Clay mineralogical, geochemical and isotopic tracing of the evolution of the Woodleigh impact structure, Southern Carnarvon Basin, Western Australia

Chaotically structured diamictite from the inner ring syncline surrounding the central uplift of the Woodleigh impact structure contains shocked metamorphic and impact melt-rock fragments, largely derived from Ordovician and Devonian target sandstones. Coarse illite fractions (< 2 mu m) from the sandstones containing no K-feldspar yield K-Ar ages of around 400 Ma, whereas the K-Ar ages of authigenic clays of > 0.2 mu m fractions from the diamictite without smectite and K-feldspar cluster around 360 Ma, consistent with Rb-Sr data. Crystallisation of newly formed illite in the impact melt rock clasts and recrystallisation of earlier formed illite in the sandstone clasts preserved in the diamictite, are attributed to impact-induced hydrothermal processes in the Late Devonian. The illitic clays from the diamictite and from the sandstones have very similar trace element compositions, with significantly enriched incompatible lithophile elements, which increase in concentrations correlatively with those of the compatible ferromagnesian elements. The unusual trace element associations in the clays may be due to the involvement of hot gravity-driven basinal fluids that interacted with rocks of the Precambrian craton to the east of the study area, or with such material transported and reworked in the studied sedimentary succession.

The vacuous concept of dignity

Rights talk dominates contemporary moral discourse. It is also having a growing impact on the development of legal principle and doctrine. One of the best known general arguments in support of rights-based moral theories is the one given by John Rawls, who claims that only rights-based theories take seriously the distinction between human beings; only they can be counted on to protect certain rights and interests that are so paramount that they are beyond the demands of net happiness (Rawls 1971). Charges and assertions of this nature have been extremely influential. After the Second World War, there was an immense increase in rights talk, both in the sheer volume of that talk and in the number of supposed rights being claimed. Rights doctrine has progressed a long way since its original modest aim of providing “a legitimization of … claims against tyrannical or exploiting regimes” (Benn 1978: 61). As Tom Campbell points out: The human rights movement is based on the need for a counter-ideology to combat the abuses and misuses of political authority by those who invoke, as a justification for their activities, the need to subordinate the particular interests of individuals to the general good (Campbell 1996: 13).

A study of the evolution of the representational capabilities of process modeling grammars

A plethora of process modeling techniques has been proposed over the years. One way of evaluating and comparing the scope and completeness of techniques is by way of representational analysis. The purpose of this paper is to examine how process modeling techniques have developed over the last four decades. The basis of the comparison is the Bunge-Wand-Weber representation model, a benchmark used for the analysis of grammars that purport to model the real world and the interactions within it. This paper presents a comparison of representational analyses of several popular process modeling techniques and has two main outcomes. First, it provides insights, within the boundaries of a representational analysis, into the extent to which process modeling techniques have developed over time. Second, the findings also indicate areas in which the underlying theory seems to be over-engineered or lacking in specialization.