Prospect of Enhanced Geothermal system in baseload power generation

Given the strength of commodity prices in recent years, concerns over energy security and widening adoption of carbon emission pricing, renewables are well positioned to play growing role in global energy mix. Geothermal energy is on the face of it. By harnessing the heat of the earth, geothermal power plants tap into a virtually inexhaustible and continuous source of energy, using a small footprint facility to provide baseload electricity that is virtually CO2 and waste free. Geothermal projects today center on the exploitation of hydrothermal resources- reservoirs of naturally occurring water. This could change with Enhanced Geothermal System (EGS), a new form of geothermal exploitation being tested in areas that are not hydrothermal. This paper discusses the prospect of Enhanced (or Engineered) Geothermal System as a means to the baseload power generation. It also focuses on the technology behind creating engineered reservoirs, drilling costs and also the economics involved. It also reviews the environmental impacts as well as the areas for possible developments

Feature extraction of human sleep EEG signals using Wavelet Transform and Fourier Transform

Electroencephalogram (EEG) is a complex signal resulting from postsynaptic potentials of cortical pyramidal cells and an important brain state indicator with specific state dependent features. Modern brain research is intimately linked to the feasibility to record the EEG and to its quantitative analysis. EEG spectral analysis is an important method to investigate the hidden properties and hence the brain activities. Spectral analysis of sleep EEG signal provides acute insight into the features of different stages of sleep which can be utilized to differentiate between normal and pathological conditions. This paper describes the process of extracting features of human sleep EEG signals through the use of multi resolution Discrete Wavelet Transform and Fast Fourier Transform. Discrete Wavelet Transform offers representations of the signals in the time-frequency plane giving information regarding the time localization of the spectral components at different stages of sleep in human beings and Fast Fourier Transform provides the spectral information. This paper also discusses the clinical correlation associated with sleep EEG signals in brief

Risk Evaluation of Brick Kiln Smoke to Acacia arabica

Risk analysis is an important technique to estimate impacts on the environment for adopting effective measures to avoid risks. This field study was conducted to investigate the risk of brick kiln (BK) smoke on the shoots of Acacia arabica. Different phenotypic parameters including morphology and growth of shoots and epidermal imprints of the leaves were studied in the vicinity of a brick kiln situated 500 meters away from Lahore-Raiwind Road, Lahore, Pakistan. Results show that smoke exposure has posed differential effects on shoots i.e. some shoots of same tree remained normal, others died and still others were badly affected by the smoke. Moreover, the number of leaves and fresh weight in the smoke affected shoots significantly reduced as compared with normal ones. The study of the epidermal imprints of the leaves of these normal and smoke effected shoots revealed that the mean values of the stomatal size of both adaxial and abaxial surfaces of the normal and smoke effected leaves were not statistically significant. However, the number of stomata on both epidermal layers of smoke effected leaves was significantly reduced as compared with normal ones. This study showed that due to the exposure to BK smoke, the growth of Acacia arabica trees in the field was significantly suppressed

Comparative Analysis of Calcineurin Inhibitor-Based Methotrexate and Mycophenolate Mofetil-Containing Regimens for Prevention of Graft-versus-Host Disease after Reduced-Intensity Conditioning Allogeneic Transplantation

The combination of a calcineurin inhibitor (CNI) such as tacrolimus (TAC) or cyclosporine (CYSP) with methotrexate (MTX) or with mycophenolate mofetil (MMF) has been commonly used for graft-versus-host disease (GVHD) prophylaxis after reduced-intensity conditioning (RIC) allogeneic hematopoietic cell transplantation (alloHCT), but there are limited data comparing efficacy of the 2 regimens. We evaluated 1564 adult patients who underwent RIC alloHCT for acute myelogenous leukemia (AML) and acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL), chronic myelogenous leukemia (CML), and myelodysplastic syndrome (MDS) from 2000 to 2013 using HLA-identical sibling (matched related donor [MRD]) or unrelated donor (URD) peripheral blood graft and received CYSP or TAC with MTX or MMF for GVHD prophylaxis. Primary outcomes of the study were acute and chronic GVHD and overall survival (OS). The study divided the patient population into 4 cohorts based on regimen: MMF-TAC, MMF-CYSP, MTX-TAC, and MTX-CYSP. In the URD group, MMF-CYSP was associated with increased risk of grade II to IV acute GVHD (relative risk [RR], 1.78; P <.001) and grade III to IV acute GVHD (RR, 1.93; P =.006) compared with MTX-TAC. In the URD group, use of MMF-TAC (versus MTX-TAC) lead to higher nonrelapse mortality. (hazard ratio, 1.48; P =.008). In either group, no there was no difference in chronic GVHD, disease-free survival, and OS among the GVHD prophylaxis regimens. For RIC alloHCT using MRD, there are no differences in outcomes based on GVHD prophylaxis. However, with URD RIC alloHCT, MMF-CYSP was inferior to MTX-based regimens for acute GVHD prevention, but all the regimens were equivalent in terms of chronic GVHD and OS. Prospective studies, targeting URD recipients are needed to confirm these results

Who are the women who enrolled in the POSITIVE trial: a global study to support young hormone receptor positive breast cancer survivors desiring pregnancy

Background: Premenopausal women with early hormone-receptor positive (HR+) breast cancer receive 5-10 years of adjuvant endocrine therapy (ET) during which pregnancy is contraindicated and fertility may wane. The POSITIVE study investigates the impact of temporary ET interruption to allow pregnancy. Methods: POSITIVE enrolled women with stage I-III HR + early breast cancer, <42 years, who had received 18-30 months of adjuvant ET and wished to interrupt ET for pregnancy. Treatment interruption for up to 2 years was permitted to allow pregnancy, delivery and breastfeeding, followed by ET resumption to complete the planned duration. Findings: From 12/2014 to 12/2019, 518 women were enrolled at 116 institutions/20 countries/4 continents. At enrolment, the median age was 37 years and 74.9 % were nulliparous. Fertility preservation was used by 51.5 % of women. 93.2 % of patients had stage I/II disease, 66.0 % were node-negative, 54.7 % had breast conserving surgery, 61.9 % had received neo/adjuvant chemotherapy. Tamoxifen alone was the most prescribed ET (41.8 %), followed by tamoxifen + ovarian function suppression (OFS) (35.4 %). A greater proportion of North American women were <35 years at enrolment (42.7 %), had mastectomy (59.0 %) and received tamoxifen alone (59.8 %). More Asian women were nulliparous (81.0 %), had node negative disease (76.2%) and received tamoxifen + OFS (56.0 %). More European women had received chemotherapy (69.3 %). Interpretation: The characteristics of participants in the POSITIVE study provide insights to which patients and doctors considered it acceptable to interrupt ET to pursue pregnancy. Similarities and variations from a regional, sociodemographic, disease and treatment standpoint suggest specific sociocultural attitudes across the world. (c) 2021 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Ltd. This is an open access article under the CC BY-NC-ND license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/)

A synthesis of evidence for policy from behavioural science during COVID-19

Scientific evidence regularly guides policy decisions1, with behavioural science increasingly part of this process2. In April 2020, an influential paper3 proposed 19 policy recommendations (‘claims’) detailing how evidence from behavioural science could contribute to efforts to reduce impacts and end the COVID-19 pandemic. Here we assess 747 pandemic-related research articles that empirically investigated those claims. We report the scale of evidence and whether evidence supports them to indicate applicability for policymaking. Two independent teams, involving 72 reviewers, found evidence for 18 of 19 claims, with both teams finding evidence supporting 16 (89%) of those 18 claims. The strongest evidence supported claims that anticipated culture, polarization and misinformation would be associated with policy effectiveness. Claims suggesting trusted leaders and positive social norms increased adherence to behavioural interventions also had strong empirical support, as did appealing to social consensus or bipartisan agreement. Targeted language in messaging yielded mixed effects and there were no effects for highlighting individual benefits or protecting others. No available evidence existed to assess any distinct differences in effects between using the terms ‘physical distancing’ and ‘social distancing’. Analysis of 463 papers containing data showed generally large samples; 418 involved human participants with a mean of 16,848 (median of 1,699). That statistical power underscored improved suitability of behavioural science research for informing policy decisions. Furthermore, by implementing a standardized approach to evidence selection and synthesis, we amplify broader implications for advancing scientific evidence in policy formulation and prioritization

H2/CO2 (FED-BATCH) FERMENTATION FOR BIOLOGICAL PRODUCTION OF CH4 BY PURE CULTURE OF HYDROGENOTROPHIC ARCHAEA

With the recent approval of the Paris agreement, we achieved another step in favour of sustainable energy production, declaring once again that fossil fuels must be replaced by a new generation of fuels from renewable end recycled sources. However, new processes for producing green energy need to be competitive and appealing not only at an environmental level but also economic. The biological methane production (BMP) process owns a great potential due to its ability to convert directly gaseous substrates simply using the natural metabolism of methanogens which act as bio-catalysts. This study wants to present results related to CH4 production from H2 and CO2 in exponential fed-batch fermentations using pure culture of Methanothermobacter marburgensis in a 2L reactors system. By the support of design of experiment (DoE) methods, different experiments were performed varying the value of exponential factors of liquid dilution rates, gas feeding rates and H2/CO2 ratio. The quantitative analysis reveals that by increasing the gas feeding rate and the trace elements dilution rate the culture performances improved. The highest value of methane evolution rate (MER) achieved here is the highest ever published among the studies concerning fed-batch fermentation of H2 and CO2 by Methanothermobacter marburgensis. Furthermore, high trace element (TE) feeding was decisive for the biomass growth. A second hydrogenotrophic archaeal strain, Methanothermococcus okinawensis, was also applied for the BMP process and tested in the 2L bioreactors in fed-batch mode. The first preliminary results are presented here and they show that Methanothermococcus okinawensis was able to grow and to produce methane, but the conditions in the reactor were limiting the culture growth and the productivity. On the base of the considerations on the TE importance, Methanothermococcus okinawensis was also cultivated at increasing concentration of TE in closed batch mode in order to examine the effects on its performances. It was found that higher TE amount boosted both growth and CH4 productivity in closed batch cultures compared to standard concentration of TE. Therefore, varying the TE concentration within the tolerance thresholds could be a turning point for producing high biomass concentrations and high ME

Genetic characterization of hepatitis C viruses in HIV positive people who inject drugs, Dhaka, Bangladesh

10.4172/2155-6113.1000165Journal of AIDS and Clinical Research3