Greenhouse gas emissions from biofuels' indirect land use change are uncertain but may be much greater than previously estimated

The life cycle greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions induced by increased biofuel consumption are highly uncertain: individual estimates vary from each other and each has a wide intrinsic error band. Using a reduced-form model, we estimated that the bounding range for emissions from indirect land-use change (ILUC) from US corn ethanol expansion was 10 to 340 g CO(2) MJ(-1). Considering various probability distributions to model parameters, the broadest 95% central interval, i.e., between the 2.5 and 97.5%ile values, ranged from 21 to 142 g CO(2)e MJ(-1). ILUC emissions from US corn ethanol expansion thus range from small, but not negligible, to several times greater than the life cycle emissions of gasoline. The ILUC emissions estimates of 30 g CO(2) MJ(-1) for the California Air Resources Board and 34 g CO(2)e MJ(-1) by USEPA (for 2022) are at the low end of the plausible range. The lack of data and understanding (epistemic uncertainty) prevents convergence of judgment on a central value for ILUC emissions. The complexity of the global system being modeled suggests that this range is unlikely to narrow substantially in the near future. Fuel policies that require narrow bounds around point estimates of life cycle GHG emissions are thus incompatible with current and anticipated modeling capabilities. Alternative policies that address the risks associated with uncertainty are more likely to achieve GHG reductions.     

Effect of high pressure on the microbiological quality of cooked chicken during storage at normal and abuse refrigeration temperatures

Vacuum-packaged cooked poultry meat was treated at a range of pressures (400–600 MPa) and hold times (1, 2 and 10 min), followed by storage at 4°, 8° or 12 °C for up to 35 days. Weissella viridescens was found to be the dominant microorganism in the pressure-treated meat, constituting 100% of the microflora identified at 500 and 600 MPa. None of the pressure-treated samples had obvious signs of spoilage during the 35 day storage period, even when the Weissella count was >7 log₁₀ cfu/g. Studies on a typical W. viridescens isolate showed it to be relatively pressure-resistant in poultry meat, with <1 log reduction in numbers after a treatment of 2 min at 600 MPa. Agar diffusion assays showed that the isolate also caused the inhibition of a number of Gram-positive and Gram-negative pathogens, including strains of Clostridium botulinum, Listeria monocytogenes, Bacillus cereus and Escherichia coli. The selection of a pressure-resistant organism, such as this Weissella sp. could be advantageous in extending the shelf-life, and also microbiological safety, of the cooked meat, as it could give protection in addition to the pressure treatment itself.     

Improved 2,4‐Diarylthiazole‐Based Antiprion Agents: Switching the Sense of the Amide Group at C5 Leads to an Increase in Potency

Amide derivatives of 2,4‐diarylthiazole‐5‐carboxylic acids were synthesised and tested for efficacy in a cell line model of prion disease. A number of compounds demonstrating antiprion activity were thereby identified from the screening libraries, showing improved potency and reproducibility of results relative to amide derivatives of the related 2,4‐diphenyl‐5‐aminothiazole, which have been documented previously. Thus, 'switching' the sense of the amide bond at thiazole C5 revealed a more promising lead series of potential prion disease therapeutics. Furthermore, 3,5‐diaryl‐1,2,4‐thiadiazoles isolated as by‐products during library synthesis provided a handful of additional examples possessing an antiprion effect, thereby augmenting the set of newly identified active compounds. Evaluation of binding to cellular prion protein (PrP^C) showed only weak affinities at best, suggesting that the newly identified antiprion agents do not mediate their biological effect through direct interaction with PrP^C.     

Hydrology and water quality of the headwaters of the River Severn: Stream acidity recovery and interactions with plantation forestry under an improving pollution climate

This paper presents new information on the hydrology and water quality of the eroding peatland headwaters of the River Severn in mid-Wales and links it to the impact of plantation conifer forestry further down the catchment.The Upper Hafren is dominated by low-growing peatland vegetation, with an average annual precipitation of around 2650 mm with around 250 mm evaporation. With low catchment permeability, stream response to rainfall is “flashy” with the rising limb to peak stormflow typically under an hour. The water quality is characteristically “dilute”; stormflow is acidic and enriched in aluminium and iron from the acid organic soil inputs. Baseflow is circum-neutral and calcium and bicarbonate bearing due to the inputs of groundwater enriched from weathering of the underlying rocks. Annual cycling is observed for the nutrients reflecting uptake and decomposition processes linked to the vegetation and for arsenic implying seasonal water-logging within the peat soils and underlying glacial drift. Over the decadal scale, sulphate and nitrate concentrations have declined while Gran alkalinity, dissolved organic carbon and iron have increased, indicating a reduction in stream acidification.Within the forested areas the water quality is slightly more concentrated and acidic, transgressing the boundary for acid neutralisation capacity as a threshold for biological damage. Annual sulphate and aluminium concentrations are double those observed in the Upper Hafren, reflecting the influence of forestry and the greater ability of trees to scavenge pollutant inputs from gaseous and mist/cloud-water sources compared to short vegetation. Acidification is decreasing more rapidly in the forest compared to the eroding peatland possibly due to the progressive harvesting of the mature forest reducing the scavenging of acidifying inputs. For the Lower Hafren, long-term average annual precipitation is slightly lower, with lower average altitude, at around 2520 mm and evaporation is around double that of the Upper Hafren.     

An Efficient, Practical Parallelization Methodology for Multicore Architecture Simulation

Multiple core designs have become commonplace in the processor market, and are hence a major focus in modern computer architecture research. Thus, for both product development and research, multiple core processor simulation environments are necessary. A well-known positive feedback property of computer design is that we use today's computers to design tomorrow's. Thus, with the emergence of chip multiprocessors, it is natural to re-examine simulation environments written to exploit parallelism. In this paper we present a programming methodology for directly converting existing uniprocessor simulators into parallelized multiple-core simulators. Our method not only takes significantly less development effort compared to some prior used programming techniques, but also possesses advantages by retaining a modular and comprehensible programming structure. We demonstrate our case with actual developed products after applying this method to two different simulators, one developed from IBM Ibrandot and the other from the SimpleScalar tool set. Our SimpleScalar-based framework achieves a parallel speedup of 2.2times on a dual-CPU dual-core (4-way) Opteron server     

Parenting difficulties in sexual-abuse survivors: A theoretical framework with dual psychodynamic and cognitive-behavioral strategies for intervention.

Systematic investigations of the consequences of sexual abuse and clinical literature on interventions with survivors have frequently neglected the impact of sexual abuse on parenting. Grounded in both object-relations and trauma theory, this article presents a case illustration to depict the unconscious repetition of one 30-yr-old mother's childhood abusive relationship with her own child. We explore how this survivor's parenting conflicts became increasingly salient during specific developmental stages of the child, as themes of sexuality and aggression triggered unresolved conflicts, distorted cognitions, and trauma reactions. The reenactment impairs parenting in critical ways, hence increasing the risk for sexual abuse in the next generation. Strategies for interventions to modify the mother's poor parenting responses are described using a therapeutic approach that integrates concepts from psychodynamic and cognitive-behavioral theories. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Internalized heterosexism among HIV-positive, gay-identified men: Implications for HIV prevention and care.

Internalized heterosexism (IH), or the internalization of societal antihomosexual attitudes, has been consistently linked to depression and low self-esteem among gay men, and it has been inconclusively associated with substance use and sexual risk in gay and bisexual men. Using structural equation modeling, the authors tested a model framed in social action theory (C. K. Ewart, 1991, 2004) in which IH is associated with HIV transmission risk and poor adherence to HIV antiretroviral therapy (ART) through the mechanisms of negative affect and stimulant use. Data from a sample of 465 gay-identified men interviewed as part of an HIV risk reduction behavioral trial were used to test the fit of the model. Results support the hypothesized model in which IH was associated with unprotected receptive (but not insertive) anal intercourse with HIV-negative or unknown HIV status partners, and with ART nonadherence indirectly via increased negative affect and more regular stimulant use. The model accounted for 15% of the variance in unprotected receptive anal intercourse and 17% of the variance in ART nonadherence. Findings support the potential utility of addressing IH in HIV prevention and treatment with HIV-positive gay men. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Values, Motivations, and Learning Experiences of Future Professionals: Who Wants to Serve Underserved Populations?

Most service-oriented professionals express a desire to help others. But which professionals want to help those who most need their services? The authors assessed the degree to which values, motivations, and learning experiences were associated with a desire to work with underserved populations (UPs) among 135 future professionals who were majoring in helping fields in college. Desiring to work with UPs was positively associated with valuing autonomy, having experienced personal or family problems, and having an educator or helping professional as a parent, and it was negatively associated with having had strong interpersonal alliances. Implications for increasing the pool of professionals who wish to work with UPs are discussed. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Electrodeposition of PbTe thin films from acidic nitrate baths

Electrodeposition of PbTe thin films from an acidic nitric bath was systematically investigated to understand the kinetics and the effect of electrodeposition conditions on film composition, crystallographic structure, texture and grain size. The electroanalytical studies employed initially with a rotating disk electrode to investigate the kinetics associated with Te, Pb and PbTe electrodeposition. The results indicated that the PbTe thin films were obtained by the underpotential deposition (UPD) of Pb atoms onto the overpotentially deposited Te atoms on a substrate.Based on these studies, PbTe thin films were potentiostatically electrodeposited using e-beam evaporated gold thin films on silicon substrate to investigate the effect of various deposition conditions on film composition and microstructure. The data indicated that the microstructure, composition and preferred film growth orientation of PbTe thin films strongly depended on the applied potential and electrolyte concentration. At −0.12 V, the film was granular, dense, and preferentially oriented in the [1 0 0] direction. At potentials more negative than −0.15 V, the film was dendritic and preferentially oriented in the [2 1 1] direction. A smooth, dense and crystalline film with nearly stoichiometric composition was obtained at −0.12 V from a solution containing 0.01 M HTeO₂⁺, 0.05 Pb²⁺ and 1 M HNO₃.