A new high-pressure high-temperature deformation apparatus to study the brittle to ductile transition in rocks.

Understanding the micro-mechanisms underlying the localized-ductile transition (LDT) as well as the brittle-plastic transition (BPT) has become crucial for our wider understanding of crustal processes and seismicity. Given how difficult in situ observations of these transitions are to perform, laboratory experiments might be our only way to investigate the processes active under these conditions (high T and high P). Here, we present Triaxial AppaRatus for GEoThermal energy, a new gas-based triaxial apparatus located at EPFL in Switzerland that was specifically designed to operate under conditions where both the LDT and BPT can occur in geomaterials.

A 4D view on the evolution of metamorphic dehydration reactions.

Metamorphic reactions influence the evolution of the Earth's crust in a range of tectonic settings. For example hydrous mineral dehydration in a subducting slab can produce fluid overpressures which may trigger seismicity. During reaction the mechanisms of chemical transport, including water expulsion, will dictate the rate of transformation and hence the evolution of physical properties such as fluid pressure.

How clinical teachers perceive the doctor-patient relationship and themselves as role models.

Purpose: Teachers must be good role models. In order to act the part, however, they must reflect on and articulate the attitudes and behaviors they wish to convey. The aim of this study was to describe how clinicians who teach clerks and residents represent the doctor-patient relationship and how they see themselves as role models for this relationship.

Learning surgical technical skills.

Training issues raised by the recent introduction of laparoscopic surgical techniques led to this analysis of motor-skill learning principles as they apply specifically to the learning of technical surgical skills. The most accepted theories of motor-skill learning are presented, not as opposing views, but as complementary constructs. The behaviourist school of thought's main contribution is the executive routine or knowledge of the steps of a procedure.