Energy efficiency networks—what are the processes that make them work?

Energy efficiency networks have received increasing attention over the last few years, not only from national governments (Austria, China, Germany, Sweden, and Switzerland) but also from utilities, consulting engineers, chambers of commerce, and city councils. This paper examines the factors that contribute to the success of such networks by drawing on unique data from two pilot projects involving 34 energy efficiency networks in Germany. The objective is to explain why the companies participating in such networks are much faster at reducing their energy costs than the average in similar businesses. Possible explanations for the success of energy efficiency networks include the following: (1) energy audits make profitable potentials visible; (2) the joint network targets for efficiency and emissions increase the motivation of energy managers, decision-makers, and other staff members; (3) the meetings and site visits of the network participants act like an intensive training course to increase the knowledge of efficient solutions, change decision routines, and lead to trust among the participants; and (4) network participation reduces transaction costs. In our data, we find support for the first, the third, and the fourth explanations, i.e. the audits make profitable potentials visible and networks function as a training course to increase knowledge. And, from the point of view of participants, transaction costs are reduced. The impact of network goals, on the other hand, appears to have both up- and downsides. We conclude that there is the need for further research in order to capture these mechanisms in more detail.     

Modeling of the lithium hydride hydrolysis under low relative humidity

A reactional mechanism describing the hydrolysis of lithium hydride (LiH) under moist atmosphere is proposed and modeled. It involves the formation of lithium oxide (Li₂O) at low vapor pressure and both lithium oxide and lithium hydroxide (LiOH) at higher vapor pressures, with diffusion of water in these layers. A numerical model based on this mechanism is implemented with COMSOL Multiphysics to simulate the hydrolysis of LiH particles in open system (constant water vapor pressure). Kinetic parameters such as rate constant of reactions and diffusion coefficient of water in Li₂O and LiOH are first fitted against experimental data. The best agreements are obtained when the diffusion coefficient of water is 10 times higher in LiOH than in Li₂O. The resulting model accurately predicts the hydrolysis rates experimentally measured for a wide range of water vapor pressures (0.3–17 Pa). The hydrolysis mechanisms are compatible with a Li₂O production limited by water diffusion and a LiOH production governed by the kinetics. Finally, simulation suggest that the thickness of the Li₂O layer does not depends much on the water vapor pressure whereas that of LiOH increases drastically at high water vapor pressures.     

Conference proceedings as a matter of bibliometric studies: the Academy of International Business 2006–2008

This study does a bibliometric analysis based on keywords of conference proceedings. Scientometric investigations of conference proceedings are a new and innovative, not very common approach. The studies and papers presented may be interpreted as early indicators of scientific development. The Academy of International Business (AIB) was chosen for being the leading organization for studies in international business with contributions covering a 3-year period (2006–2008). The study presents the general structure of current scholarly interest in international business studies, clusters the keywords and reflects details on the focused research areas of the papers analyzed. The bibliometric analysis indicates three clusters: the core, the semi-periphery and the periphery. The five most occurring keywords were found to be multinational enterprise, emerging markets, foreign direct investment, internationalization and knowledge management in descending order. The analyses focus on concepts building the core (in total ten keywords), the semi-periphery which is coined by performance and related topics (60 keywords) and the periphery of the studies with governance and specific facets of it (199 keywords).     

Implications of system expansion for the assessment of well‐to‐wheel CO2 emissions from biomass‐based transportation

In this paper we show the effects of expanding the system when evaluating well‐to‐wheel (WTW) CO₂ emissions for biomass‐based transportation, to include the systems surrounding the biomass conversion system. Four different cases are considered: DME via black liquor gasification (BLG), methanol via gasification of solid biomass, lignocellulosic ethanol and electricity from a biomass integrated gasification combined cycle (BIGCC) used in a battery‐powered electric vehicle (BPEV). All four cases are considered with as well as without carbon capture and storage (CCS). System expansion is used consistently for all flows. The results are compared with results from a conventional WTW study that only uses system expansion for certain co‐product flows. It is shown that when expanding the system, biomass‐based transportation does not necessarily contribute to decreased CO₂ emissions and the results from this study in general indicate considerably lower CO₂ mitigation potential than do the results from the conventional study used for comparison. It is shown that of particular importance are assumptions regarding future biomass use, as by expanding the system, future competition for biomass feedstock can be taken into account by assuming an alternative biomass usage. Assumptions regarding other surrounding systems, such as the transportation and the electricity systems are also shown to be of significance. Of the four studied cases without CCS, BIGCC with the electricity used in a BPEV is the only case that consistently shows a potential for CO₂ reduction when alternative use of biomass is considered. Inclusion of CCS is not a guarantee for achieving CO₂ reduction, and in general the system effects are equivalent or larger than the effects of CCS. DME from BLG generally shows the highest CO₂ emission reduction potential for the biofuel cases. However, neither of these options for biomass‐based transportation can alone meet the needs of the transport sector. Therefore, a broader palette of solutions, including different production routes, different fuels and possibly also CCS, will be needed. Copyright © 2009 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Impact of polyphenols on growth of the aquatic herbivore Acentria ephemerella

Larvae of Acentria ephemerella live fully submerged, feeding on submersed aquatic angiosperms such as pondweeds (Potamogeton spp.) and Myriophyllum spicatum. Only the latter contains high concentrations of hydrolyzable tannins known to interfere with the growth of insect herbivores. We tested whether larvae grow faster on Potamogeton perfoliatus or M. spicatum and whether this is due to polyphenols in their food source. Larvae originating from the same egg clutch grew faster and larger on P. perfoliatus than on M. spicatum. The same growth response was observed with larvae that spent winter diapause on either P. perfoliatus or M. spicatum. These larvae were fed either with their host plant or the other macrophyte. No prior feeding effect was found, but growth of larvae reared on M. spicatum was less than when grown on P. perfoliatus. Larvae from another egg-clutch reared on M. spicatum, either from lake or cultivated in aquaria, exhibited reduced growth on the lake plants. P. perfoliatus contained less than 1% and M. spicatum (aquarium or field material) between 5 and 9% phenolic compounds. No differences in nitrogen content of leaves were found, but apical shoot sections of M. spicatum exhibited a significantly higher nitrogen content than P. perfoliatus. Our results indicate that hydrolyzable tannins are responsible for the reduced growth of Acentria when fed with M. spicatum.     

An exploratory study of the relationship between road rage and crash experience in a representative sample of US drivers

The phenomenon of road rage has been frequently discussed but infrequently examined. Using a representative sample of 1382 US adult drivers, who were interviewed in a 1998 telephone survey, exploratory analyses examined the relationship between self-reported measures of road rage, generally hazardous driving behaviors, and crash experience. Regarding specific road rage behaviors, most respondents reported having engaged in verbal expressions of annoyance; however only 2.45% reported ever having been involved in direct confrontation with another car or driver. After controlling for gender, age. driving frequency, annual miles driven and verbal expression, an angry/threatening driving subscale of road rage was significantly associated with hazardous driving behaviors that included frequency of driving over the legal blood alcohol limit, receipt of tickets in the past year. and habitually exceeding the speed limit as well as crash experience. However, the verbal/frustration expression subscale was not associated with crash experience or hazardous driving indicators, except for number of tickets, after controlling for other crash-related factors such as gender and age. Direct confrontation by deliberately hitting another car or leaving the car to argue with and/or injure another driver was rarely reported. Results suggest that angry/threatening driving is related to crash involvement; however, after controlling for exposure and angry/threatening and hazardous driving the relationship of milder expressions of frustration while driving and crash involvement was not significant.     

Performance of an integrated microoptical system for fluorescence detection in microfluidic systems

This article presents a new integrated microfluidic/microoptic device designed for basic biochemical analysis. The microfluidic network is wet-etched in a Borofloat 33 (Pyrex) glass wafer and sealed by means of a second wafer. Unlike other similar microfluidic systems, elements of the detection system are realized with the help of microfabrication techniques and directly deposited on both sides of the microchemical chip. The detection system is composed of the combination of refractive circular or elliptical microlens arrays and chromium aperture arrays. The microfluidic channels are 60 microm wide and 25 microm deep. The elliptical microlenses have a major axis of 400 microm and a minor axis of 350 microm. The circular microlens diameters range from 280 microm to 350 microm. The apertures deposited on the outer chip surfaces are etched in a 3000-A-thick chromium layer. The overall thickness of this microchemical system is < 1.6 mm. A limit of detection of 3.3 nM for a Cy5 solution in phosphate buffer (pH 7.4) was demonstrated. The cross-talk signal measured between two adjacent microchannels with 1 mm pitch was < 1:5600, meaning that < or = 1.8 x 10(-4)% of the fluorescence light power emitted from one microchannel filled with a 50 microM Cy5 solution reaches the photodetector at the adjacent microchannel. This performance compares very well with that obtainable in microchemical chips using confocal fluorescence systems, taking differences in parameters, such as excitation power into microchannels, data acquisition rates, and signal filtering into account.     

Analysis of lipoproteins by capillary zone electrophoresis in microfluidic devices: assay development and surface roughness measurements

The development of a new assay for lipoproteins by capillary electrophoresis in fused-silica capillaries and in glass microdevices is described in this paper. The separation of low-density (LDL) and high-density (HDL) lipoproteins by capillary zone electrophoresis is demonstrated in fused-silica capillaries with both UV absorption and laser-induced fluorescence detection. This separation was accomplished using Tricine buffer (pH 9.0) with methylglucamine added as a dynamic coating. With UV detection, LDL eluted as a relatively sharp peak with a migration time of approximately 11 min and HDL eluted as a broad peak with a migration time of 12.5 min. Fluorescence detection of lipoproteins stained with NBD-ceramide was used with the same buffer system to give comparable results. Furthermore, fluorescence staining of human serum samples yielded results similar to the fluorescently stained LDL and HDL fractions, showing that this method can be used to quantify lipoproteins in serum samples. The method was also used to detect lipoproteins in glass micro-CE devices. Very similar results were obtained in microdevices although with much faster analysis times, LDL eluted as a sharp peak at approximately 25 s and HDL as a broad peak at slightly longer time. In addition, higher resolution was obtained on chips. To our knowledge, these results show the first separation and detection of lipoproteins in a microfluidic device using native serum samples. Atomic force microscopy was used to characterize the rms surface roughness (Rq) of microfluidic channels directly. Devices with different surface roughness values were fabricated using two different etchants for Pyrex wafers with a polysilicon masking layer. Using 49% HF, the measured roughness is Rq = 10.9 +/- 1.6 nm and with buffered HF (NH4F + HF) the roughness is Rq = 2.4 +/- 0.7 nm. At this level of surface roughness, there is no observable effect on the performance of the devices for this lipoprotein separation.     

Role of the hippocampus plus subjacent cortex but not amygdala in visuomotor conditional learning in Rhesus monkeys.

Rhesus monkeys were trained to learn a large series of visuomotor conditional associations, each involving the arbitrary coupling of a visual stimulus with 1 of 3 potentially correct forelimb movements. The monkeys then received bilateral aspiration lesions of either the amygdala plus subjacent cortex or the hippocampus plus subjacent cortex. Hippocampal but not amygdala removals significantly retarded the learning of new visuomotor associations. Neither lesion affected retention. The findings argue against a general role for the amygdala in associating information across modalities, construed broadly to include motor information. By contrast, the finding that the hippocampal formation and its subjacent cortex play a role in learning new sensorimotor associations supports the view that this region participates in the long-term storage of associative information or in the recall of recently acquired information. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)