scholarly journals Studying Soil Catena in Arid-zone Environment: Case Study for Soil Science Students

2017 ◽  
Vol 1 (2) ◽  
pp. 24-28
Author(s):  
Said S. AL-Ismaily AL-Ismaily ◽  
Ali K. AL-Maktoumi

Studing soils under their natural habitat is an important step to understand soil-landscape relationships. Combing ing field-work with laboratory analyses is an important tech- nique for learning about soils and should help students to broaden their understanding of the basic concepts of soil sci- ence and in particular of soil formation. This work provides a detailed procedure for a hands-on educational approach consisting of a field exercise combined with basic labora- tory techniques for studying a soil catena. The work involves field study  of  physical  and  morphological  properties  of soil pedons existing on a soil catena of Al-Batinah region, Oman. Soil samples were collected for laboratory analyses. The paper provides a package of field, laboratory, and data analysis exercise using the concept of soil catena or topose- quence for studying factors of soil formation in an arid-zone environment. Combining field work with basic laboratory analyses maximizes the benefits of studying soil-landscape relationships

Geografie ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 125 (4) ◽  
pp. 473-500
Author(s):  
Barbora Strouhalová ◽  
Anne Gebhardt ◽  
Damien Ertlen ◽  
Luděk Šefrna ◽  
Kristýna Flašarová ◽  
...  

The patchy character of the distribution of Chernozems and Luvisols formed on loess is often observable on the pedological maps, on a large scale, in Czechia. The focus of the paper is to examine the features of the soil catena of Hrušov (Czechia), which is characterized by the simultaneous presence of Chernozem, Luvisol and Luvic Chernozem – without obvious environmental reasons. A catena of only 330 meters is considered a system of transformation between these soils. Along with field work and the pedological analysis, we used the soil micromorphology method to understand the processes of pedogenesis. We concluded that the presence of considerably different soil types on a small scale is due to intensive agriculture. We found that the present Chernozem is formed on the Luvisol by retrograde soil evolution, which included a shift in the vegetation, erosion, and recarbonation. The evolution of Luvisol in the lower part of the catena has been considerably modified.


Politeia ◽  
2018 ◽  
Vol 37 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Abiba Yayah

The agency of women in most African countries is often affected by the socio-economic and political policies that are almost always disadvantageous to women, especially women who have little to no knowledge of their rights. Using the shea industry in Ghana as a case study, I chronicle the challenges as recounted by rural women involved in this home-based work in the Northern Region of Ghana and critically analyse these challenges and their implications. Focusing mainly on the results of my recent field work, I present some of the accounts relating to the lack and exclusion of recognition of and respect for the experiences of rural women who are in fact the linchpin of the shea industry in Ghana. Initiatives and strategies of non-governmental organisations and some governmental policies have attempted to address these challenges that have implications for the livelihoods of rural women. Research and policies have only offered “band-aid solutions” to the economic disempowerment of rural women in the shea industry in Ghana as they have not dealt with the causes. This article seeks to refute the claim that equity exists by indicating the lack of equity and justice in the policies in the shea industry. In an attempt to provide an understanding of the economic disempowerment of women in this industry, I consider my field work as a good source as it exposes the experiences and everyday practices as narrated by rural women in the industry. This article seeks to analyse the existing discourses especially those pertaining to the contributions and experiences of rural women in the shea industry.


Public Voices ◽  
2017 ◽  
Vol 2 (3) ◽  
pp. 61
Author(s):  
Nolan J. Argyle ◽  
Lee M. Allen

Pre-service and in-service MPA students share a common desire for hands-on, real world instruction related to their professional career goals, leading to a pedagogic discounting of fiction as an appropriate tool for analyzing and "solving" problems. However, several factors weigh heavily in favor of using science fiction short stories and novellas in the MPA classroom setting. These include the need for interesting case scenarios exploring various administrative issues; leveling the playing field between the two types of students by de-emphasizing the use of "contemporary" cases; access to literature that explores the future shock of increasing organizational complexity; and the desirability of Rorschach type materials that facilitate discussion of. values and administrative truths. The discussion proceeds by tracing the development of the case study technique, its advantages and disadvantages in the classroom, addressing the utility of "fiction" as an educational resource, and showing how the science fiction literature has matured to the point where it can be applied in all of the major sub-fields of public administration. Several outstanding examples are detailed, and a thorough bibliography is provided.


2021 ◽  
Vol 13 (7) ◽  
pp. 3912
Author(s):  
Bikila Jabessa Bulitta ◽  
Lalisa A. Duguma

Coffee is among the most popular commodity crops around the globe and supports the livelihoods of millions of households along its value chain. Historically, the broader understanding of the roles of coffee has been limited to its commercial value, which largely is derived from coffee, the drink. This study, using in-depth interviews and focus group discussions, explores some of the unrevealed socio-cultural services of coffee of which many people are not aware. The study was conducted in Gomma district, Jimma Zone, Oromia National Regional state, Ethiopia, where arabica coffee was first discovered in its natural habitat. Relying on a case study approach, our study uses ethnographic study methods whereby results are presented from the communities’ perspectives and the subsequent discussions with the communities on how the community perspectives could help to better manage coffee ecosystems. Coffee’s utilities and symbolic functions are numerous—food and drink, commodity crop, religious object, communication medium, heritage and inheritance. Most of the socio-cultural services are not widely known, and hence are not part of the benefits accounting of coffee systems. Understanding and including such socio-cultural benefits into the wider benefits of coffee systems could help in promoting improved management of the Ethiopian coffee forests that are the natural gene pools of this highly valuable crop.


1962 ◽  
Vol 21 (1) ◽  
pp. 56-60
Author(s):  
Robert Textor

The purpose of this article is to describe a methodological adventure in the use of the survey technique to investigate shamanism. At the outset I must state my belief that the anthropologist should use structured techniques, if at all, only after he has used unstructured ones. Structured data-gathering is a valuable supplement to, but never a substitute for, unstructured interviewing and observing. This article describes the use of a structured technique as a supplementary means of understanding shamanism, an area which, to my knowledge, has heretofore been studied only by unstructured techniques.


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