Malnutrition among the Akamba of Kenya -Problem or response to a problem?

Two recent studies amongst the Kenyan Akamba are contrasted to illustrate how malnutrition can be regarded either as a response to a problem in the local environment, or as the problem itself, arising from general conditions of poverty and ignorance. Differences in methodology are compared and it is shown that nutrition studies often ignore local factors in reaching conclusions on nutritional status. Consequently, nutrition policy recommendations provide general solutions of limited value. It is suggested that factors in the local environment which may cause malnutrition be investigated by hypothesis testing, in order to provide specific information for community-based action.
The category of the poor is not merely inadequate for evaluative exercises and a nuisance for causal analysis, it can also have distorting effects on policy matters. On the causal side, the lack of discrimination between different circumstances leading to poverty gives rise to a lack of focus in policy choice.     

Comparison of three culture methods for Cladophora oligoclona北大核心CSCD

The growth of Cladophora spp. is vigorous in the field, but not good under indoor culture conditions. In order to promote the study on ecology, water environment treatment characteristics, and the development and utilization of Cladophora, the effects of three different culture methods (standing, ventilating, water flowing + ventilating) on biomass, morphology, and photosynthetic activity of C. oligoclona were compared in order to find a suitable method for its indoor culture. The results showed that the culture method of water flowing + ventilating could effectively promote C. oligoclona biomass accumulation; the morphologies in the three culture methods were different. C. oligoclona with increased single cell length and reduced cell diameter was found in the culture method involving water flowing + ventilating; in this method, the length of the main branch and branch of the cell, plant height, and branch length of C. oligoclona were significantly higher than that in the standing and ventilating culture methods (P < 0.05). C. oligoclona cultured in the water flowing + ventilating method also showed a higher photosynthetic activity. In conclusion, among the three culture methods, the water flowing + ventilating culture method is the most suitable for the indoor culturing of C. oligoclona; this method can also provide a technical reference for the further indoor mass culture of C. oligoclona. © 2018 Science Press. All rights reserved.     

陕西潼关南寨子遗址人口的平均预期寿命与死亡模式

作为社会存在和发展的基础和主体,人口因素在人类文明发展中起着重要作用.我们通过编制生命表,对陕西潼关南寨子遗址4个墓葬出土的人骨进行古人口学分析,计算出关中平原东部地区仰韶文化中期人口的平均预期寿命为27.8岁,高出我国西北、东北地区和太湖流域新石器时期的人口平均预期寿命约8岁.而与山东沿海地区大汶口文化时期的王因遗址...     

Investigating urban migrants' sense of place through a multi-scalar perspective

This paper investigates the interconnections between sense-of-place dimensions across different geographical scales. While existing knowledge on sense of place has demonstrated that place meanings rest at various scales, little attention has been devoted to exploring how sense-of-place dimensions at different geographical scales can be interconnected in forming a multi-scalar construction of place meanings. In this paper, we approach this under-theorization of multi-scalarity of sense of place by looking at urban migrants’ sense of place at two geographical scales - a community culture center and the city of Guangzhou, China. In so doing, we also contribute to the scholarship on Chinese urban migrant, particularly in terms of how urban migrants reestablish their psychological connections with place of destination through specific place experiences. Our research methodology combines both quantitative (structural equation modeling analysis with 104 questionnaires) and qualitative (12 in-depth interviews) approaches. Quantitative study reaches a structural model that has not been observed by existing research, while qualitative data provide strong empirical evidence in support of the statistical relations in the structural model. Major findings in this research include: 1. at the scale of culture center, place dependence contributes strongly to both place identity and place attachment, while the latter two dimensions can be seen as parallel constructs; 2. at the scale of Guangzhou, place dependence is a dimension independent of both place identity and place attachment, and on the other hand, it is place identity that has a strong impact on place attachment; 3. migrants’ place dependence on the culture center significantly influences their place identity to Guangzhou, which further contributes to the migrants’ place attachment to the city. Although the scope of this research is limited in its sampling and research location, the empirical evidence in this paper provides a basis to argue that the construction of sense of place involves the working of sense-of-place constructs at various geographical scales. Particularly, we also argue that connecting different places across geographical scales requires a delicate network that involves various sense-of-place constructs that work both within and across scales.     

Nature,Crisis, Risk,Science, and Society: What is Our Ethical Responsibility?

In his keynote address, Robert Cox raised key questions, many of which force us to consider the larger question of the role of academics in society. The authors respond by suggesting that environmental communication, like other communication studies, is inherently normative and that environmental communication scholarship is closely aligned to risk as a centerpiece to crisis analysis. The authors discuss the productive connections among science, communication and sound public policy that make society more fully functional, including the formation of effective public policy through science that is normative while seeking objectivity, evaluating and symbolizing motives in discourse, acknowledging uncertainty and acceptable uncertainty, and that material and symbolic dimensions of the environment are interdependent. Thus, such studies focus on the ethics of environment and must balance sound science and cultural considerations.     

Culture as trigger for sustainability transition in the water domain: the case of the Spanish water policy and the Ebro river basin

There is a mounting body of literature dealing generally with the dynamics of transitions of human systems towards sustainability and specifically with the different stages and processes of transitions. However, the question of why transition processes occur in the first place remains largely unexplained. This paper explores the concept of transition triggers, such as culture or material resource scarcity, and provides a theoretical framework to explain the emergence of a transition and its relation to recent developments in Spanish water policy. We adapt the general framework provided by current transition theory and gather empirical evidence and insights from processes occurring within the Spanish policy context and the Ebro river basin in particular. Our results show that the sole existence of biophysical limits to water use or development cannot explain the start of a possible sustainability transition in this domain in Spain. Changes in the existing water policies in the direction of sustainability were not ignited by people directly affected by water scarcities but by a coalition of sensitive agents, mostly from academia, NGOs and local constituencies, who managed to articulate new identities, integrate multiple sources of policy relevant knowledge, and develop new values under the umbrella of the new water culture movement.