Green grabs and biochar: Revaluing African soils and farming in the new carbon economy

Biochar currently attracts technological and market optimism, promising multiple wins – for climate change, food security, bioenergy and health – not least for African farmers. This paper examines the political-economic and discursive processes constructing biochar as a novel green commodity, creating new alliances amongst scientists, businesses, venture capital firms and non-governmental organisations. Carbon market logics are not only threatening large-scale land grabs for biochar feedstocks but also other forms of resource, labour and ecological appropriation through driving research and development and shaping small-scale pilot projects. In these, soil carbon is ‘chopped out’ of its ecosystem and social contexts and revalued as exchangeable pieces of carbon nature. Farmers are hailed as green actors and market winners, provided they discipline their practices according to these new technical and market logics. These discourses contrast strongly with the farmers' existing conceptual and practical repertoires; a case study from Liberia illustrates how farmers already manipulate soil carbon in creating locally valued anthropogenic dark earths, but within diverse farming repertoires, ontologies of human–nature interrelationship and historical and political ecologies.     

A NATIONWIDE SURVEY OF MANDATORY PARENT EDUCATION*

In an effort to take positive steps toward coping with problems for families and children created by high levels of separation and divorce, ever increasing civil caseloads and the exposure of children to interparental conflict, court‐affiliated educational programs have emerged in the United States for parents separating from their spouse or partner or going through a divorce. This article will provide an overview of the creation of such programs and their development, which includes a discussion regarding the numerous states currently mandating parents to attend. It will summarize some of the research which has been conducted as to the efficacy of the programs and will provide the results of our nationwide research for each state's parent education status. There is a discussion of domestic violence issues and sensitivities in the context of parent education programs and possible future directions for mandatory parent education.     

Tell us how you Really Feel: Validating an Inmate Social Climate Survey

Correctional facilities have a discernible social climate, or collection of contextual properties that derive in part from the perceptions of inmates. These properties include the physical, organizational, social, and emotional characteristics of correctional institutions. Social climate directly influences the attitudes and behavior of inmates, their well-being, and prison management. The present study describes the results of an applied research project conducted in association with a government agency that audits Ohio’s prisons and youth facilities through site inspection visits and survey data. The agency’s questionnaires, as well as the procedures used to sample inmates and administer the instruments, were evaluated to determine the degree to which they accurately reflected the perceptions of inmates and the social climate of the correctional institutions. We identified several problems related to survey construction and administration. The results suggest that the surveys are at least to some degree not measuring several important dimensions of the correctional environment and the experiences of inmates as intended.

     

Understanding Variations of Soil Mapping Units and Associated Data for Forensic Science

Soil samples have potential to be useful in forensic investigations, but their utility may be limited due to the inherent variability of soil properties, the wide array of analytical methods, and complexity of data analysis. This study examined the differentiation of similar soils based on both gross (texture, color, mineralogy) and explicit soil properties (elemental composition, cation exchange, Fe‐oxyhydroxides). Soils were collected from Fallbrook and adjacent map units from Riverside and San Diego Counties in California. Samples were characterized using multiple techniques, including chemical extracts, X‐ray diffraction (XRD), and Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy. Results were analyzed using multiple analytical approaches to compare counties and land uses. Some analyses (XRD, extractions) were better at distinguishing among samples than others (color, texture). Ratios of rare earth elements were particularly useful for distinguishing samples between counties. This potential to “fingerprint” soils illustrates the usefulness of a comprehensive soil database for criminal investigators.     

Fatal bromethalin poisoning

Bromethalin is a neurotoxin found in some rodenticides. A delusional 21-year-old male presented to a hospital with altered mental status the day after ingesting a bromethalin-based rodenticide. He died 7 days after his self-reported exposure to c. 17 mg bromethalin (equivalent to 0.33 mg bromethalin/kg). His clinicopathologic course was characterized by altered mental status, obtundation, increased cerebrospinal fluid pressure, cerebral edema, death, and diffuse histologic vacuolization of the white matter in the central nervous system seen on microscopic examination at autopsy. The presence of a demethylated form of bromethalin in the patient's liver and brain was confirmed by gas chromatography with mass spectrometry. Clinical signs and lesions observed in this patient are similar to those seen in animals poisoned with bromethalin. This case illustrates the potential for bromethalin ingestion to result in fatal human poisoning.     

He sends rain upon the wicked: a panel study of the influence of religiosity on violent victimization

This research investigates low religiosity as a predictor of violent victimization. The theoretical framework the authors present here posits that religiosity should help structure daily activities in such a way as to (a) limit exposure to offenders by encouraging contact with peers who are less deviant, (b) lessen one's target suitability by inhibiting grievance-causing delinquent activity, and (c) enhance guardianship by fostering stronger bonds with parents and school. Thus, although researchers expect religion to be a bivariate predictor of violent victimization, its influence should be indirect. The authors investigate these claims using two waves from the public-use version of the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent Health (Add Health). The results indicate that religiosity is a correlate of violent victimization. Consistent with these theoretical claims, the effect of religiosity is not direct, but instead occurs indirectly primarily through its influence on self-reported delinquency and peer deviance.