578 research outputs found
Triplet Charge Recombination in Heliobacterial Reaction Centers Does Not Produce a Spin-Polarized EPR Spectrum
No full textAt limits of life: multidisciplinary insights reveal environmental constraints on biotic diversity in continental Antarctica
Get PDFData source: Supporting information, http://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0044578#s5Multitrophic communities that maintain the functionality of the extreme Antarctic terrestrial ecosystems, while the simplest of any natural community, are still challenging our knowledge about the limits to life on earth. In this study, we describe and interpret the linkage between the diversity of different trophic level communities to the geological morphology and soil geochemistry in the remote Transantarctic Mountains (Darwin Mountains, 80uS). We examined the distribution and diversity of biota (bacteria, cyanobacteria, lichens, algae, invertebrates) with respect to elevation, age of glacial drift sheets, and soil physicochemistry. Results showed an abiotic spatial gradient with respect to the diversity of the organisms across different trophic levels. More complex communities, in terms of trophic level diversity, were related to the weakly developed younger drifts (Hatherton and Britannia) with higher soil C/N ratio and lower total soluble salts content (thus lower conductivity). Our results indicate that an increase of ion concentration from younger to older drift regions drives a succession of complex to more simple communities, in terms of number of trophic levels and diversity within each group of organisms analysed. This study revealed that integrating diversity across multi-trophic levels of biotic communities with abiotic spatial heterogeneity and geological history is fundamental to understand environmental constraints influencing biological distribution in Antarctic soil ecosystems.Catarina Magalhães, Mark I. Stevens, S. Craig Cary, Becky A. Ball, Bryan C. Storey, Diana H. Wall, Roman Tűrk and Ulrike Ruprech
Outsourcing and Skill Imports: Foreign High-Skilled Workers on H-1B and L-1 Visas in the United States
Get PDFThis working paper looks in detail at the H-1B and L-1 visa programs for temporary employment in the United States. Based on official data from the US Citizenship and Immigration Services and the US Department of State, H-1B and L-1 visa issuance rapidly increased in the late 1990s, followed by a marked slowdown after 2001. This points to the highly cyclical nature of both visa programs. Indian nationals and immigrants working in computer-related occupations dominate the H1-B and L-1 population in the United States, but these two groups are also found to be the most cyclical segment, with very large declines in inflows after 2001. The total population of H-1B visaholders in 2003 is estimated to range between 387,000 and 746,000, of which 160,000 to 306,000 were Indian nationals. As all data on H-1B/L-1 visaholders are gross numbers and gross jobs data for comparable categories are absent, the extent of the impact of these visa programs on the US labor market cannot be gauged precisely. A broad range of US industries and educational institutions are found to be employing H-1B recipients, with the IT industry being the dominant sector. Evidence of aggressive wage-cost cutting, including paying H-1B recipients only the legally mandated 95 percent of the prevailing US wage, is found among some H-1B employers, although no systematic abuse of the system is present.Outsourcing, offshoring, high-skilled labor, immigration, H1B/L-1 visas
Health Hazard Evaluation Report: HETA-91-0341-2380: Bryan Custom Plastics; Bryan, Ohio
No full textIn response to a request from the Allied Industrial Workers Union, an investigation was begun into possible hazardous working conditions at Bryan Custom Plastics (SIC-3089), Bryan, Ohio. The company manufactured plastic television cabinets and interior automotive door panels by an extrusion molding process. Workers in the spray finishing department apply a finish coating of lacquer-based paint. There were 32 spray finishers and mixing room employees. Workers complained about headaches and upper respiratory symptoms. Full shift, personal breathing zone and area sampling revealed no excess levels of exposure to total paint mist, toluene (108883), xylene (1330207), ethyl-benzene (100414), methyl- methacrylate (80626), methyl-ethyl-ketone (78933), methyl-isobutyl- ketone (108101), or n-butanol (71363). Carbon-monoxide (630080) concentrations ranged up to 34 and 90 parts per million in the spray finishing areas and quality control areas, respectively. The author concludes that health hazards from exposure to airborne particulates and organic solvents were not found at the time of the survey. There was a potential for overexposures to carbon-monoxide. The author recommends that carbon-monoxide levels be reduced, and work practices improved
An Analysis of Administrative Areas and Centres Used by Eight Human Service Agencies in Southern Ontario
No full textTitle: An Analysis of Administrative Areas and Centres Used by Eight Human Service Agencies in Southern Ontario, Author: Bryan H. Massam, Location: ThodeThis thesis describes the spatial arrangement of eight human service agencies for the case of Southern Ontario. Using the location of the administrative centres and the distribution of population, a measure of the compactness of each area is derived. This is the moment of inertia. The administrative centres are relocated within the areas currently used in such a way as to minimize the moment of inertia. This is the optimal location of the centre. By comparing the moment of inertia for the optimal location and moment of inertia for the actual location, an index of efficiency for each administrative unit is calculated. Using four variables a ranking of importance of administrative centres is provided. The approach is essentially quantitative.ThesisMaster of Arts (MA
Risk Assessment in Economic Feasibility Analysis: The Case of Ethanol Production in Texas
Get PDFThe objective of this study is to demonstrate the benefits of quantifying the economic viability of a proposed agribusiness under risk relative to a feasibility study which ignores risk. To achieve this objective, the economic viability of a 50 MMGPY ethanol facility in Texas is analyzed over a 10-year period in two ways: with no risk and with historical risk for prices and costs.Risk and Uncertainty,
Contributions to the Science of Environmental Impact Assessment: Three Papers on the Arctic Cisco (Coregonus autumnalis) of Northern Alaska
Get PDFEditor's Introduction -- D. W. Norton; An Assessment of the Colville River Delta Stock of Arctic Cisco--Migrants from Canada? -- B. J. Gallaway, W. B. Griffiths, P. C. Craig, W. J. Gazey, and J. W. Helmericks; Temperature Preference of Juvenile Arctic Cisco (Coregonus autumnalis) From the Alaskan Beaufort Sea -- R. G. Fechhelm, W. H. Neill, and B. J. Gallaway; Modeling Movements and Distribution of Arctic Cisco (Coregonus autumnalis) Relative to Temperature-Salinity Regimes of the Beaufort Sea Near the Waterflood Causeway, Prudhoe Bay, Alaska. -- W. H. Neill, R. G. Fechhelm, B. J. Gallaway, J. D. Bryan, and S. W. Anderson; Notice to Author
DC electrical distribution systems in bulidings
No full textAuthor name used in this publication: Bryan PongVersion of RecordPublishedPublisher permissio
Book Review: Sociopolitical Aspects of Disabilities
No full textAuthor: W. V. Bryan
Reviewer: Mark Sherry
Publisher: Charles H Thomas Publishers, 2002
Paper, ISBN 0-398-07240-X
Cloth, ISBN: 0-398-07239-6
Cost: Paperback - 63.95 US
History of the town of Worthington
No full textSecular history to 1854, by J.C. Rice.--Ecclesiastical history, by J.H. Bisbee.--Secular history from 1853-1874, by C.K. Brewster.Mode of access: Internet
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