Book Scarcity, Law Libraries and the Legal Profession in Nigeria.

Science.gov (United States)

Jegede, Oluremi

1992-01-01

Discussion of the effect of book scarcity on law libraries and the legal profession in Nigeria addresses the country's law library collections, reasons for book scarcity, local publication of legal literature, reasons why Nigerians publish abroad, and measures already taken and suggested measures to combat book scarcity. (14 references) (MES)

The inequality of water scarcity events: who is actually being affected?

Science.gov (United States)

Veldkamp, Ted I. E.; Wada, Yoshihide; Kummu, Matti; Aerts, Jeroen C. J. H.; Ward, Philip J.

2015-04-01

Over the past decades, changing hydro-climatic and socioeconomic conditions increased regional and global water scarcity problems. In the near future, projected changes in human water use and population growth - in combination with climate change - are expected to aggravate water scarcity conditions and its associated impacts on our society. Whilst a wide range of studies have modelled past and future regional and global patterns of change in population or land area impacted by water scarcity conditions, less attention is paid on who is actually affected and how vulnerable this share of the population is to water scarcity conditions. The actual impact of water scarcity events, however, not only depends on the numbers being affected, but merely on how sensitive this population is to water scarcity conditions, how quick and efficient governments can deal with the problems induced by water scarcity, and how many (financial and infrastructural) resources are available to cope with water scarce conditions. Only few studies have investigated the above mentioned interactions between societal composition and water scarcity conditions (e.g. by means of the social water scarcity index and the water poverty index) and, up to our knowledge, a comprehensive global analysis including different water scarcity indicators and multiple climate and socioeconomic scenarios is missing. To address this issue, we assess in this contribution the adaptive capacity of a society to water scarcity conditions, evaluate how this may be driven by different societal factors, and discuss how enhanced knowledge on this topic could be of interest for water managers in their design of adaptation strategies coping with water scarcity events. For that purpose, we couple spatial information on water scarcity conditions with different components from, among others, the Human Development Index and the Worldwide Governance Indicators, such as: the share of the population with an income below the poverty

Integrated Supply Network Maturity Model: Water Scarcity Perspective

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Ekaterina Yatskovskaya

2018-03-01

Full Text Available Today’s supply chains (SCs are more than ever prone to disruptions caused by natural and man-made events with water scarcity identified as one of the highest impact events among these. Leading businesses, understanding that natural resource scarcity (NRS has become a critical supply chain risk factor, extensively incorporate sustainable water management programmes into their corporate social responsibility and environmental management agenda. The question of how industries can efficiently evaluate the progress of these water scarcity mitigation practices, however, remains open. In order to address this question, the present study proposes a conceptual maturity model. The model is rooted in strategies for water scarcity mitigation using a framework developed by Yatskovskaya and Srai and develops an extensive literature review of recent publications on maturity frameworks in the fields of sustainability and operations management. In order to test the proposed proposed, model an exploratory case study with a leading pharmaceutical company was conducted. The proposed maturity model presents an evaluation tool that allows systematic assessment and visualisation of organisational routines and practices relevant to sustainable manufacturing in the context of water scarcity. This model was designed to help illustrate mitigation capabilities evolution over time, where future state desired capabilities were considered through alternative supply network (SN configurations, network structure, process flow, product architecture, and supply partnerships.

Resources scarcity: Cause of potential conflicts

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Beriša Hatidža A.

2016-01-01

Full Text Available Natural resources are a common good and the common wealth of each country. Their use, commercial applications and economic evaluation should be planned focused and targeted controlled. In a group of natural resources include: energy resources, water, food, land, mineral resources, biological resources and others. Given that the conditions of resource exploitation variable categories, it can be said that the volume of resources also variable. Abstracting growing problem of resources scarcity of vital importance to the existence in the world, this paper aims to try to shed light on the wider and comprehensive aspects of contemporary global problems in the scarcity of natural resources with a focus on the deficit of food, water and energenata. Search for answers to questions related to the scarcity of the basic needs of some of the world's population, civilizational confrontation about the energy pie, is a research and empirical contribution to the work, which is reflected in the effort to look at global challenges that mankind faces in the second decade of the 21st century.

Water access, water scarcity, and climate change.

Science.gov (United States)

Mukheibir, Pierre

2010-05-01

This article investigates the approaches of the various discourses operating in the water sector and how they address the issues of scarcity and equitable access under projected climate change impacts. Little synergy exists between the different approaches dealing with these issues. Whilst being a sustainable development and water resources management issue, a holistic view of access, scarcity and the projected impacts of climate change is not prevalent in these discourses. The climate change discourse too does not adequately bridge the gap between these issues. The projected impacts of climate change are likely to exacerbate the problems of scarcity and equitable access unless appropriate adaptation strategies are adopted and resilience is built. The successful delivery of accessible water services under projected climate change impacts therefore lies with an extension of the adaptive water management approach to include equitable access as a key driver.

Water scarcity in the Arabian Peninsula and socio-economic implications

Science.gov (United States)

Odhiambo, George O.

2017-09-01

The Arabian Gulf, one of the driest parts of the world, is already passing the water scarcity line as defined by the World Health Organization (WHO). The scarcity of renewable water resources and the growing discrepancy between demand and supply of water is a major challenge. Water scarcity is further worsened by rapidly growing demands due to rapid population growth, unsustainable consumption, climate change and weak management institutions and regulations. Water scarcity erodes the socio-economic sustainability of the communities that depend on the depleting storage. In this paper, an analysis of the water security situation within the Arabian Gulf region and the consequent socio-economic implications is presented.

Chicago's water market: Dynamics of demand, prices and scarcity rents

Science.gov (United States)

Ipe, V.C.; Bhagwat, S.B.

2002-01-01

Chicago and its suburbs are experiencing an increasing demand for water from a growing population and economy and may experience water scarcity in the near future. The Chicago metropolitan area has nearly depleted its groundwater resources to a point where interstate conflicts with Wisconsin could accompany an increased reliance on those sources. Further, the withdrawals from Lake Michigan is limited by the Supreme Court decree. The growing demand and indications of possible scarcity suggest a need to reexamine the pricing policies and the dynamics of demand. The study analyses the demand for water and develops estimates of scarcity rents for water in Chicago. The price and income elasticities computed at the means are -0.002 and 0.0002 respectively. The estimated scarcity rents ranges from $0.98 to $1.17 per thousand gallons. The results indicate that the current prices do not fully account for the scarcity rents and suggest a current rate with in the range $1.53 to $1.72 per thousand gallons.

Efficient dynamic scarcity pricing in urban water supply

Science.gov (United States)

Lopez-Nicolas, Antonio; Pulido-Velazquez, Manuel; Rougé, Charles; Harou, Julien J.; Escriva-Bou, Alvar

2017-04-01

Water pricing is a key instrument for water demand management. Despite the variety of existing strategies for urban water pricing, urban water rates are often far from reflecting the real value of the resource, which increases with water scarcity. Current water rates do not bring any incentive to reduce water use in water scarcity periods, since they do not send any signal to the users of water scarcity. In California, the recent drought has spurred the implementation of drought surcharges and penalties to reduce residential water use, although it is not a common practice yet. In Europe, the EU Water Framework Directive calls for the implementation of new pricing policies that assure the contribution of water users to the recovery of the cost of water services (financial instrument) while providing adequate incentives for an efficient use of water (economic instrument). Not only financial costs should be recovered but also environmental and resource (opportunity) costs. A dynamic pricing policy is efficient if the prices charged correspond to the marginal economic value of water, which increases with water scarcity and is determined by the value of water for all alternative uses in the basin. Therefore, in the absence of efficient water markets, measuring the opportunity costs of scarce water can only be achieved through an integrated basin-wide hydroeconomic simulation approach. The objective of this work is to design a dynamic water rate for urban water supply accounting for the seasonal marginal value of water in the basin, related to water scarcity. The dynamic pricing policy would send to the users a signal of the economic value of the resource when water is scarce, therefore promoting more efficient water use. The water rate is also designed to simultaneously meet the expected basic requirements for water tariffs: revenue sufficiency (cost recovery) and neutrality, equity and affordability, simplicity and efficiency. A dynamic increasing block rate (IBR

Implications of various land use change scenarios on global water scarcity over the 21st century

Science.gov (United States)

Liu, Y.; Hejazi, M. I.; Vernon, C. R.; Li, X.; Le Page, Y.; Calvin, K. V.

2017-12-01

While the effects of land use and land cover change (LULCC) on hydrological processes (e.g., runoff, peak flow and discharge) and water availability have been extensively researched, the impacts of LULCC on water scarcity has been rarely investigated. Water scarcity, usually defined as the ratio of water demand to available renewable water supply. The involved water demand is an important human-dimension factor, which is affected by both socio-economic conditions (e.g., population, income) as well as LULCC (e.g., the amount of land we dedicate for food, feed, and fuel crops). Recent studies have assessed the combined effects of climate change and human interventions (e.g., dams, water withdrawals and LULCC) on water scarcity, but none to date has focused on the implications of different pathways of LULCC alone on water scarcity. We establish a set of LULCC scenarios under changing climate and socioeconomic pathways using an integrated assessment model - Global Change Assessment Model (GCAM), which integrates natural systems (e.g., water supply, ecosystems, climate) and human systems (e.g., water demand, land use, economy, food, energy, population). The LULCC scenarios encompass varying degrees of protected areas, different magnitudes of crop/bioenergy production and subsidies, and whether to penalize potential land use emissions from bioenergy production (e.g., loss of wood carbon stock from land conversion). Then we investigate how water scarcity responds to LULCC and how the distribution of global population under severe water stress varies in the 21st century. Preliminary results indicate that the LULCC-induced changes in water scarcity are overall small at the global scale (water stress and population being affected. Findings from this research could be used to inform strategies focused on alleviating water stress around the world.

Scarcity in a Sea of Plenty? Global Resource Scarcities and Policies in the European Union and the Netherlands

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Prins, A.G.; Slingerland, S.; Manders, A.J.G.; Lucas, P.L.; Hilderink, H.B.M.; Kok, M.T.J.

2011-03-01

Current high prices of food, oil and many other resources are indications of increasing scarcity. This scarcity, however, has little to do with stock depletion. Badly functioning markets and wrong policy reactions play a particularly important role. For most resources, global stocks will be sufficient to meet increasing demand, over the coming decades. However, these stocks are not equally distributed over the world; they tend to be located in a limited number of countries. This causes an increasing European dependency on imports, which, in turn, feeds the fear of a decrease in security of supply.

Water scarcity and drought in WANA countries

KAUST Repository

Kharraz, Jauad El

2012-03-20

Water Security was a central theme of WANA Forum 2010, where regional experts warned that the wars of the 21st century will be fought over water. Climate change will only exacerbate problems in a region already stressed by lack of water, food and political and social unrest. Across the Arc of Crisis, from Somalia, Sudan and Egypt in Africa to Yemen, Iraq, Pakistan, and Afghanistan in West Asia, water scarcity in the region has already lead to drought and famine, loss of livelihood, the spread of water-borne diseases, forced migrations and open conflict. Water scarcity is closely linked to food and health security, making better water management a key stepping stone for poverty reduction and economic growth. If nothing changes, most of the WANA countries will encounter, in less than a generation, serious problems in managing inland freshwater, the availability of which, in sufficient quantity and quality, may become, as it is already the case in several of these countries, a main challenge for economic and social development. Wastage and pollution will then be such that « water stress » will affect, in a way or another, most of the populations of WANA countries and the poorest first of all. The effects of global warming will increase current trends. On the other hand, water scarcity in the WANA region is an issue of growing concern. With heavy demand from agriculture, growing populations and virtually no remaining untapped water sources, the need to establish water-management strategies in the region is of vital importance. WANA countries can be divided into three major agro-ecologies, each facing slightly different challenges. Rain-fed areas are dependent on a low and extremely variable rainfall, resulting in minimal yields, a problem exacerbated by frequent drought. Rainfall occurs in the form of intense and unpredictable storms, and as a result, the crusting soils are unable to absorb the moisture, which rapidly becomes lost through evaporation or runoff

Toward a formal definition of water scarcity in natural human systems

Science.gov (United States)

W.K. Jaeger; A.J. Plantinga; H. Chang; K. Dello; G. Grant; D. Hulse; J.J. McDonnell; S. Lancaster; H. Moradkhani; A.T. Morzillo; P. Mote; A. Nolin; M. Santlemann; J. Wu

2013-01-01

Water scarcity may appear to be a simple concept, but it can be difficult to apply to complex natural-human systems. While aggregate scarcity indices are straightforward to compute, they do not adequately represent the spatial and temporal variations in water scarcity that arise from complex systems interactions. The uncertain effects of future climate change on water...

The measurement of water scarcity: Defining a meaningful indicator.

Science.gov (United States)

Damkjaer, Simon; Taylor, Richard

2017-09-01

Metrics of water scarcity and stress have evolved over the last three decades from simple threshold indicators to holistic measures characterising human environments and freshwater sustainability. Metrics commonly estimate renewable freshwater resources using mean annual river runoff, which masks hydrological variability, and quantify subjectively socio-economic conditions characterising adaptive capacity. There is a marked absence of research evaluating whether these metrics of water scarcity are meaningful. We argue that measurement of water scarcity (1) be redefined physically in terms of the freshwater storage required to address imbalances in intra- and inter-annual fluxes of freshwater supply and demand; (2) abandons subjective quantifications of human environments and (3) be used to inform participatory decision-making processes that explore a wide range of options for addressing freshwater storage requirements beyond dams that include use of renewable groundwater, soil water and trading in virtual water. Further, we outline a conceptual framework redefining water scarcity in terms of freshwater storage.

Assessment of intrinsic small signal parameters of submicron SiC MESFETs

Science.gov (United States)

Riaz, Mohammad; Ahmed, Muhammad Mansoor; Rafique, Umair; Ahmed, Umer Farooq

2018-01-01

In this paper, a technique has been developed to estimate intrinsic small signal parameters of submicron SiC MESFETs, designed for high power microwave applications. In the developed technique, small signal parameters are extracted by involving drain-to-source current, Ids instead of Schottky barrier depletion layer expression. It has been demonstrated that in SiC MESFETs, the depletion layer gets modified due to intense transverse electric field and/or self-heating effects, which are conventionally not taken into account. Thus, assessment of AC small signal parameters by employing depletion layer expression loses its accuracy for devices meant for high power applications. A set of expressions for AC small signal elements has been developed using Ids and its dependence on device biasing has been discussed. The validity of the proposed technique has been demonstrated using experimental data. Dr. Ahmed research interests are in Microelectronics, Microwave and RF Engineering and he has supervised numerous MS and PhD research projects. He authored over 100 research papers in the field of microelectronics. Dr. Ahmed is a fellow of the Institution of Engineering and Technology (IET), UK.; a Chartered Engineer (CEng) from the UK Engineering Council and holds the title of European Engineer (Eur Ing) from the European Federation of National Engineering Association (FEANI), Brussels. He is a life member of PEC (Pak); EDS & MTTS (USA).

Water scarcity challenges to business

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Hoekstra, Arjen Ysbert

2014-01-01

The growing scarcity of freshwater due to rising water demands and a changing climate is increasingly seen as a major risk for the global economy. Consumer awareness, private sector initiatives, governmental regulation and targeted investments are urgently needed to move towards sustainable water

Global monthly water scarcity: blue water footprints versus blue water availability.

Science.gov (United States)

Hoekstra, Arjen Y; Mekonnen, Mesfin M; Chapagain, Ashok K; Mathews, Ruth E; Richter, Brian D

2012-01-01

Freshwater scarcity is a growing concern, placing considerable importance on the accuracy of indicators used to characterize and map water scarcity worldwide. We improve upon past efforts by using estimates of blue water footprints (consumptive use of ground- and surface water flows) rather than water withdrawals, accounting for the flows needed to sustain critical ecological functions and by considering monthly rather than annual values. We analyzed 405 river basins for the period 1996-2005. In 201 basins with 2.67 billion inhabitants there was severe water scarcity during at least one month of the year. The ecological and economic consequences of increasing degrees of water scarcity--as evidenced by the Rio Grande (Rio Bravo), Indus, and Murray-Darling River Basins--can include complete desiccation during dry seasons, decimation of aquatic biodiversity, and substantial economic disruption.

Resource scarcity drives lethal aggression among prehistoric hunter-gatherers in central California.

Science.gov (United States)

Allen, Mark W; Bettinger, Robert Lawrence; Codding, Brian F; Jones, Terry L; Schwitalla, Al W

2016-10-25

The origin of human violence and warfare is controversial, and some scholars contend that intergroup conflict was rare until the emergence of sedentary foraging and complex sociopolitical organization, whereas others assert that violence was common and of considerable antiquity among small-scale societies. Here we consider two alternative explanations for the evolution of human violence: (i) individuals resort to violence when benefits outweigh potential costs, which is likely in resource poor environments, or (ii) participation in violence increases when there is coercion from leaders in complex societies leading to group level benefits. To test these hypotheses, we evaluate the relative importance of resource scarcity vs. sociopolitical complexity by evaluating spatial variation in three macro datasets from central California: (i) an extensive bioarchaeological record dating from 1,530 to 230 cal BP recording rates of blunt and sharp force skeletal trauma on thousands of burials, (ii) quantitative scores of sociopolitical complexity recorded ethnographically, and (iii) mean net primary productivity (NPP) from a remotely sensed global dataset. Results reveal that sharp force trauma, the most common form of violence in the record, is better predicted by resource scarcity than relative sociopolitical complexity. Blunt force cranial trauma shows no correlation with NPP or political complexity and may reflect a different form of close contact violence. This study provides no support for the position that violence originated with the development of more complex hunter-gatherer adaptations in the fairly recent past. Instead, findings show that individuals are prone to violence in times and places of resource scarcity.

Multimodel assessment of water scarcity under climate change.

Science.gov (United States)

Schewe, Jacob; Heinke, Jens; Gerten, Dieter; Haddeland, Ingjerd; Arnell, Nigel W; Clark, Douglas B; Dankers, Rutger; Eisner, Stephanie; Fekete, Balázs M; Colón-González, Felipe J; Gosling, Simon N; Kim, Hyungjun; Liu, Xingcai; Masaki, Yoshimitsu; Portmann, Felix T; Satoh, Yusuke; Stacke, Tobias; Tang, Qiuhong; Wada, Yoshihide; Wisser, Dominik; Albrecht, Torsten; Frieler, Katja; Piontek, Franziska; Warszawski, Lila; Kabat, Pavel

2014-03-04

Water scarcity severely impairs food security and economic prosperity in many countries today. Expected future population changes will, in many countries as well as globally, increase the pressure on available water resources. On the supply side, renewable water resources will be affected by projected changes in precipitation patterns, temperature, and other climate variables. Here we use a large ensemble of global hydrological models (GHMs) forced by five global climate models and the latest greenhouse-gas concentration scenarios (Representative Concentration Pathways) to synthesize the current knowledge about climate change impacts on water resources. We show that climate change is likely to exacerbate regional and global water scarcity considerably. In particular, the ensemble average projects that a global warming of 2 °C above present (approximately 2.7 °C above preindustrial) will confront an additional approximate 15% of the global population with a severe decrease in water resources and will increase the number of people living under absolute water scarcity (water resources, suggesting a high potential for improved water resource projections through hydrological model development.

Intrinsic Time Quantum Geometrodynamics

OpenAIRE

Ita III, Eyo Eyo; Soo, Chopin; Yu, Hoi-Lai

2015-01-01

Quantum Geometrodynamics with intrinsic time development and momentric variables is presented. An underlying SU(3) group structure at each spatial point regulates the theory. The intrinsic time behavior of the theory is analyzed, together with its ground state and primordial quantum fluctuations. Cotton-York potential dominates at early times when the universe was small; the ground state naturally resolves Penrose's Weyl Curvature Hypothesis, and thermodynamic and gravitational `arrows of tim...

Global monthly water scarcity: Blue water footprints versus blue water availability

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Hoekstra, Arjen Ysbert; Mekonnen, Mesfin; Chapagain, Ashok; Mathews, R.E.; Richter, B.D.

2012-01-01

Freshwater scarcity is a growing concern, placing considerable importance on the accuracy of indicators used to characterize and map water scarcity worldwide. We improve upon past efforts by using estimates of blue water footprints (consumptive use of ground- and surface water flows) rather than

Petroleum Scarcity and Public Health: Considerations for Local Health Departments

Science.gov (United States)

Parker, Cindy L.; Caine, Virginia A.; McKee, Mary; Shirley, Lillian M.; Links, Jonathan M.

2011-01-01

Recognition of petroleum as a finite global resource has spurred increasing interest in the intersection between petroleum scarcity and public health. Local health departments represent a critical yet highly vulnerable component of the public health infrastructure. These frontline agencies currently face daunting resource constraints and rely heavily on petroleum for vital population-based health services. Against this backdrop, petroleum scarcity may necessitate reconfiguring local public health service approaches. We describe the anticipated impacts of petroleum scarcity on local health departments, recommend the use of the 10 Essential Public Health Services as a framework for examining attendant operational challenges and potential responses to them, and describe approaches that local health departments and their stakeholders could consider as part of timely planning efforts. PMID:21778471

Effects of scarcity, aesthetics and ecology on wildlife auction prices of large African mammals.

Science.gov (United States)

Dalerum, Fredrik; Miranda, María; Muñiz, Cristina; Rodríguez, Plácido

2018-02-01

For successful integration of biological conservation into economic markets, economic processes need to capture ecological values. South African wildlife ranching is a tourist-based activity that generates unique information on the economic value of wildlife species. We used public data from South African wildlife auctions to evaluate if annual prices 1991-2012 related to species characteristics associated with scarcity, aesthetics and ecology of South African carnivores and ungulates. While none of the species characteristics influenced carnivore prices, ungulate prices were related to characteristics associated with novelty and aesthetics, which relative importance had increased over time. We raise both ecological and economic concerns for this apparent focus. Our results also suggest a potential importance of non-species-related factors, such as market and buyer characteristics. We encourage further evaluation of the relative influences of species characteristics versus factors that are intrinsically linked to economic processes on price variations in South African wildlife.

On the history of a reoccurring concept: phosphorus scarcity.

Science.gov (United States)

Ulrich, Andrea E; Frossard, Emmanuel

2014-08-15

Despite evidence against imminent global phosphate rock depletion, phosphorus (P) scarcity scenarios and the subsequent consequences for global food security continue to be a matter of controversy. We provide a historicizing account to evaluate the degree and relevance of past human experiences with P scarcity. Using more than 80 literature sources, we trace the origin of the P scarcity concept and the first accounts of concerns; we report on three cases of scarcity discourse in the U.S. and revisit the concept of future resources. In addition, we present past evaluations of phosphate rock reserves and lifetime estimates for the world, the U.S., Morocco, and the Western Sahara, as well as past attempts to model phosphorus supply or collect information on phosphate rock. Our results show that current concerns have a long legacy and knowledge base to draw from and that promulgating the notion of depletion is inconsistent with past findings. We find that past depletion concerns were refuted by means of new resource appraisals, indicating that the supply was substantially larger than previously thought. Moreover, recommendations for national P conservation policies and other practices seem to have found little implementation. We demonstrate the merit of historic literacy for social learning and the weakness of the current P sustainability debate because it does not include this past knowledge. Copyright © 2014 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Impact of water scarcity on food security at micro level in Pakistan

OpenAIRE

Fahim, Muhammad Amir

2011-01-01

Pakistan is confronting the problem of water scarcity which is rendering an adverse impact on food security. The study examines the impact of water scarcity on food security in an era of climate change. It further focuses on projecting the future trends of water and food stock. The research effort probes the links among water scarcity, climate change, food security, water security, food inflation, poverty and management of water resources. Data on food security was collected from the FSA (Foo...

Impact of water scarcity on food security at macro level in Pakistan

OpenAIRE

Fahim, Muhammad Amir

2011-01-01

Pakistan is confronting the problem of water scarcity which is rendering an adverse impact on food security. The study examines the impact of water scarcity on food security in an era of climate change. It further focuses on projecting the future trends of water and food stock. The research effort probes the links among water scarcity, climate change, food security, water security, food inflation, poverty and management of water resources. Data on food security was collected from the FSA (Foo...

Impact of water scarcity on food security at meso level in Pakistan

OpenAIRE

Fahim, Muhammad Amir

2011-01-01

Pakistan is confronting the problem of water scarcity which is rendering an adverse impact on food security. The study examines the impact of water scarcity on food security in an era of climate change. It further focuses on projecting the future trends of water and food stock. The research effort probes the links among water scarcity, climate change, food security, water security, food inflation, poverty and management of water resources. Data on food security was collected from the FSA (Foo...

Sensitivity of Water Scarcity Events to ENSO-Driven Climate Variability at the Global Scale

Science.gov (United States)

Veldkamp, T. I. E.; Eisner, S.; Wada, Y.; Aerts, J. C. J. H.; Ward, P. J.

2015-01-01

Globally, freshwater shortage is one of the most dangerous risks for society. Changing hydro-climatic and socioeconomic conditions have aggravated water scarcity over the past decades. A wide range of studies show that water scarcity will intensify in the future, as a result of both increased consumptive water use and, in some regions, climate change. Although it is well-known that El Niño- Southern Oscillation (ENSO) affects patterns of precipitation and drought at global and regional scales, little attention has yet been paid to the impacts of climate variability on water scarcity conditions, despite its importance for adaptation planning. Therefore, we present the first global-scale sensitivity assessment of water scarcity to ENSO, the most dominant signal of climate variability. We show that over the time period 1961-2010, both water availability and water scarcity conditions are significantly correlated with ENSO-driven climate variability over a large proportion of the global land area (> 28.1 %); an area inhabited by more than 31.4% of the global population. We also found, however, that climate variability alone is often not enough to trigger the actual incidence of water scarcity events. The sensitivity of a region to water scarcity events, expressed in terms of land area or population exposed, is determined by both hydro-climatic and socioeconomic conditions. Currently, the population actually impacted by water scarcity events consists of 39.6% (CTA: consumption-to-availability ratio) and 41.1% (WCI: water crowding index) of the global population, whilst only 11.4% (CTA) and 15.9% (WCI) of the global population is at the same time living in areas sensitive to ENSO-driven climate variability. These results are contrasted, however, by differences in growth rates found under changing socioeconomic conditions, which are relatively high in regions exposed to water scarcity events. Given the correlations found between ENSO and water availability and scarcity

On the portents of peak oil (and other indicators of resource scarcity)

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Smith, James L.

2012-01-01

Economists have studied various indicators of resource scarcity but largely ignored the phenomenon of “peaking” due to its connection to non-economic (physical) theories of resource exhaustion. I consider peaking from the economic point of view, where economic forces determine the shape of the equilibrium extraction path. Within that framework, I ask whether the timing of peak production reveals anything useful about scarcity. I find peaking to be an ambiguous indicator. If someone announced the peak would arrive earlier than expected, and you believed them, you would not know whether the news was good or bad. However, I also show that the traditional economic indicators of resource scarcity (price, cost, and rent) fare no better, and argue that previous studies have misconstrued the connection between changes in underlying scarcity and movements in these traditional indicators. - Highlights: ► We ask whether “peak oil” provides a useful economic indicator of scarcity. ► Timing of the peak follows Hotelling's model of inter-temporal equilibrium. ► The peak provides an ambiguous signal. ► Unexpectedly early peaking could be good news or bad. ► The traditional indicators (cost, price, and rent) do not fare much better.

What Nurses Do During Time Scarcity-and Why.

Science.gov (United States)

Jones, Terry L

2016-09-01

Time scarcity is a common occurrence in the nurse work environment that stimulates a decision-making process, known as clinical prioritization or implicit rationing. In implicit rationing, nurses must decide what care they will complete and what they will leave unfinished. Five mechanisms that influence this process are supported in the literature. The effects of these influential mechanisms leave patients vulnerable to unmet educational, psychological, care coordination and discharge planning needs. Potential areas for intervention by nurse leaders include redesigning care delivery models to reduce time scarcity, adding balancing measures to performance monitoring systems to promote patient-centered care, and creating work cultures that support the values of nursing.

Time scarcity and food choices: an overview.

Science.gov (United States)

Jabs, Jennifer; Devine, Carol M

2006-09-01

Time scarcity, the feeling of not having enough time, has been implicated in changes in food consumption patterns such as a decrease in food preparation at home, an increase in the consumption of fast foods, a decrease in family meals, and an increase in the consumption of convenience or ready-prepared foods. These food choices are associated with less healthful diets and may contribute to obesity and chronic health problems such as cardiovascular disease, diabetes, and cancer. In spite of the potential importance for health, there has been little study of how time scarcity influences people's food choices. This paper presents an overview of time issues related to food choices and discuss applications of time research for nutrition and health researchers, policy makers, and practitioners interested in food choice.

Intrinsic pinning in superconductors with extremely small coherence lengths

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Schimmele, L.; Kronmueller, H.; Teichler, H.

1988-01-01

By means of a Ginsburg-Landau-type theory which takes into account the discrete lattice structure the variation of the energy ('Peierls potential') of an isolated flux line is calculated when shifted relatively to the crystal lattice. In particular, a primitive cubic lattice is considered with a straight flux line, aligned parallel to a cubic axis. The resulting Peierls potential may lead to intrinsic pinning if the coherence length is smaller than about two nearest neighbour distances. The coherence lengths at low temperatures determined for the recently discovered high T c superconductors of the YBa 2 Cu 3 O 7 class come very close to this value so that intrinsic pinning might possibly be relevant for these superconductors. (author)

Materials in the economy; material flows, scarcity, and the environment

Science.gov (United States)

Wagner, Lorie A.

2002-01-01

The importance of materials to the economy of the United States is described, including the levels of consumption and uses of materials. The paths (or flows) that materials take from extraction, through processing, to consumer products, and then final disposition are illustrated. Scarcity and environmental issues as they relate to the flow of materials are discussed. Examples for the three main themes of the report (material flows, scarcity, and the environment) are presented.

Drivers And Uncertainties Of Increasing Global Water Scarcity

Science.gov (United States)

Scherer, L.; Pfister, S.

2015-12-01

Water scarcity threatens ecosystems and human health and hampers economic development. It generally depends on the ratio of water consumption to availability. We calculated global, spatially explicit water stress indices (WSIs) which describe the vulnerability to additional water consumption on a scale from 0 (low) to 1 (high) and compare them for the decades 1981-1990 and 2001-2010. Input data are obtained from a multi-model ensemble at a resolution of 0.5 degrees. The variability among the models was used to run 1000 Monte Carlo simulations (latin hypercube sampling) and to subsequently estimate uncertainties of the WSIs. Globally, a trend of increasing water scarcity can be observed, however, uncertainties are large. The probability that this trend is actually occurring is as low as 53%. The increase in WSIs is rather driven by higher water use than lower water availability. Water availability is only 40% likely to decrease whereas water consumption is 67% likely to increase. Independent from the trend, we are already living under water scarce conditions, which is reflected in a consumption-weighted average of monthly WSIs of 0.51 in the recent decade. Its coefficient of variation points with 0.8 to the high uncertainties entailed, which might still hide poor model performance where all models consistently over- or underestimate water availability or use. Especially in arid areas, models generally overestimate availability. Although we do not traverse the planetary boundary of freshwater use as global water availability is sufficient, local water scarcity might be high. Therefore the regionalized assessment of WSIs under uncertainty helps to focus on specific regions to optimise water consumption. These global results can also help to raise awareness of water scarcity, and to suggest relevant measures such as more water efficient technologies to international companies, which have to deal with complex and distributed supply chains (e.g. in food production).

Water Scarcity Hotspots Travel Downstream Due to Human Interventions in the 20th and 21st Century

Science.gov (United States)

Veldkamp, T. I. E.; Wada, Y.; Aerts, J. C. J. H.; Doell, P.; Gosling, S. N.; Liu, J.; Masaki, Y.; Oki, T.; Ostberg, S.; Pokhrel, Y.;

Water scarcity hotspots travel downstream due to human interventions in the 20th and 21st century

Science.gov (United States)

Veldkamp, T. I. E.; Wada, Y.; Aerts, J. C. J. H.; Döll, P.; Gosling, S. N.; Liu, J.; Masaki, Y.; Oki, T.; Ostberg, S.; Pokhrel, Y.; Satoh, Y.; Kim, H.; Ward, P. J.

2017-06-01

Water scarcity is rapidly increasing in many regions. In a novel, multi-model assessment, we examine how human interventions (HI: land use and land cover change, man-made reservoirs and human water use) affected monthly river water availability and water scarcity over the period 1971-2010. Here we show that HI drastically change the critical dimensions of water scarcity, aggravating water scarcity for 8.8% (7.4-16.5%) of the global population but alleviating it for another 8.3% (6.4-15.8%). Positive impacts of HI mostly occur upstream, whereas HI aggravate water scarcity downstream; HI cause water scarcity to travel downstream. Attribution of water scarcity changes to HI components is complex and varies among the hydrological models. Seasonal variation in impacts and dominant HI components is also substantial. A thorough consideration of the spatially and temporally varying interactions among HI components and of uncertainties is therefore crucial for the success of water scarcity adaptation by HI.

Endogenous technological and demographic change under increasing water scarcity

Science.gov (United States)

Pande, Saket; Ertsen, Maurits; Sivapalan, Murugesu

2014-05-01

The ancient civilization in the Indus Valley civilization dispersed under extreme dry conditions; there are indications that the same holds for many other ancient societies. Even contemporary societies, such as the one in Murrumbidgee river basin in Australia, have started to witness a decline in overall population under increasing water scarcity. Hydroclimatic change may not be the sole predictor of the fate of contemporary societies in water scarce regions and many critics of such (perceived) hydroclimatic determinism have suggested that technological change may ameliorate the effects of increasing water scarcity and as such counter the effects of hydroclimatic changes. To study the role of technological change on the dynamics of coupled human-water systems, we develop a simple overlapping-generations model of endogenous technological and demographic change. We model technological change as an endogenous process that depends on factors such as the investments that are (endogenously) made in a society, the (endogenous) diversification of a society into skilled and unskilled workers, a society's patience in terms of its present consumption vs. future consumption, production technology and the (endogenous) interaction of all of these factors. In the model the population growth rate is programmed to decline once consumption per capita crosses a "survival" threshold. This means we do not treat technology as an exogenous random sequence of events, but instead assume that it results (endogenously) from societal actions. The model demonstrates that technological change may indeed ameliorate the effects of increasing water scarcity but typically it does so only to a certain extent. It is possible that technological change may allow a society to escape the effect of increasing water scarcity, leading to a (super)-exponential rise in technology and population. However, such cases require the rate of success of investment in technological advancement to be high. In other

Endogenous technological and population change under increasing water scarcity

Science.gov (United States)

Pande, S.; Ertsen, M.; Sivapalan, M.

2013-11-01

The ancient civilization in the Indus Valley civilization dispersed under extreme dry conditions; there are indications that the same holds for many other ancient societies. Even contemporary societies, such as the one in Murrumbidgee river basin in Australia, have started to witness a decline in overall population under increasing water scarcity. Hydroclimatic change may not be the sole predictor of the fate of contemporary societies in water scarce regions and many critics of such (perceived) hydroclimatic determinism have suggested that technological change may ameliorate the effects of increasing water scarcity and as such counter the effects of hydroclimatic changes. To study the role of technological change on the dynamics of coupled human-water systems, we develop a simple overlapping-generations model of endogenous technological and demographic change. We model technological change as an endogenous process that depends on factors such as the investments that are (endogenously) made in a society, the (endogenous) diversification of a society into skilled and unskilled workers, a society's patience in terms of its present consumption vs. future consumption, production technology and the (endogenous) interaction of all of these factors. In the model the population growth rate is programmed to decline once consumption per capita crosses a "survival" threshold. This means we do not treat technology as an exogenous random sequence of events, but instead assume that it results (endogenously) from societal actions. The model demonstrates that technological change may indeed ameliorate the effects of increasing water scarcity but typically it does so only to a certain extent. It is possible that technological change may allow a society to escape the effect of increasing water scarcity, leading to a (super)-exponential rise in technology and population. However, such cases require the rate of success of investment in technological advancement to be high. In other

Causes of Acute Water Scarcity in the Barind Tract, Bangladesh

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Md. Bazlar Rashid

2013-06-01

Full Text Available The Barind tract is an elevated landmass (about 11-48 m amsl comprised with Pleistocene terraces and is situated in the northwestern part of Bangladesh. At present, this area faces scarcity of water. The present study is an attempt to unveil the causes of water scarcity of the area. Several aspects like change in climatic condition, irrigation practice and drainage characteristics of major rivers are the prime factors for water scarcity. Interpretation of recent satellite imagery and historical records reveal that the major rivers of the area like Ganges (Padma, Tista and Kosi have remarkably migrated from Barind tract during last few hundred years. Shifting of these rivers causes great change in hydrodynamics of the Barind tract. As a result, flow of other related rivers of the area like the Mahananda, Kulic, Tangon, Punarbhaba, Atrai, Little Jamuna, Karatoya and Nagar reduces remarkably in the dry season. As a result aquifers in the area are not recharged sufficiently by river water in the dry season. India constructed Farakka barrage on the Ganges (Padma river in 1975 to divert the flow of water from Bangladesh to the other parts of India. This diversion of water also leads to the decreasing of water in the area. Climatic data interpretation of the last 50 years also reveals that annual rainfall in the area is decreasing while overall temperature is increasing. To boost up the cropping intensity (117% to 200% compared to national average of 174% and to meet present demand 74% of cultivable lands are being irrigated with 96% share of groundwater owing to unavailability or scarcity of rainfall and hence surface water. Irrigation by groundwater has dramatically been increased (250 times in the last 30 years. Due to over exploitation, water table progressively declined (av. rate 0.10 m/year which ultimately leads the area to water scarcity zone. The aquifers are confined or semi-confined and do not get appreciable vertical recharge through clay

Advanced water treatment as a tool in water scarcity management

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Harremoes, Poul

2000-01-01

of water. In the former case, the water is lost by evaporation and polluted. In the latter case, the water is not lost but heavily polluted. With increasing scarcity, the value of water and the need for controls increase. In this situation, water reuse becomes an option that has been considered exotic......The water resource is under increasing pressure, both from the increase in population and from the wish to improve the living standards of the individual. Water scarcity is defined as the situation where demand is greater than the resource. Water scarcity has two distinctly different dimensions......: water availability and water applicability. The availability is a question of quantitative demand relative to resource. The applicability is a question of quality suitability for the intended use of the water. There is a significant difference in this regard with respect to rural versus urban use...

Transgenic crops coping with water scarcity.

Science.gov (United States)

Cominelli, Eleonora; Tonelli, Chiara

2010-11-30

Water scarcity is a serious problem that will be exacerbated by global climate change. Massive quantities of water are used in agriculture, and abiotic stresses, especially drought and increased salinity, are primary causes of crop loss worldwide. Various approaches may be adopted to consume less water in agriculture, one of them being the development of plants that use less water yet maintain high yields in conditions of water scarcity. In recent years several molecular networks concerned with stress perception, signal transduction and stress responses in plants have been elucidated. Consequently, engineering some of the genes involved in these mechanisms promises to enhance plant tolerance to stresses and in particular increase their water use efficiency. Here we review the various approaches used so far to produce transgenic plants having improved tolerance to abiotic stresses, and discuss criteria for choosing which genes to work on (functional and regulatory genes) and which gene expression promoters (constitutive, inducible, and cell-specific) have been used to obtain successful results. Copyright © 2010 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

When less sells more or less : The scarcity principle in wine choice

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Van Herpen, Erica; Pieters, Rik; Zeelenberg, Marcel

2014-01-01

When buying wine, consumers often need to infer unobservable characteristics of the wines that are available. Product scarcity in the store can signal that the quality of a wine is high, either because the product is deemed exclusive (when scarcity is supply-caused) or because the product is deemed

When less sells more or less: The scarcity principle in wine choice

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Herpen, van E.; Pieters, R.; Zeelenberg, M.

2014-01-01

When buying wine, consumers often need to infer unobservable characteristics of the wines that are available. Product scarcity in the store can signal that the quality of a wine is high, either because the product is deemed exclusive (when scarcity is supply-caused) or because the product is deemed

THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN SCARCITY OF NATURAL RESOURCES AND THEIR REAL PRICES

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Roland Toth

2011-01-01

Full Text Available There has been a long running concern about resource depletion. Some argue this concern is misplaced, while others consider it to be an urgent problem requiring immediate action. Economists suggest that long term prices, adjusted for inflation (real prices, provide a useful and effective indicator of resource scarcity. This study tests this hypothesis in consideration of the accepted theory that traditional price deflators, such as the US consumer price index, overestimate inflation-, and accordingly-, are likely to underestimate long term commodity prices. To investigate the usefulness of real prices as an indicator of scarcity, a case study of two metals considered to be expensive (platinum and rhodium and two considered to be relatively inexpensive (copper and lead was used. Real long term price indices were constructed and econometric analysis used to determine the direction and significance of long-term price trends and whether real prices were correlated with other scarcity indicators such as the Reserves-toproduction ratio. The results show, when an appropriate adjustment is made to the deflator, long-run trends in real metal prices are all upward, and there is a significant relationship between the real prices and scarcity indicators, such as the reserves-to-production ratios, for platinum and rhodium, but not for copper and lead. These findings suggest that real prices of platinum and rhodium are more affected by their scarcity, while copper and lead prices are likely to be more dependent on other factors such as high substitutability with other virgin and recycled materials.

Interrogating scarcity: how to think about ‘resource-scarce settings’

Science.gov (United States)

Schrecker, Ted

2013-01-01

The idea of resource scarcity permeates health ethics and health policy analysis in various contexts. However, health ethics inquiry seldom asks—as it should—why some settings are ‘resource-scarce’ and others not. In this article I describe interrogating scarcity as a strategy for inquiry into questions of resource allocation within a single political jurisdiction and, in particular, as an approach to the issue of global health justice in an interconnected world. I demonstrate its relevance to the situation of low- and middle-income countries (LMICs) with brief descriptions of four elements of contemporary globalization: trade agreements; the worldwide financial marketplace and capital flight; structural adjustment; imperial geopolitics and foreign policy. This demonstration involves not only health care, but also social determinants of health. Finally, I argue that interrogating scarcity provides the basis for a new, critical approach to health policy at the interface of ethics and the social sciences, with specific reference to market fundamentalism as the value system underlying contemporary globalization. PMID:22899597

Born small, die young: Intrinsic, size-selective mortality in marine larval fish

KAUST Repository

Garrido, S.

2015-11-24

Mortality during the early stages is a major cause of the natural variations in the size and recruitment strength of marine fish populations. In this study, the relation between the size-at-hatch and early survival was assessed using laboratory experiments and on field-caught larvae of the European sardine (Sardina pilchardus). Larval size-at-hatch was not related to the egg size but was significantly, positively related to the diameter of the otolith-at-hatch. Otolith diameter-at-hatch was also significantly correlated with survival-at-age in fed and unfed larvae in the laboratory. For sardine larvae collected in the Bay of Biscay during the spring of 2008, otolith radius-at-hatch was also significantly related to viability. Larval mortality has frequently been related to adverse environmental conditions and intrinsic factors affecting feeding ability and vulnerability to predators. Our study offers evidence indicating that a significant portion of fish mortality occurs during the endogenous (yolk) and mixed (yolk /prey) feeding period in the absence of predators, revealing that marine fish with high fecundity, such as small pelagics, can spawn a relatively large amount of eggs resulting in small larvae with no chances to survive. Our findings help to better understand the mass mortalities occurring at early stages of marine fish.

Born small, die young: Intrinsic, size-selective mortality in marine larval fish

KAUST Repository

Garrido, S.; Ben-Hamadou, R.; Santos, A.M.P.; Ferreira, S.; Teodó sio, M.A.; Cotano, U.; Irigoien, Xabier; Peck, M.A.; Saiz, E.; Ré , P.

2015-01-01

Mortality during the early stages is a major cause of the natural variations in the size and recruitment strength of marine fish populations. In this study, the relation between the size-at-hatch and early survival was assessed using laboratory experiments and on field-caught larvae of the European sardine (Sardina pilchardus). Larval size-at-hatch was not related to the egg size but was significantly, positively related to the diameter of the otolith-at-hatch. Otolith diameter-at-hatch was also significantly correlated with survival-at-age in fed and unfed larvae in the laboratory. For sardine larvae collected in the Bay of Biscay during the spring of 2008, otolith radius-at-hatch was also significantly related to viability. Larval mortality has frequently been related to adverse environmental conditions and intrinsic factors affecting feeding ability and vulnerability to predators. Our study offers evidence indicating that a significant portion of fish mortality occurs during the endogenous (yolk) and mixed (yolk /prey) feeding period in the absence of predators, revealing that marine fish with high fecundity, such as small pelagics, can spawn a relatively large amount of eggs resulting in small larvae with no chances to survive. Our findings help to better understand the mass mortalities occurring at early stages of marine fish.

A Fragment-Based Method of Creating Small-Molecule Libraries to Target the Aggregation of Intrinsically Disordered Proteins.

Science.gov (United States)

Joshi, Priyanka; Chia, Sean; Habchi, Johnny; Knowles, Tuomas P J; Dobson, Christopher M; Vendruscolo, Michele

2016-03-14

The aggregation process of intrinsically disordered proteins (IDPs) has been associated with a wide range of neurodegenerative disorders, including Alzheimer's and Parkinson's diseases. Currently, however, no drug in clinical use targets IDP aggregation. To facilitate drug discovery programs in this important and challenging area, we describe a fragment-based approach of generating small-molecule libraries that target specific IDPs. The method is based on the use of molecular fragments extracted from compounds reported in the literature to inhibit of the aggregation of IDPs. These fragments are used to screen existing large generic libraries of small molecules to form smaller libraries specific for given IDPs. We illustrate this approach by describing three distinct small-molecule libraries to target, Aβ, tau, and α-synuclein, which are three IDPs implicated in Alzheimer's and Parkinson's diseases. The strategy described here offers novel opportunities for the identification of effective molecular scaffolds for drug discovery for neurodegenerative disorders and to provide insights into the mechanism of small-molecule binding to IDPs.

Water scarcity assessment of steel production in national integrated steelmaking route

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

D. Burchart-Korol

2015-01-01

Full Text Available The main goal of the study was the assessment of the water scarcity in steel production in integrated steelmaking route in Poland. The main goal of Water footprint (WF is quantifying and mapping of direct and indirect water use in life cycle of product or technology. In the paper Water Scarcity Indicators (WSI for steel production and unit processes in integrated steelmaking route was performed.

Impact of Water Scarcity on the Fenhe River Basin and Mitigation Strategies

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Weiwei Shao

2017-01-01

Full Text Available This study produced a drought map for the Fenhe River basin covering the period from 150 BC to 2012 using regional historical drought records. Based on meteorological and hydrological features, the characteristics and causes of water scarcity in the Fenhe River basin were examined, along with their impact on the national economy and ecological environment. The effects of water scarcity in the basin on the national economy were determined from agricultural, industrial, and domestic perspectives. The impact on aquatic ecosystems was ascertained through an evolution trend analysis of surface water systems, including rivers, wetlands, and slope ecosystems, and subterranean water systems, including groundwater and karst springs. As a result of these analyses, strategies are presented for coping with water scarcity in this basin, including engineering countermeasures, such as the construction of a water network in Shanxi, and the non-engineering approach of groundwater resource preservation. These comprehensive coping strategies are proposed with the aim of assisting the prevention and control of water scarcity in the arid and semi-arid areas of China.

Towards a Global Water Scarcity Risk Assessment Framework: Incorporation of Probability Distributions and Hydro-Climatic Variability

Science.gov (United States)

Veldkamp, T. I. E.; Wada, Y.; Aerts, J. C. J. H.; Ward, P. J.

2016-01-01

Changing hydro-climatic and socioeconomic conditions increasingly put pressure on fresh water resources and are expected to aggravate water scarcity conditions towards the future. Despite numerous calls for risk-based water scarcity assessments, a global-scale framework that includes UNISDR's definition of risk does not yet exist. This study provides a first step towards such a risk based assessment, applying a Gamma distribution to estimate water scarcity conditions at the global scale under historic and future conditions, using multiple climate change and population growth scenarios. Our study highlights that water scarcity risk, expressed in terms of expected annual exposed population, increases given all future scenarios, up to greater than 56.2% of the global population in 2080. Looking at the drivers of risk, we find that population growth outweigh the impacts of climate change at global and regional scales. Using a risk-based method to assess water scarcity, we show the results to be less sensitive than traditional water scarcity assessments to the use of fixed threshold to represent different levels of water scarcity. This becomes especially important when moving from global to local scales, whereby deviations increase up to 50% of estimated risk levels.

Quantification of resilience to water scarcity, a dynamic measure in time and space

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

S. P. Simonovic

2016-05-01

Full Text Available There are practical links between water resources management, climate change adaptation and sustainable development leading to reduction of water scarcity risk and re-enforcing resilience as a new development paradigm. Water scarcity, due to the global change (population growth, land use change and climate change, is of serious concern since it can cause loss of human lives and serious damage to the economy of a region. Unfortunately, in many regions of the world, water scarcity is, and will be unavoidable in the near future. As the scarcity is increasing, at the same time it erodes resilience, therefore global change has a magnifying effect on water scarcity risk. In the past, standard water resources management planning considered arrangements for prevention, mitigation, preparedness and recovery, as well as response. However, over the last ten years substantial progress has been made in establishing the role of resilience in sustainable development. Dynamic resilience is considered as a novel measure that provides for better understanding of temporal and spatial dynamics of water scarcity. In this context, a water scarcity is seen as a disturbance in a complex physical-socio-economic system. Resilience is commonly used as a measure to assess the ability of a system to respond and recover from a failure. However, the time independent static resilience without consideration of variability in space does not provide sufficient insight into system's ability to respond and recover from the failure state and was mostly used as a damage avoidance measure. This paper provides an original systems framework for quantification of resilience. The framework is based on the definition of resilience as the ability of physical and socio-economic systems to absorb disturbance while still being able to continue functioning. The disturbance depends on spatial and temporal perspectives and direct interaction between impacts of disturbance (social, health

Mitigating the risk of extreme water scarcity and dependency: the case of Jordan

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Schyns, Joseph Franciscus; Hamaideh, A.; Hoekstra, Arjen Ysbert; Mekonnen, Mesfin; Schyns, M.

2015-01-01

Jordan faces great internal water scarcity and pollution, conflict over trans-boundary waters, and strong dependency on external water resources through trade. This paper analyzes these issues and subsequently reviews options to reduce the risk of extreme water scarcity and dependency. Based on

The world's road to water scarcity: shortage and stress in the 20th century and pathways towards sustainability.

Science.gov (United States)

Kummu, M; Guillaume, J H A; de Moel, H; Eisner, S; Flörke, M; Porkka, M; Siebert, S; Veldkamp, T I E; Ward, P J

2016-12-09

Water scarcity is a rapidly growing concern around the globe, but little is known about how it has developed over time. This study provides a first assessment of continuous sub-national trajectories of blue water consumption, renewable freshwater availability, and water scarcity for the entire 20 th century. Water scarcity is analysed using the fundamental concepts of shortage (impacts due to low availability per capita) and stress (impacts due to high consumption relative to availability) which indicate difficulties in satisfying the needs of a population and overuse of resources respectively. While water consumption increased fourfold within the study period, the population under water scarcity increased from 0.24 billion (14% of global population) in the 1900s to 3.8 billion (58%) in the 2000s. Nearly all sub-national trajectories show an increasing trend in water scarcity. The concept of scarcity trajectory archetypes and shapes is introduced to characterize the historical development of water scarcity and suggest measures for alleviating water scarcity and increasing sustainability. Linking the scarcity trajectories to other datasets may help further deepen understanding of how trajectories relate to historical and future drivers, and hence help tackle these evolving challenges.

Evaluation of the Water Scarcity Energy Cost for Users

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Chiara M. Fontanazza

2013-01-01

Full Text Available In systems experiencing water scarcity and consequent intermittent supply, users often adopt private tanks that collect water during service periods and supply users when the service is not available. The tank may be fed by gravity or by private pumping stations depending on the network pressure level. Once water resources are collected, the tank can supply users by gravity if it is located on the rooftop or by additional pumping if underground. Private tanks thus increase the energy cost of the water supply service for users by introducing several small pumping structures inside the network. The present paper aims to evaluate this users’ energy cost for different private tank configurations. A real case study was analysed, and the results showed that intermittent distribution causes inequalities not only in users’ access to water resource but also costs that users have to bear to have access to water.

Mapping Monthly Water Scarcity in Global Transboundary Basins at Country-Basin Mesh Based Spatial Resolution.

Science.gov (United States)

Degefu, Dagmawi Mulugeta; Weijun, He; Zaiyi, Liao; Liang, Yuan; Zhengwei, Huang; Min, An

2018-02-01

Currently fresh water scarcity is an issue with huge socio-economic and environmental impacts. Transboundary river and lake basins are among the sources of fresh water facing this challenge. Previous studies measured blue water scarcity at different spatial and temporal resolutions. But there is no global water availability and footprint assessment done at country-basin mesh based spatial and monthly temporal resolutions. In this study we assessed water scarcity at these spatial and temporal resolutions. Our results showed that around 1.6 billion people living within the 328 country-basin units out of the 560 we assessed in this study endures severe water scarcity at least for a month within the year. In addition, 175 country-basin units goes through severe water scarcity for 3-12 months in the year. These sub-basins include nearly a billion people. Generally, the results of this study provide insights regarding the number of people and country-basin units experiencing low, moderate, significant and severe water scarcity at a monthly temporal resolution. These insights might help these basins' sharing countries to design and implement sustainable water management and sharing schemes.

From water use to water scarcity footprinting in environmentally extended input-output analysis.

Science.gov (United States)

Ridoutt, Bradley George; Hadjikakou, Michalis; Nolan, Martin; Bryan, Brett A

2018-05-18

Environmentally extended input-output analysis (EEIOA) supports environmental policy by quantifying how demand for goods and services leads to resource use and emissions across the economy. However, some types of resource use and emissions require spatially-explicit impact assessment for meaningful interpretation, which is not possible in conventional EEIOA. For example, water use in locations of scarcity and abundance is not environmentally equivalent. Opportunities for spatially-explicit impact assessment in conventional EEIOA are limited because official input-output tables tend to be produced at the scale of political units which are not usually well aligned with environmentally relevant spatial units. In this study, spatially-explicit water scarcity factors and a spatially disaggregated Australian water use account were used to develop water scarcity extensions that were coupled with a multi-regional input-output model (MRIO). The results link demand for agricultural commodities to the problem of water scarcity in Australia and globally. Important differences were observed between the water use and water scarcity footprint results, as well as the relative importance of direct and indirect water use, with significant implications for sustainable production and consumption-related policies. The approach presented here is suggested as a feasible general approach for incorporating spatially-explicit impact assessment in EEIOA.

Global assessment of water policy vulnerability under uncertainty in water scarcity projections

Science.gov (United States)

Greve, Peter; Kahil, Taher; Satoh, Yusuke; Burek, Peter; Fischer, Günther; Tramberend, Sylvia; Byers, Edward; Flörke, Martina; Eisner, Stephanie; Hanasaki, Naota; Langan, Simon; Wada, Yoshihide

2017-04-01

Water scarcity is a critical environmental issue worldwide, which has been driven by the significant increase in water extractions during the last century. In the coming decades, climate change is projected to further exacerbate water scarcity conditions in many regions around the world. At present, one important question for policy debate is the identification of water policy interventions that could address the mounting water scarcity problems. Main interventions include investing in water storage infrastructures, water transfer canals, efficient irrigation systems, and desalination plants, among many others. This type of interventions involve long-term planning, long-lived investments and some irreversibility in choices which can shape development of countries for decades. Making decisions on these water infrastructures requires anticipating the long term environmental conditions, needs and constraints under which they will function. This brings large uncertainty in the decision-making process, for instance from demographic or economic projections. But today, climate change is bringing another layer of uncertainty that make decisions even more complex. In this study, we assess in a probabilistic approach the uncertainty in global water scarcity projections following different socioeconomic pathways (SSPs) and climate scenarios (RCPs) within the first half of the 21st century. By utilizing an ensemble of 45 future water scarcity projections based on (i) three state-of-the-art global hydrological models (PCR-GLOBWB, H08, and WaterGAP), (ii) five climate models, and (iii) three water scenarios, we have assessed changes in water scarcity and the associated uncertainty distribution worldwide. The water scenarios used here are developed by IIASA's Water Futures and Solutions (WFaS) Initiative. The main objective of this study is to improve the contribution of hydro-climatic information to effective policymaking by identifying spatial and temporal policy

Targeting the intrinsically disordered structural ensemble of α-synuclein by small molecules as a potential therapeutic strategy for Parkinson's disease.

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Gergely Tóth

Full Text Available The misfolding of intrinsically disordered proteins such as α-synuclein, tau and the Aβ peptide has been associated with many highly debilitating neurodegenerative syndromes including Parkinson's and Alzheimer's diseases. Therapeutic targeting of the monomeric state of such intrinsically disordered proteins by small molecules has, however, been a major challenge because of their heterogeneous conformational properties. We show here that a combination of computational and experimental techniques has led to the identification of a drug-like phenyl-sulfonamide compound (ELN484228, that targets α-synuclein, a key protein in Parkinson's disease. We found that this compound has substantial biological activity in cellular models of α-synuclein-mediated dysfunction, including rescue of α-synuclein-induced disruption of vesicle trafficking and dopaminergic neuronal loss and neurite retraction most likely by reducing the amount of α-synuclein targeted to sites of vesicle mobilization such as the synapse in neurons or the site of bead engulfment in microglial cells. These results indicate that targeting α-synuclein by small molecules represents a promising approach to the development of therapeutic treatments of Parkinson's disease and related conditions.

Sub-seasonal predictability of water scarcity at global and local scale

Science.gov (United States)

Wanders, N.; Wada, Y.; Wood, E. F.

2016-12-01

Forecasting the water demand and availability for agriculture and energy production has been neglected in previous research, partly due to the fact that most large-scale hydrological models lack the skill to forecast human water demands at sub-seasonal time scale. We study the potential of a sub-seasonal water scarcity forecasting system for improved water management decision making and improved estimates of water demand and availability. We have generated 32 years of global sub-seasonal multi-model water availability, demand and scarcity forecasts. The quality of the forecasts is compared to a reference forecast derived from resampling historic weather observations. The newly developed system has been evaluated for both the global scale and in a real-time local application in the Sacramento valley for the Trinity, Shasta and Oroville reservoirs, where the water demand for agriculture and hydropower is high. On the global scale we find that the reference forecast shows high initial forecast skill (up to 8 months) for water scarcity in the eastern US, Central Asia and Sub-Saharan Africa. Adding dynamical sub-seasonal forecasts results in a clear improvement for most regions in the world, increasing the forecasts' lead time by 2 or more months on average. The strongest improvements are found in the US, Brazil, Central Asia and Australia. For the Sacramento valley we can accurately predict anomalies in the reservoir inflow, hydropower potential and the downstream irrigation water demand 6 months in advance. This allow us to forecast potential water scarcity in the Sacramento valley and adjust the reservoir management to prevent deficits in energy or irrigation water availability. The newly developed forecast system shows that it is possible to reduce the vulnerability to upcoming water scarcity events and allows optimization of the distribution of the available water between the agricultural and energy sector half a year in advance.

Measurement uncertainties in regression analysis with scarcity of data

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Sousa, J A; Ribeiro, A S; Cox, M G; Harris, P M; Sousa, J F V

2010-01-01

The evaluation of measurement uncertainty, in certain fields of science, faces the problem of scarcity of data. This is certainly the case in the testing of geological soils in civil engineering, where tests can take several days or weeks and where the same sample is not available for further testing, being destroyed during the experiment. In this particular study attention will be paid to triaxial compression tests used to typify particular soils. The purpose of the testing is to determine two parameters that characterize the soil, namely, cohesion and friction angle. These parameters are defined in terms of the intercept and slope of a straight line fitted to a small number of points (usually three) derived from experimental data. The use of ordinary least squares to obtain uncertainties associated with estimates of the two parameters would be unreliable if there were only three points (and no replicates) and hence only one degrees of freedom.

The world’s road to water scarcity: shortage and stress in the 20th century and pathways towards sustainability

Science.gov (United States)

Kummu, M.; Guillaume, J. H. A.; de Moel, H.; Eisner, S.; Flörke, M.; Porkka, M.; Siebert, S.; Veldkamp, T. I. E.; Ward, P. J.

2016-01-01

Water scarcity is a rapidly growing concern around the globe, but little is known about how it has developed over time. This study provides a first assessment of continuous sub-national trajectories of blue water consumption, renewable freshwater availability, and water scarcity for the entire 20th century. Water scarcity is analysed using the fundamental concepts of shortage (impacts due to low availability per capita) and stress (impacts due to high consumption relative to availability) which indicate difficulties in satisfying the needs of a population and overuse of resources respectively. While water consumption increased fourfold within the study period, the population under water scarcity increased from 0.24 billion (14% of global population) in the 1900s to 3.8 billion (58%) in the 2000s. Nearly all sub-national trajectories show an increasing trend in water scarcity. The concept of scarcity trajectory archetypes and shapes is introduced to characterize the historical development of water scarcity and suggest measures for alleviating water scarcity and increasing sustainability. Linking the scarcity trajectories to other datasets may help further deepen understanding of how trajectories relate to historical and future drivers, and hence help tackle these evolving challenges. PMID:27934888

Fully automated intrinsic respiratory and cardiac gating for small animal CT

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Kuntz, J; Baeuerle, T; Semmler, W; Bartling, S H [Department of Medical Physics in Radiology, German Cancer Research Center, Heidelberg (Germany); Dinkel, J [Department of Radiology, German Cancer Research Center, Heidelberg (Germany); Zwick, S [Department of Diagnostic Radiology, Medical Physics, Freiburg University (Germany); Grasruck, M [Siemens Healthcare, Forchheim (Germany); Kiessling, F [Chair of Experimental Molecular Imaging, RWTH-Aachen University, Medical Faculty, Aachen (Germany); Gupta, R [Department of Radiology, Massachusetts General Hospital, Boston, MA (United States)], E-mail: j.kuntz@dkfz.de

2010-04-07

A fully automated, intrinsic gating algorithm for small animal cone-beam CT is described and evaluated. A parameter representing the organ motion, derived from the raw projection images, is used for both cardiac and respiratory gating. The proposed algorithm makes it possible to reconstruct motion-corrected still images as well as to generate four-dimensional (4D) datasets representing the cardiac and pulmonary anatomy of free-breathing animals without the use of electrocardiogram (ECG) or respiratory sensors. Variation analysis of projections from several rotations is used to place a region of interest (ROI) on the diaphragm. The ROI is cranially extended to include the heart. The centre of mass (COM) variation within this ROI, the filtered frequency response and the local maxima are used to derive a binary motion-gating parameter for phase-sensitive gated reconstruction. This algorithm was implemented on a flat-panel-based cone-beam CT scanner and evaluated using a moving phantom and animal scans (seven rats and eight mice). Volumes were determined using a semiautomatic segmentation. In all cases robust gating signals could be obtained. The maximum volume error in phantom studies was less than 6%. By utilizing extrinsic gating via externally placed cardiac and respiratory sensors, the functional parameters (e.g. cardiac ejection fraction) and image quality were equivalent to this current gold standard. This algorithm obviates the necessity of both gating hardware and user interaction. The simplicity of the proposed algorithm enables adoption in a wide range of small animal cone-beam CT scanners.

Food security, irrigation, climate change, and water scarcity in India

Science.gov (United States)

Hertel, T. W.; Taheripour, F.; Gopalakrishnan, B. N.; Sahin, S.; Escurra, J.

2015-12-01

This paper uses an advanced CGE model (Taheripour et al., 2013) coupled with hydrological projections of future water scarcity and biophysical data on likely crop yields under climate change to examine how water scarcity, climate change, and trade jointly alter land use changes across the Indian subcontinent. Climate shocks to rainfed and irrigated yields in 2030 are based on the p-DSSAT crop model, RCP 2.6, as reported under the AgMIP project (Rosenzweig et al., 2013), accessed through GEOSHARE (Villoria et al, 2014). Results show that, when water scarcity is ignored, irrigated areas grow in the wake of climate change as the returns to irrigation rise faster than for rainfed uses of land within a given agro-ecological zone. When non-agricultural competition for future water use, as well as anticipated supply side limitations are brought into play (Rosegrant et al., 2013), the opportunity cost of water rises across all river basins, with the increase ranging from 12% (Luni) to 44% (Brahmaputra). As a consequence, irrigated crop production is curtailed in most regions (Figure 1), with the largest reductions coming in the most water intensive crops, namely rice and wheat. By reducing irrigated area, which tends to have much higher yields, the combined effects of water scarcity and climate impacts require an increase in total cropped area, which rises by about 240,000 ha. The majority of this area expansion occurs in the Ganges, Indus, and Brahmari river basins. Overall crop output falls by about 2 billion, relative to the 2030 baseline, with imports rising by about 570 million. The combined effects of climate change and water scarcity for irrigation also have macro-economic consequences, resulting in a 0.28% reduction in GDP and an increase in the consumer price index by about 0.4% in 2030, compared the baseline. The national welfare impact on India amounts to roughly 3 billion (at 2007 prices) in 2030. Assuming a 3% social discount rate, the net present value of the

Water scarcity and urban forest management: introduction

Science.gov (United States)

E. Gregory McPherson; Robert Prince

2013-01-01

Between 1997 and 2009 a serious drought affected much of Australia. Whether reasoned or unintentional, water policy decisions closed the tap, turning much of the urban forest’s lifeline into a trickle. Green infrastructure became brown infrastructure, exposing its standing as a low priority relative to other consumptive sources. To share new solutions to water scarcity...

Blue water scarcity and the economic impacts of future agricultural trade and demand

Science.gov (United States)

Schmitz, Christoph; Lotze-Campen, Hermann; Gerten, Dieter; Dietrich, Jan Philipp; Bodirsky, Benjamin; Biewald, Anne; Popp, Alexander

2013-06-01

An increasing demand for agricultural goods affects the pressure on global water resources over the coming decades. In order to quantify these effects, we have developed a new agroeconomic water scarcity indicator, considering explicitly economic processes in the agricultural system. The indicator is based on the water shadow price generated by an economic land use model linked to a global vegetation-hydrology model. Irrigation efficiency is implemented as a dynamic input depending on the level of economic development. We are able to simulate the heterogeneous distribution of water supply and agricultural water demand for irrigation through the spatially explicit representation of agricultural production. This allows in identifying regional hot spots of blue water scarcity and explicit shadow prices for water. We generate scenarios based on moderate policies regarding future trade liberalization and the control of livestock-based consumption, dependent on different population and gross domestic product (GDP) projections. Results indicate increased water scarcity in the future, especially in South Asia, the Middle East, and north Africa. In general, water shadow prices decrease with increasing liberalization, foremost in South Asia, Southeast Asia, and the Middle East. Policies to reduce livestock consumption in developed countries not only lower the domestic pressure on water but also alleviate water scarcity to a large extent in developing countries. It is shown that one of the two policy options would be insufficient for most regions to retain water scarcity in 2045 on levels comparable to 2005.

Deuterium NMR, induced and intrinsic cholesteric lyomesophases

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Alcantara, M.R.

1982-01-01

Induced and intrinsic cholesteric lyotropic mesophases were studied. Induced cholesteric lyomesophases based on potassium laurate (KL) system, with small amounts of cholesterol added, were studied by deuterium NMR and by polarizing microscopy. Order profiles obtained from deuterium NMR of KL perdenderated chains in both induced cholesteric and normal mesophases were compared. The intrinsic cholesteric lyotropic mesophases were based on the amphiphile potassium N-lauroyl serinate (KLNS) in the resolved levo form. The study of the type I intrinsic cholesteric mesophase was made by optical microscopy under polarized light and the type II intrinsic cholesteric lyomesophase was characterized by deuterium NMR. The new texture was explained by the use of the theory of disclinations developed for thermotropic liquid crystals, specially for cholesteric type. (M.J.C.) [pt

Mitigating the Risk of Extreme Water Scarcity and Dependency: The Case of Jordan

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Joep F. Schyns

2015-10-01

Full Text Available Jordan faces great internal water scarcity and pollution, conflict over trans-boundary waters, and strong dependency on external water resources through trade. This paper analyzes these issues and subsequently reviews options to reduce the risk of extreme water scarcity and dependency. Based on estimates of water footprint, water availability, and virtual water trade, we find that groundwater consumption is nearly double the groundwater availability, water pollution aggravates blue water scarcity, and Jordan’s external virtual water import dependency is 86%. The review of response options yields 10 ingredients for a strategy for Jordan to mitigate the risks of extreme water scarcity and dependency. With respect to these ingredients, Jordan’s current water policy requires a strong redirection towards water demand management. Actual implementation of the plans in the national water strategy (against existing oppositions would be a first step. However, more attention should be paid to reducing water demand by changing the consumption pattern of Jordanian consumers. Moreover, unsustainable exploitation of the fossil Disi aquifer should soon be halted and planned desalination projects require careful consideration regarding the sustainability of their energy supply.

Analysis of Water Use and Water Scarcity in Arid and Semi-arid Regions

Science.gov (United States)

Samayoa, S. D.

2017-12-01

Analysis of Water Use and Water Scarcity in Arid and Semi-arid Regions Susana Samayoa , Muhammed A. G. Chowdhury, Tushar Sinha Department of Environmental Engineering, Texas A & M University - Kingsville Freshwater sustainability in arid and semi-arid regions is highly uncertain under increasing demands due to population growth and urban development as well as limited water supply. In particular, six largest cities by population among the top twenty U.S. cities are located in Texas (TX), which also experience high variability in water availability due to frequent droughts and floods. Similarly, several regions in Arizona (AZ) are rapidly growing (e.g. Phoenix and Tucson) despite receiving scanty rainfall. Thus, the goal of this study is to analyze water use and water scarcity in watersheds within TX and AZ between 1985 and 2010. The water use data from U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) is analyzed by Hydrological Unit Code (HUC) - 8 within TX and AZ. Total freshwater use by county during 1985 and 2010 were converted into water use by HUC-8 using geospatial analysis. Water availability will be estimated by using a large scale Variable Infiltration Capacity (VIC) hydrologic model. The VIC model will be calibrated and validated for multiple basins located in Texas and Arizona. The VIC model simulated total streamflow will be aggregated across the 1/8 degree grids that are within each HUC-8 to estimate water supply. The excess water for upstream HUC-8s (= local supply minus demands) will be routed, in addition to locally generated streamflow, to estimate water availability in downstream HUC-8s. Water Scarcity Index, defined as the ratio of total freshwater demand to supply, will be estimated during 1985 and 2010 to evaluate the effects of water availability and demands on scarcity. Finally, water scarcity and use will be analyzed by HUC-8s within TX and AZ. Such information could be useful in water resources management and planning. Keywords: Water scarcity, water use

Irrigation of pistachios : strategies to confront water scarcity

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Pérez-López, David; Memmi, Houssem; Gijón-López, Maria del Carmen; Moreno, Marta Maria; Couceiro, José Francisco; Centeno, Ana; Martín-Palomo, Maria J.; Corell, Mireia; Noguera-Artiaga, Luis; Galindo Egea, Alejandro; Torrecillas, Arturo; Moriana, Alfonso; Tejero, Ivan Francisco Garcia; Zuazo, Victor Hugo Duran

2017-01-01

Pistachio trees are capable to be profitable under rain-fed conditions. They also have a good response to low amounts of irrigation water, so are a great candidate to be considered for water-scarcity scenarios. The pistachio tree has a singular way of alternate bearing, losing a percentage of its

Beyond territory and scarcity

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

The attainment of sound and sustainable environmental management is one of humanity's greatest challenges this century, particularly in Africa, which is still heavily dependent on the exploitation of natural and agricultural resources and is faced with rapid population growth. Yet, this challenge...... alternatives to the strong natural determinism that reduces natural resource management to questions of territory and scarcity. - Presenting material and methodologies that explore the different contexts in which social and cultural values intervene, and discovering more than "rational choice" in the agency...... of individuals. - Examining the relevance of the different conceptions of territory for the ways in which people manage, or attempt to manage, natural resources. - Placing their research within the framework of the developing discussion on policy and politics in natural resource management. The studies are drawn...

Water scarcity under scenarios for global climate change and regional development in semiarid Northeastern Brazil

NARCIS (Netherlands)

de Araújo, José Carlos; Döll, Petra; Güntner, Andreas; Krol, Martinus S.; Rodrigues Abreu, Cláudia Beghini; Hauschild, Maike; Mendiondo, Eduardo Mario

2004-01-01

The State of Ceará, located in semiarid Northeastern Brazil, suffers under irregularly recurring droughts that go along with water scarcity. Structural policies to control and reduce water scarcity, as water supply and demand management, should be seen as long-term planning, and thus have to

Intrinsic and Extrinsic Regulation of PD-L2 Expression in Oncogene-Driven Non-Small Cell Lung Cancer.

Science.gov (United States)

Shibahara, Daisuke; Tanaka, Kentaro; Iwama, Eiji; Kubo, Naoki; Ota, Keiichi; Azuma, Koichi; Harada, Taishi; Fujita, Jiro; Nakanishi, Yoichi; Okamoto, Isamu

2018-03-27

The interaction of programmed cell death ligand 2 (PD-L2) with programmed cell death 1 is implicated in tumor immune escape. The regulation of PD-L2 expression in tumor cells has remained unclear, however. We here examined intrinsic and extrinsic regulation of PD-L2 expression in NSCLC. PD-L2 expression was evaluated by reverse transcription and real-time polymerase chain reaction analysis and by flow cytometry. BEAS-2B cells stably expressing an activated mutant form of EGFR or the echinoderm microtubule associated protein like 4 (EML4)-ALK receptor tyrosine kinase fusion oncoprotein manifested increased expression of PD-L2 at both the mRNA and protein levels. Furthermore, treatment of NSCLC cell lines that harbor such driver oncogenes with corresponding EGFR or ALK tyrosine kinase inhibitors or depletion of EGFR or ALK by small interfering RNA transfection suppressed expression of PD-L2, demonstrating that activating EGFR mutations or echinoderm microtubule associated protein like 4 gene (EML4)-ALK receptor tyrosine kinase gene (ALK) fusion intrinsically induce PD-L2 expression. We also found that interferon gamma (IFN-γ) extrinsically induced expression of PD-L2 through signal transducer and activator of transcription 1 signaling in NSCLC cells. Oncogene-driven expression of PD-L2 in NSCLC cells was inhibited by knockdown of the transcription factors signal transducer and activator of transcription 3 (STAT3) or c-FOS. IFN-γ also activated STAT3 and c-FOS, suggesting that these proteins may also contribute to the extrinsic induction of PD-L2 expression. Expression of PD-L2 is induced intrinsically by activating EGFR mutations or EML4-ALK fusion and extrinsically by IFN-γ, with STAT3 and c-FOS possibly contributing to both intrinsic and extrinsic pathways. Our results thus provide insight into the complexity of tumor immune escape in NSCLC. Copyright © 2018 International Association for the Study of Lung Cancer. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Climate change and water scarcity effects on the rural income distribution in the Mediterranean

Science.gov (United States)

Quiroga, Sonia; Suárez, Cristina

2015-04-01

This paper examines the effects of climate change and water scarcity on the agricultural outputs in the Mediterranean region. By now the effects of water scarcity as a response to climate change or policy restrictions has been analyzed with response functions considering the direct effects on crop productivity. Here we consider a complementary indirect effect on social distribution of incomes which is essential in the long term. We estimate crop production functions for a range of Mediterranean crops in Spain and we use a decomposition of the Gini coefficient to estimate the impact of climate change and water scarcity on yield disparities. This social aspect is important for climate change policies since it can be determinant for the public acceptation of certain adaptation measures in a context of water scarcity. We provide the empirical estimations for the marginal effects on the two considered direct and indirect impacts. In our estimates we consider both bio-physical and socio-economic aspects to conclude that there are long term implications on both competitiveness and social disparities. We find disparities in the adaptation strategies depending on the crop and the region analyzed.

Assessment of freshwater scarcity using a model based on supply and demand law

OpenAIRE

Escribano Rodríguez de Robles, Beatriz; Sellarès González, Jordi; Xercavins, Josep

2011-01-01

The main goal of this work is to provide an analysis methodology for assessment of water scarcity problems based on supply and demand. To this end, we must first determine what can be considered as supply and demand in the water scarcity problem. Although some variables involved are physical, economical or demographical, in our approach social factors are also included. This leads us to objectify water demand standards in relation to acceptable welfare levels. Within this appro...

Butyricicoccus pullicaecorum, a butyrate producer with probiotic potential, is intrinsically tolerant to stomach and small intestine conditions.

Science.gov (United States)

Geirnaert, Annelies; Steyaert, Alix; Eeckhaut, Venessa; Debruyne, Bo; Arends, Jan B A; Van Immerseel, Filip; Boon, Nico; Van de Wiele, Tom

2014-12-01

Butyrate has several beneficial properties that are essential to maintain gastrointestinal health. Therefore butyrate-producing bacteria are seen as the next generation of probiotics. The butyrate-producing bacterium Butyricicoccus pullicaecorum (a clostridial cluster IV strain) is such a promising probiotic candidate for people suffering from inflammatory bowel disease. To exert its beneficial properties, it is crucial that B. pullicaecorum survives the harsh conditions of the upper gastrointestinal tract to arrive in the colon in a viable and metabolically active state. Before developing a stable formulation of B. pullicaecorum for oral administration, it is important to know its intrinsic acid and bile tolerance. We monitored the survival during and short chain fatty acid production after incubation in conditions simulating the stomach and small intestine using in vitro batch experiments. In case of acid conditions (pH 2 and pH 3), B. pullicaecorum was viable and active but not cultivable. Cultivability was restored during subsequent small intestine conditions. Importantly, bile and pancreatic juice had no lethal effect. Milk, as a suspension medium, only had a protective effect on the cultivability during the first hour at pH 2. B. pullicaecorum was still metabolically active after upper gastrointestinal conditions and produced short chain fatty acids, but a shift from butyrate to acetate production was observed. Although the butyrate-producing anaerobe B. pullicaecorum showed good intrinsic acid and bile tolerance in terms of viability and metabolic activity, colonization efficiency and butyrate production under colon conditions is needed to further evaluate its probiotic potential. Copyright © 2014 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Small-angle scattering studies of intrinsically disordered proteins and their complexes

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Cordeiro, Tiago N.; Herranz-Trillo, Fátima; Urbanek, Annika

2017-01-01

Intrinsically Disordered Proteins (IDPs) perform a broad range of biological functions. Their relevance has motivated intense research activity seeking to characterize their sequence/structure/function relationships. However, the conformational plasticity of these molecules hampers the applicatio...

Maldistribution or scarcity of nurses? The devil is in the detail.

Science.gov (United States)

Both-Nwabuwe, Jitske M C; Dijkstra, Maria T M; Klink, Ab; Beersma, Bianca

2018-03-01

The goal of this paper was to improve our understanding of nursing shortages across the variety of health care sectors and how this may affect the agenda for addressing nursing shortages. A health care sector comprises a number of health care services for one particular type of patient care, for example, the hospital care sector. Most Western countries are shifting health care services from hospital care towards community and home care, thus increasing nursing workforce challenges in home and community care. In order to implement appropriate policy responses to nursing workforce challenges, we need to know if these challenges are caused by maldistribution of nurses and/or the scarcity of nurses in general. Focusing on the Netherlands, we reviewed articles based on data of a labour market research programme and/or data from the Dutch Employed Persons' Insurance Administration Agency. The data were analysed using a data synthesis approach. Nursing shortages are unevenly distributed across the various health care sectors. Shortages of practical nurses are caused by maldistribution, with a long-term projected surplus of practical nurses in hospitals and projected shortages in nursing/convalescent homes and home care. Shortages of first-level registered nurses are caused by general scarcity in the long term, mainly in hospitals and home care. Nursing workforce challenges are caused by a maldistribution of nurses and the scarcity of nurses in general. To implement appropriate policy responses to nursing workforce challenges, integrated health care workforce planning is necessary. Integrated workforce planning models could forecast the impact of health care transformation plans and guide national policy decisions on transitioning programmes. Effective transitioning programmes are required to address nursing shortages and to diminish maldistribution. In addition, increased recruitment and retention as well as new models of care are required to address the scarcity of

Towards Sustainable Water Management in a Country that Faces Extreme Water Scarcity and Dependency: Jordan

Science.gov (United States)

Schyns, J.; Hamaideh, A.; Hoekstra, A. Y.; Mekonnen, M. M.; Schyns, M.

2015-12-01

Jordan faces a great variety of water-related challenges: domestic water resources are scarce and polluted; the sharing of transboundary waters has led to tensions and conflicts; and Jordan is extremely dependent of foreign water resources through trade. Therefore, sustainable water management in Jordan is a challenging task, which has not yet been accomplished. The objective of this study was to analyse Jordan's domestic water scarcity and pollution and the country's external water dependency, and subsequently review sustainable solutions that reduce the risk of extreme water scarcity and dependency. We have estimated the green, blue and grey water footprint of five different sectors in Jordan: crop production, grazing, animal water supply, industrial production and domestic water supply. Next, we assessed the blue water scarcity ratio for the sum of surface- and groundwater and for groundwater separately, and calculated the water pollution level. Finally, we reviewed the sustainability of proposed solutions to Jordan's domestic water problems and external water dependency in literature, while involving the results and conclusions from our analysis. We have quantified that: even while taking into account the return flows, blue water scarcity in Jordan is severe; groundwater consumption is nearly double the sustainable yield; water pollution aggravates blue water scarcity; and Jordan's external virtual water dependency is 86%. Our review yields ten essential ingredients that a sustainable water management strategy for Jordan, that reduces the risk of extreme water scarcity and dependency, should involve. With respect to these, Jordan's current water policy requires a strong redirection towards water demand management. Especially, more attention should be paid to reducing water demand by changing the consumption patterns of Jordan consumers. Moreover, exploitation of fossil groundwater should soon be halted and planned desalination projects require careful

Uncertainty Analysis of the Water Scarcity Footprint Based on the AWARE Model Considering Temporal Variations

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Jong Seok Lee

2018-03-01

Full Text Available The purpose of this paper is to compare the degree of uncertainty of the water scarcity footprint using the Monte Carlo statistical method and block bootstrap method. Using the hydrological data of a water drainage basin in Korea, characterization factors based on the available water remaining (AWARE model were obtained. The uncertainties of the water scarcity footprint considering temporal variations in paddy rice production in Korea were estimated. The block bootstrap method gave five-times smaller percentage uncertainty values of the model output compared to that of the two different Monte Carlo statistical method scenarios. Incorrect estimation of the probability distribution of the AWARE characterization factor model is what causes the higher uncertainty in the water scarcity footprint value calculated by the Monte Carlo statistical method in this study. This is because AWARE characterization factor values partly follows discrete distribution with extreme value on one side. Therefore, this study suggests that the block bootstrap method is a better choice in analyzing uncertainty compared to the Monte Carlo statistical method when using the AWARE model to quantify the water scarcity footprint.

Scarcity and the future of politics. [Conceptualizing political system as resource-distribution mechanism

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Orr, D W

1976-06-01

Assuming that a political system is a resource-distribution mechanism, the author examines the possible effects of the predicted new age of scarcity on the system built on the assumption of continuing abundance of both energy and resource stocks. He does this by examining generally the relationship between the carrying capacity (along a scarcity and abundance continuum) and the value system (along a steady-state and growth-oriented continuum), and showing the possible outcomes of the interaction between the two. 35 references.

Growing water scarcity in agriculture: future challenge to global water security.

Science.gov (United States)

Falkenmark, Malin

2013-11-13

As water is an essential component of the planetary life support system, water deficiency constitutes an insecurity that has to be overcome in the process of socio-economic development. The paper analyses the origin and appearance of blue as well as green water scarcity on different scales and with particular focus on risks to food production and water supply for municipalities and industry. It analyses water scarcity originating from both climatic phenomena and water partitioning disturbances on different scales: crop field, country level and the global circulation system. The implications by 2050 of water scarcity in terms of potential country-level water deficits for food self-reliance are analysed, and the compensating dependence on trade in virtual water for almost half the world population is noted. Planetary-scale conditions for sustainability of the global water circulation system are discussed in terms of a recently proposed Planetary Freshwater Boundary, and the consumptive water use reserve left to be shared between water requirements for global food production, fuelwood production and carbon sequestration is discussed. Finally, the importance of a paradigm shift in the further conceptual development of water security is stressed, so that adequate attention is paid to water's fundamental role in both natural and socio-economic systems.

The risk of water scarcity at different levels of global warming

Science.gov (United States)

Schewe, Jacob; Sharpe, Simon

2015-04-01

Water scarcity is a threat to human well-being and economic development in many countries today. Future climate change is expected to exacerbate the global water crisis by reducing renewable freshwater resources different world regions, many of which are already dry. Studies of future water scarcity often focus on most-likely, or highest-confidence, scenarios. However, multi-model projections of water resources reveal large uncertainty ranges, which are due to different types of processes (climate, hydrology, human) and are therefore not easy to reduce. Thus, central estimates or multi-model mean results may be insufficient to inform policy and management. Here we present an alternative, risk-based approach. We use an ensemble of multiple global climate and hydrological models to quantify the likelihood of crossing a given water scarcity threshold under different levels of global warming. This approach allows assessing the risk associated with any particular, pre-defined threshold (or magnitude of change that must be avoided), regardless of whether it lies in the center or in the tails of the uncertainty distribution. We show applications of this method on the country and river basin scale, illustrate the effects of societal processes on the resulting risk estimates, and discuss the further potential of this approach for research and stakeholder dialogue.

Water Scarcity and Future Challenges for Food Production

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Noemi Mancosu

2015-03-01

Full Text Available Present water shortage is one of the primary world issues, and according to climate change projections, it will be more critical in the future. Since water availability and accessibility are the most significant constraining factors for crop production, addressing this issue is indispensable for areas affected by water scarcity. Current and future issues related to “water scarcity” are reviewed in this paper so as to highlight the necessity of a more sustainable approach to water resource management. As a consequence of increasing water scarcity and drought, resulting from climate change, considerable water use for irrigation is expected to occur in the context of tough competition between agribusiness and other sectors of the economy. In addition, the estimated increment of the global population growth rate points out the inevitable increase of food demand in the future, with an immediate impact on farming water use. Since a noteworthy relationship exists between the water possessions of a country and the capacity for food production, assessing the irrigation needs is indispensable for water resource planning in order to meet food needs and avoid excessive water consumption.

Adaptation strategies to water scarcity in the Mediterranean induce a complexification of hydrosystems

Science.gov (United States)

La Jeunesse, Isabelle; Cirelli, Claudia; Larrue, Corinne; Aubin, David

2013-04-01

The Mediterranean and neighboring countries are already experiencing broad range of natural and man-made threats to water security. According to the latest reports of the intergovernmental panel on climate change, the region is at risk due to its pronounced susceptibility to changes in the hydrological budget and extremes. Such changes are expected to have strong impacts on the management of water resources and security from an ecological, economic and social angle. This communication asks the question of the relevance of the comparison of the solutions implemented to face water scarcity in two cases a priori not comparable: (i) the Thau coastal lagoon and its catchment in the South of France, (ii) the Rio Mannu catchment in Sardinia, the second Island in the South of Italia. The Thau coastal lagoon on the French coast is caracterised by intensive shellfish farming production in the lagoon waters and summer tourism with regard to the mediterranean coast. Its territory is also supporting industrial and commercial activities concentrated around Frontignan and Sète ports and the expansion of the small villages of the catchment as the consequence of the connexion with the city of Montpellier. The catchment of the Rio Mannu in South Sardinia is part of the Campidano plain of the Sardinia Island in Italy and is located 30 km close to the city of Cagliari, the capital of the Island. The basin is mainly covered by agricultural fields and grassland, while only a small percentage of its area is occupied by forests in the south-east of the basin. The communication aims, by presenting results of the FP7 EU CLIMB project, to think about the degree of complexity of the dynamic of the stakeholders system for water allocation in the Mediterranean Region in the context of climate change. After the presentation of the case studies and the perception of the water uses by stakeholders, a reflexion on the capacity of stakeholders to represent the new hydrosystems limits is carried out

Life cycle impact assessment (LCIA) using the ecological scarcity ...

African Journals Online (AJOL)

After it is done, the inventory will be interpreted to the environmental impacts in life cycle impact assessment (LCIA). Two LCIA methods identified were “midpoint and endpoint” approaches. The ecological scarcity (ecopoints) is an LCIA method using “midpoint” approach. From the analysis to both life cycle stages, analysis ...

Male partner selectivity, romantic confidence, and media depictions of partner scarcity.

Science.gov (United States)

Taylor, Laramie D

2013-01-18

An experiment was conducted to explore the effects of exposure to partner scarcity or abundance messages on men's partner selectivity, romantic confidence, and self-assessed attractiveness. Undergraduate male participants watched a soap opera narrative featuring either two men competing over one potential female partner (partner scarcity) or two women competing over one potential male partner (partner abundance). Relative to control subjects, watching either narrative reduced romantic confidence. Experimental condition also affected partner selectivity and self-assessed attractiveness, though both effects were moderated by endorsement of traditional masculine ideology. Viewing the abundance narrative resulted in greater selectivity and self-assessed attractiveness for men high in endorsement of traditional masculinity but diminished selectivity and self-assessed attractiveness for men low in endorsement of traditional masculine identity.

Male Partner Selectivity, Romantic Confidence, and Media Depictions of Partner Scarcity

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Laramie D. Taylor

2013-01-01

Full Text Available An experiment was conducted to explore the effects of exposure to partner scarcity or abundance messages on men's partner selectivity, romantic confidence, and self-assessed attractiveness. Undergraduate male participants watched a soap opera narrative featuring either two men competing over one potential female partner (partner scarcity or two women competing over one potential male partner (partner abundance. Relative to control subjects, watching either narrative reduced romantic confidence. Experimental condition also affected partner selectivity and self-assessed attractiveness, though both effects were moderated by endorsement of traditional masculine ideology. Viewing the abundance narrative resulted in greater selectivity and self-assessed attractiveness for men high in endorsement of traditional masculinity but diminished selectivity and self-assessed attractiveness for men low in endorsement of traditional masculine identity.

Contribution of Nutrient Pollution to Water Scarcity in the Water-Rich Northeastern United States

Science.gov (United States)

Hale, R. L.; Lopez, C.; Vorosmarty, C. J.

2015-12-01

Most studies of water stress focus on water-scarce regions such as drylands. Yet, even water-rich regions can be water stressed due to local water withdrawals that exceed supply or due to water pollution that makes water unusable. The northeastern United States (NE) is a water-rich region relative to the rest of the country, as it concentrates about 50% of total renewable water of the country. Yes the NE features relatively high water withdrawals, ~50 km3/yr, for thermo-power generation, agriculture, and industry, as well as to support a human population of about 70 million. At the same time, rivers and streams in the NE suffer from nutrient pollution, largely from agricultural and urban land uses. We asked: to what extent is the NE water stressed, and how do water withdrawals and water quality each contribute to water scarcity across the NE? We used information on county-level water withdrawals and runoff to calculate a water scarcity index (WSI) for 200 hydrologic units across the NE from 1987 to 2002. We used data on surface water concentrations of nitrogen to calculate the additional water necessary to dilute surface water pollution to weak, moderate, and strong water quality standards derived from the literature. Only considering withdrawals, we found that approximately 10% of the NE was water stressed. Incorporating a moderate water quality standard, 25% of the NE was water stressed. We calculated a dilution burden by sectors of water users and found that public utilities faced 41% of the total dilution burden for the region, followed by irrigation users at 21%. Our results illustrate that even water rich regions can experience water stress and even scarcity, where withdrawals exceed surface water supplies. Water quality contributes to water stress and can change the spatial patterns of water stress across a region. The common approach to address scarcity has required the use of inter-basin water transfers, or in the case of water quality-caused scarcity

Effects of water scarcity and chemical pollution in aquatic ecosystems: State of the art.

Science.gov (United States)

Arenas-Sánchez, Alba; Rico, Andreu; Vighi, Marco

2016-12-01

Water scarcity is an expanding climate and human related condition, which drives and interacts with other stressors in freshwater ecosystems such as chemical pollution. In this study we provide an overview of the existing knowledge regarding the chemical fate, biological dynamics and the ecological risks of chemicals under water scarcity conditions. We evaluated a total of 15 studies dealing with the combined effects of chemicals and water scarcity under laboratory conditions and in the field. The results of these studies have been elaborated in order to evaluate additive, synergistic or antagonistic responses of the studied endpoints. As a general rule, it can be concluded that, in situations of water scarcity, the impacts of extreme water fluctuations are much more relevant than those of an additional chemical stressor. Nevertheless, the presence of chemical pollution may result in exacerbated ecological risks in some particular cases. We conclude that further investigations on this topic would take advantage on the focus on some specific issues. Experimental (laboratory and model ecosystem) studies should be performed on different biota groups and life stages (diapausing eggs, immature stages), with particular attention to those including traits relevant for the adaptation to water scarcity. More knowledge on species adaptations and recovery capacity is essential to predict community responses to multiple stressors and to assess the community vulnerability. Field studies should be performed at different scales, particularly in lotic systems, in order to integrate different functional dynamics of the river ecosystem. Combining field monitoring and experimental studies would be the best option to reach more conclusive, causal relationships on the effects of co-occurring stressors. Contribution of these studies to develop ecological models and scenarios is also suggested as an improvement for the prospective aquatic risk assessment of chemicals in (semi-)arid areas

Dynamics of Individual and Collective Agricultural Adaptation to Water Scarcity

Science.gov (United States)

Burchfield, E. K.; Gilligan, J. M.

2016-12-01

Drought and water scarcity are challenging agricultural systems around the world. We draw on extensive field-work conducted with paddy farmers in rural Sri Lanka to study adaptations to water scarcity, including switching to less water-intensive crops, farming collectively on shared land, and turning to groundwater by digging wells. We explore how variability in climate affects agricultural decision-making at the community and individual levels using three decision-making heuristics, each characterized by an objective function: risk-averse expected utility, regret-adjusted expected utility, and prospect theory loss-aversion. We also assess how the introduction of individualized access to irrigation water with wells affects long-standing community-based drought mitigation practices. Results suggest that the growth of well-irrigation may produce sudden disruptions to community-based adaptations, but that this depends on the mental models farmers use to think about risk and make decisions under uncertainty.

Improving agricultural production under water scarcity in Fars province, Iran

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Hosseini, M.R.; Haile, A.M.; McClain, M.E.

2012-01-01

ABSTRACT Water scarcity is one of the major limiting factor for improving agricultural production in the world, which significantly affects agricultural production and livelihood of millions of people who live in arid and semi-arid regions. This case study presents the analysis of the effectiveness

management and growth paradox of rural small-scale industrial

African Journals Online (AJOL)

User

Keywords: Rural Small-Scale Industries, firm growth, management, proprietors, workforce ... veloping countries as a solution to the problem of scarcity .... In the analysis logistic regression sta- ..... of imported raw materials such as high cost and.

The end of abundance. Economic solutions to water scarcity

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Zetland, D.J.

2011-01-01

In a past of abundance, we had clean water to meet our demands for showers, pools, farms and rivers. Our laws and customs did not need to regulate or ration demand. Over time, our demand has grown, and scarcity has replaced abundance. We don't have as much clean water as we want. We can respond to

Managing Water Scarcity: Why Water Conservation Matters to Business

Science.gov (United States)

Spiwak, Stephen M.

2013-01-01

The issue of water scarcity has often hit the headlines in the past several years. Some states have gone to court over water rights and access even as others have agonized over scarce supplies. University presidents and their staff of directors understand that the days of unlimited, inexpensive water are almost over. While it remains inexpensive…

Water scarcity hotspots travel downstream due to human interventions in the 20th and 21st century

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Veldkamp, T.I.E.; Wada, Y.; Aerts, J.C.J.H.; Döll, P.; Gosling, S.N.; Liu, J.; Masaki, Y.; Oki, T.; Ostberg, S.; Pokhrel, Y.; Satoh, Y.; Kim, H.; Ward, P.J.

2017-01-01

Water scarcity is rapidly increasing in many regions. In a novel, multi-model assessment, we examine how human interventions (HI: land use and land cover change, man-made reservoirs and human water use) affected monthly river water availability and water scarcity over the period 1971–2010. Here we

Scarcity and Environmental Stress in Public Organizations: A Conjectural Essay.

Science.gov (United States)

Bozeman, Barry; Slusher, E. Allen

1979-01-01

Assuming extreme scarcity, arguments are developed that public organizations could be expected to constrain their domain definition, allow domain selection to dictate technology, seek clientele suited to existing technologies, and, in general, take actions that will ensure that existing technologies are employed at capacity. (Author/IRT)

Fox squirrels match food assessment and cache effort to value and scarcity.

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Mikel M Delgado

Full Text Available Scatter hoarders must allocate time to assess items for caching, and to carry and bury each cache. Such decisions should be driven by economic variables, such as the value of the individual food items, the scarcity of these items, competition for food items and risk of pilferage by conspecifics. The fox squirrel, an obligate scatter-hoarder, assesses cacheable food items using two overt movements, head flicks and paw manipulations. These behaviors allow an examination of squirrel decision processes when storing food for winter survival. We measured wild squirrels' time allocations and frequencies of assessment and investment behaviors during periods of food scarcity (summer and abundance (fall, giving the squirrels a series of 15 items (alternating five hazelnuts and five peanuts. Assessment and investment per cache increased when resource value was higher (hazelnuts or resources were scarcer (summer, but decreased as scarcity declined (end of sessions. This is the first study to show that assessment behaviors change in response to factors that indicate daily and seasonal resource abundance, and that these factors may interact in complex ways to affect food storing decisions. Food-storing tree squirrels may be a useful and important model species to understand the complex economic decisions made under natural conditions.

Male scarcity is associated with higher prevalence of premature gestation and low birth weight births across the United States.

Science.gov (United States)

Kruger, Daniel J; Clark, Jillian; Vanas, Sarah

2013-01-01

Modern adverse birth outcomes may partially result from mechanisms evolved to evaluate environmental conditions and regulate maternal investment trade-offs. Male scarcity in a population is associated with a cluster of characteristics related to higher mating effort and lower paternal investment. We predicted that modern populations with male scarcity would have shorter gestational times and lower birth weights on average. We compared US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention county-aggregated year 2000 birth records with US Decennial Census data. We combined these data in a path model with the degree of male scarcity and known socio-economic predictors of birth outcomes as exogenous predictors of prematurity and low birth weight, with single mother households as a proportion of families with children as a mediator (N = 450). Male scarcity was directly associated with higher rates of low birth weight. Male scarcity made significant indirect predictions of rates of prematurity and low birth weight, as mediated by the proportion of families headed by single mothers. Aggregate socio-economic status also indirectly predicted birth outcomes, as mediated by the proportion of families headed by single mothers, whereas the proportion African American retained both direct and indirect predictions of adverse birth outcomes. Male scarcity influences life history tradeoffs, with consequences for important social and public health issues such as adverse birth outcomes. Copyright © 2013 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

Book Scarcity In Nigerian University Libraries:A Menace To Effective ...

African Journals Online (AJOL)

Book scarcity has persisted due to poor funding of education by Federal Government, frustration of authors, violation of copyright laws and committing of library crimes by library staff and users. This situation has affected educational standards such that over 100 courses offered in the universities in 2005 were refused ...

ECONOMIC QUESTIONS OF LAND USAGE – SCARCITY, SUSTAINABILITY

OpenAIRE

Magda, Robert

2012-01-01

The aim of this paper is to show the economic importance of land usage. This topic is important because land is the basis of industrial and agricultural production, as well as energy and environmental security. The focus of the analysis is the relationship between land usage and scarcity and sustainability.

The world's road to water scarcity: shortage and stress in the 20th century and pathways towards sustainability

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Kummu, M.; Guillaume, J.H.A.; de Moel, H.; Eisner, S.; Flörke, M; Porkka, M.; Siebert, S.; Veldkamp, T.I.E.; Ward, P.J.

2016-01-01

Water scarcity is a rapidly growing concern around the globe, but little is known about how it has developed over time. This study provides a first assessment of continuous sub-national trajectories of blue water consumption, renewable freshwater availability, and water scarcity for the entire 20th

Implications of Water Use and Water Scarcity Footprint for Sustainable Rice Cultivation

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Thapat Silalertruksa

2017-12-01

Full Text Available Rice cultivation is a vital economic sector of many countries in Asia, including Thailand, with the well-being of people relying significantly on selling rice commodities. Water-intensive rice cultivation is facing the challenge of water scarcity. The study assessed the volumetric freshwater use and water scarcity footprint of the major and second rice cultivation systems in the Chao Phraya, Tha Chin, Mun, and Chi watersheds of Thailand. The results revealed that a wide range of freshwater use, i.e., 0.9–3.0 m3/kg of major rice and 0.9–2.3 m3/kg of second rice, and a high water use of rice was found among the watersheds in the northeastern region, like the Mun and Chi watersheds. However, the water scarcity footprint results showed that the second rice cultivation in watersheds, like in Chao Phraya and Tha Chin in the central region, need to be focused for improving the irrigation water use efficiency. The alternate wetting and drying (AWD method was found to be a promising approach for substituting the pre-germinated seed broadcasting system to enhance the water use efficiency of second rice cultivation in the central region. Recommendations vis-à-vis the use of the water stress index as a tool for agricultural zoning policy were also discussed.

What is Autonomous Adaption? Resource Scarcity and Smallholder Agency in Thailand

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Forsyth, T.; Evans, N.C.

2013-01-01

The concept of autonomous adaptation is widely used to describe spontaneous acts of reducing risks posed by resource scarcity and, increasingly, climate change. Critics, however, have claimed it is unproven, or simplifies the agency by which smallholders respond to risk. This paper presents

Expert forecasts and the emergence of water scarcity on public agendas

Science.gov (United States)

Graffy, E.A.

2006-01-01

Expert forecasts of worldwide water scarcity depict conditions that call for proactive, preventive, coordinated water governance, but they have not been matched by public agendas of commensurate scope and urgency in the United States. This disconnect can not be adequately explained without some attention to attributes of forecasts themselves. I propose that the institutional fragmentation of water expertise and prevailing patterns of communication about water scarcity militate against the formulation of a common public definition of the problem and encourage reliance on unambiguous crises to stimulate social and policy agenda setting. I do not argue that expert forecasts should drive public agendas deterministically, but if their purpose is to help prevent water crises (not just predict them), then a greater effort is needed to overcome the barriers to meaningful public scrutiny of expert claims and evaluation of water strategies presently in place. Copyright ?? 2006 Taylor & Francis Group, LLC.

Global water scarcity: the monthly blue water footprint compared to blue water availability for the world's major river basins

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Hoekstra, Arjen Ysbert; Mekonnen, Mesfin

Conventional blue water scarcity indicators suffer from four weaknesses: they measure water withdrawal instead of consumptive water use, they compare water use with actual runoff rather than natural (undepleted) runoff, they ignore environmental flow requirements and they evaluate scarcity on an

Review and classification of indicators of green water availability and scarcity

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Schyns, Joseph Franciscus; Hoekstra, Arjen Ysbert; Booij, Martijn J.

2015-01-01

Research on water scarcity has mainly focussed on blue water (ground- and surface water), but green water (soil moisture returning to the atmosphere through evaporation) is also scarce, because its availability is limited and there are competing demands for green water. Crop production, grazing

Assessment of interstate virtual water flows embedded in agriculture to mitigate water scarcity in India (1996-2014)

Science.gov (United States)

Katyaini, Suparana; Barua, Anamika

2017-08-01

India is the largest global freshwater user despite being highly water scarce. Agriculture is largest consumer of water and is most affected by water scarcity. Water scarcity is a persistent challenge in India, due to a gap in science and policy spheres. Virtual Water (VW) flows concept to mitigate water scarcity is at the science-policy interface. The paper aims to address the gap in VW research in India by first analyzing the interstate VW-flows embedded in food grains, and then linking these VW-flows with the water scarcity situation in the states, and elements of state and national water policies for the postreforms, and recovery periods of India's agriculture. There were net water savings (WS) of 207.5 PL during 1996-2014, indicating sustainable flows at the national level. WS increased from 11.2 TL/yr (1996-2005) to 25931.7 TL/yr (2005-2014), with the increase in interstate movement of food grains, and yield. However, unsustainable flows are seen at subnational scale, as VW-flows are from highly water-scarce states in North to highly water-scarce states in West and South. These flows are causing a concentration of water scarcity in water-scarce zones/states. Net VW imports were found to be driven by larger population and net VW exports by arable land. Further, the absence of state water policy cripples water management. Therefore, the paper argues that there is a need to rethink policy decisions on agriculture at the national and state level by internalizing water as a factor of production, through VW research.

Applying Place-Based Social-Ecological Research to Address Water Scarcity: Insights for Future Research

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Antonio J. Castro

2018-05-01

Full Text Available Globally, environmental and social change in water-scarce regions challenge the sustainability of social-ecological systems. WaterSES, a sponsored working group within the Program for Ecosystem Change and Society, explores and compares the social-ecological dynamics related to water scarcity across placed-based international research sites with contrasting local and regional water needs and governance, including research sites in Spain and Sweden in Europe, South Africa, China, and Alabama, Idaho, Oklahoma, and Texas in the USA. This paper aims to provide a commentary on insights into conducting future solutions-oriented research on water scarcity based on the understanding of the social-ecological dynamics of water scarce regions.

Development of a stream–aquifer numerical flow model to assess river water management under water scarcity in a Mediterranean basin

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Mas-Pla, Josep; Font, Eva; Astui, Oihane; Menció, Anna; Rodríguez-Florit, Agustí; Folch, Albert; Brusi, David; Pérez-Paricio, Alfredo

2012-01-01

Stream flow, as a part of a basin hydrological cycle, will be sensible to water scarcity as a result of climate change. Stream vulnerability should then be evaluated as a key component of the basin water budget. Numerical flow modeling has been applied to an alluvial formation in a small mountain basin to evaluate the stream–aquifer relationship under these future scenarios. The Arbúcies River basin (116 km 2 ) is located in the Catalan Inner Basins (NE Spain) and its lower reach, which is related to an alluvial aquifer, usually becomes dry during the summer period. This study seeks to determine the origin of such discharge losses whether from natural stream leakage and/or induced capture due to groundwater withdrawal. Our goal is also investigating how discharge variations from the basin headwaters, representing potential effects of climate change, may affect stream flow, aquifer recharge, and finally environmental preservation and human supply. A numerical flow model of the alluvial aquifer, based on MODFLOW and especially in the STREAM routine, reproduced the flow system after the usual calibration. Results indicate that, in the average, stream flow provides more than 50% of the water inputs to the alluvial aquifer, being responsible for the amount of stored water resources and for satisfying groundwater exploitation for human needs. Detailed simulations using daily time-steps permit setting threshold values for the stream flow entering at the beginning of the studied area so surface discharge is maintained along the whole watercourse and ecological flow requirements are satisfied as well. The effects of predicted rainfall and temperature variations on the Arbúcies River alluvial aquifer water balance are also discussed from the outcomes of the simulations. Finally, model results indicate the relevance of headwater discharge management under future climate scenarios to preserve downstream hydrological processes. They also point out that small mountain basins

The association between time scarcity, sociodemographic correlates and consumption of ultra-processed foods among parents in Norway: a cross-sectional study.

Science.gov (United States)

Djupegot, Ingrid Laukeland; Nenseth, Camilla Bengtson; Bere, Elling; Bjørnarå, Helga Birgit Torgeirsdotter; Helland, Sissel Heidi; Øverby, Nina Cecilie; Torstveit, Monica Klungland; Stea, Tonje Holte

2017-05-15

Use of ultra-processed foods has expanded rapidly over the last decades and high consumption has been positively associated with risk of e.g. overweight, obesity and type 2 diabetes. Ultra-processed foods offer convenience as they require minimal time for preparation. It is therefore reasonable to assume that such foods are consumed more often among people who experience time scarcity. The main aim of this study was to investigate the association between time scarcity and consumption of ultra-processed foods among parents of 2-year olds in Norway. A secondary aim was to investigate the association between sociodemographic correlates, weight status and consumption of ultra-processed foods. This cross-sectional study included 497 participants. Chi-square and cross tabulations were used to calculate proportions of high vs. low consumption of ultra-processed foods in relation to time scarcity, sociodemographic correlates and weight status. Binary logistic regression analyses were performed to test the relationship between independent variables and consumption of ultra-processed foods. Participants reporting medium and high time scarcity were more likely to have a high consumption of ultra-processed dinner products (OR = 3. 68, 95% CI = 2. 32-5.84 and OR = 3.10, 1.80-5.35, respectively) and fast foods (OR = 2.60, 1.62-4.18 and OR = 1.90, 1.08-3.32, respectively) compared to those with low time scarcity. Further, participants with medium time scarcity were more likely to have a high consumption of snacks and soft drinks compared to participants with low time scarcity (OR = 1.63, 1.06-2.49). Finally, gender, ethnicity, educational level, number of children in the household and weight status were identified as important factors associated with the consumption of certain types of ultra-processed foods. Results from the present study showed that time scarcity, various sociodemographic factors and weight status was associated with consumption of processed foods

Growing sensitivity of maize to water scarcity under climate change.

Science.gov (United States)

Meng, Qingfeng; Chen, Xinping; Lobell, David B; Cui, Zhenling; Zhang, Yi; Yang, Haishun; Zhang, Fusuo

2016-01-25

Climate change can reduce crop yields and thereby threaten food security. The current measures used to adapt to climate change involve avoiding crops yield decrease, however, the limitations of such measures due to water and other resources scarcity have not been well understood. Here, we quantify how the sensitivity of maize to water availability has increased because of the shift toward longer-maturing varieties during last three decades in the Chinese Maize Belt (CMB). We report that modern, longer-maturing varieties have extended the growing period by an average of 8 days and have significantly offset the negative impacts of climate change on yield. However, the sensitivity of maize production to water has increased: maize yield across the CMB was 5% lower with rainfed than with irrigated maize in the 1980s and was 10% lower (and even >20% lower in some areas) in the 2000s because of both warming and the increased requirement for water by the longer-maturing varieties. Of the maize area in China, 40% now fails to receive the precipitation required to attain the full yield potential. Opportunities for water saving in maize systems exist, but water scarcity in China remains a serious problem.

Residential Water Scarcity in Cyprus: Impact of Climate Change and Policy Options

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Theodoros Zachariadis

2010-10-01

Full Text Available This paper presents an assessment of the cost of water scarcity in Cyprus, today and in the next 20 years, taking into account the effect of projected climate change in the region. It focuses on the residential sector, accounting also for tourism and industry. Using a simple demand function, total scarcity costs in Cyprus are computed for the period 2010–2030, and three scenarios of future water demand are presented. The central estimate shows that the present value of total costs due to water shortages will amount to 72 million Euros (at 2009 prices, and, if future water demand increases a little faster, these costs may reach 200 million Euros. Using forecasts of regional climate models, costs are found to be about 20% higher in a “climate change” scenario. Compared to the loss of consumer surplus due to water shortages, desalination is found to be a costly solution, even if environmental damage costs from the operation of desalination plants are not accounted for. Finally, dynamic constrained optimization is employed and shows that efficient residential water prices should include a scarcity price of about 40 Eurocents per cubic meter at  2009 prices; this would constitute a 30–100% increase in current prices faced by residential consumers. Reductions in rainfall due to climate change would raise this price by another 2-3 Eurocents. Such a pricing policy would provide a clear long-term signal to consumers and firms and could substantially contribute to a sustainable use of water resources in the island.

Water scarcity and oil palm expansion: social views and environmental processes

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Jennifer Merten

2016-06-01

Full Text Available Conversions of natural ecosystems, e.g., from rain forests to managed plantations, result in significant changes in the hydrological cycle including periodic water scarcity. In Indonesia, large areas of forest were lost and extensive oil palm plantations were established over the last decades. We conducted a combined social and environmental study in a region of recent land-use change, the Jambi Province on Sumatra. The objective was to derive complementary lines of arguments to provide balanced insights into environmental perceptions and eco-hydrological processes accompanying land-use change. Interviews with villagers highlighted concerns regarding decreasing water levels in wells during dry periods and increasing fluctuations in stream flow between rainy and dry periods. Periodic water scarcity was found to severely impact livelihoods, which increased social polarization. Sap flux measurements on forest trees and oil palms indicate that oil palm plantations use as much water as forests for transpiration. Eddy covariance analyses of evapotranspiration over oil palm point to substantial additional sources of evaporation in oil palm plantations such as the soil and epiphytes. Stream base flow from a catchment dominated by oil palms was lower than from a catchment dominated by rubber plantations; both showed high peaks after rainfall. An estimate of erosion indicated approximately 30 cm of topsoil loss after forest conversion to both oil palm and rubber plantations. Analyses of climatic variables over the last 20 years and of a standardized precipitation evapotranspiration index for the last century suggested that droughts are recurrent in the area, but have not increased in frequency or intensity. Consequently, we assume that conversions of rain forest ecosystems to oil palm plantations lead to a redistribution of precipitated water by runoff, which leads to the reported periodic water scarcity. Our combined social and environmental approach

Integrated assessment of global water scarcity over the 21st century under multiple climate change mitigation policies

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Hejazi, Mohamad I.; Edmonds, James A.; Clarke, Leon E.; Kyle, G. Page; Davies, Evan; Chaturvedi, Vaibhav; Wise, Marshall A.; Patel, Pralit L.; Eom, Jiyong; Calvin, Katherine V.

2014-08-01

Water scarcity conditions over the 21st century both globally and regionally are assessed in the context of climate change and climate mitigation policies, by estimating both water availability and water demand within the Global Change Assessment Model (GCAM), a leading community integrated assessment model of energy, agriculture, climate, and water. To quantify changes in future water availability, a new gridded water-balance global hydrologic model – namely, the Global Water Availability Model (GWAM) – is developed and evaluated. Global water demands for six major demand sectors (irrigation, livestock, domestic, electricity generation, primary energy production, and manufacturing) are modeled in GCAM at the regional scale (14 geopolitical regions, 151 sub-regions) and then spatially downscaled to 0.5 o x 0.5o resolution to match the scale of GWAM. Using a baseline scenario (i.e., no climate change mitigation policy) with radiative forcing reaching 8.8 W/m2 (equivalent to the SRES A1Fi emission scenario) and three climate policy scenarios with increasing mitigation stringency of 7.7, 5.5, and 4.2 W/m2 (equivalent to the SRES A2, B2, and B1 emission scenarios, respectively), we investigate the effects of emission mitigation policies on water scarcity. Two carbon tax regimes (a universal carbon tax (UCT) which includes land use change emissions, and a fossil fuel and industrial emissions carbon tax (FFICT) which excludes land use change emissions) are analyzed. The baseline scenario results in more than half of the world population living under extreme water scarcity by the end of the 21st century. Additionally, in years 2050 and 2095, 36% (28%) and 44% (39%) of the global population, respectively, is projected to live in grid cells (in basins) that will experience greater water demands than the amount of available water in a year (i.e., the water scarcity index (WSI) > 1.0). When comparing the climate policy scenarios to the baseline scenario while maintaining

Intrinsic rotation with gyrokinetic models

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Parra, Felix I.; Barnes, Michael; Catto, Peter J.; Calvo, Iván

2012-01-01

The generation of intrinsic rotation by turbulence and neoclassical effects in tokamaks is considered. To obtain the complex dependences observed in experiments, it is necessary to have a model of the radial flux of momentum that redistributes the momentum within the tokamak in the absence of a preexisting velocity. When the lowest order gyrokinetic formulation is used, a symmetry of the model precludes this possibility, making small effects in the gyroradius over scale length expansion necessary. These effects that are usually small become important for momentum transport because the symmetry of the lowest order gyrokinetic formulation leads to the cancellation of the lowest order momentum flux. The accuracy to which the gyrokinetic equation needs to be obtained to retain all the physically relevant effects is discussed.

Managing the effects of multiple stressors on aquatic ecosystems under water scarcity. The GLOBAQUA project.

Science.gov (United States)

Navarro-Ortega, Alícia; Acuña, Vicenç; Bellin, Alberto; Burek, Peter; Cassiani, Giorgio; Choukr-Allah, Redouane; Dolédec, Sylvain; Elosegi, Arturo; Ferrari, Federico; Ginebreda, Antoni; Grathwohl, Peter; Jones, Colin; Rault, Philippe Ker; Kok, Kasper; Koundouri, Phoebe; Ludwig, Ralf Peter; Merz, Ralf; Milacic, Radmila; Muñoz, Isabel; Nikulin, Grigory; Paniconi, Claudio; Paunović, Momir; Petrovic, Mira; Sabater, Laia; Sabaterb, Sergi; Skoulikidis, Nikolaos Th; Slob, Adriaan; Teutsch, Georg; Voulvoulis, Nikolaos; Barceló, Damià

2015-01-15

Water scarcity is a serious environmental problem in many European regions, and will likely increase in the near future as a consequence of increased abstraction and climate change. Water scarcity exacerbates the effects of multiple stressors, and thus results in decreased water quality. It impacts river ecosystems, threatens the services they provide, and it will force managers and policy-makers to change their current practices. The EU-FP7 project GLOBAQUA aims at identifying the prevalence, interaction and linkages between stressors, and to assess their effects on the chemical and ecological status of freshwater ecosystems in order to improve water management practice and policies. GLOBAQUA assembles a multidisciplinary team of 21 European plus 2 non-European scientific institutions, as well as water authorities and river basin managers. The project includes experts in hydrology, chemistry, biology, geomorphology, modelling, socio-economics, governance science, knowledge brokerage, and policy advocacy. GLOBAQUA studies six river basins (Ebro, Adige, Sava, Evrotas, Anglian and Souss Massa) affected by water scarcity, and aims to answer the following questions: how does water scarcity interact with other existing stressors in the study river basins? How will these interactions change according to the different scenarios of future global change? Which will be the foreseeable consequences for river ecosystems? How will these in turn affect the services the ecosystems provide? How should management and policies be adapted to minimise the ecological, economic and societal consequences? These questions will be approached by combining data-mining, field- and laboratory-based research, and modelling. Here, we outline the general structure of the project and the activities to be conducted within the fourteen work-packages of GLOBAQUA. Copyright © 2014. Published by Elsevier B.V.

Managing the effects of multiple stressors on aquatic ecosystems under water scarcity. The GLOBAQUA project

Science.gov (United States)

Navarro-Ortega, Alícia; Acuña, Vicenç; Bellin, Alberto; Burek, Peter; Cassiani, Giorgio; Choukr-Allah, Redouane; Dolédec, Sylvain; Elosegi, Arturo; Ferrari, Federico; Ginebreda, Antoni; Grathwohl, Peter; Jones, Colin; Rault, Philippe Ker; Kok, Kasper; Koundouri, Phoebe; Ludwig, Ralf Peter; Merz, Ralf; Milacic, Radmila; Muñoz, Isabel; Nikulin, Grigory; Paniconi, Claudio; Paunović, Momir; Petrovic, Mira; Sabater, Laia; Sabaterb, Sergi; Skoulikidis, Nikolaos Th.; Slob, Adriaan; Teutsch, Georg; Voulvoulis, Nikolaos; Barceló, Damià

2015-01-01

Water scarcity is a serious environmental problem in many European regions, and will likely increase in the near future as a consequence of increased abstraction and climate change. Water scarcity exacerbates the effects of multiple stressors, and thus results in decreased water quality. It impacts river ecosystems, threatens the services they provide, and it will force managers and policy-makers to change their current practices. The EU-FP7 project GLOBAQUA aims at identifying the prevalence, interaction and linkages between stressors, and to assess their effects on the chemical and ecological status of freshwater ecosystems in order to improve water management practice and policies. GLOBAQUA assembles a multidisciplinary team of 21 European plus 2 non-European scientific institutions, as well as water authorities and river basin managers. The project includes experts in hydrology, chemistry, biology, geomorphology, modelling, socio-economics, governance science, knowledge brokerage, and policy advocacy. GLOBAQUA studies six river basins (Ebro, Adige, Sava, Evrotas, Anglian and Souss Massa) affected by water scarcity, and aims to answer the following questions: how does water scarcity interact with other existing stressors in the study river basins? How will these interactions change according to the different scenarios of future global change? Which will be the foreseeable consequences for river ecosystems? How will these in turn affect the services the ecosystems provide? How should management and policies be adapted to minimise the ecological, economic and societal consequences? These questions will be approached by combining data-mining, field- and laboratory-based research, and modelling. Here, we outline the general structure of the project and the activities to be conducted within the fourteen work-packages of GLOBAQUA. PMID:25005236

Supply chain strategies in an era of natural resource scarcity

OpenAIRE

Kalaitzi, Dimitra; Matopoulos, Aristides; Bourlakis, Michael; Tate, Wendy

2018-01-01

Purpose – The primary objective of this research is to explore the implications of natural resource scarcity for companies’ supply chain strategies. Design/methodology/approach – Drawing on resource dependence theory, a conceptual model is developed and validated through the means of exploratory research. The empirical work includes the assessment of qualitative data collected via 22 interviews representing 6 large multinational companies from the manufacturing sector. Findings – When the res...

Hydrology, Water Scarcity and Market Economics

Science.gov (United States)

Narayanan, M.

2008-12-01

Research scientists claim to have documented a six-fold increase in water use in the United States during the last century. It is interesting to note that the population of the United States has hardly doubled during the last century. While this indicates higher living standards, it also emphasizes an urgent need for establishing a strong, sound, sensible and sustainable management program for utilizing the available water supplies efficiently. Dr. Sandra Postel directs the independent Global Water Policy Project, as well as the Center for the Environment at Mount Holyoke College in South Hadley, Massachusetts. Author of the 1998 book, Last Oasis: Facing Water Scarcity, Dr. Postel predicts big water availability problems as populations of so-called "water-stressed" countries jump perhaps six fold over the next 30 years. The United Nations declared the years 2005 - 2015 as the "Water for Life" decade. It is also interesting and important to observe that the Oil - Rich Middle - East suffers from water scarcity to the maximum extent. It is also recognized that almost three-quarters of the globe is covered with water. Regardless, this is salt-water and there is very limited supply of freshwater to meet the needs of exploding global population. In excess of 10,000 desalination plants operate around the world in more than a hundred countries, but such a process is expensive and may seem prohibitive for developing countries with limited resources. Farmers can cut water usage by adopting the method known as drip irrigation which is known to be highly efficient. Drip Irrigation was pioneered by Israel and the Israeli farmers documented their efficiency by reducing the water used for irrigation by more than 30 percent. Unfortunately the rest of the world has failed to follow the lead set by this Great Jewish Nation. Worldwide, hardly 1percent of irrigated land utilizes efficient drip irrigation techniques. The problem lies in the fact that water is considered to be a free

The association between time scarcity, sociodemographic correlates and consumption of ultra-processed foods among parents in Norway: a cross-sectional study

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Ingrid Laukeland Djupegot

2017-05-01

Full Text Available Abstract Background Use of ultra-processed foods has expanded rapidly over the last decades and high consumption has been positively associated with risk of e.g. overweight, obesity and type 2 diabetes. Ultra-processed foods offer convenience as they require minimal time for preparation. It is therefore reasonable to assume that such foods are consumed more often among people who experience time scarcity. The main aim of this study was to investigate the association between time scarcity and consumption of ultra-processed foods among parents of 2-year olds in Norway. A secondary aim was to investigate the association between sociodemographic correlates, weight status and consumption of ultra-processed foods. Methods This cross-sectional study included 497 participants. Chi-square and cross tabulations were used to calculate proportions of high vs. low consumption of ultra-processed foods in relation to time scarcity, sociodemographic correlates and weight status. Binary logistic regression analyses were performed to test the relationship between independent variables and consumption of ultra-processed foods. Results Participants reporting medium and high time scarcity were more likely to have a high consumption of ultra-processed dinner products (OR = 3. 68, 95% CI = 2. 32–5.84 and OR = 3.10, 1.80–5.35, respectively and fast foods (OR = 2.60, 1.62–4.18 and OR = 1.90, 1.08–3.32, respectively compared to those with low time scarcity. Further, participants with medium time scarcity were more likely to have a high consumption of snacks and soft drinks compared to participants with low time scarcity (OR = 1.63, 1.06–2.49. Finally, gender, ethnicity, educational level, number of children in the household and weight status were identified as important factors associated with the consumption of certain types of ultra-processed foods. Conclusions Results from the present study showed that time scarcity, various sociodemographic

Disaggregating Orders of Water Scarcity - The Politics of Nexus in the Wami-Ruvu River Basin, Tanzania

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Anna Mdee

2017-02-01

Full Text Available This article considers the dilemma of managing competing uses of surface water in ways that respond to social, ecological and economic needs. Current approaches to managing competing water use, such as Integrated Water Resources Management (IWRM and the concept of the water-energy-food nexus do not adequately disaggregate the political nature of water allocations. This is analysed using Mehta’s (2014 framework on orders of scarcity to disaggregate narratives of water scarcity in two ethnographic case studies in the WamiRuvu River Basin in Tanzania: one of a mountain river that provides water to urban Morogoro, and another of a large donor-supported irrigation scheme on the Wami River. These case studies allow us to explore different interfaces in the food-water-energy nexus. The article makes two points: that disaggregating water scarcity is essential for analysing the nexus; and that current institutional frameworks (such as IWRM mask the political nature of the nexus, and therefore do not provide an adequate platform for adjudicating the interfaces of competing water use.

Surplus, Scarcity and Soil Fertility in Pre-Industrial Austrian Agriculture—The Sustainability Costs of Inequality

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Michael Gizicki-Neundlinger

2017-02-01

Full Text Available This paper takes a Long-Term Socio-Ecological Research (LTSER perspective to integrate important aspects of social inequality into Socio-Ecological Metabolism (SEM research. SEM has dealt with biophysical features of pre-industrial agricultural systems from a largely apolitical perspective, neglecting social relations and conditions of peasant production and reproduction. One of the politically and economically most important manorial systems in Early Modern Austria (Grundherrschaft Grafenegg serves as a case study to reconstruct the unequal distribution of central resources between ruling landlords and subjected peasants. We show that peasant land use systems generated small surpluses only, whereas landlords enjoyed significant economies of scale. Furthermore, we explore what these conditions of landlord surplus and peasant scarcity implied for their respective agro-ecological sustainability. Finally, we argue that within pre-industrial agrarian systems sustainability costs of inequality were severely limiting margins for agricultural intensification and growth of peasant economies.

Capacity adequacy in power markets facing energy transition: A comparison of scarcity pricing and capacity mechanism

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Petitet, Marie; Finon, Dominique; Janssen, Tanguy

2017-01-01

This article analyses how a capacity mechanism can address security of supply objectives in a power market undergoing an energy transition that combines energy efficiency efforts to stabilise demand and a rapid increase in the proportion of renewables. To analyse this situation, power markets are simulated over the long term with a System Dynamics model integrating new investment and closure decisions. This last trait is relevant to studying investment in power generation in mature markets undergoing policy shocks. The energy-only market design with a price cap, with and without a capacity mechanism, is compared to scarcity pricing in two investment behaviour scenarios with and without risk aversion. The results show that the three market designs lead to different levels of risk for peaking unit investment and results thus differ according to which risk aversion hypothesis is adopted. Assuming a risk-neutral investor, the results indicate that compared to an energy-only market with a price cap at 3 000 €/MWh, an energy-only market with scarcity pricing and the market design with a capacity mechanism are two efficient options to reach similar levels of load loss. But under the hypothesis of risk aversion, the results highlight the advantage of the capacity mechanism over scarcity pricing. - Highlights: • Investment decisions in electricity markets are simulated by a System Dynamics model. • Capacity mechanism enhances capacity adequacy compared to the energy-only market. • With no risk aversion, capacity mechanism or scarcity pricing provide similar results. • With risk aversion, capacity mechanism appears to be the preferable market design.

Folding propensity of intrinsically disordered proteins by osmotic stress

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Mansouri, Amanda L.; Grese, Laura N.; Rowe, Erica L.

2016-01-01

Proteins imparted with intrinsic disorder conduct a range of essential cellular functions. To better understand the folding and hydration properties of intrinsically disordered proteins (IDPs), we used osmotic stress to induce conformational changes in nuclear co-activator binding domain (NCBD) and activator for thyroid hormone and retinoid receptor (ACTR). Osmotic stress was applied by the addition of small and polymeric osmolytes, where we discovered that water contributions to NCBD folding always exceeded those for ACTR. Both NCBD and ACTR were found to gain a-helical structure with increasing osmotic stress, consistent with their folding upon NCBD/ACTR complex formation. Using small-angle neutron scattering (SANS), we further characterized NCBD structural changes with the osmolyte ethylene glycol. Here a large reduction in overall size initially occurred before substantial secondary structural change. In conclusion, by focusing on folding propensity, and linked hydration changes, we uncover new insights that may be important for how IDP folding contributes to binding.

A global water scarcity assessment under Shared Socio-economic Pathways – Part 1: Water use

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

N. Hanasaki

2013-07-01

Full Text Available A novel global water scarcity assessment for the 21st century is presented in a two-part paper. In this first paper, water use scenarios are presented for the latest global hydrological models. The scenarios are compatible with the socio-economic scenarios of the Shared Socio-economic Pathways (SSPs, which are a part of the latest set of scenarios on global change developed by the integrated assessment, the IAV (climate change impact, adaptation, and vulnerability assessment, and the climate modeling community. The SSPs depict five global situations based on substantially different socio-economic conditions during the 21st century. Water use scenarios were developed to reflect not only quantitative socio-economic factors, such as population and electricity production, but also key qualitative concepts such as the degree of technological change and overall environmental consciousness. Each scenario consists of five factors: irrigated area, crop intensity, irrigation efficiency, and withdrawal-based potential industrial and municipal water demands. The first three factors are used to estimate the potential irrigation water demand. All factors were developed using simple models based on a literature review and analysis of historical records. The factors are grid-based at a spatial resolution of 0.5° × 0.5° and cover the whole 21st century in five-year intervals. Each factor shows wide variation among the different global situations depicted: the irrigated area in 2085 varies between 2.7 × 106 and 4.5 × 106 km2, withdrawal-based potential industrial water demand between 246 and 1714 km3 yr−1, and municipal water between 573 and 1280 km3 yr−1. The water use scenarios can be used for global water scarcity assessments that identify the regions vulnerable to water scarcity and analyze the timing and magnitude of scarcity conditions.

Adaptive livelihood strategies for coping with water scarcity in the drylands of central Tanzania

Science.gov (United States)

Liwenga, Emma T.

In this paper, it is argued that local knowledge for adapting to water scarcity is important for integrated resource management by taking into consideration both the natural and social constraints in a particular setting based on accumulated experience. The paper examines the relevance of local knowledge in sustaining agricultural production in the semiarid areas of central Tanzania. The paper specifically focuses on how water scarcity, as the major limiting factor, is addressed in the study area using local knowledge to sustain livelihoods of its people. The study was conducted in four villages; Mzula, Ilolo, Chanhumba and Ngahelezi, situation in Mvumi Division in Dodoma Region. The study mainly employed qualitative data collection techniques. Participatory methods provided a means of exploring perceptions and gaining deeper insights regarding natural resource utilization in terms of problems and opportunities. The main data sources drawn upon in this study were documentation, group interviews and field observations. Group interviews involved discussions with a group of 6-12 people selected on the basis of gender, age and socio-economic groups. Data analysis entailed structural and content analysis within the adaptive livelihood framework in relation to management of water scarcity using local knowledge. The findings confirm that rainfall is the main limiting factor for agricultural activities in the drylands of Central Tanzania. As such, local communities have developed, through time, indigenous knowledge to cope with such environments utilizing seasonality and diversity of landscapes. Use of this local knowledge is therefore effective in managing water scarcity by ensuring a continuous production of crops throughout the year. This practice implies increased food availability and accessibility through sales of such agricultural products. Local innovations for water management, such as cultivation in sandy rivers, appear to be very important means of accessing

Farmer perceptions on factors influencing water scarcity for goats in resource-limited communal farming environments.

Science.gov (United States)

Mdletshe, Zwelethu Mfanafuthi; Ndlela, Sithembile Zenith; Nsahlai, Ignatius Verla; Chimonyo, Michael

2018-05-09

The objective of the study was to compare factors influencing water scarcity for goats in areas where there are seasonal and perennial rivers under resource-limited communal farming environments. Data were collected using a structured questionnaire (n = 285) administered randomly to smallholder goat farmers from areas with seasonal and perennial rivers. Ceremonies was ranked as the major reason for keeping goats. Water scarcity was ranked the major constraint to goat production in areas with seasonal rivers when compared to areas with perennial rivers (P goat drinking in areas with seasonal and perennial river systems during cool dry and rainy seasons. Rivers were ranked as an important water source for goat drinking where there are seasonal and perennial river systems during the cool dry season. Households located close (≤ 3 km) to the nearest water source reported drinking water for goats a scarce resource. These results show that river systems, season and distance to the nearest water source from a household were factors perceived by farmers to influence water scarcity for goats in resource-limited communal farming environments. Farmers should explore water-saving strategies such as recycling wastewater from kitchens and bathrooms as an alternative water source. The government may assist farmers through sinking boreholes to supply water for both humans and livestock.

Vulnerability, diversity and scarcity: on universal rights.

Science.gov (United States)

Turner, Bryan Stanley; Dumas, Alex

2013-11-01

This article makes a contribution to the on-going debates about universalism and cultural relativism from the perspective of sociology. We argue that bioethics has a universal range because it relates to three shared human characteristics,--human vulnerability, institutional precariousness and scarcity of resources. These three components of our argument provide support for a related notion of 'weak foundationalism' that emphasizes the universality and interrelatedness of human experience, rather than their cultural differences. After presenting a theoretical position on vulnerability and human rights, we draw on recent criticism of this approach in order to paint a more nuanced picture. We conclude that the dichotomy between universalism and cultural relativism has some conceptual merit, but it also has obvious limitations when we consider the political economy of health and its impact on social inequality.

Small intestine diverticuli

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Pomakov, P.; Risov, A.

1991-01-01

The routine method of contrast matter passage applied to 850 patients with different gastrointestinal diseases proved inefficient to detect any small-intestinal diverticuli. The following modiffications of the method have been tested in order to improve the diagnostic possibilities of the X-ray: study at short intervals, assisted passage, enteroclysm, pharmacodynamic impact, retrograde filling of the ileum by irrigoscopy. Twelve diverticuli of the small-intestinal loops were identified: 5 Meckel's diverticuli, 2 solitary of which one of the therminal ileum, 2 double diverticuli and 1 multiple diverticulosis of the jejunum. The results show that the short interval X-ray examination of the small intestines is the method of choice for identifying local changes in them. The solitary diverticuli are not casuistic scarcity, its occurrence is about 0.5% at purposeful X-ray investigation. The assisted passage method is proposed as a method of choice for detection of the Meckel's diverticulum. 5 figs., 3 tabs. 18 refs

Resource scarcity, effort, and performance in physically demanding jobs: An evolutionary explanation.

Science.gov (United States)

Pitesa, Marko; Thau, Stefan

2018-03-01

Based on evolutionary theory, we predicted that cues of resource scarcity in the environment (e.g., news of droughts or food shortages) lead people to reduce their effort and performance in physically demanding work. We tested this prediction in a 2-wave field survey among employees and replicated it experimentally in the lab. In Study 1, employees who perceived resources in the environment to be scarce reported exerting less effort when their jobs involved much (but not little) physical work. In Study 2, participants who read that resources in the environment were scarce performed worse on a task demanding more (carrying books) but not less (transcribing book titles) physical work. This result was found even though better performance increased participants' chances of additional remuneration, and even though scarcity cues did not affect individuals' actual ability to meet their energy needs. We discuss implications for managing effort and performance, and the potential of evolutionary psychology to explain core organizational phenomena. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2018 APA, all rights reserved).

Intrinsic and extrinsic factors related to pathogen infection in wild small mammals in intensive milk cattle and swine production systems.

Science.gov (United States)

Lovera, Rosario; Fernández, María Soledad; Jacob, Jens; Lucero, Nidia; Morici, Gabriel; Brihuega, Bibiana; Farace, María Isabel; Caracostantogolo, Jorge; Cavia, Regino

2017-06-01

Understanding the ecological processes that are involved in the transmission of zoonotic pathogens by small mammals may aid adequate and effective management measures. Few attempts have been made to analyze the ecological aspects that influence pathogen infection in small mammals in livestock production systems. We describe the infection of small mammals with Leptospira spp., Brucella spp., Trichinella spp. and Cysticercus fasciolaris and assess the related intrinsic and extrinsic factors in livestock production systems in central Argentina at the small mammal community, population and individual levels. Ten pig farms and eight dairy farms were studied by removal trapping of small mammals from 2008 to 2011. Each farm was sampled seasonally over the course of one year with cage and Sherman live traps. The 505 small mammals captured (14,359 trap-nights) included three introduced murine rodents, four native rodents and two opossums. Leptospira spp., anti-Brucella spp. antibodies and Trichinella spp. were found in the three murine rodents and both opossums. Rattus norvegicus was also infected with C. fasciolaris; Akodon azarae and Oligoryzomys flavescens with Leptospira spp.; anti-Brucella spp. antibodies were found in A. azarae. Two or more pathogens occurred simultaneously on 89% of the farms, and each pathogen was found on at least 50% of the farms. Pathogen infections increased with host abundance. Infection by Leptospira spp. also increased with precipitation and during warm seasons. The occurrence of anti-Brucella spp. antibodies was higher on dairy farms and during the winter and summer. The host abundances limit values, from which farms are expected to be free of the studied pathogens, are reported. Murine rodents maintain pathogens within farms, whereas other native species are likely dispersing pathogens among farms. Hence, we recommend preventing and controlling murines in farm dwellings and isolating farms from their surroundings to avoid contact with other

Intrinsic and extrinsic factors related to pathogen infection in wild small mammals in intensive milk cattle and swine production systems.

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Rosario Lovera

2017-06-01

Full Text Available Understanding the ecological processes that are involved in the transmission of zoonotic pathogens by small mammals may aid adequate and effective management measures. Few attempts have been made to analyze the ecological aspects that influence pathogen infection in small mammals in livestock production systems. We describe the infection of small mammals with Leptospira spp., Brucella spp., Trichinella spp. and Cysticercus fasciolaris and assess the related intrinsic and extrinsic factors in livestock production systems in central Argentina at the small mammal community, population and individual levels.Ten pig farms and eight dairy farms were studied by removal trapping of small mammals from 2008 to 2011. Each farm was sampled seasonally over the course of one year with cage and Sherman live traps. The 505 small mammals captured (14,359 trap-nights included three introduced murine rodents, four native rodents and two opossums. Leptospira spp., anti-Brucella spp. antibodies and Trichinella spp. were found in the three murine rodents and both opossums. Rattus norvegicus was also infected with C. fasciolaris; Akodon azarae and Oligoryzomys flavescens with Leptospira spp.; anti-Brucella spp. antibodies were found in A. azarae. Two or more pathogens occurred simultaneously on 89% of the farms, and each pathogen was found on at least 50% of the farms. Pathogen infections increased with host abundance. Infection by Leptospira spp. also increased with precipitation and during warm seasons. The occurrence of anti-Brucella spp. antibodies was higher on dairy farms and during the winter and summer. The host abundances limit values, from which farms are expected to be free of the studied pathogens, are reported.Murine rodents maintain pathogens within farms, whereas other native species are likely dispersing pathogens among farms. Hence, we recommend preventing and controlling murines in farm dwellings and isolating farms from their surroundings to avoid

Put a limit on it: The protective effects of scarcity heuristics when self-control is low

Science.gov (United States)

Cheung, Tracy TL; Kroese, Floor M; Fennis, Bob M; De Ridder, Denise TD

2015-01-01

Low self-control is a state in which consumers are assumed to be vulnerable to making impulsive choices that hurt long-term goals. Rather than increasing self-control, the current research exploits the tendency for heuristic-based thinking in low self-control by employing scarcity heuristics to promote better consumption choices. Results indicate that consumers low in self-control especially benefited and selected more healthy choices when marketed as “scarce” (Study 1), and that a demand (vs supply) scarcity heuristic was most effective in promoting utilitarian products (Study 2) suggests low self-control involves both an enhanced reward orientation and increased tendency to conform to descriptive norms. PMID:28070377

Fruit response to water-scarcity and biochemical changes : Water relations and biochemical changes

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Rodríguez, P.; Galindo Egea, Alejandro; Collado-González, J.; Medina, S.; Corell, M.; Memmi, H.; Girón, I.F.; Centeno, A.; Martín-Palomo, M.J.; Cruz, Z.N.; Carbonell-Barrachina, A.A.; Hernandez, F.; Torrecillas, A.; Moriana, A.; Pérez-López, D.; Garcia Tejero, Ivan Francisco; Duran Zuazo, Victor Hugo

2018-01-01

The aim of this chapter is to give a general idea of the fruit response to water-scarcity conditions, paying special attention to fruit water relations modification and fruit composition changes, which are key for fruit quality. The strengths and weaknesses of fruit water relations measurement

A Critique of Water Scarcity Discourses in Educational Policy and Textbooks in Jordan

Science.gov (United States)

Hussein, Hussam

2018-01-01

This article investigates the representation of water scarcity in Jordanian textbooks to understand its role on improving education on environmental sustainability. People's understanding of an issue guides their actions toward finding and implementing appropriate solutions to what they perceive as a problem. Discourses are key in constructing…

Intrinsic defects in ZnO varistors

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Mahan, G.D.

1983-01-01

Theoretical calculations are presented for equilibrium concentrations of zinc and oxygen vacancies in ZnO. Results are presented at the sintering temperature, and also at room temperature. Theoretical calculations of reaction constants show that the intrinsic donor is the oxygen vacancy, rather than the zinc interstitial. The depletion of vacancies in the surface region, as the ZnO is cooled from the sintering temperature, is also calculated. Homojunction effects which are caused by such depletion are shown to be small

FOOD SECURITY IN TUNISIA WITHIN WATER SCARCITY THE RELATIVE IMPORTANCE OF THE MEAT SECTOR

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Emna Ouertani

2016-01-01

Full Text Available This paper analyzes the evolution of food and nutrition security in Tunisia, judges its sustainability within water scarcity conditions and free trade areas, with a specific focus on the meat sector. For such purpose, the FAO indicators and Food Balance Sheets, as well as the Global Food Security Index are all analyzed. Virtual water, owed to meat and cereals for animal feed production and trade, was estimated to expect food security sustainability. Results indicated that Tunisian food and nutrition security (FNS has been improved over the years, but its stability remains vulnerable because of the political and economic risks and the dependence of Tunisia on imported cereals for animal feed due to water scarcity. Tunisian agricultural policy, especially in both sectors of cereals and meat, should be readjusted to guarantee food and nutrition sustainability.

Strong intrinsic motivation

OpenAIRE

Dessi, Roberta; Rustichini, Aldo

2015-01-01

A large literature in psychology, and more recently in economics, has argued that monetary rewards can reduce intrinsic motivation. We investigate whether the negative impact persists when intrinsic motivation is strong, and test this hypothesis experimentally focusing on the motivation to undertake interesting and challenging tasks, informative about individual ability. We find that this type of task can generate strong intrinsic motivation, that is impervious to the effect of monetary incen...

Intrinsic Motivation.

Science.gov (United States)

Deci, Edward L.

The paper draws together a wide variety of research which relates to the topic of intrinsic motivation; intrinsically motivated activities are defined as those which a person does for no apparent reward except the activity itself or the feelings which result from the activity. Most of this research was not originally reported within the framework…

Some intrinsic neurons of the guinea-pig heart contain substance P.

Science.gov (United States)

Bałuk, P; Gabella, G

1989-10-09

Whole-mount preparations of the posterior wall of the atria of the guinea pig heart containing intrinsic ganglion cells and nerve plexuses were stained for substance P-like immunoreactivity by the peroxidase-antiperoxidase method. Substance P-like nerve fibres are present as pericellular baskets around most, but not all, of the neuronal cell bodies, and are also found in the connecting nerve bundles, as perivascular nerve plexuses and in the myocardium and pericardium. The majority of ganglion cell bodies are negative for substance P, as reported previously, but we describe for the first time, a small subpopulation of intrinsic neuronal cell bodies which show immunoreactivity for substance P. Therefore, not all cardiac substance P nerves are extrinsic afferent fibres. At present, the physiological role of intrinsic substance P neurones is not clear.

Intrinsic contractures of the hand.

Science.gov (United States)

Paksima, Nader; Besh, Basil R

2012-02-01

Contractures of the intrinsic muscles of the fingers disrupt the delicate and complex balance of intrinsic and extrinsic muscles, which allows the hand to be so versatile and functional. The loss of muscle function primarily affects the interphalangeal joints but also may affect etacarpophalangeal joints. The resulting clinical picture is often termed, intrinsic contracture or intrinsic-plus hand. Disruption of the balance between intrinsic and extrinsic muscles has many causes and may be secondary to changes within the intrinsic musculature or the tendon unit. This article reviews diagnosis, etiology, and treatment algorithms in the management of intrinsic contractures of the fingers. Copyright © 2012 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Access and Resilience: Analyzing the Construction of Social Resilience to the Threat of Water Scarcity

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Ruth Langridge

2006-12-01

Full Text Available Resilience is a vital attribute that characterizes a system's capacity to cope with stress. Researchers have examined the measurement of resilience in ecosystems and in social-ecological systems, and the comparative vulnerability of social groups. Our paper refocuses attention on the processes and relations that create social resilience. Our central proposition is that the creation of social resilience is linked to a community's ability to access critical resources. We explore this proposition through an analysis of how community resilience to the stress of water scarcity is influenced by historically contingent mechanisms to gain, control, and maintain access to water. Access is defined broadly as the ability of a community to actually benefit from a resource, and includes a wider range of relations than those derived from property rights alone. We provide a framework for assessing the construction of social resilience and use it to examine, first, the different processes and relations that enabled four communities in northern California to acquire access to water, and second, how access contributed to their differential levels of resilience to potential water scarcity. Legal water rights are extremely difficult to alter, and given the variety of mechanisms that can generate access, our study suggests that strengthening and diversifying a range of structural and relational mechanisms to access water can enhance a community's resilience to water scarcity.

Water Scarcity as a Cause of Conflict in the Nile, Euphrates, and Jordan River Basins

National Research Council Canada - National Science Library

Still, Douglas R

2006-01-01

The Euphrates, Nile, and Jordan Rivers are at center stage in the continued existence of the peoples in their basins where water scarcity serves as a source of conflict between the region's riparian...

Intrinsic and extrinsic mortality reunited

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Koopman, Jacob J E; Wensink, Maarten J; Rozing, Maarten P

2015-01-01

Intrinsic and extrinsic mortality are often separated in order to understand and measure aging. Intrinsic mortality is assumed to be a result of aging and to increase over age, whereas extrinsic mortality is assumed to be a result of environmental hazards and be constant over age. However......, allegedly intrinsic and extrinsic mortality have an exponentially increasing age pattern in common. Theories of aging assert that a combination of intrinsic and extrinsic stressors underlies the increasing risk of death. Epidemiological and biological data support that the control of intrinsic as well...... as extrinsic stressors can alleviate the aging process. We argue that aging and death can be better explained by the interaction of intrinsic and extrinsic stressors than by classifying mortality itself as being either intrinsic or extrinsic. Recognition of the tight interaction between intrinsic and extrinsic...

Innovation and complex governance at times of scarcity of resources : A lesson from history

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Peck, D.P.; Bakker, C.A.; Diederen, A.

2010-01-01

Historians understand the important role that access to critical raw materials has played in the development of civilizations, however access to materials has regularly led to distrust and conflict. Near future material scarcity scenarios appear to be severe and could include a mix of price

Intrinsic and extrinsic mortality reunited.

Science.gov (United States)

Koopman, Jacob J E; Wensink, Maarten J; Rozing, Maarten P; van Bodegom, David; Westendorp, Rudi G J

2015-07-01

Intrinsic and extrinsic mortality are often separated in order to understand and measure aging. Intrinsic mortality is assumed to be a result of aging and to increase over age, whereas extrinsic mortality is assumed to be a result of environmental hazards and be constant over age. However, allegedly intrinsic and extrinsic mortality have an exponentially increasing age pattern in common. Theories of aging assert that a combination of intrinsic and extrinsic stressors underlies the increasing risk of death. Epidemiological and biological data support that the control of intrinsic as well as extrinsic stressors can alleviate the aging process. We argue that aging and death can be better explained by the interaction of intrinsic and extrinsic stressors than by classifying mortality itself as being either intrinsic or extrinsic. Recognition of the tight interaction between intrinsic and extrinsic stressors in the causation of aging leads to the recognition that aging is not inevitable, but malleable through the environment. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Constraints on biomass energy deployment in mitigation pathways: the case of water scarcity

Science.gov (United States)

Séférian, Roland; Rocher, Matthias; Guivarch, Céline; Colin, Jeanne

2018-05-01

To limit global warming to well below 2 ° most of the IPCC-WGIII future stringent mitigation pathways feature a massive global-scale deployment of negative emissions technologies (NETs) before the end of the century. The global-scale deployment of NETs like Biomass Energy with Carbon Capture and Storage (BECCS) can be hampered by climate constraints that are not taken into account by Integrated assessment models (IAMs) used to produce those pathways. Among the various climate constraints, water scarcity appears as a potential bottleneck for future land-based mitigation strategies and remains largely unexplored. Here, we assess climate constraints relative to water scarcity in response to the global deployment of BECCS. To this end, we confront results from an Earth system model (ESM) and an IAM under an array of 25 stringent mitigation pathways. These pathways are compatible with the Paris Agreement long-term temperature goal and with cumulative carbon emissions ranging from 230 Pg C and 300 Pg C from January 1st onwards. We show that all stylized mitigation pathways studied in this work limit warming below 2 °C or even 1.5 °C by 2100 but all exhibit a temperature overshoot exceeding 2 °C after 2050. According to the IAM, a subset of 17 emission pathways are feasible when evaluated in terms of socio-economic and technological constraints. The ESM however shows that water scarcity would limit the deployment of BECCS in all the mitigation pathways assessed in this work. Our findings suggest that the evolution of the water resources under climate change can exert a significant constraint on BECCS deployment before 2050. In 2100, the BECCS water needs could represent more than 30% of the total precipitation in several regions like Europe or Asia.

Intrinsic-density functionals

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Engel, J.

2007-01-01

The Hohenberg-Kohn theorem and Kohn-Sham procedure are extended to functionals of the localized intrinsic density of a self-bound system such as a nucleus. After defining the intrinsic-density functional, we modify the usual Kohn-Sham procedure slightly to evaluate the mean-field approximation to the functional, and carefully describe the construction of the leading corrections for a system of fermions in one dimension with a spin-degeneracy equal to the number of particles N. Despite the fact that the corrections are complicated and nonlocal, we are able to construct a local Skyrme-like intrinsic-density functional that, while different from the exact functional, shares with it a minimum value equal to the exact ground-state energy at the exact ground-state intrinsic density, to next-to-leading order in 1/N. We briefly discuss implications for real Skyrme functionals

Intrinsic and extrinsic geometries of a tidally deformed black hole

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Vega, Ian; Poisson, Eric; Massey, Ryan

2011-01-01

A description of the event horizon of a perturbed Schwarzschild black hole is provided in terms of the intrinsic and extrinsic geometries of the null hypersurface. This description relies on a Gauss-Codazzi theory of null hypersurfaces embedded in spacetime, which extends the standard theory of spacelike and timelike hypersurfaces involving the first and second fundamental forms. We show that the intrinsic geometry of the event horizon is invariant under a reparameterization of the null generators, and that the extrinsic geometry depends on the parameterization. Stated differently, we show that while the extrinsic geometry depends on the choice of gauge, the intrinsic geometry is gauge invariant. We apply the formalism to solutions to the vacuum field equations that describe a tidally deformed black hole. In a first instance, we consider a slowly varying, quadrupolar tidal field imposed on the black hole, and in a second instance, we examine the tide raised during a close parabolic encounter between the black hole and a small orbiting body.

Metal scarcity and sustainability, analyzing the necessity to reduce the extraction of scarce metals

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Henckens, M. L C M; Driessen, P. P J; Worrell, E.

2014-01-01

There is debate whether or not further growth of metal extraction from the earth's crust will be sustainable in connection with geologic scarcity. Will future generations possibly face a depletion of specific metals? We study whether, for which metals and to what extent the extraction rate would

Scarcity, Alterity and Value: Decline of the Pangolin, the World′s Most Trafficked Mammal

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Alex Aisher

2016-01-01

Full Text Available The pangolin, now recognised as the world's most trafficked mammal, is currently undergoing population collapse across South and Southeast Asia, primarily because of the medicinal value attributed to its meat and scales. This paper explores how scarcity and alterity (otherness drive the perceived value of these creatures for a range of human and more-than-human stakeholders: wildlife traffickers, Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM practitioners, Asian consumers of their meat and scales, hunters and poachers, pangolin-rearing master-spirits, and conservation organisations. Based on archival research and long-term ethnographic study with indigenous hunters in the Eastern Himalayas, the paper analyses the commodity chains linking hunters and consumers of pangolin across South, Southeast and East Asia. It shows that whilst the nonlinear interaction of scarcity, alterity and value is driving the current overexploitation of pangolins, for some indigenous hunters in the Eastern Himalayas, these same dynamics interact to preserve these animals in the forests where they dwell.

Behavioural modelling of irrigation decision making under water scarcity

Science.gov (United States)

Foster, T.; Brozovic, N.; Butler, A. P.

2013-12-01

Providing effective policy solutions to aquifer depletion caused by abstraction for irrigation is a key challenge for socio-hydrology. However, most crop production functions used in hydrological models do not capture the intraseasonal nature of irrigation planning, or the importance of well yield in land and water use decisions. Here we develop a method for determining stochastic intraseasonal water use that is based on observed farmer behaviour but is also theoretically consistent with dynamically optimal decision making. We use the model to (i) analyse the joint land and water use decision by farmers; (ii) to assess changes in behaviour and production risk in response to water scarcity; and (iii) to understand the limits of applicability of current methods in policy design. We develop a biophysical model of water-limited crop yield building on the AquaCrop model. The model is calibrated and applied to case studies of irrigated corn production in Nebraska and Texas. We run the model iteratively, using long-term climate records, to define two formulations of the crop-water production function: (i) the aggregate relationship between total seasonal irrigation and yield (typical of current approaches); and (ii) the stochastic response of yield and total seasonal irrigation to the choice of an intraseasonal soil moisture target and irrigated area. Irrigated area (the extensive margin decision) and per-area irrigation intensity (the intensive margin decision) are then calculated for different seasonal water restrictions (corresponding to regulatory policies) and well yield constraints on intraseasonal abstraction rates (corresponding to aquifer system limits). Profit- and utility-maximising decisions are determined assuming risk neutrality and varying degrees of risk aversion, respectively. Our results demonstrate that the formulation of the production function has a significant impact on the response to water scarcity. For low well yields, which are the major concern

Intrinsic thermoelectric power of group VB metals

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Gunadhor Singh Okram

2012-03-01

Full Text Available We have reinvestigated the thermopower of group VB metals in polycrystalline forms in the temperature range of 6-300K, taking into account the critical nature of the sample surface and heat treatment especially for niobium. Strikingly small magnitude, negative sign, phonon drag dip and superconductivity not reported previously were observed in surface-cleaned single crystalline Nb. However, while thermopower magnitudes are small, mixed signs were found in the polycrystalline V, Nb and Ta samples. These properties were therefore interpreted as their intrinsic properties and were briefly discussed taking into account of the existing theory by fitting also the data that give the Fermi energies of 10.94 eV, 5.08 eV and 1.86eV, respectively.

Open Source Tools for Assessment of Global Water Availability, Demands, and Scarcity

Science.gov (United States)

Li, X.; Vernon, C. R.; Hejazi, M. I.; Link, R. P.; Liu, Y.; Feng, L.; Huang, Z.; Liu, L.

2017-12-01

Water availability and water demands are essential factors for estimating water scarcity conditions. To reproduce historical observations and to quantify future changes in water availability and water demand, two open source tools have been developed by the JGCRI (Joint Global Change Research Institute): Xanthos and GCAM-STWD. Xanthos is a gridded global hydrologic model, designed to quantify and analyze water availability in 235 river basins. Xanthos uses a runoff generation and a river routing modules to simulate both historical and future estimates of total runoff and streamflows on a monthly time step at a spatial resolution of 0.5 degrees. GCAM-STWD is a spatiotemporal water disaggregation model used with the Global Change Assessment Model (GCAM) to spatially downscale global water demands for six major enduse sectors (irrigation, domestic, electricity generation, mining, and manufacturing) from the region scale to the scale of 0.5 degrees. GCAM-STWD then temporally downscales the gridded annual global water demands to monthly results. These two tools, written in Python, can be integrated to assess global, regional or basin-scale water scarcity or water stress. Both of the tools are extensible to ensure flexibility and promote contribution from researchers that utilize GCAM and study global water use and supply.

Water Scarcity in England and Wales as a Failure of (metaGovernance

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Gareth Walker

2014-06-01

Full Text Available The water crisis is often said to be a crisis of governance failure rather than of availability per se; yet the sources of this failure are poorly understood. This paper examines contemporary water scarcity in England and Wales as a failure of ecological modernity, in which technical and institutional innovation is promoted as a means of increasing economic efficiency in the allocation and use of water resources. The role of the state in fostering this innovation is explored through exploring a shift from 'government' to 'governance'. The paper employs Jessopʼs theory of meta-governance to examine governance failure. Meta-governance represents the capacity of the state to flank or support the emergence of specific forms of governance through mobilising material or symbolic resources. Three sources of governance failure are explored: (1 the nature of capitalist exchange and its resulting production of nature, (2 the political dimensions implicit in meta-governance, and (3 the nature of governance as a task of self-organisation. The model is then applied to the rise of water scarcity in England and Wales from the 1970s to the present day. The utility of the model in analysing governance failure is discussed.

Type Ia Supernova Intrinsic Magnitude Dispersion and the Fitting of Cosmological Parameters

Science.gov (United States)

Kim, A. G.

2011-02-01

I present an analysis for fitting cosmological parameters from a Hubble diagram of a standard candle with unknown intrinsic magnitude dispersion. The dispersion is determined from the data, simultaneously with the cosmological parameters. This contrasts with the strategies used to date. The advantages of the presented analysis are that it is done in a single fit (it is not iterative), it provides a statistically founded and unbiased estimate of the intrinsic dispersion, and its cosmological-parameter uncertainties account for the intrinsic-dispersion uncertainty. Applied to Type Ia supernovae, my strategy provides a statistical measure to test for subtypes and assess the significance of any magnitude corrections applied to the calibrated candle. Parameter bias and differences between likelihood distributions produced by the presented and currently used fitters are negligibly small for existing and projected supernova data sets.

Innovation and complex governance at times of scarcity of resources – a lesson from history

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Peck, D.; Bakker, C.; Diederen, A.M.

2010-01-01

Historians understand the important role that access to critical raw materials has played in the development of civilizations, however access to materials has regularly led to distrust and conflict. Near future material scarcity scenarios appear to be severe and could include a mix of price

Coping with scarcity: Fishing adaptability and culture in lake Chapala

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Carmen Pedroza Gutiérrez

2017-11-01

Full Text Available This paper examines different adaptive responses that lakeside communities develop when faced with environmental change. The focus lies particularly on rural towns near lake Chapala, Mexico, affected by water level fluctuations. These situations require social reorganization, especially among groups whose survival is directly dependent on the lake’s integrity, such as fishermen.Using an adaptation and adaptability framework, various historical and current strategies used to confront scarcity and lake stress in La Palma, Michoacán are contrasted. Our aim is to highlight the changing social position of the fishing trade, and its most influential cultural features that have allowed its continuity.

The relative impact of climate change mitigation policies and socioeconomic drivers on water scarcity - An integrated assessment modeling approach

Science.gov (United States)

Hejazi, M. I.; Edmonds, J. A.; Clarke, L. E.; Kyle, P.; Davies, E. G.; Chaturvedi, V.; Patel, P.; Eom, J.; Wise, M.; Kim, S.; Calvin, K. V.; Moss, R. H.

2012-12-01

We investigate the relative effects of climate emission mitigation policies and socioeconomic drivers on water scarcity conditions over the 21st century both globally and regionally, by estimating both water availability and demand within a technologically-detailed global integrated assessment model of energy, agriculture, and climate change - the Global Change Assessment Model (GCAM). We first develop a global gridded monthly hydrologic model that reproduces historical streamflow observations and simulates the future availability of freshwater under both a changing climate and an evolving landscape, and incorporate this model into GCAM. We then develop and incorporate technologically oriented representations of water demands for the agricultural (irrigation and livestock), energy (electricity generation, primary energy production and processing), industrial (manufacturing and mining), and municipal sectors. The energy, industrial, and municipal sectors are represented in fourteen geopolitical regions, with the agricultural sector further disaggregated into as many as eighteen agro-ecological zones (AEZs) within each region. To perform the water scarcity analysis at the grid scale, the global water demands for the six demand sectors are spatially downscaled to 0.5 o x 0.5o resolution to match the scale of GWAM. The water scarcity index (WSI) compares total water demand to the total amount of renewable water available, and defines extreme water scarcity in any region as demand greater than 40% of total water availability. Using a reference scenario (i.e., no climate change mitigation policy) with radiative forcing reaching 8.8 W/m2 by 2095 and a global population of 14 billion, global annual water demand grows from about 9% of total annual renewable freshwater in 2005 to about 32% by 2095. This results in almost half of the world population living under extreme water scarcity by the end of the 21st century. Regionally, the demands for water exceed the total

Seawater desalination using small and medium light water reactors

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Shimamura, Kazuo

2000-01-01

Water is an essential substance for sustaining human life. As Japan is an island country, surrounded by the sea and having abundant rainfall, there is no scarcity of water in daily life except during abnormally dry summers or after disasters such as earthquakes. Consequently, there is hardly any demand for seawater desalination plants except on remote islands, Okinawa and a part of Kyushu. However, the IAEA has forecast a scarcity of drinking water in developing countries at the beginning of the 21st century. Further, much more irrigation water will be required every year to prevent cultivated areas from being lost by desertification. If developing countries were to produce such water by seawater desalination using current fossil fuel energy technology, it would cause increased air pollution and global warming. This paper explains the concept of seawater desalination plants using small and medium water reactors (hereinafter called 'nuclear desalination'), as well as important matters regarding the export nuclear desalination plants to developing countries. (author)

Using an ensemble of regional climate models to assess climate change impacts on water scarcity in European river basins.

Science.gov (United States)

Gampe, David; Nikulin, Grigory; Ludwig, Ralf

2016-12-15

Climate change will likely increase pressure on the water balances of Mediterranean basins due to decreasing precipitation and rising temperatures. To overcome the issue of data scarcity the hydrological relevant variables total runoff, surface evaporation, precipitation and air temperature are taken from climate model simulations. The ensemble applied in this study consists of 22 simulations, derived from different combinations of four General Circulation Models (GCMs) forcing different Regional Climate Models (RCMs) and two Representative Concentration Pathways (RCPs) at ~12km horizontal resolution provided through the EURO-CORDEX initiative. Four river basins (Adige, Ebro, Evrotas and Sava) are selected and climate change signals for the future period 2035-2065 as compared to the reference period 1981-2010 are investigated. Decreased runoff and evaporation indicate increased water scarcity over the Ebro and the Evrotas, as well as the southern parts of the Adige and the Sava, resulting from a temperature increase of 1-3° and precipitation decrease of up to 30%. Most severe changes are projected for the summer months indicating further pressure on the river basins already at least partly characterized by flow intermittency. The widely used Falkenmark indicator is presented and confirms this tendency and shows the necessity for spatially distributed analysis and high resolution projections. Related uncertainties are addressed by the means of a variance decomposition and model agreement to determine the robustness of the projections. The study highlights the importance of high resolution climate projections and represents a feasible approach to assess climate impacts on water scarcity also in regions that suffer from data scarcity. Copyright © 2016. Published by Elsevier B.V.

Quantum game application to spectrum scarcity problems

Science.gov (United States)

Zabaleta, O. G.; Barrangú, J. P.; Arizmendi, C. M.

2017-01-01

Recent spectrum-sharing research has produced a strategy to address spectrum scarcity problems. This novel idea, named cognitive radio, considers that secondary users can opportunistically exploit spectrum holes left temporarily unused by primary users. This presents a competitive scenario among cognitive users, making it suitable for game theory treatment. In this work, we show that the spectrum-sharing benefits of cognitive radio can be increased by designing a medium access control based on quantum game theory. In this context, we propose a model to manage spectrum fairly and effectively, based on a multiple-users multiple-choice quantum minority game. By taking advantage of quantum entanglement and quantum interference, it is possible to reduce the probability of collision problems commonly associated with classic algorithms. Collision avoidance is an essential property for classic and quantum communications systems. In our model, two different scenarios are considered, to meet the requirements of different user strategies. The first considers sensor networks where the rational use of energy is a cornerstone; the second focuses on installations where the quality of service of the entire network is a priority.

Genome-Wide Prediction of Intrinsic Disorder; Sequence Alignment of Intrinsically Disordered Proteins

Science.gov (United States)

Midic, Uros

2012-01-01

Intrinsic disorder (ID) is defined as a lack of stable tertiary and/or secondary structure under physiological conditions in vitro. Intrinsically disordered proteins (IDPs) are highly abundant in nature. IDPs possess a number of crucial biological functions, being involved in regulation, recognition, signaling and control, e.g. their functional…

Spectrophotometry of Wolf-Rayet stars - Intrinsic colors and absolute magnitudes

Science.gov (United States)

Torres-Dodgen, Ana V.; Massey, Philip

1988-01-01

Absolute spectrophotometry of about 10-A resolution in the range 3400-7300 A have been obtained for southern Wolf-Rayet stars, and line-free magnitudes and colors have been constructed. The emission-line contamination in the narrow-band ubvr systems of Westerlund (1966) and Smith (1968) is shown to be small for most WN stars, but to be quite significant for WC stars. It is suggested that the more severe differences in intrinsic color from star to star of the same spectral subtype noted at shorter wavelengths are due to differences in atmospheric extent. True continuum absolute visual magnitudes and intrinsic colors are obtained for the LMC WR stars. The most visually luminous WN6-WN7 stars are found to be located in the core of the 30 Doradus region.

Waters Without Borders: Scarcity and the Future of State Interactions over Shared Water Resources

Science.gov (United States)

2010-04-01

earth’s water is fresh water , stored in rivers, lakes, reservoirs, glaciers, permanent snow, groundwater aquifers, and the atmosphere. 10 This... freshwater resources between and within countries. 13 There is significant media attention given to intra-state water sharing issues. One...intrusion into coastal ground freshwater sources, among other effects. Consequently, water scarcity brought about by climate change could drive

Math grades and intrinsic motivation in elementary school: A longitudinal investigation of their association.

Science.gov (United States)

Weidinger, Anne F; Steinmayr, Ricarda; Spinath, Birgit

2017-06-01

It is often argued that the negative development of intrinsic motivation in elementary school strongly depends on the presence of school grades because grades represent extrinsic consequences and achievement feedback that are supposed to influence intrinsically motivated behaviour. However, only a few studies have tested this hypothesis. Therefore, we investigated the role of school grades in inter- and intra-individual changes in elementary school students' intrinsic motivation from when grades were first introduced until the end of elementary school, when students in Germany receive recommendations for a secondary school type on the basis of their prior performance in school. A sample of 542 German elementary school students (t 1 : M = 7.95 years, SD = 0.57) was followed for 2 years from the end of Grade 2 to the end of Grade 4. At seven measurement occasions, children's math grades and their domain-specific intrinsic motivation were assessed. Latent growth curve models showed differences in trajectories of intrinsic motivation across students rather than uniform development. Moreover, students' trajectories of grades and intrinsic motivation were only weakly associated. A latent cross-lagged model revealed that reciprocal effects between the two constructs over time were small at best. Contrary to theoretical considerations, our results indicate that negative performance feedback in the form of grades does not necessarily lead to a decrease in intrinsic motivation. This calls into question the common opinion that a perception of being less competent, as reflected by poor grades, is responsible for weakening students' intrinsic motivation. © 2017 The British Psychological Society.

Intrinsic Orbital Angular Momentum States of Neutrons

Science.gov (United States)

Cappelletti, Ronald L.; Jach, Terrence; Vinson, John

2018-03-01

It has been shown that single-particle wave functions, of both photons and electrons, can be created with a phase vortex, i.e., an intrinsic orbital angular momentum (OAM). A recent experiment has claimed similar success using neutrons [C. W. Clark et al., Nature, 525, 504 (2015), 10.1038/nature15265]. We show that their results are insufficient to unambiguously demonstrate OAM, and they can be fully explained as phase contrast interference patterns. Furthermore, given the small transverse coherence length of the neutrons in the original experiment, the probability that any neutron was placed in an OAM state is vanishingly small. We highlight the importance of the relative size of the coherence length, which presents a unique challenge for neutron experiments compared to electron or photon work, and we suggest improvements for the creation of neutron OAM states.

Determination of plasma Z-pinch effect by intrinsic stimulated emission

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Lue, J.T.; Liang, J.M.

1977-01-01

The plasma Z-pinch behavior has been observed in a relatively small-bore diameter tube and low bank voltage discharge system. The instant of the occurrence of the laser line at 4880 A coincides with the plasma pinch time calculated by using a one-fluid snow-plow model. A determination of plasma pinch parameters by measuring the intrinsic stimulated emission of the ions is described

Economics of technological change and the natural environment: How effective are innovations as a remedy for resource scarcity?

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Bretschger, Lucas

2005-01-01

The paper aims to substantiate the importance of endogenous innovations when evaluating the compatibility of natural resource use and economic development. It explains that technological change has the potential to compensate for natural resource scarcity, diminishing returns to capital, poor input substitution, and material balance restrictions, but is limited by various restrictions like fading returns to innovative investments and rising research costs. It also shows how innovative activities are fostered by accurate price signals and research-favouring sectoral change. The simultaneous effects of increasing technical knowledge, decreasing resource inputs, and increasing world population largely determine the chances of long-run sustainable development. Consequently, future research has to be directed at a more thorough understanding of the mechanisms driving innovations in the presence of natural resource scarcity

Put a limit on it: The protective effects of scarcity heuristics when self-control is low

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Cheung, T.T.L.; Kroese, F.M.; Fennis, Bob; de Ridder, D.T.D.

2015-01-01

Low self-control is a state in which consumers are assumed to be vulnerable to making impulsive choices that hurt long-term goals. Rather than increasing self-control, the current research exploits the tendency for heuristic-based thinking in low self-control by employing scarcity heuristics to

Energy-Water-Land Nexus: The relative contributions of climate and human systems on global water scarcity

Science.gov (United States)

Hejazi, M. I.; Chen, M.; Turner, S. W. D.; Graham, N. T.; Vernon, C. R.; Li, X.; Kim, S. H.; Link, R. P.

2017-12-01

There is a growing consensus that energy, water, and land systems are interconnected and should be analyzed as such. New tools are required to represent the interactions between population, economic growth, energy, land, and water resources in a dynamically evolving system. Here we use the Global Change Assessment Model (GCAM) to investigate the relative contributions of climate and human systems on water scarcity regionally and globally under a wide range of scenarios. The model accounts for a variety of human activities, including changing demands for water for agriculture, power generation, industry, and public supply. We find that these activities exert a larger influence on water scarcity than climate in 93% of river basins globally. This work highlights the importance of accounting for human activities in hydrologic modeling applications and how they may change under different pathways of how land use and agricultural systems, energy systems, and economies may evolve in the future.

Water scarcity, quality and its impact on health

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Saqi, S.K.; Kausar, R.; Anwar, S.M.

2005-01-01

The scarcity of water has become an established factor now and the intensity of problem is increasing day by day. Human use of natural water, particularly of fresh water resources, has increased steadily over the centuries. It is unlikely that this trend will change given the continued growth of population and the ever-widening utilization of water for agricultural, industrial 'and recreational purposes. This situation has given rise to growing concerns over the availability of adequate water supplies to accommodate the future needs of the populations. Surface-water resources are already being used to their maximum capacity in various regions of the world (Encarta Year Book, February, 2000). One billion people lack access to safe affordable water and over two billion people lack adequate sanitation. Water related diseases are largest cause of death in the world. As the world's population grows and demands for water increases, the UN predicts that two out of three people will be living with serious water shortage by 2025. (author)

Macroecology Meets Macroeconomics: Resource Scarcity and Global Sustainability.

Science.gov (United States)

Brown, James H; Burger, Joseph R; Burnside, William R; Chang, Michael; Davidson, Ana D; Fristoe, Trevor S; Hamilton, Marcus J; Hammond, Sean T; Kodric-Brown, Astrid; Mercado-Silva, Norman; Nekola, Jeffrey C; Okie, Jordan G

2014-04-01

The current economic paradigm, which is based on increasing human population, economic development, and standard of living, is no longer compatible with the biophysical limits of the finite Earth. Failure to recover from the economic crash of 2008 is not due just to inadequate fiscal and monetary policies. The continuing global crisis is also due to scarcity of critical resources. Our macroecological studies highlight the role in the economy of energy and natural resources: oil, gas, water, arable land, metals, rare earths, fertilizers, fisheries, and wood. As the modern industrial technological-informational economy expanded in recent decades, it grew by consuming the Earth's natural resources at unsustainable rates. Correlations between per capita GDP and per capita consumption of energy and other resources across nations and over time demonstrate how economic growth and development depend on "nature's capital". Decades-long trends of decreasing per capita consumption of multiple important commodities indicate that overexploitation has created an unsustainable bubble of population and economy.

Integrated System Dynamics Modelling for water scarcity assessment: case study of the Kairouan region.

Science.gov (United States)

Sušnik, Janez; Vamvakeridou-Lyroudia, Lydia S; Savić, Dragan A; Kapelan, Zoran

2012-12-01

A System Dynamics Model (SDM) assessing water scarcity and potential impacts of socio-economic policies in a complex hydrological system is developed. The model, simulating water resources deriving from numerous catchment sources and demand from four sectors (domestic, industrial, agricultural, external pumping), contains multiple feedback loops and sub-models. The SDM is applied to the Merguellil catchment, Tunisia; the first time such an integrated model has been developed for the water scarce Kairouan region. The application represents an early step in filling a critical research gap. The focus of this paper is to a) assess the applicability of SDM for assessment of the evolution of a water-scarce catchment and b) to analyse the current and future behaviour of the catchment to evaluate water scarcity, focusing on understanding trends to inform policy. Baseline results indicate aquifer over-exploitation, agreeing with observed trends. If current policy and social behaviour continue, serious aquifer depletion is possible in the not too distant future, with implications for the economy and environment. This is unlikely to occur because policies preventing depletion will be implemented. Sensitivity tests were carried out to show which parameters most impacted aquifer behaviour. Results show non-linear model behaviour. Some tests showed negligible change in behaviour. Others showed unrealistic exponential changes in demand, revenue and aquifer water volume. Policy-realistic parameters giving the greatest positive impact on model behaviour were those controlling per-capita domestic water demand and the pumped volume to coastal cities. All potentially beneficial policy options should be considered, giving the best opportunity for preservation of Kairouan aquifer water quantity/quality, ecologically important habitats and the agricultural socio-economic driver of regional development. SDM is a useful tool for assessing the potential impacts of possible policy measures

Development of a stream-aquifer numerical flow model to assess river water management under water scarcity in a Mediterranean basin.

Science.gov (United States)

Mas-Pla, Josep; Font, Eva; Astui, Oihane; Menció, Anna; Rodríguez-Florit, Agustí; Folch, Albert; Brusi, David; Pérez-Paricio, Alfredo

2012-12-01

Stream flow, as a part of a basin hydrological cycle, will be sensible to water scarcity as a result of climate change. Stream vulnerability should then be evaluated as a key component of the basin water budget. Numerical flow modeling has been applied to an alluvial formation in a small mountain basin to evaluate the stream-aquifer relationship under these future scenarios. The Arbúcies River basin (116 km(2)) is located in the Catalan Inner Basins (NE Spain) and its lower reach, which is related to an alluvial aquifer, usually becomes dry during the summer period. This study seeks to determine the origin of such discharge losses whether from natural stream leakage and/or induced capture due to groundwater withdrawal. Our goal is also investigating how discharge variations from the basin headwaters, representing potential effects of climate change, may affect stream flow, aquifer recharge, and finally environmental preservation and human supply. A numerical flow model of the alluvial aquifer, based on MODFLOW and especially in the STREAM routine, reproduced the flow system after the usual calibration. Results indicate that, in the average, stream flow provides more than 50% of the water inputs to the alluvial aquifer, being responsible for the amount of stored water resources and for satisfying groundwater exploitation for human needs. Detailed simulations using daily time-steps permit setting threshold values for the stream flow entering at the beginning of the studied area so surface discharge is maintained along the whole watercourse and ecological flow requirements are satisfied as well. The effects of predicted rainfall and temperature variations on the Arbúcies River alluvial aquifer water balance are also discussed from the outcomes of the simulations. Finally, model results indicate the relevance of headwater discharge management under future climate scenarios to preserve downstream hydrological processes. They also point out that small mountain basins

How downstream sub-basins depend on upstream inflows to avoid scarcity: typology and global analysis of transboundary rivers

Science.gov (United States)

Munia, Hafsa Ahmed; Guillaume, Joseph H. A.; Mirumachi, Naho; Wada, Yoshihide; Kummu, Matti

2018-05-01

Countries sharing river basins are often dependent upon water originating outside their boundaries; meaning that without that upstream water, water scarcity may occur with flow-on implications for water use and management. We develop a formalisation of this concept drawing on ideas about the transition between regimes from resilience literature, using water stress and water shortage as indicators of water scarcity. In our analytical framework, dependency occurs if water from upstream is needed to avoid scarcity. This can be diagnosed by comparing different types of water availability on which a sub-basin relies, in particular local runoff and upstream inflows. At the same time, possible upstream water withdrawals reduce available water downstream, influencing the latter water availability. By developing a framework of scarcity and dependency, we contribute to the understanding of transitions between system regimes. We apply our analytical framework to global transboundary river basins at the scale of sub-basin areas (SBAs). Our results show that 1175 million people live under water stress (42 % of the total transboundary population). Surprisingly, the majority (1150 million) of these currently suffer from stress only due to their own excessive water use and possible water from upstream does not have impact on the stress status - i.e. they are not yet dependent on upstream water to avoid stress - but could still impact on the intensity of the stress. At the same time, 386 million people (14 %) live in SBAs that can avoid stress owing to available water from upstream and have thus upstream dependency. In the case of water shortage, 306 million people (11 %) live in SBAs dependent on upstream water to avoid possible shortage. The identification of transitions between system regimes sheds light on how SBAs may be affected in the future, potentially contributing to further refined analysis of inter- and intrabasin hydro-political power relations and strategic planning

Managing urban water supplies in developing countries Climate change and water scarcity scenarios

Science.gov (United States)

Vairavamoorthy, Kala; Gorantiwar, Sunil D.; Pathirana, Assela

Urban areas of developing countries are facing increasing water scarcity and it is possible that this problem may be further aggravated due to rapid changes in the hydro-environment at different scales, like those of climate and land-cover. Due to water scarcity and limitations to the development of new water resources, it is prudent to shift from the traditional 'supply based management' to a 'demand management' paradigm. Demand management focuses on measures that make better and more efficient use of limited supplies, often at a level significantly below standard service levels. This paper particularly focuses on the intermittent water supplies in the cities of developing countries. Intermittent water supplies need to be adopted due to water scarcity and if not planned properly, results in inequities in water deliveries to consumers and poor levels of service. It is therefore important to recognise these realities when designing and operating such networks. The standard tools available for design of water supply systems often assume a continuous, unlimited supply and the supplied water amount is limited only be the demand, making them unsuitable for designing intermittent supplies that are governed by severely limited water availability. This paper presents details of new guidelines developed for the design and control of intermittent water distribution systems in developing countries. These include a modified network analysis simulation coupled with an optimal design tool. The guidelines are driven by a modified set of design objectives to be met at least cost. These objectives are equity in supply and people driven levels of service (PDLS) expressed in terms of four design parameters namely, duration of the supply; timings of the supply; pressure at the outlet (or flow-rate at outlet); and others such as the type of connection required and the locations of connections (in particular for standpipes). All the four parameters are calculated using methods and

Evaluating impacts of climate change on future water scarcity in an intensively managed semi-arid region using a coupled model of biophysical processes and water rights

Science.gov (United States)

Han, B.; Flores, A. N.; Benner, S. G.

2017-12-01

In semiarid and arid regions where water supply is intensively managed, future water scarcity is a product of complex interactions between climate change and human activities. Evaluating future water scarcity under alternative scenarios of climate change, therefore, necessitates modeling approaches that explicitly represent the coupled biophysical and social processes responsible for the redistribution of water in these regions. At regional scales a particular challenge lies in adequately capturing not only the central tendencies of change in projections of climate change, but also the associated plausible range of variability in those projections. This study develops a framework that combines a stochastic weather generator, historical climate observations, and statistically downscaled General Circulation Model (GCM) projections. The method generates a large ensemble of daily climate realizations, avoiding deficiencies of using a few or mean values of individual GCM realizations. Three climate change scenario groups reflecting the historical, RCP4.5, and RCP8.5 future projections are developed. Importantly, the model explicitly captures the spatiotemporally varying irrigation activities as constrained by local water rights in a rapidly growing, semi-arid human-environment system in southwest Idaho. We use this modeling framework to project water use and scarcity patterns under the three future climate change scenarios. The model is built using the Envision alternative futures modeling framework. Climate projections for the region show future increases in both precipitation and temperature, especially under the RCP8.5 scenario. The increase of temperature has a direct influence on the increase of the irrigation water use and water scarcity, while the influence of increased precipitation on water use is less clear. The predicted changes are potentially useful in identifying areas in the watershed particularly sensitive to water scarcity, the relative importance of

Using participatory modelling to compensate for data scarcity in environmental planning: A case study from India

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Ritzema, H.P.; Froebrich, J.; Raju, R.; Sreenivas, Ch.; Kselik, R.A.L.

2010-01-01

Participatory modelling has provided a new approach to overcome the problem of data scarcity which formerly interfered with the environmental planning for the restoration of the Kolleru-Upputeru wetland ecosystem on the east coast of Andhra Pradesh in South India. New ways had to be found to address

Intrinsic thermal expansion of crystal defects

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Ganne, J.-P.

1981-02-01

Although the phenomenon of thermal expansion has long been known, the intrinsic thermal expansion coefficient (ITEC) βsub(d) of a point defect, derived from its formation volume vsub(d), has never been measured directly. The differential dilatometer by interferometry built by ASTY and GILDER is described. It has allowed βsub(d) to be measured for several defects. Vacancies and small interstitial loops were produced in aluminium by low temperature (20 K) fast neutron irradiation followed by an anneal up to the beginning of stage III (160 K). The very high value of the measured ratio βsub(d)/β 0 (12+-4) is comparable with a lattice statics calculated (42) value (11.5 0 [fr

An intrinsic algorithm for parallel Poisson disk sampling on arbitrary surfaces.

Science.gov (United States)

Ying, Xiang; Xin, Shi-Qing; Sun, Qian; He, Ying

2013-09-01

Poisson disk sampling has excellent spatial and spectral properties, and plays an important role in a variety of visual computing. Although many promising algorithms have been proposed for multidimensional sampling in euclidean space, very few studies have been reported with regard to the problem of generating Poisson disks on surfaces due to the complicated nature of the surface. This paper presents an intrinsic algorithm for parallel Poisson disk sampling on arbitrary surfaces. In sharp contrast to the conventional parallel approaches, our method neither partitions the given surface into small patches nor uses any spatial data structure to maintain the voids in the sampling domain. Instead, our approach assigns each sample candidate a random and unique priority that is unbiased with regard to the distribution. Hence, multiple threads can process the candidates simultaneously and resolve conflicts by checking the given priority values. Our algorithm guarantees that the generated Poisson disks are uniformly and randomly distributed without bias. It is worth noting that our method is intrinsic and independent of the embedding space. This intrinsic feature allows us to generate Poisson disk patterns on arbitrary surfaces in IR(n). To our knowledge, this is the first intrinsic, parallel, and accurate algorithm for surface Poisson disk sampling. Furthermore, by manipulating the spatially varying density function, we can obtain adaptive sampling easily.

Intrinsic Chevrolets at the SSC

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Brodsky, S.J.; Collins, J.C.; Ellis, S.D.; Gunion, J.F.; Mueller, A.H.

1984-01-01

The possibility of the production at high energy of heavy quarks, supersymmetric particles and other large mass colored systems via the intrinsic twist-six components in the proton wave function is discussed. While the existing data do not rule out the possible relevance of intrinsic charm production at present energies, the extrapolation of such intrinsic contributions to very high masses and energies suggests that they will not play an important role at the SSC

Evaluating a novel tiered scarcity adjusted water budget and pricing structure using a holistic systems modelling approach.

Science.gov (United States)

Sahin, Oz; Bertone, Edoardo; Beal, Cara; Stewart, Rodney A

2018-06-01

Population growth, coupled with declining water availability and changes in climatic conditions underline the need for sustainable and responsive water management instruments. Supply augmentation and demand management are the two main strategies used by water utilities. Water demand management has long been acknowledged as a least-cost strategy to maintain water security. This can be achieved in a variety of ways, including: i) educating consumers to limit their water use; ii) imposing restrictions/penalties; iii) using smart and/or efficient technologies; and iv) pricing mechanisms. Changing water consumption behaviours through pricing or restrictions is challenging as it introduces more social and political issues into the already complex water resources management process. This paper employs a participatory systems modelling approach for: (1) evaluating various forms of a proposed tiered scarcity adjusted water budget and pricing structure, and (2) comparing scenario outcomes against the traditional restriction policy regime. System dynamics modelling was applied since it can explicitly account for the feedbacks, interdependencies, and non-linear relations that inherently characterise the water tariff (price)-demand-revenue system. A combination of empirical water use data, billing data and customer feedback on future projected water bills facilitated the assessment of the suitability and likelihood of the adoption of scarcity-driven tariff options for a medium-sized city within Queensland, Australia. Results showed that the tiered scarcity adjusted water budget and pricing structure presented was preferable to restrictions since it could maintain water security more equitably with the lowest overall long-run marginal cost. Copyright © 2018 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Intrinsic work function of molecular films

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Ivančo, Ján

2012-01-01

The electronic properties of molecular films are analysed with the consideration of the molecular orientation. The study demonstrates that surfaces of electroactive oligomeric molecular films can be classified—analogously to the elemental surfaces—by their intrinsic work functions. The intrinsic work function of molecular films is correlated with their ionisation energies; again, the behaviour is analogous to the correlation existing between the first ionisation energy of elements and the work function of the corresponding elemental surfaces. The proposed intrinsic work-function concept suggests that the mechanism for the energy-level alignment at the interfaces associated with molecular films is virtually controlled by work functions of materials brought into the contact. - Highlights: ► Molecular films exhibit their own (intrinsic) work function. ► Intrinsic work function is correlated with ionisation energy of molecular films. ► Intrinsic work function determines dipole at interface with a particular surface. ► Surface vacuum-level change upon film growth does not relate to interfacial dipole.

Intrinsic Evaporative Cooling by Hygroscopic Earth Materials

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Alexandra R. Rempel

2016-08-01

Full Text Available The phase change of water from liquid to vapor is one of the most energy-intensive physical processes in nature, giving it immense potential for cooling. Diverse evaporative cooling strategies have resulted worldwide, including roof ponds and sprinklers, courtyard fountains, wind catchers with qanats, irrigated green roofs, and fan-assisted evaporative coolers. These methods all require water in bulk liquid form. The evaporation of moisture that has been sorbed from the atmosphere by hygroscopic materials is equally energy-intensive, however, yet has not been examined for its cooling potential. In arid and semi-arid climates, hygroscopic earth buildings occur widely and are known to maintain comfortable indoor temperatures, but evaporation of moisture from their walls and roofs has been regarded as unimportant since water scarcity limits irrigation and rainfall; instead, their cool interiors are attributed to well-established mass effects in delaying the transmission of sensible gains. Here, we investigate the cooling accomplished by daily cycles of moisture sorption and evaporation which, requiring only ambient humidity, we designate as “intrinsic” evaporative cooling. Connecting recent soil science to heat and moisture transport studies in building materials, we use soils, adobe, cob, unfired earth bricks, rammed earth, and limestone to reveal the effects of numerous parameters (temperature and relative humidity, material orientation, thickness, moisture retention properties, vapor diffusion resistance, and liquid transport properties on the magnitude of intrinsic evaporative cooling and the stabilization of indoor relative humidity. We further synthesize these effects into concrete design guidance. Together, these results show that earth buildings in diverse climates have significant potential to cool themselves evaporatively through sorption of moisture from humid night air and evaporation during the following day’s heat. This finding

The effects of non-contingent extrinsic and intrinsic rewards on memory consolidation.

Science.gov (United States)

Nielson, Kristy A; Bryant, Ted

2005-07-01

Emotional and arousing treatments given shortly after learning enhance delayed memory retrieval in animal and human studies. Positive affect and reward induced prior to a variety of cognitive tasks enhance performance, but their ability to affect memory consolidation has not been investigated before. Therefore, we investigated the effects of a small, non-contingent, intrinsic or extrinsic reward on delayed memory retrieval. Participants (n=108) studied and recalled a list of 30 affectively neutral, imageable nouns. Experimental groups were then given either an intrinsic reward (e.g., praise) or an extrinsic reward (e.g., US 1 dollar). After a one-week delay, participants' retrieval performance for the word list was significantly better in the extrinsic reward groups, whether the reward was expected or not, than in controls. Those who received the intrinsic reward performed somewhat better than controls, but the difference was not significant. Thus, at least some forms of arousal and reward, even when semantically unrelated to the learned material, can effectively modulate memory consolidation. These types of treatments might be useful for the development of new memory intervention strategies.

NGO-provided free HIV treatment and services in Burkina Faso: scarcity, therapeutic rationality and unfair process

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Ridde Valéry

2012-03-01

Full Text Available Abstract Until 2010, Burkina Faso was an exception to the international trend of abolishing user fees for antiretroviral treatment (ART. Patients were still expected to pay 1,500F CFA (2 Euros per month for ART. Nevertheless, many non-governmental organizations (NGOs exempted patients from payment. The objective of this study was to investigate how NGOs selected the beneficiaries of payment exemptions for government-provided ART and rationed out complementary medical and psychosocial services. For this qualitative study, we conducted 13 individual interviews and three focus group discussions (n = 13 persons with program staff in nine NGOs (4,000 patients, two NGO coordinating structures and one national program. These encounters were recorded and transcribed, and their content was thematically analyzed. The results were presented to the NGOs for feedback. Results indicate that there are no concrete guidelines for identifying patients warranting payment exemptions. Formerly, ART was scarce in Burkina Faso and the primary criterion for treatment selection was clinical. Our results suggest that this scarcity, mediated by an approach we call sociotherapeutic rationality (i.e. maximization of clinical success, may have led to inequities in the provision of free ART. This approach may be detrimental to assuring equity since the most impoverished lack resources to pay for services that maximize clinical success (e.g. viral load that would increase their chances of being selected for treatment. However, once selected into treatment, attempts were made to ration-out complementary services more equitably. This study demonstrates the risks entailed by medication scarcity, which presents NGOs and health professionals with impossible choices that run counter to the philosophy of equity in access to treatment. Amid growing concerns of an international funding retreat for ART, it is important to learn from the past in order to better manage the potentially

NGO-provided free HIV treatment and services in Burkina Faso: scarcity, therapeutic rationality and unfair process.

Science.gov (United States)

Ridde, Valéry; Somé, Paul Andre; Pirkle, Catherine M

2012-03-06

Until 2010, Burkina Faso was an exception to the international trend of abolishing user fees for antiretroviral treatment (ART). Patients were still expected to pay 1,500F CFA (2 Euros) per month for ART. Nevertheless, many non-governmental organizations (NGOs) exempted patients from payment. The objective of this study was to investigate how NGOs selected the beneficiaries of payment exemptions for government-provided ART and rationed out complementary medical and psychosocial services. For this qualitative study, we conducted 13 individual interviews and three focus group discussions (n = 13 persons) with program staff in nine NGOs (4,000 patients), two NGO coordinating structures and one national program. These encounters were recorded and transcribed, and their content was thematically analyzed. The results were presented to the NGOs for feedback. Results indicate that there are no concrete guidelines for identifying patients warranting payment exemptions. Formerly, ART was scarce in Burkina Faso and the primary criterion for treatment selection was clinical. Our results suggest that this scarcity, mediated by an approach we call sociotherapeutic rationality (i.e. maximization of clinical success), may have led to inequities in the provision of free ART. This approach may be detrimental to assuring equity since the most impoverished lack resources to pay for services that maximize clinical success (e.g. viral load) that would increase their chances of being selected for treatment. However, once selected into treatment, attempts were made to ration-out complementary services more equitably.This study demonstrates the risks entailed by medication scarcity, which presents NGOs and health professionals with impossible choices that run counter to the philosophy of equity in access to treatment. Amid growing concerns of an international funding retreat for ART, it is important to learn from the past in order to better manage the potentially inequitable consequences

Exploring the psychosis functional connectome: aberrant intrinsic networks in schizophrenia and bipolar disorder

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Vince D Calhoun

2012-01-01

Full Text Available Intrinsic functional brain networks (INs are regions showing temporal coherence with one another. These INs are present in the context of a task (as opposed to an undirected task such as rest, albeit modulated to a degree both spatially and temporally. Prominent networks include the default mode, attentional fronto-parietal, executive control, bilateral temporal lobe and motor networks. The characterization of INs has recently gained considerable momentum, however; most previous studies evaluate only a small subset of the intrinsic networks (e.g. default mode. In this paper we use independent component analysis to study INs decomposed from fMRI data collected in a large group of schizophrenia patients, healthy controls, and individuals with bipolar disorder, while performing an auditory oddball task. Schizophrenia and bipolar disorder share significant overlap in clinical symptoms, brain characteristics, and risk genes which motivates our goal of identifying whether functional imaging data can differentiate the two disorders. We tested for group differences in properties of all identified intrinsic networks including spatial maps, spectra, and functional network connectivity. A small set of default mode, temporal lobe, and frontal networks with default mode regions appearing to play a key role in all comparisons. Bipolar subjects showed more prominent changes in ventromedial and prefrontal default mode regions whereas schizophrenia patients showed changes in posterior default mode regions. Anti-correlations between left parietal areas and dorsolateral prefrontal cortical areas were different in bipolar and schizophrenia patients and amplitude was significantly different from healthy controls in both patient groups. Patients exhibited similar frequency behavior across multiple networks with decreased low frequency power. In summary, a comprehensive analysis of intrinsic networks reveals a key role for the default mode in both schizophrenia and

Symmetries of collective models in intrinsic frame

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Gozdz, A.; Pedrak, A.; Szulerecka, A.; Dobrowolski, A.; Dudek, J.

2013-01-01

In the paper a very general definition of intrinsic frame, by means of group theoretical methods, is introduced. It allows to analyze nuclear properties which are invariant in respect to the group which defines the intrinsic frame. For example, nuclear shape is a well determined feature in the intrinsic frame defined by the Euclidean group. It is shown that using of intrinsic frame gives an opportunity to consider intrinsic nuclear symmetries which are independent of symmetries observed in the laboratory frame. An importance of the notion of partial symmetries is emphasized. (author)

Climate Change and Water Scarcity: The Case of Saudi Arabia.

Science.gov (United States)

DeNicola, Erica; Aburizaiza, Omar S; Siddique, Azhar; Khwaja, Haider; Carpenter, David O

2015-01-01

Climate change is expected to bring increases in average global temperatures (1.4°C-5.8°C [34.52°F-42.44°F] by 2100) and precipitation levels to varying degrees around the globe. The availability and quality of water will be severely affected, and public health threats from the lack of this valuable resource will be great unless water-scarce nations are able to adapt. Saudi Arabia provides a good example of how the climate and unsustainable human activity go hand in hand in creating stress on and depleting water resources, and an example for adaptation and mitigation. A search of the English literature addressing climate change, water scarcity, human health, and related topics was conducted using online resources and databases accessed through the University at Albany, State University of New York library web page. Water scarcity, which encompasses both water availability and water quality, is an important indicator of health. Beyond drinking, water supply is intimately linked to food security, sanitation, and hygiene, which are primary contributors to the global burden of disease. Poor and disadvantaged populations are the ones who will suffer most from the negative effects of climate change on water supply and associated human health issues. Examples of adaptation and mitigation measures that can help reduce the strain on conventional water resources (surface waters and fossil aquifers or groundwater) include desalination, wastewater recycling and reuse, and outsourcing food items or "virtual water trade." These are strategies being used by Saudi Arabia, a country that is water poor primarily due to decades of irresponsible irrigation practices. The human and environmental health risks associated with these adaptation measures are examined. Finally, strategies to protect human health through international collaboration and the importance of these efforts are discussed. International, multidisciplinary cooperation and collaboration will be needed to promote

Scarcity of Fresh Water Resources in the Ganges Delta of Bangladesh

Science.gov (United States)

Murshed, S. B.; Kaluarachchi, J. J.

2017-12-01

The Ganges Delta in Bangladesh is a classical example of water insecurity in a transboundary river basin where limitations in quantity, quality and timing of available water is producing disastrous conditions. Two opposite extreme water conditions, i.e., fresh water scarcity and floods are common in this region during dry and wet seasons, respectively. The purpose of this study is to manage fresh water requirement of people and environment considering the seasonal availability of surface water (SW) and ground water (GW). SW availability was analyzed by incoming stream flow including the effects of upstream water diversion, rainfall, temperature, evapotranspiration (ET). Flow duration curves (FDC), and rainfall and temperature elasticity are used to assess the change of incoming upstream flow. Groundwater data were collected from 285 piezometers and monitoring wells established by Bangladesh water development board. Variation of groundwater depth shows major withdrawals of GW are mostly concentrated in the north part of the study area. Irrigation is the largest sector of off-stream (irrigation, industrial and domestic) water use which occupies 82% SW and 17% GW of total water consumption. Although domestic water use is entirely depend on GW but arsenic pollution is limiting the GW use. FDC depicts a substantial difference between high flow threshold (20%) and low flow threshold (70%) in the Bangladesh part of Ganges River. A large variation of around 83% is observed for instream water volume between wet and dry seasons. The reduction of upstream fresh water flow increased the extent and intensity of salinity intrusion. Presently GW is also contaminated by saline water. This fresh water scarcity is reducing the livelihood options considerably and indirectly forcing population migration from the delta region. This study provides insight to the changes in hydrology and limitations to freshwater availability enabling better formulation of water resources management in

Assessment and management of water resources in Egypt to face drought and water scarcity

Science.gov (United States)

Wolters, Wouter; El Guindy, Samia; Salah El Deen, Magdy; Roest, Koen; Smit, Robert; Froebrich, Jochen

2013-04-01

Egypt is one of the countries hardest hit by global and climate change. Challenges include population growth; increased demands for food, water, and energy; as well as changing land use patterns and urbanization. Egypt's part of the Mediterranean is characterized by a very complex hydrological system, as it lacks rainfall (Cairo average 30 mm/year) and it is completely dependent on the Nile river flow. The growth of the Egyptian population and its economy in the near future leads to an increase in the demand for water and the overall water allocation priority basically is: first drinking water, then industry, and whatever is remaining will be available for agriculture and nature. Because the agricultural sector uses more than 80 per cent of available water, the main option available to reduce water scarcity in the priority sectors of the economy is to allocate less to the agriculture sector. Scientifically based advances in facing future drought and water scarcity through innovations increasing yields and food security by measures leading to "more crop per drop" are required. New and modern large- and medium-scale agriculture is being developed in desert areas with participation of the private sector for investments. To prepare the farming community and others elsewhere, for the future situation of water shortages, a paradigm shift is needed. New farming systems under tight water supply conditions are in development to prepare for a future with less water. Egyptian farming systems need a major transition to prevent further marginalization of agriculture, which would also have a major impact on food security. Central to this transition should be the increase of value generated per volume available water, also referred to as "more crop per drop" or "more cash per splash". There is room for the urgently required improvement: the present return on water in agriculture in Egypt is about US 0.25 /m3, where values of over US 1 /m3 are "easily" reached elsewhere. Moreover

A simple model to describe intrinsic stellar noise for exoplanet detection around red giants

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

North, Thomas S. H.; Chaplin, William J.; Gilliland, Ronald L.

2017-01-01

In spite of the huge advances in exoplanet research provided by the NASA Kepler Mission, there remain only a small number of transit detections around evolved stars. Here, we present a reformulation of the noise properties of red-giant stars, where the intrinsic stellar granulation and the stella...

Absence of field anisotropy in the intrinsic ferromagnetic signals of highly oriented pyrolytic graphite

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Ballestar, A.; Setzer, A.; Esquinazi, P.; Garcia, N.

2011-01-01

We have measured the magnetization of bulk samples of highly oriented pyrolytic graphite (HOPG) at magnetic fields applied parallel and perpendicular to the graphene layers. Within experimental error the intrinsic ferromagnetic signals of the samples show similar magnetic moments at saturation for the two magnetic field directions, in contrast to recently published data (J. Cervenka et al., Nat. Phys. 5 (2009) 840). To check that the SQUID device provides correctly the small ferromagnetic signals obtained after subtracting the 100 times larger diamagnetic background, we have prepared a sample with a superconducting Pb-film deposited on one of the HOPG surfaces. We show that the field dependence of the measured magnetic moment and after the background subtraction is highly reliable even in the sub-μ emu range providing the real magnetic properties of the embedded small ferromagnetic and superconducting signals. - Research Highlights: → We have measured the magnetization of bulk samples of highly oriented pyrolytic graphite (HOPG) at magnetic fields applied parallel and perpendicular to the graphene layers.→ Within experimental error the intrinsic ferromagnetic signals of the samples show similar magnetic moments at saturation for the two magnetic field directions.→ The absence of magnetic anisotropy of the intrinsic ferromagnetic order found in HOPG samples contrasts recently published data by Cervenka et al., Nat Phys 5, 840 (2009).

Managing water scarcity in the Magdalena river basin in Colombia.An economic assessment

Science.gov (United States)

Bolivar Lobato, Martha Isabel; Schneider, Uwe A.

2014-05-01

Key words: global change, water scarcity, river basin In Colombia, serious water conflicts began to emerge with the economic development in the 70ies and 80ies and the term "water scarcity" became a common word in this tropical country. Despite a mean annual runoff of 1840 mm, which classifies Colombia as a water rich country, shortfalls in fresh water availability have become a frequent event in the last two decades. One reason for the manifestation of water scarcity is the long-held perception of invulnerable water abundance, which has delayed technical and political developments to use water more efficiently. The Magdalena watershed is the most important and complex area in Colombia, because of its huge anthropogenic present, economic development and increasing environmental problems. This river basin has a total area of 273,459 km2, equivalent to 24% of the territory of the country. It is home to 79% of the country's population (32.5 million of inhabitants) and approximately 85% of Gross Domestic Product of Colombia is generated in this area. Since the economic development of the 1970s and 1980s, large changes in land cover and related environmental conditions have occurred in the Magdalena basin. These changes include deforestation, agricultural land expansion, soil degradation, lower groundwater and increased water pollution. To assess the consequences of geophysical alteration and economic development, we perform an integrated analysis of water demand, water supply, land use changes and possible water management strategies. The main objective of this study is to determine how global and local changes affect the balance between water supply and demand in the Magdalena river basin in Colombia, the consequences of different water pricing schemes, and the social benefits of public or private investments into various water management infrastructures. To achieve this goal, a constrained welfare maximization model has been developed. The General Algebraic Modeling

A tonoplast intrinsic protein in Gardenia jasminoides

Science.gov (United States)

Gao, Lan; Li, Hao-Ming

2017-08-01

Physiological and molecular studies proved that plasma membrane intrinsic proteins (PIPs) and tonoplast intrinsic proteins (TIPs) subfamily of aquaporins play key functions in plant water homeostasis. Five specialized subgroups (TIP1-5) of TIPs have been found in higher plants, in which the TIP1 and TIP2 isoforms are the largest arbitrary groups. TIPs have high water-transport activity than PIPs, some TIPs can transport other small molecule such as urea, ammonia, hydrogen peroxide, and carbon dioxide. In this work, the structure of the putative tonoplast aquaporin from Gardenia jasminoides (GjTIP) was analyzed. Its transcript level has increased during fruit maturation. A phylogenetic analysis indicates that the protein belongs to TIP1 subfamily. A three-dimensional model structure of GjTIP was built based on crystal structure of an ammonia-permeable AtTIP2-1 from Arabidopsis thaliana. The model structure displayed as a homo-tetramer, each monomer has six trans-membrane and two half-membrane-spanning α helices. The data suggests that the GjTIP has tendency to be a mixed function aquaporin, might involve in water, urea and hydrogen peroxide transport, and the gating machanism founded in some AQPs involving pH and phosphorylation response have not been proved in GjTIP.

Plastic-casting intrinsic-surface unique identifier (tag)

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Palm, R.G.; De Volpi, A.

1995-04-01

This report describes the development of an authenticated intrinsic-surf ace tagging method for unique- identification of controlled items. Although developed for control of items limited by an arms control treaty, this method has other potential applications to keep track of critical or high-value items. Each tag (unique-identifier) consists of the intrinsic, microscopic surface topography of a small designated area on a controlled item. It is implemented by making a baseline plastic casting of the designated tag area and usually placing a cover (for example, a bar-code label) over this area to protect the surface from environmental alteration. The plastic casting is returned to a laboratory and prepared for high-resolution scanning electron microscope imaging. Several images are digitized and stored for use as a standard for authentication of castings taken during future inspections. Authentication is determined by numerically comparing digital images. Commercially available hardware and software are used for this tag. Tag parameters are optimized, so unique casting images are obtained from original surfaces, and images obtained from attempted duplicate surfaces are detected. This optimization uses the modulation transfer function, a first principle of image analysis, to determine the parameters. Surface duplication experiments confirmed the optimization

Is physical water scarcity a new phenomenon? Global assessment of water shortage over the last two millennia

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Kummu, M.S.; Ward, P.J.; de Moel, H.; Varis, O.

2010-01-01

In this letter we analyse the temporal development of physical population-driven water scarcity, i.e. water shortage, over the period 0 AD to 2005 AD. This was done using population data derived from the HYDE dataset, and water resource availability based on the WaterGAP model results for the period

Environmental Displacements: The Case of Small Island States

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Marina R. Martins Mattar

2012-09-01

Full Text Available The human displacement caused by adverse weather conditions is, and has been for a long time, a natural strategy to adapt to environmental changes. However, the frequency of natural disasters and the negative impact of climate change have increased significantly affecting a growing number of people. Internal and external tensions caused by large-scale displacements, conflicts generated by resource scarcity, increased spread of diseases and geopolitical reordering are among the consequences linked to this phenomenon. The case of the small island nations that will be submerged by the sea level rise is an extreme example that raises fascinating questions. This article aims at analyzing the links of climate change on the dynamics of migration and exploring legal and political implications and possible solutions, in particular, for the populations from small island nations.

Clinical Variants of New Delhi Metallo-β-Lactamase Are Evolving To Overcome Zinc Scarcity.

Science.gov (United States)

Stewart, Alesha C; Bethel, Christopher R; VanPelt, Jamie; Bergstrom, Alex; Cheng, Zishuo; Miller, Callie G; Williams, Cameron; Poth, Robert; Morris, Matthew; Lahey, Olivia; Nix, Jay C; Tierney, David L; Page, Richard C; Crowder, Michael W; Bonomo, Robert A; Fast, Walter

2017-12-08

Use and misuse of antibiotics have driven the evolution of serine β-lactamases to better recognize new generations of β-lactam drugs, but the selective pressures driving evolution of metallo-β-lactamases are less clear. Here, we present evidence that New Delhi metallo-β-lactamase (NDM) is evolving to overcome the selective pressure of zinc(II) scarcity. Studies of NDM-1, NDM-4 (M154L), and NDM-12 (M154L, G222D) demonstrate that the point mutant M154L, contained in 50% of clinical NDM variants, selectively enhances resistance to the penam ampicillin at low zinc(II) concentrations relevant to infection sites. Each of the clinical variants is shown to be progressively more thermostable and to bind zinc(II) more tightly than NDM-1, but a selective enhancement of penam turnover at low zinc(II) concentrations indicates that most of the improvement derives from catalysis rather than stability. X-ray crystallography of NDM-4 and NDM-12, as well as bioinorganic spectroscopy of dizinc(II), zinc(II)/cobalt(II), and dicobalt(II) metalloforms probe the mechanism of enhanced resistance and reveal perturbations of the dinuclear metal cluster that underlie improved catalysis. These studies support the proposal that zinc(II) scarcity, rather than changes in antibiotic structure, is driving the evolution of new NDM variants in clinical settings.

Intrinsic Electric Dipole Moments of Paramagnetic Atoms: Rubidium and Cesium

OpenAIRE

Nataraj, H. S.; Sahoo, B. K.; Das, B. P.; Mukherjee, D.

2008-01-01

The electric dipole moment (EDM) of paramagnetic atoms is sensitive to the intrinsic EDM contribution from that of its constituent electrons and a scalar--pseudo-scalar (S-PS) electron-nucleus interactions. The electron EDM and the S-PS EDM contribution to atomic EDM scales as Z^3. Thus, the heavy paramagnetic atomic systems will exhibit large enhancement factors. However, the nature of the coupling is so small that it becomes an interest of high precision atomic experiments. In this work, we...

Simulation of efficiency impact of drainage water reuse: case of small-scale vegetable growers in North West Province, South Africa

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Speelman, S.; Haese, D' M.F.C.; Haese, D' L.

2011-01-01

This paper focuses on estimating the effect of drainage water reuse on the technical efficiency of small-scale vegetable growers in South Africa applying a data envelopment analysis (DEA). In the semi-arid North West Province of South Africa water scarcity and the soon to be implemented water

The intrinsic resistome of bacterial pathogens.

Science.gov (United States)

Olivares, Jorge; Bernardini, Alejandra; Garcia-Leon, Guillermo; Corona, Fernando; B Sanchez, Maria; Martinez, Jose L

2013-01-01

Intrinsically resistant bacteria have emerged as a relevant health problem in the last years. Those bacterial species, several of them with an environmental origin, present naturally low-level susceptibility to several drugs. It has been proposed that intrinsic resistance is mainly the consequence of the impermeability of cellular envelopes, the activity of multidrug efflux pumps or the lack of appropriate targets for a given family of drugs. However, recently published articles indicate that the characteristic phenotype of susceptibility to antibiotics of a given bacterial species depends on the concerted activity of several elements, what has been named as intrinsic resistome. These determinants comprise not just classical resistance genes. Other elements, several of them involved in basic bacterial metabolic processes, are of relevance for the intrinsic resistance of bacterial pathogens. In the present review we analyze recent publications on the intrinsic resistomes of Escherichia coli and Pseudomonas aeruginosa. We present as well information on the role that global regulators of bacterial metabolism, as Crc from P. aeruginosa, may have on modulating bacterial susceptibility to antibiotics. Finally, we discuss the possibility of searching inhibitors of the intrinsic resistome in the aim of improving the activity of drugs currently in use for clinical practice.

The intrinsic resistome of bacterial pathogens

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Jorge Andrés Olivares Pacheco

2013-04-01

Full Text Available Intrinsically resistant bacteria have emerged as a relevant health problem in the last years. Those bacterial species, several of them with an environmental origin, present naturally a low-level susceptibility to several drugs. It has been proposed that intrinsic resistance is mainly the consequence of the impermeability of cellular envelopes, the activity of multidrug efflux pumps or the lack of appropriate targets for a given family of drugs. However, recently published articles indicate that the characteristic phenotype of susceptibility to antibiotics of a given bacterial species depends on the concerted activity of several elements, what has been named as intrinsic resistome. These determinants comprise not just classical resistance genes. Other elements, several of them involved in basic bacterial metabolic processes, are of relevance for the intrinsic resistance of bacterial pathogens. In the present review we analyse recent publications on the intrinsic resistomes of Escherichia coli and Pseudomonas aeruginosa. We present as well information on the role that global regulators of bacterial metabolism, as Crc from P. aeruginosa, may have on modulating bacterial susceptibility to antibiotics. Finally, we discuss the possibility of searching inhibitors of the intrinsic resistome in the aim of improving the activity of drugs currently in use for clinical practice.

Incentives and intrinsic motivation in healthcare.

Science.gov (United States)

Berdud, Mikel; Cabasés, Juan M; Nieto, Jorge

It has been established in the literature that workers within public organisations are intrinsically motivated. This paper is an empirical study of the healthcare sector using methods of qualitative analysis research, which aims to answer the following hypotheses: 1) doctors are intrinsically motivated; 2) economic incentives and control policies may undermine doctors' intrinsic motivation; and 3) well-designed incentives may encourage doctors' intrinsic motivation. We conducted semi-structured interviews à-la-Bewley with 16 doctors from Navarre's Healthcare Service (Servicio Navarro de Salud-Osasunbidea), Spain. The questions were based on current theories of intrinsic motivation and incentives to test the hypotheses. Interviewees were allowed to respond openly without time constraints. Relevant information was selected, quantified and analysed by using the qualitative concepts of saturation and codification. The results seem to confirm the hypotheses. Evidence supporting hypotheses 1 and 2 was gathered from all interviewees, as well as indications of the validity of hypothesis 3 based on interviewees' proposals of incentives. The conclusions could act as a guide to support the optimal design of incentive policies and schemes within health organisations when healthcare professionals are intrinsically motivated. Copyright © 2016 SESPAS. Publicado por Elsevier España, S.L.U. All rights reserved.

Overexploitation of karst spring as a measure against water scarcity.

Science.gov (United States)

Dimkić, Dejan; Dimkić, Milan; Soro, Andjelko; Pavlović, Dusan; Jevtić, Goran; Lukić, Vladimir; Svrkota, Dragan

2017-09-01

Water scarcity, especially in the hydrologically critical part of the year, is a problem often present in many cities and regions, particularly in arid and sub-arid areas. Climate change and human water demand compound the problem. This paper discusses a climate change adaptation measure-the possibility of karst spring overexploitation, where there is a siphon-shaped cavity inside the mountain. The pilot area is near the city of Niš, where a decreasing precipitation trend has already been observed and is expected to continue in the future. The paper also presents some basic information related to the pilot area and undertaken investigations. The project, successfully implemented in 2004, has provided the city of Niš with an additional amount of 200 l/s of spring water during the most critical part of the year.

Integrated assessment of global water scarcity over the 21st century - Part 2: Climate change mitigation policies

Science.gov (United States)

Hejazi, M. I.; Edmonds, J.; Clarke, L.; Kyle, P.; Davies, E.; Chaturvedi, V.; Eom, J.; Wise, M.; Patel, P.; Calvin, K.

2013-03-01

We investigate the effects of emission mitigation policies on water scarcity both globally and regionally using the Global Change Assessment Model (GCAM), a leading community integrated assessment model of energy, agriculture, climate, and water. Three climate policy scenarios with increasing mitigation stringency of 7.7, 5.5, and 4.2 W m-2 in year 2095 (equivalent to the SRES A2, B2, and B1 emission scenarios, respectively), under two carbon tax regimes (a universal carbon tax (UCT) which includes land use change emissions, and a fossil fuel and industrial emissions carbon tax (FFICT) which excludes land use change emissions) are analyzed. The results are compared to a baseline scenario (i.e. no climate change mitigation policy) with radiative forcing reaching 8.8 W m-2 (equivalent to the SRES A1Fi emission scenario) by 2095. When compared to the baseline scenario and maintaining the same baseline socioeconomic assumptions, water scarcity declines under a UCT mitigation policy but increases with a FFICT mitigation scenario by the year 2095 particularly with more stringent climate mitigation targets. The decreasing trend with UCT policy stringency is due to substitution from more water-intensive to less water-intensive choices in food and energy production, and in land use. Under the FFICT scenario, water scarcity is projected to increase driven by higher water demands for bio-energy crops. This study implies an increasingly prominent role for water availability in future human decisions, and highlights the importance of including water in integrated assessment of global change. Future research will be directed at incorporating water shortage feedbacks in GCAM to better understand how such stresses will propagate across the various human and natural systems in GCAM.

The Neuroscience of Growth Mindset and Intrinsic Motivation.

Science.gov (United States)

Ng, Betsy

2018-01-26

Our actions can be triggered by intentions, incentives or intrinsic values. Recent neuroscientific research has yielded some results about the growth mindset and intrinsic motivation. With the advances in neuroscience and motivational studies, there is a global need to utilize this information to inform educational practice and research. Yet, little is known about the neuroscientific interplay between growth mindset and intrinsic motivation. This paper attempts to draw on the theories of growth mindset and intrinsic motivation, together with contemporary ideas in neuroscience, outline the potential for neuroscientific research in education. It aims to shed light on the relationship between growth mindset and intrinsic motivation in terms of supporting a growth mindset to facilitate intrinsic motivation through neural responses. Recent empirical research from the educational neuroscience perspective that provides insights into the interplay between growth mindset and intrinsic motivation will also be discussed.

Mountains in the third millennium - a decade of droughts and water scarcity?

Science.gov (United States)

de Jong, C.; Shaban, A.; Belete, T.

2012-04-01

Droughts and water scarcity have touched the Alps, Mediterranean and East African mountain chains more intensively since the beginning of the third millennium and pose a major challenge for water management. The year 2011 has been no exception, with the lowest river levels on record over the past 50 years even for alpine rivers. Although considerable climate fluctuations and persistent droughts have occurred in the past, it is quite remarkable that the five hottest summers over the past 500 years in Europe and the Alps have all been concentrated after 2002, falling far outside their normal historical distribution. In most mountain chains drought phenomena are persistent over large areas and over a variety of scales. The hydrological consequences, such as decreased rain- and snowfall, drying of springs, decreased river and groundwater discharge, lowering of lake levels and excessive evaporation etc. are considerable. Seasonality has been considerably affected, with the summer extending well into the spring and autumn. Mountain-fed rivers have experienced unusually low discharge over the last 10 years, with a decreasing trend both in summer and winter discharge. These hydrological changes have multiple impacts on availability of drinking water and the energy sector, decreasing hydroelectric production and availability of cooling water for the nuclear industry and negatively effecting river navigation, irrigation agriculture as well as winter tourism in mountains. Despite these naturally-induced shortcomings, adaptation has not always been rational. In some cases, maladaptation has led to overexploitation of water resources during drought conditions, exasperating water scarcity. For example, for the tourism sector in the Alps, water demand for drinking water and artificial snow making lies far above the available resources during the winter season for numerous resorts. This has long term environmental and socio-economic impacts such as destruction of wetlands

Global Water Scarcity Assessment under Post-SRES Scenarios

Science.gov (United States)

Hanasaki, N.; Fujimori, S.

2011-12-01

A large number of future projections contributed to the fourth Assessment Report of IPCC were based on Special Report on Emission Scenarios (SRES). Processes toward the fifth Assessment Report are under way, and post-SRES scenarios, called Shared Socio-economic Pathways (SSP) are being prepared. One of the key challenges of SSP is provision of detailed socio-economic scenarios compared to SRES for impact, adaptation and vulnerability studies. In this study, a comprehensive global water scarcity assessment was conducted, using a state of the art global water resources model H08 (Hanasaki et al., 2008a, 2008b, 2010). We used a prototype of SSP developed by National Institute for Environmental Studies, Japan. Two sets of socio economic scenarios and two sets of climate scenarios were prepared to run H08 for the period 2001-2100. Socio-economic scenarios include Business As Usual and High Mitigation Capacity. Climate scenarios include Reference and Mitigation which stabilizes green house gas concentration at a certain level. We analyzed the simulation results of four combinations, particularly focusing on the sensitivity of socio-economic scenarios to major water resources indices.

Intrinsic nonlinearity and method of disturbed observations in inverse problems of celestial mechanics

Science.gov (United States)

Avdyushev, Victor A.

2017-12-01

Orbit determination from a small sample of observations over a very short observed orbital arc is a strongly nonlinear inverse problem. In such problems an evaluation of orbital uncertainty due to random observation errors is greatly complicated, since linear estimations conventionally used are no longer acceptable for describing the uncertainty even as a rough approximation. Nevertheless, if an inverse problem is weakly intrinsically nonlinear, then one can resort to the so-called method of disturbed observations (aka observational Monte Carlo). Previously, we showed that the weaker the intrinsic nonlinearity, the more efficient the method, i.e. the more accurate it enables one to simulate stochastically the orbital uncertainty, while it is strictly exact only when the problem is intrinsically linear. However, as we ascertained experimentally, its efficiency was found to be higher than that of other stochastic methods widely applied in practice. In the present paper we investigate the intrinsic nonlinearity in complicated inverse problems of Celestial Mechanics when orbits are determined from little informative samples of observations, which typically occurs for recently discovered asteroids. To inquire into the question, we introduce an index of intrinsic nonlinearity. In asteroid problems it evinces that the intrinsic nonlinearity can be strong enough to affect appreciably probabilistic estimates, especially at the very short observed orbital arcs that the asteroids travel on for about a hundredth of their orbital periods and less. As it is known from regression analysis, the source of intrinsic nonlinearity is the nonflatness of the estimation subspace specified by a dynamical model in the observation space. Our numerical results indicate that when determining asteroid orbits it is actually very slight. However, in the parametric space the effect of intrinsic nonlinearity is exaggerated mainly by the ill-conditioning of the inverse problem. Even so, as for the

The Neuroscience of Growth Mindset and Intrinsic Motivation

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Betsy Ng

2018-01-01

Full Text Available Our actions can be triggered by intentions, incentives or intrinsic values. Recent neuroscientific research has yielded some results about the growth mindset and intrinsic motivation. With the advances in neuroscience and motivational studies, there is a global need to utilize this information to inform educational practice and research. Yet, little is known about the neuroscientific interplay between growth mindset and intrinsic motivation. This paper attempts to draw on the theories of growth mindset and intrinsic motivation, together with contemporary ideas in neuroscience, outline the potential for neuroscientific research in education. It aims to shed light on the relationship between growth mindset and intrinsic motivation in terms of supporting a growth mindset to facilitate intrinsic motivation through neural responses. Recent empirical research from the educational neuroscience perspective that provides insights into the interplay between growth mindset and intrinsic motivation will also be discussed.

Beyond the evoked/intrinsic neural process dichotomy

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Taylor Bolt

2018-03-01

Full Text Available Contemporary functional neuroimaging research has increasingly focused on characterization of intrinsic or “spontaneous” brain activity. Analysis of intrinsic activity is often contrasted with analysis of task-evoked activity that has traditionally been the focus of cognitive neuroscience. But does this evoked/intrinsic dichotomy adequately characterize human brain function? Based on empirical data demonstrating a close functional interdependence between intrinsic and task-evoked activity, we argue that the dichotomy between intrinsic and task-evoked activity as unobserved contributions to brain activity is artificial. We present an alternative picture of brain function in which the brain’s spatiotemporal dynamics do not consist of separable intrinsic and task-evoked components, but reflect the enaction of a system of mutual constraints to move the brain into and out of task-appropriate functional configurations. According to this alternative picture, cognitive neuroscientists are tasked with describing both the temporal trajectory of brain activity patterns across time, and the modulation of this trajectory by task states, without separating this process into intrinsic and task-evoked components. We argue that this alternative picture of brain function is best captured in a novel explanatory framework called enabling constraint. Overall, these insights call for a reconceptualization of functional brain activity, and should drive future methodological and empirical efforts.

Acoustic resonance spectroscopy intrinsic seals

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Olinger, C.T.; Burr, T.; Vnuk, D.R.

1994-01-01

We have begun to quantify the ability of acoustic resonance spectroscopy (ARS) to detect the removal and replacement of the lid of a simulated special nuclear materials drum. Conceptually, the acoustic spectrum of a container establishcs a baseline fingerprint, which we refer to as an intrinsic seal, for the container. Simply removing and replacing the lid changes some of the resonant frequencies because it is impossible to exactly duplicate all of the stress patterns between the lid and container. Preliminary qualitative results suggested that the ARS intrinsic seal could discriminate between cases where a lid has or has not been removed. The present work is directed at quantifying the utility of the ARS intrinsic seal technique, including the technique's sensitivity to ''nuisance'' effects, such as temperature swings, movement of the container, and placement of the transducers. These early quantitative tests support the potential of the ARS intrinsic seal application, but also reveal a possible sensitivity to nuisance effects that could limit environments or conditions under which the technique is effective

Current economic cost, the ARENH (Regulated Access to the Historic (EDF) Nuclear Energy Supplier) price, the differential rent and the scarcity rent of nuclear power: some observations

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Percebois, J.

2012-01-01

This article sets out to explain the ARENH mechanism, the regulated price at which the EDF (France's historic monopoly supplier) must sell part of its production to its competitors in the framework of the Nome Act (New Organisation of the Electricity Market). This price by its nature is different from the Current Economic Cost (CEC) of nuclear power, as estimated by France's Government Accounting Office in its report submitted in January 2012. These two approaches revert to the problem of the determination of the scarcity rent of nuclear power in the context of the liberalised European market, in which nuclear power benefits from a 'cost' advantage relative to thermal electricity generated from fossil fuels. Furthermore, scarcity rent is not the same thing as differential rent. Selling a nuclear kWh at the price of a 'gas' kWh at certain times results in a differential rent enabling nuclear generated power to cover fixed costs. One can only speak of scarcity rent for nuclear power when the price at which the kWh is sold allows the recovery of more than is necessary to cover overall costs of nuclear power and it is this scarcity rent and its allocation that is the subject of debate. (author)

Water scarcity under various socio-economic pathways and its potential effects on food production in the Yellow River basin

Science.gov (United States)

Yin, Yuanyuan; Tang, Qiuhong; Liu, Xingcai; Zhang, Xuejun

2017-02-01

Increasing population and socio-economic development have put great pressure on water resources of the Yellow River (YR) basin. The anticipated climate and socio-economic changes may further increase water stress. Many studies have investigated the changes in renewable water resources under various climate change scenarios, but few have considered the joint pressure from both climate change and socio-economic development. In this study, we assess water scarcity under various socio-economic pathways with emphasis on the impact of water scarcity on food production. The water demands in the 21st century are estimated based on the newly developed shared socio-economic pathways (SSPs) and renewable water supply is estimated using the climate projections under the Representative Concentration Pathway (RCP) 8.5 scenario. The assessment predicts that the renewable water resources would decrease slightly then increase. The domestic and industrial water withdrawals are projected to increase in the next a few decades and then remain at the high level or decrease slightly during the 21st century. The increase in water withdrawals will put the middle and lower reaches in a condition of severe water scarcity beginning in the next a few decades. If 40 % of the renewable water resources were used to sustain ecosystems, a portion of irrigated land would have to be converted to rain-fed agriculture, which would lead to a 2-11 % reduction in food production. This study highlights the links between water, food and ecosystems in a changing environment and suggests that trade-offs should be considered when developing regional adaptation strategies.

Hydro-economic modeling of water scarcity under global change: an application to the Gállego river basin (Spain)

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Graveline, N.; Majone, B.; van Duinen, Rianne; Ansink, E.

2014-01-01

Integrated approaches are needed to assess the effects of global changes on the future state of water resources at regional scales. We develop a hydro-economic model of the Gállego catchment, Spain, to assess how global change and policy options affect the catchment’s water scarcity and the economic

Intrinsically radiolabelled [(59)Fe]-SPIONs for dual MRI/radionuclide detection.

Science.gov (United States)

Hoffman, David; Sun, Minghao; Yang, Likun; McDonagh, Philip R; Corwin, Frank; Sundaresan, Gobalakrishnan; Wang, Li; Vijayaragavan, Vimalan; Thadigiri, Celina; Lamichhane, Narottam; Zweit, Jamal

2014-01-01

Towards the development of iron oxide nanoparticles with intrinsically incorporated radionuclides for dual Positron Emission Tomography/Magnetic Resonance Imaging (PET/MRI) and more recently of Single Photon Emission Computed Tomography/Magnetic Resonance Imaging (SPECT/MRI), we have developed intrinsically radiolabeled [(59)Fe]-superparamagnetic iron oxide nanoparticles ([(59)Fe]-SPIONs) as a proof of concept for an intrinsic dual probe strategy. (59)Fe was incorporated into Fe3O4 nanoparticle crystal lattice with 92±3% efficiency in thermal decomposition synthesis. Multidentate poly(acrylic acid)-dopamine-poly(ethylene-glycol-2000) (PAA-DOP-PEG) ligands were designed and synthesized based on facile EDC chemistry and utilized to functionalize the [(59)Fe]-SPIONs. The transverse relaxivity of [(59)Fe]-SPIONs (97±3 s(-1)mM(-1)) was characterized and found to be similar to non-radioactive SPIONs (72±10 s(-1)mM(-1)), indicating that (59)Fe incorporation does not alter the SPIONs' MRI contrast properties. [(59)Fe]-SPIONs were used to evaluate the nanoparticle biodistribution by ex vivo gamma counting and MRI. Nude mice (n=15) were injected with [(59)Fe]-SPIONs and imaged at various time points with 7T small animal MRI scanner. Ex vivo biodistribution was evaluated by tissue-based gamma counting. MRI signal contrast qualitatively correlates with the %ID/g of [(59)Fe]-SPIONs, with high contrast in liver (45±6%), medium contrast in kidneys (21±5%), and low contrast in brain (4±6%) at 24 hours. This work demonstrates the synthesis and in vivo application of intrinsically radiolabeled [(59)Fe]-SPIONs for bimodal detection and provides a proof of concept for incorporation of both gamma- and positron-emitting inorganic radionuclides into the core of metal based MRI contrast agent nanoparticles.

The Impact of Resource Scarcity on Bonding and Bridging Social Capital: the Case of Fishers' Information-Sharing Networks in Loreto, BCS, Mexico

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Saudiel Ramirez-Sanchez

2009-06-01

Full Text Available Fishers often rely on their social capital to cope with resource fluctuations by sharing information on the abundance and location of fish. Drawing on research in seven coastal fishing communities in Loreto, Baja California Sur, Mexico, we examine the effect of resource scarcity on the bonding, bridging, and linking social-capital patterns of fishers' information-sharing networks. We found that: (1 fishers' information sharing is activated in response to varying ecological conditions; (2 resource scarcity is an ambiguous indicator of the extent to which fishers share information on the abundance and location of fish within and between communities; (3 information sharing is based on trust and occurs through kinship, friendship, and acquaintance social relations; (4 friendship ties play a key and flexible role in fishers' social networks within and between communities; (5 overall, the composition of fishers' social networks follows a friendship>kinship>acquaintance order of importance; and (6 the function of social ties, internal conflict, and settlement histories moderate the effects of resource scarcity on fishers' social capital. We conclude by arguing that the livelihoods of fishers from Loreto have adaptive capacity for dealing with fish fluctuations but little or no proactive resilience to address resource-management issues.

The Frequency of Intrinsic X-Ray Weakness among Broad Absorption Line Quasars

Science.gov (United States)

Liu, Hezhen; Luo, B.; Brandt, W. N.; Gallagher, S. C.; Garmire, G. P.

2018-06-01

We present combined ≈14–37 ks Chandra observations of seven z = 1.6–2.7 broad absorption line (BAL) quasars selected from the Large Bright Quasar Survey (LBQS). These seven objects are high-ionization BAL (HiBAL) quasars, and they were undetected in the Chandra hard band (2–8 keV) in previous observations. The stacking analyses of previous Chandra observations suggested that these seven objects likely contain some candidates for intrinsically X-ray weak BAL quasars. With the new Chandra observations, six targets are detected. We calculate their effective power-law photon indices and hard-band flux weakness, and find that two objects, LBQS 1203+1530 and LBQS 1442–0011, show soft/steep spectral shapes ({{{Γ }}}eff}={2.2}-0.9+0.9 and {1.9}-0.8+0.9) and significant X-ray weakness in the hard band (by factors of ≈15 and 12). We conclude that the two HiBAL quasars are good candidates for intrinsically X-ray weak BAL quasars. The mid-infrared-to-ultraviolet spectral energy distributions of the two candidates are consistent with those of typical quasars. We constrain the fraction of intrinsically X-ray weak active galactic nuclei (AGNs) among HiBAL quasars to be ≈7%–10% (2/29–3/29), and we estimate it is ≈6%–23% (2/35–8/35) among the general BAL quasar population. Such a fraction is considerably larger than that among non-BAL quasars, and we suggest that intrinsically X-ray weak quasars are preferentially observed as BAL quasars. Intrinsically X-ray weak AGNs likely comprise a small minority of the luminous type 1 AGN population, and they should not affect significantly the completeness of these AGNs found in deep X-ray surveys.

Intrinsically secure fast reactors with dense cores

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Slessarev, Igor

2007-01-01

Secure safety, resistance to weapons material proliferation and problems of long-lived wastes remain the most important 'painful points' of nuclear power. Many innovative reactor concepts have been developed aimed at a radical enhancement of safety. The promising potential of innovative nuclear reactors allows for shifting accents in current reactor safety 'strategy' to reveal this worth. Such strategy is elaborated focusing on the priority for intrinsically secure safety features as well as on sure protection being provided by the first barrier of defence. Concerning the potential of fast reactors (i.e. sodium cooled, lead-cooled, etc.), there are no doubts that they are able to possess many favourable intrinsically secure safety features and to lay the proper foundation for a new reactor generation. However, some of their neutronic characteristics have to be radically improved. Among intrinsically secure safety properties, the following core parameters are significantly important: reactivity margin values, reactivity feed-back and coolant void effects. Ways of designing intrinsically secure safety features in fast reactors (titled hereafter as Intrinsically Secure Fast Reactors - ISFR) can be found in the frame of current reactor technologies by radical enhancement of core neutron economy and by optimization of core compositions. Simultaneously, respecting resistance to proliferation, by using non-enriched fuel feed as well as a core breeding gain close to zero, are considered as the important features (long-lived waste problems will be considered in a separate paper). This implies using the following reactor design options as well as closed fuel cycles with natural U as the reactor feed: ·Ultra-plate 'dense cores' of the ordinary (monolithic) type with negative total coolant void effects. ·Modular type cores. Multiple dense modules can be embedded in the common reflector for achieving the desired NPP total power. The modules can be used also independently (as

Crowding out intrinsic motivation in the public sector

OpenAIRE

Georgellis, Y; Iossa, E; Tabvuma, V

2011-01-01

Employing intrinsically motivated individuals has been proposed as a means of improving public sector performance. In this article, we investigate whether intrinsic motivation affects the sorting of employees between the private and the public sectors, paying particular attention to whether extrinsic rewards crowd out intrinsic motivation. Using British longitudinal data, we find that individuals are attracted to the public sector by the intrinsic rather than the extrinsic rewards that the se...

The relationship between HIV and AIDS and water scarcity in Nyamakate resettlements land, north-central Zimbabwe.

Science.gov (United States)

Mbereko, Alexio; Scott, Dianne; John Chimbari, Moses

2016-12-01

HIV and AIDS and water variability have been studied separately, yet, they impact on rural households simultaneously in an interactive manner. The study provide narratives on various realities from a study in the Nyamakate community that illustrates the dialectical relationship between HIV and AIDS and water scarcity. A qualitative research methodology was employed, and the following data collection tools were used: semi-structured interviews, focus group discussions (FGDs) and participant observations. The study showed that in the Nyamakate area, HIV- and AIDS-affected households utilise more water if there is a bedridden patient. Such households utilise an average of 145 litres per day and reported a water shortage of 103 litres per day. Although community rules and customs stipulate that water should be accessible to everyone, exclusion of HIV- and AIDS-affected households is underlined by cultural issues, scorn at poor levels of hygiene, infectious opportunistic infections and labour shortage, which limited access to water points by households directly affected by HIV and AIDS. In cases where women were overwhelmed with caregiving roles, men fetch water. We conclude that HIV and AIDS and water scarcity are dialectically related and hence should be considered in an interactive manner in order to understand the challenges faced by affected households.

Defining intrinsic vs. extrinsic atopic dermatitis.

Science.gov (United States)

Karimkhani, Chante; Silverberg, Jonathan I; Dellavalle, Robert P

2015-06-16

Atopic dermatitis (AD) is a chronic, relapsing inflammatory skin condition characterized by eczematous lesions, i.e. ill-demarcated erythematous patches and plaques. AD is commonly associated with elevated immunoglobulin E (IgE) and atopic disorders, such as asthma, hay fever, and food allergies. Rackemann and Mallory were some of the first to distinguish between asthma based on the presence ("extrinsic") or absence ("intrinsic") of allergy. This distinction has subsequently been applied to AD based on the presence ("extrinsic") or absence ("intrinsic") of increased IgE and atopic disease. Although the distinction between intrinsic and extrinsic AD is widely used, it remains controversial.

Intrinsic Tunneling in Phase Separated Manganites

Science.gov (United States)

Singh-Bhalla, G.; Selcuk, S.; Dhakal, T.; Biswas, A.; Hebard, A. F.

2009-02-01

We present evidence of direct electron tunneling across intrinsic insulating regions in submicrometer wide bridges of the phase-separated ferromagnet (La,Pr,Ca)MnO3. Upon cooling below the Curie temperature, a predominantly ferromagnetic supercooled state persists where tunneling across the intrinsic tunnel barriers (ITBs) results in metastable, temperature-independent, high-resistance plateaus over a large range of temperatures. Upon application of a magnetic field, our data reveal that the ITBs are extinguished resulting in sharp, colossal, low-field resistance drops. Our results compare well to theoretical predictions of magnetic domain walls coinciding with the intrinsic insulating phase.

Intrinsic-extrinsic factors in sport motivation.

Science.gov (United States)

Pedersen, Darhl M

2002-10-01

Participants were 83 students (36 men and 47 women). 10 intrinsic-extrinsic factors involved in sport motivation were obtained. The factors were generated from items obtained from the participants rather than items from the experimenter. This was done to avoid the possible influence of preconceptions on the part of the experimenter regarding what the final dimensions may be. Obtained motivational factors were Social Reinforcement, Fringe Benefits, Fame and Fortune, External Forces, Proving Oneself, Social Benefits, Mental Enrichment, Expression of Self, Sense of Accomplishment, and Self-enhancement. Each factor was referred to an intrinsic-extrinsic dimension to describe its relative position on that dimension. The order of the factors as listed indicates increasing intrinsic motivation. i.e., the first four factors were rated in the extrinsic range, whereas the remaining six were rated to be in the intrinsic range. Next, the participants rated the extent to which each of the various factors was involved in their decision to participate in sport activities. The pattern of use of the motivational factors was the same for both sexes except that men indicated greater use of the Fringe Benefits factor. Overall, the more intrinsic a sport motivation factor was rated, the more likely it was to be rated as a factor in actual sport participation.

Economic Context and HIV Vulnerability in Adolescents and Young Adults Living in Urban Slums in Kenya: A Qualitative Analysis Based on Scarcity Theory.

Science.gov (United States)

Jennings, Larissa; Mathai, Muthoni; Linnemayr, Sebastian; Trujillo, Antonio; Mak'anyengo, Margaret; Montgomery, Brooke E E; Kerrigan, Deanna L

2017-09-01

Urban slum adolescents and young adults have disproportionately high rates of HIV compared to rural and non-slum urban youth. Yet, few studies have examined youth's perceptions of the economic drivers of HIV. Informed by traditional and behavioral economics, we applied a scarcity theoretical framework to qualitatively examine how poverty influences sexual risk behaviors among adolescents and young adults. Focus group discussions with one hundred twenty youth in Kenyan's urban slums were transcribed, coded, and analyzed using interpretive phenomenology. Results indicated that slum youth made many sexual decisions considered rational from a traditional economics perspective, such as acquiring more sex when resources were available, maximizing wealth through sex, being price-sensitive to costs of condoms or testing services, and taking more risks when protected from adverse sexual consequences. Youth's engagement in sexual risk behaviors was also motivated by scarcity phenomena explained by behavioral economics, such as compensating for sex lost during scarce periods (risk-seeking), valuing economic gains over HIV risks (tunneling, bandwidth tax), and transacting sex as an investment strategy (internal referencing). When scarcity was alleviated, young women additionally described reducing the number of sex partners to account for non-economic preferences (slack). Prevention strategies should address the traditional and behavioral economics of the HIV epidemic.

Experiences matter: Positive emotions facilitate intrinsic motivation

OpenAIRE

Løvoll, Helga Synnevåg; Røysamb, Espen; Vittersø, Joar

2017-01-01

This paper has two major aims. First, to investigate how positive emotions and intrinsic motivation affect each other over time. Second, to test the effect of positive emotions and intrinsic motivation on subsequent educational choices. Through two ordinary study semesters, 64 sport students in Norway reported on their intrinsic motivation for outdoor activities (twice) as well as positive emotions after two three-day outdoor events (four times). Next autumn, students study choice was collect...

Experiences matter: Positive emotions facilitate intrinsic motivation

OpenAIRE

Løvoll, Helga Synnevåg; Røysamb, Espen; Vittersø, Joar

2017-01-01

https://doi.org/10.1080/23311908.2017.1340083 This paper has two major aims. First, to investigate how positive emotions and intrinsic motivation affect each other over time. Second, to test the effect of positive emotions and intrinsic motivation on subsequent educational choices. Through two ordinary study semesters, 64 sport students in Norway reported on their intrinsic motivation for outdoor activities (twice) as well as positive emotions after two three-day outdoor e...

Intrinsic and extrinsic geometry of random surfaces

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Jonsson, T.

1992-01-01

We prove that the extrinsic Hausdorff dimension is always greater than or equal to the intrinsic Hausdorff dimension in models of triangulated random surfaces with action which is quadratic in the separation of vertices. We furthermore derive a few naive scaling relations which relate the intrinsic Hausdorff dimension to other critical exponents. These relations suggest that the intrinsic Hausdorff dimension is infinite if the susceptibility does not diverge at the critical point. (orig.)

Analysis of intra-country virtual water trade strategy to alleviate water scarcity in Iran

Science.gov (United States)

Faramarzi, M.; Yang, H.; Mousavi, J.; Schulin, R.; Binder, C. R.; Abbaspour, K. C.

2010-08-01

Increasing water scarcity has posed a major constraint to sustain food production in many parts of the world. To study the situation at the regional level, we took Iran as an example and analyzed how an intra-country "virtual water trade strategy" (VWTS) may help improve cereal production as well as alleviate the water scarcity problem. This strategy calls, in part, for the adjustment of the structure of cropping pattern (ASCP) and interregional food trade where crop yield and crop water productivity as well as local economic and social conditions are taken into account. We constructed a systematic framework to assess ASCP at the provincial level under various driving forces and constraints. A mixed-integer, multi-objective, linear optimization model was developed and solved by linear programming. Data from 1990-2004 were used to account for yearly fluctuations of water availability and food production. Five scenarios were designed aimed at maximizing the national cereal production while meeting certain levels of wheat self-sufficiency under various water and land constraints in individual provinces. The results show that under the baseline scenario, which assumes a continuation of the existing water use and food policy at the national level, some ASCP scenarios could produce more wheat with less water. Based on different scenarios in ASCP, we calculated that 31% to 100% of the total wheat shortage in the deficit provinces could be supplied by the wheat surplus provinces. As a result, wheat deficit provinces would receive 3.5 billion m3 to 5.5 billion m3 of virtual water by importing wheat from surplus provinces.

Intrinsic Motivation: An Overlooked Component for Student Success

Science.gov (United States)

Augustyniak, Robert A.; Ables, Adrienne Z.; Guilford, Philip; Lujan, Heidi L.; Cortright, Ronald N.; DiCarlo, Stephen E.

2016-01-01

Intrinsic motivation to learn involves engaging in learning opportunities because they are seen as enjoyable, interesting, or relevant to meeting one's core psychological needs. As a result, intrinsic motivation is associated with high levels of effort and task performance. Students with greater levels of intrinsic motivation demonstrate strong…

The value of nature: Economic, intrinsic, or both?

Science.gov (United States)

There has been a long standing argument that ecosystems have intrinsic value and therefore there is no need to put a price tag on Mother Nature. The concept of intrinsic value reflects the perspective that nature has value in its own right, independent of human uses. Intrinsic va...

Major Intrinsic Proteins in Biomimetic Membranes

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Helix Nielsen, Claus

2010-01-01

or as sensor devices based on e.g., the selective permeation of metalloids. In principle a MIP based membrane sensor/separation device requires the supporting biomimetic matrix to be virtually impermeable to anything but water or the solute in question. In practice, however, a biomimetic support matrix....../separation technology, a unique class of membrane transport proteins is especially interesting the major intrinsic proteins (MIPs). Generally, MIPs conduct water molecules and selected solutes in and out of the cell while preventing the passage of other solutes, a property critical for the conservation of the cells...... internal pH and salt concentration. Also known as water channels or aquaporins they are highly efficient membrane pore proteins some of which are capable of transporting water at very high rates up to 109 molecules per second. Some MIPs transport other small, uncharged solutes, such as glycerol and other...

Annotation of Selaginella moellendorffii major intrinsic proteins and the evolution of the protein family in terrestrial plants

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Hanna Isa Anderberg

2012-02-01

Full Text Available Major intrinsic proteins (MIPs also called aquaporins form pores in membranes to facilitate the permeation of water and certain small polar solutes across membranes. MIPs are present in virtually every organism but are uniquely abundant in land plants. To elucidate the evolution and function of MIPs in terrestrial plants, the MIPs encoded in the genome of the spikemoss Selaginella moellendorffii were identified and analyzed. In total 19 MIPs were found in S. moellendorffii belonging to six of the seven MIP subfamilies previously identified in the moss Physcomitrella patens. Only three of the MIPs were classified as members of the conserved water specific plasma membrane intrinsic protein (PIP subfamily whereas almost half were found to belong to the diverse NOD26-like intrinsic protein (NIP subfamily permeating various solutes. The small number of PIPs in S. moellendorffii is striking compared to all other land plants and no other species has more NIPs than PIPs. Similar to moss, S. moellendorffii only has one type of tonoplast intrinsic protein (TIP. Based on ESTs from non-angiosperms we conclude that the specialized groups of TIPs present in higher plants are not found in primitive vascular plants but evolved later in a common ancestor of seed plants. We also note that the silicic acid permeable NIP2 group that has been reported from angiosperms appears at the same time. We suggest that the expansion of the number MIP isoforms in higher plants is primarily associated with an increase in the different types of specialized tissues rather than the emergence of vascular tissue per se and that the loss of subfamilies has been possible due to a functional overlap between some subfamilies.

Intrinsic and extrinsic motivation for smoking cessation.

Science.gov (United States)

Curry, S; Wagner, E H; Grothaus, L C

1990-06-01

An intrinsic-extrinsic model of motivation for smoking cessation was evaluated with 2 samples (ns = 1.217 and 151) of smokers who requested self-help materials for smoking cessation. Exploratory and confirmatory principal components analysis on a 36-item Reasons for Quitting (RFQ) scale supported the intrinsic-extrinsic motivation distinction. A 4-factor model, with 2 intrinsic dimensions (concerns about health and desire for self-control) and 2 extrinsic dimensions (immediate reinforcement and social influence), was defined by 20 of the 36 RFQ items. The 20-item measure demonstrated moderate to high levels of internal consistency and convergent and discriminant validity. Logistic regression analyses indicated that smokers with higher levels of intrinsic relative to extrinsic motivation were more likely to achieve abstinence from smoking.

Intrinsic bioremediation of landfills interim report

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Brigmon, R.L.; Fliermans, C.B.

1997-01-01

Intrinsic bioremediation is a risk management option that relies on natural biological and physical processes to contain the spread of contamination from a source. Evidence is presented in this report that intrinsic bioremediation is occurring at the Sanitary Landfill is fundamental to support incorportion into a Corrective Action Plan (CAP)

Intrinsic bioremediation of landfills interim report

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Brigmon, R.L. [Westinghouse Savannah River Company, Aiken, SC (United States); Fliermans, C.B.

1997-07-14

Intrinsic bioremediation is a risk management option that relies on natural biological and physical processes to contain the spread of contamination from a source. Evidence is presented in this report that intrinsic bioremediation is occurring at the Sanitary Landfill is fundamental to support incorportion into a Corrective Action Plan (CAP).

Expressing intrinsic volumes as rotational integrals

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Auneau, Jeremy Michel; Jensen, Eva Bjørn Vedel

2010-01-01

A new rotational formula of Crofton type is derived for intrinsic volumes of a compact subset of positive reach. The formula provides a functional defined on the section of X with a j-dimensional linear subspace with rotational average equal to the intrinsic volumes of X. Simplified forms of the ...

Identifying the neural substrates of intrinsic motivation during task performance.

Science.gov (United States)

Lee, Woogul; Reeve, Johnmarshall

2017-10-01

Intrinsic motivation is the inherent tendency to seek out novelty and challenge, to explore and investigate, and to stretch and extend one's capacities. When people imagine performing intrinsically motivating tasks, they show heightened anterior insular cortex (AIC) activity. To fully explain the neural system of intrinsic motivation, however, requires assessing neural activity while people actually perform intrinsically motivating tasks (i.e., while answering curiosity-inducing questions or solving competence-enabling anagrams). Using event-related functional magnetic resonance imaging, we found that the neural system of intrinsic motivation involves not only AIC activity, but also striatum activity and, further, AIC-striatum functional interactions. These findings suggest that subjective feelings of intrinsic satisfaction (associated with AIC activations), reward processing (associated with striatum activations), and their interactions underlie the actual experience of intrinsic motivation. These neural findings are consistent with the conceptualization of intrinsic motivation as the pursuit and satisfaction of subjective feelings (interest and enjoyment) as intrinsic rewards.

Refining the intrinsic chimera flap: a review.

Science.gov (United States)

Agarwal, Jayant P; Agarwal, Shailesh; Adler, Neta; Gottlieb, Lawrence J

2009-10-01

Reconstruction of complex tissue deficiencies in which each missing component is in a different spatial relationship to each other can be particularly challenging, especially in patients with limited recipient vessels. The chimera flap design is uniquely suited to reconstruct these deformities. Chimera flaps have been previously defined in many ways with 2 main categories: prefabricated or intrinsic. Herein we attempt to clarify the definition of a true intrinsic chimeric flap and provide examples of how these constructs provide a method for reconstruction of complex defects. The versatility of the intrinsic chimera flap and its procurement from 7 different vascular systems is described. A clarification of the definition of a true intrinsic chimera flap is described. In addition, construction of flaps from the lateral femoral circumflex, deep circumflex iliac, inferior gluteal, peroneal, subscapular, thoracodorsal, and radial arterial systems is described to showcase the versatility of these chimera flaps. A true intrinsic chimera flap must consist of more than a single tissue type. Each of the tissue components receives its blood flow from separate vascular branches or perforators that are connected to a single vascular source. These vascular branches must be of appropriate length to allow for insetting with 3-dimensional spatial freedom. There are a multitude of sites from which true intrinsic chimera flaps may be harvested.

Petroleum product scarcity: a review of the supply and distribution of petroleum products in Nigeria

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Akpoghomeh, Osi S.; Badejo, Dele

2006-01-01

Nigeria ranks high among the comity of oil producers both at the world level and among the OPEC eleven. It is, therefore, paradoxical that the supply of all petroleum products is erratic and has declined sharply in the recent past. This paper thus reviews the petroleum product supply and distribution systems in the country to ascertain the extent to which the system may have contributed to the present product scarcity in Nigeria and, by extension, identify the causes of the present regime of petroleum product scarcity. The paper observes that the network density and connectivity of petroleum product distribution pipelines are low and both indicators consequently show the inadequacy/deficiency of the network in ensuring an efficient distribution system. The supply mode, on the other hand, has, over the years, demonstrated its inability to guarantee adequate supply due to factors including sabotage, vandalism, banditry and poorly maintained infrastructure. Further, the federal government and the major and independent marketers could not sustain the importation of petroleum products because of the shortfall between the landed cost of imported products and their selling prices in Nigeria, which made the business unprofitable. Finally, the paper examines the withdrawal by the federal government of subsidies on the price of petroleum products consumed locally. All the above factors together occasioned increases in the cost of products. In conclusion, this paper supports the call for the privatization of refineries and the depot/pipeline system as a viable option to end the supply problems. (Author)

MARSOL: Demonstrating Managed Aquifer Recharge as a Solution to Water Scarcity and Drought

Science.gov (United States)

Schueth, Christoph

2014-05-01

Southern Europe and the Mediterranean region are facing the challenge of managing its water resources under conditions of increasing scarcity and concerns about water quality. Already, the availability of fresh water in sufficient quality and quantity is one of the major factors limiting socio economic development. Innovative water management strategies such as the storage of reclaimed water or excess water from different sources in Managed Aquifer Recharge (MAR) schemes can greatly increase water availability and therefore improve water security. Main objective of the proposed project MARSOL is to demonstrate that MAR is a sound, safe and sustainable strategy that can be applied with great confidence and therefore offering a key approach for tackling water scarcity in Southern Europe. For this, eight field sites were selected that will demonstrate the applicability of MAR using various water sources, ranging from treated wastewater to desalinated seawater, and a variety of technical solutions. Targets are the alleviation of the effect of climate change on water resources, the mitigation of droughts, to countermeasure temporal and spatial misfit of water availability, to sustain agricultural water supply and rural socio-economic development, to combat agricultural related pollutants, to sustain future urban and industrial water supply and to limit seawater intrusion in coastal aquifers. Results of the demonstration sites will be used to develop guidelines for MAR site selection, technical realization, monitoring strategies, and modeling approaches, to offer stakeholders a comprehensive, state of the art and proven toolbox for MAR implementation. Further, the economic and legal aspects of MAR will be analyzed to enable and accelerate market penetration. The MARSOL consortium combines the expertise of consultancies, water suppliers, research institutions, and public authorities, ensuring high practical relevance and market intimacy.

Intrinsically Disordered Side of the Zika Virus Proteome

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Rajanish Giri

2016-11-01

Full Text Available Over the last few decades, concepts of protein intrinsic disorder have been implicated in different biological processes. Recent studies have suggested that intrinsically disordered proteins (IDPs provide structural plasticity and functional diversity to viral proteins that are involved in rapid replication and immune evasion in host cells. In case of Zika virus, the roles of protein intrinsic disorder in mechanisms of pathogenesis are not completely understood. In this study, we have analyzed the prevalence of intrinsic disorder in Zika virus proteome (strain MR 766. Our analyses revealed that Zika virus polyprotein is enriched with intrinsically disordered protein regions (IDPRs and this finding is consistent with previous reports on the involvement of IDPs in shell formation and virulence of the Flaviviridae family. We found abundant IDPRs in Capsid, NS2B, NS3, NS4A, and NS5 proteins that are involved in mature particle formation and replication. In our view, the intrinsic disorder-focused analysis of ZIKV proteins could be important for the development of new disorder-based drugs.

High Performance Activity Practices in Small Firms in Romania

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Gabriela ŢUŢUEANU

2014-12-01

Full Text Available High Performance Activity Practices in Small Firms in Romania Abstract: High performance activity practices (HPAPs are human resource management activities aimed at stimulating employee and organisational performance. The application of HPAPs is not widespread in small organisations. We examine whether the implementation of coherent bundles of HPAPs (aimed at employee ability, employee motivation or at the opportunity to perform depends on the scarcity of resources, as reflected in the size of the company, and on strategic decision-making in small firms related to the owner’s expertise and attitudes. In our research, a total of 224 employees from 50 small organisations were asked to rate the presence of HPAPs in their organisation. These averaged perceptions were linked to information provided by the owner–managers on the size of their firm and their own expertise and attitudes. The findings support that smaller but coherent bundles of HPAPs can be found in small organisations and that the implementation of these bundles depends on available resources, strategic decision-making and the combination of the two. These findings highlight the need to integrate the notions of resource poverty and strategic decision-making to understand the uptake of bundles of HPAPs within small firms.

An assay for serum vitamin-B12 and for intrinsic factor antibody type I by means of hog intrinsic factor

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Hudak, J.; Berger, Z.; Varga, L.

1980-01-01

A new radioassay method was elaborated for the determination of the plasma level of vitamin B 12 and of the intrinsic factor antibody type I. The assay applies vitamin-B 12 labelled with 58 Co, but replaces human intrinsic factor by hog intrinsic factor. 124 cases were investigated by both the original and this modified method, and the results were in very good agreement. (L.E.)

Impacts on quality-induced water scarcity: drivers of nitrogen-related water pollution transfer under globalization from 1995 to 2009

Science.gov (United States)

Wan, Liyang; Cai, Wenjia; Jiang, Yongkai; Wang, Can

2016-07-01

Globalization enables the transfer of impacts on water availability. We argue that the threat should be evaluated not only by decrease of quantity, but more importantly by the degradation of water quality in exporting countries. Grouping the world into fourteen regions, this paper establishes a multi-region input-output framework to calculate the nitrogen-related grey water footprint and a water quality-induced scarcity index caused by pollution, for the period of 1995 to 2009. It is discovered that grey water embodied in international trade has been growing faster than total grey water footprint. China, the USA and India were the three top grey water exporters which accounted for more than half the total traded grey water. Dilemma rose when China and India were facing highest grey water scarcity. The EU and the USA were biggest grey water importers that alleviated their water stress by outsourcing water pollution. A structural decomposition analysis is conducted to study the drivers to the evolution of virtual flows of grey water under globalization during the period of 1995 to 2009. The results show that despite the technical progress that offset the growth of traded grey water, structural effects under globalization including both evolution in the globalized economic system and consumption structure, together with consumption volume made a positive contribution. It is found that the structural effect intensified the pollution-induced water scarcity of exporters as it generally increased all nations’ imported grey water while resulting in increases in only a few nations’ exported grey water, such as Brazil, China and Indonesia. At last, drawing from the ‘cap-and-trade’ and ‘boarder-tax-adjustment’ schemes, we propose policy recommendations that ensure water security and achieve environmentally sustainable trade from both the sides of production and consumption.

Flavor Structure of Intrinsic Nucleon Sea

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Peng, Jen-Chieh; Chang, Wen-Chen; Cheng, Hai-Yang; Liu, Keh-Fei

2015-01-01

The concept of intrinsic charm suggested by Brodsky et al. is extended to lighter quarks. Extraction of the intrinsic ū, d-macron, and s-macron seas is obtained from an analysis of the d-macron − ū, s + s-macron, and ū + d-macron − s −s-macron distributions. The connection between the intrinsic/extrinsic seas and the connected/disconnected seas in lattice QCD is also examined. It is shown that the connected and disconnected components for the ū(x) + d-macron(x) sea can be separated. The striking x-dependence of the [s(x) + s-macron(x)]/[ū(x) + d-macron(x)] ratio is interpreted as an interplay between the connected and disconnected seas. (author)

Hydrologic Modeling and Parameter Estimation under Data Scarcity for Java Island, Indonesia

Science.gov (United States)

Yanto, M.; Livneh, B.; Rajagopalan, B.; Kasprzyk, J. R.

2015-12-01

The Indonesian island of Java is routinely subjected to intense flooding, drought and related natural hazards, resulting in severe social and economic impacts. Although an improved understanding of the island's hydrology would help mitigate these risks, data scarcity issues make the modeling challenging. To this end, we developed a hydrological representation of Java using the Variable Infiltration Capacity (VIC) model, to simulate the hydrologic processes of several watersheds across the island. We measured the model performance using Nash-Sutcliffe Efficiency (NSE) at monthly time step. Data scarcity and quality issues for precipitation and streamflow warranted the application of a quality control procedure to data ensure consistency among watersheds resulting in 7 watersheds. To optimize the model performance, the calibration parameters were estimated using Borg Multi Objective Evolutionary Algorithm (Borg MOEA), which offers efficient searching of the parameter space, adaptive population sizing and local optima escape facility. The result shows that calibration performance is best (NSE ~ 0.6 - 0.9) in the eastern part of the domain and moderate (NSE ~ 0.3 - 0.5) in the western part of the island. The validation results are lower (NSE ~ 0.1 - 0.5) and (NSE ~ 0.1 - 0.4) in the east and west, respectively. We surmise that the presence of outliers and stark differences in the climate between calibration and validation periods in the western watersheds are responsible for low NSE in this region. In addition, we found that approximately 70% of total errors were contributed by less than 20% of total data. The spatial variability of model performance suggests the influence of both topographical and hydroclimatic controls on the hydrological processes. Most watersheds in eastern part perform better in wet season and vice versa for the western part. This modeling framework is one of the first attempts at comprehensively simulating the hydrology in this maritime, tropical

Off-stoichiometric silver antimony telluride: An experimental study of transport properties with intrinsic and extrinsic doping

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Michele D. Nielsen

2015-05-01

Full Text Available AgSbTe2 is a thermoelectric semiconductor with an intrinsically low thermal conductivity and a valence band structure that is favorable to obtaining a high thermoelectric figure of merit zT. It also has a very small energy gap Eg ∼ 7.6 ± 3 meV. As this gap is less than the thermal excitation energy at room temperature, near-intrinsic AgSbTe2 is a two carrier system having both holes (concentration p and electrons (n. Good thermoelectric performance requires heavy p-type doping (p > > n. This can be achieved with native defects or with extrinsic doping, e.g. with transition metal element. The use of defect doping is complicated by the fact that many of the ternary Ag-Sb-Te and pseudo-binary Sb2Te3-Ag2Te phase diagrams are contradictory. This paper determines the compositional region most favorable to creating a single phase material. Through a combination of intrinsic and extrinsic doping, values of zT > 1 are achieved, though not on single-phased material. Additionally, we show that thermal conductivity is not affected by defects, further demonstrating that the low lattice thermal conductivity of I-V-VI2 materials is due to an intrinsic mechanism, insensitive to changes in defect structure.

Female peers in small work groups enhance women's motivation, verbal participation, and career aspirations in engineering

OpenAIRE

Dasgupta, Nilanjana; Scircle, Melissa McManus; Hunsinger, Matthew

2015-01-01

Advances in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics are critical to the American economy and require a robust workforce. The scarcity of women in this workforce is a well-recognized problem, but data-driven solutions to this problem are less common. We provide experimental evidence showing that gender composition of small groups in engineering has a substantial impact on undergraduate women’s persistence. Women participate more actively in engineering groups when members are mostly ...

Ankle Joint Intrinsic Dynamics is More Complex than a Mass-Spring-Damper Model.

Science.gov (United States)

Sobhani Tehrani, Ehsan; Jalaleddini, Kian; Kearney, Robert E

2017-09-01

This paper describes a new small signal parametric model of ankle joint intrinsic mechanics in normal subjects. We found that intrinsic ankle mechanics is a third-order system and the second-order mass-spring-damper model, referred to as IBK, used by many researchers in the literature cannot adequately represent ankle dynamics at all frequencies in a number of important tasks. This was demonstrated using experimental data from five healthy subjects with no voluntary muscle contraction and at seven ankle positions covering the range of motion. We showed that the difference between the new third-order model and the conventional IBK model increased from dorsi to plantarflexed position. The new model was obtained using a multi-step identification procedure applied to experimental input/output data of the ankle joint. The procedure first identifies a non-parametric model of intrinsic joint stiffness where ankle position is the input and torque is the output. Then, in several steps, the model is converted into a continuous-time transfer function of ankle compliance, which is the inverse of stiffness. Finally, we showed that the third-order model is indeed structurally consistent with agonist-antagonist musculoskeletal structure of human ankle, which is not the case for the IBK model.

The effect of intrinsic soil properties on soil quality assessments

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Alessandro Samuel-Rosa

2013-10-01

Full Text Available The assessment of soil quality is based on indicators and indices derived from soil properties. However, intrinsic soil properties may interfere with other soil properties that vary under different land uses and are used to calculate the indices. The aim of this study was to assess the extent to which intrinsic soil properties (clay and iron oxide contents explain variable soil properties (sum of bases, potential acidity, organic carbon, total porosity, and bulk density under different land uses (native forest, no-tillage and conventional agriculture on small family farms in Southern Brazil. The results showed that the five properties evaluated can be included in soil quality assessments and are not influenced by the clay and iron oxide contents. It was concluded that for little weathered 1:1 and 2:1 phyllosilicate rich-soils, if the difference between the maximum and the minimum clay content under the different land uses is less than about 200 g kg-1 and the iron oxide content less than about 15 g kg-1, the physico-chemical soil properties in the surface layer are determined mostly by the land use.

Weekend Warriors for Water: Combating Water Scarcity in West Africa with United States Army National Guard and Reserve Forces

Science.gov (United States)

2017-06-09

vulnerable to “conflict and instability from political, social, economic , and environmental challenges” (United States Africa Command 2017). The...improve regional stability , which in turn increases economic , political, and social development. RC deployments to support water scarcity missions can...Capacity DOD Department of Defense DOS Department of State ECOWAS Economic Community of West African States FHA Foreign Humanitarian Assistance

Intrinsic neuromodulation: altering neuronal circuits from within.

Science.gov (United States)

Katz, P S; Frost, W N

1996-02-01

There are two sources of neuromodulation for neuronal circuits: extrinsic inputs and intrinsic components of the circuits themselves. Extrinsic neuromodulation is known to be pervasive in nervous systems, but intrinsic neuromodulation is less recognized, despite the fact that it has now been demonstrated in sensory and neuromuscular circuits and in central pattern generators. By its nature, intrinsic neuromodulation produces local changes in neuronal computation, whereas extrinsic neuromodulation can cause global changes, often affecting many circuits simultaneously. Studies in a number of systems are defining the different properties of these two forms of neuromodulation.

Assessing the economic impact of North China’s water scarcity mitigation strategy : a multi - region, water - extended computable general equilibrium analysis

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Qin, Changbo; Qin, C.; Su, Zhongbo; Bressers, Johannes T.A.; Jia, Y.; Wang, H.

2013-01-01

This paper describes a multi-region computable general equilibrium model for analyzing the effectiveness of measures and policies for mitigating North China’s water scarcity with respect to three different groups of scenarios. The findings suggest that a reduction in groundwater use would negatively

Concepts of intrinsic safety

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Anon.

1985-01-01

A newly introduced Japanese reactor concept, ISER (Intrinsically Safe and Economical Reactor), is intended to be a reference intrinsically safe light water reactor. ISER is designed similarly to PIUS but with greater economy in mind such that any utility in any country can choose it for its power system. Social assimilation and acceptability in the Asia Pacific Region including the United States are the keys to the ISER with the hope of dramatic reductions of social costs due to safeguards, reliability, financiability, and infrastructure building, particularly in the third world, as well as reactor safety itself. In this respect and others, the ISER proposal is different from other vendor-proposed reactor concepts and is unique

Elements of the Competitive Situation That Affect Intrinsic Motivation.

Science.gov (United States)

Reeve, Johnmarshall; Deci, Edward L.

1996-01-01

Explores the effects of three elements of the competitive situation (competitive set, competitive outcome, and interpersonal context) on intrinsic motivation in a sample of college students (n=100). Competitive outcome and interpersonal context affected intrinsic motivation: winning increased intrinsic motivation, while pressured interpersonal…

A radioisotope dilution assay for unlabelled vitamin B12-intrinsic factor complex employing the binding intrinsic factor antibody: probable evidence for two types of binding antibody

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Jacob, E.; O'Brien, H.A.W.; Mollin, D.L.

1977-01-01

A new radioisotope dilution assay for vitamin B 12 -intrinsic factor complex is described. The method is based on the use of the binding type intrinsic antibody (the binding reagent), which when combined with the intrinsic factor-vitamin B 12 complex (labelled ligand), is quantitatively adsorbed onto zirconium phosphate gel pH 6.25. The new assay has been shown to provide a measure of intrinsic factor comparable with other intrinsic factor assays, but it has the important advantage of being able to measure the unlabelled vitamin B 12 -intrinsic factor complex (unlabelled ligand), and will, therefore, be valuable in the study of physiological events in the gastrointestinal tract. During the study, it was found that there is some evidence for at least two types of binding intrinsic factor antibody: One which combines preferentially with the intrinsic factor-vitamin B 12 complex and one which combines equally well with this complex or with free intrinsic factor. (author)

Predicting Intrinsic Motivation

Science.gov (United States)

Martens, Rob; Kirschner, Paul A.

2004-01-01

Intrinsic motivation can be predicted from participants' perceptions of the social environment and the task environment (Ryan & Deci, 2000)in terms of control, relatedness and competence. To determine the degree of independence of these factors 251 students in higher vocational education (physiotherapy and hotel management) indicated the…

Short overview of water scarcity in the basins of the Upper Tietê River and PCJ

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Luciana Cordeiro de Souza Fernandes

2015-12-01

Full Text Available Water scarcity in the region of the Alto Tietê basin and Piracicaba, Capivari and Jundiaí basins (PCJ, southeastern Brazil, it is a concrete fact that should be faced. In our view it is not a simple water crisis, but a water collapse a decade advertised, which shows an inconsistent and ineffective planning, a lack of political management and the flagrant absence of compliance with the legal grounds brought by the National Water Resources Policy Act (Federal Law n. 9433/97.

Individualistic vs. Competitive Participation: The Effect on Intrinsic Motivation.

Science.gov (United States)

Jones, Brent M.; And Others

Studies investigating intrinsic motivation and competition have supported the view that competition decreases intrinsic motivation. More recent studies suggest that the specific outcome of a competition (a win or a loss) differentially affects intrinsic motivation by highlighting the informational rather than the controlling aspect of the reward…

Bidirectional Modulation of Intrinsic Excitability in Rat Prelimbic Cortex Neuronal Ensembles and Non-Ensembles after Operant Learning.

Science.gov (United States)

Whitaker, Leslie R; Warren, Brandon L; Venniro, Marco; Harte, Tyler C; McPherson, Kylie B; Beidel, Jennifer; Bossert, Jennifer M; Shaham, Yavin; Bonci, Antonello; Hope, Bruce T

2017-09-06

Learned associations between environmental stimuli and rewards drive goal-directed learning and motivated behavior. These memories are thought to be encoded by alterations within specific patterns of sparsely distributed neurons called neuronal ensembles that are activated selectively by reward-predictive stimuli. Here, we use the Fos promoter to identify strongly activated neuronal ensembles in rat prelimbic cortex (PLC) and assess altered intrinsic excitability after 10 d of operant food self-administration training (1 h/d). First, we used the Daun02 inactivation procedure in male FosLacZ-transgenic rats to ablate selectively Fos-expressing PLC neurons that were active during operant food self-administration. Selective ablation of these neurons decreased food seeking. We then used male FosGFP-transgenic rats to assess selective alterations of intrinsic excitability in Fos-expressing neuronal ensembles (FosGFP + ) that were activated during food self-administration and compared these with alterations in less activated non-ensemble neurons (FosGFP - ). Using whole-cell recordings of layer V pyramidal neurons in an ex vivo brain slice preparation, we found that operant self-administration increased excitability of FosGFP + neurons and decreased excitability of FosGFP - neurons. Increased excitability of FosGFP + neurons was driven by increased steady-state input resistance. Decreased excitability of FosGFP - neurons was driven by increased contribution of small-conductance calcium-activated potassium (SK) channels. Injections of the specific SK channel antagonist apamin into PLC increased Fos expression but had no effect on food seeking. Overall, operant learning increased intrinsic excitability of PLC Fos-expressing neuronal ensembles that play a role in food seeking but decreased intrinsic excitability of Fos - non-ensembles. SIGNIFICANCE STATEMENT Prefrontal cortex activity plays a critical role in operant learning, but the underlying cellular mechanisms are

Hidden Structural Codes in Protein Intrinsic Disorder.

Science.gov (United States)

Borkosky, Silvia S; Camporeale, Gabriela; Chemes, Lucía B; Risso, Marikena; Noval, María Gabriela; Sánchez, Ignacio E; Alonso, Leonardo G; de Prat Gay, Gonzalo

2017-10-17

Intrinsic disorder is a major structural category in biology, accounting for more than 30% of coding regions across the domains of life, yet consists of conformational ensembles in equilibrium, a major challenge in protein chemistry. Anciently evolved papillomavirus genomes constitute an unparalleled case for sequence to structure-function correlation in cases in which there are no folded structures. E7, the major transforming oncoprotein of human papillomaviruses, is a paradigmatic example among the intrinsically disordered proteins. Analysis of a large number of sequences of the same viral protein allowed for the identification of a handful of residues with absolute conservation, scattered along the sequence of its N-terminal intrinsically disordered domain, which intriguingly are mostly leucine residues. Mutation of these led to a pronounced increase in both α-helix and β-sheet structural content, reflected by drastic effects on equilibrium propensities and oligomerization kinetics, and uncovers the existence of local structural elements that oppose canonical folding. These folding relays suggest the existence of yet undefined hidden structural codes behind intrinsic disorder in this model protein. Thus, evolution pinpoints conformational hot spots that could have not been identified by direct experimental methods for analyzing or perturbing the equilibrium of an intrinsically disordered protein ensemble.

From Vienna to Frankfurt Inside Core-House Type 7: A History of Scarcity through the Modern Kitchen

OpenAIRE

Hochhaeusl, Sophie

2013-01-01

This paper traces a history of war-induced scarcity through the material and technological properties of household appliances and kitchens from 1914 to 1930. Investigating the Austrian settlement and allotment garden movement, it argues that the practices of users, self-help builders, and inhabitants who reacted to living with limited resources in the state of emergency found their way into the designs of modern homes, and into the works of canonical modern architecture, in particular the fam...

Intrinsic activity in the fly brain gates visual information during behavioral choices.

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Shiming Tang

2010-12-01

Full Text Available The small insect brain is often described as an input/output system that executes reflex-like behaviors. It can also initiate neural activity and behaviors intrinsically, seen as spontaneous behaviors, different arousal states and sleep. However, less is known about how intrinsic activity in neural circuits affects sensory information processing in the insect brain and variability in behavior. Here, by simultaneously monitoring Drosophila's behavioral choices and brain activity in a flight simulator system, we identify intrinsic activity that is associated with the act of selecting between visual stimuli. We recorded neural output (multiunit action potentials and local field potentials in the left and right optic lobes of a tethered flying Drosophila, while its attempts to follow visual motion (yaw torque were measured by a torque meter. We show that when facing competing motion stimuli on its left and right, Drosophila typically generate large torque responses that flip from side to side. The delayed onset (0.1-1 s and spontaneous switch-like dynamics of these responses, and the fact that the flies sometimes oppose the stimuli by flying straight, make this behavior different from the classic steering reflexes. Drosophila, thus, seem to choose one stimulus at a time and attempt to rotate toward its direction. With this behavior, the neural output of the optic lobes alternates; being augmented on the side chosen for body rotation and suppressed on the opposite side, even though the visual input to the fly eyes stays the same. Thus, the flow of information from the fly eyes is gated intrinsically. Such modulation can be noise-induced or intentional; with one possibility being that the fly brain highlights chosen information while ignoring the irrelevant, similar to what we know to occur in higher animals.

Intrinsic motivation and sportsmanship: mediating role of interpersonal relationships.

Science.gov (United States)

Núñez, Juan L; Martín-Albo, José; Navarro, José G; Sánchez, Juana M; González-Cutre, David

2009-06-01

This study analyzed the mediating role of interpersonal relations between intrinsic motivation and sportsmanship. Athletes (98 men, 97 women), ages 11 to 43 years, completed measures of intrinsic motivation toward sports, self-concept of social and family relations, and sportsmanship orientation. A structural equation model indicated that self-concept of interpersonal relations mediated the relation between intrinsic motivation and sportsmanship. Also, intrinsic motivation was directly and positively associated with self-concept of interpersonal relations, which, in turn, was positively and significantly related to sportsmanship. Variances explained by self-concept of interpersonal relations and by sportsmanship were 32 and 56%, respectively. The motivational interaction between the context of interpersonal relations and the sports context proposed in the hierarchical model of intrinsic and extrinsic motivation was discussed.

Scale-ups, scarcity, and selections: the experience of doctors in South Africa.

Science.gov (United States)

Bayer, Ronald; Oppenheimer, Gerald M

2007-10-01

To present the ethical and clinical experience of public sector physicians during the post-Apartheid period in South Africa, who were faced with poverty, medical scarcity and unexpected government resistance in treating individuals with HIV infection. Oral history interviews with 73 physicians from major cities, mine company clinics, and rural hospitals selected because of their long-standing commitment to treating people with AIDS. The onset of the government's 'rollout' of antiretroviral therapy (ART) in 2003, providing drugs to public sector patients, has not put an end to the rationing of care that characterised the pre-ART period. Subsequently, rules were established to guide such rationing in an equitable fashion. But there are occasions when doctors override their own rules, demonstrating the complex interplay between principles of equity and the claims of moral duty to patients, especially in instances of life and death.

Geometrical co-calibration of a tomographic optical system with CT for intrinsically co-registered imaging

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Cao Liji; Breithaupt, Mathies; Peter, Joerg [Division of Medical Physics in Radiology, German Cancer Research Center, Im Neuenheimer Feld 280, 69120 Heidelberg (Germany)], E-mail: l.cao@dkfz.de

2010-03-21

A mathematical approach for geometric co-calibration of a dual-modal small-animal imaging system is presented. The system comprises an optical imaging setup for in vivo bioluminescence and fluorescence detection, as well as an x-ray CT, both mounted on a common rotatable gantry enabling fully simultaneous imaging at axially overlapping fields-of-view. Geometric co-calibration is performed once by imaging a single cylindrical light-emitting source with both modalities over 360 deg. at two axial positions, respectively. Given the three-dimensional coordinates of the source positions in the reconstructed CT volume data along with their two-dimensional locations projected at the optical detector plane, the following intrinsic system parameters are calculated: (i) the intrinsic geometric parameters of the optical detection system-five parameters for each view and (ii) the relative positional relationship between the optical and CT systems-two parameters for each view. After co-calibration is performed, experimental studies using phantoms demonstrate the high degree of intrinsic positional accuracy between the optical and CT measurements. The most important advantage of this approach is that dual-modal data fusion is accomplished without any post-registration strategies.

Thickness dependence of magnetic anisotropy and intrinsic anomalous Hall effect in epitaxial Co{sub 2}MnAl film

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Meng, K.K., E-mail: kkmeng@ustb.edu.cn [School of Materials Science and Engineering, University of Science and Technology Beijing, Beijing 100083 (China); Miao, J.; Xu, X.G. [School of Materials Science and Engineering, University of Science and Technology Beijing, Beijing 100083 (China); Zhao, J.H. [State Key Laboratory of Superlattices and Microstructures, Institute of Semiconductors, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100083 (China); Jiang, Y. [School of Materials Science and Engineering, University of Science and Technology Beijing, Beijing 100083 (China)

2017-04-04

We have investigated the thickness dependence of magnetic anisotropy and intrinsic anomalous Hall effect (AHE) in single-crystalline full-Heusler alloy Co{sub 2}MnAl (CMA) grown by molecular-beam epitaxy on GaAs(001). The magnetic anisotropy is the interplay of uniaxial and the fourfold anisotropy, and the corresponding anisotropy constants have been deduced. Considering the thickness of CMA is small, we ascribe it to the influence from interface stress. The AHE in CMA is found to be well described by a proper scaling. The intrinsic anomalous conductivity is found to be smaller than the calculated one and is thickness dependent, which is ascribed to the influence of chemical ordering by affecting the band structure and Fermi surface. - Highlights: • Single-crystalline full-Heusler alloy Co{sub 2}MnAl grown by molecular-beam epitaxy. • Uniaxial and the fourfold magnetic anisotropies in Heusler alloys. • Anomalous Hall effect in Heusler alloys. • The intrinsic contributions modified by chemical ordering.

Off-stoichiometric silver antimony telluride: An experimental study of transport properties with intrinsic and extrinsic doping

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Nielsen, Michele D.; Jaworski, Christopher M. [Department of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering, The Ohio State University, Columbus, Ohio 43210 (United States); Heremans, Joseph P., E-mail: heremans.1@osu.edu [Department of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering, The Ohio State University, Columbus, Ohio 43210 (United States); Department of Physics, The Ohio State University, Columbus, Ohio 43210 (United States); Department of Materials Science and Engineering, The Ohio State University, Columbus, Ohio 43210 (United States)

2015-05-15

AgSbTe{sub 2} is a thermoelectric semiconductor with an intrinsically low thermal conductivity and a valence band structure that is favorable to obtaining a high thermoelectric figure of merit zT. It also has a very small energy gap Eg ∼ 7.6 ± 3 meV. As this gap is less than the thermal excitation energy at room temperature, near-intrinsic AgSbTe{sub 2} is a two carrier system having both holes (concentration p) and electrons (n). Good thermoelectric performance requires heavy p-type doping (p > > n). This can be achieved with native defects or with extrinsic doping, e.g. with transition metal element. The use of defect doping is complicated by the fact that many of the ternary Ag-Sb-Te and pseudo-binary Sb{sub 2}Te{sub 3}-Ag{sub 2}Te phase diagrams are contradictory. This paper determines the compositional region most favorable to creating a single phase material. Through a combination of intrinsic and extrinsic doping, values of zT > 1 are achieved, though not on single-phased material. Additionally, we show that thermal conductivity is not affected by defects, further demonstrating that the low lattice thermal conductivity of I-V-VI{sub 2} materials is due to an intrinsic mechanism, insensitive to changes in defect structure.

Algebraic description of intrinsic modes in nuclei

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Leviatan, A.

1989-01-01

We present a procedure for extracting normal modes in algebraic number-conserving systems of interacting bosons relevant for collective states in even-even nuclei. The Hamiltonian is resolved into intrinsic (bandhead related) and collective (in-band related) parts. Shape parameters are introduced through non-spherical boson bases. Intrinsic modes decoupled from the spurious modes are obtained from the intinsic part of the Hamiltonian in the limit of large number of bosons. Intrinsic states are constructed and serve to evaluate electromagnetic transition rates. The method is illustrated for systems with one type of boson as well as with proton-neutron bosons. 28 refs., 1 fig

Human pharmaceuticals in Portuguese rivers: The impact of water scarcity in the environmental risk.

Science.gov (United States)

Pereira, André M P T; Silva, Liliana J G; Laranjeiro, Célia S M; Meisel, Leonor M; Lino, Celeste M; Pena, Angelina

2017-12-31

Pharmaceuticals occurrence and environmental risk assessment were assessed in Portuguese surface waters, evaluating the impact of wastewater treatment plants (WWTPs) and river flow rates. Twenty three pharmaceuticals from 6 therapeutic groups, including metabolites and 1 transformation product, were analysed in 72 samples collected from 20 different sites, upstream and downstream the selected WWTPs, in two different seasons. Analysis was performed by solid phase extraction followed by liquid chromatography coupled to tandem mass spectroscopy. Pharmaceuticals were detected in 27.8% of the samples. Selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs), anti-inflammatories and antibiotics presented the highest detection frequencies (27.8, 23.6 and 23.6%, respectively) and average concentrations (37.9, 36.1 and 33.5ngL -1 , respectively). When assessing the impact of WWTPs, an increase of 21.4% in the average concentrations was observed in the samples located downstream these facilities, when compared with the upstream samples. Increased detection frequencies and concentrations were observed at lower flow rates, both when comparing summer and winter campaigns and by evaluating the different rivers. Risk quotients (RQs) higher than one were found for two pharmaceuticals, concerning two trophic levels. However, since Iberian rivers are highly influenced by water scarcity, in drought periods, the flow rates in these rivers can decrease at least ten times from the lowest value observed in the sampling campaigns. In these conditions, RQs higher than 1 would be observed for 5 pharmaceuticals, additionally, all the detected pharmaceuticals (11) would present RQs higher than 0.1. These results emphasize that the river flow rate represents an important parameter influencing pharmaceuticals concentrations, highlighting the ecotoxicological pressure, especially due to water scarcity in drought periods. This should be a priority issue in the environmental policies for minimizing its

It's about time: Earlier rewards increase intrinsic motivation.

Science.gov (United States)

Woolley, Kaitlin; Fishbach, Ayelet

2018-06-01

Can immediate (vs. delayed) rewards increase intrinsic motivation? Prior research compared the presence versus absence of rewards. By contrast, this research compared immediate versus delayed rewards, predicting that more immediate rewards increase intrinsic motivation by creating a perceptual fusion between the activity and its goal (i.e., the reward). In support of the hypothesis, framing a reward from watching a news program as more immediate (vs. delayed) increased intrinsic motivation to watch the program (Study 1), and receiving more immediate bonus (vs. delayed, Study 2; and vs. delayed and no bonus, Study 3) increased intrinsic motivation in an experimental task. The effect of reward timing was mediated by the strength of the association between an activity and a reward, and was specific to intrinsic (vs. extrinsic) motivation-immediacy influenced the positive experience of an activity, but not perceived outcome importance (Study 4). In addition, the effect of the timing of rewards was independent of the effect of the magnitude of the rewards (Study 5). (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2018 APA, all rights reserved).

Photovoltaic device comprising compositionally graded intrinsic photoactive layer

Science.gov (United States)

Hoffbauer, Mark A; Williamson, Todd L

2013-04-30

Photovoltaic devices and methods of making photovoltaic devices comprising at least one compositionally graded photoactive layer, said method comprising providing a substrate; growing onto the substrate a uniform intrinsic photoactive layer having one surface disposed upon the substrate and an opposing second surface, said intrinsic photoactive layer consisting essentially of In.sub.1-xA.sub.xN,; wherein: i. 0.ltoreq.x.ltoreq.1; ii. A is gallium, aluminum, or combinations thereof; and iii. x is at least 0 on one surface of the intrinsic photoactive layer and is compositionally graded throughout the layer to reach a value of 1 or less on the opposing second surface of the layer; wherein said intrinsic photoactive layer is isothermally grown by means of energetic neutral atom beam lithography and epitaxy at a temperature of 600.degree. C. or less using neutral nitrogen atoms having a kinetic energy of from about 1.0 eV to about 5.0 eV, and wherein the intrinsic photoactive layer is grown at a rate of from about 5 nm/min to about 100 nm/min.

Agricultural adaptation to water scarcity in the Sri Lankan dry zone: A comparison of two water managment regimes

Science.gov (United States)

Burchfield, E. K.

2014-12-01

The island nation of Sri Lanka is divided into two agro-climatic zones: the southwestern wet zone and the northeastern dry zone. The dry zone is exposed to drought-like conditions for several months each year. Due to the sporadic nature of rainfall, dry zone livelihoods depend on the successful storage, capture, and distribution of water. Traditionally, water has been captured in rain-fed tanks and distributed through a system of dug canals. Recently, the Sri Lankan government has diverted the waters of the nation's largest river through a system of centrally managed reservoirs and canals and resettled farmers to cultivate this newly irrigated land. This study uses remotely sensed MODIS and LANDSAT imagery to compare vegetation health and cropping patterns in these distinct water management regimes under different conditions of water scarcity. Of particular interest are the socioeconomic, infrastructural, and institutional factors that affect cropping patterns, including field position, water storage capacity, and control of water resources. Results suggest that under known conditions of water scarcity, farmers cultivate other field crops in lieu of paddy. Cultivation changes depend to a large extent on the institutional distance between water users and water managers as well as the fragmentation of water resources within the system.

End-user flexibility in periods with scarcity - efficient use of ICT; Effektiv bruk av IKT : forbrukerfleksibilitet i knapphetssituasjoner

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Grande, Ove S.; Saele, Hanne

2002-07-01

In a period with limited extension of new power production, it is important to utilize the flexibility in consumption for end users. Last winter in Norway there was a new record in demand that outweighed the available power production. In addition, the country is gradually heading towards a larger energy deficit. The problem with power scarcity is concentrated in a limited number of hours and it is important that correct and efficient initiatives arc taken towards end users so that the power problem can be solved without increasing energy consumption. About 30% of the total demand in the Norwegian power system is flexible and can be disconnected or consumption patterns can be changed for shorter periods, but this potential is utilized only to a limited amount. These challenges have been addressed in a new research project ''End-user flexibility by efficient use of ICT'' that was established at SINTEF Energy Research in 2001. The main objective is to increase end-user flexibility in periods of scarcity of both energy and power. The project will test and evaluate different means of stimulating flexibility in consumption, based on the network tariff, the power price and new market solutions such as demand-side bidding. (author)

Management Control, Intrinsic Motivation and Creativity

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Godt Gregersen, Mikkel

This thesis consists of a cape and three papers. The overall research question is: How can intrinsic motivation and management control coexist in a creative environment and how can coordination be possible in such a context? The cape ties together the research done in the three papers....... It is divided into six sections. The first section introduces the concepts of intrinsic motivation, creativity and management control. This is followed by a section on management control in a creative context. These two sections frame the thesis and introduce the setting in which the research has been done...... of the conclusion is that intrinsic motivation and management control can coexist under the conditions that all three basic needs, i.e. autonomy, competence and relatedness, are supported. This can happen when control takes point of departure in the individual employee. The second part of the conclusion...

Intrinsic Losses Based on Information Geometry and Their Applications

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Yao Rong

2017-08-01

Full Text Available One main interest of information geometry is to study the properties of statistical models that do not depend on the coordinate systems or model parametrization; thus, it may serve as an analytic tool for intrinsic inference in statistics. In this paper, under the framework of Riemannian geometry and dual geometry, we revisit two commonly-used intrinsic losses which are respectively given by the squared Rao distance and the symmetrized Kullback–Leibler divergence (or Jeffreys divergence. For an exponential family endowed with the Fisher metric and α -connections, the two loss functions are uniformly described as the energy difference along an α -geodesic path, for some α ∈ { − 1 , 0 , 1 } . Subsequently, the two intrinsic losses are utilized to develop Bayesian analyses of covariance matrix estimation and range-spread target detection. We provide an intrinsically unbiased covariance estimator, which is verified to be asymptotically efficient in terms of the intrinsic mean square error. The decision rules deduced by the intrinsic Bayesian criterion provide a geometrical justification for the constant false alarm rate detector based on generalized likelihood ratio principle.

Intrinsic and Extrinsic Neuromodulation of Olfactory Processing.

Science.gov (United States)

Lizbinski, Kristyn M; Dacks, Andrew M

2017-01-01

Neuromodulation is a ubiquitous feature of neural systems, allowing flexible, context specific control over network dynamics. Neuromodulation was first described in invertebrate motor systems and early work established a basic dichotomy for neuromodulation as having either an intrinsic origin (i.e., neurons that participate in network coding) or an extrinsic origin (i.e., neurons from independent networks). In this conceptual dichotomy, intrinsic sources of neuromodulation provide a "memory" by adjusting network dynamics based upon previous and ongoing activation of the network itself, while extrinsic neuromodulators provide the context of ongoing activity of other neural networks. Although this dichotomy has been thoroughly considered in motor systems, it has received far less attention in sensory systems. In this review, we discuss intrinsic and extrinsic modulation in the context of olfactory processing in invertebrate and vertebrate model systems. We begin by discussing presynaptic modulation of olfactory sensory neurons by local interneurons (LNs) as a mechanism for gain control based on ongoing network activation. We then discuss the cell-class specific effects of serotonergic centrifugal neurons on olfactory processing. Finally, we briefly discuss the integration of intrinsic and extrinsic neuromodulation (metamodulation) as an effective mechanism for exerting global control over olfactory network dynamics. The heterogeneous nature of neuromodulation is a recurring theme throughout this review as the effects of both intrinsic and extrinsic modulation are generally non-uniform.

DISK GALAXY SCALING RELATIONS IN THE SFI++: INTRINSIC SCATTER AND APPLICATIONS

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Saintonge, Amelie; Spekkens, Kristine

2011-01-01

We study the scaling relations between the luminosities, sizes, and rotation velocities of disk galaxies in the SFI++, with a focus on the size-luminosity (RL) and size-rotation velocity (RV) relations. Using isophotal radii instead of disk scale lengths as a size indicator, we find relations that are significantly tighter than previously reported: the correlation coefficients of the template RL and RV relations are r = 0.97 and r= 0.85, respectively, which rival that of the more widely studied LV (Tully-Fisher) relation. The scatter in the SFI++ RL relation is 2.5-4 times smaller than previously reported for various samples, which we attribute to the reliability of isophotal radii relative to disk scale lengths. After carefully accounting for all measurement errors, our scaling relation error budgets are consistent with a constant intrinsic scatter in the LV and RV relations for velocity widths log W ∼> 2.4, with evidence for increasing intrinsic scatter below this threshold. The scatter in the RL relation is consistent with constant intrinsic scatter that is biased by incompleteness at the low-L end. Possible applications of the unprecedentedly tight SFI++ RV and RL relations are investigated. Just like the Tully-Fisher relation, the RV relation can be used as a distance indicator: we derive distances to galaxies with primary Cepheid distances that are accurate to 25%, and reverse the problem to measure a Hubble constant H 0 = 72 ± 7 km s -1 Mpc -1 . Combining the small intrinsic scatter of our RL relation (ε int = 0.034 ± 0.001log [h -1 kpc]) with a simple model for disk galaxy formation, we find an upper limit in the range of disk spin parameters that is a factor of ∼7 smaller than that of the halo spin parameters predicted by cosmological simulations. This likely implies that the halos hosting Sc galaxies have a much narrower distribution of spin parameters than previously thought.

Some chaotic features of intrinsically coupled Josephson junctions

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Kolahchi, M.R.; Shukrinov, Yu.M.; Hamdipour, M.; Botha, A.E.; Suzuki, M.

2013-01-01

Highlights: ► Intrinsically coupled Josephson junctions model a high-T c superconductor. ► Intrinsically coupled Josephson junctions can act as a chaotic nonlinear system. ► Chaos could be due to resonance overlap. ► Avoiding parameters that lead to chaos is important for the design of resonators. -- Abstract: We look for chaos in an intrinsically coupled system of Josephson junctions. This study has direct applications for the high-T c resonators which require coherence amongst the junctions

Characterization of the intrinsic density profiles for liquid surfaces

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Chacon, Enrique; Tarazona, Pedro

2005-01-01

This paper presents recent advances in the characterization of the intrinsic structures in computer simulations of liquid surfaces. The use of operational definitions for the intrinsic surface, associated with each molecular configuration of a liquid slab, gives direct access to the intrinsic profile and to the wavevector dependent surface tension. However, the characteristics of these functions depend on the definition used for the intrinsic surface. We discuss the pathologies associated with a local Gibbs dividing surface definition, and consider the alternative definition of a minimal area surface, going though a set of surface pivots, self-consistently chosen to represent the first liquid layer

Providing for transmission in times of scarcity: an ISO cannot do it all

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Allen, E.; Ilic, M.; Younes, Z.

1999-01-01

The main purpose of this paper is to point out issues critical for establishing a good transmission strategy in an energy market. First, it is suggested that a transmission strategy must be discussed in the context of a specific market structure. Responsibilities of a transmission system provider differ fundamentally, depending on the type of energy market it is supposed to serve. To show this, a summary of information assumed to be known to an Independent System Operator (ISO) in three energy market structures is given, i.e., (1) a mandatory ISO, (2) an entirely multilateral market and (3) a voluntary ISO. The differences between these three proposals concerning an ISO's responsibility for achieving systemwide efficiency and fair charges for transmission service, particularly at times of scarcity, are analyzed. It is shown that an ISO equipped with the present types of optimization tools for both reliability and efficiency is generally 'blind' to questions of fairness with respect to the individual market participants when providing transmission system support. In order to get around this problem, much more work will have to he done by the technical and regulatory communities. The only tools at an ISO's disposal at present are used for systemwide objectives, such as systemwide reliability. While some of this work is under way, it will take some time to develop the actual ISO tools necessary for implementing the fairness criterion metrics ('standards'), whichever ones the community arrives at. (Developing metrics of fair reliability contributions for the individual market participants is a nonunique process, and it may be very difficult to actually agree upon). Meanwhile, in order to have an ISO actively help energy markets in a fair and efficient way in realistic markets, which are likely to be voluntary ISOs, a system user must become an active part of decision making, indicating how much it wishes to use the system at times of scarcity and at which price. One

Small Business Social Responsibility Communication

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Morsing, Mette; Spence, Laura J.

2015-01-01

approach and we propose for SME managers to investigate Foucault’s notion of “care of the self”. Originality/value: We conceptualize how SBSR is caught in a ‘governmentality dilemma’ where simultaneous expectations to govern others (e.g. through standards) and the self (e.g. through intrinsic motivations......) are confronting owner-managers’ ethos. We explain theoretically how small business managers respond to the challenge when they are required to formalize and display for external surveillance that which would otherwise be informal and part of the non-public or private sphere.......Purpose: Corporate social responsibility communication by small and medium sized enterprises is theorized to form the concept of Small Business Social Responsibility (SBSR) Communication. Design/methodology/approach: This is a conceptual paper that draws on Foucault’s theory of governmentality...

Clarification of the technic of intrinsic factor radioimmunoassay for the cat and the rat

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Perrin, M.O.; Nicolas, J.P.; Dubrasquet, M.

1983-01-01

Cats and rats secrete very small quantities of gastric juice (GJ). In order to measure the Intrinsic Factor (IF) in GJ of animals certain modifications are necessary. It is very important to select with great care pernicious anemia sera which will be used to cross react with the animals' IF to determine their IF level by radioimmunoassay. The technic described here enables the dosage of low quantities of IF with a 7 per cent coefficient of variation [fr

Separating intrinsic from extrinsic fluctuations in dynamic biological systems.

Science.gov (United States)

Hilfinger, Andreas; Paulsson, Johan

2011-07-19

From molecules in cells to organisms in ecosystems, biological populations fluctuate due to the intrinsic randomness of individual events and the extrinsic influence of changing environments. The combined effect is often too complex for effective analysis, and many studies therefore make simplifying assumptions, for example ignoring either intrinsic or extrinsic effects to reduce the number of model assumptions. Here we mathematically demonstrate how two identical and independent reporters embedded in a shared fluctuating environment can be used to identify intrinsic and extrinsic noise terms, but also how these contributions are qualitatively and quantitatively different from what has been previously reported. Furthermore, we show for which classes of biological systems the noise contributions identified by dual-reporter methods correspond to the noise contributions predicted by correct stochastic models of either intrinsic or extrinsic mechanisms. We find that for broad classes of systems, the extrinsic noise from the dual-reporter method can be rigorously analyzed using models that ignore intrinsic stochasticity. In contrast, the intrinsic noise can be rigorously analyzed using models that ignore extrinsic stochasticity only under very special conditions that rarely hold in biology. Testing whether the conditions are met is rarely possible and the dual-reporter method may thus produce flawed conclusions about the properties of the system, particularly about the intrinsic noise. Our results contribute toward establishing a rigorous framework to analyze dynamically fluctuating biological systems.

Distinct molecular signatures of mild extrinsic and intrinsic atopic dermatitis

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Martel, Britta Cathrina; Litman, Thomas; Hald, Andreas

2016-01-01

Atopic dermatitis (AD) is a common inflammatory skin disease with underlying defects in epidermal function and immune responses. In this study, we used microarray analysis to investigate differences in gene expression in lesional skin from patients with mild extrinsic or intrinsic AD compared...... with mild extrinsic and intrinsic AD similar to previous reports for severe AD. Interestingly, expression of genes involved in inflammatory responses in intrinsic AD resembled that of psoriasis more than that of extrinsic AD. Overall, differences in expression of inflammation-associated genes found among...... patients with mild intrinsic and extrinsic AD correlated with previous findings for patients with severe intrinsic and extrinsic AD....

Management Control, Intrinsic Motivation and Creativity

OpenAIRE

Gregersen, Mikkel Godt

2017-01-01

This thesis consists of a cape and three papers. The overall research question is: How can intrinsic motivation and management control coexist in a creative environment and how can coordination be possible in such a context? The cape ties together the research done in the three papers. It is divided into six sections. The first section introduces the concepts of intrinsic motivation, creativity and management control. This is followed by a section on management control in a ...

A dynamic birth-death model via Intrinsic Linkage

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Robert Schoen

2013-05-01

Full Text Available BACKGROUND Dynamic population models, or models with changing vital rates, are only beginning to receive serious attention from mathematical demographers. Despite considerable progress, there is still no general analytical solution for the size or composition of a population generated by an arbitrary sequence of vital rates. OBJECTIVE The paper introduces a new approach, Intrinsic Linkage, that in many cases can analytically determine the birth trajectory of a dynamic birth-death population. METHODS Intrinsic Linkage assumes a weighted linear relationship between (i the time trajectory of proportional increases in births in a population and (ii the trajectory of the intrinsic rates of growth of the projection matrices that move the population forward in time. Flexibility is provided through choice of the weighting parameter, w, that links these two trajectories. RESULTS New relationships are found linking implied intrinsic and observed population patterns of growth. Past experience is "forgotten" through a process of simple exponential decay. When the intrinsic growth rate trajectory follows a polynomial, exponential, or cyclical pattern, the population birth trajectory can be expressed analytically in closed form. Numerical illustrations provide population values and relationships in metastable and cyclically stable models. Plausible projection matrices are typically found for a broad range of values of w, although w appears to vary greatly over time in actual populations. CONCLUSIONS The Intrinsic Linkage approach extends current techniques for dynamic modeling, revealing new relationships between population structures and the changing vital rates that generate them.

Exploring the link between intrinsic motivation and quality

Science.gov (United States)

Christy, Steven M.

1992-12-01

This thesis proposes that it is workers' intrinsic motivation that leads them to produce quality work. It reviews two different types of evidence- expert opinion and empirical studies--to attempt to evaluate a link between intrinsic motivation and work quality. The thesis reviews the works of Total Quality writers and behavioral scientists for any connection they might have made between intrinsic motivation and quality. The thesis then looks at the works of Deming and his followers in an attempt to establish a match between Deming's motivational assumptions and the four task rewards in the Thomas/Tymon model of intrinsic motivation: choice, competence, meaningfulness, and progress. Based upon this analysis, it is proposed that the four Thomas/Tymon task rewards are a promising theoretical foundation for explaining the motivational basis of quality for workers in Total Quality organizations.

Personality traits associated with intrinsic academic motivation in medical students.

Science.gov (United States)

Tanaka, Masaaki; Mizuno, Kei; Fukuda, Sanae; Tajima, Seiki; Watanabe, Yasuyoshi

2009-04-01

Motivation is one of the most important psychological concepts in education and is related to academic outcomes in medical students. In this study, the relationships between personality traits and intrinsic academic motivation were examined in medical students. The study group consisted of 119 Year 2 medical students at Osaka City University Graduate School of Medicine. They completed questionnaires dealing with intrinsic academic motivation (the Intrinsic Motivation Scale toward Learning) and personality (the Temperament and Character Inventory [TCI]). On simple regression analyses, the TCI dimensions of persistence, self-directedness, co-operativeness and self-transcendence were positively associated with intrinsic academic motivation. On multiple regression analysis adjusted for age and gender, the TCI dimensions of persistence, self-directedness and self-transcendence were positively associated with intrinsic academic motivation. The temperament dimension of persistence and the character dimensions of self-directedness and self-transcendence are associated with intrinsic academic motivation in medical students.

Small cell carcinoma of the urinary bladder diverticulum: A case report and review of the literature

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Wu Xu Dong

2013-01-01

Full Text Available Small cell carcinoma of the urinary bladder is very rare. Small cell carcinoma of the urinary bladder is a mass with swiftly aggressive and metastatic, and with a poor prognosis. Due to its scarcity, no forward-looking researches assessing the most effective treatment have been issued in the medical literature. It can happen either in connection with urothelial (transitional cell carcinoma or in a pure form. Its treatment should include surgery, chemotherapy and radiotherapy. In this article,we report a case occurring in a mixed form in the urinary bladder diverticulum and we concisely review the published literature with respect to the clinical manifestation, pathology,differential diagnosis, treatment and prognosis.

Sources of intrinsic rotation in the low-flow ordering

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Parra, Felix I.; Barnes, Michael; Catto, Peter J.

2011-01-01

A low flow, δf gyrokinetic formulation to obtain the intrinsic rotation profiles is presented. The momentum conservation equation in the low-flow ordering contains new terms, neglected in previous first-principles formulations, that may explain the intrinsic rotation observed in tokamaks in the absence of external sources of momentum. The intrinsic rotation profile depends on the density and temperature profiles and on the up-down asymmetry.

Evidence from intrinsic activity that asymmetry of the human brain is controlled by multiple factors

OpenAIRE

Liu, Hesheng; Stufflebeam, Steven M.; Sepulcre, Jorge; Hedden, Trey; Buckner, Randy L.

2009-01-01

Cerebral lateralization is a fundamental property of the human brain and a marker of successful development. Here we provide evidence that multiple mechanisms control asymmetry for distinct brain systems. Using intrinsic activity to measure asymmetry in 300 adults, we mapped the most strongly lateralized brain regions. Both men and women showed strong asymmetries with a significant, but small, group difference. Factor analysis on the asymmetric regions revealed 4 separate factors that each ac...

Cooperative motion of intrinsic and actuated semiflexible swimmers

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Llopis, I.; Pagonabarraga, I.; Lagomarsino, M.C.; Lowe, C.P.

2013-01-01

We examine the phenomenon of hydrodynamic-induced cooperativity for pairs of flagellated micro-organism swimmers, of which spermatozoa cells are an example. We consider semiflexible swimmers, where inextensible filaments are driven by an internal intrinsic force and torque-free mechanism (intrinsic

Intrinsic rotation produced by ion orbit loss and X-loss

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Stacey, W. M. [Georgia Institute of Technology, Atlanta, Georgia 30332 (United States); Boedo, J. A. [University of California - San Diego, San Diego, California 92093 (United States); Evans, T. E.; Groebner, R. J. [General Atomics, San Diego, California 92186 (United States); Grierson, B. A. [Princeton Plasma Physics Laboratory, Princeton, New Jersey 08453 (United States)

2012-11-15

A practical calculation model for the intrinsic rotation imparted to the edge plasma by the directionally preferential loss of ions on orbits that cross the last closed flux surface is presented and applied to calculate intrinsic rotation in several DIII-D [J. Luxon, Nucl. Fusion 42, 614 (2002)] discharges. The intrinsic rotation produced by ion loss is found to be sensitive to the edge temperature and radial electric field profiles, which has implications for driving intrinsic rotation in future large tokamaks.

Differential scanning microcalorimetry of intrinsically disordered proteins.

Science.gov (United States)

Permyakov, Sergei E

2012-01-01

Ultrasensitive differential scanning calorimetry (DSC) is an indispensable thermophysical technique enabling to get direct information on enthalpies accompanying heating/cooling of dilute biopolymer solutions. The thermal dependence of protein heat capacity extracted from DSC data is a valuable source of information on intrinsic disorder level of a protein. Application details and limitations of DSC technique in exploration of protein intrinsic disorder are described.

Looming Scarcity of Phosphate Rock and Intensification of Soil Phosphorus Research

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Philippe C. Baveye

2015-06-01

Full Text Available In recent years, many researchers have claimed that world reserves of rock phosphate were getting depleted at an alarming rate, putting us on the path to scarcity of that essential resource within the next few decades. Others have claimed that such alarmist forecasts were frequent in the past and have always been proven unfounded, making it likely that the same will be true in the future. Both viewpoints are directly relevant to the level of funding devoted to research on the use of phosphate fertilizers. In this short essay, it is argued that information about future reserves of P or any other resource are impossible to predict, and therefore that the threat of a possible depletion of P reserves should not be used as a key motivation for an intensification of research on soil P. However, there are other, more compelling reasons, both geopolitical and environmental, to urgently step up our collective efforts to devise agricultural practices that make better use of P than is the case at the moment.

Environmental Education as a social mobilization strategy to face water scarcity.

Science.gov (United States)

Piccoli, Andrezza de Souza; Kligerman, Débora Cynamon; Cohen, Simone Cynamon; Assumpção, Rafaela Facchetti

2016-03-01

Article 225 of the Brazilian Constitution establishes that all citizens have the right to an ecologically balanced environment, as a common good that is essential for a healthy life, and that the government and society have the duty to protect and preserve the environment for present and future generations. This article outlines a methodology for promoting social mobilization to address water scarcity developed under the National Environmental Education and Social Mobilization for Sanitation Program (PEAMSS, acronym in Portuguese). The main aim of this article is to show the importance of education as a driving force for empowerment for water resources management. It outlines the main concepts of emancipatory environmental education and then goes on to describe the elaboration of a PEAMMS action plan. It concludes that the universalization of the right to safe and clean drinking water and access to sanitation is only possible through democratic and participatory water resources management. Actions are necessary to evaluate the reach of the PEAMSS and define the way ahead for the program.

Evidence from intrinsic activity that asymmetry of the human brain is controlled by multiple factors.

Science.gov (United States)

Liu, Hesheng; Stufflebeam, Steven M; Sepulcre, Jorge; Hedden, Trey; Buckner, Randy L

2009-12-01

Cerebral lateralization is a fundamental property of the human brain and a marker of successful development. Here we provide evidence that multiple mechanisms control asymmetry for distinct brain systems. Using intrinsic activity to measure asymmetry in 300 adults, we mapped the most strongly lateralized brain regions. Both men and women showed strong asymmetries with a significant, but small, group difference. Factor analysis on the asymmetric regions revealed 4 separate factors that each accounted for significant variation across subjects. The factors were associated with brain systems involved in vision, internal thought (the default network), attention, and language. An independent sample of right- and left-handed individuals showed that hand dominance affects brain asymmetry but differentially across the 4 factors supporting their independence. These findings show the feasibility of measuring brain asymmetry using intrinsic activity fluctuations and suggest that multiple genetic or environmental mechanisms control cerebral lateralization.

Functional Anthology of Intrinsic Disorder. III. Ligands, Postranslational Modifications and Diseases Associated with Intrinsically Disordered Proteins

Science.gov (United States)

Xie, Hongbo; Vucetic, Slobodan; Iakoucheva, Lilia M.; Oldfield, Christopher J.; Dunker, A. Keith; Obradovic, Zoran; Uversky, Vladimir N.

2008-01-01

Currently, the understanding of the relationships between function, amino acid sequence and protein structure continues to represent one of the major challenges of the modern protein science. As much as 50% of eukaryotic proteins are likely to contain functionally important long disordered regions. Many proteins are wholly disordered but still possess numerous biologically important functions. However, the number of experimentally confirmed disordered proteins with known biological functions is substantially smaller than their actual number in nature. Therefore, there is a crucial need for novel bioinformatics approaches that allow projection of the current knowledge from a few experimentally verified examples to much larger groups of known and potential proteins. The elaboration of a bioinformatics tool for the analysis of functional diversity of intrinsically disordered proteins and application of this data mining tool to >200,000 proteins from Swiss-Prot database, each annotated with at least one of the 875 functional keywords was described in the first paper of this series (Xie H., Vucetic S., Iakoucheva L.M., Oldfield C.J., Dunker A.K., Obradovic Z., Uversky V.N. (2006) Functional anthology of intrinsic disorder. I. Biological processes and functions of proteins with long disordered regions. J. Proteome Res.). Using this tool, we have found that out of the 711 Swiss-Prot functional keywords associated with at least 20 proteins, 262 were strongly positively correlated with long intrinsically disordered regions, and 302 were strongly negatively correlated. Illustrative examples of functional disorder or order were found for the vast majority of keywords showing strongest positive or negative correlation with intrinsic disorder, respectively. Some 80 Swiss-Prot keywords associated with disorder- and order-driven biological processes and protein functions were described in the first paper (Xie H., Vucetic S., Iakoucheva L.M., Oldfield C.J., Dunker A.K., Obradovic

The α-Helical Structure of Prodomains Promotes Translocation of Intrinsically Disordered Neuropeptide Hormones into the Endoplasmic Reticulum*

Science.gov (United States)

Dirndorfer, Daniela; Seidel, Ralf P.; Nimrod, Guy; Miesbauer, Margit; Ben-Tal, Nir; Engelhard, Martin; Zimmermann, Richard; Winklhofer, Konstanze F.; Tatzelt, Jörg

2013-01-01

Different neuropeptide hormones, which are either too small to adopt a stable conformation or are predicted to be intrinsically disordered, are synthesized as larger precursors containing a prodomain in addition to an N-terminal signal peptide. We analyzed the biogenesis of three unstructured neuropeptide hormones and observed that translocation of these precursors into the lumen of the endoplasmic reticulum (ER) is critically dependent on the presence of the prodomain. The hormone domains could be deleted from the precursors without interfering with ER import and secretion, whereas constructs lacking the prodomain remained in the cytosol. Domain-swapping experiments revealed that the activity of the prodomains to promote productive ER import resides in their ability to adopt an α-helical structure. Removal of the prodomain from the precursor did not interfere with co-translational targeting of the nascent chain to the Sec61 translocon but with its subsequent productive translocation into the ER lumen. Our study reveals a novel function of prodomains to enable import of small or intrinsically disordered secretory proteins into the ER based on their ability to adopt an α-helical conformation. PMID:23532840

NF-kappaB is involved in SHetA2 circumvention of TNF-alpha resistance, but not induction of intrinsic apoptosis.

Science.gov (United States)

Chengedza, Shylet; Benbrook, Doris Mangiaracina

2010-03-01

Treatment of cancer with tumor necrosis factor-alpha (TNF-alpha) is hindered by resistance and toxicity. The flexible heteroarotinoid, SHetA2, sensitizes resistant ovarian cancer cells to TNF-alpha-induced extrinsic apoptosis, and also induces intrinsic apoptosis as a single agent. This study tested the hypothesis that nuclear factor-kappaB (NF-kappaB) is involved in SHetA2-regulated intrinsic and extrinsic apoptosis. SHetA2 inhibited basal and TNF-alpha-induced or hydrogen peroxide-induced NF-kappaB activity through counter-regulation of upstream kinase (IkappaB kinase) activity, inhibitor protein (IkappaB-alpha) phosphorylation, and p-65 NF-kappaB subunit nuclear translocation, but independently of reactive oxygen species generation. Ectopic over-expression of p-65, or treatment with TNF-alpha receptor 1 (TNFR1) small interfering RNA or a caspase-8 inhibitor, each attenuated synergistic apoptosis by SHetA2 and TNF-alpha, but did not affect intrinsic apoptosis caused by SHetA2. In conclusion, NF-kappaB repression is involved in SHetA2 circumvention of resistance to TNF-alpha-induced extrinsic apoptosis, but not in SHetA2 induction of intrinsic apoptosis.

Intrinsic and cosmological signatures in gamma-ray burst time profiles: Time dilation

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Lee, A.

2000-02-08

The time profiles of many gamma-ray bursts consist of distinct pulses, which offers the possibility of characterizing the temporal structure of these bursts using a relatively small set of pulse shape parameters. The authors have used a pulse decomposition procedure to analyze the Time-to-Spill (TTS) data for all bursts observed by BATSE up through trigger number 2000, in all energy channels for which TTS data is available. The authors obtain amplitude, rise and decay timescales, a pulse shape parameter, and the fluencies of individual pulses in all of the bursts. The authors investigate the correlations between brightness measures (amplitude and fluence) and timescale measures (pulse width and separation) which may result from cosmological time dilation of bursts, or from intrinsic properties of burst sources or from selection effects. The effects of selection biases are evaluated through simulations. The correlations between these parameters among pulses within individual bursts give a measure of the intrinsic effects while the correlations among bursts could result both from intrinsic and cosmological effects. The authors find that timescales tend to be shorter in bursts with higher peak fluxes, as expected from cosmological time dilation effects, but also find that there are non-cosmological effects contributing to this inverse correlation. The authors find that timescales tend to be longer in bursts with higher total fluences, contrary to what is expected from cosmological effects. The authors also find that peak fluxes and total fluences of bursts are uncorrelated, indicating that they cannot both be good distance indicators for bursts.

The intrinsic stochasticity of near-integrable Hamiltonian systems

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Krlin, L [Ceskoslovenska Akademie Ved, Prague (Czechoslovakia). Ustav Fyziky Plazmatu

1989-09-01

Under certain conditions, the dynamics of near-integrable Hamiltonian systems appears to be stochastic. This stochasticity (intrinsic stochasticity, or deterministic chaos) is closely related to the Kolmogorov-Arnold-Moser (KAM) theorem of the stability of near-integrable multiperiodic Hamiltonian systems. The effect of the intrinsic stochasticity attracts still growing attention both in theory and in various applications in contemporary physics. The paper discusses the relation of the intrinsic stochasticity to the modern ergodic theory and to the KAM theorem, and describes some numerical experiments on related astrophysical and high-temperature plasma problems. Some open questions are mentioned in conclusion. (author).

Informationally administered reward enhances intrinsic motivation in schizophrenia.

Science.gov (United States)

Lee, Hyeon-Seung; Jang, Seon-Kyeong; Lee, Ga-Young; Park, Seon-Cheol; Medalia, Alice; Choi, Kee-Hong

2017-10-01

Even when individuals with schizophrenia have an intact ability to enjoy rewarding moments, the means to assist them to translate rewarding experiences into goal-directed behaviors is unclear. The present study sought to determine whether informationally administered rewards enhance intrinsic motivation to foster goal-directed behaviors in individuals with schizophrenia (SZ) and healthy controls (HCs). Eighty-four participants (SZ=43, HCs=41) were randomly assigned to conditions involving either a performance-contingent reward with an informationally administered reward or a task-contingent reward with no feedback. Participants were asked to play two cognitive games of equalized difficulty. Accuracy, self-reported intrinsic motivation, free-choice intrinsic motivation (i.e., game play during a free-choice observation period), and perceived competency were measured. Intrinsic motivation and perceived competency in the cognitive games were similar between the two participant groups. The informationally administered reward significantly enhanced self-reported intrinsic motivation and perceived competency in both the groups. The likelihood that individuals with schizophrenia would play the game during the free-choice observation period was four times greater in the informationally administered reward condition than that in the no-feedback condition. Our findings suggest that, in the context of cognitive remediation, individuals with schizophrenia would benefit from informationally administered rewards. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

The effects of extrinsic rewards on children's intrinsic motivation

OpenAIRE

大槻, 千秋

1981-01-01

An experiment was conducted with preschool children to test whether a person's intrinsic motivation in an activity may be decreased by extrinsic salient rewards in Japan like in America. Children solved some jigsaw puzzles and received assorted candies, then they were observed how long they did other jigsaw puzzles. The results showed that the effects of extrinsic rewards on intrinsic motivation in an activity varied with the subject's social background. In uptown children's intrinsic motivat...

Self-perception of intrinsic and extrinsic motivation.

Science.gov (United States)

Calder, B J; Staw, B M

1975-04-01

Self-perception theory predicts that intrinsic and extrinsic motivation do not combine additively but rather interact. To test this predicted interaction, intrinsic and extrinsic motivation were both manipulated as independent variables. The results revealed a significant interaction for task satisfaction and a trend for the interaction on a behavioral measure. These results are discussed in terms of a general approach to the self-perception of motivation.

1 MJ condenser battery with small time constant

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Burtsev, V.A.; Litunovskij, V.N.; Prokopenko, V.F.; Makeev, G.M.

1979-01-01

A design of 1.1 MJ small-induction capacitor bank composed of 288 IM-50/3 capacitors is given. The capacitor bank has a module structure. Each module consists of 4 sections with 6 capacitors in each section. The module has a spark gap with solid dielectrics used as a commutating element. The spark gap is simple and reliable in operation. It is suitable for repeated commutations about 10 4 operatings of currents of the order of 1 MA in modules of 100 kJ energy capacity. The capacitor bank has the following parameters: capacity of 864 μF; intrinsic induction of 4 nH; intrinsic period of 12 μs; short-circuit current of 24 MA

Essays on incentives and pro-environmental behaviour

OpenAIRE

De Martino, Samantha

2017-01-01

This thesis consists of four self-contained essays at the nexus of applied microeconomics, behavioural economics, and environmental economics. In the essays of the thesis, I use field experiments and econometric tools to examine the impact of monetary and non monetary incentives for behavioural change during resource scarcity. I use methods of eliciting intrinsic motivations and then empirically test theories on the interaction of intrinsic motivation and extrinsic incentives. Specifically I ...

Do people differentiate between intrinsic and extrinsic goals for physical activity?

Science.gov (United States)

McLachlan, Sarah; Hagger, Martin S

2011-04-01

The distinction between intrinsic and extrinsic goals, and between goal pursuit for intrinsically and extrinsically motivated reasons, is a central premise of self-determination theory. Proponents of the theory have proposed that the pursuit of intrinsic goals and intrinsically motivated goal striving each predict adaptive psychological and behavioral outcomes relative to the pursuit of extrinsic goals and extrinsically motivated goal striving. Despite evidence to support these predictions, research has not explored whether individuals naturally differentiate between intrinsic and extrinsic goals. Two studies tested whether people make this differentiation when recalling goals for leisure-time physical activity. Using memory-recall methods, participants in Study 1 were asked to freely generate physical activity goals. A subsample (N = 43) was asked to code their freely generated goals as intrinsic or extrinsic. In Study 2, participants were asked to recall intrinsic and extrinsic goals after making a decision regarding their future physical activity. Results of these studies revealed that individuals' goal generation and recall exhibited significant clustering by goal type. Participants encountered some difficulties when explicitly coding goals. Findings support self-determination theory and indicate that individuals discriminate between intrinsic and extrinsic goals.

Self-Determination Theory: Intrinsic Motivation and Behavioral Change.

Science.gov (United States)

Flannery, Marie

2017-03-01

Motivation is a central concept in behavioral change. This article reviews the self-determination theory with an emphasis on "intrinsic motivation," which is facilitated when three basic psychological needs (autonomy, competence, and relatedness) are met. Intrinsic motivation is associated with improved well-being and sustained behavioral change.

A model of intrinsic symmetry breaking

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Ge, Li; Li, Sheng; George, Thomas F.; Sun, Xin

2013-01-01

Different from the symmetry breaking associated with a phase transition, which occurs when the controlling parameter is manipulated across a critical point, the symmetry breaking presented in this Letter does not need parameter manipulation. Instead, the system itself suddenly undergoes symmetry breaking at a certain time during its evolution, which is intrinsic symmetry breaking. Through a polymer model, it is revealed that the origin of the intrinsic symmetry breaking is nonlinearity, which produces instability at the instance when the evolution crosses an inflexion point, where this instability breaks the original symmetry

Ethnic Stigma, Academic Anxiety, and Intrinsic Motivation in Middle Childhood

Science.gov (United States)

Gillen-O’Neel, Cari; Ruble, Diane N.; Fuligni, Andrew J.

2011-01-01

Previous research addressing the dynamics of stigma and academics has focused on African-American adolescents and adults. The present study examined stigma awareness, academic anxiety, and intrinsic motivation among 451 young (ages 6–11) and diverse (African-American, Chinese, Dominican, Russian, and European-American) students. Results indicated that ethnic-minority children reported higher stigma awareness than European-American children. For all children, stigma awareness was associated with higher academic anxiety and lower intrinsic motivation. Despite these associations, ethnic-minority children reported higher levels of intrinsic motivation than their European-American peers. A significant portion of the higher intrinsic motivation among Dominican students was associated with their higher levels of school belonging, suggesting that supportive school environments may be important sources of intrinsic motivation among some ethnic-minority children. PMID:21883152

Extrinsic and intrinsic regulation of axon regeneration at a crossroads.

Science.gov (United States)

Kaplan, Andrew; Ong Tone, Stephan; Fournier, Alyson E

2015-01-01

Repair of the injured spinal cord is a major challenge in medicine. The limited intrinsic regenerative response mounted by adult central nervous system (CNS) neurons is further hampered by astrogliosis, myelin debris and scar tissue that characterize the damaged CNS. Improved axon regeneration and recovery can be elicited by targeting extrinsic factors as well as by boosting neuron-intrinsic growth regulators. Our knowledge of the molecular basis of intrinsic and extrinsic regulators of regeneration has expanded rapidly, resulting in promising new targets to promote repair. Intriguingly certain neuron-intrinsic growth regulators are emerging as promising targets to both stimulate growth and relieve extrinsic inhibition of regeneration. This crossroads between the intrinsic and extrinsic aspects of spinal cord injury is a promising target for effective therapies for this unmet need.

Motivating crowding theory - opening the black box of intrinsic motivation

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Jacobsen, Christian Bøtcher

2010-01-01

Public employees work for many other reasons than because they are paid for it. In other words, intrinsic motivation is an important determinant for their performance. Nonetheless, public sector organizations increasingly rely on extrinsic motivation factors such as monetary incentives to motivate...... employees. Motivation crowding theory claims that this may be at the expense of intrinsic motivation, if the extrinsic motivation factor is perceived to be controlling. On the other hand, intrinsic motivation will be enhanced (crowded in), if the extrinsic motivation factor is perceived to be supportive......, monetary incentives are found to cause different crowding effects for these different types of intrinsic motivation. The results call for more theoretical work on the drivers of motivation crowding effects and for practitioners to pay more attention to what type of intrinsic motivation is at stake, when...

Intrinsic and extrinsic motivation for stereotypic and repetitive behavior.

Science.gov (United States)

Joosten, Annette V; Bundy, Anita C; Einfeld, Stewart L

2009-03-01

This study provides evidence for intrinsic and extrinsic motivators for stereotypical and repetitive behavior in children with autism and intellectual disability and children with intellectual disability alone. We modified the Motivation Assessment Scale (MAS) (1988b); dividing it into intrinsic and extrinsic measures and adding items to assess anxiety as an intrinsic motivator. Rasch analysis of data from 279 MASs (74 children) revealed that the items formed two unidimensional scales. Anxiety was a more likely intrinsic motivator than sensory seeking for children with dual diagnoses; the reverse was true for children with intellectual disability only. Escape and gaining a tangible object were the most common extrinsic motivators for those with dual diagnoses and attention and escape for children with intellectual disability.

Personalizing Sample Databases with Facebook Information to Increase Intrinsic Motivation

Science.gov (United States)

Marzo, Asier; Ardaiz, Oscar; Sanz de Acedo, María Teresa; Sanz de Acedo, María Luisa

2017-01-01

Motivation is fundamental for students to achieve successful and complete learning. Motivation can be extrinsic, i.e., driven by external rewards, or intrinsic, i.e., driven by internal factors. Intrinsic motivation is the most effective and must be inspired by the task at hand. Here, a novel strategy is presented to increase intrinsic motivation…

Effects of intrinsic stochasticity on delayed reaction-diffusion patterning systems

KAUST Repository

Woolley, Thomas E.; Baker, Ruth E.; Gaffney, Eamonn A.; Maini, Philip K.; Seirin-Lee, Sungrim

2012-01-01

Cellular gene expression is a complex process involving many steps, including the transcription of DNA and translation of mRNA; hence the synthesis of proteins requires a considerable amount of time, from ten minutes to several hours. Since diffusion-driven instability has been observed to be sensitive to perturbations in kinetic delays, the application of Turing patterning mechanisms to the problem of producing spatially heterogeneous differential gene expression has been questioned. In deterministic systems a small delay in the reactions can cause a large increase in the time it takes a system to pattern. Recently, it has been observed that in undelayed systems intrinsic stochasticity can cause pattern initiation to occur earlier than in the analogous deterministic simulations. Here we are interested in adding both stochasticity and delays to Turing systems in order to assess whether stochasticity can reduce the patterning time scale in delayed Turing systems. As analytical insights to this problem are difficult to attain and often limited in their use, we focus on stochastically simulating delayed systems. We consider four different Turing systems and two different forms of delay. Our results are mixed and lead to the conclusion that, although the sensitivity to delays in the Turing mechanism is not completely removed by the addition of intrinsic noise, the effects of the delays are clearly ameliorated in certain specific cases. © 2012 American Physical Society.

Effects of intrinsic stochasticity on delayed reaction-diffusion patterning systems

KAUST Repository

Woolley, Thomas E.

2012-05-22

Cellular gene expression is a complex process involving many steps, including the transcription of DNA and translation of mRNA; hence the synthesis of proteins requires a considerable amount of time, from ten minutes to several hours. Since diffusion-driven instability has been observed to be sensitive to perturbations in kinetic delays, the application of Turing patterning mechanisms to the problem of producing spatially heterogeneous differential gene expression has been questioned. In deterministic systems a small delay in the reactions can cause a large increase in the time it takes a system to pattern. Recently, it has been observed that in undelayed systems intrinsic stochasticity can cause pattern initiation to occur earlier than in the analogous deterministic simulations. Here we are interested in adding both stochasticity and delays to Turing systems in order to assess whether stochasticity can reduce the patterning time scale in delayed Turing systems. As analytical insights to this problem are difficult to attain and often limited in their use, we focus on stochastically simulating delayed systems. We consider four different Turing systems and two different forms of delay. Our results are mixed and lead to the conclusion that, although the sensitivity to delays in the Turing mechanism is not completely removed by the addition of intrinsic noise, the effects of the delays are clearly ameliorated in certain specific cases. © 2012 American Physical Society.

Intrinsic disorder in Viral Proteins Genome-Linked: experimental and predictive analyses

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Van Dorsselaer Alain

2009-02-01

Full Text Available Abstract Background VPgs are viral proteins linked to the 5' end of some viral genomes. Interactions between several VPgs and eukaryotic translation initiation factors eIF4Es are critical for plant infection. However, VPgs are not restricted to phytoviruses, being also involved in genome replication and protein translation of several animal viruses. To date, structural data are still limited to small picornaviral VPgs. Recently three phytoviral VPgs were shown to be natively unfolded proteins. Results In this paper, we report the bacterial expression, purification and biochemical characterization of two phytoviral VPgs, namely the VPgs of Rice yellow mottle virus (RYMV, genus Sobemovirus and Lettuce mosaic virus (LMV, genus Potyvirus. Using far-UV circular dichroism and size exclusion chromatography, we show that RYMV and LMV VPgs are predominantly or partly unstructured in solution, respectively. Using several disorder predictors, we show that both proteins are predicted to possess disordered regions. We next extend theses results to 14 VPgs representative of the viral diversity. Disordered regions were predicted in all VPg sequences whatever the genus and the family. Conclusion Based on these results, we propose that intrinsic disorder is a common feature of VPgs. The functional role of intrinsic disorder is discussed in light of the biological roles of VPgs.

Environmental impacts of small dams on agriculture and ground water development: a case study of Khan pur Dam, Pakistan

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Ejaz, N.; Shahmim, M.A.; Elahi, A.; Khan, N.M.

2012-01-01

The water scarcity issues are increasing through out the world. Pakistan is also facing water crises and its water demands are increasing every day. During this research it is investigated that small dams are playing an important role for the sustainability of groundwater and agriculture. The main objective of this study was to assess the environmental impacts of small dam on agricultural and ground water. Proper planning and management of small dams may improve the sustainable agriculture in Pakistan. It is also concluded that small dams are significantly contributing towards economy, environment, local climate, recreational activities and crop production. Small dams can also be utilized for the production of electricity at local level. On the other hand, water management issues can be resolved by the involvement of local farmer's associations. Water losses through seepage, unlined channels and old irrigation methods are most critical in developing world. Considering the overall positive environmental impacts, construction of small dams must be promoted. (author)

Intrinsic Density Matrices of the Nuclear Shell Model

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Deveikis, A.; Kamuntavichius, G.

1996-01-01

A new method for calculation of shell model intrinsic density matrices, defined as two-particle density matrices integrated over the centre-of-mass position vector of two last particles and complemented with isospin variables, has been developed. The intrinsic density matrices obtained are completely antisymmetric, translation-invariant, and do not employ a group-theoretical classification of antisymmetric states. They are used for exact realistic density matrix expansion within the framework of the reduced Hamiltonian method. The procedures based on precise arithmetic for calculation of the intrinsic density matrices that involve no numerical diagonalization or orthogonalization have been developed and implemented in the computer code. (author). 11 refs., 2 tabs

Changes in Intrinsic Motivation as a Function of Negative Feedback and Threats.

Science.gov (United States)

Deci, Edward L.; Cascio, Wayne F.

Recent studies have demonstrated that external rewards can affect intrinsic motivation to perform an activity. Money tends to decrease intrinsic motivation, whereas positive verbal reinforcements tend to increase intrinsic motivation. This paper presents evidence that negative feedback and threats of punishment also decrease intrinsic motivation.…

Palatalization and Intrinsic Prosodic Vowel Features in Russian

Science.gov (United States)

Ordin, Mikhail

2011-01-01

The presented study is aimed at investigating the interaction of palatalization and intrinsic prosodic features of the vowel in CVC (consonant+vowel+consonant) syllables in Russian. The universal nature of intrinsic prosodic vowel features was confirmed with the data from the Russian language. It was found that palatalization of the consonants…

Rainfall threshold calculation for debris flow early warning in areas with scarcity of data

Science.gov (United States)

Pan, Hua-Li; Jiang, Yuan-Jun; Wang, Jun; Ou, Guo-Qiang

2018-05-01

Debris flows are natural disasters that frequently occur in mountainous areas, usually accompanied by serious loss of lives and properties. One of the most commonly used approaches to mitigate the risk associated with debris flows is the implementation of early warning systems based on well-calibrated rainfall thresholds. However, many mountainous areas have little data regarding rainfall and hazards, especially in debris-flow-forming regions. Therefore, the traditional statistical analysis method that determines the empirical relationship between rainstorms and debris flow events cannot be effectively used to calculate reliable rainfall thresholds in these areas. After the severe Wenchuan earthquake, there were plenty of deposits deposited in the gullies, which resulted in several debris flow events. The triggering rainfall threshold has decreased obviously. To get a reliable and accurate rainfall threshold and improve the accuracy of debris flow early warning, this paper developed a quantitative method, which is suitable for debris flow triggering mechanisms in meizoseismal areas, to identify rainfall threshold for debris flow early warning in areas with a scarcity of data based on the initiation mechanism of hydraulic-driven debris flow. First, we studied the characteristics of the study area, including meteorology, hydrology, topography and physical characteristics of the loose solid materials. Then, the rainfall threshold was calculated by the initiation mechanism of the hydraulic debris flow. The comparison with other models and with alternate configurations demonstrates that the proposed rainfall threshold curve is a function of the antecedent precipitation index (API) and 1 h rainfall. To test the proposed method, we selected the Guojuanyan gully, a typical debris flow valley that during the 2008-2013 period experienced several debris flow events, located in the meizoseismal areas of the Wenchuan earthquake, as a case study. The comparison with other

VELOCITY EVOLUTION AND THE INTRINSIC COLOR OF TYPE Ia SUPERNOVAE

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Foley, Ryan J.; Sanders, Nathan E.; Kirshner, Robert P.

2011-01-01

To understand how best to use observations of Type Ia supernovae (SNe Ia) to obtain precise and accurate distances, we investigate the relations between spectra of SNe Ia and their intrinsic colors. Using a sample of 1630 optical spectra of 255 SNe, based primarily on data from the CfA Supernova Program, we examine how the velocity evolution and line strengths of Si II λ6355 and Ca II H and K are related to the B – V color at peak brightness. We find that the maximum-light velocity of Si II λ6355 and Ca II H and K and the maximum-light pseudo-equivalent width of Si II λ6355 are correlated with intrinsic color, with intrinsic color having a linear relation with the Si II λ6355 measurements. Ca II H and K does not have a linear relation with intrinsic color, but lower-velocity SNe tend to be intrinsically bluer. Combining the spectroscopic measurements does not improve intrinsic color inference. The intrinsic color scatter is larger for higher-velocity SNe Ia—even after removing a linear trend with velocity—indicating that lower-velocity SNe Ia are more 'standard crayons'. Employing information derived from SN Ia spectra has the potential to improve the measurements of extragalactic distances and the cosmological properties inferred from them.

SU-D-12A-05: Iterative Reconstruction Techniques to Enable Intrinsic Respiratory Gated CT in Mice

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Sun, T; Sun, N; Tan, S [Huazhong University of Science and Technology, Wuhan, Hubei (China); Liu, Y; Mistry, N [University of Maryland School of Medicine, Baltimore, MD (United States)

2014-06-01

Purpose: Longitudinal studies of lung function in mice need the ability to image different phases of ventilation in free-breathing mice using retrospective gating. However, retrospective gating often produces under-sampled and uneven angular samples, resulting in severe reconstruction artifacts when using traditional FDK based reconstruction algorithms. We wanted to demonstrate the utility of iterative reconstruction method to enable intrinsic respiratory gating in small-animal CT. Methods: Free-breathing mice were imaged using a Siemens Inveon PET/micro-CT system. Evenly distributed projection images were acquired at 360 angles. Retrospective respiratory gating was performed using an intrinsic marker based on the average intensity in a region covering the diaphragm. Projections were classified into 4 and 6 phases (finer temporal resolution) resulting in 138 and 67 projections respectively. Reconstruction was carried out using 3 Methods: conventional FDK, iterative penalized least-square (PWLS) with total variation (TV), and PWLS with edge-preserving penalty. The performance of the methods was compared using contrast-to-noise (CNR) in a region of interest (ROI). Line profile through a specific region was plotted to evaluate the preserving of edges. Results: In both the cases with 4 and 6 phases, inadequate and non-uniform angular sampling results in artifacts using conventional FDK. However, such artifacts are minimized using both the iterative methods. Using both 4 and 6 phases, the iterative techniques outperformed FDK in terms of CNR and maintaining sharp edges. This is further evidenced especially with increased artifacts using FDK for 6 phases. Conclusion: This work indicates fewer artifacts and better image details can be achieved with iterative reconstruction methods in non-uniform under-sampled reconstruction. Using iterative methods can enable free-breathing intrinsic respiratory gating in small-animal CT. Further studies are needed to compare the

Public Health and Medicine in an Age of Energy Scarcity: The Case of Petroleum

Science.gov (United States)

Parker, Cindy L.; Hess, Jeremy; Frumkin, Howard

2011-01-01

Petroleum supplies have heretofore been abundant and inexpensive, but the world petroleum production peak is imminent, and we are entering an unprecedented era of petroleum scarcity. This fact has had little impact on policies related to climate, energy, the built environment, transportation, food, health care, public health, and global health. Rising prices are likely to spur research and drive efficiency improvements, but such innovations may be unable to address an increasing gap between supply and demand. The resulting implications for health and the environment are explored in the articles we have selected as additional contributions in this special issue. Uncertainty about the timing of the peak, the shape of the production curve, and decline rates should not delay action. The time for quick, decisive, comprehensive action is now. PMID:21778506

Diet change and food loss reduction: What is their combined impact on global water use and scarcity?

Science.gov (United States)

Jalava, Mika; Guillaume, Joseph H. A.; Kummu, Matti; Porkka, Miina; Siebert, Stefan; Varis, Olli

2016-03-01

There is a pressing need to improve food security and reduce environmental impacts of agricultural production globally. Two of the proposed measures are diet change from animal-based to plant-based foodstuffs and reduction of food losses and waste. These two measures are linked, as diet change affects production and consumption of foodstuffs and consequently loss processes through their different water footprints and loss percentages. This paper takes this link into account for the first time and provides an assessment of the combined potential contribution of diet change and food loss reduction for reducing water footprints and water scarcity. We apply scenarios in which we change diets to follow basic dietary recommendations, limit animal-based protein intake to 25% of total protein intake, and halve food losses to study single and combined effects of diet change and loss reduction. Dietary recommendations alone would achieve 6% and 7% reductions of blue and green water consumption, respectively, while changing diets to contain less animal products would result in savings of 11% and 18%, respectively. Halving food loss would alone achieve 12% reductions for both blue and green water. Combining the measures would reduce water consumption by 23% and 28%, respectively, lowering water scarcity in areas with a population of over 600 million. At a global scale, effects of diet change and loss reduction were synergistic with loss reductions being more effective under changed diet. This demonstrates the importance of considering the link between diet change and loss reduction in assessments of food security and resource use.

Effect of browned and unbrowned corn products intrinsically labeled with 65Zn on absorption of 65Zn in humans

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Lykken, G.I.; Mahalko, J.; Johnson, P.E.; Milne, D.; Sandstead, H.H.; Garcia, W.J.; Dintzis, F.R.; Inglett, G.E.

1986-01-01

Experimental browned and unbrowned corn products were formulated and processed from unenriched, degermed yellow corngrits. The browned product (cornflakes) contained more insoluble dietary fiber and bound more zinc (in vitro) than the unbrowned product (corngrits). During processing some of the cornflakes and corngrits were combined with a small amount of yellow corn endospermhull intrinsically labeled with 65 Zn. The intrinsically labeled corn products were fed, in a crossover design, as components of two breakfasts to six normal, unconfined volunteers. Each volunteer absorbed more 65 Zn from the corngrits than from the cornflakes. The reduced 65 Zn absorption from cornflakes was attributed to heating and toasting reaction products, possibly Maillard, which bound zinc and consequently made the zinc less available for absorption

Kinematical tests for the intrinsic shapes of galaxies

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Capaccioli, M.; Fasano, G.

1984-01-01

Determining the intrinsic shape of elliptical galaxies has been an illusive enterprise, but one fundamental to the understanding of their internal dynamics and formation. Here the problem is approached dynamically; noting that the velocity dispersion is largest when sighted down the longest axis, the correlations are derived of velocity dispersion with observed eccentricity expected, after the known trend of velocity dispersion with luminosity is removed. Using a compilation of published data, the relation between luminosity and velocity dispersion is determined more accurately. The residuals are examined as a function of axis ratio in order to construct a test for the intrinsic shape of galaxies. The effects of projection are modelled and possible intrinsic variations are examined. (author)

Benefits of economic criteria for water scarcity management under global changes: insights from a large-scale hydroeconomic framework

Science.gov (United States)

Neverre, Noémie; Dumas, Patrice; Nassopoulos, Hypatia

2016-04-01

Global changes are expected to exacerbate water scarcity issues in the Mediterranean region in the next decades. In this work, we investigate the impacts of reservoirs operation rules based on an economic criterion. We examine whether can they help reduce the costs of water scarcity, and whether they become more relevant under future climatic and socioeconomic conditions. We develop an original hydroeconomic model able to compare future water supply and demand on a large scale, while representing river basin heterogeneity. On the demand side, we focus on the two main sectors of water use: the irrigation and domestic sectors. Demands are projected in terms of both quantity and economic value. Irrigation requirements are computed for 12 types of crops, at the 0.5° spatial resolution, under future climatic conditions (A1B scenario). The computation of the economic benefits of irrigation water is based on a yield comparison approach between rainfed and irrigated crops. For the domestic sector, we project the combined effects of demographic growth, economic development and water cost evolution on future demands. The economic value of domestic water is defined as the economic surplus. On the supply side, we evaluate the impacts of climate change on water inflows to the reservoirs. Operating rules of the reservoirs are set up using a parameterisation-simulation-optimisation approach. The objective is to maximise water benefits. We introduce prudential parametric rules in order to take into account spatial and temporal trade-offs. The methodology is applied to Algeria at the 2050 horizon. Overall, our results show that the supply-demand imbalance and its costs will increase in most basins under future climatic and socioeconomic conditions. Our results suggest that the benefits of operating rules based on economic criteria are not unequivocally increased with global changes: in some basins the positive impact of economic prioritisation is higher under future conditions

Do intrinsic and extrinsic motivation relate differently to employee outcomes?

OpenAIRE

Kuvaas, Bard; Buch, Robert; Weibel, Antoinette; Dysvik, Anders; Nerstad, Christina

2017-01-01

In most theories that address how individual financial incentives affect work performance, researchers have assumed that two types of motivation—intrinsic and extrinsic—mediate the relationship between incentives and performance. Empirically, however, extrinsic motivation is rarely investigated. To explore the predictive validity of these theories of intrinsic and extrinsic motivation in work settings, we tested how both intrinsic and extrinsic motivation affected supervisor-ra...

Intrinsically bent DNA in replication origins and gene promoters.

Science.gov (United States)

Gimenes, F; Takeda, K I; Fiorini, A; Gouveia, F S; Fernandez, M A

2008-06-24

Intrinsically bent DNA is an alternative conformation of the DNA molecule caused by the presence of dA/dT tracts, 2 to 6 bp long, in a helical turn phase DNA or with multiple intervals of 10 to 11 bp. Other than flexibility, intrinsic bending sites induce DNA curvature in particular chromosome regions such as replication origins and promoters. Intrinsically bent DNA sites are important in initiating DNA replication, and are sometimes found near to regions associated with the nuclear matrix. Many methods have been developed to localize bent sites, for example, circular permutation, computational analysis, and atomic force microscopy. This review discusses intrinsically bent DNA sites associated with replication origins and gene promoter regions in prokaryote and eukaryote cells. We also describe methods for identifying bent DNA sites for circular permutation and computational analysis.

Extrinsic and intrinsic factors controlling spermatogonial stem cell self-renewal and differentiation

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Xing-Xing Mei

2015-06-01

Full Text Available Spermatogonial stem cells (SSCs, the stem cells responsible for male fertility, are one of a small number of cells with the abilities of both self-renewal and generation of large numbers of haploid cells. Technology improvements, most importantly, transplantation assays and in vitro culture systems have greatly expanded our understanding of SSC self-renewal and differentiation. Many important molecules crucial for the balance between self-renewal and differentiation have been recently identified although the exact mechanism(s remain largely undefined. In this review, we give a brief introduction to SSCs, and then focus on extrinsic and intrinsic factors controlling SSCs self-renewal and differentiation.

Extrinsic and intrinsic factors controlling spermatogonial stem cell self-renewal and differentiation.

Science.gov (United States)

Mei, Xing-Xing; Wang, Jian; Wu, Ji

2015-01-01

Spermatogonial stem cells (SSCs), the stem cells responsible for male fertility, are one of a small number of cells with the abilities of both self-renewal and generation of large numbers of haploid cells. Technology improvements, most importantly, transplantation assays and in vitro culture systems have greatly expanded our understanding of SSC self-renewal and differentiation. Many important molecules crucial for the balance between self-renewal and differentiation have been recently identified although the exact mechanism(s) remain largely undefined. In this review, we give a brief introduction to SSCs, and then focus on extrinsic and intrinsic factors controlling SSCs self-renewal and differentiation.

Congenital hypertrophy of multiple intrinsic muscles of the foot.

Science.gov (United States)

Shiraishi, Tomohiro; Park, Susam; Niu, Atushi; Hasegawa, Hiromi

2014-12-01

Congenital hypertrophy of a single intrinsic muscle of the foot is rare, and as far as we know, only six cases have been reported. We describe a case of congenital anomaly that showed hypertrophy of multiple intrinsic muscles of the foot; the affected muscles were all the intrinsic muscles of the foot except the extensor digitorum brevis or extensor hallucis. Other tissues such as adipose tissue, nervous tissue, or osseous tissue showed no abnormalities. To reduce the volume of the foot we removed parts of the enlarged muscles.

Managing the Financial Risks of Water Scarcity

Science.gov (United States)

Characklis, Greg; Foster, Ben; Kern, Jordan; Meyer, Eliot; Zeff, Harrison

2015-04-01

of financial losses experienced by such entities as water utilities, hydropower producers and inland shipping firms as a result of water scarcity, all of which suggest a growing role for financial instruments in managing environmental risk.

The Emerging Neuroscience of Intrinsic Motivation: A New Frontier in Self-Determination Research

Science.gov (United States)

Di Domenico, Stefano I.; Ryan, Richard M.

2017-01-01

Intrinsic motivation refers to people’s spontaneous tendencies to be curious and interested, to seek out challenges and to exercise and develop their skills and knowledge, even in the absence of operationally separable rewards. Over the past four decades, experimental and field research guided by self-determination theory (SDT; Ryan and Deci, 2017) has found intrinsic motivation to predict enhanced learning, performance, creativity, optimal development and psychological wellness. Only recently, however, have studies begun to examine the neurobiological substrates of intrinsic motivation. In the present article, we trace the history of intrinsic motivation research, compare and contrast intrinsic motivation to closely related topics (flow, curiosity, trait plasticity), link intrinsic motivation to key findings in the comparative affective neurosciences, and review burgeoning neuroscience research on intrinsic motivation. We review converging evidence suggesting that intrinsically motivated exploratory and mastery behaviors are phylogenetically ancient tendencies that are subserved by dopaminergic systems. Studies also suggest that intrinsic motivation is associated with patterns of activity across large-scale neural networks, namely, those that support salience detection, attentional control and self-referential cognition. We suggest novel research directions and offer recommendations for the application of neuroscience methods in the study of intrinsic motivation. PMID:28392765

The Emerging Neuroscience of Intrinsic Motivation: A New Frontier in Self-Determination Research.

Science.gov (United States)

Di Domenico, Stefano I; Ryan, Richard M

2017-01-01

Intrinsic motivation refers to people's spontaneous tendencies to be curious and interested, to seek out challenges and to exercise and develop their skills and knowledge, even in the absence of operationally separable rewards. Over the past four decades, experimental and field research guided by self-determination theory (SDT; Ryan and Deci, 2017) has found intrinsic motivation to predict enhanced learning, performance, creativity, optimal development and psychological wellness. Only recently, however, have studies begun to examine the neurobiological substrates of intrinsic motivation. In the present article, we trace the history of intrinsic motivation research, compare and contrast intrinsic motivation to closely related topics (flow, curiosity, trait plasticity), link intrinsic motivation to key findings in the comparative affective neurosciences, and review burgeoning neuroscience research on intrinsic motivation. We review converging evidence suggesting that intrinsically motivated exploratory and mastery behaviors are phylogenetically ancient tendencies that are subserved by dopaminergic systems. Studies also suggest that intrinsic motivation is associated with patterns of activity across large-scale neural networks, namely, those that support salience detection, attentional control and self-referential cognition. We suggest novel research directions and offer recommendations for the application of neuroscience methods in the study of intrinsic motivation.

Discovery of Intrinsic Primitives on Triangle Meshes

KAUST Repository

Solomon, Justin

2011-04-01

The discovery of meaningful parts of a shape is required for many geometry processing applications, such as parameterization, shape correspondence, and animation. It is natural to consider primitives such as spheres, cylinders and cones as the building blocks of shapes, and thus to discover parts by fitting such primitives to a given surface. This approach, however, will break down if primitive parts have undergone almost-isometric deformations, as is the case, for example, for articulated human models. We suggest that parts can be discovered instead by finding intrinsic primitives, which we define as parts that posses an approximate intrinsic symmetry. We employ the recently-developed method of computing discrete approximate Killing vector fields (AKVFs) to discover intrinsic primitives by investigating the relationship between the AKVFs of a composite object and the AKVFs of its parts. We show how to leverage this relationship with a standard clustering method to extract k intrinsic primitives and remaining asymmetric parts of a shape for a given k. We demonstrate the value of this approach for identifying the prominent symmetry generators of the parts of a given shape. Additionally, we show how our method can be modified slightly to segment an entire surface without marking asymmetric connecting regions and compare this approach to state-of-the-art methods using the Princeton Segmentation Benchmark. © 2011 The Author(s).

Intrinsically radiolabelled [59Fe]-SPIONs for dual MRI/radionuclide detection

OpenAIRE

Hoffman, David; Sun, Minghao; Yang, Likun; McDonagh, Philip R; Corwin, Frank; Sundaresan, Gobalakrishnan; Wang, Li; Vijayaragavan, Vimalan; Thadigiri, Celina; Lamichhane, Narottam; Zweit, Jamal

2014-01-01

Towards the development of iron oxide nanoparticles with intrinsically incorporated radionuclides for dual Positron Emission Tomography/Magnetic Resonance Imaging (PET/MRI) and more recently of Single Photon Emission Computed Tomography/Magnetic Resonance Imaging (SPECT/MRI), we have developed intrinsically radiolabeled [59Fe]-superparamagnetic iron oxide nanoparticles ([59Fe]-SPIONs) as a proof of concept for an intrinsic dual probe strategy. 59Fe was incorporated into Fe3O4 nanoparticle cry...

Genome-Wide Identification of Antimicrobial Intrinsic Resistance Determinants in Staphylococcus aureus

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Vestergaard, Martin; Leng, Bingfeng; Haaber, Jakob

2016-01-01

The emergence of antimicrobial resistance severely threatens our ability to treat bacterial infections. While acquired resistance has received considerable attention, relatively little is known of intrinsic resistance that allows bacteria to naturally withstand antimicrobials. Gene products...... that confer intrinsic resistance to antimicrobial agents may be explored for alternative antimicrobial therapies, by potentiating the efficacy of existing antimicrobials. In this study, we identified the intrinsic resistome to a broad spectrum of antimicrobials in the human pathogen, Staphylococcus aureus. We...... with the atpA mutant compared to wild type cells with gentamicin at a clinically relevant concentration. Our results demonstrate that many gene products contribute to the intrinsic antimicrobial resistance of S. aureus. Knowledge of these intrinsic resistance determinants provides alternative targets...

A Prospective Method to Guide Small Molecule Drug Design

Science.gov (United States)

Johnson, Alan T.

2015-01-01

At present, small molecule drug design follows a retrospective path when considering what analogs are to be made around a current hit or lead molecule with the focus often on identifying a compound with higher intrinsic potency. What this approach overlooks is the simultaneous need to also improve the physicochemical (PC) and pharmacokinetic (PK)…

Direct measurement of the intrinsic ankle stiffness during standing.

Science.gov (United States)

Vlutters, M; Boonstra, T A; Schouten, A C; van der Kooij, H

2015-05-01

Ankle stiffness contributes to standing balance, counteracting the destabilizing effect of gravity. The ankle stiffness together with the compliance between the foot and the support surface make up the ankle-foot stiffness, which is relevant to quiet standing. The contribution of the intrinsic ankle-foot stiffness to balance, and the ankle-foot stiffness amplitude dependency remain a topic of debate in the literature. We therefore developed an experimental protocol to directly measure the bilateral intrinsic ankle-foot stiffness during standing balance, and determine its amplitude dependency. By applying fast (40 ms) ramp-and-hold support surface rotations (0.005-0.08 rad) during standing, reflexive contributions could be excluded, and the amplitude dependency of the intrinsic ankle-foot stiffness was investigated. Results showed that reflexive activity could not have biased the torque used for estimating the intrinsic stiffness. Furthermore, subjects required less recovery action to restore balance after bilateral rotations in opposite directions compared to rotations in the same direction. The intrinsic ankle-foot stiffness appears insufficient to ensure balance, ranging from 0.93±0.09 to 0.44±0.06 (normalized to critical stiffness 'mgh'). This implies that changes in muscle activation are required to maintain balance. The non-linear stiffness decrease with increasing rotation amplitude supports the previous published research. With the proposed method reflexive effects can be ruled out from the measured torque without any model assumptions, allowing direct estimation of intrinsic stiffness during standing. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Increased intrinsic mitochondrial function in humans with mitochondrial haplogroup H

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Larsen, Steen; Díez-Sánchez, Carmen; Rabøl, Rasmus

2014-01-01

and determined their mitochondrial haplogroup, mitochondrial oxidative phosphorylation capacity (OXPHOS), mitochondrial content (citrate synthase (CS)) and VO2max. Intrinsic mitochondrial function is calculated as mitochondrial OXPHOS capacity divided by mitochondrial content (CS). Haplogroup H showed a 30......% higher intrinsic mitochondrial function compared with the other haplo group U. There was no relationship between haplogroups and VO2max. In skeletal muscle from men with mitochondrial haplogroup H, an increased intrinsic mitochondrial function is present....

Elderly Taiwanese's Intrinsic Risk Factors for Fall-related Injuries

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

In-Fun Li

2016-09-01

Conclusion: Elderly Taiwanese inpatients with existing intrinsic conditions of cancer, vertigo, and lower leg weakness were at high risk of falling, resulting in severe injuries. Additional research including controlled trials is necessary to further identify treatable, causal intrinsic risk factors for this elderly group.

Physics of Intrinsic Rotation in Flux-Driven ITG Turbulence

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Ku, S.; Abiteboul, J.; Dimond, P.H.; Dif-Pradalier, G.; Kwon, J.M.; Sarazin, Y.; Hahm, T.S.; Garbet, X.; Chang, C.S.; Latu, G.; Yoon, E.S.; Ghendrih, Ph.; Yi, S.; Strugarek, A.; Solomon, W.; Grandgirard, V.

2012-01-01

Global, heat flux-driven ITG gyrokinetic simulations which manifest the formation of macroscopic, mean toroidal flow profiles with peak thermal Mach number 0.05, are reported. Both a particle-in-cell (XGC1p) and a semi-Lagrangian (GYSELA) approach are utilized without a priori assumptions of scale-separation between turbulence and mean fields. Flux-driven ITG simulations with different edge flow boundary conditions show in both approaches the development of net unidirectional intrinsic rotation in the co-current direction. Intrinsic torque is shown to scale approximately linearly with the inverse scale length of the ion temperature gradient. External momentum input is shown to effectively cancel the intrinsic rotation profile, thus confirming the existence of a local residual stress and intrinsic torque. Fluctuation intensity, intrinsic torque and mean flow are demonstrated to develop inwards from the boundary. The measured correlations between residual stress and two fluctuation spectrum symmetry breakers, namely E x B shear and intensity gradient, are similar. Avalanches of (positive) heat flux, which propagate either outwards or inwards, are correlated with avalanches of (negative) parallel momentum flux, so that outward transport of heat and inward transport of parallel momentum are correlated and mediated by avalanches. The probability distribution functions of the outward heat flux and the inward momentum flux show strong structural similarity

Investigation of intrinsic toroidal rotation scaling in KSTAR

Science.gov (United States)

Yoo, J. W.; Lee, S. G.; Ko, S. H.; Seol, J.; Lee, H. H.; Kim, J. H.

2017-07-01

The behaviors of an intrinsic toroidal rotation without any external momentum sources are investigated in KSTAR. In these experiments, pure ohmic discharges with a wide range of plasma parameters are carefully selected and analyzed to speculate an unrevealed origin of toroidal rotation excluding any unnecessary heating sources, magnetic perturbations, and strong magneto-hydrodynamic activities. The measured core toroidal rotation in KSTAR is mostly in the counter-current direction and its magnitude strongly depends on the ion temperature divided by plasma current (Ti/IP). Especially the core toroidal rotation in the steady-state is well fitted by Ti/IP scaling with a slope of ˜-23, and the possible explanation of the scaling is compared with various candidates. As a result, the calculated offset rotation could not explain the measured core toroidal rotation since KSTAR has an extremely low intrinsic error field. For the stability conditions for ion and electron turbulences, it is hard to determine a dominant turbulence mode in this study. In addition, the intrinsic toroidal rotation level in ITER is estimated based on the KSTAR scaling since the intrinsic rotation plays an important role in stabilizing resistive wall modes for future reference.

Intrinsically Passive Handling and Grasping

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Stramigioli, Stefano; Scherpen, Jacquelien M.A.; Khodabandehloo, Koorosh

2000-01-01

The paper presents a control philosophy called Intrinsically Passive Control, which has the feature to properly behave during interaction with any passive objects. The controlled robot will never become unstable due to the physical structure of the controller.

A series of intrinsically chiral gold nanocage structures.

Science.gov (United States)

Liu, X J; Hamilton, I P

2017-07-27

We present a series of intrinsically chiral gold nanocage structures, Au 9n+6 , which are stable for n ≥ 2. These structures consist of an Au 9n tube which is capped with Au 3 units at each end. Removing the Au 3 caps, we obtain a series of intrinsically chiral gold nanotube structures, Au 9n , which are stable for n ≥ 4. The intrinsic chirality of these structures results from the helicity of the gold strands which form the tube and not because an individual Au atom is a chiral center. The symmetry of these structures is C 3 and substructures of gold hexagons with a gold atom in the middle are particularly prominent. We focus on the properties of Au 42 (C 3 ) and Au 105 (C 3 ) which are the two smallest gold nanocage structures to be completely tiled by these Au 7 "golden-eye" substructures. Our main focus is on Au 42 (C 3 ) since gold clusters in the 40-50 atom regime are currently being investigated in gas phase experiments. We show that the intrinsically chiral Au 42 cage structure is energetically comparable with previously reported achiral cage and compact Au 42 structures. Cage structures are of particular interest because species can be encapsulated (and stabilized) inside the cage and we provide strong evidence that Au 6 @Au 42 (C 3 ) is the global minimum Au 48 structure. The intrinsically chiral gold nanocage structures, which exhibit a range of size-related properties, have potential applications in chiral catalysis and as components in nanostructured devices.

Physical water scarcity metrics for monitoring progress towards SDG target 6.4 : An evaluation of indicator 6.4.2 “Level of water stress”

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Vanham, D.; Hoekstra, A. Y.; Wada, Y.; Bouraoui, F.; de Roo, A.; Mekonnen, M. M.; van de Bund, W. J.; Batelaan, O.; Pavelic, P.; Bastiaanssen, Wim G M; Kummu, M.; Rockström, J.; Liu, J.; Bisselink, B.; Ronco, P.; Pistocchi, A.; Bidoglio, G.

2018-01-01

Target 6.4 of the recently adopted Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) deals with the reduction of water scarcity. To monitor progress towards this target, two indicators are used: Indicator 6.4.1 measuring water use efficiency and 6.4.2 measuring the level of water stress (WS). This paper aims to

Diffusion in Intrinsic and Highly Doped III-V Semiconductors

CERN Multimedia

Stolwijk, N

2002-01-01

%title\\\\ \\\\Diffusion plays a key role in the fabrication of semiconductor devices. The diffusion of atoms in crystals is mediated by intrinsic point defects. Investigations of the diffusion behaviour of self- and solute atoms on the Ga sublattice of gallium arsenide led to the conclusion that in intrinsic and n-type material charged Ga vacancies are involved in diffusion processes whereas in p-type material diffusion if governed by charged Ga self-interstitials. Concerning the As sublattice of gallium arsenide there is a severe lack of reliable diffusion data. The few available literature data on intrinsic GaAs are not mutually consistent. A systematic study of the doping dependence of diffusion is completely missing. The most basic diffusion process - self-diffusion of As and its temperature and doping dependence - is practically not known. For GaP a similar statement holds.\\\\ \\\\The aim of the present project is to perform a systematic diffusion study of As diffusion in intrinsic and doped GaAs and in GaP. P...

Chemisorption and Reactions of Small Molecules on Small Gold Particles

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Geoffrey C. Bond

2012-02-01

Full Text Available The activity of supported gold particles for a number of oxidations and hydrogenations starts to increase dramatically as the size falls below ~3 nm. This is accompanied by an increased propensity to chemisorption, especially of oxygen and hydrogen. The explanation for these phenomena has to be sought in kinetic analysis that connects catalytic activity with the strength and extent of chemisorption of the reactants, the latter depending on the electronic structure of the gold atoms constituting the active centre. Examination of the changes to the utilisation of electrons as particle size is decreased points to loss of metallic character at about 3 nm, as energy bands are replaced by levels, and a band gap appears. Detailed consideration of the Arrhenius parameters (E and ln A for CO oxidation points clearly to a step-change in activity at the point where metallic character is lost, as opposed to there being a monotonic dependence of rate on a physical property such as the fraction of atoms at corners or edges of particles. The deplorable scarcity of kinetic information on other reactions makes extension of this analysis difficult, but non-metallic behaviour is an unavoidable property of very small gold particles, and therefore cannot be ignored when seeking to explain their exceptional activity.

INTRINSIC AND EXTRINSIC MOTIVATION - AN INVESTIGATION OF PERFORMANCE CORRELATION

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Abrudan Maria-Madela

2011-07-01

Full Text Available A series of research untaken in the last decade have revealed some interesting aspects regarding the effects of different types of motivation on performance. Among the researchers who have shown interest in this field we can number: Richard Ryan, Edward Deci, Sam Glucksberg, Dan Ariely, Robert Eisenhower, Linda Shanock, analysts from London School of Economics, and others. Their findings suggest that extrinsic incentives may have a negative impact on overall performance, but a general agreement in this respect has not been reached. In this paper we intend to shed some light upon the relationship between intrinsic and extrinsic motivation and performance. Experts define intrinsic motivation as being the execution of a task or activity because of the inherent satisfaction arising from it rather than due to some separate outcome. In contrast with intrinsic motivation, we speak of extrinsic motivation whenever an activity is done in order to attain some separable outcome. With the purpose of contributing to the clarification of the links between concepts, we initiated and conducted an explanatory research. The research is based on the analysis of the relations between the results obtained by third year students and their predominant type of motivation. For this, we formulated and tested four work hypotheses using a combination of quantitative methods (investigation and qualitative methods (focus group. After the validation of the questionnaires, the respondents were divided into four categories: intrinsically motivated, extrinsically motivated, both intrinsically and extrinsically motivated and unmotivated. To analyze the collected data, we made use of Excel and SPSS. Some of the primary conclusions of the research are as follows: as the average increases, the percent of individuals having both extrinsic and intrinsic motivation is decreasing; the highest percentage of unmotivated students is concentrated in the highest average category; Female

Estimation of awareness and perception of water scarcity among farmers in the Guanzhong Plain, China, by means of a structural equation model.

Science.gov (United States)

Tang, Jianjun; Folmer, Henk; Xue, Jianhong

2013-09-15

This paper applies a structural equation model (SEM) to analyze the formation of awareness and perception of water scarcity, based on a cross-sectional dataset of 446 farmers in the Guanzhong Plain, Shaanxi Province, China. We find that age, percentage of time spent on farming and social network are the main determinants of awareness. Water price and drought experience are the most important explanatory variables of perception. In addition, awareness and perception strongly interact. The results obtained in this paper are relevant for policymaking, since environmental behavior, which includes efficient use of natural resources, tends to improve if supported by internalization of social norms, which in its turn, is promoted by awareness and perception. From the analysis it follows that spreading information via social networks, rather than via the media, is an important vehicle to enhance awareness and perception and thus to improve irrigation water use efficiency. Special attention should be paid to part-time farmers who are limited in directly perceiving water scarcity. Finally, more use should be made of the price mechanism to strengthen perception and awareness. Copyright © 2013 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Functional anthology of intrinsic disorder. 3. Ligands, post-translational modifications, and diseases associated with intrinsically disordered proteins.

Science.gov (United States)

Xie, Hongbo; Vucetic, Slobodan; Iakoucheva, Lilia M; Oldfield, Christopher J; Dunker, A Keith; Obradovic, Zoran; Uversky, Vladimir N

2007-05-01

Currently, the understanding of the relationships between function, amino acid sequence, and protein structure continues to represent one of the major challenges of the modern protein science. As many as 50% of eukaryotic proteins are likely to contain functionally important long disordered regions. Many proteins are wholly disordered but still possess numerous biologically important functions. However, the number of experimentally confirmed disordered proteins with known biological functions is substantially smaller than their actual number in nature. Therefore, there is a crucial need for novel bionformatics approaches that allow projection of the current knowledge from a few experimentally verified examples to much larger groups of known and potential proteins. The elaboration of a bioinformatics tool for the analysis of functional diversity of intrinsically disordered proteins and application of this data mining tool to >200 000 proteins from the Swiss-Prot database, each annotated with at least one of the 875 functional keywords, was described in the first paper of this series (Xie, H.; Vucetic, S.; Iakoucheva, L. M.; Oldfield, C. J.; Dunker, A. K.; Obradovic, Z.; Uversky, V.N. Functional anthology of intrinsic disorder. 1. Biological processes and functions of proteins with long disordered regions. J. Proteome Res. 2007, 5, 1882-1898). Using this tool, we have found that out of the 710 Swiss-Prot functional keywords associated with at least 20 proteins, 262 were strongly positively correlated with long intrinsically disordered regions, and 302 were strongly negatively correlated. Illustrative examples of functional disorder or order were found for the vast majority of keywords showing strongest positive or negative correlation with intrinsic disorder, respectively. Some 80 Swiss-Prot keywords associated with disorder- and order-driven biological processes and protein functions were described in the first paper (see above). The second paper of the series was

Intrinsic Risk Factors of Falls in Elderly

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Yasmin Amatullah

2016-09-01

Full Text Available Background: Falls are common geriatric problems. The risk factors of falls are the intrinsic and extrinsic risk factors. Studies on falls are scarcely conducted in Indonesia, especially in Bandung. Therefore, this study was conducted to identify the intrinsic risk factors of falls among elderly. Methods: A descriptive study was carried out from August to October 2013 at the Geriatric Clinic of Dr. Hasan Sadikin General Hospital Bandung. Fifty three participants were selected according to the inclusion and exclusion criteria using consecutive sampling. The determined variables in this study were classification of the risk of falls, demographic profile, history of falls, disease, and medications. After the selection, the participants were tested by Timed up-and-go test (TUGT. Moreover, an interview and analysis of medical records were carried out to discover the risk factors of falls. The collected data were analyzed and presented in the form of percentages shown in tables. Results: From 53 patients, women (35.66% were considered to have higher risk of fall than men (18.34%. The majority of patients (66% with the risk of fall were from the age group 60–74 years. The major diseases suffered by patients were hypertension, osteoarthritis and diabetes mellitus. Drugs that were widely used were antihypertensive drugs; analgesic and antipyretic drugs and antidiabetic drugs. Conclusions: There are various intrinsic risk factors of falls in elderly and each of the elderly has more than one intrinsic risk factor of falls.

College Student Intrinsic and/or Extrinsic Motivation and Learning.

Science.gov (United States)

Lin, Yi-Guang; McKeachie, Wilbert J.

This paper investigates the joint effects of intrinsic and extrinsic goals on college students' learning in an introductory psychology course, a biology course, and several social science courses. The study questioned whether higher levels of motivation lead to better student performance. College students were surveyed using the Intrinsic Goal…

Intrinsic and Extrinsic Motivation for Stereotypic and Repetitive Behavior

Science.gov (United States)

Joosten, Annette V.; Bundy, Anita C.; Einfeld, Stewart L.

2009-01-01

This study provides evidence for intrinsic and extrinsic motivators for stereotypical and repetitive behavior in children with autism and intellectual disability and children with intellectual disability alone. We modified the Motivation Assessment Scale (MAS) (1988b); dividing it into intrinsic and extrinsic measures and adding items to assess…

Leadership style and employees' intrinsic job satisfaction in the ...

African Journals Online (AJOL)

This study investigates the impact of leadership style on employees' intrinsic job satisfaction in the Cross River State Newspaper Corporation, Calabar, Nigeria. The study examined the problem of dissatisfaction in the work place as far as intrinsic factors of job satisfaction are concerned. Structured questionnaire was used ...

Extrinsic and intrinsic blood supply to the optic chiasm.

Science.gov (United States)

Salaud, Céline; Ploteau, Stéphane; Blery, Pauline; Pilet, Paul; Armstrong, Olivier; Hamel, Antoine

2018-04-01

Although there have been many studies of the arterial cerebral blood supply, only seven have described the optic chiasm (OC) blood supply and their results are contradictory. The aim of this study was to analyze the extrinsic and intrinsic OC blood supply on cadaveric specimens using dissections and microcomputer tomography (Micro-CT). Thirteen human specimens were dissected and the internal or common carotid arteries were injected with red latex, China Ink with gelatin or barium sulfate. Three Micro-CTs were obtained to reveal the intrinsic blood supply to the OC. The superior hypophyseal arteries (SupHypA) (13/13) and posterior communicating artery (PCoA) (12/13) supplied the pial network on the inferior side of the OC. The first segment of the anterior cerebral artery (ACA) (10/10), SupHypA (7/10), the anterior communicating artery (ACoA) (9/10), and PComA (1/10) supplied the pial network of its superior side. The intrinsic OC blood supply was divided into three networks (two lateral and one central). Capillaries entering the OC originated principally from the inferior pial network. The lateral network capillaries had the same orientation as the visual lateral pathways, but the central network was not correlated with the nasal fibers crossing into the OC. There was no anastomosis in the pial or intrinsic networks. Only SupHypA, PCoA, ACoA, and ACA were involved in the OC blood supply. Because there was no extrinsic or intrinsic anastomosis, all arteries should be preserved. Tumor compression of the inferior intrinsic arterial network could contribute to visual defects. Clin. Anat. 31:432-440, 2018. © 2017 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. © 2017 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

Intrinsic cardiac nervous system in tachycardia induced heart failure.

Science.gov (United States)

Arora, Rakesh C; Cardinal, Rene; Smith, Frank M; Ardell, Jeffrey L; Dell'Italia, Louis J; Armour, J Andrew

2003-11-01

The purpose of this study was to test the hypothesis that early-stage heart failure differentially affects the intrinsic cardiac nervous system's capacity to regulate cardiac function. After 2 wk of rapid ventricular pacing in nine anesthetized canines, cardiac and right atrial neuronal function were evaluated in situ in response to enhanced cardiac sensory inputs, stimulation of extracardiac autonomic efferent neuronal inputs, and close coronary arterial administration of neurochemicals that included nicotine. Right atrial neuronal intracellular electrophysiological properties were then evaluated in vitro in response to synaptic activation and nicotine. Intrinsic cardiac nicotine-sensitive, neuronally induced cardiac responses were also evaluated in eight sham-operated, unpaced animals. Two weeks of rapid ventricular pacing reduced the cardiac index by 54%. Intrinsic cardiac neurons of paced hearts maintained their cardiac mechano- and chemosensory transduction properties in vivo. They also responded normally to sympathetic and parasympathetic preganglionic efferent neuronal inputs, as well as to locally administered alpha-or beta-adrenergic agonists or angiotensin II. The dose of nicotine needed to modify intrinsic cardiac neurons was 50 times greater in failure compared with normal preparations. That dose failed to alter monitored cardiovascular indexes in failing preparations. Phasic and accommodating neurons identified in vitro displayed altered intracellular membrane properties compared with control, including decreased membrane resistance, indicative of reduced excitability. Early-stage heart failure differentially affects the intrinsic cardiac nervous system's capacity to regulate cardiodynamics. While maintaining its capacity to transduce cardiac mechano- and chemosensory inputs, as well as inputs from extracardiac autonomic efferent neurons, intrinsic cardiac nicotine-sensitive, local-circuit neurons differentially remodel such that their capacity to

Quantifying intrinsic and extrinsic variability in stochastic gene expression models.

Science.gov (United States)

Singh, Abhyudai; Soltani, Mohammad

2013-01-01

Genetically identical cell populations exhibit considerable intercellular variation in the level of a given protein or mRNA. Both intrinsic and extrinsic sources of noise drive this variability in gene expression. More specifically, extrinsic noise is the expression variability that arises from cell-to-cell differences in cell-specific factors such as enzyme levels, cell size and cell cycle stage. In contrast, intrinsic noise is the expression variability that is not accounted for by extrinsic noise, and typically arises from the inherent stochastic nature of biochemical processes. Two-color reporter experiments are employed to decompose expression variability into its intrinsic and extrinsic noise components. Analytical formulas for intrinsic and extrinsic noise are derived for a class of stochastic gene expression models, where variations in cell-specific factors cause fluctuations in model parameters, in particular, transcription and/or translation rate fluctuations. Assuming mRNA production occurs in random bursts, transcription rate is represented by either the burst frequency (how often the bursts occur) or the burst size (number of mRNAs produced in each burst). Our analysis shows that fluctuations in the transcription burst frequency enhance extrinsic noise but do not affect the intrinsic noise. On the contrary, fluctuations in the transcription burst size or mRNA translation rate dramatically increase both intrinsic and extrinsic noise components. Interestingly, simultaneous fluctuations in transcription and translation rates arising from randomness in ATP abundance can decrease intrinsic noise measured in a two-color reporter assay. Finally, we discuss how these formulas can be combined with single-cell gene expression data from two-color reporter experiments for estimating model parameters.

Intrinsic viscosity of a suspension of cubes

KAUST Repository

Mallavajula, Rajesh K.

2013-11-06

We report on the viscosity of a dilute suspension of cube-shaped particles. Irrespective of the particle size, size distribution, and surface chemistry, we find empirically that cubes manifest an intrinsic viscosity [η]=3.1±0.2, which is substantially higher than the well-known value for spheres, [η]=2.5. The orientation-dependent intrinsic viscosity of cubic particles is determined theoretically using a finite-element solution of the Stokes equations. For isotropically oriented cubes, these calculations show [η]=3.1, in excellent agreement with our experimental observations. © 2013 American Physical Society.

Subglottal pressure, tracheal airflow, and intrinsic laryngeal muscle activity during rat ultrasound vocalization

Science.gov (United States)

2011-01-01

Vocal production requires complex planning and coordination of respiratory, laryngeal, and vocal tract movements, which are incompletely understood in most mammals. Rats produce a variety of whistles in the ultrasonic range that are of communicative relevance and of importance as a model system, but the sources of acoustic variability were mostly unknown. The goal was to identify sources of fundamental frequency variability. Subglottal pressure, tracheal airflow, and electromyographic (EMG) data from two intrinsic laryngeal muscles were measured during 22-kHz and 50-kHz call production in awake, spontaneously behaving adult male rats. During ultrasound vocalization, subglottal pressure ranged between 0.8 and 1.9 kPa. Pressure differences between call types were not significant. The relation between fundamental frequency and subglottal pressure within call types was inconsistent. Experimental manipulations of subglottal pressure had only small effects on fundamental frequency. Tracheal airflow patterns were also inconsistently associated with frequency. Pressure and flow seem to play a small role in regulation of fundamental frequency. Muscle activity, however, is precisely regulated and very sensitive to alterations, presumably because of effects on resonance properties in the vocal tract. EMG activity of cricothyroid and thyroarytenoid muscle was tonic in calls with slow or no fundamental frequency modulations, like 22-kHz and flat 50-kHz calls. Both muscles showed brief high-amplitude, alternating bursts at rates up to 150 Hz during production of frequency-modulated 50-kHz calls. A differentiated and fine regulation of intrinsic laryngeal muscles is critical for normal ultrasound vocalization. Many features of the laryngeal muscle activation pattern during ultrasound vocalization in rats are shared with other mammals. PMID:21832032

Intrinsic and Extrinsic Motivations: Classic Definitions and New Directions.

Science.gov (United States)

Ryan; Deci

2000-01-01

Intrinsic and extrinsic types of motivation have been widely studied, and the distinction between them has shed important light on both developmental and educational practices. In this review we revisit the classic definitions of intrinsic and extrinsic motivation in light of contemporary research and theory. Intrinsic motivation remains an important construct, reflecting the natural human propensity to learn and assimilate. However, extrinsic motivation is argued to vary considerably in its relative autonomy and thus can either reflect external control or true self-regulation. The relations of both classes of motives to basic human needs for autonomy, competence and relatedness are discussed. Copyright 2000 Academic Press.

Incentives and intrinsic motivation in healthcare

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Mikel Berdud

2016-11-01

Conclusions: The conclusions could act as a guide to support the optimal design of incentive policies and schemes within health organisations when healthcare professionals are intrinsically motivated.

Perceived Motivational Climate as a Predictor of Intrinsic Motivation in Medical Students

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Saiideh Norouzi

2016-06-01

Full Text Available Introduction: Motivational climate is the situational structure of goals through which success or failure is judged in the social environment. This study aimed at examining the relationship between perceived motivational climate and intrinsic motivation of medical students. It was hypothesized that perceived mastery climate predicted medical students’ intrinsic motivation positively and perceived performance climate predicted it negatively. Methods: The design was a cross-sectional study. The Iranian version of two instruments for measuring intrinsic motivation and perceived motivational climate were completed by 232 medical students. In order to identify the predictability relationship between the research variables, structure equation modeling was adopted. Results: Investigations revealed that perceived mastery climate positively and meaningfully predicted medical students’ intrinsic motivation (0/85. Perceived performance climate negatively predicted medical students’ intrinsic motivation (-0/47. Conclusion: Building mastery climate in a learning environment promotes medicine students’ intrinsic motivation.

Small reactor operating mode

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Snell, V.G.

1997-01-01

There is a potential need for small reactors in the future for applications such as district heating, electricity production at remote sites, and desalination. Nuclear power can provide these at low cost and with insignificant pollution. The economies required by the small scale application, and/or the remote location, require a review of the size and location of the operating staff. Current concepts range all the way from reactors which are fully automatic, and need no local attention for days or weeks, to those with reduced local staff. In general the less dependent a reactor is on local human intervention, the greater its dependence on intrinsic safety features such as passive decay heat removal, low-stored energy and limited reactivity speed and depth in the control systems. A case study of the design and licensing of the SLOWPOKE Energy System heating reactor is presented. (author)

Development of integrated scenarios to assess future conditions of aquatic ecosystems under water scarcity in the Mediterranean - perspectives from the GLOBAQUA project

Science.gov (United States)

Huber-Garcia, Verena; Akinsete, Ebun; Gampe, David; Ker Rault, Philippe; Kok, Kasper; Koundouri, Phoebe; Luttik, Joke; Nikulin, Grigory; Pistocchi, Alberto; Souliotis, Ioannis; Ludwig, Ralf

2017-04-01

Water and water-related services are major components of the human wellbeing, and as such are major factors of socio-economic development; yet freshwater systems are under threat by a variety of stressors (organic and inorganic pollution, geomorphological alterations, land cover change, water abstraction, invasive species and pathogens). Water scarcity is most commonly associated with inappropriate water management and resulting river flow reductions. It has become one of the most important drivers of change in freshwater ecosystems. Conjoint occurrence of a myriad of stressors (chemical, geomorphological, biological) under water scarcity will produce novel and unfamiliar synergies and most likely very pronounced effects. Stressors are hierarchically arranged in terms of intensity, frequency and scale, and their effects can be predicted to be from transient to irreversible. Most ecosystems are simulta¬neously exposed to multiple-stress situations. Within the scope of the GLOBAQUA project the effects of multiple stressors on aquatic ecosystems in selected river basins across Europe with a focus on areas suffering from water scarcity are analyzed. In addition, management strategies are improved and adapted with the aim of inhibiting adverse effects on aquatic ecosystems and ensuring the supply with water for all purposes in the study areas also in the future. Policy relevant implications will be given to ensure a best possible status of these aquatic ecosystems also under future conditions. In this context, land use and land cover as well as the meteorological conditions can be seen as two main stressors for the quality and quantity of surface and subsurface water. These factors considerably affect the use and availability of water, especially in regions which already experience water scarcity. If the problem is not addressed correctly, negative effects on biodiversity, water supply as well as important economic consequences may arise. In Europe, many fresh water

Hydrocarbon Reserves: Abundance or Scarcity

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

NONE

2005-07-01

of reserves and resources (H. Le Leuch); Additional reserves: the role of new technologies - A global perspective on EORIOR (G. Fries); - Updating reservoir models with dynamic data and uncertainty quantification: an integrated approach (F. Roggero); Seismic technology for the OAPEC countries (P. Canal); Exploration knowledge and technologies: impact of progress - Statistical results (N. Alazard); Stratigraphic modelling as a key to find new potentialities in exploration (D. Granjeon); Modelling hydrocarbon migration as a tool for reserve estimation (J-L. Rudkiewicz); The contribution of surface and near surface geology to hydrocarbon discoveries (S.M. Kumati); Contribution of the exploration activity in renewing reserves - The case of Algeria (R. Lounissi); Egypt's petroleum hydrocarbon potential (H. Hataba); Future of hydrocarbon reserves in Syria (T. Hemsh); Natural gas, the fuel of choice for decades to com (M.F. Chabrelie); The role and importance of Arab natural gas in world market (M. Al-Lababidi); LNG and GTL: two pathways for natural gas utilization (C. Cameron); Yet to find hydrocarbon potential (S. Al Menhali); Libyan context of hydrocarbon reserves: abundance or scarcity? (M. Elazi)

Hydrocarbon Reserves: Abundance or Scarcity

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

2005-01-01

of reserves and resources (H. Le Leuch); Additional reserves: the role of new technologies - A global perspective on EORIOR (G. Fries); - Updating reservoir models with dynamic data and uncertainty quantification: an integrated approach (F. Roggero); Seismic technology for the OAPEC countries (P. Canal); Exploration knowledge and technologies: impact of progress - Statistical results (N. Alazard); Stratigraphic modelling as a key to find new potentialities in exploration (D. Granjeon); Modelling hydrocarbon migration as a tool for reserve estimation (J-L. Rudkiewicz); The contribution of surface and near surface geology to hydrocarbon discoveries (S.M. Kumati); Contribution of the exploration activity in renewing reserves - The case of Algeria (R. Lounissi); Egypt's petroleum hydrocarbon potential (H. Hataba); Future of hydrocarbon reserves in Syria (T. Hemsh); Natural gas, the fuel of choice for decades to com (M.F. Chabrelie); The role and importance of Arab natural gas in world market (M. Al-Lababidi); LNG and GTL: two pathways for natural gas utilization (C. Cameron); Yet to find hydrocarbon potential (S. Al Menhali); Libyan context of hydrocarbon reserves: abundance or scarcity? (M. Elazi)

Intrinsic motivation as a predictor of work outcome after vocational rehabilitation in schizophrenia.

Science.gov (United States)

Saperstein, Alice M; Fiszdon, Joanna M; Bell, Morris D

2011-09-01

Intrinsic motivation is a construct commonly used in explaining goal-directed behavior. In people with schizophrenia, intrinsic motivation is usually subsumed as a feature of negative symptoms or underlying neurocognitive dysfunction. A growing literature reflects an interest in defining and measuring motivational impairment in schizophrenia and in delineating the specific role of intrinsic motivation as both an independent predictor and a mediator of psychosocial functioning. This cross-sectional study examined intrinsic motivation as a predictor of vocational outcomes for 145 individuals with schizophrenia and schizoaffective disorder participating in a 6-month work rehabilitation trial. Correlation and mediation analyses examined baseline intrinsic motivation and negative symptoms in relation to work hours and work performance. Data support a significant relationship between intrinsic motivation and negative symptoms and significant correlations with outcome variables, such that lower negative symptoms and greater intrinsic motivation were associated with better work functioning. Moreover, in this sample, intrinsic motivation fully mediated the relationships between negative symptoms, work productivity, and work performance. These results have significant implications on the design of work rehabilitation interventions for people with schizophrenia and support a role for targeting intrinsic motivation directly to influence vocational functioning. Future directions for research and intervention are discussed.

Human phoneme recognition depending on speech-intrinsic variability.

Science.gov (United States)

Meyer, Bernd T; Jürgens, Tim; Wesker, Thorsten; Brand, Thomas; Kollmeier, Birger

2010-11-01

The influence of different sources of speech-intrinsic variation (speaking rate, effort, style and dialect or accent) on human speech perception was investigated. In listening experiments with 16 listeners, confusions of consonant-vowel-consonant (CVC) and vowel-consonant-vowel (VCV) sounds in speech-weighted noise were analyzed. Experiments were based on the OLLO logatome speech database, which was designed for a man-machine comparison. It contains utterances spoken by 50 speakers from five dialect/accent regions and covers several intrinsic variations. By comparing results depending on intrinsic and extrinsic variations (i.e., different levels of masking noise), the degradation induced by variabilities can be expressed in terms of the SNR. The spectral level distance between the respective speech segment and the long-term spectrum of the masking noise was found to be a good predictor for recognition rates, while phoneme confusions were influenced by the distance to spectrally close phonemes. An analysis based on transmitted information of articulatory features showed that voicing and manner of articulation are comparatively robust cues in the presence of intrinsic variations, whereas the coding of place is more degraded. The database and detailed results have been made available for comparisons between human speech recognition (HSR) and automatic speech recognizers (ASR).

Neocortical layers I and II of the hedgehog (Erinaceus europaeus). I. Intrinsic organization.

Science.gov (United States)

Valverde, F; Facal-Valverde, M V

1986-01-01

The intrinsic organization and interlaminar connections in neocortical layers I and II have been studied in adult hedgehogs (Erinaceus europaeus) using the Golgi method. Layer I contains a dense plexus of horizontal fibers, the terminal dendritic bouquets of pyramidal cells of layer II and of underlying layers, and varieties of intrinsic neurons. Four main types of cells were found in layer I. Small horizontal cells represent most probably persisting foetal horizontal cells described for other mammals. Large horizontal cells, tufted cells, and spinous horizontal cells were also found in this layer. Layer II contains primitive pyramidal cells representing the most outstanding feature of the neocortex of the hedgehog. Most pyramidal cells in layer II have two, three or more apical dendrites, richly covered by spines predominating over the basal dendrites. These cells resemble pyramidal cells found in the piriform cortex, hippocampus and other olfactory areas. It is suggested that the presence of these neurons reflects the retention of a primitive character in neocortical evolution. Cells with intrinsic axons were found among pyramidal cells in layer II. These have smooth dendrites penetrating layer I and local axons forming extremely complex terminal arborizations around the bodies and proximal dendritic portions of pyramidal cells. They most probably effect numerous axo-somatic contacts resembling basket cells. The similarity of some axonal terminals with the chandelier type of axonal arborization is discussed. Other varieties of cells located in deep cortical layers and having ascending axons for layers I and II were also studied. It is concluded that the two first neocortical layers represent a level of important integration in this primitive mammal.

Social categories as markers of intrinsic interpersonal obligations.

Science.gov (United States)

Rhodes, Marjorie; Chalik, Lisa

2013-06-01

Social categorization is an early-developing feature of human social cognition, yet the role that social categories play in children's understanding of and predictions about human behavior has been unclear. In the studies reported here, we tested whether a foundational functional role of social categories is to mark people as intrinsically obligated to one another (e.g., obligated to protect rather than harm). In three studies, children (aged 3-9, N = 124) viewed only within-category harm as violating intrinsic obligations; in contrast, they viewed between-category harm as violating extrinsic obligations defined by explicit rules. These data indicate that children view social categories as marking patterns of intrinsic interpersonal obligations, suggesting that a key function of social categories is to support inferences about how people will relate to members of their own and other groups.

Intrinsic and extrinsic motivation among adolescent ten-pin bowlers in kuala lumpur, malaysia.

Science.gov (United States)

Teo, Eng-Wah; Khoo, Selina; Wong, Rebecca; Wee, Eng-Hoe; Lim, Boon-Hooi; Rengasamy, Shabesan Sit

2015-03-29

Motivation has long been associated with sports engagement. However, to date no research has been performed to understand the domain of motivation among ten-pin bowlers. The purpose of this study was to investigate different types of motivation (i.e., intrinsic vs. extrinsic) based on self-determination theory from the perspective of gender and the bowler type (competitive vs. casual). A total of 240 bowlers (104 male, 136 female; 152 competitive, 88 casual) with a mean age of 16.61 ± 0.78 years were recruited in Kuala Lumpur. The Sport Motivation Scale, a 28-item self-report questionnaire measuring seven subscales (i.e., intrinsic motivation to know, intrinsic motivation to accomplish, intrinsic motivation to experience stimulation, extrinsic motivation to identify regulation, extrinsic motivation for introjection regulation, extrinsic motivation to external regulation, and amotivation) was administered. Results showed significant differences (t=10.43, df=239, p=0.01) between total scores of intrinsic and extrinsic motivation among ten-pin bowlers. There were significant gender differences with respect to intrinsic motivation to know, intrinsic motivation to accomplish, intrinsic motivation to experience stimulation, and extrinsic motivation to identify regulation. However, no significant bowler type differences were found for either the intrinsic (t=-1.15, df=238, p=0.25) or extrinsic (t=-0.51, df=238, p=0.61) motivation dimensions. In conclusion, our study demonstrated substantial intrinsic motivation for gender effects, but no bowler type effects among adolescent ten-pin bowlers.

Intrinsic and Extrinsic Motivation Among Adolescent Ten-Pin Bowlers in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Teo Eng-Wah

2015-03-01

Full Text Available Motivation has long been associated with sports engagement. However, to date no research has been performed to understand the domain of motivation among ten-pin bowlers. The purpose of this study was to investigate different types of motivation (i.e., intrinsic vs. extrinsic based on self-determination theory from the perspective of gender and the bowler type (competitive vs. casual. A total of 240 bowlers (104 male, 136 female; 152 competitive, 88 casual with a mean age of 16.61 ± 0.78 years were recruited in Kuala Lumpur. The Sport Motivation Scale, a 28-item self-report questionnaire measuring seven subscales (i.e., intrinsic motivation to know, intrinsic motivation to accomplish, intrinsic motivation to experience stimulation, extrinsic motivation to identify regulation, extrinsic motivation for introjection regulation, extrinsic motivation to external regulation, and amotivation was administered. Results showed significant differences (t=10.43, df=239, p=0.01 between total scores of intrinsic and extrinsic motivation among tenpin bowlers. There were significant gender differences with respect to intrinsic motivation to know, intrinsic motivation to accomplish, intrinsic motivation to experience stimulation, and extrinsic motivation to identify regulation. However, no significant bowler type differences were found for either the intrinsic (t=-1.15, df=238, p=0.25 or extrinsic (t=-0.51, df=238, p=0.61 motivation dimensions. In conclusion, our study demonstrated substantial intrinsic motivation for gender effects, but no bowler type effects among adolescent ten-pin bowlers.

Intrinsic and Extrinsic Motivation Among Adolescent Ten-Pin Bowlers in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia

Science.gov (United States)

Teo, Eng-Wah; Khoo, Selina; Wong, Rebecca; Wee, Eng-Hoe; Lim, Boon-Hooi; Rengasamy, Shabesan Sit

2015-01-01

Motivation has long been associated with sports engagement. However, to date no research has been performed to understand the domain of motivation among ten-pin bowlers. The purpose of this study was to investigate different types of motivation (i.e., intrinsic vs. extrinsic) based on self-determination theory from the perspective of gender and the bowler type (competitive vs. casual). A total of 240 bowlers (104 male, 136 female; 152 competitive, 88 casual) with a mean age of 16.61 ± 0.78 years were recruited in Kuala Lumpur. The Sport Motivation Scale, a 28-item self-report questionnaire measuring seven subscales (i.e., intrinsic motivation to know, intrinsic motivation to accomplish, intrinsic motivation to experience stimulation, extrinsic motivation to identify regulation, extrinsic motivation for introjection regulation, extrinsic motivation to external regulation, and amotivation) was administered. Results showed significant differences (t=10.43, df=239, p=0.01) between total scores of intrinsic and extrinsic motivation among ten-pin bowlers. There were significant gender differences with respect to intrinsic motivation to know, intrinsic motivation to accomplish, intrinsic motivation to experience stimulation, and extrinsic motivation to identify regulation. However, no significant bowler type differences were found for either the intrinsic (t=−1.15, df=238, p=0.25) or extrinsic (t=−0.51, df=238, p=0.61) motivation dimensions. In conclusion, our study demonstrated substantial intrinsic motivation for gender effects, but no bowler type effects among adolescent ten-pin bowlers. PMID:25964827

THE LIMITED EFFECT OF COINCIDENT ORIENTATION ON THE CHOICE OF INTRINSIC AXIS (.).

Science.gov (United States)

Li, Jing; Su, Wei

2015-06-01

The allocentric system computes and represents general object-to-object spatial relationships to provide a spatial frame of reference other than the egocentric system. The intrinsic frame-of-reference system theory, which suggests people learn the locations of objects based upon an intrinsic axis, is important in research about the allocentric system. The purpose of the current study was to determine whether the effect of coincident orientation on the choice of intrinsic axis was limited. Two groups of participants (24 men, 24 women; M age = 24 yr., SD = 2) encoded different spatial layouts in which the objects shared the coincident orientation of 315° and 225° separately at learning perspective (0°). The response pattern of partial-scene-recognition task following learning reflected different strategies for choosing the intrinsic axis under different conditions. Under the 315° object-orientation condition, the objects' coincident orientation was as important as the symmetric axis in the choice of the intrinsic axis. However, participants were more likely to choose the symmetric axis as the intrinsic axis under the 225° object-orientation condition. The results suggest the effect of coincident orientation on the choice of intrinsic axis is limited.

Evaluating whether nature's intrinsic value is an axiom of or anathema to conservation.

Science.gov (United States)

Vucetich, John A; Bruskotter, Jeremy T; Nelson, Michael Paul

2015-04-01

That at least some aspects of nature possess intrinsic value is considered by some an axiom of conservation. Others consider nature's intrinsic value superfluous or anathema. This range of views among mainstream conservation professionals potentially threatens the foundation of conservation. One challenge in resolving this disparity is that disparaging portrayals of nature's intrinsic value appear rooted in misconceptions and unfounded presumptions about what it means to acknowledge nature's intrinsic value. That acknowledgment has been characterized as vacuous, misanthropic, of little practical consequence to conservation, adequately accommodated by economic valuation, and not widely accepted in society. We reviewed the philosophical basis for nature's intrinsic value and the implications for acknowledging that value. Our analysis is rooted to the notion that when something possesses intrinsic value it deserves to be treated with respect for what it is, with concern for its welfare or in a just manner. From this basis, one can only conclude that nature's intrinsic value is not a vacuous concept or adequately accommodated by economic valuation. Acknowledging nature's intrinsic value is not misanthropic because concern for nature's welfare (aside from its influence on human welfare) does not in any way preclude also being concerned for human welfare. The practical import of acknowledging nature's intrinsic value rises from recognizing all the objects of conservation concern (e.g., many endangered species) that offer little benefit to human welfare. Sociological and cultural evidence indicates the belief that at least some elements of nature possess intrinsic value is widespread in society. Our reasoning suggests the appropriateness of rejecting the assertion that nature's intrinsic value is anathema to conservation and accepting its role as an axiom. © 2015 Society for Conservation Biology.

A hierarchy of intrinsic timescales across primate cortex.

Science.gov (United States)

Murray, John D; Bernacchia, Alberto; Freedman, David J; Romo, Ranulfo; Wallis, Jonathan D; Cai, Xinying; Padoa-Schioppa, Camillo; Pasternak, Tatiana; Seo, Hyojung; Lee, Daeyeol; Wang, Xiao-Jing

2014-12-01

Specialization and hierarchy are organizing principles for primate cortex, yet there is little direct evidence for how cortical areas are specialized in the temporal domain. We measured timescales of intrinsic fluctuations in spiking activity across areas and found a hierarchical ordering, with sensory and prefrontal areas exhibiting shorter and longer timescales, respectively. On the basis of our findings, we suggest that intrinsic timescales reflect areal specialization for task-relevant computations over multiple temporal ranges.

The intrinsic shape of bulges in the CALIFA survey

Science.gov (United States)

Costantin, L.; Méndez-Abreu, J.; Corsini, E. M.; Eliche-Moral, M. C.; Tapia, T.; Morelli, L.; Dalla Bontà, E.; Pizzella, A.

2018-02-01

Context. The intrinsic shape of galactic bulges in nearby galaxies provides crucial information to separate bulge types. Aims: We aim to derive accurate constraints to the intrinsic shape of bulges to provide new clues on their formation mechanisms and set new limitations for future simulations. Methods: We retrieved the intrinsic shape of a sample of CALIFA bulges using a statistical approach. Taking advantage of GalMer numerical simulations of binary mergers we estimated the reliability of the procedure. Analyzing the i-band mock images of resulting lenticular remnants, we studied the intrinsic shape of their bulges at different galaxy inclinations. Finally, we introduced a new (B/A, C/A) diagram to analyze possible correlations between the intrinsic shape and the properties of bulges. Results: We tested the method on simulated lenticular remnants, finding that for galaxies with inclinations of 25° ≤ θ ≤ 65° we can safely derive the intrinsic shape of their bulges. We found that our CALIFA bulges tend to be nearly oblate systems (66%), with a smaller fraction of prolate spheroids (19%), and triaxial ellipsoids (15%). The majority of triaxial bulges are in barred galaxies (75%). Moreover, we found that bulges with low Sérsic indices or in galaxies with low bulge-to-total luminosity ratios form a heterogeneous class of objects; additionally, bulges in late-type galaxies or in less massive galaxies have no preference for being oblate, prolate, or triaxial. On the contrary, bulges with high Sérsic index, in early-type galaxies, or in more massive galaxies are mostly oblate systems. Conclusions: We concluded that various evolutionary pathways may coexist in galaxies, with merging events and dissipative collapse being the main mechanisms driving the formation of the most massive oblate bulges and bar evolution reshaping the less massive triaxial bulges.

Intrinsic honesty and the prevalence of rule violations across societies.

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Gächter, Simon; Schulz, Jonathan F

2016-03-24

Deception is common in nature and humans are no exception. Modern societies have created institutions to control cheating, but many situations remain where only intrinsic honesty keeps people from cheating and violating rules. Psychological, sociological and economic theories suggest causal pathways to explain how the prevalence of rule violations in people's social environment, such as corruption, tax evasion or political fraud, can compromise individual intrinsic honesty. Here we present cross-societal experiments from 23 countries around the world that demonstrate a robust link between the prevalence of rule violations and intrinsic honesty. We developed an index of the 'prevalence of rule violations' (PRV) based on country-level data from the year 2003 of corruption, tax evasion and fraudulent politics. We measured intrinsic honesty in an anonymous die-rolling experiment. We conducted the experiments with 2,568 young participants (students) who, due to their young age in 2003, could not have influenced PRV in 2003. We find individual intrinsic honesty is stronger in the subject pools of low PRV countries than those of high PRV countries. The details of lying patterns support psychological theories of honesty. The results are consistent with theories of the cultural co-evolution of institutions and values, and show that weak institutions and cultural legacies that generate rule violations not only have direct adverse economic consequences, but might also impair individual intrinsic honesty that is crucial for the smooth functioning of society.

Intrinsic Turbulence Stabilization in a Stellarator

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P. Xanthopoulos

2016-06-01

Full Text Available The magnetic surfaces of modern stellarators are characterized by complex, carefully optimized shaping and exhibit locally compressed regions of strong turbulence drive. Massively parallel computer simulations of plasma turbulence reveal, however, that stellarators also possess two intrinsic mechanisms to mitigate the effect of this drive. In the regime where the length scale of the turbulence is very small compared to the equilibrium scale set by the variation of the magnetic field, the strongest fluctuations form narrow bandlike structures on the magnetic surfaces. Thanks to this localization, the average transport through the surface is significantly smaller than that predicted at locations of peak turbulence. This feature results in a numerically observed upshift of the onset of turbulence on the surface towards higher ion temperature gradients as compared with the prediction from the most unstable regions. In a second regime lacking scale separation, the localization is lost and the fluctuations spread out on the magnetic surface. Nonetheless, stabilization persists through the suppression of the large eddies (relative to the equilibrium scale, leading to a reduced stiffness for the heat flux dependence on the ion temperature gradient. These fundamental differences with tokamak turbulence are exemplified for the QUASAR stellarator [G. H. Neilson et al., IEEE Trans. Plasma Sci. 42, 489 (2014].

Neural Basis of Intrinsic Motivation: Evidence from Event-Related Potentials.

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Jin, Jia; Yu, Liping; Ma, Qingguo

2015-01-01

Human intrinsic motivation is of great importance in human behavior. However, although researchers have focused on this topic for decades, its neural basis was still unclear. The current study employed event-related potentials to investigate the neural disparity between an interesting stop-watch (SW) task and a boring watch-stop task (WS) to understand the neural mechanisms of intrinsic motivation. Our data showed that, in the cue priming stage, the cue of the SW task elicited smaller N2 amplitude than that of the WS task. Furthermore, in the outcome feedback stage, the outcome of the SW task induced smaller FRN amplitude and larger P300 amplitude than that of the WS task. These results suggested that human intrinsic motivation did exist and that it can be detected at the neural level. Furthermore, intrinsic motivation could be quantitatively indexed by the amplitude of ERP components, such as N2, FRN, and P300, in the cue priming stage or feedback stage. Quantitative measurements would also be convenient for intrinsic motivation to be added as a candidate social factor in the construction of a machine learning model.

Semisupervised Support Vector Machines With Tangent Space Intrinsic Manifold Regularization.

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Sun, Shiliang; Xie, Xijiong

2016-09-01

Semisupervised learning has been an active research topic in machine learning and data mining. One main reason is that labeling examples is expensive and time-consuming, while there are large numbers of unlabeled examples available in many practical problems. So far, Laplacian regularization has been widely used in semisupervised learning. In this paper, we propose a new regularization method called tangent space intrinsic manifold regularization. It is intrinsic to data manifold and favors linear functions on the manifold. Fundamental elements involved in the formulation of the regularization are local tangent space representations, which are estimated by local principal component analysis, and the connections that relate adjacent tangent spaces. Simultaneously, we explore its application to semisupervised classification and propose two new learning algorithms called tangent space intrinsic manifold regularized support vector machines (TiSVMs) and tangent space intrinsic manifold regularized twin SVMs (TiTSVMs). They effectively integrate the tangent space intrinsic manifold regularization consideration. The optimization of TiSVMs can be solved by a standard quadratic programming, while the optimization of TiTSVMs can be solved by a pair of standard quadratic programmings. The experimental results of semisupervised classification problems show the effectiveness of the proposed semisupervised learning algorithms.

Intrinsic rewards and work engagement in the South African retail industry

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Sara Jacobs

2014-11-01

Research purpose: The purpose of this research was to determine whether there is a relationship between intrinsic rewards and work engagement in the South African retail industry. Furthermore, it sought to validate an instrument to measure intrinsic rewards within the South African context. Motivation for the study: There is currently a paucity of research exploring intrinsic rewards, specifically their importance for work engagement. Furthermore, there is a lack of instruments validated in South Africa that can be used to measure intrinsic rewards. Research approach, design and method: This quantitative study was conducted using a cross-sectional design and non-probability sampling of 181 employees from a South African retail organisation. The questionnaire included a demographic section, the Utrecht Work Engagement Scale and the Work Engagement Profile. Main findings: Statistically significant, positive relationships were found between all subscales of the two instruments. There were significant differences in the means for intrinsic rewards and work engagement for gender and age. Notably, the exploratory factor analysis for both instruments did not support the factor structure indicated in the literature. Practical/managerial implications: South African retail organisations should create work environments that provide intrinsic rewards as part of their reward package, to encourage work engagement. Contribution/value-add: These findings add to the current body of literature regarding intrinsic rewards and work engagement and provide insight into variables that promote work engagement within the South African retail context.

Representing Spatial Layout According to Intrinsic Frames of Reference.

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Xie, Chaoxiang; Li, Shiyi; Tao, Weidong; Wei, Yiping; Sun, Hong-Jin

2017-01-01

Mou and McNamara have suggested that object locations are represented according to intrinsic reference frames. In three experiments, we investigated the limitations of intrinsic reference frames as a mean to represent object locations in spatial memory. Participants learned the locations of seven or eight common objects in a rectangular room and then made judgments of relative direction based on their memory of the layout. The results of all experiments showed that when all objects were positioned regularly, judgments of relative direction were faster or more accurate for novel headings that were aligned with the primary intrinsic structure than for other novel headings; however, when one irregularly positioned object was added to the layout, this advantage was eliminated. The experiments further indicated that with a single view at study, participants could represent the layout from either an egocentric orientation or a different orientation, according to experimental instructions. Together, these results suggest that environmental reference frames and intrinsic axes can influence performance for novel headings, but their role in spatial memory depends on egocentric experience, layout regularity, and instructions.

Binding of intrinsic and extrinsic features in working memory.

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Ecker, Ullrich K H; Maybery, Murray; Zimmer, Hubert D

2013-02-01

There is ongoing debate concerning the mechanisms of feature binding in working memory. In particular, there is controversy regarding the extent to which these binding processes are automatic. The present article demonstrates that binding mechanisms differ depending on whether the to-be-integrated features are perceived as forming a coherent object. We presented a series of experiments that investigated the binding of color and shape, whereby color was either an intrinsic feature of the shape or an extrinsic feature of the shape's background. Results show that intrinsic color affected shape recognition, even when it was incidentally studied and irrelevant for the recognition task. In contrast, extrinsic color did not affect shape recognition, even when the association of color and shape was encoded and retrievable on demand. This strongly suggests that binding of intrinsic intra-item information but not extrinsic contextual information is obligatory in visual working memory. We highlight links to perception as well as implicit and explicit long-term memory, which suggest that the intrinsic-extrinsic dimension is a principle relevant to multiple domains of human cognition. 2013 APA, all rights reserved

Intrinsic motivation, neurocognition and psychosocial functioning in schizophrenia: testing mediator and moderator effects.

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Nakagami, Eri; Xie, Bin; Hoe, Maanse; Brekke, John S

2008-10-01

This study examined the nature of the relationships among neurocognition, intrinsic motivation, and psychosocial functioning for persons with schizophrenia. Hypotheses concerning both mediator and moderator mechanisms were tested. 120 individuals diagnosed with schizophrenia were recruited as they entered outpatient psychosocial rehabilitation programs. Measures of psychosocial functioning and intrinsic motivation were administered at baseline. Measures of neurocognition were administered at baseline by testers blind to scores on other study variables. Data were analyzed using latent construct modeling to test for mediator and moderator effects. There were strong bivariate relationships between neurocognition, intrinsic motivation, and psychosocial functioning. The results demonstrated that intrinsic motivation strongly mediated the relationship between neurocognition and psychosocial functioning. This mediation was evidenced by: (i) the direct path from neurocognition to functional outcome no longer being statistically significant after the introduction of motivation into the model, (ii) the statistical significance of the indirect path from neurocognition through motivation to functional outcome. There was no support for the two moderation hypotheses: the level of neurocognition did not influence the relationship between intrinsic motivation and psychosocial functioning, nor did the level of intrinsic motivation influence the relationship between neurocognition and psychosocial functioning. Neurocognition influences psychosocial functioning through its relationship with intrinsic motivation. Intrinsic motivation is a critical mechanism for explaining the relationship between neurocognition and psychosocial functioning. Implications for the theoretical understanding and psychosocial treatment of intrinsic motivation in schizophrenia are discussed.

On intrinsic and extrinsic origin of plasmon peaks

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Takayama, Shoichi; Kawai, Jun

2008-01-01

The origin of the plasmon loss peaks in X-ray photoelectron spectra are discussed based on the (1) intrinsic, (2) extrinsic, (3) quantum interference between (1) and (2), and (4) mixture of (1) and (2). It was believed that the major part of plasmon was due to the extrinsic, the present analysis concludes the major part is intrinsic, depending the excitation energy. This analysis is based on the electron reflection spectra, but valid for X-ray photoelectron spectra. (author)

Determination of Viscosity-Average Molecular Weight of Chitosan using Intrinsic Viscosity Measurement

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Norzita Yacob; Norhashidah Talip; Maznah Mahmud

2011-01-01

Molecular weight of chitosan can be determined by different techniques such as Gel Permeation Chromatography (GPC), Static Light Scattering (SLS) and intrinsic viscosity measurement. Determination of molecular weight by intrinsic viscosity measurement is a simple method for characterization of chitosan. Different concentrations of chitosan were prepared and measurement was done at room temperature. The flow time data was used to calculate the intrinsic viscosity by extrapolating the reduced viscosity to zero concentration. The value of intrinsic viscosity was then recalculated into the viscosity-average molecular weight using Mark-Houwink equation. (author)

Ecological Divergence and the Origins of Intrinsic Postmating Isolation with Gene Flow

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Aneil F. Agrawal

2011-01-01

Full Text Available The evolution of intrinsic postmating isolation has received much attention, both historically and in recent studies of speciation genes. Intrinsic isolation often stems from between-locus genetic incompatibilities, where alleles that function well within species are incompatible with one another when brought together in the genome of a hybrid. It can be difficult for such incompatibilities to originate when populations diverge with gene flow, because deleterious genotypic combinations will be created and then purged by selection. However, it has been argued that if genes underlying incompatibilities are themselves subject to divergent selection, then they might overcome gene flow to diverge between populations, resulting in the origin of incompatibilities. Nonetheless, there has been little explicit mathematical exploration of such scenarios for the origin of intrinsic incompatibilities during ecological speciation with gene flow. Here we explore theoretical models for the origin of intrinsic isolation where genes subject to divergent natural selection also affect intrinsic isolation, either directly or via linkage disequilibrium with other loci. Such genes indeed overcome gene flow, diverge between populations, and thus result in the evolution of intrinsic isolation. We also examine barriers to neutral gene flow. Surprisingly, we find that intrinsic isolation sometimes weakens this barrier, by impeding differentiation via ecologically based divergent selection.

Technique of radiotherapeutic treatment of breast cancer with scarcity means

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Velazquez M, S.; Carrera M, F.; Bayo L, E.; Gutierrez B, L.; Gomez-Millan B, J.

1998-01-01

The objective of this work is to show the particularities in the treatment simulation localization, in the volume selection and in the main planning strategies motive by our scarcity means during the first year of performance. It was utilized a computerized tomograph, an X-ray equipment with tele commanded table. Also it was utilized a radio opaque lattice of marked center and knowing space and also a magnetic pointer for indicating 80 cm length between focus-skin. Putting the patient on an inclined plane of self design and manufacture, it was realized three cuts at different levels over what are limited the clinical target volume (CTV) and it is optimized the isocenter through its determined localization by equations. It was employed equations for the radiobiological prediction about fibrosis and dermatitis. It was utilized another techniques or procedures for planning such as personnel wedges or the dose equilibrium in three points of the breast. It was evaluated toxicities (EORTC-RTOG). The results were as follow: Acute dermatitis (grade 1: 23 %; grade 2: 59 %; grade 3: 18 %). Acute pneumonitis (grade 1: 4.3 %); acute pharyngitis (grade 1: 11 %; grade 2: 3.7 %. In conservator treatment of breast it was obtained excellent aesthetic results in 15 %; good 72 %; moderate 11 %; and bad 3 %. The good aesthetic results by the combined use of the optimization techniques in clinical dosimetry, personnel wedges, isocenter therapy and computerized planning in the radiotherapeutic treatment of the breast cancer. (Author)

Potable water scarcity: options and issues in the coastal areas of Bangladesh.

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Islam, Atikul; Sakakibara, Hiroyuki; Karim, Rezaul; Sekine, Masahiko

2013-09-01

In the coastal areas of Bangladesh, scarcity of drinking water is acute as freshwater aquifers are not available at suitable depths and surface water is highly saline. Households are mainly dependent on rainwater harvesting, pond sand filters and pond water for drinking purposes. Thus, individuals in these areas often suffer from waterborne diseases. In this paper, water consumption behaviour in two southwestern coastal districts of Bangladesh has been investigated. The data for this study were collected through a survey conducted on 750 rural households in 39 villages of the study area. The sample was selected using a random sampling technique. Households' choice of water source is complex and seasonally dependent. Water sourcing patterns, households' preference of water sourcing options and economic feasibility of options suggest that a combination of household and community-based options could be suitable for year-round water supply. Distance and time required for water collection were found to be difficult for water collection from community-based options. Both household and community-based options need regular maintenance. In addition to installation of water supply facilities, it is necessary to make the residents aware of proper operation and maintenance of the facilities.

The Role of Intrinsic Motivations in Attention Allocation and Shifting

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Dario edi Nocera

2014-04-01

Full Text Available The concepts of attention and intrinsic motivations are of great interest within adaptive robotic systems, and can be exploited in order to guide, activate, and coordinate multiple concurrent behaviors. Attention allocation strategies represent key capabilities of human beings, which are strictly connected with action selection and execution mechanisms, while intrinsic motivations directly affect the allocation of attentional resources. In this paper we propose a model of Reinforcement Learning (RL, where both these capabilities are involved. RL is deployed to learn how to allocate attentional resources in a behavior-based robotic system, while action selection is obtained as a side effect of the resulting motivated attentional behaviors. Moreover, the influence of intrinsic motivations in attention orientation is obtained by introducing rewards associated with curiosity drives. In this way, the learning process is affected not only by goal-specific rewards, but also by intrinsic motivations.

Intrinsic Motivation in Physical Education

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Davies, Benjamin; Nambiar, Nathan; Hemphill, Caroline; Devietti, Elizabeth; Massengale, Alexandra; McCredie, Patrick

2015-01-01

This article describes ways in which educators can use Harter's perceived competence motivation theory, the achievement goal theory, and self-determination theory to develop students' intrinsic motivation to maintain physical fitness, as demonstrated by the Sound Body Sound Mind curriculum and proven effective by the 2013 University of…

Intrinsic disorder here, there, and everywhere, and nowhere to escape from it.

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Uversky, Vladimir N

2017-09-01

The concept of protein intrinsic disorder persistently penetrates into all areas of modern protein science. It cannot be ignored anymore, and cannot be shrugged off, as it represents a vital feature (or, more correctly, a broad spectrum of important features), which, when added to and mixed with features arising from the well established protein structure-function paradigm, complete the picture of a functioning protein. The field of protein intrinsic disorder is very dynamic and fast developing. This Multi-Author Review represents a snapshot of this field by introducing some recent advances. Articles assembled in this Multi-Author Review introduce some of the new aspects of intrinsic disorder, outline some fascinating ideas related to the intrinsically disordered proteins, their structure, and functionality, and show challenges related to the analysis of proteins carrying intrinsic disorder.

Recollection and unitization in associating actors with extrinsic and intrinsic motions.

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Kersten, Alan W; Earles, Julie L; Berger, Johanna D

2015-04-01

Four experiments provide evidence for a distinction between 2 different kinds of motion representations. Extrinsic motions involve the path of an object with respect to an external frame of reference. Intrinsic motions involve the relative motions of the parts of an object. This research suggests that intrinsic motions are represented conjointly with information about the identities of the actors who perform them, whereas extrinsic motions are represented separately from identity information. Experiment 1 demonstrated that participants remembered which actor had performed a particular intrinsic motion better than they remembered which actor had performed a particular extrinsic motion. Experiment 2 replicated this effect with incidental encoding of actor information, suggesting that encoding intrinsic motions leads one to automatically encode identity information. The results of Experiments 3 and 4 were fit by Yonelinas's (1999) source-memory model to quantify the contributions of familiarity and recollection to memory for the actors who carried out the intrinsic and extrinsic motions. Successful performance with extrinsic motion items in Experiment 3 required participants to remember in which scene contexts an actor had appeared, whereas successful performance in Experiment 4 required participants to remember the exact path taken by an actor in each scene. In both experiments, discrimination of old and new combinations of actors and extrinsic motions relied strongly on recollection, suggesting independent but associated representations of actors and extrinsic motions. In contrast, participants discriminated old and new combinations of actors and intrinsic motions primarily on the basis of familiarity, suggesting unitized representations of actors and intrinsic motions. (c) 2015 APA, all rights reserved).

Small bowel volvulus with jejunal diverticulum: Primary or secondary?

Science.gov (United States)

Shen, Xiao-Fei; Guan, Wen-Xian; Cao, Ke; Wang, Hao; Du, Jun-Feng

2015-09-28

Small bowel volvulus, which is torsion of the small bowel and its mesentery, is a medical emergency, and is categorized as primary or secondary type. Primary type often occurs without any apparent intrinsic anatomical anomalies, while the secondary type is common clinically and could be caused by numerous factors including postoperative adhesions, intestinal diverticulum, and/or tumors. Here, we report a rare case of a 60-year-old man diagnosed with small bowel volvulus using multidetector computed tomography (MDCT) angiography. Further discovery by laparotomy showed one jejunal diverticulum, longer corresponding mesentery with a narrower insertion, and a lack of mesenteric fat. This case report includes several etiological factors of small bowel volvulus, and we discuss the possible cause of small bowel volvulus in this patient. We also highlight the importance of MDCT angiography in the diagnosis of volvulus and share our experience in treating this disease.

Cell Type-specific Intrinsic Perithreshold Oscillations in Hippocampal GABAergic Interneurons.

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Kang, Young-Jin; Lewis, Hannah Elisabeth Smashey; Young, Mason William; Govindaiah, Gubbi; Greenfield, Lazar John; Garcia-Rill, Edgar; Lee, Sang-Hun

2018-04-15

The hippocampus plays a critical role in learning, memory, and spatial processing through coordinated network activity including theta and gamma oscillations. Recent evidence suggests that hippocampal subregions (e.g., CA1) can generate these oscillations at the network level, at least in part, through GABAergic interneurons. However, it is unclear whether specific GABAergic interneurons generate intrinsic theta and/or gamma oscillations at the single-cell level. Since major types of CA1 interneurons (i.e., parvalbumin-positive basket cells (PVBCs), cannabinoid type 1 receptor-positive basket cells (CB 1 BCs), Schaffer collateral-associated cells (SCAs), neurogliaform cells and ivy cells) are thought to play key roles in network theta and gamma oscillations in the hippocampus, we tested the hypothesis that these cells generate intrinsic perithreshold oscillations at the single-cell level. We performed whole-cell patch-clamp recordings from GABAergic interneurons in the CA1 region of the mouse hippocampus in the presence of synaptic blockers to identify intrinsic perithreshold membrane potential oscillations. The majority of PVBCs (83%), but not the other interneuron subtypes, produced intrinsic perithreshold gamma oscillations if the membrane potential remained above -45 mV. In contrast, CB 1 BCs, SCAs, neurogliaform cells, ivy cells, and the remaining PVBCs (17%) produced intrinsic theta, but not gamma, oscillations. These oscillations were prevented by blockers of persistent sodium current. These data demonstrate that the major types of hippocampal interneurons produce distinct frequency bands of intrinsic perithreshold membrane oscillations. Copyright © 2018 IBRO. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Learning to learn - intrinsic plasticity as a metaplasticity mechanism for memory formation.

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Sehgal, Megha; Song, Chenghui; Ehlers, Vanessa L; Moyer, James R

2013-10-01

"Use it or lose it" is a popular adage often associated with use-dependent enhancement of cognitive abilities. Much research has focused on understanding exactly how the brain changes as a function of experience. Such experience-dependent plasticity involves both structural and functional alterations that contribute to adaptive behaviors, such as learning and memory, as well as maladaptive behaviors, including anxiety disorders, phobias, and posttraumatic stress disorder. With the advancing age of our population, understanding how use-dependent plasticity changes across the lifespan may also help to promote healthy brain aging. A common misconception is that such experience-dependent plasticity (e.g., associative learning) is synonymous with synaptic plasticity. Other forms of plasticity also play a critical role in shaping adaptive changes within the nervous system, including intrinsic plasticity - a change in the intrinsic excitability of a neuron. Intrinsic plasticity can result from a change in the number, distribution or activity of various ion channels located throughout the neuron. Here, we review evidence that intrinsic plasticity is an important and evolutionarily conserved neural correlate of learning. Intrinsic plasticity acts as a metaplasticity mechanism by lowering the threshold for synaptic changes. Thus, learning-related intrinsic changes can facilitate future synaptic plasticity and learning. Such intrinsic changes can impact the allocation of a memory trace within a brain structure, and when compromised, can contribute to cognitive decline during the aging process. This unique role of intrinsic excitability can provide insight into how memories are formed and, more interestingly, how neurons that participate in a memory trace are selected. Most importantly, modulation of intrinsic excitability can allow for regulation of learning ability - this can prevent or provide treatment for cognitive decline not only in patients with clinical disorders but

Revealing the functional neuroanatomy of intrinsic alertness using fMRI: methodological peculiarities.

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Clemens, Benjamin; Zvyagintsev, Mikhail; Sack, Alexander T; Sack, Alexander; Heinecke, Armin; Willmes, Klaus; Sturm, Walter

2011-01-01

Clinical observations and neuroimaging data revealed a right-hemisphere fronto-parietal-thalamic-brainstem network for intrinsic alertness, and additional left fronto-parietal activity during phasic alertness. The primary objective of this fMRI study was to map the functional neuroanatomy of intrinsic alertness as precisely as possible in healthy participants, using a novel assessment paradigm already employed in clinical settings. Both the paradigm and the experimental design were optimized to specifically assess intrinsic alertness, while at the same time controlling for sensory-motor processing. The present results suggest that the processing of intrinsic alertness is accompanied by increased activity within the brainstem, thalamus, anterior cingulate gyrus, right insula, and right parietal cortex. Additionally, we found increased activation in the left hemisphere around the middle frontal gyrus (BA 9), the insula, the supplementary motor area, and the cerebellum. Our results further suggest that rather minute aspects of the experimental design may induce aspects of phasic alertness, which in turn might lead to additional brain activation in left-frontal areas not normally involved in intrinsic alertness. Accordingly, left BA 9 activation may be related to co-activation of the phasic alertness network due to the switch between rest and task conditions functioning as an external warning cue triggering the phasic alertness network. Furthermore, activation of the intrinsic alertness network during fixation blocks due to enhanced expectancy shortly before the switch to the task block might, when subtracted from the task block, lead to diminished activation in the typical right hemisphere intrinsic alertness network. Thus, we cautiously suggest that--as a methodological artifact--left frontal activations might show up due to phasic alertness involvement and intrinsic alertness activations might be weakened due to contrasting with fixation blocks, when assessing the

Extrinsic and intrinsic motivation at 30: Unresolved scientific issues.

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Reiss, Steven

2005-01-01

The undermining effect of extrinsic reward on intrinsic motivation remains unproven. The key unresolved issues are construct invalidity (all four definitions are unproved and two are illogical); measurement unreliability (the free-choice measure requires unreliable, subjective judgments to infer intrinsic motivation); inadequate experimental controls (negative affect and novelty, not cognitive evaluation, may explain "undermining" effects); and biased metareviews (studies with possible floor effects excluded, but those with possible ceiling effects included). Perhaps the greatest error with the undermining theory, however, is that it does not adequately recognize the multifaceted nature of intrinsic motivation (Reiss, 2004a). Advice to limit the use of applied behavior analysis based on "hidden" undermining effects is ideologically inspired and is unsupported by credible scientific evidence.

Small intrinsically safe reactor implications

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Wakabayashi, Hiroaki

1985-01-01

Reviewing the history of nuclear power, it is found that peaceful uses of nuclear power are children of the war-like atom. Importance of special growth in a shielded environment is emphasized to exploit fully the advantages of nuclear power. Nuclear power reactors must be safe for their assimilation into society from the points of view of both technology and social psychology. ISR/ISER is identified as a missing link in the development of nuclear power reactors from this perspective and advocated for international development and utilization, being unleashed from the concerns of politicization, safety, and proliferation

Cosmological information in the intrinsic alignments of luminous red galaxies

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Chisari, Nora Elisa [Department of Astrophysical Sciences, Princeton University, 4 Ivy Lane, Princeton, NJ 08544 (United States); Dvorkin, Cora, E-mail: nchisari@astro.princeton.edu, E-mail: cdvorkin@ias.edu [Institute for Advanced Study, School of Natural Sciences, Einstein Drive, Princeton, NJ 08540 (United States)

2013-12-01

The intrinsic alignments of galaxies are usually regarded as a contaminant to weak gravitational lensing observables. The alignment of Luminous Red Galaxies, detected unambiguously in observations from the Sloan Digital Sky Survey, can be reproduced by the linear tidal alignment model of Catelan, Kamionkowski and Blandford (2001) on large scales. In this work, we explore the cosmological information encoded in the intrinsic alignments of red galaxies. We make forecasts for the ability of current and future spectroscopic surveys to constrain local primordial non-Gaussianity and Baryon Acoustic Oscillations (BAO) in the cross-correlation function of intrinsic alignments and the galaxy density field. For the Baryon Oscillation Spectroscopic Survey, we find that the BAO signal in the intrinsic alignments is marginally significant with a signal-to-noise ratio of 1.8 and 2.2 with the current LOWZ and CMASS samples of galaxies, respectively, and increasing to 2.3 and 2.7 once the survey is completed. For the Dark Energy Spectroscopic Instrument and for a spectroscopic survey following the EUCLID redshift selection function, we find signal-to-noise ratios of 12 and 15, respectively. Local type primordial non-Gaussianity, parametrized by f{sub NL} = 10, is only marginally significant in the intrinsic alignments signal with signal-to-noise ratios < 2 for the three surveys considered.

Intrinsic motivation and amotivation in first episode and prolonged psychosis.

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Luther, Lauren; Lysaker, Paul H; Firmin, Ruth L; Breier, Alan; Vohs, Jenifer L

2015-12-01

The deleterious functional implications of motivation deficits in psychosis have generated interest in examining dimensions of the construct. However, there remains a paucity of data regarding whether dimensions of motivation differ over the course of psychosis. Therefore, this study examined two motivation dimensions, trait-like intrinsic motivation, and the negative symptom of amotivation, and tested the impact of illness phase on the 1) levels of these dimensions and 2) relationship between these dimensions. Participants with first episode psychosis (FEP; n=40) and prolonged psychosis (n=66) completed clinician-rated measures of intrinsic motivation and amotivation. Analyses revealed that when controlling for group differences in gender and education, the FEP group had significantly more intrinsic motivation and lower amotivation than the prolonged psychosis group. Moreover, intrinsic motivation was negatively correlated with amotivation in both FEP and prolonged psychosis, but the magnitude of the relationship did not statistically differ between groups. These findings suggest that motivation deficits are more severe later in the course of psychosis and that low intrinsic motivation may be partially independent of amotivation in both first episode and prolonged psychosis. Clinically, these results highlight the importance of targeting motivation in early intervention services. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

The effect of homework choices on achievement and intrinsic motivation

Science.gov (United States)

Christensen, Emily Fast

The purpose of this research was to test an intervention of choices in homework on the achievement and intrinsic motivation of seventh-grade science students at a middle school. The intervention was based on concepts from the cognitive evaluation theory of Edward L. Deci and Richard M. Ryan (1985). The subjects were sixteen heterogeneous classes of seventh-grade students, who were divided among four teachers. Two randomly chosen classes from each teacher received choices in their homework and the remaining two classes of each teacher received similar homework assignments without choices. Two hypotheses were developed for this study: (1) Seventh-grade science students given choices in their homework would show an increase in intrinsic motivation as measured on a motivation orientation measure, compared to students not given choices in their homework, and (2) Seventh-grade science students given choices in their homework would show an increase in achievement on an achievement measure, compared to students not given choices in their homework. Having choices in homework did not increase intrinsic motivation or achievement. However, students who did their homework did significantly better on the posttest, and students who were more intrinsically motivated did significantly better on the posttest. Just doing the homework was important for achievement, and intrinsic motivation was linked to achievement.

Quarterly intrinsic disorder digest (January-February-March, 2014)

OpenAIRE

DeForte, Shelly; Reddy, Krishna D.; Uversky, Vladimir N.

2016-01-01

This is the 5th issue of the Digested Disorder series that represents a reader's digest of the scientific literature on intrinsically disordered proteins. We continue to use only 2 criteria for inclusion of a paper to this digest: The publication date (a paper should be published within the covered time frame) and the topic (a paper should be dedicated to any aspect of protein intrinsic disorder). The current digest issue covers papers published during the first quarter of 2014; i.e., during ...

An unusual class of anthracyclines potentiate Gram-positive antibiotics in intrinsically resistant Gram-negative bacteria

Science.gov (United States)

Cox, Georgina; Koteva, Kalinka; Wright, Gerard D.

2014-01-01

Objectives An orthogonal approach taken towards novel antibacterial drug discovery involves the identification of small molecules that potentiate or enhance the activity of existing antibacterial agents. This study aimed to identify natural-product rifampicin adjuvants in the intrinsically resistant organism Escherichia coli. Methods E. coli BW25113 was screened against 1120 actinomycete fermentation extracts in the presence of subinhibitory (2 mg/L) concentrations of rifampicin. The active molecule exhibiting the greatest rifampicin potentiation was isolated using activity-guided methods and identified using mass and NMR spectroscopy. Susceptibility testing and biochemical assays were used to determine the mechanism of antibiotic potentiation. Results The anthracycline Antibiotic 301A1 was isolated from the fermentation broth of a strain of Streptomyces (WAC450); the molecule was shown to be highly synergistic with rifampicin (fractional inhibitory concentration index = 0.156) and moderately synergistic with linezolid (FIC index = 0.25) in both E. coli and Acinetobacter baumannii. Activity was associated with inhibition of efflux and the synergistic phenotype was lost when tested against E. coli harbouring mutations within the rpoB gene. Structure–activity relationship studies revealed that other anthracyclines do not synergize with rifampicin and removal of the sugar moiety of Antibiotic 301A1 abolishes activity. Conclusions Screening only a subsection of our natural product library identified a small-molecule antibiotic adjuvant capable of sensitizing Gram-negative bacteria to antibiotics to which they are ordinarily intrinsically resistant. This result demonstrates the great potential of this approach in expanding antibiotic effectiveness in the face of the growing challenge of resistance in Gram-negatives. PMID:24627312

Not All Ideals are Equal: Intrinsic and Extrinsic Ideals in Relationships.

Science.gov (United States)

Rodriguez, Lindsey M; Hadden, Benjamin W; Knee, C Raymond

2015-03-01

The ideal standards model suggests that greater consistency between ideal standards and actual perceptions of one's relationship predicts positive relationship evaluations; however, no research has evaluated whether this differs across types of ideals. A self-determination theory perspective was derived to test whether satisfaction of intrinsic ideals buffers the importance of extrinsic ideals. Participants (N=195) in committed relationships directly and indirectly reported the extent to which their partner met their ideal on two dimensions: intrinsic (e.g., warm, intimate) and extrinsic (e.g., attractive, successful). Relationship need fulfillment and relationship quality were also assessed. Hypotheses were largely supported, such that satisfaction of intrinsic ideals more strongly predicted relationship functioning, and satisfaction of intrinsic ideals buffered the relevance of extrinsic ideals for outcomes.

Hydrocarbon Reserves: Abundance or Scarcity

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

NONE

2005-07-01

impact on the growth of reserves and resources (H. Le Leuch); Additional reserves: the role of new technologies - A global perspective on EORIOR (G. Fries); - Updating reservoir models with dynamic data and uncertainty quantification: an integrated approach (F. Roggero); Seismic technology for the OAPEC countries (P. Canal); Exploration knowledge and technologies: impact of progress - Statistical results (N. Alazard); Stratigraphic modelling as a key to find new potentialities in exploration (D. Granjeon); Modelling hydrocarbon migration as a tool for reserve estimation (J-L. Rudkiewicz); The contribution of surface and near surface geology to hydrocarbon discoveries (S.M. Kumati); Contribution of the exploration activity in renewing reserves - The case of Algeria (R. Lounissi); Egypt's petroleum hydrocarbon potential (H. Hataba); Future of hydrocarbon reserves in Syria (T. Hemsh); Natural gas, the fuel of choice for decades to com (M.F. Chabrelie); The role and importance of Arab natural gas in world market (M. Al-Lababidi); LNG and GTL: two pathways for natural gas utilization (C. Cameron); Yet to find hydrocarbon potential (S. Al Menhali); Libyan context of hydrocarbon reserves: abundance or scarcity? (M. Elazi)

Intrinsic and extrinsic effects on image memorability.

Science.gov (United States)

Bylinskii, Zoya; Isola, Phillip; Bainbridge, Constance; Torralba, Antonio; Oliva, Aude

2015-11-01

Previous studies have identified that images carry the attribute of memorability, a predictive value of whether a novel image will be later remembered or forgotten. Here we investigate the interplay between intrinsic and extrinsic factors that affect image memorability. First, we find that intrinsic differences in memorability exist at a finer-grained scale than previously documented. Second, we test two extrinsic factors: image context and observer behavior. Building on prior findings that images that are distinct with respect to their context are better remembered, we propose an information-theoretic model of image distinctiveness. Our model can automatically predict how changes in context change the memorability of natural images. In addition to context, we study a second extrinsic factor: where an observer looks while memorizing an image. It turns out that eye movements provide additional information that can predict whether or not an image will be remembered, on a trial-by-trial basis. Together, by considering both intrinsic and extrinsic effects on memorability, we arrive at a more complete and fine-grained model of image memorability than previously available. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Definition and discussion of the intrinsic efficiency of winglets

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Dieter SCHOLZ

2018-03-01

Full Text Available Three simple equations are derived to define the “Intrinsic Aerodynamic Efficiency of Winglets” independent of the horizontal extension of the winglet and independent of the winglet’s (relative height. This Intrinsic Aerodynamic Efficiency allows a quick comparison of purely the aerodynamic shape of winglets independent of the selected size chosen for a certain aircraft installation. The Intrinsic Aerodynamic Efficiency is calculated in 3 steps: STEP 1: The relative total drag reduction due to the winglet is converted into an assumed contribution of the winglet only on the span efficiency factor. STEP 2: If the winglet also increases span, its performance is converted into one without the effect of span increase. STEP 3: The winglet’s reduction in induced drag is compared to a horizontal wing extension. If the winglet needs e.g. to be three times longer than the horizontal extension to achieve the same induced drag reduction, its Intrinsic Aerodynamic Efficiency is the inverse or 1/3. Winglet metrics as defined are calculated from literature inputs. In order to evaluate winglets further, the mass increase due to winglets is estimated in addition to the reduction of drag on aircraft level and fuel burn.

A prototype empirical framework of intrinsic and extrinsic EERQI indicators

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Mooij, Ton

2012-01-01

The research question is: What do statistical analyses show us about the relationships between intrinsic and extrinsic indicators of quality and what does this mean when constructing a prototype EERQI framework? The pilot study involved the scoring on both intrinsic and extrinsic indica-tors for 177

The Relations of Mothers' Controlling Vocalizations to Children's Intrinsic Motivation.

Science.gov (United States)

Deci, Edward L.; And Others

1993-01-01

Coded maternal vocalizations during videotaped play sessions of mothers and their six- or seven-year-old children. Children's intrinsic motivation was assessed by observing children's play when they were alone in a room. Found a negative relationship between maternal controlling vocalizations and children's intrinsic motivation. (MM)

Digested disorder: Quarterly intrinsic disorder digest (January/February/March, 2013).

Science.gov (United States)

Uversky, Vladimir N

2013-01-01

The current literature on intrinsically disordered proteins is blooming. A simple PubMed search for "intrinsically disordered protein OR natively unfolded protein" returns about 1,800 hits (as of June 17, 2013), with many papers published quite recently. To keep interested readers up to speed with this literature, we are starting a "Digested Disorder" project, which will encompass a series of reader's digest type of publications aiming at the objective representation of the research papers and reviews on intrinsically disordered proteins. The only two criteria for inclusion in this digest are the publication date (a paper should be published within the covered time frame) and topic (a paper should be dedicated to any aspect of protein intrinsic disorder). The current digest covers papers published during the period of January, February and March of 2013. The papers are grouped hierarchically by topics they cover, and for each of the included paper a short description is given on its major findings.

Functional Advantages of Conserved Intrinsic Disorder in RNA-Binding Proteins.

Science.gov (United States)

Varadi, Mihaly; Zsolyomi, Fruzsina; Guharoy, Mainak; Tompa, Peter

2015-01-01

Proteins form large macromolecular assemblies with RNA that govern essential molecular processes. RNA-binding proteins have often been associated with conformational flexibility, yet the extent and functional implications of their intrinsic disorder have never been fully assessed. Here, through large-scale analysis of comprehensive protein sequence and structure datasets we demonstrate the prevalence of intrinsic structural disorder in RNA-binding proteins and domains. We addressed their functionality through a quantitative description of the evolutionary conservation of disordered segments involved in binding, and investigated the structural implications of flexibility in terms of conformational stability and interface formation. We conclude that the functional role of intrinsically disordered protein segments in RNA-binding is two-fold: first, these regions establish extended, conserved electrostatic interfaces with RNAs via induced fit. Second, conformational flexibility enables them to target different RNA partners, providing multi-functionality, while also ensuring specificity. These findings emphasize the functional importance of intrinsically disordered regions in RNA-binding proteins.

Functional Advantages of Conserved Intrinsic Disorder in RNA-Binding Proteins.

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Mihaly Varadi

Full Text Available Proteins form large macromolecular assemblies with RNA that govern essential molecular processes. RNA-binding proteins have often been associated with conformational flexibility, yet the extent and functional implications of their intrinsic disorder have never been fully assessed. Here, through large-scale analysis of comprehensive protein sequence and structure datasets we demonstrate the prevalence of intrinsic structural disorder in RNA-binding proteins and domains. We addressed their functionality through a quantitative description of the evolutionary conservation of disordered segments involved in binding, and investigated the structural implications of flexibility in terms of conformational stability and interface formation. We conclude that the functional role of intrinsically disordered protein segments in RNA-binding is two-fold: first, these regions establish extended, conserved electrostatic interfaces with RNAs via induced fit. Second, conformational flexibility enables them to target different RNA partners, providing multi-functionality, while also ensuring specificity. These findings emphasize the functional importance of intrinsically disordered regions in RNA-binding proteins.

A comparison of South African and German extrinsic and intrinsic motivation

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Robin Snelgar

2017-04-01

Aim: The main objective of this study was to investigate similarities and differences concerning extrinsic and intrinsic motivation in the workplace between German and South African cultures by examining individuals with working experience and tertiary education specifically. In addition, the research investigated differences in the motivation of respondents with regard to demographics such as gender, age and income. Setting: The setting took place in South Africa and Germany. Methods: In the study, exploratory factor analysis was utilised to prove validity of Cinar, Bektas and Aslan’s two-dimensional measure of extrinsic and intrinsic motivation. Moreover, analysis of variance and t-tests were used to show differences among demographic variables. Descriptive statistics such as means, central tendency and Cronbach’s alpha were also utilised. Results: The results revealed preferences for intrinsic motivational factors for the whole sample with higher levels of intrinsic motivation for the South African respondents compared to German respondents. Demographic characteristics played a minor role in determining levels of intrinsic motivation within individuals. Culture, however, played the biggest role in determining one’s levels of intrinsic or extrinsic motivation. Conclusion: These findings play an important role in explaining differences in motivation between the two countries Germany and South Africa. It highlights the important role that cultural differences play in shaping one’s form of motivation.

Intrinsic neutrino properties: As deduced from cosmology, astrophysics, accelerator and non-accelerator experiments

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Rosen, S.P.

1990-01-01

I review the intrinsic properties of neutrinos as deduced from cosmological, astrophysical, and laboratory experiments. Bounds on magnetic moments and theoretical models which yield large moments but small masses are briefly discussed. The MSW solution to the solar neutrino problem is reviewed in light of the existing data from the 37 Cl and Kamiokande II experiments. The combined data disfavor the adiabatic solution and tend to support either the large angle solution or the nonadiabatic one. In the former case the 71 Ga signal will be suppressed by the same factor as for 37 Cl, and in the latter case the suppression factor could be as large as 10 or more. 41 refs

The molecular mechanisms of plant plasma membrane intrinsic proteins trafficking and stress response.

Science.gov (United States)

Wang, Xing; Zhang, Ji-long; Feng, Xiu-xiu; Li, Hong-jie; Zhang, Gen-fa

2017-04-20

Plasma membrane intrinsic proteins (PIPs) are plant channel proteins located on the plasma membrane. PIPs transfer water, CO 2 and small uncharged solutes through the plasma membrane. PIPs have high selectivity to substrates, suggestive of a central role in maintaining cellular water balance. The expression, activity and localization of PIPs are regulated at the transcriptional and post-translational levels, and also affected by environmental factors. Numerous studies indicate that the expression patterns and localizations of PIPs can change in response to abiotic stresses. In this review, we summarize the mechanisms of PIP trafficking, transcriptional and post-translational regulations, and abiotic stress responses. Moreover, we also discuss the current research trends and future directions on PIPs.

Failure to label baboon milk intrinsically with iron

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Figueroa-Colon, R.; Elwell, J.H.; Jackson, E.; Osborne, J.W.; Fomon, S.J.

1989-01-01

The widely held belief that 50% of the iron in human milk is absorbed is based on studies that have used an extrinsic radioactive iron tag. To determine the validity of an extrinsic tag, it is necessary to label the milk intrinsically with one isotope and to compare absorption of this isotope with absorption of another isotope added as the extrinsic tag. We chose the baboon as a model and infused 59Fe intravenously. In each of three attempts we failed to label the milk intrinsically

Job characteristic perception and intrinsic motivation in medical record department staff.

Science.gov (United States)

Isfahani, Sakineh Saghaeiannejad; Bahrami, Soosan; Torki, Sedighe

2013-01-01

Human resources are key factors in service organizations like hospitals. Therefore, motivating human recourses to achieve the objectives of an organization is important. Job enrichment is a strategy used to increase job motivation in staffs. The goal of the current study is to determine the relationship between job characteristics and intrinsic motivation in medical record staff in hospitals related to Medical Science University in Isfahan in 2011-2012 academic year. The type of the study is descriptive and corelational of multi variables. The population of the study includes all the medical record staffs of medical record department working in Medical Science hospitals of Isfahan. One hundred twentyseven subjects were selected by conducting a census. In the present study, data collected by using two questionnaires of job characteristics devised by Hackman and Oldeham, and of intrinsic motivation. Content validity was confirmed by experts and its reliability was calculated through coefficient of Cronbach's alpha (r1 = 0.84- r2 = 0.94). The questionnaires completed were entered into SPSS(18) software; furthermore, statistical analysis done descriptively (frequency percent, mean, standard deviation, Pierson correlation coefficient,...) and inferentially (multiple regression, MANOVA, LSD). A significant relationship between job characteristics as well as its elements (skill variety, task identity, task significance, autonomy and feedback) and intrinsic motivation was noticed. (p intrinsic motivation was significant and job feedback had the most impact upon the intrinsic motivation. No significant difference was noticed among the mean amounts of job characteristic perception according to age, gender, level of education, and the kind of educational degree in hospitals. However, there was a significant difference among the mean amounts of job characteristic perception according to the unit of service and the years of servicein hospitals. The findings show that all job

The Intrinsic Dynamics of Psychological Process

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Vallacher, Robin R.; van Geert, Paul; Nowak, Andrzej

2015-01-01

Psychological processes unfold on various timescales in accord with internally generated patterns. The intrinsic dynamism of psychological process is difficult to investigate using traditional methods emphasizing cause–effect relations, however, and therefore is rarely incorporated into social

Intrinsic space charge resonances and the space charge limit

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Parzen, G.

1990-01-01

A study has been done of the dependence of the space charge limit on the choice of ν-values using a simulation program. This study finds a strong dependence of the space charge limit on the location of the ν-values relative to the intrinsic space charge resonances, which are driven by the space charge forces due to the beam itself. Four accelerators were studied. For some of these accelerators the study suggest that the space charge limit can be increased by about a factor of 2 proper choice of the ν-values. The lower order 1/2 and 1/4 intrinsic resonances appear to be the important resonances. There is some evidence for effects due to the 1/6 and 1/8 intrinsic resonances, particularly for larger synchrotrons. 5 figs

Intrinsic and extrinsic spin Hall effects of Dirac electrons

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Fukazawa, Takaaki; Kohno, Hiroshi; Fujimoto, Junji

2017-01-01

We investigate the spin Hall effect (SHE) of electrons described by the Dirac equation, which is used as an effective model near the L-points in bismuth. By considering short-range nonmagnetic impurities, we calculate the extrinsic as well as intrinsic contributions on an equal footing. The vertex corrections are taken into account within the ladder type and the so-called skew-scattering type. The intrinsic SHE which we obtain is consistent with that of Fuseya et al. It is found that the extrinsic contribution dominates the intrinsic one when the system is metallic. The extrinsic SHE due to the skew scattering is proportional to Δ/n i u, where 2Δ is the band gap, n i is the impurity concentration, and u is the strength of the impurity potential. (author)

A Rotational Crofton Formula for Flagged Intrinsic Volumes of Sets of Positive Reach

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Auneau, Jeremy Michel

A rotational Crofton formula is derived relating the flagged intrinsic volumes of a compact set of positive reach with the flagged intrinsic volumes measured on sections passing through a fixed point. In particular cases, the flagged intrinsic volumes defined in the present paper are identical...

An infrared small target detection method based on multiscale local homogeneity measure

Science.gov (United States)

Nie, Jinyan; Qu, Shaocheng; Wei, Yantao; Zhang, Liming; Deng, Lizhen

2018-05-01

Infrared (IR) small target detection plays an important role in the field of image detection area owing to its intrinsic characteristics. This paper presents a multiscale local homogeneity measure (MLHM) for infrared small target detection, which can enhance the performance of IR small target detection system. Firstly, intra-patch homogeneity of the target itself and the inter-patch heterogeneity between target and the local background regions are integrated to enhance the significant of small target. Secondly, a multiscale measure based on local regions is proposed to obtain the most appropriate response. Finally, an adaptive threshold method is applied to small target segmentation. Experimental results on three different scenarios indicate that the MLHM has good performance under the interference of strong noise.

Remembering the real me: Nostalgia offers a window to the intrinsic self.

Science.gov (United States)

Baldwin, Matthew; Biernat, Monica; Landau, Mark J

2015-01-01

Seven studies reveal that nostalgia, a sentimental affection for the past, offers a window to the intrinsic self-concept-who people think they truly are. In Study 1, state nostalgia was associated with higher authenticity and lower extrinsic self-focus (concern with meeting extrinsic value standards). In Study 2, experimentally primed nostalgia increased perceived authenticity of the past self, which in turn predicted reduced current extrinsic self-focus. Study 3 showed that nostalgia increased the accessibility of the intrinsic self-concept but not the everyday self-concept. Study 4 provided evidence for a moderator suggested by our theoretical analysis: Recalling a nostalgic event increased felt nostalgia and positive affect, but this effect was attenuated if participants were prompted to recognize external factors controlling their behavior during that event. Next we treated nostalgia as an outcome variable and a moderator to test whether nostalgia is triggered by, and buffers against, threats to the intrinsic self. Using a mediation approach, Study 5 showed that participants primed to feel blocked in intrinsic self-expression responded with increased nostalgia. In Study 6, intrinsic self-threat reduced intrinsic self-expression and subjective well-being for participants who were not given an opportunity to respond with nostalgia but not for participants who were allowed to reflect on a nostalgic memory. In line with the experimental findings, correlational data from Study 7 indicated that dispositional nostalgia positively predicted intrinsic self-expression and well-being. Understanding nostalgia as a window to the intrinsic self points to new directions for research on nostalgia's antecedents, moderators, and consequences for well-being. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2015 APA, all rights reserved).

Content of intrinsic disorder influences the outcome of cell-free protein synthesis.

Science.gov (United States)

Tokmakov, Alexander A; Kurotani, Atsushi; Ikeda, Mariko; Terazawa, Yumiko; Shirouzu, Mikako; Stefanov, Vasily; Sakurai, Tetsuya; Yokoyama, Shigeyuki

2015-09-11

Cell-free protein synthesis is used to produce proteins with various structural traits. Recent bioinformatics analyses indicate that more than half of eukaryotic proteins possess long intrinsically disordered regions. However, no systematic study concerning the connection between intrinsic disorder and expression success of cell-free protein synthesis has been presented until now. To address this issue, we examined correlations of the experimentally observed cell-free protein expression yields with the contents of intrinsic disorder bioinformatically predicted in the expressed sequences. This analysis revealed strong relationships between intrinsic disorder and protein amenability to heterologous cell-free expression. On the one hand, elevated disorder content was associated with the increased ratio of soluble expression. On the other hand, overall propensity for detectable protein expression decreased with disorder content. We further demonstrated that these tendencies are rooted in some distinct features of intrinsically disordered regions, such as low hydrophobicity, elevated surface accessibility and high abundance of sequence motifs for proteolytic degradation, including sites of ubiquitination and PEST sequences. Our findings suggest that identification of intrinsically disordered regions in the expressed amino acid sequences can be of practical use for predicting expression success and optimizing cell-free protein synthesis.

Importance of Intrinsic and Instrumental Value of Education in Pakistan

Science.gov (United States)

Kumar, Mahendar

2017-01-01

Normally, effectiveness of any object or thing is judged by two values; intrinsic and instrumental. To compare intrinsic value of education with instrumental value, this study has used the following variables: getting knowledge for its own sake, getting knowledge for social status, getting knowledge for job or business endeavor and getting…

Intrinsic carrier concentrations in long wavelength HgCdTe based on the new, nonlinear temperature dependence of Eg(x,T)

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Seiler, D.G.; Lowney, J.R.; Littler, C.L.; Yoon, I.T.

1991-01-01

This paper reports on intrinsic carrier concentrations of narrow-gap Hg 1-x Cd x Te alloys (0.17 ≤ x ≤ 0.30) calculated as a function of temperature between 0 and 300 K by using the new nonlinear temperature dependence of the energy gap obtained previously by two-photon magneto-absorption measurements for samples with 0.24 ≤ x ≤ 0.26. We report here experimental values for E g (x,T) for samples with x = 0.20 and 0.23 obtained by one-photon magneto-absorption measurements. These data confirm the validity of the new E g (x,T) relationship for these x values. In this range of composition and temperature, the energy gap of mercury cadmium telluride is small, and very accurate values are needed for the gap to obtain reliable values of the intrinsic carrier density

FINANCING OF FIXED ASSET INVESTMENT IN THE SMALL AND MEDIUM-SIZED ENTERPRISES IN POLAND

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Beata Geruzel-Dudzińska

2016-03-01

Full Text Available Small and medium-sized enterprises play an important role in the economy, creates, because a significant part of GDP, provides employment to many millions of people. One of the main barriers to the development of these enterprises, not only in Poland but also in EU countries, is the scarcity of equity and the difficulty in obtaining external sources of financing. It is not just about lack of funds to finance current operations, but also, and perhaps above all, lack of investment in fixed assets. This paper aims to present available sources of financing of fixed assets for enterprises from the SME sector and the assessment of their use by these companies.

Evaluating regional water scarcity: Irrigated crop water budgets for groundwater management in the Wisconsin Central Sands

Science.gov (United States)

Nocco, M. A.; Kucharik, C. J.; Kraft, G.

2013-12-01

Regional water scarcity dilemmas between agricultural and aquatic land users pervade the humid northern lake states of Wisconsin, Minnesota, and Michigan, where agricultural irrigation relies on groundwater drawn from shallow aquifers. As these aquifers have strong connectivity to surface waters, irrigation lowers water levels in lakes and wetlands and reduces stream discharges. Irrigation expansion has cultivated a 60-year water scarcity dilemma in The Wisconsin Central Sands, the largest irrigated region in the humid northern lake states, dedicated to potato, maize, and processing vegetable production. Irrigation has depleted Wisconsin Central Sands surface waters, lowering levels in some lakes by over 2 m and drying some coldwater trout streams. Aquatic ecosystems, property values, and recreational uses in some surface waters have been devastated. While the causal link between pumping and surface water stress is established, understanding crop-mediated processes, such as the timing and magnitude of groundwater consumption by evapotranspiration (ET) and groundwater recharge, will be useful in management of groundwater, irrigated cropping systems, and surface water health. Previous modeling and field efforts have compared irrigated crop water use to a natural reference condition on a net annual basis. As a result, we presently understand that for irrigated potatoes and maize, the average annual ET is greater and therefore, the average annual recharge is less than rainfed row crops, grasslands, and both coniferous and deciduous forests. However, we have a limited understanding of the magnitude and timing of ET and recharge from irrigated cropping systems on shorter time scales that proceed with the annual cropping cycle (i.e. planting, full canopy, harvest, residue cover). We seek to understand the spatiotemporal variability of crop water budgets and associated water scarcity in the Wisconsin Central Sands through detailed measurements of drainage (potential

David Ross, Ideal Utilitarianism, and the Intrinsic Value of Acts

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Francesco Orsi

2012-01-01

Full Text Available The denial of the intrinsic value of acts apart from both motives and consequences lies at the heart of Ross’s deontology and his opposition to ideal utilitarianism. Moreover, the claim that acts can have intrinsic value is a staple element of early and contemporary attempts to “consequentialise” all of morality. I first show why Ross’s denial is relevant both for his philosophy and for current debates. Then I consider and reject as inconclusive some of Ross’s explicit and implicit motivations for his claim, stemming from his philosophy of action, his axiology, and his concept of intrinsic value, or a combination of these. I also criticize Ross’s later view that all right acts somehow produce some good, but that the value of some of these goods is explained by the prior rightness of the act. In the course of the discussion, the idea that acts can have intrinsic value apart from motives and consequences gains credibility both from the weaknesses in Ross’s arguments and from some putative examples. So, finally, I distinguish two attitudes in the history of ideal utilitarianism towards the necessity or not to give a detailed account of the intrinsic value of acts, and suggest that a Why Bother attitude is more promising than a Constructive one.

Elderly Taiwanese's Intrinsic Risk Factors for Fall-related Injuries

OpenAIRE

In-Fun Li; Yvonne Hsiung; Hui-Fen Hsing; Mei-Yu Lee; Te-Hsin Chang; Ming-Yuan Huang

2016-01-01

Background: As a vital issue in geriatric research, risk factors for falls were concluded to be multifactorial, and prevention has been mostly aimed at decreasing situational and environmental risks that cause and aggravate fall-related injuries, particularly within the institutions. While knowledge is limited about older patients' intrinsic determinants, the purpose of this study was to explore elderly Taiwanese's intrinsic risk factors associated with severe fall-related injuries. Method...

Intrinsic strength of sodium borosilicate glass fibers by using a two-point bending technique

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Nishikubo, Y; Yoshida, S; Sugawara, T; Matsuoka, J

2011-01-01

Flaws existing on glass surface can be divided into two types, extrinsic and intrinsic. Although the extrinsic flaws are generated during processing and using, the intrinsic flaws are regarded as structural defects which result from thermal fluctuation. It is known that the extrinsic flaws determine glass strength, but effects of the intrinsic flaws on the glass strength are still unclear. Since it is considered that the averaged bond-strength and the intrinsic flaw would affect the intrinsic strength, the intrinsic strength of glass surely depends on the glass composition. In this study, the intrinsic failure strain of the glass fibers with the compositions of 20Na 2 O-40xB 2 O 3 -(80-40x)SiO 2 (mol%, x = 0, 0.5, 1.0, 1.5) were measured by using a two-point bending technique. The failure strength was estimated from the failure strain and Young's modulus of glass. It is elucidated that two-point bending strength of glass fiber decreases with increasing B 2 O 3 content in glass. The effects of the glass composition on the intrinsic strength are discussed in terms of elastic and inelastic deformation behaviors prior to fracture.

Technique of treatment of prostatic cancer with scarcity means

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Velazquez M, S.; Carrera M, F.; Gomez- Millan B, J.; Gutierrez B, L.; Bayo L, E.

1998-01-01

To show the particularities in the treatment simulation-localization, in the volume delimitation and in the main planning strategies motive by our scarcity means during the first year of performance (absence of physical simulator, planning system 2D). It was utilized a computerized tomograph, an X-ray equipment with tele commanded table and another with ceiling telescopic suspension. Also it was utilized a radio opaque lattice of marked center and knowing space and also a magnetic pointer for indicating 80 cm length between focus-skin. In the CT it was took spaced cuts starting from the central, at coincident distances with lattice lines, contouring the clinical target volume (CTV), what subsequently it was removed to the simulation plate. The volume to be irradiated, or PTV (planning target volume), it was determined adding a margin to CTV. The irradiation to itself it was realized with a minimum of 3 fields in the first phase. From 16 patients evaluated, the 100 % normalize the PSA ciphers at 6 months. 25 % patients, rectal-intestinal toxicity grade 1 and 18.7 % grade 2. Acute vesicle toxicity grade 1 in a 31.2 % patients, grade 2 in 12.5 % and grade 3 in 6.5 %. A 25 % patients presented dermatitis grade 1 and 18 % grade 2 and grade 3. Under no case it was necessary the treatment interruption for the toxicity normalization. Maximum local control with absence of chronic toxicity. The low toxicity presented could must be to the utilization of conformations in the lateral plates. According to our experience, we believe that it is not necessary to renounce at this type of treatments if it is lacking of high energies, such as succeed in some installations if it is utilized 3 or more fields in the first phase and individualized conformations. (Author)

Intrinsic bioremediation of an Arctic spill

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Ziervogel, H.; Selann, J.

2002-01-01

An environmental site assessment was conducted in summer 2001 at Repulse Bay, Nunavut where a recent diesel spill flowed from groundwater into a small creek leading to Hudson Bay. The spill produced a microbial mat several mm in thickness and which colonized the creek for about 50 m from the point where the groundwater entered the creek. Further down the gradient, the mat increased in thickness and changed in colour from yellowish brown to green. Sedimentary iron deposition was occurring along the banks of the creek where the mat was found and a free phase diesel product was found a few mm below the sediment-water interface. The microbial mats were found to have gradients of oxygen which peaked at surface and decreased with depth. Hydrogen sulphide concentrations were formed by sulphate reduction. In comparison, an older weathered diesel spill did not appear to have much effect on the stream's geochemistry and did not form a microbial mat. It is noted that the mat may have formed in the new spill because its' volatile component may have had a toxic effect on bacterial predators in the stream. It was concluded that intrinsic bioremediation takes place through dissimilatory sulphate and iron reduction and aerobic degradation. This may be cause for about 13 per cent ppm of hydrocarbon degradation known as BTEX (benzene, toluene, ethylbenzene, and xylene). 12 refs., 1 tab., 5 figs

Skin electronics from scalable fabrication of an intrinsically stretchable transistor array.

Science.gov (United States)

Wang, Sihong; Xu, Jie; Wang, Weichen; Wang, Ging-Ji Nathan; Rastak, Reza; Molina-Lopez, Francisco; Chung, Jong Won; Niu, Simiao; Feig, Vivian R; Lopez, Jeffery; Lei, Ting; Kwon, Soon-Ki; Kim, Yeongin; Foudeh, Amir M; Ehrlich, Anatol; Gasperini, Andrea; Yun, Youngjun; Murmann, Boris; Tok, Jeffery B-H; Bao, Zhenan

2018-03-01

Skin-like electronics that can adhere seamlessly to human skin or within the body are highly desirable for applications such as health monitoring, medical treatment, medical implants and biological studies, and for technologies that include human-machine interfaces, soft robotics and augmented reality. Rendering such electronics soft and stretchable-like human skin-would make them more comfortable to wear, and, through increased contact area, would greatly enhance the fidelity of signals acquired from the skin. Structural engineering of rigid inorganic and organic devices has enabled circuit-level stretchability, but this requires sophisticated fabrication techniques and usually suffers from reduced densities of devices within an array. We reasoned that the desired parameters, such as higher mechanical deformability and robustness, improved skin compatibility and higher device density, could be provided by using intrinsically stretchable polymer materials instead. However, the production of intrinsically stretchable materials and devices is still largely in its infancy: such materials have been reported, but functional, intrinsically stretchable electronics have yet to be demonstrated owing to the lack of a scalable fabrication technology. Here we describe a fabrication process that enables high yield and uniformity from a variety of intrinsically stretchable electronic polymers. We demonstrate an intrinsically stretchable polymer transistor array with an unprecedented device density of 347 transistors per square centimetre. The transistors have an average charge-carrier mobility comparable to that of amorphous silicon, varying only slightly (within one order of magnitude) when subjected to 100 per cent strain for 1,000 cycles, without current-voltage hysteresis. Our transistor arrays thus constitute intrinsically stretchable skin electronics, and include an active matrix for sensory arrays, as well as analogue and digital circuit elements. Our process offers a

Skin electronics from scalable fabrication of an intrinsically stretchable transistor array

Science.gov (United States)

Wang, Sihong; Xu, Jie; Wang, Weichen; Wang, Ging-Ji Nathan; Rastak, Reza; Molina-Lopez, Francisco; Chung, Jong Won; Niu, Simiao; Feig, Vivian R.; Lopez, Jeffery; Lei, Ting; Kwon, Soon-Ki; Kim, Yeongin; Foudeh, Amir M.; Ehrlich, Anatol; Gasperini, Andrea; Yun, Youngjun; Murmann, Boris; Tok, Jeffery B.-H.; Bao, Zhenan

2018-03-01

Skin-like electronics that can adhere seamlessly to human skin or within the body are highly desirable for applications such as health monitoring, medical treatment, medical implants and biological studies, and for technologies that include human-machine interfaces, soft robotics and augmented reality. Rendering such electronics soft and stretchable—like human skin—would make them more comfortable to wear, and, through increased contact area, would greatly enhance the fidelity of signals acquired from the skin. Structural engineering of rigid inorganic and organic devices has enabled circuit-level stretchability, but this requires sophisticated fabrication techniques and usually suffers from reduced densities of devices within an array. We reasoned that the desired parameters, such as higher mechanical deformability and robustness, improved skin compatibility and higher device density, could be provided by using intrinsically stretchable polymer materials instead. However, the production of intrinsically stretchable materials and devices is still largely in its infancy: such materials have been reported, but functional, intrinsically stretchable electronics have yet to be demonstrated owing to the lack of a scalable fabrication technology. Here we describe a fabrication process that enables high yield and uniformity from a variety of intrinsically stretchable electronic polymers. We demonstrate an intrinsically stretchable polymer transistor array with an unprecedented device density of 347 transistors per square centimetre. The transistors have an average charge-carrier mobility comparable to that of amorphous silicon, varying only slightly (within one order of magnitude) when subjected to 100 per cent strain for 1,000 cycles, without current-voltage hysteresis. Our transistor arrays thus constitute intrinsically stretchable skin electronics, and include an active matrix for sensory arrays, as well as analogue and digital circuit elements. Our process offers a

Defining the Intrinsic Cardiac Risks of Operations to Improve Preoperative Cardiac Risk Assessments.

Science.gov (United States)

Liu, Jason B; Liu, Yaoming; Cohen, Mark E; Ko, Clifford Y; Sweitzer, Bobbie J

2018-02-01

Current preoperative cardiac risk stratification practices group operations into broad categories, which might inadequately consider the intrinsic cardiac risks of individual operations. We sought to define the intrinsic cardiac risks of individual operations and to demonstrate how grouping operations might lead to imprecise estimates of perioperative cardiac risk. Elective operations (based on Common Procedural Terminology codes) performed from January 1, 2010 to December 31, 2015 at hospitals participating in the American College of Surgeons National Surgical Quality Improvement Program were studied. A composite measure of perioperative adverse cardiac events was defined as either cardiac arrest requiring cardiopulmonary resuscitation or acute myocardial infarction. Operations' intrinsic cardiac risks were derived from mixed-effects models while controlling for patient mix. Resultant risks were sorted into low-, intermediate-, and high-risk categories, and the most commonly performed operations within each category were identified. Intrinsic operative risks were also examined using a representative grouping of operations to portray within-group variation. Sixty-six low, 30 intermediate, and 106 high intrinsic cardiac risk operations were identified. Excisional breast biopsy had the lowest intrinsic cardiac risk (overall rate, 0.01%; odds ratio, 0.11; 95% CI, 0.02 to 0.25) relative to the average, whereas aorto-bifemoral bypass grafting had the highest (overall rate, 4.1%; odds ratio, 6.61; 95% CI, 5.54 to 7.90). There was wide variation in the intrinsic cardiac risks of operations within the representative grouping (median odds ratio, 1.40; interquartile range, 0.88 to 2.17). A continuum of intrinsic cardiac risk exists among operations. Grouping operations into broad categories inadequately accounts for the intrinsic cardiac risk of individual operations.

Intrinsically conductive polymer thin film piezoresistors

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Lillemose, Michael; Spieser, Martin; Christiansen, N.O.

2008-01-01

We report on the piezoresistive effect in the intrinsically conductive polymer, polyaniline. A process recipe for indirect patterning of thin film polyaniline has been developed. Using a specially designed chip, the polyaniline thin films have been characterised with respect to resistivity...

Iron and intrinsic deep level states in Ga2O3

Science.gov (United States)

Ingebrigtsen, M. E.; Varley, J. B.; Kuznetsov, A. Yu.; Svensson, B. G.; Alfieri, G.; Mihaila, A.; Badstübner, U.; Vines, L.

2018-01-01

Using a combination of deep level transient spectroscopy, secondary ion mass spectrometry, proton irradiation, and hybrid functional calculations, we identify two similar deep levels that are associated with Fe impurities and intrinsic defects in bulk crystals and molecular beam epitaxy and hydride vapor phase epitaxi-grown epilayers of β-Ga2O3. First, our results indicate that FeGa, and not an intrinsic defect, acts as the deep acceptor responsible for the often dominating E2 level at ˜0.78 eV below the conduction band minimum. Second, by provoking additional intrinsic defect generation via proton irradiation, we identified the emergence of a new level, labeled as E2*, having the ionization energy very close to that of E2, but exhibiting an order of magnitude larger capture cross section. Importantly, the properties of E2* are found to be consistent with its intrinsic origin. As such, contradictory opinions of a long standing literature debate on either extrinsic or intrinsic origin of the deep acceptor in question converge accounting for possible contributions from E2 and E2* in different experimental conditions.

An Extended Guinier Analysis for Intrinsically Disordered Proteins.

Science.gov (United States)

Zheng, Wenwei; Best, Robert B

2018-03-21

Guinier analysis allows model-free determination of the radius of gyration (R g ) of a biomolecule from X-ray or neutron scattering data, in the limit of very small scattering angles. Its range of validity is well understood for globular proteins, but is known to be more restricted for unfolded or intrinsically disordered proteins (IDPs). We have used ensembles of disordered structures from molecular dynamics simulations to investigate which structural properties cause deviations from the Guinier approximation at small scattering angles. We find that the deviation from the Guinier approximation is correlated with the polymer scaling exponent ν describing the unfolded ensemble. We therefore introduce an empirical, ν-dependent, higher-order correction term, to augment the standard Guinier analysis. We test the new fitting scheme using all-atom simulation data for several IDPs and experimental data for both an IDP and a destabilized mutant of a folded protein. In all cases tested, we achieve an accuracy of the inferred R g within ∼3% of the true R g . The method is straightforward to implement and extends the range of validity to a maximum qR g of ∼2 versus ∼1.1 for Guinier analysis. Compared with the Guinier or Debye approaches, our method allows data from wider angles with lower noise to be used to analyze scattering data accurately. In addition to R g , our fitting scheme also yields estimates of the scaling exponent ν in excellent agreement with the reference ν determined from the underlying molecular ensemble. Published by Elsevier Ltd.

Exploration of horizontal intrinsic spin resonances with two partial Siberian snakes

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

F. Lin

2007-04-01

Full Text Available Two partial Siberian snakes were used to avoid all the spin imperfection and vertical intrinsic resonances in the alternating gradient synchrotron (AGS at Brookhaven National Laboratory. However, the horizontal betatron motion can cause polarization loss resulting from the nonvertical stable spin direction in the presence of two partial snakes. This type of resonance, called a horizontal intrinsic spin resonance, was observed and systematically studied in the AGS. A simplified analytic model and numerical simulation have been developed to compare with experimental data. Properties of the horizontal intrinsic resonance are discussed.

Bimanual motor coordination controlled by cooperative interactions in intrinsic and extrinsic coordinates.

Science.gov (United States)

Sakurada, Takeshi; Ito, Koji; Gomi, Hiroaki

2016-01-01

Although strong motor coordination in intrinsic muscle coordinates has frequently been reported for bimanual movements, coordination in extrinsic visual coordinates is also crucial in various bimanual tasks. To explore the bimanual coordination mechanisms in terms of the frame of reference, here we characterized implicit bilateral interactions in visuomotor tasks. Visual perturbations (finger-cursor gain change) were applied while participants performed a rhythmic tracking task with both index fingers under an in-phase or anti-phase relationship in extrinsic coordinates. When they corrected the right finger's amplitude, the left finger's amplitude unintentionally also changed [motor interference (MI)], despite the instruction to keep its amplitude constant. Notably, we observed two specificities: one was large MI and low relative-phase variability (PV) under the intrinsic in-phase condition, and the other was large MI and high PV under the extrinsic in-phase condition. Additionally, using a multiple-interaction model, we successfully decomposed MI into intrinsic components caused by motor correction and extrinsic components caused by visual-cursor mismatch of the right finger's movements. This analysis revealed that the central nervous system facilitates MI by combining intrinsic and extrinsic components in the condition with in-phases in both intrinsic and extrinsic coordinates, and that under-additivity of the effects is explained by the brain's preference for the intrinsic interaction over extrinsic interaction. In contrast, the PV was significantly correlated with the intrinsic component, suggesting that the intrinsic interaction dominantly contributed to bimanual movement stabilization. The inconsistent features of MI and PV suggest that the central nervous system regulates multiple levels of bilateral interactions for various bimanual tasks. © 2015 The Authors. European Journal of Neuroscience published by Federation of European Neuroscience Societies and

From Vienna to Frankfurt Inside Core-House Type 7: A History of Scarcity through the Modern Kitchen

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Sophie Hochhaeusl

2013-10-01

Full Text Available This paper traces a history of war-induced scarcity through the material and technological properties of household appliances and kitchens from 1914 to 1930. Investigating the Austrian settlement and allotment garden movement, it argues that the practices of users, self-help builders, and inhabitants who reacted to living with limited resources in the state of emergency found their way into the designs of modern homes, and into the works of canonical modern architecture, in particular the famous Frankfurt Kitchen. This paper thus investigates the design and production of the modern kitchen and its transformations, from Vienna to Frankfurt, moving from a cooperative vernacular building movement to one of the largest construction endeavors to standardize and prefabricate modern housing in Germany.

Trapped Electron Mode Turbulence Driven Intrinsic Rotation in Tokamak Plasmas

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Wang, W.X.; Hahm, T.S.; Ethier, S.; Zakharov, L.E.

2011-01-01

Recent progress from global gyrokinetic simulations in understanding the origin of intrinsic rotation in toroidal plasmas is reported with emphasis on electron thermal transport dominated regimes. The turbulence driven intrinsic torque associated with nonlinear residual stress generation by the fluctuation intensity and the intensity gradient in the presence of zonal flow shear induced asymmetry in the parallel wavenumber spectrum is shown to scale close to linearly with plasma gradients and the inverse of the plasma current. These results qualitatively reproduce empirical scalings of intrinsic rotation observed in various experiments. The origin of current scaling is found to be due to enhanced kll symmetry breaking induced by the increased radial variation of the safety factor as the current decreases. The physics origin for the linear dependence of intrinsic torque on pressure gradient is that both turbulence intensity and the zonal flow shear, which are two key ingredients for driving residual stress, increase with the strength of turbulence drive, which is R0/LTe and R0/Lne for the trapped electron mode.

Extrinsic photoresponse enhancement under additional intrinsic photoexcitation in organic semiconductors

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Kounavis, P., E-mail: pkounavis@upatras.gr [Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, School of Engineering, University of Patras, 26504 Patras (Greece)

2016-06-28

Dual light beam photoresponse experiments are employed to explore the photoresponse under simultaneous extrinsic and intrinsic photoexcitation of organic semiconductors. The photoresponse of a red modulated light extrinsic photoexcitation is found that can be significantly enhanced under an additional blue bias-light intrinsic photoexcitation in two terminal pentacene films on glass substrates. From the frequency resolved photoresponse, it is deduced that the phenomenon of photoresponse enhancement can be attributed to an increase in the extrinsic photogeneration rate of the red modulated light and/or an improvement of the drift velocity of carriers under an additional blue light intrinsic photoexcitation. The possible predominant extrinsic photogeneration mechanism, which can be compatible with the observed dependence of the photoresponse enhancement on the frequency and on the light intensities of the red and blue light excitation, is the singlet exciton dissociation through electron transfer to acceptor-like traps. Moreover, an improvement in the drift velocity of carriers traversing grain boundaries with potential energy barriers, which may be reduced by trapping of minority carriers created from the intrinsic photoexcitation, may partly contribute to the photoresponse enhancement.

Extrinsic photoresponse enhancement under additional intrinsic photoexcitation in organic semiconductors

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Kounavis, P.

2016-01-01

Dual light beam photoresponse experiments are employed to explore the photoresponse under simultaneous extrinsic and intrinsic photoexcitation of organic semiconductors. The photoresponse of a red modulated light extrinsic photoexcitation is found that can be significantly enhanced under an additional blue bias-light intrinsic photoexcitation in two terminal pentacene films on glass substrates. From the frequency resolved photoresponse, it is deduced that the phenomenon of photoresponse enhancement can be attributed to an increase in the extrinsic photogeneration rate of the red modulated light and/or an improvement of the drift velocity of carriers under an additional blue light intrinsic photoexcitation. The possible predominant extrinsic photogeneration mechanism, which can be compatible with the observed dependence of the photoresponse enhancement on the frequency and on the light intensities of the red and blue light excitation, is the singlet exciton dissociation through electron transfer to acceptor-like traps. Moreover, an improvement in the drift velocity of carriers traversing grain boundaries with potential energy barriers, which may be reduced by trapping of minority carriers created from the intrinsic photoexcitation, may partly contribute to the photoresponse enhancement.

Intrinsic Hand Muscle Activation for Grasp and Horizontal Transport

OpenAIRE

Winges, Sara A.; Kundu, Bornali; Soechting, John F.; Flanders, Martha

2007-01-01

During object manipulation, the hand and arm muscles produce internal forces on the object (grasping forces) and forces that result in external translation or rotation of the object in space (transport forces). The present study tested whether the intrinsic hand muscles are actively involved in transport as well as grasping. Intrinsic hand muscle activity increased with increasing demands for grasp stability, but also showed the timing and directional tuning patterns appropriate for actively ...

Determination of intrinsic equilibrium constants at an alumina/electrolyte interface

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

SLOBODAN K. MILONJIC

2004-12-01

Full Text Available Intrinsic ionization and complexation constants at an alumina/electrolyte interface were studied by the site binding model, while the sorption of alkali cations from aqueous solutions was interpreted by the triple-layer model. The surface properties of alumina were investigated by the potentiometric acid-base titration method. The point of zero charge (pHpzc of alumina obtained by this method was found to be 7.2. The obtained mean values of the intrinsic protonation and ionization constants of the surface hydroxyl groups and the intrinsic surface complexation constant, in different electrolytes, are pKinta1 = 4.4, pKinta2 = 9.6 and pKintM+ = 9.5, respectively.

A Review of the Relationship between Novelty, Intrinsic Motivation and Reinforcement Learning

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Siddique Nazmul

2017-11-01

Full Text Available This paper presents a review on the tri-partite relationship between novelty, intrinsic motivation and reinforcement learning. The paper first presents a literature survey on novelty and the different computational models of novelty detection, with a specific focus on the features of stimuli that trigger a Hedonic value for generating a novelty signal. It then presents an overview of intrinsic motivation and investigations into different models with the aim of exploring deeper co-relationships between specific features of a novelty signal and its effect on intrinsic motivation in producing a reward function. Finally, it presents survey results on reinforcement learning, different models and their functional relationship with intrinsic motivation.

Crude and intrinsic birth rates for Asian countries.

Science.gov (United States)

Rele, J R

1978-01-01

An attempt to estimate birth rates for Asian countries. The main sources of information in developing countries has been census age-sex distribution, although inaccuracies in the basic data have made it difficult to reach a high degree of accuracy. Different methods bring widely varying results. The methodology presented here is based on the use of the conventional child-woman ratio from the census age-sex distribution, with a rough estimate of the expectation of life at birth. From the established relationships between child-woman ratio and the intrinsic birth rate of the nature y = a + bx + cx(2) at each level of life expectation, the intrinsic birth rate is first computed using coefficients already computed. The crude birth rate is obtained using the adjustment based on the census age-sex distribution. An advantage to this methodology is that the intrinsic birth rate, normally an involved computation, can be obtained relatively easily as a biproduct of the crude birth rates and the bases for the calculations for each of 33 Asian countries, in some cases over several time periods.

Intrinsic folding of small peptide chains: spectroscopic evidence for the formation of beta-turns in the gas phase.

Science.gov (United States)

Chin, Wutharath; Dognon, Jean-Pierre; Piuzzi, François; Tardivel, Benjamin; Dimicoli, Iliana; Mons, Michel

2005-01-19

Laser desorption of model peptides coupled to laser spectroscopic techniques enables the gas-phase observation of genuine secondary structures of biology. Spectroscopic evidence for the formation of beta-turns in gas-phase peptide chains containing glycine and phenylalanine residues establishes the intrinsic stability of these forms and their ability to compete with other stable structures. The precise characterization of local minima on the potential energy surface from IR spectroscopy constitutes an acute assessment for the state-of-the-art quantum mechanical calculations also presented. The observation of different types of beta-turns depending upon the residue order within the sequence is found to be consistent with the residue propensities in beta-turns of proteins, which suggests that the prevalence of glycine in type II and II' turns stems essentially from an energetic origin, already at play under isolated conditions.

Intrinsic Motivation and Flow Condition on the Music Teacher's Performance

Science.gov (United States)

Torres Delgado, Gabriela

2017-01-01

The aim of these research is to identify if music teachers and teachers from other areas are intrinsically or extrinsically motivated, to identify the dimensions of the flow state, and to identify if there is a relationship between intrinsic motivation and flow state in these teachers. The sample was made up of 738 active teachers. The presence of…

LEADERSHIP STYLE AND EMPLOYEES' INTRINSIC JOB ...

African Journals Online (AJOL)

This study investigates the impact of leadership style on employees' intrinsic ... of many factors including motivation, leadership, job satisfaction, workers' alienation and ... Factors associated with job satisfaction include incentive to work, reward of ... advancement/promotion, recognition and self-actualization cannot be met ...

Transport of Intrinsic Plutonium Colloids in Saturated Porous Media

Science.gov (United States)

Zhou, D.; Abdel-Fattah, A.; Boukhalfa, H.; Ware, S. D.; Tarimala, S.; Keller, A. A.

2011-12-01

Actinide contaminants were introduced to the subsurface environment as a result of nuclear weapons development and testing, as well as for nuclear power generation and related research activities for defense and civilian applications. Even though most actinide species were believed to be fairly immobile once in the subsurface, recent studies have shown the transport of actinides kilometers away from their disposal sites. For example, the treated liquid wastes released into Mortandad Canyon at the Los Alamos National Laboratory were predicted to travel less than a few meters; however, plutonium and americium have been detected 3.4 km away from the waste outfall. A colloid-facilitated mechanism has been suggested to account for this unexpected transport of these radioactive wastes. Clays, oxides, organic matters, and actinide hydroxides have all been proposed as the possible mobile phase. Pu ions associated with natural colloids are often referred to as pseudo-Pu colloids, in contrast with the intrinsic Pu colloids that consist of Pu oxides. Significant efforts have been made to investigate the role of pseudo-Pu colloids, while few studies have evaluated the environmental behavior of the intrinsic Pu colloids. Given the fact that Pu (IV) has extremely low solubility product constant, it can be inferred that the transport of Pu in the intrinsic form is highly likely at suitable environmental conditions. This study investigates the transport of intrinsic Pu colloids in a saturated alluvium material packed in a cylindrical column (2.5-cm Dia. x 30-cm high) and compares the results to previous data on the transport of pseudo Pu colloids in the same material. A procedure to prepare a stable intrinsic Pu colloid suspension that produced consistent and reproducible electrokinetic and stability data was developed. Electrokinetic properties and aggregation stability were characterized. The Pu colloids, together with trillium as a conservative tracer, were injected into the

Learning to learn – intrinsic plasticity as a metaplasticity mechanism for memory formation

Science.gov (United States)

Sehgal, Megha; Song, Chenghui; Ehlers, Vanessa L.; Moyer, James R.

2013-01-01

“Use it or lose it” is a popular adage often associated with use-dependent enhancement of cognitive abilities. Much research has focused on understanding exactly how the brain changes as a function of experience. Such experience-dependent plasticity involves both structural and functional alterations that contribute to adaptive behaviors, such as learning and memory, as well as maladaptive behaviors, including anxiety disorders, phobias, and posttraumatic stress disorder. With the advancing age of our population, understanding how use-dependent plasticity changes across the lifespan may also help to promote healthy brain aging. A common misconception is that such experience-dependent plasticity (e.g., associative learning) is synonymous with synaptic plasticity. Other forms of plasticity also play a critical role in shaping adaptive changes within the nervous system, including intrinsic plasticity – a change in the intrinsic excitability of a neuron. Intrinsic plasticity can result from a change in the number, distribution or activity of various ion channels located throughout the neuron. Here, we review evidence that intrinsic plasticity is an important and evolutionarily conserved neural correlate of learning. Intrinsic plasticity acts as a metaplasticity mechanism by lowering the threshold for synaptic changes. Thus, learning-related intrinsic changes can facilitate future synaptic plasticity and learning. Such intrinsic changes can impact the allocation of a memory trace within a brain structure, and when compromised, can contribute to cognitive decline during the aging process. This unique role of intrinsic excitability can provide insight into how memories are formed and, more interestingly, how neurons that participate in a memory trace are selected. Most importantly, modulation of intrinsic excitability can allow for regulation of learning ability – this can prevent or provide treatment for cognitive decline not only in patients with clinical

Intrinsic, Functional, and Structural Properties of β-Thymosins and β-Thymosin/WH2 Domains in the Regulation and Coordination of Actin Self-Assembly Dynamics and Cytoskeleton Remodeling.

Science.gov (United States)

Renault, L

2016-01-01

β-Thymosins are a family of heat-stable multifunctional polypeptides that are expressed as small proteins of about 5kDa (~45 amino acids) almost exclusively in multicellular animals. They were first isolated from the thymus. As full-length or truncated polypeptides, they appear to stimulate a broad range of extracellular activities in various signaling pathways, including tissue repair and regeneration, inflammation, cell migration, and immune defense. However, their cell surface receptors and structural mechanisms of regulations in these multiple pathways remain still poorly understood. Besides their extracellular activities, they belong to a larger family of small, intrinsically disordered actin-binding domains called WH2/β-thymosin domains that have been identified in more than 1800 multidomain proteins found in different taxonomic domains of life and involved in various actin-based motile processes including cell morphogenesis, motility, adhesions, tissue development, intracellular trafficking, or pathogen infections. This review briefly surveys the main recent findings to understand how these small, intrinsically disordered but functional domains can interact with many unrelated partners and can thus integrate and coordinate various intracellular activities in actin self-assembly dynamics and cell signaling pathways linked to their cytoskeleton remodeling. © 2016 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

[EXTRINSIC AND INTRINSIC FACTORS FOR FALLS THAT CAUSED HIP FRACTURE].

Science.gov (United States)

Tsur, Atzmon; Shakeer, Nael; Segal, Zvi; Itah, Dorit; Eluz, Dana

2017-05-01

Among the reasons described as possibly causing falls in older and elderly people are extrinsic factors such as bumping into objects, slipping on a wet floor, etc., and intrinsic factors - those that occur suddenly without warning. To investigate the connection between the reasons for falls, extrinsic or intrinsic and different medical and nonmedical factors. The survey included 82 people, 53 women and 29 men, who fell and broke their hip, underwent surgery, and were treated at the Rehabilitation Department. Data showed that 39 people fell due to extrinsic factors and 43 due to intrinsic reasons. We examined the correlation with several factors, both medical and non-medical, that may have influenced the scenario of each group. Falls due to extrinsic reasons took place at all hours of the day and night, mainly in people who were alone and who wore shoes or sandals at the time of the fall and who either suffered from slight or no disturbances in attention and concentration. Falls due to intrinsic reasons occurred mainly during rest or sleep hours, in people who walked barefoot or with socks or slippers and who suffered moderate or severe disturbances in attention and concentration. Although the differences in the extrinsic vs. intrinsic reasons for falls that led to broken hips were fairly clear, it would be difficult to recommend new tools for prevention of this phenomenon. Trying to predict an infrequent future event such as a traumatic fall is inherently difficult.

Intrinsic periodic and aperiodic stochastic resonance in an electrochemical cell

Science.gov (United States)

Tiwari, Ishant; Phogat, Richa; Parmananda, P.; Ocampo-Espindola, J. L.; Rivera, M.

2016-08-01

In this paper we show the interaction of a composite of a periodic or aperiodic signal and intrinsic electrochemical noise with the nonlinear dynamics of an electrochemical cell configured to study the corrosion of iron in an acidic media. The anodic voltage setpoint (V0) in the cell is chosen such that the anodic current (I ) exhibits excitable fixed point behavior in the absence of noise. The subthreshold periodic (aperiodic) signal consists of a train of rectangular pulses with a fixed amplitude and width, separated by regular (irregular) time intervals. The irregular time intervals chosen are of deterministic and stochastic origins. The amplitude of the intrinsic internal noise, regulated by the concentration of chloride ions, is then monotonically increased, and the provoked dynamics are analyzed. The signal to noise ratio and the cross-correlation coefficient versus the chloride ions' concentration curves have a unimodal shape indicating the emergence of an intrinsic periodic or aperiodic stochastic resonance. The abscissa for the maxima of these unimodal curves correspond to the optimum value of intrinsic noise where maximum regularity of the invoked dynamics is observed. In the particular case of the intrinsic periodic stochastic resonance, the scanning electron microscope images for the electrode metal surfaces are shown for certain values of chloride ions' concentrations. These images, qualitatively, corroborate the emergence of order as a result of the interaction between the nonlinear dynamics and the composite signal.

Intrinsic thermodynamics of inhibitor binding to human carbonic anhydrase IX.

Science.gov (United States)

Linkuvienė, Vaida; Matulienė, Jurgita; Juozapaitienė, Vaida; Michailovienė, Vilma; Jachno, Jelena; Matulis, Daumantas

2016-04-01

Human carbonic anhydrase 9th isoform (CA IX) is an important marker of numerous cancers and is increasingly interesting as a potential anticancer drug target. Various synthetic aromatic sulfonamide-bearing compounds are being designed as potent inhibitors of CA IX. However, sulfonamide compound binding to CA IX is linked to several reactions, the deprotonation of the sulfonamide amino group and the protonation of the CA active site Zn(II)-bound hydroxide. These linked reactions significantly affect the affinities and other thermodynamic parameters such as enthalpies and entropies of binding. The observed and intrinsic affinities of compound binding to CA IX were determined by the fluorescent thermal shift assay. The enthalpies and entropies of binding were determined by the isothermal titration calorimetry. The pKa of CA IX was determined to be 6.8 and the enthalpy of CA IX-Zn(II)-bound hydroxide protonation was -24 kJ/mol. These values enabled the analysis of intrinsic thermodynamics of a library of compounds binding to CA IX. The most strongly binding compounds exhibited the intrinsic affinity of 0.01 nM and the observed affinity of 2 nM. The intrinsic thermodynamic parameters of compound binding to CA IX helped to draw the compound structure to thermodynamics relationship. It is important to distinguish the intrinsic from observed parameters of any disease target protein interaction with its inhibitors as drug candidates when drawing detailed compound structure to thermodynamics correlations. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Examining intrinsic versus extrinsic exercise goals: cognitive, affective, and behavioral outcomes.

Science.gov (United States)

Sebire, Simon J; Standage, Martyn; Vansteenkiste, Maarten

2009-04-01

Grounded in self-determination theory (SDT), this study had two purposes: (a) examine the associations between intrinsic (relative to extrinsic) exercise goal content and cognitive, affective, and behavioral outcomes; and (b) test the mediating role of psychological need satisfaction in the Exercise Goal Content --> Outcomes relationship. Using a sample of 410 adults, hierarchical regression analysis showed relative intrinsic goal content to positively predict physical self-worth, self-reported exercise behavior, psychological well-being, and psychological need satisfaction and negatively predict exercise anxiety. Except for exercise behavior, the predictive utility of relative intrinsic goal content on the dependent variables of interest remained significant after controlling for participants' relative self-determined exercise motivation. Structural equation modeling analyses showed psychological need satisfaction to partially mediate the effect of relative intrinsic goal content on the outcome variables. Our findings support further investigation of exercise goals commensurate with the goal content perspective advanced in SDT.

Intrinsic and task-evoked network architectures of the human brain

Science.gov (United States)

Cole, Michael W.; Bassett, Danielle S.; Power, Jonathan D.; Braver, Todd S.; Petersen, Steven E.

2014-01-01

Summary Many functional network properties of the human brain have been identified during rest and task states, yet it remains unclear how the two relate. We identified a whole-brain network architecture present across dozens of task states that was highly similar to the resting-state network architecture. The most frequent functional connectivity strengths across tasks closely matched the strengths observed at rest, suggesting this is an “intrinsic”, standard architecture of functional brain organization. Further, a set of small but consistent changes common across tasks suggests the existence of a task-general network architecture distinguishing task states from rest. These results indicate the brain’s functional network architecture during task performance is shaped primarily by an intrinsic network architecture that is also present during rest, and secondarily by evoked task-general and task-specific network changes. This establishes a strong relationship between resting-state functional connectivity and task-evoked functional connectivity – areas of neuroscientific inquiry typically considered separately. PMID:24991964

Intrinsic motivation and extrinsic incentives jointly predict performance: a 40-year meta-analysis.

Science.gov (United States)

Cerasoli, Christopher P; Nicklin, Jessica M; Ford, Michael T

2014-07-01

More than 4 decades of research and 9 meta-analyses have focused on the undermining effect: namely, the debate over whether the provision of extrinsic incentives erodes intrinsic motivation. This review and meta-analysis builds on such previous reviews by focusing on the interrelationship among intrinsic motivation, extrinsic incentives, and performance, with reference to 2 moderators: performance type (quality vs. quantity) and incentive contingency (directly performance-salient vs. indirectly performance-salient), which have not been systematically reviewed to date. Based on random-effects meta-analytic methods, findings from school, work, and physical domains (k = 183, N = 212,468) indicate that intrinsic motivation is a medium to strong predictor of performance (ρ = .21-45). The importance of intrinsic motivation to performance remained in place whether incentives were presented. In addition, incentive salience influenced the predictive validity of intrinsic motivation for performance: In a "crowding out" fashion, intrinsic motivation was less important to performance when incentives were directly tied to performance and was more important when incentives were indirectly tied to performance. Considered simultaneously through meta-analytic regression, intrinsic motivation predicted more unique variance in quality of performance, whereas incentives were a better predictor of quantity of performance. With respect to performance, incentives and intrinsic motivation are not necessarily antagonistic and are best considered simultaneously. Future research should consider using nonperformance criteria (e.g., well-being, job satisfaction) as well as applying the percent-of-maximum-possible (POMP) method in meta-analyses. PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2014 APA, all rights reserved.

Fluxons in long and annular intrinsic Josephson junction stacks

CERN Document Server

Clauss, T; Moessle, M; Müller, A; Weber, A; Kölle, D; Kleiner, R

2002-01-01

A promising approach towards a THz oscillator based on intrinsic Josephson junctions in high-temperature superconductors is based on the collective motion of Josephson fluxons, which are predicted to form various configurations ranging from a triangular to a quadratic lattice. Not only for this reason, but certainly also for the sake of basic physics, several experimental and theoretical investigations have been done on the subject of collective fluxon dynamics in stacked intrinsic Josephson junctions. In this paper we will present some experimental results on the fluxon dynamics of long intrinsic Josephson junction stacks made of Bi sub 2 Sr sub 2 CaCu sub 2 O sub 8. The stacks were formed either in an open or in an annular geometry, and clear resonant fluxon modes were observed. Experiments discussed include measurements of current-voltage characteristics in external magnetic fields and in external microwave fields.

Intrinsic motivation and learning in a schizophrenia spectrum sample.

Science.gov (United States)

Choi, Jimmy; Medalia, Alice

2010-05-01

A motivation is a telling hallmark of negative symptomatology in schizophrenia, and it impacts nearly every facet of behavior, including inclination to attempt the difficult cognitive tasks involved in cognitive remediation therapy. Experiences of external reward, reinforcement, and hedonic anticipatory enjoyment are diminished in psychosis, so therapeutics which instead target intrinsic motivation for cognitive tasks may enhance task engagement, and subsequently, remediation outcome. We examined whether outpatients could attain benefits from an intrinsically motivating instructional approach which (a) presents learning materials in a meaningful game-like context, (b) personalizes elements of the learning materials into themes of high interest value, and (c) offers choices so patients can increase their control over the learning process. We directly compared one learning method that incorporated the motivational paradigm into an arithmetic learning program against another method that carefully manipulated out the motivational variables in the same learning program. Fifty-seven subjects with schizophrenia or schizoaffective disorder were randomly assigned to one of the two learning programs for 10 thirty-minute sessions while an intent-to-treat convenience subsample (n=15) was used to account for practice effect. Outcome measures were arithmetic learning, attention, motivation, self competency, and symptom severity. Results showed the motivational group (a) acquired more arithmetic skill, (b) possessed greater intrinsic motivation for the task, (c) reported greater feelings of self competency post-treatment, and (d) demonstrated better post-test attention. Interestingly, baseline perception of self competency was a significant predictor of post-test arithmetic scores. Results demonstrated that incorporating intrinsically motivating instructional techniques into a difficult cognitive task promoted greater learning of the material, higher levels of intrinsic

Functions of intrinsic disorder in transmembrane proteins

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Kjaergaard, Magnus; Kragelund, Birthe B.

2017-01-01

Intrinsic disorder is common in integral membrane proteins, particularly in the intracellular domains. Despite this observation, these domains are not always recognized as being disordered. In this review, we will discuss the biological functions of intrinsically disordered regions of membrane...... receptors. The functions of the disordered regions are many and varied. We will discuss selected examples including: (1) Organization of receptors, kinases, phosphatases and second messenger sources into signaling complexes. (2) Modulation of the membrane-embedded domain function by ball-and-chain like...... mechanisms. (3) Trafficking of membrane proteins. (4) Transient membrane associations. (5) Post-translational modifications most notably phosphorylation and (6) disorder-linked isoform dependent function. We finish the review by discussing the future challenges facing the membrane protein community regarding...

Survey of intrinsic states of light nuclei

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Brink, D.M.

1975-01-01

The resonating group method and the generator coordinate method are two closely related theories of nuclear structure which can be used to construct wave functions describing cluster structures. In both cases the form of the intrinsic state implies a selection of those degrees of freedom which are regarded as being important for the problem under consideration. The form of the intrinsic state also corresponds to a particular truncation of the shell model space. In the resonating group method the effect of the Pauli principle leads to forbidden or redundant states of relative motion of clusters. An improved understanding of the role of forbidden states in the theory has led to important advances in the phenomenological description of cluster structures in nuclei. 3 tables, 2 figures

What's in a name? : Why these proteins are intrinsically disordered: Why these proteins are intrinsically disordered

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Dunker, A Keith; Babu, M Madan; Barbar, Elisar; Blackledge, Martin; Bondos, Sarah E; Dosztányi, Zsuzsanna; Dyson, H Jane; Forman-Kay, Julie; Fuxreiter, Monika; Gsponer, Jörg; Han, Kyou-Hoon; Jones, David T; Longhi, Sonia; Metallo, Steven J; Nishikawa, Ken; Nussinov, Ruth; Obradovic, Zoran; Pappu, Rohit V; Rost, Burkhard; Selenko, Philipp; Subramaniam, Vinod; Sussman, Joel L; Tompa, Peter; Uversky, Vladimir N

2013-01-01

"What's in a name? That which we call a rose By any other name would smell as sweet." From "Romeo and Juliet", William Shakespeare (1594) This article opens a series of publications on disambiguation of the basic terms used in the field of intrinsically disordered proteins. We start from the

Correction for intrinsic and set dead-time losses in radioactivity counting

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Wyllie, H.A.

1992-12-01

Equations are derived for the determination of the intrinsic dead time of the components which precede the paralysis unit in a counting system for measuring radioactivity. The determination depends on the extension of the set dead time by the intrinsic dead time. Improved formulae are given for the dead-time correction of the count rate of a radioactive source in a single-channel system. A variable in the formulae is the intrinsic dead time which is determined concurrently with the counting of the source. The only extra equipment required in a conventional system is a scaler. 5 refs., 2 tabs., 21 figs

Patterns of intrinsic bioremediation at two U.S. Air Force bases

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Wiedemeier, T.H.; Swanson, M.A.; Wilson, J.T.; Kampbell, D.H.

1995-01-01

Intrinsic bioremediation of benzene, toluene, ethylbenzene, and xylenes (BTEX) occurs when indigenous microorganisms work to reduce the total mass of contamination in the subsurface without the addition of nutrients. A conservative tracer, such as trimethylbenzene, found commingled with the contaminant plume can be used to distinguish between attenuation caused by dispersion, dilution from recharge, volatilization, and sorption and attenuation caused by biodegradation. Patterns of intrinsic bioremediation can vary markedly from site to site depending on governing physical, biological, and chemical processes. Intrinsic bioremediation causes measurable changes in groundwater chemistry. Specifically, concentrations of contaminants, dissolved oxygen, nitrate, ferrous iron, sulfate, and methane in groundwater change both temporally and spatially as biodegradation proceeds Operations at Hill Air Force Base (AFB) and Patrick AFB resulted in fuel-hydrocarbon contamination of soil and groundwater. In both cases, trimethylbenzene data confirm that dissolved BTEX is biodegrading. Geochemical evidence from the Hill AFB site suggests that aerobic respiration, denitrification, iron reduction, sulfate reduction, and methanogenesis all are contributing to intrinsic bioremediation of dissolved BTEX. Sulfate reduction is the dominant biodegradation mechanism at this site. Geochemical evidence from Patrick AFB suggests that aerobic respiration, iron reduction, and methanogenesis are contributing to intrinsic bioremediation of dissolved BTEX. Methanogenesis is the dominant biodegradation mechanism at this site