Sustainable Agriculture: New Paradigms and Old Practices? Increased Production with Management of Organic Inputs in Senegal

Farmers in Sahelian countries are confronted with a variety of soil fertility and management problems. During the last two decades, NGOs have worked with farmers and research institutions to develop and test practices that will increase food production, while at the same time enhance the natural resource base.Since 1987, The Rodale Institute (RI) has worked closely with farmers' associations and government institutions to promote regenerative agriculture-farming systems that prioritize the use of local resources while improving them as they are used to grow food, using agro-ecological methods. The Senegalese Agricultural Research Institute has collaborated in this program as a partner of RI. The Senegal Regenerative Agriculture Resource Center model has been applied as a new and viable approach that builds on traditional knowledge and farmer-to-farmer exchange.Research results on soil conservation and improvement have shown that fields spread with amended animal manure or compost yield greater harvests than fields farmed with traditional methods.     

Forced migration, processes of return and livelihood construction among pastoralists in northern Sudan

The Hawaweer, a nomadic, pastoralist group in northern Sudan, were seriously affected by the drought in the Sahel during the mid-1980s. Their experience illustrates the connection between internally displaced people, normal mobility, forced migration, dilemmas and opportunities of return and how new livelihoods can be successfully constructed based on traditional rights, strong local institutions and external resources. Some displaced Hawaweer got the chance to return to their homeland as new livelihood opportunities were established; others did not get this opportunity nor would they have returned if they had been given the chance. In both situations, the processes of displacement and return had an impact on the sense of belonging and identity.     

湖南传统村落的防御性特征

防御性在中国传统村落的规划和建设中具有很高的研究价值。通过分析湖南传统村落在选址、空间形态、防火和建筑装饰等方面的防御性特征,指出传统村落的物质防御和精神防卫等防御理念具有明显的先进性与科学性。两个方面共同作用,所营造的传统村落的安全居住环境,是中国传统文化因素中的心理安全防御意识在具体环境中的物化体现,是中国传统哲学观念和生态环境观念的有机统一,指出传统村落的防御性在当今和谐社会宜居社区的规划和建设中的借鉴意义。     

促进山东可持续发展试验带发展的政策选择

山东省可持续发展试验带建设要解决环境窖量小、人口密度大、支撑经济发展资源消耗大等问题。重点是打破行政区域的行政壁垒．减少经济发展对自然资源的依赖。大力发展高新技术产业。高新技术产品的外部性和高风险性要求政府部门的介入和干预。文章从山东省可持续发展试验带建设存在的市场分割、风险投资机制尚未形成、外向依存度低、高技术人才短缺等问题出发,按照“问题——对策”模式探讨试验带建设中促进可持续发展的金融政策、财税政策等政策选择。     

“In common nature”: an ethnography of climate adaptation in the Lesotho Highlands

In Lesotho, climate change adaptation funding is being managed and distributed by the same mechanisms which have traditionally operationalised humanitarian aid and international development assistance in the country. Lessons from the HIV/AIDS disaster, along with insights into the value of participatory approaches foregrounding the expertise of indigenous communities, must be heeded in order to ensure that those most affected by climate change have a say in how adaptation is carried out. This paper proposes that indigenous people have developed and actively maintained resilience strategies, encoded in social practices and farming techniques, designed out of long experience with climatic variability. Through case studies, indigenous resilience strategies are explored, with emphasis on the anarchistic, improvisational nature of traditional ecological knowledge. Future directions for policy-makers and practitioners dealing with climate change adaptation are suggested, namely the need to foreground indigenous knowledge and the experiences of frontlines experts in key policy arenas.     

Y chromosome detection by Real Time PCR and pyrophosphorolysis-activated polymerisation using free fetal DNA isolated from maternal plasma

Objectives To validate the use of Real Time PCR, a widely used technique that can detect very low levels of Y chromosomal sequence, and to assess the use of a highly sensitive PCR technique, pyrophosphorolysis-activated polymerisation (PAP), for fetal sex determination using free fetal DNA (ffDNA). Methods The fetal sex was determined by Real Time PCR in 58 pregnancies using ffDNA isolated from maternal plasma. In parallel with the Real Time PCR experiments, the presence of Y chromosome sequence was also determined using PAP on 54 isolated ffDNA samples. Results Both techniques detected Y chromosome sequence at very low levels with 98% specificity and 100% sensitivity (Real Time n = 44, PAP n = 54). Furthermore, the PAP technique was shown to be more robust than the Real Time PCR as none of the samples tested failed to meet the acceptance criteria. Combining the two techniques for male fetal sex detection from maternal blood plasma increases the sensitivity and specificity to 100% in this series. Conclusions This study shows that both Real Time PCR and PAP can be used for Y chromosome detection on ffDNA. Furthermore, by using PAP in combination with Real Time PCR more reliable early prenatal sexing can be performed using ffDNA. Copyright © 2007 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.