Community gardening: cultivating subjectivities,space, and justice

Community gardens have been lauded for being inherently resistant to neoliberalism and criticised for underwriting it. To move beyond this either/or debate, we need to employ more focused lenses and specify both the processes of neoliberalisation at play and the outcomes they can produce. This paper explores the ways in which neoliberal processes of privatisation, state entrepreneurialism, and devolution intersect with community gardens, and the subjectivities that may be cultivated, the spaces that may be created and the types of justice that may be advanced as a result. It argues that certain characteristics and orientations of gardens are more conducive to resisting neoliberalism. These include the cultivation of producer, citizen, and activist subjectivities (over those of consumer, entrepreneur, and volunteer); the elevation of the use value of shared lived space (over a site’s potential exchange value) and the advancement of spatial justice through community access to non-privatised space; and food justice, through non-commodified means of obtaining food. Holding these ends in mind can help ensure that proponents of community gardening sow the seeds of the fruits they most wish to reap.     

Social regulation of ovary activation in ’anarchistic’ honey-bees (Apis mellifera)

Honey-bee (Apis mellifera) colonies exhibit extreme reproductive division of labour. Workers almost always have inactive ovaries and the queen monopolises egg laying. Although extremely rare, ’anarchistic’ colonies exist in which workers produce male offspring despite the presence of the queen. By comparing the rates of ovary activation in anarchistic and wild-type bees fostered to host colonies of different genotype (i.e. anarchist and non-anarchist) and queen status (i.e. queenless and queenright), we investigated the factors involved in inhibiting ovary activation. Fostered anarchist workers always had a higher level of ovary development than fostered wild-type bees in both anarchist and non-anarchist host colonies. Fostered workers of both genotypes had more active ovaries in anarchistic than in wild-type hosts. Fostered workers of both strains also had more active ovaries in queenless than in queenright hosts. The results suggest that selection for worker reproduction in the anarchistic line has both reduced the effects of brood and queen pheromones on worker ovary inhibition and increased the likelihood that workers of the anarchistic line will develop ovaries compared to wild-type workers. Received: 14 June 2000 / Revised: 26 September 2000 / Accepted: 7 October 2000     

A fungal perspective on conservation biology

Hitherto fungi have rarely been considered in conservation biology, but this is changing as the field moves from addressing single species issues to an integrative ecosystem‐based approach. The current emphasis on biodiversity as a provider of ecosystem services throws the spotlight on the vast diversity of fungi, their crucial roles in terrestrial ecosystems, and the benefits of considering fungi in concert with animals and plants. We reviewed the role of fungi in ecosystems and composed an overview of the current state of conservation of fungi. There are 5 areas in which fungi can be readily integrated into conservation: as providers of habitats and processes important for other organisms; as indicators of desired or undesired trends in ecosystem functioning; as indicators of habitats of conservation value; as providers of powerful links between human societies and the natural world because of their value as food, medicine, and biotechnological tools; and as sources of novel tools and approaches for conservation of megadiverse organism groups. We hope conservation professionals will value the potential of fungi, engage mycologists in their work, and appreciate the crucial role of fungi in nature. Una Perspectiva Micótica de la Biología de la Conservación     

Worker policing in the bee Apis florea

Apis florea is a single-combed, open-nesting, dwarf honeybee indigenous to Asia. In common with other species of this genus, A. florea is highly polyandrous, and is therefore predicted to curtail worker reproduction by mutual policing mechanisms that keep worker reproduction at an extremely low level. Policing mechanisms could involve destruction of workers' eggs or offspring, or aggression toward those workers that are reproductively active. We show that in A. florea, worker-laid eggs are eliminated approximately twice as fast as queen-laid eggs, indicating that A. florea uses oophagy of worker-laid eggs as a mechanism of worker policing. Genetic analysis of four colonies indicated that all males produced were sons of queens, not workers. Dissections of 800 workers, from four colonies, did not reveal any significant levels of ovary activation. These results suggest that worker policing is an effective component of the mechanisms that maintain worker sterility in this species. Furthermore, they suggest that worker policing via oophagy of worker-laid eggs is pleisiomorphic for the genus.     

A uniform fish consumption advisory protocol for the Ohio River

ORSANCO and the six Ohio River main stem states have been working to align states' fish consumption advisories (FCAs) to enhance the value of advice issued to the public. To achieve this goal, ORSANCO worked closely with a panel consisting of state and USEPA representatives. The result of this effort is the Ohio River Fish Consumption Advisory Protocol (ORFCAP). The ORFCAP represents a single set of variables agreed upon by the panel that allows for a standardized protocol to create advisory thresholds to which states can defer to issue consumption advice for the Ohio River. The ORFCAP identifies ORSANCO as a clearinghouse for data which will be distributed to the panel for decision making. Other components include identifying primary contaminants of concern (PCBs and mercury) and dividing the river into four reporting units. The protocol was developed to issue FCAs for the protection of sensitive populations using five advisory groupings for PCBs and four for mercury. Specific variables used in the calculation of advisory thresholds such as health protection values, cooking reductions, average meal sizes, etc., were selected by the panel. Lastly, the protocol calls for FCA decisions to be based on analysis of the most recent 10?years of data for each species in each reporting unit to determine size class needs and advisory groupings. Upon pending implementation of the protocol by the main stem states, these decisions will be made annually through a series of discussions involving ORSANCO, the panel, and other appropriate state personnel.     

Antenatal detection of neural tube defects: Comparison of biochemical and immunofluorescence methods

The aim of this study was to determine whether identification of glial cells in amniotic fluid samples could form a useful supplementary test in the antenatal diagnosis of neural tube defects (NTDs). In a 5-year study, 1452 samples of middle trimester amniotic fluid were examined blind to the results of other antenatal diagnostic tests and to the outcome of pregnancy. Reasons for amniocentesis included raised serum alpha-fetoprotein (329), previous NTD (73), and a family history of NTDs (71). Duplicate cytospin preparations were stained with Giemsa and an antibody to glial fibrillary acidic protein (GFAP), and on this basis a prediction of fetal NTD status was made which was not communicated to clinicians. Subsequent management of pregnancies was influenced only by the results of routine antenatal testing for NTDs. Twenty cases of NTDs occurred among the 1406 cases in which the outcome was subsequently known. Of these 20 cases, only five (four anencephalic, one spina bifida) were correctly predicted by immunofluorescent identification of GFAP-positive cells in the amniotic fluid. The remaining 15 cases (two anencephalic, 13 spina bifida) were not so identified. In a further 18 cases, apparently GFAP-positive cells were identified in the absence of NTDs. We conclude that GFAP immunofluorescence examination of routine amniocentesis samples of amniotic fluid is not a useful predictive test for NTDs.     

US Energy Conservation and Efficiency: Benefits and Costs

With increased energy conservation plus the adoption of diverse energy efficient technologies, the US economy could save about 32 quads or about 33% of its current energy consumption, if sound conservation energy use policies were implemented over approximately 10 years. This potential of 32 quads is slightly greater than the current US oil imports. The systems that have the greatest potential to provide major energy savings are transportation, residential energy use, and the food system. Not only saving energy has merit in itself, but it would save US citizens approximately $438 billion per year, helping support the US economy, a high standard of living, and energy security. In addition, this analysis suggests that reducing the $40 billion in taxpayer money spent on subsidies of the energy industries would further increase conservation.     

Biochemical analysis of meconium in fetuses presumed to have cystic fibrosis

A series of proteins (albumin, transferrin, a₁- antitrypsin, alpha-fetoprotein and pancreatic oncofetal antigen) and enzymes (γ-glutamyltranspeptidase, aminopeptidase M, alkaline phosphatase, a-glucosidase and protease) was measured in fetal meconium extracts. There were 19 fetuses thought to have cystic fibrosis (CF), 13 with neural tube defects, three with chromosome abnormalities and 19 normal controls, all with gestational ages between 18 and 21 weeks. With the exception of alpha-fetoprotein, all the proteins and enzymes were significantly elevated in the CF meconium extracts. The most definitive indicator of a CF fetus was the albumin concentration, where the mean level was five times that found in the control groups. However, five of 19 fetuses assumed to have CF had albumin in the normal range. In these cases the meconium protease levels were grossly elevated. Furthermore, in the same five fetuses meconium concentration of pancreatic oncofetal antigen, a protein synthesized in the fetal pancreas, was also greatly raised. We suggest that post-mortem examination of a fetus thought to have CF should include measurement of meconium albumin, protease and pancreatic oncofetal antigen.     

Analysis of the ground effect on development of flow structures around an inclined solar panel

Environmental Fluid Mechanics - The complex three-dimensional flow that develops around an inclined flat solar panel near the ground is investigated using Computational Fluid Dynamics. The early...     

Worker reproduction in honey-bees (Apis) and the anarchic syndrome: a review

Honey-bees, Apis, are an important model system for investigating the evolution and maintenance of worker sterility. The queen is the main reproductive in a colony. Workers cannot mate, but they can lay unfertilized eggs, which develop into males if reared. Worker reproduction, while common in queenless colonies, is rare in queenright colonies, despite the fact that workers are more related to their own sons than to those of the queen. Evidence that worker sterility is enforced by 'worker policing' is reviewed and worker policing is shown to be widespread in Apis. We then discuss a rare behavioural syndrome, 'anarchy', in which substantial worker production of males occurs in queenright colonies. The level of worker reproduction in these anarchic colonies is far greater than in a normal queenright honey-bee colony. Anarchy is a counterstrategy against worker policing and an example of a 'cheating' strategy invading a cooperative system.