IMPLEMENTATION AND UNIFORM MANAGEMENT OF MODELLING ENTITIES IN A MASSIVELY FEATURE-OBJECT ORIENTED ADVANCED CAD ENVIRONMENT

Today we are spectators of the transition process in computer aided design from traditional geometry based on design systems to advanced computer-based engineering systems. The key is the feature technology that allows both integrating and managing modelling entities in a coherent way. Feature technology is developing rapidly. New research topics and contexts are emerging from time to time. This paper introduces concept, design and technological feature-objects to support operational, structural and morphological modelling of mechanical products. First, the feature-centred approaches to conceptual design are summarized and evaluated. Then an implementation of concept feature-objects and the methodology for using them is presented. The strength of concept feature-objects is in their morphology inclusive nature. They appear as parametrized three-dimensional skeletons providing geometrical representations for the modelled engineering conceptions. A concept feature-object models the physical ports, contact surfaces related to ports, bones between ports, DOF of ports, relevant physical parameters, scientific and empirical descriptions of intentional transformations and environmental effects. Concept feature-objects are related to design feature-objects that, in turn, are constructed of a relevant set of technological feature-entities. Concept feature-objects refer to the configurable and parametrized design feature-objects through an indexing mechanism. The conceptions have been tested during the programming and further development of the authors' PRODES system

Middle Bronze Age humidity and temperature variations, and societal changes in East-Central Europe

Archaeological evidence points to substantial changes in Bronze Age societies in the European-Mediterranean region. Isotope geochemical proxies have been compiled to provide independent ancillary data to improve the paleoenvironmental history for the period of interest and support the interpretation of the archaeological observations. In addition to published compositions, in this study we gathered new H isotope data from fluid inclusion hosted water from a stalagmite of the Trió Cave, Southern Hungary, and compared the H isotope data with existing stable isotope and trace element compositions reported for the stalagmite. Additionally, animal bones and freshwater bivalve shells (Unio sp.) were collected from Bronze Age archaeological excavations around Lake Balaton and their stable C and O isotope compositions were measured in order to investigate climate changes and lake evolution processes during this period. The data indicate warm and humid conditions with elevated summer precipitation around 3.7 cal ka BP (Before Present, where present is 1950 CE), followed by a short-term deterioration in environmental conditions at about 3.5 cal ka BP. The environment became humid and cold with winter precipitation dominance around 3.5 to 3.4 cal ka BP, then gradually changed to drier conditions at ∼3.2 cal ka BP. Significant cultural changes have been inferred for this period on the basis of observations during archaeological excavations. The most straightforward consequences of environmental variations have been found in changes of settlement structure. The paleoclimatological picture is well in line with other East-Central European climate records, indicating that the climate fluctuations took place on a regional scale

Ammonite stratigraphy of a Toarcian (Lower Jurassic) section on Nagy-Pisznice Hill (Gerecse Mts, Hungary)

Abstract In the Jurassic rocks exposed in a small abandoned quarry on the northwestern edge of Nagy-Pisznice Hill in the Gerecse Mts, fairly well preserved parts of a crocodile skeleton was found in 1996. The bed which yielded the skeletal remains is the uppermost layer of the Kisgerecse Marl Formation exposed here and was determined as belonging to the Upper Toarcian Grammoceras thouarsense Zone. The beds of the sequence above and below were carefully sampled in the late 1990s, and the encountered ammonites were evaluated biostratigraphically. As a result, the Lower Toarcian Harpoceras serpentinum Zone, the Middle Toarcian Hildoceras bifrons and Merlaites gradatus Zones, and the Upper Toarcian Grammoceras thouarsense and Geczyceras speciosum Zones were identified. Within most of these zones the subzones and even the faunal horizons were successfully recognized. The lowermost beds above the underlying Pliensbachian red limestone did not yield any fossils; thus the lowermost Toarcian Dactylioceras tenuicostatum Zone could not be documented. The highest Toarcian ammonite zones also remained unidentified, because the beds of the Tölgyhát Limestone above were not sampled all the way up. This paper presents the lithostratigraphic and biostratigraphic details of the sequence, and the paleontological descriptions of the most important ammonites