Globalising initiatives for gender equality and poverty reduction: Exploring ‘failure’ with reference to education and work among urban youth in The Gambia and Ghana

This paper focuses on what observers have perceived to be a failure of development leading to a ‘crisis of youth’ as increasing numbers of young people find it more difficult to gain education, access to health, a job and meet standard of living aspirations. For some, a possible escape is offered by migration to Europe, the United States or Australia, often illegally. For those remaining behind, however, international development agencies offer a ‘globalisation of solutions’ to employment, gender inequality and poverty through the millennium development goals and the programmes to attain them. In this paper we do not take the failures of development at face value but look at local contexts to present a more complex picture of the relation between education, work and social life. Based on fieldwork conducted in urban areas of The Gambia and Ghana, we argue that rather than education as a catch-all solution we need to give more attention to the costs incurred by and for young people in pursuing education and training, to the operation of and actual opportunities in labour markets, and to patterns of gender socialisation which give women limited scope to exercise agency. This paper explores key gender dimensions of work and education among low-income urban youth noting that despite on-going efforts to increase young women’s enrolment in schools and access to employment, gender inequalities have been far from eradicated. Our field interviews reveal how social expectations that women should perform the bulk of reproductive labour in their youth as well as in adulthood and constraints placed on young women’s personal freedom in respect of their social relationships reduce time dedicated to education and establish fewer contacts relevant to securing paid employment. The result is for men to end up with more educational qualifications, more skills, and higher-paying jobs, even if unemployment among young people in general remains a major problem.     

Flexural isostasy in the Bolivian Andes: Chaco foreland basin development

The Chaco foreland basin was initiated during the late Oligocene as a result of thrusting in the Eastern Cordillera in response to Nazca–South America plate convergence. Foreland basins are the result of the flexural isostatic response of an elastic plate to orogenic and/or thrust sheet loading. We carried out flexural modelling along a W–E profile (21.4°S) to investigate Chaco foreland basin development using new information on ages of foreland basin strata, elastic and sedimentary thicknesses and structural histories. It was possible to reproduce present-day elevation, gravity anomaly, Moho depth, elastic thicknesses, foreland sedimentary thicknesses and the basin geometry. Our model predicted the basin geometry and sedimentary thicknesses for different evolutionary stages. Measured thicknesses and previously proposed depozones were compared with our predictions. Our results shed more light on the Chaco foreland basin evolution and suggest that an apparent decrease in elastic thickness beneath the Eastern Cordillera and the Interandean Zone could have occurred between 14 and 6 Ma.     

Reproductive pattern and egg development of the deep-sea crab Paromola cuvieri (Brachyura,Homolidae) around the Canary Islands (NE Atlantic)

This work investigated the biology of Paromola cuvieri in the Atlantic Ocean, including reproductive patterns, sex structure, depth distribution and egg development. Females were more abundant than males, mainly at depths greater than 600 m. Males were dominant in size classes larger than 110 mm carapace width (CW), especially over 120 mm, for which only males were observed. The mean length of both sexes decreased with depth. P. cuvieri appears to have continuous reproduction throughout the year. Large females tend to spawn mainly between summer and winter, but smaller females spawn during the summer. Four maturity categories were identified based on the ovary colour, and these categories were histologically validated. Three categories of testes were identified according to their colour and morphology. Sexual maturity was estimated at sizes between 71.6 and 74.0 mm CW for females and at 91.0 mm CW for males. The relative growth showed changes along the ontogeny, at 73.6 mm CW (females) and 91.3–92.2 mm CW (males). Egg development appears to not be completely synchronous, and two colour patterns can be observed simultaneously. Four stages of egg development were found: eggs undivided and fully filled with yolk in orange egg masses; eggs with a free region of yolk visible in orange or red egg masses; embryos with slightly pigmented, crescent-shaped eyes in brown egg masses; and embryos with visible pigmented structures, enlarged eyes, segmented appendages and abdomen in brown egg masses. The mean number of external eggs carried by females in stage I was estimated to be 315,753±19,267. Three species of barnacle were observed on the exoskeleton: Poecilasma aurantia, Poecilasma crassa and Heteralepas microstoma (Cirripedia, Thoracica).     

云纹石斑鱼仔、稚、幼鱼的形态观察

为丰富云纹石斑鱼(Epinephelus moara)的基础生物学资料,对云纹石斑鱼早期发育阶段的形态变化进行了观察,对各时期的形态特征与生态习性进行了描述,并详细记录了各时期全长、口裂、第2背鳍棘和腹鳍棘的变化.根据卵黄囊和油球的消失、鳍膜的消退、第2背鳍棘和腹鳍棘的伸缩、鳞片的生长及色素的变化把云纹石斑鱼早期发育阶段胚后发育分为仔鱼期(包括早期仔鱼和晚期仔鱼)、稚鱼期和幼鱼期.在水温26.71±1.26℃的培育条件下,仔鱼4日龄开口摄食;至6日龄,卵黄囊和油球消失,进入晚期仔鱼期;至29日龄,鳍膜消失,进入稚鱼期;至41日龄,鳞片开始长出,至59日龄,稚鱼全身覆盖鳞片,完成变态,进入早期幼鱼期.并发现在生态幅范围内提高培育水温,可以提高生长效率,加快育苗速度.     

中国砚石资源及其开发利用

我国石砚的历史悠久。介绍了我国砚石资源的开发利用史、开发利用现状及砚石资源分布，指出我国砚石资源开发利用前景远大。     

区域土地资源配置与社会经济发展

文章在阐述土地资源配置与区域社会经济发展的辩证关系的基础上,分别从土地资源供给约束、资源禀赋和利用结构方面探讨了土地资源配置对区域社会经济发展的影响与制约,并对实现十六大提出的全面建设小康社会目标,从土地资源配置角度提出对策与建议。     

杭州生态城市建设途径研究

文章论述了城市建设首先要遵循可持续发展的原则作为城市可持续发展必然结果的生态城市,就是要在城市社会自然复合生态系统中,通过调节自然环境与社会环境的关系,实现社会、经济及自然的可持续发展、文章以杭州市区为例,剖析了建设生态城市的基本途径。     

南京市八卦洲旅游发展条件分析

通过对各种内部和外部因素的系统分析,文章认为八卦洲具有发展旅游的多方面内在优势,也存在一些不利因素,但更存在良好的发展机遇、建议：八卦洲的旅游开发应以建设生态旅游度假区为总体目标,进一步凸现“绿”、“水”、“野’’三大特点,努力营造人与自然和谐相处的生态旅游岛形象,重点开发休闲度假、观光旅览、康体娱乐、美食保健、野营修学、文化旅游等六大系列旅游产品。     

现代城市林业的空间发展和功能分析--以大连市为例

文章分析了现代城市林业的基本概念和研究现状,以大连市为例阐述了现代城市林业发展现状,并详细探讨了大连现代城市林业的地域结构和空间功能,在此基础上构筑了现代城市林业的空间发展模型,在理论上探讨现代城市林业的地域结构和空间功能。     

论中原崛起的基本问题

由于多方面的原因,中原地区经济发展呈现出“洼地”形势。在全省人民的努力下,近些年河南经济发展形势稳定好转伴随国家把中部崛起纳入整体的区域发展格局,中原崛起更加引人注目。根据河南经济发展的现实基础,中原崛起的基本思路是集中精力推进工业化,历史性地加速城镇化,努力实现农业现代化。