The University of Bayreuth welcomes the International Biogeography Society for its 7th international conference, taking place on 8-12 January 2015. This modern research university has a major focus on ecological research housed in the Bayreuth Center for Ecology and Environmental Research (BayCEER). Novel concepts for research and teaching are established such as the Ecological-Botanical Gardens and the Global Change Ecology study program.

The surroundings of Bayreuth are characterized by outstanding geological and climatic heterogeneity. Isolated fragments of natural ecosystems occur within a highly diverse cultural landscape. It was in the district of Bayreuth where Alexander von Humboldt, a leader in the early history of biogeography, gained his first experience in fieldwork after he finished his studies. At the end of the 18th century, before travelling the world, he worked as director of mining for the regional administration. Various places close to Bayreuth are linked to his scientific development.

The conference will be marked by four plenary symposia, keynote lectures by the awardees of the society’s Alfred Russel Wallace Award and the MacArthur and Wilson Award, contributed paper sessions, and dynamic poster sessions over the lunch and evening. Topical focus sessions will span the breadth of biogeography, from watersheds to the global scale, from Paleozoic to the Anthropocene, and from microbes to megafauna.   

Essential details about the conference, and about the surrounding area, are available via the links above. Information will be updated as details become available in the coming months, so please check back occasionally or stay informed via Facebook and Twitter.

Symposium: PS-2 Tracking Changes from Space: Advances of Remote Sensing in Biogeography

A key problem that biogeographers and ecologists have strived to understand is the spatial patterns and temporal dynamics of the biota. In this age of climatic and land use changes and rapid rates of species extinctions, such knowledge has become an essential component for management and conservation. The synoptic view provided by earth-imaging sensors constitutes an important source of information on the distribution of habitats and biodiversity patterns at different spatial and temporal scales. The traditional approach to using these data has involved the classification of discrete land cover types which are then related to species distributions. A critical limitation of this approach is that many important dynamics are obscured as the variance is lost within arbitrary land cover classes. In recent years, novel analytical techniques and open source software have been developed that more fully exploit the spatial, spectral and temporal information content of remotely sensed imagery in order to quantify a broader range of ecosystem characteristics. This symposium features advances in the synoptic assessment of species distributions and biodiversity patterns including the development of methodologies for assessment, monitoring, and modeling, as well as their implications for management and conservation.

More about the program and speakers available on the conference webpage: http://www.bayceer.uni-bayreuth.de/ibs2015/

The official kick-off meeting of the EU funded Horizon 2020 project ECOPOTENTIAL will take place on 25-26 June 2015 in the ancient Valentino Castle on the bank of the Po river in Torino, Italy.

The main objective of this project led by the Consiglio Nazionale delle Ricerche (CNR) is to making Earth Observation and Monitoring Data usable for ecosystem modelling and services. This will also be done in selected Protected Areas in Europe, with a strong focus on mountain ecosystems, including a specific pilot site in the Carpathians. The project will make an important contribution to the work of the Group on Earth Observation (GEOSS) as well as UNEP Live.

More information and agenda to follow.

The 13th European Ecological Federation (EEF) and 25th Italian Society of Ecology’s (S.It.E.) joint conference will take place in Rome from 21st - 25th September 2015.  

"Ecology at the Interface" focuses on interactions at all biological levels, from membrane exchanges to food web dynamics, in addition to physical ecotones, from deep sediment-bottom water to land-atmosphere, and disciplinary ecotones linking ecology to sociology, economics, law, technology and other fields of knowledge concerning daily human life.

For 5 full days the conference expects about 1500 participants from all over Europe, proposing a rich programme articulated in a number of plenary and contributed sessions, symposia, workshops andround tables.      

Deadlines for symposia and workshop proposals and abstract submission are available here and the first circular here.  

The proposed venue is the Congress Centre of Rome - EUR.

You can download the full brochure here.

For more information visit the official conference website.

SBSTTA 19 - Nineteenth meeting of the Subsidiary Body on Scientific, Technical and Technological Advice will take place from 2 to 5 November 2015 in Montreal, Canada.

The GEO-XII Plenary and the Ministerial Summit, as well as all the associated meetings and events will be hosted by the Mexican Government and will take place at the Hotel Hilton Reforma and at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Mexico City from 9 to 13 November 2015.

The Twelfth Plenary Session of the Group on Earth Observations (GEO-XII), hosted by Mexico, will take place in Mexico City, from 11 to 12 November 2015. The GEO 2015 Mexico City Ministerial Summit will take place on 13 November 2015.

The GEO-XII Plenary will take place at the Hilton Reforma, Mexico City, on its first meeting day, Nov 11th 2015.

On November 12th 2015, the second day of GEO-XII Plenary, the meeting will be held at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (Secretaría de Relaciones Exteriores - SRE), Plaza Juárez #20, located a few steps away from the Hilton Reforma.

Caucus Meetings and the Executive Committee Meeting, will take place from 9th-12th November, 2015, at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

GEO Side Events will take place at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Hotel Hilton.

The GEO exhibit will be held at the Hilton Reforma Mexico City, from November, 10th–12th, in conjunction with the LAGF 2015 exhibits, and will be open exclusively for Ministers on Thursday afternoon  12th November, 2015.

Call for side events is also open now, all submissions should be sent by 12 June 2015.

More information is available on the offical event website: http://www.earthobservations.org/geo12.php

The Global Forest Observations Initiative (GFOI) is organising the GFOI Plenary and Open Forum to be hosted by the European Space Agency in Frascati, Italy from 22 February 2016 – 26 February 2016.

The 54^th International Conference of the Association of German Taxidermists, organised by the Museum für Naturkunde, Berlin, wiill take place from 5 - 9 April 2016, in Berlin, Germany.

More information: http://www.praeparation.de/aktuelles/54_internationale_arbeitstagung 

The Ecopotenial General Assembly will take place between from 27 to 30 June 2016 in the Netherlands (exact location to be determined).

More information to follow on the ecopotential website: http://www.ecopotential-project.eu/

The Second ECOPOTENTIAL General Scientific Meeting and General Assembly of Partners will take place in Heraklion, Crete, from May 16th to May 19th, kindly hosted by the ECOPOTENTIAL Partner FORTH.

The General Meeting is aimed at a comprehensive presentation and discussion about the research activities, highlighting the status of the project, the main results, the critical points and the future perspectives. The Scientific advisors will give lectures and will participate to the discussion. Main topics will be The Essential Variables, the Status of Remote Sensing data, in situ data and modelling, the Virtual Laboratory Platform, the research on changes over Protected Areas and future projections, as well as the issues related to cross scale interactions. 

More information here.

The Green, Green Grass of Home (1982). David’s health situation has made it difficult for our household to maintain this blog. We don’t want it to fade away, though, so we’ve decided to select previous entries from our backlist to republish. These are items that chime with current developments or that we think might languish […]

The Shepherdess and the Seven Songs (2020). Since David’s death, this blog has not been updated. I do, however, plan to occasionally re-post old entries if they become relevant to current events in the world of film. I also hope to post new entries as the inspiration strikes me. This entry deals with Mohammad Rasoulof’s […]

KT here: A memorial service for David was held on May 18, 2024. Although many friends and family members traveled to be present, the service was also streamed live for those who could not. For those who were unable to do either, a recording of the service has been posted on Vimeo. The link is […]

After David’s memorial service in May (a video recording of which is permanently on Vimeo with no password necessary), some people on my Facebook page asked if a collection of photographs of David could be made available. There was a slide show created to run on a loop in the lobby of the funeral home […]

Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger, a Republican, was the first to point the finger at Russia.

The post Russia blamed for bomb threats at Georgia and Arizona polling sites appeared first on Boston.com.

The plot reflects what federal officials have described as ongoing efforts by Iran to target U.S. government officials, including Trump, on U.S. soil.

The post FBI thwarts Iranian murder-for-hire plan targeting Donald Trump appeared first on Boston.com.

The trial also gave a rare glimpse inside the hospital’s gender clinic.

The post Boston Children’s must pay nearly $2 million in retaliation lawsuit appeared first on Boston.com.

Do You Know Which Pianist was Famous for the Style of Boogie-woogie? The answer is Pinetop Smith. Pinetop Smith was a popular pianist in the newly introduced ... Read more

The post Which Pianist was Famous for the Style of Boogie Woogie appeared first on CMUSE.

"This is kind of a new wrinkle in the league where teams are trying to buy the Super Bowl.”

The post Julian Edelman credits Tom Brady for Jets’ current dysfunction  appeared first on Boston.com.

“It's something that I'll look back at and bring with me forever."

The post Linus Ullmark relishes his return to TD Garden, especially after beating Bruins  appeared first on Boston.com.

Bianca Betancourt, digital culture editor for Harper's Bazaar, called Cyrus' look the “type of over-the-top camp we love and want from the Grammys.”

The post Victoria Monét, Dua Lipa, Miley Cyrus stun on the wild-and-wacky Grammys red carpet appeared first on Boston.com.

"What a heartwarming full circle moment."

The post Brianna Wakefield writes heartfelt message to D’Angelo Ortiz after he was drafted by the Red Sox appeared first on Boston.com.

"Theeeee Yankees lose!"

The post David Ortiz still loves watching the Red Sox’ historic comeback vs. the Yankees 20 years later, especially alongside Alex Rodriguez and Derek Jeter appeared first on Boston.com.

However you're feeling post-election, your local restaurants are here to bring Boston together.

The post These Greater Boston restaurants are offering deals, specials, and community post-election appeared first on Boston.com.

IADL
3 Dec 2018
 

International observers will determine if the right to defense and impartial trial are respected

VILAWEB

18-12-2018

A group of judicial and human rights experts, as well as professors throughout Spain, have set up a platform called ‘International Trial Watch – Catalan Referendum case’ to supervise the trial against independence leaders, presented on Monday.

At the event, criminal law professor Iñaki Rivera stated that they are creating reports to determine if the “right to defense, the existence and duration of pre-trial incarceration, and impartial trial, balance between parties, and the taking of evidence” are respected, along with the competency of the Supreme Court in the trial.

Un manifest italià que demana la llibertat dels presos polítics i ‘el retorn’ a la normalitat democràtica a l’estat espanyol suma centenars d’adhesions. El text l’ha impulsat una quarantena d'intel·lectuals i polítics italians i l’han publicat al mitjà d’esquerres Left.it

A Madrid, al cor d’Europa occidental, dotze representants de la política i de la societat civil de Catalunya són en aquests dies sota judici. Nou d’ells són en presó preventiva, en molts casos des de fa més d’un any. Els càrrecs són molt greus i la fiscalia els demana penes que poden arribar fins a 25 anys.

Entre els presumptes delictes de què se’ls acusa hi ha el de "rebel·lió": és la figura criminal utilitzada per a aquells que el 1981 van irrompre armats dins el parlament espanyol i van treure els tancs al carrer. Efectivament, el codi penal espanyol, en la tipificació d’aquest delicte, requereix l’element de la "alçament violent".

L'única violència fins ara clarament visible i que ha aparegut en gran nombre d’imatges que han fet la volta al mon, és tanmateix la emprada per les forces policials espanyoles, sortint de tot arreu del país cap a Catalunya amb el crit amenaçador de "a por ellos!"; pegant votants i manifestants (fins i tot no independentistes) que resistien pacíficament, amb els braços alçats, defensant els col·legis electorals; disparant bales de goma als ciutadans,  tot i que el seu ús està prohibit a Catalunya.

Però la història judicial no s’acaba a Madrid, davant el Tribunal Suprem. Altres acusats son jutjats (per desobediència i altres delictes) pels tribunals de Catalunya; hi ha centenars d'alcaldes, activistes socials, artistes, investigats (i en alguns casos condemnats) per haver contribuït d’alguna manera a la preparació del referèndum o simplement per expressar les seves idees (eloqüent, en aquest sentit, l'Informe Amnistia Internacional 2017 / 18, pàgines 339-341).

Hi ha, a més, set polítics, tant parlamentaris com membres de l'anterior govern català que es van refugiar a Bèlgica, Escòcia i Suïssa per no ser detinguts i per continuar la seva acció política des de l’exterior: són ciutadans lliures a tot Europa, perquè arran de la decisió d’un tribunal alemany en el cas de Puigdemont, l’autoritat judicial espanyola va retirar totes les euroordres d’arrest en contra d’ells.

Més enllà de les anomalies tècniques dels procediments judicials (destacades per diversos observadors internacionals), és evident el què està passant: s’està discutint als tribunals una qüestió eminentment política, que mai no hauria d’haver sortit del camp de la política. Es criminalitza tota una classe política, la responsabilitat de la qual és haver intentat obligar les institucion espanyoles, tancades radicalment al diàleg, a obrir-se. S'oblida que més de dos milions de ciutadans catalans han estat demanant des de fa anys, d'una manera correcta i pacífica, poder-se expressar lliurement i democràticament sobre quina hauria de ser l'estructura de les relacions entre Espanya i Catalunya.

Només des d’una posició de nacionalisme intransigent es pot mantenir que la qüestió de la independència de Catalunya sigui un tema sobre el qual ni tan sols es pot obrir el debat democràtic; només des d’una posició il·liberal es pot considerar preferible la limitació dels drets fonamentals civils i polítics.

El silenci d’Europa, que liquida l’afer com una qüestió interna a Espanya, és deplorable i perillós. És un signe de debilitat de les institucions europees, no de força, i contribueix a la radicalització del conflicte, no a la seva resolució. Si la UE accepta la criminalització de la protesta pacífica i de la desobediència civil en un país membre de la rellevància d'Espanya, els que son amenaçats son els drets de tots els demòcrates, no només dels catalans, sinó dels espanyols i dels europeus. I aquest silenci és fins i tot vergonyós quan el Parlament Europeu prohibeix als polítics catalans refugiats a l’estranger participar en una conferència organitzada a les seves instal·lacions tot permetent, gairebé simultàniament, un debat anti-catalanista promogut per Vox, un partit espanyol d’extrema dreta, obertament i programàticament homòfob, masclista, xenòfob.

És preocupant també l'escassa atenció d’una part de la premsa, l'opinió i els intel·lectuals del nostre país envers aquesta qüestió. En l’escenari descrit, creiem, al contrari, que és totalment necessari el compromís i el control vigilant de tots aquells que es preocupen per la protecció dels drets, els valors democràtics i els principis consagrats en els propis tractats de la UE.

Demanem, com a ciutadans europeus, l'alliberament dels presos catalans, el retorn a una situació de normalitat democràtica i l’obertura d’un diàleg polític sobre la qüestió, l’únic camí que pot conduir a una solució coherent amb els valors de la democràcia.

El destí de Catalunya és el nostre destí i el destí de tot Europa.

[traducció al català: Marco Giralucci - Isabel Turull]

Maurizio Acerbo, segretario nazionale PRC-Sinistra Europea, Roma

Luigi Agostini, saggista, Roma

Matteo Angioli, Partito Radicale, Roma

Vando Borghi, Università di Bologna

Bojan Brezigar, giornalista, Trieste

Luca Cassiani, Consigliere PD Regione Piemonte, Torino

Luciano Caveri, giornalista e politico, Aosta

Lluís Cabasés, giornalista, Alba

Massimo Cacciari, filosofo, Venezia

Duccio Campagnoli, ex Assessore Emilia-Romagna, Bologna

Elisa Castellano, Fondazione Di Vittorio, Roma

Pietro Cataldi, Rettore dell’Università per stranieri di Siena

Nancy de Benedetto, Presidente Associazione italiana di studi catalani, Università di Bari

Luigi de Magistris, sindaco di Napoli

Piero Di Siena, giornalista, Roma

Fausto Durante, Resp. politiche internazionali ed europee Cgil, Roma

Paolo Ferrero, vice presidente del Partito della Sinistra Europea, Torino

Gennaro Ferraiuolo, Università di Napoli Federico II

Luigi Foffani, Università di Modena e Reggio Emilia

Eleonora Forenza, Parlamentare europea GUE/Ngl, Rifondazione comunista, Bari

Laura Harth, Rappresentante alle Nazioni Unite del Partito Radicale, Roma

Rafael Hidalgo, insegnante, Ràdio Catalunya Itàlia, Roma

Andrea Maestri, Avvocato per i diritti umani, Ravenna

Fabio Marcelli, ISGI CNR, Associazione giuristi democratici, Roma

Maria Grazia Meriggi, Università di Bergamo

Sandro Mezzadra, Università di Bologna

Cesare Minghini, sindacalista CGIL, Bologna

Tomaso Montanari, Università di Siena, Firenze

Simone Oggionni, Responsabile Forum Europa MDP-Articolo 1, Roma

Fiorella Prodi, segreteria regionale Cgil Emilia-Romagna, Modena

Roberto Rampi, senatore PD, Vimercate (MB)

Patrizio Rigobon, Università Ca’ Foscari di Venezia

Simonetta Rubinato, avvocato, ex senatrice e deputata, Treviso

Emilio Santoro, Università di Firenze, Centro di documentazione “L’altro diritto”

Rossella Selmini, Università del Minnesota, Minneapolis-Bologna

Barbara Spinelli, giornalista e Parlamentare europea GUE/Ngl, Roma

Massimo Torelli, coordinatore nazionale di Altra Europa Con Tsipras, Firenze

Gianni Vernetti, ex senatore e sottosegretario agli Affari esteri, Torino

Walter Vitali, Direttore esecutivo Urban@it – Centro nazionale studi politiche urbane, Bologna

Cristina Accardi, studentessa, Salemi (TP)

Carla Acocella, Università Suor Orsola Benincasa di Napoli

Ivana Aiello, avvocato, Avellino

Rosalba Altopiedi, Università del Piemonte Orientale

Anna Amat, CNR Perugia

Umberto Amato, IMM CNR Napoli

Luciana Ambrosino, copywriter, Napoli

Giso Amendola, Università di Salerno

Virginia Amorosi, avvocato, Lecce.

Daniele Amoroso, Università di Cagliari

Giorgio Andreoli, psicologo, Milano

Simona Anichini, traduttrice, Firenze

Sara Antoniazzi, Università Ca’ Foscari di Venezia

Francesco Ardolino, Universitat de Barcelona

Gennaro Avallone, Università di Salerno

Edoardo Balletta, Università di Bologna.

Danilo Barbi, sindacalista Cgil, Bologna

Giuliano Barbolini, ex senatore PD, Modena

Albert Barreda, pittore, Savona

Ursula Bedogni, traduttrice, Barcelona

Marzia Bertazzoni, impiegata, Parma

Gabriele Bettelli, responsabile MDP, Modena

Imma Boixadós, agente immobiliare, Bra (CN)

Mirka Bonomi, pensionata, Ostia (Roma)

Enric Bou, Università Ca’ Foscari di Venezia

Mario Bravi, presidente IRES Umbria, Terni

Stefania Buosi Moncunill, insegnante, Trieste

Rosa Maria Caballé, dipendente pubblico, Bologna

Marco Calaresu, Università di Sassari

Domenico Caminiti, ingegnere, Torino

Stefano Campus, funzionario amministrativo, Presidente Òmnium Cultural de L'Alguer

Fulvio Capitanio, economista, Aiguafreda (Barcellona)

Flora Cappelluti, giornalista, Milano

Lìdia Carol, Università di Verona

Maria Carreras Goicochea, Università di Catania

Imma Caruso, Napoli, ISSM-CNR

Sergio Caserta, attivista e blogger, Bologna

Giovanni Castagno, insegnante, Roma

Giovanni C. Cattini, Università di Barcellona

Ivan Cecchini, dirigente pubblico, Bellaria-Igea Marina

Giulio Ceci, libero professionista, Roma

Giovanni Cherubini, ingegnere, Gilching (Germania)

Federico Chicchi, Università di Bologna

Claudia Ciavatta, dipendente pubblico, Roma

Adriano Cirulli, Università La Sapienza di Roma

Elena Coccia, Napoli, consigliere comunale Napoli, Sinistra in comune

Maria Teresa Colarossi, insegnante, Tivoli (Roma)

Gemma Teresa Colesanti, ISEM CNR Napoli

Maria Cristina Coliva, pensionata, Bologna

Mauro Colombarini, sindacalista Spi-CGIL, Bologna

Anna Maria Compagna, Università di Napoli Federico II

Michele Conia, Sindaco di Cinquefrondi (RC)

Roberto Cornelli, Università di Milano Bicocca

Giacomo Comincini, studente, Pavia

Enrico Curti, imprenditore, Riomaggiore (SP)

Salvatore D'Acunto, Seconda Università di Napoli.

Ettore D’Agostino, insegnante, Torino

Francesco D’Agresta, coordinatore provinciale MDP Pescara

Patrizia D'Antonio, insegnante, Roma

Elisa D’Ugo, studentessa, Roma

Pasquale D'Ugo, agente di commercio, Roma

Gaspare Dalia, Università di Salerno

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