Named Data Networking (NDN) is one of five projects funded by the U.S. National Science Foundation under its Future Internet Architecture Program. NDN has its roots in an earlier project, Content-Centric Networking (CCN), which Van Jacobson first publicly presented in 2006. The NDN project investigates Jacobson's proposed evolution from today's host-centric network architecture (IP) to a data-centric network architecture (NDN). This conceptually simple shift has far-reaching implications for how we design, develop, deploy, and use networks and applications. We describe the motivation and vision of this new architecture, and its basic components and operations. We also provide a snapshot of its current design, development status, and research challenges. More information about the project, including prototype implementations, publications, and annual reports, is available on named-data.net.

Nitrogen (N) deposition is widely considered an environmental problem that leads to biodiversity loss and reduced ecosystem resilience; but, N fertilization has also been used as a management tool for enhancing primary production and ground cover, thereby promoting the restoration of degraded lands. However, empirical evaluation of these contrasting impacts is lacking. We tested the dual effects of N enrichment on biodiversity and ecosystem functioning at different organizational levels (i.e., plant species, functional groups, and community) by adding N at 0, 1.75, 5.25, 10.5, 17.5, and 28.0 g N m À2 yr À1 for four years in two contrasting field sites in Inner Mongolia: an undisturbed mature grassland and a nearby degraded grassland of the same type. N addition had both quantitatively and qualitatively different effects on the two communities. In the mature community, N addition led to a large reduction in species richness, accompanied by increased dominance of early successional annuals and loss of perennial grasses and forbs at all N input rates. In the degraded community, however, N addition increased the productivity and dominance of perennial rhizomatous grasses, with only a slight reduction in species richness and no significant change in annual abundance. The mature grassland was much more sensitive to N-induced changes in community structure, likely as a result of higher soil moisture accentuating limitation by N alone. Our findings suggest that the critical threshold for N-induced species loss to mature Eurasian grasslands is below 1.75 g N m À2 yr À1 , and that changes in aboveground biomass, species richness, and plant functional group composition to both mature and degraded ecosystems saturate at N addition rates of approximately 10.5 g N m À2 yr À1 . This work highlights the tradeoffs that exist in assessing the total impact of N deposition on ecosystem function.

Grain-filling, an important trait that contributes greatly to grain weight, is regulated by quantitative trait loci and is associated with crop domestication syndrome. However, the genes and underlying molecular mechanisms controlling crop grain-filling remain elusive. Here we report the isolation and functional analysis of the rice GIF1 (GRAIN INCOMPLETE FILLING 1) gene that encodes a cell-wall invertase required for carbon partitioning during early grain-filling. The cultivated GIF1 gene shows a restricted expression pattern during grain-filling compared to the wild rice allele, probably a result of accumulated mutations in the gene's regulatory sequence through domestication. Fine mapping with introgression lines revealed that the wild rice GIF1 is responsible for grain weight reduction. Ectopic expression of the cultivated GIF1 gene with the 35S or rice Waxy promoter resulted in smaller grains, whereas overexpression of GIF1 driven by its native promoter increased grain production. These findings, together with the domestication signature that we identified by comparing nucleotide diversity of the GIF1 loci between cultivated and wild rice, strongly suggest that GIF1 is a potential domestication gene and that such a domestication-selected gene can be used for further crop improvement.

Investigation of the magnetic and transport properties of single-walled small-diameter carbon nanotubes embedded in a zeolite matrix revealed that at temperatures below 20 kelvin, 4 angstrom tubes exhibit superconducting behavior manifest as an anisotropic Meissner effect, with a superconducting gap and fluctuation supercurrent. The measured superconducting characteristics display smooth temperature variations owing to one-dimensional fluctuations, with a mean-field superconducting transition temperature of 15 kelvin. Statistical mechanic calculations based on the Ginzburg-Landau free-energy functional yield predictions that are in excellent agreement with the experiments.

Objective There is limited information on the public health impact of wildfires. The relationship of cardiorespiratory hospital admissions (n = 40 856) to wildfire-related particulate matter (PM2.5) during catastrophic wildfires in southern California in October 2003 was evaluated. Methods Zip code level PM2.5 concentrations were estimated using spatial interpolations from measured PM2.5, light extinction, meteorological conditions, and smoke information from MODIS satellite images at 250 m resolution. Generalised estimating equations for Poisson data were used to assess the relationship between daily admissions and PM2.5, adjusted for weather, fungal spores (associated with asthma), weekend, zip code-level population and sociodemographics. Results Associations of 2-day average PM2.5 with respiratory admissions were stronger during than before or after the fires. Average increases of 70 μg/m3 PM2.5 during heavy smoke conditions compared with PM2.5 in the pre-wildfire period were associated with 34% increases in asthma admissions. The strongest wildfire-related PM2.5 associations were for people ages 65– 99 years (10.1% increase per 10 μg/m3 PM2.5, 95% CI 3.0% to 17.8%) and ages 0–4 years (8.3%, 95% CI 2.2% to 14.9%) followed by ages 20–64 years (4.1%, 95% CI 20.5% to 9.0%). There were no PM2.5–asthma associations in children ages 5–18 years, although their admission rates significantly increased after the fires. Per 10 μg/m3 wildfire-related PM2.5, acute bronchitis admissions across all ages increased by 9.6% (95% CI 1.8% to 17.9%), chronic obstructive pulmonary disease admissions for ages 20–64 years by 6.9% (95% CI 0.9% to 13.1%), and pneumonia admissions for ages 5–18 years by 6.4% (95% CI 21.0% to 14.2%). Acute bronchitis and pneumonia admissions also increased after the fires. There was limited evidence of a small impact of wildfire-related PM2.5 on cardiovascular admissions. Conclusions Wildfire-related PM2.5 led to increased respiratory hospital admissions, especially asthma, suggesting that better preventive measures are required to reduce morbidity among vulnerable populations.

ObjectiveTo explore possible associations between autism spectrum disorders (ASD) and environmental exposures, we linked the California autism surveillance system to estimated hazardous air pollutant (HAP) concentrations compiled by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.MethodsSubjects included 284 children with ASD and 657 controls, born in 1994 in the San Francisco Bay area. We assigned exposure level by census tract of birth residence for 19 chemicals we identified as potential neurotoxicants, developmental toxicants, and/or endocrine disruptors from the 1996 HAPs database. Because concentrations of many of these were highly correlated, we combined the chemicals into mechanistic and structural groups, calculating summary index scores. We calculated ASD risk in the upper quartiles of these group scores or individual chemical concentrations compared with below the median, adjusting for demographic factors.ResultsThe adjusted odds ratios (AORs) were elevated by 50% in the top quartile of chlorinated solvents and heavy metals [95% confidence intervals (CIs), 1.1–2.1], but not for aromatic solvents. Adjusting for these three groups simultaneously led to decreased risks for the solvents and increased risk for metals (AORs for metals: fourth quartile = 1.7; 95% CI, 1.0–3.0; third quartile = 1.95; 95% CI, 1.2–3.1). The individual compounds that contributed most to these associations included mercury, cadmium, nickel, trichloroethylene, and vinyl chloride.ConclusionsOur results suggest a potential association between autism and estimated metal concentrations, and possibly solvents, in ambient air around the birth residence, requiring confirmation and more refined exposure assessment in future studies.

Summary1. The Eurasian steppe has long been subject to grazing by domestic ungulates at high levels, resulting in widespread deterioration of biodiversity and ecosystem services. While abundant evidence demonstrates that heavy grazing alters the ecosystem structure and function of grasslands, research on how grazing specifically affects ecosystem functioning and stoichiometry on broad scales is scarce because of a lack of adequate ungrazed reference sites. 2. We examined the effects of grazing on ecosystem functioning and C : N : P stoichiometry across a precipitation gradient along the 700 km China-Mongolia transect (CMT), covering three community types: meadow steppe, typical steppe and desert steppe. 3. Long-term grazing has dramatically altered the C, N and P pools and stoichiometry of steppe ecosystems along the CMT. Grazing reduced the C, N and P pools in above-ground biomass and litter, while the responses in below-ground biomass and soil C, N and P pools to grazing differed substantially among community types. 4. Grazing increased N content and decreased C : N ratios in all plant compartments, suggesting accelerated N cycling. The altered C : N : P stoichiometry may be explained by changes in the composition of species and functional groups as well as increased foliar N and P contents for the same species in grazed communities. 5. Synthesis and applications. Plant stoichiometric responses to grazing ranged from large in the meadow steppe to small in the typical steppe to generally insignificant in the desert steppe, implying that different underlying mechanisms operated along the regional precipitation gradient. Our findings suggest that reducing the stocking rate and restoring the vastly degraded steppes are essential to sustain native steppe biodiversity, ecosystem functioning and biological capacity for mitigating the impact of climate change in the Inner Mongolia grassland.

In Named Data Networking (NDN), packets carry data names instead of source or destination addresses. This change of paradigm leads to a new network forwarding plane: data consumers send Interest packets, routers forward them and maintain the state of all pending Interests, which is then used to guide Data packets back to the consumers. Maintaining the pending Interest state, together with the two-way Interest and Data exchange, enables NDN routers' forwarding process to quickly detect network problems and retry multiple alternative paths. In this paper we describe an initial design of NDN's forwarding plane and evaluate its data delivery performance under adverse conditions. Our results show that this stateful forwarding plane can successfully circumvent prefix hijackers, avoid failed links, and utilize multiple paths to mitigate congestion. We also compare NDN's performance with that of IP-based solutions to highlight the advantages of a stateful forwarding plane.