(Table 1) Paleomagnetic of reoriented core pieces of IODP Hole 304-U1309D

Oceanic core complexes expose lower crustal and upper mantle rocks on the seafloor by tectonic unroofing in the footwalls of large-slip detachment faults. The common occurrence of these structures in slow and ultra-slow spread oceanic crust suggests that they accommodate a significant component of plate divergence. However, the subsurface geometry of detachment faults in oceanic core complexes remains unclear. Competing models involve either: (a) displacement on planar, low-angle faults with little tectonic rotation; or (b) progressive shallowing by rotation of initially steeply dipping faults as a result of flexural unloading (the "rolling-hinge" model). We address this debate using palaeomagnetic remanences as markers for tectonic rotation within a unique 1.4 km long footwall section of gabbroic rocks recovered by Integrated Ocean Drilling Program (IODP) sampling at Atlantis Massif oceanic core complex on the Mid-Atlantic Ridge (MAR). These rocks contain a complex record of multipolarity magnetizations that are unrelated to alteration and igneous stratigraphy in the sampled section and are inferred to result from progressive cooling of the footwall section over geomagnetic polarity chrons C1r.2r, C1r.1n (Jaramillo) and C1r.1r. For the first time we have independently reoriented drill-core samples of lower crustal gabbros, that were initially azimuthally unconstrained, to a true geographic reference frame by correlating structures in individual core pieces with those identified from oriented imagery of the borehole wall. This allows reorientation of the palaeomagnetic data, placing far more rigorous constraints on the tectonic history than those possible using only palaeomagnetic inclination data. Analysis of the reoriented high temperature reversed component of magnetization indicates a 46° ± 6° anticlockwise rotation of the footwall around a MAR-parallel horizontal axis trending 011° ± 6°. Reoriented lower temperature components of normal and reversed polarity suggest that much of this rotation occurred after the end of the Jaramillo chron (0.99 Ma). The data provide unequivocal confirmation of the key prediction of flexural, rolling-hinge models for oceanic core complexes, whereby oceanic detachment faults initiate at higher dips and rotate to their present day low-angle geometries as displacement increases.

Crystallography of zirconium hydrides in recrystallized Zircaloy-2 fuel cladding lay electron backscatter diffraction

Precipitation morphology and habit planes of the delta-phase Zr hydrides, which were precipitated within the a-phase matrix grains and along the grain boundaries of recrystallized Zircaloy-2 cladding tube, have been examined by electron backscatter diffraction (EBSD). Radially-oriented hydrides, induced by residual tensile stress, precipitated in the outside region of the cladding, and circumferentially-oriented hydrides in the stress-free middle region of the cladding. The most common crystallographic relationship for both types of the hydrides precipitated at the inter- and intra-granular sites was identical at (0001)(alpha) // {111}(delta), with {1017}(alpha) // {111}(delta) being the occasional exception only for the inter-granular radial hydrides. When tensile stress was loaded, the intra-granular hydrides tended to preferentially precipitate in the grains with circumferential basal pole textures. The inter-granular hydrides tended to preferentially precipitate on the grain faces opposite to tensile axis. The change of prioritization in the precipitation sites for the hydrides due to tensile stress could be explained in terms of the relaxation effect of constrained elastic energy on the terminal solid solubility of hydrogen at hydride precipitation.

Dielectric and electro-optical properties of some cyanobiphenyl liquid-crystals

A variety of methods have been reviewed for obtaining parallel or perpendicular alignment in liquid-crystal cells. Some of these methods have been selected and developed and were used in polarised spectroscopy, dielectric and electro-optic studies. Also, novel dielectric and electro-optic cells were constructed for use over a range of temperature. Dielectric response of thin layers of E7 and E8 (eutectic mixture liquid-crystals) have been measured in the frequency range (12 Hz-100 kHz) and over a range of temperature (183-337K). Dielectric spectra were also obtained for supercooled E7 and E8 in the Hz and kHz range. When the measuring electric field was parallel to the nematic director, one loss peak (low-frequency relaxation process) was observed for E7 and for E8, that exhibits a Debye-type behaviour in the supercooled systems. When the measuring electric field was perpendicular to the nematic director, two resolved dielectric processes have been observed. The phase transitions, effective molecular polarisabilities, anisotropy of polarisabilities and order parameters of three liquid crystal homologs (5CB, 6CB, and 7CB), 60CB and three eutectic nematic mixtures E7, E8, and E607 were calculated using optical and density data measured at several temperatures. The order parameters calculated using the different methods of Vuks, Neugebauer, Saupe-Maier, and Palffy-Muhoray are nearly the same for the liquid crystals considered in the present study. Also, the interrelationship between density and refractive index and the molecular structure of these liquid crystals were established. Accurate dielectric and dipole results of a range of liquid-crystal forming molecules at several temperatures have reported. The role of the cyano-end group, biphenyl core, and flexible tail in molecular association, were investigated using the dielectric method for some molecules which have a structural relationship to the nematogens. Analysis of the dielectric data for solution of the liquid-crystals indicated a high molecular association, comparable to that observed in the nematic or isotropic phases. Electro-optic Kerr effect were investigated for some alkyl cyanobiphenyls, their nematic mixtures and the eutectic mixture liquid-crystals E7 and E8 in the isotropic phase and solution. The Kerr constant of these liquid crystals found to be very high at the nematic-isotropic transition temperatures as the molecules are expected to be highly ordered close to phase transition temperatures. Dynamic Kerr effect behaviour and transient molecular reorientation were also observed in thin layers of some alkyl cyanobiphenyls. Dichroic ratio R and order parameters of solutions containing some azo and anthraquinone dyes in the nematic solvent (E7 and E8), were investigated by the measurement of the intensity of the absorption bands in the visible region of parallel aligned samples. The effective factors on the dichroic ratio of the dyes dissolved in the nematic solvents were determined and discussed.

Experiments and analysis of combined diffraction and self diffraction effects in a nematic liquid crystal cell

The potential for nonlinear optical processes in nematic-liquid-crystal cells is great due to the large phase changes resulting from reorientation of the nematic-liquid-crystal director. Here the combination of diffraction and self-diffraction effects are studied simultaneously by the use of a pair of focused laser beams which are coincident on a homeotropically aligned liquid-crystal cell. The result is a complicated diffraction pattern in the far field. This is analyzed in terms of the continuum theory for liquid crystals, using a one-elastic-constant approximation to solve the reorientation profile. Very good comparison between theory and experiment is obtained. An interesting transient grating, existing due to the viscosity of the liquid-crystal material, is observed in theory and practice for large cell-tilt angles.

Experiments and analysis of combined diffraction and self diffraction effects in a nematic liquid crystal cell

The potential for nonlinear optical processes in nematic-liquid-crystal cells is great due to the large phase changes resulting from reorientation of the nematic-liquid-crystal director. Here the combination of diffraction and self-diffraction effects are studied simultaneously by the use of a pair of focused laser beams which are coincident on a homeotropically aligned liquid-crystal cell. The result is a complicated diffraction pattern in the far field. This is analyzed in terms of the continuum theory for liquid crystals, using a one-elastic-constant approximation to solve the reorientation profile. Very good comparison between theory and experiment is obtained. An interesting transient grating, existing due to the viscosity of the liquid-crystal material, is observed in theory and practice for large cell-tilt angles.

Selectivity control in Pt-catalyzed cinnamaldehyde hydrogenation

Chemoselectivity is a cornerstone of catalysis, permitting the targeted modification of specific functional groups within complex starting materials. Here we elucidate key structural and electronic factors controlling the liquid phase hydrogenation of cinnamaldehyde and related benzylic aldehydes over Pt nanoparticles. Mechanistic insight from kinetic mapping reveals cinnamaldehyde hydrogenation is structure-insensitive over metallic platinum, proceeding with a common Turnover Frequency independent of precursor, particle size or support architecture. In contrast, selectivity to the desired cinnamyl alcohol product is highly structure sensitive, with large nanoparticles and high hydrogen pressures favoring C=O over C=C hydrogenation, attributed to molecular surface crowding and suppression of sterically-demanding adsorption modes. In situ vibrational spectroscopies highlight the role of support polarity in enhancing C=O hydrogenation (through cinnamaldehyde reorientation), a general phenomenon extending to alkyl-substituted benzaldehydes. Tuning nanoparticle size and support polarity affords a flexible means to control the chemoselective hydrogenation of aromatic aldehydes.

Comparison of fitting stability of the different soft toric contact lenses

Purpose: To compare lens orientation and rotational recovery of five currently available soft toric lenses. Methods: Twenty subjects were recruited and trialed with each of the study lenses in a random order. Study lenses were PureVision® Toric (B&L), Air Optix® for Astigmatism (Alcon), Biofinity® Toric (CooperVision), Acuvue® Advance for Astigmatism (Vistakon), and Proclear® Toric (CooperVision). Lens orientation in primary position to determine the lens rotation form the vertical position and rotational recovery to primary gaze orientation following a 45° manual misorientation for the different lenses was compared. Results: The Biofinity Toric showed the lowest rotation from the vertical position and the Proclear Toric the highest. Also, the highest and the lowest reorientation speed were related to the Biofinity Toric and the Acuvue Advance for Astigmatism, respectively. The Repeated Measures ANOVA showed a significant difference in the lens rotation (P=. 0.004) and rotational recovery (P<. 0.001) among different contact lenses and the performed multiple comparisons indicated differences in rotation and also in reorientation speed were only seen between the Biofinity Toric when compared to four other lenses (P<. 0.05). Conclusion: Although there was appropriate fitting, based upon lens orientation and reorientation speed, with each of the study lenses it would appear that the optimized ballast technique used in the design of the Biofinity Toric helps reduce lens rotation and improve rotational recovery compared to others.

Caminhos para a avaliação da formação em odontologia: desenvolvimento, validação e aplicação de critérios

The need for universal access to health and the failure of the pedagogical model centered on the transmission of knowledge has led to changes in the training of health professionals. The objective of this study was to provide a new alternative for evaluating dental students through the development, validation and application of evaluation criteria based on the National Curriculum Guidelines (DCN in Brazil). Therefore, the study was conducted in three phases: development and validation of evaluation criteria of Dentistry courses based on the DCN; a pilot study to verify the applicability of the validated criteria and evaluation of the dentistry courses in the Northeast. In the first stage, a logical model was formulated, allowing for the construction of a criteria matrix, validated by a modified Delphi consensus technique. The validated matrix has the following dimensions: Profile of graduates, health care guidance, teaching and service integration, and pedagogical approach. The pilot study was conducted in five dental courses through a documentary study of the pedagogical project course (PPC), and application of validated questionnaires and interviews with course coordinators. The results of the pilot study indicate the possibility of being verified by means of validated criteria and using different methodological proposals, advances and curricular limitations facing the proposed reorientation of training recommended by DCN. The evaluation of Northeast Dentistry courses was carried out by applying a questionnaire validating a matrix of 30 course coordinators, including public and private institutions. The data were submitted to descriptive analysis, and also tested the difference between means and the correlation between the assessment of the coordinators in the dimensions and sub-dimensions with each other, among the general evaluation of courses and between the following variables: administrative category, time since last curriculum updating, participation in reorienting the training of health professionals programs, ENADE and CPC (Preliminary Concepts of the Course) scores in the year 2013. Positive correlation (p <0.01) was found between the means obtained by the perception of the coordinators in most dimensions, and also between them and the overall performance of the course. There were no significant differences between the coordinators’ perception about course performance and the administrative category (public / private). This difference is slightly higher when the average performance is compared with respect to time due to the last curriculum update, getting better performance in courses with the latest updated curriculum, even with there not 11 being this significant difference between dimensions. Better averages of performance were obtained in courses that do not participate in reorientation programs of professional training, with a significant difference (p<0.05) for the overall score and for all dimensions except the dimensions of teaching-service Integration (p = 0.064). There was no significant correlation between the assessment of coordinators in all dimensions, in the overall assessment or ENADE and CPC scores in 2013. The final instrument proposed in this study is a different alternative assessment for health training of both dentists and other professionals, considering that the DCN providing for the training and graduation of professionals is focused on the health needs of the population, integrated with the SUS (the National Brazilian Health System) and based on student-centered learning.

Processo de construção do conhecimento a partir do diálogo ensino-serviço na ótica dos profissionais de saúde

INTRODUCTION: In Brazil, the health training policies have been going through deep changes, which are the fruits of the sanitary reform and of the breakage with the biomedical model, still hegemonic. Nevertheless, the paradigm of comprehensiveness is being introduced in health and, in order to consolidate this concept, the training has been gaining new methodological approaches. One can mention the teaching-service interaction (education-health system/citizenship health), whose proposal enables the expansion of the perception of the health-disease process, as well as the warranty of compromises of training in relation to SUS. OBJECTIVE: Understand, from health professionals, the relevance of teaching-service-community interaction, vocational training of students of the Faculty of Health Sciences / UFRN. METHODOLOGICAL PROCEDURES: This study is grounded on qualitative approach. The technique used to obtain research data was the focus group. Two focus groups (FG) were accomplished in two family basic health units of the municipality of Santa Cruz – RN, where there is participation of professionals of the Family Health Strategy. The discussions were performed from a previously elaborated script. The analysis of results was held from the categorical thematic content technique. RESULTS: The study had the participation of 18 health professionals, and 13 (72%) were females. For these professionals, the teaching-service interaction enables the student to understand the model of comprehensive health care, since the contact with the community enhances its perception about the health-disease process, but also enables recognizing the importance of teamwork to comprehensive health care. FINAL CONSIDERATIONS: The results highlight the importance of a policy of reorientation within the context of training so that students have an early contact with the service and therefore develop technical skills within the context in which they are inserted.

A interação ensino-serviço no processo de formação dos graduandos em fisioterapia da UFPB: a percepção dos docentes

The health paradigm, consolidated in the last century, directed the training of health professionals, educated under the aegis of the Flexnerian training, fragmentary and hospital-centered model. However, it proved to be insufficient to meet the demands of the Unified Health System and the population. In this sense, the National Curriculum Guidelines for Undergraduate health courses emerge as a normative framework in proposing a new professional profile, as well as the recommendation of strategies for the restructuring of curricula and teaching practices, and one of them is the teaching-service integration. Therefore, the aim of this study was to investigate the process of training of Physiotherapy course students of the Federal University of Paraíba with the guiding principle of teaching-service integration, considering DCN. In this sense, the chosen method was a case study with qualitative approach. The sample was intentional, including all faculty members of the permanent staff of the Department of Physiotherapy at UFPB, linked to curriculum components whose practice scenarios occur in the SUS network and time longer than one year in that component. The data collection technique was the semi-structured interview. Data analysis was performed using the content analysis technique. The following categories were considered: professional training for SUS, integration of students to the SUS network services, the relationship between theory and practice in the training of physiotherapists, teaching and health professional partnership in the teaching-learning process and programs of training reorientation and their integration with the course. The results allowed identifying positive points in the teaching-service integration: recognition of the importance of integration activities between university and health services based on the insertion of students in the network, the combined actuation with health service professionals and the opportunity to work in a multidisciplinary team; the existence of structured and organized School Network; participation of students and teachers in government programs that offer the experience of insertion in the labor market. The following weaknesses stood out: difficulties in agreement, planning and evaluation of activities by the service; gap between theoretical and practical activities; lack of definition of roles of teacher and health service professionals in the training process and the fragile relationship of reorientation of vocational training programs with the curricular activities of the course. The teaching-service integration as a guiding principle in the analysis of the formation of physiotherapists reveals limits and possibilities for training that meets the health needs of the population. Thus, the choices of educational institutions regarding the care model have an influence on health practices, as well as the commitment by management and services and the permeability to social control instances decisively contribute to the improvement in the training of future professionals. Thus, the commitment of all involved for the effective change in the training process of health paradigm is indispensable.

A interação ensino-serviço no processo de formação dos graduandos em fisioterapia da UFPB: a percepção dos docentes

The health paradigm, consolidated in the last century, directed the training of health professionals, educated under the aegis of the Flexnerian training, fragmentary and hospital-centered model. However, it proved to be insufficient to meet the demands of the Unified Health System and the population. In this sense, the National Curriculum Guidelines for Undergraduate health courses emerge as a normative framework in proposing a new professional profile, as well as the recommendation of strategies for the restructuring of curricula and teaching practices, and one of them is the teaching-service integration. Therefore, the aim of this study was to investigate the process of training of Physiotherapy course students of the Federal University of Paraíba with the guiding principle of teaching-service integration, considering DCN. In this sense, the chosen method was a case study with qualitative approach. The sample was intentional, including all faculty members of the permanent staff of the Department of Physiotherapy at UFPB, linked to curriculum components whose practice scenarios occur in the SUS network and time longer than one year in that component. The data collection technique was the semi-structured interview. Data analysis was performed using the content analysis technique. The following categories were considered: professional training for SUS, integration of students to the SUS network services, the relationship between theory and practice in the training of physiotherapists, teaching and health professional partnership in the teaching-learning process and programs of training reorientation and their integration with the course. The results allowed identifying positive points in the teaching-service integration: recognition of the importance of integration activities between university and health services based on the insertion of students in the network, the combined actuation with health service professionals and the opportunity to work in a multidisciplinary team; the existence of structured and organized School Network; participation of students and teachers in government programs that offer the experience of insertion in the labor market. The following weaknesses stood out: difficulties in agreement, planning and evaluation of activities by the service; gap between theoretical and practical activities; lack of definition of roles of teacher and health service professionals in the training process and the fragile relationship of reorientation of vocational training programs with the curricular activities of the course. The teaching-service integration as a guiding principle in the analysis of the formation of physiotherapists reveals limits and possibilities for training that meets the health needs of the population. Thus, the choices of educational institutions regarding the care model have an influence on health practices, as well as the commitment by management and services and the permeability to social control instances decisively contribute to the improvement in the training of future professionals. Thus, the commitment of all involved for the effective change in the training process of health paradigm is indispensable.

Theory and Practice in Sustainability Science: Influence of Urban Form on the Urban Heat Island and Implications for Urban Systems

As the world population continues to grow past seven billion people and global challenges continue to persist including resource availability, biodiversity loss, climate change and human well-being, a new science is required that can address the integrated nature of these challenges and the multiple scales on which they are manifest. Sustainability science has emerged to fill this role. In the fifteen years since it was first called for in the pages of Science, it has rapidly matured, however its place in the history of science and the way it is practiced today must be continually evaluated. In Part I, two chapters address this theoretical and practical grounding. Part II transitions to the applied practice of sustainability science in addressing the urban heat island (UHI) challenge wherein the climate of urban areas are warmer than their surrounding rural environs. The UHI has become increasingly important within the study of earth sciences given the increased focus on climate change and as the balance of humans now live in urban areas.

In Chapter 2 a novel contribution to the historical context of sustainability is argued. Sustainability as a concept characterizing the relationship between humans and nature emerged in the mid to late 20th century as a response to findings used to also characterize the Anthropocene. Emerging from the human-nature relationships that came before it, evidence is provided that suggests Sustainability was enabled by technology and a reorientation of world-view and is unique in its global boundary, systematic approach and ambition for both well being and the continued availability of resources and Earth system function. Sustainability is further an ambition that has wide appeal, making it one of the first normative concepts of the Anthropocene.

Despite its widespread emergence and adoption, sustainability science continues to suffer from definitional ambiguity within the academe. In Chapter 3, a review of efforts to provide direction and structure to the science reveals a continuum of approaches anchored at either end by differing visions of how the science interfaces with practice (solutions). At one end, basic science of societally defined problems informs decisions about possible solutions and their application. At the other end, applied research directly affects the options available to decision makers. While clear from the literature, survey data further suggests that the dichotomy does not appear to be as apparent in the minds of practitioners.

In Chapter 4, the UHI is first addressed at the synoptic, mesoscale. Urban climate is the most immediate manifestation of the warming global climate for the majority of people on earth. Nearly half of those people live in small to medium sized cities, an understudied scale in urban climate research. Widespread characterization would be useful to decision makers in planning and design. Using a multi-method approach, the mesoscale UHI in the study region is characterized and the secular trend over the last sixty years evaluated. Under isolated ideal conditions the findings indicate a UHI of 5.3 ± 0.97 °C to be present in the study area, the magnitude of which is growing over time.

Although urban heat islands (UHI) are well studied, there remain no panaceas for local scale mitigation and adaptation methods, therefore continued attention to characterization of the phenomenon in urban centers of different scales around the globe is required. In Chapter 5, a local scale analysis of the canopy layer and surface UHI in a medium sized city in North Carolina, USA is conducted using multiple methods including stationary urban sensors, mobile transects and remote sensing. Focusing on the ideal conditions for UHI development during an anticyclonic summer heat event, the study observes a range of UHI intensity depending on the method of observation: 8.7 °C from the stationary urban sensors; 6.9 °C from mobile transects; and, 2.2 °C from remote sensing. Additional attention is paid to the diurnal dynamics of the UHI and its correlation with vegetation indices, dewpoint and albedo. Evapotranspiration is shown to drive dynamics in the study region.

Finally, recognizing that a bridge must be established between the physical science community studying the Urban Heat Island (UHI) effect, and the planning community and decision makers implementing urban form and development policies, Chapter 6 evaluates multiple urban form characterization methods. Methods evaluated include local climate zones (LCZ), national land cover database (NCLD) classes and urban cluster analysis (UCA) to determine their utility in describing the distribution of the UHI based on three standard observation types 1) fixed urban temperature sensors, 2) mobile transects and, 3) remote sensing. Bivariate, regression and ANOVA tests are used to conduct the analyses. Findings indicate that the NLCD classes are best correlated to the UHI intensity and distribution in the study area. Further, while the UCA method is not useful directly, the variables included in the method are predictive based on regression analysis so the potential for better model design exists. Land cover variables including albedo, impervious surface fraction and pervious surface fraction are found to dominate the distribution of the UHI in the study area regardless of observation method.

Chapter 7 provides a summary of findings, and offers a brief analysis of their implications for both the scientific discourse generally, and the study area specifically. In general, the work undertaken does not achieve the full ambition of sustainability science, additional work is required to translate findings to practice and more fully evaluate adoption. The implications for planning and development in the local region are addressed in the context of a major light-rail infrastructure project including several systems level considerations like human health and development. Finally, several avenues for future work are outlined. Within the theoretical development of sustainability science, these pathways include more robust evaluations of the theoretical and actual practice. Within the UHI context, these include development of an integrated urban form characterization model, application of study methodology in other geographic areas and at different scales, and use of novel experimental methods including distributed sensor networks and citizen science.

Orbitally tuned time scale and astronomical forcing in the middle Eocene to early Oligocene determined on ODP and IODP sediment cores

Deciphering the driving mechanisms of Earth system processes, including the climate dynamics expressed as paleoceanographic events, requires a complete, continuous, and high-resolution stratigraphy that is very accurately dated. In this study, we construct a robust astronomically calibrated age model for the middle Eocene to early Oligocene interval (31-43 Ma) in order to permit more detailed study of the exceptional climatic events that occurred during this time, including the Middle Eocene Climate Optimum and the Eocene/Oligocene transition. A goal of this effort is to accurately date the middle Eocene to early Oligocene composite section cored during the Pacific Equatorial Age Transect (PEAT, IODP Exp. 320/321). The stratigraphic framework for the new time scale is based on the identification of the stable long eccentricity cycle in published and new high-resolution records encompassing bulk and benthic stable isotope, calibrated XRF core scanning, and magnetostratigraphic data from ODP Sites 171B-1052, 189-1172, 199-1218, and 207-1260 as well as IODP Sites 320-U1333, and -U1334 spanning magnetic polarity Chrons C12n to C20n. Subsequently we applied orbital tuning of the records to the La2011 orbital solution. The resulting new time scale revises and refines the existing orbitally tuned age model and the Geomagnetic Polarity Time Scale from 31 to 43 Ma. Our newly defined absolute age for the Eocene/Oligocene boundary validates the astronomical tuned age of 33.89 Ma identified at the Massignano (Italy) global stratotype section and point. Our compilation of geochemical records of climate-controlled variability in sedimentation through the middle-to-late Eocene and early Oligocene demonstrates strong power in the eccentricity band that is readily tuned to the latest astronomical solution. Obliquity driven cyclicity is only apparent during very long eccentricity cycle minima around 35.5 Ma, 38.3 Ma and 40.1 Ma.

Carbonate sedimentation beneath the Carlifornia Current system

A north-south transect of 17 cores was constructed along the eastern boundary of the California Current system from 33° to 42°N to investigate the changes in biogenic sedimentation over the past 30 kyr. Percentages and mass accumulation rates of CaCO3, Corg, and biogenic opal were assembled at 500 to 1000 years/sample to provide relatively high resolution. Time-space maps reveal a complex pattern of changes that do not follow a simple glacial-interglacial two-mode model. Biogenic sedimentation shows responses that are sometimes time-transgressive and sometimes coeval, and most of the responses show more consistency within a limited geographic area than any temporal consistency. Reconstructed conditions during late oxygen isotope stage 3 were more like early Holocene conditions than any other time during the last 30 kyr. Coastal upwelling and productivity during oxygen isotope stage 3 were relatively strong along the central California margin but were weak along the northern California margin. Precipitation increased during the last glacial interval in the central California region, and the waters of the southern California margin had relatively low productivity. Productivity on the southern Oregon margin was relatively low at the beginning of the last glacial interval, but by about 20 ka, productivity in this area significantly increased. This change suggests that the center of the divergence of the West Wind Drift shifted south at this time. The end of the last glacial interval was characterized by increased productivity in the southern California margin and increased upwelling along the central California margin but upwelling remained weak along the northern California margin. A sudden (<300 years) decrease in CaCO3, Corg, and biogenic opal occurred at 13 ka. The changes suggest a major reorientation of the atmospheric circulation in the North Pacific and western North America and the establishment of a strong seasonality in the central California region. A carbonate preservation event occurred at 10 ka that appears to reflect the uptake of CO2 by the terrestrial biosphere as the northern latitudes were reforested following retreat of the glaciers. The Holocene has been a period of relatively high productivity in the southern California margin, relatively strong coastal upwelling along the central California margin, relatively weak upwelling along the northern California margin, and the northward migration of the divergence zone of the West Wind Drift.

From Crisis to Opportunity: Turnaround Strategies of Large Irish Construction Contractors During the Period 2007-2015.

The sudden change in environmental munificence level in the construction sector
during the period 2007 – 2015 provides a natural experiment to investigate strategic
and operating actions of firms, particularly during an environmental jolt. Statistics on
business failures corroborate that neither academics nor practitioners have succeeded
in guiding strategic action during periods of environmental jolt. Despite the recent
increase of turnaround research in the general management domain, its use in the
construction management realm remains underexplored. To address this research
gap, five exploratory case studies of an ongoing PhD study were used to examine the
turnaround strategies of construction contractors during a period of economic
contraction and growth. The findings show that, although retrenchment is often
considered to be a short-term strategy, this is clearly not the case; with the majority of
contractors maintaining the strategy for 6-7 years. During the same period,
internationalization became critical, with the turnaround process shifting towards
strategic reorientation that altered the firms' market domain. The case studies further
suggest that strategic and operational actions resonate quite well with contemporary
practice-based approaches to strategy making. The findings provide valuable
assistance for construction contractors in dealing with organisational decline and in
developing a successful turnaround response.