Mutual Adjustments Research Articles

Biomarkers of glucose-insulin homeostasis and incident type 2 diabetes and cardiovascular disease: results from the Vitamin D and Omega-3 trial

BackgroundDysglycemia and insulin resistance increase type 2 diabetes (T2D) and cardiovascular disease (CVD) risk, yet associations with specific glucose-insulin homeostatic biomarkers have been inconsistent. Vitamin D and marine omega-3 fatty acids (n-3 FA) may improve insulin resistance. We sought to examine the association between baseline levels of insulin, C-peptide, HbA1c, and a novel insulin resistance score (IRS) with incident cardiometabolic diseases, and whether randomized vitamin D or n-3 FA modify these associations.MethodsVITamin D and OmegA-3 TriaL (NCT01169259) was a randomized clinical trial testing vitamin D and n-3 FA for the prevention of CVD and cancer over a median of 5.3 years. Incident cases of T2D and CVD (including cardiovascular death, myocardial infarction, stroke, and coronary revascularization) were matched 1:1 on age, sex, and fasting status to controls. Conditional logistic regressions adjusted for demographic, clinical, and adiposity-related factors were used to assess the adjusted odds ratio (aOR) per-standard deviation (SD) and 95%CI of baseline insulin, C-peptide, HbA1c, and IRS (Insulin×0.0295 + C-peptide×0.00372) with risk of T2D, CVD, and coronary heart disease (CHD).ResultsWe identified 218 T2D case-control pairs and 715 CVD case-control pairs including 423 with incident CHD. Each of the four biomarkers at baseline was separately associated with incident T2D, aOR (95%CI) per SD increment: insulin 1.46 (1.03, 2.06), C-peptide 2.04 (1.35, 3.09), IRS 1.72 (1.28, 2.31) and HbA1c 7.00 (3.76, 13.02), though only HbA1c remained statistically significant with mutual adjustments. For cardiovascular diseases, we only observed significant associations of HbA1c with CVD (1.19 [1.02, 1.39]), and IRS with CHD (1.25 [1.04, 1.50]), which persisted after mutual adjustment. Randomization to vitamin D and/or n-3 FA did not modify the association of these biomarkers with the endpoints.ConclusionsEach of insulin, C-peptide, IRS, and HbA1c were associated with incident T2D with the strongest association noted for HbA1c. While HbA1c was significantly associated with CVD risk, a novel IRS appears to be associated with CHD risk. Neither vitamin D nor n-3 FA modified the associations between these biomarkers and cardiometabolic outcomes.

Associations of cognitive impairment and functional limitation with all-cause mortality risk in older adults: A population-based study from the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey

Cognitive impairment and functional limitation are commonly observed in older adults. They have a complex correlation, and both are risk factors for mortality. This prospective cohort study aimed to explore the independent and joint impact of cognitive impairment and functional limitations on all-cause mortality in older adults. A total of 3,759 participants aged ≥ 60 years who had available information on mortality data, cognitive function, physical function, and covariates were enrolled. Cox proportional hazards regression models were employed to assess the independent and joint impacts of cognitive impairment and functional limitation on all-cause mortality. Smoothing curve fitting was used to show the nonlinear relationship between the Digit Symbol Coding (DSC) score and all-cause mortality. An interaction between cognitive impairment and functional limitation was identified when examining their associations with all-cause mortality. Cognitive impairment and functional limitation independently correlated with all-cause mortality risk even after adjusting for covariates and performing mutual adjustments (HR for cognitive impairment: 1.34, 95% CI 1.15–1.56; HR for functional limitation: 1.50, 95% CI 1.32–1.70). When the DSC score was > 18, as the score increased, the risk of death significantly decreased (HR 0.99, 95% CI 0.98–0.99). Participants with both cognitive impairment and functional limitation had the highest hazard ratio for all-cause mortality (HR 1.98, 95%CI 1.63–2.40). In summary, cognitive impairment and functional limitation independently correlated with increased all-cause mortality risk. A higher DSC score was a protective factor reducing the premature mortality risk. Older adults with cognitive impairment and functional limitation demonstrated the highest all-cause mortality risk.

Requesting another to taste: Passing food and the distribution of agency in the organization of bodily trajectories

This paper offers an analysis of the organizational features of passing food objects as a commonplace embodied social practice to accomplish requests to another to taste food during joint cooking activities. Situated within the cognate frameworks of Conversation Analysis and Ethnomethodology, the sequential, multimodal analysis details and explains the formal features of passing food from hand to hand and from hand to mouth as distinct practices with distinct micro-sequential organizations. The study draws on a corpus of 14 hours of video-recordings of naturally occurring joint cooking activities in which the participants speak German, Swedish, and English. Focusing on the projectable aspects of bodily trajectories, the analysis reveals how the request sequences are achieved through the participants’ early projection of how to pass the food objects and their stepwise mutual adjustments to their conjoint action trajectory. In progressively establishing who does what next and how during the food transfer, the participants orient to the relevance and distribution of interactional agency. When the normative organization of the step-by-step transfer is disregarded, an ambiguity emerges concerning what action the practice is doing, which prompts the participants to engage in significant interactional work to re-negotiate on what terms the transfer can resume. This shows how issues of interactional agency are exerted and exhibited in and through the sequential organization of social interaction. The results contribute to, and elaborate, prior findings on requests and advances our understanding for the close attention that participants to interaction pay to the detailed aspects of multimodally formatted actions and the normative expectancies that make up to their intelligibility, reflexively elaborating each other.

Modelling Cross Talk in the Spatiotemporal System Dynamics of Calcium, IP3 and Nitric Oxide in Neuron Cells.

The bioenergetic system of calcium ([Ca2+]), inositol 1, 4, 5-trisphophate (IP3) and nitric oxide (NO) regulate the diverse mechanisms in neurons. The dysregulation in any or all of the calcium, IP3 and nitric oxide dynamics may cause neurotoxicity and cell death. Few studies are noted in the literature on the interactions of two systems like [Ca2+] with IP3 and [Ca2+] with nitric oxide in neuron cells, which gives limited insights into regulatory and dysregulatory processes in neuron cells. But, no study is available on the cross talk in dynamics of three systems [Ca2+], IP3 and NO in neurons. Thus, the cross talk in the system dynamics of [Ca2+], IP3 and NO regulation processes in neurons have been studied using mathematical model. The two-way feedback process between [Ca2+] and IP3 and two-way feedback process between [Ca2+] and NO through cyclic guanosine monophosphate (cGMP) with plasmalemmal [Ca2+]-ATPase (PMCA) have been incorporated in the proposed model. This coupling handles the indirect two-way feedback process between IP3 and nitric oxide in neuronal cells automatically. The numerical outcomes were acquired by employing the finite element method (FEM) with the Crank-Nicholson scheme (CNS). The present model incorporating the sodium-calcium exchanger (NCX) and voltage-gated calcium channel (VGCC) provides novel insights into the various regulatory and dysregulatory processes due to buffer, IP3-receptor, ryanodine receptor, cGMP kinetics through PMCA channel, etc. and their impacts on the interactive spatiotemporal system dynamics of [Ca2+], IP3 and NO in neurons. It is concluded that the behavior of different crucial mechanisms is quite different for interactions of two systems of [Ca2+] and NO and the interactions of three systems of [Ca2+], IP3 and nitric oxide in neuronal cell due to mutual regulatory adjustments. The association of several neurological disorders with the alterations in calcium, IP3 and NO has been explored in neurons.

From Intonation Adjustments to Synchronization of Heart Rate Variability: Singer Interaction in Traditional Georgian Vocal Music

This paper is concerned with how singers of Georgian traditional vocal music interact when singing together. Applying a variety of computational methods from audio signal processing and music information retrieval (MIR), we examine three existing corpora of (field) recordings for manifestations of a high degree of mutual coordination of the singers’ voices. We find numerous examples of harmonically controlled mutual intonation adjustments on both short and long time scales. Furthermore, we believe that the observed differences in melodic and harmonic scales can also be interpreted as (side) effects of the singers’ interaction with the possible goal of achieving harmonic togetherness (or consonance) on the time scale of individual (important) notes. In addition, together with the ensemble Khelkhvavi from Ozurgeti, we conducted an experiment demonstrating the synchronization of singers’ heartbeat rates during the performance of the Gurian song Chven Mshvidoba. The results of our analysis show that a variety of measurable signs of interaction between singers can be observed and documented in existing corpora of Georgian traditional vocal music. Our experience also shows that relevant information about the synchronization of the bodily functions of singers during performances can nowadays be obtained with reasonable technical and logistical effort even in a ‘real world’ framework, thereby allowing us to address questions related to the ‘ecological validity’ of this kind of measurement.

The changing landscape of healthcare communication in Italy: Perceptions and challenges in language brokering services

This study investigates the evolving landscape of healthcare communication in Italy, focusing on the use of language brokering services sensu latu, including interpreting, cultural and linguistic mediation and other solutions bridging the language gap. With the country experiencing a significant influx of tourists and immigrants in recent years, the need for efficient language services has become crucial to ensure equitable access to healthcare for all individuals. The study examines the perspectives of two key professional groups involved in linguistically mediated medical encounters: language brokers and healthcare professionals. Specially designed questionnaires were administered to each group, and the analysis is conducted within the framework of sociolinguistics, complemented by survey research. The findings highlight various challenges, particularly in the ethical dimension, while emphasizing the potential for collaboration and service quality improvement through mutual adjustments between these professional groups. The results of this study can inform the development of training programmes and regulations that enhance the ability of healthcare professionals and language brokers to address these challenges effectively.

From elucidating mechanisms of allosteric signaling to designing allosteric drugs and biologics.

Allostery is a pervasive phenomenon underlies a multitude of cellular processes. We have previously developed a Structure-Based Statistical Mechanical Model of Allostery (SBSMMA) to quantitatively describe the causality and energetics of allosteric signaling due to perturbations such as ligand binding, mutations, disorder-order transition and post-translational modifications. The computational model was implemented in the AlloSigMA server and AlloMAPS database, which allow one to explore allosteric effects of perturbations in form of the exhaustive Allosteric Signaling/Probing Map (ASM/APM), to identify potential allosteric sites, and to facilitate effector design. Here, we demonstrate some recent work on applying our broadly applicable framework to different aspects of allostery. First, analysis of communication between different sites/regions of the Spike protein from SARS-CoV-2 revealed mutations harbored by variants of concern, as well as glycosylation, that originate strong signaling to the distant receptor-binding domain despite the separation. Using reverse perturbation of allosteric communication and ASM/APM, we identified potential druggable sites that can induce tunable allosteric responses in different functional regions of Spike. Second, while the strengths of allosteric medicines are widely recognized, rational design of effectors remains a challenging problem. We demonstrated with GPCRs and kinases that effector design should begin with the search/design for latent/non-natural binding sites, followed by fragment-based design of ligands, and consequently mutual adjustments of site-ligand pairs to obtain and tune the desired binding affinity and allosteric signals. Third, rapid progress in harnessing allostery calls for an understanding of how communication is established by different structural elements and how it can be modified. We obtained a picture of conserved allosteric communication characteristic in major folds, alterations of structure-driven signaling via sequence-determined divergence to distinct functions, and its diversification in multi-domain proteins and oligomers, which will facilitate engineering/design of allosteric communication.

An improved robust coupled sliding mode control strategy for solar photovoltaic‐based single‐phase inverters

SummarySolar photovoltaic (SPV)‐based single‐phase inverters are universally accepted and commercially utilized renewable power converter system. Generally, the magnitude of the inverter output is perturbed on load variations, and the intermediate DC‐DC boost converter output is perturbed because of the solar availability. The main intermediary component is the DC‐Link capacitor. The regulation of DC‐Link voltage is the key factor in maintaining the stability of the system with bilateral power converters. In the existing methods, individual Sliding Mode Control (SMC) are used to maintain the stability of the converters independently. However, the individual SMC's do not have any corelated control to address the common problem of DC‐Link voltage regulation. This paper proposes an alternative solution with Coupled SMC (CSMC) to address the problem of regulating the DC‐Link voltage. Both the Boost‐SMC and Inverter‐SMC are individually developed and controlled in a unified approach by having mutual adjustments in the converter and inverter switching pulses. The CSMC strategy is developed in Matlab and experimented using dSPACE‐MicrolabBox. The validation tests are compared with conventional SMC, which shows the betterment of CSMC in robustness and waveshape tracking.

EAL Student Capability: Taking a Leap Through the Dragon’s Gate

This ethnographic study, set at a higher educational institution (HEI) in New Zealand, was inspired by the many English as an additional language (EAL)/international students at HEIs prior to the current pandemic situation in the world. The motivation was to understand the students better from a beyond the Language Self-Access Centre (LSAC) perspective and to see if their needs were met competently. Whereas students were using English in a new educational system and in an unfamiliar society, HEIs aim to internationalise in order to provide excellent education for them. The suggestion here is that a transformation through mutual adjustments would benefit both students and institutions. Reflection on measures for both sides to adopt in adjusting to each other is included.

Agile software development and UX design: A case study of integration by mutual adjustment

: Agility is an overarching ideal for empirically-driven software development processes that embrace change in order to improve quality, economy, and simplicity. While the pursuit of Agility has held prominence in software practice and research for over two decades, user experience (UX) designers struggle to integrate their work processes with agile software development. : As empirical processes are constantly evolving, so is this integration struggle for UX designers. We, therefore, present an industrial case study of how a Danish software company integrates UX design and agile software development. : We conducted a case study involving a) one iteration of individual interviews with 10 employees (four UX designers, three software developers, two project managers, and one solution architect) and b) a follow-up iteration consisting of a workshop with 6 employees (three UX designers, two solution architects, and one project manager) two years later. We analyzed how the company's approach to integration with 'upfront design' and 'work in parallel' involve mutual adjustments as opposed to assimilation or separation of UX design and software development. : Our analysis shows how integration through mutual adjustments made distinct contributions to UX designers' and software developers' pursuit of Agility. They experienced notably different work processes that still dealt effectively with change and contributed to quality, economy, or simplicity. Nevertheless, as shown from a follow-up workshop two years after our first interviews, these processes were still susceptible to integration struggles over time. : We conclude that integration based on mutual adjustment potentially makes Agility for UX designers and software developers different and mutually complementary. This integration contrasts with assimilation, which potentially makes their Agility mutually indistinguishably, and with separation, which makes their Agility different and mutually competing.

Self-rated health and chronic inflammation are related and independently associated with hospitalization and long-term mortality in the general population

The subjective indicator of health self-rated health (SRH) and the chronic inflammation biomarker soluble urokinase plasminogen activator receptor (suPAR) are both robust predictors of healthcare use and mortality. However, the possible relationship between SRH and suPAR in the assessment of hospitalization and mortality risk is unknown. We used data from the Danish population-based Inter99 cohort to examine the association between SRH and suPAR and test their individual and combined associations with 2-year risk of acute hospitalization and 5- and 15-year mortality. SRH and serum suPAR levels were measured in 5490 participants (median age 45.1 years, 48.7% men). Poorer SRH was associated with elevated suPAR. In unadjusted analyses, SRH and suPAR were individually associated with higher risks of acute hospitalization and mortality, and both measures remained independently associated with higher risks of hospitalization and 15-year mortality after mutual adjustments. The association of suPAR with mortality was stronger in poorer SRH categories, and when combined, SRH and suPAR could identify different groups of individuals with increased risk of acute hospitalization and mortality. Both SRH and suPAR were independently associated with risk of acute hospitalization and mortality, and different combinations of the two measures could identify different groups of individuals at increased risk.

Public administration and politics meet turbulence: The search for robust governance responses

Public administration and politics meet turbulence: The search for robust governance responses

Power at the Heart of Business Ecosystem Evolution: An Integrative Meta-Synthesis

This meta-synthesis reconsiders the business ecosystem literature through a power lens and provides an integrative model of power and business ecosystem evolution. Whereas most studies adopt a learning perspective to understand business ecosystem evolution, the backdrop of power relationships against which evolution takes place is often ignored. Power influences the manner in which mutual adjustments are made that drive ecosystem evolution as well as processes of learning. Disregarding power hinders comprehension of why change does or does not happen and thus limits the ability to predict ecosystem evolution. Accordingly, accounting for power provides a more complete conceptualisation of ecosystem evolution, understanding it as actively constructed by participating actors as opposed to being prescribed. A meta-synthesis of 52 qualitative case studies reveals that actors and systems of power (1) enact power via specific sets of power practices to (2) reproduce or transform the dominant value creation and value capture of the ecosystem. The developed integrative model stipulates that ecosystem actors enact ecosystem-specific practices of power to prevent, defeat, negotiate, and impose ecosystem change. The model contributes to the literature by recasting ecosystem evolution – including both stasis and change – as the dynamic interplay between processes of power and learning.

Association of waist-calf circumference ratio with incident cognitive impairment in older adults

The longitudinal relation of central fat and muscle mass with cognitive function remains unclear. We aimed to evaluate the relation of anthropometric measures, including BMI, waist circumference (WC), calf circumference (CC), and waist-calf circumference ratio (WCR), with incident cognitive impairment in older adults. A total of 3312 participants aged ≥65 y (mean: 81.8 y) who were free of cognitive impairment [the Chinese version of the Mini-Mental State Examination (MMSE) scores ≥24 points] in the Chinese Longitudinal Healthy Longevity Survey were included. The primary outcome was incident cognitive impairment, defined as MMSE scores <24 points at the exit visit. Secondary outcomes were incident cognitive decline, defined as a reduction of MMSE scores ≥3 points at the exit visit, and incident decline in different cognitive domains, defined as a reduction of MMSE scores in the domain ≥15% at the exit visit. During a median follow-up duration of 3.6 y, 565 (17.1%) participants developed incident cognitive impairment. Overall, with mutual adjustments, higher WC [≥89 cm (fourth quartile) compared with <75 cm (first quartile); adjusted HR: 1.56; 95% CI: 1.19, 2.04] and higher WCR [≥2.9 (fourth quartile) compared with <2.4 (first quartile); adjusted HR: 1.96; 95% CI: 1.52, 2.52] were significantly associated with a higher risk of cognitive impairment, and higher CC [≥34 cm (fourth quartile) compared with <28 cm (first quartile); adjusted HR: 0.44; 95% CI: 0.33, 0.59] was associated with a lower hazard of cognitive impairment. Similar results were found for the secondary outcomes. However, BMI was not significantly associated with the study outcomes. High WC and low CC were significantly associated with higher incident cognitive impairment in older adults. Moreover, WCR had a relatively stronger association with cognitive impairment compared with each circumference, suggesting maintaining both higher lean mass and lower central fat in older adults for the prevention of cognitive impairment.

The effect of parathyroidectomy compared to non-surgical surveillance on kidney function in primary hyperparathyroidism: a nationwide historic cohort study

BackgroundPatients with primary hyperparathyroidism (pHPT) and impaired kidney function (estimated glomerular filtration rate (eGFR) < 60 mL/min) are offered parathyroidectomy (PTX) to protect them from further complications. Surprisingly, two recent uncontrolled cohort studies have suggested a further decrease in kidney function following PTX. We aimed to examine the effects of PTX compared to non-surgical surveillance on kidney function in pHPT patients.MethodsHistoric cohort study. From the Danish National Patient Registry (NPR) and major medical biochemistry laboratories in Denmark, we identified 3585 patients with biochemically confirmed pHPT among whom n = 1977 (55%) were treated with PTX (PTX-group) whereas n = 1608 (45%) were followed without surgery (non-PTX group). Baseline was defined as time of diagnosis and kidney function was re-assessed 9–15 months after PTX (PTX group) or 9–15 months after diagnosis (non-PTX group).ResultsAt follow-up, eGFR had decreased significantly in the PTX- compared to the non-PTX-group (median − 4% vs. − 1%, p < 0.01). Stratification by baseline eGFR showed that the decrease was significant for those with a baseline eGFR value of 80–89 and > 90 mL/min, but not for those with lower eGFR values. Findings did not differ between patients with mild compared to moderate/severe hypercalcemia. However, after mutual adjustments, we identified baseline levels of calcium, PTH, and eGFR as well as age and treatment (PTX vs. no-PTX) as independent predictors for changes in kidney function.ConclusionCompared to non-surgical surveillance, PTX is associated with a small but significant decrease in kidney function in pHPT patients with an initial normal kidney function.

A Transdisciplinary Perspective on Dog-Handler-Client Interactions in Animal Assisted Activities for Children, Youth and Young Adults

Abstract A growing body of research has linked the inclusion of dogs in Animal-Assisted Activities (AAA) for children and young adults to a diverse range of positive social emotional and cognitive outcomes. However, many studies have focused exclusively on aspects directly related to dog-client interactions. There is a need to gain a better understanding of how dog-handler teams have been described, conceptualized and incorporated into the analysis in previous research. In addition, few studies have investigated the mutual adjustments inherent to dog-handler-client triadic relationships. This paper explores if and how the unique characteristics of dog-handler teams have been conceptualized and measured in previous studies. First, this paper undertakes a scoping review to map what, if any, characteristics of dogs, handlers, and dog-handler teams have been described and incorporated into the assessment of AAAs from 2004 to 2019 including: demographic characteristics, formal training and certification, handlers’ or dogs’ behavioral and physiological responses to AAAs, handlers’ roles during activities, and configuration of AAA teams. This scoping review also highlights key features of AAA teams requiring further investigation. In addition, this paper proposes the incorporation of a transdisciplinary framework to the analysis of AAAs. Such a holistic framework can inform the field of human-animal interactions by prioritizing a relational and contextual focus to the study of AAAs.

The many faces of hedonic adaptation

ABSTRACT Hedonic adaptation has come to play a large role in wellbeing studies and in practical philosophy more generally. We argue that hedonic adaptation has been too closely assimilated to sensory adaptation. Sensation and selective attention do indeed play a role in adaptation; but so do judgment, articulation, contextualization and background assumptions, as well as coping strategies and features of one’s social and physical environment. Hence the notion of hedonic adaptation covers not a single uniform phenomenon, but a whole range of different processes and mechanisms. We present a taxonomy of different forms of hedonic adaptation, pointing especially to the importance of coping strategies and socially supported adaptation, which have been overlooked or misdescribed by adaptation theory, but implicitly recognized by empirical research. We further argue that the differences between types adaptive processes have ramifications for normative theories. Adaptation can work both for good and for bad, depending on the psychological and contextual details. Acknowledging the many forms of hedonic adaptation, and the ubiquitous role of mutual adjustments of values, standards of judgment, emotional tendencies, behavior and environmental factors in achieving wellbeing also gives support to a more complex and dynamic view of wellbeing as such.

Information System Purchase and Integration Contingencies When Companies Merge

This study grounds empirically the purchasing and further integration of an implemented information system set in the frenzied context of a corporate merger. A single longitudinal case study from the Norwegian pelagic seafood industry provides a detailed long-term account of developing the information system prior to, during and after a merger in the seafood industry that relies on wild catch. It is characterised by high dependence on features of nature and society to secure sustainable production. Contingency theory together with a process view of production reveals how interactions unfold over time to develop the new unified information system. Features of integration, interaction and interdependency represent different facets of information system purchase and development. The merger process represents an abnormality for the organisation as a continuous entity. Information system development in the case, therefore, takes place in a weakly integrated network of merging firms with severe time constraints. Given high uncertainty, solutions emerge through interaction. Deterministic optimisation is, in this context, a fluffy managerial dream. Normally, information system purchase and information system development involve reciprocal interdependencies involving mutual adjustments through intensive technologies and tight interaction among all parties involved. The coercive behaviour of management seeking efficiencies overrules these planning ideals. This indicates that purchasing, in a corporate merger context, is complex and approached as a complex system in a network. Solutions used in this approach originate because of emergent-networked interaction.

An interactionist perspective on the development of coordinated social attention.

Infants' ability to coordinate their attention with other people develops profoundly across the first year of life. Mainly based on experimental research focusing on infants' behavior under highly controlled conditions, developmental milestones were identified and explained in the past by prominent theories in terms of the onset of specific cognitive skills. In contrast to this approach, recent longitudinal research challenges this perspective with findings suggesting that social attention develops continuously with a gradual refinement of skills. Informed by these findings, we argue for an interactionist and dynamical systems view that bases observable advances in infant social attention skills on increasingly fine-tuned mutual adjustments in the caregiver-infant dyad, resulting in gradually improving mutual prediction. We present evidence for this view from recent studies leveraging new technologies which afford the opportunity to dynamically track social interactions in real-time. These new technically-sophisticated studies offer unprecedented insights into the dynamic processes of infant-caregiver social attention. It is now possible to track in much greater detail fluctuations over time with regard to object-directed attention as well as social attention and how these processes relate to one another. Encouraged by these initial results and new insights from this interactionist developmental social neuroscience approach, we conclude with a "call to action" in which we advocate for more ecologically valid paradigms for studying social attention as a dynamic and bi-directional process.

Soil Mechanical Composition and Texture as Indices for On-site and Field Precise Choice of Land Use Type to Adopt

The soils of Agoi-Ibami in central Cross River State of Nigeria were evaluated for their mechanical and textural compositions in the field. The objective was to present to small scale, subsistence farmers, with limited access to external farm-inputs for time consuming and expensive laboratory analysis, soil data for on-site and field land use and management decisions. Three profile pits were sunk, along three well defined and selected toposequences, on three landscape elements of crest, middleslope and valley bottom in three land use types of forest (FS), rubber (RS), and arable (AS). Relevant environmental properties were inventorized and the profiles described in the moist state. Their textures were determined by the feel method in the field among other morphological properties. The field investigation showed the soils to be predominatly loamy soils. After the field investigation, soil samples were collected from the morphogenetic horizons for determination of their mechanical composition in the laboratory to supplement the field investigation. Their loamy textures and mechanical composition inferred from their loamy texture impact unique physical and chemical properties like good water holding capacity, good drainage, fertile and productive soils and good for irrigation. Loamy soils exhibit properties intermediate between sandy and clayey soils. Loamy soils are considered best for agricultural production because they hold more water and nutrients than sandy soils and have better drainage, aeration and tillage properties than clayey soils. They have slight plastic and sticky workable properties ideal for crop growth and crop productivity. Therefore knowing the texture of soils and their mechanical composition in the field their properties can be inferred and land use and management decisions can be taken on-site without recourse to expensive and time consuming laboratory analyses which are beyond the capacity of resource poor small-scale and subsistence farmers in developing countries and or sub-Saharan Africa. The land use and management decisions are taken after mutual adaptation and adjustments of the description of the land use and the increasingly known soil qualities in the field.