Description: This data set contains 1851 infrared (IR) spectra, forming a single IR map of diamond sample JH7b. This data set is used to show the application of DiaMap, a computer routine written using PERL, to automatically process diamond IR spectra to obtain quantitative impurity data from them. Full abstract will be added after acceptance of publication.

Description: [1]  Ground penetrating radar (GPR) has been a useful geophysical tool in investigating a variety of shallow subsurface geological environments on Earth. Here we investigate the capabilities of GPR to provide useful geologic information in one of the most common geologic settings of planetary surfaces, impact crater ejecta. Three types of ejecta are surveyed with GPR at two wavelengths (400 MHz, 200 MHz) at Meteor Crater, Arizona, with the goal of capturing the GPR signature of the subsurface rock population. In order to “ground-truth” the GPR characterization, subsurface rocks are visually counted and measured in pre-existing subsurface exposures immediately adjacent to and below the GPR transect. The rock size-frequency distribution from 10–50 cm based on visual counts is well described by both power-law and exponential functions, the former slightly better, reflecting the control of fragmentation processes during the impact-ejection event. GPR counts are found to overestimate the number of subsurface rocks in the upper meter (by a factor of 2-3x) and underestimate in the second meter of depth (0.6-1.0x), results attributable to the highly scattering nature of blocky ejecta. Overturned ejecta that is fractured yet in which fragments are minimally displaced from their complement fragments produces fewer GPR returns than well-mixed ejecta. The use of two wavelengths and division of results into multiple depth zones provides multiple aspects by which to characterize the ejecta block population. Remote GPR measurement of subsurface ejecta in future planetary situations with no subsurface exposure can be used to characterize those rock populations relative to that of Meteor Crater.

Description: Background: Chaplaincy is a relatively new discipline in medicine that provides for care of the human spirit in healthcare contexts for people of all worldviews. Studies indicate wide appreciation for its importance, yet empirical research is limited. Our purpose is to create a model of human spiritual processes and needs in palliative care situations so that researchers can locate their hypotheses in a common model which will evolve with relevant findings. Methods: The Model Building Subgroup worked with the Chaplaincy Research Consortium as part of a larger Templeton Foundation funded project to enhance research in the area. It met with members for an hour on three successive occasions over three years and exchanged drafts for open comment between meetings. All members of the Subgroup agreed on the final draft. Results: The model uses modestly adapted existing definitions and models. It describes the human experience of spirituality during serious illness in three renditions: visual, mathematical, and verbal so that researchers can use whichever is applicable. The visual rendition has four domains: spiritual, psychological, physical and social with process arrows and permeable boundaries between all areas. The mathematical rendition has the same four factors and is rendered as an integral equation, corresponding to an integrative function postulated for the human spirit. In both renditions, the model is notable in its allowance for direct spiritual experience and a domain or factor in its own right, not only experience that is created through the others. The model does not describe anything beyond the human experience. The verbal rendition builds on existing work to describe the processes of the human spirit, relating it to the four domains or factors. Conclusions: A consensus model of the human spirit to generate hypotheses and evolve based on data has been delineated. Implications of the model for how the human spirit functions and how the chaplain can care for the patient or family caregiver’s spiritual coping and well-being are discussed. The next step is to generate researchable hypotheses, results of research from which will give insight into the human spirit and guidance to chaplains caring for it.

Description: For the past 50 years there has been rapid warming in the maritime Antarctic, with concurrent, and probably temperature-mediated, proliferation of the two native plants, Antarctic pearlwort (Colobanthus quitensis) and especially Antarctic hair grass (Deschampsia antarctica). In many terrestrial ecosystems at high latitudes, nitrogen (N) supply regulates primary productivity. Although the predominant view is that only inorganic and amino acid N are important sources of N for angiosperms, most N enters soil as protein. Maritime Antarctic soils have large stocks of proteinaceous N, which is released slowly as decomposition is limited by low temperatures. Consequently, an ability to acquire N at an early stage of availability is key to the success of photosynthetic organisms. Here we show that D. antarctica can acquire N through its roots as short peptides, produced at an early stage of protein decomposition, acquiring N over three times faster than as amino acid, nitrate or ammonium, and more than 160 times faster than the mosses with which it competes. Efficient acquisition of the N released in faster decomposition of soil organic matter as temperatures rise may give D. antarctica an advantage over competing mosses that has facilitated its recent proliferation in the maritime Antarctic.