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.

The Grasping Problem: Toward Task-Level Programming for an Articulated Hand

This report presents a system for generating a stable, feasible, and reachable grasp of a polyhedral object. A set of contact points on the object is found that can result in a stable grasp; a feasible grasp is found in which the robot contacts the object at those contact points; and a path is constructed from the initial configuration of the robot to the stable, feasible final grasp configuration. The algorithm described in the report is designed for the Salisbury hand mounted on a Puma 560 arm, but a similar approach could be used to develop grasping systems for other robots.

Rings around the World: Notes on the Challenges, Problems & Possibilities of International Audience Projects

Egan, K., Barker, M. (2006). Rings around the World: Notes on the Challenges, Problems & Possibilities of International Audience Projects. Participations: Journal of Audience & Reception Studies, 3 (2). Sponsorship: This research was made possible by a grant from the Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC Grant No. 000-22-0323)

Body composition and bone mineral density changes during a premier league season as measured by dual-energy X-ray absorptiometry

Wallace, Joanne, et al., 'Body composition and bone mineral density changes during a premier league season as measured by dual-energy X-ray absorptiometry', International Journal of Body Composition Research (2006) 4(2) pp.61-66 RAE2008

Exposed singularity

Edkins, J., Exposed singularity, Journal for Cultural Research, Volume 9, Issue 4 October 2005 , pages 359 - 386 RAE2008

Trash or Treasure? Censorship and the Changing Meanings of the Video Nasties

Egan, K. (2007). Trash or Treasure?: Censorship and the Changing Meanings of the Video Nasties. InsidePopular Film. Manchester: Manchester University Press. RAE2008

Audiences and Receptions of Sexual Violence in Contemporary Cinema

Barkre, M.; Mathijs, E.; Sexton, J.; Egan, K.; Hunter, R. and Selfe, M. (2007). Audiences and Receptions of Sexual Violence in Contemporary Cinema. London: British Board of Film Classification. RAE2008

Spór o wspólnotę w perspektywie badań nad miastem postindustrialnym

Wydział Nauk Społecznych: Instytut Kulturoznawstwa

Doing Good in American Communities: Congregations and Service Organizations Working Together

A Research Report from the "Organizing Religious Work Project," Hartford Institute for Religion Research Hartford Seminary

Bowling Together: Congregations and the American Civic Order

Arizona State University Annual Religion Lecture: 1996

The Information Commons: a public policy report

This report describes the history of the information commons, presents examples of online commons that provide new ways to store and deliver information, and concludes with policy recommendations. Available in PDF and HTML versions.