布卡下的璀璨光芒——解读《灿烂千阳》中阿富汗女性婚姻观

卡勒德·胡塞尼在《灿烂千阳》中将视角聚焦到生存在极端父权制社会下的阿富汗女性，通过刻画两位普通的阿富汗女性的成长轨迹和婚姻经历，揭示了阿富汗三十年战乱背景下的人民，特别是处在社会边缘的阿富汗女性在婚姻自由上的弱势处境和不断抗争的历程。从女性主义的视角解读《灿烂千阳》中阿富汗女性的婚姻观，分析两位女主人公性格意识的转变和成长觉醒的历程，不仅反映了阿富汗女性所遭受的来自于传统社会以及极端势力对于婚姻自由的压迫和摧残，更能够呼吁人们关心和支持阿富汗受压迫女性在婚姻中获取合法合理的权利。     

Assessment of EST-microsatellites markers for discrimination and genetic diversity in bread and durum wheat landraces from Afghanistan

Accurate and reliable means for identification are necessary to assess the discrimination between landraces of tetraploid wheat [T.␣turgidum L. subsp. durum (Desf.) Husn.] and hexaploid wheat (T. aestivum L. em. Thell.). In Afghanistan, farmers usually cultivate mixed landraces, and thus distinction between bread and durum is difficult. A set of 18 microsatellites derived from the DuPont EST-database were used to describe genetic diversity in a sample of 82 Afghan wheat landraces. A total of 101 alleles were detected, with allele number per locus ranging from 2 to 13, and a mean allele number of 6.31. The percentage of polymorphic loci was 89%. The EST-SSRs markers showed different level of gene diversity: the highest Polymorphism Information Content value (0.921) was observed with DuPw 221. Our results demonstrated that with a reasonable number of expressed sequences target microsatellites (EST-SSRs) it is possible to discriminate between T. durum and T. aestivum species of wheat germplasm. Our results showed that EST-databases could be a useful source for species-specific markers and have the potential for new genic microsatellites markers that could enhance screening germplasm in gene banks.     

A benefit-cost analysis of veterinary interventions in Afghanistan based on a livestock mortality study

This article evaluates a veterinary intervention program of the Dutch Committee for Afghanistan, started during the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan, a 10 year period during which veterinary services were otherwise completed disrupted. The veterinary field program was carried out mainly by paravets. A questionnaire-based survey was conducted to measure livestock mortality in districts that received veterinary services through the project and in neighboring districts that had not had veterinary services for about 10 years. The survey indicated that livestock mortality in districts that received veterinary services was lower than in districts without any veterinary services. Comparison of each of the 22 age-species-specific district pairs showed a difference in favor of the covered district in 18 pairs. In 12 out of these 18 pairs, this difference was significant. Overall annual mortality rates differed (in relative amounts) by 25%, 30%, and 22%, in calves, lambs, and kids, respectively, and in adult cattle, sheep, and goats, by roughly 30%, 40%, and 60%, respectively. In the absence of any other obvious distinctive features between the compared districts, we concluded that this difference in mortality was due to the presence or absence of veterinary services. A benefit-cost analysis showed that the benefit-cost ratio for the program was between 1.8 and 4.8. The high benefit-cost ratio resulted partly from the fact that the costs of the program were low, because it was implemented by a volunteer-run, non-governmental organization. In addition, due to the special circumstances prevailing in the country, any input in combatting diseases at this stage was bound to have a relatively high impact. We concluded that: (1) the veterinary program was important for the rebuilding of numbers of livestock and thus for the economy of Afghanistan, and (2) veterinary intervention programs under these and comparable circumstances can be highly cost-effective.     

Variation in high molecular weight glutenin subunits in landraces of hexaploid wheat from Afghanistan

Summary Variation for high molecular weight (HMW) glutenin subunits is reported in Afghan hexaploid wheat landraces from different locations in the country ranging in altitude from 395 to 3170 metres. The variation appeared to be independent of the altitude and geographical location of the landraces. Studies of a number of samples from each of five sites revealed that at some sites there was allelic variation at theGlu-A1 andGlu-B1 loci coding from HMW glutenin subunits, but there was no variation at theGlu-D1 locus within and between sites.