Public awareness of the environmental impact and management of carbon dioxide capture,utilization and storage technology: the views of educated people in China

Carbon dioxide capture, utilization and storage (CCUS) is regarded as an important carbon emissions reduction technology response to climate change. Though some full-chain CCUS pilot projects have operated in China, many barriers exist when stepping up to commercial applications, including significant negative perceptions of the environmental risk of CCUS. Therefore, to tailor constructive training or outreach programs for public acceptance of CCUS in China, a large national survey of public perceptions of CCUS technology was conducted in 2013. The questionnaire contained four themes focusing on people with a tertiary education. Six hundred paper–pencil questionnaires were dispatched to 22 universities/enterprises across 19 provinces and 2 municipalities, with a response rate of 95%. The results show that 91.4% of the participants agreed that the earth was experiencing climate change, and 74.3% were interested in low-carbon technologies, but while 22% had heard of CCUS, although with limited knowledge, only 3.6% had a good understanding of the technology. The results from the second part of the questionnaire show that 80.4% of participants believed that CCUS may help to mitigate the impacts of global warming, but the “Not in My Back Yard” (NIMBY) phenomenon was obvious from the location-based objections to transportation and storage processes. In addition, ten listed CCUS environmental management policies received extensive recognition from the participants, and about half of the participants considered that the related government departments should be responsible for environmental management as a first priority. The survey also indicates that the most trusted sources through which the survey participants obtain CCUS information are academic journals and textbooks, television, radio and newspapers, expert lectures and brochures on CCUS demonstration projects. According to the survey of public awareness of the environmental impact and management of CCUS technology in China, CCUS technology rates well for environmental benefits, but high environmental risk perceptions of CCUS lead to a lower acceptance of this carbon emissions reduction technology.     

The effects of different roster schedules on sleep in miners

Shiftwork involving early morning starts and night work can affect both sleep and fatigue. This study aimed to assess the impact of different rostering schedules at an Australian mine site on sleep and subjective sleep quality. Participants worked one of four rosters;

4 × 4 (n = 14) 4D4O4N4O

7 × 4 (n = 10) 7D4O7N40

10 × 5 (n = 17) 5D5N50

14 × 7 (n = 12) 7D7N70

Sleep (wrist actigraphy and sleep diaries) was monitored for a full roster cycle including days off. Total sleep time (TST) was longer on days off (7.0 ± 1.9) compared to sleep when on day (6.0 ± 1.0) and nightshifts (6.2 ± 1.6). Despite an increase in TST on days off, this may be insufficient to recover from the severe sleep restriction occurring during work times. Restricted sleep and quick shift-change periods may lead to long-term sleep loss and associated fatigue.     

Hull-form optimization in calm and rough water

The paper presents a formal methodology for the hull form optimization in calm and rough water using wash waves and selected dynamic responses, respectively. Parametric hull form modeling is used to generate the variant hull forms with some of the form parameters modified, which are evaluated in the optimization scheme based on evolutionary strategies. Rankine-source panel method and strip theories are used for the hydrodynamic evaluation. The methodology is implemented in the optimization of a double-chine, planing hull form. Furthermore, a dual-stage optimization strategy is applied on a modern fast displacement ferry. The effect of the selected optimization parameters is presented and discussed.     

Betweenness parameterized above tight lower bound

We study ordinal embedding relaxations in the realm of parameterized complexity. We prove the existence of a quadratic kernel for the Betweenness problem parameterized above its tight lower bound, which is stated as follows. For a set V of variables and set C of constraints “vi is between vj and vk”, decide whether there is a bijection from V to the set {1,…,|V|} satisfying at least |C|/3+κ of the constraints in C. Our result solves an open problem attributed to Benny Chor in Niedermeier's monograph “Invitation to Fixed-Parameter Algorithms”. The betweenness problem is of interest in molecular biology. An approach developed in this paper can be used to determine parameterized complexity of a number of other optimization problems on permutations parameterized above or below tight bounds.     

Forest carbon densities and uncertainties from Lidar, QuickBird, and field measurements in California

Greenhouse gas inventories and emissions reduction programs require robust methods to quantify carbon sequestration in forests. We compare forest carbon estimates from Light Detection and Ranging (Lidar) data and QuickBird high-resolution satellite images, calibrated and validated by field measurements of individual trees. We conducted the tests at two sites in California: (1) 59 km² of secondary and old-growth coast redwood (Sequoia sempervirens) forest (Garcia-Mailliard area) and (2) 58 km² of old-growth Sierra Nevada forest (North Yuba area). Regression of aboveground live tree carbon density, calculated from field measurements, against Lidar height metrics and against QuickBird-derived tree crown diameter generated equations of carbon density as a function of the remote sensing parameters. Employing Monte Carlo methods, we quantified uncertainties of forest carbon estimates from uncertainties in field measurements, remote sensing accuracy, biomass regression equations, and spatial autocorrelation. Validation of QuickBird crown diameters against field measurements of the same trees showed significant correlation (r = 0.82, P < 0.05). Comparison of stand-level Lidar height metrics with field-derived Lorey's mean height showed significant correlation (Garcia-Mailliard r = 0.94, P < 0.0001; North Yuba R = 0.89, P < 0.0001). Field measurements of five aboveground carbon pools (live trees, dead trees, shrubs, coarse woody debris, and litter) yielded aboveground carbon densities (mean ± standard error without Monte Carlo) as high as 320 ± 35 Mg ha^− 1 (old-growth coast redwood) and 510 ± 120 Mg ha^− 1 (red fir [Abies magnifica] forest), as great or greater than tropical rainforest. Lidar and QuickBird detected aboveground carbon in live trees, 70-97% of the total. Large sample sizes in the Monte Carlo analyses of remote sensing data generated low estimates of uncertainty. Lidar showed lower uncertainty and higher accuracy than QuickBird, due to high correlation of biomass to height and undercounting of trees by the crown detection algorithm. Lidar achieved uncertainties of < 1%, providing estimates of aboveground live tree carbon density (mean ± 95% confidence interval with Monte Carlo) of 82 ± 0.7 Mg ha^− 1 in Garcia-Mailliard and 140 ± 0.9 Mg ha^− 1 in North Yuba. The method that we tested, combining field measurements, Lidar, and Monte Carlo, can produce robust wall-to-wall spatial data on forest carbon.     

Label-free Growth Receptor-2 Detection and Dissociation Constant Assessment in Diluted Human Serum Using a Longitudinal Extension Mode of a Piezoelectric Microcantilever Sensor

We have investigated real-time, label-free, in-situ detection of human epidermal growth factor receptor 2 (Her2) in diluted serum using the first longitudinal extension mode of a lead zirconate-lead titanate (PZT)/glass piezoelectric microcantilever sensor (PEMS) with H3 single-chain variable fragment (scFv) immobilized on the 3-mercaptopropyltrimethoxysilane (MPS) insulation layer of the PEMS surface. We showed that with the longitudinal extension mode, the PZT/glass PEMS consisting of a 1 mm long and 127 μm thick PZT layer bonded with a 75 μm thick glass layer with a 1.8 mm long glass tip could detect Her2 at a concentration of 6-60 ng/ml (or 0.06-0.6 nM) in diluted human serum, about 100 times lower than the concentration limit obtained using the lower-frequency flexural mode of a similar PZT/glass PEMS. We further showed that with the longitudinal mode, the PZT/glass PEMS determined the equilibrium H3-Her2 dissociation constant K(d) to be 3.3±0.3 × 10(-8) M consistent with the value, 3.2±0.28 ×10(-8) M deduced by the surface plasmon resonance method (BIAcore).     

Reconfigurable distributed storage for dynamic networks

This paper presents a new algorithm for implementing a reconfigurable distributed shared memory in an asynchronous dynamic network. The algorithm guarantees atomic consistency (linearizability) in all executions in the presence of arbitrary crash failures of the processing nodes, message delays, and message loss. The algorithm incorporates a classic quorum-based algorithm for read/write operations, and an optimized consensus protocol, based on Fast Paxos for reconfiguration, and achieves the design goals of: (i) allowing read and write operations to complete rapidly and (ii) providing long-term fault-tolerance through reconfiguration, a process that evolves the quorum configurations used by the read and write operations. The resulting algorithm tolerates dynamism. We formally prove our algorithm to be correct, we present its performance and compare it to existing reconfigurable memories, and we evaluate experimentally the cost of its reconfiguration mechanism.     

Reliable Distributed Storage

A distributed storage service lets clients abstract a single reliable shared storage device using a collection of possibly unreliable computing units. Algorithms that implement this abstraction offer certain tradeoffs and vary according to dimensions such as complexity, the consistency semantics provided, and the types of failures tolerated.     

Complexity classes for self-assembling flexible tiles

We present a theoretical model for self-assembling DNA tiles with flexible branches. We encode an instance of a “problem” as a pot of such tiles for which a “solution” is an assembled complete complex without any free sticky ends. Using the number of tiles in an assembled complex as a measure of complexity we show how NTIME classes (such as NP and NEXP) can be represented with corresponding classes of the model.