The role of the Federal Relighting Initiative in emission controls

The Department of Energy's (DOE) Federal Relighting Initiative (FRI), under the Federal Energy Management Program (FEMP), has developed a comprehensive process to assist federal agencies in meeting the nation's energy mandate. This mandate states that federal facilities must use 20% less energy by the year 2000, based on 1985 consumption levels. Because lighting accounts for about 40% of total federal electricity consumption, the FRI was conceived to help reduce energy use in this important area while improving lighting quality and increasing productivity through relighting. Selected federal rules and regulations provide guidance on the types of energy efficiency techniques required, life-cycle costing methods and lighting levels that should be employed to achieve the federal mandate. Although the central focus of this paper is on the environment, this paper takes the perspective that the energy efficiency gains achieved through the FRI would produce both environmental and economic benefits for the United States. For example, improvements in energy efficiency would reduce electricity demand, and would consequently reduce the emissions associated with fossil fuel combustion for power production. These reduced emissions include carbon dioxide, which is associated with the potential for global climate change, and heavy metals, which pose a potential health threat to humans and aquatic ecosystems. Economic benefits of the FRI would include reduced federal expenditures on energy or, possibly, avoiding new power plant construction.This paper begins with a brief overview of the FRI process. Next, current lighting energy use in federal buildings is evaluated and the potential future energy savings achievable through full implementation of the FRI are estimated. The paper then translates these energy savings into avoided emissions of carbon dioxide and heavy metals and into avoided fuel expenditures

Coulomb Blockade in low mobility nanometer size Si:MOSFETs

We investigate coherent transport in Si:MOSFETs with nominal gate lengths 50 to 100nm and various widths at very low temperature. Independent of the geometry, localized states appear when G=e^{2}/h and transport is dominated by resonant tunnelling through a single quantum dot formed by an impurity potential. We find that the typical size of the relevant impurity quantum dot is comparable to the channel length and that the periodicity of the observed Coulomb blockade oscillations is roughly inversely proportional to the channel length. The spectrum of resonances and the nonlinear I-V curves allow to measure the charging energy and the mean level energy spacing for electrons in the localized state. Furthermore, we find that in the dielectric regime, the variance var(lng) of the logarithmic conductance lng is proportional to its average value consistent with one-electron scaling models.Comment: 4 pages, 4 figure

Geographical and temporal distribution of SARS-CoV-2 clades in the WHO European Region, January to June 2020

We show the distribution of SARS-CoV-2 genetic clades over time and between countries and outline potential genomic surveillance objectives. We applied three available genomic nomenclature systems for SARS-CoV-2 to all sequence data from the WHO European Region available during the COVID-19 pandemic until 10 July 2020. We highlight the importance of real-time sequencing and data dissemination in a pandemic situation. We provide a comparison of the nomenclatures and lay a foundation for future European genomic surveillance of SARS-CoV-2.Peer reviewe

Sea-level rise and impacts projections under a future scenario with large greenhouse gas emission reductions

Using projections from two coupled climate models (HadCM3C and HadGEM2-AO), we consider the effect on 21st century sea-level rise (SLR) of mitigation policies relative to a scenario of business-as-usual (BAU). Around a third of the global-mean SLR over the century is avoided by a mitigation scenario under which global-mean near surface air temperature stabilises close to the Copenhagen Accord limit of a 2°C increase. Under BAU (a variant of the A1B scenario) the model-averaged projected SLR for 2090–2099 relative to 1980–1999 is 0.29 m–0.51 m (5%–95% uncertainties from treatment of land-based ice melt); under mitigation (E1 scenario) it is 0.17 m–0.34 m. This reduction is primarily from reduced thermal expansion. The spatial patterns of regional SLR are fairly dissimilar between the models, but are qualitatively similar across scenarios for a particular model. An impacts model suggests that by the end of the 21st century and without upgrade in defences around 55% of the 84 million additional people flooded per year globally under BAU (from SLR alone) could be avoided under such mitigation. The above projections of SLR follow the methodology of the IPCC Fourth Assessment. We have, however, also conducted a sensitivity study of SLR and its impacts where the possibility of accelerated ice sheet dynamics is accounted fo

Altering the timing of an immunocastration vaccine to optimise pig performance

Entire male pigs are more efficient and leaner than surgical castrates, but ’boar taint’ can compromise eating quality. Vaccination of boars with a gonadotropin releasing hormone (GnRH) vaccine (Improvac®, Pfizer Ltd, Parkville, VIC) can eliminate boar taint, and allows pigs to retain all of the performance attributes of entire males up until the time they receive the second vaccination, normally four to five weeks pre-slaughter (Dunshea et al., 2001). However increases in backfat depth (P2) and feed conversion ratio (FCR) compared to entire males has limited the uptake of this technology. If giving the second vaccination closer to the time of slaughter could eliminate boar taint, there would be less of a cost in lost production to producers. An experiment was conducted to test the hypothesis that reducing the time between administration of the second vaccination with the GnRH vaccine and their slaughter will reduce the impact on P2 and FCR while still reducing boar taint

Analysis of organizational options for the uranium enrichment enterprise in relation to asset divesture. [BPA; TVA; SYNFUELS; CONRAIL; British TELECOM; COMSTAT]

This report presents a comparison of the characteristics of some prominent examples of independent government corporations and agencies with respect to the Department of Energy's (DOE) uranium enrichment enterprise. The six examples studied were: the Bonneville Power Administration (BPA); the Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA); the Synthetic Fuels Corporation (SYNFUELS); the Consolidated Rail Corporation (CONRAIL); the British Telecommunications Corporation (British TELECOM); and the Communications Satellite Organization (COMSAT), in order of decreasing levels of government ownership and control. They range from BPA, which is organized as an agency within DOE, to COMSAT, which is privately owned and free from almost all regulations common to government agencies. Differences in the degree of government involvement in these corporations and in many other characteristics serve to illustrate that there are no accepted standards for defining the characteristics of government corporations. Thus, historical precedent indicates considerable flexibility would be available in the development of enabling legislation to reorganize the enrichment enterprise as a government corporation or independent government agency

Cardiovascular bioimaging of nitric oxide: achievements, challenges, and the future

First published: 19 October 2020Nitric oxide (NO) is a ubiquitous, volatile, cellular signaling molecule that operates across a wide physiological concentration range (pM-µM) in different tissues. It is a highly diffusible messenger and intermediate in various metabolic pathways. NO plays a pivotal role in maintaining optimum cardiovascular function, particularly by regulating vascular tone and blood flow. This review highlights the need for accurate, real-time bioimaging of NO in clinical diagnostic, therapeutic, monitoring, and theranostic applications within the cardiovascular system. We summarize electrochemical, optical, and nanoscale sensors that allow measurement and imaging of NO, both directly and indirectly via surrogate measurements. The physical properties of NO render it difficult to accurately measure in tissues using direct methods. There are also significant limitations associated with the NO metabolites used as surrogates to indirectly estimate NO levels. All these factors added to significant variability in the measurement of NO using available methodology have led to a lack of sensors and imaging techniques of clinical applicability in relevant vascular pathologies such as atherosclerosis and ischemic heart disease. Challenges in applying current methods to biomedical and clinical translational research, including the wide physiological range of NO and limitations due to the characteristics and toxicity of the sensors are discussed, as are potential targets and modifications for future studies. The development of biocompatible nanoscale sensors for use in combination with existing clinical imaging modalities provides a feasible opportunity for bioimaging NO within the cardiovascular system.Achini K. Vidanapathirana, Peter J. Psaltis, Christina A. Bursill, Andrew D. Abell, Stephen J. Nicholls ... et al

A qualitative study of how students learn from human cadavers

Anatomy is a key area of knowledge relevant to many disciplines and cadaveric dissection is a popular and effective option for anatomy teaching for many disciplines. Much of the previous re-search into how students learn from cadaveric dis-section involves students of medicine. This paper revisits key findings reporting research involving medical students outlining the complexity of the issues raised in learning anatomy through cadaveric dissection. We also present the findings from a small-scale qualitative study, which aimed to explore students from a range of disciplines about their experiences of learning anatomy from human cadavers, conducted over a 12 month period at the University of Sheffield, UK. This included eight first-year medical students, one first-year dentistry student, two students from a post graduate course in the Department of Archaeology, and two second-year biomedical science (BMS) students. The study provides important information about students, including those outside medicine, and their experiences of learning anatomy from cadaveric dissection. Students could observe anatomical variation and learn though the multisensory experience of dissection. Overall, cadaveric dissection was viewed positively although there was one exception. The most important findings are that there was no suggestion that students objectified the body, and this is in contrast to previous work in the area. In fact, students disliked the aspect of pro-sections that meant that they were disconnected from their human bodies. The second important finding is the similarities of perceptions across disciplines, and this is a departure from previous re-search, which focuses on medical students. We make some tentative suggestions for the preparation and support for students learning anatomy from cadaveric dissection