Profitability of organic and conventional dairy production with different dietary proportions of high-quality grass silage

Profitability in milk production was calculated using diets with three different proportions of high-quality grass silage. The treatments consisted of the same feeds, but differed in the dietary proportion of forage: low (L), medium (M) and high (H), representing one conventional and two organic diets. The calculations were based on results in feed intake and milk production from a large dairy cow experiment. In the calculations, three different districts with different conditions for farming were used as models, and calculations were performed on two different herd sizes. In addition, current financial supports were both included and excluded in the calculations. The results showed only minor differences in profitability between using in average 60% or 70% of dry matter (DM) of silage in diets used in organic production. In conventional production, it was profitable to increase the average dietary proportion of silage from 50% to 60% of DM when the prices of concentrate and grains were as high as at the present. The results showed clear economic benefits of increasing the proportion of high-quality silage in conventional Scandinavian dairy cow diets up to levels similar to the standards of the organic production system

Design study of flat belt CVT for electric vehicles

A continuously variable transmission (CVT) was studied, using a novel flat belt pulley arrangement which couples the high speed output shaft of an energy storage flywheel to the drive train of an electric vehicle. A specific CVT arrangement was recommended and its components were selected and sized, based on the design requirements of a 1700 KG vehicle. A design layout was prepared and engineering calculations made of component efficiencies and operating life. The transmission efficiency was calculated to be significantly over 90% with the expected vehicle operation. A design consistent with automotive practice for low future production costs was considered, together with maintainability. The technology advancements required to develop the flat belt CVT were identified and an estimate was made of how the size of the flat belt CVT scales to larger and smaller design output torques. The suitability of the flat belt CVT for alternate application to an electric vehicle powered by an electric motor without flywheel and to a hybrid electric vehicle powered by an electric motor with an internal combustion engine was studied

Characteristics and Predictors for Students Classified with Emotional and Behavioral Disorder Who Have Also Experienced Maltreatment

Though experiencing maltreatment (abuse or neglect) appears to be common in students with the special education label of emotional and behavioral disorders (EBD), little research has been devoted to this topic by EBD educators. This paper uses archived file drawer data from 1992 that focuses on 149 students newly classified with EBD for whom a wide range of enrollment variables was collected, and who were subsequently followed up on an average of 8 years later to assess their educational outcomes. At enrollment, experiences of maltreatment were determined to have occurred in 57.7% of these participants. The group who experienced maltreatment was predicted at enrollment only by the family stress of having at least one natural parent with a history of psychiatric illness, although the concordance was not strong (52.3%). When the children who experienced maltreatment were next divided into two longitudinal groups according to educational outcomes (52.3% successful), the enrollment variables of the presence of anxiety and/or depressive disorder and younger age predicted the successful outcome group with good concordance (76.0%). Professional and programmatic implications for educators of students identified with EBD who have also experienced maltreatment are discussed, along with practical recommendations for serving this population

Noise Minimization in Eukaryotic Gene Expression

All organisms have elaborate mechanisms to control rates of protein production. However, protein production is also subject to stochastic fluctuations, or “noise.” Several recent studies in Saccharomyces cerevisiae and Escherichia coli have investigated the relationship between transcription and translation rates and stochastic fluctuations in protein levels, or more generally, how such randomness is a function of intrinsic and extrinsic factors. However, the fundamental question of whether stochasticity in protein expression is generally biologically relevant has not been addressed, and it remains unknown whether random noise in the protein production rate of most genes significantly affects the fitness of any organism. We propose that organisms should be particularly sensitive to variation in the protein levels of two classes of genes: genes whose deletion is lethal to the organism and genes that encode subunits of multiprotein complexes. Using an experimentally verified model of stochastic gene expression in S. cerevisiae, we estimate the noise in protein production for nearly every yeast gene, and confirm our prediction that the production of essential and complex-forming proteins involves lower levels of noise than does the production of most other genes. Our results support the hypothesis that noise in gene expression is a biologically important variable, is generally detrimental to organismal fitness, and is subject to natural selection

Review of battery electric vehicle propulsion systems incorporating flywheel energy storage

The development of battery electric vehicles (BEV) must continue since this can lead us towards a zero emission transport system. There has been an advent of the production BEVs in recent years; however their low range and high cost still remain the two important drawbacks. The battery is the element which strongly affects the cost and range of the BEV. The batteries offer either high specific power or high specific energy but not both. To provide the BEVs with the characteristic to compete with conventional vehicles it is beneficial to hybridize the energy storage combining a high energy battery with a high power source. This shields the battery from peak currents and improves its capacity and life. There are various devices which could qualify as a secondary storage system for the BEV such as high power battery, supercapacitor and high speed flywheel (FW). This paper aims to review a specific type of hybridisation of energy storage which combines batteries and high speed flywheels. The flywheel has been used as a secondary energy system in BEVs from the early 1970s when the oil crises triggered an interest in BEVs. Since the last decade the interest in flywheels has strengthened and their application in the kinetic energy recovery system (KERS) in Formula 1 has further bolstered the case for flywheels. With a number of automotive manufacturers getting involved in developing flywheels for road applications, the authors believe commercial flywheel based powertrains are likely to be seen in the near future. It is hence timely to produce a review of research and development in the area of flywheel assisted BEVs

Balancing, Proportionality, and Constitutional Rights

In the theory and practice of constitutional adjudication, proportionality review plays a crucial role. At a theoretical level, it lies at core of the debate on rights adjudication; in judicial practice, it is a widespread decision-making model characterizing the action of constitutional, supra-national and international courts. Despite its circulation and centrality in contemporary legal discourse, proportionality in rights-adjudication is still extremely controversial. It raises normative questions—concerning its justification and limits—and descriptive questions—regarding its nature and distinctive features. The chapter addresses both orders of questions. Part I centres on the justification of proportionality review, the connection between proportionality, balancing and theories of rights and the critical aspects of this connection. Part II identifies and analyses the different forms of proportionality both in review, as a template for rights-adjudication, and of review, as a way of defining the scope and limits of adjudication