title: Interpretation of pre-AD 472 Roman soils from physicochemical and mineralogical properties of buried tephric paleosols at Somma Vesuviana ruin, southwest Italy

authors: Inoue, Yudzuru

subjects: Mt. Vesuvius

abstract: This study aimed to interpret soil fertility around Somma Vesuviana in ancient Rome from investigation of buried paleosols developed beneath thick pumice deposits of the AD 472 Pollena eruption of Mt. Vesuvius. Two buried pedons derived mainly from phonolitic tephra deposits of the AD 79 Pompeii eruption, and ancient construction waste, were excavated and sampled at the Somma Vesuviana villa ruins on the northern flanks of Mt. Vesuvius, Italy. For comparison, a buried paleosol on equivalent Pompeii tephra deposits in a nearby forest, and a modern soil on AD 1631 tephra deposits (compositionally similar to Pompeii eruptives) in an adjacent orchard, were similarly analyzed for physical, chemical, and mineralogical properties, including phosphorus fractions and primary mineral compositions. The two buried pedons in the ruin had abundant available P and K and contained moderate amounts of exchangeable cations. Leucite was the dominant primary mineral and, with alkali feldspars, is probably the major source of K in the buried horizons. A high content of “authigenic P (Ca-bound P)” characterized all the pedons. We concluded that the buried Somma Vesuviana paleosols had a relatively high ability to supply nutrients and that they were fertile prior to the AD 472 eruption, although manuring to increase nitrogen was probably needed to maintain high productivity. Their physical properties such as water retention were probably enhanced by small but significant amounts of short-range order clays.

text: Interpretation of pre-AD 472 Roman soils from physicochemical and mineralogical properties of buried tephric paleosols at Somma Vesuviana ruin, southwest Italy This study aimed to interpret soil fertility around Somma Vesuviana in ancient Rome from investigation of buried paleosols developed beneath thick pumice deposits of the AD 472 Pollena eruption of Mt. Vesuvius. Two buried pedons derived mainly from phonolitic tephra deposits of the AD 79 Pompeii eruption, and ancient construction waste, were excavated and sampled at the Somma Vesuviana villa ruins on the northern flanks of Mt. Vesuvius, Italy. For comparison, a buried paleosol on equivalent Pompeii tephra deposits in a nearby forest, and a modern soil on AD 1631 tephra deposits (compositionally similar to Pompeii eruptives) in an adjacent orchard, were similarly analyzed for physical, chemical, and mineralogical properties, including phosphorus fractions and primary mineral compositions. The two buried pedons in the ruin had abundant available P and K and contained moderate amounts of exchangeable cations. Leucite was the dominant primary mineral and, with alkali feldspars, is probably the major source of K in the buried horizons. A high content of “authigenic P (Ca-bound P)” characterized all the pedons. We concluded that the buried Somma Vesuviana paleosols had a relatively high ability to supply nutrients and that they were fertile prior to the AD 472 eruption, although manuring to increase nitrogen was probably needed to maintain high productivity. Their physical properties such as water retention were probably enhanced by small but significant amounts of short-range order clays.

year: 2009

title: The development of reflective practice through student journals

authors: Pavlovich, Kathryn

subjects: education

abstract: This paper explores the design and assessment of reflective journals in a course on spirituality and management in a tertiary institution. The purpose of reflection in education is to develop students' self-awareness and inner leadership. Yet, such assessment poses challenges in terms of design, content and grading. This paper explores the literature surrounding these issues, and then describes the introduction of such an approach through a case study. Two types of assessment were developed to assist students to explore self-awareness. The first was through reflective journal entries completed throughout the course, and the second was a report due at the end of the course, describing the journey of the student's most significant learning. The paper concludes by assessing the effectiveness of such an approach through qualitative measures. The use of student narratives from their journals, with their consent, illustrates the power of the reflective method.

text: The development of reflective practice through student journals This paper explores the design and assessment of reflective journals in a course on spirituality and management in a tertiary institution. The purpose of reflection in education is to develop students' self-awareness and inner leadership. Yet, such assessment poses challenges in terms of design, content and grading. This paper explores the literature surrounding these issues, and then describes the introduction of such an approach through a case study. Two types of assessment were developed to assist students to explore self-awareness. The first was through reflective journal entries completed throughout the course, and the second was a report due at the end of the course, describing the journey of the student's most significant learning. The paper concludes by assessing the effectiveness of such an approach through qualitative measures. The use of student narratives from their journals, with their consent, illustrates the power of the reflective method.

year: 2007

title: Brown bodies, white coats: Postcolonialism, Māori women, and science

authors: McKinley, Elizabeth

abstract: This project investigates the historical construction of 'Māori woman' and the constitution of the subjectivities of Maori women scientists today. The central question that is raised by the thesis is 'Do discourses of 'race' and gender found in Enlightenment science at the time of Aotearoa New Zealand's colonization continue to affect the contemporary subjectivity of Māori women scientists, and if so, how?' I have used literary historical techniques and feminist narrative interviews to collect the research data. Deconstruction, and its technique of 'double reading', has been applied through out the thesis to both the literary historical texts (imperial archives) and the transcripts of the interviews. I have argued that a poststructuralist view of the 'splitting the subject' to enable multiple positions must be read alongside the postcolonial view of a contemporary 'colonized subject' of an already 'split' subjectivity. 
This thesis is divided into two sections. Section A investigates Māori women as the objects of science. I argue that in Aotearoa New Zealand journeys of discovery and colonization were also scientific journeys that brought 'Māori woman' under the intellectual control of the emerging 'scientific' academy. At the same time, drawing on the 'imperial archives', I show that stereotypical signifiers are incorporated within scientific discourses and shape the fictions that these texts represent. In Section B I draw on open-ended interviews with 16 Māori women scientists who were asked to discuss their identity in relation to their schooling and workplaces. I explore the conditions by which the subject 'Māori women scientist' emerges and how the Maori women experience these conditions in relation to how they see themselves. I conclude by arguing that the identity of 'Māori woman scientist' appears to be 'impossible fiction' due to the fragmented nature of the sign - 'Māori, 'woman' and 'scientist' - that can be 'traced' to the historical construction of the signs.

text: Brown bodies, white coats: Postcolonialism, Māori women, and science This project investigates the historical construction of 'Māori woman' and the constitution of the subjectivities of Maori women scientists today. The central question that is raised by the thesis is 'Do discourses of 'race' and gender found in Enlightenment science at the time of Aotearoa New Zealand's colonization continue to affect the contemporary subjectivity of Māori women scientists, and if so, how?' I have used literary historical techniques and feminist narrative interviews to collect the research data. Deconstruction, and its technique of 'double reading', has been applied through out the thesis to both the literary historical texts (imperial archives) and the transcripts of the interviews. I have argued that a poststructuralist view of the 'splitting the subject' to enable multiple positions must be read alongside the postcolonial view of a contemporary 'colonized subject' of an already 'split' subjectivity. 
This thesis is divided into two sections. Section A investigates Māori women as the objects of science. I argue that in Aotearoa New Zealand journeys of discovery and colonization were also scientific journeys that brought 'Māori woman' under the intellectual control of the emerging 'scientific' academy. At the same time, drawing on the 'imperial archives', I show that stereotypical signifiers are incorporated within scientific discourses and shape the fictions that these texts represent. In Section B I draw on open-ended interviews with 16 Māori women scientists who were asked to discuss their identity in relation to their schooling and workplaces. I explore the conditions by which the subject 'Māori women scientist' emerges and how the Maori women experience these conditions in relation to how they see themselves. I conclude by arguing that the identity of 'Māori woman scientist' appears to be 'impossible fiction' due to the fragmented nature of the sign - 'Māori, 'woman' and 'scientist' - that can be 'traced' to the historical construction of the signs.

year: 2003