Micro-spectroscopic investigation of selenium-bearing minerals from the Western US Phosphate Resource Area

Mining activities in the US Western Phosphate Resource Area (WPRA) have released Se into the environment. Selenium has several different oxidation states and species, each having varying degrees of solubility, reactivity, and bioavailability. In this study we are investigating the speciation of Se in mine-waste rocks. Selenium speciation was determined using bulk and micro-x-ray absorption spectroscopy (XAS), as well as micro-x-ray fluorescence mapping. Rocks used for bulk-XAS were ground into fine powders. Shale used for micro-XAS was broken along depositional planes to expose unweathered surfaces. The near edge region of the XAS spectra (XANES) for the bulk rock samples revealed multiple oxidation states, with peaks indicative of Se(-II), Se(IV), and Se(+VI) species. Micro-XANES analysis of the shale indicated that three unique Se-bearing species were present. Using the XANES data together with ab initio fitting of the extended x-ray absorption fine structure region of the micro-XAS data (micro-EXAFS) the three Se-bearing species were identified as dzharkenite, a di-selenide carbon compound, and Se-substituted pyrite. Results from this research will allow for a better understanding of the biogeochemical cycling of Se in the WPRA

Bootstrapping the energy flow in the beginning of life.

This paper suggests that the energy flow on which all living structures depend only started up slowly, the low-energy, initial phase starting up a second, slightly more energetic phase, and so on. In this way, the build up of the energy flow follows a bootstrapping process similar to that found in the development of computers, the first generation making possible the calculations necessary for constructing the second one, etc. In the biogenetic upstart of an energy flow, non-metals in the lower periods of the Periodic Table of Elements would have constituted the most primitive systems, their operation being enhanced and later supplanted by elements in the higher periods that demand more energy. This bootstrapping process would put the development of the metabolisms based on the second period elements carbon, nitrogen and oxygen at the end of the evolutionary process rather than at, or even before, the biogenetic even

Distributed Dynamic Spectrum Access in Multichannel Random Access Networks with Selfish Users

Dynamic spectrum allocation schemes enable users to share spectrum resources by exploiting the variations in spectrum demand over time and space. Performing dynamic spectrum allocation centrally can be prohibitively complex. Therefore distributed schemes in which users can access the available channels independently may be preferable to centralized allocation. However, in distributed dynamic spectrum access, the lack of central coordination makes it difficult to utilize the system resources efficiently. Furthermore, if some or all of the users decide to deviate selfishly from the commonly agreed access procedure, this may have a decisive effect on system performance. In this paper we investigate the effect of incomplete information and selfish behavior on system performance in wireless access systems. We extend previous work by studying a distributed multichannel wireless random access system. Using a game-theoretic approach, we analyze the behavior of users in the selfish system and derive the transmission strategies at the Nash equilibrium. Our results show that lack of information leads to substantial degredation in performance of cooperative systems. We also show that there is a large incentive for selfish behavior in such cooperative systems. Selfish behavior of all users, however, causes further performance degradation, particularly in high load settings.QC 20111208. © 2010 IEEE. Personal use of this material is permitted. Permission from IEEE must be obtained for all other uses, in any current or future media, including reprinting/republishing this material for advertising or promotional purposes, creating new collective works, for resale or redistribution to servers or lists, or reuse of any copyrighted component of this work in other works. QC 20111207</p