Showing papers by "Amazon.com published in 1998"

Method and system for placing a purchase order via a communications network

Abstract: A method and system for placing an order to purchase an item via the Internet. The order is placed by a purchaser at a client system and received by a server system. The server system receives purchaser information including identification of the purchaser, payment information, and shipment information from the client system. The server system then assigns a client identifier to the client system and associates the assigned client identifier with the received purchaser information. The server system sends to the client system the assigned client identifier and an HTML document identifying the item and including an order button. The client system receives and stores the assigned client identifier and receives and displays the HTML document. In response to the selection of the order button, the client system sends to the server system a request to purchase the identified item. The server system receives the request and combines the purchaser information associated with the client identifier of the client system to generate an order to purchase the item in accordance with the billing and shipment information whereby the purchaser effects the ordering of the product by selection of the order button.

Rain forest fragmentation and the dynamics of amazonian tree communities

Abstract: Few studies have assessed effects of habitat fragmentation on tropical forest dynamics. We describe results from an 18-yr experimental study of the effects of rain forest fragmentation on tree-community dynamics in central Amazonia. Tree communities were assessed in 39 permanent, 1-ha plots in forest fragments of 1, 10, or 100 ha in area, and in 27 plots in nearby continuous forest. Repeated censuses of >56000 marked trees (≥10 cm diameter at breast height) were used to generate annualized estimates of tree mortality, damage, and turnover in fragmented and continuous forest. On average, forest fragments exhibited markedly elevated dynamics, apparently as a result of increased windthrow and microclimatic changes near forest edges. Mean mortality, damage, and turnover rates were much higher within 60 m of edges (4.01, 4.10, and 3.16%, respectively) and moderately higher within 60–100 m of edges (2.40, 1.96, and 2.05%) than in forest interiors (1.27, 1.48, and 1.15%). Less-pronounced changes in mortality and turnover rates were apparently detectable up to ∼300 m from forest edges. Edge aspect had no significant effect on forest dynamics. Tree mortality and damage rates did not vary significantly with fragment age, suggesting that increased dynamics are not merely transitory effects that occur immediately after fragmentation, while turnover rates increased with age in most (8/9) fragments. These findings reveal that fragmentation causes important changes in the dynamics of Amazonian forests, especially within ∼100 m of habitat edges. A mathematical “core-area model” incorporating these data predicted that edge effects will increase rapidly in importance once fragments fall below ∼100–400 ha in area, depending on fragment shape. Accelerated dynamics in fragments will alter forest structure, floristic composition, biomass, and microclimate and are likely to exacerbate effects of fragmentation on disturbance-sensitive species.

System and methods for collaborative recommendations

Abstract: A recommendation service is disclosed which uses collaborative filtering techniques to recommend books to users of a Web site. The Web site includes a catalog of the various titles that can be purchased via the site. The recommendation service includes a database of titles that have previously been rated and that can therefore be recommended by the service using collaborative filtering methods. At least initially, the titles and title categories (genres) that are included within this database (and thus included within the service) are respective subsets of the titles and categories included within the catalog. As users browse the site to read about the various titles contained within the catalog, the users are presented with the option of rating specific titles, including titles that are not currently included within the service. The ratings information obtained from this process is used to automatically add new titles and categories to the service. The breadth of categories and titles covered by the service thus grows automatically over time, without the need for system administrators to manually collect and input ratings data. To establish profiles for new users of the service, the service presents new users with a startup list of titles, and asks the new users to rate a certain number of titles on the list. To increase the likelihood that new users will be familiar with these titles, the service automatically generates the startup list by identifying the titles that are currently the most popular, such as the titles that have been rated the most over the preceding week.

Refining search queries by the suggestion of correlated terms from prior searches

Abstract: A search engine is disclosed which suggests related terms to the user to allow the user to refine a search. The related terms are generated using query term correlation data which reflects the frequencies with which specific terms have previously appeared within the same query. The correlation data is generated and stored in a look-up table using an off-line process which parses a query log file. The table is regenerated periodically from the most recent query submissions (e.g., the last two weeks of query submissions), and thus strongly reflects the current preferences of users. Each related term is presented to the user via a respective hyperlink which can be selected by the user to submit a modified query. In one embodiment, the related terms are added to and selected from the table so as to guarantee that the modified queries will not produce a NULL query result.

Use of electronic shopping carts to generate personal recommendations

Abstract: A computer-implemented service recommends products or other items to a user based on a set of items known to be of interest to the user, such as a set of items currently in the user's electronic shopping cart. In one embodiment, the service identifies items that are currently in the user's shopping cart, and uses these items to generate a list of additional items that are predicted to be of interest to the user, wherein an additional item is selected to include in the list based in-part upon whether that item is related to more than one of the items in the user's shopping cart. The item relationships are preferably determined by an off-line process that analyzes user purchase histories to identify correlations between item purchases. The additional items are preferably displayed to the user when the user views the contents of the shopping cart.

Effects of Forest Fragmentation on Recruitment Patterns in Amazonian Tree Communities

Abstract: Fragmentation can alter the ecology of rain forest remnants in many ways, but its long-term effects on tree communities are poorly understood. One phenomenon that has received little attention is tree regeneration in fragmented forests (Janzen 1983; Viana et al. 1997). Patterns of regeneration are important because they will ultimately determine the floristic composition of the remnant. Janzen (1983) suggested that fragments of tropical dry forest in Costa Rica are prone to invasions of weedy, generalist plant species from the surrounding modified matrix, which could progressively alter the floristic composition of remnants. Laurance (1991, 1997) proposed that fragments in some tropical regions are chronically disturbed by winds and other factors and may exhibit a general shift toward successional trees, lianas, and vines adapted for recurring disturbance. Using data collected over 13 years, we describe patterns of tree recruitment in a fragmented landscape in central Amazonia. We ask three questions: (1) Do rates of tree recruitment differ between fragmented and continuous forests? (2) Are recruitment rates influenced by fragment area, age, and proximity of forest edge? (3) Are regenerating trees in fragments biased toward successional species or against old-growth species?

A crisis in the making: responses of Amazonian forests to land use and climate change.

Abstract: At least three global-change phenomena are having major impacts on Amazonian forests: (1) accelerating deforestation and logging; (2) rapidly changing patterns of forest loss; and (3) interactions between human land-use and climatic variability. Additional alterations caused by climatic change, rising concentrations of atmospheric carbon dioxide, mining, overhunting and other large-scale phenomena could also have important effects on the Amazon ecosystem. Consequently, decisions regarding Amazon forest use in the next decade are crucial to its future existence.

Distributed live auction

Abstract: A method for distributing a live auction over the Internet to remote bidders. A human proxy attends the live auction in order to monitor the auction and compose status updates that are distributed to remote bidders via the Internet in real time to allow the remote bidders to follow the auction. Remote bidders may place bids for items that are transmitted via the Internet to the human proxy, who may then submit the bids to the auctioneer, components that facilitate distribution of the live auction over the Internet include: an auction console, an auction sever, collector/redistributor nodes, and client programs.

Effects of Water pH and Calcium Concentration on Ion Balance in Fish of the Rio Negro, Amazon

Abstract: We examined the effects of acute low-pH exposure on ion balance (Na+, Cl-, K+) in several species of fish captured from the Rio Negro, a dilute, acidic tributary of the Amazon. At pH 5.5 (untreated Rio Negro water), the four Rio Negro species tested (piranha preta, Serrasalmus rhombeus; piranha branca, Serrasalmus cf. holandi; aracu, Leporinus fasciatus; and pacu, Myleus sp.) were at or near ion balance; upon exposure to pH 3.5, while Na+ and Cl- loss rates became significant, they were relatively mild. In comparison, tambaqui (Colossoma macropomum), which were obtained from aquaculture and held and tested under the same conditions as the other fish, had loss rates seven times higher than all the Rio Negro species. At pH 3.0, rates of Na+ and Cl- loss for the Rio Negro fish increased three- to fivefold but were again much less than those observed in tambaqui. Raising water Ca2+ concentration from 10 micromol L-1 to 100 micromol L-1 during exposure to the same low pH's had no effect on rates of ion loss in the three species tested (piranha preta, piranha branca, aracu), which suggests that either they have such a high branchial affinity for Ca2+ that all sites are saturated at 10 micromol L-1 and additional Ca2+ had no effect, or that Ca2+ may not be involved in regulation of branchial ion permeability. For a final Rio Negro species, the cardinal tetra (Paracheirodon axelrodi), we monitored body Na+ concentration during 5 d of exposure to pH 6.0, 4.0, or 3.5. These pH's had no effect on body Na+ concentration. These data together suggest that exceptional acid tolerance is a general characteristic of fish that inhabit the dilute acidic Rio Negro and raise questions about the role of Ca2+ in regulation of branchial ion permeability in these fish.

Hypoxia adaptation in fish of the Amazon: a never-ending task

Abstract: In addition to seasonal long-term changes in dissolved oxygen and carbon dioxide, water bodies of the Amazon present periodic short-term episodes of hypoxia and even anoxia. To preserve gas exchange and acid base balance, fish of the Amazon have developed multiple adaptive solutions which occur at all biological levels. These solutions are thought to represent adaptive convergence rather than phylogenetic relatedness. Fish of the Amazon exposed to different experimental conditions adjust, for example, several parameters to improve oxygen transfer from the gas-exchange site to the tissues. These parameters include morphological changes such as the development of the lower lip in Colossoma, changes in ventilation rates, changes in circulatory parameters, increased circulating red blood cells, decreased levels of intraerythrocytic phosphates, and adjustments of intraerythrocytic pH (pHi). These adjustments that allow fish to survive both short- and long-term hypoxia occur in different degrees in different fi...

Red blood cell adrenergic responses in Amazonian teleosts

Abstract: Erythrocytes from Amazonian teleosts of the Rio Negro were surveyed for the presence of adrenergically mediated Na+/H+ exchange. Washed red blood cells (RBCs) incubated in HEPES-buffered Cortland saline were stimulated with 10−4 M L-adrenaline. The adrenergic response was clearly present in two characids, the tambaqui Colossoma macropomom and the jaraqui Semaprochilodus insignis, as demonstrated by a decrease in the pHc-pHi gradient across the RBC membrane, an uptake of Na+ from the extracellular medium, and RBC swelling. The latter was signalled by increased mean corpuscular volume (MCV) and decreased mean corpuscular haemoglobin concentration (MCHC). The response did not occur in two other characids, the black piranha Serrasalmus rhombeus and the aracu Leporinus fasciatus or in two silurid catfish, the piranambu Pinirampus pirinampu and the acari-bodo, armoured catfish, Pterygoplichthys multiradiatus. In acari-bodo, the Na+/H+ exchange response was similarly lacking under anoxic conditions. Oxygenated/deoxygenated comparisons revealed the presence of a marked Root effect in jaraqui and its absence in acari-bodo. GTP dominated over ATP as the major intracellular phosphate in all six species. There were no significant changes in any nucleoside phosphate (ATP, ADP, AMP, GTP, GDP, or GMP) in response to adrenaline in any species.

Plantation forestry in Brazil:projections to 2050

Abstract: Brazil is fortunate in having large areas of land that are not currently forested but that are suitable for silvicultural plantations. Changes in the area and regional distribution of the country’s silvicultural plantations imply a wide variety of environmental and social impacts. Projections of future development of plantation silviculture are needed for analyzing these impacts, as well as to serve as a reference scenario for evaluating the potential effects of climatic change on Brazil’s plantations, and for the related task of evaluating the implications of proposals to combat global warming by increasing the area of silvicultural plantations in Brazil beyond the extent to which they would otherwise expand. Such a reference scenario provides the control, or “business as usual” standard, against which one can compare the situation as affected by climatic change and/or by additional silvicultural or other activities carried out to help mitigate climatic change. Assuming constancy of climate, technology, per-capita consumption of wood products, and Brazil’s share of international trade, the area of plantations in 2050 would be 3.2 times larger than the area in 1991.

The value of human life in global warming impacts

Abstract: A recent article in Mitigation and Adaptation Strategies for Global Change by Fankhauser and Tol makes monetary estimates of potential global warming damages that assign higher value to each life lost in wealthy countries as opposed to poor ones. Regardless of how much sense such a procedure may make to GDP-oriented economists, it is morally unacceptable to most of the world and needlessly damages efforts to build support for any global warming mitigation and adaptation strategies that may be proposed. A better solution would be to use a money value of zero for human life losses and report separately the monetary and human life costs of warming (and benefits of mitigation).

Women in Action: a community development project in Amazonas

Abstract: Summary This article is a report of a Community Development Project currently being run by the Centre for Studies and Development in Environmental Education (CEDEA), at the National Institute for Amazon Research (INPA) in Manaus, Amazonas, Brazil. The Centre was inaugurated 3 years ago as part of an attempt to change the Institute's direction, from that of carrying out research for the scientific community to one that integrates research with sustainable development and social needs. CEDEA's team members embarked on a participatory community project, INPA and Society, that was developed with a community near the Institute. This is an urban community with economic, social, cultural and environmental problems that the project aims to approach. INPA and Society is divided into several projects, one of which is Women in Action. This is a report about the challenges that Women in Action has produced for both the Institute and the Centre. It also discusses the results that are being achieved, while commenting o...

Forest fragmentation: another perspective.

Abstract: In his recent (and very favorable) review of our edited book, Tropical Forest Remnants[1xLeigh, E.G Jr. Trends Ecol. Evol. 1997; 12: 414Abstract | Full Text PDFSee all References][1], Egbert Leigh raised some issues of general interest to those who study the ecology of fragmented habitats. I would like to respond to two of these points, and propose a differing view.First, I question Leigh's contention that, because of formidable taxonomic constraints, fragmentation researchers should focus on less-diverse, seasonal forests, rather than those of super-diverse regions like the Amazon, as is being attempted in the Biological Dynamics of Forest Fragments Project (BDFFP). The Amazon, in my view, is simply too extensive and important to ignore. Moreover, while it is true that the identification of over a thousand tree species in the BDFFP study area has been a massive challenge, there has been much progress in recent years. Important work on forest dynamics[2xFerreira, L.V and Laurance, W.F. Conserv. Biol. 1997; 11: 797–801Crossref | Scopus (115)See all References, 3xSee all References], biomass[4xLaurance, W.F et al. Science. 1997; 278: 1117–1118Crossref | Scopus (376)See all References][4], regeneration[5xSee all References, 6xSee all References], and phytosociology[7xSee all References][7]in our fragmented landscape has recently appeared, or will soon appear, in major journals.Second, Leigh suggests that the study of ecological interactions and distortions, revolving around plant communities, is needed to provide a `unified, coherent understanding of the effects of forest fragmentation.' Such interactions could occur, for example, if certain pollinators or seed-dispersers declined in fragments, thereby leading to the eventual collapse of their dependent plant species, which then might cause a cascade of ecological changes affecting yet other species.While this sounds useful and scientifically appealing, in practice there have been surprisingly few demonstrations of the importance of such higher-order interactions in fragmented habitats, especially given the prominent role that symbioses are known to play in tropical forests[8xSee all References][8]. Indeed, one of the chapters in our book, in which Australian investigators invested several years in a failed attempt to detect the effects of loss of a keystone seed-disperser (the cassowary) on its dependent tree species, concluded that the study of such interactions was fraught with risk, and often prone to failure[9xSee all References][9]. Given the inherent complexities and nonlinear behavior of many ecological interactions, I suggest that the nature, direction and magnitude of higher-order effects in fragmented habitats will often be extremely difficult to predict. Hence, while the study of higher-order interactions is likely to remain a useful arrow in the fragmentologist's quiver, we are far from ready to view it as a general paradigm for predicting the ecological consequences of fragmentation.

Process of recycling a liquid waste

Abstract: Recycling liquid waste and rendering particulate substances suitable for handling, transportation, or use. More specifically, preferred embodiments provide methods for recycling waste liquids such as latex paint by using them as an agglomeration agent to increase the particle size for particulate substances such as ash, dust, powders, sands, sludge, and fines.