Abstract
The Middle Devonian Epoch, ~ 393–383 million years ago, is known for a peak in diversity and highest latitudinal distribution of coral and stromatoporoid reefs. About 388 million years ago, ...during the late Eifelian and earliest Givetian, climax conditions were interrupted by the polyphased Kačák Episode, a short-lived period of marine dys-/anoxia associated with climate warming that lasted less than 500 kyr. Reconstruction of the seawater temperature contributes to a better understanding of the climate conditions marine biota were exposed to during the event interval. To date, conodont apatite-based paleotemperatures across the Eifelian–Givetian boundary interval have been published from Belarus, France, Germany and North America (10–36° S paleolatitude). Here we provide new δ
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data from the Carnic Alps (Austria, Italy) and the Prague Synform (Czech Republic). For better approximation of the paleotemperature record across the Kačák Episode, a latitude-dependent correction for Middle Devonian seawater δ
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O is applied. Because δ
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apatite
data from shallow marine sections are influenced by regional salinity variations, calculated mean sea surface temperatures (SST) are restricted to more open marine settings (22–34° S paleolatitude). Water temperatures reach ~ 34 °C in the Prague Synform and ~ 33 °C in the Carnic Alps and suggest that SSTs of the southern hemisphere low latitudes were ~ 6 °C higher than previously assumed for this time interval.
A carapace of a new horseshoe crab (Arthropoda: Chelicerata: Xiphosura) is described from the Upper Carboniferous (Kasimovian) Meledis Formation of the Carnic Alps, Friuli, Italy. It is named as ...Stilpnocephalus pontebbanus n. gen. & n. sp., and belongs to the family Belinuridae Zittel in Zittel & Eastman, 1913. The large (>8 cm width) carapace is strongly effaced and appears to lack eyes. The new specimen is the first fossil horseshoe crab to be described from Italy and the largest known belinurid.
A new and well-preserved fossil whip scorpion (Arachnida: Uropygi: Thelyphonida) is described from the Late Carboniferous of the Carnic Alps, Friuli, Italy. It is referred to Parageralinura ...marsiglioi n. sp. The new specimen is the first Carboniferous arachnid to be described from mainland Italy and is possibly the youngest Palaeozoic thelyphonid.
Predictive business process monitoring aims at predicting the outcome of ongoing cases of a business process based on past execution traces. A wide range of techniques for this predictive task have ...been proposed in the literature. It turns out that no single technique, under a default configuration, consistently achieves the best predictive accuracy across all datasets. Thus, the selection and configuration of a technique needs to be done for each dataset. This paper presents a framework for predictive process monitoring that brings together a range of techniques, each with an associated set of hyperparameters. The framework incorporates two automatic hyperparameter optimization algorithms, which, given a dataset, select suitable techniques for each step in the framework and configure these techniques with minimal user input. The proposed framework and hyperparameter optimization algorithms have been evaluated on two real-life datasets and compared with state-of-the-art approaches for predictive business process monitoring. The results demonstrate the scalability of the approach and its ability to identify accurate and reliable framework configurations.
The polyphased Kačák Episode near the Eifelian-Givetian boundary (Middle Devonian), well documented globally, resembles other global biotic extinction events driven by climate change. High-resolution ...conodont biodiversity patterns from shallow marine, slope and pelagic bathymetric settings within the same basin from the Carnic Alps show that while conodonts experienced diversification during the latest Eifelian ensensis Biozone, assemblages suffered extinction during the early Givetian hemiansatus Biozone. Although a similar general pattern is observed in different bathymetric settings there is a changed taxonomic composition of conodont assemblages across the stage boundary. Based on microfacies analysis this change is contemporaneous with changes in palaeoenvironmental conditions in the earliest Givetian.
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•The polyphased Kačák Episode is traced in different bathymetric settings of the same basin.•Conodont biodiversity significantly influenced by global Middle Devonian Kačák Episode.•Conodont biodiversity reaches a maximum shortly before the Eifelian-Givetian boundary.•Diversity-decline contemporaneous with facies change during the earliest Givetian.
The Pennsylvanian flora from the Italian Carnic Alps, stored in the Museo Friulano di Storia Naturale in Udine, Italy, was revised taxonomically. Plant fossils come from the Bombaso Formation and ...Pramollo (Auernig) Group (Late Pennsylvanian) that correspond to the lower part of the paralic to shallow marine Carboniferous–Permian Pramollo (or Pramollo-Nasfeld) Basin succession. Most of the ~2500 studied plant fossils and also the highest number of species come from the the Bombaso, Meledis and Pizzul formations, whereas the middle and upper part of the Pramollo Group in the Italian Carnic Alps yielded only few plant remains, contrarily to the successions on the Austrian side. In total 73 plant taxa have been identified, which represent about 59 biological species. The ferns, especially marattialen ferns, are the most diverse plant group (33 species in total) followed by pteridosperms (15 species). The stratigraphic range of the Bombaso Formation and the Pramollo Group have been re-evaluated based on presence of stratigraphically important species from both the Italian and Austrian parts of the Carnic Alps. The studied interval ranges from a middle Barruelian to middle Stephanian B sensu Wagner and Álvarez-Vázquez (2010a) and spans about 3.5 Ma. The diversity of the Carnic Alps flora is comparable with well-documented contemporaneous floras in NW Spain, French Massif Central and the Czech Republic. Floral richness and diversity together with intercalations of plant-rich horizons with fossiliferous marine limestone bands makes the Carnic Alps a potential candidate as a stratigraphically important reference section for non-marine to marine correlations.
•Pennsylvanian flora of Italian Carnic Alps revised.•Pramollo (Auernig) Group spans three floral biozones.•Diversity of flora comparable with Late Pennsylvanian floras of Europe.•Marine bands make the Carnic Alps suitable for marine – non-marine correlation.
The Carnic Alps represent the best exposed Paleozoic succession within the Alpine domain being fossiliferous, mostly non-metamorphic and largely complete. This study focuses on the area around Mt. ...Pizzul, because the bedrocks record well the basin dynamics and most of the units are conodont bearing. Our aims were to contribute to the procedure of formalization of the lithostratigraphic units and to understand the depositional and deformation history of the study area. The area has been mapped, tectonic overprint constrained and the successions described, measured and dated. As a second-order aim, we discuss these data to infer the relations with other parts of the Carnic basin and to recognize the global controls on sedimentation. The depositional evolution can be sketched as follows: pre-Hirnantian ramp-type margin; Hirnantian glacioeustatic-related deposits and unconformity; pelagic deposition in a ramp-type margin (Přídolí–Eifelian); slope formation and differentiation in buildup, foreslope and pelagic environments (Eifelian–Frasnian); transgression and reef drowning (Frasnian–Visean); probable subaerial exposures likely during in uppermost Famennian and Visean times; and turbidite deposition (Visean). Global controls or deposits suggesting a global control are documented, including the Boda Event, the Hirnantian glaciation, the Middle Devonian reef growth, the Kačák Event, and the high-frequency sea-level fluctuations around the Devonian–Carboniferous boundary. The drowning of the buildups here and elsewhere in the Carnic Alps started during the Frasnian, unlike observed globally. This suggests that local tectonics lead to progressive deepening up to the transition to turbidite deposition.
The first eurypterid known from Italy is described, as Adelophthalmus piussii n. sp. It comes from the Upper Carboniferous of the Carnic Alps (Friuli, NE Italy). Relationships with related species ...are discussed. Adelophthalmids are the commonest eurypterids of the late Palaeozoic, at which time the disparity of the order was waning. The new record enhances our knowledge of adelophthalmid distribution and diversity.
The first asellote isopod from the fossil record is described here as Fornicaris calligarisi Wilson and Selden, n. gen. and sp. The two specimens, both probably males, showing dorsal morphology, come ...from loose material of the Dolomia di Forni Formation in the bed of the Tagliamento River below the town of Forni di Sotto, Udine Province, Friuli Venezia Giulia Autonomous Region, northeastern Italy. The Dolomia di Forni Formation is Triassic (Norian) in age, and the fossils date from approximately 210-215 Ma. Characters such as narrow, elongate eye stalks, tiny uropods, and enlarged first pereionite (found in terminal males) place the fossil within the Paramunnidae. Parsimony analysis using TNT placed the fossil within the Austrosignum-Munnogonium species complex. The robust pereiopods with hooked tips, elongate and robust carpus and propodus of pereiopod I, axial compression of the pereion, and the large size of the fossils (>2× related extant taxa) are features particular to the fossil genus and species.
There is increasing awareness of the importance of medical device reprocessing (MDR) for the provision of safe patient care. Although industry service standards are available to guide MDR practices, ...there remains a lack of published key performance indicators (KPIs) and targets that are necessary to evaluate MDR quality for feedback and improvement. This article outlines the development of an initial framework that builds on established guidelines and includes service standards, KPIs and targets for evaluating MDR operations. This framework can support healthcare facilities in strengthening existing practices and enables a platform for collaboration towards better MDR performance management.
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