Fort Oranje boven. Inventarisatie van historische en archeologische informatie met betrekking tot Fort Oranje in 'Hollantsch Brasil'

Along the Northeast coast of Brazil, fortresses and fortifications were built by the Dutch at strategic locations and the fortresses conquered from the Portuguese were strengthened and expanded. In total 39 fortresses and fieldworks were built in 'New Holland', which indicates that a good defense was considered very important. In order to be able to execute the plans for this 'Atlantic Wall' in 'the New World' materials and architects were brought along from the mother country. However, the colony only existed for a short while. Internal controversies, profits from the sugar production that failed to materialise, and receding investments of the WIC were some of the causes. Moreover, with the dwindling Dutch power the opposition of the Portuguese increased dramatically. In 1654 'Dutch Brazil' was passed on to the Portuguese forces. It is clear that Fort Oranje knew several building phases. It is likely that there was a first building phase of a fieldwork in sand and loam. Later this was strengthened with timber stockades and stone constructions. Frans Post possibly represented the first building phase in 1637, and in the version of 1645 in 'Barlaeus' a second phase with stockades. The large blocks of lime-stone, from which the walls of the fortress are now constructed, probably date back to the Portuguese period. Historical-archaeological research may lead to greater clarity on the building history of the fortress. Traces of the Dutch fortress, such as the loam and timber of the walls, the barracks, the brick sallyport, the ditch, the hornwork, a graveyard and a cesspit have not been recovered so far. In 1970 the Laboratório de Arquelogia of the Universidade Federal de Pernambuco already executed a superficial excavation in the fortress, most of which was then still concealed below the sand. From January through March 2002 the same Laboratório executed a new excavation campaign in Fort Oranje in co-operation with the University of Amsterdam and the Foundation for Exploration and Conservation of Monuments of the Dutch West India Company (MOWIC Foundation). Thus below ground, level remnants of the walls of a Dutch ammunition room were found on the east side of the inner courtyard. They consist of neat masonry, in cross bond and in English bond, of Dutch red and yellow bricks. The map from 'Barlaeus' confirms the location. In addition, part of the well was excavated. Research into other Dutch remnants is to be continued in a second and last campaign end 2002. The results are already expected in 2003, so that they can be taken into account for the forthcoming restoration of the fortress

Fort Oranje boven. Inventarisatie van historische en archeologische informatie met betrekking tot Fort Oranje in 'Hollantsch Brasil'

Along the Northeast coast of Brazil, fortresses and fortifications were built by the Dutch at strategic locations and the fortresses conquered from the Portuguese were strengthened and expanded. In total 39 fortresses and fieldworks were built in 'New Holland', which indicates that a good defense was considered very important. In order to be able to execute the plans for this 'Atlantic Wall' in 'the New World' materials and architects were brought along from the mother country. However, the colony only existed for a short while. Internal controversies, profits from the sugar production that failed to materialise, and receding investments of the WIC were some of the causes. Moreover, with the dwindling Dutch power the opposition of the Portuguese increased dramatically. In 1654 'Dutch Brazil' was passed on to the Portuguese forces. It is clear that Fort Oranje knew several building phases. It is likely that there was a first building phase of a fieldwork in sand and loam. Later this was strengthened with timber stockades and stone constructions. Frans Post possibly represented the first building phase in 1637, and in the version of 1645 in 'Barlaeus' a second phase with stockades. The large blocks of lime-stone, from which the walls of the fortress are now constructed, probably date back to the Portuguese period. Historical-archaeological research may lead to greater clarity on the building history of the fortress. Traces of the Dutch fortress, such as the loam and timber of the walls, the barracks, the brick sallyport, the ditch, the hornwork, a graveyard and a cesspit have not been recovered so far. In 1970 the Laboratório de Arquelogia of the Universidade Federal de Pernambuco already executed a superficial excavation in the fortress, most of which was then still concealed below the sand. From January through March 2002 the same Laboratório executed a new excavation campaign in Fort Oranje in co-operation with the University of Amsterdam and the Foundation for Exploration and Conservation of Monuments of the Dutch West India Company (MOWIC Foundation). Thus below ground, level remnants of the walls of a Dutch ammunition room were found on the east side of the inner courtyard. They consist of neat masonry, in cross bond and in English bond, of Dutch red and yellow bricks. The map from 'Barlaeus' confirms the location. In addition, part of the well was excavated. Research into other Dutch remnants is to be continued in a second and last campaign end 2002. The results are already expected in 2003, so that they can be taken into account for the forthcoming restoration of the fortress

Nitrogen transformation and retention in riparian buffer zones

Diffuse pollution of nutrients and pesticides from agricultural areas is increasingly recognised as a major problem in water management. Ecotechnological measures as constructed wetlands and riparian buffer zones clearly have an important role in the reduction of diffuse pollution by removing and modifying pollutants from agricultural runoff. However the processes that account for the pollution retention capacity are diverse and the performance of buffer zones along climatic gradients and under varying hydrological regimes is largely unknown. This study was conducted to determine the influence of N-loading rate, vegetation and hydrologic regime on the mechanisms of nitrogen removal in riparian zones along a climatic gradient.The research was performed in several locations across Europe within the framework of a joint research project (NItrogen COntrol by LAndscape Structures in agricultural environments). Partners in this project were researchers from The Netherlands, France, England, Spain, Switserland, Romania and Poland. In the European buffer zones, denitrification was identified as the dominant process of N removal, denitrification is however also considered as a major source of the greenhouse gas nitrous oxide (N2O). Higher rates of N2O emissions found in the Dutch forested buffer zone were associated with higher nitrate concentrations in the groundwater. We conclude that N transformation by N-loaded buffer zones results in a significant increase of greenhouse gas emission. Until now, only the beneficial function of wetlands on water quality improvement has received a lot of attention. To perform a full assessment, however, we have to evaluate the precise consequences of both forms of environmental pollution to determine the environmental risks. Overall, no significant effect of climate has been observed in measurements of N removal efficiency in a range of European sites. However, N transformation proceses rates were strongly related to water table level. Three consistent water table thresholds were identified. When water table levels are within -10 cm of the soil surface, ammonification prevailed and ammonium accumulated in the topsoil. Average groundwater tables between -10 and -30 cm favor denitrification and therefore reduce the nitrogen availability in soils. At sites with water table levels below -30 cm, nitrate is the main end product as a result of high net nitrification. Tracing the groundwater flow paths in the Dutch riparian zones revealed that dilution of agricultural runoff with groundwater from a deeper aquifer caused a significant decrease in nitrate concentrations which could cause an over-estimation of the N-removal capacity of upto 60%. Besides the dilution both Dutch riparian zones were capable of reducing nitrate in subsurface runoff by biological N removal, the grassland riparian zone as a whole removed about 63% of the incoming nitrate load whereas in the more heavily loaded forested zone clear symptoms of saturation were visible and only 38% of the incoming nitrate load was removed. Riparian zones are highly valuable landscape elements from the perspective of water quality improvement and landscape connectivity, however in N-loaded systems a certain risk of N2O emission remains inevitable, still we support the general belief that riparian buffer need to be protected, restored or re-established

Fort Oranje boven. Inventarisatie van historische en archeologische informatie met betrekking tot Fort Oranje in 'Hollantsch Brasil'

Along the Northeast coast of Brazil, fortresses and fortifications were built by the Dutch at strategic locations and the fortresses conquered from the Portuguese were strengthened and expanded. In total 39 fortresses and fieldworks were built in 'New Holland', which indicates that a good defense was considered very important. In order to be able to execute the plans for this 'Atlantic Wall' in 'the New World' materials and architects were brought along from the mother country. However, the colony only existed for a short while. Internal controversies, profits from the sugar production that failed to materialise, and receding investments of the WIC were some of the causes. Moreover, with the dwindling Dutch power the opposition of the Portuguese increased dramatically. In 1654 'Dutch Brazil' was passed on to the Portuguese forces. It is clear that Fort Oranje knew several building phases. It is likely that there was a first building phase of a fieldwork in sand and loam. Later this was strengthened with timber stockades and stone constructions. Frans Post possibly represented the first building phase in 1637, and in the version of 1645 in 'Barlaeus' a second phase with stockades. The large blocks of lime-stone, from which the walls of the fortress are now constructed, probably date back to the Portuguese period. Historical-archaeological research may lead to greater clarity on the building history of the fortress. Traces of the Dutch fortress, such as the loam and timber of the walls, the barracks, the brick sallyport, the ditch, the hornwork, a graveyard and a cesspit have not been recovered so far. In 1970 the Laboratório de Arquelogia of the Universidade Federal de Pernambuco already executed a superficial excavation in the fortress, most of which was then still concealed below the sand. From January through March 2002 the same Laboratório executed a new excavation campaign in Fort Oranje in co-operation with the University of Amsterdam and the Foundation for Exploration and Conservation of Monuments of the Dutch West India Company (MOWIC Foundation). Thus below ground, level remnants of the walls of a Dutch ammunition room were found on the east side of the inner courtyard. They consist of neat masonry, in cross bond and in English bond, of Dutch red and yellow bricks. The map from 'Barlaeus' confirms the location. In addition, part of the well was excavated. Research into other Dutch remnants is to be continued in a second and last campaign end 2002. The results are already expected in 2003, so that they can be taken into account for the forthcoming restoration of the fortress

Diverse fen plant communities enhance carbon-related multifunctionality, but do not mitigate negative effects of drought

International audienc

Регулирование информационного взаимодействия государственных органов с гражданами и организациями Украины

The system of a uniform information support of authorities and local management units is the integral part of information society and "E-government" of Ukraine. Its main objective is to provide efficiency for collection of information, creation of information resources, access to the information of authorities and the citizens, rise of efficiency of accepted solutions, support of information interactions of authorities; rendering real services from the state authorities to its citizens. Creation of such a system calls for enforcement issues inside the state bodies of the defined functions, development projects to define the rules in using interaction with citizens, implementations of the methods of process concepts and analysis of economic and social information

Temporal Fine-Structure Coding and Lateralized Speech Perception in Normal-Hearing and Hearing-Impaired Listeners

This study investigated the relationship between speech perception performance in spatially complex, lateralized listening scenarios and temporal fine-structure (TFS) coding at low frequencies. Young normal-hearing (NH) and two groups of elderly hearing-impaired (HI) listeners with mild or moderate hearing loss above 1.5 kHz participated in the study. Speech reception thresholds (SRTs) were estimated in the presence of either speech-shaped noise, two-, four-, or eight-talker babble played reversed, or a nonreversed two-talker masker. Target audibility was ensured by applying individualized linear gains to the stimuli, which were presented over headphones. The target and masker streams were lateralized to the same or to opposite sides of the head by introducing 0.7-ms interaural time differences between the ears. TFS coding was assessed by measuring frequency discrimination thresholds and interaural phase difference thresholds at 250 Hz. NH listeners had clearly better SRTs than the HI listeners. However, when maskers were spatially separated from the target, the amount of SRT benefit due to binaural unmasking differed only slightly between the groups. Neither the frequency discrimination threshold nor the interaural phase difference threshold tasks showed a correlation with the SRTs or with the amount of masking release due to binaural unmasking, respectively. The results suggest that, although HI listeners with normal hearing thresholds below 1.5 kHz experienced difficulties with speech understanding in spatially complex environments, these limitations were unrelated to TFS coding abilities and were only weakly associated with a reduction in binaural-unmasking benefit for spatially separated competing sources

Denitrification and nitrous oxide emissions from riparian forests soils exposed to prolonged nitrogen runoff

Compared to upland forests, riparian forest soils have greater potential to remove nitrate (NO3) from agricultural run-off through denitrification. It is unclear, however, whether prolonged exposure of riparian soils to nitrogen (N) loading will affect the rate of denitrification and its end products. This research assesses the rate of denitrification and nitrous oxide (N2O) emissions from riparian forest soils exposed to prolonged nutrient run-off from plant nurseries and compares these to similar forest soils not exposed to nutrient run-off. Nursery run-off also contains high levels of phosphate (PO4). Since there are conflicting reports on the impact of PO4 on the activity of denitrifying microbes, the impact of PO4 on such activity was also investigated. Bulk and intact soil cores were collected from N-exposed and non-exposed forests to determine denitrification and N2O emission rates, whereas denitrification potential was determined using soil slurries. Compared to the non-amended treatment, denitrification rate increased 2.7- and 3.4-fold when soil cores collected from both N-exposed and non-exposed sites were amended with 30 and 60 μg NO3-N g-1 soil, respectively. Net N2O emissions were 1.5 and 1.7 times higher from the N-exposed sites compared to the non-exposed sites at 30 and 60 μg NO3-N g-1 soil amendment rates, respectively. Similarly, denitrification potential increased 17 times in response to addition of 15 μg NO3-N g-1 in soil slurries. The addition of PO4 (5 μg PO4–P g-1) to soil slurries and intact cores did not affect denitrification rates. These observations suggest that prolonged N loading did not affect the denitrification potential of the riparian forest soils; however, it did result in higher N2O emissions compared to emission rates from non-exposed forests