Sustainability Assessment of Innovative Energy Technologies – Hydrogen from Wind Power as a Fuel for Mobility Applications

An approach for life-cycle-based sustainability assessment for innovative energy technologies was developed that includes Life Cycle Assessment, economic assessment and selected social indicators, i.e. acceptance, patents and added value. As a case study for this approach, hydrogen supply by wind powered electrolysis was assessed and different distribution options to its final use in fuel cell vehicles were compared. First results of the Life Cycle Assessment show that lowest environmental impacts are caused by transporting hydrogen in pipelines, which is also the most cost-effective option. The preliminary survey about hydrogen refuelling stations showed that the fear of explosions is most relevant to people. Regarding added value, it could be revealed that a slight shift from domestic to more globalised expenditures is to be expected in the future. It can be concluded that hydrogen supply by pipelines is the most sustainable option. However, for the implementation of this technology, social issues such as acceptance of hydrogen filling stations and decrease of local employment have to be addressed

Isolation of bacteria from artificial bronchoalveolar lavage fluid using density gradient centrifugation and their accessibility by Raman spectroscopy

Raman spectroscopy is an analytical method to identify medical samples of bacteria. Because Raman spectroscopy detects the biochemical properties of a cell, there are many factors that can influence and modify the Raman spectra of bacteria. One possible influence is a proper method for isolation of the bacteria. Medical samples in particular never occur in purified form, so a Raman-compatible isolation method is needed which does not affect the bacteria and thus the resulting spectra. In this study, we present a Raman-compatible method for isolation of bacteria from bronchoalveolar lavage (BAL) fluid using density gradient centrifugation. In addition to measuring the bacteria from a patient sample, the yield and the spectral influence of the isolation on the bacteria were investigated. Bacteria isolated from BAL fluid show additional peaks in comparison to pure culture bacteria, which can be attributed to components in the BAL sample. The isolation gradient itself has no effect on the spectra, and with a yield of 63% and 78%, the method is suitable for isolation of low concentrations of bacteria from a complex matrix. Graphical abstract

Understanding the policy cycle and knowledge translation for researchers (A researcher’s guide)

This RESEARCH ROUNDup introduces knowledge translation, suggests avenues where research evidence can inform different stages of the policy cycle, and provides some practical tips for researchers

Knowledge Exchange for Rural Health

Knowledge exchange includes information management, linkage, capacity development, and support. Knowledge exchange bases its practice on exchanging information in the most appropriate format with the right people at the most suitable time

Weighting factor elicitation for sustainability assessment of energy technologies

In this paper, an approach for sustainability assessment of innovative energy technologies is expanded by multi-criteria decision analysis (MCDA) methods to aggregate indicator results and support decision-making. One of the most important steps for MCDA is to determine weighting factors for individual indicators. Thus, a workshop was performed to elicit weighting factors for sustainability assessments of energy technologies from developers of such technologies and energy system modellers from academia. These stakeholders expressed their preferences with respect to sustainability criteria using the Simple Multi Attribute Rating Technique (SMART). A triple bottom line approach of sustainable development was used as the basis for the aggregation of indicator results. This approach is based on Life Cycle Costing, Life Cycle Assessment and social indicators. Obtained weighting factors were applied to an integrative sustainability assessment with the aggregation method Preference Ranking Organization METHod for Enrichment of Evaluations (PROMETHEE). Hydrogen-based mobility as an important technology to foster decarbonization in the transport sector is used as a case study for the application of the derived weighting factors. A conventional vehicle, powered by fossil fuel, is compared with a fuel cell electric vehicle (FCEV) for the year 2050. Different options (pipeline, compressed gaseous hydrogen, liquid hydrogen, liquid organic hydrogen carrier) are discussed for the supply of hydrogen. The results for this weighting factor set are compared with an equal weighting scenario of the three sustainability dimensions and indicators within one sustainability dimension. The FCEV, using pipelines for hydrogen supply, came out first in the assessment as well as in all sensitivity analyses

Ein "Sonderling" auf Reisen

Die Arbeit behandelt die fotografische Sammlung von Rudolf und Helene Oldenburg im Museum für Völkerkunde Wien, die im Zeitraum von 1901 – 1913 in Französisch Guinea und Kamerun entstand. Im Fotoarchiv des Museums nimmt die Sammlung 1053 Inventarnummern ein. Eine Bestandsaufnahme ergab, dass sich darunter 919 Motive befinden, die in 57 Glasdia, 763 originalen Glasplatten und 912 Abzügen erhalten sind. Neben den Fotografien wurden auch die Archivakten des Museums zur Sammlung bearbeitet, wodurch ca. 250 Aufnahmen näher bestimmt und ihre Sujets identifiziert werden konnten. Eine technische Bestimmung des Negativ- und Positivmaterials brachte u.a. Informationen zur Datierung der Fotografien. Außerdem wird in dieser Arbeit die Sammlungsgeschichte dargestellt. Die Fotografien der Oldenburgs entstanden vor dem Hintergrund eines afrikanischen Diskurses, der von stereotypen Vorstellungen geprägt war und damit auch Einfluss auf diese nahm. Die vorliegende quellenkritische Untersuchung berücksichtigt dies ebenso wie die Dreiecksbeziehung von Fotograf/in, Autochthon/in und Betrachter/in bzw. von Produktionsumständen, Intention und Rezeption eines Bildes. Anhand von ausgewählten Beispielen wird dies dargestellt. Die Aufnahmesujets wurden nach damalig aktuellen wissenschaftlichen Lehrmeinungen gewählt, was auf den Einfluss von Rudolf Pöch zurückzuführen ist, mit dem Rudolf Oldenburg in engem Kontakt stand. Die Fotografien aus Kamerun überragen jene aus Guinea sowohl in der technischen Ausführung als auch thematisch und systematisch. So geben besonders die Aufnahmen aus dem Grasland Einblicke in das Leben der einfachen Bevölkerung und halten in einer Vielzahl von Aufnahmen Arbeitsgänge und Maskeraden fest. Sie bilden so heute eine Grundlage für die Erforschung vergangener Kulturpraktiken. Auch in deutschen Museen und im Archiv der Basler Mission befinden sich Abzüge der Oldenburgs. Im Rahmen dieser Arbeit wurden die Bestände der Sammlungen angefragt und ein Überblick gegeben

Transcriptome analysis by GeneTrail revealed regulation of functional categories in response to alterations of iron homeostasis in Arabidopsis thaliana

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>High-throughput technologies have opened new avenues to study biological processes and pathways. The interpretation of the immense amount of data sets generated nowadays needs to be facilitated in order to enable biologists to identify complex gene networks and functional pathways. To cope with this task multiple computer-based programs have been developed. GeneTrail is a freely available online tool that screens comparative transcriptomic data for differentially regulated functional categories and biological pathways extracted from common data bases like KEGG, Gene Ontology (GO), TRANSPATH and TRANSFAC. Additionally, GeneTrail offers a feature that allows screening of individually defined biological categories that are relevant for the respective research topic.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>We have set up GeneTrail for the use of <it>Arabidopsis thaliana</it>. To test the functionality of this tool for plant analysis, we generated transcriptome data of root and leaf responses to Fe deficiency and the Arabidopsis metal homeostasis mutant <it>nas4x-1</it>. We performed Gene Set Enrichment Analysis (GSEA) with eight meaningful pairwise comparisons of transcriptome data sets. We were able to uncover several functional pathways including metal homeostasis that were affected in our experimental situations. Representation of the differentially regulated functional categories in Venn diagrams uncovered regulatory networks at the level of whole functional pathways. Over-Representation Analysis (ORA) of differentially regulated genes identified in pairwise comparisons revealed specific functional plant physiological categories as major targets upon Fe deficiency and in <it>nas4x-1</it>.</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>Here, we obtained supporting evidence, that the <it>nas4x-1 </it>mutant was defective in metal homeostasis. It was confirmed that <it>nas4x-1 </it>showed Fe deficiency in roots and signs of Fe deficiency and Fe sufficiency in leaves. Besides metal homeostasis, biotic stress, root carbohydrate, leaf photosystem and specific cell biological categories were discovered as main targets for regulated changes in response to - Fe and <it>nas4x-1</it>. Among 258 differentially expressed genes in response to - Fe and <it>nas4x-1 </it>five functional categories were enriched covering metal homeostasis, redox regulation, cell division and histone acetylation. We proved that GeneTrail offers a flexible and user-adapted way to identify functional categories in large-scale plant transcriptome data sets. The distinguished feature that allowed analysis of individually assembled functional categories facilitated the study of the <it>Arabidopsis thaliana </it>transcriptome.</p