scholarly journals A Preliminary Degradation Pathology of Rangeland Declines Near Opuwo in the Kunene, Namibia: The Tragedy of Disrupting Traditional Commons Management

2021 ◽  
Vol 6 (1) ◽  
pp. p142
Author(s):  
Hugh Pringle
Keyword(s):  
Problem Solving ◽  
Rangeland Management ◽  
Local People ◽  
Community Ownership ◽  
Far North ◽  
The Commons ◽  
Communal Areas ◽  
First Time ◽  
North Western ◽  
Interpretation Of Change

The Kunene in far north-western Namibia is widely recognised as having amongst the most widely and severely degraded rangelands (de Klerk, 2004; Joubert et al., 2008), yet this was not always the case. In many communal areas, major episodes of degradation have only occurred for the first time in recent decades. The degradation is not many decades old and yet it is seen as obvious support for the concept of the tragedy of the commons (Hardin, 1968). This simplistic, convenient interpretation of change is strongly dissonant with what I have observed first hand. What has gone wrong and can this inform us about rangeland rehydration and repair? I draw on experiences from a small number of communities with whom I worked and learnt to piece together what has gone wrong. I also suggest cause for optimism of rangeland revival in the Kunene when the fundamental, root causes are addressed with clear community ownership and leadership based on local, people-centred problem solving. The major challenges are cultural, social, administrative and perhaps economic. They are not lack of knowledge regarding scientific rangeland management although the latter needs adaptive attention in a new, socially engineered human context.

The Mismeasurement of Cattle Ownership In Namibia's Northern Communal Areas

2020 ◽  
Vol 24 (2) ◽  
pp. 255-271
Author(s):  
Dylan Groves ◽  
Venomukona Tjiseua
Keyword(s):  
Large Scale ◽  
Rangeland Management ◽  
Standard Approach ◽  
Growing Up ◽  
Ecological Variability ◽  
Pastoralist Communities ◽  
Pastoralist Community ◽  
Livestock Ownership ◽  
Communal Areas ◽  
Collection Methods

The standard approach to measuring livestock ownership in pastoralist communities relies on an assumption of uniformity that does not reflect the diverse concepts of ownership held by pastoralists themselves. In Namibia's Koakaveld Region, Himba and Herero pastoralist communities have a rich vocabulary for categorising the origins, usage rights and cultural valence of their cattle. Drawing on both authors' experience overseeing a large-scale rangeland management programme evaluation in Namibia's Northern Communal Areas – and one author's experience growing up in and keeping cattle in a Himba pastoralist community – we show how the standard approach to measuring cattle ownership undermines accurate estimates of livestock wealth, off-take and inequality, and obfuscates pastoralist's strategies for turning ecological variability to their advantage. We conclude with lessons about how multi-dimensional data collection methods improve upon the standard approach to livestock ownership measurements.

The Chengba site in Quxian County, Sichuan Province

2020 ◽  
Vol 20 (1) ◽  
pp. 54-68
Keyword(s):  
Central Government ◽  
Local People ◽  
Archaeological Survey ◽  
History Museum ◽  
Social Lives ◽  
Functional Zoning ◽  
The Social ◽  
Bamboo Slips ◽  
First Time ◽  
The City

AbstractIn 2014 through 2018, Sichuan Provincial Institute of Cultural Relics and Archaeology and History Museum of Quxian County conducted a systematic archaeological survey, detection, and excavation to the Chengba site in Quxian County. The excavation uncovered 4,000sq m in total, from which 444 various features were recovered and over 1,000 artifacts were unearthed. The functional zoning of this site has been roughly made clear; the excavations of the western gate and important building foundations of the Guojiatai city site are important archaeological discoveries of the city sites of the Han through Western Jin dynasties, and at the checkpoint site on the waterway of this period was uncovered for the first time in China. The large amounts of bamboo slips and wooden tablets unearthed in the excavation provided important materials for the explorations on the management of the central government of the Han and Jin empires to the administrative areas of commandery and district levels and the social lives of the local people at that time.

Neural Correlates of Mathematical Problem Solving

2015 ◽  
Vol 25 (02) ◽  
pp. 1550004 ◽  
Author(s):  
Chun-Ling Lin ◽  
Melody Jung ◽  
Ying Choon Wu ◽  
Hsiao-Ching She ◽  
Tzyy-Ping Jung
Keyword(s):  
Problem Solving ◽  
Spectral Power ◽  
Mathematical Problem ◽  
Neural Correlates ◽  
Mathematical Problem Solving ◽  
Single Digit ◽  
Beta Power ◽  
First Time ◽  
Anterior Posterior ◽  
Arithmetical Problem Solving

This study explores electroencephalography (EEG) brain dynamics associated with mathematical problem solving. EEG and solution latencies (SLs) were recorded as 11 neurologically healthy volunteers worked on intellectually challenging math puzzles that involved combining four single-digit numbers through basic arithmetic operators (addition, subtraction, division, multiplication) to create an arithmetic expression equaling 24. Estimates of EEG spectral power were computed in three frequency bands — θ (4–7 Hz), α (8–13 Hz) and β (14–30 Hz) — over a widely distributed montage of scalp electrode sites. The magnitude of power estimates was found to change in a linear fashion with SLs — that is, relative to a base of power spectrum, theta power increased with longer SLs, while alpha and beta power tended to decrease. Further, the topographic distribution of spectral fluctuations was characterized by more pronounced asymmetries along the left–right and anterior–posterior axes for solutions that involved a longer search phase. These findings reveal for the first time the topography and dynamics of EEG spectral activities important for sustained solution search during arithmetical problem solving.

The first finding of a Greek amphora in Poland

2021 ◽  
Vol 0 (0) ◽  
Author(s):  
Sylwester Czopek ◽  
Katarzyna Trybała-Zawiślak ◽  
Joanna Trąbska ◽  
Barbara Trybalska ◽  
Joanna Adamik-Proksa ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Trace Elements ◽  
Forest Steppe ◽  
Iron Compounds ◽  
Fine Grained ◽  
Tof Sims ◽  
First Finding ◽  
High Calcium ◽  
The University ◽  
First Time ◽  
North Western

Abstract In 2017, an expedition of the Institute of Archeology of the University of Rzeszów (Poland) carried out excavations on a hillfort belonging to the Scythian cultural circle (its forest-steppe variant) in Chotyniec, in south-eastern Poland. The hillfort is the central and most important point of a large settlement cluster, which is the furthest north-western enclave of this cultural circle. In an excavated cult object – the so-called ‘zolnik’ – we made an interesting discovery. Here we show this unique finding for the first time: a Greek wine amphora, from the beginning of the sixth century BC. We were able to explore and reconstruct it almost entirely. Amphora is the only artefact of this type found in the present Polish borders. The amphora was subjected to archaeometric research with the use of PLM, SEM/EDS, TXRF and ToF SIMS. The massive fabric was made of high calcium clay enriched in quartz and volcanic lithoclasts. The lack of chromium and nickel among trace elements makes the vessel different from the amphoras from the Eastern Meditteranean analysed so far, suggesting a specific workshop. Red painting was executed with very fine grained iron compounds predominantly based on aluminosilicates, enriched in phosphorus. Obviously, since it is associated with the presence of Scythians in Eastern Europe, it simultaneously delimits (geography-wise) the borders of Greek influence.

scholarly journals Geodynamics and Oil and Gas Potential of the Yenisei-Khatanga Basin (Polar Siberia)

Minerals ◽  
2018 ◽  
Vol 8 (11) ◽  
pp. 510 ◽  
Author(s):  
Valery Vernikovsky ◽  
Georgy Shemin ◽  
Evgeny Deev ◽  
Dmitry Metelkin ◽  
Nikolay Matushkin ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Lower Cretaceous ◽  
Oil And Gas ◽  
Foreland Basin ◽  
Gas Reservoirs ◽  
The North ◽  
Western Arctic ◽  
Folded Structures ◽  
Gas Potential ◽  
First Time ◽  
North Western

The geodynamic development of the north–western (Arctic) margin of the Siberian craton is comprehensively analyzed for the first time based on our database as well as on the analysis of published material, from Precambrian-Paleozoic and Mesozoic folded structures to the formation of the Mesozoic-Cenozoic Yenisei-Khatanga sedimentary basin. We identify the main stages of the region’s tectonic evolution related to collision and accretion processes, mainly subduction and rifting. It is demonstrated that the prototype of the Yenisei-Khatanga basin was a wide late Paleozoic foreland basin that extended from Southern Taimyr to the Tunguska syneclise and deepened towards Taimyr. The formation of the Yenisei-Khatanga basin, as well as of the West-Siberian basin, was due to continental rifting in the Permian-Triassic. The study describes the main oil and gas generating deposits of the basin, which are mainly Jurassic and Lower Cretaceous mudstones. It is shown that the Lower Cretaceous deposits contain 90% of known hydrocarbon reserves. These are mostly stacked reservoirs with gas, gas condensate and condensate with rims. The study also presents data on oil and gas reservoirs, plays and seals in the Triassic, Jurassic and Cretaceous complexes.

scholarly journals New records of lichens and allied fungi from the Leningrad Region, Russia. VII

2016 ◽  
Vol 53 ◽  
pp. 25 ◽  
Author(s):  
Dmitry E. Himelbrant ◽  
Irina S. Stepanchikova ◽  
Jurga Motiejūnaitė ◽  
Ludmila V. Gagarina ◽  
Alexandra V. Dyomina
Keyword(s):  
New Records ◽  
European Russia ◽  
Leningrad Region ◽  
Lichenicolous Fungi ◽  
The North ◽  
Western European ◽  
First Time ◽  
North Western

Fourteen species of lichens, fifteen lichenicolous fungi and one saprobic fungus are reported for the first time for St. Petersburg, Western or Eastern Leningrad Region. The lichen Lecidella meiococca and the lichenicolous fungus Tremella phaeophysciae are reported as new to Russia, the lichen Lecania sambucina and the lichenicolous fungus Endococcus tricolorans are new for the European Russia, the lichens Buellia arborea, Chaenotheca cinerea, Bellemerea sanguinea, resinicolous calicioid fungus Chaenothecopsis mediarossica and lichenicolous fungi Arthonia molendoi, Lichenochora obscuroides, Pronectria leptaleae, Sphaerellothecium cladoniae are new for the North-Western European Russia. The most interesting records are briefly discussed. 

scholarly journals Discovering and Implementing Self-Sustaining Networks of Cooperation with General Collective Intelligence

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Andy E Williams
Keyword(s):  
Problem Solving ◽  
General Problem ◽  
Iterative Process ◽  
Collective Intelligence ◽  
Exponential Increase ◽  
Growing Networks ◽  
First Time

Leveraging General Collective Intelligence or GCI, a platform with the potential to achieve an exponential increase in general problem-solving ability, a methodology is defined for finding potential opportunities for cooperation, as well as for negotiating and launching cooperation. This paper explores the mechanisms by which GCI enables networks of cooperation to be formed in order to increase outcomes of cooperation and in order to make that cooperation self-sustaining. And this paper explores why implementing a GCI for the first time requires designing an iterative process that self-assembles continually growing networks of cooperation.

scholarly journals Bluetongue virus in Europe: the current epidemiological situation

2022 ◽  
Vol 78 (02) ◽  
pp. 6619-2022
Author(s):  
WIESŁAW NIEDBALSKI
Keyword(s):  
Western Europe ◽  
Climatic Changes ◽  
Host Factors ◽  
Entire Country ◽  
History Of ◽  
Sporadic Cases ◽  
Vaccination Campaigns ◽  
First Time ◽  
North Western ◽  
The Mediterranean Basin

The article reviews the history of BT occurrence in Europe and its present status. It describes the distribution of BT in Europe before 1998, the emergence of BTV in southern and eastern Europe in 1998-2006 and the epidemiology of BT in north-western Europe after 2006. Up to 1998, sporadic cases of BT were noted in Cyprus, on the Iberian Peninsula and on several Greek islands. However, since 1998, probably due to climatic changes, BTV has spread northwards into the Mediterranean Basin, where five BTV serotypes (1, 2, 4, 9 and 16) have been identified. In August 2006, BTV passed for the first time latitude 50°N, and BT outbreaks caused by BTV serotype 8 occurred in the Netherlands, Belgium, Germany, France and Luxembourg. Mass vaccination campaigns implemented in Europe in the spring of 2008 quickly limited the spread of disease caused by BTV-8, and it was eradicated by 2011. However, after a 3-year break, in September 2015, BTV-8 re-emerged in Europe, in central France, and subsequently spread throughout the entire country. In the following years, BTV-8 outbreaks were found in Switzerland, Germany, Belgium and Spain. In addition to BTV-8 outbreaks, BTV serotypes 1, 2, 4, 9 and 16 have recently circulated in Europe. As revealed by phylogeographic inference, the recent spread of BTV in Europe is a consequence of climatic, landscape and vertebrate host factors

scholarly journals Notes on the distribution and habitat of Ochthebius lobicollis Rey, 1885, a poorly known north-western Mediterranean coastal species (Coleoptera: Hydraenidae)

2019 ◽  
Vol 51 (1) ◽  
pp. 51-54
Author(s):  
Ignacio Ribera ◽  
Carles Hernando
Keyword(s):  
Iberian Peninsula ◽  
Cytochrome Oxidase ◽  
New Records ◽  
Genetic Data ◽  
Western Mediterranean ◽  
Cytochrome Oxidase 1 ◽  
Coastal Species ◽  
Gulf Of Lion ◽  
First Time ◽  
North Western

Ochthebius (Ochthebius) lobiccoastal habitatsollis Rey, 1885 is recorded for the first time from the Iberian Peninsula (Girona) and the island of Corsica; new records are also given for the islands of Menorca and Sardinia. The species is known only from coastal habitats through the Gulf of Lion and the Ligurian and Balearic seas, typically living in rockpools of different salinity or small trickles or freshwater runoffs. Genetic data of the cytochrome oxidase 1 gene from Iberian, Menorcan and Sardinian specimens shows less than 1% divergence, suggesting lack of isolation between populations.

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