Understanding social-ecological system dynamics is a major research priority for sustainable management of landscapes, ecosystems and resources. But the lack of multi-decadal records represents an important gap in information that hinders the development of the research agenda. Without improved information on the long-term and complex interactions between causal factors and responses, it will be difficult to answer key questions about trends, rates of change, tipping points, safe operating spaces and pre-impact conditions. Where available longterm monitored records are too short or lacking, palaeoenvironmental sciences may provide

Analysis 1.2. Comparison 1 NLU vs general inpatient care, Outcome 2 Early post discharge death (4-6 weeks).. . Analysis 1.3. Comparison 1 NLU vs general inpatient care, Outcome 3 Mortality within 3 months of admission (12 weeks / 90 days

Tobacco is known to contain a class of nitrosamines known as tobacco-specific nitrosamines or TSNA. Nitrosation of naturally occurring tobacco alkaloids is commonly accepted as the mechanism of TSNA formation in tobacco. Because green and freshly harvested tobaccos are virtually free of TSNA, formation and accumulation of TSNA are generally considered to occur during the curing process. Most recent hypotheses have focused on microbial reduction of nitrate to nitrite and other oxides of nitrogen (NOcompounds) that react with tobacco alkaloids to form TSNA during curing. This natural microbial process remains the prevalent hypothesis for TSNA formation in burley and other air-cured tobaccos. However, a different mechanism for the formation of TSNA in flue-cured tobacco, independent of microbial activity, is documented in this paper. It is common practice to flue-cure Virginia or blonde tobacco in bulk barns that incorporate forced air ventilation and temperature control. For the last thirty-five years, many modern bulk barns in North America generally have used liquid propane gas (LPG) with direct-fired burners that exhaust combustion gases directly into the barn where the tobacco is exposed to those gases. Our studies indicate that LPG combustion by-products in the exhaust stream, namely NO, react with naturally occurring tobacco alkaloids to form TSNA. Heat exchange curing methods preclude exposure of the tobacco to combustion gases and by-products, thereby eliminating this significant source of TSNA formation, without degrading leaf quality or smoking character. Research findings from 1998 and 1999 are presented to demonstrate the role of NOgases in TSNA formation and the significance of direct-fired curing as a primary source of TSNA formation in flue-cured tobacco. Also, data from an extensive barn conversion program in 2000, which resulted in a 94% average reduction in TSNA levels in cured flue-cured leaf, are presented.

21Metabarcoding of lake sediments may reveal current and past biodiversity, but little is known 22 about the degree to which taxa growing in the vegetation are represented in environmental DNA 23 (eDNA) records. We analysed composition of lake and catchment vegetation and vascular plant eDNA 24 at 11 lakes in northern Norway. Out of 489 records of taxa growing within 2 m from the lake shore, 25 17-49% (mean 31%) of the identifiable taxa recorded were detected with eDNA. Of the 217 eDNA 26 records, 73% and 12% matched taxa recorded in vegetation surveys within 2 m and up to about 50 m 27 away from the lakeshore, respectively, whereas 16% were not recorded in the vegetation surveys of 28 the same lake. The latter include taxa likely overlooked in the vegetation surveys or growing outside 29 the survey area. The percentages detected were 61, 47, 25, and 15 for dominant, common, scattered, 30 and rare taxa, respectively. Similar numbers for aquatic plants were 88, 88, 33 and 62%, respectively. 31 Detection rate and taxonomic resolution varied among plant families and functional groups with good 32 detection of e.g. Ericaceae, Roseaceae, deciduous trees, ferns, club mosses and aquatics. The 33 representation of terrestrial taxa in eDNA depends on both their distance from the sampling site and 34

Changing of the Altai glacier system since the mid-twentieth century and its response to the climate warming in future, Ice and Snow, no. 3 (119), pp. 17-24.