Human-induced earthquakes: E-PIE—a generic tool for Evaluating Proposals of Induced Earthquakes

The HiQuake database documents all cases of earthquake sequences proposed on scientific grounds to have been induced by anthropogenic industrial activity. Because these cases range from being highly plausible to unpersuasive, stakeholders have requested cases to be allocated plausibility grades. Since no questionnaire scheme existed that was sufficiently generalized to be applied to the diverse cases in HiQuake, we developed a new scheme for the task. Our scheme for Evaluating Proposals of Induced Earthquakes (E-PIE) comprises nine generalized questions with a simple weighting system to adjust for the variable diagnostic strength of different observations. Results are illustrated using a simple colored pie chart. We describe the E-PIE scheme and illustrate its application in detail using the example cases of the Groningen gas field in the Netherlands, the November 2017 M5.4 Pohang Enhanced Geothermal Systems-related earthquake sequence in South Korea, and the 2001 deep-penetrating bombing of Tora Bora, Afghanistan. To test the performance of E-PIE, five analysts independently applied it to a suite of 23 diverse cases from HiQuake. By far the most diagnostic questions are those concerning spatial and temporal correlations with industrial effects. Other data are diagnostically subsidiary. For individual cases, the agreement between analysts correlated positively with the strength of evidence for human induction. E-PIE results agree well with those from a specialist scheme tailored to fluid-injection cases. Its strong performance confirms its suitability to apply to the entire HiQuake database

Short-term results of a new self-locking cementless femoral stem: a prospective cohort study of the Lima MasterSL

Background: Total hip arthroplasty is a successful treatment for hip osteoarthritis. Primary and secondary implant fixation is dependent on implant design and plays an important role in the longevity of an implant. In this study, we assessed the self-locking cementless MasterSL femoral stem. Materials and methods: In this single-centre prospective study, 50 consecutive hips with the indication for total hip arthroplasty, who met the inclusion criteria, received the MasterSL stem from LIMA Corporate. Patients had pre- and post-operative clinical and radiological assessment and completed patient-reported outcome measures [Oxford Hip Score (OHS), Harris Hip Score (HHS) and Forgotten Joint Score (FJS)] at the 6-week and 6-, 12- and 24-month mark. Post-operative X-rays were assessed for osteointegration (Engh Score), alignment and subsidence. Results: After 2 years, aseptic survival was 100%. One hip had to be explanted due to early deep infection and was excluded from the study. At 2 years, the patients reported a significant improved HHS and OHS of 95.3 ± 5.8 and 46.1 ± 3.6 (mean ± standard deviation), respectively, compared to preoperatively. The mean ± standard deviation for the FJS was 86.4 ± 18.7 with two-thirds of the patients reporting a score above 85. The mean Engh score is 15.1 ± 5.9 (mean ± standard deviation) with no patient scoring below 1 which suggests good osteointegration in all femoral stems. Conclusions: The MasterSL femoral stem performed well in this short-term follow-up study, with high patient satisfaction and good signs of osteointegration. Long-term follow-up will be necessary to evaluate longevity

Insulated skin temperature as a measure of core body temperature for individuals wearing CBRN protective clothing

This study assessed the validity of insulated skin temperature (Tis) to predict rectal temperature (Tre) for use as a non-invasive measurement of thermal strain to reduce the risk of heat illness for emergency service personnel. Volunteers from the Police, Fire and Rescue, and Ambulance Services performed rolerelated tasks in hot (30 ◦C) and neutral (18 ◦C) conditions, wearing service specific personal protective equipment. Insulated skin temperature and micro climate temperature (Tmc) predicted Tre with an adjusted r2 = 0.87 and standard error of the estimate (SEE) of 0.19 ◦C. A bootstrap validation of the equation resulted in an adjusted r2 = 0.85 and SEE = 0.20 ◦C. Taking into account the 0.20 ◦C error, the prediction of Tre resulted in a sensitivity and specificity of 100% and 91%, respectively. Insulated skin temperature and Tmc can be used in a model to predict Tre in emergency service personnel wearing CBRN protective clothing with an SEE of 0.2 ◦C. However, the model is only valid for Tis over 36.5 ◦C, above which thermal stability is reached between the core and the skin

Cosmological parameter estimation using Very Small Array data out to ℓ= 1500

We estimate cosmological parameters using data obtained by the Very Small Array (VSA) in its extended configuration, in conjunction with a variety of other cosmic microwave background (CMB) data and external priors. Within the flat Λ cold dark matter (ΛCDM) model, we find that the inclusion of high-resolution data from the VSA modifies the limits on the cosmological parameters as compared to those suggested by the Wilkinson Microwave Anisotropy Probe (WMAP) alone, while still remaining compatible with their estimates. We find that Ωbh2= 0.0234+0.0012−0.0014, Ωdmh2= 0.111+0.014−0.016, h= 0.73+0.09−0.05, nS= 0.97+0.06−0.03, 1010AS= 23+7−3 and τ= 0.14+0.14−0.07 for WMAP and VSA when no external prior is included. On extending the model to include a running spectral index of density fluctuations, we find that the inclusion of VSA data leads to a negative running at a level of more than 95 per cent confidence ( nrun=−0.069 ± 0.032 ), something that is not significantly changed by the inclusion of a stringent prior on the Hubble constant. Inclusion of prior information from the 2dF galaxy redshift survey reduces the significance of the result by constraining the value of Ωm. We discuss the veracity of this result in the context of various systematic effects and also a broken spectral index model. We also constrain the fraction of neutrinos and find that fν < 0.087 at 95 per cent confidence, which corresponds to mν < 0.32 eV when all neutrino masses are equal. Finally, we consider the global best fit within a general cosmological model with 12 parameters and find consistency with other analyses available in the literature. The evidence for nrun < 0 is only marginal within this model

Parallelization of the discrete gradient method of non-smooth optimization and its applications

We investigate parallelization and performance of the discrete gradient method of nonsmooth optimization. This derivative free method is shown to be an effective optimization tool, able to skip many shallow local minima of nonconvex nondifferentiable objective functions. Although this is a sequential iterative method, we were able to parallelize critical steps of the algorithm, and this lead to a significant improvement in performance on multiprocessor computer clusters. We applied this method to a difficult polyatomic clusters problem in computational chemistry, and found this method to outperform other algorithms. <br /

Random Exchange Quantum Heisenberg Chains

The one-dimensional quantum Heisenberg model with random $\pm J$ bonds is studied for $S=\frac{1}{2}$ and $S=1$. The specific heat and the zero-field susceptibility are calculated by using high-temperature series expansions and quantum transfer matrix method. The susceptibility shows a Curie-like temperature dependence at low temperatures as well as at high temperatures. The numerical results for the specific heat suggest that there are anomalously many low-lying excitations. The qualitative nature of these excitations is discussed based on the exact diagonalization of finite size systems.Comment: 13 pages, RevTex, 12 figures available on request ([email protected]

HI in the Outskirts of Nearby Galaxies

The HI in disk galaxies frequently extends beyond the optical image, and can trace the dark matter there. I briefly highlight the history of high spatial resolution HI imaging, the contribution it made to the dark matter problem, and the current tension between several dynamical methods to break the disk-halo degeneracy. I then turn to the flaring problem, which could in principle probe the shape of the dark halo. Instead, however, a lot of attention is now devoted to understanding the role of gas accretion via galactic fountains. The current $\rm \Lambda$ cold dark matter theory has problems on galactic scales, such as the core-cusp problem, which can be addressed with HI observations of dwarf galaxies. For a similar range in rotation velocities, galaxies of type Sd have thin disks, while those of type Im are much thicker. After a few comments on modified Newtonian dynamics and on irregular galaxies, I close with statistics on the HI extent of galaxies.Comment: 38 pages, 17 figures, invited review, book chapter in "Outskirts of Galaxies", Eds. J. H. Knapen, J. C. Lee and A. Gil de Paz, Astrophysics and Space Science Library, Springer, in pres

Identification of γ -decaying resonant states in 26Mg and their importance for the astrophysical s process

The 22Ne(α, n) reaction is expected to provide the dominant neutron source for the weak s process in massive stars and intermediate-mass (IM) Asymptotic Giant Branch (AGB) stars. However, the production of neutrons in such environments is hindered by the competing 22Ne(α,γ)26Mg reaction. Here, the 11B(16O,p) fusion-evaporation reaction was used to identify γ-decay transitions from 22Ne + α resonant states in 26Mg. Spin-parity restrictions have been placed on a number of α-unbound excited states in 26 Mg and their role in the 22Ne(α,γ)26Mg reaction has been investigated. In particular, a suspected natural-parity resonance at Ec.m. = 557(3) keV, that lies above the neutron threshold in 26Mg, and is known to exhibit a strong α-cluster character, was observed to γ decay. Furthermore, a known resonance at Ec . m .= 466 (4 ) keV has been definitively assigned 2+ spin and parity. Consequently, uncertainties in the 22Ne(α,γ) stellar reaction rate have been reduced by a factor of ∼ 20 for temperatures ∼ 0.2 GK

Study of the production of Λb0\Lambda_b^0 and B‾0\overline{B}^0 hadrons in pppp collisions and first measurement of the Λb0→J/ψpK−\Lambda_b^0\rightarrow J/\psi pK^- branching fraction

The product of the $\Lambda_b^0$ ($\overline{B}^0$) differential production cross-section and the branching fraction of the decay $\Lambda_b^0\rightarrow J/\psi pK^-$ ($\overline{B}^0\rightarrow J/\psi\overline{K}^*(892)^0$) is measured as a function of the beauty hadron transverse momentum, $p_{\rm T}$, and rapidity, $y$. The kinematic region of the measurements is $p_{\rm T}<20~{\rm GeV}/c$ and $2.0<y<4.5$. The measurements use a data sample corresponding to an integrated luminosity of $3~{\rm fb}^{-1}$ collected by the LHCb detector in $pp$ collisions at centre-of-mass energies $\sqrt{s}=7~{\rm TeV}$ in 2011 and $\sqrt{s}=8~{\rm TeV}$ in 2012. Based on previous LHCb results of the fragmentation fraction ratio, $f_{\Lambda_B^0}/f_d$, the branching fraction of the decay $\Lambda_b^0\rightarrow J/\psi pK^-$ is measured to be \begin{equation*} \mathcal{B}(\Lambda_b^0\rightarrow J/\psi pK^-)= (3.17\pm0.04\pm0.07\pm0.34^{+0.45}_{-0.28})\times10^{-4}, \end{equation*} where the first uncertainty is statistical, the second is systematic, the third is due to the uncertainty on the branching fraction of the decay $\overline{B}^0\rightarrow J/\psi\overline{K}^*(892)^0$, and the fourth is due to the knowledge of $f_{\Lambda_b^0}/f_d$. The sum of the asymmetries in the production and decay between $\Lambda_b^0$ and $\overline{\Lambda}_b^0$ is also measured as a function of $p_{\rm T}$ and $y$. The previously published branching fraction of $\Lambda_b^0\rightarrow J/\psi p\pi^-$, relative to that of $\Lambda_b^0\rightarrow J/\psi pK^-$, is updated. The branching fractions of $\Lambda_b^0\rightarrow P_c^+(\rightarrow J/\psi p)K^-$ are determined.Comment: 29 pages, 19figures. All figures and tables, along with any supplementary material and additional information, are available at https://lhcbproject.web.cern.ch/lhcbproject/Publications/LHCbProjectPublic/LHCb-PAPER-2015-032.htm

Evidence for the strangeness-changing weak decay Ξb−→Λb0π−\Xi_b^-\to\Lambda_b^0\pi^-

Using a $pp$ collision data sample corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 3.0~fb$^{-1}$, collected by the LHCb detector, we present the first search for the strangeness-changing weak decay $\Xi_b^-\to\Lambda_b^0\pi^-$. No $b$ hadron decay of this type has been seen before. A signal for this decay, corresponding to a significance of 3.2 standard deviations, is reported. The relative rate is measured to be ${{f_{\Xi_b^-}}\over{f_{\Lambda_b^0}}}{\cal{B}}(\Xi_b^-\to\Lambda_b^0\pi^-) = (5.7\pm1.8^{+0.8}_{-0.9})\times10^{-4}$, where $f_{\Xi_b^-}$ and $f_{\Lambda_b^0}$ are the $b\to\Xi_b^-$ and $b\to\Lambda_b^0$ fragmentation fractions, and ${\cal{B}}(\Xi_b^-\to\Lambda_b^0\pi^-)$ is the branching fraction. Assuming $f_{\Xi_b^-}/f_{\Lambda_b^0}$ is bounded between 0.1 and 0.3, the branching fraction ${\cal{B}}(\Xi_b^-\to\Lambda_b^0\pi^-)$ would lie in the range from $(0.57\pm0.21)\%$ to $(0.19\pm0.07)\%$.Comment: 7 pages, 2 figures, All figures and tables, along with any supplementary material and additional information, are available at https://lhcbproject.web.cern.ch/lhcbproject/Publications/LHCbProjectPublic/LHCb-PAPER-2015-047.htm