Palaeobiology, ecology, and distribution of stromatoporoid faunas in biostromes of the mid-Ludlow of Gotland

Six well exposed mid−Ludlow stromatoporoid−dominated reef biostromes in four localities from the Hemse Group in southeastern Gotland, Sweden comprise a stromatoporoid assemblage dominated by four species; Clathrodictyon mohicanum, “Stromatopora” bekkeri, Plectostroma scaniense, and Lophiostroma schmidtii. All biostromes investigated in this area (of approximately 30 km2) are interpreted to belong to a single faunal assemblage forming a dense accumulation of fossils that is probably the best exposed stromatoporoid−rich deposit of the Silurian. The results from this comprehensive study strengthen earlier interpretations of a combination of genetic and environmental control on growth−forms of the stromatoporoids. Growth styles are similar for stromatoporoids in all six biostromes. Differences in biostrome fabric are due to variations in the degree of disturbance by storms. The uniformity of facies and the widespread low−diversity fauna support the view that palaeoenvironmental conditions were similar across the area where these biostromes crop out, and promoted the extraordinary growth of stromatoporoids in this shallow shelf area

Global reef recovery after the end-ordovician extinction: Evidence from late aeronian coral-stromatoporoid reefs in South China

After the end-Ordovician mass extinction, reef recovery (size and biotic diversity) took several million years. On the Upper Yangtze Platform, South China Block, the initial reef reconstruction episode is recorded in limestone of middle Aeronian age in northern Guizhou Province. By late Aeronian, reefs were widespread on the Yangtze carbonate platform, today represented by patch reefs cropping out in a 10-km2 large area near Shuibatang, Tongzi County, where two stratigraphic intervals with reefs are recognized. Late Aeronian reefs constitute a complex and diverse reef community dominated by corals, and to a lesser extent stromatoporoids. They contain an accessory fauna of abundant bryozoans and crinoids and some brachiopods, trilobites, molluscs and calcimicrobes. These reefs correlate in time with similar reefs in Anticosti, Laurentia, palaeogeographically very distant from South China. Thus, there is good evidence that recovery and geographic expansion of reefs after the end-Ordovician extinction occur simultaneously in at least two continents. © 2013 © 2013 Taylor & Francis.National Natural Science Foundation of China (Grant nos 41072002 and 41221001

Teachers\u27 Knowledge of Dominie Reading and Writing Assessment Portfolio Word-Level Reading

There is confusion among teachers in a school district in a southeastern state about the instructional use of the state-mandated Dominie assessment for word-level reading and phonemic awareness skills for kindergarten and first-grade students. Recent assessment data indicated that 20% of students tested in kindergarten and first grade needed remediation. The purpose of this qualitative, bounded case study of a primary school was to understand teachers\u27 perceptions about using the Dominie assessment for instruction, and how these perceptions contribute to the decline in reading scores. Using constructivism as a conceptual framework, the research questions focused on the trends in students\u27 Domine assessment scores, the perceptions of teachers regarding the use of the assessment in planning and instruction, and the actual use of assessment results for facilitating construction of students\u27 learning in reading. Interview data were collected from 11 participants who are kindergarten and first-grade teachers who had administered the Dominie assessment in one school in the district. Themes emerged after data analysis yielding strategies to address needs for time for assessment, training and supplementary methods, improvements in the assessment itself, and special knowledge to use Dominie data. A professional development project that allows teachers to help students construct their learning in ways that encourages them to reflect on experiences and use prior knowledge to improve reading skills was developed. Positive social change might occur as teachers expand their knowledge and instructional approaches through this professional development project in ways that could improve learning and reading skills for kindergarten and first-grade students in this school and others in the district

Strain Relaxation in Graded InGaAs and InP Buffer Layers on GaAs (001)

We investigate compositionally graded Inxo≤x≤0.5Ga1-xAs and InP buffer layers which are prepared by molecular beam epitaxy on (001) GaAs substrate. The initial In content xo is equal to 0, 0.12, 0.18, 0.24, and 0.5 for the different samples. The In composition of the graded buffer increases linearly between xo and 0.5 with a fixed slope of 50% In-content per μm. The idea was to combine the advantage of surface flatness in homogeneous buffer layers and the reduced density of threading dislocations on the surface for graded buffer layers. The best compromise in terms of photoluminescence intensity and linewidth, electron mobility and crystal quality is achieved for xo = 0.18. For comparison to the InGaAs layers, we investigated also homogenous InP buffer layers on GaAs substrate. A strong photoluminescence peak with a linewidth of 5 meV is observed for 1 μm InP grown at 450°C applying a GaP decomposition source. The density of threading dislocations in the surface region is lower than in relaxed In0.5Ga0.5As layers but still by far not as low as for the graded buffer layers

Calcilobes wangshenghaii n. gen., n. sp., microbial constructor of Permian-Triassic 2 boundary microbialites of South China, and its place in microbialite classification

© The Author(s) 2021. Permian–Triassic boundary microbialites (PTBMs) that formed directly after the end-Permian extinction in the South China Block are dominated by one structure, a lobate-form calcium carbonate construction that created extensive very thin (ca. 2–20 m thick) framework biostromes in shallow marine environments, effectively occupying the ecological position of the prior pre-extinction Permian reefs and/or associated carbonates. In the field, vertical sections show the microbialite is dendrolite (branched) and thrombolite (clotted), but because thrombolite may include branched portions, its structure is overall best classed as thrombolite. In the field and in polished blocks, the microbial material appears as dark carbonate embedded in lighter-coloured micritic sediment, where details cannot be seen at that scale. In thin section, in contrast to the largely unaltered micritic matrix, the microbial constructor is preferentially partly to completely recrystallised, but commonly passes gradationally over distances of a few mm to better-preserved areas comprising 0.1–0.2 mm diameter uneven blobs of fine-grained calcium carbonate (micrite to microsparite). The lobate architecture comprises branches, layers and clusters of blobs ca. 1–20 mm in size, and includes constructed cavities with geopetal sediments, cements and some deposited small shelly fossils. Individual blobs in the matrix may be fortuitous tangential cross sections through margins of accumulated masses, but if separate, may represent building blocks of the masses. The lobate structure is recognised here as a unique microbial taxon and named Calcilobes wangshenghaii n. gen., n. sp. Calcilobes reflects its calcium carbonate composition and lobate form, wangshenghaii for the Chinese geologist (Shenghai Wang) who first detailed this facies in 1994. The structure is interpreted as organically built, and may have begun as separate blobs on the sea floor sediment (that was also composed of micrite but is interpreted as mostly inorganic), by microbial agglutination of micrite. Because of its interpreted original micritic–microsparitic nature, classification as either a calcimicrobe (calcified microbial fossil) or a sedimentary microbial structure is problematic, so C. wangshenghaii has uncertain affinity and nature. Calcilobes superficially resembles Renalcis and Tarthinia, which both form small clusters in shallow marine limestones and have similar problems of classification. Nevertheless, Calcilobes framework architecture contrasts both the open branched geometry of Renalcis, and the small tighter masses of Tarthinia, yet it is more similar to Tarthinia than to Renalcis, and may be a modification of Tarthinia, noting that Tarthinia is known from only the Cambrian. Calcilobes thus joins Renalcis, Tarthinia and also Epiphyton (dendritic form) and others, as problematic microbial structures. Calcilobes has not been recognised elsewhere in the geological record and may be unique to the post-end-Permian extinction facies. C. wangshenghaii occurs almost exclusively in the South China Block, which lay on the eastern margin of Tethys Ocean during Permian–Triassic boundary times; reasons for its absence in western Tethys, except for comparable fabrics in one site in Iran and another in Turkey, are unknown.National Nature Foundation of China, Grant # 41272135; Strategic Priority Research Program of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Grant No. XDB26000000

Earliest Triassic microbialites in the South China Block and other areas; controls on their growth and distribution

Earliest Triassic microbialites (ETMs) and inorganic carbonate crystal fans formed after the end-Permian mass extinction (ca. 251.4 Ma) within the basal Triassic Hindeodus parvus conodont zone. ETMs are distinguished from rarer, and more regional, subsequent Triassic microbialites. Large differences in ETMs between northern and southern areas of the South China block suggest geographic provinces, and ETMs are most abundant throughout the equatorial Tethys Ocean with further geographic variation. ETMs occur in shallow-marine shelves in a superanoxic stratified ocean and form the only widespread Phanerozoic microbialites with structures similar to those of the Cambro-Ordovician, and briefly after the latest Ordovician, Late Silurian and Late Devonian extinctions. ETMs disappeared long before the mid-Triassic biotic recovery, but it is not clear why, if they are interpreted as disaster taxa. In general, ETM occurrence suggests that microbially mediated calcification occurred where upwelled carbonate-rich anoxic waters mixed with warm aerated surface waters, forming regional dysoxia, so that extreme carbonate supersaturation and dysoxic conditions were both required for their growth. Long-term oceanic and atmospheric changes may have contributed to a trigger for ETM formation. In equatorial western Pangea, the earliest microbialites are late Early Triassic, but it is possible that ETMs could exist in western Pangea, if well-preserved earliest Triassic facies are discovered in future work

Streptomyces coelicolor strains lacking polyprenol phosphate mannose synthase and protein O-mannosyl transferase are hyper-susceptible to multiple antibiotics

Polyprenol phosphate mannose (PPM) is a lipid-linked sugar donor used by extra-cytoplasmic glycosyl tranferases in bacteria. PPM is synthesiszed by polyprenol phosphate mannose synthase, Ppm1, and in most Actinobacteria is used as the sugar donor for protein O-mannosyl transferase, Pmt, in protein glycosylation. Ppm1 and Pmt have homologues in yeasts and humans, where they are required for protein O-mannosylation. Actinobacteria also use PPM for lipoglycan biosynthesis. Here we show that ppm1 mutants of Streptomyces coelicolor have increased susceptibility to a number of antibiotics that target cell wall biosynthesis. The pmt mutants also have mildly increased antibiotic susceptibilities, in particular to β-lactams and vancomycin. Despite normal induction of the vancomycin gene cluster, vanSRJKHAX, the pmt and ppm1 mutants remained highly vancomycin sensitive indicating that the mechanism of resistance is blocked post-transcriptionally. Differential RNA expression analysis indicated that catabolic pathways were downregulated and anabolic ones upregulated in the ppm1 mutant compared to the parent or complemented strains. Of note was the increase in expression of fatty acid biosynthetic genes in the ppm1-mutant. A change in lipid composition was confirmed using Raman spectroscopy, which showed that the ppm1-mutant had a greater relative proportion of unsaturated fatty acids compared to the parent or the complemented mutant. Taken together, these data suggest that an inability to synthesize PPM (ppm1) and loss of the glycoproteome (pmt-mutant) can detrimentally affect membrane or cell envelope functions leading to loss of intrinsic and, in the case of vancomycin, acquired antibiotic resistance

Double Linker Triphenylamine Dyes for Dye-Sensitized Solar Cells

Most organic dyes synthesized for dye-sensitized solar cells (DSC) use a single linker group to bind to the metal oxide photo-anode. Here we describe the synthesis and testing of two new triphenylamine dyes containing either two carboxylic acids 5-[2-(4-diphenylamino-phenyl)-vinyl]-isophthalic acid (10) or two cyanoacrylic acids (2Z, 2′Z)-3, 3′-(5-((E)-4-(diphenylamino) styryl)-1, 3-phenylene) bis (2-cyanoacrylic acid) (8) as linker groups. Full characterization data are reported for these dyes and their synthetic intermediates. DSC devices have been prepared from these new dyes either by passive or fast dyeing and the dyes have also been tested in co-sensitized DSC devices leading to a PCE (η = 5.4%) for the double cyanoacrylate linker dye (8) co-sensitized with D149. The dye:TiO2 surface interactions and dye excitations are interpreted using three modelling methods: density functional theory (at 0 K); molecular dynamics (at 298 K); time dependent density functional theory. The modelling results show the preferred orientation of both dyes on an anatase (1 0 1) TiO2 surface to be horizontal, and both the simulated and experimental absorption spectra of the dye molecules indicate a red shifted band for (8) compared to (10). This is in line with broader light harvesting and Jsc for (8) compared to (10)

Magnetic ordering of the antiferromagnet Cu2MnSnS4 from magnetization and neutron-scattering measurements

Magnetization and neutron-diffraction measurements were performed on a single crystal of Cu2MnSnS4. This quartenary magnetic semiconductor has the stannite structure (derived from the zinc-blende structure which is common to many II-VI dilute magnetic semiconductors), and it orders antiferromagnetically at low temperature. The neutron data for the nuclear structure confirm that the space group is I42̄m. Both the neutron and magnetization data give TN=8.8 K for the Néel temperature. The neutron data show a collinear antiferromagnetic (AF) structure with a propagation vector k=[1/2,0,1/2], in agreement with earlier neutron data on a powder. However, the deduced angle θ between the spin axis and the crystallographic c direction is between 6° and 16°, in contrast to the earlier value of 40°. The magnetization curve at T≪TN shows the presence of a spin rotation (analogous to a spin flop), which indicates that the spin axis is indeed close to the c direction. The deduced magnetic anisotropy gives an anisotropy field HA≅2 kOe. At high magnetic fields the magnetization curve at T≪TN shows the transition between the canted (spin-flop) phase and the paramagnetic phase. The transition field, H=245.5 kOe, yields an intersublattice exchange field HE= 124 kOe. The exchange constants deduced from HE and the Curie-Weiss temperature Θ=-25 K show that the antiferromagnetic interactions are an order of magnitude smaller than in II-VI dilute magnetic semiconductors (DMS's). The much weaker antiferromagnetic interactions are expected from the difference in the crystal structures (stannite versus zincblende). A more surprising result is that the exchange constant which controls the AF order below TN is not between Mn ions with the smallest separation. This result contrasts with a prediction made for the related II-VI DMS, according to which the exchange constants decrease rapidly with distance.The work at Tufts University was partially supported by NSF Grant No. DMR-9219727. The research in Zaragoza was supported by CICYT Grant No. MAT94-0043. The work at Brown University was supported by NSF Grant No. DMR-9221141. The Francis Bitter National Magnet Laboratory was supported by NSF.Peer Reviewe

A perspective on using experiment and theory to identify design principles in dye-sensitized solar cells

Dye-sensitized solar cells (DSCs) have been the subject of wide-ranging studies for many years because of their potential for large-scale manufacturing using roll-to-roll processing allied to their use of earth abundant raw materials. Two main challenges exist for DSC devices to achieve this goal; uplifting device efficiency from the 12 to 14% currently achieved for laboratory-scale ‘hero’ cells and replacement of the widely-used liquid electrolytes which can limit device lifetimes. To increase device efficiency requires optimized dye injection and regeneration, most likely from multiple dyes while replacement of liquid electrolytes requires solid charge transporters (most likely hole transport materials – HTMs). While theoretical and experimental work have both been widely applied to different aspects of DSC research, these approaches are most effective when working in tandem. In this context, this perspective paper considers the key parameters which influence electron transfer processes in DSC devices using one or more dye molecules and how modelling and experimental approaches can work together to optimize electron injection and dye regeneration. This paper provides a perspective that theory and experiment are best used in tandem to study DSC device