Gas emissions, minerals, and tars associated with three coal fires, Powder River Basin, USA.

Ground-based surveys of three coal fires and airborne surveys of two of the fires were conducted near Sheridan, Wyoming. The fires occur in natural outcrops and in abandoned mines, all containing Paleocene-age subbituminous coals. Diffuse (carbon dioxide (CO(2)) only) and vent (CO(2), carbon monoxide (CO), methane, hydrogen sulfide (H(2)S), and elemental mercury) emission estimates were made for each of the fires. Additionally, gas samples were collected for volatile organic compound (VOC) analysis and showed a large range in variation between vents. The fires produce locally dangerous levels of CO, CO(2), H(2)S, and benzene, among other gases. At one fire in an abandoned coal mine, trends in gas and tar composition followed a change in topography. Total CO(2) fluxes for the fires from airborne, ground-based, and rate of fire advancement estimates ranged from 0.9 to 780mg/s/m(2) and are comparable to other coal fires worldwide. Samples of tar and coal-fire minerals collected from the mouth of vents provided insight into the behavior and formation of the coal fires

Trying Cases in the Media: Legal Ethics, Fair Trials and Free Press

The 2000 symposium consisted of a panel discussion which used role-playing and a mock trial to highlight the issues of lawyer/litigant comments to the press before and during trial and the dilemma of journalists confronted by court demands for documents, testimony, or sources of information obtained in the course of gathering news on pending trials. Participants included: As United States Attorney for the Eastern District of Freedonia: John Douglas, Associate Professor of Law at the University of Richmond. As Freedonia criminal defense lawyer: Gerald Zerkin, Private Defense Attorney. As investigative journalist: Steve Nash, Associate Professor of Journalism at the University of Richmond. As federal judge: Judge Margaret P. Spencer, Virginia Circuit Court Judge. As media attorney: Craig Thomas Merritt, Attorney. As first amendment attorney: J. Joshua Wheeler, Attorney and Director of Programs for the Thomas Jefferson Center for the Protection of Free Expression, and adjunct professor at University of Virginia. As Chief Justice: Paul D. Carrington, The Chadwick Professor of Law at Duke University. As Associate Justices of the United States Supreme Court: C. Thomas Dienes, Patricia Roberts Harris Professor of Law at George Washington University\u27s Law School; John E. Nowak, David C. Baum Professor of Law at the University of Illinois; Molly Delea, third-year law student, University of Richmond School of Law; Kate Murray, third-year law student, University of Richmond School of Law; Thomas Queen, third-year law student, University of Richmond School of Law; and Courtney Sydnor, third-year law student, University of Richmond School of Law

The MOBIOS+: A FAIR (Findable, Accessible, Interoperable and Reusable) database for Mindanao's terrestrial biodiversity

Due to its complex geological history and the emergence of various biogeographic regions, the Philippines boasts an extraordinary array of flora and fauna. This unique combination has contributed to the country’s exceptional density of terrestrial species, making it amongst the highest in the world. Mindanao, in the southern part of the Philippines, is the second largest group of islands and supports high levels of endemism and proportion of threatened species. However, consolidated biodiversity records and information remain unavailable for the region. The primary goal of the Mindanao Open Biodiversity Information (MOBIOS+) database is to address these substantial data deficiencies by compiling contemporary biodiversity information from the 21st century. This initiative seeks to enhance our comprehension of biodiversity trends in Mindanao over temporal and spatial dimensions, while also creating an openly-accessible database. The database we present here is the first of its kind and currently the most comprehensive attempt to establish the largest consolidated database for Mindanao biodiversity, based on publicly available literature. With its vast collection of biodiversity data, this database will prove to be a valuable resource for advancing biodiversity research and analysis. It will further facilitate the identification of species and areas that require immediate conservation prioritisation and action, addressing the urgent challenges posed by our rapidly changing planet.The MOBIOS+ database is the first attempt to create a massive FAIR database aiming to collate biodiversity records from published literature in the Mindanao faunal region, south of the Philippines. The database currently includes 12,813 georeferenced specimen occurrences representing 1,907 unique taxa across 10 animal classes inhabiting the terrestrial and freshwater environments of Mindanao faunal region. We made all georeferenced specimen occurrences available in the Global Biodiversity Information Facility (GBIF) platform

Supplementary material 1 from: Tanalgo KC, Dela Cruz KC, Agduma AR, Respicio JMV, Abdullah SS, Alvaro-Ele RJ, Hilario-Husain BA, Manampan-Rubio M, Murray SA, Casim LF, Pantog AMM, Balase SMP, Abdulkasan RMA, Aguirre CAS, Banto NL, Broncate SMM, Dimacaling AD, Fabrero GVN, Lidasan AK, Lingcob AA, Millondaga AM, Panilla KFL, Sinadjan CQM, Unte ND (2023) The MOBIOS+: A FAIR (Findable, Accessible, Interoperable and Reusable) database for Mindanao's terrestrial biodiversity. Biodiversity Data Journal 11: e110016. https://doi.org/10.3897/BDJ.11.e110016

Supplementary file for occurrence and species records from MOBIOS+ databas

The MOBIOS+: A FAIR (Findable, Accessible, Interoperable, and Reusable) Database for Mindanao's Terrestrial Biodiversity

Due to its complex geological history and the emergence of various biogeographic regions, the Philippines boasts an extraordinary array of flora and fauna. This unique combination has contributed to the country’s exceptional density of terrestrial species, positioning it among the highest in the world. Mindanao, in the southern part of the Philippines, is the second largest group of islands and supports high biodiversity of unique and threatened species of flora and fauna. However, consolidated biodiversity records and information remain unavailable for the region. Filling these significant gaps would advance understanding biodiversity patterns in Mindanao across time and space. The Mindanao Open Biodiversity Information (MOBIOS+) database aims to consolidate 21st-century biodiversity data and establish an open-access database. The database we present here is the first of its kind and currently the most comprehensive attempt to establish the largest consolidated database for Mindanao biodiversity. With its vast collection of biodiversity data, this database will prove to be a valuable resource for advancing biodiversity research and analysis. It will facilitate the identification of species and areas that require immediate conservation prioritization and action, addressing the urgent challenges posed by our rapidly changing planet.The MOBIOS+ database is the first attempt to create a massive FAIR database aiming to collate biodiversity records in the Mindanao faunal region, South of the Philippines. The database currently includes 12,814 georeferenced species occurrences from 1,925 unique species or taxa from 10 animal classes from the Mindanao faunal region's terrestrial and freshwater bodies. We made all georeferenced species occurrences available in the Global Biodiversity Information Facility (GBIF) platform

Measurement of the CP violating asymmetry amplitude sin 2beta

We present results on time-dependent CP-violating asymmetries in neutral B decays to several CP eigenstates. The measurements use a data sample of about 88 million Y(4S) --> B Bbar decays collected between 1999 and 2002 with the BABAR detector at the PEP-II asymmetric-energy B Factory at SLAC. We study events in which one neutral B meson is fully reconstructed in a final state containing a charmonium meson and the other B meson is determined to be either a B0 or B0bar from its decay products. The amplitude of the CP-violating asymmetry, which in the Standard Model is proportional to sin2beta, is derived from the decay-time distributions in such events. We measure sin2beta = 0.741 +/- 0.067 (stat) +/- 0.034 (syst) and |lambda| = 0.948 +/- 0.051 (stat) +/- 0.030 (syst). The magnitude of lambda is consistent with unity, in agreement with the Standard Model expectation of no direct CP violation in these modes.Comment: 7 pages, 2 postscript figures, submitted to PR