State Law Responses to Global Warming: Is It Constitutional to Think Globally and Act Locally?

The author explores the constitutionality of state actions to address global warming in an effort to fill the void left by the federal government\u27s failure to act

Solution of Powertrain Dynamics in Vehicle

Cílem této diplomové práce je zhodnocení a volba nejvhodnější možnosti uložení pohonné jednotky ve vozidle kategorie Formule Student. Hodnotí celkové dynamické chování pohonné jednotky, která má být uložena v rámu vozu této třídy vozidel. V závěru práce je provedeno posouzení navržené varianty uložení motoru a studie parametrů, které nejvíce ovlivňují vibrace.The main aim of this diploma thesis is to evaluate and select the most appropriate option how to mount a power unit in Formula Student vehicle. It assesses an overall dynamic behaviour of a drive unit mounted in student formula. At the end of the final thesis is an assessment of proposed engine mount variants. The study of parameters that most influence engine vibrations can be seen there.

Law, Ecosystem Valuation and Risk Allocation

Assigning a precise economic value to a non-market ecosystem service or environmental externality that damages an ecosystem or human health and welfare is challenging. However, if we tie fairness and equity to getting the “prices” exactly right, the best will become the enemy of the good and we will sacrifice ecosystem services on the alter of excessive exactness. In terms of equity and ecosystem services, the precision of any particular monetized value is less important than that there be a value, and that the value is incorporated into legal and policy decisions. Existing legal models and institutional frameworks were not designed to incorporate ecosystem or environmental externality values into legal decision-making, other than by using the implicit (and wrong) presumption that the value of ecosystems or environmental externalities is exactly $0.00. We must rethink our legal paradigms so that environmental valuation is integrated into routine decision-making. Environmental equity requires careful consideration of who bears the risk of uncertainty. One possible approach is to link ecosystem valuation to risk and uncertainty by imposing financial consequences on projects proportionate to the ecosystem values at stake. To do so, we can adapt risk allocation instruments and approaches routinely used in commercial and financial transactions, such as surety bonds and secured assets, to protect the value of ecosystems and reduce harm from environmental externalities. This paper will examine ecosystem value-based risk shifting in two case studies: ecosystem valuation in environmental impact assessments, and least-cost energy decision-making

A Global Law of Sustainable Energy

The 1992 United Nations Conference on Environment and Development adopted the Rio Declaration on Environment and Development and Agenda 21 as the core principles and a program of action to achieve sustainable development; neither addressed energy as a central theme. In 2002, sustainable energy was a central theme at the World Summit on Sustainable Development and was addressed in detail in the Johannesburg Plan of Implementation. However, in 2012, neither climate change nor sustainable energy will be on Rio+20’s agenda. Ironically, 2012 is the U.N. International Year of Sustainable Energy For All. Rio+20 and the International Year are only loosely linked. Neither refers to the decades of work defining, designing, and implementing the central elements of sustainable energy law and policy. Despite what appears to be the superficial treatment of sustainable energy by Rio +20 and the U.N. International Year, a substantial body of law and policy now exists that constitutes an emerging global law of sustainable energy. This paper traces the international and national growth of sustainable energy law, policy and governance structures from their intellectual seeds planted over 30 years ago to the present, and explores why Rio+20 ignores the ideas advanced in the Johannesburg Plan of Implementation. The paper identifies the central legal principles and policies that comprise sustainable energy law, and proposes a legal framework for a global law of sustainable energy

Hybrid drives of city buses

Bakalářská práce se zabývá začleněním hybridních autobusů do městské dopravy. Hodnotí jejich účinky na životní prostředí a možnosti nasazení do provozu. Pojednává o druzích hybridních pohonů, komponentech tohoto systému a jejich vzájemných vazbách. Zaměřuje se především na aktuální stav a také možnosti dalšího vývoje v této oblasti. V posledních částech jsou shrnuta ekonomická hlediska týkající se autobusové dopravy.Bachelor’s thesis deals with an integration of hybrid buses in a public transport. It evaluates their environmental impact and possibilities of an application in traffic. Types of hybrid drives, system components and their interaction could be found here. It is focused on current status and chances of future development. In the final part there are economical aspects connected with bus transport.

Law, the Laws of Nature and Ecosystem Energy Services: A Case of wilful Blindness

Ecosystems services include the collection, concentration, and storage of solar energy as fossil fuels (e.g., coal, petroleum, and natural gas). These concentrated forms of energy were produced by ancient ecosystem services. However, our legal and economic systems fail to recognise the value of the ecosystem service subsidies embedded in fossil fuels. This ecosystem services price subsidy causes overuse and waste of fossil fuels in the free market: fossil fuels are consumed more quickly than they can be replaced by ecosystem services and in far larger quantities than they would be if the price of fossil fuels included the cost of solar energy collection, concentration and manufacturing of raw fossil fuels. Moreover, burning fossil fuels produces enormous environmental, human health and welfare costs and damage. Virtually no legal literature on ecosystem services, sustainable development, or sustainable energy, considers fossil fuels in this context. Without understanding stored energy as an ecosystem service, we cannot reasonably expect to manage our fossil fuel energy resources sustainably. International and domestic energy law and policy systems generally ignore this feature of fossil fuel energy, a blind spot that explains why reducing greenhouse gas emissions from fossil fuels is fundamentally a political challenge. This paper will use new understandings emerging from the field of complex systems to critique existing legal decision-making models that do not adequately account for energy ecosystem services in policy design, resource allocation and project approvals. The paper proposes a new "least-social-cost" decision-making legal structure that includes ecosystem energy services.      &nbsp

Cleavable Biotin Probes for Labeling of Biomolecules via Azide−Alkyne Cycloaddition

The azide−alkyne cycloaddition provides a powerful tool for bio-orthogonal labeling of proteins, nucleic acids, glycans, and lipids. In some labeling experiments, e.g., in proteomic studies involving affinity purification and mass spectrometry, it is convenient to use cleavable probes that allow release of labeled biomolecules under mild conditions. Five cleavable biotin probes are described for use in labeling of proteins and other biomolecules via azide−alkyne cycloaddition. Subsequent to conjugation with metabolically labeled protein, these probes are subject to cleavage with either 50 mM Na_2S_2O_4, 2% HOCH_2CH_2SH, 10% HCO_2H, 95% CF_3CO_2H, or irradiation at 365 nm. Most strikingly, a probe constructed around a dialkoxydiphenylsilane (DADPS) linker was found to be cleaved efficiently when treated with 10% HCO_2H for 0.5 h. A model green fluorescent protein was used to demonstrate that the DADPS probe undergoes highly selective conjugation and leaves a small (143 Da) mass tag on the labeled protein after cleavage. These features make the DADPS probe especially attractive for use in biomolecular labeling and proteomic studies

In situ visualization and dynamics of newly synthesized proteins in rat hippocampal neurons

Protein translation has been implicated in different forms of synaptic plasticity, but direct in situ visualization of new proteins is limited to one or two proteins at a time. Here we describe a metabolic labeling approach based on incorporation of noncanonical amino acids into proteins followed by chemoselective fluorescence tagging by means of 'click chemistry'. After a brief incubation with azidohomoalanine or homopropargylglycine, a robust fluorescent signal was detected in somata and dendrites. Pulse-chase application of azidohomoalanine and homopropargylglycine allowed visualization of proteins synthesized in two sequential time periods. This technique can be used to detect changes in protein synthesis and to evaluate the fate of proteins synthesized in different cellular compartments. Moreover, using strain-promoted cycloaddition, we explored the dynamics of newly synthesized membrane proteins using single-particle tracking and quantum dots. The newly synthesized proteins showed a broad range of diffusive behaviors, as would be expected for a pool of labeled proteins that is heterogeneous