The Middle East in the American quest for world order : ideas of power, economics, and social development in United States foreign policy, 1953-1961

Doctoral dissertation, University of Tampere

Thrusting, extension, and doming during the polyphase tectonometamorphic evolution of the High Himalayan Crystalline Zone in NW India

In the NW Himalaya of India, high-grade metamorphic rocks of the High Himalayan Crystalline Zone (HHCZ) are exposed as a 50 km large dome along the Miyar and Gianbul valleys. This Gianbul dome is cored by migmatitic paragneiss formed at peak conditions around 750 degreesC and 8 kbar, and symmetrically surrounded by sillimanite, kyanite +/- staurolite, garnet, biotite, and chlorite Barrovian mineral zones. Thermobarometric and structural investigations reveal that the Gianbul dome results from a polyphase tectono-metamorphic evolution. The first phase corresponds to the NE-directed thrusting of the Shikar Beh nappe, that is responsible for the Barrovian prograde metamorphic field gradient in the southern limb of the dome. In the northern limb of the dome, the Barrovian prograde metamorphism is the consequence of a second tectonic phase, associated with the SW-directed thrusting of the Nyimaling-Tsarap nappe. Following these crustal thickening events, exhumation and doming of the HHCZ high-grade rocks were controlled by extension along the north-dipping Zanskar Shear Zone, in the frontal part of the Nyimaling-Tsarap nappe, as well as by coeval to late extension along the south-dipping Khanjar Shear Zone, in the southern limb of the Gianbul dome. Rapid syn-convergence extension along both of these detachments induced a nearly isothermal decompression, resulting in a high-temperature/low-pressure metamorphic overprint, as well as enhanced partial melting. Such a rapid exhumation within a compressional orogenic context appears unlikely to be controlled solely by granitic diapirism. Alternatively, large-scale doming in the Himalaya could reflect a sub-vertical ductile extrusion of partially melted rocks.

K-T transition in Deccan Traps of central India marks major marine Seaway across India

Deccan intertrappean sediments in central India are generally considered as terrestrial deposits of Maastrichtian age, but the Cretaceous-Tertiary (K-T) position is still unknown. Here we report the discovery of the K-T transition, a marine incursion and environmental changes preserved within the intertrappean sediments at Jhilmili, Chhindwara District, Madhya Pradesh. Integrative biostratigraphic, sedimentologic, mineralogic and chemostratigraphic analyses reveal the basal Danian in the intertrappean sediments between lower and upper trap basalts that regionally correspond to C29r and the C29R/C29N transition, respectively. Intertrappean deposition occurred in predominantly terrestrial semi-humid to and environments. But a short aquatic interval of fresh water ponds and lakes followed by shallow coastal marine conditions with brackish marine ostracods and early Danian zone P1a planktic foraminifera mark this interval very close to the K-T boundary. This marine incursion marks the existence of a nearby seaway, probably extending inland from the west through the Narmada and Tapti rift valleys. The Jhilmili results thus identify the K-T boundary near the end of the main phase of Deccan eruptions and indicate that a major seaway extended at least 800 km across India. (C) 2009 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

The abrupt climate change at the Eocene-Oligocene boundary and the emergence of South-East Asia triggered the spread of sapindaceous lineages.

Background and Aims Paleoclimatic data indicate that an abrupt climate change occurred at the Eocene-Oligocene (E-O) boundary affecting the distribution of tropical forests on Earth. The same period has seen the emergence of South-East (SE) Asia, caused by the collision of the Eurasian and Australian plates. How the combination of these climatic and geomorphological factors affected the spatio-temporal history of angiosperms is little known. This topic is investigated by using the worldwide sapindaceous clade as a case study. Methods Analyses of divergence time inference, diversification and biogeography (constrained by paleogeography) are applied to a combined plastid and nuclear DNA sequence data set. Biogeographical and diversification analyses are performed over a set of trees to take phylogenetic and dating uncertainty into account. Results are analysed in the context of past climatic fluctuations. Key Results An increase in the number of dispersal events at the E-O boundary is recorded, which intensified during the Miocene. This pattern is associated with a higher rate in the emergence of new genera. These results are discussed in light of the geomorphological importance of SE Asia, which acted as a tropical bridge allowing multiple contacts between areas and additional speciation across landmasses derived from Laurasia and Gondwana. Conclusions This study demonstrates the importance of the combined effect of geomorphological (the emergence of most islands in SE Asia approx. 30 million years ago) and climatic (the dramatic E-O climate change that shifted the tropical belt and reduced sea levels) factors in shaping species distribution within the sapindaceous clade.

Proto-South-East Asia as a trigger of early angiosperm diversification

Darwin described as an 'abominable mystery' the abrupt origin of angiosperms in the mid-Cretaceous and the high diversification rates in their early history. The father of evolutionary theory could not fathom this rapid diversification and rather invoked that 'there was during long ages a small isolated continent in the S. hemisphere, which served as the birthplace of the higher plants'. In this essay, we comment on the spatial origin of angiosperms, but focus primarily on understanding the abiotic factors that promoted the early diversification of angiosperms by reviewing palaeobotanical, palaeogeographical, phylogenetics and biogeographical evidence. We argue that islands located in the region today occupied by South-East Asia played a major role in angiosperm diversification during the Late Jurassic and Early Cretaceous.

Prevalence of obesity in children in north-east Italy.

This study was performed to analyse the prevalence of obesity in children living in six different areas of the north-east of Italy. The study included 1523 children (749 male, 774 female), divided into four age categories (4, 8, 10, 12 +/- 0.5 years of age, respectively). The physical characteristics of the children were measured by trained and standardized examiners. In accordance with the guidelines on the Italian Consensus Conference on Obesity (Rome, 4-6 June 1991), a child was defined as obese when his weight was higher than 120% of the weight predicted for height, as calculated from the Tanner's tables. On average, the prevalence of obesity was higher in males than in females (15.7% vs. 11%). The highest prevalence was seen in 10-year-old males (23.4%). The prevalence increased with age both in males (4 years = 3.6%, 8 years = 11.2%, 10 years = 23.4%, 12 years = 17.3%) and in females (4 years = 2%, 8 years = 13.3%, 10 years = 12.7%, 12 years = 11.9%). This tendency was maintained when calculating the obesity prevalence by other methods, such as BMI, triceps skinfold and fat mass, although the magnitude of the prevalence was different depending on the criteria used to define it. A consensus on more precise criteria to define obesity is needed for a better diagnosis of obesity in childhood and to allow a more reliable measurement and comparison of the prevalence of obesity among populations.

Translating from India and the Moving Space of Translation (Illustrated by the Works of Ajñeya)

The inadequacies and obsolescence of Eurocentric theories based on a binaryand static worldview have become a staple topic of postcolonial studies, and tosome extent also of translation studies. Nonetheless, the literary texts that arecalled upon in order to show the dynamism and hybridity of (post)modern worksbelong for the most part to the languages of the former colonial powers, especiallyEnglish, and remain inserted in a system that construes literatures interms of opposition. As a consequence, there is outside India a doubly misleadingunderstanding of Indian literatures other than those written in English:firstly, that translations of works in Hindi and in the Indian bhāṣā seem to belacking, if not inexistent, and secondly, that these "minor" literatures - as theyare regularly termed - are still often viewed as being highly dependent on theidea of "tradition," in opposition to the "postmodern" hybridity of the literatureswritten in the "dominant" languages, such as English or French. Againstthese views and supported by the analysis of Ajñeya's works in Hindi togetherwith their English translations, this paper aims to show: 1) that translationsfrom Hindi, which are not in fact non-existent, are mainly carried out in India,and 2) that Ajñeya's works, while representing a significant instance of the effectivehybridity present in Indian literatures, help to illustrate the moving spaceof translation. This demonstration effectively invalidates the above-mentionedoppositional standpoint.