Leading Alternatives to Fossil Fuels for Powering Vehicles

With respect to environmental stewardship, the research question in this project was: which alternative fuel/ power source best supplants fossil fuels as a primary mode of powering vehicles? It details five of today’s leading alternatives: compressed natural gas, biodiesel/biofuels, hydrogen fuel cells, all-electric vehicles, and solar-powered vehicles. The project presents appreciable research on each fuel/power source focused on defining each option, explaining how it works, and its advantages and disadvantages as compared to vehicles propelled by traditional petroleum products. Electric and solar vehicles (or a combination thereof) are most compelling as likely successors to fossil fuels into the future due to their resource renewability and minimal negative environmental impact. A narrowed, tangential focus was directed toward fueling or powering fire service apparatus

The effect of a supply shock in the production of cocaine on violence: Evidence from Colombia and Venezuela

Using data on coca cultivation and homicides, this paper analyzes an otherwise little researched topic, linking cocaine production and violence in Colombia. I use an exogenous supply shock in gasoline, an input factor needed to produce cocaine, and analyze the effect on violence in coca-producing areas compared to non-producing areas using a differences-in-differences strategy. The price of gasoline decreases in 2016, because of an exchange rate shock between Colombia and Venezuela. The results indicate that the positive supply shock leads to more violence in coca producing areas. The main results are robust to various tests, such as controlling for immigration, excluding big cities and distance from the border. This paper contributes to the literature by showing that when it becomes cheaper to produce cocaine, there is more violence in production areas. By looking at a purely economic effect on the drug market, instead of a drug enforcement effect, the paper also show that there is an effect of price changes on the cocaine market that goes beyond the drug enforcement. The paper also contributes to the literature by studying the interaction between two illegal markets: the smuggling of gasoline and cocaine production.MasteroppgaveECON391PROF-SØKMASV-SØ

Men’s Hostility Toward Women: Relationship with Attractiveness, Rejection, Loneliness, Romantic and Sexual Partners, Right-Wing Authoritarianism, and Gaming

Formål: Kvinnefiendtlighet er en type fordommer som kan ha skadelige konsekvenser for kvinner og likestilling, men forskning på prediktorer av menns kvinnefiendtlighet er fortsatt begrenset. Denne tverrsnittsstudien undersøkte om ensomhet, avvisning, attraktivitet, antall romantiske og seksuelle partnere, høyreorientert autoritarianisme og gaming predikerte kvinnefiendtlighet i et utvalg menn. Metode: Totalt 516 menn (18–35 år, enslige, hetereoseksuelle, innbyggere i Storbrittania) ble rekruttert via Prolific og bedt om å svare på hostile sexism subscale, misogyny scale, Self-Perceived Sexual Attractiveness scale, Right-Wing Authoritarianism Scale, Gaming Addiction Scale for Adolescents, Adult Rejection-Sensitivity Scale, UCLA Loneliness Scale USL-8, og selvutviklede spørsmål om antall seksuelle og romantiske forhold, og tid brukt på gaming. Etter å ha fjernet ugyldige og mangelfulle responser utførte vi enkle og multiple regresjonsanalyser (N = 473). Resultater: Som forventet fant vi et sterkt positivt forhold mellom høyreorientert autoritarianisme og kvinnefiendtlighet, samt et sterkt konvekst kurvelineært forhold mellom attraktivitet og kvinnefiendtlighet. I motsetning til hypotesen vår, viste antall seksuelle partnere et moderat konkavt forhold til kvinnefiendtlighet. Vi fant ikke tilstrekkelig støtte for en signifikant positiv sammenheng mellom gaming og kvinnefiendtlighet, og ingen støtte for at ensomhet, avvisning eller antall romantiske partnere predikerte kvinnefiendtlighet. Konklusjon: Vår studie støtter høyreorientert autoritarianisme og selvopplevd attraktivitet som relevante faktorer for å forstå menns kvinnefiendtlighet. Longitudinelle studier er nødvendig for å forstå årsakssammenhengen og medierende faktorer involvert i kvinnefiendtlighet.Hovedoppgave psykologprogrammetPROPSY317PRPSY

Microbial hydrogen consumption leads to a significant pH increase under high-saline-conditions: implications for hydrogen storage in salt caverns

Salt caverns have been successfully used for natural gas storage globally since the 1940s and are now under consideration for hydrogen (H2) storage, which is needed in large quantities to decarbonize the economy to finally reach a net zero by 2050. Salt caverns are not sterile and H2 is a ubiquitous electron donor for microorganisms. This could entail that the injected H2 will be microbially consumed, leading to a volumetric loss and potential production of toxic H2S. However, the extent and rates of this microbial H2 consumption under high-saline cavern conditions are not yet understood. To investigate microbial consumption rates, we cultured the halophilic sulphate-reducing bacteria Desulfohalobium retbaense and the halophilic methanogen Methanocalculus halotolerans under different H2 partial pressures. Both strains consumed H2, but consumption rates slowed down significantly over time. The activity loss correlated with a significant pH increase (up to pH 9) in the media due to intense proton- and bicarbonate consumption. In the case of sulphate reduction, this pH increase led to dissolution of all produced H2S in the liquid phase. We compared these observations to a brine retrieved from a salt cavern located in Northern Germany, which was then incubated with 100% H2 over several months. We again observed a H2 loss (up to 12%) with a concurrent increase in pH of up to 8.5 especially when additional nutrients were added to the brine. Our results clearly show that sulphate-reducing microbes present in salt caverns consume H2, which will be accompanied by a significant pH increase, resulting in reduced activity over time. This potentially self-limiting process of pH increase during sulphate-reduction will be advantageous for H2 storage in low-buffering environments like salt caverns.publishedVersio

La valoración de la declaración de un coimputado sobre un hecho de otro coimputado; a partir del análisis de las posiciones discordantes que contiene el recurso de nulidad n°-1722-2013-Junín, emitido por la Sala Penal Permanente de la Corte Suprema de la República

El presente trabajo versa sobre el análisis de los actuados contenidos en el expediente N°-00034-2010-0-1505-SP-PE-01, seguidos en contra de los procesados Edgar Severiano Rojas Cantalicio y Edison Rojas Clemente, por la comisión del delito de Robo Agravado en agravio de Carlos Walter Orihuela Durand. En el cual, al resolver el recurso de nulidad (apelación) que el primero de los mencionados interpuso contra la sentencia que le impuso diez años de pena privativa de libertad a nivel de la Sala Superior, en la Corte Suprema se configuró discordia entre los miembros de la Sala Penal Permanente de la Corte Suprema de la República, tal como se tiene del Recurso de Nulidad N°-1722-2013-JUNIN. Así el voto en mayoría termina por absolver al recurrente; mientras que el voto en minoría se decantó por confirmar la declaración de responsabilidad penal e inclusive incrementar la pena de diez a catorce años; a pesar que cada una de esas decisiones recurrió para la resolución del caso, a los criterios que el Acuerdo Plenario N° 2-2005/CJ-116 ha establecido para determinar, cuando la declaración de un co imputado sobre los hechos de otro co imputado, en un delito en el cual participaron; tiene la suficiente entidad como para destruir la garantía de la presunción de inocencia que la Constitución establece a favor de todo procesado

Effect of sulfate on methanogenic communities that degrade unsaturated and saturated long-chain fatty acids (LCFA)

Anaerobic bacteria involved in the degradation of long-chain fatty acids (LCFA), in the presence of sulfate as electron acceptor, were studied by combined cultivation-dependent and molecular techniques. The bacterial diversity in four mesophilic sulfate-reducing enrichment cultures, growing on oleate (C18:1, unsaturated LCFA) or palmitate (C16:0, saturated LCFA), was studied by denaturing gradient gel electrophoresis (DGGE) profiling of polymerase chain reaction (PCR)-amplified 16S rRNA gene fragments. These enrichment cultures were started using methanogenic inocula in order to assess the competition between methanogenic communities and sulfate-reducing bacteria. Phylogenetic affiliation of rRNA gene sequences corresponding to predominant DGGE bands demonstrated that members of the Syntrophomonadaceae, together with sulfate reducers mainly belonging to the Desulfovibrionales and Syntrophobacteraceae groups, were present in the sulfate-reducing enrichment cultures. Subculturing of LCFA-degrading methanogenic cultures in the presence of sulfate resulted in the inhibition of methanogenesis and, after several transfers, archaea could no longer be detected by real-time PCR. Competition for hydrogen and acetate was therefore won by sulfate reducers, but acetogenic syntrophic bacteria were the only known LCFA-degrading organisms present after subculturing with sulfate. Principal component analysis of the DGGE profiles from methanogenic and sulfate-reducing oleate- and palmitate-enrichment cultures showed a greater influence of the substrate than the presence or absence of sulfate, indicating that the bacterial communities degrading LCFA in the absence/presence of sulfate are rather stable.This work was possible through grants attributed to D. Z. Sousa by Fundacao para a Ciencia e Tecnologia (FCT) and Fundo Social Europeu (FSE) (SFRH/BD/8726/2002), and by the Wageningen Institute for Environmental and Climate Research (WIMEK)

Desulfotomaculum varum sp. nov., a moderately thermophilic sulfate-reducing bacterium isolated from a microbial mat colonizing a Great Artesian Basin bore well runoff channel

A strictly anaerobic moderately thermophilic bacterium, designated strain RH04-3T (T = type strain), was isolated from a red colored microbial mat that colonizes a Great Artesian Basin (GAB) bore well (Registered Number 17263) runoff channel at 66 °C. The cells of strain RH04-3T were straight to slightly curved, sporulating, Gram-positive rods (2.0–5.0 × 1.0 μm) that grew optimally at 50 °C (temperature growth range between 37 and 55 °C) and at pH 7 (pH growth range of 5.0 and 8.5). Growth was inhibited by NaCl concentrations ≥1.5% (w/v), and by chloramphenicol, streptomycin, tetracycline, penicillin and ampicillin. The strain utilized fructose, mannose, glycerol, lactate, pyruvate and H2 in the presence of sulfate, and fermented pyruvate in the absence of sulfate. Strain RH04-3T reduced sulfate, sulfite, thiosulfate and elemental sulfur, but not nitrate, nitrite, iron(III), arsenate(V), vanadium(V) or cobalt(III) as terminal electron acceptors. The G + C content of DNA was 52.4 ± 0.8 mol % as determined by the thermal denaturation (Tm) method. 16S rRNA sequence analysis indicated that strain RH04-3T was a member of the genus Desulfotomaculum and was most closely related to Desulfotomaculum putei (similarity value of 95.2%) and Desulfotomaculum hydrothermale (similarity value of 93.6%). On the basis of phylogenetic and phenotypic characteristics, strain RH04-3T is considered to represent a novel species of the genus Desulfotomaculum, for which the name Desulfotomaculum varum sp. nov. is proposed. The type strain RH04-3T = JCM 16158T = KCTC 5794T

Archaic chaos: intrinsically disordered proteins in Archaea

Background: Many proteins or their regions known as intrinsically disordered proteins (IDPs) and intrinsically disordered regions (IDRs) lack unique 3D structure in their native states under physiological conditions yet fulfill key biological functions. Earlier bioinformatics studies showed that IDPs and IDRs are highly abundant in different proteomes and carry out mostly regulatory functions related to molecular recognition and signal transduction. Archaea belong to an intriguing domain of life whose members, being microbes, are characterized by a unique mosaic-like combination of bacterial and eukaryotic properties and include inhabitants of some of the most extreme environments on the planet. With the expansion of the archaea genome data (more than fifty archaea species from five different phyla are known now), and with recent improvements in the accuracy of intrinsic disorder prediction, it is time to re-examine the abundance of IDPs and IDRs in the archaea domain.Results: The abundance of IDPs and IDRs in 53 archaea species is analyzed. The amino acid composition profiles of these species are generally quite different from each other. The disordered content is highly species-dependent. Thermoproteales proteomes have 14% of disordered residues, while in Halobacteria, this value increases to 34%. In proteomes of these two phyla, proteins containing long disordered regions account for 12% and 46%, whereas 4% and 26% their proteins are wholly disordered. These three measures of disorder content are linearly correlated with each other at the genome level. There is a weak correlation between the environmental factors (such as salinity, pH and temperature of the habitats) and the abundance of intrinsic disorder in Archaea, with various environmental factors possessing different disorder-promoting strengths. Harsh environmental conditions, especially those combining several hostile factors, clearly favor increased disorder content. Intrinsic disorder is highly abundant in functional Pfam domains of the archaea origin. The analysis based on the disordered content and phylogenetic tree indicated diverse evolution of intrinsic disorder among various classes and species of Archaea.Conclusions: Archaea proteins are rich in intrinsic disorder. Some of these IDPs and IDRs likely evolve to help archaea to accommodate to their hostile habitats. Other archaean IDPs and IDRs possess crucial biological functions similar to those of the bacterial and eukaryotic IDPs/IDRs

The effect of a supply shock in the production of cocaine on violence: Evidence from Colombia and Venezuela

Using data on coca cultivation and homicides, this paper analyzes an otherwise little researched topic, linking cocaine production and violence in Colombia. I use an exogenous supply shock in gasoline, an input factor needed to produce cocaine, and analyze the effect on violence in coca-producing areas compared to non-producing areas using a differences-in-differences strategy. The price of gasoline decreases in 2016, because of an exchange rate shock between Colombia and Venezuela. The results indicate that the positive supply shock leads to more violence in coca producing areas. The main results are robust to various tests, such as controlling for immigration, excluding big cities and distance from the border. This paper contributes to the literature by showing that when it becomes cheaper to produce cocaine, there is more violence in production areas. By looking at a purely economic effect on the drug market, instead of a drug enforcement effect, the paper also show that there is an effect of price changes on the cocaine market that goes beyond the drug enforcement. The paper also contributes to the literature by studying the interaction between two illegal markets: the smuggling of gasoline and cocaine production