Überarb. Diss. Univ. Marburg, 2007. / Register.

M.A. (Semitic languages) / The characterirzatioon, "sister-narratives", is based on the formula "my sister is she" which is :found in two narratives concerning Abra(ha)m and Sarai (Genesis 12 : 10 - 20 and 20 : 1 - 18) and one recounting the experiences of Isaac and Rebecca (Genesis 26 : 1 - 17). Because of similarities between them, various comparative studies (usually focussing on historical and form-critical aspects) have been atternpted during the course of time. The present study analyses the three Biblical stories linguistically from a narratological perspective. Attention is paid to six categories, namely events, characters, narrator, space, time and reader. Conclusions arrived at concern processes of actualization and accomplishment, the dynamic (though varying) portrayal of the patriarchs, textual indications of the (implied) communication between narrator and reader, emotional connotations attached to different places, and "text.-time" versus "story-time".

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Master of Science / Department of Agronomy / Michel D. Ransom / Soil is a dynamic resource that can undergo many changes due to altering conditions (Tugel et al., 2005). With that, humans can have a great effect on the conditions of a landscape and contribute to soil change. As soils change, the function of soils can be altered which would affect the ability of soils to support ecosystem services. The objective of this thesis is to access how management affects dynamic and inherent soil properties in western Kansas soils. Eight sites in Sheridan County, KS mapped as Keith 1-3% slopes (fine-silty, mixed, superactive, mesic Aridic Argiustolls) were described and sampled. Of the eight sites, four are in ST (ST) management and four are in no-till (NT) management. All sites have been irrigated under center pivot irrigation systems since the 1970s. Soil samples of the A horizon were taken at each site to analyze total carbon, aggregate stability, bulk density, pH and microbial respiration to assess the impacts of tillage management on dynamic soil properties. Additionally, pedons were described from the ST sites in the irrigated areas as well as outside the pivot track to represent dryland conditions. Particle size data, field descriptions, and the micromorphology of thin sections were analyzed to determine if the classification of Keith soils are affected by irrigation. Significant differences between NT and ST management were seen in microbial respiration, select water stable aggregate sizes, and pH and bulk density at certain depths. It was also found that irrigation did not affect clay illuviation nor carbonate leaching. Overall, it was concluded that inherent soil properties such as soil map unit composition and parent material can have a greater impact on soil change and prevent the recognition of changes in soil properties over a human time scale.

Ocean Islands Basalts provide important windows into the compositional variations of the Earth's mantle, which in tum constrains models for mantle convection and evolution. The Canary Islands show contrasting styles of eruption and evolution of magmas in an ocean island setting. U-Th-Ra disequilibrium have been used to constrain rates and timescales of melt generation and differentiation beneath ocean islands, and to estimate the buoyancy flux, potential mantle temperature and the depth and degree of melting. The Canary Islands provide a rare opportunity to observe U-Th-Ra disequilibrium, because they are underlain by a region of low buoyancy flux, and were expected to show significant disequilibrium. Tenerife is underlain by numerous magma chambers, in which magmas have time to differentiate from basanites to phonolites, erupting to form large strato-volcano complexes. The fissure and small vent eruptions of unusually primitive basanites and alkali basalts from Lanzarote show little evidence of magma chambers, unless of substantial size and longevity at depth. The U-Th results indicate that lavas underwent rapid transport from the melt region. The historic and recent pre-historic eruptions (1824, 1730-36, Corona) from Lanzarote have some of the most primitive compositions found on oceanic islands with low SiO² contents (< 51 %), Mg numbers of 67-74 and high Cr and Ni contents. The rocks are restricted in Sr, Nd and Pb isotopes, being displaced from MORB towards the HIMU om field. The major and trace elements have been modelled by mixing a deep smaller degree (1 %) melt and a shallower larger degree (4%) melt. Negative K anomalies were observed in the small degree melts indicating that melt generation may have continued at a shallow level, perhaps to within the lithospheric mantle with melting in the presence of residual phlogopite. The Lanzarote source was modelled as a mixture of HIMU and EMIl asthenospheric mantle, with a small contribution from a shallow, lithospheric source. Thermal erosion of the lithospheric mantle is required for melting at depths (58 and 73 km) modelled from the major and trace elements. The Lanzarote lavas exhibit significant (²³⁰Th/²³⁸U) disequilibrium with ²³⁰Th excesses of 6 - 81 %. This was modelled by dynamic melting giving a calculated melt rate of 0.125 x 10^-3 kg.m^-1.yr^-1, a timescale of melt generation (matrix transfer time) of 270 ka for the 1 % melt and 1,100 ka for the 4 % melt. A consistent upwelling rate of I cm.yr^-1 and an assumption that the melting process has remained consistent over tens of km at depth. The Teide-Pico Viejo complex lavas have undergone fractionation and mixing to form compositions from basanite to phonolite. Crystallising phases differ in the Pico Viejo series, where amphibole is dominant in the more evolved lavas, and Pico Teide series, where olivine in the major control. The more evolved lavas require assimilation and fractional crystallisation to explain the range in ⁸⁷Sr/⁸⁶Sr. (²³⁰Th/²³⁸U) ranges from 1.004-1.39 and gives information regarding the timescales of differentiation within the magma chambers, not least because the youngest mafic rocks have the highest (²³⁰Th/²³⁸U) and the most evolved phonolites have the lowest. The timescale of differentiation from basanite to phonolite is of the order of 150,000 years, which links to the periodicity of the eruption cycles on the island. A Ra-Th 'pseudo' whole rock isochron gave an age of fractionation for the Montafia Blanca eruption of 2.3 ka ± 80, which is a maximum of 300 years prior to eruption, indicating that fractionation of plagioclase as a possible trigger of an eruption.

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No description available.

Thesis (doctoral)--University of Göteborg, 1992. / Extra t.p. with thesis statement inserted. Includes bibliographical references (p. [83]-88) and indexes.

This document proposes an objective technique to estimate the intensity and predict the formation of tropical cyclones using infrared satellite imagery. As the tropical cyclone develops from an unstructured cloud cluster and intensifies the cloud structures become more axisymmetric around an identified reference point or center. This methodology processes the image gradient to measure the level of symmetry of cloud structures, which characterizes the degree of cloud organization of the tropical cyclone.The center of a cloud system is calculated by projecting and accumulating parallel lines to the gradient vectors. The point where the highest number of line intersections is located pinpoints a common point where the corresponding gradients are directed. This location is used as the center of the system. Next, a procedure that characterizes the departure of the weather system structure from axisymmetry is implemented. The deviation angle of each gradient vector relative to a radial line projected from the center is calculated. The variance of the set of deviation angles enclosed by a circular area around the center describes the axisymmetry of the system, and its behavior through time depicts its dynamics. Results are presented that show the time series of the deviation angle variances is well correlated with the National Hurricane Center best-track estimates.The formation of tropical cyclones is detected by extending the deviation-angle variance technique, it is calculated using every pixel in the scene as the center of the cloud system. Low angle variances indicate structures with high levels of axisimmetry, and these values are compared to a set of thresholds to determine whether a cloud structure can be considered as a vortex. The first detection in a sequence indicates a nascent storm. It was found that 86% of the tropical cyclones during 2004 and 2005 were detected 27 h on average before the National Hurricane Center classified them as tropical storms (33kt).Finally, two procedures to locate the center of a tropical cyclone are compared to the National Hurricane Center best-track center database. Results show that both techniques provide similar accuracy, which increases as the tropical cyclone evolves.

No description available.