ROLE OF INHERITANCES IN SHAPING THE ZAGROS THRUST AND FOLD BELT

The claim that a place has a unique geology is made often, and never incorrectly. The Zagros fold and thrust belt represents an exceptional example where different structural and stratigraphic inheritances co-exist along the same mountain range, playing a key role in determining the lateral variability of the thrust and fold belt. To the south-east, the Zagros mountains are limited by the Makran subduction zone. The subduction is pinned laterally by the continental collision of Arabia and Asia in the Straits of Hormuz area, where the Zagros and Oman chains meet. This zone of transition forms a major structural reentrant where the Zagros deformation front and the main Zagros thrusts converge. This boundary represents the eastern limit of the Hormuz salt basin, characterized by a minimum of two kilometers thick salt unit deposited during the Neoproterozoic-Cambrian times. The Hormuz salt province aerially extends for over 500 km toward the north-west along the Fars Province, where spectacular diapirism developed previously to the Zagros contractive event. Besides, the presence of an effective basal decollement resulted in a wide detached thrust and fold belt shaping the structural salient of the Fars arc. The northwestern-ward thinning and finally pinchout of the Hormuz salt is progressively taken over by the presence of the Mountain Front Flexure, a major structure of the Zagros orogenic system underlain by the deeply rooted and seismically active Mountain Front Fault system. These coupled structural features divide the belt from its foreland and their trace is sinuous, forming a sequence of salients and recesses, formally named, Dezful embayment, Lurestan arc and Kirkuk embayment. In this work we combine the interpretation of on-shore and off-shore seismic reflection profiles, field data, earthquake data, geomorphic analysis, and, remote sensing interpretations, to build a series of geological maps, 3D geological reconstructions, geological and balanced cross-sections, and, sequential restorations in the eastern Fars province and the Lurestan region. We provide new evidence from different structures of the Zagros fold-and-thrust belt, to stress the role of inheritances related with the previous rift architecture and the presence of the lateral facies change to the Hormuz salt sequence, as an important lateral variations of the mechanical properties of the multilayer, and a dramatic change in the structural style related with the pre-contractional Hormuz salt diapirism. In the Fars province we propose new interpretations for several on-shore and off-shore pre-contractional salt structures. Our evolutional models show how the deformation of inherited salt structures predates thrust wedging and leads to squeezing, roof arching, crestal extension and finally extrusion. Further shortening result on secondary welding as evidenced by the collapse of the extrusion summit dome and reverse faulting nucleated at the secondary welds. Regional cross sections across the eastern Hormuz salt pinch-out aim to understand the switch in structural style from a salt-detached thin- to thick-skinned thrusting. In the Lurestan region we introduce a new interpretation of an hyperextended margin architecture segmented by inherited N-S and NE-SW striking faults, in an alternance of more proximal or distal rift domains. The integration of our results with previous knowledge indicates that the Mountain Front Fault system developed in the necking domain of the Jurassic rift system, ahead of an array of inverted Jurassic extensional faults, in a structural fashion which resembles that of a crustal-scale footwall shortcut. Within this structural context, the sinusoidal shape of the Mountain Front Flexure in the Lurestan area arises from the re-use of the original segmentation of the inverted Jurassic rift system

Measurement of the production cross section of a W boson with a single charm quark using the ATLAS detector at the Large Hadron Collider.

PhDThis thesis presents the measurement of the production cross section of a W boson with a single charm quark in 7 TeV proton-proton collisions using the ATLAS detector at the Large Hadron Collider. The data analysed correspond to an integrated luminosity of 4.6 fb1 and were collected during 2011. This is the first time that ATLAS data has been used for this particular measurement. This cross section is of particular interest as a probe of the strange quark density of the proton. Typically, the strange quark density is considered to be suppressed relative to that of the other light-quarks in the proton sea. However, some analyses suggest a more symmetric composition of light-quarks in the proton sea. The results of this study aim to improve the precision of the determination of the strange quark density. The analysis uses events where the W boson decays to a muon and a neutrino. In such events, the charm quark is identified by its semileptonic decay to a soft muon within a hadronic jet. The charge correlation between the W boson and the soft muon is exploited to reduce the backgrounds substantially. The analysis results are combined with those obtained using additional decay channels. The measured cross section provides further constraint for the determination of the strange quark density, advancing the knowledge of the fundamental structure of the proton. The results are compared with predictions of next-to-leading-order QCD calculations obtained using various parton distribution function parameterisations. Additionally, the ratio of the strange-to-down sea-quark distributions is determined to be 0.96+0.26 0.30 at Q2 = 1.9 GeV2. This supports the hypothesis of a symmetric composition of light-quarks in the proton sea. The cross section ratio (W+ + c)= (W + c) is also determined and compared with different predictions for the asymmetry of the strange and anti-strange quark distribution functions.Queen Mary School of Physics and Astronomy Dr Edmund Gray PhD Studentship; Queen Mary Doctoral College for Postgraduate Research Fund related to one year placement at CERN

Foreign bodies in the upper airways: the experience of two Italian hospitals

OBJECTIVE: To study the pattern of foreign bodies in the upper airways as emerging from the hospital records in the Bologna and Siena hospitals in Italy 1997-2002. METHODS: A retrospective review of hospital records was performed using a standardized protocol. All injuries with ICD9 (International Classification of Diseases, 9'h revision) codes ranging from 931 to 934 which occurred in children age 0-14 were considered for the database. RESULTS: One hundred ninety seven patients were included in the database with a diagnosis of Foreign Bodies (FB) over the study period, 78 with ICD931, 105 with ICD932, 12 with ICD933 and 2 with ICD934 discharge diagnosis. Of the 197 patients, 51.90% of the patients were males and the 48.10% were female. Median age was 4 (2, 6). At the moment of the injury, the child was eating (11%), playing (83%) or studying (4%) or cleaning ears (2%). The child was supervised by an adult in doing his/her activities at the moment of injury in the 84.2% of the cases. The child reached the hospital using always private transport (100%), never by using an emergency transport (0%). Most commonly, FB were extracted in ambulatory (95.4%), more rarely using an endoscopic procedure (4.1%), and never using surgery. Hospitalization was required in the 0.5% of cases (1). CONCLUSIONS: Our study showed the substantial epidemiological similarity of the Italian data with the experience of other center in the world. The burden of chocking was very limited in our country, as proven by the limited access to emergency and more invasive procedures. Nevertheless, some consideration can be made from the preventive point of view. Quite surprisingly, the majority of injuries occurred under the supervision of an adult in playing or recreational activities

Foreign bodies in the upper airways: the experience of two Italian hospitals

OBJECTIVE: To study the pattern of foreign bodies in the upper airways as emerging from the hospital records in the Bologna and Siena hospitals in Italy 1997-2002. METHODS: A retrospective review of hospital records was performed using a standardized protocol. All injuries with ICD9 (International Classification of Diseases, 9'h revision) codes ranging from 931 to 934 which occurred in children age 0-14 were considered for the database. RESULTS: One hundred ninety seven patients were included in the database with a diagnosis of Foreign Bodies (FB) over the study period, 78 with ICD931, 105 with ICD932, 12 with ICD933 and 2 with ICD934 discharge diagnosis. Of the 197 patients, 51.90% of the patients were males and the 48.10% were female. Median age was 4 (2, 6). At the moment of the injury, the child was eating (11%), playing (83%) or studying (4%) or cleaning ears (2%). The child was supervised by an adult in doing his/her activities at the moment of injury in the 84.2% of the cases. The child reached the hospital using always private transport (100%), never by using an emergency transport (0%). Most commonly, FB were extracted in ambulatory (95.4%), more rarely using an endoscopic procedure (4.1%), and never using surgery. Hospitalization was required in the 0.5% of cases (1). CONCLUSIONS: Our study showed the substantial epidemiological similarity of the Italian data with the experience of other center in the world. The burden of chocking was very limited in our country, as proven by the limited access to emergency and more invasive procedures. Nevertheless, some consideration can be made from the preventive point of view. Quite surprisingly, the majority of injuries occurred under the supervision of an adult in playing or recreational activities

Influence on preexisting salt diapirs during thrust wedge evolution and secondary welding: insights from analogue modeling

Salt lithologies are mechanically weaker than other sedimentary rocks. Salt horizons usually act as décollements and precursor salt bodies preferentially deform early during contraction, concentrate deformation, and impact the structural style and kinematics during mountain building. Focusing on shortened isolated-diapir provinces, our analog modeling program investigates the influence of two salt walls on folding and thrusting. High resolution topographic scans and particle image analysis show that the presence of precursor diapirs impacts the layer parallel shortening patterns and presumably the stress field at the onset of contraction. Shortening concentrates on diapirs, leading to roof arching, crestal extension and salt extrusion. This sequence of events occurs earlier on thinner salt- sediment sequences including diapirs having well-developed pedestals, particularly when proximal to the deformation front. Folds and thrusts nucleate at salt walls if they feature a well-developed pedestal. Further shortening results in secondary welding as evidenced by the collapse of uplifted roof domes, cessation of indentation and reverse faulting nucleated at the secondary welds. Meanwhile, and depending upon the processes occurring on the diapir closer to the backstop, the deformation of the distal salt wall is discontinuous. Our modeling results are compared with experimental works and natural examples from the Fars (Zagros Mountains)

From downbuilding to contractional reactivation of salt-sediment systems: insights from analog modeling.

This work studies salt-detached fold-and-thrust belts involving minibasins by means of physical analogue modeling. The experimental set up consist of a series of minibasins and diapirs built by downbuilding into a regular polygonal framework. The minibasins-diapir framework were then submitted to contraction, and for some examples accompanied by different rates of syncontractional sedimentation. We aimed at evaluating the influence of an initial salt basin geometry (i.e. equal thickness vs. along-strike tapered) on the development of the salt-sediment system, and how this influences the geometries and kinematics of fold-and-thrust belts. We also tested how these are influenced by different syncontractional sedimentation rates. Results show that major differences on the early salt structures occur during downbuilding as a result of original salt budget (i.e. from pillows to diapirs), with a positive correlation between amount of original salt and salt structure development. Initial contractional deformation is localized on the weaker salt bodies, favoring salt extrusion. Shortening is then transferred forwards once vertical salt feeders are welded (i.e. secondary welds), while basal (primary) welds are sheared, rolled or delaminated. Changes on structural styles occur abruptly along-strike as controlled by degree of development of the precontractional salt structures. Relatively low syncontractional sedimentation rate delays forward propagation of deformation and promotes minibasins tilting. With larger sedimentation rates, a thicker cover inhibits minibasins deformation and secondary welding and, promotes a more coherent mechanical beam detached on the basal weld. Our modeling is compared to natural fold-and-thrust belts such as the Zagros and the European Alps

Foreign bodies in the ears causing complications and requiring hospitalization in children 0-14 age: results from the ESFBI study

The occurrence of foreign bodies (FBs) in otorhinolaryngological practice is a common and serious problem among patients in paediatric age. The aim of this work is to characterize the risk of complications and prolonged hospitalization due to foreign bodies in ears in terms of the characteristics of the injured patients (age, gender), typology and features of the foreign bodies, the circumstances of the accident and the hospitalization's details