Pressurised pastoralism in South Gobi, Mongolia: what is the role of drought?

The desert-steppe region of southern Mongolia is susceptible to drought and extreme winter weather ( dzud ) that in combination form Mongolia's worst natural hazard. Low precipitation and high climatic variability in this dryland environment impact the landscape and affect pastoralism, the dominant rural lifestyle. Using the Standardised Precipitation Index (SPI), this paper identifies drought occurrence in South Gobi Province, Mongolia. It then examines the relationship of drought with climate factors, interaction with vegetation (derived from Normalised Difference Vegetation Index - NDVI - data), and local human and livestock populations, and the dzuds of 1999–2001. Results show that drought is recurrent in the region, reaching extreme intensity most recently in 2005–2006. In contrast with the prevailing concept of drought impacting dzuds , the study did not find a connection between drought and dzud in South Gobi Province. Though repeated events, these natural hazards occur independently in the region. Climatic variables show increasing temperatures (>1°C), fluctuating precipitation patterns and a decline in vegetation cover. The principal long-term correlation of drought is with human population rather than natural factors, dzud or livestock numbers.     

The p‐Regions Problem. p‐区域问题

The p‐regions problem involves the aggregation or clustering of n small areas into p spatially contiguous regions while optimizing some criteria. The main objective of this article is to explore possible avenues for formulating this problem as a mixed integer‐programming (MIP) problem. The critical issue in formulating this problem is to ensure that each region is a spatially contiguous cluster of small areas. We introduce three MIP models for solving the p regions problem. Each model minimizes the sum of dissimilarities between all pairs of areas within each region while guaranteeing contiguity. Three strategies designed to ensure contiguity are presented: (1) an adaptation of the Miller, Tucker, and Zemlin tour‐breaking constraints developed for the traveling salesman problem; (2) the use of ordered‐area assignment variables based upon an extension of an approach by Cova and Church for the geographical site design problem; and (3) the use of flow constraints based upon an extension of work by Shirabe. We test the efficacy of each formulation as well as specify a strategy to reduce overall problem size.     

Is domestic work a worst form of child labour? The findings of a six-country study of the psychosocial effects of child domestic work

In this paper, we report on a study of the psychosocial effects of child domestic work (CDW) in six countries and the relevance of our findings to international legislation. Our results suggest that CDW is highly heterogeneous. While some young child domestic workers work long hours, suffer physical punishment and are at risk of psychosocial harm, others are able to attend school and benefit from good relationships with their employers and networks of support. Child domestic workers in India and Togo were most at risk of psychosocial harm. We conclude that classification of this employment as hazardous would not be appropriate and could be counterproductive and instead propose that legislation focuses on protective factors such as a social and community support.     

Comparing bird bones from Saxon sites: problems of interpretation

Bird bones from Saxon settlements in England provide evidence for considerable exploitation of birds, especially domestic poultry. This paper discusses some of the problems of analysing the relative importance of birds and of the ratio of fowls and geese. Detailed comparison of the results from sites in Southampton suggest that the first questions the faunal analyst should be asking concern methods of recovery and quantification. © 1997 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.