Hydrocarbon generation in relation to thrusting in the sub Andean zone from 18 to 22°S, Bolivia

Formation of the Bolivian eastern cordillera started at the end of the Oligocene and continues to the present day with thrusting affecting the Sub Andean Zone since late Miocene. The "classical" source rock is the Devonian, but the Silurian interval has some potential. Their initial original potential is not high but they are thick (700 m, Los Monos Fm) and may be thicker still due to stacking in thrust duplexes. The three phases of sedimentation during the Tertiary each start with conglomeratic deposits and are discordant over the previous one. Seismic data allow us to correlate these steps with three periods of tectonic accretion : Late Miocene (Tariquia Fm), Pliocene (Guandacay Fm) and Plio-Quaternary (Emborozu Fm). Modelling demonstrates two phases of hydrocarbon generation. A first phase from Devonian to Carboniferous is due to the deepening of the Palaeozoic basin. The second phase of maturation is due to the Tertiary deposits in the foreland and under the piggyback basins. The central aera (Santa Cruz) has never been more deeply buried than during the Palaeozoic and has been a high during the Tertiary. (Résumé d'auteur

Structure of 8B from elastic and inelastic 7Be+p scattering

Motivation: Detailed experimental knowledge of the level structure of light weakly bound nuclei is necessary to guide the development of new theoretical approaches that combine nuclear structure with reaction dynamics. Purpose: The resonant structure of 8B is studied in this work. Method: Excitation functions for elastic and inelastic 7Be+p scattering were measured using a 7Be rare isotope beam. Excitation energies ranging between 1.6 and 3.4 MeV were investigated. An R-matrix analysis of the excitation functions was performed. Results: New low-lying resonances at 1.9, 2.5, and 3.3 MeV in 8B are reported with spin-parity assignment 0+, 2+, and 1+, respectively. Comparison to the Time Dependent Continuum Shell (TDCSM) model and ab initio no-core shell model/resonating-group method (NCSM/RGM) calculations is performed. This work is a more detailed analysis of the data first published as a Rapid Communication. [J.P. Mitchell, et al, Phys. Rev. C 82, 011601(R) (2010)] Conclusions: Identification of the 0+, 2+, 1+ states that were predicted by some models at relatively low energy but never observed experimentally is an important step toward understanding the structure of 8B. Their identification was aided by having both elastic and inelastic scattering data. Direct comparison of the cross sections and phase shifts predicted by the TDCSM and ab initio No Core Shell Model coupled with the resonating group method is of particular interest and provides a good test for these theoretical approaches.Comment: 15 pages, 19 figures, 3 tables, submitted to PR

Comparative Study of Intelligent Personal Assistant

When Apple, Inc. launched iPhone 4S on late 2011, one of its point of interest is the new built-in personal assistant application called Siri (Speech Interpretation and Recognition Interface). The application has the ability to answer questions, make recommendations, and perform actions as a response for its user’s voice input using natural language processing. Siri gets favorable reception though it still has some shortcomings such as limited functionality when used outside United States and trouble understanding English with accent. Currently, Siri is only available for iPhone 4s. While there is a chance that Apple’s other mobile device (older iPhone, iPad and iPod) will get Siri in the future, it is very unlikely that it will be opened to another mobile operating system. Since Google’s Android is holding more than half smartphone market in the world as for 2011, we feel the need to find similar application to Siri for Android devices. There are several personal assistant applications using natural language processing available in Google’s Play Store. Top three of the application will be compared in this paper to assess their ability as personal assistant, as same as like Siri for iPhone 4S. They are Iris, Skyvi, and Speaktoit’s Assistant as they have the highest install count, 5 stars rating, and average rating in Play Store. These applications will be tested for its features for input and output correctness, ability to understand questions or command outside their embedded input structure. Some tests will be embedded to provide user scientific reference to determine the best application similar to iPhone’s Siri for Android devices. Based on the test’s results, Speaktoit’s Assistant comes in the first place. It managed to pass all tests with 100% score, beating Skyvi and Iris with 70% and 63.33% score respectively. But still, all the tested applications have much homework to be able to compete with Sir

Low-lying states in 8B

Excitation functions of elastic and inelastic 7Be+p scattering were measured in the energy range between 1.6 and 2.8 MeV in the c.m. An R-matrix analysis of the excitation functions provides strong evidence for new positive parity states in 8B. A new 2+ state at an excitation energy of 2.55 MeV was observed and a new 0+ state at 1.9 MeV is tentatively suggested. The R-matrix and Time Dependent Continuum Shell Model were used in the analysis of the excitation functions. The new results are compared to the calculations of contemporary theoretical models.Comment: 6 pages, 5 figures, accepted as Rapid Communication in Phys. Rev.