Search

Marine mudstone of Coniacian age (c. 89.51-86.49 Ma) was deposited on a storm-dominated ramp spanning the foredeep of the Cretaceous Western Canada Foreland Basin. Marine flooding surfaces define 18 allomembers that thin over 300 km, from c. 140 m in the proximal foredeep to c. 20 m close to the forebulge crest. The broadly conformable succession of allomembers is partitioned into five 'tectono-stratigraphic units' by low-angle unconformities that bevel off c. 10 to 20 m of strata over 'arches' that have a length scale of c. 50-100 km and are bounded by relatively linear zones of flexure. Depositional history involved two alternate modes: 'Background' deposition of subtly-tapered allomembers took place on a planar sea floor, subject to regional flexural subsidence, with sea-level modulated by Milankovitch-scale (c. 125 kyr) eustatic cycles. 'Flexural' events deformed the strata into troughs and arches across narrow zones of flexure. Arch crests were bevelled off, probably by submarine wave erosion. Eroded sediment did not accumulate in troughs but was advected beyond the study area by storm-driven processes. Cycles of deposition, warping and erosion were repeated five times on an average timescale of 600 kyr. Arches and troughs do not coincide with Precambrian basement structures, and their origin remains enigmatic. Changes in in-plane stress may have effected the localized vertical motion. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Discusses and defines computer-based instructional simulations based on a review and analysis of computer-based simulation studies found in the literature. Simulation studies are classified and analyzed according to the instructional function for which the simulation was used, and needed research is suggested. (36 references) (LRW)

Lower to upper Coniacian rocks in the foredeep of the Western Canada Foreland Basin are dominated by mudstone and subordinate sandstone and were deposited on a very low-gradient, storm-dominated marine ramp. The rocks are organized into several scales of upward-coarsening, upward-shoaling succession, bounded by marine flooding surfaces. Abundant, publicly available wireline log data permit flooding surfaces to be traced for hundreds of kilometers in subsurface. Flooding surfaces can be considered to approximate time surfaces that allow the subsidence history of the basin to be reconstructed. Particularly widely traceable flooding surfaces were chosen, on pragmatic grounds, as the boundaries of 24 informal allomembers, most of which can be mapped along the foredeep for >750 km. Allomembers can also be traced westward into the fold-and-thrust belt to outcrop in the Rocky Mountain Foothills. Some flooding surfaces are mantled with intra- or extrabasinal pebbles that imply a phase of shallowing and, potentially, subaerial emergence of part of the ramp. The rocks yield a rich and well-preserved molluscan fauna dominated by inoceramid bivalves and scaphitid ammonites. Several major inoceramid speciation events are recognized. The lowest occurrence of Cremnoceramus crassus crassus, various species of Volviceramus, Sphenoceramus subcardissoides, and S. pachti all appear immediately above major flooding surfaces, suggesting that speciation, and dispersal of new inoceramid taxa were closely linked to episodes of relative sea-level rise. Thus, the boundaries of biozones can be shown to coincide with physical stratigraphic (flooding) surfaces. The generally rare species Inoceramus gibbosus is abundant in the upper part of the lower Coniacian; the preservation of this zonal form may be attributed to rapid subsidence of the foredeep that outpaced a major eustatic? sea-level fall that took place at the end of the early Coniacian and that is marked by a hiatus in most epicontinental basins. Regional mapping shows that allomembers, which have a neartabular geometry, can be grouped into 'tectono-stratigraphic units' that fill saucer-shaped, flexural depocenters. Individual depocenters appear to have been active for ca. 0.5 to 1.5 m.y., and successive depocenters are offset laterally, probably reflecting episodic shifts in the locus of active thickening in the Cordilleran orogenic wedge and related subsidence in the foreland basin. Preliminary carbonisotope results from one section are tentatively correlated, using biostratigraphic tie-points, to the English Chalk reference curve: the Light Point, East Cliff, and White Fall carbon-isotope events (CIE) are recognized with some degree of confidence. The astronomically calibrated succession of CIE in the English Chalk suggests that the 24 mapped allomembers in Alberta each had an average duration of about 125,000 yr. Because allomembers can be traced for hundreds of km, an allogenic control, probably eustasy, appears to be the most likely genetic mechanism. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Extreme weather events can cause severe disruption to transport systems, greatly reducing the ability to maintain important social and economic functions such as the delivery of goods and materials within the supply chain. There is a need for greater qualitative and quantitative understanding of how transport systems respond under adverse conditions, to inform event management and to aid adaptation actions. The present study uses the intense storms of 28 June 2012 as a case study to present a novel exploration of the impacts of an extreme event using high spatial and temporal resolution transport data for the UK road and rail networks, as well as weather data from the UK Meteorological Office's MIDAS surface station network and NIMROD weather radar. This event caused widespread disruption, severing the main rail links between England and Scotland and causing 10 000 delay minutes to train services throughout the country, as well as causing reduced speeds on local roads and motorways. The present study describes the meteorological situation in the build-up to and during the event, and uses Network Rail train delay data to visualize the way in which the failure of several sections of critical transport infrastructure caused disruption that propagated quickly through the rail network of Great Britain. Highway Agency motorway speed data are used to quantify the impact of this event on the M6 motorway in the West Midlands. Ways in which the insights gained from these data can be used to aid the transport sector in the prioritization of adaptation actions are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Exclusive enteral nutrition is established as an initial therapy to induce remission in active Crohn’s disease (CD), especially in children, but the mechanisms of action of this therapy are yet to be fully defined. CEACAM6 protein is an adhesion molecule that is up-regulated in active CD and implicated in the attachment of adherent-invasive Escherichia coli (AIEC) to the gut epithelium. Using the Caco-2 human adenocarcinoma cell line, this study showed that the incubation of human cells with a polymeric formula (PF) resulted in a dose-dependent increase in the expression of CEACAM6, and that this effect was most noticeable on the cell surface. Further investigation revealed that PF doubled the release of CEACAM6 protein by Caco-2 cells exposed to PF, and that an increase in release of soluble CEACAM6 inversely correlated with the ability of AIEC to associate with the intestinal epithelial cells. Our findings suggest that the secretion of cell surface-associated proteins acting as releasable decoys may be an aspect of the gut’s innate immune response to pathogenic bacteria that is strengthened by PF in the setting of CD. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

The assessment of the potential impact of climate change on transport is an area of research very much in its infancy, and one that requires input from a multitude of disciplines including geography, engineering and technology, meteorology, climatology and futures studies. This paper investigates the current state of the art for assessments on urban surface transport, where rising populations and increasing dependence on efficient and reliable mobility have increased the importance placed on resilience to weather. The standard structure of climate change impact assessment (CIA) requires understanding in three important areas: how weather currently affects infrastructure and operations; how climate change may alter the frequency and magnitude of these impacts; and how concurrent technological and socio-economic development may shape the transport network of the future, either ameliorating or exacerbating the effects of climate change. The extent to which the requisite knowledge exists for a successful CIA is observed to decrease from the former to the latter. This paper traces a number of developments in the extrapolation of physical and behavioural relationships on to future climates, including a broad move away from previous deterministic methods and towards probabilistic projections which make use of a much broader range of climate change model output, giving a better representation of the uncertainty involved. Studies increasingly demand spatially and temporally downscaled climate projections that can represent realistic sub-daily fluctuations in weather that transport systems are sensitive to. It is recommended that future climate change impact assessments should focus on several key areas, including better representation of sub-daily extremes in climate tools, and recreation of realistic spatially coherent weather. Greater use of the increasing amounts of data created and captured by ‘intelligent infrastructure’ and ‘smart cities’ is also needed to develop behavioural and physical models of the response of transport to weather and to develop a better understanding of how stakeholders respond to probabilistic climate change impact projections. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Climate change impact assessments require detailed information regarding the impact of weather in the current climate. This study focuses on the road network, using UK Highways Agency Traffic Information System data and NIMROD precipitation radar data to determine the impact of precipitation on traffic speeds along the M1 and M6 corridors for use in future impact assessments. The results show that whilst precipitation does impact on traffic speeds, there is no universal significant single factor relationship between the two variables and only a small amount of variance in traffic speeds can be explained by the intensity of precipitation. However, a threshold appears to exist simply at 0 mm h−1 (i.e. precipitation/no precipitation). The significance of this threshold is tested in this paper, but it appears clear that a universal relationship between precipitation intensity and vehicle speeds is unlikely to exist and local conditions such as capacity and drainage are equally as important to take into account. Copyright © 2012 Royal Meteorological Society [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

There has been considerable merger activity in EU energy markets in recent years. It could be argued that competition authorities should be required to take into account potential innovation effects of mergers. In the UK, regulators are now trying to achieve multiple objectives within the current framework. There is a danger that if markets are expected to deliver mutually incompatible objectives they will be unable to achieve any of them. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The fields of life care planning and psychology play a significant role together in assisting patients to receive the best care possible after an injury that has drastically changed their life. Neuropsychological and psychological assessments can aid the life care planner in determining the future needs of adult and pediatric patients. Testing assesses areas such as attention, cognitive decline, emotional functioning, intellectual ability, memory, and many other areas of functioning to provide a thorough picture of a person's current abilities, strengths, and weaknesses. It is important that life care planners understand psychological assessments and that psychologists provide useful information in their report that will aid others in knowing what type of care the patient will need. The objective of this article is to inform those in the life care planning field of the new developments in testing that may affect how one plans for the future care and treatment of their patient. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A naturalistic study was undertaken to explore six-year-old children's perceptions of work in their school day. Twenty-four Year One children enrolled in an infants' school, located in Southern Sydney were involved. Participant observation and focus group interviewing were used to elicit descriptive information. A fishing game, drawing activity and excerpts from a videotape of their day at school were used as stimuli to capture how children categorised and attributed meaning to their own work performance. The findings revealed that these children had well-developed ideas about what is work. They employed a highly individual classification process to determine which occupations were work versus play, self-care and rest, resulting in differences of opinion among the children. This process was based on four factors: the physical and social environment, the type of task being performed, personal meaning attributed to the task and the child's perceived level of control. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Assesses the effects of using a simulation of computer operations as an introduction to a beginning computer-programming course. Four replications of a simulation experiment; Influence of the simulation procedure on the student's choice of algorithms; Differences in knowledge of the syntax or ability to trace program segments.

Introduction: As attending surgeons' comfort with single-incision laparoscopic surgery (SILS) grows, and with continued improvement in surgical instruments, advanced laparoscopic techniques are increasingly being incorporated into surgical training. The aim of our study was to evaluate resident performance and patient outcomes in patients undergoing resident-performed SILS versus a resident-performed traditional laparoscopic cholecystectomy (LC)., Methods: A retrospective case-control study of 80 patients undergoing elective surgical intervention with a resident-performed SILS (n = 20) or a resident-performed traditional LC (n = 60) for gallbladder disease over a 15-month period was performed. Surgical indications, common perioperative variables, complications, and length of stay were reviewed, and all variables were evaluated for statistical significance., Results: Median operative times were similar for the resident-performed SILS cohort and the resident-performed traditional LC cohort (70.0 minutes and 66.0 minutes, respectively; P = .54). There were no complications in either the resident-performed SILS or resident-performed traditional LC groups. There was no difference in mean length of hospital stay between the resident-performed SILS group and resident-performed traditional LC group (0.95 days and 1.10 days, respectively; P = .50)., Conclusion: Our data strongly support the ability to train senior residents to complete a SILS technique safely and with the same efficacy as with traditional LC.