Wind Energy And The Environment

Worldwide interest in wind energy has been growing over a number of years. We describe UK wind energy activities with particular reference to the Department of Energy's programme and survey progress with large wind turbines overseas. We review the results of assessment studies which show that wind energy has the potential for supplying a significant proportion of the nation's electricity needs, at a cost which at the lower end of the estimates could probably compete with other conventionl sources. Significant exploitation of the wind energy resource would require large numbers of machines and it is uncertain whether such numbers would in practice turn out to be environmentally acceptable. Factors which will influence this will include (not necessarily in order of importance) visual acceptability and land use restrictions, ecological impacts, electro-magnetic interference, noise and safety. We review each of these aspects and conclude that for land based wind turbines the major impacts are visual intrusiveness, electromagnetic interference (particularly TV interference) and noise. These factors could be significant at all sites, other effects are likely to be site-specific. There are a wide range of pre-existing activities and interests which may impose constraints on the location of wind turbine arrays offshore. Nevertheless when allowance is made for these, the remaining resource is comparable with total UK electricity demand and the size of the available resource need not ·be a constraint on interest in offshore wind power

Polynomial diffeomorphisms of C^2, IV: The measure of maximal entropy and laminar currents

This paper concerns the dynamics of polynomial automorphisms of ${\bf C}^2$. One can associate to such an automorphism two currents $\mu^\pm$ and the equilibrium measure $\mu=\mu^+\wedge\mu^-$. In this paper we study some geometric and dynamical properties of these objects. First, we characterize $\mu$ as the unique measure of maximal entropy. Then we show that the measure $\mu$ has a local product structure and that the currents $\mu^\pm$ have a laminar structure. This allows us to deduce information about periodic points and heteroclinic intersections. For example, we prove that the support of $\mu$ coincides with the closure of the set of saddle points. The methods used combine the pluripotential theory with the theory of non-uniformly hyperbolic dynamical systems

Problems and Aspects of Energy-Driven Wavefunction Collapse Models

Four problematic circumstances are considered, involving models which describe dynamical wavefunction collapse toward energy eigenstates, for which it is shown that wavefunction collapse of macroscopic objects does not work properly. In one case, a common particle position measuring situation, the apparatus evolves to a superposition of macroscopically distinguishable states (does not collapse to one of them as it should) because each such particle/apparatus/environment state has precisely the same energy spectrum. Second, assuming an experiment takes place involving collapse to one of two possible outcomes which is permanently recorded, it is shown in general that this can only happen in the unlikely case that the two apparatus states corresponding to the two outcomes have disjoint energy spectra. Next, the progressive narrowing of the energy spectrum due to the collapse mechanism is considered. This has the effect of broadening the time evolution of objects as the universe evolves. Two examples, one involving a precessing spin, the other involving creation of an excited state followed by its decay, are presented in the form of paradoxes. In both examples, the microscopic behavior predicted by standard quantum theory is significantly altered under energy-driven collapse, but this alteration is not observed by an apparatus when it is included in the quantum description. The resolution involves recognition that the statevector describing the apparatus does not collapse, but evolves to a superposition of macroscopically different states.Comment: 17 page

In‐cell Catalysis by Tethered Organo−Osmium Complexes Generates Selectivity for Breast Cancer Cells

Anticancer agents that exhibit catalytic mechanisms of action offer a unique multi‐targeting strategy to overcome drug resistance. Nonetheless, many in‐cell catalysts in development are hindered by deactivation by endogenous nucleophiles. We have synthesised a highly potent, stable Os‐based 16‐electron half‐sandwich (‘piano stool’) catalyst by introducing a permanent covalent tether between the arene and chelated diamine ligand. This catalyst exhibits antiproliferative activity comparable to the clinical drug cisplatin towards triple‐negative breast cancer cells and can overcome tamoxifen resistance. Speciation experiments revealed Os to be almost exclusively albumin‐bound in the extracellular medium, while cellular accumulation studies identified an energy‐dependent, protein‐mediated Os accumulation pathway, consistent with albumin‐mediated uptake. Importantly, the tethered Os complex was active for in‐cell transfer hydrogenation catalysis, initiated by co‐administration of a non‐toxic dose of sodium formate as a source of hydride, indicating that the Os catalyst is delivered to the cytosol of cancer cells intact. The mechanism of action involves the generation of reactive oxygen species (ROS), thus exploiting the inherent redox vulnerability of cancer cells, accompanied by selectivity for cancerous cells over non‐tumorigenic cells

First Gale Western Butte Capping-Unit Compositions, and Relationships to Earlier Units Along Curiosity's Traverse

The Curiosity rover has been traversing through the clay-bearing unit (Glen Torridon; GT), approaching Greenheugh pediment, a large, fan-shaped surface surrounding the mouth of Gediz Vallis on the lower slope of Mt. Sharp. The pediment unconformably overlies the underlying bedrock, and is hence younger than units of the Mt. Sharp group. Orbital imaging of the pediment has shown it to have a slightly lower albedo and higher thermal inertia than neighboring units, to be relatively retentive of craters (e.g., erosion resistant), and to exhibit curved bedforms suggestive of lithified eolian bedforms. No diagnostic spectral signature has been observed from orbit. Recent rover positions allowed remote imaging of the contact between Greenheugh pediment and the eroded Murray formation strata below it, showing that the pediment capping material is cross-bedded and relatively thin (1-3 m), and suggesting that the pediment may have been much larger at one time. As Curiosity approached the edge of the pediment, the team investigated two buttes named Central and Western. The latter butte contains dark capping material that initially looked similar to the pediment cap, but close inspection revealed important physical differences. Here we report on compositions from ChemCam of two float rocks that appear to have rolled down from the capping unit, and on potential relation-ships to other targets along the traverse of the rover

The Stratigraphy of Central and Western Butte and the Greenheugh Pediment Contact

The Greenheugh pediment at the base of Aeolis Mons (Mt. Sharp), which may truncate units in the Murray formation and is capped by a thin sandstone unit, appears to represent a major shift in climate history within Gale crater. The pediment appears to be an erosional remnant of potentially a much more extensive feature. Curiositys traverse through the southern extent of Glen Torridon (south of Vera Rubin ridge) has brought the rover in contact with several new stratigraphic units that lie beneath the pediment. These strata were visited at two outcrop-forming buttes (Central and Western butte- both remnants of the retreating pediment) south of an orbitally defined boundary marking the transition from the Fractured Clay-bearing Unit (fCU) and the fractured Intermediate Unit (fIU). Here we present preliminary interpretations of the stratigraphy within Central and Western buttes and propose the Western butte cap rocks do not match the pediment capping unit

Draft Genome Sequences of Six Novel Bacterial Isolates from Chicken Ceca

The chicken is the most common domesticated animal and the most abundant bird in the world. However, the chicken gut is home to many previously uncharacterized bacterial taxa. Here, we report draft genome sequences from six bacterial isolates from chicken ceca, all of which fall outside any named species

Quantum Theory and Time Asymmetry

The relation between quantum measurement and thermodynamically irreversible processes is investigated. The reduction of the state vector is fundamentally asymmetric in time and shows an observer-relatedness which may explain the double interpretation of the state vector as a representation of physical states as well as of information about them. The concept of relevance being used in all statistical theories of irreversible thermodynamics is shown to be based on the same observer-relatedness. Quantum theories of irreversible processes implicitly use an objectivized process of state vector reduction. The conditions for the reduction are discussed, and I speculate that the final (subjective) observer system might even be carried by a spacetime point.Comment: Latex version of a paper published in 1979 (with minor revisions), 18 page

UK Large-scale Wind Power Programme from 1970 to 1990: the Carmarthen Bay experiments and the Musgrove Vertical-Axis Turbines

This article describes the development of the Musgrove Vertical Axis Wind Turbine (VAWT) concept, the UK ‘Carmarthen Bay’ wind turbine test programme, and UK government’s wind power programme to 1990. One of the most significant developments in the story of British wind power occurred during the 1970s, 1980s, and 1990s, with the development of the Musgrove vertical axis wind turbine and its inclusion within the UK Government’s wind turbine test programme. Evolving from a supervisor’s idea for an undergraduate project at Reading University, the Musgrove VAWT was once seen as an able competitor to the horizontal axis wind systems that were also being encouraged at the time by both the UK government and the Central Electricity Generating Board, the then nationalised electricity utility for England and Wales. During the 1980s and 1990s the most developed Musgrove VAWT system, along with three other commercial turbine designs was tested at Carmarthen Bay, South Wales as part of a national wind power test programme. From these developmental tests, operational data was collected and lessons learnt, which were incorporated into subsequent wind power operations.http://dx.doi.org/10.1260/03095240677860621