Migration and animal husbandry: Competing or complementary livelihood strategies. Evidence from Kyrgyzstan

Animal husbandry and labour migration are important livelihood strategies for a large proportion of the rural population in developing countries. Up to now, the two strategies have usually been studied by looking at either one or the other; their interlinkages have rarely been examined. Based on a case study in rural Kyrgyzstan, the aim of this paper is to explore the links between animal husbandry and labour migration. Results show that for most rural households, livestock is crucial yet not sufficient to make a living. Therefore, many people diversify their income sources by migrating to work elsewhere. This generates cash for daily expenses and the acquisition of new livestock, but also leads to an absence of workforce in households. Yet since remittances usually exceed the expenses for hiring additional workforce, most people consider migration profitable. From a socio-economic point of view, migration and animal husbandry can thus be considered important complementary livelihood strategies for the rural Kyrgyz population, at least for the time being. In the long term, however, the failure of young migrants to return to rural places and their settlement in urban areas might also cause remittance dependency and lead to an increasing lack of qualified labour. From an environmental point of view, the investment of remittances into animal husbandry poses challenges to sustainable pasture management. Increasing livestock numbers in rural areas raise pressure on pasture resources. Since most people consider animal husbandry their main future prospect while continuing to use pastures in a fairly unsustainable way, this may further exacerbate the over-utilization of pastures in future

Comparative birth weights of singletons born after assisted reproduction and natural conception in previously infertile women

BACKGROUND: The possible interference of assisted reproduction techniques (ART) with epigenetic reprogramming during early embryo development has recently sparked renewed interest about the reported lower birth weight among infants born as a consequence of infertility treatments. However, the latter finding so far has relied on the comparison of the birth weight of infants conceived with ART to general population data. A more appropriate comparison group should involve pregnancies in infertile women after natural conception. Therefore, we compared neonatal birth weight data of infants born after various ART treatments, including intrauterine insemination (IUI), with those of previously infertile women achieving pregnancy after sexual intercourse. METHODS: Between August 1996 and March 2004 the data of all infertile women presenting in the infertility unit of the University Women's Hospital of Basel, Switzerland, were collected prospectively, adding up to 995 intact pregnancies and deliveries. The birth weight of all infants resulting from 741 singleton pregnancies were analysed with regard to the patients' characteristics, the occurrence of complications during pregnancy and the type of infertility treatment with which the pregnancies were achieved. RESULTS: Comparison of duration of pregnancy and birth weight of infants born after infertility treatment confirms a shorter pregnancy span and a lower mean birth weight in infants born after IVF and ICSI. If women with pregnancies after ART deliver before term, neonatal birth weight is significantly lower. CONCLUSIONS: There is a specific effect of ART, mainly IVF and ICSI, on both shortening the duration of pregnancy and lowering neonatal birth weight. Both these parameters seem to be interrelated consequences of some modification in the gestational process induced by the infertility treatment. Freezing and thawing of oocytes in the pronucleate stage had a lesser impact on pregnancy span and on neonatal birth weigh

Improving model quality through foundational ontologies: Two contrasting approaches to the representation of roles

Several foundational ontologies have been developed recently. We examine two of these from the point of view of their quality in representing temporal changes, focusing on the example of roles. We discuss how these are modelled in two foundational ontologies: the Unified Foundational Ontology and the BORO foundational ontology. These exhibit two different approaches, endurantist and perdurantist respectively. We illustrate the differences using a running example in the university student domain, wherein one individual is not only a registered student but also, for part of this period, was elected the President of the Student Union. The metaphysical choices made by UFO and BORO lead to different representations of roles. Two key differences which affect the way roles are modelled are exemplified in this paper: (1) different criteria of identity and (2) differences in the way individual objects extend over time and possible worlds. These differences impact upon the quality of the models produced in terms of their respective explanatory power. The UFO model concentrates on the notion of validity in “all possible worlds” and is unable to accurately represent the way particulars are extended in time. The perdurantist approach is best able to describe temporal changes wherein roles are spatio-temporal extents of individuals

Estrategias de ahorro de energía eléctrica aplicables a la industria hotelera mexicana

Este trabajo de obtención de grado se diseñó bajo la modalidad de una investigación documental y evaluación económica financiera de un hipotético proyecto de inversión en un hotel ubicado en Quintana Roo, México. El objetivo principal fue recopilar y analizar las iniciativas y experiencias que han tenido organizaciones de la industria hotelera en el extranjero sobre el ahorro de energía eléctrica, y determinar la factibilidad de su implementación en México, así como cuantificar los beneficios económicos derivados de su aplicación y su contribución a la disminución de las emisiones de gases generadores del calentamiento global. Esta investigación presenta las estrategias para el ahorro en el consumo de energía eléctrica que pueden ser adoptadas por hoteles establecidos en México de categoría cinco estrellas, gran turismo y categoría especial (gran industria). No se tomaron para este estudio la pequeña y mediana industria turística mexicana. Con lo expuesto, esta investigación pretende ser la guía para la implementación de prácticas y dispositivos de ahorro de energía eléctrica aplicables en la industria hotelera mexicana

«Wir gehen nicht zurück»: Bischkeks Vororte als Spiegel gesellschaftlicher Umbrüche in Kirgistan

Beim Umsturz in Kirgistan haben junge Leute aus den Vor- orten der Hauptstadt eine wichtige Rolle gespielt. Viele sind auf der Suche nach Arbeit hierhingezogen. Die neue Regierung steht vor der Herausforderung, ihnen eine Perspektive zu geben

Toponimia y marginalidad geográfica: Los nombres de lugar como reflejo de una interpretación del espacio

En este artículo exploramos las posibilidades que ofrece la toponimia para el estudio aplicado de procesos de marginalidad geográfica. Tomando como ejemplo algunos topónimos de Cataluña y Aragón, y de otros lugares de la Península Ibérica, documentados al menos desde la Edad Media, analizamos la evolución de estos nombres en sí mismos y en relación al ámbito espacial al que se han aplicado, o se aplican. Se trata de observar, en definitiva, si la toponimia nos suministra una información significativa para evaluar los procesos de transformación y cambio que sufre el territorio, y de comprobar si las situaciones de marginalidad física reflejadas por algunos topónimos antiguos se han visto alteradas, o no, por el paso del tiemp

Domain Models are Aspect Free

Proponents of aspect orientation have successfully seeded the impression that aspects—like objects—are so fundamental a notion that they should pervade all phases and artefacts of the software development process. Aspect orientation has therefore proliferated from programming to design to analysis to requirements, sparing neither software processes nor their favourite languages. Since modelling plays an important role in software engineering, much effort is currently being invested in making modelling languages aspect ready. However, based on an observed lack of examples for domain level (or functional) aspects this paper argues the case against the omnipresence of aspects, particularly the existence of aspects in domain models, and offers some informal arguments as well as a semiformal proof in favour of the claims made