Porous silica spheres as indoor air pollutant scavengers

Porous silica spheres were investigated for their effectiveness in removing typical indoor air pollutants, such as aromatic and carbonyl-containing volatile organic compounds (VOCs), and compared to the commercially available polymer styrene-divinylbenzene (XAD-4). The silica spheres and the XAD-4 resin were coated on denuder sampling devices and their adsorption efficiencies for volatile organic compounds evaluated using an indoor air simulation chamber. Real indoor sampling was also undertaken to evaluate the affinity of the silica adsorbents for a variety of indoor VOCs. The silica sphere adsorbents were found to have a high affinity for polar carbonyls and found to be more efficient than the XAD-4 resin at adsorbing carbonyls in an indoor environment

Single system image: A survey

Single system image is a computing paradigm where a number of distributed computing resources are aggregated and presented via an interface that maintains the illusion of interaction with a single system. This approach encompasses decades of research using a broad variety of techniques at varying levels of abstraction, from custom hardware and distributed hypervisors to specialized operating system kernels and user-level tools. Existing classification schemes for SSI technologies are reviewed, and an updated classification scheme is proposed. A survey of implementation techniques is provided along with relevant examples. Notable deployments are examined and insights gained from hands-on experience are summarized. Issues affecting the adoption of kernel-level SSI are identified and discussed in the context of technology adoption literature

Domestic energy e$ciency in Ireland: correcting market failure

Abstract If the bene"ts of domestic energy eciency are so great, why are they not reaped in actuality and what can be done about it? This paper deals with these crucial questions. It is based on the "ndings of a recent comprehensive study evaluating the costs (labour and materials) and bene"ts (energy cost savings, environmental bene"ts, including reductions in emissions of CO , NO V , SO and PM , comfort gains and mortality and morbidity impacts) to Irish society of bringing the entire housing stock up to the latest Building Regulations. The reasons for the lack of take-up of energy-conservation measures are discussed. The paper formulates policy proposals to address the impediments to e!ective action in the market for domestic energy eciency. The various policy instruments available to overcome these barriers are outlined. Past performance, citing speci"c exemplars, both from abroad and from experience in Ireland, is reported. The "nal section suggests a mix of policy instruments to assist the realisation of the potential bene"ts of the energy-conservation programme. The principal initiatives recommended include the provision of a combination of grants to low-income households and a clear State-led information campaign explaining the bene"ts of conserving energy to the householder

Looking ahead to the future of GeogEd: creating spaces of exchange between communities of practice

As part of the special issue marking the transition of the Higher Education Research Group to the Geography and Education Research Group, in this final paper we argue that the reformed group has a key role to play in promoting spaces of exchange between the communities of practice that have a stake in the shared endeavours of geography and education. We draw on structured conversations from the group’s launch event, existing literature, and our particular vantage points to identify a range of influences – both heritages that we work with and challenges that we face – that shape the interplay of geography and education in our pedagogical contexts. We argue that the GeogEd Research Group can create spaces of productive exchange between three communities of practice: geographies of education research, geography education research, and pedagogic research. As the research group brings these communities of practice together, it facilitates dialogue, creates new avenues for research, and connects and enhances geography teaching practice across education levels

Looking ahead to the future of GeogEd: Creating spaces of exchange between communities of practice

As part of the special issue marking the transition of the Higher Education Research Group to the Geography and Education Research Group, in this final paper we argue that the reformed group has a key role to play in promoting spaces of exchange between the communities of practice that have a stake in the shared endeavours of geography and education. We draw on structured conversations from the group’s launch event, existing literature, and our particular vantage points to identify a range of influences – both heritages that we work with and challenges that we face – that shape the interplay of geography and education in our pedagogical contexts. We argue that the GeogEd Research Group can create spaces of productive exchange between three communities of practice: geographies of education research, geography education research, and pedagogic research. As the research group brings these communities of practice together, it facilitates dialogue, creates new avenues for research, and connects and enhances geography teaching practice across education levels

Observations of reservoir quality alteration in proximity to igneous intrusions for two distinct sandstones units in Scotland

Acknowledgements We thank the reviewers and editor for their helpful comments which greatly improved this manuscript. Thanks to John Still from the University of Aberdeen (ACEMAC ) for guidance with SEM/EDS, Colin Taylor for MICP tests and Walter Ritchie for making thin sections. Lorenza Sardisco and Jonathan Wilkins at X-Ray Minerals for XRD analysis and Prof. M.J. Wilson from the James Hutton Institute for valuable discussion of XRD results. Dave Healy acknowledges the support of the Natural Environment Research Council (NERC, UK) through the award NE/N003063/1 ‘Quantifying the Anisotropy of Permeability in Stressed Rock’.Peer reviewedPostprin

A Directional Crack Damage Memory Effect in Sandstone Under True Triaxial Loading

We thank J.G. Van Munster for providing access to the true triaxial apparatus at KSEPL and for technical support during the experimental program. This work was partly funded by NERC awards NE/N002938/1, NE/N003063/1, and by a NERC Doctoral Studentship, which we gratefully acknowledge. Supporting data are included in an SI file; any additional data may be obtained from JB (email: [email protected]).Peer reviewedPublisher PD

Polymorphism discovery and association analyses of the interferon genes in type 1 diabetes.

BACKGROUND: The aetiology of the autoimmune disease type 1 diabetes (T1D) involves many genetic and environmental factors. Evidence suggests that innate immune responses, including the action of interferons, may also play a role in the initiation and/or pathogenic process of autoimmunity. In the present report, we have adopted a linkage disequilibrium (LD) mapping approach to test for an association between T1D and three regions encompassing 13 interferon alpha (IFNA) genes, interferon omega-1 (IFNW1), interferon beta-1 (IFNB1), interferon gamma (IFNG) and the interferon consensus-sequence binding protein 1 (ICSBP1). RESULTS: We identified 238 variants, most, single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs), by sequencing IFNA, IFNB1, IFNW1 and ICSBP1, 98 of which where novel when compared to dbSNP build 124. We used polymorphisms identified in the SeattleSNP database for INFG. A set of tag SNPs was selected for each of the interferon and interferon-related genes to test for an association between T1D and this complex gene family. A total of 45 tag SNPs were selected and genotyped in a collection of 472 multiplex families. CONCLUSION: We have developed informative sets of SNPs for the interferon and interferon related genes. No statistical evidence of a major association between T1D and any of the interferon and interferon related genes tested was found.RIGHTS : This article is licensed under the BioMed Central licence at http://www.biomedcentral.com/about/license which is similar to the 'Creative Commons Attribution Licence'. In brief you may : copy, distribute, and display the work; make derivative works; or make commercial use of the work - under the following conditions: the original author must be given credit; for any reuse or distribution, it must be made clear to others what the license terms of this work are