Religious Discrimination and Violation of Property Rights in Turkey

In 2022, the European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR) provided a ruling in an application against Turkey by the Foundation of the Taksiarhis Greek Orthodox Church. The Turkish government was held to have committed religious discrimination against its Greek Orthodox community by rejecting an application to register a historic church without a valid explanation. The Turkish High Court decided to register the disputed property in the name of the Public Treasury rather than grant ownership of the property outright to the Church. The Istanbul Administrative Court had repeatedly dismissed the Church’s appeals on the basis that the conditions listed in their property code were not satisfied

Brazil’s Violence Against Indigenous Peoples

Centuries of violence and displacement define the relationship between indigenous peoples and the successive governments of Brazil. As Brazil embarks on a massive expansion of its agribusiness and mining operations, the systemic denial of land rights and illegal economic activity on protected lands has threatened traditional ways of life practiced by indigenous peoples. The most aggressive policy taken by the Brazilian government has involved legitimizing land claims on unregistered ancestral indigenous lands for development, putting 37,800 square miles of territory at risk for exploitation by loggers, ranchers, and farmers

An assessment of the feasible application of environmental valuation methods on Rand Water open-space

Rand Water has contracted University of South Africa (UNISA) to develop a monetary valuation method for its open spaces and its inherent ecological functions. This article begins by reviewing existing contemporary definitions for open space in South Africa and then identifies the key characteristics thereof. Open Spaces in the Gauteng urban environment is in a crisis and factors such as open space coverage standards, sale of open space, crime and the impact of the apartheid legacy are briefly examined. Rand Water’s open space contributes to the total open space stock of Gauteng province. Any shortage of open space and threats to the sustainable management and expansion of the open space network of the province therefore has a direct bearing on howRand Water views and manages its open space resources. Environmental resource economics provides economists and environmentalists with various instruments to place a monetary value on the environment. The available valuation instruments are briefly reviewed and questionnaires are developed from this to determine whether it can be applied by Rand Water staff to obtain values at a minimal cost, in a short space of time, and whether it assesses the various use and non-use values.&nbsp

Network analyses of Oppositional Defiant Disorder (ODD) symptoms in children

Based on parent and teacher ratings of their children, this study used regularized partial correlation network analysis (EBIC glasso) to examine the structure of DSM-5 Oppositional Defiant Disorder (ODD) symptoms. Parent and teachers (N = 934) from the general community in Malaysia completed questionnaires covering DSM-5 ODD symptoms. The most central ODD symptom for parent ratings was anger, followed by argue. For teacher ratings, it was anger, followed by defy. For both parent and teacher ratings, the networks revealed at least medium effect size connections for temper and argue, defy, and argue, blames others, and annoy, and spiteful and angry. Overall, the findings were highly comparable across parent and teacher ratings, and they showed a novel understanding of the structure of the ODD symptoms. The clinical implications of the findings for assessment and treatment of ODD are discussed

Ecological effects of mosquito control with Bti: evidence for shifts in the trophic structure of soil- and ground-based food webs

The microbial control agent Bacillus thuringiensis var. israelensis (Bti) has been successfully used worldwide to reduce abundances of biting Nematocera (Diptera), often with little direct impact on non-target organisms observed. However, the potential for additional indirect effects on other ecosystem properties, including on trophic linkages within food webs, is poorly known. We investigated the effects of multiple-year mosquito control treatments using the Bti product VectoBac((R))-G on the stable isotope composition of epigeal and soil-based consumers inhabiting replicate floodplains along the River Dalalven, Sweden. We observed significant changes in the isotopic composition of detritivores feeding at the base of floodplain food webs. Enchytraeid worms were characterised by 3.5% higher delta C-13 values in treated floodplains, suggesting increased consumption of delta C-13-enriched food. The overall range of community-wide delta N-15 values was 56% greater in the treated floodplains, whilst delta N-15 values of oribatid mites were elevated by 97%. These results suggest extra fractionation in the transfer of nitrogen through floodplain food chains. We conjecture that the ecological mechanisms driving these food web shifts are (1) the mass mortality of high delta C-13 A. sticticus larvae, which leaves high concentrations of dead mosquito biomass deposited on soils at local scales, after the floodwaters have receded and (2) incorporation of the very high delta C-13-enriched corn particles comprising the bulk of the VectoBac((R))-G product into floodplain food webs. Our results suggest that repeated applications of Bti might have wider, still largely unknown implications for nutrient and energy cycles within floodplain ecosystems

Accurate modelling of small-scale linear ion trap operating mode using He buffer gas to improve sensitivity and resolution for in-the-field mass spectrometry

Improved sensitivity and resolution of a small-scale linear ion trap is observed using He buffer.</p