Orogen-scale uplift in the central Italian Apennines drives episodic behaviour of earthquake faults.

Many areas of the Earth's crust deform by distributed extensional faulting and complex fault interactions are often observed. Geodetic data generally indicate a simpler picture of continuum deformation over decades but relating this behaviour to earthquake occurrence over centuries, given numerous potentially active faults, remains a global problem in hazard assessment. We address this challenge for an array of seismogenic faults in the central Italian Apennines, where crustal extension and devastating earthquakes occur in response to regional surface uplift. We constrain fault slip-rates since ~18 ka using variations in cosmogenic 36Cl measured on bedrock scarps, mapped using LiDAR and ground penetrating radar, and compare these rates to those inferred from geodesy. The 36Cl data reveal that individual faults typically accumulate meters of displacement relatively rapidly over several thousand years, separated by similar length time intervals when slip-rates are much lower, and activity shifts between faults across strike. Our rates agree with continuum deformation rates when averaged over long spatial or temporal scales (104 yr; 102 km) but over shorter timescales most of the deformation may be accommodated by <30% of the across-strike fault array. We attribute the shifts in activity to temporal variations in the mechanical work of faulting.

Granite magma formation, transport and emplacement in the Earth's crust.

The origin of granites was once a question solely for petrologists and geochemists. But in recent years a consensus has emerged that recognizes the essential role of deformation in the segregation, transport and emplacement of silica-rich melts in the continental crust. Accepted petrological models are being questioned, either because they require unrealistic rheological behaviours of rocks and magmas, or because they do not satisfactorily explain the available structural or geophysical data. Provided flow is continuous, mechanical considerations suggest that--far from being geologically sluggish--granite magmatism is a rapid, dynamic process operating at timescales of < or = 100,000 years, irrespective of tectonic setting.

CALINX (California Information Exchange): a multi-stakeholder statewide initiative to improve healthcare information flows.

Given the diffusion of responsibilities for gathering and reporting healthcare information in a managed care environment, California stakeholders are taking concrete steps to break the deadlock on data and information flows that has characterized the industry for some time. The California Information Exchange (CALINX) was established to facilitate the implementation of the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) standards in California and to create trust for data exchange between trading partners, without which data exchange still will not occur. Strategic directions are set by the chief executives of key associations and organizations representing purchasers, plans, providers, and consumers. Multi-stakeholder workgroups have produced detailed data guidelines for the HIPAA standards along with rules for exchange of key data sets between trading partners. These rules address frequency, timeliness, and accuracy of data submission. Both the data guidelines and the rules have been tested in live demonstration projects, and the results of these projects have been reported to substantiate the business case for implementation. Further incentives are being built into contracts between purchasers and plans, and between plans and providers. CALINX is currently promoting widespread adoption of the data guidelines and rules for exchange with all members of the industry.

Ceramic bracket debonding with the carbon dioxide laser.

The conventional removal of ceramic brackets can be complicated by bracket fracture or enamel loss. To ease this ceramic bracket removal, lasers have been previously investigated for thermally softening thermally the bonding resin. This conversion of laser light to heat can also threaten the vitality of the debonded teeth. Pilot studies and computer modeling suggest that for commonly used polycrystalline brackets debonded with the carbon dioxide laser, some form of mechanical assistance is needed during the lasing process to keep the intrapulpal temperature below the 5.5 degrees C safety threshold. One type of polycrystalline bracket was bonded to lower anterior bovine incisor teeth with one type of resin adhesive. A ceramic bracket debonding plier was modified to accommodate a laser waveguide so that a tensile debonding force could be applied simultaneously during lasing. A control group and three experimental groups were tested (n = 10). The three experimental groups were debonded with the carbon dioxide laser at 20 W and a static tensile force of 3 pounds, 1.5 pounds, or 0.75 pounds. The length of lasing time for the static force to remove the bracket was measured along with the increase in intrapulpal temperature. The mean debonding times and mean increases in intrapulpal temperature for each group were: 3 pound group, 1.64 seconds and 1.80 degrees C; 1.5 pound group, 1.83 seconds and 3.01 degrees C; and 0.75 pound group, 3.42 seconds and 4.47 degrees C.