Periodic Formation/Breakdown of Lamellar Aggregates with Anionic Cyanobiphenyl Surfactants.

This study reports unusual behavior of aqueous-phase lamellar aggregates with a new class of hybrid surfactant, CB-B2ES, having mesogenic units {6-[4-(4-cyanophenyl)phenyloxy]hexyl} and temperature-sensitive oxyethylated (butoxyethoxyethyl) tails. These tails are poorly miscible and likely to microsegregate if the surfactant molecules assemble. Lamellar aggregates appear at CB-B2ES concentrations higher than 5 wt % and were found to undergo repeat formation/breakdown periodically at 30 °C, with an average domain lifetime of ∼10 s.

Policies, Political-Economy, and Swidden in Southeast Asia.

For centuries swidden was an important farming practice found across the girth of Southeast Asia. Today, however, these systems are changing and sometimes disappearing at a pace never before experienced. In order to explain the demise or transitioning of swidden we need to understand the rapid and massive changes that have and are occurring in the political and economic environment in which these farmers operate.

Resource use dynamics and land-cover change in Ang Nhai Village and Phou Phanang National Reserve Forest, Lao PDR.

This study integrated aerial photographs from 1952, 1981, and 1998, and a satellite image from 2000 with oral histories and socioeconomic surveys to assess changes in forest and land cover in Ang Nhai village, Laos. The study documents the history of resource use and changes in household access to resources in the village. Three distinctive trends were observed in terms of forest and land cover-forest degradation, deforestation, and regeneration.