Bleomycin Binding Sites on Alveolar Macrophages

Previous work has demonstrated that bleomycin can directly stimulate alveolar macrophage secretion of fibroblast growth factors and monocyte chemotactic factors. In this study, rat alveolar macrophages obtained by bronchoalveolar lavage were examined for the presence of bleomycin binding sites, which might mediate this response. The results indicated that alveolar macrophages have specific, saturable, and reversible binding sites. Both high‐ and low‐affinity binding sites were found; each macrophage possessed 6.7 × 104 high‐affinity sites, with a Kd, of 528 nM, and 2.2 × 106 low‐affinity sites, with a Kd of 65 μM. The Kd of the high‐affinity sites corresponds closely to the ED50 obtained from dose‐response curves of the bleomycin‐stimulated secretion of both fibroblast growth and monocyte chemotactic factors, suggesting that bleomycin stimulation of alveolar macrophage function responses may be mediated by bleomycin interaction with these sites.Peer Reviewedhttps://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/141017/1/jlb0519.pd

Analysis of Concentrating Solar Power with Thermal Energy Storage in a California 33% Renewable Scenario

This analysis evaluates CSP with TES in a scenario where California derives 33% of its electricity from renewable energy sources. It uses a commercial grid simulation tool to examine the avoided operational and capacity costs associated with CSP and compares this value to PV and a baseload generation with constant output. Overall, the analysis demonstrates several properties of dispatchable CSP, including the flexibility to generate during periods of high value and avoid generation during periods of lower value. Of note in this analysis is the fact that significant amount of operational value is derived from the provision of reserves in the case where CSP is allowed to provide these services. This analysis also indicates that the 'optimal' configuration of CSP could vary as a function of renewable penetration, and each configuration will need to be evaluated in terms of its ability to provide dispatchable energy, reserves, and firm capacity. The model can be used to investigate additional scenarios involving alternative technology options and generation mixes, applying these scenarios within California or in other regions of interest

An Assessment of the Net Value of CSP Systems Integrated with Thermal Energy Storage

AbstractWithin this study, we evaluate the operational and capacity value—or total system value—for multiple concentrating solar power (CSP)plant configurations under an assumed 33% renewable penetration scenario in California. We calculate the first-year bid price for two CSP plants, including a 2013 molten-salt tower integrated with a conventional Rankine cycle and a hypothetical 2020 molten-salt tower system integrated with an advanced supercritical carbon-dioxide power block. The overall benefit to the regional grid, defined in this study as the net value, is calculated by subtracting the first-year bid price from the total system value.Re--sults of this study indicate a positive net value for a variety of scenarios, depending on technology assumptions and assumed values for natural gas price and tax incentives. We provide results for the 2013 and 2020 CSP configurations as a function of thermal energy storage capacity and solar field size. We provide a sensitivity of these results to natural gas price, which influence the operation value and thus the total system value. We also investigate the sensitivity of the net value to current and anticipated tax incentives

Enabling Greater Penetration of Solar Power via the Use of CSP with Thermal Energy Storage

At high penetration of solar generation there are a number of challenges to economically integrating this variable and uncertain resource. These include the limited coincidence between the solar resource and normal demand patterns and limited flexibility of conventional generators to accommodate variable generation resources. Of the large number of technologies that can be used to enable greater penetration of variable generators, concentrating solar power (CSP) with thermal energy storage (TES) presents a number of advantages. The use of storage enables this technology to shift energy production to periods of high demand or reduced solar output. In addition, CSP can provide substantial grid flexibility by rapidly changing output in response to the highly variable net load created by high penetration of solar (and wind) generation. In this work we examine the degree to which CSP may be complementary to PV by performing a set of simulations in the U.S. Southwest to demonstrate the general potential of CSP with TES to enable greater use of solar generation, including additional PV

Simulating the Value of Concentrating Solar Power with Thermal Energy Storage in a Production Cost Model

Concentrating solar power (CSP) deployed with thermal energy storage (TES) provides a dispatchable source of renewable energy. The value of CSP with TES, as with other potential generation resources, needs to be established using traditional utility planning tools. Production cost models, which simulate the operation of grid, are often used to estimate the operational value of different generation mixes. CSP with TES has historically had limited analysis in commercial production simulations. This document describes the implementation of CSP with TES in a commercial production cost model. It also describes the simulation of grid operations with CSP in a test system consisting of two balancing areas located primarily in Colorado

Pan-European grading scales: lessons from national systems and the ECTS

This article assesses the impact of the Bologna Process on the grading schemes of EU member countries. In light of some problems regarding the implementation of the European Credit Transfer system (ECTS), the author proposes further reforms and offers some elements of a unified grading system for European higher education. The author explores the variation among Europe’s grading systems and the resulting lessons learned are shared here. Lastly, this article also argues that principles of justice and fairness, deemed central to academic freedom, are best upheld by the use of a unified grading system at national and European levels

Systematic reappraisal of marsh-orchids native to Scotland

© The Author(s), 2023.This article is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License. To view a copy of this licence, visit http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/.Summary: The intensively studied Eurasian orchid genus Dactylorhiza has become a model system for exploring allopolyploid evolution, yet determining the optimal circumscriptions of, and most appropriate ranks for, its constituent taxa remain highly controversial topics. Here, novel allozyme data and detailed morphometric data for 16 Scottish marsh-orchid populations are interpreted in the context of recent DNA sequencing studies. Despite being derived from the same pair of parental species, the two allopolyploid species that currently occur in Scotland can reliably be distinguished using allozymes, haplotypes, ribotypes or sequences of nuclear genes. A modest range of diverse morphological characters are shown to distinguish the two molecularly-circumscribed species, but they have in the past been obscured by equivalent levels of infraspecific variation in characters rooted in anthocyanin pigments; these characters are better employed for distinguishing infraspecific taxa. Dactylorhiza francis-drucei (formerly D. traunsteinerioides) is confirmed as being distinct from the continental D. traunsteineri/lapponica, probably originating through allopatric isolation once the continental lineage reached Britain. All Scottish populations are attributed to the comparatively small-flowered, anthocyanin-rich subsp. francis-drucei, which includes as a variety the former D. 'ebudensis'; the less anthocyanin-rich subsp. traunsteinerioides is confined to Ireland, North Wales and northern England. In contrast with D. francis-drucei, only a minority of Scottish populations of D. purpurella are attributed to the anthocyanin-rich race, var. cambrensis. This species most likely originated through an allopolyploidy event that occurred comparatively recently within the British Isles, as it contains allozyme alleles distinctive of British rather than continental D. incarnata (its diploid pollen-parent). In contrast, the rare Scottish population of D. incarnata subsp. cruenta shares with its Irish counterparts a continental genotype, and is most likely a recent arrival in Scotland through long-distance dispersal. Among all European allotetraploid dactylorchids, D. purpurella is the species that most closely resembles D. incarnata, both molecularly and morphologically.Peer reviewe