Suchergebnisse

Not Available ; The land resource inventory of Harve-1 microwatershed was conducted using village cadastral maps and IRS satellite imagery on 1:7920 scale. The false colour composites of IRS imagery were interpreted for physiography and these physiographic delineations were used as base for mapping soils. The soils were studied in several transects and a soil map was prepared with phases of soil series as mapping units. Random checks were made all over the area outside the transects to confirm and validate the soil map unit boundaries. The soil map shows the geographic distribution and extent, characteristics, classification, behaviour and use potentials of the soils in the microwatershed. The present study covers an area of 514 ha in Harve-1 microwatershed in Chamarajnagar taluk and district, Karnataka. The climate is semiarid and categorized as drought- prone with an average annual rainfall of 769 mm, of which about 316 mm is received during south –west monsoon, 252 mm during north-east and the remaining 201 mm during the rest of the year. An area of about 89 per cent area is covered by soils, 1 per cent is covered by rock-out crops, 150 cm) soils, an area of 20 per cent has moderately deep to deep (75-150 cm) soils. An area of about 32 per cent is under moderately shallow (50-75 cm) soils and shallow (25-50 cm) soils occupy 22 per cent area in the microwatershed.  An area of about 14 per cent has clayey soils at the surface, 39 per cent has loamy soils at the surface and an area of about 37 per cent has sandy at the surface.  An area of about 10 per cent has non-gravelly (0.75 ppm) in organic carbon.  An area of about 6 per cent is low (57 kg/ha) in 43 per cent area in available phosphorus.  An area of about 35 per cent has soils that are medium (145-337 kg/ha) and 54 per cent area has high (>337 kg/ha) in available potassium.  Available sulphur is low (20 ppm) in 26 per cent area of the microwatershed.  Available boron is low (1.0 ppm) in 1 per cent area of the microwatershed.  About 75 per cent area has soils that are deficient (4.5ppm) in the available iron.  Available manganese and copper are sufficient in the entire cultivated area of the microwatershed.  An area of about 76 per cent has soils that are deficient (<0.6 ppm) and 14 per cent has soils are sufficient in available zinc.  The land suitability for 9 major crops (agricultural and horticultural) grown in the microwatershed were assessed and the areas that are highly suitable (S1) and moderately suitable (S2) are given below. It is however to be noted that a given soil may be suitable for various crops but what specific crop to be grown may be decided by the farmer looking to his capacity to invest on various inputs, marketing infrastructure, market price, and finally the demand and supply position. Land suitability for various crops in the microwatershed Crops Suitability area in ha (%) Highly Suitable (S1) Moderately Suitable (S2) Sorghum 39(8) 255(50) Maize 39(8) 255(50) Finger millet 39(8) 255(50) Red gram - 131(26) Groundnut 69(14) 224(44) Cotton - 275(54) Chilli 39(8) 255(50) Mango - 28(6) Sapota - 99(19)  Apart from the individual crop suitability, a proposed crop plan has been prepared for the 9 identified LMUs by considering only the highly and moderately suitable lands for different crops and cropping systems with food, fodder, fibre and horticulture crops that helps in maintaining the ecological balance in the microwatershed.  Maintaining soil-health is vital to crop production and conserve soil and land resource base for maintaining ecological balance and to mitigate climate change. For this, several ameliorative measures have been suggested to these problematic soils like saline/alkali, highly eroded, sandy soils etc.,  Soil and water conservation treatment plan has been prepared that would help in identifying the sites to be treated and also the type of structures required.  As part of the greening programme, several tree species have been suggested to be planted in marginal and submarginal lands, field bunds and also in the hillocks, mounds and ridges. That would help in supplementing the farm income, provide fodder and fuel, generate lot of biomass, which in turn would help in maintaining the ecological balance and contribute to mitigating the climate change. Baseline socioeconomic characterisation is prerequisite to prepare action plan for program implementation and to assess the project performance before making any changes in the watershed development program. The baseline provides appropriate policy direction for enhancing productivity and sustainability in agriculture. Methodology: Harve 1 micro-watershed (Chamarajanagar taluk and district) is located in between 15018' – 15020' North latitudes and 7603' – 7605' East longitudes, covering an area of about 513.47 ha, bounded by Harve, Mundakudu, Kethanapura and Maliyur villages with length growing period (LGP) 120-150 days. We used soil resource map as basis for sampling farm households to test the hypothesis that soil quality influence crop selection, and conservation investment of farm households. The level of technology adoption and productivity gaps and livelihood patterns were analyses. The cost of soil degradation and ecosystem services were quantified. Results: The socio-economic outputs for the Harve 1 micro-watershed in Chamarajanagar taluk and district are presented here. Social Indicators;  Male and female ratio is 53.8 to 46.2 per cent to the total sample population.  Younger age 18 to 50 years group of population is around 61.4 per cent to the total population.  Literacy population is around 74.7 per cent.  Social groups belong to other backward caste is around 57 per cent.  Liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) is the source of energy for a cooking among all households.  About 36 per cent of households have a Bhima and Yashaswini health card.  About 18 per cent of farm households are having MGNREGA card for rural employment.  Dependence on ration cards for food grains through public distribution system is around 64.0 per cent  Swach bharath program providing closed toilet facilities around 91.0 per cent of sample households.  Institutional participation is only 10.0 per cent of sample households.  Women participation in decisions making are around 55 per cent of households were found. 2 Economic Indicators;  The average land holding is 0.81 ha indicates that majority of farm households are belong to small and medium farmers. The dry land of 41 % and irrigated land 59 % of total cultivated land area among the sample farmers.  Agriculture is the main occupation among 75.7 per cent and agriculture is the main and agriculture labour is subsidiary occupation for 24.3 per cent of sample households.  The average value of domestic assets is around Rs. 15472 per household. Mobile and television are popular media mass communication.  The average value of farm assets is around Rs. 79781per household, about 54.5 per cent of sample farmers having plough and sprayer (18.2%).  The average value of livestock is around Rs. 17962 per household; about 90 per cent of household are having livestock.  The average per capita food consumption is around 721 grams (1515 kilo calories) against national institute of nutrition (NIN) recommendation at 827 gram. Around 91 per cent of sample households are consuming less than the NIN recommendation.  The annual average income is around Rs. 57041 per cent of sample household. About 45.4 per cent of farm households are below poverty line.  The per capita monthly average expenditure is around Rs.1102. Environmental Indicators-Ecosystem Services;  The value of ecosystem service helps to support investment to decision on soil and water conservation and in promoting sustainable land use.  The onsite cost of different soil nutrients lost due to soil erosion is around Rs. 452 per ha/year. The total cost of annual soil nutrients is around Rs. 207248 per year for the total area of 513.51 ha.  The average value of ecosystem service for food grain production is around Rs. 20608/ ha/year. Per hectare food grain production services is maximum in coconut (Rs. 68775) followed by maize (Rs. 22547), sunflower (Rs. 9460), horse gram (Rs. 1348) and sorghum (Rs. 908).  The average value of ecosystem service for fodder production is around Rs. 5938/ ha/year. Per hectare fodder production services is maximum in sorghum (Rs.19425) followed by horse gram (Rs.15695) and maize (Rs.1200).  The data on water requirement for producing one quintal of grain is considered for estimating the total value of water required for crop production. The per hectare value of water used and value of water was maximum in coconut (Rs. 269700) followed by maize (Rs. 52820), sorghum (Rs. 32100), horse gram (Rs. 22355) and sunflower (Rs. 26604). 3 Economic Land Evaluation;  The major cropping pattern is coconut (28.4%) followed by sunflower (26.7 %), maize (26.2%), horse gram (11.3%) and sorghum (7.2 %).  In Harve 1 micro-watershed, major soil Kutegoudanahundi (KGH) soil series having moderately shallow soil depth cover around 9.49 % of area, crops are sorghum. Gollarahatti (GHT) soil series are having moderately deep soil depth covers around 7.62 % of area, the major crop grown is sorghum. Honnenahalli (HNH) soil series having moderately shallow soil depth cover 3.48 % of areas; crops are coconut. Kengaki (KGK) soil series having very deep soil depth cover 9.99 % of areas respectively; crops are coconut (24.3 %), sunflower (54.1 %) and maize (21.6 %), Kethanapura (KTP) soil series having moderately shallow soil depth cover 3.65 % of areas; crops are coconut (47.8 %), horse gram (4.2%) and sorghum (48.0 %). Lakkur (LKR) soil series having moderately shallow soil depth cover around 13.19 % of area the major crop coconut (47.8 %), horse gram (4.2 %) and sorghum (48 %).  The total cost of cultivation and benefit cost ratio (BCR) in study area for horse gram ranges between Rs. 43872/ha in HDH soil (with BCR of 3.96) and Rs.11259/ha in KGH soil (with BCR of 1.93).  In sorghum the cost of cultivation range between Rs. 118931/ha in KGH soil (with of 1.06) and Rs. 23522/ha in HDH soil (with BCR of 1.35).  In sunflower the cost of cultivation range between Rs. 26605/ha in KGH soil (with BCR of 1.41) and Rs. 16307/ha in KTP soil (with BCR of 2.99).  In coconut the cost of cultivation range between is Rs.51014/ha in HNH soil (with BCR of 2.48) and Rs 34147 in LKR soil (with BCR of 2.82).  In maize the cost of cultivation in KTP soil is Rs.27473/ha (with BCR of 2.27).  The land management practices reported by the farmers are crop rotation, tillage practices, fertilizer application and use of farm yard manure (FYM). Due to higher wages farmer are following labour saving strategies is not prating soil and water conservation measures. Less ownership of livestock limiting application of FYM.  It was observed soil quality influences on the type and intensity of land use. More fertilizer applications in deeper soils to maximize returns. Suggestions;  Involving farmers is watershed planning helps in strengthing institutional participation.  The per capita food consumption and monthly income is very low. Diversifying income generation activities from crop and livestock production in order to reduce risk related to drought and market prices. 4  Majority of farmers reported that they are not getting timely support/extension services from the concerned development departments.  By strengthing agricultural extension for providing timely advice improved technology there is scope to increase in net income of farm households.  By adopting recommended package of practices by following the soil test fertiliser recommendation, there is scope to increase yield in horsegram (13.2 to 52.0%), sorghum (15.7 to 73.6%), sunflower (39.3 to 47.9%), coconut (63.6 to 69.0 %) and maize (45.8 %). ; Watershed Development Department, Government of Karnataka (World Bank Funded) Sujala –III Project

The very name of this journal, Frontiers in Education, begs the questions of where the "frontiers" should be at present in education research, and how we can ensure that breakthroughs at these frontiers be rapidly put into practice. In this context, this short opinion article argues that in order to answer these two questions adequately, we, educators, should stop zeroing in on the content or skills we want students to have acquired right at the end of a cycle of studies, be it elementary, high school, or university. Instead, we should not be afraid to ask people who are many years, even decades, past formal education what they think we should focus on, where our teaching can be most effective. My own experience with two eye-opening events suggests that from this lifelong perspective, teaching activities that are likely to be most influential over the course of a person's life do not necessarily follow traditional formats. In terms of facilitating implementation of innovative teaching activities, since it seems very arduous to convince schools to add anything to already overloaded curricula, perhaps this is not where we should concentrate our efforts. I argue that the easiest way to implement change may be to first demonstrate practically to future teachers, enrolled in teacher education programs, that even brief learning activities can have enormous merit. Input from the "real world"If one considers that the objective of high-school and university education is to eventually equip students, at the age of 22 or 23, with the "body of knowledge" and skills that are relevant in their field of specialty, then the frontier one needs to consider in research encompasses all the novel approaches currently under development to better achieve this specific objective. Alternatively, one might adopt the perspective that what happens at the end of undergraduate studies is not necessarily that meaningful, given the fact that graduates will generally work for 42 or 43 years afterwards, change jobs a number of times, and end up doing things for which the content and skills acquired during their undergraduate studies may not be relevant at all. In that lifelong context, one could assume that the "frontier" on which our research in education should focus relates to novel activities that would prepare individuals for the constantly changing landscape that they will face all along their life, including, but not exclusively, during their professional career. One way to get ideas about novel teaching activities we should develop in that latter context consists of simply asking individuals who were in school or at the university 20, 30, or even 40 years ago, to identify the part of their education, taken broadly, that was most valuable to them. The idea is not entirely new, of course, since it was adopted 60 years ago already in the pioneering work of Bertrand Schwartz, in preparation for his landmark reform of the School of Mines in Nancy (France) during the late 1950s (Lambrichs, 2009). Nevertheless, given the strong emphasis in education research on psychometric tests and the application of statistical methods to surveys of large cohorts, a perspective centered on individuals' opinions is likely to be criticized as "anecdotalist", potentially biased, and not sufficiently rigorous. Fortunately, it is not necessary to simply rely on individuals' perceptions, which may indeed be occasionally off if questions are not asked appropriately. Over the last few decades, various educational theorists (e.g., Dominicé, 2000; Dhunpath and Samuel, 2009) have proposed and perfected several techniques to indirectly derive meaningful information about the education of individuals by carefully analyzing biographical stories they may have written. Perhaps, as in the field of self-directed learning (Baveye, 2003), this "life history" approach could help us establish on a firm foundation the expanding frontier(s) in education. This message is clearly conveyed by Goodson and Gill (2014), who argue that "life narratives" can help educators shift from a disenfranchised tradition to one of empowerment.Of course, clearly, this incorporation of the experience of people "in the real world" into school and university curricula needs to be carried out cautiously. It would not be appropriate for economic and competitive interests of groups outside the school community to sway the educational process in a direction that is not ultimately in the best interest of students. One also needs to be careful not to disenfranchise teachers or weaken their agency and collaboration. Because they are intimately involved in the educational process, any discussion about its evolution in the future absolutely needs to involve them directly. Anyway, in this context of input "from the real world", the question of which activities were most influential in my education has intrigued me a lot over the last two or three decades. Clearly, the answer is not to be found in the formal lectures I attended, since I promptly forgot just about everything I learned from them, except in a few rare instances where I had a strong prior motivation to learn the material, on my own if need be. Even in these few cases, most of the content and skills I learned back then turned out to be obsolete after a decade, and had little influence on my later career in science. Careful reflection suggests that by far the most significant learning experiences of my entire schooling were associated with two very short, active learning events, which perhaps paradoxically, had nothing at all to do with the training I got at the university.Short teachable moments…The first of these two influential events took place when I was 17, in 1974, many years before Internet or Facebook existed. One of the teachers in my junior year in high school asked our class to attend a politically-motivated street demonstration held during the week end in the nearest big city. The protest was against an exhibition that was organized to promote tourism in a foreign country, which at that time was under a brutal dictatorship. Many non-governmental organizations and citizens' groups were staunchly opposed to the exhibition. The experience of attending the peaceful demonstration, among a crowd we estimated to be around 250,000 to 300,000 people, was eye-opening in itself, but what made it unique was what happened in school the following Monday. In the early morning, the teacher had purchased all the local newspapers he could find. He assigned us to read and analyze the different accounts these newspapers provided of the street demonstration. Whereas left-leaning newspapers reported that upwards of 500,000 people had marched peacefully through the streets, right-wing journals described the demonstration as a small gathering of merely 50,000 people, and commented incorrectly that some of them had become violent. Several newspapers did not report the protest at all. Meanwhile, the police account of the demonstration mentioned an intermediate number of approximately 200,000 people. After less than an hour of reviewing the different articles, many of us admitted in the ensuing discussion that we were stunned by what we had found. Even though nowadays "alternate facts" have become common place, at the time none of us anticipated disparities to be so blatant between different newspapers. In hindsight, I feel that in one hour of hands-on, discovery-based exposure to a variety of perspectives on the same event, I learned more about the need for a critical analysis of texts, and for a proper account of the socio-economic and historical context in which texts are written, than in any of the formal courses I took on the subject later on in college. Undoubtedly, my upbringing in a family of intellectuals made me particularly receptive to this kind of teachable moment, and individuals reared in very different environments may not as fertile ground as I was, but the fact is that I have never looked at the written word after this single exercise as I did before, nor for that matter at anything that lecturers would talk about in the courses I took afterwards (some of which turned out after a little scrutiny to deliver information that was obsolete or even erroneous). The second event occurred during the Summer just before I started attending the university. My high school had made it possible for a group of students to help with development activities in what was still commonly referred to at the time as the "Third World". Specifically, we were supposed to help missionaries in Rwanda with various practical, mostly agricultural, projects. In the evenings, in the tiny village where we were staying, there was very little to do, except play card- and board games. A favorite activity of the missionaries was to play Scrabble. On one of the first nights I was there, we started a game with them, and basically I played the way my mother had shown me, to try to win by placing words that would earn me more points than what the other players could do with their letters. After a couple of moves, the missionaries stopped the game and told me that this was not how they played it at all. They proceeded to show me how each of them was trying to place words in such a way that all players together would eventually make the most points possible. So instead of proudly putting "taxes" in one move, someone would only put down "ax", then another would add a "t", to obtain "tax", then a third could make it "taxes", and finally, someone could add "sur" to come up with "surtaxes". All in all, that means that the points of the very valuable letter "x" would count five times instead of one, increasing the combined score of all the players at the end of the game. The details of the Scrabble strategy do not matter that much, but what was really a revelation in what the missionaries showed me is that rules can easily be changed to maximize the benefits, in this case the enjoyment, for all involved. The original rules of Scrabble require individual competition among players, and they invariably lead to one player being happy at the end while all the others are less so, to put it mildly. The lesson I got was that it is easy to transform the game into something that is eminently collaborative, such that everyone feels pretty much the same way at the end, depending on how well the group did. As a result, what could be a divisive pastime, especially if one of the players happens to be unreasonably competitive, becomes an activity that strengthens the cohesion of the group and enhances team spirit.Long-lasting lessons learned…Over the years, during my subsequent career as a researcher, I have had many occasions to reminisce about these two events. The older I get, the more I realize how extremely significant they were in my education, overshadowing many other aspects of it. As short as it was, the newspapers-related activity singlehandedly shaped my attitude toward the written word. Every single time I now read an article or a book, I remember the fateful Monday when my classmates and I compared multiple newspaper clippings. As a result, I never take any text (or, for that matter, lecture notes) for granted any more, and I am compelled to systematically look for alternative perspectives on the same topics before I formulate my own opinion. This critical attitude toward texts has played a key role in my work, as it has stimulated me not only to keep learning efficiently on my own, as a self-directed learner, from a variety of sources, but also to try to foster self-directed learning in my students (Baveye, 1994). This capacity is particularly crucial in fields in which phenomenal technological breakthroughs occur at very regular intervals, and the need to renew one's knowledge base is constant.

The very name of this journal, Frontiers in Education, begs the questions of where the "frontiers" should be at present in education research, and how we can ensure that breakthroughs at these frontiers be rapidly put into practice. In this context, this short opinion article argues that in order to answer these two questions adequately, we, educators, should stop zeroing in on the content or skills we want students to have acquired right at the end of a cycle of studies, be it elementary, high school, or university. Instead, we should not be afraid to ask people who are many years, even decades, past formal education what they think we should focus on, where our teaching can be most effective. My own experience with two eye-opening events suggests that from this lifelong perspective, teaching activities that are likely to be most influential over the course of a person's life do not necessarily follow traditional formats. In terms of facilitating implementation of innovative teaching activities, since it seems very arduous to convince schools to add anything to already overloaded curricula, perhaps this is not where we should concentrate our efforts. I argue that the easiest way to implement change may be to first demonstrate practically to future teachers, enrolled in teacher education programs, that even brief learning activities can have enormous merit. Input from the "real world"If one considers that the objective of high-school and university education is to eventually equip students, at the age of 22 or 23, with the "body of knowledge" and skills that are relevant in their field of specialty, then the frontier one needs to consider in research encompasses all the novel approaches currently under development to better achieve this specific objective. Alternatively, one might adopt the perspective that what happens at the end of undergraduate studies is not necessarily that meaningful, given the fact that graduates will generally work for 42 or 43 years afterwards, change jobs a number of times, and end up doing things for which the content and skills acquired during their undergraduate studies may not be relevant at all. In that lifelong context, one could assume that the "frontier" on which our research in education should focus relates to novel activities that would prepare individuals for the constantly changing landscape that they will face all along their life, including, but not exclusively, during their professional career. One way to get ideas about novel teaching activities we should develop in that latter context consists of simply asking individuals who were in school or at the university 20, 30, or even 40 years ago, to identify the part of their education, taken broadly, that was most valuable to them. The idea is not entirely new, of course, since it was adopted 60 years ago already in the pioneering work of Bertrand Schwartz, in preparation for his landmark reform of the School of Mines in Nancy (France) during the late 1950s (Lambrichs, 2009). Nevertheless, given the strong emphasis in education research on psychometric tests and the application of statistical methods to surveys of large cohorts, a perspective centered on individuals' opinions is likely to be criticized as "anecdotalist", potentially biased, and not sufficiently rigorous. Fortunately, it is not necessary to simply rely on individuals' perceptions, which may indeed be occasionally off if questions are not asked appropriately. Over the last few decades, various educational theorists (e.g., Dominicé, 2000; Dhunpath and Samuel, 2009) have proposed and perfected several techniques to indirectly derive meaningful information about the education of individuals by carefully analyzing biographical stories they may have written. Perhaps, as in the field of self-directed learning (Baveye, 2003), this "life history" approach could help us establish on a firm foundation the expanding frontier(s) in education. This message is clearly conveyed by Goodson and Gill (2014), who argue that "life narratives" can help educators shift from a disenfranchised tradition to one of empowerment.Of course, clearly, this incorporation of the experience of people "in the real world" into school and university curricula needs to be carried out cautiously. It would not be appropriate for economic and competitive interests of groups outside the school community to sway the educational process in a direction that is not ultimately in the best interest of students. One also needs to be careful not to disenfranchise teachers or weaken their agency and collaboration. Because they are intimately involved in the educational process, any discussion about its evolution in the future absolutely needs to involve them directly. Anyway, in this context of input "from the real world", the question of which activities were most influential in my education has intrigued me a lot over the last two or three decades. Clearly, the answer is not to be found in the formal lectures I attended, since I promptly forgot just about everything I learned from them, except in a few rare instances where I had a strong prior motivation to learn the material, on my own if need be. Even in these few cases, most of the content and skills I learned back then turned out to be obsolete after a decade, and had little influence on my later career in science. Careful reflection suggests that by far the most significant learning experiences of my entire schooling were associated with two very short, active learning events, which perhaps paradoxically, had nothing at all to do with the training I got at the university.Short teachable moments…The first of these two influential events took place when I was 17, in 1974, many years before Internet or Facebook existed. One of the teachers in my junior year in high school asked our class to attend a politically-motivated street demonstration held during the week end in the nearest big city. The protest was against an exhibition that was organized to promote tourism in a foreign country, which at that time was under a brutal dictatorship. Many non-governmental organizations and citizens' groups were staunchly opposed to the exhibition. The experience of attending the peaceful demonstration, among a crowd we estimated to be around 250,000 to 300,000 people, was eye-opening in itself, but what made it unique was what happened in school the following Monday. In the early morning, the teacher had purchased all the local newspapers he could find. He assigned us to read and analyze the different accounts these newspapers provided of the street demonstration. Whereas left-leaning newspapers reported that upwards of 500,000 people had marched peacefully through the streets, right-wing journals described the demonstration as a small gathering of merely 50,000 people, and commented incorrectly that some of them had become violent. Several newspapers did not report the protest at all. Meanwhile, the police account of the demonstration mentioned an intermediate number of approximately 200,000 people. After less than an hour of reviewing the different articles, many of us admitted in the ensuing discussion that we were stunned by what we had found. Even though nowadays "alternate facts" have become common place, at the time none of us anticipated disparities to be so blatant between different newspapers. In hindsight, I feel that in one hour of hands-on, discovery-based exposure to a variety of perspectives on the same event, I learned more about the need for a critical analysis of texts, and for a proper account of the socio-economic and historical context in which texts are written, than in any of the formal courses I took on the subject later on in college. Undoubtedly, my upbringing in a family of intellectuals made me particularly receptive to this kind of teachable moment, and individuals reared in very different environments may not as fertile ground as I was, but the fact is that I have never looked at the written word after this single exercise as I did before, nor for that matter at anything that lecturers would talk about in the courses I took afterwards (some of which turned out after a little scrutiny to deliver information that was obsolete or even erroneous). The second event occurred during the Summer just before I started attending the university. My high school had made it possible for a group of students to help with development activities in what was still commonly referred to at the time as the "Third World". Specifically, we were supposed to help missionaries in Rwanda with various practical, mostly agricultural, projects. In the evenings, in the tiny village where we were staying, there was very little to do, except play card- and board games. A favorite activity of the missionaries was to play Scrabble. On one of the first nights I was there, we started a game with them, and basically I played the way my mother had shown me, to try to win by placing words that would earn me more points than what the other players could do with their letters. After a couple of moves, the missionaries stopped the game and told me that this was not how they played it at all. They proceeded to show me how each of them was trying to place words in such a way that all players together would eventually make the most points possible. So instead of proudly putting "taxes" in one move, someone would only put down "ax", then another would add a "t", to obtain "tax", then a third could make it "taxes", and finally, someone could add "sur" to come up with "surtaxes". All in all, that means that the points of the very valuable letter "x" would count five times instead of one, increasing the combined score of all the players at the end of the game. The details of the Scrabble strategy do not matter that much, but what was really a revelation in what the missionaries showed me is that rules can easily be changed to maximize the benefits, in this case the enjoyment, for all involved. The original rules of Scrabble require individual competition among players, and they invariably lead to one player being happy at the end while all the others are less so, to put it mildly. The lesson I got was that it is easy to transform the game into something that is eminently collaborative, such that everyone feels pretty much the same way at the end, depending on how well the group did. As a result, what could be a divisive pastime, especially if one of the players happens to be unreasonably competitive, becomes an activity that strengthens the cohesion of the group and enhances team spirit.Long-lasting lessons learned…Over the years, during my subsequent career as a researcher, I have had many occasions to reminisce about these two events. The older I get, the more I realize how extremely significant they were in my education, overshadowing many other aspects of it. As short as it was, the newspapers-related activity singlehandedly shaped my attitude toward the written word. Every single time I now read an article or a book, I remember the fateful Monday when my classmates and I compared multiple newspaper clippings. As a result, I never take any text (or, for that matter, lecture notes) for granted any more, and I am compelled to systematically look for alternative perspectives on the same topics before I formulate my own opinion. This critical attitude toward texts has played a key role in my work, as it has stimulated me not only to keep learning efficiently on my own, as a self-directed learner, from a variety of sources, but also to try to foster self-directed learning in my students (Baveye, 1994). This capacity is particularly crucial in fields in which phenomenal technological breakthroughs occur at very regular intervals, and the need to renew one's knowledge base is constant.

Not Available ; The land resource inventory of Turk Madhawar-3Microwatershed was conducted using village cadastral maps and IRS satellite imagery on 1:7920 scale. The false colour composites of IRS imagery were interpreted for physiography and the physiographic delineations were used as base for mapping soils. The soils were studied in several transects and a soil map was prepared with phases of soil series as mapping units. Random checks were made all over the area outside the transects to confirm and validate the soil map unit boundaries. The soil map shows the geographic distribution and extent, characteristics, classification, behavior and use potentials of the soils in the microwatershed. The present study covers an area of 411 ha in Yadgir taluk & district, Karnataka. The climate is semiarid and categorized as drought-prone with an average annual rainfall of 866 mm, of which about 652 mm is received during south-west monsoon, 138 mm during north-east and the remaining 76 mm during the rest of the year. An area of 392 ha in the microwatershed is covered by soils and 19 ha area is covered by others (habitation and water body). The salient findings from the land resource inventory are summarized briefly below.  The soils belong to 7 soil series and 9 soil phases (management units) and 6 land management units.  The length of crop growing period is about 120-150 days starting from 1st week of June to 4th week of October.  From the master soil map, several interpretative and thematic maps like land capability, soil depth, surface soil texture, soil gravelliness, available water capacity, soil slope and soil erosion were generated.  Soil fertility status maps for macro and micronutrients were generated based on the surface soil samples collected at every 320 m grid interval.  Land suitability for growing 29 major agricultural and horticultural crops was assessed and maps showing the degree of suitability along with constraints were generated.  About 392 ha area in the microwatershed is suitable for agriculture.  About 28 per cent of area is shallow (25-50 cm), 22 per cent of area is moderately shallow (50-75 cm), 28 per cent of area is moderately deep (75-100 cm), 8 per cent of area is deep (100 - 150 cm) and 9 per cent of area is very deep (>150 cm).  About 4 per cent area in the microwatershed has sandy soils, 72 per cent loamy soils and 19 per cent clayey soils at the surface.  Entire area in the microwatershed is non gravelly (200 mm/m) in available water capacity, 28 per cent area is medium (101-150 mm/m) and 4 per cent of area is low (51-100 mm/m) and 46 per cent of area is very low (0.75%), 47 per cent area is medium (0.5-0.75%) and 37 per cent area is low (1 ppm) in an area of 1 per cent of the microwatershed.  Available iron is sufficient (>4.5 ppm) in an area of 53 per cent and deficient (<4.5 ppm) in an area of 42 per cent of the microwatershed.  Available manganese and copper are sufficient in all the soils of the microwatershed.  Available zinc is deficient (<0.6 ppm) in the entire area of the microwatershed.  The land suitability for 29 major crops grown in the microwatershed were assessed and the areas that are highly suitable (S1) and moderately suitable (S2) are given below. It is however to be noted that a given soil may be suitable for various crops but what specific crop to be grown may be decided by the farmer looking to his capacity to invest on various inputs, marketing infrastructure, market price and finally the demand and supply position. Land suitability for various crops in the Microwatershed Crop Suitability Area in ha (%) Crop Suitability Area in ha (%) Highly suitable (S1) Moderately suitable (S2) Highly suitable (S1) Moderately suitable (S2) Sorghum 114 (28) 86 (21) Guava - 114 (28) Maize 114 (28) 86 (21) Sapota - 114 (28) Bajra 114 (28) 86 (21) Pomegranate - 114 (28) Groundnut - 114 (28) Musambi - 114 (28) Sunflower - 114 (28) Lime - 114 (28) Redgram - 183 (45) Amla - 114 (28) Bengal gram - 34 (8) Cashew - - Cotton - 131 (32) Jackfruit - 114 (28) Chilli 114 (28) 17 (4) Jamun - - Tomato 114 (28) 17 (4) Custard apple - 131 (32) Brinjal 114 (28) 17 (4) Tamarind - - Onion 114 (28) 17 (4) Mulberry - 114 (28) Bhendi 114 (28) 17 (4) Marigold 114 (28) 17 (4) Drumstick - 114 (28) Chrysanthemum 114 (28) 17 (4) Mango - -  Apart from the individual crop suitability, a proposed crop plan has been prepared for the identified LMUs by considering only the highly and moderately suitable lands for different crops and cropping systems with food, fodder, fibre and other horticulture crops.  Maintaining soil-health is vital for crop production and conserve soil and land resource base for maintaining ecological balance and to mitigate climate change. For this, several ameliorative measures have been suggested for these problematic soils like saline/alkali, highly eroded, sandy soils etc.,  Soil and water conservation treatment plan has been prepared that would help in identifying the sites to be treated and also the type of structures required.  As part of the greening programme, several tree species have been suggested to be planted in marginal and submarginal lands, field bunds and also in the hillocks, mounds and ridges. This would help in not only supplementing the farm income but also provide fodder and fuel and generate lot of biomass which would help in maintaining an ecological balance and also contribute to mitigating the climate change. FINDINGS OF THE SOCIO-ECONOMIC SURVEY  The survey was conducted in Turk Madhawar-3 is located at North latitude 160 40' 45.259" and 160 39' 18.32" and East longitude 770 20' 39.786'' and 770 19' 24.974" covering an area of about 420.22 ha coming unde Madhwara, Yalasatti and Thotalura villages of Yadagiri taluk.  Socio-economic analysis of Turk Madhawar-3 micro watersheds of Turk Madhawar sub-watershed, Yadgiri taluk & District indicated that, out of the total sample of 35 farmers were sampled in Turk Madhawar-3 micro-watershed among households surveyed 11 (31.43%) were marginal, 15 (42.86%) were small, 4 (11.43 %) were semi medium and 3 (8.57 %) were medium farmers. 2 landless farmers were also interviewed for the survey.  The population characteristics of households indicated that, there were 110 (55.84%) men and 87 (44.16 %) were women. The average population of landless was 3, marginal farmers were 5.4, small farmers were 6.7, semi medium farmers were 4.3 and medium farmers were 5.  Majority of the respondents (49.75%) were in the age group of 16-35 years.  Education level of the sample households indicated that, there were 62.94 per cent illiterates, 2.03 percent were functional literates, 37.06 per cent pre university education and 1.02 per cent attained graduation.  About, 100.00 per cent of household heads practicing agriculture.  Agriculture was the major occupation for 75.13 per cent of the household members.  In the study area, 80.00 per cent of the households possess katcha house and 14.29 per cent possess pucca house.  The durable assets owned by the households showed that, 88.57 per cent possess TV, 25.71 per cent possess mixer grinder, 100.00 per cent possess mobile phones and 11.43 per cent possess motor cycles.  Farm implements owned by the households indicated that, 28.57 per cent of the households possess plough, and 22.86 per cent possess bullock cart.  Regarding livestock possession by the households, 5.71 per cent possess local cow and 2.86 per cent possess buffalo.  The average labour availability in the study area showed that, own labour men available in the micro watershed was 2.03, women available in the micro watershed was 1.80, hired labour (men) available was 6.57 and hired labour (women) available was 6.57.  Further, 5.71 per cent of the households opined that hired labour was inadequate during the agricultural season. 2  In the study area, about 0.51 per cent of the respondents migrated from the micro watershed in search of jobs with an average distance of 800.00 kms for about 4.00 months.  Out of the total land holding of the sample respondents 91.34 per cent (52.84 ha) of the area is under dry condition and the remaining 8.66 per cent area is irrigated land.  There were 4.00 live bore wells and 4.00 dry bore wells among the sampled households.  Bore well was the major source of irrigation for 11.43 per cent of the households.  The major crops grown by sample farmers are Red gram, Cotton, Groundnut, Sugarcane and Jowar and cropping intensity was recorded as 94.68 per cent.  Out of the sample households 100.00 percent possessed bank account and 100.00 per cent of them have savings in the account.  About 25.71 per cent of the respondents borrowed credit from various sources.  Among the credit borrowed by households, 50.00 per cent have borrowed loan from commercial banks and 137.50 per cent from co-operative/Grameena bank.  Majority of the respondents (100.00%) have borrowed loan for agriculture purpose.  Regarding the opinion on institutional sources of credit, 100.00 per cent of the households opined that credit helped to perform timely agricultural operations.  The per hectare cost of cultivation for Red gram, Cotton, Groundnut, Sugarcane and Jowar was Rs.26712.06, 34854.65, 51940.42, 83049.00 and 36461.10 with benefit cost ratio of 1:1.40, 1: 1.20, 1: 2.60, 1: 3.10 and 1:0.80 respectively.  Further, 48.57 per cent of the households opined that dry fodder was adequate.  The average annual gross income of the farmers was Rs. 77585.71 in microwatershed, of which Rs. 60842.86 comes from agriculture.  Sampled households have grown 3 horticulture trees and 112 forestry trees together in the fields and back yards.  About 8.57 per cent of the households shown interest to cultivate horticultural crops.  Households have an average investment capacity of Rs. 10257.14 for land development.  Source of funds for additional investment is concerned, 94.29 per cent depends on bank loan for land development activities.  Regarding marketing channels, 88.57 per cent of the households have sold agricultural produce to the local/village merchants, while, 2.86 per cent have sold in regulated markets.  Further, 31.43 per cent of the households have used tractor for the transport of agriculture commodity. 3  Majority of the farmers (97.14%) have experienced soil and water erosion problems in the watershed and 94.29 per cent of the households were interested towards soil testing.  About, 57.14 per cent of farmers practicing summer ploughing as soil and water conservation practice.  Fire was the major source of fuel for domestic use for 97.14 per cent of the households and 5.71 per cent households has LPG connection.  Piped supply was the major source for drinking water for 88.57 per cent of the households.  Electricity was the major source of light for 100.00 per cent of the households.  In the study area, 51.43 per cent of the households possess toilet facility.  Regarding possession of PDS card, 100.00 per cent of the households possessed BPL card.  Households opined that, the requirement of cereals (94.29%), pulses (77.14%) and oilseeds (60.00%) are adequate for consumption.  Farming constraints experienced by households in the micro watersheds were lower fertility status of the soil (88.57%) wild animal menace on farm field (77.14%), frequent incidence of pest and diseases (88.57%), inadequacy of irrigation water (88.57%), high cost of fertilizers and plant protection chemicals (91.43%), high rate of interest on credit (85.71%), low price for the agricultural commodities (88.57%), lack of marketing facilities in the area (80.00%), inadequate extension services (57.14%), lack of transport for safe transport of the agricultural produce to the market (71.43%), Less rainfall (80.00%) and Source of Agri-technology information (Newspaper/ TV/Mobile) (40.00%). ; Watershed Development Department, Government of Karnataka (World Bank Funded) Sujala –III Project.

Not Available ; The land resource inventory of Malkapalli Microwatershed was conducted using village cadastral maps and IRS satellite imagery on 1:7920 scale. The false colour composites of IRS imagery were interpreted for physiography and the physiographic delineations were used as base for mapping soils. The soils were studied in several transects and a soil map was prepared with phases of soil series as mapping units. Random checks were made all over the area outside the transects to confirm and validate the soil map unit boundaries. The soil map shows the geographic distribution and extent, characteristics, classification, behavior and use potentials of the soils in the microwatershed. The present study covers an area of 836 ha in Yadgir taluk & district, Karnataka. The climate is semiarid and categorized as drought-prone with an average annual rainfall of 866 mm, of which about 652 mm is received during south-west monsoon, 138 mm during north-east and the remaining 76 mm during the rest of the year. An area of 801 ha in the microwatershed is covered by soils, 16 ha by rock outcrops and about 19 ha by others (habitation and water bodies). The salient findings from the land resource inventory are summarized briefly below.  The soils belong to 9 soil series and 11 soil phases (management units) and 3 land management units.  The length of crop growing period is about 120-150 days starting from 1st week of June to 4th week of October.  From the master soil map, several interpretative and thematic maps like land capability, soil depth, surface soil texture, soil gravelliness, available water capacity, soil slope and soil erosion were generated.  Soil fertility status maps for macro and micronutrients were generated based on the surface soil samples collected at every 320 m grid interval.  Land suitability for growing 29 major agricultural and horticultural crops was assessed and maps showing the degree of suitability along with constraints were generated.  Entire area in the microwatershed is suitable for agriculture.  About 46 per cent area of the microwatershed has soils that are moderately deep to deep (75 - 150 cm) and 50 per cent soils are very shallow to shallow (200 mm/m) in available water capacity, 15 per cent medium (101-150 mm/m), 3 per cent area low (51-100 mm/m) and 50 per cent area very low (0.75%) in organic carbon content.  About 2 per cent area is low ( 57 kg/ha) in available phosphorus.  An area 86 per cent is medium (145-337 kg/ha) and 10 per cent is high (>337 kg/ha) in available potassium in the microwatershed.  Available sulphur is low (20 ppm) in less than 1 per cent of the microwatershed.  Available boron is low (4.5 ppm) 93 per cent and deficient (0.6 ppm) in 87 per cent area of the microwatershed.  The land suitability for 29 major crops grown in the microwatershed were assessed and the areas that are highly suitable (S1) and moderately suitable (S2) are given below. It is however to be noted that a given soil may be suitable for various crops but what specific crop to be grown may be decided by the farmer looking to his capacity to invest on various inputs, marketing infrastructure, market price and finally the demand and supply position. Land suitability for various crops in the Microwatershed Crop Suitability Area in ha (%) Crop Suitability Area in ha (%) Highly suitable (S1) Moderately suitable (S2) Highly suitable (S1) Moderately suitable (S2) Sorghum 162(19) 224(27) Guava - 146(17) Maize 123(15) 263(31) Sapota - 146(17) Bajra 146(17) 240(29) Pomegranate - 386(46) Groundnut 23(3) 123(15) Musambi 39(5) 347(42) Sunflower 39(5) 347(42) Lime 39(5) 347(42) Redgram - 386(46) Amla 146(17) 39(5) Bengal gram 39(5) 201(24) Cashew - 23(3) Cotton 39(5) 324(39) Jackfruit - 146(17) Chilli 123(15) 263(31) Jamun - 39(5) Tomato 123(15) 23(3) Custard apple 61(7) 324(39) Brinjal 123(15) 23(3) Tamarind - 39(5) Onion 123(15) 23(3) Mulberry - 146(17) Bhendi 123(15) 263(31) Marigold 123(15) 263(31) Drumstick - 185 (22) Chrysanthemum 123(15) 263(31) Mango - -  Apart from the individual crop suitability, a proposed crop plan has been prepared for the identified LMUs by considering only the highly and moderately suitable lands for different crops and cropping systems with food, fodder, fibre and horticulture crops.  Maintaining soil-health is vital for crop production and conserve soil and land resource base for maintaining ecological balance and to mitigate climate change. For this, several ameliorative measures have been suggested to these problematic soils like saline/alkali, highly eroded, sandy soils etc.,  Soil and water conservation treatment plan has been prepared that would help in identifying the sites to be treated and also the type of structures required.  As part of the greening programme, several tree species have been suggested to be planted in marginal and sub marginal lands, field bunds and also in the hillocks, mounds and ridges. This would help in not only supplementing the farm income but also provide fodder and fuel and generate lot of biomass which would help in maintaining an ecological balance and also contribute to mitigating the climate change. FINDINGS OF THE SOCIO-ECONOMIC SURVEY  The survey was conducted in Malkapalli is located at North latitude 160 56' 3.172" and 160 54' 55.689" and East longitude 770 20' 50.652'' and 770 19' 45.408" covering an area of about 183.35 ha coming under Mitathapadamapalli and Siddapura. B villages of Yadagiri taluk.  Socio-economic analysis of Malkapalli micro watersheds of Mothakapalli subwatershed, Yadgiri taluk & District indicated that, out of the total sample of 35 farmers were sampled in Malkapalli micro-watershed among households surveyed 15 (42.86%) were marginal, 8 (22.86%) were small, 8 (22.86 %) were semi medium and 2 (5.71 %) were medium farmers. 2 landless farmers were also interviewed for the survey.  The population characteristics of households indicated that, there were 75 (52.82%) men and 67 (47.18 %) were women. The average population of landless was 3.5, marginal farmers were 4.1, small farmers were 3.9, semi medium farmers were 4.3 and medium farmers were 4.5.  Majority of the respondents (39.44%) were in the age group of 16-35 years.  Education level of the sample households indicated that, there were 66.20 per cent of illiterates, 21.83 per cent of them had primary school education, 2.11 per cent middle school education, 4.93 per cent high school education, 0.70 per cent of them had PUC education, 1.41 per cent of them had Diploma, 1.41 per cent attained graduation and 1.41 them had other education.  About, 97.14 per cent of household heads practicing agriculture and 5.71 per cent of the household heads were engaged as agricultural labourers.  Agriculture was the major occupation for 68.31 per cent of the household members.  In the study area, 97.14 per cent of the households possess katcha house and 2.86 per cent possess pucca house.  The durable assets owned by the households showed that, 82.86 per cent possess TV, 62.86 per cent possess mixer grinder, 94.29 per cent possess mobile phones and 8.57 per cent possess motor cycles.  Farm implements owned by the households indicated that, 17.14 per cent of the households possess Bullock Cart, 31.43 per cent possess plough, 2.86 per cent possess Sprayer, 14.29 per cent possess Weeder and 2.86 per cent possess Sprinkler.  Regarding livestock possession by the households, 11.43 per cent possess local cow and 8.57 per cent possess buffalo.  The average labour availability in the study area showed that, own labour men available in the micro watershed was 1.71, women available in the micro 2 watershed was 1.63, hired labour (men) available was 6.6 and hired labour (women) available was 6.60.  Further, 2.86 per cent of the households opined that hired labour was inadequate during the agricultural season.  Out of the total land holding of the sample respondents 60.08 per cent (42.93 ha) of the area is under dry condition and the remaining 34.26 per cent area is irrigated land.  There were 12.00 live bore wells and 8.00 dry bore wells among the sampled households.  Bore well was the major source of irrigation for 34.29 per cent of the households.  The major crops grown by sample farmers are Red gram, Cotton, Groundnut, Paddy and Jowar and cropping intensity was recorded as 99.49 per cent.  Out of the sample households 91.43 percent possessed bank account and 20.00 per cent of them have savings in the account.  About 71.43 per cent of the respondents borrowed credit from various sources.  Among the credit borrowed by households, 100.00 per cent have borrowed loan from commercial banks.  Majority of the respondents (100.00%) have borrowed loan for agriculture purpose.  Regarding the opinion on institutional sources of credit, 100.00 per cent of the households opined that credit helped to perform timely agricultural operations.  The per hectare cost of cultivation for Red gram, Cotton, Groundnut, Paddy and Jowar was Rs.28862.38 , 23932.90, 59387.59, 63260.36, and 11566.09 with benefit cost ratio of 1:1.70, 1: 2.40, 1: 1.10, 1: 1.60, and 1:1.10 , respectively.  Further, 42.86 per cent of the households opined that dry fodder was adequate and 20.00 per cent of the households have opined that the green fodder was adequate.  The average annual gross income of the farmers was Rs. 81257.14 in microwatershed, of which Rs. 45414.29 comes from agriculture.  Sampled households have grown 39 forestry trees together in the fields and back yards.  Households have an average investment capacity of Rs. 1285.71 for land development.  Source of funds for additional investment is concerned, 22.22 per cent depends on own funds and 2.78 per cent depends on bank loan for land development activities.  Regarding marketing channels, 82.86 per cent of the households have sold agricultural produce to the local/village merchants, while, 11.43 per cent have sold in regulated markets. 3  Further, 65.71 per cent of the households have used tractor for the transport of agriculture commodity.  Majority of the farmers (85.71%) have experienced soil and water erosion problems in the watershed and 91.43 per cent of the households were interested towards soil testing.  Fire was the major source of fuel for domestic use for 102.86 per cent of the households and 8.57 per cent households has LPG connection.  Piped supply was the major source for drinking water for 85.71 per cent of the households.  Electricity was the major source of light for 100.00 per cent of the households.  In the study area, 34.29 per cent of the households possess toilet facility.  Regarding possession of PDS card, 100.00 per cent of the households possessed BPL card.  Households opined that, the requirement of cereals (108.57%), pulses (100.00%) and oilseeds (91.43%) are adequate for consumption.  Farming constraints experienced by households in the micro watersheds were lower fertility status of the soil (100.00%) wild animal menace on farm field (80.00%), frequent incidence of pest and diseases (91.43%), inadequacy of irrigation water (91.43%), high cost of fertilizers and plant protection chemicals (91.43%), high rate of interest on credit (91.43%), low price for the agricultural commodities (94.29%), lack of marketing facilities in the area (88.57%), inadequate extension services (62.86%) and lack of transport for safe transport of the agricultural produce to the market (91.43%). ; Watershed Development Department, Government of Karnataka (World Bank Funded) Sujala –III Project

Not Available ; The land resource inventory of Mundragi-1 Microwatershed was conducted using village cadastral maps and IRS satellite imagery on 1:7920 scale. The false colour composites of IRS imagery were interpreted for physiography and the physiographic delineations were used as base for mapping soils. The soils were studied in several transects and a soil map was prepared with phases of soil series as mapping units. Random checks were made all over the area outside the transects to confirm and validate the soil map unit boundaries. The soil map shows the geographic distribution and extent, characteristics, classification, behavior and use potentials of the soils in the microwatershed. The present study covers an area of 452 ha in Yadgir taluk & district, Karnataka. The climate is semiarid and categorized as drought-prone with an average annual rainfall of 866 mm, of which about 652 mm is received during south-west monsoon, 138 mm during north-east and the remaining 76 mm during the rest of the year. An area of 409 ha in the microwatershed is covered by soils, 19 ha by rock outcrops and about 24 ha by others (habitation and water bodies). The salient findings from the land resource inventory are summarized briefly below.  The soils belong to 9 soil series and 15 soil phases (management units) and 5 land management units.  The length of crop growing period is about 120-150 days starting from 1st week of June to 4th week of October.  From the master soil map, several interpretative and thematic maps like land capability, soil depth, surface soil texture, soil gravelliness, available water capacity, soil slope and soil erosion were generated.  Soil fertility status maps for macro and micronutrients were generated based on the surface soil samples collected at every 320 m grid interval.  Land suitability for growing 29 major agricultural and horticultural crops was assessed and maps showing the degree of suitability along with constraints were generated.  Entire area in the microwatershed is suitable for agriculture.  About88 per cent area of the microwatershed has soils that are moderately deep to very deep (75 - >150 cm) and 3 per cent soils are moderately shallow (50-75 cm).  About 45 per cent area in the microwatershed has loamy soils and 46 per cent clayey soils.  About 90 per cent area is non gravelly (200 mm/m) in available water capacity and 15 per cent area low (51-100 mm/m) in available water capacity.  An area of about 36 per cent soils are nearly level (0-1%) and 55% area of microwatershed has very gently sloping (1-3% slope) lands.  An area of about 36 per cent is slightly (e1) eroded, 55 per cent area is moderately (e2) eroded.  An area of about 44 per cent soils are neutral (pH 6.5-7.3) in soil reaction and 47 per cent soils are slightly to moderately alkaline (pH 7.3-8.4).  The Electrical Conductivity (EC) of the soils in the entire area of the microwatershed is dominantly 0.75) in organic carbon content.  About 80 per cent area is medium (23-57 kg/ha) and 10 per area is high (>57 kg/ha) in available phosphorus.  About an area of 41 per cent is medium (145-337 kg/ha) and 50 per cent high (>337 kg/ha) in available potassium.  Available sulphur is low (4.5 ppm) in 77 per cent and deficient (<4.5 ppm) in 14 per cent of the microwatershed.  Available manganese and copper are sufficient in all the soils of the microwatershed.  Available zinc is deficient (<0.6 ppm) in entire area of the microwatershed.  The land suitability for 29 major crops grown in the microwatershed were assessed and the areas that are highly suitable (S1) and moderately suitable (S2) are given below. It is however to be noted that a given soil may be suitable for various crops but what specific crop to be grown may be decided by the farmer looking to his capacity to invest on various inputs, marketing infrastructure, market price and finally the demand and supply position. Land suitability for various crops in the Microwatershed Crop Suitability Area in ha (%) Crop Suitability Area in ha (%) Highly suitable (S1) Moderately suitable (S2) Highly suitable (S1) Moderately suitable (S2) Sorghum 341(76) 50(11) Guava - 54(12) Maize - 391(87) Sapota - 54(12) Bajra - 409(91) Pomegranate - 395(88) Groundnut - 57(13) Musambi 240(53) 156(34) Sunflower 243(54) 135(30) Lime 240(53) 156(34) Redgram - 395(88) Amla 108(24) 282(62) Bengal gram 341(76) 37(8) Cashew - 23(5) Cotton 328(73) 49(11) Jackfruit - 36(8) Chilli - 409(91) Jamun - 359(80) Tomato - 289(64) Custard apple 356(79) 35(8) Brinjal 143(32) 267(59) Tamarind - 359(80) Onion 88(20) 100(22) Mulberry - 36(8) Bhendi 262(58) 147(32) Marigold - 409(91) Drumstick - 395(88) Chrysanthemum - 409(91) Mango - 21(5)  Apart from the individual crop suitability, a proposed crop plan has been prepared for the identified LUCs by considering only the highly and moderately suitable lands for different crops and cropping systems with food, fodder, fibre and horticulture crops.  Maintaining soil-health is vital to crop production and conserve soil and land resource base for maintaining ecological balance and to mitigate climate change. For this, several ameliorative measures have been suggested to these problematic soils like saline/alkali, highly eroded, sandy soils etc.,  Soil and water conservation treatment plan has been prepared that would help in identifying the sites to be treated and also the type of structures required.  As part of the greening programme, several tree species have been suggested to be planted in marginal and sub marginal lands, field bunds and also in the hillocks, mounds and ridges. This would help in not only supplementing the farm income but also provide fodder and fuel and generate lot of biomass which would help in maintaining an ecological balance and also contribute to mitigating the climate change. FINDINGS OF THE SOCIO-ECONOMIC SURVEY  The survey was conducted in Mundragi-1 is located at North latitude 160 48' 22.633" and 160 45' 58.37" and East longitude 770 10' 52.633'' and 770 8' 22.747" covering an area of about 451.37 ha coming under Mundaragi, Dastharabadha and Yadhagiri. B Villages of Yadagiri taluk.  Socio-economic analysis of Mundragi-1 micro watersheds of Belagiri sub-watershed, Yadgiri taluk & District indicated that, out of the total sample of 36 farmers were sampled in Mundragi-1 micro-watershed among households surveyed 18 (50.00%) were marginal, 9 (25.00%) were small, 2 (5.56 %) were semi medium and 2 (5.56 %) were medium farmers. 5 landless farmers were also interviewed for the survey.  The population characteristics of households indicated that, there were 75 (55.97%) men and 59 (44.03 %) were women. The average population of landless was 3, marginal farmers were 3.8, small farmers were 3.1, semi medium farmers were 6.5 and medium farmers were 4.5.  Majority of the respondents (47.76%) were in the age group of 16-35 years.  Education level of the sample households indicated that, there were 67.91 per cent illiterates, 28.36 per cent pre university education and 3.73 per cent attained graduation.  About, 69.44 per cent of household heads practicing agriculture and 16.67 per cent of the household heads were engaged as agricultural labourers. Agriculture was the major occupation for 47.76 per cent of the household members.  In the study area, 72.22 per cent of the households possess katcha house and 25.00 per cent possess pucca house.  The durable assets owned by the households showed that, 83.33 per cent possess TV, 8.33 per cent possess mixer grinder, 88.89 per cent possess mobile phones and 5.56 per cent possess motor cycles. Farm implements owned by the households indicated that, 22.22 per cent of the households possess plough, 8.33 per cent possess bullock cart and 2.78 per cent possess sprayer.  Regarding livestock possession by the households, 13.89 per cent possess local cow and 8.33 per cent possess buffalo.  The average labour availability in the study area showed that, own labour men available in the micro watershed was 1.71, women available in the micro watershed was 1.39, hired labour (men) available was 5.48 and hired labour (women) available was 8.74.  Out of the total land holding of the sample respondents 63.47 per cent (26.74 ha) of the area is under dry condition and the remaining 36.53 per cent area is irrigated land.  There were 9.00 live bore wells and 6.00 dry bore wells among the sampled households. Bore/open well was the major source of irrigation for 25.00 per cent of the households.  The major crops grown by sample farmers are Red gram, Groundut, Green gram, Sorghum and Cotton and cropping intensity was recorded as 99.50 per cent.  Out of the sample households 100.00 percent possessed bank account and 36.11 per cent of them have savings in the account. About 30.56 per cent of the respondents 2 borrowed credit from various sources. Among the credit borrowed by households, 7.69 per cent have borrowed loan from commercial banks and 23.08 per cent from cooperative/ Grameena bank.  Majority of the respondents (100.00%) have borrowed loan for agriculture purpose.  Regarding the opinion on institutional sources of credit, 66.67 per cent of the households opined that credit helped to perform timely agricultural operations.  The per hectare cost of cultivation for Red gram, Groundut, Green gram, Sorghum and Cotton was Rs.43279.56, 119183.08, 44891.32, 30259.60 and 58983.03 with benefit cost ratio of 1:1.60, 1: 0.80, 1: 0.80, 1: 1.40 and 1:1.40 respectively.  Further, 16.67 per cent of the households opined that dry fodder was adequate and 8.33 per cent of the households have opined that the green fodder was adequate.  The average annual gross income of the farmers was Rs. 106666.67 in microwatershed, of which Rs. 48361.11 comes from agriculture.  Sampled households have grown 8 horticulture trees and 57 forestry trees together in the fields and back yards. About 5.56 per cent of the households shown interest to cultivate horticultural crops.  Households have an average investment capacity of Rs. 1250.00 for land development and Rs. 833.33 for irrigation facility. Source of funds for additional investment is concerned, 8.33 per cent depends on bank loan for land development activities.  Regarding marketing channels, 25.00 per cent of the households have sold agricultural produce to the local/village merchants, while, 63.89 per cent have sold in regulated markets.  Further, 86.11 per cent of the households have used tractor for the transport of agriculture commodity.  Majority of the farmers (83.33%) have experienced soil and water erosion problems in the watershed and 86.11 per cent of the households were interested towards soil testing.  Fire was the major source of fuel for domestic use for 66.67 per cent of the households and 36.11 per cent households has LPG connection.  Piped supply was the major source for drinking water for 97.22 per cent of the households. Electricity was the major source of light for 97.22 per cent of the households. In the study area, 30.56 per cent of the households possess toilet facility.  Regarding possession of PDS card, 100.00 per cent of the households possessed BPL card. Households opined that, the requirement of cereals (97.22%), pulses (94.44%) and oilseeds (66.67%) are adequate for consumption.  Farming constraints experienced by households in the micro watersheds were lower fertility status of the soil (88.89%) wild animal menace on farm field (83.33%), frequent incidence of pest and diseases (66.67%), inadequacy of irrigation water (38.89%), high cost of fertilizers and plant protection chemicals (88.89%), high rate of interest on credit (80.56%), low price for the agricultural commodities (80.56%), lack of marketing facilities in the area (83.33%), inadequate extension services (13.89%), lack of transport for safe transport of the agricultural produce to the market (86.11%). ; Watershed Development Department, Government of Karnataka (World Bank Funded) Sujala –III Project

Not Available ; The land resource inventory of Totlur-2 Microwatershed was conducted using village cadastral maps and IRS satellite imagery on 1:7920 scale. The false colour composites of IRS imagery were interpreted for physiography and the physiographic delineations were used as base for mapping soils. The soils were studied in several transects and a soil map was prepared with phases of soil series as mapping units. Random checks were made all over the area outside the transects to confirm and validate the soil map unit boundaries. The soil map shows the geographic distribution and extent, characteristics, classification, behavior and use potentials of the soils in the microwatershed. The present study covers an area of 579 ha in Yadgir taluk & district, Karnataka. The climate is semiarid and categorized as drought-prone with an average annual rainfall of 866 mm, of which about 652 mm is received during south-west monsoon, 138 mm during north-east and the remaining 76 mm during the rest of the year. An area of 559 ha (96%) in the microwatershed is covered by soils, 3 ha (1%) by rock outcrops and 16 ha (3%) by others (habitation and water bodies). The salient findings from the land resource inventory are summarized briefly below.  The soils belong to 11 soil series and 20 soil phases (management units) and 8 Land management units.  The length of crop growing period is about 120-150 days starting from 1st week of June to 4th week of October.  From the master soil map, several interpretative and thematic maps like land capability, soil depth, surface soil texture, soil gravelliness, available water capacity, soil slope and soil erosion were generated.  Soil fertility status maps for macro and micronutrients were generated based on the surface soil samples collected at every 320 m grid interval.  Land suitability for growing 26 major agricultural and horticultural crops was assessed and maps showing the degree of suitability along with constraints were generated.  Entire area in the microwatershed is suitable for agriculture.  About 41 per cent area of the microwatershed has soils that are deep to very deep (100 to >150 cm), 11 per cent moderately deep (75-100 cm) and 46 per cent soils are very shallow to moderately shallow (200 mm/m) in available water capacity.  Entire area in the microwatershed has very gently sloping (1-3% slope) lands.  An area of about 70 per cent are moderately (e2) eroded and 27 per cent area is severely (e3) eroded.  An area of about 2 per cent is moderately acid (pH 5.5-6.0), 5 per cent is slightly acid (pH 6.0-6.5), 24 per cent is neutral (pH 6.5-7.3), 17 per cent is slightly alkaline (pH 7.3-7.8), 22 per cent is moderately alkaline (pH 7.8- 8.4) and 26 per cent is very strongly alkaline (pH >9.0).  The Electrical Conductivity (EC) of the soils in the entire area of the microwatershed is dominantly 0.75%) in organic carbon.  About 43 per cent area is low (57 kg/ha) in available phosphorus.  About 33 per cent is low (337 kg/ha) in available potassium.  Available sulphur is low (20 ppm) in 11 per cent area of the microwatershed.  Available boron is low (1.0 ppm) in 9 per cent area of the microwatershed.  Available iron is deficient (4.5 ppm) in 88 per cent area of the microwatershed.  Available manganese is sufficient in all the soils of the microwatershed.  Available copper is deficient (0.2 ppm) in 92 per cent area of the microwatershed.  Available zinc is deficient (0.6 ppm) in 3 per cent area of the microwatershed.  The land suitability for 26 major agricultural and horticultural crops grown in the microwatershed was assessed and the areas that are highly suitable (S1) and moderately suitable (S2) are given below. It is however to be noted that a given soil may be suitable for various crops but what specific crop to be grown may be decided by the farmer looking to his capacity to invest on various inputs, marketing infrastructure, market price and finally the demand and supply position. Land suitability for various crops in the Microwatershed Crop Suitability Area in ha (%) Crop Suitability Area in ha (%) Highly suitable (S1) Moderately suitable (S2) Highly suitable (S1) Moderately suitable (S2) Sorghum - 285(50) Sapota - - Maize - 50 (9) Pomegranate - 235(41) Bajra - 347(61) Musambi - 235(41) Groundnut - 64(11) Lime - 235(41) Sunflower - 235(41) Amla - 347(61) Redgram - 207(36) Cashew - - Bengal gram 28(5) 257(45) Jackfruit - - Cotton 28(5) 257(45) Jamun - 235(41) Chilli - 285(50) Custard apple - 347(61) Tomato - 50(9) Tamarind - 235(41) Drumstick - 297(52) Mulberry - 62(11) Mango - - Marigold - 285(50) Guava - - Chrysanthemum - 285(50)  Apart from the individual crop suitability, a proposed crop plan has been prepared for the identified LMU's by considering only the highly and moderately suitable lands for different crops and cropping systems with food, fodder, fibre and other horticulture crops.  Maintaining soil-health is vital for crop production and conserve soil and land resource base for maintaining ecological balance and to mitigate climate change. For this, several ameliorative measures have been suggested for these problematic soils like saline/alkali, highly eroded, sandy soils etc.,  Soil and water conservation treatment plan has been prepared that would help in identifying the sites to be treated and also the type of structures required.  As part of the greening programme, several tree species have been suggested to be planted in marginal and submarginal lands, field bunds and also in the hillocks, mounds and ridges. This would help in not only supplementing the farm income but also provide fodder and fuel and generate lot of biomass which would help in maintaining an ecological balance and also contribute to mitigating the climate change. Baseline socioeconomic characterisation is prerequisite to prepare action plan for program implementation and to assess the project performance before making any changes in the watershed development program. The baseline provides appropriate policy direction for enhancing productivity and sustainability in agriculture. Methodology: Totlur-2 micro-watershed (Yadgir taluk and district) is located in between 16041' – 16043' North latitudes and 77017' – 77020' East longitudes, covering an area of about 579.18 ha, bounded by Yaleri and Thotalura villages with length of growing period (LGP) 120-150 days. We used soil resource map as basis for sampling farm households to test the hypothesis that soil quality influence crop selection, and conservation investment of farm households. The level of technology adoption and productivity gaps and livelihood patterns were analyses. The cost of soil degradation and ecosystem services were quantified. Results: The socio-economic outputs for the Totlur-2 micro-watershed in Yadgir taluk and district are presented here. Social Indicators;  Male and female ratio is 39.3 to 60.7 per cent to the total sample population.  Younger age group 18 to 50 of population is around 52.6 per cent to the total population.  Literacy population is around 52.6 per cent.  Social groups belong to other backward caste (OBC) are around 72.7 per cent.  Fire wood is the source of energy for a cooking among all sample households.  About 9.09 per cent of households have a yashaswini health card.  About 9.09 per cent farm households having MGNREGA card for rural employment.  Dependence on ration cards for food grains through public distribution system among all sample farm households.  Swach bharath program providing closed toilet facilities around 36.4 per cent of sample households.  Women participation in decisions making for agriculture production among all sample households. Economic Indicators;  The average land holding is 2.30 ha indicates that majority of farm households are belong to semi medium and medium farmers. The account for dry land of 69.0 ha among the total cultivated land among the sample households.  Agriculture is the main occupation is only 7.0 per cent and agriculture is the main and non agriculture labour is subsidiary occupation for 59.6 per cent of sample households. 2  The average value of domestic assets is around Rs.12097 per household. Mobile and television are popular media mass communication.  The average value of farm assets is around Rs.99748 per household, about 23.3 per cent of sample farmers are owing plough.  The average value of livestock is around Rs.36792 per household; about 82.6 per cent of household are having livestock.  The average per capita food consumption is around 904.7 grams (1955.7 kilo calories) against national institute of nutrition recommendation at 827 gram. Around 63.6 per cent of sample households are consuming more than the NIN recommendation.  The annual average income is around Rs. 55143 per household. About 72.7 per cent of farm households are below poverty line.  The per capita monthly average expenditure is around Rs.2660. Environmental Indicators-Ecosystem Services;  The value of ecosystem service helps to support investment to decision on soil and water conservation and in promoting sustainable land use.  The average value of ecosystem service for food grain production is around Rs. Rs.29866/ ha/year. Per hectare food grain production services is maximum in paddy (Rs.57159) followed by cotton (Rs.47943), red gram (Rs. 12009) and groundnut (Rs. 2353).  The average value of ecosystem service for fodder production is around Rs.2367/ ha/year. Per hectare fodder production services is maximum paddy (Rs. 3705) and groundnut (Rs.1029).  The data on water requirement for producing one quintal of grain is considered for estimating the total value of water required for crop production. The value of per hectare water used and value of water was maximum in cotton (Rs.55729) followed by red gram (Rs.53451), paddy (Rs.49588) and groundnut (Rs. 20615). Economic Land Evaluation;  The major cropping pattern is redgram (72.7 %) followed by groundnut (17.7 %), cotton (8.0 %) and paddy (1.6 %).  The total cost of cultivation and benefit cost ratio (BCR) in study area for redgram ranges between Rs.41218/ha in marginal farmers (with BCR of 1.26) and Rs.8431/ha in medium farmers (with BCR of 3.96).  In paddy the cost of cultivation is Rs.76221/ha in semi medium farmers (with BCR of 1.75).  In groundnut the cost of cultivation is Rs.23582/ha in Medium farmers (with BCR of 1.10).  The land management practices reported by the farmers are crop rotation, tillage practices, fertilizer application and use of farm yard manure (FYM). Due to higher 3 wages farmer are following labour saving strategies is not prating soil and water conservation measures. Less ownership of livestock limiting application of FYM.  It was observed soil quality influences on the type and intensity of land use. More fertilizer applications in deeper soils to maximize returns. Suggestions;  Involving farmers is watershed planning helps in strengthing institutional participation.  The per capita food consumption and monthly income is very low. Diversifying income generation activities from crop and livestock production in order to reduce risk related to drought and market prices.  Majority of farmers reported that they are not getting timely support/extension services from the concerned development departments.  By strengthing agricultural extension for providing timely advice improved technology there is scope to increase in net income of farm households.  By adopting recommended package of practices by following the soil test fertiliser recommendation, there is scope to increase yield in redgram (5 to 39.3 %), paddy (49.4 %), cotton (19.0 %) and groundnut (56.6 %). ; Watershed Development Department, Government of Karnataka (World Bank Funded) Sujala –III Project

"Green cities" offer a systematic approach to a significant part of the nowadays urban complexity. The concept dovetails in the "healthy city" idea launched by the World Health Organization, but is equally associated with "sustainable" and "smart cities". During the past decades planning for "green cities" shifted, incorporating new ideas as sustainable development and IT-driven management instruments for smart cities. Contemporary cities continue to face major environmental challenges. Replying to this dynamic context is a main task for cities during the coming decades of the millennium. As most of the (major) cities worldwide are located at the edge of the continents, supporting water-bound activities, they show a significant "blue economy" aspect. This paper reviews the historical context of the science aspects of "green cities" and the related approaches. Four main challenges for livable (coastal) cities today are discussed, taking into account the continuous changes and the almost permanent transition cities face. Climate change effects as sea level rise and extreme weather conditions, affect directly coastal cities; providing enough drinking water is a long standing and increasing problem; ports face particular and specific environmental problems which are in need of a tailored management; and sufficient accessible green areas remain of primary concern for any green city. Cross cutting through these issues are among others mobility and sustainable urban design.These major challenges will necessitate new processes of decision making. Long term planning is essential. 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Background: Un tema oggi sempre più diffuso e carico di significato, non solo in ambito strettamente scientifico ma anche sociale e politico, è quello riguardante l'uso di sostanze e le relative conseguenze: l'ampia diffusione in commercio di prodotti potenzialmente causa di dipendenza (ad esempio alcol e nicotina) nonché la numerosità progressivamente crescente di individui direttamente ed indirettamente interessati (soprattutto tra le fasce giovanili) hanno suscitato molteplici dibattiti ed un consistente interesse da più fronti. L'addiction può essere considerata un'entità diagnostica a sé stante, il cui perno è rappresentato dalla continua ricerca della gratificazione; i sintomi principali che la caratterizzano sono il craving, le ricadute e la perdita del controllo da parte dell'individuo (coincidente con l'impulsività). Secondo i primi inquadramenti nosografici (DSM I e II) la tossicodipendenza non era definibile come un'entità psicopatologica distinta e autonoma, ma andava considerata espressione e indice di un sottostante disturbo di personalità, la psicopatia. Viene riconosciuta come disturbo indipendente solo con il DSM III. Pochi anni più tardi con l'introduzione del DSM III-R (1987) sembra prevalere una nuova corrente di pensiero, in cui un emergente interesse per gli aspetti psichici e comportamentali della patologia fa scivolare in secondo piano le componenti di natura somatica; in questa nuova cornice il focus viene spostato sul livello di pervasività del disturbo, ossia la sua costanza nella vita dell'individuo, il livello di interferenza e la natura delle relative conseguenze: si parla quindi di disabilità come esito della compromissione delle attività sociali, lavorative o scolastiche. L'intricato panorama nel quale si inserisce il concetto di Doppia Diagnosi rende ancor più difficile comprendere quali siano le possibili implicazioni derivanti dalla compresenza, in uno stesso individuo, di caratteristiche cliniche appartenenti a disturbi diversi: ciò non solo ai fini della formulazione diagnostica, ma anche relativamente all'analisi funzionale e strutturale del quadro sindromico. Recentemente è stata avanzata un'ulteriore ipotesi in merito all'eziopatogenesi di un quadro comorbile tra tossicomania e psicopatologia: secondo alcuni ricercatori infatti la Doppia Diagnosi risulterebbe essere conseguenza di un'erronea riconduzione, sotto il dominio di altri disturbi psichiatrici, di quella parte di sintomatologia identificabile come appartenente alla psicopatologia della dipendenza; come conseguenza, il concetto stesso di comorbidità rappresenterebbe in realtà un artefatto. Da quanto esposto finora appare evidente come il problema relativo alla natura della Doppia Diagnosi sia decisamente complesso e controverso, non essendo la comunità scientifica ancora prevenuta ad una risposta univoca in proposito. Nonostante le difficoltà sopramenzionate, la mole di dati testimoniante la relazione tra tossicomania e disturbi psichiatrici è tuttavia davvero consistente: uno studio ha mostrato ad esempio come l'uso di crack sembri aumentare le probabilità di sviluppare dipendenza verso altre sostanze, mentre un'anamnesi di consumo di crack o cocaina parrebbe associarsi allo sviluppo di quadri sindromici quali Ansia Generalizzata, Depressione e Distimia. Nell'urgenza psichiatrica è dominante il concetto di crisi quale imminente minaccia, caratterizzata da una gravità tale da richiedere un tempestivo intervento; essa si verificherebbe in seguito alla rottura dell'equilibrio omeostatico e conseguente incapacità, da parte dell'organismo, di far fronte alle richieste ambientali cui è sottoposto. In linea generale le cause di ricovero più frequenti sono rappresentate dagli episodi psicotici acuti, i quali possono essere di natura organica, funzionale o indotta da sostanze; altre cause abituali sono gli atti di autolesionismo e i tentativi anticonservativi, l'abuso di alcolici e gli stati di intossicazione indotti da sostanze. Da queste poche righe emerge immediatamente una consistente incidenza di uso di sostanze e disturbi correlati nell'ambito delle urgenze, si evince il loro coinvolgimento anche nei quadri sindromici più acuti e severi nonché la necessità di una tempestiva presa in carico. Metodi: Lo scopo principale di questa tesi è valutare l'impatto dell'uso di sostanze illegali e voluttuarie, della Doppia Diagnosi e del Disturbo da Uso di Sostanze sull'espressione psicopatologica di pazienti ricoverati in regime di urgenza presso un Servizio di Diagnosi e Cura di Psichiatria (SPDC). Per la raccolta dei dati sono state utilizzate una scheda anagrafica anonima e due schede di rilevazione: una per l'autovalutazione di sintomi psicopatologici (SCL-90) e una per l'etero-valutazione della presenza di psicopatologia (BPRS). L'uso di sostanze e le sue conseguenze sono stati indagati con un questionario impiegato in genere per le sostanze d'abuso (AbSo o DAH-Q). Le diagnosi sono state effettuate attraverso i criteri diagnostici del DSM-5 e registrate con i relativi codici senza un limite nel numero delle comorbidità possibili. Seguendo l'approccio teoretico del DSM è stata considerata una diagnosi principale e poi tutte le altre diagnosi possibili, sempre in ordine di importanza. Il campione è risultato composto da 54 pazienti, 23 maschi (42.6%) e 31 femmine (57.4%) di età media 62.29±15.8 (min 25; max 93). Di questi, 43 (79.6%) non avevano un partner ; 28 (51.9%) riportavano una scolarità superiore agli 8 anni di studio; 10 (18.5%) svolgevano un lavoro di concetto, 12 (22.2%) uno manuale e 26 (948.1%) erano disoccupati al momento dell'intervista. Le condizioni economiche di 19 pazienti (35.2%) risultavano essere sotto la soglia di povertà; 16 (29.6%) vivevano da soli. Sulla base delle diagnosi formulate i pazienti sono stati sottotipizzati nel seguente modo: la diagnosi principale è stata allocata in uno dei 22 raggruppamenti del DSM-5; coloro che presentavano diagnosi principale di DUS sono stati suddivisi, in base alla comorbidità o meno con un altro Disturbo Mentale, in pazienti senza e con Doppia Diagnosi (DD). I soggetti rimanenti, le cui diagnosi non comprendevano un DUS, sono stati inseriti nel gruppo di controllo (NO-DUS) . I pazienti sono stati tipizzati anche sulla base dell'assunzione di sostanze legali o illegali, con la seguente procedura statistica: un'analisi fattoriale è stata compiuta sui punteggi degli item della AbSo (DAH-Q) che indagano l'uso di sostanze per classi farmacologiche in modo tale da evidenziare eventuali dimensioni composite; i fattori iniziali sono stati estratti per mezzo dell'analisi delle componenti principali (tipo 2) e sono stati poi rotati secondo il sistema varimax per semplificarne la struttura. Il criterio usato per selezionare il numero dei fattori è stato un eingenvalue >1.5 per evitare una eccessiva frammentazione. Gli item con un peso maggiore di 0.40 sono stati utilizzati per descrivere il fattore. Questa procedura minimizza le correlazioni fra i fattori permettendo di utilizzare gli stessi come un sistema classificativo. I punteggi ottenuti da ogni paziente nelle singole dimensioni dell'uso di sostanze sono stati standardizzati in punteggi z per facilitare il confronto fra le dimensioni. Tutti i soggetti sono stati quindi raggruppati sulla base del punteggio z maggiore relativo ad ogni dimensione: si sono così ottenuti dei gruppi che si caratterizzano per una sola delle dimensioni considerate (gruppi a qualità dominante). Questa procedura permette, infatti, di selezionare i soggetti sulla base di una cluster sintomatologica che si dimostra essere la più abnorme in senso statistico; in questo modo è possibile evitare l'individuazione di un cut-off per l'inclusione dei soggetti all'interno di determinati gruppi. Nella comparazione tra le categorie evidenziate (NO-DUS, DUS e DD), le variabili continue sono state analizzate per mezzo dell'analisi di varianza a una via seguita dal test di Scheffee. Le variabili categoriali sono state analizzate mediante il test del chi-quadro con analisi dei contrasti a posteriori secondo il metodo di Buonferroni. Per tutte le analisi sono state utilizzate le routines statistiche dell'SPSS versione 20.0. Risultati: Tra le diagnosi principali, quella maggiormente rappresentata è stata la Schizofrenia, riscontrata nel 31.5% dei soggetti; sono seguiti il Disturbo da Uso di Sostanze (20.4%) e il Disturbo Bipolare (16.7%); sono stati raccolti anche casi di Disturbi Depressivi (13.0%), Disturbi di Personalità (5.6%), Disturbi dell'Alimentazione (3.7) e Disturbi del Controllo degli Impulsi (3.7). Scarsamente rappresentati i Disturbi d'Ansia, quelli legati al Trauma e i Disturbi Indotti dai Medicamenti. Sia i Disturbi Da Uso di Sostanze che quelli di Personalità sono risultati ben rappresentati anche tra le diagnosi secondarie, rispettivamente al 14.8% e al 13.0%. Entrambe erano ancora presenti nella diagnosi terziaria (al 5.6% per il Disturbo da Uso di Sostanza e al 3.7% per i Disturbi di Personalità). Infine, Il Disturbo da Uso di Sostanze è apparso ancora presente al quarto livello diagnostico (3.7%); nessun paziente ha ottenuto più di 4 diagnosi comorbili. La sostanza maggiormente abusata è risultata essere il tabacco (81.5%), seguita dalla caffeina (51.9%), dall'alcool (46.3%), dagli stimolanti e dai depressori del SNC (entrambi al 27.8%). Relativamente raro l'uso di oppiacei (7.4%) ed energizzanti (7.4%). Tre sono state le dimensioni riscontrate: la prima, risultata dominante in 13 soggetti, comprende in ordine di importanza stimolanti, cannabinoidi, alcool e oppiacei; nella seconda, riguardante 24 pazienti, figurano caffeina e tabacco; la terza tipizza 17 soggetti e prevede depressori del SNC (BDZ) ed energizzanti. In base alle diagnosi principali e secondarie è stato inoltre possibile operare una ulteriore suddivisione dei pazienti: 10 sono infatti risultati avere una DD (ossia una copresenza di un DUS e un altro Disturbo Mentale), 8 presentavano un DUS senza altri disturbi mentali, 36 mostravano disturbi psichiatrici, diversi dal DUS, variamente combinati (NO-DUS). Si sono riscontrate differenze significative in merito alle condizioni economiche: l'80.0% dei soggetti in DD è risultato infatti vivere sotto la soglia di povertà, mentre solo il 23.5% dei NO-DUS ha riportato questa condizione. I pazienti DD, nonostante la presenza di due diagnosi, si sono distinti dai NO-DUS e DUS per un maggiore numero di diagnosi aggiuntive. È possibile inoltre constatare come pazienti DUS e DD abbiano mostrato un più frequente uso di alcolici e stimolanti rispetto ai NO-DUS. Riguardo ai cannabinoidi, invece, i NO-DUS hanno riportato un uso meno frequente dei DD; nei pazienti affetti da DUS la frequenza è apparsa intermedia. Parlando di poliabuso, soggetti con DUS e DD sono sembrati utilizzare maggiormente la combinazione stimolanti-alcool-cannabinoidi-oppiacei rispetto agli altri malati mentali, mentre i soggetti in Doppia Diagnosi hanno utilizzato maggiormente la combinazione tabacco-caffè dei soggetti con DUS. Se consideriamo la storia tossicomanica dei nostri pazienti attraverso un questionario che fornisce informazioni sullo stato fisico, psicopatologico e di adattamento sociale, l'unica differenza significativa si osserva in merito ai problemi legali, la cui frequenza è risultata più alta fra soggetti affetti da DUS e DD rispetto ai pazienti NO-DUS. Gli aspetti indagati dalla BPRS nel loro insieme non sono minimamente differiti fra pazienti con e senza DUS, indipendentemente dalla presenza di DD; soltanto l'eccitamento è apparso più grave nei soggetti DD, mentre nei soggetti con DUS è risultato di fatto assente. Coerentemente il fattore attivazione della BPRS ha distinto i soggetti con DUS da quelli con DD, i quali hanno mostrato una maggiore gravità. All'autovalutazione dei sintomi di psicopatologia non sono apparse differenze significative fra i gruppi né per quanto riguarda i fattori specifici della tossicodipendenza, né per quanto concerne gli indici globali della scala. Sono invece emerse differenze nell'uso prevalente di sostanze tra i pazienti tipizzati a seconda del DUS: l'uso di stimolanti, alcol, cannabinoidi e oppioidi è risultato infatti più frequente sia nei pazienti con DUS che con DD; chi ha utilizzato prevalentemente tabacco e caffè è sembrato appartenere più di frequente al gruppo dei pazienti NO-DUS, ma in maniera non statisticamente significativa. Anche i soggetti che hanno usato prevalentemente benzodiazepine e bibite energizzanti erano rappresentati più frequentemente nel gruppo dei NO-DUS, purtroppo sempre in maniera statisticamente non significativa. Conclusioni: La Schizofrenia rimane la diagnosi maggiormente rappresentata nelle urgenze psichiatriche, ma il DUS rappresenta la seconda diagnosi principale. Le sostanze d'abuso più utilizzate, nelle urgenze psichiatriche, appaiono quelle voluttuarie che vanno anche a formare la dimensione più frequentemente osservata rispetto a quella degli stimolanti e dei depressori del SNC. Le diagnosi di DUS e di DD, nei soggetti ricoverati per urgenza psichiatrica in SPDC, comunque, continuano ad essere minoritarie e a non provocare un quadro psicopatologico specifico, almeno nelle situazioni di urgenza. Solo l'eccitamento sembra essere, comunque, una caratteristica dei pazienti con DUS.

In un momento di crisi economica come quello attuale a livello nazionale è frequente la richiesta di una totale abolizione del finanziamento pubblico ai partiti politici, nell'ambito di un generale sentimento di delusione nei confronti di un sistema politico-partitico che troppo spesso si è dimostrato inefficiente, corrotto e inutilmente costoso. Tuttavia il tema del finanziamento dei partiti e della attività politica ha da sempre attratto l'attenzione di studiosi e commentatori per le ampie implicazioni che lo stesso riveste rispetto ai principi del pluralismo, dell'uguaglianza, di un trasparente esercizio democratico, dell'accesso alla rappresentanza e, in generale, rispetto al ruolo dei partiti. La riflessione sul finanziamento della politica inizia ad essere oggetto di attenzione con l'estensione del suffragio universale e la nascita dei partiti di massa, dotati di un forte e costoso apparato organizzativo. Infatti, solo con il passaggio da partiti di èlite a partiti massa, il costo della politica aumenta enormemente, il denaro inizia a diventare un elemento fondamentale della lotta politica e nasce il problema di garantire l'uguaglianza delle opportunità nell'accesso alle cariche elettive e la genuinità del voto, per evitare che chi ha maggiori disponibilità finanziarie abbia più visibilità rispetto agli altri candidati. Da allora ogni ordinamento giuridico ha cercato di disciplinare, con forme diverse, le modalità di finanziamento della politica, nel presupposto che queste siano strettamente connesse alla salvaguardia dei principi fondanti di ogni democrazia. Il finanziamento pubblico della politica rappresenta infatti l'effettiva e concreta garanzia che ogni cittadino possa "concorrere a determinare la politica nazionale" (come in particolare prescrive l'art. 49 della nostra Costituzione) in condizioni di parità. Una democrazia pluralista deve invero garantire uguali opportunità per tutti anche nell'accesso alla partecipazione politica e nell'esercizio di funzioni pubbliche. Inoltre, attraverso il finanziamento pubblico regolato normativamente, la competizione politica ubbidisce a principi e standards predeterminati, e quindi uguali, certi, misurabili, giustiziabili. Da questo punto di vista i diversi modelli di finanziamento e di sostegno delle attività politiche riflettono l'idea che una comunità ha della democrazia e del rapporto che intercorre tra cittadini e istituzioni. Il finanziamento dei partiti è dunque, prima che una questione tecnica, giuridica e finanziaria, una questione ad alta intensità politica, che incide significativamente sulla qualità della vita democratica di un Paese. L'attività dei partiti, dei movimenti e dei gruppi politici organizzati in seno ai regimi democratici non può infatti prescindere dall'utilizzo delle risorse necessarie a sostenere più o meno ampie strutture organizzative, a svolgere attività di ricerca e formazione della classe politica e a finanziare le campagne elettorali. La democrazia, insomma, ha un costo che è condizione essenziale per l'esercizio delle insostituibili funzioni affidate ai partiti nel sistema costituzionale e che deve essere pertanto sostenuto e correttamente regolato affinché esso sia congruo e trasparente dinanzi all'opinione pubblica. La tesi si propone come obiettivo di dimostrare l'importanza della tematica del finanziamento della politica nelle democrazie contemporanee e soprattutto in Italia. Il primo capitolo tratta della disciplina del finanziamento della politica nelle principali democrazie europee, cercando di delineare un quadro generale e di individuare delle caratteristiche comuni. Tutti gli ordinamenti giuridici europei prevedono sistemi di finanziamento ai partiti politici nazionali di tipo misto basati sia sul finanziamento pubblico (diretto e indiretto), ripartito fra le diverse forze politiche in base all'esito elettorale e/o alla rappresentanza parlamentare, sia su quello privato. Tuttavia la previsione di un finanziamento ai partiti non significa che non debba essere posto un tetto massimo ai contributi pubblici erogati in favore delle forze politiche, né che tali risorse possano essere utilizzate senza alcun controllo. Il secondo e il terzo capitolo riguardano specificatamente la situazione italiana per quanto concerne rispettivamente i partiti politici e il loro finanziamento. «I partiti sono organismi essenziali per un efficace funzionamento dello Stato democratico, tanto più in uno Stato moderno, fondato sul suffragio universale, esteso a tutti i diciottenni». Come ha acutamente osservato il Presidente della Repubblica Napolitano nel suo discorso di insediamento il 22 aprile 2013 «non c'è partecipazione realmente democratica, rappresentativa ed efficace alla formazione delle decisioni pubbliche senza il tramite di partiti capaci di rinnovarsi o di movimenti politici organizzati, tutti comunque da vincolare all'imperativo costituzionale del metodo democratico». Alcuni Paesi europei hanno pienamente riconosciuto la specifica funzione dei partiti politici come un imprescindibile strumento di mediazione tra istituzioni pubbliche e cosiddetta società civile, attraverso una puntuale regolamentazione di rango sia costituzionale che legislativo. In Italia, al contrario, si è finora preferito privilegiare la massima libertà di espressione dei singoli nelle forme associative. L'art. 49 Cost., in combinato disposto con gli articoli 1, 2 e 18 della Costituzione, è stato quindi tradizionalmente visto come il punto finale di un percorso in cui il partito costituisce il luogo naturale per i cittadini, associati liberamente, di concorrere con metodo democratico a determinare la politica nazionale. Tuttavia, anche se per l'ordinamento privatistico italiano il partito politico rileva alla stessa stregua di una qualsiasi associazione non riconosciuta (nonostante la semplice osservazione della vita politica quotidiana faccia ritenere non più rinviabile un aggiornamento del quadro normativo di riferimento), in diritto pubblico occorre registrare un diverso impegno del legislatore, attento soprattutto al tema del finanziamento della politica. Mentre nella concezione ottocentesca del "partito parlamentare" non era avvertita la necessità di predisporre strutture organizzative articolate e quindi economicamente onerose, in seguito si afferma infatti un modello partitico caratterizzato dall'esistenza di vasti apparati organizzativi, insostituibili strumenti di crescente "interventismo" nella gestione della cosa pubblica in generale e delle istituzioni dello stato sociale in particolare. Con l'allargamento del suffragio universale alle classi sociali deboli, inoltre, nascono e si sviluppano formazioni politiche il cui sostentamento non può garantirsi con il solo ricorso alle libere contribuzioni di iscritti e simpatizzanti. Si afferma pertanto un modello di finanziamento della politica non esclusivamente governato da regole di natura privatistica. L'erario contribuisce direttamente alla vita economica dei partiti, oppure li finanzia indirettamente, incentivando la contribuzione privata con il ricorso a misure fiscali. Il terzo capitolo propone una ricostruzione dell'evoluzione storico-normativa avvenuta nel nostro Paese nel corso di quasi quarant'anni, che può essere distinta fondamentalmente in tre fasi. La prima fase è caratterizzata dall'introduzione e dal consolidamento del finanziamento pubblico ai partiti. Il fatto che quest'ultimo non sia stato accompagnato da norme volte a regolare i partiti politici è stato determinato da ragioni che vanno ricercate nello specifico contesto storico-politico dei primi anni Settanta, quando ancora si temeva che controlli esterni sulla vita dei partiti potessero essere utilizzati dagli avversari politici. Nella seconda fase, in coincidenza con la crisi e transizione del sistema politico-istituzionale degli inizi anni Novanta, gli interventi normativi in materia sono stati dettati da due spinte contrastanti. Da una parte, le condizioni di emergenza "economica" dei partiti stessi che, a fronte del calo degli iscritti e all'aumento dei costi delle campagne elettorali, non erano in grado si sopravvivere senza il finanziamento pubblico; dall'altra, un'opinione pubblica che periodicamente, nei momenti di massima sfiducia verso i partiti, ha dimostrato (soprattutto nel referendum del 1993) un'evidente contrarietà rispetto al finanziamento pubblico diretto ai partiti politici. Ciò ha prodotto una situazione paradossale: i partiti non hanno avuto la forza politica di far comprendere che la politica costa e che vi sono ragioni costituzionali (prime fra tutte, l'indipendenza dei partiti e la parità di opportunità) che possono giustificare un sostegno pubblico (diretto o indiretto); al contempo, hanno continuato ad alimentare il finanziamento statale a titolo di "rimborso elettorale" senza garantire maggiore trasparenza né sottostare a controlli da parte di organi esterni. La terza fase, infine, è caratterizzata da un finanziamento pubblico "mascherato" e moltiplicato e procede fino ai primi cambiamenti intervenuti nella seconda metà del primo decennio del nuovo secolo, come prime misure di contenimento dei costi della politica. La legge n. 96 del 2012, che ha riformato nuovamente la legislazione in materia, ha costituito per varie ragioni l'ennesima occasione perduta. Infatti, poiché per la ritrosia di molte forze politiche la riforma del sistema del finanziamento pubblico non è stata accompagnata dall'introduzione di una legislazione sui partiti capace di imporre il rispetto di "metodi democratici" nella vita interna degli stessi, è aumentata l'ambiguità della collocazione del sistema del finanziamento pubblico tra legislazione elettorale di contorno e legislazione sui partiti. Inoltre, è rimasta irrisolta la "causa" del finanziamento pubblico, concesso per "l'attività politica, elettorale e ordinaria" senza però pretendere che il partito dimostrasse di avere quell'organizzazione permanente capace di svolgere quotidianamente l'attività politica. Un notevole passo in avanti in tal senso sembra essere stato compiuto nel dicembre 2013, quando il Consiglio dei Ministri, su proposta dell'allora Presidente Enrico Letta, ha approvato un decreto legge che abolisce (gradualmente) il finanziamento pubblico ai partiti. Il Governo, nel Consiglio dei Ministri del 31 maggio scorso, aveva già dato il via libera a un disegno di legge che ne prevedeva l'abolizione e regolamentava la contribuzione volontaria ai partiti politici. Un testo ad oggi approvato solamente dalla Camera dei deputati e giacente da metà ottobre al Senato. Per questo, recependo le indicazioni arrivate dal Parlamento, il Consiglio dei Ministri ha voluto dare il via libera ad un testo che prevede, tra l'altro, disposizioni per la trasparenza e la democraticità dei partiti e disciplina la contribuzione volontaria e la contribuzione indiretta in loro favore. Il quarto capitolo tratta della disciplina del finanziamento della politica nelle principali democrazie europee: un paragrafo è dedicato alla Francia, un paragrafo alla Germania, un paragrafo alla Spagna e un paragrafo al Regno Unito. Per ognuno dei quattro Paesi considerati è previsto uno schema di trattazione sintetico e schematico, con una parte introduttiva nella quale sono individuate le norme di riferimento e le principali tappe dell'evoluzione del sistema di finanziamento dei partiti, approfondendo poi in parti separate la disciplina che riguarda il finanziamento pubblico, la disciplina del finanziamento privato e il regime dei controlli. Il capitolo finale è dedicato ai "partiti politici a livello europeo" e alla disciplina del loro finanziamento nel diritto dell'Unione europea. La normativa prodotta dall'UE a partire dal Regolamento (CE) n. 2004/2003 sui partiti politici europei assume infatti un notevole interesse soprattutto in relazione alla capacità che essa può avere di imporre anche a livello nazionale i suoi elementi costitutivi. Poiché i partiti politici europei consistono sostanzialmente in associazioni di partiti politici nazionali, è possibile che si avvii un processo teso ad uniformare le legislazioni nazionali in materia di partiti politici che ruoti intorno ai cardini della concorrenza fra contributi pubblici e privati, della piena pubblicità e assoluta trasparenza di ogni forma di finanziamento, del controllo accurato e di alcuni requisiti minimi di democraticità interna da imporre a tutte le formazioni politiche. La proposta avanzata dalla Commissione europea di modificare il vigente Regolamento (CE) n. 2004/2003 è ancora in discussione. Tuttavia sono evidenti le analogie fra tale proposta e il decreto-legge 28 dicembre 2013, n. 149, intitolato "Abolizione del finanziamento pubblico diretto, disposizioni per la trasparenza e la democraticità dei partiti e disciplina della contribuzione volontaria e della contribuzione indiretta in loro favore": obblighi puntuali di democrazia interna, contenuto minimo necessario degli statuti dei partiti, iscrizione dei partiti in un apposito registro, regole a garanzia della trasparenza, controlli sui bilanci e sui rendiconti e disciplina delle erogazioni liberali in favore dei partiti politici. Non è un caso che già il vigente Regolamento (CE) n. 2004/2003, modificato nel 2007, si concentri soprattutto sugli aspetti legati al finanziamento dei partiti europei, nella convinzione che l'uguaglianza fra i vari soggetti politici rappresentativi della società civile possa essere ottenuta solo tramite sussidi pubblici concessi con modalità trasparenti. Per garantire un'equilibrata e democratica partecipazione dei partiti politici alla vita istituzionale dell'Unione europea, infatti, non sono sufficienti soltanto norme sul riconoscimento e il controllo di tali soggetti, ma è necessario tenere conto anche dei costi effettivi di tale coinvolgimento, introducendo disposizioni che affrontino e risolvano le questioni riguardanti il finanziamento dei partiti politici a livello europeo.

Tras una multitudinaria vigilia en las playas de Copacabana, que habría congregado a más de dos millones de jóvenes, casi tres, –una cifra récord para este tipo de eventos- venidos de todas partes del globo, se despidió finalmente este 28 de julio el flamante nuevo Papa Francisco, poniendo fin a su primer viaje internacional y cerrando una semana de apretada agenda en el marco de la XXVIII Jornada Mundial de la Juventud desarrollada en Rio de Janeiro. Si la misa de clausura fue impactante desde el punto de vista de la asistencia pública, hay que decir que tanto la apertura del evento como su desarrollo no fueron menos espectaculares. Llegado el 22 de julio, el Papa, motu proprio, recorrió las abarrotadas calles céntricas de Río en el clásico "papamóvil" con el objetivo de encontrarse "cara a cara" con el "pueblo", lo que en los hechos significó saludar a algunos de los cientos de miles de peregrinos que lo seguían, casi histéricamente, y pese a la incesante lluvia, besar a niños, bendecir a enfermos y, en un gesto suyo típico, hasta tomar algún mate de camino a reunirse con las autoridades brasileñas en el Palacio de Guanabara. Acompañado por más de 14 mil efectivos –la mayoría de ellos militares- el "operativo Papa" fue verdaderamente épico aún para una ciudad-metrópolis como Río ya que supuso el despliegue de vehículos blindados, helicópteros y buques de patrullaje. A su arribo, le siguió, el día 24 de julio, su traslado hasta el Estado de São Paulo y el oficio de una misa en la Basílica de nuestra Señora Aparecida, rodeada, según los estimativos, de más un millón de personas. El mismo día se dirigió al hospital San Francisco de Asís en donde bendijo a jóvenes adictos al crack, al alcohol y a otras drogas. Ya el 25 de julio, el Papa visitó a la tan famosa como peligrosa favela de Varginha, intentado mostrar que su preocupación por los pobres no es sólo discursiva. Pero estas actividades del Papa no fueron sino un preámbulo del verdadero evento, que daría inicio formal en la noche del día 25. En un gigantesco escenario, equipado con la más moderna tecnología y montado justo en frente de las hermosas playas cariocas, el Papa fue homenajeado –para algunos, casi que como una estrella de rock- de una manera atípicamente festiva: mucha música, bailes, cánticos, puestas en escena y un millón de jóvenes exaltados, muchos de los cuales, vale decir, viajaron expresamente miles de kilómetros para darse cita con el Máximo Pontífice. Los días siguientes fueron dedicados al "via crucis" y a la vigilia de oración preparatoria para la misa del domingo, con la que concluyó el magno evento. Pero el relativo éxito de este encuentro, sobre todo en comparación con los que había sido los desarrollados anteriormente con Juan Pablo II y Benedicto XVI, es, en realidad, y permítasenos la analogía, como un oasis en un desierto para la Iglesia Católica. Y lo decimos porque, como es sabido, esta institución, de las más antiguas del mundo, se encuentra actualmente asediada por una serie de problemas que la han arrastrado a una profunda crisis. Por un lado, están los numerosos escándalos de corrupción que, si bien no son algo nuevo en su historia, se han multiplicado exponencialmente en los últimos años. A ello hay que sumar, nada menos, que los desdeñables casos de pedofilia que se han sucedido en alud, uno tras otro, y que se han constatado en buena parte del globo. No sólo el volumen de estas violaciones deja perplejo a cualquiera sino que el manejo, cuanto menos, dudoso e insuficiente, del tema por parte de la Iglesia –tanto con Juan Pablo II pero, sobre todo, con Benedicto XVI, quien adoptase una cuestionable política de "barrer debajo de la alfombra" omitiendo y encubriendo casos– no ha contribuido sino a agudizar aún más una sangría en términos de imagen pública y, como consecuencia, en términos de feligreses, que se ha vuelto verdaderamente difícil de saturar. Por otro lado, la Iglesia enfrenta un fenómeno de descatolización no sólo de Europa, que lo registra hace tiempo, sino también de América Latina en donde el catolicismo, aunque todavía la religión dominante, ha experimentado un decrecimiento sostenido. En particular, en Brasil el porcentaje de brasileños católicos disminuyó de un 89% 1980 a un 65% en 2010. Paralelamente, y reflejando una clase media en ascenso y de pleno adaptada a los valores seculares de la vida moderna, se constata la emergencia de los llamados "sin religión", en los que se incluyen los ateos –particularmente pujantes en Rio de Janeiro- y que han cobrado una fuerza considerable en las últimas décadas, llegando a totalizar el 8% en el país carioca. Lo último no deja de sorprender si tomamos en cuenta que Brasil tradicionalmente ha sido y, en realidad, es todavía, con sus 123 millones de católicos, el país más católico del mundo. En contraste con el rápido declive del catolicismo, los grupos evangélicos se encuentran, en Brasil y más allá, en un crecimiento explosivo. Las razones de este aumento son difíciles de determinar pero quizás hayan sido sus sistemas de jerarquías más laxas, que son la antítesis de la burocracia paquidérmica del Vaticano, su afán evangelizador,- sobre todo, en los barrios más humildes- y su acento moderno en el individuo, lo que le hayan permitido a estos grupos adaptarse mejor y capitalizar así el retroceso sostenido del catolicismo, que cosecha más bien adhesiones entre las personas mayores y no tanto en los jóvenes, franja etaria en la que más drásticamente ha caído su influencia. A este difícil panorama se enfrenta y se enfrentará Francisco. Y ciertamente su viaje a Brasil, y aunque ya había sido pautado antes por Benedicto XVI, revistió, sin lugar dudas, una gravital importancia. De ahí precisamente que haya prometido "volver". Es que Francisco, como lo hizo patente en uno de sus discursos en Río, es muy consciente de que el futuro del catolicismo se cifra, aunque si bien no exclusivamente sí en buena medida, en la conquista de la juventud y, en particular, de la juventud latinoamericana porque allí yace la esperanza de renovar las filas y de mantener así a la institución con relativa salud. Para combatir el declive de la Iglesia, Francisco ha adoptado una estrategia casi opuesta a la de Benedicto XVI, lo que refleje quizás las profundas diferencias de "parcours" tanto intelectual como de carrera eclesiástica de ambos Papas. Por un lado, un Bergoglio de extracto jesuita, acostumbrado a cultivar un bajo perfil bajo y a la evangelización, y, por otro, un Ratzinger, intelectualmente más robusto, y quien además presidiera la Congregación para la Doctrina de la Fe, heredera moderna del Santo Oficio, encargada de custodiar férreamente la dogmática católica. Marcando distancia con su antecesor, en primer lugar, Francisco ha procedido a reconocer los errores de la Iglesia y, más aún, a admitir que "hasta los Papas pecan". Aunque ello puede resultar de sentido común para un no católico es, en realidad, algo bastante novedoso, sino transgresor, si miramos la historia de la institución, la cual ha sido renuente a verse a sí misma como una organización terrenal, falible de cometer errores –recuérdese, a propósito, la famosa bula Syllabus Errorum de Pío IX en 1864 en la que, además de la polémica condena a la libertad de expresión y de consciencia, se proclamaba la infalibilidad de la Iglesia y, en particular, la del Papa en todos los asuntos-. Rompiendo con esa larga tradición, Francisco se refirió a la Iglesia en términos bastantes críticos: la calificó como una "reliquia del pasado, insuficiente para las nuevas cuestiones", "fría y autorreferencial" y "prisionera de su propio lenguaje rígido". En segundo lugar, y dada la situación actual de la Iglesia que Francisco diagnostica, Francisco repitió varias veces en sus discursos de Río que quiere iniciar una "revolución", incluso habló de una "revolución copernicana", lo que, para quienes conocen el triste derrotero de la Inquisición con Galileo –cuyo libro Diálogos sobre los dos máximos sistemas del mundo (1632) estaría prohibido por el Index hasta 1822- no deja de resultar una analogía poco feliz. Pero más allá de ello, lo que se propone Francisco con su "revolución" es, ante todo, terminar con esa Iglesia aletargada, que sobreestimó la eficacia y la actualidad de su mensaje y comenzar una que sea más proactiva en la seducción de fieles: en pocas palabras, quiere una Iglesia que "salga a las calles". De ahí también su despreocupación por las formas y los protocolos, algo siempre bienvenido a los paladares posmodernos, pues éstas no hacen sino poner distancia entre Dios, la Iglesia y el creyente de a pie. Esta que, en algunos puntos, retoma la línea del Concilio Vaticano II de 1959, y es además la que hace a Francisco especialmente proclive a tomar decisiones espontáneas y/o desconcertantes para los más ortodoxos –como ponerse un sombrero indígena, tomar una ruta que no era la planificada o visitar una favela-. En tercer lugar, Francisco ha emprendido una campaña que pone especial énfasis en la ayuda a los pobres y los más necesitados y en los valores de humildad y en la compasión, lo cuales intenta oponer al materialismo rampante del mundo moderno. De hecho, una de sus primeras líneas ni bien llegó a Río fue: "No tengo oro ni plata, pero traigo conmigo lo más valioso: Jesucristo." Un discurso que, según se mire, sintoniza o rivaliza, con los discursos progresistas que hoy por hoy proliferan en el continente. No cabe duda de que, en muchos aspectos, Francisco es, amén de carismático, heterodoxo, principalmente en su forma de relacionarse con la gente, de y de dar el mensaje cristiano. Sin embargo, además de que es demasiado temprano, sería exagerado ver en Francisco un "revolucionario", sobre todo porque en materia doctrinaria el Máximo Pontífice no se ha movido un ápice de la línea de sus predecesores. Si bien ha edulcorado la modalidad de su defensa, en lo esencial ha mantenido las posturas conservadoras en temas como la participación de la mujer en el sacerdocio, el uso del condón, el matrimonio gay, la fecundación in vitro, la legalización de drogas, etc. Además, y entre otras cosas, todavía resta por ver qué decisión tomará con respecto a la Teología de la Liberación, un movimiento que supo tener mucho peso en América Latina pero que fuera rechazado por Juan Pablo II y Benedicto XVI por su alegada "inspiración marxista". Por otro lado, y aunque desde el punto de su régimen político, el Vaticano tiene, desde León I en el siglo V, la forma de una monarquía absoluta, es sabido que los Papas tienen que lidiar con la resistencia de la curia romana, ampliamente conocida por su intrínseca hostilidad a los cambios y que probablemente, y como se cree ya hicieron con Benedicto XVI, pueda terminar frenando los intentos reformistas de Francisco –que, dicho sea de paso, ya comenzaron a molestar a algunos cardenales- una vez caduque su "período de gracia". Sobre el autorLic. en Estudios InternacionalesMaestrando en Filosofía Contemporánea.

Ham Operators Provided Crucial Services by John Bray The waters of the Levisa Fork of the Big Sandy were rising in Pikeville. By six o'clock on the even ing of Monday, April 4, they were approaching flood stage - at 2 1/2 feet per hour. It wasn't a slow spreading over the banks as in flat lands, but a raging torrent moving mobile homes and all else in its path. Hams - amateur radio operators - are communicators. Partially we do it because we like to talk, but also because we are able to provide emergency communications, both within a disaster area and from it to the outside world. So, shortly after dark early Monday evening, several hams and people who wanted to assist set up a communications net- work within the city of Pikeville. Messages had to be relayed within the city as well as from ·the city to the outside world. The threat of telephone and electricity going out had already been considered. Communications were established between the Civil Defense and Red Cross headquarters in the Court House, a location at Pikeville College, ·a mobile unit, and two units which served as relays when necessary. Involved in this initial action were Denver Matney (WA4NOG), an employee of the post office in Pikeville; me-John Bray (WB4WKP). Assistant Dean of Students at Pikeville College; Willana Call (WA4RNOL a resident of Pikeville; and Bobby Pickelsimer (WB4GEL). They were assisted by Dixie Wehrheim, a Pikeville resident who normally works with children who have special sight problems. Initially, this network was worked through a two-meter repeater in Pikeville. A repeater is a device which automatically re-transmits signals at high power and from a great height, giving much greater range to mobile units transmitting at low power. This network served as Pikeville's only link to the outside world (as far as we know) through hams in Prestonsburg whose short wave stations were still operational. This worked fine until the power went off sometime between 2 and 4 a.m. Tuesday at the repeater site (WDHR-FM). At that time, Pikeville's last connection to the outside world was severed. I managed to drive to the top of Peach Orchard Hill and transmit a message describing conditions in Pikeville during Monday night and into Tuesday morning so that other amateurs in Prestonsburg could notify Civil Defense and Red Cross personnel in Frankfort and Louisville. Tuesday through Sunday are a blur of 20-22 hour days glued to a ham radio, transmitting emergency messages for Civil Defense, Red Cross and others. One. of the first things we did was to arrange for cots, blankets, pillows, sheets, food and medical supplies to be brought to the Science Building at the college. It had immediately been turned into an emergency shelter for townspeople as well as a food center for college employees whose homes were under water. We radioed for insulin to be delivered to people at the Pikeville College shelter. We arranged to get a girl in isolated Phelps to a hospital; her life expectancy would have been three to four hours had she not been transported - she had a ruptured appendix. Another person at Phelps had a stroke and radio communications got him to a hospital; his life expectancy would have been one to three hours otherwise. On Tuesday Pikeville College arranged a place and support facilities for us to set up a medium-power, high-frequency (short wave) station using my equipment. An antenna was strung up between the Pikeville College Administration Building and a dogwood tree. Matney operated the short wave link to the outside world, while I maintained the VHF, two meter links to various emergency headquarters in Pike County. Dixie Wehrheim acted as message coordinator for the hundreds of cOmmunications coming in and going out. Denver and I didn't leave the station for over fifteen hours on Tuesday. Willana Call helped in both parts of the station, serving as a two-meter person and a big rig operator. This was after the water had risen past her house. On Wednesday, several hams were airlifted from Owensboro, Kentucky, to serve as relief operators and to set up a station at Kermit, West Virginia. Others were flown in from Central City, Kentucky, to set up an emergency communications amateur radio station at Phelps, Kentucky. As of April 12 this was still the only communication Phelps had with the rest of the world for medical emergencies and supplies. Steve Morgan (WB4NHO) and Charlie Lott (WB4ANL) came to Pikeville while Mike Galyon (WA4SFR) and Bill Robinson (WA4KPE) went to Phelps. Dick Wyatt (WA4YPI) and his son David volunteered to drive in from Falmouth, Kentucky. The group of local and other hams provided emergency communications almost around the clock from the station at Pikeville College through midnight on Sunday, April 10 (Easter Sunday), when fairly reliable telephone communications had been reestablished. As they managed to get back on the air, other area hams gave their services. Tom Osborne (WA4MNM), Herschell Tackett (K4NLY) and Cordell Damron (K4BGQ) provided links to the outside from Robinson Creek, Virgie and Little Creek. While 0llive Justice (WB4CTV), Jim Hoskins (W4MVU) and Doug Wright (WA4GCX) helped link up Pikeville with Civil Defense and Red Cross, Bruce Olin (WB4FBB) served as one of Elkhorn City's links to both Pikeville and the outside. For most of Tuesday and Wednesday Jack Reeves (WB40WE) of Melvin , Kentucky, was Pikeville's only connection to the telephone system via ham radio. Many other hams helped - Roger Boyd (WA4LIG) served as a mobile unit, Pat Gugliotta (WB4NBC) contributed his two-meter radio for use at Civil Defense headquarters, and many others that I'm just too exhausted to try to think of - worked long, hard hours to help. I apologize to anybody I've forgotten. Funny things happened, too. A national guard jeep's antenna cut our antenna in half Friday morning, leaving us off the air for five hours. I can remember being told Saturday that it wasn't Wednesday. At the end we were all approaching physical exhaustion. But it was a good feeling, too. In at least five cases we had provided the communications necessary to save lives in medical emergencies, and knew we had provided necessary emergency communications services no one else would have been able to provide. A large round of thanks should go from us and the residents of Pike County to those radio amateurs who left their homes and jobs for our week of greatest trial and came voluntarily to Pikeville and other locations in the county to help with their communications skills. Unlike military units and other professional social service workers, these people do not get paid by anyone for what they do; it is truly a labor of love. The other important labor of love that kept many people going throughout the week was borne by Pikeville College. We could never have provided emergency communications services had the college not given us food, coffee, a location and runners to deliver messages. Even when its own employees were suffering loss of personal possessions and the college was bearing up under the devastation of its own housing and academic facilities, the people of the college reached out to help others, and allowed us to help others through the assistance they provided us. The flood of 1977 is over; its ramifications will probably be heard throughout the Big Sandy Valley for another twenty years. To say I was glad to be a part of it all somehow doesn't sound quite right. But I'm thankful I could help; it made me proud to be a ham and happy to be alive. (PHOTO) Hundreds of homeless made their way up Elm Street to Pikeville College for food and shelter. Tolzman (from page 6) Tolzman's schedule changed entirely on Monday evening, April 4. As people moved furniture and pe rsonal belongings out of the path of the muddy Levisa Fork and evacuated their homes, Tolzman decided to stay on the job through the night. For those of us who are now "authentic flood victims," helplessly watching the water rise into out homes soon became frustrating . Many people with in the city proper (on the town side of the three bridges that cross the river into Pikeville) climbed the hill to the Science Building at Pikeville College. Little did we realize that the hill would be our home for days to come. Dean Tolzman and crew provided cold cuts and coffee for everyone. They also prepared ice chests, coffee pots and soda pop for the patients from Mountain Manor Nursing Home who arrived during the night. "The electricity went off in the dining room and none of the stoves or anything would operate after 1 a.m.," Tolzman remembered. "We fixed cold cuts, coffee, pop and such until 4:30 Tuesday morning. We moved to the Bear's Den at 6 o'clock. The Bear's Den still had electricity for some reason. We transported the meat slicer and supplies from the dining room to the Den. I had a grill and a french frye . We scrambled eggs on the grill served coffee, juice, milk and dry cereal from about 6 to 10:30 a.m. We also fixed eggs, oatmeal, soup and things for the old people over in the Science Building and carried them over to the people." The rest of Tuesday, Tolzman served sandwiches and pork and beans, working continuously until midnight. At that time the electricity came back on and the operation was moved back to the cafeteria. Tolzman has a total of 21 employees, including 5 students. On Monday and Tuesday all of them were stranded out of town except for Joyce Robinson. According to Tolzman she worked continuously without sleep from 6 a.m . Monday (when she came on for her regular Monday shift) until sometime Wednesday evening. Several other employees came back as soon as they could get into town. Tolzman , whose wife Sarah is head resident of Condit Hall at Pikeville College, is the father of three sons, ages five years, two years and two months. He saw snatches of his family du ring the first few days after THE FLOOD. Providing food services for the Red Cross shelter in the college's Science Building and helping provide meals for other Red Cross shelters located throughout the area was a nonstop responsibility. Tolzman had plenty of volunteer help. Many people at Pikeville College stuck wit h him for hours - Gary Thrash, assistant administrator of the mining technology program; Alma Culton, associate professor of religion ; Russell Patterson, chairman of the Music Depart- ment Phyllis Dayer, instructor of French; students Reina Trusty, Denise Burgy, Fred Frederick, Rayanna Reeves, and John Morris; and Lukie Alemayeheu, wife of economics instructor Tsehai Alemayeheu. ARA Food Services and Pikeville College can be proud of Dean Tolzman. His decisions were timely and sensitive. The tremendous human needs that had to be met. His leadership produced an unhurried, warm atmosphere of friendly service at a time when others would have been barking orders and aggravating an already confused, tense situation. The personal sacrifice of time, sleep, energy and resources made by Tolzman and his people made it possible for all of us to retreat to the calm of the cafeteria and get away from the devastation outside. Would that we could all react so sensibly and selflessly .

This guide accompanies the following article: Annamaria Csizmadia, 'The Role of Racial Identification, Social Acceptance/Rejection, Social Cognition, and Racial Socialization in Multiracial Youth's Positive Development', Sociology Compass 5/11 (2011): 995–1004, 10.1111/j.1751‐9020.2011.00418.x.Author's introductionMultiraciality has been garnering growing public and scholarly attention since 2000. For the first time in Census history, the 2000 U.S. Census allowed individuals to identify with more than one race. The latest Census revealed that over 9 million individuals identified with two or more races (Humes, Jones, & Ramirez, 2011), and that they were one of the fastest growing racial groups in the last decade. Multiraciality has also become the topic of frequent public discussion thanks to the election of Barack Obama, the first Black, that is, biracial, president of the United States in 2008. Historically, multiracial individuals have been automatically relegated to the racial group of their minority parent (also known as the rule of hypodescent). Black‐White biracial people were identified as Black due to the one‐drop rule, which considered any person with a trace of African ancestry to be Black. Sociological and developmental research that has been burgeoning since 2000 revealed that contemporary multiracial youth identify in a variety of ways. They may identify as multiracial or as monoracial. They may choose to shift their racial identity depending on their social context. Finally, some refuse to identify themselves in racial terms altogether. In addition to this body of research, scholars have begun to examine the implications of racial identity choices for contemporary multiracial youth's psychosocial adjustment. This paper reviews findings of this emerging body of research and suggests ways in which parents, school counselors, teachers, and social workers can support the positive development of the growing population of multiracial youth.Author recommendsTo develop an understanding of how contemporary Black‐White multiracial young adults understand themselves racially in private and identify themselves in public, I recommend the series of publications that summarize Rockquemore and Brunsma's research on Black‐White biracial young adults from the Midwest, South, and East. A good place to start is their book Beyond Black: Biracial Identity in America published in 2002. This book provides a thorough background to the literature, their multi‐stage research design, and includes a copy of the Survey of Biracial Experience. This survey has been used in several recent studies to assess multiracial youth's racial identification. Rockquemore and Brunsma elaborated on different facets of multiracial youth's lived experiences in several peer‐reviewed publications. They investigated the roles of physical appearance (Brunsma & Rockquemore, 2001); geographic location (Brunsma, 2006), and gender (Rockquemore, 2002) in contemporary multiracial youths' racial identification. For sociologists, social psychologists, and race scholars, who want to delve into the complexity of the multiracial experience, I recommend Daniel's More than Black? Multiracial Identity and the New Racial Order and Brunsma's 2006 edited volume, titled Mixed Messages: Multiracial Identities in the "Color‐Blind" Era. Brunsma's edited book contains highly insightful chapters contributed by renowned scholars from the field (e.g., Davis, Bonilla‐Silva, Yancey, Spencer, Dalmage, and Rockquemore and colleagues). For family scholars, developmentalists with an interest in parenting issues, and parents of multiracial children, Rockquemore and Laszloffy's Raising Biracial Children will be very informative.Brunsma, D. L. and K. A. Rockquemore. (2001). 'The New Color Complex: Appearances and Biracial Identity.'Identity: An International Journal of Theory and Research 1(3): 225–46.Brunsma, D. L. (2006). Mixed Messages: Multiracial Identities in the "Color‐Blind" Era. Boulder, CO: Lynne Rienner Publishers, Inc.Brunsma, D. L. (2006). 'Public Categories, Private Identities: Exploring Regional Differences in the Biracial Experience.'Social Science Research 35: 555–76.Daniel, G. R. (2002). More than Black? Multiracial Identity and the New Racial Order. Philadelphia, PA: Temple University Press.Rockquemore, K. A. (2002). 'Negotiating the Color Line: The Gendered Process of Racial Identity Construction among Black/White Biracial Women.'Gender & Society 16(4): 485–503.Rockquemore, K. A. and D. L. Brunsma. (2002). Beyond Black: Biracial Identity in America. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage Publications.Rockquemore, K. A. and T. A. Laszloffy. (2005). Raising Biracial Children. New York, NY: Altamira Press.Online materialsThere are several organizations that are dedicated to providing support to multiracial children, youth, and their families. Websites of these organizations provide useful and practical information for parents, youth, and practitioners. They also allow multiracial people to connect with other multiracial peers. For scholars, they often serve as a starting point for recruitment of multiracial research participants.1. The Mavin Foundationhttp://mavinfoundation.org/2. The Mixed Heritage Centerhttp://www.mixedheritagecenter.org/3. AMEA: Association of MultiEthnic Americanshttp://www.ameasite.org/4. Race: The Power of an Illusionhttp://www.pbs.org/race/000_General/000_00‐Home.htmFor students and scholars of race and multiraciality, the accompanying website to the three‐part PBS documentary on race is a good source of information. The site contains sample discussion questions, historical facts, and self‐quizzes to assess one's view on race. It also contains short clips to the film. Understanding how the racial classification system and hierarchy of the United States evolved is essential to studying contemporary multiracial youth's lives in context.Sample syllabusTopics for lecture and discussion and recommended readingsWeek I: Introduction and overviewDefinitions, Problems and Issues: Who is Multiracial?Reading:Daniel, G. R. (2002). More than Black? Multiracial Identity and the New Racial Order. Philadelphia, PA: Temple University Press.Week II. The history of race in the United StatesReadings:Bonilla‐Silva, E. (1996). 'Rethinking Racism: Toward a Structural Interpretation.'American Sociological Review 62: 465–80.Omi, M. and H. Winans. (1994). Racial Formations in the United States: From the 1960s to the 1990s. New York, NY: Routledge.Week III. The multiracial population of the United StatesReadings:Humes, K. R., N. A. Jones, and R. R. Ramirez. (2011). Overview of race and Hispanic origin: 2010. 2010 Census Briefs. http://www.census.gov/prod/cen2010/briefs/c2010br‐02.pdf.Jones, N. A. (2005). We the people of more than one race in the United States: Census 2000 special reports, U.S. Census Bureau. http://www.census.gov/prod/2005pubs/censr‐22.pdf.Week IV. What are you? – How do multiracial youth identify?Readings:Harris, D. R. and J. J. Sim. (2002). 'Who is Multiracial? Assessing the Complexity of Lived Race.'American Sociological Review 67(4): 614–27.Rockquemore, K. A. and D. L. Brunsma (2002). Beyond Black: Biracial Identity in America. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage Publications.Week V. Changes in racial identification over timeReadings:Brown, J. S., S. Hitlin, and G. H. Elder, Jr. (2007). 'The Importance of Being "Other": A Natural Experiment about Lived Race over Time.'Social Science Research 36: 159–74.Doyle, J. M. and G. Kao. (2007). 'Are Racial Identities of Multiracials Stable? Changing Self‐identification among Single and Multiple Race Individuals.'Social Psychology Quarterly 70(4): 405–23.Terry, R. L. and C. E. Winston (2010). 'Personality characteristic adaptations: Multiracial adolescents' patterns of racial self‐identification change.'Journal of Research on Adolescence 20: 432–55.Week VI. Influences on multiracial youth's racial identification: physical appearanceReading:Brunsma, D. L. and K. A. Rockquemore (2001). 'The New Color Complex: Appearances and Biracial Identity.'Identity: An International Journal of Theory and Research 1(3): 225–46.Week VII. Influences on multiracial youth's racial identification: geographic region and neighborhoodReading:Brunsma, D. L. (2006). 'Public Categories, Private Identities: Exploring Regional Differences in the Biracial Experience.'Social Science Research 35: 555–76.Week VIII. Influences on multiracial youth's racial identification: historical timeReadings:Davis, J. F. (1991). Who is Black? One Nation's Definition. University Park, PA: The Pennsylvania State University Press.Khanna, N. (2010). ' "If You're Half Black, You're Just Black": Reflected Appraisals and the Persistence of the One‐Drop Rule.'The Sociological Quarterly 51: 96–121.Week IX. Multiracial youth's peers/friendsReadings:Doyle, J. M. and G. Kao (2007). 'Friendship Choices of Multiracial Adolescents: Racial Homophily, Blending, or Amalgamation?'Social Science Research 36: 633–53.Quillian, L. and R. Redd (2009). 'The Friendship Networks of Multiracial Adolescents.'Social Science Research 38: 279–95.Week X. How do parents identify their multiracial offspring?Readings:Brunsma, D. L. (2005). 'Interracial Families and the Racial Identification of Mixed‐Race Children: Evidence from the Early Childhood Longitudinal Study.'Social Forces 84(2): 1131–57.Qian, Z. (2004). 'Options: Racial/Ethnic Identification of Children of Intermarried Couples.'Social Science Quarterly 85(3): 746–66.Roth, W. D. (2005). 'The End of the One‐Drop Rule? Labeling of Multiracial Children in Black Intermarriages.'Sociological Forum 20(1): 35–67.Week XI. Parenting multiracial childrenReadings:Rockquemore, K. A. and T. A. Laszloffy (2005). Raising Biracial Children. New York, NY: Altamira Press.Rockquemore, K. A., T. A. Laszloffy, and J. Noveske. (2006). 'It all Starts at Home: Racial Socialization in Multiracial Families.' Pp. 203–17 in Mixed Messages: Multiracial Identities in the "Color‐Blind" Era, edited by D. L. Brunsma. Boulder, CO: Lynne Rienner Publishers, Inc.Weeks XII–XIII. Multiracial youth's social‐emotional adjustmentReadings:Campbell, M. E. and J. Eggerling‐Boeck. (2006). 'What about the Children? The Psychological and Social Well‐being of Multiracial Adolescents.'The Sociological Quarterly 47: 147–73.Lusk, E. M., M. J. Taylor, J. T. Nanney, and C. C. Austin. (2010). 'Biracial Identity and its Relation to Self‐esteem and Depression in Mixed Black‐White Biracial Individuals.'Journal of Ethnic & Cultural Diversity in Social Work 19: 109–26.Phillips, L. (2004). 'Fitting in and Feeling Good: Patterns of Self‐evaluation and Psychological Stress among Biracial Adolescent Girls.'Women & Therapy 27(1/2): 217–36.Sanchez, D. T., M. Shih, and J. A. Garcia. (2009). 'Juggling Multiple Racial Identities: Malleable Racial Identification and Psychological Well‐being.'Cultural Diversity and Ethnic Minority Psychology 15(3): 243–54.Suzuki‐Crumly, J. and L. L. Hyers. (2004). 'The Relationship among Ethnic Identity, Psychological Well‐being, and Intergroup Competence: An Investigation of Two Biracial Groups.'Cultural Diversity and Ethnic Minority Psychology 10(2): 137–50.Week XIV. Supporting multiracial youth's positive developmentReadings:Csizmadia, A. (2011). 'The Role of Racial Identification, Social Acceptance/Rejection, Social Cognition, and Racial Socialization in Multiracial Youth's Positive Development.'Sociology Compass.Khanna, N. (2004). 'The Role of Reflected Appraisals in Racial Identity: The Case of Multiracial Asians.'Social Psychology Quarterly 67(2): 115–31.Week XV. Methodological issues in multiracial researchReadings:Root, M. P. P. (2002). 'Methodological Issues in Multiracial Research.' Pp. 171–93 in Asian American Psychology: The Science of Lives in Context, edited by G. C. N. Hall and S. Okazaki. Washington, D.C.: American Psychological Association.Shih, M. and D. T. Sanchez. (2005). 'Perspectives and Research on the Positive and Negative Implications of Having Multiple Racial Identities.'Psychological Bulletin 131(4): 569–91.Focus questions
 How do you determine a person's race? How do you determine if a person is multiracial?
 How do multiracial people fit into the racial classification system of the United States?
 What are the advantages and disadvantages of being multiracial?
 How does multiracial youth's physical appearance influence the way others relate to them?
 How do you explain regional variations in how multiracial young adults identify themselves racially?
 Is there a racial identity type that is psychologically ideal for multiracial youth: why or why not?
 What topics should scholars of multiracial youth investigate in the future? Why do you think these topics are important to study? How will they inform our understanding of multiracial youth's development?
 What role do others play in how multiracial youth choose to identify racially? Based on the assigned readings for this week (Csizmadia, 2011 and Khanna, 2004), make a list of suggestions of how parents can support their multiracial children's healthy racial identity development and psychosocial adjustment.
Seminar/Project ideas1. Class activityTo introduce the complexity of multiracial youth's lived experience, ask students to answer the race questions on the U.S. Census form. After students complete the relevant questions, ask students to discuss how they identified on the Census form, whether it was easy for them to select a category, and in what ways the answer choices influenced their responses.2. Class activityStudents view the PBS documentary: Race: The Power of an Illusion Part I and II in class. Use the contents of these two episodes to discuss how racial categories evolved in the U.S. and how multiracial youth have been treated historically.

According to the United Nations Population Fund, in October 2011 the world population reached 7 billion people, 3456.8 millions of whom are women.In the U.S.A, the total population is 313.1 million in 2011. Of those, 158.5 million are women, which means a little bit more than a half. In this country the people eligible to vote in 2008 reached more than 218 million, 55% of whom are women.The numbers are similar in Switzerland. With a total population of 7.7 million people, the country has 3.9 million of women – again, just a little bit more than the half –, and 54% of the Swiss eligible to vote are women (2010).However, the current representation of women in politics around the world does not reflect the population data. At parliamentary level worldwide, the percentage of women who occupies seats as deputies or senators is 19.2% and 17.8% respectively. These means that even though the historical representation of women in politics has been rising, the number of males representatives still is overwhelmingly higher.For reference only, the minimum percentage that is consider necessary for a fair and considerable representation of ideas that can influence the decision making is about 30%.In January 1918 the 19th Amendment of the USA Constitution was included in the political agenda for the discussion of the House of Representatives and the Senate. The president of USA, Woodrow Wilson, recognizing the woman's support to their country during the war, urged the politicians to vote in favor of the amendment. The Representatives passed the amendment on May 1919, and the Senate did the same on June. Thereafter, the approval was in hands of each state. More than twenty states ratified it within six months. Thirty six were needed to include the amendment into the Constitution, and Tennessee turned out to be the one which had the final decision. After a very close vote, just one of the legislators changed his opinion and the woman's right to vote was approved. Literally, the 19th amendment says: "The right of citizens of the United States to vote shall not be denied or abridged by the United States or by any State on account of sex.Congress shall have power to enforce this article by appropriate legislation." With those two simple lines, the activist women of the USA, who had been fighting for their right to vote for more than seven decades, finally achieved their goal and the history of American women in politics change forever.On the other hand, Switzerland is the last European country that allowed its women to vote at national level. Many say that it was due to the decisions take longer to be taken in a direct democracy. But there, it took too long.The Swiss society can be consider as patriarchal, conservative, traditional and with marked streaks sexist, which is exemplifiedin the traditional perception of the woman's role as restricted to 'kinder, kirche und kuche' ('children, church and kitchen'), still valid specially in German-speaking regions.However, the active feminist movements exist since long time ago, and they fight not only for the woman's right to vote, but also for legal equality and the empowerment of women in all aspects.By 1962, with the intention to sign the European Convention of Human Rights, the government of Switzerland asked for an exception about the legal equality of genders – specifically for the women's right to vote -. Against this, the associations pro the female suffrage protested, and the commotion forced the authorities to review that posture. So, a referendum was decided by the government in 1968, and the public consultation took place in February 1971. Finally, the results were different. More than six hundred thousand (about 66%) Swiss men said YES to the women's right to vote, so since then all Swiss women are allowed to vote at national level.Furthermore, on October 31 of the same year, there was a parliamentary election in Switzerland, and eleven women were elected to be part of it.The United States of American and Switzerland differs in many aspects, such as size, population, traditions and history. However, both have also some things in common. They both took too long to allow their women to vote, granting with that a better political equality.Their political regime is pretty similar, both are democratic countries. In the process of getting the female suffrage the USA parliament, as well as the Swiss, played a key role since the decision of including the issue into the constitutional order should, in the first instance, be approved by the legislature. But after the parliament passed it, the next step was different within the two countries. USA led the final decision to the local governments, while in Switzerland was the people who had to finish the process. This means that in the European country the men citizens had the final word instead of the parliamentarians, who should represent the interest of all citizens, men and women. There is then, a social matter. Switzerland is a multicultural country with a big percentage of foreigners among its residents, four official languages, and a rich history of immigration. Nevertheless, the Swiss society is mostly conservative and traditional, in particular its regions of German´s descendants and residents, not so the French or Italians. The facts speak by themselves: in the referendum of 1959, only three cantons voted for allow the Swiss women to vote, all three were 'French'; while in the 'German' canton call Appenzell Innerrhoden, the amount of No votes was about 95%. Another point that can be considered as a difference within the two countries concerning the female struggle, are their leaders. Both, the American and the Swiss movement, had notorious female leaders. They were all active politicians and were deeply committed to the cause, which contributes to the organization of the movements and also to the well development of the activities.However, the American female leaders, although they were largely convinced of the injustice of gender inequality, none of them had high-level education. The abolitionist Elizabeth Cady Stanton was a writer, but she never took college studies. Lucretia Mott was a school teacher; and Susan B. Anthony just dedicated her entire life to the fight for women's rights. Except for Stanton (she was a lawyer's daughter), they didn't came from high educated families. Meanwhile, the most famous leader of the Swiss movement for women's right to vote, Josi Meier had a different background. Her real name was Josephine Johanna Meier, but was also known as the 'Grand Old Lady'. She died in 2006 at the age of eighty. Meier, who also came from a poor family, graduated as a lawyer in 1952, but had been defending women's right for a long time. When the right to vote for women was finally awarded in 1971, she became one of the members of the Lucerne cantonal parliament, and some month later she was among the eleven women elected as parliamentary representatives. Moreover, Meier took place in the Senate some years later and in 1991 became the first woman ever to be the Senate's speaker.It is worth comparing also the opposition that the movements had to face in both countries. The resistance to the women's right to vote, in USA as in Switzerland, had the objective of stop the progressive movements, defended the traditional order of the society and, as Nicole Herz (1992) describes, "'Antis' had to re-define the scope of woman's sphere and put government back into the male's sphere". Furthermore, the opposition in USA and in Switzerland used to use the same arguments to fight against the change. The religious beliefs were common among the opposition movements. The 'God word' and the biblical commandments that assure women were made to be men's support, good wives and exemplary mothers, dedicated to their homes and children, were some of the weapons of the anti-suffragist. Coming from conservative education, they believed that 'women belong to the kitchen' and there they must remain. Political issues were thought to be rude and complicated so only men should handle it, women would lose their femininity if they involved in politics. Other of the arguments was that the basis of the family, and therefore of society, was the women's homemakers, so if women get their right to vote, then they would had less time to do it and the families would lose their foundations, so the society would derail.Finally, there is one last fact that both, USA and Switzerland, had in common. It was the influence of an external factor into their government decision of do something about the right to vote for women. In the USA it was the World War I. In Switzerland, the Cold War.During the First World War (1914 – 1918) the American women began to be part of the work force of the country while the men went to fight in the battlefield. Doing this, women helped to sustain the USA economy developing their labor in traditional male occupations. After that, they used it as a weapon and strong argument for their struggle for suffrage right. If they were strong enough to work as men, their opinion should also be important enough in politics as men's. The men and the government must recognized it, and they had not any strong argument against the women's claim anymore. On the other hand, the Swiss government was afraid about the national security during the Cold War. Given the geopolitical situation and the small size of Switzerland, the Communist could saw it as a strategic war point. For that reason, the government thought in expand and strengthen its military force, including women into it. Again, the Swiss women, as the Americans, argued that the demand of their labor force should be compensated by granting the right that they had been fighting for. Moreover, in Switzerland there was also another factor that there was not in USA. The integration with the European region, materialized in the signing of the European Convention of Human Rights, needed the government to catch up its settings, so the legal equality should be guaranteed. The willing of being part of the region in such a difficult time as the Cold War, pushed the Swiss government to move forward in the woman's right to vote issue.The United States of America, as well as Switzerland, witnessed the long struggle for the female right to vote but, what are the current results of it? How much equality have today those countries in political terms? Have their women real participation in politics nowadays?According to the Interparliamentary Union ranking, in 2010 Switzerland was positioned as the 26th country with more women in parliamentary, while USA was in the 70th position with only 89 women among 532 legislators. Although some researchers suggest that the American women are more likely to participate in elections by making use of their right to vote than men; the USA politics still have a lot to improve in order to eliminate the gender gap in political area. On its part, Switzerland has less inequality in politics, but still is not absolutely equal. The Swiss Executive Branch is comprised of seven members, all with equal decision power, and one of them is named, by rotation, Federal President. The first woman elected as President was Ruth Dreifuss, who took place of the position in 1999.In 2010 for the first time, three women were occupying high political positions in the Swiss government simultaneously. Moreover, in September 22 of the same year, after one more woman was elected as minister, the Executive was composed by four women and three men, marking the first time ever that the Swiss government has a female majority. To sum up, unlike USA, which has never had a woman as President; Switzerland seems to be more progressive when it comes to high positions in politics nowadays. *Estudiante de la Licenciatura en Estudios Internacionales.FACS - Universidad ORT Uruguay

According to the European Parliament and the Council of the European Union (Regulation EC n.141/2000), rare diseases are defined solely on the basis of low prevalence and affect not more than five individuals per 10.000 in the European population. RD are a large and diverse group of disorders; they include more than 6.000 conditions and involve all organs and tissues, often with several clinical subtypes within the same disease. Almost all RD may cause early mortality and/or long-term disability and accurate and timely diagnosis is often of great importance for prevention and treatment. Very often information on many RD are insufficient, concerning either diagnosis and/or prognosis. An integrated approach was set on a very rare and severe liver malignancy of childhood, hepatoblastoma. Although its annual incidence in western countries is 1.5 cases per million of individuals younger than 15 years, HB represents the most common liver cancer of childhood (Reynolds et al., 2004; McLaughlin et al., 2006; Roebuck and Perilongo, 2006). Its prognosis depends on numerous clinical and histological factors. Children with a poor prognosis are usually characterized by abnormal α-fetoprotein levels (1,000,000 ng/ml) and distant metastases (i.e. lung and lymph nodes), whereas patients with good prognosis appear to have, among others, a decline in circulating AFP levels during chemotherapy (Roebuck and Perilongo, 2006; De Ioris et al., 2007). Scientific evidence points out HB as a multi-factorial condition associated with: genetic conditions (i.e. Beckwith-Wiedemann Syndrome and Familial Adenomatous Polyposis) (Roebuck and Perilongo, 2006), non genetic and environmental factors such as the endocrine-metabolic status of the mother (young age, higher body mass index, use of infertility treatments, smoking) and (pre)eclampsia (McLaughlin et al., 2006). An association with occupational paternal exposure to metals, petroleum products and paints/pigments as well the possible involvement of ubiquitous environmental contaminants, such as phthalates, have been suggested (Buckley et al., 1989; Reynolds et al., 2004; McLaughlin et al., 2006). Moreover, epidemiological data indicate low birth weight and increased survival of LBW newborns as consistently associated with increased risk of HB (Reynolds et al., 2004). In the first part of the project, in vitro studies on 4 liver cancer cell lines and 9 matched biopsis collected from HB patients were performed in order to individuate new molecular markers of childhood liver cancers. Special attention was dedicated to the canonical and non canonical WNT pathways and to the IGF-II signalling, since they are involved in the pathogenesis of FAP and BWS, the genetic disorders that predispose to HB onset. FAP patients carry a germline mutation in APC gene, which codifies for a protein that is part, together with Axin and GSK-3β, of the complex that controls the cytoplasmic levels of β-catenin (Orford et al., 1998), the central effector molecule of the canonical WNT pathway (Rubinfeld et al., 1996). BWS patients show a loss of imprinting LOI in the region 11p15, where IGF-II gene is localized. The LOI causes the biallelic expression and therefore, an increase of IGF-II levels, that could lead, as suggested by Veronese and coworkers, to enhanced cellular proliferation, differentiation failure and tumour development (Veronese et al., 2010). An mRNA- and protein-array, performed on the liver cancer cell lines; showed different signatures in the expression levels of genes and proteins, compared to normal human hepatocytes. The mRNA array analyzed the expression of several genes (96) involved in canonical and non canonical WNT signallings and revealed, in liver cancer cell lines compared to normal human hepatocytes, the contemporary upregulation of antagonists genes of the canonical WNT pathway, such as NLK and SOX17, and the downregulation of its agonists genes, such as TCF7L2, TLE1, SLC9A3R1 and WNT10A. These evidences suggest an inactivation of the canonical WNT signalling; at the same time the overexpression of RHOU transcript indicate the activation of the non canonical WNT signalling. The very innovative protein array technology evaluated the epression levels of 224 proteins involved in biological pathways such as apoptosis, cell cycle, and signal transduction, and revealed that Grb-2 is over-expressed in the cell lines investigated, compared to normal human primary hepatocytes. Grb-2 is an ubiquitously expressed adapter induced by IGF (I and II) signallings, in normal conditions; through the interaction with Raf/MAPK, Grb-2 activation leads to the induction of cellular proliferation (Foulstone et al., 2005). In a second step, we approached the study of 3 snap-frozen and 6 paraffin-embedded matched tissues obtained from HB patients. In these rare samples we could evaluate the markers previously evidenced and validated in liver cancer cell lines (NLK, RHOU and WNT10A transcripts; Grb-2 protein). This study showed similar results in HB matched tissues when compared to liver cancer cell lines, suggesting that these markers are reliable also in HB tissue samples. MicroRNAs are small RNA sequences, 20-22 nucleotides long, that can bind to the 3'UTR of specific mRNAs, and regulate their expression by leading to translational repression, mRNA cleavage, and mRNA decay. Since microRNA expression profiles are altered in several tumours compared to their normal counterparts, these molecules are largely used also in the field of cancer classification (Calin and Croce, 2006). A microRNA-array, performed in the three snap-frozen HB tissues, revealed that 51 microRNAs could distinguish tumour from non-tumour samples. By comparing our results with previously published data (Varnholt et al., 2008), we selected 9 microRNAs to be analysed in our 9 matched samples. The comparison between these microRNAs expression in tumour and in non-tumour counterparts, highlighted four up-regulated microRNAs (miR-125a, -150, -199a and -214), and a down-regulated one (miR-148a). It has been demonstrated that miR-214 binds to the PTEN mRNA and downregulates its protein levels (Yang et al., 2008). PTEN is a negative regulator of the PI3K/Akt pathway which is activated by IGF signalling, in normal conditions (Foulstone et al., 2005). In our samples as well, the comparison of tumour and normal counterparts indicated a correlation between high miR-214 levels and low PTEN protein levels in the tumour samples. The study of liver cancer cell lines and HB biopsis revealed the inactivation of the canonical WNT pathway and the contemporary induction of the non canonical one. Furthermore the activation of IGF-signalling is also speculated on the basis of the deregulation of Grb-2 and PTEN protein levels. In the second part of the project the association between HB onset and the exposure to a particular phthalate, DEHP, was investigated. DEHP is the most abundant phthalate in the environment and liver represents one of its main targets. Studies performed on mice and humans demonstrated that DEHP alters the glucose metabolism (Latini et al., 2008). This process involve a family of proteins called PPARs that mediates the IGF-promoted signalling (Feige et al., 2007; Latini et al., 2008), responsible of glycogen storage (Lopez et al., 1999). In utero exposure to phthalates has been shown to be significantly associated with prematurity (Latini et al., 2008), that in turn has been strongly associated with HB (McLaughlin et al., 2006). HB can derive either from developmental disturbances during critical phases of organogenesis or from the interplay of risk factors (e.g. DEHP) during prenatal or early neonatal life (Salvatore et al., 2008). In order to investigate the post-natal effects of DEHP prenatal exposure on liver development, pregnant CD-1 mice were exposed to DEHP (25 and 100 mg/kg BW pro die) during the critical period of liver organogenesis and histogenesis (starting from the 11th day of gestation and till the 19th) (Duncan, 2003). Male and female F1 mice were sacrificed at post natal day 21 and 35, respesenting weaning and puberty, respectively. Histopathological, histochemical and gene expression studies performed on livers of PND35 treated mice did not show significant differences compared to controls, while at PND21 treated mice showed alterations in glucose and lipid metabolism that were absent in controls. The inactivation of GSK-3β was speculated since these mice were characterized by lack of glycogen storage and presence of cytoplasmic β-catenin. Glycogen storage is triggered by IGF-II in fetal life and ensures stable levels of glycaemia at birth when the newborn makes the adjustment to extra-uterine life (Lopez et al., 1999; Hui et al., 2006). The presence of cytoplasmic β-catenin indicates that the canonical WNT pathway is active, and that the transcription of genes involved in cell proliferation is promoted (Rubinfeld et al., 1996). PND21 mice exposed to DEHP showed hepatocytes vacuolization (hepatosteatosis), a feature of an ecess of fatty acid synthesis, as a consequence of glycogen synthesis inhibition (Shimano et al., 2007). AFP levels in mice progressively decrease after birth and are almost completely switched off in the third week of life, when liver accumulates energy as glycogen instead of AFP (Rusyn et al., 2006; Heudorf et al., 2007; Latini et al., 2009) On the basis of the association between AFP expression and embryonal status, this gene is also used as a marker of hepatocytes maturation (Qin and Tang, 2004). Our results showed high levels of AFP gene expression in treated mice compared to controls, suggestable of a role for DEHP exposure in determining both the alteration of post-natal AFP to glycogen switch off, and a delay of hepatocytes maturation. Furthermore the possible role of microRNAs in the DEHP-induced alterations was speculated. IGF-II gene, fundamental in the promotion of glycogen storage during fetal life (Lopez et al., 1999; Hui et al., 2006), harbours a microRNA, miR-483, within its second intron (Fu et al., 2005; www.ensembl.org). The analysis of miR-483 expression showed that this miR can be considered a fetal marker, since its levels progressively decrease after birth. High levels of miR-483 were detected in PND21 mice treated with DEHP 100 mg/kg bw pro die, in confirmation with a role of DEHP exposure in delaying the hepatocytes maturation. We also demonstrated that this miR is able to target and downregulate β-catenin, thus representing a limit in the proliferation stimulus induced by high levels of this protein within the cytoplasm (Rubinfeld et al., 1996). The multidisciplinary approach, performed by using in vivo and in vitro studies, enabled us to identify early and tardive markers of hepatoblastoma. Our studies indicated that the prenatal exposure to DEHP delays liver maturation by affecting carbohydrate and lipid pathways involved in fetal nutrition. The incapability to accumulate glycogen, due to the inactivation of GSK-3β function, is counterbalanced by an enhanced synthesis of lipid, as demonstrated by the presence of hepatocyte vacuolization. Furthermore the improper increased levels of AFP gene expression, suggested that DEHP alters the post-natal AFP-to-glycogen switch and may delay the post natal maturation of hepatocytes, as suggested also by high levels of miR-483, another fetal marker. A biological role for miR-483 in limiting the proliferation activation induced by β-catenin has been also proposed. The characterization of in vitro models (liver cancer cell lines and HB matched tissue samples) has identified new molecular tardive markers of chilhood liver cancers, at mRNA- (WNT10A, NLK and RHOU trascripts), protein- (Grb-2 and PTEN), and at microRNA- (miR-214) level. Gene expression analysis showed an inactivation of the canonical WNT signalling; and the contemporary activation of the non canonical one. At protein level, the upregulation of Grb-2 in tumour compared to non tumour samples, lets speculate the activation of the Raf/MAPK signalling pathway. The upregulation of miR-214 in tumour compared to non tumour samples seemed to affect PTEN protein levels, which resulted to be downregulated in the tumour counterpart. This evidence suggests that the activation of PI3K/Akt pathway could lead to the misregulation of the cellular functions that it controls, such as glucose metabolism, cell proliferation and survival (Foulstone et al., 2005). Even though in in vivo and in vitro models the patterns of deregulation of WNT and IGF-signalling pathways involve different mechanisms, the importance of these pathways and their crosstalks can be considered pivotal in the onset and in the characterization of hepatoblastoma.