Algae are simple, plant-like organisms but do not have roots, stems, and leaves. There are almost 300,000 alga species distributed throughout the world in seawater, freshwater, and wastewater. Algae are typically photosynthetic, namely fixing CO₂ in the presence of sunlight to manufacture their own food, but some are heterotrophic with no requirement of light, assimilating organic compounds such as glucose and acetic acid as carbon sources. Most of the current research and development efforts have focused on microalgae due to their high growth rate and oil content.
Anaerobic digestion (AD) is a natural process in which organic materials are degraded by groups of microorganisms under oxygen-free conditions. This phenomenon is commonly observed at landfills where waste is buried under a thin layer of soil and greenhouse gasses such as carbon dioxide (CO₂) and methane (CH₄) are emitted. Methane is a global warming potential (GWP) gas that is estimated to be 20 times more effective in trapping heat in the atmosphere than carbon dioxide.
Photovoltaics (PV) is a solar power technology that uses solar cells to convert light from the sun directly into electricity. An individual PV cell is usually quite small, typically producing about 1 or 2 watts of power. To produce more power, cells can be interconnected and encapsulated to form PV modules, which is the product usually sold to the customer (Figure 1). The PV modules can in turn be combined and connected to form PV arrays of different sizes and power output.
Stepfamilies today make up a large portion of our population. More people today live in stepfamilies than live in nuclear families. Fifteen percent of children (more than 10.6 million) lived in a stepfamily and about half of these children lived with at least one stepparent (Kreider & Fields). The stepmother role typically tends to be more difficult than the stepfather role mainly because of the contradictions in expectations for stepmothers.
When planning the rehabilitation of your old barn, one of the greatest concerns can be making sure that you have hired the right people to do the work. While choosing the right contractor may not be as simple as flipping through the Yellow Pages™, it need not be difficult.
Farms are disappearing and being consolidated quicker than ever today. The reasons why are not difficult to understand. Between the low margin of profit that often accompanies farming small acreage and the rising price of agricultural land sold to urban developers, many small farms are being assimilated into larger farms or merely disappearing. According to the USDA Statistics Service (2009), from 1970 to 2007, Ohio lost over 36,000 farms and 3.3 million acres of farmland.
Tax incentives are one of the many advantages to rehabilitating your old barn. For more reasons, see fact sheet AEX-641, "Reasons for Rehabilitation." While the process, and even the paperwork, can be a little daunting at first glance, these tax incentives can tip the scales towards rehabilitation over new construction or can make your rehabilitation project much more feasible. This fact sheet will inform you of tax deductions and credits that are available.
Disasters are devastating. They change daily routines, create financial concerns about damaged or lost property, and can displace entire families. Losing a pet is also devastating, but when combined with a disaster, pet owners suffer greater emotional trauma in an already tragic situation. To help people cope with losing pets during disasters, the federal government has enacted a public law, commonly called the PETS Act.
People with a pre-existing condition, such as limited mobility, heart disease, and taking certain medications can be at higher risk to a heat stress injury. The most serious are heat stroke and heat exhaustion. With or without a pre-existing condition, heat stroke and exhaustion are both serious medical emergencies and action should be taken immediately.
Pacemakers today are designed to interrupt lives as little as possible. Farmers returning to work with a pacemaker can raise some concerns. Minimal restrictions are required in the work place, but several modifications may be necessary to the way tasks are performed.
