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Haematology parameters (N = 24) and serum biochemistry parameters (N = 35) were determined for wild Eurasian beavers (Castor fiber), between 6 months – 12 years old. Of the population tested in this study, N = 18 Eurasian beavers were from Norway and N = 17 originating from Bavaria but now living extensively in a reserve in England. All blood samples were collected from beavers via the ventral tail vein. All beavers were chemically restrained using inhalant isoflurane in 100% oxygen prior to blood sampling. Results were determined for haematological and serum biochemical parameters for the species and were compared between the two different populations with differences in means estimated and significant differences being noted. Standard blood parameters for the Eurasian beaver were determined and their ranges characterised using percentiles. Whilst the majority of blood parameters between the two populations showed no significant variation, haemoglobin, packed cell volume, mean cell haemoglobin and white blood cell counts showed significantly greater values (p< 0.01) in the Bavarian origin population than the Norwegian; neutrophil counts, alpha 2 globulins, cholesterol, sodium: potassium ratios and phosphorus levels showed significantly (p< 0.05) greater values in Bavarian versus Norwegian; and potassium, bile acids, gamma globulins, urea, creatinine and total calcium values levels showed significantly (p< 0.05) greater values in Norwegian versus Bavarian relict populations. No significant differences were noted between male and female beavers or between sexually immature (< 3 years old) and sexually mature (≥ 3 years old) beavers in the animals sampled. With Eurasian beaver reintroduction encouraged by legislation throughout Europe, knowledge of baseline blood values for the species and any variations therein is essential when assessing their health and welfare and the success or failure of any reintroduction program. This is the first study to produce base-line blood values and their variations for ...

Background Mortality in Scotland is higher than in the rest of west and central Europe and is improving more slowly. Relative to England and Wales, the excess is only partially explained by area deprivation. We tested the extent to which sociodemographic, behavioural, anthropometric and biological factors explain the higher mortality in Scotland compared with England. Methods Pooled data from 18 nationally representative cohort studies comprising the Health Surveys for England (HSE) and the Scottish Health Survey (SHS). Cox regression analysis was used to quantify the excess mortality risk in Scotland relative to England with adjustment for baseline characteristics. Results A total of 193 873 participants with a mean of 9.6 years follow-up gave rise to 21 345 deaths. The age-adjusted and sex-adjusted all-cause mortality HR for Scottish respondents compared with English respondents was 1.40 (95% CI 1.34 to 1.47), which attenuated to 1.29 (95% CI 1.23 to 1.36) with the addition of the baseline socioeconomic and behavioural characteristics. Cause-specific mortality HRs attenuated only marginally to 1.43 (95% 1.28 to 1.60) for ischaemic heart disease, 1.37 (95% CI 1.15 to 1.63) for stroke, 1.41 (95% CI 1.30 to 1.53) for all cancers, 3.43 (95% CI 1.85 to 6.36) for illicit drug-related poisoning and 4.64 (95% CI 3.55 to 6.05) for alcohol-related mortality. The excess was greatest among young adults (16–44 years) and was observed across all occupational social classes with the greatest excess in the unskilled group. Conclusions Only a quarter of the excess mortality among Scottish respondents could be explained by the available baseline risk factors. Greater understanding is required on the lived experience of poverty, the role of social support, and the historical, environmental, cultural and political influences on health in Scotland.

It is common knowledge that modern political societies, and to even greater extent contemporary ones, are characterized by pluralism. The term is used to describe situations which contain within the same society individuals and groups associated by various religions, various cultures, and various ethical systems. This is the consequence of several historical phenomena of widespread influence, which began in modern epoch and has intensified in the contemporary era, such as secularization, emigration, the establishment of democratic regimes in an even-larger number of states. The thesis defended here is that the function of what Aristotle called the endoxa today can be performed by human rights, that is by the statements contained in the great declarations of rights found in national constitutional documents and in charters of the great international organizations, such as the United Nations, the Council of Europe, the Organization of African Unity, the Organization of the Islamic Conference, etc. ; Es sabido que las sociedades políticas modernas, así como a las contemporáneas aún en mayor medida, se caracterizan por el pluralismo. El término se utiliza para describir situaciones que contienen dentro de los individuos de una misma sociedad y grupos asociados de diversas religiones, culturas diferentes y diversos sistemas éticos. Esta es la consecuencia de varios fenómenos históricos de gran influencia, que se iniciaron en la época moderna y se ha intensificado en la era contemporánea, como la secularización, la emigración, el establecimiento de regímenes democráticos en un número aún mayor de-estados. La tesis defendida aquí es que la función de lo que Aristóteles llamaba la endoxa hoy puede ser llevada cabo por los derechos humanos, es decir por las declaraciones contenidas en las grandes declaraciones de derechos contenidas en los documentos de constitución y en los estatutos de las grandes organizaciones internacionales, como la de las Naciones Unidas, el Consejo de Europa, la Organización de la Unidad Africana, la Organización de la Conferencia Islámica, etc.

International audience ; The desert of Sahara is one of the major sources of mineral dust on Earth, producing around 2×10 8 tons/yr. Under certain weather conditions, dust particles from Saharan desert get transported over the Mediterranean Sea and most of Europe. The limiting values set by the directive EC/30/1999 of European Union can easily be exceeded by the transport of desert dust particles in all south European areas and especially urban. In this study, the effects of dust transport on air quality in several Greek urban areas are quantified. PM 10 concentration values from stationary monitoring stations are compared to dust concentrations for the 4-year period 2003?2006. The dust concentration values in the Greek areas were estimated by the SKIRON modelling system coupled with embedded algorithms describing the dust cycle. The mean annual dust contribution to daily-averaged PM 10 concentration values was found to be around or even greater than 10% in the urban areas throughout the years examined. Natural dust transport may contribute by much more than 20% to the annual number of exceedances ? PM 10 values greater than EU limits ? depending on the specific monitoring location. In a second stage of the study, the inhaled lung dose received by the residents in various Greek locations is calculated. The particle deposition efficiency of mineral dust at the different parts of the human respiratory tract is determined by applying a lung dosimetry numerical model, which incorporates inhalation dynamics and aerosol physical processes. The inhalation dose from mineral dust particles was greater in the upper respiratory system (extrathoracic region) and less significant in the lungs, especially in the sensitive alveolar region. However, in cases of dust episodes, the amounts of mineral dust deposited along the human lung are comparable to those received during exposure in heavily polluted urban or smoking areas.

The desert of Sahara is one of the major sources of mineral dust on Earth, producing around 2×108 tons/yr. Under certain weather conditions, dust particles from Saharan desert get transported over the Mediterranean Sea and most of Europe. The limiting values set by the directive EC/30/1999 of European Union can easily be exceeded by the transport of desert dust particles in the south European Region and especially in urban areas, where there is also significant contribution from anthropogenic sources. In this study, the effects of dust transport on air quality in several Greek urban areas are quantified. PM10 concentration values from stationary monitoring stations are compared to dust concentrations for the 4-year period 2003–2006. The dust concentration values in the Greek areas were estimated by the SKIRON modelling system coupled with embedded algorithms describing the dust cycle. The mean annual dust contribution to daily-averaged PM10 concentration values was found to be around or even greater than 10% in the urban areas throughout the years examined. Natural dust transport may contribute by more than 20% to the annual number of exceedances – PM10 values greater than EU limits – depending on the specific monitoring location. In a second stage of the study, the inhaled lung dose received by the residents in various Greek locations is calculated. The particle deposition efficiency of mineral dust at the different parts of the human respiratory tract is determined by applying a lung dosimetry numerical model, which incorporates inhalation dynamics and aerosol physical processes. The inhalation dose from mineral dust particles was greater in the upper respiratory system (extrathoracic region) and less significant in the lungs, especially in the sensitive alveolar region. However, in cases of dust episodes, the amounts of mineral dust deposited along the human lung are comparable to those received during exposure in heavily polluted urban or smoking areas.

AbstractThe Balkans have been the crucible of the EU's Common Foreign and Security Policy (CFSP). In the 1990s the appointment of David (Lord) Owen as a strong representative to manage the EU's Bosnian policy, the sidelining of the EU itself by the Contact Group, and American dominance at Dayton (what price 'this is the hour of Europe'?) and over Kosovo were important precursors to the important European Council decisions in June 1999 to appoint a high-profile international statesman as High Representative for the CFSP and to create the EU's own military capability in European Security and Defence Policy (ESDP). The Constitutional Treaty's further provisions, notably replacing the Presidency in external relations, will be sorely missed and will need to be brought back.ESDP is developing well, if modestly, and making a genuine contribution, mostly with a strong civ-mil component, in several parts of the world. The CFSP itself seems to be managing quite well. But the EU is not yet set up for serious 'events' or crisis management. Experience shows, and greater recognition is needed, that the EU (probably even with an EU Foreign Minister) needs to be represented by member states that carry conviction to outside interlocutors: some member states are inevitably more equal and carry greater weight than others, even if all have an equal voice. Since EU foreign policy is in large measure inescapably a function of US foreign policy, member states need to have a better common understanding among themselves about the nature of the transatlantic relationship. It will take confidence in the efficacy of the CFSP, to which all must give greater priority, before those member states that have alternatives will accept being bound to conducting their foreign policy (or being represented in the UN Security Council) through Brussels. at will take time and effort.

The large-scale abandonment of infants in the European past has
attracted a great deal of scholarly attention in recent years. Its staggering
dimensions in many countries of Europe, as recently as the nineteenth
century, have prompted some uncomfortable rethinking about family life
and parent–child (and especially mother–child) relations in
the past.
Studies of abandonment have contributed to our understanding not only
of gender ideology and gender relations, but also of the roles played by
state and Church in regulating sexuality and family life.Yet research on abandoned children to date has had a limited focus.
The great bulk of the literature looks at the process of abandonment itself,
the terrifyingly high mortality of the foundlings in infancy, and the
process by which foundling homes placed their wards in rural foster
homes. Perhaps because of the notoriously high mortality of the
abandoned babies – though also no doubt due to the greater difficulty
of
generating suitable data from the archives – little attention has
been paid
to those foundlings who survived childhood. Typical is the admission
found in the major study of foundling homes in Portugal: 'The fate
of the
few foundlings who reached adulthood is unknown.'Yet through the nineteenth century – which provides our focus
here –
large numbers of foundlings did reach adulthood, and a variety of public
authorities were very much concerned about just what kinds of adults they
became. Even in determining the placement of infants with wetnurses,
foundling home authorities considered the long-term implications for
their future as adults. The widespread aversion to placing abandoned
infants with wetnurses in the cities was linked to both a belief that the
city
was corrupt and was likely to produce less wholesome adults than a rural
upbringing and to a concern that concentrating a large number of
propertyless, family-less foundlings in the city might well create an adult
population that would pose a threat to public order.

On January 1, 1898, amid fanfare and celebration, the city of Greater New York – "the greatest experiment in municipal government the world has ever known" – was born. The consolidation of the cities, counties, and towns on the New York State side of New York Harbor into one great metropolis was a capstone to one century of rapid economic and population growth and a fitting harbinger of a new century of urban greatness for the region and, indeed, the nation. Now, with another century mark approaching, there is a distinct possibility that the City of New York, already beset by a host of economic and social ills, may not make it to its own centennial intact. The New York State legislature has authorized the residents of one of the five boroughs – Staten Island – to initiate a process of secession and incorporation into a separate city of their own. The secession of Staten Island has elicited a host of divergent reactions, ranging from the hyperbolic to the humorous. The proponents of secession, seeing themselves currently relegated to a "neo-colonial status" by an inattentive City government, dot their manifestoes with references to the American Revolution, Lithuania, the Berlin Wall, the Iron Curtain, and "the tide of freedom . rolling across Europe and Asia."' New York City's Mayor Dinkins has warned of secession as "a step into the night, along a treacherous and foggy path that has never been taken." Many press accounts, by contrast, have found the matter risible, labeling Staten Island's move a "sitcom secession" and conjuring up images of Fort Sumter on the Hudson and City troops charging across the Verrazano-Narrows Bridge from Brooklyn to put down the rebellion of the "Confederate States of New York."

Through the Eastern Alps runs one of the great cultural frontiers of Europe, the zone of contact between the cultural sphere of the Mediterranean and the transalpine cultures to the north. This frontier has shifted back and forth over time, as have the boundaries of language and of various dominant political units. One of the present foci of culture contact in a zone of dispute and discord is the present-day Italian region of Alto Adige or Tiroler Etschland (still called the South Tirol by unreconstructed defenders of the traditional unity of the Tyrol) and the Trentino. Unified in the first part of the 13th century under the Counts of the Tyrol, the region passed into the hands of the Habsburgs in 1363, where it remained until 1918 but for a brief interlude during the Napoleonic period. The Napoleonic occupation divided the region, yielding to Bavaria the largely German-speaking province of Bozen (Bolzano), together with the North Tyrol, while grouping the Romancespeaking portions with Italy. This division became the prototype of later efforts to divorce the Romance Tyrol from the German Tyrol, a division effected again in the provincial separation between Province Bozen and Province Trento after the entire region was yielded by Austria to Italy at the end of World War I. Except for a brief period near the end of World War II (1943 to 1945), when both provinces were grouped as Operationszone Alpenvorland with Gau Tyrol of the Greater German Reich, the region has remained politically part of Italy. It remains also, however, an area of conflict in which Italian political hegemony and cultural influence has been combatted by the German-speaking population, impelled by a desire for greater autonomy or complete separation from the Italian state.

"Camps and places of transit assume relevance in certain contexts and in relation to specific events of the contemporary age: from genocide to voluntary or forced migration, from camps for prisoners of war to the management of refugees in conflicts or catastrophes. In the phases of transition to normality that follow such events, places of transit can be used for different, sometimes opposing purposes, such as the control and/or elimination of certain social groups, or as the protection of persons for humanitarian aims. This volume investigates the relationship between camps and places of transit from three main perspectives: the history of transit camps in various countries and times; the relationship between such spaces, whose architectural characterization is fragile and difficult to recognize, and the great memorial and symbolic relevance of them; and, finally, the concepts of transit and camp, and changes in the meaning of such places and the memorial and educational practices related to them"--

"Outlining the key developments of the Disability Hate Crime policy agenda, Seamus Taylor brings together a unique consideration of the theoretical and practical questions at its heart. This book analyses the contributions of activists, politicians, policymakers and criminal justice system practitioners to policy development, and critiques both the under-recognition of disability prejudice fuelled by ableism and the challenge of vulnerability in addressing disability hostility. Concluding that a critically reflective approach on the part of policymakers and practitioners can lead to progress, the author gives clear policy recommendations to address current challenges in the criminal justice system."--Publisher's description.

"I was bored, angry, tired and sad. I felt all alone yet I had nothing to complain about. I had a good job, a husband who as far as I could tell wasn't shagging his assistant, three children who apart from being the occasional assholes were pretty good kids; a house, a dog and everything else we are told as little girls we should aspire to. But inside, I was growing restless. I was sick of having the same dull conversations about meal plans and kid-friendly holidays. I was frustrated with having the same married sex I'd been having for the past seven years, or not having any sex at all. I didn't want to be looked at as just a 'mom'. I wanted to be desired, to make someone's hair stand on end and go crazy for me. I didn't want to live by some label that didn't represent me. I looked at my messy SUV after my yoga class one morning and I wanted to vomit on it all. I panicked, thinking about how I am slowly approaching middle age and the menopause and I wondered how many years do I have left of being 'f**ckable' before everything starts going downhill?" We have many sides to us, most of the time we think we must choose just one character and stick to it. But the truth is, we can be all of them without having to choose. I am finally able to show the world that I am a bit of an idiot who dances around her kitchen in her knickers and makes silly videos with her husband, as well as a responsible parent and a businesswoman who runs her own company.When you find authenticity it's hard to go back. It's like opening a door to the truth and starting to breathe a new type of air. This discovery is what prompted me to write. It's my way of saying HERE I AM. I don't think we should be sorry for who we are. None of us

Tricky turnabouts: accusations of inconsistency in response to criticism -- Confrontational manoeuvring with accusations of inconsistency -- Prime minister's question time -- The strategic function of responding to criticism with accusations of inconsistency in question time -- The reasonableness of responding to criticism with accusations of inconsistency in question time