Low-temperature thermochronology is a powerful tool for constraining the thermal evolution of rocks and minerals in relation to a breadth of tectonic, geodynamic, landscape evolution, and natural ...resource formation processes through deep time. However, complexities inherent to these analytical techniques can make interpreting the significance of results challenging, requiring them to be placed in their geological context in 4-dimensions (3D + time). We present a novel tool for the geospatial archival, analysis and dissemination of fission-track and (U-Th)/He data, built as an extension to the open-access AusGeochem platform ( https://ausgeochem.auscope.org.au ) and freely accessible to scientists from around the world. To demonstrate the power of the platform, three regional datasets from Kenya, Australia and the Red Sea are placed in their 4D geological, geochemical, and geographic contexts, revealing insights into the tectono-thermal evolutions of these areas. Beyond facilitating data interpretation, the archival of fission track and (U-Th)/He (meta-)data in relational schemas unlocks future potential for greater integration of thermochronology and numerical geoscience techniques. The power of formatting data to interface with external tools is demonstrated through the integration of GPlates Web Service with AusGeochem, enabling thermochronology data to be readily viewed in their paleogeographic context through deep time from within the platform.
Adult hearing loss has a significant impact on communication and quality of life. In spite of effective methods of diagnosis and treatment, many rural adults face significant barriers and delays in ...accessing care. The purpose of this study is to characterize the impact of hearing loss and the barriers for hearing healthcare in rural adults. Using stratified purposeful sampling, the study design involved semi-structured phone interviews with adults in the Appalachian region of Kentucky between 2016 and 2017 to describe perceived susceptibility to hearing loss; knowledge of hearing loss; cues leading to helpseeking; barriers limited access to care; benefits of seeking help; and self-rated confidence in seeking treatment. Thematic qualitative analysis was performed to identify recurring content themes. Forty adults participated in the study. Participants reported susceptibility to noise induced hearing loss with infrequent hearing protection use. Participants described concern with hearing loss-related communication barriers that could affect compliance with medical care, employment performance, personal safety, and relationship communication. Rural adult expressed willingness to seek hearing healthcare but reported a lack of providers in rural areas. The cost and the lack of insurance coverage for hearing aids were the most clearly articulated obstacles influencing access to care. Hearing loss has a significant impact on adults in rural areas. A lack of providers and the overwhelming cost of treatment are barriers to care. Further research is needed to identify novel methods to support rural adults seeking affordable hearing healthcare.
The intention of this thesis is to examine various types of online deviance, such as ‘trolling’ and other forms of cyber bullying with special attention paid to the deviance which occurs on social ...networking sites and peer-2-peer file sharing websites. The central claim of this thesis is that deviant behaviour can be influenced (encouraged, magnified) by ‘ressentiment’, which can reside within the individual. This ‘ressentiment’ forms part of a complex array of situational factors called ‘Flexible Causal Prediction’, whereby individuals may experience a particularly strong influence on behaviour but are not predetermined to act in certain ways. In this thesis the author uses Nietzsche’s philosophical notions of ‘Nihilism’, ‘Slave Morality’, ‘ressentiment’, ‘Will to Power’ and the ‘Übermensch’ to build an existential picture of deviant behaviour. The author also draws upon the criminological/sociological notions of ‘Drift’, ‘Master Status’ and the ‘Techniques of Neutralisation’ (Sykes and Matza 1957) to introduce the new concepts of ‘Flexible Causal Prediction’ (previously referred to as ‘Causal Probability’); and the idea of ‘Situational Influences’. This undertaking is done with the intention of building upon the Meta-theoretical work of Owen (2007 – 2015), which seeks to build bridges between the social and physical sciences. The theory of ‘Flexible Causal Prediction’ is also applied to the deviant activities of internet trolling and anti-social behaviours to demonstrate the influences on behaviour. Nietzsche’s philosophical notion of ‘Slave Morality’ and ‘ressentiment’ will also be extended when looking at some radical social justice movements, such as ‘AntiFa’, ‘Black LivesMatter’ and the ‘#MeToo’ movement to demonstrate the role that ‘ressentiment’ may play in behavioural choices. To assist this analysis SaulAlinksy’s 1971 book ‘Rules for Radicals’ will be referenced to demonstrate how the rules are based on a collectivist ‘herd’ mentality of slave ‘ressentiment’ and how these rules have themselves lead directly to deviant behaviour, online and offline and how a political correct ideology could be responsible for encouraging such behaviours.
The majority of geochemical and cosmochemical research is based upon observations and, in particular, upon the acquisition, processing and interpretation of analytical data from physical samples. The ...exponential increase in volumes and rates of data acquisition over the last century, combined with advances in instruments, analytical methods and an increasing variety of data types analysed, has necessitated the development of new ways of data curation, access and sharing. Together with novel data processing methods, these changes have enabled new scientific insights and are driving innovation in Earth and Planetary Science research. Yet, as approaches to data-intensive research develop and evolve, new challenges emerge. As large and often global data compilations increasingly form the basis for new research studies, institutional and methodological differences in data reporting are proving to be significant hurdles in synthesising data from multiple sources. Consistent data formats and data acquisition descriptions are becoming crucial to enable quality assessment, reusability and integration of results fostering confidence in available data for reuse. Here, we explore the key challenges faced by the geo- and cosmochemistry community and, by drawing comparisons from other communities, recommend possible approaches to overcome them. The first challenge is bringing together the numerous sub-disciplines within our community under a common international initiative. One key factor for this convergence is gaining endorsement from the international geochemical, cosmochemical and analytical societies and associations, journals and institutions. Increased education and outreach, spearheaded by ambassadors recruited from leading scientists across disciplines, will further contribute to raising awareness, and to uniting and mobilising the community. Appropriate incentives, recognition and credit for good data management as well as an improved, user-oriented technical infrastructure will be essential for achieving a cultural change towards an environment in which the effective use and real-time interchange of large datasets is common-place. Finally, the development of best practices for standardised data reporting and exchange, driven by expert committees, will be a crucial step towards making geo- and cosmochemical data more Findable, Accessible, Interoperable and Reusable by both humans and machines (FAIR).
To promote a more efficient and transparent geochemistry data ecosystem, a consortium of Australian university research laboratories called the AuScope Geochemistry Network assembled to build a ...collaborative platform for the express purpose of preserving, disseminating and collating geochronology and isotopic data. In partnership with geoscience‐data‐solutions company Lithodat Pty Ltd, the open, cloud‐based AusGeochem platform (https://ausgeochem.auscope.org.au) was developed to simultaneously serve as a geosample registry, a geochemical data repository and a data analysis tool. Informed by method‐specific groups of geochemistry experts and established international data reporting practices, community‐agreed database schemas were developed for rock and mineral geosample metadata and secondary ion mass spectrometry U‐Pb analysis, with additional models for laser ablation‐inductively coupled‐mass spectrometry U‐Pb and Lu‐Hf, Ar‐Ar, fission‐track and (U‐Th‐Sm)/He under development. Collectively, the AusGeochem platform provides the geochemistry community with a new, dynamic resource to help facilitate FAIR (Findable, Accessible, Interoperable, Reusable) data management, streamline data dissemination and advanced quantitative investigations of Earth system processes. By systematically archiving detailed geochemical (meta‐)data in structured schemas, intractably large datasets comprising thousands of analyses produced by numerous laboratories can be readily interrogated in novel and powerful ways. These include rapid derivation of inter‐data relationships, facilitating on‐the‐fly data compilation, analysis and visualisation.
Key Points
AusGeochem is an open, cloud‐hosted geospatial platform for global geochemistry data.
It simultaneously serves as a geosample registry, geochemistry data repository and data interrogation tool, which can be accessed by external systems via its application programming interface.
Its relational database architecture enables analytics to be performed across geochemistry data types.
Scholarship on idioms of distress has emphasized cross-cultural variation, but devoted less attention to intra-cultural variation—specifically, how the legitimacy of distress may vary according to ...the context in which it is expressed, social position, and interaction with medical categories of distress. This variation can pose challenges for interventionists seeking to establish culturally acceptable ways of identifying distress and creating relevant resources for recovery. We describe efforts over three years (2014–2016) to identify and adapt a culturally appropriate evidence-based intervention for depressed rural Appalachian women. Though the prevalence of depression among rural women is high, limited services and social barriers restrict treatment access. Formative research revealed varied understandings of distress. Depression was (a) medicalized as a treatable condition, (b) stigmatized as mental illness, (c) accepted as a non-pathological reaction to regional poverty and gendered caregiving responsibilities, (d) rejected as a worthy justification for seeking individual care, and (e) less represented in comparison to other competing forms of distress (i.e., multiple morbidities, family members’ distress). In a small pilot trial, we applied an implementation science perspective to identify and implement appropriate evidence-based programming for the context. We outline how we reached Appalachian women despite these diverse understandings of depression and established a flexible medicalization of depression that enabled us to legitimize care-seeking, work with varied rural healthcare professionals, and engender culturally relevant support. Our adaptation and implementation of the concept of “mental health recovery” enabled the development of programming that furthered non-pathological communicative distress while resisting the normalization that silences women in the context of deep health disparities.
A study of the intellectual property crime commonly known as ‘file sharing’ using the file sharing websites on which users display their activity and post comments. As a guide I will use a ...meta-theoretical framework first developed by Roger Sibeon and then expanded by Tim Owen to help focus the research through a post-postmodern return to sociological and criminological theory. This research also acknowledges a physical/biological component to all intangibility, internet and computer related activity and tries to build further a relationship between the physical and intangible spheres of existence. It is acknowledged here that individuals are not predetermined to commit certain actions because they are biologically programmed to do so, rather that genes can influence behaviour and behaviour can influence genes.
Selected groups of arthropods were collected through soil sampling and pitfall trapping to determine effects of tillage. Nine sites with three treatments, grass, no-till, and tillage, were visited in ...2000 and 2001. Abundant groups were springtails (Collembola) at 36.1%, beetles (Coleoptera) at 26.6%, crickets (Gryllidae) at 19.9%, spiders (Araneae) at 6.0%, sowbugs (Isopoda) at 4.5%, and millipedes (Diplopoda) at 4.3%. No-till had the highest Hierarchical Richness Index value (HRI, French 1994, 75,052) indicating richness and diversity. Grass treatments had a HRI of (62,136) and tillage (57,516). No-till does have a positive affect on arthropod abundance and diversity. Cultivation does not affect all arthropods the same. Pasimachus elongates LeContei (Coleoptera:Carabidae) had higher means on grass than cultivated while no-till was higher than tillage. Harpalus pensylvanicus DeGeer (Coleoptera:Carabidae) were found at higher abundances on cultivated treatments. Different arthropods respond differently to tillage due to habitat requirements, vegetative differences, and food availability.
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