Learning in context through conflict and alignment: Farmers and scientists in search of sustainable agriculture

This article analyzes learning in context through the prism of a sustainable dairy-farming project. The research was performed within a nutrient management project that involved the participation of farmers and scientists. Differences between heterogeneous forms of farmers knowledge and scientific knowledge were discursively constructed during conflict and subsequent alignment over the validity and relevance of knowledge. Both conflict and alignment appeared to be essential for learning in context. Conflict spurred learning when disagreeing groups of actors developed their knowledge in order to strengthen their arguments. Conflict caused self-referentiality when the actors no longer listened to each other. This inhibited self-reflection, thus blocking ongoing learning. Nevertheless, after a period of alignment, scientific models and knowledge of farmers were reevaluated and recontextualized. Through determining how to use scientific models and farmers knowledge for further learning, aimed at a shared goal, the participating actors also learned how to learn.Jasper Eshuis is a PhD candidate in the Department of Communication Management at Wageningen University, The Netherlands. His research deals with multiple land use, governance processes, and farmers decision-making. He is currently interested in monitoring and trust.Marian Stuiver is a PhD candidate in the Department of Rural Sociology of Wageningen University, The Netherlands. Her current research focuses on nutrient management, farmers innovation, and co-production of knowledge within the agricultural sciences.     

高活性干酵母对中华鳖非特异性免疫功能和抗病力的影响

报道了高活性干酵母对中华鳖(Pelodiscus sinensis)幼鳖非特异性免疫功能和抗病力影响的研究结果。试验共设6个组，在各组饵料中高活性干酵母的添加量依次为每千克体重0mg(对照组)、600．0mg(试验Ⅰ组)、800．0nag(试验Ⅱ组)、1000．0mg(试验Ⅲ组)、1200．0mg(试验Ⅳ组)和1400．0mg(试验Ⅴ组)。投喂30d后，从每组中各取10只中华鳖幼鳖采血，测定了中华鳖幼鳖血液中自细胞的吞噬活性、血清中溶菌酶和补体活性；另从每组分别取30只中华鳖幼鳖用注射嗜水气单胞菌(Aeromonas hydrophila)的方法行人工感染，检测其抗病力。研究结果表明，各试验组中华鳖幼鳖血液中自细胞的吞噬活性均显著高于对照组。第Ⅰ和第Ⅱ组中华鳖幼鳖血清中溶菌酶活性与对照组之间没有显著性差异，而试验Ⅲ、Ⅳ组和Ⅴ组中华鳖幼鳖血清中溶菌酶活性均显著高于对照组。第Ⅱ、Ⅲ、Ⅳ和第Ⅴ组中华鳖幼鳖血清中补体活性与对照组之间存在显著差异，而第1组与对照组之间无显著性差异。投喂高活性干酵母能增强中华鳖幼鳖对人工感染A.hydrvphila活菌的抵抗力。研究结果证明在中华鳖幼鳖饵料中添加高活性干酵母的量以每千克体重1200．0mg左右为宜。     

Attitudes,beliefs, and prevalence of dumpster diving as a means to obtain food by Midwestern,low-income,urban dwellers

Dumpster diving is a term generally used for obtaining items, in this case food for consumption, from dumpsters. This study evaluates the prevalence of dumpster diving in two low-income urban communities in Minneapolis, Minnesota. Additionally, attitudes and beliefs of adults who engage in this behavior are reported. Surveys (n=396) were used to collect data including individual dumpster diving behavior, food security, health, and demographic data. Nearly one-fifth of those surveyed had used dumpster diving as a means to obtain food. Focus groups (n=17) were conducted to further evaluate dumpster divers attitudes and beliefs about dumpster diving, use of food assistance programs including benefits and barriers, and other strategies used to obtain food such as stealing. Focus group participants were primarily homeless and most were high school educated. Ways to improve delivery of food assistance are suggested. In conclusion, more research on the use of dumpsters as a source of food is needed. Utilizing more of the 96 billion pounds of food wasted each year in the US through food recovery and donation programs could help to provide socially acceptable means for low-income urban dwellers to obtain food.     

Using global organic markets to pay for ecologically based agricultural development in China

The traditional command and control approach and the more recent free market have proven inadequate for promoting ecological agricultural development in China. Organic certification represents a regulated market mechanism with the potential to stimulate ecologically based agricultural research, extension, and investment. Recent linkages between the global organic food industry and local agricultural development in China provide an opportunity to test this potential. The article examines Chinas two largest organic certification systems for their potential to promote the adoption of integrated pest management (IPM) as a key component of ecological agriculture. Organic certification is providing a format for research, extension, and implementation of IPM principles and practices, and has the potential to do much more. However, possible contradictions between ecological and market rationality, inherent in organic certification and marketing systems, may be exacerbated by the authoritarian political economy of rural China.Paul Thiersis an assistant professor of Political Science at Washington State University Vancouver where he teaches comparative politics, political economy, and environmental policy in the Program in Public Affairs. His research focuses on the environmental, social, and political dynamics of globalization in rural China, with a particular emphasis on Chinas integration into global food trade and food standards.     

生物技术在天牛分类中的应用

天牛分类一直以形态特征为依据,近年来生物技术在天牛分类研究中得到应用,此文综述了包括同工酶电泳、RAPD分子标记、PCR、核酸序列分析等技术在天牛近缘种及种下阶元的分类鉴定、种上阶元的系统发育分析、天牛种群的遗传变异与进化、天牛生物地理学研究中的应用,并根据存在的问题对天牛分子生物学研究的前景进行探讨。     

国外地下储气库的技术与发展

利用枯竭油气田、地下含水层、含盐岩层或废矿井来建造地下储气库,是20世纪燃气工业的一项主要技术成就。介绍了国外建造天然气地下储气库的规划要点、数值模拟分析以及利用惰性气体作垫层气的研究,同时介绍了地下储气库的研究进展情况和今后的发展趋势,为我国开展地下储气库研究提供了一些可借鉴的经验。     

提高速溶茶品质的研究 Ⅰ. 酶法提取

针对速溶茶品质存在的几个主要问题,对红碎茶、绿茶的有效化学成分,纤维素酶、果胶酶和蛋白酶采用酶法提取.其使用浓度纤维素酶以0.3%为宜,水浸出物提取率分别比对照高20.5%与19.6%;果胶酶以0.1%为宜,水浸出物提取率分别比对照高5.4%与5.6%;蛋白酶分别以o.4%和o.6%较好,其氨基酸提取率分别比对照高105.6%和49.5%。试验表明纤维素酶与蛋白酶组合提取互作效果最好。同时还发现采用酶法提取,可以改善提取液的香气、汤色与清澈度。     

模拟低温气候下青霉素对早稻幼苗抗冷性的影响

用青霉素水溶液浸泡水稻种子２ｄ后催芽，待稻苗长至２叶期，在模拟低温条件下生长５ｄ，然后测定有关生理指标。结果表明，一定浓度的青霉素可以提高早稻幼苗的抗冷性。     

Oncogenic purine derivatives: evidence for a possible proximate oncogen

Two additional urinary metabolites of the chemical oncogen 3-hydroxyxanthine are now identified as 8-chloroxanthine and 8-methylmercaptoxanthine. Such products are thought to be derived from a reactive intermediate which can be tentatively considered to be a proximate oncogen. Since each of these 8-substituted xanthines has also been obtained in vitro by reactions of 3-acetoxyxanthine with chloride ion or methionine, their production in vivo can be explained as resulting through the metabolic formation of an activated ester with a reactivity similar to that of the chemical model.     

Determinants of Agricultural Intensity Index “Scores” in a Frontier Region: An Analysis of Data from Northern Guatemala

Data on farming systems in Petén, Guatemala, were used to develop an agricultural intensity index. The index can be used to assign an intensity “score” to a given farming system based on the array of practices used by the farmer, each practice’s contribution to production intensity, and the scale at which these practices are used. The scores assigned to 118 farmers in three study areas in Petén were analyzed through analysis of variance (ANOVA) to identify the factors that account for the variation in intensity levels, as measured through the index. The analyses reveal that the factors influencing agricultural intensity in Petén vary greatly from one study area to the next. This is due to differences in livelihood opportunities and strategies that, in turn, affect how agriculture fits into the local economy and how and why intensification is pursued. Variation in intensity levels can best be understood by considering the factors at the household and sub-regional scales that influence (a) whether farmers feel a need to intensify, (b) whether they see some benefit in doing so, and (c) whether they have the resources required to intensify production through particular strategies. Close attention must be paid to these factors by conservation and development organizations seeking to influence land use patterns and conserve forest in Petén. Avrum J. Shriar is an Assistant Professor at Virginia Commonwealth University where he specializes in Environmental Geography, Rural Development and Land Use, Farming Systems, and Latin America and the Caribbean. He holds a BA in Geography from Bishop’s University in Lennoxville, Quebec, a Master of Environmental Studies (MES) from Dalhousie University in Halifax, Nova Scotia; and a PhD in Geography from the University of Florida in Gainesville. Some of his recent articles have appeared in Food Policy, Geoforum, Human Ecology, Agroforestry Systems, and the Delaware Review of Latin American Studies.