Some peculiarities in the Asteroidal Belt

The analysis of the fine structure of the Asteroidal Belt evidenciates a group of asteroids next to the resonance 4/9 with Jupiter. In this group and in other groups associated to the Hirayama families there are indications that their orbital parameters can be represented by quantum numbers as defined here and in two of our previous works. Together with this the distribution of the eccentricities and inclinations of the orbital planes of short period comets and diverse type of asteroids indicates that they can be classified as objects with e > sin i and objects with e > sin i with a limit e = sin i which determinates geometrical properties of the orbits related with discrete states in the solar system. This study lets open the possibility of following studies in order to confirm the quantum characteristics of the Asteroidal Belt being these characteristics common to all the solar system and depending of the same fundamental constant of action per mass unit H ₀ = 1/2 ₀ × T ₀ (potential × time) because only a small part of all the available data in the Asteroid Belt is used here.     

Comparison of llama fiber obtained from two production regions of Argentina

The Puna is an arid region running along the Andes mountains, more than 3600 m above sea level. Overgrazing has severely degraded much of this ecosystem, and this has dramatically reduced agricultural production and resulted in poverty for human inhabitants. Llamas are native to the Puna and are well suited to live there. Their grazing habits and digestive system make efficient use of native forages, and their padded feet keep soil disturbance to a minimum, thereby reducing erosion. Uncontrolled llama breeding over the last 500 years has degraded the quality of the fiber they produce, so today it is generally of low quality. Analysis of llama fibers obtained from two production regions of Argentina showed that some llamas possess sufficiently fine mean fiber diameters (less than 23 μm if guard hairs are excluded) to allow their fleeces to be sold at a premium. A higher price would make llamas more attractive to raise than the goats and sheep commonly found in the Puna today. Switching to llama production would increase grower income and sustainability of agriculture in the region.     

Pyrite formation driven by MSW landfill leachate in the Madrid Basin, Spain

The role of municipal solid waste (MSW) landfill leachate on the genesis of minor amounts of pyrite associated with gypsum in an otherwise predominantly evaporitic sequence was studied in geological and geochemical terms. The potential association between landfill leachate and the conditions required for bacterial reduction of sulfate and fixation of H₂S as pyrite were examined. The lithological column was generally found to contain little or no Fe. The δ³⁴S values for sulfates were consistent with previously reported data; however, the measured δ¹⁸O values were slightly higher. Sulfides disseminated in the marl/lutite exhibited higher δ³⁴S values (≈−8‰) than gypsum-coating pyrite crystals (δ³⁴S < −30‰). Dissolution of gypsum to sulfate and the supply of metabolizable organic matter and Fe required for H₂S fixation as sulfides may have originated from landfill leachate. Intermittent availability of leachate, a result of the precipitation regime, can facilitate sulfur disproportionation and lead to fractionations as high as      

The Juchatengo complex: an upper-level ophiolite assemblage of late Paleozoic age in Oaxaca,southern Mexico

International Journal of Earth Sciences - The Juchatengo complex (JC) suite is located between the Proterozoic Oaxacan complex to the north and the Xolapa complex to the south, and was amalgamated...     

A Long Way to Go: Collective Paths to Racial Justice in Geography

Despite decades of recognition and worry about diversity, our discipline remains persistently white. That is, it is dominated by white bodies and it continues to conform to norms, practices, and ideologies of whiteness. This is a loss. At best, it limits the possibilities and impact of our work as geographers. At worst, it perpetuates harmful exclusions in our discipline: its working environments, its institutions, and its knowledge production. This remains deeply concerning for many geographers, and there has been important research, commentary, and institutional activity over the years. Yet, research shows us that little meaningful progress has been made. We know that mentoring is one vital part of the journey toward change. As such, we reflect here on our experience developing a research collective built on a transformative mentoring practice. We outline the key challenges, strategies, and tentative successes of the collective in supporting women of color undergraduate, graduate, and faculty geographers, arguing that such feminist formations are a vital part of the path to intellectual racial justice in our field. Key Words: diversity, feminist geography, higher education, mentoring, race.     

Inorganic arsenic speciation in the waters of the Penzé estuary (NW France): Seasonal variations and fluxes to the coastal area

Over this one-year study, the variations of inorganic As species were examined monthly along the salinity gradient of the Penzé estuary (NW France) in relation with different biogeochemical parameters. In most cases, dissolved As exhibited a non-conservative behaviour which resulted from the competition between two major processes. In the upstream section of the estuary, a strong input of both total inorganic As and As(III) occurred. Then, the removal of the same species, under precipitation of iron oxides/oxyhydroxides, was observed in the low-salinity range (S < 10). Using our experimental data, the fluxes of the various As species were estimated for the first time in estuarine waters. Inputs from the river were mainly constituted of particulate As (∼70%). Conversely, dissolved species were predominant in the net fluxes (∼65%) and As(III) accounted for ∼15% of the dissolved net flux.     

Singularity and Nonnormality in the Classification of Compositional Data

Geologists may want to classify compositional data and express the classification as a map. Regionalized classification is a tool that can be used for this purpose, but it incorporates discriminant analysis, which requires the computation and inversion of a covariance matrix. Covariance matrices of compositional data always will be singular (noninvertible) because of the unit-sum constraint. Fortunately, discriminant analyses can be calculated using a pseudo-inverse of the singular covariance matrix; this is done automatically by some statistical packages such as SAS. Granulometric data from the Darss Sill region of the Baltic Sea is used to explore how the pseudo-inversion procedure influences discriminant analysis results, comparing the algorithm used by SAS to the more conventional Moore–Penrose algorithm. Logratio transforms have been recommended to overcome problems associated with analysis of compositional data, including singularity. A regionalized classification of the Darss Sill data after logratio transformation is different only slightly from one based on raw granulometric data, suggesting that closure problems do not influence severely regionalized classification of compositional data.