1,828 research outputs found
The biogeochemistry of microbial mats, stromatolites and the ancient biosphere
Stromatolites offer an unparalleled geologic record of early life, because they constitute the oldest and most abundant recognizable remains of microbial ecosystems. Microbial mats are living homologs of stromatolites; thus, the physiology of the microbiota as well as the processes which create those features of mats (e.g., biomarker organic compounds, elemental and stable isotopic compositions) which are preserved in the ancient record. Observations of the carbon isotopic composition (delta C-13) of stromatolites and microbial mats were made and are consistent with the hypothesis that atmospheric CO2 concentrations have declined by at least one to two orders of magnitude during the past 2.5 Ga. Whereas delta C-13 values of carbonate carbon average about 0 permil during both the early and mid-Proterozoic, the delta C-13 values of stromatolitic organic matter increase from an average of -35 between 2.0 and 2.6 Ga ago to an average of about -28 about 1.0 Ga ago. Modern microbial mats in hypersaline environments have delta C-13 values typically in the range of -5 to -9, relative to an inorganic bicarbonate source at 0 permil. Both microbial mats and pur cultures of cyanobacteria grown in waters in near equilibrium with current atmospheric CO2 levels exhibit minimal discrimination against C-13. In contrast, hot spring cyanobacterial mats or cyanobacterial cultures grown under higher CO2 levels exhibit substantially greater discrimination. If care is taken to compare modern mats with stromatolites from comparable environments, it might be possible to estimate ancient levels of atmospheric CO2. In modern microbial mats, a tight coupling exists between photosynthetic organic carbon production and subsequent carbon oxidation, mostly by sulfate reduction. The rate of one process fuels a high rate of the other, with much of the sulfate reduction occurring within the same depth interval as oxygenic photosynthesis. Other aspects of this study are presented
Asymptotic enumeration of dense 0-1 matrices with specified line sums
Let S=(s_1,s_2,..., s_m) and T = (t_1,t_2,..., t_n) be vectors of
non-negative integers with sum_{i=1}^{m} s_i = sum_{j=1}^n t_j. Let B(S,T) be
the number of m*n matrices over {0,1} with j-th row sum equal to s_j for 1 <= j
<= m and k-th column sum equal to t_k for 1 <= k <= n. Equivalently, B(S,T) is
the number of bipartite graphs with m vertices in one part with degrees given
by S, and n vertices in the other part with degrees given by T. Most research
on the asymptotics of B(S,T) has focused on the sparse case, where the best
result is that of Greenhill, McKay and Wang (2006). In the case of dense
matrices, the only precise result is for the case of equal row sums and equal
column sums (Canfield and McKay, 2005). This paper extends the analytic methods
used by the latter paper to the case where the row and column sums can vary
within certain limits. Interestingly, the result can be expressed by the same
formula which holds in the sparse case.Comment: Multiple minor adjustments. Accepted by JCT-
Phase diagram of CeVSb3 under pressure and its dependence on pressure conditions
We present temperature dependent resistivity and ac-calorimetry measurements
of CeVSb3 under pressure up to 8 GPa in a Bridgman anvil cell modified to use a
liquid medium and in a diamond anvil cell using argon as a pressure medium,
respectively. We observe an initial increase of the ferromagnetic transition
temperature Tc with pressures up to 4.5 GPa, followed by decrease of Tc on
further increase of pressure and finally its disappearance, in agreement with
the Doniach model. We infer a ferromagnetic quantum critical point around 7 GPa
under hydrostatic pressure conditions from the extrapolation to 0 K of Tc and
the maximum of the A coefficient from low temperature fits of the resistivity
\rho (T)=\rho_{0}+AT^{n}. No superconductivity under pressure was observed down
to 0.35 K for this compound. In addition, differences in the Tc(P) behavior
when a slight uniaxial component is present are noticed and discussed and
correlated to choice of pressure medium
Angular dependent planar metamagnetism in the hexagonal compounds TbPtIn and TmAgGe
Detailed magnetization measurements, M(T,H,theta), were performed on single
crystals of TbPtIn and TmAgGe (both members of the hexagonal Fe_2P/ZrNiAl
structure type), for the magnetic field H applied perpendicular to the
crystallographic c axis. These data allowed us to identify, for each compound,
the easy-axes for the magnetization, which coincided with high symmetry
directions ([120] for TbPtIn and [110] for TmAgGe). For fixed orientations of
the field along each of the two six-fold symmetry axes, a number of
magnetically ordered phases is being revealed by M(H,T) measurements below T_N.
Moreover, T ~ 2 K, M(H)|_theta measurements for both compounds (with H applied
parallel to the basal plane), as well as T = 20 K data for TbPtIn, reveal five
metamagnetic transitions with simple angular dependencies: H_{ci,j} ~
1/cos(theta +/- phi), where phi = 0^0 or 60^0. The high field magnetization
state varies with theta like 2/3*mu_{sat}(R^{3+})*cos(theta), and corresponds
to a crystal field limited saturated paramagnetic, CL-SPM, state. Analysis of
these data allowed us to model the angular dependence of the locally saturated
magnetizations M_{sat} and critical fields H_c with a three coplanar Ising-like
model, in which the magnetic moments are assumed to be parallel to three
adjacent easy axes. Furthermore, net distributions of moments were inferred
based on the measured data and the proposed model
Regularly spaced subsums of integer partitions
For integer partitions , where , we study the sum of the parts of odd index. We show
that the average of this sum, over all partitions of , is of the
form More
generally, we study the sum of the parts whose
indices lie in a given arithmetic progression and we show that the average of
this sum, over all partitions of , is of the form
, with explicitly given
constants . Interestingly, for odd and we have
, so in this case the error term is of lower order. The methods used
involve asymptotic formulas for the behavior of Lambert series and the Zeta
function of Hurwitz.
We also show that if is the number of partitions of the sum of
whose parts of even index is , then for every , agrees with a
certain universal sequence, Sloane's sequence \texttt{#A000712}, for
but not for any larger
Crystal growth and annealing study of fragile, non-bulk superconductivity in YFeGe
We investigated the occurrence and nature of superconductivity in single
crystals of YFeGe grown out of Sn flux by employing x-ray diffraction,
electrical resistivity, and specific heat measurements. We found that the
residual resistivity ratio (RRR) of single crystals can be greatly improved,
reaching as high as 60, by decanting the crystals from the molten Sn at
350C and/or by annealing at temperatures between 550C and
600C. We found that samples with RRR 34 showed resistive
signatures of superconductivity with the onset of the superconducting
transition K. RRR values vary between 35 and 65 with, on
average, no systematic change in value, indicating that systematic
changes in RRR do not lead to comparable changes in . Specific heat
measurements on samples that showed clear resistive signatures of a
superconducting transition did not show any signature of a superconducting
phase transition, which suggests that the superconductivity observed in this
compound is either some sort of filamentary, strain stabilized
superconductivity associated with small amounts of stressed YFeGe
(perhaps at twin boundaries or dislocations) or is a second crystallographic
phase present at levels below detection capability of conventional powder x-ray
techniques.Comment: 8 pages, 11 figure
Changes In Submersed Macrophytes In Relation To Tidal Storm Surges
We analyzed long-term submersed macrophyte presence-absence data collected from 15 stations in Kings Bay/Crystal River, Florida in relation to three major storm events. The percent occurrence of most species declined immediately after storm events but the recovery pattern after the storm differed among species. Hydrilla (Hydrilla verticillata (L.F.) Royle)and Eurasian watermilfoil (Myriophyllum spicatum L.) exhibited differing recolonization behaviors. Eurasian watermilfoil recolonized quickly after storms but declined in abundance as hydrilla began to increase in abundance. Natural catastrophic events restructure submersed macrophyte communities by eliminating the dominate species, and allowing revegetation and restructuring of communities. Tidal surges may also act to maintain species diversity in the system. In addition, catastrophic events remove dense nuisance plant growth for several years, altering the public's perception of the nuisance plant problem of Kings Bay/Crystal River
Nutrient Limitation of Periphyton in a Spring-Fed, Coastal Stream in Florida, USA.
There is strong evidence to suggest that ground-water
nitrate concentrations have increased in recent years and
further increases are expected along portions of the central
Gulf coast of Florida. Much of the nitrate enriched groundwater
is discharged into surface waters through numerous
freshwater springs that are characteristic of the area and the
potential for eutrophication of their receiving waters is a
legitimate concern. To test the potential effects of elevated
nutrient concentrations on the periphyton community an
in
situ
nutrient addition experiment was conducted in the
spring-fed Chassahowitzka River, FL, USA, during the summer
of 1999. Plastic tubes housing arrays of glass microscope
slides were suspended in the stream. Periphyton colonizing
the microscope slides was subjected to artificial increases in
nitrogen, phosphorus or a combination of both. Slides from
each tube were collected at 3- to 4- day intervals and the
periphyton communities were measured for chlorophyll concentration.
The addition of approximately 10 μg/L of phosphate
above ambient concentrations significantly increased
the amount of periphyton on artificial substrates relative to
controls; the addition of approximately 100 μg/L of nitrate
above ambient concentrations did not. The findings from
this experiment implicated phosphorus, rather than
nitrogen, as the nutrient that potentially limits periphyton
growth in this system.(PDF contains 4 pages.
Thermoelectric power of the YbT2Zn20 (T = Fe, Ru, Os, Ir, Rh, and Co) heavy fermions
The thermoelectric power, S(T), of the heavy fermions YbT2Zn20 (T = Fe, Ru, Os, Ir, Rh, and Co) has been measured to shed further light on their strong electronic correlations. A large, negative, local minimum in S(T) with approximately −70 μV/K is found for all compounds. From the observed local minimum, the energy scales associated with both the Kondo temperature and the crystalline electric field splitting are deduced and compared to previous specific heat measurements. At low temperatures, a highly enhanced S(T)/T value is observed for all members, although S(T) does show a deviation from a purely linear temperature dependence, S(T) = αT, for T ≠ Fe members. In the zero-temperature limit, estimated by a simple linear extrapolation, the enhanced S(T)/T value strongly correlates with the electronic specific heat coefficient, C(T)/T
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