Minority women’s microenterprises in rural areas of the United States of America: African American,Hispanic American and Native American case studies

Women in many rural areas of the US often engage in small-scale businesses as one of several avenues for contributing to household incomes. In those geographical areas that contain a significant minority population, many of the women's businesses display the cultural diversity of the regions in which they live. Likewise, women's roles as economic providers as well as wives and mothers are reflected in the manner in which they operate their businesses. Candida Brush suggests that women's strategies for operating their businesses are highly integrative because women's business decisions are intertwined with familial responsibilities, household economic demands and desires to contribute to their communities. Hispanic and Native American women in the Four Corners region of southwestern US and African American women in central Virginia participated in interviews in which they responded to numerous short answer and open-ended questions about their businesses and decision-making strategies. From these interviews an image emerges of rural minority business women who are operating their businesses at the nexus of family obligations, economic necessities, cultural ties and with a commitment for serving their communities. This revised version was published online in July 2006 with corrections to the Cover Date.     

The role of women peasants in the process of desertification in Western Sudan

Women peasants in the Sudan are both agents of and sufferers from the process of desertification which is taking place in the arid and semi-arid zone. The researchwork done by the author on the problem of desertification in the west of the Republic of the Sudan convinced him that women there suffer much more than men do from the decrease of land productivity. Paradoxically enough, women themselves have actively taken part in desertifying their environment in their desperate attempt to keep their families living. This paper endeavours to highlight the role of peasant women in areas prone to or already stricken by desertification. Especially in the transitional phases following drought disasters and loss of live-stock the whole brunt of catering for the family falls on the shoulders of peasant women. Three main issues are being tackled: Millet production as essentially women's task, rainfall variability and its impact on women cultivators, the settlement of nomads and semi-nomads as a new burden laid on women. Finally, some suggestions are made to improve the conditions of women's work to provide nutrition for their families without doing much destruction to the fragile environment and its limited resources.     

Rural women and technology in South Africa: Case studies from KwaZulu-Natal Province

This article contributes to a greater understanding of the linkages between women's roles, responsibilities and their use of technology in poor rural communities. The ways in which poor rural women conceptualize technology is examined. Furthermore, how they use their knowledge and skills to develop, modify and adapt the techniques and technical processes in which they are involved are also explored. Additionally, the links between indigenous and modern technologies in relation to gender considerations in poor rural contexts are examined. This article draws from findings of primary research undertaken in two marginalized rural communities in Kwazulu-Natal, South Africa. The study reveals that the use of technologies are highly gendered and differentiated among women. Poor rural women utilize a range of technologies in both productive and reproductive activities which are central to their livelihood strategies, especially at the household level. Furthermore, although women are adapting and innovating technologies their expertise remains largely unrecognized. A range of problems and constraints exist which limit women's access to and use of technologies. A key tension identified in the study is that between the use of locally-based, indigenous technologies and modern, external technologies. This revised version was published online in July 2006 with corrections to the Cover Date.     

Where women fear to tread: Images of danger and the effects of fear of crime in Singapore

This paper examines women's perceptions of fear and their consequent impact on women's experience and use of public space in Singapore. It argues that even in a city ranked as one of the safest in the world, women experience greater levels of fear of crime and that this fear is qualitatively different from men's as it is largely centred on a fear of rape. It identifies the various sources of fear information which play a part in the construction of images of danger, including personal victimisation experiences, socialisation, the mass media and interpersonal communication. It argues that fear is place- and time-specific and that women's feelings of personal vulnerability is manifested within an environmental context. In examining the consequences of fear on women's lives, the study concludes that risk management behaviour was more prevalent than avoidance tactics. It argues that while many restrictions appear self-imposed by women themselves, the fear of crime in public places ultimately contributes to the perpetuation of what has been termed a spatial expression of patriarchy.     

Women's migration and quality of life in Turkey

Turkey's urban growth has been unprecedented for the last two decades with women playing an increasingly substantial role in its development. In this context, we examine determinants of women's migration and quality of life in cities in 1990 (the most recent published census of Turkey) and onwards. Factor analysis of provincial data identified three quality of life dimensions: affluence, deprivation, and housing. Substantial disparities in quality of life indices exist between men and women, urban and rural milieu, and geographic regions. Migrants, especially women, still tend to move with their families but they prefer provinces with high scores on (relative) urban affluence and avoid deprived, rural provinces. Thus Istanbul, Ankara, and southern coastal provinces are preferred destinations. Policy implications for urban growth, regional development, and gender equality relative to migration are discussed.     

Women and the access to knowledge and new technologies: The case of Pisa

Emphasis has been given to a number of aspects which characterise technological development in today's economic systems and which have an impact on the working environment and on gender differences. Technological change is leading to a strong divide between knowledge “producers” and “users”. The possibility of access to one or both knowledge systems indicates the extent of women's participation in the economic and spatial transformations brought about by the new technologies. This research aims to analyse the development of new technologies and the presence of the female workforce in the field of new knowledge generation, and also to verify gender-related conditions in learning and using new technologies. In particular, an analysis has been carried out of the empirical case study of Pisa, a point of reference for comparisons with other Italian and European cases. The research focuses on: the examination of women's capabilities in the field of new technologies through the analysis of University training courses; the analysis of women's presence and status among the university staff, especially in science and technology; a detailed survey of female employment in innovative sectors. The results of the research emphasise the gender perspectives of inclusion — as regards the application of technologies — and exclusion — as regards the generation of knowledge — of women in or from new technologies. At the same time, the research stresses the growth of women's roles in this sector during recent years and, by reconstructing life histories, underlines the conditions and difficulties that have been met by women entering these new types of employment. This revised version was published online in July 2006 with corrections to the Cover Date.     

社会资本在可持续发展中的作用

可持续发展指既满足当代人的发展需求又不损害、不掠夺后代发展需求能力的发展。它要求人类社会经济系统在地球生态系统承载能力下运作;要求社会发展不能单纯以经济增长为目的,而是要在保护生态环境基础上提高人类福利。社会资本概念为可持续发展提供了一个有用的工具。它不但使人类意识到可持续发展的内涵,而且运用社会资本可以限制自然资本开采、并减缓其对环境的破坏,提高制造资本利用效率,充分利用人力资本,从而推动可持续发展进程。介绍社会资本概念的基础上,从促进经济发展、自然资源可持续利用管理、环境保护以及缓解贫困等方面,阐述了社会资本促进可持续发展的理论机制。     

Life histories in cyberspace: life writing as a development tool for rural women

Increasingly, information and communication technology (ICT) is being used as a development tool. For example, a recent innovative experiment by the FIDAMERICA development cybernetwork (sponsored by IFAD, the International Fund for Agricultural Development) in Latin America used an electronic network to collect, post and discuss rural women's life histories, intending to support gender mainstreaming in IFAD projects. However, cybernetworking processes can also reflect contradictory agendas and power relations that ultimately make them a site of contestation. In the FIDAMERICA case, the authors did not participate in the electronic conference, nor were there any subsequent efforts to connect them or to develop this process further.In this paper, I argue that the analysis of increasingly complex cybernetworked development efforts must incorporate a correspondingly sophisticated technique that can uncover the nuanced relations of transnational cyber communication; and I propose that an actor-network approach should be investigated as an analytical framework in these cases. I then apply this approach to the case study, using field research conducted with the participants of the FIDAMERICA electronic life history project in Central America. I conclude that an actor-network approach is a fruitful means by which these processes can be both understood and improved.     

In situ Agrobiodiversity Conservation for Regional Development in Nepal

The majority of rural communities have limited agricultural development opportunities within the hills and mountains of Nepal. While the dominant development model, which focuses on technology transfer and the evolution of commercial production systems, is effective when access to inputs and markets enables farmers to produce and trade successfully, many communities are marginalised from development opportunities by poverty and poor infrastructure. Complementary development approaches that value, conserve, develop and market agrobiodiversity could alleviate the extreme poverty where these conditions prevail as in the hills and mountains, the rural margins of Nepal. Formalised in situ approaches to agrobiodiversity conservation are in their infancy in Nepal, yet suggest that opportunities exist for a complementary agricultural development approach in the rural margins based on working with the local diversity, rather than its elimination. The obstacles of widespread poverty and inadequate infrastructure ensure that effective in situ agrobiodiversity conservation programs must provide for the needs of local people for sustainable development.     

Grassroots masquerades: Development,paramilitaries, and land laundering in Colombia

This article shows how paramilitaries and allied companies put grassroots development discourses of political participation and subsidiarity, environmental conservation, and ethnic empowerment to work in executing and ratifying their massive land grab in northwest Colombia. More than a case of trying to “whitewash” their malfeasance with fashionable and politically correct development-speak, I argue that the grassroots development apparatus—its discourses, institutional forms, and practices—became utterly instrumental to the illegal land seizures. Moreover, when operating alongside practices of land parcelization, iterative transactions, producers’ cooperatives, and third-party intermediaries, grassroots development facilitated what could be called “land laundering.” In the process, grassroots development became a conduit for paramilitary-backed state formation in which projects of liberal governance commonly associated with the imperatives of institution building, good governance, and the rule of law became perversely compatible with the region’s economies of violence. With the World Bank increasingly concerned over the conflation of fragile states, violent conflict, and alarming land grabs, this article raises questions about how the grassroots solutions currently being endorsed by the Bank can in some cases actually facilitate dispossession, illicit economies, and violent political projects. The way paramilitaries harnessed grassroots development also has critical implications for debates about post-development.     

现代岩溶学在中国的发展

本文回顾了二十多年来以岩溶动力学为基本理论的现代岩溶学在中国的发展过程。概述了其主要的科学成果和应用前景。指出了地球系统科学的引入、全球视野的研究和各级主管部门的持续支持在现代岩溶学发展中的重要意义。     

Labour-Centred Development in Latin America: Two cases of alternative development

The ‘pink tide’ in Latin America is drawing increasing criticisms from the political left for its inability to confront existing socio-structural inequalities. This article contributes to these debates in two ways. First, as a means of understanding better the development strategies that have been followed by left-leaning governments, it highlights and critiques what it labels Elite Development Theory (EDT) encompassing Washington Consensus and Statist Political Economy. It shows how despite its self-stated objectives – the amelioration of the conditions of the poor and their uplifting – EDT is grounded in elite assumptions about social change: States and corporations are posited as prime-movers in the development process while collective efforts of labouring classes to pursue their own developmental strategies are ignored and/or de-legitimated. Exploitation, oppression and the ideological delegitimation of labouring class collective actions form the core of EDT. The second contribution of this article is to argue for an alternative form of what it terms Labour-Centred Development (LCD). This argument is supported through an examination of the Chilean cordones industriales and Argentinian empresas recuperadas por sus trabajadores (ERT) movements. The article concludes that whilst LCD may be a rarity, its existence offers the basis for alternative development theory and strategy.     

济南市人口城镇化与土地城镇化协调发展研究

人口城镇化与土地城镇化协调发展是推进新型城镇化的重点所在。通过构建指标评价体系和评价模型,从“人口-土地”协调的视角分析演算1995-2013年济南市的城镇化水平与协调发展状态。研究结果表明,济南市城镇化整体协调发展度从1995年的严重失调衰退阶段发展到2013年的优质协调发展阶段,但是从2008开始,人口城镇化滞后于土地城镇化发展,表现出一定的失调现象。研究结果可以为制定地区城镇化发展策略提供科学依据。     

国内外绿色建材开发研究进展

绿色建材是一种既不破坏环境、又能保护环境、节约能源和资源、满足社会发展的新型建筑材料。本文扼要回顾了绿色建材的研究史、概念及内容,对国内外绿色建材的进展作了述评。指出应提高环境保护意识,大力开发和使用绿色建材,提高人类居住环境的健康、安全条件,以保证社会可持续发展。     

巨野煤田赵楼井田构造发育规律

在野外地质和勘查资料分析的基础上,结合区域构造背景,论述了赵楼井田构造发育、组合及分布规律。研究表明：石炭-二叠纪成煤期后,多期性质、强度不同的构造作用相互叠加、改造,致使赵楼井田构造以断裂为主．褶皱发育次之。断裂构造主要有近NS、NW、NE及NNE向四组,其中以NE、NNE向为主,NW向断层组多为落差、延展长度都较小的断层。断裂以正断层为主,在剖面上主要表现为堑-垒构造组合,这种组合特征不仅使矿井构造更加复杂,而且使煤层的连续性受到破坏。井田东南部断层发育,断层叠加于早期的褶皱之上,破坏了褶皱的完整性．构成井田的构造复杂区。赵楼井田构造发育规律及成因机制的研究为今后矿井建设与生产提供了地质依据。     

湖南省地质勘查业现状与发展对策研究

矿产资源是发展生产力的重要物质基础，矿产资源的开发利用推动着社会生产力的发展和社会文明的进步。但矿产的发现和查明又是一个科学的、艰苦的系统工程。根据湖南省地勘产业的现状，对地勘业的改革与发展战略作了研究。     

武汉地区表层岩溶带发育特征

为查明武汉地区表层岩溶带发育特征,利用大量工程钻孔资料及水文地质试验成果,对武汉地区表层岩溶带进行了统计分析与研究。结果表明:武汉地区表层岩溶带平均厚度为11～16 m,每米深度平均线岩溶率为3.93%～10.52%,最大为5.83%～17.25%,岩溶中等—强发育,带下岩溶微弱发育;带内约1/2的溶洞高度小于1.8 m,平均洞高1.50～2.18 m,具有规模较小、数量多的特点;2/3的溶洞全充填,无充填和半充填溶洞约占1/3,充填物主要来源于上部覆盖层。表层岩溶带内岩体和土同存,作为建筑物地基均一性差;渗透系数平均为0.04~6.60 m·d-1,总体具弱—中等渗透性;岩土工程施工等级较高且跨度较大。      

泾阳北部地裂缝发育特征及防治

根据实地调查分析研究，对陕西省泾阳北部地裂缝的发育特征进行了系统的归纳，初步认为泾阳县地裂缝发育特点在空间分布上与地形地貌、地质构造等地质条件有关，在时间分布上与降雨和农田灌溉密切相关。就其形成条件机理提出了控制行为，稳定现象，防止灾害等防范原则：     

西藏扎达生态旅游开发方式探讨

提出了扎达生态旅游开发的观点，指出了扎达的旅游价值及开展生态旅游的意义，同时对开发原则和模式提出了具体的建议。预见了扎达旅游开发会遇到的环境问题，并根据其特点提出了具体的有针对性的措施。     

浅谈城市开发建设中湿地的保护与利用

湿地是人类赖以生存的宝贵资源,具有重要的生态和社会价值。但在城市化进程中,由于不合理的开发建设行为,导致大量湿地被破坏,功能退化。因此,必须落实科学发展观,采取切实措施,有效保护和利用城市湿地。要强化全社会的环保意识,增强保护湿地的责任感和使命感,科学地搞好城市土地利用规划及城市湿地景观设计,切实加强对城市湿地的监测评估及湿地保护的法制建设,推动经济社会全面协调可持续发展。