Resurvey of site stability quadrilaterals, Otay Mountain and Quincy, California

Trilateration quadrilaterals established across two faults near the San Andreas Fault Experiment laser/satellite ranging sites were resurveyed after four years. No evidence of significant tectonic motion was found

Search for nearby stars among proper motion stars selected by optical-to-infrared photometry. I. Discovery of LHS 2090 at spectroscopic distance of d=6pc

We present the discovery of a previously unknown very nearby star - LHS 2090 at a distance of only d=6 pc. In order to find nearby (i.e. d < 25 pc) red dwarfs, we re-identified high proper motion stars ($\mu >$ 0.18 arcsec/yr) from the NLTT catalogue (Luyten \cite{luyten7980}) in optical Digitized Sky Survey data for two different epochs and in the 2MASS data base. Only proper motion stars with large $R-K_s$ colour index and with relatively bright infrared magnitudes ($K_s<10$) were selected for follow-up spectroscopy. The low-resolution spectrum of LHS 2090 and its large proper motion (0.79 arcsec/yr) classify this star as an M6.5 dwarf. The resulting spectroscopic distance estimate from comparing the infrared $JHK_s$ magnitudes of LHS 2090 with absolute magnitudes of M6.5 dwarfs is $6.0\pm1.1$ pc assuming an uncertainty in absolute magnitude of $\pm$0.4 mag.Comment: 3 pages, 1 figure, accepted for publication in Astronomy and Astrophysics Letter

Surface deformation and elasticity studies in the Virgin Islands

The report consists of four sections. The first section describes tilt and leveling measurements on Anegada, the most northerly of the British Virgin Islands; the second section contains a discussion of sea-level measurements that were initiated in the region and which played a significant role in the development of a network of sea-level monitors now telemetered via satellite from the Alaskan Shumagin Islands. The third part of the report is a brief description of surface deformation measurements in Iceland using equipment and techniques developed by the subject grant. The final part of the report describes the predicted effects of block surface fragmentation in tectonic areas on the measurement of tilt and strain

Design comparison of experimental storm water detention systems treating concentrated road runoff

The aim was to assess the treatment efficiencies of experimental storm water detention (extended storage) systems based on the Atlantis Water Management Limited detention cells receiving concentrated runoff that has been primary treated by filtration with different inert aggregates. Randomly collected gully pot liquor was used in stead of road runoff. To test for a 'worst case scenario', the experimental system received higher volumes and pollutant concentrations in comparison to real detention systems under real (frequently longer but diluted) runoff events. Gravel (6 and 20 mm), sand (1.5 mm), Ecosoil (inert 2 mm aggregate provided by Atlantis Water Management Limited), block paving and turf were tested in terms of their influence on the water quality. Concentrations of five-day @ 20� C ATU biochemical oxygen demand (BOD) in contrast to suspended solids (SS) were frequently reduced to below international secondary wastewater treatment standards. The denitrification process was not completed. This resulted in higher outflow than inflow nitrate-nitrogen concentrations. An analysis of variance indicated that some systems were similar in terms of most of their treatment performance variables including BOD and SS. It follows that there is no advantage in using additional aggregates with high adsorption capacities in the primary treatment stage

Theory of time-dependent rupture in the Earth

Fracture mechanics is used to develop a theory of earthquake mechanism which includes the phenomenon of subcritical crack growth. The following phenomena are predicted: slow earthquakes, multiple events, delayed multiple events (doublets), postseismic rupture growth and afterslip, foreshocks, and aftershocks. The theory predicts a nucleation stage prior to an earthquake, and suggests a physical mechanism by which one earthquake may 'trigger' another

The Clinton welfare reform plan: Will it end poverty as we know it

The central elements in President Clinton's proposal to reform the welfare system are: increasing the earned income tax credit, improving the child support system, educating and training the poor, and limiting the amount of time people can receive assistance. The authors commend the first two components of the president's plan but question the likely effectiveness of the last two: even with the education, training, and child care programs that the president has proposed, few welfare recipients will be able to command wages that would lift them out of poverty, and successful education and training programs would cost more than the government appears willing to spend. They recommend that the president consider giving tax credits to, and subsidizing the wages paid by, employers who hire low-wage workers and assist young people and poor families to save for future opportunities. In their view, poverty will not be alleviated by only getting tough on welfare recipients; instead, labor market interventions should be adopted so as to expand opportunities for low-wage, low-skilled workers.

Tumor angiogenesis and anti-angiogenic therapy in malignant gliomas revisited

The cellular and molecular mechanisms of tumor angiogenesis and its prospects for anti-angiogenic cancer therapy are major issues in almost all current concepts of both cancer biology and targeted cancer therapy. Currently, (1) sprouting angiogenesis, (2) vascular co-option, (3) vascular intussusception, (4) vasculogenic mimicry, (5) bone marrow-derived vasculogenesis, (6) cancer stem-like cell-derived vasculogenesis and (7) myeloid cell-driven angiogenesis are all considered to contribute to tumor angiogenesis. Many of these processes have been described in developmental angiogenesis; however, the relative contribution and relevance of these in human brain cancer remain unclear. Preclinical tumor models support a role for sprouting angiogenesis, vascular co-option and myeloid cell-derived angiogenesis in glioma vascularization, whereas a role for the other four mechanisms remains controversial and rather enigmatic. The anti-angiogenesis drug Avastin (Bevacizumab), which targets VEGF, has become one of the most popular cancer drugs in the world. Anti-angiogenic therapy may lead to vascular normalization and as such facilitate conventional cytotoxic chemotherapy. However, preclinical and clinical studies suggest that anti-VEGF therapy using bevacizumab may also lead to a pro-migratory phenotype in therapy resistant glioblastomas and thus actively promote tumor invasion and recurrent tumor growth. This review focusses on (1) mechanisms of tumor angiogenesis in human malignant glioma that are of particular relevance for targeted therapy and (2) controversial issues in tumor angiogenesis such as cancer stem-like cell-derived vasculogenesis and bone-marrow-derived vasculogenesis

Strain buildup and release, earthquake prediction and selection of VLB sites for the margins of the North Pacific

Projects studying different aspects of crustal deformation are discussed. The rifting process at the plate boundary in northern Iceland was investigated using combined seismic, tilt, and displacement measurements. Stresses acting on the Alpine fault, New Zealand, were modeled based on observations of regional variation in metamorphism and argon loss. The relationship between the stress pattern shown by intraplate seismicity and possible stresses on plates arising from litohspheric motion over the asthenosphere was investigated. Small earthquakes in Southern California were studied to determine if subregions of uniform strain release exist and if interaction occurs between faults

On the Predictability of Talk Attendance at Academic Conferences

This paper focuses on the prediction of real-world talk attendances at academic conferences with respect to different influence factors. We study the predictability of talk attendances using real-world tracked face-to-face contacts. Furthermore, we investigate and discuss the predictive power of user interests extracted from the users' previous publications. We apply Hybrid Rooted PageRank, a state-of-the-art unsupervised machine learning method that combines information from different sources. Using this method, we analyze and discuss the predictive power of contact and interest networks separately and in combination. We find that contact and similarity networks achieve comparable results, and that combinations of different networks can only to a limited extend help to improve the prediction quality. For our experiments, we analyze the predictability of talk attendance at the ACM Conference on Hypertext and Hypermedia 2011 collected using the conference management system Conferator

On the stress dependence of the earthquake b value

Laboratory experiments have shown that the b value in the size distribution of acoustic emission events decreases linearly with differential stress. There have been a number of observations that indicate that this relation may also hold for earthquakes. Here using a simple frictional strength model for stresses in the continental lithosphere combined with earthquake b values measured as a function of depth in a wide variety of tectonic regions, we verify and calibrate that relation, finding b = 1.23 ± 0.06 − (0.0012 ± 0.0003)(σ1 − σ3), where the stress difference (σ1 − σ3) is in megapascal. For subduction zones, we find that b value correlates linearly with the slab pull force and with the net reduction of plate interface normal force, both of which also indicate a negative linear relation between b value and differential stress