Paris, 2 March 2009


EFITA newsletter / 401 / European Federation for Information Technology in Agriculture, Food and the Environment


The old man who will stop publishing this efita newsletter (last issue dated 23 February 2009)
We hope the first information of the newsletter is part of a joke. Your age joke…
You know in Portugal we have a very fine wine (OPORTO WINE), and usually we say that older is the wine better it became and this is what we expect from you…
Contact: Jorge MAIA
E-mail: jorge.maia(a)cotr.pt


Making better decisions for the management or governance of the agricultural and related natural resource industries / The Operational Research Society / Special Interest Group on Agriculture and Natural Resources / Call for Abstracts
2 April 2009 - University of Reading

We invite contributions to this meeting of broadly relevant works. There is no restriction on techniques or class of problem solved, but the work will be of an applied nature, and that may involve a considerably innovative approach.

To raise the profile of these contributions, abstracts they will be published in the Journal of Agricultural Science, subject to editorial review. They must be of completed or near completed work and prepared in the correct style (see Journal of Agricultural Science, Cambridge generally, but a similar preprint of proceedings is available http://hdl.handle.net/1826/2471). An abstract should be 350- 400 words of text and may, in addition, contain some equations, and at least one reference, for example to a more detailed presentation of the author's work. Microsoft Word is preferred.

Each talk will be of 15 minutes duration, followed by 5 minutes discussion. We will endeavour to select a balanced programme of contributions from those offered. This event is timed to exploiting synergies with the Agricultural Research Modeller's meeting in London (contact Les Crompton, University of Reading, l.a.crompton(a)reading.ac.uk) the following day. If you have to travel a distance why not stay a night and do both?

This meeting forms part of a drive to relaunch agriculture and natural resources as a special interest group within the Operational Research society. Expressions of interest as well as participation are welcome.

Contact: D L SANDARS
E-mail: daniel.sandars@cranfield.ac.uk


Workshops Living Labs for Spatial Data Development (LL4SDI) and Living Labs as Enabler of Rural Development (LL4R)
11 – 12 May – PRAGUE
These workshops will take place before the join conferences of Information Systems in Agriculture and Forestry (ISAF) and Spatial Data Infrastructure for Central and Eastern Europe (SDI4CEE).
The event will be mainly focused on practical demonstration of results of the Living Labs in area of SDI and Rural Development.
- What are Living Labs (LL), what is ENOLL, projects related to LL
- Presentation of Living Labs results in area of SDI (Spatial Data Development)
- Presentation of Living Labs results in area of Rural Development
See: http://www.isaf.cz/
Contact: Sarka HORAKOVA
E-mail: horakova(a)ccss.cz


XV. European conference Information systems in Agriculture and Forestry (ISAF)
12 – 13 May 2009 - PRAGUE
- Scientific opportunities and directions in the European Union
- Information and communication technologies for rural areas
- Living Labs
- Applications for agriculture and forestry
- eLearning for rural areas
- Human aspect of information society development
- Food safety and traceability

I. INSPIREd CEE-SDI conference topics will be:
- Explore the state of play in Central and Eastern European (CEE) countries regarding GI and SDIs
- Raise awareness of the benefits of GeoInformation and promote the advantages of modern SDI for enlarged Europe, especially for CEE countries, with respect to their specific conditions.
- Identify the extent to which INSPIRE could be a catalyst for the development of GI & SDIs in CEE countries.
- Identify opportunities for practical assistance with the establishment and/or development of National GI Associations in CEE countries where stakeholders request it.
- Discuss and promote the future funding to support ongoing future NGIA and GI/SDI development in CEE countries.

VII. Information and Communication Technologies for Rural Areas - „Farm Management – Forest Management – Business Models for Whole Countries“ topics will be
- ICT in agriculture – the groundwork for food chain management and its direct benefit for farmers
- Logistic - a platform for adding value
- Precision Farming – already available today for the benefit of farmers and environment
- Ecological farm management, risk management and resource management, are not in conflict with economy
- Public-private business models - the base for holistic solutions
See: http://www.isaf.cz/


Idea Development and Software Implementation for Web 2.0 Debate – a two weeks course in English
4 – 17 July - PRAGUE
Teachers can get subsidy up to 80% of costs from EU Grundtvig or Comenius support scheme. Contents of these courses are every year improved from 2003 up till now.
See: http://ec.europa.eu/education/trainingdatabase/index.cfm?fuseaction=DisplayCourse&cid=16188
Contact: Zdeněk LINHART
E-mail: linhart(a)pef.czu.cz


Re-inventing the rural - between the social and the natural - XXIII ESRS Congress
17 - 21 August - VAASA, Finland
Please note that the dead line for submitting Abstracts for papers to the 38 Working Groups is February 28th 2009.
See: http://www.esrs2009.fi/
See: http://www.ruralsociology.eu
Contact: Erland EKLUND
E-mail: erland.eklund(a)abo.fi


19th European Seminar on Extension Education
15 - 19 September - PERUGIA, Italy
See: http://www.agraria.unipg.it/ESEE2009PERUGIA/index.html
Contact: Fabio Maria SANTUCCI
E-mail: fmsant(a)unipg.it


The latest issue of ICT Update magazine has just been published online at http://ictupdate.cta.int with the theme market information systems.

The liberalization of agricultural markets in the late 1980s and early 1990s introduced many new challenges for small-scale farmers. As the government marketing boards closed, producers were left to deal with a range of middlemen who work much closer with the markets. Providing small-scale producers with the same market information would put them in a better position to find the right buyer and negotiate a fair price without having to share their profits with a third party.

ICT Update (http://ictupdate.cta.int) is a bimonthly printed bulletin, web magazine, and accompanying email newsletter focusing on the use of information and communication technologies in agriculture in African, Caribbean and Pacific countries. It is published in English and French, by CTA (Technical Centre for Agricultural and Rural Cooperation) in Wageningen in the Netherlands.
See: http://www.cta.int/
Contact: Jim DEMPSEY
E-mail : jim(a)contactivity.com


International Journal of Agricultural and Environmental Information Systems, IJAEIS
Official publication of the Information Resources Management Association

Editors-in-Chief:
Petraq Papajorgji, Center for Applied Optimization, University of Florida, USA
Francois Pinet, Cemagref, Clermont Ferrand, France
Published: semi annually (both in Print and Electronic form)

International Advisory Board:
James W. Jones, University of Florida, USA
Panos M. Pardalos, Center for Applied Optimization - University of Florida, USA
Gerhard Shiefer, University of Bonn, Germany

Associate Editors:
George Baourakis, Mediterranean Agronomic Institute of Chania, Greece
Yvan Bedard, Laval University, Canada
Guillaume Deffuant, Cemagref - Clermont Ferrand, France
Eric Jallas, ITK/CIRAD, France
James W. Jones, University of Florida, USA
Sotiris Karetsos, Agricultural University of Athens, Greece
Robert Laurini, INSA Lyon, France
Ki Joune Li, University of Pusan, South Korea
Andre Miralles, Cemagref - Montpellier, France
Pierre-Alain Muller, University of Haute-Alsace, France
Panos M. Pardalos, Center for Applied Optimization - University of Florida, USA
Zyhdi Pepa, University of Agriculture of Tirana, Albania
Nikolla P. Qafoku, Pacific Northwest National Laboratory, USA
Michel Schneider, Blaise Pascal University, France
Gerhard Shiefer, University of Bonn, Germany
Alexander Sideridis, Agricultural University of Athens, Greece

Editorial Review Board:
Luiz Henrique Antunes Rodrigues, University of Campinas, Brazil
Thierry Badard, Laval University, Canada
Lotfi Bejaoui, Laval University, Canada
Jose Luis Braga, Universidade Federal de Vicosa, Brazil
Jean-Pierre Chanet, Cemagref - Clermont Ferrand, France
Christophe Claramunt, Naval Academy Research Institute, France
Birgit Demuth, Dresden University of Technology, Germany
Jean-Paul Donnay, University of Liege, Belgium
Melanie Fritz, University of Bonn, Germany
Veronique Gouy, Cemagref - Lyon, France
Alaine Guimares, Ponta Grossa State University of Parana, Brazil
Vianney Houles, ITK, France
Mariane Huchard, University of Montpellier, France
Spiros Kaloudis, Agricultural University of Athens, Greece
Sabri Pllana, University of Vienna, Austria
Carlo Previl, UQAM, Canada
Stanley Robson de Oliveira, Embrapa, Brazil
Evan Rroco, Tirana University of Agriculture, Albania
Kleber Xavier Sampaio de Souza, Embrapa, Brazil
Jerome Steffe, ENITA Bordeaux, France
Ludovic Tambour, ITK, France
Sonia Ternes, Embrapa, Brazil
Manuel Valiente-Gomez, University of Castiglia la Mancha, Spain
Alain Viau, Laboratory of Geomatics Applied in Agriculture and Environment, Canada
Jan Erik Wien, Wageningen University, The Netherlands
Fatos Xhafa, Polytechnic University of Catalonia, Spain
Pandi Zdruli, CIHEAM-Mediterranean Agronomic Institute of Bari, Italy

MISSION OF IJAEIS:
Prospective authors are invited to submit manuscripts for possible publication in the International Journal of Agricultural and Environmental Information Systems. Agricultural and Environmental - related sciences face the daunting challenge of dealing with problems of an increasing number of factors of different nature that require to be approached with a multidisciplinary and multi- institutional team. Addressing these complex scientific issues requires refining of existing and creation of new analytical theories with potential use in agriculture and environment. Therefore, the scientific approach needs to combine the newest achievements in many scientific domains such as agronomy, mathematics, economics, and computer science to name a few.

The primary objective of IJAEIS is to present the novel work on the design and implementation of information systems in the field of agriculture and environment. The main goal is to present how the new technologies can improve the construction of complex information systems.

RECOMMENDED TOPICS:
Topics to be discussed in this journal include (but are not limited to) the following:
- Software engineering
- Model Driven Development and Model Driven Architecture
- Requirements analysis
- Database modeling and design
- Object-oriented systems modeling
- Data design
- Data integration
- XML and Service Oriented Systems (SOA)
- Geographic Information Systems
- Uncertain and imprecise information management
- Distributed Information Systems
- Web-based Information Systems
- Embedded, sensor and mobile database
- Decision Support Systems
- Knowledge Discovery and Data mining
- Ontologies, metadata and metamodeling
- Interoperability between Information Systems
- Data interchange format
- Multi-agent systems
- Environmental issues in rural and urban areas
- Ecological system modeling
- Agricultural production
- Agricultural traceability and food safety
- Simulation and optimization of agricultural systems
- Precision farming
- Land use
- Global climate change
- Risk assessments
- Forest fire
- Impact assessments of agricultural and industrial activities
- Eco-technologies
- Water management
- Soil, air and water quality

SUBMITTING TO IJAEIS:
Prospective authors should note that only original and previously unpublished articles will be considered. INTERESTED AUTHORS MUST CONSULT THE JOURNAL'S GUIDELINES FOR MANUSCRIPT SUBMISSIONS PRIOR TO SUBMISSION at:
http://www.igi-global.com/development/author_info/guidelines submission.pdf
All article submissions will be forwarded to at least 3 members of the Editorial Review Board of the journal for double-blind, peer review. Final decision regarding acceptance/revision/rejection will be based on the reviews received from the reviewers. All submissions must be forwarded electronically to: petraq@ufl.edu, francois.pinet@cemagref.fr

PUBLISHER:
The International Journal of Agricultural and Environmental Information Systems is published by IGI Global (formerly Idea Group Inc.), publisher of the "Information Science Reference" (formerly Idea Group Reference) and "Medical Information Science Reference" imprints. For additional information regarding the publisher, please visit www.igi-global.com.

All inquiries and submissions should be should be directed to the attention of:
Petraq Papajorgji
Francois Pinet
Editors-in-Chief
International Journal of Agricultural and Environmental Information Systems
E-mail: petraq@ufl.edu, francois.pinet@cemagref.fr
See: http://www.igi-global.com/IJAEIS


The Dead Cow and Vet School

First-year students at the UC Davis Vet school were receiving their first anatomy class, with a real dead cow.

They all gathered around the surgery table with the body covered with a white sheet. The professor started the class by telling them, 'In Veterinary Medicine it is necessary to have two important qualities as a doctor: The first is that you not be disgusted by anything involving the animal body.' For an example, the Professor pulled back the sheet, stuck his finger in the butt of the dead cow, withdrew it and stuck his finger in his mouth.

'Go ahead and do the same thing,' he told his students. The students freaked out, hesitated for several minutes, but eventually took turns sticking a finger in the anal opening of the dead cow and sucking on it.

When everyone finished, the Professor looked at them and said, 'The second most important quality is observation. I stuck in my middle finger and sucked on my index finger.'

'Now learn to pay attention.'

Contact : Paul JAMET
E-mail: paul.jamet(a)jouy.inra.fr


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