512 research outputs found
Humanoid robots for contract visualisation
This paper challenges two assumptions made by most lawyers: first, that contracts should consist of words alone; second, that only human beings are capable of designing the âlook and
feelâ of contracts. These assumptions amount to taboos â even in todayâs digital world. Humanoid robots for contract visualisation would or rather will break these taboos. Contract visualisation constitutes a fledgling subject concerning various fields of law (e.g. visual law, legal design, contract law, legal theory and EU law). This topic needs to be explored from different perspectives. Although humanoid robots are being increasingly implemented in the legal context, their potential for contract visualisation has not yet been investigated. This paper therefore discusses contract visualisation and how humanoid robots might use visuals of the Contract Design Pattern Library presented by the International Association for Contract & Commercial Management (IACCM). The findings prompt discussion about whether and, if so, how to communicate legally with those anthropomorphic machines. Or even more specifically, about whether and, if so, how humanoid robots might best represent contracts visually and communicate these both to humans and to other humanoid robots
Evaluation of Pt, Ni, and NiâMo electrocatalysts for hydrogen evolution on crystalline Si electrodes
The dark electrocatalytic and light photocathodic hydrogen evolution properties of Ni, NiâMo alloys, and Pt on Si electrodes have been measured, to assess the viability of earth-abundant electrocatalysts for integrated, semiconductor coupled fuel formation. In the dark, the activities of these catalysts deposited on degenerately doped p^+-Si electrodes increased in the order Ni < NiâMo †Pt. NiâMo deposited on degenerately doped Si microwires exhibited activity that was very similar to that of Pt deposited by metal evaporation on planar Si electrodes. Under 100 mW cm^(â2) of Air Mass 1.5 solar simulation, the energy conversion efficiencies of p-type Si/catalyst photoelectrodes ranged from 0.2â1%, and increased in the order Ni â NiâMo < Pt, due to somewhat lower photovoltages and photocurrents for p-Si/NiâMo relative to p-Si/Ni and p-Si/Pt photoelectrodes. Deposition of the catalysts onto microwire arrays resulted in higher apparent catalytic activities and similar photoelectrode efficiencies than were observed on planar p-Si photocathodes, despite lower light absorption by p-Si in the microwire structures
Solar fuels editorial
Every major change in the living
standards for humans on our planet has
had an energy revolution at its heart â the
advent of the industrial age with the
steam engine and use of coal, the internal
combustion engine and large-scale
electricity generation. The energy demand,
primarily from emerging economies, will
double by 2050. The countervailing
urgency of the threat of climate change
requires a major shift in our energy
sourcing, creating four new trends that
will shape the current century: electrification,
decarbonization, localization,
and optimization
Catalytic hydrogen evolution from a covalently linked dicobaloxime
A dicobaloxime in which monomeric Co(III) units are linked by an octamethylene bis(glyoxime) catalyzes the reduction of protons from p-toluenesulfonic acid as evidenced by electrocatalytic waves at -0.4 V vs. the saturated calomel electrode (SCE) in acetonitrile solutions. Rates of hydrogen evolution were determined from catalytic current peak heights (k_(app) = 1100 ± 70 M^(-1) s^(-1)). Electrochemical experiments reveal no significant enhancement in the rate of H2 evolution from that of a monomeric analogue: The experimental rate law is first order in catalyst and acid consistent with previous findings for similar mononuclear cobaloximes. Our work suggests that H_2 evolution likely occurs by protonation of reductively generated Co^(II)H rather than homolysis of two Co^(III)H units
Photoelectrochemical Hydrogen Evolution Using Si Microwire Arrays
Arrays of B-doped p-Si microwires, diffusion-doped with P to form a radial n+ emitter and subsequently coated with a 1.5-nm-thick discontinuous film of evaporated Pt, were used as photocathodes for H_2 evolution from water. These electrodes yielded thermodynamically based energy-conversion efficiencies >5% under 1 sun solar simulation, despite absorbing less than 50% of the above-band-gap incident photons. Analogous p-Si wire-array electrodes yielded efficiencies <0.2%, largely limited by the low photovoltage generated at the p-Si/H_2O junction
Effects of anti-triadin antibody on Ca2+ release from sarcoplasmic reticulum
AbstractThe monoclonal antibody, mAb GE 4.90, raised against triadin, a 95 kDa protein of sarcoplasmic reticulum (SR), inhibits the slow phase of Ca2+ release from SR following depolarization of the T-tubule moiety of the triad. The antibody has virtually no effect on the fast phase of depolarization-induced Ca2+ release nor on caffeine-induced Ca2+ release. Since the slow phase of depolarization-induced Ca2+ release is also inhibited by dihydropyridines (DHP), these results suggest that triadin may be involved in the functional coupling between the DHP receptor and the SR Ca2+ channel
Environmental assessment of mountain grassland farms with mixed cattle systems: use of bioeconomic simulations
Management practices of cattle farming systems must be improved, particularly to increase the systemsâ feed self-sufficiency, food production and environmental performances. In mountain areas of the Massif Central (central France), mixed dairy/suckler cattle systems enable farmers to use grassland resources better and cope with economic fluctuations.
Our objective was to estimate levels of ecosystem services provided by mixed dairy/suckler cattle systems as a function of the degree of mixing, along with their greenhouse gas emissions and energy use when their operation is optimized on an economic basis. The hypothesis was that mixed dairy/suckler cattle systems allow for controlled use of biomass, with better environmental performances than specialized systems (pure dairy or suckler herd) by maintaining grassland ecosystem services. Five herd-distribution scenarios were simulated using the Orfee bioeconomic optimization model. Environmental performances of the five systems were assessed according to three functional units (i.e., per farm, ha and kg protein produced).
Mixed dairy/suckler cattle systems, which enabled larger herds, had higher greenhouse gas emissions per ha than specialized systems. However, because dairy cows produce more protein (milk and beef) than suckler cows, specialized dairy systems had the lowest greenhouse gas emissions and energy use per kg of protein. Specialized dairy systems had less advantage when dairy cows had less access to grassland. For the production of both milk and beef, mixed dairy/suckler cattle systems favour more sustainable use of biomass and tend to maintain a better combination of levels of ecosystem services for livestock production than specialized cattle farming systems
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