A late Pleistocene long pollen record from Lake Urmia, NW Iran

A palynological study based on two 100-m long cores from Lake Urmia in northwestern Iran provides a vegetation record spanning 200 ka, the longest pollen record for the continental interior of the Near East. During both penultimate and last glaciations, a steppe of Artemisia and Poaceae dominated the upland vegetation with a high proportion of Chenopodiaceae in both upland and lowland saline ecosystems. While Juniperus and deciduous Quercus trees were extremely rare and restricted to some refugia, Hippophaë rhamnoides constituted an important phanerophyte, particularly during the upper last glacial sediments. A pronounced expansion in Ephedra shrub-steppe occurred at the end of the penultimate late-glacial period but was followed by extreme aridity that favoured an Artemisia steppe. Very high lake levels, registered by both pollen and sedimentary markers, occurred during the middle of the last glaciation and upper part of the penultimate glaciation. The late-glacial to early Holocene transition is represented by a succession of Hippophaë, Ephedra, Betula, Pistacia and finally Juniperus and Quercus. The last interglacial period (Eemian), slightly warmer and moister than the Holocene, was followed by two interstadial phases similar in pattern to those recorded in the marine isotope record and southern European pollen sequences

Financial diversification before modern portfolio theory: UK financial advice documents in the late nineteenth and the beginning of the twentieth century

The paper offers textual evidence from a series of financial advice documents in the late nineteenth century and the early twentieth century of how UK investors perceived of and managed risk. In the world’s largest financial centre of the time, UK investors were familiar with the concept of correlation and financial advisers’ suggestions were consistent with the recommendations of modern portfolio theory in relation to portfolio selection strategies. From the 1870s, there was an increased awareness of the benefits of financial diversification - primarily putting equal amounts into a number of different securities - with much of the emphasis being on geographical rather than sectoral diversification and some discussion of avoiding highly correlated investments. Investors in the past were not so naïve as mainstream financial discussions suggest today

Biribi: disciplining and punishing in the French empire

This article discusses the infamous Bataillons d’Afrique to which French former criminals were sent to complete their duty of military service. The ‘Bat d’Af’ were created to prevent the young male bourgeoisie from having to mix with these ‘undesirables’ and ‘reprobates’, and they were stationed well away from the mainland in France’s North African colonies. This article discusses themes such as discipline, punishment, torture, homosexuality, interracial power relations, and delinquent ‘cultures’ in this imperial context

From staff-mix to skill-mix and beyond: towards a systemic approach to health workforce management

Throughout the world, countries are experiencing shortages of health care workers. Policy-makers and system managers have developed a range of methods and initiatives to optimise the available workforce and achieve the right number and mix of personnel needed to provide high-quality care. Our literature review found that such initiatives often focus more on staff types than on staff members' skills and the effective use of those skills. Our review describes evidence about the benefits and pitfalls of current approaches to human resources optimisation in health care. We conclude that in order to use human resources most effectively, health care organisations must consider a more systemic approach - one that accounts for factors beyond narrowly defined human resources management practices and includes organisational and institutional conditions

The modern state in relation to society and the individual;

"Translated by A. C. Morant."Contains a translation of the first three books of the author's "L'État moderne et ses fonctions".Mode of access: Internet

Relations pluie pollinique-végétation sur un transect forêt-steppe dans le parc national du Golestan, nord-est de l’Iran

Pollen rain-vegetation relationships were studied over a forest-steppe transect in Golestan National Park, NE Iran. The surface pollen percentages were compared to the vegetation composition of the respective vegetation types in 18 sampling points using both descriptive and numerical approaches. Hyrcanian lowland forests are characterized by pollen assemblages dominated by Quercus, Carpinus betulus and low frequencies of Zelkova carpinifolia. Both Parrotia persica and Zelkova carpinifolia show a very low pollen representation in modern surface samples, an under-representation that should be taken into account in the interpretation of past vegetation records. Transitional communities between the forest and steppe including Acer monspessulanum subsp. turcomanicum, Crataegus and Paliurus scrubs, Juniperus excelsa woodlands and shrub-steppe patches are more difficult to distinguish in pollen assemblages, however, they are characterized by higher values of the dominant shrub species. The transitional vegetation communities at the immediate vicinity of the forest show also a substantial amount of grass pollen. Many insectpollinated taxa are strongly under-represented in the pollen rain including most of the rosaceous trees and shrubs, Rhamnus, Paliurus, AcerLes relations pluie pollinique-végétation ont été étudiées sur un transect de forêt-steppe dans le parc national du Golestan dans le nord-est de l’Iran. Les pourcentages polliniques ont été comparés à la composition des 18 relevés floristiques par des méthodes descriptives et des analyses multivariées. Les forêts hyrcaniennes de basses altitudes sont caractérisées par des assemblages polliniques dominés par Quercus, Carpinus betulus et Zelkova carpinifolia. La faible représentation pollinique de Parrotia persica et Zelkova carpinifolia dans les échantillons de surface est une information qui doit être prise en compte pour l’interprétation des diagrammes polliniques. Les communautés de transition entre la forêt et la steppe y compris les brousses à Acer monspessulanum, Crataegus et Paliurus, les junipéraies et les taches des steppes arbustives dans les zones steppiques sont plus difficiles à mettre en évidence par les assemblages polliniques de surface, mais d’une façon générale, ces communautés sont caractérisées par une meilleure représentation pollinique des arbustes dominants. Les communautés de transition à proximité immédiate de la forêt se distinguent par une importante représentation du pollen des Poaceae. De nombreux taxons entomogames sont fortement sous-représentés dans la pluie pollinique, plus particulièrement les arbres et arbustes appartenant à la famille des Rosaceae, ainsi que Rhamnus, Paliurus, Acer et Berberis. Les steppes à Artemisia sont caractérisées par la présence dominante du pollen d’Artemisia et la quasi-absence de pollen arborescent.Djamali Morteza, Beaulieu Jacques-Louis de, Campagne Pierre, Ajani Yousef, Andrieu-Ponel Valérie, Ponel Philippe, Cheikh Al Bassatneh Marwan, Leroy Suzanne A. G. Relations pluie pollinique-végétation sur un transect forêt-steppe dans le parc national du Golestan, nord-est de l’Iran. In: Ecologia mediterranea, tome 34,2008. pp. 35-52