Chemical enrichment in the early galaxy

New, precise abundance data for a large number of elements in a growing sample of extremely metal-poor stars are accumulating from the new 8-m telescopes. Combined with theoretical models, these results advance our understanding of the first generations of stars, whose nucleosynthesis products are fossilised in the oldest stars we see today and thus give clues to the earliest phases of evolution in the Galaxy. In particular, the heaviest elements give us insight into the different neutron capture mechanisms and the stellar sites where such elements could be produced. They also afford an independent way to determine the age of the Galaxy, by radioactive chronology. This revised version was published online in August 2006 with corrections to the Cover Date.     

Geoscientific R&D for high level radioactive waste disposal in Sweden — current status and future plans

SKB (Svensk Kärnbränslehantering AB) is responsible for all handling, transport and storage of the nuclear wastes outside the Swedish nuclear power stations. According to Swedish law, SKB is responsible for an R&D-programme needed to take care of the radwastes. The programme comprises, among others, a general supportive geo-scientific R&D and the Äspö Hard Rock Laboratory (HRL) for more in-situ specific tasks.

Sweden is geologically located in the Fennoscandian shield which is dominated by gneisses and granitoids of Precambrian age. The Swedish reference repository concept thus considers an excavated vault at ca. 500 m depth in crystalline rocks. In this concept (KBS-3), copper canisters with high level waste will be emplaced in deposition holes from a system of tunnels. Blocks of highly compacted swelling bentonite clay are placed in the holes leaving ample space for the canisters. At the final closure of the repository, the galleries are backfilled with a mixture of sand and bentonite. This repository design aims to make the disposal system as redundant as possible. Although the KBS-3 concept is the reference concept, alternative concepts and/or repository lay-outs are also studied. The main alternative, currently under development at SKB, is disposal in boreholes with depths of 4–5 km. The geoscientific research will to a great extent be guided by the demands posed by the performance and safety assessments, as well as the constuctability issues. Some main functions of the geological barrier are fundamental for the long-term safety of a repository. These are: bedrock mechanical stability, a chemically stable environment as well as a slow and stable groundwater flux. The main time-table for the final disposal of long-lived radioactive waste in Sweden foresees the final selection of the disposal system and site during the beginning of next decade.     

ComparativeP-postlabeling analysis of DNA Adducts in Perch (Perca fluviatilis) from unpolluted and polluted areas in Swedish coastal waters

Perch (Perca fluviatilis), were sampled from unpolluted and polluted areas in Swedish coastal waters. The level of aromatic/hydrophobic DNA adducts in liver tissue was analyzed using the nucleas P1 version of the³²P-post-labeling assay. The level of total adducts measured in the individual fish from polluted areas was between 6 and 22 nmol of adducts/mol of nucleotides, and in the fish from the reference area between 0.2 and 0.6 nmol of adducts/mol of nucleotides.     

The border as an engine for mobility and spatial integration: A study of commuting in a Swedish–Norwegian context

The purpose of the study was to analyse how cross-border commuting differed from intranational commuting in Sweden, and how cross-border mobilities affected spatial integration. The authors analysed patterns and spatial flows of cross-border commuting by comparing them with characteristics of intranational commuting. In the article, they explore the assumption that the border constitutes an ‘engine’ for work-related mobility, which affects processes of spatial integration in cross-border areas. The empirical material comprised data from surveys of commuting from the Swedish county of Värmland to Norway and commuting within Värmland. The findings showed that cross-border commuting shared common features with intranational commuting, including how the frequency of commuting was dependent on distance. The motives for commuting differed, and the reasons for working in Norway were economic rather than professional. In terms of spatial integration, cross-border commuting was mainly one-directional, from Sweden to Norway, while leisure mobility and migration tended to be in the opposite direction. The authors conclude that the border region is characterised by integration through specialisation, which involves a permanent state of ‘transient’ mobility. Thus, a win-win situation can be distinguished, in which the border serves as a resource and an ‘engine’ for cross-border integration, mobility and economic activities.     

Molecular orbital (MSXα) calculations of s-electron densities of tetrahedrally coordinated ferric iron: Comparison with experimental isomer shifts

The MSXα method has been used to calculate the s-electron densities at the nucleus for tetrahedrally coordinated ferric iron, (FeO₄)^5?, comparing the observed increase in isomer shift values with increasing Fe-O separation. The results give an isomer shift calibration constant of ?0.3 (a.u. mm×s^?1) assuming a constant ratio for the iron and oxygen sphere radii for the different polyhedra sizes. It is suggested that increasing bonding distances in tetrahedral coordination polyhedra are the dominant factors determining the value of the isomer shifts in Fe-Mg-silicates.     

BASIC: Baltic Sea cyanobacteria. An investigation of the structure and dynamics of water blooms of cyanobacteria in the Baltic Sea—responses to a changing environment

The blooms of cyanobacteria that develop each summer in the Baltic Sea are composed of two functional groups, namely the small-sized picocyanobacteria (Synechococcus sp.) and the larger, colony-forming, filamentous N₂-fixing cyanobacteria. The former encompassed both red (phycoerythrin-rich) and blue-green (phycocyanin-rich) species. The majority of the picocyanobacteria measured less than 1 μm and this size fraction comprised as much as 80% of the total cyanobacterial biomass and contributed as much as 50% of the total primary production of a cyanobacterial bloom. The picocyanobacteria are incapable of fixing N₂, do not possess gas vesicles and are not toxic. However, a small filamentous Pseudanabaena sp. that could potentially fix N₂ was isolated from the picocyanobacteria fraction. The larger cyanobacteria may form surface scums because they possess gas vesicles that make them buoyant. Although their biomass was less than the picocyanobacteria, they therefore form the more conspicuous and nuisance-forming part of the bloom. The larger cyanobacteria were composed mainly of three different species: Nodularia spumigena, Aphanizomenon flos-aquae and Anabaena sp. These all belong to the heterocystous, N₂-fixing cyanobacteria. N. spumigena and A. flos-aquae were the dominant species; only N. spumigena was toxic. Although individual Nodularia filaments showed a range of different phenotypes, they all belong to one species as judged from 16S rDNA sequencing. Through determination of the genotypes of many individual Nodularia filaments, it was shown that this population was not clonal and that horizontal exchange of genetic information occurs. N. spumigena and A. flos-aquae were different with respect to their photosynthetic and N₂-fixing potentials. Depending on prevailing environmental conditions, these differences would promote the proliferation of one species over the other and hence would determine overall the toxicity of a bloom. Daily integrals of photon irradiance rather than temperature determined the onset of bloom formation. During a bloom, the diazotrophic cyanobacteria fixed N₂ at a rate that was 10–20% in excess of their own demand for N. Picocyanobacteria assimilated most of this excess N as shown by ¹⁵N incorporation. During bloom conditions, the diazotrophic cyanobacteria met about 50% of the N demand of the total cyanobacterial community. The picocyanobacteria were predominantly N-limited while the diazotrophic cyanobacteria were probably iron limited. These findings allow us to understand the formation of toxic cyanobacterial blooms and also to develop tools to predict bloom formation.     

Local galactic evolution

The evolution of the Solar neighbourhood is followed using a unique, magnitude complete and kinematically unbiased sample of 14,000 F, G, and K dwarfs. Metallicity, age, space motion and galactic orbits have been determined for all stars. The result is a detailed view of the complex evolution of the local Milky Way, which must be matched by any model for the chemical and dynamical evolution of the Galactic disk. E.g., such models must explain the shape and large scatter in the age-metallity relation as well as the overall metallicity distribution; the evolution of stellar kinematics with age; the distribution of stars in velocity space; and the contributions from the thick and thin disks to all these relations. This revised version was published online in August 2006 with corrections to the Cover Date.     

Effect of hydrocarbon volatility and adsorption on source-rock pyrolysis

Petroleum source-rock evaluations by pyrolysis are based on the concept that free hydrocarbons in rock samples are volatilized below 300°C while hydrocarbons cracked from kerogen come off at higher temperatures. The pyrolysis of pure hydrocarbons with different mineral matrices shows that free hydrocarbons containing 16 or more carbon atoms may not be evolved eblow 300°C, but at varying higher temperatures. The extent to which this occurs depends on the hydrocarbon volatility, the mineral matrix and the pyrolysis instrument design. Source-rock parameters which use the P₁ (S₁) peak may be not be reproducible between instruments if the rock contains appreciable amounts of high molecular weight hydrocarbons.     

Basic physiological biomarkers in adult female perch (Perca fluviatilis) in a chronically polluted gradient in the Stockholm recipient (Sweden)

By measuring a battery of basic physiological biomarkers and the concentration of SigmaDDT in adult female perch (Perca fluviatilis), an assumed aquatic pollution gradient was confirmed, with the city of Stockholm (Sweden) as a point source of anthropogenic substances. The investigation included an upstream gradient, westwards through Lake M?laren (46 km), and a downstream gradient, eastwards through the Stockholm archipelago (84 km). The results indicated a severe pollution situation in central Stockholm, with poor health status of the perch: retarded growth, increased frequency of sexually immature females, low gonadosomatic index, and disturbed visceral fat metabolism. SigmaDDT, measured as a pollution indicator, was 10-28 times higher than the background in perch from the Baltic Proper. Besides the main gradient other sources of pollution also influenced the response pattern of the measured biomarkers. In particular, there were strong indications of pollution coming from the Baltic Sea.