The chiral analysis of environmental pollutants is a fairly recent development and attracts scientists needing to investigate the toxicity of enantiomers. For example, approximately 250f agrochemicals are chiral in nature, including pesticides that are applied as their racemates in agricultural and forestry activities. To predict the exact...

Ecdysone is the steroidal prohormone of the major insect moulting hormone 20-hydroxyecdysone. It groups with its homologues the steroidal molting hormones in arthropods, but they also occur in other phyla where they can play different roles. Besides ecdysteroids appear in many plants mostly as protection agents (toxins or antifeedants) against...

Among the large caches of private documents discovered and collected in China, few rival the Huizhou sources for the insight they provide into Chinese local society and economy over the past millennium. Having spent decades researching these exceptionally rich sources, Joseph P. McDermott presents in two volumes his findings about the major...

The 13th IMA Conference on Cryptography and Coding was held at the Lady Margaret Hall, University of Oxford, UK, during December 12–15, 2011. This event was a 25th anniversary celebration of the very successful biennial IMA conference series. Traditionally, the conference has taken place at the Royal Agricultural College,...

Agriculture has a small, and declining, importance in employment and income generation within the EU, but a political importance well beyond its economic impact. The EU's common agricultural policy (CAP) has often been the source of conflict between the EU and its trade partners within first the GATT, and then the WTO. In the Doha Round...

Sustainability in agriculture and associated primary industries, which are both energy-intensive, is crucial for the development of any country. Increasing scarcity and resulting high fossil fuel prices combined with the need to significantly reduce greenhouse gas emissions, make the improvement of energy efficient farming and increased use...

Obtaining world food security and food self-reliance for the developing nations is a complex and difficult task, but with increased research and education, agricultural production in developing countries can be improved. Biotechnology applications, integrated into traditional systems, hold much promise in this respect. Realizing the positive...