The Mongolian View of the Cosmos and the Spirit in the Early Modern Times

現代モンゴル人は､大抵が人は死ぬとまた生まれ変わることができるという輪廻転生の観念をもっている。この生まれ変わる段階で何に生まれ変わるか､あるいはどのような人物に生まれ変わるか､または六道輪廻から解脱するかはその人のガルマ (善悪の業困)によって決定されると信じられている｡従ってその世界観が天界､地下界､ (地獄)中間界などに分かれるのである｡ この明らかな仏教的思想をモンゴルの人々が本格的に受け入れ始めたのは､いまから430年ぐらい前のことである｡この歴史も長そうではあるが､北方民族やモンゴル民族の歴史に比較すると､まだ浅いものだといえる｡ では､こうした仏教的宇宙観や霊魂観を受け入れる前､あるいは仏教の流れが行き届かなかった辺境地のモンゴル人社会ではどのような世界観がみられるのかを考察する必要がある｡チベット仏教がモンゴルに流入し始めたのは､西部では1570年代で､東部では1620年代のことである｡｢ハイシッヒ1998など｣モンゴル帝国時代には､チベット仏教を始めとする多くの宗教がモンゴルを改宗しようと努力した様子はあったが､モンゴル本土 (原任地モンゴル高原)にはそれほど浸透しなかったのである｡一時フビライ･ハーンがチベット仏教サキヤ派を信仰し､バクパ･ラマを国師にしてモンゴルの貴族たちを仏教化する時代はあったが､これもモンゴル帝国の崩壊によって､モンゴルへの影響が失われたといえる｡中国から北の本土 (モンゴル高原)へと追放された人々は仏教を持ち帰ることができず､再びシャマニズムを信仰するようになった｢エルデムト2001など｣｡そのため北元時代の人々もシャマニズムを信仰し､昔同様な世界観と霊魂観をもっていたと考えられる｡ しかし現在では､モンゴル･シャマニズムの宇宙観や霊魂観に対する説明は非常に複雑な様子をみせている｡仏教あるいは他の宗教の影響で古代モンゴル人の持っていた宇宙観や霊魂観が徐々に薄れて行き､仏教的宇宙観や霊魂観と混在した状態といえる｡こうした中､一部のシャマンあるいは研究者でさえ､この混在した様子から抜け出せずにモンゴル･シャマニズムの宇宙観や霊魂観に対する 誤った説明を行っていると思われる｡ それはつまりシャマニズムに地獄が作られたり､地下界があったり､あるいはシャマンの霊魂が生まれ変わるなどといった解釈である｡しかしこれらは明らかに仏教寄りの世界観であって､シャマニズム本来の独自性を表すことができていないようである｡ またたとえばモンゴル帝国時代のモンゴル軍の強さを分析した研究にしても､従来はほとんどがモンゴル人の騎馬民族的性格からの研究や軍の組織への研究または兵術や兵器の研究などによって説明が試みられる｡しかし実際モンゴル人の宇宙観や霊魂観などの内心的なものがどのように影響していたかに対する研究は､世界またはモンゴルにおいても余り行われていないようである｡では､以下いくつかの物語や研究などから当時のモンゴル人の宇宙観や霊魂観を考察してみよう

Coordinating technician allocation and maintenance routing for offshore wind farms

A maintenance activity at offshore wind farms requires a combination of technicians with different skills. At an operational level, it is important to fully utilize and coordinate technicians in order to increase efficiency of the short-term maintenance planning. In this paper, we investigate sharing of technicians between wind farms over multiple periods, while determining per period vessel routes for delivering and picking up technicians. The problem can be considered as a novel variant of the multi-period multi-commodity pick up and delivery problem. We develop an adaptive large neighborhood search heuristic which achieves high-quality, and often optimal, solutions on benchmark instances from the literature. The heuristic is used to explore the benefits of different sharing policies. By sharing technicians, both the flexibility of the daily planning is improved and the expected maintenance costs are reduced. In addition, the increased flexibility results in fewer vessel trips and increases the decision maker’s ability to cope with extreme scenarios encountered in the short-term maintenance planning

The effect of portable HEPA filter air cleaners on indoor PM2.5 concentrations and second hand tobacco smoke exposure among pregnant women in Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia: The UGAAR randomized controlled trial

Background Portable HEPA filter air cleaners can reduce indoor fine particulate matter (PM2.5), but their use has not been adequately evaluated in high pollution settings. We assessed air cleaner effectiveness in reducing indoor residential PM2.5 and second hand smoke (SHS) exposures among non-smoking pregnant women in Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia. Methods We randomized 540 participants to an intervention group receiving 1 or 2 HEPA filter air cleaners or a control group receiving no air cleaners. We followed 259 intervention and 253 control participants to the end of pregnancy. We measured one-week indoor residential PM2.5 concentrations in early (~11weeks gestation) and late (~31weeks gestation) pregnancy and collected outdoor PM2.5 data from centrally-located government monitors. We assessed blood cadmium in late pregnancy. Hair nicotine was quantified in a subset (n=125) to evaluate blood cadmium as a biomarker of SHS exposure. We evaluated air cleaner effectiveness using mixed effects and multiple linear regression models and used stratified models and interaction terms to evaluate potential modifiers of effectiveness. Results The overall geometric mean (GM) one-week outdoor PM2.5 concentration was 47.9?g/m3 (95% CI: 44.6, 51.6?g/m3), with highest concentrations in winter (118.0?g/m3; 110.4, 126.2?g/m3). One-week indoor and outdoor PM2.5 concentrations were correlated (r=0.69). Indoor PM2.5 concentrations were 29% (21, 37%) lower in intervention versus control apartments, with GMs of 17.3?g/m3 (15.8, 18.8?g/m3) and 24.5?g/m3 (22.2, 27.0?g/m3), respectively. Air cleaner effectiveness was greater when air cleaners were first deployed (40%; 31, 48%) than after approximately five months of use (15%; 0, 27%). Blood cadmium concentrations were 14% (4, 23%) lower among intervention participants, likely due to reduced SHS exposure. Conclusions Portable HEPA filter air cleaners can lower indoor PM2.5 concentrations and SHS exposures in highly polluted settings.Canadian Institute of Health Research (MOP 142380)Simon Fraser University, Faculty of Health Sciences (Mowafaghian Child Health Faculty Award

A wild derived quantitative trait locus on mouse chromosome 2 prevents obesity

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>The genetic architecture of multifactorial traits such as obesity has been poorly understood. Quantitative trait locus (QTL) analysis is widely used to localize loci affecting multifactorial traits on chromosomal regions. However, large confidence intervals and small phenotypic effects of identified QTLs and closely linked loci are impeding the identification of causative genes that underlie the QTLs. Here we developed five subcongenic mouse strains with overlapping and non-overlapping wild-derived genomic regions from an F2 intercross of a previously developed congenic strain, B6.Cg-<it>Pbwg1</it>, and its genetic background strain, C57BL/6J (B6). The subcongenic strains developed were phenotyped on low-fat standard chow and a high-fat diet to fine-map a previously identified obesity QTL. Microarray analysis was performed with Affymetrix GeneChips to search for candidate genes of the QTL.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>The obesity QTL was physically mapped to an 8.8-Mb region of mouse chromosome 2. The wild-derived allele significantly decreased white fat pad weight, body weight and serum levels of glucose and triglyceride. It was also resistant to the high-fat diet. Among 29 genes residing within the 8.8-Mb region, <it>Gpd2, Upp2, Acvr1c, March7 </it>and <it>Rbms1 </it>showed great differential expression in livers and/or gonadal fat pads between B6.Cg-<it>Pbwg1 </it>and B6 mice.</p> <p>Conclusions</p> <p>The wild-derived QTL allele prevented obesity in both mice fed a low-fat standard diet and mice fed a high-fat diet. This finding will pave the way for identification of causative genes for obesity. A further understanding of this unique QTL effect at genetic and molecular levels may lead to the discovery of new biological and pathologic pathways associated with obesity.</p

A Novel Mouse Synaptonemal Complex Protein Is Essential for Loading of Central Element Proteins, Recombination, and Fertility

The synaptonemal complex (SC) is a proteinaceous, meiosis-specific structure that is highly conserved in evolution. During meiosis, the SC mediates synapsis of homologous chromosomes. It is essential for proper recombination and segregation of homologous chromosomes, and therefore for genome haploidization. Mutations in human SC genes can cause infertility. In order to gain a better understanding of the process of SC assembly in a model system that would be relevant for humans, we are investigating meiosis in mice. Here, we report on a newly identified component of the murine SC, which we named SYCE3. SYCE3 is strongly conserved among mammals and localizes to the central element (CE) of the SC. By generating a Syce3 knockout mouse, we found that SYCE3 is required for fertility in both sexes. Loss of SYCE3 blocks synapsis initiation and results in meiotic arrest. In the absence of SYCE3, initiation of meiotic recombination appears to be normal, but its progression is severely impaired resulting in complete absence of MLH1 foci, which are presumed markers of crossovers in wild-type meiocytes. In the process of SC assembly, SYCE3 is required downstream of transverse filament protein SYCP1, but upstream of the other previously described CE–specific proteins. We conclude that SYCE3 enables chromosome loading of the other CE–specific proteins, which in turn would promote synapsis between homologous chromosomes

The two-echelon vehicle routing problem with covering options: City logistics with cargo bikes and parcel lockers

We introduce the two-echelon vehicle routing problem with covering options (2E-VRP-CO). This problem arises in sustainable applications for e-commerce and city distribution. In the first echelon, trucks depart from a single depot and transport goods to two types of locations. At covering locations, such as parcel lockers, customers can pick up goods themselves. At satellite locations, goods are transferred to zero-emission vehicles (such as cargo bikes) that deliver to customers. If desired, customers can indicate their choice for delivery. The 2E-VRP-CO aims at finding cost-minimizing solutions by selecting locations and routes to serve all customers. We present a compact mixed integer programming formulation and an efficient and tailored adaptive large neighborhood search heuristic that provides high-quality, and often optimal, solutions to the 2E-VRP-CO. The 2E-VRP-CO has as special cases the two-echelon vehicle routing problem, and the simultaneous facility location and vehicle routing problem without duration constraints. On these special cases, for which our heuristic predominantly solves the established benchmark instances either to optimality or to the best-known solution, our heuristic finds three new best-known solutions. Moreover, we introduce a new set of benchmark instances for the 2E-VRP-CO and provide managerial insights when distribution via both satellite and covering locations is most beneficial. Our results indicate that customers in the same area are best-served either via cargo-bikes or parcel lockers (i.e., not both), and that the use of parcel lockers has a great potential to reduce driving distance

The two-echelon vehicle routing problem with covering options:City logistics with cargo bikes and parcel lockers

We introduce the two-echelon vehicle routing problem with covering options (2E-VRP-CO). This problem arises in sustainable applications for e-commerce and city distribution. In the first echelon, trucks depart from a single depot and transport goods to two types of locations. At covering locations, such as parcel lockers, customers can pick up goods themselves. At satellite locations, goods are transferred to zero-emission vehicles (such as cargo bikes) that deliver to customers. If desired, customers can indicate their choice for delivery. The 2E-VRP-CO aims at finding cost-minimizing solutions by selecting locations and routes to serve all customers. We present a compact mixed integer programming formulation and an efficient and tailored adaptive large neighborhood search heuristic that provides high-quality, and often optimal, solutions to the 2E-VRP-CO. The 2E-VRP-CO has as special cases the two-echelon vehicle routing problem, and the simultaneous facility location and vehicle routing problem without duration constraints. On these special cases, for which our heuristic predominantly solves the established benchmark instances either to optimality or to the best-known solution, our heuristic finds three new best-known solutions. Moreover, we introduce a new set of benchmark instances for the 2E-VRP-CO and provide managerial insights when distribution via both satellite and covering locations is most beneficial. Our results indicate that customers in the same area are best-served either via cargo-bikes or parcel lockers (i.e., not both), and that the use of parcel lockers has a great potential to reduce driving distance

Late Pleistocene slip rate of the Hoh Serh-Tsagaan Salaa fault system, Mongolian Altai and intracontinental deformation in central Asia

The Mongolian Altai is an intracontinental oblique contractional orogen related to the far-field effects of the Indo-Asian collision. Global Positioning System (GPS) data suggest that ~10-15 per cent of total Indo-Asia convergence is accommodated across this orogen. The Höh Serh-Tsagaan Salaa fault system is one of several NNW-SSE-trending oblique contractional faults acting to partition strain and accommodate shortening and dextral shear in the Mongolian Altai. This fault zone displaces late Pleistocene alluvium along the southwest piedmont of the Höh Serh range in western Mongolia. Along the central third of the fault zone, strain is partitioned onto two separate strands, one that accommodates nearly pure dextral shear and one that accommodates thrust motion. We determined late Pleistocene rates of deformation along each of the Höh Serh-Tsagaan Salaa fault strands based on differential GPS surveys and cosmogenic nuclide 10Be geochronology. Combining the measured offsets and 10Be dates yields a minimum right-lateral slip rate of 0.9 +0.2/-0.1 mm a-1; the minimum shortening rate is 0.3 ± 0.1 mm a-1, with uplift of at least 0.1 ± 0.1 mm a-1. Resolving the shortening and dextral components of deformation yields a slip vector of 0.8 +0.2/-0.1 mm a-1 toward 336°. This long-term deformation vector is consistent with the short-term strain field determined by GPS in the region and indicates that ~20 per cent of Indo-Asian deformation in the Mongolian Altai (~2 per cent of the total Indo-Asia strain accumulation) occurs along the Höh Serh-Tsagaan Salaa fault zone. Although rate data for other active faults in the Mongolian Altai are sparse, our results suggest that strain may be accommodated almost exclusively on discrete structures in this intraplate tectonic setting. © 2010 The Authors Geophysical Journal International © 2010 RAS