Optical layouts of the WSO-UV spectrographs

Electron acoustic blow up solitary waves and periodic waves are studied in a classical unmagnetized plasma containing cold electron fluid, kappa distributed hot electrons and stationary ions. We obtain Korteweg-de Vries (KdV) equation for electron acoustic waves (EAWs) using the reductive perturbation technique (RPT). Applying bifurcation theory of planar dynamical systems to the obtained KdV equation, we prove the existence of electron acoustic blowup solitary and periodic wave solutions. Depending on different physical parameters, two types of exact explicit solutions of the mentioned waves are derived. Our model may be applied to explain blow up solitary and periodic wave features that may occur in the planetary magnetosphere and the plasma sheet boundary layer.     

Our distorted view of magnetars: application of the resonant cyclotron scattering model

The X-ray spectra of the magnetar candidates are customarily fitted with an empirical, two component model: an absorbed blackbody and a power-law. However, the physical interpretation of these two spectral components is rarely discussed. It has been recently proposed that the presence of a hot plasma in the magnetosphere of highly magnetized neutron stars might distort, through efficient resonant cyclotron scattering, the thermal emission from the neutron star surface, resulting in production of non-thermal spectra. Here we discuss the Resonant Cyclotron Scattering (RCS) model, and present its XSPEC implementation, as well as preliminary results of its application to Anomalous X-ray Pulsars and Soft Gamma-ray Repeaters. N.R. is supported by an NWO Post-Doctoral Fellowship. S.Z. thanks the Particle Physics and Astronomy Research Council, PPARC, for support through an Advanced Fellowship.     

An X-ray absorption spectroscopy study of Cd binding onto bacterial consortia

In this study, we use extended X-ray absorption fine structure (EXAFS) spectroscopy measurements to examine the atomic environment of Cd bound onto two experimental bacterial consortia: one grown from river water, and one grown from a manufacturing gas plant site. The experiments were conducted as a function of pH and demonstrate that the complex mixtures of bacteria, containing both Gram-positive and Gram-negative species, yield relatively simple EXAFS spectra, a result which indicates that only a limited number of functional group types contribute to Cd binding for each bacterial consortium. The EXAFS spectra indicate that the average Cd binding environment in the river water consortium varies significantly with pH, but the manufacturing gas plant consortium exhibits a Cd binding environment that remains relatively constant over the pH range examined. The EXAFS data for the river water consortium were modeled using carboxyl, phosphoryl and sulfhydryl sites. However, only carboxyl and phosphoryl sites were required to model the manufacturing gas plant consortium data under similar experimental conditions. This is the first EXAFS study to identify and quantify the relative importance of metal binding sites in bacterial consortia. Although our results indicate differences in the binding environments of the two consortia, the data suggest that there are broad similarities in the binding environments present on a wide range of bacterial cell walls.     

Reinterpretation of an archaeological pebble culture from the Middle Mekong River valley,Cambodia

In 1963, E. Saurin and J.‐P. Carbonnel discovered the Sre Sbov site on an alluvial terrace of the Mekong River in central Cambodia. Saurin described a lithic typology dating to the Lower/Middle Pleistocene from this site. Although the original lithic assemblage has been lost, this typology has been used continuously as a reference by Southeast Asian prehistorians. In 2007, a Khmer–French team conducted excavations at Sre Sbov that yielded numerous pebbles and cobbles showing apparently convincing handmade removals, as Saurin had previously described. However, an in‐depth study of this assemblage, combined with a geological survey of the area, led to the conclusion that the stones were, in fact, of natural origin, and that for this reason their typology should be disregarded. Using satellite imagery and geological surveys, we explain how such a misinterpretation may have occurred and define a “buffer zone,” corresponding to the maximal extent of the proto‐Mekong River, where fluvially reworked pebbles and cobbles resembling artifacts may be recovered. © 2009 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.     

An assessment of changes in properties of steppe kurgan paleosoils in relation to prevailing climates over recent millennia

Comparative analysis of morphological and chemical properties of the soil chronosequence on Kastanozems soils in the steppe zone of the Russian Plain, which included paleosoils buried beneath kurgans erected ca. 2000 BC, AD 50, AD 200, and AD 1250 was performed to reconstruct the paleoenvironmental conditions in this archeologically important region. Paleoenvironmental dynamics were traced using the state of microbial communities of paleo and modern soils (including the dynamics of total and glucose-reactive biomass, and the abundance of microorganisms grown on selected media). We demonstrate that the share of the glucose-reactive microorganisms in the microbial community, the ecological–trophic structure, and oligotrophicity index might serve as indicators of the state of microbial communities and be used for paleoenvironmental reconstructions. The morphological–chemical and microbial properties confirm an arid period ca. 2000 BC, slightly wetter conditions ca. AD 50, and more humid conditions ca. AD 1250.     

Forced imbibition into a limestone: measuring P‐wave velocity and water saturation dependence on injection rate

Quantitative interpretation of time‐lapse seismic data requires knowledge of the relationship between elastic wave velocities and fluid saturation. This relationship is not unique but depends on the spatial distribution of the fluid in the pore‐space of the rock. In turn, the fluid distribution depends on the injection rate. To study this dependency, forced imbibition experiments with variable injection rates have been performed on an air‐dry limestone sample. Water was injected into a cylindrical sample and was monitored by X‐Ray Computed Tomography and ultrasonic time‐of‐flight measurements across the sample. The measurements show that the P‐wave velocity decreases well before the saturation front approaches the ultrasonic raypath. This decrease is followed by an increase as the saturation front crosses the raypath. The observed patterns of the acoustic response and water saturation as functions of the injection rate are consistent with previous observations on sandstone. The results confirm that the injection rate has significant influence on fluid distribution and the corresponding acoustic response. The complexity of the acoustic response —‐ that is not monotonic with changes in saturation, and which at the same saturation varies between hydrostatic conditions and states of dynamic fluid flow – may have implications for the interpretation of time‐lapse seismic responses.