Modelling Grazing and Burning in Communal Rangelands to Help Understand Trade-offs between Production, Carbon, and Water

Rangelands cover more than 80% of South Africa’s land area, providing critical ecosystem services, livelihoods and cultural values related to livestock. Communally owned rangelands are often overgrazed and subject to runaway fires but lack of data limits our understanding of how these threats impact production. In this transdisciplinary project, we use models to test hypotheses and predict future scenarios as a planning tool for resource-poor communal farmers. We think that moderate grazing and fire regimes will increase overall production and carbon sequestration with uncertain trade-offs for water and nutrient cycling. To test this, we trained two process-based biogeochemical models (DAYCENT and SPACSYS) with individual merits to simulate known fire returns and grazing pressures on a 40-year old long-term ecological research grassland site, and validated models with data from Mvenyane, a nearby communal livestock grazing area. DAYCENT and SPACSYS simulated observed soil organic carbon well, while accuracy for aboveground herbaceous biomass differed between models. DAYCENT projected that soil organic carbon could increase by ca. 1000 g C m-2 over ten years or 1 t C ha-1 yr-1 with moderate increases in biomass and no change in water fluxes when changing from continuous high pressure to moderate pressure grazing in a two-camp rotation, with or without fire. These and other scenarios, including future climate projections, will be used to evaluate biophysical and social trade-offs so that sustainable land use plans can be created in Mvenyane and the wider rangeland community

A class of Poisson-Nijenhuis structures on a tangent bundle

Equipping the tangent bundle TQ of a manifold with a symplectic form coming from a regular Lagrangian L, we explore how to obtain a Poisson-Nijenhuis structure from a given type (1,1) tensor field J on Q. It is argued that the complete lift of J is not the natural candidate for a Nijenhuis tensor on TQ, but plays a crucial role in the construction of a different tensor R, which appears to be the pullback under the Legendre transform of the lift of J to co-tangent manifold of Q. We show how this tangent bundle view brings new insights and is capable also of producing all important results which are known from previous studies on the cotangent bundle, in the case that Q is equipped with a Riemannian metric. The present approach further paves the way for future generalizations.Comment: 22 page

Climatic controls of aboveground net primary production in semi‑arid grasslands along a latitudinal gradient portend low sensitivity to warming

Although climate models forecast warmer temperatures with a high degree of certainty, precipitation is the primary driver of aboveground net primary production (ANPP) in most grasslands. Conversely, variations in temperature seldom are related to patterns of ANPP. Thus forecasting responses to warming is a challenge, and raises the question: how sensitive will grassland ANPP be to warming? We evaluated climate and multi-year ANPP data (67 years) from eight western US grasslands arrayed along mean annual temperature (MAT; ~7–14 °C) and mean annual precipitation (MAP; ~250–500 mm) gradients. We used regression and analysis of covariance to assess relationships between ANPP and temperature, as well as precipitation (annual and growing season) to evaluate temperature sensitivity of ANPP. We also related ANPP to the standardized precipitation evaporation index (SPEI), which combines precipitation and evapotranspiration to better represent moisture available for plant growth. Regression models indicated that variation in growing season temperature was negatively related to total and graminoid ANPP, but precipitation was a stronger predictor than temperature. Growing season temperature was also a significant parameter in more complex models, but again precipitation was consistently a stronger predictor of ANPP. Surprisingly, neither annual nor growing season SPEI were as strongly related to ANPP as precipitation. We conclude that forecasted warming likely will affect ANPP in these grasslands, but that predicting temperature effects from natural climatic gradients is difficult. This is because, unlike precipitation, warming effects can be positive or negative and moderated by shifts in the C3/C4 ratios of plant communities

PEMBINAAN NARAPIDANA YANG MENGALAMI GANGGUAN JIWA DI DALAM LEMBAGA PEMASYARAKATAN

PEMBINAAN NARAPIDANA YANG MENGALAMI GANGGUAN JIWADI LEMBAGA PEMASYARAKATAN Agusriadi Dahlan Ali Suhaimi ABSTRAKLembaga Pemasyarakatan sebelumnya disebut Penjara adalah tempat orang-orang yang melakukan kriminalitas dan pelanggaran hukum lainnya agar mereka dapat menyadari kesalahannya dan mempertanggungjawabkan apa yang telah mereka perbuat. Hukuman yang mereka terima sebagai balasan yang setimpal terhadap perbuatan mereka, meskipun nilai-nilai kemanusiaan beserta hak asasinya kurang diperhatikan. Lembaga Pemasyarakatan merupakan tempat yang stressfull atau menekan yang dapat berpengaruh terhadap fisik dan kejiwaan (psikologi) seseorang ditambah kecemasan yang berlebihan sehingga muncul depresi yang mengakibatkan seseorang melakukan bunuh diri. Akibat stress melahirkan depresi dan depresi biasanya akan terjadi kegoncangan kejiwaan yang luar biasa yang dapat mengakibatkan seseorang menjadi tidak waras (gila). Undang-Undang No.12/1995 tentang Lembaga Pemasyarakatan maupun Peraturan Pemerintah No. 99 Tahun 2012 tentang Perubahan Kedua Atas Peraturan Pemerintah Nomor 32 Tahun 1999 tentang Syarat dan Tata Cara Pelaksanaan Hak Warga Binaan Pemasyarakatan tidak menjelaskan ketentuan terhadap narapidana yang gila di dalam lapas sebagaimana yang pernah terjadi di Lapas Kelas II-A Lambaro, Aceh Besar dan Rutan Klas I Tanjung Gusta, Medan. Selanjutnya yang bersangkutan dikirim ke Lapas Kelas Klass II-B Meulaboh tanggal 27 Januari 2014. Selama tujuh hari di Lapas Klass II-B Meulaboh Zabir bin Ilyas kemudian di titipkan di Rumah Sakit Jiwa Banda Aceh karena penyakitnya sudah mencapai stadium empat untuk mendapatkan perawatan dan penyembuhan kejiwaannya. Bagaimanakah pengaturan dan pembinaan terhadap narapidana yang mengalami gangguan kejiwaan dalam Lembaga Pemasyarakatan. Kemudian bagaimanakah kepastian hukum bagi narapidana yang sedang mengalami gangguan kejiwaan, dan bagaimana status hukum bagi narapidana yang sembuh dari gangguan kejiwaan. Penelitian dan pengkajian ini bertujuan untuk mengetahui pengaturan dan pembinaan terhadap narapidana yang mengalami gangguan kejiwaan dalam Lapas dan mengidentifikasi kepastian hukum bagi narapidana yang sedang mengalami gangguan kejiwaan serta mengetahui status hukum bagi narapidana yang sembuh dari gangguan kejiwaan.Metode yang digunakan adalah metode penelitian yuridis-normatif dengan menggunakan jenis penelitian deskriptis analisis dalam rangka untuk menemukan aturan hukum, prinsip-prinsip hukum, norma maupun doktrin-doktrin hukum dengan pendekatan undang-undang, kasus. Sumber data adalah data sekunder berupa bahan hukum primer, bahan hukum sekunder, dan bahan hukum tersier.Hasil penelitian menunjukkan bahwa Pengaturan tentang perawatan narapidana yang mengalami gangguan kejiwaan dalam Lembaga Pemasyarakatan di Indonesia belum diatur, baik dalam Undang-Undang Nomor 12 Tahun 1995 tentang Lembaga Pemasyarakatan maupun PP No. 99 Tahun 2012 tentang PP No. 99 Tahun 2012 tentang Perubahan Kedua Atas PP No.32 Tahun 1999 tentang Syarat dan Tata Cara Pelaksanaan Hak Warga Binaan Pemasyarakatan. Namun bila narapidana sakit atau gangguan kesehatan lainnya yang tidak termasuk gangguan kejiwaan ada aturan tentang perawatan medis. Adapun mengenai narapidana yang mengalami gangguan kejiwaan di Lembaga Pemasyarakatan di Indonesia hingga kini belum ada kepastian hukum karena kasus seperti ini sangat langka terjadi di Indonesia. Pihak otoritas hanya menggunakan hak diskresi yang dimilikinya untuk menyelesaikan kasus tersebut sebagaimana terjadi di Lapas Porong Surabaya. Tetapi di Aceh kasus ini baru pertama kali terjadi yang dialami Zabir bin Ilyas pada tahun 2014. Pimpinan Lapas memutuskan memasukkan Zabir bin Ilyas ke Rumah Sakit Jiwa Banda Aceh. Terkait status hukum narapidana yang sembuh dari gangguan kejiwaan masih tetap sebagai tersangka (ditahan). Tidak ada keringanan hukuman apalagi sampai dibebaskan sebelum masa hukuman habis dijalankan. Hingga kini tidak ada satupun aturan yang mengatur baik secara implisit maupun ekplisit yang mengatur tentang narapidana yang sembuh dari penyakit kejiwaan (gila).Disarankan kepada Pemerintah agar merevisi Undang-Undang Nomor 12 Tahun 1995 tentang Lembaga Pemasyarakatan dan memasukkan salah satu pasal yang mengatur mengenai narapidana yang mengalami gangguan kejiwaan di dalam Lembaga Pemasyarakatan. Agar terwujudnya kepastian hukum di Indonesia mengenai narapidana yang mengalami gangguan kejiwaan dalam lebaga pemasyarakatan untuk membuat regulasi legal baik berupa undang-undang khusus atau melalui Peraturan Pemerintah. Kemudian disarankan agar narapidana yang mengalami gangguan kejiwaan dalam Lembaga Pemasyarakatan dapat dibebaskan dan dikembalikan ke keluarganya atau dimasukkan ke rumah sakit jiwa hingga sembuh.Kata Kunci : Pembinaan, Narapidana, Gangguan Jiwa, Lembaga Pemasyarakatan.Banda Ace

Wake up, wake up! It's me! It's my life! patient narratives on person-centeredness in the integrated care context: a qualitative study

Person-centered care emphasizes a holistic, humanistic approach that puts patients first, at the center of medical care. Person-centeredness is also considered a core element of integrated care. Yet typologies of integrated care mainly describe how patients fit within integrated services, rather than how services fit into the patient's world. Patient-centeredness has been commonly defined through physician's behaviors aimed at delivering patient-centered care. Yet, it is unclear how 'person-centeredness' is realized in integrated care through the patient voice. We aimed to explore patient narratives of person-centeredness in the integrated care context

Changes in the use of anti-asthmatic medication in an international cohort

To access publisher full text version of this article. Please click on the hyperlink in Additional Links fieldThe aim of this study was to describe changes in pharmacotherapy for asthma since the early 1990s in an international cohort of young and middle-aged adults. A total of 28 centres from 14 countries participated in a longitudinal study. The study included 8,829 subjects with a mean follow-up time of 8.7 yrs. Change in the prevalence of use for medication was expressed as absolute net change (95% confidence interval) standardised to a 10-yr period. The use of anti-asthmatics was found to have increased by 3.1% (2.4-3.7%) and the prevalence of symptomatic asthma by 4.0% (3.5-4.5%). In the sample with asthma in both surveys (n=423), the use of inhaled corticosteroids increased by 12.2% (6.6-17.8%). Despite this, only 17.2% were using inhaled corticosteroids on a daily basis at follow-up. Females with continuous asthma were more likely, compared with males, and smokers with asthma, to have started using inhaled corticosteroids since the first survey. The use of anti-asthmatics has increased in a pattern consistent with current consensus on treatment. However, despite increased use of inhaled corticosteroids, a large majority of subjects with symptomatic asthma do not use this treatment on a daily basis, particularly males and smokers with asthma

Invasive annual grasses—Reenvisioning approaches in a changing climate

For nearly a century, invasive annual grasses have increasingly impacted terrestrial ecosystems across the western United States. Weather variability associated with climate change and increased atmospheric carbon dioxide (CO2) are making even more difficult the challenges of managing invasive annual grasses. As part of a special issue on climate change impacts on soil and water conservation, the topic of invasive annual grasses is being addressed by scientists at the USDA Agricultural Research Service to emphasize the need for additional research and future studies that build on current knowledge and account for (extreme) changes in abiotic and biotic conditions. Much research has focused on understanding the mechanisms underlying annual grass invasion, as well as assessing patterns and responses from a wide range of disturbances and management approaches. Weather extremes and the increasing occurrences of wildfire are contributing to the complexity of the problem. In broad terms, invasive annual grass management, including restoration, must be proactive to consider human values and ecosystem resiliency. Models capable of synthesizing vast amounts of diverse information are necessary for creating trajectories that could result in the establishment of perennial systems. Organization and collaboration are needed across the research community and with land managers to strategically develop and implement practices that limit invasive annual grasses. In the future, research will need to address invasive annual grasses in an adaptive integrated weed management (AIWM) framework that utilizes models and accounts for climate change that is resulting in altered/new approaches to management and restoration