Books on the topic 'Final volumes method'

Interazione e mobilità per la ricerca – Materiali del 2° seminario Osdotta 2006. This is the second volume of the DOTTA series dealing with research in Architectural Technology doctorates. It documents the 2nd seminar of the Italian PhDs in Architectural Technology, held in Pescara on 14-15-16 September 2006, comprising an account of the event, the materials elaborated in the course of the seminar and the addresses made at the final round table. This reconstruction makes it possible to identify the fields of interest, providing a synoptic overview of the current directions of research trends in our sector, and to compare and confront the contents and methods of the various thematic ambits, underscoring the fundamental research themes most active in this scientific disciplinary sector. Moreover, it also makes it possible to confirm the educational and communication project pursued by Osdotta, both as an educational-administrative structure of an interactive kind, designed to foster a fertile and intense exchange on the lines of research activated within the framework of the doctoral studies in this ambit, and also as an opportunity to identify the problems and expectations of the area, breaking them down into issues concerning the visibility of the scientific community and research into actions useful for the pursuit of even more efficacious results.

This volume contains the first Italian critical edition with introduction, translation and commentary of Euripides’ Iphigenia in Aulis. The tragedy, exhibited posthumously in 405 BCE, stages the first mythical segment of the Trojan War, namely the sacrifice of Iphigenia, daughter of king Agamemnon, head of the Greek army, in order to propitiate the winds that should lead the navy to Troy. A tragedy of intrigue and unveiling, in which all the characters try to oppose the sacrifice, judged to be an impiety despite its sacred essence. It is therefore a tragedy without gods, in which characters of modest moral stature move, unstable, ready to sudden changes of mind, and among whom the protagonist stands out: the girl who, having overcome the dismay for the destiny awaiting her, voluntarily moves towards death on the altar, for a flimsy patriotic ideal and with the illusion of achieving immortal glory. Since the end of the eighteenth century, the text of this tragedy, handed over to us by the manuscript tradition, has been exposed more than others to a rigorous philological criticism that has broken its unity, through considerable expunctions of entire sections and sequences of verses. The volume traces the phases of this critical work, showing its methods – and sometimes its excesses – and choosing a balance line in the constitution of the text. The overall exegesis of the tragedy, which I propose in this study, consists in the belief that, despite the exodus being spurious, the finale, in view of which the entire dramaturgy was composed, still had to contemplate Iphigenia’s salvation. In fact, if the Panhellenic ideal of defence against the barbarians is now meaningless, and if a war of destruction, to begin with, needs the death of an innocent person, then this death must be transcended and the horror of human sacrifice must dissolve. It therefore seems that, once political current events become opaque, the poet’s research tends to create situations of great patheticism in an aesthetic setting of refined beauty.

The rapid escalation of research on the development of relational aggression and related constructs has been truly remarkable. Our volume is designed to fill a void in the literature and focus on the development of relational aggression. We conclude this volume by first reviewing some of the key points and implications from the prior chapters. Next, we discuss five future directions for the field: (1) conducting long-term longitudinal studies and adopting a lifespan perspective, (2) striving for advances in methods and technology, (3) using advanced statistics to address collinearity and co-occurrence among aggression subtypes, (4) exploring the role of other forms of aggression, and (5) embracing replication. Finally, we provide some concluding thoughts.

Volume 2 of the Oxford Handbook of Music Performance is designed around four distinct parts: Enhancements, Health and Wellbeing, Science, and Innovations. Chapters on the popular Feldenkrais method and Alexander technique open the volume, and these lead to chapters on peak performance and mindfulness, stage behavior, impression management and charisma, enhancing music performance appraisal, and how to build a career and the skills and competencies needed to be successful. The part dealing with health and wellbeing surveys the brain mechanisms involved in music learning and performing and musical activities in people with disabilities, performance anxiety, diseases and health risks in instrumentalists, hearing and voice, and finally, a discussion of how to promote a healthy related lifestyle. The first six chapters of the Science part cover the basic science underlying the operation of wind, brass, string instruments, and the piano, and two chapters covering the solo voice and vocal ensembles. The final two chapters explain digital musical instruments and the practical issues that researchers and performers face when using motion capture technology to study movement during musical performances. The four chapters of the Innovations part address the types of technological and social and wellbeing innovations that are reshaping how musicians conceive their performances in the twenty-first century.

Volume 2 of the Oxford Handbook of Music Performance is designed around four distinct parts: Enhancements, Health and Wellbeing, Science, and Innovations. Chapters on the popular Feldenkrais method and Alexander technique open the volume, and these lead to chapters on peak performance and mindfulness, stage behavior, impression management and charisma, enhancing music performance appraisal, and how to build a career and the skills and competencies needed to be successful. The part dealing with health and wellbeing surveys the brain mechanisms involved in music learning and performing and musical activities in people with disabilities, performance anxiety, diseases and health risks in instrumentalists, hearing and voice, and finally, a discussion of how to promote a healthy related lifestyle. The first six chapters of the Science part cover the basic science underlying the operation of wind, brass, string instruments, and the piano, and two chapters covering the solo voice and vocal ensembles. The final two chapters explain digital musical instruments and the practical issues that researchers and performers face when using motion capture technology to study movement during musical performances. The four chapters of the Innovations part address the types of technological and social and wellbeing innovations that are reshaping how musicians conceive their performances in the twenty-first century.

Area studies scholarship has been indispensable for the development of social scientific knowledge. However, it risks becoming marginalized without more concerted efforts to demonstrate its relevance for contemporary social science. This volume showcases comparative area studies (CAS). CAS incorporates familiar elements from past comparative research but draws them together into a strategy for balancing context-sensitive understandings of diverse locales with cross-regional qualitative research on questions that matter to social science disciplines. Part II considers the epistemological, methodological, and practical concerns driving CAS as well as the pitfalls of doing cross-regional comparative research. The chapters emphasize the distinctive gains from extending one’s field of vision beyond one’s primary area of expertise (and the costs of not doing so). Part III presents studies that illustrate how creatively designed contextualized comparisons of cases from different regions generate novel insights into a range of substantive topics—from protests and rebellions to anti-corruption campaigns, resource booms, and the organization of production. The final chapter recasts the significance of CAS in light of current debates on social science methods, suggesting that cross-regional contextualized comparison can partly compensate for some of the blind spots in the most common forms of qualitative and mixed-method research. The volume demonstrates that the pursuit of area expertise and the search for social scientific knowledge need not be a zero-sum game as long as we make conscious efforts to connect scholarly debates unfolding within separate area studies communities to each other and to the theoretical problems driving social science research.

Volume 11A provides information and insights on the factors that determine the useful service life of engineering components and the likely timing and mode of failure. It addresses nearly every stage of the product lifecycle from materials selection and design to manufacturing, operation, maintenance, and repair. It explains how to use life assessment methods to evaluate the effect of corrosion, fatigue, brittle fracture, elevated temperature, and other forms of damage. It also includes a section that examines the effects of casting, forming, welding, heat treating, and other manufacturing processes on component lifetime and performance. The final and by far largest section in the volume presents and analyzes the failure of metal shafts, fasteners, bearings, springs, and gears as well as pressure vessels, boilers, heat exchangers, pipelines, bridges, cranes, rail equipment, and medical devices. For information on the print version of Volume 11A, ISBN: 978-1-62708-327-0, follow this link.

School Mental Health Services for Adolescents is composed of 15 chapters, written by well-known authors in the fields of psychology, education, social work, and counseling, who discuss and describe services for adolescents that can be implemented in secondary schools by school-based professionals. The authors present methods of overcoming implementation barriers through strategic service-delivery models. The volume is divided into three sections. The first chapters describe the history and need for services, explore the identity of professionals that serve as school mental health providers, and describe methods of engaging adolescents in school. The next chapters focus on issues of identification and referral for treatment in schools and provide a description of interventions. Proposed service delivery models are organized by target topics, including attention and organization, disruptive behavior, internalizing behaviors, autism spectrum disorders, substance abuse, and chronic health concerns. The final chapters describe assessment and the integration of school mental health in schools.

This volume offers a complete guide to a computational approach to spectral music-making. It provides, in a stepwise manner, a [ ] to the signal processing techniques and their application to computer music. The book begins with a series of fundamental definitions, delineating the basic concepts of spectral audio. This includes both a technical and a historical appreciation of the ideas related to the spectrum. The core of the text is formed by six chapters on the techniques of spectral musical signal processing. These are thoroughly illustrated with examples and code excerpts using the Python and Csound languages. This section of the book traces a path from the Fourier theorem to the consideration of non-deterministic signals, also in a step-by-step way discussing the various elements of spectral audio. The final part of the book is dedicated to the aesthetics of spectral music, and methods of design and composition, which apply the ideas and techniques explored earlier in the volume.

This journal examines privateering and naval prizes in Atlantic Canada in the maritime War of 1812 - considered the final major international manifestation of the practice. It seeks to contextualise the role of privateering in the nineteenth century; determine the causes of, and reactions to, the War of 1812; determine the legal evolution of prize law in North America; discuss the privateers of Nova Scotia and New Brunswick, and the methods they utilised to manipulate the rules of prize making during the war; and consider the economic impact of the war of maritime communities. Ultimately, the purpose of the journal is to examine privateering as an occupation in order to redeem its historically negative reputation. The volume is presented as six chapters, plus a conclusion appraising privateering, and seven appendices containing court details, prize listings, and relevant letters of agency.

The Oxford Handbook of Sociolinguistics contains forty chapters dealing with a great variety of topics in the study of language and society. It presents the major theoretical approaches in particular bilingual and multilingual contexts, and both spoken and signed languages. The volume not only offers an up-to-date guide to the diverse areas of the study of language in society, but also numerous guideposts to where the field is headed. The first section examines the contributions of the various disciplines that have contributed to the sociolinguistic enterprise. The second section deals with methods, a central concern of a discipline that bases its conclusions on evidence drawn from the real world of social interaction. The third section deals directly with a number of issues in multilingualism and language contact. The fourth section focuses on a core area of sociolinguistics: the study of language variation and change. The fifth section focuses on macrosociolinguistics and explores language policy, ideology, and attitudes in a wide range of contexts. The final section of the volume discusses sociolinguistics in a number of different domains including law, medicine, sign-language interpretation, language awareness, language revitalization, and social activism.

Despite an output of only 7 feature films in 20 years, Andrei Tarkovsky has had a profound influence on international cinema. Famous for their spiritual depth and incredible visual beauty, his films have gained cult status among cineastes and are often included in ranking polls and charts dedicated to the best movies ever made. Beginning with the late 1980s, Tarkovsky’s highly complex cinema has continuously attracted scholarly attention by generating countless hermeneutic challenges and possibilities for film critics. This book provides a fresh look at the director’s legacy, with critical essays by both world-famous and early-career film scholars. It consists of four parts covering biographical, aesthetic, and philosophical aspects of Tarkovsky’s work as well as tracing his influence on other filmmakers. Part one, entitled ‘Backgrounds’ (chapters one to three), discusses extra-cinematic factors that influenced Tarkovsky’s cinema, such as his biography and theoretical statements. Part two, entitled ‘Film Method’ (chapters four to eight), examines Tarkovsky’s cinematic techniques, including his treatment of film genre, documentary style, temporality, landscape, and sound. Part three, ‘Theoretical Approaches’ (chapters nine to thirteen), discusses Tarkovsky’s work in the contexts of psychoanalytical, philosophical, and other theoretical perspectives. The fourth and final part of this volume, ‘Legacy’ (chapters fourteen and fifteen), is dedicated to Tarkovsky’s longstanding influence on such prominent auteurs as Andrei Zvyagintsev and Lars von Trier, who are often hailed as the heirs of the Russian master.

Paul Humphreys pioneered philosophical investigations into the methodological revolution begun by computer simulations. He has also made important contributions to the contemporary literature on emergence by developing the fusion account of diachronic emergence and its generalization, transformational emergence. He is the discoverer of what has come to be called “Humphreys” Paradox in probability theory and has also made influential contributions to the literature on probabilistic causality and scientific explanation. This collection contains fourteen of his previously published papers on topics ranging from numerical experiments to the status of scientific metaphysics. There is also and a previously unpublished paper on social dynamics. The volume is divided into four parts on, respectively, computational science, emergence, probability, and general philosophy of science. The first part contains the seminal 1990 paper on computer simulations, with three other papers arguing that these new methods cannot be accounted for by traditional methodological approaches. The second part contains the original presentation of fusion emergence and three companion papers arguing for diachronic approaches to the topic, rather than the then dominant synchronic accounts. The third part starts with the paper that introduced the probabilistic paradox followed by a later evaluation of attempts to solve it. A third paper argues, contra Quine, that probability theory is a purely mathematical theory. The final part includes papers on causation, explanation, metaphysics, and an agent-based model that shows how endogenous uncertainty undermines utility maximization. Each of the four parts is followed by a comprehensive postscript with retrospective assessments.

This edited volume explores conceptual and practical challenges in measuring well-being. Given the bewildering array of measures available and ambiguity regarding when and how to measure particular aspects of well-being, knowledge in the field can be difficult to reconcile. Representing numerous disciplines including psychology, economics, sociology, statistics, public health, theology, and philosophy, contributors consider the philosophical and theological traditions on happiness, well-being, and the good life, as well as recent empirical research on well-being and its measurement. Leveraging insights across diverse disciplines, they explore how research can help make sense of the proliferation of different measures and concepts while also proposing new ideas to advance the field. Some chapters engage with philosophical and theological traditions on happiness, well-being, and the good life; some evaluate recent empirical research on well-being and consider how measurement requirements may vary by context and purpose; and others more explicitly integrate methods and synthesize knowledge across disciplines. The final section offers a lively dialogue about a set of recommendations for measuring well-being derived from a consensus of the contributors. Collectively, the chapters provide insight into how scholars might engage beyond disciplinary boundaries and contribute to advances in conceptualizing and measuring well-being. Bringing together work from across often siloed disciplines will provide important insight regarding how people can transcend unhealthy patterns of both individual behavior and social organization in order to pursue the good life and build better societies.

The Covert Life of Hospital Architecture addresses hospital architecture as a set of interlocked, overlapping spatial and social conditions. It identifies ways that planned-for and latent functions of hospital spaces work jointly to produce desired outcomes such as greater patient safety, increased scope for care provider communication and more intelligible corridors. By advancing space syntax theory and methods, the volume brings together emerging research on hospital environments. Opening with a description of hospital architecture that emphasizes everyday relations, the sequence of chapters takes an unusually comprehensive view that pairs spaces and occupants in hospitals: the patient room and its intervisibility with adjacent spaces, care teams and on-ward support for their work and the intelligibility of public circulation spaces for visitors. The final chapter moves outside the hospital to describe the current healthcare crisis of the global pandemic as it reveals how healthcare institutions must evolve to be adaptable in entirely new ways. Reflective essays by practicing designers follow each chapter, bringing perspectives from professional practice into the discussion. The Covert Life of Hospital Architecture makes the case that latent dimensions of space as experienced have a surprisingly strong link to measurable outcomes, providing new insights into how to better design hospitals through principles that have been tested empirically. It will become a reference for healthcare planners, designers, architects and administrators, as well as for readers from sociology, psychology and other areas of the social sciences.

The ultimate hope and great challenge undertaken by the authors of this volume is to improve disaster preparedness and response efforts globally by providing a standardized way to conduct rigorous and comprehensive scientific evaluative studies of the medical and public health response to these horrific events. It is our strongly held belief that the framework for the conduct of evaluative studies, as developed by specialists in scientific evaluation, offers the most appropriate and comprehensive structure for such studies. Our ‘eight-step approach’ is based upon a conceptual framework that is now widely used by health organizations globally as a basis for the evaluation of community-based medical and public health programs. We contend that many more disaster-related injuries and deaths can be prevented if the concepts and methods of evaluation science are applied to disaster events. In Part 1 of this book we describe the basic concepts and scientific methods used by program evaluation scientists to assess the structure, process, and outcomes of medical and public health interventions. In addition, a detailed description of a comprehensive medical and public health response system is described. In Part 2 we present an eight-step model for conducting an evaluative study of the response, again with a focus on the medical and public health components. Ethical issues that come into play in the conduct of disaster evaluative disaster research, and how these should be addressed, are the focus of Chapter 13. The final chapter offers a look to the future as new technology for data collection becomes available. We are not so naïve as to believe that disaster preparedness and response will change as a direct result of the availability of scientifically conducted assessments. Change requires a double pronged commitment—leaders from both the ranks of government and of the health professions must carefully consider, fund, and adopt policy positions and programs that are based upon the findings and recommendations that emerge from scientific evaluation studies. That is the most certain pathway to a better future.

Chapter 25 introduced some basic generic principles applicable to many measurement and monitoring techniques. Chapter 43 introduces those principles not covered in Chapter 25 and discusses in detail the clinical applications and limitations of the many monitoring techniques available to the modern clinical anaesthetist. It starts with non-invasive blood pressure measurement, including clinical and automated techniques. This is followed by techniques of direct blood pressure measurement, noting that transducers and calibration have been discussed in Chapter 25. This is followed by electrocardiography. There then follows a section on the different methods of measuring cardiac output, including the pulmonary artery catheter, the application of ultrasound in echocardiography, pulse contour analysis (LiDCO™ and PiCCO™), and transthoracic electrical impedance. Pulse oximetry is then discussed in some detail. Depth of anaesthesia monitoring is then described, starting with the electroencephalogram and its application in BIS™ monitors, the use of evoked potentials, and entropy. There then follow sections on gas pressure measurement in cylinders and in breathing systems, followed by gas volume and flow measurement, including the rotameter, spirometry, and the pneumotachograph, and the measurement of lung dead space and functional residual capacity using body plethysmography and dilution techniques. The final section is on respiratory gas analysis, starting with light refractometry as the standard against which other techniques are compared, infrared spectroscopy, mass spectrometry, and Raman spectroscopy (the principles of these techniques having been introduced in Chapter 25), piezoelectric and paramagnetic analysers, polarography and fuel cells, and blood gas analysis.

Management ideas, and their associated applications, have become a prevalent feature of our working lives. While their focus is familiar, such as efficiency, motivation, and improvement, they range from specific notions such as activity-based costing, to broad movements like corporate social responsibility. This Handbook brings together some of the latest research from leading international scholars on how management ideas are produced, promoted, and adapted, and their effects on business and working practices and society at large. Rather than focusing on specific management ideas, this volume explores their key socio-political contexts and channels of dissemination, and is organized around four core overlapping themes. The first section sets out the research field in general, in terms of both an overall system and of different perspectives and research methods. The second section explores the role of different actors and channels of diffusion, including the consumers and producers of management ideas and new media, as well as traditional players in the management ideas field such as consultancies and business schools. The third section focuses on specific features or dynamics of the management ideas system, such as their adoption, evolution, institutionalization, and resurgence, while in the final section, critical and new perspectives on management ideas are examined, highlighting specific socio-political contexts and the possibility of alternative ideas and forms of critique. With a broad range of perspectives represented, this Handbook provides a comprehensive, authoritative, and enduring resource for those studying management, innovation, and organizational change, as well as for those working in the management ideas industry.

In this book, faculty from top-ranked industrial-organizational (I-O) master’s programs provide best practices and discuss important topics for the training of master’s-level I-O psychologists. The book begins with a definition of the field of I-O psychology; an explanation of the knowledge, skills, and abilities needed by master’s-level I-O practitioners; and a description of I-O master’s professional practice areas. I-O graduate training is introduced, highlighting differences between master’s training and doctoral training. Advice is offered about applying to graduate school, including program selection, undergraduate preparation, and the application process. The Society for Industrial and Organizational Psychology’s Guidelines for Education and Training in Industrial-Organizational Psychology are reviewed, as are various methods for teaching the identified competencies. Guidance is offered on implementing important applied experiences such as course projects, practica, simulations, and internships. The pros and cons of a thesis requirement are outlined. Issues faced by faculty in I-O master’s programs, including strategies for balancing teaching, service, and research, are covered. The final chapter gives advice for developing and maintaining an on-campus I-O consulting entity. The best practices presented in this volume, offered by faculty with substantial expertise and experience in successful I-O master’s programs, should be of interest to faculty teaching in I-O master’s programs and other teaching intensive institutions; to I-O faculty and non-I-O psychology faculty advising undergraduates on career options in psychology, specifically as an I-O master’s practitioner; and to undergraduates evaluating potential I-O master’s programs.

The Oxford Handbook of Egyptology presents a series of articles by colleagues working across the many archaeological, philological and cultural subdisciplines within the study of ancient Egypt from prehistory through to the end of the Roman Period. The volume seeks to place Egyptology within its theoretical, methodological, and historical contexts, both indicating how the subject has evolved and discussing its distinctive contemporary problems, issues and potential. Transcending conventional boundaries between archaeological and ancient textual analysis, it stresses the need for Egyptology to seek multidisciplinary methods and broader collaborations if it is to remain contemporary and relevant. It therefore serves as a reference work not only for those working within the discipline, but also as a gateway into Egyptology for archaeologists, anthropologists, sociologists and linguists. The book is organized into ten parts, the first of which examines the many different historical and geographical perspectives that have influenced the development and current characteristics of the discipline. Part II addresses the various environmental aspects of the subject: landscapes, climate, flora, fauna and the mineral world. Part III considers a variety of practical aspects of the ways in which Egyptologists survey, characterize and manage landscapes. Part IV discusses materials and technology, from domestic architecture and artefacts through to religious and funerary items. Part V deals with Egypt’s relations with neighbouring regions and peoples, while Part VI explores the sources and interpretive frameworks that characterize different phases of ancient Egyptian history. Part VII is concerned with textual and iconographic approaches to Egyptian culture, and Part VIII comprises discussions of the key aspects of ancient Egyptian scripts and philology. Part IX presents summaries of the current state of the subject in relation to a variety of textual genres, from letters and autobiographies to socio-economic, magical and mathematical texts. The final section covers different aspects of museology and conservation.

Neuropsychology as a field has been slow to embrace and exploit the potential offered by technology to either make the assessment process more efficient or to develop new capabilities that augment the assessment of cognition. The Role of Technology in Clinical Neuropsychology details current efforts to use technology to enhance cognitive assessment with an emphasis on developing expanded capabilities for clinical assessment. The first sections of the book provide an overview of current approaches to computerized assessment along with newer technologies to assess behavior. The next series of chapters explores the use of novel technologies and approaches in cognitive assessment as they relate to developments in telemedicine, mobile health, and remote monitoring including developing smart environments. While still largely office-based, health care is increasingly moving out of the office with an increased emphasis on connecting patients with providers, and providers with other providers, remotely. Chapters also address the use of technology to enhance cognitive rehabilitation by implementing conceptually-based games to teach cognitive strategies and virtual environments to measure outcomes. Next, the chapters explore the use of virtual reality and scenario-based assessment to capture critical aspects of performance not assessed by traditional means and the implementation of neurobiological metrics to enhance patient assessment. Chapters also address the use of imaging to better define cognitive skills and assessment methods along with the integration of cognitive assessment with imaging to define the functioning of brain networks. The final section of the book discusses the ethical and methodological considerations needed for adopting advanced technologies for neuropsychological assessment. Authored by numerous leading figures in the field of neuropsychology, this volume emphasizes the critical role that virtual environments, neuroimaging, and data analytics will play as clinical neuropsychology moves forward in the future.

Presented reasearch aimed to develop and analyse the suitability of the CART models for prediction of the extent and probability of occurrence of damage to outer soil layers caused by timber harvesting performed under varied conditions. Having employed these models, the author identified certain methods of logging works and conditions, under which they should be performed to minimise the risk of damaging forest soils. The analyses presented in this work covered the condition of soils upon completion of logging works, which was investigated in 48 stands located in central and south-eastern Poland. In the stands selected for these studies a few felling treatments were carried out, including early thinning, late thinning and final felling. Logging works were performed with use of the most popular technologies in Poland. Trees were cut down with chainsaws and timber was extracted by means of various skidding methods: with horses, semi-suspended skidding with the use of cable yarding systems, farm tractors equipped with cable winches or tractors of a skidder type, and forwarding employing farm tractors with trailers loaded mechanically by cranes or manually. The analyses also included mechanised forest operation with the use of a harvester and a forwarder. The information about the extent of damage to soil, in a form of wheel-ruts and furrows, gathered in the course of soil condition inventory served for construction of regression tree models using the CART method (Classification and Regression Trees), based on which the area, depth and the volume of soil damage under analysis, wheel-ruts and furrows, were determined, and the total degree of all soil disturbances was assessed. The CART classification trees were used for modelling the probability of occurrence of wheel-ruts and furrows, or any other type of soil damage. Qualitative independent variables assumed by the author for developing the models included several characteristics describing the conditions under which the logging works were performed, mensuration data of the stands and the treatments conducted there. These characteristics covered in particular: the season of the year when logging works were performed, the system of timber harvesting employed, the manner of timber skidding, the means engaged in the process of timber harvesting and skidding, habitat type, crown closure, and cutting category. Moreover, the author took into consideration an impact of the quantitative independent variables on the extent and probability of occurrence of soil disturbance. These variables included the following: the measuring row number specifying a distance between the particular soil damage and communication tracks, the age of a stand, the soil moisture content, the intensity of a particular cutting treatment expressed by units of harvested timber volume per one hectare of the stand, and the mean angle of terrain inclination. The CART models developed in these studies not only allowed the author to identify the conditions, under which the soil damage of a given degree is most likely to emerge, or determine the probability of its occurrence, but also, thanks to a graphical presentation of the nature and strength of relationships between the variables employed in the model construction, they facilitated a recognition of rules and relationships between these variables and the area, depth, volume and probability of occurrence of forest soil damage of a particular type. Moreover, the CART trees served for developing the so-called decision-making rules, which are especially useful in organising logging works. These rules allow the organisers of timber harvest to plan the management-related actions and operations with the use of available technical means and under conditions enabling their execution in such manner as to minimise the harm to forest soils. Furthermore, employing the CART trees for modelling soil disturbance made it possible to evaluate particular independent variables in terms of their impact on the values of dependent variables describing the recorded disturbance to outer soil layers. Thanks to this the author was able to identify, amongst the variables used in modelling the properties of soil damage, these particular ones that had the greatest impact on values of these properties, and determine the strength of this impact. Detailed results depended on the form of soil disturbance and the particular characteristics subject to analysis, however the variables with the strongest influence on the extent and probability of occurrence of soil damage, under the conditions encountered in the investigated stands, enclosed the following: the season of the year when logging works were performed, the volume-based cutting intensity of the felling treatments conducted, technical means used for completion of logging works, the soil moisture content during timber harvest, the manner of timber skidding, dragged, semi-suspended or forwarding, and finally a distance between the soil damage and transportation ducts. The CART models proved to be very useful in designing timber harvesting technologies that could minimise the risk of forest soil damage in terms of both, the extent of factual disturbance and the probability of its occurrence. Another valuable advantage of this kind of modelling is an opportunity to evaluate an impact of particular variables on the extent and probability of occurrence of damage to outer soil layers. This allows the investigator to identify, amongst all of the variables describing timber harvesting processes, those crucial ones, from which any optimisation process should start, in order to minimise the negative impact of forest management practices on soil condition.

The aim of the study was to determine the influence of different disturbances (both natural and anthropogenic) on species composition and stand structure of old-growth mixed mountain forests in the Western Carpathians. These stands are usually dominated by beech, fir and spruce, mixed in different proportions. The tree main species represent different growth strategies, and they compete against each other. The longevity of trees makes the factors influencing the stand structure difficult to identify, even during longitudinal studies conducted on permanent research plots. That is why dendroecological techniques, based upon the annual variability of tree rings, are commonly used to analyze the disturbance histories of old-growth stands. Dendroecological methods make it possible to reconstruct the stand history over several centuries in the past by analyzing the frequency, intensity, duration and spatial scale of disturbances causing the death of trees. Combining the dendroecological techniques with the detailed measurements of stand structure, snag volume, CWD volume, and the analyses of regeneration species composition and structure allows us to identify the factors responsible for the changes in dynamics of mixed mountain forests. Various disturbance agents affect some species selectively, while some disturbances promote the establishment of tree seedlings of specific species by modifying environmental conditions. Describing the disturbance regime requires a broad scope of data on stand structure, on dead wood and tree regeneration, while various factors affecting all the stages of tree growth should be taken into consideration. On the basis of the already published data from permanent sample plots, combined with the available disturbance history analyses from the Western Carpathians, three research hypotheses were formulated. 1. The species composition of mixed mountain forests has been changing for at least several decades. These directional changes are the consequence of simultaneous conifer species decline and expansion of beech. 2. The observed changes in species composition of mixed mountain forests are the effect of indirect anthropogenic influences, significantly changing tree growth conditions also in the forests that are usually considered natural or near-natural. Cumulative impact of these indirect influences leads to the decrease of fir share in the tree layer (spruce decline has also been observed recently),and it limits the representation of this species among seedlings and saplings. The final effect is the decrease of fir and spruce share in the forest stands. 3. Small disturbances, killing single trees or small groups of trees, and infrequent disturbances of medium size and intensity dominate the disturbance regime in mixed mountain forests. The present structure of beech-fir-spruce forests is shaped both by complex disturbance regime and indirect anthropogenic influences. The data were gathered in permanent sample plots in strictly protected areas of Babia Góra, Gorce, and Tatra National Parks, situated in the Western Carpathians. All plots were located in the old-growth forest stands representing Carpathian beech forest community. The results of the measurements of trees, snags, coarse woody debris (CWD) and tree regeneration were used for detailed description of changes in the species composition and structure of tree stands. Tree ring widths derived from increment cores were used to reconstruct the historical changes in tree growth trends of all main tree species, as well as the stand disturbance history within the past two to three hundred years. The analyses revealed complex disturbance history in all of the three forest stands. Intermediate disturbances of variable intensity occurred, frequently separated by the periods of low tree mortality lasting from several decades up to over one hundred years. The intervals between the disturbances were significantly shorter than the expected length of forest developmental cycle, in commonly used theories describing the dynamics of old-growth stands. During intermediate disturbances up to several dozen percent of canopy trees were killed. There were no signs of stand-replacing disturbances, killing all or nearly all of canopy trees. The periods of intense tree mortality were followed by subsequent periods of increased sapling recruitment. Variability in disturbance intensity is one of the mechanisms promoting the coexistence of beech and conifer species in mixed forests. The recruitment of conifer saplings depended on the presence of larger gaps, resulting from intermediate disturbances, while beech was more successful in the periods of low mortality. However, in the last few decades, beech seems to benefit from the period of intense fir mortality. This change results from the influence of long-term anthropogenic disturbances, affecting natural mechanisms that maintain the coexistence of different tree species and change natural disturbance regimes. Indirect anthropogenic influence on tree growth was clearly visible in the gradual decrease of fir increments in the twentieth century, resulting from the high level of air pollution in Europe. Synchronous decreases of fir tree rings’ widths were observed in all three of the sample plots, but the final outcomes depended on the fir age. In most cases, the damage to the foliage limited the competitive abilities of fir, but it did not cause a widespread increase in tree mortality, except for the oldest firs in the BGNP (Babia Góra National Park) plot. BGNP is located in the proximity of industrial agglomeration of Upper Silesia, and it could be exposed to higher level of air pollution than the other two plots. High level of fir regeneration browsing due to the deer overabundance and insufficient number of predators is the second clear indication of the indirect anthropogenic influence on mixed mountain forests. Game impact on fir regeneration is the most pronounced in Babia Góra forests, where fir was almost completely eliminated from the saplings. Deer browsing seems to be the main factor responsible for limiting the number of fir saplings and young fir trees, while the representation of fir among seedlings is high. The experiments conducted in fenced plots located in the mixed forests in BGNP proved that fir and sycamore were the most preferred by deer species among seedlings and saplings. In GNP (Gorce National Park) and TNP (Tatra National Park), the changes in species composition of tree regeneration are similar, but single firs or even small groups of firs are present among saplings. It seems that all of the analysed mixed beech-fir-spruce forests undergo directional changes, causing a systematic decrease in fir representation, and the expansion of beech. This tendency results from the indirect anthropogenic impact, past and present. Fir regeneration decline, alongside with the high level of spruce trees’ mortality in recent years, may lead to a significant decrease in conifers representation in the near future, and to the expansion of beech forests at the cost of mixed ones.