Will Washington Provide Its Own Feedstocks for Biofuels?

The study finds that Washington State’s field corn, sugar beet and canola production could satisfy only a small percentage of the State’s annual gasoline or diesel consumption. Linear programming projections for 2008 showed a relatively close match between projected and actual production. Projections for 2009-2011 showed no increase in the State’s capacity to increase biofuel crop feedstocks. In comparison to crop feedstocks, Washington’s total annual lignocellulosic biomass is abundant. However, only a fraction of the biomass could be converted to biofuel due to high costs of collection and processing, competing markets for some biomass, and limitations in current technology.biofuels, biofuel feedstocks, canola, cellulosic inventories, grain corn, linear programming, Washington State

Long-Term Stability of Horseshoe Orbits

Unlike Trojans, horseshoe coorbitals are not generally considered to be long-term stable (Dermott and Murray, 1981; Murray and Dermott, 1999). As the lifetime of Earth's and Venus's horseshoe coorbitals is expected to be about a Gyr, we investigated the possible contribution of late-escaping inner planet coorbitals to the lunar Late Heavy Bombardment. Contrary to analytical estimates, we do not find many horseshoe objects escaping after first 100 Myr. In order to understand this behaviour, we ran a second set of simulations featuring idealized planets on circular orbits with a range of masses. We find that horseshoe coorbitals are generally long lived (and potentially stable) for systems with primary-to-secondary mass ratios larger than about 1200. This is consistent with results of Laughlin and Chambers (2002) for equal-mass pairs or coorbital planets and the instability of Jupiter's horseshoe companions (Stacey and Connors, 2008). Horseshoe orbits at smaller mass ratios are unstable because they must approach within 5 Hill radii of the secondary. In contrast, tadpole orbits are more robust and can remain stable even when approaching within 4 Hill radii of the secondary.Comment: Accepted for MNRA

Incidence, management, and outcomes of cardiovascular insufficiency in critically ill term and late preterm newborn infants

OBJECTIVE: The objective of this study was to characterize the incidence, management, and short-term outcomes of cardiovascular insufficiency (CVI) in mechanically ventilated newborns, evaluating four separate prespecified definitions. STUDY DESIGN: Multicenter, prospective cohort study of infants ≥34 weeks gestational age (GA) and on mechanical ventilation during the first 72 hours. CVI was prospectively defined as either (1) mean arterial pressure (MAP) < GA; (2) MAP < GA + signs of inadequate perfusion; (3) any therapy for CVI; or (4) inotropic therapy. Short-term outcomes included death, days on ventilation, oxygen, and to full feedings and discharge. RESULTS: Of 647 who met inclusion criteria, 419 (65%) met ≥1 definition of CVI. Of these, 98% received fluid boluses, 36% inotropes, and 17% corticosteroids. Of treated infants, 46% did not have CVI as defined by a MAP < GA ± signs of inadequate perfusion. Inotropic therapy was associated with increased mortality (11.1 vs. 1.3%; p < 0.05). CONCLUSION: More than half of the infants met at least one definition of CVI. However, almost half of the treated infants met none of the definitions. Inotropic therapy was associated with increased mortality. These findings can help guide the design of future studies of CVI in newborn

Uncanny Objects and the Fear of the Familiar:Hiding from Akan Witches in New York City

This article examines the cosmology and secret practices of West African traditional priests in New York City in preventing the spread of witchcraft, an evil invisible spirit transmitted between female members of the Akan matrilineage. Explored is an uncanny dynamic as everyday habitus becomes increasingly strange in the world of a young Ghanaian woman in the Bronx, who has become petrified of insinuations of witchcraft from close family members. In trying to hide the young woman from infection by her fellow witches, Akan priests attempt to ‘capture’ her habits and everyday routines, calling upon the iconic magic of New York City in order to ‘misplace’ familiarity within the anonymity of Manhattan. In this process, the transmission of the witch’s spirit to the intended victim is disturbed as the victim’s life and things are moved. Nowhere to be found, the witch shifts her attention to other victims

U.S. Billion-ton Update: Biomass Supply for a Bioenergy and Bioproducts Industry

The Report, Biomass as Feedstock for a Bioenergy and Bioproducts Industry: The Technical Feasibility of a Billion-Ton Annual Supply (generally referred to as the Billion-Ton Study or 2005 BTS), was an estimate of “potential” biomass within the contiguous United States based on numerous assumptions about current and future inventory and production capacity, availability, and technology. In the 2005 BTS, a strategic analysis was undertaken to determine if U.S. agriculture and forest resources have the capability to potentially produce at least one billion dry tons of biomass annually, in a sustainable manner—enough to displace approximately 30% of the country’s present petroleum consumption. To ensure reasonable confidence in the study results, an effort was made to use relatively conservative assumptions. However, for both agriculture and forestry, the resource potential was not restricted by price. That is, all identified biomass was potentially available, even though some potential feedstock would more than likely be too expensive to actually be economically available. In addition to updating the 2005 study, this report attempts to address a number of its shortcoming

Alternative splicing of the maize Ac transposase transcript in transgenic sugar beet (Beta vulgaris L.)

The maize Activator/Dissociation (Ac/Ds) transposable element system was introduced into sugar beet. The autonomous Ac and non-autonomous Ds element excise from the T-DNA vector and integrate at novel positions in the sugar beet genome. Ac and Ds excisions generate footprints in the donor T-DNA that support the hairpin model for transposon excision. Two complete integration events into genomic sugar beet DNA were obtained by IPCR. Integration of Ac leads to an eight bp duplication, while integration of Ds in a homologue of a sugar beet flowering locus gene did not induce a duplication. The molecular structure of the target site indicates Ds integration into a double strand break. Analyses of transposase transcription using RT–PCR revealed low amounts of alternatively spliced mRNAs. The fourth intron of the transposase was found to be partially misspliced. Four different splice products were identified. In addition, the second and third exon were found to harbour two and three novel introns, respectively. These utilize each the same splice donor but several alternative splice acceptor sites. Using the SplicePredictor online tool, one of the two introns within exon two is predicted to be efficiently spliced in maize. Most interestingly, splicing of this intron together with the four major introns of Ac would generate a transposase that lacks the DNA binding domain and two of its three nuclear localization signals, but still harbours the dimerization domain

Definitions of Cardiovascular Insufficiency and Relation to Outcomes in Critically Ill Newborn Infants

Background We previously reported on the overall incidence, management, and outcomes in infants with cardiovascular insufficiency (CVI). However, there are limited data on the relationship of the specific different definitions of CVI to short-term outcomes in term and late preterm newborn infants. Objective This study aims to evaluate how four definitions of CVI relate to short-term outcomes and death. Study Design The previously reported study was a multicenter, prospective cohort study of 647 infants ≥ 34 weeks gestation admitted to a Neonatal Research Network (NRN) newborn intensive care unit (NICU) and mechanically ventilated (MV) during their first 72 hours. The relationship of five short-term outcomes at discharge and four different definitions of CVI were further analyzed. Results All the four definitions were associated with greater number of days on MV and days on O2. The definition using a threshold blood pressure (BP) measurement alone was not associated with days of full feeding, days in the NICU or death. The definition based on the treatment of CVI was associated with all the outcomes including death. Conclusions The definition using a threshold BP alone was not consistently associated with adverse short-term outcomes. Using only a threshold BP to determine therapy may not improve outcomes

Interaction Effects of Light, Temperature and Nutrient Limitations (N, P and Si) on Growth, Stoichiometry and Photosynthetic Parameters of the Cold-Water Diatom Chaetoceros wighamii

Light (20-450 mu mol photons m(-2) s(-1)), temperature (3-11 degrees C) and inorganic nutrient composition (nutrient replete and N, P and Si limitation) were manipulated to study their combined influence on growth, stoichiometry (C:N:P:Chl a) and primary production of the cold water diatom Chaetoceros wighamii. During exponential growth, the maximum growth rate (similar to 0.8 d(-1)) was observed at high temperture and light; at 3 degrees C the growth rate was similar to 30% lower under similar light conditions. The interaction effect of light and temperature were clearly visible from growth and cellular stoichiometry. The average C:N:P molar ratio was 80:13:1 during exponential growth, but the range, due to different light acclimation, was widest at the lowest temperature, reaching very low C:P (similar to 50) and N:P ratios (similar to 8) at low light and temperature. The C:Chl a ratio had also a wider range at the lowest temperature during exponential growth, ranging 16-48 (weight ratio) at 3 degrees C compared with 17-33 at 11 degrees C. During exponential growth, there was no clear trend in the Chl a normalized, initial slope (alpha*) of the photosynthesis-irradiance (PE) curve, but the maximum photosynthetic production (P-m) was highest for cultures acclimated to the highest light and temperature. During the stationary growth phase, the stoichiometric relationship depended on the limiting nutrient, but with generally increasing C:N:P ratio. The average photosynthetic quotient (PQ) during exponential growth was 1.26 but decreased toPeer reviewe