Evaluating the development of carbon capture and storage technologies in the United States

Carbon capture and storage (CCS) is seen as an important solution to solve the twin challenge of reducing GHG emissions, while utilizing fossil fuel reserves to meet future energy requirements. In this study an innovation systems perspective is applied to review the development of CCS technologies in the US between 2000 and 2009 and to come up with policy recommendations for technology managers that wish to accelerate the deployment of CCS. The analysis describes the successful built-up of an innovation system around CCS and pinpoints the key determinants for this achievement. However, the evaluation of the system's performance also indicates that America's leading role in the development of CCS should not be taken for granted. It shows that the large CCS R&D networks, as well as the extensive CCS knowledge base, which have been accumulated over the past decade, have not yet been valorized by entrepreneurs to explore the market for integrated CCS concepts linked to power generation. Therefore, it is argued that the build-up of the innovation system has entered a critical phase that is decisive for a further thriving development of CCS technologies in the US. This study provides a clear understanding of the current barriers to the technology's future deployment and outlines a policy strategy that (1) stimulates technological learning; (2) facilitates collaboration and coordination in CCS actor networks; (3) creates financial and market incentives for the technology; and (4) provides supportive regulation and sound communication on CCS.     

In the eye of the beholder: Perceived, actual, and peer-rated similarity in personality, communication, and friendship intensity during the acquaintanceship process.

The authors examined associations of perceived similarity, actual similarity, and peer-rated similarity in personality with friendship intensity during the acquaintanceship process in a naturalistic setting. Self- and peer-rated personality data were gathered from undergraduates (mean age = 18.9) at 5 time points during the first year of university using a round-robin design. Whereas perceived similarity and peer-rated similarity in personality were concurrently associated with more friendship intensity for just-acquainted individuals, actual similarity in personality was not. Further, bidirectional cross-lagged associations between perceived similarity and friendship intensity were found. Peer-rated similarity was also associated with increases in friendship intensity, and this association was mediated by communication frequency. These results indicate that specific types of similarity in personality are differentially associated with friendship intensity during early phases of acquaintanceship in a real-life setting. Further, insight was provided in the direction of causality between similarity and attraction: Perceived and peer-rated similarity seem to breed friendship intensity, whereas friendship intensity seems to breed perceived similarity only. Finally, peers’ expectations seem to affect individuals’ communicative behaviors, which in turn affect friendship formation. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

A longitudinal study of children’s performance on simple multiplication and division problems.

The authors investigated the performance on simple multiplication and division problems of 8-year-old children longitudinally to determine the developmental trajectories of both operations. Twice a year, during 2 consecutive school years, children performed a multiplication and division verification task and a number-matching task. All effects that were observed in multiplication performance (problem size, 5, and tie effect and Tie × Size interaction) were also observed in division performance. The developmental trajectories of these effects are described. The authors observed strong developmental parallels between both operations. These results are in line with strongly interconnected memory networks for multiplication and division facts, at least in young children. The results of the number-matching task showed that the interference effect developed differently for multiplication and division, indicating that automatic activation spreading from division operands to division answers is not at work in children of that age. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Transport of Dissolved Si from Soil to River: A Conceptual Mechanistic Model

This paper reviews the processes which determine the concentrations of dissolved silicon (DSi) in soil water and proposes a conceptual mechanistic model for understanding the transport of Si through soils to rivers. The net DSi present in natural waters originates from the dissolution of mineral and amorphous Si sources in the soil, as well as precipitation processes. Important controlling factors are soil composition (mineralogy and saturated porosity) and soil water chemistry (pH, concentrations of organic acids, CO₂ and electrolytes). Together with production, polymerization and adsorption equations they constitute a mechanistic framework determining DSi concentrations. We discuss how key controls differ across soil horizons and how this can influence the DSi transport. A typical podzol soil profile in a temperate climate is used as an example, but the proposed model is transferrable to other soil types. Additionally, the impact of external forcing factors such as seasonal climatic variations and land use is evaluated. This blueprint for an integrated model is a first step to mechanistic modelling of Si transport processes in soils. Future implementation with numerical methods should validate the model with field measurements.     

The Multi-Mode Resource-Constrained Multi-Project Scheduling Problem

Scheduling projects is a difficult and time consuming process, and has far-reaching implications for any organization’s operations. By generalizing various aspects of project scheduling, decision makers are enabled to capture reality and act accordingly. In the context of the MISTA 2013 conference, the first MISTA challenge, organized by the authors, introduced such a general problem model: the Multi-Mode Resource-Constrained Multi-Project Scheduling Problem (MRCMPSP). The present paper reports on the competition and provides a discussion on its results. Furthermore, it provides an analysis of the submitted algorithms, and a study of their common elements. By making all benchmark datasets and results publicly available, further research on the MRCMPSP is stimulated.     

Application of the transmissibility concept in transfer path analysis

In recent years, there has been a renewed interest in developing faster and simpler transfer path analysis (TPA) methods. A dominant class of these new approaches, often referred to as Operational Path Analyses (OPA), is designed to achieve this goal by using only operational data in conjunction with the application of the transmissibility concept. Despite the reduction in measurement time and complexity, these suffer from a number of limitations, such as problems related to the estimation of transmissibility, or the unreliability of the results due to cross-coupling between path inputs, etc., which makes them prone to errors. Some of these only apply to one specific method, while others are common to all transmissibility based approaches. The goal of this paper is to identify and describe these limitations and point out the potential dangers of applying such methods without taking these into account.     

Partitioned simulation of the interaction between an elastic structure and free surface flow

Currently, the interaction between free surface flow and an elastic structure is simulated with monolithic codes which calculate the deformation of the structure and the liquid–gas flow simultaneously. In this work, this interaction is calculated in a partitioned way with a separate flow solver and a separate structural solver using the interface quasi-Newton algorithm with approximation for the inverse of the Jacobian from a least-squares model (IQN-ILS). The interaction between an elastic beam and a sloshing liquid in a rolling tank is calculated and the results agree well with experimental data. Subsequently, the impact of both a rigid cylinder and a flexible composite cylinder on a water surface is simulated to assess the effect of slamming on the components of certain wave-energy converters. The impact pressure on the bottom of the rigid cylinder is nearly twice as high as on the flexible cylinder, which emphasizes the need for fluid–structure interaction calculations in the design process of these wave-energy converters. For both the rolling tank simulations and the impact simulations, grid refinement is performed and the IQN-ILS algorithm requires the same number of iterations on each grid. The simulations on the coarse grid are also executed using Gauss-Seidel coupling iterations with Aitken relaxation which requires significantly more coupling iterations per time step.     

Variables influencing food perception reviewed for consumer-oriented product development

Consumer wishes have to be translated into product characteristics to implement consumer-oriented product development. Before this step can be made, insight in food-related behavior and perception of consumers is necessary to make the right, useful, and successful translation. Food choice behavior and consumers' perception are studied in many disciplines. Models of food behavior and preferences therefore were studied from a multidisciplinary perspective. Nearly all models structure the determinants related to the person, the food, and the environment. Consequently, the overview of models was used as a basis to structure the variables influencing food perception into a model for consumer-oriented product development. To this new model, referred to as food perception model, other variables like time and place as part of consumption moment were added. These are important variables influencing consumers' perception, and therefore of increasing importance to consumer-oriented product development nowadays. In further research, the presented food perception model is used as a tool to implement successful consumer-oriented product development.     

Reduced autobiographical memory specificity and rumination in predicting the course of depression.

Reduced autobiographical memory (AM) specificity is a known vulnerability factor for depression. AM specificity was investigated as a predictor of depression with the Autobiographical Memory Test (J. M. G. Williams & K. Broadbent, 1986). When baseline depression scores were partialed, reduced AM specificity to negative cue words predicted higher levels of depression at 7-month follow-up. Once rumination was taken into account by means of the Rumination on Sadness Scale (M. Conway, P. A. R. Csank, S. L. Holm, & C. K. Blake, 2000), AM specificity no longer predicted depression, suggesting that the predictive value of AM specificity observed in previous studies might be--at least partly--explained as an effect of rumination. Further mediation analyses indeed revealed support for rumination as a mediator of the relation between reduced AM specificity and poor outcome of depression. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)