Investigation of natural environment by space means. Geobotany, Geomorphology, soil sciences, agricultural lands, landscape study

Reports given by Soviet specialists at a meeting of Socialist countries on remote sensing of the earth using aerospace methods are presented

Охрана природы в Израиле

In such country as Israel with its high industrialization and urbanization rates the environment protection is of key importance for preserving the biodiversity of nature. Awareness of the need to protect precious natural resources and landscapes of Israel forced to pass numerous laws on protection of nature and wild animals. These laws provide legal basis for protection of environment, natural resources, wild animals, unique nature features and places being of scientific and educational value in this country.Israel locates at the juncture of three continents combining different climatic and botanical regions which have led to appearance of the unique, by diversity and composition, plant and animal world. In Israel you can find 2800 plant varieties (of which 150 are endemics), 8 species of amphibia, 80 species of reptiles, 450 species of birds and 70 species of mammals. For protection of natural biodiversity there were established 224 nature preserves and 203 and historical heritage deserves special mention.In the recent years the governmental and public organizations have focused on development of the programs on environment management for monitoring and ensuring the required quality of water and air and for processing and utilization of solid wastes.Quite spectacular achievements are observed in reintroduction of predatory and bible species, protection of sea turtles, impoundment of the Hula valley and preservation of migratory birds. The government’s initiatives were welcomed by the public that joined in national parks which cover around 23% of the territory of Israel. The nature preserves and national parks represent the whole range of the natural heritage of Israel: Mediterranean forests, coastal and water landscapes, sand dunes, desert and crater landscapes and oases, while the unique archeological these activities. The environmental education, awareness and activities of the society have increased enormously which is proved by the growing number of nongovernmental environmental organizations — from a few in the 1990s to over one hundred nowadays. The greater attention is paid to collection and publication of environmental data.В такой стране, как Израиль, с высокими темпами индустриализации и урбанизации, охрана природы играет важную роль в обеспечении биоразнообразия природной среды. Признание необходимости защиты драгоценных природных и ландшафтных ресурсов Израиля привело к принятию многочисленных законов об охране природы и диких животных. Эти законы обеспечивают юридическое обоснование деятельности по защите окружающей среды, природных ресурсов, диких животных, уникальных уголков природы и мест, представляющих научный и образовательный интерес в Израиле.Географическое положение Израиля на стыке трех континентов, а также соединение различных климатических и ботанических регионов, привели к возникновению уникального по своему обилию и составу растительного и животного мира. Богатство биологического разнообразия Израиля выражается в 2800 видах растений (150 из которых эндемики Израиля), 8 видах земноводных, 80 видах рептилий, 450 видов птиц и 70 видов млекопитающих. Для охраны биоразнообразия природной среды на территории Израиля образовано 224 природных заповедников и 203 национальных парков. В результате около 23% территории Израиля являются охраняемыми природными заповедниками и национальными парками. Вместе заповедники и парки представляют весь спектр природного наследия Израиля — средиземноморские леса, прибрежные и водные ландшафты, песчаные дюны, пустынные и кратерные пейзажи и оазисы — а также его уникальное археологическое и историческое наследие.В последние годы правительственные и общественные организации сосредоточили внимание на разработке программ управления окружающей средой для мониторинга и обеспечения необходимого качества воды, воздуха, переработки и утилизации твердых отходов. Впечатляющие достижения были сделаны в таких областях, как реинтродукция хищных и библейских видов, защита морских черепах, подтопление долины Хула и сохранение перелетных птиц. Инициативы правительства сопровождались растущим участием общественности. Экологическое образование, осведомленность и активность общественности значительно возросли, о чем свидетельствует резкий рост числа неправительственных экологических организаций — от единиц в начале 90-х годов до более ста в настоящее время. Уделяется больше внимания сбору и публикации экологических данных

Galactic clusters with associated Cepheid variables. VII. Berkeley 58 and CG Cassiopeiae

Photoelectric, photographic, and CCD UBV photometry, spectroscopic observations, and star counts are presented for the open cluster Berkeley 58 to examine a possible association with the 4.37d Cepheid CG Cas. The cluster is difficult to separate from the early-type stars belonging to the Perseus spiral arm, in which it is located, but has reasonably well-defined parameters: an evolutionary age of ~10^8 years, a mean reddening of E(B-V)_(B0)=0.70+-0.03 s.e., and a distance of 3.03+-0.17 kpc (V_0-M_V=12.40+-0.12 s.d.). CG Cas is a likely cluster coronal member on the basis of radial velocity, and its period increase of +0.170+-0.014 s yr^(-1) and large light amplitude describe a Cepheid in the third crossing of the instability strip lying slightly blueward of strip centre. Its inferred reddening and luminosity are E(B-V)=0.64+-0.02 s.e. and =-3.06+-0.12. A possible K supergiant may also be a cluster member.Comment: Accepted for Publication (MNRAS

Confronting the geopolitical aesthetic: Fredric Jameson, The Perfumed Nightmare and the Perilous Place of Third Cinema

This essay explores the conceptual limitations within Fredric Jameson's notion of the geopolitical aesthetic through an analysis of Jameson's now classic reading of The Perfumed Nightmare; this film is central to his concept of the utopic character of film more generally and, moreover, to his argument on the embeddedness of Third World representations within a global, capitalist system. We suggest that, although Jameson acknowledges the underlying constructed and relational character of ontological categories such as film (despite their reification under capitalism), his theory of historical materialism demands that they also be understood as formed with regard to a socio-economic totality. And, because the recognition of a totality requires a master narrative within which all can be understood and framed within a logic of equivalence, Jameson must by default conceive of epistemology as fundamentally divided between a true and a false consciousness. Taking our own cue from recent developments in anti-essentialist thought, we conceive of such cultural forms as the temporarily fixed embodiment of broader-scale discourses that continually construct and deconstruct the world as we know it, including our understandings of the ‘real’ as well as the ‘economic’, the ‘political’ and the ‘cultural’. In our own re-imagining of The Perfumed Nightmare, we provide a partial response to this, noting how these realms are constituted from the temporary ‘fixing’ of a series of people- and place-based identities, such as those constituted under the rubric of ‘gender’. Accordingly, we re-work the term ‘cognitive mapping’ as the attempt to outline the web of significations within which objects are embedded as well as the concomitant lines of fracture and contradiction that allow for such objects to become meaningful in a host of other contexts

Environment Protection in Israel

In such country as Israel with its high industrialization and urbanization rates the environment protection is of key importance for preserving the biodiversity of nature. Awareness of the need to protect precious natural resources and landscapes of Israel forced to pass numerous laws on protection of nature and wild animals. These laws provide legal basis for protection of environment, natural resources, wild animals, unique nature features and places being of scientific and educational value in this country.Israel locates at the juncture of three continents combining different climatic and botanical regions which have led to appearance of the unique, by diversity and composition, plant and animal world. In Israel you can find 2800 plant varieties (of which 150 are endemics), 8 species of amphibia, 80 species of reptiles, 450 species of birds and 70 species of mammals. For protection of natural biodiversity there were established 224 nature preserves and 203 and historical heritage deserves special mention.In the recent years the governmental and public organizations have focused on development of the programs on environment management for monitoring and ensuring the required quality of water and air and for processing and utilization of solid wastes.Quite spectacular achievements are observed in reintroduction of predatory and bible species, protection of sea turtles, impoundment of the Hula valley and preservation of migratory birds. The government’s initiatives were welcomed by the public that joined in national parks which cover around 23% of the territory of Israel. The nature preserves and national parks represent the whole range of the natural heritage of Israel: Mediterranean forests, coastal and water landscapes, sand dunes, desert and crater landscapes and oases, while the unique archeological these activities. The environmental education, awareness and activities of the society have increased enormously which is proved by the growing number of nongovernmental environmental organizations — from a few in the 1990s to over one hundred nowadays. The greater attention is paid to collection and publication of environmental data

Effect of cryopreservation on sea bass sperm proteins

In the present study we used two-dimensional polyacryl amide gel electrophoresis (2-DE) and matrix-associated laser desorption/ionization time-of-flight (MALDI-TOF) mass spectrometry to verify whether the protein expression of sea bass sperm was affected by the cryopreservation procedure. The protein profiles differed between fresh and frozen-thawed semen as revealed by visual inspection and by image analysis software. We identified 163 spots in fresh sperm; among these, 13 were significantly decreased and 8 were absent in two-dimensional gel obtained with cryopreserved sperm. Five of these spots were analyzed with MALDI-TOF, but only three showed a significant match in the databases used in bio-informatics analysis (Pept-Ident, Mascot, and MS-Fit). In particular, spot 5 showed homology with a novel protein of zebrafish (similar to SKB1 of human and mouse), spot 13 showed homology with amphibian G1/S-specific cyclin E2, and spot 20 showed homology with the hypothetical protein DKFZp566A1524 of Brachidanio rerio. The present work shows that the use of the cryopreservation procedure causes the degradation of sperm proteins and among these, two could be at least partially responsible for the observed decrease in sperm motility duration and the lower hatching rate of eggs fertilized with cryopreserved sperm