Segmented copolymers of uniform tetra-amide units and poly(phenylene oxide): 2. Crystallisation behaviour

The crystallisation behaviour of copolymers of telechelic poly(2,6-dimethyl-1,4-phenylene ether) segments with terephthalic methyl ester endgroups (PPE-2T), 13 wt% crystallisable tetra-amide segments of uniform length units (two-and-a-half repeating unit of nylon-6,T) and dodecanediol (C12) was studied. The crystallisation rate of the T6T6T units was found to be very high despite the high Tg/Tm ratio. The supercooling (Tm−Tc) as measured by DSC is 18 °C at a cooling rate of 20 °C/min. WAXD has elucidated that the tetra-amide units remain organised in the melt

Precessional drivers of late Miocene Mediterranean sedimentary sequences: African summer monsoon and Atlantic winter storm tracks

Cyclic sedimentary patterns in the marine record of the Mediterranean Sea have been consistently correlated with orbitally‐driven shifts in climate. Freshwater input driven by the African summer monsoon is thought to be the main control of such hydrological changes, where the runoff signal is transferred from the eastern to the western Mediterranean. The geological record from the Atlantic margin also contains precession‐driven dilution cycles that have been correlated with the sedimentary sequences in the western and eastern Mediterranean despite the lack of a direct connection with the basin. In these regions, Atlantic winter storms have also been invoked to explain the wet phases. In the absence of seasonally‐resolved proxy data, climate simulations at high temporal resolution can be used to investigate the drivers of Mediterranean hydrologic changes both on precessional and seasonal timescales. Here, we use the results of 22 ocean‐atmosphere‐vegetation simulations through an entire late Miocene precession cycle. These show that the African summer monsoon drives the hydrologic budget in the Eastern Mediterranean during precession minima, while the western marginal basins are generally dominated by local net evaporative loss. During precession minima, the western Mediterranean and the Atlantic margin are also influenced by enhanced winter precipitation from the Atlantic storm tracks. We can, therefore, identify two different moisture sources affecting the circum‐Mediterranean area, characterized by the same phasing with respect to precession, but with opposite seasonality. This supports the interregional correlation of geological sections in these areas, as we show for the Messinian and speculate for other time periods

Confocal imaging to reveal the microstructure of soybean processing materials

�� 2014 The Authors. Published by Elsevier. This is an open access article available under a Creative Commons licence. The published version can be accessed at the following link on the publisher���s website: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jfoodeng.2014.09.022Sustainable production of food products for human consumption is required to reduce negative impacts on the environment and to consumer���s health. Soybeans are an excellent source of nutritive plant proteins; aqueous extraction yields part of the available oil and protein from the legume. Many studies have been conducted which detail the various processing parameters and their effects on the extraction yields, yet there is little data on the localisation of nutritive components such as oil and protein in the fibrous unextracted by-product. Here we show a novel confocal laser scanning microscopy investigation of soybean processing materials and the physical effects of thermal treatment on the materials microstructure upon aqueous extraction. Various features, more specifically oil, protein (including protein aggregation) and cell wall structures, are visualised in the fibrous by-product, soy slurry and soy extract, with their presence both in the continuous phase and within intact cotyledon cells. Thermal treatment reduced the protein extraction yield; this is shown to be a result of aggregated protein bodies in the continuous phase and within intact cotyledons cells. Knowledge of the processing material microstructures can be applied to improve extraction yields and reduce waste production

Palaeoenvironmental reconstruction of a middle Miocene alluvial fan to cyclic shallow lacustrine depositional system in the Calatayud Basin (NE Spain)

The middle Miocene sedimentary fill of the Calatayud Basin in north-eastern Spain consists of proximal to distal alluvial fan-floodplain and shallow lacustrine deposits. Four main facies groups characteristic of different sedimentary environments are recognized: (1) proximal and medial alluvial fan facies that comprise clast-supported gravel and subordinate sandstone and mudstone, the latter exhibiting incipient pedogenic features; (2) distal alluvial fan facies, formed mainly of massive mudstone, carbonate-rich palaeosols and local carbonate pond deposits; (3) lake margin facies, which show two distinct lithofacies associations depending on their distribution relative to the alluvial fan system, i.e. front (lithofacies A), comprising massive siliciclastic mudstone and tabular carbonates, or lateral (lithofacies B) showing laminated and/or massive siliciclastic mudstone alternating with tabular and/or laminated carbonate beds; and (4) mudflat–shallow lake facies showing a remarkable cyclical alternation of green-grey and/or red siliciclastic mudstone units and white dolomitic carbonate beds. The cyclic mudflat–shallow lake succession, as exposed in the Orera composite section (OCS), is dominantly composed of small-scale mudstone–carbonate/dolomite cycles. The mudstone intervals of the sedimentary cycles are interpreted as a result of sedimentation from suspension by distal sheet floods, the deposits evolving either under subaerial exposure or water-saturated conditions, depending on their location on the lacustrine mudflat and on climate. The dolomite intervals accumulated during lake-level highstands with Mg-rich waters becoming increasingly concentrated. Lowstand to highstand lake-level changes indicated by the mudstone/dolomite units of the small-scale cycles reflect a climate control (from dry to wet conditions) on the sedimentation in the area. The spatial distribution of the different lithofacies implies that deposition of the smallscale cycles took place in a low-gradient, shallow lake basin located in an interfan zone. The development of the basin was constrained by gradual alluvial fan aggradation. Additional support for the palaeoenvironmental interpretation is derived from the isotopic compositions of carbonates from the various lithofacies that show a wide range of δ18O and δ13C values varying from )-7.9 to 3.0‰ PDB and from -9.2 to -1.7‰ PDB respectively. More negative δ18O and δ13C values are from carbonate-rich palaeosols and lakemargin carbonates, which extended in front of the alluvial fan systems, whereas more positive values correspond to dolomite beds deposited in the shallow lacustrine environment. The results show a clear trend of δ18O enrichment in the carbonates from lake margin to the centre of the shallow lake basin, thereby also demonstrating that the lake evolved under hydrologically closed conditions

The Global Stratotype Section and Point (GSSP) of the Serravallian Stage (Middle Miocene)

The Global Stratotype Section and Point (GSSP) for the Base of the Serravallian Stage (Middle Miocene) is defined in the Ras il Pellegrin section located in the coastal cliffs along the Fomm Ir-Rih Bay on the west coast of Malta (35°54'50"N, 14°20'10"E). The GSSP is at the base of the Blue Clay Formation (i.e., top of the transitional bed of the uppermost Globigerina Limestone). This boundary between the Langhian and Serravallian stages coincides with the end of the major Mi-3b global cooling step in the oxygen isotopes and reflects a major increase in Antarctic ice volume, marking the end of the Middle Miocene climate transition and the Earth's transformation into an "Icehouse" climate state. The associated major glacio-eustatic sea-level drop corresponds with sequence boundary Ser1 of Hardenbol et al. (1998) and supposedly with the TB2.5 sequence boundary of Haq et al (1987). This event is slightly older than the last common and/or continuous occurrence of the calcareous nannofossil Sphenolithus heteromorphus, previously considered as guiding criterion for the boundary, and is projected to fall within the younger half of Chron C5ACn. The GSSP level is in full agreement with the definitions of the Langhian and Serravallian in their respective historical stratotype sections in northern Italy and has an astronomical age of 13.82 Ma