Electromobility is a preferred way of car manufacturers to deal with environmental impact of their products. But is it also a preferred way of their customers? This paper gives insights on history of ...electromobility, EU market incentives, customers’ approaches towards innovative products in automotive and plans for Clean mobility in the Czech Republic. Finally it presents motivational factors of buying electric cars amongst Prague University of Economics and Business students.
Elevated nitrogen (N) input may reduce carbon (C) storage in peat. Under low atmospheric deposition, most N is bound in the moss layer. Under high N inputs, Sphagnum is not able to prevent ...penetration of dissolved N to deeper peat. Nitrogen may become available to the roots of invading vascular plants. The concurrent oxygenation of deeper peat layers, along with higher supply of labile organic C, may enhance microbial decomposition and lead to peat thinning. The resulting higher emissions of greenhouse gases may accelerate global warming. Seepage of N to deeper peat has never been quantified. Here we present evidence for post-depositional mobility of atmogenic N in peat, based on natural-abundance N isotope ratios. We conducted a reciprocal peat transplant experiment between two Sphagnum-dominated peat bogs in the Czech Republic (Central Europe), differing in anthropogenic N inputs. The northern site VJ received as much as 33kgNha−1yr−1 via spruce canopy throughfall. The southern site was less polluted (17.6kgNha−1yr−1). Isotope signatures of living moss differed between the two sites (δ15N of −3‰ and −7‰ at VJ and CB, respectively). After 18months, an isotope mass balance was constructed. In the CB-to-VJ transplant, a significant portion of original CB nitrogen (98–31%) was removed and replaced by nitrogen of the host site throughout the top 10cm of the profile. Nitrogen, deposited at VJ, was immobilized in imported CB peat that was up to 20years old. Additionally, we compared N concentration and N accumulation rates in 210Pb-dated peat profiles with well-constrained data on historical atmospheric N pollution. Nationwide N emissions peaked in 1990, while VJ exhibited the highest N content in peat that formed in 1930. This de-coupling of N inputs and N retention in peat might be interpreted as a result of translocation of dissolved pollutant N downcore, corroborating our δ15N results at VJ and CB. Data from a variety of peat bogs along pollution and climatic gradients would be needed to test to what extent the record of atmospheric N inputs in peat is overprinted by variable, locally-controlled decomposition rates.
Spectral reflectance (SR) is a relatively novel technique which is used as a proxy for organic carbon and siliciclastic input in carbonate sediments, in particular in core research. This study ...summarizes results from high-resolution outcrop SR logging of a Lower Devonian distal ramp carbonate section of the Barrandian area, Czech Republic. The SR data were correlated with parallel petrophysical and geochemical data with an aim to improving their cyclostratigraphic and event stratigraphic interpretation potential and the gaps SR data can fill. Transgressive–regressive trends, indicated by facies stacking patterns, CaCO
3 data and spectral gamma-ray (GRS) logs, are well correlated in the regional context and point to third-order eustatic sea-level fluctuations. Peak regressions of the TR cycles are sensitively marked by CIE
L*
a*
b* parameters and percent reflectance in colour bands. The SR and magnetic susceptibility (MS) data are markedly cyclic on a more detailed scale. Their inferred periods vary between 49.2 and 205
kyr indicating that they may have been forced by orbital cycles in the Milankovitch band. The SR and MS cycles are either in phase or out of phase. The latter cycles point to a strong diagenetic forcing of the colour cyclicity. Hematite concentration cycles, inferred from SR signal in the Pragian red hemipelagic carbonates, are interpreted as reflecting changing bottom oxygenation and subsurface redox gradients during early diagenesis. The CIE
L* parameter was found to be related to the presence of diagenetic hematite, which indicates that cyclostratigraphic analysis of simple greyscale data can be affected by considerable error due to chromacity. Although the CIE
L* parameter is partly correlated with CaCO
3 concentrations, the MS data are not, which suggests that the MS signal can be significantly influenced by diagenetic minerals and its cyclostratigraphic interpretation can be potentially misleading. The SR data, backed up by GRS, MS and CaCO
3 data indicate that the red colour in the Pragian hemipelagic limestones originated from early diagenetic hematite precipitation under the conditions of an oxygenated ocean floor. This suggests that deep-sea bottom oxygentation may have been in operation during the early Devonian, which is traditionally perceived as a typical greenhouse period. The SR data can be obscured in several m thick zones of elevated CIE
L* and other colour changes (“leaching zones”) related to postdepositional alteration along subvertical faults, however, this fault-related telogenic alteration has little influence on the MS signal. The combined use of SR and MS has a synergic effect and can significantly improve the interpretation of their respective cyclic signals, particularly in relation to the diagenetic overprint and possible carriers of the MS.
The Devonian–Carboniferous boundary was coeval with the Hangenberg Crisis, which is regarded as a first-order mass extinction event related with large sea-level changes and widespread anoxia. This ...study aims to trace the geochemical paleoproductivity and paleoredox proxies across the Devonian–Carboniferous carbonate-dominated successions of the Namur-Dinant Basin (Belgium, northern France) and the Moravo-Silesian Basin (Czech Republic), located in the Variscan Rhenohercynian Zone. The research was focused on the distribution of oxides (SiO2, Al2O3, Fe2O3, CaO, Na2O, K2O, TiO2, MnO) and trace elements (Th, U, V, Zr, Mo, Zn, Pb, Ni, Cu) measured by ICP-OES and ICP-MS, respectively. The enrichment factors of Mo and U and their ratios were used as the main paleoredox proxies, whereas the enrichment factors of Zn, Cu, Pb, and Ni were employed to trace the paleoproductivity changes. High values of Zr/Al2O3 (>0.001), TiO2/Al2O3 (>0.06), and Fe/Ti (>20) and low values of Al/(Al + Fe + Mn) (<0.35) coinciding with an increase of paleoredox proxies suggest a possible volcanic and hydrothermal source of nutrients, related to Late Devonian and Early Carboniferous extensional magmatism in the Rhenohercynian domain, although a relationship between higher paleoproductivity and enhanced continental runoff of volcanic material cannot be excluded. The studied Devonian–Carboniferous boundary sections from the Namur-Dinant Basin (Gendron-Celles, Ardennes quarry) reveal three levels with similar vectors of Mo and U enrichments. The pre-crisis Famennian pattern is typical for weakly restricted basins with Fe-Mn redox cycling accompanying vertical fluctuations of the oxic/anoxic chemocline close to the sediment/water interface with the influence of particulate shuttle. The MoEF and UEF patterns corresponding to the unrestricted or weakly restricted basin with alternating suboxic to anoxic conditions are considered to represent the transgressive Hangenberg Black Shale Event. The lower Tournaisian MoEF and UEF patterns fall along a vector in the direction of the strongly restricted marine conditions with prevailing suboxic conditions. In the Moravo-Silesian Basin (Lesní lom section), the pre-crisis Famennian MoEF and UEF vector indicates an unrestricted marine trend which converges with that of restricted systems. Redox conditions range from suboxic to euxinic. In the Tournaisian, MoEF and UEF oscillate between oxic and anoxic conditions and fall along a vector of strongly restricted marine conditions. Increased isolation of both studied basins in the Early Tournaisian is regarded as a reflection of a significant eustatic fall during the Hangenberg Crisis, linked to a severe episode of the Gondwana glaciation. These paleohydrographic patterns have correlative potential that should be considered for a revised Devonian-Carboniferous Boundary definition.
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•MoEF and UEF revealed changes in redox and paleohydrographic conditions.•Both basins were moderately restricted in the latest Famennian.•High restriction in the Early Tournaisian resulted from Hangenberg sea-level fall.•Increased hydrothermal input proxies co-occur or precede high productivity and anoxia.•Fluctuations of redox conditions range from oxic to euxinic.
Environmental uncertainty and uncontrollability cause psycho-physiological distress to organisms 1–3, often impeding normal functioning 4, 5. A common response involves ritualization, that is, the ...limitation of behavioral expressions to predictable stereotypic and repetitive motor patterns 6–8. In humans, such behaviors are also symptomatic of psychopathologies like obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) 8, 9 and autism spectrum disorders (ASDs) 10, 11. Although these reactions might be mediated by different neural pathways, they serve to regain a sense of control over an uncertain situation 12–15 by engaging in behavioral patterns characterized by redundancy (superfluous actions that exceed the functional requirements of a goal), repetitiveness (recurrent behaviors or utterances), and rigidity (emphasis on fidelity and invariance) 8, 9, 16, 17. We examined whether ritualized behavior will manifest spontaneously as a dominant behavioral strategy in anxiogenic situations. Manipulating anxiety, we used motion-capture technology to quantify various characteristics of hand movements. We found that induced anxiety led to an increase in repetitiveness and rigidity, but not redundancy. However, examination of both psychological and physiological pathways revealed that repetitiveness and rigidity were predicted by an increase in heart rate, while self-perceived anxiety was a marginally significant predictor of redundancy. We suggest that these findings are in accordance with an entropy model of uncertainty 18, in which anxiety motivates organisms to return to familiar low-entropy states in order to regain a sense of control. Our results might inform a better understanding of ritual behavior and psychiatric disorders whose symptoms include over-ritualization.
•Stress can result in ritualized behavior•Inducing anxiety lead to more redundant, repetitive, and rigid hand movements•Ritualization might be an anxiety-reducing coping strategy
Lang et al. offer a novel insight into the link between anxiety and ritualized behavior, which may shed light on the persistence of ritual behavior throughout the animal kingdom and can potentially help gain a better understanding of psychiatric disorders like OCD or ASD, whose symptoms include over-ritualization.
How did gender discourses challenge social relations before and after 1989? How did actors intervene in powerful orders? How are feminist visions incorporated into contemporary activisms? This volume ...examines feminist, queer, and artistic practices of resistance as well as media discourses and attributions of GDR gender images from intersectional, postcolonial, and post-secular perspectives. In addition, the development of gender studies in Eastern Europe will be examined.
Wie forderten Geschlechterdiskurse vor und nach 1989 die gesellschaftlichen Verhältnisse heraus? Wie intervenierten Akteur*innen in machtvolle Ordnungen? Wie werden feministische Visionen in gegenwärtige Aktivismen aufgenommen? Der Band untersucht feministische, queere und künstlerische Widerstandspraxen sowie Mediendiskurse und Selbst- und Fremdzuschreibungen von DDR-Geschlechterbildern aus intersektionalen, postkolonialen und postsäkularen Perspektiven. Zudem wird die Entwicklung der Gender Studies in Osteuropa in den Blick genommen.
Summary
In this paper a fully probabilistic approach based on the Bayesian statistical method is presented to predict ground settlements in both transverse and longitudinal directions during gradual ...excavation of a tunnel. To that end, the convergence confinement method is adopted to give estimates of ground deformation numerically. Together with in situ measurements of the evolution of vertical deflections at selected points along the tunnel line, it allows for the construction of a likelihood function and consequently in the framework of Bayesian inference to provide posterior improved knowledge of model parameters entering the numerical analysis. In this regard, the Bayesian updating is first exploited in the material identification step and next used to yield predictions of ground settlement in sections along the tunnel line ahead of the tunnel face. This methodology thus makes it possible to improve original designs by utilizing an increasing number of data (measurements) collected in the course of tunnel construction.
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