A study into marine landscapes applied to habitat mapping

In recent years there have been many new seabed-mapping programmes carried out around the world using the latest data acquisition techniques. The need for these maps is driven by the recognition that an ecosystem-based approach to the management of national Exclusive Economic Zones (EEZs), as required by the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) adopted at the Rio Earth Summit in 1992, requires both detailed bathymetry and maps of the physical properties of the sea floor. In Europe, the implementation of the CBD is through the Habitats and Birds Directives, which require the identification of Special Areas of Conservation (SACs) and Special Protected Areas (SPAs). A network of SACs and SPAs will be set up across Europe known as Natura 2000. In addition, the International Council for the Exploration of the Seas has developed the concept of the ecosystem-based approach in the context of fisheries management, subsequently adopted by the European Union in its review of the Common Fisheries Policy; the World Wildlife Fund for Natures’ marine policy has developed the concept of Marine Protected Areas (MPAs); the OSPAR Convention for the Protection of the Marine Environment of the North East Atlantic is also working to promote networks of MPAs and Ecological Quality Objectives (EcoQOs). In the UK, the Department of Environment, Fisheries and Rural Affairs (DEFRA) major reports on Marine Stewardship,’ Safeguarding our Seas: A Strategy for the Conservation and Sustainable Development of our Marine Environment’ published in 2002 and followed by a consultation paper ‘ Seas of Change’, form the basis for developing a practical application of the ecosystem-based approach. The DEFRA Review of Marine Nature Conservation (RMNC) produced an interim report in 2001, which recommended that a pilot scheme at a regional scale to test a proposed framework for nature conservation. This has led to the Irish Sea Pilot Study managed by the Joint Nature Conservation Committee (JNCC), which has adopted the concept of ‘marine landscapes’, first developed in Canadian waters, based on geophysical features recognising that their importance in determining the nature of biological communities. As a result of these national and international initiatives, a number of habitat classification schemes have been introduced in different parts of the world. Since 2001, a group of geologists with interests in the application of geological data to habitat mapping have met each year to present their views and mapping programmes and to discuss their ideas with scientists from other disciplines, mainly biologists and oceanographers. The GeoHab (Geological Mapping of Habitats for Marine Resources and Management) group have provided the impetus for this review of BGS geological data in the context of habitat mapping classification schemes, and proposes ways in which our BGS data may be applied automatically, within a Geographical Information System, to the selection of relevant sources of information

The Shallow Geological Model: mapping and monitoring the marine landscape

Managing our seas without a sound knowledge of the sea-bed environment and the processes that shape the sea-bed characteristics makes it difficult to conserve key areas, maintain biodiversity and economically develop our marine resources in an efficient and sustainable way. Recent developments in marine landscape mapping, visualisation techniques and instant data access provide timely, proven technologies that are now in widespread use

The spin and charge gaps of the half-filled N-leg Kondo ladders

In this work, we study N-leg Kondo ladders at half-filling through the density matrix renormalization group. We found non-zero spin and charge gaps for any finite number of legs and Kondo coupling $J>0$. We also show evidence of the existence of a quantum critical point in the two dimensional Kondo lattice model, in agreement with previous works. Based on the binding energy of two holes, we did not find evidence of superconductivity in the 2D Kondo lattice model close to half-filling.Comment: 4 pages, 1 table, 3 fig

Recent progress with the DNA repair mutants of Chinese hamster ovary cells

Repair deficient mutants of Chinese hamster ovary (CHO) cells are being used to identify human genes that correct the repair defects and to study mechanisms of DNA repair and mutagenesis. Five independent tertiary DNA transformants were obtained from the EM9 mutant. In these clones a human DNA sequence was identified that correlated with the resistance of the cells to CldUrd. After Eco RI digestion, Southern transfer, and hybridization of transformant DNAs with the BLUR-8 Alu family sequence, a common fragment of 25 to 30 kb was present. 37 refs., 4 figs., 3 tabs

Response, relaxation and transport in unconventional superconductors

We investigate the collision-limited electronic Raman response and the attenuation of ultrasound in spin-singlet d-wave superconductors at low temperatures. The dominating elastic collisions are treated within a t-matrix approximation, which combines the description of weak (Born) and strong (unitary) impurity scattering. In the long wavelength limit a two-fluid description of both response and transport emerges. Collisions are here seen to exclusively dominate the relaxational dynamics of the (Bogoliubov) quasiparticle system and the analysis allows for a clear connection of response and transport phenomena. When applied to quasi-2-d superconductors like the cuprates, it turns out that the transport parameter associated with the Raman scattering intensity for B1g and B2g photon polarization is closely related to the corresponding components of the shear viscosity tensor, which dominates the attenuation of ultrasound. At low temperatures we present analytic solutions of the transport equations, resulting in a non-power-law behavior of the transport parameters on temperature.Comment: 22 pages, 3 figure

Pseudogap formation of four-layer BaRuO3_3 and its electrodynamic response changes

We investiaged the optical properties of four-layer BaRuO$_{3}$, which shows a fermi-liquid-like behavior at low temperature. Its optical conductivity spectra clearly displayed the formation of a pseudogap and the development of a coherent peak with decreasing temperature. Temperature-dependences of the density $n$ and the scattering rate $1/\tau$ of the coherent component were also derived. As the temperature decreases, both $n$ and $1/\tau$ decrease for four-layer BaRuO$_{3}$. These electrodynamic responses were compared with those of nine-layer BaRuO$_{3}$, which also shows a pseudogap formation but has an insulator-like state at low temperature. It was found that the relative rates of change of both $n$ and $1/\tau$ determine either metallic or insulator-like responses in the ruthenates. The optical properties of the four-layer ruthenate were also compared with those of other pseudogap systems, such as high $T_{c}$ cuprates and heavy electron systems.Comment: 7 figures. submitted to Phys. Rev.

A weakly stable algorithm for general Toeplitz systems

We show that a fast algorithm for the QR factorization of a Toeplitz or Hankel matrix A is weakly stable in the sense that R^T.R is close to A^T.A. Thus, when the algorithm is used to solve the semi-normal equations R^T.Rx = A^Tb, we obtain a weakly stable method for the solution of a nonsingular Toeplitz or Hankel linear system Ax = b. The algorithm also applies to the solution of the full-rank Toeplitz or Hankel least squares problem.Comment: 17 pages. An old Technical Report with postscript added. For further details, see http://wwwmaths.anu.edu.au/~brent/pub/pub143.htm

Large-scale pharmacogenomic study of sulfonylureas and the QT, JT and QRS intervals: CHARGE Pharmacogenomics Working Group

Sulfonylureas, a commonly used class of medication used to treat type 2 diabetes, have been associated with an increased risk of cardiovascular disease. Their effects on QT interval duration and related electrocardiographic phenotypes are potential mechanisms for this adverse effect. In 11 ethnically diverse cohorts that included 71 857 European, African-American and Hispanic/Latino ancestry individuals with repeated measures of medication use and electrocardiogram (ECG) measurements, we conducted a pharmacogenomic genome-wide association study of sulfonylurea use and three ECG phenotypes: QT, JT and QRS intervals. In ancestry-specific meta-analyses, eight novel pharmacogenomic loci met the threshold for genome-wide significance (P<5 × 10−8), and a pharmacokinetic variant in CYP2C9 (rs1057910) that has been associated with sulfonylurea-related treatment effects and other adverse drug reactions in previous studies was replicated. Additional research is needed to replicate the novel findings and to understand their biological basis

Managing to lead in private enterprise in China: Work values, demography and the development of trust

Previous work on trust has focused on employee trust in management. However, issues of how leaders develop trust in their followers in leader-member exchange (LMX) are under-explored. Based on theories of leader-member exchange, attribution and industrial convergence, this study investigates how the work values of leaders influence the development of their trust in followers and how this is moderated by demographic factors. A survey of 219 leaders was conducted in privately owned enterprises in China. The findings suggest that the work value of centralization is negatively related to leader trust in follower predictability. Group orientation and formalization are positively related to the development of trust in follower good faith. Moreover, age and level of formal education are found to moderate significantly the relationships between leader work values and development of their trust in followers within the context of China. Copyright © 2007 SAGE Publications