Ultraviolet photolysis of amino acids in a 100 K water ice matrix: Application to the outer Solar System bodies

We report the rates of decomposition by ultraviolet (UV) photolysis of four amino acids in millimeter-thick crystalline water ice matrices at 100 K to constrain the survivability of these important organic molecules within ice lying near the surfaces of outer Solar System bodies. We UV-irradiated crystalline ice samples containing known concentrations of the amino acids glycine, aspartic acid, glutamic acid, and phenylalanine, then we measured the surviving concentrations using high performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) with fluorescence detection. From these experiments, we determine photolytic decomposition rates and half-lives. The half-life varies linearly with the ice thickness for all acids studied here. For example, glycine is the most resistant to photolytic destruction with a half-life of 50, 12, and 3.7 h in 1.6, 0.28, and 0.14 mm thick ices, respectively. We explain this linear variation of half-life with thickness as a consequence of extinction, mostly due to scattering, within these macroscopically thick ice samples. Applied to low latitude surface ice on Jupiter's satellite Europa, this analysis indicates that the concentration of any of these amino acids within the top meter of similar ice will be halved within a ∼10 year timescale.     

High diversity of frenulates (Polychaeta: Siboglinidae) in the Gulf of Cadiz mud volcanoes: A DNA taxonomy analysis

Frenulates are the most poorly known members of the family Siboglinidae (Polychaeta: Canalipalpata). These thread-like worms occur in reducing marine sediments worldwide, but they are often overlooked in benthic samples or too poorly preserved for adequate taxonomic evaluations. We report on a remarkable diversity of frenulates that were recently sampled from 13 mud volcanoes (350–3902 m deep) in the Gulf of Cadiz, off southern Iberia. Sampled with benthic coring devices, the bodies of these long tubiculous worms were often broken or incomplete, making them difficult to identify morphologically. Consequently, we employed DNA taxonomic methods to assess their diversity. Mitochondrial cytochrome-c-oxidase subunit 1 (COI) sequences distinguished 15 evolutionary lineages inhabiting the Gulf of Cadiz. Only four of the lineages could be assigned to currently recognized Atlantic species; the remaining 11 may be new to science. This remarkable diversity of frenulates in a small geographical region is unprecedented and is hypothesized to result from environmental heterogeneity associated with the bathymetric and geochemical settings of these mud volcanoes.     

Crystalline silicates in comets: How did they form?

Two processes have been proposed to explain observations of crystalline silicate minerals in comets and in protostellar sources, both of which rely on the thermal annealing of amorphous grains. First, high temperatures generated by nebular shock processes can rapidly produce crystalline magnesium silicate grains and will simultaneously produce a population of crystalline iron silicates whose average grain size is ∼10-15% that of the magnesium silicate minerals. Second, exposure of amorphous silicate grains to hot nebular environments can produce crystalline magnesium silicates that might then be transported outward to regions of comet formation. At the higher temperatures required for annealing amorphous iron silicates to crystallinity the evaporative lifetime of the grains is much shorter than a single orbital period where such temperatures are found in the nebula. Thermal annealing is therefore unable to produce crystalline iron silicate grains for inclusion into comets unless such grains are very quickly transported away from the hot inner nebula. It follows that observation of pure crystalline magnesium silicate minerals in comets or protostars is a direct measure of the importance of simple thermal annealing of grains in the innermost regions of protostellar nebulae followed by dust and gas transport to the outer nebula. The presence of crystalline iron silicates would signal the action of transient processes such as shock heating that can produce crystalline iron, magnesium and mixed iron-magnesium silicate minerals. These different scenarios result in very different predictions for the organic content of protostellar systems.     

Poroelastic two‐phase material modeling: theoretical formulation and embedded finite element method implementation

This paper presents the formulation of FEMs for the numerical modeling of a poroelastic two‐phase (aggregates/mixture phase) solid. The displacement and pressure fields are decomposed, following the Enhanced Assumed Strain (EAS) method, into a regular part and an enhanced part. This leads to discontinuous strain and pressure gradient fields allowing to capture the jump in mechanical and hydrical properties passing through the interface between the aggregates and the mixture phase. All these enhanced fields are treated in the context of the embedded FEM through a local enhancement of the finite element interpolations as these jumps appear. The local character of these interpolations leads after a static condensation of the enhanced fields to a problem exhibiting the same structure as common poroelastic finite element models but incorporating now the mechanical and hydrical properties of a two‐phase solid. Copyright © 2015 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Thermal recovery from a fractured medium in local thermal non‐equilibrium

Thermal recovery from a hot dry rock (HDR) reservoir viewed as a deformable fractured medium is investigated with a focus on the assumption of local thermal non‐equilibrium (LTNE). Hydraulic diffusion, thermal diffusion, forced convection and deformation are considered in a two‐phase framework, the solid phase being made by impermeable solid blocks separated by saturated fractures. The finite element approximation of the constitutive and field equations is formulated and applied to obtain the response of a generic HDR reservoir to circulation tests. A change of time profile of the outlet fluid temperature is observed as the fracture spacing increases, switching from a single‐step pattern to a double‐step pattern, a feature which is viewed as characteristic of established LTNE. A dimensionless number is proposed to delineate between local thermal equilibrium (LTE) and non‐equilibrium. This number embodies local physical properties of the mixture, elements of the geometry of the reservoir and the production flow rate. All the above properties being fixed, the resulting fracture spacing threshold between LTNE and LTE is found to decrease with increasing porosity or fluid velocity. The thermally induced effective stress is tensile near the injection well, illustrating the thermal contraction of the rock, while the pressure contribution of the fracture fluid is negligible during the late period. Copyright © 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Burning through organizational boundaries? Examining inter-organizational communication networks in policy-mandated collaborative bushfire planning groups

Collaboration can enhance cooperation across geographic and organizational scales, effectively “burning through” those boundaries. Using structured social network analysis (SNA) and qualitative in-depth interviews, this study examined three collaborative bushfire planning groups in New South Wales, Australia and asked: How does participation in policy-mandated collaboration affect bushfire communication networks amongst organizational representatives? Inter-organizational communication networks became more active, less centralized, and more closely connected during planning than they had been prior. However, efforts to institutionalize collaboration were intrinsically biased towards placing administrative power and influence in public agencies. Further, collaborative planning groups did not maintain “during planning” levels of network activity and structure after planning was completed. In one case, the mandated planning process had a negative impact on inter-agency communication networks. Contextual aspects such as group size, history of inter-organizational conflict and fire occurrence, and process management were important in the development of inter-organizational networks. Though communication diminished after planning was completed, participation in the collaborative planning effort may serve as an important basis for the continuation of inter-organizational relationships beyond the scope of the planning process.