Emerging Biofuels: Outlook of Effects on U.S. Grain, Oilseed, and Livestock Markets, 2007

Projections of U.S. ethanol production and its impacts on planted acreage, crop prices, livestock production and prices, trade, and retail food costs are presented under the assumption that current tax credits and trade policies are maintained. The projections were made using a multi-product, multi-country deterministic partial equilibrium model. The impacts of higher oil prices, a drought combined with an ethanol mandate, and removal of land from the Conservation Reserve Program (CRP) relative to baseline projections are also presented. The results indicate that expanded U.S. ethanol production will cause long-run crop prices to increase. In response to higher feed costs, livestock farmgate prices will increase enough to cover the feed cost increases. Retail meat, egg, and dairy prices will also increase. If oil prices are permanently $10-per-barrel higher than assumed in the baseline projections, U.S. ethanol will expand significantly. The magnitude of the expansion will depend on the future makeup of the U.S. automobile fleet. If sufficient demand for E-85 from flex-fuel vehicles is available, corn-based ethanol production is projected to increase to over 30 billion gallons per year with the higher oil prices. The direct effect of higher feed costs is that U.S. food prices would increase by a minimum of 1.1% over baseline levels. Results of a model of a 1988-type drought combined with a large mandate for continued ethanol production show sharply higher crop prices, a drop in livestock production, and higher food prices. Corn exports would drop significantly, and feed costs would rise. Wheat feed use would rise sharply. Taking additional land out of the CRP would lower crop prices in the short run. But because long-run corn prices are determined by ethanol prices and not by corn acreage, the long-run impacts on commodity prices and food prices of a smaller CRP are modest. Cellulosic ethanol from switchgrass and biodiesel from soybeans do not become economically viable in the Corn Belt under any of the scenarios. This is so because high energy costs that increase the prices of biodiesel and switchgrass ethanol also increase the price of cornbased ethanol. So long as producers can choose between soybeans for biodiesel, switchgrass for ethanol, and corn for ethanol, they will choose to grow corn. Cellulosic ethanol from corn stover does not enter into any scenario because of the high cost of collecting and transporting corn stover over the large distances required to supply a commercial-sized ethanol facility.

A prospective randomised double-blind controlled trial evaluating the effect of trans-sacral magnetic stimulation in women with overactive bladder.

Overactive bladder (OAB) is a prevalent condition with 16% of adults having one or more symptoms that significantly affect quality of life. Transcutaneous electrical nerve stimulation and neuromodulators have had success in treating OAB but are expensive, invasive, and sometimes cumbersome. We developed an alternative neuromodulatory technique that involves electromagnetic stimulation of the sacral nerve roots with a portable electromagnetic device to produce trans-sacral stimulation of the S3 and S4 sacral nerve roots. The aim of this study was to evaluate the impact of this device on OAB symptoms in women with a prospectively randomised double-blind controlled study. Following a power analysis, women with symptoms of OAB were prospectively recruited with ethical approval for randomisation to an active treatment (n = 33) or placebo group (n = 30) in a double-blind trial. The patient, at home, used the belt device daily for 20 min over 12 weeks. Outcome measures included a 3-day voiding diary, 1 h pad test, visual analogue score (VAS) for symptom impact (0-100%), Kings Health Questionnaire (KHQ) and Australian Quality of Life questionnaire (AQOL) at baseline, 6 and 12 weeks. Overall, no difference was found between groups for any of the research questions. Specifically, we were unable to demonstrate any difference between the active and sham device groups in frequency, nocturia, urinary leakage, or quality of life, nor was there any evidence of a placebo effect. The quality of the data was high with the number of missing observations (especially for disease specific KHQ and general AQOL) being few. This attempt to promote trans-sacral electromagnetic neuromodulation with a specially created device was ineffective on the symptoms of OAB.

The flower-visiting social wasps (Hymenoptera, Vespidae, Polistinae) in two areas of Rio Grande do Sul State, southern Brazil

The flower-visiting social wasps (Hymenoptera, Vespidae, Polistinae) in two areas of Rio Grande do Sul State, southern Brazil. The structure of flower-visiting social wasps' assemblages in the CPCN Pró-Mata of São Francisco de Paula and in the Green Belt of Santa Cruz do Sul, Rio Grande do Sul, are characterized. A total of 879 polistine wasps were collected, of which 475 (11 spp.) in the CPCN and 404 (21 spp.) in the Green Belt, from September 1997 to April 2001 and from September 2001 to April 2004, respectively. Foraging social wasps were observed on flowers of 36 species of angiosperms (20 families) in the Green Belt, and on flowers of 54 species of angiosperms (21 families) in the CPCN. Asteraceae was the most visited plant family on both studied localities. A list of pant species visited by the polistines is provided.

Track analysis of the Mexican species of Cerambycidae (Insecta, Coleoptera)

A track analysis of 221 species belonging to 68 genera of Mexican Cerambycidae was undertaken in order to identify their main distributional patterns. Based on the comparison of the individual tracks, fifteen generalized tracks were obtained: six are placed in the Neotropical region, seven are shared by the Neotropical region and the Mexican Transition Zone, one is situated in the Mexican Transition Zone, and one is shared by the Nearctic region and the Mexican Transition Zone. Eight nodes were found in the intersection of these generalized tracks, five of them located in the Neotropical region and three in the Mexican Transition Zone. Distributional patterns of Mexican Cerambycidae show two basic patterns: one mostly Neotropical, in the Mesoamerican dominion (Mexican Pacific Coast and Mexican Gulf biogeographic provinces) and another in the Mexican Transition Zone (Transmexican Volcanic Belt and Balsas Basin biogeographic provinces).

Inundações urbanas: desafios ao ordenamento do território. O caso da Cidade da Praia (Cabo Verde)

Pela sua posição geográfica e particulares condições climáticas, devidas à sua inserção na faixa saheliana com caraterísticas de marcada aridez, Cabo Verde é um arquipélago com condições naturais adversas, pautado principalmente pela seca prolongada. Muitas vezes esta conjuntura é interpolada por curtos períodos de fortes chuvadas que podem originar cheias e inundações nos principais centros urbanos. Os eventos ocorridos revelam consequências graves, desde prejuízos na agricultura, perda de animais, destruição de infra-estruturas, perda de bens materiais e, mesmo, vítimas humanas mortais. Este estudo tem como objetivos principais: (i) perceber os problemas e desafios que se colocam à cidade da Praia (maior centro urbano do país, com forte crescimento e expansão urbana) perante situações de inundação; (ii) contribuir para o maior conhecimento das causas e consequências dessas inundações; (iii) definir quais as áreas de maior suscetibilidade às cheias e quais as que possuem um maior risco potencial. Optou-se por uma metodologia integrada, através do levantamento bibliográfico, cartográfico, numérico e percetivo (com base em entrevistas e inquéritos). Para o estudo das bacias hidrográficas foram calculados índices morfométricos, definidas classes de permeabilidade do substrato geológico e aplicado o método multicritério de Reis (2011) para a definição das áreas suscetíveis às cheias. Analisaram-se as precipitações máximas diárias anuais e respetivos períodos de retorno, com a aplicação do método de Gumbel. A análise de notícias de jornais, referentes ao período compreendido entre 1980 e 2011, foi fundamental para o conhecimento da distribuição espácio-temporal dos eventos perigosos de inundação em Cabo Verde e na cidade da Praia. Os resultados obtidos revelam um significativo grau de suscetibilidade às cheias na cidade da Praia. As áreas de maior risco potencial às inundações encontram-se no setor central da cidade, resultante da conjugação da convergência do escoamento das três ribeiras principais, da elevada densidade populacional e de construção desordenada nos leitos de cheia e nas áreas deprimidas, onde se acumulam as águas.

Inundações Urbanas - Desafios ao Ordenamento do Território - O

Pela sua posição geográfica e particulares condições climáticas, devidas à sua inserção na faixa saheliana com caraterísticas de marcada aridez, Cabo Verde é um arquipélago com condições naturais adversas, pautado principalmente pela seca prolongada. Muitas vezes esta conjuntura é interpolada por curtos períodos de fortes chuvadas que podem originar cheias e inundações nos principais centros urbanos. Os eventos ocorridos revelam consequências graves, desde prejuízos na agricultura, perda de animais, destruição de infra-estruturas, perda de bens materiais e, mesmo, vítimas humanas mortais. Este estudo tem como objetivos principais: (i) perceber os problemas e desafios que se colocam à cidade da Praia (maior centro urbano do país, com forte crescimento e expansão urbana) perante situações de inundação; (ii) contribuir para o maior conhecimento das causas e consequências dessas inundações; (iii) definir quais as áreas de maior suscetibilidade às cheias e quais as que possuem um maior risco potencial. Optou-se por uma metodologia integrada, através do levantamento bibliográfico, cartográfico, numérico e percetivo (com base em entrevistas e inquéritos). Para o estudo das bacias hidrográficas foram calculados índices morfométricos, definidas classes de permeabilidade do substrato geológico e aplicado o método multicritério de Reis (2011) para a definição das áreas suscetíveis às cheias. Analisaram-se as precipitações máximas diárias anuais e respetivos períodos de retorno, com a aplicação do método de Gumbel. A análise de notícias de jornais, referentes ao período compreendido entre 1980 e 2011, foi fundamental para o conhecimento da distribuição espácio-temporal dos eventos perigosos de inundação em Cabo Verde e na cidade da Praia. Os resultados obtidos revelam um significativo grau de suscetibilidade às cheias na cidade da Praia. As áreas de maior risco potencial às inundações encontram-se no setor central da cidade, resultante da conjugação da convergência do escoamento das três ribeiras principais, da elevada densidade populacional e de construção desordenada nos leitos de cheia e nas áreas deprimidas, onde se acumulam as águas.

Tectonics of the Simplon massif and Lepontine gneiss dome: deformation structures due to collision between the underthrusting European plate and the Adriatic indenter

this study presents a review of published geological data, combined with original observations on the tectonics of the simplon massif and the Lepontine gneiss dome in the Western Alps. New observations concern the geometry of the Oligocene Vanzone back fold, formed under amphibolite facies conditions, and of its root between Domodossola and Locarno, which is cut at an acute angle by the Miocene, epi- to anchizonal, dextral centovalli strike-slip fault. the structures of the simplon massif result from collision over 50 Ma between two plate boundaries with a different geometry: the underthrusted European plate and the Adriatic indenter. Detailed mapping and analysis of a complex structural interference pattern, combined with observations on the metamorphic grade of the superimposed structures and radiometric data, allow a kinematic model to be developed for this zone of oblique continental collision. the following main Alpine tectonic phases and structures may be distinguished: 1. NW-directed nappe emplacement, starting in the Early Eocene (similar to 50 Ma); 2. W, SW and S- verging transverse folds; 3. transpressional movements on the dextral simplon ductile shear zone since similar to 32 Ma; 4. formation of the Bergell - Vanzone backfolds and of the southern steep belt during the Oligocene, emplacement of the mantle derived 31 - 29 Ma Bergell and Biella granodiorites and porphyritic andesites as well as intrusions of 29-25 Ma crustal aplites and pegmatites; 5. formation of the dextral discrete Rhone-Simplon line and the centovalli line during the Miocene, accompanied by the pull-apart development of the Lepontine gneiss dome - Dent blanche (Valpelline) depression. It is suggested that movements of shortening in fan shaped NW, W and sW directions accompanied the more regular NW- to WNW-directed displacement of the Adriatic indenter during continental collision.

Carbon and oxygen isotope study of hydrothermal carbonates in the zinc-lead deposits of the San Vicente district, central Peru: A quantitative modeling on mixing processes and CO2 degassing

Carbon and oxygen isotope studies of the host and gangue carbonates of Mississippi Valley-type zinc-lead deposits in the San Vicente District hosted in the Upper Triassic to Lower Jurassic dolostones of the Pucara basin (central Peru) were used to constrain models of the ore formation. A mixing model between an incoming hot saline slightly acidic radiogenic (Pb, Sr) fluid and the native formation water explains the overall isotopic variation (delta(13)C = - 11.5 to + 2.5 parts per thousand relative to PDB and delta(18)O = + 18.0 to + 24.3 parts per thousand relative to SMOW) of the carbonate generations. The dolomites formed during the main ore stage show a narrower range (delta(13)C = - 0.1 to + 1.7 parts per thousand and delta(18)O = + 18.7 to + 23.4 parts per thousand) which is explained by exchange between the mineralizing fluids and the host carbonates combined with changes in temperature and pressure. This model of fluid-rock interaction explains the pervasive alteration of the host dolomite I and precipitation of sphalerite I. The open-space filling hydrothermal white sparry dolomite and the coexisting sphalerite II formed by prolonged fluid-host dolomite interaction and limited CO2 degassing. Late void-filling dolomite III (or calcite) and the associated sphalerite III formed as the consequence of CO2 degassing and concomitant pH increase of a slightly acidic ore fluid. Widespread brecciation is associated to CO2 outgassing. Consequently, pressure variability plays a major role in the ore precipitation during the late hydrothermal events in San Vicente. The presence of native sulfur associated with extremely carbon-light calcites replacing evaporitic sulfates (e.g., delta(13)C = - 11.5 parts per thousand), altered native organic matter and heavier hydrothermal bitumen (from - 27.0 to - 23.0 parts per thousand delta(13)C) points to thermochemical reduction of sulfate and/or thiosulfate. The delta(13)C- and delta(18)O-values of the altered host dolostone and hydrothermal carbonates, and the carbon isotope composition of the associated organic matter show a strong regional homogeneity. These results coupled with the strong mineralogical and petrographic similarities of the different MVT occurrences perhaps reflects the fact that the mineralizing processes were similar in the whole San Vicente belt, suggesting the existence of a common regional mineralizing hydrothermal system with interconnected plumbing.

Geología del Montgrí

This paper, fundamentally stratigraphic, is based on the vertical distribution of fauna in sediments which constitute the Montgri Massif. The stratigraphic series is composed of two units: one allochtonous (Mesozoic) and a second one autochtonous (Paleogene). The latter crops out in front of the thrust belt and presents the typical facies described by PALLI (1972). The allochtonous part is formed by the following units (from bottom to top): variegated gypsiferous shales of Keuper age; marls, limestones and dolomites from the Lias (Domerian); gray breccia ted dolomites: supraliassic; and Cretaceous limestones with rare interbeds of calcareous marls and nodular shaly marls. In this unit the Neocomian, Barremian (?), Aptian, Albian, Cenomanian, Turonian (?) and Santonian haven been recognized. Structurally, the Montgri Massif is part of a thrust belt which has been divided into three parts of different development ang age. Both parts are affected by ample synclinal folds of NE-SW directions and fractures of NW-SE orientation. The fractures condition the torrential streams as well as the karstic phenomena present in the Massif. These and the eolian actions are the main causes of the present geomorphology of the Montgri

Sant Julià de Ramis y Puig Rom: dos ejemplos de yacimientos con armamento y equipamiento militar visigodo en el noreste peninsular

We present in this work a couple of weapons and objects related to the military equipment of early VIII century from two sites on Girona's province: the castellum of Sant Julià de Ramis (in the municipality of the same name), and the fort of Puig Rom (in Roses). The comparation of these materials has permitted to recompose a quite complete panoply with various types of knives and daggers, shield-handles, axes, spearheads and javelinheads, tips (regatones), arrowheads, belt-buckles and some buckles and horse harness elements

Late Pan-African magmatism in the Himalaya: new geochronological and geochemical data from the Ordovician Tso Morari metagranites (Ladakh, NW India)

Two granitic plutons, the Tso Morari gneiss and the Rupshu metagranite, crop out in the Tso Morari area. The Polokongka La granite, classically interpreted as a young intrusion in the Tso Morari gneiss, has been recognized as the undeformed facies of the latter. Conventional isotope dilution U-Pb zircon dating on single-grain and small multi-grain fractions yielded magmatic ages of 479 +/- 2 Ma for the Tso Morari gneiss and the Polokongka La granite, and 482.5 +/- 1 Ma for the Rupshu granite. There is a great difference in zircon morphology between the Tso Morari gneiss (peraluminous type) and the Rupshu granite (alkaline type). This difference is confirmed by whole-rock chemistry. The Tso Morari gneiss is a typical deformed S-type granite, resulting from crustal anatexis. On the other hand, the Rupshu granite is an essentially metaluminous alkali-calcic intrusion derived from a different source material. Data compilation from other Himalayan Cambro-Ordovician granites reveals huge and widespread magmatic activity all along and beyond the northern Indian plate between 570 and 450 Ma, with a peak at 500-480 Ma. A major, continental-scale tectonic event is required to generate such a large magmatic belt; it has been tentatively compared to the Variscan post-orogenic extensional regime of Western Europe, as a late evolution stage of a Pan-African orogenic event.

Discovery of an albite gneiss from the Ile de Groix (Armorican Massif, France): Geochemistry and LA-ICP-MS U-Pb geochronology of its Ordovician protolith

For the first time, an albite orthogneiss has been recognised and dated within the HP-LT blueschist facies metabasites and metapelites of the Ile de Groix. It is characterised by a peraluminous composition, high LILE, Th and U contents, MORB-like HREE abundances and moderate Nb and Y values. A U-Pb age of 480.8 +/- A 4.8 Ma was obtained by LA-ICP-MS dating of zircon and titanite. It is interpreted as the age of the magmatic emplacement during the Early Ordovician. Morphologically different zircon grains yield late Neoproterozoic ages of 546.6-647.4 Ma. Zircon and titanite U-Pb ages indicate that the felsic magmatism from the Ile de Groix is contemporaneous with the acid, pre-orogenic magmatism widely recognised in the internal zones of the Variscan belt, related to the Cambro-Ordovician continental rifting. The magmatic protolith probably inherited a specific chemical composition from a combination of orogenic, back-arc and anorogenic signatures because of partial melting of the Cadomian basement during magma emplacement. Besides, the late Devonian U-Pb age of 366 +/- A 33 Ma obtained for titanite from a blueschist facies metapelite corresponds to the age of the HP-LT peak metamorphism.

Subalpine-nival gradient of species richness for vascular plants, lichens and bryophytes in the Swiss Inner Alps

In the European GLORIA project, 12 summits (treeline to nival belt) were inventoried in three regions of Switzerland: two in the Swiss National Park Graubünden and one in Valais. Vascular plants were recorded in all three regions and bryophytes and lichens were recorded only in Valais. On each summit, vegetation and temperature data were sampled using sampling protocols for the GLORIA project (Global Observation Research Initiative in Alpine environment) on large summit sections and in clusters of four 1x1-m quadrats. We observed a general decrease of species richness for all three systematic groups with increasing elevation in the summit sections, but only for vascular plants in the quadrats. In Valais, there was higher species richness for vascular plants than for bryophytes and lichens on the lower summits, but as the decrease in species richness was less pronounced for cryptogams, the latter were more numerous than vascular plants on the highest summit. Vascular species showed a clear shift of the dominant life form with elevation, with chamaephytes replacing hemicryptophytes. Bryophytes and lichens showed a weak trend among the life forms at the summit section scale, but a stronger shift of the dominant forms was seen in the quadrats, with cushion replacing turf bryophytes and crustaceous replacing fruticose lichens. Altogether, these results sustain the temperature-physiographic hypothesis to explain the species richness decrease along the altitudinal gradient: the harsh climatic conditions of the alpine-nival belts act as a filter for species, but the diminishing diversity of microhabitats is also an important factor. Because cryptogams depend more on humidity than temperature and more on smaller microhabitats than vascular plants, the decrease of species richness is more gradual with elevation for bryophytes and lichens.

The abrupt climate change at the Eocene-Oligocene boundary and the emergence of South-East Asia triggered the spread of sapindaceous lineages.

Background and Aims Paleoclimatic data indicate that an abrupt climate change occurred at the Eocene-Oligocene (E-O) boundary affecting the distribution of tropical forests on Earth. The same period has seen the emergence of South-East (SE) Asia, caused by the collision of the Eurasian and Australian plates. How the combination of these climatic and geomorphological factors affected the spatio-temporal history of angiosperms is little known. This topic is investigated by using the worldwide sapindaceous clade as a case study. Methods Analyses of divergence time inference, diversification and biogeography (constrained by paleogeography) are applied to a combined plastid and nuclear DNA sequence data set. Biogeographical and diversification analyses are performed over a set of trees to take phylogenetic and dating uncertainty into account. Results are analysed in the context of past climatic fluctuations. Key Results An increase in the number of dispersal events at the E-O boundary is recorded, which intensified during the Miocene. This pattern is associated with a higher rate in the emergence of new genera. These results are discussed in light of the geomorphological importance of SE Asia, which acted as a tropical bridge allowing multiple contacts between areas and additional speciation across landmasses derived from Laurasia and Gondwana. Conclusions This study demonstrates the importance of the combined effect of geomorphological (the emergence of most islands in SE Asia approx. 30 million years ago) and climatic (the dramatic E-O climate change that shifted the tropical belt and reduced sea levels) factors in shaping species distribution within the sapindaceous clade.

Ophiolite-related ultramafic rocks (Serpentinites) in the Caribbean region: a review of their occurrence, composition, origin, emplacements and Ni-Laterite soil formation

Ultramafic rocks, mainly serpentinized peridotites of mantle origin, are mostly associated with the ophiolites of Mesozoic age that occur in belts along three of the margins of the Caribbean plate. The most extensive exposures are in Cuba. The ultramafic-mafic association (ophiolites) were formed and emplaced in several different tectonic environments. Mineralogical studies of the ultramafic rocks and the chemistry of the associated mafic rocks indicate that most of the ultramafic-mafic associations in both the northern and southern margins of the plate were formed in arc-related environments. There is little mantle peridotite exposed in the ophiolitic associations of the west coast of Central America, in the south Caribbean in Curacao and in the Andean belts in Colombia. In these occurrences the chemistry and age of the mafic rocks indicates that this association is mainly part of the 89 Ma Caribbean plateau province. The age of the mantle peridotites and associated ophiolites is probably mainly late Jurassic or Early Cretaceous. Emplacement of the ophiolites possibly began in the Early Cretaceous in Hispaniola and Puerto Rico, but most emplacement took place in the Late Cretaceous to Eocene (e.g. Cuba). Along the northern South America plate margin, in the Caribbean mountain belt, emplacement was by major thrusting and probably was not completed until the Oligocene or even the early Miocene. Caribbean mantle peridotites, before serpentinization, were mainly harzburgites, but dunites and lherzolites are also present. In detail, the mineralogical and chemical composition varies even within one ultramafic body, reflecting melting processes and peridotite/melt interaction in the upper mantle. At least for the northern Caribbean, uplift (postemplacement tectonics) exposed the ultramafic massifs as a land surface to effective laterization in the beginning of the Miocene. Tectonic factors, determining the uplift, exposing the peridotites to weathering varied. In the northern Caribbean, in Guatemala, Jamaica, and Hispaniola, uplift occurred as a result of transpresional movement along pre-existing major faults. In Cuba, uplift occurred on a regional scale, determined by isostatic adjustment. In the south Caribbean, uplift of the Cordillera de la Costa and Serrania del Interior exposing the peridotites, also appears to be related to strike-slip movement along the El Pilar fault system. In the Caribbean, Ni-laterite deposits are currently being mined in the central Dominican Republic, eastern Cuba, northern Venezuela and northwest Colombia. Although apparently formed over ultramafic rocks of similar composition and under similar climatic conditions, the composition of the lateritic soils varies. Factors that probably determined these differences in laterite composition are geomorphology, topography, drainage and tectonics. According to the mineralogy of principal ore-bearing phases, Dominican Ni-laterite deposits are classified as the hydrous silicate-type. The main Ni-bearing minerals are hydrated Mg-Ni silicates (serpentine and ¿garnierite¿) occurring deeper in the profile (saprolite horizon). In contrast, in the deposits of eastern Cuba, the Ni and Cooccurs mainly in the limonite zone composed of Fe hydroxides and oxides as the dominant mineralogy in the upper part of the profile, and are classified as the oxide-type.