Chromite chemistry in SNC meteorites

We present the results of new EPMA studies of chromite in primitive basaltic shergottites (SAU005, EETA7001A, DAG476) and ALH84001 and Chassigny. Chromite grains from basic and ultrabasic rocks are sensitive indicators of melt compositions and the Fe3+-Cr-Al compositions of the cores can help to distinguish between partial melting and crystal-melt fractionation histories in the SNC 30 Fe3+ Chromite grains parent melts

UV and Visible Wavelength Reflectance Spectroscopy of Aerogel and of Stardust Grains

A new UV and visible reflectance microspectroscopy technique has been applied to cometary samples from the Stardust mission. The results have been compared with terrestrial minerals and aerogel

Everyday and prospective memory deficits in ecstasy/polydrug users

The impact of ecstasy/polydrug use on real-world memory (i.e. everyday memory, cognitive failures and prospective memory [PM]) was investigated in a sample of 42 ecstasy/polydrug users and 31 non-ecstasy users. Laboratory-based PM tasks were administered along with self-reported measures of PM to test whether any ecstasy/polydrug-related impairment on the different aspects of PM was present. Self-reported measures of everyday memory and cognitive failures were also administered. Ecstasy/polydrug associated deficits were observed on both laboratory and self-reported measures of PM and everyday memory. The present study extends previous research by demonstrating that deficits in PM are real and cannot be simply attributed to self-misperceptions. The deficits observed reflect some general capacity underpinning both time- and event-based PM contexts and are not task specific. Among this group of ecstasy/polydrug users recreational use of cocaine was also prominently associated with PM deficits. Further research might explore the differential effects of individual illicit drugs on real-world memory

Housing Wealth and Household Indebtedness: Is there a Household ‘Financial Accelerator’?

The ‘financial accelerator’ model when applied to households states that shocks to household balance sheets (primarily changes in house prices) amplify fluctuations in consumer spending by tightening or relaxing collateral constraints on borrowing. We construct an alternative model where households also have access to unsecured debt, and examine the effect of shocks to house prices on debt-financed consumption in this augmented setting. Our alternative model reduces the amplitude of fluctuations in debt-financed consumer spending arising from fluctuations in household asset values. The paper tests the applicability of the two models using panel data for the United Kingdom that allow us to measure collateral constraints, changes in asset values and financial indebtedness at the household level.Housing wealth; collateral; unsecured debt; consumer spending.

A qualitative insight into rural casemix education, CHERE Project Report No 10

NSW, while often regarded as the non- Casemix state, has been using Casemix information to assist planning and funding of hospitals. However, the use of this tool and the necessary education and knowledge about Casemix has not been evenly spread throughout the state, with health service staff in metropolitan areas relatively more familiar with its use then their colleagues in rural NSW. In 1998, both NSW Health and the NSW Casemix Clinical Committee (NCCC) proposed that an effort be made to increase the knowledge and participation of rural clinical and health service staff in Casemix activities. This research was proposed as a means of establishing the current situation regarding Casemix, knowledge in rural areas, providing advice regarding the best methods of implementing Casemix education for rural staff and, if possible, evaluating the success of the education. Casemix is a broad term referring to the tools and information system used to assist in such activities as planning, benchmarking, managing and funding health care services. Casemix is underpinned by classification systems that allow meaningful comparisons of workload or throughput between facilities. In this study, qualitative research methods were used to examine the issues faced by rural health service staff in gaining knowledge of and using Casemix. This information was supplemented by a survey, which assessed the level of knowledge and understanding of Casemix in two rural areas.Casemix, hospital funding

Housing Wealth and Household Indebtedness: Is there a Household 'Financial Accelerator'?

The 'financial accelerator' model when applied to households states that shocks to household balance sheets (primarily changes in house prices) amplify fluctuations in consumer spending by tightening or relaxing collateral constraints on borrowing. We construct an alternative model where households also have access to unsecured debt, and examine the effect of shocks to house prices on debt-financed consumption in this augmented setting. Our alternative model reduces the amplitude of fluctuations in debt-financed consumer spending arising from fluctuations in household asset values. The paper tests the applicability of the two models using panel data for the United Kingdom that allow us to measure collateral constraints, changes in asset values and financial indebtedness at the household level.Collateral, consumer spending, Housing wealth, unsecured debt.

Pesticide Residues in the Illinois Wild Turkey

Adipose tissue from 55 turkeys, killed during the 1974 hunting season in southern Illinois, was grouped by age and location of the birds, and the pesticide concentrations in them were determined by gas/liquid chromatography. Twelve different pesticides were identified in the samples with only four, total DDT, heptachlor epoxide, toxaphene, and linuron, being present in all samples. Concentrations ranged from 0.02 ppm to 0.88 ppm

Platinum-group elements in the ultrabasic rocks of the Braganca and Morais massifs, northern Portugal

The ultrabasic rocks studied in this thesis are located in the Upper Allochthonous Thrust Complex nappes of the Braganca and Morais massifs, Träs-os-Montes, N. Portugal. They are relicts of residual mantle and cumulates formed at a destructive continental margin. In the Braganca massif, the ultrabasic rocks consist mainly of a harzburgite formation, which is residual mantle. This formation contains lenses of a separate chromitite-bearing dunite formation. The Morais massif assemblage, at an equivalent structural level, is made up of peridotite and gabbroic/troctolitic cumulates. The chromitite-bearing dunite formation crystallised within small magmatic masses. This chromite crystallisation acted to fractionate the associated Platinum-Group Element (PGE) assemblage. Os, Ir and Ru were incorporated as laurite and irarsite minerals during chromite grain crystallisation, and are located in textural positions from the centres to the margins of the chromite grains. In contrast Pt-bearing arsenides and sulpharsenides started crystallising after the Os, Ir, Ru group, and are only located at the margins of or in between chromite grains. More fractionated assemblages show positive slopes on chondrite normalised whole rock PGE plots. Pd is not directly associated with this fractionation. Instead its mineralisation is associated with that of the base-metal sulphide. Serpentinisation has caused recrystallisation of much original pentlandite to heazlewoodite and magnetite. At the same time Pd-bearing alloys were created, mostly adjacent to sulphide grains with the source of the Pd being in solid solution within the base-metal sulphide. Several factors suggest that the chromite mineralisation was derived from melts of boninitic affinity. The relatively high Pd/Cu ratios calculated for a silicate melt from which the chromite crystallised are consistent with this. The composition of the chromite grains, having 1000r/(Cr+Al) ratios clustering around 75, is typical of boninitic magmas. In addition the refractory composition of the harzburgite formation, and the high tenors of Pd within sulphide, show that it was a possible source for such boninitic melts. The chromite mineralisation took place down to depths of 30km within the mantle wedge of a destructive continental margin