No Peace in the House: Witchcraft Accusations as an Old Woman\u27s Problem in Ghana

In Ghana, older women may be marginalized, abused, and even killed as witches. Media accounts imply this is common practice, mainly through stories of “witches camps” to which the accused may flee. Anthropological literature on aging and on witchcraft, however, suggests that this focus exaggerates and misinterprets the problem. This article presents a literature review and exploratory data on elder advocacy and rights intervention on behalf of accused witches in Ghana to help answer the question of how witchcraft accusations become an older woman’s problem in the context of aging and elder advocacy work. The ineffectiveness of rights based and formal intervention through sponsored education programs and development projects is contrasted with the benefit of informal conflict resolution by family and staff of advocacy organizations. Data are based on ethnographic research in Ghana on a rights based program addressing witchcraft accusations by a national elder advocacy organization and on rights based intervention in three witches camps

Diseases of Economic Crops In Alaska

Inspection and control of imported plant materials will assist in preventing diseases from entering Alaska.General -- Methods of control -- Barley -- Oats -- Wheat -- Forage -- Potatoes: Blackleg, gianthill, haywire, late blight, leak, mild mosaic, Rhizoctania, ring rot, rugose mosaic, soft rot, storage rots, scab, witches' broom -- Cabbage -- Carrots -- Cucumber -- Lettuce -- Radishes -- Tomatoes -- Raspberries -- Strawberrie

Changing Nigerian cultures: two films against witchcraft and an impossible dialogue

The prominent place of witchcraft in Nollywood films produced in the 1990s is widely acknowledged, and has prompted a number of comments from critics. While filmmakers’ opinion is divided on the subject, these films obviously echo familiar situations. The dissemination of Nigerian films outside Africa and their entering new geographical and cultural areas, and the didactic nature of Nollywood, have led to a clash between Nigerian and the British cultures in the bid to fight the widespread practice of witchcraft and its attendant casualties, which now affect both worlds. This paper reflects on the difficulty of intercultural communication on the subject as illustrated by the recent controversy sparked by a British NGO’s discovery of Nollywood in 2008. The film born of this culture-shock presents a novel way of dealing with screen-mediated witchcraft and its impact

‘Viral’ hunts? A cultural Darwinian analysis of witch persecutions

The theory of Darwinian cultural evolution is gaining currency in many parts of the socio-cultural sciences, but it remains contentious. Critics claim that the theory is either fundamentally mistaken or boils down to a fancy re-description of things we knew all along. We will argue that cultural Darwinism can indeed resolve long-standing socio-cultural puzzles; this is demonstrated through a cultural Darwinian analysis of the European witch persecutions. Two central and unresolved questions concerning witch-hunts will be addressed. From the fifteenth to the seventeenth centuries, a remarkable and highly specific concept of witchcraft was taking shape in Europe. The first question is: who constructed it? With hindsight, we can see that the concept contains many elements that appear to be intelligently designed to ensure the continuation of witch persecutions, such as the witches’ sabbat, the diabolical pact, nightly flight, and torture as a means of interrogation. The second question is: why did beliefs in witchcraft and witch-hunts persist and disseminate, despite the fact that, as many historians have concluded, no one appears to have substantially benefited from them? Historians have convincingly argued that witch-hunts were not inspired by some hidden agenda; persecutors genuinely believed in the threat of witchcraft to their communities. We propose that the apparent ‘design’ exhibited by concepts of witchcraft resulted from a Darwinian process of evolution, in which cultural variants that accidentally enhanced the reproduction of the witch-hunts were selected and accumulated. We argue that witch persecutions form a prime example of a ‘viral’ socio-cultural phenomenon that reproduces ‘selfishly’, even harming the interests of its human hosts

Application of genomics tools for cacao disease resistance : S04T07

Biotic plant problems are caused by living organisms, such as fungi, bacteria, viruses, nematodes, insects, mites, and animals. Plant responses to different stresses are highly complex and involve changes at the transcriptome, cellular, and physiological levels. In Theobroma cacao the main biotic stresses are cause by fungi, causing the witches' broom (Moniliophthora perniciosa) disease of cacao, Black pod (Phytophthora spp.), frost pod (Moniliophthora roreri and, recently, Ceratocysts wilt (Ceratocystis cacaofunesta). Durable resistance is the key to hamper the advance of these diseases. The OMICS with the classical phytopatological and breeding approaches have allowed: to identify putative resistance genes; to deciphering the genomics of Thebroma cacao, to discover new microsatellite and SNP markers, and to find new QTLs linked to disease resistance. These informations are being integrating in the CEPLAC' breeding program to accelerate the search for new resistance material that carries different resistant genes. In parallel, we study these diseases at the histopatological level trying to characterizing the mechanisms of resistance underneath the hosts as well gene expression in situ. The adaptability of these plant pathogens has also been considered. Advances in the understanding of the breakdown of witches´ broom resistance have been achieved. It was shown that the fungus has a high ability to evolve towards some genotypes. Partial results of these projects and the overall strategy will be presented. Work supported by CNPq, FINEP, FAPESB,RENORBIO (Texte intégral

Supernatural Agents of the Unconscious Mind: The Gothic Mode in Hamlet and Macbeth

Zadanie pt. „Digitalizacja i udostępnienie w Cyfrowym Repozytorium Uniwersytetu Łódzkiego kolekcji czasopism naukowych wydawanych przez Uniwersytet Łódzki” nr 885/P-DUN/2014 dofinansowane zostało ze środków MNiSW w ramach działalności upowszechniającej nauk

The Distribution and Spread of (Homoptera: Aphididae) in the North-Central States with Notes on its Hosts, Biology, and Origin

(excerpt) Hyadaphis tataricae (Aizenberg). an aphid known from eastern Europe, is rapidly becoming a pest on ornamental honeysuckles (Lonicera spp.) throughout the north-central states. The source of the infestation is not known but it could have been introduced from eastern Canada where it has been present since 1976 (Boisvert et aI. 1981), or by separate introduction from eastern Europe. The first observations in the United States were made in the north-eastern corner of Illinois (Lake County) in 1979 (Voegtlin 1981). Observations of damage levels in that area support the hypothesis that its introduction to the north-central states originated there

Systems biology of proteins expressed during the Moniliophthora perniciosa necrotrophic phase : S01P12

The fungus Moniliophthora perniciosa, the etiologic agent of witches' broom disease of cacao (Theobroma cacao L.) has a hemibiotrophic life cycle, with a biotrophic and a necrotrophic phase. The biotrophic phase, initiating the disease, is characterized by a monokaryotic mycelium, while the necrotrophic phase is characterized by a dikaryotic mycelium leading to plant necrosis. During the culture of M. perniciosa on bran-based solid medium, six different developmental phases were observed according to the dikaryotic mycelium color or the organ produced: white, yellow, pink, dark pink, primordium and basidiomata. A proteomic analysis of the different M. perniciosa development stages associated to mass spectrometry allowed the identification of about 250 differentially expressed proteins. In this study, using such differentially expressed proteins, we developed a systems biology analysis to identify physical protein-protein interaction (PPPI) networks related to the fungus development focusing on basidiocarp formation. First, orthologous protein sequences of M. perniciosa were obtained in N. crassa using the BLASTX tool. The data mining screening and PPPI network design associated with fungal development was performed using the Cytoscape software, version 2.5.0. These data were downloaded from the STRING 8.3 database. The interactome networks obtained from this first screening were analyzed with the Molecular Complex Detection software, a Cytoscape plugin, in order to evaluate potential subgraphs that were used further for network expansion. Gene ontology clustering analysis was performed using the Biological Network Gene Ontology software. Moreover, an analysis of centrality was performed using the software Centiscape 1.2.1.; several hub-bottlenecks, hub and bottlenecks proteins, as well as proteins involved in biological processes important for the M. perniciosa development were identified. The main biological processes encountered were anatomy and morphology, reproduction, oxidative stress, cell wall biosynthesis, pigmentation, development and cell differentiation. The identification of proteins involved in the formation of basidiomata, as well as the knowledge about their interactions, may contribute to the future development of witches' broom control strategies. To our knowledge, this is the first system biology analysis of proteins involved in the M. perniciosa life cycle. Supported by: CAPES, CIRAD, BNB, PRONEM/FAPESB. (Texte intégral