Bio-fuels Essay Example for Free

Bio-fuels Essay Advantages: The actual aim of biofuels is to be carbon neutral. Potentially they can reduce greenhouse gas emissions when you compare them to conventional transport fuels, but this ability depends on the way you produce these biofuels. In reality biofuels aren’t carbon neutral because they actually require energy to grow the crops and to convert them into fuel. However, biofuels could still be more environmentally friendly then other fossil alternatives. They can save up to 60% of the carbon emissions compared to fossil fuels, and second generation biofuels can offer savings of about 80%. Another advantage of biofuels is that they save money of drivers. Governments have introduced many incentives to drivers of the well-known green cars who are based on emissions, who come with reduced taxation. And because the petrol prices are rising, if you then would replace the petroleum with a renewable energy source it should actually offer high savings at the pump in the long term, especially when the availability of biofuels will rise. Disadvantages: However, there have been some arguments that biofuel isn’t as positive as it had been portrayed and thought of. The following points are some of the several concerns about biofuels: * Biodiversity: This has been feared a lot lately, because when adapting more land to produce the crops needed for biofuels, the consequence would be that more habitats would be lost for animals and wild plants. * Food versus fuel debate: Another concern is that if biofuels become attractive for farmers they’ll decide that they may want to grow crops for biofuel production instead of for food production. If less food is produced that will lead to the increase of prices and also cause a rise in inflation. A way to counter this problem is by second generation biofuels which use waste biomass, but then again that will also impact the habitat of many organisms. Due to the food price increase, around 100 million people are at risk and then especially in the developing countries. * Carbon emissions: Most of the investigations do indicate that by burning biofuels it does actually reduce the greenhouse gas emissions when you would compare it to petroleum and diesel. But lately studies have been published that show that the burning of e.g. corn can contribute as much to nitrous oxide emissions than cooling through fossil fuel savings. * Non-sustainable biofuel production: Many first generation biofuels aren’t sustainable. And it is necessary to create biofuel production that doesn’t affect the production of food and also what doesn’t affect any other environmental problems. And because there has been lots of criticism of the production of non-sustainable biofuels many governments have switched their support to sustainable biofuels and other alternatives. Why controversial? Biofuels have been blamed for pushing up the food prices, that they couldn’t meet the environmental standards, they themselves have caused for the demand of water and nitrate fertilizers and they have encouraged the destruction of natural habitats e.g. the rainforest. And still it’s an controversy which governments have been struggling to solve. What has also been revealed is that the companies who actually use biofuels haven’t been able to fully report the sustainability of them. But even though we associate environmental damage with the production of biofuels we should not immediately think that all biofuels are bad. The production of biofuels is still developing, and as new fuel technologies are being made the situation could radically change and we may be able to adjust the impact on the environment to a small percentage. After having seen the positive and negative sides of biofuels you could wonder is biofuels are really worth it. On one hand they could actually reduce the carbon emissions and help save you some money. But they also negatively impact the habitat of many species and aren’t necessarily efficient enough at producing the energy that they are required to make. So there are two completely different sides to biofuels which explains why the topic biofuels has been so controversial lately in the 21th century and why we are all now discussing if we should go on producing biofuels or not.

Large Amounts of Glutamine as the Cause of Disease Essay -- Biology Al

Neurodegenerative disorders such as Alzheimer's disease and Parkinson's disease are caused by the aggregation of abnormal proteins in neurons. An essential component of cellular function is the correct assimilation of proteins in the cell. Proteins fold into specific structures and then carry out cellular functions. However, when this folding process runs amuck, abnormal proteins are introduced into the cell. In neurodegenerative diseases, these protein aggregates are characterized by having genes which contain too many CAG trinucleotides repeats that encode for polyglutamine (polyQ). Having too much polyQ leads to the gene products being converted to a proteotoxic state. All in all, disruptions in protein folding lead to an overabundance of CAG repeats which results in an overproduction of polyQ which raises the toxicity of the cell to levels that effect the cell's functions. Through experimentation, this paper attempted to find the threshold for the number of CAG repeats that determines whether cellular function will be disrupted by the protein aggregates. Molecular genetic studies have already established than normal chromosomes (and genes) contain fewer than 30-34 CAG repeats. This paper attempted to prove that 35-40 CAG repeats results in cellular toxicity levels that severely disrupt cellular function. To address the connection between the CAG threshold (thus, the polyQ aggregation) and cellular toxicity, a species of worm, Caenorhabditis elegans, was used during experimentation. (C. elegans are good model organisms to study human neurodegenerative disease not only because C. elegans' neurons resemble vertebrate neurons at cellular and molecular levels, but also because many genes are conserved between worms and h... ... aggregation causes cell toxicity, or if the aggregates are a benign product of some other, yet unknown process that causes the detrimental effects. If future research reveals that glutamine aggregates promote cell toxicity, we can direct research on how to inhibit these aggregations to slow down or possibly reverse the course of the disease. 2.) How aging in the infected organism influences the progression of Huntington's disease: Experiments with C. elegans expressing the age-1 genetic mutation not only had an extended the lifespan, but also had a delayed onset of Huntington's disease. This suggests that a substance produced as an organism ages can catalyzes the toxicity of Huntington's disease. With this in mind, further research could hunt for what this aging-related catalyst is. Blocking this substance may slow down or halt the progression of the disease.

Bahamas is the most beautiful place in the world

Bahamas is an independent nation in the North Atlantic Ocean, south-east of Florida. It is a member of the British Commonwealth of Nations. The Bahamas consists about 700 islands and more than 2,000 rocks and cays (islets) forming an archipelago 550 miles (890 km) long. The largest islands are Andros, Great Inagua, Great Abaco, and Grand Bahama. On New Providence Island is Nassau, the nation’s capital. Thesis Statement: This paper intent to: (1) justify why Bahamas is the most beautiful place in the world; (2) scrutinizes the climate and sceneries of this place and: (3) know about why tourists are attracted to visit this place.II. Discussion The Bahamas is considered as the most beautiful place in the world because it has a warm, tropical climate with average temperatures around 70Â ° to 75Â ° F. in winter and 80Â ° to 85Â ° F. in summer. Average annual rainfall varies from 50 inches (635 mm) in the northern islands to 25 inches (635 mm) in the south. Tourists are also att racted by the warm climate, beautiful beaches, water sports, and casinos which the nation’s main source of income. Grand Bahamas and New Providence islands draw the most visitors, although the other islands, called the Out Islands, are becoming increasingly popular.The country’s liberal tax laws make it a tax haven, and international banking, centered in Nassau, contributes substantially to the economy. In addition, there are paved roads on many of the islands but no railways that make the tourists feel that they are really far from the busy life in the city. Nassau and Freeport (on Grand Bahama Island) are the chief seaports and have international airports. The Out Islands are served mainly by scheduled and charter airlines. III. Conclusion In conclusion, Bahamas is the most beautiful place because of its magnificent beaches that are so clean and blue and resorts that are incomparable.The place is totally amazing. It has its indescribable sceneries that will be enjoye d by tourists that no matter how many trendier resorts have came out yet Bahamas continually maintains its competitive natural beauty. Bahamas also has its latest and trendier resort hotels that continuously growing. Basically, the place has nice beaches and attractive spots that everyone would love. It also provides water sports like scuba diving and snorkeling and historically known as a place of casino and have plenty of boutiques, shops and restaurants where tourists can visit.

Accounting Mba- Worldcom - 803 Words

WorldCom Sunday, November 07, 2010 10:27 PM The following entries are hypothetical and intended to illustrate the initial recording, and subsequent ‘release’ and ‘capitalization’ of line costs. a. Prepare a journal entry to record $3,500 million of estimated line costs for quarter 1. DR - Accrued Line cost $3,500 CR - Cash and Cash Equivalents $3,500 b. Assume that you find out in quarter 2 that the prior quarter’s estimate was too large by $100 million. Prepare the necessary journal entry to reflect this new information. What is the effect on pre-tax operating income for quarter 2? DR - Cash and Cash Equivalent $100 CR - Accrued Line cost $100 Pre-tax income for the quarter is higher c. Now ignore part b above and assume†¦show more content†¦3. Compute the line cost-to-revenue ratio as reported for quarter 1, 1999 through quarter 1, 2002 from the information in Exhibit 1. Refer to Exhibits 2 and 3, and estimate the revised line cost-to-revenue ratio for each quarter after adjusting for a) the release of accruals, b) the line costs that were capitalized, c) other line cost adjustments not discussed in the case, and d) ‘improper’ and ‘questionable’ adjustments to revenue. What do you observe? Q1 99 Q2 99 Q3 99 Q4 99 Q1 00 Q2 00 Q3 00 Q4 00 Q1 01 Q2 01 Q3 01 Q4 01 Line Cost Rev 4116 9001 3927 8944 3887 9186 4011 9989 4092 9978 4152 10193 3867 10047 3351 8872 4108 9720 3730 8910 3745 8966 3156 7583 2.1868 3188 2.2775 66 2.3632 62 2.4904 01 2.4384 16 2.4549 61 2.5981 38 2.6475 68 2.3661 15 2.3887 4 2.3941 26 2.4027 25 - Line adjustments got increasing higher 4. Refer to Exhibits 1 through 3 and estimate revised quarterly statements of operating income for quarter 1, 1999 through quarter 1, 2002. Comment on how the reported and restated amounts differ. - Restated amounts show that accrual releases great drastically from Q2 99 to Q4 2000 - Capitalization began in the following Q1 of 2001 and the capitalization amounts continued toShow MoreRelatedCorporate Fraud Has Taken The World By Storm For Over The Past Decade1479 Words   |  6 Pageshappened in 2001 and 2002 and since then fraud seems to be more and more common around the world. According to Forbes.com (n.d) the biggest fraud cases to ever occur was Enron, Bernard Madoff, Lehman Brothers, and Cendant, with Enron being the largest accounting scandal to ever take place. Prior to Enron’s fraud scandal coming to light in 2001, they were the seventh largest company in the United States by revenue, this was the same year Enron filed bankruptcy (da Silveira, 2013, p. 315). 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