Northern Village Research Articles

Modernization of agrarian sector of economy of northern and arctic territories (on the example of the Komi Republic)

In this article, modernization is presented as multilateral process of technical, technological and socio-economic improvement of agriculture. Its features, opportunities and restrictions in the conditions of the North and the Arctic are revealed. On the example of the Komi Republic, it is shown that modernization of an agrarian sector is necessary for view of its social functions. The condition of agriculture of the republic in 1960-1980 and the conditions of market transformations since 1990 is considered. Achievements and shortcomings of collective forms of the agrarian economy and negative influence on rural life of their destruction are reflected. Sharp reduction of investments, state support reduction, increased disparity of the prices of material resources and agrarian production brought agrarian sector of the economy of peripheral areas of the republic into a condition of a semi-subsistence economy. Revival of the northern village is connected in the beginning with production of environmentally friendly production of the increased demand, and suburban settlements — with construction of livestock complexes on a new technological basis. Positive changes in agriculture modernization in connection with the implementation of the priority national project «Agrarian and industrial complex development» are shown. The main directions of modernization of the agricultural sector and the rural periphery of the Arctic subregion of the Komi Republic are offered.

From the First Mile to Outer Space: Tamaani Satellite Internet in Northern Quebec

Across Canada, discrepancies of access to broadband exist between urban centres and rural and remote Aboriginal communities. Government, public and private sector organizations are partnering to address these digital divides. Some employ a ‘First Mile’ approach that foregrounds how community-based institutions are driving development. This article provides a First Mile case study from the Inuit territory of Nunavik. We describe the cultural, social and political contexts the people of Nunavik and their government navigated to establish broadband in the region’s 14 northern villages. The Kativik Regional Government is building and administering infrastructure that delivers public services and encourages economic development, balancing centralized efficiencies with the needs of residents in villages like Ivujivik.

Korean Emotional Design Expression Tendency Appeared on The Northern Village Korean-style House Guesthouse

Korean Emotional Design Expression Tendency Appeared on The Northern Village Korean-style House Guesthouse

Issues of responsibility when conducting research in a northern rural school

This article focuses on how interaction meetings between researchers and research participants in a northern Finnish village and its village school develop the researchers’ sense of responsibility as part of their research ethics. The ethics of caring is often seen as the root of the ethics of responsibility, but the authors suggest listening to both the “justice voice” and “caring voice.” Reflecting on the research project and on events in the field, three senses of responsibility are distinguished and described: one, the responsibility for relationships; two, political responsibility; and three, the responsibility to maintain a democratic process when presenting results. We argue that the local and bodily experiences of a researcher in the field give a researcher new emplaced knowledge that transforms his or her sense of responsibility.

Using remote sensing and GIS to investigate the impacts of tourism on forest cover in the Annapurna Conservation Area, Nepal

Tourism is Nepal's largest industry, giving people in rural areas an alternative to subsistence farming. Tourism can have an impact on the forest cover of a region as trees provide firewood for cooking and heating and timber for building accommodation. In 1986 the Annapurna Conservation Area Project was established to ensure that tourism was managed more sustainably, which includes minimising its impact on the forest cover. This study assesses the impacts of tourism on the forest cover in the Annapurna region by comparing Landsat images from 1999 to 2011. This was achieved through spectral classification of different land cover and by assessing the change in forest cover in relation to increasing distances from tourism villages. A major problem with remote sensing in mountainous regions such as Nepal is shadow caused by the relief. This issue was addressed by only assessing areas which were free from shadow, which in effect meant a sample was used rather than the whole study region. The results indicate that there has been an 8 percent reduction in overall forest extent, but this change varies by region. In the northern, drier regions there has been a net increase in forest cover, while in the southern regions there has been a net reduction in forests. The influence of tourism facilities on forest is also variable. Around each of the tourism villages sampled there was a general trend of forest removal decreasing as the distance from each village increased, which indicates tourism does have a negative impact on forests. However, there was an opposite trend in the northern villages that were well inside the conservation area.

Adverse metabolic risk profiles in greenlandic inuit children compared to danish children

During recent decades, the prevalence of metabolic morbidity has increased rapidly in adult Greenlandic Inuit. To what extent this is also reflected in the juvenile Inuit population is unknown. The objective was, therefore, in the comparison with Danish children, to evaluate metabolic profiles in Greenlandic Inuit children from the capital in the southern and from the northern most villages 187 Inuit and 132 Danish children were examined with anthropometrics, pubertal staging, fasting blood samples, and a maximal aerobic test. Both Inuit children living in Nuuk and the northern villages had significantly higher glucose, total cholesterol, apolipoprotein A1 levels, and diastolic blood pressure compared with Danish children after adjustment for differences in adiposity and aerobic fitness levels. The Inuit children living in Nuuk had significantly higher BMI, body fat %, HbA1 c, and significantly lower aerobic fitness and ApoA1 levels than northern living Inuit children. Greenlandic Inuit children had adverse metabolic health profile compared to the Danish children, the differences where more pronounced in Inuit children living in Nuuk. The tendencies toward higher prevalence of diabetes and metabolic morbidity in the adult Greenlandic Inuit population may also be present in the Inuit children population.

Evaluation of NO2 predictions by the plume volume molar ratio method (PVMRM) and ozone limiting method (OLM) in AERMOD using new field observations

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) plume volume molar ratio method (PVMRM) and the ozone limiting method (OLM) are in the AERMOD model to predict the 1-hr average NO2/NOx concentration ratio. These ratios are multiplied by the AERMOD predicted NOx concentration to predict the 1-hr average NO2 concentration. This paper first briefly reviews PVMRM and OLM and points out some scientific parameterizations that could be improved (such as specification of relative dispersion coefficients) and then discusses an evaluation of the PVMRM and OLM methods as implemented in AERMOD using a new data set. While AERMOD has undergone many model evaluation studies in its default mode, PVMRM and OLM are nondefault options, and to date only three NO2 field data sets have been used in their evaluations. Here AERMOD/PVMRM and AERMOD/OLM codes are evaluated with a new data set from a northern Alaskan village with a small power plant. Hourly pollutant concentrations (NO, NO2, ozone) as well as meteorological variables were measured at a single monitor 500 m from the plant. Power plant operating parameters and emissions were calculated based on hourly operator logs. Hourly observations covering 1 yr were considered, but the evaluations only used hours when the wind was in a 60° sector including the monitor and when concentrations were above a threshold. PVMRM is found to have little bias in predictions of the C(NO2)/C(NOx) ratio, which mostly ranged from 0.2 to 0.4 at this site. OLM overpredicted the ratio. AERMOD overpredicts the maximum NOx concentration but has an underprediction bias for lower concentrations. AERMOD/PVMRM overpredicts the maximum C(NO2) by about 50%, while AERMOD/OLM overpredicts by a factor of 2. For 381 hours evaluated, there is a relative mean bias in C(NO2) predictions of near zero for AERMOD/PVMRM, while the relative mean bias reflects a factor of 2 overprediction for AERMOD/OLM. Implications: This study was initiated because the new stringent 1-hr NO2 NAAQS has prompted modelers to more widely use the PVMRM and OLM methods for conversion of NOx to NO2 in the AERMOD regulatory model. To date these methods have been evaluated with a limited number of data sets. This study identified a new data set of ambient pollutant and meteorological monitoring near an isolated power plant in Wainwright, Alaska. To supplement the existing evaluations, this new data were used to evaluate PVMRM and OLM. This new data set has been and will be made available to other scientists for future investigations.

Physical and sociocultural factors affecting walrus subsistence at three villages in the northern Bering Sea: 1952–2004

Changes in sea-ice conditions have direct bearing on ice-associated species such as Pacific walrus (Odobenus rosmarus divergens), an important species for coastal Alaska Native subsistence. We explore the dynamic relationships among sea ice, walrus, and subsistence hunting between 1952 and 2004 at three northern Bering Sea villages – Diomede, Gambell, and Savoonga. We integrate changes in timing, size, and gender distribution of walrus catches under four environmental regimes that alter the extent, duration, and persistence of sea ice. Our results suggest that the physical ice conditions proximal to the three villages affect timing and migration of walrus herds and thus hunting, but village-specific factors, such as the number and demographics of hunters, impart strong inter-community variability in the magnitude of catches. Decadal-scale climatic regimes are correlated with consistent patterns of timing and magnitude for the walrus hunts at Gambell and Savoonga, and at Diomede until 1989. However, a marked reduction in walrus catches at Diomede since 1989 is attributable to several social changes that compound more difficult hunting conditions. Our study highlights the important linkages between geographic location and the sociocultural capacity to hunt (e.g. number of hunters and local rules) when considering the resilience or vulnerability of village subsistence activities in a changing climate.

Prevalence and aetiology of juvenile skeletal fluorosis in the south‐west of the Hai district, Tanzania – a community‐based prevalence and case–control study

Fluorosis is endemic throughout the East African Rift valley, including parts of Tanzania. The aim of the study was to identify all cases of deforming juvenile skeletal fluorosis (JSF) in a northern Tanzanian village and to document the extent of dental fluorosis (DF). Door-to-door prevalence survey of all residents of the village. Residents were assessed for the presence of DF and JSF. Those with JSF and randomly selected controls from the same age range were further assessed for possible JSF risk factors. The village had a population of 1435. DF was endemic within the population, being present in 911 (75.5%; 95% CI, 73.0-77.9) of dentate individuals who were examined (n = 1207). JSF was present in 56 of 1263 people examined, giving a prevalence of 4.4% (95% CI, 3.3-5.6) and was more common in males. Low body mass index, drinking predominantly well water 3 years previously, not being weaned on bananas, the use of fluoride salts in cooking during childhood and drinking more cups of tea per day were independent predictors of JSF. Juvenile skeletal fluorosis is a common and preventable public health problem. Providing clean, low-fluoride, piped water to affected communities is of obvious health benefit.

Village Elections and the Rise of Capitalist Entrepreneurs

This study examines a series of four direct elections and their impact in an industrialized Chinese northern village. It finds that direct elections empowered villagers and the new economic elite to remove the old, entrenched and corrupt leadership. However, the few capitalist entrepreneurs who dominated the elections and the new leadership neither abided by the rules of political competition nor tried to govern democratically. On the other hand, villagers did not feel empowered to participate in the governing process despite the establishment of democratic institutions. After initial enthusiasm for direct elections, many villagers either became politically apathetic or felt helpless and nostalgic for the return of a benevolent authoritarian leader. This study finds that after four rounds of direct elections, little progress had been made in democratic elections and governance. This was mainly because the new economic elite did not want to be checked by democratic rules and institutions while villagers had not learned to use democratic institutions to hold their elected leaders accountable.

Factor analysis in the identification of dietary patterns and their predictive role in morbid and fatal events

The purpose was to examine the role of dietary patterns derived from factor analysis and their association with health and disease. Longitudinal population study, with measurement of diet (dietary history method), cardiovascular risk factors and a follow-up of 20 years for CHD incidence and 40 years for mortality. Two population samples in rural villages in northern and central Italy. Men (n 1221) aged 45-64 years were examined and followed up. One of the factors identified with factor analysis, run on seventeen food groups, was converted into a factor score (Factor 2 score) and used as a possible predictor of morbid and fatal events. High values of Factor 2 score were characterized by higher consumption of bread, cereals (pasta), potatoes, vegetables, fish and oil and by lower consumption of milk, sugar, fruit and alcoholic beverages. In multivariate analysis, Factor 2 score (mean 0·0061; sd 1·3750) was inversely and significantly associated (hazard ratio for a 1 sd increase; 95% CI) with 20-year CHD incidence (0·88; 0·73, 0·96) and 40-year mortality from CHD (0·79; 0·66, 0·95), CVD (0·87; 0·78, 0·96), cancer (0·84; 0·74, 0·96) and all causes (0·89; 0·83, 0·96), after adjustment for five other risk factors. Men in quintile 5 of Factor 2 score had a 4·1 years longer life expectancy compared with men in quintile 1. A dietary pattern derived from factor analysis, and resembling the characteristics of the Mediterranean diet, was protective for the occurrence of various morbid and fatal events during 40 years of follow-up.

Cultural, Social, and Environmental Influences on Surviving Dietary Patterns of the Past: A Case Study from the Northern Villages of Karpathos

The present work documents the core diet of a population in a Mediterranean island that has been minimally eroded by industrialization and tourism, and links present food-consumption patterns to the foods' historical roots and to the exploitation of natural resources available to the community. Demographic, behavioral, cultivation, and food-intake information were collected among inhabitants of the isolated northern villages of Karpathos. The core diet of the elderly village inhabitants was found to be based on wheat, barley, legumes, and olive oil. Inhabitants in the northern villages of Karpathos rely on local resources for most of their food. Absence of mechanized farming, the social role of women, and customs of inheritance are factors that have contributed to the preservation of traditional food-related practices.

Frozen actions in the Arctic linguistic landscape: a nexus analysis of language processes in visual space

This article examines the linguistic landscape (LL) of seven villages above the Arctic Circle, in the region called North Calotte. The area forms a complex nexus of contested and changing multilingualism, particularly as regards to endangered indigenous Sámi languages and Kven and Meänkieli minority languages. Viewing LL as a discursively constructed space and consequently signs as ‘frozed actions’ by various actors, and by adopting a Nexus analytical approach we examine three interrelated aspects of Arctic LLs: (1) the synchronic aspect by addressing the question of how languages are used in the landscapes of northern villages in the year 2008; (2) the historical aspect through identifying traces of different processes in these landscapes; and (3) the functional aspect by exploring what happens to endangered indigenous and minority languages in these LLs. In this article we argue that the Arctic LL is multi-layered, containing minority, national and global language orders, each organising and prioritising language resources differently. The layers and orders are, however, nested, and together they create the Arctic LL that bears witness to both the past processes and the current trends.

The Outcry of The Crow: Localizing Modernity in Iran

Cet article fait l’étude de la question de la modernité et de l’identité telle que représentée dans le cinéma de Bahram Bayzai et porte une attention particulière au film Kalagh (1977). Dans la première partie, la discussion cherche à montrer la signification du concept de modernité dans l’esthétique de Bayzai, et tout spécialement dans Kalagh, qui aborde explicitement la question. Le film a été réalisé pendant les bouleversements révolutionnaires en Iran, au moment où les Iraniens considéraient sérieusement le remplacement de la modernisation occidentale du Shah par une modernité reposant sur une culture et une histoire propres à l’Iran. Cet article montre comment l’attention particulière que ce film porte à l’individu-sujet plutôt qu’à la société, élément caractéristique de la transformation sociale et culturelle, est essentiellement moderne. La troisième partie de l’article défend l’idée que la façon dont est représentée la femme, qui dans le film est en quête d’identité, est une allusion à la crise d’identité iranienne plus générale qui a marqué la révolution et est aussi une façon de contester le projet de modernisation imposé par l’état. L’article met l’accent sur le regard personnel créé par l’emploi d’une approche théâtrale et par le motif dramatique crée par le montage et l’emploi du champ-contrechamp.

The effects of geographical distances on pottery assemblage similarities: a case study from Northern Iroquoia

A basic premise of archaeology is that the more frequently two human populations interacted with one another the more similar was their material culture. A corollary of this is that the closer two human populations are to one another geographically, the more frequently they will interact. This corollary has been expressed in the archaeological study of northern Iroquoia since the 1950s on the basis of historical ethnic territories. The expectation has been that after ca. A.D. 1000 to 1300 there was more interaction between village populations within these historical territories than between village populations located in different historical territories. Here I test this corollary with pottery decoration data from 114 northern Iroquoian village sites dating from c. A.D. 1350 to 1640. Results indicate that geographic distance has little effect on pottery assemblage similarity.

Urogenital Schistosomiasis in Women of Reproductive Age in Tanzania's Lake Victoria Region

We conducted a community-based study of 457 women aged 18-50 years living in eight rural villages in northwest Tanzania. The prevalence of female urogenital schistosomiasis (FUS) was 5% overall but ranged from 0% to 11%. FUS was associated with human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) infection (odds ratio [OR] = 4.0, 95% confidence interval [CI] = 1.2-13.5) and younger age (OR = 5.5 and 95% CI = 1.2-26.3 for ages < 25 years and OR = 8.2 and 95% CI = 1.7-38.4 for ages 25-29 years compared with age > 35 years). Overall HIV prevalence was 5.9% but was 17% among women with FUS. We observed significant geographical clustering of schistosomiasis: northern villages near Lake Victoria had more Schistosoma mansoni infections (P < 0.0001), and southern villages farther from the lake had more S. haematobium (P = 0.002). Our data support the postulate that FUS may be a risk factor for HIV infection and may contribute to the extremely high rates of HIV among young women in sub-Saharan Africa.

Writing about Everyday Beauty: Anthropomorphizing and Distancing as Literary Practices

In this paper two ways to communicate a relation to one's everyday life environment are discussed: anthropomorphizing and distancing. Both are often thought to convey hierarchically anthropocentric relations to nature and as such to be undesired. The basis of this paper is empirical research conducted in a small northern Finnish village. Four villagers participated in writing letters about beauty in their everyday lives. In this paper the letters of two participants are discussed in detail. I conclude that anthropomorphism and distancing serve as literary practices of negotiating a meaningful relation to one's everyday life environment by conceptually framing the interplay of one's perceived proximity to and distance from the not-her.

A new applicable model of Iran rural e-commerce development

The significant impact of e-commerce (EC) on the livelihood or rural populations in developing countries like Iran has made this topic of popular interest to many researchers in the past decade. To take advantage of e-commerce, employing suitable models which are adaptive to the circumstances of villages in rural areas is indispensable. Iran is on track for achieving this goal, development of EC in Rural areas. Considering the importance of sharing rural ICT experiences, the trend and experiences of the Rural EC infrastructure in Iran are demonstrated in this paper. According to our research, Iran’s rural ICT network development started in 2000 with the far northern village of Shahkooh which is known as the first multi-media center of Iran. In 2004, Iran national strategic plan of Rural ICT built two well-equipped telecentres near the villages of East Livan and Gharnabad. Taking availability of data and the duration of operation al time to account, these two telecenters were selected for this paper. In 2005, UNESCO Tehran Cluster Office was empowered to carry out a study on the economic and social effect of rural ICTs to share with others, acting in this field at regional and social levels. In fact, in order to find applicable and durable solutions for economic, social and environmental problems, these projects were carried out in the rural areas of Iran. In this paper, a practical model of e-commerce for rural areas of Iran is proposed. Our research is based on quantitative and qualitative methodologies. The qualitative methods comprised of open-ended interviews with officials and telecentre operators. The proposed model is related to the national project known as “10000 Rural ICT Center” which was started in the year 2004. In this project, Rural EC services are part of the IT application services at the Rural ICT Centers which supply four services; Communication Services, IT services, Postal Services and E-Banking services.

Trachoma Rapid Assessments in Unity and Northern Bahr-el-Ghazal States, Southern Sudan

BackgroundTrachoma is thought to be endemic over large parts of Southern Sudan, but empirical evidence is limited. While some areas east of the Nile have been identified as highly endemic, few trachoma surveys have been conducted in the remainder of the country. This study aimed to determine whether trachoma constitutes a problem to public health in Northern Bahr-el-Ghazal and Unity State, both located west of the Nile.Methods and Principal FindingsTrachoma rapid assessments (TRA) were conducted between July and September 2009. Seven villages in Northern Bahr-el-Ghazal State and 13 villages in Unity State were surveyed; an average of 50 children (age 1–9 years) and 44 women (age 15 years and above) were examined per village. Samples for analysis using the APTIMA Combo-2 nucleic acid amplification test (NAAT) were collected from participants with active trachoma in eight villages in Unity State. In Northern Bahr-el-Ghazal State, only three children with active trachoma (trachomatous inflammation follicular (TF) and/or trachomatous inflammation intense (TI)) and two women with trichiasis (TT) were found, in two of the seven villages surveyed. In Unity State, trachoma was endemic in all thirteen villages surveyed; the proportion of children with active trachoma ranged from 33% to 75% between villages, while TF in children ranged from 16% to 44%. Between 4% to 51% of examined women showed signs of TT. Samples from active trachoma cases tested using the NAAT were positive for Chlamydia trachomatis infection for 46.6% of children and 19.0% of women.ConclusionsTrachoma presents a major problem to public health Unity State, while the disease is of low priority in Northern-Bahr-el-Ghazal State. Implementation of a population-based prevalence survey is now required in Unity State to generate baseline prevalence data so that trachoma interventions can be initiated and monitored over time.

First attempt to validate the gSG6-P1 salivary peptide as an immuno-epidemiological tool for evaluating human exposure to Anopheles funestus bites

The development of a biomarker of exposure based on the evaluation of the human antibody response specific to Anopheles salivary proteins seems promising in improving malaria control. The IgG response specific to the gSG6-P1 peptide has already been validated as a biomarker of An. gambiae exposure. This study represents a first attempt to validate the gSG6-P1 peptide as an epidemiological tool evaluating exposure to An. funestus bites, the second main malaria vector in sub-Saharan Africa. A multi-disciplinary survey was performed in a Senegalese village where An. funestus represents the principal anopheline species. The IgG antibody level specific to gSG6-P1 was evaluated and compared in the same children before, at the peak and after the rainy season. Two-thirds of the children developed a specific IgG response to gSG6-P1 during the study period and--more interestingly--before the rainy season, when An. funestus was the only anopheline species reported. The specific IgG response increased during the An. funestus exposure season, and a positive association between the IgG level and the level of exposure to An. funestus bites was observed. The results suggest that the evaluation of the IgG response specific to gSG6-P1 in children could also represent a biomarker of exposure to An. funestus bites. The availability of such a biomarker evaluating the exposure to both main Plasmodium falciparum vectors in Africa could be particularly relevant as a direct criterion for the evaluation of the efficacy of vector control strategies.