FY08 Biodiesel Fuel Revolving Fund Expenditures Report

The Seventy-ninth General Assembly of the State of Iowa, 2001 Regular Session, passed Senate File 465 which was signed by the Governor on April 19, 2001. This act created the biodiesel fuel revolving fund (Fund) to be used to purchase biodiesel fuel for use in the Department of Transportation's (DOT) vehicles. The act directed that the Fund receive money from the sale of EPA credits banked by the DOT on the effective date of the act, moneys appropriated by the General Assembly, and any other moneys obtained or accepted by the DOT for deposit in the Fund. The act also directed the DOT to submit an annual report not later than January 31 of the expenditures made from the Fund during the preceding fiscal year. This is the seventh annual report under the act.

Experiments on substratum roughness, grainsize and volume influence on the motion and spreading of rock avalanches

The main objective of the research is to link granular physics with the modelling of rock avalanches. Laboratory experiments consist to find a convenient granular material, i.e. grainsize and physical behaviour, and testing it on simple slope geometry. When the appropriate sliding material is selected, we attempted to model the debris avalanche and the spreading on a slope with different substratum to understand the relationship between the volume and the reach angle, i.e. angle of the line joining the top of the scar and the end of the deposit. For a better understanding of the mass spreading, the deposits are scanned with a laser scanner. Datasets are compared to see how the grain size and volume influence a debris avalanche. The relationship between the roughness and grainsize of the substratum shows that the spreading of the sliding mass is increased when the roughness of the substratum starts to be equivalent or greater than the grainsize of the flowing mass. The runout distance displays a more complex relationship, because a long runout distance implies that grains are less spread. This means that if the substratum is too rough the distance diminishes, as well if it is too smooth because the effect on the apparent friction decreases. Up to now our findings do not permit to validate any previous model (Melosh, 1987; Bagnold 1956).

Geologia de la Plana del Baix Empordà

The geological features of the Baix Empordà Plain are mainly related to the sedimentary processes that took place during the Holocen, when a stable sea level was reached at the end of the Versilian transgression. In this paper, all the sedimentary environments which have given rise to the present morphology are described: alluvial, coastal and palustrine environments as well as colluvial and aeolian deposits. We conclude with a scheme in which the geological evolution of the Plain is shown

Las formaciones travertínicas del valle de Cogolls (Girona): caracterización y relaciones con la dinámica de la cuenca

The influence of geomorphological and hydrologic conditions on travertine deposit formation has been studied in Cogolls Valley (Girona, Spain). Results indicate an evolutive sequence of the Quaternary materials, that is related to instabilities created by progresive changes into the valley system

Stratigraphical discontinuities, tropical landscape evolution and soil distribution relationships in a case study in SE-Brazil

On a regional summit surface in the county of Piracicaba (SP) within the Peripheric Depression of São Paulo, formed of discontinued flattened tops, there is an abrupt transition between a Typic Hapludox and a Kandiudalfic Eutrudox, together with two stoneline layers. Using stratigraphical, mineralogical, and cartographic studies, this transition and the soil distribution of this surface were studied, correlating them with the different parent materials and the morphoclimatic model of landscape evolution in Southeastern Brazil. The Typic Hapludox was formed on a sandy Cenozoic deposit (Q) that overlies a pellitic deposit of the Iratí formation (Pi), representing a regional erosive discordance. Westwards to the Piracicaba River, this sequence is interrupted by a diabase sill overlain by a red clayey material which gave origin to the Kandiudalfic Eutrudox. Two post-Permian depositional events were identified by the two stonelines and stratigraphical discontinuities. The first event generated the deposition of a sandy sediment in the form of levelled alveoluses on regional barriers, most of these formed by dikes and diabase sills, probably during a drier phase. The second depositional event, leading to the deposition of the red clay was probably the dissection of the previously formed pediplane during a humid climate, followed by another pedimentation process during a later, drier period.

Construcció d'un refugi situat al terme municipal de Vallfogona de Ripollès, pensat com a final d'etapa per a rutes a cavall

Els negocis relacionats amb les activitats de lleure i els esports d’aventura actualment es troben en expansió, buscant majoritàriament el contacte amb la natura. Les rutes a cavall formen part del gran ventall d’opcions, per aquesta qüestió s’ha pensat en construir un refugi utilitzat com a final d’etapa per a rutes a cavall. En la major part del territori, la presència de població humana es manifesta en pobles, viles i ciutats, les quals disposes d’aigua sanitària, corrent elèctric i sistema de clavegueram. Per altra banda en les urbanitzacions o cases aïllades poder gaudir d’aquests serveis suposa una inversió econòmica elevada, que implica la utilització de sistemes alternatius. En el present projecte s’ha triat un emplaçament on portar a terme el final d’etapa amb una sèrie de requisits a complir : bosc a les proximitats, disposar d’un o varis accessos per a vehicles (transport del material d’intendència), tranquil•litat, bones vistes, i cobertura de telèfon mòbil. S’han acceptat les següents limitacions : no disposar de xarxa pública d’electricitat ni d’aigua. I s’han dimensionat les instal•lacions per a un màxim de dotze persones i els seus respectius cavalls. El principal objectiu del projecte és el dimensionament de les necessitats elèctriques, d’aigua i d’aiguacalenta sanitària en condicions autònomes, i utilitzant energies renovables. La valoració de les possibles solucions per condicionar les instal•lacions, i oferir una resposta eficient per la demanda. No és un objectiu específic del treball la potabilització de l’aigua ni el tractament dels residus produïts. S’han aprofitat els diferents desnivells que presenta l’emplaçament triat a l’hora de distribuir les instal•lacions, i s’ha utilitzat un antic cobert de dos pisos ja existent. Com a residència s’ha triat un model de casa prefabricada de muntanya. Com a sistema de subministrament elèctric, s’instal•laran plaques solars fotovoltaiques i un generador de corrent com a sistema auxiliar. La captació d’aigua s’efectuarà a partir d’un pou que es troba en el terreny i de la recollida d el’aigua pluvial, instal•lant dipòsits d’emmagatzemament d’aigua segons les necessitats. S’utilitzarà un equip de cloració per potabilitzar l’aigua de consum utilitzada a la residència. En la producció d’aigua calenta sanitària s’utilitzaran plaques solars tèrmiques i una caldera instantània de gas propà com a suport. Per cuinar s’ha triat una cuina de gas propà i una barbacoa que s’instal•larà a l’exterior. S’instal•larà una llar de foc amb recuperador d’aire a la residència i una fosa sèptica amb un sistema d’infiltració per poder abocar les aigües provinents de la residència. Els fems dels cavalls podran ser utilitzats com adob pel terreny.

Aproximació al moviment "open access"

[eng] The article describes the background and current state of the open access (OA) movement. Its objectives --with roots in scientists' traditional desire to disseminate their works, in librarians' concerns about the serials crisis, and in technological advances-- were formally articulated in the Budapest Open Access Initiative (BOAI) declaration of 2002. This statement established two strategies for providing access to scientific information without any economic, technical, or legal obstacles: 1) publication of articles in OA journals or 2) deposit by authors of their works in stable institutional or subject-based repositories. The article suggests that this second "route" appears to offer greater possibilities of attaining open access in the short term. However, there still is a lot of work to be done in disseminating the concepts of OA and in training authors regarding procedures for depositing their works: in other words what is needed is a series of promotional activities for overcoming one of today's greatest challenges: author inertia.

Las mineralizaciones filonianas del sector de l'Argentera (Cadenas Costeras Catalanas): Contexto geológico, estructura, tipología y condiciones de formación

Las mineralizaciones filonianas del area de L'Argentera estan encajadas indistintamente en la srie sedimentaria pre-carbonfera y carbonfera y en las granodioritas tardihercinicas. NE-SW y presentan dos asociaciones minerales geograficamente bien discriminadas: de Ba-(F) y de cuarzo + galena + arseniuros de Ni-Co. La serie detrtica roja discordante del Triasico inferior (Buntsandstein) muestra asimismo cemento de baritina (fluorita) o cuarzo, en neta correspondencia con las asociaciones minerales de los filones infrayacentes encajados en el zcalo hercnico. Gran parte del contenido filoniano se deposit a partir de soluciones altarnente salinas (20% NaCl peso eq.) y de bajas temperaturas (90 a 120C). Las observaciones realizadas son compatibles con un modelo deposicional basado en una mezcla de aguas termales ascendentes en fracturas permeables y soluciones sulfatadas percolantes a partir de un ambiente de tipo sabkha instalado en el Buntsandstein superior.

Effects of prior hydrogenation on the structure and properties of thermally nanocrystallized silicon layers

Nanocrystalline silicon layers have been obtained by thermal annealing of films sputtered in various hydrogen partial pressures. The as-deposited and crystallized films were investigated by infrared, Raman, x-ray diffraction, electron microscopy, and optical absorption techniques. The obtained data show evidence of a close correlation between the microstructure and properties of the processed material, and the hydrogen content in the as-grown deposit. The minimum stress deduced from Raman was found to correspond to the widest band gap and to a maximum hydrogen content in the basic unannealed sample. Such a structure relaxation seems to originate from the so-called "chemical annealing" thought to be due to Si-H2 species, as identified by infrared spectroscopy. The variation of the band gap has been interpreted in terms of the changes in the band tails associated with the disorder which would be induced by stress. Finally, the layers originally deposited with the highest hydrogen pressure show a lowest stress-which does not correlate with the hydrogen content and the optical band gap¿and some texturing. These features are likely related to the presence in these layers of a significant crystalline fraction already before annealing.

De la mano de Keynes: "A tract on monetary reform"

En Tract on Monetary Reform, John Maynard Keynes propuso utilizar la base monetaria y el coeficiente de reserva bancaria como variables instrumentales d¿una política monetaria que había sido considerada hasta entonces innecesaria. En este trabajo se intenta desvelar las primeras contribuciones de Keynes al progreso del análisis económico

Unusual concentration of Early Albian arthropod-bearing amber in the Basque-Cantabrian Basin (El Soplao, Cantabria, Spain): Palaeoenvironmental and paleobiological implications.

The El Soplao site is a recently-discovered Early Albian locality of the Basque-Cantabrian Basin (northern Spain) that has yielded a number of amber pieces with abundant bioinclusions. The amber-bearing deposit occurs in a non-marine to transitional marine siliciclastic unit (Las Peñosas Formation) that is interleaved within a regressive-transgressive, carbonate-dominated Lower Aptian-Upper Albian marine sequence. The Las Peñosas Formation corresponds to the regressive stage of this sequence and in its turn it splits into two smaller regressive-transgressive cycles. The coal and amber-bearing deposits occur in deltaic-estuarine environments developed during the maximum regressive episodes of these smaller regressive-transgressive cycles. The El Soplao amber shows Fourier Transform Infrared Spectroscopy spectra similar to other Spanish Cretaceous ambers and it is characterized by the profusion of sub-aerial, stalactite-like flows. Well-preserved plant cuticles assigned to the conifer genera Frenelopsis and Mirovia are abundant in the beds associated with amber. Leaves of the ginkgoalean genera Nehvizdya and Pseudotorellia also occur occasionally. Bioinclusions mainly consist of fossil insects of the orders Blattaria, Hemiptera, Thysanoptera, Raphidioptera, Neuroptera, Coleoptera, Hymenoptera and Diptera, although some spiders and spider webs have been observed as well. Some insects belong to groups scarce in the fossil record, such as a new morphotype of the wasp Archaeromma (of the family Mymarommatidae) and the biting midge Lebanoculicoides (of the monogeneric subfamily Lebanoculicoidinae). This new amber locality constitutes a very significant finding that will contribute to improving the knowledge and comprehension of the Albian non-marine paleoarthropod fauna.

Pedological and isotopic relations of a highland tropical peatland, Mountain Range of the Espinhaço Meridional (Brazil)

The evolution of organic matter sources in soil is related to climate and vegetation dynamics in the past recorded in paleoenvironmental Quaternary deposits such as peatlands. For this reason, a Histosol of the mineralotrophic peatland from the Pau-de-Fruta Special Protection Area - SPA, Espinhaço Meridional, State of Minas Gerais, was described and characterized to evidence the soil constituent materials and properties as related to changes in environmental conditions, supported by the isotopic and elementary characterization of soil C and N and 14C ages. Samples were collected in a depression at 1,350 m asl, where Histosols are possibly more developed due to the great thickness (505 cm). Nowadays, the area is colonized by vegetation physiognomies of the Cerrado Biome, mainly rocky and wet fields (Campo Rupestre and Campo Úmido), aside from fragments of Semidecidual Seasonal Forest, called Capões forests. The results this study showed that early the genesis of the analyzed soil profile showed a high initial contribution of mostly herbaceous organic matter before 8,090 ± 30 years BP (14C age). In the lower-mid Holocene, between 8,090 ± 30 years AP (14C age) to ± 4,100 years BP (interpolated age), the vegetation gradually became more woody, with forest expansion, possibly due to increased humidity, suggesting the existence of a more woody Cerrado in the past than at present. Drier climate conditions than the current were concluded ± 2,500 years BP (interpolated age) and that after 430 years BP (14C age) the forest gave way to grassland, predominantly. After the dry season, humidity increased to the current conditions. Due to these climate fluctuations during the Holocene, three decomposition stages of organic matter were observed in the Histosols of this study, with prevalence of the most advanced (sapric), typical of a deposit in a highly advanced stage of pedogenetic evolution.

Physical and chemical attributes of archaeological soils developed from shell middens in the Região dos Lagos, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil

In prehistoric times, innumerous shell middens, called "sambaquis", consisting mainly of remains of marine organisms, were built along the Brazilian coast. Although the scientific community took interest in these anthropic formations, especially since the nineteenth century, their pedological context is still poorly understood. The purpose of this study was to characterize and identify the physical and chemical changes induced by soil-forming processes, as well as to compare the morphology of shell midden soils with other, already described, anthropogenic soils of Brazil. Four soil profiles developed from shell middens in the Região dos Lagos - RJ were morphologically described and the physical and chemical properties determined. The chemical analysis showed that Ca, Mn, Mg, and particularly P and Zn are indicators of anthropic horizons of midden soils, as in the Amazon Dark Earths (Terras Pretas de Índio). After the deposition of P-rich material, P reaction and leaching can mask or disturb the evidence of in situ man-made strata, but mineralogical and chemical studies of phosphate forms can elucidate the apparent complexity. Lower phosphate-rich strata without direct anthropic inputs indicate P leaching and precipitation in secondary forms. The total and bioavailable contents of Ca, Mg, Zn, Mn, Cu, P, and organic C of midden soils were much higher than of regional soils without influence of ancient human settlements, demonstrating that the high fertility persisted for long periods, at some sites for more than 4000 years. The physical analysis showed that wind-blown sand contributed significantly to increase the sand fraction in the analyzed soils (texture classes sand, sandy loam and sandy clay loam) and that the aeolian sand accumulation occurred simultaneously with the midden formation.

Early Iron Age Pottery: A Quantitative Approach, Proceedings of the International Round Table organized by the Swiss School of Archaeology in Greece (Athens, November 28-30, 2008)

Quantitative approaches in ceramology are gaining ground in excavation reports, archaeological publications and thematic studies. Hence, a wide variety of methods are being used depending on the researchers' theoretical premise, the type of material which is examined, the context of discovery and the questions that are addressed. The round table that took place in Athens on November 2008 was intended to offer the participants the opportunity to present a selection of case studies on the basis of which methodological approaches were discussed. The aim was to define a set of guidelines for quantification that would prove to be of use to all researchers. Contents: 1) Introduction (Samuel Verdan); 2) Isthmia and beyond. How can quantification help the analysis of EIA sanctuary deposits? (Catherine Morgan); 3) Approaching aspects of cult practice and ethnicity in Early Iron Age Ephesos using quantitative analysis of a Protogeometric deposit from the Artemision (Michael Kerschner); 4) Development of a ceramic cultic assemblage: Analyzing pottery from Late Helladic IIIC through Late Geometric Kalapodi (Ivonne Kaiser, Laura-Concetta Rizzotto, Sara Strack); 5) 'Erfahrungsbericht' of application of different quantitative methods at Kalapodi (Sara Strack); 6) The Early Iron Age sanctuary at Olympia: counting sherds from the Pelopion excavations (1987-1996) (Birgitta Eder); 7) L'aire du pilier des Rhodiens à Delphes: Essai de quantification du mobilier (Jean-Marc Luce); 8) A new approach in ceramic statistical analyses: Pit 13 on Xeropolis at Lefkandi (David A. Mitchell, Irene S. Lemos); 9) Households and workshops at Early Iron Age Oropos: A quantitative approach of the fine, wheel-made pottery (Vicky Vlachou); 10) Counting sherds at Sindos: Pottery consumption and construction of identities in the Iron Age (Stefanos Gimatzidis); 11) Analyse quantitative du mobilier céramique des fouilles de Xombourgo à Ténos et le cas des supports de caisson (Jean-Sébastien Gros); 12) Defining a typology of pottery from Gortyn: The material from a pottery workshop pit, (Emanuela Santaniello); 13) Quantification of ceramics from Early Iron Age tombs (Antonis Kotsonas); 14) Quantitative analysis of the pottery from the Early Iron Age necropolis of Tsikalario on Naxos (Xenia Charalambidou); 15) Finding the Early Iron Age in field survey: Two case studies from Boeotia and Magnesia (Vladimir Stissi); 16) Pottery quantification: Some guidelines (Samuel Verdan)

Transparent conducting thin films by the co-sputtering of ZnO-ITO targets

Transparent and conductive Zn-In-Sn-O (ZITO) amorphous thin films have been deposited at room temperature by the rf magnetron co-sputtering of ITO and ZnO targets. Co-sputtering gives the possibility to deposit multicomponent oxide thin films with different compositions by varying the power to one of the targets. In order to make ZITO films with different Zn content, a constant rf power of 50 W was used for the ITO target, where as the rf power to ZnO target was varied from 25 W to 150 W. The as deposited films showed an increase in Zn content ratio from 17 to 67 % as the power to ZnO target was increased from 25 to 150 W. The structural, electrical and optical properties of the as deposited films are reported. The films showed an average transmittance over 80% in the visible wavelength range. The electrical resistivity and optical band gap of the ZITO films were found to depend on the Zn content in the film. The ZITO films deposited at room temperature with lower Zn content ratios showed better optical transmission and electrical properties compared to ITO film.