Made available in DSpace on 2017-07-10T18:01:57Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 Edela M dos Santos Boufleuer.pdf: 1243031 bytes, checksum: 7e08e3f33bb967a1e04093cb724e3762 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2015-08-13 / Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior / The work aimed to characterize the bacterial diversity and profile of antimicrobial resistance in fish breeding with different densities. Water samples were collected in four points (amount, input, output, and downstream) of nurseries of three fish breeding, each composed of a different stocking density (4 fish by squared meter, 8 fish by squared meter, 10 fish by squared meter). The parameters analized to determine water quality were dissolved oxygen, temperature, water pH, electrical conductivity, phosphorus, ammonia, biochemical oxygen demand, chemical oxygen demand and organic matter. Heterotrophic mesophilic bacteria were isolated as well as their total amount was determined. Subsequently, the identification of isolated species was carried out and then subject ted to qualitative analysis of front resistance profile to seven commercial antibiotics. The set of physical and chemical variables were summarized in three main components by main component analysis. In the first main component (ammonia, phosphorus, organic matter, water temperature and dissolved oxygen), there was a greater amount in the breeding ground than what was expected, where as the dissolved oxygen was higher than downstream. The second main substance (nitrite) showed a difference if compared to the inside of the breeding grounds, being higher than downstream. The interaction between breeding sites and densities, as well as the main density effect were not significant in the first two components. The third component (electrical conductivity) varied significantly between the sites, making it possible to notice that the amount was lower, and it experienced a signify cant raise inside the breeding ground sand went on to an intermediate value downstream. Concerning the values of density, it was possible to realize that the electrical conductivity was higher in the tanks which had the highest concentration of fish. From the 407 that were isolated, 55 bacterial species were recognized and identified, being part of eleven different families. The Enterobacteriaceae family was the one that prevailed among the evaluated densities, followed by Alcaligenaceae. The stocking density of 4 fish by squared meter presented significant statistical differences, with lower frequence of families. A great amount of resistant bacteria was observed, and their resistance was mainly to ampicillin and erythromycin, while fewer than 15% of the isolated were resistant to chloramphenicol and gentamicin. Among the isolated that were analyzed, 96% showed multiple antimicrobial resistance index higher or equal 0,2. The intensification of systems promoted the increase of bacteria concentration, there wasn't relation to the physical and chemical variables was identified a variety of bacterial species and there was high rate of resistance and multidrug resistance to antimicrobials tested. / O trabalho teve o objetivo de caracterizar a diversidade bacteriana e o perfil de resistência a antimicrobianos em pisciculturas com diferentes densidades. Foram coletadas amostras de água em quatro pontos (montante, entrada, saída e jusante) de viveiros de três pisciculturas, cada uma composta por uma densidade de estocagem diferente (4 peixes/m2, 8 peixes/m2 e 10 peixes/m2). Os parâmetros analisados para qualidade da água foram oxigênio dissolvido, temperatura, pH, condutividade elétrica, pH, fósforo, amônia, demanda bioquímica de oxigênio (DBO), demanda química de oxigênio (DQO e matéria orgânica. Também foram isolados e feito a contagem total de bactérias mesófilas heterotróficas. Posteriormente, foi realizada a identificação das espécies isoladas, em seguida submetidas a análise qualitativa do perfil de resistência frente a sete antibióticos comercial. O conjunto de variáveis físicas e químicas foi sumarizado em 3 componentes principais pela análise de componentes principais (ACP). No primeiro componente principal (amônia, fósforo, matéria orgânica e temperatura da água e oxigênio dissolvido) foi identificado valores superiores dentro do viveiro, ao passo que o oxigênio dissolvido foi superior a jusante. O segundo componente principal (nitrito), apresentou diferença em relação ao interior dos viveiros, sendo superior a jusante. Interação entre locais e densidade, bem como efeito principal da densidade não foram significativos no dois primeiros componentes. Já o terceiro componente (condutividade elétrica) variou significativamente entre os locais, observando que foi inferior a montante, sofreu uma elevação significativa no interior dos viveiros e passou a um valor intermediário a jusante. Para as densidades, a condutividade elétrica foi superior nos tanques que apresentaram maiores concentrações de peixes. Dos 407 isolados, identificou-se 55 espécies bacterianas pertencentes a 11 famílias distintas. A família Enterobacteriaceae foi a que predominou dentre as densidades avaliadas, seguida da alcaligenaceae. A densidade de estocagem 4 peixes/m2 apresentou diferenças estatísticas significativa, com menor freqüência de famílias. Observou-se elevado número de bactérias resistentes principalmente à ampicilina e eritromicina, enquanto que menos de 15% dos isolados foram resistentes a gentamicina e cloranfenicol. Dentre os isolados analisados, 96% apresentaram índice de múltipla resistência a antimicrobianos (MAR) maior ou igual a 0,2. A intensificação dos sistemas promoveu o aumento da concentração bacterias, sem relação com as variáveis físicas e químicas, foi identificado uma diversidade de espécies bacterianas e houve alto índice de resistência e multirresistência aos antimicrobianos testados.

Made available in DSpace on 2017-07-10T18:08:13Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 Vilmar Steffen.pdf: 1051925 bytes, checksum: 9d709f48cee722e3da025481c9af852b (MD5) Previous issue date: 2010-02-18 / Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior / Reactive distillation is the combination of chemical reaction and separation by distillation in only one equipment (these processes generally take place separately and in sequence in the industries of chemical processes). The integration of these two operations can increase the global performance of the production line. Thus, becomes necessary a previous study of the possibility to join these processes in a single equipment. The tool to start the study on a new process or the optimization of a process in operation is the modeling and simulation. The mathematical models for reactive distillation columns are constituted of a system of non linear equations. Several algorithms for simulation of distillation columns in steady state with different degrees of precision and consequently of difficulties were developed in the last decades. However, these algorithms don't supply a procedure to obtain the initial guesses, that are fundamental for the convergence of the method used to solve the system of non linear equations. In this work was developed an algorithm for the solution of mathematical model that describes the reactive distillation process in columns that operates in steady state. In the developed algorithm was defined a procedure to obtain reasonable initial guesses that facilitates the convergence of the method. The great majority of methods for simulation of distillation column in stead-state solve all the equations simultaneously by a system of non linear equations solution s method. In this work was developed an algorithm step-by-step, to facilitate it s understanding, where the system of non linear equations solution s method is necessary just for the group of equations that models the chemical reactions, so that, two system of non linear equations solution s methods were used, the method of Broyden (a variation of the Newton-Raphson s method) and the homotopy continuation method (or homotopy). The mathematical model was obtained from mass balances, energy balances, sum equations, phase equilibrium and chemical equilibrium or chemical kinetics. The modeling of phase equilibrium is rigorous by means of the calculation of activity and fugacity coefficients, the modeling of the thermal effects is also rigorous by means of the calculation of the residual and excess enthalpies. The developed algorithm was evaluated from examples of the literature and in all cases the obtained results were similar to those found in the literature. / Destilação reativa é a combinação de reação química e separação por destilação em um único equipamento (geralmente estes processos acontecem separadamente e em seqüência nas indústrias de processos químicos). A integração destas duas operações pode aumentar o desempenho global da linha de produção. Desta forma, torna-se necessário um estudo prévio da possibilidade de se reunir estes processos em um só equipamento. A ferramenta para se iniciar o estudo sobre um novo processo ou a otimização de um processo em operação é a modelagem e simulação. Os modelos matemáticos para a coluna de destilação reativa são constituídos de um sistema de equações não lineares. Vários algoritmos para simulação de colunas de destilação em regime permanente com diferentes graus de precisão e consequentemente de dificuldades foram desenvolvidos nas últimas décadas. Entretanto, estes algoritmos não fornecem um procedimento para a obtenção de estimativas iniciais, que são fundamentais para convergência do método utilizado para resolver o sistema de equações não lineares. Neste trabalho foi desenvolvido um algoritmo para resolução do modelo matemático que descreve o processo de destilação reativa em colunas que operam em regime permanente. No algoritmo desenvolvido definiu-se um procedimento de obtenção de estimativas iniciais razoáveis que facilitem a convergência do método. A grande maioria dos métodos para simulação de coluna de destilação em estado estacionário resolve todas as equações simultaneamente com um método de solução de sistema de equações não lineares. Neste trabalho foi desenvolvido um algoritmo passo-a-passo, para facilitar a compreensão do mesmo, onde o método de solução de sistemas de equações não lineares é necessário apenas para o conjunto de equações que modelam as reações químicas, para tal, foram utilizados dois métodos de solução de sistemas de equações não lineares, o método de Broyden (uma variação do método de Newton-Raphson) e o método da continuação homotópica (ou homotopia). O modelo matemático utilizado foi obtido a partir de balanços de massa, balanços de energia, equações de somatória, equilíbrio de fases e equilíbrio químico ou cinética química. A modelagem do equilíbrio de fases é rigorosa por meio do cálculo de coeficientes de atividade e fugacidade, a modelagem dos efeitos térmicos também é rigorosa por meio do cálculo das entalpias residual e de excesso. O algoritmo desenvolvido foi avaliado a partir de exemplos da literatura e em todos os casos os resultados obtidos foram semelhantes àqueles encontrados na literatura.

Made available in DSpace on 2014-08-20T13:48:03Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 Maria Laura Brenner de Moraes_Tese.pdf: 1773311 bytes, checksum: afca365f51cd10b189f8dda0e1d3ff37 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2013-07-15 / Numerous requirements, expectations and changes are being put to work teaching in higher education, more specifically, the private network. The teachers have been the target of a series of tensions and conflicts, derived from commodification of higher education due to its expansion and diversification. In this context, individual accountability for the performance of teachers and students of the institution, the focus on the comparison of results between te achers, assist in setting up a professional profile anchored in performances. In this sense, this study analyzes the conditions of teachers' work in the context of Higher Education Confessional Community, more precisely in a University Community Confessional, located in a municipality of the southern area of the State of Rio Grande do Sul. The data, available here, were collected, basically, from three types of sources: individual questionnaires, applied to a sample consisting of 28 (twenty-eight) teachers; interviews with 6 (six) teachers, chosen in function of their trajectories and peculiarities in teaching occupation; and written statements of 6 (six) teachers. This procedure allowed for a greater deepening of the objective of the research, which is: to investigate the implications of the adoption of a model of business management competitive, in terms of achievement of the teacher's work, in the context confessional community. The empirical research has demonstrated an intensification more aggressively the teaching work, either through increased and fragmentation of work days, by demand for results, and, still, by greater expenditure intellectual and emotional. Note is clearly an extension of their duties and responsibilities to the students and the institutional context. The conditions for carrying out work beyond being intensified colonize the time/space and subjectivity of teachers, making them responsible both for the solution of institutional ills, such as by not decreasing enrollment, if possible by its increase by improved income of students, as evidenced in the assessments by the State. The imposition of a new administrative culture and academic, based on the combined use of technologies of managerialism and performativity, brought the institution of speeches, capable of constituting new social actors. Thus, teachers are challenged to constitute themselves teachers competent, creative, innovative, seductive and motivating the students, now considered customers of educational services. This all under a permanent state of instability about the future of their professional lives and stay in the institution. / Inúmeras exigências, expectativas e mudanças vêm sendo colocadas ao trabalho docente na educação superior, mais especificamente, da rede privada. O professorado tem sido alvo de uma série de tensões e conflitos, derivados do processo de mercantilização da educação superior decorrente de seu processo de expansão e diversificação. Nesse contexto, a responsabilização individual dos/as docentes pelo desempenho dos/as discentes e da instituição, o foco na comparação de resultados entre docentes, auxiliam a constituição de um perfil profissional ancorado em performances. Nesse sentido, este estudo analisa as condições do trabalho docente no contexto do Ensino Superior Confessional Comunitário, mais precisamente em uma Universidade Confessional Comunitária, localizada em um município da Zona Sul do Estado do Rio Grande do Sul. Os dados, aqui disponíveis, foram coletados, basicamente, a partir de três tipos de fontes: questionários individuais, aplicados a uma amostra formada por 28 (vinte e oito) docentes; entrevistas realizadas com 6 (seis) docentes, escolhidos/as em função de suas trajetórias e particularidades na ocupação docente; e depoimentos escritos de 6 (seis) docentes. Tal procedimento permitiu maior aprofundamento do objetivo da pesquisa, qual seja: investigar as implicações da adoção de um modelo de gestão empresarial competitivo, nas condições de realização do trabalho docente, no contexto confessional comunitário. A pesquisa empírica demonstrou uma intensificação mais aguerrida do trabalho docente, seja por meio de aumento e fragmentação de jornadas de trabalho, pela exigência de resultados, e, ainda, pelo maior dispêndio intelectual e emocional. Nota-se, claramente, um alargamento de suas tarefas e responsabilidades junto aos discentes e ao contexto institucional. As condições de realização de trabalho além de serem intensificadas, colonizam os tempos/espaços e subjetividade dos/as docentes, tornando-os responsáveis, tanto pela solução das mazelas institucionais, como pela não diminuição de taxas de matrícula, se possível pelo seu aumento, pela melhoria de rendimento dos/as discentes, evidenciada nas avaliações realizadas pelo Estado. A imposição de uma nova cultura administrativa e acadêmica, baseada na utilização combinada das tecnologias de gerencialismo e de performatividade, trouxe consigo a instituição de discursos, capazes de constituírem novos atores sociais. Dessa maneira, os/as docentes são interpelados/as a constituírem-se docentes competentes, criativos/as, inovadores/as, sedutores/as e motivadores dos/as discentes, agora considerados clientes dos serviços educacionais. Isto tudo sob um estado permanente de instabilidade quanto ao futuro de suas vidas profissionais e permanência na instituição.

No description available.

Les travaux de thèse sont consacrés à l’étude numérique de l’application de macro-déformations successives alternées a la paroi d’un tube. La modification de l’écoulement du fait des déformations permet de modifier ses propriétés en termes de transfert thermique et de mélange. L’objectif de l’étude d’un tel dispositif est entre autre de l’appliquer pour des configurations d’échangeurs multifonctionnels, qui sont à la fois échangeurs de chaleur et réacteurs chimiques. L’étude s’intéresse principalement aux écoulements laminaires. Les calculs sont réalisés avec le code ANSYS Fluent. L’étude est tout d’abord consacrée à la caractérisation de l’écoulement secondaire créé par les déformations ainsi qu’à l’influence des différents paramètres de déformation. Afin d’améliorer le mélange dans l’écoulement, l’étude d’une configuration coaxiale déformée a été envisagée (cette géométrie correspond de plus à une configuration d’écoulement utilisée dans l’industrie). Deux configurations annulaires ont été considérées. Dans un premier temps, les déformations pariétales ont été appliquées aux tubes interne et externe : différents déphasages longitudinaux et angulaires entre ces deux déformations ont été étudiés pour optimiser les performances thermo-hydrauliques. La seconde configuration combine des déformations sur la paroi externe et un swirl sur la paroi interne de la géométrie. Cette configuration particulière permet en régime laminaire d’augmenter significativement le mélange du fait de l’apparition d’advection chaotique dans l’écoulement. Cette dernière géométrie est appliquée dans le cas d’un échangeur solaire à concentration et permet d’améliorer les performances par rapport à un tube lisse dans des conditions similaires. La dernière partie de l’étude est consacrée à une validation expérimentale des résultats numériques lorsque les déformations sont appliquées à une plaque. Des mesures par PIV et LDA ont été réalisées pour mesurer la vitesse locale de l’écoulement. / The work presented here is focused on the numerical study of specific successive wall deformations in alternate directions, applied to a tubular geometry. Those deformations help modifying the flow structure and thus its heat transfer and mixing properties. One of the main aims of the study is to apply those deformations to multifunctional exchangers which are heat exchangers and chemical reactors at the same time. The study is mainly focused on laminar flows and all the numerical calculations were performed using the CFD code ANSYS Fluent. The first step of the study is to assess the secondary flow created by the wall deformations. The influence of several deformation geometrical parameters has also been studied. In order to enhance the mixing in the deformed tube, the wall deformations have been applied to coaxial configurations (often used in the industry). Two kinds of annular configurations have been evaluated. At first, the wall deformations are applied to the external and internal walls of the coaxial tube. The effect on the heat transfer enhancement of the longitudinal and angular phase-shifting between the two deformations has been specifically assessed. The second configuration considered combines the alternate deformations on its external walls and a swirled internal wall. This particular annular configuration creates chaotic advection in laminar flows, therefore helping increasing the mixing. This geometry is used as a solar captor and helps increasing the global performances when compared with a smooth tube usually used. The last part of the presented work is focused on the experimental validation of the numerical results. Techniques such as PIV and LDA are used to measure local velocity fields in a plane duct with alternate deformations applied to its lower wall.

Today, most of us live without a physical understanding of what agriculture does in and for modern societies and what its implications are. This makes it hard to see all the complex facets surrounding the farming practice and its connection to our past, present and future. This study explores how peri-urban farmers experience what they find to be a weak practice of the for them purely theoretical phenomenon of sustainable development. Five in-depth interviews were conducted with unconventional farmers in fertile Swedish agricultural area around Mälardalen. Nearby cities include Stockholm, Enköping and Uppsala. The qualitative empirical study deals with issues of peri-urban agriculture and sustainable intensification of agriculture. But above all describes clusters of how the farmers experience the concept of sustainable development. The methodology of phenomenology is used as a way of experiencing what the farmers express both explicitly and implicitly. By adding the term sustainable farming, a triangulation is done for a sustainable development. Two peer-reviewed studies that launch the terms ecological understanding (Carlsson 1999) and distance moral (Almers 2009), together with the sustainability terms, make a more robust theoretical framework for interpreting a sustainable development. The third peer-reviewed study by Larsson (2016) uses scenario analysis of what an up-scaled agriculture in Polish and three Baltic states could mean for the Baltic sea region.  The scenarios point out the effects of either converting into Ecological Recycling Agriculture (ERA) or to the conventional agriculturarl policy (CAP) as promoted in Sweden and the European Union. The empirical study as well as the peer-reviewed studies mutually find a dissonance between theory and practice between governance, organizations, farmers and consumer behavior when it comes to sustainable farming as well as a sustainable development as defined by the UN (WCED 1987). The study raises how a sustainable intensified farming, SIA, (Rockström 2016) and the theoretical framework of sustainable development could benefit from a higher level of ecological understanding and distance moral. The study also suggests a new term: ecemony, from a semantic merger of the terms economy and hegemony. By ecemony I argue that the economy has been given such prominance by and for us, that it pours through our minds and collective thoughts and governance so that it now constitutes our common senses. / I dagens samhällen lever merparten av befolkningen utan egen djup kunskap om eller praktisk erfarenhet av jordbruk. Det påverkar våra uppfattningar om oss själva och vår plats och roll i samhället. Dagens jordbruk och samhällsutveckling att tätt sammanflätade på gott och ont. De både samverkar och motverkas av respektives effekter i form av dolda kostnader. Syftet med studien är att ta reda på hur hållbarhetsbegrepp uppfattas av de periurbana jordbrukarna mätt som kvalitativt skilda beskrivningskategorier med fenomenografisk metod. Studien baserar sig på fem semistrukturerade djupintervjuer med periurbana jordbrukare och identifierar deras uppfattningar om hållbarhetsbegreppet som studiens resultat. Studien omfattar förutom egen empiri också begreppen avståndsmoral (Almers 2009) och ekologisk förståelse (Carlsson 1999) genom tidigare forskning. Ytterligare en studie (Larsson 2016) som använts utgår från tre scenarier för hur jordbruk i Östersjöregionen kan bli mer hållbart. Frågeställningarna som valts är: Vad är jordbrukarnas uppfattningar om begreppet en hållbar utveckling? Vilka uppfattningar har de av begreppet ett hållbart jordbruk? Vad har jordbrukarna för tilltro till om hållbarhetsdefinitionen kan förverkligas?  I den empirin och med stöd av dessa studier, framläggs att och hur ekonomin dominerar över de sociala och ekologiska aspekterna inom hållbarhetsbegreppet och hur stora skillnader mellan ord och handling råder inom praxis i hållbarhetsfrågan. Låg förståelse för ekologi och moralfrågor inom hållbarhetsområdet minskar enligt studien sannolikheten för att vi ska kunna uppnå en hållbar utveckling. I diskussionen återknyts till frågeställning och syftet. Där diskuteras även det som framkommer i uppsatsens bakgrund och problembeskrivning exempelvis att samhällets utmaningar i hög grad sammanfaller med jordbrukets. Aktuell forskning liksom den egna empirin pekar på att pedagogiska, etiska och moraliska utmaning väntar våra samhällen. Slutsatsen blir att moral och etikfrågor kan stärka det teoretiska begreppet hållbar utveckling.

No description available.

Increasing food, feed, fiber, biofuel production on decreasing amounts of arable land while simultaneously enhancing ecosystem services is challenging. Strategic inclusion of winter rye (<i>Secale cereale</i>) for biomass, silage, grain and Kura clover (<i>Trifolium ambiguum</i>) living mulch into existing Midwestern cropping systems may offer alternative economic income for farmers without displacing or reducing yields of primary crops. Research was conducted at the Purdue Water Quality Field Station (WQFS) where net balances of water, carbon, nitrogen, and radiation can be measured, and greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions are monitored. The agronomic performance of a corn-soybean rotation and continuous corn (controls) were compared to novel systems that included the use of rye cover cropping and Kura clover co-cropping. Rye was harvested for biomass/silage at heading immediately followed by corn or soybean planting. Continuous corn receiving 69 kg N ha^-1was planted into an establishment of Kura clover sod. Controls included these same systems without the rye or clover. GHG samples were taken via the static chamber method and tile-drained water sub-samples were collected, analyzed for nitrate, and load losses calculated. Biomass composition was determined and used to calculate herbage theoretical ethanol (EtOH) yields. Cereal rye did not significantly decrease corn or soybean grain yield. Averaged across years, Kura clover significantly depressed corn grain yields by nearly 70%. Kura clover significantly reduced flow-weighted tile drainage nitrate (NO₃^-) concentrations, however cereal rye did not. Reductions in flow-weighted tile drainage nitrate (NO₃^-) concentrations were found to largely occur during Quarter two (April, May, June). Cover crops did not significantly reduce annual tile drained NO₃^- load losses in most cases, however, they did significantly reduce annual N₂O emissions. Cumulative annual CH₄ emissions were not significantly altered. Annual CO₂emissions were higher after the introduction of Kura clover and not significantly altered following the introduction of cereal rye. Averaged across years, theoretical ethanol yields in the Kura clover system produced 2,752 L EtOH ha^-1, whereas EtOH production in cereal rye systems ranged from 3,245 to 4,210 L EtOH ha^-1. Theoretical ethanol yields of continuous corn and rotational controls ranged from 2,982 to 3505 L EtOH ha^-1 for these same systems without the cereal rye of Kura clover. These data suggest that a multipurpose approach to cover crop inclusion can provide both environmental and economic advantages worthy of consideration.

This diploma thesis is an analysis of the influence of specific socio-political changes to the landscape and agriculture in Czechia. The chosen socio-political changes are the beginning of communist regime in 1948 and the transformation of the whole society after the end of communist regime in 1989. The main idea used in this thesis was the concept of driving forces and the other used concepts were social capital, agricultural diversification and intensification and extensification of the landscape. Detailed presentation of the influence of specific socio- political changes in agriculture and landscape was made by a case study in administrative region Tábor. The used concepts were described In the opening part as well as the main stages of development of agriculture and landscape in Czechia and in the model area. The main method used in the case study were semi-structured interviews with farmers, who were active in agriculture before 1948 and in the time of the research. According to the results of the research the influence of institutional driving forces significantly increased in comparison to the period before 1948. The results also showed to important role of non-productive functions of current agriculture. . Keywords: landscape, agriculture, driving forces, land use, intensification and...

The growing global population and the ongoing loss of arable soils increase the pressure on agricultural production. In conjunction with climate change, this causes new challenges for agricultural production systems worldwide and requires a more sustainable approach for the future. The concept of ‘sustainable land management’ (SLM) is known as a concretisation of the sustainable development goals in the field of agriculture. The Western Siberian grain belt covers 1 million km² in Asiatic Russia and is of global importance for agricultural production as well as an important carbon sink and of international interest for biodiversity preservation. The work was conducted as part of the interdisciplinary German-Russian SASCHA project, which focused on SLM strategies at the intersection of climate change and land-use change in Tyumen region of Western Siberia. The objective of this work was to identify strategies for sustainable agricultural land management in Western Siberia with a focus on arable farming issues. Therefore, specifically the following research questions were addressed: (i) What does the history of agricultural land use across the Western Siberian grain belt tell us for developing future strategies? (ii) How can the eco-efficiency of Western Siberian cereal cropping systems be increased under the strain of changing climatic conditions? (iii) Is soybean cultivation capable of diversifying crop rotations in the southern part of Western Siberia? Triggered by the dissolution of the Soviet Union and the collapse of the state farm system, massive land-use changes took place in the region. A normalised input-oriented intensity index was developed to quantify these changes and patterns in land-use intensity (LUI). Based on subnational, annual statistical data, two separate indices for cropland and grassland were calculated and applied on two spatial scales (provinces and districts). The spatio-temporal analysis showed significant opposite trends: decreasing intensity on grassland by -0.015 LUI units per year and intensification on cropland by +0.014 LUI units per year. The land-use changes that accompanied the post-Soviet transition from a planned to a market-driven economy also implied substantial socio-economic consequences for agricultural production. Based on the LUI analysis, locally adapted SLM scenarios were developed for Tyumen province and priority areas for implementation were identified. The findings clearly showed the need for having a different SLM strategy for grassland (predominantly used by livestock of households) and cropland (predominantly managed by large agricultural enterprises), which have to be addressed specifically by the different land users. Two major strategies were derived for the Western Siberian grain belt: low-intensity grazing for grassland conservation and sustainable intensification (SI) on cropland instead of cropland expansion. The system of conservation agriculture is a known possibility for SI in dryland cropping systems. Particularly under climate change predictions of drier and warmer growing conditions, no-till farming could be a promising way to increase eco-efficiency in Western Siberian cereal production systems. Therefore, a full-factorial split-split-plot field trial was conducted on a farmer’s field to test adaptations of tillage (usual conventional tillage ‘CT’ vs. no-till ‘NT’), seeding depth (usual deep 6.5 vs. shallow 4.5 cm) and seeding rate (usual high 600 vs. reduced 450 grains m-2) for the potential to increase water use efficiency and grain yield. Results from two above-average wet and cold growing seasons showed significantly better soil water storage of NT (+40 %) and no adverse effect on spring wheat grain yield and grain quality. Impacts of variations in seeding rate and seed placement were less pronounced. The highest yields of 3.19 and 3.82 t ha-1 were observed with NT treatment in 2014 and 2015, respectively. Other alternatives implemented to increase eco-efficiency of dryland cropping systems are enhanced fertilizer strategies. In Western Siberia, nitrogen (N) fertilizers (urea or ammonium-nitrate ‘Selitra’) in cereal production are commonly banded during sowing directly into the seed furrow. The performance of a new kind of slow-release fertilizer was tested in a field trial under on-farm conditions. A modified urea with silicate coating and urease inhibitor was compared in four N-levels (25/50/75/100 %) to 100 % of conventional urea, 100 % of Selitra and an unfertilized control in RCBD. Results showed significant differences in soil nitrate availability but no differences in ammonium release and no significant impact on grain yield or quality. From the results of this field trial there seemed to be no beneficial advantage of the tested novel slow-release fertilizer so far. More field site years and further improvements of the laboratory-scale fertilizer production are needed for scientifically founded results. Climate change is likely to considerably affect future growing conditions in regions around the current high-latitude boundaries of agricultural production. Specifically for soybeans, this leads to a northwards shift of the northernmost limit for cultivation. Therefore, the effect of soybean seed inoculation with Bradyrhizobium japonicum was investigated in comparison to an untreated control in a small-scale split-plot field trial under high latitude conditions. Leaf chlorophyll content by SPAD-meter readings was used as proxy for biological nitrogen fixation. Inoculation was always successful, since nodulation took only place in plots with seed treatment. Effect sizes of SPAD-values were significantly positive at beginning of seed filling but did not differ earlier. Except for the warmest site year, inoculation had no impact on seed yield and protein yield. Under cold growing conditions of high latitude regions, temperature sums seemed to limit soybean yield and the effectiveness of inoculation with B. japonicum. To implement soybeans as legumes in crop rotations, nevertheless, inoculation is mandatory, since soils in high latitudes lack soy-specific rhizobia bacteria. The trials and studies compiled in this thesis are examples of contributions to SLM strategies on varying spatial and temporal scales. Besides all the promising benefits of the described SI applications, some drawbacks must be considered: NT and CA often result in increased herbicide applications, genetically modified varieties (GMO) and herbicide resistances. Diverse crop rotations including legumes, however, would be a base for resilient cropping systems with a reduced reliance on a single herbicide. Moreover, Western Siberia has a great potential to become a key contributor to non-GMO dryland cropping. Even though the focus of this thesis was on agronomic strategies, the integration of livestock and arable farming is crucial for sustainable agriculture. The agricultural system of the Western Siberian grain belt could considerably benefit from crop-livestock integration by better soil fertility and enhanced nutrient management. The current observed trend of cropland intensification, however, will require increased attention paid to the sustainability of Siberian arable farming. Considering the forest steppes’ peculiarities and the unique land-use history, SI implemented on cropland and a moderate grazing regime on grassland seems to be the best combination for SLM across the Western Siberian grain belt.