Principal Trend Research Articles

Adverse Drug Reactions Related Hospital Admissions in Persons Aged 60 Years and over, The Netherlands, 1981–2007: Less Rapid Increase, Different Drugs

BackgroundEpidemiologic information on time trends of Adverse Drug Reactions (ADR) and ADR-related hospitalizations is scarce. Over time, pharmacotherapy has become increasingly complex. Because of raised awareness of ADR, a decrease in ADR might be expected. The aim of this study was to determine trends in ADR-related hospitalizations in the older Dutch population.Methodology and Principal FindingsSecular trend analysis of ADR-related hospital admissions in patients ≥60 years between 1981 and 2007, using the National Hospital Discharge Registry of the Netherlands. Numbers, age-specific and age-adjusted incidence rates (per 10,000 persons) of ADR-related hospital admissions were used as outcome measures in each year of the study. Between 1981 and 2007, ADR-related hospital admissions in persons ≥60 years increased by 143%. The overall standardized incidence rate increased from 23.3 to 38.3 per 10,000 older persons. The increase was larger in males than in females. Since 1997, the increase in incidence rates of ADR-related hospitalizations flattened (percentage annual change 0.65%), compared to the period 1981–1996 (percentage annual change 2.56%).Conclusion/SignificanceADR-related hospital admissions in older persons have shown a rapidly increasing trend in the Netherlands over the last three decades with a temporization since 1997. Although an encouraging flattening in the increasing trend of ADR-related admissions was found around 1997, the incidence is still rising, which warrants sustained attention to this problem.

Recent snow cover variability in the Italian Alps

The historical record of snow duration (from 1950 to 2009) and of snowfall (from 1960 to 2009) collected in the Italian Alps are presented and analysed. A reduction of the snow cover duration and of the snowfall stronger in springtime was detected during the last 40 years with the greatest decreasing rate during the 1990s. The last decade is characterised by a recovery from the documented decreasing trend mainly evident between 800 m and 1500 m. Principal component trend analysis of the snow duration and of the snowfall showed a long term decreasing trend. The change point test showed the existence of breakpoints between 1984 and 1994 that characterise the snow duration and snowfall time series analysed by elevation range and by seasons. These breakpoints mark a drastic trend variability in the time series: a positive trend characterises the time series before the breakpoint and a decreasing trend characterises the historical record after the breakpoint. The described negative trends result from the documented decrease in winter and spring precipitation. This in turn may either relate to a change in fraction of liquid to solid precipitation, and/or be associated to an increase of the temperatures. Northern Hemisphere and Italian Alps snow cover trends strongly correlate in the frequency domain. Among the dominant frequencies the 11.2 period was detected that may relate to the 11-year solar activity cycle.

Az 1945-1956 közötti győri politikai és közigazgatási vezetőréteg származási-foglalkozási összetétele és mobilitási tendenciái

A tanulmány az 1945-1956 közötti Győri politikai és közigazgatási vezetőréteg néhány társadalomstatisztikai jellemzőjének áttekintésére vállalkozik. Részletesen bemutatásra kerül, hogy a csoport tagjai milyen társadalmi helyzetű családból indultak, közéleti szerepvállalásukat megelőzően milyen eredeti foglalkozással és szakképzettséggel rendelkeztek, valamint milyen nemzedéken belüli és nemzedékek közötti mobilitási esélyeik és lehetőségeik voltak az érintett korszakban. Az elsősorban levéltári forrásokra épülő vizsgálat megállapította, hogy a helyi vezetőréteg meghatározó része (41,8%-a ) munkás családból származott, míg a legkevésbé számos csoportot (7,1-7,1%) az alkalmazotti és az értelmiségi családból érkezők alkották. A helyi vezetőréteg döntő hányada (59,3%-a) munkás hivatással bírt, míg a parasztok (5,3%) és a kisiparosok/kiskereskedők (3,6%) visszaszorulása különösen jelentősnek tekinthető a származásnál megfigyelt adatokhoz képest. Az intergenerációs mobilitás a csoport több mint felét (51,5%) érintette, míg a legfőbb mobilitási iránynak egyértelműen a munkássá válás tűnt.

Active faults and related Late Quaternary deformation along the Northwestern Himalayan Frontal Zone, India

Numerous newly-identified traces of active faults in the Himalayan foothill zone along the HFF around Chandigarh, in Pinjore Dun, along the piedmont zone of the Lower Siwalik hill front and within the Lower Tertiary hill range reveal the pattern of thrust and strike-slip faulting, striking parallel to the principal structural trend (NNW-SSE) of the orogenic belt. The active Chandigarh Fault, Pinjore Garden Fault and Barsar thrust have vertically dislocated, warped and backtilted fluvial and alluvial-fan surfaces made up of Late Pleistocene-Holocene sediments. West- and southwest-facing fault scarplets with heights ranging from 12 to 50 m along these faults suggest continued tectonic movement through Late Pleistocene to recent times. Gentle warping and backtilting of the terraces on the hanging wall sides of the faults indicate fault-bend folding. These active faults are the manifestation of north-dipping imbricated thrust faults branching out from the major fault systems like the Main Boundary Fault (MBF) and Himalayan Frontal Fault (HFF), probably merging down northward into a decollement. The Taksal Fault, striking NNW-SSE, shows prominent right-lateral movement marked by lateral offset of streams and younger Quaternary terraces and occupies a narrow deep linear valley along the fault trace. Right stepping along this fault has resulted in formation of a small pull-apart basin. Fault scarplets facing ENE and WSW are the manifestation of dip-slip movement. This fault is an example of slip-partitioning between the strike-slip and thrust faults, suggesting ongoing oblique convergence of the Indian plate and northward migration of a tectonic sliver. Slip rate along the Taksal Fault has been calculated as 2.8 mm/yr. Preliminary trench investigation at the base of the Chandigarh Fault Scarp has revealed total displacement of 3.5 m along a low angle thrust fault with variable dip of 20° to 46° due northeast, possibly the result of one large magnitude (Mw 7) prehistoric earthquake. Taking into consideration the height of the Pinjore surface (20 to 25 m), tentative age (8.9 ± 1.9 ka), displacement during one event and average angle of fault dip (25°) gives slip rate of about 6.3 ± 2 mm/yr, a rate of horizontal shortening of 5.8 ± 1.8 mm/yr and recurrence of faulting of 555 ± 118 years along the Himalayan Frontal Fault.

The principal contents and trend of the amended juvenile law of Korea

The principal contents and trend of the amended juvenile law of Korea

Modelo gravimétrico-magnético do gráben de Paranaguá-PR, Brasil

O objetivo deste trabalho é contribuir com o estudo do Gráben de Paranaguá, feição tectônica integrante do Sistema de Riftes Cenozóicos do Sudeste do Brasil. Especificamente, propõe-se um modelo gravimétrico-magnético do topo do embasamento Pré-Cambriano sob os sedimentos cenozóicos da planície costeira paranaense. Buscou-se identificar as estruturas principais e estimar a espessura da cobertura sedimentar e das intrusões básicas mesozóicas do embasamento. Para tanto foram realizados levantamentos geofísicos regionais, os quais totalizaram mais de 55 quilômetros de perfis gravimétricos com espaçamento de 500 metros entre as estações e cerca de 45 quilômetros de perfis magnéticos com medidas a cada 25 metros. Os perfis geofísicos, situados entre a Baía de Paranaguá e a desembocadura do rio Saí-guaçú, na região central do Arco de Ponta Grossa (APG), foram orientados na direção NE-SW, perpendicularmente à tendência principal do APG. A concepção do modelo 2-D foi baseada na modelagem dos dados gravimétricos e magnéticos e calibrada por registros de profundidade do embasamento derivados de poços tubulares. A identificação de um alto gravimétrico foi relacionada a um soerguimento do embasamento (Alto Estrutural de Canoas). Baixos gravimétricos contíguos foram interpretados como baixos estruturais e denominados Albatroz e Shangri-lá, cuja espessura máxima do preenchimento sedimentar é de 130 metros. O modelo magnético permitiu estimar as espessuras dos diques de diabásio e calcular uma extensão crustal próxima de 27% relativamente aos 45 km de perfis magnéticos.

Pop-Up Structures and the Fracture Pattern in the Balsam Lake Area, Southern Ontario

An examination of topographic lineaments detectable in Landsat TM images and measurement of joints in outcrop in the Balsam Lake area reveals a systematic bedrock fracture pattern with three principal sets oriented 091°, 027°, and 152°. The 027° trend is parallel to a major aeromagnetic anomaly, the Niagara-Pickering Linear Zone (NPLZ), which underlies the Balsam Lake area and is thought to mark the sub-Paleozoic continuation of the Proterozoic Central Metasedimentary Belt Boundary Zone (CMBBZ). Possible origins of the main joint sets due to Acadian (091° set), Alleghanian (152° set) and St. Lawrence rift system tectonics (091° and 027° sets) are discussed. En-echelon pop-up structures have a mean principal trend of 118°. They displace Lake Algonquin paleobeaches, suggesting formation less than 12,500 years ago. The orientation of the pop-up structures is subnormal to the current in situ maximum horizontal stress direction, SHmax (020°), and is parallel to members of the 091° joint set, indicating possible nuclea-tion on favourably-oriented pre-existing joints. These pop-ups are the only features in the Balsam Lake area with strong evidence for a neotectonic age.

Kinematics of the Høybakken detachment zone and the Møre–Trøndelag Fault Complex, central Norway

The tectonic disintegration of the Caledonian orogen through combined extension, contraction and strike-slip was characterized by spatial and temporal strain partitioning through a period of at least 30 Ma. Early to Mid-Devonian exhumation of the Central Norway basement window was associated with retrograde, top-to-the-SW extensional shearing in the Høybakken detachment zone, sinistral shearing along the Møre–Trøndelag Fault Complex, and formation of extension-parallel folds. Progressive exhumation led to increasing strain localization and to the transition from ductile to brittle deformation. In the interval between c . 370 and 320 Ma, the Høybakken detachment fault cut previously folded detachment mylonites, capturing mylonites in its hanging wall. 40 Ar/ 39 Ar mica and K-feldspar ages indicate a Late Devonian or younger age for the uppermost parts of the adjacent ‘Old Red’ basin. Gentle folding of this stratigraphic level attests to the continuation of shortening and orogen-oblique extension into Late Devonian–Carboniferous time. Shortening was intensified along strands of the Møre–Trøndelag Fault Complex, as shown by mutually cross-cutting reverse and strike-slip faults. ‘Flower structures’ may be particularly common in constrictional strain systems where strike-slip faults develop parallel to the principal elongation trend, but normal to the principal axis of shortening.

Late Holocene variability in pelagic fish scales and dinoflagellate cysts along the west coast of Vancouver Island, NE Pacific Ocean

Fish stocks and dinoflagellates are essential components of the marine food chain. Sediment cores from a predominantly anoxic basin in Effingham Inlet, Vancouver Island, British Columbia, archive a late Holocene (∼500–5300 years BP) record of paleoproductivity in the North American Coastal Upwelling Domain (CUD). We present evidence that late Holocene changes in the dinoflagellate cyst assemblages, sedimentary record, and fish stocks in the northeastern Pacific Ocean fluctuated, at least partially, in accordance with regional and global climate cycles. Principal components analysis (PCA), and trend, wavelet and spectral analyses were used to identify relationships, cycles and trends in sediment grey-scale values, and the abundance s of fish scales and dinoflagellate cysts on centennial to millennial time scales. Most observed cycles fluctuated in intensity over time, particularly following transition of the regional climate to a higher rainfall phase that impacted coastal oceanic dynamics ∼3400 ± 150 years ago. Correlation of the marine paleoproductivity records observed in Effingham Inlet with solar influenced climate proxy cycles observed in the North Atlantic region indicates that solar forcing at different scales might have influenced the climate in the northeast Pacific as well. In particular an 1100- to 1400-year cycle in regional climate is well represented in the fish productivity proxy and sedimentological record. It was also observed that colder water, high-productivity, Selenopemphix nephroides and anchovy-dominated “Anchovy Regime” ecosystems alternate with warmer water, herring-dominated “Herring Regime” ecosystems at millennial time scales. The fish scale record preserved in Effingham Inlet indicates that the NE Pacific is now in transition from an ‘anchovy-’ to a ‘herring’-dominated regime.

Разнообразие и динамика растительности карьеров в лесотундре Западной Сибири (окрестности г. Лабытнанги, Ямало-Ненецкий АО)

Vegetation of 11 quarries in the forest tundra of Northwest Siberia was studied in the years 1993–1995 and 1998–2000. The vegetation recovery age varies from 2 to 33 years. 235 relevés are sorted out according to the Braun-Blanquet approach. 13 variants with 37 subvariants are distinguished within the 4 sub­associations of the 3 associations (2 new among them) which belong to the alliance Chamerio-Matricarion hookeri Ishbirdin, Ishbirdina et Khusainov 1996. The relationship between associations and subassociations correspond to the principal trend of vegetation suc­cession in the quarries. Variants and their subvariants demonstrate better coincidence with either the stages of recovery succession, or different habitats conditions.

Cretaceous−Cenozoic history of the southern Tan-Lu fault zone: apatite fission-track and structural constraints from the Dabie Shan (eastern China)

Apatite fission-track (AFT) and structural data outline the Late Cretaceous−Cenozoic history of the southern Tan-Lu fault zone (TLFZ), one of Asia's major faults, the Triassic–Jurassic Dabie orogen, Earth's largest track of ultrahigh-pressure rock exposure, and its foreland, the Yangtze foreland fold-thrust belt. The fission-track analyses utilized the independent ( φ-), Z- and ξ-methods for age determination, which yielded within error identical ages. Ages from Triassic–Jurassic syn-orogenic foreland sediments are younger than their depositional age and thus were reset. A group of ages records rapid cooling following shallow emplacement of granitoids of the widespread latest Jurassic−Early Cretaceous “Yanshanian” magmatism. Most ages are 90 to 55 Ma and document cooling following reheating at 110–90 Ma, the time when the basement units of the Dabie Shan were last at >200 °C. This cooling coincides with rifting marked by the Late Cretaceous−Eocene red-bed deposition in eastern China. During this period, the Dabie basements units exhumed in the footwall of the Tan-Lu fault with the Qianshan basin in the hanging wall; the associated stress field is transtensional (NW-trending principal extension direction). The youngest fission-track ages and temperature–time path modeling point to enhanced cooling in the footwall of the Tan-Lu and associated faults at 45±10 Ma. The related stress field is transtensional, with the principal extension direction changing trend from NW to W. It may be the far-field expression of the India–Asia collision superposed on the back-arc extension setting in eastern China. A regional unconformity at ∼25 Ma marks an upper bound for the inversion of the Late Cretaceous−Eocene rift structures. During the Neogene, further subsidence in the eastern China basins was accommodated by sub-horizontal NE–SW extension, and followed by the presently active NW–SE extension. The Tan-Lu fault along the eastern edge of the Dabie Shan had normal and then sinistral-transpressive motion during the Late Cretaceous−Eocene. Its motion changed during the Neogene from sinistral transtensive to normal and then to its present dextral transtensive activity.

Interpretation of seismic and potential field data from western New York State and Lake Ontario

Lithoprobe and industry seismic profiles have furnished evidence of major zones of easterly dipping Grenville deformed crust extending southwest from exposed Grenville rocks north of Lake Ontario. Additional constraints on subsurface structure limited to the postulated Clarendon–Linden fault system south of Lake Ontario are provided by five east–west reflection lines recorded in 1976. Spatial correlations between seismic structure and magnetic anomalies are described from both Lake Ontario and the newly reprocessed New York lines. In the Paleozoic to Precambrian upper crust, the New York seismic sections show: (1) An easterly thickening wedge of subhorizontal Paleozoic strata unconformably overlying a Precambrian basement whose surface has an apparent regional easterly dip of 1–2°. Minor apparent normal offsets, possibly on the order of tens of meters, occur within the Paleozoic section. The generally poorly reflective unconformity may be locally characterized by topographic relief on the order of ∼100 m; (2) Apparent local displacement on the order of ∼90 m at the level of the Black River Group diminishes upward to little or no apparent offset of Queenston Shale; (3) Within the limited seismic sections, there appears to be no evidence that the complete upper crustal section is vertically or subvertically offset; (4) Dipping structure in the Paleozoic strata (15° to 35°) resembles some underlying Precambrian basement elements; (5) The surface continuity of inferred faults constituting the Clarendon–Linden system is not strongly supported by the seismic data. Beneath the Paleozoic strata, the seismic sections show both linear and arcuate reflector geometry with easterly apparent dips of 15° to 35° similar to the deep structures imaged on seismic lines from nearby Lake Ontario and on Lithoprobe lines to the north. The similarity supports an extension of easterly dipping Central Metasedimentary Belt structures of the Grenville orogen from southern Ontario to beneath western New York State. From a comparison of the magnetic and gravity fields with the New York seismic sections, we suggest: (1) The largely nonmagnetic Paleozoic strata appear to contribute negligibly to magnetic anomalies. Seismically imaged fractures in the New York Paleozoic strata appear to lie mainly west of a positive gravity anomaly. The relationship between magnetic and gravity anomalies and the changes in the geometry of interpreted Precambrian structures remains enigmatic; (2) North to northeast trending curvilinear magnetic and gravity anomalies parallel, but are not restricted to the principal trend of the postulated Clarendon–Linden fault system. Paleozoic fractures of the Clarendon–Linden system may partly overlie a southward extension of the Composite Arc Belt boundary zone.

Development of thermal error model with minimum number of variables using fuzzy logic strategy

Thermally-induced errors originating from machine tool errors have received significant attention recently because high speed and precise machining is now the principal trend in manufacturing processes using CNC machine tools. Since the thermal error model is generally a function of temperature, the thermal error compensation system contains temperature sensors with the same number of temperature variables. The minimization of the number of variables in the thermal error model can affect the economical efficiency and the possibility of unexpected sensor fault in a error compensation system. This paper presents a thermal error model with minimum number of variables using a fuzzy logic strategy. The proposed method using a fuzzy logic strategy does not require any information about the characteristics of the plant contrary to numerical analysis techniques, but the developed thermal error model guarantees good prediction performance. The proposed modeling method can also be applied to any type of CNC machine tool if a combination of the possible input variables is determined because the error model parameters are only calculated mathematically based on the number of temperature variables.

Patterns and Risk Factors of Change in Somatic and Mood Symptoms among Older Adults

PURPOSE: This paper was concerned with patterns of individual-level, longitudinal change in depressive symptoms and factors related to those patterns among Americans 70+ years of age. Two types of depressive symptoms were considered, somatic and mood symptoms. The paper focused on whether the patterns of change and the risk factors for these two types of symptoms differed, as we might expect among old and oldest-old adults. METHODS: The analytic sample included self-respondents of the 1993–1995 Asset and Health Dynamics among the Oldest Old (AHEAD) study who were born in 1923 or earlier. Depressive symptoms were assessed using an abbreviated Center for Epidemiologic Studies-Depression (CES-D) Scale. The analyses involved examination of respondents' change scores in depressive symptoms and multivariate models using ordinary least squares (OLS) and seemingly unrelated regressions (SUR). RESULTS: In aggregate, somatic symptoms were more common than mood symptoms initially and over time. Despite differences in aggregate rates, AHEAD respondents' individual-level patterns of change for the two types of symptoms were similar; i.e., stability was the principal trend (53–60%), followed by improvement (21–26%). A number of factors related to change in one aspect of depressive symptoms and not the other, or had greater effects on one aspect of depressive symptoms than the other; e.g., physical health had greater effects on somatic than mood symptoms. CONCLUSIONS: This study suggests that, in investigations of the course and risk factors for depressive symptoms among people 70+ years of age, it is important to separate somatic symptoms from mood symptoms; their etiology may differ. In general, factors reflecting respondents' social milieu (e.g., bereavement, residential relocation) may have greater effects on mood than somatic symptoms, whereas certain factors representing physical health may have greater effects on somatic symptoms.

Thermal Error Modeling of a Horizontal Machining Center Using Fuzzy Logic Strategy

Thermally induced errors originating from machine tool errors have received significant attention recently because high speed and precise machining is now the principal trend in manufacturing processes using CNC machine tools. The performance of a thermal error compensation system basically depends on the accuracy and robustness of the thermal error model. This paper presents a thermal error model using a fuzzy logic strategy, which does not require any complex procedure such as multiregression or information about the characteristics of the plant. Accordingly, the proposed modeling method can be applied to any type of CNC machine tool as the error model parameters are only calculated mathematically, plus the error model provides good accuracy and robustness.

Codon usage in Chlamydia trachomatis is the result of strand-specific mutational biases and a complex pattern of selective forces.

The patterns of synonymous codon choices of the completely sequenced genome of the bacterium Chlamydia trachomatis were analysed. We found that the most important source of variation among the genes results from whether the sequence is located on the leading or lagging strand of replication, resulting in an over representation of G or C, respectively. This can be explained by different mutational biases associated to the different enzymes that replicate each strand. Next we found that most highly expressed sequences are located on the leading strand of replication. From this result, replicational-transcriptional selection can be invoked. Then, when the genes located on the leading strand are studied separately, the correspondence analysis detects a principal trend which discriminates between lowly and highly expressed sequences, the latter displaying a different codon usage pattern than the former, suggesting selection for translation, which is reinforced by the fact that Ks values between orthologous sequences from C. trachomatis and Chlamydia pneumoniae are much smaller in highly expressed genes. Finally, synonymous codon choices appear to be influenced by the hydropathy of each encoded protein and by the degree of amino acid conservation. Therefore, synonymous codon usage in C.trachomatis seems to be the result of a very complex balance among different factors, which rises the problem of whether the forces driving codon usage patterns among microorganisms are rather more complex than generally accepted.

Effects of changing production methods on quality of meat, milk and eggs

Large differences exist at world wide level regarding the livestock production systems and the concept and objectives of quality. We followed a scheme relating four components of production (genetics, nutrition, management and animal health) to five aspects of quality (hygienic, chemical, nutritional, organoleptic and technological), considering also the effects of the consumer choices and community rules on quality and methods of production. The techniques of genetics (selection, molecular biology, transgenesis) and the biotechnologies of reproduction will play a major role in the evolution of quality mainly for the chemical-nutritional and technological characteristics and for some organoleptic aspects. In particular, transgenesis will allow to obtain products with completely new characteristics. Nutrition will influence the safety of the products positively, but also introducing risks of residues, and again the chemical-nutritional (mainly on fat composition), technological and some organoleptic characteristics. Management and animal health will have a more pronounced effect on hygienic, technological and, partly, organoleptic quality. The principal trend in countries with high consumption will be toward safe and tasty products. In other countries, the productive intensification could lead to increased risk of residues. Auditing production processes and tracing back the origin of products, mainly meat, is foreseeable.

Clay mineral facies and lateritization in basalts of the southeastern Parana Basin, Brazil

Seventeen samples from two lateritic profiles, each with five facies, were studied. These profiles occur on the old planation surface of the plateau basalts of the southern part of ParanáBasin, Brazil. Optical microscopy, X-ray diffraction, electron microprobe, Mössbauer spectroscopy and Fourier Transform Infrared Spectra were used to obtain information about the nature and chemical composition of each weathering facies. In addition, scanning electron microscopy and analyses of clay minerals were performed to detect microcrystalline environmental changes. Both profiles have two major parts: a loose red-clay latosol separated from an underlying mottled clay and an alterite facies; a stone line may or may not be present between the latosol and the underlying units. In both profiles the latosol consists principally of kaolinite, hematite and goethite. Two alterite facies, shaped by differential weathering, are also present in the lower profile: a halloysite–nontronite clayey matrix with a well developed fissure system occurs in the argillaceous alterite and a network of Al–goethite aggregates is typical of the highly porous cortex of the boulder alterite that is found in the stone line and below it. Gibbsite has crystallized in the large pores of porphyritic boulder alterite but is absent in the small pores of the subaphyric boulder alterite. Clay minerals observed in fissures include halloysite associated with goethite and manganese oxides. The basalt has hydrothermal green-clays (mixed layers and trioctahedral smectites) that formed between primary plagioclase, pyroxene and Ti–magnetite crystals while fresh corestones of the boulder alterite have cryptocrystalline iron-rich material. The study of these profiles shows one principal evolutionary trend for clay minerals. This trend is from smectite and mixed layers that form green clays in altered bedrock at the base of the profile to an intermediate association of nontronite and halloysite in the argillaceous alterite to kaolinite in the mottled clay facies at the top of the profile. There is also another trend; the presence of a cryptocrystalline material sequence in the weathering of the corestones. This study of two polycyclic profiles developed on basalts shows the presence of iron-rich laterites in the southern ParanáBasin which are closely similar to the laterites in the northern part of the ParanáBasin.

Investigations into the photodegradation of wood using microtensile testing

This paper describes changes in microtensile strength of six softwood species during natural weathering. All species showed a rapid reduction in both zero span and 10 mm span strength during three months weathering and the method proved capable of distinguishing differences in degradation rate and in the characteristic shape of the strength loss curve for the different species. The results indicated that lignin degradation is initially more rapid than cellulose. Although the principal trend was one of strength loss during weathering, some species showed a small strength increase after short exposure times.The strength changes are consistent with three radiation-induced processes, namely a mechanism whereby strength increases and two degradation processes occuring at different rates. A 'Zero Intercept' parameter was derived to characterise the strength loss curves.

Sinistral transpression and hydrothermal activity during emplacement of the Early Proterozoic Julianehåb batholith, Ketilidian orogenic belt, South Greenland

The first systematic investigations of the central part of the Early Proterozoic Ketilidian orogen in the vicinity of Søndre Sermilik in the early 1960s suggested that this part of the orogen comprised a mixture of the Julianehåb granite, altered supracrustal rocks and older orthogneisses. Recent field work has shown that the area consists only of a variably deformed suite of granitic to dioritic plutonic rocks and a range of hornblende-bearing dykes of the appinite suite which all belong to the Julianehåb batholith. Steep to vertical shear zones with widths from a few centimetres to more than one kilometre are a significant element of the structure. The principal shear zones trend north-east and they are parallel to the schistosity and subhorizontal linear structures in the granitoid rocks. Kinematic indicators in many of the shear zones indicate sinistral transcurrent displacements. The relationships between granite fabrics, shear zones and mafic dykes suggest that the Julianehåb batholith was emplaced during subduction from the south towards the Archaean craton in the north-west in a sinistral transpressional system. Effects of hydrothermal alteration, mainly in the form of quartz veining, silicification, chloritisation, epidotisation and pyritisation, are common within and adjacent to the largest shear zones. These effects are believed to be related to late stages of the evolution of the batholith. Gold anomalies appear to be closely tied to the hydrothermal phenomena.