Spatial distribution of organic carbon in the Atacama Desert, Chile

The Atacama Desert in northern Chile is known as the driest region on earth; however traces of life, can still be found. Soils are the habitat and reservoir for plants and microorganisms, which leave their fingerprints as organic residues. Here we identify and quantify organic carbon in soil profiles and along potential plant dispersal corridors in the Atacama Desert. We hypothesize that preferential pathways or barriers of the dispersal of life exist, which can be related to soil properties such as bulk density. We further assume that due to dust and salt accumulation at the surface, in particular the subsoils will reveal an unique though little explored archive of organic matter. The analytical assessment of Corg at very low levels is challenging. It was found that SOC in hyperarid soils ranged from 1.8 – 125 µg C per g soil for 0-1 m (1). We here present an improved Corg analysis, which is based on a temperature gradient method (DIN19539; Soli TOC cube, Elementar, Hanau). This allows combustion of samples with up to 5 g sample weight without the need to remove carbonate. This avoids loss and increases precision of Corg quantification at lowest concentrations. We can show that Corg contents decrease from 1.47 % to 0.1 % in the first 14 km of the gradient. However, first results suggest that within the hyper-arid core of the Atacama Corg contents increase. This gives first hints to the vegetation history of the desert and the dispersal of life

Detectable contributions of colloids to soil P and C content in arid and hyperarid region of the Atacama (Chile)

Atacama Desert is mainly known as the driest place on Earth where life has been developed under arid to hyper arid conditions since Oligocene-Miocene. Therefore, soils of Atacama contain fingerprints of past and present life which might be used as an analog to study the evolution of life under equivalent arid conditions, like Mars. In this study, we quantify the colloidal phosphorus and carbon distribution in the first 10 cm of soil profile along an altitudinal transect. Samples were taken along a transect in the region of Quebrada Aroma spanning from the arid Percordillera of the Andes (2720 m a.s.l.) towards the hyper arid core of the desert (1340 m a.s.l.). Water dispersible colloids (WDC) were separated and measured using the field-flow-field fractionation (FFF) method and subsequently their Corg and P content were characterized and quantified by detectors (DLS, ICP-MS, UV, OCD, fluorescence). Data was compared to total C, P and (available) Olsen-P also measured in the samples. The Olsen-P (available-P) varied within the Aroma transect from ca. 2 to 8 mg P kg-1, but was not related to either altitude or depth in the upper soil (0-10 cm). Colloidal P contents ranged from <0.1 to 4 mg P kg-1 soil, with increasing trend from low to higher elevations. Thereby, suggesting an increasing proportion of the available P potential being present in the WDC fraction. The Colloidal Corg content of the Aroma transect did range from 65 to 90 (for sites 2020 to 1340m) and 110 mg Corg kg-1 soil WDC (2720 m). Colloidal Corg content as a function of the altitude showed a similar trend to the Corg content of the soils: the highest colloidal Corg content was found at 2720 m. The proportion of soil Corg within the colloidal fraction was up to 6% of the bulk soil organic matter (OM) content, as the OM content was intensively enriched in the colloidal fraction. Further quantification of phosphorus and carbon content in WDC in deeper part of soil is required to obtain a more comprehensive view of role of colloidal inputs and dynamics in the Atacama Desert

BMW – Mastering the Crises with “New Efficiency?”

Purpose Make a contribution on company business models and typical reactions to economic crises. Design/methodology/approach Media-analysis-based case study. Findings Crisis is handled through drawing on a strategy deriving from the typical features of the company; through the crisis these features are even intensified. Research limitations/implications Multinational companies are complex and only transparent to a small degree; the empirical data therefore rests on a database with articles. Social implications Social implications can be seen at the BMW as a functioning example for social partnership as a form of economic embeddedness at the societal level

Early and Middle Holocene Hunter-Gatherer Occupations in Western Amazonia: The Hidden Shell Middens

We report on previously unknown early archaeological sites in the Bolivian lowlands, demonstrating for the first time early and middle Holocene human presence in western Amazonia. Multidisciplinary research in forest islands situated in seasonally-inundated savannahs has revealed stratified shell middens produced by human foragers as early as 10,000 years ago, making them the oldest archaeological sites in the region. The absence of stone resources and partial burial by recent alluvial sediments has meant that these kinds of deposits have, until now, remained unidentified. We conducted core sampling, archaeological excavations and an interdisciplinary study of the stratigraphy and recovered materials from three shell midden mounds. Based on multiple lines of evidence, including radiocarbon dating, sedimentary proxies (elements, steroids and black carbon), micromorphology and faunal analysis, we demonstrate the anthropogenic origin and antiquity of these sites. In a tropical and geomorphologically active landscape often considered challenging both for early human occupation and for the preservation of hunter-gatherer sites, the newly discovered shell middens provide evidence for early to middle Holocene occupation and illustrate the potential for identifying and interpreting early open-air archaeological sites in western Amazonia. The existence of early hunter-gatherer sites in the Bolivian lowlands sheds new light on the region's past and offers a new context within which the late Holocene "Earthmovers" of the Llanos de Moxos could have emerged. © 2013 Lombardo et al

EU aggregate demand as a way out of crisis? Engaging the post-Keynesian critique

The file attached to this record is the author's final peer reviewed version. The Publisher's final version can be found by following the DOI link.Post-Keynesians have delivered an important advance in providing explanations of the Eurozone Crisis, not the least in demonstrating how the formation of the European integration project lacked the means to manage effectively the macroeconomic imbalances between ‘core’ and ‘peripheral’ spaces across the region. Through a critical engagement with such descriptions, this article argues that to account more adequately for the formation of the asymmetrical and crisis-ridden forms of development across the Eurozone, it is necessary to focus on the uneven and combined development of Europe’s ‘peripheral’ spaces and their integration into an expanded free trade regime since the 1980s. It is through a focus on the structuring condition of uneven and combined development shaped by capitalist social relations of production and attendant class struggles that we can better locate the origins of the present crisis

Gendering the careers of young professionals: some early findings from a longitudinal study. in Organizing/theorizing: developments in organization theory and practice

Wonders whether companies actually have employees best interests at heart across physical, mental and spiritual spheres. Posits that most organizations ignore their workforce – not even, in many cases, describing workers as assets! Describes many studies to back up this claim in theis work based on the 2002 Employment Research Unit Annual Conference, in Cardiff, Wales