JULES-BE:Representation of bioenergy crops and harvesting in the Joint UK Land Environment Simulator vn5.1

We describe developments to the land surface model JULES, allowing for flexible user-prescribed harvest regimes of various perennial bioenergy crops or natural vegetation types. Our aim is to integrate the most useful aspects of dedicated bioenergy models into dynamic global vegetation models, in order that assessment of bioenergy options can benefit from state-of-the-art Earth system modelling. A new plant functional type (PFT) representing Miscanthus is also presented. The Miscanthus PFT fits well with growth parameters observed at a site in Lincolnshire, UK; however, global observed yields of Miscanthus are far more variable than is captured by the model, primarily owing to the model's lack of representation of crop age and establishment time. Global expansion of bioenergy crop areas under a 2 ?C emissions scenario and balanced greenhouse gas mitigation strategy from the IMAGE integrated assessment model (RCP2.6- SSP2) achieves a mean yield of 4.3 billion tonnes of dry matter per year over 2040-2099, around 30 % higher than the biomass availability projected by IMAGE. In addition to perennial grasses, JULES-BE can also be used to represent short-rotation coppicing, residue harvesting from cropland or forestry and rotation forestry

Evaluating the use of biomass energy with carbon capture and storage in low emission scenarios

Biomass Energy with Carbon Capture and Storage (BECCS) is heavily relied upon in scenarios of future emissions that are consistent with limiting global mean temperature increase to 1.5 °C or 2 °C above pre-industrial. These temperature limits are defined in the Paris Agreement in order to reduce the risks and impacts of climate change. Here, we explore the use of BECCS technologies in a reference scenario and three low emission scenarios generated by an integrated assessment model (IMAGE). Using these scenarios we investigate the feasibility of key implicit and explicit assumptions about these BECCS technologies, including biomass resource, land use, CO2 storage capacity and carbon capture and storage (CCS) deployment rate. In these scenarios, we find that half of all global CO2 storage required by 2100 occurs in USA, Western Europe, China and India, which is compatible with current estimates of regional CO2 storage capacity. CCS deployment rates in the scenarios are very challenging compared to historical rates of fossil, renewable or nuclear technologies and are entirely dependent on stringent policy action to incentivise CCS. In the scenarios, half of the biomass resource is derived from agricultural and forestry residues and half from dedicated bioenergy crops grown on abandoned agricultural land and expansion into grasslands (i.e. land for forests and food production is protected). Poor governance of the sustainability of bioenergy crop production can significantly limit the amount of CO2 removed by BECCS, through soil carbon loss from direct and indirect land use change. Only one-third of the bioenergy crops are grown in regions associated with more developed governance frameworks. Overall, the scenarios in IMAGE are ambitious but consistent with current relevant literature with respect to assumed biomass resource, land use and CO2 storage capacity

The negotiation and co-construction of meaning and understanding within a postgraduate online learning community

There is an increasing development of courses and course components taught through teaching and learning dialogues online yet there is little secure knowledge regarding the educational quality and outcomes of these dialogues. Drawing on contemporary socio-cultural research, this paper adapts a well-established analytical framework (see Mercer, 1995) that has been developed to understand face to face educational dialogues to the new context of asynchronous electronic conferencing. The work reported is derived from an in-depth case study of a tutorial group of 11 students enrolled on a course within the Open University's MA in Open and Distance Learning. The course was taught on-line to an international cohort of students from wide-ranging academic backgrounds. The analyses of electronic conference archives presented here focus on understanding the students’ on-line collaborative work and the ways in which they constructed meaning, negotiated shared understanding and supported each other in the process of learning at a distance. The implications of the findings for educational practice are considered

The SDO Education and Outreach (E/PO) Program: Changing Perceptions One Program at a Time

The Solar Dynamics Observatory (SDO) Education and Public Outreach (E/PO) program began as a series of discrete efforts implemented by each of the instrument teams and has evolved into a well-rounded program with a full suite of national and international programs. The SDO E/PO team has put forth much effort in the past few years to increase our cohesiveness by adopting common goals and increasing the amount of overlap between our programs. In this paper, we outline the context and overall philosophy for our combined programs, present a brief overview of all SDO E/PO programs along with more detailed highlight of a few key programs, followed by a review of our results up to date. Concluding is a summary of the successes, failures, and lessons learned that future missions can use as a guide, while further incorporating their own content to enhance the public's knowledge and appreciation of NASA?s science and technology as well as its benefit to society

Strategy for Conjugating Oligopeptides to Mesoporous Silica Nanoparticles Using Diazirine-Based Heterobifunctional Linkers

Successful strategies for the attachment of oligopeptides to mesoporous silica with pores large enough to load biomolecules should utilize the high surface area of pores to provide an accessible, protective environment. A two-step oligopeptide functionalization strategy is examined here using diazirine-based heterobifunctional linkers. Mesoporous silica nanoparticles (MSNPs) with average pore diameter of ~8 nm and surface area of ~730 m2/g were synthesized and amine-functionalized. Tetrapeptides Gly-Gly-Gly-Gly (GGGG) and Arg-Ser-Ser-Val (RSSV), and a peptide comprised of four copies of RSSV (4RSSV), were covalently attached via their N-terminus to the amine groups on the particle surface by a heterobifunctional linker, sulfo-succinimidyl 6-(4,4′-azipentanamido)hexanoate (sulfo-NHS-LC-diazirine, or SNLD). SNLD consists of an amine-reactive NHS ester group and UV-activable diazirine group, providing precise control over the sequence of attachment steps. Attachment efficiency of RSSV was measured using fluorescein isothiocyanate (FITC)-tagged RSSV (RSSV-FITC). TGA analysis shows similar efficiency (0.29, 0.31 and 0.26 mol peptide/mol amine, respectively) for 4G, RSSV and 4RSSV, suggesting a generalizable method of peptide conjugation. The technique developed here for the conjugation of peptides to MSNPs provides for their attachment in pores and can be translated to selective peptide-based separation and concentration of therapeutics from aqueous process and waste streams

Decarbonising the critical sectors of aviation, shipping, road freight and industry to limit warming to 1.5–2°C

Limiting warming to well below 2°C requires rapid and complete decarbonisation of energy systems. We compare economy-wide modelling of 1.5°C and 2°C scenarios with sector-focused analyses of four critical sectors that are difficult to decarbonise: aviation, shipping, road freight transport, and industry. We develop and apply a novel framework to analyse and track mitigation progress in these sectors. We find that emission reductions in the 1.5°C and 2°C scenarios of the IMAGE model come from deep cuts in CO2 intensities and lower energy intensities, with minimal demand reductions in these sectors’ activity. We identify a range of additional measures and policy levers that are not explicitly captured in modelled scenarios but could contribute significant emission reductions. These are demand reduction options, and include less air travel (aviation), reduced transportation of fossil fuels (shipping), more locally produced goods combined with high load factors (road freight), and a shift to a circular economy (industry). We discuss the challenges of reducing demand both for economy-wide modelling and for policy. Based on our sectoral analysis framework, we suggest modelling improvements and policy recommendations, calling on the relevant UN agencies to start tracking mitigation progress through monitoring key elements of the framework (CO2 intensity, energy efficiency, and demand for sectoral activity, as well as the underlying drivers), as a matter of urgency

A review of the use of blood and blood products in HIV-infected patients

Despite numerous publications on the appropriate use of blood and blood products, few specifically consider the role of transfusion in the management of HIV. This review is a synthesis of conditions encountered in the management of HIV-infected patients where the transfusion of blood or blood products may be indicated. A consistent message emerging from the review is that the principles of transfusion medicine do not differ between HIV-negative and -positive patients. The aim of the review is to provide clinicians witha practical and succinct overview of the haematological abnormalities and clinical circumstances most commonly encountered in the HIV setting, while focusing on the rational and appropriate use of blood and blood products forHIV patients. Important ethical considerations in dealing with both the collection and transfusion blood and blood products in the HIV era have also been addressed

Employing culturally responsive pedagogy to foster literacy learning in schools

 In recent years it has become increasingly obvious that, to enable students in schools from an increasingly diverse range of cultural backgrounds to acquire literacy to a standard that will support them to achieve academically, it is important to adopt pedagogy that is responsive to, and respectful of, them as culturally situated. What largely has been omitted from the literature, however, is discussion of a relevant model of learning to underpin this approach. For this reason this paper adopts a socio-cultural lens (Vygotsky, 1978) through which to view such pedagogy and refers to a number of seminal texts to justify of its relevance. Use of this lens is seen as having a particular rationale. It forces a focus on the agency of the teacher as a mediator of learning who needs to acknowledge the learner’s cultural situatedness (Kozulin, 2003) if school literacy learning for all students is to be as successful as it might be. It also focuses attention on the predominant value systems and social practices that characterize the school settings in which students’ literacy learning is acquired. The paper discusses implications for policy and practice at whole-school, classroom and individual student levels of culturally-responsive pedagogy that is based on a socio-cultural model of learning. In doing so it draws on illustrations from the work of a number of researchers, including that of the author

Empirical evidence of the impact of lesson study on: students’ achievement, teachers’ professional learning and on institutional and system evolution

In this article we review the evidence of the impact of lesson study on student learning, teacher development, teaching materials, curriculum, professional learning and system enhancement. We argue for lesson study to be treated holistically as a vehicle for development and improvement at classroom, school and system levels rather than as a curricular or pedagogical intervention. We illustrate the need for this approach to evaluating lesson study through a complex case exemplar which used Research Lesson Study (a form of lesson study popular in the UK and Europe) to develop learning, teaching, curriculum and local improvement capacity across schools initially involved in a two-year mathematics curriculum development project that later evolved into three self-sustaining, voluntary lesson study school hubs in London. We discuss resulting changes in culture, practice, belief, expectation and student learning. We argue as a result for greater policy level understanding of this expanded conception of lesson study as a vehicle in classroom, school and system transformation.Both projects described received funding from the Greater London Authorit