Endowed with natural resources, majestic bodies of fresh water, and a relatively mild climate, the Great Lakes region of Central Africa has also been the site of some of the world's bloodiest ...atrocities. In Rwanda, Burundi, and the Congo-Kinshasa, decades of colonial subjugation-most infamously under Belgium's Leopold II-were followed by decades of civil warfare that spilled into neighboring countries. When these conflicts lead to horrors such as the 1994 Rwandan genocide, ethnic difference and postcolonial legacies are commonly blamed, but, with so much at stake, such simple explanations cannot take the place of detailed, dispassionate analysis.The Dynamics of Violence in Central Africaprovides a thorough exploration of the contemporary crises in the region. By focusing on the historical and social forces behind the cycles of bloodshed in Rwanda, Burundi, and the Congo-Kinshasa, René Lemarchand challenges much of the conventional wisdom about the roots of civil strife in former Belgian Africa. He offers telling insights into the appalling cycle of genocidal violence, ethnic strife, and civil war that has made the Great Lakes region of Central Africa the most violent on the continent, and he sheds new light on the dynamics of conflict in the region. Building on a full career of scholarship and fieldwork, Lemarchand's analysis breaks new ground in our understanding of the complex historical forces that continue to shape the destinies of one of Africa's most important regions.
The taxonomic position and phylogenetic affinities of the endemic North Asian genus Kolhymamnicola Starobogatov and Budnikova, 1976 (Gastropoda: Amnicolidae) remain unknown. To resolve this, we ...studied key morpho-anatomical characteristics of Kolhymamnicola snails and performed a molecular phylogenetic analysis based on sequences of COI mtDNA, 16S rRNA, and 18S rRNA genes. In terms of protoconch microsculpture, operculum, radular teeth, and gill complex morphology, Kolhymamnicola snails do not differ significantly from the North American genera Amnicola Gould and Haldeman, 1840 and Taylorconcha Hershler et al., 1994, and the European genus Marstoniopsis van Regteren Altena 1936. The bifid penis found in Kolhymamnicola is similar to that in the genus Marstoniopsis. The female reproductive anatomy has some features shared by Kolhymamnicola and Taylorconcha (absence of bursa copulatrix, single seminal receptacle in rssub.2′ position, and ventral channel). The molecular analysis has revealed Taylorconcha as the closest relative to Kolhymamnicola; the COI-based genetic distance between them amounted to 0.113. We discuss the possible time of divergence of these two genera, as well as of European Marstoniopsis and the Baikal Lake endemic family Baicaliidae. The last common ancestor of these groups was widely distributed in Miocene-Pliocene in the Holarctic waterbodies. Recent Kolhymamnicola snails are distributed in Northern Asia, including lakes of the Baikal rift zone. We rank the Baicaliidae as a family rather than a subfamily of Amnicolidae based on their distinct, unique morpho-anatomical characteristics and highly supported separate position on the molecular tree. The tribe Erhaiini Davis and Kuo, 1985 is elevated to the rank of the family, with 3-4 recent genera included. The family Palaeobaicaliidae Sitnikova et Vinarski fam. nov. is established to embrace the Cretaceous North Asian gastropods conchologically similar to the recent Baicaliidae and Pyrgulidae.
Peri-partum cardiomyopathy (PPMC) is a rare but devastating cardiac failure of indeterminate etiology occurring in late pregnancy or early puerperium. Dry lake salt (Kanwa) is usually consumed in ...many parts of Nigeria as laxatives. In the Northern Nigeria, with a high prevalence of PPMC, it is consumed postpartum in large quantities as a traditional practice. This work investigated the effect of kanwa on serum lipid profile, blood pressure and body weight of postpartum rat administered graded doses of kanwa. The female rats were grouped into 4 of five animals each postpartum. The rats in the groups were administered 0 mg/kg (control), 100 mg/kg, 200 mg/kg, and 300 mg/kg body weight respectively of Kanwa orally for four weeks. The results indicated a significant decrease in HDL-C when compared with the control (P < 0.01) while all other lipid profile parameters (TAG, T.CHOL, VLDL-C, and LDL-C) tested were found to have no significant (P > 0.05) different from the control. However, there is a no significant (P > 0.05) increase in atherogenic index of the treated group as compared with the control. Moreover, blood pressure as well as body weight results are all considered not significantly different from control (P > 0.05). The result indicated that kanwa may play a significant role in the pathogenesis of the PPMC.
A grassroots, global network to examine lake function using sensor data? Why not? That was the perspective of Drs.Tim Kratz (limnologist), David Hamilton (limnologist), Peter Arzberger ...(mathematician), and Fang-Pang Lin (computer scientist) in 2004 when they hatched the idea of the Global Lake Ecological Observatory Network (Fig. 1). Nine years later, with over 380 members from 40 countries, and 50 publications to its credit, GLEON is growing at a rapid pace and pushing the boundaries of the practice of network science. GLEON is really three networks: a network of lakes, data, and people (Fig. 1). While the first two underpin the scientific products and analyses that GLEON members produce (Fig. 2), explicit attention to the people network has served both GLEON science and its members exceedingly well.
The productivity of aquatic ecosystems depends on the supply of limiting nutrients. The invasion of the Laurentian Great Lakes, the world's largest freshwater ecosystem, by dreissenid (zebra and ...quagga) mussels has dramatically altered the ecology of these lakes. A key open question is how dreissenids affect the cycling of phosphorus (P), the nutrient that limits productivity in the Great Lakes. We show that a single species, the quagga mussel, is now the primary regulator of P cycling in the lower four Great Lakes. By virtue of their enormous biomass, quagga mussels sequester large quantities of P in their tissues and dramatically intensify benthic P exchanges. Mass balance analysis reveals a previously unrecognized sensitivity of the Great Lakes ecosystem, where P availability is now regulated by the dynamics of mussel populations while the role of the external inputs of phosphorus is suppressed. Our results show that a single invasive species can have dramatic consequences for geochemical cycles even in the world's largest aquatic ecosystems. The ongoing spread of dreissenids across a multitude of lakes in North America and Europe is likely to affect carbon and nutrient cycling in these systems for many decades, with important implications for water quality management.
18th World Lake Conference is on the Horizon Rast, Walter
Lakes & Reservoirs : Science, Policy and Management for Sustainable Use,
December 2019, 2019-12-00, 20191201, Letnik:
24, Številka:
4
Journal Article
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