Who Counts? Demography of Swidden Cultivators in Southeast Asia

Swidden cultivators are often found as a distinct category of farmers in the literature, but rarely appear in population censuses or other national and regional classifications. This has led to a worldwide confusion on how many people are dependent on this form of agriculture. The most often cited number of 200–300 million dates back to the early 1970s, but the source is obscure. We assess available, published data from nine countries in Southeast Asia and conclude that on this basis it is not possible to provide a firm estimate of the number of swidden cultivators in the region. A conservative range of 14–34 million people engaged in swidden cultivation in the region is suggested, however. We argue that along with improved knowledge of swidden livelihoods, there is an urgent need to develop techniques that will allow for better estimates of swidden populations in order to secure appropriate rural development and poverty reduction in swidden areas.

An Assessment of Trends in the Extent of Swidden in Southeast Asia

Swidden systems consisting of temporarily cultivated land and associated fallows often do not appear on land use maps or in statistical records. This is partly due to the fact that swidden is a diverse and dynamic land use system that is difficult to map and partly because of the practice of grouping land covers associated with swidden systems into land use or land cover categories that are not self-evidently linked to swiddening. Additionally, in many parts of Southeast Asia swidden systems have changed or are in the process of changing into other land use systems. This paper assesses the extent of swidden on the basis of regional and national sources for nine countries, and determines the pattern of changes of swidden on the basis of 151 cases culled from 67 articles. Findings include (1) a majority of the cases document swidden being replaced by other forms of agriculture or by other livelihood systems; (2) in cases where swiddening is still practiced, fallow lengths are usually, but not always, shorter; and (3) shortened fallow length does not necessarily indicate a trend away from swidden since it is observed that short fallow swidden is sometimes maintained along with other more intensive farming practices and not completely abandoned. The paper concludes that there is a surprising lack of conclusive data on the extent of swidden in Southeast Asia. In order to remedy this, methods are reviewed that may lead to more precise future assessments.

Fecal calprotectin more accurately reflects endoscopic activity of ulcerative colitis than the Lichtiger Index, C-reactive protein, platelets, hemoglobin, and blood leukocytes

BACKGROUND The correlation between noninvasive markers with endoscopic activity according to the modified Baron Index in patients with ulcerative colitis (UC) is unknown. We aimed to evaluate the correlation between endoscopic activity and fecal calprotectin (FC), C-reactive protein (CRP), hemoglobin, platelets, blood leukocytes, and the Lichtiger Index (clinical score). METHODS UC patients undergoing complete colonoscopy were prospectively enrolled and scored clinically and endoscopically. Samples from feces and blood were analyzed in UC patients and controls. RESULTS We enrolled 228 UC patients and 52 healthy controls. Endoscopic disease activity correlated best with FC (Spearman's rank correlation coefficient r = 0.821), followed by the Lichtiger Index (r = 0.682), CRP (r = 0.556), platelets (r = 0.488), blood leukocytes (r = 0.401), and hemoglobin (r = -0.388). FC was the only marker that could discriminate between different grades of endoscopic activity (grade 0, 16 [10-30] μg/g; grade 1, 35 [25-48] μg/g; grade 2, 102 [44-159] μg/g; grade 3, 235 [176-319] μg/g; grade 4, 611 [406-868] μg/g; P < 0.001 for discriminating the different grades). FC with a cutoff of 57 μg/g had a sensitivity of 91% and a specificity of 90% to detect endoscopically active disease (modified Baron Index ≥ 2). CONCLUSIONS FC correlated better with endoscopic disease activity than clinical activity, CRP, platelets, hemoglobin, and blood leukocytes. The strong correlation with endoscopic disease activity suggests that FC represents a useful biomarker for noninvasive monitoring of disease activity in UC patients.

Staatstätigkeiten, Parteien und Demokratie. Festschrift für Manfred G. Schmidt

Manfred G. Schmidt ist einer der führenden Politikwissenschaftler Europas. Drei Themen bilden Schwerpunkte in seinem reichhaltigen Werk. Machen Parteien einen Unterschied für das staatliche Handeln? Diese Frage bildet den ersten Schwerpunkt seines Schaffens: In welchen Politikbereichen und unter welchen Bedingungen schlägt sich die Regierungsbeteiligung einer Partei in unterschiedlichen Staatstätigkeiten nieder? Der zweite Schwerpunkt ist die Demokratietheorie. Hier geht es ihm um eine vergleichende Rekonstruktion und Evaluation der verschiedenen Demokratietheorien. Die Arbeiten von Manfred G. Schmidt sind grundsätzlich international vergleichend angelegt. Dennoch galt seine besondere Aufmerksamkeit den politischen Systemen Deutschlands. Dies ist der dritte Schwerpunkt. Die Analyse der politischen Institutionen, des Parteienwettbewerbs und der wohlfahrtsstaatlichen Entwicklung in Deutschland seit dem 19. Jahrhundert waren Gegenstand von vielen Monographien und Aufsätzen. Er betonte insbesondere die Interaktionen von Institutionen und Parteien, die die Bundesrepublik Deutschland auf einem ‚mittleren Weg’ hielten – und schloss damit sowohl an seine international vergleichenden Analysen der Sozial-, Wirtschafts-, Bildungs- und Arbeitsmarktpolitik als auch an seine demokratietheoretischen Überlegungen an. Die Beiträge der Festschrift setzen sich mit dem Werk von Manfred G. Schmidt auseinander. Sie würdigen kritisch seine Verdienste, nehmen seine Befunden und Fragestellungen auf und führen sie in empirischen oder theoretisch-konzeptionellen Analysen weiter.

Die Abschrift als Schreibszene. Der ›Nuwe Parzifal‹ in der Handschrift Rom, Biblioteca Casanatense, Mss. 1409

The Codex Biblioteca Casanatense 1409 which has for a long time been neg- lected in Parzival scholarship, transmits German translations of three continuations of Chre ́tien de Troyes‘ Roman de Perceval ou Le Conte du Graal together with the last two books (XV/XVI) of Wolfram von Eschenbach’s Parzival. This article supports the for- merly casually made assumption that the Casanatense manuscript is in fact a direct copy of Codex Donaueschingen 97, the so called Rappoltsteiner Parzifal. As is to be shown, marks in the Donaueschingen codex, as well as significant copying errors in the Casanatense text and its treatment of initials suggest a direct relationship of the two witnesses. The notion of ,writing scene‘ (Schreibszene) with its implications of linguistic semantics, instrumentality, gesture and self reflection, proposed in modern literary scholarship, can help to understand peculiarities of the copying process in the Casanatensis, such as the numerous conceptual abbreviations and the adaptations in the handling of headings. In the final part of the article, the hypothesis is corroborated, that the copy of the Casa- natensis might have been produced in the surroundings of Lamprecht von Brunn (ca. 1320–1399), bishop of Strasburg and Bamberg, and counsellor of the emperor Charles IV.

Secondary Forests and Local Livelihoods along a Gradient of Accessibility: A Case Study in Northern Laos

Rural livelihoods in developing countries can be enhanced by improving access to natural resources, services, and markets. In remote rural areas of the humid or semihumid tropics, forests represent an important resource for livelihoods. In countries like Laos, where most primary forest has been converted to secondary forest, and where an intricate and interlinked mosaic of forest and farmland prevails, people depend on secondary forests as a prime source of goods and services. The linkages between local livelihoods and secondary forest resources are subject to changes caused by improving accessibility. This article studies how accessibility affects the condition of forests and local livelihoods by comparing three villages along a gradient of accessibility in Phonxay district, Luang Prabang province, northern Laos. The results of this research show that accessibility strengthens the influence of the government and of markets, and that local livelihoods improve with increasing accessibility, while forest condition deteriorates.

The need for transparency and good practices in the qPCR literature

Two surveys of over 1,700 publications whose authors use quantitative real-time PCR (qPCR) reveal a lack of transparent and comprehensive reporting of essential technical information. Reporting standards are significantly improved in publications that cite the Minimum Information for Publication of Quantitative Real-Time PCR Experiments (MIQE) guidelines, although such publications are still vastly outnumbered by those that do not.