82 research outputs found

    Nuclear physics for cultural heritage

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    We report about the expert review, published by the Nuclear Physics Division of the European Physical Society (NPD EPS), which aims to provide the public with a popular and accessible account of the latest developments in the field of nuclear physics application for cultural heritage. The contributions from a range of leading specialists explain how applied atomic and nuclear techniques can be used to obtain information that can help us to understand the way of life in ancient times and how they can be used to conserve cultural heritage treasures. This topical review draws heavily on European work and is extensively illustrated with important discoveries and examples from archaeology, pre-history, history, geography, culture, religion and curation. It outlines key advances in a wide range of cross-disciplinary techniques and has been written with the minimum of technical detail so as to be accessible by as wide as possible audience. The large number of groups and laboratories working in the study and preservation of cultural heritage using mainly nuclear physics methods across Europe indicates the enormous effort and importance paid by society to this activity

    Historical ‘signposts’ and other temporal indicators in the Czech lexicon

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    This article posits that the Czechs employ a great many historical markers, previously applied to other events of national importance, which help to shape collective memory and right the ‘wrongs’ of the past. It is argued that these temporal indicators share a number of clearly defined characteristics, and that their use is too systematic and calculated to be merely a function of the constraints of the lexicon. The first part of the study considers in detail questions of semantics (especially the distinction between denotation and connotation), the lexicographical sources available to the researcher, and the lexical ‘signpost’ in context, while the second part focuses on practical examples of lexical re-appropriation since 1918, with particular reference to dictionaries and the Czech National Corpus.University of Wolverhampto

    Early Warning Indicators of Crisis Incidence: Evidence from a Panel of 40 Developed Countries

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    Standard-Nutzungsbedingungen: Die Dokumente auf EconStor dürfen zu eigenen wissenschaftlichen Zwecken und zum Privatgebrauch gespeichert und kopiert werden. Sie dürfen die Dokumente nicht für öffentliche oder kommerzielle Zwecke vervielfältigen, öffentlich ausstellen, öffentlich zugänglich machen, vertreiben oder anderweitig nutzen. Sofern die Verfasser die Dokumente unter Open-Content-Lizenzen (insbesondere CC-Lizenzen) zur Verfügung gestellt haben sollten, gelten abweichend von diesen Nutzungsbedingungen die in der dort genannten Lizenz gewährten Nutzungsrechte. Abstract: Terms of use: Documents in We provide a critical review of the literature on early warning indicators of economics crises and propose methods to overcome several pitfalls of the previous contributions. We use a quarterly panel of 40 EU and OECD countries for the period 1970-2010. As the response variable, we construct a continuous index of crisis incidence capturing the real costs for the economy. As the potential warning indicators, we evaluate a wide range of variables, selected according to the previous literature and our own considerations. For each potential indicator we determine the optimal lead employing panel vector autoregression, then we select useful indicators employing Bayesian model averaging. We re-estimate the resulting specification by system GMM to account for potential endogeneity of some indicators. Subsequently, to allow for country heterogeneity, we evaluate the random coefficients estimator and illustrate the stability among endogenous clusters. Our results suggest that global variables rank among the most useful early warning indicators. In addition, housing prices emerge consistently as an important domestic source of risk

    Uptake and elimination kinetics of the biocide triclosan and the synthetic musks galaxolide and tonalide in the earthworm Dendrobaena veneta when exposed to sewage sludge

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    Sewage sludge is an important amendment that enriches soils with organic matter and provides plants with nutrients such as nitrogen and phosphorus. However, knowledge on the fate and effects of organic pollutants present in the sludge on soil organismsis limited. In the present study, the uptake of triclosan, galaxolide, and tonalide in the earthworm Dendrobaena veneta was measured 1 wk after amendment of agricultural soil with sewage sludge, while elimination kinetics were assessed over a 21-d period after transferring worms to clean soil. After 1-wk exposure, earthworms had accumulated 2.6 +/- 0.6 mu g g(-1) galaxolide, 0.04 +/- 0.02 mu g g(-1) tonalide, and 0.6 +/- 0.2 mu g g(-1) triclosan. Both synthetic musks were efficiently excreted and below the limit of quantification after 3 and 14 d of depuration for tonalide and galaxolide, respectively. Triclosan concentrations, on the other hand, did not decrease significantly over the depuration period, which may lead to the transfer of triclosan in the food web.Web of Science3682073206

    Study of secondary instability of precursor magnetic island in COMPASS density limit disruptions

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    A systematic study of COMPASS density limit disruptions (DLDs) was carried out to analyze the relation between the precursor magnetic island and its secondary instability (SI). In all of these plasmas, the SI was always found present at the onset of energy confinement erosion. The duration of this erosion was shorter for precursor quasi-locked island than for rotating island, and the larger the island amplitude, the shorter the duration. It was also found, at the onset of the erosion of energy confinement, an inverse relation between the magnetic island amplitude and its rotation frequency, showing that erosion can start at different values of precursor island amplitude, depending on what is its rotation frequency. DLDs occur either with smaller precursor island rotating faster or larger island rotating slower (quasi-locked). (c) 2020 Author(s)
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