Geologic controls on fluid flow and seismic imaging of faults in carbonate rocks : Insights from quantitative outcrop analysis and reflection seismic modeling

Utforsking av undergrunnen har historisk sett hovudsakleg vore drive av økonomiske insentiv gjennom leiting etter hydrokarbon og andre geologiske ressursar. I nyare tid, derimot, har geologiens rolle i det grøne skiftet fått aukande fokus. Undergrunnen er svært viktig for blant anna CO2- og hydrogenlagring, grunnvassressursar og geotermisk energi, og avgjerande for alle disse bruksområda er strukturar som forkastingar og sprekkenettverk, og deira kontroll på væskestraum i undergrunnen. Hovudfokuset i denne avhandlinga er å forbetre forståinga av undergrunnen gjennom to overordna tema; (i) kontrollen forkastings- og sprekkenettverk har på væskestraum og reaksjonar mellom væsker og bergartar, og (ii) seismisk avbilding av slike forkastingar og deira væske-bergart reaksjonsprodukt i undergrunnen. Sjølv om det er generell einigheit i at geologiske strukturer utøver sterk kontroll på væskestraum, har få forsøkt å kvantifisere dette forholdet. I samsvar med tema (i) ovanfor byrjar denne avhandlinga difor med å kvantifisere og visualisere forholdet mellom væskestraum og strukturell kompleksitet (Artikkel 1). Ved hjelp av sementerte haugar med lav porøsitet som bevis for paleo-væskestraum, nyttast topologi for å karakterisere og visualisere strukturell kompleksitet i lokaliserte område, og kvantitativt dokumentere deira korrelasjon med områder for lokalisert paleo-væskestraum. Artikkel 2 gir ei oversikt over geologiske kontrollar på væskestraum i sedimentære bergartar, basert på ein kombinasjon av litteraturanalyse og studie av eksempel frå felt der jernoksidutfelling blir brukt som bevis for paleo-væskestraum. Artikkelen dokumenterer eit vidt spenn av kontrollar på væskestraum og inkluderer alt frå enkle geologiske heterogeniteter til meir komplekse nettverk av strukturar, og dokumenterer og kvantifiserer topologien til både sprekkenettverk og hybridnettverk beståande av ein kombinasjon av sprekker og sedimentære avsetningsstrukturar som fungerer som leiarar for væskestraum. Eit viktig verktøy for kartlegging av slike væskeleiande strukturar i undergrunnen er seismiske refleksjonsdata. I tråd med Tema (ii), undersøkjer Artikkel 3 effekten av småskala forkastingar (nær eller under seismisk oppløysing) på seismiske bilde ved hjelp av seismisk modellering. Hovudmålet i denne artikkelen er å dokumentere effekten som forkastingar under- eller på grensa til seismisk oppløysing kan ha på seismiske data. For eksempel illustrerer artikkelen korleis subtile forandringar i ein refleksjon kan vere resultat av små forkastingar i undergrunnen, noko som er viktig ny innsikt og som mogleg kan bidra til å forbetre tolking av strukturar i seismikk. I tillegg til avbilding av forkastingar i seg sjølv, er også produkta av væske-bergart interaksjon av interesse, og det er derfor viktig å også forstå deira seismiske signatur. Ved hjelp av seismisk modellering av forkastingskontrollerte dolomittar i ei kalksteinsdominert sone i Suezbukta, blir seismisk avbilding av både massive og stratigrafisk kontrollerte dolomittkroppar undersøkt med varierande geologiske og geofysiske parametrar i Artikkel 4. Resultata i denne artikkelen gir ny innsikt i korleis forkastingskontrollerte hydrotermale dolomittkroppar blir avbilda i seismiske data; artikkelen dokumenterer at dei generelle trendane og nærværet av dolomitt i undergrunnen er mogleg å slutte frå seismiske data, men identifisering av individuelle, stratigrafisk kontrollerte dolomittkroppar er ikkje stadfesta mogleg. Funna frå denne avhandlinga fremjar den grunnleggande forståinga av sentrale geologiske kontrollar på væskestraum i undergrunnen, og avbilding av potensielt strøymingskontrollerande forkastingar og deira bergreaktive produkt i refleksjonsseismiske data. Den nye innsikta presentert i avhandlinga har eit breitt spekter av implikasjonar og nytteområde, for eksempel for lokalisering av økonomisk betydelege førekomstar av nyttige mineral, i risikovurdering for CO2- og hydrogenlagring, grunnvasshandtering, lokalisering av forureining, og meir.Exploration of the sub-surface has historically largely been driven by economic incentives through potential hydrocarbon recovery, but more recently the role of subsurface geology in the green shift has gained more focus. The subsurface are highly important for CO2- and hydrogen storage, freshwater resources, and geothermal energy to name a few, and crucial for all these are structures such as faults and their conjugate damage zones, veins, joints, and deformation bands, as well as the depositional architecture of the host rock. This thesis aim to improve our understanding of the sub-surface through two overarching themes, (i) fault and fracture networks and their controls on fluid flow and fluid-rock interaction, and (ii) the seismic imaging of such faults and their fluid-rock reactive products in the subsurface. Despite the consensus that structures exert strong control on fluid flow, few have attempted to quantify this relationship. In accordance with theme (i) above, this thesis therefore starts by quantifying and visualizing the relationship between fluid flow and structural complexity; using low-porosity cemented mounds as a record of paleo-fluid flow and topological characterization, zones of past fluid flow and areas of structural complexity are correlated and documented. Further, an overview of controls on fluid flow is given through literature review and documentation of outcrops using iron oxide precipitates as proxy for paleo-fluid flow; the fluid flow controls are ranging from simple geological heterogeneities to more complex networks of structures, and through topological characterization, the connectivity of fracture networks and hybrid networks are documented. The structures controlling flow can be found at all scales, but as the most commonly used tool for subsurface investigation is seismic imaging many of these will fall below seismic resolution. Following theme (ii), we investigate the effect of sub-seismic faults on seismic imaging using synthetic seismic from outcrop analogues and prove that under the right conditions, faults with throw as low as 5 m still produce distortion of reflections. But not only fault and fractures but also the products of fluid-rock interaction are of interest to explore in the subsurface, and hence it is important to understand their seismic signature. Using seismic modelling of fault-controlled dolomites in a limestone-dominated succession in the Golf of Suez it is found that the presence of both stratabound and massive dolomite bodies can be inferred, although only the massive dolomite can be distinguished individually. The findings form this thesis have implications for the fundamental understanding of how fluids are controlled in the subsurface, and present examples of how these controls might be imaged in reflection seismic data. This is in turn critical for a variety of processes and areas such as locating economically significant ore deposits, hydrocarbon seal risk assessment, prediction of earthquakes, groundwater management, and more. Due to the vast number of processes that are controlled by sub-surface fluid flow it is of both environmental, societal, and economic interest to be able to predict and understand fluid flow pathways, how they interact to form networks, and how they and their fluid-rock interactive products might be portrayed in reflection seismic data.Doktorgradsavhandlin

Impact of variable proton relative biological effectiveness on estimates of secondary cancer risk in paediatric cancer patients

Background: Proton therapy has an increased dose-conformity compared to conventional radiotherapy with photons, and paediatric cancer patients receiving cranio-spinal irradiation (CSI) are routinely referred to this treatment modality. With long life-expectancy and enhanced radiosensitivity, children are at a significant risk of developing radiation-induced secondary cancers, emphasising the importance of secondary cancer risk estimations following proton therapy for these patients. Previous comparative studies on secondary cancer risk following proton and photon CSI treatment plans for paediatric cancer patients have based the proton risk estimates on a constant proton relative biological effectiveness (RBE) of 1.1. As the proton RBE varies with factors such as linear energy transfer (LET), dose, and tissue type, it is important to investigate how a variable proton RBE may affect the secondary cancer risk estimates for this patient group. Materials and methods: Proton CSI treatment plans for ten paediatric medulloblastoma patients were analysed with respect to the risk of radiation-induced secondary cancer of the lungs and thyroid by comparing risks predicted by the clinical proton RBE of 1.1 to the risk predictions of four variable RBE models (LET-weighted dose, the McNamara model, the Rørvik model, and the Wilkens model). By applying the organ equivalent dose (OED) concept to different dose-response scenarios, the lifetime attributable risk (LAR) and the excess absolute risk (EAR) were estimated based on age-, sex-, and site-specific risk coefficients gathered from epidemiological data on the Japanese A-bomb survivors. Results: All secondary cancer risk estimates were higher for the variable RBE models compared to the constant RBE of 1.1 for both organ sites, independent of dose-response relationship used. The risk predictions were highest with the variable RBE models that used tissue parameters corresponding to late reacting tissues which, depending on chosen organ site and dose-response relationship applied, predicted a 9 to 47% increase in risk from the constant RBE estimates. Conclusion: Regardless of risk model applied, the estimated risk of radiation-induced secondary cancer of the lungs and thyroid will increase when the proton RBE is variable and not constant. However, the enhanced secondary cancer risk estimates found in this thesis were not high enough to impact the conclusion made by previous studies: that proton CSI is the better option compared to photon CSI with respect to estimated secondary cancer risk for radiotherapy of paediatric medulloblastoma patients.Masteroppgave i fysikkMAMN-PHYSPHYS39

Political crossroads ahead in Sweden: The signs are red-green. EPIN Commentary No. 20, 31 July 2014

The political balance in Sweden was upset in this year’s elections to the European Parliament (EP). The far-right ‘Sweden Democrats’ almost tripled their vote-share and the Greens gained enough votes to become the second-largest Swedish party in the EP after the Social Democrats. Support for the current government incumbents, the Moderates, fell beyond expectation. The party will not recover in time for the national elections in September, whereas both the Greens and the Sweden Democrats are likely to repeat their EP election success. Since the Sweden Democrats are unlikely to form part of the coalition government – the election-winners will be the Greens and Social Democrats – Sweden’s political landscape is set to undergo a shift to the left

Self-reported food hypersensitivity in relation to biomarkers: The Fit Futures Study

Food hypersensitivity is recognized as a rather common condition, that can occur at any age. There is limited high-quality data on the burden of this condition, especially after child age. The aim of this thesis has been to explore whether levels of biomarkers in blood differ between adolescents with self-reported hypersensitivity against certain food and the control group in a general youth population. This project is based on data from the Tromsø Study Fit Futures 2. The study population includes 376 females and 307 males (age 17-21) in upper secondary school from the neighbouring municipalities Tromsø and Balsfjord, North Norway. Data on self-hypersensitivity against foods was assessed by a web-based questionnaire and levels of Hb, Fe, Ferritin, Calcium and Vitamin D were measured. There was a statistically significant difference between mean Hb-levels in participants with any kind of food reaction (p < 0.05), and food reactions to wheat (p < 0.001), nuts (p < 0.05) and peanuts (p < 0.001) compared to participants with no food reactions; the subjects with food reactions having a lower mean value. Amongst adolescents with a reported food reaction to wheat, there were also a statistically significant lower level of Ferritin and Calcium values (all p < 0.05). Aside from these there were no significant differences in mean/median biomarker values for Hb, Fe, Ferritin, Calcium or Vitamin D when comparing subjects with and without self-reported food reactions. Self-reported reaction to wheat was also associated with having Calcium levels below reference level (p < 0.05). Except for this, there were no associations between having a food reaction and having biomarker levels below reference levels or in the lower quartile. This study suggests that there is a slight difference in biomarker levels when comparing a youth population with self-reported food reactions to a control group, especially in subjects reporting wheat hypersensitivity. More detailed research is needed on this subject to conclude with how and to which extent this affects the nutritional status of these adolescents

„Sztuka nauczania” – prezentacja programu kształcenia nauczycieli Waldorf w Rudolf Steiner University College w Oslo, Norwegia

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Probabilistic Load Forecasting with Deep Conformalized Quantile Regression

The establishment of smart grids and the introduction of distributed generation posed new challenges in energy analytics that can be tackled with machine learning algorithms. The latter, are able to handle a combination of weather and consumption data, grid measurements, and their historical records to compute inference and make predictions. An accurate energy load forecasting is essential to assure reliable grid operation and power provision at peak times when power consumption is high. However, most of the existing load forecasting algorithms provide only point estimates or probabilistic forecasting methods that construct prediction intervals without coverage guarantee. Nevertheless, information about uncertainty and prediction intervals is very useful to grid operators to evaluate the reliability of operations in the power network and to enable a risk-based strategy for configuring the grid over a conservative one. There are two popular statistical methods used to generate prediction intervals in regression tasks: Quantile regression is a non-parametric probabilistic forecasting technique producing prediction intervals adaptive to local variability within the data by estimating quantile functions directly from the data. However, the actual coverage of the prediction intervals obtained via quantile regression is not guaranteed to satisfy the designed coverage level for finite samples. Conformal prediction is an on-top probabilistic forecasting framework producing symmetric prediction intervals, most often with a fixed length, guaranteed to marginally satisfy the designed coverage level for finite samples. This thesis proposes a probabilistic load forecasting method for constructing marginally valid prediction intervals adaptive to local variability and suitable for data characterized by temporal dependencies. The method is applied in conjunction with recurrent neural networks, deep learning architectures for sequential data, which are mostly used to compute point forecasts rather than probabilistic forecasts. Specifically, the use of an ensemble of pinball-loss guided deep neural networks performing quantile regression is used together with conformal prediction to address the individual shortcomings of both techniques

IMPACT OF SOIL MOISTURE AND COMPOSITION ON ITS PROPERTIES AND ENERGY CONSUMPTION OF TILLAGE

Two of the many factors that influence soil properties and energy consumption are soil moisture and soil composition. The correlations derived from our theoretical and experimental research allow to evaluate physical and mechanical properties of soil such as density, hardness, friction, adhesion, and to assess the draft resistance of soil tillage machines (ploughs, cultivators) depending on the value of the moisture of soil and its composition, as well as on the design parameters and operating speed of the machines, and to determine the optimum range of soil moisture when the energy capacity of tillage is the lowest

Forståelse av forholdet mellom struktur og funksjon til Vitellogenin i honningbia

This thesis focuses on the structure and molecular function of Vitellogenin (Vg) from honey bees (Apis mellifera). Vg is an ancient protein found in animals. Most biological processes depend on proteins' activities, and the structural shape of proteins determines what they can do and how they work. It is important to understand the shape and associated functional properties of honey bee Vg, as honey bees are important pollinators in our natural environment and agricultural food system. A yolk-protein that transports nutrients like lipids and zinc, Vg is necessary for honey bee reproduction, and the protein also regulates social behavior and has immune-related functions. Paper I presents a full-length protein structure for honey bee Vg, generated using computational structure prediction. For the first time, we describe the complete structural fold of the protein, revealing previously unknown structural features. In Paper II, I use structural- and sequence-data analysis to identify seven potential zinc-binding sites at different protein regions. Element analysis of purified Vg shows that, on average, three zinc-sites are occupied per molecule – a ratio not reported before. Paper III explores the Vg structure from the perspective of allelic variation on the honey bee vg-gene. We used amplicon Nanopore sequencing with barcoded primers to identify 121 Vg variants. With these data, I found that the domains and subdomains of Vg are characterized by different levels of variation. While some of these patterns were expected, my results also provide new insights on possible structure-function relationships. I use findings from Papers I, II, and III in Paper IV to develop a novel explanatory model for how Vg holds its lipid load. In sum, this thesis presents a detailed structural study that contributes toward understanding the multifunctional role of honey bee Vg.Denne avhandlingen fokuserer på strukturen og funksjonen til Vitellogenin (Vg) hos honningbier (Apis mellifera). Vg er et gammelt protein som finnes i mange dyr. De fleste biologiske prosesser er avhengige av proteiners aktivitet, og den strukturelle formen til et protein bestemmer hva det kan gjøre og hvordan det fungerer. De er viktig å forstå formen og de assosierte funksjonelle egenskapene til Vg i honningbia, ettersom honningbier er viktige pollinatorer i vårt naturlige miljø og for matproduksjon i landbruk. Vg er nødvendig for reproduksjon i honningbier som et egg-protein, ved å transportere næringsstoffer som lipider og sink, men proteinet regulerer også sosial adferd og har immunrelaterte funksjoner. Paper I presenterer en full-lengde proteinstruktur av Vg i honningbia, generert ved å bruke beregningsmessig protein-prediksjon. Vi beskriver en fullstendig strukturell form av proteinet for første gang, som avdekker nye strukturelle egenskaper. I Paper II, bruker jeg struktur- og sekvensdata-analyser til å identifisere syv potensielle sink-bindingsseter på ulike områder i proteinet. Element-analyse av renset Vg viser at tre sink-seter, i snitt, er bundet per molekyl – en ratio som ikke har blitt rapportert tidligere. Paper III utforsker Vg strukturen fra et genetisk variasjonsperspektiv i vg-genet til honningbia. Vi bruker amplikon Nanoporesekvensering med seriekodede primere for å identifisere 121 Vg-varianter. Med disse data fant jeg ut at domener og subdomer i Vg karakteriseres av variasjonsnivå. Noen av disse mønstrene var forventet, men mine resultater bidrar også til ny innsikt i forholdet mellom Vgs struktur og funksjon. Jeg bruker funnene fra Paper I, II, og III i Paper IV for å utlede en ny forklaringsmodell for hvordan Vg bærer sin lipidlast. Min avhandling representerer en detaljert strukturell studie som tar viktige steg mot å forstå den flerfunksjonelle rollen til Vg i honningbia.Norges forskningsråd ; BioCa

Monitoring bat-insect relationships in boreal forest habitats

Insect populations have over the last decades experienced global declines caused by anthropogenic disturbances, e.g., land-use changes, habitat loss, deforestation, and agricultural intensification. Consequently, insectivore populations are vulnerable because of reduced prey populations. Bats living at northern latitudes are especially vulnerable to changes in their food resources, as they experience shorter nights in the summer months compared to conspecifics living at lower latitudes. Additionally, bats living at northern latitudes are often constrained by less preferable weather conditions under the same high energy demands as those conspecifics. Evidence-based conservation of insectivorous bats requires knowledge about changes in both bat and insect abundance. There is a strong need for efficient methods for monitoring insect- insectivore relationships at different spatial and temporal scales. Non-invasive techniques have with time become a more accessible and affordable tool providing knowledge about wildlife populations with minimal degree of disturbance. Here I have investigated the ability of insect camera traps and ultrasonic acoustic recorders to capture these insect-insectivore relationships at 12 sites of boreal mixed forest habitats in Norway. In addition, I have looked at how bat activity and insect abundance are affected by environmental context, i.e., forest density (leaf area index), day length, temperature, soil moisture and ground cover. I also studied whether the relationships between insect abundance and bat activity differs among bat foraging guilds, i.e., short range echolocators (SRE), medium range echolocators (MRE) and long range echolocators (LRE). I conducted sweep net sampling of insects to compare the effectiveness of the non-invasive camera traps with a more conventional insect sampling method. I found an overall positive relationship between insect abundance and bat activity, but the relationship depended on leaf area index. There was a clear positive relationship between insect abundance and bat activity when leaf area index was low, but not at high leaf area index values. There was a clear negative relationship between leaf area index and bat activity for all guilds, but the decline was steeper for the MRE guild. Day length and soil moisture were negatively related to bat activity. Sites with a tall vegetation ground cover had higher insect abundance and bat activity than sites with low vegetation ground cover. In conclusion, I found that using automatic camera traps can be a useful method for quantifying food abundance for insectivorous forest- dwelling bats, but for the method to work, the camera must be deployed in open areas (gaps) in the forest.M-ECO

ROLE-BASED LEARNING: THE DEVELOPMENT OF STUDENTS’ DIGITAL LITERACY IN ESP COURSES

Due to the increasing number of higher education study programmes in English and the tendency to incorporate English for Specific Purposes (henceforth, ESP) training into the content courses, there is a need to diversify the learning outcomes of the ESP courses to shift the focus on developing more interdisciplinary competencies. Thus, securing the pertinence of ESP and EAP courses in higher education study programmes. The current study proposes using ESP courses as a platform for developing digital literacy and performs an empirical study to examine the efficiency of integrating a role-based approach to develop students’ digital capabilities in the ESP courses. In addition, it tests the compliance of the Jisc digital capabilities framework with the Business students’ academic and professional needs. Two groups of 32 first-year university students studying Business English were observed for one semester. The data was extracted from the pilot lesson observations, student self- assessment surveys and end-of-semester interviews. The findings show that the inclusion of digital capabilities training does not compromise the acquisition of language-oriented traditional ESP goals. The tasks derived from the digital capabilities framework that the majority of the students rated as meeting their academic and professional needs were the creation of data visualisations, references, surveys, digital textual content, basics of graphic design; the use of collaborative work tools, and the moderation of online accounts for business branding purposes. Finally, the introduction of roles in the project-based learning increased students' sense of accountability and reinforced the metacognition during the learning process; the role distinction also revealed that in group work students struggle the most with professional interpersonal communication tasks, such as providing feedback, forming structural criticism, moderating meetings and assigning tasks to peers.publishersversionPeer reviewe