Upper- and mid-mantle interaction between the Samoan plume and the Tonga-Kermadec slabs

Mantle plumes are thought to play a key role in transferring heat from the core\u2013mantle boundary to the lithosphere, where it can significantly influence plate tectonics. On impinging on the lithosphere at spreading ridges or in intra-plate settings, mantle plumes may generate hotspots, large igneous provinces and hence considerable dynamic topography. However, the active role of mantle plumes on subducting slabs remains poorly understood. Here we show that the stagnation at 660 km and fastest trench retreat of the Tonga slab in Southwestern Pacific are consistent with an interaction with the Samoan plume and the Hikurangi plateau. Our findings are based on comparisons between 3D anisotropic tomography images and 3D petrological-thermo-mechanical models, which self-consistently explain several unique features of the Fiji\u2013Tonga region. We identify four possible slip systems of bridgmanite in the lower mantle that reconcile the observed seismic anisotropy beneath the Tonga slab (VSH4VSV) with thermo-mechanical calculations

Appetitive and Aversive Goal Values Are Encoded in the Medial Orbitofrontal Cortex at the Time of Decision Making

An essential feature of choice is the assignment of goal values (GVs) to the different options under consideration at the time of decision making. This computation is done when choosing among appetitive and aversive items. Several groups have studied the location of GV computations for appetitive stimuli, but the problem of valuation in aversive contexts at the time of decision making has been ignored. Thus, although dissociations between appetitive and aversive components of value signals have been shown in other domains such as anticipatory and outcome values, it is not known whether appetitive and aversive GVs are computed in similar brain regions or in separate ones. We investigated this question using two different functional magnetic resonance imaging studies while human subjects placed real bids in an economic auction for the right to eat/avoid eating liked/disliked foods. We found that activity in a common area of the medial orbitofrontal cortex and the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex correlated with both appetitive and aversive GVs. These findings suggest that these regions might form part of a common network

The fluid-fluid interface in a model colloid-polymer mixture: Application of grand canonical Monte Carlo to asymmetric binary mixtures

We present a Monte Carlo method to simulate asymmetric binary mixtures in the grand canonical ensemble. The method is used to study the colloid-polymer model of Asakura and Oosawa. We determine the phase diagram of the fluid-fluid unmixing transition and the interfacial tension, both at high polymer density and close to the critical point. We also present density profiles in the two-phase region. The results are compared to predictions of a recent density functional theory.Comment: 4 pages, 4 figure

Ultra-high molecular sink vacuum chamber

Double-wall vacuum chamber can be separated from the remainder of the system and pumped by ultra-clean techniques. Ultrahigh vacuum is maintained by the cryogenic effect of a cold wall and titanium chemisorption

Victims of Circumstance: the Execution of German Deserters by Surrendered German Troops Under Canadian Control in Amsterdam, May 1945

On the morning of 13 May 1945, five days after the formal capitulation of Hitler’s Wehrmacht, a German military court delivered death sentences on two German naval deserters, Bruno Dorfer and Rainer Beck. The trial occurred in an abandoned Ford assembly plant on the outskirts of Amsterdam, a site used by the Canadian army for the concentration of German naval personnel. Later that same day, a German firing squad, supplied with captured German rifles anda three-ton truck from the Seaforth Highlanders of Canada and escorted by Canadian Captain Robert K. Swinton, executed the two German prisoners of war a short distance outside the enclosure. Dorfer and Beck were among the last victims of a military legal system distorted by the Nazi state. At the time no one, Canadian or German, questioned the justice of the event. This tragic incident demonstrated a disturbing degree of cooperation between Canadian military units and the defeated German military. Why did German deserters like Dorfer and Beck continue to die after the end of the war? The executions were a matter of convenience. The Canadian military allowed the German military structure to function after the capitulation. Under this questionable arrangement, the German armed forces in Holland disarmed, concentrated, and evacuated themselves. To accomplish the gigantic task in an orderly and disciplined way, Canadian military authorities mistakenly relied on the vanquished German military leadership. German commanders and military judges continued to apply an irregular military law against deserters; and Canadian restrictions on these actions remained limited and hesitant. In this situation, larger political and strategic considerations worked against deserters like Dorfer and Beck. Canadian reactions, during and twenty-one years after the execution, reflected a sad record of indifference and callousness for these unfortunate victims of latent Nazism

Aerospace medicine and biology: A continuing bibliography with indexes, supplement 164

This bibliography lists 275 reports, articles, and other documents introduced into the NASA scientific and technical information system in January 1977

Development of Argumentation Skills Assessment Instruments on Buffer Solution Material

This research aims to produce a qualified argumentation skill assessment according the criteria of validity and reliability. This research is a development research with the ADDIE model whose implementation is limited to the pilot implementation and the evaluation formative evaluation. The subject of this research was an argumentation skills assesment in buffer solutions implemented in 18 students grade XI of SMA Trensains Tebuireng. The research instruments are review sheets, validation sheets, and argumentation skill test sheets. The results of content validity gain a mode with scores of 4 and 5 with valid and very valid criteria. In the construct aspect, gain a mode with a score of 5 with very valid criteria. The empirical validity result of the five questions in order is 0.791; 0.876; 0.961; 0.927; and 0.871. The calculated value appropriate with the criteria of rcalculate > rtable so that it can be declared valid. The value of reliability obtained 0.922 is greater than the rtable which is 0.468. With such results, the instrument can be declared reliable. Based on the results of the analysis, the argumentation skill assessment instrument is qualified to be used to measure students' argumentation skills on buffer solution material

Numerical Solution of Hard-Core Mixtures

We study the equilibrium phase diagram of binary mixtures of hard spheres as well as of parallel hard cubes. A superior cluster algorithm allows us to establish and to access the demixed phase for both systems and to investigate the subtle interplay between short-range depletion and long-range demixing.Comment: 4 pages, 2 figure