Renewable electricity policies,heterogeneity, and cost effectiveness

Renewable electricity policies promote investment in renewable electricity generators and have become increasingly common around the world. Because of intermittency and the composition of other generators in the power system, the value of certain renewable – particularly wind and solar – varies across locations and technologies. This paper investigates the implications of this heterogeneity for the cost effectiveness of renewable electricity policies. A simple model of the power system shows that renewable electricity policies cause different investment mixes. Policies also differ according to their effect on electricity prices, and both factors cause the cost effectiveness to vary across policies. We use a detailed, long-run planning model that accounts for intermittency on an hourly basis to compare the cost effectiveness for a range of policies and alternative parameter assumptions. The differences in cost effectiveness are economically significant, where broader policies, such as an emissions price, outperform renewable electricity policies.     

Evaluation of the potential of harvesting heat energy from asphalt pavements

The potential of harvesting heat energy from asphalt pavement using a piping network with fluid flowing through it needs to be evaluated before spending a significant amount of time on planning details of design and construction. The key factors involved in this evaluation include the temperature of the pavement at the depth at which the system is being considered, as well as the temperature of the fluid used for harvesting the heat energy. Costs include those required for the system such as pumps and pipes, and cost of energy required for pumping. Taking all of the factors into consideration, a macro-enabled spreadsheet has been developed that allows the user to input air temperature data as well as pipe location and cost parameters. The end results are data on flow rate versus yearly savings and payback period. From these data, a user can easily determine whether the payback period is reasonable or not and could also evaluate the effect of the different parameters on the payback period. Examples of the results of analysis for different cities in four different parts of the USA and Singapore and Chennai, India, are presented. The payback period shows a good relationship with the latitude of the location – the period increases with an increase in latitude. The public domain location from where the spreadsheet can be downloaded is provided.     

Biomonitoring of oral epithelial cells in petrol station attendants: Comparison between buccal mucosa and lateral border of the tongue

Owing to the influence of geno- and cytotoxicity on chemical carcinogenesis, studies have demonstrated that petroleum derivatives are able to induce genetic damage and cellular death with conflicting results so far. The aim of the present study was to comparatively evaluate DNA damage (micronucleus) and cellular death (pyknosis, karyolysis and karyorrhexis) in exfoliated oral mucosa cells from gas petrol attendants using two different anatomic buccal sites: cheek mucosa and lateral border of the tongue. A total of 23 gas petrol attendants and 23 health controls (non-exposed individuals) were included in this setting. Individuals had epithelial cells from cheek and lateral border of the tongue mechanically exfoliated, placed in fixative and dropped in clean slides which were checked for the above nuclear phenotypes. The results pointed out significant statistical differences (p < 0.05) of micronucleated oral mucosa cells from gas petrol attendants for both oral sites evaluated. In the same way, petroleum derivate exposure was able to increase other nuclear alterations closely related to cytotoxicity such as karyorrhexis, pyknosis and karyolysis, being the most pronunciated effects as those found in the lateral border of the tongue. No interaction was observed between smoking and petroleum exposure. In summary, these data indicate that gas petrol attendants comprise a high risk group for DNA damage and cellular death. It seems that the lateral border of the tongue is a more sensitive site to geno- and cytotoxic insult induced by petroleum derivates.     

太阳光下Fenton氧化-混凝法深度处理垃圾渗滤液试验研究

针对经生物处理后难以进一步生物降解的垃圾渗滤液,提出采用太阳光下Fenton氧化-混凝法进行深度处理.比较了直接混凝法、太阳光下Fenton氧化法及其联合处理技术对垃圾渗滤液COD_(Cr)的处理效果.结果表明,垃圾渗滤液进行直接混凝处理的效果不理想.COD_(Cr)的去除率仅为17.8%;太阳光可有效地催化Fenton试剂对垃圾渗滤液COD_(Cr)的去除效果,但要其COD_(Cr)低于国家二级排放标准则需消耗H_2O_2的浓度大于600 mmol/L.导致其处理成本较高;而采用太阳光下Fenton氧化-混凝联合处理技术.垃圾渗滤液低于国家二级排放标准只需投加H_2O_2的浓度为170 mmol/L,比单纯采用太阳光下Fenton 氧化法处理垃圾渗滤液可节约H_2O_2用量2.53倍以上.     

高等植物细胞中的钙通道

钙通道在高等植物细胞中参与众多的信号转导过程,对钙通道的研究最近几年获得长足的进步：不仅在质膜中直接发现了电位依赖性的钙通道、牵张刺激激活的机械敏感性钙通道等,而且在液泡膜中发现了众多具有不同开放调控机制的钙通道：受化学信使控制的钙释放通道、电位依赖性钙通道、钙离子诱导的钙释放通道．本文对高等植物细胞中钙通道的研究进行了综述     

湖北省硅肥在水稻、黄瓜、花生上的应用效果

湖北省自1987年以来开展了水稻、黄瓜、花生等作物硅肥应用研究,水稻增产4.3％-16.4％,黄瓜3.6％-9.1％,花生13.6％-40.2％,增产均达显著或极显著水平;施用硅肥能提高作物抗倒伏和抗病能力.水稻氮、硅配合施用.提高氮肥利用率2％左右.     

稀土矿城市不同季节大气可吸入颗粒物中稀土含量特征及颗粒物细胞毒性

为探讨典型稀土矿城市不同季节大气可吸入颗粒物(inhalable particulate matter,PM10)中稀土元素污染特征及其细胞毒性响应,将前期采集于包头市的PM10颗粒物进行提取,检测PM10中的稀土元素(rare earth elements,REEs)含量,并将人肺上皮细胞(A549)暴露于不同浓度水平(25,50,100μg·m L-1)的PM10样品和标准颗粒物1649b(standard reference material,SRM1649b)暴露液,用WST-1法测定暴露24 h后的细胞活性,用2’7’二氯荧光素二醋酸盐(2’7’-dichlorofluorescein diacetate,DCFH-DA)荧光探针法和彗星实验分别测定暴露3 h后的细胞内活性氧(reactive oxygen species,ROS)产生水平和DNA双链损伤程度。结果表明,包头春、夏季大气PM10和SRM1649b均引起A549细胞活性下降,并诱导细胞内ROS生成量增加,造成显著的细胞内DNA损伤,含REEs的大气颗粒物毒性显著高于标准颗粒物。与春季相比,包头夏季PM10对细胞活性的抑制程度更高,造成更多的DNA双链损伤,从而表现出更强的细胞毒性和遗传毒性。包头PM10呈现明显的轻稀土元素(light rare earth elements,LREEs)富集,铈(Ce)、钷(Pm)、镧(La)和钕(Nd)含量占稀土总量的50%以上。LREEs均与细胞活性和细胞内ROS产生水平呈负相关性,包头春季和夏季PM10中稀土元素含量的差异是导致包头PM10细胞毒性效应不同于标准颗粒物且具有季节性差异的原因之一。     

The influence of deoxynivalenol and zearalenone on steroid hormone production by porcine ovarian granulosa cells in vitro

Fusarium mycotoxins deoxynivalenol (DON) and zearalenone (ZEA) are frequently occurring in feed of pigs together. The aim of this study was to evaluate the possible in vitro effects of DON and ZEA, alone or their combination on steroid secretion of porcine ovarian granulosa cells (GCs). A species-specific model with porcine ovarian GCs was used to study the potential endocrine disrupting effects of DON and ZEA alone and in co-exposure. Progesterone (P4) and estradiol (E2) were determined by radioimmunoassay (RIA) and enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA). The results of this study demonstrate that DON alone at the higher concentrations may act to stimulate P4 (at 1,000, 2,000, 3,000 and 5,000 ng mL^?1 but not 10 and 100 ng mL^?1) and E2 (at 2,000, 3,000 and 5,000 ng mL^?1 but not 10, 100 and 1000 ng mL^?1) secretion. The effects of ZEA on P4 and E2 secretion were not confirmed. DON in combination with the other fusariotoxin ZEA may impair steroidogenesis. Results aslo demonstrate different toxicological effects of fusariotoxins on follicle stimulating hormone-induced secretion of P4 and E2. All these results taken together suggest that fusariotoxin and their interactions can impact ovarian steroidogenesis, thereby demonstrating their potential reproductive effects in pigs.