Platform-basin transitions and their role in Alpine-style collision systems : a comparative approach

CB acknowledges financial support from Optimus (Aberdeen) ltd. Petroceltic International plc are thanked for providing access to the subsurface data used in this study and for permission to publish images used here. Schlumberger are thanked for providing use of Petrel software under their academic agreement with the University of Aberdeen. RWHB thanks the organisers of the 12th Emile Argand Conference on Alpine Geological Studies for the invitation and financial support to participate in the Montgenevre workshop. Reviewers Enrico Tavarnelli, Thierry Dumont and editors Christian Sue and Stefan Schmid are all thanked for their comments that have significantly improved this contribution.Peer reviewedPublisher PD

Negativity and contextuality are equivalent notions of nonclassicality

Two notions of nonclassicality that have been investigated intensively are: (i) negativity, that is, the need to posit negative values when representing quantum states by quasiprobability distributions such as the Wigner representation, and (ii) contextuality, that is, the impossibility of a noncontextual hidden variable model of quantum theory (also known as the Bell-Kochen-Specker theorem). Although both of these notions were meant to characterize the conditions under which a classical explanation cannot be provided, we demonstrate that they prove inadequate to the task and we argue for a particular way of generalizing and revising them. With the refined version of each in hand, it becomes apparent that they are in fact one and the same. We also demonstrate the impossibility of noncontextuality or nonnegativity in quantum theory with a novel proof that is symmetric in its treatment of measurements and preparations.Comment: 5 pages, published version (modulo some supplementary material

Imaging with a small number of photons

Low-light-level imaging techniques have application in many diverse fields, ranging from biological sciences to security. We demonstrate a single-photon imaging system based on a time-gated inten- sified CCD (ICCD) camera in which the image of an object can be inferred from very few detected photons. We show that a ghost-imaging configuration, where the image is obtained from photons that have never interacted with the object, is a useful approach for obtaining images with high signal-to-noise ratios. The use of heralded single-photons ensures that the background counts can be virtually eliminated from the recorded images. By applying techniques of compressed sensing and associated image reconstruction, we obtain high-quality images of the object from raw data comprised of fewer than one detected photon per image pixel.Comment: 9 pages, 4 figure

A Pilot Study of Wichita Indian Archeology and Ethnohistory

In 1965 several anthropologists drew up plans for a one-year pilot study of the archeology and ethnohistory of the Wichita Indian tribes. After financial support had been generously provided by the National Science Foundation, the proposed research was carried out. This is a report on the results of that study. The pilot study was designed to: a) obtain a body of field data from the components of the Spanish Fort sites, the largest and best=documented of the historic Wichita sites in the Red River area; b) make test excavations at several other sites in order that a problem=oriented program of future research can be accurately planned; c) attempt to locate, by field reconnaissance, sites that relate to the Wichita occupation of the southern plains on both the historic and prehistoric time levels; d) make a survey of available ethnohistorical data in order (1) to compile a bibliography of documentary materials relevant to Wichita ethnohistory, (2) to make a detailed study of documents that relate specifically to the excavations being carried out at Spanish Fort and at the sites being tested, (3) to seek information that might lead to the field locations of other Wichita sites, and (4) to appraise those sources best suited for more extended examination. The co-investigators of the project were Tyler Bastian of the Museum of the Great Plains, Robert E. Bell of The University of Oklahoma, Edward B. Jelks of Southern Methodist University, and W.W. Newcomb of the Texas Memorial Museum at The University of Texas. Bastian supervised the archeological field work in Oklahoma under the direction of Bell. Jelks directed the archeological work in Texas. Newcomb directed the ethnohistorical research. Marvin E. Tong of the Museum of the Great Plains served the project as general coordinator. The main part of the ethnohistorical study consisted of a thorough search of the archives at The University of Texas for documents relating to Wichita ethnohistory. The archeological work included extensive excavations at the Longest Site in Oklahoma and at the Upper Tucker and Coyote Sites in Texas. More limited excavations were carried out at the Glass and Gas Plant Sites in Texas. Several other archeological sites were visited but not excavated beyond a test pit or two: the Devils Canyon and Wilson Springs Sites in Oklahoma, and the Gilbert, Stone, Vinson, and Womack Sites in Texas. An effort was also made to locate several sites in Oklahoma and Texas which were reported in historical documents but which had not been located in the field. After the library research and the archeological field work had been completed, a brief, general report could have been prepared to satisfy our contractual obligation to the National Science Foundation. It was felt, however, that the data which had been collected would be of interest to archeologists and ethnohistorians and, if possible, it should be made available to them in some detail without delay. Consequently, a series of descriptive papers was prepared instead of a summary report. Those papers are presented here

Progress Towards Real-Time Radiation Measurements on Aircraft

The Space Weather Center (SWC) at Utah State University has created a team to deploy and obtain radiation effective dose rate data from dosimeters flown on commercial aircraft. The objective is to improve the accuracy of radiation dose and dose rate estimates for commercial aviation flight crews. There are two general sources of radiation exposure for flight crews: (1) the ever-present, background galactic cosmic rays (GCR), which originate outside the solar system, and (2) the solar energetic particle (SEP) events (or solar cosmic rays), which are associated with solar flares and coronal mass ejections lasting for several hours to days with widely varying intensity. The Automated Radiation Measurements for Aviation Safety (ARMAS) project is making substantial progress, currently implementing dosimeters flown in commercial aircraft to provide and improve sample data collected for the Nowcast of Atmospheric Ionizing Radiation for Aviation Safety (NAIRAS) estimates. We report on the results of our flights and the calibration of the dosimeters