Genetic techniques for livestock breeding: Restructuring institutional relationships in agriculture

This paper explores some of the key institutional transformations in livestock breeding associated with the increasing significance of genetic techniques, situating this within an assessment of an emerging agricultural bioeconomy. Focusing on beef cattle and sheep breeding in the United Kingdom, the paper examines how a move towards the involvement of international and corporate interests in livestock breeding is restructuring the network of institutional interests affecting the knowledge and decision making of individual breeders. The paper suggests that the structural transformation of beef cattle and sheep breeding is complicated by the need for negotiation between breeders’ ‘traditional’ knowledge-practices and the ‘geneticised’ techniques being made available to them. We are thus seeing the emergence of new and complex interactions between the major actors which are reconfiguring power relationships in the UK livestock breeding sector.     

Capital on the move: The changing relation between livestock and labor in Mali, West Africa

In dryland areas of the Africa, livestock play important economic roles as commodities, wealth stores, producers of products, and agents of environmental change. Conventional depictions of livestock economies in this region have focused (in support or against) on the need for greater engagement of livestock producers with markets supplying meat to urban areas. This paper argues this singular focus has led analysts to ignore two important aspects of livestock economies: livestock as a preferred store of wealth across a wide range of social groups and the need for specialized labor to manage these livestock across open pastures to maintain their productivity and limit their negative environmental impacts. In the West African Sahel, the capital-like nature of livestock wealth has become more clear with a growing fraction of the region’s livestock owned by investors with little connection to livestock husbandry. Livestock investments are maintained on a day-to-day basis by hired herders who facilitate access to ephemeral pastures and water. A particular concern is the changing geographies of livestock ownership and the herding labor in relationship to regional pastures (to economic and environmental ends). This relationship will be explored using the case study of the Maasina region of central Mali - a historically important livestock region, which is now undergoing significant labor emigration. Building from a long-term ethnographic engagement with local livestock owners and herders, the results of ownership surveys of livestock herds across a 14-year period and interviews of urban-based emigrants from the study area about investment decisions will be used to analyze the changing geographies of livestock investment and herding labor in the Maasina.     

Coupled and complex: Human-environment interaction in the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem, USA

Complexity theory has received considerable attention over the past decade from a wide variety of disciplines. Some who write on this topic suggest that complexity theory will lead to a unifying understanding of complex phenomena; others dismiss it as a passing and disruptive fad. We suggest that for the analysis of coupled natural/human systems, the truth emerges from the middle ground. As an approach focused as much on the connections among system elements as the elements themselves, we argue that complexity theory provides a useful conceptual framework for the study of coupled natural/human systems. It is, if nothing else, a framework that leads us to ask interesting questions about, for example, sustainability, resilience, threshold events, and predictability.In this paper we attempt to demystify the ongoing discussions on complexity theory by linking its evocative and overloaded terminology to real-world processes. We illustrate how a shift in focus from system elements to connections among elements can lead to meaningful insight into human-environment interactions that might otherwise be overlooked. We ground our discussion in ongoing interdisciplinary research surrounding Yellowstone National Park’s northern elk winter range; a tightly coupled natural/human system that has been the center of debate, conflict, and compromise for more than 135 years.     

Elemental analyses of goundwater: demonstrated advantage of low-flow sampling and trace-metal clean techniques over standard techniques

 The combined use of both (1) low-flow purging and sampling and (2) trace-metal clean techniques provides more representative measurements of trace-element concentrations in groundwater than results derived with standard techniques. The use of low-flow purging and sampling provides relatively undisturbed groundwater samples that are more representative of in situ conditions, and the use of trace-element clean techniques limits the inadvertent introduction of contaminants during sampling, storage, and analysis. When these techniques are applied, resultant trace-element concentrations are likely to be markedly lower than results based on standard sampling techniques. In a comparison of data derived from contaminated and control groundwater wells at a site in California, USA, trace-element concentrations from this study were 2–1000 times lower than those determined by the conventional techniques used in sampling of the same wells prior to (5 months) and subsequent to (1 month) the collections for this study. Specifically, the cadmium and chromium concentrations derived using standard sampling techniques exceed the California Maximum Contaminant Levels (MCL), whereas in this investigation concentrations of both of those elements are substantially below their MCLs. Consequently, the combined use of low-flow and trace-metal clean techniques may preclude erroneous reports of trace-element contamination in groundwater. Received: October 1997 Revised: May 1998 Accepted: December 1998     

A Brief Introduction to Deep-Water Mass-Transport Complexes: Structures,Genetic Classifications and Identification Methods

Mass-Transport Complexes (MTCs) are important components of deep-water systems, and widely distributed in continental margins and lake basins. Understanding MTCs is helpful for expanding the targets of deep-water hydrocarbon exploration and for evaluating geological risks of subsea engineering. Typical MTCs consist of three parts: the head tension area, body slip area, and toe compression area. During the transportation of MTCs, these three domains come into being successively. MTCs can be classified into three types: slide rock, slump rock, and debris rock, based on the sediment transport process and fluid properties, and they respectively correspond to elastic deformation, elastic and plastic deformation and plastic deformation stages. In 3D seismic plan, according to the direction of sediment flow (the slope direction), some depositional elements of MTCs, such as head cliffs, body folds, and toe squeeze ridges, can be clearly identified in proper order, and in seismic profiles MTCs are characterized by weak-medium amplitude reflections, mound-like shapes, and irregular top/bottom interfaces. In conventional log data, MTCs are commonly responded as abrupt shifts at their top/bottom interfaces. In outcrop data, MTCs have several kinds of sedimentary structures, such as massive textures, sliding folds, and mud lumps. Compared with turbidites, MTCs have many distinct characteristics. For example, MTCs are deposited from sediments transported through a "frozen" manner and have an "elongate-fan-like" slope morphology, a relative large thickness. Furthermore, MTCs can be characterized by no obvious features of grading differentiation and relatively large stratigraphic dips.     

Usefulness of geological,mineralogical, chemical and chemometric analytical techniques in exploitation and profitability studies of iron mines and their associated elements

Due to the high number of variables involved in mine profitability studies, it is often very difficult to establish connections among them in order to provide a blend of market saleable quality products. In this sense, analytical chemistry together with chemometry are essential and indispensable disciplines to tackle these studies. The aim of this work was to demonstrate the utility of these disciplines to carry out optimization studies of iron mines. For this purpose, one of the most important iron mines of the Iberian Peninsula was chosen, sited in the mountain range of Sierra Menera, near the location of Ojos Negros (Teruel, Spain). Geological, mineralogical and chemical composition of 148 samples was analyzed, corresponding to different depths of three drill holes (named TE1, TE2 and TE3). In particular, aspects concerning to chemical composition are very important, since the mean contents of certain elements, such as phosphorus, sodium and potassium, should be restricted to the established limits to prevent that companies can drive back the raw material if they do not fulfil the necessary requirements. On the other hand, the large number of analysed samples drove us to use a statistical processing of the data. Among other aspects, it provides a way to find possible connections among a high number of variables and classify samples into compositional groups sharing similar composition, in order to limit the mineralised area and to obtain enough information about the amount of those chemical elements associated to iron ores. Data obtained from all these analytical techniques were in good agreement and provide a methodology that can be of wide interest applied to different geological studies.     

青海祁漫塔格地区1∶5万水系沉积物测量方法技术及应用成果

青海省祁漫塔格地区位于柴达木盆地西南缘,是青海东昆仑成矿带西部的重要组成部分。近10年来祁漫塔格地区完成20385km2的1∶5万水系沉积物测量工作,实现了祁漫塔格地区1∶5万水系沉积物测量工作的全面覆盖,提供了大批可供进一步开展工作的化探综合异常和找矿靶区,为祁漫塔格地区矿产资源评价工作提供了翔实的地球化学资料。经异常查证,区内已发现了夏日哈木、铜金山、拉陵高里河沟脑等多金属矿床及一批找矿信息,已证实具有小型-超大型规模,使祁漫塔格地区成为重要的矿产勘查地区。近年来祁漫塔格地区1∶5万水系沉积物测量工作进展及找矿成果表明,1∶5万水系沉积物测量工作对于重要成矿带上矿床的发现具有重要作用,有力推动了祁漫塔格地区矿产资源调查评价工作的开展。     

The competitive advantage of clusters: Cluster organisations and greenfield FDI in the European life sciences industry

This paper examines the effect of cluster organisations on the international competitive advantages of clusters in the European life sciences industry. Data on coordinated cluster organisations are used to assess whether cluster development policies enhance the attractiveness of clusters to multinational corporations (MNCs). We estimate mixed logit models using a sample of 481 greenfield investments by life sciences MNCs in West-European regions during the period 2010–2013. Contrary to the beliefs of policymakers, our results indicate that both the presence of cluster organisations and higher-order activities of cluster organisations have only a small effect in attracting greenfield investments. In addition, cluster organisations help attract economic activities with less specific location requirements, such as production plants and sales and marketing offices. This finding provides valuable insights for policymakers, as investing public funds in cluster organisations is not found to attract high value-added business activities, such as those that occur in headquarters and R&D facilities, which are often the target of such investments.     

藏南邛多江地区花岗岩地球化学特征及成因类型

本文以邛多江变质核杂岩中花岗岩为研究对象、分别对仲格耐和倾日二长花岗岩体及相关岩脉的代表性全岩样品主元素、微量元素和稀土元素进行了系统测定。研究结果表明,所研究的2处花岗岩环(株)无论在岩相学和矿物学上,还是在元素地球化学方面均兼具壳幔型花岗岩特点,部分微量元素的特征比值和稀土元素分布型式完全可与高钾钙—碱性系列火成岩相对比。根据全岩样品的矿物学和地球化学特征,可以推断,仲格耐和倾日花岗岩环(株)是深源岩浆与地壳浅部岩(体)层相互作用的结果,而并非是泥质类岩石通过深熔和岩浆结晶分异的产物。仲格耐和倾日花岗岩体的成岩作用与后碰撞造山作用晚期阶段大规模拆离构造活动有关,属后碰撞造山环境中的壳幔型花岗岩。     

藏南隆子县模麓温泉群水文地球化学特征及成因机制研究

藏南地区地热资源丰富,是喜马拉雅地热带的重要组成部分,有望成为新的地热资源开发靶区。本文以藏南桑日-错那活动构造带内模麓温泉群为研究对象,以水化学和氢氧氚同位素为研究方法,分析模麓温泉群的水岩作用、热储温度、补给来源及径流时间,揭示了地热水的成因机制。模麓地热水pH在6.6～7.2之间,TDS为1 908mg/L～2 326 mg/L,水化学类型以HCO3·Cl-Na型和HCO3·Cl-Na·Ca型为主。地热水中主要阴阳离子来源于硅酸盐矿物的溶解和少量地球深部物质。利用硅-焓方程法和硅-焓图解法计算的初始热储温度为198℃～256℃,冷水混入比例为68%～85%。此外,对地热水中的Li、B、F等微量元素分析得出,研究区温泉水中微量组分除来自水-岩作用外,应该还与深部流体的混入有关,且该地区的氢氧同位素特征表明地下水补给主要来源于大气降水,补给高程为5 652m～5 664m,模麓地热水中的氚含量<0.5TU,表明其地热水为老水,有更长的径流时间,为水-岩作用提供了充足的时间,而宿麦郎曲河水为新水,补给径流时间短。研究区地热水与围岩遮拉组砂板岩发生水-岩作用,进行离子交换作用,在地...     

综合物化探方法在内蒙古高尔旗铅锌银矿勘查中的应用

内蒙古高尔旗铅锌银矿区地处阿巴嘎旗北部。通过开展1∶50 000和1∶10 000比例尺的土壤测量,逐步确定了异常的范围和矿体的大致产状,通过异常的元素组合特征确定找矿的主攻矿种为铅锌银矿;进一步实施的激电中梯测量工作,确定了铅锌银矿体的深部延展状况,并确定了3条主要矿体;继而采用可控源音频大地电磁测深方法,发现了地表玄武岩覆盖层以下的隐伏铅锌银多金属矿体,经过地质工程验证,铅锌矿的规模达中型以上。工作证实,综合物化探方法对发现和圈定铅锌银矿体起到了重要作用。     

大兴安岭地区内生铜矿床的成因类型、成矿时代与成矿动力学背景

大兴安岭地区位于兴蒙造山带的东段,构造、岩浆活动强烈,蕴藏着丰富的内生有色金属、贵金属矿产资源。本文通过对该区内生铜矿床的地质特征、成因类型和年代学研究,初步将区内内生铜矿床划分为斑岩型、浅成热液高硫化型(铜银、铜锡)和接触交代型三种成因类型,除铜锡矿床外,它们的成矿作用均与高钾钙碱系列I型花岗质岩浆密切相关;其中斑岩型和浅成热液高硫化型(铜、银)的成矿分别发生在485Ma、180~170Ma和170~160Ma;而浅成热液高硫化型(铜锡)矿床与A型花岗质岩浆相关,成矿在150~135Ma之间;接触交代型与它们相伴生,主要发生在180~160Ma和150~135Ma。其成矿动力学背景分别与早古生代兴安地块与松嫩地块的拼合碰撞造山、中侏罗世的西伯利亚板块和华北板块的陆缘增生带碰撞缝合造山与早白垩世碰撞造山后的地壳伸展减薄作用过程相适应,矿床在不同阶段的造山挤压与伸展转换或造山期后的伸展阶段就位,这项研究为深入研究该区内生多金属成矿规律提供了科学依据。     

独居石成因特征与U-Th-Pb定年及三江特提斯构造演化研究例析

独居石U-Th-Pb定年在地质年代学研究中占有重要地位,但其成因类型的识别和年龄值的合理地质解释始终是研究的难点。论文通过对比分析岩浆、热液和沉积成因独居石的内部结构、矿物组合以及稀土和微量元素地球化学特征,厘定了不同成因类型独居石的鉴别标志;并以三江特提斯构造演化研究为例,探讨了独居石的U-Th-Pb定年及其合理地质应用。不同地质环境中形成的独居石具有不同的内部结构和矿物组合及元素组成:岩浆独居石可能存在较宽且平直的岩浆环带,常与磷钙钍石共生;相对富集重稀土,具有较高的Y、Sc、Th、U、Sm、Gd等含量和Th/U比值,较低的La、Ce含量和稀土总量,显示为Eu强烈亏损的右倾斜分布模式。而热液独居石可能存在与流体作用有关的扇形环带,常与斜钍石共生;沉积独居石形态多不规则,与自生矿物相伴生。它们具有典型的四分组稀土分布模式,稀土总量较高,相对富集轻稀土(如La、Ce),贫Y、Sc、Th、U、Sm、Gd等,Th/U比值较低。独居石U-Th-Pb定年限定了松潘-甘孜造山带204~190Ma的早期变质作用和168~158Ma的局部热干扰,约140~130Ma冈底斯浅色花岗岩的形成与地壳的缩短加厚及快速隆升作用,约33~22Ma 红河断裂带与伸展作用有关的岩体侵位和左行走滑运动年代(且北部的去顶剥蚀作用要比中部早9Ma),约8~11Myr的东喜马拉雅构造结"挤出"构造变形时限。     

Dislocating modernity: Identity, space and representations of street trade in Durban, South Africa

South Africa’s cities have experienced dramatic changes over the past decade. Cities are now home to a multiracial population, and have been transformed by new forms of economic and social interaction. For some, these changes have become a significant source of fear and anxiety. In this paper, we examine reactions to urban spatial change in the city of Durban, as expressed in local newspapers and interviews with suburban residents. We describe how the discourses of urban change in Durban have centred on the increased presence of street traders within the city’s public spaces, and the various ways in which the activity of street trade has disrupted long-established modernist norms governing the occupation and use of the urban space. Specifically, we offer a detailed reading of three prominent narratives within the discussion of street traders in Durban--chaos, congestion and pollution. We argue that street traders have come to embody a wide range of more deeply seated cultural anxieties, which have been brought to the fore in the context of South Africa’s transition. These anxieties arise from the ways in which modern understandings of order, agency and subjectivity have been called into question by material changes in the city, and have implications for the nature of citizenship and civic engagement in post-apartheid South Africa.     

Fractal-geometry techniques in the quantification of complex rock structures: A special view on scaling regimes,inhomogeneity and anisotropy

Fractal-geometry techniques are widely applied to the quantification of complex rock structures. Important properties of such structures are (i) different scaling behaviour on different scales, (ii) inhomogeneity, and (iii) anisotropy. The current paper presents a special view on the quantification of these properties by classical and newly developed fractal-geometry methods, discusses advantages and disadvantages of special methods and outlines the correlations between structure quantifications and rock properties and structure-forming processes, presented in the literature.     

中国西部深切河谷谷底卸荷松弛带成因机理研究

中国西部深切河谷中大量钻孔等资料分析表明,西部深切河谷谷底浅表层普遍存在卸荷松弛现象。谷底卸荷松弛带一般厚10~20m,具有弱风化、裂隙发育、岩体强度较低、完整性差、透水性较高等特征。研究结果揭示谷底形成后岩体经历了谷底应力集中→谷底岩体变形破坏→表层岩体卸荷松弛→次生裂隙发育→长期水岩相互作用→形成现今谷底弱风化、弱卸荷带。室内物理模拟研究直观地再现了谷底岩体应力集中、变形破坏,形成卸荷松弛现象。     

Flandrian sea-level changes in the Fenland. II: Tendencies of sea-level movement,altitudinal changes,and local and regional factors

Stratigraphic, micropalaeontologic and radiocarbon data show that since c. 6500 BP the Fenland has been influenced by 7 periods of positive sea-level tendencies and by 6 periods of negative sea-level tendencies. Despite the numerous problems associated with the reconstruction of past altitudes of sea level the periods of positive sea-level tendencies were clearly characterised by a rise in sea level, the development of transgressive overlaps and a landward movement of the coastline. The periods of negative sea-level tendencies were characterised by the development of regressive overlaps, a seaward movement of the coastline and a reduced or negative rate of sea-level rise. The various altitudinal errors do not permit the incontrovertible distinction of periods of falling sea levels. All changes within the Fenland were not synchronous and local factors influenced the exact nature of each sea-level indicator. Dominant regional and local factors have been identified for different areas and different time periods. The chronological and spatial characteristics of the sequences within the Fenland are best explained by a palaeocoastline without supratidal barriers controlling sedimentation. The data indicate an average crustal subsidence in the Fenland of 0.9m/1000 years since c. 6500 BP and the pattern of positive and negative tendencies of sea-level movement is also seen in the chronologies for north west England and north east Scotland.     

The mirror of consumption: Celebritization, developmental consumption and the shifting cultural politics of fair trade

This paper explores the shifting cultural politics of development as expressed in the changing narratives and discursive transparencies of fair trade marketing tactics in the UK. Pursued through what I call ‘developmental consumption’ and the increasing celebritization of development, it is now through the global media mega-star that the subaltern speaks. After a more general discussion of the implications of the celebritization of development, specific analysis focuses on two parallel processes complicit in the ‘mainstreaming’ of fair trade markets and the desire to develop fair trade as a product of ‘quality’. The first involves improving the taste of fair trade commodities through alterations in their material supply chains while the second involves novel marketing narratives designed to invoke these conventions of quality through highly meaningful discursive and visual means. The later process is conceptualized through the theoretical device of the shifting ‘embodiments’ of fair trade which have moved from small farmers’ livelihoods, to landscapes of ‘quality’, to increasing congeries of celebrities such as Chris Martin from the UK band Coldplay. These shifts encapsulate what is referred to here as fair trade’s Faustian Bargain and its ambiguous results: the creation of increasing economic returns and, thus, more development through the movement of fair trade goods into mainstream retail markets at the same time there is a de-centering of the historical discursive transparency at the core of fair trade’s moral economy. Here, then, the celebritization of fair trade has the potential to create ‘the mirror of consumption’, whereby, our gaze is reflected back upon ourselves in the form of ‘the rich and famous’ Northern celebrity muddling the ethics of care developed by connecting consumers to fair trade farmers and their livelihoods. The paper concludes with a consideration of development and fair trade politics in the context of their growing aestheticization and celebritization.     

Risky bodies: Public health, social marketing and the governance of obesity

The inclusion of obesity within public health rests on a proven and accepted biomedical link between body weight and health status. Drawing on the 2005 controversy over annual death rates attributable to obesity in the US, this paper contends that uncertainty as to the causal mechanisms linking body weight and health are undermining the development of effective obesity prevention policies. Consequently, this also weakens the justification of the inclusion of such policies within public health. This work draws on recent interest in ‘critical geographies of public health’ and the continued attention to the recursive relations between people and places in the context of health which may offer a useful theoretical viewpoint from which unpack such aetiological uncertainty. Without an agreed or universal risk from obesity, the paper argues that public health obesity prevention through social marketing should be geographical in outlook. The three examples of 5 a day, Jamie’s School Dinners and Sesame Street’s Cookie Monster are discussed to illustrate the effectiveness of communicating risk in a manner that allows intention to be effectively translated into risk-minimising behaviour within the dictates of locale.     

大青山-乌拉山变质杂岩带石拐地区富铝片麻岩成因矿物学与变质演化

大青山-乌拉山变质杂岩中石拐地区富铝片麻岩出露于华北克拉通孔兹岩带中段,包括夕线石榴堇青二长片麻岩、紫苏石榴黑云二长片麻岩和夕线石榴黑云二长片麻岩,与基性麻粒岩彼此呈互层或夹层产出.根据岩相学观察、成因矿物学和变质反应结构的系统研究,结合地质温压计估算以及相平衡模拟的综合分析,揭示石拐地区富铝片麻岩的变质演化可划分为四个变质阶段.其中,早期进变质阶段(M1)矿物组合以石榴石核部及其包裹的细粒矿物黑云母+石英+斜长石±夕线石±钾长石±尖晶石为特征;峰期变质阶段(M2)的稳定的矿物组合为石榴石+基质中粗粒夕线石+黑云母+石英+斜长石+钾长石±磁铁矿±钛铁矿,形成的温压条件为T=840 ～ 860℃,P=10.0～10.5kbar;峰后近等温减压阶段(M3)以石榴石边部发育含堇青石的后成合晶为特征,并发生一系列典型的减压反应:Grt+ Sil+ Qz→Crd、Grt+ Melt→Crd+ Bt+ PI和Grt+ Melt→Crd+ Qz±P1,形成新的矿物组合为石榴石+堇青石+黑云母+斜长石+石英±夕线石±紫苏辉石,相应的温压条件为T=720～ 800℃和P=5.6 ～6.1kbar;晚期角闪岩相降温阶段(M4)的矿物组合是石榴石+石榴边部细粒黑云母+斜长石+石英+磁铁矿±钾长石±钛铁矿,记录的温压条件为T=616 ～661℃和P=3.4 ～5.2kbar.石拐地区富铝片麻岩及相关岩石具有典型的近等温减压的顺时针P-T轨迹,峰后经历了近等温减压和近等压降温的变质演化阶段.上述研究结果表明,石拐地区富铝片麻岩曾卷入到华北克拉通西部的阴山陆块和鄂尔多斯陆块间的俯冲-碰撞造山及随后的快速隆升的演化过程.