Raman spectroscopic study of clinopyroxenes in the system CaScAlSiO6 - CaAl2SiO6

Seven clinopyroxenes in the system CaScAlSiO₆- CaAl₂SiO₆ synthesized at 1 atm and under high pressure have been studied by Raman spectroscopy. The T-O-T stretching band of CaScAlSiO₆ pyroxene can be deconvoluted into three bands corresponding to Al-O-Al, Al-O-Si, and Si-O-Si stretching vibrations, although that of CaAl₂SiO₆ can be deconvoluted into the two bands (Al-O-Al+Al-O-Si) and Si-O-Si. The Al-O-Si Raman shifts of CaScAlSiO₆ and CaAl₂SiO₆ pyroxenes are found to fall on the linear plot of the relationship between T-T distance and Raman shifts in ABSi₂O₆-type pyroxenes, suggesting that the Al-O-Si chains are relatively long. Variation of areal fractions of the Raman bands demonstrates that the partial disordering of Al/Si depends on the ionic radius and electronegativity of the octahedral ion.     

Growth of twinned magnetic crystals in talc and talc-magnesite rock at Torika,Nagasaki Prefecture,Japan

Spinel-type twins of magnetite in a talc rock and a talk-magnesite rock at Torika, Nagasaki Prefecture, Japan have been studied by means of optical microscopy, differential interference microscopy, microprobe analysis and size distribution analysis. The growth processes are discussed in detail. The number of magnetite twins in the talc-magnesite rock is larger than in the talc rock, and the percentage of the frequency number increases rapidly with increase in grain size. It is suggested that magnetite crystals in the talc-magnesite rock have grown by rapid crystallization in the earlier stage and by a layer-growth mechanism in the later stage in the carbonation-dehydration reaction that occurred within the rock. As large number of twin nuclei formed by rapid crystallization in the earlier stage of magnetite formation. As the dehydration reaction proceeded, the number of twin nuclei gradually decreased with the lowering of supersaturation by addition of some water. Magnetite crystals in the talc rock formed after talc crystallization by silicification and dehydration reactions in the process of steatitization. The twin nuclei here must have formed with difficulty, governed by the distribution of talc which crystallized before the magnetite and at relatively low supersaturation.     

Essential cellular modules for the proliferation of the primitive cell

Bacteria appeared early in the evolution of cellular life on planet Earth, and therefore the universally essential genes or biological pathways found across bacterial domains may represent fundamental genetic or cellular systems used in early life. The essential genes and the minimal gene set required to support bacterial life have recently been experimentally and computationally identified. It is, however,still hard to estimate the ancient genes present in primitive cells compared to the essential genes in contemporary bacteria, because we do not know how ancestral primitive cells lived and proliferated, and therefore cannot directly evaluate the essentiality of the genes in ancestral primitive cells. The cell wall is normally essential for bacterial proliferation and cellular division of walled bacterial cells is normally highly controlled by the essential FtsZ cell division machinery. But, bacteria are capable of reverting to their cell wall deficient ancestral form, called the "L-form". Unlike "normal" cells, L-forms divide by a simple physical mechanism based on the effects of membrane dynamics, suggesting a mode of primitive proliferation before the appearance of the cell wall. In this review, we summarize the experimental and computational investigations of minimal gene sets and discuss the minimal cellular modules required to support the proliferation of primitive cells, based on L-form proliferation.     

Vertical vibration isolator having piecewise‐constant restoring force

We present a vertical vibration isolator having a piecewise‐constant restoring force, which belongs to a class of passive and nonlinear vibration isolators. In vertical vibration isolation, direct use of low‐stiffness elements leads to unacceptably large deformations due to self‐weight. To overcome the difficulty, we apply a combination of constant‐force springs, each of which sustains a constant load regardless of its stretch. By arranging the constant‐force springs, so that the isolator has a piecewise‐constant restoring force, we alleviate the problem of the excessive deformation caused by self‐weight, provide stability at the static equilibrium state along with the self‐centering capability, and realize a large stroke while keeping the mechanism simple and compact. Further, we attempt to limit the response acceleration within a tolerance regardless of the frequency spectrum and the magnitude of earthquake ground motions. We demonstrate the effectiveness of the present isolator through shaking table tests and numerical simulations. Copyright © 2009 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Regionality and seasonality of submesoscale and mesoscale turbulence in the North Pacific Ocean

The kinetic energy (KE) seasonality has been revealed by satellite altimeters in many oceanic regions. Question about the mechanisms that trigger this seasonality is still challenging. We address this question through the comparison of two numerical simulations. The first one, with a 1/10° horizontal grid spacing, 54 vertical levels, represents dynamics of physical scales larger than 50 km. The second one, with a 1/30° grid spacing, 100 vertical levels, takes into account the dynamics of physical scales down to 16 km. Comparison clearly emphasizes in the whole North Pacific Ocean, not only a significant KE increase by a factor up to three, but also the emergence of seasonal variability when the scale range 16–50 km (called submesoscales in this study) is taken into account. But the mechanisms explaining these KE changes display strong regional contrasts. In high KE regions, such the Kuroshio Extension and the western and eastern subtropics, frontal mixed-layer instabilities appear to be the main mechanism for the emergence of submesoscales in winter. Subsequent inverse kinetic energy cascade leads to the KE seasonality of larger scales. In other regions, in particular in subarctic regions, results suggest that the KE seasonality is principally produced by larger-scale instabilities with typical scales of 100 km and not so much by smaller-scale mixed-layer instabilities. Using arguments from geostrophic turbulence, the submesoscale impact in these regions is assumed to strengthen mesoscale eddies that become more coherent and not quickly dissipated, leading to a KE increase.     

High-pressure electronic absorption spectroscopy of natural and synthetic Cr<Superscript>3+</Superscript>-bearing clinopyroxenes

Comparison of polarized optical absorption spectra of natural Ca-rich diopsides and synthetic NaCrSi2O6 and LiCrSi2O6 clinopyroxenes, evidences as vivid similarities, as noticeable differences. The similarities reflect the fact that in all cases Cr3+ enters the small octahedral M1-site of the clinopyroxene structure. The differences are due to some iron content in the natural samples causing broad intense near infrared bands of electronic spin-allowed dd transitions of Fe2+(M1, M2) and intervalence Fe2+/Fe3+ charge-transfer transition, and by different symmetry and different local crystal fields strength of Cr3+ in the crystal structures. The positions of the spin-allowed bands of Cr3+, especially of the low energy one caused by the electronic 4 A 2g → 2 T 1g transition, are found to be in accordance with mean M1–O distances. The local relaxation parameter ε calculated for limCr 3+ → 0 from the spectra and interatomic á Cr - O ñ \left\langle {Cr - O} \right\rangle and á Mg - O ñ \left\langle {Mg - O} \right\rangle distances yields a very high value, 0.96, indicating that in the clinopyroxene structure the local lattice relaxation around the “guest” ion, Cr3+, deviates greatly from the “diffraction” value, ε = 0, than in any other known Cr3+-bearing systems studied so far. Under pressure the spin-allowed bands of Cr3+ shift to higher energies and decrease in intensity quite in accordance with the crystal field theoretical expectations, while the spin-forbidden absorption lines remain practically unshifted, but also undergo a strong weakening. There is no evident dependence of the Racah parameter B of Cr3+ reflecting the covalence of the oxygen-chromium bond under pressure: within the uncertainty of determination it may be regarded as practically constant. The values of CrO6 octahedral modulus, k\textpoly\textloc k_{\text{poly}}^{\text{loc}} , derived from high-pressure spectra of natural chromium diopside and synthetic NaCrSi2O6 kosmochlor are very close, ~203 and ~196 GPa, respectively, being, however, nearly twice higher than that of MgO6 octahedron in diopside, 105(4) GPa, obtained by Thompson and Downs (2008). Such a strong stiffening of the structural octahedron, i.e. twice higher value of k\textCr3 + \textloc k_{{{\text{Cr}}^{3 + } }}^{\text{loc}} comparing with that of k\textMg2 + \textloc k_{{{\text{Mg}}^{2 + } }}^{\text{loc}} , may be caused by simultaneous substitution of Ca2+ by larger Na+ in the neighboring M2 sites at so-called jadeite-coupled substitution Mg2+ + Ca2+ → Cr3+ + Na+. It is also remarkable that the values of CrO6 octahedral modulus of NaCrSi2O6 kosmochlor obtained here are nearly twice larger than that of 90(16) GPa, evaluated by high-pressure X-ray structural refinement by Origlieri et al. (2003). Taking into account that the overall compressibility of the clinopyroxene structure should mainly be due to the compressibility of M1- and M2-sites, our k\textCr3 + \textloc k_{{{\text{Cr}}^{3 + } }}^{\text{loc}} -value, ~196 GPa, looks much more consistent with the bulk modulus value, 134(1) GPa.     

Observed and simulated sensitivities of summertime urban surface air temperatures to anthropogenic heat in downtown areas of two Japanese Major Cities,Tokyo and Osaka

In this study, the sensitivities of surface air temperatures to anthropogenic heat (AH) were investigated in downtowns of the two Japanese major cities, Tokyo and Osaka. First, meteorological measurements were made with the simultaneous monitoring of electricity demand in a contrastive couple of a downtown commercial area (C-area) and a residential area (R-area) within each city in summer 2007. From the measurements, the areal-mean surface air temperatures were obtained as \( {\overline{T}}_{\mathrm{C}} \) and \( {\overline{T}}_{\mathrm{R}} \) for each of the C-area and R-area, respectively. Using the actual electricity demand and the estimated motor fuels consumption, their areal total was evaluated as the energy-consumption-basis AH. The estimated C-areas' AH indicated greater values up to 220 W/m² on weekdays and remarkable decrease about by half on weekends, whereas that in the R-areas showed less values of 10–20 W/m² stably. Then, \( {\overline{T}}_{\mathrm{C}}-{\overline{T}}_{\mathrm{R}} \) on calm and fine days were found to be systematically decreased from weekdays to weekends in both cities roughly indicating a proportional relationship with the reductions in the C-areas' AH on weekends. The result suggested a common afternoon sensitivity for both C-areas of around 1.0°C/100 W/m², which indicated an intensity of the AH impact on surface air temperature there. Next, to simulate the observed AH impact, the authors' CM-BEM (a multilayer urban canopy model coupled with a building energy model) was newly implemented in the mesoscale Weather Research and Forecasting (WMF) model. This new system, WRF-CM-BEM, was applied to Tokyo and almost reasonably validated from the aspects of the reproducibility of urban surface air temperature and electricity demand in the observation areas. The simulations also suggested that WRF-CM-BEM underestimated the observed air temperature sensitivity to AH in the Tokyo C-area roughly by half but still in the same order of magnitude.