Designing a Culvert Management System for the Town of Spencer, MA

Twenty-two road-stream crossings were assessed for the Town of Spencer, MA and the River and Stream Continuity Database. Each culvert, bridge, or dam was profiled to identify any constraints and possible considerations for future maintenance or replacement. A structural module was designed to assess the current condition of the crossings and work alongside the River and Stream Continuity Project, which does not have a structural component. The resulting analysis was presented to the attention of the Spencer Water Department

Exploring the Factors Influencing Organic Waste Sorting in Denmark

Biogasification harvests energy from recycled and treated food waste. Sorting food waste is key to Denmark’s goal of recycling 50% of household waste by 2022. This project, sponsored by Dansk Affaldsforening, researched practical and motivational factors influencing Danish sorting of household food waste through interviews with citizens and waste sector experts, waste treatment plant site visits, two surveys and a social media photo survey. Our recommendations for an effective campaign to sort waste include: give clear, simple information; show results to intrinsically motivate people; and focus on children to perpetuate the habit. These results yield valuable insights for Dansk Affaldsforening’s members for implementation of future food waste sorting campaigns

A global benchmark study using affinity-based biosensors

International audienceTo explore the variability in biosensor studies, 150 participants from 20 countries were given the same protein samples and asked to determine kinetic rate constants for the interaction. We chose a protein system that was amenable to analysis using different biosensor platforms as well as by users of different expertise levels. The two proteins (a 50-kDa Fab and a 60-kDa glutathione S-transferase [GST] antigen) form a relatively high-affinity complex, so participants needed to optimize several experimental parameters, including ligand immobilization and regeneration conditions as well as analyte concentrations and injection/dissociation times. Although most participants collected binding responses that could be fit to yield kinetic parameters, the quality of a few data sets could have been improved by optimizing the assay design. Once these outliers were removed, the average reported affinity across the remaining panel of participants was 620 pM with a standard deviation of 980 pM. These results demonstrate that when this biosensor assay was designed and executed appropriately, the reported rate constants were consistent, and independent of which protein was immobilized and which biosensor was used. (C) 2008 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved