Environmental and social aspects

Presented at Competing interests in water resources - searching for consensus: proceedings from the USCID water management conference held on December 5-7, 1996 in Las Vegas, Nevada.Includes bibliographical references.Carbon emissions from the use of fossil fuels are increasing. Global warming continues resulting in more violent and destructive storms. The world population is increasing by nearly 90 million annually. Forests are rapidly being destroyed in the developing countries. Irrigated area per capita and food grain production are declining. The competition from the cities for water is increasing. Many aquifers are being polluted and/or over pumped. However, deforestation, soil erosion, population growth, and flooding decrease with water resources and other economic developments. Large new areas can be brought into agricultural production through the construction of irrigation and drainage facilities. There are many good sites for large dams in the developing countries. These dams can be used for hydropower, flood storage, irrigation supplies, and domestic water. Hydropower is clean energy and should be substituted for a large portion of the present use of fossil fuels. Benefits from fertilizers increase with increasing availability of water. Governments and politicians are poor managers of water resources. Many large development possibilities are international in scope. Electrical grids should be more interconnected and possibly continental in scope. Few if any developing countries have an institutional capacity for coordinated water resources developments. The international lending agencies should give priority to the financing of national and international water resources development authorities that at least partially privatize water resource management. Also priority should be given to those projects and activities that improve the environment

Planning to meet future demands

Presented at the 2002 USCID/EWRI conference, Energy, climate, environment and water - issues and opportunities for irrigation and drainage on July 9-12 in San Luis Obispo, California.Includes bibliographical references.There is now insufficient food for half of the world's population and in many areas the population is increasing faster than the food supply. Part of the current food supply is produced by depleting groundwater, overgrazing, degrading agricultural lands, and slash and burn agriculture. In order to conserve resources for future generations, these practices need to be eliminated. Countries with a good food supply also have good population stability. If food production from irrigated alluvial lands can be increased fast enough, then irrigated agriculture can stabilize population growth and greatly reduce the depletion of resources. Slash and burn agriculture results in deforestation, flooding of alluvial lands, and erosion. High priority needs to be given to eliminating this practice. This paper present methods and equations for simplifying water resource development planning and management. The World Water and Climate Atlas is briefly described. Development of a surface water Atlas is proposed. Some of the benefits that have resulted from the construction of large dams and the irrigation of alluvial lands are described

The health benefits of secondary education in adolescents and young adults: An international analysis in 186 low-, middle- and high-income countries from 1990 to 2013.

BACKGROUND: The health benefits of secondary education have been little studied. We undertook country-level longitudinal analyses of the impact of lengthening secondary education on health outcomes amongst 15-24 year olds. METHODS: Exposures: average length of secondary and primary education from 1980 to 2013.Data/Outcomes: Country level adolescent fertility rate (AFR), HIV prevalence and mortality rate from 1989/90 to 2013 across 186 low-, middle- and high-income countries.Analysis: Longitudinal mixed effects models, entering secondary and primary education together, adjusted for time varying GDP and country income status. Longitudinal structural marginal models using inverse probability weighting (IPW) to take account of time varying confounding by primary education and GDP. Counterfactual scenarios of no change in secondary education since 1980/1990 were estimated from model coefficients for each outcome. FINDINGS: Each additional year of secondary education decreased AFR by 8.4% in mixed effects models and 14.6% in IPW models independent of primary education and GDP. Counterfactual analyses showed the proportion of the reduction in adolescent fertility rate over the study period independently attributable to secondary education was 28% in low income countries. Each additional year of secondary education reduced mortality by 16.9% for 15-19 year and 14.8% for 20-24 year old young women and 11.4% for 15-19 year and 8.8% for 20-24 year old young men. Counterfactual scenarios suggested 12% and 23% of the mortality reduction for 15-19 and 20-24 year old young men was attributable to secondary education in low income countries. Each additional year of secondary education was associated with a 24.5% and 43.1% reduction in HIV prevalence amongst young men and women. INTERPRETATION: The health benefits associated with secondary education were greater than those of primary education and were greatest amongst young women and those from low income countries. Secondary education has the potential to be a social vaccine across many outcomes in low and middle income countries

The Southern Dwarf Hunt: Local Group Dwarf Candidates in the Southern Sky

We present observations of 82 Local Group dwarf galaxy candidates, of which 62 were chosen visually from ESO-SRC survey plates of the southern sky (32 of which were not previously catalogued) and the rest suggested by various sources in the literature. Two are the Local Group galaxies Antlia and Cetus; nine are more distant galaxies, though still within a few megaparsecs; 45 are background galaxies; seven are planetary (or other emission) nebulae; 15 are reflection or other Galactic nebulae; two are galaxy clusters; one is a Galactic star cluster and one is a misidentified star. We conclude that there is no large population of faint Local Group dwarf galaxies of any familiar type awaiting discovery. We point out the danger of relying on a single type of data to reach conclusions about an object.Comment: 33 pages, 84 images (low-resolution here), accepted for publication in ApJ Supplemnt, July 200

El Clima y la Producción de Granos Alimenticios (Un Manual para la zonificación Agroclimática del Istmo Centroamericano)

El presente documento es un manual para facilitar la zonificacion agroclimática del Itsmo Centroamericano en lo que respecta a granos alimenticios como maíz, frijoles, sorgo y arroz, con el fin de asegurar los buenos niveles de producción

Seeing the way: visual sociology and the distance runner's perspective

Employing visual and autoethnographic data from a two‐year research project on distance runners, this article seeks to examine the activity of seeing in relation to the activity of distance running. One of its methodological aims is to develop the linkage between visual and autoethnographic data in combining an observation‐based narrative and sociological analysis with photographs. This combination aims to convey to the reader not only some of the specific subcultural knowledge and particular ways of seeing, but also something of the runner's embodied feelings and experience of momentum en route. Via the combination of narrative and photographs we seek a more effective way of communicating just how distance runners see and experience their training terrain. The importance of subjecting mundane everyday practices to detailed sociological analysis has been highlighted by many sociologists, including those of an ethnomethodological perspective. Indeed, without the competence of social actors in accomplishing these mundane, routine understandings and practices, it is argued, there would in fact be no social order

Grouping practices in the primary school: what influences change?

During the 1990s, there was considerable emphasis on promoting particular kinds of pupil grouping as a means of raising educational standards. This survey of 2000 primary schools explored the extent to which schools had changed their grouping practices in responses to this, the nature of the changes made and the reasons for those changes. Forty eight percent of responding schools reported that they had made no change. Twenty two percent reported changes because of the literacy hour, 2% because of the numeracy hour, 7% because of a combination of these and 21% for other reasons. Important influences on decisions about the types of grouping adopted were related to pupil learning and differentiation, teaching, the implementation of the national literacy strategy, practical issues and school self-evaluation

Normalization of the Lymph Node T Cell Stromal Microenvironment in lpr/lpr Mice Is Associated with SU5416-Induced Reduction in Autoantibodies

The vascular-stromal elements of lymph nodes can play important roles in regulating the activities of the lymphocytes within. During model immune responses, the vascular-stromal compartment has been shown to undergo proliferative expansion and functional alterations. The state of the vascular-stromal compartment and the potential importance of this compartment in a spontaneous, chronic model of autoimmunity have not been well studied. Here, we characterize the vascular expansion in MRL-lpr/lpr lymph nodes and attempt to ask whether inhibiting this expansion can interfere with autoantibody generation. We show that characteristics of vascular expansion in enlarging MRL-lpr/lpr lymph nodes resemble that of the VEGF-dependent expansion that occurs in wild-type mice after model immunization. Surprisingly, treatment with SU5416, an inhibitor of VEGF and other receptor tyrosine kinases, did not have sustained effects in inhibiting vascular growth, but attenuated the anti-dsDNA response and altered the phenotype of the double negative T cells that are expanded in these mice. In examining for anatomic correlates of these immunologic changes, we found that the double negative T cells are localized within ectopic follicles around a central B cell patch and that these T cell-rich areas lack the T zone stromal protein ER-TR7 as well as other elements of a normal T zone microenvironment. SU5416 treatment disrupted these follicles and normalized the association between T zone microenvironmental elements and T cell-rich areas. Recent studies have shown a regulatory role for T zone stromal elements. Thus, our findings of the association of anti-dsDNA responses, double negative T cell phenotype, and altered lymphocyte microenvironment suggest the possibility that lymphocyte localization in ectopic follicles protects them from regulation by T zone stromal elements and functions to maintain autoimmune responses. Potentially, altering the lymphocyte microenvironment that is set up by the vascular-stromal compartment can be a means by which to control undesired autoimmune responses

A Small-Scale Field Trial of Pyriproxyfen-Impregnated Bed Nets against Pyrethroid-Resistant Anopheles gambiae s.s. in Western Kenya

Pyrethroid resistance is becoming a major problem for vector control programs, because at present, there are few suitable chemical substitutes for pyrethroids, as when used on bed nets the insecticide must have low mammalian toxicity as well as high activity to mosquitoes. Pyriproxyfen (PPF) is one of the most active chemicals among the juvenile hormone mimic (JHM) group. Sterilizing mosquitoes by using PPF could be a potential control measure for pyrethroid-resistant malaria vectors. We investigated the sterilizing effects of two types of PPF-impregnated bed nets - a 1% PPF-impregnated net and a 1% PPF +2% permethrin-impregnated net (Olyset Duo) - to pyrethroid-resistant wild population of Anopheles gambiae s.s. in western Kenya. High mortality of blood-fed mosquitos was observed 3 days post-collection, in the houses where PPF-impregnated nets were used, indicating the effect of PPF on the longevity of mosquitos that came in contact with the net. Reduction in the number of ovipositing females, number of eggs, and number of progeny per female were also observed in the houses in which both Olyset Duo and PPF-impregnated nets were used. This is the first field study showing the high sterilizing efficacy of PPF against wild pyrethroid-resistant An. gambiae s.s. population. In addition, we recognized the necessity of combined use of permethrin with PPF, in order to reduce the risk of mosquito bites and provide a level of personal protection. Further studies on wild pyrethroid-resistant mosquito populations such as An. arabiensis and An. funestus s.s. would provide more information on the practical use of the PPF-impregnated bed nets