Large Area Crop Inventory Experiment (LACIE). Worst case sun elevations for LACIE countries

There are no author-identified significant results in this report

Training school administrators in the writing of quality professional improvement commitments

The purpose of this investigation was to develop a systematic training session which would improve the abilities of school administrators to write quality professional improvement commitments, assess the usefulness of a PIC learning packet, and look at the effect pretests have on the training session and the learning packet. The sample was comprised of participants in a workshop on evaluation and improving teacher performance who were randomly assigned to one of four distinct experimental groups;The use of learning packet and participation in the training session both proved to be successful in increasing the trainees\u27 abilities to write quality professional improvement commitments, as did a combination of learning packet and training session. The quality of written PIC\u27s was determined by averaging the ratings given to each by three independent jurors using a rating scale which examined: (1) specificity and measurability; (2) inclusion of specific procedures; (3) appraisal method; and (4) inclusion of a timeline and target date. The use of a pretest prior to using the learning packet resulted in higher rated PIC\u27s than did use of a learning packet without a pretest. This effect of the pretest did not, however, prove to be significant in combination with the training session alone;Examination of the trainees\u27 specific position, level of employment, or learning style as determined by the Gregorc Style Delineator failed to show any significant difference in ability to write quality PIC\u27s among the groups. It was noted, however, that a majority of teacher evaluators, as represented by this sample, were primarily concrete sequential learners;Findings of this study indicated that school administrators\u27 abilities to write quality professional improvement commitments were increased through the use of systematic training. The importance of continued training in this area has been supported by the available research

Late Carboniferous Tectonostratigraphy in the Avalon Terrane of Southern New Brunswick

Development of the basement-involved, fold-thrust belt in coastal southern New Brunswick is attributed to dextral transpression associated with regional. Carboniferous strike-slip displacements. In the vicinity of Saint John, deformation strongly influenced Westphalian sedimentation in the penecontemporaneous Lancaster and Balls Lake Formations and reflects sustained NW-SE shortening that coincides with a major compressive bend in the E-W, Cobequid-Chedabucto fault system which records significant, right-lateral Pennsylvanian displacement. Purple conglomerates and lithic wackes of the Balls Lake Formation record syntectonic. NW-progradation of an alluvial fan in response to the uplift of a source to the SB and display facies depicting proximal to mid-fan. mid-fan, and distal settings. Locally interfingering and laterally equivalent, grey lithic arenites of the Westpbalian Lancaster Formation are the product of major, NE- flowing, meandering streams partially influenced by the prograding distal fan. Initial deformation (Di) produced NW-directed, basement-involved thrusts that structurally invert regional stratigraphy. Associated lower greenschist facies metamorphism accompanied development of a widespread, SB-dipping fabric (S1). variably expressed as a slaty cleavage, protomylonitic solution cleavage and orthomylonitic foliation. The fabric locally bears a strong but variably oriented mineral lineation (L1) and is axial. planar to NW-vergent, isoclinal microfolds and regional overturned structures (F1) that plunge gently NE and SW. Renewed thrusting (D2) and back-thrusting (D3) produced conjugate fold sets coaxial with F1 that verge both NW (F2) and SB (F3). Associated axial planar crenulation cleavages (S2 and S3) overprint S1 and dip SE and NW respectively. On-strike variations in deformational style and timing, coupled with the presence of steeply dipping, en echelon zones of Intense deformation, suggest the fold-thrust belt is segmented by right-stepping, convergent wrench faults synthetic to the deeply listric, Cobequid-Cbedabucto system. These faults may shallow into thrusts to form positive flower structures, and locally terminate in thrusts associated with anomalous NW-SE trends in D1 and D2. Thrust uplift in response to transpression on locally downward-steepening, en echelon faults subparallel to the Fundy shore Is proposed to account for the source area of the syntectonic Balls Lake fan. Further displacement and telescoping resulted in structural inversion of regional stratigraphy and deposition of the Balls Lake and Lancaster Formations in advance of an overriding allochthon to the south. RÉSUMÉ On impute le développeroent d'une zone orogénique chevauchante solidaire du socle au littoral du Nouveau-Brunswick méridional à une transpression dextre accompagnée de décrochements régionaux carbonifères. Près de Saint John, la déformation, qui à fortement marque la sédimentation westphallenne dans les formations synchrones de Lacaster et de Balls Lake, provient d'un raccourcissement soutenu NW-SE ayant coincide avec un important coude en compression dans le systèms de failles E-W de Cobequid-Cbedabucto. Ce dernier représente un coulissage à droite de grande valeur d'âge pennsylvanien. Les poudingues pourpres et les wackes lithiques de la Formation de Balls Lake soulignent la progradation syntectonique NW d'un cone de déjection et tradulsent la proximite de reliefs émergés au SE; les faciès témoignent de régimes prozlmaux à milieux de cone, de milieux de cône, et distaux. Les arenites lithiques grises de la Formation de Lancaster, du Westphalien, en sont l'équivalent lateral et s' y interdigitent par endrolts. Elles sont, pour leur part, le prodult de grands coure d'eau à méandres coulant vers le NE sous l’influence partielle du cône distal progradant. Dea nappes de socle dc direction NW inversent structurelement la stratigraphie régionale et temoignent d'une déformation initiale (D1). Le développement largement répandu d'une fabrlque (S1), pentée SE et prenant l’aspect variable d'un clivage ardoisier. d' un clivage sous solution protomylonltique et d'une foliation orthomylonitique, fut accompagné d'un métamorphisme dans le faciès schistes verts inférieur. Localement, la fabrlque acquiert une linéation (L1) forte mais variable, soulignée par l’orientation de minéraux dans le plan axial de microplis isoclinaux à vergence NW et de structures régionales retournées (F1) qui plongent gentiment vers le NE et le SW. S'y associent des clivages de crénulatlon de plan axial (S2 et S3), pentés respectivement SE et NW, qui se superposent sur S1. Des variations longitudinales dans le style et l'époque de la déformation, couplées à la présence de zones intensement déformées. en échelon et fortement pentées, suggèrent que la zone orogenique chevauchante est sclndée par des décrochements verticaux decalès à droite. qui convergent et sont, eux-mêmes, synthetiques du système fortement liatrique de Cobequid-Cbedabucto. Ces failles se couchent vers la surface pour devenir des chevauchements qui engendrent des structures en fleur positives; elles s'estompent par endroits en des chevauchements associés aux orientations anormales NW-SE dans D1 et D2. On explique la source du cône syntectcnique de Ealls Lake par la surrection des paquets chevauchants sous le Jeu en transpression de failles en echelon subparallèles à la côte de Fundy et dont les pendages se rédressent localement vers le bas. Dn déplacement et un télescopage supplementaires résulterent en une inversion structurale de la stratigraphie régionale et en la déposition des formations de Balls Lake et de Lancaster en avant du terrain charrie plus au Sud. [Traduit par le journal

Precambrian Evolution of the Avalon Terrane in the Northern Appalachians: A Review

The Avalon terrane of the Northern Appalachians forms a distinctive tectonostrati-graphic belt defined primarily by the presence of late Precambrian (circa 600 Ma) volcano-sedimentary and granitoid rocks overlain by Lower Paleozoic sequences containing Acado-Baltic fauna. Avalon terrane is exposed in eastern Newfoundland, Cape Breton Island and the northern Nova Scotian mainland, southern New Brunswick, coastal southeastern Maine, and southeastern New England. The Precambrian evolution of Avalon terrane includes two major tectonothermal events that Involved both continental and oceanic basement. Local oceanic mafic magmatism and regional metamorphism of a mid-Proterozoic (late Helikian?) carbonate-clastic platform and its gneissic continental basement may record an early Hadrynian (750-800 Ma) rifting or subduction event and local platform collapse. Late Hadrynian (580-630 Ma) calc-alkaline granitoid plutonlso and widespread volcanism of tboleiltlc, calc-alkaline and occasionally peralkaline affinities record a closure event that is Interpreted to Involve ensialic arc, oceanic interarc, and both eztensional and trans-tensional continental back-arc settings. Closure terminated, perhaps through transform interactions, in the late Hadrynian Avalonian orogeny and was locally heralded by the development of flysch containing evidence of Vendian glaciatlon and followed by molasse-like successor basins. Latest Hadrynian volcanogenic redbeds and bimodal volcanism, associated with widespread back-arc transtension, may herald Inception of the Iapetus ocean and platform re-establishment during the earliest Paleozoic. Onset of overlapping, Atlantic-realm platform conditions in the Cambro- Ordovician was accompanied by minor, witnin-plate rift volcanism and is in places succeeded by late Ordovian-early Devonian bimodal volcanic rocks, shallow marine sediments and rare peralkaline plutons. Effects of a mld-Ordovician ("Taconian") tectonothermal event occur locally but are generally limited to major unconformities. Widespread early to mid-Devonian Acadian metamorphism and deformation may record the tectonic juxtaposi-tioning of Avalon and Gander terranes and was accompanied by the emplacement into both terrenes of locally voluminous Acadian granitoid plutons. However, portions of the Avalon terrane may have accreted earlier. Deposition of widespread Devono-Carboniferous, molasse-like sequences associated with bimodal tholeiitic to alkaline volcanics form an overlap sequence with the remainder of the Appalachian orogen, although the present position of the Avalon terrane with respect to the orogen is locally controlled by major Alleghanian faulting. Undeformed Triassic redbeds and mafic volcanic rocks herald initial rifting of the present Atlantic Ocean. RÉSUMÉ Dans les Appalaches septentrionales. la lanière d' Avalon forme une zone tectonostratigraphique distincte definie prlncipalement par la présence de roches volcano-sédimentaires et granitoldes tardi-précambriennes (circa 600 Ma) recouvertes par des séries paléozoiques inférieures qui renferment une faune acado-baltique. La lanière d'Avalon affleure dans Vest de Terre-Neuve, dans l'ile du Cap-Breton, dans le nord de la penlnsule de Nouvelle-Écosse, au Nouveau-Brunswick méridional, sur la côte sud-est du Maine et dans le sud-est de la Nouvelle-Angleterre. Deux épisodes tectonothermiques d'envergure ont affecté les socles continental et océanique et ainsi conditionne l’évolution précambrienne de la lanière d'Avalon. Un magmatisme océanique local et le métamorphisme régional d'une plate-forme à terrigènes et à carbonates du Protérozoique moyen (tardl-Helikien?), ainsi que de son socle gneissique continental, pourraient traduire une phase de rifting ou de subduction et d'effondrement local de celle-cl à l'éo-Hadrynien (750-800 Ha). Un plutonisme granitoide calco-alcallne et un volcanisme largement repandu à caractéres tholèiitique. calco-alcalin et, occasionellement, peralcalin tard-hadryuiens (580-630 Ha) concrétisent un épisode de serrage qui semble englober des régimes d'arc ensialique. d'inter arc océanique et des conteites d,arrière arc continental tant en extension qu'en transtenslon. Le serrage se conclut, peut-être par des eux transformants, lors de l’orogènie avalonienne au tardi-Hadrynien et s'illustra localenent par le développement de flyschs qui portent la trace d'une glaclation vendienne; après quoi s'implantérent des basins successeurs de type molassaique. Au fini-Hadrynien, des grès rouz volcanogèniques et un volcanisme blmodal, accompagnés d' une transtenslon largement répandue dans l’arrière arc, peuvent annoncer la nalssance de l’océan Iapetus et le rétour d'une plate-forme au tout début du Paléozoique. L'amorce de conditions de plate-formes du domaine atlantique qui s'empilèrent au Cambro-Ordovicien, s'accompagna d'un faible volcanisme de type rift intra plaque. Des volcanites bimodales, des sédiments marina d'eau peu profonde et de rares plutons peralcalins s'y greffèrent par endroita au tardi-Ordovicien ou à l'eo-Dévonien. On note localement les effets de l’épisode tectonothermique médio-ordovicien ("taconien") bien qu'ils se limitent pour une grande part à des discordances majeures. Le métamorpbisme et la déformation acadiens très répandus, d'âge eo- à médio-dévonien, pourraient représenter l'accolement tectonique des lanières d'Avalon et de Gander; lis a'accompagnerent par l’emplacement dans ces deux lanières de plutons granitoides acadiens localement volumineux. Par contre, des portions de la lanière d'Avalon pourraient s'être accretées plus tôt. Au Dévono-Carbonifère, la déposition extensive d'assises de type molassique associées A des volcanites bimodales tholèiitiques à alcalines façonne une séquence de couverture sur le reste de l'orogène appalacbien bien que la position actuelle de la lanière d'Avalon soit inféodée localement à de grands accidents allèghaniens. Des lits roux et des volcanites mafiques non-déformes du Trias annoncent l'ouverture de l’océan Atlantique actuel. [Traduit par le journal

The Marsilian

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An Italian Ship of 1339

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40Ar/39Ar and U-Pb mineral ages from the Brookville Gneiss: implications for terrane analysis and evolution of Avalonian "basement" in southern New Brunswick

New 40Ar/39Ar hornblende and U-Pb zircon data from units previously thought to represent basement to the Avalon composite terrane in southern New Brunswick yield latest Precambrian or early Cambrian metamorphic cooling ages and a late Precambrian protolith age. Hornblendes from the Brookville Gneiss and from an intrusive amphibolite body within the gneiss yield 40Ar/39Ar isotope correlation ages of 542 ± 4 and 338 ± 2 Ma, respectively. These ages are interpreted to date post-amphibolite facies metamorphic cooling. Euhedral zircons from the Point Pleasant orthogneiss, a quartz dioritic gneiss previously interpreted to be the oldest component of the Brookville Gneiss, show slight inheritance and yield 247Pb/206Pb ages ranging from 603 to 631 Ma. The youngest of these is interpreted to be a maximum age for the orthogneiss protolith. These results, together with other recent U-Pb age data, conflict with previous interpretations of the Brookville Gneiss and the metasedimentary Green Head Group with which it is associated, as a mobilized Proterozoic basement-cover succession upon which an Avalonian ensialic arc developed at c. 600-633 Ma. Instead, the age of the orthogneiss matches that of the arc, and the orthogneiss protolith is likely to have been originally intrusive into the Green Head Group. Although the arc succession is unaffected by high-grade metamorphism, the metamorphic cooling age recorded in the "basement" closely follows evidence of within-arc extension at c. 330 Ma. Hence, the arc/"basement" contrasts in tectonothermal regime could be those of varying structural level within the Avalonian arc rather than requiring the proposed existence of entirely separate terranes. RÉSUMÉ De nouvelles données 40Ar/39Ar sur hornblendes et U-Pb sur zircons, issues d'unités considérées jadis comme représentant le socle de la Lanière composite d'Avalon au Nouveau-Brunswick meridional, ont livré des âges de refroidissement métamorphique finiprécambriens ou éocambriens ainsi qu'un âge de protolithe tardipréambrien. Des hornblendes extraites du Gneiss de Brookville ont livré un âge de corrélation isotopique par 40Ar/39Ar de 542 ± 4 Ma; d'autres, provenant d'un bâti amphibolitique intrusif au sein du gneiss, ont livré un âge de 538 ± 2 Ma. On interprète ces âges comme datant le refroidissement métamorphique au-delâ du faciès à amphibolites. Des zircons idiomorphes provenant de l'orthogneiss de Point Pleasant, un gneiss quartzodioritique interprèt auparavant comme le plus ancient constituant du Gneiss de Brookville, montrent un 1éger remaniement et livrent des âges 247Pb/206Pb s'étalant de 603 à 631 Ma. On interprèté le plus jeune de ces âges comme l'âge maximal du protolithe de l'orthogneiss. Ces résultats, tout comme d'autres données U-Pbrecentes, contredisent les interprètations antérieures considéranl le Gneiss de Brookville et le Groupe métasédimentaire de Green Head, auquel il s'associe, comme une succession socle-couverture mobilisée protérozoique sur laquelle un arc sialique avalonien s'est développé il y a en v. 600 à 635 Ma. L'âge de l'orthogneiss correspond plutôt â celui de l'arc et il est probable que le protolithe de l'orthogneiss faisait à l'origine intrusion au sein du Groupe de Green Head. Bien que la succession d'arc n'ait subi aucun métamorphisme de degré é1evé l'âge de refroidissement métamorphique enregistré dans le "socle" Concorde étroitement avec la manifestation d 'une extension intra-arc vers 550 Ma. Par consequent, les contrastes de régime tectonothermique arc/"socle" pourraient reflèter les variations du niveau structural au sein de l'arc avalonien plutôt que necessiter l'existence proposée de lanières tout a fait distinctes. [Traduit par le journal

COPROLITES FROM CALVERT CLIFFS: MIOCENE FECAL PELLETS AND BURROWED CROCODILIAN DROPPINGS FROM THE CHESAPEAKE GROUP OF MARYLAND, U.S.A.

New finds of remarkable coprolites (fossilized feces) are here reported from the famous Miocene marine sediments of the Chesapeake Group exposed along Calvert Cliffs (Maryland, U.S.A.).  Although vertebrate coprolites have been described from these deposits, here we provide the first description of tiny invertebrate fecal pellets. Thus far, these fecal pellets have only been found in the upper Miocene (Tortonian) St. Marys Formation. The micro-coprolites represent the coprulid ichnospecies Coprulus oblongus. The fecal pellets are found in small clusters or strings of dozens to masses of many hundreds. Pellets range in size from approximately 0.4 – 2.0 mm wide by 1.0 – 5.0 mm long, and range in color from gray to brownish black. Their length/diameter ratio is always very nearly 2. These coprulids have been found in a variety of Miocene fossils/concretions including a uranoscopid neurocranium, naticid gastropod, bivalve shells, barnacle tests, and in pellet-backfilled sinuous burrows through sediment. Because the fecal pellets are often found in tiny spaces or spaces thought to be inaccessible to shelled invertebrates, the coprulids are attributed to small and soft-bodied polychaetes or other annelids. Some coprolites attributed to crocodilians from the lower-middle Miocene Calvert Formation were tunneled into, presumably the result of coprophagy, by some unknown kind of organism(s). These compound trace fossils are in the form of burrows that excavate the coprolites, the sides of which are sculptured by scratch/gouge marks

Genetic Studies of Deafness and of Retinitis Pigmentosa

In experimental animals where the generation time is short and matings can be controlled experimentally, it is a relatively simple task to determine whether a trait is genetic, how it is inherited, and where the causal gene pair is located. However, in human genetics, inferences must be drawn by pooling observations on many small families in which the trait of interest has occurred. The condition may be etiologically heterogeneous, resulting from environmental causes in some families and showing variable patterns of inheritance in others. Hereditary deafness and retinitis pigmentosa (RP) provide instructive examples of the problems involved in the genetic analysis of family data in man