2,487 research outputs found
Past and future sea-level rise along the coast of North Carolina, USA
No full textWe evaluate relative sea level (RSL) trajectories for North Carolina, USA, in the context of tide-gauge measurements and geological sea-level proxy reconstructions spanning the last ∼11,000 years. RSL rise was fastest (∼7 mm/yr) during the early Holocene and slowed over time with the end of the deglaciation. During the pre-Industrial Common Era (i.e., 0–1800 CE), RSL rise (∼0.7 to 1.1 mm/yr) was driven primarily by glacio-isostatic adjustment, though dampened by tectonic uplift along the Cape Fear Arch. Ocean/atmosphere dynamics caused centennial variability of up to ∼0.6 mm/yr around the long-term rate. It is extremely likely (probability P = 0.95) that 20th century RSL rise at Sand Point, NC, (2.8 ± 0.5 mm/yr) was faster than during any other century in at least 2,900 years. Projections based on a fusion of process models, statistical models, expert elicitation, and expert assessment indicate that RSL at Wilmington, NC, is very likely (P = 0.90) to rise by 42–132 cm between 2000 and 2100 under the high-emissions RCP 8.5 pathway. Under all emission pathways, 21st century RSL rise is very likely (P > 0.90) to be faster than during the 20th century. Due to RSL rise, under RCP 8.5, the current ‘1-in-100 year’ flood is expected at Wilmington in ∼30 of the 50 years between 2050-2100.The final publication is available at Springer via http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s10584-015-1451-xPeer reviewe
Public worship and practical theology in the work of Benjamin Keach (1640-1704)
No full textThe late seventeenth century was a critical and fruitful period
for the Particular Baptists of England. Severely persecuted following
the Restoration, toleration in 1689 brought its own perils.
Particular Baptists were fortunate in having several strong leaders,
especially the London trio of Hanserd Knollys, William Kiffin, and
Benjamin Keach. Such a small and severely persecuted group as the
Baptists could afford little time for academic pursuits, thus of
necessity most of their theology was practical in nature.
Benjamin Keach (1640-1704) was the most outstanding practical
theologian among the English Particular Baptists of the late
seventeenth century. This dissertation is a study of Keach, in
particular his writings on public worship and practical theology.
Although Keach was a prolific author, he has been almost completely
neglected by scholars.
After a biographical sketch of Keach, this study considers his
writings on public worship and practical theology. In the area of
worship, Keach made two outstanding contributions: First, he was the
most vocal apologist for Baptist views on Baptism of his period.
Secondly, and more importantly, his hymn writing and defense of hymn
singing broke new ground, not just for Baptists, but for English
Protestantism, in general. In addition to his contributions in these
areas, he also dealt with the laying on of hands and the sabbath day
worship controversy.
Keach's contributions to practical theology fall into two main
groups: his writings that concern religious education and those that
deal with polity. In addition to these, Keach's vigorous advocacy of
a high Calvinist soteriology are also considered under the rubric of
practical theology. Keach's most important (although not his most
positive) contribution in this area were his soteriological writings.
Although well within the bounds of orthodoxy, some of the tendencies
in Keach's soteriology were taken up by the following generation of
Baptist leaders and developed into a stultifying hyper-Calvinism that
handicapped Baptist evangelism and missions.
In the conclusion, Keach's contributions to a theory of practical
theology are considered
Sea-Level change and subsidence in the Delaware Estuary during the last ~2200 years
No full textWe produced eight new sea-level index points that reconstruct a ~2.5 m relative sea-level (RSL) rise at Sea Breeze in the Delaware Bay from ~200 BCE to 1800 CE. The precision of our reconstruction improved upon existing data by using high-resolution surveying methods, AMS radiocarbon dating of in-situ plant macrofossils collected immediately above the basal contact between pre-Holocene sand and salt-marsh sediments, foraminifera as sea-level indicators, and by accounting for tidal range changes through time. Our new data were combined with a database of 65 sea-level index points available for the Delaware Bay to estimate the rate of RSL rise in the upper (1.26 ± 0.33 mm/yr) and lower bay (1.30 ± 0.36 mm/yr) using a spatial-temporal model. Correction for changes in tidal range through time removed the disparity in rate between the upper and lower Delaware Bay that had previously been postulated. After paleotidal correction, the rates of RSL rise estimated for the Delaware Bay (1.25 ± 0.27 mm/yr) correlate with the ~1.3 mm/yr rate reported for New Jersey, Maryland, and Virginia, and confirm that the maximal ongoing forebulge collapse along the U.S. Atlantic coast is focused on the mid-Atlantic.Peer reviewe
Bristowia gandhii Kanesharatnam & Benjamin, 2016, sp. nov.
No full text<i>Bristowia gandhii</i> sp. nov. <p>urn:lsid:zoobank.org:act:46066597-9E86-483A-BB19-6D08EE6DF7C9</p> <p>Figs 1, 2 A–B, 3 – 4</p> <p> <i>B. heterospinosa</i> – Dobroruka, 2004: 14–17, Fgs 8–11, ♀ from India, Goa Province, S of Margao, Palolem env., leg. P. Sipek (specimens in the private collection of author), not examined. MisidentiFcation.</p> <p> non <i>B. heterospinosa</i> Reimoser, 1934: 17, Fgs 1–3.</p> Diagnosis <p> This species can easily be distinguished from <i>B. afra</i> Szüts, 2004 by the high carapace with steeper thoracic slope, a thicker and longer embolus, copulatory openings anterior to the spermathecae, a large distance between copulatory ducts and the presence of a posterior epigynal plate with a median depression, and from <i>B. heterospinosa</i> by broader copulatory ducts, a comparatively shallow median indentation of posterior epigynal plate and a thicker embolus.</p> Etymology <p>The species is named for Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi (1869–1948). He was the pre-eminent leader of the Indian Independence Movement in British-ruled India, eventually paving the way for independence of Sri Lanka as well.</p> Material examined Holotype <p>SRI LANKA: Ƌ, Central Province, Kandy District, Balagola, home garden (L63), 07°17′20.08″ N, 80°42′48.85″ E, 476 m, 10 Nov. 2013, leg. S.P. Benjamin (IFS _ SAL 228).</p> Paratype <p> SRI LANKA: 1 ♀, Central Province, Matale District, IFS Arboretum (Ll7), 07°51′36.70″ N, 80°40′29″ E, 185 m, litter, 2 Nov. 2013, leg. S.P. Benjamin <i>et al</i>. (IFS _ SAL 297).</p> Other material <p>SRI LANKA: 1 ♀, Central Province, Matale District, IFS Arboretum (Ll7), 07°51′36.70″ N, 80°40′29″ E, 185 m, litter, 19 Oct. 2015, leg. K. Kanesharatnam (IFS _ SAL 543); 1 ♀, North Central Province, Anuradhapura District, Wilpattu National Park (L38), 08°24′37.98″ N, 80°03′03.99″ E, hand collection, 6 Apr. 2011, leg. S. Batuwita (IFS _ SAL 157); 1 Ƌ, Sabaragamuwa Province, Udawalawe National Park (L65), 06°28′25.41″ N, 80°53′54.35″ E, 109 m, litter, 30 Dec. 2011, leg. N. Athukorala (IFS _ SAL 154); 3 ƋƋ, Uva Province, Badulla District, environs of Kalupahana village (L62), 06°44′58″ N, 80°50′19.8″ E, 820 m, beating, 2 Jan. 2012, leg. S.P. Benjamin (IFS _ SAL 357–359).</p> Description Male <p>MEASUREMENTS. BL 2.58, CL 1.42, PW at PLEs 0.74, AL 1.12,AW 0.53. Eye Feld: Diameter of AME 0.24, PLE 0.19, ALE 0.16, PME 0.03, PME-PME 0.65, PLE-PLE 0.70, ALE-PME 0.30, ALE-PLE 0.68. Leg I: Tr 0.35, Fm 0.93, Pt 0.44, Tb 0.70, Mt 0.40, Ta 0.22; Leg II: Tr 0.10, Fm 0.44, Pt 0.22, Tb 0.35, Mt 0.26, Ta 0.22; Leg III: Tr 0.10, Fm 0.44, Pt 0.22, Tb 0.31, Mt 0.26, Ta 0.22; Leg IV: Tr 0.13, Fm 0.57, Pt 0.22, Tb 0.44, Mt 0.39, Ta 0.22.</p> <p>COLOR AND BODY. Reddish brown carapace with punctured reticulate microsculpture (Fig. 3 A). Chelicerae dark brown with two promarginal and four retromarginal teeth. Labium reddish brown with yellowish brown margin. Elevated ocular area blackish brown, median ocular quadrangle much broader than long and little wider behind than in front. Eye ratio AME> PLE> ALE> PME. Sternum oval-shaped, brownish yellow with sparse brown hairs, edges reddish brown. Prosoma longer than wide with thoracic fovea. Posterior margin of prosoma steep and slightly truncated (Fig. 3 A). There are black stripes made up of minute tubercles behind PLEs.</p> <p>LEGS. First pair of legs more strongly modiFed in males than females, with elongated coxa, trochanter and patella. Patella and tibia with fringe of thick, long, black bristles (Fig. 3 A). Leg I dark brown except for pale yellow tarsus, other legs yellowish brown. Tibia I with 4 prolateral and 3 retrolateral spines, metatarsus I with 2 pairs of Fne, long spines. Legs III and IV spineless.</p> <p>PALP. Relatively simple. Cymbium and palpal tibia pale yellow, but coxa, femur and patella dark brown. Pyriform tegulum (Figs 3 C–D, 4 A–B). Thin and short embolus, tip of embolus slightly bent (Figs 3 C, 4A), tibial apophyses hook-shaped and strongly bent towards venter.</p> Female <p>MEASUREMENTS. BL 3.20, CL 1.78, PW at PLEs 0.77,AL 1.40,AW 0.93. Eye Feld: Diameter of AME 0.24, PLE 0.14, ALE 0.11, PME 0.03, PME-PME 0.65, PLE-PLE 0.73, ALE-PME 0.30, ALE-PLE 0.46. Leg I: Tr 0.25, Fm 0.73, Pt 0.25, Tb 0.53, Mt 0.31, Ta 0.22; Leg II: Tr 0.12, Fm 0.46, Pt 0.15, Tb 0.31, Mt 0.25, Ta 0.22; Leg III: Tr 0.12, Fm 0.37, Pt 0.15, Tb 0.18, Mt 0.25, Ta 0.15; Leg IV: Tr 0.12, Fm 0.43, Pt 0.19, Tb 0.50, Mt 0.34, Ta 0.21.</p> <p>COLOR AND BODY. Similar to male except abdomen with four light brown, longitudinal stripes converging near spinnerets; less strongly modiFed Frst pair of legs (Figs 2 A–B, 3 B); leg spination resembles males except in tibia II which has a prolateral and a ventral spine.</p> <p>EPIGYNUM. Circular hollow copulatory openings above the level of spermathecae (Fig. 4 C–D). Long and broad copulatory ducts bent over 180°. Somewhat rounded accessory gland- like structures in front of spermathecae (Fig. 4 C–D). Large and globe-like spermathecae. Posterior margin of epigynal plate with a median indentation (Figs 3 E, 4C–D). Fertilization ducts lanceolate, originating from anterior wall of receptacles.</p> Distribution <p>India, Sri Lanka.</p>Published as part of <i>Nilani Kanesharatnam & Suresh p. Benjamin, 2016, Three new generic records and descriptions of four new species of jumping spiders (Araneae, Salticidae) from Sri Lanka, pp. 1-23 in European Journal of Taxonomy 228</i> on pages 4-9, DOI: 10.5852/ejt.2016.228, <a href="http://zenodo.org/record/322370">http://zenodo.org/record/322370</a>
Temperature-driven global sea-level variability in the Common Era
No full textWe assess the relationship between temperature and global sea-level (GSL) variability over the Common Era through a statistical metaanalysis of proxy relative sea-level reconstructions and tide-gauge data. GSL rose at 0.1 ± 0.1 mm/y (2σ) over 0–700 CE. A GSL fall of 0.2 ± 0.2 mm/y over 1000–1400 CE is associated with ∼0.2 °C global mean cooling. A significant GSL acceleration began in the 19th century and yielded a 20th century rise that is extremely likely (probability P≥0.95) faster than during any of the previous 27 centuries. A semiempirical model calibrated against the GSL reconstruction indicates that, in the absence of anthropogenic climate change, it is extremely likely (P=0.95) that 20th century GSL would have risen by less than 51% of the observed 13.8±1.5 cm. The new semiempirical model largely reconciles previous differences between semiempirical 21st century GSL projections and the process model-based projections summarized in the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change’s Fifth Assessment Report.This article is available Open Access at the Link to published version: http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.emospa.2016.02.006Also available as related resources: Supporting Information (PDF), Dataset S1 (PDF), Dataset S2 (Excel), Dataset S3 (Excel).Peer reviewe
Shifting in the n-Cube: online mistake bounds and the sample compression conjecture
No full textDeposited with permission of the author. © 2009 Benjamin I. P. RubinsteinThis thesis explores near-optimal bounds on worst-case expected risk in supervised classification, and the Sample Compressibility Conjecture of Littlestone and Warmuth. These topics are related by the one-inclusion graph, an important data structure in learning theory
Walter Benjamin
No full textIn a 1985 interview with Adriano Sofri, Agamben says of his encounter
with Benjamin:
I read him for the first time in the 1960s, in the Italian translation of the Angelus Novus edited by Renato Solmi. He immediately made the strongest impression on me: for no other author have I felt such an unsettling affinity. To me happened what Benjamin narrates about his own encounter with Aragon’s Paysan de Paris: that after a very short while he had to close the book because it made his heart thump.
For Agamben, this encounter with Benjamin proved to be ‘decisive’2 and would mark his entire career, as much as meeting Heidegger in person at the end of the 1960s. Of these two first philosophical ‘masters’ he would often say, quite enigmatically, that for him the two philosophers worked ‘each one as antidote for the other’,3 or more precisely: ‘Every great work contains a shadowy and poisonous part, against which it does not provide the antidote. Benjamin has been for me this antidote, which helped me to survive Heidegger.’4 The nature of Heidegger’s poison and of Benjamin’s antidote is not very clear; what is clear, however, is that this early encounter with Benjamin shaped Agamben’s own encounter with philosophy itself, and would exert an enduring influence (perhaps ‘the single most important influence’)5 on his entire oeuvre.</p
Materialismo y arte en Walter Benjamin
No full textMaterialism and Art in Walter Benjamin”. This paper analyses the issue of materialism and its relationship with art in Walter Benjamin’s thought. This is a controversial issue in the debates around Benjamin. The article examines in detail Benjamin’s two fundamental texts on this topic: The Author as Producer and The Work of Art in the Era of Mechanical Reproduction. Before this, the paper puts the problem into context, considering the times and, in particular, Benjamin’s relationship with Brecht, which was seen as one of the key elements to understand Benjamin’s material turn. This fact disturbed some of his colleagues —like Adorno, Horkheimer and Karplus— who saw Brecht as an excessively orthodox materialist. This paper argues, however, that, although Benjamin turned towards materialist positions throughout the decade of the 30s, his materialism was not like the one defended by the Marxist orthodoxy of the time, though, indeed, it went beyond Adorno’s modernist approaches.El presente artículo analiza la cuestión del materialismo y su relación con el arte en el pensamiento de Walter Benjamin. Es una cuestión harto controvertida en los debates sobre Benjamin, y el artículo estudia minuciosamente sus dos textos fundamentales que abordan la cuestión: El autor como productor y La obra de arte en la era de su reproductibilidad técnica. Antes de ello, se enmarca el problema en el contexto de la época y, en especial, en la relación de Benjamin con Brecht, que fue tomado como uno de los elementos clave para entender el giro materialista del primero. Este hecho perturbó algunos de los colegas como Adorno, Horkheimer y Karplus, que veían a Brecht como un materialista excesivamente ortodoxo. El artículo defiende que si bien Benjamin giró hacia posiciones materialistas a lo largo de la década de los 30, ese materialismo no era como la de la ortodoxia marxista de la época, aunque, efectivamente, fue más allá de los planteamientos modernistas de Adorno
Holocene Relative Sea-Level Changes from Near-, Intermediate-, and Far-Field Locations
No full textHolocene relative sea-level (RSL) records exhibit spatial and temporal variability that arises mainly from the interaction of eustatic (land ice volume and thermal expansion) and isostatic (glacio- and hydro-) factors. We fit RSL histories from near-, intermediate-, and far-field locations with noisy-input Gaussian process models to assess rates of RSL change. Records from near-field regions (e.g., Antarctica, Greenland, Canada, Sweden, and Scotland) reveal a complex pattern of RSL fall from a maximum marine limit due to the net effect of eustatic sea-level rise and glacio-isostatic uplift with rates of RSL fall as great as -69 ± 9 m/ka. Intermediate-field regions (e.g., mid-Atlantic and Pacific coasts of the United States, Netherlands, Southern France, St. Croix) display variable rates of RSL rise from the cumulative effect of isostatic and eustatic factors. Fast rates of RSL rise (up to 10 ± 1 m/ka) are found in the early Holocene in regions near the center of forebulge collapse. Far-field RSL records exhibit a mid-Holocene highstand, the timing (between 8 and 4 ka) and magnitude (between <1 and 6 m) of which varies among South America, Africa, Asia and Oceania regions.Peer reviewe
Hidden Opportunities in Aging Population
No full textAuthor\u27s biography: Benjamin McKay is a research associate with the Bureau of Business Research and Economic Development, part of the College of Business Administration at Georgia Southern University. He can be reached at [email protected]
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