diff --git a/dune/tectonic/globalnonlinearity.hh b/dune/tectonic/globalnonlinearity.hh
index 0e1b71e07d8d89b172e17c53d6a467ebca33df79..c09e1f0e8fdac92304360cfb2ac2aa6744d610c7 100644
--- a/dune/tectonic/globalnonlinearity.hh
+++ b/dune/tectonic/globalnonlinearity.hh
@@ -14,8 +14,8 @@
 namespace Dune {
 template <class MatrixTypeTEMPLATE, class VectorTypeTEMPLATE>
 class GlobalNonlinearity {
-private:
-  using dataref = BlockVector<FieldVector<double, 1>> const &;
+protected:
+  using SingletonVectorType = BlockVector<FieldVector<double, 1>>;
 
 public:
   using MatrixType = MatrixTypeTEMPLATE;
@@ -78,7 +78,7 @@ class GlobalNonlinearity {
     return res->regularity(x);
   }
 
-  virtual void updateState(dataref state) = 0;
+  virtual void updateState(SingletonVectorType const &state) = 0;
 };
 }
 #endif
diff --git a/dune/tectonic/globalruinanonlinearity.hh b/dune/tectonic/globalruinanonlinearity.hh
index f57e447c922619ea0a6fe2bb6652cf12556fecf1..23c541e21332743b81910ee783e8875ee5e3ead1 100644
--- a/dune/tectonic/globalruinanonlinearity.hh
+++ b/dune/tectonic/globalruinanonlinearity.hh
@@ -18,13 +18,15 @@ template <class MatrixType, class VectorType>
 class GlobalRuinaNonlinearity
     : public GlobalNonlinearity<MatrixType, VectorType> {
 private:
-  using dataref = BlockVector<FieldVector<double, 1>> const &;
+  using typename GlobalNonlinearity<MatrixType,
+                                    VectorType>::SingletonVectorType;
 
 public:
   using GlobalNonlinearity<MatrixType, VectorType>::dim;
 
   GlobalRuinaNonlinearity(Dune::BitSetVector<1> const &frictionalNodes,
-                          dataref nodalIntegrals, FrictionData const &fd)
+                          SingletonVectorType const &nodalIntegrals,
+                          FrictionData const &fd)
       : restrictions(nodalIntegrals.size()) {
     auto trivialNonlinearity =
         make_shared<LocalFriction<dim>>(make_shared<TrivialFunction>());
@@ -37,7 +39,7 @@ class GlobalRuinaNonlinearity
     }
   }
 
-  void updateState(dataref state) override {
+  void updateState(SingletonVectorType const &state) override {
     for (size_t i = 0; i < restrictions.size(); ++i)
       restrictions[i]->updateState(state[i]);
   }