ALBERT

Description: We present the analysis of rotational and translational ground motions from earthquakes recorded during October–November 2016, in association with the Central Italy seismic sequence. We use co-located measurements of the vertical ground rotation rate from a large ring laser gyroscope and the three components of ground velocity from a broad-band seismometer. Both instruments are positioned in a deep underground environment, within the Gran Sasso National Laboratories of the Istituto Nazionale di Fisica Nucleare. We collected dozens of events spanning the 3.5–5.9 magnitude range and epicentral distances between 30 and 70 km. This data set constitutes an unprecedented observation of the vertical rotational motions associated with an intense seismic sequence at local distance. Under the plane-wave approximation we process the data set in order to get an experimental estimation of the events backazimuth. Peak values of rotation rate (PRR) and horizontal acceleration (PGA) are markedly correlated, according to a scaling constant which is consistent with previous measurements from different earthquake sequences. We used a prediction model in use for Italy to calculate the expected PGA at the recording site, obtaining consequently predictions for PRR. Within the modelling uncertainties, predicted rotations are consistent with the observed ones, suggesting the possibility of establishing specific attenuation models for ground rotations, like the scaling of peak velocity and peak acceleration in empirical ground-motion prediction relationships. In a second step, after identifying the direction of the incoming wavefield, we extract phase-velocity data using the spectral ratio of the translational and rotational components. This analysis is performed over time windows associated with the P-coda, S-coda and Lg phase. Results are consistent with independent estimates of shear wave velocities in the shallow crust of the Central Apennines

Description: Published

Description: 705-715

Description: 4T. Sismicità dell'Italia

Description: JCR Journal

Description: This article has been accepted for publication in Geophysical Journal International ©: The Authors 2015. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of the Royal Astronomical Society. All rights reserved. Uploaded in accordance with the publisher's self-archiving policy.

Description: Mud volcanoes are geological systems often characterized by elevated fluid pressures at depth deviating from hydrostatic conditions. This near-critical state makes mud volcanoes particularly sensitive to external forcing induced by natural or man-made perturbations. We used the Nirano mud volcanic field as a natural laboratory to test pre- and post-seismic effects generated by distant earthquakes.We first characterized the subsurface structure of the Nirano mud volcanic field with a geoelectrical study. Next, we deployed a broad-band seismic station in the area to understand the typical seismic signal generated by the mud volcano. Seismic records show a background noise below 2 s, sometimes interrupted by pulses of drumbeatlike high-frequency signals lasting from several minutes to hours. To date this is the first observation of drumbeat signal observed in mud volcanoes. In 2013 June we recorded a M4.7 earthquake, that occurred approximately 60 km far from our seismic station. According to empirical estimations the Nirano mud volcanic field should not have been affected by the M4.7 earthquake. Yet, before the seismic event we recorded an increasing amplitude of the signal in the 10–20 Hz frequency band. The signal emerged approximately two hours before the earthquake and lasted for about three hours. Our statistical analysis suggests the presence of a possible precursory signal about 10 min before the earthquake.

Description: Published

Description: 907–917

Description: 7A. Geofisica per il monitoraggio ambientale

Description: JCR Journal

Description: This article has been accepted for publication in Geophysical Journal International ©: The Authors 2019. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of the Royal Astronomical Society. All rights reserved. Uploaded in accordance with the publisher's self-archiving policy.

Description: The Amatrice–Norcia–Visso sequence is characterized by complex behaviour that is somewhat atypical of main-shock–aftershock sequences, as there were multiple large main shocks that continued for months. In this study we focus on the Amatrice sequence (main shock 2016 August 24, Mw = 5.97) to evaluate the apparent stress values and magnitude-dependent scaling in order to improve our knowledge of processes that control small and large earthquakes within this active region of Italy. Apparent stress is proportional to the ratio of radiated seismic energy and seismic moment, and as such, these stress parameters play an important role in hazard prediction as they have a strong effect on the observed and predicted ground shaking. We analyse 83 events of the sequence from 2016 August 24 to October 16, within a radius of 20 km from the main shock and with an Mw ranging between 5.97 and 2.72. Taking advantage of the averaging nature of coda waves, we analyse coda-envelope-based spectral ratios between neighbouring event pairs.We use equations proposed byWalter et al. to consider stable, low-frequency and high-frequency spectral ratio levelswhich provide measures of the corner frequency and apparent stress ratios of the events within the sequence. The results demonstrate non-self-similar behaviour within the sequence, suggesting a change in dynamics between the largest events and the smaller aftershocks. The apparent stress and corner frequency estimates are compared to those obtained by Malagnini and Munaf`o who utilized hundreds of direct S-wave spectral ratio measurements to obtain their results. Although our analysis is based only on 83 events, our results are in very good agreement, demonstrating once more that the use of coda waves is very stable and provides lower variance measures than those using direct waves. A comparison with recent Central Apennines source scaling models derived from various seismic sequences (1997–1998 Colfiorito, 2002 San Giuliano di Puglia, 2009 L’Aquila) shows that the Amatrice sequence source scaling in this study is well represented by the models proposed by Pacor et al. and Malagnini and Mayeda.

Description: Published

Description: 446-455

Description: 3T. Sorgente sismica

Description: JCR Journal

Description: Author Posting. © The Authors, 2019. This article is posted here by permission of The Royal Astronomical Society for personal use, not for redistribution. The definitive version was published in Geophysical Journal International 218(3), (2019): 1822-1837, doi: 10.1093/gji/ggz253.

Description: Joint inversion of multiple electromagnetic data sets, such as controlled source electromagnetic and magnetotelluric data, has the potential to significantly reduce uncertainty in the inverted electrical resistivity when the two data sets contain complementary information about the subsurface. However, evaluating quantitatively the model uncertainty reduction is made difficult by the fact that conventional inversion methods—using gradients and model regularization—typically produce just one model, with no associated estimate of model parameter uncertainty. Bayesian inverse methods can provide quantitative estimates of inverted model parameter uncertainty by generating an ensemble of models, sampled proportional to data fit. The resulting posterior distribution represents a combination of a priori assumptions about the model parameters and information contained in field data. Bayesian inversion is therefore able to quantify the impact of jointly inverting multiple data sets by using the statistical information contained in the posterior distribution. We illustrate, for synthetic data generated from a simple 1-D model, the shape of parameter space compatible with controlled source electromagnetic and magnetotelluric data, separately and jointly. We also demonstrate that when data sets contain complementary information about the model, the region of parameter space compatible with the joint data set is less than or equal to the intersection of the regions compatible with the individual data sets. We adapt a trans-dimensional Markov chain Monte Carlo algorithm for jointly inverting multiple electromagnetic data sets for 1-D earth models and apply it to surface-towed controlled source electromagnetic and magnetotelluric data collected offshore New Jersey, USA, to evaluate the extent of a low salinity aquifer within the continental shelf. Our inversion results identify a region of high resistivity of varying depth and thickness in the upper 500 m of the continental shelf, corroborating results from a previous study that used regularized, gradient-based inversion methods. We evaluate the joint model parameter uncertainty in comparison to the uncertainty obtained from the individual data sets and demonstrate quantitatively that joint inversion offers reduced uncertainty. In addition, we show how the Bayesian model ensemble can subsequently be used to derive uncertainty estimates of pore water salinity within the low salinity aquifer.

Description: We gratefully acknowledge funding support from National Science Foundation grants 1458392 and 1459035. We thank the captain and crew of the R.V. Marcus G. Langseth for a successful cruise and the Marine EM Lab at Scripps Institution of Oceanography for providing the instrumentation. We also thank Chris Armerding, Marah Dahn, John Desanto, Jimmy Elsenbeck, Matt Folsom, Keiichi Ishizu, Jeff Pepin, Charlotte Wiman and Georgie Zelenak for participating in the cruise. We gratefully acknowledge Alberto Malinverno for the idea to use a Monte Carlo scheme to estimate the distribution of pore fluid salinity, and William Menke for many constructive conversations and suggestions.

Description: Author Posting. © The Authors, 2019. This article is posted here by permission of The Royal Astronomical Society for personal use, not for redistribution. The definitive version was published in Geophysical Journal International 218(3), (2019): 2122-2135, doi: 10.1093/gji/ggz272.

Description: We have conducted the first passive Ocean Bottom Seismograph (OBS) experiment near the Challenger Deep at the southernmost Mariana subduction zone by deploying and recovering an array of 6 broad-band OBSs during December 2016–June 2017. The obtained passive-source seismic records provide the first-ever near-field seismic observations in the southernmost Mariana subduction zone. We first correct clock errors of the OBS recordings based on both teleseismic waveforms and ambient noise cross-correlation. We then perform matched filter earthquake detection using 53 template events in the catalogue of the US Geological Survey and find 〉7000 local earthquakes during the 6-month OBS deployment period. Results of the two independent approaches show that the maximum clock drifting was ∼2 s on one instrument (OBS PA01), while the rest of OBS waveforms had negligible time drifting. After timing correction, we locate the detected earthquakes using a newly refined local velocity model that was derived from a companion active source experiment in the same region. In total, 2004 earthquakes are located with relatively high resolution. Furthermore, we calibrate the magnitudes of the detected earthquakes by measuring the relative amplitudes to their nearest relocated templates on all OBSs and acquire a high-resolution local earthquake catalogue. The magnitudes of earthquakes in our new catalogue range from 1.1 to 5.6. The earthquakes span over the Southwest Mariana rift, the megathrust interface, forearc and outer-rise regions. While most earthquakes are shallow, depths of the slab earthquakes increase from ∼100 to ∼240 km from west to east towards Guam. We also delineate the subducting interface from seismicity distribution and find an increasing trend in dip angles from west to east. The observed along-strike variation in slab dip angles and its downdip extents provide new constraints on geodynamic processes of the southernmost Mariana subduction zone.

Description: We express our appreciation to the science parties and crew members of the R/V Shiyan 3 for deployment and collection of the OBS instruments during the Mariana expeditions. This study is supported by the Hong Kong Research Grant Council Grants (No. 14313816), Faculty of Science at CUHK, Chinese Academy of Sciences (No. Y4SL021001, QYZDY-SSW-DQC005, 133244KYSB20180029), the National Natural Science Foundation of China (No. 41890813, 91628301, 41676042, U1701641, 41576041, 91858207 and U1606401), the National Key R&D Program of China (2018YFC0309800 and 2018YFC0310100). Generic Mapping Tools (Wessel & Smith 1991) and PSSAC (developed by Prof Lupei Zhu) are used for data analysis and figure preparation in this study. Constructive comments from Dr Lidong Bie and two anonymous reviewers are helpful in improving the manuscript.

Description: Author Posting. © The Author(s), 2019. This is the author's version of the work. It is posted here by permission of Oxford University Press for personal use, not for redistribution. The definitive version was published in ICES Journal of Marine Science 76(4), (2010): 781-786, doi:10.1093/icesjms/fsy194.

Description: Whales are federally protected by the Marine Mammal Protection Act; endangered species, such as the North Atlantic right whale, receive additional protection under the Endangered Species Act. However, their regulations have failed to satisfy conservation and animal welfare concerns. From 1990 to 2011 the North Atlantic right whale (Eubalaena glacialis, NARW) population grew at a mean of 2.8% annually. However, population trends reversed since 2011; the species is in decline, with only ∼100 reproductively active females remaining. This failure is driven by vessel collisions and increasingly fatal and serious entanglement in fixed fishing gear, whose rope strength has increased substantially. Chronic entanglement, drag, and associated morbidity have been linked to poor fecundity. Genuine solutions involve designating areas to be avoided and speed restrictions for ships and removing fishing trap ropes from the water column. A trap fishing closure for NARW habitat in the Cape Cod Bay (U.S.) area has been in place seasonally since 2015. 2017 mortalities in Eastern Canada elicited substantive management changes whereby the 2018 presence of NARW in active trap fishing areas resulted in an effective closure. To avoid these costly closures, the traditional trap fishery model of rope end lines attached to surface marker buoys has to be modified so that traps are marked virtually, and retrieved with gear that does not remain in the water column except during trap retrieval. Consumer demand for genuinely whale-safe products will augment and encourage the necessary regulatory changes so that trap fisheries conserve target and nontarget species.

Description: I thank Mark Baumgartner, Scott Kraus, Tim Werner, Amy Knowlton, Heather Pettis, Scott Landry, Stormy Mayo, Fred Penney, and Beth Casoni for discussions on this topic and Natalie Renier for drawing Figures 5 and 6. Funding was provided by the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution Independent Research and Development Program.

Description: 2020-01-10

Description: Author Posting. © The Author(s), 2019. This is the author's version of the work. It is posted here by permission of Oxford University Press for personal use, not for redistribution. The definitive version was published in Geophysical Journal International, 219(1), (2019): 464-478, doi:10.1093/gji/ggz315.

Description: The electromagnetic (EM) field generated by ocean tidal flow is readily detectable in both satellite magnetic field data, and in ocean-bottom measurements of electric and magnetic fields. The availability of accurate charts of tidal currents, constrained by assimilation of modern satellite altimetry data, opens the possibility of using tidal EM fields as a source to image mantle electrical resistivity beneath the ocean basins, as highlighted by the recent success in defining the globally averaged lithosphere–asthenosphere boundary (LAB) with satellite data. In fact, seafloor EM data would be expected to provide better constraints on the structure of resistive oceanic lithosphere, since the toroidal magnetic mode, which can constrain resistive features, is a significant component of the tidal EM field within the ocean, but is absent above the surface (in particular in satellite data). Here we consider this issue in more detail, using a combination of simplified theoretical analysis and 1-D and 3-D numerical modelling to provide a thorough discussion of the sensitivity of satellite and seafloor data to subsurface electrical structure. As part of this effort, and as a step toward 3-D inversion of seafloor tidal data, we have developed a new flexible 3-D spherical-coordinate finite difference scheme for both global and regional scale modelling, with higher resolution models nested in larger scale solutions. We use the new 3-D model, together with Monte Carlo simulations of errors in tidal current estimates, to provide a quantitative assessment of errors in the computed tidal EM signal caused by uncertainty in the tidal source. Over the open ocean this component of error is below 0.01 nT in Bz at satellite height and 0.05 nT in Bx on the seafloor, well below typical signal levels. However, as coastlines are approached error levels can increase substantially. Both analytical and 3-D modelling demonstrate that the seafloor magnetic field is most sensitive to the lithospheric resistance (the product of resistivity and thickness), and is more weakly influenced (primarily in the phase) by resistivity of the underlying asthenosphere. Satellite data, which contain only the poloidal magnetic mode, are more sensitive to the conductive asthenosphere, but have little sensitivity to lithospheric resistance. For both seafloor and satellite data’s changes due to plausible variations in Earth parameters are well above error levels associated with source uncertainty, at least in the ocean interior. Although the 3-D modelling results are qualitatively consistent with theoretical analysis, the presence of coastlines and bathymetric variations generates a complex response, confirming that quantitative interpretation of ocean tidal EM fields will require a 3-D treatment. As an illustration of the nested 3-D scheme, seafloor data at five magnetic and seven electric stations in the northeastern Pacific (41○N, 165○W) are fit with trial-and-error forward modelling of a local domain. The simulation results indicate that the lithospheric resistance is roughly 7 × 108 Ωm2. The phase of the seafloor data in this region are inconsistent with a sharp transition between the resistive lithosphere and conductive asthenosphere.

Description: This work has been supported by National Natural Science Foundation of China grants 41804072 and 41574104, and NSF grant EAR-1447109. Special thanks to Dr Benjamin Murphy who provided the conductivity-depth profile for 1-D earth model, Dr Min Ding who provided valuable discussion about the oceanic lithosphere and Dr Jeffery Love who provided comments on the stylistics of the manuscript.

Description: © The Author(s), 2019. This article is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License. The definitive version was published in Aslan, C., Beckman, N. G., Rogers, H. S., Bronstein, J., Zurell, D., Hartig, F., Shea, K., Pejchar, L., Neubert, M., Poulsen, J., HilleRisLambers, J., Miriti, M., Loiselle, B., Effiom, E., Zambrano, J., Schupp, G., Pufal, G., Johnson, J., Bullock, J. M., Brodie, J., Bruna, E., Cantrell, R. S., Decker, R., Fricke, E., Gurski, K., Hastings, A., Kogan, O., Razafindratsima, O., Sandor, M., Schreiber, S., Snell, R., Strickland, C., & Zhou, Y. Employing plant functional groups to advance seed dispersal ecology and conservation. AoB Plants, 11(2), (2019):plz006, doi:10.1093/aobpla/plz006.

Description: Seed dispersal enables plants to reach hospitable germination sites and escape natural enemies. Understanding when and how much seed dispersal matters to plant fitness is critical for understanding plant population and community dynamics. At the same time, the complexity of factors that determine if a seed will be successfully dispersed and subsequently develop into a reproductive plant is daunting. Quantifying all factors that may influence seed dispersal effectiveness for any potential seed-vector relationship would require an unrealistically large amount of time, materials and financial resources. On the other hand, being able to make dispersal predictions is critical for predicting whether single species and entire ecosystems will be resilient to global change. Building on current frameworks, we here posit that seed dispersal ecology should adopt plant functional groups as analytical units to reduce this complexity to manageable levels. Functional groups can be used to distinguish, for their constituent species, whether it matters (i) if seeds are dispersed, (ii) into what context they are dispersed and (iii) what vectors disperse them. To avoid overgeneralization, we propose that the utility of these functional groups may be assessed by generating predictions based on the groups and then testing those predictions against species-specific data. We suggest that data collection and analysis can then be guided by robust functional group definitions. Generalizing across similar species in this way could help us to better understand the population and community dynamics of plants and tackle the complexity of seed dispersal as well as its disruption.

Description: Ideas for this manuscript initiated during the Seed Dispersal Workshop held in May 2016 at the Socio-Environmental Synthesis Center in Annapolis, MD and supported by the US National Science Foundation Grant DEB-1548194 to N.G.B. and the National Socio‐Environmental Synthesis Center under the US National Science Foundation Grant DBI‐1052875. D.Z. received funding from the Swiss National Science Foundation (SNF, grant: PZ00P3_168136/1) and from the German Science Foundation (DFG, grant: ZU 361/1- 1). Contributions by the authors C.A. led the development of the concepts, writing, and revising of the manuscript with input from N.G.B. and H.S.R. All authors contributed to the development of concepts and are listed in order of contribution and alphabetical order within each level of contribution.

Description: © The Author(s), 2019. This article is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License. The definitive version was published in Alexander, H., Johnson, L. K., & Brown, C. T.. Keeping it light: (re)analyzing community-wide datasets without major infrastructure. Gigascience, 8(2),(2019): giy159, doi:10.1093/gigascience/giy159.

Description: DNA sequencing technology has revolutionized the field of biology, shifting biology from a data-limited to data-rich state. Central to the interpretation of sequencing data are the computational tools and approaches that convert raw data into biologically meaningful information. Both the tools and the generation of data are actively evolving, yet the practice of re-analysis of previously generated data with new tools is not commonplace. Re-analysis of existing data provides an affordable means of generating new information and will likely become more routine within biology, yet necessitates a new set of considerations for best practices and resource development. Here, we discuss several practices that we believe to be broadly applicable when re-analyzing data, especially when done by small research groups.

Description: Funding was provided by the Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation (award GBMF4551 to C.T.B.).

Description: Author Posting. © The Authors, 2019. This article is posted here by permission of The Royal Astronomical Society for personal use, not for redistribution. The definitive version was published in Geophysical Journal International 218(3), (2019): 2165-2178, doi: 10.1093/gji/ggz280.

Description: A multitaper estimator is proposed that accommodates time-series containing gaps without using any form of interpolation. In contrast with prior missing-data multitaper estimators that force standard Slepian sequences to be zero at gaps, the proposed missing-data Slepian sequences are defined only where data are present. The missing-data Slepian sequences are frequency independent, as are the eigenvalues that define the energy concentration within the resolution bandwidth, when the process bandwidth is [−1/2,1/2) for unit sampling and the sampling scheme comprises integer multiples of unity. As a consequence, one need only compute the ensuing missing-data Slepian sequences for a given sampling scheme once, and then the spectrum at an arbitrary set of frequencies can be computed using them. It is also shown that the resulting missing-data multitaper estimator can incorporate all of the optimality features (i.e. adaptive-weighting, F-test and reshaping) of the standard multitaper estimator, and can be applied to bivariate or multivariate situations in similar ways. Performance of the missing-data multitaper estimator is illustrated using length of day, seafloor pressure and Nile River low stand time-series.

Description: The length of day utilized in Section 3 are available from http://hpiers.obspm.fr. The pressure data used in Section 4 are available from https://doi.org/10.1029/2018JC014586. A Matlab function MDmwps.m to compute missing-data power spectra is available from the Mathworks file exchange website. The author thanks Jeff Park and editor F.J. Simons for thorough reviews. This work was supported by an Internal Research and Development award at WHOI, and by the Walter A. and Hope Noyes Smith Chair for Excellence in Oceanography.

Description: © The Author(s), 2019. This article is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License. The definitive version was published in Johnson, L. K., Alexander, H., & Brown, C. T. Re-assembly, quality evaluation, and annotation of 678 microbial eukaryotic reference transcriptomes. Gigascience, 8(4), (2019): giy158, doi: 10.1093/gigascience/giy158.

Description: Background: De novo transcriptome assemblies are required prior to analyzing RNA sequencing data from a species without an existing reference genome or transcriptome. Despite the prevalence of transcriptomic studies, the effects of using different workflows, or “pipelines,” on the resulting assemblies are poorly understood. Here, a pipeline was programmatically automated and used to assemble and annotate raw transcriptomic short-read data collected as part of the Marine Microbial Eukaryotic Transcriptome Sequencing Project. The resulting transcriptome assemblies were evaluated and compared against assemblies that were previously generated with a different pipeline developed by the National Center for Genome Research. Results: New transcriptome assemblies contained the majority of previous contigs as well as new content. On average, 7.8% of the annotated contigs in the new assemblies were novel gene names not found in the previous assemblies. Taxonomic trends were observed in the assembly metrics. Assemblies from the Dinoflagellata showed a higher number of contigs and unique k-mers than transcriptomes from other phyla, while assemblies from Ciliophora had a lower percentage of open reading frames compared to other phyla. Conclusions: Given current bioinformatics approaches, there is no single “best” reference transcriptome for a particular set of raw data. As the optimum transcriptome is a moving target, improving (or not) with new tools and approaches, automated and programmable pipelines are invaluable for managing the computationally intensive tasks required for re-processing large sets of samples with revised pipelines and ensuring a common evaluation workflow is applied to all samples. Thus, re-assembling existing data with new tools using automated and programmable pipelines may yield more accurate identification of taxon-specific trends across samples in addition to novel and useful products for the community.

Description: Funding was provided by the Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation under award number GBMF4551 to C.T.B. Jetstream cloud platform was used with XSEDE allocation TG-BIO160028 [66, 67].

Description: Coeval changes in atmospheric CO2 and 14C contents during the last deglaciation are often attributed to ocean circulation changes that released carbon stored in the deep ocean during the Last Glacial Maximum (LGM). Work is being done to generate records that allow for the identification of the exact mechanisms leading to the accumulation and release of carbon from the oceanic reservoir, but these mechanisms are still the subject of debate. Here we present foraminifera 14C data from five cores in a transect across the Chilean continental margin between ~540 and ~3,100 m depth spanning the last 20,000 years. Our data reveal that during the LGM, waters at ~2,000 m were 50% to 80% more depleted in Δ14C than waters at ~1,500 m when compared to modern values, consistent with the hypothesis of a glacial deep ocean carbon reservoir that was isolated from the atmosphere. During the deglaciation, our intermediate water records reveal homogenization in the Δ14C values between ~800 and ~1,500 m from ~16.5–14.5 ka cal BP to ~14–12 ka cal BP, which we interpret as deeper penetration of Antarctic Intermediate Water. While many questions still remain, this process could aid the ventilation of the deep ocean at the beginning of the deglaciation, contributing to the observed ~40 ppm rise in atmospheric pCO2.

Description: Recent studies pointed to a high ice nucleating activity (INA) in the Arctic sea surface microlayer (SML). However, related chemical information is still sparse. In the present study, INA and free glucose concentrations were quantified in Arctic SML and bulk water samples from the marginal ice zone, the ice-free ocean, melt ponds, and open waters within the ice pack. T50 (defining INA) ranged from −17.4 to −26.8 °C. Glucose concentrations varied from 0.6 to 51 μg/L with highest values in the SML from the marginal ice zone and melt ponds (median 16.3 and 13.5 μg/L) and lower values in the SML from the ice pack and the ice-free ocean (median 3.9 and 4.0 μg/L). Enrichment factors between the SML and the bulk ranged from 0.4 to 17. A positive correlation was observed between free glucose concentration and INA in Arctic water samples (T50(°C) = (−25.6 ± 0.6) + (0.15 ± 0.04)·Glucose(μg/L), RP = 0.66, n = 74). Clustering water samples based on phytoplankton pigment composition resulted in robust but different correlations within the four clusters (RP between 0.67 and 0.96), indicating a strong link to phytoplankton-related processes. Since glucose did not show significant INA itself, free glucose may serve as a potential tracer for INA in Arctic water samples.

Description: For planners, processes of complex spatial transformations today are comparable to uncharted land and an uncertain voyage. Many possible role images overlap and contrast to traditional and established ways of thinking and acting. The focus here is on navigating instead of controlling, about supporting instead of enforcing. Planning lacks tools to think and act when facing uncertainty. This paper proposes role-reflexive planning as an educational and experimental approach to thinking through different potentialities. It offers groundwork from the boundary between planning and transition studies, using role-based ideas as a bridge. It offers an overview about different roles that are relevant to working towards transformations as spatial planners. It develops an account of role-reflexive planning that connects between contexts, actions and back to individual modes of behaviour in planning processes. As a basis, this paper condenses experiences of a role-playing pilot workshop and discussions about potential elements of a transition towards 'post-growth planning'. It outlines how role-playing challenges the individual roles of actors beyond the game situations themselves. Conceptual ideas foster a renewed role-based debate on thinking and acting in the face of uncertainty and ways to navigate through the stormy waters of transformation.

Description: ZusammenfassungDie Leerstandsquote ist ein zentraler Indikator der Wohnungsmarktbeobachtung und wird zur Beurteilung von Wohnungsmarktsituationen herangezogen. In Deutschland variieren die Leerstandsquoten der Städte und Gemeinden stark, was unter anderem durch die Merkmale unterschiedlicher Bestände des Wohnungsmarktes bedingt ist, wie z. B. Baualter oder Wohnungsgröße. Für die Abbildung der gesamten dabei auftretenden Variationen wurde bislang kaum eine systematische Analyse von Leerstandsstrukturen erstellt. Vor diesem Hintergrund wird im vorliegenden Beitrag das Ziel verfolgt, die differenzierte Struktur des Leerstandes für deutsche Gemeinden aufzuzeigen. Dafür werden Daten der Gebäude- und Wohnungszählung (GWZ)2011 verwendet, die flächendeckend und kleinräumig Leerstand differenziert nach 50 Ausprägungen erfassten. Diese Ausprägungen werden auf ihren Erklärungsgehalt für die Leerstandsquote geprüft. Darauf aufbauend werden räumliche Leerstandstypen gebildet, die die Leerstandsstruktur in Deutschland auf kommunaler Ebene wiedergeben. Der Beitrag macht deutlich, dass in erster Linie Merkmale des Baualters sowie der Gebäude- und Wohnungsgröße die Leerstandsquote erklären, sich aber deutliche Unterschiede zwischen Ost- und Westdeutschland etwa in Bezug auf die Eigentumsform zeigen. Die kommunale Typisierung schärft und verräumlicht diese Erkenntnisse und unterstreicht, dass neben Ost-West- sowie Stadt-Land-Unterschieden auch Typen der Leerstandsstruktur existieren, die im gesamten Bundesgebiet vorkommen. Der Beitrag stellt eine Analyse vor, die mithilfe der entwickelten Typologie helfen soll, Leerstand zu differenzieren, zu bewerten und einzuordnen. Daraus lassen sich dann nicht nur Aussagen zum Einsatz von städtebaulichen und wohnungspolitischen Maßnahmen ableiten, auch die Raum- bzw. Wohnungsmarktbeobachtung auf Bundesebene lässt sich weiter qualifizieren.

Description: Coastal and marine areas represent an increasingly important and relevant action space for spatial planning. However, to a large extent marine (or maritime) spatial planning has emerged separately from terrestrial spatial planning, constituting its own epistemic community. In particular, previous studies indicate that Marine Spatial Planning often follows an expert-driven resource management rationale focused on sea-use regulation. This paper examines practices of Marine Spatial Planning and Integrated Coastal Zone Management at the German North Sea coast. The paper focuses in particular on the engagement of spatial planners with these practices and their perception of their role therein. We seek to understand what form spatial planning at the coast and at sea currently takes and how this might develop in the future in response to current and anticipated policy developments. We argue for the necessity of a communicative, cross-sectoral approach to spatial planning at sea, providing a spatial vision for the future that extends from the Exclusive Economic Zone to encompass both the coastal waters of the federal states and the land-sea interface in a substantive manner.

Description: ZusammenfassungWenn man räumliche Planung verstehen möchte, ist es wichtig, die Selbstverständnisse und beruflichen Identitäten der handelnden Akteure zu kennen. Bislang ist dazu in Deutschland kaum geforscht worden. Der Beitrag basiert auf einem Forschungsansatz, der berufliche Identitäten als Ergebnis des Zusammenwirkens gesellschaftlicher Anforderungen und eigener Handlungen in den Fokus rückt. Es wird gezeigt, welche Rollen Regionalplanern von außen zugewiesen werden und wie Regionalplaner selber ihre beruflichen Identitäten wahrnehmen und daran arbeiten. Anhand von Dokumentenanalysen und autobiographisch-narrativen Interviews wird untersucht, welche Subjektpositionen in schriftlichen Diskursfragmenten, die sich auf Regionalplanung und Windenergie beziehen, zu finden sind, welchen äußeren Anforderungen sich Regionalplaner ausgesetzt sehen, welche Ansprüche sie selber an ihr berufliches Handeln stellen, welche Techniken des Selbst sie praktizieren und welche diesbezüglichen Spannungen sie wahrnehmen. Die Ergebnisse knüpfen an internationale Untersuchungen über planerische Identitäten an und können als Angebot an die Praxis gelesen werden, individuelle Praktiken und Spielräume der Identitätsarbeit zu reflektieren.

Description: The process of gentrification in the peri-urban districts of French cities has scarcely been touched upon in recent research, which has hitherto seen the phenomenon as typically associated with core urban areas. The tendency has been to view the periphery through the lens of the social crisis of the banlieues. In contrast, the present article focuses on gentrification in the metropolitan area of Nancy (Grand Est region) as a development that also plays a role in municipalities around major cities and especially around regional metropolitan centres. Starting with a survey of current research approaches, the article first pinpoints some gaps and methodological imbalances that need to be tackled, before embarking on the case study of peri-urban Nancy. Statistical data and empirical surveys in the form of qualitative interviews indicate how Nancy's peri-urban districts have developed a logic of separation, exclusion and social decoupling – typical features of gentrification – particularly in connection with the construction of new single-family houses as a supplement to existing residential stock. Key questions here concern individual motives for choosing a particular residential location, and the creeping "segregation from above" that accompanies this process. The image of France's peri-urban spaces that arises from this study stands in explicit contrast to the received, markedly negative connotations of the "urban periphery".

Description: Kurzfassung Als Inbegriff des Urbanen erlebt der Stadttypus „Metropole“ seit nunmehr zwei bis drei Jahrzehnten eine fortwährende Konjunktur. Mit einer quantitativen Textanalyse der führenden deutschen überregionalen Printmedien werden die Muster des Sprachgebrauchs für den Begriff Metropole und für die beiden größten Städte Berlin und Hamburg herausgearbeitet. Sie werden als Bedeutungszuschreibungen in massenmedialen Kommunikationsprozessen interpretiert und erzeugen ein semantisches Feld, dessen Analyse Aussagen über Größe, Funktion und Symbolik einer Metropole auch im Zeitverlauf zulässt.

Description: Kurzfassung In der Wissensgesellschaft differenziert sich die Raumstruktur in eine Vielzahl von Raumtypen aus; auch der ländliche Raum stellt sich nicht als ein homogenes Gebilde dar. Die „reflexive Moderne“ der Wissensgesellschaft scheint keinen Determinismus in Bezug auf räumliche Entwicklungsunterschiede zu kennen, sondern den Menschen Spielräume für eine Aneignung und Inwertsetzung unterschiedlicher Räume zu öffnen. Diese erweiterten Gestaltungsmöglichkeiten könnten auch in dem bisher als zurückbleibend eingeschätzten ländlichen Raum neue Entwicklungsimpulse auslösen. Zur Überprüfung dieser Annahmen wird in diesem Beitrag aus einem theoretischen Blickwinkel gefragt, wie die kulturellen, sozialen, wirtschaftlichen und technischen Dimensionen der Wissensgesellschaft mit dem Raum interagieren und welche Herausforderungen sowie Strategien sich daraus für den ländlichen Raum ergeben können. Die empirische Überprüfung stützt sich auf Ergebnisse einer Arbeitsgruppe der Akademie für Raumforschung und Landesplanung (ARL) zur Wissensgesellschaft in ländlich-peripheren Regionen sowie ergänzend auf weitere quantitative und qualitative Studien zum Thema. Aus diesen Untersuchungen geht hervor, dass sich in vielen, wenn auch nicht in allen Regionen neuartige wissensgesellschaftlich geprägte Lebenskulturen in Abgrenzung zu städtischen Lebensmodellen entfalten. Sie belegen eine neue Attraktivität des ländlichen Raumes, die sich auch in wissensbasierten Projekten der Kultur, Bildung, Daseinsvorsorge und des unternehmerischen Engagements niederschlägt. Beispiele finden sich besonders in wirtschaftlich wettbewerbsfähigen Regionen, aber auch in den peripheren Regionen, die unter Bevölkerungsverlusten leiden. Es bleibt weiteren Untersuchungen vorbehalten zu eruieren, wie diese Ansätze von öffentlichen Akteuren strategisch genutzt werden können, um den wissensgesellschaftlichen Wandel voranzutreiben. Sie können helfen, in erfolgreichen Regionen gesammelte Erfahrungen für eine politische und planerische Unterstützung peripherer Städte und Regionen im ländlichen Raum zu nutzen.

Description: This paper explores different functions of co-presence for collaborative knowledge creation in the context of seed accelerator programs. Seed accelerators offer programs of three to six months to enhance the growth of early-stage start-ups through various means of training and organizational development. In this paper, seed accelerator programs are analysed as orchestrated sequences of different types of physical co-presence. By drawing on qualitative case study data, the paper identifies eight different ways in which physical co-presence is used during seed accelerator programs. Through these eight types of co-presence, the analysis reveals that physical co-presence unfolds unique social dynamics that are utilized in a carefully designed combination of presence and absence. It is shown that physical co-presence is a means to enact relational distance and to bridge this distance for the benefit of the entrepreneurial process. Therefore, this paper adds a new perspective on how co-presence is used to facilitate the generation of value through collaborative knowledge creation.

Description: The article presents problem of non-uniform foundation of structures in weak wet subsoil. The problem is illustrated with the case study of two-chamber-reinforced concrete water tank constructed in 1920s of 20th century, which cracked during construction. Under part of foundation, where the peat was found, the concrete piles were introduced.The results of five-year measurement of crack widths with crack gauges and geodesic measurements of vertical displacement of tank were presented. These results indicate that the tank is not stable and part of broken tank supported on piles is movable.On the basis of the presented data, the general conclusions concerning the non-uniform founding of tanks are formulated.

Description: The inclusions of geosynthetic materials (fibers, geomembranes and geotextiles) is a new improvement technique that ensures uniformity in the soil during construction. The use of tension resisting discreet inclusions like polypropylene fibers has attracted a significant amount of attention these past years in the improvement of soil performance in a cost-efficient manner. A series of direct shear box tests were conducted on unreinforced and reinforced Chlef sand with different contents of fibers (0, 0.25, 0.5 and0.75%) in order to study the mechanical behavior of sand reinforced with polypropylene fibers. Samples were prepared at three different relative densities 30%, 50% and 80% representing loose, medium dense and dense states,respectively, and performed at normal stresses of 50, 100 and 200 kPa. The experimental results show that the mechanical characteristics are improved with the addition of polypropylene fibers. The inclusion of randomly distributed fibers has a significant effect on the shear strength and dilation of sandy soil. The increase in strength is a function of fiber content, where it has been shown that the mechanical characteristics improve with the increase in fiber content up to 0.75%, this improvement is more significant at a higher normal stress and relative density.

Description: The present article examines the problem related to the axisymmetric torsion of an elastic layer by a circular rigid disc at the symmetry plane. The layer is sandwiched between two similar elastic half-spaces with two penny-shaped cracks symmetrically located at the interfaces between the two bonded dissimilar media. The mixed boundary-value problem is transformed, by means of the Hankel integral transformation, to dual integral equations, that are reduced, to a Fredholm integral equation of the second kind. The numerical methods are used to convert the resulting system to a system of infinite algebraic equations. Some physical quantities such as the stress intensity factor and the moment are calculated and presented numerically according to some relevant parameters. The numerical results show that the discontinuities around the crack and the inclusion cause a large increase in the stresses that decay with distance from the disc-loaded. Furthermore, the dependence of the stress intensity factor on the disc size, the distance between the crack and the disc, and the shear parameter is also observerd.

Description: A characteristic feature of soil-steel structures is that, unlike in typical bridges, the backfill and the carriageway pavement with its foundation play a major role in bearing loads. In the soil-steel structure model, one can distinguish two structural subsystems: the shell made of corrugated plates and the backfill with the pavement layers. The interactions between the subsystems are modelled as interfacial interactions, that is, forces normal and tangent to the surface of the shell. This is a static condition of the consistency of mutual interactions between the surrounding earth and the shell, considering that slip can arise at the interface between the subsystems. This paper presents an algorithm for determining the internal forces in the shell on the basis of the unit strains in the corrugated plates, and subsequently, the interfacial interactions. The effects of loads arising during the construction of a soil-steel bridge when, for example, construction machines drive over the structure, are taken into account in the analysis of the internal forces in the shell and in the surrounding earth. During construction, the forces in the shell are usually many times greater than the ones generated by service loads. Thus, the analytical results presented in this paper provide the basis for predicting the behaviour of the soil medium under operational loads.

Description: This article presents the results of laboratory tests on soft, normally consolidated soils from the Vistula Marshlands. Samples of high-plasticity organic soils (muds) taken from 3.2–4.0 m and 9.5–10.0 m depth, as well as peat deposit at 14.0 m, are analysed. Presented case study confirms the applicability of the Norwegian Institute of Technology (NTH) method based on Cone Penetration Tests (CPTU) and allows for a conservative estimation of effective friction angle for muds. The plastification angle equal to 14.5° for organic silt, applied in the modified NTH method, fits well the triaxial test (TX) results. Moreover, the dilative-contractive behaviour according to the CPTU soil classification based on the Robertson’s proposal from 2016 corresponds well with volumetric changes observed in the consolidated drained triaxial compression tests. The internal friction angles of the Vistula Marshlands’ muds and peats are lower in comparison with the database of similar soft soils.

Description: Based on the response of small-scale model square footing, the present paper shows the results of an experimental bearing capacity of eccentrically loaded square footing, near a slope sand bed. To reach this aim, a steel model square footing of (150 mm × 150 mm) and a varied sand relative density of 30%, 50% and 70% are used. The bearing capacity-settlement relationship of footing located at the edge of a slope and the effect of various parameters such as eccentricity (e) and dimensions report (b/B) were studied. Test results indicate that ultimate bearing capacity decreases with increasing load eccentricity to the core boundary of footing and that as far as the footing is distant from the crest, the bearing capacity increases. Furthermore, the results also prove that there is a clear proportional relation between relative densities –bearing capacity. The model test provides qualitative information on parameters influencing the bearing capacity of square footing. These tests can be used to check the bearing capacity estimated by the conventional methods.

Description: Tunnel construction below or adjacent to piles will affect the performance and eventually the stability of piles due to ground deformation resulting in the movement of piles and changes in the axial force distribution along the piles. A three dimensional finite element analysis using PLAXIS 3D (2013) was performed to study the behaviour of a single pile and 3 x 3 piles group during the advancement of shield tunnelling in ground. The 10-node tetrahedral elements were used to model both the soil and the tunnel lining. The Hardening Soil (HS) model was used to simulate the soil structure interaction at the tunnel-soil interface. An isotropic elastic model was used for the pile, piles cap, tunnel lining and tunnel boring machine shield (TBM). Several parametric studies were attempted including the longitudinal, lateral, and vertical tunnel location relative to pile embedded in different types of soil (clay or sand). The results showed that the pile head settlement increases during the tunnelling advancement in larger values than that for ground surface settlement. A zone of influence was determined in the range of twice the tunnel diameter in the longitudinal direction (forward and backward of the pile), and transverse direction (left and right of the tunnel centreline). If the tunnel boring is kept off this zone then there is no fear of pile collapse.

Description: The paper evaluates the effectiveness of reinforcing a damaged earth structure with making counterfort drains in its slope. The system of counterfort drains changed the soil properties significantly over a long-term use. The evaluation was based on many years of field and laboratory tests and stability analysis. The field tests concerned the observation of N WST probing resistance change, and the laboratory tests concerned the change in soil consistency and water content. The paper presents the results of tests that were conducted over 13 years.

Description: The article describes a computer analysis of the pull-out test used to calculate the force needed to pull out a rock fragment and determine the shape of this broken fragment. The analyzed material is sandstone and porphyry. The analysis included the first approach to using own subroutine in the Simulia Abaqus system, that is, which task is undertaken to accurately determine the crack path of the Finite Element Method model. The work also contains a description of laboratory tests and analytical considerations.

Description: At present, the suspended monorail systems constitute a very common means of transportation in the Polish hard coal mines. The main advantages of the suspended monorail include the independence of the route from the working floor surface irregularities and the possibility to transport cargo of significant mass and size.The masses and dimensions of machines and devices transported via monorail have increased considerably in recent times. This particularly concerns the transport of longwall system elements. In Poland, the maximum speed of suspended monorail travel is 2 m/s. Due to the fact that preparations are currently underway to increase the maximum speed above 2 m/s, it is necessary to inspect what influence it will have on work safety and mining support stability.Current operational experience and tests have shown that dynamic loads induced by the suspended monorail transportation have a significant influence on the roadway support stability, working protection durability and on the monorail operators. This is particularly true during the emergency braking of a suspended monorail by means of a braking trolley, where the overloads reach 3g.Bench tests of the selected steel arch and rock bolt support elements utilised in the Polish hard coal mines were conducted in order to determine the resistance of steel arch and rock bolt supports to static and dynamic loads.The article presents the results of the tests conducted on a steel arch support in the form of the sliding joints of an ŁP/V29 yielding roadway support, which is commonly employed in the Polish hard coal mines. Tests of elements of the threaded bolts with trapezoidal threads over the entire rod length were conducted as well.The conducted strength tests of steel arch and rock bolt support elements under static and dynamic loading have shown that dynamic loading has decisive influence on the support’s retaining of its stability. Support element stability decreases along with the increase of the impact velocity. This concerns both the steel arch support and the rock bolt support.

Description: We show that the global non-linear stability threshold for convection in a double-diffusive couple-stress fluid saturating a porous medium is exactly the same as the linear instability boundary. The optimal result is important because it shows that linearized instability theory has captured completely the physics of the onset of convection. It is also found that couple-stress fluid saturating a porous medium is thermally more stable than the ordinary viscous fluid, and the effects of couple-stress parameter (F ) , solute gradient ( S f ) and Brinkman number ( D a ) on the onset of convection is also analyzed.

Description: This paper discusses the pull-out laboratory tests and the monitoring of expansion-shell bolts with a length of 1.82 m. The bolts comprised the KE-3W expansion shell, a rod with a diameter of 0.0183 m and a profiled, circular plate with a diameter of 0.14 m, and a gauge of 0.006 m. The bolts were installed in a concrete block with a compressive strength of 75 MPa. The tests were conducted on a state-of-the-art test stand owned by the Department of Underground Mining of the AGH University of Science and Technology. The test stand can be used to test roof bolts on a geometric scale of 1:1 under static and rapidly varying loads. Also, the stand is suitable for testing rods measuring 5.5 m in length. The stand has a special feature of providing the ongoing monitoring of bolt load, displacement and deformation. The primary aim of the study was to compare the results recorded by two different measurement systems with the innovative Self-Excited Acoustic System (SAS) for measuring stress variations in roof bolts. In order to use the SAS, a special handle equipped with an accelerometer and exciter mounted to the nut or the upset end of the rod was designed at the Faculties of Mining and Geoengineering and Mechanical Engineering and Robotics of the AGH University of Science and Technology. The SAS can be used for nondestructive evaluation of performance of bolts around mining workings and in tunnels. Through laboratory calibration tests, roof bolt loads can be assessed using the in-situ non-destructive method.

Description: This paper presents an experimental investigation of the discharge flow pressure in the vertical silo and the hopper due to the use of insert (top cone with trunk cone bottom). Using the Insert inside the silos is one of the proposed solutions to avoid the problems of having funnel flow pattern, which has a significant effect on the distribution of flow pressure exerted on the silo wall and the hopper. The experiments were performed on a metal cylinder prototype; corn was used as a granular material, and the wall and hopper pressure distribution was measured by a special pressure transducer. The experiments revealed an important result in the flow pressure due to the change in the location of the insert. The experiments were conducted in Damascus University laboratories.

Description: Water seepage is one of the most important features of embankment dams. To prevent and reduce seepage, it is necessary to seal the dam. Plastic concrete cutoff walls are one of the most efficient methods in waterproofing the foundation of embankment dams on permeable alluvial substrates. Sufficient resistance to loads, low permeability to maintain dam sealing, high ductility compatible with the foundation and deformation under load without cracking are the main requirements in plastic concrete cutoff walls. In this paper, the construction and implementation of the cutoff wall of Karkheh Dam, which is one the world’s largest water sealing projects, was studied. In addition, a numerical model using Seep-3D software was developed to evaluate the efficiency of the cut-off wall to decrease the seepage over the dam’s foundation. The numerical results validated by instrumentation statistics resulted from 17-years dam operation. According to the results, after the drainage of the reservoir, the cutoff wall optimally reduced the hydraulic gradient by 0.08 from 2.35 and the water leakage by 3.1 m/s from 18.3 m/s.

Description: The main issue of the paper is the estimation of soil hydraulic permeability based on the DMT test. DMTA, DMTC and SASK methods performed in the Nielisz dam, Stegny and the SGGW Campus of the Warsaw University of Life Sciences sites are described. The article presents the implementation of the dilatometer Marchetti test (DMT) in the determination of soil fraction and effects of its occurrence in the subsoil, tested in the Nielisz dam located in the Wieprz river valley in the Lublin province, and in various sites in Warsaw (Stegny site and SGGW Campus of the Warsaw University of Life Sciences). In order to acquire the needed data, the flat dilatometer test (DMT) method was used. A direct and indirect pressure methodology of interpreting soil swelling was characterized in the article. The paper shows the possibilities of determining sand, silt and clay soil fractions based on po and p1 pressures from dilatometer tests (DMT) and the effective (σ’vo) and total (σvo) vertical in situ overburden stress. Additionally, the main advantage of this paper is the proposal of use of a new chart to determine hydraulic permeability and soil fraction, based on DMT tests.

Description: This article deals with the vibrations of a nonprismatic thin-walled beam with an open cross section and any geometrical parameters. The thin-walled beam model presented in this article was described using the membrane shell theory, whilst the equations were derived based on the Vlasov theory assumptions. The model is a generalisation of the model presented by Wilde (1968) in ‘The torsion of thin-walled bars with variable cross-section’, Archives of Mechanics, 4, 20, pp. 431–443. The Hamilton principle was used to derive equations describing the vibrations of the beam. The equations were derived relative to an arbitrary rectilinear reference axis, taking into account the curving of the beam axis and the axis formed by the shear centres of the beam cross sections. In most works known to the present authors, the equations describing the nonprismatic thin-walled beam vibration problem do not take into account the effects stemming from the curving (the inclination of the walls of the thin-walledcross section towards to the beam axis) of the analysed systems. The recurrence algorithm described in Lewanowicz’s work (1976) ‘Construction of a recurrence relation of the lowest order for coefficients of the Gegenbauer series’, Applicationes Mathematicae, XV(3), pp. 345–396, was used to solve the derived equations with variable coefficients. The obtained solutions of the equations have the form of series relative to Legendre polynomials. A numerical example dealing with the free vibrations of the beam was solved to verify the model and the effectiveness of the presented solution method. The results were compared with the results yielded by finite elements method (FEM).

Description: This paper presents the results obtained from an experimental programme and numerical investigations conducted on model tests of strip footing resting on reinforced and unreinforced sand slopes. The study focused on the determination of ultimate bearing capacity of strip footing subjected to eccentric load located either towards or opposite to the slope facing. Strip footing models were tested under different eccentricities of vertical load. The obtained results from tests conducted on unreinforced sand slope showed that the increase in eccentricity of applied load towards the slope facing decreases the ultimate bearing capacity of footing. Predictions of the ultimate bearing capacity obtained by the effective width rule are in good agreement with those proposed from the consideration of total width of footing subjected to eccentric load. The ultimate bearing capacity of an eccentrically loaded footing on a reinforced sand slope can be derived from that of axially loaded footing resting on horizontal sand ground when adopting the effective width rule and the coefficient of reduction due to the slope. When increasing the distance between the footing border to the slope crest, for unreinforced and reinforced ground slope by geogrids, the ultimate bearing capacity of footing is no more affected by the slope ground.

Description: In urban areas, the control of ground surface settlement is an important issue during shield tunnel-boring machine (TBM) tunneling. These ground movements are affected by many machine control parameters. In this article, a finite difference (FD) model is developed using Itasca FLAC-3D to numerically simulate the whole process of shield TBM tunneling. The model simulates important components of the mechanized excavation process including slurry pressure on the excavation face, shield conicity, installation of segmental lining, grout injection in the annular void, and grout consolidation. The analysis results from the proposed method are compared and discussed in terms of ground movements (both vertical and horizontal) with field measurements data. The results reveal that the proposed 3D simulation is sufficient and can reasonably reproduce all the operations achieved by the TBM. In fact, the results show that the TBM parameters can be controlled to have acceptable levels of surface settlement. In particular, it seems that moderate face pressure can reduce ground movement significantly and, most importantly, can prevent the occurrence of face-expected instability when the shield crosses very weak soil layers. The shield conicity has also an important effect on ground surface settlement, which can be partly compensated by the grout pressure during tail grouting. Finally, the injection pressure at the rear of the shield significantly reduces the vertical displacements at the crown of the tunnel and, therefore, reduces the settlement at the ground surface.

Description: This paper presents an enhanced constitutive model integrating deviatoric hardening with a modified yield surface for overconsolidated clayey soils in a general framework of Cam-clay type models. Its performance was assessed with the simulation of drained and undrained triaxial tests on three clays at different consolidation states in comparison to two critical state models. The proposed model satisfactorily estimates the shear resistance, while capturing the smooth nonlinearity of the soil response.Shear triaxial tests at constant mean pressure were performed on an overconsolidated marl to study the shear response. Their simulation attests the importance of deviatoric hardening integration.

Description: The present study investigates the onset of penetrative convection in- duced by selective absorption of radiation in a magnetic nanofluid saturated porous medium. The influence of Brownian motion, thermophoresis, and magnetophoresis on magnetic nanofluid treatment is taken into consideration. The Darcy’s model is selected for the porous medium. We conduct a linear stability analysis to examine the onset of instability and evaluate the results for two different configurations, namely, when the layer is heated from below and when the layer is heated from above. The numerical investigations are carried out by applying the Chebyshev pseudospectral method. The effect of the porosity parameter E, parameter Y (represents the ratio of internal heating to boundary heating), Lewis number Le, concentration Rayleigh number Rn, Langevin parameter αL, width of nanofluid layer d, diffusivity ratio η, and modified diffusivity ratio NA is examined at the onset of convection. The results indicate that the convection commences easily with an increase in the value of Y, Le, and NA but opposite in the case with a decrease in the value of E, αL, η and d for both the two configurations. The parameter Rn advances the onset of convection when the layer is heated from below, while delays the onset of convection when the layer is heated from above.

Description: This article presents the results of tests on the energy properties of sedimentary rocks in the Upper Silesian Coal Basin. The rocks were tested both in an air-dry state and in a water saturation state. Samples of sedimentary rocks were collected from boreholes drilled in the underground workings of coal mines located within the area of the city of Jastrzębie, in the areas of the Chwałowice Trough and Rybnik Trough (south-western part of the Upper Silesian Coal Basin) and in the Main Trough. Influence of saturation condition on the values of the tested energy parameters was observed. The values of elastic energy and dissipated energy obtained for the samples tested in water saturation were lower compared to the values obtained for samples tested in air-dry state. As observed, an increase in the values of the given types of specific energy corresponds to an increase in the uniaxial compression strength in air-dry state and in water saturation state. Results of the tests are original and they can be applied while analysing the possibility of the occurrence of some dynamic phenomena and hazards in mine workings in Carboniferous rock mass in the Upper Silesian Coal Basin, caused by mining operations.

Description: Different types of foundations are used in steel, above-ground cylindrical storage tanks for liquids. If a sand-gravel foundation is used under the entire bottom of the tank or only in the central part of the tank, settlement can be expected, and it increases after many years of operation. The paper presents the typical kinds and types of soil settlements under the bottoms of the tanks, in which different types of foundations were used. Numerical analyses of the effect of the soil settlement on the state of deformations and stresses in steel sheets of the bottom under one of the real tanks, in which different types of foundations and different cases of settlement were assumed. The results of numerical analyses indicated the possibility of evaluating the state of the soil settlement and bottom sheet deformations on the basis of simple measurements of deformations of the lower part of the tank cylinder. These measurements can be very useful in assessing the possible risk of failure of the tank bottom during each period of its operation, as measurements of settlement of the bottom of a filled tank are not feasible in practice. It has been proposed that in each steel tank, the deformation of the cylinder’s sheets should be measured even before the beginning of exploitation, and that in subsequent periodical measurements, the influence of the soil settlement under the tank on the state of the cylinder deformation and bottom’s strain should be assessed more accurately.

Description: Sands reinforced by hydraulic binders (cement) have constituted in recent decades a major asset for the expansion of several areas of engineering. The mechanical behavior of sand-cement mixtures has undergone some controversies studied on the Chlef sand. In this paper, we present an experimental study to investigate the mechanical behavior of a sandy soil reinforced by a hydraulic binder (cement), using the direct shear apparatus emphasizing on the shear strength characteristics and the vertical deformation variation of cemented reinforced sand. The parameters used in this study are mainly: relative density (Dr = 80%), normal stress (σn = 100, 200, 400 kPa), water content (3, 7 and 10%), cement content (2.5, 5, 7.5 and 10 %) and cure time (7, 14 and 28 days). The experimental results show that the mechanical characteristics in terms of internal cohesion (C) and internal frication angle (φ) give a better mechanical performance with the binder inclusion, and the cure conditions play an effective role on the improvement of the shear strength. This result also showed that 10% of the cement content gave us a maximum value of shear strength and an optimal influence on the mechanical characteristics. The addition of cement not only improves the shear strength of soil, but also provides diversity in the resistance against the deformations imposed load, which can be established by a dilatant character.

Description: Extractive industries often use explosives to destroy rocks, and productivity requirements tend to increase the charges of the explosives. The blasts induce vibrations, which result in a potential damage of the surrounding structures. Therefore, the prediction of vibrations should be described with accuracy, in order to ensure the safety of engineered structures. However, the prediction of vibrations’ levels remain a complicated issue, because it involves numerous parameters correlated to the quarry site. In this paper, statistical analysis based on the peak particle velocity (PPV) and the attenuation law has been carried out to assess the safety charges (Q) for different distances (R) between the blast and the considered structure to secure. Moreover, the experimental investigations were conducted on the quarry site of “Sococim”, which is located on the south coast of Senegal. To ensure the safety of the “Conveyor belt” and “Panel 1 (Upper exploitation level)” sites, the PPV should be less than 10 mm/s. In fact, the attenuation model has been used to assess the safe charge weights of the explosive (Q) to be used at the “Conveyor belt” site and at the “Panel 1 (Upper exploitation level)” site. Therefore, the safe charge weights per delay (Q) were respectively 116 kg and 13.75 kg.

Description: This work presents the geotechnical problems occurring in the interaction area between road embankments and the bridge structures in case a subsoil characterised by complex and complicated geological and engineering conditions. These significant problems that occur during the design, performance and exploitation of the abutment structures, are illustrated on the example of engineering practice in Lower Silesia, concerning a road embankment that constitutes access to the bridge. The results of numerical analyses concerning the process of consolidation of low-strength soils and their impact on the settlements of road embankment indicate the need to carry out such analyses also in the cases, when the soft soils occur in the direct geotechnical layer under the designed embankment. The Authors included in this article a discussion regarding other effective actions and solutions that can be used in the design and performance phase, leading to the elimination or reduction of problems concerning the connection of engineering structures with road embankments, which have been recurring for years, ultimately resulting in the improvement of quality, comfort and safety of road exploitation.

Description: Understanding the quality of intact rock is one of the most important parts of any engineering projects in the field of rock mechanics. The expression of correlations between the engineering properties of intact rock has always been the scope of experimental research, driven by the need to depict the actual behaviour of rock and to calculate most accurately the design parameters. To determine the behaviour of intact rock, the value of important mechanical parameters such as Young’s modulus (E), Poisson’s ratio (ν) and the strength of rock (σcd) was calculated. Recently, for modelling the behaviour of intact rock, the crack initiation stress (σci) is another important parameter, together with the strain (σ). The ratio of Young’s modulus and the strength of rock is the modulus ratio (MR), which can be used for calculations. These parameters are extensively used in rock engineering when the deformation of different structural elements of underground storage, caverns, tunnels or mining opening must be computed. The objective of this paper is to investigate the relationship between these parameters for Hungarian granitic rock samples. To achieve this goal, the modulus ratio (MR = E/σc) of 50 granitic rocks collected from Bátaapáti radioactive waste repository was examined. Fifty high-precision uniaxial compressive tests were conducted on strong (σc 〉100 MPa) rock samples, exhibiting the wide range of elastic modulus (E = 57.425–88.937 GPa), uniaxial compressive strength (σc = 133.34–213.04 MPa) and Poisson’s ratio (ν = 0.18–0.32). The observed value (MR = 326–597) and mean value of MR = 439.4 are compared with the results of similar previous researches. Moreover, the statistical analysis for all studied rocks was performed and the relationshipbetween MR and other mechanical parameters such as maximum axial strain $left( {{varepsilon }_{ext{a,},ext{max}}} ight)$for studied rocks was discussed.

Description: Waste material such as used tires is increasing every year, which poses environmental problems. However, such material has been used in several geotechnical applications as alternative lightweight backfill in highway embankments and/or behind retaining walls, providing environmental, economic and technical benefits. These applications require knowledge of engineering properties of soil-tire rubber mixtures. The present study aims to show the possibility of tire rubber usage in sand by evaluating the shear strength and deformability of sand mixed with granulated rubber, in weight percentages between 0 and 50%. The tire rubber content was found to influence the stress-strain and deformation behavior of the mixtures. The shear strength of sand mixed with 10% or 20% tire rubber was higher than that measured for sand only. However, the trend for TRC = 30–50% was different. Samples with a rubber content of 30-50% exhibited a rapid decrease in the stress ratio compared with that of sand. The major principal strain at maximum stress ratio was found to increase with increasing tire rubber content. However, it was observed that the lateral strains (minor and intermediate principal strains) of samples reduced significantly with the addition of tire rubber to the sand.

Description: 〈span〉〈div〉Summary〈/div〉The investigation of using a novel radial basis function-based meshfree method for forward modelling magnetotelluric data is presented. The meshfree method, which can be termed radial basis function-based finite difference (RBF-FD), uses only a cloud of unconnected points to obtain the numerical solution throughout the computational domain. Unlike mesh-based numerical methods (for example, grid-based finite difference, finite volume and finite element), the meshfree method has the unique feature that the discretization of the conductivity model can be decoupled from the discretization used for numerical computation, thus avoiding traditional expensive mesh generation and allowing complicated geometries of the model be easily represented. To accelerate the computation, unstructured point discretization with local refinements are employed. Maxwell’s equations in the frequency domain are re-formulated using $\mathbf {A}$-ψ potentials in conjuction with the Coulomb gauge condition, and are solved numerically with a direct solver to obtain magnetotelluric responses. A major obstacle in applying common meshfree methods in modelling geophysical electromagnetic data is that they are incapable of reproducing discontinuous fields such as the discontinuous electric field over conductivity jumps, causing spurious solutions. The occurrence of spurious, or non-physical, solutions when applying standard meshfree methods is removed here by proposing a novel mixed scheme of the RBF-FD and a Galerkin-type weak-form treatment in discretizing the equations. The RBF-FD is applied to the points in uniform conductivity regions, whereas the weak-form treatment is introduced to points located on the interfaces separating different homogeneous conductivity regions. The effectiveness of the proposed meshfree method is validated with two numerical examples of modelling the magnetotelluric responses over three-dimensional conductivity models.〈/span〉

Description: 〈p〉The compatibility of free boronic acid building blocks in multicomponent reactions to readily create large libraries of diverse and complex small molecules was investigated. Traditionally, boronic acid synthesis is sequential, synthetically demanding, and time-consuming, which leads to high target synthesis times and low coverage of the boronic acid chemical space. We have performed the synthesis of large libraries of boronic acid derivatives based on multiple chemistries and building blocks using acoustic dispensing technology. The synthesis was performed on a nanomole scale with high synthesis success rates. The discovery of a protease inhibitor underscores the usefulness of the approach. Our acoustic dispensing–enabled chemistry paves the way to highly accelerated synthesis and miniaturized reaction scouting, allowing access to unprecedented boronic acid libraries.〈/p〉

Description: 〈p〉Humans are adept in simultaneously following multiple goals, but the neural mechanisms for maintaining specific goals and distinguishing them from other goals are incompletely understood. For short time scales, working memory studies suggest that multiple mental contents are maintained by theta-coupled reactivation, but evidence for similar mechanisms during complex behaviors such as goal-directed navigation is scarce. We examined intracranial electroencephalography recordings of epilepsy patients performing an object-location memory task in a virtual environment. We report that large-scale electrophysiological representations of objects that cue for specific goal locations are dynamically reactivated during goal-directed navigation. Reactivation of different cue representations occurred at stimulus-specific hippocampal theta phases. Locking to more distinct theta phases predicted better memory performance, identifying hippocampal theta phase coding as a mechanism for separating competing goals. Our findings suggest shared neural mechanisms between working memory and goal-directed navigation and provide new insights into the functions of the hippocampal theta rhythm.〈/p〉

Description: 〈p〉Voters may be unable to hold politicians to account if they lack basic information about their representatives’ performance. Civil society groups and international donors therefore advocate using voter information campaigns to improve democratic accountability. Yet, are these campaigns effective? Limited replication, measurement heterogeneity, and publication biases may undermine the reliability of published research. We implemented a new approach to cumulative learning, coordinating the design of seven randomized controlled trials to be fielded in six countries by independent research teams. Uncommon for multisite trials in the social sciences, we jointly preregistered a meta-analysis of results in advance of seeing the data. We find no evidence overall that typical, nonpartisan voter information campaigns shape voter behavior, although exploratory and subgroup analyses suggest conditions under which informational campaigns could be more effective. Such null estimated effects are too seldom published, yet they can be critical for scientific progress and cumulative, policy-relevant learning.〈/p〉

Description: 〈p〉The canonical view is that touch is signaled by fast-conducting, thickly myelinated afferents, whereas pain is signaled by slow-conducting, thinly myelinated ("fast" pain) or unmyelinated ("slow" pain) afferents. While other mammals have thickly myelinated afferents signaling pain (ultrafast nociceptors), these have not been demonstrated in humans. Here, we performed single-unit axonal recordings (microneurography) from cutaneous mechanoreceptive afferents in healthy participants. We identified A-fiber high-threshold mechanoreceptors (A-HTMRs) that were insensitive to gentle touch, encoded noxious skin indentations, and displayed conduction velocities similar to A-fiber low-threshold mechanoreceptors. Intraneural electrical stimulation of single ultrafast A-HTMRs evoked painful percepts. Testing in patients with selective deafferentation revealed impaired pain judgments to graded mechanical stimuli only when thickly myelinated fibers were absent. This function was preserved in patients with a loss-of-function mutation in mechanotransduction channel PIEZO2. These findings demonstrate that human mechanical pain does not require PIEZO2 and can be signaled by fast-conducting, thickly myelinated afferents.〈/p〉

Description: 〈p〉Mineralization is the most fundamental process in vertebrates. It is predominantly mediated by osteoblasts, which secrete mineral precursors, most likely through matrix vesicles (MVs). These vesicular structures are calcium and phosphate rich and contain organic material such as acidic proteins. However, it remains largely unknown how intracellular MVs are transported and secreted. Here, we use scanning electron-assisted dielectric microscopy and super-resolution microscopy for assessing live osteoblasts in mineralizing conditions at a nanolevel resolution. We found that the calcium-containing vesicles were multivesicular bodies containing MVs. They were transported via lysosome and secreted by exocytosis. Thus, we present proof that the lysosome transports amorphous calcium phosphate within mineralizing osteoblasts.〈/p〉

Description: 〈p〉Over 140 Mha of restoration commitments have been pledged across the global tropics, yet guidance is needed to identify those landscapes where implementation is likely to provide the greatest potential benefits and cost-effective outcomes. By overlaying seven recent, peer-reviewed spatial datasets as proxies for socioenvironmental benefits and feasibility of restoration, we identified restoration opportunities (areas with higher potential return of benefits and feasibility) in lowland tropical rainforest landscapes. We found restoration opportunities throughout the tropics. Areas scoring in the top 10% (i.e., restoration hotspots) are located largely within conservation hotspots (88%) and in countries committed to the Bonn Challenge (73%), a global effort to restore 350 Mha by 2030. However, restoration hotspots represented only a small portion (19.1%) of the Key Biodiversity Area network. Concentrating restoration investments in landscapes with high benefits and feasibility would maximize the potential to mitigate anthropogenic impacts and improve human well-being.〈/p〉

Description: 〈span〉〈div〉Summary〈/div〉Receiver functions are sensitive to sharp seismic velocity variations with depth and are commonly used to constrain crustal thickness. The H-κ stacking method of Zhu and Kanamori (〈span〉2000〈/span〉) is often employed to constrain both the crustal thickness (H) and ${V_P}$/${V_S}$ ratio ($\kappa $) beneath a seismic station using P-to-s converted waves (Ps). However, traditional H-κ stacks require an assumption of average crustal velocity (usually ${V_P}$). Additionally, large amplitude reverberations from low velocity shallow layers, such as sedimentary basins, can overprint sought-after crustal signals, rendering traditional H-$\ \kappa $ stacking uninterpretable. We overcome these difficulties in two ways. When S-wave reverberations from sediment are present, they are removed by applying a resonance removal filter allowing crustal signals to be clarified and interpreted. We also combine complementary Ps receiver functions, Sp receiver functions, and the post-critical P wave reflection from the Moho (SP〈sub〉m〈/sub〉p) to remove the dependence on an assumed average crustal ${V_P}$. By correcting for sediment and combining multiple data sets, the crustal thickness, average crustal P-wave velocity, and crustal ${V_P}$/${V_S}$ ratio is constrained in geologic regions where traditional H-$\ \kappa $ stacking fails, without making an initial P-wave velocity assumption or suffering from contamination by sedimentary reverberations.〈/span〉

Description: 〈p〉In engineering, the "softness" of an object, as measured by an indenter, manifests as two measurable parameters: (i) indentation depth and (ii) contact area. For humans, softness is not well defined, although it is believed that perception depends on the same two parameters. Decoupling their relative contributions, however, has not been straightforward because most bulk—"off-the-shelf"—materials exhibit the same ratio between the indentation depth and contact area. Here, we decoupled indentation depth and contact area by fabricating elastomeric slabs with precise thicknesses and microstructured surfaces. Human subject experiments using two-alternative forced-choice and magnitude estimation tests showed that the indentation depth and contact area contributed independently to perceived softness. We found an explicit relationship between the perceived softness of an object and its geometric properties. Using this approach, it is possible to design objects for human interaction with a desired level of perceived softness.〈/p〉

Description: 〈p〉The electronic energy and dynamics of solvated electrons, the simplest yet elusive chemical species, is of interest in chemistry, physics, and biology. Here, we present the electron binding energy distributions of solvated electrons in liquid water, methanol, and ethanol accurately measured using extreme ultraviolet (EUV) photoelectron spectroscopy of liquids with a single-order high harmonic. The distributions are Gaussian in all cases. Using the EUV and UV photoelectron spectra of solvated electrons, we succeeded in retrieving sharp electron kinetic energy distributions from the spectra broadened and energy shifted by inelastic scattering in liquids, overcoming an obstacle in ultrafast UV photoelectron spectroscopy of liquids. The method is demonstrated for the benchmark systems of charge transfer to solvent reaction and ultrafast internal conversion of hydrated electron from the first excited state.〈/p〉

Description: 〈p〉Topological surface states (TSSs) in a topological insulator are expected to be able to produce a spin-orbit torque that can switch a neighboring ferromagnet. This effect may be absent if the ferromagnet is conductive because it can completely suppress the TSSs, but it should be present if the ferromagnet is insulating. This study reports TSS-induced switching in a bilayer consisting of a topological insulator Bi〈sub〉2〈/sub〉Se〈sub〉3〈/sub〉 and an insulating ferromagnet BaFe〈sub〉12〈/sub〉O〈sub〉19〈/sub〉. A charge current in Bi〈sub〉2〈/sub〉Se〈sub〉3〈/sub〉 can switch the magnetization in BaFe〈sub〉12〈/sub〉O〈sub〉19〈/sub〉 up and down. When the magnetization is switched by a field, a current in Bi〈sub〉2〈/sub〉Se〈sub〉3〈/sub〉 can reduce the switching field by ~4000 Oe. The switching efficiency at 3 K is 300 times higher than at room temperature; it is ~30 times higher than in Pt/BaFe〈sub〉12〈/sub〉O〈sub〉19〈/sub〉. These strong effects originate from the presence of more pronounced TSSs at low temperatures due to enhanced surface conductivity and reduced bulk conductivity.〈/p〉

Description: 〈p〉The in situ two-dimensional (2D) and 3D imaging of the chemical speciation of organic fossils is an unsolved problem in paleontology and cultural heritage. Here, we use x-ray Raman scattering (XRS)–based imaging at the carbon K-edge to form 2D and 3D images of the carbon chemistry in two exceptionally preserved specimens, a fossil plant dating back from the Carboniferous and an ancient insect entrapped in 53-million-year-old amber. The 2D XRS imaging of the plant fossil reveals a homogeneous chemical composition with micrometric "pockets" of preservation, likely inherited from its geological history. The 3D XRS imaging of the insect cuticle displays an exceptionally well preserved remaining chemical signature typical of polysaccharides such as chitin around a largely hollowed-out inclusion. Our results open up new perspectives for in situ chemical speciation imaging of fossilized organic materials, with the potential to enhance our understanding of organic specimens and their paleobiology.〈/p〉

Description: 〈p〉The regeneration of tooth enamel, the hardest biological tissue, remains a considerable challenge because its complicated and well-aligned apatite structure has not been duplicated artificially. We herein reveal that a rationally designed material composed of calcium phosphate ion clusters can be used to produce a precursor layer to induce the epitaxial crystal growth of enamel apatite, which mimics the biomineralization crystalline-amorphous frontier of hard tissue development in nature. After repair, the damaged enamel can be recovered completely because its hierarchical structure and mechanical properties are identical to those of natural enamel. The suggested phase transformation–based epitaxial growth follows a promising strategy for enamel regeneration and, more generally, for biomimetic reproduction of materials with complicated structure.〈/p〉

Description: 〈span〉In the original version of this article the author, Adrian Flores Orozco, was incorrectly listed. This has now been corrected and the publisher apologises for the error.〈/span〉

Description: 〈span〉〈div〉SUMMARY〈/div〉The evolution of the Philippine Sea Plate (PSP) since Jurassic is one of the key issues in the dynamics of lithosphere and mantle. The related studies benefited mostly from seismic tomography which provides velocity structures in the upper mantle. However, the upper-mantle structure is not well resolved compared to the continental areas due to the lack of seismic data in the Philippine Sea. We employ a 3-D gravity inversion constrained by an initial model based on the 〈span〉S〈/span〉-wave tomography (SL2013sv; Schaeffer & Lebedev 2013) to image the density structure of the upper mantle of the PSP and adjacent region. The resulting model shows a three-layer pattern of vertical high-low-high density variation in the upper mantle under the PSP. The thin high-density layer evidences for strong oceanic lithosphere in the West Philippine Sea. The relatively low dense mantle located below the PSP possibly originates from the asthenosphere. The PSP differs from the Pacific and the Indian-Australian plates in the whole depth range, while its structure is similar to the eastern Eurasian and Sunda plates. In the depth range, 200–300 km, the relative high-density zone beneath PSP extends to the Sunda Plate and to the eastern Eurasian Plate. We further estimated the conversion factor of our density model and the velocity model (SL2013sv; Schaeffer & Lebedev 2013) in order to locate the changes of compositional effects in the upper mantle. The negative conversion factor indicates that the compositional changes primarily affect the density anomalies beneath the PSP. We, therefore, describe the layered density structures as ‘sandwich’ pattern, which is unique and different from adjacent regions.〈/span〉

Description: 〈span〉〈div〉SUMMARY〈/div〉Low-velocity layers within the crust can indicate the presence of melt and lithologic differences with implications for crustal composition and formation. Seismic wave conversions and reverberations across the base of the crust or intracrustal discontinuities, analysed using the receiver function method, can be used to constrain crustal layering. This is commonly accomplished by inverting receiver functions jointly with surface wave dispersion. Recently, the proliferation of model-space search approaches has made this technique a workhorse of crustal seismology. We show that reverberations from shallow layers such as sedimentary basins produce spurious low-velocity zones when inverted for crustal structure with surface wave data of insufficiently high frequency. Therefore, reports of such layers in the literature based on inversions using receiver function data should be re-evaluated. We demonstrate that a simple resonance-removal filter can suppress these effects and yield reliable estimates of crustal structure, and advocate for its use in receiver-function based inversions.〈/span〉

Description: 〈span〉〈div〉SUMMARY〈/div〉We present a numerical method for simulating both single-event dynamic ruptures and earthquake sequences with full inertial effects in antiplane shear with rate-and-state fault friction. We use the second-order form of the wave equation, expressed in terms of displacements, discretized with high-order-accurate finite difference operators in space. Advantages of this method over other methods include reduced computational memory usage and reduced spurious high frequency oscillations. Our method handles complex geometries, such as non-planar fault interfaces and free surface topography. Boundary conditions are imposed weakly using penalties. We prove time stability by constructing discrete energy estimates. We present numerical experiments demonstrating the stability and convergence of the method, and showcasing applications of the method, including the transition in rupture style from crack-like ruptures to slip pulses for strongly rate-weakening friction and the simulation of earthquake sequences in a viscoelastic solid with a fully dynamic coseismic phase.〈/span〉

Description: 〈sec〉〈st〉Electron energy bands of crystalline solids generically exhibit degeneracies called band-structure nodes. Here, we introduce non-Abelian topological charges that characterize line nodes inside the momentum space of〈/st〉〈p〉〈b〉-symmetric crystalline metals with weak spin-orbit coupling. We show that these are quaternion charges, similar to those describing disclinations in biaxial nematics. Starting from two-band considerations, we develop the complete many-band description of nodes in the presence of 〈/b〉 〈b〉and mirror symmetries, which allows us to investigate the topological stability of nodal chains in metals. The non-Abelian charges put strict constraints on the possible nodal line configurations. Our analysis goes beyond the standard approach to band topology, and implies the existence of 1D topological phases not present in existing classifications.〈/b〉〈/p〉〈/sec〉

Description: 〈span〉〈div〉Summary〈/div〉We derive a theoretical relationship between the cross correlation of ambient Rayleigh waves (seismic ambient noise) and the attenuation parameter α associated with Rayleigh-wave propagation. In particular, we derive a mathematical expression for the multiplicative factor relating normalized cross correlation to the Rayleigh-wave Green’s function. Based on this expression, we formulate an inverse problem to determine α from cross correlations of recorded ambient signal. We conduct a preliminary application of our algorithm to a relatively small instrument array, conveniently deployed on an island. In our setup, the mentioned multiplicative factor has values of about 2.5 to 3, which, if neglected, could result in a significant underestimate of α. We find that our inferred values of α are reasonable, in comparison with independently obtained estimates found in the literature. Allowing α to vary with respect to frequency results in a reduction of misfit between observed and predicted cross correlations.〈/span〉

Description: 〈p〉Investigating slow earthquake activity in subduction zones provides insight into the slip behavior of megathrusts, which can provide important clues about the rupture extent of future great earthquakes. Using the S-net ocean-bottom seismograph network along the Japan Trench, we mapped a detailed distribution of tectonic tremors, which coincided with very-low-frequency earthquakes and a slow slip event. Compiling these and other related observations, including repeating earthquakes and earthquake swarms, we found that the slow earthquake distribution is complementary to the Tohoku-Oki earthquake rupture. We used our observations to divide the megathrust in the Japan Trench into three along-strike segments characterized by different slip behaviors. We found that the rupture of the Tohoku-Oki earthquake, which nucleated in the central segment, was terminated by the two adjacent segments.〈/p〉

Description: 〈p〉Stimuli-responsive materials activated by biological signals play an increasingly important role in biotechnology applications. We exploit the programmability of CRISPR-associated nucleases to actuate hydrogels containing DNA as a structural element or as an anchor for pendant groups. After activation by guide RNA–defined inputs, Cas12a cleaves DNA in the gels, thereby converting biological information into changes in material properties. We report four applications: (i) branched poly(ethylene glycol) hydrogels releasing DNA-anchored compounds, (ii) degradable polyacrylamide-DNA hydrogels encapsulating nanoparticles and live cells, (iii) conductive carbon-black–DNA hydrogels acting as degradable electrical fuses, and (iv) a polyacrylamide-DNA hydrogel operating as a fluidic valve with an electrical readout for remote signaling. These materials allow for a range of in vitro applications in tissue engineering, bioelectronics, and diagnostics.〈/p〉