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Selected AbstractsThe source process of the 2001 July 26 Skyros Island (Greece) earthquakeGEOPHYSICAL JOURNAL INTERNATIONAL, Issue 3 2004Zafeiria Roumelioti SUMMARY The spatial and temporal distribution of slip during the 2001 July 26 Skyros (Greece) earthquake Moment magnitude (M 6.5) is investigated using broadband data recorded at regional distances. The applied method involves estimation of the source time functions of the examined event through an empirical Green's function approach and inversion of their shapes to estimate kinematic source parameters. Our test inversions to statistically identify the fault plane, together with the distribution of aftershocks clearly indicate sinistral strike-slip faulting. In view of the fact that the Skyros epicentre lies near the western termination of the dextral strike-slip North Anatolian Fault (NAF) into the Aegean Sea, this sinistral strike-slip motion, for the first time instrumentally identified, has great tectonic significance. The best values searched through the inversion are 0.7 s for the rise time, and 2.4 km s,1 for the rupture velocity. Most of the slip appears to be concentrated in a relatively small area around the hypocentre, while a smaller slip patch was found at relatively large depth (18,24 km). At least two of the large aftershocks following the main event also occurred at the deeper part of the fault. Smaller amounts of slip are distributed in a wider area with dimensions similar to those inferred from the aftershock distribution studies and the empirical relations applicable to Greece. [source] A cyclic viscoelastic,viscoplastic constitutive model for clay and liquefaction analysis of multi-layered groundINTERNATIONAL JOURNAL FOR NUMERICAL AND ANALYTICAL METHODS IN GEOMECHANICS, Issue 2 2004Fusao Oka Abstract In order to estimate viscous effect of clay in the wide range of low to high level of strain, a cyclic viscoelastic,viscoplastic constitutive model for clay is proposed. First, we confirm the performance of the proposed model by simulating the cyclic undrained triaxial tests to determine the cyclic strength and deformation characteristics of a natural marine clay. Then, the proposed model is incorporated into an effective stress based liquefaction analysis method to estimate the effect of an intermediate clay layer on the behaviour of liquefiable sand layers. The seismic response against foreshocks, main shock as well as aftershocks of 1995 Hyogoken Nambu Earthquake is analysed in the present study. The difference of shear strength characteristics of the alluvial clay layer is one of the reasons why Port Island has a higher liquefaction potential than that of Rokko Island. The proposed model gives a good description of the damping characteristics of clay layer during large earthquakes. Acceleration responses in both clay layer and liquefiable sand layer just above it are damped due to viscous effect of clay. In the case of main shock and the following aftershocks that occurred within less than 9 days after main event, acceleration responses near ground surface are de-amplified due to the developed excess pore water pressure, while responses near ground surface are amplified before and long after the main event. Using the viscoelastic,viscoplastic model for clay layer, time history of acceleration response in upper liquefiable sand layer can be well calculated, in particular in the range of microtremor process after the main seismic motion. Copyright © 2004 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. [source] Phylogeographic analysis of the red seaweed Palmaria palmata reveals a Pleistocene marine glacial refugium in the English ChannelMOLECULAR ECOLOGY, Issue 3 2005JIM PROVAN Abstract Phylogeography has provided a new approach to the analysis of the postglacial history of a wide range of taxa but, to date, little is known about the effect of glacial periods on the marine biota of Europe. We have utilized a combination of nuclear, plastid and mitochondrial genetic markers to study the biogeographic history of the red seaweed Palmaria palmata in the North Atlantic. Analysis of the nuclear rDNA operon (ITS1-5.8S-ITS2), the plastid 16S- trnI- trnA-23S-5S, rbcL- rbcS and rpl12- rps31- rpl9 regions and the mitochondrial cox2,3 spacer has revealed the existence of a previously unidentified marine refugium in the English Channel, along with possible secondary refugia off the southwest coast of Ireland and in northeast North America and/or Iceland. Coalescent and mismatch analyses date the expansion of European populations from approximately 128 000 bp and suggest a continued period of exponential growth since then. Consequently, we postulate that the penultimate (Saale) glacial maximum was the main event in shaping the biogeographic history of European P. palmata populations which persisted throughout the last (Weichselian) glacial maximum (c. 20 000 bp) in the Hurd Deep, an enigmatic trench in the English Channel. [source] Surgical Approaches for Stable VitiligoDERMATOLOGIC SURGERY, Issue 10 2005Rafael Falabella MD Background. Vitiligo therapy is difficult. Depending on its clinical presentation, unilateral or bilateral vitiligo lesions respond well with different repigmentation rates, according to age, affected anatomic area, extension of lesions, time at onset, timing of depigmentation spread, and other associated factors. When stable and refractory to medical treatment, vitiligo lesions may be treated by implanting pigment cells on depigmented areas. Objective. To describe the main events of depigmentation and the fundamentals of surgical techniques for repigmenting vitiligo by implanting noncultured cellular or tissue grafts, in vitro cultured epidermis-bearing pigment cells, or melanocyte suspensions. Methods. A description of the available techniques for repigmentation of vitiligo is done, emphasizing the most important details of each procedure to obtain the best repigmentation and minimize side effects. Results. With most of these techniques, adequate repigmentation is obtained, although there are limitations when applying some methods to clinical practice. Conclusions. Restoration of pigmentation may be accomplished with all available surgical procedures in most anatomic locations, but they are of little value for acral areas. Unilateral vitiligo responds well in a high proportion of patients, and bilateral disease may also respond when stable. Appropriate patient selection is important to achieve the best results. [source] Analysis of the 2002 May earthquake sequence in the central Pyrenees, consequences for the evaluation of the seismic risk at Lourdes, FranceGEOPHYSICAL JOURNAL INTERNATIONAL, Issue 3 2004Noalwenn Dubos SUMMARY Three earthquakes of magnitudes 4.6, 4.3 and 3.7 occurred in 2002 May at two locations 20 km from the pilgrimage city of Lourdes in the French Pyrenees. They were well recorded by the permanent Pyrenean seismic networks, by a temporary local network, as well as by accelerometric stations. In order to understand their tectonic contexts, and to come to a better evaluation of the seismic risk at Lourdes, a detailed analysis of these events is performed. The first two events are located south of Lourdes in an area where only a few earthquakes have occurred up to now. Their focal solutions derived from first-motion polarities indicate reverse faulting, with a N110°E strike consistent with the geological structures. 10 aftershocks were recorded and relocated with respect to the main events, benefiting from the waveform similarity of the various events. This analysis reveals that the two main events concern probably the same fault, the second rupture being in the prolongation of the first one, whereas the other small aftershocks are located on fault segments in the vicinity of the hypocentre of the second event. The third large event, located to the SE of Lourdes, involves a normal mechanism with a N120°E plane parallel to the main geological structures. It occurred in a region of intense activity, including in particular an event of maximum macroseismic intensity IX in 1660. The first two events are at the boundary of a large quiet zone. In order to understand the related structural context, a new crustal tomographic model has been computed. It reveals that this quiet zone coincides with a block of high P -velocity. In contrast, the seismicity appears to be stronger at the northern and eastern boundaries of this block. The accelerometric data of the three main events recorded at Lourdes have been used to estimate the maximum peak ground accelerations in this city if a large event occurred, similar to those which damaged the city in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries. Horizontal accelerations of 0.25 ± 0.07 g are predicted in the frequency domain 1,5 Hz at the location of the Sanctuary for a magnitude 6 event occurring 10 km away from the city. Taking into account the error bars, these values could in some cases exceed those specified by the building codes in this region. [source] Climate control on the long-term anomalous changes of zooplankton communities in the Northwestern MediterraneanGLOBAL CHANGE BIOLOGY, Issue 1 2008JUAN CARLOS MOLINERO Abstract In marine ecosystems, pelagic copepods, chaetognaths and jellyfish play a key role in matter and energy flow. While copepods support most food webs and the biological pump of carbon into the deep ocean, chaetognaths and jellyfish may affect the strength of the top-down control upon plankton communities. In this study, we show that the main events in the long-term variability of these functional groups in the Northwestern Mediterranean were tightly linked to changes of climate forcing of the North Atlantic sector. Large-scale climate forcing has altered the pelagic food-web dynamics through changes in biological interactions, competition and predation, leading to substantial changes manifested as bursts or collapses in zooplankton populations, and consequently to a major change ca. 1987. These events become more frequent in the 1980s and the early 1990s in the studied zooplankton functional groups suggesting a shift in the functioning of the pelagic ecosystem. The environmental modifications and the results reported here are therefore, indicators of a regime change pointing to a more regeneration-dominated system in the study area. We suggest a chain of mechanisms, whereby climate variation has modified the long-term dynamics of pelagic copepods, chaetognaths and jellyfish in the Ligurian Sea. [source] From thermoplastic elastomers to designed biomaterialsJOURNAL OF POLYMER SCIENCE (IN TWO SECTIONS), Issue 14 2005Joseph P. Kennedy Abstract This highlight is about my metamorphosis from a cationic polymerization chemist to a biomaterialist (no pun intended) and some of the main events on the road. My earlier career faded away with the discovery of living cationic polymerizations, chronicled in my 1999 highlight, but it also put me on the road to designed biomaterials. My new career started with, and still focuses on, the creation of new polymeric architectures, mainly by cationic techniques, for toughened bone cements, injectable intervertebral discs, nonclogging artificial blood vessels, and amphiphilic networks for controlled drug delivery and immunoisolatory membranes. The enormous complexities of immunoisolation of pancreatic islets are now center stage, and lately we have been using all kinds of techniques to make unique membranes to correct type 1 diabetes. © 2005 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Polym Sci Part A: Polym Chem 43: 2951,2963, 2005 [source] Review article: Coagulation cascade and therapeutics update: Relevance to nephrology.NEPHROLOGY, Issue 5 2009Part 1: Overview of coagulation, history of anticoagulants, thrombophilias SUMMARY Coagulation involves the regulated sequence of proteolytic activation of a series of zymogens to achieve appropriate and timely haemostasis in an injured vessel, in an environment that overwhelmingly favours an anticoagulant state. In the non-pathological state, the inciting event involves exposure of circulating factor VII/VIIa to extravascularly expressed tissue factor, which brings into motion the series of steps which results in amplification of the initial stimulus, culminating in the conversion of fibrinogen to fibrin and clot formation. The precisely synchronized cascade of events is counter-balanced by a system of anticoagulant mechanisms, which serve to ensure that the haemostatic effect is regulated and does not extend inappropriately. Conversely, in pathological states, these events can escape normal control mechanisms, due to either inherited or acquired defects, which lead to thrombosis. Current anticoagulant therapy, although based on medications that have been in existence for upwards of 80 years, is moving towards targeted therapy for specific coagulation factors and events in the coagulation cascade, based on the current knowledge of the main triggers and key events within the series of reactions that culminates in haemostasis. It remains to be seen whether these newer medications will become first-line therapies for thrombosis in the coming decade. This review aims to elucidate the main events within the coagulation cascade as it is currently understood to operate in vivo, with a brief discussion focusing on hypercoagulable states, and also a short review of the history of anticoagulants as they relate to this model. [source] |