Extension rates across the northern Shanxi Grabens, China, from Quaternary geology, seismicity and geodesy

Discrepancies between geological, seismic and geodetic rates of strain can indicate that rates of crustal deformation, and hence seismic hazard, are varying through time. Previous studies in the northern Shanxi Grabens, at the northeastern corner of the Ordos Plateau in northern China, have found extension rates of anywhere between 0 and 6 mm a−1 at an azimuth of between 95° and 180°. In this paper we determine extension rates across the northern Shanxi Grabens from offset geomorphological features and a variety of Quaternary dating techniques (including new IRSL and Ar-Ar ages), a Kostrov summation using a 700 yr catalogue of historical earthquakes, and recent campaign GPS measurements. We observe good agreement between Quaternary, seismic and geodetic rates of strain, and we find that the northern Shanxi Grabens are extending at around 1–2 mm a−1 at an azimuth of ≈151°. The azimuth of extension is particularly well constrained and can be reliably inferred from catalogues of small earthquakes. We do not find evidence for any substantial variations in extension rate through time, though there is a notable seismic moment rate deficit since 1750. This deficit could indicate complex fault interactions across large regions, aseismic accommodation of deformation, or that we are quite late in the earthquake cycle with the potential for larger earthquakes in the relatively near future

Algorithmic randomness, reverse mathematics, and the dominated convergence theorem

We analyze the pointwise convergence of a sequence of computable elements of L^1(2^omega) in terms of algorithmic randomness. We consider two ways of expressing the dominated convergence theorem and show that, over the base theory RCA_0, each is equivalent to the assertion that every G_delta subset of Cantor space with positive measure has an element. This last statement is, in turn, equivalent to weak weak K\"onig's lemma relativized to the Turing jump of any set. It is also equivalent to the conjunction of the statement asserting the existence of a 2-random relative to any given set and the principle of Sigma_2 collection

On voxel-by-voxel accumulated dose for prostate radiation therapy using deformable image registration.

Since delivered dose is rarely the same with planned, we calculated the delivered total dose to ten prostate radiotherapy patients treated with rectal balloons using deformable dose accumulation (DDA) and compared it with the planned dose. The patients were treated with TomoTherapy using two rectal balloon designs: five patients had the Radiadyne balloon (balloon A), and five patients had the EZ-EM balloon (balloon B). Prostate and rectal wall contours were outlined on each pre-treatment MVCT for all patients. Delivered fractional doses were calculated using the MVCT taken immediately prior to delivery. Dose grids were accumulated to the last MVCT using DDA tools in Pinnacle3 TM (v9.100, Philips Radiation Oncology Systems, Fitchburg, USA). Delivered total doses were compared with planned doses using prostate and rectal wall DVHs. The rectal NTCP was calculated based on total delivered and planned doses for all patients using the Lyman model. For 8/10 patients, the rectal wall NTCP calculated using the delivered total dose was less than planned, with seven patients showing a decrease of more than 5% in NTCP. For 2/10 patients studied, the rectal wall NTCP calculated using total delivered dose was 2% higher than planned. This study indicates that for patients receiving hypofractionated radiotherapy for prostate cancer with a rectal balloon, total delivered doses to prostate is similar with planned while delivered dose to rectal walls may be significantly different from planned doses. 8/10 patients show significant correlation between rectal balloon anterior-posterior positions and some VD values

Dynamics of Transport Infrastructure, Exports and Economic Growth in the United States

This paper focuses on the dynamic relationships among transport infrastructure, exports and economic growth in the United States using a multivariate time-series analysis. Results suggest that the formation of highways and streets affects economic growth indirectly through enhancing the capital stock of non-transport infrastructure and crowding in private capital. The reverse causality from economic output to highway and street infrastructure is observed. Aggregate capital stock of non-transport infrastructure, excluding national defense, has sustainable positive effects on economic output and exports over a number of years. Empirical evidence also shows that highway and street infrastructure and non-transport infrastructure Granger cause exports

A Wideband Profiled Corrugated Horn for Multichroic Applications

A wideband profiled corrugated feedhorn was developed for multichroic applications. This feedhorn features a return loss of better than -25 dB and cross polarization peaks below -30 dB, over a fractional bandwidth of greater than 50%. Its performance is close to that of the ring-loaded corrugated feedhorn; however, the design presented is much easier to fabricate at millimeter wavelengths

Poly[[μ2-1,4-bis­(imidazol-1-ylmeth­yl)benzene]bis­(μ4-cyclo­hexane-1,4-dicarboxyl­ato)dicobalt(II)]

In the title compound, [Co2(C8H10O4)2(C14H14N4)]n, the two CoII atoms are both five-coordinated by four carboxyl­ate O atoms, derived from two different cyclo­hexane-1,4-dicarboxyl­ate (chdc) ligands, and an N atom, derived from one end of a 1,4-bis­(imidazol-1-ylmeth­yl)benzene mol­ecule (1,4-bix), in a distorted square-pyramidal environment. Each end of the chdc ligand links pairs of CoII atoms into a paddle-wheel assembly, i.e. Co2(O2CR′)4; these are connected into rows because of the bridging nature of the chdc ligands, and the rows are further connected into a two-dimensional layer through the 1,4-bix ligands. The 1,4-bix ligand, which is disposed about a centre of inversion, is disorderd. Two positions were discerned for the –CH2(C6H4)CH2– residue, with the major component having a site-occupancy factor of 0.512 (9)

Impact of the capillary pressure-saturation pore-size distribution parameter on geological carbon sequestration estimates

Cost estimates for geologic carbon sequestration (GCS) are vital for policy and decision makers evaluating carbon capture and storage strategies. Numerical models are often used in feasibility studies for the different stages of carbon injection and redistribution. Knowledge of the capillary pressure-saturation function for a selected storage rock unit is essential in applications used for simulating multiphase fluid flow and transport. However, the parameters describing these functions (e.g. the van Genuchten m pore size distribution parameter) are often not measured or neglected compared to other physical properties such as porosity and intrinsic permeability. In addition, the use of average instead of point estimates of m for numerical simulations of flow and transport can result in significant errors, especially in the case of coarse-grained sediments and fractured rocks. Such erroneous predictions can pose great risks and challenges to decision-making. We present a comparison of numerical simulation results based on average and point estimates of the van Genuchten m parameter for different porous media. Forward numerical simulations using the STOMP code were employed to illustrate the magnitudes of the differences in carbon sequestration predictions resulting from the use of height-averaged instead of point parameters. The model predictions were converted into cost estimates and the results indicate that varying m values in GCS modeling can cause cost differences of up to hundreds of millions dollars

High-efficiency photovoltaics based on semiconductor nanostructures

The objective of this project was to exploit a variety of semiconductor nanostructures, specifically semiconductor quantum wells, quantum dots, and nanowires, to achieve high power conversion efficiency in photovoltaic devices. In a thin-film device geometry, the objectives were to design, fabricate, and characterize quantum-well and quantum-dot solar cells in which scattering from metallic and/or dielectric nanostructures was employed to direct incident photons into lateral, optically confined paths within a thin (~1-3um or less) device structure. Fundamental issues concerning nonequilibrium carrier escape from quantum-confined structures, removal of thin-film devices from an epitaxial growth substrate, and coherent light trapping in thin-film photovoltaic devices were investigated. In a nanowire device geometry, the initial objectives were to engineer vertical nanowire arrays to optimize optical confinement within the nanowires, and to extend this approach to core-shell heterostructures to achieve broadspectrum absorption while maintaining high opencircuit voltages. Subsequent work extended this approach to include fabrication of nanowire photovoltaic structures on low-cost substrates

Dedicated Energy Crop Supply Chain and Associated Feedstock Transportation Emissions: A Case Study of Tennessee

and Bradly Wilson This study minimizes total cost for single-feedstock supply chains of two dedicated energy crops, perennial switchgrass and biomass sorghum, in Tennessee using a spatial optimization model. Greenhouse gas emissions from the transport of feedstock to the conversion facility were estimated for respective feedstock supply chains. Results show that different demand for land types from two feedstocks and the geographically diverse landscape across the state affect the economics of bioenergy crops supply chains and feedstock transportation emissions. Switchgrass is more suitable than biomass sorghum for biofuel production in Tennessee based on the supply chains cost and feedstock hauling emissions

Multimodal deep learning for mapping forest dominant height by fusing GEDI with earth observation data

The integration of multisource remote sensing data and deep learning models offers new possibilities for accurately mapping high spatial resolution forest height. We found that GEDI relative heights (RH) metrics exhibited strong correlation with the mean of the top 10 highest trees (dominant height) measured in situ at the corresponding footprint locations. Consequently, we proposed a novel deep learning framework termed the multi-modal attention remote sensing network (MARSNet) to estimate forest dominant height by extrapolating dominant height derived from GEDI, using Setinel-1 data, ALOS-2 PALSAR-2 data, Sentinel-2 optical data and ancillary data. MARSNet comprises separate encoders for each remote sensing data modality to extract multi-scale features, and a shared decoder to fuse the features and estimate height. Using individual encoders for each remote sensing imagery avoids interference across modalities and extracts distinct representations. To focus on the efficacious information from each dataset, we reduced the prevalent spatial and band redundancies in each remote sensing data by incorporating the extended spatial and band reconstruction convolution modules in the encoders. MARSNet achieved commendable performance in estimating dominant height, with an R2 of 0.62 and RMSE of 2.82 m, outperforming the widely used random forest approach which attained an R2 of 0.55 and RMSE of 3.05 m. Finally, we applied the trained MARSNet model to generate wall-to-wall maps at 10 m resolution for Jilin, China. Through independent validation using field measurements, MARSNet demonstrated an R2 of 0.58 and RMSE of 3.76 m, compared to 0.41 and 4.37 m for the random forest baseline. Our research demonstrates the effectiveness of a multimodal deep learning approach fusing GEDI with SAR and passive optical imagery for enhancing the accuracy of high resolution dominant height estimation