Interpreting Soft Sediment Deformation and Mass Transport Deposits as Seismites in the Dead Sea Depocenter

Peer reviewedPublisher PD

Using palynology to re-assess the Dead Sea laminated sediments – indeed varves?

Lacustrine laminated sediments are often varves representing annual rhythmic deposition. The Dead Sea high-stand laminated sections consist of mm-scale alternating detrital and authigenic aragonite laminae. Previous studies assumed these laminae were varves deposited seasonally. However, this assumption has never been robustly validated. Here we report an examination of the seasonal deposition of detrital-aragonite couplets from two well-known Late Holocene laminated sections at the Ze’elim fan-delta using palynology and grain-size distribution analyses. These analyses are complemented by the study of contemporary flash-flood samples and multivariate statistical analysis. Because transport affects the pollen preservation state, well–preserved (mostly) air-borne transported pollen was analysed separately from badly-preserved pollen and fungal spores, which are more indicative of water transport and reworking from soils. Our results indicate that (i) both detrital and aragonite laminae were deposited during the rainy season; (ii) aragonite laminae have significantly lower reworked and fungal spore concentrations than detrital and flash-flood samples; and (iii) detrital laminae are composed of recycling of local and distal sources, with coarser particles that were initially deposited in the Dead Sea watershed and later transported via run-off to the lake. This is in line with previous carbon balance studies that showed that aragonite precipitation occurs after the massive input of TCO2 associated with run-off episodes. Consequently, at least for the Holocene Ze’elim Formation, laminated sediments cannot be considered as varves. Older Quaternary laminated sequences should be re-evaluated

Carbon stable isotope analysis of cereal remains as a way to reconstruct water availability: preliminary results

Reconstructing past water availability, both as rainfall and irrigation, is important to answer questions about the way society reacts to climate and its changes and the role of irrigation in the development of social complexity. Carbon stable isotope analysis of archaeobotanical remains is a potentially valuable method for reconstructing water availability. To further define the relationship between water availability and plant carbon isotope composition and to set up baseline values for the Southern Levant, grains of experimentally grown barley and sorghum were studied. The cereal crops were grown at three stations under five different irrigation regimes in Jordan. Results indicate that a positive but weak relationship exists between irrigation regime and total water input of barley grains, but no relationship was found for sorghum. The relationship for barley is site-specific and inter-annual variation was present at Deir ‘Alla, but not at Ramtha and Khirbet as-Samra

Vegetation history and climatic fluctuations on a transect along the Dead Sea west shore and impact on past societies over the last 3500 years.

This study represents the vegetation history of the last 3500 years and conducts an analysis of the climatic fluctuations on a 75 km long transect on the western Dead Sea shore. Palynological and sedimentological data are available from six cores near Mount Sedom, Ein Boqueq, and Ein Gedi and from outcrops near Ze'elim and Ein Feshkha. The comparison of the pollen data with the lake levels shows synchronous trends. During the Middle Bronze Age, Iron Age and Hellenistic to Byzantine Period the high lake level of the Dead Sea signals an increase in precipitation. Contemporaneously, values of cultivated plants indicate an increase in agriculture. Lake level is low during the Late Bronze Age, within the Iron Age and at the end of the Byzantine period, indicating dry periods when all pds show a decrease of cultivated plants. Forest regeneration led by drought-resistant pines is observed in all pollen diagrams (pds) following the agricultural decline in the Byzantine period and, in the pds near Ein Boqeq, Ze'elim and Ein Feshkha, during the late Iron Age. The modern vegetation gradient is reflected in the palaeo-records: a stronger expansion of Mediterranean vegetation and cultivated plants in the northern sites is recognisable

Seven years of use of implantable cardioverter-defibrillator therapies: a nationwide population-based assessment of their effectiveness in real clinical settings

BACKGROUND: The efficacy of implantable cardioverter-defibrillator (ICD) and cardiac resynchronization therapy-defibrillator (CRT-D) therapy has already been established in clinical trials but their effectiveness in several clinical settings remains undetermined. This study aimed to assess the effectiveness of ICD and CRT-D therapies within the Brazilian National Health System (SUS). METHODS: All patients who underwent ICD or CRT-D implantation within the SUS from 2001 to 2007 were included in the study. We compared estimated Kaplan-Meier survival curves using the Peto’s test. Prognostic factors were selected using Cox’s models. RESULTS: There were included 3,295 patients in the ICD group and 681 patients in the CRT-D group. Cardiac causes accounted for 79% of all deaths in both groups and Chagas’ heart disease accounted for 31% of these deaths. In the CRT-D group, survival significantly decreased around the fourth year of follow-up, with a decrease from 59.5% to 38.3% in 5.5 months. Transvenous implantation technique was used in 62% of CRT-D patients. In-hospital case-fatality rates were higher in those undergoing surgical implantation (5.3%) than those undergoing transvenous implantation (1.6%) (p = 0.02). CONCLUSIONS: The results show that short-term, medium-term and long-term effectiveness of ICD therapy appears to be similar to that evidenced in clinical trials. In the CRT-D group, in-hospital case-fatality and 30-day case-fatality were higher than those reported in other studies. Surgical epicardial implantation technique was performed in this group at a higher frequency than that reported in the literature and was associated with poorer short-term prognosis

Antibiotic mediated synthesis of gold nanoparticles with potent antimicrobial activity and their application in antimicrobial coatings

We report a one-pot synthesis of spherical gold nanoparticles (52-22 nm) and their capping with cefaclor, a second-generation antibiotic, without use of other chemicals. The differently sized gold nanoparticles were fabricated by controlling the rate of reduction of gold ions in aqueous solution by varying the reaction temperature (20-70 C). The primary amine group of cefaclor acted as both the reducing and capping agent for the synthesis of gold nanoparticles leaving the b-lactam ring of cefaclor available for activity against microbes. Antimicrobial testing showed that cefaclor reduced gold nanoparticles have potent antimicrobial activity against both Gram-positive (Staphylococcus aureus) and Gram-negative (Escherichia coli) bacteria as compared to cefaclor or gold nanoparticles alone. The minimum inhibition concentrations (MICs) of cefaclor reduced gold nanoparticles were 10m gmL1 and 100m gmL1 for S. aureus and E. coli respectively. The cefaclor reduced gold nanoparticles were further coated onto poly(ethyleneimine) (PEI) modified glass surfaces to obtain antimicrobial coatings suitable for biomedical applications and were tested against E. coli as an exemplar of activity. The antimicrobial coatings were very robust under adverse conditions (pH 3 and 10), inhibited the growth of E. coli on their surfaces, and could be used many times with retained activity. Results from a combined spectroscopic (FTIR) and microscopic study (AFM) suggest that the action of these novel particles is through the combined action of cefaclor inhibiting the synthesis of the peptidoglycan layer and gold nanoparticles generating "holes" in bacterial cell walls thereby increasing the permeability of the cell wall, resulting in the leakage of cell contents and eventually cell death

O RASTREAMENTO DO CÂNCER DE PRÓSTATA E O DESAFIO DA TRADUÇÃO DO CONHECIMENTO CIENTÍFICO NA PRÁTICA CLÍNICA

Com o envelhecimento populacional, o câncer de próstata tornou-se um importante problema de saúde pública nas últimas décadas. Paralelamente, o consenso em torno da ideia de que o rastreamento com toque retal e PSA seria a solução para esse problema chegou a ponto dessa intervenção ser identificada como indissociável à saúde do homem e motivo de culpabilização dos indivíduos que não aderissem a essa prática dita preventiva. Durante esse mesmo período, longe dessa hegemonia conquistada no senso comum, essa intervenção foi alvo de diversos estudos, chegando a ser rotulada como “um desastre de saúde pública” pelo criador do PSA, em virtude dos danos associados a ela.

Roms Sinti e Calons: efeitos da mídia sobre a identidade dos chamados ciganos

Discute a idéia de ciganidade, evidenciando que a noção não se refere a um conjunto monolítico ou homogêneo de hábitos, costumes e práticas simbólicas, mas, antes, serve como designação genérica para um verdadeiro "mosaico cultural" composto por uma variedade de grupos étnicos. Em meio à diversidade, o que une Roms, Sinti e Calons, os chamados ciganos, é uma história de séculos de perseguição e preconceito – o que gerou a necessidade de produção de um quadro simbólico que fundamentasse a solidariedade entre eles. O trabalho aborda o papel da mídia na produção e perpetuação das imagens anticiganas e, por outro lado, analisa de que forma os meios de comunicação podem servir como instrumentos de mobilização desta comunidade, a partir dos princípios da comunicação comunitária

Experiências Extensionistas: um breve relato

Trata-se de um relato de experiência como extensionista ao longo da carreira acadêmica em celebração aos 10 anos da Revista Viver IFRS

Classification of competencies in design management: Individual, collective and organizational levels

Design management, both in the academic and the corporate world, is being perceived as a strategic element for organizations. However, the role of professional designers and their competencies in design management are little explored. Thus, the goal of this text was to emphasize how competencies are related and joined in the design management sphere, identifying possible interrelationships. A systematic literature review of applied and exploratory nature was made, mapping the state of the art about competencies in design management. Virtual databases were used for seeking work, based on the keywords “design management” and “competence”. Through this study, we identified the current state of the art of the topic, as well as the understanding of design management related to individual, collective, and organizational competencies. Emerging concepts related to design management and competencies, such as learning, capabilities, resources, knowledge, value, interactions, communication, collaboration, market context, organizational culture, organizational structure, work processes, and stakeholders involved.Keywords: design, competencies, design management, intervenient factors