Tomographic three-dimensional seismic velocity structure of the SW Ibero-Maghrebian region

The present tomographic study focuses on SW Ibero-Maghrebian region. To locate the seismic events and find the local velocity structure of epicentral area, the P and S arrivals at 42 stations located at north of Morocco, south of Portugal and Spain are used. The arrival times data used, in this study, were obtained by the “Instituto de Meteorologia” (IM, Lisbon, Portugal), the National Institute of Geophysics (CNRST, Rabat, Morocco) and the “Instituto Geografico Nacional” (IGN, Madrid, Spain) (between 12/1988 and 30/2008). The preliminary estimate of origin times and hypocentral coordinates are determined by the hypocenter 3.2 program. In this study we use a linearized inversion procedure comprising two steps: 1) finding the minimal 1-D model and simultaneous reloca- tion of hypocenters and 2) determination of local velocity structure assuming a continuous velocity field. The earth structure is represented in three dimensions by velocity at discrete points, and velocity at any intervening point is determined by linear interpolation among the surrounding eight grid points. The resolutions tests results indicate that the calculated images give near true structure for the studied region at 15, 30, 45 and 60 km depth. At 5km depth it gives near true structure in the continental region of Portugal, Spain, and Morocco. This study shows that the total crustal thickness varies from 30 to 35 km and contains low-velocity anomalies. A prominent low velocity anomaly that shows a maximum decrease in P-wave velocity of approximately 6 per cent in the Gibraltar region is observed extending down to a depth of approximately 30 km. This low velocity demarcates a small bloc located between Iberia and Nubia plates. The resulting tomographic image has a prominent high velocity anomaly that shows a maximum increase in P-wave velocity of approximately 6 per cent between 45 to 60 km depth beneath South of Portugal and the Golf of Cadiz. High-velocity anomalies could be associated with the location of deep active faults in the uplift and upper crust of South of Portugal. In the Golf of Cadiz, these anomalies could be associated with the seismogenic zone and probably more at the south with the Iberia-Nubia plate boundary

bdbms -- A Database Management System for Biological Data

Biologists are increasingly using databases for storing and managing their data. Biological databases typically consist of a mixture of raw data, metadata, sequences, annotations, and related data obtained from various sources. Current database technology lacks several functionalities that are needed by biological databases. In this paper, we introduce bdbms, an extensible prototype database management system for supporting biological data. bdbms extends the functionalities of current DBMSs to include: (1) Annotation and provenance management including storage, indexing, manipulation, and querying of annotation and provenance as first class objects in bdbms, (2) Local dependency tracking to track the dependencies and derivations among data items, (3) Update authorization to support data curation via content-based authorization, in contrast to identity-based authorization, and (4) New access methods and their supporting operators that support pattern matching on various types of compressed biological data types. This paper presents the design of bdbms along with the techniques proposed to support these functionalities including an extension to SQL. We also outline some open issues in building bdbms.Comment: This article is published under a Creative Commons License Agreement (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.5/.) You may copy, distribute, display, and perform the work, make derivative works and make commercial use of the work, but, you must attribute the work to the author and CIDR 2007. 3rd Biennial Conference on Innovative Data Systems Research (CIDR) January 710, 2007, Asilomar, California, US

Detection and analysis of deck cracks in a long span empirically designed bridge deck through embedded sensory systems

Bridge decks exhibit premature longitudinal and transverse cracks leading to dramatic decrease in their service lives. Because of safety concerns, state highway agencies are overburdened by conducting annual visual inspections to detect signs of distresses in bridge elements and to provide continuous records of the conditions of such bridges. Those inspections are time consuming, and have multiple limitations which often yield controversial outputs. In this study, an instrumentation based system is designed and implemented on the Star City Bridge near Morgantown WV, to provide more sophisticated, and accurate methods to assess the structural performance of bridge elements, and hence provide a rational method of making decisions about the condition of such bridges. The instrumentation system consists of an array of more than 750 sensors that provide continuous records of the triaxial state of strains in the concrete deck, thermal map along the deck, opening of expansion joints at the bridge ends, steel girders bending moments and shearing stresses, axial forces in the bracing members and angle of inclination of the abutments. The traffic spectrum crossing the bridge is measured via a weigh-in-motion system installed at one bridge approach and a weather station is installed at the bridge proximity. An innovative approach for deck crack detection and monitoring is established and analytical evaluation of slip strains in the deck system is presented. The study involves detailed 3D finite element modeling of the multiple phases of construction, and reasons of concrete deck cracks are explained through analysis of the dynamic properties of the superstructure. Analysis of continuous time histories along 2 years showed that bridge decks are subjected to a variety of temperature gradients across the deck system that are not accounted for in design procedures

Theory of band gap bowing of disordered substitutional II-VI and III-V semiconductor alloys

For a wide class of technologically relevant compound III-V and II-VI semiconductor materials AC and BC mixed crystals (alloys) of the type A(x)B(1-x)C can be realized. As the electronic properties like the bulk band gap vary continuously with x, any band gap in between that of the pure AC and BC systems can be obtained by choosing the appropriate concentration x, granted that the respective ratio is miscible and thermodynamically stable. In most cases the band gap does not vary linearly with x, but a pronounced bowing behavior as a function of the concentration is observed. In this paper we show that the electronic properties of such A(x)B(1-x)C semiconductors and, in particular, the band gap bowing can well be described and understood starting from empirical tight binding models for the pure AC and BC systems. The electronic properties of the A(x)B(1-x)C system can be described by choosing the tight-binding parameters of the AC or BC system with probabilities x and 1-x, respectively. We demonstrate this by exact diagonalization of finite but large supercells and by means of calculations within the established coherent potential approximation (CPA). We apply this treatment to the II-VI system Cd(x)Zn(1-x)Se, to the III-V system In(x)Ga(1-x)As and to the III-nitride system Ga(x)Al(1-x)N.Comment: 14 pages, 10 figure

Solutions of multigravity theories and discretized brane worlds

We determine solutions to 5D Einstein gravity with a discrete fifth dimension. The properties of the solutions depend on the discretization scheme we use and some of them have no continuum counterpart. In particular, we find that the neglect of the lapse field (along the discretized direction) gives rise to Randall-Sundrum type metric with a negative tension brane. However, no brane source is required. We show that this result is robust under changes in the discretization scheme. The inclusion of the lapse field gives rise to solutions whose continuum limit is gauge fixed by the discretization scheme. We find however one particular scheme which leads to an undetermined lapse reflecting the reparametrization invariance of the continuum theory. We also find other solutions, with no continuum counterpart with changes in the metric signature or avoidance of singularity. We show that the models allow a continuous mass spectrum for the gravitons with an effective 4D interaction at small scales. We also discuss some cosmological solutions.Comment: 19 page

A study of annexin-V labeled-lymphocytes apoptosis in pediatric-onset systemic lupus erythematosus in comparison to juvenile rheumatoid arthritis

Background: In systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE), which is the prototype of autoimmune diseases, the autoimmune process seems to be antigen driven. Apoptosis is responsible for eliminating cells from the immune system that are autoreactive, and defects in apoptosis may contribute to autoimmune diseases such as SLE and juvenile rheumatoid arthritis (JRA). Objective: This work is aimed to study the apoptotic peripheral blood lymphocytes in patients with pediatric- onset SLE, to trace its correlations, if any, with the disease activity and clinical presentation, and to compare the apoptotic process to that in JRA, as an example of another rheumatologic disorder. Methods: The study was conducted on 32 patients with pediatric- onset SLE; their ages ranged between 5 and 25 years (mean + SD = 15.5 + 4.4). In addition to various laboratory investigations needed for diagnosis, assessment of different system involvement as well as disease activity, the percentage of early circulating apoptotic lymphocytes was measured by flowcytometry using Annexin –V. The results were compared to that of 20 age and sex matched clinically healthy children and adolescents as well as 10 JRA patients. Results: The percentage of circulating early apoptotic lymphocytes was significantly higher in SLE patients (mean ± SD = 7.02 ± 7.29 %) and JRA patients (mean ± SD=5.91± 6.00 %) as compared to healthy controls (mean ± SD = 1.89 ± 2.21 %; p=0.0003 and 0.023, respectively). The levels of apoptotic lymphocytes seemed higher in SLE patients than in JRA patients but the difference was statistically insignificant (p=0.58). There was no correlation between the percentage of circulating apoptotic lymphocytes and the disease activity markers (SLEDAI and ESR), different system involvement and the dose or duration of corticosteroids therapy. Conclusion: The general increase of circulating apoptotic lymphocytes seen in SLE patients may not be specific to SLE and could be seen with other autoimmune diseases. It seems that disturbance in the apoptotic process contributes more to the phenomenon of autoantigenicity rather than the prediction of the disease clinical activity or specific organ involvement.Keywords: SLE, apoptosis, annexin V, autoimmune diseases, JRA, PediatricEgypt J Pediatr Allergy Immunol 2003; 1(2): 118-2

Time delay in the Einstein-Straus solution

The time delay of strong lensing is computed in the framework of the Einstein-Straus solution. The theory is compared to the observational bound on the time delay of the lens SDSS J1004+4112.Comment: 20 pages, 4 tables, 1 figur