scholarly journals Morphology and Genesis of Ballas and Ballas-Like Diamonds

Crystals ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 11 (1) ◽  
pp. 17
Author(s):  
Anton Pavlushin ◽  
Dmitry Zedgenizov ◽  
Evgeny Vasil’ev ◽  
Konstantin Kuper

Ballas diamond is a rare form of the polycrystalline radial aggregate of diamonds with diverse internal structures. The morphological features of ballas diamonds have experienced repeated revision. The need that this paper presents for development of a crystal-genetic classification was determined by a rich variety of combined and transitional forms of ballas-like diamonds, which include aggregates, crystals, and intergrowths. The new crystal-genetic classification combines already-known and new morphological types of ballas as well as ballas-like diamonds discovered in the placers of Yakutia, the Urals, and Brazil. The ballas-like diamond forms include spherocrystals, aggregates with a single crystal core, split crystals, radial multiple twin intergrowths, and globular crystals. The crystal genetic scheme of the evolution of ballas and ballas-like diamonds is a sequence of the morphological types arranged in accordance with the conventional model of the dependence of the mechanism and diamond growth from carbon supersaturation developed by I. Sunagawa. The evolution of the growth forms of ballas and ballas-like diamonds was tracked based on the macrozonal structure of diamonds varying from a flat-faced octahedron to a fibrous cuboid with its transition forms to the radiating crystal aggregates. The morphological diversity of the ballas-like diamonds depends on the level of supersaturation, and abrupt changes of the level of supersaturation engender abrupt changes in a mechanism of crystal growth. The change in the rate of growth under the influence of adsorption and absorption of the mechanic impurities accompanied the sudden appearance of the autodeformation defects in the form of splitting and multiple radial twinning of crystals. The spherical shape of Yakutia ballas-like diamonds is due to the volumetric dissolution that results in the curved-face crystals of the “Urals” or “Brazilian” type associated with ballas diamonds in placers.

MycoKeys ◽  
2018 ◽  
Vol 35 ◽  
pp. 41-99 ◽  
Author(s):  
Alexander Ordynets ◽  
David Scherf ◽  
Felix Pansegrau ◽  
Jonathan Denecke ◽  
Ludmila Lysenko ◽  
...  

Diversity of corticioid fungi (resupinate Basidiomycota), especially outside the northern temperate climatic zone, remains poorly explored. Furthermore, most of the known species are delimited by morphological concepts only and, not rarely, these concepts are too broad and need to be tested by molecular tools. For many decades, the delimitation of species in the genus Subulicystidium (Hydnodontaceae, Trechisporales) was a challenge for mycologists. The presence of numerous transitional forms as to basidiospore size and shape hindered species delimitation and almost no data on molecular diversity have been available. In this study, an extensive set of 144 Subulicystidium specimens from Paleo- and Neotropics was examined. Forty-nine sequences of ITS nuclear ribosomal DNA region and 51 sequences of 28S nuclear ribosomal DNA region from fruit bodies of Subulicystidium were obtained and analysed within the barcoding gap framework and with phylogenetic Bayesian and Maximum likelihood approaches. Eleven new species of Subulicystidium are described based on morphology and molecular analyses: Subulicystidiumboidinii, S.fusisporum, S.grandisporum, S.harpagum, S.inornatum, S.oberwinkleri, S.parvisporum, S.rarocrystallinum, S.robustius, S.ryvardenii and S.tedersooi. Morphological and DNA-evidenced borders were revised for the five previously known species: S.naviculatum, S.nikau, S.obtusisporum, S.brachysporum and S.meridense. Species-level variation in basidiospore size and shape was estimated based on systematic measurements of 2840 spores from 67 sequenced specimens. An updated identification key to all known species of Subulicystidium is provided.


1997 ◽  
Vol 200 (4) ◽  
pp. 735-752 ◽  
Author(s):  
R F Drushel ◽  
D M Neustadter ◽  
L L Shallenberger ◽  
P E Crago ◽  
H J Chiel

Changes in the positions, shapes and movements of the feeding apparatus (buccal mass) of the marine mollusc Aplysia californica were studied in intact, transilluminated juveniles. The buccal mass assumes characteristic shapes as its internal structure, the radula/odontophore, moves anteriorly (protracts) or posteriorly (retracts). These shapes are especially distinctive when the radula/odontophore has protracted forwards fully, is close to its resting or neutral position, or has retracted backwards fully. We refer to the shapes that occur at full protraction, transition and full retraction as shape 1 (spherical), shape 2 (ovoid) and shape 3 (gamma-shaped), respectively. We introduce this shape nomenclature in order to avoid confusion with the existing terms protraction and retraction, which we reserve exclusively to describe the direction of movement of the radula/odontophore. The observed shape changes do not agree with those predicted on the basis of in vitro observations of a feeding head preparation, but are similar to shapes observed in vitro in the snail Lymnaea stagnalis. The buccal mass also rotates approximately 10 degrees dorsally during retraction, pivoting on the attachment to the mouth, before the subsequent protraction and return of the buccal mass to the transition shape. This rotation may be due to activation of the extrinsic muscles of the buccal mass. Plots of the buccal mass shape parameters eccentricity versus ellipticity create a two-dimensional shape space, which accurately quantifies the subtle transitions of shape between the different phases of the feeding cycle. Quantitative differences are observed between pure swallows and swallows with tearing behavior, but the qualitative shapes are similar. Hysteresis in the shape space plots of most swallows provides evidence for the hypothesis that protraction and retraction each have distinct 'active' and 'return' phases. The observed kinematic pattern imposes constraints on the internal structures of the buccal mass and may be used to infer the shape and positions of the radula and odontophore.


1984 ◽  
Vol 75 ◽  
pp. 607-613 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kevin D. Pang ◽  
Charles C. Voge ◽  
Jack W. Rhoads

Abstract.All observed optical and infrared properties of Saturn's E-ring can be explained in terms of Mie scattering by a narrow size distribution of ice spheres of 2 - 2.5 micron diameter. The spherical shape of the ring particles and their narrow size distribution imply a molten (possibly volcanic) origin on Enceladus. The E-ring consists of many layers, possibly stratified by electrostatic levitation.


Author(s):  
Å. Thureson-Klein

Giant mitochondria of various shapes and with different internal structures and matrix density have been observed in a great number of tissues including nerves. In most instances, the presence of giant mitochondria has been associated with a known disease or with abnormal physiological conditions such as anoxia or exposure to cytotoxic compounds. In these cases degenerative changes occurred in other cell organelles and, therefore the giant mitochondria also were believed to be induced structural abnormalities.Schwann cells ensheating unmyelinated axons of bovine splenic nerve regularly contain giant mitochondria in addition to the conventional smaller type (Fig. 1). These nerves come from healthy inspected animals presumed not to have been exposed to noxious agents. As there are no drastic changes in the small mitochondria and because other cell components also appear reasonably well preserved, it is believed that the giant mitochondria are normally present jin vivo and have not formed as a post-mortem artifact.


Author(s):  
H.C. Eaton ◽  
B.N. Ranganathan ◽  
T.W. Burwinkle ◽  
R. J. Bayuzick ◽  
J.J. Hren

The shape of the emitter is of cardinal importance to field-ion microscopy. First, the field evaporation process itself is closely related to the initial tip shape. Secondly, the imaging stress, which is near the theoretical strength of the material and intrinsic to the imaging process, cannot be characterized without knowledge of the emitter shape. Finally, the problem of obtaining quantitative geometric information from the micrograph cannot be solved without knowing the shape. Previously published grain-boundary topographies were obtained employing an assumption of a spherical shape (1). The present investigation shows that the true shape deviates as much as 100 Å from sphericity and boundary reconstructions contain considerable error as a result.Our present procedures for obtaining tip shape may be summarized as follows. An empirical projection, D=f(θ), is obtained by digitizing the positions of poles on a field-ion micrograph.


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