Experimental transformation of kaolinite to halloysite

A well-characterized kaolinite has been hydrated in order to test the hypothesis that platey kaolinite will roll upon hydration. Kaolinite hydrates are prepared by repeated intercalation of kaolinite with potassium acetate and subsequent washing with water. On hydration, kaolinite plates roll along the major crystallographic directions to form tubes identical to proper tubular halloysite. Most tubes are elongated along the b crystallographic axis, while some are elongated along the a axis. Overall, the tubes exhibit a range of crystallinity. Well-ordered examples show a 2-layer structure, while poorly ordered tubes show little or no 3-dimensional order. Cross-sectional views of the formed tubes show both smoothly curved layers and planar faces. These characteristics of the experimentally formed tubes are shared by natural halloysites. Therefore, it is proposed that planar kaolinite can transform to tubular halloysite.

Cross-dressing footballer tackles issues and scores with the crowd

MISOGYNY, no matter how it's defined, has become a political football. Fifteen minutes into the first quarter of David Williamson's Managing Carmen and Brent Lyall, a star AFL footballer, has already taken a high tackle from his hottie girlfriend, had a clanger with his manager and been caught wearing women's clothes by his acting coach. Not a good look for Brent's sponsors. By full time, Williamson's witty banter and colourful characters have hit their mark. No wonder he's already working on the screenplay.

Learning hierarchical prototypes of motion time series for interactive systems

Abstract. For interactive systems, recognition, reproduction, and generalization of observed motion data are crucial for successful interaction. In this paper, we present a novel method for analysis of motion data that we refer to as K-OMM-trees. K-OMM-trees combine Ordered Means Models (OMMs) a model-based machine learning approach for time series with an hierarchical analysis technique for very large data sets, the K-tree algorithm. The proposed K-OMM-trees enable unsupervised prototype extraction of motion time series data with hierarchical data representation. After introducing the algorithmic details, we apply the proposed method to a gesture data set that includes substantial inter-class variations. Results from our studies show that K-OMM-trees are able to substantially increase the recognition performance and to learn an inherent data hierarchy with meaningful gesture abstractions.

Metastable carbon in two chondritic porous interplanetary dust particles

An understanding of carbonaceous matter in primitive extraterrestrial materials is an essential component of studies on dust evolution in the interstellar medium and the early history of the Solar System. We have suggested previously that a record of graphitization is preserved in chondritic porous (CP) aggregates and carbonaceous chondrites1,2 and that the detailed mineralogy of CP aggregates can place boundary conditions on the nature of both physical and chemical processes which occurred at the time of their formation2,3. Here, we report further analytical electron microscope (AEM) studies on carbonaceous material in two CP aggregates which suggest that a record of hydrocarbon carbonization may also be preserved in these materials. This suggestion is, based upon the presence of well-ordered carbon-2H (lonsdaleite) in CP aggregates W7029*A and W7010*A2. This carbon is a metastable phase resulting from hydrous pyrolysis below 300-350°C and may be a precursor to poorly graphitized carbons (PGCs) in primitive extraterrestrial materials2. © 1987 Nature Publishing Group.

Layer silicates in a chondritic porous interplanetary dust particle

Analytical electron microscopy on individual grains from a portion of a chondritic porous interplanetary dust particle (aggregate W7029C1 from the NASA Johnson Space Center Cosmic Dust Collection) shows that layer silicates compose 50 percent of the silicate fraction examined. These layer silicates can be classified into two distinct crystallochemical groups: (1) fine-grained, polycrystalline smectite minerals; and (2) well-ordered, single crystals of kaolinite and Mg-poor talc. The layer silicates in this portion of sample W7029(asterisk)A are dissimilar to those described in other chondritic porous aggregates. The predominant layer silicate assemblage in W7029(asterisk)A indicates that heating of the aggregate during atmospheric entry was brief and probably to a temperature less than 300C. Comparison with terrestrial phyllosilicate occurrences suggests that some layer silicates in aggregate W7029(asterisk)A may have been formed by alteratiton from preexisting silicate minerals at low temperatures (less than 25C) after aggregate formation.

New phyllosilicate types in a carbonaceous chondrite matrix

CARBONACEOUS chondrites provide valuable information as they are the least altered examples of early Solar System material1. The matrix constitutes a major proportion of carbonaceous chondrites. Despite many past attempts, unambiguous identification of the minerals in the matrix has not been totally successful2. This is mainly due to the extremely fine-grained nature of the matrix phases. Recently, progress in the characterisation of these phases has been made by electron diffraction studies3,4. We present here the direct observation, by high resolution imaging, of phases in carbonaceous chondrite matrices. We used ion-thinned sections from the Murchison C2(M) meteorite for transmission electron microscopy. The Murchison matrix contains both ordered and disordered inter-growths of serpentine-like and brucite-like layers. Such mixed-layer structures are new types of layer silicates. © 1979 Nature Publishing Group.

Taxonomic revision of Ustilago, Sporisorium and Macalpinomyces

The three genera of smut fungi, Ustilago, Sporisorium and Macalpinomyces, form a complex that has eluded resolution by morphology (Langdon & Fullerton 1975, Vánky 1991, Piepenbring et al. 1998) and molecular phylogenetic analysis (Stoll et al. 2003, 2005). Two suggestions to reconcile the taxonomy of the complex have been proposed. The first was to break up the current taxa into several smaller genera and subgenera, and the second to unify the three genera into a single genus, Ustilago (Vánky 2002, Piepenbring 2004). The former solution is dependent on finding morphological synapomorphies that can delimit the genera, and the latter solution dismisses the wide morphological diversity within the group (McTaggart et al. 2012b). Synapomorphic morphological characters and host plant classification delimited clades in the Ustilago-Sporisorium-Macalpinomyces complex (McTaggart et al. 2012a). The current study defines these synapomorphic characters and proposes a new classification for many species currently placed in Ustilago, Sporisorium and Macalpinomyces. This approach preserves the well-known genera Ustilago, Sporisorium and Macalpinomyces, and enables the classification to reflect morphological diversity in the complex.

A review of the Ustilago-Sporisorium-Macalpinomyces complex

The fungal genera Ustilago, Sporisorium and Macalpinomyces represent an unresolved complex. Taxa within the complex often possess characters that occur in more than one genus, creating uncertainty for species placement. Previous studies have indicated that the genera cannot be separated by morphology alone. Here we chronologically review the history of the Ustilago-Sporisorium-Macalpinomyces complex, argue for its resolution and suggest methods to accomplish a stable taxonomy. A combined molecular and morphological approach is required to identify synapomorphic characters that underpin a new classification. Ustilago, Sporisorium and Macalpinomyces require explicit re-description and new genera, based on monophyletic groups, are needed to accommodate taxa that no longer fit the emended descriptions. A resolved classification will end the taxonomic confusion that surrounds generic placement of these smut fungi.

Soral synapomorphies are significant for the systematics of the Ustilago-Sporisorium-Macalpinomyces complex (Ustilaginaceae)

The genera Ustilago, Sporisorium and Macalpinomyces are a polyphyletic complex of plant pathogenic fungi. The four main morphological characters used to define these genera have been considered homoplasious and not useful for resolving the complex. This study re-evaluates character homology and discusses the use of these characters for defining monophyletic groups recovered from a reconstructed phylogeny using four nuclear loci. Generic delimitation of smut fungi based on their hosts is also discussed as a means for identifying genera within this group. Morphological characters and host specificity can be used to circumscribe genera within the Ustilago-Sporisorium-Macalpinomyces complex.

Analysis of traffic injury severity in a mega city of a developing country

Despite a considerable amount of research on traffic injury severities, relatively little is known about the factors influencing traffic injury severity in developing countries, and in particular in Bangladesh. Road traffic crashes are a common headline in daily newspapers of Bangladesh. It has also recorded one of the highest road fatality rates in the world. This research identifies significant factors contributing to traffic injury severity in Dhaka – a mega city and capital of Bangladesh. Road traffic crash data of 5 years from 2007 to 2011 were collected from the Dhaka Metropolitan Police (DMP), which included about 2714 traffic crashes. The severity level of these crashes was documented in a 4-point ordinal scale: no injury (property damage), minor injury, severe injury, and death. An ordered Probit regression model has been estimated to identify factors contributing to injury severities. Results show that night time influence is associated with a higher level injury severity as is for individuals involved in single vehicle crashes. Crashes on highway sections within the city are found to be more injurious than crashes along the arterial and feeder roads. There is a lower likelihood of injury severity, however, if the road sections are monitored and enforced by the traffic police. The likelihood of injuries is lower on two-way traffic arrangements than one-way, and at four-legged intersections and roundabouts compare to road segments. The findings are compared with those from developed countries and the implications of this research are discussed in terms of policy settings for developing countries.

The Spartan-3E tutorial 3 : using the LCD display [version 1.0]

This tutorial is designed to assist users who wish to use the LCD screen on the Spartan-3E board. In this tutorial, the PicoBlaze microcontroller is used to control the LCD. The tutorial is organised into three Parts. In Part A, code is written to display the message "Hello World" on the LCD. Part B demonstrates how to define and display custom characters. Finally, Part C shows how the display can be shifted and flashed. Shifting is done by using a delay in the main PicoBlaze program loop, while flashing is done using the PicoBlaze interrupt. The slider switches can be used to select the shifting direction, and to turn shifting and flashing on and off.

Preliminary study on the stability of highly sensitive fiber Bragg grating temperature sensors [对高灵敏光纤光栅温度传感器的稳定性的初探]

As a novel sensitive element and due to its advantages of immunity to electrical interference, distributed measurement, etc., fiber Bragg grating (FBG) has been researched widely. To realize the substitution of high accurate electronic temperature sensors, high sensitive FBG temperature sensors can be made by taking advantage of its characters of being sensitive to both temperature and strain. Although there are reports about high sensitive FBG temperature sensors, however, few about their stability have been done. We manufactured a high sensitive FBG temperature sensor, and put it together with an average FBG temperature sensor and an electronic crystal temperature sensor into a stainless steel container filled by water to observe the room temperature change. By comparing their results in two weeks, we have found out that: although the high sensitive FBG temperature sensor is in much better agreement with the electronic crystal sensor than the average FBG sensor is, it has occurred some small drifts. Because the drifts appeared in the process of further pulling the FBG, it might be a result of the slip of the FBG fixing points. This contributes some good experiences to the application of FBG in high accuracy temperature measurement.

Prediction of multilocus identity-by-descent

Previous studies have enabled exact prediction of probabilities of identity-by-descent (IBD) in randommating populations for a few loci (up to four or so), with extension to more using approximate regression methods. Here we present a precise predictor of multiple-locus IBD using simple formulas based on exact results for two loci. In particular, the probability of non-IBD X ABC at each of ordered loci A, B, and C can be well approximated by XABC = XABXBC/XB and generalizes to X123. . .k = X12X23. . .Xk-1,k/ Xk-2, where X is the probability of non-IBD at each locus. Predictions from this chain rule are very precise with population bottlenecks and migration, but are rather poorer in the presence of mutation. From these coefficients, the probabilities of multilocus IBD and non-IBD can also be computed for genomic regions as functions of population size, time, and map distances. An approximate but simple recurrence formula is also developed, which generally is less accurate than the chain rule but is more robust with mutation. Used together with the chain rule it leads to explicit equations for non-IBD in a region. The results can be applied to detection of quantitative trait loci (QTL) by computing the probability of IBD at candidate loci in terms of identity-by-state at neighboring markers.

Structural and textural variations in carbonaceous chondrite matrices

Recent studies of C2 carbonaceous chondrite matrices using high resolu­tion transmission electron microscopy (HRTEM)have shown that structural details of the matrix minerals can be imaged [1-4]. The Murchison and Mighei matrices contain minerals having ordered and disordered mixed-layer structures [1,3,4] in addition to chrysotile- and lizardite-type structures [2].

Trial by jury in civil proceedings : “convenience” and the philosophy of the UCPR

In Syddall v National Mutual Life Association of Australasia Limited [2008] QSC 101 Daubney J ordered the action be tried without a jury. His judgment considered the circumstances in which a trial involves any technical, scientific or other issue that can not be “conveniently” considered and resolved by a jury as provided in r 474 of the Uniform Civil Procedure Rules 1999 (Qld)