Deep Structural Changes Research Articles

Geometry of the Meridional Overturning Circulation at the Last Glacial Maximum

Abstract Understanding the contribution of ocean circulation to glacial–interglacial climate change is a major focus of paleoceanography. Specifically, many have tried to determine whether the volumes and depths of Antarctic- and North Atlantic–sourced waters in the deep ocean changed at the Last Glacial Maximum (LGM; ∼22–18 kyr BP) when atmospheric pCO2 concentrations were 100 ppm lower than the preindustrial. Measurements of sedimentary geochemical proxies are the primary way that these deep ocean structural changes have been reconstructed. However, the main proxies used to reconstruct LGM Atlantic water mass geometry provide conflicting results as to whether North Atlantic–sourced waters shoaled during the LGM. Despite this, a number of idealized modeling studies have been advanced to describe the physical processes resulting in shoaled North Atlantic waters. This paper aims to critically assess the approaches used to determine LGM Atlantic circulation geometry and lay out best practices for future work. We first compile existing proxy data and paleoclimate model output to deduce the processes responsible for setting the ocean distributions of geochemical proxies in the LGM Atlantic Ocean. We highlight how small-scale mixing processes in the ocean interior can decouple tracer distributions from the large-scale circulation, complicating the straightforward interpretation of geochemical tracers as proxies for water mass structure. Finally, we outline promising paths toward ascertaining the LGM circulation structure more clearly and deeply.

Transition life cycle assessment: A new method to face ecological transition

Transition can be defined as deep-structural changes in interrelated economic sectors. Climate change issue calls for a transition in which all actors can be involved and where the aim is the global interest rather than individual ones. LCA should be used to assess the environmental impacts of transition solutions, however, existing LCAs are not adapted mainly because they are conducted at product-level and rely upon economic assumptions that are unsuitable for a transition context. First typologies of LCAs are redefined, based on general system theory, according to the object under study and their model structures. A new type of LCA, called transition LCA is conceptually described. It aims at studying transition scenarios in a geographical context, and that can be relied to various technological paths. Differences with existing LCAs is that several functional units with varying amounts can be included, and that its results concern the changes of the system itself rather than the individual impacts of products. Transition LCA is also related to a specific geographical context in order to account for existing limits of resources and especially constraint resources such as waste, and to account for the match of flows between production and demand which determines the size of the geographical area. This type of modeling can be reached by coupling LCA with MFA at the suitable geographical scale. Transition LCA also requires specific interpretation steps dedicated to the identification of preferable scenarios and action levers hold by each involved actor. This interpretation requires integrating actors' identification and their decision models as mechanisms inside the system model. It also requires additional methods to systematically generate all actions possibilities and to conduct suitable sensitivity analysis. This method has presently been applied by parts but not as a whole and not as a single numerical tool. These parts are currently being developed in a single computing Python language, in order to become compatible with Brightway 2.

The first issue of annuities by the Diputación of the kingdom of Aragon (1376–1436): raising capital and sovereign debt in the Middle Ages

ABSTRACT This article presents new data on the kingdom of Aragon’s issue of sovereign debt 25 years earlier than the point at which there is routine documentation. The primary focus of this study is to examine how the representative institutions of this territory within the Crown of Aragon undertook the task of raising capital in financial markets. Contrary to a well-established historiographical perspective, this inland kingdom of the Iberian Peninsula and a supra-local political body called the Diputación employed advanced financial instruments that were used in major cities along the Mediterranean coast, and managed to attract investors. A chronological survey is undertaken of the evolution of this debt and how it shaped the kingdom’s relationship to the monarchy, seeking to meet royal demands for extraordinary funding. This study of the management of public debt sheds light on deep structural changes that encompassed fiscality, the creation of new institutions and self-government.

The immunomodulatory activity of degradation products of Sesbania cannabina galactomannan with different molecular weights.

Galactomannan (GM) is widely recognized as an immune enhancer; however, the underlying molecular mechanism is still unknown. Herein, four products with molecular weights in descending order, namely GM40, GM50, GM65, and GMOS, were separated from incomplete degradation products of Sesbania cannabina GM by ethanol precipitation, followed by their immunomodulatory activity. Through FTIR and XPS spectra, the amount of free hydroxyl groups was shown to decrease in the following order: GM>GM50>GMOS>GM40>GM65. Moreover, the immunomodulatory activity of different products decreased in abovementioned order. The TNF-α, IL-6 and TLR4 content in RAW 264.7 cells treated with different GM products in the presence or absence of TAK-242 (TLR4 inhibitor) suggested that the immunomodulatory activity of GM and its degradation products is TLR4-dependent. Overall, the preliminary relationship indicated here between the hydroxyl groups or the possible deeper structural changes of GM and the immunomodulatory activity need to be further investigated.

Diffusion Tensor Imaging Reveals Deep Brain Structure Changes in Early Parkinson's Disease Patients with Various Sleep Disorders.

Parkinson’s disease (PD) is a progressive age-related movement disorder caused by dopaminergic neuron loss in the substantia nigra. Diffusion-based magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) studies—namely, diffusion tensor imaging (DTI)—have been performed in the context of PD, either with or without the involvement of sleep disorders (SDs), to deepen our understanding of cerebral microstructural alterations. Analyzing the clinical characteristics and neuroimaging features of SDs in early PD patients is beneficial for early diagnosis and timely invention. In our present study, we enrolled 36 early PD patients (31 patients with SDs and 5 patients without) and 22 healthy controls. Different types of SDs were assessed using the Rapid Eye Movement Sleep Behavior Disorder Questionnaire—Hong Kong, Epworth Sleepiness Scale, International Restless Legs Scale and PD Sleep Scale-2. Brain MRI examinations were carried out in all the participants, and a region-of-interest (ROI) analysis was used to determine the DTI-based fractional anisotropy (FA) values in the substantia nigra (SN), thalamus (Thal) and hypothalamus (HT). The results illustrate that SDs showed a higher prevalence in the early PD patients than in the healthy controls (86.11% vs. 27.27%). Early PD patients with nighttime problems (NPs) had longer courses of PD than those without (5.097 ± 2.925 vs. 2.200 ± 1.095; p < 0.05), and these patients with excessive daytime sleepiness (EDS) or restless legs syndrome (RLS) had more advanced Hoehn and Yahr stages (HY stage) than those without (1.522 ± 0.511 and 1.526 ± 0.513, respectively; both p < 0.05). Compared with the early PD patients without probable rapid eye movement sleep behavior disorder (pRBD), those with pRBD had longer courses, more advanced HY stages and worse motor and non-motor symptoms of PD (course(years), 3.385 ± 1.895 vs. 5.435 ± 3.160; HY stages, 1.462 ± 0.477 vs. 1.848 ± 0.553; UPDRS, 13.538 ± 7.333 vs. 21.783 ± 10.766; UPDRS, 6.538 ± 1.898 vs. 7.957 ± 2.345; all p < 0.05). In addition, the different number of SD types in early PD patients was significantly inversely associated with the severity of damage in the SN and HT. All of the early PD patients with various SDs had injuries in the SN, in whom the damage was more pronounced in patients with NP than those without. Moreover, early PD patients with NP, RLS or pRBD had worse degrees of HT damage than those without. The current study demonstrated the pathophysiological features and neuroimaging changes in early PD patients with various types of sleep disorders, which will help in early diagnosis and therapy.

Environmental Mainstreaming in Greek TEN-T Ports

Along with recent fundamental changes in several aspects of the port industry, ports come up against formidable environmental challenges. It is thus important and often imperative to mainstream environmental concerns in their operation, planning, and development; improve their environmental performance; and make the transition to sustainable production and consumption patterns. The industry’s greening is largely underpinned by European Union (EU) transport and port policy, with major European initiatives such as the Trans-European Transport Network (TEN-T), the European Green Deal, and Blue Growth expected to give new impetus. This paper examines environmental mainstreaming in Greek TEN-T ports and their ability to cope with upcoming challenges based on questionnaire responses by 23 port authorities and taking into account the relevant progress made by ESPO port members. We argue that all respondents have gradually become aware of the need to move towards an environment-friendly operation and development, but progress is slow, and there is still a lot to be done. Performances vary and depend on different factors, while ports are faced with significant challenges and various constraints. Nevertheless, new environmental standards present a real opportunity for Greek ports to undertake deep structural changes, especially in view of current and future European port policy.

СТРАТЕГІЧНІ ОРІЄНТИРИ МОДЕРНІЗАЦІЇ УПРАВЛІННЯ РЕГІОНАЛЬНОЮ ЕКОНОМІКОЮ: ФАКТОР ГІРСЬКИХ ТЕРИТОРІЙ

Introduction. The analysis of the main factors that generate profound differences in socio-economic development in a spatial section shows that, if at the initial stage of the economic reform they were caused mainly by different starting conditions that existed in the cities and villages of the Zakarpattia region before the beginning of the reforms, then in the current conditions, the dynamics of economic processes is determined purely by market factors - the level of development of entrepreneurial activity, the competitiveness of goods and services, the conditions for the formation of costs, prices, demand and supply, as a result of which there is an increasing dynamic of the formation of market relations in a spatial section. The situation in mountain settlements is extremely negative, which significantly lags behind the average regional indicators for a number of important indicators of socio-economic development, which necessitates the development of an innovative management model in the post-war period, which would be based on more effective use of own production, resource and human capital. Taking into account the creative factors for the region in general and for mountain settlements, an innovative model of ecological and economic development can be considered promising, under the influence of which their economic priorities, sectoral structure of the economy, specialization of production, development of entrepreneurship, placement of new productions according to the criterion of environmental friendliness, etc. are formed. Purpose. The purpose of the article is to outline the strategic orientations of socio-economic modernization of the regional economy through the prism of the development of mountainous areas. Materials and methods. The research materials are: 1) regulatory and legal support for the regulation of the development of mountain settlements in Ukraine; 2) works of domestic and foreign authors conducting their scientific and practical research in the field of regional development, in particular, regarding the development of depressed and mountainous areas. In the process of carrying out the research, the following methods of cognition were used: abstract-logical (with generalizations of a theoretical nature based on the works of domestic and foreign scientists); monographic (when studying and summarizing the experience and prerequisites for the growth of the socio-economic level of development of individual territories); systemic (when developing strategic guidelines for the modernization of the socio-economic development of the region and mountain settlements). Results. The article examines the problem of developing strategic directions for socio-economic modernization of the region's economy in the post-war period through the prism of stimulating the development of mountainous territories, since the latter are the least developed and, accordingly, the most problematic territories in the context of their socio- economic development. Based on the study of various scientific approaches, the essence of the concept of "modernization" has been clarified. The main directions of modernization of the economy of mountain areas at the regional level of development are proposed, which include the implementation of complex systemic measures with the aim of implementing deep structural and sectoral changes Discussion. In further scientific research, it is proposed to focus attention on the development of the conceptual basis for the development of state regional policy on an innovative basis, which was aimed at stimulating regional development in the post-war period, where a major role should be given to the outline of priority directions for stimulating the development of depressed territories and communities, which undoubtedly belong most mountain settlements.

Soviet Planning: What and Why Is Relevant in the XXI Century

Planning has become widespread in countries with different socio-economic systems. At the same time, both the evaluation of the results of using planned methods and these planned methods themselves have significant differences. They depend both on the features of the socio-economic systems in which planning was applied, and on the tasks that it solved. To study these dependencies, it is useful to turn to the experience of planning in the USSR, which demonstrates different options for using planning methods. During the years of the new economic policy, planning functioned in the conditions of a broad development of market and capitalist relations. Therefore, the planning methods were adapted to the market conditions. The planning itself was mainly indicative, and the achievement of planned results was built by influencing the economic interests of economic entities. Therefore, it is possible to find a significant similarity in the model of Soviet planning during the years of the new economic policy and those planning methods that were used in the post-war period in Europe, Japan, and then in the new industrial countries. The model of directive planning, which was developed in the USSR in the 1930s of the twentieth century, provided both certain advantages in the development of the economy (the mobilization and concentration of significant masses of resources for deep structural changes in the economy, the implementation of large scientific, technical and social projects), and was burdened with serious contradictions. The Soviet model of directive planning did not have effective institutions that expressed the economic interests of enterprises and their collectives, did not create incentives for technical re-equipment of existing enterprises, and ultimately led to the predominance of the interests of the top government departments. To prevent the development of such contradictions, one-sided reflection of the interests of narrow social groups, the planned system should be built on democratic grounds.

Community policing does not build citizen trust in police or reduce crime in the Global South.

Is it possible to reduce crime without exacerbating adversarial relationships between police and citizens? Community policing is a celebrated reform with that aim, which is now adopted on six continents. However, the evidence base is limited, studying reform components in isolation in a limited set of countries, and remaining largely silent on citizen-police trust. We designed six field experiments with Global South police agencies to study locally designed models of community policing using coordinated measures of crime and the attitudes and behaviors of citizens and police. In a preregistered meta-analysis, we found that these interventions led to mixed implementation, largely failed to improve citizen-police relations, and did not reduce crime. Societies may need to implement structural changes first for incremental police reforms such as community policing to succeed.

WHATEVER HAPPENED TO BRAZIL?

Under Lula and Dilma, during the 2003-2013 decade that the World Bank called “the Golden Decade of Brazil”, we had simultaneously economic growth, social inclusion, environment protection and job expansion. With no deficit and very low inflation, and all despite the turbulence of the 2008 crisis. The onslaught on the inclusive policies started in 2014, Dilma was ousted through a thinly disguised coup in 2016, ex-president Lula was jailed for the time of the 2018 election, won by Jair Bolsonaro. Since the old oligarchies and corporate interests took over, the economy is stalled, unemployment has doubled, the Amazon is being cut down, child mortality is growing. The pandemic deepened an already general economic and social crisis. The aim of this paper is to present an overview of what went wrong, centering not on the pandemic itself, but on the deeper structural change that reversed the inclusive growth model of the popular governments. This involves the economy, but also technological, social and political change. The overall thesis is that inclusive development works, austerity does not.

The domestic high school professional education system transformation: constraining factors and the assessment ambiguity

The social transformations that took place under the influence of globalization and neoliberalization at the turn of the 20th – 21st centuries led to the need for deep structural and functional changes in the system of domestic higher professional education. Despite the fact that over the past twenty years in domestic practice a lot of directive documents have been developed and a number of serious management decisions have been adopted that have a direct impact on the development of the Russian education system at all levels, the domestic higher school in many respects cannot reach a level that makes it possible to make a serious competition to the participants of the world scientific and educational space. A retrospective analysis of the main conceptual documents that determine the development of the domestic education system, carried out in the work, showed that reforms of the domestic higher education system often do not reach their logical conclusion, since they are predominantly declarative in nature, far from always supported by a legislative framework, which leads to inconsistency in practical actions on their implementation. The article reveals that the incompleteness of the reforms is largely due to the existing gaps in cooperation between the institutions of education, science and industrial production, which all conceptually significant documents declare, but in practice, close mutually beneficial cooperation between these actors does not sufficiently manifest itself. The author indicates that such interaction can be carried out through the development of university systems, which, being integrated into the economy of the regions and acting as a driver of innovative development, can contribute to increasing the competitiveness of Russian universities in the international scientific and educational space.

Understanding human development, poverty and water scarcity patterns in the Brazilian Semi-arid through cluster analysis

In Brazil, the Semi-arid is the poorest region in the country, where a significant part of the population is not adapted to drought and fluctuations in rainfall. Based on multivariate methods, I investigate here the spatial patterns of drought and socioeconomic variables between 2000 and 2010 within the Brazilian Semi-arid. In this work, I find five well-defined socio-environment clusters presenting distinct characteristics: developing cluster, demographic gains cluster, stagnated cluster, socio-environmental challenges cluster and undeveloped cluster. My results show that there are vast areas in the Brazilian Semi-arid that demand development strategies and deep structural changes. Policies for development and poverty alleviation focused essentially on increasing income will not necessarily have an immediate impact on other important social indicators, such as mortality and illiteracy rates. Multidimensional approaches and multiscale interventions considering partnerships among all levels of government (local, state and federal) are essential to overcome this vicious cycle linking environment constrains with poverty and low development levels. Finally, this paper shows that integrating socioeconomic, demographic and environmental indicators is vital to understanding development patterns throughout the Brazilian Semi-arid.

An Investigation of the Association between Transversus Abdominis Myofascial Structure and Activation with Age in Healthy Adults using Ultrasound Imaging.

BackgroundBecause of their importance in core stability, training the deep abdominal muscles, fascial structures and particularly the transversus abdominis, is a key component of many sport and physical therapy programs. However, there are gaps in knowledge about age-related changes in the structure and activation capacity of these muscles.Hypothesis/PurposeThis study investigated the association between deep abdominal muscles and fascial structures and transversus abdominis activation with age in healthy adults.Study designA cross-sectional study.MethodsEighty-six adults aged 18 to 77 participated in this study. An ultrasound image of their transversus abdominis, internal oblique, external oblique and associated fasciae was first captured at rest, then during a contraction of the transversus abdominis. Bivariate correlation analyses and hierarchical analyses were performed (significance level: p < 0.05).ResultsThe thickness of these three muscles decreases with age ( = -0.66 for external oblique, -0.51 for internal oblique and -0.58 for transversus abdominis), whereas the thickness of their fasciae increases ( = 0.39 for the fascia of external oblique, 0.54 for the fascia between internal oblique and external oblique, and 0.74 for the fascia between internal oblique and transversus abdominis). Transversus abdominis activation decreases with age (r =-0.44). Age accounts for 19.5% of the variance in transversus abdominis activation.ConclusionThese results demonstrate that normal aging is associated with changes in deep abdominal myofascial structures and transversus abdominis activation. Assessment of these metrics can provide valuable baseline information for physical therapists involved in rehabilitation and strengthening programs targeting older individuals.Level of evidenceLevel 2

REMARRIAGES IN CONTEMPORARY POLAND. A DEMOGRAPHIC SKETCH

A stabile number on newly contracted marriages in Poland prior 2020, hides deep structural changes defined in terms of civil status of newlyweds. In the last fifteen years a rapid increase in proportion of remarriages is observed, i.e. marriages with at least one nupturient being earlier married. An aim of the article is to describe the mentioned above changes and to explain factors affecting the trend. An important task is also to indicate missing research fields related to demographic and social consequences of the change.

SY1.8. Application of TMS in movement disorders

I will summarize several TMS applications in movement disorders. Function of supplementary motor area (SMA) and preSMA revealed by QPS (Shimzu T et al). We studied functional differences between the pre-SMA and SMA in sequence learning in humans. To induce LTP/LTD, we administered quadripulse transcranial magnetic stimulation (QPS) with an inter-stimulus interval of 5 or 50 ms (QPS-5/50) over the pre-SMA or SMA in healthy volunteers. QPS-5 over the pre-SMA increased the error rate without any changes in movement speed. When administered over the SMA, QPS affected the rate of reaction time reduction across trials without any changes in the error rate. Cerebellar involvement and cerebellar stimulation treatments. Essential tremor (Hanajima et al). Several lines of evidence suggested a cerebellar pathophysiology of essential tremor (ET). It was recently confirmed by human pathology, neuroimaging studies and others. This hypothesis was also confirmed by cerebellar TMS over cerebellum (cerebellar inhibition: CBI) and prism adaptation task in ET patients (Hanajima et al). Cerebellar stimulation treatments in movement disorders (Çan, M et al). Many researchers have been interested in cerebellar involvement in movement disorders and also cerebellar stimulation as one of treatment methods. However, our magnetic coil must activate cerebellum in some extent but not purely cerebellum alone, and always activate some other structures. The simulation study showed considerable amount of currents must be induced in the cerebellum even with a small coil. Cerebellar stimulation is one of future projects of TMS. Transcranial focused ultrasound stimulation (tFUS). Very low intensity tFUS makes reversible functional changes in human brain. This reversible modulation is used for functional studies of human brains. Its focality and ability to induce functional changes in deep brain structures, such as thalamus, must enable this method to be used in movement disorders. Alternative leg movements induction by lumbar rTMS (Nishimura et al). The lumbar gait center is known to produce gait-like alternative leg movements in animals. We made a system to voluntary induce a gait-like leg movement triggered by her/his own upper limb EMGs. This system induced alternative leg movements, gait like movements, in patients with paraplegia due to spinal cord injury.

Concentration, competition and financial stability in the South-East Europe banking context

The banking industries of South-East European (SEE hereafter) countries are the main channel through which financial resources are distributed across the region and over the last decades they have witnessed deep structural changes such as privatisations, consolidation and cross-border acquisitions. The purpose of this study is to shed further light on how concentration, competition and the financial stability of these banking industries has changed over time. In addition, this study investigates how concentration and competition in the SEE banking industries affects the financial stability of SEE banks. By using alternative measures of market concentration and competition, I find a reduction in the degree of concentration as well as market structures characterised by monopolistic competition. Furthermore, using several measures of financial stability I find a reduction of non-performing loans as well as a reduction in the probability of insolvency of SEE banks. When analysing the effects of either concentration or competition measures on the financial stability of SEE banks, this study reveals that an increase in market concentration results in a reduction of the non-performing loans ratios, therefore indicating greater financial stability of SEE banks. On the other hand, by using the Lerner index as a measure of competition, the findings presented in this study reveal that an increase in banks’ market power has the effect of increasing non-performing loans ratios of SEE banks. Finally, by breaking down SEE banks in accordance with their ownership (i.e. domestic versus foreign ownership) and size (large versus small banks), this study reveals mixed results in relation to the effect of both concentration and competition measures on the financial stability of SEE banks.

Household and Community Gardens Surge in the Philippines and Senegal during COVID-19

Household and Community Gardens Surge in the Philippines and Senegal during COVID-19

Estimation of price and income elasticity of residential water demand in the Czech Republic over three decades

AbstractThis paper contributes to residential water demand literature by providing price and income elasticity estimates for a country which has undergone deep structural, institutional and economic changes. We analyze short‐run and long‐run residential water demand using household‐level data for the Czech Republic for the period of 1993–2016, during which the price of water nearly tripled, consumption decreased by a third, and families became considerably richer. Our estimates of price and income elasticity indicate low responsiveness of households to changes of these factors. Income elasticity is about +0.16 and it is robust across models. The short‐run price elasticity is about −0.22, on the low end of estimates derived for other developed economies. Long‐run price elasticity is around −0.30. While households were more price responsive during the period of economic transformation, they became completely unresponsive during the later economic boom.

Greening the International Society for Environmental Epidemiology.

Greening the International Society for Environmental Epidemiology.

Oxidative Destruction of Vulcanized by Changing the Dispersion Composition of Oxidized Vulcanized

The aim of the present work is to study the processes of oxidative destruction of waste vulcanizates (flakes) with nitric acid. The composition of the particles of the main reaction product was determined (oxidized vulcanized). The IR spectra of hexane and acetone extracts of the oxidized vulcanizates are also presented. It was found that the rubber component of the vulcanizates undergoes deep structural changes leading to the formation of products characterized by chemical heterogeneity