The calcified seaweed (maerl) deposits of the Falkland Islands

Scattered across many foreshore areas around the Falkland Islands (Fig. 1) are fragments of white, limy material derived from carbonate-fixing, marine red algae. Locally, the limy detritus is sufficiently abundant to have built-up substantial beach deposits. In their report accompanying publication of the 1:250 000 scale geological maps of the islands, Aldiss and Edwards (1998) drew attention to the potential importance of these deposits as a source of agricultural lime, particularly in the absence of any other indigenous source of limestone. Very similar material has been exploited elsewhere in the world for both agricultural and horticultural use; for example, sub-tidal banks were extensively dredged in the English Channel off Cornwall and Brittanny. There, the limy, algal debris is referred to generically as Lithothamion, and commercially as maerl. The equivalent material in the Falkland Islands is known locally as calcified seaweed

Breaking voice identity perception: Expressive voices are more confusable for listeners.

The human voice is a highly flexible instrument for self-expression, yet voice identity perception is largely studied using controlled speech recordings. Using two voice-sorting tasks with naturally varying stimuli, we compared the performance of listeners who were familiar and unfamiliar with the TV show Breaking Bad. Listeners organised audio clips of speech with (1) low-expressiveness and (2) high-expressiveness into perceived identities. We predicted that increased expressiveness (e.g., shouting, strained voice) would significantly impair performance. Overall, while unfamiliar listeners were less able to generalise identity across exemplars, the two groups performed equivalently well when telling voices apart when dealing with low-expressiveness stimuli. However, high vocal expressiveness significantly impaired telling apart in both the groups: this led to increased misidentifications, where sounds from one character were assigned to the other. These misidentifications were highly consistent for familiar listeners but less consistent for unfamiliar listeners. Our data suggest that vocal flexibility has powerful effects on identity perception, where changes in the acoustic properties of vocal signals introduced by expressiveness lead to effects apparent in familiar and unfamiliar listeners alike. At the same time, expressiveness appears to have affected other aspects of voice identity processing selectively in one listener group but not the other, thus revealing complex interactions of stimulus properties and listener characteristics (i.e., familiarity) in identity processing

Rapid Step Test Based on Leg Length as a Novel Dynamic Standing Balance Test in the Geriatric Population: A Pilot Study

Each year, 1 out of 3 adults over age 65 experience a fall resulting in a traumatic injury or even mortality. Falls are the leading cause of death in the elderly population and cause the greatest number of hospital admissions from trauma. The Balance Evaluation Systems Test (BEST), Berg Balance Scale, and Tinetti are frequently used tests to determine fall risk. However, they can be complicated, time consuming, and exhibit a ceiling effect. This study employed the Rapid Step Test (RST) to examine the use and practicality of a new, portable and easy to administer test that may differentiate between fallers and non-fallers.https://ecommons.udayton.edu/dpt_symposium/1021/thumbnail.jp

Dioctahedral mixed K-Na-micas and paragonite in diagenetic to low-temperature metamorphic terrains: bulk rock chemical, thermodynamic and textural constraints

Abstract Metamorphic mineral assemblages in low-temperature metaclastic rocks often contain paragonite and/or its precursor metastable phase (mixed K-Na-white mica). Relationships between the bulk rock major element chemistries and the formation of paragonite at seven localities from Central and SE-Europe were studied, comparing the bulk chemical characteristics with mineral assemblage, mineral chemical and metamorphic petrological data. Considerable overlaps between the projection fields of bulk chemistries of the Pg-free and Pg-bearing metaclastic rocks indicate significant differences between the actual (as analyzed) and effective bulk chemical compositions. Where inherited, clastic, inert phases/constituents were excluded, it was found that a decrease in Na/(Na+Al*) and in K/(K+Al*) ratios of rocks favors the formation and occurrence of Pg and its precursor phases (Al* denotes here the atomic quantity of aluminum in feldspars, white micas and “pure” hydrous or anhydrous aluminosilicates). In contrast to earlier suggestions, enrichment in Na and/or an increase in Na/K ratio by themselves do not lead to formation of paragonite. Bulk rock chemistries favorable to formation of paragonite and its precursor phases are characterized by enrichment in Al and depletion in Na, K, Ca (and also, Mg and Fe2+). Such bulk rock chemistries are characteristic of chemically “mature” (strongly weathered) source rocks of the pelites and may also be formed by synand post-sedimentary magmatism-related hydrothermal (leaching) activity. What part of the whole rock is active in determining the effective bulk chemistry was investigated by textural examination of diagenetic and anchizone-grade samples. It is hypothesized that although solid phases act as local sources and sinks, transport of elements such as Na through the grain boundaries have much larger communication distances. Sodium-rich white micas nucleate heterogeneously using existing phyllosilicates as templates and are distributed widely on the thin section scale. The results of modeling by THERMOCALC suggest that paragonite preferably forms at higher pressures in low-T metapelites. The stability fields of Pg-bearing assemblages increase, the Pg-in reaction line is shifted towards lower pressures, while the stability field of the Chl-Ms-Ab-Qtz assemblage decreases and is shifted towards higher temperatures with increasing Al* content and decreasing Na/(Na+Al*) and K/(K+Al*) ratios

The globalisation of breast cancer

Boyle, Peter Howell, Antony eng England 2011/01/05 06:00 Breast Cancer Res. 2010 Dec 20;12 Suppl 4:S7. doi: 10.1186/bcr2736.International audienceno abstrac