Volcanism in slab tear faults is larger than in island-arcs and back-arcs

Study of Kindergarten Teachers’ Intentions to Choose Content and Teaching Method for Teaching Science

In this paper, we investigate the intentions of kindergarten teachers to use the content and to apply the teaching methods that they acquired in a one-day teacher training seminar. According to the theory of planned behavior, the answer to this research question is directly related to a series of social-psychological personal criteria assessments, such as an assessment of the personal gains or losses, the opinions of important third persons, the teacher’s own assessment of the value of the students’ learning, and the perceived behavioral control assessment. A total of 114 participants completed a 5-point Likert-scale questionnaire that consisted of two sets of five questions each. The results show that the kindergarten teachers’ intentions to use particular content and teaching methods are based on whether they have the skills to apply them successfully, and on their assessment of the ability of their students to acquire meaningful knowledge. The teacher’s choice of teaching method is also associated with the assessment of the personal gains or losses, as well as with the opinions of important third persons. Furthermore, the study findings show that there are two distinct categories of kindergarten teachers: those whose teaching is based on the tradition of science education, and those whose teaching is based on the tradition of early childhood education. The teaching implications of the results are also discussed.

Extraction of Time-Domain Characteristics and Selection of Effective Features Using Correlation Analysis to Increase the Accuracy of Petroleum Fluid Monitoring Systems

In the current paper, a novel technique is represented to control the liquid petrochemical and petroleum products passing through a transmitting pipe. A simulation setup, including an X-ray tube, a detector, and a pipe, was conducted by Monte Carlo N Particle-X version (MCNPX) code to examine a two-by-two mixture of four diverse petroleum products (ethylene glycol, crude oil, gasoline, and gasoil) in various volumetric ratios. As the feature extraction system, twelve time characteristics were extracted from the received signal, and the most effective ones were selected using correlation analysis to present reasonable inputs for neural network training. Three Multilayers perceptron (MLP) neural networks were applied to indicate the volume ratio of three kinds of petroleum products, and the volume ratio of the fourth product can be feasibly achieved through the results of the three aforementioned networks. In this study, increasing accuracy was placed on the agenda, and an RMSE < 1.21 indicates this high accuracy. Increasing the accuracy of predicting volume ratio, which is due to the use of appropriate characteristics as the neural network input, is the most important innovation in this study, which is why the proposed system can be used as an efficient method in the oil industry.

Ecological and Biotechnological Relevance of Mediterranean Hydrothermal Vent Systems

Marine hydrothermal systems are a special kind of extreme environments associated with submarine volcanic activity and characterized by harsh chemo-physical conditions, in terms of hot temperature, high concentrations of CO2 and H2S, and low pH. Such conditions strongly impact the living organisms, which have to develop adaptation strategies to survive. Hydrothermal systems have attracted the interest of researchers due to their enormous ecological and biotechnological relevance. From ecological perspective, these acidified habitats are useful natural laboratories to predict the effects of global environmental changes, such as ocean acidification at ecosystem level, through the observation of the marine organism responses to environmental extremes. In addition, hydrothermal vents are known as optimal sources for isolation of thermophilic and hyperthermophilic microbes, with biotechnological potential. This double aspect is the focus of this review, which aims at providing a picture of the ecological features of the main Mediterranean hydrothermal vents. The physiological responses, abundance, and distribution of biotic components are elucidated, by focusing on the necto-benthic fauna and prokaryotic communities recognized to possess pivotal role in the marine ecosystem dynamics and as indicator species. The scientific interest in hydrothermal vents will be also reviewed by pointing out their relevance as source of bioactive molecules.

Fault-controlled deep hydrothermal flow in a back-arc tectonic setting, SE Tyrrhenian Sea

Understanding magmatic systems and deep hydrothermal circulation beneath arc-volcanoes provides insights into deep processes associated with slab-subduction and mantle-wedge partial melting. Here we analyze hydrothermal flow below a structural high (Capo Vaticano Ridge, CVR) located offshore Capo Vaticano (western Calabria) and affected by magmatic intrusions generated from above the Ionian subducting-slab. In order to explain observations, we combine geophysical and numerical modelling results. Fluid-flow modelling shows that temperature distribution and geothermal gradient are controlled mainly by hydrothermal circulation, in turn affected by heat source, fault pattern, rock permeability, basement topography and sediment thickness. Two main faults, shaping the structural high and fracturing intensely the continental crust, enable deep hydrothermal circulation and shallow fluid discharge. Distribution of seismicity at depth supports the hypothesis of a slab below Capo Vaticano, deep enough to enable mantle-wedge partial melting above the subduction zone. Melt migration at shallow levels forms the magmatic intrusions inferred by magnetic anomalies and by δ³He enrichment in the discharged fluids at the CVR summit. Our results add new insights on the southern Tyrrhenian Sea arc-related magmatism and on the Calabrian inner-arc tectonic setting dissected by seismogenic faults able to trigger high-destructive earthquakes.

Fusion of GNSS and Satellite Radar Interferometry: Determination of 3D Fine-Scale Map of Present-Day Surface Displacements in Italy as Expressions of Geodynamic Processes

We present a detailed map of ground movement in Italy derived from the combination of the Global Navigation Satellite System (GNSS) and Satellite Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR) interferometry. These techniques are two of the most used space geodetic techniques to study Earth surface deformation. The above techniques provide displacements with respect to different components of the ground point position; GNSSs use the geocentric International Terrestrial Reference System 1989 (ITRS89), whereas the satellite SAR interferometry components are identified by the Lines of Sight (LOSs) between a satellite and ground points. Moreover, SAR interferometry is a differential technique, and for that reason, displacements have no absolute reference datum. We performed datum alignment of InSAR products using precise velocity fields derived from GNSS permanent stations. The result is a coherent ground velocity field with detailed boundaries of velocity patterns that provide new information about the complex geodynamics involved on the Italian peninsula and about local movements.