Lithospheric and crustal thinning

In rift zones, both the crust and the lithosphere get thinner. The amplitude and the mechanism of these two thinning situations are different. The lithospheric thinning is a thermal phenomenon produced by an asthenospherical uprising under the rift zone. In some regions its amplitude can exceed 200%. This is observed under the Baikal rift where the crust is directly underlaid by the mantellic asthenosphere. The presence of hot material under rift zones induces a large negative gravity anomaly. A low seismic velocity zone linked to this thermal anomaly is also observed. During the rifting, the magmatic chambers get progressively closer from the ground surface. Simultaneously, the Moho reflector is found at shallow depth under rift zones. This crustal thinning does not exceed 50%. Tectonic stresses and vertical movements result from the two competing effects of the lithospheric and crustal thinning. On the one hand, the deep thermal anomaly induces a large doming and is associated with extensive deviatoric stresses. On the other hand, the crustal thinning involves the formation of a central valley. This subsidence is increased by the sediment loading. The purpose here is to quantify these two phenomena in order to explain the morphological and thermal evolution of rift zones

Do Microfinance Programs Help Families Insure Consumption Against Illness?

Families in developing countries face enormous financial risks from major illness both in terms of the cost of medical care and the loss in income associated with reduced labor supply and productivity. We test whether access to microfinancial savings and lending institutions helps Indonesian families smooth consumption after declines in adult health. In general, results support the importance of these institutions in helping families to self-insure consumption against health shocks.

Photonic band gaps analysis of Thue-Morse multilayers made of porous silicon

Dielectric aperiodic Thue-Morse structures up to 128 layers have been fabricated by using porous silicon technology. The photonic band gap properties of Thue-Morse multilayers have been theoretically investigated by means of the transfer matrix method and the integrated density of states. The theoretical approach has been compared and discussed with the reflectivity measurements at variable angles for both the transverse electric and transverse magnetic polarizations of light. The photonic band gap regions, wide 70 nm and 90 nm, included between 0 and 30°, have been observed for the sixth and seventh orders, respectively

Irreversible flow of vortex matter: polycrystal and amorphous phases

We investigate the microscopic mechanisms giving rise to plastic depinning and irreversible flow in vortex matter. The topology of the vortex array crucially determines the flow response of this system. To illustrate this claim, two limiting cases are considered: weak and strong pinning interactions. In the first case disorder is strong enough to introduce plastic effects in the vortex lattice. Diffraction patterns unveil polycrystalline lattice topology with dislocations and grain boundaries determining the electromagnetic response of the system. Filamentary flow is found to arise as a consequence of dislocation dynamics. We analize the stability of vortex lattices against the formation of grain boundaries, as well as the steady state dynamics for currents approaching the depinning critical current from above, when vortex motion is mainly localized at the grain boundaries. On the contrary, a dislocation description proves no longer adequate in the second limiting case examined. For strong pinning interactions, the vortex array appears completely amorphous and no remnant of the Abrikosov lattice order is left. Here we obtain the critical current as a function of impurity density, its scaling properties, and characterize the steady state dynamics above depinning. The plastic depinning observed in the amorphous phase is tightly connected with the emergence of channel-like flow. Our results suggest the possibility of establishing a clear distinction between two topologically disordered vortex phases: the vortex polycrystal and the amorphous vortex matter.Comment: 13 pages, 16 figure

Effectiveness of an attachment-focused manualized intervention for parents of teens at risk for aggressive behaviour: The Connect Program

Aggressive, violent and antisocial behaviour in children and adolescents is a growing concern across the globe. Targeting parent-teen relationships is critical in reducing problem behaviour. ‘Connect’ is a manualized ten-week program for parents or alternative caregivers of at-risk teens that focuses on the building blocks of secure attachment: parental sensitivity, cooperation, reflective capacity, and effective dyadic affect regulation. Through didactic and experiential activities, parents develop the competence necessary to identify, understand and respond to the needs of their teen in a manner that provides structure and safety while safeguarding the quality of the parent-teen relationship. In Study 1, twenty parents reported significant increases in perceived parenting satisfaction and efficacy and reductions in adolescents\u27 aggression, antisocial behaviour and other mental health problems following completion of Connect as compared to a waitlist control period. These effects were sustained and additional small effects were noted in decreases in conduct problems, depression and anxiety at a 12-month follow-up. The program was then transported to 17 communities serving 309 parents through standardized training and supervision of group leaders. Study 2 summarizes significant pre- to post-treatment reductions in teen externalizing and internalizing problems; enhanced social functioning; and improvements in affect regulation. Parents also reported significant increases in parenting satisfaction and perceived efficacy and reductions in caregiver burden

The relevance of the vertex bremsstrahlung photon detection in the electron-neutrino (antineutrino) electron scattering experiments at low energy

We discuss the size of the electron-antineutrino electron into electron-antineutrino electron cross section reduction due to the rejection of the events with a vertex bremsstrahlung photon above a certain energy in the final state. In particular we analyze the effect in experiments designed to detect the low energy electron-antineutrino and electron-neutrino from a nuclear reactor and from the Sun. We find that such reduction has to be considered in a relatively high statistic reactor experiment, while it is negligible for pp and 7Be solar neutrino detection.Comment: Plain Latex plus six postscript figures not included in the tex

Pushing the limits, episode 2: K2 observations of extragalactic RR Lyrae stars in the dwarf galaxy Leo IV

We present the first observations of extragalactic pulsating stars in the K2 ecliptic survey of the Kepler space telescope. Variability of all three RR Lyrae stars in the dwarf spheroidal galaxy Leo IV were successfully detected, at a brightness of Kp~21.5 mag, from data collected during Campaign 1. We identified one modulated star and another likely Blazhko candidate with periods of 29.8+-0.9 d and more than 80 d, respectively. EPIC 210282473 represents the first star beyond the Magellanic Clouds for which the Blazhko period and cycle-to-cycle variations in the modulation were unambiguously measured.The photometric [Fe/H] indices of the stars agree with earlier results that Leo IV is a very metal-poor galaxy. Two out of three stars blend with brighter background galaxies in the K2 frames. We demonstrate that image subtraction can be reliably used to extract photometry from faint confused sources that will be crucial not only for the K2 mission but for future space photometric missions as well.Comment: 8 pages, 6 figures, accepted for publication in the Astrophysical Journal. Light curves can be downloaded from http://konkoly.hu/KIK/data.htm

A Bisognano-Wichmann-like Theorem in a Certain Case of a Non Bifurcate Event Horizon related to an Extreme Reissner-Nordstr\"om Black Hole

Thermal Wightman functions of a massless scalar field are studied within the framework of a ``near horizon'' static background model of an extremal R-N black hole. This model is built up by using global Carter-like coordinates over an infinite set of Bertotti-Robinson submanifolds glued together. The analytical extendibility beyond the horizon is imposed as constraints on (thermal) Wightman's functions defined on a Bertotti-Robinson sub manifold. It turns out that only the Bertotti-Robinson vacuum state, i.e. $T=0$, satisfies the above requirement. Furthermore the extension of this state onto the whole manifold is proved to coincide exactly with the vacuum state in the global Carter-like coordinates. Hence a theorem similar to Bisognano-Wichmann theorem for the Minkowski space-time in terms of Wightman functions holds with vanishing ``Unruh-Rindler temperature''. Furtermore, the Carter-like vacuum restricted to a Bertotti-Robinson region, resulting a pure state there, has vanishing entropy despite of the presence of event horizons. Some comments on the real extreme R-N black hole are given

Pulsating stars in the VMC survey

The VISTA survey of the Magellanic Clouds system (VMC) began observations in 2009 and since then, it has collected multi-epoch data at Ks and in addition multi-band data in Y and J for a wide range of stellar populations across the Magellanic system. Among them are pulsating variable stars: Cepheids, RR Lyrae, and asymptotic giant branch stars that represent useful tracers of the host system geometry.Comment: 8 pages, 7 figures, proceeding contribution of invited presentation at "Wide-field variability surveys: a 21st-century perspective", San Pedro de Atacama (Chile

Single muscle fiber proteomics reveals unexpected mitochondrial specialization

Mammalian skeletal muscles are composed of multinucleated cells termed slow or fast fibers according to their contractile and metabolic properties. Here, we developed a high-sensitivity workflow to characterize the proteome of single fibers. Analysis of segments of the same fiber by traditional and unbiased proteomics methods yielded the same subtype assignment. We discovered novel subtype-specific features, most prominently mitochondrial specialization of fiber types in substrate utilization. The fiber type-resolved proteomes can be applied to a variety of physiological and pathological conditions and illustrate the utility of single cell type analysis for dissecting proteomic heterogeneity