1,434 research outputs found
‘Forests, instruments and ideas’ – a tribute to John Grace's career
No full textA childhood in rural England, near Bletchey, and encouragement from keen science teachers started John Grace's career in ecology..
Does Economic Optimisation Explain LAI and Leaf Trait Distributions Across an Amazon Soil Moisture Gradient?
No full textModel outputs presented in Flack-Prain, S., Meir, P., Malhi, Y., Smallman, T. L., & Williams, M. (2020). "Does Economic Optimisation Explain LAI and Leaf Trait Distributions Across an Amazon Soil Moisture Gradient?". Global Change Biology.Flack-Prain, Sophie; Meir, Patrick; Malhi, Yadvinder; Smallman, Luke; Williams, Mathew. (2020). Does Economic Optimisation Explain LAI and Leaf Trait Distributions Across an Amazon Soil Moisture Gradient?, [dataset]. University of Edinburgh. School of Geosciences. https://doi.org/10.7488/ds/2925
From pork to Kapores: transformations in religious practice among the Jews of late imperial Kiev
No full textUntil recently, studies of Jewish religious practices in Imperial Russia have focused on major movements such as Hasidism and mitnagdism as well as the challenges that Haskalah presented to traditional Judaism. Few scholars have scrutinized transformations in everyday religious practices such as the observance of Sabbath and other holidays, synagogue attendance, and liturgical practices. However, new political, social, and economic realities had generated subtle changes in religious practices even in earlier periods and it comes as no surprise, therefore, that religious practices among Jews during the tsarist period, especially in Kiev, were neither monolithic nor static. This article provides a new perspective on this topic by analyzing patterns of religious practice among Jews in one city – examining personal observance, communal practice, synagogue rites and attendance, and religious education – while providing a broader context of reform in Russia. In large urban centers like Kiev, the pressures and temptations of modern life, big-city anonymity, and the vitality and diversity of Jewish community often led to a transformation of prior belief and behavior among new arrivals. The author concludes that despite the absence of a movement for religious reform in the Russian Empire, we can nonetheless observe innovations and changes in religious life emerging out of the attempt to make observance compatible with modern urban life and a nascent Russian-Jewish identity
Does Economic Optimisation Explain LAI and Leaf Trait Distributions Across an Amazon Soil Moisture Gradient?
No full textModel outputs presented in Flack-Prain, S., Meir, P., Malhi, Y., Smallman, T. L., & Williams, M. (2020).Does Economic Optimisation Explain LAI and Leaf Trait Distributions Across an Amazon Soil Moisture Gradient?. Global Change Biology
Karaims in the novel Meir Ezofowicz of Eliza Orzeszkowa
No full textMeir Ezofowicz, Eliza Orzeszkowa’s well-known novel published in 1878, features two Karaim characters: Abel and Gołda. The novel itself, however, primarily concerns the Rabbanite Jews. The author of the present article analyses the way in which the Karaims are depicted in the novel via the methods of literature anthropology. Here, the author addresses the question of Eliza Orzeszkowa’s motives for introducing Abel and Gołda into the book – and the way she achieved this. The article demonstrates how the image of the Karaims created by the novelist contains a number of errors and inaccuracies. Although her aim was merely to juxtapose the Karaims with the Jews, bearing in mind the popularity and classic status of the novel, it is valid to say that Meir Ezofowicz may have help shape stereotypes of the Karaims.W znanej powieści Elizy Orzeszkowej pt. Meir Ezofowicz (1878) występuje dwoje Karaimów: Abel i Gołda. Książka jednak dotyczy tematyki żydowskiej. Autor artykułu, posiłkując się inspiracjami ze strony antropologii literatury, próbuje poddać analizie wizerunek Karaimów w tej powieści. Zastanawia się, w jaki sposób i w jakim celu Orzeszkowa wprowadziła do swej powieści postacie Karaimów. Okazuje się, że pisząc o nich popełniła pewne błędy. Ale jej celem było uczynienie z Karaimów przeciwieństwa w stosunku do Żydów, którzy są głównym przedmiotem jej zainteresowania. Ze względu na popularność i rangę Meira Ezofowicza, powieść ta może wpływać na stereotyp Karaimów
Conférence « The Chinese Horse God – Newly Discovered Manuscripts of his Cult – » par Meir Shahar, 27 septembre 2017
No full textL’équipe ASIEs vous invite à une conférence donnée dans le cadre du séminaire de Vincent Durand-Dastès "Récits, mythes, spectacles". Elle sera suivie d'un débat sur le thème "religions chinoises et littératures". Date : 27 septembre 2017 – 18h à 20h Lieu : Inalco, 65 rue des Grands Moulins 75013 Paris – Amphi 5 Meir Shahar, après un doctorat soutenu à Harvard University sous la direction de Patrick Hanan, a publié de nombreux travaux sur la littérature et les religions chinoises : on lui doi..
Economic utopia of the Torah. Economic concepts of the Hebrew Bible interpreted according to the Rabbinical Literature
No full textHebrew Bible offers alternative Economic utopia for building Theocratic society. In this paper, various economic concepts and themes are presented, as found in the Hebrew Bible. These economic concepts include taxation, property rights, labor market, social policy, banking, years of Sabbath and Jubilee, and business cycles. Most economic issues of the Bible are found in the texts of Torah, also known as five Books of Moses. These texts are analyzed by using classical Rabbinical commentaries for better insight. Contrary to the modern Economic theory which is based on the assumptions of scarcity of resources and unlimited needs of consumers, Economics of the Torah is based on God’s resources which are enough for all true needs of His people.Hebrew Bible, History of Economics, History of Economic Thought, Ancient Israel, Judaism
Methane cycling in upland soils of the Peruvian Andes and Amazon
No full textSignificant discrepancies exist in global estimates of the atmospheric methane (CH4)
budget. This is particularly true for tropical South America where bottom-up approaches,
rooted in field observation, tend to under estimate atmospheric observations.
As such, a better understanding of soil environments, which are capable of acting as
both source and sink for atmospheric CH4, is required. Soil-atmosphere CH4 exchange
is fundamentally determined by the balance between strictly anaerobic methanogenic
and aerobic methanotrophic microbial processes. For this reason, CH4 emissions are
typically associated with anoxic wetland soils, whilst, oxic upland soils are thought to
uptake CH4 from the atmosphere. However, there is increasing evidence that upland
soils may act as sources of CH4 through methanogenic activity within cryptic wetlands
or anoxic microsites.
This thesis aims to: document soil-atmosphere CH4 fluxes in poorly represented tropical
upland and montane ecosystems, investigate controls on CH4 flux with a focus
on soil oxygen (O2) concentration and investigate relationships between methanogenic
and methanotrophic processes under oxic conditions. These aims are addressed in
three chapters focusing on lowland terra firme, premontane and montane forests and
montane humid puna grasslands and wetlands along an Amazonian to Andean transect
spanning ~ 3300 m of elevation in southeastern Peru.
In the lowland rainforest intensive seasonal field campaigns and laboratory incubations
were conducted on higher porosity ultisol and lower porosity inceptisol soils. Mean
(s.e.) net CH4 fluxes for dry and wet seasons were, respectively, -1.59 (0.06) and -
1.39 (0.07) mg CH4-C m−2 d−1 for the ultisol and -0.95 (0.06) and -0.41 (0.10) mg
CH4-C m−2 d−1 for the inceptisol. Greater uptake rates in the ultisol than the inceptisol
were best explained by lower water-filled pore space (WFPS). Similarly, WFPS best
explained between season variation in net CH4 flux from the inceptisol, whilst, we
were unable to explain the smaller variations observed for the ultisol. Methanogenic
processes were active in both the ultisol and inceptisol soils despite oxic conditions.
In the premontane and montane forests, long-term monthly field measurements were
conducted over two and a half years in premontane, lower montane and upper montane
settings. Mean (s.e.) net CH4 fluxes for aggregated dry and wet season months
were, respectively, -0.20 (0.15) and -0.08 (0.13) mg CH4-C m−2 d−1 for the premontane
forest, -1.12 (0.13) and -0.97 (0.11) mg CH4-C m−2 d−1 for the lower montane forest
and -1.55 (0.13) and -1.04 (0.11) mg CH4-C m−2 d−1 for the upper montane forest.
Increased uptake with elevation was best explained by decreases in WFPS. Significant
variation in net CH4 flux between seasons, driven by variation in WFPS, was only
identified for the upper montane forest
Leaf traits and foliar CO₂ exchange in a Peruvian tropical montane cloud forest
No full textTropical montane cloud forests (TMCF) are one of the most fascinating, but least
understood ecosystems in the world, and the interest in the carbon (C) cycle of
TMCFs with regard to carbon sequestration and storage practices has increased
rapidly in recent years. One feature that prevails in all TMCFs is a decrease in
aboveground net primary productivity (ANPP) and standing biomass and leaf area
index (LAI) with increasing altitude, together with the stunted growth form of the
trees. This thesis focuses on the input part of the TMCF C-cycle, and investigates the
controlling factors on photosynthesis on a leaf, canopy, and ecosystem level in the
Kosñipata valley in south east Peru, on the eastern slope of the Andes (13º11’28’’S /
71º35’24’’W).
Leaf traits are known to relate to foliar C-exchange, and compared with other
altitudinal transect studies of TMCFs, the studied sites had similar altitudinal trends
for foliar nitrogen (N) content (though not for phosphorus) and leaf mass per area
(LMA), with N content decreasing and LMA increasing with altitude. N
concentrations were relatively high and LMA values relatively low, but this observed
relationship was consistent with those found in global leaf trait surveys. Examining
plant stoichiometry (i.e. N:P ratios), the data suggests that unlike the general
hypothesis, the Kosñipata forests are not N limited, except for the study site at 2990
m a.s.l.. At the 2990 m a.s.l. site, which is the focal study site of the thesis,
photosynthetic parameters Vcmax (the carboxylation efficiency of the Rubisco protein)
and Jmax (the electron transport efficiency) proved to be similar to those found in
lowland tropical rainforest leaves when expressed on an area basis and standardised
to 25 °C (55.6 ± 2.6 and 106.5 ± 5.2 mmol m-2 s-1, for Vcmax and Jmax, respectively).
However, when standardised to the mean ambient TMCF temperature of 12.5 °C,
both photosynthetic parameters were much lower than ambient tropical rainforest
Vcmax and Jmax values. The TMCF Jmax -Vcmax relationships were steeper than found in
other tropical biomes, indicating a possible adaptation to the lower light availability
in TMCFs because of frequent cloud cover, or a consequence of little atmospheric
evaporative demand, which is also due to the humid conditions in this forest type.
Although N-Vcmax relationships were significant (P<0.05), the fit was not very strong and the relationship between nitrogen use efficiency (NUE) and Vcmax indicates that
TMCF species can be regarded as a different plant functional type compared with
other tropical forest types. Diurnal measurements of net photosynthesis (A), stomatal
conductance (gs) and leaf water potential (Yleaf) showed that different TMCF species
experienced non-contrasting diurnal patterns of Yleaf and gs in the dry season. The
observed patterns suggest that some TMCF species can be classified as isohydric
species, while others behave anisohydrically. Additionally, in situ gs was not very
responsive to these to the range of experienced photosynthetically active radiation
(PAR), vapour pressure deficit (VPD) or soil water content (SWC), leading to the
conclusion that in the studied TMCF, drought stress does not play a role in C-uptake.
When using the measured photosynthetic parameters for up-scaling C-uptake to
stand scale with a Soil-Plant-Atmosphere model, simulated annual gross primary
productivity (GPP) was 16.24 ±1.6 T C ha-1 yr-1, which is about half the GPP
observed in neotropical lowland rainforests. Analyses of the modelled results showed
that GPP in this TMCF is mostly controlled by temperature, PAR and leaf area index
(LAI) and when increasing these three factors to values found in tropical lowland
forest, GPP increased up to 75%. In addition, the modelled results indicate that
hydraulic limitations on TMCF C-uptake are very unlikely under current climatic
conditions. The modelled results also showed that increases in radiation as a result of
less cloud cover do not translate to straightforward increases of GPP. The cloudy
conditions of TMCFs, which reduced incident PAR in TMCFs, should therefore not
be regarded simply as a negative control on TMCF GPP. Instead, the increase in
fraction of diffuse radiation partially offsets the decrease in GPP following the
reduction in PAR. Overall, the results of this study show that leaves of Andean
TMCF forests have similar C-uptake capacity to tropical lowland rainforests when
standardized to similar temperatures, but that for in situ C-uptake temperature,
radiation and LAI are the key controls
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The international political economy of intellectual property rights /
No full textThis book investigates the realm of intellectual property rights (IPRs) within the context of international political economy. In particular, it examines the extent to which powerful interest groups, such as pharmaceutical multinational companies, influence the political dynamism underlying the field of IPRs. Meir Perez Pugatch argues that a pure economic approach does not provide a sufficient or satisfactory explanation for the creation of intellectual property rights, most notably patents. The author instead suggests that a dynamic approach, based on the international political economy of interest groups and systemic outcomes, provides a better starting point for explaining how the international intellectual property agenda is determined
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