Environmental effects on the structure of the G-matrix.

Science.gov (United States)

Wood, Corlett W; Brodie, Edmund D

2015-11-01

Genetic correlations between traits determine the multivariate response to selection in the short term, and thereby play a causal role in evolutionary change. Although individual studies have documented environmentally induced changes in genetic correlations, the nature and extent of environmental effects on multivariate genetic architecture across species and environments remain largely uncharacterized. We reviewed the literature for estimates of the genetic variance-covariance (G) matrix in multiple environments, and compared differences in G between environments to the divergence in G between conspecific populations (measured in a common garden). We found that the predicted evolutionary trajectory differed as strongly between environments as it did between populations. Between-environment differences in the underlying structure of G (total genetic variance and the relative magnitude and orientation of genetic correlations) were equal to or greater than between-population differences. Neither environmental novelty, nor the difference in mean phenotype predicted these differences in G. Our results suggest that environmental effects on multivariate genetic architecture may be comparable to the divergence that accumulates over dozens or hundreds of generations between populations. We outline avenues of future research to address the limitations of existing data and characterize the extent to which lability in genetic correlations shapes evolution in changing environments. © 2015 The Author(s). Evolution © 2015 The Society for the Study of Evolution.

Environmental effects monitoring for exploration drilling

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Buchanan, R.A.; Cook, J.A.; Mathieu, A.

2003-01-01

Strategies for monitoring the environmental effects of single exploratory offshore wells on the east coast of Canada were evaluated. The report was compiled from consultations with scientists, regulators and stakeholders as well as a review of regulatory regimes and toxicity results. The aim of the report was to develop a decision tree for determining when to conduct environmental effects monitoring (EEM). Respondents evinced lower levels of concern for single exploratory wells than for production developments. A number of scientists argued for full statistical treatment of all data, and many people argued that more assurance was needed that the marine environment was not being unduly harmed. Respondents also considered that biological effects should be a primary focus, rather than the occurrence of trace chemical signals, and that seabirds and mammals should be monitored. Concern was expressed over the value of data collected from monitoring the effects of exploratory drilling activities. It was suggested that local and site-specific issues should be considered in the design of EEM programs. Respondents expressed strong concern about potential cumulative effects with other industrial activities, and suggested that test cases should be established and monitored to develop a scientific rationale for the inclusion or exclusion of specific variables in future EEM programs. A decision tree was developed based on 3 scenarios: (1) compliance monitoring only in well known areas with no sensitive issues; opportunistic EEM surveys of sediments, benthos, seabirds and marine mammals in shallow or deep areas with no known sensitive issues; and (3) custom EEM surveys for sensitive areas. Currently, there are EEM requirements for drilling exploratory wells offshore Canada's east coast. 58 refs., 2 tabs., 7 figs

Environmental law in Denmark

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Basse, Ellen Margrethe

Modern Danish environmental law has a strong international dimension due to membership of EU and participation in global and regional agreements. The concept of transnational law that includes EU environmental law that has vertical as well as horizontal effects across jurisdictions binding national...

Valuation of environmental effects long into the future; Verdsetting av miljoeeffekter langt fram i tid

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Vennemo, Haakon

1997-12-31

This report documents a study of how long-time environmental effects can be valued within an economic calculation and why these effects often obtain low values. The first part of the report describes how to value long-time effects in the analysis. The second part discusses the results of an enquiry called ``Your attitude to discounting``, in which economists, natural scientists, engineers and other people were asked how, on behalf of society, they would assess various investment projects with and without environmental effects. They were also asked about their opinion on discounting and discount rate. Economists are found to give priority to environmental investments differently from other people and for two reasons. They know little about long-term environmental effects, and they differ in opinion from other people about how serious the long-term environmental effects really are. This may explain why many economic analyses value long-time environmental effects lower than non-economists think would be right. Non-economists, on the other hand, have a strong opinion on the basic environmental issues, but they are not familiar with valuation considerations and external conditions, shadow prices etc. Of the natural scientists, 75% suggested the optimum discount rate should be set to zero; although zero is hardly manifest in their selection among the suggested investment projects. The report concludes that the economists have work to do in communicating the finely differentiated possibilities of the pricing system in handling long-time environmental effects. 27 refs., 1 fig.

Strong drifts effects on neoclassical transport

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Tessarotto, M.; Gregoratto, D.; White, R.B.

1996-01-01

It is well known that strong drifts play an important role in plasma equilibrium, stability and confinement A significant example concerns, in particular for tokamak plasmas, the case of strong toroidal differential rotation produced by E x B drift which is currently regarded as potentially important for its influence in equilibrium, stability and transport. In fact, theoretically, it has been found that shear flow can substantially affect the stability of microinstabilities as well modify substantially transport. Recent experimental observations of enhanced confinement and transport regimes in Tokamaks, show, however, evidence of the existence of strong drifts in the plasma core. These are produced not only by the radial electric field [which gives rise to the E x B drift], but also by density [N s ], temperature [T s ] and mass flow [V = ωRe var-phi , with e var-phi the toroidal unit vector, R the distance for the symmetry axis of the torus and ω being the toroidal angular rotation velocity] profiles which are suitably steep. This implies that, in a significant part of the plasma core, the relevant scale lengths of the gradients [of N s , T s , ω], i.e., respectively L N , L T and L ω can be as large as the radial scale length characterizing the banana orbits, L b . Interestingly enough, the transport estimates obtained appear close or even lower than the predictions based on the simplest neoclassical model. However, as is well known, the latter applies, in a strict sense only in the case of weak drifts and also ignoring even the contribution of shear flow related to strong E x B drift. Thus a fundamental problem appears the extension of neoclassical transport theory to include the effect of strong drifts in Tokamak confinement systems. The goal of this investigation is to develop a general formulation of neoclassical transport embodying such important feature

A surplus production model including environmental effects: Application to the Senegalese white shrimp stocks

Science.gov (United States)

Thiaw, Modou; Gascuel, Didier; Jouffre, Didier; Thiaw, Omar Thiom

2009-12-01

In Senegal, two stocks of white shrimp ( Penaeusnotialis) are intensively exploited, one in the north and another in the south. We used surplus production models including environmental effects to analyse their changes in abundance over the past 10 years and to estimate their Maximum Sustainable Yield (MSY) and the related fishing effort ( EMSY). First, yearly abundance indices were estimated from commercial statistics using GLM techniques. Then, two environmental indices were alternatively tested in the model: the coastal upwelling intensity from wind speeds provided by the SeaWifs database and the primary production derived from satellite infrared images of chlorophyll a. Models were fitted, with or without the environmental effect, to the 1996-2005 time series. They express stock abundance and catches as functions of the fishing effort and the environmental index (when considered). For the northern stock, fishing effort and abundance fluctuate over the period without any clear trends. The model based on the upwelling index explains 64.9% of the year-to-year variability. It shows that the stock was slightly overexploited in 2002-2003 and is now close to full exploitation. Stock abundance strongly depends on environmental conditions; consequently, the MSY estimate varies from 300 to 900 tons according to the upwelling intensity. For the southern stock, fishing effort has strongly increased over the past 10 years, while abundance has been reduced 4-fold. The environment has a significant effect on abundance but only explains a small part of the year-to-year variability. The best fit is obtained using the primary production index ( R2 = 0.75), and the stock is now significantly overfished regardless of environmental conditions. MSY varies from 1200 to 1800 tons according to environmental conditions. Finally, in northern Senegal, the upwelling is highly variable from year to year and constitutes the major factor determining productivity. In the south, hydrodynamic

Corporate environmental management

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Madsen, Henning; Ulhøi, John Parm

With increasing population and economic growth and related demand for energy and natural resources as well, pollution, waste production and environmental sustainability have become issues of uttermost importance. For quite some time self-regulation, i.e. voluntary implementation of environmental......: how does industry respond to the environmental challenge? The paper concludes that despite the apparent attractiveness of self-regulation in industry, voluntary options tend not to be widely adopted thus pointing to a continued strong need for an effective regulation of industry’s environmental...

Strong environmental coupling in a Josephson parametric amplifier

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Mutus, J. Y.; White, T. C.; Barends, R.; Chen, Yu; Chen, Z.; Chiaro, B.; Dunsworth, A.; Jeffrey, E.; Kelly, J.; Neill, C.; O'Malley, P. J. J.; Roushan, P.; Sank, D.; Vainsencher, A.; Wenner, J.; Cleland, A. N.; Martinis, John M.; Megrant, A.; Sundqvist, K. M.

2014-01-01

We present a lumped-element Josephson parametric amplifier designed to operate with strong coupling to the environment. In this regime, we observe broadband frequency dependent amplification with multi-peaked gain profiles. We account for this behavior using the “pumpistor” model which allows for frequency dependent variation of the external impedance. Using this understanding, we demonstrate control over the complexity of gain profiles through added variation in the environment impedance at a given frequency. With strong coupling to a suitable external impedance, we observe a significant increase in dynamic range, and large amplification bandwidth up to 700 MHz giving near quantum-limited performance.

Strong gravity effects in accreting black-hole systems

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Niedzwiecki, A.

2006-01-01

I briefly review current status of studying effects of strong gravity in X-ray astronomy. Matter accreting onto a black hole probes the relativistic region of space-time and the high-energy radiation it produces should contain signatures of strong gravity effects. Current X-ray observations provide the evidence that the observed emission originates, in some cases, at a distance of a few gravitational radii from a black hole. Moreover, certain observations invoke interpretations favouring rapid rotation of the black hole. Some observational properties of black hole systems are supposed to result from the lack of a material surface in these objects. I consider further effects, specific for the black hole environment, which can be studied in X-ray data. Bulk motion Comptonization, which would directly reveal converging flow of matter plunging into a black hole, is unlikely to be important in formation of X-ray spectra. Similarly, Penrose processes are unlikely to give observational effects, although this issue has not been thoroughly studied so far for all plausible radiative mechanisms. (author)

Fitness Effects of Chlorpyrifos in the Damselfly Enallagma cyathigerum Strongly Depend upon Temperature and Food Level and Can Bridge Metamorphosis

Science.gov (United States)

Janssens, Lizanne; Stoks, Robby

2013-01-01

Interactions between pollutants and suboptimal environmental conditions can have severe consequences for the toxicity of pollutants, yet are still poorly understood. To identify patterns across environmental conditions and across fitness-related variables we exposed Enallagma cyathigerum damselfly larvae to the pesticide chlorpyrifos at two food levels or at two temperatures and quantified four fitness-related variables (larval survival, development time, mass at emergence and adult cold resistance). Food level and temperature did not affect survival in the absence of the pesticide, yet the pesticide reduced survival only at the high temperature. Animals reacted to the pesticide by accelerating their development but only at the high food level and at the low temperature; at the low food level, however, pesticide exposure resulted in a slower development. Chlorpyrifos exposure resulted in smaller adults except in animals reared at the high food level. Animals reared at the low food level and at the low temperature had a higher cold resistance which was not affected by the pesticide. In summary our study highlight that combined effects of exposure to chlorpyrifos and the two environmental conditions (i) were mostly interactive and sometimes even reversed in comparison with the effect of the environmental condition in isolation, (ii) strongly differed depending on the fitness-related variable under study, (iii) were not always predictable based on the effect of the environmental condition in isolation, and (iv) bridged metamorphosis depending on which environmental condition was combined with the pesticide thereby potentially carrying over from aquatic to terrestrial ecosystems. These findings are relevant when extrapolating results of laboratory tests done under ideal environmental conditions to natural communities. PMID:23840819

Fitness Effects of Chlorpyrifos in the Damselfly Enallagma cyathigerum Strongly Depend upon Temperature and Food Level and Can Bridge Metamorphosis.

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Lizanne Janssens

Full Text Available Interactions between pollutants and suboptimal environmental conditions can have severe consequences for the toxicity of pollutants, yet are still poorly understood. To identify patterns across environmental conditions and across fitness-related variables we exposed Enallagma cyathigerum damselfly larvae to the pesticide chlorpyrifos at two food levels or at two temperatures and quantified four fitness-related variables (larval survival, development time, mass at emergence and adult cold resistance. Food level and temperature did not affect survival in the absence of the pesticide, yet the pesticide reduced survival only at the high temperature. Animals reacted to the pesticide by accelerating their development but only at the high food level and at the low temperature; at the low food level, however, pesticide exposure resulted in a slower development. Chlorpyrifos exposure resulted in smaller adults except in animals reared at the high food level. Animals reared at the low food level and at the low temperature had a higher cold resistance which was not affected by the pesticide. In summary our study highlight that combined effects of exposure to chlorpyrifos and the two environmental conditions (i were mostly interactive and sometimes even reversed in comparison with the effect of the environmental condition in isolation, (ii strongly differed depending on the fitness-related variable under study, (iii were not always predictable based on the effect of the environmental condition in isolation, and (iv bridged metamorphosis depending on which environmental condition was combined with the pesticide thereby potentially carrying over from aquatic to terrestrial ecosystems. These findings are relevant when extrapolating results of laboratory tests done under ideal environmental conditions to natural communities.

Strong-coupling polaron effect in quantum dots

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Zhu Kadi; Gu Shiwei

1993-11-01

Strong-coupling polaron in a parabolic quantum dot is investigated by the Landau-Pekar variational treatment. The polaron binding energy and the average number of virtual phonons around the electron as a function of the effective confinement length of the quantum dot are obtained in Gaussian function approximation. It is shown that both the polaron binding energy and the average number of virtual phonons around the electron decrease by increasing the effective confinement length. The results indicate that the polaronic effects are more pronounced in quantum dots than those in two-dimensional and three-dimensional cases. (author). 15 refs, 4 figs

15 CFR 971.406 - Environmental effects.

Science.gov (United States)

2010-01-01

... 15 Commerce and Foreign Trade 3 2010-01-01 2010-01-01 false Environmental effects. 971.406 Section... ENVIRONMENTAL DATA SERVICE DEEP SEABED MINING REGULATIONS FOR COMMERCIAL RECOVERY PERMITS Issuance/Transfer....406 Environmental effects. Before issuing or transferring a commercial recovery permit, the...

Cardiovascular effects of environmental noise: Research in Austria

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Peter Lercher

2011-01-01

Full Text Available Cardiovascular effects of noise rank second in terms of disability-adjusted life year (DALYs after annoyance. Although research during the past decade has consolidated the available data base, the most recent meta-analysis still shows wide confidence intervals - indicating imprecise information for public health risk assessment. The alpine area of Tyrol in the Austrian part of the Alps has experienced a massive increase in car and heavy goods traffic (road and rail during the last 35 years. Over the past 25 years small-, middle-, and large-sized epidemiological health surveys have been conducted - mostly within the framework of environmental health impact assessments. By design, these studies have emphasized a contextually driven environmental stress perspective, where the adverse health effects on account of noise are studied in a broader framework of environmental health, susceptibility, and coping. Furthermore, innovative exposure assessment strategies have been implemented. This article reviews the existing knowledge from these studies over time, and presents the exposure-response curves, with and without interaction assessment, based on standardized re-analyses and discusses it in the light of past and current cardiovascular noise effects research. The findings support relevant moderation by age, gender, and family history in nearly all studies and suggest a strong need for consideration of non-linearity in the exposure-response analyses. On the other hand, air pollution has not played a relevant role as a moderator in the noise-hypertension or the noise-angina pectoris relationship. Finally, different noise modeling procedures can introduce variations in the exposure response curves, with substantive consequences for public health risk assessment of noise exposure.

Characterization of Candidate Solar Sail Material Exposed to Space Environmental Effects

Science.gov (United States)

Edwards, David; Hovater, Mary; Hubbs, Whitney; Wertz, George; Hollerman, William; Gray, Perry

2003-01-01

Solar sailing is a unique form of propulsion where a spacecraft gains momentum from incident photons. Solar sails are not limited by reaction mass and provide continual acceleration, reduced only by the lifetime of the lightweight film in the space environment and the distance to the Sun. Once thought to be difficult or impossible, solar sailing has come out of science fiction and into the realm of possibility. Any spacecraft using this method would need to deploy a thin sail that could be as large as many kilometers in extent. The availability of strong, ultra lightweight, and radiation resistant materials will determine the future of solar sailing. The National Aeronautics and Space Administration's Marshall Space Flight Center (MSFC) is concentrating research into the utilization of ultra lightweight materials for spacecraft propulsion. The Space Environmental Effects Team at MSFC is actively characterizing candidate solar sail material to evaluate the thermo-optical and mechanical properties after exposure to space environmental effects. This paper will describe the exposure of candidate solar sail materials to emulated space environmental effects including energetic electrons, combined electrons and Ultraviolet radiation, and hypervelocity impact of irradiated solar sail material. This paper will describe the testing procedure and the material characterization results of this investigation.

Effective lagrangian for strong interactions

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Jain, P.

1988-01-01

We attempt to construct a realistic phenomenological Lagrangian in order to describe strong interactions. This is in general a very complicated problem and we shall explore its various aspects. We first include the vector mesons by writing down the most general chiral invariant terms proportional to the Levi-Civita symbol ε μναβ . These terms involve three unknown coefficients, which are calculated by using the experimental results of strong interaction processes. We then calculate the static nucleon properties by finding the solitonic excitations of this model. The results turn out to be, as is also the case for most other vector-pseudoscalar Lagrangians, better than the Skyrme model but are still somewhat different from the experiments. Another aspect that we shall study is the incorporation of scale anomaly of QCD into the Skyrme model. We thus introduce a scalar glueball in our Lagrangian. Here we find an interesting result that the effective glue field dynamically forms a bag for the soliton. Depending on the values of the parameters, we get either a deep bag or a shallow bag. However by including the scalar meson, we find that to get realistic scalar sector we must have the shallow bag. Finally we show some intriguing connections between the chiral quark model, in which the nucleon is described as a solitonic excitation, and the ordinary potential binding quark model

The Relationship between Environmental Tobacco Smoke Exposure and Cardiovascular Disease and the Potential Modifying Effect of Diet in a Prospective Cohort among American Indians: The Strong Heart Study

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Sarah Rajkumar

2017-05-01

Full Text Available American Indians experience high rates of cardiovascular diseases (CVD. Environmental tobacco smoke (ETS has been linked to CVD, possibly due to pro-inflammatory and oxidative stress pathways. We examined the relationship between self-reported exposure to ETS and fatal and nonfatal CVD incidence using Cox proportional hazards models among 1843 non-smoking American Indians participating in the Strong Heart Study. We also evaluated potential modifying effects of several dietary nutrients high in anti-inflammatory and anti-oxidant properties with ETS exposure on fatal and nonfatal CVD by creating interaction terms between ETS exposure and the dietary variable. Participants exposed to ETS had a higher hazard (hazard ratio: 1.22; 95% confidence interval, 1.03 to 1.44 for developing CVD compared to persons not exposed. Interaction analyses suggested stronger effects of ETS on CVD incidence among those consuming diets lower in vitamin E as compared to those consuming higher amounts, particularly on the additive scale. Additional research is recommended to clarify whether public health prevention strategies should simultaneously target reductions in ETS exposures and improvements in diets that may exceed the expected benefits of targeting these risk factors separately.

The quantum Zeno and anti-Zeno effects with strong system-environment coupling.

Science.gov (United States)

Chaudhry, Adam Zaman

2017-05-11

To date, studies of the quantum Zeno and anti-Zeno effects focus on quantum systems that are weakly interacting with their environment. In this paper, we investigate what happens to a quantum system under the action of repeated measurements if the quantum system is strongly interacting with its environment. We consider as the quantum system a single two-level system coupled strongly to a collection of harmonic oscillators. A so-called polaron transformation is then used to make the problem in the strong system-environment coupling regime tractable. We find that the strong coupling case exhibits quantitative and qualitative differences as compared with the weak coupling case. In particular, the effective decay rate does not depend linearly on the spectral density of the environment. This then means that, in the strong coupling regime that we investigate, increasing the system-environment coupling strength can actually decrease the effective decay rate. We also consider a collection of two-level atoms coupled strongly with a common environment. In this case, we find that there are further differences between the weak and strong coupling cases since the two-level atoms can now indirectly interact with one another due to the common environment.

Extended Producer Responsibility and corporate performance: Effects of environmental regulation and environmental strategy.

Science.gov (United States)

Peng, Benhong; Tu, Yu; Elahi, Ehsan; Wei, Guo

2018-07-15

While contemporary manufacturing technologies stimulate the industrial revolution and promote the rapidly changing global economy, it has caused enormous environmental negative externalities and managing the industrial waste remains a primary challenge, especially for fast developing countries such as China. Though existing studies explored the influence of Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR) legislations on environmental externalities, only fewer researches aimed at policy issues. Particularly, the relationship among environmental regulations, environmental strategies and corporate performance in the EPR system has not been deeply investigated. To fill this gap, this research will focus to assess the economic aspect and environmental performance associated with the environmental regulations and strategies. For this purpose, 208 cross-sectional questionnaires were administered with three major high-pollution industries, electrical and electronic, automobile and lead-acid storage battery industries. To accomplish this study objective, we employ a two-step approach: firstly, validity tests for environmental regulation and environmental strategy along with the corporate performance are performed by the factor analysis method, and secondly, the structural equation model is utilized to test the study hypotheses. Results reveal that command and control (CAC) and market-based incentive (MBI) environmental regulations are significantly impacting on the reactive environmental strategy (RES); however, the proactive environmental strategy (PES) only has a significant relationship with MBI regulation. On the other hand, RES only has a significant relationship with the enterprises economics performance, while PES has a statistically significant relationship with both economic and environmental performance of enterprises. Therefore, the central government and its local offices are strongly urged to coordinate the industries by making, implementing and monitoring necessary and

Effect of environmental conditions on the fatty acid fingerprint of microbial communities

Science.gov (United States)

Biryukov, Mikhail; Dippold, Michaela; Kuzyakov, Yakov

2014-05-01

Lipid biomarkers, especially phospholipids, are routinely used to characterize microbial community structure in environmental samples. Interpretations of these fingerprints mainly depend on rare results of pure cultures which were cultivated under standardized batch conditions. However, membrane lipids (e.g. phopholipid biomarker) build up the interface between microorganisms and their environment and consequently are prone to be adapted according to the environmental conditions. We cultivated several bacteria, isolated from soil (gram-positive and gram-negative) under various conditions e.g. C supply and temperature regimes. Effect of growth conditions on phospholipids fatty acid (PLFA) as well as neutral lipid fatty acids (NLFA) and glycolipid fatty acids (GLFA) was investigated by conventional method of extraction and derivatization, followed by assessments with gas chromatography mass spectrometry (GC-MS). In addition, phospholipids were measured as intact molecules by ultra high performance liquid chromatography - quadrupole - time of flight mass spectrometer (UHPLC-Q-ToF) to further assess the composition of headgroups with fatty acids residues and their response on changing environmental conditions. PLFA fingerprints revealed a strong effect of growth stage, C supply and temperature e.g. decrease of temperature increased the amount of branched and/or unsaturated fatty acids to maintain the membrane fluidity. This strongly changes the ratio of specific to unspecific fatty acids depending on environmental conditions. Therefore, amounts of specific fatty acids cannot be used to assess biomass of a functional microbial group in soil. Intracellular neutral lipids depended less on environmental conditions reflecting a more stable biomarker group but also showed less specific fatty acids then PLFA. Therefore, combination of several lipid classes is suggested as more powerful tool to assess amounts and functionality of environmental microbial communities. Further

Nontrivial effects of high-frequency excitation for strongly damped mechanical systems

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Fidlin, Alexander; Thomsen, Jon Juel

Some nontrivial effects are investigated, which can occur if strongly damped mechanical systems are subjected to strong high-frequency (HF) excitation. The main result is a theoretical prediction, supported by numerical simulation, that for such systems the (quasi-)equilibrium states can change...... that can be substantial (depending on the strength of the HF excitation) for finite values of the damping. The analysis is focused on the differences between the classic results for weakly damped systems, and new effects for which the strong damping terms are responsible. The analysis is based...... on a slightly modified averaging technique, and includes an elementary example of an elliptically excited pendulum for illustration, alongside with a generalization to a broader class of strongly damped dynamical systems with HF excitation. As an application example, the nontrivial behavior of a classical...

15 CFR 971.602 - Significant adverse environmental effects.

Science.gov (United States)

2010-01-01

... Environmental Effects § 971.602 Significant adverse environmental effects. (a) Determination of significant adverse environmental effects. The Administrator will determine the potential for or the occurrence of any significant adverse environmental effect or impact (for the purposes of sections 103(a)(2)(D), 105(a)(4), 106...

Fault diagnosis for the heat exchanger of the aircraft environmental control system based on the strong tracking filter.

Science.gov (United States)

Ma, Jian; Lu, Chen; Liu, Hongmei

2015-01-01

The aircraft environmental control system (ECS) is a critical aircraft system, which provides the appropriate environmental conditions to ensure the safe transport of air passengers and equipment. The functionality and reliability of ECS have received increasing attention in recent years. The heat exchanger is a particularly significant component of the ECS, because its failure decreases the system's efficiency, which can lead to catastrophic consequences. Fault diagnosis of the heat exchanger is necessary to prevent risks. However, two problems hinder the implementation of the heat exchanger fault diagnosis in practice. First, the actual measured parameter of the heat exchanger cannot effectively reflect the fault occurrence, whereas the heat exchanger faults are usually depicted by utilizing the corresponding fault-related state parameters that cannot be measured directly. Second, both the traditional Extended Kalman Filter (EKF) and the EKF-based Double Model Filter have certain disadvantages, such as sensitivity to modeling errors and difficulties in selection of initialization values. To solve the aforementioned problems, this paper presents a fault-related parameter adaptive estimation method based on strong tracking filter (STF) and Modified Bayes classification algorithm for fault detection and failure mode classification of the heat exchanger, respectively. Heat exchanger fault simulation is conducted to generate fault data, through which the proposed methods are validated. The results demonstrate that the proposed methods are capable of providing accurate, stable, and rapid fault diagnosis of the heat exchanger.

Fault diagnosis for the heat exchanger of the aircraft environmental control system based on the strong tracking filter.

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Jian Ma

Full Text Available The aircraft environmental control system (ECS is a critical aircraft system, which provides the appropriate environmental conditions to ensure the safe transport of air passengers and equipment. The functionality and reliability of ECS have received increasing attention in recent years. The heat exchanger is a particularly significant component of the ECS, because its failure decreases the system's efficiency, which can lead to catastrophic consequences. Fault diagnosis of the heat exchanger is necessary to prevent risks. However, two problems hinder the implementation of the heat exchanger fault diagnosis in practice. First, the actual measured parameter of the heat exchanger cannot effectively reflect the fault occurrence, whereas the heat exchanger faults are usually depicted by utilizing the corresponding fault-related state parameters that cannot be measured directly. Second, both the traditional Extended Kalman Filter (EKF and the EKF-based Double Model Filter have certain disadvantages, such as sensitivity to modeling errors and difficulties in selection of initialization values. To solve the aforementioned problems, this paper presents a fault-related parameter adaptive estimation method based on strong tracking filter (STF and Modified Bayes classification algorithm for fault detection and failure mode classification of the heat exchanger, respectively. Heat exchanger fault simulation is conducted to generate fault data, through which the proposed methods are validated. The results demonstrate that the proposed methods are capable of providing accurate, stable, and rapid fault diagnosis of the heat exchanger.

Mediation of seed provisioning in the transmission of environmental maternal effects in Maritime pine (Pinus pinaster Aiton).

Science.gov (United States)

Zas, R; Cendán, C; Sampedro, L

2013-09-01

Although maternal environmental effects are increasingly recognized as an important source of phenotypic variation with relevant impacts in evolutionary processes, their relevance in long-lived plants such as pine trees is largely unknown. Here, we used a powerful sample size and a strong quantitative genetic approach to analyse the sources of variation of early seedling performance and to identify seed mass (SM)-dependent and -independent maternal environmental effects in Maritime pine. We measured SM of 8924 individual seeds collected from 10 genotypes clonally replicated in two environments of contrasting quality (favourable and stressful), and we measured seedling growth rate and biomass allocation to roots and shoots. SM was extremely variable (up to 14-fold) and strongly determined by the maternal environment and the genotype of the mother tree. The favourable maternal environment led to larger cones, larger seeds and reduced SM variability. The maternal environment also determined the offspring phenotype, with seedlings coming from the favourable environment being 35% larger and with greater root/shoot ratio. Transgenerational plasticity appears, thus, to be a relevant source of phenotypic variation in the early performance of this pine species. Seed provisioning explained most of the effect of the maternal environment on seedling total biomass. Environmental maternal effects on seedling biomass allocation were, however, determined through SM-independent mechanisms, suggesting that other epigenetic regulation channels may be involved.

The effect of fossil energy and other environmental taxes on profit incentives for change in an open economy: Evidence from the UK

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Webster, Allan; Ayatakshi, Sukanya

2013-01-01

This paper argues that the underlying supply and demand analysis of fossil energy and other environmental taxes needs further elaboration when a country (a) introduces national fossil energy or environmental taxes and (b) is open to international trade at given world prices. We provide evidence that such conditions are plausible for many sectors in the UK. A key implication is that the short run effects of such taxes should not be felt in final good prices, since these are determined in world markets, but in terms of underlying profitability. These changes in underlying profits provide two key incentives for producers—to change to more environmentally friendly production techniques and to switch resources to production of less environmentally harmful goods. Using input—output techniques we provide evidence for the UK to show how existing fossil energy and other “green” taxes have affected underlying profitability. The evidence shows quite strong profit incentives to shift resources from a small number of energy intensive industries to others. - Highlights: • Energy taxes affect profits more than prices for sectors trading at world prices. • This study suggests that many sectors in the UK satisfy these conditions. • Our evidence suggests that few sectors are strongly affected by energy taxes. • Energy taxes have a strong effect relative to other possible environmental taxes

Nontrivial effects of high-frequency excitation for strongly damped mechanical systems

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Fidlin, Alexander; Thomsen, Jon Juel

2008-01-01

Some non-trivial effects are investigated, which can occur if strongly damped mechanical systems are subjected to strong high-frequency (HF) excitation. The main result is a theoretical prediction, supported by numerical simulation, that for such systems the (quasi-)equilibrium states can change...... that can be substantial depending on the strength of the HF excitation) for finite values of the damping. The analysis is focused on the differences between the classic results for weakly damped systems, and new effects for which the strong damping terms are responsible. The analysis is based on a slightly...... modified averaging technique, and includes an elementary example of an elliptically excited pendulum for illustration, alongside with a generalization to a broader class of strongly damped dynamical systems with HF excitation. As an application example, the nontrivial behavior of a classical optimally...

Space Environmental Effects Knowledgebase

Science.gov (United States)

Wood, B. E.

2007-01-01

This report describes the results of an NRA funded program entitled Space Environmental Effects Knowledgebase that received funding through a NASA NRA (NRA8-31) and was monitored by personnel in the NASA Space Environmental Effects (SEE) Program. The NASA Project number was 02029. The Satellite Contamination and Materials Outgassing Knowledgebase (SCMOK) was created as a part of the earlier NRA8-20. One of the previous tasks and part of the previously developed Knowledgebase was to accumulate data from facilities using QCMs to measure the outgassing data for satellite materials. The main object of this current program was to increase the number of material outgassing datasets from 250 up to approximately 500. As a part of this effort, a round-robin series of materials outgassing measurements program was also executed that allowed comparison of the results for the same materials tested in 10 different test facilities. Other programs tasks included obtaining datasets or information packages for 1) optical effects of contaminants on optical surfaces, thermal radiators, and sensor systems and 2) space environmental effects data and incorporating these data into the already existing NASA/SEE Knowledgebase.

15 CFR 970.506 - Environmental effects.

Science.gov (United States)

2010-01-01

... 15 Commerce and Foreign Trade 3 2010-01-01 2010-01-01 false Environmental effects. 970.506 Section... Environmental effects. Before issuing or transferring an exploration license, the Administrator must find that... adverse effect on the quality of the environment, taking into account the analyses and information in any...

Energy consumption and environmental effects of passenger transport modes. A life cycle study on passenger transport modes

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Kalenoja, H.

1996-01-01

Energy consumption and environmental effects of different passenger transport modes vary on the different stages of the fuel chain and during the production and maintenance of vehicles and infrastructure. Energy consumption and the environmental effects calculated per passenger mileage depend strongly on the vehicle occupancy. The properties of transport modes on urban areas and on the long distance transport have been evaluated in this study. The energy consumption and environmental effects calculated per passenger mileage have been assessed for passenger car, bus, tram, train, airplane and ferry. The emissions have been evaluated during the whole fuel chain. In this study only the airborne emissions have been taken into account. In the energy consumption calculations the energy content of vehicles and the infrastructure, energy consumption during the fuel chain and during the end use have been taken into consideration. (au)

The influence of environmental factors and dredging on chironomid larval diversity in urban drainage systems in polders strongly influenced by seepage from large rivers

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Vermonden, K.; Brodersen, Klaus Peter; Jacobsen, Dean

2011-01-01

, in urban waters strongly influenced by seepage of large rivers. Chironomid assemblages were studied in urban surface-water systems (man-made drainage ditches) in polder areas along lowland reaches of the rivers Rhine-Meuse in The Netherlands. Multivariate analysis was used to identify the key environmental...... factors. Taxon richness, Shannon index (H'), rareness of species, and life-history strategies at urban locations were compared with available data from similar man-made water bodies in rural areas, and the effectiveness of dredging for restoring chironomid diversity in urban waters was tested. Three...... diversity of chironomid communities in urban waters affected by nutrient-rich seepage or inlet of river water...

Strong correlation effects on surfaces of topological insulators via holography

Science.gov (United States)

Seo, Yunseok; Song, Geunho; Sin, Sang-Jin

2017-07-01

We investigate the effects of strong correlation on the surface state of a topological insulator (TI). We argue that electrons in the regime of crossover from weak antilocalization to weak localization are strongly correlated, and calculate the magnetotransport coefficients of TIs using the gauge-gravity principle. Then, we examine the magnetoconductivity (MC) formula and find excellent agreement with the data of chrome-doped Bi2Te3 in the crossover regime. We also find that the cusplike peak in MC at low doping is absent, which is natural since quasiparticles disappear due to the strong correlation.

Line-of-sight effects in strong lensing: putting theory into practice

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Birrer, Simon; Welschen, Cyril; Amara, Adam; Refregier, Alexandre, E-mail: simon.birrer@phys.ethz.ch, E-mail: cyril.welschen@student.ethz.ch, E-mail: adam.amara@phys.ethz.ch, E-mail: alexandre.refregier@phys.ethz.ch [Institute for Astronomy, Department of Physics, ETH Zurich, Wolfgang-Pauli-Strasse 27, 8093, Zurich (Switzerland)

2017-04-01

We present a simple method to accurately infer line of sight (LOS) integrated lensing effects for galaxy scale strong lens systems through image reconstruction. Our approach enables us to separate weak lensing LOS effects from the main strong lens deflector. We test our method using mock data and show that strong lens systems can be accurate probes of cosmic shear with a precision on the shear terms of ± 0.003 (statistical error) for an HST-like dataset. We apply our formalism to reconstruct the lens COSMOS 0038+4133 and its LOS. In addition, we estimate the LOS properties with a halo-rendering estimate based on the COSMOS field galaxies and a galaxy-halo connection. The two approaches are independent and complementary in their information content. We find that when estimating the convergence at the strong lens system, performing a joint analysis improves the measure by a factor of two compared to a halo model only analysis. Furthermore the constraints of the strong lens reconstruction lead to tighter constraints on the halo masses of the LOS galaxies. Joint constraints of multiple strong lens systems may add valuable information to the galaxy-halo connection and may allow independent weak lensing shear measurement calibrations.

Environmental Variation and Cohort Effects in an Antarctic Predator

Science.gov (United States)

Garrott, Robert A.; Rotella, Jay J.; Siniff, Donald B.; Parkinson, Claire L.; Stauffer, Glenn E.

2011-01-01

Understanding the potential influence of environmental variation experienced by animals during early stages of development on their subsequent demographic performance can contribute to our understanding of population processes and aid in predicting impacts of global climate change on ecosystem functioning. Using data from 4,178 tagged female Weddell seal pups born into 20 different cohorts, and 30 years of observations of the tagged seals, we evaluated the hypothesis that environmental conditions experienced by young seals, either indirectly through maternal effects and/or directly during the initial period of juvenile nutritional independence, have long-term effects on individual demographic performance. We documented an approximately 3-fold difference in the proportion of each cohort that returned to the pupping colonies and produced a pup within the first 10 years after birth. We found only weak evidence for a correlation between annual environmental conditions during the juvenile-independence period and cohort recruitment probability. Instead, the data strongly supported an association between cohort recruitment probability and the regional extent of sea ice experienced by the mother during the winter the pup was in utero. We suggest that inter-annual variation in winter sea-ice extent influences the foraging success of pregnant seals by moderating the regional abundance of competing predators that cannot occupy areas of consolidated sea ice, and by directly influencing the abundance of mid-trophic prey species that are sea-ice obligates. We hypothesize that this environmentally-induced variation in maternal nutrition dictates the extent of maternal energetic investment in offspring, resulting in cohort variation in mean size of pups at weaning which, in turn, contributes to an individual?s phenotype and its ultimate fitness. These linkages between sea ice and trophic dynamics, combined with demonstrated and predicted changes in the duration and extent of sea

Biodiversity effects in the wild are common and as strong as key drivers of productivity.

Science.gov (United States)

Duffy, J Emmett; Godwin, Casey M; Cardinale, Bradley J

2017-09-14

More than 500 controlled experiments have collectively suggested that biodiversity loss reduces ecosystem productivity and stability. Yet the importance of biodiversity in sustaining the world's ecosystems remains controversial, largely because of the lack of validation in nature, where strong abiotic forcing and complex interactions are assumed to swamp biodiversity effects. Here we test this assumption by analysing 133 estimates reported in 67 field studies that statistically separated the effects of biodiversity on biomass production from those of abiotic forcing. Contrary to the prevailing opinion of the previous two decades that biodiversity would have rare or weak effects in nature, we show that biomass production increases with species richness in a wide range of wild taxa and ecosystems. In fact, after controlling for environmental covariates, increases in biomass with biodiversity are stronger in nature than has previously been documented in experiments and comparable to or stronger than the effects of other well-known drivers of productivity, including climate and nutrient availability. These results are consistent with the collective experimental evidence that species richness increases community biomass production, and suggest that the role of biodiversity in maintaining productive ecosystems should figure prominently in global change science and policy.

Dispersion of pollutants, environmental externalities due to a pulverized coal power plant and their effect on the cost of electricity

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Czarnowska, Lucyna; Frangopoulos, Christos A.

2012-01-01

Energy conversion systems generate pollution that causes damages to the environment and the society. The objective of this work is to study the dispersion of pollutants and assess the environmental and social cost due to pollution from such a system. For this purpose, a pulverized coal power plant is selected. Using thermodynamic principles combined with empirical techniques, the quantities of pollutants emitted by the plant are estimated. Then, using the EcoSenseWeb software, which is based on the results of the ExternE project, the external environmental cost (externalities) of pollution is assessed. The plant is considered as located in four different cities in Poland and the externalities are calculated for each city separately. It is shown that the external environmental cost has a strong influence on the unit cost of electricity. In addition, the dispersion of pollutants is presented for the plant located in Olsztyn city. Furthermore, the plant is considered as located near the capitals of European countries and the environmental externalities are calculated for each city. The neighboring countries that are strongly affected by the plant in each particular city are identified. The sensitivity of the unit cost of electricity to certain important parameters is investigated. -- Highlights: ► The external cost of pollution has a significant impact on the cost of electricity. ► The results depend on the particular plant, location and level (local-global). ► Externalities make the installation of abatement equipment economical. ► The source location of emissions has a significant effect on the external cost. ► The transboundary pollution has a strong effect on the environmental cost.

Strong coupling electrostatics for randomly charged surfaces: antifragility and effective interactions.

Science.gov (United States)

Ghodrat, Malihe; Naji, Ali; Komaie-Moghaddam, Haniyeh; Podgornik, Rudolf

2015-05-07

We study the effective interaction mediated by strongly coupled Coulomb fluids between dielectric surfaces carrying quenched, random monopolar charges with equal mean and variance, both when the Coulomb fluid consists only of mobile multivalent counterions and when it consists of an asymmetric ionic mixture containing multivalent and monovalent (salt) ions in equilibrium with an aqueous bulk reservoir. We analyze the consequences that follow from the interplay between surface charge disorder, dielectric and salt image effects, and the strong electrostatic coupling that results from multivalent counterions on the distribution of these ions and the effective interaction pressure they mediate between the surfaces. In a dielectrically homogeneous system, we show that the multivalent counterions are attracted towards the surfaces with a singular, disorder-induced potential that diverges logarithmically on approach to the surfaces, creating a singular but integrable counterion density profile that exhibits an algebraic divergence at the surfaces with an exponent that depends on the surface charge (disorder) variance. This effect drives the system towards a state of lower thermal 'disorder', one that can be described by a renormalized temperature, exhibiting thus a remarkable antifragility. In the presence of an interfacial dielectric discontinuity, the singular behavior of counterion density at the surfaces is removed but multivalent counterions are still accumulated much more strongly close to randomly charged surfaces as compared with uniformly charged ones. The interaction pressure acting on the surfaces displays in general a highly non-monotonic behavior as a function of the inter-surface separation with a prominent regime of attraction at small to intermediate separations. This attraction is caused directly by the combined effects from charge disorder and strong coupling electrostatics of multivalent counterions, which dominate the surface-surface repulsion due to

Attitudes and beliefs, not just knowledge, influence the effectiveness of environmental cleaning by environmental service workers.

Science.gov (United States)

Matlow, Anne G; Wray, Rick; Richardson, Susan E

2012-04-01

Hospital environmental service workers (ESWs) play an important role in interrupting the chain of infection because the environment is a reservoir for nosocomial pathogens. Improving ESWs' knowledge through education has been shown to improve ESW cleaning, but the behavioral determinants of their work have not been studied. Understanding and targeting ESWs' attitudes and beliefs may inform strategies to improve environmental cleaning. With the theory of planned behavior as framework, we used questionnaires and focus groups to examine intensive care unit ESWs' attitudes, beliefs [behavioral, normative, and control], and control) and intent about their job. Baseline quantitative microbial cultures of high-touch services were performed before and after cleaning. After an educational intervention addressing their attitudes, beliefs, and general infection control knowledge, attitudes, beliefs, and microbial contamination were reassessed. Beliefs were uniformly strong (4.5/5-5/5), and normative beliefs correlated best with intent to clean (R(2) = 0.3). Themes elicited from the focus groups included "me versus them," lack of appreciation, pride in work, and "if it were me." The rate of environmental contamination was significantly improved after the intervention (P = .0074 vs P = .0023, respectively); the measured relationship among attitudes, beliefs, and intent was not significantly changed. ESWs' attitudes and beliefs about their job may impact their intent to clean and in turn the effectiveness of their efforts. Understanding and addressing these attitudes and beliefs can be used to inform strategies for sustained improvement of environmental cleaning. Copyright © 2012 Association for Professionals in Infection Control and Epidemiology, Inc. Published by Mosby, Inc. All rights reserved.

[Ethics and prevention: environmental and individual disparities].

Science.gov (United States)

Ricciardi, Claudio

2004-01-01

The complex interactions which exist between environmental variabilities, genetic susceptibility of population subgroups, and high individual variability for age, sex, gender, ethnicity and general status of health, acquire an ever-increasing bioethical significance. Different risk conditions caused by toxic environmental agents and environmental inequities and inequalities are increasingly evident. "Social determinants" of health increase the probability of health effects and an effective intervention of prevision and prevention for environmental pathologies is needed. The debate on environmental inequalities caused by cultural, social and economic factors and the uncertainty about possible prevention emphasize the limits of the "bio-medical model". Ethics with its further anthropological and philosophical considerations may strongly help to understand the relationship between environmental pollution and health.

Environmental assessment in The Netherlands: Effectively governing environmental protection? A discourse analysis

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Runhaar, Hens, E-mail: h.a.c.runhaar@uu.nl [Utrecht University, Copernicus Institute of Sustainable Development, P.O. Box 80,115, 3508 TC Utrecht (Netherlands); Laerhoven, Frank van, E-mail: vanLaerhoven@uu.nl [Utrecht University, Copernicus Institute of Sustainable Development, P.O. Box 80,115, 3508 TC Utrecht (Netherlands); Driessen, Peter, E-mail: p.driessen@uu.nl [Utrecht University, Copernicus Institute of Sustainable Development, P.O. Box 80,115, 3508 TC Utrecht (Netherlands); Arts, Jos, E-mail: e.j.m.m.arts@rug.nl [University of Groningen, Faculty of Planning, P.O. Box 800, 9700 AV Groningen (Netherlands)

2013-02-15

Environmental assessment (EA) aims to enhance environmental awareness and to ensure that environmental values are fully considered in decision-making. In the EA arena, different discourses exist on what EA should aim for and how it functions. We hypothesise that these discourses influence its application in practice as well as its effectiveness in terms of achieving the above goals. For instance, actors who consider EA as a hindrance to fast implementation of their projects will probably apply it as a mandatory checklist, whereas actors who believe that EA can help to develop more environmentally sound decisions will use EIA as a tool to design their initiatives. In this paper we explore discourses on EA in The Netherlands and elaborate on their implications for EA effectiveness. Based on an innovative research design comprising an online survey with 443 respondents and 20 supplementary semi-structured interviews we conclude that the dominant discourse is that EA is mainly a legal requirement; EAs are conducted because they have to be conducted, not because actors choose to do so. EA effectiveness however seems reasonably high, as a majority of respondents perceive that it enhances environmental awareness and contributes to environmental protection. However, the 'legal requirement' discourse also results in decision-makers seldom going beyond what is prescribed by EA and environmental law. Despite its mandatory character, the predominant attitude towards EA is quite positive. For most respondents, EA is instrumental in providing transparency of decision-making and in minimising the legal risks of not complying with environmental laws. Differences in discourses seldom reflect extreme opposites. The 'common ground' regarding EA provides a good basis for working with EA in terms of meeting legal requirements but at the same time does not stimulate creativity in decision-making or optimisation of environmental values. In countries characterised by

Environmental assessment in The Netherlands: Effectively governing environmental protection? A discourse analysis

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Runhaar, Hens; Laerhoven, Frank van; Driessen, Peter; Arts, Jos

2013-01-01

Environmental assessment (EA) aims to enhance environmental awareness and to ensure that environmental values are fully considered in decision-making. In the EA arena, different discourses exist on what EA should aim for and how it functions. We hypothesise that these discourses influence its application in practice as well as its effectiveness in terms of achieving the above goals. For instance, actors who consider EA as a hindrance to fast implementation of their projects will probably apply it as a mandatory checklist, whereas actors who believe that EA can help to develop more environmentally sound decisions will use EIA as a tool to design their initiatives. In this paper we explore discourses on EA in The Netherlands and elaborate on their implications for EA effectiveness. Based on an innovative research design comprising an online survey with 443 respondents and 20 supplementary semi-structured interviews we conclude that the dominant discourse is that EA is mainly a legal requirement; EAs are conducted because they have to be conducted, not because actors choose to do so. EA effectiveness however seems reasonably high, as a majority of respondents perceive that it enhances environmental awareness and contributes to environmental protection. However, the ‘legal requirement’ discourse also results in decision-makers seldom going beyond what is prescribed by EA and environmental law. Despite its mandatory character, the predominant attitude towards EA is quite positive. For most respondents, EA is instrumental in providing transparency of decision-making and in minimising the legal risks of not complying with environmental laws. Differences in discourses seldom reflect extreme opposites. The ‘common ground’ regarding EA provides a good basis for working with EA in terms of meeting legal requirements but at the same time does not stimulate creativity in decision-making or optimisation of environmental values. In countries characterised by less

Epigenetic Effects of Environmental Chemicals Bisphenol A and Phthalates

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Steven Shoei-Lung Li

2012-08-01

Full Text Available The epigenetic effects on DNA methylation, histone modification, and expression of non-coding RNAs (including microRNAs of environmental chemicals such as bisphenol A (BPA and phthalates have expanded our understanding of the etiology of human complex diseases such as cancers and diabetes. Multiple lines of evidence from in vitro and in vivo models have established that epigenetic modifications caused by in utero exposure to environmental toxicants can induce alterations in gene expression that may persist throughout life. Epigenetics is an important mechanism in the ability of environmental chemicals to influence health and disease, and BPA and phthalates are epigenetically toxic. The epigenetic effect of BPA was clearly demonstrated in viable yellow mice by decreasing CpG methylation upstream of the Agouti gene, and the hypomethylating effect of BPA was prevented by maternal dietary supplementation with a methyl donor like folic acid or the phytoestrogen genistein. Histone H3 was found to be trimethylated at lysine 27 by BPA effect on EZH2 in a human breast cancer cell line and mice. BPA exposure of human placental cell lines has been shown to alter microRNA expression levels, and specifically, miR-146a was strongly induced by BPA treatment. In human breast cancer MCF7 cells, treatment with the phthalate BBP led to demethylation of estrogen receptor (ESR1 promoter-associated CpG islands, indicating that altered ESR1 mRNA expression by BBP is due to aberrant DNA methylation. Maternal exposure to phthalate DEHP was also shown to increase DNA methylation and expression levels of DNA methyltransferases in mouse testis. Further, some epigenetic effects of BPA and phthalates in female rats were found to be transgenerational. Finally, the available new technologies for global analysis of epigenetic alterations will provide insight into the extent and patterns of alterations between human normal and diseased tissues.

Strong field effects on binary systems in Einstein-aether theory

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Foster, Brendan Z.

2007-01-01

'Einstein-aether' theory is a generally covariant theory of gravity containing a dynamical preferred frame. This article continues an examination of effects on the motion of binary pulsar systems in this theory, by incorporating effects due to strong fields in the vicinity of neutron star pulsars. These effects are included through an effective approach, by treating the compact bodies as point particles with nonstandard, velocity dependent interactions parametrized by dimensionless sensitivities. Effective post-Newtonian equations of motion for the bodies and the radiation damping rate are determined. More work is needed to calculate values of the sensitivities for a given fluid source; therefore, precise constraints on the theory's coupling constants cannot yet be stated. It is shown, however, that strong field effects will be negligible given current observational uncertainties if the dimensionless couplings are less than roughly 0.1 and two conditions that match the PPN parameters to those of pure general relativity are imposed. In this case, weak field results suffice. There then exists a one-parameter family of Einstein-aether theories with 'small-enough' couplings that passes all current observational tests. No conclusion can be reached for larger couplings until the sensitivities for a given source can be calculated

Marine environmental contamination: public awareness, concern and perceived effectiveness in five European countries.

Science.gov (United States)

Jacobs, Silke; Sioen, Isabelle; De Henauw, Stefaan; Rosseel, Yves; Calis, Tanja; Tediosi, Alice; Nadal, Martí; Marques, António; Verbeke, Wim

2015-11-01

Given the potential of Perceived Consumer Effectiveness (PCE) in shaping pro-environmental behavior, the relationships between PCE, awareness of causes of contaminants in the marine environment, and concern about marine environmental contamination were investigated using Structural Equation Modeling (SEM). PCE is the belief that an individual has in being able to make a difference when acting alone. A web-based survey was performed in one western European country (Belgium), one northern European country (Ireland) and three southern European countries (Italy, Portugal and Spain), resulting in a total sample size of 2824 participants. The analyses confirm that European citizens are concerned about marine environmental problems. Participants from the southern countries reported the highest concern. In addition, the study participants did not have a strong belief in themselves in being capable of making a difference in tackling marine environmental problems. However, a higher awareness, which was associated with a higher degree of concern, enhanced the belief that an individual can make a difference in tackling marine environmental problems, though only when a concrete action was proposed. Consequently, information campaigns focusing on pro-environmental behavior are recommended to raise public awareness about marine environmental problems and at the same time explicitly refer to concrete possible actions. The findings indicate that when only awareness and concern are raised without mentioning a concrete action, PCE might even decrease and render the communication effort ineffective. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Quasi-particles and effective mean field in strongly interacting matter

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Levai, P.; Ko, C.M.

2010-01-01

We introduce a quasi-particle model of strongly interacting quark-gluon matter and explore the possible connection to an effective field theoretical description consisting of a scalar σ field by introducing a dynamically generated mass, M(σ), and a self-consistently determined interaction term, B(σ). We display a possible connection between the two types of effective description, using the Friedberg-Lee model.

Secondary Students’ Environmental Attitudes: The Case of Environmental Education in Bangladesh

OpenAIRE

Mahbub Sarkar

2011-01-01

This paper examined secondary students’ environmental attitudes in Bangladesh by employing a standardized environmental attitude scale. The scale consisted of 15 questions rated on a Likert-type scale ranging from 1 (strongly disagree) to 5 (strongly agree). 400 secondary students, with equal number of boys and girls from both the urban and rural schools participated in this study. The study found that overall students from both the urban and rural areas expressed favourable environmental att...

15 CFR 970.702 - Monitoring and mitigation of environmental effects.

Science.gov (United States)

2010-01-01

... environmental effects. 970.702 Section 970.702 Commerce and Foreign Trade Regulations Relating to Commerce and... REGULATIONS OF THE ENVIRONMENTAL DATA SERVICE DEEP SEABED MINING REGULATIONS FOR EXPLORATION LICENSES Environmental Effects § 970.702 Monitoring and mitigation of environmental effects. (a) Monitoring. If an...

Effect of environmental stress on clonal structure of Eucypris virens (Crustacea, Ostracoda)

OpenAIRE

Martins M. J. F.; Vandekerkhove J.; Adolfsson S.; Rossetti G.; Namiotko T.; Jokela J.

2010-01-01

Environmental stress imposes strong natural selection on clonal populations, promoting evolutionary change in clonal structure. Environmental stress may also lead to reduction in population size, which together with clonal selection may reduce genotypic diversity of the local populations. We examined how clonal structure in wild-collected samples of two parthenogenetic populations of the freshwater ostracod Eucypris virens responded to hypersalinity and starvation, and the combination of the ...

Jensen's Inequality Predicts Effects of Environmental Variation

Science.gov (United States)

Jonathan J. Ruel; Matthew P. Ayres

1999-01-01

Many biologists now recognize that environmental variance can exert important effects on patterns and processes in nature that are independent of average conditions. Jenson's inequality is a mathematical proof that is seldom mentioned in the ecological literature but which provides a powerful tool for predicting some direct effects of environmental variance in...

Which environmental factors most strongly influence a street's appeal for bicycle transport among adults? A conjoint study using manipulated photographs.

Science.gov (United States)

Mertens, Lieze; Van Dyck, Delfien; Ghekiere, Ariane; De Bourdeaudhuij, Ilse; Deforche, Benedicte; Van de Weghe, Nico; Van Cauwenberg, Jelle

2016-09-01

Micro-environmental factors (specific features within a streetscape), instead of macro-environmental factors (urban planning features), are more feasible to modify in existing neighborhoods and thus more practical to target for environmental interventions. Because it is often not possible to change the whole micro-environment at once, the current study aims to determine which micro-environmental factors should get the priority to target in physical environmental interventions increasing bicycle transport. Additionally, interaction effects among micro-environmental factors on the street's appeal for bicycle transport will be determined. In total, 1950 middle-aged adults completed a web-based questionnaire consisting of a set of 12 randomly assigned choice tasks with manipulated photographs. Seven micro-environmental factors (type of cycle path, speed limit, speed bump, vegetation, evenness of the cycle path surface, general upkeep and traffic density) were manipulated in each photograph. Conjoint analysis was used to analyze the data. Providing streets with a cycle path separated from motorized traffic seems to be the best strategy to increase the street's appeal for adults' bicycle transport. If this adjustment is not practically feasible, micro-environmental factors related to safety (i.e. speed limit, traffic density) may be more effective in promoting bicycle transport than micro-environmental factors related to comfort (i.e. evenness of the cycle path surface) or aesthetic (i.e. vegetation, general upkeep). On the other hand, when a more separated cycle path is already provided, micro-environmental factors related to comfort or aesthetic appeared to become more prominent. Findings obtained from this research could provide advice to physical environmental interventions about which environmental factors should get priority to modify in different environmental situations. The study was approved by the Ethics Committee of the Ghent University Hospital. B

STRONG FIELD EFFECTS ON PULSAR ARRIVAL TIMES: GENERAL ORIENTATIONS

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Wang Yan; Creighton, Teviet; Price, Richard H.; Jenet, Frederick A.

2009-01-01

A pulsar beam passing close to a black hole can provide a probe of very strong gravitational fields even if the pulsar itself is not in a strong field region. In the case that the spin of the hole can be ignored, we have previously shown that all strong field effects on the beam can be understood in terms of two 'universal' functions: F(φ in ) and T(φ in ) of the angle of beam emission φ in ; these functions are universal in that they depend only on a single parameter, the pulsar/black hole distance from which the beam is emitted. Here we apply this formalism to general pulsar-hole-observer geometries, with arbitrary alignment of the pulsar spin axis and arbitrary pulsar beam direction and angular width. We show that the analysis of the observational problem has two distinct elements: (1) the computation of the location and trajectory of an observer-dependent 'keyhole' direction of emission in which a signal can be received by the observer; and (2) the determination of an annulus that represents the set of directions containing beam energy. Examples of each are given along with an example of a specific observational scenario.

Environmental Pollution Liability Insurance in China: In Need of Strong Government Backing

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Feng, Y.; Mol, A.P.J.; Lu, Y.; He, G.; Koppen, van C.S.A.

2014-01-01

Environmental pollution liability insurance was officially introduced in China only in 2006, as part of new market-based approaches for managing environmental risks. By 2012, trial applications of pollution insurance had been launched in 14 provinces and cities. More than ten insurance companies

Investigating effect of environmental controls on dynamics of CO2 budget in a subtropical estuarial marsh wetland ecosystem

Science.gov (United States)

Lee, Sung-Ching; Fan, Chao-Jung; Wu, Zih-Yi; Juang, Jehn-Yih

2015-02-01

In this study, we quantified the ecosystem-scale CO2 exchange of two different but typical low-latitude vegetation types, para grass and reed, in a subtropical wetland ecosystem by integrating flux observation with the parameterization of environmental variables. In addition, we explored how seasonal dynamics of environmental factors affected variations in CO2 budget. The results suggest that gross primary production (GPP, in the order of 1700 gC m-2 yr-1) of CO2 was higher in this site than in previous studies of northern peatlands and estuarial wetlands because of the direct effect of environmental factors. Temperature and radiation had a larger effect than water status (soil moisture content and vapor pressure deficit) on GPP for the two low-latitude ecosystems, which differ from the results for high-latitude regions. Environmental variables had a strong but different impact on the CO2 budget for para grass and reed areas. This diversity led to different potential shifts and trends of biomass accumulation and distribution of these two typical low-latitude vegetation types under different scenarios of environmental change. The findings from this study can sufficiently provide quantitative understanding of CO2 budgets in low-latitude wetlands.

New results on strong-interaction effects in antiprotonic hydrogen

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Anagnostopoulos, D. F.; Augsburger, M.; Borchert, G.; Castelli, C.; Chatellard, D.; El-Khoury, P.; Egger, J.-P.; Gorke, H.; Gotta, D.; Hauser, P.; Indelicato, P.; Kirch, K.; Lenz, S.; Nelms, N.; Rashid, K.; Schult, O. W. B.; Siems, Th.; Simons, L. M.

1999-01-01

Lyman and Balmer transitions of antiprotonic hydrogen and deuterium have been measured at the Low-Energy Antiproton Ring LEAR at CERN in order to determine the strong interaction effects. The X-rays were detected using Charge-Coupled Devices (CCDs) and a reflection type crystal spectrometer. The results of the measurements support the meson-exchange models describing the medium and long range part of the nucleon-antinucleon interaction

Potential environmental effects of controlled thermonuclear reactors

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Young, J.R.; Gore, B.F.

1976-01-01

The following topics are discussed: (1) the fusion reaction, (2) approach to the environmental analysis, (3) the reference CTR, (4) CTR environmental effects, (5) CTR accident potential, and (6) the advanced CTR

Designing environmental campaigns by using agent-based simulations: strategies for changing environmental attitudes.

Science.gov (United States)

Mosler, Hans-Joachim; Martens, Thomas

2008-09-01

Agent-based computer simulation was used to create artificial communities in which each individual was constructed according to the principles of the elaboration likelihood model of Petty and Cacioppo [1986. The elaboration likelihood model of persuasion. In: Berkowitz, L. (Ed.), Advances in Experimental Social Psychology. Academic Press, New York, NY, pp. 123-205]. Campaigning strategies and community characteristics were varied systematically to understand and test their impact on attitudes towards environmental protection. The results show that strong arguments influence a green (environmentally concerned) population with many contacts most effectively, while peripheral cues have the greatest impact on a non-green population with fewer contacts. Overall, deeper information scrutiny increases the impact of strong arguments but is especially important for convincing green populations. Campaigns involving person-to-person communication are superior to mass-media campaigns because they can be adapted to recipients' characteristics.

Effective potential in the strong-coupling lattice QCD with next-to-next-to-learning order effects

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Nakano, Takashi Z.; Miura, Kohtaroh; Ohnishi, Akira

2010-01-01

We derive an analytic expression of the effective potential at finite temperature (T) and chemical potential (μ) in the strong-coupling lattice QCD for color SU(3) including next-to-next-to-leading order (NNLO) effects in the strong coupling expansion. NNLO effective action terms are systematically evaluated in the leading order of the large dimensional (1/d) expansion, and are found to come from some types of connected two-plaquette configurations. We apply the extended Hubbard-Stratonovich transformation and a gluonic-dressed fermion technique to the effective action, and obtain the effective potential as a function of T, μ, and two order parameters: chiral condensate and vector potential field. The next-to-leading order (NLO) and NNLO effects result in modifications of the wave function renormalization factor, quark mass, and chemical potential. We find that T c,μ =0 and μ c,T =0 are similar to the NLO results, whereas the position of the critical point is sensitive to NNLO corrections. (author)

The environmental effects of nuclear war

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

MacCracken, M.C.

1988-09-01

Substantial environmental disruption will significantly add to the disastrous consequences caused by the direct thermal, blast, and radiological effects brought on by a major nuclear war. Local fallout could cover several percent of the Northern Hemisphere with potentially lethal doses. Smoke from post-nuclear fires could darken the skies and induce temperature decreases of tens of degrees in continental interiors. Stratospheric ozone could be significantly reduced due to nitric oxide injections and smoke-induced circulation changes. The environmental effects spread the consequences of a nuclear war to the world population, adding to the potentially large disruptive effects a further reason to avoid such a catastrophe. 27 refs., 4 figs

Strong correlation effects in theoretical STM studies of magnetic adatoms

Science.gov (United States)

Dang, Hung T.; dos Santos Dias, Manuel; Liebsch, Ansgar; Lounis, Samir

2016-03-01

We present a theoretical study for the scanning tunneling microscopy (STM) spectra of surface-supported magnetic nanostructures, incorporating strong correlation effects. As concrete examples, we study Co and Mn adatoms on the Cu(111) surface, which are expected to represent the opposite limits of Kondo physics and local moment behavior, using a combination of density functional theory and both quantum Monte Carlo and exact diagonalization impurity solvers. We examine in detail the effects of temperature T , correlation strength U , and impurity d electron occupancy Nd on the local density of states. We also study the effective coherence energy scale, i.e., the Kondo temperature TK, which can be extracted from the STM spectra. Theoretical STM spectra are computed as a function of STM tip position relative to each adatom. Because of the multiorbital nature of the adatoms, the STM spectra are shown to consist of a complicated superposition of orbital contributions, with different orbital symmetries, self-energies, and Kondo temperatures. For a Mn adatom, which is close to half-filling, the STM spectra are featureless near the Fermi level. On the other hand, the quasiparticle peak for a Co adatom gives rise to strongly position-dependent Fano line shapes.

Distributional Effects of Environmental Taxes in Estonia

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Helen Poltimäe

2013-01-01

Full Text Available This paper analyses the distributional effects of Estonian environmental taxes in 2000-2007 and recent reforms in 2008 using Estonian Household Budget Survey data and a microsimulation model. The results show that the share of environmental taxes in consumption expenditures is about 1-1.5%. Environmental taxes in 2000- 2007 were progressive due to the progressivity of motor fuel excises, which was the largest component of the environmental taxes until 2007. Since 2008, the taxes are less progressive, because of the new electricity excise and increased taxes on gas and other inputs used for distance domestic heating. To minimize the disproportionate effect of future ecological tax reform on low-income households, close monitoring of tax developments is required and necessary compensatory policies need to be implemented

New results on strong-interaction effects in antiprotonic hydrogen

CERN Document Server

Gotta, D; Augsburger, M A; Borchert, G L; Castelli, C M; Chatellard, D; El-Khoury, P; Egger, J P; Gorke, H; Hauser, P R; Indelicato, P J; Kirch, K; Lenz, S; Nelms, N; Rashid, K; Schult, O W B; Siems, T; Simons, L M

1999-01-01

Lyman and Balmer transitions of antiprotonic hydrogen and deuterium have been measured at the low-energy antiproton ring LEAR at CERN in order to determine the strong interaction effects. The X-rays were detected using charge-coupled devices (CCDs) and a reflection type crystal spectrometer. The results of the measurements support the meson-exchange models describing the medium and long range part of the nucleon-antinucleon interaction. (33 refs).

Drastic environmental change and its effects on a planetary biosphere

Science.gov (United States)

Schulze-Makuch, Dirk; Irwin, Louis N.; Fairén, Alberto G.

2013-07-01

Environmental conditions can change drastically and rapidly during the natural history of a planetary body. These changes affect the biosphere and can spur evolution via the mechanism of directional selection leading to the innovation of new processes and forms of life, or alternatively leading to the extinction of certain life forms. Based on the natural history of Earth, the effect on a planet's biosphere depends on three factors: (1) the nature and time scale of change, (2) the composition of the biosphere prior to change, and (3) the nature of the environment following the change. Though Earth has undergone various periods of drastic environmental change, life has shown an enormous resiliency and became more diverse and complex as a consequence of these events. Mars and Venus have undergone even larger environmental changes, both from habitable conditions under which the origin of life (or transfer of life from Earth) seem plausible, to a dry and cold planet punctuated by wetter conditions, and a hyperthermic greenhouse, respectively. Given its planetary history, life on Mars could have retreated to a psychrophilic lifestyle in the deep subsurface or to environmental near-surface niches, such as hydrothermal regions and caves. Further, strong directional selection could have pushed putative martian life to evolve alternating cycles between active and dormant forms, as well as the innovation of new traits adapted to challenging near-surface conditions. Life in the subsurface or on the surface of Venus seems impossible today, but microorganisms may have adapted to thrive in the lower cloud layer, possibly using a biochemical strategy analogous to Photosystem I and chemoautotrophic sulfur metabolism, and employing cycloocta sulfur for UV protection.

Trade implications of environmental taxes

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Klepper, G.

1994-01-01

The general equilibrium impact of environmental taxes does not consist simply consist in a reduction of international trade. This rather depends on the particular circumstances in which the tax is imposed. The trade impacts of environmental regulation which have been measured empirically are almost negligable. Even simulation studies predict strong effects only for very few sectors of the economy. Since the environmental taxes are imposed in order to induce a reallocation of the economy away from the polluting towards the less polluting activities, one can not expect that the polluting industries will not need to shrink or need to introduce abatement measures. This internal reallocation will necessarily be accompanied by a restructuring of trade between economies. Hence, mitigating these trade effects is about as meaningful as mitigating the internal restructuring of the economy. (orig./UA)

Effects of substrata and environmental conditions on ecological succession on historic shipwrecks

Science.gov (United States)

González-Duarte, Manuel M.; Fernández-Montblanc, Tomás; Bethencourt, Manuel; Izquierdo, Alfredo

2018-01-01

An understanding of the interactions between biological, chemical and physical dynamics is especially important for the adequate conservation of the Underwater Cultural Heritage. However, while physical and chemical processes are relatively well-investigated, the biological communities associated with these habitats are poorly studied. We compared the sessile community developed on panels of different materials placed on two historical shipwrecks, the Fougueux and the Bucentaure, from the Battle of Trafalgar (October 1805). Six materials used at the construction of vessels at the 18th and 19th centuries were selected: copper, brass, cast iron, carbon steel, pine and oak. The sessile community developed on the panels was studied two and 15 months after their immersion at the water to determine the effects of materials and environmental conditions (sediments, waves, hydrodynamic conditions, temperature and salinity) on ecological succession and the possible implications at the conservation of historical shipwrecks. On the Fougueux, the environmental conditions more strongly influenced the biological succession than the material type, with pioneer colonisers dominating the communities in both sampling periods. On the Bucentaure, exposed to more stable environmental conditions, the sessile community showed differences between sampling periods and among materials at the end of the experiment. Under these more stable environmental conditions, the material type showed a higher influence on the sessile community. Species that produce calcareous concretions developed on metallic panels, but were absent on wood panels, where the shipworm Teredo navalis was more abundant. The relationship between environmental conditions, sessile organisms and material type can influence the conservation status of the archaeological sites.

A novel ontology approach to support design for reliability considering environmental effects.

Science.gov (United States)

Sun, Bo; Li, Yu; Ye, Tianyuan; Ren, Yi

2015-01-01

Environmental effects are not considered sufficiently in product design. Reliability problems caused by environmental effects are very prominent. This paper proposes a method to apply ontology approach in product design. During product reliability design and analysis, environmental effects knowledge reusing is achieved. First, the relationship of environmental effects and product reliability is analyzed. Then environmental effects ontology to describe environmental effects domain knowledge is designed. Related concepts of environmental effects are formally defined by using the ontology approach. This model can be applied to arrange environmental effects knowledge in different environments. Finally, rubber seals used in the subhumid acid rain environment are taken as an example to illustrate ontological model application on reliability design and analysis.

Graphene nanomesh-based devices exhibiting a strong negative differential conductance effect

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Hung Nguyen, V; Mazzamuto, F; Saint-Martin, J; Bournel, A; Dollfus, P

2012-01-01

Using atomistic quantum simulation based on a tight binding model, we have investigated the transport characteristics of graphene nanomesh-based devices and evaluated the possibilities of observing negative differential conductance. It is shown that by taking advantage of bandgap opening in the graphene nanomesh lattice, a strong negative differential conductance effect can be achieved at room temperature in pn junctions and n-doped structures. Remarkably, the effect is improved very significantly (with a peak-to-valley current ratio of a few hundred) and appears to be weakly sensitive to the transition length in graphene nanomesh pn hetero-junctions when inserting a pristine (gapless) graphene section in the transition region between n and p zones. The study therefore suggests new design strategies for graphene electronic devices which may offer strong advantages in terms of performance and processing over the devices studied previously. (paper)

21 CFR 25.60 - Environmental effects abroad of major agency actions.

Science.gov (United States)

2010-04-01

... 21 Food and Drugs 1 2010-04-01 2010-04-01 false Environmental effects abroad of major agency... SERVICES GENERAL ENVIRONMENTAL IMPACT CONSIDERATIONS Other Requirements § 25.60 Environmental effects abroad of major agency actions. (a) In accordance with Executive Order 12114, “Environmental Effects...

The Effect of Summer Environmental Education Program (SEEP) on Elementary School Students' Environmental Literacy

Science.gov (United States)

Erdogan, Mehmet

2015-01-01

The purpose of this study was to assess the effects of Summer Environmental Education Program (SEEP) on elementary school students' environmental knowledge, affect, skills and behavior which are the main components of environmental literacy. The sample consisted of 45 students (25 males, 20 females) studying in 4th through 8th grades and living in…

Room temperature strong coupling effects from single ZnO nanowire microcavity

KAUST Repository

Das, Ayan; Heo, Junseok; Bayraktaroglu, Adrian; Guo, Wei; Ng, Tien Khee; Phillips, Jamie; Ooi, Boon S.; Bhattacharya, Pallab

2012-01-01

Strong coupling effects in a dielectric microcavity with a single ZnO nanowire embedded in it have been investigated at room temperature. A large Rabi splitting of ?100 meV is obtained from the polariton dispersion and a non

Environmental effects of an increasing cultivation of energy crops; Umweltwirkungen eines zunehmenden Energiepflanzenbaus

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Rippel, Rudolf (comp.)

2008-11-15

The development of the cultivation of energy plants depends on economic general situation (price relationship for energy raw materials and agrarian raw materials). Changes in the spectrum of the kinds of fruit hardly arise. In the medium term, potentials at sorghum millet and wood exist in short activities cultures. In particular, there are problems in the case of existing regional cultivation emphasis for energy plants for the production of fermentation gas. Depending upon kind and extent of an expansion of the cultivation of energy plants, the effects on the environment will fail strongly or weakly. Thus there are possibilities with positive and negative effect for the ground structure, humus supply, entry of pollutant and water protection. Positive and negative potentials for the environment are recognizable for the entry of plant protection agents into the ground and for the emission environmental harmful gases. With the unbalanced cultivation of energy plants, predominantly negative effects for the Flora and fauna as well as for the game protection are to be expected. A negative ecological effect always will proceed from an intensification the land use with the shutdown or the radical change with grassland. Due to different production procedures and due to a lack of investigation data, a concluding evaluation of the environmental effects of the cultivation of energy plants is not possible for the complexity of connections. It insists a clear requirement of research for the effects of the increasing development of energy plants on the environment.

Environmental effects of engineered nanomaterials

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Lützhøft, Hans-Christian Holten; Hartmann, Nanna B.; Brinch, Anna

This report presents ecotoxicological data and Predicted No-Effect Concentrations (PNECs) for nine selected nanomaterials which are considered to be environmentally relevant due to high usage or how they are used. These data will together with data from other reports/projects be used in an overall...... assessment of the environmental risk of nanomaterials in Denmark. The nine investigated nanomaterials are: Titanium Dioxide, Zinc Oxide, Silver, Carbon Nanotubes, Copper Oxide, Nano Zero Valent Iron, Cerium Dioxide, Quantum Dots and Carbon Black. To support the assessment of the data found in the peer...

Classical anomalous absorption in strongly magnetized plasmas and effective shielding length

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Matsuda, K.

1981-01-01

The high-frequency conductivity tensor of a plasma in a magnetic field has been evaluated. An anomalous perpendicular conductivity is obtained for a strongly magnetized plasma. Contrarily to the previous prediction, the effective shielding length is found to be the Debye length even when the Debye length is larger than the electron gyroradius. The effective shielding length is further discussed by presenting the generalized Balescu-Lenard equation

Instanton and tensor-force effects in the strong decays of mesons

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Bonnaz, R.; Silvestre-Brac, B.

2001-01-01

The strong decays of mesons are studied in the framework of the 3 P 0 model with a momentum-dependent vertex. The mesons wave functions are obtained from quark-antiquark potentials including a finite quark size, instanton effects, spin-orbit and tensor-force effects. Several prescriptions for treating the decays into three mesons are proposed and analyzed. Comparison to experimental data is presented in detail. (author)

Cumulative environmental effects. Summary

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

2012-01-01

This report presents a compilation of knowledge about the state of the environment and human activity in the Norwegian part of the North Sea and Skagerrak. The report gives an overview of pressures and impacts on the environment from normal activity and in the event of accidents. This is used to assess the cumulative environmental effects, which factors have most impact and where the impacts are greatest, and to indicate which problems are expected to be most serious in the future. The report is intended to provide relevant information that can be used in the management of the marine area in the future. It also provides input for the identification of environmental targets and management measures for the North Sea and Skagerrak.(Author)

Cumulative environmental effects. Summary

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

NONE

2012-07-01

This report presents a compilation of knowledge about the state of the environment and human activity in the Norwegian part of the North Sea and Skagerrak. The report gives an overview of pressures and impacts on the environment from normal activity and in the event of accidents. This is used to assess the cumulative environmental effects, which factors have most impact and where the impacts are greatest, and to indicate which problems are expected to be most serious in the future. The report is intended to provide relevant information that can be used in the management of the marine area in the future. It also provides input for the identification of environmental targets and management measures for the North Sea and Skagerrak.(Author)

Strong Gravity Effects of Rotating Black Holes: Quasiperiodic Oscillations

OpenAIRE

Aliev, Alikram N.; Esmer, Göksel Daylan; Talazan, Pamir

2012-01-01

We explore strong gravity effects of the geodesic motion in the spacetime of rotating black holes in general relativity and braneworld gravity. We focus on the description of the motion in terms of three fundamental frequencies: The orbital frequency, the radial and vertical epicyclic frequencies. For a Kerr black hole, we perform a detailed numerical analysis of these frequencies at the innermost stable circular orbits and beyond them as well as at the characteristic stable orbits, at which ...

Political Measures for Strategic Environmental Policy with External Effects

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Ohyama, A. [Graduate School of Economics, Kyoto University, Kyoto (Japan); Tsujimura, M. [Faculty of Economics, Ryukoku University, Otsu (Japan)

2006-10-15

This paper investigates an environmental policy designed to reduce the emission of pollutants under uncertainty, with the agent problem as an optimal stopping problem. We first analyze the two cases in which there are one agent and two competing agents by following Ohyama and Tsujimura (2005). When we consider a model of strategic agents, we need to analyze the external economic effect that is peculiar to an agent's environmental policy implementation. Then, to improve and resolve these external effects, we examine three alternative political measures, comprising an environmental subsidy, an environmental tax and an emission trading system. The results of the analysis indicate that the environmental subsidy and environmental tax promote environmental policy. However, they do not create an incentive to be the leader. On the other hand, an emissions trading system not only promotes environmental policy but also creates an incentive for leadership.

Political Measures for Strategic Environmental Policy with External Effects

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Ohyama, A.; Tsujimura, M.

2006-01-01

This paper investigates an environmental policy designed to reduce the emission of pollutants under uncertainty, with the agent problem as an optimal stopping problem. We first analyze the two cases in which there are one agent and two competing agents by following Ohyama and Tsujimura (2005). When we consider a model of strategic agents, we need to analyze the external economic effect that is peculiar to an agent's environmental policy implementation. Then, to improve and resolve these external effects, we examine three alternative political measures, comprising an environmental subsidy, an environmental tax and an emission trading system. The results of the analysis indicate that the environmental subsidy and environmental tax promote environmental policy. However, they do not create an incentive to be the leader. On the other hand, an emissions trading system not only promotes environmental policy but also creates an incentive for leadership

The determinants of household energy demand in rural Beijing: Can environmentally friendly technologies be effective?

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Zhang Jingchao; Kotani, Koji

2012-01-01

With the recent rapid economic growth, total energy demand in rural China has increased dramatically, and the energy structure is in the transition from non-commercial to commercial sources. Simultaneously, it is expected that households in rural areas will face energy shortages and additional environmental problems unless they have more access to renewable energy technologies. However, little is known about (i) the transition of energy use patterns and (ii) whether introduced technologies have been effective. To analyze these issues, we estimated the energy demands of rural households by using survey data taken from Beijing's ten suburban districts. The data contain information on both non-commercial and commercial energy use, key characteristics of the households and several renewable energy technologies. Our empirical analysis yielded three main results. First, the per capita income is a key factor in the per capita energy consumption. More specifically, the marginal increase (or marginal change) in per capita coal consumption strongly diminishes (or declines) as per capita income increases. Second, coal and liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) prices do not exhibit substitution effects, but an increase in these prices has strong negative effects on the use of these energy resources. Third, renewable energy technologies are identified to reduce coal consumption and to improve energy efficiency. Overall, these findings suggest a positive perspective: if the Chinese government were to design appropriate policies associated with renewable energy technologies and related energy prices, then coal consumption can be reduced in the near future, and the substitution to cleaner energy use will accelerate. Therefore, a smooth energy transition in rural China could be made in a more environmentally sustainable manner. - Highlights: ► Energy demands of non-commercial/commercial sources are examined in rural Beijing. ► Income and energy prices are key determinants of the energy

NEURODEVELOPMENTAL EFFECTS OF ENVIRONMENTAL EXPOSURES

Science.gov (United States)

Neurodevelopmental Effects of Environmental ExposuresSherry G. Selevan, Pauline Mendola, Deborah C. Rice (US EPA, Washington,DC) The nervous system starts development early in gestation and continues to develop through adolescence. Thus, critical windows of vuln...

Non-Oberbeck-Boussinesq effects in strongly turbulent Rayleigh-Bénard convection

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Ahlers, Günter; Brown, Eric; Fontenele Araujo Junior, F.; Funfschilling, Denis; Grossmann, Siegfried; Lohse, Detlef

2006-01-01

Non-Oberbeck–Boussinesq (NOB) effects on the Nusselt number $Nu$ and Reynolds number $\\hbox{\\it Re}$ in strongly turbulent Rayleigh–Bénard (RB) convection in liquids were investigated both experimentally and theoretically. In the experiments the heat current, the temperature difference, and the

Can Pollution Problems Be Effectively Solved by Environmental Science and Technology? An Analysis of Critical Limitations

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Huesemann, Michael H.(BATTELLE (PACIFIC NW LAB))

2000-12-01

It is currently believed that science and technology can provide effective solutions to most, if not all, environmental problems facing western industrial societies. The validity of this optimistic assumption is highly questionable for at least three reasons: First, current mechanistic, reductionist science is inherently incapable of providing the complete and accurate information which is required to successfully address environmental problems. Second, both the conservation of mass principle and the second law of thermodynamics dictate that most remediation technologies - while successful in solving specific pollution problems - cause unavoidable negative environmental impacts elsewhere or in the future. Third, it is intrinsically impossible to design industrial processes that have no negative environmental impacts. This follows not only from the entropy law but also from the fact that any generation of energy is impossible without negative environmental consequences. It can therefore be concluded that science and technology have only very limited potential in solving current and future environmental problems. Consequently, it will be necessary to address the root cause of environmental deterioration, namely the prevailing materialistic values that are the main driving force for both overpopulation and overconsumption. The long-term protection of the environment is therefore not primarily a technical problem but rather a social and moral problem that can only be solved by drastically reducing the strong influence of materialistic values.

Environmental changes and violent conflict

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Bernauer, Thomas; Böhmelt, Tobias; Koubi, Vally

2012-01-01

This letter reviews the scientific literature on whether and how environmental changes affect the risk of violent conflict. The available evidence from qualitative case studies indicates that environmental stress can contribute to violent conflict in some specific cases. Results from quantitative large-N studies, however, strongly suggest that we should be careful in drawing general conclusions. Those large-N studies that we regard as the most sophisticated ones obtain results that are not robust to alternative model specifications and, thus, have been debated. This suggests that environmental changes may, under specific circumstances, increase the risk of violent conflict, but not necessarily in a systematic way and unconditionally. Hence there is, to date, no scientific consensus on the impact of environmental changes on violent conflict. This letter also highlights the most important challenges for further research on the subject. One of the key issues is that the effects of environmental changes on violent conflict are likely to be contingent on a set of economic and political conditions that determine adaptation capacity. In the authors' view, the most important indirect effects are likely to lead from environmental changes via economic performance and migration to violent conflict. (letter)

The effects of environmental context and personal resources on elderly depressive symptomatology: A preliminary test of the Lawton-model

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Knipscheer, C.P.M.; Broese Van Groenou, M.I.; Leene, G.J.F.; Beekman, A.T.F.; Deeg, D.J.H.

2000-01-01

This study examines the environmental and psychosocial determinants of depression in older adults. Based on Lawton's environmental docility thesis, the question is posed: is the strong association between functional limitations and depressive symptomatology affected when environmental conditions,

The effects of environmental context and personal resources on depressive symptomatology in older age: a test of Lawton model.

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Knipscheer, C.P.M.; Broese Van Groenou, M.I.; Leene, G.J.F.; Beekman, A.; Deeg, D.J.H.

2000-01-01

This study examines the environmental and psychosocial determinants of depression in older adults. Based on Lawton's environmental docility thesis, the question is posed: is the strong association between functional limitations and depressive symptomatology affected when environmental conditions,

Strong coupling effects between a meta-atom and MIM nanocavity

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

San Chen

2012-09-01

Full Text Available In this paper, we investigate the strong coupling effects between a meta-atom and a metal-insulator-metal (MIM nanocavity. By changing the meta-atom sizes, we achieve the meta-atomic electric dipole, quadrupole or multipole interaction with the plasmonic nanocavity, in which characteristic anticrossing behaviors demonstrate the occurrence of the strong coupling. The various interactions present obviously different splitting values and behaviors of dependence on the meta-atomic position. The largest Rabi-type splittings, about 360.0 meV and 306.1 meV, have been obtained for electric dipole and quadrupole interaction, respectively. We attribute the large splitting to the highly-confined cavity mode and the large transition dipole of the meta-atom. Also the Rabi-type oscillation in time domain is given.

Effect of environmental air pollution on cardiovascular diseases.

Science.gov (United States)

Meo, S A; Suraya, F

2015-12-01

Environmental air pollution has become a leading health concern especially in the developing countries with more urbanization, industrialization and rapidly growing population. Prolonged exposure to air pollution is a risk factor for cardiovascular diseases. The present study aimed to investigate the effects of environmental air pollution on progression of cardiovascular problems. In this study, we identified 6880 published articles through a systematic database including ISI-Web of Science, PubMed and EMBASE. The allied literature was searched by using the key words such as environmental pollution, air pollution, particulate matter pollutants PM 2.5 μm-PM 10 μm. Literature in which environmental air pollution and cardiac diseases were discussed was included. Descriptive information was retrieved from the selected literature. Finally, we included 67 publications and remaining studies were excluded. Environmental pollution can cause high blood pressure, arrhythmias, enhanced coagulation, thrombosis, acute arterial vasoconstriction, atherosclerosis, ischemic heart diseases, myocardial infarction and even heart failure. Environmental air pollution is associated with increased risk of cardiovascular diseases. Environmental pollution exerts its detrimental effects on the heart by developing pulmonary inflammation, systemic inflammation, oxidative stress, endothelial dysfunction and prothrombotic changes. Environmental protection officials must take high priority steps to minimize the air pollution to decrease the prevalence of cardiovascular diseases.

Nuclear energy: biological effects and environmental impact

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Boonefaes, M.

1987-01-01

This thesis is concerned with the large development of nuclear power plants and the recent nuclear catastrophe which has made clear how the hazards resulting from radioactivity affect public health and the environment. Environmental effects of nuclear power plants operating in normal conditions are small, but to obtain nuclear power plants of reduced radioactivity, optimization of their design, construction, operation and waste processing plays a decisive role. Biological effects of ionizing radiations and environmental impacts of Nuclear Power plants are developed [fr

HEALTH AND ENVIRONMENTAL EFFECTS DOCUMENT ...

Science.gov (United States)

Health and Environmental Effects Documents (HEEDS) are prepared for the Office of Solid Waste and Emergency Response (OSWER). This document series is intended to support listings under the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act (RCRA) as well as to provide health-related limits and goals for emergency and remedial actions under the Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation and Liability Act (CERCLA). Both published literature and information obtained from Agency Program Office files are evaluated as they pertain to potential human health, aquatic life and environmental effects of hazardous waste constituents. Several quantitative estimates are presented provided sufficient data are available. For systemic toxicants, these include Reference Doses (RfDs) for chronic and subchronic exposures for both the inhalation and oral exposures. In the case of suspected carcinogens, RfDs may not be estimated. Instead, a carcinogenic potency factor, or q1*, is provided. These potency estimates are derived for both oral and inhalation exposures where possible. In addition, unit risk estimates for air and drinking water are presented based on inhalation and oral data, respectively. Reportable quantities (RQs) based on both chronic toxicity and carcinogenicity are derived. The RQ is used to determine the quantity of a hazardous substance for which notification is required in the event of a release as specified under CERCLA.

Choice of mineral fertilizer substitution principle strongly influences LCA environmental benefits of nutrient cycling in the agri-food system.

Science.gov (United States)

Hanserud, Ola Stedje; Cherubini, Francesco; Øgaard, Anne Falk; Müller, Daniel B; Brattebø, Helge

2018-02-15

Increased nutrient cycling in the agri-food system is a way to achieve a healthier nutrient stewardship and more sustainable food production. In life cycle assessment (LCA) studies, use of recycled fertilizer products is often credited by the substitution method, which subtracts the environmental burdens associated with avoided production of mineral fertilizer from the system under study. The environmental benefits from avoided fertilizer production can make an important contribution to the results, but different calculation principles and often implicit assumptions are used to estimate the amount of avoided mineral fertilizer. This may hinder comparisons between studies. The present study therefore examines how the choice of substitution principles influences LCA results. Three different substitution principles, called one-to-one, maintenance, and adjusted maintenance, are identified, and we test the importance of these in a case study on cattle slurry management. We show that the inventory of avoided mineral fertilizer varies greatly when the different principles are applied, with strong influences on two-thirds of LCA impact categories. With the one-to-one principle, there is a risk of systematically over-estimating the environmental benefits from nutrient cycling. In a sensitivity analysis we show that the difference between the principles is closely related to the application rate and levels of residual nutrients in the soil. We recommend that LCA practitioners first and foremost state and justify the substitution method they use, in order to increase transparency and comparability with other studies. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

The Supply of Environmentalism

OpenAIRE

Edward L. Glaeser

2013-01-01

Long before economics turned to psychology, environmentalists were nudging and framing and pushing their cause like highly gifted amateur psychologists. Their interventions seem to have changed behavior by altering beliefs, norms and preferences, but because psychological interventions are often coarse, inadvertent, offsetting side effects occur. After discussing the interplay between environmental preference-making and economics, I turn to three areas where strong, simple views have spread--...

Directed Technical Change and Economic Growth Effects of Environmental Policy

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Kruse-Andersen, Peter Kjær

2016-01-01

A Schumpeterian growth model is developed to investigate how environmental policy affects economic growth when environmental policy also affects the direction of technical change. In contrast to previous models, production and pollution abatement technologies are embodied in separate intermediate...... unambiguously directs research efforts toward pollution abatement technologies and away from production technologies. This directed technical change reduces economic growth and pollution emission growth. Simulation results indicate that even large environmental policy reforms have small economic growth effects....... However, these economic growth effects have relatively large welfare effects which suggest that static models and exogenous growth models leave out an important welfare effect of environmental policy....

The Effect of Environmental Science Projects on Students' Environmental Knowledge and Science Attitudes

Science.gov (United States)

Al-Balushi, Sulaiman M.; Al-Aamri, Shamsa S.

2014-01-01

The current study explores the effectiveness of involving students in environmental science projects for their environmental knowledge and attitudes towards science. The study design is a quasi-experimental pre-post control group design. The sample was 62 11th-grade female students studying at a public school in Oman. The sample was divided into…

Training for effective environmental protection in the nuclear industry

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Parkinson, D.; Brake, J.; Hickman, C.; Tamm, J.

2007-01-01

This paper examines the role of environmental training in the delivery of effective environmental protection programs for construction projects in the nuclear industry. The paper uses a case study approach, based on Point Lepreau Generating Station's Refurbishment Project, to demonstrate how the underpinning principles of 'training, awareness and competence' can be delivered within a structured environmental management framework, to achieve sustained excellence in environmental management and performance. Key issues addressed by the paper include the early identification of different target audiences, making effective use of communication themes, and the importance of reinforcement and follow-up in support of training goals. (author)

43 CFR 46.170 - Environmental effects abroad of major Federal actions.

Science.gov (United States)

2010-10-01

... 43 Public Lands: Interior 1 2010-10-01 2010-10-01 false Environmental effects abroad of major... IMPLEMENTATION OF THE NATIONAL ENVIRONMENTAL POLICY ACT OF 1969 Protection and Enhancement of Environmental Quality § 46.170 Environmental effects abroad of major Federal actions. (a) In order to facilitate...

Poppers, Kaposi's sarcoma, and HIV infection: empirical example of a strong confounding effect?

Science.gov (United States)

Morabia, A

1995-01-01

Are there empirical examples of strong confounding effects? Textbooks usually show examples of weak confounding or use hypothetical examples of strong confounding to illustrate the paradoxical consequences of not separating out the effect of the studied exposure from that of second factor acting as a confounder. HIV infection is a candidate strong confounder of the spuriously high association reported between consumption of poppers, a sexual stimulant, and risk of Kaposi's sarcoma in the early phase of the AIDS epidemic. To examine this hypothesis, assumptions must be made on the prevalence of HIV infection among cases of Kaposi's sarcoma and on the prevalence of heavy popper consumption according to HIV infection in cases and controls. Results show that HIV infection may have confounded the poppers-Kaposi's sarcoma association. However, it cannot be ruled out that HIV did not qualify as a confounder because it was either an intermediate variable or an effect modifier of the association between popper inhalation and Kaposi's sarcoma. This example provides a basis to discuss the mechanism by which confounding occurs as well as the practical importance of confounding in epidemiologic research.

Environmental Studies and Utilitarian Ethics

Science.gov (United States)

Wolff, Brian G.

2009-01-01

Environmental ethicists have focused much attention on the limits of utilitarianism and have generally defined "environmental ethics" in a manner that treats utilitarian environmental ethics as an oxymoron. This is unfortunate because utilitarian ethics can support strong environmental policies, and environmental ethicists have not yet produced a…

Enhanced magneto-plasmonic effect in Au/Co/Au multilayers caused by exciton–plasmon strong coupling

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Hamidi, S.M., E-mail: m_hamidi@sbu.ac.ir; Ghaebi, O.

2016-09-15

In this paper, we have investigated magneto optical Kerr rotation using the strong coupling of exciton–plasmon. For this purpose, we have demonstrated strong coupling phenomenon using reflectometry measurements. These measurements revealed the formation of two split polaritonic extrema in reflectometry as a function of wavelength. Then we have shown exciton–plasmon coupling in dispersion diagram which presented an anti-crossing between the polaritonic branches. To assure the readers of strong coupling, we have shown an enhanced magneto-optical Kerr rotation by comparing the reflectometry results of strong coupling of surface Plasmon polariton of Au/Co/Au multilayer and R6G excitons with surface Plasmon polariton magneto-optical kerr effect experimental setup. - Highlights: • The magneto optical Kerr rotation has been investigated by using the strong coupling of exciton–plasmon. • We have shown exciton–plasmon coupling in dispersion diagram which presented an anti-crossing between the polaritonic branches. • Strong coupling of surface plasmon polariton and exciton have been yielded to the enhanced magneto-optical Kerr effect. • Plasmons in Au/Co/Au multilayer and exciton in R6G have been coupled to enhance magneto-optical activity.

22 CFR 161.12 - Environmental effects abroad of major departmental actions.

Science.gov (United States)

2010-04-01

... 22 Foreign Relations 1 2010-04-01 2010-04-01 false Environmental effects abroad of major... Requirements of NEPA § 161.12 Environmental effects abroad of major departmental actions. Departmental officials shall analyze actions under their cognizance with due regard for the environmental effects in the...

Strong interaction effects in hadronic atoms

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Kaufmann, W.B.

1977-01-01

The WKB method is applied to the calculation of strong interaction-induced level widths and shifts of hadronic atoms. The calculation, while elementary enough for undergraduate quantum mechanics students, gives a good account of kaonic and antiprotonic atom data

The environmental effects of taxes on packages

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Schroten, A.; Nelissen, D.; Bergsma, G.C.; Blom, M.J.

2010-08-01

The results of an evaluation of the environmental impacts of taxes for packages are presented, differentiated for greenhouse gas emissions. The evaluation used a qualitative analysis of information from eighteen depth-interviews with experts in the packaging market, foreign experiences, relevant price elasticities and 'expert guesses'. It appears that tax package so far had a limited effect on the packaging market. For the longer term (ten years) larger, but probably also limited, effects are expected. The environmental impact of packaging tax can be increased if the taxes are substantially increased. [nl

14 CFR 1216.321 - Environmental effects abroad of major Federal actions.

Science.gov (United States)

2010-01-01

... 14 Aeronautics and Space 5 2010-01-01 2010-01-01 false Environmental effects abroad of major...) Other Requirements § 1216.321 Environmental effects abroad of major Federal actions. (a) In accordance with these procedures and E.O. 12114, “Environmental Effects Abroad of Major Federal Actions” (44 FR...

Effective action for superfluid Fermi systems in the strong-coupling limit

Science.gov (United States)

Dupuis, N.

2005-07-01

We derive the low-energy effective action for three-dimensional superfluid Fermi systems in the strong-coupling limit, where superfluidity originates from Bose-Einstein condensation of composite bosons. Taking into account density and pairing fluctuations on the same footing, we show that the effective action involves only the fermion density ρr and its conjugate variable, the phase θr of the pairing order parameter Δr . We recover the standard action of a Bose superfluid of density ρr/2 , where the bosons have a mass mB=2m and interact via a repulsive contact potential with amplitude gB=4πaB/mB,aB=2a ( a the s -wave scattering length associated to the fermion-fermion interaction in vacuum). For lattice models, the derivation of the effective action is based on the mapping of the attractive Hubbard model onto the Heisenberg model in a uniform magnetic field, and a coherent state path integral representation of the partition function. The effective description of the Fermi superfluid in the strong-coupling limit is a Bose-Hubbard model with an intersite hopping amplitude tB=J/2 and an on-site repulsive interaction UB=2Jz , where J=4t2/U ( t and -U are the intersite hopping amplitude and the on-site attraction in the (fermionic) Hubbard model, z the number of nearest-neighbor sites).

ENVIRONMENTAL EFFECTS ON THE GROWTH OF SUPERMASSIVE BLACK HOLES AND ACTIVE GALACTIC NUCLEUS FEEDBACK

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Shin, Min-Su; Ostriker, Jeremiah P.; Ciotti, Luca

2012-01-01

We investigate how environmental effects by gas stripping alter the growth of a supermassive black hole (SMBH) and its host galaxy evolution, by means of one-dimensional hydrodynamical simulations that include both mechanical and radiative active galactic nucleus (AGN) feedback effects. By changing the truncation radius of the gas distribution (R t ), beyond which gas stripping is assumed to be effective, we simulate possible environments for satellite and central galaxies in galaxy clusters and groups. The continuous escape of gas outside the truncation radius strongly suppresses star formation, while the growth of the SMBH is less affected by gas stripping because the SMBH accretion is primarily ruled by the density of the central region. As we allow for increasing environmental effects—the truncation radius decreasing from about 410 to 50 kpc—we find that the final SMBH mass declines from about 10 9 to 8 × 10 8 M ☉ , but the outflowing mass is roughly constant at about 2 × 10 10 M ☉ . There are larger changes in the mass of stars formed, which declines from about 2 × 10 10 to 2 × 10 9 M ☉ , and the final thermal X-ray gas, which declines from about 10 9 to 5 × 10 8 M ☉ , with increasing environmental stripping. Most dramatic is the decline in the total time that the objects would be seen as quasars, which declines from 52 Myr (for R t = 377 kpc) to 7.9 Myr (for R t = 51 kpc). The typical case might be interpreted as a red and dead galaxy having episodic cooling flows followed by AGN feedback effects resulting in temporary transitions of the overall galaxy color from red to green or to blue, with (cluster) central galaxies spending a much larger fraction of their time in the elevated state than do satellite galaxies. Our results imply that various scaling relations for elliptical galaxies, in particular, the mass ratio between the SMBH and its host galaxy, can have dispersions due to environmental effects such as gas stripping. In addition, the

Anisotropy of the magnetoviscous effect in a cobalt ferrofluid with strong interparticle interaction

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Linke, J.M., E-mail: julia.linke@tu-dresden.de; Odenbach, S.

2015-12-15

The anisotropy of the magnetoviscous effect (MVE) of a cobalt ferrofluid has been studied in a slit die viscometer for three orientations of the applied magnetic field: in the direction of the fluid flow (Δη{sub 1}), the velocity gradient (Δη{sub 2}), and the vorticity (Δη{sub 3}). The majority of the cobalt particles in the ferrofluid exhibit a strong dipole–dipole interaction, which corresponds to a weighted interaction parameter of λ{sub w}≈10.6. Thus the particles form extended microstructures inside the fluid which lead to enhanced MVE ratios Δη{sub 2}/Δη{sub 1}>3 and Δη{sub 3}/Δη{sub 1}>0.3 even for strong shearing and weak magnetic fields compared to fluids which contain non-interacting spherical particles with Δη{sub 2}/Δη{sub 1}≈1 and Δη{sub 3}/Δη{sub 1}=0. Furthermore, a non-monotonic increase has been observed in the shear thinning behavior of Δη{sub 2} for weak magnetic fields <10 kA/m, which cannot be explained solely by the magnetization of individual particles and the formation and disintegration of linear particle chains but indicates the presence of heterophase structures. - Highlights: • The magnetoviscous effect in a ferrofluid with strong interaction is anisotropic. • The strongest effects are found in a magnetic field parallel to the shear gradient. • In strong magnetic fields the microstructure of the fluid is stable against shearing. • In weak fields the fluid behavior indicates the presence of heterophase structures.

A study of the influence of regional environmental expenditure on air quality in China: the effectiveness of environmental policy.

Science.gov (United States)

He, Lingyun; Wu, Meng; Wang, Deqing; Zhong, Zhangqi

2018-03-01

Based on the panel data model, data on environmental expenditures, the air quality index, economic aggregates, industrial structures, etc., of seven seriously polluted cities in China, from the period 2007-2015, were collected, and this paper estimates the general relationship between environmental expenditures and the air quality index. Besides, the impact of the fuel tax policy on air quality as well as on the relationship between environmental expenditure and the air quality index is tested using the method of regression discontinuity. We find that there is a long-term equilibrium relationship between environmental expenditure and air quality index as well as a 0.0507% positive effect of the former on the latter. Second, for Beijing, Taiyuan, Chongqing, and Lanzhou, a 1% increase in environmental expenditure leads to 0.0773, 0.0125, 0.0965, and 0.0912% decreases in the air quality index, respectively; however, for Shijiazhuang, Ji'nan, and Urumqi, effect of environmental expenditure on air quality is insignificant. Third, both economic growth and optimization of the industrial structure can lead to an improvement of air quality. Fourth, since the implementation of the fuel tax policy in 2009, the air quality of the sample cities has improved, and the pulling effect of environmental expenditure on the air quality index has decreased from 0.0507 to 0.0048%. Our findings cannot only clarify the effect of environmental expenditures on air quality but can also objectively judge the effectiveness of environmental policies of China to a certain extent. It may benefit Chinese government to effectively govern air pollution with fiscal tools in conjunction with economic and environmental characteristics.

Strong delayed interactive effects of metal exposure and warming

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Debecker, Sara; Dinh, Khuong Van; Stoks, Robby

2017-01-01

’ ranges could lead to an important underestimation of the risks. We addressed all three mechanisms by studying effects of larval exposure to zinc and warming before, during, and after metamorphosis in Ischnura elegans damselflies from high- and lowlatitude populations. By integrating these mechanisms...... into a single study, we could identify two novel patterns. First, during exposure zinc did not affect survival, whereas it induced mild to moderate postexposure mortality in the larval stage and at metamorphosis, and very strongly reduced adult lifespan. This severe delayed effect across metamorphosis...... was especially remarkable in high-latitude animals, as they appeared almost insensitive to zinc during the larval stage. Second, the well-known synergism between metals and warming was manifested not only during the larval stage but also after metamorphosis, yet notably only in low-latitude damselflies...

Place Effects on Environmental Views

Science.gov (United States)

Hamilton, Lawrence C.; Colocousis, Chris R.; Duncan, Cynthia M.

2010-01-01

How people respond to questions involving the environment depends partly on individual characteristics. Characteristics such as age, gender, education, and ideology constitute the well-studied "social bases of environmental concern," which have been explained in terms of cohort effects or of cognitive and cultural factors related to social…

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...

Epiphytic lichen diversity in central European oak forests: Assessment of the effects of natural environmental factors and human influences

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Svoboda, David; Peksa, Ondrej; Vesela, Jana

2010-01-01

We investigated lichen diversity in temperate oak forests using standardized protocols. Forty-eight sites were sampled in the Czech Republic, Slovakia and Hungary. The effects of natural environmental predictors and human influences on lichen diversity (lichen diversity value, species richness) were analysed by means of correlation tests. We found that lichen diversity responded differently to environmental predictors between two regions with different human impact. In the industrial region, air pollution was the strongest factor. In the agricultural to highly forested regions, lichen diversity was strongly influenced by forest age and forest fragmentation. We found that several natural factors can in some cases obscure the effect of human influences. Thus, factors of naturality gradient must be considered (both statistically and interpretively) when studying human impact on lichen diversity. - We detected the different responses of lichens to ecological predictors in polluted and unpolluted areas.

An indicator for effects of organic toxicants on lotic invertebrate communities: Independence of confounding environmental factors over an extensive river continuum

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Beketov, Mikhail A.; Liess, Matthias

2008-01-01

Distinguishing between effects of natural and anthropogenic environmental factors on ecosystems is a fundamental problem in environmental science. In river systems the longitudinal gradient of environmental factors is one of the most relevant sources of dissimilarity between communities that could be confounded with anthropogenic disturbances. To test the hypothesis that in macroinvertebrate communities the distribution of species' sensitivity to organic toxicants is independent of natural longitudinal factors, but depends on contamination with organic toxicants, we analysed the relationship between community sensitivity SPEAR organic (average community sensitivity to organic toxicants) and natural and anthropogenic environmental factors in a large-scale river system, from alpine streams to a lowland river. The results show that SPEAR organic is largely independent of natural longitudinal factors, but strongly dependent on contamination with organic toxicants (petrochemicals and synthetic surfactants). Usage of SPEAR organic as a stressor-specific longitude-independent measure will facilitate detection of community disturbance by organic toxicants. - Indicator for organic toxicants at community level can be independent of natural environmental factors

The Sensorial Effect: Dynamics of Emotion in Pro-Environmental Behavior

Science.gov (United States)

Hipolito, Joana

2011-01-01

In this article, sensorial effects are introduced as emotional stimuli for shaping environmentally significant behaviors. This research provides a link between sensorial effect as ubiquitous environmental behavior feedback and the effect of sensorial stimuli on emotions that trigger individuals' pro-environment behavior. A case study of using…

Energy and Environmental Effects of Grocery Distribution: Transportation Means Catalogue

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Jørgensen, Kaj

1996-01-01

The report serves as a background report for the project "Energy and Environmental Effects of Grocery Distribution". It contains a systematic overview of physical characteristics of the typical technologies, including energy and environmental effects....

Industry in the 5th Environmental Outlook. Background information and final conclusions on the future development of environmental pressure (emissions) due to industrial production in the Netherlands

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Wesselink, L.G.; Elzenga, H.E.; Booij, H.; Peek, K.; Thomas, R.; Duvoort, G.L.; Van Schijndel, M.W.

2001-01-01

The present and future development of environmental pressure (here emissions) due to industrial production in the Netherlands are discussed. Results were - strongly aggregated - also presented in the 5th Environmental Outlook. We studied developments in production levels, energy use and emissions of Dutch industry and the effect of environmental policy measures, in the period 1980-2020. We used monitoring data for the period 1980-1998 en two scenarios (Global Competition and European Coordination) for the subsequent 1998-2020 period. It is concluded, that future CO2 emissions due to industrial production will continue to increase, that emissions of fluorinated (Kyoto) gasses will strongly decrease and that emissions of NOx, SO2, VOS en fine particles will continue to decrease. Yet, current environmental policy is insufficient to meet national Dutch emission targets of NOx, SO2, VOS in 2010

Evaluation of Environmental Effects of Wave Energy Convertor Arrays

Science.gov (United States)

Jones, C. A.

2015-12-01

Stakeholders and regulators in the U.S. are generally uncertain as to the potential environmental impacts posed by deployments of marine and hydrokinetic (MHK) devices, and in particular wave energy conversion (WEC) devices, in coastal waters. The first pilot-scale WEC deployments in the U.S. have had to absorb unsustainable costs and delays associated with permitting to get devices in the water. As such, there is an urgent industry need to streamline the technical activities and processes used to assess potential environmental impacts. To enable regulators and stakeholders to become more comfortable and confident with developing effective MHK environmental assessments, a better understanding of the potential environmental effects induced by arrays of WEC devices is needed. A key challenge in developing this understanding is that the assessment of the WEC effects must come prior to deployment. A typical approach in similar environmental assessments is to use numerical models to simulate the WEC devices and array layouts so that the appropriate environmental stressors and receptors can be identified and assessed. Sandia National Laboratories (SNL) and the U.S. Department of Energy are fulfilling the industry-wide need to develop "WEC-friendly" open-source numerical modeling tools capable of assessing potential changes to the physical environment caused by the operation of WEC arrays. Studies using these tools will advance the nation's general knowledge of the interrelationships among the number, size, efficiency, and configuration of MHK arrays and the subsequent effects these relationships may have on the deployment environment. By better understanding these relationships, industry, stakeholders, and regulators will be able to work together to optimize WEC deployments such that environmental impacts are minimized while power output is maximized. The present work outlines the initial effort in coupling the SNL WEC-friendly tools with the environmental assessment

Environmental effects of geothermal energy exploitation

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Nakamura, H [Japan Metals and Chemicals Co., Ltd., Japan

1975-01-01

The environmental effects of geothermal power generation which cause air and water pollution and destruction of natural areas are reviewed. The production of steam and hot water affect existing hot springs sources and can cause ground subsidence. Harmful gas can be released onto the atmosphere from fumarolic gas and hot springs. Hydrothermal geothermal fields occasionally contain harmful substances such as arsenic in the hot water. Serious environmental effects can result from geothermal exploitation activities such as the felling of trees for road construction, well drilling, and plant construction. Once geothermal power generation has begun, the release of H/sub 2/S into the atmosphere and the reinjection of hot water are conducted continuously and sufficient countermeasures can be taken. One problem is the effects of plant construction and operation on natural parks. It is important to reach a compromise between development and protection of natural senic areas. Two figures, two tables, and 13 references are provided.

Strongly disordered superconductors

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Muttalib, K.A.

1982-01-01

We examine some universal effects of strong non-magnetic disorder on the electron-phonon and electron-electron interactions in a superconductor. In particular we explicitly take into account the effect of slow diffusion of electrons in a disordered medium by working in an exact impurity eigenstate representation. We find that the normal diffusion of electrons characterized by a constant diffusion coefficient does not lead to any significant correction to the electron-phonon or the effective electron-electron interactions in a superconductor. We then consider sufficiently strong disorder where Anderson localization of electrons becomes important and determine the effect of localization on the electron-electron interactions. We find that due to localization, the diffusion of electrons becomes anomalous in the sense that the diffusion coefficient becomes scale dependent. This results in an increase in the effective electron-electron interaction with increasing disorder. We propose that this provides a natural explanation for the unusual sensitivity of the transition temperature T/sub c/ of the high T/sub c/ superconductors (T/sub c/ > 10 0 K) to damage effects

Effectiveness of Environmental Impact Assessment system in Estonia

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Heinma, Kaupo; Poder, Tonis

2010-01-01

To be effective, an Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) system, first, has to minimize the probability that projects with significant environmental effects are implemented without EIA, and second, minimize the number of EIAs, which do not provide decision makers with essential information, so that the decision is improved as a result of EIA. The objective of this study was to find out how frequently in Estonia the projects implemented without EIA have caused significant environmental effects, and to measure the relative frequency of EIAs that have no influence on decision. An extensive survey with e-mail distributed questionnaires was carried out to reveal information from governmental agencies, local self-governments, and developers. There was no evidence that projects authorized without EIA have had environmental impacts, which could have been mitigated as a result of EIA. In contrast, about half of EIAs did not alter the decision of relevant authorities. This proportion was valid to both mandatory EIAs and those initiated on judgement basis. In our view, the proportion of no-influence EIAs was excessive and indicated the need to reconsider the provisions applying to the projects with a mandatory EIA requirement as well as judgements practice.

The Short Term Effectiveness of an Outdoor Environmental Education on Environmental Awareness and Sensitivity of In-Service Teachers

Science.gov (United States)

Okur-Berberoglu, Emel; Ozdilek, Hasan Göksel; Yalcin-Ozdilek, Sükran

2015-01-01

Outdoor education is mostly mentioned in terms of environmental education. The aim of this research is to determine the short term effectiveness of an outdoor environmental education program on biodiversity awareness, environmental awareness and sensitivity to natural environment. The data is collected from an outdoor environmental education…

Effective action for superfluid Fermi systems in the strong-coupling limit

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Dupuis, N.

2005-01-01

We derive the low-energy effective action for three-dimensional superfluid Fermi systems in the strong-coupling limit, where superfluidity originates from Bose-Einstein condensation of composite bosons. Taking into account density and pairing fluctuations on the same footing, we show that the effective action involves only the fermion density ρ r and its conjugate variable, the phase θ r of the pairing order parameter Δ r . We recover the standard action of a Bose superfluid of density ρ r /2, where the bosons have a mass m B =2m and interact via a repulsive contact potential with amplitude g B =4πa B /m B ,a B =2a (a the s-wave scattering length associated to the fermion-fermion interaction in vacuum). For lattice models, the derivation of the effective action is based on the mapping of the attractive Hubbard model onto the Heisenberg model in a uniform magnetic field, and a coherent state path integral representation of the partition function. The effective description of the Fermi superfluid in the strong-coupling limit is a Bose-Hubbard model with an intersite hopping amplitude t B =J/2 and an on-site repulsive interaction U B =2Jz, where J=4t 2 /U (t and -U are the intersite hopping amplitude and the on-site attraction in the (fermionic) Hubbard model, z the number of nearest-neighbor sites)

Health effects engineering: Perspectives for environmental health and environmental engineering studies-domestic biomass combustion as an example

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Gao Xiang; Yu Qi; Chen Limin

2007-01-01

Health effects engineering (HEE) is a newly developed research field, which involves collaboration with environmental scientists, engineering researchers, and toxicologists. By employing the methods of HEE, one can not only confirm which attributes of the project are likely to contribute to certain health effects, but can also get rid of the adverse health effects by engineering technologies. HEE is thought to be particularly important to domestic projects in which there is a lack of environmental assessment. This paper presented the authors' viewpoints of the principles of HEE in the field of the environmental health and engineering studies by using programs of domestic biomass combustion as an example. The authors showed that there are three sub-fields of HEE, which are as follows: engineering behavior, the pollution characteristics, and the health effects. The authors conclude that the principles of HEE compose a helix with the studies in the fields of environmental science, health, and engineering, and give suggestions on how to perform HEE in a practical field

Bridge health monitoring with consideration of environmental effects

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Kim, Yuhee; Kim, Hyunsoo; Shin, Soobong; Park, Jongchil

2012-01-01

Reliable response measurements are extremely important for proper bridge health monitoring but incomplete and unreliable data may be acquired due to sensor problems and environmental effects. In the case of a sensor malfunction, parts of the measured data can be missing so that the structural health condition cannot be monitored reliably. This means that the dynamic characteristics of natural frequencies can change as if the structure is damaged due to environmental effects, such as temperature variations. To overcome these problems, this paper proposes a systematic procedure of data analysis to recover missing data and eliminate the environmental effects from the measured data. It also proposed a health index calculated statistically using revised data to evaluate the health condition of a bridge. The proposed method was examined using numerically simulated data with a truss structure and then applied to a set of field data measured from a cable stayed bridge

Bridge health monitoring with consideration of environmental effects

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Kim, Yuhee; Kim, Hyunsoo; Shin, Soobong [Inha Univ., Incheon (Korea, Republic of); Park, Jongchil [Korea Expressway Co., (Korea, Republic of)

2012-12-15

Reliable response measurements are extremely important for proper bridge health monitoring but incomplete and unreliable data may be acquired due to sensor problems and environmental effects. In the case of a sensor malfunction, parts of the measured data can be missing so that the structural health condition cannot be monitored reliably. This means that the dynamic characteristics of natural frequencies can change as if the structure is damaged due to environmental effects, such as temperature variations. To overcome these problems, this paper proposes a systematic procedure of data analysis to recover missing data and eliminate the environmental effects from the measured data. It also proposed a health index calculated statistically using revised data to evaluate the health condition of a bridge. The proposed method was examined using numerically simulated data with a truss structure and then applied to a set of field data measured from a cable stayed bridge.

Values determine the (ineffectiveness of informational interventions in promoting pro-environmental behavior.

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Jan Willem Bolderdijk

Full Text Available Informational interventions (e.g., awareness campaigns, carbon footprint calculators are built on the assumption that informing the public about the environmental consequences of their actions should result in increased pro-environmental intentions and behavior. However, empirical support for this reasoning is mixed. In this paper, we argue that informational interventions may succeed in improving people's knowledge about the negative environmental consequences of one's actions, but this knowledge will not gain motivational force if people do not consider protecting the environment an important personal value. In an experiment, we measured individual differences in value priorities, and either presented participants a movie clip that portrayed the negative environmental consequences of using bottled water, or a control movie. As predicted, we found that the environmental movie improved recipients' knowledge of the negative environmental impact of bottled water, but this knowledge only resulted in concomitant changes in intentions and acceptability of related policies among participants who strongly endorsed biospheric (i.e. environmental values, while having no effect on those who care less about the environment. Interestingly, the results suggest that although informational interventions are perhaps not always successful in directly affecting less environmentally-conscious recipients, they could still have beneficial effects, because they make those who strongly care about the environment more inclined to act on their values.

Effects of interaction imbalance in a strongly repulsive one-dimensional Bose gas

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Barfknecht, Rafael Emilio; Zinner, Nikolaj Thomas; Foerster, Angela

2018-01-01

We calculate the spatial distributions and the dynamics of a few-body two-component strongly interacting Bose gas confined to an effectively one-dimensional trapping potential. We describe the densities for each component in the trap for different interaction and population imbalances. We calculate...

Effects of Interaction Imbalance in a Strongly Repulsive One-Dimensional Bose Gas

Science.gov (United States)

Barfknecht, R. E.; Foerster, A.; Zinner, N. T.

2018-05-01

We calculate the spatial distributions and the dynamics of a few-body two-component strongly interacting Bose gas confined to an effectively one-dimensional trapping potential. We describe the densities for each component in the trap for different interaction and population imbalances. We calculate the time evolution of the system and show that, for a certain ratio of interactions, the minority population travels through the system as an effective wave packet.

40 CFR 725.260 - Submission of health and environmental effects data.

Science.gov (United States)

2010-07-01

... 40 Protection of Environment 30 2010-07-01 2010-07-01 false Submission of health and environmental effects data. 725.260 Section 725.260 Protection of Environment ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY (CONTINUED... for Research and Development Activities § 725.260 Submission of health and environmental effects data...

40 CFR 725.160 - Submission of health and environmental effects data.

Science.gov (United States)

2010-07-01

... their age, quality, or results. (b) Other data concerning the health and environmental effects of the... 40 Protection of Environment 30 2010-07-01 2010-07-01 false Submission of health and environmental effects data. 725.160 Section 725.160 Protection of Environment ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY (CONTINUED...

The Effects of Argumentation Implementation on Environmental Education Self Efficacy Beliefs and Perspectives According to Environmental Problems

Science.gov (United States)

Fettahlioglu, Pinar

2018-01-01

The purpose of this study is to investigate the effect of argumentation implementation applied in the environmental science course on science teacher candidates' environmental education self-efficacy beliefs and perspectives according to environmental problems. In this mixed method research study, convergent parallel design was utilized.…

Effective potential kinetic theory for strongly coupled plasmas

Science.gov (United States)

Baalrud, Scott D.; Daligault, Jérôme

2016-11-01

The effective potential theory (EPT) is a recently proposed method for extending traditional plasma kinetic and transport theory into the strongly coupled regime. Validation from experiments and molecular dynamics simulations have shown it to be accurate up to the onset of liquid-like correlation parameters (corresponding to Γ ≃ 10-50 for the one-component plasma, depending on the process of interest). Here, this theory is briefly reviewed along with comparisons between the theory and molecular dynamics simulations for self-diffusivity and viscosity of the one-component plasma. A number of new results are also provided, including calculations of friction coefficients, energy exchange rates, stopping power, and mobility. The theory is also cast in the Landau and Fokker-Planck kinetic forms, which may prove useful for enabling efficient kinetic computations.

Environmental effects of increased atmospheric carbon dioxide

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Soon, W.; Baliunas, S.L.; Robinson, A.B.; Robinson, Z.W.

1999-01-01

A review of the literature concerning the environmental consequences of increased levels of atmospheric carbon dioxide leads to the conclusion that increases during the 20th century have produced no deleterious effects upon global climate or temperature. Increased carbon dioxide has, however, markedly increased plant growth rates as inferred from numerous laboratory and field experiments. There is no clear evidence, nor unique attribution, of the global effects of anthropogenic CO 2 on climate. Meaningful integrated assessments of the environmental impacts of anthropogenic CO 2 are not yet possible because model estimates of global and regional climate changes on interannual, decadal and centennial timescales remain highly uncertain.(author)

Strong Stability Preserving Explicit Runge--Kutta Methods of Maximal Effective Order

KAUST Repository

Hadjimichael, Yiannis

2013-07-23

We apply the concept of effective order to strong stability preserving (SSP) explicit Runge--Kutta methods. Relative to classical Runge--Kutta methods, methods with an effective order of accuracy are designed to satisfy a relaxed set of order conditions but yield higher order accuracy when composed with special starting and stopping methods. We show that this allows the construction of four-stage SSP methods with effective order four (such methods cannot have classical order four). However, we also prove that effective order five methods---like classical order five methods---require the use of nonpositive weights and so cannot be SSP. By numerical optimization, we construct explicit SSP Runge--Kutta methods up to effective order four and establish the optimality of many of them. Numerical experiments demonstrate the validity of these methods in practice.

Strong Stability Preserving Explicit Runge--Kutta Methods of Maximal Effective Order

KAUST Repository

Hadjimichael, Yiannis; Macdonald, Colin B.; Ketcheson, David I.; Verner, James H.

2013-01-01

We apply the concept of effective order to strong stability preserving (SSP) explicit Runge--Kutta methods. Relative to classical Runge--Kutta methods, methods with an effective order of accuracy are designed to satisfy a relaxed set of order conditions but yield higher order accuracy when composed with special starting and stopping methods. We show that this allows the construction of four-stage SSP methods with effective order four (such methods cannot have classical order four). However, we also prove that effective order five methods---like classical order five methods---require the use of nonpositive weights and so cannot be SSP. By numerical optimization, we construct explicit SSP Runge--Kutta methods up to effective order four and establish the optimality of many of them. Numerical experiments demonstrate the validity of these methods in practice.

Environmental Impact from Outdoor/Environmental Education Programs: Effects of Frequent Stream Classes on Aquatic Macroinvertebrates

Science.gov (United States)

Bossley, Jon P.

2016-01-01

Environmental stewardship is an underlying theme in outdoor education (OE) and environmental education (EE), but maintaining natural areas in a sustainable balance between conservation and preservation requires knowledge about how natural areas respond to anthropogenic disturbance. My five-part study investigated the effects of disturbance on…

Surface correlation effects in two-band strongly correlated slabs.

Science.gov (United States)

Esfahani, D Nasr; Covaci, L; Peeters, F M

2014-02-19

Using an extension of the Gutzwiller approximation for an inhomogeneous system, we study the two-band Hubbard model with unequal band widths for a slab geometry. The aim is to investigate the mutual effect of individual bands on the spatial distribution of quasi-particle weight and charge density, especially near the surface of the slab. The main effect of the difference in band width is the presence of two different length scales corresponding to the quasi-particle profile of each band. This is enhanced in the vicinity of the critical interaction of the narrow band where an orbitally selective Mott transition occurs and a surface dead layer forms for the narrow band. For the doped case, two different regimes of charge transfer between the surface and the bulk of the slab are revealed. The charge transfer from surface/center to center/surface depends on both the doping level and the average relative charge accumulated in each band. Such effects could also be of importance when describing the accumulation of charges at the interface between structures made of multi-band strongly correlated materials.

Environmental effects of indirect subsidies

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Van Beers, C.P.; De Moor, A.P.G.; Van den Bergh, J.C.J.M.; Oosterhuis, F.H.

2003-01-01

The aim of the study on the title subject is to develop a transparent integrated method to determine and analyze the environmental impacts of indirect subsidies, applied in the sectors agriculture, energy, mobility, and tourism. From the results it appears that the hazardous effects of subsidies are big. Examples are milk, the regulating energy levy, and kerosene [nl

Poly-ϵ-caprolactone/chitosan nanoparticles provide strong adjuvant effect for hepatitis B antigen.

Science.gov (United States)

Jesus, Sandra; Soares, Edna; Borchard, Gerrit; Borges, Olga

2017-10-01

This work aims to investigate the adjuvant effect of poly-ϵ-caprolactone/chitosan nanoparticles (NPs) for hepatitis B surface antigen (HBsAg) and the plasmid DNA encoding HBsAg (pRC/CMV-HBs). Both antigens were adsorbed onto preformed NPs. Vaccination studies were performed in C57BL/6 mice. Transfection efficiency was investigated in A549 cell line. HBsAg-adsorbed NPs generated strong anti-HBsAg IgG titers, mainly of IgG1 isotype, and induced antigen-specific IFN-γ and IL-17 secretion by spleen cells. The addition of pRC/CMV-HBs to the HBsAg-adsorbed NPs inhibited IL-17 secretion but had minor effect on IFN-γ levels. Lastly, pRC/CMV-HBs-loaded NPs generated a weak serum antibody response. Poly-ϵ-caprolactone/chitosan NPs provide a strong humoral adjuvant effect for HBsAg and induce a Th1/Th17-mediated cellular immune responses worth explore for hepatitis B virus vaccination.

Monetary or environmental appeals for saving electricity? –Potentials for spillover on low carbon policy acceptability

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Steinhorst, Julia; Matthies, Ellen

2016-01-01

The acceptability of low carbon policies is an important precondition for energy system transitions, such as the German Energiewende. This long-term experimental study examines the potential for behavioural spillover on the acceptability of low carbon policies, caused by a framed intervention to promote electricity saving behaviour. Clients of a German energy provider were randomly assigned to continuously receive electricity saving tips with either monetary framing (saving potential in €) or environmental framing (saving potential in CO_2). The control group did not receive any information. In two follow-up surveys, four (N=333) and nine months (N=258) later, participants rated the acceptability of several low carbon policies. A pre-survey assessed the personal ecological norm for saving electricity. Participants with strong personal ecological norms reported generally higher policy acceptability. After environmental framing they also indicated higher acceptability compared to the monetary framing or control group. These results indicate that information campaigns should be designed carefully in order to promote positive spillover effects. Environmental framing of private-sphere behaviour can increase the disposition for further pro-environmental behaviour in the public sphere, e.g. policy acceptability. When appealing to monetary benefits in pro-environmental behaviour, there is a risk of inhibiting positive spillover effects. - Highlights: •Policy acceptability may be influenced by type of framing and individual factors. •We examined long-term spillover effects in association with type of framing. •Framing (environmental vs. monetary) interacts with personal ecological norms. •For strong personal ecological norms, environmental framing increases acceptability. •Also, strong personal ecological norms increase low carbon policy acceptability.

Effects of a 1-Day Environmental Education Intervention on Environmental Attitudes and Connectedness with Nature

Science.gov (United States)

Sellmann, Daniela; Bogner, Franz X.

2013-01-01

Besides cognitive learning effects, short-term environmental education (EE) is often regarded as ineffective in intervening with participants' environmental attitudes and behaviour. However, in Germany, school classes often participate in such 1-day EE programmes because they better match the school curriculum in contrast to longer (residential)…

The Environmental Science and Health Effects Program

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Michael Gurevich; Doug Lawson; Joe Mauderly

2000-01-01

The goal of the Environmental Science and Health Effect Program is to conduct policy-relevant research that will help us understand atmospheric impacts and potential health effects that may be caused by the use of petroleum-based fuels and alternative transportation fuels from mobile sources

The Environmental Science and Health Effects Program

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Michael Gurevich; Doug Lawson; Joe Mauderly

2000-04-10

The goal of the Environmental Science and Health Effect Program is to conduct policy-relevant research that will help us understand atmospheric impacts and potential health effects that may be caused by the use of petroleum-based fuels and alternative transportation fuels from mobile sources.

Perception of Urban Environmental Risks and the Effects of Urban Green Infrastructures (UGIs) on Human Well-being in Four Public Green Spaces of Guangzhou, China.

Science.gov (United States)

Duan, Junya; Wang, Yafei; Fan, Chen; Xia, Beicheng; de Groot, Rudolf

2018-05-28

Cities face many challenging environmental problems that affect human well-being. Environmental risks can be reduced by Urban Green Infrastructures (UGIs). The effects of UGIs on the urban environment have been widely studied, but less attention has been given to the public perception of these effects. This paper presents the results of a study in Guangzhou, China, on UGI users' perceptions of these effects and their relationship with sociodemographic variables. A questionnaire survey was conducted in four public green spaces. Descriptive statistics, a binary logistic regression model and cross-tabulation analysis were applied on the data from 396 valid questionnaires. The results show that UGI users were more concerned about poor air quality and high temperature than about flooding events. Their awareness of environmental risks was partly in accordance with official records. Regarding the perception of the impacts of environmental risks on human well-being, elderly and female respondents with higher education levels were the most sensitive to these impacts. The respondents' perceptions of these impacts differed among the different green spaces. The effects of UGIs were well perceived and directly observed by the UGI users, but were not significantly influenced by most sociodemographic variables. Moreover, tourists had a lower perception of the impacts of environmental risks and the effects of UGI than residents did. This study provides strong support for UGIs as an effective tool to mitigate environmental risks. Local governments should consider the role of UGIs in environmental risk mitigation and human well-being with regard to urban planning and policy making.

Effect of aluminium concentration and boron dopant on environmental embrittlement in FeAl aluminides

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Liu, C.T.; George, E.P.

1991-01-01

This paper reports on the room-temperature tensile properties of FeAl aluminides determined as functions of aluminum concentration (35 to 43 at. % Al), test environment, and surface (oil) coating. The two lower aluminum alloys containing 35 and 36.5% Al are prone to severe environmental embrittlement, while the two higher aluminum alloys with 40 and 43% Al are much less sensitive to change in test environment and surface coating. The reason for the different behavior is that the grain boundaries are intrinsically weak in the higher aluminum alloys, and these weak boundaries dominate the low ductility and brittle fracture behavior of the 40 and 43% Al alloys. When boron is added to the 40% Al alloy as a grain-boundary strengthener, the environmental effect becomes prominent. In this case, the tensile ductility of the boron-doped alloy, just like that of the lower aluminum alloys, can be dramatically improved by control of test environment (e.g. dry oxygen vs air). Strong segregation of boron to the grain boundaries, with a segregation factor of 43, was revealed by Auger analyses

Environmental effects of exploratory drilling offshore Canada : environmental effects monitoring data and literature review : final report

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Hurley, G.; Ellis, J.

2004-10-01

This study examined pertinent environmental effects monitoring (EEM) information and data associated with offshore exploratory and development drilling in Canada. Two approaches were used: (1) a review of scientific literature was conducted to provide a synthesis of knowledge concerning interactions between exploratory drilling and the environment; and (2) a review of pertinent Canadian EEM data was conducted to evaluate interactions between exploratory drilling and the environment. Virtually all the east coast Canadian data reviewed in the study related to the effects of multiple wells. Although the effects of drilling waste were a primary focus, the effects of accidental discharges, lights and flaring, atmospheric emissions and noise emissions were also considered. Changes in the diversity and abundance of benthic organisms were detected within 1000 metres of many drill sites. The fine particles in drilling wastes contributed to the environmental effects observed around drilling platforms, and elevated body burden concentrations of drill waste indicators were detected over larger scales in a wide range of taxonomic groups. The results of laboratory and field studies suggested a lower potential for toxicity on commercial finfish and shellfish species. However, it was observed that measuring the effects of elevated concentrations of contaminants remained a challenge due to high levels variability in literature studies. A precautionary approach to the management of seismic surveys was recommended. It was concluded that the potential cumulative impacts of exploration drilling should be considered in the context of other anthropogenic activities. 138 refs., 6 tabs.

Public accept for environmental taxes: self-interest, environmental and distributional concerns

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Kallbekken, Steffen; Saelen, Haakon

2010-07-15

While strongly recommended by economists, it has often been politically difficult to impose taxes on externalities. There is a substantial literature on public attitudes towards environmental taxes. There have, however, been few comprehensive attempts to understand attitudes towards environmental taxes, and few attempts to isolate the effects of selfish and social preferences. The main research question in this paper is which factors influence support for fuel taxation. We propose a model of attitudes towards fuel taxation, and test this model as well as more specific hypotheses, using data from a representative survey of the adult Norwegian population. Our results suggest that support for fuel taxation is best predicted by beliefs about environmental consequences, followed by beliefs about consequences to others. Beliefs about consequences to self ( self interest ) is the factor that explains the least variation in support for fuel taxation. The academically interesting result that support cannot be well explained without capturing a broad range of motivational factors is also highly policy relevant. It implies that there is no magic formula for increasing public support for environmental taxes. There are, however, some issues which can be addressed: trust in how well the government spends the revenue, and the perception that taxation does very little to change behaviour and thus to reduce environmental problems. (Author)

Environmental pollution-effects on national development

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Mahyuddin bin Ramli; Mohd Fadzil bin Mohd Idris

1994-01-01

Environmental pollution is among the major issues highlighted in many discussion between the Government and Non-Government officials whether in the developed or developing countries. The problems becoming worsen when not many people are concerned on its detrimental effects on the future generations. The increasing number of forest activities without proper replanting will also expose to flood problems, soil erosion, landslides and many more as results of environmental impacts. The urbanization process, couple with the rapid industrial development, without having proper planning and inadequate pollutions control, may also create a long term disasters. Penang island territory has been experiencing the most highly physical development growth in this country. Hence, environmental problems are becoming the major issues. This paper will discuss on the various environmental problem, particularly in Penang and possible remedials to be taken by the state and federal authority to overcome the problems. The type of pollutions such as air and water pollutions, acid rain and of course the reduction of ozone layer. Besides that the increase of heat in our climate will also be of our concern in the process of urbanization

Environmental Radioactive Pollution Sources and Effects on Man

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

El-Naggar, A.M.

1999-01-01

The sources of environmental radioactivity are essentially the naturally occurring radionuclides in the earth,s crust and the cosmogenic radionuclides reaching the environmental ecosystems. The other sources of environmental radioactivity are the man made sources which result from the radioactive materials in human life. The naturally occurring environmental radioactivity is an integral component of the terrestrial and extraterrestrial creation, and therefore it is not considered a source of radioactive pollution to the environment. The radioactive waste from human activities is released into the environment, and its radionuclide content becomes incorporated into the different ecosystems. This results in a situation of environmental radioactive pollution. This review presents the main features of environmental radioactive pollution, the radionuclide behaviour in the ecosystems, pathway models of radionuclides in the body and the probability of associated health hazards. The dose effect relationship of internal radiation exposure and its quantitative aspects are considered because of their relevance to this subject

Environmental context effects in conceptual explicit and implicit memory.

Science.gov (United States)

Parker, Andrew; Dagnall, Neil; Coyle, Anne-Marie

2007-05-01

Previous research has found environmental context effects for both conceptual explicit and conceptual implicit memory (Parker, Gellatly, & Waterman, 1999). The research presented here challenges these findings on methodological grounds. Experiment 1 assessed the effects of context change on category-exemplar generation (conceptual implicit memory test) and category-cued recall (conceptual explicit memory test). Experiment 2 assessed the effects of context change on word association (conceptual implicit memory test) and word associate cued recall (conceptual explicit memory test). In both experiments, study-test changes in environmental context were found to influence performance only on tests of explicit memory. It is concluded that when retrieval cues across explicit and implicit tests are matched, and the probability of explicit contamination is reduced, then only conceptual explicit test performance is reduced by study-test changes in environmental context.

Effect of nutrition and environmental factors on the endoparasitic fungus Esteya vermicola, a biocontrol agent against pine wilt disease.

Science.gov (United States)

Xue, Jianjie; Zhang, Yongan; Wang, Chunyan; Wang, Yuzhu; Hou, Jingang; Wang, Zhen; Wang, Yunbo; Gu, Lijuan; Sung, Changkeun

2013-09-01

The nematophagous fungus Esteya vermicola has tremendous potential for biological control. This species exhibits strong infectious activity against pinewood nematodes, whereas the study on the effect of nutrition and environmental factors is still of paucity. Carbon (C), nitrogen (N), pH value, temperature, and water activity have great impact on the fungal growth, sporulation, and germination. In nutrition study, the greatest number of conidia (2.36 × 10(9) per colony) was obtained at the C:N ratio of 100:1 with a carbon concentration 32 g l(-1). In addition, the germination rate and radial growth of E. vermicola were used to evaluate the effects of environmental conditions and they were optimized as following: pH 5.5, 26 °C and water activity of 0.98. Our results also confirmed that variation of environmental factors has a detrimental influence on the efficacy of active conidia and growth of fungus. Moreover, under above optimal condition, the biocontrol efficacy was significantly improved in regard to the increase of adhesive and mortality rate, which highlight the study on the application of E. vermicola as pine wilt disease biocontrol agent.

Strong-coupling effects in superfluid 3He in aerogel

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Aoyama, Kazushi; Ikeda, Ryusuke

2007-01-01

Effects of impurity scatterings on the strong-coupling (SC) contribution, stabilizing the ABM (axial) pairing state, to the quartic term of the Ginzburg-Landau free energy of superfluid 3 He are theoretically studied to examine recent observations suggestive of an anomalously small SC effect in superfluid 3 He in aerogels. To study the SC corrections, two approaches are used. One is based on a perturbation in the short-range repulsive interaction, and the other is a phenomenological approach used previously for the bulk liquid by Sauls and Serene [Phys. Rev. B 24, 183 (1981)]. It is found that the impurity scattering favors the BW pairing state and shrinks the region of the ABM pairing state in the T-P phase diagram. In the phenomenological approach, the resulting shrinkage of the ABM region is especially substantial and, if assuming an anisotropy over a large scale in aerogel, leads to justifying the phase diagrams determined experimentally

THEORETICAL ASPECTS ON THE EFFECTIVENESS OF ENVIRONMENTAL EXPENDITURES

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

HOLT ALINA GEORGIANA

2015-03-01

Full Text Available Air and water quality are vital for human life and our societies devote large sums of money to reduce pollution and conserve a healthy environment. Much of the financial resources mobilized to finance environmental protection come from private sources - entrepreneurs pay to eliminate environmentally harmful waste safely, or to mitigate the effects of polluting production processes. But while technology standards, environmental permits, pollution taxes play an important role in correcting the behavior of society, public expenditure presents also a very important variable in efforts to support the environment.

Environmental effects of ozone depletion, UV radiation and interactions with climate change: UNEP Environmental Effects Assessment Panel, update 2017

Science.gov (United States)

The Environmental Effects Assessment Panel (EEAP) is one of three Panels of experts that inform the Parties to the Montreal Protocol. The EEAP focuses on the effects of UV radiation on human health, terrestrial and aquatic ecosystems, air quality, and materials, as well as on the...

Elemental markers in elasmobranchs: effects of environmental history and growth on vertebral chemistry.

Science.gov (United States)

Smith, Wade D; Miller, Jessica A; Heppell, Selina S

2013-01-01

Differences in the chemical composition of calcified skeletal structures (e.g. shells, otoliths) have proven useful for reconstructing the environmental history of many marine species. However, the extent to which ambient environmental conditions can be inferred from the elemental signatures within the vertebrae of elasmobranchs (sharks, skates, rays) has not been evaluated. To assess the relationship between water and vertebral elemental composition, we conducted two laboratory studies using round stingrays, Urobatis halleri, as a model species. First, we examined the effects of temperature (16°, 18°, 24°C) on vertebral elemental incorporation (Li/Ca, Mg/Ca, Mn/Ca, Zn/Ca, Sr/Ca, Ba/Ca). Second, we tested the relationship between water and subsequent vertebral elemental composition by manipulating dissolved barium concentrations (1x, 3x, 6x). We also evaluated the influence of natural variation in growth rate on elemental incorporation for both experiments. Finally, we examined the accuracy of classifying individuals to known environmental histories (temperature and barium treatments) using vertebral elemental composition. Temperature had strong, negative effects on the uptake of magnesium (DMg) and barium (DBa) and positively influenced manganese (DMn) incorporation. Temperature-dependent responses were not observed for lithium and strontium. Vertebral Ba/Ca was positively correlated with ambient Ba/Ca. Partition coefficients (DBa) revealed increased discrimination of barium in response to increased dissolved barium concentrations. There were no significant relationships between elemental incorporation and somatic growth or vertebral precipitation rates for any elements except Zn. Relationships between somatic growth rate and DZn were, however, inconsistent and inconclusive. Variation in the vertebral elemental signatures of U. halleri reliably distinguished individual rays from each treatment based on temperature (85%) and Ba exposure (96%) history. These

Environmental effects of energy conversion

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Hansmeyer, K.H.; Fortak, H.; Knoepp, H.; Lindackers, K.H.; Schafhausen, F.; Schoedel, J.P.

1984-01-01

The article presents an analysis of energy conversion systems by the ''Council of Environmental Experts'' in order to correct the erroneous assumption that small energy conversion systems will also be small-scale and negligible emitters of pollutants. The additional pollution caused by Neurath power plant is considered to be low, at least in its immediate vicinity, owing to the implementation of the most recent technical developments. The environmental effects of energy conversion processes are discussed, including the waste heat problem and processes for water-cooling of power plants. General aspects of a new concept of energy taxation are discussed which is to reduce energy consumption. The problem of radioactive waste is discussed from spent fuel storage and reprocessing to the decommissioning of older power plants. The author points out that also new fossil-fuel technologies will pollute the environment. (orig.) [de

Measurement of strong interaction effects in antiprotonic helium atoms

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Davies, J.D.; Gorringe, T.P.; Lowe, J.; Nelson, J.M.; Playfer, S.M.; Pyle, G.J.; Squier, G.T.A.

1984-01-01

The strong interaction shift and width for the 2 p level and the width for the 3d level have been measured for antiprotonic helium atoms. The results are compared with optical model calculations. The possible existence of strongly bound antiproton states in nuclei is discussed. (orig.)

Moderating Effects of Trust on Environmentally Significant Behavior in Korea

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Seong-Gin Moon

2017-03-01

Full Text Available To treat environmental problems and to seek sustainable development, voluntary and cooperative efforts, which is really against the traditional mentality with the emphasis on the individual competitive optimization, became the key to maintain the sustainability of complex social and ecological systems. To understand the cooperative and voluntary individual’s environmentally significant behavior (ESB, this paper focuses on the role of trust, and assesses the effect of trust on the relationship between existing factors and ESB. A structural equation model (SEM is constructed to estimate the moderating effects of trust on ESB in Korea. We found that people with a negative view on strict environmental regulations do not exhibit ESB and thus nudge policies could be much more effective than the forceful measure. It is noteworthy that public private partnership, as a kind of optimal trust, should be more promoted in the environmental protection policies.

Effects of Alternative Framing on the Publics Perceived Importance of Environmental Conservation

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Amanda E Sorensen

2015-05-01

Full Text Available Effective communication of science to the general public is important for numerous reasons, including support for policy, funding, informed public decision making, among others. Prior research has found that scientists participating in public policy and public communication must frame their communication efforts in order to connect with audiences. A frame is the mechanism that individuals use to understand and interpret the world around them. Framing can encourage specific interpretations and reference points for a particular issue or event; especially when meaning is negotiated between the media and public audiences. In this study, we looked at the effect of framing within an environmental conservation context. To do this we had survey respondents rank common issues, among them being environmental conservation, from most important to least important for the government to address. We framed environmental conservation using three synonymous terms (environmental security, ecosystem services, and environmental quality to assess whether there was an effect on rankings dependent on how we framed environmental conservation. We also investigated the effect of individuals’ personality characteristics (identity frame on those environmental conservation rankings. We found that individuals who self-identified as environmentalist were positively associated with ranking highly (most important environmental conservation when it was framed as either environmental quality or ecosystem services, but not when it was framed as environmental security. Conversely, those individuals who did not rank themselves highly as self-identified environmentalists were positively associated with environmental conservation when it was framed as environmental security. This research suggests that framing audience specific messages can engender audience support in hot-button issues such as environmental conservation and climate change.

Genetic and environmental effects of mortality before age 70 years

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Petersen, Liselotte; Andersen, Per Kragh; Sørensen, Thorkild I.A.

2008-01-01

BACKGROUND:: There is a familial influence on risk of many diseases and on mortality in general, which, according to studies of twins, is due to a combination of genetic and environmental effects. Adoption studies, which rest on different assumptions, may also be used to estimate separately...... the genetic and environmental effects on rate of dying. METHODS:: The genetic influence on the rate of dying before age 70 years was investigated by estimation of the associations in total and cause-specific mortality of Danish adoptees and their biologic full and half siblings. Familial environmental...

Environmental Application, Fate, Effects, and Concerns of Ionic Liquids: A Review.

Science.gov (United States)

Amde, Meseret; Liu, Jing-Fu; Pang, Long

2015-11-03

Ionic liquids (ILs) comprise mostly of organic salts with negligible vapor pressure and low flammability that are proposed as replacements for volatile solvents. ILs have been promoted as "green" solvents and widely investigated for their various applications. Although the utility of these chemicals is unquestionable, their toxic effects have attracted great attention. In order to manage their potential hazards and design environmentally benign ILs, understanding their environmental behavior, fate and effects is important. In this review, environmentally relevant issues of ILs, including their environmental application, environmental behavior and toxicity are addressed. In addition, also presented are the influence of ILs on the environmental fate and toxicity of other coexisting contaminants, important routes for designing nontoxic ILs and the techniques that might be adopted for the removal of ILs.

Review of four major environmental effects monitoring programs in the oil sands region

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Lott, E.O.; Jones, R.K.

2010-10-01

The lack of knowledge on current environmental effects monitoring programs for the mineable oil sands region generates a low public confidence in environment health monitoring and reporting programs for the oil sands operations. In 2010, the Oil Sands Research and Information Network (OSRIN) supervised a study reviewing the major environmental effects monitoring programs that are underway in the Regional Municipality of Wood Buffalo. Four main environmental effects monitoring and reporting organizations existing in the oil sands area were engaged to describe their programs through this study: Alberta Biodiversity Monitoring Institute (ABMI), Cumulative Environmental Management Association (CEMA), Regional Aquatic Monitoring Program (RAMP), Wood Buffalo Environmental Association (WBEA). These different organizations have specific roles in providing information, data and understanding of ecosystem effects. A one page visual summary of environmental effects monitoring in the oil sands area resulted from the information received from these organizations and detailed fact sheets were presented for each one of the programs. The report of this study also presents seven other environmental monitoring initiatives or organizations such as Alberta Environment and Environment Canada environmental effects monitoring program. The main observation that emerged from the review was the lack of detailed understanding shown by the stakeholders regarding the monitoring activities performed in the oil sands area. There is a lack of communication of the different programs that are conducted in the region. The study also pointed out that no efforts were put in cross-linking the various programs to be assured that every concerns related to environmental effects associated with oil sands operations were addressed. A better understanding of environmental effects and an improvement in public confidence in the data and its interpretation would probably be observed with the establishment of a

Are environmental scanning units effective?

Science.gov (United States)

Stubbart, C

1982-06-01

Many authorities have urged companies to set up environmental scanning to assist corporate planning. Some advocates have recommended a unit at corporate level. This would give breadth of view and penetration into the future. It would arm decision makers with accurate forecasts. The information would be broad in scope and future directed. It could provide also assumptions for long-range planning. The Fahey and King study produced a model of corporate scanning types. The data showed that environmental information was built into the plan. Though the political environment was important, scanning was inadequate. The best location for scanning was not at corporate level and most firms used irregular methods. The Thomas study concluded that effective environmental scanning was permanent and multi level and that 'best practice' was continuous scanning. In 1978 the sample organizations were revisited. Five of the twelve have not changed their practice. The factors which encouraged a continuous model were the attitudes of academics and business media, demonstrated success of the units, the right kind of personnel. Contrary influences were changes in top management, decentralization moves, resource cuts, defining the environment and its significance, the availability of scanning competent personnel, surprise itself, and the availability of alternatives e.g. external forecasts.

Early environmental exposures influence schizophrenia expression even in the presence of strong genetic predisposition

OpenAIRE

Husted, Janice A.; Ahmed, Rashid; Chow, Eva W.C.; Brzustowicz, Linda M.; Bassett, Anne S.

2012-01-01

There are few studies of environmental factors in familial forms of schizophrenia. We investigated whether childhood adversity or environmental factors were associated with schizophrenia in a familial sample where schizophrenia is associated with the NOSA1P gene. We found that a cumulative adversity index including childhood illness, family instability and cannabis use was significantly associated with narrow schizophrenia, independent of NOSA1P risk genotype, previously measured childhood tr...

First-principles study of strong correlation effects in pyrochlore iridates

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Shinaoka, Hiroshi [Department of Physics, Saitama University (Japan); Hoshino, Shintaro [Department of Basic Science, The University of Tokyo (Japan); Troyer, Matthias [Theoretische Physik, ETH Zuerich (Switzerland); Werner, Philipp [Department of Physics, University of Fribourg (Switzerland)

2016-07-01

The pyrochlore iridates A{sub 2}Ir{sub 2}O{sub 7} (A=Pr, Nd, Y, etc.) are an ideal system to study fascinating phenomena induced by strong electron correlations and spin-orbit coupling. In this talk, we study strong correlation effects in the prototype compound Y{sub 2}Ir{sub 2}O{sub 7} using the local density approximation and dynamical mean-field theory (LDA+DMFT). We map out the phase diagram in the space of temperature, onsite Coulomb repulsion U, and filling. Consistent with experiments, we find that an all-in/all-out ordered insulating phase is stable for realistic values of U. We reveal the importance of the hybridization between j{sub eff} = 1/2 and j{sub eff} = 3/2 states under the Coulomb interaction and trigonal crystal field. We demonstrate a substantial band narrowing in the paramagnetic metallic phase and non-Fermi liquid behavior in the electron/hole doped system originating from long-lived quasi-spin moments induced by nearly flat bands. We further compare our results with recent experimental results of Eu{sub 2}Ir{sub 2}O{sub 7} under hydrostatic pressure.

Health and environmental effects of nuclear weapons

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

1993-01-01

This report briefly reviews previous WHO work on the health consequences of nuclear war and concentrates on current information about the effects of nuclear weapons on health, and related environmental problems. 15 refs

New technologies - How to assess environmental effects

Science.gov (United States)

Sullivan, P. J.; Lavin, M. L.

1981-01-01

A method is provided for assessing the environmental effects of a room-and-pillar mining system (RP) and a new hydraulic borehole mining system (HBM). Before environmental assessment can begin, each technology is defined in terms of its engineering characteristics at both the conceptual and preliminary design stages. The mining sites are also described in order to identify the significant advantages and constraints for each system. This can be a basic physical and biological survey of the region at the conceptual stage, but a more specific representation of site characteristics is required at the preliminary stage. Assessment of potential environmental effects of each system at the conceptual design is critical to its hardware development and application. A checklist can be used to compare and identify the negative impacts of each method, outlining the resource affected, the type of impact involved, and the exact activity causing that impact. At the preliminary design stage, these impacts should be evaluated as a result of either utilization or alteration. Underground coal mining systems have three major utilization impacts - the total area disturbed, the total water resources withdrawn from other uses, and the overall energy efficiency of the process - and one major alteration impact - the degradation of water quality by sedimentation and acid contamination. A comparison of the RP and HBM systems shows the HBM to be an environmentally less desirable system for the Central Appalachia region.

Heavy quark mass effects and improved tests of the flavor independence of strong interactions

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Burrows, P.N. [Univ. of Oxford (United Kingdom); SLD Collaboration

1998-08-01

A review is given of latest results on tests of the flavor independence of strong interactions. Heavy quark mass effects are evident in the data and are now taken into account at next-to-leading order in QCD perturbation theory. The strong-coupling ratios {alpha}{sub s}{sup b}/{alpha}{sub s}{sup uds} and {alpha}{sub s}{sup c}/{alpha}{sub s}{sup uds} are found to be consistent with unity. Determinations of the b-quark mass m{sub b} (M{sub Z}) are discussed.

Revenue rules when environmental regulation agencies collude

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Gaarn Hansen, L.

1994-01-01

In this paper the welfare implications of earmarking of revenues from environmental taxes in analyzed using a principal-agent model in the incomplete contracting tradition of constitutional design. In the model the public has very limited knowledge of the emissions problem to be regulated. Government has full knowledge and is given a general mandate to regulate, however government may be biased toward an interested party. To curb the welfare effects of government bias the public may either earmark revenues from environmental taxes for environmental expenditures or for transfers to the polluters. We find that earmarking for transfers to the polluters (under certain conditions) can be expected to maximize welfare when government bias is strong and the direction of bias is uncertain. (au) 10 refs

Small Fermi surfaces and strong correlation effects in Dirac materials with holography

Science.gov (United States)

Seo, Yunseok; Song, Geunho; Park, Chanyong; Sin, Sang-Jin

2017-10-01

Recent discovery of transport anomaly in graphene demonstrated that a system known to be weakly interacting may become strongly correlated if system parameter (s) can be tuned such that fermi surface is sufficiently small. We study the strong correlation effects in the transport coefficients of Dirac materials doped with magnetic impurity under the magnetic field using holographic method. The experimental data of magneto-conductivity are well fit by our theory, however, not much data are available for other transports of Dirac material in such regime. Therefore, our results on heat transport, thermo-electric power and Nernst coefficients are left as predictions of holographic theory for generic Dirac materials in the vicinity of charge neutral point with possible surface gap. We give detailed look over each magneto-transport observable and 3Dplots to guide future experiments.

Diabetes-specific genetic effects on obesity traits in American Indian populations: the Strong Heart Family Study

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Howard Barbara V

2008-10-01

Full Text Available Abstract Background Body fat mass distribution and deposition are determined by multiple environmental and genetic factors. Obesity is associated with insulin resistance, hyperinsulinemia, and type 2 diabetes. We previously identified evidence for genotype-by-diabetes interaction on obesity traits in Strong Heart Family Study (SHFS participants. To localize these genetic effects, we conducted genome-wide linkage scans of obesity traits in individuals with and without type 2 diabetes, and in the combined sample while modeling interaction with diabetes using maximum likelihood methods (SOLAR 2.1.4. Methods SHFS recruited American Indians from Arizona, North and South Dakota, and Oklahoma. Anthropometric measures and diabetes status were obtained during a clinic visit. Marker allele frequencies were derived using maximum likelihood methods estimated from all individuals and multipoint identity by descent sharing was estimated using Loki. We used variance component linkage analysis to localize quantitative trait loci (QTLs influencing obesity traits. We tested for evidence of additive and QTL-specific genotype-by-diabetes interactions using the regions identified in the diabetes-stratified analyses. Results Among 245 diabetic and 704 non-diabetic American Indian individuals, we detected significant additive gene-by-diabetes interaction for weight and BMI (P P Conclusion These results suggest distinct genetic effects on body mass in individuals with diabetes compared to those without diabetes, and a possible role for one or more genes on chromosome 1 in the pathogenesis of obesity.

Determinants of palm species distributions across Africa: the relative roles of climate, non-climatic environmental factors, and spatial constraints

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Overgaard, Anne Blach; Svenning, J.-C.; Dransfield, John

2010-01-01

-climatic environmental predictors, the latter having no discernible effect beyond the climatic control. Hence, at the continental scale, climate constitutes the only strong environmental control of palm species distributions in Africa. With regard to the most important climatic predictors of African palm distributions......, water-related factors were most important for 25 of the 29 species analysed. The strong response of palm distributions to climate in combination with the importance of non-environmental spatial constraints suggests that African palms will be sensitive to future climate changes, but that their ability...

Using strong nonlinearity and high-frequency vibrations to control effective mechanical stiffness

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Thomsen, Jon Juel

2008-01-01

the method of direct separation of motions with results of a modified multiple scales ap-proach, valid also for strong nonlinearity, the stiffening ef-fect is predicted for a generic 1-dof system, and results are tested against numerical simulation and ((it is planned)) laboratory experiments.......High-frequency excitation (HFE) can be used to change the effective stiffness of an elastic structure, and related quanti-ties such as resonance frequencies, wave speed, buckling loads, and equilibrium states. There are basically two ways to do this: By using parametrical HFE (with or without non...

Strong lethality and teratogenicity of strobilurins on Xenopus tropicalis embryos: Basing on ten agricultural fungicides

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Li, Dan; Liu, Mengyun; Yang, Yongsheng; Shi, Huahong; Zhou, Junliang; He, Defu

2016-01-01

Agricultural chemical inputs have been considered as a risk factor for the global declines in amphibian populations, yet the application of agricultural fungicides has increased dramatically in recent years. Currently little is known about the potential toxicity of fungicides on the embryos of amphibians. We studied the effects of ten commonly used fungicides (four strobilurins, two SDHIs, two triazoles, fludioxonil and folpet) on Xenopus tropicalis embryos. Lethal and teratogenic effects were respectively examined after 48 h exposure. The median lethal concentrations (LC50s) and the median teratogenic concentrations (TC50s) were determined in line with actual exposure concentrations. These fungicides except two triazoles showed obvious lethal effects on embryos; however LC50s of four strobilurins were the lowest and in the range of 6.81–196.59 μg/L. Strobilurins, SDHIs and fludioxonil induced severe malformations in embryos. Among the ten fungicides, the lowest TC50s were observed for four strobilurins in the range of 0.61–84.13 μg/L. The teratogenicity shared similar dose–effect relationship and consistent phenotypes mainly including microcephaly, hypopigmentation, somite segmentation and narrow fins. The findings indicate that the developmental toxicity of currently-used fungicides involved with ecologic risks on amphibians. Especially strobilurins are highly toxic to amphibian embryos at μg/L level, which is close to environmentally relevant concentrations. - Highlights: • Effects of ten agricultural fungicides were tested on Xenopus tropicalis embryos. • Strobilurin fungicides showed strong lethal and teratogenic effects on embryos. • Lowest LC50 and TC50 were observed for strobilurins in ten fungicides. • μg/L level of toxic concentrations for strobilurins was environmentally relevant. • Teratogenicity shared similar dose–effect relationship and main phenotypes. - Strobilurins induced strong lethality and teratogenicity on Xenopus

The effect of environmental information on investment allocation decisions

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Rikhardsson, Pall M.; Holm, Claus

2008-01-01

This paper focuses on the use of environmental information in investment decision making. The research approach employed is based on an experiment where three groups of final year finance students were asked to allocate investment funds between two companies based on financial accounts...... information categories affect their decision making. Hence, this has implications for how the potential value of environmental information is to be assessed. Finally, experimental studies as a methodology seem to be better suited to indicate actual effects of different types of information on decision making...... and information material from these companies in which environmental information was included in varying degrees. The overall conclusion is that the qualitative environmental information affects short term allocation decisions, hence indicating a risk reduction potential of environmental information comparable...

Environmental Effects on the Photophysics of Organic-Inorganic Halide Perovskites.

Science.gov (United States)

Galisteo-López, Juan F; Anaya, M; Calvo, M E; Míguez, H

2015-06-18

The photophysical properties of films of organic-inorganic lead halide perovskites under different ambient conditions are herein reported. We demonstrate that their luminescent properties are determined by the interplay between photoinduced activation and darkening processes, which strongly depend on the atmosphere surrounding the samples. We have isolated oxygen and moisture as the key elements in each process, activation and darkening, both of which involve the interaction with photogenerated carriers. These findings show that environmental factors play a key role in the performance of lead halide perovskites as efficient luminescent materials.

Genetic and environmental overlap between borderline personality disorder traits and psychopathy: evidence for promotive effects of factor 2 and protective effects of factor 1.

Science.gov (United States)

Hunt, E; Bornovalova, M A; Patrick, C J

2015-05-01

Previous studies have reported strong genetic and environmental overlap between antisocial-externalizing (factor 2; F2) features of psychopathy and borderline personality disorder (BPD) tendencies. However, this line of research has yet to examine etiological associations of affective-interpersonal (factor 1, F1) features of psychopathy with BPD tendencies. The current study investigated differential phenotypic and genetic overlap of psychopathy factors 1 and 2 with BPD tendencies in a sample of over 250 male and female community-recruited adult twin pairs. Consistent with previous research, biometric analyses revealed strong genetic and non-shared environmental correlations of F2 with BPD tendencies, suggesting that common genetic and non-shared environmental factors contribute to both phenotypes. In contrast, negative genetic and non-shared environmental correlations were observed between F1 and BPD tendencies, indicating that the genetic factors underlying F1 serve as protective factors against BPD. No gender differences emerged in the analyses. These findings provide further insight into associations of psychopathic features - F1 as well as F2 - and BPD tendencies. Implications for treatment and intervention are discussed, along with how psychopathic traits may differentially influence the manifestation of BPD tendencies.

Effectiveness of Advanced Stay Strong, Stay Healthy in Community Settings

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Emily M. Crowe MS

2015-07-01

Full Text Available The goal of this research was to investigate the effectiveness of the 10-week, University of Missouri (MU Extension strength training program Advanced Stay Strong, Stay Healthy (ASSSH. It was hypothesized that the program can improve strength, balance, agility, and flexibility—all physical measures of falling among seniors. Matched pair t tests were used to compare differences in five physical measures of health, body composition, and percent body fat (%BF. Two-way ANOVA was conducted to examine the age effects on changes in physical health from the start and finish of the exercise program. Following programming, participants significantly improved strength, flexibility, and balance, and significantly reduced %BF ( p < .05. Our data indicate that ASSSH can improve the physical health of senior citizens and can successfully be translated into community practice by MU Extension professionals.

Engineering the Dynamics of Effective Spin-Chain Models for Strongly Interacting Atomic Gases

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Volosniev, A. G.; Petrosyan, D.; Valiente, M.

2015-01-01

We consider a one-dimensional gas of cold atoms with strong contact interactions and construct an effective spin-chain Hamiltonian for a two-component system. The resulting Heisenberg spin model can be engineered by manipulating the shape of the external confining potential of the atomic gas. We...

Strong Coupling Holography

CERN Document Server

Dvali, Gia

2009-01-01

We show that whenever a 4-dimensional theory with N particle species emerges as a consistent low energy description of a 3-brane embedded in an asymptotically-flat (4+d)-dimensional space, the holographic scale of high-dimensional gravity sets the strong coupling scale of the 4D theory. This connection persists in the limit in which gravity can be consistently decoupled. We demonstrate this effect for orbifold planes, as well as for the solitonic branes and string theoretic D-branes. In all cases the emergence of a 4D strong coupling scale from bulk holography is a persistent phenomenon. The effect turns out to be insensitive even to such extreme deformations of the brane action that seemingly shield 4D theory from the bulk gravity effects. A well understood example of such deformation is given by large 4D Einstein term in the 3-brane action, which is known to suppress the strength of 5D gravity at short distances and change the 5D Newton's law into the four-dimensional one. Nevertheless, we observe that the ...

Age and Environmental Concern: Some Specification of Effects.

Science.gov (United States)

Honnold, Julie A.

1984-01-01

Distinguishes possible aging, cohort, and period effects, explaining time series differences by age groups in the General Social Survey data. Results indicate that the decline in environmental concern among most age groups can be accounted for by period effects, but an aging effect is important among young adults. (Author/JN)

The effects of environmental chemicals on renal function.

Science.gov (United States)

Kataria, Anglina; Trasande, Leonardo; Trachtman, Howard

2015-10-01

The global incidence of chronic kidney disease (CKD) is increasing among individuals of all ages. Despite advances in proteomics, genomics and metabolomics, there remains a lack of safe and effective drugs to reverse or stabilize renal function in patients with glomerular or tubulointerstitial causes of CKD. Consequently, modifiable risk factors that are associated with a progressive decline in kidney function need to be identified. Numerous reports have documented the adverse effects that occur in response to graded exposure to a wide range of environmental chemicals. This Review summarizes the effects of such chemicals on four aspects of cardiorenal function: albuminuria, glomerular filtration rate, blood pressure and serum uric acid concentration. We focus on compounds that individuals are likely to be exposed to as a consequence of normal consumer activities or medical treatment, namely phthalates, bisphenol A, polyfluorinated alkyl acids, dioxins and furans, polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons and polychlorinated biphenyls. Environmental exposure to these chemicals during everyday life could have adverse consequences on renal function and might contribute to progressive cumulative renal injury over a lifetime. Regulatory efforts should be made to limit individual exposure to environmental chemicals in an attempt to reduce the incidence of cardiorenal disease.

Charging-delay effect on longitudinal dust acoustic shock wave in strongly coupled dusty plasma

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Ghosh, Samiran; Gupta, M.R.

2005-01-01

Taking into account the charging-delay effect, the nonlinear propagation characteristics of longitudinal dust acoustic wave in strongly coupled collisional dusty plasma described by generalized hydrodynamic model have been investigated. In the 'hydrodynamic limit', a Korteweg-de Vries Burger (KdVB) equation with a damping term arising due to dust-neutral collision is derived in which the Burger term is proportional to the dissipation due to dust viscosity through dust-dust correlation and charging-delay-induced anomalous dissipation. On the other hand, in the 'kinetic limit', a KdVB equation with a damping term and a nonlocal nonlinear forcing term arising due to memory-dependent strong correlation effect of dust fluid is derived in which the Burger term depends only on the charging-delay-induced dissipation. Numerical solution of integrodifferential equations reveals that (i) dissipation due to dust viscosity and principally due to charging delay causes excitation of the longitudinal dust acoustic shock wave in strongly coupled dusty plasma and (ii) dust-neutral collision does not appear to play any direct role in shock formation. The condition for the generation of shock is also discussed briefly

Using strong nonlinearity and high-frequency vibrations to control effective properties of discrete elastic waveguides

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Lazarov, Boyan Stefanov; Thomsen, Jon Juel; Snaeland, Sveinn Orri

2008-01-01

The aim of this article is to investigate how highfrequency (HF) excitation, combined with strong nonlinear elastic material behavior, influences the effective material or structural properties for low-frequency excitation and wave propagation. The HF effects are demonstrated on discrete linear s...

Environmental Effects of BPA

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Laura Canesi

2015-07-01

Full Text Available Research on bisphenol A (BPA as an environmental contaminant has now major regulatory implications toward the ecosystem health, and hence it is incumbent on scientists to do their research to the highest standards possible, in order that the most appropriate decisions are made to mitigate the impacts to aquatic wildlife. However, the contribution given so far appears rather fragmented. The present overview aims to collect available information on the effects of BPA on aquatic vertebrates and invertebrates to provide a general scenario and to suggest future developments toward more comprehensive approaches useful for aquatic species protection.

Effects of environmental information dissemination and use on food ...

African Journals Online (AJOL)

The study examined the effects of Environmental Information Dissemination and use on Food Security in Gwagwalada Area Council. The objective of the study is to determine the type of environmental information available in Gwagwalada Area Council of FCT.A total number of fifty questionnaires were issued and forty five ...

Environmental stresses can alleviate the average deleterious effect of mutations

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Leibler Stanislas

2003-05-01

Full Text Available Abstract Background Fundamental questions in evolutionary genetics, including the possible advantage of sexual reproduction, depend critically on the effects of deleterious mutations on fitness. Limited existing experimental evidence suggests that, on average, such effects tend to be aggravated under environmental stresses, consistent with the perception that stress diminishes the organism's ability to tolerate deleterious mutations. Here, we ask whether there are also stresses with the opposite influence, under which the organism becomes more tolerant to mutations. Results We developed a technique, based on bioluminescence, which allows accurate automated measurements of bacterial growth rates at very low cell densities. Using this system, we measured growth rates of Escherichia coli mutants under a diverse set of environmental stresses. In contrast to the perception that stress always reduces the organism's ability to tolerate mutations, our measurements identified stresses that do the opposite – that is, despite decreasing wild-type growth, they alleviate, on average, the effect of deleterious mutations. Conclusions Our results show a qualitative difference between various environmental stresses ranging from alleviation to aggravation of the average effect of mutations. We further show how the existence of stresses that are biased towards alleviation of the effects of mutations may imply the existence of average epistatic interactions between mutations. The results thus offer a connection between the two main factors controlling the effects of deleterious mutations: environmental conditions and epistatic interactions.

Environmental health in the Karelian Republic

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Tynkkynen, V P

1999-11-01

When looking at environmental health risks in the Karelian Republic from the viewpoint of environmental history, the cause and effect relationships of present environmental health risks can be comprehensively understood. The decrease experienced in drinking water quality, which has been induced by the extensive environmental changes, has been exposing the Karelian population to significant health risks. Several waterborne gastrointestinal epidemics witnessed in the Republic and the excess cancer risk of strongly chlorinated humus-rich drinking water are, together with the industrial and traffic and pollution, the most significant environmental health risks in the Karelian Republic today. In order to diminish the health risks related to drinking water, the use of surface water bodies as a drinking water source should be restricted and the so called shallow ground water sources, located near the settlements should be taken into use. In those locations where the water supply cannot be solely based on ground water resources, the raw water intake site should at least be moved further away from polluted water areas. (orig.)

Possible environmental effects of increased coal use in California

Science.gov (United States)

Carey, D. L.

1978-01-01

If coal is to be utilized in California it must be made compatible with the state's drive toward restoring environmental quality. The impacts resulting from coal's mining and transportation, or from water consumption, water quality degradation and electric transmission line routing can probably be adequately mitigated through strong and early planning efforts, the use of improved control and process technologies, and sincere utility commitment. The socioeconomic impacts may prove somewhat more difficult to satisfactorily mitigate. Of greatest concern is adequate control of generated air pollutants and disposal of solid and liquid wastes since acceptable technologies or handling techniques have yet to be conclusively demonstrated.

Legume-rhizobia signal exchange: promiscuity and environmental effects

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Mario Andrade Lira Junior

2015-09-01

Full Text Available Although signal exchange between legumes and their rhizobia is among the best-known examples of this biological process, most of the more characterized data comes from just a few legume species and environmental stresses. Although a relative wealth of information is available for some model legumes and some of the major pulses such as soybean, little is known about tropical legumes. This relative disparity in current knowledge is also apparent in the research on the effects of environmental stress on signal exchange; cool-climate stresses, such as low-soil temperature, comprise a relatively large body of research, whereas high-temperature stresses and drought are not nearly as well understood. Both tropical legumes and their environmental stress-induced effects are increasingly important due to global population growth (the demand for protein, climate change (increasing temperatures and more extreme climate behavior, and urbanization (and thus heavy metals. This knowledge gap for both legumes and their environmental stresses is compounded because whereas most temperate legume-rhizobia symbioses are relatively specific and cultivated under relatively stable environments, the converse is true for tropical legumes, which tend to be promiscuous and grow in highly variable conditions. This review will clarify some of this missing information and highlight fields in which further research would benefit our current knowledge.

The remarkable environmental rebound effect of electric cars: a microeconomic approach.

Science.gov (United States)

Font Vivanco, David; Freire-González, Jaume; Kemp, René; van der Voet, Ester

2014-10-21

This article presents a stepwise, refined, and practical analytical framework to model the microeconomic environmental rebound effect (ERE) stemming from cost differences of electric cars in terms of changes in multiple life cycle environmental indicators. The analytical framework is based on marginal consumption analysis and hybrid life cycle assessment (LCA). The article makes a novel contribution through a reinterpretation of the traditional rebound effect and methodological refinements. It also provides novel empirical results about the ERE for plug-in hybrid electric (PHE), full-battery electric (FBE), and hydrogen fuel cell (HFC) cars for Europe. The ERE is found to have a remarkable impact on product-level environmental scores. For the PHE car, the ERE causes a marginal increase in demand and environmental pressures due to a small decrease in the cost of using this technology. For FBE and HFC cars, the high capital costs cause a noteworthy decrease in environmental pressures for some indicators (negative rebound effect). The results corroborate the concern over the high influence of cost differences for environmental assessment, and they prompt sustainable consumption policies to consider markets and prices as tools rather than as an immutable background.

Effect of strong electrolytes on edible oils part II: vViscosity of maize ...

African Journals Online (AJOL)

The electrolytes behave as structure breaker. The effect of temperature was also determined in terms of fluidity parameters, energy of activation, latent heat of vaporization, molar volume of oil and free energy change of activation for viscous flow. Journal of Applied Sciences and Environmental Management Vol. 10 (3) 2006: ...

Acoustic Studies of the Effects of Environmental Stresses on Marine Mammals in Large Ocean Basins

Science.gov (United States)

Sidorovskaia, N.; Ma, B.; Ackleh, A. S.; Tiemann, C.; Ioup, G. E.; Ioup, J. W.

2014-12-01

Effects of environmental stresses on deep-diving marine mammal populations have not been studied systematically. Long-term regional passive acoustic monitoring of phonating marine mammals opens opportunities for such studies. This paper presents a unique multi-year study conducted by the Littoral Acoustic Demonstration Center (LADC) in the Northern Gulf of Mexico to understand short-term and long-term effects of anthropogenic stresses on resident populations of endangered sperm and elusive beaked whales. Both species spend many hours each day in deep dives which last about one hour each, so any visual observations for population estimates and behavioral responses are very limited. However, much more cost-efficient acoustic recordings of the phonations during dives on bottom-mounted hydrophones are not skewed by weather conditions or daylight requirements. Broadband passive acoustic data were collected by LADC in 2007 and 2010 at three ranges, 15, 40, and 80 km away from the 2010 Deep Water Horizon oil spill site. Pre-spill and post-spill data processing and comparison allow observing responses of both species to local short-term environmental condition changes and long-term responses to the spill. The short-term effects are studied by correlating daily activity cycles with anthropogenic noise curve daily and weekly cycles at different sites. The strong correlation between the decrease in overall daily activity and the increase in anthropogenic noise level associated with seismic exploration signals can be seen. After streaming raw acoustic data through detection algorithms and detailed assessment of false detection rates, the temporal densities of acoustic phonations are passed into statistical algorithms for resident population estimations. The statistically significant results have shown different regional abundance trends, associated with long-term responses to environmental stresses, for these two species.

A goal programming model for environmental policy analysis: Application to Spain

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

San Cristóbal, José Ramón

2012-01-01

Sustainable development has become an important part of international and national approaches to integrate economic, environmental, social and ethical considerations so that a good quality of life can be enjoyed by current and future generations for as long as possible. However, nowadays sustainable development is threatened by industrial pollution emissions which cause serious environmental problems. Due to a lack of adequate quantitative models for environmental policy analysis, there is a strong need for analytical models in order to know the effects of environmental policies. In the present paper, a goal programming model, based on an environmental/input–output linear programming model, is developed and applied to the Spanish economy. The model combines relations between economic, energy, social and environmental effects, providing valuable information for policy-makers in order to define and examine the different goals that must be implemented to reach sustainability. - Highlights: ► In this paper a goal programming model is developed. ► The model considers environmental, energy, social and economic goals. ► The model shows the effects of a reduction in greenhouse gasses emission and energy requirements. ► The model is applied to the Spanish economy.

Spatial information in public consultation within environmental impact assessments

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Mwenda, A.N.

2015-01-01

Thesis Summary

<strong>Spatial information in public consultation within Environmental Impact Assessmentsstrong>

Angela N. Mwenda

Established in the United States of America in 1970, Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) is an interdisciplinary approach that

Strategic environmental assessment

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Kørnøv, Lone

1997-01-01

The integration of environmental considerations into strategic decision making is recognized as a key to achieving sustainability. In the European Union a draft directive on Strategic Environmental Assessment (SEA) is currently being reviewed by the member states. The nature of the proposed SEA...... that the SEA directive will influence the decision-making process positively and will help to promote improved environmental decisions. However, the guidelines for public participation are not sufficient and the democratic element is strongly limited. On the basis of these findings, recommendations relating...

Socioeconomic Drivers of Environmental Pollution in China: A Spatial Econometric Analysis

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Jianmin Liu

2017-01-01

Full Text Available This paper studies the environmental pollution and its impacts in China using prefecture-level cities and municipalities data. Moran’s I, the widely used spatial autocorrelation index, provides a fairly strong pattern of spatial clustering of environmental pollution and suggests a fairly high stability of the positive spatial correlation. To investigate the driving forces of environmental pollution and explore the relationship between fiscal decentralization, economic growth, and environmental pollution, spatial Durbin model is used for this analysis. The result shows that fiscal decentralization of local unit plays a significant role in promoting the environmental pollution and the feedback effect of fiscal decentralization on environmental pollution is also positive, though it is not significant. The relationship of GDP per capita and environmental pollution shows inverted U-shaped curve. Due to the scale effect of secondary industry, the higher the level of secondary industry development in a unit is, the easier it is to attract the secondary industry in adjacent units, which mitigates the environmental pollution in adjacent units. Densely populated areas tend to deteriorate local environment, but environmental regulation in densely populated areas is often tighter than other areas, which reduces environmental pollution to a certain extent.

Community Environmental Education as a Model for Effective Environmental Programmes

Science.gov (United States)

Blair, Morag

2008-01-01

The benefits of community environmental education outlined in environmental education literature are supported by the findings and implications of a research study undertaken in New Zealand. Evidence from a two-case case study suggests that environmental programmes guided by the key principles and practices of community environmental education,…

Environmental effects in the Alps. Proceedings. Alpine Umweltprobleme. Referate

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

1986-01-01

Since 1970 the research and testing program of the Environmental Research Fund (Fond fuer Umweltstudien FUST-Tirol and Bonn) has been investigating into the various uses, environmental loads, the damage and different developments in the Alps (Achenkirch/Tirol). The project aims at assessing objective facts, causes, effects and concrete scientific data and make them available as a contribution to a conservation-minded treatment and utilization of ecosystems and as a basis of models promising a safe and reliable future environment without any further major environmental loads or damage. With the damage to forests obviously increasing, the managing committee decided to organize a meeting allowing an intermediate balance of the results and achievements gained so far. The session was also intended to be touching on new ways of finding further promising measures to effectfully check the environmental load. Decided on in autumn 1984, the FUST meeting on 'forest ecosystems' took place on June 13/14, 1985. The publication abstracted contains the eleven papers held on the meeting. Further interesting details were discussed in-between and in work-shops.

Factors Promoting Environmental Responsibility in European SMEs: The Effect on Performance

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Francisco J. Sáez-Martínez

2016-09-01

Full Text Available There is increasing social and political awareness of the importance of developing environmental responsibility at a corporate level. When focusing on issues of responsibility, large companies are frequently perceived to be more responsible for driving climate change and resource depletion. However, small and medium enterprises (SMEs contribute significantly to the use of resources such as material and energy and produce approximately 64% of the pollution in Europe. Drawing on evidence from “The Eurobarometer 381 Survey on SMEs, Resource Efficiency and Green Markets”, we analyze the environmental responsibility of European SMEs, studying their compliance with environmental legislation and how several factors drive environmental orientation among SMEs. Our sample consists of 3647 SMEs operating in 38 countries. Only around a fifth of the firms go beyond environmental regulations, showing the highest levels of environmental responsibility. We conduct OLS regressions to analyze the factors that affect a positive environmental attitude among European SMEs (internal drivers being more significant than external ones and then, to observe the positive effect of environmental responsibility and firm’s experience in offering green services/products on performance, although a conjoint effect was not found. Implications for practitioners, academics, and policy-makers are outlined.

The Effect of Eco-Schools on Children's Environmental Values and Behaviour

Science.gov (United States)

Boeve-de Pauw, Jelle; Van Petegem, Peter

2013-01-01

The study examines the effectiveness of eco-schools concerning their students' environmental values and environmental behaviour, and includes 1287 children from fifty-nine schools (thirty-eight eco-schools and twenty-one control schools) in Flanders. Controlling for effects of gender and socio-economic status, analyses show that eco-schools have…

Is a Voluntary Approach an Effective Environmental Policy Instrument? A Case for Environmental Management Systems

OpenAIRE

Arimura, Toshi; Hibiki, Akira; Katayama, Hajime

2007-01-01

Using Japanese facility-level data from an Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development survey, we estimate the effects of implementation of ISO14001 and publication of environmental reports on the facilities’ environmental performance. While most previous studies focused on an index of emissions toxicity, this study examines three areas of impacts, none of which have been explored in the literature: natural resource use, solid waste generation, and wastewater effluent. The study is...

Three-dimensional photodissociation in strong laser fields: Memory-kernel effective-mode expansion

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Li Xuan; Thanopulos, Ioannis; Shapiro, Moshe

2011-01-01

We introduce a method for the efficient computation of non-Markovian quantum dynamics for strong (and time-dependent) system-bath interactions. The past history of the system dynamics is incorporated by expanding the memory kernel in exponential functions thereby transforming in an exact fashion the non-Markovian integrodifferential equations into a (larger) set of ''effective modes'' differential equations (EMDE). We have devised a method which easily diagonalizes the EMDE, thereby allowing for the efficient construction of an adiabatic basis and the fast propagation of the EMDE in time. We have applied this method to three-dimensional photodissociation of the H 2 + molecule by strong laser fields. Our calculations properly include resonance-Raman scattering via the continuum, resulting in extensive rotational and vibrational excitations. The calculated final kinetic and angular distribution of the photofragments are in overall excellent agreement with experiments, both when transform-limited pulses and when chirped pulses are used.

Environmental bureaucracies appraised

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Murphy, E F

1977-09-01

Bureaucratic mechanisms as a means of regulating the environment are evaluated. Bureaucracy as a technology is one among several instruments for regulation. Styles of environmentally concerned bureaucracies are described. Both local control and a central power to monitor developments that have a large impact on the environment and to force action beyond local strength should be established. The conflict surrounding choices for strong central powers and for a series of polycentric structures is surveyed. Bureaucracy and conflicting environmental values are discussed. Public participation in environmental bureaucracies is assessed. The institutionalization of environmental problems is reviewed. Basic social decisions should be able to prevent bureaucracy from institutionalizing environmental problems rather than trying to solve them. 1 drawing, 2 photos, 12 references.

The effect of strong intermolecular and chemical interactions on the compatibility of polymers

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Askadskii, Andrei A

1999-01-01

The data on compatibility and on the properties of polymer blends are generalised. The emphasis is placed on the formation of strong intermolecular interactions (dipole-dipole interaction and hydrogen bonding) between the components of blends, as well as on the chemical reactions between them. A criterion for the prediction of compatibility of polymers is described in detail. Different cases of compatibility are considered and the dependences of the glass transition temperatures on the composition of blends are analysed. The published data on the effect of strong intermolecular interactions between the blend components on the glass transition temperature are considered. The preparation of interpolymers is described whose macromolecules are composed of incompatible polymers, which leads to the so-called 'forced compatibility.' The bibliography includes 80 references.

Environmental effects on energy metabolism and 86Rb elimination rates of fishes

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Peters, E.L.

1994-01-01

Relationships between energy metabolism and the turnover rates of number of important chemical and radiological elements (particularly the Group IA alkali metals: K, Rb, and Cs) have been observed in fishes. Using response surface statistics and fractional factorial ANOVA, the author examined the relative influences of temperature, salinity, food intake rate, mass, and their first order interactions on routine energy metabolism and 86 Rb elimination rates. Routine metabolic rates were increased primarily by increased temperature and salinity, with a strong body mass effect and a significant effect of food intake. 86 Rb elimination rates were increased primarily by increased temperature and salinity. There were no interactive effects between mass and either temperature or salinity for either routine energy metabolism or 86 Rb elimination rates. There was a significant interaction effect between temperature and salinity on routine energy metabolism rates, but not on 86 Rb elimination. The authors also observed a relationship between routine energy metabolism and 86 Rb elimination rates that may possibly be exploited as a means of estimating energy metabolic rates of fishes in the field. The statistical techniques used in this experiment have broad potential applications in assessing the contributions of combinations of environmental variables on contaminant kinetics, as well as in multiple toxicity testing, in that they greatly simplify experimental designs compared with traditional full-factorial methods

Environmental induced renormalization effects in quantum Hall edge states due to 1/f noise and dissipation

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Braggio, A; Ferraro, D; Sassetti, M; Carrega, M; Magnoli, N

2012-01-01

We propose a general mechanism for the renormalization of the tunnelling exponents in edge states of the fractional quantum Hall effect. Mutual effects of the coupling with out-of-equilibrium 1/f noise and dissipation are considered for both the Laughlin sequence and the composite co- and counter-propagating edge states with Abelian or non-Abelian statistics. For states with counter-propagating modes, we demonstrate the robustness of the proposed mechanism in the so-called disorder-dominated phase. Prototypes of these states, such as ν = 2/3 and ν = 5/2, are discussed in detail, and the rich phenomenology induced by the presence of a noisy environment is presented. The proposed mechanism could help justify the strong renormalizations reported in many experimental observations carried out at low temperatures. We show how environmental effects could affect the relevance of the tunnelling excitations, leading to important implications, in particular for the ν = 5/2 case. (paper)

Evaluation of the removal of primer coating in an automotive painting process, economical effects and environmental impact

OpenAIRE

Dalmolin, Carla; Gonçalves, Felipe Freire; Pachekoski, Wagner Mauricio

2013-01-01

http://dx.doi.org/10.5902/223611709199Automotive industry worldwide faces strong pressures towards the reduction of environmental impacts caused by the productive process. At the same time, the highly competitive car market causes an increasingly constant search for cost reduction and productivity rising in this industrial segment. Facing this need for reduction on the environmental impact associated with the increase of productivity in the automotive painting processes, this study proposes t...

Genetic and environmental contributions to cardiovascular disease risk in American Indians: the strong heart family study.

Science.gov (United States)

North, Kari E; Howard, Barbara V; Welty, Thomas K; Best, Lyle G; Lee, Elisa T; Yeh, J L; Fabsitz, Richard R; Roman, Mary J; MacCluer, Jean W

2003-02-15

The aims of the Strong Heart Family Study are to clarify the genetic determinants of cardiovascular disease (CVD) risk in American Indians and to map and identify genes for CVD susceptibility. The authors describe the design of the Strong Heart Family Study (conducted between 1998 and 1999) and evaluate the heritabilities of CVD risk factors in American Indians from this study. In the first phase of the study, approximately 950 individuals, aged 18 years or more, in 32 extended families, were examined. The examination consisted of a personal interview, physical examination, laboratory tests, and an ultrasound examination of the carotid arteries. The phenotypes measured during the physical examination included anthropometry, lipoproteins, blood pressure, glycemic status, and clotting factors. Heritabilities for CVD risk factor phenotypes were estimated using a variance component approach and the program SOLAR. After accounting for the effects of covariates, the authors detected significant heritabilities for many CVD risk factor phenotypes (e.g., high density lipoprotein cholesterol (heritability = 0.50) and diastolic blood pressure (heritability = 0.34)). These results suggest that heredity explains a substantial proportion of the variability of CVD risk factors and that these heritabilities are large enough to warrant a search for major risk factor genes.

Developing effective environmental and oil spill management for remote locations

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Smith, J.P.; Wardrop, J.; Kilborn, A.

1994-01-01

Historically, Exploration and Production (E and P) operators' environmental philosophy was a consequence of environmental damages, actual and perceived, caused by hydrocarbon spills. Pertamina/Maxus Southeast Sumatra, Inc. (Maxus), the largest offshore E and P operator in Indonesia has adopted a proactive philosophy as they operate offshore production and shipping facilities immediately adjacent to the Pulau Seribu (Thousand Island) National Marine Park and approximately 30 kilometers from the Southeast Sumatra coast. These ecosystems are of great concern to Indonesia and Maxus as they comprise approximately 250 km of tropical, sparsely inhabited coastline, 106 coral and lagoon islands, and habitats for numerous endangered species. This paper describes the contract zone within which Maxus operates; the environmental risks associated with E and P in this region; and Maxus' response to management of those risks. A significant component of Maxus' overall response has been the ESACOC project (Environmental Sensitivity and Characterization of Crude) undertaken during 1993. ESACOC is described here in regard to the use and interrelation of remote sensing, in-depth laboratory studies, and development of new sensitivity rankings techniques into one computer program for effective environmental and oil spill management. ESACOC illustrates the synthesis of seemingly diverse and unrelated data to develop an effective environmental management plan

Application of environmental Decision Support Systems (Ed's) for the assessment of health effects due to environmental pollution

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Voigt, G.

2004-01-01

Environmental Decision Support System containing a Geographical Information System (GIS) combined with (radio)ecological data and models were developed within different research activities in radioecology and geography for environmental management, especially after accidental release of pollutants into the environment. It may be possible to achieve the full potentials of EDSS, through its application in a variety of ways. These include: 1. Identification of radio-ecological sensitive areas, 2. extending its use in the identification of non-radioactive pollution (e.g., heavy metals) by using the necessary transfer models and parameters and 3. its effective use in defining the role of environmental pollution on health effects. In order to achieve the latter (e.g., defining the role of environmental pollution on health effects), a database containing spatial and temporal information on radioactive and conventional pollution can be combined with ethnic composition, living habits, education, income, age/sex structure, general sanitary situation, production, import and export overlaid with health data (e.g., congenital malformations, cancer, mental retardation, immunological situation, birth and death certificates etc.). Since a spatial as well as temporal resolution of data can be achieved, time trends and spatial trends of a potential impact to human health can be demonstrated. (author)

Strong impacts on aerosol indirect effects from historical oxidant changes

Science.gov (United States)

Hafsahl Karset, Inger Helene; Koren Berntsen, Terje; Storelvmo, Trude; Alterskjær, Kari; Grini, Alf; Olivié, Dirk; Kirkevåg, Alf; Seland, Øyvind; Iversen, Trond; Schulz, Michael

2018-06-01

Uncertainties in effective radiative forcings through aerosol-cloud interactions (ERFaci, also called aerosol indirect effects) contribute strongly to the uncertainty in the total preindustrial-to-present-day anthropogenic forcing. Some forcing estimates of the total aerosol indirect effect are so negative that they even offset the greenhouse gas forcing. This study highlights the role of oxidants in modeling of preindustrial-to-present-day aerosol indirect effects. We argue that the aerosol precursor gases should be exposed to oxidants of its era to get a more correct representation of secondary aerosol formation. Our model simulations show that the total aerosol indirect effect changes from -1.32 to -1.07 W m-2 when the precursor gases in the preindustrial simulation are exposed to preindustrial instead of present-day oxidants. This happens because of a brightening of the clouds in the preindustrial simulation, mainly due to large changes in the nitrate radical (NO3). The weaker oxidative power of the preindustrial atmosphere extends the lifetime of the precursor gases, enabling them to be transported higher up in the atmosphere and towards more remote areas where the susceptibility of the cloud albedo to aerosol changes is high. The oxidation changes also shift the importance of different chemical reactions and produce more condensate, thus increasing the size of the aerosols and making it easier for them to activate as cloud condensation nuclei.

Autonomous Control, Climate and Environmental Changes Effects ...

African Journals Online (AJOL)

Autonomous Control, Climate and Environmental Changes Effects on Trypanosomiasis in Sub-Saharan Africa: A Review. ... African trypanosomiasis is a parasitic disease that causes serious economic losses in livestock due to anemia, loss of condition and emaciation. The disease when neglected is lethal and untreated ...

Strong toroidal effects on tokamak tearing mode stability in the hybrid and conventional scenarios

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Ham, C J; Connor, J W; Cowley, S C; Gimblett, C G; Hastie, R J; Hender, T C; Martin, T J

2012-01-01

The hybrid scenario is thought to be an important mode of operation for the ITER tokamak. Analytic and numerical calculations demonstrate that toroidal effects at finite β have a strong influence on tearing mode stability of hybrid modes. Indeed, they persist in the large aspect ratio limit, R/a → ∞. A similar strong coupling effect is found between the m = 1, n = 1 harmonic and the m = 2, n = 1 harmonic if the minimum safety factor is less than unity. In both cases the tearing stability index, Δ′ increases rapidly as β approaches ideal marginal stability, providing a potential explanation for the onset of linearly unstable tearing modes. The numerical calculations have used an improved version of the T7 code (Fitzpatrick et al 1993 Nucl. Fusion 33 1533), and complete agreement is obtained with the analytic theory for this demanding test of the code. (paper)

30 CFR 280.29 - Will MMS monitor the environmental effects of my activity?

Science.gov (United States)

2010-07-01

... 30 Mineral Resources 2 2010-07-01 2010-07-01 false Will MMS monitor the environmental effects of my activity? 280.29 Section 280.29 Mineral Resources MINERALS MANAGEMENT SERVICE, DEPARTMENT OF THE... Obligations Under This Part Environmental Issues § 280.29 Will MMS monitor the environmental effects of my...

Genetic and environmental effects on performance traits of ...

African Journals Online (AJOL)

Genetic and environmental effects on performance traits of Simmentaler cattle on the Transvaal Highveld. Tina Rust*. Highveld Region Agricultural Development Institute, .... ef'fect of the mtt' management system (m = 1,2,3,4),. bW = linear regression of the appropriate deviation from the mean of individual age at weaning (in ...

ENVIRONMENTAL EFFECTS OF DREDGING AND DISPOSAL (E2-D2)

Science.gov (United States)

US Army Corps of Engineers public web site for the "Environmental Effects of Dredging and Disposal" ("E2-D2") searchable database of published reports and studies about environmental impacts associated with dredging and disposal operations. Many of the reports and studies are ava...

Electronic Structure of Strongly Correlated Materials

CERN Document Server

Anisimov, Vladimir

2010-01-01

Electronic structure and physical properties of strongly correlated materials containing elements with partially filled 3d, 4d, 4f and 5f electronic shells is analyzed by Dynamical Mean-Field Theory (DMFT). DMFT is the most universal and effective tool used for the theoretical investigation of electronic states with strong correlation effects. In the present book the basics of the method are given and its application to various material classes is shown. The book is aimed at a broad readership: theoretical physicists and experimentalists studying strongly correlated systems. It also serves as a handbook for students and all those who want to be acquainted with fast developing filed of condensed matter physics.

What Causes Environmental Inequalities and Related Health Effects? An Analysis of Evolving Concepts

Science.gov (United States)

Kruize, Hanneke; Droomers, Mariël; van Kamp, Irene; Ruijsbroek, Annemarie

2014-01-01

Early environmental justice studies were exposure-oriented, lacked an integrated approach, and did not address the health impact of environmental inequalities. A coherent conceptual framework, needed to understand and tackle environmental inequalities and the related health effects, was lacking. We analyzed the more recent environmental justice literature to find out how conceptual insights have evolved. The conceptual framework of the WHO Commission on Social Determinants of Health (CSDH) was analyzed for additional explanations for environmental inequalities and the related health effects. This paper points out that recent environmental justice studies have broadened their scope by incorporating a broader set of physical and social environmental indicators, and by focusing on different geographic levels and on health impacts of environmental inequalities. The CSDH framework provided additional elements such as the role of structural determinants, the role of health-related behavior in relation to the physical and social environment, access to health care, as well as the life course perspective. Incorporating elements of the CSDH framework into existing environmental justice concepts, and performing more empirical research on the interactions between the different determinants at different geographical levels would further improve our understanding of environmental inequalities and their health effects and offer new opportunities for policy action. PMID:24886752

What Causes Environmental Inequalities and Related Health Effects? An Analysis of Evolving Concepts

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Hanneke Kruize

2014-05-01

Full Text Available Early environmental justice studies were exposure-oriented, lacked an integrated approach, and did not address the health impact of environmental inequalities. A coherent conceptual framework, needed to understand and tackle environmental inequalities and the related health effects, was lacking. We analyzed the more recent environmental justice literature to find out how conceptual insights have evolved. The conceptual framework of the WHO Commission on Social Determinants of Health (CSDH was analyzed for additional explanations for environmental inequalities and the related health effects. This paper points out that recent environmental justice studies have broadened their scope by incorporating a broader set of physical and social environmental indicators, and by focusing on different geographic levels and on health impacts of environmental inequalities. The CSDH framework provided additional elements such as the role of structural determinants, the role of health-related behavior in relation to the physical and social environment, access to health care, as well as the life course perspective. Incorporating elements of the CSDH framework into existing environmental justice concepts, and performing more empirical research on the interactions between the different determinants at different geographical levels would further improve our understanding of environmental inequalities and their health effects and offer new opportunities for policy action.

Quantum screening effects on the ion-ion collisions in strongly coupled semiclassical plasmas

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Ki, Dae-Han; Jung, Young-Dae

2010-01-01

The quantum screening effects on the ion-ion collisions are investigated in strongly coupled semiclassical hydrogen plasmas. The method of stationary phase and effective interaction potential containing the quantum mechanical effect are employed to obtain the scattering phase shift and scattering cross section as functions of the impact parameter, collision energy, de Broglie wavelength, and Debye length. The result shows that the scattering phase and cross section decrease with increasing de Broglie wavelength. It is also shown that the scattering cross section increases with an increase of the Debye length. Hence, it is found that the quantum effect suppresses the scattering cross section. In addition, the quantum effect on the scattering cross section is found to be more important in small Debye length domains.

Environmental effects in titanium aluminide alloys

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Thompson, A.W.

1991-01-01

Environmental effects on titanium aluminide alloys are potentially of great importance for engineering applications of these materials, although little has been published to date on such effects. The primary emphasis in this paper is on hydrogen effects, with a brief reference to oxygen effects. Hydrogen is readily absorbed at elevated temperature into all the titanium aluminide compositions studied to date, in amounts as large as 10 at.%, and on cooling virtually all this hydrogen is precipitated as a hydride phase or phases. The presence of these precipitated hydride plates affects mechanical properties in ways similar to what is observed in other hydride forming materials, although effects per unit volume of hydride are not particularly severe in the titanium aluminides. Microstructure, and thus thermal and mechanical history, plays a major role in controlling the severity of hydrogen effects

10 CFR 51.52 - Environmental effects of transportation of fuel and waste-Table S-4.

Science.gov (United States)

2010-01-01

... 10 Energy 2 2010-01-01 2010-01-01 false Environmental effects of transportation of fuel and waste... Environmental effects of transportation of fuel and waste—Table S-4. Under § 51.50, every environmental report... detailed analysis of the environmental effects of transportation of fuel and wastes to and from the reactor...

Analysing environmental and fishing effects on a short-lived species ...

African Journals Online (AJOL)

Short-lived species are extremely dependent on the seasonal and interannual variability of environmental conditions, and determining their stock status is often difficult. This study investigates the effects of environmental variability and fishing pressure on the stock of octopus Octopus vulgaris in Senegalese waters over a ...

Strong mechanically induced effects in DC current-biased suspended Josephson junctions

Science.gov (United States)

McDermott, Thomas; Deng, Hai-Yao; Isacsson, Andreas; Mariani, Eros

2018-01-01

Superconductivity is a result of quantum coherence at macroscopic scales. Two superconductors separated by a metallic or insulating weak link exhibit the AC Josephson effect: the conversion of a DC voltage bias into an AC supercurrent. This current may be used to activate mechanical oscillations in a suspended weak link. As the DC-voltage bias condition is remarkably difficult to achieve in experiments, here we analyze theoretically how the Josephson effect can be exploited to activate and detect mechanical oscillations in the experimentally relevant condition with purely DC current bias. We unveil how changing the strength of the electromechanical coupling results in two qualitatively different regimes showing dramatic effects of the oscillations on the DC-voltage characteristic of the device. These include the appearance of Shapiro-type plateaus for weak coupling and a sudden mechanically induced retrapping for strong coupling. Our predictions, measurable in state-of-the-art experimental setups, allow the determination of the frequency and quality factor of the resonator using DC only techniques.

Experimental observation of strong coupling effects on the dispersion of dust acoustic waves in a plasma

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Bandyopadhyay, P. [Institute for Plasma Research, Bhat, Gandhinagar 382428 (India)], E-mail: pintu@ipr.res.in; Prasad, G.; Sen, A.; Kaw, P.K. [Institute for Plasma Research, Bhat, Gandhinagar 382428 (India)

2007-09-03

The dispersion properties of low frequency dust acoustic waves in the strong coupling regime are investigated experimentally in an argon plasma embedded with a mixture of kaolin and MnO{sub 2} dust particles. The neutral pressure is varied over a wide range to change the collisional properties of the dusty plasma. In the low collisional regime the turnover of the dispersion curve at higher wave numbers and the resultant region of {partial_derivative}{omega}/{partial_derivative}k<0 are identified as signatures of dust-dust correlations. In the high collisional regime dust neutral collisions produce a similar effect and prevent an unambiguous identification of strong coupling effects.

Experimental observation of strong coupling effects on the dispersion of dust acoustic waves in a plasma

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Bandyopadhyay, P.; Prasad, G.; Sen, A.; Kaw, P.K.

2007-01-01

The dispersion properties of low frequency dust acoustic waves in the strong coupling regime are investigated experimentally in an argon plasma embedded with a mixture of kaolin and MnO 2 dust particles. The neutral pressure is varied over a wide range to change the collisional properties of the dusty plasma. In the low collisional regime the turnover of the dispersion curve at higher wave numbers and the resultant region of ∂ω/∂k<0 are identified as signatures of dust-dust correlations. In the high collisional regime dust neutral collisions produce a similar effect and prevent an unambiguous identification of strong coupling effects

Experimental observation of strong coupling effects on the dispersion of dust acoustic waves in a plasma

Science.gov (United States)

Bandyopadhyay, P.; Prasad, G.; Sen, A.; Kaw, P. K.

2007-09-01

The dispersion properties of low frequency dust acoustic waves in the strong coupling regime are investigated experimentally in an argon plasma embedded with a mixture of kaolin and MnO2 dust particles. The neutral pressure is varied over a wide range to change the collisional properties of the dusty plasma. In the low collisional regime the turnover of the dispersion curve at higher wave numbers and the resultant region of ∂ω/∂k<0 are identified as signatures of dust dust correlations. In the high collisional regime dust neutral collisions produce a similar effect and prevent an unambiguous identification of strong coupling effects.

Environmental impacts from the solar energy technologies

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Tsoutsos, Theocharis; Frantzeskaki, Niki; Gekas, Vassilis

2005-01-01

Solar energy systems (photovoltaics, solar thermal, solar power) provide significant environmental benefits in comparison to the conventional energy sources, thus contributing, to the sustainable development of human activities. Sometimes however, their wide scale deployment has to face potential negative environmental implications. These potential problems seem to be a strong barrier for a further dissemination of these systems in some consumers. To cope with these problems this paper presents an overview of an Environmental Impact Assessment. We assess the potential environmental intrusions in order to ameliorate them with new technological innovations and good practices in the future power systems. The analysis provides the potential burdens to the environment, which include - during the construction, the installation and the demolition phases, as well as especially in the case of the central solar technologies - noise and visual intrusion, greenhouse gas emissions, water and soil pollution, energy consumption, labour accidents, impact on archaeological sites or on sensitive ecosystems, negative and positive socio-economic effects

Corporate Governance Against Recommendations: The Cases of the Strong Executive and the Strong Ownership

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Král Pavel

2012-09-01

Full Text Available There are several basic configurations of corporate governance according to the separation of ownership and control (Jensen’s theory. Effective governance is described as a situation whenan owner (or group of owners keeps the right to ratify and monitor strategic decisions while management has the right to initiate and implement those decisions. There are two particular situations how this recommendation is partially broken and both situations are linked to CEO duality. The first case happens when an owner loses or does not exercise the right to monitor management of the organization and is termed as the strong executive. The second case is calledthe strong ownership and is distinguished by an owner taking over implementations of the decisions. The focus of the study was to explore particularly configurations of the strong executive and the strong governance. A mixed method research design was chosen to explore the differences between the basic governance configurations. The sample was chosen by purposive sampling and covered a hundred for-profit organizations of all size and from all sectors of economy.The data were collected through interviews with representatives, mainly members of top management. We revealed that both of these configurations can bear good corporate performance but also bigger risks. The strong executive is typical for organizations with dispersed ownership or a publicly owned organization and the performance of the organization is fully dependent on competencies but also personalities of managers. This configuration contains a high risk of misuse of authority. The strong ownership is effective in small organizations while in a larger organization leads to an overexertion of owners and low performance because they usually faceproblems to keep focus on the strategic issues of the organization.

Quantum screening effects on the electron-ion occurrence scattering time advance in strongly coupled semiclassical plasmas

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Song, Mi-Young; Jung, Young-Dae

2003-01-01

Quantum screening effects on the occurrence scattering time advance for elastic electron-ion collisions in strongly coupled semiclassical plasmas are investigated using the second-order eikonal analysis. The electron-ion interaction in strongly coupled semiclassical plasmas is obtained by the pseudopotential model taking into account the plasma screening and quantum effects. It is found that the quantum-mechanical effects significantly reduce the occurrence scattering time advance. It is also found that the occurrence scattering time advance increases with increasing Debye length. It is quite interesting to note that the domain of the maximum occurrence time advance is localized for the forward scattering case. The region of the scaled thermal de Broglie wave length (λ-bar) for the maximum occurrence time advance is found to be 0.4≤λ-bar≤1.4

Segregation and Clustering Effects on Complex Boron Redistribution in Strongly Doped Polycrystalline-Silicon Layers

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Abadli, S.; Mansour, F.

2011-01-01

This work deals with the investigation of the complex phenomenon of boron (B) transient enhanced diffusion (TED) in strongly implanted silicon (Si) layers. It concerns the instantaneous influences of the strong B concentrations, the Si layers crystallization, the clustering and the B trapping/segregation during thermal post-implantation annealing. We have used Si thin layers obtained from disilane (Si2H6) by low pressure chemical vapor deposition (LPCVD) and then B implanted with a dose of 4 x 1015 atoms/cm2 at an energy of 15 keV. To avoid long redistributions, thermal annealing was carried out at relatively low-temperatures (700, 750 and 800 'deg'C) for various short-times ranging between 1 and 30 minutes. To investigate the experimental secondary ion mass spectroscopy (SIMS) doping profiles, a redistribution model well adapted to the particular structure of Si-LPCVD layers and to the effects of strong-concentrations has been established. The good adjustment of the simulated profiles with the experimental SIMS profiles allowed a fundamental understanding about the instantaneous physical phenomena giving and disturbing the TED process in strongly doped Si-LPCVD layers. It was found that boron TED is strongly affected by the simultaneous complex kinetics of clustering, crystallization, trapping and segregation during annealing. The fast formation of small Si-B clusters enhances the B diffusivity whereas the evolution of the clusters and segregation reduce this enhancement. (author)

Using data storage tags to link otolith macrostructure in Baltic cod Gadus morhua with environmental conditions

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Hüssy, Karin; Nielsen, Birgitte; Mosegaard, Henrik

2009-01-01

of a strontium chloride solution. Based on environmental conditions experienced, fish were classified into different behavioural types: non-reproducing 'non-spawner', and 'spawner' undertaking spawning migrations. Otolith opacity, an indicator of otolith and fish somatic growth and condition, was examined...... in relation to these environmental drivers. Temperature was the only environmental variable with a significant effect, overlaying a strong size-related effect. The temperature effect was not uniform across behavioural types and spawning periods. Opacity showed a negative correlation with temperature......We examined otolith opacity of Baltic cod in relation to environmental conditions in order to evaluate the formation mechanisms of seasonal patterns used in age determination. Adult fish were tagged with data storage tags (DSTs) and a permanent mark was induced in the otoliths by injection...

Improving environmental impact and cost assessment for supplier evaluation

Science.gov (United States)

Beucker, Severin; Lang, Claus

2004-02-01

Improving a company"s environmental and financial performance necessitates the evaluation of environmental impacts deriving from the production and cost effects of corporate actions. These effects have to be made transparent and concrete targets have to be developed. Such an evaluation has to be done on a regular basis but with limited expenses. To achieve this, different instruments of environmental controlling such as LCA and environmental performance indicators have to be combined with methods from cost accounting. Within the research project CARE (Computer Aided Resource Efficiency Accounting for Medium-Sized Enterprises), the method Resource Efficiency Accounting (REA) is used to give the participating companies new insights into hidden costs and environmental effects of their production and products. The method combines process based cost accounting with environmental impact assessment methodology and offers results that can be integrated into a company"s environmental controlling system and business processes like cost accounting, supplier assessment, etc. Much of the data necessary for the combined assessment can be available within a company"s IT system and therefore can be efficiently used for the assessment process. The project CARE puts a strong focus on the use of company data and information systems for the described assessment process and offers a methodological background for the evaluation and the structuring of such data. Besides the general approach of the project CARE the paper will present results from a case study in which the described approach is used for the evaluation of suppliers.

Strong impacts on aerosol indirect effects from historical oxidant changes

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

I. H. H. Karset

2018-06-01

Full Text Available Uncertainties in effective radiative forcings through aerosol–cloud interactions (ERFaci, also called aerosol indirect effects contribute strongly to the uncertainty in the total preindustrial-to-present-day anthropogenic forcing. Some forcing estimates of the total aerosol indirect effect are so negative that they even offset the greenhouse gas forcing. This study highlights the role of oxidants in modeling of preindustrial-to-present-day aerosol indirect effects. We argue that the aerosol precursor gases should be exposed to oxidants of its era to get a more correct representation of secondary aerosol formation. Our model simulations show that the total aerosol indirect effect changes from −1.32 to −1.07 W m−2 when the precursor gases in the preindustrial simulation are exposed to preindustrial instead of present-day oxidants. This happens because of a brightening of the clouds in the preindustrial simulation, mainly due to large changes in the nitrate radical (NO3. The weaker oxidative power of the preindustrial atmosphere extends the lifetime of the precursor gases, enabling them to be transported higher up in the atmosphere and towards more remote areas where the susceptibility of the cloud albedo to aerosol changes is high. The oxidation changes also shift the importance of different chemical reactions and produce more condensate, thus increasing the size of the aerosols and making it easier for them to activate as cloud condensation nuclei.

Sensory Perception, Rationalism and Outdoor Environmental Education

Science.gov (United States)

Auer, Matthew R.

2008-01-01

There is a strong emphasis on sensory perception and "hands-on" learning in the outdoor environmental education of children. In addition, normative concerns infuse children's environmental curricula, and in particular, the notion that environmental education is not a passive undertaking; when one appreciates the essential value of the…

Strong anisotropy effect in an iron-based superconductor CaFe0.882Co0.118AsF

Science.gov (United States)

Ma, Yonghui; Ji, Qiucheng; Hu, Kangkang; Gao, Bo; Li, Wei; Mu, Gang; Xie, Xiaoming

2017-07-01

The anisotropy of iron-based superconductors is much smaller than that of the cuprates and that predicted by theoretical calculations. A credible understanding for this experimental fact is still lacking up to now. Here we experimentally study the magnetic-field-angle dependence of electronic resistivity in the superconducting phase of an iron-based superconductor CaFe{}0.882Co{}0.118AsF, and find the strongest anisotropy effect of the upper critical field among the iron-based superconductors based on the framework of Ginzburg-Landau theory. The evidence of the energy band structure and charge density distribution from electronic structure calculations demonstrates that the observed strong anisotropic effect mainly comes from the strong ionic bonding in between the ions of Ca2+ and F-, which weakens the interlayer coupling between the layers of FeAs and CaF. This finding provides a significant insight into the nature of the experimentally-observed strong anisotropic effect of electronic resistivity, and also paves the way for designing exotic two-dimensional artificial unconventional superconductors in the future.

Strong strain rate effect on the plasticity of amorphous silica nanowires

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Yue, Yonghai; Zheng, Kun

2014-01-01

With electron-beam (e-beam) off, in-situ tensile experiments on amorphous silica nanowires (NWs) were performed inside a transmission electron microscope (TEM). By controlling the loading rates, the strain rate can be adjusted accurately in a wide range. The result shows a strong strain rate effect on the plasticity of amorphous silica NWs. At lower strain rate, the intrinsic brittle materials exhibit a pronounced elongation higher than 100% to failure with obvious necking near ambient temperature. At the strain rate higher than 5.23 × 10 −3 /s, the elongation of the NW decreased dramatically, and a brittle fracture feature behavior was revealed. This ductile feature of the amorphous silica NWs has been further confirmed with the in-situ experiments under optical microscopy while the effect of e-beam irradiation could be eliminated.

Effect of Environmental Education Based on Transformational Learning Theory on Perceptions towards Environmental Problems and Permanency of Learning

Science.gov (United States)

Uyanik, Gökhan

2016-01-01

The aim of the study is to determine effect of environmental education based on transformational learning theory on primary school teacher candidates' perceptions towards environmental problems and permanency of learning. Pretest-posttest quasi-experimental design have been used in this study. The study group consists of 66 teacher candidates who…

Genetic and environmental effects on a meat spotting defect in seasoned dry-cured ham

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Giulio Pagnacco

2011-01-01

Full Text Available Purpose of this investigation was to determine the nature of a visible spotting defect on the slice of dry-cured ham and assess environmental and genetic causes of this frequent problem. A group of 233 pigs from commercial cross-breeding lines, progeny of ten boars and forty seven sows, was raised in a single herd to obtain the “Italian Heavy Pig”, typically slaughtered at 160 ± 10 kg live weight and older than 9 months of age. A quality evaluation of their right dry-cured hams, seasoned according to the Parma P.D.O. protocol, was undertaken. Each ham was cross-sectioned to obtain a slice of Semimembranosus, Semitendinosus and Biceps Femoris muscles. The focused phenotype was the presence/absence of brownish spots in these muscles, which represent a remarkable meat defect with strong impact on the final sale price. Environmental and management factors were considered in order to evaluate variability related to the phenotype. Animals were raised on two different flooring types (concrete and slatted floor and a Vitamin C diet was also supplemented in the last 45 days before slaughtering to half of the animals. While the pre-planned environmental effects did not show any significant contribution to the total variability of the phenotype, the genetic analysis showed a near to zero value for heritability with a consistent 0.32 repeatability. The proportion of the total phenotypic variance was explained by an important dominance genetic component (0.26 indicating that the technological seasoning process may play a secondary role on the expression of this phenotype.

Application of effective discharge analysis to environmental flow decision-making

Science.gov (United States)

McKay, S. Kyle; Freeman, Mary C.; Covich, A.P.

2016-01-01

Well-informed river management decisions rely on an explicit statement of objectives, repeatable analyses, and a transparent system for assessing trade-offs. These components may then be applied to compare alternative operational regimes for water resource infrastructure (e.g., diversions, locks, and dams). Intra- and inter-annual hydrologic variability further complicates these already complex environmental flow decisions. Effective discharge analysis (developed in studies of geomorphology) is a powerful tool for integrating temporal variability of flow magnitude and associated ecological consequences. Here, we adapt the effectiveness framework to include multiple elements of the natural flow regime (i.e., timing, duration, and rate-of-change) as well as two flow variables. We demonstrate this analytical approach using a case study of environmental flow management based on long-term (60 years) daily discharge records in the Middle Oconee River near Athens, GA, USA. Specifically, we apply an existing model for estimating young-of-year fish recruitment based on flow-dependent metrics to an effective discharge analysis that incorporates hydrologic variability and multiple focal taxa. We then compare three alternative methods of environmental flow provision. Percentage-based withdrawal schemes outcompete other environmental flow methods across all levels of water withdrawal and ecological outcomes.

Are screening processes effective instruments and what are the environmental benefits?

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Nielsen, Eskild Holm; Christensen, Per; Kørnøv, Lone

2003-01-01

Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA)is the process by which the effects that proposed projects are likely to have with respect to a number of environmental criteria is evaluated. Screening is an activity carried out in advance of an EIA to determine whether, in fact, it is necessary to undertake...... a full assessment.The paper discuss the extent of changes due to the screening process, and ask questions like what kind of environmental considerations do the changes reflect? And are they in line with EIA's holistic environmental approach?...

The effects of environmental support and secondary tasks on visuospatial working memory.

Science.gov (United States)

Lilienthal, Lindsey; Hale, Sandra; Myerson, Joel

2014-10-01

In the present experiments, we examined the effects of environmental support on participants' ability to rehearse locations and the role of such support in the effects of secondary tasks on memory span. In Experiment 1, the duration of interitem intervals and the presence of environmental support for visuospatial rehearsal (i.e., the array of possible memory locations) during the interitem intervals were both manipulated across four tasks. When support was provided, memory spans increased as the interitem interval durations increased, consistent with the hypothesis that environmental support facilitates rehearsal. In contrast, when environmental support was not provided, spans decreased as the duration of the interitem intervals increased, consistent with the hypothesis that visuospatial memory representations decay when rehearsal is impeded. In Experiment 2, the ratio of interitem interval duration to intertrial interval duration was kept the same on all four tasks, in order to hold temporal distinctiveness constant, yet forgetting was still observed in the absence of environmental support, consistent with the decay hypothesis. In Experiment 3, the effects of impeding rehearsal were compared to the effects of verbal and visuospatial secondary processing tasks. Forgetting of locations was greater when presentation of to-be-remembered locations alternated with the performance of a secondary task than when rehearsal was impeded by the absence of environmental support. The greatest forgetting occurred when a secondary task required the processing visuospatial information, suggesting that in addition to decay, both domain-specific and domain-general effects contribute to forgetting on visuospatial working memory tasks.

Strong genetic overlap between executive functions and intelligence.

Science.gov (United States)

Engelhardt, Laura E; Mann, Frank D; Briley, Daniel A; Church, Jessica A; Harden, K Paige; Tucker-Drob, Elliot M

2016-09-01

Executive functions (EFs) are cognitive processes that control, monitor, and coordinate more basic cognitive processes. EFs play instrumental roles in models of complex reasoning, learning, and decision making, and individual differences in EFs have been consistently linked with individual differences in intelligence. By middle childhood, genetic factors account for a moderate proportion of the variance in intelligence, and these effects increase in magnitude through adolescence. Genetic influences on EFs are very high, even in middle childhood, but the extent to which these genetic influences overlap with those on intelligence is unclear. We examined genetic and environmental overlap between EFs and intelligence in a racially and socioeconomically diverse sample of 811 twins ages 7 to 15 years (M = 10.91, SD = 1.74) from the Texas Twin Project. A general EF factor representing variance common to inhibition, switching, working memory, and updating domains accounted for substantial proportions of variance in intelligence, primarily via a genetic pathway. General EF continued to have a strong, genetically mediated association with intelligence even after controlling for processing speed. Residual variation in general intelligence was influenced only by shared and nonshared environmental factors, and there remained no genetic variance in general intelligence that was unique of EF. Genetic variance independent of EF did remain, however, in a more specific perceptual reasoning ability. These results provide evidence that genetic influences on general intelligence are highly overlapping with those on EF. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2016 APA, all rights reserved).

Evaluation of environmental effect on creep-fatigue of 2 1/4Cr-1Mo steel

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Yang Beinan; Ishikawa, Akiyoshi; Asada, Yasuhide.

1991-01-01

In the present study, a trial evaluation was made to evaluate the environmental effect of air separately from the behavior of material origin. Data with 2 1/4Cr-1Mo steel at 550degC in air were subjected to the evaluation based on data of the steel in high vacuum with a newly developed procedure using the overstress concept. An empirical expression was proposed to describe the environmental effect of air on the creep-fatigue behavior. Following conclusions were obtained in the present study on a separation of the environmental effect of air on a creep-fatigue behavior of 2 1/4Cr-1Mo steel at 550degC. 1) The environmental effect of air reduces a fatigue life, that is, it increases the time-independent damage component of the creep-fatigue. 2) The environmental effect of air brings on the frequency effect which is mainly dependent upon a strain rate or time in a compression going stroke. Other environmental effect on F-S or compression hold-time cycles depends upon the strain rate in compression. 3) The rate-time dependent damage component, that is, the creep damage is reduced by the environmental effect of air. That means a creep-fatigue life recovers in air environment. (author)

Polarization effects in above-threshold ionization with a mid-infrared strong laser field

Science.gov (United States)

Kang, Hui-Peng; Xu, Song-Po; Wang, Yan-Lan; Yu, Shao-Gang; Zhao, Xiao-Yun; Hao, Xiao-Lei; Lai, Xuan-Yang; Pfeifer, Thomas; Liu, Xiao-Jun; Chen, Jing; Cheng, Ya; Xu, Zhi-Zhan

2018-05-01

Using a semiclassical approach, we theoretically study the above-threshold ionization of magnesium by intense, mid-infrared laser pulses. The formation of low-energy structures in the photoelectron spectrum is found to be enhanced by comparing with a calculation based on the single-active electron approximation. By performing electron trajectory and recollision-time distribution analysis, we demonstrate that this phenomenon is due to the laser-induced ionic core polarization effects on the recolliding electrons. We also show that the polarization effects should be experimentally detectable. Our finding provides new insight into ultrafast control of strong-field photoionization and imaging of polar molecules.

Measuring the effectiveness of international environmental regimes

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Helm, C.; Sprinz, D.F.

1999-05-01

While past research has emphasized the importance of international regimes for international governance, systematic assessments of regime effects are missing. This article derives a standardized measurement concept for the effectiveness of international environmental regimes by developing an operational rational choice calculus to evaluate actual policy simultaneously against a non-regime counterfactual and a collective optimum. Subsequently, the empirical feasibility of the measurement instrument is demonstrated by way of two international treaties regulating transboundary air pollution in Europe. The results demonstrate that the regimes indeed show positive effects - but fall substantially short of the collective optima. (orig.)

Channel-closing effects in strong-field ionization by a bicircular field

Science.gov (United States)

Milošević, D. B.; Becker, W.

2018-03-01

Channel-closing effects, such as threshold anomalies and resonantlike intensity-dependent enhancements in strong-field ionization by a bicircular laser field are analyzed. A bicircular field consists of two coplanar corotating or counter-rotating circularly polarized fields having different frequencies. For the total detachment rate of a negative ion by a bicircular field we observe threshold anomalies and explain them using the Wigner threshold law and energy and angular momentum conservation. For the corotating bicircular case, these effects are negligible, while for the counter-rotating case they are pronounced and their position depends on the magnetic quantum number of the initial state. For high-order above-threshold ionization of rare-gas atoms by a counter-rotating bicircular laser field we observe very pronounced intensity-dependent enhancements. We find all four types of threshold anomalies known from collision theory. Contrary to the case of linear polarization, channel-closing effects for a bicircular field are visible also in the cutoff region of the electron energy spectrum, which is explained using quantum-orbit theory.

A standard methodology for cost-effectiveness analysis of new environmental technologies

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Booth, S.R.; Trocki, L.K.; Bowling, L.

1994-01-01

This paper outlines a methodology that is being applied to assess the cost-effectiveness of new environmental technologies under development by EM-50, DOE. Performance, total system effects, and life-cycle costs are all considered in the methodology to compare new technologies with existing or base-line technologies. An example of performance characterization is given in the paper. Sources of data for cost estimates and technology characterizations also appear in the paper. The Department of Energy (DOE) is facing a massive clean up effort of waste sites that contain hazardous, radioactive, or mixed materials. DOE has recognized that improvements in environmental restoration and waste management methods can potentially save the taxpayers billions of dollars as older, less-effective technologies are displaced. Consequently, DOE has targeted significant funding to search for new technologies and to test and demonstrate them in rapid and cost-effective manner with the goal of applying them quickly to address environmental problems

Effect of odour on multisensory environmental evaluations of road traffic

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Jiang, Like, E-mail: jianglike@yahoo.com; Masullo, Massimiliano, E-mail: Massimiliano.MASULLO@unina2.it; Maffei, Luigi, E-mail: luigi.maffei@unina2.it

2016-09-15

This study investigated the effect of odour on multisensory environmental evaluations of road traffic. The study aimed to answer: (1) Does odour have any effect on evaluations on noise, landscape and the overall environment? (2) How different are participants' responses to odour stimuli and are these differences influential on the evaluations? Experimental scenarios varied in three Traffic levels, three Tree screening conditions and two Odour presence conditions were designed, and presented to participants in virtual reality. Perceived Loudness, Noise Annoyance, Landscape Quality and Overall Pleasantness of each scenario were evaluated and the results were analysed. It shows that Odour presence did not have significant main effect on any of the evaluations, but has significant interactions with Traffic level on Noise Annoyance and with Tree screening on Landscape Quality, indicating the potential of odour to modulate noise and visual landscape perceptions in specific environmental content. Concerning participants' responses to odour stimuli, large differences were found in this study. However, the differences did not seem to be influential on environmental evaluations in this study. Larger samples of participants may benefit this study for more significant results of odour effect.

The effects of environmental resource and security on aggressive behavior.

Science.gov (United States)

Ng, Henry Kin Shing; Chow, Tak Sang

2017-05-01

Exposure to different environments has been reported to change aggressive behavior, but previous research did not consider the underlying elements that caused such an effect. Based on previous work on environmental perception, we examined the role of environmental resource and security in altering aggression level. In three experiments, participants were exposed to environments that varied in resource (High vs. Low) and security (High vs. Low) levels, after which aggression was measured. The environments were presented through visual priming (Experiments 1-2) and a first-person gameplay (Experiment 3). We observed a consistent resource-security interaction effect on aggression, operationalized as the level of noise blast (Experiment 1) and number of unpleasant pictures (Experiments 2-3) delivered to strangers by the participants. High resource levels associated with higher aggression in insecure conditions, but lower aggression in secure conditions. The findings suggest that the adaptive value of aggression varies under different environmental constraints. Implications are discussed in terms of the effects of adverse environments on aggression, and the nature's effects on social behavior. Aggr. Behav. 43:304-314, 2017. © 2016 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. © 2016 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

Effect of odour on multisensory environmental evaluations of road traffic

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Jiang, Like; Masullo, Massimiliano; Maffei, Luigi

2016-01-01

This study investigated the effect of odour on multisensory environmental evaluations of road traffic. The study aimed to answer: (1) Does odour have any effect on evaluations on noise, landscape and the overall environment? (2) How different are participants' responses to odour stimuli and are these differences influential on the evaluations? Experimental scenarios varied in three Traffic levels, three Tree screening conditions and two Odour presence conditions were designed, and presented to participants in virtual reality. Perceived Loudness, Noise Annoyance, Landscape Quality and Overall Pleasantness of each scenario were evaluated and the results were analysed. It shows that Odour presence did not have significant main effect on any of the evaluations, but has significant interactions with Traffic level on Noise Annoyance and with Tree screening on Landscape Quality, indicating the potential of odour to modulate noise and visual landscape perceptions in specific environmental content. Concerning participants' responses to odour stimuli, large differences were found in this study. However, the differences did not seem to be influential on environmental evaluations in this study. Larger samples of participants may benefit this study for more significant results of odour effect.

Environmental effects of the Kuwaiti oil field fires

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Hahn, J.

1991-01-01

Theory suggests that the rates of smoke emission and heat generation and, consequently, the atmospheric injection height and residence time of the smoke are crucial in determining whether the environmental effects are of global or only regional importance. Confirming the results of model calculations, observations have shown that, up to now, the smoke did not rise higher than to the top of the planetary boundary layer (PBL), about 3,300 m at a maximum. The photochemistry within the smoke cloud very likely is significantly different from that of the smoke-free troposphere. Also, because there is very little precipitation in the greater Gulf region from May through October, it is difficult to predict how and where NO x , SO 2 , and their oxidation products HNO 3 and H 2 SO 4 will be deposited. Photochemical oxidation should be largely suppressed in the denser parts of the smoke cloud, so major acid deposition is likely to occur at some distance from the source area, probably as far away as 2,000 km. Results of model calculations suggest that the effect of the smoke emission in Kuwait on the Asian summer monsoon is small. In summary, one should expect severe environmental consequences of the Kuwaiti oil field fires for the territory of Kuwait and for parts of Iraq, Jordan, and Saudi Arabia. Serious effects also may be felt in Iran and the other Gulf states, and perhaps even as far away as Turkey and Afghanistan. The surface waters of the Gulf also may be severely affected by smoke deposition. Significant environmental effects on a global or even hemispheric scale, however, are not likely to occur

Environmental effects of the Kuwaiti oil field fires

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Hahn, J. (Fraunhofer Inst. for Atmospheric Environmental Research, Garmisch-Partenkirchen (West Germany))

1991-09-01

Theory suggests that the rates of smoke emission and heat generation and, consequently, the atmospheric injection height and residence time of the smoke are crucial in determining whether the environmental effects are of global or only regional importance. Confirming the results of model calculations, observations have shown that, up to now, the smoke did not rise higher than to the top of the planetary boundary layer (PBL), about 3,300 m at a maximum. The photochemistry within the smoke cloud very likely is significantly different from that of the smoke-free troposphere. Also, because there is very little precipitation in the greater Gulf region from May through October, it is difficult to predict how and where NO{sub x}, SO{sub 2}, and their oxidation products HNO{sub 3} and H{sub 2}SO{sub 4} will be deposited. Photochemical oxidation should be largely suppressed in the denser parts of the smoke cloud, so major acid deposition is likely to occur at some distance from the source area, probably as far away as 2,000 km. Results of model calculations suggest that the effect of the smoke emission in Kuwait on the Asian summer monsoon is small. In summary, one should expect severe environmental consequences of the Kuwaiti oil field fires for the territory of Kuwait and for parts of Iraq, Jordan, and Saudi Arabia. Serious effects also may be felt in Iran and the other Gulf states, and perhaps even as far away as Turkey and Afghanistan. The surface waters of the Gulf also may be severely affected by smoke deposition. Significant environmental effects on a global or even hemispheric scale, however, are not likely to occur.

Effects of repository conditions on environmental impact reduction by recycling

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Ahn, Joonhong

2010-01-01

The environmental impacts (EI) of high-level wastes (HLW) disposed of in a water-saturated repository (WSR) and in the Yucca Mountain Repository (YMR) for various fuel cycle cases have been evaluated and compared to observe the difference in the recycling effects for differing repository conditions. With the impacts of direct spent fuel disposal in each repository as the reference level, separation of actinides by Urex+ and borosilicate vitrification clearly reduces the environmental impacts of YMR, while separation by Purex and borosilicate vitrification would not necessarily reduce the environmental impact of WSR. (authors)

Transboundary effects of environmental policy. Markets and emission leakages

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Bruvoll, Annegrete; Faehn, Taran [Research Department, Statistics Norway, Pb. 8131 Dep., 0033 Oslo (Norway)

2006-10-15

One of many explanations for Environmental Kuznets Curves for rich countries can be that dirty production is relocated to economies with laxer abatement regimes. If this is caused by national abatement policies, environmental stresses are transferred to other countries. Further, the economic costs of national abatement policies can be shared with foreigners to some extent, both through a lower demand for imports and losses of market shares for foreign competitors that produce cleaner products. We quantify effects internally and abroad of a growth-induced unilateral carbon tax policy in a rich open economy. We find that the environmental benefits fall, and the economic costs rise, when a global rather than a national perspective is employed. (author)

Effect of linear chirp on strong field photodissociation of H+2

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Prabhudesai, Vaibhav; Natan, Adi; Bruner, Barry; Silberberg, Yaron; Lev, Uri; Heber, Oded; Strasser, Daniel; Schwalm, Dirk; Zajfman, Daniel; Ben-Itzhak, Itzik

2011-01-01

We report the experimental findings of a systematic study of the effect of linear chirp on strong field photodissociation of H + 2 . For vibrational levels around or above the one photon crossing, the effect manifests itself in terms of a shift in the kinetic energy release (KER) peaks. The peaks shift up for negative chirp whereas they shift down for positive chirp. The measurements are carried out by varying two of the three laser pulse characteristics, energy, pulse peak intensity and linear chirp, while keeping the third constant. The shifts in the KER peaks are found to be intensity dependent for a given value of chirp. However, in the last two cases (i.e., fixed pulsed energy and fixed pulse peak intensity), they are found to be independent of the chirp magnitude. The results are understood on the basis of saturation of photodissociation probabilities for these levels.

Stress influences environmental donation behavior in men.

Science.gov (United States)

Sollberger, Silja; Bernauer, Thomas; Ehlert, Ulrike

2016-01-01

Stress has been found to have both positive and negative effects on prosocial behavior, suggesting the involvement of moderating factors such as context and underlying motives. In the present study, we investigated the conditions under which acute stress leads to an increase vs. decrease in environmental donation behavior as an indicator of prosocial behavior. In particular, we examined whether the effects of stress depended on preexisting pro-environmental orientation and stage of the donation decision (whether or not to donate vs. the amount to be donated). Male participants with either high (N=40) or low (N=39) pro-environmental orientation were randomly assigned to a social stress test or a control condition. Salivary cortisol was assessed repeatedly before and after stress induction. At the end of the experiment, all subjects were presented with an opportunity to donate a portion of their monetary compensation to a climate protection foundation. We found that stress significantly increased donation frequency, but only in subjects with low pro-environmental orientation. Congruously, their decision to donate was positively associated with cortisol response to the stress test and the emotion regulation strategy mood repair, as well as accompanied by an increase in subjective calmness. In contrast, among the participants who decided to donate, stress significantly reduced the donated amount of money, regardless of pro-environmental orientation. In conclusion, our findings suggest that acute stress might generally activate more self-serving motivations, such as making oneself feel better and securing one's own material interests. Importantly, however, a strong pro-environmental orientation partially prevented these effects. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Mental health care and average happiness: strong effect in developed nations.

Science.gov (United States)

Touburg, Giorgio; Veenhoven, Ruut

2015-07-01

Mental disorder is a main cause of unhappiness in modern society and investment in mental health care is therefore likely to add to average happiness. This prediction was checked in a comparison of 143 nations around 2005. Absolute investment in mental health care was measured using the per capita number of psychiatrists and psychologists working in mental health care. Relative investment was measured using the share of mental health care in the total health budget. Average happiness in nations was measured with responses to survey questions about life-satisfaction. Average happiness appeared to be higher in countries that invest more in mental health care, both absolutely and relative to investment in somatic medicine. A data split by level of development shows that this difference exists only among developed nations. Among these nations the link between mental health care and happiness is quite strong, both in an absolute sense and compared to other known societal determinants of happiness. The correlation between happiness and share of mental health care in the total health budget is twice as strong as the correlation between happiness and size of the health budget. A causal effect is likely, but cannot be proved in this cross-sectional analysis.

The environmental effect of subsidies for clean technologies

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

De Vries, F.P.; Nentjes, A.

2001-01-01

Environmental subsidies for clean technology result in a larger diffusion of such technology. However, as a result emissions can increase in imperfect markets for products. When several companies compete each other with clean and dirty technologies, production and emission will rise because of price competition.This effect will be even larger in case subsidies are applied. Therefore, subsidies are not advisable for every market. In this article an evolutionary game theory has been used with respect to the diffusion of environment-friendly innovation of products and the role of environmental policy instruments (in particular subsidies). 7 refs

Generalized Models from Beta(p, 2) Densities with Strong Allee Effect: Dynamical Approach

OpenAIRE

Aleixo, Sandra M.; Rocha, J. Leonel

2012-01-01

A dynamical approach to study the behaviour of generalized populational growth models from Beta(p, 2) densities, with strong Allee effect, is presented. The dynamical analysis of the respective unimodal maps is performed using symbolic dynamics techniques. The complexity of the correspondent discrete dynamical systems is measured in terms of topological entropy. Different populational dynamics regimes are obtained when the intrinsic growth rates are modified: extinction, bistability, chaotic ...

Environmental Outcomes in the South African Learnership System ...

African Journals Online (AJOL)

Since 1994, the published environmental goals and objectives of the South African Government include environmental education outcomes in all education and ... of manifest and latent environmental outcomes distributed across learnerships and SETAs; a strong influence of occupational health and safety legislation; and a ...

Estimation of flood environmental effects using flood zone mapping techniques in Halilrood Kerman, Iran.

Science.gov (United States)

Boudaghpour, Siamak; Bagheri, Majid; Bagheri, Zahra

2014-01-01

High flood occurrences with large environmental damages have a growing trend in Iran. Dynamic movements of water during a flood cause different environmental damages in geographical areas with different characteristics such as topographic conditions. In general, environmental effects and damages caused by a flood in an area can be investigated from different points of view. The current essay is aiming at detecting environmental effects of flood occurrences in Halilrood catchment area of Kerman province in Iran using flood zone mapping techniques. The intended flood zone map was introduced in four steps. Steps 1 to 3 pave the way to calculate and estimate flood zone map in the understudy area while step 4 determines the estimation of environmental effects of flood occurrence. Based on our studies, wide range of accuracy for estimating the environmental effects of flood occurrence was introduced by using of flood zone mapping techniques. Moreover, it was identified that the existence of Jiroft dam in the study area can decrease flood zone from 260 hectares to 225 hectares and also it can decrease 20% of flood peak intensity. As a result, 14% of flood zone in the study area can be saved environmentally.

Acid rain and its environmental effects: Recent scientific advances

Science.gov (United States)

Burns, Douglas A.; Aherne, Julian; Gay, David A.; Lehmann, Christopher M. B.

2016-12-01

The term 'acid rain' refers to atmospheric deposition of acidic constituents that impact the earth as rain, snow, particulates, gases, and vapor. Acid rain was first recognized by Ducros (1845) and subsequently described by the English chemist Robert Angus Smith (Smith, 1852) whose pioneering studies linked the sources to industrial emissions and included early observations of deleterious environmental effects (Smith, 1872). Smith's work was largely forgotten until the mid-20th century when observations began to link air pollution to the deposition of atmospheric sulfate (SO42-) and other chemical constituents, first near the metal smelter at Sudbury, Ontario, Canada, and later at locations in Europe, North America, and Australia (Gorham, 1961). Our modern understanding of acid rain as an environmental problem caused largely by regional emissions of sulfur dioxide (SO2) and nitrogen oxides (NOx) stems from observations in the 1960s and early 1970s in Sweden by Svante Odén (Odén, 1976), and in North America by Gene Likens and colleagues (Likens and Bormann, 1974). These scientists and many who followed showed the link to emissions from coal-fired power plants and other industrial sources, and documented the environmental effects of acid rain such as the acidification of surface waters and toxic effects on vegetation, fish, and other biota.

Identifying Effective and Sustainable Measures for Community-Based Environmental Monitoring

Science.gov (United States)

McKay, Ariana J.; Johnson, Chris J.

2017-09-01

Resource development projects typically result in monitoring programs that fail to fully consider the values and participation of surrounding communities. Also, monitoring protocols for single environmental values can be insufficient for addressing the cumulative impacts of resource development. Community-based environmental monitoring (CBEM) has emerged as a way to meaningfully include local citizens in the decision-making process and assessment of the development of natural resources. Our research explored how to develop effective and sustainable CBEM. Interviews were conducted with staff from 15 CBEM programs established across Canada to identify criteria of what constitutes effective CBEM. Results demonstrate that CBEM offers an effective, locally adapted, and culturally applicable approach to facilitate community participation in natural resource management and to track environmental change. Benefits of CBEM include: locally relevant monitoring protocols, inclusion of cumulative impacts, better informed decision-making, and increased awareness and collaboration amongst community, governments, and proponents. Challenges associated with CBEM are cost, capacity, longevity, distribution of results, and establishing credibility. This research validates the use of CBEM for improving resource management.

An evaluation of the effectiveness of environmental policy in Jordan

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Adel Yacoub Shamaileh

2015-07-01

Full Text Available This study examines the impact of the environmental policy in Jordan. The article reviews laws, measures, instruments and the implementation process and evaluates their effectiveness in banning, removing and/or reducing negative externalities in Jordan. Data was collected by administration of questionnaires distributed to all key enforcement officials working in the Ministries of Environment, Agriculture, and Health. Additional sources were laws, regulations, official documents and reports issued by the government, international organizations, NGOs and media. The study shows that Jordan’s environmental policy relies solely on the command and control approach to mitigate negative externalities, while completely overlooking price-based and rights -based instruments. Such instruments are widely and increasingly employed in developed countries and have proved their efficiency and effectiveness in protecting the environment. The results of the study reveal that command and control measures are insufficient to achieve effective environmental policy and consequently are incapable of internalizing negative externalities in Jordan. The results may motivate government regulators to endorse price-based and rights-based measures, in addition to command and control measures.

Aperture averaging in strong oceanic turbulence

Science.gov (United States)

Gökçe, Muhsin Caner; Baykal, Yahya

2018-04-01

Receiver aperture averaging technique is employed in underwater wireless optical communication (UWOC) systems to mitigate the effects of oceanic turbulence, thus to improve the system performance. The irradiance flux variance is a measure of the intensity fluctuations on a lens of the receiver aperture. Using the modified Rytov theory which uses the small-scale and large-scale spatial filters, and our previously presented expression that shows the atmospheric structure constant in terms of oceanic turbulence parameters, we evaluate the irradiance flux variance and the aperture averaging factor of a spherical wave in strong oceanic turbulence. Irradiance flux variance variations are examined versus the oceanic turbulence parameters and the receiver aperture diameter are examined in strong oceanic turbulence. Also, the effect of the receiver aperture diameter on the aperture averaging factor is presented in strong oceanic turbulence.

http://www.revistadestatistica.ro/index.php/effective-management-of-resources-for-environmental-protection-using-taxes-in-the-environmental-policy/

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Claudia CĂPĂŢÎNĂ

2014-03-01

Full Text Available Establishment of environmental taxes, called green taxes or eco-taxes, are ways to internalize the environmental costs in the prices of goods or services, causing producers and consumers to use resources more efficiently and sustainably. Green taxes or Pigovian taxes, named after their inventor, Arthur Pigou are known as sin taxes and when are applied to the “sin” of pollution they may be called environmental taxes or eco-taxes. Sustainable development can not be sustained without the existence of adequate measures and effective for protection of the environment. The polluter pays principle is a principle embraced by all countries from the desire do not deplete environmental resources, some of which being non-renewable resources, to be used by future generations. Polluters are both individuals and legal entities who must to respond in one way or another for their irresponsible actions, compensating damages, protecting the environment and paying damages for any casualties. Green taxes can generate a tax reform. Any responsible person will try to manage in another way the resources when has to bear consequences. In this regard, the environment can be protected more effectively and more cost effective for citizens. The effects of irresponsible actions of some of us not only affect the environment but also all animals and vegetable bodies inclusive people.

Study of the space environmental effects on spacecraft engineering materials

Science.gov (United States)

Obrien, Susan K.; Workman, Gary L.; Smith, Guy A.

1995-01-01

The space environment in which the Space Station Freedom and other space platforms will orbit is truly a hostile environment. For example, the current estimates of the integral fluence for electrons above 1 Mev at 2000 nautical miles is above 2 x 10(exp 10) electrons/sq cm/day. and the proton integral fluence is above 1 x 109 protons/sq cm/day. At the 200 - 400 nautical miles, which is more representative of the altitude which will provide the environment for the Space Station, each of these fluences will be proportionately less; however, the data indicates that the radiation environment will obviously have an effect on structural materials exposed to the environment for long durations. The effects of this combined environment is the issue which needs to be understood for the long term exposure of structures in space. In order to better understand the effect of these hostile phenomena on spacecraft, several types of studies are worth performing in order to simulate at some level the effect of the environment. For example the effect of protons and electrons impacting structural materials are easily simulated through experiments using the Van de Graff and Pelletron accelerators currently housed in the Environmental Effects Facility at MSFC. Proton fluxes with energies of 700 Kev-2.5 Mev can be generated and used to impinge on sample targets to determine the effects of the particles. Also the Environmental Effects Facility has the capability to generate electron beams with energies from 700 Kev to 2.5 Mev. These facilities will be used in this research to simulate space environmental effects from energetic particles. Ultraviolet radiation, particularly in the ultraviolet (less than 400 nm wavelength) is less well characterized at this time. The Environmental Effects Facility has a vacuum system dedicated to studying the effects of ultraviolet radiation on specific surface materials. This particular system was assembled in a previous study (NAS8-38609) in order to

Environmental Effects of Offshore Wind Development. Fiscal Year 2012 Progress Report

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Copping, Andrea E. [Pacific Northwest National Lab. (PNNL), Richland, WA (United States); Hanna, Luke A. [Pacific Northwest National Lab. (PNNL), Richland, WA (United States); Butner, R. Scott [Pacific Northwest National Lab. (PNNL), Richland, WA (United States); Carlson, Thomas J. [Pacific Northwest National Lab. (PNNL), Richland, WA (United States); Halvorsen, Michele B. [Pacific Northwest National Lab. (PNNL), Richland, WA (United States); Duberstein, Corey A. [Pacific Northwest National Lab. (PNNL), Richland, WA (United States); Matzner, Shari [Pacific Northwest National Lab. (PNNL), Richland, WA (United States); Whiting, Jonathan M. [Pacific Northwest National Lab. (PNNL), Richland, WA (United States); Blake, Kara M. [Pacific Northwest National Lab. (PNNL), Richland, WA (United States); Stavole, Jessica [Pacific Northwest National Lab. (PNNL), Richland, WA (United States)

2012-09-01

Potential environmental effects of offshore wind (OSW) energy projects are not well understood, and regulatory agencies are required to make decisions in spite of substantial uncertainty about environmental impacts and their long-term consequences. An understanding of risks associated with interactions between OSW installations and aquatic receptors, including animals, habitats, and ecosystems, can help define key uncertainties and focus regulatory actions and scientific studies on interactions of most concern. To examine the environmental risks associated with OSW developments in the U.S. Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL) focused on the following four priority research areas in FY 2012: • Environmental Risk Evaluation System (ERES) - Followed project developments on the two OSW projects that PNNL screened in FY 2011 for environmental consequence: Fishermen’s Energy off the coast of Atlantic City, NJ and LEEDCo. near Cleveland, OH in Lake Erie. • Tethys - Developed a smart knowledge base which houses environmental research, data and information pertaining to OSW energy: • Technical Assessment - Produced a new software to create an automated process of identifying and differentiating between flying organism such as birds and bats by using thermal imagery; and • North Atlantic Right Whales - Developed an environmental risk management system to mitigate the impacts on North Atlantic Right Whales (NARW) during installation and piledriving stages of OSW developments. By identifying and addressing the highest priority environmental risks for OSW devices and associated installations the ERES process assists project proponents, regulators, and stakeholders to engage in the most efficient and effective siting and permitting pathways.

Automobile - environmental impact

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Franze, H.

1993-01-01

The way balances have been drawn up by business companies until now, they can be regarded as an attempt to develop an instrument for environmental management within the company that makes it possible to examine the ecological effects of the manufactured products during their life cycle. The strong points of such ecobalances can be put to use in the following areas in the future: Information on products and processes obtained through an analysis of the weakest points of the production process can be used for puposes of environmental management. With the aid of such examinations for weak points it then becomes possible to optimise products or processes. Comparative studies extending over years permit an assessment of corporate measures for environment protection and process adjustment. Moreover, ecobalances can serve as a guide for the selection of component concepts. The advantage of a balance related to the whole life cycle lies above all in the fact that the piecemeal studies on energy consumption and waste accumulation by stage can now be replaced by an integral, comprehensive registration of data and processes. (orig./UA) [de

The environmental impact of civil conflict The deforestation effect of paramilitary expansion in Colombia

OpenAIRE

Leopoldo Fergussony Dario Romeroz Juan F. Vargas

2013-01-01

Despite a growing body of literature on how environmental degradation can fuel civil war, the reverse effect, namely that of conflict on environmental outcomes, is relatively understudied. From a theoretical point of view, this effect is ambiguous, with some forces pointing to pressures for environmental degradation and some pointing in the opposite direction. Hence, the overall effect of conflict on the environment is an empirical question. We study this relationship in the case of Colombia....

The environmental impact of civil conflict : the deforestation effect of paramilitary expansion in Colombia

OpenAIRE

Fergusson Talero, Leopoldo; Mendoza Romero, Dario; Vargas, Juan Fernando

2014-01-01

Despite a growing body of literature on how environmental degradation can fuel civil war, the reverse effect, namely that of conflict on environmental outcomes, is relatively understudied. From a theoretical point of view this effect is ambiguous, with some forces pointing to pressures for environmental degradation and some pointing in the opposite direction. Hence, the overall effect of conflict on the environment is an empirical question. We study this relationship in the case of Colombia. ...

Effects of competing environmental variables and signage on route-choices in simulated everyday and emergency wayfinding situations.

Science.gov (United States)

Vilar, Elisângela; Rebelo, Francisco; Noriega, Paulo; Duarte, Emília; Mayhorn, Christopher B

2014-01-01

This study examined the relative influence of environmental variables (corridor width and brightness) and signage (directional and exit signs), when presented in competition, on participants' route-choices in two situational variables (everyday vs. emergency), during indoor wayfinding in virtual environments. A virtual reality-based methodology was used. Thus, participants attempted to find a room (everyday situation) in a virtual hotel, followed by a fire-related emergency egress (emergency situation). Different behaviours were observed. In the everyday situation, for no-signs condition, participants choose mostly the wider and brighter corridors, suggesting a heavy reliance on the environmental affordances. Conversely, for signs condition, participants mostly complied with signage, suggesting a greater reliance on the signs rather than on the environmental cues. During emergency, without signage, reliance on environmental affordances seems to be affected by the intersection type. In the sign condition, the reliance on environmental affordances that started strong decreases along the egress route.

Environmental Effects of Abandoned Properties in Ogbomoso and ...

African Journals Online (AJOL)

... reptiles, accident and vagrancy. The brunt of abandonment is found to be more in the medium residential density. The study thus recommends an aggressive environmental management that offsets blighted conditions in the environment. Keywords: Effects, Buildings, Lots, Abandonment, Landed Properties, Environment ...

Mechanisms of molecular electronic rectification through electronic levels with strong vibrational coupling

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Kuznetsov, A.M.; Ulstrup, Jens

2002-01-01

We present a new view and an analytical formalism of electron flow through a donor-acceptor molecule inserted between a pair of metal electrodes. The donor and acceptor levels are strongly coupled to an environmental nuclear continuum. The formalism applies to molecular donor-acceptor systems bot...

Interactions between environmental variables determine immunity in the Indian meal moth Plodia interpunctella.

Science.gov (United States)

Triggs, Alison; Knell, Robert J

2012-03-01

1. Animals raised in good environmental conditions are expected to have more resources to invest in immunity than those raised in poor conditions. Variation in immune activity and parasite resistance in response to changes in environmental temperature, population density and food quality have been shown in many invertebrate species. 2. Almost all studies to date have examined the effects of individual variables in isolation. The aim of this study was to address whether environmental factors interact to produce synergistic effects on phenoloxidase (PO) activity and haemocyte count, both indicators of immune system activity. Temperature, food quality and density were varied in a fully factorial design for a total of eight treatment combinations. 3. Strong interactions between the three environmental variables led to the magnitude and in some cases the direction of the effect of most variables changing as the other environmental factors were altered. Overall, food quality had the most important and consistent influence, larvae raised on a good-quality diet having substantially higher PO activity in every case and substantially higher haemocyte counts in all treatments except unheated/low density. 4. When food quality was good, the larvae showed 'density-dependent prophylaxis': raising their investment in immunity when population density is high. When food quality was poor and the temperature low, however, those larvae raised at high densities invested less in immunity. 5. Increased temperature is often thought to lead to increased immune reactivity in ectotherms, but we found that the effect of temperature was strongly dependent on the values of other environmental variables. PO activity increased with temperature when larvae were raised on good food or when density was high, but when food was poor and density low, a higher temperature led to reduced PO activity. A higher temperature led to higher haemocyte counts when density was high and food quality was poor, but

Dispersion of Co/CNTs via strong electrostatic adsorption method: Thermal treatment effect

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Akbarzadeh, Omid, E-mail: omid.akbarzadeh63@gmail.com; Abdullah, Bawadi, E-mail: bawadi-abdullah@petronas.com.my; Subbarao, Duvvuri, E-mail: duvvuri-subbarao@petronas.com.my [Department of Chemical Engineering, Universiti Teknologi PETRONAS, Bandar Seri Iskandar, 31750 Tronoh, Perak (Malaysia); Zabidi, Noor Asmawati Mohd, E-mail: noorasmawati-mzabidi@petronas.com.my [Department of Fundamental and Applied Sciences, Universiti Teknologi PETRONAS, Bandar Seri Iskandar, 31750 Tronoh, Perak (Malaysia)

2015-07-22

The effect of different thermal treatment temperature on the structure of multi-walled carbon nanotubes (MWCNTs) and Co particle dispersion on CNTs support is studied using Strong electrostatic adsorption (SEA) method. The samples tested by N{sub 2}-adsorption, field emission scanning electron microscopy (FE-SEM) and transmission electron microscopy (TEM). N{sub 2}-adsorption results showed BET surface area increased using thermal treatment and TEM images showed that increasing the thermal treatment temperature lead to flaky CNTs and defects introduced on the outer surface and Co particle dispersion increased.

Linked environmental data. The next step for environmental information systems

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Menger, Matthias; Ackermann, Patrick; Linse, Andreas; Bandholtz, Thomas

2013-01-01

The Federal Environment Agency (UBA) in Germany as one Competent Authority of the European Member States involved with the assessment and authorisation of chemicals, pesticides, biozides and medicals, has a wide expertise of complex information systems. Having timely, comprehensive and reliable information on the environmental relevant properties (e.g. of chemical substances and preparations) is of immense importance for all sections dealing with environmental protection issues. Regarding the reality of available information systems in each environmental section, and moreover in each section itself, there has been developed several specific approaches to gather, store and search its relevant data. This makes sense due to each section has its own requirements, different user groups (industry and authorities or just authorities or scientific partners etc.), different budgets to bring technology 'on the road', and different (legally obligatory) procedures to handle the data and information of such systems. Nevertheless, there several strong reasons to look for a Linked Environmental Data infrastructure - at least internally in one authority itself: - Overcome the mostly separated systems; - Explore the potential of data silos in several environmental sections; - Efficiency/effectiveness in data gathering, assessment, results, budgets..; - sharing of knowledge, i.e. use of specific prepared information of specially intended information systems; - timelyness of data/information; - best data/information from most competent partner/section; - gain from already available systems and their data/information; - speed up developments and availability of data/information. Of course there are also several points which might be a huge obstacle to Linked Environmental Data (LED), e.g. confidential business data. This leads already to the distinction between 'Open LED' and 'Non-Open LED'. Nevertheless, the potential benefits and the possibilities offered via the modern information

Environmental Kuznets curve and growth source in Iran

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Asghari Maryam

2012-01-01

Full Text Available Recent empirical research has examined the relationship between certain indicators of environmental degradation and income, concluding that in some cases an inverted U-shaped relationship, which has been called an environmental Kuznets curve (EKC, exists between these variables. The source of growth explanation is important for two reasons. First, it demonstrates how the pollution consequences of growth depend on the source of growth. Therefore, the analogy drawn by some in the environmental community between the damaging effects of economic development and those of liberalized trade is, at best, incomplete. Second, the source of growth explanation demonstrates that a strong policy response to income gains is not necessary for pollution to fall with growth. The aim of this paper investigates the role of differences source of growth in environmental quality of Iran. The results show the two growth resources in Iran cause, in the early stages, CO2 emission decreases until turning point but beyond this level of income per capita, economic growth leads to environmental degradation. I find a U relationship between environmental degradation (CO2 emission and economic growth in Iran.

Effective model with strong Kitaev interactions for α -RuCl3

Science.gov (United States)

Suzuki, Takafumi; Suga, Sei-ichiro

2018-04-01

We use an exact numerical diagonalization method to calculate the dynamical spin structure factors of three ab initio models and one ab initio guided model for a honeycomb-lattice magnet α -RuCl3 . We also use thermal pure quantum states to calculate the temperature dependence of the heat capacity, the nearest-neighbor spin-spin correlation function, and the static spin structure factor. From the results obtained from these four effective models, we find that, even when the magnetic order is stabilized at low temperature, the intensity at the Γ point in the dynamical spin structure factors increases with increasing nearest-neighbor spin correlation. In addition, we find that the four models fail to explain heat-capacity measurements whereas two of the four models succeed in explaining inelastic-neutron-scattering experiments. In the four models, when temperature decreases, the heat capacity shows a prominent peak at a high temperature where the nearest-neighbor spin-spin correlation function increases. However, the peak temperature in heat capacity is too low in comparison with that observed experimentally. To address these discrepancies, we propose an effective model that includes strong ferromagnetic Kitaev coupling, and we show that this model quantitatively reproduces both inelastic-neutron-scattering experiments and heat-capacity measurements. To further examine the adequacy of the proposed model, we calculate the field dependence of the polarized terahertz spectra, which reproduces the experimental results: the spin-gapped excitation survives up to an onset field where the magnetic order disappears and the response in the high-field region is almost linear. Based on these numerical results, we argue that the low-energy magnetic excitation in α -RuCl3 is mainly characterized by interactions such as off-diagonal interactions and weak Heisenberg interactions between nearest-neighbor pairs, rather than by the strong Kitaev interactions.

Environmental species sorting dominates forest-bird community assembly across scales

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Özkan, Korhan; Svenning, J.-C.; Jeppesen, Erik

2013-01-01

species richness and composition within the metacommunity. Second, we analysed species' abundance–occupancy relationship across the metacommunity and used null models to assess whether occupancy is determined by species' environmental niches. Third, we used generalized linear models to test for links...... between species' metacommunity-wide occupancy and their broader WP regional populations and assessed whether these links are consistent with environmental species sorting. There was strong environmental control on local species richness and composition patterns within the metacommunity, but non......-environmental spatial factors had also an important joint role. Null model analyses on randomized communities showed that species' occupancy across the metacommunity was strongly determined by species' environmental niches, with occupancy being related to niche position marginality. Species' metacommunity...

Determinants of Perceived Health and Environmental Effects of ...

African Journals Online (AJOL)

USER

negative perception of environmental effects of fuelwood exploitation. Significant ... season due to climate change, bad roads due to erosion and flood, poor yield and low ..... forest resources thereby increasing migration and loss of forest habitats ... change in the atmospheric condition of the environment (global warming).

Environmental effects of bio energy systems in Sudan

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Mohammed Nour, Salah Eldin Ali

1999-01-01

Biomass plays a vital role in Sudan and constitutes about 87% of the total energy consumption. Firewood and charcoal are the main sources of fuel representing more than 90% of household energy. The utilization of the bio energy i.e fuelwood, charcoal, agricultural residues and animal wastes has negative and positive effects on the environment. This paper summarize the environmental impacts and health effects resulting from energy production, supply and consumption

Environmental, political, and economic determinants of water quality monitoring in Europe

Science.gov (United States)

Beck, Lucas; Bernauer, Thomas; Kalbhenn, Anna

2010-11-01

Effective monitoring is essential for effective pollution control in national and international water systems. To what extent are countries' monitoring choices driven by environmental criteria, as they should be? And to what extent are they also influenced by other factors, such as political and economic conditions? To address these questions, we describe and explain the evolution of one of the most important international environmental monitoring networks in Europe, the one for water quality, in the time period 1965-2004. We develop a geographic information system that contains information on the location of several thousand active monitoring stations in Europe. Using multivariate statistics, we then examine whether and to what extent the spatial and temporal clustering of monitoring intensity is driven by environmental, political, and economic factors. The results show that monitoring intensity is higher in river basins exposed to greater environmental pressure. However, political and economic factors also play a strong role in monitoring decisions: democracy, income, and peer pressure are conducive to monitoring intensity, and monitoring intensity generally increases over time. Moreover, even though monitoring is more intense in international upstream-downstream settings, we observe only a weak bias toward more monitoring downstream of international borders. In contrast, negative effects of European Union (EU) membership and runup to the EU's Water Framework Directive are potential reasons for concern. Our results strongly suggest that international coordination and standardization of water quality monitoring should be intensified. It will be interesting to apply our analytical approach also to other national and international monitoring networks, for instance, the U.S. National Water-Quality Assessment Program or the European Monitoring and Evaluation Program for air pollution.

Renewing the New Environmental Paradigm Scale: The Underlying Diversity of Contemporary Environmental Worldviews

Science.gov (United States)

Bernstein, Jennifer M.

This dissertation explored the attitudes, values, and beliefs underlying the contemporary environmental movement. At present, the most widely used means of measuring environmental attitudes is the New Environmental Paradigm (NEP) Scale. This dissertation chronicles the development and establishment of the NEP and the important role it has played in social science research. It also reviews key empirical and theoretical critiques of the scale, arguing that the worldview embodied by the NEP is representative of a narrow understanding of pro-environmental thought and that there remains the need for a new scale built using the core dimensions underlying contemporary environmentalism's diversity. Based on an assessment of contemporary environmental discourse, it was theorized that the key areas in which environmentalists diverge are with respect to nature, technology, and scale of societal response. To test this assertion, this project deeply explored a small sample of carefully selected participants with strong environmental identities and diverse attitudes and values. Quantitative and qualitative data was collected using survey question items and in-depth Repertory Grid interviews. Foremost, analysis showed that the sample of environmentalists studied were far from ideologically homogenous. While they agreed with respect to certain issues, such as the seriousness of environmental problems and the inability of the earth to accommodate unlimited resource demands, they also disagreed in key areas, such as the ability of technology to solve environmental problems and the scale at which effective change occurs. With respect to effective environmental problem solving, respondents mentioned green technologies, reducing resource consumption, and policy changes, and they differentiated between these solutions based on cost, the type of social change needed to bring these solutions to fruition, and how difficult they would be to enact. Demographic differences were also assessed

Effects of environmental variation on host-parasite interaction in three-spined sticklebacks (Gasterosteus aculeatus).

Science.gov (United States)

Scharsack, Jörn P; Franke, Frederik; Erin, Noémi I; Kuske, Andra; Büscher, Janine; Stolz, Hendrik; Samonte, Irene E; Kurtz, Joachim; Kalbe, Martin

2016-08-01

Recent research provides accumulating evidence that the evolutionary dynamics of host-parasite adaptations strongly depend on environmental variation. In this context, the three-spined stickleback (Gasterosteus aculeatus) has become an important research model since it is distributed all over the northern hemisphere and lives in very different habitat types, ranging from marine to freshwater, were it is exposed to a huge diversity of parasites. While a majority of studies start from explorations of sticklebacks in the wild, only relatively few investigations have continued under laboratory conditions. Accordingly, it has often been described that sticklebacks differ in parasite burden between habitats, but the underlying co-evolutionary trajectories are often not well understood. With the present review, we give an overview of the most striking examples of stickleback-parasite-environment interactions discovered in the wild and discuss two model parasites which have received some attention in laboratory studies: the eye fluke Diplostomum pseudospathacaeum, for which host fish show habitat-specific levels of resistance, and the tapeworm Schistocephalus solidus, which manipulates immunity and behavior of its stickleback host to its advantage. Finally, we will concentrate on an important environmental variable, namely temperature, which has prominent effects on the activity of the immune system of ectothermic hosts and on parasite growth rates. Copyright © 2016 The Authors. Published by Elsevier GmbH.. All rights reserved.

Assessing the Effectiveness of International Environmental Agreements (IEAs

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Chenaz B. Seelarbokus

2014-02-01

Full Text Available It is commonly claimed that assessing the effectiveness of International Environmental Agreements (IEAs from the environmental problem-solving perspective is challenging because environmental data are not available. However, not much research has been done on the characterization of the nature and causes of such data unavailability. This article analyzes the term “data unavailability” and provides three typologies for data unavailability: (a “true unavailability,” where data collection complexities and resource constraints limit data collection and analysis; (b “false unavailability,” which refers to the existence of relevant data, but failure to report due to various causes; and (c “external availability,” which refers to the existence of relevant data in several organizations and research institutions, but with no established networks for data sharing between such institutions and the IEA institutions. This article discusses the causes for the various types of data unavailability and makes recommendations for promoting data availability.

The effects of environmental chemical carcinogens on the microRNA machinery.

Science.gov (United States)

Izzotti, A; Pulliero, A

2014-07-01

The first evidence that microRNA expression is early altered by exposure to environmental chemical carcinogens in still healthy organisms was obtained for cigarette smoke. To date, the cumulative experimental data indicate that similar effects are caused by a variety of environmental carcinogens, including polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons, nitropyrenes, endocrine disruptors, airborne mixtures, carcinogens in food and water, and carcinogenic drugs. Accordingly, the alteration of miRNA expression is a general mechanism that plays an important pathogenic role in linking exposure to environmental toxic agents with their pathological consequences, mainly including cancer development. This review summarizes the existing experimental evidence concerning the effects of chemical carcinogens on the microRNA machinery. For each carcinogen, the specific microRNA alteration signature, as detected in experimental studies, is reported. These data are useful for applying microRNA alterations as early biomarkers of biological effects in healthy organisms exposed to environmental carcinogens. However, microRNA alteration results in carcinogenesis only if accompanied by other molecular damages. As an example, microRNAs altered by chemical carcinogens often inhibits the expression of mutated oncogenes. The long-term exposure to chemical carcinogens causes irreversible suppression of microRNA expression thus allowing the transduction into proteins of mutated oncogenes. This review also analyzes the existing knowledge regarding the mechanisms by which environmental carcinogens alter microRNA expression. The underlying molecular mechanism involves p53-microRNA interconnection, microRNA adduct formation, and alterations of Dicer function. On the whole, reported findings provide evidence that microRNA analysis is a molecular toxicology tool that can elucidate the pathogenic mechanisms activated by environmental carcinogens. Copyright © 2014 Elsevier GmbH. All rights reserved.

Genetic, environmental, and epigenetic factors in the development of personality disturbance.

Science.gov (United States)

Depue, Richard A

2009-01-01

A dimensional model of personality disturbance is presented that is defined by extreme values on interacting subsets of seven major personality traits. Being at the extreme has marked effects on the threshold for eliciting those traits under stimulus conditions: that is, the extent to which the environment affects the neurobiological functioning underlying the traits. To explore the nature of development of extreme values on these traits, each trait is discussed in terms of three major issues: (a) the neurobiological variables associated with the trait, (b) individual variation in this neurobiology as a function of genetic polymorphisms, and (c) the effects of environmental adversity on these neurobiological variables through the action of epigenetic processes. It is noted that gene-environment interaction appears to be dependent on two main factors: (a) both genetic and environmental variables appear to have the most profound and enduring effects when they exert their effects during early postnatal periods, times when the forebrain is undergoing exuberant experience-expectant dendritic and axonal growth; and (b) environmental effects on neurobiology are strongly modified by individual differences in "traitlike" functioning of neurobiological variables. A model of the nature of the interaction between environmental and neurobiological variables in the development of personality disturbance is presented.

Health and environmental effects of coal-fired electric power plants

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Morris, S.C.; Hamilton, L.D.

1984-05-01

This paper describes health and environmental impacts of coal-fired electric power plants. Effects on man, agriculture, and natural ecosystems are considered. These effects may result from direct impacts or exposures via air, water, and food chains. The paper is organized by geographical extent of effect. Occupational health impacts and local environmental effects such as noise and solid waste leachate are treated first. Then, regional effects of air pollution, including acid rain, are analyzed. Finally, potential global impacts are examined. Occupational health concerns considered include exposure to noise, dust, asbestos, mercury, and combustion products, and resulting injury and disease. Local effects considered include noise; air and water emissions of coal storage piles, solid waste operations, and cooling systems. Air pollution, once an acute local problem, is now a regional concern. Acute and chronic direct health effects are considered. Special attention is given to potential effects of radionuclides in coal and of acid rain. Finally, potential global impacts associated with carbon dioxide emissions are considered. 88 references, 9 tables

On Drift Effects in Velocity and Displacement of Greek Uncorrected Digital Strong Motion Data

Science.gov (United States)

Skarlatoudis, A.; Margaris, B.

2005-12-01

Fifty years after the first installation of analog accelerographs, digital instruments recording the strong-motion came in operation. Their advantages comparing to the analog ones are obvious and they have been described in detail in several works. Nevertheless it has been pointed out that velocity and displacement values derived from several accelerograms, recorded in various strong earthquakes worldwide (e.g. 1999 Chi-Chi, Taiwan, Hector Mine, 2002 Denali) by digital instruments, are plagued by drifts when only a simple baseline correction derived from the pre-event portion of the record is removed. In Greece a significant number of accelerographic networks and arrays have been deployed covering the whole area. Digital accelerographs now constitute a significant part of the National Strong Motion network of the country. Detailed analyses of the data processing of accelerograms recorded by digital instruments exhibited that the same drifts exist in the Greek strong motion database. In this work, a methodology proposed and described in various articles (Boore, 2001; 2003; 2005) for removing the aforementioned drifts of the accelerograms is applied. It is also attempted a careful look of the nature of the drifts for understanding the noise characteristics relative to the signal. The intrinsic behaviour of signal to noise ratio is crucial for the adequacy of baseline corrections applied on digital uncorrected accelerograms. Velocities and displacements of the uncorrected and corrected accelerograms are compared and the drift effects in the Fourier and response spectra are presented.

Evaluation of effective dose equivalent from environmental gamma rays

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Saito, K.; Tsutsumi, M.; Moriuchi, S.; Petoussi, N.; Zankl, M.; Veit, R.; Jacob, P.; Drexler, G.

1991-01-01

Organ doses and effective dose equivalents for environmental gamma rays were calculated using human phantoms and Monte Carlo methods accounting rigorously the environmental gamma ray fields. It was suggested that body weight is the dominant factor to determine organ doses. The weight function expressing organ doses was introduced. Using this function, the variation in organ doses due to several physical factors were investigated. A detector having gamma-ray response similar to that of human bodies has been developed using a NaI(Tl) scintillator. (author)

Renal and blood pressure effects from environmental cadmium exposure in Thai children

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Swaddiwudhipong, Witaya; Mahasakpan, Pranee; Jeekeeree, Wanpen; Funkhiew, Thippawan; Sanjum, Rungaroon; Apiwatpaiboon, Thitikarn; Phopueng, Ittipol

2015-01-01

Very few studies have shown renal and blood pressure effects from environmental cadmium exposure in children. This population study examined associations between urinary cadmium excretion, a good biomarker of long-term cadmium exposure, and renal dysfunctions and blood pressure in environmentally exposed Thai children. Renal functions including urinary excretion of β 2 -microglobulin, calcium (early renal effects), and total protein (late renal effect), and blood pressure were measured in 594 primary school children. Of the children studied, 19.0% had urinary cadmium ≥1 μg/g creatinine. The prevalence of urinary cadmium ≥1 μg/g creatinine was significantly higher in girls and in those consuming rice grown in cadmium-contaminated areas. The geometric mean levels of urinary β 2 -microglobulin, calcium, and total protein significantly increased with increasing tertiles of urinary cadmium. The analysis did not show increased blood pressure with increasing tertiles of urinary cadmium. After adjusting for age, sex, and blood lead levels, the analysis showed significant positive associations between urinary cadmium and urinary β 2 -microglobulin and urinary calcium, but not urinary total protein nor blood pressure. Our findings provide evidence that environmental cadmium exposure can affect renal functions in children. A follow-up study is essential to assess the clinical significance and progress of renal effects in these children. - Highlights: • Few studies show renal effects from environmental cadmium exposure in children. • We report renal and blood pressure effects from cadmium exposure in Thai children. • Urinary β 2 -microglobulin and calcium increased with increasing urinary cadmium. • The study found no association between urinary cadmium levels and blood pressure. • Environmental cadmium exposure can affect renal functions in children

Acid rain and its environmental effects: Recent scientific advances

Science.gov (United States)

Burns, Douglas A.; Aherne, Julian; Gay, David A.; Lehmann, Christopher M.B.

2016-01-01

The term ‘acid rain’ refers to atmospheric deposition of acidic constituents that impact the earth as rain, snow, particulates, gases, and vapor. Acid rain was first recognized by Ducros (1845) and subsequently described by the English chemist Robert Angus Smith (Smith, 1852) whose pioneering studies linked the sources to industrial emissions and included early observations of deleterious environmental effects (Smith, 1872). Smith's work was largely forgotten until the mid-20th century when observations began to link air pollution to the deposition of atmospheric sulfate (SO42−) and other chemical constituents, first near the metal smelter at Sudbury, Ontario, Canada, and later at locations in Europe, North America, and Australia (Gorham, 1961). Our modern understanding of acid rain as an environmental problem caused largely by regional emissions of sulfur dioxide (SO2) and nitrogen oxides (NOx) stems from observations in the 1960s and early 1970s in Sweden by Svante Odén (Odén, 1976), and in North America by Gene Likens and colleagues (Likens and Bormann, 1974). These scientists and many who followed showed the link to emissions from coal-fired power plants and other industrial sources, and documented the environmental effects of acid rain such as the acidification of surface waters and toxic effects on vegetation, fish, and other biota.

Screening Analysis for the Environmental Risk Evaluation System Fiscal Year 2011 Report Environmental Effects of Offshore Wind Energy

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Copping, Andrea E.; Hanna, Luke A.

2011-11-01

Potential environmental effects of offshore wind (OSW) energy development are not well understood, and yet regulatory agencies are required to make decisions in spite of substantial uncertainty about environmental impacts and their long-term consequences. An understanding of risks associated with interactions between OSW installations and avian and aquatic receptors, including animals, habitats, and ecosystems, can help define key uncertainties and focus regulatory actions and scientific studies on interactions of most concern. During FY 2011, Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL) scientists adapted and applied the Environmental Risk Evaluation System (ERES), first developed to examine the effects of marine and hydrokinetic energy devices on aquatic environments, to offshore wind development. PNNL scientists conducted a risk screening analysis on two initial OSW cases: a wind project in Lake Erie and a wind project off the Atlantic coast of the United States near Atlantic City, New Jersey. The screening analysis revealed that top-tier stressors in the two OSW cases were the dynamic effects of the device (e.g., strike), accidents/disasters, and effects of the static physical presence of the device, such as alterations in bottom habitats. Receptor interactions with these stressors at the highest tiers of risk were dominated by threatened and endangered animals. Risk to the physical environment from changes in flow regime also ranked high. Peer review of this process and results will be conducted during FY 2012. The ERES screening analysis provides an assessment of the vulnerability of environmental receptors to stressors associated with OSW installations; a probability analysis is needed to determine specific risk levels to receptors. As more data become available that document effects of offshore wind farms on specific receptors in U.S. coastal and Great Lakes waters, probability analyses will be performed.

Effect of an improved molecular potential on strong-field tunneling ionization of molecules

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Zhao Songfeng; Jin Cheng; Le, Anh-Thu; Lin, C. D.

2010-01-01

We study the effect of one-electron model potentials on the tunneling ionization rates of molecules in strong fields. By including electron correlation using the modified Leeuwen-Baerends (LB α) model, the binding energies of outer shells of molecules are significantly improved. However, we show that the tunneling ionization rates from the LB α do not differ much from the earlier calculations [Phys. Rev. A 81, 033423 (2010)], in which the local correlation potential was neglected.

Can Environmental Regulations Promote Corporate Environmental Responsibility? Evidence from the Moderated Mediating Effect Model and an Empirical Study in China

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Benhong Peng

2018-02-01

Full Text Available Based on the Stakeholder theory, a moderated mediating effect model is developed to reach the study objective, revealing an important connection that suggests environmental regulations (ERs influence corporate environmental responsibility (CER (Porter Hypothesis. In building the model, the validity of the questionnaire data was analyzed with factor analysis. By employing a two-step approach, a regression analysis is utilized to discuss the mediating effect of altruistic motivation and moderating effect of green innovation, and a structural equation model is used to explore the interactive mechanism of different variables. It is found that altruistic motivation plays a medium role in the relationship between ERs and CER, and green innovation engages a positive coordination in the relationship. The empirical study identifies factors affecting enterprises’ willingness to undertake environmental responsibility, including environment policies, corporate culture, and personal characters among others. It is also revealed that altruistic motivation is conducive to forming a community interests among enterprises and enhancing their resistance to market risks, which explains and corroborates the Stakeholder theory; and the higher the level of green innovation, the more willing enterprises are to implement environmentally friendly operations.

Supporting multi-stakeholder environmental decisions.

Science.gov (United States)

Hajkowicz, Stefan A

2008-09-01

This paper examines how multiple criteria analysis (MCA) can be used to support multi-stakeholder environmental management decisions. It presents a study through which 48 stakeholders from environmental, primary production and community interest groups used MCA to prioritise 30 environmental management problems in the Mackay-Whitsunday region of Queensland, Australia. The MCA model, with procedures for aggregating multi-stakeholder output, was used to inform a final decision on the priority of the region's environmental management problems. The result was used in the region's environmental management plan as required under Australia's Natural Heritage Trust programme. The study shows how relatively simple MCA methods can help stakeholders make group decisions, even when they hold strongly conflicting preferences.

The effect of bright lines in environmental risk communication

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Wilson, K.N.; Desvousges, W.H.; Smith, K.V.; Payne, J.

1993-01-01

Bright lines in environmental risk communication refer to the specific levels at which an environmental risk becomes a serious health threat and action should be taken to mitigate its effects. This study examined the effect of ''bright lines'' in risk communication by emphasizing the radon exposure threshold level of 4 picocuries per liter. Specifically, the authors developed a computer-assisted interview containing bright-line versions of risk information. The bright-line version contained a range of possible radon levels, the corresponding number of estimated lung cancer cases, the relative health risk from radon compared to other health risks, and the EPA guidelines for mitigating levels above 4 picocuries in the home. The non-bright line version was identical to the bright-line version, except it did not include the EPA's mitigation recommendations. Effect measures included respondents' change in perceived risk after reading their materials, intended testing behavior, and advice to their neighbor for a specified radon level either above or below the 4 picocury threshold level. This paper discusses broader policy implications for designing effective risk communication programs

Terra Nova Environmental effects monitoring program

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Williams, U.; Murdoch, M.

2000-01-01

Elements of the environmental effects monitoring program in the Terra Nova oil field, about 350 km east-southeast of St. John's, Newfoundland, are described. This oilfield is being developed using a floating production storage and offloading (FPSO) facility. A total of 24 wells are expected to be drilled through seven subsea templates located in four glory holes to protect them from icebergs. Subsea installations will be linked to the FPSO by trenched flowlines connected to flexible risers. The FPSO will offload to shuttle tankers. First oil is expected in 2001. The environmental effects monitoring program will be conducted annually for the first two years beginning in 2000. Subsequent scheduling will be determined after a review of monitoring data collected during the first three years. Input to the design of the monitoring program was provided by all stakeholders, i. e. owners, local public, government agencies and regional and international experts. A model was developed linking project discharges and possible effects to the environment, including marine resources in the area, and the information derived from these activities was used to generate a set of predictions and hypotheses to be tested in the monitoring program. The monitoring program will use two spatial models: a regression or gradient design and a control-impact design. The gradient design will monitor water column and sediment chemistry, sediment toxicity and benthic invertebrate communities. The control-impact design will be used to monitor larger and more mobile fish or shellfish. The evaluated results will serve as the basis for determining impact predictions and to provide information to allow for decisions pertaining to the protection of the marine environment

Development of Dynamic Spent Nuclear Fuel Environmental Effect Analysis Model

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Jeong, Chang Joon; Ko, Won Il; Lee, Ho Hee; Cho, Dong Keun; Park, Chang Je

2010-07-01

The dynamic environmental effect evaluation model for spent nuclear fuel has been developed and incorporated into the system dynamic DANESS code. First, the spent nuclear fuel isotope decay model was modeled. Then, the environmental effects were modeled through short-term decay heat model, short-term radioactivity model, and long-term heat load model. By using the developed model, the Korean once-through nuclear fuel cycles was analyzed. The once-through fuel cycle analysis was modeled based on the Korean 'National Energy Basic Plan' up to 2030 and a postulated nuclear demand growth rate until 2150. From the once-through results, it is shown that the nuclear power demand would be ∼70 GWe and the total amount of the spent fuel accumulated by 2150 would be ∼168000 t. If the disposal starts from 2060, the short-term decay heat of Cs-137 and Sr-90 isotopes are W and 1.8x10 6 W in 2100. Also, the total long-term heat load in 2100 will be 4415 MW-y. From the calculation results, it was found that the developed model is very convenient and simple for evaluation of the environmental effect of the spent nuclear fuel

Environmental regulations and their effects on the nuclear regulator

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

McManus, J.G.

1994-01-01

Environmental regulations are discussed from the point of view of the Canadian Atomic Energy Control Board (AECB). The AECB's mission includes the environment, namely 'to ensure that the use of nuclear energy in Canada does not pose any undue risk to health, safety, security or the environment'. The regulatory process was governed by the Atomic Energy Control Act, which at the time of the conference was outdated and due for replacement by a new version, and by the Environmental Assessment and Review Process Guidelines Order, which was due to be replaced by the Canadian Environmental Assessment Act, still not in force at the time of the conference. Through court decisions, the Guidelines Order had effectively acquired statutory authority. Public hearings and review can result in some considerable delay to the approval of a project, yet the AECB has no choice but to ensure that the requirements of the Guidelines Order are fulfilled. Collaboration between the federal and provincial governments is very evident in Saskatchewan. Of six mining projects being considered by the AECB, five were being reviewed by a joint federal provincial panel. For the future, it was hoped that the new Atomic Energy Control Act would increase fines and the powers of inspectors, require financial guarantees for decommissioning, regularize cooperation with the provinces, and empower the AECB to hold hearings that could effectively substitute for those prescribed by the Canadian Environmental Assessment Act

Socio-environmental policy of Brazilian electric sector. Effects of environmental legislation

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Amaral, A.C.; Menezes, C.F.S.

1993-01-01

The great socio-environmental policies of Brazilian electric sector are presented, including the aspects of environmental legislation that affects the electric sector and the difficulties faced in order to adapting to this situation. The main problems that the electric sector has found to establishing its socio-environmental policies are also described. (C.M.)

Environmental impact statement - an effective tool for successful mine design

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Sinha, A.K.

1996-01-01

Mining is a hazardous operation which must be designed to succeed under very unpredictable environmental, geological and marketing conditions over a committed life of thirty years or longer. It is well-established by now that mining has tremendous social, economic and environmental impacts on society in general and on local communities in particular. Mining's image has begun to improve with effective hazard controls and property reclamation through improved mine design and restoration plans. Much of the credit for this achievement should go to Environmental Impact Statement and related permitting requirements for mining projects. An Environmental Impact Statement with respect to almost every type of mining project is now frequently required by major banks, and other funding agencies, governmental agencies and/or citizen groups involved in the permitting process. This impact statement ensures that the proposed project has the potential to succeed under all foreseeable environmental, geological and marketing problems throughout its projected life and to guarantee the return of the initial capital with interest. In short, the impact statement offers assurance that the final project will culminate with positive environmental and social impacts. The relevance and contributions of Environmental Impact Statements in mine design, as well as their applications and development procedures are presented. 3 refs., 8 figs

Health and environmental effects of complex chemical mixtures: proceedings

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

1985-01-01

The Office of Health and Environmental Research (OHER) of the Department of Energy supports a broad long-term research program on human health and environmental effects from potential exposure to energy-related complex chemical mixtures. The program seeks basic mechanistic data on the effects of complex mixtures at the cellular, molecular, and whole animal levels to aid in predicting human health effects and seeks ecological data on biological and physical transformations in the mixtures, concentrations of the mixtures in various compartments of the environment, and potential routes for human exposure to these mixtures (e.g., food chain). On June 17-18, 1985, OHER held its First Annual Technical Meeting on the Complex Chemical Mixtures Program in Chicago, IL. The primary purpose of the meeting was to enable principal investigators to report the research status and accomplishments of ongoing complex chemical mixture studies supported by OHER. To help focus future research directions round table discussions were conducted.

Socioeconomic Status Moderates Genetic and Environmental Effects on the Amount of Alcohol Use

Science.gov (United States)

Hamdi, Nayla R; Krueger, Robert F.; South, Susan C.

2015-01-01

Background Much is unknown about the relationship between socioeconomic status (SES) and alcohol use, including the means by which SES may influence risk for alcohol use. Methods Using a sample of 672 twin pairs (aged 25–74) derived from the MacArthur Foundation Survey of Midlife Development in the United States (MIDUS), the present study examined whether SES, measured by household income and educational attainment, moderates genetic and environmental influences on three indices of alcohol use: amount used, frequency of use, and problem use. Results We found significant moderation for amount of alcohol used. Specifically, genetic effects were greater in low-SES conditions, shared environmental effects (i.e., environmental effects that enhance the similarity of twins from the same families) tended to increase in high-SES conditions, and non-shared environmental effects (i.e., environmental effects that distinguish twins) tended to decrease with SES. This pattern of results was found for both income and education, and it largely replicated at a second wave of assessment spaced nine years after the first. There was virtually no evidence of moderation for either frequency of alcohol use or alcohol problems. Conclusions Our findings indicate that genetic and environmental influences on drinking amount vary as a function of the broader SES context, whereas the etiologies of other drinking phenomena are less affected by this context. Efforts to find the causes underlying the amount of alcohol used are likely to be more successful if such contextual information is taken into account. PMID:25778493

Socioeconomic status moderates genetic and environmental effects on the amount of alcohol use.

Science.gov (United States)

Hamdi, Nayla R; Krueger, Robert F; South, Susan C

2015-04-01

Much is unknown about the relationship between socioeconomic status (SES) and alcohol use, including the means by which SES may influence risk for alcohol use. Using a sample of 672 twin pairs (aged 25 to 74) derived from the MacArthur Foundation Survey of Midlife Development in the United States, this study examined whether SES, measured by household income and educational attainment, moderates genetic and environmental influences on 3 indices of alcohol use: amount used, frequency of use, and problem use. We found significant moderation for amount of alcohol used. Specifically, genetic effects were greater in low-SES conditions, shared environmental effects (i.e., environmental effects that enhance the similarity of twins from the same families) tended to increase in high-SES conditions, and nonshared environmental effects (i.e., environmental effects that distinguish twins) tended to decrease with SES. This pattern of results was found for both income and education, and it largely replicated at a second wave of assessment spaced 9 years after the first. There was virtually no evidence of moderation for either frequency of alcohol use or alcohol problems. Our findings indicate that genetic and environmental influences on drinking amount vary as a function of the broader SES context, whereas the etiologies of other drinking phenomena are less affected by this context. Efforts to find the causes underlying the amount of alcohol used are likely to be more successful if such contextual information is taken into account. Copyright © 2015 by the Research Society on Alcoholism.

Assessment of Environmental Effects of Post-Blasted Explosive on ...

African Journals Online (AJOL)

PROF HORSFALL

Assessment of Environmental Effects of Post-Blasted Explosive on the Ecosystem of Old ... intensity and temperature of explosive dissolution in the mine environment shows that TNT ... based on their physical/chemical properties as: gelatin.

STRONG FIELD EFFECTS ON EMISSION LINE PROFILES: KERR BLACK HOLES AND WARPED ACCRETION DISKS

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Wang Yan; Li Xiangdong

2012-01-01

If an accretion disk around a black hole is illuminated by hard X-rays from non-thermal coronae, fluorescent iron lines will be emitted from the inner region of the accretion disk. The emission line profiles will show a variety of strong field effects, which may be used as a probe of the spin parameter of the black hole and the structure of the accretion disk. In this paper, we generalize the previous relativistic line profile models by including both the black hole spinning effects and the non-axisymmetries of warped accretion disks. Our results show different features from the conventional calculations for either a flat disk around a Kerr black hole or a warped disk around a Schwarzschild black hole by presenting, at the same time, multiple peaks, rather long red tails, and time variations of line profiles with the precession of the disk. We show disk images as seen by a distant observer, which are distorted by the strong gravity. Although we are primarily concerned with the iron K-shell lines in this paper, the calculation is general and is valid for any emission lines produced from a warped accretion disk around a black hole.

Environmental effects of acute oil spills. Marine environment

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Moe, K.A.; Lystad, E.; Nesse, S.; Selvik, J.R.

1993-01-01

Biological effects as result of acute oil spill pollution may be considered as a product of: the existing biophysical conditions; occurrence and appearance of organisms in time and space; the fate of the oil in time and space; the vulnerability of the various organisms for oil and oil derivatives in a three-dimensional perspective. In general, it seems as every individual oil spill has its own nature and dynamics, inter alia because the physical, chemical and biological conditions never are the same. This means that the properties of the recipients often are more important than the amount of oil that is spilled. This may be exemplified by two oil spills in recent time. Exxon Valdez (1989), where 35000 ton oil were released in a partly closed sea area, caused considerable effects. From Braer (1993) the double amount of oil was spilled, but in an open sea area and at a time where the presence of dense concentrations of environmental components was limited, and the physical conditions favorable with respect to evaporation and dilution. Preliminary results show that the environmental effects were very limited. 311 refs., 32 figs., 10 tabs

Environmental effects of ash application in forest ecosystems

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Hansen, Mette

of ashes being produced and the export of nutrients from the forests. This PhD project aims at investigating how ash application in forest ecosystems affects soil and soil solution properties and whether ash application can be used in a Danish context without environmental harm but with positive effects...

Genetic and environmental effects on performance traits of ...

African Journals Online (AJOL)

Genetic and environmental effects on performance traits of Simmentaler cattle on the Transvaal Highveld. Tina Rust, J van der Westhuizen. Abstract. No Abstract. Full Text: EMAIL FREE FULL TEXT EMAIL FREE FULL TEXT · DOWNLOAD FULL TEXT DOWNLOAD FULL TEXT · AJOL African Journals Online. HOW TO USE ...

[Effects of community identity and topophilia on environmentally-conscious behavior].

Science.gov (United States)

Nonami, Hiroshi; Kato, Junzo

2009-04-01

This study classified environmentally-conscious behaviors of residents (n = 335) along Lake Biwa as a common goods into personal and group behavioral intentions, and examined the determinants of these intentions. Identification with the community was a social identity, and differed from attachment to Lake Biwa, which was defined as topophilia. The results indicated that group behavior was affected by topophilia, while personal behavior was influenced by general attitudes about the environmental problems of the lake and evaluations of the cost for the behavior. Community identity had a significant effect on both personal and group behavior. Rational or emotional decision making processes resulted in two different types of environmentally-conscious behaviors.

Effective Induction Heating around Strongly Magnetized Stars

Science.gov (United States)

Kislyakova, K. G.; Fossati, L.; Johnstone, C. P.; Noack, L.; Lüftinger, T.; Zaitsev, V. V.; Lammer, H.

2018-05-01

Planets that are embedded in the changing magnetic fields of their host stars can experience significant induction heating in their interiors caused by the planet’s orbital motion. For induction heating to be substantial, the planetary orbit has to be inclined with respect to the stellar rotation and dipole axes. Using WX UMa, for which the rotation and magnetic axes are aligned, as an example, we show that for close-in planets on inclined orbits, induction heating can be stronger than the tidal heating occurring inside Jupiter’s satellite Io; namely, it can generate a surface heat flux exceeding 2 W m‑2. An internal heating source of such magnitude can lead to extreme volcanic activity on the planet’s surface, possibly also to internal local magma oceans, and to the formation of a plasma torus around the star aligned with the planetary orbit. A strongly volcanically active planet would eject into space mostly SO2, which would then dissociate into oxygen and sulphur atoms. Young planets would also eject CO2. Oxygen would therefore be the major component of the torus. If the O I column density of the torus exceeds ≈1012 cm‑2, the torus could be revealed by detecting absorption signatures at the position of the strong far-ultraviolet O I triplet at about 1304 Å. We estimate that this condition is satisfied if the O I atoms in the torus escape the system at a velocity smaller than 1–10 km s‑1. These estimates are valid also for a tidally heated planet.

Decentralized environmental governance

International Development Research Centre (IDRC) Digital Library (Canada)

Tula

Human Development, a Road to the. Future. Systematization of ... Opportunities for Sustainability and Natural Resources Access for Poor. Rural Areas ... natural resource management. Under this ... Governance is defined as the formal and informal ... approval of the Environmental Impact Study, the strong oppo- sition of the ...

Exposure to environmental tobacco smoke from husband more strongly impacts on the airway obstruction of nonsmoking women

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Suyama K

2017-12-01

Full Text Available Kazuaki Suyama, Ryo Kozu, Takako Tanaka, Yuji Ishimatsu, Terumitsu Sawai Department of Cardiopulmonary Rehabilitation Science, Nagasaki University Graduate School of Biomedical Sciences, Nagasaki, Japan Background: The impact of airway obstruction of nonsmoking women caused by their husband’s smoking is unclear, despite the association between environmental tobacco smoke (ETS exposure at home and obstructive pulmonary diseases among nonsmoking women. The aim of this study was to provide evidence that ETS exposure from the husband at home has a more significant influence on the airway obstruction of nonsmoking women than other housemates. Participants and methods: Nonsmoking women aged 40 years or older were recruited from the health checkup during May 2015–December 2016, Japan. They answered structured questionnaires, including ETS exposure from their husbands and other housemates (parents, siblings and dependants, and performed spirometry. We categorized the women with any history of ETS exposure from housemates into three groups (A = husband, B = others and C = both of husband and others and defined the control group as those with no ETS exposure from housemates. Results: A total of 811 nonsmoking women completed questionnaires and spirometry. The proportion of nonsmoking women who had airway obstruction (forced expiratory volume in 1 second [FEV1]/forced vital capacity [FVC] <70% among Group A (7.5% was significantly higher than those in the control group (1.1%, p<0.01 and Group B (0.8%, p<0.01. The proportion of airway obstruction in Group C (6.4% was also higher than that in the control group (p<0.05 and Group B (p<0.05. ETS exposure from husband (odds ratio [OR], 3.53; 95% confidence interval [CI], 1.48–8.42 remained strongly associated with airway obstruction after multiple logistic regression analysis, adjusting for age, housemate’s smoking habits, family history and ETS exposure in childhood and at work. Conclusion: Nonsmoking

Effect of Material Composition and Environmental Condition on Thermal Characteristics of Conductive Asphalt Concrete

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Pan Pan

2017-02-01

Full Text Available Conductive asphalt concrete with high thermal conductivity has been proposed to improve the solar energy collection and snow melting efficiencies of asphalt solar collector (ASC. This paper aims to provide some insight into choosing the basic materials for preparation of conductive asphalt concrete, as well as determining the evolution of thermal characteristics affected by environmental factors. The thermal properties of conductive asphalt concrete were studied by the Thermal Constants Analyzer. Experimental results showed that aggregate and conductive filler have a significant effect on the thermal properties of asphalt concrete, while the effect of asphalt binder was not evident due to its low proportion. Utilization of mineral aggregate and conductive filler with higher thermal conductivity is an efficient method to prepare conductive asphalt concrete. Moreover, change in thermal properties of asphalt concrete under different temperature and moisture conditions should be taken into account to determine the actual thermal properties of asphalt concrete. There was no noticeable difference in thermal properties of asphalt concrete before and after aging. Furthermore, freezing–thawing cycles strongly affect the thermal properties of conductive asphalt concrete, due to volume expansion and bonding degradation.

Super symmetry in strong and weak interactions

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Seshavatharam, U.V.S.; Lakshminarayana, S.

2010-01-01

For strong interaction two new fermion mass units 105.32 MeV and 11450 MeV are assumed. Existence of "Integral charge quark bosons", "Integral charge effective quark fermions", "Integral charge (effective) quark fermi-gluons" and "Integral charge quark boso-gluons" are assumed and their masses are estimated. It is noticed that, characteristic nuclear charged fermion is X s · 105.32 = 938.8 MeV and corresponding charged boson is X s (105.32/x) = 415.0 where X s = 8.914 is the inverse of the strong coupling constant and x = 2.26234 is a new number by using which "super symmetry" can be seen in "strong and weak" interactions. 11450 MeV fermion and its boson of mass = 11450/x = 5060 MeV plays a crucial role in "sub quark physics" and "weak interaction". 938.8 MeV strong fermion seems to be the proton. 415 MeV strong boson seems to be the mother of the presently believed 493,496 and 547 MeV etc, strange mesons. With 11450 MeV fermion "effective quark-fermi-gluons" and with 5060 MeV boson "quark boso-gluon masses" are estimated. "Effective quark fermi-gluons" plays a crucial role in ground state charged baryons mass generation. Light quark bosons couple with these charged baryons to form doublets and triplets. "Quark boso-gluons" plays a crucial role in ground state neutral and charged mesons mass generation. Fine and super-fine rotational levels can be given by [I or (I/2)] power(1/4) and [I or (I/2)] power(1/12) respectively. Here, I = n(n+1) and n = 1, 2, 3, … (author)

Integrated cost-effectiveness analysis of agri-environmental measures for water quality.

Science.gov (United States)

Balana, Bedru B; Jackson-Blake, Leah; Martin-Ortega, Julia; Dunn, Sarah

2015-09-15

This paper presents an application of integrated methodological approach for identifying cost-effective combinations of agri-environmental measures to achieve water quality targets. The methodological approach involves linking hydro-chemical modelling with economic costs of mitigation measures. The utility of the approach was explored for the River Dee catchment in North East Scotland, examining the cost-effectiveness of mitigation measures for nitrogen (N) and phosphorus (P) pollutants. In-stream nitrate concentration was modelled using the STREAM-N and phosphorus using INCA-P model. Both models were first run for baseline conditions and then their effectiveness for changes in land management was simulated. Costs were based on farm income foregone, capital and operational expenditures. The costs and effects data were integrated using 'Risk Solver Platform' optimization in excel to produce the most cost-effective combination of measures by which target nutrient reductions could be attained at a minimum economic cost. The analysis identified different combination of measures as most cost-effective for the two pollutants. An important aspect of this paper is integration of model-based effectiveness estimates with economic cost of measures for cost-effectiveness analysis of land and water management options. The methodological approach developed is not limited to the two pollutants and the selected agri-environmental measures considered in the paper; the approach can be adapted to the cost-effectiveness analysis of any catchment-scale environmental management options. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Effects of environmental support on overt and covert visuospatial rehearsal.

Science.gov (United States)

Lilienthal, Lindsey; Myerson, Joel; Abrams, Richard A; Hale, Sandra

2018-09-01

People can rehearse to-be-remembered locations either overtly, using eye movements, or covertly, using only shifts of spatial attention. The present study examined whether the effectiveness of these two strategies depends on environmental support for rehearsal. In Experiment 1, when environmental support (i.e., the array of possible locations) was present and participants could engage in overt rehearsal during retention intervals, longer intervals resulted in larger spans, whereas in Experiment 2, when support was present but participants could only engage in covert rehearsal, longer intervals resulted in smaller spans. When environmental support was absent, however, longer retention intervals resulted in smaller memory spans regardless of which rehearsal strategies were available. In Experiment 3, analyses of participants' eye movements revealed that the presence of support increased participants' fixations of to-be-remembered target locations more than fixations of non-targets, and that this was associated with better memory performance. Further, although the total time fixating targets increased, individual target fixations were actually briefer. Taken together, the present findings suggest that in the presence of environmental support, overt rehearsal is more effective than covert rehearsal at maintaining to-be-remembered locations in working memory, and that having more time for overt rehearsal can actually increase visuospatial memory spans.

Environmental effects of thermal power plants

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Gerlitzky, M.; Friedrich, R.; Unger, H.

1986-02-01

Reviewing critically the present literature, the effects of thermal power plants on the environment are studied. At first, the loads of the different power plant types are compiled. With regard to the effects of emission reduction proceedings the pollutant emissions are quantified. The second chapter shows the effects on the ecological factors, which could be caused by the most important emission components of thermal power plants. Where it is possible, relations between immissions respectively depositions and their effects on climate, man, flora, fauna and materials will be given. This shows that many effects depend strongly on the local landscape, climate and use of natural resources. Therefore, it appears efficient to ascertain different load limits. The last chapter gives a suggestion for an ecological compatibility test (ECT) of thermal power plants. In modular form the ECT deals with the emission fields, waste heat, pollution burden of air and water, noise, loss of area and aesthetical aspects. Limits depending on local conditions and use of area will be discussed. (orig.) [de

Modelling food-web mediated effects of hydrological variability and environmental flows.

Science.gov (United States)

Robson, Barbara J; Lester, Rebecca E; Baldwin, Darren S; Bond, Nicholas R; Drouart, Romain; Rolls, Robert J; Ryder, Darren S; Thompson, Ross M

2017-11-01

Environmental flows are designed to enhance aquatic ecosystems through a variety of mechanisms; however, to date most attention has been paid to the effects on habitat quality and life-history triggers, especially for fish and vegetation. The effects of environmental flows on food webs have so far received little attention, despite food-web thinking being fundamental to understanding of river ecosystems. Understanding environmental flows in a food-web context can help scientists and policy-makers better understand and manage outcomes of flow alteration and restoration. In this paper, we consider mechanisms by which flow variability can influence and alter food webs, and place these within a conceptual and numerical modelling framework. We also review the strengths and weaknesses of various approaches to modelling the effects of hydrological management on food webs. Although classic bioenergetic models such as Ecopath with Ecosim capture many of the key features required, other approaches, such as biogeochemical ecosystem modelling, end-to-end modelling, population dynamic models, individual-based models, graph theory models, and stock assessment models are also relevant. In many cases, a combination of approaches will be useful. We identify current challenges and new directions in modelling food-web responses to hydrological variability and environmental flow management. These include better integration of food-web and hydraulic models, taking physiologically-based approaches to food quality effects, and better representation of variations in space and time that may create ecosystem control points. Crown Copyright © 2017. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Environmental Concerns, Environmental Policy and Green Investment.

Science.gov (United States)

Gao, Xuexian; Zheng, Haidong

2017-12-13

Environmental regulators often use environmental policy to induce green investment by firms. However, if an environmental policy fails to exert a long-run effect on regulating the economic agents' behavior, it may be more reasonable to think of the firm as the leader in the game, since the investment in green technology is usually a strategic decision. In this paper, we consider a three-stage Stackelberg game to address the interaction between a profit-maximizing firm (Stackelberg leader) facing emission-dependent demand, and the environmental regulator (Stackelberg follower). The firm decides on the green technology level in the first stage of the game based on its understanding of the regulator's profits function, especially an environmental concern that is introduced as an exogenous variable. In the current research, we show that high levels of the regulator's environmental concerns do not necessarily lead to the choice of green technology by the firm, and green investment level depends on the combined effects of the market and operational factors for a given level of the regulator's environmental concerns. The result also shows that increasing environmental awareness amongst the consumers is an effective way to drive the firm's green investment.

The effect of environmental chemicals on the tumor microenvironment

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Casey, Stephanie C.; Vaccari, Monica; Al-Mulla, Fahd; Al-Temaimi, Rabeah; Amedei, Amedeo; Barcellos-Hoff, Mary Helen; Brown, Dustin G.; Chapellier, Marion; Christopher, Joseph; Curran, Colleen S.; Forte, Stefano; Hamid, Roslida A.; Heneberg, Petr; Koch, Daniel C.; Krishnakumar, P. K.; Laconi, Ezio; Maguer-Satta, Veronique; Marongiu, Fabio; Memeo, Lorenzo; Mondello, Chiara; Raju, Jayadev; Roman, Jesse; Roy, Rabindra; Ryan, Elizabeth P.; Ryeom, Sandra; Salem, Hosni K.; Scovassi, A. Ivana; Singh, Neetu; Soucek, Laura; Vermeulen, Louis; Whitfield, Jonathan R.; Woodrick, Jordan; Colacci, Annamaria; Bisson, William H.; Felsher, Dean W.

2015-01-01

Potentially carcinogenic compounds may cause cancer through direct DNA damage or through indirect cellular or physiological effects. To study possible carcinogens, the fields of endocrinology, genetics, epigenetics, medicine, environmental health, toxicology, pharmacology and oncology must be

Renal and blood pressure effects from environmental cadmium exposure in Thai children

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Swaddiwudhipong, Witaya, E-mail: swaddi@hotmail.com [Department of Community and Social Medicine, Mae Sot General Hospital, Tak 63110 (Thailand); Mahasakpan, Pranee [Department of Community and Social Medicine, Mae Sot General Hospital, Tak 63110 (Thailand); Jeekeeree, Wanpen [Department of Medical Technology, Mae Sot General Hospital, Tak 63110 (Thailand); Funkhiew, Thippawan [Department of Community and Social Medicine, Mae Sot General Hospital, Tak 63110 (Thailand); Sanjum, Rungaroon; Apiwatpaiboon, Thitikarn [Department of Medical Technology, Mae Sot General Hospital, Tak 63110 (Thailand); Phopueng, Ittipol [Department of Community and Social Medicine, Mae Sot General Hospital, Tak 63110 (Thailand)

2015-01-15

Very few studies have shown renal and blood pressure effects from environmental cadmium exposure in children. This population study examined associations between urinary cadmium excretion, a good biomarker of long-term cadmium exposure, and renal dysfunctions and blood pressure in environmentally exposed Thai children. Renal functions including urinary excretion of β{sub 2}-microglobulin, calcium (early renal effects), and total protein (late renal effect), and blood pressure were measured in 594 primary school children. Of the children studied, 19.0% had urinary cadmium ≥1 μg/g creatinine. The prevalence of urinary cadmium ≥1 μg/g creatinine was significantly higher in girls and in those consuming rice grown in cadmium-contaminated areas. The geometric mean levels of urinary β{sub 2}-microglobulin, calcium, and total protein significantly increased with increasing tertiles of urinary cadmium. The analysis did not show increased blood pressure with increasing tertiles of urinary cadmium. After adjusting for age, sex, and blood lead levels, the analysis showed significant positive associations between urinary cadmium and urinary β{sub 2}-microglobulin and urinary calcium, but not urinary total protein nor blood pressure. Our findings provide evidence that environmental cadmium exposure can affect renal functions in children. A follow-up study is essential to assess the clinical significance and progress of renal effects in these children. - Highlights: • Few studies show renal effects from environmental cadmium exposure in children. • We report renal and blood pressure effects from cadmium exposure in Thai children. • Urinary β{sub 2}-microglobulin and calcium increased with increasing urinary cadmium. • The study found no association between urinary cadmium levels and blood pressure. • Environmental cadmium exposure can affect renal functions in children.

Room temperature strong coupling effects from single ZnO nanowire microcavity

KAUST Repository

Das, Ayan

2012-05-01

Strong coupling effects in a dielectric microcavity with a single ZnO nanowire embedded in it have been investigated at room temperature. A large Rabi splitting of ?100 meV is obtained from the polariton dispersion and a non-linearity in the polariton emission characteristics is observed at room temperature with a low threshold of 1.63 ?J/cm2, which corresponds to a polariton density an order of magnitude smaller than that for the Mott transition. The momentum distribution of the lower polaritons shows evidence of dynamic condensation and the absence of a relaxation bottleneck. The polariton relaxation dynamics were investigated by timeresolved measurements, which showed a progressive decrease in the polariton relaxation time with increase in polariton density. © 2012 Optical Society of America.

Effect of R&D Collaboration with Research Organizations on Innovation: The Mediation Effect of Environmental Performance

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Gun Jea Yu

2015-08-01

Full Text Available The purpose of this study was to advance our understanding of corporate environmental performance by linking its antecedents and consequences. This study examined how collaboration with research organizations, as a proactive strategic decision, influences the environmental performance of firms, which in turn leads to innovation performance. Using the data collected from 597 Korean firms representing a cross-section of industries, we found that a firm’s collaboration with research organizations positively affected the firm’s environmental performance, which positively influenced its innovation performance. Furthermore, the results indicated a full mediation effect of environmental performance on the relationship between collaboration with research organizations and innovation performance. This study offers a more comprehensive understanding of corporate environmental performance and discusses implications for innovation performance. Limitations and future research directions are also discussed.

Divergent responses of tropical cyclone genesis factors to strong volcanic eruptions at different latitudes

Science.gov (United States)

Yan, Qing; Zhang, Zhongshi; Wang, Huijun

2018-03-01

To understand the behaviors of tropical cyclones (TCs), it is very important to explore how TCs respond to anthropogenic greenhouse gases and natural forcings. Volcanic eruptions are a major natural forcing mechanism because they inject sulphate aerosols into the stratosphere, which modulate the global climate by absorbing and scattering solar radiation. The number of Atlantic hurricanes is thought to be reduced following strong tropical eruptions, but whether the response of TCs varies with the locations of the volcanoes and the different ocean basins remains unknown. Here, we use the Community Earth System Model-Last Millennium Ensemble to investigate the response of the large-scale environmental factors that spawn TCs to strong volcanic eruptions at different latitudes. A composite analysis indicates that tropical and northern hemisphere volcanic eruptions lead to significantly unfavorable conditions for TC genesis over the whole Pacific basin and the North Atlantic during the 3 years post-eruption, relative to the preceding 3 years. Southern hemisphere volcanic eruptions result in obviously unfavorable conditions for TC formation over the southwestern Pacific, but more favorable conditions over the North Atlantic. The mean response over the Indian Ocean is generally muted and insignificant. It should be noted that volcanic eruptions impact on environmental conditions through both the direct effect (i.e. on radiative forcing) and the indirect effect (i.e. on El Niño-Southern Oscillation), which is not differentiated in this study. In addition, the spread of the TC genesis response is considerably large for each category of eruptions over each ocean basin, which is also seen in the observational/proxy-based records. This large spread is attributed to the differences in stratospheric aerosol distributions, initial states and eruption intensities, and makes the short-term forecast of TC activity following the next large eruption challenging.

Environmental costs and benefits case study: nuclear power plant. Quantification and economic valuation of selected environmental impacts/effects. Final report

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

1984-02-01

This case study is an application, to a nuclear power plant, of the methodology for quantifying environmental costs and benefits, contained in the regional energy plan, adopted in April, 1983, by the Northwest Power Planning Council, pursuant to Public Law 96-501.The study is based on plant number 2 of the Washington Public Power Supply System (WNP-2), currently nearing completion on the Hanford Nuclear Reservation in eastern Washington State. This report describes and documents efforts to quantify and estimate monetary values for the following seven areas of environmental effects: radiation/health effects, socioeconomic/infrastructure effects, consumptive use of water, psychological/health effects (fear/stress), waste management, nuclear power plant accidents, and decommissioning costs. 103 references

Evaluation of collembolan trait performance as effect indicator of environmental change

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Krogh, Paul Henning; Petersen, Henning

several significant responses on the species level to the treatments where both taxonomic composition and extent of significant effects varied between the six sites. The basic hypothesis of the present work is that similar groups with respect to traits will respond in a similar manner to environmental...... stress across species of the local community. Furthermore, provided that the composition of traits is similar across Europe the response to environmental stress will also be similar. Hence, traits corresponding to morphological and ecological properties were subject to our analyses of treatment effects...

Mechanical effects of strong measurement: back-action noise and cooling

Science.gov (United States)

Schwab, Keith

2007-03-01

Our recent experiments show that it is now possible to prepare and measure mechanical systems with thermal occupation factors of N˜25 and perform continuous position measurements close to the limits required by the Heisenberg Uncertainty Principle (1). I will discuss our back-action measurements with nanomechanical structures strongly coupled to single electron transistors. We have been able to observe the stochastic back-action forces exerted by the SET as well as a cooling effect which has analogies to cooling in optical cavities. Furthermore, I will discuss progress using optical fields coupled to mechanical modes which show substantial cooling using the pondermotive effects of the photons impacting a flexible dielectric mirror (2). Both of these techniques pave the way to demonstrating the true quantum properties of a mechanical device: squeezed states, superposition states, and entangled states. (1) ``Quantum Measurement Backaction and Cooling Observed with a Nanomechanical Resonator,'' A. Naik, O. Buu, M.D. LaHaye, M.P. Blencowe, A.D. Armour, A.A. Clerk, K.C. Schwab, Nature 443, 193 (2006). (2) ``Self-cooling of a micro-mirror by radiation pressure,'' S. Gigan, H.R. Boehm, M. Patemostro, F. Blaser, G. Langer, J. Hertzberg, K. Schwab, D. Baeuerle, M. Aspelmeyer, A. Zeilinger, Nature 444, 67 (2006).

Effects of environmental factors on the morphometric characteristics of cultivated lettuce (Lactuca sativa L.

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Antonio D Ojeda

2012-09-01

Full Text Available We evaluated the phenotypic response of three varieties of lettuce Batavia Colwart, Lisa Elisa and Crespa Verde Cassabella in three growing environments: plastic greenhouse, glass greenhouse and open field on the Bogota Plateau (Chia, Cundinamarca, in order to generate useful information to improve the quality of plants grown by farmers, ensuring a healthy product with characteristics that meet market demands. The three agroecosystems were constantly monitored for the environmental variables of temperature, relative humidity and solar radiation; which showed a significant variation between the three agroecosystems. To assess the phenotypic response, we examined the effect of the environmental variables mentioned on seven morphometric variables of agronomic interest. The study showed that, for the variables germination percentage and fresh weight, the environmental effect reached a variance percentage of 79 and 44%, respectively. On the contrary, it was established that the average phenotypic response of the variables clean weight and percentage of dry mass corresponds especially to the effect of genetic varieties with a variance percentage of 35 and 45%, respectively. Similarly, for the variables specific leaf area and total leaf area, it was established that both the effects of environmental and genetic variables explain 87% (50 genetic, 37 environmental and 56% (31 genetic, 25 environmental, respectively, of the total variability observed

Nonlinear Electron Waves in Strongly Magnetized Plasmas

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Pécseli, Hans; Juul Rasmussen, Jens

1980-01-01

Weakly nonlinear dispersive electron waves in strongly magnetized plasma are considered. A modified nonlinear Schrodinger equation is derived taking into account the effect of particles resonating with the group velocity of the waves (nonlinear Landau damping). The possibility of including the ion...... dynamics in the analysis is also demonstrated. As a particular case the authors investigate nonlinear waves in a strongly magnetized plasma filled wave-guide, where the effects of finite geometry are important. The relevance of this problem to laboratory experiments is discussed....

On the development, environmental effects and human dimension of weed management strategies

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Riemens, M.M.

2009-01-01

On the development, environmental effects and human dimension of weed management strategies. On farm weed management is influenced by many factors. These factors comprise the development and availability of weed management tools, the environmental impact of these tools and the attitude and

<strong>Mini-project>

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Katajainen, Jyrki

2008-01-01

In this project the goal is to develop the safe * family of containers for the CPH STL. The containers to be developed should be safer and more reliable than any of the existing implementations. A special focus should be put on strong exception safety since none of the existing prototypes available...

environmental/climatic effect on stand-alone solar energy supply

African Journals Online (AJOL)

This paper investigates the climatic effects and environmental variations on the perfor- mance of a ... inter-connected arrays due to shades from clouds, tress and ... Modeling of Solar Module .... needs. The earth revolves around the sun in an.

About the Director of EPA's National Health and Environmental Effects Research Laboratory (NHEERL)

Science.gov (United States)

Dr. Wayne Cascio serves as Acting Director for the National Health and Environmental Effects Research Laboratory (NHEERL) within the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's Office of Research and Development (ORD).

Environmental transformations and ecological effects of iron-based nanoparticles.

Science.gov (United States)

Lei, Cheng; Sun, Yuqing; Tsang, Daniel C W; Lin, Daohui

2018-01-01

The increasing application of iron-based nanoparticles (NPs), especially high concentrations of zero-valent iron nanoparticles (nZVI), has raised concerns regarding their environmental behavior and potential ecological effects. In the environment, iron-based NPs undergo physical, chemical, and/or biological transformations as influenced by environmental factors such as pH, ions, dissolved oxygen, natural organic matter (NOM), and biotas. This review presents recent research advances on environmental transformations of iron-based NPs, and articulates their relationships with the observed toxicities. The type and extent of physical, chemical, and biological transformations, including aggregation, oxidation, and bio-reduction, depend on the properties of NPs and the receiving environment. Toxicities of iron-based NPs to bacteria, algae, fish, and plants are increasingly observed, which are evaluated with a particular focus on the underlying mechanisms. The toxicity of iron-based NPs is a function of their properties, tolerance of test organisms, and environmental conditions. Oxidative stress induced by reactive oxygen species is considered as the primary toxic mechanism of iron-based NPs. Factors influencing the toxicity of iron-based NPs are addressed and environmental transformations play a significant role, for example, surface oxidation or coating by NOM generally lowers the toxicity of nZVI. Research gaps and future directions are suggested with an aim to boost concerted research efforts on environmental transformations and toxicity of iron-based NPs, e.g., toxicity studies of transformed NPs in field, expansion of toxicity endpoints, and roles of laden contaminants and surface coating. This review will enhance our understanding of potential risks of iron-based NPs and proper uses of environmentally benign NPs. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Spectator Effects during Leptogenesis in the Strong Washout Regime

CERN Document Server

Garbrecht, Bjorn

2014-01-01

By including spectator fields into the Boltzmann equations for Leptogenesis, we show that partially equilibrated spectator interactions can have a significant impact on the freeze-out value of the asymmetry in the strong washout regime. The final asymmetry is typically increased, since partially equilibrated spectators "hide" a part of the asymmetry from washout. We study examples with leptonic and non-leptonic spectator processes, assuming thermal initial conditions, and find up to 50% enhanced asymmetries compared to the limit of fully equilibrated spectators. Together with a comprehensive overview of the equilibration temperatures for various Standard Model processes, the numerical results indicate the ranges when the limiting cases of either fully equilibrated or negligible spectator fields are applicable and when they are not. Our findings also indicate an increased sensitivity to initial conditions and finite density corrections even in the strong washout regime.

The New Nordic Diet is an effective tool in environmental protection

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Saxe, Henrik

2014-01-01

tool in environmental protection. Design: The 3 features by which this diet shift affects the environment—composition, transport (import), and type of production (organic/conventional)—were separately investigated by using life cycle assessment. Results: When both diet composition and transport were......Background: The New Nordic Diet (NND) was designed by gastronomic, nutritional, and environmental specialists to be a palatable, healthy, and sustainable diet containing 35% less meat than the Average Danish Diet (ADD); more whole-grain products, nuts, fruit, and vegetables; locally grown food...... in season; and >75% organic produce. The environmental impact of the 2 diets was compared based on 16 impact categories, which were monetized to evaluate the overall socioeconomic effect of a shift from an ADD to an NND. Objective: The objective was to determine whether this diet shift can be an effective...

Encouraging pro-environmental behaviour : An integrative review and research agenda

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Steg, L.; Vlek, C.A.J.

Environmental quality strongly depends on human behaviour patterns. We review the contribution and the potential of environmental psychology for understanding and promoting pro-environmental behaviour A general framework is proposed, comprising: (1) identification of the behaviour to be changed, (2)

The Developing Role of Evidence-Based Environmental Health

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Surindar Dhesi

2015-10-01

Full Text Available There has been renewed recognition that proactive strategies and interventions can address the social determinants of health, and the environmental health profession is well placed to effect positive change in many of these determinants. This qualitative research has revealed differences in the perceptions, experiences, and understandings of evidence-based practice among public health professionals from different backgrounds across different services in health care and local government in England. The absence of a strong tradition of evidence-based practice in environmental health appears to be a disadvantage in securing funding and playing a full role, as it has become the expectation in the new public health system. This has, at times, resulted in tensions between professionals with different backgrounds and frustration on the part of environmental health practitioners, who have a tradition of responding quickly to new challenges and “getting on with the job.” There is generally a willingness to develop evidence-based practice in environmental health; however, this will take time and investment.

An Environmentally Friendly, Cost-Effective Determination of Lead in Environmental Samples Using Anodic Stripping Voltammetry

Science.gov (United States)

Goldcamp, Michael J.; Underwood, Melinda N.; Cloud, Joshua L.; Harshman, Sean

2008-01-01

Contamination of the environment with heavy metals such as lead presents many health risks. Simple, effective, and field-portable methods for the measurement of toxic metals in environmental samples are vital tools for evaluating the risks that these contaminants pose. This article describes the use of new developments in anodic stripping…

Consideration of the environmental effects on fatigue behavior of austenitic components. Calculation methods and practical application

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Seichter, Johannes; Reese, Sven H.; Klucke, Dietmar

2012-01-01

During the last years environmental effects on the fatigue behavior of nuclear power plant components has worldwide been discussed controversial with respect to the transferability of laboratory data on real components. A publication from Argonne National Laboratory on experimental results concerning environmental effects (air and LWR coolant) on fatigue of austenitic steels included a proposal on calculation methods concerning the lifetime reduction due to environmental effects. This calculation method, i.e. multiplication of the usage factor by a F(en), has been included into the ASME Code, Section III, Division I, as Code Case N-792 (fatigue evaluations including environmental effects). The presented contribution evaluates the practical application of this calculation procedure and demonstrates the determination of the usage factor of an austenitic component under environmental exposure.

Strong coupling gauge theories and effective field theories. Proceedings of the 2002 international workshop

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Harada, Masayasu; Kikukawa, Yoshio; Yamawaki, Koichi

2003-01-01

This issue presents the important recent progress in both theoretical and phenomenological issues of strong coupling gauge theories, with/without supersymmetry and extra dimensions, etc. Emphasis in a placed on dynamical symmetry breaking with large anomalous dimensions governed by the dynamics near the nontrivial fixed point. Also presented are recent developments of the corresponding effective field theories. The 43 of the presented papers are indexed individually. (J.P.N)

Beliefs and environmental behavior: the moderating effect of emotional intelligence.

Science.gov (United States)

Aguilar-Luzón, Maria Carmen; Calvo-Salguero, Antonia; Salinas, Jose Maria

2014-12-01

Recent decades have seen a proliferation of studies aiming to explain how pro-environmental behavior is shaped by attitudes, values and beliefs. In this study, we have included an aspect in our analysis that has been rarely touched upon until now, that is, the intelligent use of emotions as a possible component of pro-environmental behavior. We applied the Trait Meta Mood Scale-24 (TMMS-24) and the New Environmental Paradigm scale to a sample of 184 male and female undergraduate students. We also carried out correlation and hierarchical regression analyses of blocks. The results show the interaction effects of the system of environmental beliefs and the dimensions of emotional intelligence on glass recycling attitudes, intentions and behavior. The results are discussed from the perspective of research on how the management of emotions guides thought and behavior. © 2014 Scandinavian Psychological Associations and John Wiley & Sons Ltd.

Mir Environmental Effects Payload and Returned Mir Solar Panel Cleanliness

Science.gov (United States)

Harvey, Gale A.; Humes, Donald H.; Kinard, William H.

2000-01-01

The MIR Environmental Effects Payload (MEEP) was attached to the Docking Module of the MIR space station for 18 months during calendar years 1996 and 1997 (March 1996, STS 76 to October 1997, STS 86). A solar panel array with more than 10 years space exposure was removed from the MIR core module in November 1997, and returned to Earth in January, 1998, STS 89. MEEP and the returned solar array are part of the International Space Station (ISS) Risk Mitigation Program. This space flight hardware has been inspected and studied by teams of space environmental effects (SEE) investigators for micrometeoroid and space debris effects, space exposure effects on materials, and electrical performance. This paper reports changes in cleanliness of parts of MEEP and the solar array due to the space exposures. Special attention is given to the extensive water soluble residues deposited on some of the flight hardware surfaces. Directionality of deposition and chemistry of these residues are discussed.

Thermal decomposition of nano-enabled thermoplastics: Possible environmental health and safety implications

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Sotiriou, Georgios A.; Singh, Dilpreet; Zhang, Fang; Chalbot, Marie-Cecile G.; Spielman-Sun, Eleanor; Hoering, Lutz; Kavouras, Ilias G.; Lowry, Gregory V.; Wohlleben, Wendel; Demokritou, Philip

2016-01-01

Highlights: • Nano-enabled products might reach their end-of-life by thermal decomposition. • Thermal decomposition provides two by-products: released aerosol and residual ash. • Is there any nanofiller release in byproducts? • Risk assessment of potential environmental health implications. - Abstract: Nano-enabled products (NEPs) are currently part of our life prompting for detailed investigation of potential nano-release across their life-cycle. Particularly interesting is their end-of-life thermal decomposition scenario. Here, we examine the thermal decomposition of widely used NEPs, namely thermoplastic nanocomposites, and assess the properties of the byproducts (released aerosol and residual ash) and possible environmental health and safety implications. We focus on establishing a fundamental understanding on the effect of thermal decomposition parameters, such as polymer matrix, nanofiller properties, decomposition temperature, on the properties of byproducts using a recently-developed lab-based experimental integrated platform. Our results indicate that thermoplastic polymer matrix strongly influences size and morphology of released aerosol, while there was minimal but detectable nano-release, especially when inorganic nanofillers were used. The chemical composition of the released aerosol was found not to be strongly influenced by the presence of nanofiller at least for the low, industry-relevant loadings assessed here. Furthermore, the morphology and composition of residual ash was found to be strongly influenced by the presence of nanofiller. The findings presented here on thermal decomposition/incineration of NEPs raise important questions and concerns regarding the potential fate and transport of released engineered nanomaterials in environmental media and potential environmental health and safety implications.

Thermal decomposition of nano-enabled thermoplastics: Possible environmental health and safety implications

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Sotiriou, Georgios A.; Singh, Dilpreet; Zhang, Fang [Center for Nanotechnology and Nanotoxicology, Department of Environmental Health, T.H. Chan School of Public Health, Harvard University, 665 Huntington Ave., Boston, MA 02115 (United States); Chalbot, Marie-Cecile G. [Department of Environmental and Occupational Health, College of Public Health, University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences, Little Rock, AR 72205 (United States); Spielman-Sun, Eleanor [Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, Carnegie Mellon University, Pittsburgh, PA 15213 (United States); Hoering, Lutz [BASF SE, Material Physics, 67056 Ludwigshafen (Germany); Kavouras, Ilias G. [Department of Environmental and Occupational Health, College of Public Health, University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences, Little Rock, AR 72205 (United States); Lowry, Gregory V. [Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, Carnegie Mellon University, Pittsburgh, PA 15213 (United States); Wohlleben, Wendel [Center for Nanotechnology and Nanotoxicology, Department of Environmental Health, T.H. Chan School of Public Health, Harvard University, 665 Huntington Ave., Boston, MA 02115 (United States); BASF SE, Material Physics, 67056 Ludwigshafen (Germany); Demokritou, Philip, E-mail: pdemokri@hsph.harvard.edu [Center for Nanotechnology and Nanotoxicology, Department of Environmental Health, T.H. Chan School of Public Health, Harvard University, 665 Huntington Ave., Boston, MA 02115 (United States)

2016-03-15

Highlights: • Nano-enabled products might reach their end-of-life by thermal decomposition. • Thermal decomposition provides two by-products: released aerosol and residual ash. • Is there any nanofiller release in byproducts? • Risk assessment of potential environmental health implications. - Abstract: Nano-enabled products (NEPs) are currently part of our life prompting for detailed investigation of potential nano-release across their life-cycle. Particularly interesting is their end-of-life thermal decomposition scenario. Here, we examine the thermal decomposition of widely used NEPs, namely thermoplastic nanocomposites, and assess the properties of the byproducts (released aerosol and residual ash) and possible environmental health and safety implications. We focus on establishing a fundamental understanding on the effect of thermal decomposition parameters, such as polymer matrix, nanofiller properties, decomposition temperature, on the properties of byproducts using a recently-developed lab-based experimental integrated platform. Our results indicate that thermoplastic polymer matrix strongly influences size and morphology of released aerosol, while there was minimal but detectable nano-release, especially when inorganic nanofillers were used. The chemical composition of the released aerosol was found not to be strongly influenced by the presence of nanofiller at least for the low, industry-relevant loadings assessed here. Furthermore, the morphology and composition of residual ash was found to be strongly influenced by the presence of nanofiller. The findings presented here on thermal decomposition/incineration of NEPs raise important questions and concerns regarding the potential fate and transport of released engineered nanomaterials in environmental media and potential environmental health and safety implications.

Studying the cumulative environmental effects of Hydro-Quebec's installations plan

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Dubeau, D.

1992-01-01

The study of the cumulative environmental effects that have been integrated with technical and economic analyses include mercury, land use in the region (territory), natural landscapes, cultural heritages, forest dynamics, regional economies and ways of life. Requests and petitions from the public about Hydro-Quebec projects fall into four categories: welfare of communities, impact on the land, environmental responsibility and preservation of plant and animal species. The cooperation of all concerned is necessary for Hydro-Quebec's developments. (author)

Space Environmental Effects on Candidate Solar Sail Materials

Science.gov (United States)

Edwards, David L.; Nehls, Mary; Semmel, Charles; Hovater, Mary; Gray, Perry; Hubbs, Whitney; Wertz, George

2004-01-01

The National Aeronautics and Space Administration's (NASA) Marshall Space Flight Center (MSFC) continues research into the utilization of photonic materials for spacecraft propulsion. Spacecraft propulsion, using photonic materials, will be achieved using a solar sail. A solar sail operates on the principle that photons, originating from the sun, impart pressure to the sail and therefore provide a source for spacecraft propulsion. The pressure imparted ot a solar sail can be increased, up to a factor of two, if the sun-facing surface is perfectly reflective. Therefore, these solar sails are generally composed of a highly reflective metallic sun-facing layer, a thin polymeric substrate and occasionally a highly emissive back surface. Near term solar sail propelled science missions are targeting the Lagrange point 1 (L1) as well as locations sunward of L1 as destinations. These near term missions include the Solar Polar Imager and the L1 Diamond. The Environmental Effects Group at NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center (MSFC) continues to actively characterize solar sail material in preparation for these near term solar sail missions. Previous investigations indicated that space environmental effects on sail material thermo-optical properties were minimal and would not significantly affect the propulsion efficiency of the sail. These investigations also indicated that the sail material mechanical stability degrades with increasing radiation exposure. This paper will further quantify the effect of space environmental exposure on the mechanical properties of candidate sail materials. Candidate sail materials for these missions include Aluminum coated Mylar, Teonex, and CP1 (Colorless Polyimide). These materials were subjected to uniform radiation doses of electrons and protons in individual exposures sequences. Dose values ranged from 100 Mrads to over 5 Grads. The engineering performance property responses of thermo-optical and mechanical properties were characterized

Environmental Concerns, Environmental Policy and Green Investment

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Xuexian Gao

2017-12-01

Full Text Available Environmental regulators often use environmental policy to induce green investment by firms. However, if an environmental policy fails to exert a long-run effect on regulating the economic agents’ behavior, it may be more reasonable to think of the firm as the leader in the game, since the investment in green technology is usually a strategic decision. In this paper, we consider a three-stage Stackelberg game to address the interaction between a profit-maximizing firm (Stackelberg leader facing emission-dependent demand, and the environmental regulator (Stackelberg follower. The firm decides on the green technology level in the first stage of the game based on its understanding of the regulator’s profits function, especially an environmental concern that is introduced as an exogenous variable. In the current research, we show that high levels of the regulator’s environmental concerns do not necessarily lead to the choice of green technology by the firm, and green investment level depends on the combined effects of the market and operational factors for a given level of the regulator’s environmental concerns. The result also shows that increasing environmental awareness amongst the consumers is an effective way to drive the firm’s green investment.

Effect of Dislocation Density on Deformation Behavior of Super Strong Bainitic Steel

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

B. Avishan

2017-02-01

Full Text Available Presence of nanoscale bainitic ferrites and high carbon retained austenites that are stable at ambient temperature within the microstructures of super strong bainitic steels makes it possible to achieve exceptional strengths and ductility properties in these groups of nanostructured steels. This article aims to study the effect of the dislocation density variations during tensile testing in ambient temperature on deformation behavior of nanostructured low temperature bainitic steels. Results indicate that dislocation absorption from bainitic ferrite subunits by surrounding retained austenite reduces the work hardening and therefore increases the formability of bainitic ferrite during deformation, which in turn results in a suitable combination of strength and ductility.

Potential environmental effects of energy conservation measures in northwest industries

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Baechler, M C; Gygi, K F; Hendrickson, P L

1992-01-01

The Bonneville Power Administration (Bonneville) has identified 101 plants in the Pacific Northwest that account for 80% of the region's industrial electricity consumption. These plants offer a precise target for a conservation program. PNL determined that most of these 101 plants were represented by 11 major industries. We then reviewed 36 major conservation technologies used in these 11 industrial settings to determine their potential environmental impacts. Energy efficiency technologies designed for industrial use may result in direct or indirect environmental impacts. Effects may result from the production of the conservation measure technology, changes in the working environment due to different energy and material requirements, or changes to waste streams. Industry type, work-place conditions, worker training, and environmental conditions inside and outside the plant are all key variables that may affect environmental outcomes. To address these issues this report has three objectives: Describe potential conservation measures that Bonneville may employ in industrial programs and discuss potential primary impacts. Characterize industrial systems and processes where the measure may be employed and describe general environmental issues associated with each industry type. Review environmental permitting, licensing, and other regulatory actions required for industries and summarize the type of information available from these sources for further analysis.

Impact of earthquakes and their secondary environmental effects on public health

Science.gov (United States)

Mavroulis, Spyridon; Mavrouli, Maria; Lekkas, Efthymios; Tsakris, Athanassios

2017-04-01

Earthquakes are among the most impressive geological processes with destructive effects on humans, nature and infrastructures. Secondary earthquake environmental effects (EEE) are induced by the ground shaking and are classified into ground cracks, slope movements, dust clouds, liquefactions, hydrological anomalies, tsunamis, trees shaking and jumping stones. Infectious diseases (ID) emerging during the post-earthquake period are considered as secondary earthquake effects on public health. This study involved an extensive and systematic literature review of 121 research publications related to the public health impact of 28 earthquakes from 1980 to 2015 with moment magnitude (Mw) from 6.1 to 9.2 and their secondary EEE including landslides, liquefaction and tsunamis generated in various tectonic environments (extensional, transform, compressional) around the world (21 events in Asia, 5 in America and one each in Oceania and Europe). The inclusion criteria were the literature type comprising journal articles and official reports, the natural disaster type including earthquakes and their secondary EEE (landslides, liquefaction, tsunamis), the population type including humans and the outcome measures characterized by disease incidence increase. The potential post-earthquake ID are classified into 14 groups including respiratory (detected after 15 of 28 earthquakes, 53.57%), water-borne (15, 53.57%), skin (8, 28.57%), vector-borne (8, 28.57%) wound-related (6, 21.43%), blood-borne (4, 14.29%), pulmonary (4, 14.29%), fecal-oral (3, 10.71%), food-borne (3, 10.71%), fungal (3, 10.71%), parasitic (3, 10.71%), eye (1, 3.57%), mite-borne (1, 3.57%) and soil-borne (1, 3.57%) infections. Based on age and genre data available for 15 earthquakes, the most vulnerable population groups are males, young children (age ≤ 10 years) and adults (age ≥ 65 years). Cholera, pneumonia and tetanus are the deadliest post-earthquake ID. The risk factors leading not only to disease

Orientation of Space Station Freedom electrical power system in environmental effects assessment

Science.gov (United States)

Lu, Cheng-Yi

1990-01-01

The orientation effects of six Space Station Freedom Electrical Power System (EPS) components are evaluated for three environmental interactions: aerodynamic drag, atomic oxygen erosion, and orbital debris impact. Designers can directly apply these orientation factors to estimate the magnitude of the examined environment and the environmental effects for the EPS component of interest. The six EPS components are the solar array, photovoltaic module radiator, integrated equipment assembly, solar dynamic concentrator, solar dynamic radiator, and beta gimbal.

Linked environmental data. The next step for environmental information systems

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Menger, Matthias; Ackermann, Patrick; Linse, Andreas [Federal Environemnt Agency, Dessau (Germany); Bandholtz, Thomas [innoQ GmbH, Monheim (Germany)

2013-07-01

The Federal Environment Agency (UBA) in Germany as one Competent Authority of the European Member States involved with the assessment and authorisation of chemicals, pesticides, biozides and medicals, has a wide expertise of complex information systems. Having timely, comprehensive and reliable information on the environmental relevant properties (e.g. of chemical substances and preparations) is of immense importance for all sections dealing with environmental protection issues. Regarding the reality of available information systems in each environmental section, and moreover in each section itself, there has been developed several specific approaches to gather, store and search its relevant data. This makes sense due to each section has its own requirements, different user groups (industry and authorities or just authorities or scientific partners etc.), different budgets to bring technology 'on the road', and different (legally obligatory) procedures to handle the data and information of such systems. Nevertheless, there several strong reasons to look for a Linked Environmental Data infrastructure - at least internally in one authority itself: - Overcome the mostly separated systems; - Explore the potential of data silos in several environmental sections; - Efficiency/effectiveness in data gathering, assessment, results, budgets..; - sharing of knowledge, i.e. use of specific prepared information of specially intended information systems; - timelyness of data/information; - best data/information from most competent partner/section; - gain from already available systems and their data/information; - speed up developments and availability of data/information. Of course there are also several points which might be a huge obstacle to Linked Environmental Data (LED), e.g. confidential business data. This leads already to the distinction between 'Open LED' and 'Non-Open LED'. Nevertheless, the potential benefits and the possibilities

Influence of foreign direct investment on indicators of environmental degradation.

Science.gov (United States)

Solarin, Sakiru Adebola; Al-Mulali, Usama

2018-06-21

This study aims to contribute to the existing literature by looking at the influence of foreign direct investment on carbon dioxide emissions, carbon footprint, and ecological footprint. In order to realize the aim of this study, we have utilized the augmented mean group estimator, which is supported by common correlated effect mean group estimator in the analysis for 20 countries. The panel results reveal that foreign direct investment has no effect on environmental degradation indicators. The panel results further reveal that gross domestic product, energy consumption, and urbanization are the main contributors to environmental degradation. The results at country level show that foreign direct investment and urbanization increase pollution in the developing countries while they mitigate pollution in the developed countries. Moreover, gross domestic product and energy consumption increase pollution for both developed and developing countries, which includes China and the USA. The negative impact of foreign direct investment on environmental degradation in the developed countries can be explained on the basis that these countries have strong environmental regulations, which makes it almost impossible for dirty foreign industries to invest therein. From the output of this research, several policy recommendations are enumerated for the investigated countries.

A multi-scale spatial approach to address environmental effects of small hydropower development.

Science.gov (United States)

McManamay, Ryan A; Samu, Nicole; Kao, Shih-Chieh; Bevelhimer, Mark S; Hetrick, Shelaine C

2015-01-01

Hydropower development continues to grow worldwide in developed and developing countries. While the ecological and physical responses to dam construction have been well documented, translating this information into planning for hydropower development is extremely difficult. Very few studies have conducted environmental assessments to guide site-specific or widespread hydropower development. Herein, we propose a spatial approach for estimating environmental effects of hydropower development at multiple scales, as opposed to individual site-by-site assessments (e.g., environmental impact assessment). Because the complex, process-driven effects of future hydropower development may be uncertain or, at best, limited by available information, we invested considerable effort in describing novel approaches to represent environmental concerns using spatial data and in developing the spatial footprint of hydropower infrastructure. We then use two case studies in the US, one at the scale of the conterminous US and another within two adjoining rivers basins, to examine how environmental concerns can be identified and related to areas of varying energy capacity. We use combinations of reserve-design planning and multi-metric ranking to visualize tradeoffs among environmental concerns and potential energy capacity. Spatial frameworks, like the one presented, are not meant to replace more in-depth environmental assessments, but to identify information gaps and measure the sustainability of multi-development scenarios as to inform policy decisions at the basin or national level. Most importantly, the approach should foster discussions among environmental scientists and stakeholders regarding solutions to optimize energy development and environmental sustainability.

Cost effectiveness studies of environmental technologies: Volume 1

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Silva, E.M.; Booth, S.R.

1994-02-01

This paper examines cost effectiveness studies of environmental technologies including the following: (1) In Situ Air Stripping, (2) Surface Towed Ordinance Locator System, (3) Ditch Witch Horizontal Boring Technology, (4) Direct Sampling Ion Trap Mass Spectrometer, (5) In Situ Vitrification, (6) Site Characterization and Analysis Penetrometer System, (7) In Situ Bioremediation, and (8) SEAMIST Membrane System Technology

Peer deviance, alcohol expectancies, and adolescent alcohol use: explaining shared and nonshared environmental effects using an adoptive sibling pair design.

Science.gov (United States)

Samek, Diana R; Keyes, Margaret A; Iacono, William G; McGue, Matt

2013-07-01

Previous research suggests adolescent alcohol use is largely influenced by environmental factors, yet little is known about the specific nature of this influence. We hypothesized that peer deviance and alcohol expectancies would be sources of environmental influence because both have been consistently and strongly correlated with adolescent alcohol use. The sample included 206 genetically related and 407 genetically unrelated sibling pairs assessed in mid-to-late adolescence. The heritability of adolescent alcohol use (e.g., frequency, quantity last 12 months) was minimal and not significantly different from zero. The associations among peer deviance, alcohol expectancies, and alcohol use were primarily due to shared environmental factors. Of special note, alcohol expectancies also significantly explained nonshared environmental influence on alcohol use. This study is one of few that have identified specific environmental variants of adolescent alcohol use while controlling for genetic influence.

Effect of Genotypic and Environmental Differences on Flax (Linum usitatissimum L.)

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Amer, I.M; Moustafa, H.A.M.

2006-01-01

Genotype X environment (GE) interactions for some flax characters nd their effects on yield of three divergent mutant lines two local cultivars were studied over five environmental conditions (three years and different soils) at Inshas, Egypt. the obtained results reveled that the variance due to environmental conditions were greater than the variance due to genotypes, or GE interaction for all studied traits. the variances due to GE interactions were greater than the variances for genotypes in seed yield and its related traits and vice versa in straw yield and its related traits. the environmental conditions exhibited greater effect on the local cultivars than on mutant lines. the mutant line 25 gave the highest seeds and straw yield / plant over all environments. adaptability and performance stability of a line over years and sites are interested for flax producer for growing a cultivar with high yield and performance stability at his location

The Effects of Issue Investigation and Action Training on Eighth-Grade Students' Environmental Behavior.

Science.gov (United States)

Ramsey, John M.

1993-01-01

Reports the instructional effects of a formal environmental education methodology, issue investigation and action training (IIAT), on eighth-grade students. Focuses on whether IIAT can improve responsible environmental behavior in middle school students and whether variables associated with responsible adult environmental behavior will be…

Older Adults' Perceptions of Nutrition as Protective against Detrimental Effects of Environmental Pollution

Science.gov (United States)

Dunn, Kristina; Gaetke, Lisa; Stephenson, Tammy; Brewer, Dawn

2017-01-01

The aging process makes older adults vulnerable to the detrimental health effects of environmental contaminants. Our study assessed older adults' perceptions regarding diet as protective against environmental contaminants, levels of concern about exposure to environmental contaminants, and interest in learning about protective food-related…

Space Environmental Effects Testing Capability at the Marshall Space Flight Center

Science.gov (United States)

DeWittBurns, H.; Craven, Paul; Finckenor, Miria; Nehls, Mary; Schneider, Todd; Vaughn, Jason

2012-01-01

Understanding the effects of the space environment on materials and systems is fundamental and essential for mission success. If not properly understood and designed for, the effects of the environment can lead to degradation of materials, reduction of functional lifetime, and system failure. In response to this need, the Marshall Space Flight Center has developed world class Space Environmental Effects (SEE) expertise and test facilities to simulate the space environment. Capabilities include multiple unique test systems comprising the most complete SEE testing capability available. These test capabilities include charged particle radiation (electrons, protons, ions), ultraviolet radiation (UV), vacuum ultraviolet radiation (VUV), atomic oxygen, plasma effects, space craft charging, lunar surface and planetary effects, vacuum effects, and hypervelocity impacts as well as the combination of these capabilities. In addition to the uniqueness of the individual test capabilities, MSFC is the only NASA facility where the effects of the different space environments can be tested in one location. Combined with additional analytical capabilities for pre- and post-test evaluation, MSFC is a one-stop shop for materials testing and analysis. The SEE testing and analysis are performed by a team of award winning experts nationally recognized for their contributions in the study of the effects of the space environment on materials and systems. With this broad expertise in space environmental effects and the variety of test systems and equipment available, MSFC is able to customize tests with a demonstrated ability to rapidly adapt and reconfigure systems to meet customers needs. Extensive flight experiment experience bolsters this simulation and analysis capability with a comprehensive understanding of space environmental effects.

Social networks and environmental outcomes.

Science.gov (United States)

Barnes, Michele L; Lynham, John; Kalberg, Kolter; Leung, PingSun

2016-06-07

Social networks can profoundly affect human behavior, which is the primary force driving environmental change. However, empirical evidence linking microlevel social interactions to large-scale environmental outcomes has remained scarce. Here, we leverage comprehensive data on information-sharing networks among large-scale commercial tuna fishers to examine how social networks relate to shark bycatch, a global environmental issue. We demonstrate that the tendency for fishers to primarily share information within their ethnic group creates segregated networks that are strongly correlated with shark bycatch. However, some fishers share information across ethnic lines, and examinations of their bycatch rates show that network contacts are more strongly related to fishing behaviors than ethnicity. Our findings indicate that social networks are tied to actions that can directly impact marine ecosystems, and that biases toward within-group ties may impede the diffusion of sustainable behaviors. Importantly, our analysis suggests that enhanced communication channels across segregated fisher groups could have prevented the incidental catch of over 46,000 sharks between 2008 and 2012 in a single commercial fishery.

Patterns of strong coupling for LHC searches

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Liu, Da [State Key Laboratory of Theoretical Physics, Institute of Theoretical Physics,Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, People’s Republic of (China); Theoretical Particle Physics Laboratory, Institute of Physics,EPFL, CH-1015 Lausanne (Switzerland); Pomarol, Alex [CERN, Theoretical Physics Department,1211 Geneva 23 (Switzerland); Dept. de Física and IFAE-BIST,Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona, 08193 Bellaterra, Barcelona (Spain); Rattazzi, Riccardo [Theoretical Particle Physics Laboratory, Institute of Physics,EPFL, CH-1015 Lausanne (Switzerland); Riva, Francesco [CERN, Theoretical Physics Department,1211 Geneva 23 (Switzerland)

2016-11-23

Even though the Standard Model (SM) is weakly coupled at the Fermi scale, a new strong dynamics involving its degrees of freedom may conceivably lurk at slightly higher energies, in the multi TeV range. Approximate symmetries provide a structurally robust context where, within the low energy description, the dimensionless SM couplings are weak, while the new strong dynamics manifests itself exclusively through higher-derivative interactions. We present an exhaustive classification of such scenarios in the form of effective field theories, paying special attention to new classes of models where the strong dynamics involves, along with the Higgs boson, the SM gauge bosons and/or the fermions. The IR softness of the new dynamics suppresses its effects at LEP energies, but deviations are in principle detectable at the LHC, even at energies below the threshold for production of new states. We believe our construction provides the so far unique structurally robust context where to motivate several LHC searches in Higgs physics, diboson production, or WW scattering. Perhaps surprisingly, the interplay between weak coupling, strong coupling and derivatives, which is controlled by symmetries, can override the naive expansion in operator dimension, providing instances where dimension-8 dominates dimension-6, well within the domain of validity of the low energy effective theory. This result reveals the limitations of an analysis that is both ambitiously general and restricted to dimension-6 operators.

Determining the Environmental Effects of Indirect Subsidies. A Methodological Approach with an Application to the Netherlands

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Van Beers, C. [Department of Economics, Delft University of Technology, Delft (Netherlands); Van den Bergh, J.C.J.M. [Faculty of Economics and Business Administration, Vrije Universiteit, Amsterdam (Netherlands); De Moor, A. [National Institute for Public Health and the Environment RIVM, Bilthoven (Netherlands); Oosterhuis, F. [Institute for Environmental Studies IVM, Vrije Universiteit, Amsterdam (Netherlands)

2004-04-01

Up to now a clear theoretical and methodological framework for economic-environmental analysis of environmentally damaging subsidies is lacking. Environmentally damaging subsidies are all kinds of direct and indirect subsidies aimed at achieving a certain (often non-environmental) goal that produce negative external effects to the natural environment. This article develops a transparent method to determine the environmental impact of indirect government subsidies and derive policy lessons. This method has been applied to several major subsidies in the Netherlands, namely in agriculture, energy, and transport. The results reveal large environmental effects, which need to be taken seriously by policy makers. The method enables policy makers to evaluate the environmental impacts of indirect government subsidies.

Detailed site effect estimation in the presence of strong velocity reversals within a small-aperture strong-motion array in Iceland

KAUST Repository

Rahpeyma, Sahar

2016-08-11

The rock site characterization for earthquake engineering applications in Iceland is common due to the easily exposed older bedrock and more recent volcanic lava rock. The corresponding site amplification is generally assumed to be low but has not been comprehensively quantified, especially for volcanic rock. The earthquake strong-motion of the Mw6.3 Ölfus earthquake on 29 May 2008 and 1705 of its aftershocks recorded on the first small-aperture strong-motion array (ICEARRAY I) in Iceland showed consistent and significant variations in ground motion amplitudes over short distances (<2 km) in an urban area located mostly on lava rock. This study analyses the aftershock recordings to quantify the local site effects using the Horizontal to Vertical Spectral Ratio (HVSR) and Standard Spectral Ratio (SSR) methods. Additionally, microseismic data has been collected at array stations and analyzed using the HVSR method. The results between the methods are consistent and show that while the amplification levels remain relatively low, the predominant frequency varies systematically between stations and is found to correlate with the geological units. In particular, for stations on lava rock the underlying geologic structure is characterized by repeated lava-soil stratigraphy characterized by reversals in the shear wave velocity with depth. As a result, standard modeling of HVSR using vertically incident body waves does not apply. Instead, modeling the soil structure as a two-degree-of-freedom dynamic system is found to capture the observed predominant frequencies of site amplification. The results have important implications for earthquake resistant design of structures on rock sites characterized by velocity reversals. © 2016 Elsevier Ltd

Efficiency effects of quality of service and environmental factors. Experience from Norwegian electricity distribution

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Growitsch, Christian [WIK Wissenschaftliches Institut fuer Infrastruktur und Kommunikationsdienste GmbH, Bad Honnef (Germany). Dept. of Energy Markets and Energy Regulation; Jamasb, Tooraj [Edinburgh Univ. (United Kingdom). Dept. of Economics; Wetzel, Heike [Cologne Univ. (Germany). Dept. of Economics

2010-08-15

Since the 1990s, efficiency and benchmarking analysis has increasingly been used in network utilities research and regulation. A recurrent concern is the effect of environmental factors that are beyond the influence of firms (observable heterogeneity) and factors that are not identifiable (unobserved heterogeneity) on measured cost and quality performance of firms. This paper analyses the effect of geographic and weather factors and unobserved heterogeneity on a set of 128 Norwegian electricity distribution utilities for the 2001-2004 period. We utilize data on almost 100 geographic and weather variables to identify real economic inefficiency while controlling for observable and unobserved heterogeneity. We use the factor analysis technique to reduce the number of environmental factors into few composite variables and to avoid the problem of multicollinearity. We then estimate the established stochastic frontier models of Battese and Coelli (1992; 1995) and the recent true fixed effects models of Greene (2004; 2005) without and with environmental variables. In the former models some composite environmental variables have a significant effect on the performance of utilities. These effects vanish in the true fixed effects models. However, the latter models capture the entire unobserved heterogeneity and therefore show significantly higher average efficiency scores. (orig.)

Environmental and health effects of fossil fuel and nuclear power generation

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Naqvi, S.J.; Black, D.B.; Phillips, C.R.

1978-03-01

The objective of this study was to identify and assess the present and future dimensions of environmental effects and impacts of various energy generation alternatives, and to place safety and environmental risks associated with the nuclear industry in Canada in perspective with the risks from other sources. It was found that nuclear power generation involves a comparable risk to that of conventional methods of thermoelectric power generation

Energy saving in Swedish households. The (relative) importance of environmental attitudes

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Martinsson, Johan; Lundqvist, Lennart J.; Sundstroem, Aksel

2011-01-01

The objectives for energy saving in the housing sector set by recent Swedish energy and climate policies are quite demanding. This article uses nation-wide Swedish survey data from 2004 to 2007 to explore the potential for achieving those targets. Earlier findings that socio-economic characteristics such as age, housing type and income are strongly linked to higher propensities to save on heating and hot water usage are confirmed by ordered logistic regression models. However, general environmental attitudes are also found to play a crucial role. When assessing the relative importance of socio-economic factors and environmental attitudes, the effect on energy saving is generally greater for the former than the latter. In addition, important interaction effects are identified. In relative terms, the effect of environmental attitudes is clearly stronger among households in apartment blocks than among those in detached housing, and stronger among households with higher income than among those with lower income. We end by discussing the implications for the selection and targeting of policy measures to tap the energy savings potential in the population. - Highlights: → We use Swedish survey data to analyse the determinants of household energy saving. → Housing type plays a crucial role for individuals' propensity to save energy. → Environmental attitudes are clearly more important in high-income households. → Environmental attitudes are clearly more important for people in apartment blocks.

Three-loop Standard Model effective potential at leading order in strong and top Yukawa couplings

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Martin, Stephen P. [Santa Barbara, KITP

2014-01-08

I find the three-loop contribution to the effective potential for the Standard Model Higgs field, in the approximation that the strong and top Yukawa couplings are large compared to all other couplings, using dimensional regularization with modified minimal subtraction. Checks follow from gauge invariance and renormalization group invariance. I also briefly comment on the special problems posed by Goldstone boson contributions to the effective potential, and on the numerical impact of the result on the relations between the Higgs vacuum expectation value, mass, and self-interaction coupling.

Nuclear physics from strong coupling QCD

CERN Document Server

Fromm, Michael

2009-01-01

The strong coupling limit (beta_gauge = 0) of QCD offers a number of remarkable research possibilities, of course at the price of large lattice artifacts. Here, we determine the complete phase diagram as a function of temperature T and baryon chemical potential mu_B, for one flavor of staggered fermions in the chiral limit, with emphasis on the determination of a tricritical point and on the T ~ 0 transition to nuclear matter. The latter is known to happen for mu_B substantially below the baryon mass, indicating strong nuclear interactions in QCD at infinite gauge coupling. This leads us to studying the properties of nuclear matter from first principles. We determine the nucleon-nucleon potential in the strong coupling limit, as well as masses m_A of nuclei as a function of their atomic number A. Finally, we clarify the origin of nuclear interactions at strong coupling, which turns out to be a steric effect.

Radiological protection and environmental management

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Perez Fonseca, A.

2010-01-01

From the beginning of its industrial activity twenty five years ago, the Juzbado Factory of Enusa Group has always upheld a strong commitment with Radiological Protection and environmental respect and protection. Consequently, the evolution of dose shows a downward trend over the years. Although production has been increased gradually, the average doses to workers have stayed below 1 mSv. In order to identify and prevent the potential environmental impacts of its industrial activity and minimize its impact on the surroundings, the facility develops and environmental management system according to UNE-EN-ISO 14001 since 1999. (Author)

Strong interactions at high energy

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Anselmino, M.

1995-01-01

Spin effects in strong interaction high energy processes are subtle phenomena which involve both short and long distance physics and test perturbative and non perturbative aspects of QCD. Moreover, depending on quantities like interferences between different amplitudes and relative phases, spin observables always test a theory at a fundamental quantum mechanical level; it is then no surprise that spin data are often difficult to accommodate within the existing models. A report is made on the main issues and contributions discussed in the parallel Session on the open-quote open-quote Strong interactions at high energy close-quote close-quote in this Conference. copyright 1995 American Institute of Physics

Environmental effects of ozone depletion and its interactions ...

Science.gov (United States)

When considering the effects of climate change, it has become clear that processes resulting in changes in stratospheric ozone are more complex than previously believed. As a result of this, human health and environmental issues will be longer-lasting and more regionally variable. Like the other Panels, the EEAP produces a detailed report every four years; the most recent was published as a series of seven papers in 2015 (Photochem. Photobiol. Sci., 2015, 14, 1-184). In the years in between, the EEAP produces less detailed and shorter Progress Reports of the relevant scientific findings. The most recent of these was for 2015 (Photochem. Photobiol. Sci., 2016, 15, 141-147). The present Progress Report for 2016 assesses some of the highlights and new insights with regard to the interactive nature of the direct and indirect effects of UV radiation, atmospheric processes, and climate change. The report is also published in (Photochem. Photobiol. Sci., 2017, DOI: 10.1039/c7pp90001e). The more detailed Quadrennial Assessment will be made available in 2018. The Parties to the Montreal Protocol are informed by three Panels of experts. One of these is the Environmental Effects Assessment Panel (EEAP), which deals with two focal issues. The first focus is the effects on increased UV radiation on human health, animals, plants, biogeochemistry, air quality, and materials. The second focus is on interactions between UV radiation and global climate change and how these may

Strong Quantum Size Effects in Pb(111) Thin Films Mediated by Anomalous Friedel Oscillations

Science.gov (United States)

Jia, Yu; Wu, Biao; Li, Chong; Einstein, T. L.; Weitering, H. H.; Zhang, Zhenyu

2010-08-01

Using first-principles calculations within density functional theory, we study Friedel oscillations (FOs) in the electron density at different metal surfaces and their influence on the lattice relaxation and stability of ultrathin metal films. We show that the FOs at the Pb(111) surface decay as 1/x with the distance x from the surface, different from the conventional 1/x2 power law at other metal surfaces. The underlying physical reason for this striking difference is tied to the strong nesting of the two different Fermi sheets along the Pb(111) direction. The interference of the strong FOs emanating from the two surfaces of a Pb(111) film, in turn, not only results in superoscillatory interlayer relaxations around the center of the film, but also determines its stability in the quantum regime. As a simple and generic picture, the present findings also explain why quantum size effects are exceptionally robust in Pb(111) films.

Electromagnetic processes in strong crystalline fields

CERN Multimedia

2007-01-01

We propose a number of new investigations on aspects of radiation from high energy electron and positron beams (10-300 GeV) in single crystals and amorphous targets. The common heading is radiation emission by electrons and positrons in strong electromagnetic fields, but as the setup is quite versatile, other related phenomena in radiation emission can be studied as well. The intent is to clarify the role of a number of important aspects of radiation in strong fields as e.g. observed in crystals. We propose to measure trident 'Klein-like' production in strong crystalline fields, 'crystalline undulator' radiation, 'sandwich' target phenomena, LPM suppression of pair production as well as axial and planar effects in contributions of spin to the radiation.

Environmental issues affecting CCT development

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Reidy, M. [U.S. House of Representatives, Washington, DC (United States)

1997-12-31

While no final legislative schedule has been set for the new Congress, two issues with strong environmental ramifications which are likely to affect the coal industry seem to top the list of closely watched debates in Washington -- the Environmental Protection Agency`s proposed new ozone and particulate matter standards and utility restructuring. The paper discusses the background of the proposed standards, public comment, the Congressional review of regulations, other legislative options, and utility restructuring.

Effects of substituting energy with capital on China's aggregated energy and environmental efficiency

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Yang Mian; Yang Fuxia; Chen Xingpeng

2011-01-01

Substituting energy with capital (SEC) in economic productions has become a common practice both for business owners and policy-makers to improve their energy and environmental efficiency. However, seldom previous studies on energy efficiency and/or environmental performance evaluation took this role into account. This paper aims to shed some light on the effects of SEC on China's aggregated energy and environmental efficiency (AEEE) within a parametric stochastic frontier analysis framework. Moreover, influencing factors of regional efficiency score are also discussed using a pooled regression model. The results indicate that SEC poses significant effects on improving China's AEEE, and this impact appears obvious regional variation that regions with lower efficiency scores hold more extensive potential to improve their AEEE by means of SEC. Furthermore, upgrading industrial structure and decreasing the proportion of coal in energy consumption make great sense to improve China's AEEE. - Highlights: → We examine the effects of substituting energy with capital on China's energy and environmental efficiency. → The efficiency value considering this substitution is higher than that without considering it. → Hebei and Shanxi hold the largest potential of energy saving and SO 2 emissions reduction. → China's energy and environmental efficiency is affected by its energy mix and industrial structure.

Environmental periodicity and the coexistence problem for two competing and dispersive species

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Elion-Mboussa, A.

1994-11-01

The dynamic behaviour of two competing and dispersive species in a heterogeneous space and periodically fluctuating environment is studied. Periodic environmental factors were incorporated into a non-linear reaction-diffusion model, through intrinsic demographic parameters of one of the two species sharing the same favourable space. Furthermore, it was assumed that the physical environmental factors do not have an effect on the growth rate of one of the species. An ecological example of these assumptions is a host- parasite system where parasite reproduction is strongly seasonal, while host populations remain insensitive to physical environmental factors that affect the parasite populations. However, the induced effect of physical environmental factors on the non-affected species was established by means of computer calculations. The periodic oscillations which over the time lead to competitive coexistence of both species with periodic forced oscillations have been shown. It was also shown that, in a periodic environment and under appropriate initial conditions, two competing and dispersive species can coexist when in a constant environment they could not coexist. (author). 25 refs, 12 figs

Robust estimates of environmental effects on population vital rates: an integrated capture–recapture model of seasonal brook trout growth, survival and movement in a stream network

Science.gov (United States)

Letcher, Benjamin H.; Schueller, Paul; Bassar, Ronald D.; Nislow, Keith H.; Coombs, Jason A.; Sakrejda, Krzysztof; Morrissey, Michael; Sigourney, Douglas B.; Whiteley, Andrew R.; O'Donnell, Matthew J.; Dubreuil, Todd L.

2015-01-01

Modelling the effects of environmental change on populations is a key challenge for ecologists, particularly as the pace of change increases. Currently, modelling efforts are limited by difficulties in establishing robust relationships between environmental drivers and population responses.We developed an integrated capture–recapture state-space model to estimate the effects of two key environmental drivers (stream flow and temperature) on demographic rates (body growth, movement and survival) using a long-term (11 years), high-resolution (individually tagged, sampled seasonally) data set of brook trout (Salvelinus fontinalis) from four sites in a stream network. Our integrated model provides an effective context within which to estimate environmental driver effects because it takes full advantage of data by estimating (latent) state values for missing observations, because it propagates uncertainty among model components and because it accounts for the major demographic rates and interactions that contribute to annual survival.We found that stream flow and temperature had strong effects on brook trout demography. Some effects, such as reduction in survival associated with low stream flow and high temperature during the summer season, were consistent across sites and age classes, suggesting that they may serve as robust indicators of vulnerability to environmental change. Other survival effects varied across ages, sites and seasons, indicating that flow and temperature may not be the primary drivers of survival in those cases. Flow and temperature also affected body growth rates; these responses were consistent across sites but differed dramatically between age classes and seasons. Finally, we found that tributary and mainstem sites responded differently to variation in flow and temperature.Annual survival (combination of survival and body growth across seasons) was insensitive to body growth and was most sensitive to flow (positive) and temperature (negative

Category mistakes: A barrier to effective environmental management.

Science.gov (United States)

Wallace, Ken J; Jago, Mark

2017-09-01

How entities, the things that exist, are defined and categorised affects all aspects of environmental management including technical descriptions, quantitative analyses, participatory processes, planning, and decisions. Consequently, ambiguous definitions and wrongly assigning entities to categories, referred to as category mistakes, are barriers to effective management. Confusion caused by treating the term 'biodiversity' variously as the property of an area, the biota of an area, and a preferred end state (a value) - quite different categories of entities - is one example. To overcome such difficulties, we develop and define four entity categories - elements, processes, properties, and values - and two derived categories - states and systems. We argue that adoption of these categories and definitions will significantly improve environmental communication and analysis, and thus strengthen planning and decision-making. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

The diffusion of patented oil and gas technology with environmental uses: A forward patent citation analysis

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Duch-Brown, Néstor; Costa-Campi, María Teresa

2015-01-01

Relevant advances in the mitigation of environmental impact could be obtained by the appropriate diffusion of existing environmental technologies. In this paper, we look at the diffusion of knowledge related to environmental technologies developed within the oil and gas industry. To assess knowledge spillovers from oil and gas inventions as a measure of technology diffusion, we rely on forward patent citations methodology. Results show that there is a strong likelihood that the citing patent will be eventually linked to environmental technologies if the original oil and gas invention has already environmental uses. Moreover, both intra and intersectoral spillovers produce a “turnabout” effect, meaning that citing patents show the opposite quality level of the cited patent. Our results support the idea that more sector-specific environmental policies, with an emphasis on diffusion, would significantly improve the use of environmental technologies developed within the oil and gas industry. -- Highlights: •Knowledge spillovers from oil and gas inventions are of an intrasectoral nature. •Environmental uses in original patents diffuse to patents with environmental uses. •The “turnabout” effect converts low quality patents into high quality citing patents. •Diffusion of oil and gas inventions need more ad hoc instruments

Environmental dosimetry

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Gold, R.

1977-01-01

For more than 60 years, natural radiation has offered broad opportunities for basic research as evidenced by many fundamental discoveries. Within the last decade, however, dramatic changes have occurred in the motivation and direction of this research. The urgent need for economical energy sources entailing acceptably low levels of environmental impact has compelled the applied aspects of our radiation environment to become overriding considerations. It is within this general framework that state-of-the-art environmental dosimetry techniques are reviewed. Although applied motivation and relevance underscores the current milieu for both reactor and environmental dosimetry, a perhaps even more unifying force is the broad similarity of reactor and environmental radiation fields. In this review, a comparison of these two mixed radiation fields is presented stressing the underlying similarities that exist. On this basis, the evolution of a strong inner bond between dosimetry methods for both reactor and environmental radiation fields is described. The existence of this bond will be illustrated using representative examples of observed spectra. Dosimetry methods of particularly high applicability for both of these fields are described. Special emphasis is placed on techniques of high sensitivity and absolute accuracy which are capable of resolving the components of these mixed radiation fields

Understanding and valuing environmental issues: the effects of availability and anchoring on judgment.

Science.gov (United States)

van der Pligt, J; van Schie, E C; Hoevenagel, R

1998-01-01

This paper addresses the effects of availability and anchoring-and-adjustment on people's beliefs and values concerning environmental issues. The first three studies focus on lay people's perceptions of the causes of large scale environmental risks, the second series of three studies deals with how people value environmental goods and how much they are prepared to pay to mitigate environmental risks. In studies 1-3 we investigate the effects of availability and anchoring-and-adjustment on estimating the contribution of various factors to large scale environmental risks. Highly complex risks such as acid rain and global warming tend to be associated with multiple causes, and our results show that estimating the role of these causes is clearly affected by availability and anchoring-and-adjustment. Both have sizeable effects and persist over time. Moreover, corrective procedures only seem to have a limited effect. Availability and anchoring-and-adjustment not only play a role in judging the possible causes of risks; they also play a role in research attempting to assess the public's willingness to pay (WTP) to protect our environment. The outcomes of WTP surveys are often used as a tool to help policy decision making. In the second part of this article we present three studies on this issue. Results provide further evidence of the impact of the two heuristics on the outcomes of WTP research. Implications for research and practice are briefly discussed.

Environmental Public Health Tracking: a cost-effective system for characterizing the sources, distribution and public health impacts of environmental hazards.

Science.gov (United States)

Saunders, P J; Middleton, J D; Rudge, G

2017-09-01

The contemporary environment is a complex of interactions between physical, biological, socio-economic systems with major impacts on public health. However, gaps in our understanding of the causes, extent and distribution of these effects remain. The public health community in Sandwell West Midlands has collaborated to successfully develop, pilot and establish the first Environmental Public Health Tracking (EPHT) programme in Europe to address this 'environmental health gap' through systematically linking data on environmental hazards, exposures and diseases. Existing networks of environmental, health and regulatory agencies developed a suite of innovative methods to routinely share, integrate and analyse data on hazards, exposures and health outcomes to inform interventions. Effective data sharing and horizon scanning systems have been established, novel statistical methods piloted, plausible associations framed and tested, and targeted interventions informed by local concerns applied. These have influenced changes in public health practice. EPHT is a powerful tool for identifying and addressing the key environmental public health impacts at a local level. Sandwell's experience demonstrates that it can be established and operated at virtually no cost. The transfer of National Health Service epidemiological skills to local authorities in 2013 provides an opportunity to expand the programme to fully exploit its potential. © The Author 2016. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of Faculty of Public Health. All rights reserved. For permissions, please e-mail: journals.permissions@oup.com

Empty creditors and strong shareholders: The real effects of credit risk trading. Second draft

OpenAIRE

Colonnello, Stefano; Efing, Matthias; Zucchi, Francesca

2016-01-01

Credit derivatives give creditors the possibility to transfer debt cash flow rights to other market participants while retaining control rights. We use the market for credit default swaps (CDSs) as a laboratory to show that the real effects of such debt unbundling crucially hinge on shareholder bargaining power. We find that creditors buy more CDS protection when facing strong shareholders to secure themselves a valuable outside option in distressed renegotiations. After the start of CDS trad...

Effects of copper ions on the characteristics of egg white gel induced by strong alkali.

Science.gov (United States)

Shao, Yaoyao; Zhao, Yan; Xu, Mingsheng; Chen, Zhangyi; Wang, Shuzhen; Tu, Yonggang

2017-09-01

This study investigated the effects of copper ions on egg white (EW) gel induced by strong alkali. Changes in gel characteristics were examined through texture profile analysis, scanning electron microscopy (SEM), and chemical methods. The value of gel strength reached its maximum when 0.1% copper ions was added. However, the lowest cohesiveness values were observed at 0.1%. The springiness of gel without copper ions was significantly greater than the gel with copper ions added. SEM results illustrated that the low concentration of copper ions contributes to a dense and uniform gel network, and an open matrix was formed at 0.4%. The free and total sulphhydryl group content in the egg white protein gel significantly decreased with the increased copper. The increase of copper ions left the contents of ionic and hydrogen bonds basically unchanged, hydrophobic interaction presented an increasing trend, and the disulfide bond exhibited a completely opposite change. The change of surface hydrophobicity proved that the main binding force of copper induced gel was hydrophobic interaction. However, copper ions had no effect on the protein component of the gels. Generally, a low level of copper ions facilitates protein-protein association, which is involved in the characteristics of gels. Instead, high ionic strength had a negative effect on gels induced by strong alkali. © 2017 Poultry Science Association Inc.

Strongly coupled inorganic/nanocarbon hybrid materials for advanced electrocatalysis.

Science.gov (United States)

Liang, Yongye; Li, Yanguang; Wang, Hailiang; Dai, Hongjie

2013-02-13

Electrochemical systems, such as fuel cell and water splitting devices, represent some of the most efficient and environmentally friendly technologies for energy conversion and storage. Electrocatalysts play key roles in the chemical processes but often limit the performance of the entire systems due to insufficient activity, lifetime, or high cost. It has been a long-standing challenge to develop efficient and durable electrocatalysts at low cost. In this Perspective, we present our recent efforts in developing strongly coupled inorganic/nanocarbon hybrid materials to improve the electrocatalytic activities and stability of inorganic metal oxides, hydroxides, sulfides, and metal-nitrogen complexes. The hybrid materials are synthesized by direct nucleation, growth, and anchoring of inorganic nanomaterials on the functional groups of oxidized nanocarbon substrates including graphene and carbon nanotubes. This approach affords strong chemical attachment and electrical coupling between the electrocatalytic nanoparticles and nanocarbon, leading to nonprecious metal-based electrocatalysts with improved activity and durability for the oxygen reduction reaction for fuel cells and chlor-alkali catalysis, oxygen evolution reaction, and hydrogen evolution reaction. X-ray absorption near-edge structure and scanning transmission electron microscopy are employed to characterize the hybrids materials and reveal the coupling effects between inorganic nanomaterials and nanocarbon substrates. Z-contrast imaging and electron energy loss spectroscopy at single atom level are performed to investigate the nature of catalytic sites on ultrathin graphene sheets. Nanocarbon-based hybrid materials may present new opportunities for the development of electrocatalysts meeting the requirements of activity, durability, and cost for large-scale electrochemical applications.

Assessing environmental effects on organic materials in cultural heritage

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Boyatzis, Stamatis; Ioakimoglou, Eleni; Facorellis, Yorgos

2015-01-01

Under the auspices of INVENVORG (Thales Research Funding Program – NRSF), and within a holistic approach for assessing environmental effects on organic materials in cultural heritage (CH) artefacts, the effect of artificial ageing on elemental and molecular damage and their effects...... on the structural integrity of bone was investigated. Metapodial roe deer bone samples were artificially aged under humidity and atmospheres of sulfur and nitrogen oxides in room temperature. Elemental micro-analysis of bone material through SEM-EDX and molecular investigations through FTIR and Raman spectroscopy...

Genetic and Environmental Effects on Vocal Symptoms and Their Intercorrelations

Science.gov (United States)

Nybacka, Ida; Simberg, Susanna; Santtila, Pekka; Sala, Eeva; Sandnabba, N. Kenneth

2012-01-01

Purpose: Recently, Simberg et al. (2009) found genetic effects on a composite variable consisting of 6 vocal symptom items measuring dysphonia. The purpose of the present study was to determine genetic and environmental effects on the individual vocal symptoms in a population-based sample of Finnish twins. Method: The sample comprised 1,728 twins…

Guidance for modeling causes and effects in environmental problem solving

Science.gov (United States)

Armour, Carl L.; Williamson, Samuel C.

1988-01-01

Environmental problems are difficult to solve because their causes and effects are not easily understood. When attempts are made to analyze causes and effects, the principal challenge is organization of information into a framework that is logical, technically defensible, and easy to understand and communicate. When decisionmakers attempt to solve complex problems before an adequate cause and effect analysis is performed there are serious risks. These risks include: greater reliance on subjective reasoning, lessened chance for scoping an effective problem solving approach, impaired recognition of the need for supplemental information to attain understanding, increased chance for making unsound decisions, and lessened chance for gaining approval and financial support for a program/ Cause and effect relationships can be modeled. This type of modeling has been applied to various environmental problems, including cumulative impact assessment (Dames and Moore 1981; Meehan and Weber 1985; Williamson et al. 1987; Raley et al. 1988) and evaluation of effects of quarrying (Sheate 1986). This guidance for field users was written because of the current interest in documenting cause-effect logic as a part of ecological problem solving. Principal literature sources relating to the modeling approach are: Riggs and Inouye (1975a, b), Erickson (1981), and United States Office of Personnel Management (1986).

Strong ground motion prediction using virtual earthquakes.

Science.gov (United States)

Denolle, M A; Dunham, E M; Prieto, G A; Beroza, G C

2014-01-24

Sedimentary basins increase the damaging effects of earthquakes by trapping and amplifying seismic waves. Simulations of seismic wave propagation in sedimentary basins capture this effect; however, there exists no method to validate these results for earthquakes that have not yet occurred. We present a new approach for ground motion prediction that uses the ambient seismic field. We apply our method to a suite of magnitude 7 scenario earthquakes on the southern San Andreas fault and compare our ground motion predictions with simulations. Both methods find strong amplification and coupling of source and structure effects, but they predict substantially different shaking patterns across the Los Angeles Basin. The virtual earthquake approach provides a new approach for predicting long-period strong ground motion.

PREFACE: Strongly correlated electron systems Strongly correlated electron systems

Science.gov (United States)

Saxena, Siddharth S.; Littlewood, P. B.

2012-07-01

This special section is dedicated to the Strongly Correlated Electron Systems Conference (SCES) 2011, which was held from 29 August-3 September 2011, in Cambridge, UK. SCES'2011 is dedicated to 100 years of superconductivity and covers a range of topics in the area of strongly correlated systems. The correlated electronic and magnetic materials featured include f-electron based heavy fermion intermetallics and d-electron based transition metal compounds. The selected papers derived from invited presentations seek to deepen our understanding of the rich physical phenomena that arise from correlation effects. The focus is on quantum phase transitions, non-Fermi liquid phenomena, quantum magnetism, unconventional superconductivity and metal-insulator transitions. Both experimental and theoretical work is presented. Based on fundamental advances in the understanding of electronic materials, much of 20th century materials physics was driven by miniaturisation and integration in the electronics industry to the current generation of nanometre scale devices. The achievements of this industry have brought unprecedented advances to society and well-being, and no doubt there is much further to go—note that this progress is founded on investments and studies in the fundamentals of condensed matter physics from more than 50 years ago. Nevertheless, the defining challenges for the 21st century will lie in the discovery in science, and deployment through engineering, of technologies that can deliver the scale needed to have an impact on the sustainability agenda. Thus the big developments in nanotechnology may lie not in the pursuit of yet smaller transistors, but in the design of new structures that can revolutionise the performance of solar cells, batteries, fuel cells, light-weight structural materials, refrigeration, water purification, etc. The science presented in the papers of this special section also highlights the underlying interest in energy-dense materials, which

Efficacy and cost-effectiveness of environmental management for malaria control.

Science.gov (United States)

Utzinger, J; Tozan, Y; Singer, B H

2001-09-01

Roll back malaria (RBM) aims at halving the current burden of the disease by the year 2010. The focus is on sub-Saharan Africa, and it is proposed to implement efficacious and cost-effective control strategies. But the evidence base of such information is scarce, and a notable missing element is the discussion of the potential of environmental management. We reviewed the literature and identified multiple malaria control programmes that incorporated environmental management as the central feature. Prominent among them are programmes launched in 1929 and implemented for two decades at copper mining communities in Zambia. The full package of control measures consisted of vegetation clearance, modification of river boundaries, draining swamps, oil application to open water bodies and house screening. Part of the population also was given quinine and was sleeping under mosquito nets. Monthly malaria incidence rates and vector densities were used for surveillance and adaptive tuning of the environmental management strategies to achieve a high level of performance. Within 3-5 years, malaria-related mortality, morbidity and incidence rates were reduced by 70-95%. Over the entire 20 years of implementation, the programme had averted an estimated 4173 deaths and 161,205 malaria attacks. The estimated costs per death and malaria attack averted were US$ 858 and US$ 22.20, respectively. Over the initial 3-5 years start-up period, analogous to the short-duration of cost-effectiveness analyses of current studies, we estimated that the costs per disability adjusted life year (DALY) averted were US$ 524-591. However, the strategy has a track record of becoming cost-effective in the longer term, as maintenance costs were much lower: US$ 22-92 per DALY averted. In view of fewer adverse ecological effects, increased sustainability and better uses of local resources and knowledge, environmental management--integrated with pharmacological, insecticidal and bednet interventions

Income, inequality, and pollution. A reassessment of the environmental Kuznets Curve

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Torras, Mariano; Boyce, James K.

1998-01-01

Improvements in some measures of air and water quality can accompany rising per capita income, as illustrated by the so-called environmental Kuznets curve. For pollution variables which show such a relationship, we hypothesize that a more equitable distribution of power contributes to these outcomes, by enhancing the influence on policy of those who bear the costs of pollution, relative to the influence of those who benefit from pollution-generating activities. An empirical analysis of international variations in seven indicators of air and water quality supports this hypothesis. Literacy, political rights, and civil liberties are found to have particularly strong effects on environmental quality in low-income countries

Global environmental change effects on plant community composition trajectories depend upon management legacies

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Perring, Michael P.; Bernhardt-Römermann, Markus; Baeten, Lander; Midolo, Gabriele; Blondeel, Haben; Depauw, Leen; Landuyt, Dries; Maes, Sybryn L.; Lombaerde, De Emiel; Carón, Maria Mercedes; Vellend, Mark; Brunet, Jörg; Chudomelová, Markéta; Decocq, Guillaume; Diekmann, Martin; Dirnböck, Thomas; Dörfler, Inken; Durak, Tomasz; Frenne, De Pieter; Gilliam, Frank S.; Hédl, Radim; Heinken, Thilo; Hommel, Patrick; Jaroszewicz, Bogdan; Kirby, Keith J.; Kopecký, Martin; Lenoir, Jonathan; Li, Daijiang; Máliš, František; Mitchell, Fraser J.G.; Naaf, Tobias; Newman, Miles; Petřík, Petr; Reczyńska, Kamila; Schmidt, Wolfgang; Standovár, Tibor; Świerkosz, Krzysztof; Calster, Van Hans; Vild, Ondřej; Wagner, Eva Rosa; Wulf, Monika; Verheyen, Kris

2018-01-01

The contemporary state of functional traits and species richness in plant communities depends on legacy effects of past disturbances. Whether temporal responses of community properties to current environmental changes are altered by such legacies is, however, unknown. We expect global environmental

Users' Requirements for Environmental Effects From Innovative Nuclear Energy Systems and Their Fuel Cycles

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Carreter, M.; Gray, M.; Falck, E.; Bonne, A.; Bell, M.

2002-01-01

The objective of the International Project on Innovative Nuclear Reactors and Fuel Cycles (INPRO) is to support the safe, sustainable, economic and proliferation resistant use of nuclear technology to meet the needs of the 21. century. The first part of the project focusses on the development of an understanding of the requirements of possible users of innovative concepts for reactors and fuel cycle applications. This paper reports progress made on the identification of user requirements as they relate to the environment and environmental protection. The user requirements being formulated are intended to limit adverse environmental effects from the different facilities involved in the nuclear fuel cycles to be well below maximum acceptable levels. To determine if the user requirements are met, it is necessary to identify those factors that are relevant to assessment of the environmental performance of innovative nuclear systems. To this effect, Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) and the Material Flow accounting (MFA) methodologies are being appraised for the suitability for application. This paper develops and provides the rationale for the 'users' requirements' as they are currently defined. Existing Environmental Impact Assessment and Materials Flow Accounting methodologies that can be applied to determine whether or not innovative technologies conform to the User Requirements are briefly described. It is concluded that after establishing fundamental principles, it is possible to formulate sets of general and specific users' requirements against which, the potential adverse environmental effects to be expected from innovative nuclear energy systems (INES) can be assessed. The application of these users' requirements should keep the adverse environmental effects from INES's within acceptable limits. (authors)

Environmental effects of marine energy development around the world. Annex IV Final Report

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Copping, Andrea; Hanna, Luke; Whiting, Johnathan; Geerlofs, Simon; Grear, Molly; Blake, Kara [Pacific Northwest National Laboratory, Richland, WA (United States); Coffey, Anna; Massaua, Meghan; Brown-Saracino, Jocelyn; Battey, Hoyt [US Dept. of Energy, Washington, DC (United States)

2013-01-15

Annex IV is an international collaborative project to examine the environmental effects of marine energy devices among countries through the International Energy Agency’s Ocean Energy Systems Initiative (OES). The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) serves as the Operating Agent for the Annex, in partnership with the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM; formerly the Minerals Management Service), the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC), and National Oceanographic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA). Numerous ocean energy technologies and devices are being developed around the world, and the few data that exist about the environmental effects of these technologies are dispersed among countries and developers. The purpose of Annex IV is to facilitate efficient government oversight of the development of ocean energy systems by compiling and disseminating information about the potential environmental effects of marine energy technologies and to identify methods of monitoring for these effects. Beginning in 2010, this three-year effort produced a publicly available searchable online database of environmental effects information (Tethys). It houses scientific literature pertaining to the environmental effects of marine energy systems, as well as metadata on international ocean energy projects and research studies. Two experts’ workshops were held in Dublin, Ireland (September 2010 and October 2012) to engage with international researchers, developers, and regulators on the scope and outcomes of the Annex IV project. Metadata and information stored in the Tethys database and feedback obtained from the two experts’ workshops were used as resources in the development of this report. This Annex IV final report contains three case studies of specific interactions of marine energy devices with the marine environment that survey, compile, and analyze the best available information in one coherent location. These case studies address 1) the physical interactions

General theory for environmental effects on (vertical) electronic excitation energies.

Science.gov (United States)

Schwabe, Tobias

2016-10-21

Almost 70 years ago, the first theoretical model for environmental effects on electronic excitation energies has been derived. Since then, several different interpretations and refined models have been proposed for the perichromic shift of a chromophore due to its surrounding medium. Some of these models are contradictory. Here, the contributing terms are derived within the framework of long-range perturbation theory with the least approximations so far. The derivation is based on a state-specific interpretation of the interaction energies and all terms can be identified with individual properties of either the chromophore or the surroundings, respectively. Further, the much debated contribution due to transition moments coupled to the environment can be verified in the form of a non-resonant excitonic coupling to the dynamic polarizabilities in the environment. These general insights should clarify discussions and interpretations of environmental effects on electronic excitations and should foster the development of new models for the computation of these effects.

Designing Base and Subbase to Resist Environmental Effects on Pavements

Science.gov (United States)

2018-02-02

MnDOTs current pavement thickness design procedures do not characterize the effects of subgrade soil frost susceptibility. Previous research indicates frost action is the most severe environmental factor on pavement performance. The most accepted ...

Environmental security in North-West Russia