The SaPPART COST Action: Towards Positioning Integrity for Road Transport

Global Navigation Satellite Systems (GNSS) is becoming one of the main components supporting Intelligent Transport Systems (ITS) and value-added services in road transport and personal mobility. The use of GNSS is expected to grow significantly due to improvements in positioning performance, with positive impacts such as: finding the optimal route; improving traffic and travel efficiency as well as safety and security; reducing congestion and optimizing fuel consumption. The deployment of mission critical applications needs high reliability in the positioning information. However, the positioning reliability is not easy to achieve because of the heterogeneous quality of the GNSS signal, which is highly influenced by the road environment and the operational scenario of the application. It is important to understand the requirements and performance GNSS can achieve for various road transport applications. This paper is presenting the SaPPART COST Action on the Satellite Positioning Performance Assessment for Road Transport. It introduces the goal and the framework of the Action with the research programme and some related activities dedicated to dissemination and supporting standardisation working groups

The Importance of Boundary Conditions in Quantum Mechanics

We discuss the role of boundary conditions in determining the physical content of the solutions of the Schrodinger equation. We study the standing-wave, the ``in,'' the ``out,'' and the purely outgoing boundary conditions. As well, we rephrase Feynman's $+i \epsilon$ prescription as a time-asymmetric, causal boundary condition, and discuss the connection of Feynman's $+i \epsilon$ prescription with the arrow of time of Quantum Electrodynamics. A parallel of this arrow of time with that of Classical Electrodynamics is made. We conclude that in general, the time evolution of a closed quantum system has indeed an arrow of time built into the propagators.Comment: Contribution to the proceedings of the ICTP conference "Irreversible Quantum Dynamics," Trieste, Italy, July 200

Microseismicity of the Mid-Atlantic Ridge at 7°S-8°15′S and at the Logatchev Massif oceanic core complex at 14°40′N-14°50′N

Lithospheric formation at slow spreading rates is heterogeneous with multiple modalities, favoring symmetric spreading where magmatism dominates or core complex and inside corner high formation where tectonics dominate. We report microseismicity from three deployments of seismic networks at the Mid-Atlantic Ridge (MAR). Two networks surveyed the MAR near 7 degrees S in the vicinity of the Ascension transform fault. Three inside corner high settings were investigated. However, they remained seismically largely inactive and major seismic activity occurred along the center of the median valley. In contrast, at the Logatchev Massif core complex at 14 degrees 45N seismicity was sparse within the center of the median valley but concentrated along the eastern rift mountains just west of the serpentine hosted Logatchev hydrothermal vent field. To the north and south of the massif, however, seismic activity occurred along the ridge axis, emphasizing the asymmetry of seismicity at the Logatchev segment. Focal mechanisms indicated a large number of reverse faulting events occurring in the vicinity of the vent field at 3-5 km depth, which we interpret to reflect volume expansion accompanying serpentinization. At shallower depth of 2-4 km, some earthquakes in the vicinity of the vent field showed normal faulting behavior, suggesting that normal faults facilitates hydrothermal circulation feeding the vent field. Further, a second set of cross-cutting faults occurred, indicating that the surface location of the field is controlled by local fault systems

Older people as equal partners in creative design

Active older people want to be actively engaged by contributing their experiences to design better services and products. This paper demonstrates the importance of older peoples engagement in the creative design process in a small study where older people were engaged together with designers in the design of digital devices. Three creative workshops were conducted: the first with designers, the second with designers and older people, and the third with older people only. During the illumination stage of the creative process flexibility and flow were measured with topics and turns. Results show that when older people were working with designers more topics and a higher total number of turns were developed than by older people or designers working on their own, which indicates that they had the highest flexibility of ideas and possibly also the greatest flow

Asperities and barriers on the seismogenic zone in North Chile: state-of-the-art after the 2007 Mw 7.7 Tocopilla earthquake inferred by GPS and InSAR data

The Mw 7.7 2007 November 14 earthquake had an epicentre located close to the city of Tocopilla, at the southern end of a known seismic gap in North Chile. Through modelling of Global Positioning System (GPS) and radar interferometry (InSAR) data, we show that this event ruptured the deeper part of the seismogenic interface (30–50 km) and did not reach the surface. The earthquake initiated at the hypocentre and was arrested ~150 km south, beneath the Mejillones Peninsula, an area already identified as an important structural barrier between two segments of the Peru–Chile subduction zone. Our preferred models for the Tocopilla main shock show slip concentrated in two main asperities, consistent with previous inversions of seismological data. Slip appears to have propagated towards relatively shallow depths at its southern extremity, under the Mejillones Peninsula. Our analysis of post-seismic deformation suggests that small but still significant post-seismic slip occurred within the first 10 d after the main shock, and that it was mostly concentrated at the southern end of the rupture. The post-seismic deformation occurring in this period represents ~12–19 per cent of the coseismic deformation, of which ~30–55 per cent has been released aseismically. Post-seismic slip appears to concentrate within regions that exhibit low coseismic slip, suggesting that the afterslip distribution during the first month of the post-seismic interval complements the coseismic slip. The 2007 Tocopilla earthquake released only ~2.5 per cent of the moment deficit accumulated on the interface during the past 130 yr and may be regarded as a possible precursor of a larger subduction earthquake rupturing partially or completely the 500-km-long North Chile seismic gap

Distribution of Temperature and Strength in the Central Andean Lithosphere and Its Relationship to Seismicity and Active Deformation

We present three-dimensional (3D) models of the present-day steady-state conductive thermal field and strength distribution in the lithosphere beneath the Central Andes. Our primary objective was to investigate the influence that the structure of the Central Andean lithosphere has on its thermal and rheological state, and the relationship between the latter and the active deformation in the region. We used our previous data-driven and gravity-constrained 3D density model as starting point for the calculations. We first assigned lithology-derived thermal and rheological properties to the different divisions of the density model and defined temperature boundary conditions. We then calculated the 3D steady-state conductive thermal field and the maximum differential stresses for both brittle and ductile behaviors. We find that the thickness and composition of the crust are the main factors affecting the modeled thermal field, and consequently also the strength distribution. The orogen is characterized by a thick felsic crust with elevated temperatures and a low integrated strength, whereas the foreland and forearc are underlain by a more mafic and thinner crust with lower temperatures and a higher integrated strength. We find that most of the intraplate deformation coincides spatially with the steepest strength gradients and suggest that the high potential energy of the orogen together with the presence of rheological lateral heterogeneities produce high compressional stresses and strong strain localization along the margins of the orogen. We interpret earthquakes within the modeled ductile field to be related to the weakening effect of long-lived faults and/or the presence of seismic asperities.Fil: Ibarra, Federico. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Oficina de Coordinación Administrativa Ciudad Universitaria. Instituto de Geociencias Básicas, Aplicadas y Ambientales de Buenos Aires. Universidad de Buenos Aires. Facultad de Ciencias Exactas y Naturales. Instituto de Geociencias Básicas, Aplicadas y Ambientales de Buenos Aires; ArgentinaFil: Prezzi, Claudia Beatriz. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Oficina de Coordinación Administrativa Ciudad Universitaria. Instituto de Geociencias Básicas, Aplicadas y Ambientales de Buenos Aires. Universidad de Buenos Aires. Facultad de Ciencias Exactas y Naturales. Instituto de Geociencias Básicas, Aplicadas y Ambientales de Buenos Aires; ArgentinaFil: Bott, Judith. German Research Centre for Geosciences; AlemaniaFil: Scheck Wenderoth, Magdalena. German Research Centre for Geosciences; AlemaniaFil: Strecker, Manfred. Universitat Potsdam; Alemani

Limits of the seismogenic zone in the epicentral region of the 26 December 2004 great Sumatra-Andaman earthquake: Results from seismic refraction and wide-angle reflection surveys and thermal modeling

The 26 December 2004 Sumatra earthquake (Mw = 9.1) initiated around 30 km depth and ruptured 1300 km of the Indo-Australian Sunda plate boundary. During the Sumatra OBS (ocean bottom seismometer) survey, a wide angle seismic profile was acquired across the epicentral region. A seismic velocity model was obtained from combined travel time tomography and forward modeling. Together with reflection seismic data from the SeaCause II cruise, the deep structure of the source region of the great earthquake is revealed. Four to five kilometers of sediments overlie the oceanic crust at the trench, and the subducting slab can be imaged down to a depth of 35 km. We find a crystalline backstop 120 km from the trench axis, below the fore arc basin. A high velocity zone at the lower landward limit of the raycovered domain, at 22 km depth, marks a shallow continental Moho, 170 km from the trench. The deep structure obtained from the seismic data was used to construct a thermal model of the fore arc in order to predict the limits of the seismogenic zone along the plate boundary fault. Assuming 100C-150C as its updip limit, the seismogenic zone is predicted to begin 530 km from the trench. The downdip limit of the 2004 rupture as inferred from aftershocks is within the 350C 450C temperature range, but this limit is 210-250 km from the trench axis and is much deeper than the fore arc Moho. The deeper part of the rupture occurred along the contact between the mantle wedge and the downgoing plate

Psychiatric diagnoses, trauma, and suicidiality

BACKGROUND: This study aimed to examine the associations between psychiatric diagnoses, trauma and suicidiality in psychiatric patients at intake. METHODS: During two months, all consecutive patients (n = 139) in a psychiatric hospital in Western Norway were interviewed (response rate 72%). RESULTS: Ninety-one percent had been exposed to at least one trauma; 69 percent had been repeatedly exposed to trauma for longer periods of time. Only 7% acquired a PTSD diagnosis. The comorbidity of PTSD and other psychiatric diagnoses were 78%. A number of diagnoses were associated with specific traumas. Sixty-seven percent of the patients reported suicidal thoughts in the month prior to intake; thirty-one percent had attempted suicide in the preceding week. Suicidal ideation, self-harming behaviour, and suicide attempts were associated with specific traumas. CONCLUSION: Traumatised patients appear to be under- or misdiagnosed which could have an impact on the efficiency of treatment