Making meaningful comparisons between road and rail – substituting average energy consumption data for rail with empirical analysis

Within the transport sector, modal shift towards more efficient and less polluting modes could be a key policy goal to help meet targets to reduce energy consumption and carbon emissions. However, making comparisons between modes is not necessarily straightforward. Average energy and emissions data are often relied upon, particularly for, rail, which may not be applicable to a given context. Some UK train operating companies have recently fitted electricity metres to their trains, from which energy consumption data have been obtained. This has enabled an understanding to be gained of how energy consumption and related emissions are affected by a number of factors, including train and service type. Comparisons are made with existing data for road and rail. It is noted that although more specific data can be useful in informing policy and making some decisions, average data continue to play an important role when considering the overall picture

French Strategy and the American Revolution: A Reappraisal

The question of French involvement in the American War of Independence frequently becomes entangled in much larger issues that often obscure the reasons France became involved in the first place and what the consequences were for subsequent French history

Threatened by Industry, Saved by Science: Mussel Propagation at the Fairport Biological Laboratory

During the 1890s, people on the Mississippi River exploited mussel populations to support a thriving button industry. Within a brief time, they noticed significant declines in mussel populations, and called on the U.S. Bureau of Fisheries to save the resource. This paper discusses mussel propagation studies, techniques, and activities carried on in association with the Fairport Biological Laboratory (Iowa) from about 1908 to 1932. While scientists developed sophisticated techniques and had success in mussel propagation, changing habitat conditions in the river (caused mainly by pollution and dam construction) meant limited success in rescuing mussel stocks, while the introduction of plastic and the growth of foreign sources of mussel shells influenced the decline of the button industry on the Mississippi River

The Most Defiant Devil: William Temple Hornaday and His Controversial Crusade to Save American Wildlife

Review of: The Most Defiant Devil: William Temple Hornaday and His Controversial Crusade to Save American Wildlife, by Gregory J. Dehle

All the Wild that Remains: Edward Abbey, Wallace Stegner, and the American West

Review of: "All the Wild that Remains: Edward Abbey, Wallace Stegner, and the American West", by David Gessner

Bone strength and architecture : pharmacological targeting of CaMKK2 as a method for enhancing bone quality.

Mice lacking or pharmacologically inhibited for calcium/calmodulin-dependent protein kinase kinase 2 (CaMKK2) have enhanced bone mass and microarchitecture. This enhanced bone mass and architecture is due to changes in osteoblast and osteoclast numbers as well as activity. Whether the enhanced bone mass translated to increased bone quality and strength was further explored by developing a method to directly test the trabecular strength of the distal femur. Micro computed tomography (CT)-based measurement of the length of the epiphysis of the distal femur, aided in its removal, allowing the exposure of the trabecular bone volume used to determine the microarchitecture parameters. Following the development of this method, the hypothesis that the lack or inhibition of CaMKK2 results in enhance bone strength as well as bone mass could be tested. Our results then show a strong correlation between the enhanced bone mass and bone strength in animals lacking or acutely inhibited for CaMKK2