Three methods were developed that allow for the imaging of any clay mineral in aqueous solutions with atomic force microscopy (AFM). The methods involve fixing the particles onto special substrates that do not complicate the imaging process, but hold the particles sufficiently so that they do not move laterally or float away during imaging. Two techniques depend on electrostatic attraction under circumneutral pH conditions, between the negatively charged clay particles and the high point of zero charge substrate (either aluminum oxide or polyethyleneimine-coated mica) whereas the third technique depends on adhesion to a thermoplastic film. The first electrostatic technique involves a polished single crystal α-Al2O3 (sapphire) substrate. This was used successfully as a substrate for clay-sized minerals with high permanent layer charge localized on the basal planes (phlogopite and vermiculite) and when the AFM was operated in TappingMode to limit the lateral forces between the probe tip and the particles. However, electrostatic attraction between the sapphire surface and clay minerals such as smectite and kaolinite (low or no permanent layer charge) is not sufficiently strong to adequately fix the particles for imaging. The second electrostatic technique involves a polyethyleneimine-coated mica surface designed to immobilize a larger variety of clay minerals (phlogopite, vermiculite, montmorillonite, and kaolinite), and in this technique weak bonding between the clay and the organic film is also a factor. The third technique, which does not depend on electrostatic attraction, fixes clay particles into the surface of a thermoplastic adhesive called Tempfix. This has proven useful for fixing and imaging relatively large clay particles with well-defined morphology. The Tempfix mount also requires imaging in TappingMode because the Tempfix is relatively soft.

A method is described for the separation of the finest particles from soils and sediments without mechanical disturbance. Particles are separated through the induction of osmotic stress. Generally, samples are treated with a concentrated sodium salt solution and then exposed to water by diffusion. Naturally sodic samples are simply exposed to water. Solid samples and the swollen and dispersed material they produce are confined by dialysis tubing. Examples show that the method gives a size gradient of particles in a vertical column of suspension. The compositions of particles can vary with size. The method can be used to show the effects on separated particles of ions other than Na+ and also of other physicochemical treatments of soils and sediments. It is inexpensive and requires little labor.

Bioaerosol particles in the stratosphere are topics of interest for aerobiological and astrobiological studies. Although various studies have succeeded in sampling bioaerosol particles in the stratosphere, limited research has been conducted to evaluate how and why these bioaerosol particles can lift up to as high as the stratospheric level. This study tested different driving forces acting on particles in the stratosphere in order to simulate the motion of particles with various bioaerosol characteristics. The findings show that small pollen-sized particles can scarcely levitate in the stratosphere, although spore-sized and dust particles attached to microorganisms such as bacteria or fungus might be able to do so.

In this paper, I demonstrate that a well-known left-right asymmetry, Biberauer, Holmberg and Roberts’s (2014) Final-over-Final Condition (FOFC), which these authors claim follows from Kayne’s Linear Correspondence Axiom (LCA), is actually better explained under a symmetric approach to syntactic structure building in tandem with the mechanism that underlies the constraints on rightward movement. Apart from circumventing the theoretical and empirical problems that this LCA-based analysis faces, the fact that particles form a natural class of counterexamples to FOFC naturally follows under such a symmetric approach. The final part of this paper shows that this explanation to FOFC also straightforwardly applies to the semi-universal leftwardness of (subject) specifiers in both head-final and head-initial languages.

Uraniferous particles from contaminated environmental samples were analysed by scanning electron microscopy with energy dispersive X-ray analysis (SEM-EDXA) and microfocus extended X-ray absorption fine structure (mEXAFS) spectroscopy. The particles of interest are uranium oxides, which were released into the environment by the combustion of scrap depleted uranium (DU) metal at a factory in Colonie, New York, USA. Most of the identified particles appear to have primary, ‘as emitted’ morphologies; some have evidence of minor dissolution, including corrosion pitting. Polycrystalline and often hollow microscopic spheres were identified, which are similar to particles produced by DU munitions impacting armoured targets. They are attributed to the autothermic oxidation of melt droplets. The compositions of the analysed spheres are dominated by UO2+x with variable amounts of U3O8, two of the least soluble and least bioaccessible phases of U. These particles, collected from dusts and soils, have survived more than 25 y in the terrestrial environment. This study further supports the case for using Colonie as an analogue for battlefield DU contamination.

The Soufrière Hills stratovolcano on the Caribbean island of Montserrat has been erupting since 18th July 1995. An enormous amount of respirable volcanic ash has been suspended into the atmosphere by the eruptions and wind re-suspension of deposited ash. The large amount of fine, airborne particulate matter, in particular the component 10 μm equivalent aerodynamic diameter (PM10), is a cause of medical concern. Airborne levels have frequently exceeded the UK environmental standard for PM10, (50 μg/m3), although it is noted that this standard was primarily set for urban PM10. The crystalline silica in the ash is mostly cristobalite, at reported levels up to 20%. The UK government’s Chief Medical Officer, referring to Montserrat, has suggested that long-term exposure to high levels of volcanic ash could lead to silicosis. These concerns have prompted government-funded investigations into the potential toxicity of well characterized volcanic ash samples from Montserrat. Given the well established toxicity of cristobalite, particular attention was paid to the amount of this mineral in the ash samples. Three ash samples were tested: (1) a vulcanian eruption ash, (2) ash released in a domecollapse pyroclastic flow, and (3) ash from a major vulcanian explosion that was wind-transported to, and deposited on, the neighbouring island of Antigua. Comparative toxicological studies were carried out on respirable preparations of these three samples together with appropriate control mineral dusts that matched the major components of the Montserrat samples: anorthite, labradorite, cristobalite/ obsidian and cristobalite. Alpha quartz (DQ12) was the positive control. All samples, including the controls, were characterized to establish particle-size distributions, particle morphologies, and to confirm the mineralogy. Rats were challenged with 1 mg via intratracheal instillation, and groups sacrificed at three time points (1, 3 and 9 weeks). Health assessment was made by examining endpoints of increasing lung damage such as inflammation, permeability (oedema), changes in epithelium, and increase in the size of broncho-thoracic lymph nodes. The data indicate that Montserrat respirable ash, derived from dome collapse pyroclastic flows or vulcanian explosions, has minimal acute bioreactivity in the lung. The feldspar standards showed low bioreactivity, in stark contrast to the cristobalite standard that showed progressive increases in lung damage. These results suggest that either the mass of cristobalite present in the Montserrat ash was insufficient to cause an effect in the lung, or the cristobalite in the ash was, for some as yet unknown reason, markedly less bioreactive than our pure cristobalite standard.

Implicit sampling is a sampling scheme for particle filters, designed to move particles one-by-one so that they remain in high-probability domains. We present a new derivation of implicit sampling, as well as a new iteration method for solving the resulting algebraic equations.

Vibration and wear debris analyses are the two main conditions monitoring techniques for machinery maintenance and fault diagnosis. In addition, numerical simulation can provide useful tools to assess the proper functioning of industrial machines. We use different suspension theories with a concern of the effect of solid particles liquid lubricant itself on bearing behavior. We consider both simple models based on the Einstein’s mixture theory and a micropolar fluid theory, which is characterized by the presence of suspended rigid micro-structured particles. We suppose in this study that there are no abrasion and no wear (which are not beneficial for the contact performances) due to the presence of particles. Thus in this case we found theoretically that the presence of rigid particles in the lubricant increases the effective viscosity which enhances the load-carrying capacity as well as the minimum film thickness.

In this article we try to determine the diachronic origin of a few sentential particles attested in some North-Eastern Italian dialects on the basis of their syntactic properties. The particles we consider are associated with specific clause types and can only appear in matrix non-declarative clauses; they generally occur in sentence-final position, and only some of them can follow the wh-item in an interrogative clause. They display the typical properties of X°-elements, and can therefore be analysed as functional heads of the CP layer; we present an analysis exploiting movement of the wh-item or of the whole clause to the specifier corresponding to the head occupied by the particle. The different distribution that characterizes the two main types of particles seems to depend on whether they derive etymologically from pronouns or from adverbs; the new properties developed in the grammaticalization process suggest that when an element is reanalysed as a functional category, it can further acquire the value of functional projections merged close to it in the structure.

The particle one of Singapore English is widely used in Singapore culture, but it is little mentioned and its invariant meaning has not been described, so that not much is known about its meaning and the cultural norms it reflects. This article provides a detailed semantic analysis of this particle, articulates its meaning in the form of a reductive paraphrase using natural semantic metalanguage, and argues that its use reflects Singapore English speakers' tendency to speak definitively and exaggeratedly. The discussion of Singaporean speech norms reflected by this particle includes reference to relevant Anglo English speech norms for comparison and contrast.I am indebted to Anna Wierzbicka for her detailed comments on an earlier version of this article. I am grateful to Jane Hill, Peter Tan and another, anonymous reviewer for their very generous and constructive overall feedback on this paper. I have also benefited from stimulating discussions with Cynthia Allen and Avery Andrews on the topic of relative clauses and the syntax of the nominal one. Jane McGary provided valuable editorial assistance and native Anglo English speaker intuition in regard to some examples. Last but not least, I would like to express my gratitude toward writer Hwee Hwee Tan for giving me a soft copy of her manuscript to do electronic searches.