A computer‐aided continuous assessment system

A high‐quality assessment system should have the following attributes: rapid feedback to the students, appropriate and detailed feedback, and an effective grading system which provides an accurate overall grade as well as information which identifies the student's weak areas. As stafflstudent ratios worsen, providing such a system will become more difficult and consequently computer assistance in this task is becoming more attractive. This paper describes a Computer‐Aided Assessment (CAA) system based on a modified version of the multiple‐choice questionnaire. The CAA has been designed to be used in continuous assessment, with features that discourage plagiarism and provide appropriate feedback Over a hundred students were tested using this CAA and the results were compared with a more traditional assessment system. In addition, questionnaires were used to assess the student's reaction to the CAA. The results were highly satisfactory, and a more advanced version of the original software is under consideration

Measuring the Impact of Energy Technology Investment on Long-term Sustainability

The global energy system currently faces a number of significant challenges which have the potential to undermine long-term sustainable development, including the need to maintain secure access to affordable energy supplies and mitigate climate change. This report explores the role of energy technology investment policies, including R&D and demonstration and deployment (D&D) programs in overcoming these challenges. The analysis considers the mechanisms by which energy technology policy initiatives may affect technology characteristics and deployment, and how technology deployment influences overall features of the energy system, and thereby energy security and climate change. The results identify potential targets for technology policy support, including the need to co-ordinate complementary technology strategies. Moreover, we discuss some critical insights related to the impact of the broader policy environment on successful technology deployment, and the potential for certain technology policies to result in undesirable technology lock-out. This research was carried out under the SAPIENTIA project, sponsored by the European Commission (DG Research), which sought to develop methodologies to support decision makers concerned with the energy-environment-policy nexus in formulating technology policy. Importantly, the results presented here represent only part of the output of the integrated SAPIENTIA project, and are highly dependent on the characteristics of our modeling tools. Nonetheless, this analysis provides some instructive insights for the development of more comprehensive methodologies for the assessment of impacts of energy technology support policies

Impact Assessment of Energy-related Policy Instruments on Climate Change and Security of Energy Supply

This report assesses the impact of several representative policy instruments on sustainability indicators in the areas of climate change and security of energy supply, two important dimensions of sustainable development addressed in the MINIMA-SUD project sponsored by the European Commission (DG Research). Specifically, we pay attention to the effectiveness of these policy instruments in stimulating technological change that could lead to a more secure and climate-benign global energy system in the long-term future. For such purpose, we examine the incremental change in a number of sustainability indicators when the policy instrument is applied relative to the costs of application of the instrument. This measure is referred to as the "impact" of the policy instrument. We concentrate our attention on the following policy instruments: Energyrelated demonstration and deployment (D&D) programs and a carbon-equivalent (C-eq) tax. Impact assessment of policy instruments is an important element of the policy development process of the European Commission, among others. It represents a systematic and careful attempt to shed light on the possible effects of policy proposals. As such, it serves as an aid to the decision-making process. Specifically, impact assessment of policy instruments plays an important role in the implementation of the sustainable-development strategy of the European Commission. Although the numerical results presented here are specific to our particular analysis and highly dependent on the characteristics and limitations of our modeling tools, we want to offer this analysis as a contribution towards the development of more comprehensive methodologies for the assessment of impacts of policy instruments in the context of the quest towards a sustainable global energy system

The Extended Energy-Systems ERIS Model: An Overview

This report describes the extensions to the "bottom-up" energy-systems ERIS (Energy Research and Investment Strategies) model carried out by the authors at IIASA-ECS for, among others, the EC-Sponsored SAPIENTIA and MINIMA-SUD projects. The original version of the ERIS model was developed as a joint effort between the Environmentally Compatible Energy Strategies (ECS) project at IIASA and the Energy Economics Group of the Paul Scherrer Institute (PSI) in Switzerland during the EC-sponsored TEEM and SAPIENT projects, in which it was mainly used to examine issues related to the endogenization of mechanisms of technological change. The extension of the ERIS model developed at IIASA-ECS include: the implementation of a clusters approach to technology learning, the inclusion of emissions and marginal abatement curves for two main non-CO2 greenhouse gases (methane (CH4) and nitrous oxide (N2O)), the inclusion of sulfur dioxide (SO2) emissions, the incorporation of a transportation sector with emphasis on the passenger car sub-sector, the inclusion of fuel production technologies (i.e. hydrogen, alcohol, Fischer-Tropsch liquids, etc.) as well as geological and terrestrial CO2 storage and a calibration to the year 2000 energy statistics

Isolation and identification of Acinetobacter spp. from healthy canine skin

Acinetobacter species can exhibit widespread resistance to antimicrobial agents. They are already recognized as important nosocomial pathogens of humans, but are becoming increasingly recognized in opportunistic infections of animals. This study aimed to determine whether Acinetobacter spp. are carried on skin of healthy dogs and, if present, to identify the species

Waterborne Elizabethkingia meningoseptica in adult critical care

Elizabethkingia meningoseptica is an infrequent colonizer of the respiratory tract; its pathogenicity is uncertain. In the context of a 22-month outbreak of E. meningoseptica acquisition affecting 30 patients in a London, UK, critical care unit (3% attack rate) we derived a measure of attributable morbidity and determined whether E. meningoseptica is an emerging nosocomial pathogen. We found monomicrobial E. meningoseptica acquisition (n = 13) to have an attributable morbidity rate of 54% (systemic inflammatory response syndrome >2, rising C-reactive protein, new radiographic changes), suggesting that E. meningoseptica is a pathogen. Epidemiologic and molecular evidence showed acquisition was water-source–associated in critical care but identified numerous other E. meningoseptica strains, indicating more widespread distribution than previously considered. Analysis of changes in gram-negative speciation rates across a wider London hospital network suggests this outbreak, and possibly other recently reported outbreaks, might reflect improved diagnostics and that E. meningoseptica thus is a pseudo-emerging pathogen

Light sensitivity in a vertebrate mechanoreceptor?

Using immunohistochemistry and Western blot analysis we demonstrate that melanopsin is localised in cells around the central pore of lateral line neuromasts in the African clawed frog, Xenopus laevis. Since melanopsin is a known photoreceptor pigment with diverse functions in vertebrates, we suggest that the lateral line of Xenopus laevis, which is primarily a mechanorecptor, may also be light sensitive. Potential functions of such photosensitivity are discussed, including its role in mediating locomotor responses following dermal illumination

Terahertz underdamped vibrational motion governs protein-ligand binding in solution

Low-frequency collective vibrational modes in proteins have been proposed as being responsible for efficiently directing biochemical reactions and biological energy transport. However, evidence of the existence of delocalized vibrational modes is scarce and proof of their involvement in biological function absent. Here we apply extremely sensitive femtosecond optical Kerr-effect spectroscopy to study the depolarized Raman spectra of lysozyme and its complex with the inhibitor triacetylchitotriose in solution. Underdamped delocalized vibrational modes in the terahertz frequency domain are identified and shown to blue-shift and strengthen upon inhibitor binding. This demonstrates that the ligand-binding coordinate in proteins is underdamped and not simply solvent-controlled as previously assumed. The presence of such underdamped delocalized modes in proteins may have significant implications for the understanding of the efficiency of ligand binding and protein–molecule interactions, and has wider implications for biochemical reactivity and biological function

Environmentally smart contracts for artists using non-fungible tokens

We propose Environmentally Smart Contracts, a new kind of smart contract for non-fungible tokens to solve the prudential-moral dilemma facing digital artists. The current proof-of-work-dominated non-fungible token environment requires artists to trade off the prudential benefits and the environmental costs of selling their art on blockchains. By fully correcting for environmental externalities, Environmentally Smart Contracts will allow artists to reap the sales benefits of non-fungible tokens without contributing to environmental degradation. Concrete steps to encourage the development of Environmentally Smart Contracts are discussed