Field relations, structure, and geochemistry of the Fisset Brook Formation in the Lake Ainslie - Gillanders Mountain area, central Cape Breton Island, Nova Scotia

Detailed mapping shows that the Fisset Brook Formation in the Lake Ainslie - Gillanders Mountain area consists of a lowermost sedimentary unit overlain by basaltic and rhyolitic units. The sedimentary unit is mainly arkosic pebble conglomerate and siltstone, and unconformably overlies or is in faulted contact with older meta-morphic and plutonic rocks. Scattered gabbroic plutons and dykes in the sedimentary unit are interpreted to represent "feeders" to the overlying basaltic flows. The basaltic unit consists mainly of subaerial flows, locally interlayered and intermixed with red-brown siltstone. The overlying rhyolitic unit consists mainly of eutaxitic to spherulitic flows or welded tuffs, with less abundant lapilli tuff. In the Lake Ainslie area, these rocks occur in a north-south array of rhombic fault blocks, whereas in the Gillanders Mountain area, the dominant structure is a large-scale anticlinal fold closing toward the south, cored largely by rocks of the Fisset Brook Formation. The chemical compositions of the basalt and rhyolite in both areas have been modified by alteration, but discrimination diagrams using relatively immobile elements, including rare-earth elements, indicate that the basalts and gabbros are continental, within-plate tholeiites. The rhyolites also have features indicative of origin in a within-plate setting, but are depleted in Y, Zr, and rare-earth elements compared to A-type granites. A rhyolite sample yielded a U-Pb (zircon) age of 373 ± 4 Ma, thus indicating that the Fisset Brook Formation in the Lake Ainslie - Gillanders Mountain area is Middle to earliest Late Devonian in age, not Late Devonian to Early Carboniferous as previously inferred. RÉSUMÉ Une cartographie detaillée montre que la Formation Fisset Brook dans le secteur du lac Ainslie et du mont Gillanders est constitutée d'une base sédimentaire recouverte d'unités basaltique et rhyolitique. La base sédimentaire est principalement formée d'un conglomcrat de galets arkosiques et de siltstones; elle repose de façon discordante ou par contact faillé sur des roches métamorphiques et plutoniques. Les dykes et les plutons gabbrotques dispersés dans l'unité sédimentaire sont interprétés comme des systèmes d'alimentation » des écoulcments basaltiques sus-jacents. L'unité basaltique est principalement constitutée d'écoulements subécriens, localement interstratifies et entremelés de siltstone brun rougeâtre. L'unité rhyolitique sus-jacente est essentiellement composée d'écoulements eutaxiques à sphérolitiqucs ou de tufs soudés, avec des conglomérats volcaniques à lapilli dans une matrice fine moins abondants. Dans le secteur du lac Ainslie, ces roches se présenters en une rangée nord-sud de blocs faillés rhombiques, tandis que dans le secteur du mont Gillanders, la structure dominante est un plissement anticlinal à grande échelle qui se referme vers le sud et qui abrite en son cocur une quantité substantielle de roches de la Formation Fisset Brook. Les compositions chimiques du basalte et de la rhyolite des deux secteurs ont eété modifiées par alteration, mais des schémas de discrimination utilisant des éléments relativement immobiles, dont des éléments de terres rarcs, révèlent que les basaltes et les gabbros sont des tholéiites intra-plaque continentaux. Les rhyolites possedent en outre des caractéristiques qui témoignent qu'elles proviennent d'un cadre intra-plaque, mais elles sont pauvres en Y, en Zr et en éléments de terres rares comparativement aux granites de type A. Une datation au U-Pb (zircon) d'un échantillon de rhyolite lui a attribue un âge de 373 ± 4 Ma, ce qui révèle que la Formation Fisset Brook du secteur du lac Ainslie et du mont Gillanders remonte a la période du Dévonien moyen au début du Dévonien supérieur, et non à celle du Dévonien supérieur au Carbonifère inférieur comme on L'avait auparavant laisser entendre. [Traduit par la rédaction

Kinship in Aegean Prehistory? Ancient DNA in Human Bones from Mainland Greece and Crete

Attempts were made to detect ancient DNA (aDNA) in samples of 89 human skeletons from Neolithic and Bronze Age sites in Greece and Crete. Ancient DNA was absent in specimens from Nea Nicomedia, Lerna, Kato Zakro: Karaviádena, and Mycenae Grave Circle A. For each of three skeletons sampled from Antron Grave Circle B, polymerase chain reactions (PCRs) gave products for nuclear but not mitochondrial DNA, but the yield of DNA was low and inconsistent, with replicate PCRs failing to give reproducible results. At Kouphovouno evidence for mitochondrial and/or nuclear aDNA was obtained from eight of the 20 skeletons that were examined, while at Mycenae Grave Circle B evidence for mitochondrial aDNA was obtained for four of the 22 skeletons that were studied, and in two cases confirmed the evidence of close kinship that had already been suggested by facial reconstruction: this in turn raises interesting questions of social relationships and the role of high-status women in MBA/LBA society. We conclude that, although aDNA might be present in some Eastern Mediterranean skeletons from later centuries of the Bronze Age, it is not commonly found in material from this period and is likely to be absent from older material.Στη μελέτη αυτή έγιναν προσπάθειες να αναγνωριστεί αρχαίο DNA (aDNA) σε δείγματα ογδόντα εννέα ανθρώπινων σκελετών προερχομένων από θέσεις της Νεολιθικής περιόδου και της Εποχής του Χαλκού στην Ελλάδα και την Κρήτη. Αρχαίο DNA δεν εντοπίστηκε σε δείγματα από τη Νέα Νικομήδεια, τη Λέρνα, την Κάτω Ζάκρο (Καραβιάδενα) και τον Ταφικό Κύκλο Α των Μυκηνών. Για κάθε έναν από τους τρεις σκελετούς, οι οποίοι εξετάστηκαν από τον Ταφικό Κύκλο Β της Αντρώνας, οι αλυσιδωτές αντιδράσεις πολυμεράσης (PCRs) απέφεραν αποτελέσματα για πυρηνικό αλλά όχι μιτοχονδριακό DNA. Η παραγωγή DNA ήταν χαμηλή και αντιφατική, με τα αντίγραφα πολυμεράσης να αποτυγχάνουν να αποφέρουν αναπαραγώγιμα αποτελέσματα. Στο Κουφόβουνο οκτώ από τους είκοσι σκελετούς, που εξετάστηκαν, έδωσαν στοιχεία για μιτοχονδρνακό ή/και πυρηνικό DNA, ενώ στον Ταφικό Κύκλο Β των Μυκηνών ενδείξεις για μιτοχονδριακό DNA έδωσαν τέσσερεις από τους είκοσι δύο σκελετούς, που μελετήθηκαν. Σε δύο περιπτώσεις επιβεβαιώθηκε η ένδειξη στενής συγγένειας, κάτι το οποίο είχε ήδη προταθεί με την αποκατάσταση των προσώπων: το γεγονός αυτό εγείρει ενδιαφέροντα ερωτήματα σχετικά με τις κοινωνικές σχέσεις και το ρόλο γυναικών υψηλής κοινωνικής στάθμης στην κοινωνία της Μέσης και της Ύστερης Εποχής του Χαλκού. Συμπεραίνουμε ότι, αν και μπορεί να αναγνωριστεί DNA σε ορισμένους σκελετούς της Ανατολικής Μεσογείου των τελευταίων αιώνων της Εποχής του Χαλκού, δεν εντοπίζεται συχνά σε υλικό αυτής της εποχής και ενδεχομένως απουσιάζει από παλαιότερο υλνκό.</jats:p

Primary and secondary contributions to aerosol light scattering and absorption in Mexico City during the MILAGRO 2006 campaign

A photoacoustic spectrometer, a nephelometer, an aethalometer, and an aerosol mass spectrometer were used to measure at ground level real-time aerosol light absorption, scattering, and chemistry at an urban site located in North East Mexico City (Instituto Mexicano del Petroleo, Mexican Petroleum Institute, denoted by IMP), as part of the Megacity Impact on Regional and Global Environments field experiment, MILAGRO, in March 2006. Photoacoustic and reciprocal nephelometer measurements at 532 nm accomplished with a single instrument compare favorably with conventional measurements made with an aethalometer and a TSI nephelometer. The diurnally averaged single scattering albedo at 532 nm was found to vary from 0.60 to 0.85 with the peak value at midday and the minimum value at 07:00 a.m. local time, indicating that the Mexico City plume is likely to have a net warming effect on local climate. The peak value is associated with strong photochemical generation of secondary aerosol. It is estimated that the photochemical production of secondary aerosol (inorganic and organic) is approximately 75% of the aerosol mass concentration and light scattering in association with the peak single scattering albedo. A strong correlation of aerosol scattering at 532 nm and total aerosol mass concentration was found, and an average mass scattering efficiency factor of 3.8 m&lt;sup&gt;2&lt;/sup&gt;/g was determined. Comparisons of photoacoustic and aethalometer light absorption with oxygenated organic aerosol concentration (OOA) indicate a very small systematic bias of the filter based measurement associated with OOA and the peak aerosol single scattering albedo

Integrating personality research and animal contest theory: aggressiveness in the green swordtail <i>Xiphophorus helleri</i>

&lt;p&gt;Aggression occurs when individuals compete over limiting resources. While theoretical studies have long placed a strong emphasis on context-specificity of aggression, there is increasing recognition that consistent behavioural differences exist among individuals, and that aggressiveness may be an important component of individual personality. Though empirical studies tend to focus on one aspect or the other, we suggest there is merit in modelling both within-and among-individual variation in agonistic behaviour simultaneously. Here, we demonstrate how this can be achieved using multivariate linear mixed effect models. Using data from repeated mirror trials and dyadic interactions of male green swordtails, &lt;i&gt;Xiphophorus helleri&lt;/i&gt;, we show repeatable components of (co)variation in a suite of agonistic behaviour that is broadly consistent with a major axis of variation in aggressiveness. We also show that observed focal behaviour is dependent on opponent effects, which can themselves be repeatable but were more generally found to be context specific. In particular, our models show that within-individual variation in agonistic behaviour is explained, at least in part, by the relative size of a live opponent as predicted by contest theory. Finally, we suggest several additional applications of the multivariate models demonstrated here. These include testing the recently queried functional equivalence of alternative experimental approaches, (e. g., mirror trials, dyadic interaction tests) for assaying individual aggressiveness.&lt;/p&gt

Exploring the pedagogic culture of creative play in early childhood education

We present a conceptual analysis, grounded in empirical data, of how young children's creative play is framed by the 'pedagogic culture' within which the child is playing. Drawing on data from a research study with the broad aim of documenting children's creative play in Western play-based early childhood education, we gathered exploratory qualitative observations, self-initiated iPad video diaries and researcher-led activities to describe children's creative play. We adapted the Analysing Children's Creative Thinking Framework as a starting point for coding and the analyses focused on three contextual cues within the pedagogic culture – space, interpersonal collaborations and materials. We ground our discussion in a contextualist theoretical frame to demonstrate that in isolation, each contextual cue presents a degree of framing to children's creative play. When analysed as a synergy of contextual cues, however, we begin to see that the dynamic make-up of each of the contexts, and the interplay among them, create a 'pedagogic culture' that transforms children's creative play. We present 'stories' of each pedagogic culture that we observed, to describe how children's creative play manifested within each culture

An agent-based approach to assess drivers’ interaction with pre-trip information systems.

This article reports on the practical use of a multi-agent microsimulation framework to address the issue of assessing drivers’ responses to pretrip information systems. The population of drivers is represented as a community of autonomous agents, and travel demand results from the decision-making deliberation performed by each individual of the population as regards route and departure time. A simple simulation scenario was devised, where pretrip information was made available to users on an individual basis so that its effects at the aggregate level could be observed. The simulation results show that the overall performance of the system is very likely affected by exogenous information, and these results are ascribed to demand formation and network topology. The expressiveness offered by cognitive approaches based on predicate logics, such as the one used in this research, appears to be a promising approximation to fostering more complex behavior modelling, allowing us to represent many of the mental aspects involved in the deliberation process

Shaping electron wave functions in a carbon nanotube with a parallel magnetic field

A magnetic field, through its vector potential, usually causes measurable changes in the electron wave function only in the direction transverse to the field. Here we demonstrate experimentally and theoretically that in carbon nanotube quantum dots, combining cylindrical topology and bipartite hexagonal lattice, a magnetic field along the nanotube axis impacts also the longitudinal profile of the electronic states. With the high (up to 17T) magnetic fields in our experiment the wave functions can be tuned all the way from "half-wave resonator" shape, with nodes at both ends, to "quarter-wave resonator" shape, with an antinode at one end. This in turn causes a distinct dependence of the conductance on the magnetic field. Our results demonstrate a new strategy for the control of wave functions using magnetic fields in quantum systems with nontrivial lattice and topology.Comment: 5 figure

Re-Inventing Public Education:The New Role of Knowledge in Education Policy-Making

This article focuses on the changing role of knowledge in education policy making within the knowledge society. Through an examination of key policy texts, the Scottish case of Integrated Children Services provision is used to exemplify this new trend. We discuss the ways in which knowledge is being used in order to re-configure education as part of a range of public services designed to meet individuals' needs. This, we argue, has led to a 'scientization' of education governance where it is only knowledge, closely intertwined with action (expressed as 'measures') that can reveal problems and shape solutions. The article concludes by highlighting the key role of knowledge policy and governance in orienting education policy making through a re-invention of the public role of education

The frequency of restricted and repetitive behaviours in a community sample of 15 month-old infants

Objective: To investigate the frequency and pattern of a wide range of restricted and repetitive behaviors (RRBs) in the second year of life. Method: Parents of 139 15-month-old typically developing infants from a community sample completed the Repetitive Behaviour Questionnaire-2 (RBQ-2), giving information on RRBs (e.g. stereotyped motor movements, sensory interests, routines and rituals and preoccupations with restricted interests) seen in their children. Results: The RBQ-2 was found to be a reliable measure of these behaviors at this age and revealed a high frequency of particular types of repetitive motor movements in 15-month-olds. Conclusion: These findings have implications for the early detection of disorders characterized by high levels of restricted and repetitive behaviors, such as Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD)