An effective palynological preparation procedure using hydrogen peroxide

Most pre-Quaternary palynology samples are currently prepared by demineralization of the sediment/sedimentary rock matrix using hydrochloric and hydrofluoric acids (HCl and HF respectively). If a consistently effective alternative to this procedure can be developed, palynological processing will be made significantly less hazardous to both laboratory personnel, and to the wider environment. Furthermore, most non-acid processing methods are normally quicker and cheaper than matrix dissolution using acid. Some authors have previously used hydrogen peroxide (H2O2) to extract palynomorphs by the physico–chemical disaggregation of the clay fraction. However, H2O2 is a powerful oxidizing agent and hence can potentially destroy sedimentary organic material, including palynomorphs. A new method using hot H2O2, where exposure of the sample material to the H2O2 is minimized, has been developed. Crushed sample material in a suitable vessel is placed on a hot plate for one minute, treated with 15–30% H2O2 for 10 minutes, then the residue is diluted with cold distilled water. Disaggregated sample material tends to float, and is decanted into a large vessel containing distilled water to further dilute the H2O2. If any undisaggregated sample remains, the procedure is repeated several times if necessary. Relatively indurated sedimentary lithotypes normally require several treatments. The reason for this stepwise treatment is that the organic material is not exposed to H2O2 for sustained periods, thereby reducing the possibility of palynomorph damage/degradation due to oxidation. When the sample matrix has been fully disaggregated, the residue can be further processed as appropriate. In this study, eight samples of Carboniferous, Jurassic, Paleogene, and Quaternary age were prepared quantitatively using the new H2O2 method. These were all prepared using 30% H2O2. For comparison, they were also prepared quantitatively using HCl/HF and/or sodium hexametaphosphate [(NaPO3)6]. Quantitative preparations allow the concentration of palynomorphs extracted to be determined, and therefore the effectiveness of the techniques used can be compared objectively. The palynomorph residues derived from these three techniques varied markedly. The H2O2 method does not consistently disaggregate all the sample material, particularly the older and more indurated lithotypes. Some evidence of oxidation effects was observed. Two samples of Mississippian mudstone from the U.S.A. were prepared using H2O2 and (NaPO3)6. Both methods produced abundant miospores, however the H2O2 procedure yielded far higher palynomorph concentrations than the (NaPO3)6 technique. Minor degradation of palynomorphs in the H2O2 preparation was noted. The H2O2 and HCl/HF methods were compared directly on a palynomorph-rich sample of Upper Carboniferous mudstone from offshore Scotland. Both preparations produced abundant miospores. The HCl/HF method had significantly higher recovery levels than the H2O2 procedure. It appears that the H2O2 method simultaneously macerates the matrix, and oxidizes any amorphous organic material (AOM) present. In this sample, the HCl/HF residue was relatively rich in AOM. By contrast, the H2O2 preparation is virtually clear of this phytoclast type, which partially obscures palynomorphs. Two samples of the Middle Jurassic Grantham Formation of eastern England were processed using H2O2 and HCl/HF. The two methods produced abundant palynofloras of similar palynomorph concentrations. Two dinoflagellate cyst acmes within the Danian (Paleogene) part of the López de Bertodano Formation of Seymour Island, Antarctica were also tested using H2O2, (NaPO3)6, and HCl/HF. TheH2O2 preparation completely destroyed the dominant taxon, Palaeoperidinium pyrophorum, in one sample. By contrast, the (NaPO3)6 and HCl/HF preparations produced abundant, fully representative palynofloras. In the other sample, the acme of Spinidinium spp. is completely unaffected by the H2O2 preparation procedure. The final sample of this study is an unconsolidated clay of Late Pleistocene age from offshore Scotland. Both the H2O2 and HCl/HF preparations proved similar in both taxonomic content and overall palynomorph yield. The new method of preparation using hot H2O2 has proved to be extremely effective. In particular, it appears to be superior to the (NaPO3)6 procedure for indurated lithotypes. However care should be taken because H2O2 can destroy certain dinoflagellate cysts and kerogen macerals which are especially susceptible to oxidation. Further development work, and more comparative testing of the H2O2, (NaPO3)6, and HCl/HF procedures, should be undertaken

Characteristics of Hydrogel-Wetted Thin Films

The meniscus region of a thin film is known to have high heat transfer properties due to high evaporation rates and activation of latent heat. The region known as the thin film meniscus (δfilm lt& 2 µm ) can account for more than half of the total heat transfer of a droplet or film. This study focuses on the potential elongation and curvature amplification of the thin film meniscus region by the implementation of a layer of high hydrogen bonding (hydrogel) film on which the liquid meniscus is built. Forced wetting via liquid propagation though this hydrogel layer in the radial direction increases the surface area of the film. By analyzing the mass flux of liquid lost through evaporation and using both spectroscopic and optical methods to obtain the curvature of the film, relationships between hydrogel thickness and the resulting mass flux were made. Isothermal and steady state assumptions were used to relate hydrogel thickness layers to meniscus curvature, evaporative mass flux, and overall heat transfer coefficients. The experimental results demonstrate, that steady state conditions are achievable with small percentage change in film profile over time. These results are promising toward the addition of the hydrogel coatings and further advancements in heat piping and high heat flux cooling systems for micro electronic devices

Magnetic cloud distortion resulting from propagation through a structured solar wind: Models and observations

Numerical simulations of magnetic clouds (MCs) propagating through a structured solar wind suggest that MC-associated magnetic flux ropes are highly distorted by inhomogeneities in the ambient medium. In particular, a solar wind configuration of fast wind from high latitudes and slow wind at low latitudes, common at periods close to solar minimum, should distort the cross section of magnetic clouds into concave-outward structures. This phenomenon has been reported in observations of shock front orientations, but not in the body of magnetic clouds. In this study an analytical magnetic cloud model based upon a kinematically distorted flux rope is modified to simulate propagation through a structured medium. This new model is then used to identify specific time series signatures of the resulting concave-outward flux ropes. In situ observations of three well studied magnetic clouds are examined with comparison to the model, but the expected concave-outward signatures are not present. Indeed, the observations are better described by the convex-outward flux rope model. This may be due to a sharp latitudinal transition from fast to slow wind, resulting in a globally concave-outward flux rope, but with convex-outward signatures on a local scale

Educating Gentlemen and Accomplish\u27d Citizens : Establishment, Enlightenment, and Colonial Virginia\u27s Collegiate Transformation

This project traces the shift of educational, and in many ways, intellectual, hegemony from the elite College of William and Mary in the Tidewater region, to those institutions founded in the western parts of the Commonwealth. As a result of diversified people groups, religious pluralism, and influences from scattered religious revivals, people formerly considered agrarian folk, found themselves in the midst of Virginia\u27s intellectual and education transformation. Because of the school\u27s unshakable connections to both the English monarchy and the Established Church in Virginia, the College of William and Mary failed to incorporate a more religiously tolerant agenda. With the development of American independence, the College was unable and unwilling to adopt the diverse cultures surrounding it, and thus relegated as an English religious institution amidst a country and state taking on a new Republican identity. The academies in the backcountry, having already adopted a more universal educational paradigm, not only adopted Republican rhetoric, but quickly became the foremost centers in Virginia for enlightened Republican education. Synthesizing the diverse cultures around them into a unified educational paradigm, the backcountry institutions were able to do what the College of William and Mary could not; they espoused and encouraged ideas of Republican liberties and developed students for practical professions within the new Commonwealth

The Confederacy At Flood Tide: The Political And Military Ascension, June To December 1862

Flood Tide: A Decisive Moment Philip Leigh\u27s book, The Confederacy at Flood Tide, begins with the Peninsula Campaign, the beginning of the flood tide, and ends with the Emancipation Proclamation, the most decisive event of the flood-tide period (204). The author lays out his theses in the...

A structural study of high temperature metal-rich titanium sulfide phases

Ti/sub 2/S and Ti/sub 8/S/sub 3/ have been prepared by high temperature annealing techniques. The crystal structures of these two phases have been determined from single crystal x-ray diffraction data. Both structures were refined using a full-matrix least-squares treatment of positional parameters and isotropic temperature factor coefficients. Ti/sub 2/S crystallizes with orthorhombic symmetry, space group Pnnm, having unit cell dimensions a = 11.367A, b= 14.060A, and c = 3.326A. Ti/sub 2/S is isostructural with Ta/sub 2/P. Ti/sub 8/S/sub 3/ crystallizes with monoclinic symmetry, space group C2/m, a = 32.69A, b = 3.327A, c = 19.35A, ..beta.. = 139.9/sup 0/ (b - unique). Ti/sub 2/S and Ti/sub 8/S/sub 3/ have structural features similar to the features of a large number of metal-rich transition-metal chalcogenides and pnictides. These various structure types have been characterized in terms of nonmetal trigonal prismatic coordination polyhedra, eight different metal partial coordination polyhedra, a short (approximately equal to 3.4A) crystallographic axis, two unique layers of atoms containing both metal and nonmetal atom positions, and mirror planes coincident with the two layers of atom positions. The existence of a variety of structures with these structural features has led to their consideration as a unique structural class. The structural similarities and differences between the structure types of this class have been discussed in detail. Comparison of different structure types emphasized the importance of the metal bonding contribution in understanding the structural features and suggested limitations on qualitative bonding models used to understand the structural-chemical principles underlying structure stability

Theory of Ultracold Atomic Collisions in Radio-frequency Fields

This thesis has investigated the dynamics of ultracold atomic collisions in the presence of both static magnetic and oscillating radio-frequency (rf) fields. The bound state structure and scattering length of 39K+133Cs was examined in the presence of only a static magnetic field, where it was found that no Feshbach resonance of suitable width for magnetoassociation existed at a magnetic field where caesium can be cooled to degeneracy. We then showed that zero-energy Feshbach resonances may be engineered using an rf field in places where they did not previously exist. An rf field with frequency 79.9 MHz was chosen to induce a resonance near 21 G. The widths of such rf-induced Feshbach resonances increase quadratically with rf field strength. The resonances presented are lossless with circularly polarized rf, and the molecules created are long-lived even with plane-polarized RF. Collisional losses in rf-dressed magnetic traps were also investigated. An rf-induced loss mechanism that does not exist in the absence of rf radiation was identified. This mechanism is not suppressed by a centrifugal barrier in the outgoing channel, and can be much faster than spin relaxation, which is centrifugally suppressed. We explore the dependence of the rf-induced loss rate on singlet and triplet scattering lengths, hyperfine splittings and the strength of the rf field. The results were interpreted in terms of an adiabatic model of the collision dynamics, and calculate the corresponding nonadiabatic couplings. The loss rate can vary by 10 orders of magnitude as a function of singlet and triplet scattering lengths. 87Rb is a special case, where several factors combine to reduce rf-induced losses; as a result, they are slow compared to spin-relaxation losses. For most other alkali-metal pairs, rf-induced losses are expected to be much faster and may dominate. For heteronuclear mixtures an rf-modified spin-exchange mechanism was identified that results in loss rates orders of magnitude greater than the rf-induced loss rates in homonuclear cases. Fast loss is expected in mixtures where the Lande g-factors differ

Mesoscopic and Microscopic Structure of the Lake Char - Honey Hill Mylonite Zone, Eastern Connecticut

Guidebook for field trips in Connecticut and adjacent areas of New York and Rhode Island: New England Intercollegiate Geological Conference 77th annual meeting, Yale University, New Haven, Connecticut, October 4-6, 1985: Trip A