Deconstructing religion through Art? : Wim Botha’s images of Christ

Abstract: South African artist, Wim Botha, is known for his post-modern reinterpretations of religious iconography, yet Botha states that he is not interested in religion per se but is motivated by a concern for historical systems of representation and visual communication, with the intangibility of religion as a concept as his starting point. Through his work he investigates both the past and the present understanding of a religious ‘truth’ and the way that ‘truth’ has been presented in visual terms to convey a message that far outweighs the physical fact of the elements involved (a man on a cross, or a woman with a baby, for example). Religious iconography is a perfect vehicle for parody and/or ‘quotation’ in a post-modern sense as it has a long historical presence and conveys certain messages that are understood by many people. This allows for complex layers of meaning that result sometimes in extreme responses, ranging from outright condemnation for some works, and others which function as devotional aids, despite Botha’s non-religious intent. This paper investigates selected sculptural images of the crucified Christ by Botha, and the implications they raise for contemporary viewers, both Christian and agnostic

Search for Gamma-ray Line Signatures with H.E.S.S

Many results from astrophysical observations point to a 27% contribution of non-baryonic dark matter to the mass-energy budget of the universe. Although still elusive, strongly motivated candidates in form of weakly interacting massive particles could explain the nature of dark matter, and their annihilation or decay would give rise to detectable signatures in gamma-rays. In 2012, the H.E.S.S. collaboration started taking data with the largest imaging atmospheric Cherenkov telescope in the world which significantly lowered the energy threshold of the already operational four-telescope system. In particular, due to its location and improved performance at low energies, the H.E.S.S. experiment is now in a position to extend the search for dark matter line signals down to the 100 GeV mass range. The sensitivity to line searches with a new full likelihood approach will be discussed and preliminary results from observations with the second phase of H.E.S.S. will be presented.Comment: ICRC 2015 Conference Proceeding, 8 pages, 5 figures, 1 tabl

On the cause of thermal erosion on ice-rich permafrost (Lena River Delta/ Siberia) - An assessment on geomorphological parameters for erosion susceptibility mapping using logistic regression

Vast parts of Arctic Siberia are underlain by ice-rich permafrost, which is exposed to different processes of degradation due to global warming. Thermal erosion as a key process for landscape degradation causes the recent reactivation and formation of new landforms like thermoerosional valleys and gullies. However, a statistical assessment about the decisive factors and the locations most susceptible for this phenomenon is still missing. This study investigates the influence of different geomorphological parameters on the occurrence of recently observed thermal erosion using a GIS-based approach and statistical modeling by logistic regression. The study site is located on an island within the Arctic Lena River Delta and is mainly composed of ice- and organic-rich deposits. Field surveys and mapping of high-resolution remotely sensed data revealed that thermal erosion occurs predominantly i) on very steep slopes along the margins of the island, ii) in the upper reaches of deeply incised thermo-erosional valleys and iii) in thermo-erosional gullies. Several potentially influencing environmental parameters were derived by a combination of high-resolution satellite imagery and 2 m-DEM. The full set of parameters was reduced stepwise within the logistic regression model. This approach allows the selection of a parsimonious model, i.e. a best-fit model using as few variables as possible. The parameters Contribution of warm open surface water, Relief ratio, Direct solar radiation and Snow accumulation turned out be the decisive factors for thermal erosion. Uncertainties in the model due to sampling and model selection were evaluated statistically and spatially through the generation of 100 models. Receiver Operating Characteristics (ROCs) were used to validate the spatial predictive capability of each model run. The consensus map as the median of all susceptibility models represents the final susceptibility map. The agreement between mapped and predicted erosion is generally very high within the study site, confirmed by an Area under the ROC curve (AUC) of 0.957 for the consensus map. The variability of predicted erosion probabilities between the single models is about four percentage points per cell within the study site and thus, very low. Mismatches between observed and predicted erosion could be attributed to the generation of the explanatory environmental parameters and the modeling approach. Model results seem promising for the spatial prediction of susceptible sites for thermal erosion, but require external validation on other sites with comparable environmental conditions

Bedeutung von Ackerbohnendichtsaat und Horngries für den Ertrag bei Brokkoli (Brassica oleracea convar. Botrytis var. italica)

Close seeding of field beans (Vicia faba) has been regarded for several years as an option in organic agriculture for the short-term introduction of nitrogen into production systems. At the same time faba bean potentially supplies nitrogen (N) to crops and soil by N2 fixation and nitrogen release when crop biomass is finally mulched. The main objective of this project was to investigate and develop a method of N-supply to meet the demand of broccoli using organic N-sources. Based on the results it can be stated that yield of broccoli significantly increased in the treatment intensive legume cropping plus fertilizer when compared to an intensive legume cropping without horngrist. However, upon inspection, it was revealed that marketable yields were even higher, suggesting that a previous crop of grass-clover is more profitable than close seeding of field beans

Comparatio Ligaturae et Resectionis Polyporum Uteri

http://tartu.ester.ee/record=b2499557~S1*es

Das Versicherungswesen Estlands seine Entwicklungsmöglichkeiten und sein Rückversicherungsproblem [anwendbar für sämtliche Randstaaten] mit Hinweis auf die 100jährige Tätigkeit der ehemaligen Russischen Versicherungs-Aktiengesellschaften

http://tartu.ester.ee/record=b2417074~S1*es

Validation de marqueurs de virulence de Staphylococcus Aureus comme outils de pronostic de persistance intramammaire

Staphylococcus aureus (S. aureus) est responsable de divers types d’infections chez l’homme et les animaux. Dans l’industrie laitière, ce pathogène est régulièrement mis en cause dans les infections intra-mammaires sous-cliniques qui persistent chez la vache et qui est à l’origine d’importantes pertes économiques. Le caractère chronique de cette infection lié aux échecs de l’antibiothérapie, sa difficile détection et l’inexistence de vaccin efficace ont suscité des recherches plus approfondies sur les S. aureus à l’origine de la mammite sous-clinique qui persiste afin de les diagnostiquer et de mieux les contrôler. Dans mon étude, j’ai caractérisé des marqueurs génétiques et phénotypiques de S. aureus persistant pour les utiliser comme un outil de diagnostique. La découverte de caractéristiques inhérentes aux souches causant des mammites bovines persistantes permettrait l'identification rapide de souches potentiellement problématiques en début d'infection et la prise de décisions justes prenant en compte la gestion thérapeutique et la gestion des troupeaux. La caractérisation des souches persistantes a commencé par la détection du profil des superantigènes qui sont des immuno-modulateurs de l’hôte. Ce profile nous a permis d’observer l’absence de l’îlot génomique νSaβ-1 chez les souches sous-cliniques. Cependant, la présence de seg augmente la probabilité de causer une infection non-persistante. L’étude du phénotype a permis d’observer une corrélation entre la production de biofilm et le niveau d’activation du système agr chez les souches persistantes et non persistantes. Nous avons observé une surexpression du biofilm suivi d’une sous-expression d’hld chez les souches persistantes et le phénomène inverse chez les souches non persistantes. Le typage par le gène spa a révélé que deux lignées bactériennes (t267 et t529) sont responsables de la majorité des cas de mammites sous-cliniques persistantes et cliniques au Canada

Effects of finite source rupture on landslide triggering: the 2016 Mw 7.1 Kumamoto earthquake

The propagation of a seismic rupture on a fault introduces spatial variations in the seismic wave field surrounding the fault. This directivity effect results in larger shaking amplitudes in the rupture propagation direction. Its seismic radiation pattern also causes amplitude variations between the strike-normal and strike-parallel components of horizontal ground motion. We investigated the landslide response to these effects during the 2016 Kumamoto earthquake (Mw 7.1) in central Kyushu (Japan). Although the distribution of some 1500 earthquake-triggered landslides as a function of rupture distance is consistent with the observed Arias intensity, the landslides were more concentrated to the northeast of the southwest–northeast striking rupture. We examined several landslide susceptibility factors: hillslope inclination, the median amplification factor (MAF) of ground shaking, lithology, land cover, and topographic wetness. None of these factors sufficiently explains the landslide distribution or orientation (aspect), although the landslide head scarps have an elevated hillslope inclination and MAF. We propose a new physics-based ground-motion model (GMM) that accounts for the seismic rupture effects, and we demonstrate that the low-frequency seismic radiation pattern is consistent with the overall landslide distribution. Its spatial pattern is influenced by the rupture directivity effect, whereas landslide aspect is influenced by amplitude variations between the fault-normal and fault-parallel motion at frequencies <2 Hz. This azimuth dependence implies that comparable landslide concentrations can occur at different distances from the rupture. This quantitative link between the prevalent landslide aspect and the low-frequency seismic radiation pattern can improve coseismic landslide hazard assessment