Aquaculture governance: five engagement arenas for sustainability transformation

A greater focus on governance is needed to facilitate effective and substantive progress toward sustainability transformations in the aquaculture sector. Concerted governance efforts can help move the sector beyond fragmented technical questions associated with intensification and expansion, social and environmental impacts, and toward system-based approaches that address interconnected sustainability issues. Through a review and expert-elicitation process, we identify five engagement arenas to advance a governance agenda for aquaculture sustainability transformation: (1) setting sustainability transformation goals, (2) cross-sectoral linkages, (3) land–water–sea connectivity, (4) knowledge and innovation, and (5) value chains. We then outline the roles different actors and modes of governance can play in fostering sustainability transformations, and discuss action items for researchers, practitioners, and policymakers to operationalize activities within their engagement arenas

Precarious livelihoods at the intersection of fishing and sand mining in Cambodia

Fishing and sand mining in Cambodia may not appear to have much in common. However, digging deeper reveals important parallels. Both fishing and sand mining support livelihoods and are connected to a limited natural resource. Meanwhile, they are both typified by precarious livelihoods, on the one hand, and overexploitation, on the other. In bringing these two topics together, the paper combines empirical qualitative research from two separate studies conducted by the co-authors in Cambodia, one in coastal fishing villages and another in the sand mining industry along the Mekong River. We argue that the interplay between fishing and sand mining has paradoxical impacts on livelihoods, supporting one group while undermining another. Using a precarity analysis lens, we show how an unconventional, and largely invisible frontier of natural resource exploitation—sand mining—is intertwined with fisheries, and expands our understanding of the relationship between precarious labour, environmental change, and livelihoods

People and politics: Urban climate resilience in Phnom Penh, Cambodia

The rapid growth Cambodia has experienced over the past two decades has resulted in a dramatic transformation of its built environment, in particular, its largest city, Phnom Penh. The shape this urban development has taken echoes that of many developing countries whose urban landscape features gleaming skyscrapers, apartment buildings, and edge-city projects spread across a rapidly expanding urban area. Such a pattern of urbanization is occurring in Phnom Penh while the city faces increased flooding, lack of adequate urban infrastructure, and vulnerability to impacts of climate change. At the same time, embedded within national policy discourses of climate change and social/economic planning, and backed by international donors, are calls for strengthening or developing resilience. Yet, in the city there are signs of land dispossession, marginalization, inequality, and exacerbated poverty. In parallel to high-level discourses of urban resilience, on the ground there have been “everyday forms of resilience” that show how people enact and build resilience through collective action and advocacy for the rights of the urban poor. In reconciling this dichotomy, we argue that the continued reproduction of a technocratic-focused discourse on resilience in Cambodia by national and international actors overshadows the everyday contestations, strategies and resilience-making practices of people in urban areas. Through three examples, we showcase the varying ways in which these contestations and strategies occur in, and despite, an environment of suppression, and how they are challenging the status quo. In doing so, we shed light not only on the politics of resilience but, more importantly, the implications of the political agendas that ultimately contribute to exacerbating vulnerabilities of urban residents, even as calls continue for increased urban “resilience.

Structure, Dielectric and Impedance Studies of Li Doped (K0.5Na0.5)NbO3 Ceramics

Polycrystalline, lead free (K0.5Na0.5)NbO3 and (K0.5Na0.5)0.49Li0.02NbO3 ceramics were synthesized using solid-state reaction method. X-ray diffraction studies confirmed the formation of mono-phasic ceramics. During dielectric studies some anomalies were observed around temperatures 155 ºC and 439 ºC for (K0.5Na0.5)0.49Li0.02NbO3. Complex impedance spectroscopy (CIS) technique was used to investigate the bulk (grain interior) and grain boundary contributions to the impedance as a function of temperature and frequency. CIS studies revealed that the electrical relaxation process was temperature dependent and non-Debye type. AC conductivity studies revealed that conductivity was mainly due to the ionized oxygen vacancies in (K0.5Na0.5)0.49Li0.02NbO3 ceramics

Pneumococcal serotypes and serogroups causing invasive disease in Pakistan, 2005-2013

While pneumococcal conjugate vaccines have been implemented in most countries worldwide, use in Asia has lagged in part because of a lack of data on the amount of disease that is vaccine preventable in the region. We describe pneumococcal serotypes elicited from 111 episodes of invasive pneumococcal disease (IPD) from 2005 to 2013 among children and adults in Pakistan. Seventy-three percent (n = 81) of 111 IPD episodes were cases of meningitis (n = 76 in children 0-15 years and n = 5 among adults). Serotypes were determined by target amplification of DNA extracted from pneumococcal isolates (n = 52) or CSF specimens (n = 59). Serogroup 18 was the most common serogroup causing meningitis in children \u3c5 \u3eyears, accounting for 21% of cases (n = 13). The 10-valent pneumococcal conjugate vaccine (PCV 10) or PCV10- related serotypes were found in 61% (n = 47) of childhood (age 0-15 years) meningitis episodes. PCV-13 increased this coverage to 63% (one additional serotype 19A; n = 48). Our data indicate that use of PCVs would prevent a large proportion of serious pneumococcal disease

Aquaculture governance: five engagement arenas for sustainability transformation

A greater focus on governance is needed to facilitate effective and substantive progress toward sustainability transformations in the aquaculture sector. Concerted governance efforts can help move the sector beyond fragmented technical questions associated with intensification and expansion, social and environmental impacts, and toward system-based approaches that address interconnected sustainability issues. Through a review and expert-elicitation process, we identify five engagement arenas to advance a governance agenda for aquaculture sustainability transformation: (1) setting sustainability transformation goals, (2) cross-sectoral linkages, (3) land–water–sea connectivity, (4) knowledge and innovation, and (5) value chains. We then outline the roles different actors and modes of governance can play in fostering sustainability transformations, and discuss action items for researchers, practitioners, and policymakers to operationalize activities within their engagement arenas

Hepatoprotective potential and chemical characterization of Artocarpus lakoocha fruit extract

Artocarpus lakoocha fruits are widely consumed as food. The study was aimed at evaluating its hepatoprotective activity and chemical constituents. The extract was analysed by HPLC for the presence of flavonoids and phenolic compounds. Hepatoprotective potential was determined in mice following 8 days of extract or silymarin (standard therapy) administration. Hepatotoxicity was induced by administration of paracetamol (500 mg/kg). The blood and liver of treated and untreated mice were collected 24 hours post-paracetamol intoxication. HPLC analysis confirmed the presence of chromatotropic acid, quercetin, gallic acid, vanillic acid, cinnamic acid, ferulic acid and kaempferol. Acute toxicity study showed no observed effect at more than 2,000 mg/kg. The fruit extract prevented the rise in liver function tests and paracetamol related histopathological alterations. The hepatoprotective activity of extract was dose-dependent. This study confirms the preventive effect of methanolic extract of monkey jack fruits against paracetamol-induced liver toxicity. Video Clip of Methodology: 7 min 25 sec:   Full Screen   Alternat