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The early 21st century has seen vigorous scientific interest in the Asian monsoon and significant development of paleo-proxies of monsoon strength. These include the Monsoon Asian Drought Atlas – a 700-year, gridded reconstruction of hydroclimate derived from 327 tree ring records – and several long speleothem records from China and India. Similar progress has been made on the study of monsoon climate dynamics through re-analysis data products and General Circulation Model diagnostics. The story has emerged of a variable monsoon over the latter Holocene, with extended droughts and anomalously wet episodes that occasionally and profoundly influenced the course of human history. We focus on Southeast Asia where an anomalous period of unstable climate coincided with the demise of the capital of the Khmer Empire at Angkor between the 14th and the 16th centuries, and we suggest that protracted periods of drought and deluge rain events, the latter of which damaged Angkor's extensive water management systems, may have been a significant factor in the subsequent transfer of the political capital away from Angkor. The late 16th and early 17th century experienced climate instability and the collapse of the Ming Dynasty in China under a period of drought, while Tonkin experienced floods and droughts throughout the 17th century. The 18th century was a period of great turmoil across Southeast Asia, when all of the region's polities saw great unrest and rapid realignment during one of the most extended periods of drought of the past millennium. New paleo-proxy records and the incorporation of historical documentation will improve future analyses of the interaction between climate extremes, social behavior and the collapse or disruption of regional societies, a subject of increasing concern given the uncertainties surrounding projections for future climate.

This review identifies understudied areas of emerging contaminant (EC) research in wastewaters and the environment, and recommends direction for future monitoring. Non-regulated trace organic ECs including pharmaceuticals, illicit drugs and personal care products are focused on due to ongoing policy initiatives and the expectant broadening of environmental legislation. These ECs are ubiquitous in the aquatic environment, mainly derived from the discharge of municipal wastewater effluents. Their presence is of concern due to the possible ecological impact (e.g., endocrine disruption) to biota within the environment. To better understand their fate in wastewaters and in the environment, a standardised approach to sampling is needed. This ensures representative data is attained and facilitates a better understanding of spatial and temporal trends of EC occurrence. During wastewater treatment, there is a lack of suspended particulate matter analysis due to further preparation requirements and a lack of good analytical approaches. This results in the under-reporting of several ECs entering wastewater treatment works (WwTWs) and the aquatic environment. Also, sludge can act as a concentrating medium for some chemicals during wastewater treatment. The majority of treated sludge is applied directly to agricultural land without analysis for ECs. As a result there is a paucity of information on the fate of ECs in soils and consequently, there has been no driver to investigate the toxicity to exposed terrestrial organisms. Therefore a more holistic approach to environmental monitoring is required, such that the fate and impact of ECs in all exposed environmental compartments are studied. The traditional analytical approach of applying targeted screening with low resolution mass spectrometry (e.g., triple quadrupoles) results in numerous chemicals such as transformation products going undetected. These can exhibit similar toxicity to the parent EC, demonstrating the necessity of using an integrated analytical approach which ...

Дана характеристика показателей развития промышленности и сельскохозяйственного производства Тамбовской губернии в предвоенные и военные годы (1913 1917 гг.). Рассмотрено влияние войны на состояние промышленности, сельского хозяйства и положение рабочего класса и крестьянства. Отмечено, что многие предприятия были переведены на обслуживание армии, в то же время нехватка сырья и топлива привели к закрытию их большого числа. Проанализированы причины усиления спекуляции, роста рыночных цен на хлеб, показано, что их таксировка вела к дезорганизации рынка. По мере ухудшения экономической ситуации в стране все больше усиливалось вмешательство государства в хозяйственную жизнь, однако вместе с ним росла неуправляемость экономических процессов. Отмечено, что из-за ухудшения положения с хлебозаготовками властями применялась угроза реквизиций как устрашающий фактор. В результате неудовлетворительного хода хлебозаготовительной кампании в стране нарастал продовольственный кризис, который свидетельствовал о несостоятельной продовольственной политике властей. ; The paper presents the characteristics of indicators of industrial and agricultural production in Tambov province in the prewar and war years (1913 1917). The effect of war on the state of the industry, agriculture and the position of the working class and the peasantry are considered. It is noted that many enterprises were transferred to support the army e, at the same time, the shortage of raw materials and fuel led to the closure of a large number of enterprises. The reasons for the increasing speculation, rising market prices for bread were analyzed. It is shown that taxing led to market disruption. It is emphasized that, with the deterioration of the economic situation in the country the government increased its interference in the economic life, but along with that the uncontrollability of economic processes grew. It is noted that due to the deterioration in the grain procurements the authorities used the threat of requisitions as an intimidating factor. It is concluded that the unsatisfactory grain procurement campaign in the country led to the growth of the food crisis, which confirmed the failure of the food policy in the country.

Paper Session - Local Modernisms ; The Conference program's website is located at http://acsa-arch.org/programs-events/conferences/annual-meeting/102nd-annual-meeting ; Conference Theme: Globalizing Architecture: Flows and Disruptions ; This short paper traces the formative influences that led to new avant-garde positions and theories of Singapore architect and theorist William S.W. Lim. Under the tutelage of the London County Council architects at the London AA in the 50s, most notably under Bill Howe, John Killick and John Partridge, and later at the GSD, under Josep Lluís Sert, Jaqueline Tyrwhitt and Kevin Lynch, one could argue Lim had an education that blended a potent concoction of a number of neo-avant-garde pedagogies. Lim's early writings and built ideas were predicated on the sheer aura and astonishment of constructing in reinforced concrete, but tempered with the logic of efficiency, social responsibility and nationhood. He celebrated and rejected the ideas of Le Corbusier and Walter Gropius in equal measure, vis-à-vis the institutional formations of CIAM, following in the footsteps of Team X and Ekistics. The debate and rejection of high modernism would be embodied in Lim's writings about cities and architecture in Asia. Sert's GSD served as an intellectual refuge after the dissolution of CIAM, and powerful alternative positions came out of this period. Positions favoring pluralism and diversity were being formed concurrently in the work and writings of his contemporaries, namely, Cedric Price, who was similarly under the tutelage of the LCC architects at the AA, and Fumihiko Maki, Lim's classmate at the GSD. Lim invented an unparallel lexicon in his urban theories, which favored the autonomy of the individual and sought to elevate creativity in all participatory functions of the design process. The power of Lim's theories is found precisely in the manner they coalesced into an alternative space outside of mainstream governmental policies. Through his writings, he continued to project an alternative history and theory of Asian urbanism and architecture. ; postprint

Natural gas is a significant contributor to European energy supply. Hence, the political crisis between Russia and Ukraine increases fears of the consequences of Russia suspending natural gas supplies to Ukraine and the European Union. The last time this had occurred was in the winter of 2009 when Russia and Ukraine disputed about the price of natural gas and transit costs. However, the European Union has subsequently increased the security of its gas supply. Progress has been made in implementing the measures proposed by the European Commission, particularly the diversification of supply sources and the expansion of natural gas infrastructure to secure supply from various countries. The opportunities to ease temporary supply bottlenecks have improved significantly within the Union in recent years. Nevertheless, Russia remains a major supplier of natural gas to the EU. The Russian gas company Gazprom plays a key role in Eastern Europe and is also gaining importance in Germany. However, this dependency is not a one-way street: Russia generates high export revenues from its natural gas trade and currently has few alternatives to exporting to the EU. Model calculations by DIW Berlin show that Europe can largely cope with a supply disruption by Russia via Ukraine. Some Eastern European countries, however, would struggle to fully offset a complete suspension of Russian supply. To further increase supply security in Europe in the medium term, it will be necessary to continue diversifying gas supplies, particularly by making more efficient use of existing infrastructure, and expanding pipelines and capacity to import liquefied natural gas. Additionally, Europe should consider setting up strategic gas reserves. Another important step would be to continue to improve energy efficiency in all sectors and consistently expand renewable energy sources as part of the European energy and climate strategy.

This paper analyzes partnership formation and dissolution of a population of immigrant origin in Spain, in comparison to natives. It combines three different data sources (Fertility and Values Survey 2006, National Immigrant Survey 2007 and Chances 2011) to identify variations in timing and incidence of partnership formation across generations. The obtained results suggest clear support for selection and disruption hypotheses in the case of first generation immigrant women, who tend to marry less and later than comparable natives, and also to separate more. However, in the case of Latin American and EU15 women some socialization effect cannot be completely discarded. Among adolescents of immigrant origin preferences concerning type and timing of union reveal a strong effect of socialization into their parents' family values, which in the case of individuals who migrated to Spain aged older than 5 is not completely counterbalanced by the adaptation process taking place since their arrival. These results are in line with the hypotheses formulated in the framework of the intergenerational transmission of values' approach, which emphasizes that family values and family-related attitudes remain important in parental socialization and are quite effectively passed on to the 1.5 and second generation. ; The research leading to these results has received funding from the European Union's Seventh Framework Programme (FP7/2007 - 2013) under grant agreement no. 320116 for the research p roject FamiliesAndSocieties. ; 1. Introduction. Union formation and dissolution in Spain over the last decades.-- 2. Theoretical framework and previous research.-- 3. Immigration to Spain and immigrants' family dynamic.-- 4. Data sources available. Advantages and limitation.-- 5. Partnership formation and dissolution patterns among first generation women and comparable native women in Spain.-- 5.1. Descriptive results from FVS2006.-- 5.2. Multivariate models for first generation and native women.-- 6. Preferences concerning partnership formation among adolescents of immigrant and native origin in Spain. Contextual adaptation and intergenerational transmission of values.-- 6.1. Descriptive results.-- 6.2. Multivariate analyses.-- 7. Conclusions.-- Appendix: figures and tables ; Peer reviewed

Increasing temperatures and shifting precipitation regimes define the Mediterranean Basin (MB) as one of the world's most sensitive climate change hot spots. Among various ecological effects, disruptions in the growth-climate response of Mediterranean forest species have been recently observed. Complex topographical and climatological factors, however, may result in contrasting patterns of recent tree growth, with their biotic and abiotic drivers often remaining debatable. Here, we compile dendrochronological evidence from 878 cases at 645 sites reported in 66 peer-reviewed publications to assess modern (post-1970) growth trends across the MB (30°-46° N and 10° W-40° E). This collection mainly reveals positive trends in temperate environments across the northwestern part of the Basin, whereas negative trends were often found at xeric sites in the southwestern and eastern regions. Although these response patterns are indicative for both beneficial as well as detrimental effects of climate change on pan-Mediterranean forest ecosystem function and productivity, our review is slightly biased by selective sampling efforts that focused on higher elevations and older trees within a few countries in the northwest. This imbalance emphasizes the need for more evenly distributed study sites and age classes that better reflect ecological rather than political and methodological criteria. © 2014 IOP Publishing Ltd. ; We thank three anonymous reviewers for their insightful comments which helped us to improve a preliminary version of the manuscript. We also thank Linda Feichtinger (WSL) for her assistance in R scripting, and Franco Biondi and Jordi Martínez-Vilalta for providing us with geographical information regarding their publications included in this review. UB was supported by the Czech project 'Building up a multidisciplinary scientific team focused on drought' (No. CZ.1.07/2.3.00/20.0248). We also acknowledge the support of projects 012/2008 and 387/2011 (OAPN, Spain). ; Peer Reviewed

The serotonin (5-HT) system has been implicated in both depression and reward and punishment processing. This thesis presents data from four studies designed to better understand the role of serotonin in decision-making and mood. Following the general introduction and description of the main experimental methods, the first experimental chapter presents a study that examined the relationship between naturally-varying 5-HT1A receptor availability, measured using positron emission tomography, and decision-making in healthy volunteers. This study identified correlations between 5-HT1A receptor availability in the hippocampal complex and both impulsivity and sensitivity to the probability of an outcome during decision-making. The second experimental chapter examined decision-making in healthy volunteers 3 days following MDMA (3,4-methylenedioxymethamphetamine) administration, when serotonin transmission is thought to be reduced. A specific type of decision-making process, "pruning" (the reflexive avoidance of aversive outcomes when searching through a tree of potential decisions), was significantly attenuated 3 days following MDMA administration. However, the expected positive relationship between the attenuation in this decision-making process and low mood was not observed. The third experimental chapter attempted to extend this finding using the acute tryptophan depletion method, which removes tryptophan (the precursor to serotonin) from the diet and is thought to reduce serotonin synthesis. Performance on three decision making tasks (pruning, gambling and impulsivity) was examined in healthy volunteers following tryptophan depletion. Results revealed that treatment decreased participants' choosing of high probability gambles. The final chapter examined pruning in unmedicated depressed patients, and found that they behaved very similarly to healthy volunteers when evaluating aversive outcomes in the context of a tree of potential decisions, despite the hypothesised disruption to the serotonin system in this disorder. These experiments provide a more complete understanding of the relationship between serotonin, decision-making and mood, and are discussed in relation to theories of depression that pose a central role for disrupted decision-making.

[EN] Low-temperature air drying represents an alternative means to hot air drying of better retaining the sensory, nutritional and functional properties of foods. However, reducing the air temperature to figures below the product s freezing point involves low drying rates, which largely places constraints on any further industrial application. The main aim of this work was to evaluate the feasibility of using power ultrasound to improve the low-temperature drying of apple, considering not only the kinetic effects but also the influence on the antioxidant potential of the dried apple. For that purpose, apple (Malus domestica cv. Granny Smith) cubes (8.8 mm side) were dried (2 m/s and a relative humidity of under 10%) at low temperatures ( 10, 5, 0, 5 and 10 C) with (20.5 kW/m3) and without ultrasound application. The drying kinetics were modeled by considering the diffusion theory, negligible shrinkage and cubic geometry. In the dried apple, total phenolic and flavonoid contents and antioxidant capacity were measured. The application of power ultrasound sped up the drying kinetics at every temperature tested, achieving drying time reductions of up to 77%, which was linked to the improvement in diffusion and convective mass transport. In overall terms, ultrasound application involved a greater degradation of polyphenol and flavonoid contents and a reduction of the antioxidant capacity, which was related to the cell disruption caused by the mechanical stress of acoustic waves. ; The authors acknowledge the financial support of the Spanish Ministerio de Economia y Competitividad (MINECO), the European Union (FEDER) and the Generalitat Valenciana (from the projects DPI2012-37466-CO3-03, DPI2012-37466-CO3-02, PROMETEO/2010/062 and the FPI fellowship granted to J.V. Santacatalina). ; Santacatalina Bonet, JV.; Rogríguez, Ó.; Simal, S.; Cárcel Carrión, JA.; Mulet Pons, A.; García Pérez, JV. (2014). Ultrasonically enhanced low-temperature drying of apple: Influence on drying kinetics and antioxidant potential. Journal of ...

On 7 May 2014, less than half a year after the death of Nelson Mandela, South Africans democratically elected for the fourth time since 1994 the country's national parliament and the various provincial governments. In a generally relaxed climate, all seemed well in the rainbow nation. Most parties welcomed the announced results. But do they and the South African people now have cause for optimism? This contribution presents a summary report and analysis of the final stages of the lead up to the elections, the vote count, and the results, partly based on personal observations during 4-10 May 2014. It comments on the political trends now likely to emerge, as indicated by both the election results and the reactions of the parties to them. Furthermore, it offers a mapping of the current political landscape in the country, as reproduced in the national and provincial parliaments - and also as it exists outside of these institutions of governance. Despite some institutional flaws that favored the ANC as the dominant party, the election campaigning was relatively open and fair - though, as always, the bigger parties had advantages thanks to the greater financial means at their disposal. The voting and counting processes happened with only a few minor disturbances therein, and even at local "hotspots" hardly any disruptions occurred that could have cast doubts on the legitimacy of the electoral procedures. The final results officially announced were finally accepted by all parties and the wider public, which testifies to the democratic nature and general political stability of South Africa's current governance system. The general analyses by observers tended to be more critical as regards the success of the bigger parties than the official party declarations themselves suggested, while it seems that the future of the ANC and of South Africa's political landscape is being affected by growing voter apathy (mainly among the younger generation).

The development of international relations in the post-Cold War world was marked by the resurgence of ethnic passions and conflicts, which were followed by demands for self-determination. The past two decades were the age of secession - many ethnic groups have claimed the right to secede, and their independence results in the disruption of the unity of a state which they no longer regard as their sovereign. This study identifies the emerging trends in international law on secession, then compares them with the remedial right to secede in political theories, and in the end examines the elements of remedial right to secession in the case of Kosovo. In international law, only mandated, trust and non-self-governing territories and peoples under foreign domination are entitled to external self-determination, but the emerging trends allow remedial secession in cases where a territorially concentrated sub-state group is oppressed for a long period of time and is denied the participation in the government. Kosovo had two grounds for remedial secession: the denial of the right to representation and repression and human rights violations. The partition option should be considered - the recognition of an independent Kosovo by Serbia and the incorporation of the northern part of the province, mostly inhabited by Serbs, into Serbia. The Kosovo Serbs should be entitled to choose under which government they want to live – they are a territorially concentrated people that has been subjected to the reverse ethnic cleansing, and they do not participate in the Kosovo government. The conclusion is that problems created by Kosovo's independence include not only issues related to Kosovo's viability as a state and protection of non-Albanian minorities, but also the fact that Kosovo set a precedent for other secessionist groups around the world. Numerous ethnic groups threaten states around the globe, and they received encouragement from the case of Kosovo in disputing state boundaries which they consider unjust.

Ralstonia solanacearum is a soil and water-borne pathogen that can infect a wide range of plants and cause the devastating bacterial wilt disease. To successfully colonize a host, R. solanacearum requires the type III secretion system (T3SS), which delivers bacterial effector proteins inside the plant cells. HrpG is a central transcriptional regulator that drives the expression of the T3SS and other virulence determinants. hrpG transcription is highly induced upon plant cell contact and its product is also post-transcriptionally activated by metabolic signals present when bacteria are grown in minimal medium (MM). Here, we describe a transcriptional induction of hrpG at early stages of bacterial co-culture with plant cells that caused overexpression of the downstream T3SS effector genes. This induction was maintained in a strain devoid of prhA, the outer membrane receptor that senses bacterial contact with plant cells, demonstrating that this is a response to an unknown signal. Induction was unaffected after disruption of the known R. solanacearum pathogenicity regulators, indicating that it is controlled by a non-described system. Moreover, plant contact-independent signals are also important in planta, as shown by the hrpG induction triggered by apoplastic and xylem extracts. We also found that none of the amino acids or sugars present in the apoplast and xylem saps studied correlated with hrpG induction. This suggests that a small molecule or an environmental condition is responsible for the T3SS gene expression inside the plants. Our results also highlight the abundance and diversity of possible carbon, nitrogen and energy sources likely used by R. solanacearum during growth in planta. ; This work was supported by grants from Comissionat per Universitats i Recerca of the Generalitat de Catalunya (SGR0052 and CONES2010-0030) and from the Ministerio de Ciencia, Tecnología e Innovación of the Spanish Government (HF2008-0021 and AGL2010-21870). ; Peer reviewed ; Peer Reviewed

16 páginas, 5 tablas, 8 figuras ; The appearance of the pseudo-albino phenotype was investigated in developing Senegalese sole (Solea senegalensis, Kaup 1858) larvae at morphological and molecular levels. In order to induce the development of pseudo-albinos, Senegalese sole larvae were fed Artemia enriched with high levels of arachidonic acid (ARA). The development of their skin pigmentation was compared to that of a control group fed Artemia enriched with a reference commercial product. The relative amount of skin melanophores, xanthophores and iridophores revealed that larval pigmentation developed similarly in both groups. However, results from different relative proportions, allocation patterns, shapes and sizes of skin chromatophores revealed changes in the pigmentation pattern between ARA and control groups from 33 days post hatching onwards. The new populations of chromatophores that should appear at post-metamorphosis were not formed in the ARA group. Further, spatial patterns of distribution between the already present larval xanthophores and melanophores were suggestive of short-range interaction that seemed to be implicated in the degradation of these chromatophores, leading to the appearance of the pseudo-albino phenotype. The expression profile of several key pigmentation-related genes revealed that melanophore development was promoted in pseudo-albinos without a sufficient degree of terminal differentiation, thus preventing melanogenesis. Present results suggest the potential roles of asip1 and slc24a5 genes on the down-regulation of trp1 expression, leading to defects in melanin production. Moreover, gene expression data supports the involvement of pax3, mitf and asip1 genes in the developmental disruption of the new post-metamorphic populations of melanophores, xanthophores and iridophores. ; This work was funded by the Ministry of Science and Innovation (MICIIN) of the Spanish Government (project AGL2008-03897-C04-01/ACU). MD was supported by a Juan de la Cierva post-doctoral contract (MICIIN, Spain) ; Peer reviewed

The use of alternative photographic practices to address ecological concerns in Liggins's first REF submission, Barcode Wales, are also present here. Uncertain Terrain: The Garden was a series of thirty-eight large-scale photographic prints that explored alternative ways of engaging with garden space to engender a greater sense of involvement. The spectator–spectacle view and the aesthetics of the picturesque were rejected on the grounds that they perpetuate the concept of a world 'out there', set against but nonetheless ordered by the human subject. Instead, Liggins used lightweight cameras with plastic, low resolution lenses so that the production of maximum detail would be prevented, and the formality of the image would be lost. This was another articulation of Liggins's baroque photographic aesthetic: rather than description, there was openness to whatever kind of image might be produced when the disruption, opacity and disorder introduced by the plastic lenses worked with qualities from the gardens. The property of 'working with' is key here, since it redefines the photograph from being a window on the world to a surface that reveals the intersection of technology and location. The works were exhibited at the Jaipur Arts Centre, Jaipur, 2013, with co-exhibitor Sarah Tierney, and as a solo show at The Gallery, British Council, New Delhi. A feature article in Culture Colony Quarterly, volume 1, highlighted Liggins's interest in the capacity of photography to resist its 'window on the world' status. Preparatory research was exhibited as part of Unreliable Truths, Glynn Vivian Gallery, Swansea, with an accompanying catalogue, and reviewed in Source journal, issue 57, winter 2008. The project's methodology was discussed in Land Matters: Landscape Photography, Culture and Identity, edited by Liz Wells (IB Tauris, 2011). Financial support was provided by the Government of Rajasthan and the British Council, New Delhi.

This dissertation investigates security of European gas supply (gas-SoS) giving particular consideration to gas infrastructure, notably gas transport and transit. Gas-SoS is endangered mainly by a disruption to existing supplies. For Europe, gas supply infrastructure acts as a tool to gain, maintain and expand access to new gas sources and consolidate access to existing ones. So the SoS-related (infrastructure) strategy has been assessed in the dissertation theoretically and practically, qualitatively and quantitatively. The research objective pursued is: To describe and evaluate gas-SoS for Europe, as well as to specify prospective ways for the SoS enhancement, with a focus on European infrastructure […]. From this, two research questions have been derived: (1) How secure are the European countries in terms of their natural gas supplies? (2) How can the gas-SoS in Europe be improved (with emphasis on infrastructure)? The central discussion of the study is in assessing the level of security risks which single European countries face. Thereupon, the family of SoS-indices HHI'14 has been developed. The ultimate aim is to apply and test indices. With their application the author hopes to gain insights into the indices adequacy as a policy tool for energy security developments. While the existing literature offers a number of SoS indicators to date, their usefulness has never been tested. For the first time, this dissertation has been testing the predictive success of SoS-indices. It confronted them with the economic losses in the 2009 interruption of Russian gas flows to Europe, and with the EU subsidies under the EEPR programme. This investigation sets out that SoS-indices are rather important for a quick and coherent overview over the state of energy security for a large and diversified region like Europe. They cannot completely substitute, however, a detailed discussion of the situation in each member state. ; Die vorliegende Doktorarbeit befasst sich mit der Gasversorgungssicherheit in Europa (gas-SoS) mit ...