The structure of galaxy clusters in various cosmologies

We investigate the internal structure of clusters of galaxies in high-resolution N -body simulations of four different cosmologies. There is a higher proportion of disordered clusters in critical-density than in low-density universes, although the structure of relaxed clusters is very similar in each case. Crude measures of substructure, such as the shift in the position of the centre-of-mass as the density threshold is varied, can distinguish the two in a sample of just 20 or so clusters; it is harder to differentiate between clusters in open and flat models with the same density parameter. Most clusters are in a quasi-steady state within the virial radius and are well-described by the density profile of Navarro, Frenk & White.     

Study on the suitability of New Zealand coals for hydrogen production

Internationally there is considerable interest in utilizing hydrogen as an energy carrier. The use of hydrogen offers considerable potential benefits such as reducing greenhouse emissions, reducing urban pollution, increased energy security and increased efficiencies from the use of advanced energy conversion technologies.One of the most important questions when considering the development of a hydrogen economy is “where will the hydrogen come from?” Possible answers include electrolysis of water, steam reforming of methane and the gasification of coal. Given the high costs associated with electrolysis of water, and the increase in the cost of methane predicted over time, the gasification of coal is viewed by many as being the cheapest method of hydrogen production in the foreseeable future. These considerations are particularly relevant to New Zealand where gas supplies are dwindling but where there is sufficient coal to last for many centuries at present utilization rates. This, along with the current high international interest in hydrogen energy, has been recognized by the New Zealand Government in the form of a six-year [2002–2008] research project “Hydrogen Energy for the Future of New Zealand”.One important coal property that, in particular, determines the suitability of a particular coal for use in a fluidised bed gasifier is its reactivity towards the gasification reaction. It was found that a high percentage of New Zealand's coal resource is particularly well-suited towards fluidised bed gasification, reacting at anywhere between 0.9 to 1.75 times the rate of Australian brown coals. It was found the New Zealand lignites contained significant levels of organically bound calcium, which was shown to be responsible for not only the high reactivity of the New Zealand lignites, but also a product gas composition with higher than expected hydrogen concentrations. These findings are discussed along with their implications for the gasifier and gas clean-up design.     

Part-time farming: The Cyprus case

Part-time farming is a feature and a consequence of economic change which involves labour movement out of agriculture. It helps to sustain the rural sector by reducing the rate of outmigration. This paper reports on a pilot survey of part-time farmers in the S, Government-controlled part of Cyprus. The economy is growing rapidly with agriculture declining in relative importance although still contributing nearly half the value of exports. Over 50 % of farmers are part-time, meaning in this case they have another occupation. In general, farming is a minor activity and time spent in off-farm work is often increasing to maintain income levels. However the majority of the sample are keen to maintain their farming activity.In the Cyprus study part-time farmers appear slightly younger and operate smaller units than average; they rent in less land and irrigate a smaller area. Considerable differences are found between the four main agricultural zones; mountain, vines, dryland and coastal. At one extreme, exemplified by the coastal zone, commercial part-time farming provides a high standard of living on farms which are somewhat smaller than average. Off-farm work is available locally and complements farm work. Farmers' confidence in long-term prospects is reflected in their willingness (and ability) to invest on the farm and in their low levels of family, migration. At the other extreme, found in the depressed areas of the mountain zone, overt government policies may be required to ensure the continued existence of farming. The combined income of on and off farm work may be inadequate and farmers often have to borrow to meet basic household needs. These farmers travel long distances to find work and may have more than one off-farm occupation. Much of the burden of farm work falls on other family members. Although farmers would prefer to spend more time in agriculture they have limited confidence in its future prospects and recognize the possible necessity of outmigration.     

A new parallel PM code for very large-scale cosmological simulations

We have developed a parallel Particle–Particle, Particle–Mesh (P³M) simulation code for the Cray T3E parallel supercomputer that is well suited to studying the time evolution of systems of particles interacting via gravity and gas forces in cosmological contexts. The parallel code is based upon the public-domain serial Adaptive P³M-SPH (http://coho.astro.uwo.ca/pub/hydra/hydra.html) code of Couchman et al. (1995)[ApJ, 452, 797]. The algorithm resolves gravitational forces into a long-range component computed by discretizing the mass distribution and solving Poisson's equation on a grid using an FFT convolution method, and a short-range component computed by direct force summation for sufficiently close particle pairs. The code consists primarily of a particle–particle computation parallelized by domain decomposition over blocks of neighbour-cells, a more regular mesh calculation distributed in planes along one dimension, and several transformations between the two distributions. The load balancing of the P³M code is static, since this greatly aids the ongoing implementation of parallel adaptive refinements of the particle and mesh systems. Great care was taken throughout to make optimal use of the available memory, so that a version of the current implementation has been used to simulate systems of up to 10⁹ particles with a 1024³ mesh for the long-range force computation. These are the largest Cosmological N-body simulations of which we are aware. We discuss these memory optimizations as well as those motivated by computational performance. Performance results are very encouraging, and, even without refinements, the code has been used effectively for simulations in which the particle distribution becomes highly clustered as well as for other non-uniform systems of astrophysical interest.     

Correlation and characterisation of individual glass shards from tephra deposits using trace element laser ablation ICP‐MS analyses: current status and future potential

Laser ablation inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry (LA‐ICP‐MS) is a high spatial resolution analytical method which has been applied to the analysis of silicic tephras. With current instrumentation, around 30 trace elements can be determined from single glass shards as small as ～ 40 µm, separated from tephra deposits. As a result of element fractionation during the ablation process using a 266 nm laser, a relatively complex calibration strategy is required. Nonetheless, such a strategy gives analyses which are accurate (typically within ±5%) and have an analytical precision which varies from ～ ±2% at 100 ppm, to ～ ±15% at 1 ppm. Detection limits for elements used in correlation and discrimination studies are well below 1 ppm. Examples of the application of trace element analysis by LA‐ICP‐MS in tephra studies are presented from the USA, New Zealand and the Mediterranean. Improvements in instrumental sensitivity in recent years have the potential to lower detection limits and improve analytical precision, thus allowing the analysis of smaller glass shards from more distal tephras. Laser systems operating at shorter wavelengths (e.g. 193 nm) are now more widely available, and produce a much more controllable ablation in glasses than 266 nm lasers. Crater sizes of <10 µm are easily achieved, and at 193 nm many of the elemental fractionation issues which mar longer wavelengths are overcome. By coupling a short wavelength laser to a modern ICP‐MS it should be possible to determine the trace element composition of glass shards as small as 20 µm and, providing sample preparation issues can be overcome, the determination of the more abundant trace elements in glass shards as small as 10 µm is within instrumental capabilities. This will make it possible to chemically fingerprint tephra deposits which are far from their sources, and will greatly extend the range over which geochemical correlation of tephras can be undertaken. Copyright © 2007 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Eruptive environments and inferred exploration potential of metabasalts from New South Wales

The Honeysuckle Beds, Jindalee Beds, Woolomin Beds and Nambucca Beds all contain metavolcanic units of dismembered ophiolite suites in the Palaeozoic of New South Wales. It is assumed that no major changes in the distribution of stable trace elements have taken place during metamorphism. Geological evidence and stable trace element data indicate that the Honeysuckle and Jindalee Beds may contain metabasalts of marginal basin origin whereas the Woolomin and Nambucca Beds may contain metabasalts erupted during the opening phase of a major ocean. Comparison with massive sulphide-bearing metabasalts elsewhere suggests that the Honeysuckle Beds and Jindalee Beds, which chemically resemble metabasalts from the Troödos Massif of Cyprus, have the greatest exploration potential.     

The ‘suitcase hypothesis’: Can entrainment of meroplankton by eddies provide a pathway for gene flow between Madagascar and KwaZulu-Natal,South Africa?

Similarities in the marine fauna found off the coasts of southern Madagascar and KwaZulu-Natal Province (KZN), South Africa, led to the development of the ‘suitcase project,’ with the aim of establishing whether eddies that form off southern Madagascar may package and transport biological material across the Mozambique Channel, facilitating connectivity and gene flow. Meroplankton (larval stages of fishes and benthic invertebrates) were collected on the Madagascan shelf and along a transect through a cyclonic eddy in the Mozambique Channel. The samples were analysed using microscopy and DNA barcoding, seeking to identify species known to be common to both the southeast coast of Madagascar and the east coast of South Africa and thereby to reveal potential indicators of connectivity between these regions. The greatest zooplankton biovolume in the upper 200 m occurred on the shelf, followed by in the western part of the eddy and in the region outside the eddy to the west, and was lowest in the region outside the eddy to the east. The meroplankton were dominated by taxa of coastal origin and these were also most abundant on the shelf and in the western part of the eddy, with the lowest abundances in the region outside the eddy to the east. The findings show greater zooplankton biovolumes and larval abundances and the presence of reef-associated larval assemblages on the Madagascan shelf and along the transect through the cyclonic eddy, providing support for the suitcase hypothesis that planktonic organisms are entrained within eddies as they propagate south-westwards of the Madagascan shelf.     

Trace metal variations in the shells of Ensis siliqua record pollution and environmental conditions in the sea to the west of mainland Britain

Shells of the pod razor shell (Ensis siliqua) from 13 locations around the west coast of mainland Britain have been analysed by laser ablation inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry (LA-ICP-MS) for a range of trace metals including Zn, Cd, Pb, U, Ba, Sr and Mg. The trace metal record in these shells is a proxy record for changes in seawater chemistry during the 1990s. Regional variations exist in the median concentrations of the analysed metals. Barium concentrations are related to increased productivity from sewage sludge dumping at sea. Strontium shows a local relationship to salinity, but there is no clear relationship over the study area, instead high Sr is often associated with high Ba, and may reflect ontogenetic factors such as growth rate. Magnesium shows a seasonal variation within individual shells and can be used to calculate sea surface temperatures from groups of shells. Contaminant metals show a clear regional relationship with known sources, thus high Pb and Zn are typically associated with former metal mining areas (e.g. Cardigan Bay, Anglesey), and high Pb, Zn, Cd and U are associated with industrial activity in Liverpool Bay. Anomalies such as the high U in shells from northern Scotland cannot at present be explained. A seasonal variation of Pb is also seen in Cardigan Bay and Liverpool Bay, relating to increased winter fluxes of these metals to the marine environment. The regional distribution of these metals is consistent with known sources of contamination and patterns of seawater migration around the coast of Britain.     

Estimating periphyton standing crop in streams: a comparison of chlorophyll a sampling and visual assessments

Periphyton standing crop is often measured as chlorophyll a but there is increasing interest in using visual assessments of periphyton cover. Visual methods are rapid and require no sample analysis, but can be regarded as subjective with high inter-operator variability. We investigated variability in periphyton standing crop across operators, rivers and time, as determined visually and from chlorophyll a measurements. We found that visual assessments (comprising percentage cover estimates of up to eight periphyton categories) distinguished sites and occasions as effectively as chlorophyll a. Furthermore, an estimate of chlorophyll a could be derived from the visual assessments. Because our surveys were conducted in only three rivers, general applicability of the derivation of estimated chlorophyll a from the visual assessments warrants further investigation. The current recommendation of 20 views was sufficient for realistic visual assessments of average cover. Overall, our results indicated that inter-operator variability in visual assessments need not be a major concern, given adequate training.