On the contribution of external cost calculations to energy system governance: The case of a potential large-scale nuclear accident

The contribution of nuclear power to a sustainable energy future is a contested issue. This paper presents a critical review of an attempt to objectify this debate through the calculation of the external costs of a potential large-scale nuclear accident in the ExternE project. A careful dissection of the ExternE approach resulted in a list of 30 calculation steps and assumptions, from which the 6 most contentious ones were selected through a stakeholder internet survey. The policy robustness and relevance of these key assumptions were then assessed in a workshop using the concept of a ‘pedigree of knowledge’. Overall, the workshop outcomes revealed the stakeholder and expert panel's scepticism about the assumptions made: generally these were considered not very plausible, subjected to disagreement, and to a large extent inspired by contextual factors. Such criticism indicates a limited validity and useability of the calculated nuclear accident externality as a trustworthy sustainability indicator. Furthermore, it is our contention that the ExternE project could benefit greatly – in terms of gaining public trust – from employing highly visible procedures of extended peer review such as the pedigree assessment applied to our specific case of the external costs of a potential large-scale nuclear accident.     

Antibiotic lock solutions allow less systemic antibiotic exposure and less catheter malfunction without adversely affecting antimicrobial resistance patterns

There are current concerns that antibiotic lock solutions (ABL) can induce antimicrobial resistance in long‐term hemodialysis patients. Retrospective chart review of 157 children on hemodialysis between January 1997 and June 2006 was performed. In ERA I, only systemic antibiotics were used. In ERA II, ABL were added to systemic antibiotics when needed. In ERA III, ABL were used for treatment of all cases of catheter‐related bacteremia (CRB) and for CRB prophylaxis in high‐risk patients. The study includes 111,325 catheter days. The CRB incidence was 3.9 CRB/1000 catheter days. There was significant decrease for the total systemic antibiotic exposure (P = 0.0484) and the percentage of catheters lost to malfunction (P = 0.001) in ERA III. Protocol ABL exposure was associated with a trend to increased tobramycin‐gentamicin resistance for gram‐positive CRBs (P = 0.2586) but with improved tobramycin‐gentamicin resistance for gram‐negative (P = 0.0949) and polymicrobial CRBs (P = 0.1776) and improved vancomycin resistance for gram‐positive CRBs (P = 0.0985). This retrospective analysis does not support the premise that ABL use will promote antimicrobial resistance in the hemodialysis population. The decreased exposure to systemic antibiotics by vigorous ABL use may even improve the antimicrobial resistance patterns in this population in the long term.     

Local strategy learning in networked multi-agent team formation

Networked multi-agent systems are comprised of many autonomous yet interdependent agents situated in a virtual social network. Two examples of such systems are supply chain networks and sensor networks. A common challenge in many networked multi-agent systems is decentralized team formation among the spatially and logically extended agents. Even in cooperative multi-agent systems, efficient team formation is made difficult by the limited local information available to the individual agents. We present a model of distributed multi-agent team formation in networked multi-agent systems, describe a policy learning framework for joining teams based on local information, and give empirical results on improving team formation performance. In particular, we show that local policy learning from limited information leads to a significant increase in organizational team formation performance compared to a random policy.     

Les thérapies féministes: un noveau système psychothérapeutique?

Evaluates the originality and value of 4 principal feminist therapies and theories proposed by I. G. Foder (1974), the Feminist Counseling Collective (1975), B. R. Dubois (1976), and J. B. Miller (1976). Their originality is analyzed by examining the extent to which the theory and the therapy depart from the Freudian, humanist, and behavioral models. Scientific and social criteria are used to assess their value as psychotherapy for women. Analysis suggests that the feminist models studied are not distinct psychotherapeutic systems. Their originality is that they identify the status and roles of women as determinants of women's problems and as essential elements to be worked on in the therapeutic process. Only the model proposed by Fodor is shown to have value both as a theory and a therapy; the weakness of the others is their generality. It is concluded that evaluative research is necessary to assess these new therapies. (70 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Rapid determination of chlorobutanol in milk by glass capillary gas chromatography

Summary A rapid method for the determination of chlorobutanol(1,1,1-trichloro-2-methylpropan-2-ol) in milk is described. The method is based on a steam-distillation solvent-extraction technique and a quantitative determination of chlorobutanol by gas chromatography using a glass-capillary column coated with Carbowax 20M and 2,2,2-trichloroethanol as internal standard. The detection limit is 1 pg and recoveries of chlorobutanol are between 93 and 99%. Fifty-two milk samples have been analysed.

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Schnelle Bestimmung von Chlorbutanol in Milch durch Capillargaschromatographie

Zusammenfassung Es wird eine schnelle Methode zum Nachweis von Chlorbutanol (1,1,1,-Trichlor-2-methyl-2-propanol) in Milch beschrieben. Das Verfahren besteht aus einer Destillations-Lösungsmittelextraktions-Technik und einer quantitativen Bestimmung von Chlorbutanol durch Gaschromatographie unter Verwendung einer mit Carbowax 20 M belegten Capillarglaskolonne und 2,2,2,-Trichlorethanol als internen Standard. Die Nachweisgrenze ist 1 pg und die Rückgewinnung von Chlorbutanol liegt zwischen 93 und 99%. Es wurden 52 Milchproben untersucht.

     

Partial purification of the aggregation pheromone nippolure from femaleNippostrongylus brasiliensis (Nematoda)

Partial purification of a pheromone of the zooparasitic nematodeNippostrongylus brasiliensis was achieved. The polypeptide pheromone is degraded by Pronase while increased recovery is obtained after treatment with the protease inhibitors phenylmethylsulfonyl fluoride orl-1-tosylamide-2-phenylethyl chloromethyl ketone. The pheromone has a net negative charge, based on retention on DEAE cellulose and an approximate isoelectric point of 7.3. A combination of double treatments with phenylmethylsulfonyl fluoride and gel filtration enables storage up to nine days which yields biological activity similar to fresh, untreated chromatographic fractions.     

Identification of chemical species created during γ-irradiation of antioxidant used in polyethylene and polyethylene-co-vinyl acetate multilayer film

With the increasing use of γ-irradiated containers made of multilayer polymeric flexible films for food and biopharmaceutical applications, the possible migration of degradation products of the polymers and their additives is becoming a topic of concern. This article aims at highly reliably identifying the degradation products generated after gamma irradiation and their origin to later on assess their potential harmfulness in single-use containers. In this study, GC–MS is used to identify by-products created by γ-irradiation of primary and secondary antioxidants usually present in polyolefin-based biotechnological single-use materials and to confirm identification relevancy based on the literature survey or standard when available. Degradation pathways are proposed to account for the formation of by-products identified during the study and to list intermediates and other by-products present in too small amounts to be detected and identified accurately in all extractable studies.     

Artificial intelligence and DOE: an application to school bus routing problems

Wireless Networks - This paper presents the implementation of simulated annealing (SA) method, an artificial intelligence technique, to solve the optimization problem known as the school bus...