Sulphide ooids from the proterozoic Siyeh Formation of Alberta,Canada

Sulphide ooids from 0.5 to 4 mm in diameter occur over a large area in a thin arenite bed near the base of the Proterozoic Siyeh Formation in southwestern Alberta. Examination by optical microscope, scanning electron microscope, and electron microprobe, reveals that the ooids are composed of concentric layers, a few micrometers to a few tens of micrometers thick, of pyrite and chalcopyrite. Covellite is also present in several ooids. Copper sulphides are more abundant towards the centre of the ooids than in the outer shells where pyrite is predominant. A slightly eccentric nucleus of chalcopyrite and/or titanium oxide occurs in several ooids. It is speculated that the ooids grew during early diagenesis of the arenite, and that the source of metals were black argillaceous sediments above and below the arenite. The nucleation of sulphides around detrital grains of chalcopyrite and titanium oxide has an important bearing on metallogenetic models of stratiform copper deposits.     

Alter-geopolitics: Other securities are happening

In an age of increasing state (in)security, some are coming together on their own to build alternative nonviolent securities. They are making connections across distance and difference which focus on the safety of bodies (often by actually moving bodies), and ground geopolitics in everyday life. The term anti-geopolitics focuses on resistance to hegemonic geopolitics (material or discursive), rather than this sort of effort to build something new. Feminist geopolitics is a form of anti-geopolitics that not only takes apart but also puts the pieces together in new ways - with broader definitions of security for more bodies in more places. Yet it has not generally looked at that practice as engaged in outside of academia. I propose the term alter-geopolitics for a type of feminist geopolitics as a way to extend both the concepts of anti- and feminist geopolitics. I argue for the term as a reminder to look to grassroots practice, to the ways that groups are doing geopolitics in the streets, in homes, in jungles, and in many other spaces ‘off the page’. Though they may not think of their work as geopolitics, framing it in this way can open fruitful conversations. As academics we have much to learn and offer through collaboratively thinking with such groups about security. I have been doing this with international accompaniers in Colombia and discuss their work, and the peace community of San José that they accompany, as forms of alter-geopolitics.     

Topographical distribution of lipids inside the mandibular fat bodies of odontocetes: remarkable complexity and consistency

Odontocetes possess unusual and specialized mandibular fat bodies in and around their lower jaws. These tissues have been proposed to facilitate sound reception and are composed of unusual endogenously synthesized lipids. Little is known about how the topographical arrangement of the lipid molecules in these tissues influences sound reception. We examined the lipid composition of the mandibular fat bodies, using a fine-scale approach, on six specimens (representing four odontocete families). We show that odontocete jaw lipids exhibit a complex structural three-dimensional topography. Different odontocetes synthesize and deposit slightly different molecules, but the relative arrangement of the lipids within each head showed marked consistency. Mandibular fats of beaked whales were uniquely dominated by isolauric acid (i-12:0). In contrast, the dolphin and porpoise biosynthesized isovaleric acid (i-5:0), while the pygmy sperm whale deposited medium-length (10-14 carbons) straight-chain lipids. In all heads examined, the shortest and branched-chain ("i") fatty acids were concentrated in the center of the jaw fats, which connect intimately with the ears. We hypothesize that in odontocete jaws, this arrangement may serve to channel an incoming sound to the ears because sound travels slower through shorter branched-chain fatty acids than through longer straight-chain fatty acids.     

Information systems playground—the target infrastructure

The Target infrastructure has been specially built as a storage and compute infrastructure for the information systems derived from Astro-WISE. This infrastructure will be used by several applications that collaborate in the area of information systems within the Target project. It currently consists of 10 PB of storage and thousands of computational cores. The infrastructure has been constructed based on the requirements of the applications. The storage is controlled by the Global Parallel File System of IBM. This file system takes care of the required flexibility by combining storage hardware with different characteristics into a single file system. It is also very scalable, which allows the system to be extended into the future, while replacing old hardware with new technology.     

Relational Hubs for Collaborative Landscape Stewardship

Abstract

Landscape stewardship is considered an important place-based approach to addressing sustainability challenges. Working at landscape-level requires collaboration between diverse landscape stakeholders. In this study, we partnered with local stewardship practitioners across six cases in South Africa to investigate how they facilitate collaboration towards social-ecological sustainability outcomes. We found that practitioners facilitate collaboration among stakeholders by operating as relational hubs in the landscape. Through these hubs, they build new inter-personal relationships among stakeholders, creating social networks which enable stewardship practice. The hubs deepen human-nature relationships by creating enabling conditions for stewards to put stewardship ethics into action. Drawing on insights from these cases, we call for a relational approach to landscape stewardship which focuses on human-to-human and human-to-nature relationships. Moreover, we argue that landscape stewardship initiatives need to re-focus stewardship on stewards, recognizing them as key agents of change in addressing the conflict between agriculture and conservation inherent in many landscapes.