Sedimentary, microbial and deformation features in the lower Belt Supergroup (ca. 1.45 Ga), western North America: pseudofossils, facies, tides and syndepositional tectonic activity in a Mesoproterozoic intracratonic basin

The Belt Supergroup, called the Purcell Supergroup in Canada, accumulated in a broad, rapidly subsiding basin that formed during the oblique collision of an Australian craton with western Laurentia around 1.45 Gyr ago. These rocks are exposed in southwestern Alberta, southeastern British Columbia, and adjacent northwestern Montana, Idaho and northeastern Washington. Emplaced over Upper Cretaceous rocks by the Lewis Thrust fault, the northeastern exposures of the Lower Belt succession are in Waterton and Glacier national parks of Alberta and Montana, as well Castle Wildland Provincial Park of Alberta. The Lower Belt in this region was deposited initially as a west-facing carbonate platform while the basin had considerable bathymetric relief, but it shallowed due to voluminous siliciclastic mud input from the eroding orogen to the west. The Lower Belt has not been studied since the 1980s when the carbonate rocks were interpreted as tidal flat deposits, and a few years later the ‘string-of-beads’ features in mudstones of the lower Appekunny Formation were formally named Horodyskia and regarded as the oldest eukaryotic macrofossils. Thus, the aim of thesis is to approach these rocks in a modern perspective, using a combination of measured sections, photography, serial sectioning, petrography, scanning electron microscopy, X-ray diffraction, CT scanning and synchrotron XRF analysis. Horodyskia has been interpreted as a eukaryotic fossil, and algal, animal and fungal-like affinities have been suggested. Instead, it is shown here to be not a fossil but the preferential binding of mud flakes and flocs onto a wrinkled and tufted microbial benthic mat. The mat, or biofilm, was characterized by elevated pinnacles and ridges that bound these particles creating the appearance of an organised curvilinear structure as the mat continued to build up over time. Although Horodyskia is not a eukaryotic fossil, it is not simply a pseudofossil but a kind of microbially-induced sedimentary structure. The underlying Haig Brook, Tombstone Mountain and Waterton formations indicate that a broad, eastward-shallowing carbonate ramp developed. The carbonate factory was dominated by lime mud production. The overlying Altyn Formation records a prograding carbonate platform succession that culminated in a shallow shelf setting. Five main facies are identified in the Waterton and Altyn formations: laminated mudstone, ribbon limestone, grainstone, oolite and stromatolite patch reefs. The last three were deposited under relatively high energy conditions. In northern sections the quartz and carbonate sand formed shoals reworked by tidal action, whereas in the southern area this facies occurs as allochthonous beds in a deeper, outer shelf setting. Oolite and grainstone locally exhibit large clinoforms which are interpreted as westward-migrating sand bars formed by tidal currents. Extensive tidal flats and sabkhas are inferred to have been present along the coastline on the basis of silicified oolite and anhydrite grains admixed in the grainstone. Not only did tsunamis impact the coast, tsunami off-surge is interpreted as the main agent of transporting coarse inner shelf grains to the middle and outer shelf, and occasionally down the ramp. Tidal effects diminished, then ceased after burial of the carbonate platform by muds from a western source which led to a shallowing of the Belt Basin. Although it was probably major faults in the basin centre that caused the tsunamis, tectonic activity also caused the platform to be wracked by strong earthquakes which generated a variety of syndepositional deformation structures depending on the rheology of the sediments. These seismites include folds, ball-and-pillow structure, cracks, microfaults, breccias, cataclastites, veins and rare molar-tooth structure. Molar-tooth structure also formed in inner-shelf lime muds as evidenced by transported microspar grains in grainstone. The facies-dependent nature of these features corroborates previous work on the Belt Supergroup and other units of pre-Cambrian and Phanerozoic ages. The salient achievements of this study are: (1) elucidation of Horodyskia and the intricacies of mud deposition and microbial mats in the Appekunny Formation; (2) a new interpretation of the sedimentology of the Lower Belt carbonate platform based on facies and inferred environments; (3) the recognition of the effects of strong tides in the Belt Basin early in its development; (4) the recognition of the role of tsunamis in sediment transport on and off the platform; and (5) a better appreciation of the range and attributes of synsedimentary deformation features

Quantum phase transitions and decoupling of magnetic sublattices in the quasi-two-dimensional Ising magnet Co3V2O8 in a transverse magnetic field

The application of a magnetic field transverse to the easy axis, Ising direction in the quasi-two-dimensional Kagome staircase magnet, Co3V2O8, induces three quantum phase transitions at low temperatures, ultimately producing a novel high field polarized state, with two distinct sublattices. New time-of-flight neutron scattering techniques, accompanied by large angular access, high magnetic field infrastructure allow the mapping of a sequence of ferromagnetic and incommensurate phases and their accompanying spin excitations. At least one of the transitions to incommensurate phases at \mu 0Hc1~6.25 T and \mu 0Hc2~7 T is discontinuous, while the final quantum critical point at \mu 0Hc3~13 T is continuous.Comment: 5 pages manuscript, 3 pages supplemental materia

Utilization of Sago Flour and Squash in the Production of Vegetable Kropeck

This study was designed to produce a healthier and cheaper snack to take the place of seafood crackers, chicharon, and other junk foods. A vegetable kropeck that utilizes squash and sago flour, both inexpensive sources, will address the problem with vitamin A deficiency. Squash contains high amount of vitamin A, making it a good vehicle for nutrient enhancement and fortification. Meanwhile, sago has high levels of antioxidants and provides better quality crackers. A formulation of sago flour, all-purpose flour, and squash was tested via sensory analysis to determine the consumers’ degree of liking the product and analyze the panelists’ responses to appearance/color, texture (crispiness), flavor, and overall acceptability. Results revealed that the product is highly acceptable in all attributes at 95%. Using the Association of Agricultural Chemists’s methods, the product was found to consist of 11.89% moisture, 2.61% crude ash, 0.31% crude fat, 2.30% crude fiber, 11.62% crude protein, 71.87% carbohydrates, and 15,245 IU/100 g of vitamin A. Also, the product costs only half the price of the commercial seafood-based kropeck. Utilization of sago flour and squash in the production of vegetable kropeck was determined to be highly feasible based on sensory analysis, chemical composition, and cost. We recommend testing the feasibility of increasing the amount of squash in the produced kropeck to also increase its vitamin A content

Critical X-ray Scattering Studies of Jahn-Teller Phase Transitions in TbV1−x_{1-x}Asx_{x}O4_{4}

The critical behaviour associated with cooperative Jahn-Teller phase transitions in TbV$_{1-x}$As$_{x}$O$_{4}$ (where \textit{x} = 0, 0.17, 1) single crystals have been studied using high resolution x-ray scattering. These materials undergo continuous tetragonal $\to$ orthorhombic structural phase transitions driven by Jahn-Teller physics at T$_C$ = 33.26(2) K, 30.32(2) K and 27.30(2) K for \textit{x} = 0, 0.17 and 1 respectively. The orthorhombic strain was measured close to the phase transition and is shown to display mean field behavior in all three samples. Pronounced fluctuation effects are manifest in the longitudinal width of the Bragg scattering, which diverges as a power law, with an exponent given by $x=0.45 \pm 0.04$, on approaching the transition from either above or below. All samples exhibited twinning; however the disordered x = 0.17 sample showed a broad distribution of twins which were stable to relatively low temperatures, well below T$_C$. This indicates that while the orthorhombic strain continues to develop in a conventional mean field manner in the presence of disorder, twin domains are easily pinned by the quenched impurities and their associated random strains.Comment: 8 pages, 6 figure

Configural Processing and Social Judgments: Face Inversion Particularly Disrupts Inferences of Human-Relevant Traits

Perceivers tend to strongly agree about the basic trait information that they encode from faces. Although some research has found significant consistency for social inferences from faces viewed at multiple angles, disrupting configural processing can substantially alter the traits attributed to faces. Here, we reconciled these findings by examining how disruptions to configural processing (via face inversion) selectively impairs trait inferences from faces. Across four studies (including a pre-registered replication), we found that inverting faces disrupted inferences about particularly human-relevant traits (trustworthiness and humanness) more than it did for a trait relevant to both human and non-human animals (dominance). These findings contribute to emerging research linking configural processing to the humanization of social targets, helping to provide a clearer understanding of how visual cognition may moderate perceptions of humanness

Structural Fluctuations in the Spin Liquid State of Tb2Ti2O7

High resolution X-ray scattering measurements on single crystal Tb2Ti2O7 reveal finite structural correlations at low temperatures. This geometrically frustrated pyrochlore is known to exhibit a spin liquid, or cooperative paramagnetic state, at temperatures below ~ 20 K. Parametric studies of structural Bragg peaks appropriate to the Fd$\bar{3}$m space group of Tb2Ti2O7 reveal substantial broadening and peak intensity reduction in the temperature regime 20 K to 300 mK. We also observe a small, anomalous lattice expansion on cooling below a density maximum at ~ 18 K. These measurements are consistent with the development of fluctuations above a cooperative Jahn-Teller, cubic-tetragonal phase transition at very low temperatures.Comment: 5 pages, 4 figures, submitted for publicatio

On the Perception of Religious Group Membership from Faces

BACKGROUND: The study of social categorization has largely been confined to examining groups distinguished by perceptually obvious cues. Yet many ecologically important group distinctions are less clear, permitting insights into the general processes involved in person perception. Although religious group membership is thought to be perceptually ambiguous, folk beliefs suggest that Mormons and non-Mormons can be categorized from their appearance. We tested whether Mormons could be distinguished from non-Mormons and investigated the basis for this effect to gain insight to how subtle perceptual cues can support complex social categorizations. METHODOLOGY/PRINCIPAL FINDINGS: Participants categorized Mormons' and non-Mormons' faces or facial features according to their group membership. Individuals could distinguish between the two groups significantly better than chance guessing from their full faces and faces without hair, with eyes and mouth covered, without outer face shape, and inverted 180°; but not from isolated features (i.e., eyes, nose, or mouth). Perceivers' estimations of their accuracy did not match their actual accuracy. Exploration of the remaining features showed that Mormons and non-Mormons significantly differed in perceived health and that these perceptions were related to perceptions of skin quality, as demonstrated in a structural equation model representing the contributions of skin color and skin texture. Other judgments related to health (facial attractiveness, facial symmetry, and structural aspects related to body weight) did not differ between the two groups. Perceptions of health were also responsible for differences in perceived spirituality, explaining folk hypotheses that Mormons are distinct because they appear more spiritual than non-Mormons. CONCLUSIONS/SIGNIFICANCE: Subtle markers of group membership can influence how others are perceived and categorized. Perceptions of health from non-obvious and minimal cues distinguished individuals according to their religious group membership. These data illustrate how the non-conscious detection of very subtle differences in others' appearances supports cognitively complex judgments such as social categorization

A detailed determination of the a priori mixing angles in non-leptonic decays of hyperons

Non-leptonic Decays of Hyperons can provide a detailed determination of the a priori mixing angles that appear in physical hadrons in the approach in which non-perturbative flavor and parity violations are present in tiny pieces of the hadron mass operator. The determination of such angles in these decays will provide a bench mark to test their necessary universality-like property in other types of decays. Our main result is that the magnitudes of the a priori mixing angles can be determined quite accurately