LAND-USE CHANGE AND CARBON SEQUESTRATION IN THE FORESTS OF OHIO, INDIANA, AND ILLINOIS: SENSITIVITY TO POPULATION AND MODEL CHOICE

This study develops a model of land use change in the Midwestern States of Ohio, Indiana, and Illinois. Given the emergence of spatial econometrics, three models are compared to assess the sensitivity of the estimates to alternative assumptions about the distribution of their errors. Projections of future land use change are then developed, and the results are compared across different assumptions about population growth and models. We then estimate carbon sequestration potential in the region and compare the costs of different programs across the population assumptions and the alternative models. Different assumptions about population growth and error terms do not appear to affect the carbon sequestration cost estimates.Environmental Economics and Policy, Land Economics/Use,

Iron induces insulin resistance in cardiomyocytes via regulation of oxidative stress

York University Librarie

The Effect of Carbon Payments on Deforestation Rates and Carbon Sequestration: Estimates from a Global Forestry and Agricultural Model.

Environmental Economics and Policy,

RECONSTRUCTION OF SOCIAL SCIENCE AND HUMANITIES THROUGH NARRATIVE

Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to present new directions and research strategies through critical analysis of the academic tendencies of existing social science and humanities. The narrative theory of human experience is adopted as a theoretical rationale for critical analysing existing social sciences and humanities. Since the 1970s and 1980s, the academic tendencies of the humanities and social sciences have been transformed into the narrative turn. We focus on the new integrity of humanities and social sciences in light of the narrative theory that approaches the totality of human life. The narrative theory for academic inquiry makes use of the position of Bruner, Polkinghorne, Ricoeur Methodology: We reviewed the literature related to the research topic and took an integrated approach to the philosophical analysis of core claims. Main Findings: As a result, the narrative theory has a characteristic approach to human life and experience as a whole, and it is possible to integrate by narrative ways of knowing. Implications/Applications: Based on this narrative theory, existing humanities and social sciences need to be reconstructed into narrative science. And a narrative method or narrative inquiry is useful as its specific inquiry method. As a narrative science, humanities and social sciences can be implemented by the integration of human experience and narrative epistemology. It has the advantage of integrating the atomized sub-sciences into the narrative of human experience according to this new method. Also, in-depth research on concrete exploration strategies is expected in the future

Mutant-specific gene expression profiling identifies SRY-related HMG box 11b (SOX11b) as a novel regulator of vascular development in zebrafish

Previous studies have identified two zebrafish mutants, cloche and groom of cloche, which lack the majority of the endothelial lineage at early developmental stages. However, at later stages, these avascular mutant embryos generate rudimentary vessels, indicating that they retain the ability to generate endothelial cells despite this initial lack of endothelial progenitors. To further investigate molecular mechanisms that allow the emergence of the endothelial lineage in these avascular mutant embryos, we analyzed the gene expression profile using microarray analysis on isolated endothelial cells. We find that the expression of the genes characteristic of the mesodermal lineages are substantially elevated in the kdrl+ cells isolated from avascular mutant embryos. Subsequent validation and analyses of the microarray data identifies Sox11b, a zebrafish ortholog of SRY-related HMG box 11 (SOX11), which have not previously implicated in vascular development. We further define the function sox11b during vascular development, and find that Sox11b function is essential for developmental angiogenesis in zebrafish embryos, specifically regulating sprouting angiogenesis. Taken together, our analyses illustrate a complex regulation of endothelial specification and differentiation during vertebrate development

High Performance Organic Transistors for Organic Electronic Applications

Thin-film transistor (TFT) devices using organic semiconducting materials have attracted widespread attentions due to their low cost, flexible form factor, and easy fabrication. However, organic materials’ poor performance as compared to inorganic semiconductor such as silicon limits their applications. Specially, high-frequency operation in organic transistors has never been achieved with organic semiconducting material. One very attractive application for organic electronics is low-cost and flexible Radio Frequency Identification Tag (RFID), which requires relatively high frequency operation. Because of low mobility and high operating bias voltage, the current organic TFT is not appropriate for the most of applications including RFID. The objective of this research is to develop the high performance organic transistor structures which are suitable for organic electronic applications. In designing, two major performance metrics of devices are focused to be improved, which are the on-current level with high on-off ratio and the cutoff frequency of the transistors. They are determined mainly by the carrier mobility, the injection of carrier at the metal/semiconductor boundary, and the passive parasitic components introduced by device geometry. In this study, three new structures are investigated, namely dual-organic layer Metal-Semiconductor Field-Effect Transistor (MESFET), depletion mode organic Metal-Oxide-Semiconductor Field-Effect Transistor (MOSFET), and organic Heterojunction Bipolar Transistor (HBT). Each of these devices is optimized to enhance the performance of the devices based on comprehensive theoretical modeling, and validated by simulation using TCAD. The devices with channel length of longer than 4 µm exhibit a few µA of on-current and ~10 MHz cutoff frequency. The results obtained in this work show those novel transistor structures can overcome the weakness of conventional organic TFTs and have great potential in realizing organic circuit applications in the future

Embedded System for Construction Material Tracking Using Combination of Radio Frequency and Ultrasound Signal

This study created a framework for integrating the latest innovations in wireless sensor network that automate tracking and monitoring construction assets, e.g. equipment, materials, and labor in construction sites. This research constitutes one of the few studies to incorporate emerging information and sensor network technologies with the construction industry, which has been slow to migrate away from legacy processes. The presented research works introduce a new prototype framework of an automated tracking system that will address the needed shift from the time-and labor-intensive legacy systems to sensor- and network-based collaboration and communication systems for construction processes. Software and hardware architecture for the new tracking system was developed using the combination of ultrasound and radio signals. By embedding the external ultrasound device with a MICAZ platform, enhancements to networking flexibility and wireless communication was observed over the previous technologies used in the construction material tracking systems. Feasibility study and testbed experiment on the position estimation were implemented to verify the localization algorithm presented in this dissertation. Cost benefit analysis based on quantitative approach implied that the presented framework can save the implementation cost of material tracking by up to 64 percent in a typical construction project. In addition to cost savings, the use of sensor-based tracking system can provide the intangible, comprehensive benefits in communication, labor utilization, document management, and resource management. It is hoped that the present work will describe a system that can effectively be used in a range of applications for tracking and monitoring purposes and will present a clear path that engineers can take to use existing wireless sensor technology in their particular applications. The cost of such hardware will decrease rapidly, thereby permitting large numbers of application scenarios to be possible in many construction sites with improved energy consumption, hardware performance, durability, and safety