bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Annual net primary productivity of a cyanobacteria-dominated biological soil crust in the Gulf Savannah, Queensland, Australia
Authors: Büdel Burkhard , Williams Wendy J. , Reichenberger Hans
Published: January 2018

Abstract. Biological soil crusts (biocrusts) are a common element of the Queensland (Australia) dry savannah ecosystem and are composed of cyanobacteria, algae, lichens, bryophytes, fungi and heterotrophic bacteria. Here we report how the CO2 gas exchange of the cyanobacteria-dominated biocrust type from Boodjamulla National Park in the north Queensland Gulf Savannah responds to the pronounced climatic seasonality and on their quality as a carbon sink using a semi-automatic cuvette system. The dominant cyanobacteria are the filamentous species Symplocastrum purpurascens together with Scytonema sp. Metabolic activity was recorded between 1 July 2010 and 30 June 2011, during which CO2 exchange was only evident from November 2010 until mid-April 2011, representative of 23.6 % of the 1-year recording period. In November at the onset of the wet season, the first month (November) and the last month (April) of activity had pronounced respiratory loss of CO2. The metabolic active period accounted for 25 % of the wet season and of that period 48.6 % was net photosynthesis (NP) and 51.4 % dark respiration (DR). During the time of NP, net photosynthetic uptake of CO2 during daylight hours was reduced by 32.6 % due to water supersaturation. In total, the biocrust fixed 229.09 mmol CO2 m−2 yr−1, corresponding to an annual carbon gain of 2.75 g m−2 yr−1. Due to malfunction of the automatic cuvette system, data from September and October 2010 together with some days in November and December 2010 could not be analysed for NP and DR. Based on climatic and gas exchange data from November 2010, an estimated loss of 88 mmol CO2 m−2 was found for the 2 months, resulting in corrected annual rates of 143.1 mmol CO2 m−2 yr−1, equivalent to a carbon gain of 1.7 g m−2 yr−1. The bulk of the net photosynthetic activity occurred above a relative humidity of 42 %, indicating a suitable climatic combination of temperature, water availability and light intensity well above 200 µmol photons m−2 s−1 photosynthetic active radiation. The Boodjamulla biocrust exhibited high seasonal variability in CO2 gas exchange pattern, clearly divided into metabolically inactive winter months and active summer months. The metabolic active period commences with a period (of up to 3 months) of carbon loss, likely due to reestablishment of the crust structure and restoration of NP prior to about a 4-month period of net carbon gain. In the Gulf Savannah biocrust system, seasonality over the year investigated showed that only a minority of the year is actually suitable for biocrust growth and thus has a small window for potential contribution to soil organic matter.
Glacial–interglacial changes and Holocene variations in Arabian Sea denitrification
Authors: Gaye Birgit , Böll Anna , Segschneider Joachim , Burdanowitz Nicole , Emeis Kay-Christian , Ramaswamy Venkitasubramani , Lahajnar Niko , Lückge Andreas , Rixen Tim
Published: January 2018

Abstract. At present, the Arabian Sea has a permanent oxygen minimum zone (OMZ) at
water depths between about 100 and 1200 m. Active denitrification in the
upper part of the OMZ is recorded by enhanced δ15N values in the
sediments. Sediment cores show a δ15N increase during the middle
and late Holocene, which is contrary to the trend in the other two regions of
water column denitrification in the eastern tropical North and South Pacific.
We calculated composite sea surface temperature (SST) and δ15N
ratios in time slices of 1000 years of the last 25 kyr to better understand
the reasons for the establishment of the Arabian Sea OMZ and its response to
changes in the Asian monsoon system. Low δ15N values of
4–7 ‰ during the last glacial maximum (LGM) and stadials (Younger
Dryas and Heinrich events) suggest that denitrification was inactive or weak
during Pleistocene cold phases, while warm interstadials (ISs) had elevated
δ15N. Fast changes in upwelling intensities and OMZ ventilation
from the Antarctic were responsible for these strong millennial-scale
variations during the glacial. During the entire Holocene δ15N
values > 6 ‰ indicate a relatively stable OMZ with enhanced
denitrification. The OMZ develops parallel to the strengthening of the SW
monsoon and monsoonal upwelling after the LGM. Despite the relatively stable
climatic conditions of the Holocene, the δ15N records show
regionally different trends in the Arabian Sea. In the upwelling areas in the western
part of the basin, δ15N
values are lower during the mid-Holocene (4.2–8.2 ka BP) compared to the
late Holocene (< 4.2 ka BP) due to stronger ventilation of the OMZ
during the period of the most intense southwest monsoonal upwelling. In
contrast, δ15N values in the northern and eastern Arabian Sea rose
during the last 8 kyr. The displacement of the core of the OMZ from the
region of maximum productivity in the western Arabian Sea to its present
position in the northeast was established during the middle and late
Holocene. This was probably caused by (i) reduced ventilation due to a longer
residence time of OMZ waters and (ii) augmented by rising oxygen consumption
due to enhanced northeast-monsoon-driven biological productivity. This
concurs with the results of the Kiel Climate Model, which show an increase in
OMZ volume during the last 9 kyr related to the increasing age of the OMZ
water mass.
A global historical data set of tropical cyclone exposure (TCE-DAT)
Authors: Geiger Tobias , Frieler Katja , Bresch David N.
Published: January 2018

Abstract. Tropical cyclones pose a major risk to societies worldwide, with about 22 million directly affected people and damages of USD 29 billion on average per year over the last 20 years. While data on observed cyclones tracks (location of the center) and wind speeds are publicly available, these data sets do not contain information about the spatial extent of the storm and people or assets exposed. Here, we apply a simplified wind field model to estimate the areas exposed to wind speeds above 34, 64, and 96 knots (kn). Based on available spatially explicit data on population densities and gross domestic product (GDP) we estimate (1) the number of people and (2) the sum of assets exposed to wind speeds above these thresholds accounting for temporal changes in historical distribution of population and assets (TCE-hist) and assuming fixed 2015 patterns (TCE-2015). The associated spatially explicit and aggregated country-event-level exposure data (TCE-DAT) cover the period 1950 to 2015 and are freely available at https://doi.org/10.5880/pik.2017.011 (Geiger at al., 2017c). It is considered key information to (1) assess the contribution of climatological versus socioeconomic drivers of changes in exposure to tropical cyclones, (2) estimate changes in vulnerability from the difference in exposure and reported damages and calibrate associated damage functions, and (3) build improved exposure-based predictors to estimate higher-level societal impacts such as long-term effects on GDP, employment, or migration. We validate the adequateness of our methodology by comparing our exposure estimate to estimated exposure obtained from reported wind fields available since 1988 for the United States. We expect that the free availability of the underlying model and TCE-DAT will make research on tropical cyclone risks more accessible to non-experts and stakeholders.
Framing, overflowing, and fuzzy logic in educational selection: Zurich as a case study
Authors: Bauer Itta
Published: January 2018

Abstract. This paper uses the concepts of framing and overflowing (Callon, 1998) and fuzzy logic (Zadeh, 2015) to show the application and relevance of critically examining educational selection beyond the particular local context. It examines the empirical example of the central entrance examination procedure to grammar schools in the canton of Zurich. The main argument illuminates the widely neglected grey zones and the fuzzy logic lying at the heart of the selection machinery for higher education. This article elaborates fruitful links between the local case study and international discourses on the geography of education and educational research. It thus shows how a socio-material approach may build bridges not only between international and national educational discourse and local practice but also between academic research and a socio-political engagement that cares about young people's educational realities and futures.
Internal waves in marginally stable abyssal stratified flows
Authors: Makarenko Nikolay I. , Maltseva Janna L. , Morozov Eugene G. , Tarakanov Roman Y. , Ivanova Kseniya A.
Published: January 2018

Abstract. The problem on internal waves in a weakly stratified two-layered fluid is studied semi-analytically. We discuss the 2.5-layer fluid flows with exponential stratification of both layers. The long-wave model describing travelling waves is constructed by means of scaling procedure with a small Boussinesq parameter. It is demonstrated that solitary wave regimes can be affected by the Kelvin–Helmholtz instability arising due to interfacial velocity shear in upstream flow.
Surface formation, preservation, and history of low-porosity crusts at the WAIS Divide site, West Antarctica
Authors: Fegyveresi John M. , Alley Richard B. , Muto Atsuhiro , Orsi Anaïs J. , Spencer Matthew K.
Published: January 2018

Abstract. Observations at the West Antarctic Ice Sheet (WAIS) Divide site show that near-surface snow is strongly altered by weather-related processes such as strong winds and temperature fluctuations, producing features that are recognizable in the deep ice core. Prominent glazed surface crusts develop frequently at the site during summer seasons. Surface, snow pit, and ice core observations made in this study during summer field seasons from 2008–2009 to 2012–2013, supplemented by automated weather station (AWS) data with short- and longwave radiation sensors, revealed that such crusts formed during relatively low-wind, low-humidity, clear-sky periods with intense daytime sunshine. After formation, such glazed surfaces typically developed cracks in a polygonal pattern likely from thermal contraction at night. Cracking was commonest when several clear days occurred in succession and was generally followed by surface hoar growth; vapor escaping through the cracks during sunny days may have contributed to the high humidity that favored nighttime formation of surface hoar. Temperature and radiation observations show that daytime solar heating often warmed the near-surface snow above the air temperature, contributing to upward mass transfer, favoring crust formation from below, and then surface hoar formation. A simple surface energy calculation supports this observation. Subsequent examination of the WDC06A deep ice core revealed that crusts are preserved through the bubbly ice, and some occur in snow accumulated during winters, although not as commonly as in summertime deposits. Although no one has been on site to observe crust formation during winter, it may be favored by greater wintertime wind packing from stronger peak winds, high temperatures and steep temperature gradients from rapid midwinter warmings reaching as high as −15 °C, and perhaps longer intervals of surface stability. Time variations in crust occurrence in the core may provide paleoclimatic information, although additional studies are required. Discontinuity and cracking of crusts likely explain why crusts do not produce significant anomalies in other paleoclimatic records.
Beyond equality and inequality in education: Bakhtinian dialogic ethics approach of human uniqueness to educational justice
Authors: Matusov Eugene , Marjanovic-Shane Ana
Published: January 2018

In our essay, we challenge the hegemonic Kantian discourse of defining justice as equality (in a broader sense) and injustice as inequality in education (and elsewhere). We argue that this discourse is based on the underlining assumption of replaceability and measurement of people and of educational practice itself. In contrast, we argue that people and their education are unique. Thus, it is necessary to develop an alternative notion of justice based on uniqueness and immeasurability of people and their education. We found that Bakhtin’s dialogic ethics framework is helpful for developing such an alternative approach. According to the Bakhtinian dialogic ethics, people are engaged in self-contradictory deeds, charged with ethical tensions. These ethically problematic deeds must be challenged by others and the self in critical dialogue and must demand responses by the authors of the deeds striving to achieve justice. Taking responsibility is not merely a discursive process of answering – it is not “answerability” – but rather another ethic deed of defining ethically good or bad, defining quality and values, accepting blame, standing grounds, committing to fixing negative consequences, emotional sympathy, and so on. The process of challenging people’s deeds in critical dialogue and their taking (or not taking) responsibility defines (in)justice of people’s deeds. We examine two cases of educational injustice based on the Bakhtinian dialogic ethics framework of uniquness. We try to show that education and its justice are essentially authorial and, thus, unique processes. Even when justice involves measurable things like money, it is still about unique people with unique educational goals, interests, and needs in unique circumstances that these measurable resources afford. We consider a case of allocation of measurable resources as a compromise between the Kantian formulistic and the Bakhtinian dialogic ethics approaches. We conclude our essay with developing a vision for a just educational practice based on students’ academic freedoms for authorial education.
Challenges Faced by Devolved Governance in Quality Service Delivery: A Case Study of Turkana Central Sub-county, Turkana County, Kenya
Authors: Sirite James K. , Ongori Henry , Bosire Darius
Published: January 2018

The purpose of this study was to identify the challenges faced in quality service delivery to Turkana Central Sub-county citizens of Turkana County. The study used cross-sectional survey design. The sample size selected for the study was 261.  Data was collected using questionnaires and interview guides. Data was analyzed by descriptive statistics and presented in tables and figures for ease interpretation. The major findings of the study show that devolved governance faces some challenges. For instance the devolved governance is faced with corruption, lack of transparency and accountability and inadequate funds. This adversely   affects quality service delivery to its citizens. The findings of the study would inspire policy makers at the county and national government level to come up with appropriate strategies to mitigate the challenges identified in order to improve the quality of services offered by the county governments.
Organizational Learning: An Assessment of its Impact on Crisis Management in the United Arab Emirates
Authors: Abouraia Mahmoud Kamal
Published: January 2018

The perception associated with organizational learning has been established a long time, however merely in a decade, the notion is extremely acknowledged subject in management studies. The essential part of this research contain the ideas of organizational flexibility structures, assessment of orientation, predisposition to experiment, and enthusiasm to review the environment ideas to understand individual capabilities for knowledge and learning in organization. Empirical evidence publicized that airline industry continues to be the topic of numerous crisis management issues which acquired disastrous effect from the perilousness. Further, it is important to keep in mind that crises can arise as significant factors of change, knowledge, and learning opportunities. The article investigates to evaluate the influence regarding organizational learning toward crisis management in airline industry based on qualitative analysis with airline managers and through supplementary information. The outcomes recommend that airlines should have in-depth and defined techniques for understanding the crises and despite the fact that crisis events and conventional airline accidents remain rare, the requirements for knowledge and learning preparation has vehemently become imperative. It is actually proposing that airlines should apply double-loop learning for its instrumental and policy issues to make sure they will end up more vigilant to signals as well as aggressive while obtaining information for the progress of exigency mechanism.
VMAT Stereotactic Body Radiation Therapy in a Multimodal Approach to a Carotid Paraganglioma in a Dog
Authors: Dolera Mario , Carrara Nancy , Malfassi Luca
Published: January 2018

A 7 yr old female pit bull terrier was presented for a cervical soft tissue swelling located in the left jugular region. No abnormalities were present at physical examination or in the laboratory workup. Computed tomography and MRI scans showed a well-defined, ovoid, single mass in the left dorsal cervical region connected to the common carotid artery, histologically consistent with carotid body paraganglioma. The mass was surgically resected. Frameless stereotactic body radiation therapy with volumetric modulated arc therapy was set up as adjuvant treatment. After radiation therapy, systemic chemotherapy with carboplatin was started. During the first yr of follow-up, acute grade I dermatitis and grade I left-side laryngeal mucositis were recognized. One yr after radiation therapy, no signs of late radiotoxicity or tumor recurrence were observed. Grade I thrombocytopenia concurrent with chemotherapy was observed. This is the first reported case of a carotid body paraganglioma treated by multimodal therapy, with surgical resection and adjuvant radiotherapy and chemotherapy. Stereotactic body radiation therapy with volumetric modulated arc therapy treatment after surgery provided excellent disease control and was well tolerated with slight side effects.
Encrusted Cystitis with Suspected Ureteral Obstruction Following Cystoscopic-Guided Laser Ablation of Ectopic Ureters in a Dog
Authors: Duffy Maura , Gallagher Alex
Published: January 2018

A 1 yr old 30 kg spayed female Labrador retriever presented for stranguria and hematuria 3 wk after cystoscopic laser ablation for ectopic ureters. Encrusted cystitis was diagnosed based on ultrasonography, cystoscopy, urinalysis, and culture of Corynebacterium urealyticum from the urine. Unilateral hydronephrosis and hydroureter were suspected to be secondary to obstruction at the trigone. The dog was treated with focal debridement of plaques at the left ureter, urinary acidification, and long-term antibiotic therapy with complete recovery. This is the first report of encrusted cystitis as a complication of cystoscopic-guided laser ablation for ectopic ureters, and suggests cystoscopic debridement may be useful if ureteral obstruction occurs.
Short-Term Prospective Clinical Evaluation of a Polyglycolic Acid Tibial Tuberosity Advancement Cage Implant
Authors: Bander Noah B. , Barnhart Matthew D. , Watson Adam T. , Naber Steven J.
Published: January 2018

This study investigated the short-term radiographic healing of the osteotomy following tibial tuberosity advancement (TTA), maintenance of patellar tendon angle (PTA), and complications in dogs receiving a polyglycolic acid (PGA) TTA cage. Patients diagnosed with unilateral cranial cruciate ligament disease requiring a 9- or 12-mm TTA cage were included. Twenty-six consecutive client-owned dogs were prospectively selected for this clinical study. Age, weight, sex, breed, cage size, surgery date, and follow-up time were recorded. Radiographs were scored for healing and measured for PTA immediately, at 6 wk, and at 10 wk postoperatively. All stifles were assessed for complications throughout the study period. Stifles with PGA cages had similar overall healing scores compared to previously reported values for metallic cages, and the PTA was well maintained at 6 and 10 wk postoperatively. Polyglycolic acid cages were associated with a higher complication rate (10/26, 38%; 95% confidence interval, 0.19–0.61) compared with previously reported complication rates for metallic cages. Despite favorable healing scores and overall PTA maintenance, PGA cage use resulted in a high complication rate. Proposed advantages offered by this particular implant over currently used metallic cages are offset by this high complication rate. Additional investigation of bioabsorbable materials and implant design should be considered.
Clinical Features of English Bulldogs with Presumed Arrhythmogenic Right Ventricular Cardiomyopathy: 31 Cases (2001–2013)
Authors: Cunningham Suzanne M. , Sweeney Joseph T. , MacGregor John , Barton Bruce A. , Rush John E.
Published: January 2018

Arrhythmogenic right ventricular cardiomyopathy (ARVC) is an important cause of sudden death in people and boxer dogs that has recently been described in English bulldogs. The objective of this retrospective study was to describe the clinical characteristics of English bulldogs with presumed ARVC. The medical records were searched for English bulldogs examined between 2001 and 2013 with a clinical diagnosis of ARVC. The average age of the 31 dogs identified was 9.2 ± 1.6 yr (range 7–13 yr). Males were overrepresented by a factor of 2.9 to 1. At initial presentation, 5 dogs had subclinical arrhythmia, 10 dogs had clinical signs attributable to arrhythmia, and 16 dogs had congestive heart failure. Eighteen dogs (58%) had ventricular tachycardia and five (16%) also had supraventricular arrhythmias. Four dogs experienced sudden death, 2 dogs died from congestive heart failure, 11 dogs were euthanized for cardiac causes, and 2 dogs died or were euthanized for noncardiac causes. Kaplan-Meier analysis showed a median survival time of 8.3 mo. This is the first study to describe the clinical characteristics of a population of English bulldogs with presumed ARVC. Further studies are needed to better characterize the clinical features of the disease in this breed.
A Proposed Perspective for Developing Science Curriculum for the Upper Primary Grades in Accordance to Saudi Arabia's Vision for 2030: An Analytical and Descriptive Study according to Delphi Method
Authors: Alhomairi Abdulqadir Obaidallah
Published: January 2018

Saudi Arabia's Vision for 2030 in development is exceedingly concerned with curriculum development. It believes that the current curriculum does no longer support the students' preparation for both life and work. Therefore, the present study aimed to reach a consensus by a set of educational experts on the importance of providing the science curriculum for the fifth and sixth primary grades with a content that can help achieve the requirements of the Kingdom's Vision for 2030 in development. In addition, it aimed to study what perceptions these educational experts have towards developing the science curriculum that can better achieve this vision.  The study followed the descriptive approach and the use of Delphi method. It was applied to a group of (28) educational experts over three rounds that started on October 8, and ended on November 9, 2017. Findings indicated that the provision degree of the requirements of Saudi Arabia's Vision for 2030 in development in the science curriculum for the upper primary grades was too weak. Responses of the educational experts concerning developing the science curriculum to achieve the requirements of this vision, at the end of the third round, ranged between strongly agree and agree. At the end, a perspective for the development of the science curriculum was proposed depending on the viewpoints of the educational experts who participated in the present study.Keywords: Saudi Arabia's Vision for 2030, development of science curriculum, primary grades.
Woonwagenbewoners in Nederland: een strijdbaar volk
Authors: Loven Claire
Published: January 2018

The legal consciousness of travellers in the Netherlands empirically researched.

Legal institutions as well as European and international organisations have criticised Dutch policy regarding travellers (including Roma and Sinti living in a caravan). Main point of this criticism is that the Dutch government should do more to protect and facilitate the travellers culture.

In academic literature, the policy has also been criticised from a human rights perspective. In most of these official and academic publications the perspective of travellers was missing. This gave reason for a qualitative research in the form of ten interviews with travellers in the Netherlands. Questions as what does it mean to be a traveller, how should your culture be protected and what do you do to protect your culture (using the law for instance) were, among others, part of these interviews.

This article not only discusses the results of the interviews, but places them also against the theoretical background of legal consciousness, in particular the research of Ewick and Silbey (1998) in which three categories of attitudes towards the law and legal institutions were distinguished.

At forehand it was expected that, as being a minority group, travellers would fall in the category ‘against the law’. Yet the findings of this research suggest that travellers, at least the respondents, fall in the category ‘with the law’. They use the law to reach a better position, i.e. to protect their cultural identity.
Wat gebeurt er op de gang? Een kwalitatief empirisch onderzoek naar schikkingsonderhandelingen tijdens civielrechtelijke procedures
Authors: Lieverse Lucas
Published: January 2018

What do lawyers actually do? A qualitative empirical research on settlement negotiations during civil lawsuits in the Netherlands.

There is little known on settlement negotiations during civil lawsuits in the Netherlands. Settlement negotiations take place during a (suspension of the) public court hearing. The public hearing takes place in the majority of the civil lawsuits in the Netherlands. The qualitative empirical research I am carrying out, intents to give insight in these settlement negotiations and questions what lawyers actually do during these negotiations. The research intents to contribute to the effectiveness of settlement negotiations in the sense that (i) the number of settlements increases and of compulsory settlements decreases, (ii) the perceived fairness of procedure and outcome in settled cases increases, and (iii) the number of resolved underlying conflicts increases.

I expect to find that most settlement negotiations can be qualified as distributive negotiations (as opposed to integrative negotiations). Furthermore, based on a literature review on biases and heuristics I hypothesized that settlement could be more effective than they actually are. The paper touches on the methodology and on both hypotheses.
Verzwijgen en ontkennen van slachtoffers van guerrillageweld in Argentinië
Authors: de Haan Willem , van Roekel Eva
Published: January 2018

Silence and denial of victims of guerrilla violence in Argentina

In this article, we try to answer the question of how and why the stories of the victims of attacks by the guerrilla movements in the 1970s in Argentina are currently silenced in the public sphere. We analyse how this collective denial is negotiated in human rights discourse. In particular, we show how strategic and essentialist silences as well as denial (literal, interpretative, implicatory) feature in political debates about human rights and political violence.
‘Troostmeisjes’: Over de structurele ontkenning van seksuele slavernij en voortschrijdende victimisatie
Authors: Moerland Roland
Published: January 2018

The 2015 South Korea - Japan ‘Comfort Women’ Deal: The structural denial of Japanese wartime sexual slavery and its implications in terms of continued victimization

In 2015, South-Korea and Japan came to a ‘final’ agreement concerning the ‘comfort women’ issue. This contribution reveals that this deal signals the next stage in a process of denial through which Japanese authorities have structurally denied the women’s’ victimhood. Taking a discourse analytical approach, the contribution investigates this historical process of denial and its implications. The analysis shows that denial takes several forms and performs different functions throughout the process. It demonstrates that denial is an interactional phenomenon, has different psychologies underlying it, and that it operates on different levels. Denial ultimately contributes to a state of continued victimization.
Alsof zij nooit geboren waren …
Authors: Brants Chrisje
Published: January 2018

‘As though they had never been …’ Remembrance, denial and the old Jewish quarter of Amsterdam

After catastrophic events, memorialisation is part of coming to terms with the past and rebuilding the future. It is also part of the social construction of the past – a struggle between conflicting representations of past events by different groups in society, with different memories, interests and degrees of power to influence which version of history is eventually recognized as correct and which is denied. In Western Europe, we tend to study such processes in parts of the world far removed from our own, forgetting that the major genocide of the 20th century, took place in our own cities, and that a process of memorialisation was ongoing there for many years after the war. The Jewish quarter in the centre of Amsterdam has many monuments, buildings and museums connected to the history of the Jews of Amsterdam, the majority of whom died in the death camps of the Shoa. The memory landscape of the Jewish quarter is dynamic, a reflection of a culture of remembrance and denial concerning the Second World War, in which events and people are remembered, but others forgotten. What can the urban landscape of Amsterdam tell us about this culture and its relationship to social and political events during and after the war? What/who are remembered and what/who forgotten, by whom, and why? How has that changed over time?
Theo van Boven
Authors: Moerland Roland , Nelen Hans
Published: January 2018

Theo van Boven

The two editors of this issue conducted an interview with professor emeritus International law and Human Rights Theo van Boven. Van Boven was UN Special Rapporteur against Torture and he served as Director of Human Rights of the United Nations. In these and his other positions, Van Boven fought for the rights of victims of gross human rights violations and throughout his career he experienced first-hand how regimes try to cover up and deny their crimes. The interview focuses on his experiences with the former military junta in Argentina. Van Boven notes that in comparison to other regimes, the junta had developed the most sophisticated strategy of denial. Van Boven reflects on the regime’s vocabulary of denial, the political dimensions of denial and the implications for the victims. He is open and sincere about his experiences as Director of Human Rights of the United Nations and explains how victim rights, such as the right to truth, can clash with the bureaucratic and political reality within the United Nations.
Verslag evenement ‘Bemiddeling: alleen voor de happy few?’
Authors: Goossens Sara
Published: January 2018

Mediation: only for the happy few?

On 16 October 2017 the Ghent Court of Appeal, the Court of First Instance East Flanders, House of Justice Ghent, Centre for Welfare Work East Flanders, House of Mediation, Mediationlink, Mediation-at-Work.be organised a paneldiscussion titled ‘Mediation: only for the happy few?’ as part of the Belgian FBC Mediation Week 2017. Central in the discussion was how and to what extent the access to mediation inside and outside the courts in Belgium can be improved. This question was addressed by the seven members of the panel, representing the various stakeholders involved in mediation. A view that was shared by all was that from a very early age human beings should be educated in how to deal with disputes.
Pobreza laboral en España: causas y alternativas políticas
Authors: Banyuls Llopis Josep , Recio Andreu Albert
Published: January 2018

En el contexto de la crisis actual los trabajadores y trabajadoras pobres son una nueva realidad y las tasas de pobreza en España se encuentran entre las más altas de Europa. Habitualmente la pobreza se relacionada con el desempleo y la jubilación. Pero desde 2007 las características de las personas afectadas han cambiado radicalmente. Colectivos que tradicionalmente se consideraban “protegidos” (personas ocupadas, con nivel educativo alto…) ahora ya no lo están. El fuerte incremento de la pobreza que ha tenido lugar y la generalización del problema a nuevos grupos sociales significan un nuevo desafío para el trabajo decente y la integración social. Desde nuestro punto de vista las causas de esta transformación están relacionadas principalmente con los cambios en las estrategias de gestión de la fuerza de trabajo, la involución en el marco regulador del mercado laboral y las políticas públicas aplicadas en los últimos años. El objetivo de este artículo es doble. Uno es analizar las características de las personas que están en situación de pobreza laboral y las causas de su espectacular crecimiento en los últimos años. El otro es revisar las propuestas de política económica para hacer frente al problema, incluidas las propuestas de salario mínimo, las medidas de asistencia social, los ingresos básicos, la gestión del tiempo de trabajo y el diálogo social.
Social and Historical Preconditions of the Russian Revolutions in 1917 Through the Eyes of the Czech Politician Karel Kramář
Authors: Shevchenko Kirill
Published: January 2018

The article focuses on the important social and historical preconditions of the Russian Revolution in 1917 as perceived by Karel Kramář, famous Czech Politician and the first Prime-Minister of Czechoslovak republic. In his opinion, Russian revolutions resulted from social peculiarities of Russia’s historical evolution, from numerous flaws in Russian business culture, state system and government and inability of Russian political elites to meet political and economic challenges. Expressed almost one hundred years ago, Kramář’s ideas about social and historical roots of the Russian revolutionary upheavals represent a valuable expert’s view from the outside. Now, in the year of centenary of the Russian revolutions, when Historians in Russia and other post-Soviet states continue to discuss prerequisites for those revolutions, thoughts by Czech politician seem to be of particular interest.
Mental-Threshold Egalitarianism
Authors: Ebert Rainer ,   Department of Philosophy, Florida State University
Published: January 2018

Mental-threshold egalitarianism, well-known examples of which include Jeff McMahan’s two-tiered account of the wrongness of killing and Tom Regan’s theory of animal rights, divides morally considerable beings into equals and unequals on the basis of their individual mental capacities. In this paper, I argue that the line that separates equals from unequals is unavoidably arbitrary and implausibly associates an insignificant difference in empirical reality with a momentous difference in moral status. In response to these objections, McMahan has proposed the introduction of an intermediate moral status. I argue that this move ultimately fails to address the problem. I conclude that, if we are not prepared to give up moral equality, our full and equal moral status must be grounded in a binary property that is not a threshold property. I tentatively suggest that the capacity for phenomenal consciousness is such a property, and a plausible candidate.
Primary Breast Atypical Lipomatous Tumor/ Well-Differentiated Liposarcoma and Dedifferentiated Liposarcoma
Authors: Briski Laurence M. , Jorns Julie M.
Published: January 2018

Atypical lipomatous tumor/well-differentiated liposarcoma (ALT/WDL) and its higher-grade counterpart, dedifferentiated liposarcoma (DDL), are extraordinarily rare tumors in the breast. The main differential diagnostic consideration of primary breast ALT/WDL is malignant phyllodes tumor with liposarcomatous differentiation, and the main differential diagnostic consideration of DDL in the breast is metaplastic breast carcinoma, particularly the spindle cell type, with heterologous sarcomatous differentiation. These differential diagnoses may be particularly challenging when evaluating limited core needle biopsy sampling. MDM2 and/or CDK4 protein overexpression and gene amplification are beneficial ancillary studies that can help establish the diagnosis of primary breast ALT/WDL and DDL, and effectively rule out the diagnoses of malignant phyllodes tumor and metaplastic breast carcinoma.
Microwave Assisted Reduction for Screening Banned Aromatic Amines in Azo Dyes
Authors: Rajkumar Dewani  , Ahmed Farman , Rasheed Munawwer , Pervez Muhammad Kashif , Khan Kehkashan , Mahboob Sarwat Jahan
Published: January 2018

The study proposes a simple, novel and green alternative for the efficient reduction of azo dyes by the standard method, EN 14362-1:2012 (Annex. F) for detection of harmful aromatic amines in colorants, by incorporating microwave heating in place of convective heating. Basic dye response to reduction methods was explored by UV-visible spectroscopy and the results were confirmed through GC-MS and HPLC-DAD. Four azo dyes namely Acid red 1 (AR-1), Direct blue 15 (DB-15), Direct red 28 (DR-28) and Direct red 7 (DR-7) were reduced with sodium dithionite at 70 °C for 30 min in a buffered solution at pH 6.0, serving as a reference method. The decline in dye absorbance after their reduction was explored by UV-visible spectroscopy with carefully chosen bands of maximum absorbance from 300 to 700 nm. The alternative method exposed dye solutions to short microwave heating (10 s) and immediate cooling, in cycles till the desired duration of microwave heating was achieved. Results obtained from reference method were used for comparison with MAR (experimental method 1). Most prominent results of MAR were observed in the case of DR-28 dye. Hence DR-28 was further subjected to the conditions of experimental method 2, which was simply EN 14362-1:2012 (F) method modified with MAR. For standard method and experimental method 2, amines were analysed by GC-MS and HPLC-DAD. MAR methods were compared with reference and standard reduction methods for efficiencies. The total saving with MAR in terms of time and energy was ~70% and ~92% respectively.
Analysis of Socio-Economic Well-Being of Population in Khirthar National Park, Sindh: A Geographical Study
Authors: Arshad Naila , Mahmood Khalida , Ahmed Razzaq
Published: January 2018

Pakistan’s two-third population lives in rural areas where the dependence on natural resources is foremost. National parks are protected areas where the natural environment is preserved for the future generations. The purpose of this study is to investigate the socio-economic aspects of the people living in such areas. For this a comparative study has been designed by selecting two areas of Kirthar National Park (KNP), Sindh, one within the boundary of park; Core and the other at the transition zone of the park. The data have been collected through extensive field survey and analyzed using correlation technique. The study can be helpful in assessing the interaction that exists between humans and dry natural environment. The results indicate a clear difference in the standard of living of the people living in these two selected areas. Such studies are very important from the point of view of rural development of local communities.
Wavelet Characterization of Seismicity and Geomagnetic Coupling at Coastal Regions of Pakistan
Authors: Rashid Syed M. Haroon , Yousufzai M. Ayub Khan , Khan Afridi Faisal Ahmed
Published: January 2018

Earthquake recurrence is depicted on the basis of the time following subsequent seasons at the coastal regions of Pakistan. Recurrence time for intricate shock waves is simulated by using earth positions at equinoxes and perihelion-aphelion positions of the earth from the Sun. In connection to the spatial and temporal behavior of earth, the external geomagnetic variation is significant not only influenced by the distances between the Sun and earth and annual revolving period of earth around the Sun at heliocentric path but also affected by a lunar revolving period on an elliptical path around the earth. The Apparent path of the Sun during the year where earth is the center of the celestial sphere and relative to earth, the Sun appears on ecliptic sphere which intersects the celestial equator in two points known as the vernal equinox of 21st march and autumn equinox of 21st September. The perihelion position on earth is nearest to the Sun and aphelion is the furthest position of the earth from the Sun, these are empirically distributed on the basis of mutual interaction. The seasonal effects are recognized by the wavelet characterization on maximum amplitudes of shock waves with reference to vernal – autumn equinoxes of distributed perihelion-aphelion periods. The seasonal period of geomagnetic seismicity is a manifestation of the mean time between earthquakes within a specified region where many faults are activated. The cyclic nature of earthquakes and geomagnetic influences on seismic waves by stress-strain tectonic process and releasing energy for the relaxation mechanism are experienced in nature, therefore the issues relevant to their aphelion – perihelion periodicities, influential conditions of geomagnetic instability and their coupling for shock waves propagation are tackled by the wavelet applications.
La reconnaissance de la dignité humaine interprétée à partir d’un modèle d’analyse de l’éducation éthique : un parcours en sept composantes
Authors: Bouchard Nancy
Published: January 2018

Cet article examine les différentes composantes d’un modèle d’éducation éthique sous l’angle de la reconnaissance de la dignité humaine. Ce modèle, qui permet une lecture fine de l’éducation éthique dans un programme, se présente en sept composantes : trois composantes simples Éducation à la société (ES), Formation personnelle (FP) et Éducation à l’autre (EA) et quatre composantes à l’intersection de ces dernières (FP/EA, FP/ES, EA/ES et FP/EA/ES). Il a été développé dans le cadre de travaux menés sur l’éducation dans la francophonie. La recherche qualitative dont est issu ce modèle emprunte une logique inductive ancrée dans le corpus analysés. Au terme de l’examen des composantes de ce modèle, la conclusion est qu’une éducation éthique qui ferait de la dignité humaine un point de repère et une destination appellerait à une forme particulière de la reconnaissance de ladite dignité dans chacune des composantes dudit modèle.
CtBP impedes JNK- and Upd/STAT-driven cell fate misspecifications in regenerating Drosophila imaginal discs
Authors: Worley Melanie I , Alexander Larissa A , Hariharan Iswar K
Published: January 2018

Regeneration following tissue damage often necessitates a mechanism for cellular re-programming, so that surviving cells can give rise to all cell types originally found in the damaged tissue. This process, if unchecked, can also generate cell types that are inappropriate for a given location. We conducted a screen for genes that negatively regulate the frequency of notum-to-wing transformations following genetic ablation and regeneration of the wing pouch, from which we identified mutations in the transcriptional co-repressor C-terminal Binding Protein (CtBP). When CtBP function is reduced, ablation of the pouch can activate the JNK/AP-1 and JAK/STAT pathways in the notum to destabilize cell fates. Ectopic expression of Wingless and Dilp8 precede the formation of the ectopic pouch, which is subsequently generated by recruitment of both anterior and posterior cells near the compartment boundary. Thus, CtBP stabilizes cell fates following damage by opposing the destabilizing effects of the JNK/AP-1 and JAK/STAT pathways.
Variants in the TNFA, IL6 and IFNG genes are associated with the dengue severity in a sample from Colombian population
Authors: Avendaño-Tamayo Efren , Campo Omer , Chacón-Duque Juan Camilo , Ramírez Ruth , Rojas Winston , Agudelo-Flórez Piedad , Bedoya Gabriel , Restrepo Berta Nelly
Published: January 2018

Introducción. La composición genética del huésped determina, entre otros aspectos, el perfil clínico del dengue, lo cual se debería al efecto de variantes en los genes que codifican citocinas proinflamatorias.Objetivo. Evaluar la asociación entre las variantes de tres polimorfismos en los genes candidatos TNFA, IL6 e IFNG con la gravedad del dengue en una población colombiana.Materiales y métodos. Se evaluaron los polimorfismos rs1800750, rs2069843 y rs2069705 de los genes TNFA, IL6 e IFNG, respectivamente, en 226 pacientes con dengue. Los genotipos se tipificaron usando la reacción en cadena de la polimerasa (PCR) y los polimorfismos de la longitud de los fragmentos de restricción (Restriction Fragment Length Polymorphism, RFLP). Para determinar el riesgo de diferentes fenotipos del dengue, se compararon las frecuencias alélicas con la prueba de ji al cuadrado, y los genotipos y los haplotipos, con regresión logística. Por último, los análisis se ajustaron utilizando datos de autoidentificación o del componente genético ancestral.Resultados. El alelo A del rs2069843, ajustado por autoidentificación, se asoció con casos de dengue hemorrágico en afrocolombianos. En la muestra completa, dicho polimorfismo, ajustado por componente genético ancestral, fue reproducible. Además, hubo asociaciones significativas entre las combinaciones alélicas GGT y GAC de los rs1800750, rs2069843 y rs2069705 en pacientes con dengue hemorrágico, con ajuste por componente genético ancestral y sin él. Además, la combinación alélica AGC produjo 58,03 pg/ml más de interleucina 6 que la GGC, independientemente de los componentes genéticos europeo, amerindio y africano.Conclusión. Las variantes de los polimorfismos GGT y GAC de los rs1800750, rs2069843 y rs2069705 en los genes TNFA, IL6 e IFNG, respectivamente, se correlacionaron con la gravedad del dengue en esta muestra de población colombiana.
Optimizing resources to reduce costs to determine HIV viral load in limited resources settings
Authors: Girón-Callejas Amalia , Mendizabal-Burastero Ricardo , Yax Elizabeth , Martínez Axel , Mejía-Villatoro Carlos
Published: January 2018

Introducción. Las metas globales para controlar la epidemia de HIV contemplan que la carga viral sea indetectable en 90 % de las personas en tratamiento. El costo de la medición de la carga viral en lotes de muestras puede reducirse y, así, aumentar la cobertura cuando los recursos son limitados; sin embargo, su eficacia disminuye al aumentar la prevalencia del fracaso del tratamiento antirretroviral.Objetivo. Evaluar estrategias para disminuir la proporción de pacientes con fracaso del tratamiento anti-rretroviral en los lotes de muestras y, de esta manera, aumentar el ahorro en las pruebas de carga viral.Materiales y métodos. Las estrategias evaluadas fueron: a) la organización de los lotes de muestras según el esquema de tratamiento antirretroviral, y b) la exclusión de aquellos pacientes con antecedente reciente de fracaso del tratamiento antirretroviral, aquellos con menos de 12 meses de tratamiento antirretroviral y aquellos sin tratamiento antirretroviral previo. Los resultados de los lotes se compararon con los resultados individuales.Resultados. El valor diagnóstico negativo fue similar para los pacientes con esquema de primera línea (100,0 %; IC95% 99,5-100,0) o de segunda línea de tratamiento (99,4 %; IC95% 96,9-99,9). La incidencia del fracaso del tratamiento antirretroviral fue menor en los pacientes con tratamiento de primera línea (p<0,01), lo cual permitió un mayor ahorro en las pruebas de laboratorio en este grupo (74,0 %; IC95% 71,0-76,7) que en los pacientes con tratamiento de segunda línea (50,9 %; IC95% 44,4-57,3) (p<0,01).Conclusión. La selección de las muestras que se incluyeron en los lotes para determinar la carga viral del HIV según el tipo de esquema de tratamiento, permitió maximizar el porcentaje de ahorro en pruebas de laboratorio.