The production of biofuels from synthesis gas that utilizes a wide variety of biomass is an emerging concept, particularly with the focus on biomass-based economy. Biomass is converted to synthesis gas via gasification, which involves partial oxidation of the biomass at high temperature. This route of ethanol or liquid biofuel production has the advantage of utilizing the entire biomass, including the lignin content. Though the technology is yet to be established, there is a major breakthrough in understanding the microbial route of synthesis gas conversion.

In this article we review how different management technologies like integrated nutrient management, tillage practices, mulching, addition of clay, surface compaction, conservation tillage, use of polymers, etc. can favourably modify the soil physical properties like bulk density, porosity, aeration, soil moisture, soil aggregation, water retention and transmission properties, and soil processes like evaporation, infiltration, run-off and soil loss for better crop growth and yield.

As the world’s fastest spreading vector-borne disease, dengue was estimated to infect more than 390 million people in 2010, a 30-fold increase in the past half century. Although considered to be a non-endemic country, mainland China had 55,114 reported dengue cases from 2005 to 2014, of which 47,056 occurred in 2014. Furthermore, 94% of the indigenous cases in this time period were reported in Guangdong Province, 83% of which were in Guangzhou City.

Particulate matter (PM) exposure may directly affect the pulmonary vasculature. While the pulmonary vasculature is not easily measurable, differential associations for right ventricular (RV) and left ventricular (LV) mass may provide an indirect assessment of pulmonary vascular damage.

Original Source

Aircraft do not fly through a vacuum, but through an atmosphere whose meteorological characteristics are changing because of global warming. The impacts of aviation on climate change have long been recognised, but the impacts of climate change on aviation have only recently begun to emerge. These impacts include intensified turbulence and increased take-off weight restrictions. Here we investigate the influence of climate change on flight routes and journey times.

We conducted a synthesis analysis on data from 86 published field experiments conducted from 1903 to 2014 to explore the specific consequences of post-silking N accumulation (PostN) in New Era vs. Old Era hybrids on grain yield (GY) and recovery from plant N stress at flowering (R1 stage). The Old Era encompassed studies using genotypes released before, and including, 1990 and the New Era included all studies using genotypes released from 1991 to 2014.

The global human population now exceeds 7 billion and is projected to reach 10 billion around 2060. While population growth has been associated with certain benefits (e.g., economies of scale, technological advancements), theoretical models, probabilistic projections, and empirical evidence also indicate that this growth could increase the likelihood of many adverse events (e.g., climate change, resource shortages) and the impact of these events, as more people are exposed to the outcomes.

We perform a consequential life cycle analysis of plug-in electric vehicles (PEVs), hybrid electric vehicles (HEVs), and conventional gasoline vehicles in the PJM interconnection using a detailed, normative optimization model of the PJM electricity grid that captures the change in power plant operations and related emissions due to vehicle charging. We estimate and monetize the resulting human health and environmental damages from life cycle air emissions for each vehicle technology.

Carbon dioxide removal (CDR) approaches are efforts to reduce the atmospheric CO2 concentration. Here we use a marine carbon cycle model to investigate the effects of one CDR technique: the open ocean dissolution of the iron-containing mineral olivine. We analyse the maximum CDR potential of an annual dissolution of 3 Pg olivine during the 21st century and focus on the role of the micro-nutrient iron for the biological carbon pump.

Original Source

Most of the policy debate surrounding the actions needed to mitigate and adapt to anthropogenic climate change has been framed by observations of the past 150 years as well as climate and sea-level projections for the twenty-first century. The focus on this 250-year window, however, obscures some of the most profound problems associated with climate change.