International Year of Planet Earth 9. Geology in the Urban Environment in Canada

Over 80% of Canadians are urban dwellers, and geology plays a major role in their living environment. Aggregates, water supply, waste disposal, and building problems associated with compressible or sensitive sediments, swelling clays, and dense tills, are major urban geological concerns. A variety of geological hazards impact our cities, including earthquakes, tsunami, volcanic eruptions, landslides, flooding and, along the Pacific and Atlantic coasts, sea level rise. New urban challenges arise from declining reserves of fossil fuels and global climate change, both of which require a rapid transition to alternative energy sources (wind, solar, geothermal) and rebuilt infrastructure. Canada will increasingly face urban issues that require enhanced public education and the services of geologists. SOMMAIRE Plus de 80 % des Canadiens sont citadins, et la géologie joue un rôle majeur dans leur milieu de vie. Qu’il s’agisse d’agrégats, d'approvisionnement en eau, de l'élimination des déchets, et de problèmes de construction liés aux sédiments compressibles ou sensibles, d’argiles gonflantes, et de tills denses, voilà autant de préoccupations géologiques majeures concernant les agglomérations urbaines. Une variété de risques géologiques ont des répercussions sur nos villes, dont les tremblements de terre, tsunamis, éruptions volcaniques, glissements de terrain, inondations et, l’élévation du niveau de la mer le long des côtes du Pacifique et de l'Atlantique. Des défis récents se posent pour les agglomérations urbaines dû au déclin des réserves de combustibles fossiles et au changement climatique mondial, chacun imposant une transition rapide vers des sources d'énergie alternatives (éoliennes, solaire, géothermique) et une reconfiguration des infrastructures. De plus en plus le Canada est confronté à des problèmes urbains qui appellent une amélioration des connaissances de la population et un recours accru aux services des géologues

A strongly-interacting phase of the Minimal Supersymmetric Model

We argue that in the minimal supersymmetric extension of the Standard Model with a large trilinear coupling both the fundamental Higgs boson and a bound state of squarks (formed via strong scalar interaction) can have a non-zero VEV. This alters drastically the pattern of electroweak-symmetry breaking and the Higgs phenomenology. In particular, the upper bound on the supersymmetric Higgs-boson mass may be relaxed. Also, the Higgs boson can be produced at hadron colliders through a direct coupling to gluons.Comment: 14 pages; 1 figure; epsf; replaced with published version (a comment and an acknowledgement added

Preeruptive flow focussing in dikes feeding historical pillow ridges on the Juan de Fuca and Gorda Ridges

Linear, hummocky pillow mound volcanism dominates at slow and intermediate spreading rate mid-ocean ridges. Volcanic hummocks are thought to be formed by low effusion rates or as a result of flow focussing during effusive fissure style eruptions in which the initial dike intercepts the seafloor and erupts along its entire length. In this study, high-resolution autonomous underwater vehicle (AUV) bathymetry is used to accurately map the extents of four historical fissure eruptions of the Juan de Fuca and Gorda ridges: on the North Gorda, North Cleft, and CoAxial ridge segments. The four mapped eruptions take the form of pillow mounds, which are similar in both lithology and dimension to hummocks on the Mid-Atlantic Ridge. Pillow mounds may be isolated, or coalesce to form composite mounds, aligned as ridges or as clustered groups. In three of the four mapped sites, the eruptions were discontinuous along their lengths, with pillow mounds and composite mounds commonly separated by areas of older seafloor. This style of discontinuous eruption is inconsistent with typical en echelon fissure eruptions and is probably due to a mildly overpressured, fingering dike intersecting the seafloor along parts of its length

Rapidly accelerating subsidence in the Greater Vancouver region from two decades of ERS-ENVISAT-RADARSAT-2 DInSAR measurements

Rapidly accelerating ground subsidence in the south-western part of British Columbia, the third largest metropolitan area in Canada with over 2.3 million of inhabitants, is estimated using the Multidimensional Small Baseline Subset (MSBAS) advanced Differential Interferometric Synthetic Aperture Radar (DInSAR), an effective processing strategy for multi-mission, multi-temporal SAR data. The Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR) data used in this study consists of seven independent data sets: one ascending and one descending ERS-1/2 and ENVISAT frames, together spanning July 1995–September 2010, and three RADARSAT-2 frames spanning February 2009–October 2012. During the July 1995–October 2012 period we observe fast ground subsidence with a maximum rate of about 2 cm/year in the Greater Vancouver region that includes the Fraser River Delta and the cities of Burnaby, Richmond, Surrey, New Westminster and Vancouver. The rapidly accelerating subsidence is observed beneath the Vancouver International Airport, SkyTrain terminal as well as several agricultural and industrial locales. These time series suggest that the subsidence rate at the studied regions does not decrease with time, as suggested in previous studies, but remains steady or increases. These results also demonstrate the importance of acquiring and appropriately estimating longer time series, as previous studies on the same Greater Vancouver area may have misinterpreted the long term ground deformation rate and direction and underestimated the potential hazard. The long term impact of this subsidence on urban infrastructure can be significant and needs to be investigated further.The work of PG was supported by Banting Postdoctoral Fellowship. The work of KFT was supported by an NSERC Discovery Grant.Peer reviewe

Hydrothermal Chimney Distribution on the Endeavour Segment, Juan de Fuca Ridge

The Endeavour Segment of the Juan de Fuca Ridge is well known for its abundance of hydrothermal vents and chimneys. One‐meter scale multibeam mapping data collected by an autonomous undersea vehicle revealed 572 chimneys along the central 14 km of the segment, although only 47 are named and known to be active. Hydrothermal deposits are restricted to the axial graben and the near‐rims of the graben above a seismically mapped axial magma lens. The sparse eruptive activity on the segment during the last 4,300 years has not buried inactive chimneys, as occurs at more magmatically robust mid‐ocean ridges

Hydrothermal Chimney Distribution on the Endeavour Segment, Juan de Fuca Ridge

The Endeavour Segment of the Juan de Fuca Ridge is well known for its abundance of hydrothermal vents and chimneys. One-meter scale multibeam mapping data collected by an autonomous undersea vehicle revealed 572 chimneys along the central 14 km of the segment, although only 47 are named and known to be active. Hydrothermal deposits are restricted to the axial graben and the near-rims of the graben above a seismically mapped axial magma lens. The sparse eruptive activity on the segment during the last 4,300 years has not buried inactive chimneys, as occurs at more magmatically robust mid-ocean ridges

East Midlands Research into Ageing Network (EMRAN) Discussion Paper Series

Academic geriatric medicine in Leicester . There has never been a better time to consider joining us. We have recently appointed a Professor in Geriatric Medicine, alongside Tom Robinson in stroke and Victoria Haunton, who has just joined as a Senior Lecturer in Geriatric Medicine. We have fantastic opportunities to support students in their academic pursuits through a well-established intercalated BSc programme, and routes on through such as ACF posts, and a successful track-record in delivering higher degrees leading to ACL post. We collaborate strongly with Health Sciences, including academic primary care. See below for more detail on our existing academic set-up. Leicester Academy for the Study of Ageing We are also collaborating on a grander scale, through a joint academic venture focusing on ageing, the ‘Leicester Academy for the Study of Ageing’ (LASA), which involves the local health service providers (acute and community), De Montfort University; University of Leicester; Leicester City Council; Leicestershire County Council and Leicester Age UK. Professors Jayne Brown and Simon Conroy jointly Chair LASA and have recently been joined by two further Chairs, Professors Kay de Vries and Bertha Ochieng. Karen Harrison Dening has also recently been appointed an Honorary Chair. LASA aims to improve outcomes for older people and those that care for them that takes a person-centred, whole system perspective. Our research will take a global perspective, but will seek to maximise benefits for the people of Leicester, Leicestershire and Rutland, including building capacity. We are undertaking applied, translational, interdisciplinary research, focused on older people, which will deliver research outcomes that address domains from: physical/medical; functional ability, cognitive/psychological; social or environmental factors. LASA also seeks to support commissioners and providers alike for advice on how to improve care for older people, whether by research, education or service delivery. Examples of recent research projects include: ‘Local History Café’ project specifically undertaking an evaluation on loneliness and social isolation; ‘Better Visits’ project focused on improving visiting for family members of people with dementia resident in care homes; and a study on health issues for older LGBT people in Leicester. Clinical Geriatric Medicine in Leicester We have developed a service which recognises the complexity of managing frail older people at the interface (acute care, emergency care and links with community services). There are presently 17 consultant geriatricians supported by existing multidisciplinary teams, including the largest complement of Advance Nurse Practitioners in the country. Together we deliver Comprehensive Geriatric Assessment to frail older people with urgent care needs in acute and community settings. The acute and emergency frailty units – Leicester Royal Infirmary This development aims at delivering Comprehensive Geriatric Assessment to frail older people in the acute setting. Patients are screened for frailty in the Emergency Department and then undergo a multidisciplinary assessment including a consultant geriatrician, before being triaged to the most appropriate setting. This might include admission to in-patient care in the acute or community setting, intermediate care (residential or home based), or occasionally other specialist care (e.g. cardiorespiratory). Our new emergency department is the county’s first frail friendly build and includes fantastic facilities aimed at promoting early recovering and reducing the risk of hospital associated harms. There is also a daily liaison service jointly run with the psychogeriatricians (FOPAL); we have been examining geriatric outreach to oncology and surgery as part of an NIHR funded study. We are home to the Acute Frailty Network, and those interested in service developments at the national scale would be welcome to get involved. Orthogeriatrics There are now dedicated hip fracture wards and joint care with anaesthetists, orthopaedic surgeons and geriatricians. There are also consultants in metabolic bone disease that run clinics. Community work Community work will consist of reviewing patients in clinic who have been triaged to return to the community setting following an acute assessment described above. Additionally, primary care colleagues refer to outpatients for sub-acute reviews. You will work closely with local GPs with support from consultants to deliver post-acute, subacute, intermediate and rehabilitation care services. Stroke Medicine 24/7 thrombolysis and TIA services. The latter is considered one of the best in the UK and along with the high standard of vascular surgery locally means one of the best performances regarding carotid intervention

A Tumbling Top-Quark Condensate Model

We propose a renormalizable model with no fundamental scalars which breaks itself in the manner of a "tumbling" gauge theory down to the standard model with a top-quark condensate. Because of anomaly cancellation requirements, this model contains two color sextet fermions (quixes), which are vector-like with respect to the standard model gauge group. The model also has a large number of pseudo-Nambu-Goldstone bosons, some of which can be light. The top-quark condensate is responsible for breaking the electroweak gauge symmetry and gives the top quark a large mass. We discuss the qualitative features and instructive shortcomings of the model in its present form. We also show that this model can be naturally embedded into an aesthetically pleasing model in which the standard model fermion families appear symmetrically.Comment: 16 pages. v2: TeX formatting fixed, no other change