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The purpose of this article is to provide information about interactions between pink-pigmented facultative methylotroph (PPFM) organisms and plants, their molecular mechanisms of methylotrophic metabolism, application of PPFMs in agriculture, biotechnology and bioremediation and also to explore lacuna in PPFMs research and direction for future research.

Research findings on PPFM organisms as potent plant growth promoting organisms are discussed in the light of reports published by various workers. Unexplored field of PPFM research are detected and their application as a new group of biofertilizer that also help host plants to overcome draught stress in poorly irrigated crop field is suggested.

PPFMs are used as plant growth promoters for improved crop yield, seed germination capacity, resistance against pathogens and tolerance against drought stress. Anti-oxidant and UV resistant properties of PPFM pigments protect the host plants from strong sunshine. PPFMs have excellent draught ameliorating capacity.

To meet the ever increasing world population, more and more barren, less irrigated land has to be utilized for agriculture and horticulture purpose and use of PPFM group of organisms due to their draught ameliorating properties in addition to their plant growth promoting characters will be extremely useful. PPFMs are also promising candidates for the production of various industrially and medicinally important enzymes and other value-added products. Wider application of this ecofriendly group of bacteria will reduce crop production cost thus improving economy of the farmers and will be a greener alternative of hazardous chemical fertilizers and fungicides.

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Computers need clean, reliable, electrical power. The various faults of electrical power, such as spikes, sags, outages, noise, frequency variations, and static electricity, are defined and described. Preventive measures that computer users can employ to reduce the potential of electrical problems are discussed, as are the processes for detecting, diagnosing, and curing electrical problems when they do occur. Sidebars consider: transformers; power distribution units (PDUs); surge currents/ linear and non‐linear loads; and sizing the power conditioning system. The next issue will conclude this series with an article on uninterruptible power supplies and a bibliography.

The nature of radiated radio frequency fields and the ways in which they may cause either beneficial or deleterious effects are reviewed. The uniqueness of this phenomenon in relation to the drafting of safety guides, and hence ultimately in relation to law, is pointed out. The existing strategy for the drafting of safety guides depends on the determination of “reasonable worst‐case” parameters for each of the mechanisms involved in the coupling process from source to potential hazard. The decisions on what constitutes a reasonable worse case are taken by an expert committee, but comparison of the resulting safety guides with the scant evidence of proven hazards suggests that the worst‐case view leads to a substantial overestimate of the actual hazards. It is suggested that this situation would be likely to be found to be extremely unsatisfactory if ever a hazard situation (whether proven, contended or hypothetical) were to be the result of litigation between belligerent parties. It is further suggested that substantial amelioration of this situation could result if a probabilistic view of the problem were taken. In this case the expert committee would decide on realistic probability density functions, rather than realistic worst‐case factors.

This chapter reviews the book titled Red Tape: Bureaucracy, Structural Violence and Poverty in India by Akhil Gupta and also critically examines the central premise of the book relating the nature of the Indian state to the poverty of its citizens. Gupta’s primary contention is that poverty in India is largely a result of massive bureaucratic failures of the state that severely limit opportunities for the poor and increase their vulnerability to structural violence.

I examine this contention in the context of seven decades of poverty amelioration policies in India with particular attention to the causes and consequences of the policy failures, and the role of the state in exacerbating the conditions of the poor. I conclude by examining the theoretical implications of the book for studies on state violence and normalization of structural violence.

The central finding of the chapter supports Gupta’s assertion that the bureaucratized practices of the state limit the poor’s ability to access and receive goods. Drawing on Gupta’s proposed theory, the chapter argues that the economic development plans of the Indian state that are designed to mitigate poverty are instead frequently invoked to normalize it in the public imagination thereby legitimizing structural violence.

This chapter examines the ethnographic data collected by the author of the book reviewed here.

In addition to offering a theoretically informed and oriented review of research on the Indian state’s role in normalization of poverty, this chapter also identifies some of the limitations of Gupta’s work, and identifies possible research directions for future research on poverty and structural violence in India.

This study documented adaptation strategies employed by rural women in Vhembe district as they reel with climate change impacts. Women are heavily plagued by climate change impacts than any other genders worldwide. This is attributed to their high dependence on the natural resources for survival, low adaptive capacity, illiteracy, social ascribed roles that limit their participation in climate change initiatives like men and high poverty levels. Despite the daunting fact of women's vulnerability to climate change and its vagary impacts, women are agents of social change who have not remained passive victims to climate change and its impacts.

This study adopted a qualitative methodology guided by multi-case study design. A sample of 25 participants was selected through simple random and purposive sampling techniques. Data were collected using Focus Group Discussions and individual interviews and analysed thematically. Rural women and traditional leaders served as key informants and participated in the study.

The study established that the effects of climate change on rural women are real; however, there is a cocktail of strategies employed by women in Vhembe district in response to these effects. The strategies include livelihood and crop diversification, use of indigenous knowledge systems and harnessing of social capital among other household-based adaptation strategies.

The study recommends that the best way of assisting rural women in adapting to climate change is through the amelioration of poverty, enhancing capacity building for women and elimination of all systems that serve as barriers to effective adaptation.

The smart city paradigm has evolved from a perspective focused on technological infrastructures to an approach in which the effects of the technological apparatus improve the quality of life of people, urban resilience, urban sustainability, and health, by introducing the concept of smart and sustainable city 3.0. In this chapter, the authors evaluate mobility as a key aspect of improving the environmental, social, and economic well-being of communities under the central concept of smart and sustainable city 3.0. To this end, the authors underline the link between mobility, the Sustainable Urban Mobility Plans (SUMP), and environmental health. Then, the authors outline (i) the mobility requirements to be met from a smart perspective on environmental health and how (ii) the SUMPs can be considered as the basic tool for connecting smartness with mobility and environmental health. Finally, the results obtained will be discussed, and future directions of this research will be illustrated.

This paper examines the 1928 Women’s Bureau report, The Effects of Labor Legislation on the Employment Opportunities of Women. It argues that this was a landmark study, demonstrating that scientific management had the potential to develop into a mature applied social science which could play an important role in the identification, measurement and amelioration of recurrent social problems. It further argues that the report demonstrated the usefulness of scientific management in measuring impartially the effects of gender‐specific labor legislation. The paper highlights the instrumental role Mary van Kleeck and Lillian Gilbreth played in bringing feminism and scientific management together and the manner by which they utilized the Women’s Bureau report to advance the social and economic interests of women.

Poor living conditions in informal settlements may be attributed mostly, though not exclusively, to the lack of basic services. Informal settlements, which also go by the name of squatter camps, are volatile by nature. Even within relatively fixed settlement boundaries, change in urban fabric continually manifests through altering dwelling configurations. Deemed unstable and unsafe by formal criteria, these environments disclose schizophrenic characteristics: beyond the dirt, grime and smog, exist relatively functional societies capable of survival and self-regulation.

Public and private sector investment within informal settlements is restricted as a result of their illegal status. Inhabitants have no incentive to invest their own resources where they have no formal tenure over the land. Due to a rather backward approach to informality in South Africa, innovation in dealing with these settlements has been limited. Despite the fact that the rhetoric has sometimes changed from eradication to upgrading, little has been done with regards to alternative forms of settlement development that has relevance in terms of improving the lives of informal settlement dwellers.

With rising anger in poverty-stricken areas and on the peripheries of cities, what is needed is improved service delivery through immediate solutions. This article suggests a service delivery core, an architectural catalyst, rooted to the ‘energy’ of the public realm, stimulating growth of infrastructure networks. This catalyst core aims to instigate the amelioration of the surrounding environment.

The concept presented is that of a dynamic service core – universal in principle – while also being contextually-driven by responding to a specific environment and needs of a specific community. A generic architectural solution is thus presented to providing basic services and infrastructure within informal settlements, with focussed consideration for the unique situation of an informal settlement in Mamelodi, Tshwane (Pretoria), South Africa. It is important to realise that there is no final product, but rather an organic architecture that adapts in a process of continuous and progressive change.

In Turkey, the process of squatterisation can best be traced to the increase in its urban population from 24 percent in 1950 to 59 percent in 2000. In the periods up to the present, the prevention, improvement and renewal of squatter settlements were not achieved within the existing legal framework and planning structure; and their urban quality has been degraded.

The aim of this article is to discuss the upgrading of squatter settlements through a mitigation process considering the possibility of an earthquake in Istanbul. The target groups of this upgrading study are the squatter dwellers and their settlements.

In getting prepared for the predicted big Istanbul earthquake, the improvement of squatter housing is extremely important for the existing urban housing stock. With this aim, the undesirable consequences of a possible natural disaster in various squatter settlements in Istanbul were scrutinised. Also, earthquake-forecasting reports were analysed in conjunction with squatter maps to extract data for the purpose of upgrading squatter settlements through rehabilitation, reconstruction and reinforcement at the urban and architectural levels with amelioration of damage after an earthquake. In the article, a model is proposed which includes measures to transform squatter zones into healthy areas by means of simple reinforcement and contemporary solutions.

This article is based on a research project requested and sponsored by the Istanbul Metropolitan Municipality during 2003-2004.

The purpose of this paper is to suggest that the case of General Guillaume-Henri Dufour may offer useful ideas for the development of responsible leadership in military ethics. Military ethics is a field of growing importance. And in the military profession, leadership is particularly valued. The systematic and continuing production of leaders at all levels is a constant task of military forces in any country, and the need for leaders who are responsible and ethical is not only desirable, but also essential – as a variety of ethical failures have shown us.

Guillaume-Henri Dufour was a decorated soldier serving Switzerland as a general, who founded a military academy and trained others in the military sciences, who served as a politician, and who contributed noted achievements in the fields of cartography and civil engineering. A short sketch of his life is provided, and then focus turns to two specific occasions: the Sonderbund War and the agreement for the Geneva Convention for the Amelioration of the Condition of the Wounded in Armies in the Field.