Tectono-metamorphic evolution of a nappe stack: A case study of the Swiss Alps

Fold-and-thrust belts are prominent structures that occur at the front of compressional orogens. To unravel the tectonic and metamorphic evolution of such complexes, kinematic investigations, quantitative microstructural analysis and geothermometry (calcite–graphite, calcite–dolomite) were performed on carbonate mylonites from thrust faults of the Helvetic nappe stack in Central Switzerland. Paleo-isotherms of peak temperature conditions and cooling stages (fission track) of the nappe pile were reconstructed in a vertical section and linked with the microstructural and kinematic evolution. Mylonitic microstructures suggest that under metamorphic conditions close to peak temperature, strain was highly localized within thrust faults where deformation temperatures spatially continuously increased in both directions, from N to S within each nappe and from top–down in the nappe stack, covering a temperature range of 180–380 °C. Due to the higher metamorphic conditions, thrusting of the lowermost nappe, the Doldenhorn nappe, was accompanied by a much more pronounced nappe internal ductile deformation of carbonaceous rock types than was the case for the overlying Wildhorn- and Gellihorn nappes. Ongoing thrusting brought the Doldenhorn nappe closer to the surface. The associated cooling resulted in a freezing in of the paleo-isotherms of peak metamorphic conditions. Contemporaneous shearing localized in the basal thrust, initially still in the ductile deformation regime and finally as brittle faulting and cataclasis inducing ultimately an inverse metamorphic zonation. With ongoing exhumation and the formation of the Helvetic antiformal nappe stack, a bending of large-scale tectonic structures (thrusts, folds), peak temperature isotherms and cooling isotherms occurred. While this local bending can directly be attributed to active deformation underneath the section investigated up to times of 2–3 ma, a more homogeneous uplift of the entire region is suggested for the very late and still active exhumation stage.

Collimation of deuterium / 3-helium fusion products for advanced spacecraft propulsion and power

Current space exploration has transpired through the use of chemical rockets, and they have served us well, but they have their limitations. Exploration of the outer solar system, Jupiter and beyond will most likely require a new generation of propulsion system. One potential technology class to provide spacecraft propulsion and power systems involve thermonuclear fusion plasma systems. In this class it is well accepted that d-He3 fusion is the most promising of the fuel candidates for spacecraft applications as the 14.7 MeV protons carry up to 80% of the total fusion power while ‘s have energies less than 4 MeV. The other minor fusion products from secondary d-d reactions consisting of 3He, n, p, and 3H also have energies less than 4 MeV. Furthermore there are two main fusion subsets namely, Magnetic Confinement Fusion devices and Inertial Electrostatic Confinement (or IEC) Fusion devices. Magnetic Confinement Fusion devices are characterized by complex geometries and prohibitive structural mass compromising spacecraft use at this stage of exploration. While generating energy from a lightweight and reliable fusion source is important, another critical issue is harnessing this energy into usable power and/or propulsion. IEC fusion is a method of fusion plasma confinement that uses a series of biased electrodes that accelerate a uniform spherical beam of ions into a hollow cathode typically comprised of a gridded structure with high transparency. The inertia of the imploding ion beam compresses the ions at the center of the cathode increasing the density to the point where fusion occurs. Since the velocity distributions of fusion particles in an IEC are essentially isotropic and carry no net momentum, a means of redirecting the velocity of the particles is necessary to efficiently extract energy and provide power or create thrust. There are classes of advanced fuel fusion reactions where direct-energy conversion based on electrostatically-biased collector plates is impossible due to potential limits, material structure limitations, and IEC geometry. Thermal conversion systems are also inefficient for this application. A method of converting the isotropic IEC into a collimated flow of fusion products solves these issues and allows direct energy conversion. An efficient traveling wave direct energy converter has been proposed and studied by Momota , Shu and further studied by evaluated with numerical simulations by Ishikawa and others. One of the conventional methods of collimating charged particles is to surround the particle source with an applied magnetic channel. Charged particles are trapped and move along the lines of flux. By introducing expanding lines of force gradually along the magnetic channel, the velocity component perpendicular to the lines of force is transferred to the parallel one. However, efficient operation of the IEC requires a null magnetic field at the core of the device. In order to achieve this, Momota and Miley have proposed a pair of magnetic coils anti-parallel to the magnetic channel creating a null hexapole magnetic field region necessary for the IEC fusion core. Numerically, collimation of 300 eV electrons without a stabilization coil was demonstrated to approach 95% at a profile corresponding to Vsolenoid = 20.0V, Ifloating = 2.78A, Isolenoid = 4.05A while collimation of electrons with stabilization coil present was demonstrated to reach 69% at a profile corresponding to Vsolenoid = 7.0V, Istab = 1.1A, Ifloating = 1.1A, Isolenoid = 1.45A. Experimentally, collimation of electrons with stabilization coil present was demonstrated experimentally to be 35% at 100 eV and reach a peak of 39.6% at 50eV with a profile corresponding to Vsolenoid = 7.0V, Istab = 1.1A, Ifloating = 1.1A, Isolenoid = 1.45A and collimation of 300 eV electrons without a stabilization coil was demonstrated to approach 49% at a profile corresponding to Vsolenoid = 20.0V, Ifloating = 2.78A, Isolenoid = 4.05A 6.4% of the 300eV electrons’ initial velocity is directed to the collector plates. The remaining electrons are trapped by the collimator’s magnetic field. These particles oscillate around the null field region several hundred times and eventually escape to the collector plates. At a solenoid voltage profile of 7 Volts, 100 eV electrons are collimated with wall and perpendicular component losses of 31%. Increasing the electron energy beyond 100 eV increases the wall losses by 25% at 300 eV. Ultimately it was determined that a field strength deriving from 9.5 MAT/m would be required to collimate 14.7 MeV fusion protons from d-3He fueled IEC fusion core. The concept of the proton collimator has been proven to be effective to transform an isotropic source into a collimated flow of particles ripe for direct energy conversion.

The influence of nano-scale second-phase particles on deformation of fine grained calcite mylonites

Grey and white carbonate mylonites were collected along thrust planes of the Helvetic Alps. They are characterised by very small grain sizes and non-random grain shape (SPO) and crystallographic preferred orientation (CPO). Presumably they deformed in the field of grain size sensitive flow by recrystallisation accommodated intracrystalline deformation in combination with granular flow. Both mylonites show a similar mean grain size, but in the grey mylonites the grain size range is larger, the grain shapes are more elongate and the dynamically recrystallised calcite grains are more often twinned. Grey mylonites have an oblique CPO, while the CPO in white mylonites is symmetric with respect to the shear plane. Combustion analysis and TEM investigations revealed that grey mylonites contain a higher amount of highly structured kerogens with particle sizes of a few tens of nanometers, which are finely dispersed at the grain boundaries. During deformation of the rock, nano-scale particles reduced the migration velocity of grain boundaries by Zener drag resulting in slower recrystallisation rates of the calcite aggregate. In the grey mylonites, more strain increments were accommodated by individual grains before they became refreshed by dynamic recrystallisation than in white mylonites, where grain boundary migration was less hindered and recrystallisation cycles were faster. Consequently, grey mylonites represent ‘deformation’ microfabrics while white mylonites are characterised by ‘recrystallisation’ microfabrics. Field geologists must utilise this different deformation behavior when applying the obliquity in CPO and SPO of the respective mylonites as reliable shear sense indicators.

Morfoestruturas quilométricas em forma de crescente nas águas profundas do Golfo de Cádis

O levantamento batimétrico MATESPRO, realizado no NW do Golfo de Cádis, revelou a existência de intrigantes objectos morfológicos jacentes entre os 4300 e os 4700 metros de profundidade. Estes objectos, de dimensões quilométricas, são constituídos por uma depressão interna limitada parcialmente por uma escarpa em forma em crescente que pode atingir mais de 100 m de altura, com declives que variam entre os 6 e os 27° e cuja parte interna é constituída por uma depressão preenchida por unidades progradantes, que se desenvolvem no sentido da escarpa. Estes objectos são interpretados como o resultado da acção conjunta de processos tectónicos e sedimentares e da sua interacção com correntes de fundo. A actividade tectónica gera rupturas de declive no fundo do mar. As correntes de fundo e turbidíticas interagem com estas irregularidades morfológicas, amplificando-as através da sua acção erosiva, permitindo assim a criação das escarpas abruptas dos crescentes e a formação de corpos sedimentares progradantes. ABSTRACT; Multi-beam swath bathymetry carried out in NW Gulf of Cadiz revealed several intriguing features, lying at depths between -4300 and- 4700 m. These features display kilometric crescent escarpments up to 100 m high with slopes between 6 and 27 degrees, in an area characterized by very shallow general slope gradients (0,5 °). The internal part of a Crescent consists of a depression filled up with upslope prograding drift developing towards the scarp. These features are interpreted as the coupled result of sedimentary and tectonic processes. It is proposed that the Crescents formed when a local morphologic irregularity, corresponding to the bathymetric expression of movement on an underlying thrust, is enhanced by the erosional activity of turbidity and bottom currents. The drift results from the re-deposition of the eroded material in the same location.

Mesh Adaption for Tracking Vortex Structures in OVERTURNS Simulation of the S-76 Rotor in Hover

The constant need to improve helicopter performance requires the optimization of existing and future rotor designs. A crucial indicator of rotor capability is hover performance, which depends on the near-body flow as well as the structure and strength of the tip vortices formed at the trailing edge of the blades. Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) solvers must balance computational expenses with preservation of the flow, and to limit computational expenses the mesh is often coarsened in the outer regions of the computational domain. This can lead to degradation of the vortex structures which compose the rotor wake. The current work conducts three-dimensional simulations using OVERTURNS, a three-dimensional structured grid solver that models the flow field using the Reynolds-Averaged Navier-Stokes equations. The S-76 rotor in hover was chosen as the test case for evaluating the OVERTURNS solver, focusing on methods to better preserve the rotor wake. Using the hover condition, various computational domains, spatial schemes, and boundary conditions were tested. Furthermore, a mesh adaption routine was implemented, allowing for the increased refinement of the mesh in areas of turbulent flow without the need to add points to the mesh. The adapted mesh was employed to conduct a sweep of collective pitch angles, comparing the resolved wake and integrated forces to existing computational and experimental results. The integrated thrust values saw very close agreement across all tested pitch angles, while the power was slightly over predicted, resulting in under prediction of the Figure of Merit. Meanwhile, the tip vortices have been preserved for multiple blade passages, indicating an improvement in vortex preservation when compared with previous work. Finally, further results from a single collective pitch case were presented to provide a more complete picture of the solver results.

Hyperlinks in e-books : expanding the functionality of end-notes

With its powerful search engines and billions of published pages, the Worldwide Web has become the ultimate tool to explore the human experience. But, despite the advent of the digital revolution, e-books, at their core, have remained remarkably similar to their printed siblings. This has resulted in a clear dichotomy between two ways of reading: on one side, the multi-dimensional world of the Web; on the other, the linearity of books and e-books. My investigation of the literature indicates that the focus of attempts to merge these two modes of production, and hence of reading, has been the insertion of interactivity into fiction. As I will show in the Literature Review, a clear thrust of research since the early 1990s, and in my opinion the most significant, has concentrated on presenting the reader with choices that affect the plot. This has resulted in interactive stories in which the structure of the narrative can be altered by the reader of experimental fiction. The interest in this area of research is not surprising, as the interaction of readers with the fabric of the narrative provides a fertile ground for exploring, analysing, and discussing issues of plot consistency and continuity. I found in the literature several papers concerned with the effects of hyperlinking on literature, but none about how hyperlinked material and narrative could be integrated without compromising the narrative flow as designed by the author. It led me to think that the researchers had accepted hypertextuality and the linear organisation of fiction as being antithetical, thereby ignoring the possibility of exploiting the first while preserving the second. All the works I consulted were focussed on exploring the possibilities provided to authors (and readers) by hypertext or how hypertext literature affects literary criticism. This was true in earlier works by Landow and Harpold and remained true in later works by Bolter and Grusin. To quote another example, in his book Hypertext 3.0, Landow states: “Most who have speculated on the relation between hypertextuality and fiction concentrate [...] on the effects it will have on linear narrative”, and “hypertext opens major questions about story and plot by apparently doing away with linear organization” (Landow, 2006, pp. 220, 221). In other words, the authors have added narrative elements to Web pages, effectively placing their stories in a subordinate role. By focussing on “opening up” the plots, the researchers have missed the opportunity to maintain the integrity of their stories and use hyperlinked information to provide interactive access to backstory and factual bases. This would represent a missing link between the traditional way of reading, in which the readers have no influence on the path the author has laid out for them, and interactive narrative, in which the readers choose their way across alternatives, thereby, at least to a certain extent, creating their own path. It would be, to continue the metaphor, as if the readers could follow the main path created by the author while being able to get “sidetracked” into exploring hyperlinked material. In Hypertext 3.0, Landow refers to an “Axial structure [of hypertext] characteristic of electronic books and scholarly books with foot-and endnotes” versus a “Network structure of hypertext” (Landow, 2006, p. 70). My research aims at generalising the axial structure and extending it to fiction without losing the linearity at its core. In creative nonfiction, the introduction of places, scenes, and settings, together with characterisation, brings to life the facts without altering them; while much fiction draws on facts to provide a foundation, or narrative elements, for the work. But how can the reader distinguish between facts and representations? For example, to what extent do dialogues and perceptions present what was actually said and thought? Some authors of creative nonfiction use end-notes to provide comments and citations while minimising disruption the flow of the main text, but they are limited in scope and constrained in space. Each reader should be able to enjoy the narrative as if it were a novel but also to explore the facts at the level of detail s/he needs. For this to be possible, end-notes should provide a Web-like way of exploring in more detail what the author has already researched. My research aims to develop ways of integrating narrative prose and hyperlinked documents into a Hyperbook. Its goal is to create a new writing paradigm in which a story incorporates a gateway to detailed information. While creative nonfiction uses the techniques of fictional writing to provide reportage of actual events and fact-based fiction illuminates the affectual dimensions of what happened (e.g., Kate Grenville’s The Secret River and Hilary Mantel’s Wolf Hall), Hyperbooks go one step further and link narrative prose to the details of the events on which the narrative is based or, more in general, to information the reader might find of interest. My dissertation introduces and utilises Hyperbooks to engage in two parallel types of investigation Build knowledge about Italian WWII POWs held in Australia and present it as part of a novella in Hyperbook format. Develop a new piece of technology capable of extending the writing and reading process.

Complications associated with closing wedge ostectomy procedure for treatment of cranial cruciate ligament rupture in dogs : a retrospective study of 145 cases

Dissertação de Mestrado Integrado em Medicina Veterinária

Novel efficient technologies in Europe for axle bearing condition monitoring – the MAXBE project

Axle bearing damage with possible catastrophic failures can cause severe disruptions or even dangerous derailments, potentially causing loss of human life and leading to significant costs for railway infrastructure managers and rolling stock operators. Consequently the axle bearing damage process has safety and economic implications on the exploitation of railways systems. Therefore it has been the object of intense attention by railway authorities as proved by the selection of this topic by the European Commission in calls for research proposals. The MAXBE Project (http://www.maxbeproject.eu/), an EU-funded project, appears in this context and its main goal is to develop and to demonstrate innovative and efficient technologies which can be used for the onboard and wayside condition monitoring of axle bearings. The MAXBE (interoperable monitoring, diagnosis and maintenance strategies for axle bearings) project focuses on detecting axle bearing failure modes at an early stage by combining new and existing monitoring techniques and on characterizing the axle bearing degradation process. The consortium for the MAXBE project comprises 18 partners from 8 member states, representing operators, railway administrations, axle bearing manufactures, key players in the railway community and experts in the field of monitoring, maintenance and rolling stock. The University of Porto is coordinating this research project that kicked-off in November 2012 and it is completed on October 2015. Both on-board and wayside systems are explored in the project since there is a need for defining the requirement for the onboard equipment and the range of working temperatures of the axle bearing for the wayside systems. The developed monitoring systems consider strain gauges, high frequency accelerometers, temperature sensors and acoustic emission. To get a robust technology to support the decision making of the responsible stakeholders synchronized measurements from onboard and wayside monitoring systems are integrated into a platform. Also extensive laboratory tests were performed to correlate the in situ measurements to the status of the axle bearing life. With the MAXBE project concept it will be possible: to contribute to detect at an early stage axle bearing failures; to create conditions for the operational and technical integration of axle bearing monitoring and maintenance in different European railway networks; to contribute to the standardization of the requirements for the axle bearing monitoring, diagnosis and maintenance. Demonstration of the developed condition monitoring systems was performed in Portugal in the Northern Railway Line with freight and passenger traffic with a maximum speed of 220 km/h, in Belgium in a tram line and in the UK. Still within the project, a tool for optimal maintenance scheduling and a smart diagnostic tool were developed. This paper presents a synthesis of the most relevant results attained in the project. The successful of the project and the developed solutions have positive impact on the reliability, availability, maintainability and safety of rolling stock and infrastructure with main focus on the axle bearing health.

Turning conflict into coexistence: cross-cutting ties and institutions in the agro-pastoral borderlands of Lake Naivasha basin, Kenya

The Maasai/Kikuyu agro-pastoral borderlands of Maiella and Enoosupukia, located in the hinterlands of Lake Naivasha’s agro-industrial hub, are particularly notorious in the history of ethnicised violence in the Kenya’s Rift Valley. In October 1993, an organised assault perpetrated by hundreds of Maasai vigilantes, with the assistance of game wardens and administration police, killed more than 20 farmers of Kikuyu descent. Consequently, thousands of migrant farmers were violently evicted from Enoosupukia at the instigation of leading local politicians. Nowadays, however, intercommunity relations are surprisingly peaceful and the cooperative use of natural resources is the rule rather than the exception. There seems to be a form of reorganization. Violence seems to be contained and the local economy has since recovered. This does not mean that there is no conflict, but people seem to have the facility to solve them peacefully. How did formerly violent conflicts develop into peaceful relations? How did competition turn into cooperation, facilitating changing land use? This dissertation explores the value of cross-cutting ties and local institutions in peaceful relationships and the non-violent resolution of conflicts across previously violently contested community boundaries. It mainly relies on ethnographic data collected between 2014 and 2015. The discussion therefore builds on several theoretical approaches in anthropology and the social sciences – that is, violent conflicts, cross-cutting ties and conflicting loyalties, joking relationships, peace and nonviolence, and institutions, in order to understand shared spaces that are experiencing fairly rapid social and economic changes, and characterised by conflict and coexistence. In the researched communities, cross-cutting ties and the split allegiances associated with them result from intermarriages, land transactions, trade, and friendship. By institutions, I refer to local peace committees, an attempt to standardise an aspect of customary law, and Nyumba Kumi, a strategy of anchoring community policing at the household level. In 2010, the state “implanted” these grassroots-level institutions and conferred on them the rights to handle specific conflicts and to prevent crime. I argue that the studied groups utilise diverse networks of relationships as adaptive responses to landlessness, poverty, and socio-political dynamics at the local level. Material and non-material exchanges and transfers accompany these social and economic ties and networks. In addition to being instrumental in nurturing a cohesive social fabric, I argue that such alliances could be thought of as strategies of appropriation of resources in the frontiers – areas that are considered to have immense agricultural potential and to be conducive to economic enterprise. Consequently, these areas are continuously changed and shaped through immigration, population growth, and agricultural intensification. However, cross-cutting ties and intergroup alliances may not necessarily prevent the occurrence or escalation of conflicts. Nevertheless, disputes and conflicts, which form part of the social order in the studied area, create the opportunities for locally contextualised systems of peace and non-violence that inculcate the values of cooperation, coexistence, and restraint from violence. Although the neo-traditional institutions (local peace committees and Nyumba Kumi) face massive complexities and lack the capacity to handle serious conflicts, their application of informal constraints in dispute resolution provides room for some optimism. Notably, the formation of ties and alliances between the studied groups, and the use of local norms and values to resolve disputes, are not new phenomena – they are reminiscent of historical patterns. Their persistence, particularly in the context of Kenya, indicates a form of historical continuity, which remains rather “undisturbed” despite the prevalence of ethnicised political economies. Indeed, the formation of alliances, which are driven by mutual pursuit of commodities (livestock, rental land, and agricultural produce), markets, and diversification, tends to override other identities. While the major thrust of social science literature in East Africa has focused on the search for root causes of violence, very little has been said about the conditions and practices of cooperation and non-violent conflict resolution. In addition, situations where prior violence turned into peaceful interaction have attracted little attention, though the analysis of such transitional phases holds the promise of contributing to applicable knowledge on conflict resolution. This study is part of a larger multidisciplinary project, “Resilience in East African Landscapes” (REAL), which is a Marie Curie Actions Innovative Training Networks (ITN) project. The principal focus of this multidisciplinary project is to study past, present, and future thresholds and sustainable trajectories in human-landscape interactions in East Africa over the last millennia. While other individual projects focus on long-term ecosystem dynamics and societal interactions, my project examines human-landscape interactions in the present and the very recent past (i.e. the period in which events and processes were witnessed or can still be recalled by today’s population). The transition from conflict to coexistence and from competition to cooperative use of previously violently contested land resources is understood here as enhancing adaptation in the face of social-political, economic, environmental, and climatic changes. This dissertation is therefore a contribution to new modes of resilience in human-landscape interactions after a collapse situation.

Conception of a YBCO Superconducting ZFC-Magnetic Bearing Virtual Prototype

This paper presents the conception of an original superconducting Frictionless Zero Field Cooling bearing virtual prototype. In previous work also shown in this conference, a viability study of a Zero Field Cooling-superconducting bearing concept was conducted. It showed that the virtual prototype is feasible. Moreover, the simulation studies showed that a Zero Field Cooling superconducting track provides not only effective lateral stability but also higher levitation forces than the commonly used Field Cooling tracks. In this paper the new Zero Field Cooling -bearing virtual prototype is modeled in 3D. The virtual prototype was designed having in mind: i) a future implementation in high density polyurethane, for low temperature robustness; ii) future manufacturing in a three axes CNC milling machine and; iii) future implementation of some parts using an additive manufacturing technique.

Tectonic evolution of Variscan Iberia: Gondwana–Laurussia

An integrated interpretation of the late Paleozoic structural and geochronological record of the Iberian Massif is presented and discussed under the perspective of a Gondwana-Laurussia collision giving way to the Variscan orogen. Compressional and extensional structures developed during the building of the Variscan orogenic crust of Iberia are linked together into major tectonic events operating at lithosphere scale. A review of the tectonometamorphic and magmatic evolution of the IberianMassif reveals backs and forths in the overall conver- gence between Gondwana and Laurussia during theamalgamation of Pangea in late Paleozoic times. Stages dom- inated by lithosphere compression are characterized by subduction, both oceanic and continental, development of magmatic arcs, (over- and under-) thrusting of continental lithosphere, and folding. Variscan convergence re- sulted in the eventual transference of a large allochthonous set of peri-Gondwanan terranes, the Iberian Allochthon, onto the Gondwana mainland. The Iberian Allochthon bears the imprint of previous interaction be- tween Gondwana and Laurussia, including their juxtaposition after the closure of the Rheic Ocean in Lower De- vonian times. Stages governed by lithosphere extension are featured by the opening of two short-lived oceanic basins that dissected previous Variscan orogenic crust, first in the Lower-Middle Devonian, following the closure of the Rheic Ocean, and then in the early Carboniferous, following the emplacement of the peri-Gondwanan allochthon. An additional, major intra-orogenic extensional event in the early-middle Carboniferous dismem- bered the Iberian Allochthon into individual thrust stacks separated by extensional faults and domes. Lateral tec- tonics played an important role through the Variscan orogenesis, especially during the creation of new tectonic blocks separated by intracontinental strike-slip shear zones in the late stages of continental convergence.

Analysis of the main phenomena affecting solid rocket motors internal ballistics

In solid rocket motors, the absence of combustion controllability and the large amount of financial resources involved in full-scale firing tests, increase the importance of numerical simulations in order to asses stringent mission thrust requirements and evaluate the influence of thrust chamber phenomena affecting the grain combustion. Among those phenomena, grain local defects (propellant casting inclusions and debondings), combustion heat accumulation involving pressure peaks (Friedman Curl effect), and case-insulating thermal protection material ablation affect thrust prediction in terms of not negligible deviations with respect to the nominal expected trace. Most of the recent models have proposed a simplified treatment to the problem using empirical corrective functions, with the disadvantages of not fully understanding the physical dynamics and thus of not obtaining predictive results for different configurations of solid rocket motors in a boundary conditions-varied scenario. This work is aimed to introduce different mathematical approaches to model, analyze, and predict the abovementioned phenomena, presenting a detailed physical interpretation based on existing SRMs configurations. Internal ballistics predictions are obtained with an in-house simulation software, where the adoption of a dynamic three-dimensional triangular mesh together with advanced computer graphics methods, allows the previous target to be reached. Numerical procedures are explained in detail. Simulation results are carried out and discussed based on experimental data.

Subsidence history, thermal maturity, and structural inversion of the Greater Caucasus-Kura-Adjara-Trialeti basin system of central-eastern Georgia

This study aims at defining the tectonic evolution of a portion of the Caucasian region, in Georgia, which experienced a complex pattern of deformation events throughout Mesozoic and Cenozoic times. An integrated approach was applied to unravel the thermo-tectonic history of three inverted sedimentary basins from burial to exhumation. Additionally, this dissertation provides examples of structural inversion of sedimentary basins in response to far-field transmission of compressional stresses away from collision zones, contributing to elucidate the dynamics of stress partitioning during continental collisions. The Adjara-Trialeti fold-and-thrust belt in south-western Georgia results from the structural inversion of a Middle Eocene continental back-arc rift basin opened as a consequence of the Northern Neotethys slab rollback. This study quantitatively defines the subsidence and exhumation history of the Adjara-Trialeti basin, constraining its Middle Miocene inception of structural inversion. The western Kura Basin is a flexural foreland basin trapped between the Lesser Caucasus to the south and the Greater Caucasus to the north. This study constrains successive and competing episodes of flexural subsidence during Oligocene-Miocene times, followed by partial inversion through thick- and thin-skinned tectonics in response to continued convergence between the adjacent, oppositely verging orogenic belts. The Greater Caucasus results from the structural inversion of a Jurassic continental back-arc basin, but the timing of its growth is still debated. An across-strike transect in its southern central domain was studied, indicating that this sector of the Greater Caucasus experienced two phases of structural inversion during Late Cretaceous-Paleocene and Late Miocene times. Overall, the dataset presented in this dissertation points to a complex and episodic history of incremental deformation, characterised by successive phases of extensional and compressional tectonics which developed in response to sequential terrane accretion at the southwestern margin of Eurasia since Late Cretaceous times, eventually determining the current configuration of the Arabia-Eurasia collision zone.

Applicazioni tecnologiche e nuovi metodi di valutazione della performance negli sport acquatici

Nello sport di alto livello l’uso della tecnologia ha raggiunto un ruolo di notevole importanza per l’analisi e la valutazione della prestazione. Negli ultimi anni sono emerse nuove tecnologie e sono migliorate quelle pre-esistenti (i.e. accelerometri, giroscopi e software per l’analisi video) in termini di campionamento, acquisizione dati, dimensione dei sensori che ha permesso la loro “indossabilità” e l’inserimento degli stessi all’interno degli attrezzi sportivi. La tecnologia è sempre stata al servizio degli atleti come strumento di supporto per raggiungere l’apice dei risultati sportivi. Per questo motivo la valutazione funzionale dell’atleta associata all’uso di tecnologie si pone lo scopo di valutare i miglioramenti degli atleti misurando la condizione fisica e/o la competenza tecnica di una determinata disciplina sportiva. L’obiettivo di questa tesi è studiare l’utilizzo delle applicazioni tecnologiche e individuare nuovi metodi di valutazione della performance in alcuni sport acquatici. La prima parte (capitoli 1-5), si concentra sulla tecnologia prototipale chiamata E-kayak e le varie applicazioni nel kayak di velocità. In questi lavori è stata verificata l’attendibilità dei dati forniti dal sistema E-kayak con i sistemi presenti in letteratura. Inoltre, sono stati indagati nuovi parametri utili a comprendere il modello di prestazione del paddler. La seconda parte (capitolo 6), si riferisce all’analisi cinematica della spinta verticale del pallanuotista, attraverso l’utilizzo della video analisi 2D, per l’individuazione delle relazioni Forza-velocità e Potenza-velocità direttamente in acqua. Questo studio pilota, potrà fornire indicazioni utili al monitoraggio e condizionamento di forza e potenza da svolgere direttamente in acqua. Infine la terza parte (capitoli 7-8), si focalizza sull’individuazione della sequenza di Fibonacci (sequenza divina) nel nuoto a stile libero e a farfalla. I risultati di questi studi suggeriscono che il ritmo di nuotata tenuto durante le medie/lunghe distanze gioca un ruolo chiave. Inoltre, il livello di autosomiglianza (self-similarity) aumenta con la tecnica del nuoto.