Sumberdaya Penghidupan Masyarakat Kasepuhan Cisunsang, Kabupaten Lebak-Banten

Sumberdaya Penghidupan Masyarakat Kasepuhan Cisunsang, Kabupaten Lebak-Bante

Nutraceutical properties and health-promoting biological activities of fruits of watermelon cultivars with different origins

This study was focused on biologically active compounds extracted from pulp and rind of watermelon fruits (Citrullus lanatus (Thunb.) Matsum. & Nakai, 1916) cultivars with different origins (Italy, Costa Rica, Brazil, Ecuador and Santana-Romania). Total polyphenols and flavonoids, lycopene and L-citrulline, were extracted from the pulp and their content determined spectrophotometrically. L-citrulline was also measured in the rind. In addition, the determination of some biological activities (antioxidant activity and inhibition of the amylase and lipase enzymes) of watermelon pulp was carried out. The examined pulp of the watermelon cultivars revealed to have a high content of antioxidants (e.g., lycopene up to 39.68 ± 0.13 μg/g FW in an Italian cultivar) and bioactive molecules (e.g., L-citrulline up to 0.87 mg/g FW in the Ecuadorian cultivar). Watermelon rind had higher contents of L-citrulline (up to 2.60 mg/g FW) compared to pulp. The comparisons between watermelons cultivars revealed the significant inhibitory of lipase (values ranging from 117.10 to 312.12 IC50) and α-amylase (values ranging from 145.52 to 322.13 IC50), so confirming their health-promoting potential. All these factors taken together make watermelon a high-value food with evident benefits on human health. The results of this study could facilitate the discovery, improvement and utilization of new watermelon cultivars with high nutraceutical properties

Focused Deterrence and the Prevention of Violent Gun Injuries: Practice, Theoretical Principles, and Scientific Evidence

Focused deterrence strategies are a relatively new addition to a growing portfolio of evidence-based violent gun injury prevention practices available to policy makers and practitioners. These strategies seek to change offender behavior by understanding the underlying violence-producing dynamics and conditions that sustain recurring violent gun injury problems and by implementing a blended strategy of law enforcement, community mobilization, and social service actions. Consistent with documented public health practice, the focused deterrence approach identifies underlying risk factors and causes of recurring violent gun injury problems, develops tailored responses to these underlying conditions, and measures the impact of implemented interventions. This article reviews the practice, theoretical principles, and evaluation evidence on focused deterrence strategies. Although more rigorous randomized studies are needed, the available empirical evidence suggests that these strategies generate noteworthy gun violence reduction impacts and should be part of a broader portfolio of violence prevention strategies available to policy makers and practitioners

The Effect of Urban Street Gang Densities on Small Area Homicide Incidence in a Large Metropolitan County, 1994–2002

The presence of street gangs has been hypothesized as influencing overall levels of violence in urban communities through a process of gun–drug diffusion and cross-type homicide. This effect is said to act independently of other known correlates of violence, i.e., neighborhood poverty. To test this hypothesis, we independently assessed the impact of population exposure to local street gang densities on 8-year homicide rates in small areas of Los Angeles County, California. Homicide data from the Los Angeles County Coroners Office were analyzed with original field survey data on street gang locations, while controlling for the established covariates of community homicide rates. Bivariate and multivariate regression analyses explicated strong relationships between homicide rates, gang density, race/ethnicity, and socioeconomic structure. Street gang densities alone had cumulative effects on small area homicide rates. Local gang densities, along with high school dropout rates, high unemployment rates, racial and ethnic concentration, and higher population densities, together explained 90% of the variation in local 8-year homicide rates. Several other commonly considered covariates were insignificant in the model. Urban environments with higher densities of street gangs exhibited higher overall homicide rates, independent of other community covariates of homicide. The unique nature of street gang killings and their greater potential to influence future local rates of violence suggests that more direct public health interventions are needed alongside traditional criminal justice mechanisms to combat urban violence and homicides

Use of dirty plastic waste as precursors for activated carbon production – a contribution to the circular economy

The production of activated carbons (ACs) from dirty plastic wastes derived from the mechanical/biological treatment of urban solid wastes, disposable plastics and plastics used in agriculture is reported. The use of these precursors is innovative and contributes to the circular economy by the valorization of dirty plastics that are usually disposed in landfills. ACs were produced by physical activation, with air or CO2, and chemical activation, with KOH or K2CO3. ACs presented a BET (N2) area and pore volume up to 723 m2/g and 0.32 cm3/g. Selected samples were tested for the 2,4-dichlorophenoxyacetic acid (MCPA) and 4-chloro-2-methyl-phenoxyacetic acid (2,4-D) removal from the liquid phase. PB-K2CO3-1:1–700 presented an apparent maximum adsorption capacity of 245 and 289 mg g−1 for MCPA and 2,4-D, respectively.Fundo Ambiental Portuguê

Feeding the rural tourism strategy? Food and notions of place and identity

The humble rural cuisine has now been thrust at the forefront of economic development strategies. This conceptual paper is a contribution to a growing critical awareness of the operations of the food industry and helps to foster a critical understanding of how, if at all, local food and its associated culture can help sustain rural tourism particularly and rural communities generally. It is inspired by literature about the international political economy of food and the many experiences of local food development, and is aware of the contrast between the structure of the industry and the hopes associated with its practice on the ground. The paper thus argues that, beyond the glamour and hype, there are those who gain, as well as those who lose, from the current food fad. While it explains the causes of the contemporary craze with food, the paper also interrogates the naı¨ve expectations often placed in food as a motor of rural development, and as the panacea for struggling rural communities. The empirical data on which this chapter is based are drawn from 18 short chapters explaining the history of various “traditional dishes” from the islands of the broad North Atlantic that feature in a recent food publication.peer-reviewe

Dealing with plastic waste from agriculture activity

The increase in agricultural production and food quality has forced the growing useof plastics in various activities. The plastic wastes are partially recycled in or outside Portugal;nevertheless, the contaminated wastes are sent to landfill. It is crucial to consider new models fortheir valorization at a regional level and from a circular economy perspective. In the scope of the Placarv õ es project, a study was elaborated, which included the types and quantities of plastics used in the irrigation area of the Alqueva Dam, in southern Portugal. The crops that use the most plastic are intensive olive groves, almonds, and table grapes, which represent more than 91% of total plastic waste. The production of activated carbons (ACs) is a solution to avoid plastics landfill. ACs wereproduced from plastic used on food packaging (PB-Samples) and sheeting film (PS-Samples) byactivation with K 2 CO 3 . ACs presented well-developed textural properties (PB-K 2 CO 3 -1:1–700 andPS-K 2 CO 3 -1:1–700 exhibited a volume of 0.32 and 0.25 cm 3 g − 1 and an apparent surface area of 723 and 623 m 2 g − 1 , respectively). Both ACs performed very well concerning four pesticide removals from the liquid phase. This solution is very promising, such these ACs could be applied in effluent treatments on a large scale

Violence and local development in Fortaleza, Brazil: A spatial regression analysis

Fortaleza is the fifth largest city of Brazil, and has become the most violent state capital in the last years. In this paper, we investigate whether violent crime rates are associated with the local development of the city. Using an unexplored data source about georeferenced murders and deaths due to bodily injury and theft, we show that violent crime rates exhibit a positive spatial dependence across clusters of census tracts. In other words, small urban areas with high (low) violent crime rates have neighbors, on average, with similar pattern of violent crime rates. Investigating the relationship between violent crime rates and variables associated with local development, spatial regressions suggest that high violent crime rates are related with low-income neighborhood, with high spatial isolation of poor households, low access to urban infrastructure, and high prevalence of illiterate adolescents and young black males. The study also provides important evidence about spillover effects that helps to understand how the absence of local development can expose neighbors to violence