Renewable Portfolio Standard and System Benefits Fund: Opening Markets to Clean, Domestic Energy Sources

The Environmental and Energy Study Institute sponsored a Congressional briefing on two federal legislative proposals: the Renewable Portfolio Standard (RPS) and the System Benefits Fund (SBF). These complementary energy policies are designed to help level the playing field and encourage investments in new renewable energy resources and energy efficiency technologies. Developing clean energy technologies stabilizes and diversifies the nation's domestic energy resources, improves electricity reliability, decreases pollution and greenhouse gas emissions, and promotes rural economic development. A federal Renewable Portfolio Standard and System Benefits Fund provide significant opportunities for the nation to move toward a more sustainable and secure energy future fueled by abundant, domestic, and clean energy sources, as well as fostering great gains that can be made through improved energy efficiency

Fuel Cells

The Environmental and Energy Study Institute hosted two Congressional briefings to discuss the potential of fuel cell technologies in today's market as well as future energy markets. The U.S. Department of Energy, with the support of Sen. Murkowski (R-AK), Sen. Bingaman (D-NM), and Rep. Regula (R-OH), co-sponsored the first briefing to look at the opportunities and challenges facing the fuel cell industry. Global Legislators Organization for a Balanced Environment USA (GLOBE USA), along with GLOBE USA Members Reps. Nancy Johnson (R-CT) and Mark Udall (D-CO) and Sen. Jim Jeffords (I-VT), co-sponsored the second briefing to discuss hydrogen and fuel cell technology as a part of the solution to the energy crisis.The United States is faced with many energy challenges, ranging from regional power supply crises and sharply escalating energy prices to oil extraction. According to the Wall Street Journal, Americans are more concerned about energy now than they have been for decades. The time is ripe for renewable and sustainable energy technologies to play a much larger role in our energy future, and one of the key elements of this new energy economy is hydrogen and fuel cells. Fuel cells are electrochemical engines that convert the energy of a fuel directly into electricity. This simple process involves no combustion, and thus no pollution. The by-products are water and heat

Aluminum-to-copper coldwelded joints for SNAP-8 electrical terminal applications

Mechanical testing and metallographic examination of aluminum to copper coldwelded joints after thermal exposure - SNAP-8 electrical termina

Accelerated erosion testing of candidate SNAP-8 turbine rotor and nozzle materials

Accelerated wet mercury vapor erosion testing of candidate SNAP-8 turbine rotor and nozzle materials in close pump loo

Elevated temperature instability of Stellite 6B

Metallographic and chemical analysis by X-ray diffraction, microscopic examination, and electron microprobes of elevated temperature instability effects on Stellite 6

Untersuchungen zur Aufzucht von Dorschen (Gadus morhua morhua) der Westlichen Ostsee. Teil II: Aufbau und Hälterung eines Laichfischbestandes sowie Erbrütung der gewonnenen Eier

In 1993 and 1994 hatching and rearing of cod eggs and larvae from the western stock was carried out aiming at data about the reproduction biology of this species. This paper describes the hatching methods and first results of the correlation between various biotic and abiotic factors, naturally fertilized eggs from a broodstock, and the amount of viable larvae

The Occurrence of Maltreatment and Depression among Adjudicated Adolescent Sexual Offenders with High Functioning Autism or Asperger\u27s Disorder

The following study examined the presence and severity of abuse and/or neglect and the occurrence of depressive symptomatology among adolescents with High Functioning Autism (HFA) or Asperger\u27s Disorder (AD) compared to adolescents without HFA/AD who are adjudicated delinquent due to sexual offense and attend a State Residential Sexual Offender Program. The scores of 23 adolescent sexual offenders diagnosed with either HFA or AD were compared to 15 non-HFA/AD adolescent sexual offenders on the Childhood Trauma Questionnaire (CTQ) as well as the Beck Depression Inventory - Second Edition (BDI-II). An investigation of whether there is a relationship between the severity of abuse and depressive symptomatology among adolescent sexual offenders with HFA/AD was also conducted. Results of the present study reveal that in regard to the occurrence of maltreatment, there are no statistically significant differences between the two groups on any scale of the CTQ. In regard to the occurrence of depressive symptomatology, adolescent sexual offenders with HFA/AD experience statistically significantly more depressive symptomatology than non-HFA/AD adjudicated adolescent sexual offenders. Findings also reveal that adolescent adjudicated sexual offenders with HFA/AD who experience severe levels of emotional abuse and/or emotional neglect are more likely to also have high rates of depressive symptomatology. Overall, abuse and/or neglect as well as depressive symptomatology appear to be present among many adolescent sexual offenders with HFA/AD. These findings have a number of implications for treatment. Particularly, treatment programs housing adolescent sexual offenders with HFA/AD need to identify the occurrence of childhood maltreatment and depression, and create modified treatments to match the unique needs of this population

NEGATIVE AFFECTIVITY: A MODEL OF UNDERSTANDING PSYCHOSOCIAL RISK FOR IMPAIRMENT IN CARDIAC AUTONOMIC FUNCTION

The dispositional tendency to experience negative emotions may underlie correlated psychological risk factors for coronary heart disease (CHD). Here, we examined the relative contribution of variance shared by depression, anxiety, and anger (i.e. negative affect) and the variance unique to each negative affective disposition in predicting cardiac autonomic function as indexed by heart rate variability (HRV). The sample included 653 community volunteers (51.0% female; 15.8% Black) ages 30-54 (M= 43.8 + 7.1). Latent constructs of depression, anxiety, and anger were each measured by three scales from well-validated self-report questionnaires. Indices of HRV were derived from a 5-minute segment of continuous ECG recording and included high frequency (HF-HRV), low frequency (LF-HRV), and the ratio of LF to HF (LF:HF-HRV) power components. Factor analysis/multiple regression and structural equation modeling analyses were employed with covariate-adjustment for age, sex, race, education, BMI, smoking status, SBP, and DBP. At the single-trait level of analysis, examination of depression, anxiety, and anger individually showed depression to predict reduced HF-HRV and LF-HRV and increased LF:HF-HRV, anxiety to predict reduced HF-HRV and LF-HRV, and anger to be unrelated to any HRV index. However, a more complex pattern of relations emerged when the common (i.e. negative affect) and unique effects of depression, anxiety, and anger on HRV were evaluated simultaneously. First, the relation of depression to HRV indices was partially accounted for by negative affect, though variance unique to depression also predicted HF-HRV independently. Secondly, the relation of anxiety to HRV indices was fully accounted for by negative affect. Thirdly, anger emerged as an independent predictor of increased HF-HRV, suggesting the variance that anger shares with depression and anxiety predicts reduced HF-HRV and the variance that is unique to anger predicts increased HF-HRV. In sum, negative affect explains the common effects of psychosocial risk factors for CHD on cardiac autonomic function with unique aspects of depression and anger related independently to reduced and increased vagal modulation of heart rate, respectively. These findings underscore the importance of examining multiple negative affective dispositions in the same analysis to differentiate the elements of these traits that are specifically cardiotoxic

Laichgebiete des Dorschs in der westlichen Ostsee

Analyses of the previous years showed that the reproduction of the Belt Sea cod stock (Gadus morhua morhua) is also very important for the cod stock of the central Baltic Sea (Gadus morhua calarias). Oeberst (1999, 2000) proved, that between 20 % and 50 % of the cods caught in the Bornholm Sea at the age of 2 or 3 years between 1994 and 1998, were spawned in the Belt Sea. On account of this large significance of the Belt Sea cod stock, information regarding the reproduction process are important. The goal of the article presented is the description of the actual spawning areas of the Belt Sea cod stock by means of the spatial distribution of the spawners based on characteristic parameters as the maturity stages and the proportion of the sexes. The basis for these analyses are data sampled between 1992 and 1999. The analyses showed that the actual main spawning areas in the western Baltic Sea were the deeper regions of the Kiel Bay, of the Fehmarn Bay and of the western Mecklenburg Bay. In these regions spawning cods were regularly observed with high intensity. Furthermore, the deeper basin of the Arkona Sea is an important spawning area

Laichen von Dorschen in Gefangenschaft. Teil 1: Verlauf der Laichaktivitäten

Individuals of the western stock of Baltic cod were kept at captivity with different temperatures and salinities until natural spawning. Spawning activities up to 16 weeks were observed between February and June. This time interval agrees weIl with the spawning season of the wild cod stock. Also as in in-situ observations larger individuals started earlier with the spawning process than smaller ones and had significantly larger periods of spawning. Larger cods produced more batches and more eggs than smaller cods within this time interval. The comparison between the actual and potential absolut fecundity showed large differences. Only apart of the potential absolut fecundity, estimated in the phase of prespawning development of ovaries, was developed until their release. These analyses showed that larger cod were able to develop a larger part of the eggs within the ovaries up to the complete development. This result should be considered in the future during estimations of the population fecundity of the western Baltic spawning stock