Subsea salt flows in the Atlantis II Deep and Tethis Deep, Red Sea

In the area of today’s Red Sea, evaporites were widely deposited during the Miocene. Due to the ongoing rifting and seafloor spreading, the evaporites have lost their lateral constraint and started to move downslope. High sediment temperatures near the Red Sea graben and the weak rheology of halite may also favour evaporite movement. However, the deformation mechanism as well as the velocity of these flows is largely unknown. New high-resolution multibeam and seismic data were recorded in March 2011 (P408-2 cruise) within the framework of the project “The Jeddah Transect”, a cooperation between King Abdulaziz University, Saudi-Arabia and GEOMAR, Germany. The data give new insights into evaporite flows in the area of the Atlantis II Deep. This ~400 m deep seafloor depression is located at about 21°N in the central Red Sea graben and is partly filled with hot saline brine (T~68°C, S~270h. The brine-seawater interface at about 2050 mbsl coincides with the depth of a subseafloor salt layer in the seismic reflection data. The rough seafloor morphology of the Atlantis II Deep area is dominated by a sequence of normal faults showing vertical offsets of several hundred meters. However, SW-NE directed lineaments parallel to the seafloor gradient in the south east and possibly north-west of the deep, with typical heights between 20 and 40 m, widths between 300 and 1000 m and lengths exceeding 10 km in places, are interpreted as surface indications of subsurface evaporite flow. The fronts of some of these flows are well rounded, and their occurrence is limited to areas of low seafloor gradients. Generally, the appearance of evaporite flows in the Atlantis II Deep is comparable to salt flows in the Thetis Deep at ~23°N (Mitchell et al., 2010). Furthermore, deformed hemipelagic layers deposited on top of the Miocene evaporites indicate salt movement 60 km off the central rift axis. A second research cruise is planned in March 2012 (RV Pelagia) to obtain more high-resolution seismic data on the morphological structures related to the evaporite flows at 21°N. Additionally, repeated multibeam measurements in the Thetis Deep will constrain the maximum movement rate of the evaporites. Mitchell, N. C. ; Ligi, M. ; Ferrante, V. ; Bonatti, E. ; Rutter, E.: Submarine salt flows in the central Red Sea. In: Geological Society of America Bulletin vol. 122 (2010), Nr. 5-6, pp. 701–71

Adobe Flash as a medium for online experimentation: a test of reaction time measurement capabilities

Adobe Flash can be used to run complex psychological experiments over the Web. We examined the reliability of using Flash to measure reaction times (RTs) using a simple binary-choice task implemented both in Flash and in a Linux-based system known to record RTs with millisecond accuracy. Twenty-four participants were tested in the laboratory using both implementations; they also completed the Flash version on computers of their own choice outside the lab. RTs from the trials run on Flash outside the lab were approximately 20 msec slower than those from trials run on Flash in the lab, which in turn were approximately 10 msec slower than RTs from the trials run on the Linux-based system (baseline condition). RT SDs were similar in all conditions, suggesting that although Flash may overestimate RTs slightly, it does not appear to add significant noise to the data recorded

An NMR-based nanostructure switch for quantum logic

We propose a nanostructure switch based on nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) which offers reliable quantum gate operation, an essential ingredient for building a quantum computer. The nuclear resonance is controlled by the magic number transitions of a few-electron quantum dot in an external magnetic field.Comment: 4 pages, 2 separate PostScript figures. Minor changes included. One reference adde

Transformation of spin information into large electrical signals via carbon nanotubes

Spin electronics (spintronics) exploits the magnetic nature of the electron, and is commercially exploited in the spin valves of disc-drive read heads. There is currently widespread interest in using industrially relevant semiconductors in new types of spintronic devices based on the manipulation of spins injected into a semiconducting channel between a spin-polarized source and drain. However, the transformation of spin information into large electrical signals is limited by spin relaxation such that the magnetoresistive signals are below 1%. We overcome this long standing problem in spintronics by demonstrating large magnetoresistance effects of 61% at 5 K in devices where the non-magnetic channel is a multiwall carbon nanotube that spans a 1.5 micron gap between epitaxial electrodes of the highly spin polarized manganite La0.7Sr0.3MnO3. This improvement arises because the spin lifetime in nanotubes is long due the small spin-orbit coupling of carbon, because the high nanotube Fermi velocity permits the carrier dwell time to not significantly exceed this spin lifetime, because the manganite remains highly spin polarized up to the manganite-nanotube interface, and because the interfacial barrier is of an appropriate height. We support these latter statements regarding the interface using density functional theory calculations. The success of our experiments with such chemically and geometrically different materials should inspire adventure in materials selection for some future spintronicsComment: Content highly modified. New title, text, conclusions, figures and references. New author include

13,915 reasons for equity in sexual offences legislation: A national school-based survey in South Africa

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Objective</p> <p>Prior to 2007, forced sex with male children in South Africa did not count as rape but as "indecent assault", a much less serious offence. This study sought to document prevalence of male sexual violence among school-going youth.</p> <p>Design</p> <p>A facilitated self-administered questionnaire in nine of the 11 official languages in a stratified (province/metro/urban/rural) last stage random national sample.</p> <p>Setting</p> <p>Teams visited 5162 classes in 1191 schools, in October and November 2002.</p> <p>Participants</p> <p>A total of 269,705 learners aged 10–19 years in grades 6–11. Of these, 126,696 were male.</p> <p>Main outcome measures</p> <p>Schoolchildren answered questions about exposure in the last year to insults, beating, unwanted touching and forced sex. They indicated the sex of the perpetrator, and whether this was a family member, a fellow schoolchild, a teacher or another adult. Respondents also gave the age when they first suffered forced sex and when they first had consensual sex.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>Some 9% (weighted value based on 13915/127097) of male respondents aged 11–19 years reported forced sex in the last year. Of those aged 18 years at the time of the survey, 44% (weighted value of 5385/11450) said they had been forced to have sex in their lives and 50% reported consensual sex. Perpetrators were most frequently an adult not from their own family, followed closely in frequency by other schoolchildren. Some 32% said the perpetrator was male, 41% said she was female and 27% said they had been forced to have sex by both male and female perpetrators. Male abuse of schoolboys was more common in rural areas while female perpetration was more an urban phenomenon.</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>This study uncovers endemic sexual abuse of male children that was suspected but hitherto only poorly documented. Legal recognition of the criminality of rape of male children is a first step. The next steps include serious investment in supporting male victims of abuse, and in prevention of all childhood sexual abuse.</p

Timing of risk reducing mastectomy in breast cancer patients carrying a BRCA1/2 mutation: retrospective data from the Dutch HEBON study

It is expected that rapid genetic counseling and testing (RGCT) will lead to increasing numbers of breast cancer (BC) patients knowing their BRCA1/2 carrier status before primary surgery. Considering the potential impact of knowing one’s status on uptake and timing of risk-reducing contralateral mastectomy (RRCM), we aimed to evaluate trends over time in RRCM, and differences between carriers identified either before (predictively) or after (diagnostically) diagnosis. We collected data from female BRCA1/2 mutation carriers diagnosed with BC between 1995 and 2009 from four Dutch university hospitals. We compared the timing of genetic testing and RRCM in relation to diagnosis in 1995–2000 versus 2001–2009 for all patients, and predictively and diagnostically tested patients separately. Of 287 patients, 219 (76 %) had a diagnostic BRCA1/2 test. In this cohort, the median time from diagnosis to DNA testing decreased from 28 months for those diagnosed between 1995 and 2000 to 14 months for those diagnosed between 2001 and 2009 (p < 0.001). Similarly, over time women in this cohort underwent RRCM sooner after diagnosis (median of 77 vs. 27 months, p = 0.05). Predictively tested women who subsequently developed BC underwent an immediate RRCM significantly more often than women who had a diagnostic test (21/61, 34 %, vs. 13/170, 7.6 %, p < 0.001). Knowledge of carrying a BRCA1/2 mutation when diagnosed with BC influenced decisions concerning primary surgery. Additionally, in more recent years, women who had not undergone predictive testing were more likely to undergo diagnostic DNA testing and RRCM sooner after diagnosis. This suggests the need for RGCT to guide treatment decisions

Nanometer Scale Dielectric Fluctuations at the Glass Transition

Using non-contact scanning probe microscopy (SPM) techniques, dielectric properties were studied on 50 nanometer length scales in poly-vinyl-acetate (PVAc) films in the vicinity of the glass transition. Low frequency (1/f) noise observed in the measurements, was shown to arise from thermal fluctuations of the electric polarization. Anomalous variations observed in the noise spectrum provide direct evidence for cooperative nano-regions with heterogeneous kinetics. The cooperative length scale was determined. Heterogeneity was long-lived only well below the glass transition for faster than average processes.Comment: 4 pages, 4 embedded PS figures, RevTeX - To appear in Phys. Rev. Let

Probing Lorentz and CPT violation with space-based experiments

Space-based experiments offer sensitivity to numerous unmeasured effects involving Lorentz and CPT violation. We provide a classification of clock sensitivities and present explicit expressions for time variations arising in such experiments from nonzero coefficients in the Lorentz- and CPT-violating Standard-Model Extension.Comment: 15 page

Efficient light-emitting diodes based on nanocrystalline perovskite in a dielectric polymer matrix.

Electroluminescence in light-emitting devices relies on the encounter and radiative recombination of electrons and holes in the emissive layer. In organometal halide perovskite light-emitting diodes, poor film formation creates electrical shunting paths, where injected charge carriers bypass the perovskite emitter, leading to a loss in electroluminescence yield. Here, we report a solution-processing method to block electrical shunts and thereby enhance electroluminescence quantum efficiency in perovskite devices. In this method, a blend of perovskite and a polyimide precursor dielectric (PIP) is solution-deposited to form perovskite nanocrystals in a thin-film matrix of PIP. The PIP forms a pinhole-free charge-blocking layer, while still allowing the embedded perovskite crystals to form electrical contact with the electron- and hole-injection layers. This modified structure reduces nonradiative current losses and improves quantum efficiency by 2 orders of magnitude, giving an external quantum efficiency of 1.2%. This simple technique provides an alternative route to circumvent film formation problems in perovskite optoelectronics and offers the possibility of flexible and high-performance light-emitting displays.The authors acknowledge funding from the Gates Cambridge Trust, the Singapore National Research Foundation (Energy Innovation Programme Office), the KACST-Cambridge University Joint Centre of Excellence, the Royal Society/Sino-British Fellowship Trust, and the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council, UK. We also thank Dr. Alessandro Sepe for helpful discussions of the XRD data.This is the final version of the article. It first appeared from ACS via http://dx.doi.org/10.1021/acs.nanolett.5b0023

Anti-inflammatory and safety profile of DuP 697, a novel orally effective prostaglandin synthesis inhibitor

ABBREVIATiONS: NSAID, nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs; PG. prostaglandin; RBF, renal blood flow; All, angiotensin II; POW, phenylquinon