Ocean urea fertilization for carbon credits poses high ecological risks

The proposed plan for enrichment of the Sulu Sea, Philippines, a region of rich marine biodiversity, with thousands of tonnes of urea in order to stimulate algal blooms and sequester carbon is flawed for multiple reasons. Urea is preferentially used as a nitrogen source by some cyanobacteria and dinoflagellates, many of which are neutrally or positively buoyant. Biological pumps to the deep sea are classically leaky, and the inefficient burial of new biomass makes the estimation of a net loss of carbon from the atmosphere questionable at best. The potential for growth of toxic dinoflagellates is also high, as many grow well on urea and some even increase their toxicity when grown on urea. Many toxic dinoflagellates form cysts which can settle to the sediment and germinate in subsequent years, forming new blooms even without further fertilization. If large-scale blooms do occur, it is likely that they will contribute to hypoxia in the bottom waters upon decomposition. Lastly, urea production requires fossil fuel usage, further limiting the potential for net carbon sequestration. The environmental and economic impacts are potentially great and need to be rigorously assessed. (C) 2008 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Reliable Interconnection Networks for Parallel Computers

This technical report describes a new protocol, the Unique Token Protocol, for reliable message communication. This protocol eliminates the need for end-to-end acknowledgments and minimizes the communication effort when no dynamic errors occur. Various properties of end-to-end protocols are presented. The unique token protocol solves the associated problems. It eliminates source buffering by maintaining in the network at least two copies of a message. A token is used to decide if a message was delivered to the destination exactly once. This technical report also presents a possible implementation of the protocol in a worm-hole routed, 3-D mesh network.

Framingham Heart Study 100K project: genome-wide associations for cardiovascular disease outcomes

BACKGROUND:Cardiovascular disease (CVD) and its most common manifestations - including coronary heart disease (CHD), stroke, heart failure (HF), and atrial fibrillation (AF) - are major causes of morbidity and mortality. In many industrialized countries, cardiovascular disease (CVD) claims more lives each year than any other disease. Heart disease and stroke are the first and third leading causes of death in the United States. Prior investigations have reported several single gene variants associated with CHD, stroke, HF, and AF. We report a community-based genome-wide association study of major CVD outcomes.METHODS:In 1345 Framingham Heart Study participants from the largest 310 pedigrees (54% women, mean age 33 years at entry), we analyzed associations of 70,987 qualifying SNPs (Affymetrix 100K GeneChip) to four major CVD outcomes: major atherosclerotic CVD (n = 142; myocardial infarction, stroke, CHD death), major CHD (n = 118; myocardial infarction, CHD death), AF (n = 151), and HF (n = 73). Participants free of the condition at entry were included in proportional hazards models. We analyzed model-based deviance residuals using generalized estimating equations to test associations between SNP genotypes and traits in additive genetic models restricted to autosomal SNPs with minor allele frequency [greater than or equal to]0.10, genotype call rate [greater than or equal to]0.80, and Hardy-Weinberg equilibrium p-value [greater than or equal to] 0.001.RESULTS:Six associations yielded p <10-5. The lowest p-values for each CVD trait were as follows: major CVD, rs499818, p = 6.6 x 10-6; major CHD, rs2549513, p = 9.7 x 10-6; AF, rs958546, p = 4.8 x 10-6; HF: rs740363, p = 8.8 x 10-6. Of note, we found associations of a 13 Kb region on chromosome 9p21 with major CVD (p 1.7 - 1.9 x 10-5) and major CHD (p 2.5 - 3.5 x 10-4) that confirm associations with CHD in two recently reported genome-wide association studies. Also, rs10501920 in CNTN5 was associated with AF (p = 9.4 x 10-6) and HF (p = 1.2 x 10-4). Complete results for these phenotypes can be found at the dbgap website http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/projects/gap/cgi-bin/study.cgi?id=phs000007.CONCLUSION:No association attained genome-wide significance, but several intriguing findings emerged. Notably, we replicated associations of chromosome 9p21 with major CVD. Additional studies are needed to validate these results. Finding genetic variants associated with CVD may point to novel disease pathways and identify potential targeted preventive therapies.

SAXOPHONE SONATAS 1980-2010

The purpose of this dissertation project identifies contemporary solo saxophone literature, specifically sonatas between the years 1980 and 2010. The overwhelming majority of repertoire written during these thirty years consisted primarily of either multi-movement or through-composed character pieces. By limiting the selected repertoire to sonatas one can still investigate the breadth of the literature that has helped validate the saxophone in the realm of classical music in a format that has seemingly fallen out of favor with composers. The saxophone had developed a unique voice by the middle of the twentieth century in both Europe and in the United States. European composers such as Claude Debussy, Florent Schmidt, Jacques Ibert, Darius Milhaud, Alexander Glazounov, Erwin Schulhoff and Bernard Heiden recognized the potential and beauty of the instrument, while the saxophone had found quite a different niche in vaudeville, jazz, and military bands in the United States. If not for the dynamic performances by concert saxophonist such as Marcel Mule, Sigurd Rascher, Jean-Marie Londeix, Daniel Deffayet, Cecil Lesson, Larry Teal, Eugene Rousseau, Fredrick Hemke and Donald Sinta, the timbral possibilities and technical virtuosity of the saxophone would not have been discovered. The awe inspiring performances by these soloists led to the commissioning of a multitude of works by composers looking to expand the sonic possibilities of this relatively new instrument. Through the 1970's American composers such as Leslie Bassett, Paul Creston, Henry Brant, Robert Muczynski, and Karel Husa were writing significant works for the saxophone, while European composers such as IngolfDahl, Edison Denisov, Alfred Desenclos, Henri Tomasi and Marius Constant were each making their own contributions, all leading to a significant quantity of repertoire that met the quality demands set by the performers. The compositions chosen for this dissertation project were selected after numerous performance, pragmatic, programming and pedagogical considerations were taken into account. The three recitals occurred on: March 7, 2010, December 10, 2010 and May 1, 2011 in either the Gildenhorn Recital Hall or Lecture Hall 2100.

Relational dimensions of corporate governance in translation: networked governance in China and India

The effectiveness of corporate governance mechanisms has been a subject of academic research for many decades. Although the large majority of corporate governance studies prior to mid 1990s were based on data from developed market economies such as the U.S., U.K. and Japan, in recent years researchers have begun examining corporate governance in transition economies. A comparison of China and India offers a unique environment for analyzing the effectiveness of corporate governance. First, both countries state-owned enterprise (SOE) reform strategies hinges on the Modern Enterprise System characterized by the separation of ownership and control. Ownership of an SOE’s assets is distributed among the government, institutional investors, managers, employees, and private investors. Effective control rights are assigned to management, which generally has a very small, or even nonexistent ownership stake. This distinctive shareholding structure creates conflict of interest not only between management (insiders) and outside investors but also between large shareholders and minority investors. Moreover, because both governments desire to retain some control—in part through partial retained ownership of commercialized SOEs, further conflicts arise between politicians and firms. Second, directors in publicly listed firms in both countries are predominantly drawn from institutions with significant non-market objectives: the government and other state enterprises, particularly in China, and extended families, particularly in India. As a result, the effectiveness of internal governance mechanisms, such as the number of independent directors on the board and the number of independent supervisors on the supervisory committee, are likely to be quiet limited, although this has yet to be fully evaluated. Third, because of the political nature of the privatization process itself, typical external governance mechanisms, such as debt (in conjunction with appropriate bankruptcy procedures), takeover threats, legal protection of investors, product market competition, etc., have not been effective. Bank loans have traditionally been viewed as grants from the state designed to bail out failing firms. State-owned banks retain monopoly or quasi-monopoly positions in the banking sector and profit is not their overriding objective. If political favor is deemed appropriate, subsidized loans, rescheduling of overdue debt or even outright transfer of funds can be arranged with SOEs (soft budget constraints). In addition, a market for private, non-bank debt is limited in India and has yet to be established China. There is no active merger or takeover activity in Chinese stock markets to discipline management. Information available in the capital markets is insufficient to keep at arm’s length of the corporate decisions. In light of the above peculiarities, China and India share many of the typical institutional characteristics as a transition economy, including poor legal protection of creditors and investors, the absence of an effective takeover market, an underdeveloped capital market, a relative inefficient banking system and significant interference of politicians in firm management. Su (2005) finds that the extent of political interference, managerial entrenchment and institutional control can help explain corporate dividend policies and post-IPO financing choices in this situation. Allen et al. (2005) demonstrate that standard corporate governance mechanisms are weak and ineffective for publicly listed firms while alternative governance mechanisms based on reputation and relationship have been remarkably effective in the private sector. Because the peculiarities are significant in this context, the differences in the political-economies of the two countries are likely to be evident in such relational terms. In this paper we explore the peculiarities of corporate governance in this transitional environment through a systematic examination of certain aspects of these reputational and relationship dimensions. Utilising the methods of social network analysis we identify the inter-organisational relationships at board level formed by equity holdings and by shared directors. Using data drawn from the Orbis database we map these relations among the 3700 largest firms in India and China respectively and identify the roles played in these relational networks by the particularly characteristic institutions in each case. We find greatly different social network structures in each case with some support in these relational dimensions for their distinctive features of governance. Further, the social network metrics allow us to considerably refine proxies for political interference, managerial entrenchment and institutional control used in earlier econometric analysis.

Form Follows Media::What is The Matrix as Film, Animation, Game and Comics?

In the digital age, the hyperspace of virtual reality systems stands out as a new spatial notion creating a parallel world to the space we live in. In this alternative realm, the body transforms into a hyperbody, and begins to follow the white rabbit. Not only in real world but also in the Matrix world. The Matrix project of Andy and Larry Wachowski started with a feature film released in 1999. However, The Matrix is not only a film (trilogy). It is a concept, a universe that brings real space and hyperspace together. It is a world represented not only in science fiction films but also in The Animatrix that includes nine animated Matrix films directed by Peter Chung, Andy Jones, Yoshiaki Kawajiri and others, four of which are written by the Wachowskis. The same universe is used in Enter the Matrix, a digital game whose script was written and directed by the brothers and a comic book, The Matrix Comics, which includes twelve different stories by artists like Neil Gaiman and Goef Darrow. The Wachowskis played an active role in the creation and realization of all these “products” of different media. The comic book came last (November 2003), however it is possible to argue that everything came out of comics – the storyboards of the original film. After all the Wachowskis have a background in comics.

In this study, I will focus on the formal analysis of the science fiction world of The Matrix - as a representation of hyperspace - in different media, feature film, animated film, digital game and comic book, focusing on diverse forms of space that come into being as a result of medium differences. To unfold the different formal characters of film, animation, game and comics, concepts and features including framing, flattening, continuity, movement, montage, sound/text, light and color will be discussed. An analysis of these products will help to open up a discussion on the relation of form, media and representation.

Discovery of Main-Belt Comet P/2006 VW139 by Pan-STARRS 1

The main-belt asteroid (300163) 2006 VW139 (later designated P/2006 VW139) was discovered to exhibit comet-like activity by the Pan-STARRS1 (PS1) survey telescope using automated point-spread-function analyses performed by PS1's Moving Object Processing System. Deep follow-up observations show both a short (~10'') antisolar dust tail and a longer (~60'') dust trail aligned with the object's orbit plane, similar to the morphology observed for another main-belt comet (MBC), P/2010 R2 (La Sagra), and other well-established comets, implying the action of a long-lived, sublimation-driven emission event. Photometry showing the brightness of the near-nucleus coma remaining constant over ~30 days provides further evidence for this object's cometary nature, suggesting it is in fact an MBC, and not a disrupted asteroid. A spectroscopic search for CN emission was unsuccessful, though we find an upper limit CN production rate of Q CN 100 Myr, while a search for a potential asteroid family around the object reveals a cluster of 24 asteroids within a cutoff distance of 68 m s-1. At 70 m s-1, this cluster merges with the Themis family, suggesting that it could be similar to the Beagle family to which another MBC, 133P/Elst-Pizarro, belongs.

The Atorvastatin/Donepezil in Alzheimer's Disease Study (LEADe):design and baseline characteristics

Growing evidence suggests that elevated cholesterol levels in mid-life are associated with increased risk of developing Alzheimer's disease (AD), and that statins might have a protective effect against AD and dementia. The Lipitor's Effect in Alzheimer's Dementia (LEADe) study tests the hypothesis that a statin (atorvastatin 80 mg daily) will provide a benefit on the course of mild to moderate AD in patients receiving background therapy of a cholinesterase inhibitor (donepezil 10 mg daily).

Long-term renal outcomes of patients with type 1 diabetes mellitus and microalbuminuria:an analysis of the Diabetes Control and Complications Trial/Epidemiology of Diabetes Interventions and Complications cohort

Microalbuminuria is a common diagnosis in the clinical care of patients with type 1 diabetes mellitus. Long-term outcomes after the development of microalbuminuria are variable.

Search for the Return of Activity in Active Asteroid 176P/LINEAR

We present the results of a search for the reactivation of active asteroid 176P/LINEAR during its 2011 perihelion passage using deep optical observations obtained before, during, and after that perihelion passage. Deep composite images of 176P constructed from data obtained between 2011 June and 2011 December show no visible signs of activity, while photometric measurements of the object during this period also show no significant brightness enhancements similar to that observed for 176P between 2005 November and 2005 December when it was previously observed to be active. An azimuthal search for dust emission likewise reveals no evidence for directed emission (i.e., a tail, as was previously observed for 176P), while a one-dimensional surface brightness profile analysis shows no indication of a spherically symmetric coma at any time in 2011. We conclude that 176P did not in fact exhibit activity in 2011, at least not on the level on which it exhibited activity in 2005, and suggest that this could be due to the devolatization or mantling of the active site responsible for its activity in 2005.