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Unhealthy alcohol use is prevalent in sub-Saharan Africa and can worsen poverty, couple relationships, and HIV treatment outcomes. In response, we assessed participant experiences with Mlambe , a pilot study of an economic and relationship-strengthening intervention for couples living with unhealthy alcohol use and HIV. Exit interviews were conducted with a subset of 20 couples who participated in a pilot trial of Mlambe in Zomba, Malawi. A 10-month intervention consisted of financial literacy and couples counseling sessions and incentivized savings accounts. Eligible couples were married, ≥ 18, with at least one partner with unhealthy alcohol use (according to AUDIT-C screen), and currently on antiretroviral therapy (ART). Interviews were recorded, transcribed, translated, and analyzed using dyadic framework analysis. Intervention couples reported that alcohol use caused many problems and that reducing or quitting use brought improvements to their physical and emotional health, and the well-being of their marriages and households. Before Mlambe , couples reported that quarrels about alcohol use were common . After the intervention, couples reported improvements to their relationships and less alcohol use, which led to more open and respectful couple communication and other marital improvements including increased sexual satisfaction and trust. Women and men described that post-intervention, men reduced spending on alcohol which improved availability of money for household needs such as food and clothing, and that feeling more economically secure reduced stress and led to a more “peaceful family.” After Mlambe , male drinkers described more motivation to pursue income-generating activities, and that reduced alcohol use led to greater medication adherence as they no longer forgot to take ART when drinking. Mlambe may contribute to positive change for couple relationships and health behaviors through mechanisms including reduced conflict and poverty related to reduced alcohol use. The model appears promising for couples in resource-poor settings where HIV, poverty, and alcohol use are mutually reinforcing.

Nitrogenous fertilizers have nearly doubled global grain yields, but have also increased losses of reactive N to the environment. Current public investments to improve soil health seek to balance productivity and environmental considerations. However, data integrating soil biological health and crop N response to date is insufficient to reliably drive conservation policy and inform management. Here we used multilevel structural equation modeling and N fertilizer rate trials to show that biologically healthier soils produce greater corn yields per unit of fertilizer. We found the effect of soil biological health on corn yield was 18% the magnitude of N fertilization, Moreover, we found this effect was consistent for edaphic and climatic conditions representative of 52% of the rainfed acreage in the Corn Belt (as determined using technological extrapolation domains). While N fertilization also plays a role in building or maintaining soil biological health, soil biological health metrics offer limited a priori information on a site’s responsiveness to N fertilizer applications. Thus, increases in soil biological health can increase corn yields for a given unit of N fertilizer, but cannot completely replace mineral N fertilization in these systems. Our results illustrate the potential for gains in productivity through investment in soil biological health, independent of increases in mineral N fertilizer use.

Mr. Flannagan, a scholar in residence at the University of South Carolina at Beaufort, organized the advice-giving along with Duke University's Michael Cornet, the managing editor of the Journalfor Medieval and Early Modern Studies. The M.L. A. offered the journal editors a private room for the consultations, but the group's leaders decided instead to hold court at their booth in the middle of the heavily trafficked book displays. The Journal ofthe Society for the Study of the Multi-Ethnic Literature of the United States, was honored as distinguished retiring editor.

According to the call for papers, Postcolonial Studies would welcome ones ranging from the semiotics of toilet plumbing to the meaning of toilet graffiti to the \"metaphoricity of shit.\" If you think selecting the next president of the United States has become a confusing, seemingly arbitrary process, look at Mexico. [...]recently, presidents handpicked their successors in a secretive tradition called dedazo. The book is out just a few weeks after the author-a political scientist in Mexico and at New York University who has long called for democratic reform in his country-was tapped by the new president, Vicente Fox, to be Mexico's foreign minister.

There was no shortage of reactions when William G. Bowen and Derek Bok published their massive 1998 study supporting affirmative action in college admissions. Mr. Loury's interest in the book's findings led him to have several conversations with Mr. Bowen, a fellow economist, as well as to apply for Mellon money to support the institute's research. For those book-owners interested in an update, the Mellon foundation is circulating a booklet featuring Mr. Loury's foreword and the new introduction by Mr. Bowen and Mr. Bok.