4,792 research outputs found
The Grounding of an Ice Shelf in the Central Arctic Ocean: A Modeling Experiment
A numerical ice sheet model was used in a first test towards evaluating the hypothesis that, during a period of large-scale glaciation, an ice shelf emanating from the Barents/Kara Seas grounded across parts of the Lomonosov Ridge to a depth of around 1000 m below present sea level (Jakobsson, 1999; Polyak et al., 2001). Despite that we not include complex ice shelf physics or grounding line mechanics in our model and treat the process of marine melting in a simple manner, our experiments are the necessary first steps toward providing a comprehensive reconstruction of the former ice-sheet/ice-shelf system in the Arctic Ocean. A series of model runs was performed where ice shelf mass balance and ice shelf strain per unit time (strain rate) were adjusted. The mass balance and shelf ice strain rate are the key model parameters that govern the flux of ice into the Arctic Ocean. Grounding on the Lomonosov Ridge was not modeled when the ice shelf strain rate was 0.005 year-1 (i.e. a free flowing ice shelf). Even with low rates (\u3c10 cm/year) of basal melting, the ice shelf thickness was always less than 100 m over the central part of the ridge. Our experiment suggests that grounding on the Lomonosov Ridge by a free-flowing ice shelf is not possible. When the strain rate in the shelf ice was reduced to zero, however, the shelf thickness increased substantially. Such conditions are likely only to have occurred during periods of large-scale glaciation if substantial stagnant and thickened sea ice was present in the ocean, buttressing the ice shelf flowing from the Barents Sea. A comprehensive study using a coupled icesheet/ shelf/sea-ice model would build on these preliminary results and have the potential to further constrain the history of circum-Arctic Ocean ice sheets
A Modeling Experiment on the Grounding of an Ice Shelf in the Central Arctic Ocean During MIS 6
High-resolution chirp sonar subbottom profiles from the Lomonosov Ridge in the central Arctic Ocean, acquired from the Swedish icebreaker Oden in 1996, revealed large-scale erosion of the ridge crest down to depths of 1000 m below present sea level [Jakobsson, 1999]. Subsequent acoustic mapping during the SCICEX nuclear submarine expedition in 1999 showed glacial fluting at the deepest eroded areas and subparallel ice scours from 950 m water depth to the shallowest parts of the ridge crest [Polyak et al., 2001]. The directions of the mapped glaciogenic bed-forms and the redeposition of eroded material on the Amerasian side of the ridge indicate ice flow from the Barents-Kara Sea area. Core studies revealed that sediment drape the eroded areas from Marine Isotope Stage (MIS) 5.5 and, thus, it was proposed that the major erosional event took place during Marine Isotope Stage (MIS) 6 [Jakobsson et al., 2001]. Glacial geological evidence suggests strongly that the Late Saalian (MIS 6) ice sheet margin reached the shelf break of the Barents-Kara Sea [Svendsen et al. in press] and this gives us two possible ways to explain the ice erosional features on the Lomonosov Ridge. One is the grounding of a floating ice shelf and the other is the scouring from large deep tabular iceberg. Here we apply numerical ice sheet modeling to test the hypothesis that an ice shelf emanating from the Barents/Kara seas grounded across part of the Lomonsov Ridge and caused the extensive erosion down to a depth of around 1000 m below present sea level. A series of model experiments was undertaken in which the ice shelf mass balance (surface accumulation and basal melting) and ice shelf strain rates were adjusted. Grounding of the Lomonosov Ridge was not achieved when the ice shelf strain rate was 0.005 yr-1 (i.e. a free flowing ice shelf). However this model produced two interesting findings. First, with basal melt rates of up to 50 cm yr-1 an ice shelf grew from the St. Anna Trough ice stream across the section of the ridge where there is evidence for grounding. Second, even with ultra low rates of basal melting, the ice shelf thickness was always less than 200 m over the ridge. We conclude that grounding of the Lomonosov Ridge by a free-flowing ice shelf is not possible. When the strain rate was reduced to zero, however, the shelf thickness increased substantially. Such conditions are likely only to have occurred during periods of large-scale glaciation across the Eurasian Arctic such as in the Saalian, and if a substantial stagnant thickened sea ice was present in the ocean, buttressing the shelf flowing from the Barents Sea. Our results are interpreted using new techniques for dynamic 3Dvisualization
GRB optical afterglow and redshift selection effects: The learning curve effect at work
We show how the observed gamma ray burst (GRB) optical afterglow (OA) and
redshift distributions are changing in time from selection effects. For a
subset of {\it Swift} triggered long duration bursts, we show that the mean
time taken to acquire spectroscopic redshifts for a GRB OA has evolved to
shorter times. We identify a strong correlation between the mean time taken to
acquire a spectroscopic redshift and the measured redshift. This correlation
reveals that shorter response times favour smaller redshift bursts. This is
compelling evidence for a selection effect that biases longer response times
with relatively brighter high redshift bursts. Conversely, for shorter response
times, optically fainter bursts that are relatively closer are bright enough
for spectroscopic redshifts to be acquired. This selection effect could explain
why the average redshift, measured in 2005, has evolved to
, by mid 2008. Understanding these selection effects provides an
important tool for separating the contributions of intrinsically faint bursts,
those obscured by host galaxy dust and bursts not seen in the optical because
their OAs are observed at late times. The study highlights the importance of
rapid response telescopes capable of spectroscopy, and identifies a new
redshift selection effect that has not been considered previously, namely the
response time to measure the redshift.Comment: 5 pages, 4 figures, MNRAS Letter (accepted
First-principles calculations of exchange interactions, spin waves, and temperature dependence of magnetization in inverse-Heusler-based spin gapless semiconductors
Employing first principles electronic structure calculations in conjunction
with the frozen-magnon method we calculate exchange interactions, spin-wave
dispersion, and spin-wave stiffness constants in inverse-Heusler-based spin
gapless semiconductor (SGS) compounds MnCoAl, TiMnAl, CrZnSi,
TiCoSi and TiVAs. We find that their magnetic behavior is similar to
the half-metallic ferromagnetic full-Heusler alloys, i.e., the intersublattice
exchange interactions play an essential role in the formation of the magnetic
ground state and in determining the Curie temperature, . All
compounds, except TiCoSi possess a ferrimagnetic ground state. Due to the
finite energy gap in one spin channel, the exchange interactions decay sharply
with the distance, and hence magnetism of these SGSs can be described
considering only nearest and next-nearest neighbor exchange interactions. The
calculated spin-wave dispersion curves are typical for ferrimagnets and
ferromagnets. The spin-wave stiffness constants turn out to be larger than
those of the elementary 3-ferromagnets. Calculated exchange parameters are
used as input to determine the temperature dependence of the magnetization and
of the SGSs. We find that the of all compounds is
much above the room temperature. The calculated magnetization curve for
MnCoAl as well as the Curie temperature are in very good agreement with
available experimental data. The present study is expected to pave the way for
a deeper understanding of the magnetic properties of the inverse-Heusler-based
SGSs and enhance the interest in these materials for application in spintronic
and magnetoelectronic devices.Comment: Accepted for publ;ication in Physical Review
Tuning the Curie temperature of FeCo compounds by tetragonal distortion
Combining density-functional theory calculations with a classical Monte Carlo
method, we show that for B2-type FeCo compounds tetragonal distortion gives
rise to a strong reduction of the Curie temperature . The
monotonically decreases from 1575 K (for ) to 940 K
(for c/a=\sqrtwo). We find that the nearest neighbor Fe-Co exchange
interaction is sufficient to explain the behavior of the
. Combination of high magnetocrystalline anisotropy energy with
a moderate value suggests tetragonal FeCo grown on the Rh
substrate with to be a promising material for heat-assisted magnetic
recording applications.Comment: 4 pages, 2 figure
Coercion-resistant Proxy Voting
In general, most elections follow the principle of equality, or as it came to be known, the principle of “one man – one vote”. However, this principle might pose difficulties for voters, who are not well informed regarding the particular matter that is voted on. In order to address this issue, a new form of voting has been proposed, namely proxy voting. In proxy voting, each voter has the possibility to delegate her voting right to another voter, so called proxy, that she considers a trusted expert on the matter. In this paper we propose an end-to-end verifiable Internet voting scheme, which to the best of our knowledge is the first scheme to address voter coercion in the proxy voting setting
Heterogene ouderenzorg in Scandinavië
De Nederlandse verzorgingsstaat verandert en om de transitie van verzorgingsstaat naar participatiesamenleving in goede banen te leiden wordt naar het buitenland gekeken. Het Scandinavische model heeft een voorbeeldfunctie, maar studenten van Professionshøjskolen Metropol (Kopenhagen) stellen de vraag of het Scandinavische model ooit voltooid en volledig uitgevoerd i
Cast-as-Intended Mechanism with Return Codes Based on PETs
We propose a method providing cast-as-intended verifiability for remote
electronic voting. The method is based on plaintext equivalence tests (PETs),
used to match the cast ballots against the pre-generated encrypted code tables.
Our solution provides an attractive balance of security and functional
properties. It is based on well-known cryptographic building blocks and relies
on standard cryptographic assumptions, which allows for relatively simple
security analysis. Our scheme is designed with a built-in fine-grained
distributed trust mechanism based on threshold decryption. It, finally, imposes
only very little additional computational burden on the voting platform, which
is especially important when voters use devices of restricted computational
power such as mobile phones. At the same time, the computational cost on the
server side is very reasonable and scales well with the increasing ballot size
Redshift distribution and luminosity function of long gamma-ray bursts from cosmological simulations
We study the luminosity function (LF), the comoving rate and the detection
rate of Long Gamma-Ray Burst (LGRBs) to high redshift, using galaxy catalogues
constructed by combining high-resolution N-body simulations with semi-analytic
models of galaxy formation. We assume the collapsar model and different
metallicity thresholds, and conclude that LGRBs are not good tracers of the
star formation history in the universe. Then using the log N-log P diagram for
BATSE bursts, we determine the LF (with and without evolution with redshift)
and the formation rate of LGRBs, obtaining constraints on the slope of the
power-law. We check the resulting redshift distribution with SWIFT data updated
to 2009 August, finding that models where LGRBs have as progenitors stars with
Z<0.3Z_sun and without evolution of the LF are in agreement with the data. We
also predict that there are about ~1% of GRBs at redshift z>6.Comment: The paper contains 5 figures and 3 tables. Accepted MNRA
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