A review of current energy systems and green energy potential in Kazakhstan

Kazakhstan is rich in natural resources including coal, oil, natural gas and uranium and has significant renewable potential from wind, solar, hydro-power and biomass. In spite of this, the country is currently dependent upon fossil fuels for power generation. Coal fired plants account for 75% of total power generation leading to concerns over greenhouse gas emissions and impacts on human health and the environment. Recent economic growth in Kazakhstan has driven increased demand for energy services, making the construction of additional generating capacity necessary for enabling sustained economic growth. In this context, renewable energy resources are becoming an increasingly attractive option to help bridge the demand–supply gap and to decrease national greenhouse gas emissions. This study presents an overview of the existing energy system in Kazakhstan and investigates policy drivers for the energy sector. We review existing studies, national reports, energy strategies and plans, to identify and describe key barriers that prevent diffusion of renewable energy technologies in Kazakhstan. We propose potential measures to overcome specific barriers in order to successfully develop a renewable energy sector in Kazakhstan. It is seen that the likely major contributors to replacing fossil fuel based energy services are likely to be wind power and solar energy technologies, with biomass and hydro energy sources likely to play a lesser role. The barriers to development include low electricity tariffs, transmission losses and inefficient technologies, weak regulatory and legal frameworks and a high-risk business environment

Chapter 1 The International Classroom Lexicon Project

The International Classroom Lexicon Project set out to document the professional vocabulary of middle-school mathematics teachers in ten communities from around the world. The construction of a national lexicon, which can be thought of as the characterisation of a very specific aspect of the culture of each participating country, was undertaken by research teams involving experienced teachers as genuine co-researchers. Each cultural artefact identified the words by which teachers name the classroom phenomena in their respective environment. These are the terms that are used for seeing, describing, and communicating about the world that is the middle-school mathematics classroom

Phosphorus recovery as struvite: recent concerns for use of seed, alternative Mg source, nitrogen conservation and fertilizer potential

Finite availability of phosphorus (P) resources makes recovery of this non-substitutable plant nutrient from alternative waste sources an increasingly attractive option of renewed interest. In this context, feasibility of struvite (MgNH4PO4·6H2O) recovery, an alternative P fertilizer is already demonstrated at laboratory scale from range of waste streams of farm, municipal and industrial origin, with reasonably high orthophosphate recovery efficiency (∼90%). However, apart from a few commercial extraction units using municipal sludge and urine, large scale struvite recovery is not widely adopted for many of these sources. Moreover, need of some research interventions that are restricting its profitable recovery are also highlighted by earlier studies. To increase recovery efficiency from identified potential sources in terms of cost and energy input, research focuses on some new aspects of the process such as prospects of alternative recyclable magnesium sources, different seed materials and their related issues, which are analyzed in this review. Prospects of nitrogen conservation through struvite recovery and fertilizer value of struvite considering its properties, comparative performance with conventional fertilizer and interaction with soil and plant growth are also critically reviewed

Chapter 1 The International Classroom Lexicon Project

The International Classroom Lexicon Project set out to document the professional vocabulary of middle-school mathematics teachers in ten communities from around the world. The construction of a national lexicon, which can be thought of as the characterisation of a very specific aspect of the culture of each participating country, was undertaken by research teams involving experienced teachers as genuine co-researchers. Each cultural artefact identified the words by which teachers name the classroom phenomena in their respective environment. These are the terms that are used for seeing, describing, and communicating about the world that is the middle-school mathematics classroom

Current energy resources in Kazakhstan and the future potential of renewables: a review

Kazakhstan is rich in natural resources including coal, oil, natural gas and uranium and has significant renewable potential from wind, solar, hydro and biomass. In spite of this, the country is currently dependent upon fossil fuels for power generation. Coal-fired plants account for 75% of total power generation leading to concerns over greenhouse gas emissions and impacts on human health and the environment. Recent economic growth in Kazakhstan has driven increased demand for energy services making the construction of additional generating capacity increasing necessary for enabling sustained growth. In this context, renewable energy resources are becoming an increasingly attractive option to help bridge the demand-supply gap. Despite significant wind, solar, hydro and biomass potential, these resources have not been sustainably captured and deployed due a range of technical, institutional, social and economic barriers. This article reviews the current energy situation in Kazakhstan including fossil energy and renewable resources and investigates policy drivers for the energy sector. The barriers to adoption of renewables are analysed within the context of national climate and energy goals. Recommendations are presented for the promotion, development and implementation of renewable energy resources in Kazakhstan

The mineralogy and fabric of 'Brickearths' in Kent, UK and their relationship to engineering behaviour

Mineralogical and petrographical investigation of two loessic brickearth profiles from Ospringe and Pegwell Bay in north Kent, UK have differentiated two types of brickearth fabric that can be correlated with different engineering behaviour. Both sequences comprise metastable (collapsing) calcareous brickearth, overlain by non collapsing ‘non-calcareous’ brickearth. This study has demonstrated that the two types of brickearth are discretely different sedimentary units, with different primary sedimentary characteristics and an erosional junction between the two units. A palaeosol is developed on the calcareous brickearth, and is associated with the formation of rhizolithic calcrete indicating an arid or semi-arid environment. No evidence has been found for decalcification being responsible for the fabric of the upper ‘non-calcareous’ brickearth. Optically-stimulated dates lend further support for the calcareous and ‘non-calcareous’ brickearth horizons being of different age or origins. The calcareous brickearth is metastable in that it undergoes rapid collapse settlement when wetted under applied stresses. It is characterised by an open-packed arrangement of clay-coated, silt-sized quartz particles and pelletised aggregate grains (peds) of compacted silt and clay, supported by an interped matrix of loosely packed, silt/fine-grained sand, in which the grains are held in place by a skeletal framework of illuviated clay. The illuviated clay forms bridges and pillars separating and binding the dispersed component silt/sand grains. There is little direct grain-to-grain contact and the resultant fabric has a very high voids ratio. Any applied load is largely supported by these delicate clay bridge and pillar microfabrics. Collapse of this brickearth fabric can be explained by a sequence of processes involving: (1) dispersion and disruption of the grain-bridging clay on saturation, leading to initial rapid collapse of the loose packed inter-ped silt/sand; (2) rearrangement and closer stacking of the compact aggregate silt/clay peds; (3) with increasing stress further consolidation may result from deformation and break up of the peds as they collapse into the inter-ped regions. Smectite is a significant component of the clay assemblage and will swell on wetting, further encouraging disruption and breaking of the clay bonds. In contrast, the ‘non-calcareous’ brickearth already possesses a close-packed and interlocking arrangement of silt/sand grains with only limited scope for further consolidation under load. Minor authigenic calcite and dolomite may also form meniscus cements between silt grains. These have either acted as ‘‘scaffolds’’ on which illuviated clay has subsequently been deposited or have encrusted earlier formed grain-bridging clay. In either case, the carbonate cements may help to reinforce the clay bridge fabrics. However, these carbonate features are a relatively minor feature and not an essential component of the collapsible brickearth fabric. Cryoturbation and micromorphological features indicate that the calcareous brickearth fabric has probably been developed through periglacial freeze–thaw processes. Freezing could have produced the compact silt/clay aggregates and an open porous soil framework containing significant inter-ped void space. Silt and clay were remobilised and translocated deeper into the soil profile by water percolating through the active layer of the sediment profile during thawing cycles, to form the loosed packed inter-ped silt matrix and grain-bridging meniscus clay fabrics. In contrast, the upper ‘non-calcareous’ brickearth may represent a head or solifluction deposit. Mass movement during solifluction will have destroyed any delicate grain-bridging clay microfabrics that may have been present in this material

Mutation update and genotype-phenotype correlations of novel and previously described mutations in TPM2 and TPM3 causing congenital myopathies

Mutations affecting skeletal muscle isoforms of the tropomyosin genes may cause nemaline myopathy, cap myopathy, core-rod myopathy, congenital fiber-type disproportion, distal arthrogryposes, and Escobar syndrome. We correlate the clinical picture of these diseases with novel (19) and previously reported (31) mutations of the TPM2 and TPM3 genes. Included are altogether 93 families: 53 with TPM2 mutations and 40 with TPM3 mutations. Thirty distinct pathogenic variants of TPM2 and 20 of TPM3 have been published or listed in the Leiden Open Variant Database (http://www.dmd.nl/). Most are heterozygous changes associated with autosomal-dominant disease. Patients with TPM2 mutations tended to present with milder symptoms than those with TPM3 mutations, DA being present only in the TPM2 group. Previous studies have shown that five of the mutations in TPM2 and one in TPM3 cause increased Ca2+ sensitivity resulting in a hypercontractile molecular phenotype. Patients with hypercontractile phenotype more often had contractures of the limb joints (18/19) and jaw (6/19) than those with nonhypercontractile ones (2/22 and 1/22), whereas patients with the non-hypercontractile molecular phenotype more often (19/22) had axial contractures than the hypercontractile group (7/19). Our in silico predictions show that most mutations affect tropomyosin–actin association or tropomyosin head-to-tail binding

Challenging perceptions of socio-cultural rejection of a taboo technology: Narratives of imagined transitions to domestic toilet-linked biogas in India

Domestic toilet-linked anaerobic digesters (TLADs) recycle organic waste materials, including human excreta (HE), into a clean gaseous fuel and fertiliser product. Socio-cultural resistance is often used to explain local resistance towards TLADs due to the use of HE as a feedstock. However, through qualitative investigation utilising in-depth semi-structured interviews with potential TLAD users in Assam, India, the use of socio-cultural rejection to describe resistance towards TLADs was found to have homogenised local voices and framed them as resistant to technological change whilst ignoring diversity within groups. The narratives revealed resistance to be diverse and related to an individual's place, personal and social identity. Resistance to TLADs results from both socio-cultural as well as socio-technical concerns and is also potentially negotiable. Adoption of TLADs could be facilitated through opportunities such as technology demonstration, social group adoption and a greater perceived necessity. Inefficiencies in Assam's biogas implementation programme have been potentially overlooked due to too much attention being placed on household decision making and generalising socio-cultural resistance across the state. If TLADs are to be disseminated within Assam, authorities must work with communities and employees of the biogas programme to more widely renegotiate social norms around HE as a resource and not a waste product. More generally Assam's biogas programme is ineffectively identifying households with a need and motivation for domestic biogas and we recommend revaluating the use of local contacts to identify households eligible for the national subsidy as well as the bias towards households with large numbers of cattle