States’ Support of Non-Highway Modes of Transportation: Investigation and Synthesis

The objective of this study was to determine how Kentucky and other selected states support and assist non-highway transportation modes and to identify leading and innovative initiatives. For the purposes of this study, the non-highway modes are aviation, public transportation, rail, and waterways. This summary will briefly discuss the rationale, objectives, and methodology for this study. It also provides an overview of the outcomes of the study and the modal matrices

Co-liquefaction of Macroalgae with Common Marine Plastic Pollutants

Macroalgal blooms are environmentally problematic and costly to remediate, but they also represent a vast untapped resource for the production of renewable chemicals and fuels. The responsible exploitation of such marine resources will become increasingly prominent in the transition away from the crude oil economy that currently dominates global productivity. However, crude oil-derived plastic pollution is now a ubiquitous presence in the marine environment, which hampers the effective conversion of marine feedstocks. If the full potential of macroalgae is to be realized, any large-scale industrial process will need to accommodate the presence of this plastic. This study, for the first time, aimed to assess the effect of several common marine plastic pollutants on the hydrothermal liquefaction (HTL) of four UK macroalgae species and determine the impact on the major HTL products and biocrude oil quality. Coliquefaction of polyethylene and polypropylene with L. digitata, U. lactuca, F. serratus, and S. muticum led to modest synergistic effects for plastic conversion. Under hydrothermal conditions, polyethylene underwent fragmentation to olefinic species, as well as oxidative depolymerization to form ketones. Modest synergistic effects on biocrude production were also observed for polypropylene, which depolymerized more readily in the presence of biomass to form gaseous propylene as well as oil-phase products. In both cases, the presence of plastics increased total biocrude carbon content, decreased nitrogen, and boosted higher heating value (HHV), constituting an overall improvement in biocrude fuel properties. Alternatively, nylon-6, typically originating from fisheries debris, depolymerized almost entirely under HTL conditions to form caprolactam, which partitioned mainly to the aqueous phase. While this is not favorable for biocrude production, the reclamation of marine nylon debris for hydrothermal processing to monomers may present a promising revenue stream in future biorefineries. The results demonstrate that plastic contaminants may well represent an opportunity, rather than a threat, to the successful development of an HTL macroalgal biorefinery

States’ Support of Non-Highway Modes of Transportation: Investigation and Synthesis

The objective of this study was to determine how Kentucky and other selected states support and assist non-highway transportation modes and to identify leading and innovative initiatives. For the purposes of this study, the non-highway modes are aviation, public transportation, rail, and waterways. This summary will briefly discuss the rationale, objectives, and methodology for this study. It also provides an overview of the outcomes of the study and the modal matrices

Emerging Water Resources Management Issues in the Savannah River Basin

Proceedings of the 1997 Georgia Water Resources Conference, March 20-22, 1997, Athens, Georgia.The Savannah River basin is an important natural resource for the States of Georgia and South Carolina, due to both its valuable ecological and economic resources. In recent years, agencies, organizations, and industry from both states have begun an effort to cooperatively manage the resources of the Savannah River basin to conserve, restore, enhance, and protect its ecosystems in a way that allows the balancing of multiple uses. To that end, the Savannah River Basin Watershed Project was initiated in 1993 to begin a process for cooperative and comprehensive management of the basin. Basin stakeholders have been identifying and prioritizing resource issues in the basin, and a structure has been put in place to address these issues. Additionally, each agency and organization involved in the project is utilizing the project structure and process to address issues pertinent to their individual organization. This panel of basin stakeholders will express their views on the important emerging issues for their agency or organization and the relevance of the Savannah River basin Watershed Project for addressing these issues.Sponsored and Organized by: U.S. Geological Survey, Georgia Department of Natural Resources, The University of Georgia, Georgia State University, Georgia Institute of TechnologyThis book was published by the Institute of Ecology, The University of Georgia, Athens, Georgia 30602 with partial funding provided by the U.S. Department of Interior, Geological Survey, through the Georgia Water Research Institutes Authorization Act of 1990 (P.L. 101-397). The views and statements advanced in this publication are solely those of the authors and do not represent official views or policies of the University of Georgia or the U.S. Geological Survey or the conference sponsors

The fabJ-encoded beta-ketoacyl-[acyl carrier protein] synthase IV from Escherichia coli is sensitive to cerulenin and specific for short-chain substrates.

A fourth fatty acid condensing enzyme was isolated from Escherichia coli by its ability to restore elongating activity to a protein extract which had been treated with cerulenin, a condensing enzyme-specific inhibitor. The purified beta-ketoacyl-[acyl carrier protein] (ACP) synthase IV [3-oxoacyl-ACP synthase; acyl-ACP:malonyl-ACP C-acyltransferase (decarboxylating), EC 2.3.1.41] (KAS IV) is specific for short-chain acyl-ACP substrates. The enzyme is stable at 43 degrees C and very sensitive to cerulenin (50% inhibition at 3 microM), which binds covalently. A condensing enzyme-specific antibody raised to an expressed open reading frame from barley was used to identify KAS IV protein in Western blots, and the sequence obtained for 30 amino-terminal residues. This led to the isolation of the fabJ gene located in the fab cluster at 24.8 min of the E. coli chromosome. The fabJ gene encodes a polypeptide of 413 amino acids and molecular mass 43 kDa that shows 38% identity and 64% similarity to the fabB-encoded KAS I. The amino acid sequence of KAS IV, however, is more similar to all other published condensing enzyme sequences than the KAS I sequence is. A specialized putative function for this enzyme is to supply the octanoic substrates for lipoic acid biosynthesis. We predict that an analogue of KAS IV with the same function will be found in plant mitochondria. The described complementation assay can be used to detect condensing enzymes with other substrate specificities by supplementing the cerulenin-treated extract with appropriate purified KAS enzymes

Adult Learning Theories in Pharmacy Education

Both evidence and theory should inform curricular design in pharmacy education. Learning involves acquiring knowledge, skills, and competence. Although many learning theories exist and are incorporated in pharmacy education, adult learning theories may be one of the most useful, given that pharmacy students exhibit characteristics of adult learners. Comparing the role of traditional and adult learning theories offers practical applications of such theories in pharmacy education and helps to establish relevancy for adult learners