Period Of Fieldwork Research Articles

Phylogeny and Flow Cytometry of the Genus Kalidium Moq. (Amaranthaceae s.l.) in Kazakhstan.

The article presents data on phylogeny, genome size, and ploidy of species of the genus Kalidium Moq. in the flora of Kazakhstan. Genus Kalidium belongs to the tribe Salicornieae of the subfamily Salicornioideae of the family Chenopodiaceae and unites eight species, the main range of which covers the Iranian-Turanian and Central Asian deserts. There are four species in the flora of Kazakhstan: K. foliatum, K. caspicum, K. schrenkianum, and the recently described K. juniperinum. Populations of species of the genus Kalidium in the saline deserts of Kazakhstan occupy large areas, often forming monodominant communities. Sometimes there is a joint growth of two and very rarely three species of the genus. During the period of fieldwork (2021-2022), populations were identified in which these species grew together with a predominance, in most cases, of K. caspicum. Samples of representatives from 15 populations were collected for research. Selected plant samples were studied by flow cytometry to determine plant ploidy. Sequencing of nrITS and two chloroplast fragments were used to build a phylogenetic tree, including sequences from the NCBI database., A phylogenetic tree of species of the genus Kalidium was compiled, which takes previously published data into consideration. In the valley of the middle reaches of the Syrdarya River, tetraploid populations of K. caspicum were found. A hybrid between K. foliatum and K. caspicum was found in the Ili River valley (Almaty region, Uigur district). To identify phylogenetic processes at the intraspecific level, the SCoT (Start codon targeted) fingerprinting method was used.

Dynamic Analysis of the Timing of Survey Participation: An Application of Event History Analysis of the Stochastic Process of Response in a Probability-Based Multi-Wave Panel With Computer-Assisted Interview Modes

The response patterns across the fieldwork period are analyzed in the context of a panel study with a sequential mixed-mode design including a self-administered online questionnaire and a computer-assisted telephone interview. Since the timing of participation is modelled as a stochastic process of individuals’ response behaviour, event history analysis is applied to reveal time-constant and time-varying factors that influence this process. Different distributions of panelists’ propensity for taking part in the web-based survey or, alternatively, in the computer-assisted telephone interview can be considered by hazard rate analysis. Piecewise constant rate models and analysis of sub-episodes demonstrate that it is possible to describe the time-related development of response rates by reference to individuals’ characteristics, resources and abilities, as well as panelists’ experience with previous panel waves. Finally, it is shown that exogenous factors, such as a mixed-mode survey design, the incentives offered to participants and the reminders that are sent out, contribute significantly to time-related response after the invitation to participate in a survey with a sequential mixed-mode design. Overall, this contribution calls for a dynamic analysis of response behaviour instead of the categorization of response groups.

Ethical disputes, coordinating acts and NGO accountability: Evidence from an NGO river-care programme in Malaysia

We use the Theory of Orders of Worth (OW) espoused by Boltanski and his associates to understand how disputes emerge in situations and how such disputes themselves reach agreements in the context of community engagements by an NGO. Based on a nine-month period of fieldwork at an NGO river-care programme in Malaysia, we find that, in situations of disputes, coordinating acts are predicated upon moral justifications by social actors, making the programme accountable to multiple stakeholders. Moreover, these coordinating acts develop dialogic accounting and transform felt accountability forms into adaptive accountability forms. We conclude that NGO accountability in a developing country like Malaysia is a manifestation of the ability of moral justifications governed by multiple orders of worth and such adaptive accountability forms mediate to assimilate global development agendas into local policies and programmes.

The ebb and flow of capital in Indonesian coastal production systems

The global fisheries sector has undergone both rapid industrialization and considerable resource depletion. Unlike fisheries in the Northern Hemisphere, the Indonesian (and indeed Southeast Asian) sector is still largely dominated by small‐scale producers, who are partially embedded within a subsistence economy. Changes in the nature of production and livelihoods in the fisheries sector appear similar to those in land‐based agriculture but have received far less attention in the literature and demand further analysis given the distinct characteristics of the natural resource base. Using national datasets complemented by insights from a two‐month period of fieldwork in South Sulawesi, this paper presents the process of capital intensification underpinning national fisheries growth and how it is transforming small‐scale production systems. Despite increasing market integration, we found that smallholders have persisted across coastal production systems to an even stronger degree than land‐based agriculture. We suggest some reasons why this is so. However, we also observed evidence of internal class differentiation within coastal communities. Such differentiation, combined with resource degradation and depletion, exposes the poorest in the community to enhanced livelihood vulnerability.

Doing kin work among Ghanaians home and abroad: A paradigm shift toICT

AbstractObjectiveWe explore how information communication technologies (ICTs) enable doing kin work through communication and its impact on the well‐being of Ghanaians at home and abroad.BackgroundUsing ICTs has become a significant and rapid way to keep in touch with family relations as they are “scattered” across different geographic spaces within a country and globally. In this digital age, families can choose from a wide range of options that allows the combination of textual, verbal, and visual interactions.MethodThis paper is based on observations, in‐depth interviews, and life stories collected over a cumulative fieldwork period of 28 months. A total of 40 Ghanaians living in the Netherlands and 30 living in Ghana were recruited from 2017 to 2019 for this study.ResultsThrough smartphones or messenger apps, people share their life and provide care and support including financial, emotional, moral, personal, and communal attachment.ConclusionDoing family online involves a complex, open, and hidden system of support, care, anxiety, and empathy. Doing family online is an example of a social matrix in which new patterns of social relationships, intimacies, care, and intergenerational solidarities emerge and develop.ImplicationsWe propose that doing family online will remain an integral means of connecting with family members and other relations. It is therefore important that ICT is made affordable, reliable, and secure as a way to improve its use. This means that more innovation, development, and research would be required.

Increasing productivity of machine-tractor units depending on the influence of the load of the machine operator with maintenance work in the agricultural enterprises of the Omsk region

Increased productivity of machine-tractor units in the conditions of agricultural production is one of the most important and urgent tasks of the engineering and technical service of the agricultural sector. The greatest impact on machine reliability and performance indicators has a timely and good-quality maintenance. Fault tolerance is crucial to ensuring high machine productivity. The amount of maintenance work increases in proportion to the number of hours worked. Inadequate technical maintenance, leading to increased failure rates, reduced productivity and machine operating hours, and higher operating costs. Machine failures and downtime lead to disruptions in agricultural production technology, which leads to delays and loss of crops. This is a main contradiction that is inherent in the actual system of maintenance and use of machines, in the overlapping timing of their performance. Addressing the problem of increasing tractor uptime in the current environment is of particular importance and relevance. This can be achieved by reducing maintenance downtime by intensifying maintenance during the non-stressful period of fieldwork. It is therefore advisable to outsource part of the maintenance and repair work to specialised enterprises, since there, due to their high specialisation and technical equipment, the quality of such work will be higher than on the farm. Tractor uptime can also be improved through greater specialisation and intensification of maintenance operations by shifting them to non-stressful periods of fieldwork. The study proposes and theoretically substantiates the structure of technical service formation in agro-industrial enterprises. The main advantages of the proposed technical service system are discussed.

Exploring the Benefits of Culturally Responsive Art Learning Experience for Rural Chinese Students

AbstractThis ethnographic case study explored the benefits associated with culturally responsive art learning experience in a Chinese rural town in the process of urbanisation. The case of this study, Fuchong Art Education Programme (FAEP), provided culturally relevant art activities for primary and secondary rural students who cannot access enriched art programmes in schools. Art studio learning, a summer art camp, an art exhibition, neighbourhood sketching, online teaching, student home visits and teacher meetings were documented and examined over an eight‐month period of fieldwork. Semi‐structured interviews with the participating students, their teachers and parents and the programme coordinator were conducted to elicit the participants’ perspectives on the FAEP experience, the benefits of participation and the challenges involved in implementing a culturally responsive art programme. The emerging themes included artistic, personal, social and external benefits, which were examined in relation to previous research on the intrinsic and instrumental benefits of art learning and a local understanding of the value of community art engagement in the lives of rural people. The implications offer guidance for promoting culturally responsive art learning in rural settings.

Agroclimatic and agroecotoxicological justification of zonal chemical protection systems against harmful organisms for field crops under conditions of climate change in Ukraine

Goal. Agroclimatic and agroecotoxicological zoning of the territory of Ukraine in order to justify ecologically safe zonal systems of chemical protection against harmful organisms, their optimization and adaptation to changes in climatic conditions and phytosanitary state of agrocenoses in different soil-climatic zones of Ukraine.
 Methods. Analytical-synthetic and experimental methods were used in the research. Literary sources, reports of the Institute of Plant Protection, data on the distribution and number of pests given in the annual reviews of the Department of Phytosanitary Safety of the State Service of Ukraine on Food Safety and Consumer Protection, databases of the State Statistic Service and the Hydrometeorological Center of Ukraine, as well as the results of field experiments were analyzed. Phytosanitary and ecotoxicological monitoring was carried out according to generally accepted methods. The degree of hazard of pesticide use was assessed using an integral 7-point scale, the risk — according to the agro-ecotoxicological index (AETI).
 Results. Ecological and statistical analysis of long-term databases, dynamics of agrometeorological indicators allows us to come to the conclusion that during the last 10 years climate changes have accelerated. They manifested through the equalization of the temperature field across the country, the increase in the sum of effective temperatures, and a deterioration of heat and moisture supply. This led to a disruption in the functioning of agrocenoses, a decrease in tolerance to the pesticide load. Under conditions of extension of the specified trends, significant disruptions in the functioning of the agricultural sector should be expected, considering the speed of changes. With the help of the Arc GIS — Arc INFO software complex, the agroclimatic and agroecotoxicological zoning of the territory of Ukraine under conditions of climatic changes of 2010—2020 was carried out. A decrease in the self-cleaning ability of the territory has been established. This is especially noticeable in the Forest Steppe, where the zonal self-cleaning index decreased from 0.70—0.50 to 0.60—0.45. Maps of agro-climatic zones and regions of Ukraine with different self-cleaning capabilities have been created.
 Conclusions. Regular addition and update of agro-climatic regulatory information under conditions of climate change is used for the correct selection and placement of agricultural areas, crops, assessment of conditions for their growth and development, planning of field work periods, forecasting of crop production in a specific year. This information is necessary for improving the culture of agriculture, increasing the production of plant products along with the wide application of modern technologies of crop cultivation, in particular chemical protection against harmful organisms.

Adopting and adapting sustainability accounting: fit and faith in a family business

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to provide a theoretically informed analysis of the evolution of environmental management accounting (EMA) and social and environmental reporting (SER), and the accompanying development of a sustainability programme, in a large family-owned, unlisted corporation.Design/methodology/approachA longitudinal case study based on semi-structured interviews and documentary data was conducted. The main periods of fieldwork were carried out in 2007 and between 2010 and 2012. Sustainability reports were collected until 2019 when SER appeared to cease. The case analysis draws on the concepts of organisational identity (OI) and internal legitimacy (IL) to examine the decision-making and actions of a range of key organisational actors as they engage with EMA and SER.FindingsThe study demonstrates that a gap between an organisation’s identity claims (“who we are”) and its enacted identity (“what we do”) can enable the adoption of constitutive, performative and representational EMA and SER. It illuminates the nature of the role of key actors and organisational dynamics, in the form of OI and IL, in adapting these practices. It also demonstrates that, in giving meaning to the concept of sustainability, organisational actors can draw on their organisation’s identity and construct the comprehensibility of an organisational sustainability programme.Research limitations/implicationsMore empirical work is needed to examine the applicability of OI and IL to other settings. It would also be beneficial to examine the potential for OI work to allow organisations to change and reinvent themselves in response to the evermore pressing environmental crisis and the role, if any, of EMA in this process.Originality/valueThe study enriches our understanding of why and how EMA and SER evolve by demonstrating that paying attention to OI and IL can provide further insight into the decision-making and actions of organisational members as they recognise, evaluate, support and cease these practices.

Cannabis policy in The Netherlands: Rationale and design of an experiment with a controlled legal (‘closed’) cannabis supply chain

Since the Dutch tolerance policy, allowing the purchase of cannabis in ‘coffeeshops’, is associated with problems of public order and safety as well as health risks, there has been a long debate about legalisation of cannabis production and supply. It was therefore decided to conduct an experiment with a controlled legal (‘closed’) cannabis supply chain for recreational use. This is of international relevance in view of the current illegal cannabis exports from the Netherlands, the importance of sharing knowledge about the effectiveness of cannabis policies, and the accumulation of evidence needed to evaluate and update international treaties. Here we describe and discuss the background, general approach and design of the experiment.An independent expert committee elaborated how the closed chain will operate and be evaluated, based on the experience with the medicinal cannabis chain, and round table discussions with stakeholders (mayors, coffeeshop owners, cannabis consumers, growers, regulators, scientists, and addiction experts).Ten trusted cannabis growers are contracted to produce and supply cannabis to the coffeeshops in intervention municipalities, with product quality control, law enforcement against criminal interference, and preventive efforts to reduce health risks being implemented. No changes will be made in the cannabis supply to the coffeeshops in participating control municipalities. A process evaluation will assess whether the chain from production to sale in the intervention municipalities was really closed. In a quasi-experimental study comparing intervention and control municipalities, the chain's effects on public health, cannabis-related crime, safety and public nuisance will be estimated.The fieldwork period is expected to start early 2024 and will take four years, including reporting to the government and parliament. These will then decide whether and what further steps towards legalisation of the production and supply of cannabis will be taken.

The sanctuary at Keros in the Aegean Early Bronze Age: from centre of congregation to centre of power

This article aims to summarise the results of three periods of fieldwork carried out since 2006. These are the Cambridge Keros Project of 2006–2008, the Keros Island Survey of 2012–2013, and the Keros-Naxos Seaways Project of 2015–2018. Taken together, these form a coherent, large-scale project that aimed to study a maritime landscape in some depth, putting the Kavos and Dhaskalio sites in a broader context, while through excavation understanding in great detail the formation, use and abandonment of the sanctuary site on Kavos and the large built-up area on Dhaskalio.

Short- and long-term effects of reminders on panellists’ survey participation in a probability-based panel study with a sequential mixed-mode design

In recent panel studies, besides other methods such as sequential mixed-mode design, push-to-web method, and prepaid monetary incentives, follow-up contacts such as personalised electronic mails (e-mails) or short message service are often used to motivate nonrespondents to complete the questionnaire, increase the response rate within a limited fieldwork period, and minimise panel attrition. Since it is still unclear when and how often non-complying panellists should be reminded to take part in a survey, this contribution analyses the short- and long-term effects of digital reminders across the fieldwork period. For this purpose, longitudinal data and statistical procedures of event history analysis are applied to reveal the effects of reminders on the likelihood, timing, and social structure of Swiss juveniles’ survey participation. On the one hand, there are short-term and long-term effects of multiple early reminders on the response of panellists receiving reminders. On the other hand, there are no cumulative effects across the fieldwork period or overlapping effects of reminders across the mixed survey modes. Considering the social structure of nonrespondents who receive reminders, it appears plausible that there may be a selective response in terms of the panellists’ social origin, educational level, and language proficiency.

Navigating the challenges of fieldwork and childcare: Revisiting ‘muddy glee’

AbstractThis commentary emerges from our collective interest in, and reflections on, the multiple ways in which parents working within Development Geography in UK academia negotiate the complexities of combining periods of overseas fieldwork with family life. Here, we bring our varied experiences of navigating these challenges (emotional, bureaucratic, and practical) into conversation with Bracken and Mawdsley's ‘Muddy glee,’ highlighting the ways in which a recognition of academics', especially female academics', childcare responsibilities has been largely absent from discussions around conducting fieldwork, specifically development fieldwork in the global South.

The spatial dimension of shifting commonsensical understandings

In this article, I engage with the spatial dimensions of Gramsci’s work and look at common sense through a primarily spatial lens. I discuss how changing commonsensical understandings concerning migration do more than redefine persons as “migrants” or “non-migrants.” As such, I underline how socio-spatial relations are also renegotiated symbolically, in practice, and on multiple scales. Thereby, I take the role of common sense in Lefebvre’s idea of spatial production as an entry point for the analysis. I then link this perspective to migration scholarship that discusses how the relational positioning of localities at specific historic conjunctures influences the differentiation between “migrants” and “non-migrants.” The empirical material was gathered in two fieldwork periods in 2011 and 2018 in the Monte Laa neighborhood of Vienna, Austria. I describe the repositioning of the neighborhood in everyday practices and commonsensical imaginaries both in an urban context and the transnational context of Central and Southeast European space. Comparing commonsensical imaginaries from 2018 with those from 2011, the so-called 2015 “refugee crisis” emerges as a moment of conjunctural rupture.

Estimating mode effects from a sequential mixed-mode experiment using structural moment models

Until recently, the survey mode of the household panel study Understanding Society was mainly face-to-face interview, but it has now adopted a mixed-mode design where individuals can self-complete the questionnaire via the web. As mode is known to affect survey data, a randomized mixed-mode experiment was implemented during the first year of the two-year Wave 8 fieldwork period to assess the impact of this change. The experiment involved a sequential design that permits the identification of mode effects in the presence of nonignorable nonrandom mode selection. While previous studies have used instrumental variables regression to estimate the effects of mode on the means of the survey variables, we describe a more general methodology based on novel structural moment models that characterizes the overall effect of mode on a survey by its effects on the moments of the survey variables’ joint distribution. We adapt our estimation procedure to account for nonresponse and complex sampling designs and to include suitable auxiliary data to improve inference and relax key assumptions. Finally, we demonstrate how to estimate the effects of mode on the parameter estimates of generalized linear models and other exponential family models when both outcomes and predictors are subject to mode effects. This methodology is used to investigate the impact of the move to web mode on Wave 8 of Understanding Society.

Islands of the Tectonic Origin in the Shatt Al-Arab River, Southern Iraq

Several factors control the formation of river islands, such as tectonic factors, sedimentation, erosion, and human activities. This research is concerned with islands in the Shatt Al-Arab channel, which are likely to be traced back to tectonic factors in their formation. The islands of the Shatt Al-Arab River are distributed along its axis starting from the islands of Sindbad and Muhammadiyah, 15 km to the north of the city center of Basra, to the islands of Shatit, Al-Dawasir and Minauhi, 70 km south of the city center of Basrah. This study area is part of the Mesopotamia Plain, southern Iraq. The fieldwork period extended from the beginning of September 2012 to June 2013, which included making subsurface sections (longitudinal and transverse) of the bottom of the Shatt Al-Arab channel using the Sub-bottom profile Strata box device, imaging the topography of the river bottom in a side scan sonar, collecting the bottom sediments by a grab sampler. The volumetric analysis method uses the Master Sizer device based on the Folk classification to calculate the volumetric gradient of sediments. The study showed that the tectonic factor has a prominent role in the growth island Maino and as a result of the presence of sub-surface structures for the structure of the Siba, which appeared to affect the subsurface layers of the river bed near the island as it appeared in the survey sections of the Strata box device. There are some islands that more than one factor emerged as a reason for their formation and development, as in the islands of Muhammadiyah and Umm al-Rasas, where tectonic and sedimentary factors interfered in their formation and development due to the influence of sub-surface structures as well as the influence of nearby rivers such as the Karma and Karun Rivers.

Seasonal turnover of avian community assembly in a highly fragmented Tumbesian dry forest of southwestern Ecuador

ABSTRACT Tropical dry forests are among the most threatened and yet the most biodiverse Neotropical ecosystems. However, current patterns of biological occupancy in these forests remain poorly studied. Here, we document the diversity, patterns of seasonal turnover and change of species composition over time of birds in a highly exploited but protected tropical dry forest of southwestern Ecuador, Bosque Protector Puyango. Using a combination of mist netting, song recording and direct observations, we surveyed the study site over a 2-month period of fieldwork during both the dry and rainy seasons. We then performed a literature review of the species reported in this site and compared the changes in composition over time using a historical survey. One hundred sixty-one species of birds belonging to 40 families were recorded inside the area. One hundred and six species were found in this survey and 55 were recovered from the literature. Seasonality did not significantly affect species abundance and richness; however, species dominance changed notably. Although the overall species richness of the site has been maintained, we found an overwhelming change of species composition during the last two decades in this forest. Our results show that this highly threatened forest still hosts a unique high avian diversity. Conservation actions should be encouraged in the region, motivating the local communities to develop non-extractive economic practices, such as birdwatching and ecotourism.

From fish to fishworker traceability in Thai fisheries reform

This paper explores the question of what traceability systems mean for the labour situation of fishworkers; for whom and in what respects is traceability effective, and what impact do these systems have? The limited social criteria in fishery governance is a core reason for recurrent problems of extreme abuse of fishworkers around the world, including trafficking, forced labour and so called modern slavery. New traceability systems, thus, now include social criteria to advance sustainable fisheries globally. Drawing from a Thai fisheries reform case study, we analyse how the new labour traceability system emerges and is perceived by migrant fishworkers. We base our analysis on interviews, documents and two periods of fieldwork in Thailand. We argue that labour traceability is a double-edged sword. While fishworkers have seen major improvement in limiting extreme abuse, labour traceability has a downsides of state surveillance and costs passed onto workers. Moreover, traceability does not solve underlying problems regarding the complex formalization of migrant workers, working conditions on fishing boats, freedom to change employer or the everyday vulnerability of being a migrant worker. Thus, while labour traceability has promising policy relevance for the integration of labour rights into fisheries governance, it requires contextual underpinning in migrant circumstances.

The Unknown Labour Camp in Slivnitsa (August – September 1989)

The labour camp in the military unit in the town of Slivnitsa as a place of state repression in the campaign for forced name change has not been the subject of special scientific research. In early 1985, hundreds of Turks from North-Eastern Bulgaria were summoned to the military checkpoints and as "mobilized" were sent to the unit, part of which was turned into a special labour camp. In Slivnitsa and other labour camps, the mobilized were subjected to heavy physical labour and psychological harassment. In the archive of the State Security documents are kept with some of the statistics on this form of violent dealing with the most active Turks – potential opponents of the forced name change and organizers of mass protests in North - Eastern Bulgaria. The repression in the labour camp in Slivnitsa from August-September 1989, happened during a period of the hardest field work for the tobacco producers. As "reserve troops" some of the most prominent Pomaks in Southern Bulgaria, including also some Turks from the Pazardzhik and Gotzedelchevski villages, were isolated. Subjected to humiliation, harassment and ideological manipulation, more than 100 people in a month were held halfhungry and forced to engage in heavy physical labour. This state violence scared the population and interrupted all possibilities for general opposition against the communist regime. This study aims to present this form of mass repression, carried out secretly and thoroughly concealed by the communist totalitarian regime in Bulgaria and plunged into oblivion. It is based on archival documents, memories, unknown to science notes and a list of the names of those brought in in 1989 in the labour camp in Slivnitsa.

Taking Care of Business in a Male - Dominated Drug Economy: Income Strategies, Risks, and Opportunities of Women Who Use Drugs.

BackgroundStreet level drug economies are often described as hierarchical and gender-segregated arenas where men hold high positions and control the supply of drugs, and where women are confined to marginal and low-level positions. Few studies have explored income strategies, risks and opportunities of women who use drugs within drug economies in the Nordic countries.ObjectiveThe aim of this study was to analyze women's stories about “taking care of business”–making money and securing drugs–in a local drug economy. The study focuses on the women's gender enactments, the strategies they use to achieve success, and the barriers and risks they face in their everyday endeavors.MethodsThis article draws on informal conversations and in-depth qualitative interviews with 27 female drug users in Malmö, Sweden during periods of fieldwork between 2009 and 2012.ResultsThe interviewed women had established themselves as entrepreneurs in the local drug economy, working hard for their money. However, only a few held middle or high positions, and all women described encountering gendered obstacles and risks in their efforts to take care of business. The patriarchal and sexualized nature of the drug economy meant special prerequisites for the women's income strategies and gender enactments. Three main income strategies were distinguished in the women's stories: (1) using femininity and sexuality, (2) proving tough and dangerous by using street masculinity, and (3) establishing trust, being professional, and keeping a low profile. These strategies involved different advantages and disadvantages, as well as different types of risk.ConclusionsThe results show that it is possible for women to achieve success in male-dominated drug economies, but that this is associated with major challenges. Gendered social hierarchies, structures and norms seem to influence the women's gender enactments, opportunities and risks. However, factors such as type of drug use, degree of drug dependence and social position, was also decisive for their possibility of taking care of business. This points to the importance of combining a focus on gender with a focus on other determants of power relations and vulnerabilities, when studying the everyday lives of people who use drugs.