UNCOVERING PRODUCTION FLOWS FROM SMALL FARMS: RESULTS FROM POLAND AND PORTUGAL CASE STUDIES

This study is an attempt to assess the impact of small farms (SF) on the regional food product circulation of specific key products in selected, fragmented, agrarian regions in Poland and Portugal. The empirical study is based on the analysis of food product maps which were developed based on data from a survey conducted among owners of small farms and small food businesses at focus group meetings and workshops organized in 2017 and 2018 in the Nowotarski and Nowosądecki subregions in Poland and in the Alentejo Central and Oeste subregions in Portugal. Qualitative data analysis was conducted using uniform methodology. In each of the subregions, focus groups helped to confront the assumptions resulting from surveys and corroborate the flows and fluxes described in the developed food product maps. Data collected during focus groups were enriched by data gathered during regional workshops that focused on food system governance. It was concluded that food product maps indicate interesting relationship flows of small farmers’ products along the food system, highlighting the role of fluxes connecting small farmers with other actors regarding specific key products. Several similarities and disparities between regional KP production flows in the Portuguese and Polish subregions, based on the type of key product, the various distribution channels and farming capacities present in each subregion were observed.

Limit theorems for some skew products with mixing base maps

We obtain a central limit theorem, local limit theorems and renewal theorems for stationary processes generated by skew product maps $T(\unicode[STIX]{x1D714},x)=(\unicode[STIX]{x1D703}\unicode[STIX]{x1D714},T_{\unicode[STIX]{x1D714}}x)$ together with a $T$-invariant measure whose base map $\unicode[STIX]{x1D703}$ satisfies certain topological and mixing conditions and the maps $T_{\unicode[STIX]{x1D714}}$ on the fibers are certain non-singular distance-expanding maps. Our results hold true when $\unicode[STIX]{x1D703}$ is either a sufficiently fast mixing Markov shift with positive transition densities or a (non-uniform) Young tower with at least one periodic point and polynomial tails. The proofs are based on the random complex Ruelle–Perron–Frobenius theorem from Hafouta and Kifer [Nonconventional Limit Theorems and Random Dynamics. World Scientific, Singapore, 2018] applied with appropriate random transfer operators generated by $T_{\unicode[STIX]{x1D714}}$, together with certain regularity assumptions (as functions of $\unicode[STIX]{x1D714}$) of these operators. Limit theorems for deterministic processes whose distributions on the fibers are generated by Markov chains with transition operators satisfying a random version of the Doeblin condition are also obtained. The main innovation in this paper is that the results hold true even though the spectral theory used in Aimino, Nicol and Vaienti [Annealed and quenched limit theorems for random expanding dynamical systems. Probab. Theory Related Fields162 (2015), 233–274] does not seem to be applicable, and the dual of the Koopman operator of $T$ (with respect to the invariant measure) does not seem to have a spectral gap.

The importance of History of Cartography in the Geography teaching

<p><strong>Abstract.</strong> Cartography and Geography have always been interconnected. In basic education, they are often mistaken as one, since maps materialize the most diverse topics approached by the geographic science. However, for many years the maps used in schools were considered simple illustrations, working as accessories to help in location and memorization.</p><p>Even though the studies about learning through the map and not only of the map (OLIVEIRA, 2007) are from the 1970 decade, it was only in the 1990’s, with the publication of the Brazilian Curriculum Parameters (Parâmetros Curriculares Nacionais – PCN), that the concern about the formation of critical reader students and, primarily, producers of maps has left the academia and provoked the insertion of specific cartography themes in textbooks and official curriculums in Brazil.</p><p>Scale, orientation, geographic coordinates, etc. have become part of the Geography classes on a daily basis, or at least they should have. The same has happened to the history of Cartography, which started to be inserted in textbooks, although in the form of illustration and curiosity.</p><p>This thematic, when worked in the basic education, helps in the students’ reflection about the different world perspectives that the humankind built along millenniums. The presentation of maps from ancient age, such as the Babylonians and Greeks, allows the establishment of parameters for the discussion of their influence in social groups. The representation of the Middle Age and the great leap of Cartography with the navigations of the XV and XVI demonstrate the capacity of maps to serve the interests of dominant groups from that time and their strategic power.</p><p>Thinking about the importance of this kind of map, History and Geography textbooks used in the last years of elementary school and in high school were analyzed to identify the presence of old maps and how they are approached. The research concluded that most old maps are used as illustrations, as there are not meaningful activities related to the analysis of these maps and that, when those activities existed, they were restricted to the chapters that dealt specifically about the history of cartography and the origin of maps.</p><p>In this way, the teacher needs elements to go beyond of what is proposed by the textbook, and in order to do that, they need to be in touch with the history of Cartography not just as simple curiosity, but as a possible content to be used in the spatial dynamic comprehension. Helping students to elaborate critical analyses about what used to be represented on the maps and how it used to be done. Hence, it is possible that those students understand that, as a human product, maps are full of intentions and ideologies.</p><p>This paper presents a reflection about the importance of the discussion of the history of Cartography in Geography undergraduate courses from the experience of approaching this theme in the School Cartography class, raising questions about the power of the maps in the context in which they were produced and the “load of information they broadcast in human terms” (HARLEY, 2009 p. 10), valuing the potential of working with maps in different periods during the teacher’s education.</p>

On–off intermittency and chaotic walks

We consider a class of skew product maps of interval diffeomorphisms over the doubling map. The interval maps fix the end points of the interval. It is assumed that the system has zero fiber Lyapunov exponent at one endpoint and zero or positive fiber Lyapunov exponent at the other endpoint. We prove the appearance of on–off intermittency. This is done using the equivalent description of chaotic walks: random walks driven by the doubling map. The analysis further relies on approximating the chaotic walks by Markov random walks, that are constructed using Markov partitions for the doubling map.

The Effects of Storage Temperature on the Aroma of Whole Bean Arabica Coffee Evaluated by Coffee Consumers and HS-SPME-GC-MS

Although from a food safety point, coffee is considered a shelf-stable product, changes in volatiles over time due to out-gassing and chemical reactions lead to perceivable differences in coffee aroma and “freshness”. Previous studies have looked at the impact of storage conditions on ground or brewed coffee. This study seeks to answer the question of how coffee consumers perceive the smell of coffee grounds of whole beans that have been stored under different conditions: freezer vs. room temperature for 9 weeks compared to a newly roasted control (stored for 1 day). Green beans from the same production lot were roasted to two different levels to also evaluate the impact of roast level on aroma changes. Using projective mapping (PM) followed by ultra-flash profiling (UFP), 48 coffee consumers evaluated, using only smell, 6 different freshly ground coffee samples presented in blind duplicates. In parallel, the profiles of 48 previously reported important coffee volatiles were measured by headspace-solid phase microextraction-gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (HS-SPME-GC-MS) to relate chemical changes to perceivable sensory aroma changes. Overall, consumer product maps mimicked the instrumental measurements in that the lighter roast coffees showed smaller changes due to storage conditions compared to the dark roast samples. Consumers also perceived the frozen dark roast samples to be more similar to the newly roasted control than the samples stored at room temperature.