Allelopathic effects of three plant invaders on germination of native species: a field study

The ability of some invasive plant species to produce biochemical compounds toxic to native species, called allelopathy, is thought to be one of the reasons for their success when introduced to a novel range, an idea known as the Novel Weapons Hypothesis. However, support for this hypothesis mainly comes from bioassays and experiments conducted under controlled environments, whereas field evidence is rare. In a field experiment, we investigated whether three plant species invasive in Europe, Solidago gigantea, Impatiens glandulifera and Erigeron annuus, inhibit the germination of native species through allelopathy more than an adjacent native plant community. At three sites for each invasive species, we compared the germination of native species that were sown on invaded and non-invaded plots. Half of these plots were amended with activated carbon to reduce the influence of potential allelopathic compounds. The germination of sown seeds and of seeds from the seedbank was monitored over a period of 9 weeks. Activated carbon generally enhanced seed germination. This effect was equally pronounced in invaded and adjacent non-invaded plots, indicating that invasive species do not suppress germination more than a native plant community. In addition, more seeds germinated from the seedbank on invaded than on non-invaded soil, probably due to previous suppression of germination by the invasive species. Our field study does not provide evidence for the Novel Weapons Hypothesis with respect to the germination success of natives. Instead, our results suggest that if invasive species release allelopathic compounds that suppress germination, they do so to a similar degree as the native plant community.

Fatal contact shot to the chest caused by the gas jet from a muzzle-loading pistol discharging only black powder and no bullet: case study and experimental simulation of the wounding effect.

In modern medico-legal literature, only a small number of publications deal with fatal injuries from black powder guns. Most of them focus on the morphological features such as intense soot soiling, blast tattooing and burn effects in close-range shots or describe the wound ballistics of spherical lead bullets. Another kind of "unusual" and potentially lethal weapons are handguns destined for firing only blank cartridges such as starter and alarm pistols. The dangerousness of these guns is restricted to very close and contact range shots and results from the gas jet produced by the deflagration of the propellant. The present paper reports on a suicide committed with a muzzle-loading percussion pistol cal. 45. An unusually large stellate entrance wound was located in the precordial region, accompanied by an imprint mark from the ramrod and a faint greenish discoloration (apparently due to the formation of sulfhemoglobin). Autopsy revealed an oversized powder cavity, multiple fractures of the anterior thoracic wall as well as ruptures of the heart, the aorta, the left hepatic lobe and the diaphragm. In total, the zone of mechanical destruction had a diameter of approx. 15 cm. As there was no exit wound and no bullet lodged in the body, the injury was caused exclusively by the inrushing combustion gases of the propellant (black powder) comparable with the gas jet of a blank cartridge gun. In contact shots to ballistic gelatine using the suicide's pistol loaded with black powder but no projectile, the formation of a nearly spherical cavity could be demonstrated by means of a high-speed camera. The extent of the temporary cavity after firing with 5 g of black powder roughly corresponded to the zone of destruction found in the suicide's body.

Social stratigraphy in Late Iron Age Switzerland: Stable carbon, nitrogen and sulphur isotope analysis of human remains from Münsingen

The Iron Age cemetery of Münsingen in Switzerland with 220 abundantly equipped burials marked a milestone for Iron Age research. The horizontal spread throughout the time of its occupancy laid the foundation for the chronology system of the Late Iron Age. Today, skulls of 77 individuals and some postcranial bones are still preserved. The aim of the study was to obtain information about diet, mobility and social stratification of the individuals. Stable isotope ratios of carbon, nitrogen and sulphur were analysed for 63 individuals. For all of them C3 plants were found to be the staple food. There are significant differences between males and females in δ13C and δ15N values. This points to a gender restriction in the access to animal protein with males probably having more access to meat and dairy products. Differences in δ15N values were also observed for different age classes. δ34S values indicate a terrestrial-based diet with no significant intake of marine or freshwater fish. Seven adults with enriched δ34S values might have immigrated to Münsingen, four of which were found in the oldest part of the cemetery. Furthermore, possible changes of the vegetation are indicated by the more positive stable carbon ratios in the later phases. The results lead to the suggestion that especially males buried with weapons might have played a special role in the Iron Age society.

Diet and mobility of an Iron Age population in Switzerland; Stable carbon, nitrogen and sulphur isotope analysis of the human remains from Münsingen

The 220 abundantly equipped burials from the Late Iron Age cemetery of Münsingen (420 – 240 BC) marked a milestone for Iron Age research. The evident horizontal spread throughout the time of occupancy laid the foundation for the chronology system of the Late Iron Age. Today the skulls of 77 individuals and some postcranial bones are still preserved. The aim was to obtain information about nutrition, social stratification and migration of the individuals from Münsingen. Stable isotope ratios of carbon, nitrogen and sulphur were analysed. The results of 63 individuals show that all consumed C3 plants as staple food with significant differences between males and females in δ13C and δ15N values. The results indicate a gender restriction in access to animal protein. Stable isotope values of one male buried with weapons and meat as grave goods suggest a diet with more animal proteins than the other individuals. It is possible that he was privileged due to high status. Furthermore, the δ34S values indicate minor mobility. Assuming that the subadults represent the local signal of δ34S it is very likely that adults with enriched δ34S could have migrated to Münsingen at some point during their lives. This study presents stable isotope values of one of the most important Late Iron Age burial sites in Central Europe. The presented data provide new insight into diet, migration and social stratification of the population from Münsingen.

Social stratigraphy in Late Iron Age Switzerland: Analysis of human remains from Münsingen

The Iron Age cemetery of Münsingen in Switzerland with 220 abundantly equipped burials marked a milestone for Iron Age research. The horizontal spread throughout the time of its occupancy laid the foundation for the chronology system of the Late Iron Age. Today, skulls of 77 individuals and some postcranial bones are still preserved and were investigated anthropologically. Collagen was analysed via stable isotope mass spectrometry (carbon, nitrogen, and sulphur). Additionally, some bones showed pathologies or lesions which were examined via imaging and histological methods. The aim of the study was to obtain biological-anthropological information about the Iron Age population. There are significant differences between males and females in δ13C and δ15N values. This points to a gender restriction in the access to animal protein with males having more access to meat and dairy products. Differences in δ15N values were also observed for different age classes. δ34S values indicate a terrestrial-based diet with no significant intake of marine or freshwater fish. Seven adults with enriched δ34S values might have immigrated to Münsingen, four of which were found in the oldest part of the cemetery. Furthermore, possible changes of the vegetation are indicated by the more positive stable carbon ratios in the later phases. The results lead to the suggestion that especially males buried with weapons might have played a special role in the Iron Age society. Also, skull trepanations in two males suggest that surgical treatment of injuries caused by weapons may have been performed.

Regulation of Neutrophil Serine Proteases by Intracellular Serpins

Neutrophil granules contain serine proteases that are central components of the antimicrobial weapons of the innate immune system. Neutrophil proteases also contribute to the amplification and resolution of inflammatory responses through defined proteolytic cleavage of mediators, cell surface receptors, and extracellular matrix proteins. In the blood and at mucosal surfaces, neutrophil serine proteases are regulated by serpins found in plasma and by non-serpin secreted inhibitors. Distinct mechanisms leading to neutrophil cell death have been described for the granule serine proteases, neutrophil elastase, cathepsin G, and proteinase-3. Granule leakage in neutrophils triggers death pathways mediated by cathepsin G and proteinase-3, and both proteases are tightly regulated by their inhibitor SERPINB1 in a cell intrinsic manner. Although stored in the same types of granules, neutrophil elastase does not significantly contribute to cell death following intracellular release from granules into the cytoplasm. However, heterozygous mutations in ELANE, the gene encoding elastase, are the cause of severe congenital neutropenia, a life-threatening condition characterized by the death of neutrophils at an early precursor stage in the bone marrow. This chapter focuses on recent work exploring the biology of clade B intracellular serpins that inhibit neutrophil serine proteases and their functions in neutrophil homeostasis and serine protease control at sites of inflammation.

(Table 1) Activity of strontium-90 in waters of the Northeast Atlantic at the end of 1965 and the beginning of 1966

In 1965-1966 R/V Mikhail Lomonosov conducted studies on concentrations of artificial radioactive products in the Northeast Atlantic. Concentration of strontium-90 at the end of 1965 and the beginning of 1966 was higher than the average level for the ocean and reached about 53 dpm/100 l in the surface layer. The most intense transport of artificial radioactive products out of the Irish Sea was detected in the northern and northeastern directions along the Hebrides and the Orkneys. In addition to radioactive fission products from nuclear weapons tests, radioactive wastes of atomic industrial facilities discharged into the ocean are an important source of radioactive contamination of some regions of the world ocean.

Aristófanes e a guerra dos sexos em Lisístrata

En Lisístrata, los hombres utilizan armas letales en combate, las mujeres utilizan la sensualidad y seducción como una herramienta contra la misma guerra, sexual, política, sin embargo, son equivalentes a sus rivales cuando toman la Acrópolis de Atenas y el tesoro de guerra en su poder. En la parábasis, las mujeres cuentan su historia de formación religiosa como un ciudadano ateniense, que les da el derecho de presentar un discurso en la ciudad de Atenas. En el agón, ganan los hombres en el habla y la lucha física. El objetivo de este trabajo es mostrar la importancia del agón en Lisístrata, que, según algunos estudiosos, se alimenta de la confrontación ritual más antigua entre las fuerzas rivales de la naturaleza, pero que se basa, principalmente, en mujeres guerreras iguales a los hombres a través de los paradigmas míticos

Territorial Intelligence of Vulnerability Systems 2- Sustainable Modelling of Globalization Challenge

Globalization as progress of economic development has increased population socioeconomical vulnerability when unequal wealth distribution within economic development process constitutes the main rule, with widening the gap between rich and poors by environmental pricing. Econological vulnerability is therefore increasing too, as dangerous substance and techniques should produce polluted effluents and industrial or climatic risk increasing (Woloszyn, Quenault, Faburel, 2012). To illustrate and model this process, we propose to introduce an analogical induction-model to describe both vulnerability situations and associated resilience procedures. At this aim, we first develop a well-known late 80?s model of socio-economic crack-up, known as 'Silent Weapons for Quiet Wars', which presents economics as a social extension of natural energy systems. This last, also named 'E-model', is constituted by three passive components, potential energy, kinetic energy, and energy dissipation, thus allowing economical data to be treated as a thermodynamical system. To extend this model to social and ecological sustainability pillars, we propose to built an extended E(Economic)-S(Social)-O(Organic) model, based on the three previous components, as an open model considering feedbacks as evolution sources. An applicative illustration of this model will then be described, through this summer's american severe drought event analysis

Nuevas armas de una misma guerra : O de cómo las historietas enseñan Historia

En los últimos años, los investigadores dedicados al estudio de la enseñanza de la Historia llamaron la atención sobre la influencia de nuevos "artefactos culturales" en el forjamiento de la cultura histórica de los jóvenes. Videojuegos, series de televisión, documentales, películas y sitios web deben empezar a ser tenidos en cuenta, a la hora de evaluar los principales emisores de contenidos históricos. En este caso, nos dedicamos a estudiar a uno de estos "artefactos": los cómics o historietas históricas. Buscaremos, entonces, conocer su derrotero histórico y, a partir de él, analizar el lugar que actualmente tienen en el currículum, teniendo en cuenta sus límites y posibilidades. A partir de un recorrido por las principales historietas históricas que tuvo la Argentina en el siglo XX y principios del XXI, analizaremos su contenido y la propuesta político-pedagógica que se desprende, tanto de sus autores, como de aquellas organizaciones destinadas a difundirlas en la escuela. La conclusión del trabajo es que, a pesar de la novedad que implica la enseñanza de la Historia por medio de herramientas alternativas a los tradicionales manuales, tanto su contenido como los valores difundidos no difieren de aquellos que difundían los viejos textos escolares. En este sentido, las historietas funcionarían como herramientas al servicio de una enseñanza de la Historia escolar cuya función principal es fomentar una conciencia cívica nacionalista

Tributo y armas en Bolivia : Comunidades indígenas y estrategias de visibilización ciudadana, Siglo XIX

El artículo aborda la acción y la capacidad transformadoras de los procesos políticos nacionales ejercidas por las comunidades indígenas bolivianas a lo largo del siglo XIX, a partir del desempeño de las funciones cívicas de trabajador-contribuyente y de soldado de milicias. Tales actividades las hicieron sujeto y objeto de un complejo proceso de ciudadanización y desciudadanización en un contexto de sufragio censitario en el que la violencia y la ley coadyuvaron en el proceso de institucionalización del Estado.

La antigüedad como modelo : Tradición clásica en generaciones y semblanzas del humanista Fernán Pérez de Guzmán

La historiografía grecolatina había hecho de la biografía un género cuya materia: la vida y los hechos de un personaje ejemplar, se presentaba inseparable de la forma y las prescripciones de la retórica. En los siglos del Renacimiento, avalada por el prestigio de la antigüedad clásica y de su tradición, la biografía experimenta un gran impulso por su doble carácter moralizante y propagandístico en un contexto histórico en el que aristócratas y monarcas luchan con las armas y con las letras por la preeminencia. En este trabajo estudiaremos tanto las influencias de la biografía antigua, como el uso y la función de los motivos procedentes del mundo clásico en Generaciones y semblanzas de Fernán Pérez de Guzmán, uno de los escritores más importantes del primer humanismo español, autor al que se ha considerado un modelo de espontaneidad y originalidad.

Nuevas armas de una misma guerra : O de cómo las historietas enseñan Historia

En los últimos años, los investigadores dedicados al estudio de la enseñanza de la Historia llamaron la atención sobre la influencia de nuevos "artefactos culturales" en el forjamiento de la cultura histórica de los jóvenes. Videojuegos, series de televisión, documentales, películas y sitios web deben empezar a ser tenidos en cuenta, a la hora de evaluar los principales emisores de contenidos históricos. En este caso, nos dedicamos a estudiar a uno de estos "artefactos": los cómics o historietas históricas. Buscaremos, entonces, conocer su derrotero histórico y, a partir de él, analizar el lugar que actualmente tienen en el currículum, teniendo en cuenta sus límites y posibilidades. A partir de un recorrido por las principales historietas históricas que tuvo la Argentina en el siglo XX y principios del XXI, analizaremos su contenido y la propuesta político-pedagógica que se desprende, tanto de sus autores, como de aquellas organizaciones destinadas a difundirlas en la escuela. La conclusión del trabajo es que, a pesar de la novedad que implica la enseñanza de la Historia por medio de herramientas alternativas a los tradicionales manuales, tanto su contenido como los valores difundidos no difieren de aquellos que difundían los viejos textos escolares. En este sentido, las historietas funcionarían como herramientas al servicio de una enseñanza de la Historia escolar cuya función principal es fomentar una conciencia cívica nacionalista

Tributo y armas en Bolivia : Comunidades indígenas y estrategias de visibilización ciudadana, Siglo XIX

El artículo aborda la acción y la capacidad transformadoras de los procesos políticos nacionales ejercidas por las comunidades indígenas bolivianas a lo largo del siglo XIX, a partir del desempeño de las funciones cívicas de trabajador-contribuyente y de soldado de milicias. Tales actividades las hicieron sujeto y objeto de un complejo proceso de ciudadanización y desciudadanización en un contexto de sufragio censitario en el que la violencia y la ley coadyuvaron en el proceso de institucionalización del Estado.

La antigüedad como modelo : Tradición clásica en generaciones y semblanzas del humanista Fernán Pérez de Guzmán

La historiografía grecolatina había hecho de la biografía un género cuya materia: la vida y los hechos de un personaje ejemplar, se presentaba inseparable de la forma y las prescripciones de la retórica. En los siglos del Renacimiento, avalada por el prestigio de la antigüedad clásica y de su tradición, la biografía experimenta un gran impulso por su doble carácter moralizante y propagandístico en un contexto histórico en el que aristócratas y monarcas luchan con las armas y con las letras por la preeminencia. En este trabajo estudiaremos tanto las influencias de la biografía antigua, como el uso y la función de los motivos procedentes del mundo clásico en Generaciones y semblanzas de Fernán Pérez de Guzmán, uno de los escritores más importantes del primer humanismo español, autor al que se ha considerado un modelo de espontaneidad y originalidad.