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In a lowland drinking water catchment area, nitrate leaching as well as groundwater recharge (GWR) was investigated in willow and poplar short rotation coppice (SRC) plantations of different ages, soil preparation measures prior to planting and harvesting intervals. Significantly increased nitrate concentrations of 16.6 ± 1.6 mg NO-N L were measured in winter/spring 2010 on a poplar site, established in 2009 after deep plowing (90 cm) but then, subsequently decreased strongly to below 2 mg NO-N L in spring 2011. The fallow ground reference plot showed nitrate concentrations consistently below 1 mg L and estimated annual seepage output loss was only 1.36 ± 1.1 kg ha a. Leaching loss from a neighboring willow plot from 2005 was 14.3 ± 6.6 kg NO-N ha during spring 2010 but decreased to 2.0 ± 1.5 kg NO-N ha during the subsequent drainage period. A second willow plot, not harvested since its establishment in 1994, showed continuously higher nitrate concentrations (10.2 ± 1.7 NO-N L), while a neighboring poplar plot, twice harvested since 1994 showed significantly reduced nitrate concentrations. Water balance simulations, referenced by soil water tension and throughfall measurements, showed that at 655 mm annual rainfall, GWR from the reference plot (300 mm a) was reduced by 40 % (to 180 mm a) on the 2005 willow stand, mainly due to doubled rainfall interception losses. However, transpiration was limited by low soil water storage capacities, which in turn led to a moderate impact on GWR. We conclude that well-managed SRC on sensitive areas can prevent nitrate leaching, while impacts on GWR may be mitigated by management options. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article traces the history of democratic political clubs in the Prussian province of Silesia during the liberal German Revolution of 1848-1849. Focusing on the attempts of these clubs at regional organization, the author discusses the ideological debates and conflicts at the Silesian conferences, including on questions of republicanism, popular sovereignty, and constitutional and parliamentary government. He addresses the intellectual defense of the revolution from government reaction by the revolutionaries from the second half of 1848 onwards. The social background and regional distribution of delegates is also considered.

The article discusses the evolution of historical biography writing. The author focuses particularly on biographies of revolutionary figures, in this instance the major actors involved in the failed European Revolutions of 1848. The article is primarily concerned with tracing how biographers have dealt with the German "forty-eighters" in the 16-odd decades since the historical events. Questions are addressed such as who are singled out as the key revolutionary figures, what socio-political influence their biographies exerted, and how biography writing and revolutionary research about the era are linked.

Unlabelled: Several East Africans are among the most successful runners worldwide. The physiological reasons underlying this superiority are, however, not yet known., Purpose: To evaluate the total hemoglobin mass (tHb-mass) and blood volume (BV) of Kenyan runners and their adaptation to near sea level., Methods: tHb-mass, BV, and VO2max were determined in 10 male Kenyan runners (10-km best time = 28:29 ± 00:27 min) residing at an altitude of 2090 m over the course of a 6-wk training camp at sea level. Their values were compared with those of elite German runners (10-km best time = 30:39 ± 00:24 min)., Results: Kenyans are characterized by significantly lower body mass (Kenyans = 57.2 ± 7.0 kg; Germans = 66.5 ± 6.3 kg) and body mass index (Kenyans = 18.5 ± 0.9; Germans = 20.4 ± 0.9). Relative tHb-mass (Kenyans = 14.2 ± 1.0 g·kg(-1); Germans = 14.0 ± 0.7 g·kg(-1)) and BV (Kenyans = 101.9 ± 4.5 mL·kg(-1); Germans = 99.6 ± 5.8 mL·kg(-1)) were similar in both groups but were decreased in Kenyans during the stay at near sea level (absolute tHb-mass from 813 ± 90 g·mL(-1) to 767 ± 90 g, P < 0.001; BV from 5828 ± 703 g·mL(-1) to 5513 ± 708 mL, P < 0.01). Relative VO2max was similar in both groups (Kenyans 71.5 ± 5.0 mL·kg(-1)·min(-1); Germans 70.7 ± 3.7 mL·kg(-1)·min(-1))., Conclusion: The oxygen transport of the blood cannot explain the superior endurance performance of Kenyan runners. Most measured parameters are in the same range as those of elite German runners, and tHb-mass even deteriorates after an adaptation to near sea level.

This study supplemented by three charts and a list of biographies, is, for the first time, encompassing their life-data, their resumés and even their professional careers as well as political commitments shown by more than 200 Silesian students. They, at the University of Breslau, but also at other German universities, had joined the student fraternities in the 20-ies and early 30-ies of the 19th century and, in consequence, were persecuted by state authorities, notably in Prussia and, in the majority of cases, had been sentenced to prison terms of varying degrees. The first demagogic persecution, which happened in the first half of the twenties, culminating in 1822 in the Breslau Arminen Trail and ending up with the staging of the Youth-Association-Trail in 1826, had implicated about 100 Silesians, with a smaller portion of them - apart from teh three Youth-Association Silesians who were sentenced to five years imprisonment in a fortress - getting away with a relatively short "political fortress imprisonment". Later a considerable part of them made a career in the prussian judicial authority, in the institutions of higher learning, as parish priests, physicians and scientists, whereas any political engagement remained a rare exception. Out of the 137 Silesian members of the student fraternities affected by the second wave of persecution, the overwhelming majority of them being Protestants and originating partly from the middle classes, mostly artisans, and from intellectual background, with about a hundred of them being given essentially higher sentences ranging from six years up to capital punishment and, in the event of reprieves, they had to serve their sentences between six months and four-to-six years in a fortress. The majority of them made a medium-level professional career, never exceeding the medium ranks, as judicial officers, lawyers in state or communal services, parish priests, teachers or physicians. However, from this group of persecuted persons, a far greater number became active in politics, especially during the 1848/49 revolution in their capacities as Deputies in the German National parliament, or in the Prussian Constitutional Assembly. But they became even active as leading figures on the level of local and regional societies. While conservative executive personalities emerged only rarely from the group of persecuted Silesian student fraternities - the highest office attainable was head of a county administration - a greater number of proponents and elites emerged from these circles in favour of liberalism and, even far more, in favour of the German Democracy. In isolated instances, the socialist movement obtained its protagonists from Silesian fraternities. A biographical study has confirmed the finding that in the first half of the 19th century student fraternities were a political institution which since 1848 had been at the service of the political parties in Germany with a view to recruiting from them their supporters and their party executives.

Purpose: To determine whether total hemoglobin (tHb) mass and total blood volume (BV) are influenced by training, by chronic altitude exposure, and possibly by the combination of both conditions., Methods: Four groups (N = 12, each) either from locations at sea level or at moderate altitude (2600 m) were investigated: 1) sea-level control group (UT-0 m), 2) altitude control group (UT-2600 m), 3) professional cyclists from sea level (C-0 m), and 4) professional cyclists from altitude (C-2600 m). All subjects from altitude were born at about 2600 m and lived all their lives (except during competitions at lower levels) at this altitude. tHb and BV were determined by the CO-rebreathing method., Results: VO2max (mL x kg(-1) x min(-1)) was significantly higher in UT-0 m (45.3 +/- 3.2) than in UT-2600 m (39.6 +/- 4.0) but did not differ between C-0 m (68.2 +/- 2.7) and C-2600 m (69.9 +/- 4.4). tHb (g x kg(-1)) was affected by training (UT-0 m: 11.0 +/- 1.1, C-0 m: 15.4 +/- 1.3) and by altitude (UT-2600 m: 13.4 +/- 0.9) and showed both effects in C-2600 m (17.1 +/- 1.4). Because red cell volume showed a behavior similar to tHb and because plasma volume was not affected by altitude but by training, BV (mL x kg(-1)) was increased in C-0 m (UT-0 m: 78.3 +/- 7.9; C-0 m: 107.0 +/- 6.2) and in UT-2600 m (88.2 +/- 4.8), showing highest values in the C-2600 m group (116.5 +/- 11.4)., Conclusion: In endurance athletes who are native to moderate altitude, tHb and BV were synergistically influenced by training and by altitude exposure, which is probably one important reason for their high performance.