Refining palaeoenvironmental analysis using integrated quantitative granulometry and palynology

Accurate palaeoenvironmental analysis is at the heart of producing reliable interpretations and depositional models. This study demonstrates a multivariate statistical approach to facies analysis based on relationships between grain size and quantitative palynology. Our methodology has the advantage that it can be used on small amounts of sample, such as core or well cuttings, as the basis for facies analysis. Proof of concept studies involving the collection of grain-size and palynological datasets from well-exposed outcrops of the Middle Jurassic, Lajas Formation of the Neuquén Basin, Argentina, demonstrate that canonical correspondence analysis can be used to consistently recognize facies and aid in the determination of depositional environments. This study demonstrates the link between depositional facies, grain-size distribution, palynomorph hydrodynamics and assemblage taphonomy of palynomorphs. This knowledge can be transferred into a semi-automated statistical facies prediction technique for the subsurface in complex depositional settings, particularly when calibrated against conventional sedimentary facies analysis.The attached article is the accepted manuscript for this article. You are advised to consult the publisher's version if you wish to cite from the article

Parallel String Sample Sort

We discuss how string sorting algorithms can be parallelized on modern multi-core shared memory machines. As a synthesis of the best sequential string sorting algorithms and successful parallel sorting algorithms for atomic objects, we propose string sample sort. The algorithm makes effective use of the memory hierarchy, uses additional word level parallelism, and largely avoids branch mispredictions. Additionally, we parallelize variants of multikey quicksort and radix sort that are also useful in certain situations.Comment: 34 pages, 7 figures and 12 table

Determining the effects of cattle grazing treatments on Yosemite toads (Anaxyrus [=Bufo] canorus) in montane meadows.

Amphibians are experiencing a precipitous global decline, and population stability on public lands with multiple uses is a key concern for managers. In the Sierra Nevada Mountains (California, USA), managers have specifically identified livestock grazing as an activity that may negatively affect Yosemite toads due to the potential overlap of grazing with toad habitat. Grazing exclusion from Yosemite toad breeding and rearing areas and/or entire meadows have been proposed as possible management actions to alleviate the possible impact of cattle on this species. The primary objective of this study was to determine if different fencing treatments affect Yosemite toad populations. We specifically examined the effect of three fencing treatments on Yosemite toad breeding pool occupancy, tadpoles, and young of the year (YOY). Our hypothesis was that over the course of treatment implementation (2006 through 2010), Yosemite toad breeding pool occupancy and early life stage densities would increase within two fencing treatments relative to actively grazed meadows due to beneficial changes to habitat quality in the absence of grazing. Our results did not support our hypothesis, and showed no benefit to Yosemite toad presence or early life stages in fenced or partially fenced meadows compared to standard USDA Forest Service grazing levels. We found substantial Yosemite toad variation by both meadow and year. This variation was influenced by meadow wetness, with water table depth significant in both the tadpole and YOY models

The effect of a concurrent cognitive task on cortical potentials evoked by unpredictable balance perturbations

BACKGROUND: Although previous studies suggest that postural control requires attention and other cognitive resources, the central mechanisms responsible for this relationship remain unclear. To address this issue, we examined the effects of altered attention on cortical activity and postural responses following mechanical perturbations to upright stance. We hypothesized that cortical activity would be attenuated but not delayed when mechanical perturbations were applied during a concurrent performance of a cognitive task (i.e. when attention was directed away from the perturbation). We also hypothesized that these cortical changes would be accompanied by alterations in the postural response, as evidenced by increases in the magnitude of anteroposterior (AP) centre of pressure (COP) peak displacements and tibialis anterior (TA) muscle activity. Healthy young adults (n = 7) were instructed to continuously track (cognitive task) or not track (control task) a randomly moving visual target using a hand-held joystick. During each of these conditions, unpredictable translations of a moving floor evoked cortical and postural responses. Scalp-recorded cortical activity, COP, and TA electromyographic (EMG) measures were collected. RESULTS: Results revealed a significant decrease in the magnitude of early cortical activity (the N1 response, the first negative peak after perturbation onset) during the tracking task compared to the control condition. More pronounced AP COP peak displacements and EMG magnitudes were also observed for the tracking task and were possibly related to changes in the N1 response. CONCLUSION: Based on previous notions that the N1 response represents sensory processing of the balance disturbance, we suggest that the attenuation of the N1 response is an important central mechanism that may provide insight into the relationship between attention and postural control

Lateral Gene Transfer Drives Metabolic Flexibility in the Anaerobic Methane-Oxidizing Archaeal Family Methanoperedenaceae

Anaerobic oxidation of methane (AOM) is an important biological process responsible for controlling the flux of methane into the atmosphere. Members of the archaeal family Methanoperedenaceae (formerly ANME-2d) have been demonstrated to couple AOM to the reduction of nitrate, iron, and manganese. Here, comparative genomic analysis of 16 Methanoperedenaceace metagenome-assembled genomes (MAGs), recovered from diverse environments, revealed novel respiratory strategies acquired through lateral gene transfer (LGT) events from diverse archaea and bacteria. Comprehensive phylogenetic analyses suggests that LGT has allowed members of the Methanoperedenaceae to acquire genes for the oxidation of hydrogen and formate, and the reduction of arsenate, selenate and elemental sulfur. Numerous membrane-bound multi-heme c type cytochrome complexes also appear to have been laterally acquired, which may be involved in the direct transfer of electrons to metal oxides, humics and syntrophic partners

Strong correlation effects of the Re 5dd electrons on the metal-insulator transition in Ca2_2FeReO6_6

We have investigated the electronic structure of polycrystalline Ca$_2$FeReO$_6$ using photoemission spectroscopy and band-structure calculations within the local-density approximation+$U$ (LDA+$U$) scheme. In valence-band photoemission spectra, a double-peak structure which is characteristic of the metallic double perovskite series has been observed near the Fermi level ($E_{\rm F}$), although it is less distinct compared to the Sr$_2$FeMoO$_6$ case. The leading near-$E_{\rm F}$ structure has a very weak spectral weight at $E_{\rm F}$ above the metal-insulator transition (MIT) temperature $T_{\rm MI}$ of $\sim$140 K, and it loses the $E_{\rm F}$ weight below $T_{\rm MI}$, forming a small energy gap. To reproduce this small energy gap in the calculation, we require a very large effective $U$ ($U_{\rm eff}$) for Re (4 eV) in addition to a relatively large $U_{\rm eff}$ for Fe (4 eV). Although the most of the experimental features can be interpreted with the help of the band theory, the overall agreement between the theory and the experiment was not satisfactory. We demonstrate that the effective transfer integral between Fe and Re is actually smaller than that between Fe and Mo in Ca$_2$FeMoO$_6$, which can explain both MIT and very high ferrimagnetic transition temperature.Comment: 7 pages text, 5 figures, to be pulished in Phys. Rev.

Anaerobic methane oxidation coupled to manganese reduction by members of the Methanoperedenaceae

Anaerobic oxidation of methane (AOM) is a major biological process that reduces global methane emission to the atmosphere. Anaerobic methanotrophic archaea (ANME) mediate this process through the coupling of methane oxidation to different electron acceptors, or in concert with a syntrophic bacterial partner. Recently, ANME belonging to the archaeal family Methanoperedenaceae (formerly known as ANME-2d) were shown to be capable of AOM coupled to nitrate and iron reduction. Here, a freshwater sediment bioreactor fed with methane and Mn(IV) oxides (birnessite) resulted in a microbial community dominated by two novel members of the Methanoperedenaceae, with biochemical profiling of the system demonstrating Mn(IV)-dependent AOM. Genomic and transcriptomic analyses revealed the expression of key genes involved in methane oxidation and several shared multiheme c-type cytochromes (MHCs) that were differentially expressed, indicating the likely use of different extracellular electron transfer pathways. We propose the names “Candidatus Methanoperedens manganicus” and “Candidatus Methanoperedens manganireducens” for the two newly described Methanoperedenaceae species. This study demonstrates the ability of members of the Methanoperedenaceae to couple AOM to the reduction of Mn(IV) oxides, which suggests their potential role in linking methane and manganese cycling in the environment

Decoupling seasonal fluctuations in fluvial discharge from the tidal signature in ancient deltaic deposits: an example from the Neuquén Basin, Argentina

Fluvial discharge fluctuations are a fundamental characteristic of almost all modern rivers and can produce distinctive deposits that are rarely described from ancient fluvial or mixed-energy successions. Large-scale outcrops from the Middle Jurassic Lajas Formation (Argentina) expose a well-constrained stratigraphic succession of marginal-marine deposits with a strong fluvial influence and well-known tidal indicators. The studied deposits show decimetre-scale interbedding of coarser- and finer-grained facies with mixed fluvial and tidal affinities. The alternation of these two types of beds forms non-cyclic successions that are interpreted to be the result of seasonal variation in river discharge, rather than regular and predictable changes in current velocity caused by tides. Seasonal bedding is present in bar deposits that form within or at the mouth of minor and major channels. Seasonal bedding is not preserved in channel thalweg deposits, where river flood processes were too powerful, or in floodplain, muddy interdistributary-bay, prodelta and transgressive deposits, where the river signal was weak and sporadic. The identification of sedimentary facies characteristic of seasonal river discharge variations is important for accurate interpretation of ancient deltaic process regime

CaBER vs ROJER - Different time scales for the thinning of a weakly elastic jet

In this paper, we demonstrate that the capillary thinning dynamics of a weakly viscoelastic jet follow a different timescale than a liquid bridge of the same fluid between two stationary surfaces for similar geometrical scales. The thinning in the latter case observed with capillary breakup extensional rheometry (or CaBER) follows a well established scaling of the radius with time for an elasto-capillary (EC) balance of R ∼ exp (- t / 3 λ). However, for the thinning of the filaments between droplets in a jet, it was so far just assumed that the same scaling law holds. In this paper, we experimentally demonstrate that the jet thinning in a Rayleigh-Ohnesorge jetting extensional rheometer (or ROJER) follows a different scaling of R ∼ exp (- t / 2 λ). This is demonstrated by a direct comparison of the thinning dynamics of weakly viscoelastic (O h < 0.01) aqueous solutions of polyethylene oxide in the two experimental setups, covering a wide range of jetting velocities or Weber numbers of 1-70. We demonstrate outgoing from a momentum balance that includes inertia and elasticity that this difference in scaling is due to a constant axial tension in the jet arising from the constant creation rate of new surface at the nozzle. Numerical simulations using the FENE-P model support this theory and demonstrate that in the exponential thinning regime of the jet the elastic stresses are indeed balanced by the axial tension (rather than by capillary pressure as in the EC balance regime of the CaBER experiment). It is readily shown from the reduced stress balance that this axial-elastic balance regime in the ROJER experiment leads to a faster exponential thinning, following the new scaling of R ∼ exp (- t / 2 λ) that was experimentally observed. Furthermore, we observe both in experiment and simulation that a jet thinning does not exhibit a self-similar structure of the corner region where the thinning filament connects to the drop as it is generally observed for a filament with an axial tension decaying with the filament radius as in the CaBER. The resulting difference of 50% in extensional relaxation time λ extracted from ROJER experiments might require one to revisit previously reported ROJER experiments and is required for the correct evaluation of future jetting rheometry experiments

British trade unions and the academics: the case of Unionlearn

Unionlearn and union learning representatives were developed by the British TUC to match workers with education and training opportunities, strengthen the economy, foster market inclusion and facilitate social mobility. Their contribution to union revitalisation was emphasised. This article questions whether, with unions confronting global crisis, this is a necessary initiative. It stemmed from TUC failure to achieve policy goals, institutional needs, consequent acceptance of a lesser role, and the availability of state finance. Claims by academics that it provides influence over state policy and contributes to revitalisation remain inadequately evidenced. Union resurgence is not immanent. The way forward is through adversarial grassroots organising and socialist education, not through retooling capital, improving members’ marketability and partnership with a hostile state