Seismic characteristics of a reef carbonate reservoir and implications for hydrocarbon exploration in deepwater of the Qiongdongnan Basin, northern South China Sea

Our analysis of approximately 40,000 km of multichannel 2-D seismic data, reef oil-field seismic data, and data from several boreholes led to the identification of two areas of reef carbonate reservoirs in deepwater areas (water depth >= 500 in) of the Qiongdongnan Basin (QDNB), northern South China Sea. High-resolution sequence stratigraphic analysis revealed that the transgressive and highstand system tracts of the mid-Miocene Meishan Formation in the Beijiao and Ledong-Lingshui Depressions developed reef carbonates. The seismic features of the reef carbonates in these two areas include chaotic bedding, intermittent internal reflections, chaotic or blank reflections, mounded reflections, and apparent amplitude anomalies, similar to the seismic characteristics of the LH11-1 reef reservoir in the Dongsha Uplift and Island Reef of the Salawati Basin, Indonesia, which house large oil fields. The impedance values of reefs in the Beijiao and Ledong-Lingshui Depressions are 8000-9000 g/cc x m/s. Impedance sections reveal that the impedance of the LH11-1 reef reservoir in the northern South China Sea is 800010000 g/cc x m/s, whereas that of pure limestone in BD23-1-1 is > 10000 g/cc x m/s. The mid-Miocene paleogeography of the Beijiao Depression was dominated by offshore and neritic environments, with only part of the southern Beijiao uplift emergent at that time. The input of terrigenous sediments was relatively minor in this area, meaning that terrigenous source areas were insignificant in terms of the Beijiao Depression: reef carbonates were probably widely distributed throughout the depression, as with the Ledong-Lingshui Depression. The combined geological and geophysical data indicate that shelf margin atolls were well developed in the Beijiao Depression, as in the Ledong-Lingshui Depression where small-scale patch or pinnacle reefs developed. These reef carbonates are promising reservoirs, representing important targets for deepwater hydrocarbon exploration. (C) 2008 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Feeding and respiration rates of a planktonic copepod (Calanus sinicus) oversummering in Yellow Sea Cold Bottom Waters

The distribution, feeding and oxygen consumption of Calanus sinicus were studied in August 2001 on a transect across Yellow Sea Cold Bottom Waters (YSCBW) and two additional transects nearby. The distribution of C. sinicus adults and copepodites stage CV appeared to be well correlated with water temperature. They tended to concentrate in the YSCBW (>10,000 ind. m(-2)) to avoid high surface temperature. Gut pigment contents varied from 0.44 to 2.53 ng chlorophyll a equivalents (chl a equiv.) ind.(-1) for adults, and from 0.24 to 2.24 ng chl a equiv. ind.(-1) for CV copepodites. We found no relationship between gut pigment contents and the ambient chl a concentrations. Although the gut evacuation rate constants are consistent with those measured for other copepods, their low gut pigment contents meant an estimated daily herbivorous ingestion of <3% of body carbon in the YSCBW and <10% outside the YSCBW. However, based on estimates of clearance rates, C. sinicus feeds actively whether in the YSCBW or not, so the low ingestion rates probably reflect shortage of food. Oxygen consumption rates of C. sinicus ranged from 0.21 to 0.84 mul O-2 ind.(-1) h(-1), with high rates often associated with high temperature. From the oxygen consumption rates, daily loss of body carbon was estimated to be 4.0-13.7%, which exceeds our estimates of their carbon ingestion rates. C. sinicus was probably not in diapause, either within or outside the YSCBW, but this cold-water layer provides C. sinicus with a refuge to live through the hot, low-food summer.

Concentrations of Cadmium and Zinc in Seawater of Bohai Bay and Their Effects on Biomarker Responses in the Bivalve Chlamys farreri

Both in-field chemical investigation and in the laboratory toxic tests were carried out to systematically understand the pollution status of cadmium (Cd) and zinc (Zn) in Bohai Bay. Samples collected from surface seawater were determined to describe the distributions of Cd and Zn in Bohai Bay. The average values in our study of Cd and Zn were 0.15 mu g/L and 19.68 mu g/L, respectively. Both of them were lower than the first class limit of seawater quality standard in China. In the laboratory, antioxidant enzymes [SOD (Cu/Zn-SOD, Mn-SOD), CAT], lipid peroxidation (MDA), phase I and phase II enzymes (CYP4501A and GST) were investigated in the bivalves Chlamys farreri exposed to Cd and Zn at the concentration levels of Bohai Bay seawater, which were obtained from our in-field investigation. The reduced SOD, CAT, and EROD (7-ethoxyresorufin-O-deethylase) activities (with the inhibitory rate of 16.8%, 31.5%, and 51.6%, respectively) in Cd treatment were observed and resulted in obvious lipid peroxidation damage. However, treatment of Zn showed elevations in SOD and GST by 13.3% and 29.9%, respectively, and with no influence on lipid peroxidation. In summary, seawater quality in Bohai Bay seawater was ranked as good in general, but it seemed that Cd might possess a potential environmental risk by effecting pro-oxidant/antioxidant balance and phase I detoxification in C. farreri.

Variability in radiocarbon ages of biochemical compound classes of high molecular weight dissolved organic matter in estuaries

High molecular weight dissolved organic matter (HMW-DOM, > 1000 Da) represents a major fraction (> 30%) of dissolved organic carbon (DOC) in the ocean and thus plays an important role in the global biogeochemical cycling of carbon and many other elements. Its organic sources and formation mechanisms, however, are still not well understood especially in estuarine and coastal regions where multiple natural and anthropogenic sources contribute to total HMW-DOM. In this paper we report our measurements of natural radiocarbon (C-14) abundances and stable carbon isotope (C-13) compositions of the major biochemical compound classes: amino acids, carbohydrates and lipids separated from eight HMW-DOM samples collected from five US estuaries as part of our on-going study of sources, distribution and transport of chromophoric dissolved organic matter (CDOM) in estuarine and coastal waters. Distinct differences in both C-14 and C-13 values were found among the bulk HMW-DOM samples as well as the individual compound classes. Radiocarbon ages of the major compound classes varied by as much as 27,000 years in a single sample. The calculated average radiocarbon ages of the compound fractions of HMW-DOM indicate that the total lipid fraction is very "old", while the acid-insoluble fraction is slightly younger. Total amino acid and carbohydrate fractions, however, have relatively modern apparent C-14 ages. The significant variability in C-14 ages among the compound classes indicates not only multiple organic carbon sources but also different formation and turnover pathways controlling the cycling of different biochemical components of HMW-DOM in estuarine and coastal waters. (c) 2006 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Identification and mapping of amplified fragment length polymorphism markers linked to shell color in bay scallop, Argopecten irradians irradians (Lamarck, 1819)

Amplified fragment length polymorphisms (AFLP) were used to study the inheritance of shell color in Argopecten irradians. Two scallops, one with orange and the other with white shells, were used as parents to produce four F-1 families by selfing and outcrossing. Eighty-eight progeny, 37 orange and 51 white, were randomly selected from one of the families for segregation and mapping analysis with AFLP and microsatellite markers. Twenty-five AFLP primer pairs were screened, yielding 1138 fragments, among which 148 (13.0%) were polymorphic in two parents and segregated in progeny. Six AFLP markers showed significant (P < 0.05) association with shell color. All six loci were mapped to one linkage group. One of the markers, F1f335, is completely linked to the gene for orange shell, which we designated as Orange1, without any recombination in the progeny we sampled. The marker was amplified in the orange parent and all orange progeny, but absent in the white parent and all the white progeny. The close linkage between F1f335 and Orange1 was validated using bulk segregation analysis in two natural populations, and all our data indicate that F1f335 is specific for the shell color gene, Orange1. The genomic mapping of a shell color gene in bay scallop improves our understanding of shell color inheritance and may contribute to the breeding of molluscs with desired shell colors.

Design and Evaluation of the Hamal Parallel Computer

Parallel shared-memory machines with hundreds or thousands of processor-memory nodes have been built; in the future we will see machines with millions or even billions of nodes. Associated with such large systems is a new set of design challenges. Many problems must be addressed by an architecture in order for it to be successful; of these, we focus on three in particular. First, a scalable memory system is required. Second, the network messaging protocol must be fault-tolerant. Third, the overheads of thread creation, thread management and synchronization must be extremely low. This thesis presents the complete system design for Hamal, a shared-memory architecture which addresses these concerns and is directly scalable to one million nodes. Virtual memory and distributed objects are implemented in a manner that requires neither inter-node synchronization nor the storage of globally coherent translations at each node. We develop a lightweight fault-tolerant messaging protocol that guarantees message delivery and idempotence across a discarding network. A number of hardware mechanisms provide efficient support for massive multithreading and fine-grained synchronization. Experiments are conducted in simulation, using a trace-driven network simulator to investigate the messaging protocol and a cycle-accurate simulator to evaluate the Hamal architecture. We determine implementation parameters for the messaging protocol which optimize performance. A discarding network is easier to design and can be clocked at a higher rate, and we find that with this protocol its performance can approach that of a non-discarding network. Our simulations of Hamal demonstrate the effectiveness of its thread management and synchronization primitives. In particular, we find register-based synchronization to be an extremely efficient mechanism which can be used to implement a software barrier with a latency of only 523 cycles on a 512 node machine.

Structure and Interpretation of Computer Programs

"The Structure and Interpretation of Computer Programs" is the entry-level subject in Computer Science at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. It is required of all students at MIT who major in Electrical Engineering or in Computer Science, as one fourth of the "common core curriculum," which also includes two subjects on circuits and linear systems and a subject on the design of digital systems. We have been involved in the development of this subject since 1978, and we have taught this material in its present form since the fall of 1980 to approximately 600 students each year. Most of these students have had little or no prior formal training in computation, although most have played with computers a bit and a few have had extensive programming or hardware design experience. Our design of this introductory Computer Science subject reflects two major concerns. First we want to establish the idea that a computer language is not just a way of getting a computer to perform operations, but rather that it is a novel formal medium for expressing ideas about methodology. Thus, programs must be written for people to read, and only incidentally for machines to execute. Secondly, we believe that the essential material to be addressed by a subject at this level, is not the syntax of particular programming language constructs, nor clever algorithms for computing particular functions of efficiently, not even the mathematical analysis of algorithms and the foundations of computing, but rather the techniques used to control the intellectual complexity of large software systems.

A framework for the transformation of the creative industries in a digital age.

The creative industries sector faces a constantly changing context characterised by the speed of the development and deployment of digital information systems and Information Communications Technologies (ICT) on a global scale. This continuous digital disruption has had significant impact on the whole value chain of the sector: creation and production; discovery and distribution; and consumption of cultural goods and services. As a result, creative enterprises must evolve business and operational models and practices to be sustainable. Enterprises of all scales, type, and operational model are affected, and all sectors face ongoing digital disruption. Management consultancy practitioners and business strategy academics have called for new strategy development frameworks and toolkits, fit for a continuously changing world. This thesis investigates a novel approach to organisational change appropriate to the digital age, in the context of the creative sector in Scotland. A set of concepts, methods, tools, and processes to generate theoretical learning and practical knowing was created to support enterprises to digitally adapt through undertaking journeys of change and organisational development. The framework is called The AmbITion Approach. It was developed by blending participatory action research (PAR) methods and modern management consultancy, design, and creative practices. Empirical work also introduced to the framework Coghlan and Rashford’s change categories. These enabled the definition and description of the extent to which organisations developed: whether they experienced first order (change), second order (adaptation) or third order (transformation) change. Digital research tools for inquiry were tested by a pilot study, and then embedded in a longitudinal study over two years of twentyone participant organisations from Scotland’s creative sector. The author applied and investigated the novel approach in a national digital development programme for Scotland’s creative industries. The programme was designed and delivered by the author and ran nationally between 2012-14. Detailed grounded thematic analysis of the data corpus was undertaken, along with analysis of rich media case studies produced by the organisations about their change journeys. The results of studies on participants, and validation criteria applied to the results, demonstrated that the framework triggers second (adaptation) and third order change (transformation) in creative industry enterprises. The AmbITion Approach framework is suitable for the continuing landscape of digital disruption within the creative sector. The thesis contributes to practice the concepts, methods, tools, and processes of The AmbITion Approach, which have been empirically tested in the field, and validated as a new framework for business transformation in a digital age. The thesis contributes to knowledge a theoretical and conceptual framework with a specific set of constructs and criteria that define first, second, and third order change in creative enterprises, and a robust research and action framework for the analysis of the quality, validity and change achieved by action research based development programmes. The thesis additionally contributes to the practice of research, adding to our understanding of the value of PAR and design thinking approaches and creative practices as methods for change.

Rodent models for resolving extremes of exercise and health

The extremes of exercise capacity and health are considered a complex interplay between genes and the environment. In general, the study of animal models has proven critical for deep mechanistic exploration that provides guidance for focused and hypothesis driven discovery in humans. Hypotheses underlying molecular mechanisms of disease, and gene/tissue function can be tested in rodents in order to generate sufficient evidence to resolve and progress our understanding of human biology. Here we provide examples of three alternative uses of rodent models that have been applied successfully to advance knowledge that bridges our understanding of the connection between exercise capacity and health status. Firstly we review the strong association between exercise capacity and all-cause morbidity and mortality in humans through artificial selection on low and high exercise performance in the rat and the consequent generation of the "energy transfer hypothesis". Secondly we review specific transgenic and knock-out mouse models that replicate the human disease condition and performance. This includes human glycogen storage diseases (McArdle and Pompe) and α-actinin-3 deficiency. Together these rodent models provide an overview of the advancements of molecular knowledge required for clinical translation. Continued study of these models in conjunction with human association studies will be critical to resolving the complex gene-environment interplay linking exercise capacity, health, and disease.

Studies of the solar mean magnetic field with the Birmingham Solar-Oscillations Network (BiSON)

Chaplin, W. J.; Dumbill, A. M.; Elsworth, Y.; Isaak, G. R.; McLeod, C. P.; Miller, B. A.; New, R.; Pint?r, B., Studies of the solar mean magnetic field with the Birmingham Solar-Oscillations Network (BiSON), Monthly Notice of the Royal Astronomical Society, Volume 343, Issue 3, pp. 813-818. RAE2008

Causes of a Divided Discipline: Rethinking the Concept of Cause in International Relations theory

Kurki, M. (2006). Causes of a Divided Discipline: Rethinking the Concept of Cause in International Relations theory. Review of International Studies, 32 (2), 189-216. RAE2008

History repeats itself: The failure of rational choice models in corporate governance

Marnet, Oliver, 'History repeats itself: The failure of rational choice models in corporate governance', Critical Perspectives on Accounting (2005) 18(2) pp.191-210 RAE2008

Product?market positioning and prospector strategy : An analysis of strategic patterns from the resource?based perspective

Morgan, R.; Strong, C.; and McGuinness, T. (2003). Product-market positioning and prospector strategy: An analysis of strategic patterns from the resource-based perspective. European Journal of Marketing. 37(10), pp.1409-1439 RAE2008

The Poetics of the Limit : Ethics and Politics in Modern and Contemporary American Poetry

Woods, Timothy, The Poetics of the Limit (New York: Palgrave Macmillan, 2003) RAE2008

The Politics of Language in Romantic Literature

Marggraf Turley, R. (2002). The Politics of Language in Romantic Literature. Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan. RAE2008