Catalytic effect of alkali metals on biomass pyrolysis kinetics

Biomass is a low-carbon, resource, which is finding increasing use for heating and the generation of electricity. Biomass pyrolysis plays a central role in its combustion and is therefore receiving extensive consideration. The decomposition of biomass is also a crucial step in both fast pyrolysis and various thermal processing techniques involved in chemical manufacturing. Potassium and sodium are well-known catalysts in the thermal reactions of biomass. An expression was developed linking the rate of thermal degradation of a biomass to its potassium or sodium content. Willow samples impregnated with different potassium or sodium concentrations were studied for their pyrolysis behaviour by thermogravimetric analysis, and apparent first order kinetics derived. The developed relation yields a maximum reaction rate constant and a metal saturation constant that can predict the rate of willow pyrolysis based on temperature and concentration of potassium or sodium. Effects of sequential washing using water, ammonium acetate, and hydrochloric acid were also explored.Universidad de Málaga. Campus de Excelencia Internacional Andalucía Tec

Dear Christopher

Second Plac

“Romanticism in T.S. Eliot’s Early Poetry: Music and Words”

In his lecture “The Music of Poetry” (1942), T.S. Eliot said, “I think that a poet may gain much from the study of music.” Indeed, much of his poetry shows his debt to music, for instance in the musical titles of his early poems, jazz rhythms in the Waste Land, and the instrumental reference in the Four Quartets. This paper reviews Eliot’s preoccupation with Romanticism through an invocation of Romantic musical genres. T.S. Eliot wrote his early poems during a time when other poets like Ezra Pound vigorously denounced the Romantic project and its Victorian inheritors. Around the same time, representative composers like Claude Debussy and Igor Stravinsky experimented with the idea of tonality and the ways it could be subverted. Listeners that had been accustomed to the idea of tonal music with a main pulse or meter that would carry throughout were thrown off by the measure-to-measure switches in time signatures, music that had no tonal center, and a seemingly lack of form; something that was easily comparable to the fragmentation prevalent in Eliot’s work of the same period. This paper illustrates through close readings how the poems “Nocturne,” “Preludes,” “Rhapsody on a Windy Night,” and “Portrait of a Lady” demonstrate this parallel shift from the Romantic tradition into a new concept of music and literature: post-tonality in the former, and modernism in the latter. Eliot uses Romantic musical forms in the first three as the framework for themes of isolation, fragmentation, and disillusionment, and within his exposure of Romantic cliché in “Portrait of a Lady” one can see his desire to move towards something new

In Hungary Viktor Orban adds the EU to his lengthening list of ‘enemies of the state’

Hungarian Prime Minister, Viktor Orban recently denounced the EU’s policies towards Hungary as ‘colonialism’, after the EU suspended nearly half a billion Euro in funding over its massive budget deficit. Abby Innes takes a close look at Hungary’s recent decline from a country known for its reform policies to one which is now mired in economic crisis and increasingly extreme political strategies

Effects of Toxic Fescue Exposure on Vaginal Microbial Communities of Crossbred Beef Cows

The consumption of toxic fescue by beef cattle results in several adverse physiological effects such as reduced reproductive success, severe vasoconstriction resulting in hoof sloughing, low body condition scores, hyperthermia, decreased prolactin levels, and reduced hair shedding. The purpose of this study is to characterize bacterial community of the reproductive tract as a potential predictor for toxin exposure. One-hundred fall-calving crossbred cows were allocated to graze Toxic (Toxic: n=50) or Novel (Novel: n= 50) fescue pastures for five months (March-August). Treatments were blocked by sire breed (Charolais or Hereford) and by parity (first, second, third). Animals rotated pastures biweekly and pastures were monitored monthly for ergovaline concentration. Twenty-five animals allocated to Novel treatment were exposed to a toxic pasture two weeks each month in rotation with two weeks exposure to novel pasture. This group was defined as an alternating treatment condition (Alt: n=25). Rectal temperatures, hair score, body condition score, and body weight were collected each month as verification of fescue toxicosis in each animal. In August, the reproductive tract was swabbed using a Morgan swab at the vaginal-fornix junction for 16s rRNA-based microbiota analysis. The V4 region was amplified and sequenced using the Illumina Miseq platform. Data was processed using Mothur v.1.39.5. Significant difference in bovine vaginal bacterial community structure was observed between Toxic and Novel treatments based on Bray-Curtis distance (ANOSIM, R= 0.429223, P\u3c .001). Similarly, the bacterial communities of Toxic pasture also differed significantly from those of the Alt pasture (ANOSIM, R= 0.445697, P\u3c 0.001); however, Novel and Alt treatments did not differ (R = -0.0077, P =.536). Charolais exhibited greater (p= 0.0427) Shannon diversity than Herefords, and diversity increased with parity number with no difference (p=0.7312) observed between parities one and two. Smith-Wilson evenness was greater (p=0.0008) for Novel animals than Toxic animals. The suppression of Pseudomonas was the best indicator of toxin exposure. Novel animals hosted 16.5 times more (p=0.0057) Pseudomonas than toxic animals. Ureaplasma was the second most abundant OTU and 2nd most predictive of pasture type. Novel animals hosted 3.8 times more (p=0.0004) than novel animals. Burkholderia was the most abundant OTU and the third most predictive of treatment. Burkholderia represented 41.74% of the bacterial community in the Toxic treatment reproductive tracts and 14.67% in Novel animals

Getting Impact: Foundation Funding of Advocacy

Supporting advocacy comes in many forms, including making grants, offering skills trainings, sharing expertise, convening seminars and forums and conducting research. Before taking on any of these roles, however, foundations need to understand the federal tax rules that govern their activities. These rules vary depending on whether a foundation is classified as a private foundation or a public foundation

Development of Mass Communication Strategies for Church Growth: Engaging American Culture

In this analysis, methods of mass communication employed by the church throughout its history will be reviewed. The context for this church study is specifically within American culture. Strategies for the most effective form of mass communication have evolved drastically within the past few years. For the church to properly engage in culture, it must understand the communication strategies that have intentionally or unintentionally been utilized throughout its history. An effective method of mass communication for the church is proposed

Theoretical Implementation of a Police Officer Suicide Prevention Program

Since 1990, the Los Angeles Police Department has lost 52 of its valuable officers: 30 of these were killed in the line of duty, and a stunning 22 (42.31%) took their own lives. While the reasons why these officers ended their lives prematurely vary, the implications of their deaths remain the same; it is of paramount importance to take action to address this problem. This department has made efforts in recent years to decrease the number of police officer suicides, but the officers who have taken their own lives since then are a testament to the failure of those efforts. The problem, therefore, persists. There is a need for intentional and evidence-based initiatives in the LAPD to improve officer well-being and decrease officer depression and suicide rates