Retos en la implementación de las normas internacionales al interior de los estados. estudio de caso: la región del Mekong y el protocolo de Palermo contra la trata de personas. (2007-2014)

El presente estudio de caso tiene como principal objetivo el de analizar la manera como las características sociopolíticas de los Estados del Mekong, específicamente en el caso de Camboya y Myanmar, dificultan la implementación de las normas enunciadas en el Protocolo de las Naciones Unidas para Prevenir, Reprimir y Sancionar la Trata de Personas, Especialmente Mujeres y Niños, también conocido como el Protocolo de Palermo. En este sentido, se parte de las características principales del Protocolo y de la manera como el tráfico de personas se presenta en el Mekong para posteriormente analizar la forma como la corrupción, la impunidad y la desigualdad de género representan retos sociopolíticos que obstruyen la implementación de los mandatos internacionales enmarcados en este instrumento

El rol de los actores subnacionales en la construcción de la política exterior de Japón. Estudio de caso: La disputa territorial por las islas Senkaku/Diaoyu entre Japón y China (2001-2014)

El presente estudio de caso tiene como objetivo analizar la influencia de la gobernación de Tokio en la formulación de la política exterior de Japón durante la disputa territorial por las islas Senkaku/Diaoyu. Para ello, se identifican los puntos más relevantes de la política exterior de seguridad de Japón después de la Segunda Guerra Mundial. Se hace un énfasis en la política bilateral de seguridad sino-japonesa, con el fin de ubicar el conflicto territorial por las islas Senkaku/Diaoyu como un punto importante en la agenda internacional de seguridad de ambos países. Se estudia y analiza el concepto de paradiplomacia; articulado, a su vez, por los conceptos de identidad y rol en política exterior de la perspectiva teórica del Constructivismo de las Relaciones Internacionales, para así analizar la influencia de Tokio en el manejo de la política exterior de Japón en el marco del conflicto territorial por las islas Senkaku/Diaoyu.

Bacterial community associated to the pine wilt disease insect vectors Monochamus galloprovincialis and Monochamus alternatus

Monochamus beetles are the dispersing vectors of the nematode Bursaphelenchus xylophilus, the causative agent of pine wilt disease (PWD). PWD inflicts significant damages in Eurasian pine forests. Symbiotic microorganisms have a large influence in insect survival. The aim of this study was to characterize the bacterial community associated to PWD vectors in Europe and East Asia using a culture-independent approach. Twenty-three Monochamus galloprovincialiswere collected in Portugal (two different locations); twelve Monochamus alternatus were collected in Japan. DNA was extracted from the insects’ tracheas for 16S rDNA analysis through denaturing gradient gel electrophoresis and barcoded pyrosequencing. Enterobacteriales, Pseudomonadales, Vibrionales and Oceanospirilales were present in all samples. Enterobacteriaceae was represented by 52.2% of the total number of reads. Twenty-three OTUs were present in all locations. Significant differences existed between the microbiomes of the two insect species while for M. galloprovincialis there were no significant differences between samples from different Portuguese locations. This study presents a detailed description of the bacterial community colonizing the Monochamus insects’ tracheas. Several of the identified bacterial groups were described previously in association with pine trees and B. xylophilus, and their previously described functions suggest that they may play a relevant role in PWD.

The Tamaricetea arceuthoidis: a new class for the continental riparian thickets of the Middle East, Central Asia and the subarid regions of the Lower Volga valley

The new class, the Tamaricetea arceuthoidis, is described covering riparian and intermittent shrubby vegetation of the Irano-Turanian Region in the southwestern and Central Asia and the Lower Volga valley. The dominating species are species of the genus Tamarix that refer high water table in arid and semi-arid habitats with high to moderate salinity. This new class is an ecological analogon of the Nerio-Tamaricetea occurring in the Mediterranean Basin.

Evolutionary history of the mtDNA 9-bp deletion in Chinese populations and its relevance to the peopling of east and southeast Asia

In total, 1218 Chinese from twelve ethnic groups and nine Han geographic groups were screened for the mtDNA 9-bp deletion motif. The frequency of the 9-bp deletion in all samples was 14.7% but ranged from 0% to 32% in the various ethnic groups. Three individuals had a triplication of the 9-bp segment. Phylogenetic and demographic analyses of the mtDNA hypervariable segment 1 (HVS1) sequences suggest that the 9-bp deletion occurred more than once in China. The majority of the Chinese deletion:haplotypes (about 90%) have a common origin as a mutational event following an initial expansion of modem humans in eastern Asia. Other deletion haplotypes and the three haplotypes with a 9-bp triplication may have arisen independently in the Chinese, presumably by replication error. HVS1 haplotype analysis suggests two possible migration routes of the 9-bp deletion in east and southeast Asia. Both migrations originated in China with one route leading to the Pacific Islands via Taiwan, the other to southeast Asia and possibly the Nicobar Islands. Along both routes of peopling, a decrease in HVS1 diversity of the mtDNA haplotypes is observed. The "Polynesian motif (16217T/C, 16247A/G, and 16261C/T)" and the 16140T/C, 16266C/A, or C/G polymorphisms appear specific to each migration route.

Heading east this time: critical readings on gender in southeast Asia

This essay intends to discuss some critical readings of fictional and theoretical texts on gender condition in Southeast Asian countries. Nowadays, many texts about women in Southeast Asia apply concepts of power in unusual areas. Traditional forms of gender hegemony have been replaced by other powerful, if somewhat more covert, forms. We will discuss some universal values concerning conventional female roles as well as the strategies used to recognize women in political fields traditionally characterized by male dominance. Female empowerment will mean different things at different times in history, as a result of culture, local geography and individual circumstances. Empowerment needs to be perceived as an individual attitude, but it also has to be facilitated at the macrolevel by society and the State. Gender is very much at the heart of all these dynamics, strongly related to specificities of historical, cultural, ethnic and class situatedness, requiring an interdisciplinary transnational approach.

A review of drought in the Middle East and Southwest Asia

The Middle East and Southwest Asia comprise a region that is water-stressed, societally vulnerable, and prone to severe droughts. Large-scale climate variability, particularly La Niña, appears to play an important role in region-wide drought, including the two most severe of the last fifty years—1999-2001 and 2007-2008—with implications for drought forecasting. Important dynamical factors include orography, thermodynamic influence on vertical motion, storm track changes, and moisture transport. Vegetation in the region is strongly impacted by drought and may provide an important feedback mechanism. In future projections, drying of the eastern Mediterranean is a robust feature, as are temperature increases throughout the region, which will affect evaporation and the timing and intensity of snowmelt. Vegetation feedbacks may become more important in a warming climate. There are a wide range of outstanding issues for understanding, monitoring, and predicting drought in the region, including: dynamics of the regional storm track, the relative importance of the range of dynamical mechanisms related to drought, regional coherence of drought, the relationship between synoptic-scale mechanisms and drought, predictability of vegetation and crop yields, stability of remote influences, data uncertainty, and the role of temperature. Development of a regional framework for cooperative work and dissemination of information and existing forecasts would speed understanding and make better use of available information.

Middle East and South Asia, 1903 (Raster Image)

This layer is a georeferenced raster image of the historic paper map entitled: A map of the countries between Constantinople and Calcutta : including Turkey in Asia, Persia, Afghanistan and Turkestan. It was published by Edward Stanford in 1903. Scale 1:6,969,600. The image inside the map neatline is georeferenced to the surface of the earth and fit to the Asia North Lambert Conformal Conic coordinate system. All map collar and inset information is also available as part of the raster image, including any inset maps, profiles, statistical tables, directories, text, illustrations, index maps, legends, or other information associated with the principal map. This map shows features such as drainage, cities and other human settlements, territorial boundaries, roads, railroads, ferry routes, shoreline features, and more. Relief shown by hachures and spot heights. This layer is part of a selection of digitally scanned and georeferenced historic maps from the Harvard Map Collection. These maps typically portray both natural and manmade features. The selection represents a range of originators, ground condition dates, scales, and map purposes.