System Energy Assessment (SEA), Defining a Standard Measure of EROI for Energy Businesses as Whole Systems

A more objective method for measuring the energy needs of businesses, System Energy Assessment (SEA), identifies the natural boundaries of businesses as self-managing net-energy systems, of controlled and self-managing parts. The method is demonstrated using a model Wind Farm case study, and applied to defining a true physical measure of its energy productivity for society (EROI-S), the global ratio of energy produced to energy cost. The traceable needs of business technology are combined with assignable energy needs for all other operating services. That serves to correct a large natural gap in energy use information. Current methods count traceable energy receipts for technology use. Self-managing services employed by businesses outsource their own energy needs to operate, and leave no records to trace. Those uncounted energy demands are often 80% of the total embodied energy of business end products. The scale of this "dark energy" was discovered from differing global accounts, and corrected so the average energy cost per dollar for businesses would equal the world average energy use per dollar of GDP. Presently the energy needs of paid services that outsource their own energy needs are counted for lack of information to be "0". Our default assumption is to treat them as "average". The result is to assign total energy use and impacts to the demand for energy services, for a "Scope 4" GHG assessment level. Counting only the energy uses of technology understates the energy needs of business services, as if services were more energy efficient than technology. The result confirms a similar finding by Hall et. al. in 1981 [9]. We use exhaustive search for what a business needs to operate as a whole, locating a natural physical boundary for its working parts, to define businesses as physical rather than statistical subjects of science. :measurement, natural systemsComment: 33 pages, 15 figures, accepted as part of pending special issue on EROI organized by Charlie Hall for Sustainability (MDPI

A Government of the People, by the People, for the People? Revisiting Term Limits for Congress and \u3cem\u3eU.S. Term Limits v. Thornton\u3c/em\u3e

Term limits for government officials in this country have a long but inconsistent history. On both the federal level and state levels, proponents of term limits date back to colonial times and maintained an active presence in politics during the first years of the American Republic. The push for federal term limits faded for over a century but reemerged with the ratification of the Twenty-Second Amendment in 1951 and the movement for State-imposed term limits on Congress in the 1990s. While the constitutionality of presidential term limits was decided forty-three years earlier by amendment, the question of whether the States could impose term limits on their own congressional delegates remained unanswered in 1994. Then, the Supreme Court provided an answer in the negative when it decided U.S. Term Limits v. Thornton in 1995. This 5-4 decision held that the States were forbidden from imposing term limits for their own federal Senators and Representatives. Although the ability of the States to enact term limits on Congress appeared to have ended in 1995, paths remain open today for State-imposed congressional term limits to become a reality. This Comment explores several of these paths and the reasons why they should be considered. Both history and modern conditions provide sound justification for why congressional term limits should be revisited today

Economic analysis of an integrated anthropogenic carbon dioxide network for capture and enhanced oil recovery along the Texas Gulf Coast

This paper explains the system economics of an example integrated network that uses anthropogenic CO2 from Texas Gulf Coast fossil power plants for enhanced oil recovery (EOR). These CO2 sources and sinks are connected via a pipeline network. A discounted cash flow model indicates that for all candidate oil fields that require less than an estimated $10/BBL in EOR capital expenditure, all three entities (CO2 capture, pipelines, and EOR operators) can have 20$55 per tonne of CO2 and $56 per barrel of oil. These results include no existing or future tax incentives, and there are some costs not yet included. However, a Monte Carlo analysis shows insight by indicating that the total system rate of return is most sensitive to oil production parameters. Oil price and estimated amount of recoverable oil are the most positively influential factors while the EOR capital cost is the most negatively sensitive factor. The capital costs of capture and CO2 price are less sensitive, both negatively affecting rate of return.Bureau of Economic Geolog

Beyond Banglatown: continuity, change and new urban economies in Brick Lane

As part of a two-year research project focusing on Brick Lane’s restaurant and retail sectors, the report highlights the unique contribution of the Bangladeshi community to Brick Lane and its world-renowned curry restaurants. Beyond Banglatown analyses Brick Lane’s rapid gentrification over the last 15 years and the impact of its new economies on the UK curry capital, and the Bangladeshi community that has been excluded and displaced by this process of regeneration. The report highlights a steep decline in Brick Lane’s curry restaurants, with a decrease of 62% in just 15 years - in the mid-2000s there were 60 outlets compared to just 23 in early-2020. While hipster cafés, vintage clothes shops, delicatessens and boutique chocolatiers have boomed on Brick Lane (also known as ‘Banglatown’ because of its status as the heartland of the Bangladeshi community in Britain), Bangladeshi-run curry restaurants have plummeted. Beyond Banglatown outlines broader challenges these restaurants have faced including, rising costs (rents, business rates); shortage of trained chefs because of visa constraints; lack of support from business and regeneration agencies; decline in the area’s night-time economy; and the reluctance of the new generation of British Bangladeshis to work in the restaurant trade. A dramatic reduction in footfall due to the Covid-19 pandemic has severely exacerbated the situation and threatens the existence of many of Brick Lane's curry restaurants. The report authors call for a range of measures to help the restaurants to survive and evolve, such as government support to weather the Covid-19 crisis, investment and training for restaurateurs and formal recognition of the Bangladeshi community to the history of Brick Lane, and global London

Theoretical Approach in Reducing Total Network Power Consumption by Utilizing 5G Technologies

We expect future 5G network to have low power consumption and minimal delay, as well as a more flexible and secure architecture. Most of the research is concerned primarily with increasing energy efficiency and decreasing latency. Implementation of Software Defined Mobile Networking (SDMN) to control the range of cell site communication and device-to-device (D2D) technologies to enable the devices on the network to behave as routers between other devices and the cell site has the potential to significantly reduce the overall power consumption in the mobile network. Our research provides a theoretical approach for such model and shows that its implementation will increase energy efficiency in 5G

Chiral separation of substituted phenylalanine analogues using chiral palladium phosphine complexes with enantioselective liquid–liquid extraction

Chiral palladium phosphine complexes have been employed in the chiral separation of amino acids and phenylalanine analogues in particular. The use of (S)-xylyl-BINAP as a ligand for the palladium complex in enantioselective liquid–liquid extraction allowed the separation of the phenylalanine analogues with the highest operational selectivity reported to date. 31P NMR, FTIR, FIR, UV-Vis, CD and Raman spectroscopy methods have been applied to gain insight into the binding mechanism of the amino acid substrates with the chiral palladium phosphine complexes. A complexation in a bidentate fashion is proposed.

Clean energy and water : assessment of Mexico for improved water services with renewable energy

Distributed rainwater collection and solar hot water heating are effective technologies, directly offsetting use of fossil fuel-generated electricity. Thus the 3 million people who are not connected to an electricity grid could be viewed as an opportunity to improve water services through renewable energy technologies. Additionally, policy levers such as mandates and right-pricing of water and energy can help encourage sustainable operation of established water and energy systems. The objective of this report is to assess the potential of, and barriers to, the use of decentralized renewable energy technologies for water services in Mexico with consideration for impacts from climatic stress

Patient-reported depression measures in cancer: a meta-review

The patient-reported depression measures that perform best in oncology settings have not yet been identified. We did a meta-review to integrate the findings of reviews of more than 50 depression measures used in adults with, or recovering from, any type of cancer. We searched Medline, PsycINFO, Embase, and grey literature from 1999 to 2014 to identify 19 reviews representing 372 primary studies. 11 reviews were rated as being of high quality (defined as meeting at least 20 criteria in the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses statement). The Hospital Anxiety Depression Scale (HADS) was the most thoroughly evaluated measure, but was limited by cutpoint variability. The HADS had moderate screening utility indices and was least recommended in advanced cancer or palliative care. The Beck Depression Inventory was more generalisable across cancer types and disease stages, with good indices for screening and case finding. The Center for Epidemiologic Studies Depression Scale was the best-weighted measure in terms of responsiveness. This meta-review provides a comprehensive overview of the strengths and limitations of available depression measures. It can inform the choice of the best measure for specific settings and purposes