John Rawls rejects prejusticial conceptions of distributive desert on the grounds that such conceptions are immoral and impractical. Prejusticial understandings of desert claim that desert can be understood prior to and independently of justice in social institutions, and take legitimate desert claims to provide standards for evaluating social arrangements. Some philosophers have interpreted Ra...

Job challenges the theological milieu of retributive justice prevalent in NearEastern society by daring to ask the veritable question: can people deserve? This article examines the theories of desert, agency, and righteousness embedded within the Job manuscript. Bracketing the question of theodicy, this study utilizes contemporary philosophical, theological and exegetical considerations to exam...

Biological soil crusts are diverse assemblages of bacteria, cyanobacteria, algae, fungi, lichens, and mosses that cover much of arid land soils. The objective of this study was to quantify protozoa associated with biological soil crusts and test the response of protozoa to increased temperature and precipitation as is predicted by some global climate models. Protozoa were more abundant when ass...

Late Quaternary histories of two North American desert biomesC4 grasslands and C3 shrublandsare poorly known despite their sensitivity and potential value in reconstructing summer rains and winter temperatures. Plant macrofossil assemblages from packrat midden series in the northern Chihuahuan Desert show that C4 grasses and annuals typical of desert grassland persisted near their present north...

Mitrani Department of Desert Ecology, Jacob Blaustein Institutes for Desert Research, Ben-Gurion University of the Negev, Desert Animal Adaptations and Husbandry, Wyler Department of Dryland Agriculture, Jacob Blaustein Institutes for Desert Research, Ben-Gurion University of the Negev, Midreshet Ben-Gurion, Israel, Department of Ecology and Environment Conservation, Omsk State Pedagogical Univ...

principle." This labelling is somewhat confusing given that desert as a limiting principle is neither new, having blossomed most recently with Norval Morris several decades ago, nor compatible with empirical desert. The latter provides a specific punishment amount, while the former claims that desert can only identify the extremes that mark the outer boundaries of a broad range of punishment. S...

Desert dermatology describes the cutaneous changes and the diseases affecting those living in the desert. Diurnal variation in temperature is high and is characteristic of the deserts. The lack of water affects daily activities and impacts dermatological conditions. Adaptation to the desert is, therefore, important to survival. Infections are the most common conditions seen among this populatio...