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Globalization of agriculture via the evergreen revolution (which encompasses large-scale production-collection-cleaning-processing-packaging-transportation-storage-distribution-sale of high-value cereals-fruits-flowers-vegetables-agrofuel-feedstock through technology-intensive global value chains) has opened the door to corporate capital involvement in agriculture. While the mainstream perspectives and international organizations have optimistically viewed this as a catalyst for inclusive growth, this article seeks to unveil the concealed hegemony of capital underlying the ostensibly beneficial façade of the evergreen revolution. It underscores the concerns regarding the immiseration of asset-poor farmers, petty nonfarm entrepreneurs and labourers resulting from the globalization of agriculture. Furthermore, it explores the implications for micro and macro food security in this context.

Several empirical studies have shown that the “servicization” of India ' s economy has taken place in terms of structural changes in GDP. But the structural changes in terms of employment have been slow, as agriculture is still the mainstay of more than 50 per cent of the total workforce. Though agriculture is still the predominant sector of the economy in terms of employment and livelihood, it is losing its dynamism. The country has been striving to achieve target of 4 per cent growth in agriculture since the 8th Five Year Plan so essential for achieving the objective of “inclusive growth”. However, the country is nowhere near the goal even in the penultimate year of 11th Five year Plan. The purpose of this paper is to emphasize the need for application of science and technology in India ' s agriculture to ensure sustainable development of agriculture with food security and also for tapping the “demographic dividend”. The agricultural crisis in India motivated the author to take up this study.

The present study mainly used secondary sources of data. The analysis of secondary data available in various documents, reports etc. revealed that agriculture in India is indeed passing through crisis. The review of literature revealed that science and technology can play a crucial role in rejuvenation of India ' s agriculture.

The paper shows that an integrated application of science and technology with social wisdom can help in checking the most serious form of brain-drain (i.e. migration of youth from rural to urban areas), mitigate the adverse impact of climate change and rejuvenate/revive India ' s agriculture so very essential for sustainability of India ' s growth, as has been stressed by Swaminathan.

The paper emphasizes the need for application of science and technology in India ' s agriculture to ensure sustainable development of agriculture with food security.

This paper aims to evaluate whether small marginal farmers in India have financial constraints and to examine how bank managers make lending decisions.

A survey approach was employed, using semi-structured questionnaires with a sample of 42 banks and 185 farmers from the state of Punjab in India. The questionnaires and semi-structured interviews were carried out on a one-to-one basis and in focus groups, and their responses were analysed from the supply (banks) and demand (farmers) side regarding access to finance.

The results indicate that the Indian farming sector is a complex and multidimensional one that has dependency on both the private and public sectors because of its national importance to varying degrees. Financial lending decisions are dependent upon several non-quantifiable factors (culture, caste, family size, education) and relational bank lending practices. Such practices have an adverse impact on bankable loan applications, and this gives rise to moral hazards. Relational banking and recommendations minimise default rates, but this does not minimise information asymmetry. Subjectivity in decision-making persists, which is compounded by underdeveloped financial markets for small farmers, giving rise to financial exclusion and negatively impacting on economic growth. To overcome information asymmetry, banks rely on the qualitative factors and an excessive level of collateral when making lending decisions. The findings provide valuable insight into how banks make lending decisions and evaluates a complex matrix of relationships between farmers and providers of debt finance in a developing economy such as India.

Policy makers nationally and internationally could use the results of this research to develop relevant and targeted policies to promote the agricultural sector through adopting efficient provision of finance for farmers. A major contribution of this research is to provide a fundamental evaluation of the issues facing farmers in accessing finance in developing countries.

This study provides an original empirical insight into a sector of the economy that has implications for food security for a country. The study has relevance for a wide range of stakeholders and policy makers of both developed and emerging economies in the world.

At the end of 2007, the Journal of Management History published a special issue on the topic of excellence, titled Our Dreams of Excellence. In this issue, Guest Editor Dahlgaard‐Park stated that research into excellence had taken a high flight in recent years despite the fact that there was no unanimity yet about a definition of or the factors that lead to sustained excellence. Agreement on the notion of excellence is all the more important as economic times have changed considerably since the special issue was published. However, according to Mintzberg the activities that managers perform have basically not changed over time. If this is true, it could be hypothesized that the factors that create excellence also change little over time. The purpose of this research is to examine these factors and compare them through time to establish whether they are “evergreens of excellence”. These evergreens are defined as characteristics that are always important for creating and maintaining an excellent organization, and that managers always have to take into account when devising actions to lead their organization to excellence and superior results.

Research studies into excellence, conducted before and after 1995, were compared to evaluate whether factors of excellence stayed the same over time.

The research results show that nearly 90 percent of the factors that create excellence found in studies done in and before 1995 are also found in studies done after 1995. Although the attention given to certain characteristics of factors may shift from time to time, on the whole the factors found do seem to qualify as “evergreens of excellence”, factors that are always important for creating and maintaining a high performance organization.

The research results should not be seen as offering a recipe that, if followed, will produce a successful organization. Rather they provide design exemplars for practitioners which have to be translated to a particular situation in place and time.

Contradictory findings in the literature raise questions about the validity of the outcomes of the excellence studies which have become increasingly popular these past decades. The results of this study for the first time provide factors of excellence which stay valid over time.

Conservation agriculture-based wheat production system (CAW) can serve as an ex ante measure to minimize loss due to climate risks, especially the extreme rainfall during the wheat production season in India. This study aims to examine whether farmers learn from their past experiences of exposure to climate extremes and use the knowledge to better adapt to future climate extremes.

The authors used data collected from 184 farmers from Haryana over three consecutive wheat seasons from 2013-2014 to 2015-2016 and multivariate logit model to analyse the driver of the adoption of CAW as an ex ante climate risk mitigating strategies based on their learning and censored Tobit model to analyse the intensity of adoption of CAW as an ex ante climate risk mitigation strategy. Farmer’s knowledge and key barriers to the adoption of CAW were determined through focus group discussions.

The analysis shows that the majority of farmers who had applied CAW in the year 2014-2015 (a year with untimely excess rainfall during the wheat season) have continued to practice CAW and have increased the proportion of land area allocated to it. Many farmers shifted from CTW to CAW in 2015-2016.

While farmers now consider CAW as an ex ante measure to climate risks, a technology knowledge gap exists, which limits its adoption. Therefore, designing appropriate methods to communicate scientific evidence is crucial.

This paper uses three years panel data from 184 farm households in Haryana, India, together with focus groups discussions with farmers and interviews with key informants to assess if farmers learn adaptation to climate change from past climate extremes.

In the USA, as elsewhere, there is an ongoing need to improve quality in higher education. Quality improvement models from business have not been widely embraced, and many other approaches to accountability seem to induce minimal compliance. This paper aims to contend that learning communities represent a viable alternative in the quest for quality. By restructuring the curriculum and promoting creative collaboration, learning communities have become a major reform effort in US colleges.

The paper provides an overview of learning community theory and core practices and four original case studies of institutions that have made learning communities a long‐term focus of their quality improvement efforts.

Findings include: effective learning communities are clearly positioned, aimed at large arenas and issues and are central to the organization's mission; learner‐centered leadership is a key component of effective programs; learning communities offer a high leverage point for pursuing quality; effective learning communities meet faculty where they are; successful initiatives create new organizational structures, roles and processes; successful programs attract and reward competent people and build arenas for learning from one another; and successful programs have a living mission and a lived educational philosophy reaching constantly toward more effective practices.

Educators will draw rich lessons from this concise overview of learning community theory and practice and the story of these successful institutions.

From past to present, Istanbul has witnessed many empires and historical events. This accumulation has made Istanbul one of the most important cities in Turkey. The architecture and historic potential of the city dates back to centuries ago. Palace architecture is the most important cultural inventories of the city. Over time, technological developments and the industrial revolution brought the “western influence” to Turkey. This effect is observed on planning character and on the planting design. The main material of the work is Topkapı Palace, Beylerbeyi Palace and Dolmabahçe Palace. In this context, this paper consist of three stages. Literature studies have been carried out in the first stage. “Western effect” on the palaces has been investigated after the second step consisting of the field study and mapping. As result of the examinations, western influence was studied in three stages as general planning character, structural material and plant material. As a result of the study, results were obtained for each title. Suggestions were made for rehabilitation and palace gardens planning.

Richard Alpert, senior partner at Evergreen Investments, must decide which of his two best employees to promote to the position of managing VP. He had initially preferred Charlie Pace over Daniel Faraday, but that decision had become less clear-cut when Alpert inadvertently overheard an office conversation and learned that Pace was taking Adderall, a stimulant primarily prescribed for people suffering from attention deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD). Pace did not have ADHD and apparently obtained the medication by deceiving a physician. Alpert is faced with a number of questions, including whether it was fair to Faraday—or any other high-performing employee—to be passed over for promotion in favor of someone who illicitly boosted his performance with a substance he did not medically need.