Hybrid rice

Hybrid rice is any genealogy of rice produced by crossbreeding different kinds of rice. As with other
types of hybrids, hybrid rice typically displays heterosis (or hybrid vigor) such that when it is grown
under the same conditions as comparable high-yielding inbred rice varieties it can produce up to
30% more rice.
[1]
High-yield crops, like hybrid rice, are one of the most important tools for combating
world food crises.
The earliest high-yield rice was cultivated by Henry 'Hank' Beachell
[2]
in 1966, but it was not until the
1974 that the first hybrid rice varieties were released in China.
[3]

In crop breeding, although the use of heterosis in first-generation seeds (or F1) is well known, its
application in rice was limited because of the self-pollination character of that crop. In 1974, Chinese
scientists successfully transferred the male sterility gene from wild rice to create the cytoplasmic
genetic male-sterile (CMS) line and hybrid combination.
[4]
The first generation of hybrid rice varieties
were three-line hybrids and produced yields that were about 15 to 20 percent greater than those of
improved or high-yielding varieties of the same growth duration.
At the present time, Yuan Longping, the "Father of Hybrid Rice", may be the most famous in
research on hybrid rice. In the 1970s, he made his seminal discovery of the genetic basis of
heterosis in rice. This was a unique discovery because it had been previously thought that heterosis
was not possible for self-pollinating crops such as rice.
[5]
According to the China Daily, in 2011, Yuan
developed a new hybrid rice that can produce 13.9 tons of rice per hectare.
[6]

In China, hybrid rice is estimated to be planted on more than 50% of rice-growing land there and it is
credited with helping the country increase its rice yields, which are among the highest within Asia.
Hybrid rice is also grown in many other important rice producing countries including Indonesia,
Vietnam, Myanmar, Bangladesh, India,
[7]
Sri Lanka, Brazil, USA, and the Philippines.
[8]
A 2010 study
published by the International Rice Research Institute (IRRI), reports that the profitability of hybrid
rice in three Indian states varied from being equally profitable as other rice to 34% more profitable.
[9]

Outside of China other institutes are also researching hybrid rice, including the International Rice
Research Institute, which also coordinates the Hybrid Rice Development Consortium.
[10]

Organic farming
Organic farming is a form of agriculture that relies on techniques such ascrop rotation, green
manure, compost, and biological pest control. Depending on whose definition is used, organic
farming uses fertilizers and pesticides (which include herbicides, insecticides and fungicides) if they
are considerednatural (such as bone meal from animals or pyrethrin from flowers), but it excludes or
strictly limits the use of various methods (including synthetic
petrochemical fertilizers and pesticides; plant growth regulators such ashormones; antibiotic use in
livestock; genetically modified organisms;
[1]
human sewage sludge; and nanomaterials.
[2]
) for
reasons including sustainability,openness, independence, health, and safety.
Organic agricultural methods are internationally regulated and legally enforced by many nations,
based in large part on the standards set by the International Federation of Organic Agriculture
Movements (IFOAM), an internationalumbrella organization for organic farming organizations
established in 1972.
[3]
The USDA National Organic Standards Board (NOSB) definition as of April
1995 is:
Organic agriculture is an ecological production management system that promotes and enhances
biodiversity, biological cycles and soil biological activity. It is based on minimal use of off-farm inputs
and on management practices that restore, maintain and enhance ecological harmony."
[4]

Since 1990 the market for organic food and other products has grown rapidly, reaching $63 billion
worldwide in 2012.
[5]:25
This demand has driven a similar increase in organically managed farmland
which has grown over the years 2001-2011 at a compounding rate of 8.9% per annum.
[6]
As of 2011,
approximately 37,000,000 hectares (91,000,000 acres) worldwide were farmed organically,
representing approximately 0.9 percent of total world farmland (2009).
[7]

History[edit]
Main article: History of organic farming
Traditional farming (of many kinds) was the original type of agriculture, and has been practiced for
thousands of years.Forest gardening, a traditional food production system which dates
from prehistoric times, is thought to be the world's oldest and most resilient agroecosystem.
[8]

Artificial fertilizers had been created during the 18th century, initially with superphosphates and
then ammonia-based fertilizers mass-produced using the Haber-Bosch process developed during
World War I. These early fertilizers were cheap, powerful, and easy to transport in bulk. Similar
advances occurred in chemical pesticides in the 1940s, leading to the decade being referred to as
the 'pesticide era'.
[9]
But these new agricultural techniques, while beneficial in the short term, had
serious longer term side effects such as soil compaction, erosion, and declines in overall soil fertility,
along with health concerns about toxic chemicals entering the food supply.
[10]:10

Soil biology scientists began in the late 1800s and early 1900s to develop theories on how new
advancements in biological science could be used in agriculture as a way to remedy these side
effects, while still maintaining higher production. In Central Europe Rudolf Steiner, whose Lectures
on Agriculture were published in 1925.
[11][12][13]:[14]
created biodynamic agriculture, an early version of
what we now call organic agriculture.
[15][16][17]
Steiner was motivated by spiritual rather than scientific
considerations.
[13]:1719

Reflection of Sound
The reflection of sound follows the law "angle of incidence equals angle of
reflection", sometimes called the law of reflection. The same behavior is observed
with light and other waves, and by the bounce of a billiard ball off the bank of a table.
The reflected waves can interfere with incident waves, producing patterns of
constructive and destructive interference. This can lead to resonances called standing
waves in rooms. It also means that the sound intensity near a hard surface is enhanced
because the reflected wave adds to the incident wave, giving a pressure amplitude that
is twice as great in a thin "pressure zone" near the surface. This is used in pressure
zone microphones to increase sensitivity. The doubling of pressure gives a 6 decibel
increase in the signal picked up by the microphone. Reflection of waves
in strings and air columns are essential to the production of resonant standing waves
in those systems.

Reflection is the change in direction of a wavefront at an interface between two different media so
that the wavefront returns into the medium from which it originated. Common examples include the
reflection of light, sound and water waves. The law of reflection says that for specular reflection the
angle at which the wave is incident on the surface equals the angle at which it is
reflected. Mirrors exhibit specular reflection.
In acoustics, reflection causes echoes and is used in sonar. In geology, it is important in the study
of seismic waves. Reflection is observed with surface waves in bodies of water. Reflection is
observed with many types of electromagnetic wave, besides visible light. Reflection of VHF and
higher frequencies is important for radiotransmission and for radar. Even hard X-rays and gamma
rays can be reflected at shallow angles with special "grazing" mirrors.
Circular motion
In physics, circular motion is a movement of an object along the circumference of
acircle or rotation along a circular path. It can be uniform, with constant angular rate of rotation (and
constant speed), or non-uniform with a changing rate of rotation. Therotation around a fixed axis of a
three-dimensional body involves circular motion of its parts. The equations of motion describe the
movement of the center of mass of a body.
Examples of circular motion include: an artificial satellite orbiting the Earth at constant height, a
stone which is tied to a rope and is being swung in circles, a car turning through a curve in a race
track, an electron moving perpendicular to a uniformmagnetic field, and a gear turning inside a
mechanism.
Since the object's velocity vector is constantly changing direction, the moving object is
undergoing acceleration by a centripetal force in the direction of the center of rotation. Without this
acceleration, the object would move in a straight line, according to Newton's laws of motion.
Uniform
In physics, uniform circular motion describes the motion of a body traversing a circularpath at
constant speed. The distance of the body from the axis of rotation remains constant at all times.
Though the body's speed is constant, its velocity is not constant: velocity, a vector quantity, depends
on both the body's speed and its direction of travel. This changing velocity indicates the presence of
an acceleration; this centripetal acceleration is of constant magnitude and directed at all times
towards the axis of rotation. This acceleration is, in turn, produced by a centripetal force which is
also constant in magnitude and directed towards the axis of rotation.
In the case of rotation around a fixed axis of a rigid body that is not negligibly small compared to the
radius of the path, each particle of the body describes a uniform circular motion with the same
angular velocity, but with velocity and acceleration varying with the position with respect to the axis.
Nonmetal
In chemistry, a nonmetal or non-metal is a chemical elementthat mostly lacks metallic attributes.
Physically, nonmetals tend to be highly volatile (easily vaporised), have low elasticity, and are good
insulators of heat and electricity; chemically, they tend to have high ionisation energy and
electronegativity values, and gain or share electrons when they react with other elements or
compounds. Seventeen elements are generally classified as nonmetals; most are gases (hydrogen,
helium, nitrogen, oxygen, fluorine, neon, chlorine, argon, krypton, xenon and radon); one is a liquid
(bromine); and a few are solids (carbon, phosphorus, sulfur, selenium, and iodine).
Moving rightward across the standard form of periodic table, nonmetals adopt structures that have
progressively fewer nearest neighbours. Polyatomic nonmetals have structures with either three
nearest neighbours, as is the case (for example) with carbon (in its standard state
[n 1]
of graphite), or
two nearest neighbours (for example) in the case of sulfur. Diatomic metals, such as hydrogen, have
one nearest neighbour, and the monatomic noble gases, such as helium, have none. This gradual
fall in the number of nearest neighbours is associated with a reduction in metallic character and an
increase in nonmetallic character. The distinction between the three categories of nonmetals, in
terms of receding metallicity is not absolute. Boundary overlaps occur as outlying elements in each
category show (or begin to show) less-distinct, hybrid-like or atypical properties.
Although five times more elements are metals than nonmetals, two of the nonmetalshydrogen and
heliummake up over 99 per cent of the observable Universe,
[4]
and oneoxygenmakes up close
to half of the Earth's crust, oceans and atmosphere.
[5]
Living organisms are also composed almost
entirely of nonmetals,
[6]
and nonmetals form many more compounds than metals.
[7]

Landslide
A landslide, also known as a landslip (see also mudslide), is a geological phenomenon which
includes a wide range of ground movements, such as rockfalls, deep failure of slopesand
shallow debris flows, which can occur in offshore, coastal and onshore environments. Although the
action of gravity is the primary driving force for a landslide to occur, there are other contributing
factors affecting the original slope stability. Typically, pre-conditional factors build up specific sub-
surface conditions that make the area/slope prone to failure, whereas the actual landslide often
requires a trigger before being released.
Causes[edit]
Main article: Causes of landslides


The Mameyes Landslide, in the Mameyes neighborhood of barrioPortugus Urbano in Ponce, Puerto Rico, which
buried more than 100 homes, was caused by extensive accumulation of rains and, according to some sources,
lightning.
Landslides occur when the stability of the slope changes from a stable to an unstable condition. A
change in the stability of a slope can be caused by a number of factors, acting together or alone.
Natural causes of landslides include:
groundwater (pore water) pressure acting to destabilize the slope
Loss or absence of vertical vegetative structure, soil nutrients, and soil structure(e.g. after a
wildfire - a fire in forests lasting for 34 days)
erosion of the toe of a slope by rivers or ocean waves
weakening of a slope through saturation by snow melt, glaciers melting, or heavy rains
earthquakes adding loads to barely stable slope
earthquake-caused liquefaction destabilizing slopes
volcanic eruptions
Landslides are aggravated by human activities, such as
deforestation, cultivation and construction, which destabilize the already fragile slopes.
vibrations from machinery or traffic
blasting
earthwork which alters the shape of a slope, or which imposes new loads on an existing slope
in shallow soils, the removal of deep-rooted vegetation that binds colluvium to bedrock
Construction, agricultural or forestry activities (logging) which change the amount of water which
infiltrates the soil.
sDebris flow[edit]
Slope material that becomes saturated with water may develop into a debris flow ormud flow. The
resulting slurry of rock and mud may pick up trees, houses and cars, thus blocking bridges
and tributaries causing flooding along its path.
Debris flow is often mistaken for flash flood, but they are entirely different processes.
Muddy-debris flows in alpine areas cause severe damage to structures and infrastructure and often
claim human lives. Muddy-debris flows can start as a result of slope-related factors and shallow
landslides can dam stream beds, resulting in temporary water blockage. As the impoundments fail, a
"domino effect" may be created, with a remarkable growth in the volume of the flowing mass, which
takes up the debris in the stream channel. The solid-liquid mixture can reach densities of up to
2 tons/m and velocities of up to 14 m/s (Chiarle and Luino, 1998; Arattano, 2003). These processes
normally cause the first severe road interruptions, due not only to deposits accumulated on the road
(from several cubic metres to hundreds of cubic metres), but in some cases to the complete removal
of bridges or roadways or railways crossing the stream channel. Damage usually derives from a
common underestimation of mud-debris flows: in the alpine valleys, for example, bridges are
frequently destroyed by the impact force of the flow because their span is usually calculated only for
a water discharge. For a small basin in the Italian Alps (area = 1.76 km) affected by a debris flow,
Chiarle and Luino (1998)
[citation needed]
estimated a peak discharge of 750 m
3
/s for a section located in
the middle stretch of the main channel. At the same cross section, the maximum foreseeable water
discharge (by HEC-1), was 19 m/s, a value about 40 times lower than that calculated for the debris
flow that occurred.
Earthflows
Earthflows are downslope, viscous flows of saturated, fine-grained materials, which move at any
speed from slow to fast. Typically, they can move at speeds from 0.17 to 20 km/h (0.1 to 12.4 mph).
Though these are a lot like mudflows, overall they are slower moving and are covered with solid
material carried along by flow from within. They are different from fluid flows in that they are more
rapid. Clay, fine sand and silt, and fine-grained, pyroclastic material are all susceptible to earthflows.
The velocity of the earthflow is all dependent on how much water content is in the flow itself: if there
is more water content in the flow, the higher the velocity will be.
These flows usually begin when the pore pressures in a fine-grained mass increase until enough of
the weight of the material is supported by pore water to significantly decrease the internal shearing
strength of the material. This thereby creates a bulging lobe which advances with a slow, rolling
motion. As these lobes spread out, drainage of the mass increases and the margins dry out, thereby
lowering the overall velocity of the flow. This process causes the flow to thicken. The bulbous variety
of earthflows are not that spectacular, but they are much more common than their rapid
counterparts. They develop a sag at their heads and are usually derived from the slumping at the
source.
Earthflows occur much more during periods of high precipitation, which saturates the ground and
adds water to the slope content. Fissures develop during the movement of clay-like material which
creates the intrusion of water into the earthflows. Water then increases the pore-water pressure and
reduces the shearing strength of the material.
[2]

Debris landslide
A debris slide is a type of slide characterized by the chaotic movement of rocks soil and debris
mixed with water or ice (or both). They are usually triggered by the saturation of thickly vegetated
slopes which results in an incoherent mixture of broken timber, smaller vegetation and other
debris.
[2]
Debris avalanches differ from debris slides because their movement is much more rapid.
This is usually a result of lower cohesion or higher water content and commonly steeper slopes.
Steep coastal cliffs can be caused by catastrophic debris avalanches. These have been common on
the submerged flanks of ocean island volcanos such as the Hawaiian Islands and the Cape Verde
Islands.
[3]
Another slip of this type wasStoregga landslide.
Movement: Debris slides generally start with big rocks that start at the top of the slide and begin to
break apart as they slide towards the bottom. This is much slower than a debris avalanche. Debris
avalanches are very fast and the entire mass seems to liquefy as it slides down the slope. This is
caused by a combination of saturated material, and steep slopes. As the debris moves down the
slope it generally follows stream channels leaving a v-shaped scar as it moves down the hill. This
differs from the more U-shaped scar of a slump. Debris avalanches can also travel well past the foot
of the slope due to their tremendous speed.
[4]

Sturzstrom
A sturzstrom is a rare, poorly understood type of landslide, typically with a long run-out. Often very
large, these slides are unusually mobile, flowing very far over a low angle, flat, or even slightly uphill
terrain.
See also: Slump (geology)
Shallow landslide
Landslide in which the sliding surface is located within the soil mantle or weatheredbedrock (typically
to a depth from few decimetres to some metres)is called a shallow landslide. They usually include
debris slides, debris flow, and failures of road cut-slopes. Landslides occurring as single large blocks
of rock moving slowly down slope are sometimes called block glides.
Shallow landslides can often happen in areas that have slopes with high permeable soils on top of
low permeable bottom soils. The low permeable, bottom soils trap the water in the shallower, high
permeable soils creating high water pressure in the top soils. As the top soils are filled with water
and become heavy, slopes can become very unstable and slide over the low permeable bottom
soils. Say there is a slope with silt and sand as its top soil and bedrock as its bottom soil. During an
intense rainstorm, the bedrock will keep the rain trapped in the top soils of silt and sand. As the
topsoil becomes saturated and heavy, it can start to slide over the bedrock and become a shallow
landslide. R. H. Campbell did a study on shallow landslides on Santa Cruz Island California. He
notes that if permeability decreases with depth, a perched water table may develop in soils at
intense precipitation. When pore water pressures are sufficient to reduce effective normal stress to a
critical level, failure occurs.
[5]

Deep-seated landslide
Landslides in which the sliding surface is mostly deeply located below the maximum rooting depth of
trees (typically to depths greater than ten meters). Deep-seated landslides usually involve
deep regolith, weathered rock, and/or bedrock and include large slope failure associated with
translational, rotational, or complex movement. These typically move slowly, only several meters per
year, but occasionally move faster. They tend to be larger than shallow landslides and form along a
plane of weakness such as a fault or bedding plane. They can be visually identified by
concave scarps at the top and steep areas at the toe.
[6]
Causing tsunamis[edit]
See also: Tsunami Tsunami generated by landslides
Landslides that occur undersea, or have impact into water, can generate tsunamis. Massive
landslides can also generate megatsunamis, which are usually hundreds of meters high. In 1958,
one such tsunami occurred in Lituya Bay in Alaska.
[3][7]

Related phenomena[edit]
An avalanche, similar in mechanism to a landslide, involves a large amount of ice, snow and
rock falling quickly down the side of a mountain.
A pyroclastic flow is caused by a collapsing cloud of hot ash, gas and rocks from a volcanic
explosion that moves rapidly down an erupting volcano.
Landslide prediction mapping[edit]
Landslide hazard analysis and mapping can provide useful information for catastrophic loss
reduction, and assist in the development of guidelines for sustainable land use planning. The
analysis is used to identify the factors that are related to landslides, estimate the relative contribution
of factors causing slope failures, establish a relation between the factors and landslides, and to
predict the landslide hazard in the future based on such a relationship.
[8]
The factors that have been
used for landslide hazard analysis can usually be grouped into geomorphology, geology, land
use/land cover, and hydrogeology. Since many factors are considered for landslide hazard
mapping, GIS is an appropriate tool because it has functions of collection, storage, manipulation,
display, and analysis of large amounts of spatially referenced data which can be handled fast and
effectively.
[9]
Remote sensing techniques are also highly employed for landslide hazard assessment
and analysis. Before and after aerial photographs and satellite imagery are used to gather landslide
characteristics, like distribution and classification, and factors like slope, lithology, and land use/land
cover to be used to help predict future events.
[10]
Before and after imagery also helps to reveal how
the landscape changed after an event, what may have triggered the landslide, and shows the
process of regeneration and recovery.
[11]

Using satellite imagery in combination with GIS and on-the-ground studies, it is possible to generate
maps of likely occurrences of future landslides.
[12]
Such maps should show the locations of previous
events as well as clearly indicate the probable locations of future events. In general, to predict
landslides, one must assume that their occurrence is determined by certain geologic factors, and
that future landslides will occur under the same conditions as past events.
[13]
Therefore, it is
necessary to establish a relationship between the geomorphologic conditions in which the past
events took place and the expected future conditions.
[14]

Natural disasters are a dramatic example of people living in conflict with the environment. Early
predictions and warnings are essential for the reduction of property damage and loss of life.
Because landslides occur frequently and can represent some of the most destructive forces on
earth, it is imperative to have a good understanding as to what causes them and how people can
either help prevent them from occurring or simply avoid them when they do occur. Sustainable land
management and development is an essential key to reducing the negative impacts felt by
landslides.
GIS offers a superior method for landslide analysis because it allows one to capture, store,
manipulate, analyze, and display large amounts of data quickly and effectively. Because so many
variables are involved, it is important to be able to overlay the many layers of data to develop a full
and accurate portrayal of what is taking place on the Earth's surface. Researchers need to know
which variables are the most important factors that trigger landslides in any given location. Using
GIS, extremely detailed maps can be generated to show past events and likely future events which
have the potential to save lives, property, and money.
Prehistoric landslides[edit]


Rhine cutting through Flims Rockslide debris, Switzerland
Landslide which moved Heart Mountain to its current location, the largest ever discovered on
land. In the 48 million years since the slide occurred, erosion has removed most of the portion of
the slide.
Flims Rockslide, ca. 12 km
3
(2.9 cu mi), Switzerland, some 10000 years ago in post-
glacial Pleistocene/Holocene, the largest so far described in the alps and on dry land that can be
easily identified in a modestly eroded state.
[15]

The landslide around 200BC which formed Lake Waikaremoana on the North Island of New
Zealand, where a large block of the Ngamoko Range slid and dammed a gorge of
Waikaretaheke River, forming a natural reservoir up to 248 metres deep.
Cheekye Fan, British Columbia, Canada, ca. 25 km
2
(9.7 sq mi), Late Pleistocene in age.
Prehistoric submarine landslides[edit]
The Storegga Slide, Norway, ca. 3,500 km
3
(840 cu mi), ca. 8,000 years ago, a catastrophic
impact on the contemporary coastal Mesolithic population
The Agulhas slide, ca. 20,000 km
3
(4,800 cu mi), off South Africa, post-Pliocene in age, the
largest so far described
[16]

The Ruatoria Debris Avalanche, off North Island New Zealand, ca. 3,000 km in volume,
170,000 years ago.
[17]

Catastrophic debris avalanches have been common on the submerged flanks of ocean island
volcanos such as the Hawaiian Islands and the Cape Verde Islands.
[3]

Historical landslides[edit]
Main article: List of landslides
The Goldau on September 2, 1806
The Cap Diamant Qubec rockslide on September 19, 1889
Frank Slide, Turtle Mountain, Alberta, Canada, on 29 April 1903
Khait landslide, Khait, Tajikistan, Soviet Union, on July 10, 1949
Monte Toc landslide (260 millions cubic metres) falling into the Vajont Dam basin in Italy,
causing a megatsunami and about 2000 deaths, on October 9, 1963
Hope Slide landslide (46 million cubic metres) near Hope, British Columbia on January 9,
1965.
[18]

The 1966 Aberfan disaster
Tuve landslide in Gothenburg, Sweden on November 30, 1977.
The 1979 Abbotsford landslip, Dunedin, New Zealand on August 8, 1979.
Val Pola landslide during Valtellina disaster (1987) Italy
Thredbo landslide, Australia on 30 July 1997, destroyed hostel.
Vargas mudslides, due to heavy rains in Vargas State, Venezuela, on December, 1999, causing
tens of thousands of deaths.
2007 Chittagong mudslide, in Chittagong, Bangladesh, on June 11, 2007.
2008 Cairo landslide on September 6, 2008.
The 2010 Uganda landslide caused over 100 deaths following heavy rain in Bududa region.
Zhouqu county mudslide in Gansu, China on August 8, 2010.
[19]

Devil's Slide, an ongoing landslide in San Mateo County, California
2011 Rio de Janeiro landslide in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil on January 11, 2011, causing 610
deaths.
[20]

Extraterrestrial landslides[edit]


Before and after radar images of a landslide on Venus. In the center of the image on the right, the new landslide, a
bright, flow-like area, can be seen extending to the left of a bright fracture. 1990 image.


Landslide in progress on Mars, 2008-02-19
Evidence of past landslides has been detected on many bodies in the solar system, but since most
observations are made by probes that only observe for a limited time and most bodies in the solar
system appear to be geologically inactive not many landslides are known to have happened in
recent times. Both Venus and Mars have been subject to long-term mapping by orbiting satellites,
and examples of landslides have been observed on both.