Human ergology and sustainable development in developing countries.
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Modernization of agricultural systems to increase output causes changes to the nutritional content of food entire populations consume. Human nutritional needs differ from their "food", thus producing healthy agricultural products is not equivalent to providing agricultural products that are healthy for humans. Inclusion of the food production system as a factor in the increase of neuropsychiatric disorders and other chronic diseases helps explain negative trends in modern chronic diseases that remain unchecked despite stunning advances in modern medicine. Diseases in which our own technology plays a significant role include obesity and resulting disorders, such as diabetes, heart disease, hypertension, stroke and arthritis. Modernization's lure leads to importation of modern agricultural practices into a nutritionally vulnerable, malnourished and sometimes starving developing world. Wealthier nations hedge their food portfolio by having access to a wider variety of foods. The developing world's reliance on staple foods means even a minor widespread nutritional modification of one key food can have profound effects. New agricultural techniques may improve or exacerbate neuropsychiatric disorders through nutritional modification in regions where populations walk a nutritional tightrope with little margin for error. In most of the developing world western psychiatric interventions have failed to make inroads. People's consumption of fish has a demonstrated beneficial effect on their mental health and the omega-3 fatty acid content is a significant factor. Epidemiological, biological and agricultural studies implicate a lack of dietary omega-3s as a factor in certain mental disorders. Replenishing omega-3s has improved mental illnesses in controlled clinical trials. This article's detailed tilapia fish-farming model demonstrates how aquaculture/agriculture techniques can function as a public health intervention by increasing dietary omega-3s through creation of sustainable, economical and culturally appropriate food sources for the developing world.
A survey of China's plant biotechnologists shows that China is developing the largest plant biotechnology capacity outside of North America. The list of genetically modified plant technologies in trials, including rice, wheat, potatoes, and peanuts, is impressive and differs from those being worked on in other countries. Poor farmers in China are cultivating more area of genetically modified plants than are small farmers in any other developing country. A survey of agricultural producers in China demonstrates that Bacillus thuringiensis cotton adoption increases production efficiency and improves farmer health.
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Recent developments in population theory have made possible a re-examination of demographic evidence from West Africa which suggests that population growth and migration are primarily responses to changes in the nature of the production system. Precolonial, colonial, and independence period data provide a series of correlations consistent with the approach and suggest a possible new synthesis of the West African data. The poorest countries of West Africa are those bordering on the Sahara Desert, known as the "Sahel" region. In response to the drought and famine in that region from 1968-1974, numerous proposals have been made for increased attention to reducing population growth. The analysis presented in this paper leads to the conclusion that population policies other than those attempting to lower the birth rate are called for. These would include relocation of populations previously displaced by colonial labor migrations and the re-integration of herding and farming production systems, both of which policies should be considered as population policies. Data are presented from specific projects underway in Senegal, Mauritania, and Mali, to illustrate the argument.
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Seats have been newly developed with an anti-vibration suspension system for agricultural machinery. These seats were examined in a series of laboratory tests to determine their static and dynamic physical characteristics. These seats are specifically designed for the Japanese physique. An artificial track was constructed to simulate a farm field based on BSI (British Standard) and to examine vibration the transmissibility of the seats when installed in machinery. The results indicated that the transmissibility from under the seat to on the seat in the vertical direction was approximately 0.25, although little reduction of vibration was observed in the fore-aft direction. This suggests that these seats are applicable to the agricultural field.
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Huge quantities of agricultural commodities are being either imported or exported by the developing countries. The commodities have to be transported from the fields of cultivation to the centres of consumption, considerable time being taken for the movement not only because of long distances but also because of various socio-economic, environmental and biological reasons. These commodities are likely to be damaged by mould growth and subsequent aflatoxin accumulation. If the contamination occurs during transit, often no insurance cover for the risk is available. Because of different methods of sampling followed in the exporting and importing countries it is often difficult to define the exact responsibility of the development of aflatoxin as having taken place during transit. The statistics of the export of aflatoxin high-risk commodities like red pepper (chillies), cotton seed and groundnut extractions clearly, for the last decade, demonstrate the extent of loss suffered by the exporting countries because of aflatoxins. The problem of mould damage and mycotoxin contamination can be minimised by improving facilities for storage at ports and transit points as well as on ships.
In the Pearl River Delta of China, the rapidly developing industrial and agricultural activities, municipal development and use of chemicals caused serious environmental problems. This report summarizes the published scientific data on POPs in the environment of the Pearl River Delta, including the levels of POPs in the air, water, soil, river and estuarine sediments, the marine organisms like fish and shellfish in this region. The data preliminarily reveal the state of contamination in this region and give insight into the fate of POPs in this sub-tropical area. However, most research in this area is limited to a few kinds of POP compounds.
Because of its proximity to Asia, Japan has been populated by humans for a much longer time period than New Zealand and has a much higher population density. The similarity in geology and tectonic setting of the two island groups has forced both peoples to confront similar environmental hazards but this was achieved in different ways. During the Edo period (1600-1868) when contact with outside countries was limited, the Japanese adapted their agricultural practices to the environment and developed an agricultural system that corresponds closely to the ideals of sustainability. Indeed, it can be argued that the farming lifestyle of the Edo period was the most advanced way of life that can be adopted without depleting stock resources. Following the Meiji restoration in 1868, the policy of rapid industrialization led to many environmental mistakes, particularly after World War II. By the end of the 1960s, Japan was the world's most polluted country. The situation has subsequently improved greatly from this low point but much remains to be done. New Zealand was initially occupied by the Maori over 1000 years ago. They did more environmental damage than was previously thought, particularly in burning off bush and destroying the bird life. However, it was the colonization of New Zealand by the Europeans after 1840 that led to the greatest environmental damage with their introduction of farming methods unsuited to the conditions. Although the need for better scientific planning of land use practices within New Zealand is recognized, sustainable management of the environment remains a distant goal. More detailed study of the agricultural methods and lifestyles adopted in Japan during the Edo period could help in defining the concept of sustainability.
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A simplified HPLC determination method for maleic hydrazide in agricultural products was developed, and commercial agricultural crops were investigated. The homogenate of agricultural products was extracted with water. The crude extract was purified on an ACCUCAT Bond Elut extraction cartridge using water. Maleic hydrazide was analyzed by HPLC with UV detection (303 nm). The HPLC separation was performed on a ZORBAX SB-Aq column with acetonitrile-water-phosphoric acid(5:95:0.01) as the mobile phase. Recoveries of maleic hydrazide from 15 agricultural products fortified at 1.0 and 10 micrograms/g were in the ranges of 92.6-104.9% and 94.2-101.3%, respectively. The limit of detection was 0.5 microgram/g in samples. The proposed method was applied to the determination of 242 commercial vegetables and fruits. Maleic hydrazide was detected in 2 samples of imported onion at the levels of 4.9 and 7.2 micrograms/g.
"This article is a contribution to the discussion on theories about household formation and marriage in Italy in the 1880s. Based on data [from] the 1881 census, it aims at verifying some hypotheses on the interdependence between marriage behaviour and socio-economic and environmental factors, by using some multivariate statistical techniques. The authors propose a number of indicators and analyse their correlation matrix, before reducing the variables to a few relevant factors which summarize a major part of the available information. Such factors are employed to determine homogeneous areas for marriage behaviour. Finally, they propose and measure some causal relationships between variables within two of the previously identified areas." (SUMMARY IN ENG AND FRE)