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This thesis analyzes blood diamonds and the human rights issues surrounding them. The problems they pose and the promises and limitations of the Kimberly Process are covered along with the development and future impact of man-made diamonds on the demand side of the blood diamond problem. There are two main sections--the first covers blood diamonds and the second man-made diamonds. The introduction
Most counterfeit goods are luxury goods bearing a well-known trademark. The counterfeit goods also can be protected by copyright/design protection. WIPO Intellectual Property Handbook: Policy, Law and Use (WIPO 2004, second edition) A counterfeit trademark is defined in Article 51 of the TRIPS as the following: "&semicCounterfeit trademark goods shall mean any goods, including packagin
Permafrost-affected ecosystems are subject to warming and thawing, which can increase the availability of subsurface nitrogen (N) with consequences in otherwise N-limited tundra and alpine vegetation. Here, we quantify the extent of warming and permafrost thawing and the corresponding effects on nitrogen availability and plant growth based on a 20-year survey across 14 sites on the Tibetan Plateau
Understanding the interactions of climate-vegetation and human-vegetation has been a critical issue and increasingly attracting attention from scientific community in the field of global change research. This study investigated the heterogeneous impacts of climate change and anthropogenic activities on vegetation change by applying the trend analysis and Geodetector approach. The spatial and tempo
The CORDEX Flagship Pilot Study ELVIC (climate Extremes in the Lake VICtoria basin) was recently established to investigate how extreme weather events will evolve in this region of the world and to provide improved information for the climate impact community. Here we assess the added value of the convection-permitting scale simulations on the representation of moist convective systems over and ar
Anthropogenic land cover change (ALCC) is the most important transformation of the Earth system that occurred in the preindustrial Holocene, with implications for carbon, water and sediment cycles, biodiversity and the provision of ecosystem services and regional and global climate. For example, anthropogenic deforestation in preindustrial Eurasia may have led to feedb
Men with spine fractures have reduced vertebral body (VB) volume and volumetric bone mineral density (vBMD). Men with hip fractures have reduced femoral neck (FN) volume and vBMD, site-specific deficits that may have their origins in growth. To describe the tempo of growth in regional bone size, bone mineral content (BMC), and vBMD, we measured bone length, periosteal and endocortical diameters, B
Understanding communication and signalling has long been strived for in studies of animal behaviour. Many songbirds have a variable and complex song, closely connected to territory defence and reproductive success. However, the quantification of such variable song is challenging. In this paper, we present a novel, automated method for detection and classification of syllables in birdsong. The meth
Soil carbon (C) is a critical component of Earth system models (ESMs), and its diverse representations are a major source of the large spread across models in the terrestrial C sink from the third to fifth assessment reports of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC). Improving soil C projections is of a high priority for Earth system modeling in the future IPCC and other assessments.
In this study, a sediment sequence from Lake Skottenesjön, southern Sweden was investigated to reconstruct the effect of forestry and land-use on erosion rates and delivery of organic and minerogenic matter to the lake. Catchment-scale vegetation changes during the last 1000 years were reconstructed quantitatively using pollen analysis and the Landscape Reconstruction Algorithm (LRA). Organic matt
BACKGROUND: Comparable data on the global and country-specific burden of neurological disorders and their trends are crucial for health-care planning and resource allocation. The Global Burden of Diseases, Injuries, and Risk Factors (GBD) Study provides such information but does not routinely aggregate results that are of interest to clinicians specialising in neurological conditions. In this syst
1. Outbreaks of herbivorous insects can have large impacts on regional soil carbon (C) storage and nutrient cycling. In northernmost Europe, population outbreaks of several geometrid moth species regularly cause large-scale defoliation in subarctic birch forests. An improved understanding is required of how leaf C and nutrients are processed after ingestion by herbivores and what this means for th
Obese individuals are more likely to develop heart failure. Yet, once heart failure is established, the impact of overweight and obesity on prognosis and survival is unclear. The purpose of this joint scientific statement of the European Association for the Study of Obesity and the European Society of Hypertension is to provide an overview on the current scientific literature on obesity and heart
We study the structure-function relationship of alumina supported platinum during the formation of ammonia from nitrogen oxide and dihydrogen by employing in situ X-ray absorption and Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy. Particular focus has been directed towards the effect of oxygen on the reaction as a model system for emerging technologies for passive selective catalytic reduction of nitrog
Providing sufficient food for a growing global population is one of the fundamental global challenges today. Crop production needs not only to be increased, but also remain stable over the years, in order to limit the vulnerability of producers and consumers to inter-annual weather variability, especially in areas of the world where the food consumed is mainly produced locally (e.g. Sub Saharan Af
The incidence of cutaneous malignant melanoma has increased during the last decades in Sweden as in many other countries. Besides of ultraviolet radiation and constitutional factors such as light-sensitive skin and poor ability to tan few risk factors are established. Some studies indicate that electromagnetic fields might be of concern. In this case-control study we assessed use of mobile and cor
