Coal's role in California's energy needs

California's post-industrial society demands confidence in the energy supply system as an essential ingredient for social harmony and adequate job creating capital investment. Confidence requires policies which balance supply and demand using believable methods with adequate allowance for the unexpected, reliance on diverse sources and locations, respect for our environment, sustain our individual freedoms and provide opportunities for economic mobility. Coal will play only a part, but an important part, in a multifaceted energy policy using numerous energy sources and systems, conservation techniques, and cooperating societal institutions. Today's extensive and challenging research and development provides the foundation for future technologies which will further resolve the environmental effects associated with coal

The implications of bite wounding for disease status in badgers Meles meles

Aggressive interactions between individuals can pose a significant risk for disease transmission. Positive associations between bite wounding and disease status in the Eurasian badger Meles meles have led to the suggestion of bite wounding as an alternative route of Mycobacterium bovis (bovine TB) infection to aerosol infection of the respiratory system. Understanding the social behaviours behind transmission routes is important for the effective management of infection. This study investigated the incidence of bite wounding in a naturally infected badger population with regard to (1) the evidence for bite wounding as a route of bovine TB transmission between badgers, and (2) the social behaviour of infected and uninfected animals. The results were consistent with bite wounding being a true route of transmission: M. bovis infected bite wounds were randomly distributed across all body locations, independently of those locations normally associated with respiratory infection, and positively associated with the incident event of bovine TB infection in badgers, with no association to positive respiratory-related cultures. Badgers with established disease (as detected by microbiological culture) were more likely to have bite wounds than those that were culture negative, which may be a reflection of abnormal increased ranging behaviour of infected badgers. Both bite wound infected individuals and infected individuals with bites may be important for bovine TB transmission to cattle and should be taken into consideration when planning a bovine TB management programme

Using Google Analytics, Voyant and Other Tools to Better Understand Use of Manuscript Collections at L. Tom Perry Special Collections

[Excerpt] Developing strategies for making data-driven, objective decisions for digitization and value-added processing. based on patron usage has been an important effort in the L. Tom Perry Special Collections (hereafter Perry Special Collections). In a previous study, the authors looked at how creating a matrix using both Web analytics and in-house use statistics could provide a solid basis for making decisions about which collections to digitize as well as which collections merited deeper description. Along with providing this basis for decision making, the study also revealed some intriguing insights into how our collections were being used and raised some important questions about the impact of description on both digital and physical usage. We have continued analyzing the data from our first study and that data forms the basis of the current study. It is helpful to review the major outcomes of our previous study before looking at what we have learned in this deeper analysis. In the first study, we utilized three sources of statistical data to compare two distinct data points (in-house use and online finding aid use) and determine if there were any patterns or other information that would help curators in the department make better decisions about the items or collections selected for digitization or value-added processing. To obtain our data points, we combined two data sources related to the in-person use of manuscript collections in the Perry Special Collections reading room and one related to the use of finding aids for manuscript collections made available online through the department’s Finding Aid database ( http://findingaid.lib.byu.edu/). We mapped the resulting data points into a four quadrant graph (see figure 1)

The Good, the Bad and the Lucky: CEO Pay and Skill

CEO compensation varies widely, even within industries. In this paper, we investigate whether differences in skill explain these differences in CEO pay. Using the idea that skilled CEOs should be more likely to continue prior good performance and more likely to reverse prior poor performance, we develop a new methodology to detect whether skill is related to pay. We find that highly paid CEOs are more skilled than their less well paid peers when pay is performancebased and when there is a large shareholder. This detected link between pay and skill is strong even when we examine industry-wide declines: highly paid CEOs are more likely to reverse the firm’s fortunes. We also examine CEO turnovers and show that the firm’s post-turnover performance is related to differences between the two CEO’s pay levels. These results highlight conditions where pay and skill are linked, and hence identify firms where high pay appears to have no justification

The relationship and effects of golf on physical and mental health:A scoping review protocol

Introduction Golf is a sport played in 206 countries worldwide by over 50 million people. It is possible that participation in golf, which is a form of physical activity, may be associated with effects on longevity, the cardiovascular, metabolic and musculoskeletal systems, as well as on mental health and well-being. We outline our scoping review protocol to examine the relationships and effects of golf on physical and mental health. Methods and analysis Best practice methodological frameworks suggested by Arksey and O'Malley, Levac et al and the Joanna Briggs Institute will serve as our guide, providing clarity and rigour. A scoping review provides a framework to (1) map the key concepts and evidence, (2) summarise and disseminate existing research findings to practitioners and policymakers and (3) identify gaps in the existing research. A three-step search strategy will identify reviews as well as original research, published and grey literature. An initial search will identify suitable search terms, followed by a search using keyword and index terms. Two reviewers will independently screen identified studies for final inclusion. Dissemination We will map key concepts and evidence, and disseminate existing research findings to practitioners and policymakers through peer-reviewed and non-peer reviewed publications, conferences and inperson communications. We will identify priorities for further study. This method may prove useful to examine the relationships and effects of other sports on health.</p

The effects of marine eukaryote evolution on phosphorus, carbon and oxygen cycling across the Proterozoic–Phanerozoic transition

This is the final version of the article. Available from Portland Press via the DOI in this record.A ‘Neoproterozoic oxygenation event’ is widely invoked as a causal factor in animal evolution, and often attributed to abiotic causes such as post-glacial pulses of phosphorus weathering. However, recent evidence suggests a series of transient ocean oxygenation events ∼660–520 Ma, which do not fit the simple model of a monotonic rise in atmospheric oxygen (pO2). Hence, we consider mechanisms by which the evolution of marine eukaryotes, coupled with biogeochemical and ecological feedbacks, potentially between alternate stable states, could have caused changes in ocean carbon cycling and redox state, phosphorus cycling and atmospheric pO2. We argue that the late Tonian ocean ∼750 Ma was dominated by rapid microbial cycling of dissolved organic matter (DOM) with elevated nutrient (P) levels due to inefficient removal of organic matter to sediments. We suggest the abrupt onset of the eukaryotic algal biomarker record ∼660–640 Ma was linked to an escalation of protozoan predation, which created a ‘biological pump’ of sinking particulate organic matter (POM). The resultant transfer of organic carbon (Corg) and phosphorus to sediments was strengthened by subsequent eukaryotic innovations, including the advent of sessile benthic animals and mobile burrowing animals. Thus, each phase of eukaryote evolution tended to lower P levels and oxygenate the ocean on ∼104 year timescales, but by decreasing Corg/P burial ratios, tended to lower atmospheric pO2 and deoxygenate the ocean again on ∼106 year timescales. This can help explain the transient nature and ∼106 year duration of oceanic oxygenation events through the Cryogenian–Ediacaran–CambrianThis work was supported by the NERC-NSFC programme ‘Biosphere Evolution, Transitions and Resilience’ through grant NE/P013651/1

Changing tectonic controls on the long-term carbon cycle from Mesozoic to present

Copyright © 2014. The Authors.Tectonic drivers of degassing and weathering processes are key long-term controls on atmos- pheric CO2. However, there is considerable debate over the changing relative importance of different car- bon sources and sinks. Existing geochemical models have tended to rely on indirect methods to derive tectonic drivers, such as inversion of the seawater 87Sr/86Sr curve to estimate uplift or continental basalt area. Here we use improving geologic data to update the representation of tectonic drivers in the COPSE biogeochemical model. The resulting model distinguishes CO2 sinks from terrestrial granite weathering, total basalt weathering, and seafloor alteration. It also distinguishes CO2 sources from subduction zone met- amorphism and from igneous intrusions. We reconstruct terrestrial basaltic area from data on the extent of large igneous provinces and use their volume to estimate their contribution to degassing. We adopt a recently published reconstruction of subduction-related degassing, and relate seafloor weathering to ocean crust creation rate. Revised degassing alone tends to produce unrealistically high CO2, but this is counter- acted by the inclusion of seafloor alteration and global basalt weathering, producing a good overall fit to Mesozoic-Cenozoic proxy CO2 estimates and a good fit to 87Sr/86Sr data. The model predicts that seafloor alteration and terrestrial weathering made similar contributions to CO2 removal through the Triassic and Jurassic, after which terrestrial weathering increased and seafloor weathering declined. We predict that basalts made a greater contribution to silicate weathering than granites through the Mesozoic, before the contribution of basalt weathering declined over the Cenozoic due to decreasing global basaltic area.UK Natural Environment Research Council (NE/G018332/2). Leverhulme Trust (RPG-2013-106).Royal Society Wolfson Research Merit Awar

Implicitly Supervised Language Model Adaptation for Meeting Transcription

We describe the use of meeting metadata, acquired using a computerized meeting organization and note-taking system, to improve automatic transcription of meetings. By applying a two-step language model adaptation process based on notes and agenda items, we were able to reduce perplexity by 9 % and word error rate by 4 % relative on a set of ten meetings recorded in-house. This approach can be used to leverage other types of metadata.

Software for Refining or Coarsening Computational Grids

A computer program performs calculations for refinement or coarsening of computational grids of the type called structured (signifying that they are geometrically regular and/or are specified by relatively simple algebraic expressions). This program is designed to facilitate analysis of the numerical effects of changing structured grids utilized in computational fluid dynamics (CFD) software. Unlike prior grid-refinement and -coarsening programs, this program is not limited to doubling or halving: the user can specify any refinement or coarsening ratio, which can have a noninteger value. In addition to this ratio, the program accepts, as input, a grid file and the associated restart file, which is basically a file containing the most recent iteration of flow-field variables computed on the grid. The program then refines or coarsens the grid as specified, while maintaining the geometry and the stretching characteristics of the original grid. The program can interpolate from the input restart file to create a restart file for the refined or coarsened grid. The program provides a graphical user interface that facilitates the entry of input data for the grid-generation and restart-interpolation routines

Environmental selection and resource allocation determine spatial patterns in picophytoplankton cell size

Here we describe a new trait-based model for cellular resource allocation that we use to investigate the relative importance of different drivers for small cell size in phytoplankton. Using the model, we show that increased investment in nonscalable structural components with decreasing cell size leads to a trade-off between cell size, nutrient and light affinity, and growth rate. Within the most extreme nutrient-limited, stratified environments, resource competition theory then predicts a trend toward larger minimum cell size with increasing depth. We demonstrate that this explains observed trends using a marine ecosystem model that represents selection and adaptation of a diverse community defined by traits for cell size and subcellular resource allocation. This framework for linking cellular physiology to environmental selection can be used to investigate the adaptive response of the marine microbial community to environmental conditions and the adaptive value of variations in cellular physiology