy and commodity groups – Farm Bureau, Farmers Union, NCGA, NCC, all of them. Agriculture is key because the reality is there isn't a collective voice for rural America like there is for agriculture. I'd argue that agriculture needs to pick up the flag and lead the charge. Each of these issues affect the ability of the next farming generation's to stay in rural towns.
"Rural America must engage with their elected officials, especially heading into the next farm bill. I'm very encouraged by the commitment of (Kansas Sen. Pat) Roberts, ranking member, to this.
"We must keep the pressure on the government and ask about the huge discrepancy between per capita money provided to rural areas and urban areas. That number is disturbing and shows there's something very wrong. You could argue that a $200 or $300 difference is acceptable. But $600? No way."


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Apartment with an area of 170 square meters, located in Dnipro city. The general concept and the main difference of this interior was dictated by the possibility of connecting part of the open terrace to the living space of the apartment. Due to this, we have created a clear zoned apartment space for the common, personal and guest zones. But the most important thing is that the space of the kitchen-living room is incredibly filled with light, air and freshness. In the interior, we used a warm light wood, light finish, a lot of built-in furniture, that made apartment clean and strict. Laconic, architectural interior, full of interesting textures and unusual details – created for a feeling of peace, harmony and comfort. Photography courtesy of Need Design
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Orwell Crossings RIBA Competition, Ipswich Architecture Contest, Suffolk Architects Project, Proposal, News Orwell Crossings Project Ipswich Competition Ipswich Architecture Contest: New Suffolk Crossings Design, South East England, UK 26 Sep + 2... -
Marine Miracle: Walk on Water at This Sunken ...
Walk right out onto the surface of the sea or follow a path that takes you into a tranquil space beneath the waves at the ?Thematic Pavilion,? a mostly-submerged nautical exhibition space envisioned for South Korea. Daniel Valle Architects... -
Margrethe Odgaard designs curtains for Kvadra...
Copenhagen-based textile designer Margrethe Odgaard plays with perception of colour and space in this line of satin-woven curtains for Danish brand Kvadrat. Debuted at this year\'s Stockholm Furniture Fair, the new curtain collection includes... -
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The UMTP International Association (UMTPI) is a consortium that promotes modeling technologies in both business and IT areas to materialize effective collaborations among enterprises, IT vendors and engineers. UMTPI provides a common certification schema on the modeling technologies within China and Japan. Certifications on modeling technologies will formulate the common infrastructure to assure the transparency, or the reliability of modeling engineers in different domains or countries. These infrastructures could be the basis for effective and vital collaborations between management and engineers at the system developments through outsourcing or off-shoring.
Fill the following enquiry form and get the current offer price vouchers.


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Some years ago I spent some time in Navajo Monument Valley with a Navajo guide whose first name was Thomas. He seemed quite atuned to working with photographers. Unfortunately, I've subsequently lost the file with my information about his guiding service.
Has anyone used a guide in Monument Valley that they particularly liked? If so, would you please share the information?
Thanks, Bruce


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text:
West Philly drummer Justin Faulkner brings Community Unity Music Festival to Clark Park
Growing up in the Cedar Park section of West Philly, Justin Faulkner spent so much time with his nearby cousins that they felt more like brothers. So it hit particularly hard when one of those cousins fell victim to gun violence, killed just outside West Philadelphia High School when Faulkner was in his early teens. Not long after, another cousin met the same fate, followed by several of Faulkner's childhood friends. Continue reading →


text:
Chart error may have led US minesweeper onto reef
The US Navy says faulty navigational charts may have caused its warship to run aground on a world heritage reef in the Philippines.
The minesweeper USS Guardian grounded itself on the Philippines' Tubbataha Reef on Wednesday night.
The US Navy has told its Pacific Fleet ships of an error in its navigational chart on the location of the reef and says this may be a factor in the accident.
A US team has been working for the past three days to try to free the warship with the least environmental damage to the UNESCO World Heritage site.
Both US and Philippines authorities admit the incident could have damaged at least 10 metres of the coral reef which sits in a marine protected park and is one of the most biologically diverse areas in the Coral Triangle.
Philippines senators say they want an inquiry into the incident to uncover possible violations of Philippines and international laws.
Topics: maritime, accidents, disasters-and-accidents, philippines
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Adolph Gottlieb (American, New York 1903 - 1974 East Hampton, New York)
Signed upper left: A. Gottlieb (incised into the paint, exposing the ground)
Oil on canvas
34 3/16 x 26 1/8 in. (86.8 x 66.3 cm)
Gift of Annalee Newman in honor of Ellen H. Johnson, 1991
Listen to a podcast about this artwork here
The dense silhouette of a head, neck, and shoulders floats in an uneven field of green-brown pigment. Simple signs of the body and the earth--eyes, hair, and mysterious growths--are painted inside and scratched upon the figure. Like Mark
Rothko's The Syrian Bull, Rape of Persephone is a response to European
Surrealism, the dominant aesthetic force in New York artistic circles from the late 1930s to the mid '40s.
There were many Surrealist exhibitions, emigrés, and works circulating in New York during this period, and several interrelated factors drew Gottlieb, Rothko, and many other young American painters to this European influx.1 A widespread dissatisfaction with the provincialism and literalism of American art and culture; a commitment to subject matter of critical, human import; and a belief in an "authentic" subjectivity that resided in uncharted areas of the collective mind made Surrealism's focus on desires, dreams, and repressed subconscious materials highly influential.
In the early to mid 1940s, painters such as Gottlieb, Rothko, and Barnett Newman were also deeply involved in the study of myth as a vehicle and repository of "primal" human expression.2 It was during this period that Gottlieb began to paint the works that he called "pictographs": paintings whose titles often invoked mythic figures and tragedy, and whose simplified, flat, totemic forms drew on various sources of archaic and tribal art. Closely related to the Oberlin canvas is his Persephone of 1942.3 According to Stephen Polcari, Persephone's jagged, right-facing profile, which also appears in Oberlin's Rape of Persephone, was inspired by one of the African carvings in Gottlieb's collection.4 In reworking the Persephone theme in 1943, Gottlieb simplified the contours of the centralized figure, reduced its internal forms and lines, and created a consistently colored ground for the scratched and painted signs.5
The initial exhibition and reception of The Rape of Persephone marks a key moment in Gottlieb's public presentation of his views on painting. First shown in 1943 at the Third Annual Exhibition of Modern Painters and Sculptors in New York, the canvas was among the paintings that New York Times art critic Edward Alden Jewell singled out to illustrate the hopeless incomprehensibility of recent modernist art.6 Another work so mentioned was The Syrian Bull by Mark Rothko, a painter with whom Gottlieb had been working closely for several years.7 Wrote Jewell,
You will have to make of Marcus Rothko's 'The Syrian Bull' what you can; nor is this department prepared to shed the slightest enlightenment when it comes to Adolph Gottlieb's 'Rape of Persephone.
Within five days, Gottlieb and Rothko, with the assistance of their friend and colleague Barnett Newman, wrote and signed a response to Jewell, parts of which were published in The Times on 13 June 1943.8
Their by-now famous letter, headed by photographs of The Rape of Persephone and The Syrian Bull,9 offers a compendium of aesthetic and cultural themes and positions that Gottlieb and other New York School painters would continue to put forward throughout much of the 1940s. An espousal of abstract forms which "destroy illusion and reveal truth" and are "the simple expression of the complex thought"; a committment to subject matter "which is tragic and timeless"; "a spiritual kinship with primitive and archaic art"; and a belief that the meaning of a painting "must come out of a consummated experience between picture and onlooker" are among their statements.10 The Rape of Persephone is described in the letter as "a poetic expression of the essence of the myth; the presentation of the concept of seed and its earth with all its brutal implications; the impact of elemental truth. Would you have us present this abstract concept, with all its complicated feelings, by means of a boy and girl lightly tripping?"
Despite the letter's expression of a unified purpose, the many differences between The Syrian Bull and The Rape of Persephone reveal the specificity of each artist's concerns as a painter. In its figural focus, the centrality of its (nearly) monolithic form, Gottlieb's Rape of Persephone has the unitary organization and simplified allure of an emblem or icon. By contrast, the ambiguous contours, multiple forms, and varied paint densities in Rothko's work point towards the decentralized, all-over approach to the picture field that would characterize his later work.
A. Kurlander
Work (C) 1998 Adolph and Esther Gottlieb Foundation/Licensed by VAGA, New York, NY
Among all the Abstract Expressionist painters, Adolph Gottlieb received the most rigorous artistic training. He was also unusually well traveled. In 1919 he enrolled in the Art Students League, New York, where he studied with John Sloan and Robert Henri. In 1921 Gottlieb went to Europe, where he attended drawing classes at the Académie de la Grande Chaumière, Paris, and traveled to Berlin and Munich. He returned to New York in 1923, finished high school, and studied at the Parsons School of Design, the Art Students League, Cooper Union, and the Educational Alliance Art School. Throughout the 1930s, Gottlieb's portraits, interior and exterior scenes, and still lifes responded first to contemporary trends in American realism and eventually to Surrealism. In 1935 Gottlieb became a founding member of "The Ten," a group that advocated abstract and expressionist painting; in 1936 he was put on the payroll of the WPA.
The pictograph paintings of 1941 inaugurated the mature phase of Gottlieb's work. The pictographs were first shown in the second annual exhibition of the Federation of Modern Painters and Sculptors held in May 1942, at the Wildenstein Galleries. In 1943 he became a founding member of "New York Artist Painters," a group which also included Mark Rothko and John Graham (1881-1961). By the mid 1940s, Gottlieb was already an established painter with a consistent mode of painting. He participated in and chaired public fora on art and culture throughout the 1940s, and won various prizes and significant commissions.
In the late 1950s Gottlieb developed his "Burst" paintings; these usually consisted of two shapes on a neutral field, a red disk above a gesturally painted black mass. Gottlieb's first retrospective was held in 1968 in simultaneous exhibitions at the Guggenheim and Whitney Museums, New York, in 1968. He suffered a stroke in 1971, and continued painting with paralysis in his left side. Gottlieb was elected to the National Institute of Arts and Letters in 1972. He died on 4 March 1974, in East Hampton, New York.
General References
Gottlieb, Adolph, and Marcus (Mark) Rothko. In Edward Alden Jewell, "The Realm of Art: A New Platform and Other Matters: 'Globalism' Pops into View." The New York Times, 13 June 1943, x9.
Polcari, Stephen. Abstract Expressionism and the Modern Experience. New Haven, 1991.
Barnes, Lucinda. "A Proclamation of Moment: Adolph Gottlieb, Mark Rothko, Barnett Newman and the Letter to The New York Times." Allen Memorial Art Museum Bulletin 47, no. 1 (1993), pp. 2-13.
Leja, Michael. Reframing Abstract Expressionism. New Haven, 1993.
Hirsch, Sanford. The Pictographs of Adolph Gottlieb. Exh. cat., Adolph and Esther Gottlieb Foundation, New York, 1994.
Gift of the artist to Barnett Newman
Collection Annalee Newman (his widow), by whom given in 1991
New York, Wildenstein Gallery, 1943. Federation of Modern Painters and Sculptors with Wildenstein Gallery. 3 - 26 June. No cat.
New York, The Museum of Modern Art, 1968. Dada, Surrealism and their Heritage. 27 March - 9 June. Cat. no. 142.
Jewell, Edward Alden. "Modern Painters Open Show Today." The New York Times, 2 June 1943, p. 28.
Gottlieb, Adolph, and Marcus (Mark) Rothko. In Edward Alden Jewell, "The Realm of Art: A New Platform and Other Matters: 'Globalism' Pops into View." The New York Times, 13 June 1943, x9.
Barnes, Lucinda. "A Proclamation of Moment: Adolph Gottlieb, Mark Rothko, Barnett Newman and the Letter to The New York Times." Allen Memorial Art Museum Bulletin 47, no. 1 (1993), pp. 2-13.
Leja, Michael. Reframing Abstract Expressionism. New Haven, 1993, pp. 79, 95.
Technical Data
The work is painted on a canvas of plain tabby weave, prepared (probably by the painter himself) with a smooth, thin, off-white ground.The paint surface has an overall matte appearance, and varies from thin washes, which reveal the canvas texture, to thick layers applied with a spatula. In the central area, design elements have been incised into the wet paint, exposing the ground. This central area of dark paint has also been deliberately rubbed to give the paint a worn appearance. The surface is unvarnished, and is covered by a fair amount of dust and grime. Despite areas of cracking the painting is in good condition, and shows no evidence of restoration.
1. For an outline of Surrealist exhibitions and publications in New York during the 1930s and '40s, see Clair Zamoiski's chronological table in Diane Waldman, Mark Rothko, 1903-1970, a Retrospective (exh. cat., The Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, New York, 1978), pp. 266-71.
2. There is a vast literature on the myth-making project of early Abstract Expressionism. See especially Michael Leja, Reframing Abstract Expressionism (New Haven, 1993), pp. 49-120; and Anna Chave, Mark Rothko: Subjects in Abstraction (New Haven, 1989), pp. 60-104.
3. 1942, 86.4 x 66 cm, New York, Adolph and Esther Gottlieb Foundation; reproduced in Stephen Polcari, Abstract Expressionism and the Modern Experience (New Haven, 1991), p. 160, fig. 94.
4. Stephen Polcari, Abstract Expressionism and the Modern Experience (New Haven, 1991), p. 158. Polcari does not mention the Oberlin canvas, and it is not certain whether there are other Persephone paintings besides these two.
5. As an image that presents a unitary form in a powerfully centralized visual field, The Rape of Persephone might appear to be an unusual example of Gottlieb's pictographs, as the vast majority of these (approximately five hundred) works compartmentalize the picture field, placing numerous signs or hieroglyphs within a linear grid. (A broad range of examples are reproduced in Sanford Hirsch, The Pictographs of Adolph Gottlieb [exh. cat., Adolph and Esther Gottlieb Foundation, New York, 1994].) Like the compartmentalized Pictographs, however, the Rape of Persephone projects a strong sense of pictorial clarity and controlled organization that distinguishes Gottlieb's work from that of Rothko. See Michael Leja, Reframing Abstract Expressionism (New Haven, 1993), pp. 76-80.
6. Edward Alden Jewell, "Modern Painters Open Show Today," The New York Times, 2 June 1943, p. 28
7. Rothko and Gottlieb met in 1929 and established a close friendship. See James E. B. Breslin, Mark Rothko, a Biography (Chicago, 1993), pp. 161-64.
8. Adolph Gottlieb and Marcus (Mark) Rothko, in Edward Alden Jewell, "The Realm of Art: A New Platform and Other Matters: 'Globalism' Pops into View," The New York Times, 13 June 1943, x9.
9. The since-forgotten Trijugated Tragedy by Theoder Schewe was reproduced between The Rape of Persephone and The Syrian Bull; see Michael Leja, Reframing Abstract Expressionism (New Haven, 1993), p. 28.
10. The Rothko/Gottlieb/Newman letter to the Times is one of the most frequently cited and extensively analyzed document of the New York School literature. For a recent study of the letter and a review of the literature, see Lucinda Barnes, "A Proclamation of Moment: Adolph Gottlieb, Mark Rothko, Barnett Newman and the Letter to The New York Times," Allen Memorial Art Museum Bulletin 47, no. 1 (1993), pp. 2-13.


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superfly44 needed a new web page design and created a contest on 99designs.
A winner was selected from 59 designs submitted by 12 freelance designers.
See design requirements.
We are a new grillhouse restaurant opening soon. Our menu consists of main categories such as Appetise, Peri Peri Chicken, Steak, Tortilla Wraps, Pittas, Specials, Family Meals, Burgers, Sides, Salads, Desserts and Drinks.
The website is targeted at everyone and anyone -primarily those individuals who enjoy grilled food and who like eating out!
We are looking for a clean, professional design for a website which is to be developed for a grill house restaurant.
Details of the FULLrequirements can be downloaded from here:
The winner will most likely be asked to complete further paid design work, as we have numerous high profile projects in the pipe line.


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- Mar 2:
- Dan Kaufman, philosophy prof banished from campus last year, sues CU-Boulder
- Aug 23:
- Banished CU-Boulder philosophy professor seeking $2M in damages
- Jul 31:
- CU-Boulder paid violence expert $2,625 to assess professor
- Apr 17:
- Faculty group: CU created 'maximum humiliation' for banished professor Dan Kaufman
- Mar 6:
- CU-Boulder philosophy professor on leave, barred from campus
University of Colorado associate philosophy professor Dan Kaufman is being allowed back on campus more than two months after being placed on administrative leave and barred from the university.
Though it appears plans for Kaufman's return are still in flux, CU's Boulder campus exclusion order has been lifted, according to an email sent to the philosophy faculty and graduate students by department chairman Andy Cowell late Tuesday afternoon.
"I am writing to let you know that the Chancellor (Phil DiStefano) has lifted Professor Kaufman's exclusion order, so he is now welcome back on campus," Cowell wrote. "He will be meeting with the Dean (Steven Leigh) and me very soon for further discussion."
Campus officials have said that, broadly speaking, anyone who violates an exclusion order by returning to campus can be charged with trespassing or unlawful conduct.
"I can't comment on any specific case," CU spokesman Ryan Huff said Wednesday. "But I can say that we would only lift an exclusion order if we felt, after a thorough review, that it could be lifted without posing a threat to the safety of the university community."
Kaufman, who declined to comment for this story, was suspended with pay on March 4 for reasons that have not been made public.
Undergraduate students in one of his introductory philosophy courses said they saw Kaufman escorted out of the classroom by campus police officers. In an email later that day, Cowell informed the faculty to call police if they saw Kaufman on campus.
At the time, university officials acknowledged conducting a personnel action, but would not identify the employee or confirm whether it was related to the philosophy department.
A report by the independent American Association of University Professors released in April alleged that Kaufman was suspended for a joke he made after Cowell asked Kaufman about suicide.
"Kaufman made a 'philosopher's joke' that alluded to a standard philosophy textbook conundrum: He wouldn't kill himself, he was sure Cowell wouldn't kill him, and he wouldn't kill Cowell, unless Cowell were truly evil, like Adolf Hitler," according to the report.
According to the AAUP report, Provost Russ Moore wrote in a letter to Kaufman that the campus found his remarks to be profoundly troubling and completely unacceptable, even as a joke.
Kaufman's suspension in March came a little more than a month after the university released an independent report describing sexual harassment, bullying, unprofessional behavior and other types of misconduct within the philosophy department.
Cowell replaced former chairman Graeme Forbes on Feb. 1 after the report's release.
There was no indication that Kaufman's suspension was connected to the alleged sexual harassment referred to in the report.
Contact Camera Staff Writer Sarah Kuta at 303-473-1106, email@example.com or twitter.com/sarahkuta.


text: Published with a digital code that may no longer be redeemable from the publisher. Do not purchase with the expectation that the code is still valid. Mark Waid and Leinil Francis Yu. Hulk - Indestructible force more weapon than man. Banner - smartest man alive. Combined they are the Strongest, Smartest Weapon on the planet! And NOW! the INDESTRUCTIBLE HULK is an Agent of S.H.I.E.L.D.! ! $3.99 cover price.


text:
- Inside Athletics
- Tickets
- Fan Zone
- Media Zone
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- Donate Now
Already leading 1-0 in the first inning, The Bucs (28-22, 14-13) extended to a 3-0 advantage on Lee's two-run blast to left field. Senior Chuck Hargis (
Still leading 3-0 in the third inning, senior Shane Byrne (
Gardner-Webb (23-28, 11-16) scored four runs in the 10th inning of game one, capping a four-run rally to avoid becoming the Bucs' second consecutive sweep victim.
After ETSU scored six runs in the sixth inning to take a 12-8 lead, the Bulldogs battled back, scoring five runs in the seventh and eighth innings and tying the game at 13. Matt Taffazoli (5-4) pitched the final four innings of the game, holding the Buc bats to just two runs on two hits. Senior Steven Calicutt (
Lee finished the day with eight RBI, followed by Courtney driving in six runs on the day. The extremely offensive day featured a combined 14 home runs, 55 hits and 44 runs in the 19 innings played.
The Bucs are back in action Tuesday afternoon, wrapping up their home schedule with a first pitch against


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Academic Progression
Time Limits for Successful Completion of Coursework
Leave of Absence and Resignation
Grades Other Than Passing in First and Second Year Courses (Preclinical Curriculum)
Clerkship Grading Criteria - Class of 2017
Clerkship Grading Criteria - Class of 2018
Clerkship Grading Criteria - Class of 2019
Clerkship Grading Criteria - Class of 2020Grades Other Than Passing in Clinical Clerkships and Clinical Courses
Raw Scores, T-Scores and Ranking
Grades and Evaluation -- Appeals Process
Time & Attendence
Attendance Guidelines for Clinical Rotations
Contact Hours and Clinical Duty Hours
Basic Life Support (BLS) Requirement
Policy for a Healthy Learning Environment and Learner Mistreatment
Report a concern or commendation using ReportIT
Student Policies
Medical Student Code of Conduct
Medical Student Code of Conduct Best Practices
School of Medicine Non-academic Conduct Policy
UAB Non-academic Conduct Policy
Impairment and Substance Abuse
UAB Health System Physician Policies
Access using Blazer ID and password
Medical and Dental Staff Bylaws
Code of Conduct for Professional Behavior
Rules of Behavior for Information Systems
Disruptive Behavior and Conflict Resolution
Professional Code of Conduct and Appearance
Code of Ethical Business and Professional Behavior
Institutional Refund Policy and Federal Return of Title IV Funds
Scholarships and Financial Aid
Health & Safety
Blood/Body Fluid Exposure Guidelines
Impairment and Substance Abuse
The School of Medicine is a member of the UAB community and must abide by all UAB policies that pertain to all UAB citizens. Policies of the University of Alabama at Tuscaloosa may differ from those of the University of Alabama at Birmingham. Students should contact the SOM on that campus for specific information on any policy differences.


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This is an activity about how the Sun can affect the Earth's atmosphere, specifically the ionosphere. Learners will use real data from a Sudden Ionosphere Disturbance Monitor, or SID Monitor, to identify the signatures in the graphed data that can... (View More) be used to determine the times of sunrise and sunset. Although the SID monitors are designed to detect SIDs caused by solar flares, they also detect the normal influence of solar X-rays and UV light during the day as well as cosmic rays at nighttime. There is a distinct shape to a 24-hour SID data graph, with unique shapes, or signatures, of the graph appearing at sunrise and sunset.This activity is part of the Research with Space Weather Monitor Data educators guide. Use of and access to a Stanford Solar Center SID monitor and the internet is encouraged but not required. Locations without a SID monitor can use sample data provided in the educators guide. (View Less)
This is an activity about auroras and the scientific terminology used to describe them. Learners will read an article that provides an introduction to specific terms and concepts related to auroras and auroral substorms and examine photographs of a... (View More) 2003 aurora and descriptions of an 1859 aurora to identify the various phases of auroral substorms. This is activity 11 from Exploring Magnetism: Magnetic Mysteries of the Aurora. (View Less)
Materials Cost: Free


text:
- Contents - e-ifc No. 24
September 2010
- Editorial
- Research Findings
- Effect of Various Levels of Potash Application Through Drip Irrigation on Yield and Quality of Sugarcane
- Effect of Potassium on the Production and Quality of Tobacco Leaves
- Potassium Efficiency and Potassium Balance of the Rice-Rice Cropping System Under Two Different Agro-Ecosystems
- IPI Events
- Importance of Soil Management and Potash Fertilization for Sustainable Agricultural Development of Central America and the Caribbean
- Review and Refinement of Fertilizer K Recommendations in Vertisols
- Soil Management and Potash Fertilizer Uses in West Asia and North Africa Region
- N2010: 5th International Nitrogen Conference
- Potassium in Soil and Plant Systems
- Other Events
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- K in the Literature
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If you wish to subscribe to the e-ifc please visit the subscription page.
Effect of Various Levels of Potash Application Through Drip Irrigation on Yield and Quality of Sugarcane
Deshmukh, A.S.(1), P.P. Shinde(1), S.S. Katake(1), D.B. Phonde(1), V.S. Mali(1), and P. Imas(2).
print version pdf 1.3 MB
(1) Vasantdada Sugar Institute (VSI), Pune, Maharashtra, India. A.S. Deshmukh.
(2) Former IPI Coordinator India. P. Imas.
Water and nutrients are the most crucial inputs for sugarcane cultivation and their application through micro irrigation systems is highly important as a means of increasing land, water and fertilizer use efficiency. An experiment studying the effects of various levels of potash application through drip irrigation on yield and quality of sugarcane using the variety Co 86032 over three crop seasons (2003-2004, 2004-2005 and 2006-2007) is reported. Application of nitrogen and potash fertilizers through drip irrigation not only saved 30 percent of nitrogen (N) and potassium (K) fertilizer, but also increased yield by 19.1 percent and more than doubled water use efficiency, as compared to the control using the recommended application of chemical fertilizers and conventional irrigation. The total quantity of irrigation water applied under conventional irrigation was 26,560 m3 ha-1 compared to only 14,560 m3 ha-1 under drip irrigation, resulting in 45.2 percent reduction in water use. The cane yield obtained in the control was 142.82 mt ha-1, while with 70 percent N and K fertilizers through drip irrigation and 100 percent P through soil application the cane yield was 170.08 mt ha-1. Agronomic efficiency of K fertilizer with 30 percent saving of N and K fertilizers was 1.43 mt cane kg-1 K2O as compared to 0.84 mt cane kg-1 K2O in the control. The optimal treatment yielded savings of 30 percent N and 15 percent of K (as compared to the control), and increased the net income by more than Rs. 18,000 (approx. USD 400) per hectare.
Keywords: Drip irrigation, paired planting, long furrow irrigation, water use efficiency, fertilizer use efficiency, water saving.
Sugarcane is a major cash crop in India responsible for the overall socioeconomic development of the farming community. It is cultivated on 5.15 million hectares providing an annual sugarcane production of 340 million mt (2008-2009). Average productivity is thus relatively low, at 66 mt ha-1. Production of the crop is mainly located in the states of Uttar Pradesh, Maharashtra, Tamil Nadu, Karnataka and Gujarat. Currently India consumes about 18.5 million mt of sugar but to meet the demands of an increasing population, there will be a need to produce 28 million mt of sugar by 2015.
It is believed that improper water management and imbalanced nutrition are the main constraints to increased productivity. Improving the application of these two inputs certainly raises sugarcane yields. Consequently, there is an urgent requirement to increase sugarcane production through modern and precise methods of cultivation, including fertigation.
Sugarcane is a long duration crop which produces huge amounts of biomass, requiring large quantities of water, which typically are supplied through 25-30 irrigation cycles per crop season. It has been estimated that the total water requirement of sugarcane crop varies from 20,000 to 30,000 m3 ha-1 year-1 and it is estimated that 12,000 to 13,000 m3 of water is required for a sugarcane crop of 12 months duration if used efficiently. The crop requires 400 m3 of water to produce one metric tonne of total dry matter and 200 m3 of water to produce one metric tonne of cane. Irrigation management in sugarcane is therefore of prime importance to raise crop yield and sugar production.
The K requirement of sugarcane is 1.32-1.44 kg K2O mt-1 of cane (IFA, 1992). K applications are usually made together with N because of the more efficient utilization of N by the crop in the presence of K. However, late application of K up to six months into the growth of the crop has also been found to improve sugar recovery.
Potassium application raises milleable stalk yield, percentage sugar in the cane and degrees Brix (°Bx), a measure of the percentage of sugar in the juice. K deficiency impairs sucrose transport from the leaf into the stalk. There is a positive interaction between N and K, the lowering of the sugar content caused by high rates of N being ameliorated by an adequate supply of K. Excessive dosages of K (i.e. over and above optimal rates) may exert a negative influence on apparent sucrose percentage in cane (pol percent cane) and may promote an increase in the ash content of the juice, since K is the major constituent in the ash. The main effect of excess K is to depress the recovery of sucrose during milling by maintaining a certain amount of sucrose in solution (Ng Kee Kwong, 2002). The unfavorable effects of K, however, should be anticipated only when excessive rates are used; on low potassium soils, improvement in cane quality is to be expected.
Erratic and uncertain monsoons which lead to poor recharging of the groundwater table and over depletion of groundwater due to overuse of irrigation, have led to water becoming the most limited and costliest input in agriculture. There is an acute shortage of irrigation water, especially during the summer season, resulting in a decline in cane yield. Fertilizer use efficiency is also low under conventional irrigation.
Adoption of drip irrigation in sugarcane offers an opportunity for placing fertilizer in a soluble form at the root zone of the crop along with the irrigation water, thus increasing water and fertilizer use efficiency. Fertigation ensures that essential nutrients are supplied precisely at the area of most intensive root activity according to the specific requirements of sugarcane crop and type of soil, thereby resulting in higher cane yields and sugar recovery.
This paper describes the results of a three-year experiment conducted at the experimental farm of the Vasantdada Sugar Institute (VSI) in Pune, Maharashtra State. The results from three farmers' fields located in different districts, using two selected treatments, are reported in an appendix. The application of N and K fertigation were tested with five levels of K to better understand the potential of the fertigation system to achieve a higher water and K use efficiency. The objectives of the research project were as follows:
- To study the effect of different levels of K through drip irrigation on yield and quality of the sugarcane crop.
- To study fertilizer and water use efficiency with different levels of fertilizer application.
- To analyze the cost benefit ratio with different levels of fertilizer application.
Materials and methods
The work was carried out at the VSI's experimental farm beginning in 2003 using the plant cane (Variety - Co 86032) and was continued for the first ratoon crop and second plant cane. The experiment was set up in a random block design (RBD) with four replications. Total plot size was 58 x 58 m, with individual plots of 8.5 x 13.5 m.
Soil analysis was carried out before planting the crop. The soil of the experimental plot was non-calcareous with a pH around 8. The electric conductivity (EC) in different plots varied from 0.35 to 0.45 dS m-1. Organic carbon was in the range of 0.59 to 0.95 percent. Available phosphorus was estimated by using the Olsen method and was in the range of 4.38 to 6.97 ppm, while 1 N Ammonium Acetate Extractable Potash was more than 400 ppm in all the treatment plots (Table 1).
|Table 1.Treatments for the fertigation experiment..
|Irrigation method
|No. fertilizer application
|Application method
|kg ha-1
|Long furrow
A = All fertilizers applied directly to soil.
B = N and K applied in fertigation; P as single super phosphate (SSP) in two soil applications.
T1: Recommended dose (for Maharashtra State) of chemical fertilizers (N-P2O5-K2O of 340-170-170 kg ha-1) in four splits under conventional irrigation (soil application), N in four splits i.e. at planting and then every 45 days after planting, P2O5 and K2O in two splits at
T2: Recommended dose (for Maharashtra State) of chemical fertilizers (N-P2O5-K2O of 340-170-170 kg ha-1) in four splits under drip irrigation (all fertilizers applied in soil application).
T3: 70 percent of recommended dose of urea + 115 percent recommended dose of KCl in 13 equal splits through drip irrigation + recommended dose of single super phosphate (SSP) in two splits by soil application.
T4: 70 percent of recommended dose of urea + 100 percent recommended dose of KCl in 13 equal splits through drip irrigation + recommended dose of SSP in two splits by soil application.
T5: 70 percent of recommended dose of urea + 85 percent recommended dose of KCl in 13 equal splits through drip irrigation + recommended dose of SSP in two splits by soil application.
T6: 70 percent of recommended dose of urea + 70 percent recommended dose of KCl in 13 equal splits through drip irrigation + recommended dose of SSP in two splits by soil application.
T7: 70 percent of recommended dose of urea + 55 percent recommended dose of KCl in 13 equal splits through drip irrigation + recommended dose of SSP in two splits by soil application.
The irrigation schedule of the furrow irrigation treatment was based on Irrigation Water/Cumulative Pan Evaporation (IW/CPE) = 0.75, and in drip irrigation treatments the irrigation quantity was applied based on a climatological approach i.e. monthly average evaporation, pan coefficient and crop coefficient as per crop growth stages. Under furrow irrigation the average irrigation interval was 18, 14 and 9 days in the rainy (June to September), winter (October to January) and summer (February to May) seasons respectively. Under drip irrigation, the estimated irrigation quantity was applied daily to maintain the moisture content close to the field capacity of the soil. The total quantity of irrigation water applied under conventional long furrow irrigation was 26,556 m3 per hectare, and under drip irrigation system was 14,563 m3 per hectare (54.84 percent of the conventional method).
Results and discussion
Based on three years data (two plant crops and one ratoon crop), the results of the experiment are discussed below:
Growth observations at harvest
Growth observations including milleable cane height; number of internodes and cane girth were recorded at the time of harvest and pooled data are presented in Table 2. The milleable cane height at harvest varied from 271 to 305 cm between treatments. Significant differences between both milleable cane height and number of internodes with the respective controls were found in all the treatments except in T7 (240 and 95 kg N and K2O ha-1, respectively). Cane girth in this treatment (8.33 cm) was the lowest, possibly due to the lowest K level applied among all treatments.
|Table 2. Growth observations at harvest (pooled data of two plant and one ratoon crop).
|Milleable height
|No. of internodes
|kg ha-1
|CD at 5%
|*Statistically significant data as compared to other treatments.
Yield and CCS at harvest
Cane yield significantly changed in response to the irrigation method and fertigation. A significant increase in yield and commercial cane sugar (CCS) was achieved by using drip system (T2) instead of flood (T1), despite a large decrease in water used (Fig. 1; Table 3). T1 and T2 differ only in the irrigation system used and amount of water. These results demonstrate the high wastage of water in the flood system (T1).
Treatments T3-T7 all use N & K in the fertigation system, as compared to basal application to soil in T1 and T2. From the pooled results given in Table 3, it can be seen that the cane yields obtained in treatments with fertigation through drip irrigation are superior to the control, T1 (all fertilizers as basal, with flood irrigation) and T2 (split of nutrients applied to soil and use of drip system). Moreover, the use of N and K in fertigation allowed a 30 percent reduction in the N and 15 percent of the K (T5) applied.
Highest yield of cane (175.5 mt ha-1) was obtained with T5 (drip and fertigation, with 70 and 85 percent of the N & K as compared to farmers' practice, T1). A further reduction in K application (T7, 55 percent of farmers' practice) caused yield reduction and was not significantly higher than the control (T1).
CCS at harvest was higher in all drip-irrigated treatments, but not significantly (Table 3). However, with the additional cane yield, CCS yield was significantly higher in all the drip irrigated treatments, except T7 (with the lowest K level), and responded well to the amount of K applied (Fig. 1). These results show that in terms of gained income, which is strongly related to the CCS yield, farmers can achieve the highest income with treatment T5, which is significantly higher than the control.
click to enlarge
Water use efficiency
Water use efficiency more than doubled with the use of the drip system, from 5.4 to 12.1 kg cane m-3 (Table 4). This astonishing finding demonstrates the significant benefit in using water saving technologies. The economic benefit can be seen as either enabling farmers to double the cane area for the same amount of available water, or use and pay less for the same land. This value is still not calculated, but we are certain that policymakers should attribute the required added economic benefit to drip systems.
click to enlarge
The average pooled costs of cultivation of sugarcane, including the drip irrigation system for three crop seasons in treatments T1 - T7 (based on return of cost of system in five years), were Rs. 86,549, 100,666, 100,657, 100,315, 101,085, 99,969 and 96, 105 respectively (Table 4). Considering the yield levels in these treatments and sugarcane price at Rs. 1,000 per metric tonne, the income in treatments T1 to T7 worked out to be Rs. 142,820, 163,880, 170,320, 169,430, 175,500, 170,080 and 148,250 respectively, leaving a net income of 56,271 to 74,415 Rs. ha-1, depending on the treatment (Table 4). Net income was significantly higher in all the treatments with drip irrigation, except T7. Net profit significantly increased over the control by Rs. 18,144 (approx. USD 403) ha-1 (Table 4).
According to our results, switching from flood to drip irrigation generates an additional Rs. 7,000 yr-1 just with the increased yield. Clearly, once water use is charged, this additional profit will increase.
The cost benefit ratio in treatments T1 to T7 was 1:1.65, 1:1.63, 1:1.69, 1:1.69, 1:1.73, 1:1.70 and 1:1.54 respectively (Table 4). The cost benefit ratio under drip irrigation systems i.e. in treatments T2 to T7 were worked out on the basis of the actual cost of the system in the market. However there is provision for a subsidy up to 50 percent for the drip irrigation system. In addition to increased yield under the drip irrigation system, there was water saving of 45.16 percent in drip treatments T2 to T7, as compared to the control i.e. conventional long furrow irrigation with recommended dose of chemical fertilizers.
Sugarcane is a major cash crop in India, yield and crop quality being critically dependant on supply of water and nutrients. Experiments carried out over three seasons are reported here in which drip irrigation was compared with conventional irrigation with recommended doses of chemical fertilizers. The results demonstrated that by using drip irrigation it was possible to achieve more than two-fold higher water use efficiency, and at the same time reduce fertilizer requirement and raise crop yield and quality. Cane yields of sugarcane increased by 19.09 percent with CCS values raised by 22.47 percent. This was achieved in addition to a 42.5 percent water saving using 30 percent less N and K fertilizer. The consequent cost benefits of drip irrigation to the farmer are economically assessed and are of major importance.
The authors are thankful to International Potash Institute for the financial assistance for carrying out this experiment at VSI Pune and its demonstrations in the fields of three farmers. Special thanks goes to Dr. Patricia Imas for her continuous close association, guidance and support throughout the conduct of this experiment.
- Ng Kee Kwong, K.F. 2002. The Effects of Potassium on Growth, Development, Yield and Quality of Sugarcane. In: Pasricha and Bansal (eds.). Potassium for Sustainable Crop Production. Proceedings of the International Symposium on the Role of Potassium in Nutrient Management for Sustainable Crop Production in India. Potash Research Institute of India (PRII) and International Potash Institute (IPI), Horgen, Switzerland.
- World Fertilizer Use Manual. 1992. International Fertilizer Association (IFA), Paris, France.
Appendix: Demonstration plots
Three demonstration plots were laid out at three farmers' fields in Ahmednagar, Sangli and Latur districts, Maharashtra State. Two treatments were demonstrated:
T1: Conventional irrigation with a recommended dose of fertilizers (340-170-170, N, P2O5 and K2O, respectively).
T2: 70% N, 70% K2O through drip irrigation in 13 equal splits and 100% P2O5 through soil application (240, 170 and 120 N, P2O5 and K2O, respectively).
The (pooled) results of these farm demonstrations are presented in the table below, and are comparable to the results obtained at the VSI farm.
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HARARE (Reuters) - On Harare's hardscrabble streets, college graduates compete with peasants scratching out a living selling anything from mobile phone cards to herbal sex tonics, a measure of the decline of Zimbabwe's "Sunshine City" under President Robert Mugabe.
Those among Harare's 1.5 million residents who remember independence in 1980 will have known a city that was swept regularly at dawn, public buildings gleaming with fresh paint, and shop windows so spotless that pedestrians would walk into them, according to urban legend.
Now the streets are dirty and dusty, the roads littered with pot-holes, and water gushes from leaking pipes. The park opposite Harare's only five-star hotel is full of vagrants asleep under the trees. The grass is strewn with paper and, occasionally, human waste.
Nearby is First Street, famous during colonial days for its boutiques, barbers and the aroma of coffee. Now it is peopled by hawkers, and the air is heavy with the stench of urine.
Less than 20 percent of Zimbabwe's people are in formal employment, according to independent economists, and economic growth is flatlining due to shortages of electricity and capital. For many, the only options for survival are petty trading or chancing it as an illegal worker in neighboring South Africa, the continent's biggest economy.
Tabeth Chireya, a single mother of two with a human resources diploma, sits on the pavement all day selling rat and cockroach poison laid out on a grimy sisal sack.
To her left is an old woman selling potatoes, to her right a man peddling bootleg DVDs, all looking out for customers and for plainclothes police enforcing "clean streets" municipal by-laws.
Chireya, who looks much older than her 22 years, leaves her home in the rundown Harare township of Epworth three times a week to join a long queue at a Chinese shop to buy wares for re-sale, returning to her pavement spot before lunch time.
"I spent $30 buying all this," she said, pointing to needles, nail cutters and rat poison spread on the pavement. "It is the only way we can make an honest living."
Zimbabwe's economy shrank 45 percent in the decade to 2009 due to plummeting farming output and hyperinflation. It bounced back for three years after Zimbabwe dropped its own currency and adopted the dollar, but it has since stagnated as companies have failed to find the cash to grow.
Outside the mining sector, nearly all of Zimbabwe's large and medium-sized companies have gone to the wall since 2000, and High Court records show another 400 firms in Harare, Bulawayo and Gweru, Zimbabwe's three largest cities, are being wound up after going bust last year.
Although Mugabe and his ZANU-PF party, which have ruled since independence from Britain in 1980, speak of plans for sovereign wealth funds and multi-billion-dollar platinum smelters, the realities are on a much smaller scale.
A World Bank report released in February says 46 percent of Zimbabwe's 13 million people run individual, small or medium-sized enterprises, a figure that contrasts with 17 percent in South Africa, and 13 percent in nearby and impoverished Malawi.
In a conference speech last month, Finance Minister Patrick Chinamasa said the government had to embrace the commerce of the street as a new economic order.
"This is an economic revolution, and we need to learn how to deal with the small man. The old economy is dead," he said.
The effects of the 'new order' can be seen everywhere.
Large chainstores are closing, replaced by little kiosks that can sell anything from imported electronics and clothes to lipstick and car parts. When a major car dealership closed its showroom last year, a mini-mall with dozens of tiny cubicles emerged in its place.
"The competition is tough in our business, but we are hanging in there," said Never Mapara, who sells mobile phones and accessories from a two square-meter cubicle he rents for $600 a month.
At another mall, street currency traders accost passers-by, waving wads of rand. The black market is thriving, fed by high demand for the currency of South Africa, which supplies 65 percent of Zimbabwe's imports.
For Chinamasa, the main downside to the new economy is that informal traders do not pay tax, depriving Mugabe's administration of cash it desperately needs.
The government collected $267 million in January, missing its $279 million target, and practically all its income goes on recurrent spending such as salaries, leaving next to nothing for capital projects or to repair roads or the decrepit power grid.
In another sign of the cash squeeze facing the authorities, local media reports said the government had deducted union fees from state teachers' salaries in February but had failed to pass the money on to the unions. Chinamasa declined to comment when questioned by journalists on this last week.
The central bank also estimates that as much as $2 billion - half of official bank deposits - is sloshing around the informal economy, again starving the financial system of capital that could be invested.
The shortage of cash has an insidious effect on the country's social infrastructure.
Police patrol the streets, but law enforcement often plays second fiddle to personal enrichment.
The force annexed a car park outside Harare's main police station in 2011, in which officers run a flea market where clothes traders pay $10 a day for space.
The city council says it is "trying to resolve this issue amicably", while a police spokeswoman declined to comment.
On the roads, cavalcades of kombis, as minibus taxis are known, are constantly trying to dodge the long arm of the law, even if it means driving at full speed in reverse against oncoming traffic.
"We are being squeezed everyday by the police, my brother, but if you don't pay, you don't survive in this business," said taxi driver Allen Chigova, weaving through morning rush-hour traffic.
His smashed windscreen bears testimony to ugly encounters with authority, and he is dismissive of official promises to prosecute officers who demand bribes.
"They may as well fire the lot, because every police stop is a toll gate," he said.
Reporting by MacDonald Dzirutwe; Editing by Ed Cropley and Will Waterman


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WASHINGTON (Sinclair Broadcast Group) - Media outlets like Politico, Rolling Stone, TIME and CNN have decided to wildly speculate on the first lady's whereabouts during her recovery from a medical procedure on her kidneys that she underwent on May 14.
Some in the media, like CNN's media reporter Brian Stelter, have chosen to promote fake conspiracy theories and claim the first lady had "disappeared" or had been "MIA."
Why do pundits like Brian Stelter continue to push for open-ended speculation on the first lady's whereabouts? Because it dehumanizes her and her husband, our president, and allows these liberal members of the media to push their political agenda.
Look at this graphic that Stelter put up during his show, "Reliable Sources," last weekend. It is disgusting and it is false.
On May 14, the first lady underwent her procedure. There was a statement about her recovery.
There was a tweet or comment from the first lady and her team almost every day since the procedure. All of that was not good enough for conspiracy theorists in the press.
Here's the bottom line: those, like Stelter, who have tried to use the first lady's recovery to traffic in innuendo should be ashamed of themselves. Send Brian Stelter a tweet and let him know that he should apologize to our first lady for distorting the truth about her recovery.
EDITOR'S NOTE: Boris Epshteyn formerly served as a Senior Advisor to the Trump Campaign and served in the White House as Special Assistant to The President and Assistant Communications Director for Surrogate Operations.


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Brighton manager Gus Poyet could make a move for Millwall's on-loan striker Chris Wood in the January transfer window.
With eight goals to his name already this season, Poyet thinks the New Zealand international has improved since he helped the Seagulls to win League One two seasons ago.
"We had him here when he was very young and we helped each other. He helped us a lot with his power and his goals. I think we did our job as well to put him in shape, because he was still growing up," he told the Argus.
"I think he is a much better player now. He is mature, he has learnt a lot about the game in England. He is playing week in week out, so he's much better.
"There has been plenty of talk and he is a player we know very well, which would make it very easy to make a decision one way or the other.
"At the moment he is with Millwall, so I don't want to make a mess before the game just in case they take it the wrong way, so we'll see."


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If coke doesn't give you satisfaction, try meth: I'm not sure whether to praise the Journal of Experimental Biology or to complain vociferously about it. The journal appears to be a veritable fountain of weirdness, having supplied us with our earlier coverage of mice trained to detect the body odor of chickens, and offering a study in the latest issue that involved showing videos of crickets to salamanders in order to determine if they could distinguish large numbers. (The answer is yes, provided that the quantities differ by a 2:1 ratio or higher.)
But the journal apparently recognizes the weirdness of its own offerings, and sends out press releases announcing some of the stranger ones. And then it waits a while after the release before it places the content online. Thus, we didn't provide full coverage of a report on the ability of spitting cobras to track hapless PhDs simply because the paper wasn't yet online when Weird Science was being prepared.
New week, same story: JEB offers up a fantastically weird press release describing a research group that tested the impact of meth on the ability of snails to remember how to breathe. The training involved poking the hapless snails with sticks. Perfect material, but the paper is nowhere to be found on the journal's website. Fortunately, the search function pulled up the next best thing: a paper in which the same group did the exact same research, but gave the snails coke instead. Both drugs seem to impact the ability of snails to forget stuff.
Maybe we can test this by sticking some zebras in six feet of ocean on a Sunday: This one's from a book, so we only have the press release to go on, but it seems pretty solid. Researchers ran the numbers on every shark attack on a section of the Florida coast since 1956, and came up with the typical conditions at the time of the bite. "Shark attacks are most likely to occur on Sunday, in less than six feet of water, during a new moon and involve surfers wearing black and white bathing suits," according to the analysis.
Does basso profundo get the girl?: It's easy to find a nature program that will give you a nice, clinical description of male dominance displays and mating success. Look hard enough, and you can find that same clinical detachment applied to human males, where it leads to some rather surreal sounding phrases like "Vocal masculinity strongly affected dominance ratings, but a man's own dominance did not alter his attention to vocal masculinity when assessing dominance." Men pay attention to voices, and assume a deep, bass rumble is indicative of a dominant male, regardless of how confident they are in their own dominance. But, when it comes to rating relative positions on the social hierarchy, the key factor is testosterone levels.
They're vanishing just as I became aware of them: I'm well aware of the lungfish that evolved evolved limb-like fins and eventually left the water behind. But I was surprised to find out that they weren't the last fish to go this route. There's an entire clade of species called "handfish" that exist only near Australia, where they casually stroll the ocean floor, as this one's doing at right. "50 million years ago, they 'walked' the world's oceans, but now they exist only off eastern and southern Australia," said an Australian taxonomist.
Fitting bees with radio collars: Well, not really radio collars, but the authors of a paper on the foraging habits of solitary tropical bees claim to be the first to have provided radio telemetry data on the daily travels of male orchid bees. Although the bees went up to five kilometers from their tagging site, they also had long periods where they were essentially stationary, suggesting a degree of what the authors term "site fidelity." But the best aspect of the work is clearly this video of the authors supergluing miniaturized radio transmitters onto these rather large bees, setting them loose, and then barreling through the forest after them like they're refilming the Blair Witch Project.


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It's the most wonderful yet hectic time of the year as consumers vie for mall parking spaces and also spend their precious lunch hours shopping online. Meanwhile, vendors are busy carefully managing and monitoring inventory and their supplier relationships to ensure their goods are delivered to stores and homes on time.
Of course, an SOA could help these vendors streamline, integrate and manage their various CRM, ERP and SCM applications. Ideally, this integration through the SOA would help ensure that customers are satisfied and retailers have a successful holiday season.
For many retailers, however, it's not an easy task to oversee the manufacturing and timely delivery of goods in a highly competitive, global marketplace - all during a finite period of time.
With this in mind, perhaps we could all learn some important lessons about building a service oriented architecture by taking a closer look at one of the first and most successful SOA projects. This project is representative of a Smart SOA strategy, is based in the North Pole and was initiated by Santa Claus to better manage his workshop.
Here are 10 reasons why Santa's SOA is exemplary:
1. Global: the infrastructure follows the sun in order to deliver goods to its client base in a timely manner. 2. Cross-company effort: the SOA bridges the gap between the executive office (Santa) and staff (elves) to execute on common goals. 3. BPM support: has built in business process management (BPM) capabilities to streamline and ensure consistency of toy manufacturing and distribution. 4. Flexibility: enables The Workshop to easily anticipate and respond to sudden spikes in end-of-year activity without resulting in any hiccups in workflow. 5. Reusability: the SOA takes advantage of reusable services so that employees can accommodate consistent customer requests (dolls, teddy bears) as well as easily manage and integrate new requests (Wii, DVD player) using the same, proven best practices. 6. Standards-based: enables Santa to protect existing investments such as the home-grown shipping and distribution application while allowing the infrastructure to integrate the latest CRM tools to manage a client base that completely turns over every few years. 7. Unified communications: supports UC by integrating and identifying the individual letters delivered via various communications methods such as email, traditional postal carriers, in person requests delivered to Santa's helpers in the mall, and inquiries sent via Santa's website. Additionally, the SOA infrastructure will be able to support future demands for text, instant messaging, and click-to-call capabilities. 8. Security: ensures the protection and sharing of confidential information including the list of who's naughty and who's nice. 9. Competitive advantage: consistent and timely delivery of requested toys has resulted in a satisfied customer base and a dominant market position. 10. Everybody knows that SANTA is an acronym for the North Pole's SOA approach: Strategic Architecture, Not Tactical Achievements.
Not only has Santa mastered the creation of a successful SOA, he's also the ideal employee because he gets the job done, is a well respected leader with longevity and experience, and is satisfied with a cookies and milk end-of-year bonus.
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