Energy-loss Spectra And Collision Cross Sections For Impact Of 20-120-keV Positive Ions On Molecular Nitrogen

Inelastic energy-loss spectra induced by impact of H+, H2+, and Ar+ on N2 have been measured at incident ion energies of 20-120 keV, with an energy resolution of about 2 eV. Prominent peaks are observed at energy losses of 9.5 and 13.8 eV. The first of these is well resolved and is attributed to excitation of the Lyman-Birge-Hopfield (LBH) system of N2. The peak at 13.8 eV is believed due primarily to excitation of the bu1 band of the Worley-Jenkins series. The locations of these features on the energy-loss scale do not agree with results of the electron impact work of others and, in general, show trends with projectile velocity that are consistent with an assumed enhancement of excitation to higher vibrational states with the heavier particles. Collision cross sections for excitation of the two peaks are presented, as well as the total ionization cross section and the cross section for total inelastic processes in the case of proton impact. © 1970 The American Physical Society

Collision Cross Sections For The Excitation Of The Schumann-Runge Dissociation Continuum In Molecular Oxygen By 20-110-keV Protons

Absolute cross sections for the excitation of the Schumann-Runge dissociation continuum of molecular oxygen have been obtained from inelastic energy-loss spectra induced by 20-110-keV protons incident on gaseous targets of molecular oxygen. Apparent differential energy loss cross sections, ionization cross sections, and total inelastic cross sections are also obtained from the energy-loss spectra. The proton energy-loss spectra have an energy resolution of about 2 eV. The energy location of the first peak in the energy-loss spectra of O2 is in general agreement with the findings of photo absorption and electron energy-loss-spectra measurements. The cross section for the Schumann-Runge dissociation continuum for 20-110-keV protons varies between 5 and 7 x 10-17 cm2 and has a broad maximum at about 60 keV. Existing theoretical treatments show poor agreement with these reported cross sections for the excitation of the dissociation continuum with respect to both absolute magnitude and curve shape. © 1971 The American Physical Society

Production and Decay of Double \u3ci\u3eL\u3c/i\u3e Vacancies in Argon and Phosphorus

Measurements have been made at two laboratories which indicate that the structure reported at 450-550eV in the electron spectrum from Ar+-Ar collisions by Ogurtsov, Flaks, and Avakyan is spurious. It is argued that the double L vacancies which they invoke to explain the structure are more likely to decay by the two-step Auger process L 2→LM2→M4 than by the one-step process L2→M3 suggested by these authors. Evidence supporting this is found in our electron spectra from P+-Ar collisions, where it is known from energy-loss and charge-state measurements that double L vacancies are produced in phosphorus

Applied Remote Sensing Program (ARSP)

There are no author-identified significant results in this report

Scanning micro-X-ray fluorescence elemental mapping : a new tool for the study of laminated sediment records

Author Posting. © American Geophysical Union, 2008. This article is posted here by permission of American Geophysical Union for personal use, not for redistribution. The definitive version was published in Geochemistry Geophysics Geosystems 9 (2008): Q02016, doi:10.1029/2007GC001800.The utility of elemental mapping by scanning X-ray fluorescence (XRF) in the study of annual laminated sedimentary records was investigated on eight annually laminated sediment types. The examples were chosen to illustrate the potential of this approach in environments dominated by terrigenous, biological and chemical deposition. Individual laminae were identifiable in elemental maps of all sediment types and were enhanced through the use of data reduction techniques (e.g., principal components transformation). Laminae were least apparent in clastic dominated systems with no seasonal changes in sediment sources. In biologically dominated systems, element maps provided insights into the composition of the varve subcomponents, related to alternating terrigenous and biologically dominated seasonal periods of deposition. Chemically precipitated structures were more prevalent than expected from visual investigations alone and may provide an underutilized paleoenvironmental signature of changing limnological conditions. Elemental mapping offers a valuable tool for the study of laminated records that complements existing techniques (e.g., SEM, digital image analysis).Funding was provided through NSF Earth System History grants and an NSF Instrumentation grant awarded to J.T.O

Quantifying unpredictability: A multiple-model approach based on satellite imagery data from Mediterranean ponds.

Fluctuations in environmental parameters are increasingly being recognized as essential features of any habitat. The quantification of whether environmental fluctuations are prevalently predictable or unpredictable is remarkably relevant to understanding the evolutionary responses of organisms. However, when characterizing the relevant features of natural habitats, ecologists typically face two problems: (1) gathering long-term data and (2) handling the hard-won data. This paper takes advantage of the free access to long-term recordings of remote sensing data (27 years, Landsat TM/ETM+) to assess a set of environmental models for estimating environmental predictability. The case study included 20 Mediterranean saline ponds and lakes, and the focal variable was the water-surface area. This study first aimed to produce a method for accurately estimating the water-surface area from satellite images. Saline ponds can develop salt-crusted areas that make it difficult to distinguish between soil and water. This challenge was addressed using a novel pipeline that combines band ratio water indices and the short near-infrared band as a salt filter. The study then extracted the predictable and unpredictable components of variation in the water-surface area. Two different approaches, each showing variations in the parameters, were used to obtain the stochastic variation around a regular pattern with the objective of dissecting the effect of assumptions on predictability estimations. The first approach, which is based on Colwell's predictability metrics, transforms the focal variable into a nominal one. The resulting discrete categories define the relevant variations in the water-surface area. In the second approach, we introduced General Additive Model (GAM) fitting as a new metric for quantifying predictability. Both approaches produced a wide range of predictability for the studied ponds. Some model assumptions-which are considered very different a priori-had minor effects, whereas others produced predictability estimations that showed some degree of divergence. We hypothesize that these diverging estimations of predictability reflect the effect of fluctuations on different types of organisms. The fluctuation analysis described in this manuscript is applicable to a wide variety of systems, including both aquatic and nonaquatic systems, and will be valuable for quantifying and characterizing predictability, which is essential within the expected global increase in the unpredictability of environmental fluctuations. We advocate that a priori information for organisms of interest should be used to select the most suitable metrics estimating predictability, and we provide some guidelines for this approach