This thesis provides the measurements of 222Rn exhalation rates, 210Pb deposition rates and excess 210Pb inventories for locations in and around Ranger Uranium Mine and Jabiru located within Kakadu National Park, Australia. Radon-222 is part of the natural 238U series decay chain and the only gas to be found in the series under normal conditions. Part of the natural redistribution of 222Rn in the environment is a portion exhales from the ground and disperses into the atmosphere. Here it decays via a series of short-lived progeny, that attach themselves to aerosol particles, to the long lived isotope 210Pb (T1/2 = 22.3 y). Attached and unattached 210Pb is removed from the atmosphere through wet and dry deposition and deposited on the surface of the earth, the fraction deposited on soils is gradually transported through the soil and can create a depth profile of 210Pb. Here it decays to the stable isotope 206Pb completing the 238U series. Measurements of 222Rn exhalation rates and 210Pb deposition rates were performed over complete seasonal cycles, August 2002 - July 2003 and May 2003 - May 2004 respectively. The area is categorised as wet and dry tropics and it experiences two distinct seasonal patterns, a dry season (May-October) with little or no precipitation events and a wet season (December-March) with almost daily precipitation and monsoonal troughs. November and April are regarded as transitional months. As the natural processes of 222Rn exhalation and 210Pb deposition are heavily influenced by soil moisture and precipitation respectively, seasonal variations in the exhalation and deposition rates were expected. It was observed that 222Rn exhalation rates decreased throughout the wet season when the increase in soil moisture retarded exhalation. Lead-210 deposition peaked throughout the wet season as precipitation is the major scavenging process of this isotope from the atmosphere. Radon-222 is influenced by other parameters such as 226Ra activity concentration and distribution, soil porosity and grain size. With the removal of the influence of soil moisture during the dry season it was possible to examine the effect of these other variables in a more comprehensive manner. This resulted in categorisation of geomorphic landscapes from which the 222Rn exhalation rate to 226Ra activity concentration ratios were similar during the dry season. These results can be extended to estimate dry season 222Rn exhalation rates from tropical locations from a measurement of 226Ra activity concentration. Through modelling the 210Pb budget on local and regional scales it was observed that there is a net loss of 210Pb from the region, the majority of which occurs during the dry season. This has been attributed to the fact that 210Pb attached to aerosols is transported great distance with the prevailing trade winds created by a Hadley Circulation cell predominant during the dry season (winter) months. By including the influence of factors such as water inundation and natural 210Pb redistribution in the soil wet season budgeting of 210Pb on local and regional scales gave very good results.

Thesis advisors: Kevin Kopelson, Priya Kumar. Includes bibliographic references (p. 182-188).

The aim of this thesis is to examine the role of anthropogenic disturbance in the creation of a socio-ecological landscape. Three key questions were answered: what impact has past anthropogenic disturbance had on present vegetative characteristics; what value did this disturbed landscape have to local people; how did the local peoples' worldviews and eco-cosmologies influence how they perceived, valued and managed their landscape? Research was based in a rural, predominantly amaXhosa village in the Kat River valley, Eastern Cape, South Africa. Four major landscape components characterised the environment, namely dense forests, former grazing lands, abandoned fields and old settlements. A combination of qualitative and quantitative methods were adopted, consisting of a vegetation and soil survey and social science methods including semistructured interviews, focus groups, transect walks and participant observation. The key finding was that anthropogenic disturbance is necessary to enhance the potential of the area to support human habitation. However, anthropogenic disturbance can have positive or negative effects for both local people and the environment. An intermediate level of disturbance is a key factor leading to a resilient socio-ecological system. Various anthropogenic disturbances have had significant affects on vegetation characteristics in terms of species richness, and a change in vegetation composition and species heights. Of the three anthropogenic landscapes examined, former grazing lands were the least intensively disturbed. They were also more species rich and structurally diverse than areas that were under agricultural production or used as a settlement. Dense forests, although the least desirable landscape to local people were, together with sacred pools, sources of ecosystem renewal and played a critical role during times of disturbance. Anthropogenic disturbance has added value to local people's livelihoods; this disturbance has resulted in a patchy landscape that supplies a wide variety of resources to local people. Local people are dependent on their environment for their basic needs; this has encouraged sustainable management practices. The local AmaXhosa still retain many elements of their traditional worldview, which has many characteristics of Animism. The environment is an integral component of their belief system and certain sites and species have significant cultural value and are protected.

This dissertation undertakes a comparative study of certain works of literature concerning Vietnamese and American troops during the United States’ involvement in Southeast Asia in the 1960s and 1970s. My assumption was that during war it is possible to conclude that enemy forces behave in the same manner in order to reach the identical goal, that of victory over the ‘other’ side. I sought to ascertain how under the selfsame conditions they could be considered as enemies. Divided only by the 17th Parallel: A Study of Similarities Between American and Vietnamese Soldiers in Selected Works By close reading of six texts, three from Vietnamese and three from American perspectives, I have attempted to extract their similar views from each in order to create a context in which the likeness of each side is demonstrated. This was achieved by exploring four themes: those of landscape, time, conflict and ghosts. It was discovered that the protagonists’ behaviour was the same and that rather than being the others’ adversary their true enemies were found within their own ranks. The results indicate that a wider perspective should be adopted on war than one which regards it as a simplistic binary consisting of two opposing sides. Contrary to any supposition that enemies must remain separated, there is more than enough evidence for one to conclude that they actually occupied mutual psychological territory. Key Terms: Landscape, time, ghosts, psychological damage, Reader Response, CSR, PTSD, New Historicism, dehumanisation, conditions of war, 1954 Geneva Agreement, ideology, war literature. / English Literature / M.A. (English Literature)

EditorialThe text doesn´t have an abstract / El texto no presenta resumen

This thesis presents a history of the landscape of Nqabara, an administrative area in a rural and coastal area of the Eastern Cape Province, South Africa. In the process of investigating landscape history, the inquiry engages with a range of data sources from diverging discursive contexts, including data from ethnographic fieldwork, from the consultation of archival documents and historical reports as well as from comparative historic and ethnographic research, necessitating a critical consideration of the epistemological contexts of data production and the dialogue between researcher and data. Furthermore, in its aim to move beyond historical description towards explanation, the study interrogates the dualist ontological conceptualisations of nature and culture, society and ecology, object and meaning upon which are built three dominant conceptual frameworks concerned with human-environment relationships: social-ecological systems theory, transdisciplinary landscape studies and political ecology. Drawing primarily upon the works of James Gibson, Anthony Giddens and Tim Ingold, an ontological foundation is developed to guide the enquiry and move towards an alternative understanding of the relationship of people’s livelihoods with respect to the landscape in which it is lived, which I call here the praxisembodiment perspective. This ontology takes the situated patterns of action of a situated agent-in-its-environment as its point of departure and proceeds to develop a framework explaining how relations among the patterns of action of different agents-in-their-environment, emerge in structures that simultaneously enable and constrain future action. The foundation is thereby provided for a monist understanding of how landscape and social structure emerge simultaneously from the complex intersection of patterns of actions and interactions of agents in their environment. This framework calls for an understanding of time, space and scale, not as independent variables influencing process and action, but as emergent properties arising from the patterns of actions of situated agents. Finally the alternative ontology is applied to the history of landscape and livelihoods of people of Nqabara. It is concluded that an appropriate understanding and explanation of the critical transformations in the landscape as well as in social institutions, should be sought through analysis of the complex ways in which patterns of action of multiple spatial and temporal rhythms and between multiple agents in an environment, intersect and resonate.

Entre 1780 et 1850, les Belges développent une image symbolique de leur environnement physique. Cette image, conjuguée à une action de transformation du terrain, participe à la structuration de l’environnement belge en un territoire national. Elle témoigne d’une grande stabilité durant l’époque considérée. Dans cette optique symbolique, l’environnement belge incarne les caractères de la communauté nationale, il exprime non seulement le long passé partagé par le sol et les hommes, les interactions séculaires qui les lient, mais aussi les aspirations nourries par les Belges à l’égard de l’avenir.<p>Les premières images mentales du territoire national développées dans le chef des Belges consistent en lieux génériques (les expressions en italiques sont empruntées à Bernard Debarbieux). Définis par le discours, ces lieux génériques sont des environnements physiques dont la physionomie résulte des donnés naturels et de leur transformation par l’homme. La physionomie de ces lieux est donc dominée par l’agriculture, l’industrie et l’habitat humain. Ces configurations génériques ne recouvrent en réalité qu’une partie du territoire national. Leur élection en tant que résumé idéal du territoire belge, reflète les aspirations de la communauté.<p>La qualité esthétique paysagère des lieux génériques du territoire belge n’apparaît pas cependant avec évidence aux contemporains. Un écart sépare le discours et la représentation picturale. Si le premier reconnaît souvent une qualité esthétique aux lieux génériques, qui deviennent alors des paysages, la représentation iconographique se montre plus réticente à leur égard.<p>Les Belges de l’époque développent une seconde facette symbolique de leur territoire. Ils soulignent l’omniprésence des souvenirs historiques nationaux dans leur environnement. La Belgique leur apparaît telle un ensemble de lieux de condensation. Le discours contemporain et les œuvres des peintres, lithographes ou graveurs, témoignant d’une cohésion remarquable, illustrent abondamment les lieux de condensation belges. <p>Les Belges cherchent à diffuser ces images mentales parmi leurs compatriotes. Ce projet collectif répond à une volonté de faire connaître et adopter ces paysages symboliques par l’ensemble des membres de la nation. Cette connaissance passe pour le socle sur lequel peuvent se développer les sentiments d’attachement à la patrie et d’identification à la nation. Le discours et l’image sont mobilisés à cette fin.<p>Ces préoccupations interviennent dans le travail des peintres de paysages. Toutefois, le choix d’un site par un paysagiste belge représentant l’environnement national, est d’abord guidé par des critères internes à la pratique picturale. Ses critères de choix rencontrent en effet ceux qu’émet le discours de l’époque définissant les normes de qualité esthétique d’un tableau. L’artiste tend en outre à satisfaire les attentes du public, lequel cherche à combler son envie d’évasion hors de la cité, mais aussi à se rassurer quant à l’harmonie et à la viabilité de la société contemporaine. Les peintres (et donc leur public) manifestent pourtant une faveur particulière envers les sites belges. Ce goût dénote une identification et un attachement au pays habité par la nation historique, telle que la décrit le discours contemporain. Même s’il vient après la satisfaction des critères esthétiques, le critère de l’identification à un site belge intervient de façon notable dans l’attrait exercé par un paysage peint. <p>Il apparaît ainsi que les lieux génériques (agricoles et industriels) passent difficilement le premier crible, esthétique, tandis que les lieux de condensation satisfont tant les attentes esthétiques que les attentes symboliques – qualité qui assure leur succès en tant que motifs picturaux.<p>Les paysagistes élaborent en outre une image paysagère générique de la Belgique qui est une adaptation, conforme aux critères d’appréciation en vigueur dans le champ de la représentation picturale, du paysage générique agricole et industriel défini par le discours contemporain. Leurs œuvres dépeignent en effet la Belgique comme un territoire réalisant les canons pittoresques, comme un environnement verdoyant, boisé, vallonné, peuplé, traversé de rivières, semé d’habitations, de moulins ou autres fabriques anciennes. Dans les années 1840, les paysagistes développent également une nouvelle facette dans ce paysage générique pictural, en représentant les étendues arides, stériles et très peu peuplées, présentes sur le territoire. Cette apparition inaugure une période nouvelle, durant laquelle l’image picturale de la Belgique se dédouble, embrassant, d’une part, les sites prisés durant les premières décennies du siècle et, de l’autre, les plaines de bruyères désertes peu à peu investies d’une valeur identitaire et élevées au rang de configuration générique nationale. / Doctorat en philosophie et lettres, Orientation histoire de l'art et archéologie / info:eu-repo/semantics/nonPublished

La nutrition est l'ensemble des processus par lesquels un être vivant transforme des aliments pour assurer son fonctionnement. Etudier la nutrition d’un organisme permet de comprendre les rapports entre la nourriture consommée et la santé de l’individu. L'ensemble des organes assurant l'extraction d'énergie est le système digestif, qui transforme les sucres en glucose, les corps gras en acides gras, et les protéines en acides aminés. L’objectif de cette étude est de déterminer l’influence que peut avoir la nutrition pollinique sur la santé de l’abeille domestique, Apis mellifera L.. Pour assurer cette nutrition, l’abeille est inféodée aux ressources florales. Du pollen récolté sur les plantes à fleurs, l’organisme puise les corps gras (ou lipides), les vitamines et les protéines. Or l’accès à ces ressources est variable en qualité, en quantité, et en diversité selon le temps et le milieu. Des problèmes de mortalités et affaiblissements des colonies sont observés depuis une vingtaine d’années, et l’une des causes suspectées est le manque de disponibilité et la faible valeur nutritionnelle des ressources polliniques en zones agricoles céréalières. Nous avons donc testé en conditions contrôlées les effets de la quantité, la qualité et la diversité pollinique sur la physiologie d’abeilles nourrices, sur leur immunité, ainsi que sur leur survie. La nutrition jouant un rôle essentiel dans la prévention de nombreuses maladies, les effets de l’alimentation pollinique ont été déterminés en présence ou non d’un stresseur biotique, Nosema ceranae, dont la prévalence dans les colonies est très élevée. Il s’agit d’une microsporidie invasive qui se développe dans l’intestin de son hôte, provoquant divers effets sublétaux et létaux. Etant donné que la valeur nutritionnelle d’un aliment dépend de sa composition mais aussi de sa digestibilité, une troisième partie porte sur l’influence que peut avoir le stresseur sur les capacités de digestion des protéines contenues dans le pollen par l’abeille. Nos résultats apportent des connaissances sur l’impact d’une déplétion en pollen que peuvent subir les colonies dans un paysage d’agriculture intensive. En effet, des abeilles carencées à plus ou moins 60 %, comme cela peut être observé entre deux cultures à floraison massives, subissent des perturbations au niveau individuel (perturbations du développement physiologique des abeilles nourrices, diminution de leur survie), ce qui peut les rendre moins performantes et plus sensibles aux stress présents dans l’environnement. De plus, nous avons pu démontrer que la valeur nutritionnelle des pollens, influence la tolérance des abeilles à Nosema ceranae. La qualité d’un pollen se définit par sa composition chimique totale (protéines, acides aminés, lipides, vitamines, sucres, etc…), et non pas uniquement par sa teneur en protéines ou acides aminés essentiels. Notre étude met d’ailleurs en évidence l’effet négatif d’une alimentation à base de pollen de maïs sur le développement des glandes hypopharyngiennes, l’expression du gène de la vitellogénine, et la survie des abeilles. Au regard de la présence élevée de cette culture dans les zones d’agriculture intensive et sa haute exploitation par les butineuses, nos résultats sont discutés en fonction des répercussions envisagées sur les colonies. Dans ces milieux, la diversité des ressources polliniques, par l’apport de pollens de qualité, compense la pauvreté nutritionnelle d’autres pollens. Dans nos conditions, nous pouvons observer la plus-value d’une alimentation pollinique polyflorale chez des abeilles infestées par Nosema. Les mesures agro-écologiques œuvrant pour régulariser dans le temps les apports polliniques aux colonies, et pour leur offrir une diversité alimentaire participent donc à renforcer leur capacité à lutter contre les stress présents dans l’environnement. / Nutrition is the set of processes by which a living organism transforms food for its functions. Studying nutrition allows to understanding the relationship between food intake and health of the individual. All organs for extracting energy are the digestive system, which converts sugars into glucose, fats into fatty acids, and proteins into amino acids. The objective of this study is to determine the possible influence of pollen nutrition on the honeybee health, Apis mellifera L. To ensure that nutrition, the bee is subservient to floral resources. Of pollen collected from the flowering plants, the body draws fats (or lipids), vitamins and proteins. Access to these resources is variable in quality, quantity, and diversity depending on the time and the environment. Problems of mortality and weakening of colonies are observed for some twenty years, and one of the suspected causes is the lack of availability and low nutritional value of pollen resources in agricultural areas. We therefore tested under controlled conditions the effects of quantity, quality and diversity of pollen on nurse worker physiology and on their immunity, as well as their survival. Nutrition plays a vital role in the prevention of many diseases, the effects of pollen diet were determined in the presence or absence of a biotic stressor, Nosema ceranae, whose prevalence in the colonies is very high. It is an invasive microsporidia that develops in the intestine of its host, causing various sublethal and lethal effects. Since the nutritional value of a food depends on its composition but also its digestibility, a third part focuses on the possible influence of the stressor on bee ability digestion of the proteins provided by the pollen.Our results provide knowledge on the impact of pollen depletion that may undergo the colonies in an intensive agricultural landscape. Indeed, bees starved to roughly 60%, as can be observed between two cultures massive flowering undergo disturbances at individual level (disturbances of nurse worker physiological development, reduced survival), which may make them less efficient and more susceptible to stress from the environment. In addition, we demonstrated that the nutritional value of pollen influences the Nosema ceranae‘s bee tolerance. The pollen quality is determined by the total chemical composition (proteins, amino acids, lipids, vitamins, sugars, etc ...), not only by its content of essential amino acids or proteins. Our study also demonstrated the negative effect of a diet based on maize pollen on hypopharyngeal glands development, the vitellogenin gene expression, and the bee survival. In view of the high presence of this culture in intensive agriculture areas and high exploitation by foragers, our results are discussed in terms of their impact on the proposed settlements. In these environments, the diversity of pollen resources by providing pollen of quality compensates nutritional poverty of other pollens. In our conditions, we can observe the gain of power of a polyfloral pollen in Nosema infested bees. Agro-ecological measures working to regularize, in time, the pollen contributions to the colonies, and to provide them with food diversity thus participate in building their capacity to fight against stress in the environment

The work is aimed at familiarizing the audience with the problems of water in the Czech Republic and its distribution within the landscape. However, its character, which approaches to documentary work, doesn´t explicitly describe the problem, but rather attempts to visualize it and give the viewer space for his own imagination. The work draws in contrast the examples of fine functional interventions in the landscape with examples of monstrous concrete structures - dams. It points to problematic places and tries to convey to the viewer the current issue not only in the chosen location. The main thing is the lyrical performance, which evokes not only a video but also the sound part and the narrative that explains the whole problem. The video is not purely informative, its specificity is also focused on the enjoyment of the viewer. He plays with documentary techniques but does not use them as a priority. The shots are deliberately chosen so that the concrete buildings look monumental and have their seriousness. The background of the shots also shows the time of their creation. This element is supposed to be critical and is supposed to be opposed to studies that use old plans to build new water reservoirs that do not give space for a more efficient solution. The work also touches on the overproduction and issues of today's modern agriculture.

La régulation de l’expression génique chez les mammifères dépend de l’organisation tridimensionnelle des chromosomes, en particulier à l’échelle des communications entre les séquences régulatrices et leurs promoteurs cibles. Ainsi, les chromosomes sont organisés en une nouvelle architecture consistant en domaines d’interactions topologiques (TADs, acronyme anglais). Mon projet de thèse avait pour but de caractériser les mécanismes moléculaires impliqués dans cette architecture et leurs importances au cours du développement embryonnaire, pour un locus bien particulier, le Xic (acronyme anglais pour X-inactivation centre). Le Xic contient les éléments régulateurs nécessaires pour initier l’inactivation du chromosome X (ICX), un phénomène épigénétique spécifique du développement des mammifères femelles, rendant l’un des deux chromosomes X inactif du point de vue transcriptionnelle. L’ICX permet d’égaliser l’expression des gènes liés au X entre les sexes chez les mammifères. Le Xic est organisé au moins en deux TADs mais une partie du locus reste encore non identifiée. Je présente ici une analyse fonctionnelle approfondie des différents éléments régulateurs au sein du Xic, comprenant des enhancers, des gènes d’ARNs non codants et des éléments structurels. Après avoir créé une série d’allèles mutés chez la souris et les cellules souches embryonnaires murines, j’ai caractérisé l’impact de ces réarrangements génomiques sur le paysage structurel et transcriptionnel du Xic. J’ai identifié des nouveaux acteurs dans la régulation de ce locus, en particulier des séquences régulatrices conservées chez les mammifères placentaires et des éléments structurels importants pour la formation d’une frontière entre les deux TADs du Xic, importante pour leur séparation et régulation. Je décris aussi la découverte de communication entre ces TADs, ce qui constitue un mécanisme inédit de régulation génique pendant le développement. Ce travail contribue à un nouveau niveau de compréhension des lois qui régissent l’organisation des TADs dans le contexte de la régulation génique chez les mammifères. / Mammalian gene regulatory landscapes rely on the folding of chromosomes in the recently discovered topologically associating domains (TADs), which ensure appropriate communication between cis-regulatory elements and their target promoters. The aim of my PhD project was to characterise the molecular mechanisms that govern this novel architecture and its functional importance in the context of a critical and developmentally regulated locus, the X-inactivation centre (Xic). The Xic contains the necessary elements to trigger X-chromosome inactivation, an epigenetic phenomenon that occurs during the development of female mammals to transcriptionally silence one of the X-chromosomes and equalise X-linked gene expression between sexes. The Xic is partitioned into at least two TADs, but its full extent is unknown. Here, I present a comprehensive functional analysis of different cis-regulatory elements within the Xic, including enhancer-like regions, long noncoding RNA loci and structural elements. Upon generating a series of mutant alleles in mice and murine embryonic stem cells, I characterised the impact of these genomic rearrangements in the structural and transcriptional landscape of the Xic and identified novel players in the regulation of this locus, including cis-acting elements conserved across placental mammals and structural elements critical for the insulation between the Xic TADs. I also found evidence for communication across TADs at this locus, which provides new insights into how regulatory landscapes can work during development. This study also extends our understanding of the rules governing the organisation of TADs and their chromatin loops in the context of mammalian gene regulation. / Nos mamíferos, a regulação da expressão genética depende da organização tridimensional dos cromosomas, em particular ao nível da comunicação regulatória entre promotores e enhancers. A esta escala, descobriu-se recentemente que os cromossomas estão organizados em domínios de interações topológicas (conhecidos como TADs, no acrónimo inglês) que se pensa providenciarem uma base estrutural para as paisagens de regulação transcricional dos genes. O meu projecto de tese teve como objectivo caracterizar os mecanismos moleculares responsáveis por esta arquitectura e a sua importância funcional no contexto de um locus crítico para o desenvolvimento embrionário, o centro de inactivação do cromossoma X (Xic, acrónimo inglês). O Xic contém os elementos genéticos necessários e suficientes para iniciar a inactivação do cromossoma X, um fenómeno epigenético que ocorre durante o desenvolvimento das fêmeas de mamíferos para silenciar um dos cromosomas X e igualar a expressão dos genes do X entre indivíduos XX e XY. O Xic está organizado em pelo menos dois TADs, mas o seu intervalo genético completo permanece desconhecido. Apresento nesta tese uma análise funcional e detalhada de diferentes sequências reguladoras presentes no Xic, incluindo regiões do tipo enhancer, genes de ARNs não codificantes e elementos estruturais. Após a criação de diversos alelos mutantes (deleções, inserções, inversões) em ratinho e em células estaminais embrionárias, através das recentes técnicas de engenharia genética, TALENs e CRISPR/Cas9, caracterizei o impacto destes rearranjos genéticos na paisagem topológica e transcricional do Xic, o que permitiu a identificação de novos actores moleculares na regulação deste locus. Em particular, descobrimos sequências de regulação transcricional altamente conservadas em mamíferos placentários e elementos estruturais importantes para a formação da fronteira entre os dois TADs do Xic. Descrevo também evidência de que há comunicação entre os dois TADs neste locus, o que compromete os modelos actuais do modus operandis dos TADs, e por isso contribui para um novo nível de compreensão dos mecanismos que regulam a expressão genética durante o desenvolvimento.