The Mozambique Ridge : Evolution of a Large Igneous Province and its implication for palaeocean circulation

New multi-channel seismic reflection data acquired in the southwest Indian Ocean is used to evaluate the basement structure and the origin of the southern Mozambique Ridge (MozR). Another objective of the interpretation of the data is to investigate the possible impact of the structure on palaeocean circulation in the evolving Southern Ocean. Investigation of the new geophysical data shows the occurrence of extensive lava flow sequences and a great number of extrusion centres. The observations suggest a Large Igneous Province origin of the southern MozR and its emplacement between 131 and 125 Ma. The sedimentary record in the area of the southern MozR acts as an archive for the water mass exchange between the Indian and South Atlantic Oceans through the African-Southern Ocean gateway. Characteristic sedimentary structures are deposited by current-controlled sedimentation and allow for an interpretation of the intensity, pathway and direction of the palaeocean circulation. The observations document the evolution from a restricted circulation during the Cretaceous towards an open marine circulation during Neogene and Quaternary times within the gateway

A survey of Opiinae (Hymenoptera, Braconidae) of Finland, part 2

Faunistic records of 150 species of Opiinae are given mainly for Finland. 78 species are reported as new to Finland. The gross distributions and known hosts are mentioned. Psyttalia carinata (Thomson), Biosteres (Chilotrichia) bicolor (Wesmael) and B. (C.) sylvaticus (Haliday) are deleted from the fauna of Finland. Paraphytomyza similis (Brischke) is a new host for Opius (Odontopoea) connivens Thomson, and Euphranta connexa (Fabricius) (Diptera, Tphritidae) for Psyttalia concolor (Szepligeti)

A survey of Opiinae (Hymenoptera, Braconidae) of Finland, part 1

Faunistic records of 150 species of Opiinae are given mainly for Finland. 78 species are reported as new to Finland. The gross distributions and known hosts are mentioned. In Finnish collections were found 9 species new to Estonia, 7 to Greece, 2 to Netherlands, 9 to Poland, 2 to Russia, 5 to Sweden and 10 to the Canary Islands. Oncophanes flaviceps Héllen is a new synonym of Opius (Aulonotus) pilosiscutum Fischer. Paraphytomyza fulvicornis (Hendel) (Diptera, Agromyzidae) for Opius (Utetes) rotundiventris Thomson and Phytomyza hendeli Hering (Diptera, Agromyzidae) for Opius (Cryptonastes) tersus (Foerster). As suggested by the editors of Entomologica Fennica this article is divided in two parts. Of the 150 examined species are handled in this part and 80 in second part. The distribution maps for all 150 species as well as the list of references are in part two

Understanding the response to high-stakes incentives in primary education

This paper studies responses to high-stakes incentives arising from early ability tracking. We use three complementary research designs exploiting differences in school track admission rules at the end of primary school in Germany's early ability tracking system. Our results show that the need to perform well to qualify for a better track raises students' math, reading, listening, and orthography skills in grade 4, the final grade before students are sorted into tracks. Evidence from self-reported behavior suggests that these effects are driven by greater study effort but not parental responses. However, we also observe that stronger incentives decrease student well-being and intrinsic motivation to study

The structure and classification of the Mozambique Ridge based on seismic reflection data

The Mozambique Ridge (MozR), a prominent basement high in the southwestern Indian Ocean, consists of four major geomorphological units associated with numerous phases of volcanic activity between 140 Ma and 122 Ma. Over the last decades nature and origin of the Mozambique Ridge have been intensely debated with one hypothesis suggesting a Large Igneous Province (LIP) origin. This would have had immense influence on climate during the early Cretaceous with the emission of gases and heat into atmosphere and ocean but also implications on the development of the South African gateway with the formation of obstacles for surface and deep circulation. An extensive seismic survey was conducted over the Mozambique Ridge with the aim of solving the questions about its origin and evolution. High-resolution seismic reflection data reveals a number of magmatic centers with a random distribution. Intra-basement reflections can be identified up to several hundred ms TWT below top of basement. The internal reflections generally dip away from their magmatic centers and individual reflections can typically be traced for 5-15 km. These are interpreted to represent massive lava flow units, which are characteristic of oceanic plateau eruptions. Additionally to primary volcanic features associated with the initial emplacement of the individual segments of the Mozambique Ridge we identify secondary volcanic features indicating magmatic reactivation after its initial build-up. The total volume of the southern Mozambique Ridge is estimated to be 2.2 x 106 km3. We use this estimation to obtain a more precise reconstruction for the emplacement of the Mozambique Ridge. Based on our results we propose an oceanic LIP origin of the southern Mozambique Ridge and show that our data points toward a sequential development of its segments

Scalable Certified Segmentation via Randomized Smoothing

We present a new certification method for image and point cloud segmentation based on randomized smoothing. The method leverages a novel scalable algorithm for prediction and certification that correctly accounts for multiple testing, necessary for ensuring statistical guarantees. The key to our approach is reliance on established multiple-testing correction mechanisms as well as the ability to abstain from classifying single pixels or points while still robustly segmenting the overall input. Our experimental evaluation on synthetic data and challenging datasets, such as Pascal Context, Cityscapes, and ShapeNet, shows that our algorithm can achieve, for the first time, competitive accuracy and certification guarantees on real-world segmentation tasks. We provide an implementation at https://github.com/eth-sri/segmentation-smoothing.Comment: ICML'2