Antioxidant efficiency and detoxification enzymes in spotted dogfish Scyliorhinus canicula

Although elasmobranchs are widely distributed species, commonly found on sandy, gravely or muddy bottoms, several biological aspects of their metabolism still remain poorly investigated. In this work the efficiency of antioxidant system and detoxification enzymes were investigated in the coastal spotted dogfish Scyliorhinus canicula and in the red mullet Mullus barbatus for comparison with a teleost species. Organisms were sampled during a bottom trawl survey and analyzed for the biotransformation activity (EROD), levels of metallothioneins, catalase, glutathione S-transferases and total oxyradical scavenging capacity (TOSC) toward peroxyl radicals and hydroxyl radicals. EROD activity in the elasmobranchs was more than one order of magnitude lower than in the red mullets, while similar levels of metallothioneins were measured in these species. S. canicula showed significantly lower antioxidant enzymes and a more reduced efficiency in neutralizing *OH; on the other hand the scavenging capability toward ROO* was comparable in S. canicula and M. barbatus.     

Paleontology,sedimentology and paleoenvironment of a new fossiliferous locality of the Jurassic Cañadón Asfalto Formation,Chubut Province,Argentina

A new Late Jurassic assemblage of “conchostracans”, ostracods, bivalves and caddisfly cases from the locality “Estancia La Sin Rumbo”, Chubut Province (Patagonia, Argentina) is recorded. The fossils occur in the upper part of an outcropping 45 m thick volcaniclastic lacustrine sequence of yellowish tuffs and tuffites of the Puesto Almada Member, which is the upper member of the Cañadón Asfalto Formation with U/Pb age of 161 ± 3 Ma. The sequence represents one sedimentary cycle composed of a (lower) hemicycle of expansion and a (higher) hemicycle of contraction of the water body. The invertebrates lived in small freshwater bodies during the periods of expansion of the lake. The occurrence of a great number of small spinicaudatans, associated with mud-cracks, is evidence of dry climatic conditions and suggests several local mortality events. The spinicaudatan record of the fushunograptid–orthestheriid (component of the Eosestheriopsis dianzhongensis fauna) and the presence of Congestheriella rauhuti Gallego and Shen, suggest a Late Jurassic (Oxfordian to Tithonian) age. Caddisfly cases are recorded for the first time in the Cañadón Asfalto Basin.     

Short-term changes in C and N distribution in soil particle size fractions induced by agricultural practices in a cultivated volcanic soil from Mexico

The purpose of this study was to assess the effect of agricultural practices on the characteristics of soil organic carbon (SOC). The study area is located in the Central Volcanic Belt (Michoacán) in Mexico. The soil is an Acrisol, acidic and rich in clays and sesquioxides. Experimental plots were treated with four different agronomic management systems between 2002 and 2003: traditional, improved traditional, organic and fallow. Each treatment was replicated twice. Samples were taken at depths of 0–10 and 10–20 cm and were subjected to a physical fractionation process by way of particle size. SOC was fractionated into fulvic acids, humic acids and humin. After two years of cultivation, the SOC content increased significantly with the organic management (2.2 mg g⁻¹ at 0–10 cm and 5.8 mg g⁻¹ at 10–20 cm). The C content of the soil fine particle fraction increased with the traditional and organic managements. The organic C and N contents of the silt + clay particle-size fraction were mainly concentrated as humin, indicating that this SOM should be stable and have a low risk of mineralization. The humin C content only decreased significantly under the traditional and fallow treatments. The N content of the humin fraction decreased significantly under the traditional management system (from 69% to 54%), indicating the low sustainability of this soil management. The C/N ratio of the soil increased significantly under all treatments, but mainly under the traditional and organic treatments (from 12.1 and 12.8 to 13.7 and 14.0, respectively). This indicates a decrease in humus quality. In addition, the C/N of the humin increased significantly (from 13.3 and 12.7 to 19.2 and 16.0, respectively).     

The saturation of calcite and aragonite in the Arctic Ocean

We report on the chemical saturation of CaCO₃ in the waters of the Arctic Ocean calculated from total alkalinity (A_T) and total dissolved inorganic carbon (C_T). Data based on four different expeditions are presented: International Arctic Ocean Expedition (IAOE-91), Arctic Ocean Section 94 (AOS94), Polarstern Arctic '96 expedition (ACSYS 96), and Joint Ocean Ice Study 97 (JOIS 97). The results show a lysocline at around 3500 m for aragonite and that most of the Arctic Ocean sea floor lies above the lysocline for calcite. The only anomaly is the low degree of saturation at the shelf break depth in the Canadian Basin seen in the sections of the AOS94 and JOIS 97 cruises, correlated with nutrient maxima and very low O₂ concentration, suggesting decomposition of organic matter. The insignificant variability in degree of saturation between the deep waters of the different basins in the Arctic Ocean indicates a very low sedimentation/remineralisation of organic soft matter.     

Amelioration and retrofitting of educational buildings

Following a seismic event that occurred years ago in Central Italy, the public opinion was growing and growing a concern on the adequacy of educational buildings all across Italy. This activated several political decisions and a consequent technical effort is in progress. Technically speaking one has to manage the classical problem of retrofitting existing buildings. However, the legal environment goes across national codes, targeted guidelines and the professional need of achieving pragmatic solutions based on ethical and social acceptation schemes.This paper introduces the topic in its worldwide exception and focuses then on some operative aspects in the Italian situation. It outlines the consolidated steps along this technical process and emphasizes the weak aspects one meets when going across the designers’ reports.     

CMIP3 projected changes in the annual cycle of the South American Monsoon

Nine models from the Coupled Model Intercomparison Project version 3 dataset are employed to examine projected changes in the South American Monsoon System annual cycle by comparing the 20th Century and SRES A2 scenarios. The following hypotheses are examined: (1) the warm season climate responses in the Southeast, Continental South Atlantic Convergence Zone (CSACZ) and Monsoon regions are related by regional circulation and moisture transport changes which, in turn, must be consistent with robust large-scale changes in the climate system, and (2) an increased threshold for convection in a warmer world may affect the timing of warm season rains. The present analysis reaffirms that the Southeast region is likely to experience increased precipitation through the warm season. Additional results exhibit more uncertainty due to large inter-model variance and disagreement in the A2 scenarios. Nevertheless several statistically significant results are found. In the Monsoon and to a lesser extent in the CSACZ region, the multi-model median suggests reduced precipitation during spring (Sep–Nov). These continental precipitation changes are accompanied by a southward shift of the maximum precipitation in the South Atlantic Convergence Zone. Changes in circulation include a poleward displaced South Atlantic Anticyclone (SAAC) and enhanced moisture transport associated with a strengthened northerly low level flow east of the Andes during spring. Moisture transport divergence calculations indicate unchanged divergence in the Monsoon region during spring and increased convergence in the Southeast throughout the warm season. The circulation and moisture transport changes suggest the increased precipitation in the Southeast during spring may be related to changes in the SALLJ and SAAC, which both enhance moisture transport to the Southeast. The seasonally dry Monsoon region is further affected by an increased threshold for convection in the warmer, more humid and stable climate of the 21st century, which combined with the circulation changes may weaken the onset of the rainy season. Although there is substantial variability among the models, and the results are represented by small changes compared with the multi-model variance, their statistical significance combined with their consistency with expected robust large scale changes provides a measure of confidence in otherwise tentative results. Further testing of the relationships presented here will be required to fully understand projected changes in the South American Monsoon.     

Alter-geopolitics: Other securities are happening

In an age of increasing state (in)security, some are coming together on their own to build alternative nonviolent securities. They are making connections across distance and difference which focus on the safety of bodies (often by actually moving bodies), and ground geopolitics in everyday life. The term anti-geopolitics focuses on resistance to hegemonic geopolitics (material or discursive), rather than this sort of effort to build something new. Feminist geopolitics is a form of anti-geopolitics that not only takes apart but also puts the pieces together in new ways - with broader definitions of security for more bodies in more places. Yet it has not generally looked at that practice as engaged in outside of academia. I propose the term alter-geopolitics for a type of feminist geopolitics as a way to extend both the concepts of anti- and feminist geopolitics. I argue for the term as a reminder to look to grassroots practice, to the ways that groups are doing geopolitics in the streets, in homes, in jungles, and in many other spaces ‘off the page’. Though they may not think of their work as geopolitics, framing it in this way can open fruitful conversations. As academics we have much to learn and offer through collaboratively thinking with such groups about security. I have been doing this with international accompaniers in Colombia and discuss their work, and the peace community of San José that they accompany, as forms of alter-geopolitics.     

Recent Publications

The government of Ontario, Canada, has passed legislation to protect large parts of the southern portions of the province from most development. An extensive plan for a Greenbelt that surrounds the Greater Toronto Area and other regional growth centers was introduced. This article looks at the new policy as a spatial strategy that shifts the scales of environmental and growth management policy in Ontario. The legislation also sets the framework for a state spatial project; that is, a set of changes in how the regional state internally operates. The current Greenbelt legislation is a new step in a longer term development by which governments in Ontario have attempted to regulate the relationships between cities and regions, town and hinterland. Overlapping strongly with what is usually called the Toronto bioregion between the Niagara Escarpment, Oak Ridges Moraine, and Lake Ontario, the Greenbelt reorganizes space in southern Ontario in ways that would further ecosystem policies and practices in the area. Theoretically guided by newer debates on rescaling and regionalism, and based on close reading of the planning and policy documents on the Greenbelt as well as a series of expert interviews, we argue that the current Greenbelt legislation is an act of up-scaling traditional urban-regional regulation in southern Ontario, which we shall call extended metropolitanization. Such rescaling recasts traditional political conflicts in new terms. We conclude that extended metropolitanization in southern Ontario has been a process that has brought nature, the state, and governance together into a new regional sustainability fix.     

An outline of shear-sense analysis in high-grade rocks

Ductile shear zones are important in tectonic reconstructions as a source of information on the relative motion of large crustal blocks or plates in the geological past. Methods to interpret fabric in ductile shear zones were mostly developed for low grade rocks where overprinting relations are usually well preserved. However, high grade shear zones are common and dominate in many Precambrian terrains. High grade shear zones should be analysed in a different way from low grade zones. The plane on which shear sense markers should be observed, the vorticity profile plane, is more difficult to find than in low grade shear zones. The most reliable shear sense markers in high grade shear zones are shear bands, mineral fish, mantled porphyroclasts, sigmoids and asymmetric boudins.