Inelastic yielding and forebulge shape across a modern foreland basin: North West Shelf of Australia, Timor Sea

The Timor Trough is a modern `underfilled\u27 foreland and basin created by partial subduction of the outer north west continental shelf of Australia beneath Timor Island in the Outer Banda Arc of eastern Indonesia during the Cenozoic. A change of the effective elastic thickness (EET) of the continental foreland lithosphere from approximately 80±20 km to approximately 25 km over a distance of approximately 300 km explains (1) the high curvature (approximately 10-7 m-1) on the outer Trough wall, (2) the low shelf forebulge (approximately 200 m) as measured along a reference base Pliocene unconformity, and (3) observed gravity. An inelastically yielding quartzite-quartz-diorite-dunite continental rheology can explain the EET gradient. New, shallow crustal (\u3c8 \u3ekm), seismic reflection images indicate that Jurassic basement normal faults are reactivated during bending of the foreland

The Lotic Intersite Nitrogen Experiments: an example of successful ecological research collaboration

Collaboration is an essential skill for modern ecologists because it brings together diverse expertise, viewpoints, and study systems. The Lotic Intersite Nitrogen eXperiments (LINX I and II), a 17-y research endeavor involving scores of early- to late-career stream ecologists, is an example of the benefits, challenges, and approaches of successful collaborative research in ecology. The scientific success of LINX reflected tangible attributes including clear scientific goals (hypothesis-driven research), coordinated research methods, a team of cooperative scientists, excellent leadership, extensive communication, and a philosophy of respect for input from all collaborators. Intangible aspects of the collaboration included camaraderie and strong team chemistry. LINX further benefited from being part of a discipline in which collaboration is a tradition, clear data-sharing and authorship guidelines, an approach that melded field experiments and modeling, and a shared collaborative goal in the form of a universal commitment to see the project and resulting data products through to completion

The impact of smoke exposure on the clinical phenotype of alpha-1 antitrypsin deficiency in Ireland: exploiting a national registry to understand a rare disease.

Individuals with Alpha-1 antitrypsin deficiency (AATD) have mutations in the SERPINA1 gene causing genetic susceptibility to early onset lung and liver disease that may result in premature death. Environmental interactions have a significant impact in determining the disease phenotype and outcome in AATD. The aim of this study was to assess the impact of smoke exposure on the clinical phenotype of AATD in Ireland. Clinical demographics and available thoracic computerised tomography (CT) imaging were detected from 139 PiZZ individuals identified from the Irish National AATD Registry. Clinical information was collected by questionnaire. Data was analysed to assess AATD disease severity and evaluate predictors of clinical phenotype. Questionnaires were collected from 107/139 (77%) and thoracic CT evaluation was available in 72/107 (67.2%). 74% of respondents had severe Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease (COPD) (GOLD stage C or D). Cigarette smoking was the greatest predictor of impairment in FEV1 and DLCO (%predicted) and the extent of emphysema correlated most significantly with DLCO. Interestingly the rate of FEV1 decline was similar in ex-smokers when compared to never-smokers. Passive smoke exposure in childhood resulted in a greater total pack-year smoking history. Radiological evidence of bronchiectasis was a common finding and associated with increasing age. The Irish National AATD Registry facilitates clinical and basic science research of this condition in Ireland. This study illustrates the detrimental effect of smoke exposure on the clinical phenotype of AATD in Ireland and the benefit of immediate smoking cessation at any stage of lung disease

Design and Modeling of a High-Power Periodic Spiral Antenna with an Integrated Rejection Band Filter

This work details the design and fabrication of an ultra-wideband periodic spiral antenna (PSA) with a notch filter embedded directly into the radiating aperture. Prototype fabrication of the PSA reveals long assembly time due to forming the antenna element, therefore modifications are made to allow fabricating the antenna elements on a thin, flexible, Polyimide substrate. A transmission line model is develop to support the updated configuration of the antenna elements. In addition, a symmetric spurline filter is integrated into the arms of the spiral antenna in order to address the common problem of interference in ultra-wideband systems. For the first time, a placement study is conducted to show the optimal location of the filter as a function of frequency. The presented transmission line model demonstrates the ability to decouple the design of the filter and antenna by being able to predict the resonant frequency and achieved rejection after integration of the two. Measured results show a gain rejection of 21 dB along with the ability to tune the resonance of the filter from 1.1 – 2.7 GHz using a lumped capacitor. For high power applications, thermal measurements are conducted, and for the first time, thermal profiles along the top of the antenna are used to show the radiation bands in a spiral antenna. Power tests are successfully conducted up to 40 W across the entire operational bandwidth and up to 60 W for 2 GHz and below. At these elevated power levels, a large voltage is generated across the lumped capacitor used to tune the resonance of the spurline filter; this issue is addressed through the development of a capacitive wedge that is overlapped on top of the spurline stub, which increases the voltage handling to 2,756 V. Measured results reveal a reduced tuning range compared to using lumped capacitors and a gain rejection of greater than 10 dB for all configurations

Examination of the relationship between dimensions of perfectionism, harm avoidance and incompleteness in college students

The present study aimed to examine the relationship between perfectionism, OCD symptom dimensions, harm avoidance, and incompleteness at varying levels (i.e., higher-order/subscale) in college students. College students ( = 548) completed measures of perfectionism, obsessive-compulsive symptoms, harm avoidance and incompleteness. The results revealed that all five higher-order dimensions of perfectionism were related to incompleteness but only three were related to harm avoidance. Parallel mediation revealed an indirect relationship between concern for mistakes and doubts about actions and checking and cleaning behaviors, respectively, through incompleteness. An indirect relationship between concern for mistakes and doubts about actions with ordering, respectively, through both incompleteness and harm avoidance was found. However, incompleteness played a stronger role than harm avoidance in this relationship. These results suggest that incompleteness might be a stronger motivator than harm avoidance for perfectionistic individuals. Therefore, interventions targeting incompleteness should be implemented to potentially circumvent the development or worsening of obsessive-compulsive symptoms

Perceptions of Fatigue and Safety Climate Pertaining to Residency Duty-Hour Restrictions

Introduction: The Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education (ACGME), which sets the standards for residency training, instituted work-hour restrictions in 2003. Our purpose was to assess residents’ perceptions of fatigue and local safety climate specific to these duty-hour restrictions. Methods: All residents (N=433) at one university were emailed a link to a survey in 2019. The survey included demographic details, on-call descriptors, an 18-point climate survey (CS), and the 33-point Chalder Fatigue Questionnaire (CFQ). The CS was adapted from a commonly used safety climate scale and intended to measure the respondent’s perceptions of their program’s attitudes and practices around resident duty-hour compliance. A Pearson correlational analysis was used to determine if there were associations between the variables. Results: Mean CS score was 12.89 (95% confidence interval, CI 12.32-13.46, N=164, 48.5%). Respondents were most likely to disagree with “Residents are told when they are at risk of working beyond ACGME duty-hour restrictions,” where 57 (34.7%) disagreed or strongly disagreed. Mean CFQ score was 16.02 (95% CI 14.87-17.17, N=113, 26.1%). As the CS score improved, CFQ scores decreased indicating an inverse relationship between duty-hour climate and fatigue (r=-0.328, p\u3c0.05). Having a protected post-call day off, and having either the Program Director, Chief Resident, or Senior Resident decide that a resident takes a post-call day off were all associated with higher CS scores. Conclusion: We found that the CS had good internal consistency and evidence of construct validity. An inverse relationship between CS score and fatigue suggests that the level of fatigue is higher among residents in programs where residents perceived that ACGME duty-hour compliance was less important