scholarly journals The future of planted forests

2020 ◽  
Vol 22 (1) ◽  
pp. 65-80 ◽  
Author(s):  
J. B. Carle ◽  
A. Duval ◽  
S. Ashfordc

Although planted forests have produced forest products for centuries, the past 4-5 decades has seen an increase in diversity of species, areas planted, growth rates, harvest yields, forest products and the acknowledgement of a wide range of ecosystem services. This paper highlights the potential role of planted forests towards the mid-21 st Century through changing conditions including climate, indigenous forest resources, land availability, socio economic and environmental conditions, innovative forest and forest industries technologies, market demands for sustainability and legality and new innovations in green growth economies. Lessons learned from the past will assist in determining the issues, opportunities, and challenges facing the future of planted forests.

2020 ◽  
Vol 9 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Pham Van Loi

Vietnam - Laos has more than 2,000 km of common national borders. The coherent relationship between the two nations and the inhabitants of the two countries has been formed and fostered in history and especially developed over the past 7 decades. The Thai ethnic group in Vietnam has over one million people, residing permanently, concentrated in the Northwest region, the region consists of 8 provinces, of which 4 provinces have the Vietnam-Laos border crossing. This paper focuses on clarifying the practical basis for the Thai people to play a role in the traditional Vietnam-Laos friendship and propose some solutions to promote the role of Thai in maintaining, developing the traditional friendship between Vietnam and Laos, now and in the future.


2020 ◽  
Vol 20 ◽  
Author(s):  
Helen Shiphrah Vethakanraj ◽  
Niveditha Chandrasekaran ◽  
Ashok Kumar Sekar

: Acid ceramidase (AC), the key enzyme of the ceramide metabolic pathway hydrolyzes pro-apoptotic ceramide to sphingosine, which by the action of sphingosine-1-kinase is metabolized to mitogenic sphingosine-1-phosphate. The intracellular level of AC determines ceramide/sphingosine-1-phosphate rheostat which in turn decides the cell fate. The upregulated AC expression during cancerous condition acts as a “double-edged sword” by converting pro-apoptotic ceramide to anti-apoptotic sphingosine-1-phosphate, wherein on one end, the level of ceramide is decreased and on the other end, the level of sphingosine-1-phosphate is increased, thus altogether aggravating the cancer progression. In addition, cancer cells with upregulated AC expression exhibited increased cell proliferation, metastasis, chemoresistance, radioresistance and numerous strategies were developed in the past to effectively target the enzyme. Gene silencing and pharmacological inhibition of AC sensitized the resistant cells to chemo/radiotherapy thereby promoting cell death. The core objective of this review is to explore AC mediated tumour progression and the potential role of AC inhibitors in various cancer cell lines/models.


Author(s):  
Donald Bloxham

Against majority opinion within his profession, Donald Bloxham argues that it is legitimate, often unavoidable, and frequently important for historians to make value judgements about the past. History and Morality draws on a wide range of historical examples, and its author’s insights as a practising historian. Examining concepts like impartiality, neutrality, contextualization, and the use and abuse of the idea of the past as a foreign country, Bloxham’s book investigates how the discipline has got to the point where what is preached can be so inconsistent with what is practised. It illuminates how far tacit moral judgements infuse works of history, and how strange those histories would look if the judgements were removed. Bloxham argues that rather than trying to eradicate all judgemental elements from their work historians need to think more consistently about how, and with what justification, they make the judgements that they do. The importance of all this lies not just in the responsibilities that historians bear towards the past—responsibilities to take historical actors on those actors’ own terms and to portray the impact of those actors’ deeds—but also in the role of history as a source of identity, pride, and shame in the present. The account of moral thought in History and Morality has ramifications far beyond the activities of vocational historians.


2021 ◽  
Vol 5 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Moon Ley Tung ◽  
Bryce Tan ◽  
Robin Cherian ◽  
Bharatendu Chandra

Abstract As the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic, which is caused by the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), is spreading rapidly worldwide, it has emerged as a leading cause of mortality, resulting in >1 million deaths over the past 10 months. The pathophysiology of COVID-19 remains unclear, posing a great challenge to the medical management of patients. Recent studies have reported an unusually high prevalence of thromboembolic events in COVID-19 patients, although the mechanism remains elusive. Several studies have reported the presence of aPLs in COVID-19 patients. We have noticed similarities between COVID-19 and APS, which is an autoimmune prothrombotic disease that is often associated with an infective aetiology. Molecular mimicry and endothelial dysfunction could plausibly explain the mechanism of thrombogenesis in acquired APS. In this review, we discuss the clinicopathological similarities between COVID-19 and APS, and the potential role of therapeutic targets based on the anti-phospholipid model for COVID-19 disease.


2017 ◽  
Vol 12 (1) ◽  
pp. 39-57
Author(s):  
Jamie McKeown

This article reports the findings from a study of discursive representations of the future role of technology in the work of the US National Intelligence Council (NIC). Specifically, it investigates the interplay of ‘techno-optimism’ (a form of ideological bias) and propositional certainty in the NIC’s ‘Future Global Trends Reports’. In doing so, it answers the following questions: To what extent was techno-optimism present in the discourse? What level of propositional certainty was expressed in the discourse? How did the discourse deal with the inherent uncertainty of the future? Overall, the discourse was pronouncedly techno-optimist in its stance towards the future role of technology: high-technological solutions were portrayed as solving a host of problems, despite the readily available presence of low-technology or no-technology solutions. In all, 75.1% of the representations were presented as future categorical certainties, meaning the future was predominantly presented as a known and closed inevitability. The discourse dealt with the inherent uncertainty of the subject matter, that is, the future, by projecting the past and present into the future. This was particularly the case in relation to the idea of technological military dominance as a guarantee of global peace, and the role of technology as an inevitable force free from societal censorship.


2011 ◽  
Vol 46 (3) ◽  
pp. 671-685 ◽  
Author(s):  
Richard Drayton

The contemporary historian, as she or he speaks to the public about the origins and meanings of the present, has important ethical responsibilities. ‘Imperial’ historians, in particular, shape how politicians and the public imagine the future of the world. This article examines how British imperial history, as it emerged as an academic subject since about 1900, often lent ideological support to imperialism, while more generally it suppressed or avoided the role of violence and terror in the making and keeping of the Empire. It suggests that after 2001, and during the Iraq War, in particular, a new Whig historiography sought to retail a flattering narrative of the British Empire’s past, and concludes with a call for a post-patriotic imperial history which is sceptical of power and speaks for those on the underside of global processes.


2020 ◽  
Vol 22 (1) ◽  
pp. 72-79
Author(s):  
Alexandra Lee ◽  
◽  
Warwick Butt ◽  
◽  
◽  
...  

Inhaled nitric oxide has been used for 30 years to improve oxygenation and decrease pulmonary vascular resistance. In the past 15 years, there has been increased understanding of the role of endogenous nitric oxide on cell surface receptors, mitochondria, and intracellular processes involving calcium and superoxide radicals. This has led to several animal and human experiments revealing a potential role for administered nitric oxide or nitric oxide donors in patients with systemic inflammatory response syndrome or ischaemia–reperfusion injury, and in patients for whom exposure of blood to artificial surfaces has occurred.


2018 ◽  
Vol 12 (1) ◽  
pp. 52-68 ◽  
Author(s):  
Aziz-ul- Rahman ◽  
Momena Habib ◽  
Muhammad Zubair Shabbir

Introduction:Newcastle Disease (ND), caused by Avian avulavirus 1 (AAvV 1, avulaviruses), is a notifiable disease throughout the world due to the economic impact on trading restrictions and its embargoes placed in endemic regions. The feral birds including aquatic/migratory birds and other wild birds may act as natural reservoir hosts of ND Viruses (NDVs) and may play a remarkable role in the spread of the virus in environment. In addition, other 19 avulaviruses namely: AAvV 2 to 20, have been potentially recognized from feral avian species.Expalantion:Many previous studies have investigated the field prevailing NDVs to adapt a wide range of susceptible host. Still the available data is not enough to declare the potential role of feral birds in transmission of the virus to poultry and/or other avian birds. In view of the latest evidence related to incidences of AAvVs in susceptible avian species, it is increasingly important to understand the potential of viruses to transmit within the domestic poultry and other avian hosts. Genomic and phylogenomic analysis of several investigations has shown the same (RK/RQRR↓F) motif cleavage site among NDV isolates with same genotypes from domestic poultry and other wild hosts. So, the insight of this, various semi-captive/free-ranging wild avian species could play a vital role in the dissemination of the virus, which is an important consideration to control the disease outbreaks. Insufficient data on AAvV 1 transmission from wild birds to poultry and vice versa is the main constraint to understand about its molecular biology and genomic potential to cause infection in all susceptible hosts.Conclusion:The current review details the pertinent features of several historical and contemporary aspects of NDVs and the vital role of feral birds in its molecular epidemiology and ecology.


Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document