Ostwald Ripening in Two Dimensions: Treatment with Pairwise Interactions

We present a systematic extension of mean field models for Ostwald ripening in two dimensions. We derived, using a mean field type approximation, an analytic expression for pairwise interactions between the minority phase droplets. These interactions appear in dynamic equations for the droplets' radii and positions, which are solved numerically for systems of tens of thousands of droplets, yielding very good agreement with recent experiments.Comment: 4 pages, RevTex, 3 eps figure

How many ways can we skin this cat called earth? Risks and constraints to the biobased economy

Resource constraints may make a biobased economy impossible if it is expected to continue at the pace and consumption level of the fossil-based economy in industrial and postindustrial societies. While the world economy will not suddenly run out of land to produce food and materials for the biobased economy, progression toward the ultimate limit to growth will be incremental, marked by increased pollution of air and water, declines in productivity of degraded soils, and reduced availability and access to fossil-fuel-derived inputs to production