Sedimentation and climatic processes on the Tagus River System (Portuguese Margin)

17th INQUA Congress in Cairns (Australia), 28th July to 3rd August, 200

Optimal Fleet Composition via Dynamic Programming and Golden Section Search

In this paper, we consider an optimization problem arising in vehicle fleet management. The problem is to construct a heterogeneous vehicle fleet in such a way that cost is minimized subject to a constraint on the overall fleet size. The cost function incorporates fixed and variable costs associated with the fleet, as well as hiring costs that are incurred when vehicle requirements exceed fleet capacity. We first consider the simple case when there is only one type of vehicle. We show that in this case the cost function is convex, and thus the problem can be solved efficiently using the well-known golden section method. We then devise an algorithm, based on dynamic programming and the golden section method, for solving the general problem in which there are multiple vehicle types. We conclude the paper with some simulation results

The unusual ISM in blue and dusty gas-rich galaxies (BADGRS)

The Herschel-ATLAS unbiased survey of cold dust in the local Universe is dominated by a surprising population of very blue (FUV-K 0.5 fHI=MHI/(M∗+M+HI)>0.5 ). Dubbed ‘Blue and Dusty Gas-Rich Sources’ (BADGRS) they have cold diffuse dust temperatures, and the highest dust-to-stellar mass ratios of any galaxies in the local Universe. Here, we explore the molecular interstellar medium in a representative sample of BADGRS, using very deep CO(J up =1,2,3) CO(Jup=1,2,3) observations across the central and outer disc regions. We find very low CO brightnesses (Tp = 5–30 mK), despite the bright far-infrared emission and metallicities in the range 0.5 < Z/Z⊙ < 1.0. The CO line ratios indicate a range of conditions with R 21 =T 21 b /T 10 b =0.6−2.1 R21=Tb21/Tb10=0.6−2.1 and R 31 =T 32 b /T 10 b =0.2−1.2 R31=Tb32/Tb10=0.2−1.2 . Using a metallicity-dependent conversion from CO luminosity to molecular gas mass, we find M H 2 /M d ∼7−27 MH2/Md∼7−27 and Σ H 2 =0.5−6M ⊙ pc −2 ΣH2=0.5−6M⊙pc−2 , around an order of magnitude lower than expected. The BADGRS have lower molecular gas depletion time-scales (τd ∼ 0.5 Gyr) than other local spirals, lying offset from the Kennicutt–Schmidt relation by a similar factor to Blue Compact Dwarf galaxies. The cold diffuse dust temperature in BADGRS (13–16 K) requires an interstellar radiation field 10–20 times lower than that inferred from their observed surface brightness. We speculate that the dust in these sources has either a very clumpy geometry or a very different opacity in order to explain the cold temperatures and lack of CO emission. BADGRS also have low UV attenuation for their UV colour suggestive of an SMC-type dust attenuation curve, different star formation histories or different dust/star geometry. They lie in a similar part of the IRX-β space as z z ∼ 5 galaxies and may be useful as local analogues for high gas fraction galaxies in the early Universe

Once-weekly oral medication with alendronate does not prevent migration of knee prostheses: A double-blind randomized RSA study

Background and purpose Early migration of joint replacements is an effect of poor fixation and can predict late loosening. By reducing the bone resorption after implantation of a joint replacement, it should be possible to enhance the initial fixation of the implant. We studied the effect of once-weekly treatment with alendronate after knee replacement

Judging parental competence: A cross‐country analysis of judicial decision makers' written assessment of mothers' parenting capacities in newborn removal cases

This paper examines the discretionary reasoning of the judiciary in three jurisdictions, England, Germany and Norway, in cases deciding whether a newborn child is safe with her parents or intervention is necessary. Our analysis focuses on one specific dimension of decision makers' exercise of discretion, namely, if and how the strengths and weaknesses of the mother are considered. The data material consists of all decisions concerning care orders of newborns from one large city in Germany from 2015 to 2017 (n = 27) and 2016 in Norway (n = 76) and all publicly available newborn removal decisions in England for 2015–2017 (n = 14). The findings reveal a high number of risk factors in the cases and less focus on risk‐reducing factors. The situation of the newborn is considered to be harmful, as most cases result in a care order. Judicial discretion differs by how much information, and what types of factors, are included in the justification for the decision. A learning point for decision makers and policymakers would be to actively undertake a balancing act between risk‐increasing and risk‐reducing factors.publishedVersio

Dependence of Intramyocardial Pressure and Coronary Flow on Ventricular Loading and Contractility: A Model Study

The phasic coronary arterial inflow during the normal cardiac cycle has been explained with simple (waterfall, intramyocardial pump) models, emphasizing the role of ventricular pressure. To explain changes in isovolumic and low afterload beats, these models were extended with the effect of three-dimensional wall stress, nonlinear characteristics of the coronary bed, and extravascular fluid exchange. With the associated increase in the number of model parameters, a detailed parameter sensitivity analysis has become difficult. Therefore we investigated the primary relations between ventricular pressure and volume, wall stress, intramyocardial pressure and coronary blood flow, with a mathematical model with a limited number of parameters. The model replicates several experimental observations: the phasic character of coronary inflow is virtually independent of maximum ventricular pressure, the amplitude of the coronary flow signal varies about proportionally with cardiac contractility, and intramyocardial pressure in the ventricular wall may exceed ventricular pressure. A parameter sensitivity analysis shows that the normalized amplitude of coronary inflow is mainly determined by contractility, reflected in ventricular pressure and, at low ventricular volumes, radial wall stress. Normalized flow amplitude is less sensitive to myocardial coronary compliance and resistance, and to the relation between active fiber stress, time, and sarcomere shortening velocity

GAMA/H-ATLAS: the local dust mass function and cosmic density as a function of galaxy type - a benchmark for models of galaxy evolution

We present the dust mass function (DMF) of 15,750 galaxies with redshift z < 0:1, drawn from the overlapping area of the GAMA and H-ATLAS surveys. The DMF is derived using the density corrected Vmax method, where we estimate Vmax using: (i) the normal photometric selection limit (pVmax) and (ii) a bivariate brightness distribution (BBD) technique, which accounts for two selection effects. We fit the data with a Schechter function, and find M* = (4:65 ± 0.18) × 10^7 h^2/70 Mo, α = (-1.22 ± 0:01), Φ*= (6.26 ± 0.28) × 10^-3 h^3/70 Mpc^-3 dex^-1. The resulting dust mass density parameter integrated down to 10^4 M☉ is Ωd = (1.11 ± 0.02) × 10^-6 which implies the mass fraction of baryons in dust is fmb = (2.40 ± 0.04) × 10^-5; cosmic variance adds an extra 7-17 per cent uncertainty to the quoted statistical errors. Our measurements have fewer galaxies with high dust mass than predicted by semi-analytic models. This is because the models include too much dust in high stellar mass galaxies. Conversely, our measurements find more galaxies with high dust mass than predicted by hydrodynamical cosmological simulations. This is likely to be from the long timescales for grain growth assumed in the models. We calculate DMFs split by galaxy type and find dust mass densities of Ωd = (0.88 ± 0.03) × 10^-6 and Ωd = (0.060 ± 0.005) × 10^-6 for late-types and early-types respectively. Comparing to the equivalent galaxy stellar mass functions (GSMF) we find that the DMF for late-types is well matched by the GMSF scaled by (8.07 ± 0.35) × 10^-4