The politics of intangible heritage and food fights in Western Asia

This article critically examines the nationalistic uses to which UNESCO's 2003 Convention on intangible heritage is put in Western Asia by looking at the conflicts it initiated amongst the countries in the region over the ownership of shared culinary traditions. I first detail the conflict that has arisen between Armenia and Turkey over the ownership of kekek dish after its inscription in the Convention's Representative List on behalf of Turkey in 2011. Then I discuss the ownership conflicts over tolma dish and lavash bread that ensued in the region following the listing of kekek. Examined together, these cases demonstrate that while the Convention strongly influences the current processes of heritagization of food in Western Asia, these processes do not primarily serve the Convention's purposes of safeguarding intangible heritage and ensuring mutual appreciation of it. The Convention rather functions as a source of nationalism in the region to identify and legitimate transnational food traditions as national heritage and to prevent other countries from laying claims over them

The activation of B-H bonds in borohydride on Cu(100) and Cu (110) surfaces

In this study, the dehydrogenation of borohydride (BH4) on Cu(1 0 0) and Cu(1 1 0) surfaces has been studied using Density-Functional Theory (DFT) method. First, the adsorption geometries and energies of BHx species and H on Cu(1 0 0) and Cu(1 1 0) surfaces have been determined. Then, the activation barrier in each dehydrogenation step was determined to have transition state (TS) structures using the Linear and Quadratic Synchronous Transit (LST/QST) method. Repetitive hydrogen abstraction from BHx species (x = 0 -> 4) has been considered in this stage. It is concluded that the rate-determining step for BH4 dehydrogenation is regarded as the fourth step of dehydrogenation on both surfaces. Moreover, the activation barrier of the first dehydrogenation step on the Cu (10 0) surface is smaller than Cu(1 1 0) surface. In other dehydrogenation steps, the activation barriers on the Cu (100) and Cu(1 1 0) surfaces is lower than Cu(1 1 1) surface

BH4 dissociation on various metal (111) surfaces: A DFT study

WOS: 000456951700088In this study, the catalytic effect of various metal surfaces on the sequential decomposition of BH4 molecule has been studied by Density Functional Theory (DFT) for the first time. For this purpose, the sequential dissociation of BHx (x = 0 -> 4) molecules on Au, Cu, Al and Ag (1 1 1) surfaces were systematically investigated. At first, ground state structures of BHx (x = 0 -> 4) molecules and their decomposed versions such as BHx + yH (x + y = 4) were obtained. Then, transition state search calculations were performed to find activation barriers related to every BHx + yH (x + y = 4) decomposition step until x = 0 has been reached. An additional hydrogen atom(s) remaining from a previous step accepted as if they(it) are(is) at infinite distances from the central unit cell of the surface because it is prerequisite to form energy diagram which keeps the number of the atom(s) constant. Our calculations were supported with the lateral interaction energies and the various bond distances to clarify catalytic abilities of the surfaces. It is concluded that Au(1 1 1) surface is the most active surface among the others however the activity of the Cu(1 1 1) surface can compete with it. Al(1 1 1) and Ag(1 1 1) surfaces are the least active surfaces. This knowledge can be used to develop strategies to design Cu-based cheap and active catalyst for hydrogen generation from borohydride dissociation