Life-cycle assessment of the use of peach pruning residues for electricity generation

Biomass residues from permanent crops might be an alternative fuel for energy generation in a local market with limited transport distances. Moreover, as activities related to CO2 reduction are of special attention in the European Union (EU), sustainable use of resources plays an important role in climate change mitigation. In this paper, a life-cycle assessment (LCA) of the integrated value chain from peach pruning residues for electricity generation is presented and compared with the common practice including the mulching process of the pruned biomass in an orchard. It was shown that biomass harvesting, chipping and its delivery to a power plant-the Pruning-to-Energy (PtE) scenario - is feasible from an environmental point of view. The total global warming potential (GWP) of this value chain was 200 kg CO2 eq.·ha-1 (or 27 kg CO2 eq.·GJ-1). In turn, the mulching and leaving of the pruned biomass in an orchard-the pruning-to-soil (PtS) scenario - is characterized by a CO2 equivalent of 2360 kg-ha-1. Other impact categories showed a lower environmental impact for the PtE scenario as well. When considering the Spanish electricity-mix instead of coal-based electricity, the PtS scenario score better in most impact categories, but the GWP for the PtE scenario remains lower

Quality in liver transplantation: perspectives on organ procurement and allocation

In dit proefschrift is gekeken naar de kwaliteit van uitname en naar de uitkomsten na transplantatie om zo goed mogelijk om te gaan met het tekort aan donororganen. Met de ET-DSRI kan de kans op acceptatie voor een donorlever ingeschat worden. Daardoor kunnen er in een vroeg stadium maatregelen genomen worden om de kans op transplantatie te vergroten voor suboptimale levers. Alhoewel het aantal levers geschikt voor transplantatie geoptimaliseerd kan worden zal het tekort de komende jaren blijven bestaan. Daarmee zal ook de toewijzing van levers aan patiënten op de wachtlijsten complex blijven. De uitkomst na transplantatie is daarin een belangrijk punt. De resultaten beschreven in dit proefschrift laten zien dat statistische modellen een goede benadering kunnen geven van deze uitkomsten. Het toepassen van deze modellen zal leiden tot een meer evidence-based manier van het selecteren, toewijzen en daadwerkelijk transplanteren van levers in patiënten op de wachtlijst. Dr. Franz Köhler Chemie GmbH; Universiteit Leiden; Leids Universitair Medisch Centrum, afdeling Transplantatiechirurgie; Nederlandse Transplantatie Vereniging; Chiesi Pharmaceuticals B.V.; Chipsoft B.V.LUMC / Geneeskund

Toepassing van Aquanox in de bollensector : consultancy rapport: aansluiting bij WUR Glastuinbouw project voor alternatieve bestrijding van ziekte en plagen in de bollenteelt

Aquanox wordt gemaakt door een elektrochemische reactie van water en keukenzout (ECA water). Daarbij komen verbindingen zoals chlorige verbindingen vrij welke veelal schadelijk zijn voor micro-organismen zoals schimmels en bacteriën. Het doel van dit project was enkele specifieke ziekte en plagen van de bollensector te testen op hun gevoeligheid voor Aquanox. In de testen zijn meegenomen: Fusarium oxysporum f.sp. tulipae de veroorzaker van zuur in tulp. Het bleek dat de schimmelsporen gevoelig zijn voor Aquanox maar de reductie van het aantal levende sporen is niet groot genoeg om een infectie of besmetting te voorkomen. Een uitgebreidere beheersingsstrategie met meerdere herhalingen van de behandeling zou een uitkomst kunnen bieden. Stromijten, één van de mogelijke veroorzakers van kernrot in tulp, zijn ook blootgesteld aan Aquanox. Echter, dit had geen dodend effect op de mijten. Het bestrijden van mijtenplagen lijkt niet mogelijk met behulp van Aquanox. De gevoeligheid van de veroorzaker van agressief snot (Erwinia chrysanthemi) voor Aquanox is ook onderzocht. Aquanox is zeer effectief in het doden van deze bacterie. In een denksessie georganiseerd aan de hand van deze resultaten is besloten een vervolgproject uit te werken. Hierin wordt de mogelijkheid onderzocht om hyacinten na elke verwerkingsstap te behandelen met Aquanox zodat uitwendige besmettingen met de bacterie, ontstaan tijdens de verschillende stappen in de verwerking, direct aangepakt worden

Mechanisms controlling the intra-annual mesoscale variability of SST and SPM in the southern North Sea

Thermal and optical remote sensing data were used to investigate the spatial and temporal distribution of sea surface temperature (SST) and of suspended particulate matter (SPM) in the southern North Sea. Monthly SST composites showed pronounced seasonal warming of the southern North Sea and delineated the English coastal and continental coastal waters. The East-Anglia Plume is the dominant feature of the English coastal waters in the winter and autumn SPM composites, and the Rhine region of freshwater influence (ROFI), including the Flemish Banks, is the dominant feature of the continental waters. These mesoscale spatial structures are also influenced by the evolution of fronts, such as the seasonal front separating well-mixed water in the southern Bight, from the seasonally stratified central North Sea waters. A harmonic analysis of the SST and SPM images showed pronounced seasonal variability, as well as spring-neap variations in the level of tidal mixing in the East Anglia Plume, the Rhine ROFI and central North Sea. The harmonic analysis indicates the important role played by the local meteorology and tides in governing the SST and near-surface SPM concentrations in the southern North Sea. In the summer, thermal stratification affects the visibility of SPM to satellite sensors in the waters to the north of the Flamborough and Frisian Fronts. Haline stratification plays an important role in the visibility of SPM in the Rhine ROFI throughout the year. When stratified, both regions typically exhibit low surface SPM values. A numerical model study, together with the harmonic analysis, highlights the importance of tides and waves in controlling the stratification in the southern North Sea and hence the visibility of SPM. © 2011 Elsevier Ltd

Thermodynamics of Black Holes in Two (and Higher) Dimensions

A comprehensive treatment of black hole thermodynamics in two-dimensional dilaton gravity is presented. We derive an improved action for these theories and construct the Euclidean path integral. An essentially unique boundary counterterm renders the improved action finite on-shell, and its variational properties guarantee that the path integral has a well-defined semi-classical limit. We give a detailed discussion of the canonical ensemble described by the Euclidean partition function, and examine various issues related to stability. Numerous examples are provided, including black hole backgrounds that appear in two dimensional solutions of string theory. We show that the Exact String Black Hole is one of the rare cases that admits a consistent thermodynamics without the need for an external thermal reservoir. Our approach can also be applied to certain higher-dimensional black holes, such as Schwarzschild-AdS, Reissner-Nordstrom, and BTZ.Comment: 63 pages, 3 pdf figures, v2: added reference

Development of an instrument to assess social functioning in dementia: The Social Functioning in Dementia scale (SF-DEM)

INTRODUCTION: Social functioning is a core domain in the life of people with dementia, but there is no accepted instrument to measure it. We aimed to develop the Social Functioning in Dementia (SF-DEM) scale and test its psychometric properties for assessing social function in people with dementia. METHODS: We interviewed people with mild dementia and family caregivers to develop patient and caregiver-rated SF-DEM versions and refined them through interviews with health care professionals. We tested its psychometric properties in 30 dyads of people with dementia and family caregivers. RESULTS: Both SF-DEM versions had content validity and demonstrated concurrent validity against a single item rating overall social functioning (patient rated r = 0.42, 95% CI [0.07–0.68]; caregiver rated r = 0.59, 95% CI [0.29–0.78]). All participants found it acceptable. Analyses showed reliability (test–retest, inter-rater, internal consistency) and indications of responsiveness to change. DISCUSSION: SF-DEM shows promise as a valid, reliable, acceptable measure of social functioning in dementia

Spacetime Virasoro algebra from strings on zero radius AdS_3

We study bosonic string theory in the light-cone gauge on AdS_3 spacetime with zero radius of curvature (in string units) R/\sqrt{\alpha^\prime}=0. We find that the worldsheet theory admits an infinite number of conserved quantities which are naturally interpreted as spacetime charges and which form a representation of (two commuting copies of) a Virasoro algebra. Near the boundary of AdS_3 these charges are found to be isomorphic to the infinite set of asymptotic Killing vectors of AdS_3 found originally by Brown and Henneaux. In addition to the spacetime Virasoro algebra, there is a worldsheet Virasoro algebra that generates diffeomorphisms of the spatial coordinate of the string worldsheet. We find that if the worldsheet Virasoro algebra has a central extension then the spacetime Virasoro algebra acquires a central extension via a mechanism similar to that encountered in the context of the SL(2,R) WZW model.Our observations are consistent with a recently proposed duality between bosonic strings on zero radius AdS_d+1 and free field theory in d dimensions.Comment: 23 pages, uses JHEP.cls. References adde

Membrane paradigm realized?

Are there any degrees of freedom on the black hole horizon? Using the `membrane paradigm' we can reproduce coarse-grained physics outside the hole by assuming a fictitious membrane just outside the horizon. But to solve the information puzzle we need `real' degrees of freedom at the horizon, which can modify Hawking's evolution of quantum modes. We argue that recent results on gravitational microstates imply a set of real degrees of freedom just outside the horizon; the state of the hole is a linear combination of rapidly oscillating gravitational solutions with support concentrated just outside the horizon radius. The collective behavior of these microstate solutions may give a realization of the membrane paradigm, with the fictitious membrane now replaced by real, explicit degrees of freedom.Comment: 8 pages, Latex, 3 figures (Essay given second place in Gravity Research Foundation essay competition 2010