Sensitivity of the Static Earthquake Triggering Mechanism to Elastic Heterogeneity and Main Event Slip

This paper has evolved out of our previous work on static stress transfer, where we used the full-space elastostatic Green's tensor to compute the Coulomb stress transfer impact of the Landers earthquake on the Hector Mine event. In this work, we use the elastostatic Green's tensor for an arbitrary layered Earth model with free-surface boundary conditions to study the impact of elastic heterogeneity as well as source-fault slip and geometry on the stress transfer mechanism. Slip distribution and fault geometry of the source have a significant impact on the stress transfer, especially in case of spatially extended triggered events. Maximization of the Coulomb stress transfer function for known aftershocks provides a mechanism for inverting for the source event slip. Heterogeneity of the elastic earth parameters is shown to have a sizeable, but lower-magnitude, impact on the static stress transfer in 3D. The analysis is applied to Landers/Hector Mine and 100 small "aftershocks" of the Landers event. A computational toolkit is provided for the study of static stress transfer for arbitrary source and receiver faults in layered Earth.Comment: 26 pages, 32 figure

Recent excavations along the Yobe valley

The Yobe valley is one of the many refugia that dotted the Chad basin after the commencement of the desiccation of the Sahara. It hypothetically must have been attractive to the population that had to move away from the aridized zone in search of favourable ecotones. As the Mega Chad receded from its Bama ridge shores, new lands were progressively made available for human occupation along the valley. It is one of the principal goals of the Yobe Valley Archaeological project to investigate how and when this new valley was occupied. This paper has been divided into three principal sections. The first section deals with the search for the earliest settlements of the Yobe valley. The excavations conducted at Garingada and Damakarwa were aimed at tackling this problem. The second section deals with the development of complexity. The excavation at Gambaru was directed towards this problem. The third section seeks to discuss on the bases of the excavations at the three sites, manenvironment relationship. The concluding part of the paper focuses attention on the problems and prospects of the Yobe Valley Archaeological Project

Effect of Escherichia coli endotoxin on Archachatina marginata haemolymph coagulation system

The effect of _E. coli_ endotoxin on the heamolymph coagulation response of _Archachatina marginata_ was studied. Heamocyte Lysate(HL), Haemocyte Lysate Supernatant(HLS) and Haemocyte Lysate Debris (HLD) were exposed to _Escherichia coli_ endotoxin. Controls were prepared with endotoxin-free water(<0.025 EU/ml). The differential protein coagulation was estimated in each mixture. Fractions of the haemolymph exposed to endotoxin produced higher protein coagulates than endotoxin-free fractions when incubated at 37 °C for 1 h (p<0.05). The results showed significantly higher (p<0.05) concentrations of protein coagulated when HL/plasma mixture were used than when either fraction was used. At a ratio 1:1 of HL:Plasma, highest protein coagulation was recorded. This study revealed that maximum protein coagulation in response to endotoxin was elicited by a synergy between plasma and haemocyte lysate(HL). From this research haemolymph fractions of Archachatina marginata may provide an alternative test material for endotoxin in medical preparations in the future

The Jury's Still Out on What Constitutes a Microaggression

In "Microaggressions: Strong Claims, Inadequate Evidence," Scott Lillenfeld argues that, despite a decade of scholarship, the Microaggression Research Program (MRP) continues to suffer serious analytic and evidentiary problems. After walking through these shortcomings, he provides 18 suggestions to help improve the reliability and utility of the MRP. In "Microaggressions and 'Evidence': Experimental or Experiential Reality?" Derald Wing Sue responds. This chapter provides background on the origin of the MRP, and referees the dispute between Lillenfeld and Sue about its contemporary status

A Lack of Ideological Diversity is Killing Social Research

The lack of ideological diversity in social research, paired with the lack of engagement with citizens and policymakers who come from other places on the ideological spectrum, poses an existential risk to the continued credibility, utility and even viability of social research. The need for reform is urgent