Taking agroecology to scale: the Zero Budget Natural Farming peasant movement in Karnataka,India

This paper analyzes how peasant movements scale up agroecology. It specifically examines Zero Budget Natural Farming (ZBNF), a grassroots peasant agroecology movement in Karnataka, India. ZBNF ends reliance on purchased inputs and loans for farming, positioning itself as a solution to extreme indebtedness and suicides among Indian farmers. The ZBNF movement has achieved massive scale not only because of effective farming practices, but because of a social movement dynamic – motivating members through discourse, mobilizing resources from allies, self-organized pedagogical activities, charismatic and local leadership, and generating a spirit of volunteerism among its members. This paper was produced as part of a self-study process in La Via Campesina, the global peasant movement.     

Applying a data acquisition system to the analysis of breath alcohol profiles

A breath alcohol profile is generated as a continuous function of time while a person is providing a breath sample. This paper describes a data acquisition system which samples breath alcohol concentrations at discrete intervals during exhalation. The data are stored on disk for later analysis. It is shown that the area under the profile curve for samples preceded by breath-holding is significantly larger than when breathing is normal prior to sample provision (p less than 0.001). The differences between the breath alcohol concentration measurements are also statistically significant (p less than 0.001) for the two different breathing patterns prior to breath exhalation. These results have physiological implications and suggest another means of evaluating breath alcohol profiles.     

The morphogenesis of electrically and heat-induced dermal changes in pig skin

In order to establish pathological evidence in dermis for distinguishing between sequelae of electrical torture and those of other superficial injuries, the skin of eleven fully anaesthetized Danish Landrace pigs have been exposed to heat and electrical energy from either 50 Hz alternating current (a.c.) or direct current (d.c.) via 12 mm large contact knobs or via a pointed 0.5 mm large electrode (only 50 Hz a.c.). The lesions have been examined from 1 to 126 days after the injury. While heat lesions exposed to energy lower than 60 joule only gave minor changes, heat lesions exposed to more than 60 joule showed changes in both collagen fibres (basophilic or eosinophilic fibres without any birefringence or coarse cross-striation in polarized light, respectively) and dermal cells (granular cytoplasm). Areas exposed to 50 Hz a.c. via 0.5 mm. electrode showed basophilic collagen fibres and in a few biopsies on day 7 calcium salts on collagen fibres. Using 12 mm large electrodes the changes were minor, but basophilic and eosinophilic collagen fibres with no birefringence or with fine/coarse cross-striation respectively were seen. Even cells with 'vesicular nuclei' were seen on day 1 and 2 after the injury. The changes in the anode area showed resemblance to that of heat lesions (basophilic collagen fibres). Eosinophilic collagen fibres with fine densely spaced cross-striation in polarized light and 'vesicular nuclei' as well as collagen fibres with calcium salts were seen in the cathode lesions. It is concluded that the dermal changes in the cathode area are specific for electrical injury from day 1 to 14. However, earlier studies have demonstrated dermal changes specific for electrical injury at day 0 and the presence of calcified collagen fibres up to 2 months after injury. The dermal changes in anode lesions were non specific and could not be differentiated from those found in heat lesions. Alternating current lesions (50 Hz) were specific from day 1 to day 7, when the pointed electrode was used, but only in a few days when the energy was transferred via the 12-mm electrodes.     

Vladimir Iowa Lenin,Part 2: On Rural Proletarianization and an Alternate Food Future

In the second of our two-part review of Vladimir Lenin’s 1917 study of American agriculture, we extrapolate upon Alexander Chayanov’s neoliberal appropriation, Giovanni Arrighi’s treatment of partial proletarianization, the propagandistic “family farm,” agribusiness’s fluctuating territorial embeddedness, agriculture as an industry, and land and rent as commodities themselves. We finish by deploying Lenin’s alternate history as a Benjaminian détournement in the face of what now appear insurmountable obstacles. An alternate food future is not only possible, it is already underway.     

Consequences of Forced Residential Relocation: Early Impacts of Urban Renewal Strategies on Forced Relocatees’ Housing Opportunities and Socioeconomic Outcomes

Policymakers have actively pursued urban renewal and dispersal programs to deconcentrate poverty in urban neighborhoods. Relocation strategies lead to new housing opportunities and may encourage employment opportunities for relocated residents if resourceful contacts and job information become more easily available after the move. This study provides an innovative evaluation of the early impacts of involuntary relocation programs in the Netherlands on the housing careers, earnings and employment rates of forced relocatees. It establishes a quasi-experimental design by employing unique longitudinal individual-level population registry data from Statistics Netherlands: forced relocatees are tracked and matched to a control group consisting of similar residents that were not forced to move. A difference-in-difference design shows that forced relocatees are living in less deprived neighborhoods after the move. However, we find no conclusive evidence that this upgrade in housing leads to more socioeconomic opportunities for the forced relocatees.     

Saving Strong Neighborhoods From the Destruction of Mortgage Foreclosures: The Impact of Community-Based Efforts in Detroit,Michigan

Mortgage foreclosures hit Detroit, Michigan hard between 2005 and 2014, especially in what we define as strong neighborhoods; there, more than one third of homes experienced foreclosure. Before the crisis hit, these selected tracts had largely intact physical environments and higher owner occupancy, household income and property value than the citywide median. In some of them residents worked intensely to abate the neighborhood effects of mortgage foreclosures. This study examines those efforts’ effectiveness. We selected neighborhoods with the most extensive efforts, as measured, for instance, by creation of community-based plans and applications for grants, and we conducted interviews and field observations to examine those efforts. To assess strengthening of neighborhood housing markets, we applied a modified adjusted interrupted time-series approach to evaluate changes in prices as one measure of neighborhood change. We found that strong resident initiative supported by community development organizations and external assistance led to increased neighborhood housing prices, compared with comparable neighborhoods. However, when initiative, context, and support were weaker, community-based efforts could not prevent considerable decline.     

Reciprocal Relationships between Teacher Ratings of Internalizing and Externalizing Behaviors in Adolescents with Different Levels of Cognitive Abilities

Are internalizing and externalizing behavior problems interrelated via mutually reinforcing relationships (with each behavior leading to increases over time in levels of the other behavior) or mutually suppressing relationships (with each behavior leading to decreases over time in levels of the other behavior)? Past research on the directionality of these relationships has led to ambiguous results, particularly in adolescence. Furthermore, the extent to which prior results will generalize to adolescents with low levels of cognitive abilities remains unknown. This second limit is particularly important, given that these adolescents are known to present higher levels of externalizing and internalizing behaviors than their peers with average-to-high levels of cognitive abilities, and that the mechanisms involved in the reciprocal relationships between these two types of behaviors may differ across both populations. This study examines the directionality of the longitudinal relationships between externalizing and internalizing behavior problems as rated by teachers across three measurement waves (corresponding to Grades 8–10) in matched samples of 138 adolescents (34.78?% girls) with low levels of cognitive abilities and 556 adolescents (44.88?% girls) with average-to-high levels of cognitive abilities. The results showed that the measurement structure was fully equivalent across time periods and groups of adolescents, revealing high levels of developmental stability in both types of problems, and moderately high levels of cross-sectional associations. Levels of both internalizing and externalizing behaviors were higher among adolescents with low levels of cognitive abilities relative to those with average-to-high levels of cognitive abilities. Finally, the predictive analyses revealed negative reciprocal longitudinal relationships (i.e., mutually suppressing relationships) between externalizing and internalizing problems, a result that was replicated within samples of adolescents with low, and average-to-high levels of cognitive ability.     

Narrating Indigenous Boundaries: Postcolonial and Decolonial Storytelling in Northern Minnesota

This article examines two narrative case studies, one biography and one traditional indigenous story, as they inform the dynamics of community, politics, and nationhood for Anishinaabe indigenous people in northern Minnesota. The narratives both provide power and legitimacy to Anishinaabe national identity but inform different political projects of decolonial and postcolonial nationalism, respectively, complicating both settler and indigenous attempts to define indigenous nationhood in a way that is fixed and static. This finding is used to critique the dominant nation-state centric notions of nationhood and to propose alternative modes of understanding nationhood in the context of indigenous politics.