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The data uploaded here belongs to the full length article 'Investigations of the effects of electrode geometry and mechanical stress on Antimony doped Zinc Oxide Nanostructures based MSM UV photodetectors fabricated on flexible substrates'

We employ qualitative content analysis on 29 survey responses from local officials around Japan’s 200 largest mega-solar plants constructed since 2012. Japan’s energy market has seen the siting and construction of over 2800 new mega-solar power plants since the introduction of the Feed-in Tariff policy in 2012. While scholars have highlighted the potential for community-engaged renewable power development with social benefits for local residents, many major mega-solar projects have instead resulted from industry-led initiatives in locations, largely avoiding community engagement. In this study, we draw from distributive energy justice perspectives to analyze social equity impacts of the mega-solar siting process. In our paper, we contextualize results through 18 interviews with relevant actors in six case studies. We find that given the existence of the Feed-in Tariff and sufficient solar irradiation, the availability of underutilized land decreases community bargaining power compared to historical power plant siting agreements. This results in primarily land leasing benefits and municipal tax revenue with minimal additional social impacts, such as employment. In our paper, we outline a model of causation for mega-solar social equity impacts, Japanese policy implications, and directions for future quantitative research.

monthly data in the experiment of 2xCO2, and 4xCO2.

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.

Obesity is a growing health problem concerning much of the human civilization. Fundamental research into the underlying mechanisms of body weight regulation can open new paths that will lead to a larger array of treatment options. Leptin is a hormone that plays a crucial role in body weight regulation. It is known for reducing food intake and increasing energy expenditure via leptin receptor (LepR) signalling in the brain. Although leptin is known for reducing food intake, this thesis describes the variable effects of leptin on feeding in mice: after leptin injections, some mice decreased feeding, while others increased feeding. Even more, the feeding effect of leptin predicted how much weight a mouse gained on a high caloric diet: mice that increased feeding with leptin, gained more weight and vice versa. This thesis further addresses how LepR-neurons (neurons that are responsive to leptin) of different brain areas influence aspects of body weight regulation: food consumption, motivation to work for food reward, locomotor activity and body temperature. To do so, we used chemogenetics, which is a technique with which we can temporarily activate LepR-neurons of a certain brain area and examine the effect of this activation on behavioural tasks. We found that the four studied LepR-containing brain areas differently affect aspects of body weight regulation. This thesis sheds more light on how leptin and LepR-neurons influence body weight. With this we hope to contribute to exciting new discoveries that will aid in the reduction of the obesity pandemic.

Synopsis Climate change can directly and indirectly affect species distribution. Warming may allow for invasive species, such as apple snails, to migrate to higher latitudes where temperatures are more conducive to their survival and invasion success. Higher temperatures and lower pH ranges have been previously documented to affect the form and function of calcium carbonate shells, which serve many functions, including protection from predators and thermoregulation. This study aimed to quantify differences in the morphology and mechanical properties of invasive apple snail, Pomacea maculata, shells after altering temperature and pH. We mechanically tested shells among three five-week treatments: control, higher temperature, and lower pH. Ultimate Strength increased in shells that were exposed to higher temperatures, but Young’s Modulus and Peak Load did not differ among control, temperature, and pH treatments. Apple snails in higher temperature tanks increased their shell length over the five-week trials. Although snail morphometrics did not differ between sexes, male shells exhibited a higher Peak Load, Young’s Modulus, and Ultimate Strength compared to female shells. Our findings are consistent with previous gastropod studies, in that a lower pH is associated with a decrease in shell size, and higher temperatures yield larger snail shells with a higher ultimate strength. Peak Load did not significantly differ among treatments, which suggests that the cross-sectional area is relatively important when considering this species mechanical performance today and in future climates. Due to the intense nutritional and calcium demands of egg production, female snails may be more susceptible to weakened shells due to low pH environments caused by climate change.

Synopsis Classic debates in community ecology focused on the complexities of considering an ecosystem as a super-organ or organism. New consideration of such perspectives could clarify mechanisms underlying the dynamics of forest carbon dioxide (CO2) uptake and water vapor loss, important for predicting and managing the future of Earth’s ecosystems and climate system. Here, we provide a rubric for considering ecosystem traits as aggregated, systemic, or emergent, i.e., representing the ecosystem as an aggregate of its individuals or as a metaphorical or literal super-organ or organism. We review recent approaches to scaling-up plant water relations (hydraulics) concepts developed for organs and organisms to enable and interpret measurements at ecosystem-level. We focus on three community-scale versions of water relations traits that have potential to provide mechanistic insight into climate change responses of forest CO2 and H2O gas exchange and productivity: leaf water potential (Ψcanopy), pressure volume curves (eco-PV), and hydraulic conductance (Keco). These analyses can reveal additional ecosystem-scale parameters analogous to those typically quantified for leaves or plants (e.g., wilting point and hydraulic vulnerability) that may act as thresholds in forest responses to drought, including growth cessation, mortality, and flammability. We unite these concepts in a novel framework to predict Ψcanopy and its approaching of critical thresholds during drought, using measurements of Keco and eco-PV curves. We thus delineate how the extension of water relations concepts from organ- and organism-scales can reveal the hydraulic constraints on the interaction of vegetation and climate and provide new mechanistic understanding and prediction of forest water use and productivity.

From the British debate on the depletion of coal in 1865 to the First World Power Conference held in London in 1924, scientists, engineers, industrialists, and politicians produced new interpretations of the past, present, and future in terms of the mobilisation of energy resources. This thesis identifies an emerging ‘energy developmentalism’, which called for maximising energy use to maintain or improve a nation’s place in international competition. Energy developmentalism was not a marginal worldview confined to ‘energeticists’, but a coherent set of claims, measurements, and arguments that informed energy governance on an international scale. Rather than focusing on a single resource, energy developmentalism applied a unified schema to all energy sources, including those like solar and tidal energy that were still mostly theoretical. Drawing on sources from across Europe, while staying grounded in political changes in Britain and France, makes it possible to understand how a general formula for transforming raw materials with maximum efficiency was applied differently depending on specific political contexts. This period saw the articulation of problems like the depletion of resources, the difference between renewable and nonrenewable energy, the intermittency of renewables, the overreliance on a single source of energy, and the centrality of energy to modern economies – problems that are often associated with later periods. Scientific measurements of efficiency, horsepower, and kilowatts became operators in political debates centred on questions of national standing and progress. Even as oil became increasingly important in the world economy, the delegates at the First World Power Conference transformed a vision of a renewable energy future into one of a general expansion of energy consumption as the basis of progress. In so doing, they downplayed the continued importance of fossil fuels and equated ‘conservation’ with the fullest possible use of all energy sources, renewable or not.