8,678 research outputs found
Plant microfossil record of the terminal Cretaceous event in the western United States and Canada
Plant microfossils, principally pollen grains and spores produced by land plants, provide an excellent record of the terminal Cretaceous event in nonmarine environments. The record indicates regional devastation of the latest Cretaceous vegetation with the extinction of many groups, followed by a recolonization of the earliest Tertiary land surface, and development of a permanently changed land flora. The regional variations in depositional environments, plant communities, and paleoclimates provide insight into the nature and effects of the event, which were short-lived but profound. The plant microfossil data support the hypothesis that an abruptly initiated, major ecological crisis occurred at the end of the Cretaceous. Disruption of the Late Cretaceous flora ultimately contributred to the rise of modern vegetation. The plant microfossils together with geochemical and mineralogical data are consistent with an extraterrestrial impact having been the cause of the terminal Cretaceous event
Method and apparatus for fabricating improved solar cell modules
A method and apparatus for fabricating an improved solar cell module is described. The apparatus includes a supply drum for feeding a flexible strip having etched electrical circuitry deposited on it a supply drum for feeding into overlying engagement with the flexible strip a flexible tape having a pair of exposed tacky surfaces, and a plurality of rams for receiving and depositing a plurality of solar cells in side-by-side relation on an exposed tacky surface of the tape in electrical contacting engagement with the etched circuitry
Self-organized metal nanostructures through laser driven thermocapillary convection
When ultrathin metal films are subjected to multiple cycles of rapid melting
and resolidification by a ns pulsed laser, spatially correlated interfacial
nanostructures can result from a competition among several possible thin film
self-organizing processes. Here we investigate self-organization and the
ensuing length scales when Co films (1-8 nm thick) on SiO_{\text{2}} surfaces
are repeatedly and rapidly melted by non-uniform (interference) laser
irradiation. Pattern evolution produces nanowires, which eventually break-up
into nanoparticles exhibiting spatial order in the nearest neighbor spacing,
\lambda_{NN2}.The scaling behavior is consistent with pattern formation by
thermocapillary flow and a Rayleigh-like instability. For h_{0}\leq2 nm, a
hydrodynamic instability of a spinodally unstable film leads to the formation
of nanoparticles.Comment: 10 pages, 3 figure
Stimulus specificity in spatially-extended interocular suppression
AbstractIn typical binocular rivalry demonstrations, disparate images presented in corresponding locations to the two eyes are found to alternate perceptually over time. Alternation in perception can occur even if the images presented to the two eyes do not overlap, if they are sufficiently close in space. This implies a spatial spread in the interocular interaction. The current set of experiments explores how the luminance pattern of a target, in relation to a rivalrous suppressor, affects its susceptibility to suppression. It was found that the susceptibility to suppression of a target pattern was nonlinearly related to the amount of luminance variation along the target in the direction perpendicular to the suppressing stimulus. For instance, there was a strong effect of the orientation of the grating pattern within the target on the total time of suppression, with much more suppression for horizontal gratings than vertical gratings when suppressor bars were oriented vertically, regardless of the luminance pattern within the suppressors. Furthermore, it was shown that the inclusion of a spatial gap between the vertical suppressors and the central portion of the target does more than simply change the spatial relationships, it adds new figural information, such as vertically orientated edges in the targets, that modify the susceptibility to suppression of the target, thereby interfering with measurements of spatial interaction functions. All of the results are consistent with selectively suppressing stimulus information that would interfere with stereoscopic matching to aid the binocular fusion of disparate retinal images
Structure of the two-boundary XXZ model with non-diagonal boundary terms
We study the integrable XXZ model with general non-diagonal boundary terms at
both ends. The Hamiltonian is considered in terms of a two boundary extension
of the Temperley-Lieb algebra.
We use a basis that diagonalizes a conserved charge in the one-boundary case.
The action of the second boundary generator on this space is computed. For the
L-site chain and generic values of the parameters we have an irreducible space
of dimension 2^L. However at certain critical points there exists a smaller
irreducible subspace that is invariant under the action of all the bulk and
boundary generators. These are precisely the points at which Bethe Ansatz
equations have been formulated. We compute the dimension of the invariant
subspace at each critical point and show that it agrees with the splitting of
eigenvalues, found numerically, between the two Bethe Ansatz equations.Comment: 9 pages Latex. Minor correction
Equivalences between spin models induced by defects
The spectrum of integrable spin chains are shown to be independent of the
ordering of their spins. As an application we introduce defects (local spin
inhomogeneities in homogenous chains) in two-boundary spin systems and, by
changing their locations, we show the spectral equivalence of different
boundary conditions. In particular we relate certain nondiagonal boundary
conditions to diagonal ones.Comment: 14 pages, 16 figures, LaTeX, Extended versio
Low temperature shape relaxation of 2-d islands by edge diffusion
We present a precise microscopic description of the limiting step for low
temperature shape relaxation of two dimensional islands in which activated
diffusion of particles along the boundary is the only mechanism of transport
allowed. In particular, we are able to explain why the system is driven
irreversibly towards equilibrium. Based on this description, we present a
scheme for calculating the duration of the limiting step at each stage of the
relaxation process. Finally, we calculate numerically the total relaxation time
as predicted by our results and compare it with simulations of the relaxation
process.Comment: 11 pages, 5 figures, to appear in Phys. Rev.
Completion Report: Pesticide and Nitrate Monitoring Results for Craighead, Mississippi, and Poinsett Counties, Arkansas: Phase II
Because of the concern for potential contamination of ground water by agricultural chemicals, 38 wells drilled in the Mississippi River Valley alluvial aquifer in Mississippi County and the eastern parts of Craighead and Poinsett Counties, Arkansas were analyzed for pesticides and nitrate. The pesticide, fluometuron, was detected in one sample at a concentration of 0.5 mg/L. Bentazon was detected in three samples at concentrations of 2.5, 0.3, and 0.3 mg/L. The occurrences of the pesticides appear to represent isolated incidents rather than a widespread aquifer contamination. All detections were below health and safety standards. Nitrate is present in several wells at concentrations above 0.15 mg/L, one of which exceeded the EPA established maximum contaminant level for drinking water of 10 milligrams per liter as nitrogen. Except for two wells nitrate and iron are not present together at concentrations above 0.15 mg!L. This is probably due to microbially mediated reactions. Nitrate concentrations above 0.15 mg/L is only present in wells that are less than 60 feet deep and near permeable soils. Iron is present in wells that are not near permeable soils or wells that are greater than 40 feet deep, and may exceed 1 mg/L in some cases
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