Thermodynamics of hydrogen production from urea by steam reforming with and without in situ carbon dioxide sorption

The thermodynamic effects of molar steam to carbon ratio (S:C), of pressure, and of having CaO present on the H2 yield and enthalpy balance of urea steam reforming were investigated. At a S:C of 3 the presence of CaO increased the H2 yield from 2.6 mol H2/mol urea feed at 940 K to 2.9 at 890 K, and decreased the enthalpy of bringing the system to equilibrium. A minimum enthalpy of 180.4 kJ was required to produce 1 mol of H2 at 880 K. This decreased to 94.0 kJ at 660 K with CaO-based CO2 sorption and, when including a regeneration step of the CaCO3 at 1170 K, to 173 kJ at 720 K. The presence of CaO allowed widening the range of viable operation at lower temperature and significantly inhibited carbon formation. The feasibility of producing H2 from renewable urea in a low carbon future is discussed

Mineralogical study of the Gonçalo Li-pegmatite deposit, Portugal

Beside the Scandinavian countries and Serbia, Portugal is among the European countries with the most significant lithium resources. The Li-rich occurrences in Portugal are mainly associated with aplite-pegmatite dykes and sills intruded in granitic and metasedimentary rocks of the Central Iberian and Galicia – Trás-os-Montes geotectonic zones (Carvalho & Farinha, 2004). The Gonçalo Li-pegmatites in the Guarda district (currently only used as decorative stone) have significant economic importance. Among other deposits, Gonçalo is a reference site in the focus of the EU FAME project (www.fame-project.eu) that aims to unlock the development potential of the most promising European Sn-W-Li ore types. Results of optical microscopy, QEMSCAN©, Raman and electron-probe microanalysis of the Gonçalo Li-pegmatite deposit have been employed to determine the mineralogical variability of the pegmatites with the aim to determine the deportment of lithium and potential rare-metal by-products and to guide enhanced mineral processing technologies.Available to download freely and reproduced here with permission of the publisher. The attached file is the published pdf

Dwarf Copper-Gold Porphyry Deposits of the Buchim-Damjan-Borov Dol Ore District, Republic of Macedonia (FYROM)

The metallogenic aspects, tectonic setting, magmatism, structure, and composition of Au-and Ag-bearing porphyry copper deposits in the Buchim-Damjan-Borov Dol ore district and their genetic features are considered and compared with earlier published data. Special attention is paid to supergene gold in heavy concentrate halos of the Borov Dol deposit. The total Cu reserves of the deposits discussed in this paper do not exceed 150 kt. The Buchim deposit likely is the world's smallest deposit of this type currently involved in mining. A comprehensive study of these dwarf porphyry copper deposits is undertaken to answer questions on the conditions of their formation. How do they differ from formation conditions of giant deposits

Organisational culture of further education colleges delivering higher education business programmes: developing a culture of ‘HEness’ – what next?

This paper draws on the views of lecturers working in and delivering college-based higher education (CBHE) in the UK. There have been numerous works on the culture of higher education in further education (HE in FE). However, as noted by some literati, the culture of further education (FE) is not easy to define, and does not readily lend itself to the incorporation of a higher education (HE) culture. This could be due to the large number of changes FE has had to adopt owing to various government policies. The study comprises 26 in-depth individual interviews conducted at various further education colleges throughout the Yorkshire and Humber region of the UK. Via the use of an interpretivist approach, common themes and word use were extracted from the narratives for analysis. The organisational culture of these further education colleges was relatively easy to define, the word ‘blame’ being one of the common themes. However, when identifying if the individual colleges had a HE culture; this proved more difficult

Epidemiological Interactions between Urogenital and Intestinal Human Schistosomiasis in the Context of Praziquantel Treatment across Three West African Countries

© 2015 Knowles et al. This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited. The attached file is the published version of the article

Chemostratigraphy and provenance of clays and other non-carbonate minerals in chalks of Campanian age (Upper Cretaceous) from Sussex, southern England

Geochemical analysis of acid-insoluble residues derived from white chalks and marl seams of Campanian age from Sussex, UK, has been undertaken. All display a broadly similar <2 μm mineralogical composition consisting of smectite or smectite-rich illite-smectite with subordinate illite and minor amounts of talc. Plots of K2O/Al2O3 and TiO2/Al2O3 indicate that most marl seams have an acid-insoluble residue composition which is slightly different to that of the over- and underlying white chalk, implying that marl seams are primary sedimentary features not formed through white chalk dissolution. On the basis of a negative Eu anomaly and trace element geochemistry one marl seam, the Old Nore Marl, is considered to be volcanically derived and best classified as a bentonite; it is considered to correlate with the bentonite M1 of the north German succession

Chromosome-level genome of Schistosoma haematobium underpins genome-wide explorations of molecular variation.

Urogenital schistosomiasis is caused by the blood fluke Schistosoma haematobium and is one of the most neglected tropical diseases worldwide, afflicting \u3e 100 million people. It is characterised by granulomata, fibrosis and calcification in urogenital tissues, and can lead to increased susceptibility to HIV/AIDS and squamous cell carcinoma of the bladder. To complement available treatment programs and break the transmission of disease, sound knowledge and understanding of the biology and ecology of S. haematobium is required. Hybridisation/introgression events and molecular variation among members of the S. haematobium-group might effect important biological and/or disease traits as well as the morbidity of disease and the effectiveness of control programs including mass drug administration. Here we report the first chromosome-contiguous genome for a well-defined laboratory line of this blood fluke. An exploration of this genome using transcriptomic data for all key developmental stages allowed us to refine gene models (including non-coding elements) and annotations, discover \u27new\u27 genes and transcription profiles for these stages, likely linked to development and/or pathogenesis. Molecular variation within S. haematobium among some geographical locations in Africa revealed unique genomic \u27signatures\u27 that matched species other than S. haematobium, indicating the occurrence of introgression events. The present reference genome (designated Shae.V3) and the findings from this study solidly underpin future functional genomic and molecular investigations of S. haematobium and accelerate systematic, large-scale population genomics investigations, with a focus on improved and sustained control of urogenital schistosomiasis

TRY plant trait database - enhanced coverage and open access

Plant traits-the morphological, anatomical, physiological, biochemical and phenological characteristics of plants-determine how plants respond to environmental factors, affect other trophic levels, and influence ecosystem properties and their benefits and detriments to people. Plant trait data thus represent the basis for a vast area of research spanning from evolutionary biology, community and functional ecology, to biodiversity conservation, ecosystem and landscape management, restoration, biogeography and earth system modelling. Since its foundation in 2007, the TRY database of plant traits has grown continuously. It now provides unprecedented data coverage under an open access data policy and is the main plant trait database used by the research community worldwide. Increasingly, the TRY database also supports new frontiers of trait-based plant research, including the identification of data gaps and the subsequent mobilization or measurement of new data. To support this development, in this article we evaluate the extent of the trait data compiled in TRY and analyse emerging patterns of data coverage and representativeness. Best species coverage is achieved for categorical traits-almost complete coverage for 'plant growth form'. However, most traits relevant for ecology and vegetation modelling are characterized by continuous intraspecific variation and trait-environmental relationships. These traits have to be measured on individual plants in their respective environment. Despite unprecedented data coverage, we observe a humbling lack of completeness and representativeness of these continuous traits in many aspects. We, therefore, conclude that reducing data gaps and biases in the TRY database remains a key challenge and requires a coordinated approach to data mobilization and trait measurements. This can only be achieved in collaboration with other initiatives