Organic matter: size fraction relationships for recent sediments from the Orinoco Delta,Venezuela

Fifteen recent sediment samples from the offshore Orinoco Delta, Venezuela, were separated by sieving and pipette analysis into seven size fractions ranging from 4ø to 10ø, in 1 ø units. Total organic carbon was determined for each size fraction and the organic matter characterized by pyrolysis and pyrolysis-gas chromatography. The sediments average 0.98% organic matter with somewhat higher values nearshore. Nearshore sediments also had higher organic contents in the coarsest fractions and a decrease in organic matter from coarse to fine sediment fractions. Sediments from further offshore generally show the highest organic contents in the finer fractions. Pyrolysis showed a low bitumen content and confirmed that the kerogen was dominantly terrestrial and gas prone. The observed trends were attributed to sorting of organic matter by its physical characteristics, with the denser, coarse-grained material settling out nearshore and the Finer-grained material being carried further from shore and settling out with finer-grained sediments.     

Do we understand rotating isothermal collapses yet?

The scalar virial equation can be used to elucidate many interesting properties of equilibrium gas clouds when the effects of surface pressure, rotation, self-gravity, and internal isothermal gas pressure are considered simultaneously. Details regarding the internal structure of rotating isothermal gas clouds are ignored in order to obtain an analytical expression describing global cloud properties. Excellent agreement is obtained between the simple analytical model and other previously published, more detailed models in physical regimes where other models have been constructed. For the first time, a physical connection is drawn between the surface-pressure-dominated equilibrium models of S. W. Stahler (1983, Astrophys. J.268, 155–184) and the rotation-dominated models of C. Hayashi, S. Narita, and S. M. Miyama (1982, Prog. Theor. Phys.68, 1949–1966). Stable axisymmetric models of any mass and angular momentum can be constructed. Using the analytic expression for virial equilibrium as a foundation, all rotating, isothermal collapse calculations can now be well understood. Limiting properties of isothermal clouds are outlined, and realistic “starting” models for cloud collapse are proposed.     

Dark energy and the evolution of spherical overdensities

We use the non-linear spherical model in cold dark matter (CDM) cosmologies with dark energy to investigate the effects of dark energy on the growth of structure and the formation of virialized structures. We consider dark energy models with a constant equation-of-state parameter w . For  −1 < w < −1/3  , clusters form earlier and are more concentrated in quintessence than in ΛCDM models, but they form later and are less concentrated than in the corresponding open model with the same matter density and no dark energy. We point out some confusion in the literature around the expression of the collapse factor (ratio of the radius of the sphere at virialization to that at turnaround) derived from the virial theorem. We use the Sheth & Tormen extension of the Press–Schechter framework to calculate the evolution of the cluster abundance in different models and show the sensitivity of the cluster abundance to both the amplitude of the mass fluctuations, σ₈, and the σ₈– w normalization, selected to match either the cosmic microwave background observations or the abundance of X-ray clusters.     

Identification and quantification of carbonyl-containing α-pinene ozonolysis products using <Emphasis Type="Italic">O</Emphasis>-<Emphasis Type="Italic">tert</Emphasis>-butylhydroxylamine hydrochloride

The yields of carbonyl-containing reaction products from the ozonolysis of α-pinene have been investigated using concentrations of ozone found in the indoor environment ([O₃] ≤ 100 ppb). An impinger was used to collect gas-phase oxidation products in water, where the derivatization agent O-tert-butylhydroxylamine hydrochloride (TBOX) and gas chromatography-mass spectrometry were used to identify carbonyl-containing species. Seven carbonyl-containing products were observed. The yield of the primary product, pinonaldehyde was measured to be 76 %. Using cyclohexane as a hydroxyl radical (?OH) scavenger, the yield of pinonaldehyde decreased to 46 %, indicating the influence secondary OH radicals have on α-pinene ozonolysis products. Furthermore, the use of TBOX, a small molecular weight derivatization agent, allowed for the acquisition of the first mass spectral data of oxopinonaldehyde, a tricarbonyl reaction product of α-pinene ozonolysis. The techniques described herein allow for an effective method for the collection and identification of terpene oxidation products in the indoor environment.     

A unified earthquake-resistant design method for steel frames using arma models

The objective of this paper is to develop a unified earthquake-resistant design method for moment-resisting steel frames, including the design earthquake via a dynamic ARMA model. Important features of this design method are: (i) to make it possible to incorporate inherent uncertain features of design earthquakes into the design process itself through the dynamic ARMA model, (ii) to provide a simplified design formula for a preliminary design of moment-resisting steel frames based upon the concept of stiffness-oriented design and (iii) to facilitate the formulation of a new probabilistic multi-objective optimal design problem aimed at finding the design with the minimum level of designer's dissatisfaction. In this optimal design problem, constraints and objectives are handled in a unified manner after a feasible design is obtained. A design example is presented to demonstrate the validity of this unified design method and to examine the convergence of response statistics. Finally, the generality and practicality of this design method are assessed.     

Regional mapping of the South Armorican shear zone (Brittany, France) using remotely sensed SPOT imagery

The South Armorican shear zone is one of the major occurrences of Variscan basement in Europe. The objectives of the study were to compile a lineament and a structural map from remotely sensed SPOT imagery. Transparent color films, enhanced by high-pass filtering and by stretching color composites, and spatial filtered images were analysed. The major structure mapped corresponds to a dextral transcurrent shear belt in which C and S axes have been described. Late Paleozoic and Tertiary fracturations truncate these structures. The localisation, extension and geometry of granite domes were also precised. Lastly, this study provides a good example of structural interpretation of a moderate-relief terrain using high-resolution SPOT imagery.