Vertebrate Assemblages of the Skelley Limestone (Conemaugh Group : Carboniferous, Gzhelian) in Noble and Muskingum Counties, Ohio

Three outcrops of the Gzhelian-aged Skelley Limestone (Casselman Formation, Conemaugh Group) were explored for vertebrate macrofossils and vertebrate microremains. The purpose of this exploration was to construct a better ecological history of the marine communities in the Late Pennsylvanian of eastern Ohio. Bulk limestone samples were collected, washed with acid, sieved and the resulting residues produced 21 distinct taxa of near-shore marine vertebrates. Osteichthyans were represented by an unknown palaeonisciform, an unknown platysomid, and an unknown palaeoniscoid. Holocephalians were represented by symmoriforms, helodontiforms, cochliodontiforms, and petalodontiforms. Elasmobranch groups included ctenacanthiforms and euselachians which contained representatives of hybodontiforms, protacrodontiforms, and neoselachians. All osteichthyan taxa are reported from the Skelley Limestone for the first time. Furthermore, three chondrichthyan genera, Ossianodus, Diablodontus, and Adamantina, represent significant extensions to the temporal or geographic distributions of these genera. While the few previous studies on the fauna of the Conemaugh Group have indicated that the marine units within were fairly biodiverse overall, these studies focused primarily on invertebrates or only specific groups of vertebrates. Significantly less work has been done towards overall analyses of the vertebrate fauna of the constituent cyclothems of the Conemaugh Group. This examination of the Skelley Limestone shows that marine vertebrate biodiversity at the end of the Conemaugh Group, and by extension the Pennsylvanian, remained high. Further analysis of the Skelley Limestone, along with similar explorations of other stratigraphic units with the Conemaugh Group, may generate further revelations in the paleobiogeography, biostratigraphy, and evolutionary history of a number of Paleozoic marine vertebrates

What about a beta-beam facility for low energy neutrinos?

A novel method to produce neutrino beams has recently been proposed : the beta-beams. This method consists in using the beta-decay of boosted radioactive nuclei to obtain an intense, collimated and pure neutrino beam. Here we propose to exploit the beta-beam concept to produce neutrino beams of low energy. We discuss the applications of such a facility as well as its importance for different domains of physics. We focus, in particular, on neutrino-nucleus interaction studies of interest for various open issues in astrophysics, nuclear and particle physics. We suggest possible sites for a low energy beta-beam facility.Comment: 4 pages, 1 figur

Personalized rTMS for Depression: A Review

Personalized treatments are gaining momentum across all fields of medicine. Precision medicine can be applied to neuromodulatory techniques, where focused brain stimulation treatments such as repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation (rTMS) are used to modulate brain circuits and alleviate clinical symptoms. rTMS is well-tolerated and clinically effective for treatment-resistant depression (TRD) and other neuropsychiatric disorders. However, despite its wide stimulation parameter space (location, angle, pattern, frequency, and intensity can be adjusted), rTMS is currently applied in a one-size-fits-all manner, potentially contributing to its suboptimal clinical response (~50%). In this review, we examine components of rTMS that can be optimized to account for inter-individual variability in neural function and anatomy. We discuss current treatment options for TRD, the neural mechanisms thought to underlie treatment, differences in FDA-cleared devices, targeting strategies, stimulation parameter selection, and adaptive closed-loop rTMS to improve treatment outcomes. We suggest that better understanding of the wide and modifiable parameter space of rTMS will greatly improve clinical outcome

Nuclear structure research at TRIUMF

Publisher's version/PDFThe radioactive beam laboratory at TRIUMF is currently the highest power ISOL facility in the world. Taking advantage of the high-intensity beams, major programs in nuclear astrophysics, nuclear structure, and weak interaction studies have begun. The low-energy area, ISAC-I, is capable of delivering beams up to mass 30 at [approximately] 1.7MeV/u or 60 keV up to the mass of the primary target, whereas ISAC-II will ultimately provide beams up to mass 150 and [approximately] 6.5 MeV/u. Major [gamma]-ray spectrometers for nuclear structure research consist of the 8[pi] spectrometer at ISAC-I, and the TIGRESS spectrometer now being constructed for ISAC-II. Results from recent experiments investigating the [beta] -decay of nuclei near N = 90 and Coulomb excitation of [superscript 20,21]Na are presented that highlight the capabilities of the spectrometers

The TRIUMF nuclear structure program and TIGRESS

The isotope separator and accelerator (ISAC) facility located at the TRIUMF laboratory in Vancouver, Canada, is one of the world\u27s most advanced isotope separator on-line-type radioactive ion beam facilities. An extensive γ-ray spectroscopy programme at ISAC is centred around two major research facilities: (i) the 8π γ-ray spectrometer for β-delayed γ-ray spectroscopy experiments with the low-energy beams from ISAC-I, and (ii) the next generation TRIUMF-ISAC gamma-ray escape suppressed spectrometer (TIGRESS) for in-beam experiments with the accelerated radioactive-ion beams. An overview of these facilities and recent results from the diverse programme of nuclear structure and fundamental interaction studies they support is presented. © 2007 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved

Juxtaposing BTE and ATE – on the role of the European insurance industry in funding civil litigation

One of the ways in which legal services are financed, and indeed shaped, is through private insurance arrangement. Two contrasting types of legal expenses insurance contracts (LEI) seem to dominate in Europe: before the event (BTE) and after the event (ATE) legal expenses insurance. Notwithstanding institutional differences between different legal systems, BTE and ATE insurance arrangements may be instrumental if government policy is geared towards strengthening a market-oriented system of financing access to justice for individuals and business. At the same time, emphasizing the role of a private industry as a keeper of the gates to justice raises issues of accountability and transparency, not readily reconcilable with demands of competition. Moreover, multiple actors (clients, lawyers, courts, insurers) are involved, causing behavioural dynamics which are not easily predicted or influenced. Against this background, this paper looks into BTE and ATE arrangements by analysing the particularities of BTE and ATE arrangements currently available in some European jurisdictions and by painting a picture of their respective markets and legal contexts. This allows for some reflection on the performance of BTE and ATE providers as both financiers and keepers. Two issues emerge from the analysis that are worthy of some further reflection. Firstly, there is the problematic long-term sustainability of some ATE products. Secondly, the challenges faced by policymakers that would like to nudge consumers into voluntarily taking out BTE LEI

Penilaian Kinerja Keuangan Koperasi di Kabupaten Pelalawan

This paper describe development and financial performance of cooperative in District Pelalawan among 2007 - 2008. Studies on primary and secondary cooperative in 12 sub-districts. Method in this stady use performance measuring of productivity, efficiency, growth, liquidity, and solvability of cooperative. Productivity of cooperative in Pelalawan was highly but efficiency still low. Profit and income were highly, even liquidity of cooperative very high, and solvability was good

Search for stop and higgsino production using diphoton Higgs boson decays

Results are presented of a search for a "natural" supersymmetry scenario with gauge mediated symmetry breaking. It is assumed that only the supersymmetric partners of the top-quark (stop) and the Higgs boson (higgsino) are accessible. Events are examined in which there are two photons forming a Higgs boson candidate, and at least two b-quark jets. In 19.7 inverse femtobarns of proton-proton collision data at sqrt(s) = 8 TeV, recorded in the CMS experiment, no evidence of a signal is found and lower limits at the 95% confidence level are set, excluding the stop mass below 360 to 410 GeV, depending on the higgsino mass