Sustainable forest bioenergy development strategies in Indochina: Collaborative effort to establish regional policies

We conducted a feasibility study in Indochina (Cambodia, Laos, Myanmar, Thailand, and Vietnam) with the aim of promoting biomass and bioenergy markets, technology transfer, rural development, and income generation. Policy development is guided by the International Union of Forest Research Institutions (IUFRO) Task Force “Sustainable Forest Bioenergy Network”. In this paper, we highlight the achievements up to now and present results of a multi-stakeholder questionnaire in combination with a quantitative analysis of the National Bioenergy Development Plans (NBDPs). We found a gap between official documents and working group assessments. NBDPs are focused on the market development, technology transfer, and funding possibilities of a regional bioenergy strategy, while the respondents of a questionnaire (working groups) favored more altruistic goals, i.e., sustainable resource management, environmental protection and climate change mitigation, generation of rural income, and community involvement, etc. We therefore suggest the following measures to ensure regulations that support the original aims of the network (climate change mitigation, poverty alleviation, sustainable resource use, and diversification of energy generation): (i) Consideration of science-based evidence for drafting bioenergy policies, particularly in the field of biomass production and harvesting; (ii) invitation of stakeholders representing rural communities to participate in this process; (iii) development of sustainability criteria; (iv) feedback cycles ensuring more intensive discussion of policy drafts; (v) association of an international board of experts to provide scientifically sound feedback and input; and (vi) establishment of a local demonstration region, containing various steps in the biomass/bioenergy supply chain including transboundary collaboration in the ACMECS region

Brownian Dynamics Simulation of Polydisperse Hard Spheres

Standard algorithms for the numerical integration of the Langevin equation require that interactions are slowly varying during to the integration timestep. This in not the case for hard-body systems, where there is no clearcut between the correlation time of the noise and the timescale of the interactions. Starting from a short time approximation of the Smoluchowsky equation, we introduce an algorithm for the simulation of the overdamped Brownian dynamics of polydisperse hard-spheres in absence of hydrodynamics interactions and briefly discuss the extension to the case of external drifts

Binaries with the eyes of CTA

The binary systems that have been detected in gamma rays have proven very useful to study high-energy processes, in particular particle acceleration, emission and radiation reprocessing, and the dynamics of the underlying magnetized flows. Binary systems, either detected or potential gamma-ray emitters, can be grouped in different subclasses depending on the nature of the binary components or the origin of the particle acceleration: the interaction of the winds of either a pulsar and a massive star or two massive stars; accretion onto a compact object and jet formation; and interaction of a relativistic outflow with the external medium. We evaluate the potentialities of an instrument like the Cherenkov telescope array (CTA) to study the non-thermal physics of gamma-ray binaries, which requires the observation of high-energy phenomena at different time and spatial scales. We analyze the capability of CTA, under different configurations, to probe the spectral, temporal and spatial behavior of gamma-ray binaries in the context of the known or expected physics of these sources. CTA will be able to probe with high spectral, temporal and spatial resolution the physical processes behind the gamma-ray emission in binaries, significantly increasing as well the number of known sources. This will allow the derivation of information on the particle acceleration and emission sites qualitatively better than what is currently available.Comment: 23 pages, 13 figures, accepted for publication in Astroparticle Physics, special issue on Physics with the Cherenkov Telescope Arra

Identification and characterization of an inhibitory fibroblast growth factor receptor 2 (FGFR2) molecule, up-regulated in an Apert Syndrome mouse model

AS (Apert syndrome) is a congenital disease composed of skeletal, visceral and neural abnormalities, caused by dominant-acting mutations in FGFR2 [FGF (fibroblast growth factor) receptor 2]. Multiple FGFR2 splice variants are generated through alternative splicing, including PTC (premature termination codon)-containing transcripts that are normally eliminated via the NMD (nonsense-mediated decay) pathway. We have discovered that a soluble truncated FGFR2 molecule encoded by a PTC-containing transcript is up-regulated and persists in tissues of an AS mouse model. We have termed this IIIa–TM as it arises from aberrant splicing of FGFR2 exon 7 (IIIa) into exon 10 [TM (transmembrane domain)]. IIIa–TM is glycosylated and can modulate the binding of FGF1 to FGFR2 molecules in BIAcore-binding assays. We also show that IIIa–TM can negatively regulate FGF signalling in vitro and in vivo. AS phenotypes are thought to result from gain-of-FGFR2 signalling, but our findings suggest that IIIa–TM can contribute to these through a loss-of-FGFR2 function mechanism. Moreover, our findings raise the interesting possibility that FGFR2 signalling may be a regulator of the NMD pathway

Could we identify hot Ocean-Planets with CoRoT, Kepler and Doppler velocimetry?

Planets less massive than about 10 MEarth are expected to have no massive H-He atmosphere and a cometary composition (50% rocks, 50% water, by mass) provided they formed beyond the snowline of protoplanetary disks. Due to inward migration, such planets could be found at any distance between their formation site and the star. If migration stops within the habitable zone, this will produce a new kind of planets, called Ocean-Planets. Ocean-planets typically consist in a silicate core, surrounded by a thick ice mantle, itself covered by a 100 km deep ocean. The existence of ocean-planets raises important astrobiological questions: Can life originate on such body, in the absence of continent and ocean-silicate interfaces? What would be the nature of the atmosphere and the geochemical cycles ? In this work, we address the fate of Hot Ocean-Planets produced when migration ends at a closer distance. In this case the liquid/gas interface can disappear, and the hot H2O envelope is made of a supercritical fluid. Although we do not expect these bodies to harbor life, their detection and identification as water-rich planets would give us insight as to the abundance of hot and, by extrapolation, cool Ocean-Planets.Comment: 47 pages, 6 Fugures, regular paper. Submitted to Icaru

Spatial and temporal evolution of nitrate contamination in the urban aquifer of Ur?nia (SP).

Localizada sobre os dom?nios do Aqu?fero Adamantina (Sistema Aqu?fero Bauru), a cidade de Ur?nia/SP est? significativamente contaminada por nitrato (NO3-) via processo de urbaniza??o, inicialmente sem instala??o da rede de esgoto ainda na d?cada de 1960. Este estudo objetiva avaliar a evolu??o dessa contamina??o no tempo e espa?o, a partir de an?lises qu?micas de 13 campanhas de amostragem nos ?ltimos 20 anos. Foi efetuada a compila??o de dados qu?micos e sele??o de grupos de po?os, bem como novas amostragens de ?gua, para buscar padr?es de concentra??o de nitrato em regi?es distintas da cidade. Concluiu-se que o maior grau de contamina??o est? historicamente na por??o rasa do aqu?fero, nas proximidades do c?rrego Comprido e na regi?o noroeste da cidade (>150 e 100 mg/L NO3-, respectivamente). Isso se deve ? alta densidade de fossas negras previamente existentes (48 fossas/km? e 23 fossas/km?, respectivamente) e, no caso da ?rea noroeste, devido ? ocupa??o urbana mais antiga e por vazamentos de uma rede de esgoto instalada ainda em 1977 e sem manuten??o. Essas duas ?reas tamb?m apresentaram elevadas concentra??es (50 a 100 mg/L NO3-) na por??o intermedi?ria do aqu?fero, indicando que a contamina??o atinge profundidades maiores. A por??o sul da cidade ? historicamente a de menor contamina??o, devido a urbaniza??o tardia, em parte concomitante com a chegada da rede de esgoto (em 1985), al?m da menor densidade de fossas negras (17 fossas/km?), apresentando, na maioria das an?lises, valores de at? 50 mg/L NO3-.Located over the Adamantina Aquifer domains (Bauru Aquifer System), the city of Ur?nia/SP is significantly contaminated with nitrate (NO3-) via urbanization process, initially without sewage system installation in the 1960s. This study aims to evaluate the evolution of this contamination in time and space, based on chemical analysis of 13 sampling campaigns in the last 20 years. Chemical data were compiled and well groups were selected, as well as new water samplings, to search for nitrate concentration patterns in distinct regions of the city. It was concluded that the highest degree of contamination is historically in the shallow portion of the aquifer, near the Comprido stream and in the northwest region of the city (>150 and 100 mg/L NO3-, respectively). This is due to the high density of previously existing cesspits (48 cesspit/km? and 23 cesspit/km?, respectively) and, in the case of the northwest area, due to the older urban occupation and leaks of a sewage network installed in 1977 and without maintenance. These two areas also showed high concentrations of nitrate (50 to 100 mg/L NO3-) in the intermediate portion of the aquifer, indicating contamination reaching greater depths. The southern portion of the city is historically the least contaminated due to late urbanization, in part concomitant with the arrival of the sewage system (in 1985), as well as the lower density of cesspits (17 cesspit/km?), presenting in most analyzes values of nitrate up to 50 mg/L NO3-

Full-genome study of gene expression in lumbar spinal cord of mice after 30-day space flight on Bion-M1 biosatellite

Experiments were conducted on male mice of the C57BL/6J for full genome study of gene expression. The animals were divided into two groups.The 'flight group' mice that had spent 30 days in space and the 'control group' mice that stayed on Earth. The spinal cord of the 'flight' group mice as extracted 14h following the biosatellite's landing. The spinal cord of the control group mice was extracted at the same time.Then the lumbar spinal cord was frozen in liquid nitrogen and kept until the beginning of the study at -80°C. Quality control of the feature was performed using the settings recommended by Agilent Technologies. Signal background was subtracted and the signal intensity of each gene was globally normalized using locally weighted scatterplot smoothing. The analysis suggests that various functional groups of genes in different types of cells in spinal cord may be involved in the development of HLS and some changes in gene expression certainly happened in motor neurons innervating affected skeletal muscles