Secular cooling and crystallization of partially molten Archaean continental crust over 1 Ga

The protracted tectonic and magmatic record of cratons over the Archaean Eon has been classically interpreted in terms of long-lived shallow-dipping subduction or repeated mantle plumes. In this paper, we use the 1D conductive heat equation to model the evolution of the geotherm of a generic felsic-dominated Archaean cratonic nuclei solely considering the secular decay of radioactive isotopes (²³⁸U, ²³⁵U, ²³²Th, and ⁴⁰K), responsible for heat production in the crust. Using a range of plausible parameters for crustal thickness, lithospheric thickness, and surface heat flux, this modelling shows that Archaean crust was characterized by an initially high geothermal gradient at 3.5 Ga, with a Moho temperature close to 900 °C, and that it might have remained partially molten for about one billion years. The existence of a partially molten crust for an extended period of time offers an alternative option to shallow-dipping subduction or repeated mantle plumes for the understanding of the peculiar tectonic evolution of Archaean cratons marked by (i) protracted high-temperature metamorphism and magmatism associated with crustal differentiation, and (ii) widespread deformation characterized by structural domes attributed to the development of crustal-scale gravitational instabilities.     

Urban Structure Generalization in Multi‐Agent Process by Use of Reactional Agents

This article proposes an improvement of automated cartographic generalization using multi‐agent sytems in urban areas. Indeed the AGENT model, whose robustness has been tested and approved through the European project AGENT, gives very good results in generalizing dense urban areas by means of enlargement, removal and displacement of buildings. But this model does not tackle the question of including particular structures like building alignments in the process, which is a crucial issue. The problem is that integrating such structures does not fit into the accurate top‐down hierarchy of urban agents. In order to face this problem, we propose to partly re‐engineer the model by introducing the concept of reactional agents whose behavior is very different from hierarchical agents of the original model as they use bottom‐up activation. In this view, urban alignment is considered to be a reactional agent activated only by its inner buildings, which generalizes the aligned buildings together into one entire structure. Associating reactional alignment behavior with new generalization actions on alignments significantly improves the model and gives better results in dense urban areas. Moreover, the idea could probably be used for other applications.     

Circumstellar disks and planets

We present a review of the interplay between the evolution of circumstellar disks and the formation of planets, both from the perspective of theoretical models and dedicated observations. Based on this, we identify and discuss fundamental questions concerning the formation and evolution of circumstellar disks and planets which can be addressed in the near future with optical and infrared long-baseline interferometers. Furthermore, the importance of complementary observations with long-baseline (sub)millimeter interferometers and high-sensitivity infrared observations is outlined.     

Automatic revision of rules used to guide the generalisation process in systems based on a trial and error strategy

Automating the generalisation process, a major issue for national mapping agencies, is extremely complex. Several works have proposed to deal with this complexity using a trial and error strategy. The performance of systems based on such a strategy is directly dependent on the quality of the control knowledge (i.e. heuristics) used to guide the trials. Unfortunately, most of the time, the definition and updation of knowledge is a fastidious task. In this context, automatic knowledge revision can not only improve the performance of the generalisation, but also allow it to automatically adapt to various usages and evolve when new elements are introduced. In this article, an offline knowledge revision approach is proposed, based on a logging of the system and on the analysis of outcoming logs. This approach is dedicated to the revision of control knowledge expressed by production rules. We have implemented and tested this approach for the automated generalisation of groups of buildings within a generalisation model called AGENT, from initial data that reference a scale of approximately 1:15,000 compared with the target map's scale of 1:50,000. The results show that our approach improves the quality of the control knowledge and thus the performance of the system. Moreover, the approach proposed is generic and can be applied to other systems based on a trial and error strategy, dedicated to generalisation or not.     

On the influence of bed roughness on saltation in inertial regime

In extreme tidal environment, occurrences of saltating pebbles have been observed. The ambition to instal hydrokinetic turbines in such environment requires knowledge on the presence of pebbles in saltation in the water column because they can damage the structures. An experimental study is realized in a free-surface flume with no slope and different bed roughnesses as in marine environment. With fast camera the trajectories of hundreds of spherical particles are analysed. Our study deals with saltation in the inertial regime (i.e., large Stokes number) over fixed beds with various roughnesses. In inertial regime, the bed roughness has more influence on the collision process and the trajectory of the particles than for non-inertial motion where viscous forces play a key role. Jump height and length increase with bed roughness, with height increasing quicker than length leading to a more vertical trajectory for higher bed roughness. The vertical restitution coefficient is shown to increase with bed roughness leading to higher jumps. The initiation of the motion is shown to depend on the bed roughness as well. Power laws of the excess shear stress are proposed for jump height and length, taking into account the bed roughness. The dataset and analysis proposed in this study is a key ingredient for developing quantitative models for particle transport.     

Can UV radiation affect benthic deposit-feeders through biochemical alteration of food resources? An experimental study with juveniles of the benthic polychaete Eupolymnia nebulosa

The growth, tentacle development and feeding activity of the benthic polychaete Eupolymnia nebulosa were examined to determine whether UV might affect marine deposit-feeders indirectly through the modification of the nutritional quality of their resources. Since marine invertebrates have higher nutritional requirements during the period following settlement, we tested the effect of UV-altered phytodetritus on freshly settled juveniles of E. nebulosa. Phytodetritus was prepared from cultures of the diatom Skeletonema costatum either grown under or sheltered from UVB radiation. Sterol content of phytodetritus was unmodified by UV radiation. Conversely, phytodetritus was noticeably depleted in polyunsaturated fatty acids. Growth and tentacle development of juveniles fed on altered phytodetritus were reduced by 35% and 15% respectively, suggesting potential deficiencies in essential nutrients. In response to the lower quality of the phytodetritus, juveniles explored a wider area as they search for food, a strategy that could compensate for low food quality.     

Application of Multi-Temporal MODIS NDVI Data to Assess Practiced Maize Calendars in Rwanda

Crop calendar is an important tool providing relevant information on crops cycles in a specific area for effective agricultural management. Crop calendars vary in different areas given dissimilarities in agro-ecosystems’ characteristics. This research used multi-temporal MODIS NDVI stratification to assess differences in practiced maize crop calendars in various areas of Rwanda. Four (4) sample NDVI strata dominated by agriculture were purposively chosen, and 433 local farmers were randomly selected from the strata for interviews. The collected information helped to know about their maize planting as well as harvesting dates in order to generate maize calendars per NDVI strata. The generated crop calendars were later classified using k-means unsupervised classification, and produced 4 groupings of practiced maize calendars irrespective of NDVI strata. ANOVA results revealed significant differences between both the generated maize crop calendars by NDVI strata and the practiced crop calendars irrespective of NDVI strata, at p = 0.05. Moreover, chi-square tests and t-tests revealed not only a significant relationship between maize calendars and number of crop growing seasons, but also a significant relationship between maize calendars and NDVI strata, at p = 0.05. Finally, findings of this research contrasted the present conviction that there exist a single general maize calendar all over the country. Instead, the results were in accordance with the fact that Rwanda agro-ecosystems differ from East to West in terms of, mainly, altitude and rainfall patterns variations.     

On the Alignment of T Tauri Stars with the Local Magnetic Field in the Taurus Molecular Cloud Complex

Magnetic field is believed to play an important role in the collapse of a molecular cloud. In particular, due to the properties of magnetic forces, collapse should be easier along magnetic field lines. This is supported by the large-scale sheet-like structures observed in the Taurus giant molecular cloud for instance. Here we investigate whether such a preferred orientation for collapse is present at a much smaller scale, that of individual objects, i.e., about 100AU. We use recent high-angular resolution images of T Tauri stars located in the Taurus star-forming region to find the orientation of the symmetry axis of each star+jet+disk system and compare it with that of the local magnetic field. We find that (i) T Tauri stars that are associated to a jet or an outflow are generally oriented parallel to the magnetic field, as previously demonstrated. More surprising, given our current knowledge of these objects, we also find that (ii) T Tauri stars that are not at present believed to be associated to a jet or an outflow are oriented very differently, i.e., mostly perpendicular to the magnetic field. We present some implications of this puzzling new result.     

The CartACom model: transforming cartographic features into communicating agents for cartographic generalisation

Our research is concerned with automated generalisation of topographic vector databases in order to produce maps. This article presents a new, agent-based generalisation model called CartACom (Cartographic generalisation with Communicating Agents), dedicated to the treatment of areas of low density but where rubber sheeting techniques are not sufficient because some eliminations or aggregations are needed. In CartACom, the objects of the initial database are modelled as agents, that is, autonomous entities, that choose and apply generalisation algorithms to themselves in order to increase the satisfaction of their constraints as much as possible. The CartACom model focuses on modelling and treating the relational constraints, defined as constraints that concern a relation between two objects. In order to detect and assess their relational constraints, the CartACom agents are able to perceive their spatial surroundings. Moreover, to make the good generalisation decisions to satisfy their relational constraints, they are able to communicate with their neighbours using predefined dialogue protocols. Finally, a hook to another agent-based generalisation model – AGENT – is provided, so that the CartACom agents can handle not only their relational constraints but also their internal constraints. The CartACom model has been applied to the generalisation of low-density, heterogeneous areas like rural areas, where the space is not hierarchically organised. Examples of results obtained on real data show that it is well adapted for this application.     

Polarization in the young cluster NGC 6611: circumstellar, interstellar, or ... both?

We obtained linear polarization observations of 82 A/B-type stars in the young cluster NGC 6611, in order to probe the circumstellar material and to search for any evidence of intracluster or interstellar material that could also contribute to the polarization. We found linear polarization values that reach up to 14%. We consider the distribution of the polarization, its position angle, correlations with extinction and membership probability, polarization variability and wavelength distribution to identify the origin of the polarization toward NGC 6611. The polarization is found to be dominated by interstellar polarization, although some stars also have some circumstellar polarization. There is no evidence for intracluster dust. Rather, the dust must be located in a low density cloud toward the general line of sight to NGC 6611 and in front of it. The depth of that cloud along the line of sight increases slowly from the south–east to the north–west. The cloud is threaded by a very uniform magnetic field.