Dry Climate Disconnected the Laurentian Great Lakes

Peer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/94725/1/eost16649.pd

The varved succession of Crawford Lake, Milton, Ontario, Canada as a candidate Global boundary Stratotype Section and Point for the Anthropocene series

An annually laminated succession in Crawford Lake, Ontario, Canada is proposed as the Global boundary Stratotype Section and Point (GSSP) for the Anthropocene as a series/epoch with a base dated at 1950 CE. Varve couplets of organic matter capped by calcite precipitated each summer in alkaline surface waters reflect environmental change at global to local scales. Spheroidal carbonaceous particles and nitrogen isotopes record an increase in fossil fuel combustion in the early 1950s, coinciding with fallout from nuclear and thermonuclear testing—239+240Pu and 14C:12C, the latter more than compensating for the effects of old carbon in this dolomitic basin. Rapid industrial expansion in the North American Great Lakes region led to enhanced leaching of terrigenous elements by acid precipitation during the Great Acceleration, and calcite precipitation was reduced, producing thin calcite laminae around the GSSP that is marked by a sharp decline in elm pollen (Dutch Elm disease). The lack of bioturbation in well-oxygenated bottom waters, supported by the absence of fossil pigments from obligately anaerobic purple sulfur bacteria, is attributed to elevated salinities and high alkalinity below the chemocline. This aerobic depositional environment, unusual in a meromictic lake, inhibits the mobilization of 239Pu, the proposed primary stratigraphic guide for the Anthropocene

Consensus coding sequence (CCDS) database: a standardized set of human and mouse protein-coding regions supported by expert curation.

The Consensus Coding Sequence (CCDS) project provides a dataset of protein-coding regions that are identically annotated on the human and mouse reference genome assembly in genome annotations produced independently by NCBI and the Ensembl group at EMBL-EBI. This dataset is the product of an international collaboration that includes NCBI, Ensembl, HUGO Gene Nomenclature Committee, Mouse Genome Informatics and University of California, Santa Cruz. Identically annotated coding regions, which are generated using an automated pipeline and pass multiple quality assurance checks, are assigned a stable and tracked identifier (CCDS ID). Additionally, coordinated manual review by expert curators from the CCDS collaboration helps in maintaining the integrity and high quality of the dataset. The CCDS data are available through an interactive web page (https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/CCDS/CcdsBrowse.cgi) and an FTP site (ftp://ftp.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pub/CCDS/). In this paper, we outline the ongoing work, growth and stability of the CCDS dataset and provide updates on new collaboration members and new features added to the CCDS user interface. We also present expert curation scenarios, with specific examples highlighting the importance of an accurate reference genome assembly and the crucial role played by input from the research community. Nucleic Acids Res 2018 Jan 4; 46(D1):D221-D228

Why do banks promise to pay par on demand?

We survey the theories of why banks promise to pay par on demand and examine evidence about the conditions under which banks have promised to pay the par value of deposits and banknotes on demand when holding only fractional reserves. The theoretical literature can be broadly divided into four strands: liquidity provision, asymmetric information, legal restrictions, and a medium of exchange. We assume that it is not zero cost to make a promise to redeem a liability at par value on demand. If so, then the conditions in the theories that result in par redemption are possible explanations of why banks promise to pay par on demand. If the explanation based on customers’ demand for liquidity is correct, payment of deposits at par will be promised when banks hold assets that are illiquid in the short run. If the asymmetric-information explanation based on the difficulty of valuing assets is correct, the marketability of banks’ assets determines whether banks promise to pay par. If the legal restrictions explanation of par redemption is correct, banks will not promise to pay par if they are not required to do so. If the transaction explanation is correct, banks will promise to pay par value only if the deposits are used in transactions. After the survey of the theoretical literature, we examine the history of banking in several countries in different eras: fourth-century Athens, medieval Italy, Japan, and free banking and money market mutual funds in the United States. We find that all of the theories can explain some of the observed banking arrangements, and none explain all of them

Analyse pollinique et implications archéologiques et géomorphologiques, lac de la Hutte Sauvage (Mushuau Nipi), Nouveau-Québec

Deux carottes polliniques ont été prélevées dans la section nord du lac de la Hutte Sauvage. L’analyse pollinique révèle l’histoire de la végétation en quatre phases remontant à 4100 ans AA : 1 ) toundra herbeuse (4700 à 4100 ans AA); 2) toundra arbustive (4100 à 3700 ans AA); 3) toundra forestière riche (3700 à 2500 ans AA); 4) toundra forestière actuelle (2500 ans AA). Le calcul de l’influx pollinique indique que la phase de toundra arbustive fut assez riche. L’invasion des espèces arborescentes a débuté vers 4000 ans AA, tandis que le climax forestier a été atteint vers 3000 ans AA. A partir de 2700 ans AA, la végétation s’est appauvrie et vers 2500 ans AA, la limite des arbres s’est abaissée; les zones de taïga sont devenues moins denses. Les données polliniques permettent d’abord de reconstituer le cadre écologique dans lequel ont évolué les premières populations préhistoriques du Mushuau Nipi. Nous croyons que certains changements écologiques ont eu un effet direct sur l’écosystème. Les datations au 14C des carottes polliniques (4100 ans AA et 3700 ans AA) soulèvent certains problèmes concernant la chronologie de la déglaciation et de la fin du lac proglaciaire Naskaupi. Le système de basses terrasses du Mushuau Nipi (0-35 m au-dessus du niveau lacustre) sur lequel se trouvent tous les sites archéologiques découvert jusqu’ici s'est formé à partir de 4000 ans AA.Two pollen cores were collected in the northern section of Indian House Lake and pollen analysis revealed a 4-phase vegetative history of 4,100 years: 1) herb tundra (4,700-4,100 BP); 2) shrub tundra (4,100-3,700 BP); 3) rich forest-tundra (3,700-2,500 BP); 4) present forest-tundra (2,500-0 BP). Pollen influx analysis indicates that the shrub-tundra was rather rich. Trees began to colonize the area about 4,000 years BP and reached a climax ca. 3,000 BP. From 2,700 BP, the vegetation becomes impoverished and at about 2,500 BP a climatic change caused the lowering of the tree limit and the thinning of the taiga patches. Pollen data allows the reconstruction of the vegetative environment in which the prehistoric populations of the Mushuau Nipi evolved. Also, we suggest a direct effect of the major vegetative and climatic changes on the ecosystem. Finally, the 14C dating of the pollen cores (4,100 BP and 3,700 BP) introduces certain problems concerning the post-glacial and pro-glacial lake stages at Indian House Lake. The lower terrace system (0-35 m above lake level) on which all the archaeological sites were found did not begin to form earlier than about 4,000 BP