Investigating Microbial Trace-fossils and Abiotic Alteration in Hydrovolcanic Tuffs of the Fort Rock Volcanic Field, Oregon

Microbial ichnofossils in volcanic rocks provide a significant record of subsurface microbes and potentially extraterrestrial biosignatures. Here, the textures, mineralogy, and geochemistry of two continental basaltic hydrovolcanic deposits - Reed Rocks and Black Hills - in the Fort Rock Volcanic Field (FRVF) are investigated. Methods include petrographic microscopy, micro and powder X-ray diffraction, SEM/BSE/EDF imaging, energy dispersive spectroscopy, stable isotopes, and X-ray fluorescence. Petrographic analysis revealed granular and tubular textures with biogenic morphologies that include terminal enlargements, septate divisions, branching forms, spiral filaments, and ovoid bodies resembling endolithic microborings described in ocean basalts. They display evidence of behaviour and a geologic context expressing their relative age and syngenicity. Differences in abiotic alteration and the abundance/morphotype assemblage of putative microborings between the sites indicate that water/rock ratio, fluid composition and flux, temperature and secondary phase formation are influences on microboring formation. This study is the first report of reputed endolithic microborings in basalts erupted in a continental lacustrine setting.

Rotation-electronic interaction in the 3p-complex Rydberg state of water

An energy theory is formulated for the rotational energy levels in a p-complex Rydberg state of an asymmetric top molecule of symmetry C2v. The effective Hamiltonian used consists of the usual rigid rotor Hamiltonian augmented with terms representing electronic spin and orbital angular momentum effects. Criteria for assigning symmetry species to the rotational energy levels, following Houganfs scheme that uses the full molecular group,are established and given in the form of a table. This is particularly suitable when eigenvectors are calculated on a digital computer. Also, an intensity theory for transitions to the Rydberg p-complex singlet states is presented and selection rules in terms of symmetry species of energy states are established. Finally, applications to HpO and DpO are given.

A tour from the City of New-York, to Detroit, in the Michigan Territory, made between the 2d of May and the 22d of September, 1818 : the tour extends from New-York, by Albany, Schenectady, and Utica to Sacket's Harbor, and thence throught Lake Ontario, to St. Lawrence river, and down that stream to Hamilton village. Thence along both banks of the St. Lawrence, from Hamilton to the Thousand Islands; thence to Sacket's Harbor by water; from that place by the route of great Sodus, Geneva, Cananaigua and Batavia, to Buffalo; and from thence to Black Rock, Fort Erie, the Falls of Niagara, Queenston, Lewiston, and the memorable fields of Bridgewater and Chippewa after viewing the interesting place of Niagara, the author traversed the south shore of Lake Erie to the City of Detroit, and visited in the latter range, Dunkirk, Erie, Cleveland, Sandusky, and other places of less note. The tour is accompanied with a map upon which the route will be designated; a particular map of the Falls andRiver of Niagara, and the environs of the City of Detroit /

Errata slip inserted.

Syntrophic relationships between algae and bacteria in a fresh-water stream and in culture /

Interactions between freshwater algae and bacteria were examined in a natural stream habitat and a laboratory model. Field observations provided circumstantial evidence, in statistical correlation for syntrophy between the microbial populations. This relation is probably subject to control by the temperature and pH of the aquatic environment. Several species of a pond community were isolated in axenic culture and tests were performed to determine the nature of mixed species interactions. Isolation procedures and field studies indicated that selected strains of Chlorella and Azotobacter were closely associated in their natural habitat. With the suspected controlling parameters, pH and temperature, held constant, mixed cultures of algae and bacteria were compared to axenic cultures of the same organisms, and a mutual stimulation of growth was observed. A mixed pure culture apparatus was designed in this laboratory to study the algal-bacterial interaction and to test the hypothesis that such an interaction may take place through a diffusable substance or through certain medium-borne conditions, Azotobacter was found to take up a Chlorella-produced exudate, to stimulate protein synthesis, to enhance chlorophyll production and to cause a numerical increase in the interacting Chlorella population. It is not clear whether control is at the environmental, cellular or genetic level in these mixed population interactions. Experimental observations in the model system, taken with field correlations allow one to state that there may be a direct relationship governing the population fluctuations of these two organisms in their natural stream surroundings.

Acquisition and transfer of experiential learning from rock climbing to the corporate workplace

There were three purposes to this study. The first purpose was to determine how learning can be influenced by various factors i~ the rock climbing experience. The second purpose was to examine what people can learn from the rock climbing experience. The third purpose was to investigate whether that learning can transfer from the rock climbing experience to the subjects' real life in the workplace. Ninety employees from a financial corporation in the Niagara Region volunteered for this study. All subjects were surveyed throughout a one-day treatment. Ten were purposefully selected one month later for interviews. Ten themes emerged from the subjects in terms of what was learned. Inspiration, motivation, and determination, preparation, goals and limitations, perceptions and expectations, confidence and risk taking, trust and support, teamwork, feedback and encouragement, learning from failure, and finally, skills and flow. All participants were able to transfer what was learned back to the workplace. The results of this study suggested that subjects' learning was influenced by their ability to: take risks in a safe environment, fail without penalty, support each other, plan without time constraints, and enjoy the company of fellow workers that they wouldn't normally associate with. Future directions for research should include different types of treatments such as white water rafting, sky diving, tall ship sailing, or caving.

The role of water in determining structure and function of macromolecules and macromolecular assemblies /

The interaction of biological molecules with water is an important determinant of structural properties both in molecular assemblies, and in conformation of individual macromolecules. By observing the effects of manipulating the activity of water (which can be accomplished by limiting its concentration or by adding additional solutes, "osmotic stress"), one can learn something about intrinsic physical properties of biological molecules as well as measure an energetic contribution of closely associated water molecules to overall equilibria in biological reactions. Here two such studies are reported. The first of these examines several species of lysolipid which, while present in relatively low concentrations in biomembranes, have been shown to affect many cellular processes involving membrane-protein or membrane-membrane interactions. Monolayer elastic constants were determined by combining X-ray diffraction and the osmotic stress technique. Spontaneous radii of curvature of lysophosphatidylcholines were determined to be positive and in the range +30A to +70A, while lysophosphatidylethanolamines proved to be essentially flat. Neither lysolipid significantly affected the bending modulus of the monolayer in which it was incorporated. The second study examines the role of water in theprocess of polymerization of actin into filaments. Water activity was manipulated by adding osmolytes and the effect on the equilibrium dissociation constant (measured as the criticalmonomer concentration) was determined. As water activity was decreased, the critical concentration was reduced for Ca-actin but not for Mg-actin, suggesting that 10-12 fewer water molecules are associated with Ca-actin in the polymerized state. Thisunexpectedly small amount of water is discussed in the context of the common structural motif of a nucleotide binding cleft.