742 research outputs found
Toward sustainable reprocessing and valorization of sulfidic copper tailings: Scenarios and prospective LCA
There has been increasing attention recently to reprocessing of mining waste, which aims to recover potentially valuable materials such as metals and other byproducts from untapped resources. Mining waste valorization may offer environmental advantages over traditional make-waste-dispose approaches. However, a quantitative environmental assessment for large-scale reprocessing, accounting for future trends and a broad set of environmental indicators, is still lacking. This article assesses the life cycle impacts and resource recovery potential associated with alternative waste management through mine tailings reprocessing at a regional scale. Sulfidic copper tailings in the EU were selected as a case study. We perform prospective life cycle assessments of future reprocessing scenarios by considering emerging resource recovery technologies, market supply & demand forecasts, and energy system changes. We find that some reprocessing and valorization technologies in future scenarios may have reduction potentials for multiple impact indicators. However, results for indicators such as climate change and energy-related impacts suggest that specific scenarios perform sub-optimally due to energy/resource-intensive processes. The environmental performance of reprocessing of tailings is influenced by technology routes, secondary material market penetration, and choices of displaced products. The trade-off between climate change and energy related impacts, on the one hand, and toxicity impacts, on the other hand, requires critical appraisal by decision makers when promoting alternative tailings reprocessing. Implementing value recovery strategies for building material production, can save up to 3 Mt. CO2-eq in 2050 compared to business as usual, helping the copper sector mitigate climate impacts. Additional climate mitigation efforts in demand-side management are needed though to achieve the 1.5 °C climate target. This work provides a scientific basis for decision-making toward more sustainable reprocessing and valorization of sulfidic tailings
Increased brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF) protein concentrations in mice lacking brain serotonin
The interplay between BDNF signaling and the serotonergic system remains incompletely understood. Using a highly sensitive enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay, we studied BDNF concentrations in hippocampus and cortex of two mouse models of altered serotonin signaling: tryptophan hydroxylase (Tph)2-deficient (Tph2 (-/-)) mice lacking brain serotonin and serotonin transporter (SERT)-deficient (SERT(-/-)) mice lacking serotonin re-uptake. Surprisingly, hippocampal BDNF was significantly elevated in Tph2 (-/-) mice, whereas no significant changes were observed in SERT(-/-) mice. Furthermore, BDNF levels were increased in the prefrontal cortex of Tph2 (-/-) but not of SERT(-/-) mice. Our results emphasize the interaction between serotonin signaling and BDNF. Complete lack of brain serotonin induces BDNF expression
Evidence of Luttinger liquid behavior in one-dimensional dipolar quantum gases
The ground state and structure of a one-dimensional Bose gas with dipolar
repulsions is investigated at zero temperature by a combined Reptation Quantum
Monte Carlo (RQMC) and bosonization approach. A non trivial Luttinger-liquid
behavior emerges in a wide range of intermediate densities, evolving into a
Tonks-Girardeau gas at low density and into a classical quasi-ordered state at
high density. The density dependence of the Luttinger exponent is extracted
from the numerical data, providing analytical predictions for observable
quantities, such as the structure factor and the momentum distribution. We
discuss the accessibility of such predictions in current experiments with
ultracold atomic and molecular gases.Comment: 4 pages, 3 EPS figures, Revtex
Brain serotonin critically contributes to the biological effects of electroconvulsive seizures
Compounds targeting serotonin (5-HT) are widely used as antidepressants. However, the role of 5-HT in mediating the effects of electroconvulsive seizure (ECS) therapy remains undefined. Using Tph2(-/-) mice depleted of brain 5-HT, we studied the effects of ECS on behavior and neurobiology. ECS significantly prolonged the start latency in the elevated O-Maze test, an effect that was abolished in Tph2(-/-) mice. Furthermore, in the absence of 5-HT, the ECS-induced increase in adult neurogenesis and in brain-derived neurotrophic factor signaling in the hippocampus were significantly reduced. Our results indicate that brain 5-HT critically contributes to the neurobiological responses to ECS
Insights into gliadin supramolecular organization at digestive pH 3.0
Alpha-gliadin is a highly immunogenic protein from wheat, which is associated with many human diseases, like celiac disease and non-celiac gluten sensitivity. Because of that, gliadin solution is subject to intense biomedical research. However, the physicochemical nature of the employed gliadin solution at physiological pH is not understood. Herein, we present a supramolecular evaluation of the alpha-gliadin protein in water at pH 3.0 by dynamic light scattering (DLS), cryo-transmission electron microscopy (cryo-TEM) and small-angle-.X-ray scattering (SAXS). We report that at 0.5 wt% concentration (0.1 mg/ml), gliadin is already a colloidal polydisperse system with an average hydrodynamic radius of 30 ± 10 nm. By cryo-TEM, we detected mainly large clusters. However, it was possible to visualise for the first time prolate oligomers of around 68 nm and 103 nm, minor and major axis, respectively. SAXS experiments support the existence of prolate/rod-like structures. At 1.5 wt% concentration gliadin dimers, small oligomers and large clusters coexist. The radius of gyration (Rg1) of gliadin dimer is 5.72 ± 0.23 nm with a dimer cross-section (Rc) of 1.63 nm, and an average length of around 19 nm, this suggests that gliadin dimers are formed longitudinally. Finally, our alpha-gliadin 3D model, obtained by ab initio prediction and analysed by molecular dynamics (MD), predicts that two surfaces prone to aggregation are exposed to the solvent, at the C-terminus. We hypothesise that this region may be involved in the dimerisation process of alpha-gliadin.Fil: Herrera, Maria Georgina. Universitat Bielefeld; Alemania. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas; ArgentinaFil: Vazquez, Diego Sebastian. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Conicet - La Plata. Instituto de Investigaciones Biotecnológicas. Universidad Nacional de San Martín. Instituto de Investigaciones Biotecnológicas; ArgentinaFil: Sreij, R.. Universitat Bielefeld; AlemaniaFil: Drechsler, M.. University of Bayreuth; AlemaniaFil: Hertle, Y.. Universitat Bielefeld; AlemaniaFil: Hellweg, T.. Universitat Bielefeld; AlemaniaFil: Dodero, Veronica Isabel. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas; Argentina. Universitat Bielefeld; Alemani
Performance of Several Low‐Cost Accelerometers
Several groups are implementing low-cost host-operated systems of strong-motion accelerographs to support the somewhat divergent needs of seismologists and earthquake engineers. The Advanced National Seismic System Technical Implementation Committee (ANSS TIC, 2002), managed by the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) in cooperation with other network operators, is exploring the efficacy of such systems if used in ANSS networks. To this end, ANSS convened a working group to explore available Class C strong-motion accelerometers (defined later), and to consider operational and quality control issues, and the means of annotating, storing, and using such data in ANSS networks. The working group members are largely coincident with our author list, and this report informs instrument-performance matters in the working group’s report to ANSS. Present examples of operational networks of such devices are the Community Seismic Network (CSN; csn.caltech.edu), operated by the California Institute of Technology, and Quake-Catcher Network (QCN; Cochran et al., 2009; qcn.stanford.edu; November 2013), jointly operated by Stanford University and the USGS. Several similar efforts are in development at other institutions. The overarching goals of such efforts are to add spatial density to existing Class-A and Class-B (see next paragraph) networks at low cost, and to include many additional people so they become invested in the issues of earthquakes, their measurement, and the damage they cause
Passenger car data – a new source of real-time weather information for nowcasting, forecasting, and road safety
Presentación realizada en la 3rd European Nowcasting Conference, celebrada en la sede central de AEMET en Madrid del 24 al 26 de abril de 2019
Phase transitions in the boson-fermion resonance model in one dimension
We study 1D fermions with photoassociation or with a narrow Fano-Feshbach
resonance described by the Boson-Fermion resonance model. Using thebosonization
technique, we derive a low-energy Hamiltonian of the system. We show that at
low energy, the order parameters for the Bose Condensation and fermion
superfluidity become identical, while a spin gap and a gap against the
formation of phase slips are formed. As a result of these gaps, charge density
wave correlations decay exponentially in contrast with the phases where only
bosons or only fermions are present. We find a Luther-Emery point where the
phase slips and the spin excitations can be described in terms of
pseudofermions. This allows us to provide closed form expressions of the
density-density correlations and the spectral functions. The spectral functions
of the fermions are gapped, whereas the spectral functions of the bosons remain
gapless. The application of a magnetic field results in a loss of coherence
between the bosons and the fermion and the disappearance of the gap. Changing
the detuning has no effect on the gap until either the fermion or the boson
density is reduced to zero. Finally, we discuss the formation of a Mott
insulating state in a periodic potential. The relevance of our results for
experiments with ultracold atomic gases subject to one-dimensional confinement
is also discussed.Comment: 31 pages, 8 EPS figures, RevTeX 4, long version of cond-mat/050570
Maximal length of trapped one-dimensional Bose-Einstein condensates
I discuss a Bogoliubov inequality for obtaining a rigorous bound on the
maximal axial extension of inhomogeneous one-dimensional Bose-Einstein
condensates. An explicit upper limit for the aspect ratio of a strongly
elongated, harmonically trapped Thomas-Fermi condensate is derived.Comment: 6 pages; contributed paper for Quantum Fluids and Solids, Trento
2004, to appear in JLT
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Seismic Moment Tensor Report for the 06 Aug 2007, M3.9 Seismic Event in Central Utah
We have performed a complete moment tensor analysis (Minson and Dreger, 2007) of the seismic event, which occurred on Monday August 6, 2007 at 08:48:40 UTC, 21 km from Mount Pleasant, Utah. The purpose of this report is to present our scientific results, making them available to other researchers working on seismic source determination problems, and source type identification. In our analysis we used complete, three-component seismic records recorded by stations operated by the USGS, the University of Utah and EarthScope. The results of our analysis show that most of the seismic wave energy is consistent with an underground collapse, however the cause of the mine collapse is still unknown
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