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Oskarshamn is one of the municipalities being discussed as a possible site for disposal of nuclear waste from the Swedish nuclear power plants, and there has been inquiries made for a pilot study in the area. In view of this the local council of Oskarshamn appointed a ´Youth team´, consisting of ten young politicians from all political parties represented in the local council. The aim of the team was to inform and create debate among adolescents about how to store the radioactive waste from nuclear power plants. The purpose of this survey, addressed to young people in Oskarshamn, was to shed light on their opinion towards a pilot study and possible disposal of nuclear waste in Oskarshamn. The respondents had to answer questions about their opinion on the use of nuclear power in Sweden, if they believed nuclear power to be abolished by year 2010, and about their general interest in issues concerning energy and nuclear power. Other questions concerned risks associated with nuclear power, the influence different groups have/ought to have when it comes to disposal of nuclear waste, and if the respondent would accept a decision to dispose nuclear waste in Oskarshamn. A number of questions dealt with the suggested pilot study; if the respondent was for or against a pilot study; who should decide about the pilot study; if there had been enough information about the study; and if the respondent had attended any meeting, signed any petition, contacted any politician, contacted or participated in mass media, or tried to influence anyone´s opinion on any issue concerning the pilot study. The respondents also had to state the issues they considered to be important to study in a pilot study. Furthermore the respondents had to give their opinion about a number of risks discussed in connection with disposal of nuclear waste in Oskarshamn. Other questions concerned the influence on job opportunities and tourism. Demographic items include age, gender, marital status, children, education, occupation, and trade union membership. Oskarshamn is one of the municipalities being discussed as a possible site for disposal of nuclear waste from the Swedish nuclear power plants, and there has been inquiries made for a pilot study in the area. In view of this the local council of Oskarshamn appointed a 'Youth team', consisting of ten young politicians from all political parties represented in the local council. The aim of the team was to inform and create debate among adolescents about how to store the radioactive waste from nuclear power plants. The purpose of this survey, addressed to young people in Oskarshamn, was to shed light on their opinion towards a pilot study and possible disposal of nuclear waste in Oskarshamn. The respondents had to answer questions about their opinion on the use of nuclear power in Sweden, if they believed nuclear power to be abolished by year 2010, and about their general interest in issues concerning energy and nuclear power. Other questions concerned risks associated with nuclear power, the influence different groups have/ought to have when it comes to disposal of nuclear waste, and if the respondent would accept a decision to dispose nuclear waste in Oskarshamn. A number of questions dealt with the suggested pilot study; if the respondent was for or against a pilot study; who should decide about the pilot study; if there had been enough information about the study; and if the respondent had attended any meeting, signed any petition, contacted any politician, contacted or participated in mass media, or tried to influence anyone's opinion on any issue concerning the pilot study. The respondents also had to state the issues they considered to be important to study in a pilot study. Furthermore the respondents had to give their opinion about a number of risks discussed in connection with disposal of nuclear waste in Oskarshamn. Other questions concerned the influence on job opportunities and tourism. Demographic items include age, gender, marital status, children, education, occupation, and trade union membership.

I studiet av kärnkraftsfrågan i valet 1976 ingår två undersökningar, dels en intervjuundersökning av väljarna - Väljarna och kärnkraften - dels föreliggande undersökning som är en innehållsanalys av energidebatten i massmedia. Datainsamlingen innefattar en systematisk genomgång av 20 dagstidningar under fem veckor hösten 1976. Totalt registrerades 2807 ledare, nyhetsartiklar, insändare, annonser, krönikor m.m. som innehöll stoff kring kärnkraften eller energiproblemen i allmänhet. Enkätens kvalitet har prövats - bortfallens jämnhet mot tillgängliga registerdata och föregående enkäters karakteristika, svarens inbördes logik och fullständighet. Statistisk vägning har utförts för mindre över- och underrepresentation av befolkningsgrupper i ett 48-cellersmönster. This study was conducted in connection with the 1976 election study in order to study how the question of nuclear power has been handled by the press. Twenty daily newspapers were analysed during five weeks in the autumn 1976. The papers analysed were chosen after their political preferences in order to represent the different views of the major political parties. The study includes 2807 editorials, articles, advertisements and other materials containing views on the use of nuclear power.

Abstract With drastic fossil fuel depletion and environmental deterioration concerns, a move towards a more sustainable bioenergy-based economy is essential. Lately, the application of microwave (MW) irradiation for waste processing has been attracting interest globally. MW-assisted heating possesses several advantages such as the provision of high microwave energy into dielectric materials with deeper penetration for internal heat generation, showing beneficial features in improving the heating rate and reducing the reaction time. Consequently, the most recent literature regarding the applications of MW-assisted heating for biomass pretreatment as well as biofuel and bioenergy production was reviewed and consolidated in this study. An impressive increase in the product yield and improvement of the product properties are reported, with the use of MW-assisted heating in several conversion routes to produce biofuels. Despite being a promising technology for biofuel production, some major fundamental data of MW-assisted heating have not been comprehensively identified. Therefore, the feasibility of this technology for large-scale implementation is still subpar. Understanding the interaction between the feedstock and the microwave electromagnetic field, and the optimization of several operational and mechanical parameters are the two main keystones that would propel the industrialization of MW heating in the near future. This provides key insights leading to increased feasibility and more advanced application of MW heating.

Searching suitable panchromatic QD sensitizers for expanding the light-harvesting range, accelerating charge separation, and retarding charge recombination is an effective way to improve power conversion efficiency (PCE) of quantum-dot-sensitized solar cells (QDSCs). One possible way to obtain a wide absorption range is to use the exciplex state of a type-II core/shell-structured QDs. In addition, this system could also provide a fast charge separation and low charge-recombination rate. Herein, we report on using a CdTe/CdSe type-II core/shell QD sensitizer with an absorption range extending into the infrared region because of its exciplex state, which is covalently linked to TiO2 mesoporous electrodes by dropping a bifunctional linker molecule mercaptopropionic acid (MPA)-capped QD aqueous solution onto the film electrode. High loading and a uniform distribution of QD sensitizer throughout the film electrode thickness have been confirmed by energy dispersive X-ray (EDX) elemental mapping. The accelerated electron injection and retarded charge-recombination pathway in the built CdTe/CdSe QD cells in comparison with reference CdSe QD-based cells have been confirmed by impedance spectroscopy, fluorescence decay, and intensity-modulated photocurrent/photovoltage spectroscopy (IMPS/IMVS) analysis. With the combination of the high QD loading and intrinsically superior optoelectronic properties of type-II core/shell QD (wide absorption range, fast charge separation, and slow charge recombination), the resulting CdTe/CdSe QD-based regenerative sandwich solar cells exhibit a record PCE of 6.76% (J(sc) = 19.59 mA cm(-2), V(oc) = 0.606 V, and FF = 0.569) with a mask around the active film under a full 1 sun illumination (simulated AM 1.5), which is the highest reported to date for liquid-junction QDSCs.

A water-soluble organic redox couple (TT−/DTT) and new organic dyes (D45 and D51) have been developed for aqueous dye-sensitized solar cells (DSCs). An optimal efficiency of 3.5% was obtained using the D51 dye and an optimized electrolyte composition. The highest IPCE value obtained was 68% at 460 nm.

The Indian Ocean Experiment (INDOEX) was an international, multiplatform field campaign to measure long-range transport of air pollution from South and Southeast Asia toward the Indian Ocean during the dry monsoon season in January to March 1999. Surprisingly high pollution levels were observed over the entire northern Indian Ocean toward the Intertropical Convergence Zone at about 6°S. We show that agricultural burning and especially biofuel use enhance carbon monoxide concentrations. Fossil fuel combustion and biomass burning cause a high aerosol loading. The growing pollution in this region gives rise to extensive air quality degradation with local, regional, and global implications, including a reduction of the oxidizing power of the atmosphere.

Numerically stable Monte Carlo burnup calculations of nuclear fuel cycles are now possible with the previously derived Stochastic Implicit Euler method based coupling scheme. In this paper, we show that this scheme can be easily extended to include the thermal–hydraulic feedback during the Monte Carlo burnup simulations, while preserving its unconditional stability property. At each time step, the implicit solution (for the end-of-step neutron flux, fuel nuclide densities and thermal–hydraulic conditions) is calculated iteratively by the stochastic approximation; the fuel nuclide densities and thermal–hydraulic conditions are iterated simultaneously. This coupling scheme is derived as stable in theory; i.e., its stability is not conditioned by the choice of time steps.

Electricity generation integrated with xylose degradation was investigated in a two-chamber mediator-less microbial fuel cell (MFC). Voltage output followed saturation kinetics as a function of xylose concentration for concentration below 9.7 mM, with a predicted maximum of 86 mV (6.3 mW m(-2) or 116 mW m(-3)) and half-saturation constant (K(s)) of 0.29 mM. Xylose concentrations from 0.5 mM to 1.5 mM resulted in coulombic efficiencies and maximum voltage ranging from 41+/-1.6% to 36+/-1.2% and 55+/-2.0 mV to 70+/-3.0 mV respectively. Xylose degradation rate increased with increasing xylose concentration up to 9.7 mM and the predicted maximum degradation rate was 0.13 mM h(-1) and K(s) of 3.0 mM. Stirring by nitrogen in the anode chamber led to 99+/-2.3 mV maximum voltage (8.4+/-0.4 mW m(-2) or 153+/-7.1 mW m(-3)) and 5.9+/-0.3% coulombic efficiency at MFC running time 180 h, which were respectively 17+/-1.2% and 37+/-1.8%, higher than those without stirring. The COD removal under stirring was 22.1+/-0.3%, which was slightly lower than that of 23.7+/-0.4% under no stirring. However, stirring resulted in 59% lower xylose degradation rate. This work demonstrates that xylose can be used in the MFC for electricity production. Comparatively higher electricity generation and coulombic efficiency can be obtained by adjusting initial xylose concentration and applying stirring in the anode chamber.