Cranial anatomy and palaeoneurology of the archosaur Riojasuchus tenuisceps from the Los Colorados Formation, La Rioja, Argentina.

Riojasuchus tenuisceps Bonaparte 1967 is currently known from four specimens, includingtwo complete skulls, collected in the late 1960s from the upper levels of the Los ColoradosFormation (Late Triassic), La Rioja, Argentina. Computed tomography (CT) scans of theskulls of the holotype and a referred specimen of Riojasuchus tenuisceps and the repreparationof the latter allows recognition of new features for a detailed analysis of its cranialanatomy and its comparison with a wide variety of other archosauriform taxa. The diagnosisof Riojasuchus tenuisceps is emended and two autapomorphies are identified on the skull:(1) a deep antorbital fossa with its anterior and ventral edges almost coinciding with thesame edges of the maxilla itself and (2) a suborbital fenestra equal in size to the palatinepterygoidfenestra. Also, the first digital 3D reconstruction of the encephalon of Riojasuchustenuisceps was carried out to study its neuroanatomy, showing a shape and cranial nervedisposition consistent to that of other pseudosuchians.Fil: Von Baczko, Belen. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Oficina de Coordinación Administrativa Parque Centenario. Museo Argentino de Ciencias Naturales ; ArgentinaFil: Desojo, Julia Brenda. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Oficina de Coordinación Administrativa Parque Centenario. Museo Argentino de Ciencias Naturales ; Argentin

Multi-Frequency VLBI Observations of the Active Galaxy NGC 1052

Active galactic nuclei (AGN) are among the most energetic sources in the universe, a large fraction of which are visible across the entire electromagnetic spectrum. Historically a zoo of different types of AGN were categorized based on a variety of observational properties, which can be explained by one unification scheme. A subset of these sources is characterized by relativistic outflows, called jets. The standard model assumes intrinsic symmetry between the jet and the counter-jet. Radio interferometric observations provide the highest achievable resolution which is key to understanding the physics driving AGN jets. The scope of this thesis is to investigate the physical processes responsible for the launching and collimation of relativistic jets. This is achieved with Very Long Baseline Interferometry (VLBI) at centimetre and millimetre wavelengths of the double-sided relativistic outflows within the active galaxy NGC 1052. At a distance of only 20 Mpc, linear scales down to a few hundred Schwarzschild radii can be imaged with mm-VLBI. The orientation of both jets close to the plane of the sky makes NGC 1052 an ideal target to study the symmetry-paradigm predicted by the unification scheme. The thesis is organized as follows. The first two chapters will give an introduction on our current understanding of launching, collimation, and emission processes of AGN and their jets as well as an overview on the technique of VLBI. In chapters 3 trough 5 I will present the analysis and results of a multi-frequency and multi-epoch study on NGC1052. Chapter 6 summarizes these findings and places them within the context of current AGN/jet scholarship. Additional information on the analysis is provided in tabular and graphical form in the appendices A and B. During my thesis work I developed a set of python scripts for calibration and analysis, which are presented in appendix C. In the following I give a short overview on the main results from this dissertation. Observations of NGC1052 at 22 GHz and 43 GHz over 4 years suggest an intrinsic asymmetry between both jets, which evolve east- and westwards in the plane of the sky. Based on a study of the outflow velocities, the eastern jet was found to be significantly faster than the western jet. Overall faster velocities were found compared to earlier estimates performed at lower frequencies. As the observing frequency increases regions are imaged at closer proximity to the jet spine. Therefore, these results point towards a transversal velocity gradient within both jets. The images from this study were used as input information for relativistic hydrodynamic simulations of the relativistic jets in NGC1052. The simulations favor a scenario in which a slightly over-pressured jet, resulting from a pressure-mismatch between the jet and the ambient medium at the nozzle, penetrates into a decreasing-pressure ambient medium. A molecular torus has been included in the simulations to account for thermal absorption. Based on the simulation results the torus particle number density is estimated within the range 0.7–1.0×10^22 cm^−2 . This numerical estimate is consistent with estimates from X-ray and radio observations. In addition, multi-frequency VLBI studies from 1.5 GHz to 86 GHz trace the absorbing effect of this torus, which covers large parts of the western, receding jet. It results in an emission gap between both jets whose size decreases with increasing frequency. Observations and simulations draw a consistent picture of the frequency-dependent thermal absorption of the non-thermal particles in the jet due to the optically thick structure. The torus only has a very small impact on the 43 GHz emission (and higher frequencies). Both jets are extremely straight and unresolved, however, there is a slight change in the western jet direction at about 2 milliarcseconds, which cannot be observed in the eastern jet. This kind of structure can only be explained by asymmetries, intrinsic to the jet or arising from interactions with the ambient medium

Les revers de l'armée américaine dans la Guerre d'Afghanistan : le cas de la Kounar

A trois ans du retrait annoncé des troupes américaines, le mouvement Taliban s’est implanté dans l’ensemble de l’Afghanistan. Le cas de la province orientale de la Kounar suggère l’importance du rôle l’armée américaine dans l’échec de l’intervention occidentale qui se profile. En s’impliquant dans des disputes et des rivalités entre individus, et en imposant sur ces litiges une grille de lecture tribale, les militaires américains ont exacerbé la conflictualité locale et se sont aliéné les habitants de la Kounar. A l’opposé des discours sur « les coeurs et les esprits », la conduite américaine de la guerre en Afghanistan ne tient pas compte de la population et des dynamiques politiques du pays.Three years prior to the withdrawal of the American troops, the Taliban insurgency is continuously making progress throughout Afghanistan. The case of the Eastern Kunar province suggests that the American army largely contributed to the looming failure of the Western intervention. By involving itself in the disputes and the rivalries between individuals, and by imposing on those quarrels a tribal interpretation, the American soldiers have exacerbated local conflicts and alienated the inhabitants of Kunar. Contrary to the narrative on “hearts and minds”, the American conduct of the war in Afghanistan disregards the population and the political dynamics of the country

Gouvernance internationalisée en situation de guerre civile : l’accaparement foncier en Afghanistan (2001-2015)

Loin d’être le résultat d’une supposée culture ou d’une relation particulière à l’État, la prédation économique en Afghanistan découle de l’insertion des réseaux d’entrepreneurs politico-militaires dans une gouvernance internationalisée conjointement produite par les acteurs de l’intervention occidentale et le régime de Hamid Karzai. Ces entrepreneurs profitent d’une logique situationnelle inflationniste et spéculative autour du foncier, qui s’inscrit dans un processus plus long de désenchâssement des ressources foncières engagé dans les années 1960 et 1970 et que la guerre civile a accéléré à partir de 1979. Le régime de Karzai et ses soutiens étrangers sont au cœur de cette nouvelle économie politique qui, en l’absence de régulation, permet à un petit nombre de s’accaparer les revenus de l’aide et de la terre. Ainsi ces entrepreneurs peuvent-ils s’enrichir hors de tout circuit de réciprocité, en redistribuant à leur clientèle une portion congrue de la manne qu’ils placent à l’étranger. Cette gouvernance internationalisée s’inscrit en rupture avec l’histoire de l’État afghan qui, depuis la fin du XIXe siècle, s’est imposé en régulant la redistribution de la terre.Internationalized governance in civil war: the Afghanistan land grabs (2001-2015) - Economic predation in Afghanistan is not the product of a supposed national culture or a specific relationship to the state. Instead, it stems from networks of Afghan politicians and the military opportunistically profiting from the system of internationalized governance that integrated actors of Western intervention with the Hamid Karzai regime. Afghan politico-military entrepreneurs exploited the inflationist, speculative trends in land ownership that began with the land resource disembedding of the 1960s and 70s and that accelerated with the civil war starting in 1979. Karzai’s regime and its foreign supporters are at the core of this new, unregulated political economy that let a small group of Afghans monopolize international aid and land revenues. The members of this group enriched themselves outside any circuits of reciprocity. They sequestered their gains, minus paltry amounts doled out to hangers-on, outside the country. This dynamic under a system of internationalized governance was unprecedented for the Afghan state, which, since the late nineteenth century, had ruled by regulating the redistribution of land

Location Conditions in East Germany and in Poland from the Point of View of the Companies

A joint research project at the European University Viadrina, DIW Berlin and the Polish Academy of Science has investigated how companies assess their locational conditions and whether there is a relationship between location attributes and the company performance. In both countries the majority of companies assessed the same location attributes as being important or unimportant for the company's performance. Some remarkable differences were found in the evaluation of locational quality. In both countries, the supply of skilled employees is deemed to be the most important quality criterion of a location, and the current situation regarding this location factor is assessed as satisfactory. The companies in Poland more often evaluate the supply of training and qualification facilities as important compared to companies in East Germany, and the availability is assessed as good in both regions. Less important are traffic conditions. This is-not unexpectedly-assessed worse by Polish companies compared to the East German ones. The support by chambers of commerce is more often important for the Polish companies compared to East German ones. This potentially reflects the different importance of commercial authorities in both countries. Local administration is on average rated worse by the East German companies compared to Polish counterparts

Standortbedingungen in Ostdeutschland und Polen aus Sicht der Unternehmen

Die Europa-Universität Viadrina, Frankfurt (Oder), hat zusammen mit dem DIW Berlin und dem Institut für Wirtschaftswissenschaften der Polnischen Akademie der Wissenschaft, Warschau, untersucht, wie die Unternehmen in Polen und in Ostdeutschland die Bedingungen an ihrem Standort bewerten und ob Zusammenhänge zwischen den Standorteigenschaften und dem Wirtschaftsergebnis der Unternehmen bestehen. Von den in die Untersuchung einbezogenen Standortmerkmalen werden in beiden Gebieten zumeist die gleichen für die Entwicklung der Unternehmen mehrheitlich als besonders wichtig oder als eher unwichtig eingestuft. Einige auffällige Unterschiede zeigen sich jedoch bei der Bewertung der jeweiligen Ausstattung. Für die meisten Unternehmen beider Gebiete zählt das Arbeitskräfteangebot zu den wichtigen Gütekriterien eines Standortes, und die jeweilige Situation wird als zufriedenstellend bewertet. Dabei stufen die Unternehmen in Polen Angebote zur Qualifizierung der Arbeitskräfte öfter als die in Ostdeutschland als besonders wichtig ein, die Angebote werden in beiden Regionen überwiegend als positiv eingeschätzt. Nicht ganz so wichtig ist die Verkehrsanbindung. Sie wird jedoch - nicht unerwartet - von den polnischen Unternehmen als erheblich schlechter eingestuft als von den ostdeutschen. Die Unterstützung durch die örtliche Verwaltung ist den polnischen Unternehmen hingegen deutlich häufiger wichtig als den ostdeutschen. Hierin kommen möglicherweise auch unterschiedliche Rollen der wirtschaftlichen Instanzen zum Ausdruck. Die ostdeutschen Unternehmen geben ihrer örtlichen Verwaltung deutlich schlechtere Noten als die polnischen Unternehmen

Juger en situation de guerre civile. Les cours de justice Taleban en Afghanistan (2001-2013)

Depuis 2001, l’insurrection Taleban s’implante en Afghanistan dans le contexte d’une guerre civile qui a pour caractéristique d’amener la politisation croissante des conflits privés. Par la mise en place de cours de justice, les Taleban sont parvenus à déborder les lignes de clivage qui se manifestent dans les conflits privés et s’efforcent, dans le même mouvement, d’objectiver le mouvement armé et le caractère national de sa cause. Ainsi, ces cours de justice Taleban, par leur accessibilité pour la population en même temps que par la manifestation de leur efficacité, ont permis à l’insurrection d’étendre son assise sociale par-delà les frontières ethniques et tribales. Le cas Taleban suggère ainsi que, dans une situation de guerre civile, l’établissement d’institutions judiciaires se présente comme un élément du répertoire stratégique, la capacité de juger étant un élément déterminant pour s’affirmer comme unité politique contre les revendications concurrentes d’appropriation du monopole étatique.Judging in the Midst of Civil War. The Taliban Courts in Afghanistan (2001–2013) - Since 2001, the Taliban insurgency in Afghanistan has been gaining momentum in a civil war characterized by the growing politicization of private conflicts. By establishing courts, the Taliban have managed to override the social and identity divides apparent in private disputes while striving to objectivize the armed movement and the national scope of its cause. Through their accessibility for the population and their proven effectiveness, the Taliban courts have enabled the insurgency to expand its social base across ethnic and tribal boundaries. The Taliban case suggests that in a situation of civil war, the establishment of judicial institutions is a component in a strategic repertoire and that the ability to judge is a decisive factor for an insurgency seeking to establish itself as a political authority against competing claims to appropriate the state’s monopoly

Briser la guillotine. Une amnistie thermidorienne

Le 26 octobre 1795 (4 brumaire an IV), la Convention nationale proclame l’amnistie pour « les faits purement relatifs à la révolution ». Acte solennel par lequel la Convention achève sa mission, cette amnistie se présente sous un triple aspect : d’une part, elle est l’aboutissement d’un projet politique, celui de terminer la Révolution; d’autre part, elle est le produit des circonstances, en particulier, de l’écrasement sanglant de l’insurrection parisienne encadrée par des royalistes (5 octobre 1795, 13 vendémiaire an IV); finalement, elle est l’œuvre d’un homme, P.C.L. Baudin, conventionnel, député des Ardennes. Imaginée comme acte symbolique fort, l’amnistie est également pensée comme mesure politique indispensable : abolissant la peine capitale et vidant les prisons, elle tournerait la page à la fois de la Terreur et de la répression anti-terroriste. Toutefois la rhétorique thermidorienne s’est avérée plus généreuse que l’acte même de l’amnistie. On trouvera le rapport de Baudin à la Convention en annexe de l’article.On 26 October 1795 (4 Brumaire, Year IV), the National Convention proclaimed an amnesty for « acts strictly related to the revolution ». This amnesty – a solemn decision by which the Convention put an end to its mission – had three key elements : first, it achieved the political project of terminating the Revolution; second, it was a product of circumstances, in particular, the bloody crackdown of the royalist revolt in Paris on 5 October 1795 (13 Vendémiaire, year IV); and finally, it was the work of a single member of the Convention, the deputy of the Ardennes, P.C.L. Baudin. Conceived as a strong symbolic act, this amnesty was also designed to be a significant political move : by abolishing capital punishment and emptying the prisons, it was expected simultaneously to bring an end to both the Terror and anti-terrorist repression. Thermidorian rhetoric, however, proved more generous than the actual amnesty. Baudin’s report to the Convention is appended to the article

Postcranial anatomy and osteoderm histology of Riojasuchus tenuisceps and a phylogenetic update on Ornithosuchidae (Archosauria, Pseudosuchia)

Ornithosuchidae is a group of terrestrial quadrupedal pseudosuchian archosaurs from the Late Triassic of South America and Europe. Riojasuchus tenuisceps is arguably one of the best representative species of this clade because it comprises very well-preserved three-dimensional, almost complete skeletons. However, R. tenuisceps was originally described 50 years ago and compared then only with Ornithosuchus woodwardi and their affinities were discussed in detail. Here, we provide a detailed description of the postcranial skeleton of R. tenuisceps, which exhibits several remarkable features within pseudosuchians. When a wide spectrum of pseudosuchian archosaurs are considered, the alleged character that linked ornithosuchids with dinosaurs resulted in convergences and some were registered in other pseudosuchian groups as well. Riojasuchus tenuisceps also provided crucial information about the ‘crocodile-reversed’ tarsus, which is a unique feature of ornithosuchids, but it is not completely preserved in O. woodwardi and it is unknown in Venaticosuchus rusconii. In addition, the first histological analysis of cervical and dorsal osteoderms of R. tenuisceps was carried out as well, in order to test the utility of these structures as skeletochronological tools. Finally, the phylogenetic context of Ornithosuchidae is discussed based on the latest phylogenetic studies, which show a close affinity with Erpetosuchidae.Fil: Von Baczko, Belen. Universidad Nacional de La Plata. Facultad de Ciencias Naturales y Museo. División Paleontología Vertebrados; Argentina. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Conicet - La Plata; ArgentinaFil: Desojo, Julia Brenda. Universidad Nacional de La Plata. Facultad de Ciencias Naturales y Museo. División Paleontología Vertebrados; Argentina. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Conicet - La Plata; ArgentinaFil: Ponce, Denis Alejandro. Universidad Nacional de Río Negro; Argentina. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Conicet - Patagonia Norte. Instituto de Investigación en Paleobiología y Geología; Argentin

Legal Rule and Tribal Politics: The US Army and the Taliban in Afghanistan (2001–13)

This article investigates the implications of two competing modes of governance, those of the US Army and the Taliban, through the lens of the relations between property, citizenship and political authority in Kunar, Afghanistan, between 2001 and 2013. To account for the political struggle in the province, the author outlines two models of governance: a political one based on mediation and conciliation, which the US Army applied; and a legal one promoting direct relations between the rulers and the ruled, upheld by the Taliban. After looking at the political dynamics in Kunar since the nineteenth century and since 2001, I argue that it is paradoxically the Taliban that placed itself in continuity with the state, while the US Army played tribal politics and undermined the legitimacy of the regime it had helped to install in Kabul. Kunar is a case of an armed confrontation in which different militarized groups compete to impose their rule by controlling space and access to landed property