587 research outputs found

    Glacial geomorphology of the northern Kivalliq region, Nunavut, Canada, with an emphasis on meltwater drainage systems

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    This paper presents a glacial geomorphological map of glacial lineations, ribbed terrain, moraines, meltwater channels (subglacial and ice-marginal/proglacial), eskers, glaciofluvial deposits, ice-contact outwash fans and deltas and abandoned shorelines on the bed of the former Laurentide Ice Sheet in northern Canada. Mapping was compiled from satellite imagery and digital elevation data and landforms were digitised directly into a Geographical Information System. The map reveals a complex glacial history characterised by multiple ice-flow events, including fast-flowing ice-streams. Moraines record a series of pauses or re-advances during overall SE retreat towards the Keewatin Ice Divide. The distribution of subglacial meltwater landforms indicates that several distinctive scales and modes of drainage system operated beneath the retreating ice sheet. This includes a large (>100 km) integrated network of meltwater channels, eskers, ice-contact outwash fans and deltas and glaciofluvial deposits that originates at the northern edge of Aberdeen Lake. The map comprises zone 66 of the Canadian National Topographic System, which encompasses an area of 160,000 km2. It is presented at a scale of 1:500,000 and is designed to be printed at A0 size

    Basement-cover relations and internal structure of the Cape Smith klippe: A 1.9 Ga greenstone belt in northern Quebec, Canada

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    The Cape Smith Belt is a 380x60 km tectonic klippe composed of greenschistto amphibolite-grade mafic and komatiitic lava flows and fine-grained quartzose sediment, intruded by minor syn- to post-tectonic granitoids. Previously studied transects in areas of relatively high structural level show that the belt is constructed of seven or more north-dipping thrust sheets which verge toward the Superior Province (Archean) foreland in the south and away from an Archean basement massif (Kovik Antiform) external to the Trans-Hudson Orogen (Early Proterozoic) in the north. A field project (mapping and structural-stratigraphic-metamorphic studies) directed by MRS was begun in 1985 aimed at the structurally deeper levels of the belt and underlying basement, which are superby exposed in oblique cross-section (12 km minimum structural relief) at the west-plunging eastern end of the belt. Mapping now complete of the eastern end of the belt confirms that all of the metavolcanic and most of the metasedimentary rocks are allochthonous with respect to the Archean basement, and that the thrusts must have been rooted north of Kovik Antiform. The main findings follow

    Electronic band gap reduction and intense luminescence in Co and Mn ion-implanted SiO2_2

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    Cobalt and manganese ions are implanted into SiO2_2 over a wide range of concentrations. For low concentrations, the Co atoms occupy interstitial locations, coordinated with oxygen, while metallic Co clusters form at higher implantation concentrations. For all concentrations studied here, Mn ions remain in interstitial locations and do not cluster. Using resonant x-ray emission spectroscopy and Anderson impurity model calculations, we determine the strength of the covalent interaction between the interstitial ions and the SiO2_2 valence band, finding it comparable to Mn and Co monoxides. Further, we find an increasing reduction in the SiO2_2 electronic band gap for increasing implantation concentration, due primarily to the introduction of Mn- and Co-derived conduction band states. We also observe a strong increase in a band of x-ray stimulated luminescence at 2.75 eV after implantation, attributed to oxygen deficient centers formed during implantation.Comment: 8 pages, 6 figure

    Ptarmigan Fiord basement-cover thrust imbricates, Baffin Island, Nunavut

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    The rocks at Ptarmigan Fiord on the Hall Peninsula of Baffin Island underwent midcrustal deformation during the formation of the Paleoproterozoic Trans-Hudson Orogen. The structural style in the region is dominated by imbricate panels of Archean basement orthogneiss and Paleoproterozoic supracrustal strata, interpreted to have been deformed by thick- skinned ductile thrusting. Basement rocks comprise amphibolite-facies metatonalite, metagranodiorite, metaquartz-diorite and metamonzogranite, and cover rocks comprise amphibolite-facies migmatitic pelitic and semipelitic schist, psammitic schist, amphibolite, calcsilicate and quartzite. The S 1a penetrative foliation is variably present in basement rocks and consis- tently present in cover rocks, and is defined by alignment of biotite, sillimanite and leucogranite that formed before and dur- ing the thermal metamorphic peak. The S 1a foliation was deformed by F 1b isoclinal folds with an amplitude of 100 m. These structures are interpreted as forming during a D 1 east-west crustal shortening event. Basement and cover imbrication oc- curred after the thermal metamorphic peak and is interpreted as D 2 thick-skinned ductile thrusting. Ductile thrust faults at the base of seven basement-cover slices are identified on the basis of repetition of units and strain localization, and are inter- preted as predominantly south-to-southeast verging on the basis of shear-sense indicators. There are two structural panels of D 2 thrust imbricates, one in the northwestern part of the map area and one in the eastern part of the map area. Map-scale crosscutting relationships indicate that the northwestern panel overthrusted the eastern panel on a southeasterly T 2c -di- rected thrust fault, following a F 2b folding event that folded the T 2a basement-cover thrust imbricates in the eastern panel. The Ptarmigan Fiord area contains a world-class exposure of thick-skinned structures as they are spectacularly delineated by belts of distinctive grey-weathering Archean basement rocks and brown- to black-weathering Paleoproterozoic supra- crustal rocks

    Turbulent transport of impurities in 3D devices

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    A large diffusive turbulent contribution to the radial impurity transport in Wendelstein 7-X (W7-X) plasmas has been experimentally inferred during the first campaigns and numerically confirmed by means of gyrokinetic simulations with the code stella. In general, the absence of strong impurity accumulation during the initial W7-X campaigns is attributed to this diffusive term. In the present work the diffusive contribution is also calculated in other stellarator plasmas. In particular, the diffusion (D) and convection (V) coefficients of carbon and iron impurities produced by ion-temperature-gradient (ITG) turbulence are obtained for W7-X, LHD, TJ-II and NCSX. The results show that, although the size of D and V can differ across the four devices, inward convection is found for all of them. For W7-X, TJ-II and NCSX the two coefficients are comparable and the turbulent peaking factor is surprisingly similar. In LHD, appreciably weaker diffusive and convective impurity transport and significantly larger turbulent peaking factor are predicted. All this suggests that ITG turbulence, although not strongly, would lead to negative impurity density gradients in stellarators. Then, considering mixed ITG/Trapped Electron Mode (TEM) turbulence for the specific case of W7-X, it has been quantitatively assessed to what degree pellet fueled reduced turbulence scenarios feature reduced turbulent transport of impurities as well. The results for trace iron impurities show that, although their turbulent transport is not entirely suppressed, a significant reduction of V and a stronger decrease of D are found. Although the diffusion is still above neoclassical levels, the neoclassical convection would gain under such conditions a greater specific weight on the dynamics of impurities in comparison with standard ECRH scenarios.Comment: 16 pages, 8 figure

    New linear stability parameter to describe low-β\beta electromagnetic microinstabilities driven by passing electrons in axisymmetric toroidal geometry

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    In magnetic confinement fusion devices, the ratio of the plasma pressure to the magnetic field energy, β\beta, can become sufficiently large that electromagnetic microinstabilities become unstable, driving turbulence that distorts or reconnects the equilibrium magnetic field. In this paper, a theory is proposed for electromagnetic, electron-driven linear instabilities that have current layers localised to mode-rational surfaces and binormal wavelengths comparable to the ion gyroradius. The model retains axisymmetric toroidal geometry with arbitrary shaping, and consists of orbit-averaged equations for the mode-rational surface layer, with a ballooning space kinetic matching condition for passing electrons. The matching condition connects the current layer to the large scale electromagnetic fluctuations, and is derived in the limit that β\beta is comparable to the square root of the electron-to-ion-mass ratio. Electromagnetic fluctuations only enter through the matching condition, allowing for the identification of an effective β\beta that includes the effects of equilibrium flux surface shaping. The scaling predictions made by the asymptotic theory are tested with comparisons to results from linear simulations of micro-tearing and electrostatic microinstabilities in MAST discharge #6252, showing excellent agreement. In particular, it is demonstrated that the effective β\beta can explain the dependence of the local micro-tearing mode (MTM) growth rate on the ballooning parameter θ0\theta_0 -- possibly providing a route to optimise local flux surfaces for reduced MTM-driven transport.Comment: 29 pages, 14 figure

    Personal preferences for Personalised Trials among patients with chronic diseases: an empirical Bayesian analysis of a conjoint survey.

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    OBJECTIVE: To describe individual patient preferences for Personalised Trials and to identify factors and conditions associated with patient preferences. DESIGN: Each participant was presented with 18 conjoint questions via an online survey. Each question provided two choices of Personalised Trials that were defined by up to eight attributes, including treatment types, clinician involvement, study logistics and trial burden on a patient. SETTING: Online survey of adults with at least two common chronic conditions in the USA. PARTICIPANTS: A nationally representative sample of 501 individuals were recruited from the Chronic Illness Panel by Harris Poll Online. Participants were recruited from several sources, including emails, social media and telephone recruitment of the target population. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES: The choice of Personalised Trial design that the participant preferred with each conjoint question. RESULTS: There was large variability in participants\u27 preferences for the design of Personalised Trials. On average, they preferred certain attributes, such as a short time commitment and no cost. Notably, a population-level analysis correctly predicted 62% of the conjoint responses. An empirical Bayesian analysis of the conjoint data, which supported the estimation of individual-level preferences, improved the accuracy to 86%. Based on estimates of individual-level preferences, patients with chronic pain preferred a long study duration (p≤0.001). Asthma patients were less averse to participation burden in terms of data-collection frequency than patients with other conditions (p=0.002). Patients with hypertension were more cost-sensitive (p\u3c0.001). CONCLUSION: These analyses provide a framework for elucidating individual-level preferences when implementing novel patient-centred interventions. The data showed that patient preference in Personalised Trials is highly variable, suggesting that individual differences must be accounted for when marketing Personalised Trials. These results have implications for advancing precise interventions in Personalised Trials by indicating when rigorous scientific principles, such as frequent monitoring, is feasible in a substantial subset of patients

    New linear stability parameter to describe low-β electromagnetic microinstabilities driven by passing electrons in axisymmetric toroidal geometry

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    In magnetic confinement fusion devices, the ratio of the plasma pressure to the magnetic field energy, β, can become sufficiently large that electromagnetic microinstabilities become unstable, driving turbulence that distorts or reconnects the equilibrium magnetic field. In this paper, a theory is proposed for electromagnetic, electron-driven linear instabilities that have current layers localised to mode-rational surfaces and binormal wavelengths comparable to the ion gyroradius. The model retains axisymmetric toroidal geometry with arbitrary shaping, and consists of orbit-averaged equations for the mode-rational surface layer, with a ballooning space kinetic matching condition for passing electrons. The matching condition connects the current layer to the large scale electromagnetic fluctuations, and is derived in the limit that β is comparable to the square root of the electron-to-ion-mass ratio. Electromagnetic fluctuations only enter through the matching condition, allowing for the identification of an effective β that includes the effects of equilibrium flux surface shaping. The scaling predictions made by the asymptotic theory are tested with comparisons to results from linear simulations of micro-tearing and electrostatic microinstabilities in MAST discharge #6252, showing excellent agreement. In particular, it is demonstrated that the effective β can explain the dependence of the local micro-tearing mode (MTM) growth rate on the ballooning parameter θ 0-possibly providing a route to optimise local flux surfaces for reduced MTM-driven transport
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