Interseismic coupling and refined earthquake potential on the Hayward-Calaveras fault zone

Interseismic strain accumulation and fault creep is usually estimated from GPS and alignment arrays data, which provide precise but spatially sparse measurements. Here we use interferometric synthetic aperture radar to resolve the interseismic deformation associated with the Hayward and Calaveras Faults (HF and CF) in the East San Francisco Bay Area. The large 1992–2011 SAR data set permits evaluation of short- and long-wavelength deformation larger than 2 mm/yr without alignment of the velocity field to a GPS-based model. Our time series approach in which the interferogram selection is based on the spatial coherence enables deformation mapping in vegetated areas and leads to refined estimates of along-fault surface creep rates. Creep rates vary from 0 ± 2 mm/yr on the northern CF to 14 ± 2 mm/yr on the central CF south of the HF surface junction. We estimate the long-term slip rates by inverting the long-wavelength deformation and the distribution of shallow slip due to creep by inverting the remaining velocity field. This distribution of slip reveals the locations of locked and slowly creeping patches with potential for a M6.8 ± 0.3 on the HF near San Leandro, a M6.6 ± 0.2 on the northern CF near Dublin, a M6.5 ± 0.1 on the HF south of Fremont, and a M6.2 ± 0.2 on the central CF near Morgan Hill. With cascading multisegment ruptures the HF rupturing from Berkeley to the CF junction could produce a M6.9 ± 0.1, the northern CF a M6.6 ± 0.1, the central CF a M6.9 ± 0.2 from the junction to Gilroy, and a joint rupture of the HF and central CF could produce a M7.1 ± 0.1

Study of the p p -> p p pi+ pi- Reaction in the Low-Energy Tail of the Roper Resonance

Exclusive measurements of the p p -> p p pi+ pi- reaction have been carried out at Tp = 775 MeV at CELSIUS using the PROMICE/WASA setup. Together with data obtained at lower energy they point to a dominance of the Roper excitation in this process. From the observed interference of its decay routes N* -> N sigma and N* -> Delta pi -> N sigma their energy-dependent relative branching ratio is determined

Beginning of the End of Cost Competitiveness in CEE Countries - Analysis of Dependence between Labor Costs and Internationalization of the Region

In order to exemplify the above econometric model I carried out empirical analysis of the companies listed on the Warsaw Stock Exchange, identifying the companies for which efficiency-seeking is the main internationalization motive. The analysis of internationalization of 26 companies during the years 1990-2010 clearly shows that a significant part of investments is located outside the territory of Poland, in the countries with lower labor costs. This fact confirms that CEE countries will gradually become less and less attractive in terms of costs not only for MNEs from developed countries but also for the companies originating from transition economies.Głównym celem artykułu jest weryfikacja, czy niski poziom kosztów pracy w Europie Środkowej i Wschodniej będący do tej pory jednym z czynników wpływających na konkurencyjność tego regionu pozostanie nim w dłuższej perspektywie czasowej. W pracy na podstawie próby wszystkich państw UE zbadano zależność pomiędzy poziomem internacjonalizacji (stan odpływu BIZ per capita) a kosztami pracy w sektorze przedsiębiorstw i GNP per capita. Analiza regresji potwierdziła istnienie zależności pomiędzy wyżej wymienionymi czynnikami. Oznacza to, że stopniowy wzrost kosztów pracy w państwach Europy Środkowej i Wschodniej prowadził będzie do stopniowego odpływu BIZ z tego regionu do państw bardziej konkurencyjnych kosztowo. W celu egzemplifikacji powyższych zależności w pracy dodatkowo przedstawiono analizę inwestycji zagranicznych polskich spółek notowanych na GPW, z których to 26 dokonało inwwestycji zagranicznych o wyraźnych motywach związanych z obniżeniem kosztów produkcji. Fakt ten potwierdza powolny spadek konkurencyjności kosztowej polskiej gospodarki, tym samym zmusza do poszukiwania nowych rozwiązań instytucjonalnych mogących utrzymać konkurencyjność polskiej gospodarki w długim okresie

Fermi Surface of The One-dimensional Kondo Lattice Model

We show a strong indication of the existence of a large Fermi surface in the one-dimensional Kondo lattice model. The characteristic wave vector of the model is found to be $k_F=(1+\rho )\pi /2$, $\rho$ being the density of the conduction electrons. This result is at first obtained for a variant of the model that includes an antiferromagnetic Heisenberg interaction $J_H$ between the local moments. It is then directly observed in the conventional Kondo lattice $(J_H=0)$, in the narrow range of Kondo couplings where the long distance properties of the model are numerically accessible.Comment: 11 pages, 6 figure

Long-range potential fluctuations and 1/f noise in hydrogenated amorphous silicon

We present a microscopic theory of the low-frequency voltage noise (known as "1/f" noise) in micrometer-thick films of hydrogenated amorphous silicon. This theory traces the noise back to the long-range fluctuations of the Coulomb potential produced by deep defects, thereby predicting the absolute noise intensity as a function of the distribution of defect activation energies. The predictions of this theory are in very good agreement with our own experiments in terms of both the absolute intensity and the temperature dependence of the noise spectra.Comment: 8 pages, 3 figures, several new parts and one new figure are added, but no conceptual revision

Single-photon tunneling

Strong evidence of a single-photon tunneling effect, a direct analog of single-electron tunneling, has been obtained in the measurements of light tunneling through individual subwavelength pinholes in a thick gold film covered with a layer of polydiacetylene. The transmission of some pinholes reached saturation because of the optical nonlinearity of polydiacetylene at a very low light intensity of a few thousands photons per second. This result is explained theoretically in terms of "photon blockade", similar to the Coulomb blockade phenomenon observed in single-electron tunneling experiments. The single-photon tunneling effect may find many applications in the emerging fields of quantum communication and information processing.Comment: 4 pages, 4figure

The effectiveness of manual stretching in the treatment of plantar heel pain: a systematic review

Background: Plantar heel pain is a commonly occurring foot complaint. Stretching is frequently utilised as a treatment, yet a systematic review focusing only on its effectiveness has not been published. This review aimed to assess the effectiveness of stretching on pain and function in people with plantar heel pain. Methods: Medline, EMBASE, CINAHL, AMED, and The Cochrane Library were searched from inception to July 2010. Studies fulfilling the inclusion criteria were independently assessed, and their quality evaluated using the modified PEDro scale. Results: Six studies including 365 symptomatic participants were included. Two compared stretching with a control, one study compared stretching to an alternative intervention, one study compared stretching to both alternative and control interventions, and two compared different stretching techniques and durations. Quality rating on the modified Pedro scale varied from two to eight out of a maximum of ten points. The methodologies and interventions varied significantly between studies, making meta-analysis inappropriate. Most participants improved over the course of the studies, but when stretching was compared to alternative or control interventions, the changes only reached statistical significance in one study that used a combination of calf muscle stretches and plantar fascia stretches in their stretching programme. Another study comparing different stretching techniques, showed a statistically significant reduction in some aspects of pain in favour of plantar fascia stretching over calf stretches in the short term. Conclusions: There were too few studies to assess whether stretching is effective compared to control or other interventions, for either pain or function. However, there is some evidence that plantar fascia stretching may be more effective than Achilles tendon stretching alone in the short-term. Appropriately powered randomised controlled trials, utilizing validated outcome measures, blinded assessors and long-term follow up are needed to assess the efficacy of stretching

Higher Partial Waves in p+p->p+p+eta near Threshold

Exclusive measurements of the production of eta mesons in the p+p->p+p+eta reaction have been carried out at excess energies of 16 and 37 MeV above threshold. The deviations from phase space are dominated by the proton-proton final state interaction and this influences particularly the energy distribution of the eta meson. However, evidence is also presented at the higher energy for the existence of an anisotropy in the angular distributions of the eta meson and also of the final proton-proton pair, probably to be associated with D-waves in this system interfering with the dominant S-wave term. The sign of the eta angular anisotropy suggests that rho-exchange is important for this reaction.Comment: 16 pages, LaTeX2e, 3 EPS Figures, Updated version, Accepted for publication in Phys. Lett.