The present paper analyses the self-portrait of Isabelle Eberhardt emerging from the letters she wrote to three men: her brother Augustin de Moerder, her friend Ali Abdul Wahab and her husband Slimène Ehnni. The paper is divided into three parts. The first one discusses her desire of Orient, the second shows her will of annihilating herself and the last one focuses on the power of the desert which helps the writer to find the desired calm.

In the paper John Rawls’s account of desert that serves as a premise of the difference principle is questioned. According to Rawls no merits can be located in the self because they arise from random genetic and social factors. Consequently, an individual does not deserve any appreciation for the virtues that can be attributed to them. Against this view I argue, in the first place, that the asymmetry between distributive and retributive justice, as it is professed by Rawls, is not tenable. Next, I question Rawls’s radical separation of the self from its attributes. I argue that random factors are not the only source of the attributes of the self. A person, regardless of her endowment, is able intentionally to develop new meritorious qualities and even transform her character and thereby earn personal deserts. The latter, however, cannot be credited to the individual alone, for they arise from shared aspirations and communal social transactions. In conclusion a reconciliation between the difference principle and a version of desertism is proffered.

A previously unexplored 20,000 km2 area comprising the Daryalyk Takyr desert and the lacustrine landscapes of Telikol and Aschykol at the confluence of the Chu, Sarysu and Syr Darya rivers is presented here as object of a threefold geological, archaeological and ethnographic analysis assessing its historical importance. According to paleohydrological reconstructions, synchronous fluvial activity of the three rivers occurred during the Late Pleistocene. In the Holocene, the right branches of the Syr Darya delta were separated from the Chu-Sarysu confluence by alluvial sediments, becoming active only intermittently during undated flood events apparently strong enough to establish an ephemeral lake in the region. Geoarchaeological surveys analyzing surface finds indicate the densest occupation during the Late Neolithic and Bronze Age. From medieval to modern times, historical sources attest to the seasonal use of the Telikol region as a pastoral transit between the Syr Darya banks and the steppes of Central Kazakhstan. They are confirmed by ethnographic data about Telikol during its last phase of occupation (1870–1910) illustrating that land use in this area (and, probably, in all semi-desert regions in Kazakhstan) was not governed by property rights but by tribal political compromises between residential and transitory herders, occasionally exposing it to overgrazing.

Based on the test and observation of the desert hinterland wind field, combined with the numerical simulation of Fluent wind-sand two-phase flow, the sand resistance performances of comprehensive protection in the desert hinterland under strong wind environment are researched. The transient wind speed and wind direction around the comprehensive protection facility are measured by two 3D ultrasonic anemometers on the highway in the desert hinterland, and the initial wind speed of the sand flow is provided for the numerical simulation boundary. The sedimentary sand particles around the comprehensive protection facility are collected for particle size analysis, and the particle size distributions of sedimentary sand particles at different locations are obtained. Numerical models of high vertical sand barriers, grass checkered sand barriers and roadbeds are established by Fluent, the wind-sand flow structures around the comprehensive protection facilities and desert hinterland highway under the strong wind environment are obtained, and the influence laws of the comprehensive protection facilities on the movement of wind-sand flow and sand deposition characteristics are obtained. The study found that the comprehensive protection facilities disturbed the wind and sand flow, and there are significant airflow partitions around the comprehensive protection facilities. The wind speed decreases rapidly after the wind-sand flows through the high vertical sand barrier; the wind-sand flow rises at the end of the high vertical sand barrier. When the wind-sand flow moves around the grass checkered sand barrier, the wind speed has dropped to the range of 0–3 m/s, and the wind speed near the ground by the grass checkered sand barrier is further reduced. Due to the existence of the concave surface of the grass grid, there are small vortices inside the grass grid sand barrier. Large sand particles are mainly deposited on the windward side and inside of high vertical sand barriers. The grass checkered sand barrier forms a stable concave surface to generate backflow, which can ensure that the sand surface does not sand itself in a strong wind environment, and can also make a small amount of sand carried in the airflow accumulate around the groove of the grass checkered sand barrier. The numerical simulation results are consistent with the measured results, and the comprehensive protection measures have achieved good sand control effects.

This is an interpretation of Ireneusz Iredyński’s short novel Manipulation in the context of acedia, a state of depressive indolence and spiritual apathy. This psychological condition received its earliest description in the writings of the Desert Fathers (most notably Evagrius Ponticus), Christian hermits who lived in the Egyptian desert in the 3rd-4th Century A.D. The article lists and analyzes some of the acedic symptoms and motifs that recur in the experience of the main character of Manipulation (i.e. temptation by demons, suicidal fantasies, imprisonment in a cell); it also examines the temporal structure of the narration. For intertextual reference the discussion reaches out to the writings of Evagrius Ponticus and Fyodor Dostoevsky’s The Possessed.

Information on lichens of Franz Josef Land is summarized based on original and literature data. Two hundred twenty nine lichen species are documented, of which 59 species and two varieties are newly reported for this territory. This represents only 13% of the Arctic lichen flora richness. We have found 28 rare lichen species in the archipelago and recommend to include 9 species in the Red Data Book of the Arkhangelsk Region of Russia.

A field survey has been conducted for the study area using the Global Positioning System (GPS) and geological and geomorphological maps of the area. The study area is one of the important areas in Iraq characterized by scarce water resources. The purpose of the study is to determine the hydro-chemical processes and their relationship to groundwater quality carried out in the southwestern desert region of Iraq, where the region lacks extensive studies of water resources. Twenty-eight groundwater samples were collected from wells distributed between the eastern borders of Saudi Arabia and the West Bank of the Euphrates River. For the purpose of hydrogeochemical analyses, the Fetter method was used to collect and examine samples. A large part of the recharge area is located in Saudi Arabia, where the groundwater bearing aquifer represented by the Dammam formation extends to Iraq and Saudi Arabian International borders. The analysis determined the order of cations (Na+ > Ca2+ > Mg2+ > K+) and anions (Cl– > SO42– > HCO3–). High values of the variation coefficient (CV) correspond to the concentration of potassium, sodium and chloride ions (CV: 68.7, 64.7 and 64 respectively). To identify the hydrochemical water facies, the Piper diagram was used. It was found that 53% of the water samples belong to the Na-Cl type and 40% are of the Ca-Mg-Cl type, while the rest of the samples are the Ca-Cl type. To identify geochemical processes, it was found that ion exchange processes via chloroalkaline indices 1 and 2 are prevalent between Ca2+, Mg2+ in the groundwater and Na+, K+ in water bearing rocks. To learn more about the processes that led to the concentration of certain ions, such as sodium, it was found that they tend to be of silicate minerals related to surface runoff of water in recharge areas and carbonic rocks. It was also found that rock / soil-groundwater interaction and evaporation processes were the formal processes in the saturated zone and evaporation in the unsaturated zone are prevalent processes of groundwater ion concentration.