Does the Constitution Provide More Ballot Access Protection for Presidential Elections Than for U.S. House Elections?

Both the U.S. Constitution and The Federalist Papers suggest that voters ought to have more freedom to vote for the candidate of their choice for the U.S. House of Representatives than they do for the President or the U.S. Senate. Yet, strangely, for the last thirty-three years, the U.S. Supreme Court and lower courts have ruled that the Constitution gives voters more freedom to vote for the candidate of their choice in presidential elections than in congressional elections. Also, state legislatures, which have been writing ballot access laws since 1888, have passed laws that make it easier for minor-party and independent candidates to get on the ballot for President than for the U.S. House. As a result, voters in virtually every state invariably have far more choices on their general election ballots for the President than they do for the House. This Article argues that the right of a voter to vote for someone other than a Democrat or a Republican for the House is just as important as a voter’s right to do so for President, and that courts should grant more ballot access protection to minor-party and independent candidates for the House

Assembling the puzzle of superconducting elements: A Review

Superconductivity in the simple elements is of both technological relevance and fundamental scientific interest in the investigation of superconductivity phenomena. Recent advances in the instrumentation of physics under pressure have enabled the observation of superconductivity in many elements not previously known to superconduct, and at steadily increasing temperatures. This article offers a review of the state of the art in the superconductivity of elements, highlighting underlying correlations and general trends.Comment: Review, 10 pages, 11 figures, 97 references; to appear in Superc. Sci. Techno

Long-term outcome of patients with newly diagnosed chronic myeloid leukemia: a randomized comparison of stem cell transplantation with drug treatment.

Tyrosine kinase inhibitors represent today's treatment of choice in chronic myeloid leukemia (CML). Allogeneic hematopoietic stem cell transplantation (HSCT) is regarded as salvage therapy. This prospective randomized CML-study IIIA recruited 669 patients with newly diagnosed CML between July 1997 and January 2004 from 143 centers. Of these, 427 patients were considered eligible for HSCT and were randomized by availability of a matched family donor between primary HSCT (group A; N=166 patients) and best available drug treatment (group B; N=261). Primary end point was long-term survival. Survival probabilities were not different between groups A and B (10-year survival: 0.76 (95% confidence interval (CI): 0.69-0.82) vs 0.69 (95% CI: 0.61-0.76)), but influenced by disease and transplant risk. Patients with a low transplant risk showed superior survival compared with patients with high- (P<0.001) and non-high-risk disease (P=0.047) in group B; after entering blast crisis, survival was not different with or without HSCT. Significantly more patients in group A were in molecular remission (56% vs 39%; P=0.005) and free of drug treatment (56% vs 6%; P<0.001). Differences in symptoms and Karnofsky score were not significant. In the era of tyrosine kinase inhibitors, HSCT remains a valid option when both disease and transplant risk are considered

Zoonotic hepatitis E: animal reservoirs and emerging risks

Hepatitis E virus (HEV) is responsible for enterically-transmitted acute hepatitis in humans with two distinct epidemiological patterns. In endemic regions, large waterborne epidemics with thousands of people affected have been observed, and, in contrast, in non-endemic regions, sporadic cases have been described. Although contaminated water has been well documented as the source of infection in endemic regions, the modes of transmission in non-endemic regions are much less known. HEV is a single-strand, positive-sense RNA virus which is classified in the Hepeviridae family with at least four known main genotypes (1–4) of mammalian HEV and one avian HEV. HEV is unique among the known hepatitis viruses, in which it has an animal reservoir. In contrast to humans, swine and other mammalian animal species infected by HEV generally remain asymptomatic, whereas chickens infected by avian HEV may develop a disease known as Hepatitis-Splenomegaly syndrome. HEV genotypes 1 and 2 are found exclusively in humans while genotypes 3 and 4 are found both in humans and other mammals. Several lines of evidence indicate that, in some cases involving HEV genotypes 3 and 4, animal to human transmissions occur. Furthermore, individuals with direct contact with animals are at higher risk of HEV infection. Cross-species infections with HEV genotypes 3 and 4 have been demonstrated experimentally. However, not all sources of human infections have been identified thus far and in many cases, the origin of HEV infection in humans remains unknown

Methane fluxes during the initiation of a large-scale water table manipulation experiment in the Alaskan Arctic tundra

Much of the 191.8 Pg C in the upper 1 m of Arctic soil of Arctic soil organic mater is, or is at risk of, being released to the atmosphere as CO2 and/or CH4. Global warming will further alter the rate of emission of these gases to the atmosphere. Here we quantify the effect of major environmental variables affected by global climate change on CH4 fluxes in the Alaskan Arctic. Soil temperature best predicts CH4 fluxes and explained 89% of the variability in CH4 emissions. Water table depth has a nonlinear impact on CH4 efflux. Increasing water table height above the surface retards CH4 efflux. Decreasing water table depth below the surface has a minor effect on CH4 release once an aerobic layer is formed at the surface. In contrast with several other studies, we found that CH4 emissions are not driven by net ecosystem exchange (NEE) and are not limited by labile carbon supply

Seasonal variation of carbon fluxes in a sparse savanna in semi arid Sudan

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Large spatial, seasonal and annual variability of major drivers of the carbon cycle (precipitation, temperature, fire regime and nutrient availability) are common in the Sahel region. This causes large variability in net ecosystem exchange and in vegetation productivity, the subsistence basis for a major part of the rural population in Sahel. This study compares the 2005 dry and wet season fluxes of CO₂for a grass land/sparse savanna site in semi arid Sudan and relates these fluxes to water availability and incoming photosynthetic photon flux density (PPFD). Data from this site could complement the current sparse observation network in Africa, a continent where climatic change could significantly impact the future and which constitute a weak link in our understanding of the global carbon cycle.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>The dry season (represented by Julian day 35–46, February 2005) was characterized by low soil moisture availability, low evapotranspiration and a high vapor pressure deficit. The mean daily NEE (net ecosystem exchange, Eq. 1) was -14.7 mmol d^-1for the 12 day period (negative numbers denote sinks, i.e. flux from the atmosphere to the biosphere). The water use efficiency (WUE) was 1.6 mmol CO₂mol H₂O^-1and the light use efficiency (LUE) was 0.95 mmol CO₂mol PPFD^-1. Photosynthesis is a weak, but linear function of PPFD. The wet season (represented by Julian day 266–273, September 2005) was, compared to the dry season, characterized by slightly higher soil moisture availability, higher evapotranspiration and a slightly lower vapor pressure deficit. The mean daily NEE was -152 mmol d^-1for the 8 day period. The WUE was lower, 0.97 mmol CO₂mol H₂O^-1and the LUE was higher, 7.2 <it>μ</it>mol CO₂mmol PPFD^-1during the wet season compared to the dry season. During the wet season photosynthesis increases with PPFD to about 1600 <it>μ</it>mol m^-2s^-1and then levels off.</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>Based on data collected during two short periods, the studied ecosystem was a sink of carbon both during the dry and wet season 2005. The small sink during the dry season is surprising and similar dry season sinks have not to our knowledge been reported from other similar savanna ecosystems and could have potential management implications for agroforestry. A strong response of NEE versus small changes in plant available soil water content was found. Collection and analysis of flux data for several consecutive years including variations in precipitation, available soil moisture and labile soil carbon are needed for understanding the year to year variation of the carbon budget of this grass land/sparse savanna site in semi arid Sudan.</p

Reconciling carbon-cycle concepts, terminology, and methods

Author Posting. © The Author(s), 2006. This is the author's version of the work. It is posted here by permission of Springer for personal use, not for redistribution. The definitive version was published in Ecosystems 9 (2006): 1041-1050, doi:10.1007/s10021-005-0105-7.Recent patterns and projections of climatic change have focused increased scientific and public attention on patterns of carbon (C) cycling and its controls, particularly the factors that determine whether an ecosystem is a net source or sink of atmospheric CO2. Net ecosystem production (NEP), a central concept in C-cycling research, has been used to represent two different concepts by C-cycling scientists. We propose that NEP be restricted to just one of its two original definitions—the imbalance between gross primary production (GPP) and ecosystem respiration (ER), and that a new term—net ecosystem carbon balance (NECB)—be applied to the net rate of C accumulation in (or loss from; negative sign) ecosystems. NECB differs from NEP when C fluxes other than C fixation and respiration occur or when inorganic C enters or leaves in dissolved form. These fluxes include leaching loss or lateral transfer of C from the ecosystem; emission of volatile organic C, methane, and carbon monoxide; and soot and CO2 from fire. C fluxes in addition to NEP are particularly important determinants of NECB over long time scales. However, even over short time scales, they are important in ecosystems such as streams, estuaries, wetlands, and cities. Recent technological advances have led to a diversity of approaches to measuring C fluxes at different temporal and spatial scales. These approaches frequently capture different components of NEP or NECB and can therefore be compared across scales only by carefully specifying the fluxes included in the measurements. By explicitly identifying the fluxes that comprise NECB and other components of the C cycle, such as net ecosystem exchange (NEE) and net biome production (NBP), we provide a less ambiguous framework for understanding and communicating recent changes in the global C cycle. Key words: Net ecosystem production, net ecosystem carbon balance, gross primary production, ecosystem respiration, autotrophic respiration, heterotrophic respiration, net ecosystem exchange, net biome production, net primary production

Aircraft Regional-Scale Flux Measurements over Complex Landscapes of Mangroves, Desert, and Marine Ecosystems of Magdalena Bay, Mexico

Natural ecosystems are rarely structurally simple or functionally homogeneous. This is true for the complex coastal region of Magdalena Bay, Baja California Sur, Mexico, where the spatial variability in ecosystem fluxes from the Pacific coastal ocean, eutrophic lagoon, mangroves, and desert were studied. The Sky Arrow 650TCN environmental research aircraft proved to be an effective tool in characterizing land–atmosphere fluxes of energy, CO2, and water vapor across a heterogeneous landscape at the scale of 1 km. The aircraft was capable of discriminating fluxes from all ecosystem types, as well as between nearshore and coastal areas a few kilometers distant. Aircraft-derived average midday CO2 fluxes from the desert showed a slight uptake of −1.32 μmol CO2 m−2 s−1, the coastal ocean also showed an uptake of −3.48 μmol CO2 m−2 s−1, and the lagoon mangroves showed the highest uptake of −8.11 μmol CO2 m−2 s−1. Additional simultaneous measurements of the normalized difference vegetation index (NDVI) allowed simple linear modeling of CO2 flux as a function of NDVI for the mangroves of the Magdalena Bay region. Aircraft approaches can, therefore, be instrumental in determining regional CO2 fluxes and can be pivotal in calculating and verifying ecosystem carbon sequestration regionally when coupled with satellite-derived products and ecosystem models