When one country's land gain is another country's land loss...: The social, ecological and economic dimensions of sand extraction in the context of world-systems analysis exemplified by Singapore's sand imports

Singapore industrialised rapidly with continuously high growth rates since its independence in 1965 and its population during the same period of time almost tripled. With development at this scale, Singapore had to grow in number of industrial and residential buildings as well as in size through land reclamations; both requiring high amounts of sand. The country itself contains hardly any natural resources and, consequently, depends highly on other countries (mainly Malaysia, Indonesia, Cambodia and Vietnam) for its sand supply. All major sand supplying countries successively prohibited sand exports to Singapore beginning in 1997, since they were burdened with the social and economic costs that resulted from sand extraction. World-systems theory helps to explain the sand situation within the framework of the core/periphery hierarchy and the zero-sum game world-systems approach by arguing that Singapore, being an upper semi-peripheral country, could develop rapidly at the expense of the other countries which are found below Singapore in the core/periphery concept. Furthermore, it is shown that Singapore's resource strategy of importing large quantities of sand has helped its upward movement from a peripheral to an upper semi-peripheral country

Religiöser Wandel in muslimischen Gesellschaften

Processes of individualization in Egypt, Iran, Lebanon, Senegal and Tunisia are central to current social dynamics and form the key theme of the present volume. The central question is how social transformations inform the field of the religious and how processes of religious change likewise have an impact on social change. The contributions in this volume focus in particular on the realities of life for women from urban middle-class milieus. They show how women’s efforts to shape one's individual life may run counter to established social and religious norms. While analyzing milieu-specific dynamics, particular attention is devoted to the question how processes of social and religious change become manifest in both gender and generational relations. Western ideals of modernity, globalized discourses and respective leisure/fashion-practices as well as expressions of individualized lifestyles have an impact on dynamics of social and religious change and are discussed in this volume in specific religious as well as non-religious social contexts

Detektierbarkeit der Thrombuslast beim akuten Schlaganfall anhand dünnschichtiger Schnittbildkonstsruktionen am Multizeilen-Computertomographen

Die Arbeit beschäftigt sich mit dem direkten Nachweis eines Thrombus beim akuten Schlaganfall. Anhand einer Interobserverstudie konnte eine hohe Sensitivität bei hoher Spezifität bei der Erkennung des Arterienhyperdensitätszeichens durch die dünnschichtige Rekonstruktion der CT-Bilder nachgewiesen werden. Ein direkter Nachweis der Thrombuslast ist möglich. Bei der quantitativen Messung der Thrombuslast sollte auf die Berechnung der Thrombuslänge zurückgegriffen werden

Predicting instrumental mass fractionation (IMF) of stable isotope SIMS analyses by response surface methodology (RSM) [Dataset]

The dataset contains four files. File S1 corresponds to cathodoluminescence and BSE images of standard minerals. File S2 contains geochemical data of mineral standards ans samples obtained by SIMS and EPMA. File S3 contains the parameters used to obtain response surface models of IMF in mineral standards. File S4 is a response surface methodology tutorial.Instrumental mass fractionation (IMF) of isotopic SIMS analyses (Cameca 1280HR, CRPG Nancy) was predicted by response surface methodology (RSM) for 18O/16O determinations of plagioclase, K-feldspar and quartz. The three predictive response surface models combined instrumental and compositional inputs. The instrumental parameters were: (i) X and Y position, (ii) LT1DefX and LT1DefY electrostatic deflectors, (iii) chamber pressure and, (iv) primary-ion beam intensity. The compositional inputs included: (i) anorthite content (An%) for the plagioclase model and, (ii) orthoclase (Or%) and barium (BaO%) contents for the K-feldspar model. The three models reached high predictive powers. The coefficients R2 and prediction-R2 were, respectively, 90.47% and 86.74% for plagioclase, 87.56% and 83.17% for K-feldspar and 94.29% and 91.59% for quartz. The results show that RSM can be confidently applied to IMF prediction in stable isotope SIMS analyses by the use of instrumental and compositional variables.

Fold and strain analysis of the large NE Greenland Ice Stream

The >500 km long and tens of kilometres wide North-East Greenland Ice Stream (NEGIS) is the largest ice stream in the Greenland Ice Sheet (GrIS). Satellite data show that flow inside the ice stream is significantly faster than adjacent to it and that NEGIS is bound by shear boundaries that are a few kilometres wide. The ice stream drains a large area of the GrIS. As the genesis of NEGIS is unclear, it remains uncertain how it may react to global climate change

JUSTIÇA NEGOCIAL NO BRASIL: A (IN)APLICABILIDADE DO ACORDO DE NÃO PERSECUÇÃO PENAL NA JURISDIÇÃO BRASILEIRA

This paper analyzes the bargained criminal justice, more specifically, the non-prosecution agreement (NPA) and the manner that it was introduced in the Brazilian law system. The problem is settled in the applicability of the NPA against its formal legitimacy, analyzing the pros and cons of the Res. n. 181, of august 2017, elaborated by the National Council of the Public Ministry (NCPM). Firstly, the paper pretends to analyze the comparative law, later, the bargained justice, its influences from the American law and the manner that is was included in Brazil. Finally, it will verify the legitimacy and applicability of the non-prosecution agreement (NPA). The searching method used was based, mainly, in bibliographic searches. The result of the research is that the non-prosecution agreement, besides useful to the law system, was included in a wrong way into de Brazilian jurisdiction, due to the absence of qualification for the NCPM to regulate it, that caused a total formal illegality.O presente trabalho analisa a justiça penal negocial, mais especificamente, o acordo de não persecução penal e a forma com que foi instituído no ordenamento jurídico brasileiro. A problematização consistiu na análise da aplicabilidade do instituto frente a sua legalidade formal, analisando os prós e contras da Resolução nº 181, de agosto de 2017, editada pelo Conselho Nacional do Ministério Público (CNMP). No primeiro momento será abordado o tema do Direito Comparado, por conseguinte abordar-se-á a justiça penal negocial, sua inspiração no direito norte-americano e forma que foi inserida no Brasil e no terceiro assunto verificar-se-á legalidade e aplicabilidade do acordo de não persecução penal. O método de pesquisa utilizado baseou-se, principalmente, em pesquisas bibliográficas. Concluiu-se, diante da pesquisa realizada, que o acordo de não persecução penal, embora muito útil ao sistema jurídico, foi inserido de maneira equivocada à jurisdição brasileira, tendo em vista que trata de matéria da qual o CNMP não possui competência para abordar, tornando-o formalmente ilegal

Estilo de vida e fatores de risco para o sobrepeso e obesidade em mulheres de baixa renda

Estudos epidemiológicos mostram a obesidade feminina como um dos maiores problemas nutricionais da atualidade, sendo mais prevalente entre aquelas de baixo nível socioeconômico. O objetivo do estudo foi avaliar o estilo de vida como fator de risco para a prevalência da obesidade entre mulheres de baixa renda. Participaram do estudo 72 mulheres com idades entre 20 e 60 anos, residentes em uma região de extrema pobreza do município de Santa Cruz do Sul/RS. Através de visitas domiciliares, foram aplicados: questionário sobre as condições socioeconômicas e de saúde, Recordatório Alimentar de 24h e avaliação antropométrica (peso, estatura e circunferência abdominal). O Índice de Massa Corporal (IMC) e a circunferência abdominal foram utilizados para o diagnóstico nutricional. Os itens alimentares foram analisados no programa Virtual Nutri, e a análise estatística compreendeu os testes qui-quadrado, “t” de Student e ANOVA, sendo considerados estatisticamente significantes quando a probabilidade de erro foi inferior a 5% (

A decade of cold Eurasian winters reconstructed for the early 19th century

Annual-to-decadal variability in northern midlatitude temperature is dominated by the cold season. However, climate field reconstructions are often based on tree rings that represent the growing season. Here we present cold-season (October-to-May average) temperature field reconstructions for the northern midlatitudes, 1701-1905, based on extensive phenological data (freezing and thawing dates of rivers, plant observations). Northern midlatitude land temperatures exceeded the variability range of the 18th and 19th centuries by the 1940s, to which recent warming has added another 1.5 °C. A sequences of cold winters 1808/9-1815/6 can be explained by two volcanic eruptions and unusual atmospheric flow. Weak southwesterlies over Western Europe in early winter caused low Eurasian temperatures, which persisted into spring even though the flow pattern did not. Twentieth century data and model simulations confirm this persistence and point to increased snow cover as a cause, consistent with sparse information on Eurasian snow in the early 19th century

Comment on “Exceptionally high heat flux needed to sustain the Northeast Greenland Ice Stream” by Smith-Johnsen et al. (2020)

Smith-Johnsen et al. (The Cryosphere, 14, 841–854, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-14-841-2020, 2020) model the effect of a potential hotspot on the Northeast Greenland Ice Stream (NEGIS). They argue that a heat flux of at least 970 mW m−2 is required to have initiated or to control NEGIS. Such an exceptionally high heat flux would be unique in the world and is incompatible with known geological processes that can raise the heat flux. Fast flow at NEGIS must thus be possible without the extraordinary melt rates invoked in Smith-Johnsen et al. (2020)

RuIII(edta) mediated oxidation of azide in the presence of hydrogen peroxide. Azide versus peroxide activation

The [RuIII(edta)(H2O)]− (edta4− = ethylenediaminetetraacetate) complex catalyzes the oxidation of azide (N3−) with H2O2, mimicking the action of metallo-enzymes such as catalase and peroxidase in biochemistry. The kinetics of the catalytic oxidation process was studied by using stopped-flow and rapid-scan spectrophotometry as a function of [RuIII(edta)], [H2O2], [N3−] and pH. The catalytic activity of the different oxidizing species produced in the reaction of [RuIII(edta)(H2O)]− with H2O2 for the oxidation of azide was compared to the oxidation of coordinated azide in [RuIII(edta)N3]2− by H2O2. Detailed reaction mechanisms in agreement with the spectroscopic and kinetic data are presented for both reaction paths