170,904 research outputs found
Active faulting and deformation of the Mongolian Altay mountains
No full textIn this thesis, I use multiple techniques to investigate the active faulting and deformation of the Altay Mountains, Western Mongolia. The Altay are an intracontinental transpressional mountain range, which are deforming in the far-field of the India-Asia collision. An anastomosing network of dextral faults strikes NNW-SSE, and accommodates NE-SW oriented shortening by rotating anticlockwise about vertical axes. I begin by characterising the Altay faults, and add to what is already known about their surface expression with new observations of active faulting and three previously undescribed ancient earthquake ruptures. I use 10Be cosmogenic dating and uranium-series dating on pedogenic carbonate to estimate the average Quaternary rate of slip for two of the major fault zones in the Altay. The slip rate on the Ölgiy fault is constrained to 0.3-2.1 mm/yr-1. Results from the Hovd fault are ambiguous, demonstrating the complications encountered with application of Quaternary dating techniques. I measure palaeomagnetic directions from Cretaceous to Pliocene-aged sediments in the eastern Altay to constrain the degree of anticlockwise rotation. Results from thermal demagnetisation of specimens indicate that the eastern Altay has not undergone significant rotation, in contrast with previous studies from the Siberian Altay that reveal almost 40 degrees of anticlockwise rotation. This suggests that the eastern-most Altay fault is too young to have experienced significant rotation, or is kinematically different from the Siberian Altay. I apply apatite fission track (AFT) dating and track length modeling to the central Altay. Results from AFT dating show rapid cooling in the late Cretaceous due to the distal assembly of Central Asia, suggesting that there was pre-existing topography at the start of the Late Cenozoic phase of deformation, the timing of which is constrained to have initiated at least 20 Myr ago. My work demonstrates that combining results from techniques that cover a variety of time scales quantifies the evolution of active faulting and deformation in the region
On the fine spectrum of the operator B(r,s,t) over c0 and c
No full textAbstractWe determine the fine spectrum of the operator B(r,s,t) defined by a triple-band matrix over the sequence spaces c0 and c. This generalizes the spectrum of the second-order difference operator Δ2 and includes some other special cases such as the generalized difference operator B(r,s) of [B. Altay, F. Başar, On the fine spectrum of the generalized difference operator B(r,s) over the sequence spaces c0 and c, Internat. J. Math. Math. Sci. 18 (2005) 3005–3013], the difference operator Δ of [B. Altay, F. Başar, On the fine spectrum of the difference operator on c0 and c, Inform. Sci. 168 (2004) 217–224], the right shift and Zweier matrices
Human protein C concentrate in the treatment of purpura fulminans : a retrospective analysis of safety and outcome in 94 pediatric patients
No full textIntroduction: Purpura fulminans (PF) is a devastating complication of uncontrolled systemic inflammation, associated with high incidence of amputations, skin grafts and death. In this study, we aimed to clarify the clinical profile of pediatric patients with PF who improved with protein C (PC) treatment, explore treatment effects and safety, and to refine the prognostic significance of protein C plasma levels. Methods: In Germany, patients receiving protein C concentrate (Ceprotin(R), Baxter AG, Vienna, Austria) are registered. The database was used to locate all pediatric patients with PF treated with PC from 2002 to 2005 for this National, retrospective, multi-centered study. Results: Complete datasets were acquired in 94 patients, treated in 46 centers with human, non-activated protein C concentrate for purpura fulminans. PC was given for 2 days (median, range 1-24 days) with a median daily dose of 100 IU/kg. Plasma protein C levels increased from a median of 27% to a median of 71% under treatment. 22.3% of patients died, 77.7% survived to discharge. Skin grafts were required in 9.6%, amputations in 5.3%. PF recovered or improved in 79.8%, remained unchanged in 13.8% and deteriorated in 6.4%. Four adverse events occurred in 3 patients, none classified as severe. Non-survivors had lower protein C plasma levels (P < 0.05) and higher prevalence of coagulopathy at admission (P < 0.01). Time between admission and start of PC substitution was longer in patients who died compared to survivors (P = 0.03). Conclusions: This retrospective dataset shows that, compared to historic controls, only few pediatric patients with PF under PC substitution needed dermatoplasty and/or amputations. Apart from epistaxis, no bleeding was observed. Although the data comes from a retrospective study, the evidence we present suggests that PC had a beneficial impact on the need for dermatoplasty and amputations, pointing to the potential value of carrying out a prospective randomised controlled trial
Low–pressure granulite–facies metamorphism in the Southern Chinese Altay orogenic belt, NW China: P–T estimates, U–Pb ages and tectonic implications
No full textThe Chinese Altay orogenic belt formed in the Paleozoic is an important part of the Central Asian Orogenic Belt (CAOB), accompanying with remarkable metamorphism. Its tectono–metamorphic evolution history is still a controversial topic. In this contribution, we investigate the petrography, metamorphic peak P–T conditions and zircon geochronology of the newly discovered garnet–absent metapelitic and felsic gneisses at Wuqiagou area in the southern Chinese Altay. They are characterized by an assemblage of orthopyroxene + biotite + plagioclase + quartz + Fe–Ti oxides ± cordierite ± K–feldspar, in which most K–feldspar grains have transformed into perthites with thin albite lamellae. The Wuqiagou garnet–absent gneisses experienced pervasive partial melting, as testified by microstructures such as mineral pseudomorphs after melt films or pockets. Phase diagram modelling constrains the peak P–T conditions to 3.5–5.5 kbar and 800–900 °C, with possible geothermal gradients of 45–75 °C/km, indicative of a prominent low–pressure granulite–facies metamorphic event in the southern Chinese Altay. SIMS zircon U–Pb dating results show a weighted mean age of 255.8 ± 1.8 Ma. This age is interpreted to represent the timing of this low–pressure granulite facies metamorphism, which is highly coeval with the timing of their hosted mafic granulite lenses (∼255 Ma) and nearby mantle–derived mafic intrusions (∼257 Ma). Based on available petrological, geochemical and chronological data, we propose that the Permian low–pressure granulite–facies metamorphic event in the southern Chinese Altay was likely associated with the intrusions of deep–derived mafic magma at a relatively shallow crustal level (12–18 km) in a post–orogenic extensional setting, with a possible link with the Tarim mantle plume activity
Vertical axis rotation (or lack thereof) of the eastern Mongolian Altay Mountains: implications for far-field transpressional mountain building
No full textThe Altay Mountains of Western Mongolia accommodate 10–20% of the current shortening of the India-Asia collision in a transpressive regime. Kinematic models of the Altay require faults to rotate anticlockwise about a vertical axis in order to accommodate compressional deformation on the major strike slip faults that cross the region. Such rotations should be detectable by palaeomagnetic data. Previous estimates from the one existing palaeomagnetic study from the Altay, on Oligocene and younger sediments from the Chuya Basin in the Siberian Altay, indicate that at least some parts of the Altay have experienced up to 39 ± 8° of anticlockwise rotation. Here, we present new palaeomagnetic results from samples collected in Cretaceous and younger sediments in the Zereg Basin along the Har-Us-Nuur fault in the eastern Altay Mountains, Mongolia. Our new palaeomagnetic results from the Zereg Basin provide reliable declinations, with palaeomagnetic directions from 10 sites that pass a fold test and include magnetic reversals. The declinations are not significantly rotated with respect to the directions expected from Cretaceous and younger virtual geomagnetic poles, suggesting that faults in the eastern Altay have not experienced a large degree of vertical axis rotation and cannot have rotated >7° in the past 5 m.y. The lack of rotation along the Har-Us-Nuur fault combined with a large amount of rotation in the northern Altay fits with a kinematic model for transpressional deformation in which faults in the Altay have rotated to an orientation that favours the development of flower structures and building of mountainous topography, while at the same time the range widens at the edges as strain is transferred to better oriented structures. Thus the Har-Us-Nuur fault is a relatively young fault in the Altay, and has not yet accommodated significant rotation
Dynamics of Vegetation Productivity in Relation to Surface Meteorological Factors in the Altay Mountains in Northwest China
No full textVegetation productivity, as the basis of the material cycle and energy flow in an ecosystem, directly reflects the information of vegetation change. At the ecosystem level, the gross primary productivity (GPP) refers to the amount of organic carbon fixed by plant bodies. How to accurately estimate the spatiotemporal variation of vegetation productivity of the forest ecosystem in the Altay Mountains in northwest China has become a critical issue to be addressed. The Altay Mountains, with rich forest resources, are located in a semi-arid climate zone and are sensitive to global climate changes, which will inevitably have serious impacts on the function and structure of forest ecosystems in northwest China. In this paper, to reveal the variation trends of vegetation gross primary productivity (GPP) and its response to surface meteorological factors in the Altay Mountains in northwest China, daily temperature and precipitation data from the period of 2000–2017 were collected from seven meteorological stations in Altay prefecture and its surrounding areas; the data were analyzed by using the MODIS GPP model, moving average trend analysis, linear regression analysis and the climate tendency rate method. The results show that: (1) The spatial distribution pattern of GPP in the whole year was almost the same as that in the growing season of vegetation in the Altay Mountains. In the whole mountain range, the proportion of the area which had a GPP value of 400–600 g c/m2 had the highest value; the proportion of the annual and growing season of this area was 41.10% and 40.88%, respectively, which was mainly distributed in the middle and west alpine areas of the Altay Mountains. (2) There was a big gap in the GPP value in the different stages of the vegetation growing season (April to September), which reached the highest value in July, the area with a GPP of 100–150 g c/m2 was the highest, with 36.15%. (3) The GPP of the Altay Mountains showed an overall increasing trend, but the annual fluctuation was relatively large. In 2003, 2008, 2009 and 2014, the GPP showed lower values, which were 385.18 g c/m2, 384.90 g c/m2, 384.49 g c/m2 and 393.10 g c/m2, respectively. In 2007, 2011 and 2016, the GPP showed higher values, which were 428.49 g c/m2, 428.18 g c/m2 and 446.61 g c/m2. (4) In 64.85% of the area of the Altay Mountains, the GPP was positively correlated with annual average temperature, and in 36.56% of the area, the correlation coefficient between temperature and GPP ranged from −0.2 to 0. In 71.61% of the area of the Altay Mountains, the GPP was positively correlated with annual accumulated precipitation, and in 28.39% of the area, the GPP was negatively correlated with annual accumulated precipitation. Under the scenario of global climate change, our study has quantitatively analyzed the long-term dynamics of vegetation GPP and its responses to meteorological factors in the Altay Mountains, which would be helpful for evaluating and estimating the variation trends of forest ecosystems in China, and has important guiding significance for policy formulation to protect forest resources and improve the local ecological environment
Going Beyond Counting First Authors in Author Co-citation Analysis
No full textThe present study examines one of the fundamental aspects of author co-citation analysis (ACA) - the way co-citation
counts are defined. Co-citation counting provides the data on which all subsequent statistical analyses and mappings
are based, and we compare ACA results based on two different types of co-citation counting - the traditional type that
only counts the first one among a cited work's authors on the one hand and a non-traditional type that takes into
account the first 5 authors of a cited work on the other hand. Results indicate that the picture produced through this non-traditional author co-citation counting contains more coherent author groups and is therefore considerably clearer. However, this picture represents fewer specialties in the research field being studied than that produced through the traditional first-author co-citation counting when the same number of top-ranked authors is selected and analyzed. Reasons for these effects are discussed
Mitomycin C in highly myopic eyes - Author reply
No full textOphthalmology. 2005 Feb;112(2):208-18; discussion 219.
Mitomycin C modulation of corneal wound healing after photorefractive keratectomy in highly myopic eyes.
Gambato C, Ghirlando A, Moretto E, Busato F, Midena E.
SourceRefractive Surgery Service and Antimetabolite Therapy Research Unit, Department of Ophthalmology, University of Padova, Padova, Italy.
Abstract
PURPOSE: To evaluate the role of topical mitomycin C in corneal wound healing (CWH) after photorefractive keratectomy (PRK) in highly myopic eyes.
DESIGN: Prospective, double-masked, randomized clinical trial.
PARTICIPANTS: Seventy-two eyes of 36 patients affected by high (>7 diopters) myopia.
METHODS: In each patient, one eye was randomly assigned to PRK with intraoperative topical 0.02% mitomycin C application, and the fellow eye was treated with a placebo. Postoperatively, mitomycin C-treated eyes received artificial tears (3 times daily, tapered in 3 months), whereas the fellow eye was treated with fluorometholone sodium 2% and artificial tears (3 times daily, tapered in 3 months).
MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES: Uncorrected visual acuity (UCVA) and best-corrected visual acuity (BCVA), contrast sensitivity, manifest refraction, and biomicroscopy. Contrast sensitivity was determined using the Pelli-Robson chart. Corneal confocal microscopy documented CWH.
RESULTS: Mean follow-up was 18 months (range, 12-36). No side effects or toxic effects were documented. At 12-month follow-up examination, UCVAs (logarithm of the minimum angle of resolution) were 0.4+/-0.48 and 0.5+/-0.53 (P = .03) in mitomycin C-treated eyes and corticosteroid-treated eyes, respectively. At 1 year, corneal haze developed in 20% of corticosteroid-treated eyes, versus 0% of mitomycin C-treated eyes. At 12, 24, and 36 months, corneal confocal microscopy showed activated keratocytes and extracellular matrix significantly more evident in untreated eyes (Ps = 0.004, 0.024, and 0.046, respectively).
CONCLUSION: Topical intraoperative application of 0.02% mitomycin C can reduce haze formation in highly myopic eyes undergoing PRK.
Comment in
Ophthalmology. 2006 Feb;113(2):357; author reply 357-8
Characterization of some materials used at historic sites
No full textn planning and implementing the archeological and architectural conservation of historical sites, it is often necessary to investigate the possible causes of damages to monuments, before working out guidelines for their conservation within a wider environmental program for the protection of the whole historical area. In the paper some aspects are considered of the geotechnical tests suitable for the mechanical characterization of some materials used in blocks for erecting the walls of historical buildings and monuments.
Apart from the conventional identification and classification procedures, the triaxial and the direct shear tests are considered. The study intends to provide additional experimental information that could be used in subsequent studies for the development of constitutive laws applicable in the numerical analysis aimed, for instance, at comparing the effectiveness of various alternative solutions applicable in the field for the restoration of buildings that characterize monument sites
The late Quaternary slip-rate of the Har-Us-Nuur fault (Mongolian Altai) from cosmogenic Be-10 and luminescence dating
No full textThe Altai range (western Mongolia) accommodates NNE–SSW shortening across the northern India–Eurasia collision zone by dextral slip on faults trending NNW–SSE, and anticlockwise, vertical-axis rotations of fault-bounded blocks. However, fault slip-rates and the way in which faulting evolves over time are poorly understood, and form the motivation for this study. We focussed on the Har-Us-Nuur fault, a major transpressional fault bounding the eastern margin of the Altai. Three abandoned alluvial fan surfaces, each displaced right-laterally by the fault, were targeted for dating with cosmogenic 10Be and quartz optically stimulated luminescence (OSL). The first surface (A2) shows an exponential decrease in 10Be with increasing depth, with a significant inherited component. Modelling this profile yielded a minimum age of 74.1 ka. Material from the same sampling pit was dated at ~ 19 ka with OSL, but we consider this younger age to be incorrect, possibly due to feldspar contamination or abnormal quartz OSL characteristics. The A2 surface is displaced by 175 m, implying a (maximum) dextral slip-rate of 2.4 ± 0.4 mm yr− 1. A second fan surface (F1) was dated at ~ 6 ka with OSL and shows little variation in 10Be with depth, consistent with this young age. The inherited component is higher than for A2, indicating contrasting levels of inheritance for different periods of fan aggradation. A final surface (F2) shows scattered 10Be concentrations and lacks material suitable for OSL, so cannot be dated precisely. Using the total vertical displacement across the fault, we place the initiation of movement on the fault at ~ 2 Ma, significantly later than the late Oligocene to Miocene (28–5 Ma) onset of shortening in the Altai region. This suggests that deformation in the Altai has widened over time to incorporate new faults at the range margins (such as Har-Us-Nuur), possibly because older faults in the range interior have rotated about vertical axes into orientations that require work to be done against gravity
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