The Oxford Principles

Scientific momentum is increasing behind efforts to develop geoengineering options, but it is widely acknowledged that the challenges of geoengineering are as much political and social as they are technical. Legislators are looking for guidance on the governance of geoengineering research and possible deployment. The Oxford Principles are five high-level principles for geoengineering governance. This article explains their intended function and the core societal values which they attempt to capture. Finally, it proposes a framework for their implementation in a flexible governance architecture through the formulation of technology-specific research protocols.     

Structure of the lower crust beneath the Gulf of Maine

Summary. The variability of deep crustal reflections in USGS line 1A across the offshore New England Appalachians shows the differing influence of Paleozoic and Mesozoic tectonic events. Mesozoic extension has not significantly modified Paleozoic thrust faults penetrating the lower crust in the northern Gulf of Maine. Mesozoic extension or Paleozoic crustal melting could explain the lower crustal character in the central Gulf.     

Instruments, Detectors and the Future of Astronomy with Large Ground Based Telescopes

Results of a survey of instrumentation and detector systems, either currently deployed or planned for use at telescopes larger than 3.5 m, in ground based observatories world-wide, are presented. This survey revealed a number of instrumentation design trends at optical, near, and mid-infrared wavelengths. Some of the most prominent trends include the development of vastly larger optical detector systems (> 10⁹ pixels) than anything built to date, and the frequent use of mosaics of near-infrared detectors – something that was quite rare only a decade ago in astronomy. Some future science applications for detectors are then explored, in an attempt to build a bridge between current detectors and what will be needed to support the research ambitions of astronomers in the future.     

Inelastic torsional response of buildings to the 1985 Mexican earthquake: a parametric study

This study aims to determine the influence of torsional coupling on the inelastic response of a series of models representing typical structural configurations in real buildings. The lake bed (SCT) east-west component of the 1985 Mexico City earthquake was employed in the analysis, and is representative of a severe ground motion known to have induced large inelastic structural deformations in a high proportion of those buildings having asymmetrical distributions of stiffness and/or strength. Material non-linearity in lateral load-resisting elements has been defined using a hysteretic Ramberg-Osgood model. Structural eccentricities have been introduced into the building models by (i) asymmetrical distributions of stiffness and/or strength, (ii) asymmetrical configuration of lateral load-resisting elements, or (iii) varying post-elastic material behaviour in the resisting elements. The dynamic inelastic response of these models has been obtained by a numerical integration of the relevant equations of motion, expressed in a non-dimensional incremental form.

In the elastic range, the results correlate well with those of previous studies. In the inelastic range, it is concluded that the peak ductility demand of the worst-affected element increases with the ground excitation level across the range of building periods considered, and that the influence of torsional coupling on the key response parameters is model dependent. Most significantly, the strength eccentricity relative to the centre of mass has been shown to influence the peak edge displacement response more than conventionally employed stiffness eccentricity.     

Testing solar forcing of pervasive Holocene climate cycles

The temporal and spatial extent of Holocene climate change is an area of considerable uncertainty, with solar forcing recently proposed to be the origin of cycles identified in the North Atlantic region. To address these issues we have developed an annually resolved record of changes in Irish bog tree populations over the last 7468 years which, together with radiocarbon‐dated bog and lake‐edge populations, extend the dataset back to ～9000 yr ago. The Irish trees underpin the internationally accepted radiocarbon calibration curve, used to derive a proxy of solar activity, and allow us to test solar forcing of Holocene climate change. Tree populations and age structures provide unambiguous evidence of major shifts in Holocene surface moisture, with a dominant cyclicity of 800 yr, similar to marine cycles in the North Atlantic, indicating significant changes in the latitude and intensity of zonal atmospheric circulation across the region. The cycles, however, are not coherent with changes in solar activity (both being on the same absolute timescale), indicating that Holocene North Atlantic climate variability at the millennial and centennial scale is not driven by a linear response to changes in solar activity. Copyright © 2005 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Implications for unified schemes from submillimetre and far-infrared follow-up of radio-selected samples

We extend our previous analysis which used generalized luminosity functions (GLFs) to predict the number of quasars and galaxies in low-radio-frequency-selected samples as a function of redshift, radio luminosity, narrow-emission-line luminosity and type of unified scheme. Our extended analysis incorporates the observed submillimetre (850-μm) flux densities of radio sources, employs a new method which allows us to deal with non-detections, and focuses on the high-luminosity population. First, we conclude that the submillimetre luminosity L ₈₅₀ of low-frequency-selected radio sources is correlated with the bolometric luminosity L _bol of their quasar nuclei via an approximate scaling relation   L ₈₅₀∝ L ^0.7±0.2_bol  . Secondly, we conclude that there is quantitative evidence for a receding-torus-like physical process for the high-luminosity population within a two-population unified scheme for radio sources; this evidence comes from the fact that radio quasars are brighter in both narrow emission lines and submillimetre luminosity than radio galaxies matched in radio luminosity and redshift. Thirdly, we note that the combination of a receding-torus-like scheme and the assumption that the observed submillimetre emission is dominated by quasar-heated dust yields a scaling relation   L ₈₅₀∝ L ^1/2_bol  which is within the errors of that determined here for radio-selected quasars, and consistent with that inferred for radio-quiet quasars.