Paleomurenemine Arhaikumi-Proterosoikumi üleminekul Imandra-Varzuga rohekilda vööndis Loode-Venemaal

Väitekirja elektrooniline versioon ei sisalda publikatsiooneMaa ajaloos tähtsal Arhaikumi – Proterosoikumi piiril, ligikaudu 2,4 miljardit aastat tagasi ilmumus Maa atmosfääri vaba hapnik. Hapnikulise atmosfääri tekkimine tõi kaasa muutused Maa geokeemilistes aineringetes ja käivitas laiaulatusliku kontinentaalsete kivimite oksüdatiivse murenemise. Senini on oldud seisukohtal, et selline keskkond põhjustas laiaulatusliku sulfiidsete mineraalide lahustumise ja selle tulemusena intensiivse happelise murenemisimpulsi, mis omakorda tekitas toitainete plahvatusliku sissekande ookeanidesse, soodustades primaarproduktsiooni ning fotosünteetilise hapniku juurde tekkimist. Käesoleva doktoritöö eesmärgiks oli hinnata keskkonnatingimusi ja atmosfääri CO2 kontsentratsioone Kuksha murenemiskooriku tekkimise ajal 2,5 - 2,45 miljardit aastat tagasi ning analüüsida Imandra-Varzuga rohekivimite vööndi geoloogilise läbilõike Seidorechka, Polisarka ja Umba kihistute savikiltasid, et hinnata kontinentaalse murenemise intensiivsust enne ja pärast hapnikulise atmosfääri kujunemist. Doktoritöö tulemused näitavad, et Kuksha murenemiskoorik on moodustunud keskmisest intensiivsemal murenemisel nõrgalt happelistes tingimustes, kus aasta keskmine temperatuur oli ~12–13 °C ja keskmine sademete hulk 700–1100 mm/a, mis ligikaudu vastab tänapäevasele Vahemere piirkonna kliimale. Murenemiskooriku tekkimise ajal oli hinnanguline paleoatmosfääri CO2 osarõhk ainult 1–10 PAL. Samas ei ilmnenud selget murenemisintensiivsuse erinevust enne vaba hapniku ilmumist tekkinud Seidorechka kihistu setendite ja sellel järgnenud eeldatavalt hapnikulistes tingimustes tekkinud Umba kihistu setendite vahel. Seega võib väita, et hapnikulise atmosfääri tekkimisega kaasnev happelise murenemise impulss ei omanud märkimisväärset mõju üldisele silikaatide murenemise intensiivsusele. Meie andmed viitavad, et murenemisintensiivsus Arhaikumi ja Proterosoikumi üleminekul pigem langeb koos atmosfääri CO2 suhtelise sisaldusega, millega tõenäoliselt kaasnes ka üldine kliima jahenemine.The Archaean to Proterozoic transition is recognized by significant environmental disturbances triggered by the shift from anoxic to oxic surface environments during the Great Oxygenation Event (GOE) at ca. 2.4 Ga. The onset of oxidative weathering is thought to have caused an extensive acid attack in weathering due to oxidation of sulphide minerals in surface rocks. Chemical weathering itself has an important impact on the evolution of the Earth's surface environments by regulating atmospheric CO2 through a negative feedback mechanism and release of bio-limiting nutrients into the ocean. Therefore, palaeosols and fine-grained terrigenous sediments derived through weathering are important sources of information on environmental-climatic conditions of the past. The main aims of the theses are to characterize the weathering intensity, determine environmental conditions, estimate the atmospheric pCO2 using the Kuksha palaeoweathering crust (ca. 2.5–2.45 Ga), and to reconstruct the changes in silicate weathering intensity using the Imandra–Varzuga metasediments spanning across the Archaean–Proterozoic transition. The Kuksha weathering crust formed under acidic weathering conditions under cool temperate climate with mean annual temperatures ~12–13 °C and precipitation between 700 and 1100 mm yr–1 similar to modern Mediterranean climate. Despite the high weathering rates the estimated palaeoatmospheric pCO2 values range only within 1–10 PAL. However, there is no difference in overall silicate weathering intensity indicators between the Seidorechka Sedimentary and Umba Sedimentary formations deposited, respectively, prior to and after the GOE marking the onset of oxidative weathering. The results of this study suggest that the punctuated acidic weathering, caused by oxidation, did not affect the long-term weathering intensity. Instead, it seems that the overall silicate weathering decreased with the dropping atmospheric pCO2 levels during the Archaean–Proterozoic transition.https://www.ester.ee/record=b549647

Paleoproterozoic spherulitic layers in Zaonega Formation, Karelia, northwestern Russia

Despite the weak chemical signals that are not sufficient to confirm the impact origin of Paleoproterozoic Zaonega Formation spherule layer/lenses, the morphology of spherules found in Zaonega sediments strongly suggest these to be impact spherules. Spherules are altered and recrystallized though morphology is well preserved. Both ballistic shapes of molten silica droplets and devitrification textures have been found. Detailed description of drillcores suggests that 1) spherule layer occurs as lenses rather than a continuous layer, 2) spherule layer is possibly doubled in core 13A due to faulting, 3) hydrothermal alteration has modified the composition of spherules after faulting. The spherule layer described in Zaonega formation, Karelia could be a record of the same event as spherule layer in South Greenland. According to datings available today the source crater could be Vredefort but due to uncertainties in dates it could also be ejecta layer from still unknown impact site

EL6 enstatiitkondriitide geokeemia ja mineraloogia – Pilistvere meteoriit

http://tartu.ester.ee/record=b2653478~S1*es

Runway operations scheduling using airline preferences

Koole, G.M. [Promotor

Schuldgevoel en subjectieve competentie : condities voor verandering van gedrag

In emotion theory, much attention has been given to guilt feelings as important emotions that play a significant role in interactions with the environment. Since Freud stressed the destructive influence of neurotic guilt feelings on the adaptive resources of the individual, ample attention has been given to these negative aspects in the psychological literature. It is important to emphasize that, according to this stand, guilt feelings have harmful effects on the intrapsychic dynamics of individuals and on their capacity to engage in interpersonal and social intercourse. In contrast, the potential positive impact of guilt feelings has been neglected in the history of psychology. Positive effects of guilt feelings are obviously not to be expected in the case of neurotic and unjustified guilt feelings. However, the negative evaluation of guilt may have obscured the functionality of guilt for adaptive behavioral change. In research on helping behavior, evidence has been found that moral transgression leads to greater compliance. According to Freedman (1970), the internal state that ties together the experimental findings, should be labeled as guilt. Guilt, the unpleasant emotion following neglected responsibility, can have positive effects for prosocial behavior. The research presented here elaborates on potential positive effects derived from guilt. Freedman draws attention to two major problems concerning guilt as an intervening variable: firstly guilt is a very rich, but somewhat vague concept, and secondly it is difficult to measure it directly. According to Freedman, various attempts to construct measures of guilt have been unsuccessful. In an attempt to overcome the latter difficulty, a new guilt scale was developed. In a preliminary phase, 30 subjects were interviewed on their belief s and feelings concerning situations that may arouse guilt feelings. On the basis of the data, 112 statements were formulated, indicating diverse aspects of guilt. In a later phase, these statements were presented to 188 subjects, using a five-point scale format. The data were condensed by way of factor analysis. The resulting guilt scale finally comprises 14 items. Factor one reflects a negative assessment of one's own functioning concerning both physical and psychological aspects. The second factor reflects the feelings of being rejected with reference to a negative evaluation of one's own behavior. Factor I refers to distress in a moral general sense. Factor II reflects the guilt element more specifically. In order to tackle the ambiguous content validity of the guilt concept, guilt was related tot the concept of (negative) subjective competence. Bowerman's (1978) subjective competence model provides a framework for assessing negative selfreferent belief structures, indicating the degree to which the subject attributes unfavorable behavior to himself of herself. The self-referent belief structures represent attribution-sequences implying three qualitatively different attributions, namely: action-attribution, i.e. attributing an action to an actor; effectattribution, i.e. attributing an effect to an action; and affect-attribution, i.e. attributing a positive or a negative affect to an effect. Each attribution can have a more or less positive or negative value. The value of the attribution-sequence is defined by the product of the different attributions: (action-attribution) x (effect-attribution) x (affect-attribution) = subjective competence. Additionally to an analysis of personal feelings of responsibility in terms of concrete, identifiable actions, the subjective competence model provides a new instrument for measuring cognitive defensiveness. The theory distinguishes between primitive and complex defenses. Primitive defenses resemble defenses known as denial and stopping thinking, and seem to be less susceptible to change or influence. Complex defenses resemble justifications and rationalizations, and seem to be more susceptible to change and influence. Individuals with stronger negative subjective competence will demonstrate more complex defenses, which is considered to facilitate behavioral change. On the other hand, individuals with less negative subjective competence will demonstrate more primitive defenses, which is considered to hamper behavioral change. Negative subjective competence indicates the degree of responsibility a person may feel with regard to his defective behavior and unfavorable outcomes, which he attributes to himself as an actor. To the extent that the explanation of negative subjective competence does not take the concept of guilt into account, the explanation would be morally neutral. Whenever a person's responsibility is at stake, however, a moral explanation is involved. Therefore, both guilt and negative subjective competence were operationalized as intervening variables in a research design which was applied to two different kinds of risky health behavior, namely cigarette smoking and overeating. In an initial pilot study a tentative operationalization of the subjective competence theory was tested using 85 cigarette smokers. In a later stage a more elaborate research study was carried out with 270 cigarette smokers in order to test a research design in which anxiety, negative self esteem, and attributionstyle predict guilt feelings concerning smoking and negative subjective competence concerning smoking, both to be considered as intervening variables. Subsequently, a higher degree of guilt and negative subjective competence, together with situational determinants and population characteristics, predict the following dependent variables: a stronger intention to quit smoking, more complex and less primitive defenses, and less positive attitude towards smoking. The evidence corroborates the theory to a considerable extent, and the results obtained via path-analysis gave further support to the validity of the theoretical model. In addition, three different degrees of guilt feelings were induced experimentally in order to test a differential effect on the readiness to change risky health behavior. In the first instance, a hypothesis concerning a curvilinear effect on change scores was not corroborated. Yet, on the basis of further analysis, using Analysis of Variance, the data indicate that the degrees of guilt induction are indeed differentially effective in enhancing the intention to behavioral change and in optimizing the structure of cognitive defenses. In fact the differences concerning primitive and complex defenses were substantial in the condition in which the middle level of guilt was induced. On the basis of the empirical findings it is concluded that the degree to which induction of guilt might contribute to behavioral change is to be considered as a function of (a) the strength of the message, (b) the susceptibility of the receiver, and (c) characteristics of the person or institution being held responsible for the message. A similar research model was tested on the topic of overeating, using 64 subjects, partly obese and partly non-obese individuals. Negative subjective competence concerning three patterns of overeating — emotional eating, external eating, and non-restrained eating — could in an analogous fashion be predicted by anxiety, guilt and negative self-esteem. In correspondence with the previous study a higher degree of negative subjective competence predicts stronger intentions to change behavior, and similar defense structures. More guilt and more negative subjective competence clearly contribute to a much higher extent than do low guilt and low negative subjective competence to the intention to change risky health behavior. Subjects with more guilt and more negative subjective competence demonstrate a more differentiated defense system in comparison with subjects with low guilt and low negative subjective competence, who demonstrate more primitive defenses. Further research on this topic is recommended in order to investigate whether guilt feelings can be fruitfully utilized in the context of therapeutic and preventive manoeuvres, especially in the field of addiction, pertaining to smoking, eating disorders, alcoholism, and drugs abuse, or even more generally in different areas of unwanted behaviors, such as vandalism and antisocial behavior. In the final chapter an attempt is made to apply the theory to the process of socialization. Extreme high guilt feelings, and hypersensitivity for guilt, undoubtedly represent an unwanted outcome of the socialization process, because they may lead to alienation from the self. Extreme low guilt feelings, however, and hyposensitivity for guilt, should also be considered ineffective, because they may lead to alienation from social reality. A medium degree of guilt feelings and sensitivity for guilt will be the better outcome. In this study the theory has been operationalized with respect to two specific risky health behaviors. The findings seem to justify the expectation that the theoretical model can be applied to other behaviors as well. In this manner the presented research possibly may offer a contribution to the rediscovery of the unjustly neglected constructive function, which guilt feelings may have for behavioral change.</p

Planning drinking water for airplanes

The management of the Dutch national airline company KLM intends to bring a sufficient amount of water on board of all flights to fulfill customer’s demand. On the other hand, the surplus of water after a flight should be kept to a minimum to reduce fuel costs. The service to passengers is measured with a service level. The objective of this research is to develop models, which can be used to minimize the amount of water on board of flights such that a predefined service level is met. The difficulty that has to be overcome is the fact that most of the available data of water consumption on flights are rounded off to the nearest eighth of the water tank. For wide-body aircrafts this rounding may correspond to about two hundred litres of water. Part of the problem was also to define a good service level. The use of a service level as a model parameter would give KLM a better control of the water surplus. The available data have been analyzed to examine which aspects we had to take into consideration. Next, a general framework has been developed in which the service level has been defined as a Quality of Service for each flight: The probability that a sufficient amount of water is available on a given flight leg. Three approaches will be proposed to find a probability distribution function for the total water consumption on a flight. The first approach tries to fit a distribution for the water consumption based on the available data, without any assumptions on the underlying shape of the distribution. The second approach assumes normality for the total water consumption on a flight and the third approach uses a binomial distribution. All methods are validated and numerically illustrated. We recommend KLM to use the second approach, where the first approach can be used to determine an upper bound on the water level

Early career members at the ers international congress 2017: Highlights from the assemblies

The 2017 ERS International Congress was, as always, well organised, providing participants with a good mixture of translational and clinical science. Early career members were very well represented in thematic poster, poster discussion and oral presentation sessions and were also actively involved in chairing sessions. The efforts of the Early Career Members Committee (ECMC) to increase the number of early career members included in the competence list (the list of early career members with an interest in being more actively involved in the society) paid off immensely, because the number of early career members registered improved hugely across all assemblies after the Congress. Several newly registered early career members have collated some highlights of the Congress for their assemblies, which should be of interest to all members. As assemblies 12 and 13 are new, there is no report from assembly 12 as there is not yet, at the time of writing, an early career member representative for this newly created assembly

Fairness in examination timetabling: student preferences and extended formulations

Variations of the examination timetabling problem have been investigated by the research community for more than two decades. The common characteristic between all problems is the fact that the definitions and data sets used all originate from actual educational institutions, particularly universities, including specific examination criteria and the students involved. Although much has been achieved and published on the state-of-the-art problem modelling and optimisation, a lack of attention has been focussed on the students involved in the process. This work presents and utilises the results of an extensive survey seeking student preferences with regard to their individual examination timetables, with the aim of producing solutions which satisfy these preferences while still also satisfying all existing benchmark considerations. The study reveals one of the main concerns relates to fairness within the students cohort; i.e. a student considers fairness with respect to the examination timetables of their immediate peers, as highly important. Considerations such as providing an equitable distribution of preparation time between all student cohort examinations, not just a majority, are used to form a measure of fairness. In order to satisfy this requirement, we propose an extension to the state-of-the-art examination timetabling problem models widely used in the scientific literature. Fairness is introduced as a new objective in addition to the standard objectives, creating a multi-objective problem. Several real-world examination data models are extended and the benchmarks for each are used in experimentation to determine the effectiveness of a multi-stage multi-objective approach based on weighted Tchebyceff scalarisation in improving fairness along with the other objectives. The results show that the proposed model and methods allow for the production of high quality timetable solutions while also providing a trade-off between the standard soft constraints and a desired fairness for each student

A review of the changing culture and social context relating to forensic facial depiction of the dead

The recognition of a decedent by a family member is commonplace in forensic investigation and is often employed as identity confirmation. However, it is recognised that misidentification from facial recognition is also common and faces of the dead may be extremely difficult to recognise due to decomposition or external damage, and even immediate post-mortem changes may be significant enough to confuse an observer. The depiction of faces of the dead can be a useful tool for promoting recognition leading to identification and post-mortem facial depiction is described as the interpretation of human remains in order to suggest the living appearance of an individual. This paper provides an historical context relating to the changing view of society to the presentation and publication of post-mortem facial depictions and discusses the current ethical, practical and academic challenges associated with these images