This paper presents the first fossil penguin from East Antarctica, and the only one known south of the Antarctic Circle. It is represented by two well-preserved elements of the wing skeleton, humerus and radius, obviously assignable to the extant genus Spheniscus. They were found in the glaciomarine succession of the Fisher Bench Formation (Fisher Massif, Prince Charles Mountains, Mac. Robertson Land), which was dated using Strontium Isotope Stratigraphy to be Late Miocene in age (10.2 Ma). They are only slightly younger than the oldest remains undoubtedly attributable to this taxon. The X-ray diffraction and Fourier Transform Infrared Spectroscopy indicate diagenetic alteration of the original bone bioapatite under dominantly marine conditions. The Late Miocene was a period of ice margin retreat and marine incursion into the Lambert embayment that followed Middle Miocene cooling of the Antarctic climate. The fossils strongly suggest that variable climatic and environmental conditions in East Antarctica may have been an important factor in the evolution of penguins there during the Neogene.

In January 2009, the IAEA EMRAS II (Environmental Modelling for Radiation Safety II) program was launched. The goal of the program is to develop, compare and test models for the assessment of radiological impacts to the public and the environment due to radionuclides being released or already existing in the environment; to help countries build and harmonize their capabilities; and to model the movement of radionuclides in the environment. Within EMRAS II, nine working groups are active; this paper will focus on the activities of Working Group 1: Reference Methodologies for Controlling Discharges of Routine Releases. Within this working group environmental transfer and dose assessment models are tested under different scenarios by participating countries and the results compared. This process allows each participating country to identify characteristics of their models that need to be refined. The goal of this working group is to identify reference methodologies for the assessment of exposures to the public due to routine discharges of radionuclides to the terrestrial and aquatic environments. Several different models are being applied to estimate the transfer of radionuclides in the environment for various scenarios. The first phase of the project involves a scenario of nuclear power reactor with a coastal location which routinely (continuously) discharges 60Co, 85Kr, 131I, and 137Cs to the atmosphere and 60Co, 137Cs, and 90Sr to the marine environment. In this scenario many of the parameters and characteristics of the representative group were given to the modellers and cannot be altered. Various models have been used by the different participants in this inter-comparison (PC-CREAM, CROM, IMPACT, CLRP POSEIDON, SYMBIOSE and others). This first scenario is to enable a comparison of the radionuclide transport and dose modelling. These scenarios will facilitate the development of reference methodologies for controlled discharges.

Here we studied the activity budgets of nine common reef fish in the oceanic archipelago of Fernando de Noronha, off north-east Brazil. Species were variable in their behaviour between different sites and similarities in their activity budgets were not necessarily associated with their trophic group. For four species we investigated the relationship of their activity budgets to wave exposure and substratum composition. Staying close to the substratum was positively correlated to wave exposure for most species and foraging was negatively correlated to exposure for two species. By behaving this way, these fish may save energy by avoiding swimming in higher water flux. In contrast to relationships with wave exposure, the responses to substratum composition were species specific. Our results highlight that the activity budgets of fish living in oceanic rocky reefs can be variable and influenced by the local and temporal variation in environmental variables.

Data from 62 field experiments on various crops in 1973–85 at Rothamsted Experimental Station were used to obtain knowledge about the heterogeneity of variance of yield. The results suggest that explaining heterogeneity of variance in terms of a mean–variance relationship is inadequate; better understanding of the patterns of changing variance can be gained by investigating the influence of the experimental factors on the variance. The effects of the factor ‘amount of nitrogen’ on mean yield and on the variance were positively correlated; factors which tend to affect variability but not the mean were identified. Suggestions are given for controlling variance but the need for further experimental evidence is emphasized.

In 2003 IAEA launched the EMRAS Programme aiming at evaluating the predictive power of radiological models. The programme continued work of previous international radioecological modelling programmes and comprised several working groups focusing on different aspects of environmental modelling. The Iodine Working Group reassessed the impact of the release of 131I during the Chernobyl accident with the aim of comparing model predictions with environmental data and inter-comparing the model predictions. Measurement data and detailed geographic and demographic descriptions were available for three regions: Plavsk, Warsaw and Prague. As for the Prague Scenario, milk supply regions of three big dairies were chosen for the model validation. Apart from geographic, demographic and agricultural descriptions (e.g. gathering regions of the dairies, feeding regime), the modellers were provided with information on the weather conditions and measurement data of iodine contamination. The most important peculiarities of Prague Scenario were keeping milk cattle in sheds and a special feeding regime during May 1986. The modellers were asked to assess the 131I content in the thyroid of the local population and the resulting dose. The assessments were compared with measurement data. The results of these model calculations and their comparison with experimental data are presented.

In this article, we review the recent progress on GaAs MOSFET's using in-situ MBE-grown Ga2O3(Gd2O3) as the gate dielectric. Both depletion-mode (D-mode) and inversion-mode (I-mode) GaAs MOSFET's with negligible drain current drift and hysteresis are demostrated. The absence of drain current drift and hysteresis indicates that the excellent stability of the oxide and low oxide/GaAs interface state density have been achieved. The drain current density and transconductance are about one order of magnitude higher than the best previous reported data in the literature for an inversion-mode GaAs MOSFET. Excellent high frequency and power performances were also measured from the depletion-mode devices. These improvements are attributed to the excellent Ga2O3(Ga2O3) oxide properties and novel processing techniques.

Low dielectric constant materials (k < 3.0) have the advantage that higher performance IC devices may be manufactured with minimal increases in chip size. The reduced capacitance given by these materials permits shrinking spacing between metal lines to below 0.25 μm and the ability to decrease the number of levels of metal in a device. The technologies being considered for low k applications are CVD or spin-on of inorganic or organic polymeric materials. Traditional spin-on silicates or siloxanes have been used as planarizing dielectrics during the last 15 years and usually have k > 3.0.

A new type of lanthanide transition metal pnictide-oxide, Ln3Cu4P4O2 (for Ln = La, Ce, and Nd), is reported. The crystal structure is made from Ln2O2 layers of the Pb2O2 type stacked with layers of Cu2P2 tetrahedra. The existence of a homologous series of compounds with similar chemistry connecting the BiCuOSe and ThCr2Si2 structure types is indicated. The resistivity of La3Cu4P4O2 is metallic, with no superconductivity observed above 2K. The Ce and Nd compounds have magnetic susceptibilities characteristic of the trivalent Lanthanides. The Ce compound orders magnetically at approximately 0.8 K.

Hardness and modulus values of bulk and epilayer ZnTe and CdTe samples and of ZnTe-CdTe superlattices are reported. Both hardness and Young's modulus values increase with increasing ZnTe content in the ZnCdTe samples. Alloying effects and strains in the superlattice structure are proposed to explain the strengthening.

We present low-temperature photoluminescence (PL) spectra of MBE and MOCVD ZnTe layers deposited on (100) GaAs substrates under different growth conditions. Strong bands associated with Zn vacancies are observed in the MBE materials, while the MOCVD spectra are dominated by sharp impurity-related lines. Stress levels less than 0.1 kbar are determined for both the MBE and MOCVD layers. A study of the effects of the Zn:Te ratio in the MBE growth chamber reveals an optimal value of −2.2 for a growth temperature of 325°C.