Suchergebnisse

The 2004 Annual Review of Development Effectiveness looks at the recent growth and poverty reduction experience of client countries. It assesses the extent to which Bank interventions have contributed to growth and poverty reduction and the effectiveness of different types of interventions. The review uses the key elements of the Bank's 2001 poverty reduction strategy to examine the extent to which these elements respond to the needs of the poor, are actually being carried out, and are having an impact

The article investigates the motivation for and the consequences of government intervention in food grain markets for the case of maize, wheat, and rice markets in Tanzania. It formulates an econometric model that succeeds in explaining government interventions in both the long and short run. The results suggest that Tanzania has been following a policy of relative food self-sufficiency that has insulated the domestic from the international market. (DSE)

The importation of Chinese porcelain and celadon into Europe has long been thought to have first begun around the thirteenth century AD. A unique group of Chinese ceramic sherds from archaeological contexts in Spain dated to between the ninth and eleventh centuries, however, now represents the earliest Chinese wares identified in Europe. Such an unexpectedly early presence on high-status sites in Western Europe probably reflects changing patterns of commerce in the Indian Ocean and the giving of prestigious gifts at the very highest levels of social and political power across the Islamic Mediterranean world.

This paper examines the possible causes of damage to historic rammed earth structures based on a case study of a medieval and later building, formerly a preceptory of the Military Orders, in the village of Ambel in Aragon, north-east Spain. Structural and water-based mechanisms of damage are reviewed and an engineering basis for the cause of damage is proposed. Since a number of repair strategies have already been attempted on this structure, their effectiveness is also discussed. A four storey granary at the north-east corner of the preceptory complex is described in detail since it encapsulates many damage mechanisms and repair strategies which are common to historic rammed earth. The granary tower has a random rubble foundation, which is probably in part the remains of previous building, with rammed earth walls for the three storeys above. This rammed earth was originally rendered and scored to imitate fired brick but almost all of this has now fallen away. The gable end of the building has fired brick quoins, and now leans outwards slightly at the head of the wall. There is evidence of water damage because the building was neglected in the past, though not enough to initiate collapse. Structural and water based damage mechanisms are identified, and example repair strategies used at Ambel are described.

This paper examines the possible causes of damage to historic rammed earth structures based on a case study of a medieval and later building, formerly a preceptory of the Military Orders, in the village of Ambel in Aragon, north-east Spain. Structural and water-based mechanisms of damage are reviewed and an engineering basis for the cause of damage is proposed. Since a number of repair strategies have already been attempted on this structure, their effectiveness is also discussed. A four storey granary at the north-east corner of the preceptory complex is described in detail since it encapsulates many damage mechanisms and repair strategies which are common to historic rammed earth. The granary tower has a random rubble foundation, which is probably in part the remains of previous building, with rammed earth walls for the three storeys above. This rammed earth was originally rendered and scored to imitate fired brick but almost all of this has now fallen away. The gable end of the building has fired brick quoins, and now leans outwards slightly at the head of the wall. There is evidence of water damage because the building was neglected in the past, though not enough to initiate collapse. Structural and water based damage mechanisms are identified, and example repair strategies used at Ambel are described.

This study is a participatory simulation that provides seminar participants with the opportunity to experience vicariously the process of food and agricultural policymaking in a developing country. It explores the tensions that exist among such policy objectives as efficient economic development, economic stability, equitable distribution of income, and food security. It compares how successfully or unsuccessfully the four countries Kenya, Malawi, Tansania and Zambia have succeeded in resolving these tensions. (DÜI-Hff)

This paper explores the impact of changing religious political rule on subsistence within a single city through time using stable isotope analysis of human and animal bone collagen. The diet and economy of the medieval city of Valencia (Spain) are examined over a 1000-year period during successive periods of Visigothic, Muslim and Christian rule. Bulk stable isotope analysis of carbon (δ13C) and nitrogen (δ15N) was carried out on 67 humans and 47 animals sampled from several archaeological sites dating between the fifth and fifteenth centuries AD. Terrestrial C3 resources dominated the diet in all periods. However, an increase in consumption of C4 plants (e.g. millet, sorghum) and/or marine resources is detected among individuals dating to the Islamic period. Differences in the isotopic values of humans and animals between the three periods indicate a significant dietary diversity during the Islamic phases (eleventh to thirteenth century), compared with the earlier Visigothic phase (fifth–seventh century) and the later Christian phase (fourteenth and fifteenth century). Observed diachronic changes in isotopic results provide evidence for a shift in diet and subsistence, particularly during the Muslim and later Christian periods. This is linked with change in population and economic focus. Dietary diversity among Muslim individuals is hypothesised to indicate the polyculture that was reflected in varied Islamic agricultural practices and the presence of potential migrants from elsewhere in the Islamic world.