Genetic Variation and Differentiation of Larix decidua Populations in Swiss Alps

Genetic diversity within and among six subpopulations of Larix decidua Mill. from two altitudinal transects of Swiss Alps was investigated using 6 enzyme systems coding for 8 loci. Globally, the mean proportion of polymorphic loci was 22.9%, the average number of alleles per locus was 1.3, and the mean expected heterozygosity was 0.095. Only 5.8% of the genetic variation resided among populations. The mean genetic distance was 0.006. Several significant differences of gene frequencies were found between different age classes. Positive values of the species mean fixation index observed in this study suggested a considerable deficit of heterozygotes in the populations of L. decidua of Swiss Alps. At one of the sites (Arpette), the highest subpopulation in elevation gave the lowest level of genetic diversity (as evidenced by the lowest proportion of polymorphic loci and the lowest mean expected heterozygosity) and the largest value of genetic distance when compared to other subpopulations. The genetic differences between the highest subpopulation and the other ones suggest that the founder effect may be an important factor influencing genetic differentiation of L. decidua populations at Arpette transect.

The Relationship Between Military Expenditure and Economic Growth in Four Asian Countries

In this study, we use the ARDL bounds testing procedure suggested by Pesaran （2001） and modified version of the Granger causality test proposed by Toda and Yamamoto （1995） to test the robustness of the causality effect between military expenditure and economic growth in 4 Asian countries, two industrial countries （South Korea and Malaysia）, and others are developing countries （Iran and Saudi Arabia）, from 1988 to 2006 years, data series obtained from word development indicator （WDI）. With respect to that military expenditure can affect economic growth so increase in GDP can increase or decrease military expenditure, too. We investigate the causality relationship between military expenditure and economic growth because the purpose of military expenditures is to provide national security. The results show that Iran and Saudi Arabia don＇t have any causality relationship between military expenditure and economic growth. The results of South Korea show a unidirectional relationship from LGDP （Logarithm of real GDP） and LGDPK （logarithm of real GDP per capita） to military expenditure, and in Malaysia there is unidirectional relationship from LGDPK to military expenditure. The comparison of these results, we can say that developing countries don＇t have meaningful relationship between military expenditure and economic growth, but we can find unidirectional or bidirectional relationship between military expenditure and economic growth in industrial countries.

Date Palm and Their Different Food Uses in Algeria＇s South-West Oases： Touat, Gourara and Tidikelt

Dates are considered as the most important food in the south-west oases of Algeria. The Date Palm （Phoenix dactylifera） has known some kind of specificity in its different life phases, compared to all the rest of oases cultivate plants. It is thanks to that person could settle down. A study within a ministerial research project about the date palm variety in the previous areas has shown that there are 400 spices of dates. Thanks to this diversification types, members of this community were able to acquire experience in the field of the uses of date in their nutritional behaviour. Harvest begins from precocious summer＇s soft date variety in June, as in the late autumn variety in October. In addition, there are different type of the date： wet, semi-wet and dry date. For each variety, there is a particular method of its use. It is an example of sustainable food, is the one present in all oasis occasions. The aim of the current study was to examine the different methods of nutritional ate uses, in Touat, Gourara and Tidikelt, by its inhabitants, and to show the local skills sustained across the generations.

Arab Uprising, African Youth, and the Burden of History： Hegemony or Revolution？

Youth in Africa must be put in context： from colonialism to post-colonial politics underpinned by ethnic rivalry, tribalism, dictatorship, or the rule of strongmen. The context also included the more than one generation of perverse military rule. In each of the historical epochs, no African leadership built the youth; there was no ideology or a value system transmitted to the youth. Accordingly it becomes increasingly difficult in the twenty-first century attempting to mobilize the African youth as meaningful change agents. The possible exception to these failures was the Ghana Young Pioneers. The manifestation of this neglect in most parts of sub-Saharan Africa is the hoard of jobless youth involved in crime and other deviant behaviors. Thus to build the youth who will develop the society, African states will necessarily have to invest in the youth, evolve an ideology and an African world view, which will be transmitted to the youth, and which will constitute a driving force for their mobilization as critical agents of change.

Karyological and morphometric variation of the North African green frog Pelophylax saharicus (Anura) in northeastern Africa

Morphometric variation ofPelophylax saharicus was analysed using univariate and multivariate statistics, with both traditional and geometric morphometrics, based on 148 specimens from four different geographical localities in Tunisia and Algeria. The results show the existence of three morphotypes in Tunisia and one in Algeria, and indicate a significant degree of variation in morphometric characters between regions. Specimens from the southernmost region have the smallest body size and the greatest morphometrie divergence from other populations. This pattern of morphometric variation probably results from phenotypic plasticity in response to local environmental factors. The results of our chromosomal study （C-, Ag-NOR-, endonuclease digestion, DAPI, CMA3 and Q-banding） reveal this species to exhibit the plesiomorphic Pelophylax karyotype of 2n=26 biarmed chromosomes and NORs on the eleventh pair. Similarities and differences of the North African green frog are discussed in relation to the different forms of data collected （chromosomal, morphometric, ecological） [Current Zoology 56 （6）： 678~586, 2010].

New tectonic map of Northern-Central-Eastern Asia： Position and evolution of Mesozoic sedimentary basins

The beginning of the XXI century was marked a new rising of the international tectonic cartography as a result of analysis and synthesis of a huge volume of geological information obtained for the territory of Asia es-pecially during the last 30 years. The previous tectonic maps for Asia were created in the 1960s-1970s of the last century. Since that time, the national geological surveys have compiled tectonic maps exclusively in the limits of their own state boundaries. The international cooperation of five countries since 2002 （ Russia, China, Mongolia, Kazakhstan and Republic of Korea） gave a unique possibility to join the data into a united cartog-raphic form as Atlas of Geological Maps （since 2002-Atlas of Geological Maps of Central Asia and since 2007- Atlas of Geological Maps of Northem-Central-Eastem Asia）. Both atlases include four maps： geological, tecton-ic ,metallogenic, and energy resources. Tectonic Map of Northem-Central-Eastem Asia and Adjacent Areas at scale 1 ： 2 500 000 was the key map for further compilation of the metallogenic and energy resources （ coal, oil and gas） maps. By this reason, special attention was given to showing the structure and composition of the Mes-ozoic sedimentary basins in Northern-Central- Eastern Asia as the most perspective structures for oil-and-gas and coal prospect.

铁牛

阿洲的父亲年近七旬,由于积劳成疾,已无能力劳作;因此在外面打工的阿洲,不得不停止那短暂的生涯返回乡来,继承他父辈的土地运作。阿洲初中一毕业便过海那边的深圳打工去了。

The trade network of the Belt and Road Initiative and its topological relationship to the global trade network

Unimpeded trade is one of the cooperation priorities in the Belt and Road Initiative proposed by China. On 15 May 2017, the Joint Communique of the Leaders Roundtable of the Belt and Road Forum for International Cooperation reaffirmed the participants＇ shared commitment to build an open economy and ensure free and inclusive trade. The Belt and Road Initiative （BRI） is not only China＇s new action to drive its open and global develoPment, but also a platform for an increasing number of countries to explore free and inclusive trade and promote a universal, rule-based, open, non-discriminatory, and equitable multilateral trade system. It is therefore important to examine BRI and global trade networks. More specifically, the topological relationship between the this article first analyzes the community structure of trade networks using a community detection algorithm, and then estimates the topological relationship between different trade communities. The findings of this article are as follows. First, this research identified three trade communities and two sub-communities in the BRI trade network, in which China is the core, Russia is the sub-core of the biggest trade community, and India, United Arab Emirates, and Saudi Arabia are cores of the second trade community （South Asia-West Asia）. Second, it identified five trade communities in the global trade network, centred on China, USA, Russia, India-United Arab Emirates, and Ger- many-Netherlands-France-Britain and other European developed countries. Third, the topo- logical analysis indicated that in the global trade network, most BRI countries are attracted by the core nodes of the BRI regions, such as the China, Russia and India-United Arab Emirates core nodes, and have strong trade contacts with BRI countries. Most Central-East European countries are mainly attracted by Germany-Netherlands-France-Britain and other developed European countries with a low penetration of BRI trade. Although some Southeast Asian countries are incorporated into the Asia-Australia-South Africa community with China as the core, they still need to strengthen trade linkages with BRI countries.

Divergence of tree-ring-based drought reconstruction between the individual sampling site and the Monsoon Asia Drought Atlas: an example from Guancen Mountain

To evaluate the applicability of the Standardized Precipitation-Evapotranspiration Index （SPEI） and the self-calibrated Palmer Drought Severity Index （scPDSI） to paleoclimate reconstructions in the east Asian summer monsoon region, we used a 194-year tree-ring width chronology from Guancen Mountain, Shanxi Province, China, to investigate its correlation with SPEI and scPDSI, respectively. The results indicated scPDSI as a robust drought index that could be reconstructed from tree-ring width on Guancen Mountain other hydroclimate-related Significant correlations with series illustrated that our reconstruction captured common variations of hydroclimate in the surrounding areas. Additionally, our reconstruction showed significant correlation with nearby grid points of the Monsoon Asia Drought Atlas （MADA）. However, while unprecedented drying trend existed during the past several decades in MADA, it was not represented in our reconstruction or in instrumental scPDSI/Dai-PDSI. This may imply that MADA overestimated drought severity during the past several decades in our study area; this overestimation was probably caused by an insufficient spatiotemporal distribution of the tree-ring network used by MADA. Therefore, more drought reconstructions based on individual sampling sites in eastern Asia are necessary to gain a thorough understanding of the Asian Monsoon climate variability.