Response of a nuclear power plant on aseismic bearings to horizontally propagating waves

The nuclear island of Koeberg with a large basemat, a non-linear base isolation effective in the horizontal direction only, founded on rock, is analysed for inclined body waves and for a combination of surface and body waves associated with prescribed horizontal and vertical components of the control motion. When compared to vertical incidence, an additional rocking component arises, generated by the horizontally propagating vertical component. As the aseismic bearings do not isolate against this rocking component, the corresponding horizontal response bears comparison with that of a conventional structure. The ratio of the response for horizontally propagating waves and that for vertically incident waves is thus considerably larger for the base-isolated structure than for a conventional one. However, the actual design incorporating other loading cases is affected much less.     

Antinomies of generosity: Moral geographies and post-tsunami aid in Southeast Asia

The Indian Ocean Tsunami on Boxing Day 2004 generated a wave of private donations from Western countries - a paradigmatic case of generosity. However, more than a year after, a number of evaluation studies conclude that post-tsunami aid has achieved ambivalent results and that recipients of aid felt excluded from the reconstruction process, reduced to passive observers. This paper argues that there is a link between the abundance of generosity and the practices of aid: the practices of gift giving after the tsunami have developed a humiliating force for those who were at the recipient end of the gift chain, because the marketing of Western generosity by media and aid agencies reinforced those affected by the tsunami as “pure” victims, as “bare life” - passive recipients devoid of their status as fellow citizens on this planet. In a second step, the paper discusses the meta-ethics of these practices of generosity, thinking about the ambivalences inherent in bridging distance in encountering the “distant” other in our aid practices. Various forms of virtue ethics reflect this emphasis on the generous person, while neglecting the perspective of the person in need, and therefore implicitly reproduce those asymmetries of gift giving. In contrast to these conceptions, I want to argue that we need to ground our duty to help distant sufferers in their moral entitlement to be aided. This requires a meta-ethical approach that seeks a combination of a theory of justice with virtue ethics.     

Resource potential of one of Earth's final remaining frontiers: the Siberian Platform

The Siberian Platform, covering a vast area of East Siberia (Russian Federation), represents one of the largest underexplored regions in Asia. Previous expeditions and regional surveys in the twentieth century, however, suggest that the Siberian Platform and adjacent orogenic belts hold significant potential for large undiscovered gold, copper, diamond and industrial mineral deposits, along with extensive oil and gas fields. The remoteness of the region, its inhospitable winter climate, and a major lack of modern infrastructure and mining methods have long hampered exploration in this area. These factors, along with the additional investment required and political uncertainties involved with operating in Russia, have deterred many international mining companies from considering the Siberian Platform as a viable region for exploration and mining. However, as mining industry paradigms change into a green, battery metals‐driven commodity sector, and modern mining methods are developed, increasing efficiency at a lower cost, the significant undiscovered mineral potential of the Siberian Platform could elevate the region to the forefront of mineral exploration and mining in the future.     

Unravelling the complex geological evolution of one of Earth's final remaining frontiers: East Siberia

East Siberia represents one of the most remote and inhospitable regions on the planet, home to the coldest permanently inhabited settlement on Earth (Oymyakon), where temperatures frequently fall below ?50°C in winter. Geological investigations in this part of northern Asia are severely hampered by thick permafrost, a lack of infrastructure, vast tracts of barren uninhabited rough terrain, and political challenges. However, the rocks buried below the freezing tundra and taiga of this remote land provide evidence of an interesting and diverse geological history, including vast hypersaline salt basins, voluminous volcanic eruptions, Himalayan‐style mountain ranges, and extensive swamps. Following a comprehensive study of publically available literature, the majority published in Russian language and challenging to obtain in the UK, we aim to decipher the diverse and complicated geological history of this remote region over the past 1650 Myr.     

Re-testing the JET-X Flight Module No. 2 at the PANTER facility

The Joint European X-ray Telescope (JET-X) was the core instrument of the Russian Spectrum-X- γ space observatory. It consisted of two identical soft X-ray (0.3–10 keV) telescopes with focusing optical modules having a measured angular resolution of nearly 15 arcsec. Soon after the payload completion, the mission was cancelled and the two optical flight modules (FM) were brought to the Brera Astronomical Observatory where they had been manufactured. After 16 years of storage, we have utilized the JET-X FM2 to test at the PANTER X-ray facility a prototype of a novel X-ray polarimetric telescope, using a Gas Pixel Detector (GPD) with polarimetric capabilities in the focal plane of the FM2. The GPD was developed by a collaboration between INFN-Pisa and INAF-IAPS. In the first phase of the test campaign, we have re-tested the FM2 at PANTER to have an up-to-date characterization in terms of angular resolution and effective area, while in the second part of the test the GPD has been placed in the focal plane of the FM2. In this paper we report the results of the tests of the sole FM2, using an unpolarized X-ray source, comparing the results with the calibration done in 1996.     

Geodetic data shed light on ongoing caldera subsidence at Askja, Iceland

Subsidence within the main caldera of Askja volcano in the North of Iceland has been in progress since 1983. Here, we present new ground- and satellite-based deformation data, which we interpret together with new and existing micro-gravity data, to help understand which processes may be responsible for the unrest. From 2003 to 2007, we observe a net micro-gravity decrease combined with subsidence and from 2007 to 2009 we observe a net micro-gravity increase while the subsidence continues. We infer subsidence is caused by a combination of a cooling and contracting magma chamber at a divergent plate boundary. Mass movements at active volcanoes can be caused by several processes, including water table/lake level movements, hydrothermal activity and magma movements. We suggest that, here, magma movement and/or a steam cap in the geothermal system of Askja at depth are responsible for the observed micro-gravity variations. In this respect, we rule out the possibility of a shallow intrusion as an explanation for the observed micro-gravity increase but suggest magma may have flowed into the residing shallow magma chamber at Askja despite continued subsidence. In particular, variable compressibility of magma residing in the magma chamber as well as compressibility of the surrounding rock may be the reason why this additional magma did not create any detectable surface deformation.     

An Approach to Quantify the Heat Wave Strength and Price a Heat Derivative for Risk Hedging

Mitigating the heat stress via a derivative policy is a vital financial option for agricultural producers and other business sectors to strategically adapt to the climate change scenario. This study has provided an approach to identifying heat stress events and pricing the heat stress weather derivative due to persistent days of high surface air temperature (SAT). Cooling degree days (CDD) are used as the weather index for trade. In this study, a call-option model was used as an example for calculating the price of the index. Two heat stress indices were developed to describe the severity and physical impact of heat waves. The daily Global Historical Climatology Network (GHCN-D) SAT data from 1901 to 2007 from the southern California, USA, were used. A major California heat wave that occurred 20-25 October 1965 was studied. The derivative price was calculated based on the call-option model for both long-term station data and the interpolated grid point data at a regular 0.1 ×0.1 latitude-longitude grid. The resulting comparison indicates that (a) the interpolated data can be used as reliable proxy to price the CDD and (b) a normal distribution model cannot always be used to reliably calculate the CDD price. In conclusion, the data, models, and procedures described in this study have potential application in hedging agricultural and other risks.     

The summer circulation over the eastern Mediterranean and the Middle East: influence of the South Asian monsoon

The summer circulation over the eastern Mediterranean and the Middle East (EMME) is dominated by persistent northerly winds (Etesians) whose ventilating effect counteracts the adiabatic warming induced by large scale subsidence. The ERA40 dataset is used to study the vertical distribution of these circulation features, which both appear to be reconciled manifestations of the South Asian monsoon influence. As predicted by past idealized modeling studies, in late spring a westward expanding upper level warm structure and subsidence areas are associated with Rossby waves excited by the monsoon convection. Steep sloping isentropes that develop over the EMME facilitate further subsidence on the western and northern periphery of the warm structure, which is exposed to the midlatitude westerlies. The northerly flow and descent over the eastern Mediterranean have maxima in July that are strikingly synchronous to the monsoon convection over northern India, where the weaker easterly jet favors a stronger Rossby wave response and consequent impact on the EMME circulation. The pronounced EMME topography modifies the monsoon induced structure, firstly, by inducing orographically locked summer anticyclones. These enhance the mid and low level northwesterly flow at their eastern flanks, leading to distinct subsidence maxima over the eastern Mediterranean and Iran. Secondly, topography amplifies the subsidence and the northerly flow over the Aegean, Red Sea, the Iraq—Gulf region and to the east of the Caspian Sea.