The impact of a seasonally ice free Arctic Ocean on the temperature, precipitation and surface mass balance of Svalbard

The observed decline in summer sea ice extent since the 1970s is predicted to continue until the Arctic Ocean is seasonally ice free during the 21st Century. This will lead to a much perturbed Arctic climate with large changes in ocean surface energy flux. Svalbard, located on the present day sea ice edge, contains many low lying ice caps and glaciers and is expected to experience rapid warming over the 21st Century. The total sea level rise if all the land ice on Svalbard were to melt completely is 0.02 m. The purpose of this study is to quantify the impact of climate change on Svalbard’s surface mass balance (SMB) and to determine, in particular, what proportion of the projected changes in precipitation and SMB are a result of changes to the Arctic sea ice cover. To investigate this a regional climate model was forced with monthly mean climatologies of sea surface temperature (SST) and sea ice concentration for the periods 1961–1990 and 2061–2090 under two emission scenarios. In a novel forcing experiment, 20th Century SSTs and 21st Century sea ice were used to force one simulation to investigate the role of sea ice forcing. This experiment results in a 3.5 m water equivalent increase in Svalbard’s SMB compared to the present day. This is because over 50 % of the projected increase in winter precipitation over Svalbard under the A1B emissions scenario is due to an increase in lower atmosphere moisture content associated with evaporation from the ice free ocean. These results indicate that increases in precipitation due to sea ice decline may act to moderate mass loss from Svalbard’s glaciers due to future Arctic warming

GOVERNMENT PATENTING AND TECHNOLOGY TRANSFER

Intellectual property rights such as patents protect new inventions from imitation and competition. Patents' major objective is to provide incentives for invention, sacrificing short-term market efficiency for long-term economic gains. Although patents are primarily granted to private firms, policy changes over the last 25 years have resulted in greater use of patenting by the public sector. This study examines government patenting behavior by analyzing case studies of patenting and licensing by the Agricultural Research Service (ARS) of the U.S. Department of Agriculture. ARS uses patenting and licensing as a means of technology transfer in cases in which a technology requires additional development by a private sector partner to yield a marketable product. Licensing revenue is not a major motivation for ARS patenting. More widespread use of patenting and licensing by ARS has not reduced the use of traditional instruments of technology transfer such as scientific publication. Once the decision has been made to patent and license a technology, the structure of the licensing agreement affects technology transfer outcomes. As commercial partners gain experience with the technology and learn more about the market, mutually advantageous revisions to license terms can maintain the incentives through which private companies distribute the benefits of public research.patents, licenses, intellectual property rights, technology transfer, Agricultural Research Service, agricultural research and development, Research and Development/Tech Change/Emerging Technologies,

Direct Use of Low Enthalpy Deep Geothermal Resources in the East African Rift Valley

Geothermal energy is already harnessed across East Africa to provide hundreds of megawatts of electricity, with significant plans for future expansion towards generation at the gigawatt scale. This power generation utilizes the high steam temperatures (typically more than 200 °C) that are available in several locations in Kenya, Ethiopia and elsewhere. The presence of these high enthalpy resources has deflected attention from the often attractive low and medium enthalpy resources present across a more extensive portion of the region. Geothermally heated water at cooler temperatures (less than 90 °C) could be widely produced by drilling shallower and cheaper boreholes than those required for power production. This low enthalpy resource could be widely exploitable throughout the Rift Valley, offering a low carbon, sustainable, reliable and commercially competitive source of heating, drying and cooling (via absorption chillers) to local farmers and growers, and for low temperature commercial and industrial uses. Applications of this type would displace expensive fossil fuels, reducing costs and carbon emissions as well as improving the region’s energy and food security. The power input for pump systems can be accommodated by relatively small generators, so direct heat projects could be beneficial to consumers in areas with no grid access

Assessing the Benefits of Public Research Within an Economic Framework: The Case of USDA's Agricultural Research Service

Evaluation of publicly funded research can help provide accountability and prioritize programs. In addition, Federal intramural research planning generally involves an institutional assessment of the appropriate Federal role, if any, and whether the research should be left to others, such as universities or the private sector. Many methods of evaluation are available, peer review—used primarily for establishing scientific merit—being the most common. Economic analysis focuses on quantifying ultimate research outcomes, whether measured in goods with market prices or in nonmarket goods such as environmental quality or human health. However, standard economic techniques may not be amenable for evaluating some important public research priorities or for institutional assessments. This report reviews quantitative methods and applies qualitative economic reasoning and stakeholder interviewing methods to the evaluation of economic benefits of Federal intramural research using three case studies of research conducted by USDA’s Agricultural Research Service (ARS). Differences among the case studies highlight the need to select suitable assessment techniques from available methodologies, the limited scope for comparing assessment results across programs, and the inherent difficulty in quantifying benefits in some research areas. When measurement and attribution issues make it difficult to quantify these benefits, the report discusses how qualitative insights based on economic concepts can help research prioritization.Agricultural Research Service, Federal intramural research, publicly funded research, Environmental Economics and Policy, Food Consumption/Nutrition/Food Safety, Livestock Production/Industries, Productivity Analysis,

Research Investments and Market Structure in the Food Processing, Agricultural Input, and Biofuel Industries Worldwide

Meeting growing global demand for food, fiber, and biofuel requires robust investment in agricultural research and development (R&D) from both public and private sectors. This study examines global R&D spending by private industry in seven agricultural input sectors, food manufacturing, and biofuel and describes the changing structure of these industries. In 2007 (the latest year for which comprehensive estimates are available), the private sector spent 19.7 billion on food and agricultural research (56 percent in food manufacturing and 44 percent in agricultural input sectors) and accounted for about half of total public and private spending on food and agricultural R&D in high-income countries. In R&D related to biofuel, annual private-sector investments are estimated to have reached 1.47 billion worldwide by 2009. Incentives to invest in R&D are influenced by market structure and other factors. Agricultural input industries have undergone significant structural change over the past two decades, with industry concentration on the rise. A relatively small number of large, multinational firms with global R&D and marketing networks account for most R&D in each input industry. Rising market concentration has not generally been associated with increased R&D investment as a percentage of industry sales.agricultural biotechnology, agricultural chemicals, agricultural inputs, animal breeding, animal health, animal nutrition, aquaculture, biofuel, concentration ratio, crop breeding, crop protection, farm machinery, fertilizers, Herfindahl index, globalization, market share, market structure, research intensity, seed improvement, Productivity Analysis,

Direct Use of Low Enthalpy Deep Geothermal Resources in the East African Rift Valley

Geothermal energy is already harnessed across East Africa to provide hundreds of megawatts of electricity, with significant plans for future expansion towards generation at the gigawatt scale. This power generation utilizes the high steam temperatures (typically more than 200 °C) that are available in several locations in Kenya, Ethiopia and elsewhere. The presence of these high enthalpy resources has deflected attention from the often attractive low and medium enthalpy resources present across a more extensive portion of the region. Geothermally heated water at cooler temperatures (less than 90 °C) could be widely produced by drilling shallower and cheaper boreholes than those required for power production. This low enthalpy resource could be widely exploitable throughout the Rift Valley, offering a low carbon, sustainable, reliable and commercially competitive source of heating, drying and cooling (via absorption chillers) to local farmers and growers, and for low temperature commercial and industrial uses. Applications of this type would displace expensive fossil fuels, reducing costs and carbon emissions as well as improving the region’s energy and food security. The power input for pump systems can be accommodated by relatively small generators, so direct heat projects could be beneficial to consumers in areas with no grid access

The anti-apoptotic activity of XIAP is retained upon mutation of both the caspase 3– and caspase 9–interacting sites

The X-linked mammalian inhibitor of apoptosis protein (XIAP) has been shown to bind several partners. These partners include caspase 3, caspase 9, DIABLO/Smac, HtrA2/Omi, TAB1, the bone morphogenetic protein receptor, and a presumptive E2 ubiquitin-conjugating enzyme. In addition, we show here that XIAP can bind to itself. To determine which of these interactions are required for it to inhibit apoptosis, we generated point mutant XIAP proteins and correlated their ability to bind other proteins with their ability to inhibit apoptosis. ∂RING point mutants of XIAP were as competent as their full-length counterparts in inhibiting apoptosis, although impaired in their ability to oligomerize with full-length XIAP. Triple point mutants, unable to bind caspase 9, caspase 3, and DIABLO/HtrA2/Omi, were completely ineffectual in inhibiting apoptosis. However, point mutants that had lost the ability to inhibit caspase 9 and caspase 3 but retained the ability to inhibit DIABLO were still able to inhibit apoptosis, demonstrating that IAP antagonism is required for apoptosis to proceed following UV irradiation