Does the age of fine root carbon indicate the age of fine roots in boreal forests?

To test the reliability of the radiocarbon method for determining root age, we analyzed fine roots (originating from the years 1985 to 1993) from ingrowth cores with known maximum root age (1 to 6 years old). For this purpose, three Scots pine (Pinus sylvestris L.) stands were selected from boreal forests in Finland. We analyzed root 14C age by the radiocarbon method and compared it with the above-mentioned known maximum fine root age. In general, ages determined by the two methods (root 14C age and ingrowth core root maximum age) were in agreement with each other for roots of small diameter (<0.5mm). By contrast, in most of the samples of fine roots of larger diameter (1.5-2mm), the 14C age of root samples of 1987-89 exceeded the ingrowth core root maximum age by 1-10 years. This shows that these roots had received a large amount of older stored carbon from unknown sources in addition to atmospheric CO2 directly from photosynthesis. We conclude that the 14C signature of fine roots, especially those of larger diameter, may not always be indicative of root age, and that further studies are needed concerning the extent of possible root uptake of older carbon and its residence time in roots. Keywords: fine root age, Pinus sylvestris, radiocarbon, root carbon, ingrowth cores, tree ring

The German Military Entrepreneur Ernst von Mansfeld and His Conduct of Asymmetrical Warfare in the Thirty Years War

The dissertation examines aspects of asymmetrical warfare in the war-making of the German military entrepreneur Ernst von Mansfeld during his involvement in the Thirty Years War. Due to the nature of the inquiry, which combines history with military-political theory, the methodological approach of the dissertation is interdisciplinary. The theoretical framework used is that of asymmetrical warfare. The primary sources used in the dissertation are mostly political pamphlets and newsletters. Other sources include letters, documents, and contemporaneous chronicles. The secondary sources are divided into two categories, literature on the history of the Thirty Years War and textbooks covering the theory of asymmetrical warfare. The first category includes biographical works on Ernst von Mansfeld, as well as general histories of the Thirty Years War and seventeenth-century warfare. The second category combines military theory and political science. The structure of the dissertation consists of eight lead chapters, including an introduction and conclusion. The introduction covers the theoretical approach and aims of the dissertation, and provides a brief overlook of the sources and previous research on Ernst von Mansfeld and asymmetrical warfare in the Thirty Years War. The second chapter covers aspects of Mansfeld s asymmetrical warfare from the perspective of operational art. The third chapter investigates the illegal and immoral aspects of Mansfeld s war-making. The fourth chapter compares the differing methods by which Mansfeld and his enemies raised and financed their armies. The fifth chapter investigates Mansfeld s involvement in indirect warfare. The sixth chapter presents Mansfeld as an object and an agent of image and information war. The seventh chapter looks into the counter-reactions, which Mansfeld s asymmetrical warfare provoked from his enemies. The eighth chapter offers a conclusion of the findings. The dissertation argues that asymmetrical warfare presented itself in all the aforementioned areas of Mansfeld s conduct during the Thirty Years War. The operational asymmetry arose from the freedom of movement that Mansfeld enjoyed, while his enemies were constrained by the limits of positional warfare. As a non-state operator Mansfeld was also free to flout the rules of seventeenth-century warfare, which his enemies could not do with equal ease. The raising and financing of military forces was another source of asymmetry, because the nature of early seventeenth-century warfare favoured private military entrepreneurs rather than embryonic fiscal-military states. The dissertation also argues that other powers fought their own asymmetrical and indirect wars against the Habsburgs through Mansfeld s agency. Image and information were asymmetrical weapons, which were both aimed against Mansfeld and utilized by him. Finally, Mansfeld s asymmetrical threat forced the Habsburgs to adapt to his methods, which ultimately lead to the formation of a subcontracted Imperial Army under the management and leadership of Albrecht von Wallenstein. Therefore Mansfeld s asymmetrical warfare ultimately paved way for the kind of state-monopolized, organised, and symmetrical warfare that has prevailed from 1648 onwards. The conclusion is that Mansfeld s conduct in the Thirty Years War matched the criteria for asymmetrical warfare. While traditional historiography treated Mansfeld as an anomaly in the age of European state formation, his asymmetrical warfare has begun to bear resemblance to the contemporary conflicts, where nation states no longer hold the monopoly of violence.

Deutschland, Deutschland über alles : Tysk föreningsverksamhet i Finland och Sverige 1910-1950

The voluntary associations dealt with in this dissertation were ethnic clubs and societies promoting the interests of German immigrants in Finland and Sweden. The associations were founded at the end of the 19th century as well as at the beginning of the 20th century during a time in which migration was high, the civil society grew rapidly and nationalism flourished. The work includes over 70 different associations in Finland and Sweden with a number of members ranging from ten to at most 2, 500. The largest and most important associations were situated in Helsinki and Stockholm where also most of the German immigrants lived. The main aim of this work is to explore to what extent and how the changes in government in Germany during 1910 to 1950 were reflected in the structures and participants, financial resources and meeting places, networks and activities of the German associations in Finland and Sweden. The study also deals with how a collective German national identity was created within the German associations. The period between 1910 and 1950 has been described by Hobsbawm as the apogee of nationalism. Nationalism and transnationalism are therefore key elements in the work. Additionally the research deals with theories about associations, networking and identity. The analysis is mostly based on minutes of meetings, descriptions of festivities, annual reports and historical outlines about the associations. Archival sources from the German legations, the German Foreign Office, and Finnish and Swedish officials such as the police and the Foreign Offices are also used. The study shows that the collective national identity in the associations during the Weimar Republic mostly went back to the time of the Wilhelmine Empire. It is argued that this fact, the cultural propaganda and the aims of the Weimar Republic to strengthen the contacts between Germany and the German associations abroad, and the role of the German legations and envoys finally helped the small groups of NSDAP to infiltrate, systematically coordinate and finally centralize the German associational life in Finland and Sweden. The Gleichschaltung did not go as smoothly as the party wanted, though. There was a small but consistent opposition that continued to exist in Finland until 1941 and in Sweden until 1945. The collective national identity was displayed much more in Sweden than in Finland, where the associations kept a lower profile. The reasons for the profile differences can be found in the smaller number of German immigrants in Finland and the greater German propaganda in Sweden, but also in the Finnish association act from 1919 and the changes in it during the 1920s and 1930s. Finally, the research shows how the loss of two world wars influenced the associations. It argues that 1918 made the German associations more vulnerable to influence from Germany, whereas 1945 brought the associational life back to where it once started as welfare, recreational and school associations.

Paradox between democracy and security- case study on Pakistan

Pro gradu-tutkielma tutkii demokratian ja turvallisuuden paradoksia Pakistanissa esitellen kuusi tekijää, jotka vaikuttavat kyseiseen paradoksiin. Näitä tekijöitä ovat historiallinen kehitys; eliittihallinto; taloudellinen kehitys; Pakistanin poliittisten tekijöiden demokratian eri määritelmät; opetuksen puuttuminen; ja valtataistelu hallituksen, armeijan, tiedustelupalvelun, oikeusjärjestelmän, poliittisten puolueiden sekä eri heimojen, uskonnollisten ja etnisten ryhmien välillä. Tutkimus tarkastelee myös sitä miten nämä tekijät vaikuttavat demokratian kehitykseen Pakistanissa. Keskeinen argumentti on, että länsimainen demokratia ei esiinny eikä toimi Pakistanissa vallitsevissa oloissa, etenkin historiallisen kehityksen ja ulkoisen turvallisuuden takia. Pro gradu-tutkielma käyttää sekundäärisiä lähteitä, kuten kirjoja, artikkeleita, maaraportteja, kommentaareja sekä omiin kokemuksiin perustuvia havaintoja Pakistanin matkalta 2010-2011. Keskeiset teoriat gradussa ovat Guillermo O’ Donnelin delegaattidemokratia sekä Duncan McCargon eliittihallintoteoria, jotka yhdessä selittävät historiallista kehitystä ja eliittihallinnon dynamiikkaa, mitkä johtavat paradoksiin. Kautta historian armeija on hallinnut Pakistania, ja siviilihallinto on ainoastaan neljä kertaa onnistunut olemaan vallassa, mutta silloinkin siviilihallinto päättyi korruptioväitteisiin tai armeijan vallankaappaukseen. Armeijahallinnoille on luonteenomaista hyvät suhteet USA:n, positiivinen taloudellinen kehitys ja vakaus, kun taas siviilihallinnot ovat epävakaita ja korruptoituneita. Tämä kehitys on paradoksin tausta, joka rakentuu turvallisuuspoliittisen tilanteen pohjalle eli hallitusten ja muiden tekijöiden yritykseen löytää vastapaino Intian uhalle. Tämä on ollut keskeinen huoli kelle tahansa poliittiselle päättäjälle itsenäisyydestä lähtien. Loputon valtataistelu eri poliittisten tekijöiden kesken sekä eliittihallinto pitävät yllä paradoksia, koska eliitit ovat kiinnostuneempia oman valtansa säilyttämisestä kuin kansan tahdon huomioonottamisesta. Koska valtaosa ihmisistä ei ole koulutettuja, he ovat paljolti kiinnostuneita omasta selviytymisestään, ja tämän takia sekä kansa että eliitit suosivat armeijahallintoa, koska se tuo vakautta ja taloudellista kehitystä. Sen vuoksi vallitsevissa oloissa demokratian tulevaisuus Pakistanissa näyttää huonolta, koska liberaalidemokratian vaatimukset eivät täyty puoliksi vapaan oikeussysteemin, puoliksi vapaan lehdistön, valtavan korruption ja monien ihmisoikeusloukkauksien takia unohtamatta armeijan ja tiedustelupalvelun sekaantumista siviilihallintoon.

Influence of water and thermal history on ion transport in lithium salt-succinonitrile plastic crystalline electrolytes

Important issues of water and thermal history affecting ion transport in a representative plastic crystalline lithium salt electrolyte: succinonitrile (SN)-lithium perchlorate (LiClO4) are discussed here. Ionic conductivity of electrolytes with high lithium salt amounts (similar to 1 M) in SN at a particular temperature is known to be influenced both by the trans-gauche isomerism and ion association (solvation), the two most important intrinsic parameters of the plastic solvent. In the present study both water and thermal history influence SN and result in enhancement of ionic conductivity of 1 M LiClO4-SN electrolyte. Systematic observations reveal that the presence of water in varying amounts promote ion-pair dissociation in the electrolyte. While trace amounts (approximate to 1-15 ppm) do not affect the trans-gauche isomerism of SN, the presence of water in large amounts (approximate to 5500 ppm) submerges the plasticity of SN. Subjugating the electrolyte to different thermal protocol resulted in enhancement of trans concentration only. This is an interesting observation as it demonstrates a simple and effective procedure involving utilization of an optimized set of external parameters to decouple solvation from trans-gauche isomerism. Observations from the ionic conductivity of various samples were accounted by changes in signature isomer and ion-association bands in the mid-IR regime and also from plastic to normal crystal transition temperature peak obtained from thermal studies. (C) 2010 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

The Shannon Cipher System With a Guessing Wiretapper: General Sources

The Shannon cipher system is studied in the context of general sources using a notion of computational secrecy introduced by Merhav and Arikan. Bounds are derived on limiting exponents of guessing moments for general sources. The bounds are shown to be tight for i.i.d., Markov, and unifilar sources, thus recovering some known results. A close relationship between error exponents and correct decoding exponents for fixed rate source compression on the one hand and exponents for guessing moments on the other hand is established.

Life-history of Neurospora intermedia in a sugar cane field

The life-history of Neurospora in nature has remained largely unknown. The present study attempts to remedy this. The following conclusions are based on observation of Neurospora on fire-scorched sugar cane in agricultural fields, and reconstruction experiments using a colour mutant to inoculate sugar cane burned in the laboratory. The fungus persists in soil as heat-resistant dormant ascospores. These are activated by a chemical(s) released into soil from the burnt substrate. The chief diffusible activator of ascospores is furfural and the germinating ascospores infect the scorched substrate. An invasive mycelium grows progressively upwards inside the juicy sugar cane and produces copious macroconidia externally through fire-induced openings formed in the plant tissue, or by the mechanical rupturing of the plant epidermal tissue by the mass of mycelium. The loose conidia are dispersed by wind and/or foraged by microfauna. It is suggested that the constant production of macroconidia, and their ready dispersal, serve a physiological role: to drain the substrate of minerals and soluble sugars, thereby creating nutritional conditions which stimulate sexual reproduction by the fungus. Sexual reproduction in the sugar-depleted cellulosic substrate occurs after macroconidiation has ceased totally and is favoured by the humid conditions prevailing during the monsoon rains. Profuse microconidiophores and protoperithecia are produced simultaneously in the pockets below the loosened epidermal tissue. Presumably protoperithecia are fertilized by microconidia which are possibly transmitted by nematodes active in the dead plant tissue. Mature perithecia release ascospores in situ which are passively liberated in the soil by the disintegration of the plant material and are, apparently, distributed by rain or irrigation water.

Demographic history of India and mtDNA-sequence diversity

The demographic history of India was examined by comparing mtDNA sequences obtained from members of three culturally divergent Indian subpopulations (endogamous caste groups). While an inferred tree revealed some clustering according to caste affiliation, there was no clear separation into three genetically distinct groups along caste lines. Comparison of pairwise nucleotide difference distributions, however, did indicate a difference in growth patterns between two of the castes. The Brahmin population appears to have undergone either a rapid expansion or steady growth. The low-ranking Mukri caste, however, may have either maintained a roughly constant population size or undergone multiple bottlenecks during that period. Comparison of the Indian sequences to those obtained from other populations, using a tree, revealed that the Indian sequences, along with ah other non-African samples, form a starlike cluster. This cluster may represent a major expansion, possibly originating in southern Asia, taking place at some point after modern humans initially left Africa.

Direction of arrival estimation in the presence of distributed noise sources: Cumulant based approach

In the past few years there have been attempts to develop subspace methods for DoA (direction of arrival) estimation using a fourth?order cumulant which is known to de?emphasize Gaussian background noise. To gauge the relative performance of the cumulant MUSIC (MUltiple SIgnal Classification) (c?MUSIC) and the standard MUSIC, based on the covariance function, an extensive numerical study has been carried out, where a narrow?band signal source has been considered and Gaussian noise sources, which produce a spatially correlated background noise, have been distributed. These simulations indicate that, even though the cumulant approach is capable of de?emphasizing the Gaussian noise, both bias and variance of the DoA estimates are higher than those for MUSIC. To achieve comparable results the cumulant approach requires much larger data, three to ten times that for MUSIC, depending upon the number of sources and how close they are. This is attributed to the fact that in the estimation of the cumulant, an average of a product of four random variables is needed to make an evaluation. Therefore, compared to those in the evaluation of the covariance function, there are more cross terms which do not go to zero unless the data length is very large. It is felt that these cross terms contribute to the large bias and variance observed in c?MUSIC. However, the ability to de?emphasize Gaussian noise, white or colored, is of great significance since the standard MUSIC fails when there is colored background noise. Through simulation it is shown that c?MUSIC does yield good results, but only at the cost of more data.

Moving boundaries due to distributed sources in a slab

Analytical and numerical solutions have been obtained for some moving boundary problems associated with Joule heating and distributed absorption of oxygen in tissues. Several questions have been examined which are concerned with the solutions of classical formulation of sharp melting front model and the classical enthalpy formulation in which solid, liquid and mushy regions are present. Thermal properties and heat sources in the solid and liquid regions have been taken as unequal. The short-time analytical solutions presented here provide useful information. An effective numerical scheme has been proposed which is accurate and simple.

Revisiting the earthquake sources in the Himalaya: Perspectives on past seismicity

The similar to 2500 km-long Himalaya plate boundary experienced three great earthquakes during the past century, but none of them generated any surface rupture. The segments between the 1905-1934 and the 1897-1950 sources, known as the central and Assam seismic gaps respectively, have long been considered holding potential for future great earthquakes. This paper addresses two issues concerning earthquakes along the Himalaya plate boundary. One, the absence of surface rupture associated with the great earthquakes, vis-a-vis the purported large slip observed from paleoseismological investigations and two, the current understanding of the status of the seismic gaps in the Central Himalaya and Assam, in view of the paleoseismological and historical data being gathered. We suggest that the ruptures of earthquakes nucleating on the basal detachment are likely to be restricted by the crustal ramps and thus generate no surface ruptures, whereas those originating on the faults within the wedges promote upward propagation of rupture and displacement, as observed during the 2005 Kashmir earthquake, that showed a peak offset of 7 m. The occasional reactivation of these thrust systems within the duplex zone may also be responsible for the observed temporal and spatial clustering of earthquakes in the Himalaya. Observations presented in this paper suggest that the last major earthquake in the Central Himalaya occurred during AD 1119-1292, rather than in 1505, as suggested in some previous studies and thus the gap in the plate boundary events is real. As for the Northwestern Himalaya, seismically generated sedimentary features identified in the 1950 source region are generally younger than AD 1400 and evidence for older events is sketchy. The 1897 Shillong earthquake is not a decollement event and its predecessor is probably similar to 1000 years old. Compared to the Central Himalaya, the Assam Gap is a corridor of low seismicity between two tectonically independent seismogenic source zones that cannot be considered as a seismic gap in the conventional sense. (C) 2011 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Giant radio sources

We present multifrequency Very Large Array (VLA) observations of two giant quasars, 0437-244 and 1025-229, from the Molonglo Complete Sample. These sources have well-defined FR II radio structure, possible one-sided jets, no significant depolarization between 1365 and 4935 MHz and low rotation measure (\ RM \ < 20 rad m(-2)). The giant sources are defined to be those with overall projected size greater than or equal to 1 Mpc. We have compiled a sample of about 50 known giant radio sources from the literature, and have compared some of their properties with a complete sample of 3CR radio sources of smaller sizes to investigate the evolution of giant sources, and test their consistency with the unified scheme for radio galaxies and quasars. We find an inverse correlation between the degree of core prominence and total radio luminosity, and show that the giant radio sources have similar core strengths to smaller sources of similar total luminosity. Hence their large sizes are unlikely to be caused by stronger nuclear activity. The degree of collinearity of the giant sources is also similar to that of the sample of smaller sources. The luminosity-size diagram shows that the giant sources are less luminous than our sample of smaller sized 3CR sources, consistent with evolutionary scenarios in which the giants have evolved from the smaller sources, losing energy as they expand to these large dimensions. For the smaller sources, radiative losses resulting from synchrotron radiation are more significant while for the giant sources the equipartition magnetic fields are smaller and inverse Compton lass owing to microwave background radiation is the dominant process. The radio properties of the giant radio galaxies and quasars are consistent with the unified scheme.

On the achievable rates of sources having a group alphabet in a distributed source coding setting

We consider the problem of compression via homomorphic encoding of a source having a group alphabet. This is motivated by the problem of distributed function computation, where it is known that if one is only interested in computing a function of several sources, then one can at times improve upon the compression rate required by the Slepian-Wolf bound. The functions of interest are those which could be represented by the binary operation in the group. We first consider the case when the source alphabet is the cyclic Abelian group, Zpr. In this scenario, we show that the set of achievable rates provided by Krithivasan and Pradhan [1], is indeed the best possible. In addition to that, we provide a simpler proof of their achievability result. In the case of a general Abelian group, an improved achievable rate region is presented than what was obtained by Krithivasan and Pradhan. We then consider the case when the source alphabet is a non-Abelian group. We show that if all the source symbols have non-zero probability and the center of the group is trivial, then it is impossible to compress such a source if one employs a homomorphic encoder. Finally, we present certain non-homomorphic encoders, which also are suitable in the context of function computation over non-Abelian group sources and provide rate regions achieved by these encoders.