Environmental and Energy Assessment of Biomass Residues to Biochar as Fuel: A Brief Review with Recommendations for Future Bioenergy Systems

This study explores the environmental and energy benefits of biomass residues, including crop residues and agricultural waste, for the production of renewable energy in the form of biochar as fuel, in order to offer recommendations for policy makers, by reviewing information regarding the key environmental issues associated with the implementation of the systems. The highest environmental benefits for biochar-to-fuel systems were most observed in reduction of global warming potentials (i.e., carbon abatement), particularly for those integrated with combined heat and power technology, or for those incorporating electricity offsets from biochar combustion and co-firing. But all of these practices come at the cost of hidden environmental burdens, such as elevations in eutrophication, acidification, carcinogens and ecotoxicity impacts, as a consequence from land use change, additional infrastructure requirement or additional fertilizer application connected to biochar production or post-treatment. Other notable challenges, including regional availability of biomass residues, improper management of the residues, limited economic incentives, low energy efficiency and synergies, as well as mistreating adverse impacts from indirect land use change, were discussed. This suggests the flexibility to adjust the biomass-biochar ratio to optimize desired energy yields, carbon abatement and environmental beneficial objectives. Comprehensive analysis of the trade-offs between energy yields, carbon abatement and other associated environmental impacts is therefore recommended for future studies. Future studies in this field are also advised to explore the solution and to develop methodologies capable of quantifying the impacts and other equally relevant trade-offs, to better reflect the changes in real-world trends for decision making

Paxillin facilitates timely neurite initiation on soft-substrate environments by interacting with the endocytic machinery.

Neurite initiation is the first step in neuronal development and occurs spontaneously in soft tissue environments. Although the mechanisms regulating the morphology of migratory cells on rigid substrates in cell culture are widely known, how soft environments modulate neurite initiation remains elusive. Using hydrogel cultures, pharmacologic inhibition, and genetic approaches, we reveal that paxillin-linked endocytosis and adhesion are components of a bistable switch controlling neurite initiation in a substrate modulus-dependent manner. On soft substrates, most paxillin binds to endocytic factors and facilitates vesicle invagination, elevating neuritogenic Rac1 activity and expression of genes encoding the endocytic machinery. By contrast, on rigid substrates, cells develop extensive adhesions, increase RhoA activity and sequester paxillin from the endocytic machinery, thereby delaying neurite initiation. Our results highlight paxillin as a core molecule in substrate modulus-controlled morphogenesis and define a mechanism whereby neuronal cells respond to environments exhibiting varying mechanical properties

Influenza pattern analysis system through mining weblogs

Weblogs are resource of social structure to discover and track the various type of information written by bloggers. In this paper we proposed to use mining weblogs technique for identifying the trends of influenza where blogger had disseminated their opinion for the anomaly disease. In order to identify the trends, web crawler is applied to perform a search and generated a list of visited links based on a set of influenza keywords. This information is used to implement the analytics report system for monitoring and analyzing the pattern and trends of influenza (H1N1. Statistical and graphical analysis reports are generated. Both types of the report have shown satisfactory reports that reflect the awareness of Malaysian on the issue of influenza outbreak through blogs

Comparisons of the GlideScope and Macintosh Laryngoscope in Tracheal Intubation by Medical Students on Fresh Human Cadavers

AbstractObjectiveThe GlideScope Video Laryngoscope (GS) is an intubating device that provides equal or better glottic views than conventional laryngoscopes, but correct tube placement is more time-consuming, even when performed by experienced operators. The aim of this study was to investigate the use of the GS compared with the more conventional Macintosh laryngoscope in easy and difficult tracheal intubation when performed by inexperienced medical students on fresh human cadaversPatients and MethodsForty-one medical students were assigned to perform tracheal intubation using the direct Macintosh laryngoscope (DL) and the GS. Each student was given four attempts, with a maximum of 180 seconds for each attempt, to successfully intubate the trachea with a 6.5-mm tracheal tube in each of two scenarios, one with an easy airway and the other with a difficult airway cadaver.ResultsThe total time of intubation for the easy airway cadaver was significantly longer in the GS group (61.4 ± 4.8 seconds vs. 40.6 ± 5.3 seconds; p < 0.001) despite the modified Cormack-Lehane scores showing no difference between the two groups. In the difficult airway cadaver, total time of intubation was significant shorter in the GS group (64.3 ± 6.5 seconds vs. 98.7 ± 10.2 seconds; p < 0.001)ConclusionMost inexperienced operators found the GS to be more time-consuming for tracheal intubation than DL in the easy airway cadaver. However, an obvious advantage was demonstrated when the GS was used for the difficult airway

Traditional Chinese Medicine ZHENG Identification Provides a Novel Stratification Approach in Patients with Allergic Rhinitis

Background. We aimed to apply the ZHENG identification to provide an easy and useful tool to stratify the patients with allergic rhinitis (AR) through exploring the correlation between the quantified scores of AR symptoms and the TCM ZHENGs. Methods. A total of 114 AR patients were enrolled in this observational study. All participants received the examinations of anterior rhinoscopy and acoustic rhinometry. Their blood samples were collected for measurement of total serum immunoglobulin E (IgE), blood eosinophil count (Eos), and serum eosinophil cationic protein (ECP). They also received two questionnaire to assess the severity scores of AR symptoms and quantified TCM ZHENG scores. Multiple linear regression analysis was used to determine explanatory factors for the score of AR manifestations. Results. IgE and ECP level, duration of AR, the 2 derived TCMZHENG scores of “Yin-Xu − Yang-Xu”, and “Qi-Xu + Blood-Xu” were 5 explanatory variables to predict the severity scores of AR symptoms. The patients who had higher scores of “Yin-Xu − Yang-Xu” or “Qi-Xu + Blood-Xu” tended to manifest as “sneezer and runner” or “blockers,” respectively. Conclusions. The TCM ZHENG scores correlated with the severity scores of AR symptoms and provided an easy and useful tool to stratify the AR patients

On the English Learning with NNS-NNS Pair Work Format in “EZ TALK” Program

[[abstract]]Since the late 20th century globalization has become a worldwide trend and English is by far the language of choice for international communications. Hence, learning English as a lingua franca (ELF) is a pressing issue for many non-English-speaking countries. In response to this issue the program “EZ TALK,” pairs international graduate students on campus with domestic college students in an informal setting to engage in casual conversations in English in a NNS-NNS (non native speaker of English) pair work format. It provides the participants with a simulated environment where English is the only way to communicate, and thus encourages participants to practice oral communication skills. The objectives of this study aim to explore the learning attitudes of the participants and to measure the program effectiveness in improving their oral communication skills. Through quantitative research methods this study found that most “EZ TALK” participants had a clear focus on developing the skills of English listening and speaking when coming into the program, but with certain learning preferences and difficulties. This study also showed that the program was effective as an extracurricular aid in improving the oral communications skill of the participants. Based on the research results, specific suggestions are provided for further improvement of the “EZ TALK” program design