South Ossetia’s unification referendum poses a dilemma for both Georgia and Russia

On 19 October, the President of South Ossetia announced plans to hold a referendum on the territory’s unification with Russia. Till Spanke writes that while two previous referendums have been held following the territory’s declaration of independence from Georgia in 1990, a further referendum is unlikely to be welcomed in either Tbilisi or Moscow. He argues that there are few immediate advantages for Russia of pursuing a unification in the current climate and it is likely South Ossetia will come under pressure to delay or cancel the referendum process

Cerebellar output controls generalized spike-and-wave discharge occurence

© 2015 The Authors Annals of Neurology published by Wiley Periodicals, Inc. on behalf of American Neurological Association. This is an open access article under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs License (CC BY-NC-ND 4.0) which permits use and distribution in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited, the use is non-commercial and no modifications or adaptations are made.Disrupting thalamocortical activity patterns has proven to be a promising approach to stop generalized spike-and-wave discharges (GSWDs) characteristic of absence seizures. Here, we investigated to what extent modulation of neuronal firing in cerebellar nuclei (CN), which are anatomically in an advantageous position to disrupt cortical oscillations through their innervation of a wide variety of thalamic nuclei, is effective in controlling absence seizuresPeer reviewedFinal Published versio

Chapter 9 The Ephemeral as a Strategy of Intervention

In this collection, a diverse range of international contributors examine commemorative monuments from the late twentieth and twenty-first centuries. The book reveals how those monuments enable new perspectives and understanding of histories as well as a heightened involvement of viewers through not simply their subject matter but also, most crucially, their actual form and design. While some contributors explore new approaches to the art of commemoration that artists and designers have deployed in recent monuments, others examine how artists have undertaken creative engagements with historical statuary and sites, using these interventions to offer critique and commentary. Additionally, the contributions consider the impact of political change on ways in which an inherited commemorative landscape is interpreted and negotiated. Questions considered by the contributions include: How might new monuments be shaped and how might they function differently from those of the past? Is there a place for portraiture in the contemporary commemorative landscape? Should commemorative monuments be envisaged as permanent fixtures or are temporary approaches more viable? How effectively have artists disrupted the meanings of historical monuments and sites through installation, performance, video and other media? How has political change played out at historical sites, affecting how commemorative monuments from prior dispensations are understood in the 2020s? This collection will be of value to researchers in Art History, Visual Studies and Heritage Studies, as well as scholars in all disciplines and fields who are interested in public art, public memory and the politics of commemoration

Nurturing dependence: the role of patron states in the state and institution building processes of de facto states

De facto states are not the likeliest candidates for state building, due to their limited financial capabilities and external parent state pressures. While some de facto states built relatively stable state structures without an external patron state (e.g. Somaliland), others are largely dependent on the backing of patrons to provide basic public services and goods (e.g. Northern Cyprus). This thesis uncovers the extent to which patron states influence state and institution building efforts of de facto states. A case study of Russian involvement in Abkhazia’s state building pursuits complements statistical analyses of a data set of 34 de facto states between 1945 and 2011. This thesis argues that patrons nurture the dependence of de facto states on patron support by pursuing a multi-layered policy of granting de facto state agency in an international setting of limited alternatives and providing aid that discourages self-sufficiency. Patrons support de facto states in guaranteeing minimal civilian governance to ensure a degree of sustainability and internal legitimacy. Patrons provide little state building assistance beyond this stage to ensure the status quo of dependence. Russia, for instance, concentrates on infrastructural reconstruction rather than capacity development in Abkhazia and takes on government responsibilities from the de facto authorities. By distinguishing between direct and indirect diffusion influences of patrons, this thesis clarifies why Abkhaz elites adjusted their actions according to perceived Russian interests and activities even during Abkhazia’s period of partial isolation. Due to the limited availability of viable alternative choices, de facto regimes are less likely to resist coercive influences and more susceptible to indirect diffusion influences. The agency of dependent de facto states is therefore bound by patron interests and activities, which encourages legislative and institutional isomorphism. Despite limited room for manoeuvre, Abkhazia has repeatedly displayed agency in the fields of language and private property policies

Magnetic versus crystal field linear dichroism in NiO thin films

We have detected strong dichroism in the Ni $L_{2,3}$ x-ray absorption spectra of monolayer NiO films. The dichroic signal appears to be very similar to the magnetic linear dichroism observed for thicker antiferromagnetic NiO films. A detailed experimental and theoretical analysis reveals, however, that the dichroism is caused by crystal field effects in the monolayer films, which is a non trivial effect because the high spin Ni $3d^{8}$ ground state is not split by low symmetry crystal fields. We present a practical experimental method for identifying the independent magnetic and crystal field contributions to the linear dichroic signal in spectra of NiO films with arbitrary thicknesses and lattice strains. Our findings are also directly relevant for high spin $3d^{5}$ and $3d^{3}$ systems such as LaFeO$_{3}$, Fe$_{2}$O$_{3}$, VO, LaCrO$_{3}$, Cr$_{2}$O$_{3}$, and Mn$^{4+}$ manganate thin films

Evolving Models of Pavlovian Conditioning: Cerebellar Cortical Dynamics in Awake Behaving Mice

Three decades of electrophysiological research on cerebellar cortical activity underlying Pavlovian conditioning have expanded our understanding of motor learning in the brain. Purkinje cell simple spike suppression is considered to be crucial in the expression of conditional blink responses (CRs). However, trial-by-trial quantification of this link in awake behaving animals is lacking, and current hypotheses regarding the underlying plasticity mechanisms have diverged from the classical parallel fiber one to the Purkinje cell synapse LTD hypothesis. Here, we establish that acquired simple spike suppression, acquired conditioned stimulus (CS)-related complex spike responses, and molecular layer interneuron (MLI) activity predict the expression of CRs on a trial-by-trial basis using awake behaving mice. Additionally, we show that two independent transgenic mouse mutants with impaired MLI function exhibit motor learning deficits. Our findings suggest multiple cerebellar cortical plasticity mechanisms underlying simple spike suppression, and they implicate the broader involvement of the olivocerebellar module within the interstimulus interval. Purkinje cell simple spike suppression is a central driving mechanism in cerebellar conditioning. Here, ten Brinke etal. show how simple spike suppression, conditioned stimulus-related complex spikes, and molecular layer interneuron (MLI) activity correlate to conditioned eyelid behavior. Moreover, transgenic impairment of MLI input results in deficits in conditioned behavior

Beiträge zur Klärung der biogenen Partikelbildung über borealen Nadelwäldern

Der Beitrag der biogenen Kohlenwasserstoffe auf das Klima und ihr quantitativer Anteil bei der Bildung und dem Wachstum von organischen Aerosolen konnte noch nicht befriedigend geklärt werden. Daher wurden die täglichen Änderungen der Konzentrationen von verschiedenen biogenen flüchtigen organischen Verbindungen (BVOCs) und ausgewählter Oxidationsprodukte in der Gas- und Partikelphase an ausgewählten Tagen in Hyytiälä, Finnland, untersucht. a-Pinen und D3-Caren dominieren die Monoterpenverteilung über dem Nadelwald in Hyytiälä, Finnland, gefolgt von b-Pinen und Camphen. Die absoluten Konzentrationen variieren stark von < 10 bis mehreren Hundert ppt. Typischerweise werden die höchsten Konzentrationen in der Nacht und während der frühen Morgenstunden und die niedrigsten tagsüber erreicht. Die Hauptoxidationsprodukte von a-Pinen, Pinonaldehyd, und von b-Pinen, Nopinon, wurden in der Atmosphäre über dem nördlichen Nadelwald nachgewiesen und zeigten die höchsten Konzentrationen in den frühen Morgenstunden mit einer maximalen Konzentration von 140 ppt für Pinonaldehyd und von 45 ppt für Nopinon. Die täglichen Konzentrationsänderungen können zusammen mit den Mischungsverhältnissen ihrer Vorläufersubstanzen dazu benutzt werden, Perioden von deutlicher VOC Oxidation aufzuzeigen. Für die drei wichtigsten Monoterpene wurde die Produktionsraten von schwerflüchtigen Oxidationsprodukten für die Mittagszeit zur Sommerzeit am Ort der Probenahme kalkuliert. Die Werte über der Baumkrone lagen zwischen 1,2 bis 1,3 10^4 Moleküle m^-3 s^-1. Diese Produktionsraten machen einen prozentualen Anteil von 10 bis 16 % des kondensierbaren Materials aus, der benötigt wird, um den beobachteten Partikelwachstum während der Meßkampagne zu erklären. Weiterhin konnten schwerflüchtige Oxidationsprodukte von biogenen VOCs, Pinon- und Pinsäure in der Partikelphase direkt über der Baumkrone im Frühling 1998 in Hyytiälä, Finnland, nachgewiesen werden. Die Summe der Konzentrationen für diese beiden Substanzen in der Partikelphase lag im Bereich von 1 bis 4 ng m^-3. Zur Analyse dieser Dicarbonsäuren wurde eine Methode entwickelt, die nur eine vergleichsweise kurze Probenvorbereitung benötigt. Dies ermöglicht zukünftig den zeitlichen Verlauf des Partikelwachstums mit der chemischen Zusammensetzung in Beziehung setzen zu können

Cerebellar potentiation and learning a whisker-based object localization task with a time response window

Whisker-based object localization requires activation and plasticity of somatosensory and motor cortex. These parts of the cerebral cortex receive strong projections from the cerebellum via the thalamus, but it is unclear whether and to what extent cerebellar processing may contribute to such a sensorimotor task. Here, we subjected knock-out mice, which suffer from impaired intrinsic plasticity in their Purkinje cells and long-term potentiation at their parallel fiber-to-Purkinje cell synapses (L7-PP2B), to an object localization task with a time response window (RW). Water-deprived animals had to learn to localize an object with their whiskers, and based upon this location they were trained to lick within a particular period ("go" trial) or refrain from licking ("no-go" trial). L7-PP2B mice were not ataxic and showed proper basic motor performance during whisking and licking, but were severely impaired in learning this task compared with wild-type littermates. Significantly fewer L7-PP2B mice were able to learn the task at long RWs. Those L7-PP2B mice that eventually learned the task made unstable progress, were significantly slower in learning, and showed deficiencies in temporal tuning. These differences became greater as theRWbecame narrower. Trained wild-type mice, but not L7-PP2B mice, showed a net increase in simple spikes and complex spikes of their Purkinje cells during the task. We conclude that cerebellar processing, and potentiation in particular, can contribute to learning a whisker-based object localization task when timing is relevant. This study points toward a relevant role of cerebellum- cerebrum interaction in a sophisticated cognitive task requiring strict temporal processing