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YIVO news = Jedīʿōt fun JIWO : No. 198 Summer 2004 (2004)

Delightful Horror : Urban Legends Between Fact and Fiction (2004)

Matías Martínez

These […] stories are chosen from anthologies with texts called 'urban legends' (sometimes they are also referred to as 'contemporary legends', or 'urban myths'). Bearing this name in mind, we tend to read these texts as 'Iegendary' narratives that relate ficticious stories of events which never happened. But what if somebody told you these stories as factual accounts of events that really happened to the friend of a friend: wouldn't you believe them to be true – or at least consider seriously the possibility of their truthfulness? Before entering in a discussion of this question, I want to introduce in more detail the kind of narrative I am seeking to analyze.

Ozone loss derived from balloon-borne tracer measurements and the SLIMCAT CTM (2004)

Alan D. Robinson Genevieve A. Millard François Danis Marielle Guirlet Neil R. P. Harris Adrian M. Lee J. D. McIntyre John A. Pyle Johan Arvelius S. Dagnesjo Sheila Kirkwood Hampus Nilsson Darin W. Toohey Terry Deshler Florence Goutail Jean-Pierre Pommereau James W. Elkins Fred L. Moore Eric Ray Ulrich Schmidt Andreas Engel Melanie Müller

Balloon-borne measurements of CFC-11 (on flights of the DIRAC in situ gas chromatograph and the DESCARTES grab sampler), ClO and O3 were made during the 1999/2000 winter as part of the SOLVE-THESEO 2000 campaign. Here we present the CFC-11 data from nine flights and compare them first with data from other instruments which flew during the campaign and then with the vertical distributions calculated by the SLIMCAT 3-D CTM. We calculate ozone loss inside the Arctic vortex between late January and early March using the relation between CFC-11 and O3 measured on the flights, the peak ozone loss (1200 ppbv) occurs in the 440–470 K region in early March in reasonable agreement with other published empirical estimates. There is also a good agreement between ozone losses derived from three independent balloon tracer data sets used here. The magnitude and vertical distribution of the loss derived from the measurements is in good agreement with the loss calculated from SLIMCAT over Kiruna for the same days.

Australasian Arachnology, Number 70, December 2004 (2004)

This is it, my first issue! As Tracey announced in the editorial of the last Australasian Arachnology, it’s now my turn ‘at the helm’ of our newsletter. Everybody will agree that Tracey did a tremendous job over the last five years, editing 15 wonderful issues (numbers 55 – 69). Parallels of the current change to her take-over from Mark Harvey as previous editor are evident. As then Mark, Tracey embraces a new role as parent and her increasing family duties do not allow as many arachnological activities at this stage.

Gorilla journal : nr. 29 / journal of Berggorilla- & Regenwald-Direkthilfe (2004)

Gorilla journal : nr. 28 / journal of Berggorilla- & Regenwald-Direkthilfe (2004)

Models of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (2004)

Jan David Alexander Groneberg K Fan Chung

Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) is a major global health problem and is predicted to become the third most common cause of death by 2020. Apart from the important preventive steps of smoking cessation, there are no other specific treatments for COPD that are as effective in reversing the condition, and therefore there is a need to understand the pathophysiological mechanisms that could lead to new therapeutic strategies. The development of experimental models will help to dissect these mechanisms at the cellular and molecular level. COPD is a disease characterized by progressive airflow obstruction of the peripheral airways, associated with lung inflammation, emphysema and mucus hypersecretion. Different approaches to mimic COPD have been developed but are limited in comparison to models of allergic asthma. COPD models usually do not mimic the major features of human COPD and are commonly based on the induction of COPD-like lesions in the lungs and airways using noxious inhalants such as tobacco smoke, nitrogen dioxide, or sulfur dioxide. Depending on the duration and intensity of exposure, these noxious stimuli induce signs of chronic inflammation and airway remodelling. Emphysema can be achieved by combining such exposure with instillation of tissue-degrading enzymes. Other approaches are based on genetically-targeted mice which develop COPD-like lesions with emphysema, and such mice provide deep insights into pathophysiological mechanisms. Future approaches should aim to mimic irreversible airflow obstruction, associated with cough and sputum production, with the possibility of inducing exacerbations.

Isolation and X-ray crystal structure of tetrahydroisoquinoline alkaloids from Calycotome villosa Subsp. intermedias (2004)

Ali El Antri Ibtissam Messouri Mohamed Bouktaib Rachid El Alami Michael Bolte Brahim El Bali Mohammed Lachkar

Two tetrahydroisoquinoline alkaloids were extracted from the alkaloid fraction of a methanol extract of the seeds of Calycotome Villosa Subsp. intermedia. Their structures were established as (R)-1-hydroxymethyl-7-8-dimethoxy-1,2,3,4-tetrahydro- isoquinoline (1) and (S)-7-hydroxymethyl-2-3-dimethoxy-7,8,9,10-tetrahydroisoquinoline chloride (2) by spectroscopic techniques and X-ray diffraction analysis.

Three-dimensional model study of the arctic ozone loss in 2002/2003 and comparison with 1999/2000 and 2003/2004 (2004)

Wuhu Feng Martyn P. Chipperfield Stewart Davies Bhaswar Sen Geoffrey C. Toon Jean-François Blavier Christopher R. Webster C.-Michael Volk Alexey Ulanovsky Fabrizio Ravegnani Peter von der Gathen Hans-Jürg Jost Erik C. Richard Hans Claude

We have used the SLIMCAT 3-D off-line chemical transport model (CTM) to quantify the Arctic chemical ozone loss in the year 2002/2003 and compare it with similar calculations for the winters 1999/2000 and 2003/2004. Recent changes to the CTM have improved the model's ability to reproduce polar chemical and dynamical processes. The updated CTM uses σ-θ as a vertical coordinate which allows it to extend down to the surface. The CTM has a detailed stratospheric chemistry scheme and now includes a simple NAT-based denitrification scheme in the stratosphere. In the model runs presented here the model was forced by ECMWF ERA40 and operational analyses. The model used 24 levels extending from the surface to ~55 km and a horizontal resolution of either 7.5°×7.5° or 2.8°×2.8°. Two different radiation schemes, MIDRAD and the CCM scheme, were used to diagnose the vertical motion in the stratosphere. Based on tracer observations from balloons and aircraft, the more sophisticated CCM scheme gives a better representation of the vertical transport in this model which includes the troposphere. The higher resolution model generally produces larger chemical O3 depletion, which agrees better with observations. The CTM results show that very early chemical ozone loss occurred in December 2002 due to extremely low temperatures and early chlorine activation in the lower stratosphere. Thus, chemical loss in this winter started earlier than in the other two winters studied here. In 2002/2003 the local polar ozone loss in the lower stratosphere was ~40% before the stratospheric final warming. Larger ozone loss occurred in the cold year 1999/2000 which had a persistently cold and stable vortex during most of the winter. For this winter the current model, at a resolution of 2.8°×2.8°, can reproduce the observed loss of over 70% locally. In the warm and more disturbed winter 2003/2004 the chemical O3 loss was generally much smaller, except above 620 K where large losses occurred due to a period of very low minimum temperatures at these altitudes.

The dual economy of medieval life (2004)

Peter Strohschneider

The works of the author who called himself “der stricker“ (“the weaver“) are generally assigned to the reign of Emperor Frederick II (1212-1250). He wrote in a German of southern Franconian coloring, and his main area of activity is thought to have been the duchy of Austria.

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