Assessment of a sequential phase extraction procedure for uranium-series isotope analysis of soils and sediments

The study of uranium-series (U-series) isotopes in soil and sediment materials has been proposed to quantify rates and timescales of soil production and sediment transport. Previous works have studied bulk soil or sediment material, which is a complex assemblage of primary and secondary minerals and organic compounds. However, the approach relies on the fractionation between U-series isotopes in primary minerals since they were liberated from the parent rock via weathering. In addition, secondary minerals and organic compounds have their own isotopic compositions such that the composition of the bulk material may not reflect that of primary minerals. Hence, there is a need for a sample preparation procedure that allows the isolation of primary minerals in soil or fluvial sediment samples. In this study, a sequential extraction procedure to separate primary minerals from soils and sediments was assessed. The procedure was applied to standard rock sample powders (TML-3 and BCR-2) to test whether it introduced any artefactual radioactive disequilibrium. A new step was introduced to remove the clay-sized fraction (\u3c2 \u3eµm). Significant amounts (5–14%) of U and Th were removed from the rock standards during the procedure. No significant alteration in (234U/238U) and (230Th/238U) activity ratios of the rock standards occurred during the procedure. Aliquots of soil sample were subjected to the sequential extraction process to test how each step modifies the uranium-series activity ratios and mineralogy. Although no secondary minerals were detected in the unleached soil aliquots, the sequential leaching process removed up to 17% of U and Th and modified their activity ratios by up to 3%. The modification of the activity ratios poses a demand for careful means to avoid redistribution of isotopes back to the residual phase during phase extraction

Quantifying Suspiciousness Within Correlated Data Sets

We propose a principled Bayesian method for quantifying tension between correlated datasets with wide uninformative parameter priors. This is achieved by extending the Suspiciousness statistic, which is insensitive to priors. Our method uses global summary statistics, and as such it can be used as a diagnostic for internal consistency. We show how our approach can be combined with methods that use parameter space and data space to identify the existing internal discrepancies. As an example, we use it to test the internal consistency of the KiDS-450 data in 4 photometric redshift bins, and to recover controlled internal discrepancies in simulated KiDS data. We propose this as a diagnostic of internal consistency for present and future cosmological surveys, and as a tension metric for data sets that have non-negligible correlation, such as LSST and Euclid

The omnivorous Tyrolean Iceman: colon contents (meat, cereals, pollen, moss and whipworm) and stable isotope analyses

The contents of the colon of the Tyrolean Iceman who lived Ga. 5300 years ago include muscle fibres, cereal remains, a diversity of pollen, and most notably that of the hop hornbeam (Ostrya carpinifolia) retaining cellular contents, as well as a moss leaf (Neckera complanata) and eggs of the parasitic whipworm (Trichuris trichiura). Based almost solely on stable isotope analyses and ignoring the work on the colon contents, two recently published papers on the Iceman's diet draw ill- founded conclusions about vegetarianism and even veganism. Neither the pollen nor the moss is likely to have been deliberately consumed as food by the Iceman. All the available evidence concerning the Iceman's broad-based diet is reviewed and the significance of the colon contents for matters other than assessment of food intake is outlined

How Hard Can It Be? Designing and Implementing a Deployable Multipath TCP

Networks have become multipath: mobile devices have multiple radio interfaces, datacenters have redundant paths and multihoming is the norm for big server farms. Mean- while, TCP is still only single-path. Is it possible to extend TCP to enable it to support multiple paths for current applications on today’s Internet? The answer is positive. We carefully review the constraints—partly due to various types of middleboxes— that influenced the design of Multipath TCP and show how we handled them to achieve its deployability goals. We report our experience in implementing Multipath TCP in the Linux kernel and we evaluate its performance. Our measurements focus on the algorithms needed to efficiently use paths with different characteristics, notably send and receive buffer tuning and segment reordering. We also compare the performance of our implementation with regular TCP on web servers. Finally, we discuss the lessons learned from designing MPTCP

Evidence for weathering and volcanism during the PETM from Arctic Ocean and Peri-Tethys osmium isotope records

Sudden global warming during the Paleocene–Eocene Thermal Maximum (PETM, 55.9 Ma) occurred because of the rapid release of several thousand gigatonnes of isotopically light carbon into the oceans and atmosphere; however, the cause of this release is not well understood. Some studies have linked carbon injection to volcanic activity associated with the North Atlantic Igneous Province (NAIP), while others have emphasised carbon cycle feedbacks associated with orbital forcing. This study presents the osmium isotope compositions of mudrocks that were deposited during the PETM at four locations (one from the Arctic Ocean, and three from the Peri-Tethys). The Os-isotope records all exhibit a shift of similar magnitude towards relatively radiogenic values across the PETM. This observation confirms that there was a transient, global increase in the flux of radiogenic Os from the weathering of continental rocks in response to elevated temperatures at that time. The tectonic effects of NAIP volcanic emplacement near the onset of the PETM is recorded by anomalously radiogenic Os-isotope compositions of PETM-age Arctic Ocean samples, which indicate an interval of hydrographic restriction that can be linked tectonic uplift due to hotspot volcanism in the North Atlantic seaway. The Peri-Tethys data also document a transient, higher flux of unradiogenic osmium into the ocean near the beginning of the PETM, most likely from the weathering of young mafic rocks associated with the NAIP. These observations support the hypothesis that volcanism played a major role in triggering the cascade of environmental changes during the PETM, and highlight the influence of paleogeography on the Os isotope characteristics of marine water masses

The FIREBIRD Instrument for Relativistic Electrons: Enabling Technologies for a Fast High-Sensitivity, Low-Power Space Weather Radiation Payload

Miniaturized instrument payloads on small satellite and nanosatellite platforms that are deployed in low Earth orbit are demonstrating cost effective weather monitoring platforms with increased temporal and spatial resolution compared to larger weather satellites. The NASA Earth Decadal Survey [1] states that improving the revisit time of microwave radiometers would significantly improve weather forecasting. Radiometers such as the Advanced Technology Microwave Sounder (ATMS) on Suomi National Polar-orbiting Partnership (Suomi-NPP) and the Joint Polar Satellite System-1 (JPSS-1), now NOAA-20, provide an average revisit rate of 7.6 hours; however, a constellation of six CubeSats in three orbital Low Earth Orbit (LEO) planes with microwave radiometers such as the Time-Resolved Observations of Precipitations structure and storm Intensity with a Constellation of Smallsats (TROPICS) mission would provide a refresh rate of better than 60 minutes. In order to effectively use CubeSats in a constellation as a weather monitoring platform, calibration must be used to provide measurements consistent with state of the art measurements, such as ATMS that has a NeDT at 300K of 0.5-3.0K [2]. In this work, we use the Joint Center for Satellite Data Assimilation (JCSDA) Community Radiative Transfer Model (CRTM) to simulate brightness temperatures (https://www.jcsda.noaa.gov/projects_crtm.php), which are used to assess miniaturized microwave radiometer radiometric biases. CRTM is a fast radiative transfer model that uses Fortran functions, structure variables, and coefficient data of the modeled sensor to simulate radiances. The user inputs surface characteristics, scan angles, and atmospheric profiles from sources such as radiosondes, Numerical Weather Prediction (NWP) models, and Global Positioning System Radio Occultation (GPSRO) measurements. The output of CRTM is a simulated brightness temperature that is used to correct radiometric biases in order to meet required instrument NeDT performance. We use radiosonde, GPSRO, and NWP ERA-5 atmospheric profiles in CRTM and compare the results to ATMS brightness temperatures and find an average difference in brightness temperature of 1.95 K, which is comparable to ATMS Integrated Calibration/Validation System (https://www.star.nesdis.noaa.gov/icvs/status_NPP_ATMS.php) reports which show channel bias variations of up to 2 K. We take a similar approach to provide calibration for the Micro-sized Microwave Atmospheric Satellite-2A (MicroMAS-2A), a 3U CubeSat that was launched on January 11th, 2018. MicroMAS-2A carries a 1U 10-channel passive microwave radiometer that provides imagery near 90 and 206 GHz, temperature sounding near 118 GHz, and moisture sounding near 183 GHz. We develop an approach for comparing MicroMas-2A brightness temperatures to radiosonde, GPSRO, and NWP ERA5 atmospheric profiles. Due to the scarcity of GPSRO and radiosonde profiles near the MicroMAS-2A data segments, we determine that NWP models will be the best option for radiance validation. After the next stage of calibration of MicroMAS-2A is completed, we will compare CRTM simulated radiances from ERA profiles to the initial sensor data, with expected results of channel bias variations of \u3c 2 K