The Tuxtuac,Mexico, Meteorite,an LL5 Chondrite Fall

Abstract— The Tuxtuac meteorite fell in Zacatecas state, Mexico, on 16 October 1975, at 1820 hours. Two partly crusted masses, weighing 1924 g and 2340 g, were recovered. The stone is an ordinary chondrite, LL5, with olivine Fa₃₀ and 19.22 weight % total iron. The silicates contain numerous voids and a froth-like mesostasis is present within some chondrules. Metal phases present are kamacite (5.7–6.4% Ni, 6–7% Co) and high nickel metal (taenite 37–41% Ni, 1.7 ± 0.3% Co; tetrataenite 47–52% Ni, 0.8–1.4% Co). The stone is unusual for an LL-group chondrite in that it exhibits neither large-scale brecciation features nor dark veins.     

An Aeronautical Temporal GIS for Post-Flight Assessment of Navigation Performance

This paper describes the design and development of an experimental GIS prototype that may be used to assist experienced pilots, student pilots and flight instructors for post-flight evaluation of navigation performance. The system is developed as a GIS experimental application which employs geographical data derived from the Digital Chart of the World integrated with airspace data derived from the ICAO 1:500,000 Aeronautical Chart. Real-time data are collected and integrated within a monitoring computing environment from external sensors which include GPS, altitude and relative motion sensors. This enables the generation of multi-layered digital maps and navigation data capable of being rapidly re-configured to enhance visualization by abstraction. The integration of real time navigation data with geographical data facilitates airborne decision-making, cockpit management, and makes a valuable contribution to flight safety.     

Tectonics of an incipient oceanic rift

The results of 26 dives with the diving saucer Cyana in the Gulf of Tadjoura and Ghoubbet al Kharab (Republic of Djibouti) are presented. One can demonstrate that the sites of recent volcanism, tectonics and hydrothermal activity within the axial part of the Gulf of Tadjoura coincide with topographic highs trending at a high angle (azimuth 135°) with respect to the average trend of the axial trough of the Gulf (azimuth 080°). The highs owe their relief to both volcanism and normal faulting along a trend of 130–140°. Recent faulting on the bounding walls of the axial trough is also found along a trend of 130–140° where the faults interfere with another set of apparently older faults trending 070° parallel to the axial trough. Spacing between the active zones of the Gulf is regular and about 30 km. No evidence for transform faulting has been found, in contradiction to all previous kinematic models of the Gulf of Tadjoura. There is evidence that the presently active phase of opening associated with 130–140° faults is less than 0.7 my old and that there was an older phase associated with 070°–080° faults creating the main trough of the Gulf. The basaltic lavas created during the two phases have evolved from transitional to tholeiitic.     

Rhodamine exclusion activity in primary cultured turbot (Scophthalmus maximus) hepatocytes

Cellular detoxification by direct processes has been investigated in fish by studying the ability of hepatocytes prepared from juvenile aquarium-reared turbot (Scophthalmus maximus) to actively exclude the fluorescent dye rhodamine B (RB). Cell viability was studied by measurements of non-specific esterase activity using fluorescein diacetate. This revealed that turbot hepatocytes can be cultured for a few days with a viability decreasing to 38% after 24 h. The 24-h cultured cells have been used to study the rhodamine B exclusion activity using confocal laser microscopy. Hepatocytes accumulated the dye in a competitive manner with verapamil, thus suggesting that they express a transport system similar to the P-glycoprotein-mediated multixenobiotic resistance process. Incubation of cells with 1 μM RB and 20 μM verapamil led to a 26% increase of cellular fluorescence as compared to the accumulation in absence of competitor. Rhodamine B accumulated in the whole cytoplasm, with more concentrated areas that might correspond to the lysosomal compartment and the cell membrane.     

Rhodamine exclusion activity in primary cultured turbot (Scophthalmus maximus) hepatocytes

Cellular detoxification by direct processes has been investigated in fish by studying the ability of hepatocytes prepared from juvenile aquarium-reared turbot (Scophthalmus maximus) to actively exclude the fluorescent dye rhodamine B (RB). Cell viability was studied by measurements of non-specific esterase activity using fluorescein diacetate. This revealed that turbot hepatocytes can be cultured for a few days with a viability decreasing to 38% after 24 h. The 24-h cultured cells have been used to study the rhodamine B exclusion activity using confocal laser microscopy. Hepatocytes accumulated the dye in a competitive manner with verapamil, thus suggesting that they express a transport system similar to the P-glycoprotein-mediated multixenobiotic resistance process. Incubation of cells with 1 microM RB and 20 microM verapamil led to a 26% increase of cellular fluorescence as compared to the accumulation in absence of competitor. Rhodamine B accumulated in the whole cytoplasm, with more concentrated areas that might correspond to the lysosomal compartment and the cell membrane.     

Numerical modeling of the elastoplastic damage behavior of dry and saturated concrete targets subjected to rigid projectile penetration

The objective of the present paper is to present a numerical study on the penetration performance of concrete targets with 2 different water contents. Numerical analysis has been performed by using the finite element code Abaqus/Explicit, in which a coupled elastoplastic damage model has been developed for saturated/unsaturated concrete under a wide range of confining pressures. The performance of proposed model has been firstly verified by simulating the triaxial compression tests and penetration tests realized with saturated/dry concretes. Comparisons of available experimental results and numerical simulations show that the proposed model is able to reproduce satisfactorily the mechanical behavior of saturated and dry concretes. A higher failure stress and a more important pores closing are generally obtained in dry concrete samples with respect to saturated ones. Furthermore, the main observed patterns of penetration test realized with saturated concrete targets are also satisfactorily simulated by the numerical results. Therefore, the proposed model is used to numerically predict the penetration performance of dry concrete target, and the penetration performance of dry/saturated concrete target is discussed. We observe that in dry concrete target, the penetration of projectile is strongly declined, and a smaller damage zone is created. The numerical predictions and discussions can help engineers to enhance their understandings on the influence of hydraulic conditions on structural vulnerability of concrete structures subjected to near‐field detonations or impacts.