RENEWABLE ENERGY AND GREENHOUSE GAS MITIGATION

The paper develops an exhaustible resource model with cumulative pollution and a backstop technology that exhibits increasing marginal costs of production. The model explores conditions under which it is optimal to have a protracted transition period where both an exhaustible and renewable resource are used simultaneously.Environmental Economics and Policy, Resource /Energy Economics and Policy,

CONTRACT STRUCTURE, LEARNING-BY-DOING AND THE VIABILITY OF NEW AGRICULTURAL INDUSTRIES

The paper examines contracts in new agricultural industries that exhibit learning-by-doing. A dynamic model analyzes a contract's effect on production decisions, as well as investments in processing capacity and learning. The results of the model are applied qualitatively to the biomass electricity industry.Agribusiness,

Development of Polyhydroxyalkanoate Nanoparticles for Cancer Therapy

Polyhydroxyalkanoates (PHAs), a class of biopolyesters produced and stored by bacteria, have garnered attention for a number of industrial and biomedical applications. The goal of the current study was to extend the use of PHAs to drug delivery for the treatment of cancer. As a first step, the cytotoxicity of poly(3- hydroxy-octanoate-co-10-undecanoate) (PHOU) towards the A549 lung carcinoma cell line was determined and nanoparticles were prepared via a single emulsion technique. Elution tests, whereby cells were grown in fluid extracts obtained from media incubated for 24 hours at 37°C with PHOU films, did not result in any significant changes in cellular appearance or proliferation, as determined by microscopy and a WST-8 cellular proliferation assay. In contrast, direct contact assays that required growth of the cells on the PHOU films, resulted in cell death after 24 hours, as indicated by Live-Dead cell staining. PHOU nanoparticles with a size of a ~202 nm and a zeta potential of ~2.7 mV, as established using a Zetasizer Nano, were successfully prepared by nanoprecipitation. Ultimately, consistent nanoparticle development through single emulsion using PHOU was unsuccessful so a miniemulsion technique was used for following nanoparticle development. After achieving consistent nanoparticle development through double emulsion, folate groups were to be attached to the nanoparticles to specifically target cancer cells, but due to polymer cross-linking occurring through that attachment process that prevented successful folate attachment, nanoparticle development with new PHA polymers was necessary. PHO-N3 was successfully used to develop nanoparticles through mini-emulsion, a shorter and more efficient process than previous development methods. Through the use of a Zetasizer Nano, the size and zeta potential for the PHO-N3 nanoparticles were established as ~108 nm and -80 mV; suitable values for drug delivery. Although further assessment is required to establish the cytoxicity of the nanoparticles, the results provide preliminary evidence that nanoparticles of an appropriate size for drug delivery can be prepared

A sauropodomorph dinosaur from the ?Early Jurassic of Lusitu, Zambia

Dinosaur material has been reported from Zambia but remains undescribed. The first record, from the upper Luangwa Valley, was mistakenly identified and pertains instead to indeterminate dicynodonts. The only other report on Zambian dinosaur material concerns associated partial hind limb and vertebral material collected from an Upper Karoo sandstone in the vicinity of Lusitu. We provide a description of this specimen, the first definitive dinosaur to be reported from Zambia, and identify it as an indeterminate basal sauropodomorph. Unfortunately, the precise age of the specimen remains unknown, although an Early Jurassic age seems likely.The Royal Society of London DST/NRF Centre of Excellence in Palaeosciences Friedel Sellschop Award Natural History Museum, London the Palaeontological Scientific Trust (PAST) and its Scatterlings of Africa programme

The Effects of Neuro-metals on Prion Disease Formation

Prion diseases are transmissible spongiform encephalopathies that cause the neurons of the brain to become damaged and die. Prions are a unique infectious particle as they are not like bacteria or viruses since they lack nucleic acid. The PrPSc protein is responsible for the infections caused by prion diseases and accumulates in the brain. PrPSc has a beta sheet conformation and is responsible for disease in both humans and animals. Scientists have investigated prion diseases in the laboratory to try and understand how these diseases spread and can infect different species. Several of these studies have looked at the roles that essential metals play within the body and their possible contribution to prion diseases. Metals are essential for life, as they act like cofactors of many enzymes and are involved in cellular respiration and metabolism; transition metals however are potentially harmful to cells as they participate in redox reactions, producing reactive oxygen species (ROS), which can oxidize proteins, lipids, and nucleic acids. Metal homeostasis may be induced and contribute to neurodegeneration. Reducing metal homeostasis and limiting ROS and free radical production could serve as protection from the neurodegeneration seen in prion diseases. This research paper utilized scientific literature to examine the transition metals zinc, copper, iron, and manganese, pathology of prion diseases, the effects that these metals have on disease formation, and potential treatment methods

New specimens of the basal ornithischian dinosaur Lesothosaurus diagnosticus Galton, 1978 from the Early Jurassic of South Africa

We describe new specimens of the basal ornithischian dinosaur Lesothosaurus diagnosticus Galton, 1978 collected from a bonebed in the Fouriesburg district of the Free State, South Africa. The material was collected from the upper Elliot Formation (Early Jurassic) and represents the remains of at least three individuals. These individuals are larger in body size than those already known in museum collections and offer additional information on cranial ontogeny in the taxon. Moreover, they are similar in size to the sympatric taxon Stormbergia dangershoeki. The discovery of three individuals at this locality might imply group-living behaviour in this early ornithischian.Palaeontologia africana 2016. ©2016 Paul M. Barrett, Richard J. Butler, Adam M. Yates, Matthew G. Baron&Jonah N. Choiniere. This is an open-access article published under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 Unported License (CC BY4.0). To view a copy of the license, please visit http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/. This license permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited. This item is permanently archived at: http://wiredspace.wits.ac.za/handle/10539/19886. The attached file is the published version of the article

Investigation of Ionospheric Plasma Flow Effects on Current Collection to Parallel Wires Using Self-Consistent Steady-State Kinetic Simulations

Peer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/77393/1/AIAA-2005-4293-799.pd

Enhancement of electrodynamic tether electron current collection using radio frequency power: numerical modeling and measurements

Peer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/77143/1/AIAA-2001-3339-153.pd

Four Years of On-Going Commissioning in CTEC-Varennes Building with a BEMS Assisted CX Tool

The development of Building Energy Management Systems (BEMS) offers new opportunities to automate some aspects of commissioning. Reduction of process cost and manual effort on site, transformation of a one time application to a continuous process generating benefits over the entire life of a building, development of a detail systematic approach to improve quality assurance process and integration of energy audit capabilities to improve the overall performance of buildings are some of them. This paper presents the four years result of an on-going commissioning project performed in the CANMET Energy Technology Centre - Varennes (CETC-V) building that has generated 35 % reduction in the energy used. An ongoing BEMS assisted commissioning tool, DABO, developed under IEA Annex 40 by the Canadian team has largely contributed in the verification and optimisation of the performance of the building