The future of bioethanol

Yeasts have been domesticated by mankind before horses. After the mastering of alcoholic fermentation for centuries, yeasts have become the protagonist of one of the most important biotechnological industries worldwide: the production of bioethanol. This chapter will initially present some important challenges to be overcome in this industry, both in first and second generation biofuel production. Then, it will briefly revisit some advances obtained in recent years. Finally, it will present and discuss some opportunities, in the scope of metabolic engineering and synthetic biology, that will likely be present in the future of bioethanol

National counter-terrorism (C-T) policies and challenges to human rights and civil liberties: Case study of United Kingdom

In the UK the rise post-2005 in “home-grown” terrorism, relying to a significant extent on strikes on soft targets by “self-starters,” means that the search for effective preventive measures remains a continuing concern. Below a number of the preventive counter-terror measures adopted post-9/11, and incrementally strengthened in response to the current threat, are found to fall into three categories and represent interventions at the stages in the path toward attacks. This chapter focuses on selected examples of these preventive measures. In terms of three key stages, firstly, there is the attempt to prevent radicalization, under the “Prevent” strategy. A second strategy relies on taking certain measures to control the activities of those considered likely – on the balance of probabilities – to engage in terrorist-related activity. A third preventive strategy relies on the special terrorism offences under the Terrorism Acts 2000 and 2006, as amended, intended to allow for intervention at a very early stage in terrorist plots and in preparing or instigating terrorist acts (“precursor” offences)

Optical Constants of Magnesium Oxide in the Far Ultraviolet

Optical constants of magnesium oxide in far ultraviole

Prospects for an orbital determination and capture cell experiment

A dust experiment which combines measurements of the elemental and isotopic composition of individual particles with orbital information would contribute fundamental, new scientific information on the sources contributing to the micrometeoroid population. The general boundary conditions for such a system are: (1) it must be capable of measuring velocities in the range of 10 km/sec to 100 km/sec with several percent accuracy; (2) it must collect particles in such a way that the debris atoms are locally concentrated so that precise isotopic measurements are possible; (3) it should collect particles over a wide range of sizes starting with a lower limit of 10 microns; (4) it should incorporate materials that will not compromise the isotopic measurements; and (5) it should be large enough to obtain statistically meaningful results within a reasonable exposure time. Techniques which may satisfy these conditions are described

A Gamma Ray Burst with a 220 Microsecond Rise Time and a Sharp Spectral Cutoff

The Gamma Ray Burst GRB920229 has four extreme and unprecedented properties; a rise in brightness with an e-folding time scale of $220 \pm 30 \mu s$, a fall in brightness with an e-folding time scale of $400 \pm 100 \mu s$, a large change in spectral shape over a time of $768 \mu s$, and a sharp spectral cutoff to high energies with $\Delta E/E = 18$. The rapid changes occur during a spike in the light curve which was seen 0.164 s after the start of the burst. The spectrum has a peak $\nu F_{\nu}$ at 200 keV with no significant flux above 239 keV, although the cutoff energy shifts to less than 100 keV during the decay of the spike. These numbers can be used to place severe limits on fireball models of bursts. The thickness of the energy production region must be smaller than $\sim 66 km$, ejected shells must have a dispersion of the Lorentz factor of less than roughly 1% along a particular radius, and the angular size of the radiation emission region is of order 1 arc-minute as viewed from the burst center. The physical mechanism that caused the sharp spectral cutoff has not been determined.Comment: 20 pages, 3 figures, Submitted to ApJ