Changes in morphology, proline content, and palatability to Helix aspersa, in Plantago lanceolata in response to transplantation and polluted soil

High concentrations of heavy metals are a cause of stress in plants, many of which respond by accumulating high levels of the amino acid proline. Tolerant and intolerant plants may vary in their response, and this may be reflected in the palatability of their leaves to herbivores. Plantago lanceolata plants were collected from four sites showing a range of lead pollution, and were tested for tolerance to lead. Plants from one polluted and one unpolluted site were grown in soils with and without lead for four weeks, and their leaves were offered to Helix aspersa in palatability tests. The proline concentration in these plants leaves was determined, and some morphological features were examined. Plants from each site varied in lead tolerance, and this characteristic showed no clear relationship to the lead concentration of their site of origin. This was considered to be the result of gene flow between plants on small areas of polluted and unpolluted ground. A possible link between increased palatability and high proline concentration was established. High proline concentration was related to recent transplantation more strongly than to lead concentration in the soil used

MeeuwerderWaterWeg:het water weg of een waterweg in de Oosterpoortbuurt?

Naar aanleiding van wateroverlast in de Oosterpoortbuurt in de gemeente Groningen, 12 juli 2010, is een onderzoek opgesteld in samenwerking met de gemeente Groningen. In dit onderzoek staat de vraag, hoe om te gaan met extreme neerslag in stedelijk gebied, centraal. Uit de klimaat scenario’s, die door het Koninklijk Nederlands Meteorologisch Instituut (KNMI) zijn opgesteld, blijkt dat de buien intensiever worden. Om hier in de toekomst beter mee om te gaan, is er onderzoek gedaan naar het aanpakken van extreme neerslag in bestaand stedelijk gebied. Dit is gedaan aan de hand van de overlastsituatie rond de Meeuwerderweg, een straat in de Oosterpoortbuurt. Dit onderzoek is opgedeeld in een gebiedsgericht en een algemeen deel. In dit onderzoek is het gebied de Oosterpoortbuurt in de gemeente Groningen. Een buurt die eind 19e eeuw ontstaan is aan de zuidkant van de stad. Tegenwoordig wonen er ongeveer 5000 mensen. Het is een levendige wijk waar veel jonge mensen wonen en waar het cultureel centrum de Oosterpoort staat. Verder kenmerkt het gebied zich door relatief grote hoogteverschillen, een hoge grondwaterstand en veel verhard oppervlak. Dit veroorzaakte grote wateroverlast in de lager gelegen delen toen op 12 juli 44 millimeter water in één kwartier viel. In dit onderzoek is er onderzocht wie er aansprakelijk is voor wateroverlast in bestaand stedelijk gebied en wat er aan te doen is. De aansprakelijkheid bij schade door wateroverlast is vastgelegd in de Waterwet. Gemeenten hebben sinds 2008 een zorgplicht voor hemelwater. Dit houdt in dat gemeenten risicogebieden in kaart moeten brengen en daar een aanpak op maat voor moeten opstellen. Uit een uitgevoerde enquête blijkt dat veel buurtbewoner materiële schade hebben door wateroverlast. Slecht een klein deel declareert dit bij hun verzekeraar en dit wordt in de meeste gevallen gehonoreerd. De kans dat de gemeente Groningen aansprakelijk wordt gesteld is klein, maar een aanpak is wel gewenst. In dit rapport is een aanpak opgesteld om wateroverlast in bestaand stedelijk gebied aan te pakken

Service user and carers perspectives of joint and integrated working between health and social care

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to provide an update to a review of the joint working literature in the field of health and social care for adults, with particular emphasis given to the experiences of users and carers. Design/methodology/approach – The aims of the literature review remained largely the same as those of the original, they were to identify: models of joint working, evidence of effectiveness and cost-effectiveness and the factors promoting or hindering the models. However, to reflect the growing interest in the experiences of users and carers a fourth aim was added to map these experiences. Given their prominence in terms of policy debates about integration, the review focused on jointly organised services for older people and people with mental health problems in the UK only. Findings – The review demonstrates tentative signs that some initiatives designed to join-up or integrate services can deliver outcomes desired by government. Importantly some studies that report the experiences of users of services and carers suggest that they perceive benefits from efforts to join-up or integrate services. However it is our contention that the evidence is less than compelling and does not justify the faith invested in the strategy by current or previous governments. Originality/value – The study updates our knowledge of the impact of joint working in the field of health and social care for adults. Importantly the paper highlights what is known about the experiences of users and carers of joint/integrated services

Die chilenische Gesellschaft 20 Jahre nach dem Plebiszit

Diese Diplomarbeit beschreibt das Militärregime von General Ausguto Pinochet, welcher siebzehn Jahre lang, zwischen 1973 und 1990, das Land praktisch im Alleingang regierte und während dieser Zeit alles daran setzte, Chile politisch, wirtschaftlich und gesellschaftlich grundlegend und dauerhaft zu verändern, so wie die Folgen für die chilenische Gesellschaft heutzutage. Von der neoliberalen Politik, eingeführt unter der Regie der Chicago Boys, mit dem Ziel Chile attraktiv für ausländische Investoren zu machen, den Export zu fördern und dem Land möglichst hohe Wachstumsraten zu bescheren, haben nur die wenigen profitiert, die Folgen für die Mehrheit der Chilenen dagegen waren verheerend. Nach der Rückkehr zur Demokratie wurden zwar Maßnahmen getroffen, um die enorme Kluft zwischen Armen und Reichen zu schließen, jedoch konnte das rechte Lager durch das binominale System im Parlament jegliche tiefgreifende Reform verhindern. Pinochet nutzte nämlich sein letztes Jahr als Regierungschef, um noch mehr Hindernisse auf den Weg der jungen Demokratie und der Justiz zu stellen. Allerdings erwies sich das schon 1978 verabschiedete Amnestiegesetz als die schwerste Hürde, als es darum ging die Verantwortlichen doch noch vor Gericht zu bringen. Auf politische Ebene waren alle Parteien und politische Akteure im Allgemeinen verboten und deren Mitglieder oder Anhänger mit aller Kraft verfolgt und inhaftiert oder gar eliminiert worden. Völlig geschwächt und getrennt von ihrer Basis, den Mitgliedern und den Bürgern, brauchten diese dann mehrere Jahre, bis sie letzlich dazu bereits waren, sich von ihrer starren Weltanschauung zu verabschieden und sich vereinigen konnten, mit dem Ziel dem Militärregime ein demokratisches Ende zu setzen. Weiters wurden nach dem verlorenen Referendum von 1988 Maßnahmen gesetzt und Gesetze verabschiedet, die den Fortbestand der neoliberalen Wirtschaftspolitik nach dem Machtwechseln sichern sollte. Juristisch gesehen wusste es die Regierung Pinochet mit dem Selbstamnestiegetzt jegliche Bestraffung der für die massiven Menschenrechtsverletzungen Verantwortlichen erfolgreich zu verhindern. Nur in einzelnen wenigen Fällen kam es zu einem Prozess und in Folge dessen zu einer Verurteilung. Dadurch wurde den Opfern und deren Familien das Recht auf Justiz verweigert. Dies hat tiefe Wunden hinterlassen. Das kollektive Trauma, das das Militärregime hinterlassen hat, konnte nie verarbeitet werden, so dass heutzutage die chilenische Gesellschaft noch weit davon entfernt ist, die so oft angepriesene Versöhnung aller Chilenen erreicht zu haben. Die große Mehrheit bleibt weiterhin von dem so genannten „chilenischen Wunder“ ausgeschlossen.This thesis is about the consequences of the Pinochet government more than twenty years after the plebiscite of October 1988 which finally put a democratic end to the seventeen years of his almost unlimited power and aims to give an overview over the Chilean society from today. The emphasis will be first put on the military government of General Augusto Pinochet, who governed Chile from 1973 until 1990 and second on the political, social and economical consequences of his regime on the Chilean society, as well as the deep psychological trauma it left not only on his victims and their families but also on the Chilean population as a whole. For the root-and-branch transformation of Chile’s political, economical and social structures, which aimed to speed up the economical development of this country blessed with abundant natural resources and a blooming agriculture and reach very high growth rates, left a deep rift between the few privileged upper-class Chileans, who benefited from the new neoliberal economic policy, impulsed under the Chicago boys, and the vast majority of those who were left behind and saw their situation further worsened by a literary non existent social policy. On a juridical level, the fact that people responsible of the massive human rights violations committed under Pinochet were never been judged, except for a few ones, left deep psychological scars on the victims and their families. On a political level the military government immediately and repeatedly tried its best to eliminate any political opposition and make it impossible for any left political organisation to work, which debilitate the parties and trade unions and left them with no option but to go underground. It would take years before they could regain enough strength and gather together in order to put an end to the regime. But still after the opposition won the plebiscite, General Augusto Pinochet used the last year as President of Chile to reinforce or even put new obstacles in the way of the new democratic government. Until today his very person is still a controversial personality, whom a lot describe as dictator but others still refer at as the best Chilean president ever. And the world “dictator” itself is not one free of controversy, which means one should be careful when it comes to describe the period of the military regime as such. In fact what this thesis aims to point out is at the very high price that the Chilean hat to pay for the so called democratic transition and to show that the deep changes made in the 70’s and 80’s robbed the new democratic government of any possibility to bring forward the urgently needed measures to mend the rift in the society. Of course some improvements were made and some social measures taken to reduce unemployment and poverty by the way of money transfers from the state. But still, at the beginning of this new century, the so praised “reconciliation of all Chileans” seems to remain nothing more than a wishful thinking

Metal pollution as a potential threat to shell strength and survival in marine bivalves

Marine bivalve molluscs, such as scallops, mussels and oysters, are crucial components of coastal ecosystems, providing a range of ecosystem services, including a quarter of the world’s seafood. Unfortunately, due to human activity, coastal marine areas often suffer from metal contamination. We establish that increased levels of metal pollution (zinc, copper and lead) in sediments near the Isle of Man, resulting from historical mining, strongly correlate with significant weakening of shell strength in king scallops, Pecten maximus. This weakness increases mortality during fishing and leaves individuals more exposed to predation. Comparative structural analysis revealed that shells from the contaminated area were thinner and exhibited a pronounced mineralisation disruption parallel to the shell surface within the foliated region of both the top and bottom valves. Our data suggest that these disruptions caused reduced fracture strength and hence increased mortality, even at subcritical contamination levels with respect to current international standards. This hitherto unreported effect is important since such non-apical responses rarely feed into environmental quality assessments, with significant implications for population survival. Hence, our findings highlight the impact of metal pollution on shell mineralisation in bivalves, and urge a reappraisal of currently accepted critical contamination levels

Poutre de grande portée en pierre précontrainte

National audienc

The Effectiveness of Support and Rehabilitation Services for Women Offenders

There is a large body of research evidence suggesting that support, rehabilitation, and supervision programs can help offenders to reduce recidivism. However, the effectiveness of these services is dependent upon the extent to which the workers who deliver them comply with "what works" principles and practices. Because most of this research has been conducted with men, this study focused on the extent to which these principles and practices apply to women. In particular, the study examined services offered to a group of women in prison in Victoria, Australia, and following their release to the community; and the relationship between these women's views about the services, recidivism, and the characteristics of the services. Results were generally consistent with earlier research. The women favoured services that are delivered by workers who are reliable, holistic, collaborative, who understand the women's perspective, and that focus on strengths. They did not support services that challenged the women, focused on their offences, or on the things they did badly

HIV and English drugs policy.

Imperial Users onl