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Drawing from the extensive literature on the anthropology of borders and border death in and beyond Europe, this article ethnographically explores the processes through which irregular migrants and locals at the borderland of Lampedusa (south of Sicily, Italy) are left to live and die in abandonment. In the process, we highlight the distinct and antagonistic yet shared sense of neglect that both migrants and locals experience in their everyday lives on the island and explore the relationship between abandonment, the everyday, and the law, showing how these are interwoven. By including both irregular migrants and locals in Lampedusa in our analysis, the article importantly establishes how abandonment occurs not in the absence but in the indeterminacy of the law and highlights a chronic failure of the law toward life (deemed as legal and illegal). It moves beyond traditional anthropological critiques on state presence and absence, showing how abandonment pervades everyday life within and beyond borders. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Questions of subjectivity are increasingly key to critical studies of migration, which highlight the production of subjectivities as one of the central functions of borders. Yet the question of how borders operate at a psychic level is rarely considered. Drawing inspiration from Gail Lewis's psychosocial approach to the racial formation of subjects and focusing on the UK asylum system, this article examines how borders shape and are navigated within psychic reality over time. Through close analysis of ethnographic material, I propose the concept of "psychic holds" to understand some of the ways in which borders impinge upon the psychic mobility of those they target over time. This term captures a dual process, invoking both the subjective chokeholds and deep attachments that may be involved in the bordering of subjectivities. These psychic holds, I argue, operate in the long durée, often far outlasting the temporary legal categories created by migration regimes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

AbstractOn April 18, 2015, a fishing vessel was shipwrecked between Libya and Italy. The tragedy was the result of Italian and European border policies. More than 1,100 people (from across Africa and the Indian subcontinent) lost their lives in the vessel, making it the largest recorded civilian massacre to have occurred in the Mediterranean Sea. Beyond the huge number of dead, what distinguishes the shipwreck are the processes of the “translation” of its human and material remains, involving their displacement, material transformation and re-signification. In this paper, I summarize these processes in four stages, intertwining the vessel and the bodies of those who died inside it: their exhumation, naming, wake (whether artistic or forensic) and, finally, burial. By analyzing the work of translating the boat and bodies, and exploring what can be expressed through their different materialities, I show their intense social and political life, which led various actors involved to claim ownership over mourning. By delineating the mirrored relationship between the bodies and the boat, this article demonstrates the contribution death studies can make to the analysis of migration debris on the one hand, and, on the other, how tracing the social life of boats in the aftermath of migrant shipwrecks can enrich an analysis of the political life of border deaths. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A recent thought‐provoking theory argues that complex organisms using epigenetic information for their normal development and functioning must irreversibly age as a result of epigenetic signal loss. Importantly, the scope of this theory could be considerably expanded, with scientific benefits, by analyzing epigenetic ageing beyond the borders of the Tree of Life. Viruses that use epigenetic signals for their normal functioning may also age, that is, present an increasing risk of failing to complete their individual life cycle and to disappear with time. As viruses are ancient, abundant, and infect a considerable diversity of hosts, the ageing virus hypothesis, if verified, would have important consequences for many fields of the Life sciences. Uncovering ageing viruses would integrate the most abundant and biologically central entities on Earth into theories of ageing, enhance virology, gerontology, evolutionary biology, molecular ecology, genomics, and possibly medicine through the development of new therapies manipulating viral ageing. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The two basic approaches to elucidating how life began both date from Darwin. The first, that of the experimentalists, stems from Darwin's famous "warm little pond" letter to Joseph Hooker of 1871. This approach, an attempt to replicate the sequential events leading to life's origin, is exemplified by the "primordial soup" hypothesis of A.I. Oparin (1924) and J.B.S. Haldane (1929); the Miller–Urey laboratory synthesis of amino acids under possible primitive Earth conditions (1953); and Joan Oró's nonbiological synthesis of the nucleic acid adenine (1959). The second approach, that of the observationalists who search for relevant evidence in the geological record, dates from Darwin's 1859 On the Origin of Species, in which he laments the "inexplicable" absence of a pre-Cambrian fossil record. Darwin's concern spurred a century of search that was ultimately rewarded by Stanley Tyler's 1953 discovery of diverse microscopic fossils in the ~1900 Ma Gunflint Chert of southern Canada. Tyler's find was soon followed by a cascade of discoveries worldwide; the establishment of a new field of science, Precambrian paleobiology; and, more recently, the discovery of 3400 and ~3465 Ma Paleoarchean microfossils, establishing that primordial life evolved early, far, and fast. Though progress has been made, much remains to be learned in the foci of this Origin of Life 2024 volume, for which this essay is the history-reviewing "stage setter". [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the context of rural revitalization, identifying the functional characteristics of rural homesteads and clarifying the relationship among various functions are important scientific issues for the transformation of homestead utilization. Taking Jilin Province as an example, this paper analyzes the problems existing in rural homestead utilization from the aspects of quantitative characteristics, human–land matching degree, and the current situation of idle homesteads. An evaluation index system is constructed to measure the functional values of homesteads to identify the advantageous functions of homesteads. The results are as follows: (1) in some areas of the Jilin Province, the per capita homestead area is relatively large, with a high vacancy rate, and there is a phenomenon of inefficient use of homesteads, (2) according to the calculation results of the homestead functional index, the overall performance of the four functions of rural homesteads is in the order of living function > security function > production function > asset function, indicating that traditional living function remains predominant in the study area, (3) based on the relationship between the comprehensiveness and coordination of the four functions of homesteads, villages are classified into "moderate optimization area", "key improvement area", "collaborative optimization area", and "potential improvement area". [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article discusses the life and literary career of Maurine Whipple, a Mormon author known for her novel "The Giant Joshua." Despite critical acclaim for her work, Maurine faced backlash from her community and family, which hindered her writing career. The article highlights Maurine's talent, her focus on Mormon folklore, and her struggles with negative criticism. It also touches on the changing perspectives within the LDS community regarding historical narratives and the importance of sharing stories authentically. [Extracted from the article]

In the early twentieth century, the US federal government created homesteading programs to "Americanize" Hawai'i by encouraging the mass settlement of white families "of good character" to Hawai'i, but to little avail. This essay analyzes a 1912 hearing about the failure of white homesteading in the Territory of Hawai'i, focusing on discourses of race and land use by settler and 'Ōiwi testifiers. Federal leaders and Territory proponents of homesteading mapped the familiar racial formations of vanishing Natives, alien Asians, and white pioneers onto Kānaka 'Ōiwi, Asian plantation workers, and white American homesteaders to further their cause. 'Ōiwi political leaders Jonah Kūhiō Kalaniana'ole and Charles Kahiliaulani Notley intervened; although they approached the question of "Americanization" differently from one another, both manipulated and rejected elements of that racial framework according to a shared goal: to get their people back on the land. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Mountainous grassland landscapes are severely threatened by the proliferation of shrub encroachment. So far, it remains unclear though how slope aspect coupled with land disturbances linked to the proximity of homesteads to communal grazing sites affects the distribution, density and structure of the encroaching shrubs in these grassland ecosystems. In this study, we investigated the role that slope aspect plays in determining the density and structure of an encroaching shrub species Euryops floribundus N.E. Br in three communal grazing sites located at varying distances from rural homesteads in a semi-arid mountainous grassland in the Eastern Cape Province of South Africa. Three sites were strategically chosen in Cala communal grazing lands in an encroached mountainous grassland landscape that depicted north and south-facing slope aspects. The selected sites were Tsengiwe; a site located in close proximity to homesteads at a distance of less than 100 m, Upper Mnxe situated at an intermediate distance ranging from 200 to 800 m away from homesteads and Manzimdaka, which was located furthest from homesteads at a distance greater than 1600 m. In each site and corresponding slope aspect, the density and structure of the shrub E. floribundus were evaluated on 36 randomly distributed plots, yielding a total of 108 plots across all sites. We found that shrub density was significantly higher (50%) on the north-facing slope compared to the south-facing slope in Tsengiwe, the site located near homesteads. Shrub height was significantly higher (53 and 17%) on the north-facing slope compared to the south-facing slope at Upper Mnxe and Manzimdaka, which were located at intermediate and furthest distances from the homesteads. Notably, shrub height was significantly lower (37%) in the north-facing slope compared to the south-facing slope in Tsengiwe. Following a similar pattern to shrub height, total stem number was significantly higher (20 and 85%) in the north-facing slope compared to the south-facing slope at Upper Mnxe and Tsengiwe, respectively. Shrub crown area was higher (33 and 11%) in the north-facing slope compared to the south-facing slope at Upper Mnxe and Manzimdaka, respectively. A strong positive relationship was established between the height of shrubs and their longest crown diameter, shortest crown diameter and shrub crown area across all sites, suggesting that the investigated shrub species E. floribundus employs its structural characteristics to survive, and thrive and this was more evident in the north-facing slope. The results highlight the importance of considering the proximity of homesteads into account in ecological studies, and puts emphasis on improved understanding of the vegetation patterns shaped by shrub encroachment in mountainous grasslands, which is crucial in the development of effective land management strategies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The cultural values of rural areas play a crucial role in influencing the retention of homesteads, as highlighted in insights gathered from residents engaged in rural tourism. This study aims to explore the relationship between residents' recognition of local cultural values in rural tourism areas and their intention to withdraw from homesteads. Employing quantitative methods, a random sampling technique was utilized to select 722 questionnaires for analysis. Descriptive statistics and SPSS were employed to assess residents' participation in community activities, social interactions, and the building process of public facilities. Findings indicate a negative relationship between residents' recognition of cultural values and homestead withdrawal intention, aligning with consistent withdrawal behavior. Additionally, the extent of residents' participation in community activities and building processes correlated positively with homestead withdrawal. The study contributes novel insights into the intricate dynamics of rural tourism areas, emphasizing the crucial role of cultural values and community engagement in homestead retention. The mean age of participants was determined to be 30 to 60 years, with a standard deviation of variables, providing demographic context. In conclusion, fostering residents' connection to cultural values and promoting active community involvement are key factors in mitigating homestead withdrawal in rural tourism areas. This research not only enhances our understanding of these dynamics but also offers valuable implications for sustainable land resource allocation in such regions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

To alleviate the contradiction between supply and demand of urban and rural construction land and improve the utilization efficiency of rural homesteads, the state has issued policies to guide villagers withdrawing their homestead with subsidies or compensation. Previous studies have found that differentiation is one critical factor in villagers' withdrawal from homesteads, but how differentiation affects the villagers' withdrawal is not well interpreted. To explore and examine the homestead withdrawal mechanism, this paper identified and condensed the influence factors of villagers' willingness to withdraw from homesteads from the perspective of differentiation, taking Kuikeng Village in Puning City, China, as an example. The results indicated that: (1) villagers' differentiation has a significant impact on their willingness to withdraw from homesteads, and the higher the income differentiation level, the lower the willingness to withdraw from homesteads; (2) the health status of villagers, whether they are willing to change their identity, the confirmation of homestead rights, the holding period of homestead property rights, and the understanding of homestead exit policy are positively correlated with their willingness to withdraw from homesteads; and (3) villagers' psychosocial characteristics, villagers' differentiation, and government policy characteristics have a significant impact on homestead withdrawal. It is important to guide villagers to withdraw from homesteads and realize rational land use. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article discusses the concept of transnationalism and its relevance to Australian society and culture. It highlights the importance of understanding movement and change across various spheres of activity in a multicultural society like Australia. The article focuses on the representation of transnational Australian identity in life writing, particularly in refugee writing, travel writing, and migrant writing. It also explores the value of collective biography and the role of webcomics and graphic novels in exposing the violences of Australia's border spaces. Additionally, the article examines the relationship between language and culture in memoirs by Australian journalists with non-Anglo migrant backgrounds. Finally, it discusses the craft of writing about trauma and the ethical considerations involved in publishing and promoting memoirs. Overall, the article emphasizes the need for a nuanced understanding of transnationality in Australian life writing. [Extracted from the article]

The biographical novel can be briefly defined as a novel genre in which the life of a deceased or living person is presented in a fictional framework. Murat Koç, who is also an academician and literary researcher, authored three biographical novels: Ahmet Hamdi Tanpınar’ın Son Savunması-Her Şey Bana Karşı (2016), Kırık Kalemli Kadınlar (2021), and Ben Cahit Sıtkı-Sesim Sessizliğim Oldu (2024). In Ahmet Hamdi Tanpınar’ın Son Savunması-Her Şey Bana Karşı, Ahmet Hamdi Tanpınar’s life is novelized; in Kırık Kalemli Kadınlar, Nigâr Hanım’s biography is narrated in a fictional framework and the lives of pioneering women, including Makbule Leman, Fatma Aliye Hanım, and Emine Semiye, are presented; and in Ben Cahit Sıtkı-Sesim Sessizliğim Oldu, the tragic life of Cahit Sıtkı Tarancı, one of the poets of the Republican Era, is covered The present study provides general information about the genre of biographical novels, and then discusses the author’s last novel Ben Cahit SıtkıSesim Sessizliğim Oldu as a biographical novel, and also analyzes it thematically in chapters and aims to introduce it. In this regard, all efforts were made to identify and interpret the distinctive features of the novel. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The orderly withdrawal from rural homesteads is an important path for the smooth promotion of rural revitalization and new urbanization. This study aims to explore the influence and mechanism of social networks on the willingness of farm households to withdraw from homesteads. The study is based on a sample of 1971 farmer households in Jiangsu Province and analyzes the data using the logit model and mediation effect model. The results show that the social network has a significant positive effect on farmers' willingness to withdraw from homesteads. As the social network expands, the probability for forming the willingness to withdraw from the homestead is higher for farmers with weaker social networks. In addition, the effect of social networks is different according to the level of regional economic development. The mechanism analysis suggests that social networks can indirectly increase the willingness to withdraw from homesteads by improving farmers' risk resilience. Based on these findings, this study puts forward targeted policy recommendations: focusing on the cultivation and enhancement of farmers' social networks, strengthening farmers' risk resilience, and designing differentiated homestead exit policies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Everyday lives at the borders have lately been of interest in academic research. Drawing on visual elicitation interviews, this study analyses how ethnic Lithuanians living on the Polish borderland interpret images of the landscape which they inhabit. The aim of this analysis is to understand how these borderlanders position themselves vis-à-vis socio-spatial borderland realities, and how visual materials can instigate extensive plotted narratives. The results demonstrate that the Lithuanian minority in Poland not only challenges or accepts the public narratives, but that they also use them as props to create a unified narrative about their identification and belonging, which transgresses time, place and situated events. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: The sudden emergence of COVID-19 in 2020 demonstrated that Europe was not prepared for a public health crisis like this pandemic. In the European Union, matters of health have remained primarily under the jurisdiction of individual Member States. However, certain events, such as the Kohll-Decker ruling on free mobility of health services and the COVID-19 pandemic, compelled the EU to address health matters in border regions. This study examines how EU policies address public health in border regions. To that end, we have drawn from border studies, a field that provides insight into the fluidity and complexity of borders in everyday life. Besides that we used constructivist policy studies as a lens for the analysis of EU policy documents. Methods: A policy discourse analysis was conducted to explore how European policy addresses the development of a transnational, European public health in border regions. Key European policy documents published between 2002 and 2027 were analysed to understand how policies are constructed and problems are framed. The analysis was guided by research questions and the theoretical approach. Results: The analysis reveals that, while having limited competences in the field of health care, the EU is slowly developing a rationale and a knowledge base to increase its competences in health care. It also shows that in the field of public health, the EU argues for addressing health determinants and promoting healthy lifestyles, though it does not address health promotion in border regions. The EU's authority in public health in border regions revolves primarily around addressing physical, biological and chemical threats rather than social health problems. Conclusion: Though the EU has carefully developed a transnational perspective on health care, the EU has not developed any authority with respect to transnational public health. Though public health and health promotion in border regions have been confronted with specific challenges, neither specific Member States nor the EU have a transnational collaborative perspective that does justice to the characteristics of border regions. When it comes to public health in border regions, there is no European mindset as yet. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Both tree size and life history variation drive forest structure and dynamics, but little is known about how life history frequency changes with size. We used a scaling framework to quantify ontogenetic size variation and assessed patterns of abundance, richness, productivity and light interception across life history strategies from >114,000 trees in a primary, neotropical forest. We classified trees along two life history axes: a fast–slow axis characterized by a growth–survival trade‐off, and a stature–recruitment axis with tall, long‐lived pioneers at one end and short, short‐lived recruiters at the other.Relative abundance, richness, productivity and light interception follow an approximate power law, systematically shifting over an order of magnitude with tree size. Slow saplings dominate the understorey, but slow trees decline to parity with rapidly growing fast and long‐lived pioneer species in the canopy.Like the community as a whole, slow species are the closest to obeying the energy equivalence rule (EER)—with equal productivity per size class—but other life histories strongly increase productivity with tree size. Productivity is fuelled by resources, and the scaling of light interception corresponds to the scaling of productivity across life history strategies, with slow and all species near solar energy equivalence. This points towards a resource‐use corollary to the EER: the resource equivalence rule.Fitness trade‐offs associated with tree size and life history may promote coexistence in tropical forests by limiting niche overlap and reducing fitness differences.Synthesis. Tree life history strategies describe the different ways trees grow, survive and recruit in the understorey. We show that the proportion of trees with a pioneer life history strategy increases steadily with tree size, as pioneers become relatively more abundant, productive, diverse and capture more resources towards the canopy. Fitness trade‐offs associated with size and life history strategy offer a mechanism for coexistence in tropical forests. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Working on the border The confrontation with the terminal illness and death of a group member is a drastic experience for a therapy group. On the one hand, it mobilised forms of social support beyond the group framework in this therapy example, which raises questions about the work on what Foulkes once called the "border zone" of group therapy. On the other hand, this experience challenged us to deal with basic existential issues on the border between life and death, such as fear of loneliness, death and dying. And it catalyses development-limiting conflicts such as survivor's guilt, fear of changes in the group, etc., which thus become accessible for processing. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

"Six Pioneer Accounts of Life on the Old North-West American Frontier, 1790–1850: A Critical Reading" by Franklin E. Court is a collection of firsthand accounts of life in the Old North-West region of America during the early republic to 1850. The book primarily focuses on White settlers in Illinois and Wisconsin, with one account discussing the 1794 Whiskey Insurrection in western Pennsylvania. While the book promises a literary analysis, it mainly retells the original accounts without providing extensive annotations or interpretations. The accounts touch on themes such as cultural biases, interactions with Indigenous people, economic conditions, and the challenges of early settlement. However, the book does not delve deeply into these themes or provide an overarching interpretation. Despite its limitations, the book may serve as an introduction to early accounts of the region for general readers. [Extracted from the article]

We examine the history of US land policy, with a focus on the Homestead Acts, underscoring the precarious position of African Americans during the homesteading period. We discuss the historical context and the shifting political landscape of the Civil War and Reconstruction era, providing the context for research on federal land policies and problems of race. Past research is almost entirely outside of the agricultural and applied economics profession. We believe that the applied economics discipline is especially suited for empirically examining the influence of federal land policies on past and present disparities and racial makeup of American agriculture. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The imbalance of rural human–land relationships has become a notable problem in China's urbanization process. The dual urban–rural system is widely regarded as the crucial factor contributing to this problem in China. Although the significance of institutional forces has been substantially recognized, the rural homestead system seems to be generally under-evaluated in this issue. Most of the previous literature focuses on the dual household registration system, while the effects and the detailed mechanisms of the rural homestead system on human–land relationships lack depth in research. The objective of this research is to help fill this gap in the literature on the complex effects and the detailed mechanisms of the rural homestead system on rural human–land relationships. In view of this, this paper establishes a conceptual framework on the basis of land function theory and public domain of property rights theory and proposes two mechanism hypotheses: one is the land attachment mechanism of farmers' rights and interests (LAM), the other is the land finance preference mechanism of local governments (LFPM). Then, this article examines them empirically using the panel model with the data of 41 cities from 2010 to 2021 in the Yangtze River Delta of China. The main conclusions are as follows: (1) LAM promotes the imbalance of rural human–land relationships due to the attachment of farmer's social security rights and property expectant interests to the rural homesteads; (2) LFPM drives the imbalance of rural human–land relationships, owing to both the preference of land transfer revenue and the exclusion of rural migrants' citizenship financial cost on local governments; (3) the moderating effects suggest that LFPM can strengthen the effect of LAM, and the spatial Durbin model results show that both LAM and LFPM have spatial spillover effects. It is hoped that the findings will provide a reference for deepening the rural homestead system reform. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This empirical study explores the factors influencing farmers' decisions to withdraw from homesteads with compensation in the Chengdu–Chongqing area. Based on survey data from rural households, a structural equation model was constructed to investigate the relationships between individual characteristics of farmers, household characteristics, and the characteristics of farmers' homesteads and their impact on farmers' employment, life, and income. The results indicate that household characteristics influence farmers' willingness to quit homestead with compensation, significantly impacting the proportion of non-agricultural employment, stability of non-agricultural employment, agricultural income, and per capita annual income. Furthermore, higher education levels, younger age, and a fondness for urban life also influence farmers' willingness to withdraw from homesteads. The study highlights the importance of reasonable compensation calculation methods and modes in promoting homestead withdrawal. The findings offer valuable insights for policymakers in designing more effective compensation programs and other policies to promote sustainable rural development in the Chengdu–Chongqing area. This study underscores the importance of technology transfer in rural development and highlights the potential of homestead withdrawal policies as a form of technology transfer. The findings have significant theoretical and managerial implications for policymakers to design more effective compensation programs and other policies promoting sustainable rural development in the Chengdu–Chongqing area. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

With rapid industrialization and urbanization in China, a large rural population has migrated to cities and left their rural homestead land (RHL) idled. Land use policy on RHL utilization is crucial to the efficient use of land resources. However, due to farmers' limited knowledge of regulations and lack of participation in rural land governance, their preference is sometimes overlooked in the policy-making process. The purpose of this paper is to examine farmers' preferences for the two primary RHL utilization programs, i.e., transfer and surrender. We conducted a farmer household survey of 405 households in rural areas in Changchun at Jilin Province, China in 2018 and estimated farmers' willingness to participate in the mechanisms using a bivariate ordered probit model. Various options under the two mechanisms are also investigated. We find a positive correlation between rural households' willingness to participate in these two mechanisms. This is the first comprehensive study taking into consideration the correlation and tradeoff in farmers' choice between the two mechanisms. The results shed light on the heterogeneity of households' needs and interests in RHL utilization, an important component to be considered in rural development policy-making decisions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this article, the author Gabriela Becker Pinto addresses institutionalization in the border area between Brazil and Uruguay in the context of the consolidation of a Regional Citizenship. The objective of the research was to investigate the possibilities of institutional and legal development in this border area. It is concluded that the border between Brazil and Uruguay is a geopolitically privileged area and that its institutional utilization enables the emergence of greater dynamism for regional integration and the functioning of Mercosur. The importance of regional integration in Latin America, specifically in the borders between Brazil and Uruguay, is highlighted, and the efforts made to improve the quality of life of the populations in the border areas are mentioned. It is concluded that these projects have significantly improved the quality of life in the border regions and have strengthened regional integration and Mercosur. The article also analyzes borders as territorial limits and places of identification, and highlights the importance of peaceful conflict resolution and the role of Regional Integration Law and Human Rights in integration processes. The Mercosur Citizenship Statute is mentioned, which establishes rights and benefits for citizens of the Mercosur Member States, including border integration. Additionally, the Legal Statute of the Brazil-Uruguay Border is mentioned, which regulates integration in the border area between these two countries. In conclusion, the borders between Brazil and Uruguay represent a laboratory for improving regional integration and creating a regional border citizenship. [Extracted from the article]

In 1846, the colonial Government in Sydney authorised occupation of the Wimmera Pastoral District by European graziers. Amongst the first to be granted land in the district was the Hamilton family, who established large pastoral runs called Bringalbert Station and nearby Ozenkadnook Station, north of today’s Edenhope. James Charles Hamilton lived on Bringalbert Station from 1846, when he was 9–10 years old, until 1912. Hamilton later published a book of reminiscences of his ‘pioneering life’. Amongst the few natural history observations in the book is a paragraph on the ‘three sorts of kangaroo’ that Hamilton recognised. Here, I attempt to discern the specific identity of those three macropods, drawing upon Hamilton’s statements, regional Aboriginal vocabularies and the species of Macropodidae known to have occurred in the region. I conclude that the 3 species were Eastern Grey Kangaroo, Western Grey Kangaroo and Red-necked Wallaby. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Vegetables play a vital role in human health. However, the average vegetable consumption among Chinese rural residents does not meet the minimum intake (300 g/adult person/day) recommended by the Chinese Dietary Guidelines. Homestead gardening—defined as growing vegetables or other food for home consumption, usually in the backyard of the household or on collectively allocated garden land—can play a significant role in promoting vegetable consumption in rural areas of developing countries. But empirical evidence on the effects of homestead gardening in China is scarce. This paper sheds new insights on the impacts of homestead gardening on rural households' vegetable consumption. We employ the three‐stage procedure instrumental variables methods to disentangle the endogeneity of the homestead garden variable and propensity score matching for robustness check. The results show that homestead gardening increases vegetable consumption by 12.7% on average. Further heterogeneous analysis shows that homestead gardening has a larger effect on those groups with vegetable intake levels in the middle of the distribution. The impact of homestead gardening was strongest for the consumption of dark‐colored vegetables. Our results can provide new perspectives for future rural planning, dietary and nutritional health transformation, and precision policy formulation. [EconLit Citations: Q1, D1, Q13]. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

World War II (WWII) directly impacted the lives of Chinese migrants living in Assam, the Northeastern frontier of British India. The major wars that impacted the lives of Chinese migrants in Assam were the Sino-Indian War of 1962 and WWII. Most of the literature focuses on the Sino-Indian War of 1962, its impact, internment and sociopolitical and cultural aspect of the community afterwards. This study shifts its attention to WWII and its effect on the community. This article investigates the relationship between the colonial state and the migrants. While the state tried to control the population, the community found many ways to negotiate with these control mechanisms, though they were vulnerable. It argues that the community's experience during WWII is central to understanding their experience during the Sino-Indian War of 1962. The control mechanism, like registration, provided them with legal status in Assam but did not ensure legal activities. Sometimes, these activities can be seen as reacting to the control mechanisms. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The basic information survey on homesteads requires understanding the shape of homesteads, and the shape of the homesteads based on the spatial location can reflect information such as their outline and regularity, but the current shape classification of rural homesteads at the parcel scale lacks analytical methods. In this study, we endeavor to explore a classification model suitable for characterizing homestead shapes at the parcel scale by assessing the impact of various research methods. Additionally, we aim to uncover the evolutionary patterns in homestead shapes. The study focuses on Yangdun Village, located in Deqing County, Zhejiang Province, as the research area. The data utilized comprise Google Earth satellite imagery and a vector layer representing homesteads at the parcel scale. To classify the shapes of homesteads and compare classification accuracy, we employ a combination of methods, including the fast Fourier transform (FFT), Hu invariant moments (HIM), the Boyce and Clark shape index (BCSI), and the AlexNet model. Our findings reveal the following: (1) The random forest method, when coupled with FFT, demonstrates the highest effectiveness in identifying the shape categories of homesteads, achieving an average accuracy rate of 88.6%. (2) Combining multiple methods does not enhance recognition accuracy; for instance, the accuracy of the FFT + HIM combination was 88.4%. (3) The Boyce and Clark shape index (BCSI) proves unsuitable for classifying homestead shapes, yielding an average accuracy rate of only 58%. Furthermore, there is no precise numerical correlation between the homestead category and the shape index. (4) It is noteworthy that over half of the homesteads in Yangdun Village exhibit rectangular-like shapes. Following the "homesteads reform", square-like homesteads have experienced significant vacating, resulting in a mixed arrangement of homesteads overall. The research findings can serve as a methodological reference for the investigation of rural homestead shapes. Proficiency in homestead shape classification holds significant importance in the realms of information investigation, regular management, and layout optimization of rural land. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Geoarchaeological prospection techniques were applied to identify activity zones and the inner structure of a homestead at the Early Mediaeval site Pohansko near Břeclav (Czechia). By a combination of geophysical methods, the spatial distribution of microartefacts, geochemical analysis and multivariate statistical analysis, we outlined various manifestations of anthropogenic activity. We examined obtained data by Spearman's correlation coefficient, spatial autocorrelation (Global Moran's I) and robust Principal component analysis to identify the spatial pattern of the area. Recognized joint presence of heavy metals (Pb, Zn and Cu) and elements related mostly to organic matter, waste and ashes (S, P and Ca) as well as a small number of slag fragments probably indicate presence of metalworking zones or mixed zones with domestic and industrial debris at the homestead. Further anthropogenic activities could be connected to manuring, animal management or some kind of production activities based on the presence of Mn, P and Cu. Bone and charcoal concentrations supplement the information of geochemical analysis and may indicate the manner of waste management in the peripheral parts of the homestead. In the middle of the homestead, the location of archaeological features indicates an open space in which no specific activity was detected. By means of magnetic susceptibility and judging from the presence of daub, we defined the potential presence of non‐sunken features, which were not recognized by magnetometry. The outcome of the study is yet to be verified by excavation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

[Objective] The restoration of soil ecological functions following the reclamation of residential land is a crucial technical issue in urban land resource management research. [ Method] In the present study, microcosm experiments were conducted to investigate the effects of planting different grass species ( Festuca elata, Deschampsia grass, and Lolium perenne) on the bacterial and fungal community structure of reclaimed residential land, with natural recovery ( NER) as the control. [ Result] ( i) The fungal abundance in reclaimed residential soil was higher than that of bacteria, although the number of bacterial species was greater than that of fungi. (ii) Planting grasses significantly regulated the community structure of soil bacteria and fungi, with certain bacteria and fungi showing a significant increase in relative abundance, such as Actinobacteria, Chloroflexi, Planctomycetes, and Basidiomycota, which were all increased by more than five times. (iii) Grass plants had a greater impact on soil bacteria compared to fungi. At the phylum level, 13 bacteria significantly responded to the treatments, in contrast to only two fungi. ( iv) Planting grasses reduced the abundance of Sphingomonas but promoted the proliferation of specific fungal species, resulting in functional substitution. ( v) Seminibacterium, Betaproteobacteria, Ohtaekwangia and Streptococcus were a class of indicator bacteria that mainly characterized the cultivation of grass in mudslides. (vi) Planting grasses were more likely to promote the growth and reproduction of strongly associated fungal species in the soil, so the fungal groups associated with different grasses might also vary. [ Conclusion] After the reclamation of homesteads, the soil microbial function mainly focuses on the rapid decomposition of organic materials to supply plants, while grass plant species can achieve targeted restoration of soil ecological function by adjusting the soil microbial community structure. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

These field reflections contribute to the discussion on durable solutions to displacement by providing empirical evidence of how intended spillover effects of carefully designed interventions and hybrid settlements can facilitate local integration and return and reintegration. A comparison between Dadaab and Kismayo reveals humanitarian and development aid's influence and spillover effects on economic, social, cultural, and political life beyond the borders of refugee camps and returnee settlements. We argue for leveraging such spillover—in particular in the form of hybrid settlements—for achieving durable solutions to displacement cost-effectively and inclusively. Our observations show that several local stakeholders have recognized the potential of spillover, too and are actively embracing it to drive local socio-economic development. Lastly, we highlight the need for further research into the factors that enable or prevent spillover effects and hybrid settlements from reaching their full potential: the achievement of durable solutions for displacement-affected communities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Farmers' homesteads reform is an important measure to improve land use efficiency and achieve high-quality development of villages. And village planning under the background of territorial and spatial planning is one of the important ways to implement this measure. In Harbin, the large-scale agricultural development is an obvious characteristic of its rural areas. With the rapid agricultural modernization and industrialization of Harbin, the rural population is constantly migrating with a large amount of rural land is left idle, and the phenomenon of "hollow village" in rural areas gets increasingly serious. Therefore, it is urgent to carry out the reform of the homestead system to integrate resources and promote the land use efficiency. Responding to the characteristic of rural development in Harbin, this paper suggests to implement the homestead reform through village planning. Balancing the benefits of the country, the collectives, and farmers, it proposes to restrict the size of homestead through the control method with two planning lines, i.e., the homestead control line of the village and the single-family homestead control line. What's more, the paper also suggests to replan the saved land and explore multiple ways of land use in large-scale agricultural areas. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article explores how the concept of the American Frontier is reinterpreted and recreated in various video games that feature different settings and genres. Topics discussed include an overview of the concept of the American Frontier and its relevance for video game studies, the portrayal of the American Frontier in video games that are set in the historical Far West, and examples of games set in the Far West including Rockstar's Red Dead Redemption series.

In a number of U.S. history classrooms in various high schools in a large metropolitan area, I have witnessed teachers using I American Progress i to illustrate manifest destiny in the 1840s. Sourcing I American Progress i and giving the picture a cursory reading raises major challenges to its use in studying manifest destiny. The Library of Congress description dates the painting's creation as being more than two decades after the first phase of manifest destiny. Google manifest destiny pictures and the first visual seen is I American Progress i . [Extracted from the article]

Population aging presents a significant global challenge. In China, the aging of the rural population coincides with inefficient rural homestead utilization. While the Chinese government has enacted policies to address this, their impact remains limited. Utilizing survey data from 403 rural families in Shenyang, Liaoning Province, China, this study applies the binary Logit and mediating effect models to analyze the impact of rural family population aging on farmers' willingness to withdraw from homesteads with compensation and their compensation preference. Key findings include: (1) Family population aging intensifies farmers' willingness to withdraw from homesteads, with a stronger preference for non-monetary compensation as aging increases. (2) Regarding the willingness to withdraw with compensation, farmers' cognition of homestead security value masks the effect by 4.71%, while asset value cognition has no mediating effect. (3) With regard to promoting non-monetary compensation choices, farmers' homestead asset value cognition fully mediates at 16.01%, but security value cognition is without mediating effect. Based on these findings, it is recommended that the government crafts tailored homestead withdrawal policies considering farmers' family age structure. Further, efforts should aim at refining farmers' understanding of homestead values, promoting a blend of non-monetary and monetary compensations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the context of the rapid rise of the village revitalization in China, the study examines the impact of grassroots autonomous organizations embedding level and farmer non-agriculture employment on the farmer homestead exit behavior. Based on 421 household surveys in Qionglai, this study obtained three results through empirical analysis. (1) The system embedding level of grassroots autonomous organization and the interests embedding level of grassroots autonomous organization have a significant positive impact on the farmer homestead withdrawal behavior, but the emotion embedding level of grassroots autonomous organizations has a significant negative impact on the farmer homestead withdrawal behavior. (2) The farmer non-agriculture employment level is beneficial for the farmer homestead exit behavior. (3) Further mechanism analysis shows that the non-agricultural employment level plays an inhibitory role in the positive influence of grassroots organizations to mobilize farmers to exit homestead. Therefore, it is suggested that when mobilizing farmers to voluntarily withdraw from the homestead, grassroots organizations should actively improve their embedding level, improve the construction of farmers' social network, and accelerate the accumulation of farmers' material capital. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The effective use of land in Northeast China is of great significance for ensuring national food security and regional rural revitalization. In this study, based on the survey data collected from Jilin Province, Northeast China, we analyzed the vacancy rates of rural homesteads in suburban, outer suburban, and remote villages, as well as the withdrawal intention of rural-settled farmers, urban-settled farmers, and farmers with urban and rural dual residency from vacant homesteads. From the perspective of farmers' perceptions, this study constructed a theoretical framework of the influence mechanism of their withdrawal intention and analyzed such mechanism by constructing a structural equation model. The results indicated that: 1) rural homestead vacancy rates increased with distance from the village to the city. 2) rural-settled farmers showed a low withdrawal intention for vacant rural homesteads, followed by urban and rural dual-residence farmers, and urban-settled farmers showed the highest withdrawal intention. 3) the relative importance of the factors influencing withdrawal intention is in the following order: policy awareness > interest perception > living environment perception > family characteristics. Finally, this study discussed the reformation of the homestead system and rural homestead transition in Northeast China, which can provide policy support to increase the potential of cultivated land and promote sustainable rural development and urban-rural coordination. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The spatial restructuring of rural settlements is conducive to the realization of rural transition and development. This study constructed a "point-line-surface" framework for the spatial reconstruction of the homestead in a typical mountain village and used the weighted Voronoi diagram and buffer analysis method to analyze. The results are as follows. (1) The development capacity of rural homesteads in Longfeng Village was divided into three levels: high, medium, and low. Among them, the high-level homesteads clustered in the north and south of the village in the form of a "T" and a long strip, respectively; the medium-level homesteads are mostly aggregated in the middle of the village; the low-level homesteads are mainly distributed along the Fenghuang Mountain. (2) The layout of homesteads in Longfeng Village was axis-oriented, which is manifested by the number and scale being in a gradient-decreasing pattern with the main road axis as the centerline. (3) According to the principle of "maximum" development capacity of the homestead, nine reconstruction units are divided. By calculating the location entropy, it is found that the dominant functions of each reconstruction unit mainly include supporting life services, operational production, ecological agricultural production, and traditional agricultural production, and there are obvious differences in the development patterns of homesteads in different functional units. (4) Based on the "point-line-surface" characteristics of the homestead, four reconstruction modes, namely, modern community type, field and garden integration type, road-pointing type, and traditional residential type, are summarized, and the reconstruction strategies are proposed accordingly. The "point-line-surface" framework of rural settlements is of practical significance and theoretical value, which can provide a decision-making reference for the optimization and reorganization of residential land space in villages of the same type in mountain areas. Moreover, the integrated and innovative framework proposed in the paper has also international significance, thanks to the possibility of replicating the research strategy and methodological approach in other contexts. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the past two decades, the Mekong region has seen an increase in infrastructure projects aimed at improving transportation and connectivity between China and neighboring countries. These projects feature border control points, customs checkpoints, and security forces, leading to state control over cross-border trade mobility. Logistical power has gradually penetrated the social life in border trading, selectively facilitating certain groups while excluding others. Despite the overarching influence of state control, local traders still assert their agency in shaping cross-border trade practices. However, the transport and border control infrastructures hindered small-scale trading during the global pandemic and filtered out less economically important goods from cross-border mobility. This paper highlights the dynamic relationship between state control and various actors in cross-border trade in the Mekong region. It calls for an inclusive strategy in developing border infrastructure, aiming to ensure equitable benefit distribution and actively integrate the voices and experiences of those most impacted by these changes into the planning and execution of regional projects. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Private security work can be a brutal world of short-term contracts, exploitation, and under-regulation, where the imperative of profit is expected to trump collective notions of military brotherhood. Why then do so many demobilized soldiers turn to it as a vocation? While a rich body of work has revealed the vulnerabilities of demobilized military life, ethnographic investigations into how contractors experience and make sense of precarity are less common. Drawing on fieldwork with military veterans of European descent working and living in East Africa, this article argues that a central, yet underexplored, feature of contemporary security work is colonial nostalgia. Some contractors read the travelogues of colonial adventurers, while others trace their family genealogy to ancestral colonial frontier soldiers. A few even write their own memoirs in similar fashion. Writing, reading, and living the colonial past through this contractor canon serves several present-day functions. First, the parallels between risk-taking colonial adventurers and the kind of rugged individualism associated with homo economicus masks the tensions and fissures that emerge from soldiers' discharge from the military and subsequent remobilization as privatized contractors. Secondly, colonial nostalgia forms part of a larger political critique of Western military interventions, of which many of these contractors experienced first-hand. Here, private security work is imagined as replicating an older, more effective tradition of frontier soldiering that is rooted in a logic of settler-colonialism. Finally, fantasies of a colonial past feed into contractors' attempts to market themselves to clients and to organize their everyday work. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Homestead agroforestry is crucial for food, fiber, and other necessities which are required outside the conventional forests. Thus, homestead agroforestry meets the criteria for a sustainable forest management scheme, providing a better way for biodiversity conservation. Moringa based homestead agroforestry in Sylhet has an opportunity to encourage species diversity for its various structural properties. This paper explores the plant species diversity of Moringa based homestead area at Jaintiapur upazila in Sylhet. Personal interviews were conducted from June 2022 to September 2022 with 40 randomly selected respondents who were involved in Moringa-based homestead agroforestry. Shannon-Wiener Diversity Indices (SWDI) was used to explore the plant species diversity index. In the study area identified plant species were 50.0% fruits, 26.3% vegetables, 15.8% timber and 7.9% medicinal plants. Among all the plant species, the higher diversity was found in fruit species followed by timber species, vegetable species and medicinal species. Most of plant species were found in boundary side of homestead area. Vegetable plant diversity was found high (H' = 0.94-0.72), fruit species was also high (H' = 0.99-0.69), medicinal species was medium to high (H' = 0.62-0.97) and timber plant species was high (H' =0.86-0.94) in different homestead areas. It may be concluded that plant species diversity as observed in Moringa based homestead area could be a good option for biodiversity conservation in Sylhet area of Bangladesh. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

China's urbanisation process is unique compared to that of other developed economies in that while the rural population is migrating to the cities in large numbers, the area of rural homestead use also continues to increase. This research uses macro data and a threshold model to further analyse this phenomenon of "farmers leaving while rural homestead increasing". Specifically, we focus on the mechanisms of action, development patterns and regional differences in the impact of the rate of rural–urban migration (RRUM) on the rate of increase in the area of rural homesteads (IARH), and discuss the spatial spillover effects of the impact between the two. The results of the research show that: (1) There is an "inverted U-shaped" double threshold effect on the impact of RRUM on IARH. (2) Rural population density and regional urban–rural income disparity are used as threshold variables, respectively, resulting in a sudden change in the relationship between RRUM and IARH. (3) The threshold effect of RRUM on IARH mainly exists in the central and western regions, non-minority nationality areas, non-provincial capital cities and non-resource-based cities. (4) The RRUM can not only directly affect the local IARH, but also indirectly affect the surrounding areas through spatial spillover effects. Our research provides critical insights for policy makers on the reform of the rural homestead system and urbanisation development strategies in different regions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the process of urban-rural Integration, the reform of the "separation of three rights" of homesteads has released huge institutional dividends for the vigorous utilization of rural homesteads. With the gradual deepening of the reform of the homestead system the number of disputes related to the transfer of the land use of rural homesteads is increasing rapidly. Based on the quasi-case research method, this paper integrates the relevant case facts, the focus of the dispute, the legal basis, and other case elements and realizes the judgment of case similarity based on the legal argument model, which aims to solve the problem of realizing justice in the distribution of land value-added benefit in homestead disputes. It also puts forward the realization mechanism reform suggestions based on the perspective of judicial governance, so as to demonstrate the ways in which conflicts arise and are resolved in the distribution of value-added benefit in China's rural homestead transfer system. By using the search tool of the "China Judgment Document Network" to screen a total of 305 valid samples, it was revealed that the core problem of China's homestead governance is the unfair distribution of land value-added benefit; that is, it is difficult to achieve effective distribution of land value-added benefit among farmers, collectives, and governments. The core litigation points in rural homestead disputes include homestead policies and the application of law, the litigability of cases, the scope of the subject, and the realization of powers, as well as the quantitative basis and rule scheme. From the perspective of judicial governance, the deep-seated issues in the distribution of value-added benefits reflected in the points of dispute are examined as follows: (1) the subject of the dispute faces judicial avoidance; (2) There is a game relationship in the value of subject rights; (3) it is difficult to quantitatively adjudicate under the existing allocation rules; (4) Institutional difficulties such as insufficient eligibility of applicable policies. Based on the conclusions of the above problems, this study proposes a judicial governance path for the realization of homestead value-added benefit distribution justice: the governance model is reorganized and optimized based on the purpose of realizing distributive justice; the value of rights throughout the process is integrated based on initial acquisition and redistribution; a multi-center linkage governance mechanism is constructed based on the coordination of homestead value-added benefit through all stages, which is supposed to provide an important reference for the judicial governance path for developing countries with similar difficulties, including China, to achieve justice in the distribution of land value-added benefit. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]