Vegetation history and climatic fluctuations on a transect along the Dead Sea west shore and impact on past societies over the last 3500 years.

This study represents the vegetation history of the last 3500 years and conducts an analysis of the climatic fluctuations on a 75 km long transect on the western Dead Sea shore. Palynological and sedimentological data are available from six cores near Mount Sedom, Ein Boqueq, and Ein Gedi and from outcrops near Ze'elim and Ein Feshkha. The comparison of the pollen data with the lake levels shows synchronous trends. During the Middle Bronze Age, Iron Age and Hellenistic to Byzantine Period the high lake level of the Dead Sea signals an increase in precipitation. Contemporaneously, values of cultivated plants indicate an increase in agriculture. Lake level is low during the Late Bronze Age, within the Iron Age and at the end of the Byzantine period, indicating dry periods when all pds show a decrease of cultivated plants. Forest regeneration led by drought-resistant pines is observed in all pollen diagrams (pds) following the agricultural decline in the Byzantine period and, in the pds near Ein Boqeq, Ze'elim and Ein Feshkha, during the late Iron Age. The modern vegetation gradient is reflected in the palaeo-records: a stronger expansion of Mediterranean vegetation and cultivated plants in the northern sites is recognisable

Critical Behavior of Light

Light is shown to exhibit critical and tricritical behavior in passive mode-locked lasers with externally injected pulses. It is a first and unique example of critical phenomena in a one-dimensional many body light-mode system. The phase diagrams consist of regimes with continuous wave, driven para-pulses, spontaneous pulses via mode condensation, and heterogeneous pulses, separated by phase transition lines which terminate with critical or tricritical points. Enhanced nongaussian fluctuations and collective dynamics are observed at the critical and tricritical points, showing a mode system analog of the critical opalescence phenomenon. The critical exponents are calculated and shown to comply with the mean field theory, which is rigorous in the light system.Comment: RevTex, 5 pages, 3 figure

Fire, climate and the origins of agriculture: micro-charcoal records of biomass burning during the Last Glacial Interglacial Transition in Southwest Asia

This study investigates changes in climate, vegetation, wildfire and human activity in Southwest Asia during the transition to Neolithic agriculture between ca. 16 and ca. 9 ka. In order to trace the fire history of this region, we use microscopic charcoal from lake sediment sequences, and present two new records: one from south central Turkey (Akgo¨ l) and the other from the southern Levant (Hula). These are interpreted primarily as the result of regional-scale fire events, with the exception of a single large event ca. 13 ka at Akgo¨ l, which phytolith analysis shows was the result of burning of the local marsh vegetation. Comparison between these and other regional micro-charcoal, stable isotope and pollen records shows that wildfires were least frequent when the climate was cold and dry (glacial, Lateglacial Stadial) and the vegetation dominated by chenopod–Artemisia steppe, and that they became more frequent and/or bigger at times of warmer, wetter but seasonally dry climate (Lateglacial Interstadial, early Holocene). Warmer and wetter climates caused an increase in biomass availability, with woody matter appearing to provide the main fuel source in sites from the Levant, while grass fires predominated in the interior uplands of Anatolia. Southwest Asia’s grasslands reached their greatest extent during the early Holocene, and they were maintained by dry-season burning that helped to delay the spread of woodland by up to 3 ka, at the same time as Neolithic settlement became established across this grass parkland landscape. Although climatic changes appear to have acted as the principal ‘pacemaker’ for fire activity through the last glacial–interglacial climatic transition (LGIT), human actions may have amplified shifts in biomass burning. Fire regimes therefore changed markedly during this time period, and both influenced, and were influenced by, the cultural-economic transition from hunter-foraging to agriculture and village lif

Eastern Mediterranean Mobility in the Bronze and Early Iron Ages: Inferences from Ancient DNA of Pigs and Cattle

The Late Bronze of the Eastern Mediterranean (1550-1150 BCE) was a period of strong commercial relations and great prosperity, which ended in collapse and migration of groups to the Levant. Here we aim at studying the translocation of cattle and pigs during this period. We sequenced the first ancient mitochondrial and Y chromosome DNA of cattle from Greece and Israel and compared the results with morphometric analysis of the metacarpal in cattle. We also increased previous ancient pig DNA datasets from Israel and extracted the first mitochondrial DNA for samples from Greece. We found that pigs underwent a complex translocation history, with links between Anatolia with southeastern Europe in the Bronze Age, and movement from southeastern Europe to the Levant in the Iron I (ca. 1150-950 BCE). Our genetic data did not indicate movement of cattle between the Aegean region and the southern Levant. We detected the earliest evidence for crossbreeding between taurine and zebu cattle in the Iron IIA (ca. 900 BCE). In light of archaeological and historical evidence on Egyptian imperial domination in the region in the Late Bronze Age, we suggest that Egypt attempted to expand dry farming in the region in a period of severe droughts

Flexible Working, Individual Performance and Employee Attitudes: Comparing Formal and Informal Arrangements

In the context of a wider trend to individualize HRM, this paper examines the relationship between flexible working arrangements and individual performance. Drawing on a range of theories, it examines potential indirect effects on employee performance via job satisfaction and organizational commitment and analyses whether these relationships vary according to whether the arrangement was set up through a formal process, or negotiated informally between the employee and their line manager. Extant research has tended to focus on formal arrangements, however, informal arrangements are widespread and may better accommodate work-life preferences, thereby potentially fostering more positive attitudes from employees. Survey data from 2617 employees in four large organizations with well-established flexible working policies are analysed. Results from structural equation models show average positive indirect effects from informal, but also negative direct effects, from formal flexible working. When two forms of flexible working amenable to being set up by both formal and informal means are examined separately: formal arrangements for flexibility over working hours are found to be negatively associated with performance, but also a source of greater job satisfaction; informal remote working arrangements have positive indirect effects via organizational commitment and job satisfaction on worker performance

Life satisfaction and risk of burnout among men and women working as physiotherapists

Objectives: Recently in Poland as a result of the high rate of aging population and high rates of morbidity, a growing demand for the physiotherapist profession is observed. The results of this study can be used to formulate principles for better organization of physiotherapist's workplace in order to prevent occurrence of burnout. The aim of this study is to investigate the effect of gender on satisfaction with life and burnout among active physiotherapists. Material and Methods: The survey was anonymous and voluntary, and involved a group of 200 active physiotherapists working in health care units and educational centers in Poland. The study group was selected randomly and incidentally. Each respondent received a demographic data sheet and a set of self-rating questionnaires (Life Satisfaction Questionnaire, Burnout Scale Inventory). Results: Burnout among men decreased along with increasing satisfaction with one's work and occupation, friends, relatives and acquaintances, sexuality, and increased due to greater satisfaction with one's housing status. Burnout among women decreased along with increasing satisfaction with one's health, free time and friends, relatives and acquaintances, and increased due to work at a setting other than a health care unit or educational center. Statistical analysis failed to reveal any significant differences with regard to the BSI domains and with regard to the overall burnout index as well as with regard to the assessment of satisfaction with life between female and male physiotherapists. Conclusions: Satisfaction with children, marriage and partnership, with one's work and occupation, interactions with friends, relatives and acquaintances and sexuality may contribute to reduction of burnout among men. Women who are satisfied with their children, family, health, free time and contacts with friends, relatives and acquaintances are less prone to burnout. Weak financial situation among women and deficiency of free time among men can induce burnout. Improving staff happiness may contribute to decreasing burnout

Lethality and Developmental Delay in Drosophila melanogaster Larvae after Ingestion of Selected Pseudomonas fluorescens Strains

The fruit fly, Drosophila melanogaster, is a well-established model organism for probing the molecular and cellular basis of physiological and immune system responses of adults or late stage larvae to bacterial challenge. However, very little is known about the consequences of bacterial infections that occur in earlier stages of development. We have infected mid-second instar larvae with strains of Pseudomonas fluorescens to determine how infection alters the ability of larvae to survive and complete development.We mimicked natural routes of infection using a non-invasive feeding procedure to study the toxicity of the three sequenced P. fluorescens strains (Pf0-1, SBW25, and Pf-5) to Drosophila melanogaster. Larvae fed with the three strains of P. fluorescens showed distinct differences in developmental trajectory and survival. Treatment with SBW25 caused a subset of insects to die concomitant with a systemic melanization reaction at larval, pupal or adult stages. Larvae fed with Pf-5 died in a dose-dependent manner with adult survivors showing eye and wing morphological defects. In addition, larvae in the Pf-5 treatment groups showed a dose-dependent delay in the onset of metamorphosis relative to control-, Pf0-1-, and SBW25-treated larvae. A functional gacA gene is required for the toxic properties of wild-type Pf-5 bacteria.These experiments are the first to demonstrate that ingestion of P. fluorescens bacteria by D. melanogaster larvae causes both lethal and non-lethal phenotypes, including delay in the onset of metamorphosis and morphological defects in surviving adult flies, which can be decoupled

Hormone Therapy and the Risk of Breast Cancer in BRCA1 Mutation Carriers

Background: Hormone therapy (HT) is commonly given to women to alleviate the climacteric symptoms associated with menopause. There is concern that this treatment may increase the risk of breast cancer. The potential association of HT and breast cancer risk is of particular interest to women who carry a mutation in BRCA1 because they face a high lifetime risk of breast cancer and because many of these women take HT after undergoing prophylactic surgical oophorectomy at a young age. Methods: We conducted a matched case-control study of 472 postmenopausal women with a BRCA1 mutation to examine whether or not the use of HT is associated with subsequent risk of breast cancer. Breast cancer case patients and control subjects were matched with respect to age, age at menopause, and type of menopause (surgical or natural). Odds ratios (ORs) and 95% confidence intervals (CIs) were estimated with conditional logistic regression. Statistical tests were two-sided. Results: In this group of BRCA1 mutation carriers, the adjusted OR for breast cancer associated with ever use of HT compared with never use was 0.58 (95% CI = 0.35 to 0.96; P =. 03). In analyses by type of HT, an inverse association with breast cancer risk was observed with use of estrogen only (OR = 0.51, 95% CI = 0.27 to 0.98; P =. 04); the association with use of estrogen plus progesterone was not statistically significant (OR = 0.66, 95% CI = 0.34 to 1.27; P =. 21). Conclusion: Among postmenopausal women with a BRCA1 mutation, HT use was not associated with increased risk of breast cancer; indeed, in this population, it was associated with a decreased risk