Car service and auto repairs are an essential aspect, which should be considered by every car owner. If you don?t maintain your automobile in the best condition, then you have to bear expensive repairs and car service costs at later point of time.
With proper and regular maintenance process, you can avoid unexpected breakdowns and expensive car service costs at later point of time. It will also save you much time and money. All you have to do is to approach right auto-repairs shop for maintenance procedure of your automobile.
Following are some advantages offered by regular maintenance process:
1. Less Money on Repairs ? You can save much money on auto repairs, when you get your automobile inspected at pre-determined intervals.
For instance, one should check fluid, engine oil levels and tire inflation levels at regular intervals of time. Note that it is very necessary to change engine oil and replace brakes, spark plugs and filters, as per the recommended outline mentioned in the user manual.
2. Decrease in Operating Costs ? With regular log book servicing, you will have to spend less on repairs. Regular car services of Melbourne will simply result in more efficient vehicle. Not only this, scheduled maintenance process will increase gas mileage and reduce operating costs. You can keep your expenditure to a minimum level.
3. Gives Long Life to Your Automobile ? If you postpone a maintenance process, then it will simply lead to further damage. Neglected car servicing is more likely to stop working with the passage of time and will require you to invest in heavy auto repairs. For this reason, you should consider preventative maintenance for your car.
4. Avoid Unnecessary Hassles ? It may happen that you face a vehicle breakdown that too in an unsafe or remote location. To avoid such a situation, it is very important to own a vehicle with good working condition. When you pay attention to car repairs, you can get them performed before the problem aggravates, you can save yourself from being left stranded.
5. Enhance the Appearance of Your Vehicle ? With regular auto repairs, you can maintain your car value for a long period of time. This is a very important factor, especially when you are ready to trade it in. Take help of a professional for this, who will provide you with sound recommendation on enhancing the performance and condition of your automobile.
The Automotive Experts brings a vast range of car services Melbourne, car repair and service and vehicle servicing. It offers repairs for all makes and models, without that heart-stopping price rate. It operates from three main locations: Brunswick, Knoxfield and Hallam. ?We aim to be the first choice of every customer for automobile repair or vehicle servicing,? said the spokesperson. ?We treat every car service with utmost care and respect.?
At Automotive Experts, customers can expect personalized service and high level of expertise arising from its experience of 40 years. Its professional team is fully qualified to offer quality servicing to all types of automobiles at extremely competitive rates. Their workshops are equipped with the latest technology to enhance the performance of customer?s vehicle. In every case, customers will know in advance exactly, an estimate of total servicing costs. In case, if additional work is required, customer will be informed about the same and no extra work will be commenced without customer?s approval. In this way, customers have full control of the cost of vehicle?s repair or servicing.
The life of a vehicle depends on how well it is maintained. To get the most out of automobile, manufacturers generally prescribe routine car services in Melbourne and when it should be carried out.
The Automotive Experts offers quality auto repairs, car service at affordable car service costs. They also offer special service like car inspections, vehicle safety report, oil filter change, oil change and top ups.
Pet owners: Tropical fish flakes are being recalled for salmonella. Are you affected?
It?s not often that Nemo has to worry about product recalls, but today?s the day he should listen up? or whatever it is that fish do.
Hartz Mountain Corporation, the makers of Wardley fish food and many other pet foods, is recalling Wardley Advanced Nutrition Perfect Protein Tropical Flake FishFood because it could be contaminated with salmonella. Salmonella is an organism which can cause serious and sometimes fatal infections, especially in those with weak immune systems. It can affect animals eating the product and there is a risk to humans from handling contaminated products like fish food.
See the recall details here.
The recall affects 1 oz. containers in the following lot codes:
PP34911
PP34912
PP35011
PP35012
Hartz encourages consumers with the product in their possession to discard it and contact the firm for a refund.
No illnesses have been reported in connection with the fish food, though fish owners with the recalled product should still be careful. Salmonella can exist in fish tanks, the substrate, and the ornaments.
Visit our marketplace for complete recall details and information on a refund.
Are you affected by this recall? Let us know in the comments.
The Windows operating system consists of various hive files. These hives are present in the '%systemroot%\System32\Config' folder. Windows uses these files to build up the registry. One of these files is the 'System' hive. It contains logical group of keys, subkeys and other values. The keys are necessary for the proper running of some of the critical programs in your system. Any corruption or damage to the 'System' hive may prevent the system from booting. As a consequence, you may encounter serious data loss. In order to recover hard disk data in such circumstances, you should use a reliable third party tool.
For instance, when you start your Windows 2000 based computer, you may receive the following error message on your screen:
?Windows 2000 could not start because the following file is missing or corrupt: \WINNT\SYSTEM32\CONFIG\SYSTEMced startup options for Windows 2000, press F8.
?
Cause
The above error occurs if there is insufficient memory available for the system hive. Though, System hive is approximately 3MB large, but when fragmented or damaged, it's size increases significantly. Also, if too many programs have been installed and removed from the system or if your computer shares too many resources, the registry may become large.
Solution
In order to fix the issue, you need to replace the System hive in the CONFIG folder. Follow these steps to perform the operation -
Boot the computer with Windows 2000 setup CD.
On the 'Welcome to Setup', press R to repair and then press C to enter the Recovery Console.
Choose the Windows installation and then type the Administrator password when prompted.
Run the given command to copy the 'System' file from the WINNT\Repair folder to the WINNT\System32\Config folder: copy c:\winnt\repair\system c:\winnt\system32\config\SYSTEM . If you receive a message to overwrite the file, press Y and press ENTER.
Restart the computer.
If the above mentioned resolution method fails to fix the issue, then you need to format the hard disk and reinstall the operating system. The process results in deletion of crucial data from the system. In order to recover disk data, you should take help of professional disk recovery software. These third-party tools can safely and efficiently recover all your lost files, photos, documents, emails, databases, etc.
Stellar Phoenix Windows Data Recovery is an advanced hard disk recovery software that performs quick and precise recovery of data from FAT, NTFS and exFAT file system based volumes. Furthermore, the software is compatible with Windows 7, Vista, Server 2003, XP, 2000, and NT4 (SP6).
?This book is not just a bargain, it?s a steal. It?s filled with practical, workable advice for anyone wanting to build wealth.??Mike Summey, co-author of the bestselling The Weekend Millionaire?s Secrets to Investing in Real Estate Anyone who seeks financial wealth must first learn the fundamental truths and models that drive it. The Millionaire Real Estate Investor represents the collected wisdom and experience of over 100 millionaire investors from all walks of life who pursued financial wealth and achieved the life-changing freedom it delivers. This book?in straightforward, no nonsense, easy-to-read style?reveals their proven strategies. The Millionaire Real Estate Investor is your handbook to the tried and true financial wealth building
A NASA spacecraft bolsters the case that ice lines the inside of polar craters on Mercury
By John Matson
?|
March 28, 2012
ICE FISHING: New maps from a Mercury orbiter support the long-standing hypothesis that the innermost planet harbors pockets of water ice. In this composite image radar imagery from Earth-based radio telescopes appears in yellow.Image: NASA/Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory/Carnegie Institution of Washington
THE WOODLANDS, Tex.?Mercury is a world of extremes. Daytime temperature on the planet closest to the sun can soar as high as 400 degrees Celsius near the equator, hot enough to melt lead. When day turns to night, the planet?s surface temperature plunges to below ?150 degrees C.
But some places on Mercury are slightly more stable. Inside polar craters on the diminutive planet are regions that never see the light of day, shaded as they are by their crater rims. The temperature there remains cold throughout the Mercury day?and during the Mercury year. Now new data from NASA?s MESSENGER spacecraft, presented at the annual Lunar and Planetary Science Conference, corroborate a long-held hypothesis that Mercury has squirreled away pockets of water ice in those shadowy craters, despite the sun?s proximity.
Beginning with a series of radar observations of Mercury two decades ago using some of the biggest radio dishes on Earth, planetary scientists have had good reason to suspect that the polar craters harbored ice deposits at or just below the surface. Radar images of the poles showed anomalously bright features?patches that reflected radio waves much better than the surrounding terrain, just as ice does. Many of those radar-bright features corresponded to the location of large impact craters as mapped by the Mariner 10 spacecraft in the 1970s. But Mariner saw less than half of Mercury, and researchers have long lacked a comprehensive atlas of the poles to compare with the radar imagery.
That all changed following MESSENGER?s 2011 arrival at Mercury. MESSENGER (a somewhat strained acronym for Mercury Surface, Space Environment, Geochemistry and Ranging) has orbited the innermost planet for just over a year and has charted Mercury?s surface in unprecedented detail. As Nancy Chabot of the Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory demonstrated in a conference talk, the maps MESSENGER has made match up nicely with the radar imagery of the poles.
?There is an excellent correlation between the radar-bright features and the shadowed locations in the craters,? Chabot said. ?All of the radar-bright regions are within a few pixels of a region that is shadowed on Mercury?s surface.? In other words, the putative ice deposits fall in the few perpetually cold locales on Mercury?the places where ice could plausibly remain stable over long periods of time. The available evidence, she noted, remains consistent with the hypothesized presence of water ice on Mercury.
The putative ice is essentially ubiquitous in the coldest northern craters, the large impact basins within 10 degrees of the north pole. ?In this region, nearly every crater that?s greater than 10 kilometers hosts a radar-bright deposit, which I think is really striking,? Chabot said.
But the apparently icy craters cover more of the northern hemisphere than might be expected. ?Craters hosting radar-bright features extend to latitudes as low as 67 degrees North,? Chabot said. ?These lower latitudes are a thermally challenging environment.? The radar hot spots also line craters less than 10 kilometers across, where the heat radiating from the basin?s sunlit rim would make for ice-unfriendly temperatures across the crater floor. At lower latitudes or in smaller craters, any ice deposits would likely require a thin insulating blanket, perhaps a layer of fine-grained surface material, or regolith, to keep it from sublimating away.
In fact, MESSENGER?s altimeter, which has fired more than 10 million laser pulses at Mercury to make detailed maps of the planet?s topography, seems to confirm that some insulating material blankets whatever ice may line the craters. Whereas radar can penetrate a thin layer of regolith to bounce off the ice beneath, the laser pulses are sensitive to reflectivity at the surface. Ice is very reflective at the 1.06-micron laser wavelength of the Mercury Laser Altimeter, Gregory Neumann of the NASA Goddard Space Flight Center explained in a conference talk, so exposed ice would return laser pulses more readily than its surroundings. ?Surprisingly, we?ve been reporting for some time that no, we don?t see this,? Neumann said. ?In fact we see quite the opposite.?
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Hey there, LightMeadow! Welcome to RolePlayGateway! I'm ViceVersus, a longtime member here, and it's very nice to meet you. :3
I think you'll be in fine shape if those are the kinds of roleplays you like. I can think of a few off the top of my head that are open and looking for players. Feel free to dive right in and start writing with people!
Don't forget to check out the RPG Rules (viewable from "Our Rules" at the top of the page) as you get settled in here. They'll give you an idea of the standards we hold ourselves to as a community. There's only, like, five things to read so don't worry. It's not a lot.
Uhhh. Hmm. I don't know what else to say! When did you start writing? What brought you to roleplaying? What brought you to this website?
If you have any questions about anything at all, please don't hesitate to ask.
Internet marketing can be either the simplest or one of the hardest ways to make money. People who pick a certain business model and keep working at it usually reach their goals. But if you jump from one marketing technique to another without actually working on it, then you?ll obviously face losses. So if you want to be a smart marketer, then you?ll have to focus on getting results, without worrying about the small things. What follows are some of the best reasons why internet marketing is such a powerful business model. Do not feel alone if you are experiencing doubts and feeling like your new business endeavor is way too much for you. IM business owners and marketers who have successfully taken advantage of http://www.mybinaryscode.com and who have been around the block a few times realize the truth in that statement. But that is why people with the financial means choose the outsourcing route.
There is no reason why you should hastily dismiss anything of possible value to your business. Nothing beats having a solid grasp on the details of outsourcing or anything else prior to using it. We make that cautionary statement only because it will pay to be smart before you even start looking for hired help.
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In conclusion, the advantages that we talked about in this article are just a tip of the ice berg. The real fun starts when you actually get into it and understand what it is all about. Perhaps right now you are reeling with the thought that there is more to learn and even more that we did not cover. All right, you have just read about these three approaches used with Wealthy Affiliate, but get ready because there is so much that was left out. Not everything you read will be directly applicable to your business, but it is still a great thing to learn new stuff just because you never know.
But we would always caution that you do not fall into the habit of using your research and learning as a crutch.
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How will you begin picking a sales lead generation strategy for your organization? Every single marketer is asking this particular question and finding various remedies. For marketers tight on time, it?s not easy to invest time developing new potential clients, and employing the expertise of a lead generation agency might be effective. Inevitably, each and every marketing professional must determine what?s more vital to them, time or money? If a marketing professional has the time and resources, this individual can be quite effective at obtaining qualified prospects, however, for modern-day marketers this isn?t generally conceivable. For those considering employing the help of a lead generation agency, there are a number of factors to think about.
What sort of company do you need to employ for your company?s sales lead generation program? Every company concentrates on niches and some agencies may only deliver B2C sales opportunities. The more specialized an agency is in your company?s field, the better your company?s chances are that the agency will generate qualified business lead. If they have no practical experience in your firm?s marketplace, they may be in search of prospects in all of the wrong locations, which signifies squandered time and expense for everybody. Look at the agency?s existing and former client roster so you can get a sense of what an company may possibly focus on if it is not apparent straight away. Besides that, ask your potential agency for client recommendations and search around to determine if clients are content with their success. If you?re going to invest the dollars for a sales lead generation program, it?s best to look around.
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And lastly, consider the agency?s communication methods. Is they agency tough to get in contact with? Do they respond to your emails straight away? If you feel like a company is leading you in circles, then it is smart not to begin a business partnership with them. Sales lead generation needs constant communication between the prospect and the service provider so that sales process remains easy and obtainable. If you aren?t paying attention to and addressing your user?s needs, they will opt for an organization that is.
Are you capable of handling your sales lead generation? If not, let a lead generation agency help you.
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Tiny shrimp-like creatures called copepods break through the ocean's surface and leap through the air to escape predators, US scientists say.
They have been investigating how the brightly-coloured Pontellid copepods, which live close to the surface, are so abundant yet so conspicuous to fish.
Writing in Proceedings of the Royal Society B, the scientists say copepods travel further in air than in water.
Predators are also left confused about where they will land, they say.
Almost all commercially important fish, including cod, pollock and whiting, feed on copepods.
There are reports from the late-19th Century of copepods breaking through the water surface but observers at the time thought this was to allow them to moult.
A later report proposed jumping was part of an escape from predators but was not confirmed.
Dr Brad Gemmell of the University of Texas in Austin, who is behind the new study, said there had been little research on predator-prey interaction around the few millimetres below the ocean's surface, a "unique and important habitat".
He said he found it "paradoxical" that Pontellid copepods, in particular, were so abundant yet lived where they ought to be an easy target for fish.
Unlike other species of copepods, they do not migrate down to darker waters where they can hide during daylight hours.
Instead, they stay close to the surface and are often bright blue or green to protect them from UV radiation. They are also 3mm (0.1 inches) long, larger than other species.
This, said Dr Gemmell, would suggest they should have a poor survival rate.
Continue reading the main story
What is a copepod?
It is one of the most abundant metazoans on the planet. Metazoans include all multicellular animals except sponges
It detects food sources by sense of smell, and follows vapour trails
It feeds on phytoplankton (microscopic plants)
Its predators include cod, pollock and whiting
Most live for a couple of months
Some migrate every day to the bottom of the sea to escape predators, others stay close to the surface
Source: Professor Richard Lampitt, National Oceanography Centre, Southampton
However, his research shows they have the ability to jump out of the water, often travelling 10 to 20 times their own body length through the air, to escape hungry fish and get out of their perspective field.
The team's calculations show copepods use up to 39% of their kinetic energy to break through the surface tension of the water. Flying fish, by comparison, use less than 0.07%.
This means copepods have to balance the risk of being eaten with the cost to their fitness by avoiding unnecessary escapes, the paper suggests.
They also have to make sure they travel far enough to avoid being chased or coming under another attack.
It is suggested in the paper that certain species of copepods may have special adaptations to make it easier for them to jump out of the water, although further investigation is needed.
One suggestion is that the body surface of jumping copepods is more resistant to water than species that stay underwater.
Another is that they are able to inject chemicals to reduce the surface tension of the water by three to six times.
Contact: Christa Stratton cstratton@geosociety.org Geological Society of America
New Geosphere science posted online March 20, 2012
Boulder, Colo., USA Highlights include new entries to the special issues "Seeing the True Shape of Earth's Surface" and "Origin and Evolution of the Sierra Nevada and Walker Lane." Also online: 3-D modeling of the area in the Pacific Ring of Fire affected by the magnitude 8.1 earthquake on 29 Sept.; another article comparing three different 3-D modeling software packages; and the identification of ancient marine terraces in areas of dense tree cover using airborne LiDAR.
Abstracts for these and other Geosphere papers are available at http://geosphere.gsapubs.org/. Representatives of the media may obtain complimentary copies of Geosphere articles by contacting Christa Stratton at the address above.
Please discuss articles of interest with the authors before publishing stories on their work, and please make reference to Geosphere in articles published. Contact Christa Stratton for additional information or assistance.
Non-media requests for articles may be directed to GSA Sales and Service, gsaservice@geosociety.org.
Emergent and animated COLLADA models of the Tonga Trench and Samoa Archipelago: Implications for geoscience modeling, education, and research Declan G. De Paor et al., Physics Dept., Old Dominion University, Norfolk, Virginia 23529, USA. Posted online 20 Mar. 2012; doi: 10.1130/GS758.1.
On 29 Sept. 2009, a deadly tsunamigenic earthquake struck American Samoa. The magnitude 8.1 quake occurred near a point where the Pacific "Ring of Fire" goes through a sharp bend. To the south and west, the Pacific tectonic plate is torn in the subsurface with a part of it subducting under the Tonga region. Authors Declan G. De Paor of Old Dominion University and colleagues have created 3-D models of the complex crustal structure of the region, suitable for viewing in Google Earth. Their models represent a number of working hypotheses that explain the tectonics of the region. Some models, presented in Geosphere's unique online platform, emerge from the Google Earth terrain and are animated to help students understand what's going on. Others permit the user to view the subsurface down to lower mantle levels.
Assessing the impact of program selection on the accuracy of 3D geologic models Kelsey E. MacCormack, University Guelph, 50 Stone Rd. East, Guelph, Ontario N1G 2W1, Canada; and Carolyn H. Eyles, McMaster University. Posted online 20 Mar. 2012; doi: 10.1130/GS732.1.
The increased demand for 3-D geologic models in recent years has led to a rise in the number of 3-D modeling software packages. This article by Kelsey E. MacCormack and Carolyn H. Eyles examines the differences between 3-D geologic models produced using three different modeling software packages (ArcGIS, ROCKWORKS 2006, and VIEWLOG). To ensure that program selection was the only variable influencing the results, identical datasets were interpolated by each of the three modeling programs, using the inverse distance weighting (IDW) and ordinary kriging (OK) algorithms. The results indicate that the 3-D models produced by each of the modeling programs using the OK and IDW interpolation algorithms are inconsistent. MacCormack and Eyles conclude that program selection has a particularly significant influence on the model results when modeling complex subsurface environments with clustered data, a common situation when working with geologic and/or environmental data.
Discovering marine terraces using airborne LiDAR along the Mendocino-Sonoma coast, northern California Christopher J. Bowles and Eric Cowgill, University of California, One Shields Avenue, Davis, CA 95616-8605, USA. Posted online 20 Mar. 2012; doi: 10.1130/GS702.1.
Marine terraces are planar features in the landscape that record the extent to which Earth's surface has been uplifted above sea level over time. Researchers Christopher J. Bowles and Eric Cowgill present a method for discovering previously unidentified marine terraces in areas of dense tree cover by using data from airborne laser scanning surveys. To test their method, they investigated a 70-km-long section of the northern California coast in Mendocino and Sonoma counties between Fort Ross and Point Arena. In this area, the method reveals 851 individual platforms that Bowles and Cowgill interpret to be a suite of marine terraces. These platforms range in elevation from 100 to 450 meters above sea level, are generally elongate parallel to the modern coastline and one another, and have elevations that increase systematically from west to east in a step-like fashion. Matching the elevations of these platforms with those predicted from sea-level curves suggests the surface-uplift rate for the northern coast of California has been ~0.2 mm/yr over the past two million years. This rate is similar to, but lower than the previously determined uplift rate of ~0.3 mm/yr for a ~23 m-high marine terrace in the area.
Neogene deformation and granite emplacement in the metamorphic units of northern Apennines (Italy): Insights from mylonitic marbles in the Porto Azzurro Giovanni Musumeci, Universita di Pisa, Dept. of Earth Sciences, Via S.Maria 53, Pisa, Pisa I-56126, Italy and Luca Vaselli, Instituto di Geoscienze e Georisorse-Sezione di Pisa. Published online 20 Mar. 2012; doi: 10.1130/GS665.1.
In the northern Tyrrhenian Sea, late Miocene intrusions (Monte Capanne pluton and Porto Azzurro pluton) were emplaced at upper crustal levels (less than 0.2 GPa) in the thrust systems of Elba Island. Detailed structural analysis in the contact aureole of the Porto Azzurro pluton (eastern Elba) led to discovery of two decameter-scale carbonate shear zones, namely the Calanchiole and Felciaio shear zones. These structures represent two weakened layers in the contact aureole in which west dipping mylonitic foliation, sheath folds, boudinage structures, and upright folds developed under metamorphic conditions retrograde from pyroxene hornfels (thermal peak) to hornblende-greenschist hornfels facies (retrograde cooling). Moreover, geometric and kinematic features indicate that both shear zones correspond to ductile thrusts, which led to internal stacking of the contact aureole. Authors Giovanni Musumeci and Luca Vaselli conclude that because Elba Island is a key area in the northern Apennines-northern Tyrrhenian Sea system, the shear zones give clear indications that, in the northern Apennines, magmatic activity was coeval with crustal shortening with development of out of sequence thrust systems. This suggestion rules out the previous interpretations emphasizing the role of crustal extension and gives a new perspective about tectonic regime and mode of granite emplacement in the Late Neogene evolution of northern Tyrrhenian Sea-northern Apennine system.
Late Cretaceous gravitational collapse of the southern Sierra Nevada batholith, California Alan D. Chapman et al., Division of Geological and Planetary Sciences, California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, California 91125, USA, and Dept. of Geosciences, University of Arizona, Tucson, Arizona 85721, USA. Published online 20 Mar. 2012; doi: 10.1130/GS740.1.
The Sierra Nevada batholith is an ~600-km-long, NNW-trending composite arc assemblage consisting of a myriad of plutons exhibiting a distinct transverse zonation in structural, petrologic, geochronologic, and isotopic patterns. This zonation is most clearly expressed by a west-to-east variation from mafic to felsic plutonic assemblages. To the south, the depth of exposure increases markedly, and fragments of shallow-level eastern Sierra Nevada batholith affinity rocks overlie deeper-level western zone rocks and subjacent subduction accretion assemblages along a major Late Cretaceous detachment system. Alan D. Chapman and colleagues assess the magnitude of displacement along this detachment system by palinspastic reconstruction of vertical piercing points provided by batholithic and metamorphic pendant structure and stratigraphy. Integration of new and published data from plutonic and metamorphic framework assemblages in the southern Sierra Nevada batholith reveal seven potential correlations between dispersed crustal fragments and the Sierra Nevada batholith autochthon. Each correlation suggests at least 50 km of south- to southwest-directed transport and tectonic excision of ~5? km of crust along the Late Cretaceous detachment system. The timing and pattern of regional dispersion of crustal fragments in the southern Sierra Nevada batholith is most consistent with Late Cretaceous collapse above the underplated accretionary complex. Chapman and colleagues thus infer (1) a high degree of coupling between the shallow and deep crust during extension, and (2) that the development of modern landscape in southern California was greatly preconditioned by Late Cretaceous tectonics.
The Fine Gold Intrusive Suite: The roles of basement terranes and magma source development in the Early Cretaceous Sierra Nevada batholith Jade Star Lackey et al., Geology Dept., Pomona College, Claremont, California 91711, USA. Posted online 20 Mar. 2012; doi: 10.1130/GS745.1.
The Fine Gold Intrusive Suite is one of the largest (more than 2000 square kilometers) and oldest intrusive complexes in the Sierra Nevada batholith (California, USA) and therefore contains a wealth of information about nascent magmatic processes in a convergent margin arc. Because the suite intrudes both accreted oceanic and/or island-arc terranes and continental crust, it provides perspective on how convergent margin magmatism recycles existing crust versus reworking of fringing island arcs into continental crust. Such insight informs our understanding of how continental crust formation may have operated in the Phanerozoic as compared to earlier in Earth history. Jade Star Lackey and colleagues present new data showing that the largely tonalitic suite was emplaced over about 19 million years (124? Ma), in three pulses that young from west to east. Although the Fine Gold Intrusive Suite is comparable to the Late Cretaceous voluminous intrusive suite of the eastern Sierra in terms of duration and age zoning of magmatism, the influence of preexisting basement compositions and differing degrees of organization of the magma sources with age is more pronounced. In addition, the findings show that recycling of fringing arc terranes into continental crust is relatively rapid and that estimates of the growth of Phanerozoic continental crust from such reprocessing should be revised upward.
Magma hybridization in the middle crust: Possible consequences for deep-crustal magma mixing Calvin G. Barnes et al., Dept. of Geosciences, Texas Tech University, Lubbock, Texas 79409-1053, USA. Posted online 20 Mar. 2012; doi: 10.1130/GS730.1.
The compositions of magmas in many continental arcs -- zones of intense magmatism formed long continental margins above subduction zones -- are commonly explained by equilibrium of the magmas with garnet. Where its chemical effects are observed, magma-garnet equilibrium is traditionally interpreted to occur at or near the base of continental crust, because magnesium-rich garnet is not stable at lower pressures. This study by Calvin G. Barnes and colleagues describes examples from north-central Norway in which the process of magma mixing in the middle crust resulted in garnet stability at lower-than-expected pressure conditions. Garnet became stable because the hybrid magma was both Fe- and Al-rich, owing to mixing of Fe-rich basaltic magmas with Al-rich granitic ones. Mixing of similar end members to produce Fe- and Al-rich hybrids in the lower crust should result in formation of high proportions of garnet in the hybrid. The high-density, garnet-rich hybrids so produced could promote delamination and foundering of the lower crust.
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Contact: Christa Stratton cstratton@geosociety.org Geological Society of America
New Geosphere science posted online March 20, 2012
Boulder, Colo., USA Highlights include new entries to the special issues "Seeing the True Shape of Earth's Surface" and "Origin and Evolution of the Sierra Nevada and Walker Lane." Also online: 3-D modeling of the area in the Pacific Ring of Fire affected by the magnitude 8.1 earthquake on 29 Sept.; another article comparing three different 3-D modeling software packages; and the identification of ancient marine terraces in areas of dense tree cover using airborne LiDAR.
Abstracts for these and other Geosphere papers are available at http://geosphere.gsapubs.org/. Representatives of the media may obtain complimentary copies of Geosphere articles by contacting Christa Stratton at the address above.
Please discuss articles of interest with the authors before publishing stories on their work, and please make reference to Geosphere in articles published. Contact Christa Stratton for additional information or assistance.
Non-media requests for articles may be directed to GSA Sales and Service, gsaservice@geosociety.org.
Emergent and animated COLLADA models of the Tonga Trench and Samoa Archipelago: Implications for geoscience modeling, education, and research Declan G. De Paor et al., Physics Dept., Old Dominion University, Norfolk, Virginia 23529, USA. Posted online 20 Mar. 2012; doi: 10.1130/GS758.1.
On 29 Sept. 2009, a deadly tsunamigenic earthquake struck American Samoa. The magnitude 8.1 quake occurred near a point where the Pacific "Ring of Fire" goes through a sharp bend. To the south and west, the Pacific tectonic plate is torn in the subsurface with a part of it subducting under the Tonga region. Authors Declan G. De Paor of Old Dominion University and colleagues have created 3-D models of the complex crustal structure of the region, suitable for viewing in Google Earth. Their models represent a number of working hypotheses that explain the tectonics of the region. Some models, presented in Geosphere's unique online platform, emerge from the Google Earth terrain and are animated to help students understand what's going on. Others permit the user to view the subsurface down to lower mantle levels.
Assessing the impact of program selection on the accuracy of 3D geologic models Kelsey E. MacCormack, University Guelph, 50 Stone Rd. East, Guelph, Ontario N1G 2W1, Canada; and Carolyn H. Eyles, McMaster University. Posted online 20 Mar. 2012; doi: 10.1130/GS732.1.
The increased demand for 3-D geologic models in recent years has led to a rise in the number of 3-D modeling software packages. This article by Kelsey E. MacCormack and Carolyn H. Eyles examines the differences between 3-D geologic models produced using three different modeling software packages (ArcGIS, ROCKWORKS 2006, and VIEWLOG). To ensure that program selection was the only variable influencing the results, identical datasets were interpolated by each of the three modeling programs, using the inverse distance weighting (IDW) and ordinary kriging (OK) algorithms. The results indicate that the 3-D models produced by each of the modeling programs using the OK and IDW interpolation algorithms are inconsistent. MacCormack and Eyles conclude that program selection has a particularly significant influence on the model results when modeling complex subsurface environments with clustered data, a common situation when working with geologic and/or environmental data.
Discovering marine terraces using airborne LiDAR along the Mendocino-Sonoma coast, northern California Christopher J. Bowles and Eric Cowgill, University of California, One Shields Avenue, Davis, CA 95616-8605, USA. Posted online 20 Mar. 2012; doi: 10.1130/GS702.1.
Marine terraces are planar features in the landscape that record the extent to which Earth's surface has been uplifted above sea level over time. Researchers Christopher J. Bowles and Eric Cowgill present a method for discovering previously unidentified marine terraces in areas of dense tree cover by using data from airborne laser scanning surveys. To test their method, they investigated a 70-km-long section of the northern California coast in Mendocino and Sonoma counties between Fort Ross and Point Arena. In this area, the method reveals 851 individual platforms that Bowles and Cowgill interpret to be a suite of marine terraces. These platforms range in elevation from 100 to 450 meters above sea level, are generally elongate parallel to the modern coastline and one another, and have elevations that increase systematically from west to east in a step-like fashion. Matching the elevations of these platforms with those predicted from sea-level curves suggests the surface-uplift rate for the northern coast of California has been ~0.2 mm/yr over the past two million years. This rate is similar to, but lower than the previously determined uplift rate of ~0.3 mm/yr for a ~23 m-high marine terrace in the area.
Neogene deformation and granite emplacement in the metamorphic units of northern Apennines (Italy): Insights from mylonitic marbles in the Porto Azzurro Giovanni Musumeci, Universita di Pisa, Dept. of Earth Sciences, Via S.Maria 53, Pisa, Pisa I-56126, Italy and Luca Vaselli, Instituto di Geoscienze e Georisorse-Sezione di Pisa. Published online 20 Mar. 2012; doi: 10.1130/GS665.1.
In the northern Tyrrhenian Sea, late Miocene intrusions (Monte Capanne pluton and Porto Azzurro pluton) were emplaced at upper crustal levels (less than 0.2 GPa) in the thrust systems of Elba Island. Detailed structural analysis in the contact aureole of the Porto Azzurro pluton (eastern Elba) led to discovery of two decameter-scale carbonate shear zones, namely the Calanchiole and Felciaio shear zones. These structures represent two weakened layers in the contact aureole in which west dipping mylonitic foliation, sheath folds, boudinage structures, and upright folds developed under metamorphic conditions retrograde from pyroxene hornfels (thermal peak) to hornblende-greenschist hornfels facies (retrograde cooling). Moreover, geometric and kinematic features indicate that both shear zones correspond to ductile thrusts, which led to internal stacking of the contact aureole. Authors Giovanni Musumeci and Luca Vaselli conclude that because Elba Island is a key area in the northern Apennines-northern Tyrrhenian Sea system, the shear zones give clear indications that, in the northern Apennines, magmatic activity was coeval with crustal shortening with development of out of sequence thrust systems. This suggestion rules out the previous interpretations emphasizing the role of crustal extension and gives a new perspective about tectonic regime and mode of granite emplacement in the Late Neogene evolution of northern Tyrrhenian Sea-northern Apennine system.
Late Cretaceous gravitational collapse of the southern Sierra Nevada batholith, California Alan D. Chapman et al., Division of Geological and Planetary Sciences, California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, California 91125, USA, and Dept. of Geosciences, University of Arizona, Tucson, Arizona 85721, USA. Published online 20 Mar. 2012; doi: 10.1130/GS740.1.
The Sierra Nevada batholith is an ~600-km-long, NNW-trending composite arc assemblage consisting of a myriad of plutons exhibiting a distinct transverse zonation in structural, petrologic, geochronologic, and isotopic patterns. This zonation is most clearly expressed by a west-to-east variation from mafic to felsic plutonic assemblages. To the south, the depth of exposure increases markedly, and fragments of shallow-level eastern Sierra Nevada batholith affinity rocks overlie deeper-level western zone rocks and subjacent subduction accretion assemblages along a major Late Cretaceous detachment system. Alan D. Chapman and colleagues assess the magnitude of displacement along this detachment system by palinspastic reconstruction of vertical piercing points provided by batholithic and metamorphic pendant structure and stratigraphy. Integration of new and published data from plutonic and metamorphic framework assemblages in the southern Sierra Nevada batholith reveal seven potential correlations between dispersed crustal fragments and the Sierra Nevada batholith autochthon. Each correlation suggests at least 50 km of south- to southwest-directed transport and tectonic excision of ~5? km of crust along the Late Cretaceous detachment system. The timing and pattern of regional dispersion of crustal fragments in the southern Sierra Nevada batholith is most consistent with Late Cretaceous collapse above the underplated accretionary complex. Chapman and colleagues thus infer (1) a high degree of coupling between the shallow and deep crust during extension, and (2) that the development of modern landscape in southern California was greatly preconditioned by Late Cretaceous tectonics.
The Fine Gold Intrusive Suite: The roles of basement terranes and magma source development in the Early Cretaceous Sierra Nevada batholith Jade Star Lackey et al., Geology Dept., Pomona College, Claremont, California 91711, USA. Posted online 20 Mar. 2012; doi: 10.1130/GS745.1.
The Fine Gold Intrusive Suite is one of the largest (more than 2000 square kilometers) and oldest intrusive complexes in the Sierra Nevada batholith (California, USA) and therefore contains a wealth of information about nascent magmatic processes in a convergent margin arc. Because the suite intrudes both accreted oceanic and/or island-arc terranes and continental crust, it provides perspective on how convergent margin magmatism recycles existing crust versus reworking of fringing island arcs into continental crust. Such insight informs our understanding of how continental crust formation may have operated in the Phanerozoic as compared to earlier in Earth history. Jade Star Lackey and colleagues present new data showing that the largely tonalitic suite was emplaced over about 19 million years (124? Ma), in three pulses that young from west to east. Although the Fine Gold Intrusive Suite is comparable to the Late Cretaceous voluminous intrusive suite of the eastern Sierra in terms of duration and age zoning of magmatism, the influence of preexisting basement compositions and differing degrees of organization of the magma sources with age is more pronounced. In addition, the findings show that recycling of fringing arc terranes into continental crust is relatively rapid and that estimates of the growth of Phanerozoic continental crust from such reprocessing should be revised upward.
Magma hybridization in the middle crust: Possible consequences for deep-crustal magma mixing Calvin G. Barnes et al., Dept. of Geosciences, Texas Tech University, Lubbock, Texas 79409-1053, USA. Posted online 20 Mar. 2012; doi: 10.1130/GS730.1.
The compositions of magmas in many continental arcs -- zones of intense magmatism formed long continental margins above subduction zones -- are commonly explained by equilibrium of the magmas with garnet. Where its chemical effects are observed, magma-garnet equilibrium is traditionally interpreted to occur at or near the base of continental crust, because magnesium-rich garnet is not stable at lower pressures. This study by Calvin G. Barnes and colleagues describes examples from north-central Norway in which the process of magma mixing in the middle crust resulted in garnet stability at lower-than-expected pressure conditions. Garnet became stable because the hybrid magma was both Fe- and Al-rich, owing to mixing of Fe-rich basaltic magmas with Al-rich granitic ones. Mixing of similar end members to produce Fe- and Al-rich hybrids in the lower crust should result in formation of high proportions of garnet in the hybrid. The high-density, garnet-rich hybrids so produced could promote delamination and foundering of the lower crust.
###
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Contact: Bryan Ghosh bghosh@plos.org 44-122-344-2837 Public Library of Science
The United States military and intelligence communities have developed a close relationship with the scientific establishment. In particular, they fund and utilize an array of neuroscience applications, generating profound ethical issues.
Neuroscience offers possibilities for cutting edge, deployable solutions for the needs of national security and defence, but are, or at least should be, tempered by questions of scientific validity, consequential ethical considerations, and concern for the relationship between science and security. This debate is explored in an essay by Jonathan D Moreno and Michael N Tennison, published March 20 in the online, open-access journal PLoS Biology.
Rapid advances in basic neuroscience over the last decade facilitate many "dual use" applications; those of both military and civilian interest. Neuroscientists who receive military funding may not fully appreciate the potentially lethal implications of their work. This paper seeks to cultivate a culture of dual use awareness, in both the scientific community and the general public.
For example, brain-computer interfaces, which have already been used to make monkeys control walking robots remotely, could enable humans to operate military devices while sheltered from the reality of combat. Also, research suggests that neuromodulation technologies, such as transcranial magnetic stimulation, could be used to enhance or suppress certain neurological capacities of soldiers on the battlefield. In addition, neuroscientific deception detection, while putatively performing better than traditional 'lie-detector' polygraphs, raises questions of reliability and privacy.
The authors suggest that issues such as these "need to be addressed to ensure the pragmatic synthesis of ethical accountability and national security". Just as many nuclear scientists of the time discussed the issues of using of atomic weapons, contributing to the test ban treaties of the 1960s, neuroscientists of today could engage the ethical, legal, and social implications of the militarization of their work.
###
Funding: The authors received no specific funding for this work.
Competing interests: The authors have declared that no competing interests exist.
Citation: Tennison MN, Moreno JD (2012) Neuroscience, Ethics, and National Security: The State of the Art. PLoS Biol 10(3): e1001289. doi:10.1371/journal.pbio.1001289
CONTACT:
Jonathan D. Moreno
Center for Bioethics, Department of History and Sociology of Science
3401 Market Street
University of Pennsylvania
Philadelphia, PA 19103
UNITED STATES
Tel: +1-215-898-7136
morenojd@mail.med.upenn.edu
[ | E-mail | Share ]
?
AAAS and EurekAlert! are not responsible for the accuracy of news releases posted to EurekAlert! by contributing institutions or for the use of any information through the EurekAlert! system.
Contact: Bryan Ghosh bghosh@plos.org 44-122-344-2837 Public Library of Science
The United States military and intelligence communities have developed a close relationship with the scientific establishment. In particular, they fund and utilize an array of neuroscience applications, generating profound ethical issues.
Neuroscience offers possibilities for cutting edge, deployable solutions for the needs of national security and defence, but are, or at least should be, tempered by questions of scientific validity, consequential ethical considerations, and concern for the relationship between science and security. This debate is explored in an essay by Jonathan D Moreno and Michael N Tennison, published March 20 in the online, open-access journal PLoS Biology.
Rapid advances in basic neuroscience over the last decade facilitate many "dual use" applications; those of both military and civilian interest. Neuroscientists who receive military funding may not fully appreciate the potentially lethal implications of their work. This paper seeks to cultivate a culture of dual use awareness, in both the scientific community and the general public.
For example, brain-computer interfaces, which have already been used to make monkeys control walking robots remotely, could enable humans to operate military devices while sheltered from the reality of combat. Also, research suggests that neuromodulation technologies, such as transcranial magnetic stimulation, could be used to enhance or suppress certain neurological capacities of soldiers on the battlefield. In addition, neuroscientific deception detection, while putatively performing better than traditional 'lie-detector' polygraphs, raises questions of reliability and privacy.
The authors suggest that issues such as these "need to be addressed to ensure the pragmatic synthesis of ethical accountability and national security". Just as many nuclear scientists of the time discussed the issues of using of atomic weapons, contributing to the test ban treaties of the 1960s, neuroscientists of today could engage the ethical, legal, and social implications of the militarization of their work.
###
Funding: The authors received no specific funding for this work.
Competing interests: The authors have declared that no competing interests exist.
Citation: Tennison MN, Moreno JD (2012) Neuroscience, Ethics, and National Security: The State of the Art. PLoS Biol 10(3): e1001289. doi:10.1371/journal.pbio.1001289
CONTACT:
Jonathan D. Moreno
Center for Bioethics, Department of History and Sociology of Science
3401 Market Street
University of Pennsylvania
Philadelphia, PA 19103
UNITED STATES
Tel: +1-215-898-7136
morenojd@mail.med.upenn.edu
[ | E-mail | Share ]
?
AAAS and EurekAlert! are not responsible for the accuracy of news releases posted to EurekAlert! by contributing institutions or for the use of any information through the EurekAlert! system.
NEW YORK (Reuters) - Dan Magder recently gave up a top job with private equity firm Lone Star Funds to strike out on his own and become a landlord.
He's joining a growing list of big and small investors who see fat profits to be made in renting out foreclosed homes, especially now the U.S. government is moving ahead with a trial project to sell big pools of single-family homes that Fannie Mae currently owns in some of the hardest-hit housing markets.
Investors seeking higher yields are drawn to foreclosures because the rental market is red hot. But the heated competition for foreclosed homes is reminiscent of the frothy expectations that seem to accompany each new Wall Street investing craze.
Even proponents of buying foreclosed homes are advising caution about the kind of returns that investors can expect to reap and the potential negative headlines that can come with being a landlord.
Critics, meanwhile, contend the federal government is fostering a transfer of wealth of sorts by selling big pools of foreclosed homes to big fund investors and high-net-worth individuals. There's also concern that some of the players who helped create the housing crisis will now benefit by buying foreclosed homes at a steep discount.
Between them, Fannie and Freddie Mac own more than 200,000 foreclosed homes. The nation's banks own more than 600,000 single-family homes, according to RealtyTrac, a housing tracking service.
Housing experts expect the foreclosure machinery to crank up again now that regulators and banks have agreed to a $25 billion settlement to deal with earlier foreclosure abuses.
Some of the high-profile institutional investors who are committing money to buying foreclosed homes - or seriously considering jumping in - include private equity firm TPG Capital, investment firm Oaktree Capital Management, Warren Buffett's Berkshire Hathaway Inc., Starwood Capital, Och-Ziff Capital Management and bond fund manager TCW, say people familiar with the fast-growing market.
PILOT PROJECT
The Federal Housing Finance Agency, which regulates Fannie and Freddie Mac, expects it will receive a considerable number of bids in April for the initial round of 2,500 Fannie-owned homes in cities like Atlanta, Chicago, Los Angeles and Phoenix.
"This is really a test and we don't know what the results will be," says Meg Burns, senior associate director for housing and regulatory policy for the FHFA. "But the beauty of this pilot is we are going out with properties that are largely rented already, so people know what the cash flows look like and we know?it is far preferable to have people living in the homes rather than the properties sitting vacant."
In August, when the FHFA first announced its intention to conduct bulk sales for Fannie and Freddie properties, it received expressions of interest from more than 4,000 investor groups, not-for-profits and other organizations.
If the pilot is successful, the FHFA is also considering selling off pools of distressed mortgages held by Fannie and Freddie, according to people familiar with discussions about that.
On the Internet, the gold rush mentality clearly has taken hold with some small investment firms. Wong Diversified International Investments of Austin, Texas, for example, offers a fund to invest in foreclosed homes, boasting on its website that it is pursuing the Fannie bulk sale.
"It is clearly over-hyped, but I think this is real and it's going to happen," said Magder, who about a week ago left Lone Star, where he had focused on distressed banks and financial services firms. "There is definitely room for people who have a well-thought-out operational plan and are careful about putting the pieces together."
Magder has formed Rock Creek Capital Group, based in Washington, D.C., and intends to raise money from investors and submit a bid for some of the foreclosed homes Fannie is selling in Los Angeles and Phoenix and across Florida.
RETURN ON INVESTMENT
One of the most bullish investors is Carrington Capital Management, which has teamed up with Los Angeles-based OakTree Capital. They have created a $450 million fund to buy foreclosed homes in bulk and rent them out.
In a marketing document for one of its funds, Carrington claims that without using leverage or borrowed money it can generate an annual yield of 7 percent from rental income alone. Its long-term strategy is to package the fund into a publicly traded real estate investment trust. If that strategy is successful, Carrington projects investors can see an internal rate of return of 25 percent over three years.
Rick Sharga, an executive vice president with Carrington, says the firm is optimistic that if the Fannie auction attracts a lot of bidders, then banks will begin holding their own bulk sales of foreclosed homes.
Other investors looking at the foreclosed home market say Carrington's projections seem too rosy and they are projecting a return on investment of between 8 percent and 15 percent. That said, in an environment where U.S. Treasuries are yielding less than 2.5 percent on a 10-year Treasury note, those kind of returns are piquing the interest of wealthy individuals.
Miami-based Carlos Guajardo, who is considering bidding for some of the Fannie properties being sold in bulk in Florida, says he is seeking to raise about $50 million, largely from wealthy individuals and small family offices. To date, his firm Maynada Capital Advisors has acquired about 70 foreclosed homes in southeast Florida, which he has fixed up and is in the process of renting out.
In Las Vegas, Laus Abdo is doing something similar and he's trying to expand his potential reach by partnering with a hedge fund or private equity firm to back him.
"I think the majority of your return in this portfolio comes in the form of cash flow from renting, not capital appreciation, unless you buy properties at a huge discount," says Abdo, executive director at TriArchic Advisors, a Las Vegas-based real estate advisory and management firm.
Even as some investors are getting into the market, others are looking at getting out because they fear the presence of big institutional players will drive up prices.
New York hedge fund manager Jason Ader says he and a business partner in Phoenix are looking at selling some of the more than 100 homes they acquired at foreclosure auctions over the past year. Ader, founder of Ader Investment Management, said the market in Phoenix for foreclosed homes began getting more competitive this year. He expects institutional money will start to crowd out smaller investors bidding for the Fannie properties.
PR NIGHTMARE
Some hedge fund managers say they're staying out of the market largely for fear of getting vilified as being a bad landlord if the need comes to evict a tenant. One manager who did not want to be identified said while there's a lot of money to be made from investing in foreclosed homes, "it is a potential PR nightmare."
In February, Phil Angelides, the former chairman of a federal commission set up to look into the causes of the financial crisis, stepped down as executive chairman of Mortgage Resolution Partners one month after Reuters reported on his involvement in the company which aimed to turn a profit from buying distressed mortgages. Angelides' involvement had drawn scrutiny on Capitol Hill, where one congressman sent a letter warning about potential political influence peddling.
Already, some liberal economists are questioning the wisdom of the federal government pushing to sell homes owned by Fannie and Freddie to institutional investors at a potential 20-30 percent discount to prevailing market price.
"This is actually moving the underlying physical assets, or homes, to the top 1 percent," says L. Randall Wray, a professor of economics at the University of Missouri-Kansas City and a senior scholar with Bard College's Levy Economics Institute.
Laus, the Las Vegas housing entrepreneur, says there could be a "potential backlash" if some of the buyers are subsidiaries of the big banks that got bailed out by the federal government.
But many more public policy experts say the bulk sales by the government are worth trying, given the huge stockpile of foreclosed homes controlled by Fannie and Freddie.
"We have a shortage of rental housing already and I think this is a win-win situation," says Kenneth Rosen, chairman of Rosen Consulting Group, which advises on urban planning and real estate management.
In February, Rosen co-authored a report with mortgage-backed securities guru Lewis Ranieri, which advocated the need for a private sector solution to the foreclosure crisis. A Ranieri-backed hedge fund, Selene Finance, has been investing in distressed mortgages for the past few years and is now eyeing foreclosed homes.
"I don't think the money to do this is the problem," says Rosen. "It's the execution."
(Reporting By Matthew Goldstein and Jennifer Ablan; Editing by Claudia Parsons)
It?s not often that Nemo has to worry about product recalls, but today?s the day he should listen up? or whatever it is that fish do.
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Public release date: 21-Mar-2012
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