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Background: Despite advances in metabolic pathways, exosomes, ct-DNA, biomarkers, and imaging technology, breast cancer is still with us. It is a global curse, with incidence set to double in the U.S. by 2030. Increasingly, researchers blame this debacle on our persistent use of unreliable preclinical testing with mouse models. Further, while basic science understanding has exploded, we know each daughter cell is genetically different, with likely increased resistance to therapy – and increased aggressiveness. Nonetheless, our current approach requires killing every one of these daughters to the last. The authors have devised a new game plan; the new goal is to kill the very first cells, not the last ones. This can be implemented globally – with dramatic cost reduction, and more lives saved while leaving the breast intact. Methods: The authors have created The Lavender Way, which employs multiple non-radiation diagnostic modalities. This allows us to predict within ten years in a person's lifetime when breast cancer will likely manifest. Then imaging is accelerated with modified military Infrared, ultrasound, and others to locate ultra-small breast cancers (5-8mm). Tumor analysis can determine each tumor’s aggressiveness. Via a 20-minute office procedure under local anaesthesia (i.e., Cryoablation, aka The Lavender Procedure), the tumor can be killed with the patients resuming normal activity immediately. It is both a dramatic change in treatment and, just as significant, a dramatic change in lifting the psychological burden of this dreaded disease. Results: Group I: Ideal Patients, Group II: Less than Ideal, Group III: Strictly Palliative. All in Group I are alive after seven years except one. That one died of a fall, cancer-free, and one is alive with a local recurrence successfully treated with repeat cryoablation. Group II had one local recurrence, and one had a second primary tumor in a different location in the breast. Group III refused any other treatment and had metastatic disease. They were treated to prevent tumors from eroding through the skin. Most have died. The Lavender Way paves the way for The Lavender Procedure. Conclusion: Ultra-small breast cancers with optimal bio-markers are ideal candidates for The Lavender Procedure (i.e., Cryoablation). All patients resumed normal activity immediately – without sutures. All patients in Group I and II patients have avoided surgery, chemotherapy, and radiation.

Earthen dams and embankments are prone to internal erosion, their most significant source of failure. Standard monitoring techniques often measure erosion effects when they appear at the surface, reducing the potential response time to address the problem before failure. Through their integrative sensitivity along their propagation, seismic signals are well suited to assess mechanical changes in the bulk of a dam. Moreover, seismic velocities are strongly sensitive to porosity, pore pressure, and water saturation, physical properties that vary the most for internal erosion. Here, we used fiber optics and a Distributed Acoustic Sensing (DAS) array installed on an experimental dam with built-in defects to record the ambient seismic wavefield for one month while the dam reservoir is gradually filled up. The position and nature of the dam defects are unknown to us, to allow an actual blind-detection experiment. We computed cross-correlations between equidistant channels along the dam every 15 minutes and monitored the relative seismic velocity changes at each location for the whole month. The results show a strong correlation of the velocity changes with the water level in the reservoir at all locations along the dam. We also observe systematic deviations from the average velocity change trend. We interpret these anomalies as the effects of the built-in defects placed at different positions in the bulk of the dam. The careful analysis of the residual velocity changes allows us to hypothesize on the position and nature of the defects.

This book begins by reflecting on the possibilities of a paradigm shift. Before seeing economic growth as panacea for all of society’s ills, we should look at the economy from the perspective of ca...

More than any other known planet, Venus is essential to our understanding of the evolution and habitability of Earth-size planets throughout the galaxy. We address two critical questions for planetary science: 1) How, if at all, did Venus evolve through a habitable phase? 2) What circumstances affect how volatiles shape habitable worlds? Volatile elements have a strong influence on the evolutionary paths of rocky bodies and are critical to understanding solar system evolution. It is clear that Venus experienced a different volatile element history from the Earth and provides the only accessible example of one end-state of habitable Earth-size planets. Venus will allow us to identify the mechanisms that operate together to produce and maintain habitable worlds like our own. The (VFM) concept architecture relies on five collaborative platforms: an Orbiter, Lander, variable-altitude Aerobot and two Small Satellites (SmallSats) delivered via a single launch on a Falcon 9 heavy expendable. The platforms would use multiple instruments to measure the exosphere, atmosphere and surface at multiple scales with high precision and over time. VFM would provide the first measurements of mineralogy and geochemistry of tessera terrain to examine rocks considered to be among the most likely to have formed in a habitable climate regime. Landed, descent, aerial and orbital platforms would work synergistically to measure the chemical composition of the atmosphere including the Aerobot operating for 60 days in the Venus clouds. Loss mechanisms would be constrained by the SmallSats in two key orbits. The baseline payload for VFM includes instruments to make the first measurements of seismicity and remanent magnetism, the first long-lived (60 day) surface platform and the first life detection instrument at Venus to interrogate what could be an inhabited world. The VFM concept directly addresses each of the three Venus Exploration Analysis Group (VEXAG) goals as well as several of the strategic objectives of the 2020 NASA Science Plan, Planetary Science Division, Heliophysics and Astrophysics. The simultaneous, synergistic measurements of the solid body, surface, atmosphere and space environment provided by the VFM would allow us to target the most accessible Earth-size planet in our galaxy, and gain a profound new understanding of the evolution of our solar system and habitable worlds.

Background Despite advances in metabolic pathways, exosomes, ct-DNA, biomarkers, and imaging technology, breast cancer is still with us. It is a global curse with incidence set to double in the U.S. by 2030. Increasingly, researchers blame this debacle on our persistent use of unreliable preclinical testing with mouse models. Further, while basic science understanding has exploded, we know each daughter cell is genetically different, with likely increased resistance to therapy - and increased aggressiveness. Nonetheless, our current approach requires killing every one of these daughters to the last. The authors have devised a new game plan; the new goal is to kill the very first cells, not the last ones. This can be implemented globally - with dramatic cost reduction, and more lives saved while leaving the breast intact. Methods The authors have created The Lavender Way, which employs multiple non-radiation diagnostic modalities. This allows us to predict within ten years in a person's lifetime when breast cancer will likely manifest. Then imaging is accelerated with modified military Infrared, ultrasound, and others to locate ultra-small breast cancers (5-8mm). Tumor analysis can determine each tumor’s aggressiveness. Via a 20-minute office procedure under local anesthesia (i.e., Cryoablation, aka The Lavender Procedure), the tumor can be killed with the patients resuming normal activity immediately. It is both a dramatic change in treatment and, just as significant, a dramatic change in lifting the psychological burden of this dreaded disease. Results Group I - Ideal Patients Group II – Less than Ideal Group III – Strictly Palliative All in Group I are alive after seven years except one. That one died of a fall, cancer-free, and one is alive with a local recurrence successfully treated with repeat cryoablation. Group II had one local recurrence, and one had a second primary tumor in a different location in the breast. Group III refused any other treatment and had metastatic disease. They were treated to prevent tumors from eroding through the skin. Most have died. The Lavender Way paves the way for The Lavender Procedure Conclusion Ultra-small breast cancers with optimal bio-markers are ideal candidates for The Lavender Procedure (i.e., Cryoablation). All patients resumed normal activity immediately – without sutures. All patients in Group I and II patients have avoided surgery, chemotherapy, and radiation.

Geochronology, or determination of absolute ages for geologic events, underpins many inquiries into the formation and evolution of planets and our Solar System. Absolute ages of ancient and recent magmatic products provide strong constraints on the dynamics of magma oceans and crustal formation, as well as the longevity and evolution of interior heat engines and distinct mantle/crustal source regions. Absolute dating also relates habitability markers to the timescale of evolution of life on Earth. However, the number of geochronologically-significant terrains across the inner Solar System far exceeds our ability to conduct sample return from all of them. In preparation for the upcoming Decadal Survey, our team formulated a set of medium-class (New Frontiers) mission concepts to three different locations (the Moon, Mars, and Vesta) where sites that record Solar System bombardment, magmatism, and/or habitability are uniquely preserved and accessible. We developed a notional payload to directly date planetary surfaces, consisting of two instruments capable of measuring radiometric ages in situ, an imaging spectrometer, optical cameras to provide site geologic context and sample characterization, a trace element analyzer to augment sample contextualization, and a sample acquisition and handling system. Landers carrying this payload to the Moon, Mars, and Vesta would likely fit into the New Frontiers cost cap in our study (~$1B). A mission of this type would provide crucial constraints on planetary history while also enabling a broad suite of investigations such as basic geologic characterization, geomorphologic analysis, ground truth for remote sensing analyses, analyses of major, minor, trace, and volatile elements, atmospheric and other long-lived monitoring, organic molecule analyses, and soil and geotechnical properties., Comment: Submitted to the Planetary Science Journal, October 2020

Sustainability is a complex, multi-dimensional issue that requires contributions from diverse disciplines, perspectives, and actors. Research and innovation are recognised as having the potential to help address some of the trade-offs and synergies associated with sustainability, and interactive innovation in particular offers many advantages. The beef sector has faced significant sustainability challenges in recent times, with criticisms relating to greenhouse gas (GHG) production, biodiversity, water quality, human health, and animal welfare, along with economic challenges to the viability of the sector. Furthermore, the low level of adoption of solutions proposed by research to address these challenges indicates the need for a pan-European multi-actor network to produce actionable and usable information to support European beef farmers. Drawing on practice-based research, the purpose of this exploratory paper was to examine how interactive innovation can be supported in a sector that, to date, has been the focus of limited interactive innovation efforts. It concluded that a “rainbow” of actors and diverse knowledges, along with different types of innovation intermediaries, can enhance the sustainability of the beef sector.

Educational management is one of a trilogy of overlapping concepts, along with educational administration and educational leadership. These three concepts are related but nonetheless possess definitional differences depending on where the terms are applied. The complexity of educational management as a concept is evidenced by its inclusion of related but subsidiary though important notions such as ethics, culture, and diversity within differing educational systems. The overall purpose of educational management is to effectively and efficiently create and maintain environments within educational institutions that promote, support, and sustain effective teaching and learning, but how those key objectives are set and the means by which they are attained may differ significantly depending upon education system or level and across educational cultures. In striving to accomplish these goals, educational managers, through thoughtful practical application of management principles, enlist and organize a society’s available resources to attain the educational goals that have been set by that society’s political leaders. As such, the various educational goals set by differing societies to which educational managers at all levels of the educational system must respond are by definition changeable along with changing socioeconomic conditions within a society and the disruption occasioned by the rapid development of digital technologies used as management tools. Educational management, while guiding planned change, must be responsive to unplanned, disruptive change created by rapid changes in both social structures and cultures as well as advances in digital technologies. This is where the element of educational leadership that directs and guides the entire process of educational management and administration takes on particular importance. Leadership includes both manager and teacher professional ethics and is expressed within a variety of theories of ethical leadership in education that respond to cultural imperatives in differing societies. Educational management must be responsive to both global and local changes due to technological developments that directly impact teaching and learning through changes in curriculum in terms of pedagogical and assessment practices. It is in how educational management as a discipline evolves to effectively meet the needs of educational systems contingent upon the challenges derived from technological, social, cultural, and economic changes sweeping the globe in the first decades of the 21st century that will determine the effectiveness and efficacy of management practices going forward. Effectively and innovatively managing change is the primary challenge facing educational management locally, regionally, and globally in the decades ahead.

Summary "Passive seismic imaging is a low-impact, low-cost technique used for exploration of ore deposits. Autonomous seismometers (“nodes”) allow for continuous recording of seismic data for weeks. In addition to improving field operations for traditional active-source surveys, nodes increase the flexibility of seismic survey design and permit low-cost collection of passive seismic data with minimal impact on the local environment. The technique uses ambient seismic noise from natural and anthropogenic sources for subsurface imaging. A seismic velocity model built from analysis of surface wave is used to establish the structure and physical characteristics of materials in the sub-surface. The Sally platinum-group metal (PGM) Deposit is located at the North margin of the Coldwell Complex. The goal of the seismic survey was to determine the structure and geometry of the Eastern Gabbros, a series of high-density, seismically-fast gabbros and pyroxenites that host the mineralization. The resulting surface wave velocity model traced the lower margin of the Eastern Gabbros and also identified a strong velocity anomaly in Archean footwall granodiorite to below the main intrusion (1.5 km in depth). The anomaly seems to coincide with a magnetic anomaly and is interpreted as a pyroxenite intrusion of the type that hosts the PGM mineralisation."

Being sustainability‐oriented has become a key strategy for many firms. Equally, innovation culture and innovation outcomes have long been recognized as important contributors to the growth of firms. However, the literature on sustainability and innovation provides limited understanding of the important relationship between sustainability orientation, innovation culture and innovation outcomes. Given that large firms and small firms differ in building and employing their strategic assets, firm size matters in understanding the relationship. Through the lens of resource‐based view, we develop a theoretical model embedding the four components and test it using data from a global survey: the 2012 Comparative Performance Assessment Study. Our research contributes to sustainability literature and innovation theory by providing an integrated framework to explicate the mechanism through which the innovation culture of the firm impacts on innovative performance through the sustainability orientation of the firm. The findings advance our understanding of the extent to which sustainable orientation can explain the relationship between innovation culture and innovation outcomes. Our evidence shows that the innovation culture of a firm facilitates the sustainability orientation of the firm and that the converse also applies. The research also contributes to our knowledge of the differences between large and small firms in leveraging their strategic assets in terms of innovation culture and sustainability orientation to facilitate superior innovation outcomes. Although firm size moderates the relationship between innovation culture and innovation outcomes, the research shows that this no longer holds when sustainability orientation is included in the relationship. A strong sustainability orientation can be a competitive advantage for firms in the R&D Management delivery of superior innovation outcomes.

Reproductive output in suckled beef cow systems is underpinned by a combination of genetics and the impact of efficient animal management strategies which given their cumulative nature, are difficult to evaluate. A dynamic simulation model (Grange Reproductive Management Model; GReMM) was developed replicating the reproductive performance of a suckled beef cow herd over multiple production cycles using the Stella Architect dynamic modelling platform (isee systems, Ventana, Lebanon, USA). Model inputs for farm parameters include dates and duration of breeding seasons in addition to nutrition and management of the periparturient beef cow. Specific management parameters pertaining to the duration of the postpartum anoestrus interval (PPAI), such as the body condition score of the cow at calving (BCSc), level of postpartum nutrition (PPN), management of the suckling calf and bio-stimulation of the dam pre-breeding are modelled. Outputs are displayed in the form of shifts in calving distribution, calving rates and calves per cow per year. Scenario analysis consisted of the implementation of a BASE scenario representative of current industry best practice (Normal reproductive management; NRM: BCSc, 2.75; PPN, 100 MJ ME/d; ad libitum suckling). Two further scenarios were developed representing a more intensively managed herd, with high levels of nutrition pre and post calving in addition to alternative reproductive management strategies (Intensive reproductive management; IRM), and a herd with a low level of nutritional management pre and postpartum (Poor reproductive management; PRM). Outputs generated in terms of calving distribution over six production cycles, indicated that a shift in the calving spread towards later in the calving season occurred in the PRM scenario, and a small improvement in reproductive efficiency evident in the IRM scenario over NRM. The model developed offers a decision support tool with the capability of evaluating practical on-farm management decisions on herd reproductive performance.

Within the ongoing debate on the roles and tensions between teaching and research in higher education, this paper explores the extent to which the pedagogical case study method can contribute to bridge the gap between teaching and research. Based on an initial survey on 1,057 university academics, the results reveal the existence of five major groups of academics with varying degrees of link between the two topics and demonstrate the variations in the contributions that pedagogical case studies contribute to classroom teaching and to scholarly research for each subgroup. The implications for higher education at both the institutional level and the personal academic level are then explored.

As mineral exploration seeks deeper targets and targets under cover, the need for low cost and low impact subsurface imaging is increasingly important. A recent addition to the toolbox of geophysic...

International audience; There are important economic, environmental and societal reasons for monitoring production from oil, gas and geothermal fields. Unfortunately, standard microseismic monitoring is often not useful due to low levels of microseismicity. We propose to use body and surface waves reconstructed from ambient seismic noise for such monitoring. In this work, we use seismic data recorded from a dense sensor array at the Groningen gas field in northern Holland and show how direct P-waves can be extracted from the ambient noise cross correlations and then used to monitor seismic velocity variations over time. This approach has advantages over the use of coda wave interferometry due to the ability to localise such changes in the subsurface. We show how both direct and refracted (head) P-waves as well as Rayleigh surface waves can be used for such field monitoring, with changes of ~1% being resolved. Both fundamental and first overtone Rayleigh waves are used to localise such changes, which correspond nicely to known geology to within 100 m.

Over the last few years, there has been considerable scholarly interest in the strategic management concept of dynamic capabilities. During the same period, sustainability policies and strategies have also become a major focus for many companies. These two areas have resulted in major new innovative opportunities for companies, including those located in emerging markets. However, up to the present time, few studies have attempted to combine the growing scholarly topic of dynamic capabilities with the equally important topic of sustainability strategy in the context of emerging market companies. This paper links these two areas through the theoretical lens of innovation theory. It develops and proposes four main business options for companies, particularly those from emerging markets, from an innovation perspective. The paper contributes new knowledge by identifying and expanding on the innovation strategy links between dynamic capabilities and sustainability strategy. It offers theoretical insights into the nature of that connection in the context of companies from both developed and developing economies.

Rock mass characteristics such as applied stress, pore pressure, and fracture density are coupled to the seismic wave propagation velocity. Therefore, measuring small relative changes of seismic wave velocities in operational mines has the potential for tracking changes in these important rock mass properties. To this end, we have conducted an experiment with the aim of measuring seismic body wave velocities in situ at Williams mine, Hemlo, Canada, using a pneumatic source and multiple receivers. We determine that the signal-to-noise ratio is improved by deconvolving the source signal from the signal recorded at the remotely grouted geophones. We evaluate the estimated relative changes in traveltimes and assume that these are due to changes in the body wave velocity caused by mining-related activities. We are able to successfully detect the source response at remote receivers in an operational mine at a distance of more than 430 m.

The Carbon Sequestration Leadership Forum (CSLF) is an international climate change initiative at ministerial level, with the mission to advise ministers and other decision makers on the acceleration of deployment of CO2 capture, utilisation and storage (CCUS). To this end, CSLF’s Technical Group issues a Technology Roadmap every three – four years. The roadmap receives input from two other major activities of the Technical Group, reports on selected issues, prepared by Task Forces; and cooperation with CCUS projects that are recognized by the CSLF, as well as from the CSLF delegates and external experts. Its representation of 80% of global CO2 emissions along with its high political backing and legitimacy, makes CSLF an excellent and unique avenue for the promotion of CCUS related issues with the aim to accelerate deployment. The paper describes the work mode of the CSLF Technical Group and its latest activities and achievements of its three major activities.

The Cloud Depiction and Forecast System version 2 (CDFS II) is the operational global cloud analysis and forecasting model of the 557th Weather Wing, formerly the U.S. Air Force Weather Agency. The CDFS II cloud-detection algorithms are threshold-based tests that compare satellite-observed multispectral reflectance and brightness temperature signatures with those expected for the clear atmosphere. User-prescribed quantitative differences between sensor observations and the expected clear-scene radiances denote cloudy pixels. These radiances historically have been modeled at 24-km resolution from a running 10-day statistical analysis of cloud-free pixels that requires the entire global cloud analysis to be executed twice in real time: once in operational cloud detection mode and a second time in a cloud-clearing mode that is designed explicitly for generating clear-scene statistics. Having to run the cloud analysis twice means the availability of fewer compute cycles for other operational models and requires costly interactive maintenance of distinct cloud-detection and cloud-clearing threshold sets. Additionally, this technique breaks down whenever a region is persistently cloudy. These problems are eliminated by means of the optimal spectral sampling (OSS) radiative transfer model of Moncet et al., optimized for execution in the CDFS run-time environment. OSS is particularly well suited for real-time remote sensing applications because of its user-tunable computational speed and numerical accuracy, with respect to a reference line-by-line model. The use of OSS has cut cloud model processing times in half, eliminated the influence of cloudy pixel artifacts in the statistical time series prescription of cloud-cleared radiances, and improved cloud-mask quality.

Using data from ground-level measurements, this work evaluates the performance of one chemical transport model (CTM)-based approach using MERRA2 model output and one statistical approach using a generalized additive model to translate remotely-sensed Aerosol Optical Depth (AOD) measurements from the MODIS combined Deep Blue and Dark Target algorithm to surface-level PM2.5 concentrations for nine cities in low and middle-income countries that include a range of environmental conditions (e.g., mountainous, dusty, or coastal conditions) and only have between 1 and 10 ground level monitoring sites available. This evaluation shows that the CTM-based and statistical approaches tested here generally had a low correlation with the true daily-average PM2.5 values within these nine cities, in contrast to previous studies that had showed stronger correlations over other regions. In addition, the uncertainty in the satellite-based estimates of the daily-average PM2.5 concentration at a given location in a city tended to be very large (21–77% for the statistical methods, and 48–85% for the CTM-based methods). Many cities also had significant limitations in the availability of satellite observations of aerosols throughout the year due to their coastal location, persistent clouds, or persistent seasonal snow cover. The satellite-based methods tested in this work appear to work best for low altitude, inland cities like Hanoi and Delhi, but still have significant errors (43–60%) in predictions of daily-average PM2.5 concentrations at sites within these cities. The CTM-based satellite approach tested here tended to underestimate PM2.5 in high-altitude cities (except for Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, where they overestimate). However, this work suggests that under some conditions, adding satellite data to ground-level monitoring (GLM) network data via co-kriging may reduce the number of GLM sites needed to characterize PM2.5 concentrations within a city, but this needs to be determined on a case-by-case basis. This evaluation is then used to make recommendations to countries with sparse GLM networks on how to incorporate the use of satellite observations in their PM2.5 monitoring and under what conditions satellite approaches are likely to be unsuccessful.

Microseismic monitoring is routinely used by block and panel caving mines worldwide to track cave shape development. The standard practice is to use the cloud of seismic event locations as a proxy for cave growth below. Careful seismic sensor array planning overcomes problems with event location reliability due to seismicray bending around the unknown cave. However, the aseismic gap – the (unknown) zone between actual cave back and bottom of the seismic event cloud – complicates estimation of cave geometry. More information than simple seismic event locations can be used to infer the cave shape and position. Since seismic events slip according to the stresses acting locally at the source locations, an analysis of source mechanisms yields indications of principal stresses around the cave. These stresses are the result of the virgin stresses perturbed by the cave shape, and this yields information about the cave shape. The apparent seismic wave arrivals under the straightray assumption are retarded when rays bend around the cave. These anomalous travel times are used to create 'spaghetti' – 3D curved lines indicating the likely ray path followed. Analysis of these curved rays in space and time suggests where the cave is and where it is growing. All of this indirect information is now routinely used at Cadia East mine in Australia to estimate the cave shape, helping geotechnical engineers to better manage the cave. A direct verification of the estimated cave shape with an open hole drilled to the cave back in early 2017 provided some validation of these seismic data techniques.

The in situ mechanical response of a rock mass to a sudden dynamic and static stress change is still poorly known. To tackle this question, we conducted an experiment in an underground mine to examine (1) the influence of dynamic and static stress perturbations on seismic velocities, (2) elastic static stress changes, and (3) induced earthquake activity associated with the blast and removal of a portion of hard rock. We accurately (0.01%) measured seismic velocity variations with ambient seismic noise correlations, located aftershock activity, and performed elastic static stress modeling. Overall, we observe that the blast induced a sudden decrease in seismic velocities over the entire studied area, which we interpreted as the damage due to the passing of strong seismic waves. This sudden process is followed by a slow relaxation lasting up to 5 days, while seismic activity returns to its background level after 2 days. In some locations, after the short-term effects of the blast have subsided, the seismic velocities converge to new baseline levels and permanent changes in seismic velocity become visible. After comparing the spatial pattern of permanent seismic velocity changes with elastic static stress modeling, we infer that the permanent seismic velocity changes are due to the change in the static volumetric stress induced by the removal of a solid portion of rock by the blast. To our knowledge, this is the first observation of noise-based permanent seismic velocity changes associated with static stress changes.

Although the differences between developed and developing countries have been extensively studied in the context of globalization strategies, few studies have so far been conducted on the relationship between country development status and the possession by countries of a favorable (or unfavorable) product country image (PCI). Moreover, the results of such studies to date have been inconclusive. The purpose of this paper is to investigate the moderating role of country developmental status on PCI coupled with two antecedents of PCI, namely consumer ethnocentrism and cosmopolitanism. The paper also distinguishes between the PCI of the home and foreign country images of respondents. We test a new model that incorporates these constructs with a sample of 2655 younger generation consumers. The results show that country development status moderates some relationships but does not moderate others. These findings have significant implications for international companies from both developed and developing countries when developing global strategy.

The reconstruction of seismic Green’s functions from correlations of ambient seismic noise has recently developed as a promising approach for exploring the earth’s interiors without the requirement of costly active seismic sources. This approach is widely used for imaging the crust at a kilometer scale. However, few studies report noise-based Green’s function reconstruction at smaller scales in industrial environments. We have investigated the possibility of constructing seismic Green’s functions between sensors in an active underground mine (Garpenberg, Sweden) by crosscorrelating seismic noise generated by mining activities. We have determined with realistic numerical simulations that the mining excavations in an underground mine lead to a regime of strong scattering, which is favorable for constructing seismic Green’s functions by crosscorrelating seismic noise. One month of continuous data was recorded by 18 seismic sensors located more than 1 km below surface. A variety of broadband (10–3000 Hz) seismic sources were present, but the seismic wavefields are directional and often monochromatic, so that the conditions for constructing Green’s functions by crosscorrelating ambient seismic noise were not ideal (isotropic illumination and spectrally white). We developed a stacking scheme that dismissed data during periods when the seismic noise was dominated by monochromatic signals or when noise sources were not in stationary phase locations. Estimates of the seismic Green’s functions were retrieved for a broad frequency range (20–400 Hz) for almost all of the correlation pairs when we used the selective stacking scheme. We used the direct body waves present at low frequencies (less than 100 Hz) in the reconstructed seismic Green’s functions to invert for the 3D S-wave velocity structure of the mine. Our results revealed the existence of a high-velocity zone and a low-velocity zone that corresponded with known ore bodies.

Monthly-average estimates of latent heat flux have been derived from a combination of satellite-derived microwave emissivities, day-night differences in land surface temperature (from microwave AMSR-E), downward solar and infrared fluxes from ISCCP cloud analysis, and MODIS visible and near-infrared surface reflectances. The estimates, produced with a neural network, were compared with data from the Noah land surface model, as produced for GLDAS-2, and with two alternative estimates derived from different datasets and methods. Areas with extensive, persistent, substantial discrepancies between the satellite and land surface model fluxes have been analyzed with the aid of data from flux towers. The sources of discrepancies were found to include problems with the model surface roughness length and turbulent exchange coefficients for midlatitude cropland areas in summer, inaccuracies in the precipitation data that were used as forcing for the land surface model, and model underestimation of transpiration in some forests during dry periods. At the tower sites analyzed, agreement with tower data was generally closer for our satellite-derived fluxes than for the land surface model fluxes, in terms of monthly averages.

Background Bioinformatic research is increasingly dependent on large-scale datasets, accessed either from private or public repositories. An example of a public repository is National Center for Biotechnology Information's (NCBI’s) Reference Sequence (RefSeq). These repositories must decide in what form to make their data available. Unstructured data can be put to almost any use but are limited in how access to them can be scaled. Highly structured data offer improved performance for specific algorithms but limit the wider usefulness of the data. We present an alternative: lightly structured data stored in Apache Kafka in a way that is amenable to parallel access and streamed processing, including subsequent transformations into more highly structured representations. We contend that this approach could provide a flexible and powerful nexus of bioinformatic data, bridging the gap between low structure on one hand, and high performance and scale on the other. To demonstrate this, we present a proof-of-concept version of NCBI’s RefSeq database using this technology. We measure the performance and scalability characteristics of this alternative with respect to flat files. Results The proof of concept scales almost linearly as more compute nodes are added, outperforming the standard approach using files. Conclusions Apache Kafka merits consideration as a fast and more scalable but general-purpose way to store and retrieve bioinformatic data, for public, centralized reference datasets such as RefSeq and for private clinical and experimental data.

A new method has been developed for imaging seismic reflectors using seismogram data recorded by a few standard triaxial geophones. A directional migration approach reduces imaging artefacts due to the low aperture of the sensor array. This is possible by measuring the polarisation in the seismogram coda and considering all four reflected body-waves: PP', PS', SP' and SS'. This technique has been applied to seismograms recorded by deep borehole sensors at Williams mine, Canada, in order to invert for fracture zone properties surrounding the open pit. A fracture zone thickness of 20 m, with average rock quality designation (RQD) of 75%, best matches the seismic data, and is closely correlated to the mine's borehole core observations. This finding has useful implications for efforts to remove tunnel reflections from seismograms recorded by standard (short borehole) geophones underground. As such, it is a necessary first step before standard microseismic monitoring arrays can be used to image the rock mass beneath and ahead of a working underground mine using reflection seismology. Keywords: seismic reflection imaging, underground seismic exploration