Energy and Climate Policy: USA Continues to Trail behind, Despite Positive Change

In the course of current climate negotiations, the world is watching the United States in particular. Together with China, the U.S. is by far the largest emitter of greenhouse gases. Real progress in protecting the global climate requires substantial action on America's part. The U.S. has the potential to significantly reduce emissions. Per capita energy consumption in the U.S. is still about twice that of Europe. An assessment of current energy and climate policies in America is disillusioning. So far, federal and state measures have had only limited success - both in terms of increasing energy efficiency and in the use of renewable energy. While some regional initiatives are promising - for example, the establishment of renewable portfolio standards, or emissions trading schemes in the Northeast and West of the country - they ultimately lack sufficient ambition and scope. Proposals currently under debate in Congress for a national energy and climate protection law are highly contested, even though they do not set particularly demanding goals for reducing emissions in the medium term. Against this backdrop, the U.S. cannot be expected to catch up anytime soon in the area of climate protection.Climate Policy, Energy Policy, Renewable Energy, USA

Activation-tagged tobacco mutants that are tolerant to antimicrotubular herbicides are cross-resistant to chilling stress

Abstract T-DNA activation tagging was used to generate tobacco mutants with increased tolerance to antimicrotubular herbicides and chilling stress. After transformation, protoplast-derived calli were screened for tolerance to treatments that affect microtubule assembly. In one screen mutants with tolerance to aryl carbamates (a blocker of microtubule assembly) were selected, the second screen was targeted to chilling-tolerant mutants that could survive for several months at 3°C, a third screen combined both factors. The resistance of these mutants to aryl carbamates or chilling was accompanied by resistance of microtubules to these factors. The carbamate tolerant mutants were crossresistant to chilling stress. This was mirrored by an adaptive reorganization of microtubules and a reduction of microtubule dynamics in response to chilling. The analysis of these mutants suggests (1) that microtubule dynamics limit the tolerance to chilling and EPC, and (2) that the cold sensitivity of microtubules limits chilling tolerance in tobacco. Key words: activation tagging, antimicrotubular herbicides, aryl carbamates, chilling tolerance, microtubules, tyrosinylated tubuli

External quality assessment of molecular biology-based methods used in laboratories of clinical chemistry and human genetics

The Reference Institute of Bioanalysis of the German Society of Clinical Chemistry has performed the first external assessment of molecular genetics methods used in medical diagnosis. The following procedures were tested: (I) DNA preparation from whole blood, (II) PCR amplification using "standard" primers, and (III) submarine agarose gel electrophoresis. Out of 50 participants, 45 returned samples for evaluation

Galápagos and Californian sea lions are separate species: Genetic analysis of the genus Zalophus and its implications for conservation management

Wolf JBW, Tautz D, Trillmich F. Galápagos and Californian sea lions are separate species: genetic analysis of the genus Zalophus and its implications for conservation management. Frontiers in Zoology. 2007;4(1): 20.Background: Accurate formal taxonomic designations are thought to be of critical importance for the conservation of endangered taxa. The Galápagos sea lion (GSL), being appreciated as a key element of the Galápagos marine ecosystem, has lately been listed as 'vulnerable' by the IUCN. To date there is, however, hardly any scientific evidence, whether it constitutes a separate entity from its abundant Californian neighbour (CSL). In this paper, we delineate the taxonomic relationships within the genus Zalophus being comprised of the Galápagos sea lion, the Californian sea lion and the already extinct Japanese sea lion (JSL). Results: Using a set of different phylogenetic reconstruction approaches, we find support for monophyly of all three taxa without evidence of reticulation events. Molecular clock estimates place time to common ancestry of the Galápagos sea lion and the Californian sea lion at about 2.3 ± 0.5 mya. Genetic separation is further suggested by diagnostic SNPs in the mitochondrial and nuclear genome. Microsatellite markers confirm this trend, showing numerous private alleles at most of the 25 investigated loci. Microsatellite-based estimates of genetic differentiation between the Galápagos sea lion and the Californian sea lion indicate significant genetic differentiation. Gene diversity is 14% lower in the Galápagos sea lion than in the Californian sea lion, but there is no evidence for recent bottleneck events in the Galápagos sea lion. Conclusion: Based on molecular evidence we build a case for classifying the Galápagos sea lion (Zalophus wollebaeki), the Californian sea lion (Zalophus californianus) and the Japanese sea lion (Zalophus japonicus) as true species. As morphological characters do not necessarily fully reflect the rapid divergence on the molecular level, the study can be considered as a test case for deriving species status from molecular evidence. We further use the results to discuss the role of genetics in conservation policy for an organism that already is under the general protection of the habitat it lives in

Использование потенциометрического метода для определения микроконцентраций фторид ионов в технологических водах АЭС

Disposable cylindrical shaken bioreactors using plastic bags or vessels represent a promising alternative to stainless steel bioreactors, because they are flexible, cost-effective and can be pre-sterilized. Unlike conventional well-established steel bioreactors, however, such disposable bioreactor systems have not yet been precisely characterized. Thus, the aim of this current work is to introduce a new power input correlation as a potential means to characterize the hydrodynamics of these new systems. A set of rel- evant power input variables was defined and transformed into dimensionless numbers by using the Buckingham’s pi-Theorem. These numbers were then experimentally varied to quantify the relationship among the numbers. A simple correlation was generated for the power input with seven variables. The application of this new correlation was validated using 200 L and 2000 L orbitally shaken bioreactors. In conclusion, the proposed correlation is a useful tool to predict the power input and hydrodynamics during cell cultivation in cylindrical shaken bioreactors of all scales

Finding informed trades in high-frequency trading

We propose a mathematical procedure for finding informed trades in high-frequency trading on different financial markets.We formulate criteria for detecting insider trades. These criteria were applied in practice to detect insider trading of Aeroflot shares

Energie- und Klimaschutzpolitik: USA holen langsam auf

Vor dem kommenden UN-Klimagipfel in Kopenhagen blickt die Welt vor allem auf die USA. Sie sind neben China mit Abstand der größte Emittent von Treibhausgasen. Spürbare Fortschritte beim globalen Klimaschutz setzen einen erheblichen Beitrag der Amerikaner voraus. Spielraum für eine deutliche Senkung der Emissionen ist vorhanden. So ist der Energieverbrauch pro Kopf in den USA immer noch etwa doppelt so hoch wie in Europa. Der Blick auf die aktuelle energie- und klimapolitische Ausgangslage in den USA ist aber ernüchternd: Die bisherigen Maßnahmen auf nationaler Ebene und in den Bundesstaaten sind insgesamt betrachtet nur begrenzt wirksam - sowohl bei der Verbesserung der Energieeffizienz als auch bei der Nutzung erneuerbarer Energien. Aktuelle regionale Initiativen zum Beispiel für Emissionshandelssysteme im Nordosten und Westen des Landes oder für eine Mindestnutzung erneuerbarer Energien machen Hoffnung, sie sind aber nicht umfassend und ambitioniert genug. Die derzeit im Parlament verhandelten Entwürfe für ein nationales Energie- und Klimaschutzgesetz sind noch stark umstritten, obwohl die damit verfolgten mittelfristigen Reduktionsziele nicht besonders anspruchsvoll sind. Vor diesem Hintergrund wird Amerika nur langsam im Klimaschutz aufholen können.Climate Policy, Energy Policy, Renewable Energy, USA