title: Effects of climate change on maize production, and potential adaptation measures: a case study in Jilin Province, China

authors: Wang, Meng

subjects: climate change impacts

abstract: Jilin is among the most important grain-producing provinces in China. Its maize production plays an important role in local and national food security. In this study, we developed a new approach to assess the vulnerability and adaptation options for Jilin maize yields with respect to climate change by modifying a site-based biophysical model to a spatial grid-based application. An ensemble approach that used a combination of 20 general circulation model results and 6 scenarios from the Special Report on Emissions Scenarios was adopted in order to reflect the high uncertainties in future climate projections. The results show that the yield is highly likely to decline in the western and central regions of Jilin but to increase in the east, where maize is not currently grown as the main crop. Phenologically, the growing season will be reduced in the central and western parts, leading to a shortened grain-filling period. The average maize yield in the west and central regions is thus projected to decrease 15% or more by 2050 as predicted by 90% of 120 projected scenarios. In addition, CO₂ fertilization was investigated and demonstrated a noticeable compensation effect on the yield deduction. However, further field work and/or laboratory-based experiments are required to validate the modeled CO₂ fertilization effects. Two potential adaptation strategies, i.e. improving irrigation facilities and introducing cultivars, were identified from the vulnerability assessment and were further tested for the reduction areas. The results revealed that the increase in effective irrigation by upgrading the irrigation system would help to maintain the current production level, but in the long run, the maize cultivars need to be introduced in line with the future warming climate.

text: Effects of climate change on maize production, and potential adaptation measures: a case study in Jilin Province, China Jilin is among the most important grain-producing provinces in China. Its maize production plays an important role in local and national food security. In this study, we developed a new approach to assess the vulnerability and adaptation options for Jilin maize yields with respect to climate change by modifying a site-based biophysical model to a spatial grid-based application. An ensemble approach that used a combination of 20 general circulation model results and 6 scenarios from the Special Report on Emissions Scenarios was adopted in order to reflect the high uncertainties in future climate projections. The results show that the yield is highly likely to decline in the western and central regions of Jilin but to increase in the east, where maize is not currently grown as the main crop. Phenologically, the growing season will be reduced in the central and western parts, leading to a shortened grain-filling period. The average maize yield in the west and central regions is thus projected to decrease 15% or more by 2050 as predicted by 90% of 120 projected scenarios. In addition, CO₂ fertilization was investigated and demonstrated a noticeable compensation effect on the yield deduction. However, further field work and/or laboratory-based experiments are required to validate the modeled CO₂ fertilization effects. Two potential adaptation strategies, i.e. improving irrigation facilities and introducing cultivars, were identified from the vulnerability assessment and were further tested for the reduction areas. The results revealed that the increase in effective irrigation by upgrading the irrigation system would help to maintain the current production level, but in the long run, the maize cultivars need to be introduced in line with the future warming climate.

year: 2011

title: Health ‘in queer street’: constituting sickness, sexualities and bodies in the spaces of lesbian health

authors: MacBride-Stewart, Sara

abstract: This thesis explores lesbian health. The appeal of this project is its attention to the constitutions, resistances, and reproductions involved in the construction of ‘lesbian health’. ‘Lesbian health’ provides the context for exploring the meanings of health, sickness, sexuality, and bodies. The analysis takes place in three stages. It begins with a review of gay-positive studies of lesbian health. Second, is a discourse analysis of constructions of ‘health’, ‘illness’, and ‘sexuality’. It concludes with a critical analysis of the fluid and leaky constitutions of gendered sexualities and bodies. 

I conduct a study with 17 self-identified lesbians, using open-ended interviews that cover a variety of topics in the areas of health practices and concerns. Feminist Foucauldian approaches inform the critical discourse analysis of the interviewee’s accounts. An examination of the co-constitution of discourses about ‘health’ and ‘sickness’ in relation to ‘lesbian’ sexualities reveals a binary relationship. That is, health for lesbians is constituted as overcoming the societal pressures and exclusions related to ‘being gay’, avoiding the implication that lesbian ‘health’ or ‘sickness’ may be inherent. I draw on Elizabeth Grosz's critical analysis of the corporeal as I examine lesbian bodies in the contexts of cervical screening and dental dams. In these health promotion contexts, ‘lesbian’ bodies are brought into being, but their presence is potentially threatening. Lesbian bodies are constituted, materially and discursively, as liminal, fluid, and abject. The consequence is that disclosure as ‘lesbian’ is self-regulated. Other consequences for cervical screening and safe sex promotion are explained by the leaky fluidity of bodies and places, which reinsert ‘lesbian’ into the hegemonic space and simultaneously render ‘lesbian’ external to such space.
 
I suggest that health practices, concerns, and promotion are ‘in queer street’, literally troubled by the unsettling of hegemonic assumptions. Focusing on the lived, sexed body in health research, using discursive and critical theoretical tools, may offer one more way of challenging assumptions about sexuality and gender, and raise questions in the practice and analysis of health that address diversity and difference.

text: Health ‘in queer street’: constituting sickness, sexualities and bodies in the spaces of lesbian health This thesis explores lesbian health. The appeal of this project is its attention to the constitutions, resistances, and reproductions involved in the construction of ‘lesbian health’. ‘Lesbian health’ provides the context for exploring the meanings of health, sickness, sexuality, and bodies. The analysis takes place in three stages. It begins with a review of gay-positive studies of lesbian health. Second, is a discourse analysis of constructions of ‘health’, ‘illness’, and ‘sexuality’. It concludes with a critical analysis of the fluid and leaky constitutions of gendered sexualities and bodies. 

I conduct a study with 17 self-identified lesbians, using open-ended interviews that cover a variety of topics in the areas of health practices and concerns. Feminist Foucauldian approaches inform the critical discourse analysis of the interviewee’s accounts. An examination of the co-constitution of discourses about ‘health’ and ‘sickness’ in relation to ‘lesbian’ sexualities reveals a binary relationship. That is, health for lesbians is constituted as overcoming the societal pressures and exclusions related to ‘being gay’, avoiding the implication that lesbian ‘health’ or ‘sickness’ may be inherent. I draw on Elizabeth Grosz's critical analysis of the corporeal as I examine lesbian bodies in the contexts of cervical screening and dental dams. In these health promotion contexts, ‘lesbian’ bodies are brought into being, but their presence is potentially threatening. Lesbian bodies are constituted, materially and discursively, as liminal, fluid, and abject. The consequence is that disclosure as ‘lesbian’ is self-regulated. Other consequences for cervical screening and safe sex promotion are explained by the leaky fluidity of bodies and places, which reinsert ‘lesbian’ into the hegemonic space and simultaneously render ‘lesbian’ external to such space.
 
I suggest that health practices, concerns, and promotion are ‘in queer street’, literally troubled by the unsettling of hegemonic assumptions. Focusing on the lived, sexed body in health research, using discursive and critical theoretical tools, may offer one more way of challenging assumptions about sexuality and gender, and raise questions in the practice and analysis of health that address diversity and difference.

year: 2001

title: Pākehā Roots: Is claiming a Pākehā identity based on ethnic heritage or ethical choice?

authors: Green, Lynda

subjects: Authenticity

abstract: Development of a Pākehā identity has been an ongoing process since the first influx of people from the Northern Hemisphere set foot on the shores of Aotearoa. Originally the term Pākehā served as a generic term to distinguish early European colonisers from the Indigenous population who came to be known under the generic term of Māori. Both of these terms separated two groups of residents that have come to be known under the broader title of New Zealander. 

Chapter 2 begins with providing definitions from a range of sources describing some origins and definitions of the term Pākehā, discussion around the appropriateness of the term and how it can be used in our current timeframe to show empathy with Māori and their struggle for self-determination. A brief overview of human migration to the British Isles then the resulting migration to Aotearoa provides historical context to our pre-Pākehā heritage. Following this is a snapshot of some of our earliest Pākehā settlers which leads into the extent our governing bodies enlisted assisted immigrants to populate and provide infrastructure for this new colony of the British Empire. 

Chapter 3 delves into the angst-ridden territory of authentic existence championed through the existential philosophical movement. Tempered with a more compassionate approach from communitarian philosophy we are provided with a means to explore the many layers that build not only individual identity, but a collective identity also. Evidence is offered for the accommodation of the similarities, and more importantly differences we all experience in our wider relationships. Finally, focus is narrowed to specific issues attached to identifying as Pākehā in Aotearoa.

Underpinning this research are the nine semi-structured interviews which have provided tangible evidence of the complex elements accompanying the decision to self-identify as Pākehā (Chapter 4).  The very nature of identifying as Pākehā, as illustrated through the interview is not straightforward eliciting responses ranging from abundantly clear, to confusing and to contentious.  

The sheer diversity of responses generated an initial observance that, if this level of diversity in defining the term Pākehā is shown by nine people, how much more diversity would be operating throughout the general population. Here we can see how the basic premise of existential philosophy, that is, there is no essential nature to our existence, can be applied to attempting to seek a definition of being Pākehā that encapsulates all of the possible elements. What became abundantly apparent was the heartening feeling of most people striving for a sense of connectedness, on various levels, and a sense of belonging to this country we all call home.

text: Pākehā Roots: Is claiming a Pākehā identity based on ethnic heritage or ethical choice? Development of a Pākehā identity has been an ongoing process since the first influx of people from the Northern Hemisphere set foot on the shores of Aotearoa. Originally the term Pākehā served as a generic term to distinguish early European colonisers from the Indigenous population who came to be known under the generic term of Māori. Both of these terms separated two groups of residents that have come to be known under the broader title of New Zealander. 

Chapter 2 begins with providing definitions from a range of sources describing some origins and definitions of the term Pākehā, discussion around the appropriateness of the term and how it can be used in our current timeframe to show empathy with Māori and their struggle for self-determination. A brief overview of human migration to the British Isles then the resulting migration to Aotearoa provides historical context to our pre-Pākehā heritage. Following this is a snapshot of some of our earliest Pākehā settlers which leads into the extent our governing bodies enlisted assisted immigrants to populate and provide infrastructure for this new colony of the British Empire. 

Chapter 3 delves into the angst-ridden territory of authentic existence championed through the existential philosophical movement. Tempered with a more compassionate approach from communitarian philosophy we are provided with a means to explore the many layers that build not only individual identity, but a collective identity also. Evidence is offered for the accommodation of the similarities, and more importantly differences we all experience in our wider relationships. Finally, focus is narrowed to specific issues attached to identifying as Pākehā in Aotearoa.

Underpinning this research are the nine semi-structured interviews which have provided tangible evidence of the complex elements accompanying the decision to self-identify as Pākehā (Chapter 4).  The very nature of identifying as Pākehā, as illustrated through the interview is not straightforward eliciting responses ranging from abundantly clear, to confusing and to contentious.  

The sheer diversity of responses generated an initial observance that, if this level of diversity in defining the term Pākehā is shown by nine people, how much more diversity would be operating throughout the general population. Here we can see how the basic premise of existential philosophy, that is, there is no essential nature to our existence, can be applied to attempting to seek a definition of being Pākehā that encapsulates all of the possible elements. What became abundantly apparent was the heartening feeling of most people striving for a sense of connectedness, on various levels, and a sense of belonging to this country we all call home.

year: 2014