Estimating the upper limit of prehistoric peak ground acceleration using an in situ, intact and vulnerable stalagmite from Plavecka priepast cave (Detrekoi-zsomboly), Little Carpathians, Slovakia-first results

Earthquakes hit urban centres in Europe infrequently, but occasionally with disastrous effects. Obtaining an unbiased view of seismic hazard (and risk) is therefore very important. In principle, the best way to test probabilistic seismic hazard assessments (PSHAs) is to compare them with observations that are entirely independent of the procedure used to produce PSHA models. Arguably, the most valuable information in this context should be information on long-term hazard, namely maximum intensities (or magnitudes) occurring over time intervals that are at least as long as a seismic cycle. The new observations can provide information of maximum intensity (or magnitude) for long timescale as an input data for PSHA studies as well. Long-term information can be gained from intact stalagmites in natural caves. These formations survived all earthquakes that have occurred over thousands of years, depending on the age of the stalagmite. Their 'survival' requires that the horizontal ground acceleration (HGA) has never exceeded a certain critical value within that time period. Here, we present such a stalagmite-based case study from the Little Carpathians of Slovakia. A specially shaped, intact and vulnerable stalagmite in the Plavecka priepast cave was examined in 2013. This stalagmite is suitable for estimating the upper limit of horizontal peak ground acceleration generated by prehistoric earthquakes. The critical HGA values as a function of time going back into the past determined from the stalagmite that we investigated are presented. For example, at the time of Joko event (1906), the critical HGA value cannot have been higher than 1 and 1.3 m/s(2) at the time of the assumed Carnuntum event (similar to 340 AD), and 3000 years ago, it must have been lower than 1.7 m/s(2). We claimed that the effect of Joko earthquake (1906) on the location of the Plavecka priepast cave is consistent with the critical HGA value provided by the stalagmite we investigated. The approach used in this study yields significant new constraints on the seismic hazard, as tectonic structures close to Plavecka priepast cave did not generate strong earthquakes in the last few thousand years. The results of this study are highly relevant given that the two capitals, Vienna and Bratislava, are located within 40 and 70 km of the cave, respectively.Web of Science2151130111

Vibrational relaxation measurements in CO2 USING an induced fluorescence technique

Vibrational relaxation measurements in carbon dioxide using induced infrared fluorescence techniqu

COMPARATIVE ANALYSIS OF THE CHANGES OF THE MASS MOMENTS OF INERTIA DURING A BREAST-STROKE

A new method of investigation of athletes' motion takes into consideration the changes of the principal moments of inertia and their directions during the interval of the motion, because these characterise the efficiency and the neuro-muscular regulation of the motion. This paper presents a comparative analysis of two top swimmers (Swl=Rozsa, Sw2=Guttler) and points out the significant difference caused by their alternate motion pattern

Recurrent myocardial injury leads to disease tolerance in a murine model of stress-induced cardiomyopathy

Whereas the innate immune response to an initial episode of cardiac injury has been studied extensively, the response of the immune system to recurrent cardiac tissue injury is not well understood. Specifically, it is not known whether the immune system adapts to the initial episode of cardiac injury and whether any adaptations that occur lead to immune cell hypo-responsiveness or, alternatively, immune cell hyper-responsiveness. Here, we studied the role of adrenergic-mediated stress using a simple model of reversible stress-induced cardiomyopathy, and show that isoproterenol-induced tissue injury and inflammation are sufficient to protect the heart from the myopathic effects of a subsequent exposure to isoproterenol. Remarkably, pharmacological depletion of macrophages partially attenuated the isoproterenol-induced cytoprotective response, suggesting that immune-mediated tissue repair mechanisms confer tolerance to subsequent tissue damage

Interplay of fixed points in scalar models

We performed the renormalization group analysis of scalar models exhibiting spontaneous symmetry breaking. It is shown that an infrared fixed point appears in the broken symmetric phase of the models, which induces a dynamical scale, that can be identified with the correlation length. This enables one to identify the type of the phase transition which shows similarity to the one appearing in the crossover scale. The critical exponent $\nu$ of the correlation length also proved to be equal in the crossover and the infrared scaling regimes.Comment: 11 pages, 4 figure

Mars oxygen production system design

The design and construction phase is summarized of the Mars oxygen demonstration project. The basic hardware required to produce oxygen from simulated Mars atmosphere was assembled and tested. Some design problems still remain with the sample collection and storage system. In addition, design and development of computer compatible data acquisition and control instrumentation is ongoing

The MACHO Project LMC Variable Star Inventory. IX. Frequency Analysis of the First Overtone RR Lyrae Stars and the Indication for Nonradial Pulsations

More than 1300 variables classified provisionally as first overtone RR Lyrae pulsators in the MACHO variable star database of the Large Magellanic Cloud (LMC) have been subjected to standard frequency analysis. Based on the remnant power in the prewhitened spectra, we found 70% of the total population to be monoperiodic. The remaining 30% (411 stars) are classified as one of 9 types according to their frequency spectra. Several types of RR Lyrae pulsational behavior are clearly identified here for the first time. Together with the earlier discovered double-mode (fundamental & first overtone) variables this study increased the number of the known double-mode stars in the LMC to 181. During the total 6.5yr time span of the data, 10% of the stars show strong period changes. We also discovered two additional types of multifrequency pulsators with low occurrence rates of 2% for each. In the first type there remains one closely spaced component after prewhitening by the main pulsation frequency. In the second type the number of remnant components is two, they are also closely spaced, and, in addition, they are symmetric in their frequency spacing relative to the central component. This latter type of variables is associated with their relatives among the fundamental pulsators, known as Blazhko variables. Their high frequency (~20%) among the fundamental mode variables versus the low occurrence rate of their first overtone counterparts makes it more difficult to explain Blazhko phenomenon by any theory depending mainly on the role of aspect angle or magnetic field. Current theoretical models invoke nonradial pulsation components in these stars.Comment: 20 pages, 21 figures (bitmapped), 7 tables, to appear in Ap.

Fluctuations and the QCD phase diagram

In this contribution the role of quantum fluctuations for the QCD phase diagram is discussed. This concerns in particular the importance of the matter back-reaction to the gluonic sector. The impact of these fluctuations on the location of the confinement/deconfinement and the chiral transition lines as well as their interrelation are investigated. Consequences of our findings for the size of a possible quarkyonic phase and location of a critical endpoint in the phase diagram are drawn.Comment: 7 pages, 3 figures, to appear in Physics of Atomic Nucle