The article examines ideological and institutional role of the “greening” policy in the Soviet urban planning practice of 1920-1930s. Relying on the example of the socialist city of Uralmash in Yekaterinburg (Sverdlovsk) the author traces how the idea of the “green city” affected the development of the urban settlement in terms of its functional mechanism and symbolic transformation. By analyzing the logic of the Uralmash “green” policy and its main narratives he argues that successful improvement of the post-Soviet green zones depends not so much on the new urban city-planning initiatives as on the new symbols and meanings that could give a clear vision of these spaces in the current social and cultural context.
This paper provides an overview of developments affecting Slovenian social housing after the country’s transition to a market economy. It analyses the Slovenian institutional framework, its functioning and critically evaluates its sustainability. The economic and social impacts of the global financial crisis saw the sector face strong challenges and revealed its weaknesses. A new strategic document was adopted in 2015 to respond to the situation. Although this new document offers a transition to the more sustainable and better provision of social housing in practice, it is still too early for optimism since it would not be the first time in Slovenia that a strategic document has primarily remained only on the declaratory level.
The revival of the UN Security Council’s regulatory powers after the end of the Cold War as well as new challenges to international peace and security have led to the development and diversification of UN operational tools. In the absence of United Nations’ own material capacities to undertake necessary military action, due to the non-conclusion of agreements provided for in Article 43 of the UN Charter by which UN Member States would commit to provide the necessary force and other assistance to the Security Council upon its call, the latter developed other means. Today, there co-exist two mandated operations by the Security Council vested with the power to use force, each however within a different scope, limits and objective: UN-led “Blue Helmets” and UN-authorized military operations. This functional rapprochement causes nevertheless a great confusion, both in practice and recently in the judicial sphere. Hence, the clarification of the legal regime of each is essential. While the UN-led Blue Helmets vested with the limited power to use force represent the new generation of peacekeeping operations, the UN-authorized operations constitute a decentralized execution of the Council’s enforcement measure. In the latter case the Security Council turns to UN Member States or regional organizations and delegates them its exclusive power to use force under Article 42 of the UN Charter to execute it under set conditions. The limitation of the use of force by the UN-led operation to the strict defence of its civilian mandate does not exempt it from the regime of coercion established under Chapter VII of the UN Charter either. This raises a question of the legal status of this UN-led operation and whether possibly such tool approaches the original concept of UN enforcement forces laid down in Article 43. Analysis of the converging and diverging elements of both operations shows the complexity of this operational domain, the clarification of which is proposed in this article via a legal perspective.
The sequence diversity in the mitochondrial cytochrome-c oxidase I (COI) gene was evaluated as a tool for resolving differences among species of European adelgids collected from several localities across the Czech Republic. Members of 7 genera and 16 species were examined, and as outgroups, two species of Phylloxeridae were used. Sequence divergences within species were on average less than 0.15%, whereas divergences between species ranged from 0.0 to 4.12% for congeneric and to 13.24% for intergeneric comparisons. It is concluded that DNA barcoding of Adelgidae is a powerful tool for identifying genera, but at the species level it works only in those cases where there are no species complexes. Nevertheless, it can be used as a complement to traditional, morphological taxonomy.
The cuticular structure of juveniles of several oribatids of different families with wrinkled cuticles were compared: Hermannia gibba, Tectocepheus velatus, Scutovertex minutus, Achipteria coleoptrata and Eupelops occultus. Both the surface and internal structures of the "plissée" were studied. Light microscopy revealed several patterns in mites studied with Masson's triple stain and these results were supported by TEM. Although the "plissée" looks similar at the body surface, the structure and ultrastructure differ among groups. Some types of wrinkling is supported by small muscles, probably for changing body shape. Differences in the structure of the cuticle of the prosoma and opisthosoma were observed. The differences in the wrinkling in the cuticle in diferent lines is associated with change in the body shape in response to different moisture conditions.
The question of the reasons for the extreme variation in morbidity among the gene carriers of acute porphyria and the great diversity of the precipitating factors are approached by the aid of a model of interacting genomic circuits. It is based on the current paradigm of the acute porphyric attack as a result of a toxic proximal overload of the enzyme-
deficient heme-biosynthetic patway. Porphyrogenic influx of precursors is seen as a consequence of uncontrolled induction of its gate-keeping enzyme, ubiquitous 5-aminolevulinate synthase (ALAS1), due to attenuated post-translational control of the enzyme combined with activated gene transcription. Focus is directed on the genomic
control of the master-regulator of ALAS1-transcription, the nuclear receptor pair constitutively active receptor (CAR) and pregnane xenobiotic receptor (PXR). On activation by their ligands, i.e. lipophilic drugs, solvents, alcohols, hormonal steroids and biocides, these DNA-binding proteins transform xenobiotic or steroid stimuli to coordinated
activations of gene transcription-programs for ALAS1 and apo-cytochromes P450 (apo-CYPs), thus effecting the formation of xenobiotic-metabolizing cytochrome P450 enzymes. The potency of the CAR/PXR-transduction axis is enhanced by co-activators generated in
at least four other genomic circuits, each triggered by different external and internal stimuli clinically experienced to be porphyroge
nic, and each controlled by co-activating and co-repressing modulators. The expressions of the genes for CAR and PXR are thus augmented by binding glucocorticoid receptor (GR) activated by a steroid hormone, e.g, cortisol generated in fasting, infection or different forms of stress. The promotor regions of ALAS1 and apoCYPs contain binding sites for at least three co-activating transcription factors enhancing CAR/PXR transduction: i.e. the ligand-independent growth hormone (GH)-pulse controlled hepatocyte nuclear factor 4 (HNF4), the insulin-responsive forkhead box class O-(FOXO) protein pathway activated in stress and infection, and the proliferator-activated receptor gamma co-activator 1 al
pha (PGC-1alpha) circuit responding to glucagon liberated in fasting. Many interactions and cross-talk take place within the tangle of genomic circuits that control ALAS1-transcription, which may explain the extreme inter- and intra-individual variability in morbidity in acute porphyria. Reasons for gender-differences are found in sex-dependent control of HPA- and GH-activity as well as in direct, or GR-mediated effects on CAR/PCR activation. Constitutional differences in individual porphyric morbidity may be discussed along lines of mutations or duplications of genes for co-activating or co-repressing nuclear proteins active at different levels within the circuits.
In the course of cytogenetic studies on Alegoria castelnaui Fleutiaux & Sallé 1889 (Coleoptera: Tenebrionidae: Tenebrioninae: Ulomini) from Guadeloupe, a number of adult specimens were dissected. A larva was found in the abdomens of almost all of the females. The karyotype, 20,XX / 20,Xyp, and the presence of heterochromatin at multiple chromosomal locations, of the larvae and adults were similar, which excludes parasitism and indicates viviparous reproduction. The adverse habitat of the adults, i.e., putrid and fermenting pseudo-stems of banana trees rather than geo-climatic conditions, may explain the occurrence of viviparity in this species. This is the first example of (ovo-)viviparity in the Ulomini tribe and among New World Tenebrionidae. A. castelnaui is regularly collected on banana trees infested with the weevil Cosmopolites sordidus Germar, 1824, a major pest of banana trees around the word. The coexistence of these two species on banana trees may be coincidental but another Ulomini species, Eutochia pulla Erichson 1843, is described as an egg predator of C. sordidus in Africa and therefore, A. castelnaui could also be a predator of this pest.