AGRICULTURAL AND RECREATIONAL IMPACTS FROM SURFACE FLOW CHANGES DUE TO GOLD MINING OPERATIONS

Nevada ranks third in the world in gold production. In order to operate the massive open pit gold mines, the State of Nevada granted mining companies a temporary permit to pump groundwater from near the open pits and dispose of it. Certain instream flows have nearly doubled relative to average historical flows in recent years. Following pit closure, surface flows will likely decline from historical levels. This study measures the impacts of these changing water supplies on downstream agricultural and recreational users. We argue that the creation of temporary changes in water rights for the downstream users would likely mitigate future losses both groups are expected to experience.Resource /Energy Economics and Policy,

Alien Registration- Shaw, David W. (Portland, Cumberland County)

https://digitalmaine.com/alien_docs/21968/thumbnail.jp

The future of molecular dynamics simulations in drug discovery

Molecular dynamics simulations can now track rapid processes—those occurring in less than about a millisecond—at atomic resolution for many biologically relevant systems. These simulations appear poised to exert a significant impact on how new drugs are found, perhaps even transforming the very process of drug discovery. We predict here future results we can expect from, and enhancements we need to make in, molecular dynamics simulations over the coming 25 years, and in so doing set out several Grand Challenges for the field. In the context of the problems now facing the pharmaceutical industry, we ask how we can best address drug discovery needs of the next quarter century using molecular dynamics simulations, and we suggest some possible approaches

Arabidopsis nucleolar protein database (AtNoPDB)

The Arabidopsis Nucleolar Protein Database (http://bioinf.scri.sari.ac.uk/cgi-bin/atnopdb/home) provides information on 217 proteins identified in a proteomic analysis of nucleoli isolated from Arabidopsis cell culture. The database is organized on the basis of the Arabidopsis gene identifier number. The information provided includes protein description, protein class, whether or not the plant protein has a homologue in the most recent human nucleolar proteome and the results of reciprocal BLAST analysis of the human proteome. In addition, for one-third of the 217 Arabidopsis nucleolar proteins, localization images are available from analysis of full-length cDNA–green fluorescent protein (GFP) fusions and the strength of signal in different parts of the cell—nucleolus, nucleolus-associated structures, nucleoplasm, nuclear bodies and extra-nuclear—is provided. For each protein, the most likely human and yeast orthologues, where identifiable through BLASTX analysis, are given with links to relevant information sources

A New History and Discussion of 180-Day Exclusivity

This is the third in a series of articles on 180-day exclusivity. The first article traced the history of 180-day exclusivity from 1984 through its amendment in 2003 and court cases in 2004. A second article, published by two of the authors in 2007, updated the earlier piece through the end of 2006 but was arranged by issue rather than in a chronology. This article, which includes a third author, provides a comprehensive resource on 180-day exclusivity for old abbreviated new drug applications (ANDAs) (but less detail in some places where the 2007 article may be referenced) and focuses more discussion on the new provisions as well as some policy and legal issues related to 180-day exclusivity

An Alternate to Accumulated Oxygen Deficit (AOD) for Measuring Anaerobic Contribution: ‘AODalt’ is Valid in Normoxia and Hypoxia

Accumulated oxygen deficit (AOD) is the gold standard measure of anaerobic contribution; however, its calculation requires several contentious assumptions and it is time-consuming, requiring participants to perform a number of submaximal exercise bouts to establish exercise efficiency. A new method, AODalt, requires performance of only a single bout of exercise, and is based on the presumption that the fast phase of the post-exercise oxygen uptake (VO2) profile reflects the alactic or phosphocreatine (PCr) contribution and that the exercise-induced increase in blood lactate concentration is quantitatively related to the lactic or glycolytic contribution representing a measure of total anaerobic contribution. PURPOSE: The purpose of this study was to investigate the validity of an alternate measure, AODalt. METHODS: In Study One, six women (mean ± SD age, 23 ± 1 y) and three men (23 ± 0 y) performed three 6-min bouts of heavy intensity cycle ergometer exercise, one in normoxia (FIO2 ~21 %) and two under hypoxic conditions (FIO2 ~15 % and ~12 %). In Study Two, four women (23 ± 1 y) and two men (23 ± 0 y) performed severe intensity tests to exhaustion, one in normoxia (time to exhaustion ~10 min) and two in hypoxia (FIO2 ~15 % and ~10 %; time to exhaustion ~7½ min and ~4 min). Physiological responses were measured during exercise and during 7 min of recovery. RESULTS: In 6 min of heavy exercise, Study One, the alternate and criterion measures of anaerobic contribution (AODalt and AOD, respectively) were correlated both in normoxia and in hypoxia (r ³ 0.82, p \u3c 0.01) although AODalt values were slightly lower (p \u3c 0.01) in normoxia (25 ± 3 mL·kg–1 vs 28 ± 4 mL·kg–1). In exhaustive severe intensity exercise, Study Two, the two measures of anaerobic capacity were correlated (r ³ 0.77, p £ 0.02) and not different (p ³ 0.43) in normoxia and at FIO2 ~15 % (e.g., 51 ± 9 mL·kg–1 vs 49 ± 8 mL·kg–1 in normoxia). However, the AODalt and AOD values were neither correlated (r = 0.27, p = 0.44) nor similar (p \u3c 0.01; 57 ± 8 mL·kg–1 vs 51 ± 7 mL·kg–1) at FIO2 ~10 %. CONCLUSION: These results confirm the validity of AODalt as a measure of anaerobic contribution / anaerobic capacity in severe intensity exercise, demonstrate its validity in heavy intensity exercise, and assert its validity in conditions of hypoxia (FIO2 ³ 12%)

The Economic Value of Climate Information in Adaptation Decisions : Learning in the Sea-level Rise and Coastal Infrastructure Context

Traditional methods of investment appraisal have been criticized in the context of climate change adaptation. Economic assessment of adaptation options needs to explicitly incorporate the uncertainty of future climate conditions and should recognise that uncertainties may diminish over time as a result of improved understanding and learning. Real options analysis (ROA) is an appraisal tool developed to incorporate concepts of flexibility and learning that relies on probabilistic data to characterise uncertainties. It is also a relatively resource-intensive decision support tool. We test whether, and to what extent, learning can result from the use of successive generations of real life climate scenarios, and how non-probabilistic uncertainties can be handled through adapting the principles of ROA in coastal economic adaptation decisions. Using a relatively simple form of ROA on a vulnerable piece of coastal rail infrastructure in the United Kingdom, and two successive UK climate assessments, we estimate the values associated with utilising up-dated information on sea-level rise. The value of learning can be compared to the capital cost of adaptation investment, and may be used to illustrate the potential scale of the value of learning in coastal protection, and other adaptation contexts

The thermodynamics of prediction

A system responding to a stochastic driving signal can be interpreted as computing, by means of its dynamics, an implicit model of the environmental variables. The system's state retains information about past environmental fluctuations, and a fraction of this information is predictive of future ones. The remaining nonpredictive information reflects model complexity that does not improve predictive power, and thus represents the ineffectiveness of the model. We expose the fundamental equivalence between this model inefficiency and thermodynamic inefficiency, measured by dissipation. Our results hold arbitrarily far from thermodynamic equilibrium and are applicable to a wide range of systems, including biomolecular machines. They highlight a profound connection between the effective use of information and efficient thermodynamic operation: any system constructed to keep memory about its environment and to operate with maximal energetic efficiency has to be predictive.Comment: 5 pages, 1 figur