Lunar cycles and rainy seasons drive growth and reproduction in nummulitid foraminifera, important producers of carbonate buildups

Representatives of the foraminifer Nummulites are important in Earth history for timing Cenozoic shallow-water carbonates. Taphonomic complexity explains the construction of carbonate buildups, but reproduction and life span of the constructing individuals are unknown. During the 15-month investigation period, asexually reproduced schizonts and gamonts showed equal proportions in the first half of this period, whereas gamonts predominated in the second half. Oscillations in cell growth are mainly caused by light intensities during chamber construction when minor differences in water depth increase the photosynthetic rate of endosymbiotic diatoms during neap tides. The continuous reproduction rate of N. venosus throughout the year is increased in subtropical calms by higher summer temperatures and the marginal input of inorganic nutrients during rainy seasons. The expected life span of both gamonts and schizonts are 18 month

Price Competitiveness in the European Monetary Union: A Decomposition of Inflation Differentials based on the Leontief Input-Output Price Model for the Period 2000 to 2014

This paper studies the persistent producer price inflation differentials within the European Monetary Union. By applying a decomposition procedure within the input-output framework, the drivers of sectoral producer price inflation in a representative sample of member states are re-vealed. We find that in the pre-crisis period (2001-2008) the inflation differentials in manufactur-ing and market services of all countries vis-à-vis Germany were consistently positive resulting in a loss of price competitiveness for all economies. Manufacturing and market service sectors of many countries continued to lose price competitiveness, though to a lesser extent, also during the crisis period (2009-2014). We observe that differences in unit labour cost developments across countries constitute an important driver, especially in the pre-crisis period. Other drivers, such as import costs, intermediate input costs and operating surpluses also contribute, in particular dur¬ing the crisis period

Economy 4.0: Employment effects by occupation, industry, and gender

The aim of this study is to investigate how the diffusion of the new digital technologies (Economy 4.0-technologies) effects the magnitude and composition of employment in Austria. For this purpose, an input-output framework is adopted taking into account direct as well as indirect effects of the new technologies by industry, occupation and gender. These employment effects are estimated as the difference between a base economy (as represented by the most recent Austrian input-output table) and the same economy after an assumed 10-year transformation period with the introduction of new production technologies and devel-opment of new products for final demand. Based on substitution potentials estimated on de-tailed occupational level available from previous research, we model the changes in labour productivity. Combining two different scenarios of labour productivity change with two dif-ferent assumptions about collective wage bargaining outcomes gives us four possible scenari¬os of macroeconomic paths of Economy 4.0. The results show that due to Economy 4.0 dur¬ing the next 10 years job displacement will probably be greater than job creation and aggre¬gate employment will decline by 0.80% to 4.81% relative to total present employment. Fur-thermore, the results indicate that occupations gaining in employment are highly skilled while the occupations losing in employment are medium-skilled. Hereby, the female workers are adversely affected in terms of employment and labour income

Growth of Heterostegina depressa under natural and laboratory conditions

The use of micro-computed tomography (\uce\ubcCT) provides a unique opportunity to look inside the shells of larger benthic foraminifera to investigate their structure by measuring linear and volumetric parameters. For this study, gamonts/schizonts and agamonts of the species Heterostegina depressa d'Orbigny were examined by \uce\ubcCT; each single chamber's volume was digitally measured. This approach enables cell growth to be recognised in terms of chamber volume sequence, which progressively increases until reproduction occurs. This sequence represents the ontogeny of the foraminiferal cell and has been used here to investigate controlling factors potentially affecting the process of chamber formation. This is manifested as instantaneous or periodic deviations of the realised chamber volumes derived from modelled growth functions. The results obtained on naturally grown specimens show oscillations in chamber volumes which can be modelled by sums of sinusoidal functions. A set of functions with similar periods in all investigated specimens points to lunar and tidal cycles.To determine whether such cyclic signals are genuine and not the effects of a theoretical model, the same analysis was conducted on specimens held in a closed laboratory facility, as they should not be affected by natural environmental effects. Surprisingly, similar cyclicities were observed in such samples. However, a solely genetic origin of these cycles couldn't be verified either. Therefore, detailed analysis on the phase equality of these growth oscillations have been done. This approach is pivotal for proving that the oscillatory patterns discovered in LBF are indeed genuine signals, and on how chamber growth might be influenced by tidal currents or lunar months

Larger foraminifera of the Devil's Den and Blue Hole sinkholes, Florida

Abstract. Shallow-water carbonate deposits are well-known from the Eocene of the US Gulf Coast and Caribbean. These deposits frequently contain abundant larger benthic foraminifera (LBF). However, whilst integrated stratigraphic studies have helped to refine the timing of LBF overturning events within the Tethys and Indo-Pacific regions with respect to global bio- and chemo-stratigraphic records, little recent work has been carried out in the Americas. The American LBF assemblages are distinctly different from those of Europe and the Indo-Pacific. It is therefore essential that the American bio-province is included in studies of LBF evolution, biodiversity and climate events to understand these processes on a global scale. Here we present the LBF ranges from two previously unpublished sections spanning 35 and 29 m of the upper Eocene Ocala limestone, as the early stages of a larger project addressing the taxonomy and biostratigraphy of the LBF of Florida. The study indicates that the lower member of the Ocala limestone may be Bartonian rather than Priabonian in age, with implications for the biostratigraphy of the region. In addition, the study highlights the need for multiple sites to assess the LBF assemblages and fully constrain ranges across Florida and the US Gulf and suggests potential LBF events for future integrated stratigraphic study.</jats:p

Pandemie und Wertewandel? Verschiebungen von Wertprioritäten in der österreichischen Bevölkerung und in einzelnen Wähler*innenschichten als Reaktion auf die COVID-19-Pandemie

Soziologische Zeitdiagnosen suggerieren, dass tiefgreifende gesellschaftliche Krisen wie die COVID-19-Pandemie unsere Wertorientierungen infrage stellen und auch relativ kurzfristig ändern könn(t)en. Von dieser Beobachtung ausgehend, wird untersucht, ob es in Österreich im Zeitraum Mai 2020 bis März/April 2021 zu signifikanten Verschiebungen von Wertprioritäten nach der Skala von Shalom Schwartz kam. Als Datenmaterial dienen die beiden ersten Wellen der Panelstudie Values in Crisis. Für die Interpretation der Ergebnisse sind zwei theoretische Annahmen zentral: erstens die These eines zunehmenden Konservatismus und zweitens die These der Wirkmacht politischer Diskurse in Zeiten des (wieder)aufkeimenden Populismus. Besondere Berücksichtigung findet im Beitrag zudem eine methodologische Auseinandersetzung mit dem Wandel der Bedeutung von Fragebogenitems aufgrund der COVID-19-Pandemie. Die empirischen Analysen bestätigen - entgegen einigen aktuellen Zeitdiagnosen - eine deutliche Stabilität von Wertorientierungen. Verändert hat sich vor allem der Wert der Konformität, indem er für einen Teil der Bevölkerung wichtiger wurde; gleichzeitig verlor der Wunsch nach einer hedonistischen Lebensweise etwas an Bedeutung. Konformität wurde insbesondere für die Wähler*innen der Regierungsparteien wichtiger, während sich dieser Trend vor allem bei den Wähler*innen der FPÖ nicht zeigte. Da die beobachteten Verschiebungen von Wertprioritäten vor allem "pandemie-sensible" Wertedimensionen betreffen, lässt sich auf der Basis der vorliegenden Ergebnisse insgesamt eher von einer kurzfristigen Reaktion auf die Krise und weniger von einem längerfristigen Wertewandel ausgehen.Recent sociological diagnoses suggest that profound social crises such as the COVID-19 pandemic challenge our value orientations and could change them even in the relatively short term. Based on this observation, we investigate whether significant shifts in value priorities according to the Shalom Schwartz scale took place in Austria in the period May 2020 to March/April 2021. The first two waves of the Values in Crisis panel study serve as data material. Two theoretical assumptions are central to the interpretation of the results: first, the thesis of a trend toward conservatism and second, the thesis of the effective power of political discourses in times of (re)emerging populism. The article also pays special attention to a methodological discussion of changes in the meaning of questionnaire items due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The empirical analyses confirm a clear stability of value orientations. Above all, the value of conformity has changed, becoming more important for a significant part of the population; at the same time, the desire for a hedonistic lifestyle lost some of its importance. Conformity became more important, particularly for voters of the governing political parties, while this trend was not apparent, especially among voters of the FPÖ. Since the observed shift in value priorities mainly concerns “pandemic-sensitive” value dimensions, the results suggest a short-term reaction to the crisis rather than a long-term change in values