Possible trace fossils of putative termite origin in the Lower Jurassic (Karoo Supergroup) of South Africa and Lesotho

Complex structures in the sandstones of the Lower Jurassic aeolian Clarens Formation (Karoo Supergroup) are found at numerous localities throughout southern Africa, and can be assigned to five distinct architectural groups: (1) up to 3.3-m high, free-standing, slab-shaped forms of bioturbated sandstones with elliptical bases, orientated buttresses and an interconnecting large burrow system; (2) up to 1.2-m high, free-standing, irregular forms of bioturbated sandstones with 2-cm to 4-cm thick, massive walls, empty chambers and vertical shafts; (3) about 0.15-m to 0.25-m high, mainly bulbous, multiple forms with thin walls (<2 cm), hollow chambers with internal pillars and bridges; (4) about 0.15-m to 0.2-m (maximum 1-m) high, free-standing forms of aggregated solitary spheres associated with massive horizontal, orientated capsules or tubes, and meniscate tubes; and (5) about 5 cmin diameter, ovoid forms with weak internal shelving in a close-fitting cavity. Based on size, wall thickness, orientation and the presence of internal chambers, these complex structures are tentatively interpreted as ichnofossils of an Early Jurassic social organism; the different architectures are reflective of the different behaviours of more than one species, the history of structural change in architectural forms (ontogenetic series) or an architectural adaptation to local palaeoclimatic variability. While exact modern equivalents are unknown, some of these ichnofossils are comparable to nests (or parts of nests) constructed by extant termites, and thus these Jurassic structures are very tentatively interpreted here as having been made by a soil-dwelling social organism, probably of termite origin. This southern African discovery, along with reported Triassic and Jurassic termite ichnofossils from North America, supports previous hypotheses that sociality in insects, particularity in termites, likely evolved prior to the Pangea breakup in the Early Mesozoic

Porózus dekoratív kerámiatermékek előállítási lehetőségeinek vizsgálata téglaagyag és alumínium-oxid porok felhasználásával

By using conventional brick and aluminum oxide raw material, the authors have developed a new ceramic composite that can be used for decorative coating of floor heating systems. The powdery ingredients mixed with fine granular sawdust were mixed, and cylindrical specimens were compacted with uniaxial pressure. The samples were incinerated at a temperature of 1050°C, 1150°C and 1250°C in the electrically heated chamber furnace. The results obtained by the authors shows the effect of the mixture composition and the heat treatment conditions on the shrinkage, porosity and thermal conductivity of the prepared specimens as well as the physical properties of the product as the color.Hagyományos téglaagyag és a műszaki kerámiaipari alapanyagként ismert alumíniumoxid felhasználásával a szerzők olyan új kerámia kompozitot fejlesztettek ki, amely felhasználható padlófűtési rendszerek dekoratív burkolására. A porszerű alapanyagokból finom szemcsés fűrészporral több összetétel alkalmazásával keverékeket készítettek, majd egytengelyű porsajtolással henger formájú próbatesteket sajtoltak. A minták égetése 1050°C, 1150°C illetve 1250°C-os maximális hőmérséklettel történt elektromos fűtésű kamrás kemencében. A szerzők által kapott vizsgálati eredmények jól mutatják a keverék összetétel és a hőkezelési körülmények hatását az elkészült próbatestek zsugorodására, porozitására, hővezető-képességére, valamint a termék olyan fizikai tulajdonságaira is, mint a szín.&nbsp

The NSEAD Survey Report 2015-16: Political Reflections from Two Art and Design Educators

In 2015 the (UK) National Society for Education in Art and Design [NSEAD] conducted their biggest and most comprehensive survey to date with art and design educators. 1191 teachers and lecturers employed in early years to further education settings across England and Wales responded to the survey, which aimed to capture how government policy since 2010 has affected art and design education. Four key areas were examined: curriculum provision; value given to the subject within the school community; professional development opportunities; and well-being and workload. The results are troubling, indicating a systemic marginalisation of art and design across all sectors, evident in a reduction in choice, provision and curriculum time, and evidence of falling standards in student attainment at primary to secondary transfer. We supported the NSEAD with constructing the survey and writing the report and in this paper we utilise the Survey Report to fuel a broader discussion about our concerns regarding the demise of art and design education. Value is identified as an essential theme and we posit that our subject, largely due to neoliberalist policy agendas, is currently perceived as a ‘bimbo’: attractive, but unintelligent and frivolous. In this article we pay particular attention to the value of art and design education from a political perspective, challenging narrow government agendas

A Holocene "frozen accident": sediments of extreme paleofloods and fires in the bedrock-confined upper Huis River, Western Cape, South Africa

Wildfires and flooding events are common and are forceful intrinsic controls over landscape evolution, biodiversity, and preserved sediment architecture in dryland environments. Charcoal-bearing Holocene flood sediments of the upper Huis River provide a rare perspective on the powerful and episodic sedimentary processes in a bedrock-confined fluvial setting in the tectonically stable SW Cape Fold Belt in South Africa. The sediments described in this paper are associated with high-magnitude, debris-flow-dominated paleofloods, and their charcoal content is linked to a series of radiocarbon-dated Holocene paleofires that occurred from ∼ 2165 ± 37 BP to ∼ 653 ± 35 BP. The five sedimentary facies associations are documented as products of: a) noncohesive pseudoplastic debris flows; b) transitional, high-matrix-strength debris flows with heterogeneous fluid content and flow behavior; c) low-cohesion debris flows; d) hyperconcentrated flows; and e) fluvial channel flow in the upper Huis River. The last is interpreted mainly from massive, subrounded to subangular boulder bars, which provide key evidence for the dramatic scouring of the upper Huis valley. The paleofloods, which not only filled the valley with debris-flow sediments up to 12 m thick, but also subsequently flushed it out nearly to the bedrock, had estimated extreme discharges of few thousands of m3/s. In summary, the upper Huis River sediments are exceptional because they preserve the geological record of recurring fires, and at least three extreme paleofloods (i.e., massive sedimentation events) over a period of ∼ 1500 years in an area typified by the fire-prone and fire-dependent Fynbos Biome. Furthermore, this study provides insights into what the gaps in the commonly fragmented bedrock-confined alluvial stratigraphic record would be like, should there be “more record than gap.

Porózus dekoratív kerámiatermékek előállítási lehetőségeinek vizsgálata téglaagyag és alumínium-oxid porok felhasználásával

Absztrakt: Hagyományos téglaagyag és a műszaki kerámiaipari alapanyagként ismert alumíniumoxid felhasználásával a szerzők olyan új kerámia kompozitot fejlesztettek ki, amely felhasználható padlófűtési rendszerek dekoratív burkolására. A porszerű alapanyagokból finom szemcsés fűrészporral több összetétel alkalmazásával keverékeket készítettek, majd egytengelyű porsajtolással henger formájú próbatesteket sajtoltak. A minták égetése 1050°C, 1150°C illetve 1250°C-os maximális hőmérséklettel történt elektromos fűtésű kamrás kemencében. A szerzők által kapott vizsgálati eredmények jól mutatják a keverék összetétel és a hőkezelési körülmények hatását az elkészült próbatestek zsugorodására, porozitására, hővezető-képességére, valamint a termék olyan fizikai tulajdonságaira is, mint a szín. Abstract: By using conventional brick and aluminum oxide raw material, the authors have developed a new ceramic composite that can be used for decorative coating of floor heating systems. The powdery ingredients mixed with fine granular sawdust were mixed, and cylindrical specimens were compacted with uniaxial pressure. The samples were incinerated at a temperature of 1050°C, 1150°C and 1250°C in the electrically heated chamber furnace. The results obtained by the authors shows the effect of the mixture composition and the heat treatment conditions on the shrinkage, porosity and thermal conductivity of the prepared specimens as well as the physical properties of the product as the color