Brittle extension of the continental crust along a rooted system of low-angle normal faults: Colorado River extensional corridor

A transect across the 100 km wide Colorado River extensional corridor of mid-Tertiary age shows that the upper 10 to 15 km of crystalline crust extended along an imbricate system of brittle low-angle normal faults. The faults cut gently down a section in the NE-direction of tectonic transport from a headwall breakaway in the Old Woman Mountains, California. Successively higher allochthons above a basal detachment fault are futher displaced from the headwall, some as much as tens of kilometers. Allochthonous blocks are tilted toward the headwall as evidenced by the dip of the cappoing Tertiary strata and originally horizontal Proterozoic diabase sheets. On the down-dip side of the corridor in Arizona, the faults root under the unbroken Hualapai Mountains and the Colorado Plateau. Slip on faults at all exposed levels of the crust was unidirectional. Brittle thinning above these faults affected the entire upper crust, and wholly removed it locally along the central corridor or core complex region. Isostatic uplift exposed metamorphic core complexes in the domed footwall. These data support a model that the crust in California moved out from under Arizona along an asymmetric, rooted normal-slip shear system. Ductile deformation must have accompanied mid-Tertiary crustal extension at deeper structural levels in Arizona

Management of Phytophthora cinnamomi for biodiversity conservation in Australia: Part 2. National best practice guidelines

Disease in natural ecosystems of Australia, caused by the introduced plant pathogen Phytophthora cinnamomi, is listed as a key threatening process under the Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act 1999 (EPBC Act). The Act requires the Australian Government to prepare and implement a threat abatement plan for nationally coordinated action to mitigate the harm caused by P. cinnamomi to Australian species, particularly threatened flora, fauna and ecological communities. The .National Threat Abatement Plan for Dieback Caused by the Root-Rot Fungus Phytophthora cinnamomi. (NTAP) was released in 2001 (Environment Australia, 2001). The NTAP is designed to promote a common understanding of the national threat P. cinnamomi poses to biodiversity in Australia. This project, funded by the Australian Government Department of the Environment and Heritage (DEH), is one of the most significant actions to be implemented from the NTAP to date. The project has two major components: * to review current management approaches and identify benchmarks for best practice * the development of risk assessment criteria and a system for prioritising management of assets that are or could be threatened by P. cinnamomi. The project outputs are presented in a four-part document entitled Management of Phytophthora cinnamomi for Biodiversity Conservation in Australia: Part 1 - A Review of Current Management Part 2 - National Best Practice Guidelines Part 3 - Risk Assessment for Threats to Ecosystems, Species and Communities: A Review Part 4 - Risk Assessment Models for Species, Ecological Communities and Areas. A model of best practice was developed which encompasses all the components necessary for an informed and integrated approach to P. cinnamomi management, from strategic through to on-ground management. The current document (Part 1 . A Review of Current Management) thoroughly reviews the approaches to P. cinnamomi management in Australia within the context of the best practice model

Ceramic-ceramic shell tile thermal protection system and method thereof

A ceramic reusable, externally applied composite thermal protection system (TPS) is proposed. The system functions by utilizing a ceramic/ceramic upper shell structure which effectively separates its primary functions as a thermal insulator and as a load carrier to transmit loads to the cold structure. The composite tile system also prevents impact damage to the atmospheric entry vehicle thermal protection system. The composite tile comprises a structurally strong upper ceramic/ceramic shell manufactured from ceramic fibers and ceramic matrix meeting the thermal and structural requirements of a tile used on a re-entry aerospace vehicle. In addition, a lightweight high temperature ceramic lower temperature base tile is used. The upper shell and lower tile are attached by means effective to withstand the extreme temperatures (3000 to 3200F) and stress conditions. The composite tile may include one or more layers of variable density rigid or flexible thermal insulation. The assembly of the overall tile is facilitated by two or more locking mechanisms on opposing sides of the overall tile assembly. The assembly may occur subsequent to the installation of the lower shell tile on the spacecraft structural skin

Comprehensive Observations of a Solar Minimum CME with STEREO

We perform the first kinematic analysis of a CME observed by both imaging and in situ instruments on board STEREO, namely the SECCHI, PLASTIC, and IMPACT experiments. Launched on 2008 February 4, the CME is tracked continuously from initiation to 1 AU using the SECCHI imagers on both STEREO spacecraft, and is then detected by the PLASTIC and IMPACT particle and field detectors on board STEREO-B. The CME is also detected in situ by ACE and SOHO/CELIAS at Earth's L1 Lagrangian point. The CME hits STEREO-B, ACE, and SOHO on 2008 February 7, but misses STEREO-A entirely. This event provides a good example of just how different the same event can look when viewed from different perspectives. We also demonstrate many ways in which the comprehensive and continuous coverage of this CME by STEREO improves confidence in our assessment of its kinematic behavior, with potential ramifications for space weather forecasting. The observations provide several lines of evidence in favor of the observable part of the CME being narrow in angular extent, a determination crucial for deciding how best to convert observed CME elongation angles from Sun-center to actual Sun-center distances.Comment: 27 pages, 10 figures, AASTEX v5.2, accepted by Ap

Inhomogeneous Coupling in Two-Channel Asymmetric Simple Exclusion Processes

Asymmetric exclusion processes for particles moving on parallel channels with inhomogeneous coupling are investigated theoretically. Particles interact with hard-core exclusion and move in the same direction on both lattices, while transitions between the channels is allowed at one specific location in the bulk of the system. An approximate theoretical approach that describes the dynamics in the vertical link and horizontal lattice segments exactly but neglects the correlation between the horizontal and vertical transport is developed. It allows us to calculate stationary phase diagrams, particle currents and densities for symmetric and asymmetric transitions between the channels. It is shown that in the case of the symmetric coupling there are three stationary phases, similarly to the case of single-channel totally asymmetric exclusion processes with local inhomogeneity. However, the asymmetric coupling between the lattices lead to a very complex phase diagram with ten stationary-state regimes. Extensive Monte Carlo computer simulations generally support theoretical predictions, although simulated stationary-state properties slightly deviate from calculated in the mean-field approximation, suggesting the importance of correlations in the system. Dynamic properties and phase diagrams are discussed by analyzing constraints on the particle currents across the channels

Hubble Space Telescope Imaging and Spectroscopy of the Sirius-Like Triple Star System HD 217411

We present Hubble Space Telescope imaging and spectroscopy of HD 217411, a G3 V star associated with the extreme ultraviolet excess source (EUV 2RE J2300-07.0). This star is revealed to be a triple system with a G 3V primary (HD 217411 A) separated by ~1.1" from a secondary that is in turn composed of an unresolved K0 V star (HD 217411 Ba) and a hot DA white dwarf (HD 217411 Bb). The hot white dwarf dominates the UV flux of the system. However; it is in turn dominated by the K0 V component beyond 3000 {\AA}. A revised distance of 143 pc is estimated for the system. A low level photometric modulation having a period of 0.61 days has also been observed in this system along with a rotational velocity on the order of 60 km s-1 in the K0 V star. Together both observations point to a possible wind induced spin up of the K0 V star during the AGB phase of the white dwarf. The nature of all three components is discussed as are constraints on the orbits, system age and evolution.Comment: 11 pages, 6 figure

Mass-degenerate Higgs bosons at 125 GeV in the Two-Higgs-Doublet Model

The analysis of the Higgs boson data by the ATLAS and CMS Collaborations appears to exhibit an excess of h --> gamma\gamma events above the Standard Model (SM) expectations; whereas no significant excess is observed in h --> ZZ* --> {four lepton} events, albeit with large statistical uncertainty due to the small data sample. These results (assuming they persist with further data) could be explained by a pair of nearly mass-degenerate scalars, one of which is a SM-like Higgs boson and the other is a scalar with suppressed couplings to W+W- and ZZ. In the two Higgs doublet model, the observed \gamma\gamma and ZZ* --> {four lepton} data can be reproduced by an approximately degenerate CP-even (h) and CP-odd (A) Higgs boson for values of \sin(\beta-\alpha) near unity and 0.7 < \tan\beta < 1. An enhanced \gamma\gamma signal can also arise in cases where m_h ~ m_H, m_H ~ m_A, or m_h ~ m_H ~ m_A. Since the ZZ* --> {four lepton} signal derives primarily from a SM-like Higgs boson whereas the \gamma\gamma signal receives contributions from two (or more) nearly mass-degenerate states, one would expect a slightly different invariant mass peak in the ZZ* --> {four lepton} and \gamma\gamma channels. The phenomenological consequences of such models can be tested with additional Higgs data that will be collected at the LHC in the near future.Comment: 18 pages, 19 pdf figures, v2: references added, v3&v4: added refs and explanation

Adolescent substance use and adult health status

The intuitively appealing hypothesized relationship between drug use and physical health status is reexamined critically in a longitudinal perspective. Individuals who were first surveyed in Houston junior high schools in 1971 are followed up through personal interviews in the fourth decade of life. In addition to focusing on the baseline effect of drug use on health, we include latent constructs reflecting deviance and psychological maladjustment as theoretically relevant antecedent and mediating variables. Using structural equation models, we found a positive, significant relationship between adolescent substance use and poor physical health in adulthood. Controlling for the spurious effects of adolescent psychological health, the baseline relationship is reduced, but remains significant. However, including a latent construct for adolescent deviance in the models attenuates the baseline relationship to insignificance. On the assumption that deviance is a cause, rather than a consequence of drug use, we conclude that the general deviant lifestyle, rather than drug use per se, adversely effects physical health, even into middle adulthood

Writing in your own voice: An intervention that reduces plagiarism and common writing problems in students' scientific writing.

In many of our courses, particularly laboratory courses, students are expected to engage in scientific writing. Despite various efforts by other courses and library resources, as instructors we are often faced with the frustration of student plagiarism and related writing problems. Here, we describe a simple Writing in Your Own Voice intervention designed to help students become more aware of different types of plagiarism and writing problems, avoid those problems, and practice writing in their own voice. In this article, we will introduce the types of plagiarism and writing problems commonly encountered in our molecular biology laboratory course, the intervention, and the results of our study. From the evaluation of 365 student reports, we found the intervention resulted in nearly 50% fewer instances of plagiarism and common writing problems. We also observed significantly fewer instances of severe plagiarism (e.g. several sentences copied from an external source). In addition, we find that the effects last for several weeks after the students complete the intervention assignment. This assignment is particularly easy to implement and can be a very useful tool for teaching students how to write in their own voices. © 2019 International Union of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, 47(5):589-598, 2019