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Recent Phenomenon (recent + phenomenon)
Selected AbstractsCritical Evidence: The Politics of Trauma in French Asylum PoliciesETHOS, Issue 3 2007Didier Fassin However obvious it might seem today that victims of persecutions suffer from psychological consequences of the violence inflicted on them, its political implications are a recent phenomenon. In the last decade, asylum seekers in France, as in other European countries, have been more and more often subject to demands of psychiatric expertise to prove the cogency of their claim to the status of refugee. This social innovation results from the convergence of two processes: on the one hand, the rapid decline in the legitimacy of asylum, leading to increasing expectations for evidence to establish the reality of persecutions; on the other hand, the emergence of trauma as a nosographical category legitimizing the traces of violence. At the crossroads of these two histories, a social field, mainly occupied by NGOs, has developed to answer this new need for proof from state institutions, with an increasing specialization on victims of torture and on psychic trauma, the two dimensions being partially independent. The final paradox is, however, that in a context of generalized suspicion toward refugees, the recognition of trauma at a collective level is counterbalanced by its limited impact on the evaluation of individual cases. [source] Sisters organising in Japan and Korea: the development of women-only unionsINDUSTRIAL RELATIONS JOURNAL, Issue 3 2007Kaye Broadbent ABSTRACT In this article, I explore the development of women-only unions in Japan and Korea. Women-only unions, which organise women workers across enterprises and employment status boundaries in both countries, have appeared only recently and are new areas of research. While the strategy to form autonomous women-only unions in Japan and Korea is a recent phenomenon, women workers in both countries are continuing a tradition of women's activism that has challenged both management and the male domination of the union movement. By taking a broad scope and by organising the growing non-full-time workforce and women employed in small workplaces, the formation of women-only unions in Japan and Korea is a positive development for both non-unionised women workers and for the broader workers' movement in general. [source] Do pipits use experimentally supplemented rich sources of calcium more often in an acidified area?JOURNAL OF AVIAN BIOLOGY, Issue 2 2001S. Bure How birds respond to the recent phenomenon of calcium deficiency in acidified areas is still poorly known. This study, carried out in the Jeseníky Mountains (heavily polluted, acidified area in the Czech Republic), in alpine ecosystems of central Norway, and in the limestone part of the Malá Fatra Mountains (Slovak Republic), provides the first experimental evidence that birds select and bring supplemented calcium-rich items to their nestlings more often in an acidified area. Meadow Pipits Anthus pratensis and Water Pipits A. spinoletta selected calcium-rich items (mainly snail shells) from various materials placed near their nests and this selectivity did not differ between areas or species. Thinning of egg shells (8% at blunt pole, 5% at egg side) suggests that Meadow Pipits in the Jeseníky Mountains were negatively influenced by the low calcium availability, in spite of their ability to adjust foraging behaviour. [source] Recent evolution of host-associated divergence in the seabird tick Ixodes uriaeMOLECULAR ECOLOGY, Issue 21 2009FLORENT KEMPF Abstract Ecological interactions are an important source of rapid evolutionary change and thus may generate a significant portion of novel biodiversity. Such changes may be particularly prevalent in parasites, where hosts can induce strong selection for adaptation. To understand the relative frequency at which host-associated divergences occur, it is essential to examine the evolutionary history of the divergence process, particularly when it is occurring over large geographical scales where both geographical and host-associated isolation may playa part. In this study, we use population genetics and phylogeography to study the evolutionary history of host-associated divergence in the seabird tick Ixodes uriae (Acari, Ixodidae). We compare results from microsatellite markers that reflect more ecological timescales with a conserved mitochondrial gene (COIII) that reflects more ancient divergence events. Population structure based on microsatellites showed clear evidence of host-associated divergence in all colonies examined. However, isolated populations of the same host type did not always group together in overall analyses and the genetic differentiation among sympatric host races was highly variable. In contrast, little host or geographical structure was found for the mitochondrial gene fragment. These results suggest that host race formation in I. uriae is a recent phenomenon, that it may have occurred several times and that local interactions are at different points in the divergence process. Rapid divergence in I. uriae implies a strong interaction with its local host species, an interaction that will alter the ecological dynamics of the system and modify the epidemiological landscape of circulating micropathogens. [source] Integration Among Asia-Pacific and International Stock Markets: Common Stochastic Trends and Regime ShiftsPACIFIC ECONOMIC REVIEW, Issue 1 2001Pierre L. Siklos Are stock markets in the Asia-Pacific region integrated with each other and with the US and Japan? The paper examines a number of common stochastic trends among stock prices in the US, Japan, Hong Kong, Korea, Singapore, Taiwan and Thailand. If integration exists it is a fairly recent phenomenon. Institutional and economic considerations suggest the same is true so that a single common stochastic trend among Asian and North American markets is a recent phenomenon. The reason is that the stock markets studied were only recently sufficiently liberalized to permit some form of integration to emerge. Also, not only was the 1987 stock market crash significant, but the 1991 Gulf War also signalled a turning point in the degree of stock market integration among the countries studied. [source] Longevity Among Hunter- Gatherers: A Cross-Cultural ExaminationPOPULATION AND DEVELOPMENT REVIEW, Issue 2 2007Michael Gurven Post-reproductive longevity is a robust feature of human life and not only a recent phenomenon caused by improvements in sanitation, public health, and medical advances. We argue for an adaptive life span of 68-78 years for modern Homo sapiens based on our analysis of mortality profiles obtained from small-scale hunter-gatherer and horticultural populations from around the world. We compare patterns of survivorship across the life span, rates of senescence, modal ages at adult death, and causes of death. We attempt to reconcile our results with those derived from paleodemographic studies that characterize prehistoric human lives as "nasty, brutish, and short," and with observations of recent acculturation among contemporary subsistence populations. We integrate information on age-specific dependency and resource production to help explain the adaptive utility of longevity in humans from an evolutionary perspective. [source] Bridewealth and Birth Control: Low Fertility in the Indonesian Archipelago, 1500,1900POPULATION AND DEVELOPMENT REVIEW, Issue 2 2003Peter Boomgaard Before the onset of the present demographic transition, population growth in Indonesia had reached unprecedentedly high levels. This article demonstrates that such high levels were a recent phenomenon. Prior to 1900 rates of natural population increase were low to very low in most areas in Indonesia. This runs counter to expectations based on Hajnal's "Eastern marriage pattern," which could imply high growth levels in extended family areas, such as most Indonesian regions outside Java in the past. Usually, the low population growth rates in Southeast Asia are attributed to high mortality owing to high levels of violent conflict. It is argued that other factors contributing to such high levels of mortality should receive more attention. In this article it is also argued that low fertility rates, too, played a role in generating low rates of natural increase. The article discusses the influence of marriage patterns, household structure, methods of birth control, adoption, and slavery on fertility. [source] Feral pigs facilitate hyperpredation by golden eagles and indirectly cause the decline of the island foxANIMAL CONSERVATION, Issue 4 2001Gary W. Roemer Introduced species can compete with, prey upon or transmit disease to native forms, resulting in devastation of indigenous communities. A more subtle but equally severe effect of exotic species is as a supplemental food source for predators that allows them to increase in abundance and then overexploit native prey species. Here we show that the introduction of feral pigs (Sus scrofa) to the California Channel Islands has sustained an unnaturally large breeding population of golden eagles (Aquila chrysaetos), a native predator. The resulting increase in predation on the island fox (Urocyon littoralis) has caused the near extirpation of three subspecies of this endemic carnivore. Foxes evolved on the islands over the past 20,000 years, pigs were introduced in the 1850s and golden eagles, historically, were only transient visitors. Although these three species have been sympatric for the past 150 years, this predator-prey interaction is a recent phenomenon, occurring within the last decade. We hypothesize that this interaction ultimately stems from human-induced perturbations to the island, mainland and surrounding marine environments. [source] Front and Back Covers, Volume 26, Number 3.ANTHROPOLOGY TODAY, Issue 3 2010June 2010 Front cover caption, volume 26 issue 3 Front cover A Greenpeace activist dressed as Justice protests in front of the Japanese embassy in Buenos Aires. She draws attention to the trial of Toru Suzuki and Junichi Sato, two Greenpeace activists seeking to expose corruption in the Japanese whale meat industry, who are being prosecuted in the Japanese courts for theft and trespass, in a trial that has continued since 2008. Back in 1993, Arne Kalland analyzed the notable success of the Western environmental movement, Greenpeace in particular, in mobilizing public opinion against continued whaling in the northern hemisphere. The key to this success, Kalland argued, lay in the environmentalists' construction of the ,superwhale', an imaginary, mythic creation which displayed numerous positive qualities with which people could closely identify. Environmentalist thinking has now become intertwined with the discourse of animal rights, including the claim that whales are special to the extent that they are entitled to legal rights on a somewhat similar basis to human beings. In this image, the script on the dress, the Japanese emblem of the rising sun, the blindfold and the scales of justice unbalanced by Japanese-caught whale meat all work to signify that the Japanese are entirely out of step with such progressive ideas. In this issue, Adrian Peace argues that the conflicting attitudes of Japan and Australia to whales and on the practice of whaling stem from diverging cultural and historical factors , the most basic among which is that, whilst Australians construe whales as awesome mammals, the Japanese perceive them as mere fish. Back cover FOOTBALL IN AFRICA On 11 June 2010, all eyes will turn to Johannesburg, South Africa, for the start of the 19th FIFA World Cup. The month-long tournament is one of the world's biggest sporting events, and this year will involve 32 teams from all over the world, attracting a worldwide audience of over 3 billion people and involving commercial agreements worth more than US $21 billion. Significantly, this is also the first time the competition has been held on the African continent. On the eve of the tournament, Richard Vokes reflects on the history and meaning of ,the beautiful game' in Africa, on the basis of a case study from southwestern Uganda. Football was introduced to Uganda by early European missionaries, and later gained in popularity as a result of the patronage it received from first colonial, and later post-colonial, state enterprises. However, the game's current mass appeal is a more recent phenomenon, due in large part to the media reforms introduced in Uganda after 1986, and the advent of satellite broadcasting technology. Vokes examines the nature of this new fandom, and of the media environments which have generated it. He argues that whilst certain features of the current craze , in particular, its peculiar fascination for specifically English football , can be seen as an outcome of spectatorship, this does not mean that the phenomenon is superficial. On the contrary, the new interest in football in Uganda has frequently produced unexpected, and in some ways quite profound, social effects. In his editorial Keith Hart uses the occasion of the World Cup to reflect on South Africa's significance for the world, as both the most developed African nation and the chief victim of the HIV/AIDS epidemic. [source] Social Support and its Correlation with Loneliness and Subjective Well-being: A Cross-cultural Study of Older Nepalese AdultsASIAN SOCIAL WORK AND POLICY REVIEW, Issue 1 2010Hom Nath Chalise Population aging in Nepal is a recent phenomenon, due more to demographic changes than to socio-economic development. The study had three goals: to analyze the social support exchange among elderly men and women; to discover the main sources of support in loneliness and subjective well-being in the elderly; and to study the cross-cultural differences in support among elderly Chhetri (N = 137, mean age = 69.1 [7.2] years) and Newar people (N = 195, mean age = 68.8 [7.7] years) in one ward in Kathmandu. The data were collected using face-to-face interviews. The dependent variables were loneliness and subjective well-being (SWB). The results for both ethnic Chhetri and Newar respondents show that their major support comes from their children living in the same household and their spouses. I conclude that the sources of social support and social support exchange are similar between the two castes/ethnicities and that there are no cross-cultural differences between them in terms of support for loneliness and SWB-life stability, although there are cross-cultural differences in their SWB-life satisfaction. Providing social support to friends and neighbors appears to be related to less loneliness and increased SWB in both castes/ethnicities. [source] Development of biotechnology education in TurkeyBIOCHEMISTRY AND MOLECULAR BIOLOGY EDUCATION, Issue 1 2000Feride Severcan For sometime Turkish scientists have been actively involved in biotechnology related research. However, biotechnology education in Turkey is a relatively recent phenomenon. The subject has not been addressed at the undergraduate level in a serious way until recently. This is evident from the lack of undergraduate degree programmes in biotechnology at Turkish Universities. The Turkish scientific establishment is very much aware of the importance of biotechnology and has identified this subject as one of the priority areas. The Universities are taking positive steps towards enhancing Biotechnology education. This article focuses on the emergence, as well as the problems and prospects of Biotechnology education in Turkey. [source] Mangrove Distribution during the Holocene in Tribugí Gulf, Colombia,BIOTROPICA, Issue 1 2000Carlos Jaramillo ABSTRACT Neotropical mangrove ecosystems have undergone drastic changes in terms of extension and floristic composition during Plio,Pleistocene times. It is unclear if the northern Pacific coast of Colombia has been occupied continuously by mangroves during the last 5000 years, or if their presence is a recent phenomenon. Two basic questions were asked: (1) is the establishment of mangroves recent?; and (2) what were the dominant floral taxa during the late Holocene? In the Gulf of Tribugí, northern Colombian Pacific, 22 sediment cores were drilled to a maximum depth of 2 m in a diverse suite of mangrove substrates and positions relative to the shoreline. Data were gathered from sedimentological descriptions, palynological analyses, and radiocarbon dating of these cores. During the last 4500 years, mangroves in the southern area of the Tribugí Gulf have remained floristically stable and dominated by Rhizophora. The abundant presence of Acrostichum aureum is recent, probably related to human activities. In contrast, two areas in the northern part of the Gulf show a different history. In the first area, the establishment of mangrove has been relatively recent (ca 2600 yr), probably a result of local subsidence due to tectonic faulting; this mangrove forest was and is dominated by Pelliciem rhizophorae. In the second area, mangrove pollen was not found in sediments younger than 2500 years, suggesting that the scarce presence of mangrove in the area is a result of recent colonization, and not due to logging as previously thought. RESUMEN Ecosistemas Neotropicales de manglar han sufrido cambios dramáticos tanto en su extensión como en su composición florística asociados con cambios climáticos y variaciories del nivel del mar durante el Plio-Pleistoceno. No es claro si la costa norte del Pacífico Colombiano ha sido ocupada por manglares durante los últimos 5000 años. Quisimos responder dos preguncas básicas: Es el establecimiento del manglar un fenómeno reciente? y Cuales fueron las especies que dominaron el mangle durante el Holoceno? Para responder estas preguntas extrajimos 22 corazones de sedimento cn el Golfo de Tribugá, costa norte del Pacífico Colombiano. Los corazones, de máximo dos metros de profundidad, fueron analizados con méttodos palinológicos, sedimentológicos y dataciones radiométricas. El tipo de sedimento más común fué lodo arenoso verde altamente bioperturbado por actividad infaunal. Los manglares mostraron ser muy estables y doniinados por Rhizophora en la mayoría de los sitios estudiados, con excepción de los manglares en la Chunga (Utría) y El Valle. Allí 10s manglares se establecieron recientemente. En la Chunga, un ascenso relativo del nivel del mar hace aproximadamente 2600 años a.p., probablemente local y asociado con la falla de Utría, posibilitó la colonización del sustrato por Pelliciera rhizophorae; es incierto determinar si este ascenso aún se esta produciendo. En el Valle, el escaso establecimiento del manglar es un proceso reciente de colonización y no una reducción en la cobertura del manglar producto de actividades humanas como previamente se asumía. [source] Relationship between environmental performance and financial performance: an empirical analysis of japanese corporationsBUSINESS STRATEGY AND THE ENVIRONMENT, Issue 2 2007Yuriko Nakao Abstract The hypotheses that a firm's environmental performance has a positive impact on its financial performance and vice versa are statistically supported by Japanese data. However, this tendency for two-way positive interaction appears to be only a relatively recent phenomenon. The tendency for realizing the two-way interaction is not limited to the top-scoring firms in terms of both financial and environmental performance. On the contrary, this is also a trend that can be observed fairly generally. Obviously, when we consider only scores of those companies that published the relevant information in their environmental reports, and conduct the statistical causality test with such information as additional input to the pooled time-series and cross-section data of financial performance, the results become more strongly significant. From the recent experience of environmental policies in Japan, we infer that information-based environmental policy measures are effective to encourage the ongoing transition toward a more sustainable market economy. Copyright © 2006 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd and ERP Environment. [source] | ||||||||||||||||