bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
End-of-Life Care in Israel—The Dying Patient Law, 2005
Authors: Shalev Carmel
Published: March 2012

After years of political stalemate on the issue of end-of life medical care in Israel, the Knesset enacted the Dying Patient Law in 2005. This Article argues that the new law manifests a paradigm shift in the normative framework regulating end-of-life treatment in Israel, from a patient right approach based on the principle of autonomy, to a physician duty approach based on the principle of the sanctity of life. In so doing the law created a complex web of formal procedural rules and culturally unique legal artifices, which amount to a maze of medicolegal technocracy. The technocratic maze conceals substantive restrictions on rights to patient autonomy which had been recognized in the former case law in relation to the withholding and withdrawal of medical treatment. In particular, under the new law, the request of a competent patient to withdraw artificial respiration may not be respected, and the advance directives of an incompetent patient to withhold artificial nutrition are of no effect. Beyond a question of constitutionality, the Article suggests that the underlying approach of the law to death and dying is an unskillful response to the challenges that have arisen from life extending technology.
Television Coverage of the Israeli Supreme Court 1968-1992: The Persistence of the Mythical Image
Authors: Bassok Or
Published: March 2012

During the 1980s the Israeli Supreme Court went through revolutionary changes, becoming more active in public life and in the political arena. Scholars predicted that the institutional legitimacy of the Court, based on its image as an objective, neutral, and apolitical institution, would decline following these changes. However, public polls showed that the Court's institutional legitimacy remained very high long after the 1980s. This Article aims to explain the lack of a decline in the institutional legitimacy of the Court during those years by presenting an empirical study of the Court's news television coverage beginning with the inception of Channel One (1968) until just before the entrance of the commercially financed Channel Two (1993). The Article shows that the increase in the visibility of the Court was not substantial enough to diminish the Court's image. Moreover, television continued to present the Court, by and large, through a mythical perspective as an objective, neutral, and apolitical body. The Article concludes that the Israeli public, unaware of the changes in the Court's adjudication, continued to award the Court support based on the Court's unchanged fabled image presented by the news media. Hence, a politically active court may continue to receive high public support based on in its mythical image if the changes in its adjudication are not visible to the public. Research of the portrayal of courts in the media is thus of utmost importance in understanding changes in the institutional legitimacy of courts.
“Everything Flows”: Mark Tushnet's Rights Revolution and the Impact of Constitutional Dialogue
Authors: Cohn Margit
Published: March 2012

It is my pleasure to contribute to the workshop on Mark Tushnet's manuscript. Good literature is sometimes identified by its ability to elicit responses on different levels. While reading Tushnet's compelling manuscript, my thoughts about the validity of the historical analysis were supplemented by immediate comparisons to the much shorter history of the rise of “rightspeak” in Israel. Then there were some thoughts about the possible links between this manuscript and Tushnet's earlier works and between this manuscript and other studies of the subject. Finally, I found myself linking and comparing Tushnet's implicit normative arguments with my own views on the role of courts in liberal democracy.
The Meaning and Liberal Justifications of Israel's Law of Return
Authors: Ernst Dan
Published: March 2012

The Article argues for a new assessment of the significance of Israel's Law of Return—that the Law of Return reflects not the sovereign prerogative of a state to control immigration, but the right of every Jew to settle in the Land of Israel. This understanding of the Law of Return explains why Section 4 proclaims that as far as the Law is concerned, the status of Jews born within the State of Israel is the same as those arriving to Israel from abroad. Resolving the anomaly of Section 4 dispels several misinterpretations of the Law of Return and the critiques of the Law which grow out of these misinterpretations. The Article also surveys and answers several liberal objections to Israel's policy of granting preference in immigration and naturalization based on ethno-national identity and presents an argument, for giving priority to Jewish immigration and naturalization based on the extra benefits (religious, political, and communal) that Jews receive from such immigration and naturalization. Finally, it is submitted that the State of Israel has an obligation of justice to admit Jews into the state as full citizens upon their demand, since this was a reasonable expectation of those in past generations who had contributed to the existence and maintenance of the state.
The Tremors ofTadić
Authors: Kritsiotis Dino
Published: March 2012

This Article considers the impact, or tremors, of paragraph 70 of the decision on interlocutory appeal on jurisdiction of the Appeals Chamber of the International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia inProsecutor v. Tadić,which was delivered in October 1995. It establishes, and seeks to make clear, that the commitment of the Appeals Chamber in paragraph 70 of that decision was to provide definitions for both of the concepts of international and non-international armed conflicts, even though some impressions might be that the Appeals Chamber tended to run together these different concepts in order to provide a singular and overarching definition of “armed conflict.” In separate and successive turns, the Article explores the specific components of each concept as identified by the Appeals Chamber—first, for international armed conflicts, and, then, for non-international armed conflicts—before testing them against particular facts from practice as well as hypothetical examples, but the Article also makes use of a comparative investigation as to what the Appeals Chamber said for each form of armed conflict when contrasted with each other. We examine the extent to which these components have threaded themselves through subsequent practice—specifically the relationship of the 1998 Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court with the concept of non-international armed conflict—so as to chart the full progress of the jurisprudence of the Appeals Chamber in the afterlife ofTadić:hence the designation of the “tremors” ofTadić.
The United Nations Security Council and the Enforcement of International Humanitarian Law
Authors: Roscini Marco
Published: March 2012

This Article discusses the competences and powers of the UN Security Council in securing compliance with international humanitarian law, in particular through the adoption of the measures provided in Chapter VII of the Charter: The competence of the Council in this field can be founded on several legal grounds: on a broad interpretation of the notion of “threat to the peace” (Article 39 of the Charter), on Article 94(2) with regard to the International Court of Justice's judgments establishing violations of the jus in bello and also on the customary duty to ensure respect for international humanitarian law as reflected in Article 1 Common to the 1949 Geneva Conventions on the Protection of the Victims of War. In particular, such customary provision empowers the Security Council to react to any violation of international humanitarian law regardless of a nexus with concerns of international stability. Although the Council has adopted a variety of measures in relation to violations of the laws of war, the most incisive ones are those provided in Articles 41 and 42 of Chapter VII, which however are not without problems. The role the Security Council has played in the enforcement of international humanitarian law has been criticized because of its selective and opportunistic approach, which is due to the political nature of the organ. Also, in several instances the Council, far from securing compliance with the jus in bello, has instead interfered with its application. However selective and imperfect the Council's approach might be, though, its power to adopt decisions binding on UN members and its competence to take or authorize coercive measures involving the use of force make it potentially a formidable instrument against serious violations of international humanitarian law, partly remedying the lack of enforcing mechanisms in the treaties on the laws of war.
Protecting Children in Armed Conflict: Harnessing the Security Council's “Soft Power”
Authors: Happold Matthew
Published: March 2012

The United Nations Security Council's recent involvement in the protection of children in armed conflict, particularly by seeking to prevent the recruitment and use of child soldiers, has attracted little attention from international lawyers. However, the process, initiated by Council Resolution 1612, has interesting parallels with non-compliance mechanisms in international environmental law and can be seen as an innovative attempt to harness the Security Council's “soft power” to engage both State and non-State parties to conflicts.
“I am the Law!”—Perspectives of Legality and Illegality in the Israeli Army
Authors: Zagor Matthew
Published: March 2012

The language of morality and legality infuses every aspect of the Middle East conflict. From repeated assertions by officials that Israel has “the most moral army in the world” to justifications for specific military tactics and operations by reference to self-defense and proportionality, the public rhetoric is one of legal right and moral obligation. Less often heard are the voices of those on the ground whose daily experience is lived within the legal quagmire portrayed by their leaders in such uncompromising terms. This Article explores the opaque normative boundaries surrounding the actions of a specific group within the Israeli military, soldiers returning from duty in Hebron in the Occupied Palestinian Territories. By examining interviews with these soldiers by an Israeli NGO, it identifies different narratives of legality and illegality which inform their conduct, contrasting their failure to adhere to conventional legal discourses with the broader “legalization” of military activities. Seeking an explanation for this disjunction, it explores the ways in which the soldiers' stories nonetheless reflect attempts to negotiate various normative and legal realities. It places these within the legal landscape of the Occupied Palestinian Territories which has been normatively re-imagined by various forces in Israeli society, from the judicially-endorsed discourse of deterrence manifested in the day-to-day practices of brutality, intimidation and “demonstrating power,” to the growing influence of nationalist-religious interpretations of self-defense and the misuse of post-modernist theory by the military establishment to “smooth out” the moral and legal urban architectures of occupation. The Article concludes by considering the hope for change evident in the very act of soldiers telling ethically-oriented stories about their selves, and in the existence of a movement willing to provide the space for such reflections in an attempt to confront Israeli society with the day-to-day experiences of the soldier in the Occupied Palestinian Territories.
Expropriations of Private Land of Arab Citizens in Israel: An Empirical Analysis of the Regular Course of Business
Authors: Sandberg Haim
Published: March 2012

A fairly common premise in academic research about Israel is that the State of Israel has expropriated large tracts of land from Arabs, whether citizens or Palestinian refugees. This premise does not distinguish between the taking of property, which was expropriated from Arab refugees during the War of Independence, and the expropriation of land during the State's “regular course of business.” Blurring the distinction between land belonging to refugees and land belonging to citizens creates the impression that the State of Israel has expropriated large tracts of land as a regular “course of business.” This research isolates and clarifies the extent of “regular” expropriations on the national level according to the Lands (Acquisition for Public Purposes) Ordinance 1943—the main and permanent tool for large scale expropriations in Israel It shows that the common premise about expropriation of Arab citizens ‘land is highly exaggerated. The Arab population's share in the burden of expropriation was fairly small in absolute terms and is not significantly greater than the Jewish population's share.

While a quantitative analysis of the expropriations cannot in itself produce a conclusion about harmful and unjustified influences of the expropriations on Arab citizens, a quantitative analysis of each expropriation may produce information on which to make such a conclusion. Moreover, arguing against all expropriation of lands—which actually results in the transfer of resources from Arabs to Jews, irrespective of its scope and circumstances—may entail an a priori negation of Israel's right to use land resources and police powers to answer real public needs of the Jewish majority and can entail an a priori negation of the nature of Israel as a Jewish and democratic State—rather than a legitimate criticism on the merits of each expropriation.
Secularism And Freedom of Religion: The Approach of the European Court of Human Rights
Authors: Morini Claudia
Published: March 2012

This Article focuses on the approach of the European Court of Human Rights, based in Strasbourg, concerning the relationship between secularism and freedom of religion and the application of the “margin of appreciation doctrine.” Through the investigation of the relevant jurisprudence of the Court dealing with religious freedom and the principle of secularism (theŞahin, Dahlab,andLautsicases), the Author demonstrates that Court jurisprudence is moving from the application of principles of “pluralist secularism” toward a “fundamentalist approach” to secularism. Having evaluated themodus operandiof the Court in the light of the competing interests at stake, the Author suggests that in deciding cases where secularism and freedom to manifest religion collide, the Court should follow a case-by-case approach primarily aimed at protecting individual liberties and has to consider the political and cultural background of each situation and the effective impact on the State's life of the individual behavior.
DIET AMONG PEOPLE IN THE TERAI REGION OF NEPAL, AN AREA OF MICRONUTRIENT DEFICIENCY
Authors: PARAJULI RAJENDRA P. , UMEZAKI MASAHIRO , WATANABE CHIHO
Published: March 2012

In the Terai region, despite its ecological richness, the people have long suffered from a deficiency of micronutrients such as vitamin A, iron and zinc. The aim of this study was to investigate dietary and nutritional intakes among people in the Terai region of Nepal. The results were compared by sex and ethnicity. Food consumption surveys (one-day weighed records) were conducted among 114 people (55Musharand 59Tharu). Nutritional intakes were calculated using Nepali food composition and other tables. The diet in the Terai region was characterized by a large amount of rice consumed with a tiny amount of curry ordalas a side dish. Intakes of vitamin A, iron, riboflavin and selenium were less than 50% of the recommended daily allowance irrespective of ethnicity or sex (with the exception of iron intake amongTharumales). Intakes of thiamine, riboflavin, niacin, phosphorus and zinc were higher among theTharuthan theMushar, while intakes of selenium and iodine were higher among theMusharthan theTharu. The nutritional significance of these differences was slight. Protein intake (per kg body weight) was lower in females than in males, while the energy-adjusted micronutrient intakes did not differ by sex. Intakes of vitamin A, iron, riboflavin and selenium were deficient among the participants. Intervention projects such as the introduction of kitchen gardens or fish farming may be effective, but will increase the degree of inequality between the two ethnic groups.
Compressions and Probably Intersecting Families
Authors: RUSSELL PAUL A.
Published: March 2012

A familyof sets is said to beintersectingifA∩B≠ ∅ for allA,B∈. It is a well-known and simple fact that an intersecting family of subsets of [n] = {1, 2, . . .,n} can contain at most 2n−1sets. Katona, Katona and Katona ask the following question. Suppose instead⊂[n] satisfies || = 2n−1+ifor some fixedi> 0. Create a new familypby choosing each member ofindependently with some fixed probabilityp. How do we chooseto maximize the probability thatpis intersecting? They conjecture that there is a nested sequence of optimal families fori= 1, 2,. . ., 2n−1. In this paper, we show that the families [n](≥r)= {A⊂ [n]: |A| ≥r} are optimal for the appropriate values ofi, thereby proving the conjecture for this sequence of values. Moreover, we show that for intermediate values ofithere exist optimal families lying between those we have found. It turns out that the optimal families we find simultaneously maximize the number of intersecting subfamilies of each possible order.

Standard compression techniques appear inadequate to solve the problem as they do not preserve intersection properties of subfamilies. Instead, our main tool is a novel compression method, together with a way of ‘compressing subfamilies’, which may be of independent interest.
Edge Colourings of Graphs Avoiding Monochromatic Matchings of a Given Size
Authors: HOPPEN CARLOS , KOHAYAKAWA YOSHIHARU , LEFMANN HANNO
Published: March 2012

Let k and ℓ be positive integers. With a graph G, we associate the quantity ck,ℓ(G), the number of k-colourings of the edge set of G with no monochromatic matching of size ℓ. Consider the function ck,ℓ: given by ck,ℓ(n) = max {ck,ℓ(G): |V(G)| = n}, the maximum of ck,ℓ(G) over all graphs G on n vertices. In this paper, we determine ck,ℓ(n) and the corresponding extremal graphs for all large n and all fixed values of k and ℓ.
2-Cancellative Hypergraphs and Codes
Authors: FÜREDI ZOLTÁN
Published: March 2012

A family of sets(and the corresponding family of 0–1 vectors) is calledt-cancellativeif, for all distinctt+ 2 membersA1,. . .,AtandB,C∈,Letct(n) be the size of the largestt-cancellative family onnelements, and letct(n,r) denote the largestr-uniform family. We improve the previous upper bounds,e.g., we showc2(n) ≤ 20.322n(forn>n0). Using an algebraic construction we show thatc2(n, 2k) = Θ(nk) for eachkwhenn→ ∞.
On Even-Degree Subgraphs of Linear Hypergraphs
Authors: DELLAMONICA D. , HAXELL P. , ŁUCZAK T. , MUBAYI D. , NAGLE B. , PERSON Y. , RÖDL V. , SCHACHT M. , VERSTRAËTE J.
Published: March 2012

A subgraph of a hypergraph H is even if all its degrees are positive even integers, and b-bounded if it has maximum degree at most b. Let fb(n) denote the maximum number of edges in a linearn-vertex 3-uniform hypergraph which does not contain a b-bounded even subgraph. In this paper, we show that if b ≥ 12, then

for some absolute constant B, thus establishing fb(n) up to polylogarithmic factors. This leaves open the interesting case b = 2, which is the case of 2-regular subgraphs. We are able to show for some constants c, C > 0 that

We conjecture that f2(n) = n1 + o(1) as n → ∞.
Most Probably Intersecting Families of Subsets
Authors: KATONA GYULA O. H. , KATONA GYULA Y. , KATONA ZSOLT
Published: March 2012

Let be a family of subsets of an n-element set. It is called intersecting if every pair of its members has a non-disjoint intersection. It is well known that an intersecting family satisfies the inequality || ≤ 2n−1. Suppose that ||=2n−1 + i. Choose the members of independently with probability p (delete them with probability 1 − p). The new family is intersecting with a certain probability. We try to maximize this probability by choosing appropriately. The exact maximum is determined in this paper for some small i. The analogous problem is considered for families consisting of k-element subsets, but the exact solution is obtained only when the size of the family exceeds the maximum size of the intersecting family only by one. A family is said to be inclusion-free if no member is a proper subset of another one. It is well known that the largest inclusion-free family is the one consisting of all $\lfloor \frac{n}{ 2}\rfloor$-element subsets. We determine the most probably inclusion-free family too, when the number of members is $\binom{n}{ \lfloor \frac{n}{ 2}\rfloor} +1$.
Large Rainbow Matchings in Edge-Coloured Graphs
Authors: KOSTOCHKA ALEXANDR , YANCEY MATTHEW
Published: March 2012

Arainbow subgraphof an edge-coloured graph is a subgraph whose edges have distinct colours. Thecolour degreeof a vertexvis the number of different colours on edges incident withv. Wang and Li conjectured that fork≥ 4, every edge-coloured graph with minimum colour degreekcontains a rainbow matching of size at least ⌈k/2⌉. A properly edge-colouredK4has no such matching, which motivates the restrictionk≥ 4, but Li and Xu proved the conjecture for all other properly coloured complete graphs. LeSaulnier, Stocker, Wenger and West showed that a rainbow matching of size ⌊k/2⌋ is guaranteed to exist, and they proved several sufficient conditions for a matching of size ⌈k/2⌉. We prove the conjecture in full.
Degree Ramsey Numbers of Graphs
Authors: KINNERSLEY WILLIAM B. , MILANS KEVIN G. , WEST DOUGLAS B.
Published: March 2012

Let HG mean that every s-colouring of E(H) produces a monochromatic copy of G in some colour class. Let the s-colour degree Ramsey number of a graph G, written RΔ(G; s), be min{Δ(H): HG}. If T is a tree in which one vertex has degree at most k and all others have degree at most ⌈k/2⌉, then RΔ(T; s) = s(k − 1) + ϵ, where ϵ = 1 when k is odd and ϵ = 0 when k is even. For general trees, RΔ(T; s) ≤ 2s(Δ(T) − 1).

To study sharpness of the upper bound, consider the double-starSa,b, the tree whose two non-leaf vertices have degrees a and b. If a ≤ b, then RΔ(Sa,b; 2) is 2b − 2 when a < b and b is even; it is 2b − 1 otherwise. If s is fixed and at least 3, then RΔ(Sb,b;s) = f(s)(b − 1) − o(b), where f(s) = 2s − 3.5 − O(s−1).

We prove several results about edge-colourings of bounded-degree graphs that are related to degree Ramsey numbers of paths. Finally, for cycles we show that RΔ(C2k + 1; s) ≥ 2s + 1, that RΔ(C2k; s) ≥ 2s, and that RΔ(C4;2) = 5. For the latter we prove the stronger statement that every graph with maximum degree at most 4 has a 2-edge-colouring such that the subgraph in each colour class has girth at least 5.
Hypergraphs with No Cycle of a Given Length
Authors: GYŐRI ERVIN , LEMONS NATHAN
Published: March 2012

Recently, the authors gave upper bounds for the size of 3-uniform hypergraphs avoiding a given odd cycle using the definition of a cycle due to Berge. In the present paper we extend this bound to m-uniform hypergraphs (for all m ≥ 3), as well as m-uniform hypergraphs avoiding a cycle of length 2k. Finally we consider non-uniform hypergraphs avoiding cycles of length 2k or 2k + 1. In both cases we can bound |h| by O(n1+1/k) under the assumption that all h ∈ ε() satisfy |h| ≥ 4k2.
Multiple Thoracoabdominal Impalement Injuries
Authors: Ayandipo Omobolaji O. , Irabor David , Afuwape Oludolapo , Adeoye Peter , Salami Mudasir
Published: March 2012

A 20-year-old male was impaled through the chest, abdomen, and right upper thigh by three 1.5 cm (0.59 in) diameter rods, each 2 m (6.56 ft) in length. The first rod entered below his right nipple, the second through the right hypochondrium, and the third through the right upper thigh. He was transported to the hospital with the rods in situ. This paper provides insight as to how these unusual injuries were managed in a limited-resource environment. Even in a developing country, the challenges posed by multiple impalement injuries can be managed successfully by rapid prehospital transfer, along with an adequate and coordinated hospital team effort.
A NOTE ON THE VOLATILITY OF THE TRADEABLE AND NONTRADEABLE SECTORS
Authors: Povoledo Laura
Published: March 2012

This note evaluates whether a New Open Economy model can reproduce qualitatively the observed fluctuations of the tradeable and nontradeable sectors of the U.S. economy. The answer is positive: both in the model and in the data, the standard deviations of tradeable inflation, output, and employment are significantly higher than the standard deviations of the corresponding nontradeable sector variables. The key role in generating this result is played by the greater responsiveness of tradeable sector variables to monetary shocks.
MODULES OVER QUANTUM LAURENT POLYNOMIALS
Authors: GUPTA ASHISH
Published: March 2012

We show that the Gelfand–Kirillov dimension for modules over quantum Laurent polynomials is additive with respect to tensor products over the base field. We determine the Brookes–Groves invariant associated with a tensor product of modules. We study strongly holonomic modules and show that there are nonholonomic simple modules.
Depth‐varying rupture properties of subduction zone megathrust faults
Authors: Lay Thorne , Kanamori Hiroo , Ammon Charles J. , Koper Keith D. , Hutko Alexander R. , Ye Lingling , Yue Han , Rushing Teresa M.
Published: March 2012

Subduction zone plate boundary megathrust faults accommodate relative plate motions with spatially varying sliding behavior. The 2004 Sumatra‐Andaman (Mw 9.2), 2010 Chile (Mw 8.8), and 2011 Tohoku (Mw9.0) great earthquakes had similar depth variations in seismic wave radiation across their wide rupture zones – coherent teleseismic short‐period radiation preferentially emanated from the deeper portion of the megathrusts whereas the largest fault displacements occurred at shallower depths but produced relatively little coherent short‐period radiation. We represent these and other depth‐varying seismic characteristics with four distinct failure domains extending along the megathrust from the trench to the downdip edge of the seismogenic zone. We designate the portion of the megathrust less than 15 km below the ocean surface as domain A, the region of tsunami earthquakes. From 15 to ∼35 km deep, large earthquake displacements occur over large‐scale regions with only modest coherent short‐period radiation, in what we designate as domain B. Rupture of smaller isolated megathrust patches dominate in domain C, which extends from ∼35 to 55 km deep. These isolated patches produce bursts of coherent short‐period energy both in great ruptures and in smaller, sometimes repeating, moderate‐size events. For the 2011 Tohoku earthquake, the sites of coherent teleseismic short‐period radiation are close to areas where local strong ground motions originated. Domain D, found at depths of 30–45 km in subduction zones where relatively young oceanic lithosphere is being underthrust with shallow plate dip, is represented by the occurrence of low‐frequency earthquakes, seismic tremor, and slow slip events in a transition zone to stable sliding or ductile flow below the seismogenic zone.
Seasonal dynamics of sea surface salinity off Panama: The far Eastern Pacific Fresh Pool
Authors: Alory Gaël , Maes Christophe , Delcroix Thierry , Reul Nicolas , Illig Serena
Published: March 2012

The freshest surface waters in the tropical Pacific are found at its eastern boundary. Using in situ observations, we depict the quasi‐permanent presence of a far eastern Pacific fresh pool with sea surface salinity (SSS) lower than 33, which is confined between Panama's west coast and 85°W in December and extends westward to 95°W in April. Strong SSS fronts are found at the outer edge of this fresh pool. We investigate the seasonal dynamics of the fresh pool using complementary satellite wind, rain, sea level and in situ oceanic current data at the surface, along with hydrographic profiles. The fresh pool appears off Panama due to the strong summer rains associated with the northward migration of the ITCZ over Central America in June. During the second half of the year, the eastward‐flowing North Equatorial Counter‐Current keeps it trapped to the coast and strengthens the SSS front on its western edge. During winter, as the ITCZ moves southward, the northeasterly Panama gap wind creates a southwestward jet‐like current in its path with a dipole of Ekman pumping/eddies on its flanks. As a result, upwelling in the Panama Bight brings to the surface cold and salty waters which erode the fresh pool on its eastern side while both the jet current and the enhanced South Equatorial Current stretch the fresh pool westward until it nearly disappears in May. New SMOS satellite SSS data proves able to capture the main seasonal features of the fresh pool and monitor its spatial extent.
Passive margin earthquakes: Reviewing knowledge and challenges
Authors: Balcerak Ernie
Published: March 2012

Earthquakes like the August 2011 magnitude 5.8 Mineral, Va., temblor that occur on “passive” continental margins surprise people because they expect earthquakes to occur only on plate boundaries. But, in fact, large and damaging intraplate earthquakes occur fairly regularly on passive margins around the world. For instance, in North America the magnitude ˜7 Charleston earthquake shook South Carolina in 1886, causing severe damage and about 60 deaths, and the 1929 magnitude 7.2 earthquake on the Grand Banks of Newfoundland caused a tsunami, a large landslide, and 28 fatalities. Although they are fairly common, these earthquakes are not well studied, and their specific geologic settings and causes are unclear.
Improving forecasts of volcanic ash concentrations
Authors: Balcerak Ernie
Published: March 2012

Volcanic ash can severely damage airplanes, and eruptions such as the 2010 Eyjafjallajökull eruption may result in major disruption to air travel. Improved forecasting of ash cloud locations and concentrations could benefit the aviation industry and reduce delays, but forecasting is challenging because eruptions and atmospheric transport of volcanic ash are complex processes. The UK Met Office had improved its modeling procedures prior to the 2010 Eyjafjallajökull eruption, enabling peak ash concentrations to be estimated during that event. Webster et al. describe the Met Office's method of ash concentration forecasting and how it has evolved from simply predicting regions of ash to also estimating peak ash concentrations.
Martian carbon dioxide clouds tied to atmospheric gravity waves
Authors: Schultz Colin
Published: March 2012

On 4 March 1997 the Mars Pathfinder lander fell through the thin Martian atmosphere. During its descent, instrumentation aboard the lander recorded the changing atmospheric temperature, pressure, and density. Within this atmospheric profile, researchers identified anomalous cold air packets within the Martian mesosphere (60‐ to 90‐kilometer altitude). Later orbital measurements confirmed the existence of these cold pockets, adding to the mystery the detection of clouds made from carbon dioxide. Researchers in 1998 suspected that the cold air pockets, and thus conditions favorable for carbon dioxide condensation, were the product of atmospheric gravity waves in the Martian mesosphere. That hypothesis remained largely untested until advances in global‐and intermediate‐scale atmospheric models allowed Spiga et al. to confirm that gravity waves were a potentially viable mechanism to produce the necessary mesospheric conditions
Deep oceanic zonal jets constrained by fine‐scale wind stress curls in the South Pacific Ocean: A high‐resolution coupled GCM study
Authors: Taguchi B. , Furue R. , Komori N. , Kuwano‐Yoshida A. , Nonaka M. , Sasaki H. , Ohfuchi W.
Published: March 2012

Oceanic alternating zonal jets at depth have been detected ubiquitously in observations and ocean general circulation models (GCMs). Such oceanic jets are generally considered as being generated by purely oceanic processes. Here we explore a possible air‐sea interaction induced by surface signatures of the deep zonal jets using an eddy‐permitting coupled atmosphere‐ocean GCM (CGCM). The 23‐year CGCM integration reproduces bands of latitudinally‐narrow alternating jets in the Southeast Pacific. They extend from the sea surface to well below the main thermocline and are embedded in the large‐scale westward‐flowing South Equatorial Current, the latter mostly confined above the thermocline. These jets generate fine‐scale sea surface temperature (SST) anomalies through the advection of zonal temperature gradients. The atmospheric boundary layer appears to respond thermally to this fine‐scale SST field, which induces fine‐scale wind stress anomaly through atmospheric pressure adjustment, as indicated by a good spatial correlation between the SST Laplacian field and the fine‐scale wind stress curl. A Sverdrup calculation on the wind stress field of the CGCM predicts fine‐scale zonal currents driven by the meridional gradient of the fine‐scale wind stress curl. The positions of these Sverdrup currents are generally coincident with those of the original zonal jets and the Sverdrup prediction explains roughly half of the amplitudes of the jets. While the original cause of the deep zonal jets simulated in our CGCM is unidentified, this analysis suggests that there is likely a positive air‐sea feedback: the jets generate fine‐scale wind stress curl that reinforces themselves through the Sverdrup dynamics.
Changes in land surface water dynamics since the 1990s and relation to population pressure
Authors: Prigent C. , Papa F. , Aires F. , Jimenez C. , Rossow W. B. , Matthews E.
Published: March 2012

We developed a remote sensing approach based on multi‐satellite observations, which provides an unprecedented estimate of monthly distribution and area of land‐surface open water over the whole globe. Results for 1993 to 2007 exhibit a large seasonal and inter‐annual variability of the inundation extent with an overall decline in global average maximum inundated area of 6% during the fifteen‐year period, primarily in tropical and subtropical South America and South Asia. The largest declines of open water are found where large increases in population have occurred over the last two decades, suggesting a global scale effect of human activities on continental surface freshwater: denser population can impact local hydrology by reducing freshwater extent, by draining marshes and wetlands, and by increasing water withdrawals.
Aftershock seismicity of the 2010 Maule Mw=8.8, Chile, earthquake: Correlation between co‐seismic slip models and aftershock distribution?
Authors: Rietbrock A. , Ryder I. , Hayes G. , Haberland C. , Comte D. , Roecker S. , Lyon‐Caen H.
Published: March 2012

The 27 February 2010 Maule, Chile (Mw=8.8) earthquake is one of the best instrumentally observed subduction zone megathrust events. Here we present locations, magnitudes and cumulative equivalent moment of the first ∼2 months of aftershocks, recorded on a temporary network deployed within 2 weeks of the occurrence of the mainshock. Using automatically‐determined onset times and a back projection approach for event association, we are able to detect over 30,000 events in the time period analyzed. To further increase the location accuracy, we systematically searched for potential S‐wave arrivals and events were located in a regional 2D velocity model. Additionally, we calculated regional moment tensors to gain insight into the deformation history of the aftershock sequence. We find that the aftershock seismicity is concentrated between 40 and 140 km distance from the trench over a depth range of 10 to 35 km. Focal mechanisms indicate a predominance of thrust faulting, with occasional normal faulting events. Increased activity is seen in the outer‐rise region of the Nazca plate, predominantly in the northern part of the rupture area. Further down‐dip, a second band of clustered seismicity, showing mainly thrust motion, is located at depths of 40–45 km. By comparing recent published mainshock source inversions with our aftershock distribution, we discriminate slip models based on the assumption that aftershocks occur in areas of rapid transition between high and low slip, surrounding high‐slip regions of the mainshock.
Reduced glutathione and cysteine hydrochloride on crossbred bull semen
Authors: Perumal P
Published: March 2012

Over the last few years, good quality freezable semen was not utilized effectively due to less knowledge about the freezability of semen. One reason is the lack of sufficient antioxidants in the seminal plasma and semen extender. The antioxidant content is reduced during the cryopreservation process and causes premature cryo-capacitation and modification of sperm membrane structure upon thawing. So the study of pre-freezing and post thaw seminal parameters like viability, motility, acrosomal integrity, lipid peroxide assay, vanguard distance traveled by sperm, mitochondrial membrane potential, velocity and motility parameters (CASA) and field fertility trial helped to assess the effectiveness of the additives. The conception rate was better in reduced glutathione than the cysteine hydrochloride treated group. The glutathione has improved the poor freezing and maintained the good freezable semen. Thus the field fertility rate was enhanced and in turn helped to prevent waste of good quality germplasm and repeat breeder syndrome in cows.
Asymmetric-cut variable-incident-angle monochromator
Authors: Smither R. K. , Graber T. J. , Fernandez P. B. , Mills D. M.
Published: March 2012

A novel asymmetric-cut variable-incident-angle monochromator was constructed and tested in 1997 at the Advanced Photon Source of Argonne National Laboratory. The monochromator was originally designed as a high heat load monochromator capable of handling 5–10 kW beams from a wiggler source. This was accomplished by spreading the x-ray beam out on the surface an asymmetric-cut crystal and by using liquid metal cooling of the first crystal. The monochromator turned out to be a highly versatile monochromator that could perform many different types of experiments. The monochromator consisted of two 18° asymmetrically cut Si crystals that could be rotated about 3 independent axes. The first stage (Φ) rotates the crystal around an axis perpendicular to the diffraction plane. This rotation changes the angle of the incident beam with the surface of the crystal without changing the Bragg angle. The second rotation (Ψ) is perpendicular to the first and is used to control the shape of the beam footprint on the crystal. The third rotation (Θ) controls the Bragg angle. Besides the high heat load application, the use of asymmetrically cut crystals allows one to increase or decrease the acceptance angle for crystal diffraction of a monochromatic x-ray beam and allows one to increase or decrease the wavelength bandwidth of the diffraction of a continuum source like a bending-magnet beam or a normal x-ray-tube source. When the monochromator is used in the doubly expanding mode, it is possible to expand the vertical size of the double-diffracted beam by a factor of 10–15. When this was combined with a bending magnet source, it was possible to generate an 8 keV area beam, 16 mm wide by 26 mm high with a uniform intensity and parallel to 1.2 arc sec that could be applied in imaging experiments.
Classical and quantum probabilities as truth values
Authors: Döring Andreas , Isham Chris J.
Published: March 2012

We show how probabilities can be treated as truth values in suitable sheaf topoi. The scheme developed in this paper is very general and applies both in classical and quantum physics. On the quantum side, the results naturally tie in with the topos approach to quantum theory that has been developed in the last 14 years by the authors and others . Earlier results on the representation of arbitrary quantum states are complemented with a purely logical perspective.
Impact of interfacial resistance switching on thermoelectric effect of Nb-doped SrTiO3 single crystalline
Authors: Zhang Peijian , Meng Yang , Liu Ziyu , Li Dong , Su Tao , Meng Qingyu , Mao Qi , Pan Xinyu , Chen Dongmin , Zhao Hongwu
Published: March 2012

The thermoelectric properties of the bistable resistance states in Nb doped SrTiO3 single crystal have been investigated. The Seebeck coefficients for both low and high resistance states change linearly with temperature. The three-terminals contrast measurement demonstrates that a large fraction of the voltage drop is applied at the tiny volume near the bottom interface between the electrode and the oxide bulk. Therefore, the metallic oxide bulk plays a dominant role in the temperature dependence of Seebeck coefficients. The thermoelectric properties of new resistance switching (RS) devices with minimized non-RS volume could be exploited for the RS mechanism and novel applications.
Fractional high-order harmonic combs and energy tuning by attosecond-precision split-spectrum pulse control
Authors: Raith Philipp , Ott Christian , Anderson Christopher P. , Kaldun Andreas , Meyer Kristina , Laux Martin , Zhang Yizhu , Pfeifer Thomas
Published: March 2012

We experimentally control high-order harmonic generation by applying a versatile few-cycle pulse-shape control method: splitting up a single broadband continuous laser spectrum into two sections and applying sub-femtosecond relative time delays. For certain time delays, fractional high-harmonic combs (noninteger harmonics) are generated which we find to result from the controlled interference of two attosecond pulse trains. We also observe time-delay-dependent energy-tunability of the high-order harmonics for an asymmetrically split spectrum consisting of a strong and a weak component. The tuning mechanism is quantitatively understood by the controlled modulation of the instantaneous driver frequency at the peak of the shaped laser pulse.
Nonlinear dust acoustic waves and shocks
Authors: Merlino R. L. , Heinrich J. R. , Hyun S.-H. , Meyer J. K.
Published: March 2012

We describe experiments on (1) nonlinear dust acoustic waves and (2) dust acoustic shocks performed in a direct current (DC) glow discharge dusty plasma. First, we describe experiments showing nonlinear dust acoustic waves characterized by waveforms of the dust density that are typically sharper in the wave crests and flatter in the wave troughs (compared to sinusoidal waves), indicating the development of wave harmonics. We discuss this behavior in terms of a second-order fluid theory for dust acoustic waves. Second, experimental observations of the propagation and steepening of large-amplitude dust acoustic waves into dust acoustic shock waves are presented. The observed shock wave evolution is compared with numerical calculations based on the Riemann solution of the fully nonlinear fluid equations for dust acoustic waves.
A first-principles investigation on the effects of magnetism on the Bain transformation of α-phase FeNi systems
Authors: Rahman Gul , Gee Kim In , Bhadeshia H. K. D. H.
Published: March 2012

The effects of magnetism on the Bain transformation of α-phase FeNi systems are investigated by using the full potential linearized augmented plane wave method based on the generalized gradient approximation. We found that Ni impurity in bcc Fe increases the lattice constant in the ferromagnetic (FM) states, but not in the nonmagnetic (NM) states. The shear modulus, G, and Young’s modulus, E, of bcc Fe are also increased by raising the concentration of nickel. All the compositions considered show high shear anisotropy, and the ratio of the bulk to shear modulus is greater than 1.75, implying ductility. The mean sound velocities in the [100] directions are greater than in the [110] directions. The Bain transformation, which is a component of martensitic transformation, has also been studied to reveal that NixFe1−x alloys are elastically unstable in the NM states, but not so in the FM states. The electronic structures explain these results in terms of the density of states at the Fermi level. It is evident that magnetism cannot be neglected when dealing with the Bain transformation in iron and its alloys.
On the use of effective core potentials in the calculation of magnetic properties, such as magnetizabilites and magnetic shieldings
Authors: van Wüllen Christoph
Published: March 2012

State-of-the art effective core potentials (ECPs) that replace electrons of inner atomic cores involve non-local potentials. If such an effective core potential is added to the Hamiltonian of a system in a magnetic field, the resulting Hamiltonian is not gauge invariant. This means, magnetic properties such as magnetisabilities and magnetic shieldings (or magnetic susceptibilities and nuclear magnetic resonance chemical shifts) calculated with different gauge origins are different even for exact solutions of the Schrödinger equation. It is possible to restore gauge invariance of the Hamiltonian by adding magnetic field dependent terms arising from the effective core potential. Numerical calculations on atomic and diatomic model systems (potassium mono-cation and potassium dimer) clearly demonstrate that the standard effective core potential Hamiltonian violates gauge invariance, and this affects the calculation of magnetisabilities more strongly than the calculation of magnetic shieldings. The modified magnetic field dependent effective core potential Hamiltonian is gauge invariant, and therefore it is the correct starting point for distributed gauge origin methods. The formalism for gauge including atomic orbitals (GIAO) and individual gauge for localized orbitals methods is worked out. ECP GIAO results for the potassium dimer are presented. The new method performs much better than a previous ECP GIAO implementation that did not account for the non-locality of the potential. For magnetic shieldings, deviations are clearly seen, but they amount to few ppm only. For magnetisabilities, our new ECP GIAO implementation is a major improvement, as demonstrated by the comparison of all-electron and ECP results.
A new laser Doppler flowmeter prototype for depth dependent monitoring of skin microcirculation
Authors: Figueiras E. , Campos R. , Semedo S. , Oliveira R. , Requicha Ferreira L. F. , Humeau-Heurtier A.
Published: March 2012

Laser Doppler flowmetry (LDF) is now commonly used in clinical research to monitor microvascular blood flow. However, the dependence of the LDF signal on the microvascular architecture is still unknown. That is why we propose a new laser Doppler flowmeter for depth dependent monitoring of skin microvascular perfusion. This new laser Doppler flowmeter combines for the first time, in a device, several wavelengths and different spaced detection optical fibres. The calibration of the new apparatus is herein presented together with in vivo validation. Two in vivo validation tests are performed. In the first test, signals collected in the ventral side of the forearm are analyzed; in the second test, signals collected in the ventral side of the forearm are compared with signals collected in the hand palm. There are good indicators that show that different wavelengths and fibre distances probe different skin perfusion layers. However, multiple scattering may affect the results, namely the ones obtained with the larger fibre distance. To clearly understand the wavelength effect in LDF measurements, other tests have to be performed.