Suchergebnisse

Farming is at the interface between several elements of the natural environment (water, soil and climate) and of society as well (economy, politics, demography, etc.). If, for centuries, it has been particularly subjected to the natural environment and its variations (mainly climatic), the evolution of societies and especially techniques have partly turned farming away from it, putting social and economic elements first. This evolution has been clear since the afterwards the Second World War. However, as climate change and global warming are being debated, are climate and farming disconnected from one another? The originality of this study is its location, a watershed deficit, its type of farming system (polyculture and the high proportion of irrigated crops) and the scientific process going with it. It uses different techniques such as surveys, interviews, analysis of climatic and hydrologic change), which will be studied through their links by a systems approach. Not only does this approach enable us to highlight the relationship between the elements involved but it also enables us to locate in time through a study of past episodes in order to outline a prospective study. Our study will therefore have to answer the following questions: what is the role of drought in the evolution of agricultural practices? How changes in agricultural practices may include changes in the leading place of their activities? How the relationship to water can be modified by the adaptation of agricultural practices? And how can it fit in the power relations and be located in space and time? ; L'agriculture est à l'interface de plusieurs éléments du milieu naturel (eau, sol, climat,…) mais aussi de la société (économie, politique, démographie,…). Si durant des siècles elle a surtout été soumise au milieu naturel et à ses fluctuations (notamment climatiques), l'évolution des sociétés et surtout des techniques l'en ont en partie détachée, rendant les éléments sociaux et économiques premiers. Cette évolution est nette depuis le ...

Context
Turtles are one of the most imperilled taxonomic groups worldwide and information about population ecology is essential to species recovery. Although the spatial ecology and demography of adults of several turtle species have been well studied, little is known about early life stages. The small size, soft shell, and limited mobility of hatchling turtles may cause differences in survivorship and habitat selection compared with adults.

Aims
We tested the hypothesis that hatchling turtles select habitat as they move away from nests, so as to reduce the risk of predation and desiccation.

Methods
We examined survivorship, behaviour and habitat selection at two spatial scales in hatchling Blanding's turtles (Emydoidea blandingii) and wood turtles (Glyptemys insculpta) in 2009 and 2010, using radio-telemetry in Algonquin Provincial Park, Ontario, Canada. In addition, temperatures of sites used by hatchlings during winter were compared with those at haphazard stations in various habitats.

Key results
The mortality rate was high, with 42% of E. blandingii and 11% of G. insculpta hatchlings surviving to winter; most mortality was caused by predation. Most behavioural observations for both species were of individuals hiding under cover. Both species showed evidence of macrohabitat and microhabitat selection as they dispersed from nests towards overwintering sites, and important variables in the models differed between species. Likewise, the adult stages of these two species differ in their macrohabitat specialisation. There was also evidence that hatchlings chose overwintering sites on the basis of temperature.

Conclusions
Despite significant differences in survivorship between hatchlings and adults, resource selection was similar between these two demographic stages, and conservation plans based on adult habitat use should simultaneously protect hatchlings.

Implications
Understanding habitat selection by juveniles is important for testing hypotheses about ontogenetic shifts in resource selection and for protecting habitat for species at risk.

Context
Changes in global climate and evidence of species' responses to these changes have increased interest in relationships between climate variables and species demography and distributions. Although an important tool for many ecological questions, large-scale climate indices fail to provide the spatial resolution necessary to investigate drivers of change across small spatial scales. Climate variables that describe yearly climate variation at large spatial extents and small spatial grain are needed.

Aim
Here we develop a model for snow depth using snow water equivalent (SWE) data, which are readily available in a number of formats, to be included in a more general climate index. We use an existing winter severity index (WSI) for white-tailed deer to test the performance of the model.

Methods
We obtained data for 13 weather stations from north-western Canada, reporting both SWE and snow depth. We accumulated a snowpack from daily SWE of snowfall and then tested two methods for converting the SWE of the snowpack into the snow portion of the WSI. We then generalised the model for application to the northwest forest climate region.

Key results
Coefficients of determination (R2) relating the actual and predicted snow depth portion of the WSI ranged from 0.41 to 0.78, with only three stations being below 0.50. Coefficients of determination (R2) relating the actual and predicted WSI for the northwest climate region ranged from 0.58 to 0.88.

Conclusions
The SWE model predicts the snow portion of the WSI well for most stations and, when incorporated into the full WSI, provides a good measure of relative winter severity across space and time for most stations.

Implications
The method developed here could be applied elsewhere, where snow depth is an important factor in species ecology. The benefit of this approach is a comparatively simple method that maximises the use of widely available SWE data in place of snow-depth data.

Abstract. On a frequency, depending on their size, small celestial bodies enter into the Earth atmosphere and collide with our planet. On a daily basis, the size is likely to be about 20 cm, while for monthly events the largest it may be is about 1 m. The last significant witnessed event occurred in 1908 in the Siberian area of the Tunguska. The forest was devastated over an area of 2000 km2. According to recent estimates, this kind of event could occur with a frequency of one per hundred to thousand years. Since the last century, the demography and the urbanisation have significantly increased. Although the probability that such an event occurs over a populated area remains small, if this happened, it could cause significant damages (industrial, shopping centres, recreational places, etc.). From the analysis of the data on meteorites that have impacted the Earth, of the orbital and size properties of small threatening bodies as well as their potential impact outcome, this paper proposes a methodology to estimate the damage resulting from the impact of objects of given sizes. The considered sizes are up to the maximum threshold for local damages (less than a hundred metres in diameter) on some given territory. This approach is based on an initial definition phase of collision scenarios. Then, a second phase consisting of the accurate modelling of the territory, taking into account the land-use, the spatial distribution of the populations and goods, and the characterisation of the biophysical vulnerability of the stakes using thresholds of dangerous phenomena (overpressures). The third phase is related to the impact simulation on the territory, the estimation of the stakes potentially exposed and the costs of the destruction. The aim of this paper is to make a demonstration of principle, using as a study case the city of Nice that benefits from a complete database of infrastructures.

The project is methodologically inspired by an previous study carried out by Wolf Linder at IDHEAP in Lausanne in 1985 on the subject of "legal inflation". At that time, the population and development of Swiss laws from 1947 to 1982 were statistically documented and evaluated on the basis of a complete survey. Based on a methodological approach that, similar to demography, distinguishes between population and flow variables, the growth of legislation with all additions and removals as well as the evolution of the scope of legislative activity were collected and analysed for all legislative bodies and standardisation levels as well as the various fields of activity. The predominantly descriptive study, published in a journal article and in book form, provided for the first time a comprehensive picture of the longer-term evolution of legislative activity and also refuted popular assertions such as that of "legislative inflation" or the increase in "prescriptive" vis-à-vis the "constitutional state".
The current project examines legislative activity from 1983-2007, enabling a second 25-year period to provide interesting information and comparisons with the results of the previous study. However, in line with the further developed state of research and the statistical data now available on parliamentary and general Swiss policy research, a number of new analytical questions offer themselves:
- Can the "internationalization of politics" also be determined at the level of intensified international legislative activity and typical areas (above all economic and environmental legislation), as postulated in the literature on globalization?
- Does the legislative activity in individual areas (e.g. environmental law) follow economic cycles?
- Does strong controversy lead to longer treatment of a bill, but to more frequent revision of the law?
- Does globalisation lead to a stronger position of the executive in lawmaking or, conversely, has parliamentary reform led to a stronger position of the Councils in legislation?

International audience ; Technological and cultural innovations as well as climate changes are thought to have influenced the diffusion of major language phyla in sub-Saharan Africa. The most widespread and the richest in diversity is the Niger-Congo phylum, thought to have originated in West Africa ∼ 10,000 years ago (ya). The expansion of Bantu languages (a family within the Niger-Congo phylum) ∼ 5,000 ya represents a major event in the past demography of the continent. Many previous studies on Y chromosomal variation in Africa associated the Bantu expansion with haplogroup E1b1a (and sometimes its sublineage E1b1a7). However, the distribution of these two lineages extends far beyond the area occupied nowadays by Bantu-speaking people, raising questions on the actual genetic structure behind this expansion. To address these issues, we directly genotyped 31 biallelic markers and 12 microsatellites on the Y chromosome in 1,195 individuals of African ancestry focusing on areas that were previously poorly characterized (Botswana, Burkina Faso, Democratic Republic of Congo, and Zambia). With the inclusion of published data, we analyzed 2,736 individuals from 26 groups representing all linguistic phyla and covering a large portion of sub-Saharan Africa. Within the Niger-Congo phylum, we ascertain for the first time differences in haplogroup composition between Bantu and non-Bantu groups via two markers (U174 and U175) on the background of haplogroup E1b1a (and E1b1a7), which were directly genotyped in our samples and for which genotypes were inferred from published data using linear discriminant analysis on short tandem repeat (STR) haplotypes. No reduction in STR diversity levels was found across the Bantu groups, suggesting the absence of serial founder effects. In addition, the homogeneity of haplogroup composition and pattern of haplotype sharing between Western and Eastern Bantu groups suggests that their expansion throughout sub-Saharan Africa reflects a rapid spread followed by backward and forward ...

International audience ; Technological and cultural innovations as well as climate changes are thought to have influenced the diffusion of major language phyla in sub-Saharan Africa. The most widespread and the richest in diversity is the Niger-Congo phylum, thought to have originated in West Africa ∼ 10,000 years ago (ya). The expansion of Bantu languages (a family within the Niger-Congo phylum) ∼ 5,000 ya represents a major event in the past demography of the continent. Many previous studies on Y chromosomal variation in Africa associated the Bantu expansion with haplogroup E1b1a (and sometimes its sublineage E1b1a7). However, the distribution of these two lineages extends far beyond the area occupied nowadays by Bantu-speaking people, raising questions on the actual genetic structure behind this expansion. To address these issues, we directly genotyped 31 biallelic markers and 12 microsatellites on the Y chromosome in 1,195 individuals of African ancestry focusing on areas that were previously poorly characterized (Botswana, Burkina Faso, Democratic Republic of Congo, and Zambia). With the inclusion of published data, we analyzed 2,736 individuals from 26 groups representing all linguistic phyla and covering a large portion of sub-Saharan Africa. Within the Niger-Congo phylum, we ascertain for the first time differences in haplogroup composition between Bantu and non-Bantu groups via two markers (U174 and U175) on the background of haplogroup E1b1a (and E1b1a7), which were directly genotyped in our samples and for which genotypes were inferred from published data using linear discriminant analysis on short tandem repeat (STR) haplotypes. No reduction in STR diversity levels was found across the Bantu groups, suggesting the absence of serial founder effects. In addition, the homogeneity of haplogroup composition and pattern of haplotype sharing between Western and Eastern Bantu groups suggests that their expansion throughout sub-Saharan Africa reflects a rapid spread followed by backward and forward ...

International audience ; Technological and cultural innovations as well as climate changes are thought to have influenced the diffusion of major language phyla in sub-Saharan Africa. The most widespread and the richest in diversity is the Niger-Congo phylum, thought to have originated in West Africa ∼ 10,000 years ago (ya). The expansion of Bantu languages (a family within the Niger-Congo phylum) ∼ 5,000 ya represents a major event in the past demography of the continent. Many previous studies on Y chromosomal variation in Africa associated the Bantu expansion with haplogroup E1b1a (and sometimes its sublineage E1b1a7). However, the distribution of these two lineages extends far beyond the area occupied nowadays by Bantu-speaking people, raising questions on the actual genetic structure behind this expansion. To address these issues, we directly genotyped 31 biallelic markers and 12 microsatellites on the Y chromosome in 1,195 individuals of African ancestry focusing on areas that were previously poorly characterized (Botswana, Burkina Faso, Democratic Republic of Congo, and Zambia). With the inclusion of published data, we analyzed 2,736 individuals from 26 groups representing all linguistic phyla and covering a large portion of sub-Saharan Africa. Within the Niger-Congo phylum, we ascertain for the first time differences in haplogroup composition between Bantu and non-Bantu groups via two markers (U174 and U175) on the background of haplogroup E1b1a (and E1b1a7), which were directly genotyped in our samples and for which genotypes were inferred from published data using linear discriminant analysis on short tandem repeat (STR) haplotypes. No reduction in STR diversity levels was found across the Bantu groups, suggesting the absence of serial founder effects. In addition, the homogeneity of haplogroup composition and pattern of haplotype sharing between Western and Eastern Bantu groups suggests that their expansion throughout sub-Saharan Africa reflects a rapid spread followed by backward and forward ...

How does an authoritarian regime like China's ensure social welfare provision at the local level when there is no democratic accountability? Moreover, when local politicians are granted discretion to administer social policy, why do some follow the Center and increase social spending, while others ignore the central directive and spend money on other types of programs instead? Based on quantitative and qualitative data collected during 14 months of field research, I find that there is still accountability in China, but it works indirectly through the Center based on politicians' career ambitions. Ambitious provincial officials--those who seek to advance their careers at the central level--comply with central government mandates with respect to social welfare provision in order to impress Beijing and increase their chances for promotion. The evidence also suggests that politicians in China provide social goods in response to the demands of labor and to prevent labor unrest. Local officials would rather provide social security and welfare than education or health because "almost all protests are triggered by laborers unhappy about social security and welfare" (city official). Finally, contrary to what we expect, a province does not necessarily increase social welfare provision as the resources available to the province increases. Data shows that a 10% annual growth rate only results in a 0.6% increase in the province's social spending (as a share of total budget), while a 10% increase in provincial tax revenue actually reduces the provincial social spending by 7.4%. But when there is an ambitious provincial leader in the province, he/she increases the social spending (as a share of total budget) by at least 12.5%. As a sharp comparison, the demography and unemployment rate in a province do not explain how much the province spends on social policy. These findings show that the decision on social spending is not based on the people's need or the economic capability of the government, but the career incentives of the politicians

La Biblioteca Virtual en Población y Salud constituye un gran esfuerzo institucional dirigido a la diseminación de la información de manera organizada en el área de la salud y la demografía. Este documento describe los antecedentes del proyecto, cuando se contaba con una enorme cantidad de información desorganizada y las dificultades de su acceso. Se menciona cómo ésta problemática justificó la inversión en el proyecto, con la idea final de democratizar el acceso a la información al organizarse eficientemente y transmitirse por medios electrónicos. Se presentan los componentes del proyecto divididos en productos, servicios y recursos de información. Se menciona la revista electrónica "Población y Salud en Mesoamerica" como un elemento destacado dentro de los recursos ofrecidos. Termina exponiendo los resultados obtenidos hasta el momento, así como una evaluación de los problemas que se han presentado y las soluciones planteadas. El sitio de la Biblioteca Virtual se accede en la dirección http://ccp.ucr.ac.cr/bvp/ ; The Population and Health Virtual Library constitute a great institutional effort, directed to the intensive dissemination of information in the area of health and demography of an organized form. This document describes the precedents of a project, which was relying on an enormous quantity of disorganized information, which was impeding the access to the same one. This problematic justified the accomplishment and investment in the project, with the final idea of democratizing the access to the above mentioned information, trying to organize efficiently and to transmit it for electronic means. Also it presents the components of the project divided in products, services and resources of information. It ends up by exposing the results obtained up to the moment, as well as an evaluation of the problems that they have presented and some solutions. The electronic journal named "Population and Health in Mesoamerica" is mentioned as an element emphasized inside the offered resources. The site of the Virtual Library is http://ccp.ucr.ac.cr/bvp/

Рассматриваются деятельность и научное творчество Г.Н. Потанина как фактор, способствующий взаимодействию и взаимопониманию народов Сибири и Центральной Азии, прежде всего казахского и русского. ; The article focuses on one of the aspects of G.N. Potanin's activities on his attitude to the peoples of Central Asia, in particular the Kazakhs. Potanin was born in the Kazakh steppes and was well acquainted with the life, traditions, culture and myths of the nomadic peoples of Inner Asia, including the Kazakhs. Potanin did not divide peoples into historic and backward, acknowledging that all the peoples of the world have the right and opportunities for development. He believed that Asian and European peoples have a common destiny reflected in the mythology. It was the original myth that Potanin tried to discover. He respected the language and traditions of peoples that he studied during the expeditions and did not resort to the services of military detachments. For the nomads, he was a friend, and not a civilizer. In his expeditions Potanin used the complex method to study the population and territory. He recorded the data about the history, demography, ethnic composition of the population, its activities, culture and language, buildings, dwellings, customs, lines of communications. The information about the natural environment, landscape, climate, flora and fauna was also thoroughly recorded. Such an approach allowed Potanin to gather an extensive body of information consisting of herbaria, maps, topographic data, meteorological and geologic observations which he later, being primarily interested in ethnography and folk-lore, shared generously with other researchers. For him, it was an opportunity to gain a better understanding of the conditions of life and customs of peoples. G.N. Potanin not only studied the peoples of Central Asia, he did a lot for their development, helped the best representatives of Kazakh intelligentsia to be educated in Tomsk, encouraged their participation in research activites. Russians and Kazakhs, Siberia and Kazakhstan have a shared memory of Potanin.

Due to several reasons, currently the global supply chains are getting stretched further away into the hinterlands from the gateway seaports. This single fact enhances the importance of dry ports. It would not be against logic, to state that in coming times, as a result of ever-growing quest for satisfying the customers, improving quality, cutting transaction costs the dry ports will assume greater importance than sea ports, hence a study of this phenomenon assumes importance. Post financial crisis, India along with China and Brazil have acquired global attention due to consistent economic growth and most importantly its perceived ability to pull the world out of recession. There are quite a few similarities in all the three countries apart from demography produce and landmass. The chief amongst them is overwhelming quest for growth and suitable policies being adopted to satisfy the growth. It is but obvious that the dry ports will play a major role in the growth stories of all three countries. This thesis looks at the dry ports in India from different perspectives such as locational analysis, role of government in development of dry ports and need for Public Private Partnerships (PPP), regulating dry port competition and role of regulatory authorities, environmental externalities and dry port efficiency, factors affecting dry port performance and lastly container security at dry ports. The contention behind the compilation of overtly disparate dry port related topics is that every aspect has a clear but subtle bearing on other for e.g. competition policy has an impact on dry port performance. Similarly container security and environmental impact are related to the overall efficiency of the dry port. The importance of location of a dry port cannot be over emphasized and is directly related to the dry port performance.

By 2000, in a context of socio-economic concerns, a news so unexpected suddenly rises in the best seats in the galleries media. Commonly called "tournante" by most media release of the Hexagon, the information reveals the existence of collective rape in the mid teens of French neighborhoods. What lead to these ?tournantes?? Some criminalize the adverse effect of the pornography industry but also the dissemination of ICTs - while recognizing that the prohibition of such films on television would be a false solution. The weight of the patriarchal culture in families of immigrant origin has also been put forward by others, and so was it for the influence of fundamentalist Islam. All these arguments have been deconstructed as well scientifically by researchers that public opinion through a vox populi that no longer supports the stereotypes attributed to the ?suburbs?/cities. But the ways to contest have been different, discussions and actions on the passionate and violent themes as social actors to whom the word was circulated in the press.Aspects such as the media and the plurality of speech segments have been identified through work areas as diverse knowledge of each other: Information and Communication Sciences and disciplines audras humanities (sociology, socio-demography, psychology, anthropology.) but also political science, science of medicine, law or criminology. ; Dès 2000, dans un contexte de préoccupations socio-économiques, un fait divers aussi imprévu que soudain se hisse dans les meilleures places des tribunes médiatiques. Communément dénommée « tournante » par la plupart des médias de presse de l?Hexagone, l?information révèle l?existence de viols commis en réunion dans le milieu des adolescents des quartiers populaires français. Comment expliquer ces tournantes ? Certains incriminent l'effet néfaste de l?industrie pornographique mais aussi des TIC les diffusant ? tout en reconnaissant que l'interdiction de tels films à la télévision serait une fausse solution. Le poids de la culture patriarcale dans ...

Even though in Argentina we have immigrants from Sub Saharan Africa arriving at the end of the Nineteenth Century and beginning of the Twentieth Century such as those from South Africa and Cape Verde, this new immigration from Senegal, Nigeria, Cameroon, Ghana, among other countries, during the last decade of the Twentieth Century and first decade of the Twenty-first Century appears in a different historical and political context. This new migration is facing legal regimes and increasingly restrictive administrative by-laws, framed in the growing economic globalization.This work is part of the first results of a research on this migration from an anthropological perspective. This study, which began in 2009, takes into account contributions made by history, political sciences, demography, among other disciplines, making use of articles written by African and Non-African social scientists. We are convinced that in this exchange of views our limitations may be overcome. ; Si bien en la Argentina poseemos una inmigración desde el África subsahariana a partir de fines del siglo XIX y principios del XX, como la de los sudafricanos y los caboverdeanos, esta nueva inmigración, de la última década del siglo XX y la primera del XXI, que llega desde Senegal, Nigeria, Camerún, Ghana, entre otros países, aparece en un contexto histórico y político diferente, enfrentada a regímenes jurídicos y estatutos administrativos cada vez más restrictivos, enmarcada en la creciente globalización de la economía.Este trabajo constituye una parte de los primeros resultados de la investigación iniciada en el año 2009 sobre esta migración desde una perspectiva antropológica, sumando los aportes que nos brindan la historia, la ciencia política y la demografía –entre otras disciplinas–, haciendo uso de los materiales producidos por científicos sociales africanos y no africanos, con el convencimiento de que en el diálogo de miradas se pueden superar las propias limitaciones. ; Para acceder al Artículo utilice el link: http://revistascientificas.filo.uba.ar/index.php/CAS/article/view/2726

By 2000, in a context of socio-economic concerns, a news so unexpected suddenly rises in the best seats in the galleries media. Commonly called "tournante" by most media release of the Hexagon, the information reveals the existence of collective rape in the mid teens of French neighborhoods. What lead to these ?tournantes?? Some criminalize the adverse effect of the pornography industry but also the dissemination of ICTs - while recognizing that the prohibition of such films on television would be a false solution. The weight of the patriarchal culture in families of immigrant origin has also been put forward by others, and so was it for the influence of fundamentalist Islam. All these arguments have been deconstructed as well scientifically by researchers that public opinion through a vox populi that no longer supports the stereotypes attributed to the ?suburbs?/cities. But the ways to contest have been different, discussions and actions on the passionate and violent themes as social actors to whom the word was circulated in the press.Aspects such as the media and the plurality of speech segments have been identified through work areas as diverse knowledge of each other: Information and Communication Sciences and disciplines audras humanities (sociology, socio-demography, psychology, anthropology.) but also political science, science of medicine, law or criminology. ; Dès 2000, dans un contexte de préoccupations socio-économiques, un fait divers aussi imprévu que soudain se hisse dans les meilleures places des tribunes médiatiques. Communément dénommée « tournante » par la plupart des médias de presse de l?Hexagone, l?information révèle l?existence de viols commis en réunion dans le milieu des adolescents des quartiers populaires français. Comment expliquer ces tournantes ? Certains incriminent l'effet néfaste de l?industrie pornographique mais aussi des TIC les diffusant ? tout en reconnaissant que l'interdiction de tels films à la télévision serait une fausse solution. Le poids de la culture patriarcale dans ...