Volumetric budget and grain-size fractionation of a geological sediment routing system: Eocene Escanilla Formation, south-central Pyrenees

The supply of sediment and its characteristic grain-size mix are key controls on depositional facies and stratigraphic architectures in sedimentary basins. Consequently, constraints on sediment caliber, budgets, and fluxes are a prerequisite for effective stratigraphic prediction. Here, we investigate a mid- to late Eocene (41.6–33.9 Ma) sediment routing system in the Spanish Pyrenees. We derive a full volumetric sediment budget, weighted for grain-size fractions, partitioned between terrestrial and marine depositional sectors, and we quantify sediment fluxes between depocenters. The paleo–sediment routing system was controlled by syndepositional thrust tectonics and consisted of two major feeder systems eroding the high Pyrenees that supplied a river system draining parallel to the regional tectonic strike and that ultimately exported sediment to coastal, shallow- marine and deep-marine depo centers. We show significant changes in both the volume and grain-size distribution of sediment eroded from the Pyrenean mountain belt during three different time intervals in the mid- to late Eocene, which controlled the characteristics of stratigraphy preserved in a series of wedge-top basins The time-averaged sediment discharge from source areas increased from ~250 km3/m.y. to 700 km3/m.y. over the 7.7 m.y. interval investigated. This temporal increase in sediment supply caused major westward progradation of facies belts and led to substantial sediment bypass through the terrestrial routing system to the (initially) marine Jaca Basin. The grain-size mix, measured as size fractions of gravel, sand, and fi ner than sand, also changed over the three time intervals intervals. Integration of volumetric and grain-size information from source to sink provides an estimate of the long-term grain-size distribution of the sediment supply, comprising 9% gravel, 24% sand, and 67% finer than sand. The techniques and concepts used in the Escanilla study can profitably be applied to paleo–sediment routing systems in other tectonic and climatic settings and to catchments with a range of bedrock lithology and vegetation. This will promote a better generic understanding of the dynamics of source-to sink systems and provide a powerful tool for forward stratigraphic modeling. The sediment routing system approach has the potential to contribute strongly to new models of sequence stratigraphy

How Powerful Was the National Policy? The Lesson of the Cotton Mills

Historians have claimed that Canadian manufacturing grew in the nineteenth century largely because of the National Policy tariff. In the case of the cotton textile sector,  our findings cast serious doubt on the long-standing idea that the National Policy was indispensable to the growth of Canadian manufacturing before WWI

Functional and genetic evidence that nucleoside transport is highly conserved in Leishmania species: Implications for pyrimidine-based chemotherapy

Leishmania pyrimidine salvage is replete with opportunities for therapeutic intervention with enzyme inhibitors or antimetabolites. Their uptake into cells depends upon specific transporters; therefore it is essential to establish whether various Leishmania species possess similar pyrimidine transporters capable of drug uptake. Here, we report a comprehensive characterization of pyrimidine transport in L. major and L. mexicana. In both species, two transporters for uridine/adenosine were detected, one of which also transported uracil and the antimetabolites 5-fluoruracil (5-FU) and 5F,2′deoxyuridine (5F,2′dUrd), and was designated uridine-uracil transporter 1 (UUT1); the other transporter mediated uptake of adenosine, uridine, 5F,2′dUrd and thymidine and was designated Nucleoside Transporter 1 (NT1). To verify the reported L. donovani model of two NT1-like genes encoding uridine/adenosine transporters, and an NT2 gene encoding an inosine transporter, we cloned the corresponding L. major and L. mexicana genes, expressing each in T. brucei. Consistent with the L. donovani reports, the NT1-like genes of either species mediated the adenosine-sensitive uptake of [3H]-uridine but not of [3H]-inosine. Conversely, the NT2-like genes mediated uptake of [3H]-inosine but not [3H]-uridine. Among pyrimidine antimetabolites tested, 5-FU and 5F,2′dUrd were the most effective antileishmanials; resistance to both analogs was induced in L. major and L. mexicana. In each case it was found that the resistant cells had lost the transport capacity for the inducing drug. Metabolomics analysis found that the mechanism of action of 5-FU and 5F-2′dUrd was similar in both Leishmania species, with major changes in deoxynucleotide metabolism. We conclude that the pyrimidine salvage system is highly conserved in Leishmania species - essential information for the development of pyrimidine-based chemotherapy

Improved hatchery and grow-out technology for marine finfish aquaculture in the Asia–Pacific region

This project focussed on improving marine finfish aquaculture production in the Asia-Pacific region by focussing on key constraints: improving hatchery technology to improve the availability of seedstock; evaluating the nutritional needs of groupers to support the development of compounded pellet diets; and improving communication and coordination of marine finfish aquaculture research and development activities in the Asia-Pacific region

Impact of microplastics on organic fouling of hollow fiber membranes

Given the potential hazards of microplastics (MPs), it is desirable to efficiently remove them during wastewater treatment processes. To this end, ultrafiltration (UF) membranes can significantly increase the removal of MPs, however the fouling of such membrane modules can also be impacted by the presence of MPs. Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) was used here to non-invasively quantify the effect of polyethylene (PE) MPs accumulation in a 3D UF hollow fiber (HF) membrane module containing 400 fibers, via direct non-invasive velocity imaging of the flow distribution between individual fibers during module operation. The co-effect of MPs and alginate (a common organic model foulant mimicking extracellular polymeric substances (EPS)) on fouling of the HF module was then explored. Flow was initially equally distributed with fouling causing flow in particular fibers to be significantly reduced. Fouling with MPs resulted in minimal flow distribution disruption and was easily remediated hydraulically, in contrast alginate fouling required chemical cleaning in order to fully restore homogeneous flow distribution between the fibers. The presence of both MPs and alginate resulted in a more heterogeneous disruption of the fibre flow distribution due to fouling and resulted in much more effective hydraulic cleaning of the module

Evaluation of hemicell® on growth performance of late nursery pigs

A total of 276 pigs (initially 21.9 lb) was used to determine the effects of added Hemicell® on growth performance. Hemicell® is a patented fermentation product of Bacillus lentus. The active ingredient in the fermentation product is β-mannanase. However, other enzymes such as amylase, xylanase, cellulases, and α-galactosidase also are present. It is claimed that Hemicell® degrades β-mannan in feed, thus, removing its effects as an antinutritive factor in swine diets. Dietary treatments were arranged as a 2 x 3 factorial, with or without 0.05% Hemicell®, in diets with 3 levels of energy density (1,388, 1,488, 1,588 ME, kcal/lb). The 100 kcal increments were achieved by the addition of wheat bran or soy oil to a corn-soybean meal based diet. The addition of Hemicell® to the diets, regardless of energy level, did not lead to an improvement in growth performance in these late nursery pigs. Increasing energy density of the diet, however, resulted in an improved ADG and F/G

BB Intermeson Potentials in the Quark Model

In this paper we derive quark model results for scattering amplitudes and equivalent low energy potentials for heavy meson pairs, in which each meson contains a heavy quark. This "BB" system is an attractive theoretical laboratory for the study of the nuclear force between color singlets; the hadronic system is relatively simple, and there are lattice gauge theory (LGT) results for V_BB(r) which may be compared to phenomenological models. We find that the quark model potential (after lattice smearing) has qualitative similarities to the LGT potential in the two B*B* channels in which direct comparison is possible, although there is evidence of a difference in length scales. The quark model prediction of equal magnitude but opposite sign for I=0 and I=1 potentials also appears similar to LGT results at intermediate r. There may however be a discrepancy between the LGT and quark model I=1 BB potentials. A numerical study of the two-meson Schrodinger equations in the (bqbar)(bqbar) and (cqbar)(cqbar) sectors with the quark model potentials finds a single "molecule", in the I=0 BB* sector. Binding in other channels might occur if the quark model forces are augmented by pion exchange.Comment: 30 pages, 5 figures, revtex and epsfig. Submitted to Phys. Rev.