Palaeomagnetic, geochronological and geochemical study of Mesoproterozoic Lakhna Dykes in the Bastar Craton, India: Implications for the Mesoproterozoic supercontinent

Palaeomagnetic analysis of the Lakhna Dykes (Bastar Craton, India) yields a palaeopole at 36.6°N, 132.8°E, dp=12.4°, dm=15.9°, and the U--Pb zircon age obtained from one of the rhyolitic dykes is 1466.4±2.6 Ma (MSWD=0.21, concordia age based on two analyses with identical Pb--U ages), similar to previously published U\Pb ages. Major and trace element analyses of the Lakhna Dykes show shoshonitic and high-K calc-alkaline affinities consistent with a subduction related characteristics suggesting an active continental margin setting. This is in keeping with the Palaeo- to Mesoproterozoic tectonic environments in the eastern Indian margin. The new 1460 Ma Indian palaeopole was used to test possible palaeopositions of India within the Mesoproterozoic supercontinent Columbia. Of the four palaeomagnetically permissible reconstructions, juxtaposing western India against south-west Baltica is geologically the most reliably constrained and best fitting model. Our preferred reconstruction implies a long Palaeo- to Mesoproterozoic accretionary orogen stretching from south-eastern Laurentia through south-western Baltica to south-eastern India. Breakup of India and Baltica probably occurred in the Late Mesoproterozoic, but additional constraints are needed

КЕНГЕДИНСКИЙ МАФИЧЕСКИЙ ДАЙКОВЫЙ РОЙ И РАСШИРЕНИЕ КУОНАМСКОЙ КРУПНОЙ ИЗВЕРЖЕННОЙ ПРОВИНЦИИ (1500 МЛН ЛЕТ) СЕВЕРНОЙ СИБИРИ

Within the Anabar shield in the northern part of the Siberia, Late Precambrian mafic igneous units are widespread, which form dyke swarms of different ages of different trends. This paper presents new data on the composition, structure and U-Pb dating of the E-W trending Kengede dyke swarm. Three new U-Pb ID-TIMS baddeleyite ages (1496±7, 1494±3 and 1494±5 Ma) were obtained from three dykes, indicating that the Kengede swarm is part of the 1500 Ma Kuonamka large igneous province (LIP). The previously recognized Kuonamka Large Igneous Province (LIP) extends for 700 km from the Anabar shield to the Olenek uplift in the northern part of the Siberia and is potentially linked to coeval dykes and sills of the São Francisco craton and the Congo craton. The newly dated Kengede swarm is parallel to but offset by 50 km from the previously dated 1501±3 Ma Kuonamka swarm, and the identification of these two subparallel dyke subswarms of the Kuonamka LIP supports the earlier interpretation that mantle plume centre was located along the extrapolated trend of the dykes near the eastern or western margin of the Siberia. The paper examines features of sulfide Cu-Ni mineralization in dolerites of the Kengede and East Anabar dyke swarms and discusses potential Cu-Ni-sulfide mineralization linked to the Precambrian mafic dyke swarms of different ages in the north-east of the Siberia.В пределах Анабарского щита в северной части Сибирского кратона широко распространены позднедокембрийские базиты, которые формируют разновозрастные дайковые рои различного направления. В статье приводятся новые данные по составу, строению и U-Pb датировкам даек Кенгединского роя. Три новых возраста по бадделеиту (1496±7, 1494±3 и 1494±5 млн лет) из трех даек указывают на то, что Кенгединский рой даек является частью Куонамской крупной магматической провинции (КМП). Ранее выделенная Куонамская КМП простирается на 700 км от Анабарского щита до Оленекского поднятия в северной части Сибирской платформы и потенциально связана с синхронными дайками и силлами кратонов Сан-Франциско и Конго. Вновь датированный Кенгединский рой расположен параллельно в 50 км южнее от Куонамского роя даек (1501±3 млн лет), и идентификация этих двух самостоятельных субпараллельных дайковых роев Куонамской КМП подтверждает более раннюю интерпретацию того, что центр мантийного плюма располагался вдоль экстраполированного тренда даек вблизи восточной или западной окраины Сибирского кратона. В связи с этим в статье также рассматриваются особенности сульфидной Cu-Ni-минерализации в долеритах Кенгединского и Восточно- Анабарского дайковых роев и обсуждается потенциальное Cu-Ni-сульфидное оруденение, связанное с разновозрастными докембрийскими роями мафических даек на северо-востоке Сибирской платформы

Understanding decision quality through satisfaction

"PAAMS 2014 International Workshops, Salamanca, Spain, June 4-6, 2014. Proceedings"One of the most important factors to determine the success of an or-ganization is the quality of decisions made. In order to improve the decisions taken and to strengthen the competitiveness of organizations, systems such as Group Decision Support Systems (GDSSs) have been strongly developed and studied in recent decades. The amount of GDSSs incorporating automatic nego-tiation mechanisms, such as argumentation, is increasing nowadays. The evalu-ation of these mechanisms and the understanding of their real benefits for the organizations is still a hard challenge. In this article, we propose a model that allows a GDSS to measure the participant’s satisfaction with the decision, con-sidering aspects such as problem evaluation, personality, emotions and expecta-tions. This model is intended to enable the understanding of the decision’s qual-ity achieved with an argumentation system and to evaluate its capability to po-tentiate the decision’s quality. The proposed model validates all the assump-tions found in the literature regarding the participant’s satisfaction.This work is supported by FEDER Funds through the “Programa Operacional Fac-tores de Competitividade - COMPETE” program and by National Funds through FCT “Fundação para a Ciência e a Tecnologia” under the project: FCOMP-01-0124-FEDER-PEst-OE/EEI/UI0760/2011 and SFRH/BD/89697/2012

Cryo-electron microscopy of viruses

Thin vitrified layers of unfixed, unstained and unsupported virus suspensions can be prepared for observation by cryo-electron microscopy in easily controlled conditions. The viral particles appear free from the kind of damage caused by dehydration, freezing or adsorption to a support that is encountered in preparing biological samples for conventional electron microscopy. Cryo-electron microscopy of vitrified specimens offers possibilities for high resolution observations that compare favourably with any other electron microscopical method

Расширение ареала Тимптонской крупной магматической провинции (~1.75 млрд лет) Сибирского кратона

We present new geochronological data on dolerites from the Chaya dyke swarm of the Baikal inlier of the Siberian craton. The U‐Pb dating of baddeleyite from one dyke located at the SW end of the Chaya dyke swarm yielded an age of 1752±6 Ma, similar to the previously obtained age of a dyke in the NE end of this swarm. These ages estab‐ lish an age of 1752 Ma for a unified Chaya dyke swarm that extends for more than 200 km in the Baikal inlier of the Siberian craton. These new data confirm that the entire Chaya dyke swarm (as well as the Timpton‐Algamay and Eastern Anabar swarms) is a part of an overall radiating dyke swarm belonging to the Late Paleoproterozoic Timpton Large Igneous Province (LIP), the center of which is located in the middle section of the Vilyuy river flow. Thus, the LIP is enlarged to include the area further west in the Siberian craton.В статье приводятся результаты геохронологического изучения долеритов чайского дайкового роя Байкальского выступа фундамента Сибирского кратона. Оценка возраста долеритов из юго‐западного окончания чайского дайкового роя U‐Pb методом по бадделеиту показала, что они имеют возраст 1752±6 млн лет, который совпал с оценкой возраста долеритов в северо‐восточном окончании этого роя. На основании полученных результатов был выделен единый чайский дайковый рой протяженностью более 200 км с возрастом 1752 млн лет на территории Байкальского выступа фундамента Сибирского кратона. Новые данные позволили в полном объеме включить чайский дайковый рой совместно с тимптоно‐алгамайским и восточно‐анабарским дайковыми роями в единый радиальный рой Тимптонской крупной магматической провинции позднего палеопротерозоя, центр которой находится в среднем течении р. Вилюй, и, соответственно, расширить ареал данной крупной магматической провинции далее на запад Сибирского кратона

Electoral Volatility, Political Sophistication, Trust and Efficacy

In this article we investigate voter volatility and analyze the causes and motives of switching vote intentions. We test two main sets of variables linked to volatility in literature; political sophistication and ‘political (dis)satisfaction’. Results show that voters with low levels of political efficacy tend to switch more often, both within a campaign and between elections. In the analysis we differentiate between campaign volatility and inter-election volatility and by doing so show that the dynamics of a campaign have a profound impact on volatility. The campaign period is when the lowly sophisticated switch their vote intention. Those with higher levels of interest in politics have switched their intention before the campaign has started. The data for this analysis are from the three wave PartiRep Belgian Election Study (2009)

A European multicentre evaluation of detection and typing methods for human enteroviruses and parechoviruses using RNA transcripts

Polymerase chain reaction (PCR) detection has become the gold standard for diagnosis and typing of enterovirus (EV) and human parechovirus (HPeV) infections. Its effectiveness depends critically on using the appropriate sample types and high assay sensitivity as viral loads in cerebrospinal fluid samples from meningitis and sepsis clinical presentation can be extremely low. This study evaluated the sensitivity and specificity of currently used commercial and in-house diagnostic and typing assays. Accurately quantified RNA transcript controls were distributed to 27 diagnostic and 12 reference laboratories in 17 European countries for blinded testing. Transcripts represented the four human EV species (EV-A71, echovirus 30, coxsackie A virus 21, and EV-D68), HPeV3, and specificity controls. Reported results from 48 in-house and 15 commercial assays showed 98% detection frequencies of high copy (1000 RNA copies/5 mu L) transcripts. In-house assays showed significantly greater detection frequencies of the low copy (10 copies/5 mu L) EV and HPeV transcripts (81% and 86%, respectively) compared with commercial assays (56%, 50%; P = 7 x 10(-5)). EV-specific PCRs showed low cross-reactivity with human rhinovirus C (3 of 42 tests) and infrequent positivity in the negative control (2 of 63 tests). Most or all high copy EV and HPeV controls were successfully typed (88%, 100%) by reference laboratories, but showed reduced effectiveness for low copy controls (41%, 67%). Stabilized RNA transcripts provide an effective, logistically simple and inexpensive reagent for evaluation of diagnostic assay performance. The study provides reassurance of the performance of the many in-house assay formats used across Europe. However, it identified often substantially reduced sensitivities of commercial assays often used as point-of-care tests.Peer reviewe