An enforced cooperation : understanding scientific assessments in adversarial polities through Quebec shale gas policymaking, 2010-2014

Les biotechnologies, le réchauffement climatique, les ressources naturelles et la gestion des écosystèmes sont tous représentatifs de la “nouvelle politique de la nature” (Hajer 2003), un terme englobant les enjeux marqués par une grande incertitude scientifique et un encadrement réglementaire inadapté aux nouvelles réalités, suscitant de fait un conflit politique hors du commun. Dans l'espoir de diminuer ces tensions et de générer un savoir consensuel, de nombreux gouvernements se tournent vers des institutions scientifiques ad hoc pour documenter l'élaboration des politiques et répondre aux préoccupations des partie-prenantes. Mais ces évaluations scientifiques permettent-elles réellement de créer une compréhension commune partagée par ces acteurs politiques polarisés? Alors que l'on pourrait croire que celles-ci génèrent un climat d'apprentissage collectif rassembleur, un environnement politique conflictuel rend l'apprentissage entre opposant extrêmement improbable. Ainsi, cette recherche documente le potentiel conciliateur des évaluation scientifique en utilisant le cas des gaz de schiste québécois (2010-2014). Ce faisant, elle mobilise la littérature sur les dimensions politiques du savoir et de la science afin de conceptualiser le rôle des évaluations scientifiques au sein d'une théorie de la médiation scientifique (scientific brokerage). Une analyse de réseau (SNA) des 5751 références contenues dans les documents déposés par 268 organisations participant aux consultations publiques de 2010 et 2014 constitue le corps de la démonstration empirique. Précisément, il y est démontré comment un médiateur scientifique peut rediriger le flux d'information afin de contrer l'incompatibilité entre apprentissage collectif et conflit politique. L'argument mobilise les mécanismes cognitifs traditionnellement présents dans la théorie des médiateurs de politique (policy broker), mais introduit aussi les jeux de pouvoir fondamentaux à la circulation de la connaissance entre acteurs politiques.

Natural ventilation and indoor air quality in educational buildings: experimental assessment and improvement strategies

Indoor environmental conditions in classrooms, in particular temperature and indoor air quality, influence students’ health, attitude and performance. In recent years, several studies regarding indoor environmental quality of classrooms were published and natural ventilation proved to have great potential, particularly in southern European climate. This research aimed to evaluate indoor environmental conditions in eight schools and to assess their improvement potential by simple natural ventilation strategies. Temperature, relative humidity and carbon dioxide concentration were measured in 32 classrooms. Ventilation performance of the classrooms was characterized using two techniques, first by fan pressurization measurements of the envelope airtightness and later by tracer gas measurements of the air change rate assuming different envelope conditions. A total of 110 tracer gas measurements were made and the results validated ventilation protocols that were tested afterward. The results of the ventilation protocol implementation were encouraging and, overall, a decrease on the CO2 concentration was observed without modifying the comfort conditions. Nevertheless, additional measurements must be performed for winter conditions.

2008 Greenhouse Gas Emissions from Selected Iowa Source Categories

This report is the second inventory of point source-specific greenhouse gas emissions conducted by the Department of Natural Resources, covering more industrial sectors and greenhouse gas pollutants than the previous year. This report is required by Iowa Code 455B.851 to be submitted annually to the Iowa General Assembly and the Governor,

2009 Greenhouse Gas Emissions from Selected Iowa Source Categories

This objective report is the third inventory of point source-specific greenhouse gas emissions conducted by the Department of Natural Resources. This report is required by Iowa Code 455B.851

2010 Iowa Greenhouse Gas Inventory Report

This policy-neutral report is the fifth statewide greenhouse gas inventory as required by Iowa Code 455B.104.

2011 Iowa Statewide Greenhouse Gas Emissions Inventory Report

This policy-neutral report is the sixth statewide greenhouse gas inventory conducted for Iowa as required by Iowa Code 455B.104.

2011 Iowa Statewide Greenhouse Gas Emissions Inventory Report - Technical Support Document

This Technical Support Document is an addendum to the "2011 Iowa Statewide Greenhouse Gas Emission Inventory Report".

2012 Iowa Statewide Greenhouse Gas Emissions Inventory Report

This policy-neutral report is the seventh statewide greenhouse gas inventory conducted for Iowa as required by Iowa Code 455B.104. Note: This report was amended on 12/11/14 to correct minor typographical errors.

2012 Iowa Statewide Greenhouse Gas Emissions Inventory Report Technical Support Document

This technical support document is an addendum to the 2012 Iowa Statewide Greenhouse Gas Emissions Inventory Report. Note: This report was amended on 12/11/14 to correct minor typographical errors.

2013 Iowa Statewide Greenhouse Gas Emissions Inventory Report

This policy-neutral report is the eighth statewide greenhouse gas inventory conducted for Iowa as required by Iowa Code 455B.104.

2013 Iowa Statewide Greenhouse Gas Emissions Inventory Report Technical Support Document.

This technical support document is an addendum to the 2013 Iowa Statewide Greenhouse Ga Emissions Inventory.

Natural Wax-Based Water Vapour Barrier Coatings on PLA for MAP Food Packaging

PLA is a bio-based polymer that is obtained from renewable resources and it is very promising for a sustainable packaging manufacturing. However, its gas and vapour barrier properties are not enough to comply with the requirements of MAP packaging of fresh foods, which need specific concentration of water and oxygen to avoid spoilage and to keep the organoleptic properties unaltered throughout their shelf-life. The use of waxes from natural renewable sources such as plants (e.g., candelilla wax, carnauba wax, rice bran wax, sunflower wax) or animals (e.g., beeswax) could tackle down the permeation of water vapour through the packaging without affecting its bio-based content. The core of this work is developing wax-based coatings with enhanced thermo-mechanical properties so that they can undergo thermoforming and a proper adhesion to the PLA substrate can be ensured. Chemical modifications and crosslinking of waxes are performed to produce wax-based alkyd resins. The synthesised materials are characterised both by DSC and FTIR. Films of the wax-based alkyds are produced in order to assess their water vapour permeability.

Assessment Of Robustness On Analysis Using Headspace Solid-phase Microextraction And Comprehensive Two-dimensional Gas Chromatography Through Experimental Designs.

Plackett-Burman experimental design was applied for the robustness assessment of GC×GC-qMS (Comprehensive Two-Dimensional Gas Chromatography with Fast Quadrupolar Mass Spectrometric Detection) in quantitative and qualitative analysis of volatiles compounds from chocolate samples isolated by headspace solid-phase microextraction (HS-SPME). The influence of small changes around the nominal level of six factors deemed as important on peak areas (carrier gas flow rate, modulation period, temperature of ionic source, MS photomultiplier power, injector temperature and interface temperature) and of four factors considered as potentially influential on spectral quality (minimum and maximum limits of the scanned mass ranges, ions source temperature and photomultiplier power). The analytes selected for the study were 2,3,5-trimethylpyrazine, 2-octanone, octanal, 2-pentyl-furan, 2,3,5,6-tetramethylpyrazine, and 2-nonanone e nonanal. The factors pointed out as important on the robustness of the system were photomultiplier power for quantitative analysis and lower limit of mass scanning range for qualitative analysis.

Possible Unconventional Superconductivity In Substituted Bafe2as2 Revealed By Magnetic Pair-breaking Studies.

The possible existence of a sign-changing gap symmetry in BaFe2As2-derived superconductors (SC) has been an exciting topic of research in the last few years. To further investigate this subject we combine Electron Spin Resonance (ESR) and pressure-dependent transport measurements to investigate magnetic pair-breaking effects on BaFe1.9M0.1As2 (M = Mn, Co, Cu, and Ni) single crystals. An ESR signal, indicative of the presence of localized magnetic moments, is observed only for M = Cu and Mn compounds, which display very low SC transition temperature (Tc) and no SC, respectively. From the ESR analysis assuming the absence of bottleneck effects, the microscopic parameters are extracted to show that this reduction of Tc cannot be accounted by the Abrikosov-Gorkov pair-breaking expression for a sign-preserving gap function. Our results reveal an unconventional spin- and pressure-dependent pair-breaking effect and impose strong constraints on the pairing symmetry of these materials.

Bioactivity And Chemical Composition Of The Essential Oil From The Leaves Of Guatteria Australis A.st.-hil.

Essential oil from the leaves of Guatteria australis was obtained by hydrodistillation, analyzed by Gas Chromatography coupled to Mass Spectromery (GC-MS) and their antiproliferative, antileishmanial, antibacterial, antifungal and antioxidant activities were also evaluated. Twenty-three compounds were identified among which germacrene B (50.66%), germacrene D (22.22%) and (E)-caryophyllene (8.99%) were the main compounds. The highest antiproliferative activity was observed against NCI-ADR/RES (TGI = 31.08 μg/ml) and HT-29 (TGI = 32.81 μg/ml) cell lines. It also showed good antileishmanial activity against Leishmania infantum (IC50 = 30.71 μg/ml). On the other hand, the oil exhibited a small effect against Staphylococcus aureus ATCC 6538, S. aureus ATCC 14458 and Escherichia coli ATCC 10799 (MIC = 250 μg/ml), as well as small antioxidant activity (457 μmol TE/g) assessed through ORACFL assay. These results represent the first report regarding chemical composition and bioactivity of G. australis essential oil.