Iron is a key nutrient for phytoplankton growth in the surface ocean. At high latitudes, the iron cycle is closely related to the dynamics of sea ice. In recent decades, Arctic sea ice cover has been declining rapidly and Antarctic sea ice has exhibited large regional trends. A significant reduction of sea ice in both hemispheres is projected in future climate scenarios. In order to adequately study the effect of sea ice on the polar iron cycle, sea ice bearing iron was incorporated in the Community Earth System Model (CESM). Sea ice acts as a reservoir for iron during winter and releases the trace metal to the surface ocean in spring and summer. Simulated iron concentrations in sea ice generally agree with observations in regions where iron concentrations are relatively low. The maximum iron concentrations simulated in Arctic and Antarctic sea ice are much lower than observed, which is likely due to underestimation of iron inputs to sea ice or missing mechanisms. The largest iron source to sea ice is suspended sediments, contributing fluxes of iron of 2.2 × 108mol Fe month-1in the Arctic and 4.1 × 106mol Fe month-1in the Southern Ocean during summer. As a result of the iron flux from ice, iron concentrations increase significantly in the Arctic. Iron released from melting ice increases phytoplankton production in spring and summer and shifts phytoplankton community composition in the Southern Ocean. Results for the period of 1998 to 2007 indicate that a reduction of sea ice in the Southern Ocean will have a negative influence on phytoplankton production. Iron transport by sea ice appears to be an important process bringing iron to the central Arctic. The impact of ice to ocean iron fluxes on marine ecosystems is negligible in the current Arctic Ocean, as iron is not typically the growth-limiting nutrient. However, it may become a more important factor in the future, particularly in the central Arctic, as iron concentrations will decrease with declining sea ice cover and transport.

Recently, advances in processor architecture have become the driving force for new programming models in the computing industry, as ever newer multicore processor designs with increasing number of cores are introduced on schedules regimented by marketing demands. As a result, collaborative parallel (rather than simply concurrent) implementations of important applications, programming languages, models, and even algorithms have been forced to adapt to these architectures to exploit the available raw performance. We believe that this optimization regime is flawed. In this paper, we present an alternate approach that, rather than starting with an existing hardware/software solution laced with hidden assumptions, defines the computational problems of interest and invites architects, researchers and programmers to implement novel hardware/software co-designed solutions. Our work builds on the previous ideas of computational dwarfs, motifs, and parallel patterns by selecting a representative set of essential problems for which we provide: An algorithmic description; scalable problem definition; illustrative reference implementations; verification schemes. This testbed will enable comparative research in areas such as parallel programming models, languages, auto-tuning, and hardware/software co-design. For simplicity, we focus initially on the computational problems of interest to the scientific computing community but proclaim the methodology (and perhaps a subset of the problems) as applicable to other communities. We intend to broaden the coverage of this problem space through stronger community involvement.

Abstract We reported previously that sheep affected with footrot (FR) have lower whole-blood selenium (WB-Se) concentrations and that parenteral Se-supplementation in conjunction with routine control practices accelerates recovery from FR. The purpose of this follow-up study was to investigate the mechanisms by which Se facilitates recovery from FR. Sheep affected with FR (n = 38) were injected monthly for 15 months with either 5 mg Se (FR-Se) or saline (FR-Sal), whereas 19 healthy sheep received no treatment. Adaptive immune function was evaluated after 3 months of Se supplementation by immunizing all sheep with a novel protein, keyhole limpet hemocyanin (KLH). The antibody titer and delayed-type hypersensitivity (DTH) skin test to KLH were used to assess humoral immunity and cell-mediated immunity, respectively. Innate immunity was evaluated after 3 months of Se supplementation by measuring intradermal responses to histamine 30 min after injection compared to KLH and saline, and after 15 months of Se supplementation by isolating neutrophils and measuring their bacterial killing ability and relative abundance of mRNA for genes associated with neutrophil migration. Compared to healthy sheep, immune responses to a novel protein were suppressed in FR-affected sheep with smaller decreases in FR-affected sheep that received Se or had WB-Se concentrations above 250 ng/mL at the time of the immune assays. Neutrophil function was suppressed in FR-affected sheep, but was not changed by Se supplementation or WB-Se status. Sheep FR is associated with depressed immune responses to a novel protein, which may be partly restored by improving WB-Se status (> 250 ng/mL).

Indirect Drive Inertial Confinement Fusion Experiments on the National Ignition Facility (NIF) have achieved a burning plasma state with neutron yields exceeding 170 kJ, roughly 3 times the prior record and a necessary stage for igniting plasmas. The results are achieved despite multiple sources of degradations that lead to high variability in performance. Results shown here, for the first time, include an empirical correction factor for mode-2 asymmetry in the burning plasma regime in addition to previously determined corrections for radiative mix and mode-1. Analysis shows that including these three corrections alone accounts for the measured fusion performance variability in the two highest performing experimental campaigns on the NIF to within error. Here we quantify the performance sensitivity to mode-2 symmetry in the burning plasma regime and apply the results, in the form of an empirical correction to a 1D performance model. Furthermore, we find the sensitivity to mode-2 determined through a series of integrated 2D radiation hydrodynamic simulations to be consistent with the experimentally determined sensitivity only when including alpha-heating.

We present updated measurements of the branching fractions for B0 meson decays to ηK0, ηη, ηφ, ηω, η′K0, η′η′, η′φ, and η′ω, and branching fractions and CP-violating charge asymmetries for B+ decays to ηπ+, ηK+, η′π+, and η′K+. The data represent the full data set of 467×106 BB̄ pairs collected with the BABAR detector at the PEP-II asymmetric-energy e+e- collider at the SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory. Besides large signals for the four charged B decay modes and for B0→η′K0, we find evidence for three B0 decay modes at greater than 3.0σ significance. We find B(B0→ηK0)=(1.15-0.38+0. 43±0.09)×10-6, B(B0→ηω)=(0.94-0.30+0.35±0.09) ×10-6, and B(B0→η′ω)=(1.01-0.38+0.46±0.09) ×10-6, where the first (second) uncertainty is statistical (systematic). For the B+→ηK+ decay mode, we measure the charge asymmetry Ach(B+→ηK+)=-0.36±0.11±0.03. © 2009 The American Physical Society.

We report measurements of the branching fractions of neutral and charged B meson decays to final states containing a K1(1270) or K1(1400) meson and a charged pion. The data, collected with the BABAR detector at the SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory, correspond to 454×106 BB̄ pairs produced in e+e- annihilation. We measure the branching fractions B(B0→K1(1270)+π-+K1(1400) +π -)=3.1-0.7+0.8×10-5 and B(B+→ K1(1270) 0π++K1(1400) 0π+)=2.9-1.7+2.9×10 -5 (<8.2×10-5 at 90% confidence level), where the errors are statistical and systematic combined. The B0 decay mode is observed with a significance of 7.5σ, while a significance of 3.2σ is obtained for the B+ decay mode. Based on these results, we estimate the weak phase α=(79±7±11)°from the time-dependent CP asymmetries in B0→a1(1260)±π decays. © 2010 The American Physical Society.

We study the reaction e+e-→e+e-π0 in the single tag mode and measure the differential cross section dσ/dQ2 and the γγ *→π0 transition form factor in the momentum transfer range from 4 to 40GeV2. At Q2>10GeV2 the measured form factor exceeds the asymptotic limit predicted by perturbative QCD. The analysis is based on 442fb-1 of integrated luminosity collected at PEP-II with the BABAR detector at e+e- center-of-mass energies near 10.6 GeV. © 2009 The American Physical Society.