ALBERT

Description: An experimental investigation was conducted on the engine/airframe integration aerodynamics for potential high-lift aircraft configurations. The model consisted of a semispan wing with a double-isolated flap system and a Krueger leading edge device. The advanced propeller and the powered nacelle were tested and aerodynamic characteristics of the combined system are presented. It was found that the lift coefficient of the powered wing could be increased by the propeller slipstream when the rotational speed was increased and high-lift devices were deployed. Moving the nacelle/propeller closer to the wing in the vertical direction indicated higher lift augmentation than a shift in the longitudinal direction. A pitch-down nacelle inclination enhanced the lift performance of the system much better than vertical and horizontal variation of the nacelle locations and showed that the powered wing can sustain higher angles of attack near maximum lift performance.

Description: To test the injection behaviour of CO2 into brine-saturated rock and to evaluate the dependence of geophysical properties on CO2 injection, flow and exposure experiments with brine and CO2 were performed on sandstone samples of the Stuttgart Formation representing potential reservoir rocks for CO2 storage. The sandstone samples studied are generally fine-grained with porosities between 17 and 32% and permeabilities between 1 and 100 mD. Additional batch experiments were performed to predict the long-term behaviour of geological CO2 storage. Reservoir rock samples were exposed over a period of several months to CO2-saturated reservoir fluid in high-pressure vessels under in situ temperature and pressure conditions. Petrophysical parameters, porosity and the pore radius distribution were investigated before and after the experiments by NMR (Nuclear Magnetic Resonance) relaxation and mercury injection. Most of the NMR measurements of the tested samples showed a slight increase of porosity and a higher proportion of large pores.

Description: Multibeam bathymetry revealed the occurrence of numerous craterlike depressions, so-called pockmarks, on the sea floor of the Hammerfest Basin and the Loppa High, south-western Barents Sea. To investigate whether these pockmarks are related to ongoing gas seepage, microbial processes associated with methane metabolism were analyzed using geochemical, biogeochemical and microbiological techniques. Gravity cores were collected along transects crossing individual pockmarks, allowing a direct comparison between different locations inside (assumed activity center), on the rim, and outside of a pockmark (reference sites). Concentrations of hydrocarbons in the sediment, particularly methane, were measured as headspace (free) gas, and in the occluded and adsorbed gas fraction. Down to a depth of 2.6 m below sea floor (mbsf) sulfate reduction rates were quantified by radiotracer incubations. Concentrations of dissolved sulfate in the porewater were determined as well. Neither the sulfate profiles nor the gas measurements show any evidence of microbial activity or active fluid venting. Methane concentrations and sulfate reduction rates were extremely low or even below the detection limit. The results show that the observed sediment structures are most likely paleo-pockmarks, their formation probably occurred during the last deglaciation.

Description: To study the applicability of the passive seismic interferometry technique to near-surface geological studies, seismic noise recordings from a small scale 2-D array of seismic stations were performed in the test site of Nauen (Germany). Rayleigh wave Green's functions were estimated for different frequencies. A tomographic inversion of the traveltimes estimated for each frequency from the Green's functions is then performed, allowing the laterally varying 3-D surface wave velocity structure below the array to be retrieved at engineering–geotechnical scales. Furthermore, a 2-D S-wave velocity cross-section is obtained by combining 1-D velocity structures derived from the inversion of the dispersion curves extracted at several points along a profile where other geophysical analyses were performed. It is shown that the cross-section from passive seismic interferometry provides a clear image of the local structural heterogeneities that are in excellent agreement with georadar and geoelectrical results. Such findings indicate that the interferometry analysis of seismic noise is potentially of great interest for deriving the shallow 3-D velocity structure in urban areas.

Description: Circular RNAs (circRNAs) in animals are an enigmatic class of RNA with unknown function. To explore circRNAs systematically, we sequenced and computationally analysed human, mouse and nematode RNA. We detected thousands of well-expressed, stable circRNAs, often showing tissue/developmental-stage-specific expression. Sequence analysis indicated important regulatory functions for circRNAs. We found that a human circRNA, antisense to the cerebellar degeneration-related protein 1 transcript (CDR1as), is densely bound by microRNA (miRNA) effector complexes and harbours 63 conserved binding sites for the ancient miRNA miR-7. Further analyses indicated that CDR1as functions to bind miR-7 in neuronal tissues. Human CDR1as expression in zebrafish impaired midbrain development, similar to knocking down miR-7, suggesting that CDR1as is a miRNA antagonist with a miRNA-binding capacity ten times higher than any other known transcript. Together, our data provide evidence that circRNAs form a large class of post-transcriptional regulators. Numerous circRNAs form by head-to-tail splicing of exons, suggesting previously unrecognized regulatory potential of coding sequences.〈br /〉〈span class="detail_caption"〉Notes: 〈/span〉Memczak, Sebastian -- Jens, Marvin -- Elefsinioti, Antigoni -- Torti, Francesca -- Krueger, Janna -- Rybak, Agnieszka -- Maier, Luisa -- Mackowiak, Sebastian D -- Gregersen, Lea H -- Munschauer, Mathias -- Loewer, Alexander -- Ziebold, Ulrike -- Landthaler, Markus -- Kocks, Christine -- le Noble, Ferdinand -- Rajewsky, Nikolaus -- England -- Nature. 2013 Mar 21;495(7441):333-8. doi: 10.1038/nature11928. Epub 2013 Feb 27.〈br /〉〈span class="detail_caption"〉Author address: 〈/span〉Systems Biology of Gene Regulatory Elements, Max-Delbruck-Center for Molecular Medicine, Robert-Rossle-Strasse 10, 13125 Berlin, Germany.〈br /〉〈span class="detail_caption"〉Record origin:〈/span〉 〈a href="http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/23446348" target="_blank"〉PubMed〈/a〉

Description: In the framework of the Dead Sea Integrated Research project (DESIRE), 59 seismological stations were deployed in the region of the Dead Sea Basin. Twenty of these stations recorded data of sufficiently high quality between May and September 2007 to be used for ambient seismic noise analysis. Empirical Green’s functions are extracted from cross-correlations of long term recordings. These functions are dominated by Rayleigh waves, whose group velocities can be measured in the frequency range from 0.1 to 0.5 Hz. Analysis of positive and negative correlation lags of the Green’s functions makes it possible to identify the direction of the source of the incoming energy. Signals with frequencies higher than 0.2 Hz originate from the Mediterranean Sea, while low frequencies arrive from the direction of the Red Sea. Travel times of the extracted Rayleigh waves were measured between station pairs for different frequencies, and tomographically inverted to provide independent velocity models. Four such 2D models were computed for a set of frequencies, all corresponding to different sampling depths, and thus together giving an indication of the velocity variations in 3D extending to a depth of 10 km. The results show low velocities in the Dead Sea Basin, consistent with previous studies suggesting up to 8 km of recent sedimentary infill in the Basin. The complex structure of the western margin of the Basin is also observed, with sedimentary infill present to depths not exceeding 5 km west of the southern part of the Dead Sea. The high velocities associated with the Lisan salt diapir are also observed down to a depth of ~5 km. The reliability of the results is confirmed by checkerboard recovery tests.

Description: This study predicts the subsurface temperature distribution of Germany's capital Berlin. For this purpose, a data-based lithosphere-scale 3D structural model is developed incorporating 21 individual geological units. This model shows a horizontal grid resolution of (500 x 500) m and provides the geometric base for two different approaches of 3D thermal simulations, (i) calculations of the steady-state purely conductive thermal field and (ii) simulations of coupled fluid flow and heat transport. The results point out fundamentally different structural and thermal configurations for potential geothermal target units. The top of the Triassic Middle Buntsandstein strongly varies in depth (159‑2,470 m below sea level) and predicted temperatures (15‑95°C), mostly because of the complex geometry of the underlying Permian Zechstein salt. The top of the sub-salt Sedimentary Rotliegend is rather flat (2,890‑3,785 m below sea level) and reveals temperatures of 85-139°C. The predicted 70°C-isotherm is located at depths of about 1,500‑2,200 m cutting the Middle Buntsandstein over large parts of Berlin. The 110°C‑isotherm at 2,900‑3,700 m depth widely crosscuts the Sedimentary Rotliegend. Groundwater flow results in subsurface cooling the extent of which is strongly controlled by the geometry and the distribution of the Tertiary Rupelian Clay. The cooling effect is strongest where this clay-rich aquitard is thinnest or missing thus facilitating deep reaching forced convective flow. The differences between the purely conductive and coupled models highlight the need for investigations of the complex interrelation of flow- and thermal fields to properly predict temperatures in sedimentary systems.

Description: Hyperspectral remote sensing data open up new opportunities for analyzing urban areas characterized by a large variety of spectrally distinct surface materials. Spectroscopic analysis using diagnostic spectral features yields the potential for automated identification and mapping of these materials. This study proposes a new approach for the determination and evaluation of such spectral features that are robust against spectral overlap between material classes and within-class variability. Analysis is based on comprehensive field and image spectral libraries of more than 21,000 spectra of surface materials widely-used in German cities. The robustness of the interactively defined spectral features is evaluated by a separability analysis. This method is performed based on confusion matrices for each material computed from classification results. For comparison this analysis is also performed for material-specific gray values of selected bands. The obtained commission and omission errors show superiority of the spectral features compared to gray values for most of the investigated materials. The results indicate that robust spectral features yield the potential for unsupervised detection of endmembers in hyperspectral image data.

Description: Das Gebiet südlich und östlich der Ostsee weist eine sehr geringe Bebenaktivität auf. Jedoch ist diese nicht vernachlässigbar klein, wie anhand der vier jüngsten Beben gezeigt wird, die Gegenstand dieser Untersuchung sind: in Mecklenburg-Vorpommern nahe Wittenburg, am 19. Mai 2000, Mw = 3,1 und Rostock am 21. Juli 2001, Mw = 3,4 sowie im Gebiet Kaliningrad (Russland) am 21. September 2004 zwei Beben mit Mw = 4,6 und 4,7. Lokalisierungen, Magnituden (ML und Mw und Herdflächenlösungen wurden für die ersten beiden genannten Beben berechnet. Für die Kaliningrad-Beben konnte die Herdtiefe mittels synthetischer Modellierungen bestimmt werden. Die Analyse der makroseismischen Beobachtungen zu den genannten Beben beruht auf der Anwendung einer neu entwickelten Inversionstechnik, die simultan die Lokalisierung sowie die Bestimmung der Herdtiefe und der Epizentralintensität erlaubt. Die anhand der Herdflächenlösungen erhaltenen Orientierungen der maximalen horizontalen Kompressionsspannungen sind in sehr guter Übereinstimmung mit dem bekannten regional unterschiedlich orientierten krustalen Spannungsfeld; d.h. maximale horizontale N-S Kompressionsspannung für das Wittenburg- und das Rostock-Beben und NNW-SSE für die Kaliningrad-Ereignisse. Mögliche Bruchstörungen, die ursächlich mit dem Beben in Verbindung stehen könnten, werden diskutiert. Es wird gezeigt, dass die jüngsten Beben zu keinen signifikanten Änderungen der Magnituden-Häufigkeitsverteilungen führen.

Description: Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) is a devastating neurological disease with no effective treatment. We report the results of a moderate-scale sequencing study aimed at increasing the number of genes known to contribute to predisposition for ALS. We performed whole-exome sequencing of 2869 ALS patients and 6405 controls. Several known ALS genes were found to be associated, and TBK1 (the gene encoding TANK-binding kinase 1) was identified as an ALS gene. TBK1 is known to bind to and phosphorylate a number of proteins involved in innate immunity and autophagy, including optineurin (OPTN) and p62 (SQSTM1/sequestosome), both of which have also been implicated in ALS. These observations reveal a key role of the autophagic pathway in ALS and suggest specific targets for therapeutic intervention.〈br /〉〈br /〉〈a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4437632/" target="_blank"〉〈img src="https://static.pubmed.gov/portal/portal3rc.fcgi/4089621/img/3977009" border="0"〉〈/a〉   〈a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4437632/" target="_blank"〉This paper as free author manuscript - peer-reviewed and accepted for publication〈/a〉〈br /〉〈br /〉〈span class="detail_caption"〉Notes: 〈/span〉Cirulli, Elizabeth T -- Lasseigne, Brittany N -- Petrovski, Slave -- Sapp, Peter C -- Dion, Patrick A -- Leblond, Claire S -- Couthouis, Julien -- Lu, Yi-Fan -- Wang, Quanli -- Krueger, Brian J -- Ren, Zhong -- Keebler, Jonathan -- Han, Yujun -- Levy, Shawn E -- Boone, Braden E -- Wimbish, Jack R -- Waite, Lindsay L -- Jones, Angela L -- Carulli, John P -- Day-Williams, Aaron G -- Staropoli, John F -- Xin, Winnie W -- Chesi, Alessandra -- Raphael, Alya R -- McKenna-Yasek, Diane -- Cady, Janet -- Vianney de Jong, J M B -- Kenna, Kevin P -- Smith, Bradley N -- Topp, Simon -- Miller, Jack -- Gkazi, Athina -- FALS Sequencing Consortium -- Al-Chalabi, Ammar -- van den Berg, Leonard H -- Veldink, Jan -- Silani, Vincenzo -- Ticozzi, Nicola -- Shaw, Christopher E -- Baloh, Robert H -- Appel, Stanley -- Simpson, Ericka -- Lagier-Tourenne, Clotilde -- Pulst, Stefan M -- Gibson, Summer -- Trojanowski, John Q -- Elman, Lauren -- McCluskey, Leo -- Grossman, Murray -- Shneider, Neil A -- Chung, Wendy K -- Ravits, John M -- Glass, Jonathan D -- Sims, Katherine B -- Van Deerlin, Vivianna M -- Maniatis, Tom -- Hayes, Sebastian D -- Ordureau, Alban -- Swarup, Sharan -- Landers, John -- Baas, Frank -- Allen, Andrew S -- Bedlack, Richard S -- Harper, J Wade -- Gitler, Aaron D -- Rouleau, Guy A -- Brown, Robert -- Harms, Matthew B -- Cooper, Gregory M -- Harris, Tim -- Myers, Richard M -- Goldstein, David B -- 089701/Wellcome Trust/United Kingdom -- K08 NS075094/NS/NINDS NIH HHS/ -- P01 AG017586/AG/NIA NIH HHS/ -- P01 AG032953/AG/NIA NIH HHS/ -- P50 AG025688/AG/NIA NIH HHS/ -- R37 NS033123/NS/NINDS NIH HHS/ -- R37 NS083524/NS/NINDS NIH HHS/ -- T32 GM007754/GM/NIGMS NIH HHS/ -- TL1 TR001066/TR/NCATS NIH HHS/ -- UL1 TR001067/TR/NCATS NIH HHS/ -- New York, N.Y. -- Science. 2015 Mar 27;347(6229):1436-41. doi: 10.1126/science.aaa3650. Epub 2015 Feb 19.〈br /〉〈span class="detail_caption"〉Author address: 〈/span〉Center for Applied Genomics and Precision Medicine, Duke University School of Medicine, Durham, NC 27708, USA. ; HudsonAlpha Institute for Biotechnology, Huntsville, AL 35806, USA. ; Institute for Genomic Medicine, Columbia University, New York, NY 10032, USA. ; Department of Neurology, University of Massachusetts Medical School, Worcester, MA 01655, USA. ; Montreal Neurological Institute, Department of Neurology and Neurosurgery, McGill University, Montreal, Quebec H3A 2B4, Canada. ; Department of Genetics, Stanford University School of Medicine, Stanford, CA 94305, USA. ; Duke University School of Medicine, Durham, NC 27708, USA. ; Biogen Idec, Cambridge, MA 02142, USA. ; Neurogenetics DNA Diagnostic Laboratory, Center for Human Genetics Research, Department of Neurology, Massachusetts General Hospital, Boston, MA 02114, USA. ; Neurology, Washington University School of Medicine, St. Louis, MO 63110, USA. ; Department of Genome Analysis, Academic Medical Center, Meibergdreef 9, 1105AZ Amsterdam, Netherlands. ; Academic Unit of Neurology, Trinity Biomedical Sciences Institute, Trinity College Dublin, Dublin, Republic of Ireland. ; Department of Basic and Clinical Neuroscience, King's College London, Institute of Psychiatry, Psychology and Neuroscience, London SE5 8AF, UK. ; Department of Neurology, Brain Center Rudolf Magnus, University Medical Centre Utrecht, 3508 GA Utrecht, Netherlands. ; Department of Neurology and Laboratory of Neuroscience, IRCCS Istituto Auxologico Italiano, Milan 20149, Italy, and Department of Pathophysiology and Transplantation, Dino Ferrari Center, Universita degli Studi di Milano, Milan 20122, Italy. ; Cedars Sinai Medical Center, Los Angeles, CA 90048, USA. ; Houston Methodist Hospital, Houston, TX 77030, USA, and Weill Cornell Medical College of Cornell University, New York, NY 10065, USA. ; Ludwig Institute for Cancer Research and Department of Neurosciences, University of California, San Diego, La Jolla, CA 92093, USA. ; Department of Neurology, University of Utah School of Medicine, Salt Lake City, UT 84112, USA. ; Department of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine, Perelman School of Medicine, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA 19104, USA. ; Department of Neurology, Penn ALS Center, Perelman School of Medicine, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA 19104, USA. ; Department of Neurology, Penn Frontotemporal Degeneration Center, Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA 19104, USA. ; Department of Neurology, Center for Motor Neuron Biology and Disease, Columbia University, New York, NY 10032, USA. ; Department of Pediatrics and Medicine, Columbia University, New York, NY 10032, USA. ; Department of Neurosciences, University of California, San Diego, La Jolla, CA 92093, USA. ; Department of Neurology, Emory University, Atlanta, GA 30322, USA. ; Department of Biochemistry & Molecular Biophysics, Columbia University, New York, NY 10027, USA. ; Biogen Idec, Cambridge, MA 02142, USA. Department of Cell Biology, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA 02115, USA. ; Department of Cell Biology, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA 02115, USA. ; Department of Biostatistics and Bioinformatics, Duke University School of Medicine, Durham, NC 27708, USA. ; Duke ALS Clinic and Durham VA Medical Center, Durham, NC 27708, USA. ; Biogen Idec, Cambridge, MA 02142, USA. tim.harris@biogenidec.com.〈br /〉〈span class="detail_caption"〉Record origin:〈/span〉 〈a href="http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/25700176" target="_blank"〉PubMed〈/a〉

Description: A genome-wide association study (GWAS) of educational attainment was conducted in a discovery sample of 101,069 individuals and a replication sample of 25,490. Three independent single-nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) are genome-wide significant (rs9320913, rs11584700, rs4851266), and all three replicate. Estimated effects sizes are small (coefficient of determination R(2) approximately 0.02%), approximately 1 month of schooling per allele. A linear polygenic score from all measured SNPs accounts for approximately 2% of the variance in both educational attainment and cognitive function. Genes in the region of the loci have previously been associated with health, cognitive, and central nervous system phenotypes, and bioinformatics analyses suggest the involvement of the anterior caudate nucleus. These findings provide promising candidate SNPs for follow-up work, and our effect size estimates can anchor power analyses in social-science genetics.〈br /〉〈br /〉〈a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3751588/" target="_blank"〉〈img src="https://static.pubmed.gov/portal/portal3rc.fcgi/4089621/img/3977009" border="0"〉〈/a〉   〈a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3751588/" target="_blank"〉This paper as free author manuscript - peer-reviewed and accepted for publication〈/a〉〈br /〉〈br /〉〈span class="detail_caption"〉Notes: 〈/span〉Rietveld, Cornelius A -- Medland, Sarah E -- Derringer, Jaime -- Yang, Jian -- Esko, Tonu -- Martin, Nicolas W -- Westra, Harm-Jan -- Shakhbazov, Konstantin -- Abdellaoui, Abdel -- Agrawal, Arpana -- Albrecht, Eva -- Alizadeh, Behrooz Z -- Amin, Najaf -- Barnard, John -- Baumeister, Sebastian E -- Benke, Kelly S -- Bielak, Lawrence F -- Boatman, Jeffrey A -- Boyle, Patricia A -- Davies, Gail -- de Leeuw, Christiaan -- Eklund, Niina -- Evans, Daniel S -- Ferhmann, Rudolf -- Fischer, Krista -- Gieger, Christian -- Gjessing, Hakon K -- Hagg, Sara -- Harris, Jennifer R -- Hayward, Caroline -- Holzapfel, Christina -- Ibrahim-Verbaas, Carla A -- Ingelsson, Erik -- Jacobsson, Bo -- Joshi, Peter K -- Jugessur, Astanand -- Kaakinen, Marika -- Kanoni, Stavroula -- Karjalainen, Juha -- Kolcic, Ivana -- Kristiansson, Kati -- Kutalik, Zoltan -- Lahti, Jari -- Lee, Sang H -- Lin, Peng -- Lind, Penelope A -- Liu, Yongmei -- Lohman, Kurt -- Loitfelder, Marisa -- McMahon, George -- Vidal, Pedro Marques -- Meirelles, Osorio -- Milani, Lili -- Myhre, Ronny -- Nuotio, Marja-Liisa -- Oldmeadow, Christopher J -- Petrovic, Katja E -- Peyrot, Wouter J -- Polasek, Ozren -- Quaye, Lydia -- Reinmaa, Eva -- Rice, John P -- Rizzi, Thais S -- Schmidt, Helena -- Schmidt, Reinhold -- Smith, Albert V -- Smith, Jennifer A -- Tanaka, Toshiko -- Terracciano, Antonio -- van der Loos, Matthijs J H M -- Vitart, Veronique -- Volzke, Henry -- Wellmann, Jurgen -- Yu, Lei -- Zhao, Wei -- Allik, Juri -- Attia, John R -- Bandinelli, Stefania -- Bastardot, Francois -- Beauchamp, Jonathan -- Bennett, David A -- Berger, Klaus -- Bierut, Laura J -- Boomsma, Dorret I -- Bultmann, Ute -- Campbell, Harry -- Chabris, Christopher F -- Cherkas, Lynn -- Chung, Mina K -- Cucca, Francesco -- de Andrade, Mariza -- De Jager, Philip L -- De Neve, Jan-Emmanuel -- Deary, Ian J -- Dedoussis, George V -- Deloukas, Panos -- Dimitriou, Maria -- Eiriksdottir, Guethny -- Elderson, Martin F -- Eriksson, Johan G -- Evans, David M -- Faul, Jessica D -- Ferrucci, Luigi -- Garcia, Melissa E -- Gronberg, Henrik -- Guethnason, Vilmundur -- Hall, Per -- Harris, Juliette M -- Harris, Tamara B -- Hastie, Nicholas D -- Heath, Andrew C -- Hernandez, Dena G -- Hoffmann, Wolfgang -- Hofman, Adriaan -- Holle, Rolf -- Holliday, Elizabeth G -- Hottenga, Jouke-Jan -- Iacono, William G -- Illig, Thomas -- Jarvelin, Marjo-Riitta -- Kahonen, Mika -- Kaprio, Jaakko -- Kirkpatrick, Robert M -- Kowgier, Matthew -- Latvala, Antti -- Launer, Lenore J -- Lawlor, Debbie A -- Lehtimaki, Terho -- Li, Jingmei -- Lichtenstein, Paul -- Lichtner, Peter -- Liewald, David C -- Madden, Pamela A -- Magnusson, Patrik K E -- Makinen, Tomi E -- Masala, Marco -- McGue, Matt -- Metspalu, Andres -- Mielck, Andreas -- Miller, Michael B -- Montgomery, Grant W -- Mukherjee, Sutapa -- Nyholt, Dale R -- Oostra, Ben A -- Palmer, Lyle J -- Palotie, Aarno -- Penninx, Brenda W J H -- Perola, Markus -- Peyser, Patricia A -- Preisig, Martin -- Raikkonen, Katri -- Raitakari, Olli T -- Realo, Anu -- Ring, Susan M -- Ripatti, Samuli -- Rivadeneira, Fernando -- Rudan, Igor -- Rustichini, Aldo -- Salomaa, Veikko -- Sarin, Antti-Pekka -- Schlessinger, David -- Scott, Rodney J -- Snieder, Harold -- St Pourcain, Beate -- Starr, John M -- Sul, Jae Hoon -- Surakka, Ida -- Svento, Rauli -- Teumer, Alexander -- LifeLines Cohort Study -- Tiemeier, Henning -- van Rooij, Frank J A -- Van Wagoner, David R -- Vartiainen, Erkki -- Viikari, Jorma -- Vollenweider, Peter -- Vonk, Judith M -- Waeber, Gerard -- Weir, David R -- Wichmann, H-Erich -- Widen, Elisabeth -- Willemsen, Gonneke -- Wilson, James F -- Wright, Alan F -- Conley, Dalton -- Davey-Smith, George -- Franke, Lude -- Groenen, Patrick J F -- Hofman, Albert -- Johannesson, Magnus -- Kardia, Sharon L R -- Krueger, Robert F -- Laibson, David -- Martin, Nicholas G -- Meyer, Michelle N -- Posthuma, Danielle -- Thurik, A Roy -- Timpson, Nicholas J -- Uitterlinden, Andre G -- van Duijn, Cornelia M -- Visscher, Peter M -- Benjamin, Daniel J -- Cesarini, David -- Koellinger, Philipp D -- AA09367/AA/NIAAA NIH HHS/ -- AA11886/AA/NIAAA NIH HHS/ -- BB/F019394/1/Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council/United Kingdom -- CZB/4/710/Chief Scientist Office/United Kingdom -- DA024417/DA/NIDA NIH HHS/ -- DA029377/DA/NIDA NIH HHS/ -- DA05147/DA/NIDA NIH HHS/ -- DA13240/DA/NIDA NIH HHS/ -- ETM/55/Chief Scientist Office/United Kingdom -- F31 DA029377/DA/NIDA NIH HHS/ -- G0600705/Medical Research Council/United Kingdom -- G0700704/Medical Research Council/United Kingdom -- G9815508/Medical Research Council/United Kingdom -- K05 AA017688/AA/NIAAA NIH HHS/ -- MC_PC_U127561128/Medical Research Council/United Kingdom -- MC_UU_12013/1/Medical Research Council/United Kingdom -- MC_UU_12013/3/Medical Research Council/United Kingdom -- MC_UU_12013/5/Medical Research Council/United Kingdom -- MH016880/MH/NIMH NIH HHS/ -- MH066140/MH/NIMH NIH HHS/ -- MR/K026992/1/Medical Research Council/United Kingdom -- P01 AG005842/AG/NIA NIH HHS/ -- P01 CA089392/CA/NCI NIH HHS/ -- P01 GM099568/GM/NIGMS NIH HHS/ -- P01-AG005842/AG/NIA NIH HHS/ -- P01-AG005842-20S2/AG/NIA NIH HHS/ -- P30 AG012810/AG/NIA NIH HHS/ -- P30-AG012810/AG/NIA NIH HHS/ -- R01 AA009367/AA/NIAAA NIH HHS/ -- R01 AA011886/AA/NIAAA NIH HHS/ -- R01 DA013240/DA/NIDA NIH HHS/ -- R01 HL090620/HL/NHLBI NIH HHS/ -- R01 HL105756/HL/NHLBI NIH HHS/ -- R01 HL111314/HL/NHLBI NIH HHS/ -- R01 MH066140/MH/NIMH NIH HHS/ -- R37 DA005147/DA/NIDA NIH HHS/ -- T32 AG000186/AG/NIA NIH HHS/ -- T32 MH016880/MH/NIMH NIH HHS/ -- T32-AG000186-23/AG/NIA NIH HHS/ -- U01 AG009740/AG/NIA NIH HHS/ -- U01 DA024417/DA/NIDA NIH HHS/ -- Z01 AG001050-01/Intramural NIH HHS/ -- ZIA AG000196-03/Intramural NIH HHS/ -- ZIA AG000196-04/Intramural NIH HHS/ -- New York, N.Y. -- Science. 2013 Jun 21;340(6139):1467-71. doi: 10.1126/science.1235488. Epub 2013 May 30.〈br /〉〈span class="detail_caption"〉Author address: 〈/span〉Department of Applied Economics, Erasmus School of Economics, Erasmus University Rotterdam, Rotterdam, Netherlands.〈br /〉〈span class="detail_caption"〉Record origin:〈/span〉 〈a href="http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/23722424" target="_blank"〉PubMed〈/a〉

Description: A review of the NACA and NASA low-drag airfoil research is presented with particular emphasis given to the development of mechanical high-lift flap systems and their application to general aviation aircraft. These flap systems include split, plain, single-slotted, and double-slotted trailing-edge flaps plus slat and Krueger leading-edge devices. The recently developed continuous variable-camber high-lift mechanism is also described. The state-of-the-art of theoretical methods for the design and analysis of multi-component airfoils in two-dimensional subsonic flow is discussed, and a detailed description of the Langley MCARF (Multi-Component Airfoil Analysis Program) computer code is presented. The results of a recent effort to design a single- and double-slotted flap system for the NASA high speed natural laminar flow (HSNLF) (1)-0213 airfoil using the MCARF code are presented to demonstrate the capabilities and limitations of the code.

Description: Since its first application on Sumatra-Andaman earthquake, back-projection analysis has been widely exploited to infer the time-evolution of the rupture fronts of mega-earthquakes. In this technique, selected seismic phases recorded at teleseismic distances by a network of sensors are shifted according to a possible source position and a velocity model, and a multichannel version of the cross-correlation function is estimated. In this way, the time dependent map of the seismic energy emission in the source area can be inferred. We have back-projected the mainshock of Maule earthquake (Mw 8.8), which nucleated on 27/02/2010 in central Chile and is one of the largest earthquakes recorded in modern times. We have analyzed P phases filtered in the frequency range (0.4-3) Hz recorded by three seismic arrays located in US, Africa and Antarctica. Relative time shifts between sensors (inferred by maximizing the cross-correlation function) have been estimated with respect to a 1D global velocity model (ak135) and have been refined introducing two corrections, a static correction anda dynamic correction. The former is the time shift induced by local effects in the sensor area, whereas the latter is the correction associated with the source-sensor path and is mostly affected by medium properties in the source area. We have inferred these two corrections by analyzing the waveforms of 23 aftershocks and foreshocks with high magnitude (〉5.3). In detail, static correction was chosen as the mean time shift averaged over all the events recorded by one station, while dynamic correction was the remaining part of the travel time after removing the 1Dmodel travel time and the static correction. Moreover, dynamic corrections (and hence the complete travel times)have been interpolated over all the source area by Kriging, a spatial interpolation method. Results show that high-frequency seismic energy emission mostly occurs along the coastline with a general northward migration during the event. Specifically, in the first minute of the rupture process, the energy emission occurs southerly from or close to the epicenter. Afterwards, seismic emission moves northwards, with a gap with respect to the first emission zone, and a further northward migration occurs till the end of emission. Both the spatial gap of seismic emission and the northward migration are in line with the results of other studies in the same area, whereas we find a shallower emission area and different emission features in the zone close to the epicenter. Results for different frequency bands and the analysis of secondary maxima of energy emission are being investigated. In particular, we are shifting towards higher frequencies looking at the frequency bands (1-4) Hz and (2-8) Hz. The former band displays an emission pattern similar to that of (0.4-3) Hz, but with a sharper gap of about 50 Km; the latter band hows coherent arrivals only during the first 80 s, with a clear energy emission south of the epicenter at the onset of the event and preserving the northward migration afterwards.

Description: Fumigant applicators who, 6 weeks to 3 months earlier, were exposed to phosphine, a common grain fumigant, or to phosphine and other pesticides had significantly increased stable chromosome rearrangements, primarily translocations in G-banded lymphocytes. Less stable aberrations including chromatid deletions and gaps were significantly increased only during the application season, but not at this later time point. During fumigant application, measured exposure to phosphine exceeds accepted national standards. Because phosphine is also used as a dopant in the microchip industry and is generated in waste treatment, the possibility of more widespread exposure and long-term health sequelae must be considered.〈br /〉〈span class="detail_caption"〉Notes: 〈/span〉Garry, V F -- Griffith, J -- Danzl, T J -- Nelson, R L -- Whorton, E B -- Krueger, L A -- Cervenka, J -- New York, N.Y. -- Science. 1989 Oct 13;246(4927):251-5.〈br /〉〈span class="detail_caption"〉Author address: 〈/span〉Department of Laboratory Medicine and Pathology, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis 55414.〈br /〉〈span class="detail_caption"〉Record origin:〈/span〉 〈a href="http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/2799386" target="_blank"〉PubMed〈/a〉

Description: Temperature is one of the main parameters influencing the properties of CO2 during storage in saline aquifers since it along with pressure and co-constituents controls the phase behavior of the CO2/brine mixture. When the CO2 replaces brine as a free gas it is well known to affect the elastic properties of porous media considerably. In order to track the migration of geologically stored CO2 at the Ketzin site, 3D time-lapse seismic data were acquired by means of a baseline (pre-injection) survey in autumn 2005 and a first monitor survey in autumn 2009. During this period the temperature in the storage reservoir near the injection well was observed to have increased from 34 °C to 38 °C. This temperature increase led us to investigate the potential impact of temperature on the seismic response to the CO2 injection and on the CO2 mass estimations based on the Ketzin 4D seismic data. Two temperature scenarios in the reservoir (34 °C and 38 °C) were studied using multiphase fluid flow modeling. The simulations show that the impact of temperature on the seismic response is minor, but that the impact of the temperature on the CO2 mass estimations is significant and can, with the help of the multiphase fluid flow simulations, be explained mostly by the impact on the density of the CO2.

Description: It has recently been shown that correlations of seismic noise can contain significant information about the Green's function along the station profile. Using an array of 38 temporary broad-band stations located in Finland between 1998 September and 1999 March, we study the resulting 703 noise correlations to understand how they are influenced by the directivity of the noise field. The latter information is obtained through f-k analysis of data from two permanent seismic arrays in Germany and Norway and from a subset of stations of the array in Finland. Both types of analysis confirm that the characteristic of the seismic noise is strongly frequency-dependent. At low frequencies (0.02-0.04 Hz), we observe diffuse noise and/or randomly distributed sources. In contrast, the noise is strongly direction-dependent and not fully diffuse in the intermediate period ranges (0.04-0.25 Hz) which correspond to the first and second micro seismic peak, created at the Irish and Scottish coast and the western coast of Norway In this frequency interval the noise is sufficiently close to a plane wave to introduce systematic errors in group velocities for station pairs which are not parallel to the direction of the dominant incident noise. Phase velocities calculated by slant stack over many traces are however correct, independently of profile direction. In the high-frequency band (0.25-1.0 Hz), the situation is a mix between the low-frequency and the intermediate frequency cases. Average phase velocities and individual group velocities from well-oriented profiles are in excellent agreement with results from Rayleigh wave studies of the area.

Description: An unswept, semispan wing model equipped with full-span leading- and trailing-edge flaps was tested in the Langley 14- by 22-Foot Subsonic Tunnel to determine the effect of high-lift components on the aerodynamics of an advanced laminar-flow-control (LFC) airfoil section. Chordwise pressure distributions near the midsemispan were measured for four configurations: cruise, trailing-edge flap only, and trailing-edge flap with a leading-edge Krueger flap of either 0.10 or 0.12 chord. Part 1 of this report (under separate cover) presents a representative sample of the plotted pressure distribution data for each configuration tested. Part 2 presents the entire set of plotted and tabulated pressure distribution data. The data are presented without analysis.

Description: The pilot study at the Ketzin site close to Berlin (Germany) aims at in-situ testing of geological storage of CO2 in a saline aquifer. Following site characterization and the drilling of one injection well and two observation wells, the in-situ field laboratory has been fully in use since CO2 injection started in June 2008. After two years of operation, about 36,000 tons of CO2 have been injected. This paper presents the key results from the second year of injection and the interdisciplinary monitoring concept in the frame of the European project CO2SINK (CO2 Storage by Injection into a Natural Saline Aquifer at Ketzin) and accompanying projects.

Description: Within a few years after the German reunification, most open pit lignite mines in the Central German Lignite Mining District have been shut down leaving more than 200km2 of devastated land in Saxony (Germany) even now. These areas are in demand of short term conceptions for future landuse and suitable recultivation methods. This thesis investigates, how thermal infrared (TIR) remote sensing in particular can provide valuable information, which is required to assist the landuse planning in identifying and classifying critical areas. In order to establish the mining of the lignitic seams the overburden Quatemary and Tertiary sediments had been removed and dumped in conveyor bridge dumps. The Tertiary sediments contain the mineral pyrite, which reacts to sulfuric acid under wet oxidizing conditions. The acidification of the dumps is not only strongly affecting the chemical characteristics of groundwater and residual lakes but also the stability of slopes leaving the risk of slides and subsidences. For a risk assessment of the aff~cted areas the geochemical and mineralogical composition as well as compositional changes of the dumps have to be explored. This is giving strong motivation for the application of remote sensing methods to answer the short term demands of landuse planners. Hyperspectral scanner data were acquired over two open pits (Espenhain, Zwenkau). The used scanner is DLR's Digital Airbome Imaging Spectrometer (DAIS 7915) which records data in 79 bands from the visible to thermal infrared. To allow a quantitative approach by means of empirical methods, the airbome data had to undergo a number of correction procedures and accompanying ground truth measurements had to be carried out. For a quantitative analysis of the target area, the data were calibrated and atmospherically corrected. Atmospheric modeling is based on the software packages SENSAT and ATCOR using the MODTRAN code. Interna! distortions of the imagery were corrected from flight attitude information and the data were finally geocoded to Gauß-Krüger-coordinates. A total of 77 field sarnples were taken to develop quantification algorithms based on spectral characteristics. Chemical and mineralogical analyses (GFZ Potsdam) as well as thermal infrared laboratory spectrometry (2.5-14μm) were performed. The samples were found tobe mainly composed of quartz (50-90 weigth percent), alkaline feldspars (5-20 wt.% ), kaolinite (0-15 wt.%), illite (2-20 wt.%) and pyrite (0-4 wt.%). In the TIR, many rock-forming minerals (e.g. silicates) show characteristic spectral features. To investigate the influence of different grain sizes on the spectral behavior, the particulate material was ground to grain sizes 〈63μm. Both, the fine homogenized and the original dump sediments were measured. The mineralogical quantitative sarnple composition was correlated with the spectral features measured in the laboratory. Different approaches were investigated to quantify the rnineralogical composition including absorption band depths and spectral angle mapping (SAM). The analysis in the laboratory allowed a determination of kaolinite and quartz contents of the overburden dumps. By transferring the regressions obtained from laboratory spectroscopy to atmospherically corrected and calibrated DAIS 7915 data, quartz contents were successfully mapped. Due to the broad TIR bands of DAIS, the spectral features of kaolinite were not resolved in the airbome data. A temperature map derived from night-time DAIS thermal infrared data were evaluated with respect to exothermic pyrite oxidation, too. The fresh Tertiary dumps in Zwenkau show thermal anomalies which seem to be related to exothermic oxidation processes. As a final outlook, the potential of the ASTER sensor, which is planned to be launched in early 1999, was evaluated. The TIR bands of ASTER are likely tobe a powerful tool for the mapping of quartz contents of particulate material. However, the low geometric resolution in the thermal infrared (90m pixel size) causes limitations for a structural analysis. Therefore, the Multi-Sensor-Multi-Resolution Technique (MMT) was used to unmix the low resolution bands using the higher resolution reflective ASTER bands (15-30m pixel size). The results show a significant improvement of the images. The MMT algorithm allows a further spectral investigation of the unmixed TIR data. The results presented in this work show that remote sensing data can provide useful information for a quantitative assessment and monitoring of environmental impacts. The combined use of the wavelength region from the VIS to TIR produces characteristic features that allow a differentiation of the mineralogical components, which could not have been achieved with either data set separately.

Description: An automatic procedure is presented to retrieve rupture parameters for large earthquakes along the Sunda arc subduction zone. The method is based on standard array analysis and broadband seismograms registered within 30°–100° epicentral distance. No assumptions on source mechanism are required. By means of semblance the coherency of P waveforms is analysed at separate large-aperture arrays. Waveforms are migrated to a 10°×10° wide source region to study the spatio-temporal evolution of earthquakes at each array. The multiplication of the semblance source maps resulting at each array increases resolution. Start, duration, extent, direction, and propagation velocity are obtained and published within 25 min after the onset of the event. First preliminary results can be obtained even within 16 min. Their rapid determination may improve the mitigation of the earthquake and tsunami hazard. Real-time application will provide rupture parameters to the GITEWS project (German Indonesian Tsunami Early Warning System). The method is applied to the two M8.0 Sumatra earthquakes on 12 September 2007, to the M7.4 Java earthquake on 2 September 2009, and to major subduction earthquakes that have occurred along Sumatra and Java since 2000. Obtained rupture parameters are most robust for the largest earthquakes with magnitudes M≥8. The results indicate that almost the entire seismogenic part of the subduction zone off the coast of Sumatra has been ruptured. Only the great Sumatra event in 2004 and the M7.7 Java event on 17 July 2006 could reach to or close to the surface at the trench. Otherwise, the rupturing was apparently confined to depths below 25 km. Major seismic gaps seem to remain off the coast of Padang and the southern tip of Sumatra.

Description: The Mw = 9.3 Sumatra earthquake of 26 December 2004 generated a tsunami that affected the entire Indian Ocean region and caused approximately 230 000 fatalities. In the response to this tragedy the German government funded the German Indonesian Tsunami Early Warning System (GITEWS) Project. The task of the GEOFON group of GFZ Potsdam was to develop and implement the seismological component. In this paper we describe the concept of the GITEWS earthquake monitoring system and report on its present status. The major challenge for earthquake monitoring within a tsunami warning system is to deliver rapid information about location, depth, size and possibly other source parameters. This is particularly true for coast lines adjacent to the potential source areas such as the Sunda trench where these parameters are required within a few minutes after the event in order to be able to warn the population before the potential tsunami hits the neighbouring coastal areas. Therefore, the key for a seismic monitoring system with short warning times adequate for Indonesia is a dense real-time seismic network across Indonesia with densifications close to the Sunda trench. A substantial number of supplementary stations in other Indian Ocean rim countries are added to strengthen the teleseismic monitoring capabilities. The installation of the new GITEWS seismic network – consisting of 31 combined broadband and strong motion stations – out of these 21 stations in Indonesia – is almost completed. The real-time data collection is using a private VSAT communication system with hubs in Jakarta and Vienna. In addition, all available seismic real-time data from the other seismic networks in Indonesia and other Indian Ocean rim countries are acquired also directly by VSAT or by Internet at the Indonesian Tsunami Warning Centre in Jakarta and the resulting "virtual" network of more than 230 stations can jointly be used for seismic data processing. The seismological processing software as part of the GITEWS tsunami control centre is an enhanced version of the widely used SeisComP software and the well established GEOFON earthquake information system operated at GFZ in Potsdam (http://geofon.gfz-potsdam.de/db/eqinfo.php). This recently developed software package (SeisComP3) is reliable, fast and can provide fully automatic earthquake location and magnitude estimates. It uses innovative visualization tools, offers the possibility for manual correction and re-calculation, flexible configuration, support for distributed processing and data and parameter exchange with external monitoring systems. SeisComP3 is not only used for tsunami warning in Indonesia but also in most other Tsunami Warning Centres in the Indian Ocean and Euro-Med regions and in many seismic services worldwide.

Description: In this receiver function study, we investigate the structure of the crust beneath six seismic broadband stations close to the Sunda Arc formed by subduction of the Indo-Australian under the Sunda plate. We apply three different methods to analyse receiver functions at single stations. A recently developed algorithm determines absolute shear-wave velocities from observed frequency-dependent apparent incidence angles of P waves. Using waveform inversion of receiver functions and a modified Zhu and Kanamori algorithm, properties of discontinuities such as depth, velocity contrast, and sharpness are determined. The combination of the methods leads to robust results. The approach is validated by synthetic tests. Stations located on Malaysia show high-shear-wave velocities (V S) near the surface in the range of 3.4–3.6 km s − 1 attributed to crystalline rocks and 3.6–4.0 km s − 1 in the lower crust. Upper and lower crust are clearly separated, the Moho is found at normal depths of 30–34 km where it forms a sharp discontinuity at station KUM or a gradient at stations IPM and KOM. For stations close to the subduction zone (BSI, GSI and PSI) complexity within the crust is high. Near the surface low V S of 2.6–2.9 km s − 1 indicate sediment layers. High V S of 4.2 km s − 1 are found at depth greater than 6 and 2 km at BSI and PSI, respectively. There, the Moho is located at 37 and 40 km depth. At station GSI, situated closest to the trench, the subducting slab is imaged as a north-east dipping structure separated from the sediment layer by a 10 km wide gradient in V S between 10 and 20 km depth. Within the subducting slab V S ≈ 4.7 km s − 1. At station BSI, the subducting slab is found at depth between 90 and 110 km dipping 20° ± 8° in approximately N 60° E. A velocity increase in similar depth is indicated at station PSI, however no evidence for a dipping layer is found.

Description: Important environmental parameters in arctic periglacial landscapes (i.e. permafrost temperature, activelayer depth, soil moisture, precipitation, vegetation cover) will very likely change in a warming climate. The thawing of permafrost, especially, might cause massive landscape changes due to thermokarst and an enhanced release of greenhouse gasses from the large amounts of carbon stored in frozen deposits, resulting in positive climate-warming feedback. For the identification, mapping, and quantification of such changes on various scales up to the entire circum-Arctic, remote sensing and spatial data analysis are essential tools. In this study an extensive field-work dataset including spectral surface properties, vegetation, soils, and geomorphology was acquired in the largest Arctic delta formed by a single river, the Siberian Lena River Delta. A portable field spectrometer (ASD FieldSpec Pro FR®) was used for spectral surveys of terrain surfaces, and optical satellite data (Landsat Enhanced Thematic Mapper (ETM+), CHRIS-Proba) were used for the characterization, manual mapping, and automatic classification of typical periglacial land-cover units in the Lena Delta. Qualitative data from soils, vegetation, soil moisture, and relief units were correlated with the field-spectral data and catalogued for a wide variety of surface types. The wide range of micro- and mesoscale variations of periglacial surface features in the delta results in distinctive spectral characteristics for different land-cover units. The three main delta terraces could also be spectrally separated and characterized. The present dataset provides a basis for further spectral data acquisitions in the Lena Delta and for comparisons with periglacial surfaces from other regions.

Description: The Erzincan strike-slip earthquake of March 13, 1992 ruptured a section of the North Anatolian fault (NAF) at the northern margin of the Erzincan basin. The focal depth of about 10 km was less than given by ISC and NEIC. Erzincan and the surrounding villages were considerably damaged. In the Erzincan basin and in the neighbouring mountains a seismic network of ten stations was installed. It was operating continuously from March 21 through June 16, 1992. More than 3,000 aftershocks were recorded of which 505 could be located. The spectral parameters of 394 and the fault-plane solutions of 53 aftershocks were determined. For the given region the frequency dependent coda Q was derived as Qc = 122*f^0.68. The aftershock area increased with time, reflecting the process of stress redistribution. Some events clustered in the immediate vicinity of the town of Erzincan close to the epicentre of the main event and seem to trace the NAF. Their source mechanism is similar to that of the main event (strike slip). About 150 aftershocks clustered in the southeastern part of the Erzincan basin where a concentration of the events in a small volume of 5 x 5 x 3 km^3 was observed. The majority of fault-plane solutions available for these aftershocks showed a normal faulting mechanism with an east-west directed extension. Most of the aftershocks southeast of the basin clustered between two lineaments that were mapped by satellite images. The P-wave velocity below the Erzincan basin, derived from travel-time residual analysis, is lower compared to areas NE and SW of the basin. Three-dimensional stress modelling of the Erzincan region qualitatively explains the occurrence of the aftershocks southeast of the basin. The calculated displacement distribution which exhibits the north-westward motion of the basin and tension at its southeastern margin, caused by the Erzincan earthquake, is in agreement with derived fault-plane solutions.

Description: The Sumatran margin suffered three great earthquakes in recent years (Aceh-Andaman 26 December 2004 Mw = 9.1, Nias 28 March 2005 Mw = 8.7, Bengkulu 12 September 2007 Mw = 8.5). Here we present local earthquake data from a dense, amphibious local seismic network covering a segment of the Sumatran margin that last ruptured in 1797. The occurrence of forearc islands along this part of the Sumatran margin allows the deployment of seismic land-stations above the shallow part of the thrust fault. In combination with ocean bottom seismometers this station geometry provides high quality hypocentre location for the updip end of the seismogenic zone in an area where geodetic data are also available. In this region, the Investigator Fracture Zone (IFZ), which consists of 4 sub-ridges, is subducted below the Sunda plate. This topography appears to influence seismicity at all depth intervals. A well-defined linear streak of seismicity extending from 80 to 200 km depth lies along the prolongation of closely spaced IFZ sub-ridges. More intermediate depth seismicity is located to the southeast of this string of seismicity and is related to subducted rough oceanic seafloor. The plate interface beneath Siberut Island which ruptured last in 1797 is characterised by almost complete absence of seismicity.

Description: Rapid estimation of earthquake rupture propagation is essential to declare an early warning for tsunami-generating earthquakes. An increasing number of seismological methods have been developed to determine rupture parameters, such as length, velocity and propagation direction, especially since the occurrence of the Sumatra–Andaman earthquake that resulted in a devastating tsunami in the Indian Ocean region. Here, we present a new method to follow the rupture process in near real time by a polarization analysis of local and regional P phases that permits a faster determination of rupture properties than using teleseismic records. The new technique has the capability to provide detailed information in less than 10 min. Originally, the method stems from a single-station earthquake location method and is expanded here to monitor P-phase polarization variations through time. As the earthquake source moves away from the hypocentre, the backazimuth of an incoming P phase is expected to change accordingly. With polarization analysis we may be able to monitor the temporal change in Pwave backazimuth to follow the rupture process in near real time. Three component P phases are scanned to determine the azimuthal variation as a function of time. The backazimuth of a moving rupture front is determined by the first eigenvector of the covariance matrix. The linearity of the particle motion is used as a measure of the quality of the data. Seismic stations at local and regional distances (〉∼ 30◦) are used. We tested the new method with a theoretical simulation and observed seismograms of the Sumatra–Andaman earthquake (2004 December 26, Mw = 9.3), and we were able to follow the rupture for the first 200 s. For larger ruptures, stations at more than 30◦ epicentral distances would be required. The method is also successfully applied to the Wenchuan earthquake (2008 May 12, Mw = 8.0).

Description: A wind tunnel investigation was conducted on a generic, high-wing transport model in the Langley 14- by 22-Foot Subsonic Tunnel. This report contains pressure data that document effects of various model configurations and free-stream conditions on wing pressure distributions. The untwisted wing incorporated a full-span, leading-edge Krueger flap and a part-span, double-slotted trailing-edge flap system. The trailing-edge flap was tested at four different deflection angles (20 deg, 30 deg, 40 deg, and 60 deg). Four wing configurations were tested: cruise, flaps only, Krueger flap only, and high lift (Krueger flap and flaps deployed). Tests were conducted at free-stream dynamic pressures of 20 psf to 60 psf with corresponding chord Reynolds numbers of 1.22 x 10(exp 6) to 2.11 x 10(exp 6) and Mach numbers of 0.12 to 0.20. The angles of attack presented range from 0 deg to 20 deg and were determined by wing configuration. The angle of sideslip ranged from minus 20 deg to 20 deg. In general, pressure distributions were relatively insensitive to free-stream speed with exceptions primarily at high angles of attack or high flap deflections. Increasing trailing-edge Krueger flap significantly reduced peak suction pressures and steep gradients on the wing at high angles of attack. Installation of the empennage had no effect on wing pressure distributions. Unpowered engine nacelles reduced suction pressures on the wing and the flaps.