Norges Blindeforbund

• Outcrop studies of fracture distribution in basaltic lava flows. • Positive correlation between lava flow thickness and fracture spacing. • Fracture orientation is scale invariable. • Fluids are expected to move in the same direction as the large-scale lineaments. • Fractures have a significant effect on the permeability of basaltic lava flows. Mafic lava flows have significant potential as fluid reservoirs, particularly for CO 2 ; however, their highly heterogeneous nature results in variable storage capacity across different locations. A crucial parameter for assessing reservoir potential is injectivity, which is primarily controlled by porosity and permeability. Porosity and permeability in lava flows, typically in the form of vesicles, are high at the lava flow top and base, while the flow core tends to have low permeability. Additionally, secondary fracturing of lava flow units may significantly influence both injectivity and overall storage capacity. Despite the potential positive impact on reservoir properties, there has been a lack of detailed descriptions and quantifications regarding fractures in basalts. Our field-based study presents an area onshore the Faroe Islands, which serves as an analogue for the offshore North Atlantic Igneous Province. We have mapped the spatial distribution of lineaments and fracture network characteristics using digital elevation and outcrop models ranging from km-scale to cm-scale. Permeability was calculated using the software FracPaQ to evaluate the influence of fractures on reservoir potential. We found that (1) fracture spacing increases with lava flow thickness, (2) fractures add significant secondary permeability, and (3) both km-scale and cm-scale fractures exhibit similar east-west preferred orientation, implying a preferential fluid flow in the same east-west orientation. Our study provides vital field evidence of vertical and horizontal fracture distributions in lava flows, forming a foundational basis for initial site characterisation of future CO 2 reservoirs, and highlighting the importance of including fractures in the characterisation of volcanic reservoirs.

Scores from formal classroom observation systems are used for many purposes in both research and practice. One important question arising from these uses concerns when observation scores should be adjusted for student characteristics, as scores are often highly correlated with student characteristics. This paper considers this question from a measurement perspective, highlighting three basic interpretations of scores and five pathways through which scores could correlate with student characteristics. Adjusting observation scores is only recommended when interpreting scores as representing teacher quality and for some pathways, which implies that complex, partial adjustments of the relationship between observation scores and student characteristics are likely necessary. Given the difficulty of such partial adjustments, the paper presents bounding exercises to explore the potential size of the bias introduced to teacher quality estimates. The results suggest that rater error threatens score interpretations more than whether scores are adjusted for student characteristics.

Abstract Mutational spectra describe the pattern of mutations acquired during evolution and are driven by factors including mutagens, repair processes and selection. Calculating mutational spectra of pathogen genomic datasets may enable analysis of factors that influence these mutational processes, including replication niches, transmission routes and pathogen biology. Here, we introduce MutTui, which can leverage multiple types of sequence data to calculate and compare mutational spectra of DNA and RNA pathogens. MutTui is available athttps://github.com/chrisruis/MutTui.

The Paleocene-Eocene Thermal Maximum (PETM) around 56 Ma was associated with 5-6 °C global warming, resulting from massive carbon release into the ocean–atmosphere system. One potential driver of hyperthermal conditions was the North Atlantic Igneous Province (NAIP), as both volcanic degassing and thermogenic volatile release during contact metamorphism during its emplacement were large potential emitters of carbon. Despite a broad temporal correlation between NAIP activity and the PETM, the exact relationship is obscured by multiple climate forcings, imprecise geochronological data, uncertainties in the timing and magnitude of volatile fluxes from volcanic and thermogenic sources, and limited availability from crucial NAIP localities that could constrain these unknowns. Here we present new seismic and borehole data for the Modgunn hydrothermal vent complex in the Northeast Atlantic (IODP Sites U1567-U1568). Stable carbon isotope stratigraphy and dinoflagellate cyst biostratigraphy reveal a negative carbon isotope excursion coincident with the appearance of Apectodinium augustum in the vent crater infill. Modern examples of submarine explosion craters suggest they have filled in within decades to centuries, so the preservation of the PETM onset within the Modgunn vent suggests an extremely close temporal correlation between the crate formation and the onset of hyperthermal conditions. Furthermore, the majority of the craters across the entire NAIP are likely to have vented in very shallow water, implying that the vast majority of emitted CO2 and CH4 gases directly entered the atmosphere during eruptions. These findings add considerable weight to the hypothesis that thermogenic degassing aided the initiation of the PETM. 

Abstract. We compare coincident data from the European Space Agency's Airborne SAR/Interferometric Radar Altimeter System (ASIRAS) with ground-based Very High Bandwidth (VHB) stepped-frequency radar measurements in the Ku-band. The ASIRAS instrument obtained data from ~700 m above the surface, using a 13.5 GHz center frequency and a 1 GHz bandwidth. The ground-based VHB radar measurements were acquired using the same center frequency, but with a variable bandwidth of either 1 or 8 GHz. Four sites were visited with the VHB radar; two sites within the transition region from superimposed ice to firn, and two sites in the long-term firn area (wet-snow zone). The greater bandwidth VHB measurements show that the first peak in the airborne data is a composite of the return from the surface (i.e. air-snow interface) and returns of similar or stronger amplitude from reflectors in the upper ~30 cm of the subsurface. The peak position in the airborne data is thus not necessarily a good proxy for the surface since the maximum and width of the first return depend on the degree of interference between surface and subsurface reflectors. The major response from the winter snowpack was found to be caused by units of thin crust/ice layers (0.5–2 mm) surrounded by large crystals (>3 mm). In the airborne data, it is possible to track such layers for tens of kilometers. The winter snowpack lacked thicker ice layers. The last year's summer surface, characterized by a low density large crystal layer overlaying a harder denser layer, gives a strong radar response, frequently the strongest. The clear relationship observed between the VHB and ASIRAS waveforms, justifies the use of ground-based radar measurements in the validation of air- or spaceborne radars.

Abstract Partial least squares regression was introduced as an algorithm in the early 1980s, and it has gained much popularity in chemometrics. PLSR—or PLSR1—is a regression method for collinear data, and can be seen as a competitor to principal component regression. The method makes it possible to combine prediction with a study of a joint latent structure in thex,y‐variables. PLSR2 is a generalization to several dependent variables. PLSR1 can be understood from a statistical point of view via its parameter algorithm and the corresponding population model.

This research addressed how professionals involved with the legal system evaluate children, primarily between 4 and 8 years old, as witnesses. In particular, we focused on professionals’ beliefs and opinions regarding children's memory, suggestibility, and behaviors as they relate to witness credibility. In addition, we surveyed professionals’ evaluations of investigative methods related to reliability. Four hundred and seventy-eight professionals working with children in the Norwegian legal system (i.e. judges, police detectives, psychologists, child psychiatrists, prosecutors, and defense attorneys) completed a questionnaire about child witness issues. Results indicated that psychiatrists as well as police officers expressed greater belief in children's capacities than did other groups, whereas defense attorneys and psychologists were more skeptical regarding children's general credibility. Psychiatrists and psychologists both, however, tended to favor, more than did legal professionals, the use of clinical techniques with children in abuse investigations. Implications are discussed in relation to professionals’ attitudes toward children as witnesses.

The authors are concerned with new ways of understanding and describing short-range stacking order in layered materials. The X-ray pattern from several layered materials, exemplified by Cu(C6H4(OH)COO)2.(.H2O)2 (DSC), consists of alternating discrete Bragg spots and diffuse modulated lines, indicating a large degree of disorder, which is interpreted as being associated with the stacking of the rigid layers. From a detailed study of the shape and widths of the diffuse component, a pseudo-spin model is developed, from which short-range order parameters are derived, amounting to first- and second-nearest neighbour coupling of an Ising model. This approach is contrary to models describing the crystal as consisting of a mixture of ordered and disordered phases. The ordering parameters are sample dependent, but for a given sample they are temperature independent, as concluded from Raman studies between 50 K and room temperature.

Defining equations, a best approximation property, and error bounds are given for a discrete cubic spline interpolant. Furthermore the distance between two cubic spline interpolants is estimated, and numerical examples are provided.

The fractionation of nucleic acids by chromatography on hydroxyapatite has been studied. The products, formed by annealing T2 DNA with complementary RNA, were separated in a linear gradient of phosphate buffer into three fractions containing, respectively, in their order of elution, single-stranded DNA, RNA complexed mainly with single-stranded DNA, and renatured DNA complexed with smaller amounts of RNA. By using annealing conditions which favour hybrid formation the complementary strand of DNA can be separated by a batchwise fractionation procedure.