Kriechbewegungen in den neogenen Beckensedimenten des Burgenlandes

In den drei Neogenbecken des Burgenlandes, Eisenstädter Becken, Oberpullendorfer Becken und Steirisches Becken (burgenländischer Anteil), werden 237 bisher nicht beschriebene, aktive Kriechbewegungen in Lockersedimenten dokumentiert. Es wird aufgezeigt, dass die bisher kaum wahrgenommenen, tiefgreifenden und teilweise großflächigen Kriechbewegungen ein häufig auftretendes Phänomen in den Lockersedimenten des Burgenlandes darstellen, dass direkt oder indirekt zu erheblichen Schäden an Gebäuden und Infrastrukturanlagen geführt hat. Damit verfolgt die Arbeit einen regionalen und stark auf Feld- und Geländearbeit bezogenen Ansatz. Gleichzeitig wird auf ausgewählte Kriechbewegungen, in Form von geotechnischen Untersuchungen und deren Interpretation im Sinne der Technischen Geologie, detailliert eingegangen. Dieses Vorgehen ermöglicht Aussagen über den Bewegungsmechanismus der Kriechbewegungen. Geotechnische Labor- und Felduntersuchungen, Inklinometermessungen und deren Interpretation in Profil-schnitten erlauben die Zuordnung der Kriechbewegungen zum Bewegungsmechanismus des „Massenkrie-chens“ (tiefgründiges, kontinuierliches Kriechen), wobei häufig Übergänge zum „progressiven Kriechen“ bestehen. Dabei kommt es aus geotechnischer Sicht bereits zum Bruch des Untergrundmaterials und damit zur Ausbildung von durchgehenden Scherflächen. Die Kriechbewegungen werden deshalb auch als Initialstadium für schnellere Massenbewegungen gemäß dem Prozess Rutschen/Gleiten und Fließen interpretiert. Anthropogene Eingriffe in die Vegetation, in den Hangwasserhaushalt und Auflastsituationen schwächen das sensible Stabilitätsgleichgewicht der Hänge, sie sind jedoch nur selten die tatsächlichen Auslöser der Massenbewegungen. Obwohl im Eisenstädter Becken auch seismische Aktivität als natürliche Auslösemechanismus zu berücksichtigen ist, sind starke Niederschlagsereignisse die unmittelbaren, natürliche Auslöser der Kriechbewegungen und der schnelleren Massenbewegungen.In the three Neogene basins of Burgenland, the Eisenstadt Basin, the Oberpullendorf Basin and the Styrian Basin (Burgenland part), 237 active, but previously unspecified areas of creep are documented. It will be pointed out that previously barely noticed, far reaching and partially extensive areas of creep present a fre-quently occurring phenomenon in the Neogene sediments of Burgenland. They have directly and indirectly caused significant damages on buildings and infrastructure. Thus the approach of this work is region and fieldwork focused. At the same time, selected creep movements will be covered in detail in form of geo-technical investigations and their interpretation in terms of engineering geology. This approach facilitates conclusions about the moving mechanism of the creep movements. Geotechnical laboratory and field investigations, inclinometric surveys and their interpretation through cross sections allow the allocation of creep movements towards the deformation mechanism of “Mass Creep” (deep-seated, continuous creep), whereat frequent transitions to “Progressive Creep” exist. From a geo-technical viewpoint failure of the soil has thereby already occurred and continuous shear zones are devel-oped. As a result the creep movements are also regarded as an initial stage of faster moving landslides, such as slides and flows. Anthropogenic modifications of the vegetation, the hydrological balance of slopes and the external load of slopes weaken the sensible stability balance of the slopes, but rarely trigger the movements. Although seismic activity also has to be considered in the Eisenstadt basin, heavy precipitation events are the instantaneous natural triggers of the creep movements and faster moving landslides

Transitory Income Shocks and Essential Household Consumption Expenditures in Rural Kenya

Majority of rural households in developing economies derive their livelihoods from agriculture, a sector that is highly prone to transitory shocks. In the absence of effective coping mechanisms, these households are unable to smoothen consumption and are thus likely to experience fluctuations in consumption expenditures. This study examines the effect of transitory income shocks on different categories of household expenditures, focusing on spending on essential goods and services such as food, health and education in rural Kenya. The study explores the heterogeneity in households and consumption to test the permanent income hypothesis using a sample of 5,828 rural households disaggregated along two distinct agro-ecological zones. Decomposing household income into permanent and transitory components failed to yield distinct estimates of permanent and transitory incomes when applied to this study’s data. We therefore modified the estimation approach to capture the effect of transitory income shocks by introducing a dummy of crop loss in the household expenditure equation. Our results show that in the countrywide sample, households that experienced crop loss had a statistically significant reduction in the aggregate, food and non-food expenditures compared to the ones that did not. For the high and medium potential agro-ecological zones sample, we found that consumption expenditures were not associated with crop loss. In the arid and semi-arid zones sample, aggregate and food expenditures reduced for households affected by crop loss. The findings provide a basis of policy recommendations on the need for the existing government poverty alleviation programmes to focus on drivers of impoverishment such as transitory income shocks. Keywords: transitory income shocks, consumption expenditure, agro-ecological zones, Kenya DOI: 10.7176/JESD/10-12-04 Publication date:June 30th 201

Vacuum drying soil samples is a low-temperature alternative to conventional oven drying when determining soil water repellence

Here we investigated a low-temperature (20˚C) soil drying technique to generate soil water contents equivalent to those achieved by conventional oven drying (105˚C). The effect of drying temperature, plus aeration status (oxic or anoxic), on SWR was also investigated

Assessing uncertainties in landslide susceptibility predictions in a changing environment (Styrian Basin, Austria)

The assessment of uncertainties in landslide susceptibility modelling in a changing environment is an important, yet often neglected, task. In an Austrian case study, we investigated the uncertainty cascade in storylines of landslide susceptibility emerging from climate change and parametric landslide model uncertainty. In June 2009, extreme events of heavy thunderstorms occurred in the Styrian Basin, triggering thousands of landslides. Using a storyline approach, we discovered a generally lower landslide susceptibility for the pre-industrial climate, while for the future climate (2071–2100) a potential increase of 35 % in highly susceptible areas (storyline of much heavier rain) may be compensated for by much drier soils (−45 % areas highly susceptible to landsliding). However, the estimated uncertainties in predictions were generally high. While uncertainties related to within-event internal climate model variability were substantially lower than parametric uncertainties in the landslide susceptibility model (ratio of around 0.25), parametric uncertainties were of the same order as the climate scenario uncertainty for the higher warming levels (+3 and +4 K). We suggest that in future uncertainty assessments, an improved availability of event-based landslide inventories and high-resolution soil and precipitation data will help to reduce parametric uncertainties in landslide susceptibility models used to assess the impacts of climate change on landslide hazard and risk.</p

Acute stress modulates the outcome of traumatic brain injury-associated gene expression and behavioral responses.

Psychological stress and traumatic brain injury (TBI) result in long-lasting emotional and behavioral impairments in patients. So far, the interaction of psychological stress with TBI not only in the brain but also in peripheral organs is poorly understood. Herein, the impact of acute stress (AS) occurring immediately before TBI is investigated. For this, a mouse model of restraint stress and TBI was employed, and their influence on behavior and gene expression in brain regions, the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal (HPA) axis, and peripheral organs was analyzed. Results demonstrate that, compared to single AS or TBI exposure, mice treated with AS prior to TBI showed sex-specific alterations in body weight, memory function, and locomotion. The induction of immediate early genes (IEGs, e.g., c-Fos) by TBI was modulated by previous AS in several brain regions. Furthermore, IEG upregulation along the HPA axis (e.g., pituitary, adrenal glands) and other peripheral organs (e.g., heart) was modulated by AS-TBI interaction. Proteomics of plasma samples revealed proteins potentially mediating this interaction. Finally, the deletion of Atf3 diminished the TBI-induced induction of IEGs in peripheral organs but left them largely unaltered in the brain. In summary, AS immediately before brain injury affects the brain and, to a strong degree, also responses in peripheral organs

Smoking Is Associated with Shortened Airway Cilia

BACKGROUND:Whereas cilia damage and reduced cilia beat frequency have been implicated as causative of reduced mucociliary clearance in smokers, theoretically mucociliary clearance could also be affected by cilia length. Based on models of mucociliary clearance predicting that cilia length must exceed the 6-7 microm airway surface fluid depth to generate force in the mucus layer, we hypothesized that cilia height may be decreased in airway epithelium of normal smokers compared to nonsmokers. METHODOLOGY/PRINCIPAL FINDINGS:Cilia length in normal nonsmokers and smokers was evaluated in aldehyde-fixed, paraffin-embedded endobronchial biopsies, and air-dried and hydrated samples were brushed from human airway epithelium via fiberoptic bronchoscopy. In 28 endobronchial biopsies, healthy smoker cilia length was reduced by 15% compared to nonsmokers (p<0.05). In 39 air-dried samples of airway epithelial cells, smoker cilia length was reduced by 13% compared to nonsmokers (p<0.0001). Analysis of the length of individual, detached cilia in 27 samples showed that smoker cilia length was reduced by 9% compared to nonsmokers (p<0.05). Finally, in 16 fully hydrated, unfixed samples, smoker cilia length was reduced 7% compared to nonsmokers (p<0.05). Using genome-wide analysis of airway epithelial gene expression we identified 6 cilia-related genes whose expression levels were significantly reduced in healthy smokers compared to healthy nonsmokers. CONCLUSIONS/SIGNIFICANCE:Models predict that a reduction in cilia length would reduce mucociliary clearance, suggesting that smoking-associated shorter airway epithelial cilia play a significant role in the pathogenesis of smoking-induced lung disease

Avoiding the Great Filter: A Simulation of Important Factors for Human Survival

Humanity's path to avoiding extinction is a daunting and inevitable challenge which proves difficult to solve, partially due to the lack of data and evidence surrounding the concept. We aim to address this confusion by addressing the most dangerous threats to humanity, in hopes of providing a direction to approach this problem. Using a probabilistic model, we observed the effects of nuclear war, climate change, asteroid impacts, artificial intelligence and pandemics, which are the most harmful disasters in terms of their extent of destruction on the length of human survival. We consider the starting point of the predicted average number of survival years as the present calendar year. Nuclear war, when sampling from an artificial normal distribution, results in an average human survival time of 60 years into the future starting from the present, before a civilization-ending disaster. While climate change results in an average human survival time of 193 years, the simulation based on impact from asteroids results in an average of 1754 years. Since the risks from asteroid impacts could be considered to reside mostly in the far future, it can be concluded that nuclear war, climate change, and pandemics are presently the most prominent threats to humanity. Additionally, the danger from superiority of artificial intelligence over humans, although still somewhat abstract, is worthy of further study as its potential for impeding humankind's progress towards becoming a more advanced civilization cannot be confidently dismissed

Selenoprotein gene nomenclature

The human genome contains 25 genes coding for selenocysteine-containing proteins (selenoproteins). These proteins are involved in a variety of functions, most notably redox homeostasis. Selenoprotein enzymes with known functions are designated according to these functions: TXNRD1, TXNRD2, and TXNRD3 (thioredoxin reductases), GPX1, GPX2, GPX3, GPX4 and GPX6 (glutathione peroxidases), DIO1, DIO2, and DIO3 (iodothyronine deiodinases), MSRB1 (methionine-R-sulfoxide reductase 1) and SEPHS2 (selenophosphate synthetase 2). Selenoproteins without known functions have traditionally been denoted by SEL or SEP symbols. However, these symbols are sometimes ambiguous and conflict with the approved nomenclature for several other genes. Therefore, there is a need to implement a rational and coherent nomenclature system for selenoprotein-encoding genes. Our solution is to use the root symbol SELENO followed by a letter. This nomenclature applies to SELENOF (selenoprotein F, the 15 kDa selenoprotein, SEP15), SELENOH (selenoprotein H, SELH, C11orf31), SELENOI (selenoprotein I, SELI, EPT1), SELENOK (selenoprotein K, SELK), SELENOM (selenoprotein M, SELM), SELENON (selenoprotein N, SEPN1, SELN), SELENOO (selenoprotein O, SELO), SELENOP (selenoprotein P, SeP, SEPP1, SELP), SELENOS (selenoprotein S, SELS, SEPS1, VIMP), SELENOT (selenoprotein T, SELT), SELENOV (selenoprotein V, SELV) and SELENOW (selenoprotein W, SELW, SEPW1). This system, approved by the HUGO Gene Nomenclature Committee, also resolves conflicting, missing and ambiguous designations for selenoprotein genes and is applicable to selenoproteins across vertebrates

Arctic soil methane sink increases with drier conditions and higher ecosystem respiration

Arctic wetlands are known methane (CH4) emitters but recent studies suggest that the Arctic CH4 sink strength may be underestimated. Here we explore the capacity of well-drained Arctic soils to consume atmospheric CH4 using >40,000 hourly flux observations and spatially distributed flux measurements from 4 sites and 14 surface types. While consumption of atmospheric CH4 occurred at all sites at rates of 0.092 ± 0.011 mgCH4 m−2 h−1 (mean ± s.e.), CH4 uptake displayed distinct diel and seasonal patterns reflecting ecosystem respiration. Combining in situ flux data with laboratory investigations and a machine learning approach, we find biotic drivers to be highly important. Soil moisture outweighed temperature as an abiotic control and higher CH4 uptake was linked to increased availability of labile carbon. Our findings imply that soil drying and enhanced nutrient supply will promote CH4 uptake by Arctic soils, providing a negative feedback to global climate change