SR-FTiR microscopy and FTIR imaging in the earth sciences

During the last decades, several books have been devoted to the application of spectroscopic methods in mineralogy. Several short courses and meetings have addressed particular aspects of spectroscopy, such as the analysis of hydrous components in minerals and Earth materials. In these books, complete treatment of the infrared theory and practical aspects of instrumentation and methods, along with an exhaustive list of references, can be found. The present chapter is intended to cover those aspects of infrared spectroscopy that have been developed in the past decade and are not included in earlier reviews such as Volume 18 of Reviews in Mineralogy. These new topics involve primarily: (1) the use of synchrotron radiation (SR), which, although not a routine method, is now rather extensively applied in infrared studies, in particular those requiring ultimate spatial and time resolution and the analysis of extremely small samples (a few tens of micrometers); (2) the development of imaging techniques also for foreseen time resolved studies of geo-mineralogical processes and environmental studies.Comment: 36 pages, 24 figures - Reviews in Mineralogy & Geochemistry - Vol. 78 (2013) in pres

Learning more effectively from experience

Developing the capacity for individuals to learn effectively from their experiences is an important part of building the knowledge and skills in organizations to do good adaptive management. This paper reviews some of the research from cognitive psychology and phenomenography to present a way of thinking about learning to assist individuals to make better use of their personal experiences to develop understanding of environmental systems. We suggest that adaptive expertise (an individual’s ability to deal flexibly with new situations) is particularly relevant for environmental researchers and practitioners. To develop adaptive expertise, individuals need to: (1) vary and reflect on their experiences and become adept at seeking out and taking different perspectives; and (2) become proficient at making balanced judgements about how or if an experience will change their current perspective or working representation of a social, economic, and biophysical system by applying principles of “good thinking.” Such principles include those that assist individuals to be open to the possibility of changing their current way of thinking (e.g., the disposition to be adventurous) and those that reduce the likelihood of making erroneous interpretations (e.g., the disposition to be intellectually careful). An example of applying some of the principles to assist individuals develop their understanding of a dynamically complex wetland system (the Macquarie Marshes in Australia) is provided. The broader implications of individual learning are also discussed in relation to organizational learning, the role of experiential knowledge for conservation, and for achieving greater awareness of the need for ecologically sustainable activity

On Core Collapse Supernovae in Normal and in Seyfert Galaxies

This paper estimates the relative frequency of different types of core-collapse supernovae, in terms of the ratio f between the number of type Ib--Ic and of type II supernovae. We estimate f independently for all normal and Seyfert galaxies whose radial velocity is <=14000 km/s, and which had at least one supernova event recorded in the Asiago catalogue from January 1986 to August 2000. We find that the ratio f is approx. 0.23+/-0.05 in normal galaxies. This value is consistent with constant star formation rate and with a Salpeter Initial Mass Function and average binary rate approx. 50 %. On the contrary, Seyfert galaxies exceed the ratio f in normal galaxies by a factor approx. 4 at a confidence level >= 2 sigma. A caveat is that the numbers for Seyferts are still small (6 type Ib-Ic and 6 type II supernovae discovered as yet). Assumed real, this excess of type Ib and Ic with respect to type II supernovae, may indicate a burst of star formation of young age (<= 20 Myr), a high incidence of binary systems in the inner regions (r <= 0.4 R25) of Seyfert galaxies, or a top-loaded mass function.Comment: Accepted for Publication in MNRA

X-ray Line Emitting Objects in XMM-Newton Observations: the Tip of the Iceberg

We present preliminary results from a novel search for X-ray Line Emitting Objects (XLEOs) in XMM-Newton images. Three sources have been detected in a test-run analysis of 13 XMM-Newton observations. The three objects found are most likely extremely absorbed AGN characterized by a column density NH~10^24cm^-2. Their redshift has been directly determined from the X-ray data, by interpreting the detected emission line as the 6.4 keV Fe line. The measured equivalent width of the X-ray line is, in all three cases, several keV. This pilot study demonstrates the success of our search method and implies that a large sample of XLEOs can be obtained from the public XMM-Newton data archive.Comment: 10 pages, 3 figures, accepted for publication in ApJ Letter