SOCIAL DISTANCES IN A MULTI ETHNIC REGION

The paper presents the results of a sociological study conducted in some multiethnic communities situated in the central area of Moldova, Romania. Its main aim was to establish the ethnic identity of Catholic population in the villages of this region and to discover the way in which these communities build their ethnic and cultural identity. We used the scale of social distance, starting from the model developed by Bogardus (1925), which has become the most frequently used method of emphasizing the acceptance or isolation of social groups. We calculated the Social Distance Index (SDI) which highlights the number of social contact opportunities rejected by the respondent, the Social Contact Index (SCI) derived from the number of social contact opportunities accepted by the respondents, and the Qualitative Index of Social Contacts (QISC). The results are focused on ethnic aspects and local features of studied communities and the conclusions reveal the methods of ethnic self-defining for each community and their tendency to conserve local identity by refusing external influences that have an ideological stake.

QUALITATIVE INDEX ASSURANCE FOR PARTS MACHINED WITH IMPREGNATED ABRASIVE TOOL

The work purpose: the accuracy investigation of parts machined with chromium diiodine grinding disks, and also roughness and structural state of surface layer material in parts after working with the impregnated tool; the investigation data are a part of the scientific work which has been started since 2012. The investigation methods: the accuracy and quality of machining parts with the impregnated grinding tool were analyzed; there was carried out a generalization of the data obtained regarding quality parameter changes in the surface layer of parts during working having an influence upon their operation characteristics. The investigation results and novelty: the impregnation method including additional mechanical oscillation at the moment of tool impregnation; the investigation results of accuracy and effectiveness of the mentioned method of working; the investigations of roughness parameters and distribution of residual stresses in the surface layer of parts. Conclusions: at present in the Russian industry there are widely used methods and technologies of import substitution, industry needs low cost and efficient methods of working; thereupon there are urgent different investigations in the field of updating technology for metal grinding with the estimate of their effectiveness and qualitative characteristics of parts when using tools offered.

Influence of force volume indentation parameters and processing method in wood cell walls nanomechanical studies

Since the established correlations between mechanical properties of a piece of wood at the macroscopic scale and those of the cell wall at the submicron scale, techniques based on atomic force microscopy (AFM) have become widespread. In particular Peak Force tapping, allowing the differentiation of various layers, has become the new standard for wood cell wall’s nanomechanical characterization. However, its use requires fully elastic indentation, a good knowledge of stiffness of the probe and assumes a perfect tip shape of known radius (sphere) or angle (cone). Those strong hypotheses can result in large approximations in the extracted parameters for complex, nanostructured, and stiff and viscous materials such as wood. In this work, we propose a reliable and complementary alternative based on AFM force-volume indentation by refining the Oliver and Pharr nanoindentation processing and calibration procedure for AFM cantilever and tip. The introduced area-function calibration (AFC) method allows to considerably reduce these approximations and provides semi-quantitative measurements. No prior knowledge of the tip shape and cantilever stiffness are required and viscoplasticity is investigated through a qualitative index. Indentation parameters variations are shown to impact the resulting measurements, i.e., indentation modulus, viscoplasticity index, adhesion force and energy. AFC method, applied to map regions of tension wood, provides very stable mechanical parameters characteristic of each region, which makes this method of high interest for plant cell wall studies.

Quantitative study on benefits of distribution network investment

The development of distribution network in China lags behind the transmission network seriously, which is difficult to meet the development needs of high proportion of renewable energy power system in the future. Facing the huge investment demand of distribution network, it is urgent to improve the existing extensive experience based investment decision-making method and avoid the subjectivity of qualitative index evaluation method. In this paper, the life cycle theory and input-output method are used to study the quantification of distribution network investment benefit. The quantitative models of economic benefit and social benefit of distribution network investment are established to provide support for the comparison and decision-making of distribution network projects. Finally, an empirical analysis of the investment benefit model of a high-voltage distribution network project is carried out to verify the feasibility of the research results.

Small Patches of Riparian Woody Vegetation Enhance Biodiversity of Invertebrates

Patches of riparian woody vegetation potentially help mitigate environmental impacts of agriculture and safeguard biodiversity. We investigated the effects of riparian forest on invertebrate diversity in coupled stream-riparian networks using a case study in the Zwalm river basin (Flanders, Belgium). Agriculture is one of the main pressures in the basin and riparian forest is limited to a number of isolated patches. Our 32 study sites comprised nine unshaded “unbuffered” sites which were paired with nine shaded “buffered” sites on the same stream reach, along with five ‘least-disturbed’ sites and nine downstream sites. We sampled water chemistry, habitat characteristics and stream and riparian invertebrates (carabid beetles and spiders) at each site. Three methods were used to quantify riparian attributes at different spatial scales: a visually-assessed qualitative index, quantitative estimates of habitat categories in six rectangular plots (10 × 5 m) and geographic information system (GIS)-derived land cover data. We investigated relationships between invertebrates and riparian attributes at different scales with linear regression and redundancy analyses. Spiders and carabids were most associated with local riparian attributes. In contrast, aquatic macroinvertebrates were strongly influenced by the extent of riparian vegetation in a riparian band upstream (100–300 m). These findings demonstrate the value of quantifying GIS-based metrics of riparian cover over larger spatial scales into assessments of the efficacy of riparian management as a complement to more detailed local scale riparian assessments in situ. Our findings highlight the value of even small patches of riparian vegetation in an otherwise extensively disturbed landscape in supporting biodiversity of both terrestrial and freshwater invertebrates and emphasize the need to consider multiple spatial scales in riparian management strategies which aim to mitigate human impacts on biodiversity in stream-riparian networks.

Assessing the Benefits of Forested Riparian Zones: A Qualitative Index of Riparian Integrity Is Positively Associated with Ecological Status in European Streams

Developing a general, predictive understanding of ecological systems requires knowing how much structural and functional relationships can cross scales and contexts. Here, we introduce the CROSSLINK project that investigates the role of forested riparian buffers in modified European landscapes by measuring a wide range of ecosystem attributes in stream-riparian networks. CROSSLINK involves replicated field measurements in four case-study basins with varying levels of human development: Norway (Oslo Fjord), Sweden (Lake Mälaren), Belgium (Zwalm River), and Romania (Argeş River). Nested within these case-study basins include multiple, independent stream-site pairs with a forested riparian buffer and unbuffered section located upstream, as well as headwater and downstream sites to show cumulative land-use impacts. CROSSLINK applies existing and bespoke methods to describe habitat conditions, biodiversity, and ecosystem functioning in aquatic and terrestrial habitats. Here, we summarize the approaches used, detail protocols in supplementary materials, and explain how data is applied in an optimization framework to better manage tradeoffs in multifunctional landscapes. We then present results demonstrating the range of riparian conditions present in our case-study basins and how these environmental states influence stream ecological integrity with the commonly used macroinvertebrate Average Score Per Taxon (ASPT) index. We demonstrate that a qualitative index of riparian integrity can be positively associated with stream ecological status. This introduction to the CROSSLINK project shows the potential for our replicated study with its panoply of ecosystem attributes to help guide management decisions regarding the use of forested riparian buffers in human-impacted landscapes. This knowledge is highly relevant in a time of rapid environmental change where freshwater biodiversity is increasingly under pressure from a range of human impacts that include habitat loss, pollution, and climate change.

Qualitative index of population health losses in the aral sea region

The article is devoted to the approbation of the modification of the method of the presentation of indices of medical and social losses of the population on an example of environmentally unfavorable Aral Sea region in Kazakhstan. The first step in improvement of the system ofpublic health care is the identification of the most important problems related with the assessment of the disease burden and the adjustment of data of such type in accordance national aims on the decline of medical and social losses in this problem area. So far according to the criteria for the determination of the boundary of ecological catastrophe area one of the indices is the steady gain in the mortality rate. Using the index “Years of Life Lost” (YLL) in medical statistics as a relatively new approach that continues to be improved and its development supposes the improvement in the quality of health statistics. We modified this method consisting in the determination of the coefficient of loss of years. In the given work after comprehensive analysis of the loss of years due to morbidity and mortality on the base of life tables the potential of lost years for the population was determined with bearing in mind of module tables and compared with the loss in years due to the health loss. So far there was declined the dimension of the comprehensive index, there was elevated its comparability with other indices, and the data interpretation has been optimized. Suggested modification can be used for a comprehensive assessment of health state in the execution of epidemiological studies and monitoring of medical and social situation in ecologically unfavorable regions.

Differential brain mechanisms during reading human vs. machine translated fiction and news texts

Few neuroimaigng studies on reading comprehension have been conducted under natural reading settings. In this study, we showed texts presented in a natural way during functional MRI (fMRI) measurements to reveal brain areas sensitive to reading comprehension. Specifically, this paradigm independently manipulated two holistic features of article style: text genre and translation style, a qualitative index of how typical word choices and arrangements are made in daily use of the language. Specifically, articles from The New York Times (news) and Reader’s Digest (fiction) translated from English to Mandarin Chinese either by human experts or machine (Google Translate) were used to investigate the correlation of brain activity across participants during article reading. We found that bi-hemispheric visual cortex, precuneus, and occipito-parietal junction show significantly correlated hemodynamics across participants regardless of translation style and article genre. Compared to machine translation, reading human expert translation elicited more reliable fMRI signals across participants at precuneus, potentially because narrative representations and contents can be coherently presented over tens of seconds. We also found significantly stronger inter-subject correlated fMRI signals at temporal poles and fusiform gyri in fiction reading than in news reading. This may be attributed to more stable empathy processing across participants in fiction reading. The degree of stability of brain responses across subjects at extra-linguistic areas was found correlated with subjective rating on the text fluency. The functional connectivity between these areas was modulated by text genre and translation style. Taken together, our imaging results suggested stable and selective neural substrates associated with comprehending holistic features of written narratives.

O Geossistema como Proposta Metodológica Aplicada a Planície Costeira do Amapá: Cabo Norte, Brasil / The geosystem as a methodological proposal applied to the coastal plain of Amapá: Cabo Norte, Brazil

O Geossistema, como método de análise integrado dos sistemas ambientais, surgiu como ferramenta capaz de suprir, em parte, a necessidade humana de compreender e descrever os processos naturais responsáveis pela organização elementar existente em cada paisagem. O estudo em Geossistema, aplicado ao ambiente litorâneo, pode apresentar um nível de análise de maior complexidade, se comparado ao continente, em função da origem dos elementos e processos dinâmicos existentes em suas paisagens peculiares. Este nível de complexidade é percebido ao longo da Planície Costeira do Amapá (PCA), onde a fisiologia da paisagem deriva principalmente de uma dinâmica geológica, geomorfológica e climática de longo e curto período. O presente trabalho teve como objetivo principal a compartimentação da Região Natural do Cabo Norte, em paisagens síntese, através do método geossistêmico proposto por Bertrand (1968). Os resultados alcançados identificaram três Geossistemas (Ambiente de Sedimentação Paleofluvial e Lacustre, Ambiente de Sedimentação Estuarina, Ambiente de Sedimentação Costeiro e Marinho) que posteriormente foram submetidos ao Índice Qualitativo de Sensibilidade Ambiental adaptado de BRASIL (2004). Como produto foram gerados os mapas de compartimentação da paisagem (Geossistemas) e sensibilidade ao impacto de derramamento de óleo na Região Natural do Cabo Norte. Palavras-chave: Geossistema, paisagem, planície, sensibilidade, Cabo Norte. Abstract The geosystem, as a method of integrated environmental systems analysis, emerged as a tool capable of supplying, in part, the human need to understand and describe natural processes responsible for the elementary organisation exists in each landscape. The study on geosystem, applied to the coastal environment, can present a more sophisticated analysis level, compared to the mainland, according to the origin of the elements and dynamic processes in their peculiar landscapes. This level of complexity is realised along the coastal plain of Amapá (PCA), where the landscape mainly derived from the physiology of a geological, geomorphological and climatic dynamics of long and short period. The present work had as main objective the compartmentalisation of the natural region of the North Cape, in landscapes synthesis, through the geosistemic method proposed by Bertrand (1968). The results identified three geosystems (Paleofluvial and Lacustrine Sedimentation environment, Estuarine Sedimentation environment, Coastal Sedimentation and marine environment) which subsequently underwent a qualitative Index of Environmental sensitivity adapted from BRASIL (2004). As product subdivision maps were generated from the landscape (geosystem) and sensitivity to the impact of the oil spill in the region of North Cape. Keywords: geosystem, landscape, plains, sensitivity, North Cape.