Assessing County-Level Water Footprints of Different Cellulosic- Biofuel Feedstock Pathways

While agricultural residue is considered as a near-term feedstock option for cellulosic biofuels, its sustainability must be evaluated by taking water into account. This study aims to analyze the county-level water footprint for four biofuel pathways in the United States, including bioethanol generated from corn grain, stover, wheat straw, and biodiesel from soybean. The county-level blue water footprint of ethanol from corn grain, stover, and wheat straw shows extremely wide variances with a national average of 31, 132, and 139 L of water per liter biofuel (Lw/Lbf), and standard deviation of 133, 323, and 297 Lw/Lbf, respectively. Soybean biodiesel production results in a blue water footprint of 313 Lw/Lbf on the national average with standard deviation of 894 Lw/Lbf. All biofuels show a greater green water footprint than the blue one. This work elucidates how diverse spatial resolutions affect biofuel water footprints, which can provide detailed insights into biofuels’ implications on local water sustainability

The water footprint of biofuel produced from forest wood residue via a mixed alcohol gasification process

Forest residue has been proposed as a feasible candidate for cellulosic biofuels. However, the number of studies assessing its water use remains limited. This work aims to analyze the impacts of forest-based biofuel on water resources and quality by using a water footprint approach. A method established here is tailored to the production system, which includes softwood, hardwood, and short-rotation woody crops. The method is then applied to selected areas in the southeastern region of the United States to quantify the county-level water footprint of the biofuel produced via a mixed alcohol gasification process, under several logistic systems, and at various refinery scales. The results indicate that the blue water sourced from surface or groundwater is minimal, at 2.4 liters per liter of biofuel (l/l). The regional-average green water (rainfall) footprint falls between 400 and 443 l/l. The biofuel pathway appears to have a low nitrogen grey water footprint averaging 25 l/l at the regional level, indicating minimal impacts on water quality. Feedstock mix plays a key role in determining the magnitude and the spatial distribution of the water footprint in these regions. Compared with other potential feedstock, forest wood residue shows promise with its low blue and grey water footprint

A Continued Fraction Resummation Form of Bath Relaxation Effect in the Spin-Boson Model

In the spin-boson model, a continued fraction form is proposed to systematically resum high-order quantum kinetic expansion (QKE) rate kernels, accounting for the bath relaxation effect beyond the second-order perturbation. In particular, the analytical expression of the sixth-order QKE rate kernel is derived for resummation. With higher-order correction terms systematically extracted from higher-order rate kernels, the resummed quantum kinetic expansion (RQKE) approach in the continued fraction form extends the Pade approximation and can fully recover the exact quantum dynamics as the expansion order increases.Comment: accepted by J. Chem. Phy

Performance of p16INK4a ELISA as a primary cervical cancer screening test among a large cohort of HIV-infected women in western Kenya: a 2-year cross-sectional study.

ObjectiveA biomarker with increased specificity for cervical dysplasia compared with human papillomavirus (HPV) testing would be an attractive option for cervical cancer screening among HIV-infected women in resource-limited settings. p16(INK4a) has been explored as a biomarker for screening in general populations.DesignA 2-year cross-sectional study.Setting2 large HIV primary care clinics in western Kenya.Participants1054 HIV-infected women in western Kenya undergoing cervical cancer screening as part of routine HIV care from October 2010 to November 2012.InterventionsParticipants underwent p16(INK4a) specimen collection and colposcopy. Lesions with unsatisfactory colposcopy or suspicious for cervical intraepithelial neoplasia 2+ (CIN2+; including CIN2/3 or invasive cervical cancer) were biopsied. Following biopsy, disease status was determined by histopathological diagnosis.Primary and secondary outcome measuresWe measured the sensitivity, specificity and predictive values of p16(INK4a) ELISA for CIN2+ detection among HIV-infected women and compared them to the test characteristics of current screening methods used in general as well as HIV-infected populations.ResultsAverage p16(INK4a) concentration in cervical samples was 37.4 U/mL. After colposcopically directed biopsy, 127 (12%) women were determined to have CIN2+. Receiver operating characteristic analysis showed an area under the curve of 0.664 for p16(INK4a) to detect biopsy-proven CIN2+. At a p16(INK4a) cut-off level of 9 U/mL, sensitivity, specificity, positive and negative predictive values were 89.0%, 22.9%, 13.6% and 93.8%, respectively. The overall p16(INK4a) positivity at a cut-off level of 9 U/mL was 828 (78.6%) women. There were 325 (30.8%) cases of correct p16(INK4a) prediction to detect or rule out CIN2+, and 729 (69.2%) cases of incorrect p16(INK4a) prediction.Conclusionsp16(INK4a) ELISA did not perform well as a screening test for CIN2+ detection among HIV-infected women due to low specificity. Our study contributes to the ongoing search for a more specific alternative to HPV testing for CIN2+ detection

Life-cycle Water Quantity and Water Quality Implications of Biofuels

Water consumption and water quality continue to be key factors affecting environmental sustainability in biofuel production. This review covers the findings from biofuel water analyses published over the past 2 years to underscore the progress made, and to highlight advancements in understanding the interactions among increased production and water demand, water resource availability, and potential changes in water quality. We focus on two key areas: water footprint assessment and watershed modeling. Results revealed that miscanthus-, switchgrass-, and forest wood-based biofuels all have promising blue and grey water footprints. Alternative water resources have been explored for algae production, and challenges remain. A most noticeable improvement in the analysis of life-cycle water consumption is the adoption of geospatial analysis and watershed modeling to generate a spatially explicit water footprint at a finer scale (e.g., multi-state region, state, and county scales) to address the impacts of land use change and climate on the water footprint in a landscape with a mixed biofuel feedstock

Understanding Online Brand Communities: Netnographic Study of Apple iPhone Consumers

This study extends the concept of brand communities. The netnography approach has been applied to two online brand communities, both central to Apple iPhone consumers. This study reveals two cultural manifestations with their own passions and communal norms not detected by previous research. This study, thus, enriches the conceptual understanding of brand communities. It also offers contribution toward understanding consumers of high technology brands, an area where few studies have been conducted to date

Efficient Energy Transfer in Light-Harvesting Systems, II: Quantum-Classical Comparison, Flux Network, and Robustness Analysis

Following the calculation of optimal energy transfer in thermal environment in our first paper (Wu et al., New J. Phys., 2010, 12, 105012), full quantum dynamics and leading-order `classical' hopping kinetics are compared in the seven-site Fenna-Matthews-Olson (FMO) protein complex. The difference between these two dynamic descriptions is due to higher-order quantum corrections. Two thermal bath models, classical white noise (the Haken-Strobl-Reineker model) and quantum Debye model, are considered. In the seven-site FMO model, we observe that higher-order corrections lead to negligible changes in the trapping time or in energy transfer efficiency around the optimal and physiological conditions (2% in the HSR model and 0.1% in the quantum Debye model for the initial site at BChl 1). However, using the concept of integrated flux, we can identify significant differences in branching probabilities of the energy transfer network between hopping kinetics and quantum dynamics (26% in the HSR model and 32% in the quantum Debye model for the initial site at BChl 1). This observation indicates that the quantum coherence can significantly change the distribution of energy transfer pathways in the flux network with the efficiency nearly the same. The quantum-classical comparison of the average trapping time with the removal of the bottleneck site, BChl 4, demonstrates the robustness of the efficient energy transfer by the mechanism of multi-site quantum coherence. To reconcile with the latest eight-site FMO model, the quantum-classical comparison with the flux network analysis is summarized in the appendix. The eight-site FMO model yields similar trapping time and network structure as the seven-site FMO model but leads to a more disperse distribution of energy transfer pathways.Comment: submitted to Journal of Chemical Physic

Determinants of B2C EC Success on Market Performance of Different Sizes of Firms in Taiwan's E-Brokerage Sector

Guided by a financial model, this study is the first to integrate Miles and Snow's (1978) strategic typology as an external industry effect and the resource-based view of the firm as an internal effect to explain market performance of different firm sizes in business-to-consumer e-commerce firms. Factors such as strategy types, CEO commitment to e-commerce, Web site design, and IT system integration capabilities were empirically investigated. Findings showed that prospector strategy utilized by large e-brokers significantly outperformed analyzer, defender, and reactor strategies in online market share. Top managers of small-to-medium enterprises (SMEs) should choose defender or analyzer strategies to gain market performance. Large firms indeed outperformed SMEs in online market share. In addition, large firm's CEO commitment to e-commerce, Web site design and IT system integration capabilities and Web age were explanatory factors for online market share but had no effect on both market performances for SMEs. Managerial implications and future study are recommended

Vitamin D receptor gene polymorphisms and prognosis of breast cancer among African-American and Hispanic women.

BackgroundVitamin D plays a role in cancer development and acts through the vitamin D receptor (VDR). Although African-Americans have the lowest levels of serum vitamin D, there is a dearth of information on VDR gene polymorphisms and breast cancer among African-Americans and Hispanics. This study examines whether VDR gene polymorphisms are associated with breast cancer in these cohorts.MethodsBlood was collected from 232 breast cancer patients (Cases) and 349 non-cancer subjects (Controls). Genotyping for four polymorphic variants of VDR (FokI, BsmI, TaqI and ApaI) was performed using the PCR-RFLP method.ResultsAn increased association of the VDR-Fok1 f allele with breast cancer was observed in African-Americans (OR = 1.9, p = 0.07). Furthermore, the FbTA, FbtA and fbtA haplotypes were associated with breast cancer among African-Americans (p<0.05). Latinas were more likely to have the VDR-ApaI alleles (Aa or aa) (p = 0.008). The VDR-ApaI aa genotype was significantly associated with poorly-differentiated breast tumors (p = 0.04) in combined Cases. Kaplan-Meier survival analysis showed decreased 5-year disease-free-survival (DFS) in breast cancer patients who had the VDR-Fok1 FF genotype (p<0.05). The Cox regression with multivariate analysis revealed the independent predictor value of the VDR-FokI polymorphism for DFS. The other three variants of VDR (BsmI, TaqI and ApaI) were not associated with disease outcome.ConclusionsVDR haplotypes are associated with breast cancer in African-Americans, but not in Hispanic/Latinas. The VDR-FokI FF genotype is linked with poor prognosis in African-American women with breast cancer