The Problem of Maps

published or submitted for publicatio

The climate-related financial disclosure regulations 2022: A step in the right direction for ESG in the private sector

This legislative note examines the recent regulatory changes that were introduced on 6 April 2022, and which consequently affect the Companies Act 2006 and the Limited Liability Partnerships (Account and Audit) (Application of Companies Act 2006) Regulations 2008. The amendments mean that companies and limited liability partnerships (LLPs) that fall within the regulations’ scope must now disclose their climate change risks and opportunities. It is submitted in this work that these amendments are a step in the right direction for ‘environment social governance’ (ESG) in the private sector. Indeed, the need to report on climate change risk is likely to drive the appetite of affected businesses to develop their ESG programmes within their overall risk management frameworks. Together with this intrinsic impact, the changes are also likely to increase ESG and CSR within the markets more broadly

An Assessment of PIER Electric Grid Research 2003-2014 White Paper

This white paper describes the circumstances in California around the turn of the 21st century that led the California Energy Commission (CEC) to direct additional Public Interest Energy Research funds to address critical electric grid issues, especially those arising from integrating high penetrations of variable renewable generation with the electric grid. It contains an assessment of the beneficial science and technology advances of the resultant portfolio of electric grid research projects administered under the direction of the CEC by a competitively selected contractor, the University of California’s California Institute for Energy and the Environment, from 2003-2014

Digital government: ideology and new forms of power

Behind the façade of a “digital government” narrative of convenience and accessibility, bureaucrats and corporations are building a new mode of public governance that restructures and redistributes public sector work and institutions, furthering the growth of a corporate state with expanding powers of surveillance and social control

The regulation of genes involved in trichome development

Arabidopsis thaliana is an organism that can be used as a model for most of the processes that occur in flowering plants. The leaf hairs, or trichomes, of Arabidopsis thaliana are macroscopic single cells that have been used as a model system for cell fate determination, cell expansion, cell cycle regulation, cell wall deposition, as well as other processes. Initiation of the trichome cell fate is controlled by a complex of genes including GLABRA1 (GL1), TRANSPARENT TESTA GLABRA (TTG), and GLABRA3 (GL3). This work examines the role of GL3 in trichome initiation and uses plants expressing varying levels of GL3 to determine if genes involved in trichome development are regulated by GL3. Though several genes are given a cursory examination, the regulation of two genes, an α-carbonic anhydrase and a novel cell-cycle regulator called SIAMESE, are given a thorough examination. The α-carbonic anhydrase At2g28210 was previously not known to be involved in trichome development. Its involvement in trichome development was discovered with the aid of an enhancer trap line with robust reporter gene expression in developing trichomes. Pharmacological studies indicate that this α-carbonic anhydrase may play a role in trichome expansion. SIAMESE (SIM) was first identified in a mutant screen in the Larkin lab. This dissertation demonstrates that this gene encodes a novel type of cell-cycle regulator with several homologs in Arabidopsis and other plant species. SIM and one of its homologs in Arabidopsis were shown to be expressed in a trichome-dependent manner. These investigations shed new light into the molecular process of trichome development

Distribution System Voltage Management and Optimization for Integration of Renewables and Electric Vehicles: Research Gap Analysis

California is striving to achieve 33% renewable penetration by 2020 in accordance with the state’s Renewable Portfolio Standard (RPS). The behavior of renewable resources and electric vehicles in distribution systems is creating constraints on the penetration of these resources into the distribution system. One such constraint is the ability of present-­‐‑day voltage management methodologies to maintain proper distribution system voltage profiles in the face of higher penetrations of PV and electric vehicle technologies. This white paper describes the research gaps that have been identified in current Volt/VAR Optimization and Control (VVOC) technologies, the emerging technologies which are becoming available for use in VVOC, and the research gaps which exist and must be overcome in order to realize the full promise of these emerging technologies