24 research outputs found
Obergefell v. Hodges and Support for Same-Sex Marriage: Changes in National and State Public Opinion
No full textTitle: Obergefell v. Hodges and Support for Same-Sex Marriage: Changes in National and State Public Opinion
Author: Adria Neal
Department: Political Science
Mentor: Laura Moyer, Ph.D
Abstract:
Many have argued that Supreme Court decisions on culture war issues, issues that cause conflict between conservative and liberal values, stifle public progression on the very problems they are meant to resolve. They often cite political and electoral backlash following a decision as evidence of this stagnation. However, this backlash may not be representative of widespread public opinion. In order to understand the relationship between Court decisions and public opinion, changes in opinion on culture war issues following a Supreme Court ruling must be measured. This study utilized national and state survey data in order to examine this relationship. It measured changes in support for same-sex marriage nationwide as well as in the state of Kentucky following the Court’s decision in Obergefell v. Hodges. Changes in support for same-sex marriage among various racial groups and political parties are also assessed. Changes in nationwide support following Obergefell did not reach significance and changes in support on the state level, following the ruling, also could not be determined because of differences in survey question wording. However, findings showed that other significant same-sex marriage court decisions have preceded changes in overall support for same-sex marriage. Also, the gaps in support between racial groups and parties changed following these rulings, suggesting that groups have differing reactions to Court involvement. Research conducted after Kim Davis’s refusal to issue marriage licenses to same-sex couples suggested that Kentuckians are willing to acquiesce with the Court’s decision in Obergefell, despite widespread disapproval of same-sex marriage. Future research should utilize survey data with consistent questions before and after the Court’s ruling and should control for other variables in order to isolate the effect of Court decisions
ALTO-ADRIATICO VASES FROM ISSA
No full textU ovom prilogu obrađuju se slikane vaze tipa"Alto-Adriatico" otkrivene na nekropolama antičke Isse, a koje pripadaju kraju 4. i početku 3. st. stare ere. Autor se osvrće i na ostale nalaze ovih vaza na sjevernom i srednjem Jadranu te donosi sva relevantna mišljenja o ovoj produkciji. Posebno se bavi datacijom ovih vaza te zastupa mišljenje da se one nisu tako dugo proizvodile kako se smatra u dosadašnjoj literaturi.Na kraju je dan katalog vaza.In this paper 10 oinohoai of the Alto-Adriatico style from Issa are published. A short history and bibliography of the study of these vases is presented at the beginning of the paper. A distribution map of these vases which are found on 10 sites is given (fig. 1) and also a quantitative figure (fig. 2) of shapes and number of vases found on sites. All together15 shapes and 373 vases of Alto-Adriatico style are known. From this it is evident that the production and distribution is restricted to the north and central Adriatic and that the concentration is in Spina (180) and Adria (11O). All the known vases are found in graves what strongly suggests their funerary function.The vases from Issa could be dated in the late 4th cent. B. C. and probably in the very early 3rd cent. B.C. In Issa they are found on 3 cemeteries but all the vases are similar in shape, decoration and fabric. It could be that these vases came from Spina or from Adria (?) together with grain or ores which the Isseians needed. The fact that the number of Alto-Adriatico vases is very small and that not many painters (hands) can be distinguished made the author think that the production did not lastlong, i.e. from the mid 4th cent. B. C. to the early 3rd. cent. B. C.Although the vases belong to the Hellenistic period they are not Hellenistic but an late provincial offspring of redfigured vases of the classical period.At the end of the paper a detailed catalogue of the published vases is given
eXtended pattern language markup language : a hci design pattern unifying approach
No full textDesign patterns are a common used design aid in the human-computer interaction (HCI) community for efficient re-use of proven design solutions. Although design patterns have been used in the HCI community since the late 1980s, very little research has been done on possible formalization of the design pattern structure. The vast amount of HCI design patterns available today causes problems for both, novices and experienced pattern users. The diversity of design pattern formats represents an obstacle for realizing the full reuse potential promised: each pattern author follows his or her preferred form of a design pattern. This makes it difficult to find and reuse a pattern for a given problem, because before applying a certain pattern, users need to find out how the content elements of a pattern should be interpreted.
The lack of formality may constitute a major obstacle when handling design patterns in software development tools such as IDEs, which support the user interface design process.
This thesis provides a concept to the HCI community that helps pattern authors to encapsulate their HCI knowledge by means of design patterns and to store this knowledge in a formal way. This opens the possibility to use the information offered by design patterns in software applications and databases. A specification language XPLML (eXtended Pattern Language Markup Language), based on PLML (Pattern Language Markup Language developed by Fincher et al.), is developed which uses XML to specify content elements, relations and metadata of HCI design patterns. A novel concept called atomic interaction elements is introduced which is based on a breakdown of the underlying usability concepts of the patterns into their smallest elements.
As a starting point of this research, a survey was conducted among the HCI community and software developers. The goal of this preparatory study was (a) to determine if design patterns are really used to improve and/or speed up the user interface design process and (b) to get an idea if patterns are only an academic concept or also used in industrial environments. The second part of this thesis deals with the structure analysis of HCI design patterns. Hence, 750 design patterns have been analyzed to evaluate the used relationships, metadata and content elements in order to develop design rules for a unified pattern format.
The concept of atomic interaction elements allows the identification of similarities across different patterns according to their underlying usability principles. These usability principles are described in the implementation part of the pattern also known as the pattern's solution.
With that concept it is possible to show that the pattern's solution across different collections and categorizations is the same.Entwurfsmuster sind in der Community der Mensch-Maschine-Interaktion (human - computer interaction; kurz: HCI) häufig verwendete Design Hilfsmittel zur effizienten Wiederverwendung von bereits erprobten Design Lösungen. Obwohl Entwurfsmuster in der HCI Community bereits seit den späten 1980ern verwendet werden, wurde bisher wenig Aufwand für wissenschaftliche Forschungen zur möglichen Formalisierung der Entwurfsmusterstruktur betrieben. Die enorme Anzahl an HCI Entwurfsmustern, die heutzutage verfügbar sind, verursacht allerdings sowohl für Anfänger als auch für erfahrene Nutzer Probleme. Die Vielfältigkeit der Entwurfsmuster spiegelt die Problematik wider, wie schwer es ist, das volle Potential aus der Wiederverwendbarkeit auszuschöpfen: jeder einzelne Autor gestaltet die Grundform der Entwurfsmuster nach seinen persönlichen Vorlieben. Das macht es schwierig, ein Muster für eine bestimmte Problemstellung zu finden und wieder anzuwenden, da die Muster-Nutzer vor der eigentlichen Anwendung des Musters zuerst herausfinden müssen, wie die einzelnen inhaltlichen Elemente zu interpretieren sind. Der Mangel an Formalität bildet das wesentliches Hindernis bei der Verwendung von Entwurfsmustern in Software Entwicklungs-Tools wie IDEs, die den Designer im Design Prozess der Nutzer Schnittstelle unterstützen sollen.
Diese Dissertation stellt ein Konzept vor, welches Muster-Anwendern helfen soll, ihr HCI Wissen mittels Entwurfsmuster niederzuschreiben und auf strukturierte und formalisierte Weise abzulegen. Das macht es wiederum möglich, die Informationen aus den Entwurfsmustern in Software Applikationen und Datenbanken zu verwenden. Es wird eine Spezifikations-Sprache XPLML (eXtended Pattern Language Markup Language) entwickelt, die auf PLML (Pattern Language Markup Language, entworfen von Fincher et al.) basiert und in XML definiert ist. Weiters wird das neuartige Konzept "atomic interaction elements" vorgestellt, das darauf basiert, die zugrunde liegenden Bedienbarkeitskonzepte der Muster auf ihre kleinsten Einheiten herunter zu brechen.
Der Ausgangspunkt dieser Forschungsarbeit ist eine Befragung innerhalb der HCI Community und unter Software Entwicklern. Das Ziel dieser Befragung war es a) zu untersuchen, ob Entwurfsmuster wirklich benutzt werden, um den Design-Prozess der Bedienbarkeit von Mensch-Maschine Schnittstellen zu verbessern oder zu beschleunigen und b) einen Überblick zu bekommen, ob Entwurfsmuster ein rein wissenschaftliches Phänomen sind oder auch in der Industrie Anwendung finden. Der zweite Teil der Dissertation befasst sich mit der Strukturanalyse der HCI Entwurfsmuster. Somit sind 750 Entwurfsmuster analysiert worden, um die verwendeten Beziehungen, Metadaten und Inhalt-Elemente zu evaluieren und in weiterer Folge Design Regeln für ein einheitliches Entwurfsmuster-Format entwickeln zu können. Das neue Konzept der "atomic interaction elements" ermöglicht es - entsprechend der zugrunde liegenden Bedienbarkeits Prinzipien-Ähnlichkeiten quer über verschiedene Muster hinweg zu identifizieren. Diese Bedienbarkeitsprinzipien sind in der Implementierung des Musters, auch als Lösung des Musters bekannt, beschrieben. Mit diesem Konzept ist es möglich aufzuzeigen, dass die implementierten Lösung des Musters auch über verschiedene Muster, Sammlungen und Kategorien hinweg die gleiche sein kannChristian KruschitzAbweichender Titel laut Übersetzung der Verfasserin/des VerfassersZsfassung in dt. SpracheKlagenfurt, Alpen-Adria-Univ., Diss., 201
From common sense to competence : working life, economic change
No full textVom Hausverstand zur Kompetenz Arbeiterleben, Wirtschaftswandel, Bildungsverhalten am Beispiel des Magnesitwerks Radenthein Die vorgelegte Dissertationsarbeit "Vom Hausverstand zur Kompetenz" gibt Auskunft über Arbeiterleben, Wirtschaftswandel und das Bildungsverhalten von Arbeitnehmer/innen am Beispiel des Magnesitwerkes Radenthein in Kärnten. Sie umreiÃt das Geschehen eines traditionellen Wirtschaftsstandortes, an dem seit über einem Jahrhundert aus verschiedenen urbanen, sozialen und ökonomischen Elementen eine unverwechselbare Gesellschaft entstand. Mit dem bewusst in leichter Provokation gehaltenen Titel werden mehrere aufgeworfene Fragen gleichermaÃen beleuchtet: Wie verändert sich bzw. hat sich unser gesellschaftliches, wirtschaftliches und bildungsmäÃiges Umfeld verändert. War es früher, in der "guten alten Zeit" besser oder führen uns die Veränderungen und unser Mittun zwischen Hausverstand und Kompetenz zu einem neuen, qualitätsvolleren Lebenskosmos. Dies sind zugleich auch jene Fragestellungen, die es zu erforschen galt. Was bedeutet Qualifikation - wie haben sich die Anforderungen im Laufe der Zeit verändert? - Wie wirken die sozialen Veränderungen auf die Qualifikation der Arbeiter im mikroregionalen Raum? Wissenschaftlich betrachtet, behandelt die vorgelegte Forschungsarbeit einen Betrieb der Grundstoffindustrie, der eine Region belebt und dominiert. Es ist eine Arbeit aus und über eine Region, die eher mikroskopische Einblicke gewährt. Die Studien sind in der Interpretation und der Ausarbeitung mit projizierender Ambition gesichtet; viele einzelne Themen, auch über die Dauer von Jahrzehnten, wurden vernetzt und zu einem schlüssigen Gesamtbild zusammengefügt. Der Autor beleuchtet die historischen Details ebenso wie ökonomische und pädagogische Verläufe. Er umreiÃt Themen wie z. B. Internationalität, Fairness, Entkoppelung, Abkoppelung, "die dauerhaft Ãberflüssigen" u Bereiche, die ursächlich mit Bildung zusammenhängen wie Demokratie, Macht und Veränderungen im Gesellschaftssystem bleiben nicht ausgespart. Ãber die persönlichen Erinnerungen von Arbeitnehmern, die Darstellung des Verlaufs der wirtschaftlichen Situation bis hin zum Studienteil der Qualifikationsverläufe der Befragten umfasst die Dissertation ein breites Spektrum und endet mit der Feststellung, man stehe mit den gewonnenen Erkenntnissen am Beginn neu aufgeworfener Themen, um an diesen national, aber auch international weiterzuarbeiten.From common sense to competence Working life, economic change Taken from the example of the Magnesite Plant Radenthein (Magnesitwerk Radenthein) The dissertation at hand entitled "From common sense to competence", provides information about the life of the workers, economic change and the educational behaviour of workers taken from the example of the Magnesite Plant Radenthein in Carinthia. It outlines the events of a traditional business, out of which over a period of more than a century a unique society developed from the various urban, social and economic factors. This title, with a deliberate, slightly provocative element, examines several important questions which arise:
* To what extent has our social, economic and educational environment changed or is it changing? * Were "the good old days" better, or do the changes and our participation in common sense and competence provide us with a new, higher-quality life environment? There are also these questions that needed to be examined: * What does 'qualification' mean and how have the requirements changed over time? * What effect do the social changes have on the qualification of the workers in a micro-regional setting? From a scientific perspective, the research deals with a primary production business, which breathes life into and dominates a region. It is a study about a region, which provides a series insights taken to a microscopic level. The studies were developed and interpreted with projective ambition. Many of the subjects, including those that have arisen over previous decades, were interconnected and consolidated to form a conclusive overall picture.
The author examines historic data together with economic and educational processes. He outlines topics like internationality, fairness, decoupling, "the permanently superfluous" and social partnership, and also includes areas with a causal link to education such as democracy, power and changes in the social system. The dissertation encompasses a broad spectrum - from the personal memories of the workers, and the depiction of the economic process, through to the qualification processes of those interviewed. It concludes that the insights gained simply take us back to new issues which need to be examined further nationally and internationally.Martin KowatschAbweichender Titel laut Übersetzung der Verfasserin/des VerfassersKlagenfurt, Alpen-Adria-Univ., Diss., 201
Large group intervention methods : Future Search Conference, Open Space Technology
No full textDie Welt ist komplex geworden. Unterschiedliche Entwicklungen, beispielsweise in Wirtschaft, Gesellschaft, Politik aber auch technologischer Fortschritt, haben dazu beigetragen, dass es immer schwieriger wird, Organisationen nach althergebrachen Mustern zu führen. Das Stichwort "Hierarchiekrise", welches immer öfter sowohl in Medien als auch einschlägigen Fachzirkeln auftaucht, sei ein Beleg dafür. Mit dieser Zunahme an Komplexität entstehen neue Herausforderungen für jene Personen, welche an der Spitze von Organisationen stehen. Egal, ob es sich um einen Unternehmensvorstand, um politisch verantwortliche Personen in Gemeinden, Regionen oder auch Bundesländern oder um Vereinsvorstände handelt, alle sind aufgefordert, neue Wege in der Führung ihrer Organisation und bei den damit verbundenen Entscheidungsfindungen zu gehen. Als ein in dieser Hinsicht beliebter Ansatz hat sich, ausgehend von den USA, in Europa der Einsatz von GroÃgruppeninterventionsmethoden entwickelt. Seit ca. Mitte der 80er-Jahre des vorigen Jahrhunderts versuchte man vermehrt, GroÃgruppeninterventionsmethoden zur Unterstützung für unterschiedliche Entscheidungsfindungsprozesse anzuwenden. Die dahinterstehende Hoffnung (bzw. der dahinterstehende Ansatz) war, dass wenn es in Veränderungsprozessen gelingt, Betroffene zu Beteiligten zu machen, nicht nur die Qualität der Entscheidungsfindung oberster hierarchischer Ebenen zunimmt, sondern auch die betroffenen Personen besser in Veränderungsvorgänge einbezogen werden können. Insgesamt erhoffte man sich dadurch geringere Probleme in Veränderungsprojekten. In der Theorie bzw. einschlägigen Fachliteratur wurden GroÃgruppeninterventionsmethoden - vielleicht etwas übertrieben ausgedrückt - als die Methoden schlechthin angepriesen, die man in Veränderungsprojekten unbedingt einsetzen muss, um möglichst langfristig nachhaltige Wirkungen erzeugen zu können. Die Praxis hat jedoch in vielen Fällen ein ganz anderes Bild gezeigt: Zwar wurde der Einsatz von GroÃgruppeninterventionsmethoden von den teilnehmenden Personen her immer als erfolgreich, sogar als erlebnisreich beschrieben. Ein kritischer Blick auf deren nachhaltige Wirkungen zeigte jedoch, dass die praktischen Ergebnisse bei längerfristiger Betrachtung mit den theoretischen Versprechungen nur in seltenen Fällen mithalten konnten. Vergleicht man noch die Wirkungen des Einsatzes derartiger Methoden zwischen hierarchischen Sytemen, wie es zum Beispiel Unternehmungen darstellen, mit nicht-hierarchischen Systemen, wie es beispielsweise die Regionalentwicklung ist, so zeigen sich nochmals gravierende Unterschiede. Ziel dieser Arbeit war es herauszufinden, welche Auswirkungen der Einsatz von GroÃgruppeninterventionsmethoden auf Organisationen hat. Dabei wurde zwischen dem Einsatz in hierarchischen (z. B. Unternehmungen, halböffentliche Einrichtungen wie etwa die Wirtschaftskammer) und nicht-hierarchischen Organisationen, wie es etwa die Regionalentwicklung darstellt, unterschieden. Dies deshalb, um sowohl Möglichkeiten als auch Grenzen und Besonderheiten des Einsatzes von GroÃgruppeninterventionsmethoden in Organisationen aufzeigen zu können. Als Ergebnis lässt sich zusammenfassend festhalten, dass der Einsatz von GroÃgruppeninterventionsmethoden in ihren Wirkungen vielfach überschätzt wird; der Aufwand für Vorbereitung, Durchführung und Nachbereitung jedoch unterschätzt wird. Auch sind die Wirkungsweisen in hierarchischen und nicht-hierarchischen Organisationen unterschiedlich bewertbar.Life becomes more and more complex - especially for leaders of organizations. The reasons why are diverse; globalization, internet, different development-trends in economy are just a few phrases to argue. Many people talk in this context of the "crises of the hierarchy system". One of the consequences of these growing complexities is the urgent need to change ways how decisions are made. As an example, one consequence is that in recent times it is not any more suitable to decide alone as CEO because the degree of uncertainty has grown enormous. Reasons why are mentioned above. A better way will be including almost all people affected from the consequences of decisions to be made. In specialist literature large group intervention techniques are very well recommended as potentially suitable methodes. The justification therefore is that with those techniques aggrieved parties will become participants. This work has been done to explore the consequences of using large group intervention techniques in change processes in hierarchically and non-hierarchically organizations. The reason for this comparison is that the author faced enormous differences between promises in specialist literature and in practice. The main searching interest was to find out in what way sustainable results will be achieveable when using large group intervention techniques in hierarchically and non-hierarchically organizations and in what way results differ between these two typs of organizations. As a result it can be argued that in many cases sponsors of large group intervention methods underrate necessary expenses for planning, performing and aftercare operations of those techniques and overrate possibilities of them. Besides that also a difference in the quality of results between the two types of organizations can be determined.Mag. Christian HusakAbweichender Titel laut Übersetzung der Verfasserin/des VerfassersZusammenfassung in englischer SpracheDissertation Alpen Adria Universität Klagenfurt 201
Long term morphotectonic evolution of the Southern Apennines
No full textABSTRACT
The main goal of this work is the study of the morphological and morphometrical features of the Southern Apennines thrust belt – foredeep system, carrying out both a large scale and a small scale analyses of areas of high relevance, with the aim to determine new morphological and morphometrical constraints to the reconstruction of the main morphotectonic events that have interested the chain. This type of research has been based on the idea to compare such data with new thermochronological data that have been produced in many areas of the chain (Aldega et al., 2003; Mazzoli et al., 2006; Mazzoli et al., 2008), which highlighted the role of the exhumation processes in the evolution of the thrust belt. The thermochronological data indicate that the exhumation processes started about 10Ma and they have been active since recent time (in the last million years), resulting contemporary to the main morphogenetic events responsible of the actual morphostructural setting of the chain.
The Southern Apennines chain formed has a consequence of the Neogene collision of the African (and in particular, the Adria microplate) and Euroasiatic plates, with the subduction of the Adria microplate beneath the Euroasiatic plate. The morphostructural setting of the Southern Apennines has been determined by its complex tectonic history (with the occurrence of both thrust faults and normal faults) and by the erosional processes that have sculptured the topography, also considering that the landforms are strongly influenced by the rock type too.
In the last years the development of new techniques of analysis has provided new constraints useful to the reconstruction of the morphotectonic history of the Southern Apennines. This techniques are based on thermochronological analysis, and in particular on the Apatite Fission Tracks, the Ur-Th-He series, the Vitrinite Reflectance, the Clay Mineralogy and the Fluid Inclusions. These data, that have been extensively produced in the whole chain, have pointed out the attention on tectonic exhumation processes (we mean by rock exhumation a variation of the position of a rock in relation to the air-topograhy interface), which have determined rock uplift of thousands of meters in the last 2-3Ma (Aldega et al., 2003; Mazzoli et al., 2006; Mazzoli et al., 2008). The individuation of so enhanced vertical and horizontal tectonic motions in recent times has expected to have interacted with the processes responsible of the exogenic modelling of the topography, and they have probably played an important role in the morphotectonic evolution of the chain, leaving their signature in the topography.
The research has been based on large scale geomorphological and morphometrical techniques of analysis, that have been used with the aim to describe the main morphological and morphometrical features of the chain, to compare the features of the Tyrrhenian, Adriatic and Ionian slopes of the Southern Apennines, and to relate these features with the proposed morphotectonic events. The large scale analysis has been accompanied by the small scale analysis of a selected transect namely the Noce-Sirino-Alpi-Sant’Arcangelo transect. This transect has been chosen because of the particular features that make this area one of the most relevant portion of the chain in order to reconstruct the morphotectonic evolution of the Southern Apennines, and in particular, to investigate the role played by the rock exhumation processes in the evolution of the relief. This transect assumes a high relevance because:
- it includes tectonic units which have been exhumed in recent times;
- it preserves a stratigraphical and morpho-stratigraphical record which is almost continuous both temporally (from the Middle Pliocene to the whole Quaternary) and spatially (from the Tyrrhenian to the Adriatic coasts);
- the topography, in this portion of the Southern Apennines, has been only slightly dismembered by the post-orogenic extensional tectonic, and may be considered resulting by the major geodynamic processes (shortening, thrusting, extension and exhumation).
One of the main parameters that can influence the geomorphological and morphometrical features of a determined region is the lithology, or more correctly the bedrock resistance to erosion. In fact, parameters such as the elevation, local relief, steepness, presence of knickpoints are strongly controlled by bedrock erodibility. As a result, the first step in the analysis of the landscape is represented by a clear depiction of the space distribution of the rock types with different erodibility. For the above mentioned reason, a “Map of the Morphostructural Units of the Southern Apennines” has been created. This map is a simplification of the “Geological Map of the Southern Apennines” in scale 1:250000, in fact the 81 formations distinguished in the “Geological Map of the Southern Apennines” have been reduced into the 20 morphostructural units which have been grouped based on the estimation of erodibility of each rock type relative to other rock types. The erodibility degree was basically assigned by the observations of the features (e.g. steepness, degree of development of the upper convexity/basal concavity of hillslopes, average elevation, etc.) associated with the various bedrocks. As regards the Quaternary deposits, these were grouped based on different criteria. Taking into account the main goal of this study, which consists in the reconstruction of the Plio-Quaternary relative/absolute vertical motions of the Southern Apennines, the grouping of the different Quaternary stratigraphical units was based on the depositional environment (marine vs continental), degree of correlation of the different units with the original depositional environment (i.e. whether and to what degree they are displaced/dissected), and tectonic context (e.g. peri-tyrrhenian grabens, foredeep and intramontane basins deposits).
The large scale geomorphological analysis of the Southern Apennines has been based on the determination of the following parameters: elevation map and the derived maximum, medium and minimum elevation maps, swath profiles and the derived relief curves, analysis of the river long profiles and the derived parameters (drainage area vs distance, Stream Gradient Index, steepness (ks) and concavity (Q) indexes, slope of the first order channels). This type of analysis enhance a series of particular feature of the Southern Apennines that can be summarized as follows:
- the minimum elevation map can be separated in two different sector, respectively located north and south of the hereinafter named “Sele-Ofanto line”: the north sector is characterized by the coincidence of the highest values with the apenninic divide, while the southern sector is characterized by the presence of a wide area with high values in the minimum elevations, which moves from the apenninic divide to the east, involving the foredeep (and the Lavello high) and the Murge-Salento area ;
- this data regarding the minimum elevation map is very interesting in particular when compared with the “Map of the Morphostructural Units of the Southern Apennines”: this comparison show that the valleys on the Adriatic flank are higher than the valleys on the Tyrrhenian flank despite the Adriatic flank is characterized by the outcropping of very weak lithologies (external flyschs and Quaternary filling of the foredeep);
- the minimum elevation map could be so considered a good representation of the differential uplift at the orogen scale; this fact let the maximum elevation map to play a less relevant role when we want to interpret it in terms of uplift, and it can be more correctly considered as a good representation of the distribution of the tectonic Quaternary lows;
- the medium elevation map clearly enhance the presence of the hard carbonatic highs on the Tyrrhenian slope respect to more eroded surrounding areas where weaker lithologies crop out. This means that the Tyrrhenian slope has experienced a more intense erosion, or even that it is experiencing erosion since older times than the Adriatic flank (where the same weak lithologies crop out), and that the amount of eroded rock volumes is higher on the Tyrrhenian flank than on the Adriatic flank. If this two sectors were experiencing erosion since the same time, than we cannot explain why the external flank of the chain is higher than its inner flank despite this two sectors are characterized by the same rock-type;
- the analysis of the maximum, medium and minimum elevation maps suggests that the Adriatic flank of the Southern Apennines has experienced more enhanced uplift in recent times than the Tyrrhenian flank;
- the Tyrrhenian and the Adriatic flanks of the chain have also other different morphological and morphometrical features, in particular the Tyrrhenian flank becomes steeper than the Adriatic flank as we move to the south, giving the typical asymmetrical feature to the Southern Apennine;
- this asymmetrical feature of the chain is clearly showed by the envelop of the minimum elevation line of the five swath profiles, which enhance the presence of a Tyrrhenian steep slope and of an Adriatic gentle slope;
- there is an important difference regarding the elevation of the valleys on Tyrrhenian and the Adriatic flanks, with a mean gradient that bring the valleys to reach elevations a.s.l. higher on both the flanks as we move to the south, but in general the valleys on the Tyrrhenian flank are always lower than the valleys on the Adriatica flank: such a difference suggest a more recent uplift on the Adriatic flank than on the Tyrrhenian one;
The analysis of the river system shows how there is a spatial variations of the morphological and morphometrical features of the Southern Apennine rivers. If we consider the shape of the river long profiles we notice that the Tyrrhenian rivers have a clear concave-up shape with no important knickpoints, while the Adriatic rivers show a more rectilinear shape and the Ionian rivers show a less evident concave-up shape, in same cases close to the rectilinear, with evident knickpoints along the profiles. The Q (concavity index) values show a difference among the three sectors, with the Tyrrhenian rivers showing the highest value (Q=0.52), the Adriatic rivers showing a lower value (Q=0.45) and with the Ionian rivers showing the lowest value (Q=0.43). This data confirm what we noticed by the analysis of the river long profiles, in particular the Tyrrhenian rivers have a more evident concave-up shape and the Ionian rivers the less evident concave-up shape. The clear concave up shape of the Tyrrhenian rivers can be related to a more enhanced uplift on the Adriatic and Ionian slopes than on the Tyrrhenian slope. If we consider the Ks (steepness index) values, we suggest that in a geological setting such as the Southern Apennines, that is characterized by important lithological variations also in very close areas, the Ks index seems to reflect such variations more than recent rock uplift
The geomorphological, morphometrical and sedimentological analysis of the Noce-Sirino-Alpi-Sant’Arcangelo transect allowed the individuation of two low relief landforms which are located on the western sector of the Sant’Arcangelo basin (700-900m a.s.l.) and in the area between the north side of Mt. Sirino, Mt. Raparo and Mt. Alpi (1200-1400m a.s.l.). The lowest surface (700-900m a.s.l.) corresponds to the eroded depositional surface of the Serracorneta Conglomerate, so it is temporally constrained at about 0.6Ma. The morphological relationships among this lower paleosurface and the highest one are not clear, we can anyway affirm that it is recognized in the area north of the Mt. Sirino and it involves both carbonates units than Lagonegro Units, so its modelling took place after the exhumation of the Mt. Sirino ended and so, considering the data we are going to talk about soon, it could temporally constrained in the Middle-Late Lower Pleistocene, and in particular between 1.5-0.6Ma.
The field analysis let us to recognize the oldest units of the Qquaternary filling of the Sant’Arcangelo basin that contains clasts of the Lagonegro Units coming from the Mt. Sirino area: this unit is the subsynthem A2a (Benvenuti et al., 2006) which should be not older than 1.5Ma, so this means that at this time the Mt. Sirino was already a morphostructural highs that was experiencing erosion. This data agrees with the thermochronological analysis, which suggested that the rock exhumation of the Mt. Sirino started since 2.5Ma, and it has allowed us to give a lower temporal limit to the formation of the highest paleosurface.
The analysis of the “map of the slope of the 1st order channels”, carried out within the Sant’Arcangelo basin, suggests that the area comprised between the Serrapotamo and the Sarmento river shows the highest values: these high slope values could be related to a more enhanced uplift that this area has experienced respect to the rest of the Sant’Arcangelo basin. If we combine this data with the uplift data obtained by the analysis of the marine terraces on the Ionian coast (Amato, 2000), we have that the southwestern portion of the Sant’Arcangelo basin seems to be aligned with the southernmost Ionian coast, that is the portion of the Ionian coast which has experienced a more enhanced uplift: this data could suggest a connection between these two sectors, highlighting the presence of this NW-SE oriented portion of the Southern Apennines that has been strongly uplifted.
The analysis of the river terraces inside the Sinni valley has allowed the individuation of 7 orders of river terraces. The highest order, the 7th, doesn’t correspond to a real river terrace but it corresponds with the eroded depositional surface of the Serracorneta Conglomerates, whose age is of about 0.6Ma (Benvenuti et al., 2006). To date the lowest terraces we can try to correlate them with the dated marine terraces on the Ionian coast (Amato, 2000), this analysis let us to propose a late Upper Pleistocene for the 1st order terraces of the Sinni valley Considering the age of the highest river terraces and the actual elevation of the Sinni valley it is also possible to establish an incision rate of about 1mm/yr: the incision rate is always greater or equal to the uplift rate, so we can say that the uplift rate of the Sinni valley since 0.6Ma doesn’t exceed 1mm/yr. This uplift rate agrees with the uplift rate that have been proposed by Amato (2000) for the marine terraces on the Ionian coast, where the author proposed an uplift rate comprised between 0.3-1.6mm/yr.
The analysis of the Noce valley river terraces has allowed the grouping of the several mapped fluvial terraces into three main orders: pre-lake, syn-lake and post-lake terraces. There are no absolute date available to date the lake time, so the age of the syn-lake terraces has been obtained using methods of relative chronology, by trying to correlate such terraces with dated marine terraces on the Tyrrhenian coast at the mouth of the Noce river: an Emilian-Sicilian age is proposed for the highest marine terraces at 170m and 140m a.s.l., while a Middle Pleistocene age is proposed for the 80m a.s.l. marine terrace. The oldest marine terraces are extended inside the Noce valley, so it means that at that time the Noce valley was already individuated. In addiction to this we have to consider that, on the basis of morphometrical considerations, such marine terraces are correlable with the river terraces at about 200m a.s.l. individuated in locality Feliceta, inside the Noce valley, and that are referred to the post-lake river terraces. Another important issue is given by the presence of Lagonegro clasts into this marine deposits and, considering that the only area from which these clasts could come from is Mt. Sirino, this data suggests that at the time of the formation of the oldest marine terraces (about 1Ma), Mt. Sirino was already experiencing erosion, so it was very close to the actual morphostructural setting.
The combination of the sedimentological data of the SAnt’Arcagenlo basin and the analysis of the Noce river terraces allowed us to affirm that about 1.5-1Ma Mt. Sirino was already a morphological high which was experiencing erosion, so it means that the rock exhumation processes was finished: the comparison of these data with the thermochronological data suggest that in the period between 2.5Ma and 1.5-1Ma Mt. Sirino has experienced an enhanced rock exhumation that has brought it from an initial situation where it was covered by about 4km of rocks (2.5Ma) to a final situation where it outcrops on the Earth surface and it was subject to the exogenic processes (1.5-1Ma).
This study has highlighted the importance of the morphotectonic approach in the reconstruction of the tectonic events occurred either at a regional scale or at a local scale. In particular, the numerical analysis of digital topographic data has been very useful to the large scale characterization of the Southern Apennines chain landscape. Furthermore, the integration of data provided by the digital analysis technique (e.g. swath profiles, river long profiles and the derived metrics), with the data obtained through the “classical” geomorphological approach, based on morphostructural and morphostratigraphical analyses, has provided new constraints to the reconstruction of the vertical motions which affected the entire chain during the Quaternary.
The main results of this study can be summarized as follows:
- long profiles, elevation of the valley bottoms and the minimum elevation map show that the outer portion of the Southern Apennines (Adriatic and Ionian slopes) has been uplifted more recently and with higher rates than its inner side (Tyrrhenian slope). These data agree with data provided by the analysis of the shorelines, marine terraces and coastal deposits observed on the Ionian belt (Amato, 2000) and the Tyrrhenian margin (Romano, 1992; Caiazzo et al., 2006), which indicate that the Ionian flank has experienced larger uplift, since the Middle Pleistocene, than the Tyrrhenian flank;
- the Ionian rivers show a very steep long profile when they flow into the Sant’Arcangelo basin. This suggests that the post-orogenic uplift recognized by the marine terraces in the foredeep affected also the outer portion of the chain, involving at least the Sant’Arcangelo area;
- by the comparison of the Agri and the Sinni long profile, by the map of the gradient of the first order channel, and by the Ks values (which are higher on the southern portion of the Sant’Arcangelo basin and that decrease moving towards its northern portion) it appears that the uplift in the Sant’Arcangelo area follows a N-S trend. However, further studies are necessary to discern about the reason of such different uplift;
- as regards to the Middle Pleistocene to Present uplift trend, the above observations indicate that the uplift increases towards the west, probably reaching the chain axis. Coeval uplift in the Tyrrhenian margin (as estimated by elevation of Middle to Late Pleistocene marine terraces shorelines; Romano, 1992; Caiazzo et al., 2006; Filocamo, 2006) was much lower, not exceeding about 100 m. These evidences suggest that the uplift trend of the outer flank of the chain is not recognizable in the whole orogen. The western boundary of the more rapidly uplifting belt can be tentatively located in correspondence to the deep-seated normal faults that have formed the several Quaternary intramontane basins;
- the stronger post-orogenic uplift occurred on the outer side of the chain since the Middle Pleistocene has determined a minor ability of the Adriatic and Ionian rivers (which experienced a continuous downcutting) to compete with the Tyrrhenian rivers. This fact is enhanced by the comparison of the valley bottoms, which are higher for the rivers flowing on the outer flank than for the rivers flowing on the inner flank of the chain. This has probably contributed, together with regressive river erosion due to the extensional tectonics on the Tyrrhenian margin (see sec. 3.5), in the decoupling between the maximum elevation line and the main divide, which is one of the peculiar features of the Southern Apennines chain;
- the combination of the field analysis together with the morphological and morphometrical analysis of the Noce-Sirino-Alpi-Sant’Arcangelo transect allowed us to affirm that during the late Lower Pleistocene Mt. Sirino was already a morphological high which was experiencing erosion, so it means that the rock exhumation processes was finished;
- this data is confirmed by the analysis of the river terraces of the Noce valley: the lacustrine conditions have been dated (by methods of relative chronology on the basis of the morphological relationships among the fluvial terraces of the Noce valley and dated marine terraces on the Tyrrhenian coast close to the Noce mouth) to the middle Lower Pleistocene, and the recognition of Lagonegro clasts inside the oldest marine deposits (Lower Pleistocene) suggests that at that time there was an active drainage from Mt. Sirino to the south, and so Mt. Sirino was already a morphological high subject to the erosional processes and able to produce debris, and the lake didn’t exist anymore;
- in addiction to this, we have to consider that since its exhumation, Mt. Sirino corresponds to the location of the Apennine divide, representing one of the few portion of the Southern Apennines where there is a coincidence between the maximum elevation line and the divide location. This situation is partly recognized also in Monti Picentini area, where the two lines (divide and maximum elevation lines) are very close. The Sirino and the Picentini ridge are two areas t
Growth rates of marine prokaryotes are extremely diverse, even among closely related taxa
No full text14 pages, 7 figures, 1 table. © The Author(s) 2024. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of the International Society for Microbial Ecology. This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted reuse, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.Marine prokaryotes play crucial roles in ocean biogeochemical cycles, being their contribution strongly influenced by their growth rates. Hence, elucidating the variability and phylogenetic imprint of marine prokaryotes' growth rates are crucial for better determining the role of individual taxa in biogeochemical cycles. Here, we estimated prokaryotic growth rates at high phylogenetic resolution in manipulation experiments using water from the northwestern Mediterranean Sea. Experiments were run in the four seasons with different treatments that reduced growth limiting factors: predators, nutrient availability, viruses, and light. Single-amplicon sequence variants (ASVs)-based growth rates were calculated from changes in estimated absolute abundances using total prokaryotic abundance and the proportion of each individual ASV. The trends obtained for growth rates in the different experiments were consistent with other estimates based on total cell-counts, CARD-FISH subcommunity cell-counts or metagenomic-OTUs. Our calculations unveil a broad range of growth rates [0.3-10 d-1] with significant variability even within closely related ASVs. Likewise, the impact of growth limiting factors changed over the year for individual ASVs. High numbers of responsive ASVs were shared between winter and spring seasons, as well as throughout the year in the treatments with reduced nutrient limitation and viral pressure. The most responsive ASVs were rare in the in situ communities, comprising a large pool of taxa with the potential to rapidly respond to environmental changes. Essentially, our results highlight the lack of phylogenetic coherence in the range of growth rates observed, and differential responses to the various limiting factors, even for closely related taxaThis research was supported by grants REMEI (CTM2015-70340-R) and MIAU (RTI2018-101025-B-100) funded by the Spanish Ministry of Science and Innovation. We acknowledge the ‘Severo Ochoa Centre of Excellence’ accreditation (CEX2019-000928-S). Adrià Auladell and Ona Deulofeu-Capo were supported by Spanish FPI grantsWith funding from the Spanish government through the ‘Severo Ochoa Centre of Excellence’ accreditation (CEX2019-000928-S).Peer reviewe
The Postmodern Turkish Novel\u27s Resistance to the Return of Nationalism
No full textTurkish Novel’s Resistance to the Return of the Nationalism The emergence of the first wave of nationalism in the late 18th, the early 19th century was underpinned not only by traditional historiography but also by the historical novels written to verify the legitimacy assertions of the nationhood ideals. Although at that time historical novels were not considered as passable as history books whose faculty to represent the facts was not in question, still, they served in the gathering of the people on the distant peripheries around the same central idea of commonality, perhaps, even more effectively than historiography did. The novel, along with the newspapers, as Benedict Anderson and the others argued, was the most efficient medium in concretizing the ambiguous nation imagination with the effective use of vernacular, the function to employ different writing styles, and the inherent claim to represent every member of the nation. The utilization of the novel, especially of the romantic novel, in strengthening the foundations of the nation-state, first had started in the Western countries and then spread to the all the world, including the colonies of those Western countries. This kind of utilization of the novel continued after the end of the World War II, by drawing the new borders for the new nation-states and new colonies in the world. Turkey, once a big empire with many multi-national possessions, experienced the binary positions of nationalism, during and after its Independence War (1919–1922) against the Allied Powers. Before the World War I, as Ottoman Empire, it had strived to protect its vast territories with the help of the ideal of Ottomanism that referred to the equality of every citizen of the Empire without any religious or ethnic division. But, in the end, this and other overarching ideas, such as ‘Islamism’ or ‘Westernism’, could not hold against the nationalism\u27s aura. Primarily, Ottoman Empire started to lose its elements in the Balkans subsequent to a series of nationalistic revolts, then the heavy loss of the World War I came. The intelligentsia was already offering the solution as Pan-Turkism; the attempts of imperial powers to share the fields of the country among its neighbors and stateless subjects, and then to colonize the remaining parts, only helped to consolidate them around nationhood ideal. Winning the Independence War, the founder of Turkish Republic, Mustafa Kemal Atatürk (1881–1938) and his staff officers established the Turkish Republic in 1923 upon the base of one nation (Turks), one religion (Islam), and one sect (Sunnism). The concept was similar to the other nation-state building processes; initially, the deportation/extermination of the elements having a different religious identity, and the assimilation of the elements having a different ethnicity, or a different sect of Islam, in the melting pot of Turk-Islamism. The role of the novelists was crucial in fulfilment of the theoretical, moreover, it was expected to show a parallelism with the suggestions of historiographers. The expectation was met, but, it also created a problem of representation. Because the presupposed real being represented was the reality of the dominant subject. However, there was still a significant amount of cultural, ethnic, and religious minorities living in the country, yet excluded from the circuit of representation. The emergence of postmodernism has shifted this paradigm which was preoccupied with the reproduction of the discourse of the dominant. Against the canonized robustness of the modernist representation and referentiality, postmodern fiction, by availing of post-structuralism, offers to turn the tables in favor of the oppressed ones. Postmodernist literature has redefined the concept of the historical fiction by diverting its course from a central, singular, and homogeneous position to a peripheral, plural, and heterogeneous direction. Postmodern historical fiction, or by the term “historiographic metafiction” as Linda Hutcheon has coined, designates a narration with two predominant features; a) It is principally a retelling of a historical occurrence from a counter-position against the supposed factuality of the original story, and b) It contains the self-reflexivity of its author which enables him/her to question boundary between fact and fiction, if there is any at all. Obviously, Hutcheon’s conception upon this particular category of postmodern fiction was mainly derived from the approach which stresses the inherent narratological characteristics in history writing, argued by Hayden White, and other theoreticians. What is my research question in this work is how successfully historiographic metafiction is utilized by postmodern writers in Turkish literature. Has postmodernism been able to challenge the traditional admissions of representation in Turkey? What kind of resistance can provide postmodern literature after the return of the second big wave of nationalism, especially, in a strongly nationalist country, like Turkey? In order to respond to these questions, I offer to analyze a certain postmodern text, The Black Book (“Kara Kitap” 1990; in English 1994), written by acclaimed contemporary Turkish writer Orhan Pamuk (1952–)
Individual variability in esterase activity and CYP1A levels in Chinook salmon (Oncorhynchus tshawytscha) exposed to esfenvalerate and chlorpyrifos
No full textAbstract Acetylcholinesterase (AChE) activity has traditionally been monitored as a biomarker of organophosphate (OP) and/or carbamate exposure. However, AChE activity may not be the most sensitive endpoint for these agrochemicals, because OPs can cause adverse physiological effects at concentrations that do not affect AChE activity. Carboxylesterases are a related family of enzymes that have higher affinity than AChE for some OPs and carbamates and may be more sensitive indicators of environmental exposure to these pesticides. In this study, carboxylesterase and AChE activity, cytochrome P4501A (CYP1A) protein levels, and mortality were measured in individual juvenile Chinook salmon (Oncorhynchus tshawytscha) following exposure to an OP (chlorpyrifos) and a pyrethroid (esfenvalerate). As expected, high doses of chlorpyrifos and esfenvalerate were acutely toxic, with nominal concentrations (100 and 1 g/l, respectively) causing 100% mortality within 96 h. Exposure to chlorpyrifos at a high dose (7.3 g/l), but not a low dose (1.2 g/l), significantly inhibited AChE activity in both brain and muscle tissue (85% and 92% inhibition, respectively), while esfenvalerate exposure had no effect. In contrast, liver carboxylesterase activity was significantly inhibited at both the low and high chlorpyrifos dose exposure (56% and 79% inhibition, respectively), while esfenvalerate exposure still had little effect. The inhibition of carboxylesterase activity at levels of chlorpyrifos that did not affect AChE activity suggests that some salmon carboxylesterase isozymes may be more sensitive than AChE to inhibition by OPs. CYP1A protein levels were ∼30% suppressed by chlorpyrifos exposure at the high dose, but esfenvalerate had no effect. Three teleost species, Chinook salmon, medaka (Oryzias latipes) and Sacramento splittail (Pogonichthys macrolepidotus), were examined for their ability to hydrolyze a series of pyrethroid surrogate substrates and in all cases hydrolysis activity was undetectable. * Corresponding author. Wheelock et al. / Aquatic Toxicology 74 (2005) 172-192 173 Together these data suggest that (1) carboxylesterase activity inhibition may be a more sensitive biomarker for OP exposure than AChE activity, (2) neither AChE nor carboxylesterase activity are biomarkers for pyrethroid exposure, (3) CYP1A protein is not a sensitive marker for these agrochemicals and (4) slow hydrolysis rates may be partly responsible for acute pyrethroid toxicity in fish
Robotic Innovations in Support of the Healthcare Workers Against COVID-19 - DIH-HERO Perspective
No full textPublisher Copyright: © 2022, The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG.Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) has affected the conditions of work in healthcare institutions and the quality of patient care around the world. Emerging healthcare robotic technology may facilitate and improve the overall quality of life, as well as the diagnostics, rehabilitation, and intervention services. This paper reports the lessons learned from actions carried out in the implementation of the DIH-HERO project call across Europe for robotic solutions that support healthcare activities. Conclusion remarks are as follows: i) technology pull and the urgent need together accelerate the innovation development and deployment, ii) it takes time to establish safety and legal regulations for the deployment of human-machine devices, so the ethical, safety, and reliability aspects of robotic application need to be carefully considered, iii) technology adoption depends on the trust of the users to the technology, iv) existing robotic technology for prevention, diagnosis, hospital admission, rehabilitation, and intervention is mature enough for the adaptation and deployment, v) unskilled general population should be trained for the usage of robotic technology.Peer reviewe
