Suchergebnisse

In my postgraduate formation during the last years of the 80's, we had close to thirty hospital beds in a pavilion called "sépticas" (1). In Colombia, where abortion was completely penalized, the pavilion was mostly filled with women with insecure, complicated abortions. The focus we received was technical: management of intensive care; performance of hysterectomies, colostomies, bowel resection, etc. In those times, some nurses were nuns and limited themselves to interrogating the patients to get them to "confess" what they had done to themselves in order to abort. It always disturbed me that the women who left alive, left without any advice or contraceptive method. Having asked a professor of mine, he responded with disdain: "This is a third level hospital, those things are done by nurses of the first level". Seeing so much pain and death, I decided to talk to patients, and I began to understand their decision. I still remember so many deaths with sadness, but one case in particular pains me: it was a woman close to being fifty who arrived with a uterine perforation in a state of advanced sepsis. Despite the surgery and the intensive care, she passed away. I had talked to her, and she told me she was a widow, had two adult kids and had aborted because of "embarrassment towards them" because they were going to find out that she had an active sexual life. A few days after her passing, the pathology professor called me, surprised, to tell me that the uterus we had sent for pathological examination showed no pregnancy. She was a woman in a perimenopausal state with a pregnancy exam that gave a false positive due to the high levels of FSH/LH typical of her age. SHE WAS NOT PREGNANT!!! She didn't have menstruation because she was premenopausal and a false positive led her to an unsafe abortion. Of course, the injuries caused in the attempted abortion caused the fatal conclusion, but the real underlying cause was the social taboo in respect to sexuality. I had to watch many adolescents and young women leave the hospital alive, but without a uterus, sometime without ovaries and with colostomies, to be looked down on by a society that blamed them for deciding to not be mothers. I had to see situation of women that arrived with their intestines protruding from their vaginas because of unsafe abortions. I saw women, who in their despair, self-inflicted injuries attempting to abort with elements such as stick, branches, onion wedges, alum bars and clothing hooks among others. Among so many deaths, it was hard not having at least one woman per day in the morgue due to an unsafe abortion. During those time, healthcare was not handled from the biopsychosocial, but only from the technical (2); nonetheless, in the academic evaluations that were performed, when asked about the definition of health, we had to recite the text from the International Organization of Health that included these three aspects. How contradictory! To give response to the health need of women and guarantee their right when I was already a professor, I began an obstetric contraceptive service in that third level hospital. There was resistance from the directors, but fortunately I was able to acquire international donations for the institution, which facilitated its acceptance. I decided to undertake a teaching career with the hope of being able to sensitize health professionals towards an integral focus of health and illness. When the International Conference of Population and Development (ICPD) was held in Cairo in 1994, I had already spent various years in teaching, and when I read their Action Program, I found a name for what I was working on: Sexual and Reproductive Rights. I began to incorporate the tools given by this document into my professional and teaching life. I was able to sensitize people at my countries Health Ministry, and we worked together moving it to an approach of human rights in areas of sexual and reproductive health (SRH). This new viewpoint, in addition to being integral, sought to give answers to old problems like maternal mortality, adolescent pregnancy, low contraceptive prevalence, unplanned or unwanted pregnancy or violence against women. With other sensitized people, we began with these SRH issues to permeate the Colombian Society of Obstetrics and Gynecology, some universities, and university hospitals. We are still fighting in a country that despite many difficulties has improved its indicators of SRH. With the experience of having labored in all sphere of these topics, we manage to create, with a handful of colleagues and friend at the Universidad El Bosque, a Master's Program in Sexual and Reproductive Health, open to all professions, in which we broke several paradigms. A program was initiated in which the qualitative and quantitative investigation had the same weight, and some alumni of the program are now in positions of leadership in governmental and international institutions, replicating integral models. In the Latin American Federation of Obstetrics and Gynecology (FLASOG, English acronym) and in the International Federation of Obstetrics and Gynecology (FIGO), I was able to apply my experience for many years in the SRH committees of these association to benefit women and girls in the regional and global environments. When I think of who has inspired me in these fights, I should highlight the great feminist who have taught me and been with me in so many fights. I cannot mention them all, but I have admired the story of the life of Margaret Sanger with her persistence and visionary outlook. She fought throughout her whole life to help the women of the 20th century to be able to obtain the right to decide when and whether or not they wanted to have children (3). Of current feminist, I have had the privilege of sharing experiences with Carmen Barroso, Giselle Carino, Debora Diniz and Alejandra Meglioli, leaders of the International Planned Parenthood Federation – Western Hemisphere Region (IPPF-RHO). From my country, I want to mention my countrywoman Florence Thomas, psychologist, columnist, writer and Colombo-French feminist. She is one of the most influential and important voices in the movement for women rights in Colombia and the region. She arrived from France in the 1960's, in the years of counterculture, the Beatles, hippies, Simone de Beauvoir, and Jean-Paul Sartre, a time in which capitalism and consumer culture began to be criticized (4). It was then when they began to talk about the female body, female sexuality and when the contraceptive pill arrived like a total revolution for women. Upon its arrival in 1967, she experimented a shock because she had just assisted in a revolution and only found a country of mothers, not women (5). That was the only destiny for a woman, to be quiet and submissive. Then she realized that this could not continue, speaking of "revolutionary vanguards" in such a patriarchal environment. In 1986 with the North American and European feminism waves and with her academic team, they created the group "Mujer y Sociedad de la Universidad Nacional de Colombia", incubator of great initiatives and achievements for the country (6). She has led great changes with her courage, the strength of her arguments, and a simultaneously passionate and agreeable discourse. Among her multiple books, I highlight "Conversaciones con Violeta" (7), motivated by the disdain towards feminism of some young women. She writes it as a dialogue with an imaginary daughter in which, in an intimate manner, she reconstructs the history of women throughout the centuries and gives new light of the fundamental role of feminism in the life of modern women. Another book that shows her bravery is "Había que decirlo" (8), in which she narrates the experience of her own abortion at age twenty-two in sixty's France. My work experience in the IPPF-RHO has allowed me to meet leaders of all ages in diverse countries of the region, who with great mysticism and dedication, voluntarily, work to achieve a more equal and just society. I have been particularly impressed by the appropriation of the concept of sexual and reproductive rights by young people, and this has given me great hope for the future of the planet. We continue to have an incomplete agenda of the action plan of the ICPD of Cairo but seeing how the youth bravely confront the challenges motivates me to continue ahead and give my years of experience in an intergenerational work. In their policies and programs, the IPPF-RHO evidences great commitment for the rights and the SRH of adolescent, that are consistent with what the organization promotes, for example, 20% of the places for decision making are in hands of the young. Member organizations, that base their labor on volunteers, are true incubators of youth that will make that unassailable and necessary change of generations. In contrast to what many of us experienced, working in this complicated agenda of sexual and reproductive health without theoretical bases, today we see committed people with a solid formation to replace us. In the college of medicine at the Universidad Nacional de Colombia and the College of Nursing at the Universidad El Bosque, the new generations are more motivated and empowered, with great desire to change the strict underlying structures. Our great worry is the onslaught of the ultra-right, a lot of times better organized than us who do support rights, that supports anti-rights group and are truly pro-life (9). Faced with this scenario, we should organize ourselves better, giving battle to guarantee the rights of women in the local, regional, and global level, aggregating the efforts of all pro-right organizations. We are now committed to the Objectives of Sustainable Development (10), understood as those that satisfy the necessities of the current generation without jeopardizing the capacity of future generations to satisfy their own necessities. This new agenda is based on: - The unfinished work of the Millennium Development Goals - Pending commitments (international environmental conventions) - The emergent topics of the three dimensions of sustainable development: social, economic, and environmental. We now have 17 objectives of sustainable development and 169 goals (11). These goals mention "universal access to reproductive health" many times. In objective 3 of this list is included guaranteeing, before the year 2030, "universal access to sexual and reproductive health services, including those of family planning, information, and education." Likewise, objective 5, "obtain gender equality and empower all women and girls", establishes the goal of "assuring the universal access to sexual and reproductive health and reproductive rights in conformity with the action program of the International Conference on Population and Development, the Action Platform of Beijing". It cannot be forgotten that the term universal access to sexual and reproductive health includes universal access to abortion and contraception. Currently, 830 women die every day through preventable maternal causes; of these deaths, 99% occur in developing countries, more than half in fragile environments and in humanitarian contexts (12). 216 million women cannot access modern contraception methods and the majority live in the nine poorest countries in the world and in a cultural environment proper to the decades of the seventies (13). This number only includes women from 15 to 49 years in any marital state, that is to say, the number that takes all women into account is much greater. Achieving the proposed objectives would entail preventing 67 million unwanted pregnancies and reducing maternal deaths by two thirds. We currently have a high, unsatisfied demand for modern contraceptives, with extremely low use of reversible, long term methods (intrauterine devices and subdermal implants) which are the most effect ones with best adherence (14). There is not a single objective among the 17 Objectives of Sustainable Development where contraception does not have a prominent role: from the first one that refers to ending poverty, going through the fifth one about gender equality, the tenth of inequality reduction among countries and within the same country, until the sixteenth related with peace and justice. If we want to change the world, we should procure universal access to contraception without myths or barriers. We have the moral obligation of achieving the irradiation of extreme poverty and advancing the construction of more equal, just, and happy societies. In emergency contraception (EC), we are very far from reaching expectations. If in reversible, long-term methods we have low prevalence, in EC the situation gets worse. Not all faculties in the region look at this topic, and where it is looked at, there is no homogeneity in content, not even within the same country. There are still myths about their real action mechanisms. There are countries, like Honduras, where it is prohibited and there is no specific medicine, the same case as in Haiti. Where it is available, access is dismal, particularly among girls, adolescents, youth, migrants, afro-descendent, and indigenous. The multiple barriers for the effective use of emergency contraceptives must be knocked down, and to work toward that we have to destroy myths and erroneous perceptions, taboos and cultural norms; achieve changes in laws and restrictive rules within countries, achieve access without barriers to the EC; work in union with other sectors; train health personnel and the community. It is necessary to transform the attitude of health personal to a service above personal opinion. Reflecting on what has occurred after the ICPD in Cairo, their Action Program changed how we look at the dynamics of population from an emphasis on demographics to a focus on the people and human rights. The governments agreed that, in this new focus, success was the empowerment of women and the possibility of choice through expanded access to education, health, services, and employment among others. Nonetheless, there have been unequal advances and inequality persists in our region, all the goals were not met, the sexual and reproductive goals continue beyond the reach of many women (15). There is a long road ahead until women and girls of the world can claim their rights and liberty of deciding. Globally, maternal deaths have been reduced, there is more qualified assistance of births, more contraception prevalence, integral sexuality education, and access to SRH services for adolescents are now recognized rights with great advances, and additionally there have been concrete gains in terms of more favorable legal frameworks, particularly in our region; nonetheless, although it's true that the access condition have improved, the restrictive laws of the region expose the most vulnerable women to insecure abortions. There are great challenges for governments to recognize SRH and the DSR as integral parts of health systems, there is an ample agenda against women. In that sense, access to SRH is threatened and oppressed, it requires multi-sector mobilization and litigation strategies, investigation and support for the support of women's rights as a multi-sector agenda. Looking forward, we must make an effort to work more with youth to advance not only the Action Program of the ICPD, but also all social movements. They are one of the most vulnerable groups, and the biggest catalyzers for change. The young population still faces many challenges, especially women and girls; young girls are in particularly high risk due to lack of friendly and confidential services related with sexual and reproductive health, gender violence, and lack of access to services. In addition, access to abortion must be improved; it is the responsibility of states to guarantee the quality and security of this access. In our region there still exist countries with completely restrictive frameworks. New technologies facilitate self-care (16), which will allow expansion of universal access, but governments cannot detach themselves from their responsibility. Self-care is expanding in the world and can be strategic for reaching the most vulnerable populations. There are new challenges for the same problems, that require a re-interpretation of the measures necessary to guaranty the DSR of all people, in particular women, girls, and in general, marginalized and vulnerable populations. It is necessary to take into account migrations, climate change, the impact of digital media, the resurgence of hate discourse, oppression, violence, xenophobia, homo/transphobia, and other emergent problems, as SRH should be seen within a framework of justice, not isolated. We should demand accountability of the 179 governments that participate in the ICPD 25 years ago and the 193 countries that signed the Sustainable Development Objectives. They should reaffirm their commitments and expand their agenda to topics not considered at that time. Our region has given the world an example with the Agreement of Montevideo, that becomes a blueprint for achieving the action plan of the CIPD and we should not allow retreat. This agreement puts people at the center, especially women, and includes the topic of abortion, inviting the state to consider the possibility of legalizing it, which opens the doors for all governments of the world to recognize that women have the right to choose on maternity. This agreement is much more inclusive: Considering that the gaps in health continue to abound in the region and the average statistics hide the high levels of maternal mortality, of sexually transmitted diseases, of infection by HIV/AIDS, and the unsatisfied demand for contraception in the population that lives in poverty and rural areas, among indigenous communities, and afro-descendants and groups in conditions of vulnerability like women, adolescents and incapacitated people, it is agreed: 33- To promote, protect, and guarantee the health and the sexual and reproductive rights that contribute to the complete fulfillment of people and social justice in a society free of any form of discrimination and violence. 37- Guarantee universal access to quality sexual and reproductive health services, taking into consideration the specific needs of men and women, adolescents and young, LGBT people, older people and people with incapacity, paying particular attention to people in a condition of vulnerability and people who live in rural and remote zone, promoting citizen participation in the completing of these commitments. 42- To guarantee, in cases in which abortion is legal or decriminalized in the national legislation, the existence of safe and quality abortion for non-desired or non-accepted pregnancies and instigate the other States to consider the possibility of modifying public laws, norms, strategies, and public policy on the voluntary interruption of pregnancy to save the life and health of pregnant adolescent women, improving their quality of life and decreasing the number of abortions (17).

The project is based on the possibilities of a form of 'table-top' video sculpture, part architectural model, part video installation. Four of these 'table-top' pieces are be arranged in a darkened gallery, each simultaneously projecting perfectly synchronised, choreographed video sequences of the interior of four related architectural spaces. Each location has been shot using a repertoire of specific camera 'moves'. These movements were devised in strict relation to the particularity of the spaces and their features and are physically subject to the building itself. For this we had custom built two camera mounts - a three axis 360-degree pan and tilt head and a dolly or 'sled' to use balustrades or handrails as guides for tracking. With these devices the building were be literally used as the armature for a mobile camera. We were interested in architectural locations that are stylistically related, with strong linear organisation yet with distinctly different functions. We identified the work of Erich Mendelsohn and in particular the De La Warr Pavilion in Bexhill on Sea, the Schocken Department store building in Chemnitz, The Metal Workers' Union (IGM) Building in Berlin and the B'nai Amoona Synagogue in St. Louis, USA, (now the Centre of Contemporary Arts). Each of these 'signature' buildings offers the potential for treatment - curving stairways, projecting mezzanine floors etc. as well as being of significance beyond, in terms of architectural modernism, European design and European history. In addition to the three European buildings, the B'nai Amoona Synagogue, while not completing the story, more fully plots Mendlesohn's career; his origins in the East, his work in West Germany, his flight to England, and eventual residence in America. Obviously this is a story which is not untypical of that generation and that historical moment. Its significance is considerable in terms of the European influence on American art and design and the shift of a perceived centre, away from Europe, through the work of other celebrated German émigré architects such as Mies Van der Rohe and Walter Gropius. The video footage has been edited 'across' the three screens of each of the four table top 'models' to produce a fluid space in which the architecture of the building, and the experience of it, are re-drawn through the synchronised, continuous movement of three points of view, in, and across the four sites simultaneously. The work aims to construct an analogy between the serpentine fluidity of Mendelsohn's buildings, as canonical modernist architecture, the complex significance of the buildings and the 'motion-path' of a camera as it glides through this space. Formally, Motion Path engages with the problem of how to film a building - the relationship between cinematic poetics, that is; how to approach a building cinematically, and documentary; how to fuse the factual documentary film or the industrial film with abstract cinema? Initially we were interested in using work we had developed based on the idea of a virtual camera in a 3D computer-modelling programme. We wanted to attempt to move a camera through a real building as if it were in a digital 'fly through'. Here a number of connections can be made. Firstly; the history of architectural film and the use of film to introduce the public to modernist architecture; the idea of architectural film speaking directly to the public and generating an experience of modernist architecture that remained true to the characteristics of the building, and was perhaps even superior to the direct experience of that building (the space in it's idealised form). Examples here would be the films of Pierre Chenal, Man Ray and Hans Richter that emphasise the dynamics of modernist architecture. Their emphasis is on movement and circulation in order to experience the building as a set of changing relationships between vistas, voids, solids and apertures. Secondly there is much academic and historical writing on the links between architecture and film, and in particular the connection between the moving, restless camera in early architectural film and the distracted gaze of the spectator of architectural modernism. Here film is seen as the ideal medium for rendering the dynamism of modern architecture and the connection between the roving camera and the mobile spectator as detailed in Beatriz Colomina's work on Le Corb and the architectural promenade are important. A final example of the context to the work to note is the recent publication in England of 'Zoomscapes; Architecture in Motion and Media' by Mitchell Schwarzer (Princeton) which presents many very interesting and closely related ideas - specifically the ways in which architecture is not solely experienced through the direct encounter with a built space but equally (if not predominantly) from the car, train or plane and through its representation in film, TV and photography. On Mendelsohn's 'America: An Architect's Picturebook' of 1926, he suggests that: "it focuses on the precise appearance of individual structures. A leading German architect of the interwar period, Mendelsohn was less interested in covering the totality of the modern city than in disseminating captivating visual information. In a review of the book, El Lissitzky writes, "a first leafing through the pages thrills us like a dramatic film. Before our eyes move pictures that are absolutely unique. In order to understand some of the photographs you must lift the book over your head and rotate it. The architect shows us America not from a distance but from within, as he leads us into the canyon of its streets". The relationship to the project is striking and is one of many connections that have emerged as the project has progressed. We are interested in Mendlesohn's public buildings for several reasons. Firstly; their extraordinary fluidity that seems to invite, demand even, a mobile gaze and the architectural language Mendlesohn uses in a deliberate way to captivate the viewer or user. (The demand to promenade is most apparent in the department store and particularly the seaside pavilion) Secondly; the ways his buildings aimed to render visible, or perform, ideological claims in terms of a syntax of use - the way the buildings were designed around the idea of a circulation and movement that is rhetorical. For instance, Mendlesohn designed the Metalworkers Union building to make visible the social and political claims of the union - the workers and union officials move through the building in a way that enacts the principles of democratic decision-making. Similarly he designed the St. Louis synagogue to render visible the idea of a community of faith, merging school with temple and community centre. The temple itself is organised around a 'spine' of light flooding from the Torah Shrine upwards and across the curve of the ceiling. The shooting, completed in December 2005 was helped greatly by the current users or owners of the buildings; Renee Dressner of the GGG (a Germany agency not unlike English Heritage in Britain), Peter Senft of the IGM (the German Metal Workers' Union) and Kathryn Adamchick in St. Louis, and Celia Davies at De La Warr Pavilion. All provided us with every practical help we needed as well extensive historical information about the buildings. In Berlin we were told a great deal about the relationship between the design and how it is intended to embody the ideological priorities of the union - the stairway in particular being the means by which the general membership moves from the street to the congress hall at the top of the building to then pass down its decisions to the offices below. Similarly the role that each building plays in the history and 'self-image' of the respective towns and cities, as well as their histories of use, reuse, decline and refurbishment, is of great interest. Much of what we were told by the numerous people we met does not exist in print, in English translation at least, as far as we are aware. It is of great relevance to the work and suggests the value of a catalogue documenting the work and presenting this research in the future. That the four buildings are either involved in or have a history of restoration, 'adaptive re-use' and refurbishment is also a very productive coincidence. The GGG in Chemnitz are yet to begin the planned refurbishment of the Schocken building, it is currently empty and suffering from its earlier neglect. The IGM building was entirely rebuilt after the Second World War (during which it was destroyed, as a Nazi Workers headquarters, by the Red Army as they captured Berlin) and is in beautiful condition. The De La Warr Pavilion benefits from a recently completed refurbishment and development, and the B'nai Amoona is currently undergoing some alterations. There is a 'sub-textual' importance to this ongoing process and as we have recognised it we shot the buildings with this, amongst many others factors, in mind. Each of the buildings was shot in a single day from early morning to night. We approached each of the four buildings quite differently, reflecting their very different qualities and current state. The large open spaces and gradual curves of the frontage of the Schocken building lent themselves to the use of the dolly and 360 degree pan and tilt head. A series of travelling spiral passes were made through the various levels. We also used the 'sled' mount to travel down the linear handrails of the stairways. In the IGM building we focussed on the extraordinary glass, marble and copper spiral staircase. Using the 360-degree pan and tilt head we mimicked the sinuous movement of the stairs and concentrated on the complex of reflections in the metal and glass elements as the users of the building moved from floor to floor. This use of an approach specific to each site and creating a distinct quality to each of the 'models' produced was continued in the shooting of the final location, the De La Warr Pavilion. Each of the separate 'buildings' has been edited as a set of three adjacent and slightly overlapping screens. These three sets of three screens were then adjusted or re-edited in relation to one another to achieve a strict and synchronised interrelationship, or choreography between all twelve moving images. The first exhibition of the finished work was commissioned by and staged at the De La Warr Pavilion. The work is specifically an environmental installation and the configuration of the tables in the space has been the final stage in the construction of the work – through shooting, to editing and installation. The arrangement of the tables has been devised in relation to the exhibition space itself and subject to a number of specific considerations – that there be no single straight route through the space, rather that the space has to be deliberately 'navigated', and that there was a position from which all twelve screens could be seen (if for some only at a distance) simultaneously to allow the synchronised movement across all twelve to play a primary part in the experience of the work. The size of the screens both allows for this 'overview' of movement across all twelve screens but by also avoiding the risk of overwhelming spectacle, draws the viewer into their relatively intimate individual size.

Human activity has been impacting marine ecosystems for millennia, and fishing is most often seen as the cause of overexploitation and depletion of marine biological resources (Myers and Worm 2003, Salomon 2009). There is a wealth of recent studies illustrating how our perception of pristine conditions in the seas and oceans has shifted over generations. This is referred to as 'Shifting Baselines'. A wide range of evidence about (pre) historical reference conditions and early baselines has increased the awareness on the limitations associated with the current scientific methods to determine appropriate reference conditions against which current targets for conservation and management are set, in particular for fisheries (Pinnegar and Engelhard 2008). It is acknowledged that environmental reference conditions and targets must strive to integrate all available and relevant data and information for improved assessments, including incorporating historical data into conservation and management frameworks (Pinnegar and Engelhard 2008, McClenachan et al. 2012). Historical data can contribute in explaining underlying cause-effect relations in changes in the ecosystems, potentially reveal information and knowledge from past conditions (Jackson et al. 2001), and help defining reference conditions and achievable targets for environmental management today. The present thesis focuses on quantitative data to extend the timeframe of current analyses on fisheries (landings, fleet dynamics, spatial dynamics, indexes of productivity of the fleet and impact of fishing) and on the reconstruction of historical timeseries to expand our knowledge on historical references for the Belgian sea fisheries. In achieving this, it intends to counter the concept of 'Shifting Baselines' applied to the Belgian Sea fisheries. The 'Historical Fisheries Database' (HiFiDatabase) is a product of this thesis. It is the result of a thorough search, rescue, inventory, standardization and integration of data for Belgium's sea fisheries that were not available before in the public domain or were not available before in the appropriate format for redistribution. It is documented and stored in the Marine Data Archive of Flanders Marine Institute and is freely available for end-users. It contains a unique and substantial collection of time series with standardized species names, reporting units, fishing areas and ports of landing (Lescrauwaet et al. 2010b). It is a 'living' product in the sense that new, relevant, quality-controlled time-series can be added as they are discovered or produced. Considering the relative size of the fleet, the short coastline and the limited number of fish auctions and fishing ports in Belgium, it is fair to say that the present reconstruction of Belgian sea fisheries depicts a relatively complete picture of historical volume, value and composition of landings, fleet dynamics, fishing effort and spatial dynamics. The project and its methodology offer a blueprint for similar reconstructions in other countries. The reconstructed time-series indicate that, since the onset of systematic reporting mechanisms in Belgium in 1929, landings reported by the Belgian sea fisheries both in foreign and in Belgian ports amounted to 3.3 million tonnes (t). After a maximum of 80,000 t in 1947, annual landings declined steadily to only 26% of this peak by 2008 (Lescrauwaet et al. 2010a). The most important species over the observed period in terms of landings were cod (17% of all landings) and herring (16%), closely followed by plaice (14%), sole (8%), whiting (6%) and rays (6%). In terms of economic value and based on values corrected for inflation, sole (31%) and cod (15%) were the most valuable, closely followed by plaice (11%), brown shrimp (5%), rays (5%) and turbot (3%). Near to 73% of all landings originated from 5 of the 31 fishing areas. Twenty percent of all landings originated from the 'coastal waters', while these waters contributed nearly 60% of all landed pelagic species and 55% of all landed 'molluscs and crustaceans'. The North Sea (south) and the Iceland Sea were next in importance with 17% and 16% of all landings respectively. The eastern and western part of the central North Sea, contributed each with approximately 10% of the total landings (Lescrauwaet et al. 2010a). The Belgian fisheries have followed a development of 3 major successive exploitation phases in which 3 major target species or target species groups were exploited until events or processes triggered a transition to a new phase: a 'herring' period between 1929 and 1950, a 'cod' (and other gadoid and roundfish) period between 1950 and 1980 and a period marked by plaice/sole between 1980 and 2000 (and after). This successive exploitation of targeted species was also associated with exploited fishing grounds, successively the Coastal waters for herring, the Icelandic Sea for cod, the North Sea south and the North Sea central (east and west) for sole/plaice, later also complemented by the 'western waters' (English Channel, Bristol Channel, Irish Sea) for the flatfish fisheries. To understand and interpret the trends in landings and changes in target species (groups), it is crucial to look at trends and changes in the fishing fleet and the fishing sector inserted in a wider socio-economic and political context. In the present thesis work, a reconstruction was made of the fleet size (from 1830), tonnage (from 1842) and engine power (kW from 1912) of the Belgian sea fisheries fleet. The time-series show a 85% decrease in fleet size and a 5% decrease in overall engine power (kW) since WWII. This decrease was compensated by a 10-fold increase in average tonnage (GT) per vessel and a 6-fold increase in average engine power (kW) per vessel. In only 10 years time after WWII, the fleet size decreased from approximately 550 to 450 vessels in 1955 (Lescrauwaet et al. 2012). Between 1955 and 1970 major structural changes took place in the Belgian sea fisheries fleet. These changes were driven first by the shift in the main fishing activities towards Icelandic waters in the 1950s and in the early 1960s by the governmental subsidies for the purchase of new steel hulled medium-sized motor trawlers and the introduction of the beam-trawl (Poppe 1977, Lescrauwaet et al. 2012). This led to less but more powerful vessels: between 1960 and 1975 the fleet size declined from 430 to approximately 250 vessels (-42%). The decline in fleet size was exacerbated when Iceland demarcated its territorial waters from 12 nm to 50 nm in 1972 and when the presence of Belgian fishermen within the declared 200 nm EEZ of Icelandic waters became subject to a 'phase-out' in 1975 (Lescrauwaet et al. under review). As a consequence of the loss of the Icelandic waters towards 1980, Belgian vessels shifted their activities again towards the central part of the North Sea (Omey 1982) and - to a lesser extent - towards the English Channel, Bristol Channel, South and West Ireland and the Irish Sea. From 2000 onwards specific programmes were oriented to the decommissioning of ships with the aim to reduce fleet capacity. In 2012, the Belgian commercial sea fishing fleet counted 86 ships, with a total engine capacity of 49,135 kW and gross tonnage of 15,326 GT (Roegiers et al. 2013). The reconstructed time-series suggest that total landings decreased with total fleet size and with total fishing effort. At the level of the Belgian fleet, the total number of days spent at sea decreased from approximately 91,800 days in 1938 to 15,100 days in 2010 (-84%). The landings (kg) per vessel per day at sea or per day fishing have doubled between 1938 and 2010. The time-series shows at least 4 successive events: a first event (1939-1945) marked by WWII and the increased landings of herring in coastal waters. The exceptionally high landings per unit of effort are partly explained by the cessation of large-scale herring fisheries in the North Sea during WWII combined with the effects of two strong year classes. The second period is situated in 1951-1955 and coincides with the steep increase in landings from Icelandic waters. Thirdly, an increase in landings is observed between 1960 and 1967, which coincides with the state subsidies to introduce the beam trawl firstly in shrimp vessels (1959-1960) and later for flatfish fisheries. A final conspicuous event concerns the period of increased levels of landings per vessel per day between 1977 and 1986. After standardization as landings per unit of installed power (LPUP) to account for the average increase (x6) of engine power per vessel, the landings have decreased by 74% from an average 1,3 t /installed kW in 1944-1947 to 0,38 t /installed kW in 2009-2010. Interestingly, the average price of landings (all species, all areas , all fisheries aggregated) is negatively correlated with the decreasing fishing effort and decrease in overall landings. This suggests that the Belgian sea fisheries compensated for the losses by targeting species that achieve better market prices. Although the LPUP are illustrative of the changes in the productivity of fisheries, they cannot be interpreted as a proxy of change in biomass of commercial fish stocks, because the Belgian fisheries have targeted different species and fishing areas over time. Trend analysis to study change in fish stocks must be conducted at the level of different métiers or fisheries, taking into account issues such as specificity and selectivity of gear, environmental conditions in the targeted fishing area, seasonality of fishing and behavior of target species. In the present thesis, a closer look was taken at the impact of sea fisheries. In a first part, a quantitative approach was taken to reconstruct total removals by Belgian sea fisheries by including the unreported and misreported landings of commercial and recreational fishing, as well as an estimation of discards. The methodology applied in this reconstruction can serve as a blueprint for similar reconstructions in other countries. The results are useful to inform current policy issues and societal challenges. This reconstruction covers 6 fisheries with historical or current importance for Belgium (Lescrauwaet et al. 2013). Total reconstructed removals were estimated at 5.2 million t or 42% higher than the 3.7 million t publicly reported over this period. Unreported landings and discards were estimated to represent respectively 3.5% (0.2 million t) and 26% (1.3 million t) of these total reconstructed removals. During the WWII, the Belgian fisheries benefited a 10-fold increase in catches and 5-fold increase in LPUE of North Sea 'Downs' herring. In the present thesis, these increased catches were explained by the combined effects of a major increase in catch power after WWI, the effects of the cessation of large-scale herring fisheries in the central part of the North Sea and by the effects of strong pre-WWII year classes (Lescrauwaet et al. revised manuscript under review). A third subchapter focused on the otter trawl fishery in Icelandic waters targeting cod. This fishery was of great economic importance in Belgium but decreased with the 'cod wars' (1958 and 1972) coming finally to a complete end in 1996. While the decline in total landings from Icelandic waters started after Iceland expanded its EEZ in 1958, the fishing effort of the Belgian fleet continued to increase until a peak was reached in 1963. The results show that the decline in the Iceland cod stock was visible at different levels; the decrease in the proportional importance of cod in the overall landings, the 75% decrease in the LPUE (1946-1983), the decline in the proportion of 'large' fishes, and finally the decline or shift in the definition of a 'large' specimen. As a result of this thesis, unique data are presented on the trends in volume and composition of landings for the Belgian part of the North Sea (BNS). The waters of the BNS are considered as the most important fishing area in terms of source of food for local population, but also as the most stable provider of food. The BNS and in particular the ecosystem of shallow underwater sandbanks is also important as (post)spawning and nursery area (Leloup and Gilis 1961, Gilis 1961, Leloup and Gilis 1965, Rabaut et.al 2007). The HiFiDatabase broadens the historical view on fisheries and serves as a basis for a range of potential research, management applications, and in support of policy-making. In particular, the time-series provide unique historical reference conditions of fishing in the Belgian part of the North Sea and a potential baseline for fisheries management in territorial waters or for the coastal fisheries. The latter is useful in the context of the EU Marine Strategy Framework Directive, the EU Habitat Directive and the proposal for Maritime Spatial Planning on the Belgian part of the North Sea. Finally in the present thesis work, important efforts were dedicated to approach the history of fisheries from different disciplines of work. The results underline the importance of collecting economic data, inventorying historical archives and historical legislation, historical economy and politics, in order to improve the interpretation and analysis of results. As advocated by the current integrated policies for the marine environment, both the challenge of the task and the richness of the results rely on a multidisciplinary approach.

Il presente lavoro di tesi verte sull'analisi della teoria del programma, come strumento di valutazione, negli interventi di cosviluppo promossi dalla Regione Toscana. Il cosviluppo è stato identificato, in sintesi come il nesso che lega la migrazione allo sviluppo ovvero una pratica in cui vi è la partecipazione, nei progetti di sviluppo, del migrante come attore e protagonista dello sviluppo del proprio Paese di origine, mediatore tra i contesti locali del Paese di origine e quello d'immigrazione. Nel primo capitolo l'attenzione è stata posta, inizialmente, sulla relazione che intercorre tra migrazione e sviluppo analizzando la nascita del discorso ufficiale su migrazione e sviluppo in EU e in ambito UN, con particolare riferimento all'Agenda 2030 per lo sviluppo sostenibile dove, per la prima volta, la migrazione è stata inserita nella programmazione strategica delle politiche di sviluppo globale ed è stata riconosciuta come contributo allo sviluppo sostenibile, se adeguatamente gestita. In seguito, si è proceduto ad analizzare i concetti che sono stati ritenuti maggiormente significativi a favorire la comprensione del tema della migrazione e sviluppo e di conseguenza del cosviluppo, ovvero quelli di Cooperazione Internazionale allo sviluppo, Cooperazione Decentrata, transnazionalismo, agency dei migranti e ruolo delle diaspore. La migrazione, che è stata una costante nella storia del genere umano, è uno dei grandi temi del nostro tempo che ha effetti demografici, antropologici, sociali, economici e politici significativi sia sui paesi di partenza che su quelli d'arrivo del migrante. Negli ultimi sessant'anni il fenomeno della mobilità umana è notevolmente aumentato, anche in connessione ai processi di globalizzazione e transnazionalizzazione. Nell'era della globalizzazione le migrazioni hanno assunto nuove caratteristiche, in primis sono divenute globali poiché implicano quasi tutti i paesi del mondo e devono pertanto essere analizzate come un fenomeno sociale globale, inerente tutti gli ambiti della vita sociale e individuale che coinvolge tanto gli emigrati, le società di partenza quanto quelle di arrivo. Da qui il concetto di migrazione circolare. La Commissione Europea, dagli anni 2000, ha iniziato a produrre una serie di documenti in cui sono stati messi in relazione fra loro i concetti di migrazione temporanea e circolare, migrazione e sviluppo nonché di controllo delle migrazioni irregolari nel territorio dell'Unione. Con il documento COM (2007) 248, è stata elaborata una definizione di migrazione circolare: "una forma di migrazione gestita in modo tale da consentire un certo grado di mobilità legale di andata e di ritorno tra due paesi", ponendo quindi l'accento sulla caratteristica della circolarità, cioè del ritorno nel paese di origine del migrante. Grazie a periodi di permanenza all'estero, e di successivo rientro nel contesto di origine, il migrante avrebbe la possibilità di interagire con due diverse tipologie di contesti, quello di origine e quello ospitante. Nel Paese di destinazione ha la possibilità di contribuire allo sviluppo dell'economia mettendo a disposizione conoscenza, manodopera e capacità. In quello di origine, una volta tornato e re-inseritosi, può mettere in campo e spendere le esperienze e le abilità implementate o acquisite ex novo. Studio e lavoro possono implementare l'acquisizione di capacità che, in un futuro prossimo, possono avere ripercussioni positive nella sfera economica, e in quella socio-politica, del Paese di partenza. Il cosviluppo è stato poi analizzato, inizialmente, con riferimento al livello internazionale, europeo e nazionale e infine regionale toscano. Per ciò che concerne il cosviluppo nel contesto internazionale si è fatto riferimento al Progetto Messicano Tres Por Uno Inciativa Ciudadana, mentre in quello europeo sono state passate in rassegna alcune esperienze comparate di cosviluppo in Francia, in Catalogna e in Belgio. Rispetto al cosviluppo nel contesto nazionale, l'attenzione è stata focalizzata al Sistema italiano della Cooperazione allo Sviluppo, alla Legge n.125 del 2014 con la quale i flussi migratori sono stati individuati come i processi che possono sostenere e facilitare lo sviluppo e le relazioni con i paesi d'origine, all'OIM (Organizzazione Internazionale per le migrazioni) di cui l'Italia è uno dei paesi fondatori. Il lavoro dell'OIM si basa sull'idea che tutte le migrazioni organizzate in condizioni umane, siano un beneficio sia per i migranti sia per la società di partenza che di arrivo, pertanto le migrazioni sono state ricomprese nel quadro dello sviluppo economico e sociale di un Paese. L'analisi del cosviluppo in Toscana si è sviluppata, dapprima, attraverso la descrizione del contesto normativo di riferimento in particolare della Legge n. 26 del 22 maggio 2009 "Disciplina delle attività europee e di rilievo internazionale della Regione Toscana" e della Legge n. 29 del 9 giugno 2009 "Norme per l'accoglienza, l'integrazione partecipe e la tutela dei cittadini stranieri nella Regione Toscana", in seguito attraverso la descrizione di alcuni bandi regionali per proposte progettuali di cosviluppo tra cui il "Bando per micro progetti per il cosviluppo e il progetto "Senza Frontiere. Associazioni di migranti protagoniste di una nuova dimensione della cooperazione internazionale Toscana". Prima di giungere all'analisi della teoria del programma negli interventi di cosviluppo promossi dalla Regione Toscana, nello specifico sui cinque progetti vincitori del suddetto bando, nel quarto capitolo tale teoria è stata analizzata negli interventi di cosviluppo in Francia (il GRDR: Groupe de recherche et de realisations pour le dèveloppement rural- Francia / Regione del bacino del fiume Senegal), in Catalogna (il Fons català de Cooperaciò al Desenvolupament- Cataluna/ Spagna) e in Belgio (il CIRE'asbl: Coordination et Initiatives pour et avec les Rè fugiès et Etrangers- Belgio). Tale scelta è derivata dalla volontà di far emergere convergenze e divergenze nei progetti/programmi di cosviluppo nei differenti paesi. La teoria del programma, di cui la teoria del cambiamento ne costituisce uno sviluppo (ToC), costituisce uno strumento sia di programmazione/progettazione che di valutazione dei programmi/progetti, è un insieme di approcci teorici che si caratterizzano, come ha affermato Weiss (1997), "per innescare una riflessione circa il perché dell'esistenza di alcune catene causali che permettono ai beneficiari di un programma o una politica di trasformare, o di non trasformare, le risorse che una politica mette loro a disposizione in vista della produzione di un cambiamento". Esistono molteplici definizioni della teoria del programma ma tutte convergono nell'identificarla come un insieme di assunzioni relative ai risultati che un determinato programma prevede di produrre e alle strategie, tattiche adottate dal programma stesso per raggiungere i suoi obiettivi. La Toc consiste, quindi, in una serie di assunti volti a spiegare come, e attraverso quali meccanismi, un programma può avere successo in determinate condizioni ovvero si esplicitano i requisiti necessari per ottenere i risultati attesi ovvero il meccanismo che collega input a output. Il cambiamento è prodotto dalla risposta che la sequenza di input genera nei beneficiari e nell'ambiente ( meccanismi). L'ultimo capitolo del presente elaborato è stato dedicato interamente all'analisi della ToC negli interventi di cosviluppo promossi dalla Regione Toscana e nello specifico nei cinque progetti vincitori del progetto "Senza Frontiere. Associazioni di migranti protagoniste di una nuova dimensione della cooperazione internazionale Toscana": "JOKKO: Migranti, reti territoriali, cosviluppo. Un ponte con il Senegal", "Italia–Bangladesh, un ponte per l'ambiente, la sostenibilità e la salute", "Diasporaid: Azione peril coinvolgimento della diaspora Tunisina in Toscana per il sostegno dell'imprenditoria femminile a Sidi Bouzid", "Un filo conduttore. Relazioni tessili e catene di valore tra Toscana e Perù" e "L'esperienza dei migranti al servizio delle comunità locali di origine". Il progetto "Senza Frontiere. Associazioni di migranti protagoniste di una nuova dimensione della cooperazione internazionale Toscana", è stato promosso nell'ambito delle iniziative finanziate dalla Regione Toscana e realizzato da ARCI Toscana, in collaborazione con Anci Toscana, CESVOT, COSPE, Euroafrican Partnership e Funzionari Senza Frontiere. Il progetto si propone di rafforzare le associazioni di migranti, valorizzare le loro competenze e conoscenze in materia di cooperazione internazionale e sostenere la creazione di reti di partenariato tra queste e gli attori della cooperazione toscana, gli attori istituzionali e della società civile. Come riportato dal Rapporto sulla Cooperazione Internazionale della Regione Toscana 2016-2019, la Cooperazione Internazionale della Regione Toscana si basa sul sostegno alla micro-progettualità che ha permesso, alle Associazioni interessate, di accedere a Bandi rivolti a finanziare progetti di cosviluppo e quindi ha garantito l'attivismo del locale e dei migranti. Il cosviluppo, come evidenziato nel corso nel presente elaborato, ha comportato e comporta un approccio innovativo al governo dei fenomeni migratori la dove si riconosce la migrazione come un motore di crescita per la società di accoglienza e per lo sviluppo della società di origine. Il tema del cosviluppo è un fattore fondamentale dell'associazionismo straniero in Toscana in quanto la maggioranza delle realtà associative ha una forte relazione con le varie comunità all'interno del paese di accoglienza, come anche con i paesi e le comunità di origine.

After decades of war, with a dilapidated infrastructure and millions of people dead, wounded or displaced, Vietnam could have been considered a hopeless case in economic development. Yet, it is now about to enter the ranks of middle-income countries. The obvious question is: How did this happen? This paper goes one step further, asking not which policies were adopted, but rather why they were adopted. This question is all the more intriguing because the process did not involve one group of individuals displacing another within the structure of power. To answer this question, the paper relies on the insights of those who were actually involved in the economic experiments, conceptual discussions, and political maneuvering that led to the adoption of key reforms. Especially, it builds on a series of long and regular conversations with H. E. the late Vo Van Kiet, one of Vietnam's leading figures. In doing so, it brings into the open the inside story of Doi Moi, a process that is not known by outsiders and remains opaque to most Vietnamese. The relevance of this exercise is not merely historical. Understanding how reforms were engineered may yield valuable lessons for other developing countries. It is also relevant for Vietnam, as two decades of rapid economic growth have resulted in dramatic changes in its economy and society. While praising the decision-making processes that allowed Vietnam to successfully emerge from poverty, the paper also explores the adjustments that could be needed for it to become an industrial country.

Aerosols play a key role in air quality (health aspects) and climate. In this thesis atmospheric chemistry transport models are used to study the uncertainties in aerosol modelling and to evaluate the effects of emission reduction scenarios on air quality. Uncertainties in: the emissions of gas and aerosol species in the inventories, in meteorological parameters, in the impact of orography on meteorology, all contribute to the uncertainties in gas and aerosol modelling and require high priority in order to estimate better the gas and aerosol concentrations for scientific research and policy making. The overall objectives of this thesis are to identify and quantify a few key uncertainties related to gas and aerosol regional and global scale modelling. These are: I. The impact of using two different emission inventories on gas and aerosol calculated concentrations. II. The role of the temporal and vertical distribution of emissions on gas and aerosol calculations. III. The impact of model resolution on aerosol calculations. IV. The impact of using two different meteorological driver models on gas and aerosol calculations. V. The impact of emission reduction scenarios on calculated air quality. VI. Strategies to evaluate model results with atmospheric measurements. In Chapter 1 an introduction to aerosols and aerosol modelling is given. In the following chapters, the subjects regarding the uncertainties in aerosol modelling are described. The first and the second subject of this thesis, the sensitivity in aerosol modelling to two different emission inventories, injection altitude and temporal variations of anthropogenic emissions, is described in chapter 2. We use the two-way nested global transport chemistry model TM5 focusing on Europe in June and December 2000. Two widely used emission inventories were available for this study. The EMEP inventory is a policy relevant European scale inventory which contains reported emissions by the member countries (http://www/emep.int), with more detailed information on the vertical, temporal and spatial distribution of the emissions. The AEROCOM inventory (Dentener et al., 2006) is a compilation of global scale aerosol and precursor emissions for the year 2000, and was used in the IPCC AR5 assessment report. The simulations of gas, aerosol concentrations and aerosol optical depth (AOD) with the two emission inventories are compared with EMEP gas and aerosol surface based measurements, AERONET sun photometer retrievals and MODIS satellite data. We evaluated the impact of the EMEP and AEROCOM emission inventories on aerosol concentrations and aerosol optical depth (AOD) in Europe for June and December 2000. There are substantial differences between annual emissions included in the two inventories. It also appears that differences are found in the vertical distribution of the SO2 and NOx emissions. Despite these differences, for most aerosol species and aerosol precursor gases TM5 simulates the spatial and temporal distribution over Europe relatively well when compared to observations. Spatial correlations, based on monthly mean surface concentrations, are often quite high (> 0.7) and many EMEP measurement stations show high temporal correlation with the simulations using EMEP and AEROCOM. However, from the comparison with surface observations, we conclude that the AEROCOM inventory overestimates the emissions of aerosol precursor gases SO2 and NOx and NH3 emissions, especially in June. Furthermore, a lack in seasonal varia tion in the AEROCOM inventory and uncertainty in the vertical distribution of emissions (SO2 and NOx), contributes to disagreement of model and surface observations. For NH3 it seems that the inclusion of recent abatement measures in the EMEP inventory indeed leads to a better agreement with measured concentrations. The large differences in surface concentrations between the simulations are not equally reflected in corresponding differences in computed column aerosol and AOD. Model AOD computations using the AEROCOM and EMEP emission inventories reveal good agreement with surface based AERONET sun photometer observations and AOD retrieved from MODIS. Spatial patterns over Europe of AOD differ due to the varying contributions of mineral dust and inorganic aerosol, as observed by satellite and confirmed by model simulations. An evaluation of the impact on aerosol of the temporal distribution (daily, weekly and seasonal) of emissions reveals that the concentrations of most aerosol components are not strongly influenced by introduction of a high temporal resolution of emissions. The exception is aerosol nitrate and its precursor gases NOx, and NH3. However, seasonal temporal variation of the emissions do play an important role for all gas and aerosol calculations, and need to be included to accurately calculate aerosol concentrations and it's influence on air quality and climate change. The third subject of this thesis is to study the model resolution dependency on aerosol calculations, see chapter 3. For this work the mesoscale Transport of Atmospheric Pollutants Model (TAPOM) is used. Firstly, we evaluated the TAPOM performance in calculated aerosol surface concentrations and aerosol optical depth (AOD) values for the greater Milan area in Italy during June 2001. Secondly, we used the model to study scale issues in aerosol modelling at three horizontal resolutions (5x5 km, 10x10 km and 20x20 km) through calculations of AOD and other aerosol properties for the same area and period. Model calculations of sulphate aerosol concentrations on a 5x5 km horizontal resolution show a reasonable agreement with measurements, i.e. within a factor 1.5 of the measurements. A comparison of aerosol optical depth calculated with the model and surface based sun photometer measurements revealed some discrepancies, which can be roughly divided in two clusters: 1. On clear, dry sky days there is a relatively good correlation between model and sun photometer AOD and satellite AOD. 2. A second group of model calculated AOD and measurements appear to be uncorrelated. The discrepancies of model results and measurements are for some days related to the underestimation of PM emissions and the lack of natural dust at the boundaries. Another reason could be related to the presence of cirrus clouds appearing as AOD in the measurements. Model calculations at 5x5 and 10x10 km horizontal resolution show a good internal agreement, whereas a model version using 20x20 km resolution loses some details regarding the spatial distribution of AOD. Daily mean and maximum coinciding model 5x5 km AOD values with MODIS and MISR AOD agree better with the observations than the computed AOD using the 20x20 km resolution. The largest differences in aerosol calculated concentrations between the different resolutions are associated with high RH (relative humidity) conditions leading to large amounts of computed aerosol water and higher AOD values. A further scale related issue is the non-linearity of aerosol formation at especially high relative humidity. These uncertainties are expected to be even more uncertain in large scale models that use fairly simplified parameterization relating relative humidity to cloud formation. Given the uncertainties in cloud screening of the satellite products, the reliability of these satellite products is often questionable and it has turned out to be difficult to make comparisons to model results at the mesoscale (like in this study). This problem is even larger for global scale models, with resolutions higher than 100x100km and less detailed emission inventories, where local and regional information are not taken into account. This study also showed the importance of accurate model boundary conditions for realistic gas, aerosol and AOD computations in regional/urban scale air quality modelling. In chapter 4, the fourth subject of thesis is described, i.e. studying the impact of two different meteorological models (MM5 and WRF) on aerosol and O3 calculations with the chemistry transport model CHIMERE. The area and period of interest is the Po valley region (Italy) for January and June 2005. The meteorological data sets used for the study were created in the frame of the Po valley air quality Model Inter-comparison (POMI) exercise, which is coordinated by the Institute of Environment and Sustainability, JRC, Ispra, Italy (http://aqm.jrc.it/POMI/). First we evaluate for January, June and the whole year the calculated meteorological parameters by MM5 and WRF (temperature, wind speed, wind direction, relative humidity and precipitation) with observations. The analysis shows that the overall performance of both models is similar, however some small differences are still noticeable. On a yearly basis, the temperatures are mainly underestimated (less by WRF) when compared to observations and the values of relative humidity are in general overestimated (less by MM5). WRF output follows better the hourly pattern of relative humidity. We had only two stations available with wind data. The wind speed is well reproduced for Ispra monitoring site (especially by WRF) but for Mantova is largely overestimated by both models (less by MM5). Both models do not reproduce well the wind direction. The rainfall is in general overestimated, however the MM5 output shows lower rainfall values. Secondly, we analyze the impact of using MM5 and WRF on calculated PM10 and O3 concentrations. In general the model underestimates the observed PM10 concentrations with both the MM5 and WRF meteorology, from now on denoted as CHIMERE/MM5, CHIMERE/WRF respectively. The PM10 concentrations for January are a factor 1.6 higher for CHIMERE/MM5 than CHIMERE/WRF. The concentrations of gases and aerosols at ground level strongly depend on the profile of the planetary boundary layer. Therefore we examined the PBL profiles and the latent and sensible heat fluxes which are responsible for the PBL formation. The difference and the larger underestimation in PM10 concentrations by CHIMERE/WRF are related to the differences in heat fluxes and the resulting PBL heights calculated by WRF. In general the PBL height by WRF meteorology is a factor 2.8 higher at noon in January than calculated by MM5. This could result in a better vertical mixing of the aerosols than CHIMERE/MM5, causing lower aerosol concentrations at the surface. Changing the Noah LSM scheme in our WRF pre-processing for the 5-layer soil temperature model, leads to an increase of the calculated PM10 concentrations of 30% for January 2005 when compared to the simulation using Noah LSM. This study also showed that the difference in microphysics scheme has an impact on the profile of cloud liquid water (CLW) calculated by the meteorological driver and therefore on the production and removal of SO4 = aerosol. For June the differences in PM10 concentrations between the model simulations using MM5 and WRF are small. Analyzing the heat fluxes and the diurnal behaviour of the PBL height we observe small differences between the two meteorological models. In the previous chapters, three major uncertainties which contribute to modelled aerosol calculations are described. It is crucial to understand how important these sources of uncertainties contribute to the model outcome, especially when the model results are used for policy relevant studies. In the last chapter of this thesis (chapter 5) we performed a case study to evaluate the impact of emission reduction scenarios on PM2.5 and O3 calculated concentrations for the Po valley area, by using the chemistry transport model CHIMERE. Comparing calculated surface aerosol concentrations by the model for the standard case (no emission reductions) with observations for January and June 2005 shows that the monthly mean PM10 concentrations are in general underestimated by a factor 1.4. To evaluate the impact of emission reduction scenarios we reduced the emissions of NOx, PM2.5, SO2, VOC or NH3 by 50% separately for each component and for different source sectors, together with 5 additional scenarios. The 50% reduction of the emissions corresponds to the application of the current legislation for PM2.5 for Italy which should be met in 2010 in respect to the emissions of the base year 2000 (EURODELTA exercise: http://aqm.jrc.it/eurodelta/, which is carried out in the frame of the Clean Air For Europe programme, CAFE). The most effective scenarios to abate PM2.5 concentration are based on the nonindustrial combustion plants, i.e. domestic heating (SNAP2) and road traffic (SNAP7) sectors, for which the NOx and PM2.5 emissions are reduced by 50%. These scenarios reduce the monthly calculated PM2.5 concentrations for the Po valley area for January on average by 1-6µg/m3. However, these emission reduction scenarios for domestic heating and traffic do not have an effect on lowering the number of days for which the planned European limit value (Directive 2008/50/EC) of 25µg/m3 is exceeded. Only by combining the emission reductions of NOx, PM25, SO2, VOC and NH3 for domestic heating, road traffic and agriculture (SNAP10) results in a larger reduction of PM2.5 calculated concentrations over the larger area in the Lombardy region (~20%), which corresponds with the findings of a similar study performed by APAT (the Italian National Agency for environmental protection and technical services). In the APAT study more than one species was reduced for different activity sectors. Our study also showed that a more effective pollutant reduction (emissions) per tonne of pollutant reduced (concentrations) for the greater Milan area is obtained by reducing the primary PM2.5 emissions for road traffic. The most effective scenario on (secondary) PM2.5 decrease for which precursor emissions are reduced is achieved by reducing SO2 emissions by 50% for road traffic. Our study showed that during summer, the largest reductions in O3 concentrations are achieved for SNAP 7 emission reductions, when volatile organic compounds (VOCs) are reduced by 50%. It appears that around 40% of the PM2.5 concentration for Milan is caused by the emissions from surroundings of the Lombardy region as well as by longrange transport from elsewhere (as reflected as model boundary conditions). Therefore effective abatement of air pollution does need the consideration of the transboundary aspects of air pollution. Our study showed that differences may occur between measurement (ground based and space born) data sets for the same variable and time period. This complicates the use of observations for model evaluation purposes. The main conclusions of this thesis can be summarized as: • The amounts and the temporal and vertical distributions of the emissions are important for gas and aerosol calculations, especially when calculations are compared to surface measurements. • Going to a finer model resolution results in better agreement between calculated aerosol and AOD values and observations. • The PBL height and vertical mixing of the lower troposphere determine to a large extend the surface gas and aerosol concentrations. These boundary layer characteristics are strongly determined by the sensible and latent heat fluxes at the surface. • Local emission reductions result in a local improvement in air quality.Longrange transport is however also very important for reducing local pollution. • Surface and space born measurements of gas phase and aerosol components are crucial for evaluating model results. However inconsistencies in measurement data sets make it complicated for reliable comparisons with model simulations.

The ongoing Covid-19 crisis has severely affected the key economic sectors of Nepal. As the fiscal policy is one of the key tools used by the governments around the world, the government and other key stakeholders in Nepal naturally expect this tool to incorporate enough provisions to support the national economy. This policy brief aims to provide policy recommendations to the GoN towards the preparation of the White Paper and the Fiscal Policy.

Responding to the COVID-19 Pandemic: Leaving No Country Behind is the thematic report of the Asia-Pacific SDG partnership for 2021. Reflecting on the theme of the 8th Asia-Pacific Forum on Sustainable Development, it informs regional and global dialogue on sustainable development as well as national and regional implementation of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development. It invites governments and stakeholders to align COVID-19 response and recovery strategies with the achievement of the SDGs and provides insights for the way forward.

The COVID-19, or coronavirus global pandemic has required huge responses from governments all over the world; and Timor-Leste has its own unique requirements when addressing an evolving event of this magnitude. This report synthesizes the findings of six survey rounds undertaken by The Asia Foundation (the Foundation) in Timor-Leste, from May 2020 to May 2021.1 This work was supported by the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade (DFAT), through the Governance for Development (Gadd) program. In partnership with local partner MDI (Mata Dilan Institute), six phone surveys were conducted at bi-monthly intervals. With support from ORIMA Research, the findings of each survey round were made available through reports and fact sheets in both English and Tetum. The data from these survey rounds was shared with key stakeholders in government and other development partners; and enabled the Foundation to better understand the concerns of the people of Timor-Leste; how well they are adopting prevention measures and taking care of their health; the level of trust in Government; the use of, and satisfaction with, government programs; the social and economic impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic and associated control measures; the resilience of individuals and communities; and the sources of news and information the people of Timor-Leste are relying on to stay informed about the pandemic. By synthesizing the information available across the survey rounds in this report, we are able to see how people's perceptions, understandings and practices changed over time. This in turn will hopefully, inform a more strategic and responsive policy response from government.

This paper studies the impact of COVID-19 on different demographic groups in the Thai labour market using the Labour Force Survey in 2018 and 2019. We construct a new set of COVID-19 impact indicators capturing both the degree of risk in industries and degree of occupational flexibility in the Thai context. Our results show that the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic is highly unequal across demographic groups and it may further worsen the pre-existing inequality in the Thai labour market as a result of the composition of industrial sectors and occupations. The results suggest that education attainments and income levels play a significant role in protecting individuals from the current crisis, indicating the important contribution of human capital. In addition, marriage affects men and women differently in the COVID-19 crisis, with married women suffering more. Finally, our study highlights the need for government supports that target vulnerable groups, including workers with low education, informal workers, private employees, older women, and the young, who are more likely to be affected by COVID-19.

The impact of COVID-19 on the Russian economy was undoubtedly enormous, clearly, negatively. The GDP of the Russian economy shrank 3% in 2020, the sharpest contraction after the previous economic disaster in 2008. The two economic downturns resemble each other. They show that resource dependent economies are susceptible to sudden declines in raw material prices, where they resort to too much. It is not anew that fossil fuel exports, including oil and natural gas, serve as a linchpin for the Russian economic system. Exports of the energy resources constitute a whopping 60% of all goods exports while accounting for more than a major bulk of government revenues. Excessive economic dependence on the resource sector has been a perennial concern, and the ominous premonition was correct again. The Russian economy contracted 8.5% in the second quarter of 2020 when the Ural oil price plummeted to $18 per barrel, reminiscent of the 2008 economic recession sparked by the sudden collapse of the oil price by more than 70% of its peak value.

Coronavirus or COVID-19 pandemic, which broke out in late 2019 in the Wuhan city of China has directly and indirectly affected each and every sphere of life across the world. Till date it has affected more than 3.9 million people with a death toll of 270,740 the world over. Coping with a pandemic medically is hard, but more difficult is to come out of the fear and panic it has causes and can cause to the victims. However, the fear caused by potentially falling victims to the disease can itself be an overwhelming experience as it stirs up people's emotions and sensitivities. Women are mostly the victims of such sensitivities. According to the Lancet report (2020), there has not been any gender analysis of the pandemic by any government of health organization or any estimates of potential victims in preparedness phases. Plan International (2020) highlights that the COVID-19 has interrupted our way of life and has further disrupted individuals, families and communities putting them under stress of health and economic burdens. However, there are other reasons of stress caused by the COVID-19. In times when social isolation and distancing practices are being applied, there are increased risks of violence against women, their abuse, exploitation and neglect. Past evidences inform us that diseases outbreak affected men and women differently in their day-to-day activities.

Validated in vitro methods for skin corrosion and irritation were adopted by the OECD and by the European Union during the last decade. In the EU, Switzerland and countries adopting the EU legislation, these assays may allow the full replacement of animal testing for identifying and classifying compounds as skin corrosives, skin irritants, and non irritants. In order to develop harmonised recommendations on the use of in vitro data for regulatory assessment purposes within the European framework, a workshop was organized by the Swiss Federal Office of Public Health together with ECVAM and the BfR. It comprised stakeholders from various European countries involved in the process from in vitro testing to the regulatory assessment of in vitro data. Discussions addressed the following questions: (1) the information requirements considered useful for regulatory assessment; (2) the applicability of in vitro skin corrosion data to assign the corrosive subcategories as implemented by the EU Classification, Labelling and Packaging Regulation; (3) the applicability of testing strategies for determining skin corrosion and irritation hazards; and (4) the applicability of the adopted in vitro assays to test mixtures, preparations and dilutions. Overall, a number of agreements and recommendations were achieved in order to clarify and facilitate the assessment and use of in vitro data from regulatory accepted methods, and ultimately help regulators and scientists facing with the new in vitro approaches to evaluate skin irritation and corrosion hazards and risks without animal data. -® 2011 Elsevier Inc.

Publisher's version (útgefin grein) ; Objective: To explore genetic and lifestyle risk factors of MRI-defined brain infarcts (BI) in large population-based cohorts. Methods We performed meta-analyses of genome-wide association studies (GWAS) and examined associations of vascular risk factors and their genetic risk scores (GRS) with MRI-defined BI and a subset of BI, namely, small subcortical BI (SSBI), in 18 population-based cohorts (n=20,949) from 5 ethnicities (3,726 with BI, 2,021 with SSBI). Top loci were followed up in 7 population-based cohorts (n = 6,862; 1,483 with BI, 630 with SBBI), and we tested associations with related phenotypes including ischemic stroke and pathologically defined BI. Results: The mean prevalence was 17.7% for BI and 10.5% for SSBI, steeply rising after age 65. Two loci showed genome-wide significant association with BI: FBN2, p = 1.77 × 10-8; and LINC00539/ZDHHC20, p = 5.82 × 10-9. Both have been associated with blood pressure (BP)-related phenotypes, but did not replicate in the smaller follow-up sample or show associations with related phenotypes. Age- and sex-adjusted associations with BI and SSBI were observed for BP traits (p value for BI, p[BI] = 9.38 × 10-25; p [SSBI] = 5.23 × 10-14 for hypertension), smoking (p[BI]= 4.4 × 10-10; p [SSBI] = 1.2 × 10 -4), diabetes (p[BI] = 1.7 × 10 -8; p [SSBI] = 2.8 × 10 -3), previous cardiovascular disease (p [BI] = 1.0 × 10-18; p [SSBI] = 2.3 × 10-7), stroke (p [BI] = 3.9 × 10-69; p [SSBI] = 3.2 × 10 -24), and MRI-defined white matter hyperintensity burden (p [BI]=1.43 × 10-157; p [SSBI] = 3.16 × 10-106), but not with body mass index or cholesterol. GRS of BP traits were associated with BI and SSBI (p ≤ 0.0022), without indication of directional pleiotropy. Conclusion: In this multiethnic GWAS meta-analysis, including over 20,000 population-based participants, we identified genetic risk loci for BI requiring validation once additional large datasets become available. High BP, including genetically determined, was the most significant modifiable, causal risk factor for BI. ; CHAP: R01-AG-11101, R01-AG-030146, NIRP-14-302587. SMART: This study was supported by a grant from the Netherlands Organization for Scientific Research–Medical Sciences (project no. 904-65–095). LBC: The authors thank the LBC1936 participants and the members of the LBC1936 research team who collected and collated the phenotypic and genotypic data. The LBC1936 is supported by Age UK (Disconnected Mind Programme grant). The work was undertaken by The University of Edinburgh Centre for Cognitive Ageing and Cognitive Epidemiology, part of the cross-council Lifelong Health and Wellbeing Initiative (MR/K026992/1). The brain imaging was performed in the Brain Research Imaging Centre (https://www.ed.ac.uk/clinical-sciences/edinburgh-imaging), a center in the SINAPSE Collaboration (sinapse.ac.uk) supported by the Scottish Funding Council and Chief Scientist Office. Funding from the UK Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council (BBSRC) and the UK Medical Research Council is acknowledged. Genotyping was supported by a grant from the BBSRC (ref. BB/F019394/1). PROSPER: The PROSPER study was supported by an investigator-initiated grant obtained from Bristol-Myers Squibb. Prof. Dr. J.W. Jukema is an Established Clinical Investigator of the Netherlands Heart Foundation (grant 2001 D 032). Support for genotyping was provided by the seventh framework program of the European commission (grant 223004) and by the Netherlands Genomics Initiative (Netherlands Consortium for Healthy Aging grant 050-060-810). SCES and SiMES: National Medical Research Council Singapore Centre Grant NMRC/CG/013/2013. C.-Y.C. is supported by the National Medical Research Council, Singapore (CSA/033/2012), Singapore Translational Research Award (STaR) 2013. Dr. Kamran Ikram received additional funding from the Singapore Ministry of Health's National Medical Research Council (NMRC/CSA/038/2013). SHIP: SHIP is part of the Community Medicine Research net of the University of Greifswald, Germany, which is funded by the Federal Ministry of Education and Research (grants no. 01ZZ9603, 01ZZ0103, and 01ZZ0403), the Ministry of Cultural Affairs, as well as the Social Ministry of the Federal State of Mecklenburg–West Pomerania, and the network "Greifswald Approach to Individualized Medicine (GANI_MED)" funded by the Federal Ministry of Education and Research (grant 03IS2061A). Genome-wide data have been supported by the Federal Ministry of Education and Research (grant no. 03ZIK012) and a joint grant from Siemens Healthineers, Erlangen, Germany, and the Federal State of Mecklenburg–West Pomerania. Whole-body MRI was supported by a joint grant from Siemens Healthineers, Erlangen, Germany, and the Federal State of Mecklenburg–West Pomerania. The University of Greifswald is a member of the Caché Campus program of the InterSystems GmbH. OATS (Older Australian Twins Study): OATS was supported by an Australian National Health and Medical Research Council (NHRMC)/Australian Research Council (ARC) Strategic Award (ID401162) and by a NHMRC grant (ID1045325). OATS was facilitated via access to the Australian Twin Registry, which is supported by the NHMRC Enabling Grant 310667. The OATS genotyping was partly supported by a Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation Flagship Collaboration Fund Grant. NOMAS: The Northern Manhattan Study is funded by the NIH grant "Stroke Incidence and Risk Factors in a Tri-Ethnic Region" (NINDS R01NS 29993). TASCOG: NHMRC and Heart Foundation. AGES: The study was funded by the National Institute on Aging (NIA) (N01-AG-12100), Hjartavernd (the Icelandic Heart Association), and the Althingi (the Icelandic Parliament), with contributions from the Intramural Research Programs at the NIA, the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute (NHLBI), and the National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke (NINDS) (Z01 HL004607-08 CE). ERF: The ERF study as a part of European Special Populations Research Network (EUROSPAN) was supported by European Commission FP6 STRP grant no. 018947 (LSHG-CT-2006-01947) and also received funding from the European Community's Seventh Framework Programme (FP7/2007–2013)/grant agreement HEALTH-F4-2007-201413 by the European Commission under the programme "Quality of Life and Management of the Living Resources" of 5th Framework Programme (no. QLG2-CT-2002-01254). High-throughput analysis of the ERF data was supported by a joint grant from Netherlands Organization for Scientific Research and the Russian Foundation for Basic Research (NWO-RFBR 047.017.043). Exome sequencing analysis in ERF was supported by the ZonMw grant (project 91111025). Najaf Amin is supported by the Netherlands Brain Foundation (project no. F2013[1]-28). ARIC: The Atherosclerosis Risk in Communities study was performed as a collaborative study supported by NHLBI contracts (HHSN268201100005C, HSN268201100006C, HSN268201100007C, HHSN268201100008C, HHSN268201100009C, HHSN268201100010C, HHSN268201100011C, and HHSN268201100012C), R01HL70825, R01HL087641, R01HL59367, and R01HL086694; National Human Genome Research Institute contract U01HG004402; and NIH contract HHSN268200625226C. Infrastructure was partly supported by grant no. UL1RR025005, a component of the NIH and NIH Roadmap for Medical Research. This project was also supported by NIH R01 grant NS087541 to M.F. FHS: This work was supported by the National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute's Framingham Heart Study (contracts no. N01-HC-25195 and no. HHSN268201500001I), and its contract with Affymetrix, Inc. for genotyping services (contract no. N02-HL-6-4278). A portion of this research utilized the Linux Cluster for Genetic Analysis (LinGA-II) funded by the Robert Dawson Evans Endowment of the Department of Medicine at Boston University School of Medicine and Boston Medical Center. This study was also supported by grants from the NIA (R01s AG033040, AG033193, AG054076, AG049607, AG008122, and U01-AG049505) and the NINDS (R01-NS017950, UH2 NS100605). Dr. DeCarli is supported by the Alzheimer's Disease Center (P30 AG 010129). ASPS: The research reported in this article was funded by the Austrian Science Fund (FWF) grant nos. P20545-P05, P13180, and P20545-B05, by the Austrian National Bank Anniversary Fund, P15435, and the Austrian Ministry of Science under the aegis of the EU Joint Programme–Neurodegenerative Disease Research (JPND) (jpnd.eu). LLS: The Leiden Longevity Study has received funding from the European Union's Seventh Framework Programme (FP7/2007–2011) under grant agreement no. 259679. This study was supported by a grant from the Innovation-Oriented Research Program on Genomics (SenterNovem IGE05007), the Centre for Medical Systems Biology, and the Netherlands Consortium for Healthy Ageing (grant 050-060-810), all in the framework of the Netherlands Genomics Initiative, Netherlands Organization for Scientific Research (NWO), UnileverColworth, and by BBMRI-NL, a Research Infrastructure financed by the Dutch government (NWO 184.021.007). CHS: This CHS research was supported by contracts HHSN268201200036C, HHSN268200800007C, N01HC55222, N01HC85079, N01HC85080, N01HC85081, N01HC85082, N01HC85083, N01HC85086, N01HC15103, and HHSN268200960009C and grants U01HL080295, R01HL087652, R01HL105756, R01HL103612, R01HL120393, R01HL085251, and R01HL130114 from the NHLBI with additional contribution from NINDS. Additional support was provided through R01AG023629 from the NIA. A full list of principal CHS investigators and institutions can be found at CHS-NHLBI.org. The provision of genotyping data was supported in part by the National Center for Advancing Translational Sciences, CTSI grant UL1TR001881, and the National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Disease Diabetes Research Center grant DK063491 to the Southern California Diabetes Endocrinology Research Center. The content is solely the responsibility of the authors and does not necessarily represent the official views of the NIH. Rotterdam Study: The generation and management of GWAS genotype data for the Rotterdam Study is supported by the Netherlands Organisation of Scientific Research (NWO) Investments (no. 175.010.2005.011, 911-03-012). This study is funded by the Research Institute for Diseases in the Elderly (014-93-015; RIDE2), the Netherlands Genomics Initiative (NGI)/NWO project no. 050-060-810. The Rotterdam Study is funded by Erasmus MC Medical Center and Erasmus MC University, Rotterdam, Netherlands Organization for Health Research and Development (ZonMw), the Research Institute for Diseases in the Elderly (RIDE), the Ministry of Education, Culture and Science, the Ministry for Health, Welfare and Sports, the European Commission (DG XII), and the Municipality of Rotterdam. M.A.I. is supported by an NWO Veni grant (916.13.054). The 3-City Study: The 3-City Study is conducted under a partnership agreement among the Institut National de la Santé et de la Recherche Médicale (INSERM), the University of Bordeaux, and Sanofi-Aventis. The Fondation pour la Recherche Médicale funded the preparation and initiation of the study. The 3C Study is also supported by the Caisse Nationale Maladie des Travailleurs Salariés, Direction Générale de la Santé, Mutuelle Générale de l'Education Nationale (MGEN), Institut de la Longévité, Conseils Régionaux of Aquitaine and Bourgogne, Fondation de France, and Ministry of Research–INSERM Programme "Cohortes et collections de données biologiques." C.T. and S.D. have received investigator-initiated research funding from the French National Research Agency (ANR) and from the Fondation Leducq. S.D. is supported by a starting grant from the European Research Council (SEGWAY), a grant from the Joint Programme of Neurodegenerative Disease research (BRIDGET), from the European Union's Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme under grant agreements No 643417 & No 640643, and by the Initiative of Excellence of Bordeaux University. Part of the computations were performed at the Bordeaux Bioinformatics Center (CBiB), University of Bordeaux. This work was supported by the National Foundation for Alzheimer's Disease and Related Disorders, the Institut Pasteur de Lille, the Labex DISTALZ, and the Centre National de Génotypage. ADGC: The Alzheimer Disease Genetics Consortium is supported by NIH. NIH-NIA supported this work through the following grants: ADGC, U01 AG032984, RC2 AG036528; NACC, U01 AG016976; NCRAD, U24 AG021886; NIA LOAD, U24 AG026395, U24 AG026390; Banner Sun Health Research Institute, P30 AG019610; Boston University, P30 AG013846, U01 AG10483, R01 CA129769, R01 MH080295, R01 AG017173, R01 AG025259, R01AG33193; Columbia University, P50 AG008702, R37 AG015473; Duke University, P30 AG028377, AG05128; Emory University, AG025688; Group Health Research Institute, UO1 AG06781, UO1 HG004610; Indiana University, P30 AG10133; Johns Hopkins University, P50 AG005146, R01 AG020688; Massachusetts General Hospital, P50 AG005134; Mayo Clinic, P50 AG016574; Mount Sinai School of Medicine, P50 AG005138, P01 AG002219; New York University, P30 AG08051, MO1RR00096, UL1 RR029893, 5R01AG012101, 5R01AG022374, 5R01AG013616, 1RC2AG036502, 1R01AG035137; Northwestern University, P30 AG013854; Oregon Health & Science University, P30 AG008017, R01 AG026916; Rush University, P30 AG010161, R01 AG019085, R01 AG15819, R01 AG17917, R01 AG30146; TGen, R01 NS059873; University of Alabama at Birmingham, P50 AG016582, UL1RR02777; University of Arizona, R01 AG031581; University of California, Davis, P30 AG010129; University of California, Irvine, P50 AG016573, P50, P50 AG016575, P50 AG016576, P50 AG016577; University of California, Los Angeles, P50 AG016570; University of California, San Diego, P50 AG005131; University of California, San Francisco, P50 AG023501, P01 AG019724; University of Kentucky, P30 AG028383, AG05144; University of Michigan, P50 AG008671; University of Pennsylvania, P30 AG010124; University of Pittsburgh, P50 AG005133, AG030653; University of Southern California, P50 AG005142; University of Texas Southwestern, P30 AG012300; University of Miami, R01 AG027944, AG010491, AG027944, AG021547, AG019757; University of Washington, P50 AG005136; Vanderbilt University, R01 AG019085; and Washington University, P50 AG005681, P01 AG03991. The Kathleen Price Bryan Brain Bank at Duke University Medical Center is funded by NINDS grant NS39764, NIMH MH60451, and by GlaxoSmithKline. Genotyping of the TGEN2 cohort was supported by Kronos Science. The TGen series was also funded by NIA grant AG041232, the Banner Alzheimer's Foundation, The Johnnie B. Byrd Sr. Alzheimer's Institute, the Medical Research Council, and the state of Arizona and also includes samples from the following sites: Newcastle Brain Tissue Resource (funding via the Medical Research Council [MRC], local NHS trusts, and Newcastle University), MRC London Brain Bank for Neurodegenerative Diseases (funding via the Medical Research Council), South West Dementia Brain Bank (funding via numerous sources including the Higher Education Funding Council for England [HEFCE], Alzheimer's Research Trust [ART], BRACE, as well as North Bristol NHS Trust Research and Innovation Department and DeNDRoN), The Netherlands Brain Bank (funding via numerous sources including Stichting MS Research, Brain Net Europe, Hersenstichting Nederland Breinbrekend Werk, International Parkinson Fonds, Internationale Stiching Alzheimer Onderzoek), Institut de Neuropatologia, Servei Anatomia Patologica, and Universitat de Barcelona). ADNI: Funding for ADNI is through the Northern California Institute for Research and Education by grants from Abbott, AstraZeneca AB, Bayer Schering Pharma AG, Bristol-Myers Squibb, Eisai Global Clinical Development, Elan Corporation, Genentech, GE Healthcare, GlaxoSmithKline, Innogenetics, Johnson & Johnson, Eli Lilly and Co., Medpace, Inc., Merck and Co., Inc., Novartis AG, Pfizer Inc, F. Hoffman-La Roche, Schering-Plough, Synarc, Inc., Alzheimer's Association, Alzheimer's Drug Discovery Foundation, the Dana Foundation, and the National Institute of Biomedical Imaging and Bioengineering and NIA grants U01 AG024904, RC2 AG036535, and K01 AG030514. Support was also provided by the Alzheimer's Association (LAF, IIRG-08-89720; MAP-V, IIRG-05-14147) and the US Department of Veterans Affairs Administration, Office of Research and Development, Biomedical Laboratory Research Program. SiGN: Stroke Genetic Network (SiGN) was supported in part by award nos. U01NS069208 and R01NS100178 from NINDS. Genetics of Early-Onset Stroke (GEOS) Study was supported by the NIH Genes, Environment and Health Initiative (GEI) grant U01 HG004436, as part of the GENEVA consortium under GEI, with additional support provided by the Mid-Atlantic Nutrition and Obesity Research Center (P30 DK072488); and the Office of Research and Development, Medical Research Service, and the Baltimore Geriatrics Research, Education, and Clinical Center of the Department of Veterans Affairs. Genotyping services were provided by the Johns Hopkins University Center for Inherited Disease Research (CIDR), which is fully funded through a federal contract from the NIH to Johns Hopkins University (contract no. HHSN268200782096C). Assistance with data cleaning was provided by the GENEVA Coordinating Center (U01 HG 004446; PI Bruce S. Weir). Study recruitment and assembly of datasets were supported by a Cooperative Agreement with the Division of Adult and Community Health, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, and by grants from NINDS and the NIH Office of Research on Women's Health (R01 NS45012, U01 NS069208-01). METASTROKE: ASGC: Australian population control data were derived from the Hunter Community Study. This research was funded by grants from the Australian National and Medical Health Research Council (NHMRC Project Grant ID: 569257), the Australian National Heart Foundation (NHF Project Grant ID: G 04S 1623), the University of Newcastle, the Gladys M Brawn Fellowship scheme, and the Vincent Fairfax Family Foundation in Australia. E.G.H. was supported by a Fellowship from the NHF and National Stroke Foundation of Australia (ID: 100071). J.M. was supported by an Australian Postgraduate Award. BRAINS: Bio-Repository of DNA in Stroke (BRAINS) is partly funded by a Senior Fellowship from the Department of Health (UK) to P.S., the Henry Smith Charity, and the UK-India Education Research Institutive (UKIERI) from the British Council. GEOS: Genetics of Early Onset Stroke (GEOS) Study, Baltimore, was supported by GEI Grant U01 HG004436, as part of the GENEVA consortium under GEI, with additional support provided by the Mid-Atlantic Nutrition and Obesity Research Center (P30 DK072488), and the Office of Research and Development, Medical Research Service, and the Baltimore Geriatrics Research, Education, and Clinical Center of the Department of Veterans Affairs. Genotyping services were provided by the Johns Hopkins University Center for Inherited Disease Research (CIDR), which is fully funded through a federal contract from the NIH to the Johns Hopkins University (contract no. HHSN268200782096C). Assistance with data cleaning was provided by the GENEVA Coordinating Center (U01 HG 004446; PI Bruce S. Weir). Study recruitment and assembly of datasets were supported by a Cooperative Agreement with the Division of Adult and Community Health, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, and by grants from NINDS and the NIH Office of Research on Women's Health (R01 NS45012, U01 NS069208-01). HPS: Heart Protection Study (HPS) (ISRCTN48489393) was supported by the UK MRC, British Heart Foundation, Merck and Co. (manufacturers of simvastatin), and Roche Vitamins Ltd. (manufacturers of vitamins). Genotyping was supported by a grant to Oxford University and CNG from Merck and Co. J.C.H. acknowledges support from the British Heart Foundation (FS/14/55/30806). ISGS: Ischemic Stroke Genetics Study (ISGS)/Siblings With Ischemic Stroke Study (SWISS) was supported in part by the Intramural Research Program of the NIA, NIH project Z01 AG-000954-06. ISGS/SWISS used samples and clinical data from the NIH-NINDS Human Genetics Resource Center DNA and Cell Line Repository (ccr.coriell.org/ninds), human subjects protocol nos. 2003-081 and 2004-147. ISGS/SWISS used stroke-free participants from the Baltimore Longitudinal Study of Aging (BLSA) as controls. The inclusion of BLSA samples was supported in part by the Intramural Research Program of the NIA, NIH project Z01 AG-000015-50, human subjects protocol no. 2003-078. The ISGS study was funded by NIH-NINDS Grant R01 NS-42733 (J.F.M.). The SWISS study was funded by NIH-NINDS Grant R01 NS-39987 (J.F.M.). This study used the high-performance computational capabilities of the Biowulf Linux cluster at the NIH (biowulf.nih.gov). MGH-GASROS: MGH Genes Affecting Stroke Risk and Outcome Study (MGH-GASROS) was supported by NINDS (U01 NS069208), the American Heart Association/Bugher Foundation Centers for Stroke Prevention Research 0775010N, the NIH and NHLBI's STAMPEED genomics research program (R01 HL087676), and a grant from the National Center for Research Resources. The Broad Institute Center for Genotyping and Analysis is supported by grant U54 RR020278 from the National Center for Research resources. Milan: Milano–Besta Stroke Register Collection and genotyping of the Milan cases within CEDIR were supported by the Italian Ministry of Health (grant nos.: RC 2007/LR6, RC 2008/LR6; RC 2009/LR8; RC 2010/LR8; GR-2011-02347041), FP6 LSHM-CT-2007-037273 for the PROCARDIS control samples. WTCCC2: Wellcome Trust Case-Control Consortium 2 (WTCCC2) was principally funded by the Wellcome Trust, as part of the Wellcome Trust Case Control Consortium 2 project (085475/B/08/Z and 085475/Z/08/Z and WT084724MA). The Stroke Association provided additional support for collection of some of the St George's, London cases. The Oxford cases were collected as part of the Oxford Vascular Study, which is funded by the MRC, Stroke Association, Dunhill Medical Trust, National Institute of Health Research (NIHR), and the NIHR Biomedical Research Centre, Oxford. The Edinburgh Stroke Study was supported by the Wellcome Trust (clinician scientist award to C.L.M.S.) and the Binks Trust. Sample processing occurred in the Genetics Core Laboratory of the Wellcome Trust Clinical Research Facility, Western General Hospital, Edinburgh. Much of the neuroimaging occurred in the Scottish Funding Council Brain Imaging Research Centre (https://www.ed.ac.uk/clinical-sciences/edinburgh-imaging), Division of Clinical Neurosciences, University of Edinburgh, a core area of the Wellcome Trust Clinical Research Facility, and part of the SINAPSE (Scottish Imaging Network: A Platform for Scientific Excellence) collaboration (sinapse.ac.uk), funded by the Scottish Funding Council and the Chief Scientist Office. Collection of the Munich cases and data analysis was supported by the Vascular Dementia Research Foundation. This project has received funding from the European Union's Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme under grant agreements no. 666881, SVDs@target (to M.D.) and no. 667375, CoSTREAM (to M.D.); the DFG as part of the Munich Cluster for Systems Neurology (EXC 1010 SyNergy) and the CRC 1123 (B3) (to M.D.); the Corona Foundation (to M.D.); the Fondation Leducq (Transatlantic Network of Excellence on the Pathogenesis of Small Vessel Disease of the Brain) (to M.D.); the e:Med program (e:AtheroSysMed) (to M.D.) and the FP7/2007-2103 European Union project CVgenes@target (grant agreement no. Health-F2-2013-601456) (to M.D.). M.F. and A.H. acknowledge support from the BHF Centre of Research Excellence in Oxford and the Wellcome Trust core award (090532/Z/09/Z). VISP: The GWAS component of the Vitamin Intervention for Stroke Prevention (VISP) study was supported by the US National Human Genome Research Institute (NHGRI), grant U01 HG005160 (PI Michèle Sale and Bradford Worrall), as part of the Genomics and Randomized Trials Network (GARNET). Genotyping services were provided by the Johns Hopkins University Center for Inherited Disease Research (CIDR), which is fully funded through a federal contract from the NIH to Johns Hopkins University. Assistance with data cleaning was provided by the GARNET Coordinating Center (U01 HG005157; PI Bruce S. Weir). Study recruitment and collection of datasets for the VISP clinical trial were supported by an investigator-initiated research grant (R01 NS34447; PI James Toole) from the US Public Health Service, NINDS, Bethesda, MD. Control data obtained through the database of genotypes and phenotypes (dbGAP) maintained and supported by the United States National Center for Biotechnology Information, US National Library of Medicine. WHI: Funding support for WHI-GARNET was provided through the NHGRI GARNET (grant no. U01 HG005152). Assistance with phenotype harmonization and genotype cleaning, as well as with general study coordination, was provided by the GARNET Coordinating Center (U01 HG005157). Funding support for genotyping, which was performed at the Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard, was provided by the GEI (U01 HG004424). R.L. is a senior clinical investigator of FWO Flanders. F.W.A. is supported by a Dekker scholarship-Junior Staff Member 2014T001–Netherlands Heart Foundation and UCL Hospitals NIHR Biomedical Research Centre. ; Peer Reviewed

Esta tesis estudia la evolución de los sistemas lagunares en Tierra de Campos a lo largo de cien años a través de la caracterización de una serie de variables ambientales adoptándolas a un sistema de análisis acorde con el método científico, desarrollando una metodología aplicada. Para llevar a cabo dicho estudio primero se ha realizado un reconocimiento de la zona a través del trabajo de campo, ejecutado desde noviembre de 2007 hasta octubre de 2011, con el fin de monitorizar los parámetros fisicoquímicos más importantes del agua e identificar la variación anual de la superficie lagunar. A continuación se han generado capas cartográficas que han permitido observar la evolución de los sistemas lagunares en el siglo XX. Para ello primero se han identificado las lagunas reveladas por el levantamiento del Mapa Topográfico Nacional de 1900 a 1933 realizado por el Ejército Español. Posteriormente se han digitalizado y georreferenciado 387 fotografías aéreas analógicas del Vuelo Americano de 1956-1959 y del vuelo del Instituto Geográfico Nacional de 1983-1984 donde se han identificado las lagunas y zonas húmedas existentes en la zona de estudio. Para completar el estudio del siglo se han reconocido las lagunas existentes en 2007 y 2008 con las ortofotografías del Plan Nacional de Ortofotografía Aérea. En tercer lugar se ha realizado una descripción medioambiental de la zona: A nivel geológico el territorio se compone en su totalidad por rocas sedimentarias del terciario y del cuaternario, principalmente terrígenos y algunos carbonatos. Se sitúa en una cuenca endorreica ubicada entre las cuencas del río Esla y la del río Carrión, destacando la unidad estratigráfica de "Tierra de Campos". La geomorfología se caracteriza por presentar formas suaves que otorgan una homogeneidad del relieve, carente de desniveles abruptos, dando lugar a un paisaje abierto de llanura alomada. La edafología de la zona muestra una fuerte antropización, por su predisposición al cultivo de cereales. Así dentro de la clasificación de los suelos de la FAO en esta área hay que destacar la unidad litológica de "Tierra de Campos" compuesta por asociaciones de suelos de Cambisol calcáreo y Regosol calcáreo. Destacar los suelos pertenecientes a la unidad de las lagunas históricas (Villafáfila) conformados por asociaciones de Cambisol gleíco y Gleysol eútrico. La red hídrica se caracteriza por la presencia de ríos de poca envergadura con una gran variabilidad del caudal y por una densa red de arroyos. Esta red muestra una morfología completamente artificial a consecuencia de las actuaciones realizadas sobre ella. Los sistemas lagunares se abastecen de los aportes de la lluvia y de los afloramientos del nivel freático. Su nivel del agua varía a lo largo del año llegando a secarse algunos meses. Entre las lagunas existen canales de conexión que las otorgan de un comportamiento de llenado en cascada por rebose de la fuente o manantial. El clima de la zona se caracteriza por la crudeza y duración de los inviernos y un verano corto y caluroso; con un episodio de aridez importante abarcando desde junio a septiembre. La pluviometría anual es de 408 a 475 mm/año, las temperaturas medias de mínima y máxima oscilan de 6⁰C a 19⁰C, la evapotranspiración potencial corregida es de 676,26 mm/año y la evapotranspiración real de 374,23 mm, la lluvia útil alcanza valores de 49,02 mm y los vientos dominantes son de componente oeste suroeste. A nivel de vegetación la zona de estudio se ubica dentro de la región Mediterránea en la provincia biogeográfica Castellano-Maestrazgo-Manchega en el sector Castellano duriense y a nivel bioclimático en el piso Supramediterráneo inferior. La vegetación arbórea se ha visto muy afectada por la adaptación del entorno a la agricultura. La flora presente está asociada a dos tipos diferentes de ecosistemas lagunares: las aguas asociadas a hábitats de saladares y yesos (permiten el desarrollo de especies vegetales adaptadas a condiciones halófitas) y los ecosistemas de agua dulce (favorecen el desarrollo de vegetación béntica, algas y comunidades vegetales de plantas flotantes). En los entornos de estas formaciones existen prados húmedos mediterráneos de hierbas altas. La importancia faunística de este lugar radica en una elevada diversidad, principalmente de aves, las cuales utilizan estas áreas como zonas de nidificación o invernada y por la existencia de especies sedentarias emblemáticas de estos parajes, en estado de protección, como la Avutarda (Otis Tarda) entre otras. El medio social ha sido uno de los factores que más ha influenciado en la modificación de este entorno por la actividad productora y la aplicación de las políticas desarrollistas territoriales. A pesar de ello actualmente, la presencia humana permite el mantenimiento de unas condiciones favorables para la conservación de cultivos de leguminosas y cereales que son el sustento alimenticio de gran parte de la fauna. Para ayudar a la conservación y en la futura gestión de estos hábitats, este estudio describe los cambios que se han producido en estos entornos, utilizando datos de los años 1900-1933, 1956, 1984 y 2007-2008. Varios modelos de regresión logística permitieron la proyección precisa de la ubicación de los humedales que necesitan ser restaurados o regenerados. Estos modelos fueron desarrollados usando una combinación de 21 variables explicativas, incluyendo: datos relacionados con sistemas lagunares históricos, variaciones en las superficies de humedales, físico-química del suelo y los datos meteorológicos y datos de planificación socioeconómicos y espaciales, como se representa mediante cartografía temática. Las imágenes obtenidas que se utilizaron para proyectar los humedales en el área de estudio se clasificaron en diez categorías en función de la probabilidad de la presencia de lagunas. Estos mapas generados muestran que la extensión espacial de los humedales de la comarca de Tierra de Campos fue 1,44% en 1900 hasta 1933 y se redujo a 0,57% en el período 2007-2008. La disminución dramática en la extensión espacial cubierta por estos ecosistemas se observa durante el siglo XX de acuerdo con estos mapas; en consecuencia, estos resultados ponen de manifiesto los efectos de las políticas negativas (de desecación) o positivas (de protección) implementadas en la zona. Finalmente se exponen la discusión de los datos, las conclusiones y los futuros desarrollos. ; This thesis studies the evolution of the wetland systems in Tierra de Campos over one hundred years, through the characterisation of a series of environmental variables adapted to an analysis system in accordance with the scientific method, and with the development of an applied methodology. To carry out this study, first a survey of the area was made by means of fieldwork from November 2007 to October 2011 in order to monitor the most important physicochemical parameters of the water and identify the annual variation of the lakelet surface area. Then, map layers were generated which allow the evolution of the wetland systems in the twentieth century to be seen. For this, first the lakelets were identified that were revealed by the making of the National Topographic Map from 1900 to 1933 by the Spanish Army. Subsequently, 387 analogue aerial photographs were digitalised and georeferenced. These were taken by the American military from 1956 to 1959, and by the National Geographic Institute from 1983- 1984, and the lakelets and wetland areas existing in the area of study have been identified. To complete the study of the century, the lakelets existing in 2007 and 2008 have been examined using the orthophotos from the National Plan for Aerial Orthography. Thirdly, an environmental description of the area is given: Geologically, the territory is entirely made up of sedimentary rocks from the Tertiary and Quaternary, mainly terrigenous and some carbonates. It is located in an endorheic basin between the basins of the river Esla and river Carrión, which defines the stratigraphic unit of "Tierra de Campos". The geomorphology is characterised by smooth forms that confer a homogeneity of relief with no abrupt changes in level, which gives rise to an open landscape of undulating plains. The edaphology of the area shows strong anthropization, due to its predisposition to cereal cultivation. Thus, within the FAO soil classification in this area, the lithological unit of "Tierra de Campos" should be highlighted which is made up of soil associations of calcareous Cambisol and calcareous Regosol. The soils belonging to the unit of historic wetlands (Villafáfila) stand out, these are formed by associations of gleyic Cambisol and eutric Cambisol. The water network is characterised by the presence of small rivers with a large variability in flow and a dense network of streams. This network displays a completely artificial morphology as a consequence of the work carried on it. The wetland systems are supplied with rainfall and upwelling groundwater. Their water level varies over the year, and they dry out for some months. There are connection channels between the lakelets which provide them with cascade filling behaviour due to the overflow of the source or spring. The climate of the area is characterised by the harshness and duration of the winters and a short and hot summer, with a significant arid episode from June to September. The annual rainfall is from 408 to 475 mm/year, the minimum and maximum temperatures oscillate between 6° C and 19° C, the potential evapotranspiration is 676.26 mm/year and the real evapotranspiration is 374.23 mm, the useful rain reaches values of 49.02 mm and the dominate winds are west southwest. As regards vegetation, the study area is located in the Mediterranean region in the biogeographical province of Castellano-Maestrazgo-Manchega in the Castellano duriense sector, and at bioclimatic level, in the lower Supra-Mediterranean belt. The arboreal vegetation has been seriously affected by the adaptation of the environment to agriculture. The flora present is associated with two different types of wetland ecosystems: the waters associated with salt marsh and gypsum habitats (these allow the development of plant species adapted to halophyte conditions) and the fresh water ecosystems (favouring the development of benthic vegetation, algae and floating plant communities). Surrounding these formations are Mediterranean wet meadows of tall grass. The importance of the fauna in this location lies in its great diversity, mainly birds, which use these areas for nesting or wintering, and in the existence of sedentary species emblematic of these protected landscapes, such as the bustard (Otis Tarda), among others. The social context has been one of the most influential factors in the changes in this environment due to productive activity and the application of territorial development policies. Currently, in spite of this, the human presence allows favourable conditions to be maintained for the conservation of leguminous and cereal crops that are the food source for a large part of the fauna. To support the conservation and future management of these habitats, this study describes the changes that have occurred in these environments, using data from 1900-1933, 1956, 1984 and 2007 - 2008. Several logistic regression models allow the accurate forecast of the location of the wetlands that need to be restored and regenerated. These models were developed using a combination of 21 explanatory variables, including: data relating to historic lakelet systems, variations in the surface areas of the wetlands, soil physicochemical data, meteorological data, socioeconomic planning and spatial data, as represented by thematic mapping. The images obtained that were used to forecast the wetlands in the study area were classified in ten categories depending on the probability of the presence of lakelets. These generated maps show that the spatial extent of the wetlands in the Tierra de Campos region was 1.44% in 1900 up to 1933 and this reduced to 0.57% in the period 2007-2008. The dramatic reduction in the spatial extent covered by these ecosystems is observed during the 20th century according to these maps; consequently, these results highlight the effects of negative (drying out) and positive (protection) policies implemented in the area. Finally, there is a discussion on the data, the conclusions and on future developments.