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Subsistence
Terms modified by Subsistence Selected AbstractsWhither Peasants in Siberia?: Agricultural Reform, Subsistence, and Being RuralCULTURE, AGRICULTURE, FOOD & ENVIRONMENT, Issue 1 2003Katherine R. Metzo First page of article [source] Subsistence and sales: the peasant economy of Württemberg in the early seventeenth centuryECONOMIC HISTORY REVIEW, Issue 2 2006PAUL WARDE This article examines the engagement of peasant cultivators with the grain market in Germany in the seventeenth century. It demonstrates a differentiated propensity to sell in regard to different grains; a preference among cultivators for retaining subsistence foodstuffs; the importance of payment in kind in the labour market; and the lack of a clear-cut social structural divide between grain sellers and buyers among those who cultivate arable land. It is thus argued that the analytical concept of ,the peasant' retains its use in understanding this society, but that attitudes displayed by the peasantry to ,the market' must be clearly set in the context of the specific product markets and practices to retain any analytical value. [source] Agrarian Transformation and Rural Diversity in Globalizing East AsiaINTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF JAPANESE SOCIOLOGY, Issue 1 2004Atsushi Kitahara Abstract:, In East Asia the rural society is not a society based upon agricultural industry anymore and the peasant society with its long history has been disappearing. The occupation and income sources of rural inhabitants have diversified and among them those who specialized in farming are the minority. There is a shortage of rural labor, which used to be abundant in the past, and presently it is not as easy to hire the farm workers. The reason for the diversification of the rural occupations is, to put it simply, because people cannot live merely on farm income. Indeed the farm operation costs have become more expensive due to labor saving techniques, but the livelihood costs have become more expensive due the new uniform lifestyle standards from globalization. Electric machines and education are the typical of these increased costs. The background of this rural change is industrialization and urbanization in the context of globalization and its strong impact is penetrating into the rural society through the regional urban center as the relay point of the global mechanism. This change is different based upon the location of each rural society. Generally, rural societies around a big urban center enjoy opportunities for the younger generation, but remote areas have serious problems with few employment opportunities and a smaller youth population. To reproduce and sustain the regional society as a whole, it is necessary to attract younger people and make them stay. We should plan to develop a variety of industries and the resultant diversified work opportunities in the broader region beyond the narrowly demarcated village and community. Subsistence and commercial agriculture might merely be a part of such diversity. [source] Foreign direct investment and hydropower in Lao PDR: the Theun-Hinboun hydropower projectCORPORATE SOCIAL RESPONSIBILITY AND ENVIRONMENTAL MANAGEMENT, Issue 4 2006Maarit Virtanen Abstract This paper examines the impact of foreign direct investment and especially the role of hydropower projects in achieving national development goals in the Lao PDR. It focuses on the environmental and social impacts of large-scale projects by using the Theun-Hinboun hydropower project as an example of controversies related to development interventions affecting livelihoods dependent on the natural resource base. Findings suggest that even though the Theun-Hinboun hydropower project has evolved into a kind of model project, several questions related to the final impact on poverty reduction, mitigation of environmental and social impacts and the participation of project affected people remain open. The relative success of Theun-Hinboun may not be easily repeated, especially as planned new hydropower schemes cause even more profound impacts on still largely subsistence based livelihoods and the environment. Copyright © 2005 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd and ERP Environment. [source] GOVERNMENTALITY, LANGUAGE IDEOLOGY, AND THE PRODUCTION OF NEEDS IN MALAGASY CONSERVATION AND DEVELOPMENTCULTURAL ANTHROPOLOGY, Issue 2 2007PAUL W. HANSON Integrated conservation and development program planning pivots on a critical exchange. In establishing protected areas, part of the subsistence base of resident people is enclosed. Residents are then offered assistance in meeting needs emerging from the enclosure. The elicitation and interpretation of need in such programs forms a technology of governance. This article analyzes differing linguistic ideologies underpinning needs production in Madagascar's Ranomafana National Park Project, arguing that the technology of needs production is part of a green neoliberal rationality through which the Malagasy state and its citizens are being transformed, and from which an increasingly sophisticated countergovernmentality grows. [source] Drought, Domestic Budgeting and Wealth Distribution in Sahelian HouseholdsDEVELOPMENT AND CHANGE, Issue 5 2000Matthew Turner Over the past twenty-five years, Sahelian households have experienced recurrent harvest failure and greater reliance on remittances from migratory wage labour. Household subsistence has become less dependent on household grain stores and more on the liquidation of individual wealth stores. This study investigates how these broader changes have affected struggles between household members over obligations to support the household in the Zarmaganda region of western Niger. As the land-derived leverage of male patriarchs has declined and household dependence on individual wealth stores has increased, domestic budgeting has become more contested. Household heads make case-by-case moral claims on other household members during times of grain shortage. Women and subordinate males invoke Islamic law, which accords primary provisioning responsibility to the household head, to protect their individual wealth in times of grain deficit. This article investigates the nature of these budgetary struggles, showing how individuals' decisions to contribute individual wealth to support the household are best understood as highly situated, affected not only by the specific material conditions of the household but also the interplay of the moral, structural, and individualistic imperatives that derive from one's position within the household. Using reconstructed livestock wealth histories for the members of fifty-four households in western Niger, this study investigates the material consequences of these struggles. Male heads of corporate households, the historic managers of the household's land and agricultural labour, have lost wealth relative to their wives and married male subordinates since the drought of 1984. [source] European perspectives: a carer's viewACTA PSYCHIATRICA SCANDINAVICA, Issue 2001Ursula Brand Objective:,To present the work of the European Federation of Associations of Families of Mentally Ill People (EUFAMI) and discuss issues of concern to family carers. Method:,The problem areas identified and discussed by family carers are presented on the basis of questionnaire surveys organized by EUFAMI. Addresses of national organisations of family carers are included. Results:,A range of problem areas are identified; they include subsistence and welfare payments for the severely mentally ill, some shortage of general hospital units, problems of care co-ordination, issues of respect for family carers and family involvement. Conclusion:,The aim of best practice in mental health care throughout Europe has not yet been reached. Key activities of EUFAMI are aimed at empowerment of families and best practice in psychiatry in Europe. [source] English rural societies and geographical marital endogamy, 1700,1837ECONOMIC HISTORY REVIEW, Issue 2 2002K. D. M. Snell This article studies 69 rural parishes in eight English counties, examining changes in geographical marital endogamy. It discovers a consistent upward trend in the proportions of marriages that were parochially endogamous, coupled with a decline in so ,called ,foreign' marriages following Hardwickes's Act (1753), and a striking shift towards marriages taking place in the brides' parishes. It explores regional variability in parochial endogamy and stresses the role of settlement sizes. The explanation for rising endogamy highlights factors such as population growth, rising poor relief expenditures, and attitudes resistant to ,outsiders' during a period of precarious subsistence and associated tensions. [source] Reconciling traditional inland fisheries management and sustainability in industrialized countries, with emphasis on EuropeFISH AND FISHERIES, Issue 4 2002Robert Arlinghaus Abstract In northern industrialized countries, the inland fisheries sector has long been dominated by recreational fisheries, which normally exploit fish for leisure or subsistence and provide many (poorly investigated) benefits to society. Various factors constrain the development and existence of inland fisheries, such as local user conflicts, low social priority and inadequate research and funding. In many cases, however, degradation of the environment and loss of aquatic habitat are the predominant concerns for the sustainability of inland fisheries. The need for concerted effort to prevent and reduce environmental degradation, as well as conservation of freshwater fish and fisheries as renewable common pool resources or entities in their own right is the greatest challenge facing sustainable development of inland waters. In inland fisheries management, the declining quality of the aquatic environment coupled with long-term inadequate and often inappropriate fisheries management has led to an emphasis on enhancement practices, such as stocking, to mitigate anthropogenic stress. However, this is not always the most appropriate management approach. Therefore, there is an urgent need to alter many traditional inland fisheries management practices and systems to focus on sustainable development. This paper reviews the literature regarding the inputs needed for sustainability of inland fisheries in industrialized countries. To understand better the problems facing sustainable inland fisheries management, the inland fisheries environment, its benefits, negative impacts and constraints, as well as historical management, paradigms, trends and current practices are described. Major philosophical shifts, challenges and promising integrated management approaches are envisaged in a holistic framework. The following are considered key elements for sustainable development of inland fisheries: communication, information dissemination, education, institutional restructuring, marketing outreach, management plans, decision analysis, socioeconomic evaluation and research into the human dimension, in addition to traditional biological and ecological sciences. If these inputs are integrated with traditional fisheries management practices, the prospects for sustainability in the inland fisheries will be enhanced. [source] Analysis of the trophy sport fishery for the speckled peacock bass in the Rio Negro River, BrazilFISHERIES MANAGEMENT & ECOLOGY, Issue 2 2008M. H. HOLLEY Abstract, The middle portion of the Rio Negro River in Brazil near the equator supports a popular recreational sport fishery for speckled peacock bass, Cichla temensis (Humboldt). The objective of this study was to determine the effect of fishing mortality on this population. Fish were collected from sport-fishing (n = 72) and commercial (n = 103) catches and otoliths were aged to estimate longevity, growth and natural mortality. Recreational anglers in this region seek to catch, then release, larger speckled peacock bass; and fish larger than 62 cm standard length (SL) (about 4.5 kg) served as a bench mark to assess the potential impact of subsistence and commercial harvest on the abundance of larger fish in the sport fishery. Time of opaque band formation on otoliths generally coincided with the dry season (November to April); these bands appeared to form once per year, but formation was highly variable. Speckled peacock bass grew to 62 cm SL on average in 6.4 years, but some fish obtained this size in 4,5 years. Maximum age was 9 years, but most fish were less than 7 years. Instantaneous annual natural mortality (M) estimated from maximum size, longevity and growth ranged from 0.19 to 0.44. Simulation modelling predicted that exploitation rates of fish >25 cm SL similar to the estimated natural mortality rates would reduce the abundance of fish >62 cm by 67,89% compared with no harvest. Even modest exploitation rates of 5% and 10% would result in approximately 30,50% reduction, respectively, of these larger fish. Abundance of large speckled peacock bass that sustains the sport fishery is susceptible to low rates of exploitation in this remote region of Brazil. [source] Application of carbon isotope analysis to ancient maize agriculture in the Petexbatún region of GuatemalaGEOARCHAEOLOGY: AN INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL, Issue 3 2007Kristofer D. Johnson The ancient Maya subsisted in an environment limited by shallow soils and unpredictable weather patterns until their collapse ,A.D. 800,900. Ancient subsistence can be a difficult subject, with little physical evidence of agricultural artifacts and structures. This study characterized soil profiles and utilized changes in stable carbon isotope ratios of soil organic matter (SOM) to locate and interpret areas of ancient C4 plant growth and maize (Zea mays) cultivation among the Maya. The investigation indicated some of the challenges the Maya faced, including shallow and sloped soils in some areas. The C4 plant signature was found in seasonal wetland soils on the opposite side of the Laguneta Aguateca from the ruins of Aguateca, but not in the perennial wetlands on the immediate side. No C4 plant signature was detected in the shoulder and backslope soils. Based on these findings, the ancient Maya of Aguateca probably adapted to their environment by farming rich toeslope soils. It is possible that maize was also grown in the seasonal wetlands adjacent to the site. If the steep backslope soils around Aguateca were used in ancient agriculture, the evidence has probably eroded away. © 2007 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. [source] Coastal paleogeography and human land use at Tecolote Canyon, southern California, U.S.A.GEOARCHAEOLOGY: AN INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL, Issue 2 2004René L. Vellanoweth A buried archaeological site at Tecolote Canyon provides an ideal case study for relating past human land use patterns to changes in coastal paleogeography. Postglacial sea level transgression, erosion, and other marine and fluvial processes form the context for examining two deeply buried archaeological components excavated at CA-SBA-72. Archaeological shellfish assemblages provide proxy data for evaluating the evolution of local marine environments. Pismo clams dominate shellfish assemblages dated to 5800 cal yr B.P., suggesting the presence of a broad and sandy, high-energy beach environment. At 5500 cal yr B.P., the almost exclusive use of California mussels by humans signals the development of rocky intertidal habitats. During the late Holocene, estuarine species dominate the marine mollusk assemblages at CA-SBA-72, reflecting the development of local estuarine conditions or trade with nearby Goleta Slough villages. The buried components at Tecolote Canyon appear to have served as temporary camps for shellfish harvesting and processing. While general changes in coastal paleogeography and human subsistence have been reconstructed for the Santa Barbara Coast, high resolution ecological data from Tecolote Canyon suggest that Native peoples also adapted to localized and shorter-term shifts in intertidal habitats, changes not evident in most larger or more disturbed surface sites in the region. Linking these changes with shifts in human land use patterns highlights the interaction between humans and a dynamic coastal system. These data demonstrate the importance of small, buried sites in understanding the full spectrum of human subsistence and settlement choices and local environmental change. © 2004 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. [source] LIVESTOCK VERSUS "WILD BEASTS": CONTRADICTIONS IN THE NATURAL PATRIMONIALIZATION OF THE PYRENEESGEOGRAPHICAL REVIEW, Issue 4 2009ISMAEL VACCARO ABSTRACT. The Pyrenees are becoming an environmental reservoir. The acute human depopulation experienced during the twentieth century and the progressive appropriation of large parts of the mountainous territory by the state in order to implement conservation policies have resulted in the return, via reintroduction or natural regeneration, of bears, wolves, beavers, river otters, marmots, mouflon, feral goats, and deer, among other species. This development, however, has not occurred without social and scientific controversy and leads to questions about territorialization and governmentality. Herders perceive wild animals as unregulated public property subsidized by the work of the local populace. Agriculturalists see their fields trespassed on a daily basis by animals they cannot kill because of their protected status. Ranchers, under extremely strict sanitation regulations, see their animals coming into contact with these unchecked wild populations. The work and living space of the mountain communities has fallen under the jurisdiction of external institutions and constituencies that value conservation and ecotourism above local subsistence. [source] Taphonomy and zooarchaeology of the Upper Palaeolithic cave of Dzudzuana, Republic of GeorgiaINTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF OSTEOARCHAEOLOGY, Issue 2 2008G. Bar-Oz Abstract We present the results of a detailed taphonomic and zooarchaeological study of the faunal remains from the Upper Palaeolithic layers of Dzudzuana Cave, Republic of Georgia. This study presents the first carefully analysed Upper Palaeolithic faunal assemblage from the southern Caucasus and thus serves as a significant point of reference for inter-regional studies of Upper Palaeolithic subsistence in Eurasia. A series of intra-site taphonomic comparisons are employed to reconstruct the depositional history of the bone assemblages within the different occupational phases at the site and to investigate subsistence, meat procurement and bone-processing strategies. Caucasian tur (Capra caucasica), aurochs (Bos primigenius) and steppe bison (Bison priscus) were the major prey species throughout the Upper Palaeolithic. Their frequencies do not change significantly over time, and nor does bone preservation vary by layer. The assemblage is characterised by significant density-mediated biases, caused by both human bone-processing behaviours and in situ post-burial bone attrition. Bone marrow extraction produced large numbers of unidentified bone fragments, many exhibiting green bone fractures. The density and size of bone assemblages and the extent of fragmentation indicate that Dzudzuana Cave was repeatedly occupied by Upper Palaeolithic foragers over many years. Skeletal part representation and butchery marks from all stages of carcass processing suggest that prey occasionally underwent field butchery. Intra-site taphonomic comparisons highlight uniform patterns of cultural and economic behaviours related to food procurement and processing strategies. Copyright © 2007 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. [source] Late Mousterian subsistence and cave use in Dalmatia: the zooarchaeology of Mujina Pe,ina, CroatiaINTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF OSTEOARCHAEOLOGY, Issue 2 2005P. Miracle Abstract The faunal assemblage from Mujina Pe,ina provides an initial glimpse of Late Middle Palaeolithic food procurement, management, and site use, in Dalmatia, Croatia. Radiometric dates place the entire sequence at about 42,kyr in the middle of OIS 3 (Oxygen Isotope Stage 3) (Rink et al., 2002). Mujina Pe,ina is located along a potential migration corridor for hominin populations moving into Europe from western Asia. The faunal composition shifts from a co-dominance of red deer and chamois,+,ibex in Layer D1,+,D2 that formed during relatively cold conditions to a clear dominance of wild caprids followed by large bovids and equids in Layer B,+,C that formed during relatively warm conditions. Although non-hominin carnivores played a significant role in the modification of the faunal assemblages throughout the stratigraphic sequence, the Late Mousterian faunal assemblage from Mujina Pe,ina shows the hominins to be competent hunters within a context of considerable competition from non-hominin carnivores. These ,mixed' hominin-carnivore signatures are pulled apart through a detailed taphonomic analysis of this well-excavated assemblage. The Mujina Pe,ina assemblage thus provides a significant point of reference for a broader-scale study of variability in Mousterian subsistence practices in their own right as well as within the context of the Initial Upper Palaeolithic in southeastern Europe. Copyright © 2005 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. [source] Social, Economic and Demographic Consequences of Migration on KeralaINTERNATIONAL MIGRATION, Issue 2 2001K.C. Zachariah Migration has been the single most dynamic factor in the otherwise dreary development scenario of Kerala during the last quarter of the last century. It has contributed more to poverty alleviation and reduction in unemployment in Kerala than any other factor. As a result of migration, the proportion of the population below the poverty line has declined by 12 per cent. The number of unemployed persons , estimated to be only about 13 lakhs in 1998 compared with 37 lakhs reported by the Kerala Employment Exchanges , has declined by over 30 per cent. Migration has caused nearly a million married women in Kerala to live away from their husbands. Most of these so-called "Gulf wives" experienced extreme loneliness to begin with, and were burdened with added family responsibilities to which they had not been accustomed when their husbands were with them. But over a period, and with a helping hand from abroad over the ISD, most came out of their early gloom. Their gain in autonomy, status, management skills and experience in dealing with the world outside their homes were developed the hard way and would remain with them for the rest of their lives for the benefit of their families and society. In the long run, the transformation of these million women will have contributed more to the development of Kerala society than all the temporary euphoria created by remittances and modern gadgetry. Kerala is dependent on migration for employment, subsistence, housing, household amenities, institution building, and many other developmental activities. The danger is that migration could cease, as shown by the Kuwait war of 1993, and repercussions could be disastrous for the State. Understanding migration trends and instituting policies to maintain the flow of migration is more important today than at any time in the past. Kerala workers seem to be losing out in international competition for jobs in the Gulf market. Corrective policies are needed urgently to raise their competitive edge over workers in competing countries in South and South-East Asia. Like any other industry, migration from Kerala needs periodic technological upgrading of workers. Otherwise, there is a danger that the State might lose the Gulf market permanently. The crux of the problem is Kerala workers' inability to compete with expatriates from other South and South-East Asian countries. The solution lies in equipping workers with better general education and job training. This study suggests a twofold approach. In the short run, the need is to improve the job skills of prospective emigrant workers. This could be achieved through ad hoc training programmes focussed on the job market in Gulf countries. In the long run, the need is to restructure the educational system, taking into consideration the future demand of workers not only in Kerala but also in potential destination countries all over the world, including the US and other developed countries. Kerala emigrants need not always be construction workers in the Gulf countries; they could also be software engineers in developed countries. [source] Impact of Migration on Kerala's Economy and SocietyINTERNATIONAL MIGRATION, Issue 1 2001K.C. Zachariah This article reports results of the first migration study covering the entire State of Kerala. It encompasses both measurement as well as analysis of the various types and facets of migration. Migration has been the single most dynamic factor in an otherwise dreary development scenario in Kerala during the last quarter of the twentieth century. Kerala is approaching the end of the millennium with a little cheer in many people's homes as a result of migration which has contributed more to poverty alleviation than any other factor, including agrarian reforms, trade union activities and social welfare legislation. The study shows that nearly 1.5 million Keralites now live outside India. They send home more than Rs.4,000 million a year by way of remittances. Three-quarters of a million former emigrants have come back. They live mostly on savings, work experience, and skills acquired while abroad. More than a million families depend on an internal migrant's earnings for subsistence, children's education and other economic requirements. Whereas the educationally backward Muslims from the Thrissur-Malappuram region provide the backbone of emigration, it is the educationally forward Ezhawas, Nairs and Syrian Christians from the former Travancore-Cochin State who form the core of internal migration. The article also analyses the determinants and consequences of internal and external migration. It offers suggestions for policy formulation directed at optimum utilization of remittances sent home by emigrants and the expertise brought back by the return migrants. Migration in Kerala began with demographic expansion, but it will not end up with demographic contraction. Kerala has still to develop into an internally self-sustaining economy. The prevailing cultural milieu in which its people believe that anything can be achieved through agitation, and any rule can be circumvented with proper political connections, must change and be replaced by a liberalized open economy with strict and definite rules of the game. [source] Mobile Livelihoods: The Sociocultural Practices of Circular Migrants between Puerto Rico and the United States,INTERNATIONAL MIGRATION REVIEW, Issue 2 2002Jorge Duany This article focuses on the bilateral flow of people between Puerto Rico and the United States - what has come to be known as circular, commuter, or revolving-door migration. It documents the migrants' livelihood practices based on a recent field study of population flows between Puerto Rico and the mainland. Specifically, the basic characteristics of multiple movers, one-time movers and nonmovers residing in Puerto Rico are compared. More broadly, the article assesses the implications of circular migration for Puerto Rican communities on and off the island. The author's basic argument is that the constant displacement of people - both to and from the island - blurs the territorial, linguistic, and juridical boundaries of the Puerto Rican nation. As people expand their means of subsistence across space, they develop multiple attachments to various localities. In the Puerto Rican situation, such mobile livelihoods are easier to establish than in other places because of the free movement of labor and capital between the island and the mainland. The author hypothesizes that circulation does not entail major losses in human capital for most Puerto Ricans, but rather often constitutes an occupational, educational, and linguistic asset. [source] Current and Future Problems of Capital Accumulation in the Chinese Pension SystemINTERNATIONAL SOCIAL SECURITY REVIEW, Issue 4 2000Zhang Jinchang The decree establishing a uniform system of basic pensions for employees in municipal and private enterprises, published by the State Council on 16 July 1997, reflects the Chinese Government's ultimate choice in favour of a partly private funded scheme to cover future pension needs. This article examines the reasons which led to this choice and asks how easy or otherwise it will be to find the capital to finance it. The authors believe that the partly private scheme is more advantageous than other methods and is right for China. Many issues, however, remain the focus of lively debate. In particular, a realistic coordination of individual and group accumulation is needed in order to avoid shortfalls in capital formation and the dangers of inadequate benefit provision. To safeguard the subsistence needs of former workers in state-owned enterprises, a system of equalization at national level is needed, and problems continue over how future pension insurance funds should best be managed. [source] A model of human hunting impacts in multi-prey communitiesJOURNAL OF APPLIED ECOLOGY, Issue 5 2003J. Marcus Rowcliffe Summary 1The hunting of wild animals for consumption by people currently threatens many species with extinction. In the tropics, where the threat is most acute, hunting frequently targets many prey species simultaneously, yet our understanding of the dynamics of hunting in such multi-prey systems is limited. This study addressed this issue by modelling the effects of human hunters on prey population dynamics in a multi-species prey community. Both pursuit hunting (in which offtake depends partly on hunters' prey preferences) and trap hunting (in which the offtake is determined solely by random processes) were considered as submodels. 2The pursuit hunting submodel was validated against studies of subsistence hunting in tropical forests, while the trap hunting submodel was validated against data from five studies of offtake rates by snare hunters in subSaharan Africa. In all cases, observed prey removal rates were predicted well by the model. 3Simulations demonstrated the emergence of distinctive prey profiles at different intensities of hunting, related to sequences of overexploitation dependent on species' vulnerabilities to exploitation. 4Synthesis and applications. A model is developed to explore the impacts of harvesting on multi-species prey communities. Model predictions can be used to aid the interpretation of incomplete monitoring data, such as snapshots of the species taken by hunters. This will improve our ability to assess the sustainability of multi-species hunting systems using the limited information typically available in these cases. [source] Colonization of an island volcano, Long Island, Papua New Guinea, and an emergent island, Motmot, in its caldera lake.JOURNAL OF BIOGEOGRAPHY, Issue 11-12 2001Abstract Location, Aim Long Island, 55 km north of New Guinea, erupted explosively in the seventeenth century and has been recolonized by animals and plants. Effectively in 1968, an island, Motmot, emerged from Long's 13 km-diameter fresh-water caldera lake, about 4 km from the nearest shore. A nested pair of colonization sequences is thus available for study. Long Island has been recolonized by birds, and Motmot has been colonized, presumably from the surrounding ring of Long Island. In order to monitor further colonization of Long Island following bird surveys in 1933 and 1972, and to survey the birds of Motmot, Motmot and the western parts of Long were visited for 15 days in 1999. Results In the last 66 years one species probably has become extinct; in the past 27 years three species have colonized and three, present in 1972, were not recorded in 1999. We assess the present number of nonmigrant land bird species as fifty. On Motmot, we recorded eight species, three breeding, and found two more only as prey remains (three raptor species were seen on the island). Main conclusions Long Island's avifauna still has youthful features. Species with good colonizing ability predominate, and there are no island-endemic subspecies. There is a persistently high proportion of supertramps; none of the ten supertramps has been replaced by later-colonizing ,high-S' species. A quasi-equilibrium of about fifty species, fourteen fewer than the predicted equilibrium number for the island, has persisted for at least seven decades and may be seen as that appropriate to the present prolonged stage of Long's floral and vegetational development. Compared with the younger avifauna of Krakatau, Long's avifauna has a higher proportion of nectarivores, predators of large invertebrates and small vertebrates, and ground-foraging insectivore-herbivores, and a lower proportion of the insectivore-frugivore guild. Motmot's small avifauna consists predominantly of species obtaining subsistence from outside the island. [source] Environmental change and cultural response between 8000 and 4000 cal. yr BP in the western Loess Plateau, northwest ChinaJOURNAL OF QUATERNARY SCIENCE, Issue 6 2004ChengBang An Abstract Two ancient swamps in the western Loess Plateau, northwest China record the climate history between 8000 and 4000 cal. yr BP. Grain size, CaCO3, organic matter, mollusc fauna and pollen assemblages show that climate was wet between 8300 and 7400 cal. yr BP, distinctly humid and warm between 7400 and 6700 cal. yr BP, semi-humid from 6700 to 6300 cal. yr BP, and semi-arid between 6300 and 4000 cal. yr BP. The temporal and spatial distribution of archaeological sites shows that the prosperity of the neolithic cultures in the western part of the Chinese Loess Plateau did not appear until the climate changed to semi-arid, implying that the semi-arid climate was more favourable than wet and humid climate to neolithic peoples, whose subsistence was based on cereals adapted to arid environments. Copyright © 2004 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. [source] Forests, marketization, livelihoods and the poor in the Lao PDRLAND DEGRADATION AND DEVELOPMENT, Issue 2 2006J. D. Rigg Abstract The Lao PDR is making the transition from subsistence to cash, and command to market. Rural communities are being drawn ever more tightly into the embrace of the market economy and of the central state. The construction of roads, schools and health centres, the provision of credit and new crops and technologies, and the arrival of traders and the panoply of the consumer economy are all, in their different ways, remoulding rural economy and society. This paper looks at one aspect of this multi-stranded process of agrarian transformation: the role and place of forests and, in particular, non-timber forest products, in rural people's lives and livelihoods. The paper highlights the contradictory and uneven livelihood-eroding/enhancing effects of these transformations. In many upland areas of Laos livelihoods are being squeezed from ,below' by environmental degradation and from ,above' by the operation of government policies and, more generally, by evolving market relations. While market pessimists see market integration as a largely destructive process, the paper highlights the opportunities that market integration can provide through diversification and livelihood reorientation. The challenge is that these opportunities are unequally available and are likely to promote social differentiation. Some households find themselves in a position to embrace new opportunities while others are forced to continue to rely on a declining and degrading forest resource. Copyright © 2006 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. [source] Temporal changes of resource use, soil fertility and economic situation in upland Northwest VietnamLAND DEGRADATION AND DEVELOPMENT, Issue 1 2002A. Wezel Abstract Agricultural land in lowland Vietnam is scarce due to population growth. Hence, cultivation is increasingly practised on the steep upland slopes. Factors affecting resource use, soil fertility and household economics were studied in six villages of the Black Thai ethnic group in northwest Vietnam. Farmers were interviewed about their individual household situation. Yield development of major crops and cropping patterns in upland cultivation over the last 50 years were recorded in group discussions. In addition, soil fertility was analysed on different land-use units. Formerly predominant upland rice changed to maize and cassava production at present. Decreasing soil fertility and a shift from subsistence to market-oriented production, facilitated by new maize varieties and better access to markets are major causes. The Black Thai farmers economy has improved in recent years. The decline in soil fertility is concealed by higher maize yields from new varieties, and soil fertility conservation ranks low among farmers' priorities. The improved economy of the individual households might be of short duration if farmers cannot be sensitized to new resource management options. These have to be developed in line with farmers' priorities and the fragile environment of Vietnam's uplands. Copyright © 2002 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. [source] GLOBAL JUSTICE WITHOUT END?METAPHILOSOPHY, Issue 1-2 2005John Tasioulas Abstract: John Rawls argued in The Law of Peoples that we should reject any principle of international distributive justice, whether in ideal theory or nonideal theory. Instead, he advocated a duty of assistance on the part of well-ordered societies toward burdened societies. I argue that Rawls is correct that we should endorse a principle with a target and cut-off point rather than a principle of international distributive justice. But the target and cut-off point he favors is too undemanding, because it can be met by assisting a burdened society to become a decent people. Instead, only a society that respects the right to an adequate standard of living, and not simply a right to subsistence, can be an acceptable target. Rawls is prevented from drawing this conclusion by a failure to disentangle issues of intervention and assistance, a failure bound up with his flawed, intervention-driven account of human rights in defining a decent people. [source] The Identity Division of Labor in Native AlaskaAMERICAN ANTHROPOLOGIST, Issue 1 2009LISA FRINK ABSTRACT, There is often an implicit assumption that womens' technologies and associated tasks in subsistence-based groups are expedient and simple. For instance, in Native Alaska, the butchering of fish has been illustrated as arduous but uncomplicated work. On the contrary, closer examinations, as well as discussions with the people who are still learning and practicing subsistence tasks, indicate that this perspective is inaccurate. Instead, these taken-for-granted technologies and techniques require a lifetime of training and practice, and not all people achieve master status. Drawing from data from contemporary herring processing and the related tools of the trade, I explore the division of labor in the context of expertise and apprenticeship. [Keywords:,apprenticeship, expertise, gender, age, Alaska] [source] Prevalence and phenotypic evaluation of Candida dubliniensis in pregnant women with vulvovaginal candidosis in a university hospital in AnkaraMYCOSES, Issue 1 2007E. Us Summary Candida dubliniensis is very similar to Candida albicans in terms of genotypic and phenotypic characteristics. As the hormonal milieu of the vagina during pregnancy, characterised by a lack of maternal cell-mediated immunity, enhances Candida colonisation and serves as a risk factor for symptomatic expression, investigation into the isolation of C. dubliniensis in vaginal discharges of pregnant women with vulvovaginal candidosis was made. A total of 77 Candida isolates obtained from 60 patients positive for vulvovaginal candidosis collected from 218 pregnant women were investigated for C. dubliniensis subsistence. In total 41 Candida species phenotypically identified as C. albicans on the basis of a positive germ tube test and carbohydrate assimilation tests were screened for the presence of C. dubliniensis. Phenotypic tests for differentiation of C. dubliniensis from C. albicans, such as growth at 42 and 45 °C on Sabouraud dextrose agar, appearance on CHROMagar and colony morphology on Cornmeal,Tween-80 agar and Staib agar were carried out. Only one strain (2.43%) was phenotypically identified as C. dubliniensis. According to our study, a combination of at least five phenotypic methods is necessary for an exact diagnosis of C. dubliniensis. Large-scale studies of pregnant women are required to discover the aetiological importance of this yeast. [source] Body, nation, and consubstantiation in Bolivian ritual mealsAMERICAN ETHNOLOGIST, Issue 4 2006SUSAN PAULSON During a remarkable period of official ethnic recognition and indigenous political mobilization in Bolivia, farmers in the rural Municipality of Mizque have invested increasing energy in ritual meals widely characterized as indigenous, expanding the number of meals celebrated and increasing their spatial distribution. Multisited ethnographic study of how people connect to body, place, and identity shows that the intense corporal experiences and tangible materiality of these ritual meals contrast with tendencies of official multiculturalism to privilege symbols and products of indigenous culture while disregarding the substance of indigenous bodies and the material bases of their survival. Consubstantiation in ritual meals resonates with other collective bodily practices that are gaining prominence in Bolivia, including mass manifestations and constituent assemblies, to point toward possibilities for a new kind of civil society grounded in concern for the ethnic identities and for the bodily and material subsistence of its diverse members. [source] Creative Destruction, Economic Insecurity, Stress, and Epidemic ObesityAMERICAN JOURNAL OF ECONOMICS AND SOCIOLOGY, Issue 3 2010Jon D. Wisman The percentage of Americans who are obese has doubled since 1980. Most attempts to explain this "obesity epidemic" have been found inadequate, including the "Big Two" (the increased availability of inexpensive food and the decline of physical exertion). This article explores the possibility that the obesity epidemic is substantially due to growing insecurity, stress, and a sense of powerlessness in modern society where high-sugar and high-fat foods are increasingly omnipresent. Those suffering these conditions may suffer less control over other domains of their lives. Insecurity and stress have been found to increase the desire for high-fat and high-sugar foods. After exploring the evidence of a link between stress and obesity, the increasing pace of capitalism's creative destruction and its generation of greater insecurity and stress are addressed. The article ends with reflections on how epidemic obesity is symptomatic of a social mistake,the seeking of maximum efficiency and economic growth even in societies where the fundamental problem of material security has been solved. I confess I am not charmed with the ideal of life held out by those who think that the normal state of human beings is that of struggling to get on; that the trampling, crushing, elbowing, and treading on each other's heels, which form the existing type of social life, are the most desirable lot of humankind, or anything but the disagreeable symptoms of one of the phases of industrial progress. (Mill 1848: 748) Thus we have been expressly evolved by nature,with all our impulses and deepest instincts,for the purpose of solving the economic problem ["the struggle for subsistence"]. If the economic problem is solved, mankind will be deprived of its traditional purpose . . . Will this be a benefit? If one believes at all in the real values of life, the prospect at least opens up the possibility of benefit. Yet I think with dread of the readjustment of the habits and instincts of the ordinary man, bred into him for countless generations, which he may be asked to discard within a few decades. (Keynes 1932: 366) [source] Reconsideration of Economic Views of a Classical Empire and a Nation-State During the Mercantilist AgesAMERICAN JOURNAL OF ECONOMICS AND SOCIOLOGY, Issue 3 2009Article first published online: 3 JUN 200, Mehmet Bulut While the main aim of the economic policies of European nation-states was to use the power of the state to promote trade and economic growth and to build up national industries and manufacture, the Ottoman Empire continued to follow its provisionist, fiscalist, and traditional economic policies of land expansion in the early modern period. In Western Europe, this experience gave birth to a new class that gradually improved its trade ability and expanding industries and markets under a capitalist system. The Ottoman imperial policy was mostly concerned about the continuity of strong central authority and land expansion, which never meant improving the industry or trade concerns. Instead, the economic policies of the Ottomans were subsistence of the people, provisioning the major population centers, collection of taxes, and maintaining freedom of trade. The balance and stability in society explain the priority for the Ottomans in the economy. However, commercialization and profit explain the priority for the Dutch nation in the economy. This article elaborates the economic views of the Dutch Republic and the Ottoman Empire in the mercantilist ages. [source] | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||