Supply and Social Cost Estimates for Biomass from Crop Residues in the United States

The components of social costs included in the supply analysis are cash outlays and opportunity costs associated with harvest and alternative residue uses, potential environmental damage that is avoided by excluding unsuitable land, and costs in moving residues from farms to processing plants. Regional estimates account for the growing conditions and crops of the main agricultural areas of the United States. Estimates include the main U.S. field crops with potential for residue harvest: corn, wheat, sorghum, oats, barley, rice and cane sugar. The potential contribution of residues to U.S. energy needs is discussed

The Effects of MTBE Bans on Ethanol Production, Feed Markets, and the Iowa Economy

Ethanol isa gasoline additive. Increasing quality demands ofmodem gasoline engines and government regulations on health and clean air have shaped the gasoline additives market. So fer, two regulatory changes stand out. First, a lead-based additive, the octane-increasing choice during the 50s and 60s, was banned during the 70s because itcauses cancer. Second, the U.S. EPA required that the largest U.S. cities use reformulated gasoline with fuel quality restrictions that reduce smog (groiind level ozone) and improve other dimensions of airquality inthemost densely populated areas oftheU.S. An oxygen standard was included inthe fuel quality restrictions onreformulated fuel, on the grounds that oxygen fecilitates complete combustion and improves air quality. Ethanol demand received amajor boost from both the lead ban and reformulated fuel Ethanol hasthe highest octane and oxygen content inthe fiiel additives marke

V_{ub} from the Hadronic Invariant Mass Spectrum in Semileptonic B Decay

The hadronic invariant mass spectrum for the inclusive charmless semileptonic decay $B\to X_u e \bar\nu_e$ is studied. Particular attention is paid to the region $s_H<m_D^2$, which may be useful for extracting the value of $|V_{ub}|$. The sensitivity of the spectrum to the parameter $\bar\Lambda \equiv m_B - m_b$ is explored. Perturbative QCD corrections to $d\Gamma/ds_H$ of order $\alpha_s^2\beta_0$ are calculated. For $s_H \sim \bar\Lambda m_b$ nonperturbative QCD effects are important and the shape of the invariant mass spectrum is controlled by the B meson matrix element of an infinite sum of local operators. The utility of the hadronic mass spectrum for extracting $|V_{ub}|$ is explored.Comment: 14 pages, 5 figures, uses REVTeX and eps

Carbohydrate reduction for metabolic disease is distinct from the ketogenic diet for epilepsy

Recent reviews of using therapeutic carbohydrate reduction to treat metabolic disease in paediatric patients have consistently made errors in the form of bias against recommending this nutrient-dense eating pattern despite strong evidence for its use in adults and emerging evidence in paediatric patients. The purpose of this perspective is to review these errors, which include conflating 4:1 ketogenic diets with well-formulated ketogenic diets and the needless medicalisation of using therapeutic carbohydrate reduction in paediatric populations

Comment on nonperturbative effects in B→XsγB\to X_s\gamma

Uncertainties in the theoretical prediction for the inclusive $B\to X_s\gamma$ decay rate are discussed. We emphasize that there is no operator product expansion for this process. Nonetheless, some nonperturbative effects involving a virtual $c\bar c$ loop are calculable using the operator product expansion. They give a contribution to the decay rate that involves the B meson matrix element of an infinite tower of operators. The higher dimension operators give effects that are only suppressed by powers of $m_b\Lambda_{QCD}/m_c^2 \sim 0.6$, but come with small coefficients.Comment: 9 pages revtex, 2 figures included; minor changes, to appear in Phys. Lett.

B -> K^* gamma from D -> K^* l nu

The B -> K^* gamma branching fraction is predicted using heavy quark spin symmetry at large recoil to relate the tensor and (axial-)vector form factors, using heavy quark flavor symmetry to relate the B decay form factors to the measured D -> K^* l nu form form factors, and extrapolating the semileptonic B decay form factors to large recoil assuming nearest pole dominance. This prediction agrees with data surprisingly well, and we comment on its implications for the extraction of |Vub| from B -> rho l nu.Comment: 10 page

Dry and liquid formulations of IBT-V02, a novel multi-component toxoid vaccine, are effective against Staphylococcus aureus isolates from low-to-middle income countries

Staphylococcus aureus is the leading cause of skin and soft tissue infections (SSTIs) in the U.S. as well as more serious invasive diseases, including bacteremia, sepsis, endocarditis, surgical site infections, osteomyelitis, and pneumonia. These infections are exacerbated by the emergence of antibiotic-resistant clinical isolates such as methicillin-resistant S. aureus (MRSA), highlighting the need for alternatives to antibiotics to treat bacterial infections. We have previously developed a multi-component toxoid vaccine (IBT-V02) in a liquid formulation with efficacy against multiple strains of Staphylococcus aureus prevalent in the industrialized world. However, liquid vaccine formulations are not compatible with the paucity of cold chain storage infrastructure in many low-to-middle income countries (LMICs). Furthermore, whether our IBT-V02 vaccine formulations are protective against S. aureus isolates from LMICs is unknown. To overcome these limitations, we developed lyophilized and spray freeze-dried formulations of IBT-V02 vaccine and demonstrated that both formulations had comparable biophysical attributes as the liquid formulation, including similar levels of toxin neutralizing antibodies and protective efficacy against MRSA infections in murine and rabbit models. To enhance the relevancy of our findings, we then performed a multi-dimensional screen of 83 S. aureus clinical isolates from LMICs (e.g., Democratic Republic of Congo, Palestine, and Cambodia) to rationally down-select strains to test in our in vivo models based on broad expression of IBT-V02 targets (i.e., pore-forming toxins and superantigens). IBT-V02 polyclonal antisera effectively neutralized toxins produced by the S. aureus clinical isolates from LMICs. Notably, the lyophilized IBT-V02 formulation exhibited significant in vivo efficacy in various preclinical infection models against the S. aureus clinical isolates from LMICs, which was comparable to our liquid formulation. Collectively, our findings suggested that lyophilization is an effective alternative to liquid vaccine formulations of our IBT-V02 vaccine against S. aureus infections, which has important implications for protection from S. aureus isolates from LMICs

Event shapes in e+e- annihilation and deep inelastic scattering

This article reviews the status of event-shape studies in e+e- annihilation and DIS. It includes discussions of perturbative calculations, of various approaches to modelling hadronisation and of comparisons to data.Comment: Invited topical review for J.Phys.G; 40 pages; revised version corrects some nomenclatur