Socio-political tensions in Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) development in low-income Asian cities

International development agencies, with the help of the central government, support building state of art Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) in low-income Asian cities. However, BRT investment over indigenous modes of mobility is creating socio-political tensions at the local level. This article uses multi-level governance as a theoretical lens to examine the relationships among actors in BRT investment decisions in Bandung and Surabaya, Indonesia. The research finds that local stakeholders can distort national and supranational policy initiatives totally or in a way that while projects are delivered, they are of limited use to the local communities they intended to help.     

Does fertiliser use improve household welfare? Evidence from Ghana’s cocoa industry

This article analyses welfare impacts of fertiliser adoption using data collected from 838 cocoa farm households in the four key cocoa-producing regions in Ghana. Using propensity score matching (PSM), the study indicates that application of fertiliser leads to significant gains in farm yields, farm income, consumption expenditure, consumption expenditure per capita, and value of productive farm assets. The article concludes that cocoa-specific programmes such as Cocoa High Technology (Cocoa Hi-tech), initiated to intensify the application of improved farm technologies such as fertiliser, should be strengthened through effective and efficient management systems.     

Modelling trust and contractual arrangements in a local economy

This article investigates trust among dairy value-chain actors to understand the innovative process in a local productive sector in Tunisia. It uses a sample of 45 smallholder farmers chosen randomly nearby existing collection centres in the region. A trust variable is constructed employing 11 ordinal variables based on principal component analysis, and institutional arrangements then modelled to examine the effect of trust on contracting decisions and cooperative membership. The results show that trust is defined by values such as “integrity”, “competence”, and “existence of credible information”, which are preconditions to sustainable contracts. The article contributes to the growing literature which considers social capital, networking and trust as determinants of farmer’s behaviour, as opposed to the classical model of rationality.     

Facilitating industrial symbiosis programmes in developing countries: reflections from Gauteng,South Africa

This viewpoint reflects on how to improve the process of introducing facilitated industrial symbiosis programmes (FISPs) to small and medium enterprises (SMEs) in developing countries. Although FISPs are a long-established industrial practice, their formal introduction to SMEs in developing countries has only recently begun, mostly through support from international development agencies. Based partly on anecdotal evidence from Gauteng, South Africa, we identify six key questions which need to be addressed to improve the process of facilitating FISPs.     

The star of David in a cedar tree: Jewish students and Zionism at the American University of Beirut (1908–1948)

The American University of Beirut's emergence as a hub of Arab national and cultural identity in the first half of the twentieth century has been well documented by historians. The simultaneous Zionist presence on campus has been largely overlooked. Zionist ideas were predominantly promoted by Palestinian Jewish students who formed a small but vocal minority at AUB prior to 1948. Faculty and non-Jewish students also regularly collaborated with and traveled to Zionist institutions in Palestine for academic, athletic, and leisure purposes. For Arab students on campus, therefore, Zionism was not an abstract concept, but rather a national identity embodied by fellow classmates and friends on campus. As the conflict in Palestine increased in the 1930s and 1940s, so too did political activism and tensions on campus between Zionist and Arab nationalist students. This article analyzes this unique period of exchange, collaboration, and friction at AUB, which came to a swift end with the outbreak of the 1948 War. By focusing on the interactions between Arab and Zionist Jewish students at AUB, I seek to extend the ‘relational’ approach towards Jewish-Arab contact beyond Palestine's borders.     

试论作家苏童童年生活对作品的影响

苏童是苏州人,在苏州出生,生长到18岁才离开苏州北上北京求学,苏州对于青少年时期的苏童的影响是巨大的。大学时期就热衷于从事文学创作的苏童,在写作时就自然会将文学的触角伸向自己所熟知的青少年时期生活,因此苏童的作品中有很多故事是写南方的、写苏州的。苏州对于苏州籍的作家苏童来说影响是深远的。     

Environmental Stressors and Food Security in China

This article considers the immediate forces influencing China’s food system and food security. By immediate is meant events of the reform period, from the late 1970s to 2008. It begins by asking the question that has preoccupied specialists since the publication of Lester Brown’s Who Will Feed China? in 1995: How much arable land does China have? Is that land area sufficient to insure grain sufficiency? To insure food security? The article focuses on the human pressures on the food production environment, and then treats the effects of socioeconomic change: land, air, and water degradation. The core of the article examines six responses of the state to both perceived and actual environmental stressors: policy restricting arable land conversion, China’s one-child policy, investment in irrigation systems, the South–North Water Diversion Project, large-scale afforestation and reforestation campaigns, and the program to convert marginal agricultural lands to forests and grasslands.     

副猪嗜血杆菌抗体间接血凝检测方法的建立及应用

将副猪嗜血杆菌(Haemophilus parasuis,HPS)血清型4、5型分离菌株经超声波破碎处理后的产物致敏醛化红细胞,建立了检测HPS抗体的间接血凝试验方法。最适反应条件为绵羊红细胞30℃醛化5 h,4、5型菌株浓缩抗原以1∶8稀释致敏红细胞。免疫猪2周后检出率达89%。对15种HPS血清型阳性血清进行检测,结果均为阳性;对猪瘟病毒、口蹄疫病毒、猪圆环病毒、猪细小病毒、猪伪狂犬病病毒、猪生殖与呼吸综合征病毒、猪肺炎支原体、猪链球菌、猪肺疫巴氏杆菌、Ⅰ相支气管败血波氏杆菌及胸膜肺炎放线杆菌阳性血清进行检测,结果均为阴性。敏感性为琼脂扩散试验的16倍。对1 665份猪血清进行检测,阳性率为47.1%。结果表明,该方法敏感性较高,特异性强,重复性好,可用于疫苗免疫后抗体水平的检测及副猪嗜血杆菌的流行病学调查。     

亚太地区的安全稳定与俄中利益

亚太地区出现一个全新的局面。一方面,区域内的国际合作正在拓展,一个能够带来区域稳定和安全并得到普遍认同的体系正在形成。另一方面,亚太国家之间争夺地区内影响力的对抗和竞争的危险性日益加重,甚至有可能导致公开冲突并阻碍区域一体化的进程。为此,继续构建一个囊括地区内所有国家的,以合作、互信、对等安全为基础的新机制十分重要。亚太地区的发展直接影响俄罗斯联邦的利益,俄罗斯倡导要确保地区的稳定和安全,以及囊括所有亚太国家的建设性合作。近年来,俄罗斯政府特别重视促进东西伯利亚及远东地区的经济发展,该地区是俄罗斯实现亚太地区一体化的一个重要载体。开展同中国的合作,进一步开发俄罗斯远东地区,对于俄罗斯贯彻经济战略、实现经济现代化、融入亚太地区的经济空间,都具有原则性的重要意义。     

清代民族边缘地区宗族组织的形成与乡村社会转型——以鄂西南土家族为中心的考察

以鄂西南土家族社区为例考察民族边缘地区的宗族组织,清代中后期,宗族组织在土著大族的基础上正式形成,并呈现出与汉族社会趋同的特征,在乡村社会中发挥着基层控制的作用,体现了民族边缘地区乡村社会转型的进程。