A fresh look at chemical fossil extraction

In this age of microtechnology, now more than ever before, detail is indispensable. In the past, the damage to fossils during retrieval, preparation and storage was an accepted downfall of the scientific process. With the increasing use of advanced techniques, which rely on high-resolution applications such as scanning electron microscopes and microtomography, there is a definite need to improve on the actual fossil extraction methods currently used. The aim of this work is to achieve an ideal method of extraction where the fossil is retrieved in its entirety without adding or taking away any evidence whatsoever

Influence of reference tube location on the measured sodium concentrations in calf muscles using a birdcage coil at 3T

PURPOSE: To investigate the influence of the sodium (Na) reference tube location in a birdcage coil on the quantification of Na in the calf muscle. Two correction methods were also evaluated. METHOD: Eight (4 × 20 mM, 4 × 30 mM Na) reference tubes were placed along the inner surface of the coil and one (30 mM Na) tube more centrally near the tibia. In two volunteers, four repeated UTE scans were acquired. In six calf muscles, the Na concentration was calculated based on each reference tube. Flip angle mapping of a homogenous Na phantom was used for correcting intensity values. Alternatively, a normalized intensity map was used for correcting the in vivo signal intensities. Results were given as range or SD of Na concentration measurements over the reference tubes. RESULTS: For calf Na measurements, there was limited space for positioning reference tubes away from coil B1 inhomogeneity. In both volunteers, the Na quantification depended greatly on the reference tube used with a range of up to 10 mM. The central tube location gave a Na quantification close to the mean of the other tubes. The flip angle and normalized signal intensity phantom-based correction methods decreased the quantification variation from 14.9% to 5.0% and 10.4% to 2.7%, respectively. Both correction methods had little influence (&lt; 2.3%) on quantification based on the central tube. CONCLUSION: Despite use of a birdcage coil, location of the reference tube had a great impact on Na quantification in the calf muscles. Although both correction methods did reduce this variation, placing the reference tube more centrally was found to give the most reliable results.</p

Spin-State Transition and Metal-Insulator Transition in La1−x_{1-x}Eux_xCoO3_3}

We present a study of the structure, the electric resistivity, the magnetic susceptibility, and the thermal expansion of La$_{1-x}$Eu$_x$CoO$_3$. LaCoO$_3$ shows a temperature-induced spin-state transition around 100 K and a metal-insulator transition around 500 K. Partial substitution of La$^{3+}$ by the smaller Eu$^{3+}$ causes chemical pressure and leads to a drastic increase of the spin gap from about 190 K in LaCoO$_3$ to about 2000 K in EuCoO$_3$, so that the spin-state transition is shifted to much higher temperatures. A combined analysis of thermal expansion and susceptibility gives evidence that the spin-state transition has to be attributed to a population of an intermediate-spin state with orbital order for $x<0.5$ and without orbital order for larger $x$. In contrast to the spin-state transition, the metal-insulator transition is shifted only moderately to higher temperatures with increasing Eu content, showing that the metal-insulator transition occurs independently from the spin-state distribution of the Co$^{3+}$ ions. Around the metal-insulator transition the magnetic susceptibility shows a similar increase for all $x$ and approaches a doping-independent value around 1000 K indicating that well above the metal-insulator transition the same spin state is approached for all $x$.Comment: 10 pages, 6 figure

Structure, Transport and Magnetic properties in La2x_{2x}Sr2−2x_{2-2x}Co2x_{2x}Ru2−2x_{2-2x}O6_{6}

The perovskite solid solutions of the type La$_{2x}$Sr$_{2-2x}$Co$_{2x}$Ru$_{2-2x}$O$_{6}$ with 0.25 $\leq$ x $\leq$ 0.75 have been investigated for their structural, magnetic and transport properties. All the compounds crystallize in double perovskite structure. The magnetization measurements indicate a complex magnetic ground state with strong competition between ferromagnetic and antiferromagnetic interactions. Resistivity of the compounds is in confirmation with hopping conduction behaviour though differences are noted especially for $x$ = 0.4 and 0.6. Most importantly, low field (50Oe) magnetization measurements display negative magnetization during the zero field cooled cycle. X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy measurements indicate presence of Co$^{2+}$/Co$^{3+}$ and Ru$^{4+}$/Ru$^{5+}$ redox couples in all compositions except $x$ = 0.5. Presence of magnetic ions like Ru$^{4+}$ and Co$^{3+}$ gives rise to additional ferromagnetic (Ru-rich) and antiferromagnetic sublattices and also explains the observed negative magnetization.Comment: Accepted for publication in J. Magn. Magn. Mate

Spin state and phase competition in TbBaCo_{2}O_{5.5} and the lanthanide series LnBaCo_{2}O_{5+\delta} (0<=\delta<=1)

A clear physics picture of TbBaCo$_{2}$O$_{5.5}$ is revealed on the basis of density functional theory calculations. An antiferromagnetic (AFM) superexchange coupling between the almost high-spin Co$^{3+}$ ions competes with a ferromagnetic (FM) interaction mediated by both p-d exchange and double exchange, being responsible for the observed AFM-FM transition. And the metal-insulator transition is accompanied by an xy/xz orbital-ordering transition. Moreover, this picture can be generalized to the whole lanthanide series, and it is predicted that a few room-temperature magnetoresistance materials could be found in LnBa$_{1-x}$A$_{x}$Co$_{2}$O$_{5+\delta}$ (Ln=Ho,Er,Tm,Yb,Lu; A=Sr,Ca,Mg).Comment: 13 pages, 2 figures; to be published in Phys. Rev. B on 1st Sept. Title and Bylines are added to the revised versio

Palaeomagnetic and synchrotron analysis of \u3e1.95 Ma fossil-bearing palaeokarst at Haasgat, South Africa

Palaeomagnetic analysis indicates that Haasgat, a fossil-bearing palaeocave in the Gauteng Province of South Africa, is dominated by reversed magnetic polarity in its oldest, deepest layers and normal polarity in the younger layers. The presence of in-situ Equus specimens suggests an age of less than ~2.3 Ma, while morphological analysis of faunal specimens from the ex-situ assemblage suggests an age greater than 1.8 Ma. Given this faunal age constraint, the older reversed polarity sections most likely date to the beginning of the Matuyama Chron (2.58–1.95 Ma), while the younger normal polarity deposits likely date to the very beginning of the Olduvai Sub-Chron (1.95–1.78 Ma). The occurrence of a magnetic reversal from reversed to normal polarity recorded in the sequence indicates the deposits of the Bridge Section date to ~1.95 Ma. All the in-situ fossil deposits that have been noted are older than the 1.95 Ma reversal, but younger than 2.3 Ma. Haasgat therefore dates to an interesting time period in South African human evolution that saw the last occurrence of two australopith species at ~2.05–2.02 Ma (Sts5 Australopithecus africanus from Sterkfontein Member 4) to ~1.98 Ma ( Australopithecus sediba from Malapa) and the first occurrence of early Homo (Sk847), Paranthropus and the Oldowan within Swartkrans Member 1 between ~2.0 Ma and ~1.8 Ma