Sample records for understand complex environmental
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Comparison of Aspergillus species-complexes detected in different environmental settings
Sabino, Raquel; Viegas, Carla; Veríssimo, Carla; Clemons, K. V.; Stevens, D. A.
2014-01-01
Purpose: Samples from different environmental sources were screened for the presence of Aspergillus, and the distribution of the different species-complexes was determined in order to understand differences among that distribution in the several environmental sources and which of these species complexes are present in specific environmental settings. Methods: Four distinct environments (beaches, poultries, swineries and hospital) were studied and analyzed for which Aspergillus complexes were ...
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How to make a complex story understandable. Communication on nitrogen
International Nuclear Information System (INIS)
Bleeker, A.; Hensen, A.; Erisman, J.W.
2011-01-01
Understanding is the first step towards solving the nitrogen problem. Various applications have been developed to gain insight in the complex interactions between the nitrogen cycle and the social-economic and environmental aspects. Experience has learned that many users have not only gained a clearer picture of the urgency and complexity of the problem; now they also have options for dealing with the nitrogen problem. [nl
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Study of Environmental Data Complexity using Extreme Learning Machine
Leuenberger, Michael; Kanevski, Mikhail
2017-04-01
The main goals of environmental data science using machine learning algorithm deal, in a broad sense, around the calibration, the prediction and the visualization of hidden relationship between input and output variables. In order to optimize the models and to understand the phenomenon under study, the characterization of the complexity (at different levels) should be taken into account. Therefore, the identification of the linear or non-linear behavior between input and output variables adds valuable information for the knowledge of the phenomenon complexity. The present research highlights and investigates the different issues that can occur when identifying the complexity (linear/non-linear) of environmental data using machine learning algorithm. In particular, the main attention is paid to the description of a self-consistent methodology for the use of Extreme Learning Machines (ELM, Huang et al., 2006), which recently gained a great popularity. By applying two ELM models (with linear and non-linear activation functions) and by comparing their efficiency, quantification of the linearity can be evaluated. The considered approach is accompanied by simulated and real high dimensional and multivariate data case studies. In conclusion, the current challenges and future development in complexity quantification using environmental data mining are discussed. References - Huang, G.-B., Zhu, Q.-Y., Siew, C.-K., 2006. Extreme learning machine: theory and applications. Neurocomputing 70 (1-3), 489-501. - Kanevski, M., Pozdnoukhov, A., Timonin, V., 2009. Machine Learning for Spatial Environmental Data. EPFL Press; Lausanne, Switzerland, p.392. - Leuenberger, M., Kanevski, M., 2015. Extreme Learning Machines for spatial environmental data. Computers and Geosciences 85, 64-73.
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Bacterial biodiversity-ecosystem functioning relations are modified by environmental complexity.
Langenheder, Silke; Bulling, Mark T; Solan, Martin; Prosser, James I
2010-05-26
With the recognition that environmental change resulting from anthropogenic activities is causing a global decline in biodiversity, much attention has been devoted to understanding how changes in biodiversity may alter levels of ecosystem functioning. Although environmental complexity has long been recognised as a major driving force in evolutionary processes, it has only recently been incorporated into biodiversity-ecosystem functioning investigations. Environmental complexity is expected to strengthen the positive effect of species richness on ecosystem functioning, mainly because it leads to stronger complementarity effects, such as resource partitioning and facilitative interactions among species when the number of available resource increases. Here we implemented an experiment to test the combined effect of species richness and environmental complexity, more specifically, resource richness on ecosystem functioning over time. We show, using all possible combinations of species within a bacterial community consisting of six species, and all possible combinations of three substrates, that diversity-functioning (metabolic activity) relationships change over time from linear to saturated. This was probably caused by a combination of limited complementarity effects and negative interactions among competing species as the experiment progressed. Even though species richness and resource richness both enhanced ecosystem functioning, they did so independently from each other. Instead there were complex interactions between particular species and substrate combinations. Our study shows clearly that both species richness and environmental complexity increase ecosystem functioning. The finding that there was no direct interaction between these two factors, but that instead rather complex interactions between combinations of certain species and resources underlie positive biodiversity ecosystem functioning relationships, suggests that detailed knowledge of how individual
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Bacterial biodiversity-ecosystem functioning relations are modified by environmental complexity.
Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)
Silke Langenheder
Full Text Available BACKGROUND: With the recognition that environmental change resulting from anthropogenic activities is causing a global decline in biodiversity, much attention has been devoted to understanding how changes in biodiversity may alter levels of ecosystem functioning. Although environmental complexity has long been recognised as a major driving force in evolutionary processes, it has only recently been incorporated into biodiversity-ecosystem functioning investigations. Environmental complexity is expected to strengthen the positive effect of species richness on ecosystem functioning, mainly because it leads to stronger complementarity effects, such as resource partitioning and facilitative interactions among species when the number of available resource increases. METHODOLOGY/PRINCIPAL FINDINGS: Here we implemented an experiment to test the combined effect of species richness and environmental complexity, more specifically, resource richness on ecosystem functioning over time. We show, using all possible combinations of species within a bacterial community consisting of six species, and all possible combinations of three substrates, that diversity-functioning (metabolic activity relationships change over time from linear to saturated. This was probably caused by a combination of limited complementarity effects and negative interactions among competing species as the experiment progressed. Even though species richness and resource richness both enhanced ecosystem functioning, they did so independently from each other. Instead there were complex interactions between particular species and substrate combinations. CONCLUSIONS/SIGNIFICANCE: Our study shows clearly that both species richness and environmental complexity increase ecosystem functioning. The finding that there was no direct interaction between these two factors, but that instead rather complex interactions between combinations of certain species and resources underlie positive biodiversity
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Hierarchy and Interactions in Environmental Interfaces Regarded as Biophysical Complex Systems
Mihailovic, Dragutin T.; Balaz, Igor
The field of environmental sciences is abundant with various interfaces and is the right place for the application of new fundamental approaches leading towards a better understanding of environmental phenomena. For example, following the definition of environmental interface by Mihailovic and Balaž [23], such interface can be placed between: human or animal bodies and surrounding air, aquatic species and water and air around them, and natural or artificially built surfaces (vegetation, ice, snow, barren soil, water, urban communities) and the atmosphere. Complex environmental interface systems are open and hierarchically organised, interactions between their constituent parts are nonlinear, and the interaction with the surrounding environment is noisy. These systems are therefore very sensitive to initial conditions, deterministic external perturbations and random fluctuations always present in nature. The study of noisy non-equilibrium processes is fundamental for modelling the dynamics of environmental interface systems and for understanding the mechanisms of spatio-temporal pattern formation in contemporary environmental sciences, particularly in environmental fluid mechanics. In modelling complex biophysical systems one of the main tasks is to successfully create an operative interface with the external environment. It should provide a robust and prompt translation of the vast diversity of external physical and/or chemical changes into a set of signals, which are "understandable" for an organism. Although the establishment of organisation in any system is of crucial importance for its functioning, it should not be forgotten that in biophysical systems we deal with real-life problems where a number of other conditions should be reached in order to put the system to work. One of them is the proper supply of the system by the energy. Therefore, we will investigate an aspect of dynamics of energy flow based on the energy balance equation. The energy as well as
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Environmental mineralogy - Understanding element behavior in ecosystems
International Nuclear Information System (INIS)
Brown Jr, G.E.; Calas, G.
2011-01-01
Environmental Mineralogy has developed over the past decade in response to the recognition that minerals are linked in many important ways with the global ecosystem. Minerals are the main repositories of the chemical elements in Earth's crust and thus are the main sources of elements needed for the development of civilization, contaminant and pollutant elements that impact global and local ecosystems, and elements that are essential plant nutrients. These elements are released from minerals through natural processes, such as chemical weathering, and anthropogenic activities, such as mining and energy production, agriculture and industrial activities, and careless waste disposal. Minerals also play key roles in the biogeochemical cycling of the elements, sequestering elements and releasing them as the primary minerals in crustal rocks undergo various structural and compositional transformations in response to physical, chemical, and biological processes that produce secondary minerals and soils. These processes have resulted in the release of toxic elements such as arsenic in groundwater aquifers, which is having a major impact on the health of millions of people in South and Southeast Asia. The interfaces between mineral surfaces and aqueous solutions are the locations of most chemical reactions that control the composition of the natural environment, including the composition of natural waters. The nuclear fuel cycle, from uranium mining to the disposition of high-level nuclear waste, is also intimately related to minerals. A fundamental understanding of these processes requires molecular-scale information about minerals, their bulk structures and properties such as solubility, their surfaces, and their interactions with aqueous solutions, atmospheric and soil gases, natural organic matter, and biological organisms. Gaining this understanding is further complicated by the presence of natural, incidental, and manufactured nano-particles in the environment, which
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Advances in complex societal, environmental and engineered systems
Essaaidi, Mohammad
2017-01-01
This book addresses recent technological progress that has led to an increased complexity in many natural and artificial systems. The resulting complexity research due to the emergence of new properties and spatio-temporal interactions among a large number of system elements - and between the system and its environment - is the primary focus of this text. This volume is divided into three parts: Part one focuses on societal and ecological systems, Part two deals with approaches for understanding, modeling, predicting and mastering socio-technical systems, and Part three includes real-life examples. Each chapter has its own special features; it is a self-contained contribution of distinguished experts working on different fields of science and technology relevant to the study of complex systems. Advances in Complex Systems of Contemporary Reality: Societal, Environmental and Engineered Systems will provide postgraduate students, researchers and managers with qualitative and quantitative methods for handling th...
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Simple, complex and hyper-complex understanding - enhanced sensitivity in observation of information
DEFF Research Database (Denmark)
Bering Keiding, Tina
for construction and analysis of empirical information. A quick overview on empirical research drawing on Luhmann reveals a diverse complex of analytical strategies and empirical methods. Despite differences between strategies and methods they have in common that understanding of uttered information is crucial...... in their production of empirically founded knowledge. However research generally seems to pay more attention to production of uttered information than to selection of understanding. The aim of this contribution is to sketch out a suggestion to how selection of understanding can be systematized in order to produce...... enhanced transparency in selection of understanding as well as enhanced sensitivity and definition in dept. The contribution suggest that we distinguish between three types of understanding; simple, complex and hyper-complex understanding. Simple understanding is the simultaneous selection of understanding...
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Addressing Complexity in Environmental Management and Governance
Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)
Sabrina Kirschke
2017-06-01
Full Text Available Governance for complex problem solving has been increasingly discussed in environmental sustainability research. Above all, researchers continuously observe that sustainability problems are complex or “wicked”, and suggest participatory models to address these problems in practice. In order to add to this debate, this study suggests a more differentiated theoretical approach to define governance for complex environmental problem solving than in previous studies. The approach consists of two vital steps: First, we operationalize complexity and define management strategies for solving environmental sustainability problems based on findings from psychology research. Second, we identify governance strategies that facilitate these management strategies. Linking those strategies suggests that the role of diverse institutions, actors, and interactions differs for five key dimensions of complexity: goals, variables, dynamics, interconnections, and informational uncertainty. The results strengthen systematic analyses of environmental sustainability problems in both theory and practice.
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Understanding the development of international environmental agreements
DEFF Research Database (Denmark)
Stærdahl, Jens
There are many different theoretical schools concerned with how international regimes develop, and each supplies its own interpretation focusing on one or a few aspects of the process. Such ‘one shot’ explanations may be fruitful for scientific debate, but less useful as conceptual frameworks...... for practitioners and planners manoeuvring in a complex world. On the basis of a review of selected theories of international and environmental regulation, this article initiates the development of a conceptual framework for understanding the development of internationalenvironmental agreements. The point...... of departure for developing the model is the actor-structure debate within social science and theory of international relations. Based on critical realism, a framework is developed specifying the relation between collective action problem situations and negotiation situations. It is argued that the main...
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Doganca Kucuk, Zerrin; Saysel, Ali Kerem
2018-01-01
A systems-based classroom intervention on environmental education was designed for seventh grade students; the results were evaluated to see its impact on the development of systems thinking skills and standard science achievement and whether the systems approach is a more effective way to teach environmental issues that are dynamic and complex. A…
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Understanding leadership in the environmental sciences
Evans, L.; Hicks, C.; Cohen, P.; Case, P.; Prideaux, M.; Mills, D.
2015-01-01
Leadership is often assumed, intuitively, to be an important driver of sustainable development. To understand how leadership is conceptualised and analysed in the environmental sciences and to discover what this research says about leadership outcomes, we conducted a review of environmental leadership research over the last ten years. We find that much of the environmental leadership literature we reviewed focuses on a few key individuals and desirable leadership competencies. It also reports...
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Environmental problems in the nuclear weapons complex
International Nuclear Information System (INIS)
Fultz, K.O.
1989-04-01
This paper provide the authors' views on the environmental problems facing the Department of Energy. Testimony is based on a large body of work, over 50 reports and testimonies since 1981, on environmental, safety, and health aspects of DOE's nuclear weapons complex. This work has shown that the complex faces a wide variety of serious problem areas including aging facilities, safety concerns which have shut down DOE's production reactors, and environmental cleanup
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Actinides and environmental interfaces: striving for molecular-level understanding
International Nuclear Information System (INIS)
Heino Nitsche
2005-01-01
Actinides can undergo a variety of complex chemical reactions in the environment. In addition to the formation of solid precipitates, colloids and dissolved solution species common to aqueous systems, actinide ions can interact with the surrounding geo and biomedia to change oxidation states or sorb on surfaces and colloids. The rate of migration is determined by aqueous solubility, and interactions with solid surfaces such as minerals, soils, natural organic matter, and soil microorganisms Sorption of aqueous actinide species on biological and geological matrices can be quantitatively described by a surface complexation or site-binding model. The disadvantage of this model is the difficulty in the experimental determination of the model parameters and surface reaction constants. Usually, a set of surface reactions and species are proposed based on knowledge of the solution speciation of the solute, and the reaction constants are usually derived by fitting computer-calculated absorption curves to experimental data. Because this process typically involves a large number of potentially adjustable parameters, it is likely to lead to non-unique parameter fitting and does not always result in a consistent set of parameters for the same systems. A fundamental molecular-level understanding of sorption processes of actinides on environmental surfaces is required to better understand and predict their transport behavior in nature. Several different surface spectroscopic techniques have been applied to the characterization of the adsorbed species and surface reactions and a direct determination of the sorbed species and surface reactions has become possible. The non-linear optical techniques of second harmonic and sum frequency generation (SHG and SFG) are ideally suited to study surfaces and interfaces of mineral oxides, biosurfactants and biopolymers, organic adlayers adsorbed on solid/mineral surfaces and soil organic matter, including humic and fulvic acids. Resonant
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Improved understanding of protein complex offers insight into DNA
Summer Science Writing Internship Improved understanding of protein complex offers insight into DNA clearer understanding of the origin recognition complex (ORC) - a protein complex that directs DNA replication - through its crystal structure offers new insight into fundamental mechanisms of DNA replication
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Parametric Linear Hybrid Automata for Complex Environmental Systems Modeling
Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)
Samar Hayat Khan Tareen
2015-07-01
Full Text Available Environmental systems, whether they be weather patterns or predator-prey relationships, are dependent on a number of different variables, each directly or indirectly affecting the system at large. Since not all of these factors are known, these systems take on non-linear dynamics, making it difficult to accurately predict meaningful behavioral trends far into the future. However, such dynamics do not warrant complete ignorance of different efforts to understand and model close approximations of these systems. Towards this end, we have applied a logical modeling approach to model and analyze the behavioral trends and systematic trajectories that these systems exhibit without delving into their quantification. This approach, formalized by René Thomas for discrete logical modeling of Biological Regulatory Networks (BRNs and further extended in our previous studies as parametric biological linear hybrid automata (Bio-LHA, has been previously employed for the analyses of different molecular regulatory interactions occurring across various cells and microbial species. As relationships between different interacting components of a system can be simplified as positive or negative influences, we can employ the Bio-LHA framework to represent different components of the environmental system as positive or negative feedbacks. In the present study, we highlight the benefits of hybrid (discrete/continuous modeling which lead to refinements among the fore-casted behaviors in order to find out which ones are actually possible. We have taken two case studies: an interaction of three microbial species in a freshwater pond, and a more complex atmospheric system, to show the applications of the Bio-LHA methodology for the timed hybrid modeling of environmental systems. Results show that the approach using the Bio-LHA is a viable method for behavioral modeling of complex environmental systems by finding timing constraints while keeping the complexity of the model
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Parental Understanding of Tuberous Sclerosis Complex.
Samia, Pauline; Donald, Kirsten A; Schlegel, Birgit; Wilmshurst, Jo M
2015-09-01
Tuberous sclerosis complex is a genetic disorder with multisystem involvement that poses significant challenges to the affected child and family. Caregiver knowledge in the South African population has not previously been reported. A prospective study of the parents of 21 children with tuberous sclerosis complex was undertaken. Median parental age was 38 (interquartile range 34.5-45) years. Parents were randomly allocated to receive written information about the condition, or to receive verbal counseling already established in clinic. A significant difference (P = .001) was observed in the change in the mean knowledge scores for the parent group that received written information (34.2 at baseline, 51.7 at the second visit. This impact was higher in parents with an education level of at least grade 8 (P = .003). Parental understanding of tuberous sclerosis complex can be improved by provision of written information and should be routinely available in a readily understandable format. © The Author(s) 2014.
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Intertextuality for Handling Complex Environmental Issues
Byhring, Anne Kristine; Knain, Erik
2016-01-01
Nowhere is the need for handling complexity more pertinent than in addressing environmental issues. Our study explores students' situated constructs of complexity in unfolding discourses on socio-scientific issues. Students' dialogues in two group-work episodes are analysed in detail, with tools from Systemic Functional Linguistics. We identify…
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Understanding leadership in the environmental sciences
Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)
Louisa S. Evans
2015-03-01
Full Text Available Leadership is often assumed, intuitively, to be an important driver of sustainable development. To understand how leadership is conceptualized and analyzed in the environmental sciences and to discover what this research says about leadership outcomes, we conducted a review of environmental leadership research over the last 10 years. We found that much of the environmental leadership literature focuses on a few key individuals and desirable leadership competencies. The literature also reports that leadership is one of the most important of a number of factors contributing to effective environmental governance. Only a subset of the literature highlights interacting sources of leadership, disaggregates leadership outcomes, or evaluates leadership processes in detail. We argue that the literature on environmental leadership is highly normative. Leadership is typically depicted as an unequivocal good, and its importance is often asserted rather than tested. We trace how leadership studies in the management sciences are evolving and argue that, taking into account the state of the art in environmental leadership research, more critical approaches to leadership research in environmental science can be developed.
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Jaksha, Amanda P.
2013-01-01
The goal of this study is to develop an understanding of how participants express their environmental identities during an environmental learning program. Past research on the outcomes of environmental learning programs has focused primarily on changes in knowledge and attitudes. However, even if knowledge or attitudes can be accurately measured,…
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Correcting environmental problems facing the nuclear weapons complex
International Nuclear Information System (INIS)
Rezendes, V.S.
1990-06-01
This report discusses DOE's efforts to correct the environmental problems facing the nuclear weapons complex. It focuses on three main points. First, the weapons complex faces a variety of serious and costly environmental problems. Second, during the past year, DOE has made some important changes to its organization that should help change its management focus from one that emphasizes materials production to one that more clearly focuses on environmental concerns. Third, because resolution of DOE's environmental problems will require considerable resources during a period of budgetary constraints, it is imperative that DOE have internal controls in place to ensure that resources are spent efficiently
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Understanding Complex Construction Systems Through Modularity
DEFF Research Database (Denmark)
Jensen, Tor Clarke; Bekdik, Baris; Thuesen, Christian
2014-01-01
This paper develops a framework for understanding complexity in construction projects by combining theories of complexity management and modularization. The framework incorporates three dimensions of product, process, and organizational modularity with the case of gypsum wall elements. The analysis...... system, rather than a modular, although the industry forces modular organizational structures. This creates a high complexity degree caused by the non-alignment of building parts and organizations and the frequent swapping of modules....... finds that the main driver of complexity is the fragmentation of the design and production, which causes the production modules to construct and install new product types and variants for each project as the designers are swapped for every project. The many interfaces are characteristics of an integral...
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Understanding complex urban systems multidisciplinary approaches to modeling
Gurr, Jens; Schmidt, J
2014-01-01
Understanding Complex Urban Systems takes as its point of departure the insight that the challenges of global urbanization and the complexity of urban systems cannot be understood – let alone ‘managed’ – by sectoral and disciplinary approaches alone. But while there has recently been significant progress in broadening and refining the methodologies for the quantitative modeling of complex urban systems, in deepening the theoretical understanding of cities as complex systems, or in illuminating the implications for urban planning, there is still a lack of well-founded conceptual thinking on the methodological foundations and the strategies of modeling urban complexity across the disciplines. Bringing together experts from the fields of urban and spatial planning, ecology, urban geography, real estate analysis, organizational cybernetics, stochastic optimization, and literary studies, as well as specialists in various systems approaches and in transdisciplinary methodologies of urban analysis, the volum...
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Socio-Environmental Resilience and Complex Urban Systems Modeling
Deal, Brian; Petri, Aaron; Pan, Haozhi; Goldenberg, Romain; Kalantari, Zahra; Cvetkovic, Vladimir
2017-04-01
The increasing pressure of climate change has inspired two normative agendas; socio-technical transitions and socio-ecological resilience, both sharing a complex-systems epistemology (Gillard et al. 2016). Socio-technical solutions include a continuous, massive data gathering exercise now underway in urban places under the guise of developing a 'smart'(er) city. This has led to the creation of data-rich environments where large data sets have become central to monitoring and forming a response to anomalies. Some have argued that these kinds of data sets can help in planning for resilient cities (Norberg and Cumming 2008; Batty 2013). In this paper, we focus on a more nuanced, ecologically based, socio-environmental perspective of resilience planning that is often given less consideration. Here, we broadly discuss (and model) the tightly linked, mutually influenced, social and biophysical subsystems that are critical for understanding urban resilience. We argue for the need to incorporate these sub system linkages into the resilience planning lexicon through the integration of systems models and planning support systems. We make our case by first providing a context for urban resilience from a socio-ecological and planning perspective. We highlight the data needs for this type of resilient planning and compare it to currently collected data streams in various smart city efforts. This helps to define an approach for operationalizing socio-environmental resilience planning using robust systems models and planning support systems. For this, we draw from our experiences in coupling a spatio-temporal land use model (the Landuse Evolution and impact Assessment Model (LEAM)) with water quality and quantity models in Stockholm Sweden. We describe the coupling of these systems models using a robust Planning Support System (PSS) structural framework. We use the coupled model simulations and PSS to analyze the connection between urban land use transformation (social) and water
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Streher, A. S.; Cordeiro, C. L. O.; Silva, T. S. F.
2017-12-01
in the past. Our work also highlights the environmental complexity of the Amazon region, often considered as "environmentally homogeneous", and shows how environmental mapping can contribute to better understanding of the processes explaining the current assembly and distribution of Amazon biodiversity.
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Doganca Kucuk, Zerrin; Saysel, Ali Kerem
2017-03-01
A systems-based classroom intervention on environmental education was designed for seventh grade students; the results were evaluated to see its impact on the development of systems thinking skills and standard science achievement and whether the systems approach is a more effective way to teach environmental issues that are dynamic and complex. A quasi-experimental methodology was used to compare performances of the participants in various dimensions, including systems thinking skills, competence in dynamic environmental problem solving and success in science achievement tests. The same pre-, post- and delayed tests were used with both the comparison and experimental groups in the same public middle school in Istanbul. Classroom activities designed for the comparison group (N = 20) followed the directives of the Science and Technology Curriculum, while the experimental group (N = 22) covered the same subject matter through activities benefiting from systems tools and representations such as behaviour over time graphs, causal loop diagrams, stock-flow structures and hands-on dynamic modelling. After a one-month systems-based instruction, the experimental group demonstrated significantly better systems thinking and dynamic environmental problem solving skills. Achievement in dynamic problem solving was found to be relatively stable over time. However, standard science achievement did not improve at all. This paper focuses on the quantitative analysis of the results, the weaknesses of the curriculum and educational implications.
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International Nuclear Information System (INIS)
Noguera de Echeverri, Ana Patricia
2007-01-01
In this article, are compiled the most important ethic-environmental propositions of the Latin- American Environmental Thought, that had been growing up 30 years ago. In it are authors outlined in the field of the philosophic environmental thought, as the philosopher and Colombian thinker, of Latin-American transcendence, Augusto Angel Maya, who pustules the possibility of build en Ethical - Esthetic Environmental Philosophy, in fact of the Modern Philosophy have been metaphysic, even in the empiric, positivist and neo-positivist tendencies. It has been outlined the Enrique Leff's work, Mexican, who proposes his concepts of Complexity and Environmental Known as an initial point of an ethic in the education, science and technology into of an systemic and holistic relations. Equally, the Julio Carrizosa's ethical - esthetic proposition, also Colombian, which this essay shows as a fundamental political propose against Colombian problems as violence and exclusion. The propositions of Colombian philosophers of big relevance in the politic-moral philosophy had become in a public and communicative environmental ethic, that's the case of Guillermo Hoyos Vasquez and other thinkers as in Colombia and so other Latin-American countries which are shown in this space, with the finality of to pick up in a critical way our ideas about the possibility of an environmental ethic, that means an decentred ethic, with out subject and object, and systemic ethic, where the values has come being constructed 2.500 millions years ago, of which we are pure threads, an ethic that pass of been an object to be first a value in his greater sense
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Understanding Learner Agency as a Complex Dynamic System
Mercer, Sarah
2011-01-01
This paper attempts to contribute to a fuller understanding of the nature of language learner agency by considering it as a complex dynamic system. The purpose of the study was to explore detailed situated data to examine to what extent it is feasible to view learner agency through the lens of complexity theory. Data were generated through a…
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Understanding Attitudes and Pro-Environmental Behaviors in a Chilean Community
Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)
Nicolás C. Bronfman
2015-10-01
Full Text Available Environmental protection and restoration are some of the major challenges faced by our society. To address this problem, it is fundamental to understand pro-environmental behaviors in the population, as well as the factors that determine them. There are, however, very few studies conducted in Latin America that are focused in understanding the environmental behavior of its citizens. The main goal of this research was to study the environmental behaviors of a Chilean community and identify the factors that determine them. To that end, a diverse set of environmental behaviors (power and water conservation, environmentally-aware consumer behavior, biodiversity protection, rational automobile use and ecological waste management and sociodemographic and attitudinal factors—based on the VBN model—were evaluated. Survey data was obtained from a statistically representative sample (N = 1537 in Santiago, Chile. Our results suggest that several participants displayed tendencies that favor more responsible environmental behaviors, with high environmental concern, and demonstrating their ample awareness of the consequences of failing to protect the environment. Nevertheless, the highest average scores of environmental behavior were related to low cost behaviors and those that imposed the fewest behavioral restrictions. In global terms, we concluded that the youngest subjects in the lowest socioeconomic group obtained the lowest scores across the pro-environmental behavior spectrum.
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3D Geological Mapping - uncovering the subsurface to increase environmental understanding
Kessler, H.; Mathers, S.; Peach, D.
2012-12-01
parameterize their numerical models using outputs from 3D mapping. In some cases model code is being re-designed in order to deal with the increasing geological complexity expressed by Geologists. These 3D maps contain have inherent uncertainty, just as their predecessors, 2D geological maps had, and there remains a significant body of work to quantify and effectively communicate this uncertainty. Here we present examples of regional and national 3D maps from Geological Survey Organisations worldwide and how these are being used to better solve real-life environmental problems. The future challenge for geologists is to make these 3D maps easily available in an accessible and interoperable form so that the environmental science community can truly integrate the hidden subsurface into a common understanding of the whole geosphere.
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Febrile illness diagnostics and the malaria-industrial complex: a socio-environmental perspective
Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)
Justin Stoler
2016-11-01
Full Text Available Abstract Background Global prioritization of single-disease eradication programs over improvements to basic diagnostic capacity in the Global South have left the world unprepared for epidemics of chikungunya, Ebola, Zika, and whatever lies on the horizon. The medical establishment is slowly realizing that in many parts of sub-Saharan Africa (SSA, particularly urban areas, up to a third of patients suffering from acute fever do not receive a correct diagnosis of their infection. Main body Malaria is the most common diagnosis for febrile patients in low-resource health care settings, and malaria misdiagnosis has soared due to the institutionalization of malaria as the primary febrile illness of SSA by international development organizations and national malaria control programs. This has inadvertently created a “malaria-industrial complex” and historically obstructed our complete understanding of the continent’s complex communicable disease epidemiology, which is currently dominated by a mélange of undiagnosed febrile illnesses. We synthesize interdisciplinary literature from Ghana to highlight the complexity of communicable disease care in SSA from biomedical, social, and environmental perspectives, and suggest a way forward. Conclusion A socio-environmental approach to acute febrile illness etiology, diagnostics, and management would lead to substantial health gains in Africa, including more efficient malaria control. Such an approach would also improve global preparedness for future epidemics of emerging pathogens such as chikungunya, Ebola, and Zika, all of which originated in SSA with limited baseline understanding of their epidemiology despite clinical recognition of these viruses for many decades. Impending ACT resistance, new vaccine delays, and climate change all beckon our attention to proper diagnosis of fevers in order to maximize limited health care resources.
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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.
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Increasing process understanding by analyzing complex interactions in experimental data
DEFF Research Database (Denmark)
Naelapaa, Kaisa; Allesø, Morten; Kristensen, Henning Gjelstrup
2009-01-01
understanding of a coating process. It was possible to model the response, that is, the amount of drug released, using both mentioned techniques. However, the ANOVAmodel was difficult to interpret as several interactions between process parameters existed. In contrast to ANOVA, GEMANOVA is especially suited...... for modeling complex interactions and making easily understandable models of these. GEMANOVA modeling allowed a simple visualization of the entire experimental space. Furthermore, information was obtained on how relative changes in the settings of process parameters influence the film quality and thereby drug......There is a recognized need for new approaches to understand unit operations with pharmaceutical relevance. A method for analyzing complex interactions in experimental data is introduced. Higher-order interactions do exist between process parameters, which complicate the interpretation...
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Managing Complex Environmental Risks
Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)
Karlsson, Mikael [Karlstad Univ. (Sweden). Dept. of Environmental Sciences
2006-09-15
Environmental and public health risks are often handled in a process in which experts, and sometimes policy makers, try their best to quantitatively assess, evaluate and manage risks. This approach harmonises with mainstream interpretations of sustainable development, which aim at defining a desirable relationship between human and natural systems, for instance by policies that define limit values of different forms of disturbances. However, under conditions of high scientific incertitude, diverging values and distrust, this approach is far from satisfactory. The use of cell phones, hazardous chemicals, nuclear or fossil energy systems, and modern biotechnology are examples of activities causing such risks with high complexity. Against this background, a complementary interpretation of the concept of sustainable development is suggested. This interpretation is operationalised through new formulations of three common principles for public risk management; the precautionary principle, the polluter pays principle and the principle of public participation. Implementation of these reformulated principles would challenge some foundations of present mainstream views on environmental decision-making, but would on the other hand contribute to improved practices for long-term human welfare and planetary survival (full text of contribution)
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Managing Complex Environmental Risks
International Nuclear Information System (INIS)
Karlsson, Mikael
2006-01-01
Environmental and public health risks are often handled in a process in which experts, and sometimes policy makers, try their best to quantitatively assess, evaluate and manage risks. This approach harmonises with mainstream interpretations of sustainable development, which aim at defining a desirable relationship between human and natural systems, for instance by policies that define limit values of different forms of disturbances. However, under conditions of high scientific incertitude, diverging values and distrust, this approach is far from satisfactory. The use of cell phones, hazardous chemicals, nuclear or fossil energy systems, and modern biotechnology are examples of activities causing such risks with high complexity. Against this background, a complementary interpretation of the concept of sustainable development is suggested. This interpretation is operationalised through new formulations of three common principles for public risk management; the precautionary principle, the polluter pays principle and the principle of public participation. Implementation of these reformulated principles would challenge some foundations of present mainstream views on environmental decision-making, but would on the other hand contribute to improved practices for long-term human welfare and planetary survival (full text of contribution)
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Kaiser, K. E.; McGlynn, B. L.
2014-12-01
Interdisciplinary work has become a cornerstone in research across the environmental sciences. Our work does so by evaluating biogeochemical cycling, specifically methane, in the context of landscape hydrology. Atmospheric methane is a greenhouse gas 27 times more potent than carbon dioxide and has been increasing at an unprecedented rate. This drastic increase in atmospheric methane has been attributed to anthropogenic activities such as burning of fossil fuels, ruminants, and rice cultivation, which together constitute approximately 67% of global methane sources. Characterizing CH4 flux in natural systems has remained difficult due to complex relationships among environmental variables (e.g. soil temperature and soil water content). To address this, we focus on how the redistribution of water in complex terrain influences the magnitude and direction of flux in upland and riparian soils. Distilling this complex behavior and scaling these observations is complicated by interacting feedback loops and uncertainties associated with global scale modeling. However, progress is critical given that predicting future climate is necessary to forecasting the quantity and distribution of available fresh water, and understanding how ecosystem processes, and energy/food production will be affected. Water sciences and environmental science as a whole must improve communication to a range of audiences, and advocate for researchers, policy makers, and business leaders to work together for a more sustainable future. A crucial step in this process is to optimize the appropriate level of information to convey that is both memorable and meaningful given the complexity of environmental systems. The challenge also extends to artists and filmmakers to present the subject in compelling ways that inspire audiences to take action in their own communities. True integration of professionals across environmental, social, political, and economic disciplines while motivating local involvement
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Ecosystemic Complexity Theory of Conflict: Understanding the Fog of Conflict
Brack, Greg; Lassiter, Pamela S.; Hill, Michele B.; Moore, Sarah A.
2011-01-01
Counselors often engage in conflict mediation in professional practice. A model for understanding the complex and subtle nature of conflict resolution is presented. The ecosystemic complexity theory of conflict is offered to assist practitioners in navigating the fog of conflict. Theoretical assumptions are discussed with implications for clinical…
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Environmental layout complexity affects neural activity during navigation in humans.
Slone, Edward; Burles, Ford; Iaria, Giuseppe
2016-05-01
Navigating large-scale surroundings is a fundamental ability. In humans, it is commonly assumed that navigational performance is affected by individual differences, such as age, sex, and cognitive strategies adopted for orientation. We recently showed that the layout of the environment itself also influences how well people are able to find their way within it, yet it remains unclear whether differences in environmental complexity are associated with changes in brain activity during navigation. We used functional magnetic resonance imaging to investigate how the brain responds to a change in environmental complexity by asking participants to perform a navigation task in two large-scale virtual environments that differed solely in interconnection density, a measure of complexity defined as the average number of directional choices at decision points. The results showed that navigation in the simpler, less interconnected environment was faster and more accurate relative to the complex environment, and such performance was associated with increased activity in a number of brain areas (i.e. precuneus, retrosplenial cortex, and hippocampus) known to be involved in mental imagery, navigation, and memory. These findings provide novel evidence that environmental complexity not only affects navigational behaviour, but also modulates activity in brain regions that are important for successful orientation and navigation. © 2016 Federation of European Neuroscience Societies and John Wiley & Sons Ltd.
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Understanding the determinants of problem-solving behavior in a complex environment
Casner, Stephen A.
1994-01-01
It is often argued that problem-solving behavior in a complex environment is determined as much by the features of the environment as by the goals of the problem solver. This article explores a technique to determine the extent to which measured features of a complex environment influence problem-solving behavior observed within that environment. In this study, the technique is used to determine how complex flight deck and air traffic control environment influences the strategies used by airline pilots when controlling the flight path of a modern jetliner. Data collected aboard 16 commercial flights are used to measure selected features of the task environment. A record of the pilots' problem-solving behavior is analyzed to determine to what extent behavior is adapted to the environmental features that were measured. The results suggest that the measured features of the environment account for as much as half of the variability in the pilots' problem-solving behavior and provide estimates on the probable effects of each environmental feature.
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Complexity and simplification in understanding recruitment in benthic populations
Pineda, Jesús
2008-11-13
Research of complex systems and problems, entities with many dependencies, is often reductionist. The reductionist approach splits systems or problems into different components, and then addresses these components one by one. This approach has been used in the study of recruitment and population dynamics of marine benthic (bottom-dwelling) species. Another approach examines benthic population dynamics by looking at a small set of processes. This approach is statistical or model-oriented. Simplified approaches identify "macroecological" patterns or attempt to identify and model the essential, "first-order" elements of the system. The complexity of the recruitment and population dynamics problems stems from the number of processes that can potentially influence benthic populations, including (1) larval pool dynamics, (2) larval transport, (3) settlement, and (4) post-settlement biotic and abiotic processes, and larval production. Moreover, these processes are non-linear, some interact, and they may operate on disparate scales. This contribution discusses reductionist and simplified approaches to study benthic recruitment and population dynamics of bottom-dwelling marine invertebrates. We first address complexity in two processes known to influence recruitment, larval transport, and post-settlement survival to reproduction, and discuss the difficulty in understanding recruitment by looking at relevant processes individually and in isolation. We then address the simplified approach, which reduces the number of processes and makes the problem manageable. We discuss how simplifications and "broad-brush first-order approaches" may muddle our understanding of recruitment. Lack of empirical determination of the fundamental processes often results in mistaken inferences, and processes and parameters used in some models can bias our view of processes influencing recruitment. We conclude with a discussion on how to reconcile complex and simplified approaches. Although it
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Kozlov, A.; Gutman, S.; Zaychenko, I.; Rytova, E.; Nijinskaya, P.
2015-09-01
The article presents an approach to sustainable environmental development of the Murmansk region of the Russian Federation based on the complex regional indicators as a transformation of a balance scorecard method. The peculiarities of Murmansk region connected with sustainable environmental development are described. The complex regional indicators approach allows to elaborate the general concept of complex regional development taking into consideration economic and non-economic factors with the focus on environmental aspects, accumulated environmental damage in particular. General strategic chart of sustainable environmental development of the Murmansk region worked out on the basis of complex regional indicators concept is composed. The key target indicators of sustainable ecological development of the Murmansk region are presented for the following strategic chart components: regional finance; society and market; industry and entrepreneurship; training, development and innovations. These charts are to be integrated with international environmental monitoring systems.
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A complex social-ecological disaster: Environmentally induced forced migration.
Rechkemmer, Andreas; O'Connor, Ashley; Rai, Abha; Decker Sparks, Jessica L; Mudliar, Pranietha; Shultz, James M
2016-01-01
In the 21 st century, global issues are increasingly characterized by inter-connectedness and complexity. Global environmental change, and climate change in particular, has become a powerful driver and catalyst of forced migration and internal displacement of people. Environmental migrants may far outnumber any other group of displaced people and refugees in the years to come. Deeper scientific integration, especially across the social sciences, is a prerequisite to tackle this issue.
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Understanding sustainability from an exergetic frame in complex adaptive systems
International Nuclear Information System (INIS)
Aguilar Hernandez, Glem Alonso
2017-01-01
The concept of sustainability was developed from thermodynamic properties applied to complex adaptive systems. The origins of the perception about sustainable development and limitation in its application to analyze the interaction between a system and its surroundings were described. The properties of a complex adaptive system were taken as basis to determine how a system can to be affected by the resources restriction and irreversibility of the processes. The complex adaptive system was understood using the first and second law of thermodynamics, generating a conceptual framework to define the sustainability of a system. The contributions developed by exergy were shown to analyze the sustainability of systems in an economic, social and environmental context [es
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Public understanding of environmental impacts of electricity deregulation
International Nuclear Information System (INIS)
Johnson, Branden B.; Frank, Pamela G.
2006-01-01
Electricity deregulation has aroused concern that environmental quality might be harmed by consumer preferences for cheap, 'dirty' (e.g., coal) electricity products, despite the perhaps stronger influence of supply side policy on environmental impacts. This outcome depends on public understanding of the environmental impacts of their decisions, which this study explored with interviews, focus groups, and surveys in New Jersey. People had thought little about the topic, were unable to articulate how electricity production might affect the environment except in very general terms, and were mostly unwilling to guess whether deregulation's impacts would be negative, neutral or positive. Those who did guess expected negative impacts less than any other kind. Reactions to specific 'reasons' for expecting no, positive or negative impacts suggested that consumers had little structure to their mental models in this area; for example, people who thought positive-impact reasons were probably true were not necessarily likely to see negative-impact reasons as probably false. However, in the aggregate, people seemed to have a fairly consistent ranking of energy sources by expected negative environmental impacts. Earlier research found that consumers comparing two electricity products on environmental impacts reached different decisions if they had energy-source-only or energy-source-plus-emissions information. Although regulator-required 'environmental labels' for electricity products provide both source and emissions data, it is not clear that they do an adequate job of both alerting consumers to the possibility of negative environmental impacts and identifying the relative life-cycle impacts of different products so as to produce informed consumer decisions
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Understanding complex urban systems integrating multidisciplinary data in urban models
Gebetsroither-Geringer, Ernst; Atun, Funda; Werner, Liss
2016-01-01
This book is devoted to the modeling and understanding of complex urban systems. This second volume of Understanding Complex Urban Systems focuses on the challenges of the modeling tools, concerning, e.g., the quality and quantity of data and the selection of an appropriate modeling approach. It is meant to support urban decision-makers—including municipal politicians, spatial planners, and citizen groups—in choosing an appropriate modeling approach for their particular modeling requirements. The contributors to this volume are from different disciplines, but all share the same goal: optimizing the representation of complex urban systems. They present and discuss a variety of approaches for dealing with data-availability problems and finding appropriate modeling approaches—and not only in terms of computer modeling. The selection of articles featured in this volume reflect a broad variety of new and established modeling approaches such as: - An argument for using Big Data methods in conjunction with Age...
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Brown, Phil
2013-06-01
This article reviews the personal and professional processes of developing an interdisciplinary approach to understanding the complex issues of environmental health in their community, political-economic, social science, and scientific contexts. This interdisciplinary approach includes a synthesis of research, policy work, and advocacy. To examine multiple forms of interdisciplinarity, I examine pathways of integrating medical and environmental sociology via three challenges to the boundaries of traditional research: (1) crossing the boundaries of medical and environmental sociology, (2) linking social science and environmental health science, and (3) crossing the boundary of research and advocacy. These boundary crossings are discussed in light of conceptual and theoretical developments of popular epidemiology, contested illnesses, and health social movements. This interdisciplinary work offers a more comprehensive sociological lens for understanding complex problems and a practical ability to join with scientists, activists, and officials to meet public health needs for amelioration and prevention of environmental health threats.
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Understanding Parkinson Disease: A Complex and Multifaceted Illness.
Gopalakrishna, Apoorva; Alexander, Sheila A
2015-12-01
Parkinson disease is an incredibly complex and multifaceted illness affecting millions of people in the United States. Parkinson disease is characterized by progressive dopaminergic neuronal dysfunction and loss, leading to debilitating motor, cognitive, and behavioral symptoms. Parkinson disease is an enigmatic illness that is still extensively researched today to search for a better understanding of the disease, develop therapeutic interventions to halt or slow progression of the disease, and optimize patient outcomes. This article aims to examine in detail the normal function of the basal ganglia and dopaminergic neurons in the central nervous system, the etiology and pathophysiology of Parkinson disease, related signs and symptoms, current treatment, and finally, the profound impact of understanding the disease on nursing care.
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Environmental impact assessment for the Nova projects (Building 391 complex)
International Nuclear Information System (INIS)
Odell, B.N.
1979-01-01
The environmental impact assessment of the Nova projects (Building 391 Complex) describes (1) the proposed actions, (2) the existing environment in and around the Livermore Valley, and (3) the potential environmental impacts from the construction and operation of these facilities. It shows that the proposed action does not conflict with any Federal, State, Regional, or Local Plans and Programs. Possible alternatives to the proposed action are discussed. However, it is concluded that the proposed actions were the most reasonable of the alternatives and would involve relatively minor adverse environmental impacts
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Mancia, Annalaura; Abelli, Luigi; Kucklick, John R; Rowles, Teresa K; Wells, Randall S; Balmer, Brian C; Hohn, Aleta A; Baatz, John E; Ryan, James C
2015-02-01
It is increasingly common to monitor the marine environment and establish geographic trends of environmental contamination by measuring contaminant levels in animals from higher trophic levels. The health of an ecosystem is largely reflected in the health of its inhabitants. As an apex predator, the common bottlenose dolphin (Tursiops truncatus) can reflect the health of near shore marine ecosystems, and reflect coastal threats that pose risk to human health, such as legacy contaminants or marine toxins, e.g. polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) and brevetoxins. Major advances in the understanding of dolphin biology and the unique adaptations of these animals in response to the marine environment are being made as a result of the development of cell-lines for use in in vitro experiments, the production of monoclonal antibodies to recognize dolphin proteins, the development of dolphin DNA microarrays to measure global gene expression and the sequencing of the dolphin genome. These advances may play a central role in understanding the complex and specialized biology of the dolphin with regard to how this species responds to an array of environmental insults. This work presents the creation, characterization and application of a new molecular tool to better understand the complex and unique biology of the common bottlenose dolphin and its response to environmental stress and infection. A dolphin oligo microarray representing 24,418 unigene sequences was developed and used to analyze blood samples collected from 69 dolphins during capture-release health assessments at five geographic locations (Beaufort, NC, Sarasota Bay, FL, Saint Joseph Bay, FL, Sapelo Island, GA and Brunswick, GA). The microarray was validated and tested for its ability to: 1) distinguish male from female dolphins; 2) differentiate dolphins inhabiting different geographic locations (Atlantic coasts vs the Gulf of Mexico); and 3) study in detail dolphins resident in one site, the Georgia coast, known to
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Environmental assessment report: Nuclear Test Technology Complex
International Nuclear Information System (INIS)
Tonnessen, K.; Tewes, H.A.
1982-08-01
The US Department of Energy (USDOE) is planning to construct and operate a structure, designated the Nuclear Test Technology Complex (NTTC), on a site located west of and adjacent to the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory. The NTTC is designed to house 350 nuclear test program personnel, and will accommodate the needs of the entire staff of the continuing Nuclear Test Program (NTP). The project has three phases: land acquisition, facility construction and facility operation. The purpose of this environmental assessment report is to describe the activities associated with the three phases of the NTTC project and to evaluate potential environmental disruptions. The project site is located in a rural area of southeastern Alameda County, California, where the primary land use is agriculture; however, the County has zoned the area for industrial development. The environmental impacts of the project include surface disturbance, high noise levels, possible increases in site erosion, and decreased air quality. These impacts will occur primarily during the construction phase of the NTTC project and can be mitigated in part by measures proposed in this report
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Dependency visualization for complex system understanding
Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)
Smart, J. Allison Cory [Univ. of California, Davis, CA (United States)
1994-09-01
With the volume of software in production use dramatically increasing, the importance of software maintenance has become strikingly apparent. Techniques now sought and developed for reverse engineering and design extraction and recovery. At present, numerous commercial products and research tools exist which are capable of visualizing a variety of programming languages and software constructs. The list of new tools and services continues to grow rapidly. Although the scope of the existing commercial and academic product set is quite broad, these tools still share a common underlying problem. The ability of each tool to visually organize object representations is increasingly impaired as the number of components and component dependencies within systems increases. Regardless of how objects are defined, complex ``spaghetti`` networks result in nearly all large system cases. While this problem is immediately apparent in modem systems analysis involving large software implementations, it is not new. As will be discussed in Chapter 2, related problems involving the theory of graphs were identified long ago. This important theoretical foundation provides a useful vehicle for representing and analyzing complex system structures. While the utility of directed graph based concepts in software tool design has been demonstrated in literature, these tools still lack the capabilities necessary for large system comprehension. This foundation must therefore be expanded with new organizational and visualization constructs necessary to meet this challenge. This dissertation addresses this need by constructing a conceptual model and a set of methods for interactively exploring, organizing, and understanding the structure of complex software systems.
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Helbing, D.; Bishop, S.; Conte, R.; Lukowicz, P.; McCarthy, J. B.
2012-11-01
We have built particle accelerators to understand the forces that make up our physical world. Yet, we do not understand the principles underlying our strongly connected, techno-socio-economic systems. We have enabled ubiquitous Internet connectivity and instant, global information access. Yet we do not understand how it impacts our behavior and the evolution of society. To fill the knowledge gaps and keep up with the fast pace at which our world is changing, a Knowledge Accelerator must urgently be created. The financial crisis, international wars, global terror, the spreading of diseases and cyber-crime as well as demographic, technological and environmental change demonstrate that humanity is facing serious challenges. These problems cannot be solved within the traditional paradigms. Moving our attention from a component-oriented view of the world to an interaction-oriented view will allow us to understand the complex systems we have created and the emergent collective phenomena characterising them. This paradigm shift will enable new solutions to long-standing problems, very much as the shift from a geocentric to a heliocentric worldview has facilitated modern physics and the ability to launch satellites. The FuturICT flagship project will develop new science and technology to manage our future in a complex, strongly connected world. For this, it will combine the power of information and communication technology (ICT) with knowledge from the social and complexity sciences. ICT will provide the data to boost the social sciences into a new era. Complexity science will shed new light on the emergent phenomena in socially interactive systems, and the social sciences will provide a better understanding of the opportunities and risks of strongly networked systems, in particular future ICT systems. Hence, the envisaged FuturICT flagship will create new methods and instruments to tackle the challenges of the 21st century. FuturICT could indeed become one of the most
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Depper, Gina L.
2017-01-01
The world faces significant environmental challenges due largely to unsustainable human behavior. Values have been found to be a direct and indirect predictor of human behavior and understanding how they are formed/influenced is critical to any strategy of behavioral change. Our understanding of how environmental values are transmitted and…
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DOE's efforts to correct environmental problems of the nuclear weapons complex
International Nuclear Information System (INIS)
Rezendes, V.S.
1990-03-01
This report focuses on four main issues: the environmental problems at DOE's nuclear weapons complex, recent changes in DOE's organizational structure, DOE's 1991 budget request, and the need for effective management systems. This report concludes that the environmental problems are enormous and will take decades to resolve. Widespread contamination can be found at many DOE sites, and the full extent of the environmental problems is unknown. DOE has taken several steps during the past year to better deal with these problems, including making organizational improvements and requesting additional funds for environmental restoration and waste management activities
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2011-12-23
.... Operation related activities could include solar panel maintenance, on-site parking, operation of solar...-FXES11120800000F2-123] Draft Environmental Impact Statement and Proposed Maricopa Sun Solar Complex Multi-Species... National Environmental Policy Act for the proposed Maricopa Sun Solar Complex Habitat Conservation Plan...
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Environmental Survey preliminary report, Portsmouth Uranium Enrichment Complex, Piketon, Ohio
International Nuclear Information System (INIS)
1987-08-01
This report presents the preliminary findings from the first phase of the Environmental Survey of the United States Department of Energy (DOE) Portsmouth Uranium Enrichment Complex (PUEC), conducted August 4 through August 15, 1986. The Survey is being conducted by an interdisciplinary team of environmental specialists, led and managed by the Office of Environment, Safety and Health's Office of Environmental Audit. Team specialists are being supplied by a private contractor. The objective of the Survey is to identify environmental problems and areas of environmental regulation. It is being performed in accordance with the DOE Environmental Survey Manual. This phase of the Survey involves the review of existing site environmental data, observations of the operations performed at PUEC, and interviews with site personnel. The Survey team developed a Sampling and Analysis Plan to assist in further assessing certain of the environmental problems identified during its on-site activities. The Sampling and Analysis Plan will be executed by Argonne National Laboratory. When completed, the results will be incorporated into the PUEC Environmental Survey Interim Report. The Interim Report will reflect the final determinations of the PUEC Survey. 55 refs., 22 figs., 21 tabs
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Environmental ethics: An African understanding
African Journals Online (AJOL)
user
environmental ethical theories, that is, normative environmental ethics, sentientist ethics, ... environmental ethics is challenging those life-threatening concerns, critical explorations of ..... such negligence, every business organization must be.
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Preschool Children's Understanding of Pro-Environmental Behaviours: Is It Too Hard for Them?
Kos, Marjanca; Jerman, Janez; Anžlovar, Urška; Torkar, Gregor
2016-01-01
Early childhood is a period of life in which lifelong attitudes, values and patterns of behaviour regarding nature are shaped. Environmental education is becoming a growing area of interest in early childhood education. The aim of the research study was to identify children's understanding of why and how their pro-environmental behaviours…
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Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)
Brown Jr, G.E. [Department of Geological and Environmental Sciences, Stanford University, Stanford, CA 94305-2115 (United States); Department of Photon Science and Stanford Synchrotron Radiation Lightsource, SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory, Menlo Park, CA 94025 (United States); Calas, G. [Institut de mineralogie et de physique des milieux condenses (IMPMC), universite Paris-6 - universite Paris-7, IPGP, CNRS, case 115, 75252 Paris (France)
2011-02-15
Environmental Mineralogy has developed over the past decade in response to the recognition that minerals are linked in many important ways with the global ecosystem. Minerals are the main repositories of the chemical elements in Earth's crust and thus are the main sources of elements needed for the development of civilization, contaminant and pollutant elements that impact global and local ecosystems, and elements that are essential plant nutrients. These elements are released from minerals through natural processes, such as chemical weathering, and anthropogenic activities, such as mining and energy production, agriculture and industrial activities, and careless waste disposal. Minerals also play key roles in the biogeochemical cycling of the elements, sequestering elements and releasing them as the primary minerals in crustal rocks undergo various structural and compositional transformations in response to physical, chemical, and biological processes that produce secondary minerals and soils. These processes have resulted in the release of toxic elements such as arsenic in groundwater aquifers, which is having a major impact on the health of millions of people in South and Southeast Asia. The interfaces between mineral surfaces and aqueous solutions are the locations of most chemical reactions that control the composition of the natural environment, including the composition of natural waters. The nuclear fuel cycle, from uranium mining to the disposition of high-level nuclear waste, is also intimately related to minerals. A fundamental understanding of these processes requires molecular-scale information about minerals, their bulk structures and properties such as solubility, their surfaces, and their interactions with aqueous solutions, atmospheric and soil gases, natural organic matter, and biological organisms. Gaining this understanding is further complicated by the presence of natural, incidental, and manufactured nano-particles in the environment
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Environmental monitoring program for Itataia industrial complex before operational phase
International Nuclear Information System (INIS)
Condessa, M.L.M.B.
1982-01-01
This environmental monitoring program aims to characterize the environment in adjacent area of Itataia Industrial Complex. The places and frequencies of samples and measurements, as well as analysis and parameters to be measured in each type of samples are presented. (C.M.) [pt
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DEFF Research Database (Denmark)
Andersen, Simon Bruntse; Rasmussen, Claire Kirchert; Frøkjær, Erik
2017-01-01
A usability evaluation technique, Cooperative Usability Testing with Questions of Understanding (CUT with QU) intended to illuminate users’ ability to understand the content information of an application is proposed. In complex application domains as for instance the eHealth domain, this issue...... of users’ content understanding is sometimes crucial, and thus should be carefully evaluated. Unfortunately, conventional usability evaluation techniques do not address challenges of content understanding. In a case study within eHealth, specifically the setting of a rehabilitation clinic involving...... the participation of four physiotherapists and four clients in a period of 3.5 months, it was demonstrated how CUT with QU can complement conventional usability testing and provide insight into users’ challenges with understanding of a new complex eHealth application. More experiments in other complex application...
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Concept of Complex Environmental Monitoring Network - Vardzia Rock Cut City Case Study
Elashvili, Mikheil; Vacheishvili, Nikoloz; Margottini, Claudio; Basilaia, Giorgi; Chkhaidze, Davit; Kvavadze, Davit; Spizzichino, Daniele; Boscagli, Franceso; Kirkitadze, Giorgi; Adikashvili, Luka; Navrozashvili, Levan
2016-04-01
Vardzia represents an unique cultural heritage monument - rock cut city, which unites architectural monument and Natural-Geological complex. Such monuments are particularly vulnerable and their restoration and conservation requires complex approach. It is curved in various layers of volcanic tuffs and covers several hectares of area, with chronologically different segments of construction. This monument, as many similar monuments worldwide, is subjected to slow but permanent process of destruction, expressed in following factors: surface weathering of rock, active tectonics (aseismic displacement along the active faults and earthquakes), interaction between lithologically different rock layers, existence of major cracks and associated complex block structure, surface rainwater runoff and infiltrated ground water, temperature variations, etc. During its lifetime, Vardzia was heavily damaged by Historical Earthquake of 1283 and only partly restored afterwards. The technological progress together with the increased knowledge about ongoing environmental processes, established the common understanding that the complex monitoring of the environment represents the essential component for resolving such a principal issues, as: Proper management and prevention of natural disasters; Modeling of environmental processes, their short and long term prognosis; Monitoring of macro and micro climate; Safe functioning and preservation of important constructions. Research Center of Cultural Heritage and Environment of Ilia State University in cooperation with Experts from ISPRA, with the funding from the State agency of Cultural Heritage, has developed a concept of Vardzia complex monitoring network. Concept of the network includes: monitoring local meteorological conditions (meteorological station), monitoring microclimate in caves (temperature and humidity in the air and rock), monitoring microtremors and ambient seismic noise in Vardzia (local strong motion network), monitoring
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"Touching Triton": Building Student Understanding of Complex Disease Risk.
Loftin, Madelene; East, Kelly; Hott, Adam; Lamb, Neil
2016-01-01
Life science classrooms often emphasize the exception to the rule when it comes to teaching genetics, focusing heavily on rare single-gene and Mendelian traits. By contrast, the vast majority of human traits and diseases are caused by more complicated interactions between genetic and environmental factors. Research indicates that students have a deterministic view of genetics, generalize Mendelian inheritance patterns to all traits, and have unrealistic expectations of genetic technologies. The challenge lies in how to help students analyze complex disease risk with a lack of curriculum materials. Providing open access to both content resources and an engaging storyline can be achieved using a "serious game" model. "Touching Triton" was developed as a serious game in which students are asked to analyze data from a medical record, family history, and genomic report in order to develop an overall lifetime risk estimate of six common, complex diseases. Evaluation of student performance shows significant learning gains in key content areas along with a high level of engagement.
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Understanding of Leaf Development—the Science of Complexity
Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)
Robert Malinowski
2013-06-01
Full Text Available The leaf is the major organ involved in light perception and conversion of solar energy into organic carbon. In order to adapt to different natural habitats, plants have developed a variety of leaf forms, ranging from simple to compound, with various forms of dissection. Due to the enormous cellular complexity of leaves, understanding the mechanisms regulating development of these organs is difficult. In recent years there has been a dramatic increase in the use of technically advanced imaging techniques and computational modeling in studies of leaf development. Additionally, molecular tools for manipulation of morphogenesis were successfully used for in planta verification of developmental models. Results of these interdisciplinary studies show that global growth patterns influencing final leaf form are generated by cooperative action of genetic, biochemical, and biomechanical inputs. This review summarizes recent progress in integrative studies on leaf development and illustrates how intrinsic features of leaves (including their cellular complexity influence the choice of experimental approach.
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Disaster forensics understanding root cause and complex causality
2016-01-01
This book aims to uncover the root causes of natural and man-made disasters by going beyond the typical reports and case studies conducted post-disaster. It opens the black box of disasters by presenting ‘forensic analysis approaches’ to disasters, thereby revealing the complex causality that characterizes them and explaining how and why hazards do, or do not, become disasters. This yields ‘systemic’ strategies for managing disasters. Recently the global threat landscape has seen the emergence of high impact, low probability events. Events like Hurricane Katrina, the Great Japan Earthquake and tsunami, Hurricane Sandy, Super Typhoon Haiyan, global terrorist activities have become the new norm. Extreme events challenge our understanding regarding the interdependencies and complexity of the disaster aetiology and are often referred to as Black Swans. Between 2002 and 2011, there were 4130 disasters recorded that resulted from natural hazards around the world. In these, 1,117,527 people perished and a mi...
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Martinez-Lavin, Manuel; Infante, Oscar; Lerma, Claudia
2008-02-01
Modern clinicians are often frustrated by their inability to understand fibromyalgia and similar maladies since these illnesses cannot be explained by the prevailing linear-reductionist medical paradigm. This article proposes that new concepts derived from the Complexity Theory may help understand the pathogenesis of fibromyalgia, chronic fatigue syndrome, and Gulf War syndrome. This hypothesis is based on the recent recognition of chaos fractals and complex systems in human physiology. These nonlinear dynamics concepts offer a different perspective to the notion of homeostasis and disease. They propose that the essence of disease is dysfunction and not structural damage. Studies using novel nonlinear instruments have shown that fibromyalgia and similar maladies may be caused by the degraded performance of our main complex adaptive system. This dysfunction explains the multifaceted manifestations of these entities. To understand and alleviate the suffering associated with these complex illnesses, a paradigm shift from reductionism to holism based on the Complexity Theory is suggested. This shift perceives health as resilient adaptation and some chronic illnesses as rigid dysfunction.
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Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)
Johannes Bircher
2016-09-01
Full Text Available This paper explores the diagnostic and therapeutic potential of a new concept of health. Investigations into the nature of health have led to a new definition that explains health as a complex adaptive system (CAS and is based on five components (a-e. Humans like all biological creatures must satisfactorily respond to (a the demands of life. For this purpose they need (b a biologically given potential (BGP and (c a personally acquired potential (PAP. These properties of individuals are embedded within (d social and (e environmental determinants of health. Between these five components of health there are 10 complex interactions that justify viewing health as a CAS. In each patient, the current state of health as a CAS evolved from the past, will move forward to a new future, and has to be analyzed and treated as an autonomous whole. A diagnostic procedure is suggested as follows: together with the patient, the five components and 10 complex interactions are assessed. This may help patients to better understand their situations and to recognize possible next steps that may be useful in order to evolve toward better health by themselves. In this process mutual trust in the patient-physician interaction is critical. The described approach offers new possibilities for helping patients improve their health prospects.
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Morgan Grove; Laura Ogden; Steward Pickett; Chris Boone; Geoff Buckley; Dexter H. Locke; Charlie Lord; Billy Hall
2018-01-01
Legacies of social and environmental injustices can leave an imprint on the present and constrain transitions for more sustainable futures. In this article, we ask this question: What is the relationship of environmental inequality and histories of segregation? The answer for Baltimore is complex, where past practices of de jure and de facto segregation have created...
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Environmental management: A system approach
Petak, William J.
1981-05-01
This paper presents a system framework whose purpose is to improve understanding of environmental management. By analyzing the links between elements of the environmental management system, it is possible to construct a model that aids thinking systematically about the decision-making subsystem, and other subsystems, of the entire environmental management system. Through a multidisciplinary environmental approach, each of the individual subsystems is able to adapt to threats and opportunities. The fields of government, market economics, social responsibility and ecology, for example, are so complex that it is extremely difficult to develop a framework that gives full consideration to all aspects. This paper, through the application of a highly idealized system framework, attempts to show the general relationships that exist between complex system elements.
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The application of nuclear science technology to understanding and solving environmental problems
International Nuclear Information System (INIS)
Zuk, W.M.
1997-01-01
The Australian Nuclear Science and Technology Organisation (ANSTO) has for many years been involved in applying nuclear science-based and related technologies to the understanding of environmental processes and to the development and implementation of practical and effective solutions to site specific problems, for a broad spectrum of industry, government regulatory agencies, and other organisations in Australia, Europe, North and South America and South East Asia. ANSTO's environmental science program arose out of the need for research to predict, measure, evaluate and monitor the environmental impacts associated with : uranium mining and processing in Australia; the operation of the research reactor at Lucas Heights; and the safe treatment and disposal of radioactive and conventional wastes associated with these activities. The expertise developed in these activities, has found application to a much broader range of environmental concerns. This paper will present an overview of ANSTO's application of nuclear science-based techniques to, inter alia: coastal and marine studies; minesite rehabilitation; transport and geochemical modelling of radionuclides, heavy metals and organic chemicals in the geosphere; the application of naturally-occurring radionuclides and radioactive tracers to corrosion and sedimentation studies in the coastal environment; dating sediments, fish corals and archaeological samples; the understanding of the kinetics and the physiological responses of aquatic organisms to radionuclides and metals in the environment: and the use of aquatic organism as archival and 'realtime' monitors of pollutants
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Environmental study of the waters of Mandovi - Zuari estuarine complex, Goa
Digital Repository Service at National Institute of Oceanography (India)
Singbal, S.Y.S.
variations of some environmental parameters at different stations at surface and bottom waters of complex were studied during 1972-73, 1975 and 1977-78. In general, weak thermal stratification is developed at some stations during monsoon and post...
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The animal sensorimotor organization: a challenge for the environmental complexity thesis.
Keijzer, Fred; Arnellos, Argyris
2017-01-01
Godfrey-Smith's environmental complexity thesis (ECT) is most often applied to multicellular animals and the complexity of their macroscopic environments to explain how cognition evolved. We think that the ECT may be less suited to explain the origins of the animal bodily organization, including this organization's potentiality for dealing with complex macroscopic environments. We argue that acquiring the fundamental sensorimotor features of the animal body may be better explained as a consequence of dealing with internal bodily-rather than environmental complexity. To press and elucidate this option, we develop the notion of an animal sensorimotor organization (ASMO) that derives from an internal coordination account for the evolution of early nervous systems. The ASMO notion is a reply to the question how a collection of single cells can become integrated such that the resulting multicellular organization becomes sensitive to and can manipulate macroscopic features of both the animal body and its environment. In this account, epithelial contractile tissues play the central role in the organization behind complex animal bodies. In this paper, we relate the ASMO concept to recent work on epithelia, which provides empirical evidence that supports central assumptions behind the ASMO notion. Second, we discuss to what extent the notion applies to basic animal architectures, exemplified by sponges and jellyfish. We conclude that the features exhibited by the ASMO are plausibly explained by internal constraints acting on and within this multicellular organization, providing a challenge for the role the ECT plays in this context.
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Akanda, A. S.; Serman, E. A.; Couret, J.; Puggioni, G.; Ginsberg, H. S.
2016-12-01
Worldwide, there are an estimated 50-100 million cases of dengue fever each year, roughly 30 times the number of cases as 50 years ago. Dengue was introduced to Puerto Rico (PR) in 1963 and it has experienced epidemic activity ever since. There have been 4 large epidemics since 1990, the most recent in 2010 where almost 27,000 cases were reported. Vaccine development remains in the testing stages, and years away from mass distribution. Effective control thus depends on our understanding of the complex relationships between environmental and anthropogenic factors, mosquito vector ecology, and disease epidemiology. Dengue virus is primarily transmitted by Aedes aegypti mosquitoes, which also carry the Zika virus, and humans in urban environments are their preferred hosts. The purpose of our analysis is to identify trends between anthropogenic and environmental changes and dengue fever cases in PR over the past 15 years. Data on housing and population density, percent impervious surface, and percent tree canopy at the municipality level were procured from the U.S. Census Bureau and the Multi-Resolution Land Characteristics Consortium (MLRC) project, respectively. Land cover data from the National Land Cover Database, created by USGS and NOAA, as well as environmental data from the National Climatic Data Center (NCDC), were also used. Smaller land cover and green space analysis studies have been performed for PR, but this is the first study to consider the island as a whole, and in six distinct regions, with regards to increases in dengue fever cases. The results from this study can be used to understand the effects of urbanization and climate change on vector-borne disease transmission in PR and to project the impact of growing sub-urban and urban areas on dengue cases in coming years. Our results could also be used to assess Dengue and Zika transmission in growing megacites of the world, where urban slums provide a favorable habitat for Ae. aegypti and foster
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Understanding of extreme temperature events by environmental health stakeholders in South Africa
CSIR Research Space (South Africa)
John, J
2015-09-01
Full Text Available The purpose of the work is to understand the potential need and use of extreme temperature forecasting products in the environmental health sector in South Africa by using an online questionnaire. Seven of 19 respondents currently receive hot...
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DEFF Research Database (Denmark)
Raymond, Christopher Mark; Reed, Mark; Bieling, Claudia
2016-01-01
While multiple studies have identified land managers’ preferences for agri-environmental schemes (AES), few approaches exist for integrating different understandings of landscape stewardship into the design of these measures. We compared and contrasted rural land managers’ attitudes toward AES...... to the reduced amount of funding available for entry-level and higher-level stewardship schemes in the UK since 2008, changing funding priorities, perceived overstrict compliance and lack of support for farm succession and new entrants into farming. However, there were differences in concerns across...... understandings of landscape stewardship, with production respondents citing that AES do not encourage food production, whereas environmental and holistic farmers citing that AES do not support the development of a local green food culture and associated social infrastructure. These differences also emerged...
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Toward A Better Understanding of Perceived Complexity in Music: A Commentary on Eerola (2016
Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)
Elizabeth Hellmuth Margulis
2016-07-01
Full Text Available Eerola (2016 evaluates models of musical complexity based on expectancy violation and information theory. This commentary notes the deep relationship between these two phenomena, and argues for a more active partnership between computational and psychological approaches in understanding perceptions of musical complexity.
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Expert views on scientific policy advice on complex environmental health issues
Spruijt, P.
2016-01-01
Fact-based policies grounded in solid uncontested scientific evidence: this may sound as the ideal relation between science and policy. However, this ideal rarely holds for complex environmental health risks. When scientific knowledge is contested or incomplete, scientists can take different roles
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Towards a Molecular Understanding of the Fanconi Anemia Core Complex
Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)
Charlotte Hodson
2012-01-01
Full Text Available Fanconi Anemia (FA is a genetic disorder characterized by the inability of patient cells to repair DNA damage caused by interstrand crosslinking agents. There are currently 14 verified FA genes, where mutation of any single gene prevents repair of DNA interstrand crosslinks (ICLs. The accumulation of ICL damage results in genome instability and patients having a high predisposition to cancers. The key event of the FA pathway is dependent on an eight-protein core complex (CC, required for the monoubiquitination of each member of the FANCD2-FANCI complex. Interestingly, the majority of patient mutations reside in the CC. The molecular mechanisms underlying the requirement for such a large complex to carry out a monoubiquitination event remain a mystery. This paper documents the extensive efforts of researchers so far to understand the molecular roles of the CC proteins with regard to its main function in the FA pathway, the monoubiquitination of FANCD2 and FANCI.
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Towards a Molecular Understanding of the Fanconi Anemia Core Complex
Hodson, Charlotte; Walden, Helen
2012-01-01
Fanconi Anemia (FA) is a genetic disorder characterized by the inability of patient cells to repair DNA damage caused by interstrand crosslinking agents. There are currently 14 verified FA genes, where mutation of any single gene prevents repair of DNA interstrand crosslinks (ICLs). The accumulation of ICL damage results in genome instability and patients having a high predisposition to cancers. The key event of the FA pathway is dependent on an eight-protein core complex (CC), required for the monoubiquitination of each member of the FANCD2-FANCI complex. Interestingly, the majority of patient mutations reside in the CC. The molecular mechanisms underlying the requirement for such a large complex to carry out a monoubiquitination event remain a mystery. This paper documents the extensive efforts of researchers so far to understand the molecular roles of the CC proteins with regard to its main function in the FA pathway, the monoubiquitination of FANCD2 and FANCI. PMID:22675617
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Understanding complexity in managing agro-pastoral dams ecosystem services in Northern Benin
Kpera, G.N.
2015-01-01
Key words: conflict, water quality, crocodile, fish diversity, vegetable, watershed management, institutional changes, innovation system.
Understanding complexity in managing agro-pastoral dams ecosystem services in Northern Benin
Gnanki
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Abandonment: Technological, organisational and environmental challenges
Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)
Twomey, B.G. [Reverse Engineering Ltd., (United Kingdom)
1996-12-31
The paper deals with the abandonment of offshore wells. Decommissioning of offshore installations is a complex multi-disciplined issue, which raises a number of technical, organisational and environmental challenges. The success of a planned decommissioning operation depends on the development of a clear understanding of the complex blend of drivers which control the decommissioning process and their inter-relationship. Due to the complexity of the inter-relationship between the primary drivers one cannot separate the technological, organisational and environmental issues raised by the decommissioning of offshore installations. The optimal solution will be a compromise between all the decommissioning drivers mentioned in this paper. 5 figs., 3 tabs.
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Abandonment: Technological, organisational and environmental challenges
International Nuclear Information System (INIS)
Twomey, B.G.
1996-01-01
The paper deals with the abandonment of offshore wells. Decommissioning of offshore installations is a complex multi-disciplined issue, which raises a number of technical, organisational and environmental challenges. The success of a planned decommissioning operation depends on the development of a clear understanding of the complex blend of drivers which control the decommissioning process and their inter-relationship. Due to the complexity of the inter-relationship between the primary drivers one cannot separate the technological, organisational and environmental issues raised by the decommissioning of offshore installations. The optimal solution will be a compromise between all the decommissioning drivers mentioned in this paper. 5 figs., 3 tabs
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Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)
Dionysis Krekoukiotis
2016-07-01
Full Text Available For decades, fish recruitment has been a subject of intensive research with stock–recruitment models commonly used for recruitment prediction often only explaining a small fraction of the inter-annual recruitment variation. The use of environmental information to improve our ability to predict recruitment, could contribute considerably to fisheries management. However, the problem remains difficult because the mechanisms behind such complex relationships are often poorly understood; this in turn, makes it difficult to determine the forecast estimation robustness, leading to the failure of some relationships when new data become available. The utility of machine learning algorithms such as artificial neural networks (ANNs for solving complex problems has been demonstrated in aquatic studies and has led many researchers to advocate ANNs as an attractive, non-linear alternative to traditional statistical methods. The goal of this study is to design a Baltic cod recruitment model (FishANN that can account for complex ecosystem interactions. To this end, we (1 build a quantitative model representation of the conceptual understanding of the complex ecosystem interactions driving Baltic cod recruitment dynamics, and (2 apply the model to strengthen the current capability to project future changes in Baltic cod recruitment. FishANN is demonstrated to bring multiple stressors together into one model framework and estimate the relative importance of these stressors while interpreting the complex nonlinear interactions between them. Additional requirements to further improve the current study in the future are also proposed.
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Environmental radioactivity at the heat power complex enterprises
International Nuclear Information System (INIS)
Krylov, D.A.; Putintseva, V.E.
1997-01-01
Environmental radioactivity at the heat power complex enterprises (coal mines, oil and gas deposits, coal thermal power plants and heat-electric generation plant) is considered. IT is shown that elevated level of radiation effect on the personnel lungs (2-3 times higher than that of safety standard) is observed at 80 coal mines. High levels of gamma radiation from natural radionuclides (300 μR/h and above) are marked at the separate objects of oil and gas mining industry. It is revealed that the contamination of ash wastes resulted from certain coals combustion reaches 520 Bq/kg at separate thermal power plants
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DEFF Research Database (Denmark)
Andersen, Simon Bruntse; Rasmussen, Claire Kirchert; Frøkjær, Erik
2017-01-01
A usability evaluation technique, Cooperative Usability Testing with Questions of Understanding (CUT with QU) intended to illuminate users’ ability to understand the content information of an application is proposed. In complex application domains as for instance the eHealth domain, this issue...... the participation of four physiotherapists and four clients in a period of 3.5 months, it was demonstrated how CUT with QU can complement conventional usability testing and provide insight into users’ challenges with understanding of a new complex eHealth application. More experiments in other complex application...... domains involving different kinds of users and evaluators are needed before we can tell whether CUT with QU is an effective usability testing technique of wider applicability. Performing CUT with QU is very demanding by drawing heavily on the evaluators’ ability to respond effectively to openings...
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International Nuclear Information System (INIS)
Kappanayil, Mahesh; Kannan, Rajesh; Kumar, Raman Krishna
2011-01-01
Complex congenital heart diseases are often associated with complex alterations in hemodynamics. Understanding these key hemodynamic changes is critical to making management decisions including surgery and postoperative management. Existing tools for imaging and hemodynamic assessment like echocardiography, computed tomography and cardiac catheterization have inherent limitations. Cardiac magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) is emerging as a powerful bouquet of tools that allow not only excellent imaging, but also a unique insight into hemodynamics. This article introduces the reader to cardiac MRI and its utility through the clinical example of a child with a complex congenital cyanotic heart disease
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Land, power and conflict in Afghanistan: seeking to understand complexity
Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)
Adam Pain
2013-06-01
Full Text Available This paper explores the diverse links between land and power under conditions of conflict in Afghanistan, taking into account the complexities of Afghan society. These complexities are structured around interconnecting informal institutions and personalised relationships, culturally specific, diverse and shifting patterns of social relations, and spatially specific patterns of land ownership inequalities. The paper draws on a decade of empirical fieldwork in Afghanistan and recent work on livelihood trajectories and the opium economy. An understanding of the evolution of land ownership and access issues needs to be associated with an appreciation of diverse and potentially contradictory long-term drivers of change in the rural economy. The first of these long-term drivers of change relates to the effects of conflict, not only on land but also of water access under conditions of an increasingly scarce water supply. The second driver relates both to the roles played by village elites and to the structural contrasts between villages located in the mountains and in the plains, with the latter displaying major inequalities in land ownership. The third driver relates to the declining economic role of land in rural livelihoods, given long-term agrarian change and falling farm sizes. An understanding of history is fundamental to explaining these phenomena. How such conflicts play out, and which social groups or individuals they involve, also depend to a large degree on spatial positioning.
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Energy and complex industrial systems environmental emissions data reporting and acquisition
International Nuclear Information System (INIS)
Moskowitz, P.D.; Hamilton, L.D.
1987-07-01
The Joint International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), UNEP and WHO Project on Assessing and Managing Health and Environmental risks from Energy and Other Complex Technologies intends to complile emissions data for mportant energy systems and other complex technologies from a wide variety of countries. To facilitate data generation and compilation, this report: outlines data reporting protocols; identifies potential information sources; demonstrates how to estimate coefficients; presents some compiled US emission coefficients or criteria air pollutants for some energy process; and, compares national air emission standards for electricity generating plants in OECD member countries. 27 refs., 2 fis., 1 tabs
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Understanding Mechanism of Photocatalytic Microbial Decontamination of Environmental Wastewater
Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)
Chhabilal Regmi
2018-02-01
Full Text Available Several photocatalytic nanoparticles are synthesized and studied for potential application for the degradation of organic and biological wastes. Although these materials degrade organic compounds by advance oxidation process, the exact mechanisms of microbial decontamination remains partially known. Understanding the real mechanisms of these materials for microbial cell death and growth inhibition helps to fabricate more efficient semiconductor photocatalyst for large-scale decontamination of environmental wastewater or industries and hospitals/biomedical labs generating highly pathogenic bacteria and toxic molecules containing liquid waste by designing a reactor. Recent studies on microbial decontamination by photocatalytic nanoparticles and their possible mechanisms of action is highlighted with examples in this mini review.
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Understanding environmental contributions to autism: Causal concepts and the state of science.
Hertz-Picciotto, Irva; Schmidt, Rebecca J; Krakowiak, Paula
2018-04-01
The complexity of neurodevelopment, the rapidity of early neurogenesis, and over 100 years of research identifying environmental influences on neurodevelopment serve as backdrop to understanding factors that influence risk and severity of autism spectrum disorder (ASD). This Keynote Lecture, delivered at the May 2016 annual meeting of the International Society for Autism Research, describes concepts of causation, outlines the trajectory of research on nongenetic factors beginning in the 1960s, and briefly reviews the current state of this science. Causal concepts are introduced, including root causes; pitfalls in interpreting time trends as clues to etiologic factors; susceptible time windows for exposure; and implications of a multi-factorial model of ASD. An historical background presents early research into the origins of ASD. The epidemiologic literature from the last fifteen years is briefly but critically reviewed for potential roles of, for example, air pollution, pesticides, plastics, prenatal vitamins, lifestyle and family factors, and maternal obstetric and metabolic conditions during her pregnancy. Three examples from the case-control CHildhood Autism Risks from Genes and the Environment Study are probed to illustrate methodological approaches to central challenges in observational studies: capturing environmental exposure; causal inference when a randomized controlled clinical trial is either unethical or infeasible; and the integration of genetic, epigenetic, and environmental influences on development. We conclude with reflections on future directions, including exposomics, new technologies, the microbiome, gene-by-environment interaction in the era of -omics, and epigenetics as the interface of those two. As the environment is malleable, this research advances the goal of a productive and fulfilling life for all children, teen-agers and adults. Autism Res 2018, 11: 554-586. © 2018 International Society for Autism Research, Wiley Periodicals, Inc
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Environmental Systems Microbiology of Contaminated Environments
Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)
Sayler, Gary [University of Tennessee, Knoxville (UTK); Hazen, Terry C. [ORNL
2016-01-01
Environmental Systems Microbiology is well positioned to move forward in dynamic complex system analysis probing new questions and developing new insight into the function, robustness and resilience in response to anthropogenic perturbations. Recent studies have demonstrated that natural bacterial communities can be used as quantitative biosensors in both groundwater and deep ocean water, predicting oil concentration from the Gulf of Mexico Deep Water Horizon spill and from groundwater at nuclear production waste sites (16, 17, 25). Since the first demonstration of catabolic gene expression in soil remediation (34) it has been clear that extension beyond organismal abundance to process and function of microbial communities as a whole using the whole suite of omic tools available to the post genomic era. Metatranscriptomics have been highlighted as a prime vehicle for understanding responses to environmental drivers (35) in complex systems and with rapidly developing metabolomics, full functional understanding of complex community biogeochemical cycling is an achievable goal. Perhaps more exciting is the dynamic nature of these systems and their complex adaptive strategies that may lead to new control paradigms and emergence of new states and function in the course of a changing environment.
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Using chemistry and microfluidics to understand the spatial dynamics of complex biological networks.
Kastrup, Christian J; Runyon, Matthew K; Lucchetta, Elena M; Price, Jessica M; Ismagilov, Rustem F
2008-04-01
Understanding the spatial dynamics of biochemical networks is both fundamentally important for understanding life at the systems level and also has practical implications for medicine, engineering, biology, and chemistry. Studies at the level of individual reactions provide essential information about the function, interactions, and localization of individual molecular species and reactions in a network. However, analyzing the spatial dynamics of complex biochemical networks at this level is difficult. Biochemical networks are nonequilibrium systems containing dozens to hundreds of reactions with nonlinear and time-dependent interactions, and these interactions are influenced by diffusion, flow, and the relative values of state-dependent kinetic parameters. To achieve an overall understanding of the spatial dynamics of a network and the global mechanisms that drive its function, networks must be analyzed as a whole, where all of the components and influential parameters of a network are simultaneously considered. Here, we describe chemical concepts and microfluidic tools developed for network-level investigations of the spatial dynamics of these networks. Modular approaches can be used to simplify these networks by separating them into modules, and simple experimental or computational models can be created by replacing each module with a single reaction. Microfluidics can be used to implement these models as well as to analyze and perturb the complex network itself with spatial control on the micrometer scale. We also describe the application of these network-level approaches to elucidate the mechanisms governing the spatial dynamics of two networkshemostasis (blood clotting) and early patterning of the Drosophila embryo. To investigate the dynamics of the complex network of hemostasis, we simplified the network by using a modular mechanism and created a chemical model based on this mechanism by using microfluidics. Then, we used the mechanism and the model to
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Using statistics to understand the environment
Cook, Penny A
2000-01-01
Using Statistics to Understand the Environment covers all the basic tests required for environmental practicals and projects and points the way to the more advanced techniques that may be needed in more complex research designs. Following an introduction to project design, the book covers methods to describe data, to examine differences between samples, and to identify relationships and associations between variables.Featuring: worked examples covering a wide range of environmental topics, drawings and icons, chapter summaries, a glossary of statistical terms and a further reading section, this book focuses on the needs of the researcher rather than on the mathematics behind the tests.
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Understanding valve program complexity in a refurbishment environment - learning from the past
International Nuclear Information System (INIS)
Roth, H.E.
2012-01-01
The complexity of Valve Program development, planning, execution and management in a refurbishment environment is an enormous undertaking requiring the proper coordination and integration of many moving parts. As such, lack of attention and understanding of this complexity has led to significant cost and schedule overruns in past refurbishment projects in the province. OPEX indicates the challenges in completing valve scope during refurbishments are related but not limited to; lack of detailed condition assessments, improper scope development, insignificant strategic approach to work task planning, scheduling and procurement, absence of contingency planning for common ‘as found’ conditions during execution, lack of proper training requirements, etc. In addition, past contracting strategies to employ numerous companies in collaboration to complete such a complex and specialized program, has resulted in further complications surrounding the management and integration of multiple quality programs and internal company processes. Finally, the aftermath of such fragmented projects results in an absolute closeout nightmare, often times taking years to locate, sift through and re-integrate pertinent information back into customer systems. Valve Program complexity cannot be understood by just anyone, only those that have lived through a refurbishment project and experienced the challenges mentioned above have the knowledge, skill, and ability to appreciate how to tactically apply past learning to realize future improvements. Furthermore, effective contractor-customer collaboration is crucial; true and in-depth knowledge and understanding of the customer quality programs, engineering and work management processes, configuration management requirements, and most importantly the imperative significance of nuclear safety, are all essential components to ensure overall alignment and program success. (author)
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Understanding valve program complexity in a refurbishment environment - learning from the past
Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)
Roth, H.E. [Babcock & Wilcox Canada Ltd., Cambridge, Ontario (Canada)
2012-07-01
The complexity of Valve Program development, planning, execution and management in a refurbishment environment is an enormous undertaking requiring the proper coordination and integration of many moving parts. As such, lack of attention and understanding of this complexity has led to significant cost and schedule overruns in past refurbishment projects in the province. OPEX indicates the challenges in completing valve scope during refurbishments are related but not limited to; lack of detailed condition assessments, improper scope development, insignificant strategic approach to work task planning, scheduling and procurement, absence of contingency planning for common ‘as found’ conditions during execution, lack of proper training requirements, etc. In addition, past contracting strategies to employ numerous companies in collaboration to complete such a complex and specialized program, has resulted in further complications surrounding the management and integration of multiple quality programs and internal company processes. Finally, the aftermath of such fragmented projects results in an absolute closeout nightmare, often times taking years to locate, sift through and re-integrate pertinent information back into customer systems. Valve Program complexity cannot be understood by just anyone, only those that have lived through a refurbishment project and experienced the challenges mentioned above have the knowledge, skill, and ability to appreciate how to tactically apply past learning to realize future improvements. Furthermore, effective contractor-customer collaboration is crucial; true and in-depth knowledge and understanding of the customer quality programs, engineering and work management processes, configuration management requirements, and most importantly the imperative significance of nuclear safety, are all essential components to ensure overall alignment and program success. (author)
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Toward understanding the thermodynamics of TALSPEAK process. Medium effects on actinide complexation
International Nuclear Information System (INIS)
Zalupski, Peter R.; Martin, Leigh R.; Nash, Ken; Nakamura, Yoshinobu; Yamamoto, Masahiko
2009-01-01
The ingenious combination of lactate and diethylenetriamine-N,N,N',N(double p rime),N(double p rime)-pentaacetic acid (DTPA) as an aqueous actinide-complexing medium forms the basis of the successful separation of americium and curium from lanthanides known as the TALSPEAK process. While numerous reports in the prior literature have focused on the optimization of this solvent extraction system, considerably less attention has been devoted to the understanding of the basic thermodynamic features of the complex fluids responsible for the separation. The available thermochemical information of both lactate and DTPA protonation and metal complexation reactions are representative of the behavior of these ions under idealized conditions. Our previous studies of medium effects on lactate protonation suggest that significant departures from the speciation predicted based on reported thermodynamic values should be expected in the TALSPEAK aqueous environment. Thermodynamic parameters describing the separation chemistry of this process thus require further examination at conditions significantly removed from conventional ideal systems commonly employed in fundamental solution chemistry. Such thermodynamic characterization is the key to predictive modelling of TALSPEAK. Improved understanding will, in principle, allow process technologists to more efficiently respond to off-normal conditions during large scale process operation. In this report, the results of calorimetric and potentiometric investigations of the effects of aqueous electrolytes on the thermodynamic parameters for lactate protonation and lactate complexation of americium and neodymium will be presented. Studies on the lactate protonation equilibrium will clearly illustrate distinct thermodynamic variations between strong electrolyte aqueous systems and buffered lactate environment.
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Lewis, Brian A
2010-01-15
The regulation of transcription and of many other cellular processes involves large multi-subunit protein complexes. In the context of transcription, it is known that these complexes serve as regulatory platforms that connect activator DNA-binding proteins to a target promoter. However, there is still a lack of understanding regarding the function of these complexes. Why do multi-subunit complexes exist? What is the molecular basis of the function of their constituent subunits, and how are these subunits organized within a complex? What is the reason for physical connections between certain subunits and not others? In this article, I address these issues through a model of network allostery and its application to the eukaryotic RNA polymerase II Mediator transcription complex. The multiple allosteric networks model (MANM) suggests that protein complexes such as Mediator exist not only as physical but also as functional networks of interconnected proteins through which information is transferred from subunit to subunit by the propagation of an allosteric state known as conformational spread. Additionally, there are multiple distinct sub-networks within the Mediator complex that can be defined by their connections to different subunits; these sub-networks have discrete functions that are activated when specific subunits interact with other activator proteins.
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THE IMPACT OF SOCIAL CAPITAL ON ENVIRONMENTAL RISK REDUCTION IN MONCURE
Despite rigorous efforts to understand and resolve environmental justice (EJ) issues, the complexity of the issues associated with many of these EJ communities continues to bring challenges to community residents and environmental researchers. Moncure, NC, located in northern Cha...
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Turrin, M.; Kenna, T. C.
2014-12-01
The new NGSS provide an important opportunity for scientists to develop curriculum that links the practice of science to research-based data in order to improve understanding in areas of science that are both complex and confusing. Our curriculum focuses in particular on the fate and transport of anthropogenic radionuclides. Radioactivity, both naturally occurring and anthropogenic, is highly debated and largely misunderstood, and for large sections of the population is a source of scientific misunderstanding. Developed as part of the international GEOTRACES project which focuses on identifying ocean processes and quantifying fluxes that control the distributions of selected trace elements and isotopes in the ocean, and on establishing the sensitivity of these distributions to changing environmental conditions, the curriculum topic fits nicely into the applied focus of NGSS with both environmental and topical relevance. Our curriculum design focuses on small group discussion driven by questions, yet unlike more traditional curriculum pieces these are not questions posed to the students, rather they are questions posed by the students to facilitate their deeper understanding. Our curriculum design challenges the traditional question/answer memorization approach to instruction as we strive to develop an educational approach that supports the practice of science as well as the NGSS Cross Cutting Concepts and the Science & Engineering Practices. Our goal is for students to develop a methodology they can employ when faced with a complex scientific issue. Through background readings and team discussions they identify what type of information is important for them to know and where to find a reliable source for that information. Framing their discovery around key questions such as "What type of radioactive decay are we dealing with?", "What is the potential half-life of the isotope?", and "What are the pathways of transport of radioactivity?" allows students to evaluate a
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Bandyopadhyay, Mridula
2011-11-25
The complexities inherent in understanding the social determinants of health are often not well-served by quantitative approaches. My aim is to show that well-designed and well-conducted ethnographic studies have an important contribution to make in this regard. Ethnographic research designs are a difficult but rigorous approach to research questions that require us to understand the complexity of people's social and cultural lives. I draw on an ethnographic study to describe the complexities of studying maternal health in a rural area in India. I then show how the lessons learnt in that setting and context can be applied to studies done in very different settings. I show how ethnographic research depends for rigour on a theoretical framework for sample selection; why immersion in the community under study, and rapport building with research participants, is important to ensure rich and meaningful data; and how flexible approaches to data collection lead to the gradual emergence of an analysis based on intense cross-referencing with community views and thus a conclusion that explains the similarities and differences observed. When using ethnographic research design it can be difficult to specify in advance the exact details of the study design. Researchers can encounter issues in the field that require them to change what they planned on doing. In rigorous ethnographic studies, the researcher in the field is the research instrument and needs to be well trained in the method. Ethnographic research is challenging, but nevertheless provides a rewarding way of researching complex health problems that require an understanding of the social and cultural determinants of health.
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Postmodern imaginative constructivism for STSE understanding
Robertson, Christian
The influences of science and technology on society and the environment (STSE) have been an integral component of the formal educational curricula for four decades, and yet industrialized countries frequently struggle to balance the benefits of science and technology with the social justice and environmental issues inherent to contemporary society. Canadian citizens often fail to connect scientific and technological understandings with the subtle and yet ubiquitous personal, political, cultural, environmental, and social consequences that result from these understandings. This phenomenological research will explore potential discourses of control within education and society that may preclude authentic, contextual, and meaningful understandings of science and technology relative to their significant consequences, and an imaginative adaptation of Egan's Ironic Understanding and McGinn's Foreground and Background Dimensions to imaginatively express an awareness of postmodern STSE understandings. This research is designed to explore student understandings of how the diverse and complex influences of science and technology affect students through postmodern, imaginative, and constructivist photography. Participants demonstrated a limited Ironic Understanding of STSE, a critical awareness of specific modernist influences, increased personal and affective connections to science and technology, and an awareness of the duality of STSE. Participants' photographic artifacts can be utilized to inform teaching and learning strategies in order to purposefully craft curriculum and lesson plan design for personalized and engaging learning opportunities that incorporate students' awareness of STSE.
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EO2HEAVEN: mitigating environmental health risks
CSIR Research Space (South Africa)
Le Rouw, Wouter J
2013-01-01
Full Text Available EO2HEAVEN has the primary objective to contribute to a better understanding of the complex relationships between environmental changes and their impact on human health. To achieve this, the project followed a multidisciplinary and user...
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Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)
Rogers Anne
2007-09-01
Full Text Available Abstract Background The Normalization Process Model is a theoretical model that assists in explaining the processes by which complex interventions become routinely embedded in health care practice. It offers a framework for process evaluation and also for comparative studies of complex interventions. It focuses on the factors that promote or inhibit the routine embedding of complex interventions in health care practice. Methods A formal theory structure is used to define the model, and its internal causal relations and mechanisms. The model is broken down to show that it is consistent and adequate in generating accurate description, systematic explanation, and the production of rational knowledge claims about the workability and integration of complex interventions. Results The model explains the normalization of complex interventions by reference to four factors demonstrated to promote or inhibit the operationalization and embedding of complex interventions (interactional workability, relational integration, skill-set workability, and contextual integration. Conclusion The model is consistent and adequate. Repeated calls for theoretically sound process evaluations in randomized controlled trials of complex interventions, and policy-makers who call for a proper understanding of implementation processes, emphasize the value of conceptual tools like the Normalization Process Model.
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International Nuclear Information System (INIS)
Betsch, M.D.; Lewis, R.A.
1995-05-01
Demolishing outdated structures from the US Department of Energy Hanford Site in Washington, generates large quantities of waste which can be minimized. The Hanford cleanup is one of the world's largest and most complex environmental restoration efforts. Approximately 280 square miles of ground water and soil are contaminated; there are more than 80 surplus facilities, including nine shut-down nuclear reactors in various stages of decay; and there are 177 underground waste storage tanks containing highly radioactive waste. In all, 1,500 cleanup sites have been identified and the Environmental Restoration Contractor (ERC) is currently responsible for surveillance and maintenance of 170 structures. A two hour orientation training in pollution prevention was developed by the Westinghouse Hanford Company to provide all Decontamination and Decommissioning/Environmental Restoration (D ampersand D/ER) personnel with the knowledge to apply waste minimization principles during their cleanup activities. The ERC Team Pollution Prevention Workshop serves to communicate pollution prevention philosophies and influences the way D ampersand D/ER projects are conducted at the Hanford Site
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Understanding and quantifying cognitive complexity level in mathematical problem solving items
Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)
SUSAN E. EMBRETSON
2008-09-01
Full Text Available The linear logistic test model (LLTM; Fischer, 1973 has been applied to a wide variety of new tests. When the LLTM application involves item complexity variables that are both theoretically interesting and empirically supported, several advantages can result. These advantages include elaborating construct validity at the item level, defining variables for test design, predicting parameters of new items, item banking by sources of complexity and providing a basis for item design and item generation. However, despite the many advantages of applying LLTM to test items, it has been applied less often to understand the sources of complexity for large-scale operational test items. Instead, previously calibrated item parameters are modeled using regression techniques because raw item response data often cannot be made available. In the current study, both LLTM and regression modeling are applied to mathematical problem solving items from a widely used test. The findings from the two methods are compared and contrasted for their implications for continued development of ability and achievement tests based on mathematical problem solving items.
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On improved understanding of plasma-chemical processes in complex low-temperature plasmas
Röpcke, Jürgen; Loffhagen, Detlef; von Wahl, Eric; Nave, Andy S. C.; Hamann, Stephan; van Helden, Jean-Piere H.; Lang, Norbert; Kersten, Holger
2018-05-01
Over the last years, chemical sensing using optical emission spectroscopy (OES) in the visible spectral range has been combined with methods of mid infrared laser absorption spectroscopy (MIR-LAS) in the molecular fingerprint region from 3 to 20 μm, which contains strong rotational-vibrational absorption bands of a large variety of gaseous species. This optical approach established powerful in situ diagnostic tools to study plasma-chemical processes of complex low-temperature plasmas. The methods of MIR-LAS enable to detect stable and transient molecular species in ground and excited states and to measure the concentrations and temperatures of reactive species in plasmas. Since kinetic processes are inherent to discharges ignited in molecular gases, high time resolution on sub-second timescales is frequently desired for fundamental studies as well as for process monitoring in applied research and industry. In addition to high sensitivity and good temporal resolution, the capacity for broad spectral coverage enabling multicomponent detection is further expanding the use of OES and MIR-LAS techniques. Based on selected examples, this paper reports on recent achievements in the understanding of complex low-temperature plasmas. Recently, a link with chemical modeling of the plasma has been provided, which is the ultimate objective for a better understanding of the chemical and reaction kinetic processes occurring in the plasma. Contribution to the Topical Issue "Fundamentals of Complex Plasmas", edited by Jürgen Meichsner, Michael Bonitz, Holger Fehske, Alexander Piel.
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Eom, Sang-Yong; Choi, Jonghyuk; Bae, Sanghyuk; Lim, Ji-Ae; Kim, Guen-Bae; Yu, Seung-Do; Kim, Yangho; Lim, Hyun-Sul; Son, Bu-Soon; Paek, Domyung; Kim, Yong-Dae; Kim, Heon; Ha, Mina; Kwon, Ho-Jang
2018-01-01
Several epidemiological studies have reported an association between environmental pollution and various health conditions in individuals residing in industrial complexes. To evaluate the effects of pollution from industrial complex on human health, we performed a pooled analysis of environmental epidemiologic monitoring data for residents living near national industrial complexes in Korea. The respiratory and allergic symptoms and the prevalence of acute and chronic diseases, including cancer, were used as the outcome variables for health effects. Multiple logistic regression analysis was used to analyze the relationship between exposure to pollution from industrial complexes and health conditions. After adjusting for age, sex, smoking status, occupational exposure, level of education, and body mass index, the residents near the industrial complexes were found to have more respiratory symptoms, such as cough (odds ratio [OR], 1.18; 95% confidence interval [CI], 1.06 to 1.31) and sputum production (OR, 1.13; 95% CI, 1.03 to 1.24), and symptoms of atopic dermatitis (OR, 1.10; 95% CI, 1.01 to 1.20). Among residents of the industrial complexes, the prevalence of acute eye disorders was approximately 40% higher (OR, 1.39; 95% CI, 1.04 to 1.84) and the prevalence of lung and uterine cancer was 3.45 times and 1.88 times higher, respectively, than those among residents of the control area. This study showed that residents living in the vicinity of industrial complexes have a high risk of acute and chronic diseases including respiratory and allergic conditions. These results can be used as basic objective data for developing health management measures for individuals residing near industrial complexes.
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Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)
Sang-Yong Eom
2018-01-01
Full Text Available Several epidemiological studies have reported an association between environmental pollution and various health conditions in individuals residing in industrial complexes. To evaluate the effects of pollution from industrial complex on human health, we performed a pooled analysis of environmental epidemiologic monitoring data for residents living near national industrial complexes in Korea. The respiratory and allergic symptoms and the prevalence of acute and chronic diseases, including cancer, were used as the outcome variables for health effects. Multiple logistic regression analysis was used to analyze the relationship between exposure to pollution from industrial complexes and health conditions. After adjusting for age, sex, smoking status, occupational exposure, level of education, and body mass index, the residents near the industrial complexes were found to have more respiratory symptoms, such as cough (odds ratio [OR], 1.18; 95% confidence interval [CI], 1.06 to 1.31 and sputum production (OR, 1.13; 95% CI, 1.03 to 1.24, and symptoms of atopic dermatitis (OR, 1.10; 95% CI, 1.01 to 1.20. Among residents of the industrial complexes, the prevalence of acute eye disorders was approximately 40% higher (OR, 1.39; 95% CI, 1.04 to 1.84 and the prevalence of lung and uterine cancer was 3.45 times and 1.88 times higher, respectively, than those among residents of the control area. This study showed that residents living in the vicinity of industrial complexes have a high risk of acute and chronic diseases including respiratory and allergic conditions. These results can be used as basic objective data for developing health management measures for individuals residing near industrial complexes.
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Qualitative environmental health research: an analysis of the literature, 1991-2008.
Scammell, Madeleine Kangsen
2011-10-01
Qualitative research uses nonnumeric data to understand people's opinions, motives, understanding, and beliefs about events or phenomena. In this analysis, I report the use of qualitative methods and data in the study of the relationship between environmental exposures and human health. A primary search for peer-reviewed journal articles dated from 1991 through 2008 included the following three terms: qualitative, environ*, and health. Searches resulted in 3,155 records. Data were extracted and findings of articles analyzed to determine where and by whom qualitative environmental health research is conducted and published, the types of methods and analyses used in qualitative studies of environmental health, and the types of information qualitative data contribute to environmental health. The results highlight a diversity of disciplines and techniques among researchers who used qualitative methods to study environmental health. Nearly all of the studies identified increased scientific understanding of lay perceptions of environmental health exposures. This analysis demonstrates the potential of qualitative data to improve understanding of complex exposure pathways, including the influence of social factors on environmental health, and health outcomes.
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Understanding environmental pollution: a primer. 2nd ed.
Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)
Marquita K. Hill [University of Maine, Orono, MN (United States)
2004-08-15
The book moves from the definition of pollution and how pollutants behave, to air and water pollution basics, pollution and global change, solid waste, and pollution in the home. It also discusses persistent and bioaccumulative chemicals, and pesticides, and it places greater stress on global pollutants. The relationship between energy generation and use, and pollution is stressed, as well as the importance of going beyond pollution control, to pollution prevention. Impacts on human and environmental health are emphasized throughout. Contents are: 1. Understanding pollution; 2. Reducing pollution; 3. Chemical toxicity; 4. Chemical exposures and risk assessment; 5. Ambient air pollution; 6. Acid deposition; 7. Global climate change; 8. Stratispheric ozone depletion; 9. Water pollution; 10. Drinking water; 11. Solid waste; 12. Hazardous waste; 13. Energy; 14. Persistent, bioaccumulative and toxic; 15. Metals; 16. Pesticides; 17. Pollution at home; and 18. Zero waste, zero emissions. 69 figs., 42 tabs.
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Evolution in students' understanding of thermal physics with increasing complexity
Langbeheim, Elon; Safran, Samuel A.; Livne, Shelly; Yerushalmi, Edit
2013-12-01
We analyze the development in students’ understanding of fundamental principles in the context of learning a current interdisciplinary research topic—soft matter—that was adapted to the level of high school students. The topic was introduced in a program for interested 11th grade high school students majoring in chemistry and/or physics, in an off-school setting. Soft matter was presented in a gradual increase in the degree of complexity of the phenomena as well as in the level of the quantitative analysis. We describe the evolution in students’ use of fundamental thermodynamics principles to reason about phase separation—a phenomenon that is ubiquitous in soft matter. In particular, we examine the impact of the use of free energy analysis, a common approach in soft matter, on the understanding of the fundamental principles of thermodynamics. The study used diagnostic questions and classroom observations to gauge the student’s learning. In order to gain insight on the aspects that shape the understanding of the basic principles, we focus on the responses and explanations of two case-study students who represent two trends of evolution in conceptual understanding in the group. We analyze changes in the two case studies’ management of conceptual resources used in their analysis of phase separation, and suggest how their prior knowledge and epistemological framing (a combination of their personal tendencies and their prior exposure to different learning styles) affect their conceptual evolution. Finally, we propose strategies to improve the instruction of these concepts.
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Public communication on times of environmental crisis. The opening of San Rafael 's uranium complex
International Nuclear Information System (INIS)
Calvino, Carlos; Cisneros, Martin
2008-01-01
Full text: Argentina has had a lot of cultural changes in the last few years. An environmental movement has gathered and is trying to stop the opening of the Sierra Pintada uranium complex, near the city of San Rafael, in the south of Mendoza province. Since 2005, several 'groundless information' have been published in the local media about the dangers of this re-opening. These news exaggerate the properties of radon gas, claiming that it will reach San Rafael city (20 miles from the complex), rising radiological risk among the population, etc. This scene shows a 'non-real' picture of the regulatory activities that the Nuclear Regulatory Authority (ARN), a government agency that regulates nuclear facilities in Argentina, is really and systematically accomplishing. In this situation, the board of Directors of ARN decided to entrust a full analysis of the environmental issue in the area. The Office of Press and Communication implemented a local communication plan, using a Strategic and Systemic tool kit. The period to be analyzed is from second semester 2005 to February 2007. A little bit of history: the San Rafael Complex started in September 20 of 1979. It belongs to the National Commission of Atomic Energy (CNEA), a government agency. Until its temporary suspension in 1995 for international market reasons (uranium price was U$S 10 / pound), almost 2 million tons of uranium were processed. Besides its temporary suspension, the ARN has been constantly monitoring this particular former complex. In the year 2001, CNEA notices that the uranium price starts to rise and entrust National Technology University, Avellaneda Branch, to accomplish an Environmental Impact Report, according to the argentine law 25.585. Due especially to the rising of uranium price, (actually, the uranium price is approximately U$S 200) the national government determined to restart the extraction of the mineral again. By the year 2004, with the results of the Environmental Impact report, CNEA
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Teaching Complex Concepts in the Geosciences by Integrating Analytical Reasoning with GIS
Houser, Chris; Bishop, Michael P.; Lemmons, Kelly
2017-01-01
Conceptual models have long served as a means for physical geographers to organize their understanding of feedback mechanisms and complex systems. Analytical reasoning provides undergraduate students with an opportunity to develop conceptual models based upon their understanding of surface processes and environmental conditions. This study…
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Environmental influences on neural systems of relational complexity
Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)
Layne eKalbfleisch
2013-09-01
Full Text Available Constructivist learning theory contends that we construct knowledge by experience and that environmental context influences learning. To explore this principle, we examined the cognitive process relational complexity (RC, defined as the number of visual dimensions considered during problem solving on a matrix reasoning task and a well-documented measure of mature reasoning capacity. We sought to determine how the visual environment influences RC by examining the influence of color and visual contrast on RC in a neuroimaging task. To specify the contributions of sensory demand and relational integration to reasoning, our participants performed a non-verbal matrix task comprised of color, no-color line, or black-white visual contrast conditions parametrically varied by complexity (relations 0, 1, 2. The use of matrix reasoning is ecologically valid for its psychometric relevance and for its potential to link the processing of psychophysically specific visual properties with various levels of relational complexity during reasoning. The role of these elements is important because matrix tests assess intellectual aptitude based on these seemingly context-less exercises. This experiment is a first step toward examining the psychophysical underpinnings of performance on these types of problems. The importance of this is increased in light of recent evidence that intelligence can be linked to visual discrimination. We submit three main findings. First, color and black-white visual contrast add demand at a basic sensory level, but contributions from color and from black-white visual contrast are dissociable in cortex such that color engages a reasoning heuristic and black-white visual contrast engages a sensory heuristic. Second, color supports contextual sense-making by boosting salience resulting in faster problem solving. Lastly, when visual complexity reaches 2-relations, color and visual contrast relinquish salience to other dimensions of problem
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Department of Energy environmental management complex-wide integration using systems engineering
International Nuclear Information System (INIS)
Fairbourn, P.
1997-01-01
A systems engineering approach was successfully used to recommend changes to environmental management activities across the DOE Complex. A team of technical experts and systems engineers developed alternatives that could save tax payers billions of dollars if the barriers are removed to allow complete implementation. The alternatives are technically-based and defensible, and are being worked through the stakeholder review process. The integration process and implementing project structure are both discussed
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Environmental impacts of utility-scale solar energy
Hernandez, R.R.; Easter, S.B.; Murphy-Mariscal, M. L.; Maestre, F.T.; Tavassoli, M.; Allen, E.B.; Barrows, C.W.; Belnap, J.; Ochoa-Hueso, R.; Ravi, S.; Allen, M.F.
2014-01-01
Renewable energy is a promising alternative to fossil fuel-based energy, but its development can require a complex set of environmental tradeoffs. A recent increase in solar energy systems, especially large, centralized installations, underscores the urgency of understanding their environmental interactions. Synthesizing literature across numerous disciplines, we review direct and indirect environmental impacts – both beneficial and adverse – of utility-scale solar energy (USSE) development, including impacts on biodiversity, land-use and land-cover change, soils, water resources, and human health. Additionally, we review feedbacks between USSE infrastructure and land-atmosphere interactions and the potential for USSE systems to mitigate climate change. Several characteristics and development strategies of USSE systems have low environmental impacts relative to other energy systems, including other renewables. We show opportunities to increase USSE environmental co-benefits, the permitting and regulatory constraints and opportunities of USSE, and highlight future research directions to better understand the nexus between USSE and the environment. Increasing the environmental compatibility of USSE systems will maximize the efficacy of this key renewable energy source in mitigating climatic and global environmental change.
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Child poverty and environmental justice.
Hornberg, Claudia; Pauli, Andrea
2007-10-01
Child poverty and social inequality in Western countries are growing both in scope and in complexity. The clustering of income poverty in urban settings reflects the complex process of residential segregation. Living in segregated neighbourhoods with much poverty and predominantly substandard housing is usually associated with poor physical, chemical and social environmental living conditions at the individual and community level which influence and shape children's health both directly and indirectly. This paper shows research data on the link between child poverty and income-related health inequalities according to the unequal exposure to environmental hazards as well as the unequal distribution of environmental resources in the domestic environment and within the local context as an increasing public health issue in Germany. The links between these factors are drawn from the conceptual framework of environmental justice. Examples are shown of integrated approaches to alleviate social and environmental disparities at the community level. The implications of environmental justice for public health include the need to uncover the link between socioeconomic factors and environmental health disparities related to the man-made environment. Developing relevant indicators for environmental inequalities in the context of housing and health is an important task for public health research. More emphasis should be placed on a comprehensive holistic approach to understand the mechanisms by which socioeconomic factors modify children's susceptibility and exposure to environmental hazards, particularly in low-income areas.
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International Nuclear Information System (INIS)
Dolenc, M.R.; Janke, D.H.
1977-05-01
This report describes the environmental surveillance activities during 1976 at the two solid waste facilities of the Idaho National Engineering Laboratory. The monitoring program encompasses periodic and random sampling of air, water, and soil within and adjacent to the Radioactive Waste Management Complex and SL-1 Burial Ground. It was found that operation of the Radioactive Waste Management Complex and SL-1 during 1976 had little radiological impact on the environment and radioactivity levels were shown to be within appropriate guidelines for worker safety
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Gilligan, J. M.; Ackerly, B.; Goodbred, S. L.
2013-12-01
In populated delta environments, it is impossible to separate human and natural systems. Human activities change the landscape by altering the dynamics of water and sediment and in return, humans themselves are affected by the natural and anthropogenic changes to the landscape. Such interactions can also have significant impacts on the ecology and natural resources of a delta system, affecting local and regional food supply, livelihoods, and economies, particularly in developing nations. Successful adaptation to environmental change in a strongly coupled human-natural system, such as the Bengal delta, requires understanding how the physical environment and the changing social, political, and economic conditions of people's lives interact. Research on human-delta interactions has largely focused on macro-scale effects from major dams, water diversions, and catchment-scale land use; but at the smaller scale of households and communities, decisions, actions, and outcomes may occur abruptly and have significant local impacts (positive or negative). Southwest Bangladesh experiences profound environmental problems at the local human-landscape interface, including groundwater salinity, soil fertility, conflicting land-use practices, management of engineering structures, and declining land-surface elevations. The impacts of climate-induced sea-level rise, especially with respect to population migration, receive great attention and concern, but neither sea level rise nor migration occurs against a background of static physical or human environments. For example, changing land use (e.g., building embankments, which affect drainage, sediment transport, and the evolution of tidal channels; and the transformation of rice fields to shrimp aquaculture, which affects soil chemistry, labor markets, river ecology, and possibly the integrity of embankments) can significantly change the impact that sea level rise will have on flood hazards and the resulting effect on people living on
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Neuroanthropological Understanding of Complex Cognition – Numerosity and Arithmetics
Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)
Zarja Mursic
2013-10-01
Full Text Available Humankind has a long evolutionary history. When we are trying to understand human complex cognition, it is as well important to look back to entire evolution. I will present the thesis that our biological predispositions and culture, together with natural and social environment, are tightly connected. During ontogenetically development we are shaped by various factors, and they enabled humans to develop some aspects of complex cognition, such as mathematics.In the beginning of the article I present the importance of natural and cultural evolution in other animals. In the following part, I briefly examine the field of mathematics – numerosity and arithmetic. Presentation of comparative animal studies, mainly made on primates, provides some interesting examples in animals’ abilities to separate between different quantities. From abilities for numerosity in animals I continue to neuroscientific studies of humans and our ability to solve simple arithmetic tasks. I also mention cross-cultural studies of arithmetic skills. In the final part of the text I present the field neuroanthropology as a possible new pillar of cognitive science. Finally, it is important to connect human evolution and development with animal cognition studies, but as well with cross-cultural studies in shaping of human ability for numerosity and arithmetic.
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[Ethics and prevention: environmental and individual disparities].
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.
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Frank, David G.; Wallace, Alan R.; Schneider, Jill L.
2010-01-01
supports approximately 40 USGS research specialists who utilize cooperative agreements with universities, industry, and other governmental agencies to support their collaborative research and information exchange. Scientists of the WMERSC study how and where non-fuel mineral resources form and are concentrated in the earth's crust, where mineral resources might be found in the future, and how mineral materials interact with the environment to affect human and ecosystem health. Natural systems (ecosystems) are complex - our understanding of how ecosystems operate requires collecting and synthesizing large amounts of geologic, geochemical, biologic, hydrologic, and meteorological information. Scientists in the Center strive to understand the interplay of various processes and how they affect the structure, composition, and health of ecosystems. Such understanding, which is then summarized in publicly available reports, is used to address and solve a wide variety of issues that are important to society and the economy. WMERSC scientists have extensive national and international experience in these scientific specialties and capabilities - they have collaborated with many Federal, State, and local agencies; with various private sector organizations; as well as with foreign countries and organizations. Nearly every scientific and societal challenge requires a different combination of scientific skills and capabilities. With their breadth of scientific specialties and capabilities, the scientists of the WMERSC can provide scientifically sound approaches to a wide range of societal challenges and issues. The following sections describe examples of important issues that have been addressed by scientists in the Center, the methods employed, and the relevant conclusions. New directions are inevitable as societal needs change over time. Scientists of the WMERSC have a diverse set of skills and capabilities and are proficient in the collection and integration of
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Evolution in students’ understanding of thermal physics with increasing complexity
Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)
Elon Langbeheim
2013-11-01
Full Text Available We analyze the development in students’ understanding of fundamental principles in the context of learning a current interdisciplinary research topic—soft matter—that was adapted to the level of high school students. The topic was introduced in a program for interested 11th grade high school students majoring in chemistry and/or physics, in an off-school setting. Soft matter was presented in a gradual increase in the degree of complexity of the phenomena as well as in the level of the quantitative analysis. We describe the evolution in students’ use of fundamental thermodynamics principles to reason about phase separation—a phenomenon that is ubiquitous in soft matter. In particular, we examine the impact of the use of free energy analysis, a common approach in soft matter, on the understanding of the fundamental principles of thermodynamics. The study used diagnostic questions and classroom observations to gauge the student’s learning. In order to gain insight on the aspects that shape the understanding of the basic principles, we focus on the responses and explanations of two case-study students who represent two trends of evolution in conceptual understanding in the group. We analyze changes in the two case studies’ management of conceptual resources used in their analysis of phase separation, and suggest how their prior knowledge and epistemological framing (a combination of their personal tendencies and their prior exposure to different learning styles affect their conceptual evolution. Finally, we propose strategies to improve the instruction of these concepts.
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Rodríguez, Manuel; Kohen, Raquel; Delval, Juan
2015-01-01
Pollution phenomena are complex systems in which different parts are integrated by means of causal and temporal relationships. To understand pollution, children must develop some cognitive abilities related to system thinking and temporal and causal inferential reasoning. These cognitive abilities constrain and guide how children understand…
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Portsmouth Uranium Enrichment Complex environmental monitoring report for calendar year 1984
International Nuclear Information System (INIS)
1985-05-01
At the Portsmouth Uranium Enrichment Complex all effluent streams are sampled regularly and analyzed to assess compliance with applicable environmental standards. Radioactivity is measured in air, water, fish, produce, soil, and sediments; and radiation doses to the public are calculated. The calculated public radiation doses from process effluents are within US Department of Energy (DOE) and US Environmental Protection Agency standards. An extensive amount of engineering effort is underway to modify existing airborne radioactivity emissions sources to further reduce emissions in compliance with DOE policy. Non-radioactive effluents either presently comply with federal standards or will comply upon completion of planned projects. CY-1984 was the fourth full year under the current National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System (NPDES) permit for liquid effluents, and the second year the Ohio Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) assumed responsibility for administering the NPDES program. Compliance with the permit's discharge limits, with the exception of violations due to the startup of two new wastewater treatment facilities, did not present any significant problems. Overall compliance was 94.7%
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Heuristic principles to teach and learn boundary crossing skills in environmental science education
Fortuin, K.P.J.
2015-01-01
Since the 1970s academic environmental science curricula have emerged all over the world addressing a wide range of topics and using knowledge from various disciplines. These curricula aim to deliver graduates with competencies to study, understand and address complex environmental problems.
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Simon, Gregory L.; Wee, Bryan Shao-Chang; Chin, Anne; Tindle, Amy Depierre; Guth, Dan; Mason, Hillary
2013-01-01
As our understanding of complex environmental issues increases, institutions of higher education are evolving to develop new learning models that emphasize synthesis across disciplines, concepts, data, and methodologies. To this end, we argue for the implementation of environmental science education at the intersection of systems theory and…
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Karwowski, Waldemar
2012-12-01
In this paper, the author explores a need for a greater understanding of the true nature of human-system interactions from the perspective of the theory of complex adaptive systems, including the essence of complexity, emergent properties of system behavior, nonlinear systems dynamics, and deterministic chaos. Human performance, more often than not, constitutes complex adaptive phenomena with emergent properties that exhibit nonlinear dynamical (chaotic) behaviors. The complexity challenges in the design and management of contemporary work systems, including service systems, are explored. Examples of selected applications of the concepts of nonlinear dynamics to the study of human physical performance are provided. Understanding and applications of the concepts of theory of complex adaptive and dynamical systems should significantly improve the effectiveness of human-centered design efforts of a large system of systems. Performance of many contemporary work systems and environments may be sensitive to the initial conditions and may exhibit dynamic nonlinear properties and chaotic system behaviors. Human-centered design of emergent human-system interactions requires application of the theories of nonlinear dynamics and complex adaptive system. The success of future human-systems integration efforts requires the fusion of paradigms, knowledge, design principles, and methodologies of human factors and ergonomics with those of the science of complex adaptive systems as well as modern systems engineering.
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Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)
Ursula King
2014-05-01
Full Text Available Indigenous participation in land-based practices such as hunting, fishing, ceremony, and land care has a long history. In recent years, researchers and policy makers have advocated the benefits of these practices for both Indigenous people and the places they live. However, there have also been documented risks associated with participation in these activities. Environmental change brought about by shifts in land use, climate changes, and the accumulation of contaminants in the food chain sit alongside equally rapid shifts in social, economic and cultural circumstances, preferences and practices. To date, the literature has not offered a wide-ranging review of the available cross-disciplinary or cross-ecozone evidence for these intersecting benefits and risks, for both human and environmental health and wellbeing. By utilising hunting as a case study, this paper seeks to fill part of that gap through a transdisciplinary meta-analysis of the international literature exploring the ways in which Indigenous participation in land-based practices and human-environmental health have been studied, where the current gaps are, and how these findings could be used to inform research and policy. The result is an intriguing summary of disparate research that highlights the patchwork of contradictory understandings, and uneven regional emphasis, that have been documented. A new model was subsequently developed that facilitates a more in-depth consideration of these complex issues within local-global scale considerations. These findings challenge the bounded disciplinary and geographic spaces in which much of this work has occurred to date, and opens a dialogue to consider the importance of approaching these issues holistically.
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King, Ursula; Furgal, Christopher
2014-05-28
Indigenous participation in land-based practices such as hunting, fishing, ceremony, and land care has a long history. In recent years, researchers and policy makers have advocated the benefits of these practices for both Indigenous people and the places they live. However, there have also been documented risks associated with participation in these activities. Environmental change brought about by shifts in land use, climate changes, and the accumulation of contaminants in the food chain sit alongside equally rapid shifts in social, economic and cultural circumstances, preferences and practices. To date, the literature has not offered a wide-ranging review of the available cross-disciplinary or cross-ecozone evidence for these intersecting benefits and risks, for both human and environmental health and wellbeing. By utilising hunting as a case study, this paper seeks to fill part of that gap through a transdisciplinary meta-analysis of the international literature exploring the ways in which Indigenous participation in land-based practices and human-environmental health have been studied, where the current gaps are, and how these findings could be used to inform research and policy. The result is an intriguing summary of disparate research that highlights the patchwork of contradictory understandings, and uneven regional emphasis, that have been documented. A new model was subsequently developed that facilitates a more in-depth consideration of these complex issues within local-global scale considerations. These findings challenge the bounded disciplinary and geographic spaces in which much of this work has occurred to date, and opens a dialogue to consider the importance of approaching these issues holistically.
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Environmental management plan of the mining and industrial uranium complex in Brazil
International Nuclear Information System (INIS)
Figuereido, N.; Hilton, M.; Wiikman, L.; Oliveira, M.; Taddei, J.
1996-01-01
The Mining and Industrial Complex of the Pocos de Caldas Plateau (CIPC) is located at Caldas, county in the southwest of Minas Gerais state. It is a plant of the Industrias Nucleares do Brazil S.A. -INB, the only installation in Brazil for the production of uranium concentrate (yellow-cake) as ammonium diuranate (Adu). The Environmental protection and control program in practice assures the environmental management plan, in operation, maintaining the Complex within technology standards required by updated environmental concepts. The mine is an open pit operation with a surface diameter of 1000 m and an actual average depth of 120 m. Some 44 x 10 6 m 3 of the overburden material were used in embankments structures to civil engineering works in the implantation of several installations in CIPC, and the other portion of the removed material was deposited in two pre-selected areas having both an upper area of about 2,0 x 10 6 m 2 . The annual average volume of waters transported to chemical treatment is about 9,0 x 10 5 m 3 . The mill, in its full operation, processes 2500 t of ore per day and the solid and liquid tailings are directed to a waste pond system where are contained approximately 2,0 x 10 6 m 3 (2,2 x 10 6 t) of solid wastes with an estimation of further 70 x 10 5 m 3 to be disposed. The upper surface of tailings pond is about 2,0 x 10 5 m 2 . Nowadays, the environmental protection and control program aims to the development of potential pollutant areas stabilization reintegrating them into their original features or adjusting them to other forms of laudable restoration. (authors). 1 fig
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An African Understanding of Environmental Ethics | Ojomo | Thought ...
African Journals Online (AJOL)
Global concerns about the current environmental crisis have culminated in some controversial environmental ethical theories, among which are normative environmental ethics, sentientist ethics, biocentric ethics, ecocentric ethics and eco-feminist ethics. One of the underlying features connecting these environmental ...
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Environmental surveillance for the INEL radioactive waste management complex. Annual report, 1979
International Nuclear Information System (INIS)
Wickham, L.E.; Janke, D.H.
1980-12-01
This document is the 1979 annual environmental surveillance report for the Radioactive Waste Management Complex (RWMC) of the Idaho National Engineering Laboratory. Included are tabulated data from and discussions about routine radiological monitoring of atmospheric, hydrologic, geologic, and biotic environments of the RWMC. Also included are discussions of selected nonradiological pollutants (e.g., sodium, etc.). It is concluded that (a) RWMC operations have not adversely affected local, existing environments; (b) environmental conditions within the Transuranic Storage Area are not corrosive enough to adversely affect transuranic waste storage containers, and (c) the addition of lakebed soil to pit, trench, and soil test plot areas has altered the moisture cycle characteristic of RWMC soil
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Mairesse, Olivier; Macharis, Cathy; Lebeau, Kenneth; Turcksin, Laurence
2012-01-01
This study aims at understanding how a general positive attitude toward the environment results in a limited purchase of environmentally friendlier cars, often referred to as the attitude-action gap. In a first experiment 27 volunteers performed a judgment task on car purchase intention. Participants were asked to evaluate the probability of…
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International Nuclear Information System (INIS)
Kim, Chan-Joong; Kim, Jimin; Hong, Taehoon; Koo, Choongwan; Jeong, Kwangbok; Park, Hyo Seon
2015-01-01
Climate change has become one of the most significant environmental issues, of which about 40% come from the building sector. In particular, complex building projects with various functions have increased, which should be managed from a program-level perspective. Therefore, this study aimed to develop a program-level management system for the life-cycle environmental and economic assessment of complex building projects. The developed system consists of three parts: (i) input part: database server and input data; (ii) analysis part: life cycle assessment and life cycle cost; and (iii) result part: microscopic analysis and macroscopic analysis. To analyze the applicability of the developed system, this study selected ‘U’ University, a complex building project consisting of research facility and residential facility. Through value engineering with experts, a total of 137 design alternatives were established. Based on these alternatives, the macroscopic analysis results were as follows: (i) at the program-level, the life-cycle environmental and economic cost in ‘U’ University were reduced by 6.22% and 2.11%, respectively; (ii) at the project-level, the life-cycle environmental and economic cost in research facility were reduced 6.01% and 1.87%, respectively; and those in residential facility, 12.01% and 3.83%, respective; and (iii) for the mechanical work at the work-type-level, the initial cost was increased 2.9%; but the operation and maintenance phase was reduced by 20.0%. As a result, the developed system can allow the facility managers to establish the operation and maintenance strategies for the environmental and economic aspects from a program-level perspective. - Highlights: • A program-level management system for complex building projects was developed. • Life-cycle environmental and economic assessment can be conducted using the system. • The design alternatives can be analyzed from the microscopic perspective. • The system can be used to
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Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)
Kim, Chan-Joong [Parsons Brinckerhoff, Seoul 135-763 (Korea, Republic of); Kim, Jimin; Hong, Taehoon; Koo, Choongwan; Jeong, Kwangbok; Park, Hyo Seon [Department of Architectural Engineering, Yonsei University, Seoul 120-749 (Korea, Republic of)
2015-09-15
Climate change has become one of the most significant environmental issues, of which about 40% come from the building sector. In particular, complex building projects with various functions have increased, which should be managed from a program-level perspective. Therefore, this study aimed to develop a program-level management system for the life-cycle environmental and economic assessment of complex building projects. The developed system consists of three parts: (i) input part: database server and input data; (ii) analysis part: life cycle assessment and life cycle cost; and (iii) result part: microscopic analysis and macroscopic analysis. To analyze the applicability of the developed system, this study selected ‘U’ University, a complex building project consisting of research facility and residential facility. Through value engineering with experts, a total of 137 design alternatives were established. Based on these alternatives, the macroscopic analysis results were as follows: (i) at the program-level, the life-cycle environmental and economic cost in ‘U’ University were reduced by 6.22% and 2.11%, respectively; (ii) at the project-level, the life-cycle environmental and economic cost in research facility were reduced 6.01% and 1.87%, respectively; and those in residential facility, 12.01% and 3.83%, respective; and (iii) for the mechanical work at the work-type-level, the initial cost was increased 2.9%; but the operation and maintenance phase was reduced by 20.0%. As a result, the developed system can allow the facility managers to establish the operation and maintenance strategies for the environmental and economic aspects from a program-level perspective. - Highlights: • A program-level management system for complex building projects was developed. • Life-cycle environmental and economic assessment can be conducted using the system. • The design alternatives can be analyzed from the microscopic perspective. • The system can be used to
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An open-source Java-based Toolbox for environmental model evaluation: The MOUSE Software Application
A consequence of environmental model complexity is that the task of understanding how environmental models work and identifying their sensitivities/uncertainties, etc. becomes progressively more difficult. Comprehensive numerical and visual evaluation tools have been developed such as the Monte Carl...
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Rinfret, Sara R.; Pautz, Michelle C.
2015-01-01
In an effort to help students better understand the complexity of making environmental policy and the role of policy actors in this process, we developed a mock congressional hearing simulation. In this congressional hearing, students in two environmental policy courses take on the roles of members of Congress and various interest groups to…
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Complexity a very short introduction
Holland, John H
2014-01-01
The importance of complexity is well-captured by Hawking's comment: "Complexity is the science of the 21st century". From the movement of flocks of birds to the Internet, environmental sustainability, and market regulation, the study and understanding of complex non-linear systems has become highly influential over the last 30 years. In this Very Short Introduction, one of the leading figures in the field, John Holland, introduces the key elements and conceptual framework of complexity. From complex physical systems such as fluid flow and the difficulties of predicting weather, to complex adaptive systems such as the highly diverse and interdependent ecosystems of rainforests, he combines simple, well-known examples - Adam Smith's pin factory, Darwin's comet orchid, and Simon's 'watchmaker' - with an account of the approaches, involving agents and urn models, taken by complexity theory. ABOUT THE SERIES: The Very Short Introductions series from Oxford University Press contains hundreds of titles in almost eve...
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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.
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Son, Ji Y; Ramos, Priscilla; DeWolf, Melissa; Loftus, William; Stigler, James W
2018-01-01
In this article, we begin to lay out a framework and approach for studying how students come to understand complex concepts in rich domains. Grounded in theories of embodied cognition, we advance the view that understanding of complex concepts requires students to practice, over time, the coordination of multiple concepts, and the connection of this system of concepts to situations in the world. Specifically, we explore the role that a teacher's gesture might play in supporting students' coordination of two concepts central to understanding in the domain of statistics: mean and standard deviation. In Study 1 we show that university students who have just taken a statistics course nevertheless have difficulty taking both mean and standard deviation into account when thinking about a statistical scenario. In Study 2 we show that presenting the same scenario with an accompanying gesture to represent variation significantly impacts students' interpretation of the scenario. Finally, in Study 3 we present evidence that instructional videos on the internet fail to leverage gesture as a means of facilitating understanding of complex concepts. Taken together, these studies illustrate an approach to translating current theories of cognition into principles that can guide instructional design.
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Cleland, Jennifer; Walker, Kenneth G; Gale, Michael; Nicol, Laura G
2016-08-01
The focus of simulation-based education (SBE) research has been limited to outcome and effectiveness studies. The effect of social and cultural influences on SBE is unclear and empirical work is lacking. Our objective in this study was to explore and understand the complexity of context and social factors at a surgical boot camp (BC). A rapid ethnographic study, employing the theoretical lenses of complexity and activity theory and Bourdieu's concept of 'capital', to better understand the socio-cultural influences acting upon, and during, two surgical BCs, and their implications for SBE. Over two 4-day BCs held in Scotland, UK, an observer and two preceptors conducted 81 hours of observations, 14 field interviews and 11 formal interviews with faculty members (n = 10, including the lead faculty member, session leaders and junior faculty members) and participants (n = 19 core surgical trainees and early-stage residents). Data collection and inductive analysis for emergent themes proceeded iteratively. This paper focuses on three analytical themes. First, the complexity of the surgical training system and wider health care education context, and how this influenced the development of the BC. Second, participants' views of the BC as a vehicle not just for learning skills but for gaining 'insider information' on how best to progress in surgical training. Finally, the explicit aim of faculty members to use the Scottish Surgical Bootcamp to welcome trainees and residents into the world of surgery, and how this occurred. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first empirical study of a surgical BC that takes a socio-cultural approach to exploring and understanding context, complexities, uncertainties and learning associated with one example of SBE. Our findings suggest that a BC is as much about social and cultural processes as it is about individual, cognitive and acquisitive learning. Acknowledging this explicitly will help those planning similar enterprises and
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The Environmental Education on the Ethical Development Problem
Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)
Carlos Humberto González-Escobar
2017-04-01
Full Text Available The objective of this literature review is to understand the complexity of the environmental issue in a context of civilizational crisis generated by the scientific paradigm and the prevailing forms of knowledge. From this research, the objective is to evaluate the pedagogical exercise and the role of the environmental education in the supreme task of forming a cognitive, ethical, political, and historical subject capable of taking the new planetary challenges on. The structural order of this essay focuses on a critical reflection on the environmental crisis; it also questions the restrictions of the environmental education, and, from the complexity, the reasons for trying to incorporate new fields of study with a transdisciplinary approach. This paper analyzes the structural causes of the discourse of development as factors that generate the social, political and environmental conflict in Colombia. These causes are reflected in an institutional crisis, absence of the State, and, therefore, in governability; for which education makes possible a pedagogical exercise in a critical formation that leads to a configuration of democracy and public management. The exercise of power, the decision-making and the role of human subjects must be accomplished in a conscious and ethical way (integrative values. In order to achieve this, an ethics of development is essential to understand and assume responsibility for environmental issues. It is understood, then, that the development supports an ethical dimension promoting sustainable interactions between the society and the nature.
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Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)
Streibel, Thorsten [Rostock Univ. (Germany). Inst. fuer Chemie, Analytische Chemie; Adam, Thomas; Grabowsky, Jana; Sklorz, Martin; Zimmermann, Ralf
2012-07-01
The objective of the ''Helmholtz Virtual Institute of Complex Molecular Systems in Environmental Health'' (HICE) is the establishment of a long-term scientific research initiative for the investigation of the causes and mechanisms of environmentally influenced diseases. In the initial phase (INF funding period) the HICE focuses on a deeper understanding of the impact of anthropogenic aerosols on human health. Based on current hypotheses, reactive organic compounds in particle as well as in gas phase of aerosols are particularly relevant. Innovative in-vitro human lung tissue models and selected susceptible animal models are exposed to aerosols, and separated gas and particle phases from relevant sources. The response of the biological systems is investigated by state-of-the-art analytical techniques on different biological levels (transcriptome, proteome, metabolome, toxicological parameters). The second central topic is the real-time characterization of emissions (gas- and particulate phase) from internal combustion engines with a special focus on the influence of the biodiesel content. For this, mass spectrometry with photo ionization will be applied for the detection of organic compounds. Preliminary studies dealt with the online investigation of the gas phase of truck diesel exhaust as well as the offline particulate phase characterization after thermal desorption. Both studies detected primarily (poly)aromatic hydrocarbons. (orig.)
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Olah, George A; Mathew, Thomas; Goeppert, Alain; Török, Béla; Bucsi, Imre; Li, Xing-Ya; Wang, Qi; Marinez, Eric R; Batamack, Patrice; Aniszfeld, Robert; Prakash, G K Surya
2005-04-27
Isoparaffin-olefin alkylation was investigated using liquid as well as solid onium poly(hydrogen fluoride) catalysts. These new immobilized anhydrous HF catalysts contain varied amines and nitrogen-containing polymers as complexing agents. The liquid poly(hydrogen fluoride) complexes of amines are typical ionic liquids, which are convenient media and serve as HF equivalent catalysts with decreased volatility for isoparaffin-olefin alkylation. Polymeric solid amine:poly(hydrogen fluoride) complexes are excellent solid HF equivalents for similar alkylation acid catalysis. Isobutane-isobutylene or 2-butene alkylation gave excellent yields of high octane alkylates (up to RON = 94). Apart from their excellent catalytic performance, the new catalyst systems significantly reduce environmental hazards due to the low volatility of complexed HF. They represent a new, "green" class of catalyst systems for alkylation reactions, maintaining activity of HF while minimizing its environmental hazards.
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Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)
Virginia Iglesias
Full Text Available Ecological niche models predict plant responses to climate change by circumscribing species distributions within a multivariate environmental framework. Most projections based on modern bioclimatic correlations imply that high-elevation species are likely to be extirpated from their current ranges as a result of rising growing-season temperatures in the coming decades. Paleoecological data spanning the last 15,000 years from the Greater Yellowstone region describe the response of vegetation to past climate variability and suggest that white pines, a taxon of special concern in the region, have been surprisingly resilient to high summer temperature and fire activity in the past. Moreover, the fossil record suggests that winter conditions and biotic interactions have been critical limiting variables for high-elevation conifers in the past and will likely be so in the future. This long-term perspective offers insights on species responses to a broader range of climate and associated ecosystem changes than can be observed at present and should be part of resource management and conservation planning for the future.
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Intelligence systems in environmental management theory and applications
Sari, İrem
2017-01-01
This book offers a comprehensive reference guide to intelligence systems in environmental management. It provides readers with all the necessary tools for solving complex environmental problems, where classical techniques cannot be applied. The respective chapters, written by prominent researchers, explain a wealth of both basic and advanced concepts including ant colony, genetic algorithms, evolutionary algorithms, fuzzy multi-criteria decision making tools, particle swarm optimization, agent-based modelling, artificial neural networks, simulated annealing, Tabu search, fuzzy multi-objective optimization, fuzzy rules, support vector machines, fuzzy cognitive maps, cumulative belief degrees, and many others. To foster a better understanding, all the chapters include relevant numerical examples or case studies. Taken together, they form an excellent reference guide for researchers, lecturers and postgraduate students pursuing research on complex environmental problems. Moreover, by extending all the main aspec...
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Healthy e-health? Think 'environmental e-health'!
Scott, Richard E; Saunders, Chad; Palacios, Moné; Nguyen, Duyen Thi Kim; Ali, Sajid
2010-01-01
The Environmental e-Health Research and Training Program has completed its scoping study to understand the breadth of a new field of research: Environmental e-Health. Nearly every aspect of modern life is associated, directly or indirectly, with application of technology, from a cup of coffee, through transportation to and from work, to appliances in the home and industrial activities. In recent decades the rapidly increasing application of information and communications technologies (ICT) has added to the cacophony of technological 'noise' around us. Research has shown that technology use, including ICTs, has impact upon the environment. Studying environmental impact in such a complex global setting is daunting. e-Health is now being used as a convenient microcosm of ICT application within which to study these impacts, and is particularly poignant given that e-Health's environmental harms conflict with its noble goals of 'doing no harm'. The study has identified impacts, both benefits and harms in all three life-cycle phases for e-Health: up-stream (materials extraction, manufacturing, packaging, distribution), mid-stream (use period), and down-stream (end-of-life processes--disposal, recycling). In addition the literature shows that a holistic 'Life Cycle Assessment' approach is essential to understand the complexity of the setting, and determine the true balance between total harms and total benefits, and for whom.
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Complexity analysis of the turbulent environmental fluid flow time series
Mihailović, D. T.; Nikolić-Đorić, E.; Drešković, N.; Mimić, G.
2014-02-01
We have used the Kolmogorov complexities, sample and permutation entropies to quantify the randomness degree in river flow time series of two mountain rivers in Bosnia and Herzegovina, representing the turbulent environmental fluid, for the period 1926-1990. In particular, we have examined the monthly river flow time series from two rivers (the Miljacka and the Bosnia) in the mountain part of their flow and then calculated the Kolmogorov complexity (KL) based on the Lempel-Ziv Algorithm (LZA) (lower-KLL and upper-KLU), sample entropy (SE) and permutation entropy (PE) values for each time series. The results indicate that the KLL, KLU, SE and PE values in two rivers are close to each other regardless of the amplitude differences in their monthly flow rates. We have illustrated the changes in mountain river flow complexity by experiments using (i) the data set for the Bosnia River and (ii) anticipated human activities and projected climate changes. We have explored the sensitivity of considered measures in dependence on the length of time series. In addition, we have divided the period 1926-1990 into three subintervals: (a) 1926-1945, (b) 1946-1965, (c) 1966-1990, and calculated the KLL, KLU, SE, PE values for the various time series in these subintervals. It is found that during the period 1946-1965, there is a decrease in their complexities, and corresponding changes in the SE and PE, in comparison to the period 1926-1990. This complexity loss may be primarily attributed to (i) human interventions, after the Second World War, on these two rivers because of their use for water consumption and (ii) climate change in recent times.
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Bradford, Robert Sanders
1998-12-01
The rate of environmental degradation in the Third World continues to present residents of countries like Honduras with conditions that threaten the quality of life and ecological systems. How people conceptualize their environment could be a point of entry into a greater understanding of environmental problems. Through individual interviews and focus group discussions, this study comprises a qualitative examination of the environmental concepts of a sample of 75 rural Hondurans. Analysis of their concepts was used to construct a tentative interpretation of the rural Honduran worldview characteristics of Self, Other, Relationship, Classification, Causality, Time, and Space. The findings of this investigation indicated that rural Hondurans conceptualize their environment through the worldview lenses of survival and poverty, leading to a sense of fatalism when confronting the complex and multifaceted problems associated with quality of life and environmental quality. Analysis of concepts and worldview also indicated that rural Hondurans generally do not believe their environmental problems are solvable, nor do they appear to understand that these problems are also cultural problems whose solutions will most likely require some revision of their current worldview. An educational approach that fosters the integration of compatible environmental concepts into the rural Honduran worldview is recommended through the application of design strategies for a prospective environmental education process.
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Studying and understanding the environmental impacts of the Three Gorges Dam in China
Schönbrodt-Stitt, Sarah; Stumpf, Felix; Schmidt, Karsten; Althaus, Paul; Bi, Renneng; Bieger, Katrin; Buzzo, Giovanni; Dumperth, Christian; Fohrer, Nicola; Rohn, Joachim; Strehmel, Alexander; Udelhoven, Thomas; Wei, Xiang; Zimmermann, Karsten; Scholten, Thomas
2013-04-01
Since its planning phase and its completion and start of operation in 2009, the Three Gorges Dam (TGD) at the Yangtze River, has been discussed in a controversial manner. Due to considerable resettlements along with the associated expansion of the infrastructure network and large-scale shifts in land use and management, the TGD in Central China is among the most prominent human-induced examples for large-scale environmental impacts. As a consequence of the rapid ecosystem changes, the region is largely characterized by an enormous boost of typical geo-risks such as soil erosion, mass movements, and diffuse sediment and matter fluxes into the reservoir. Within the joint research project YANGTZE-GEO, Chinese and German scientists jointly focus on the human-induced environmental changes in the reservoir of the TGD after the impoundment of the Yangtze River and its tributaries. An integrative approach was set up in order to combine multi-scale investigation methods and state-of-the-art techniques from soil science, geology, hydrology, geophysics, geodesy, remote sensing, and data survey and monitoring. By means of eco-hydrological and soil erosion modeling, geo-statistical approaches such as digital soil mapping and Artificial Neuronal Networks, spatially and temporally differentiated simulation of the water budget as well as the balance of diffuse matter such as phosphorus and sediment, three-dimensional dynamic modeling, seismoacoustics and terrestrial radarinterferometry, multi-temporal land use classification from recent and historical remote sensing data and laser scanning, the research aims at (i) the understanding of the mechanisms and anthropogenic and environmental control factors of the environmental changes in the highly dynamic region and (ii) the development of spatially explicit land use options and recommendations for a sustainable land use management. Finally, based on the integrate modelling, we aim at the conception of a monitoring- and measuring
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Complexities of Parental Understanding of Phenylketonuria
Sibinga, Maarten S.; Friedman, C. Jack
1971-01-01
Parental understanding of PKU, investigated through a questionnaire, was evaluated as to completeness and with respect to distortion. Education of parents was found to be unrelated to their understanding or tendency to distort. Effectiveness of the pediatrician's communication with parents is discussed. (Author/KW)
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A Diagrammatic Approach to Understanding Complex Eco-Social Interactions in Kathmandu, Nepal
Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)
R. Cynthia. Neudoerffer
2005-12-01
Full Text Available As part of developing an international network of community-based ecosystem approaches to health, a project was undertaken in a densely populated and socio-economically diverse area of Kathmandu, Nepal. Drawing on hundreds of pages of narrative reports based on surveys, interviews, secondary data, and focus groups by trained Nepalese facilitators, the authors created systemic depictions of relationships between multiple stakeholder groups, ecosystem health, and human health. These were then combined to examine interactions among stakeholders, activities, concerns, perceived needs, and resource states (ecosystem health indicators. These qualitative models have provided useful heuristics for both community members and research scholars to understand the eco-social systems in which they live; many of the strategies developed by the communities and researchers to improve health intuitively drew on this systemic understanding. The diagrams enabled researchers and community participants to explicitly examine relationships and conflicts related to health and environmental issues in their community.
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Turner, Stephen J.
2017-01-01
This article examines the manner in which ‘macro’ legal analysis can potentially assist in overcoming some of the issues that are faced in the understanding and development of global environmental governance (GEG). It argues that the analysis of law through separate and distinct disciplines such as environmental law, trade law, corporate law, and human rights law, results in what this article refers to as ‘micro’ legal analysis. As such, it contends that this can have the effect of creating o...
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Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)
Natthanej Luplertlop
Full Text Available The Scedosporium apiospermum species complex, comprising filamentous fungal species S. apiospermum sensu stricto, S. boydii, S. aurantiacum, S. dehoogii and S. minutispora, are important pathogens that cause a wide variety of infections. Although some species (S. boydii and S. apiospermum have been isolated from patients in Thailand, no environmental surveys of these fungi have been performed in Thailand or surrounding countries. In this study, we isolated and identified species of these fungi from 68 soil and 16 water samples randomly collected from 10 parks in Bangkok. After filtration and subsequent inoculation of samples on Scedo-Select III medium, colony morphological examinations and microscopic observations were performed. Scedosporium species were isolated from soil in 8 of the 10 parks, but were only detected in one water sample. Colony morphologies of isolates from 41 of 68 soil samples (60.29% and 1 of 15 water samples (6.67% were consistent with that of the S. apiospermum species complex. Each morphological type was selected for species identification based on DNA sequencing and phylogenetic analysis of the β-tubulin gene. Three species of the S. apiospermum species complex were identified: S. apiospermum (71 isolates, S. aurantiacum (6 isolates and S. dehoogii (5 isolates. In addition, 16 sequences could not be assigned to an exact Scedosporium species. According to our environmental survey, the S. apiospermum species complex is widespread in soil in Bangkok, Thailand.
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Marek, Michael W.; Wu, Wen-Chi Vivian
2014-01-01
This conceptual, interdisciplinary inquiry explores Complex Dynamic Systems as the concept relates to the internal and external environmental factors affecting computer assisted language learning (CALL). Based on the results obtained by de Rosnay ["World Futures: The Journal of General Evolution", 67(4/5), 304-315 (2011)], who observed…
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Reaction-diffusion controlled growth of complex structures
Noorduin, Willem; Mahadevan, L.; Aizenberg, Joanna
2013-03-01
Understanding how the emergence of complex forms and shapes in biominerals came about is both of fundamental and practical interest. Although biomineralization processes and organization strategies to give higher order architectures have been studied extensively, synthetic approaches to mimic these self-assembled structures are highly complex and have been difficult to emulate, let alone replicate. The emergence of solution patterns has been found in reaction-diffusion systems such as Turing patterns and the BZ reaction. Intrigued by this spontaneous formation of complexity we explored if similar processes can lead to patterns in the solid state. We here identify a reaction-diffusion system in which the shape of the solidified products is a direct readout of the environmental conditions. Based on insights in the underlying mechanism, we developed a toolbox of engineering strategies to deterministically sculpt patterns and shapes, and combine different morphologies to create a landscape of hierarchical multi scale-complex tectonic architectures with unprecedented levels of complexity. These findings may hold profound implications for understanding, mimicking and ultimately expanding upon nature's morphogenesis strategies, allowing the synthesis of advanced highly complex microscale materials and devices. WLN acknowledges the Netherlands Organization for Scientific Research for financial support
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The emergence of environmental homeostasis in complex ecosystems.
Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)
James G Dyke
Full Text Available The Earth, with its core-driven magnetic field, convective mantle, mobile lid tectonics, oceans of liquid water, dynamic climate and abundant life is arguably the most complex system in the known universe. This system has exhibited stability in the sense of, bar a number of notable exceptions, surface temperature remaining within the bounds required for liquid water and so a significant biosphere. Explanations for this range from anthropic principles in which the Earth was essentially lucky, to homeostatic Gaia in which the abiotic and biotic components of the Earth system self-organise into homeostatic states that are robust to a wide range of external perturbations. Here we present results from a conceptual model that demonstrates the emergence of homeostasis as a consequence of the feedback loop operating between life and its environment. Formulating the model in terms of Gaussian processes allows the development of novel computational methods in order to provide solutions. We find that the stability of this system will typically increase then remain constant with an increase in biological diversity and that the number of attractors within the phase space exponentially increases with the number of environmental variables while the probability of the system being in an attractor that lies within prescribed boundaries decreases approximately linearly. We argue that the cybernetic concept of rein control provides insights into how this model system, and potentially any system that is comprised of biological to environmental feedback loops, self-organises into homeostatic states.
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The emergence of environmental homeostasis in complex ecosystems.
Dyke, James G; Weaver, Iain S
2013-01-01
The Earth, with its core-driven magnetic field, convective mantle, mobile lid tectonics, oceans of liquid water, dynamic climate and abundant life is arguably the most complex system in the known universe. This system has exhibited stability in the sense of, bar a number of notable exceptions, surface temperature remaining within the bounds required for liquid water and so a significant biosphere. Explanations for this range from anthropic principles in which the Earth was essentially lucky, to homeostatic Gaia in which the abiotic and biotic components of the Earth system self-organise into homeostatic states that are robust to a wide range of external perturbations. Here we present results from a conceptual model that demonstrates the emergence of homeostasis as a consequence of the feedback loop operating between life and its environment. Formulating the model in terms of Gaussian processes allows the development of novel computational methods in order to provide solutions. We find that the stability of this system will typically increase then remain constant with an increase in biological diversity and that the number of attractors within the phase space exponentially increases with the number of environmental variables while the probability of the system being in an attractor that lies within prescribed boundaries decreases approximately linearly. We argue that the cybernetic concept of rein control provides insights into how this model system, and potentially any system that is comprised of biological to environmental feedback loops, self-organises into homeostatic states.
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International Nuclear Information System (INIS)
Kelly, Shelly D.; Kemner, Kenneth M.; Brooks, Scott C.
2007-01-01
Current research on bioremediation of uranium-contaminated groundwater focuses on supplying indigenous metal-reducing bacteria with the appropriate metabolic requirements to induce microbiological reduction of soluble uranium(VI) to poorly soluble uranium(IV). Recent studies of uranium(VI) bioreduction in the presence of environmentally relevant levels of calcium revealed limited and slowed uranium(VI) reduction and the formation of a Ca-UO2-CO3 complex. However, the stoichiometry of the complex is poorly defined and may be complicated by the presence of a Na-UO2-CO3 complex. Such a complex might exist even at high calcium concentrations, as some UO2-CO3 complexes will still be present. The number of calcium and/or sodium atoms coordinated to a uranyl carbonate complex will determine the net charge of the complex. Such a change in aqueous speciation of uranium(VI) in calcareous groundwater may affect the fate and transport properties of uranium. In this paper, we present the results from X-ray absorption fine structure (XAFS) measurements of a series of solutions containing 50 lM uranium(VI) and 30 mM sodium bicarbonate, with various calcium concentrations of 0-5 mM. Use of the data series reduces the uncertainty in the number of calcium atoms bound to the UO2-CO3 complex to approximately 0.6 and enables spectroscopic identification of the Na-UO2-CO3 complex. At nearly neutral pH values, the numbers of sodium and calcium atoms bound to the uranyl triscarbonate species are found to depend on the calcium concentration, as predicted by speciation calculations
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Complexity in practice: understanding primary care as a complex adaptive system
Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)
Beverley Ellis
2010-06-01
Conclusions The results are real-world exemplars of the emergent properties of complex adaptive systems. Improving clinical governance in primary care requires both complex social interactions and underpinning informatics. The socio-technical lessons learned from this research should inform future management approaches.
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Geography and environmental science
Milinčić, Miroljub; Souliotis, Lily; Mihajlović, Ljiljana; Požar, Tea
2014-01-01
Geography is one of the oldest academic disciplines with a strong holistic approach in conceptualizing the interaction between nature and society, i.e. animate and inanimate parts of the environment. Over time, geography has been increasing and improving its conceptual and terminological abilities for studying and understanding complex relationships among environmental systems. For this reason, geography has advanced from a well-known science about nature and society into a relevant science a...
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Compliance with Environmental Regulations through Complex Geo-Event Processing
Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)
Federico Herrera
2017-11-01
Full Text Available In a context of e-government, there are usually regulatory compliance requirements that support systems must monitor, control and enforce. These requirements may come from environmental laws and regulations that aim to protect the natural environment and mitigate the effects of pollution on human health and ecosystems. Monitoring compliance with these requirements involves processing a large volume of data from different sources, which is a major challenge. This volume is also increased with data coming from autonomous sensors (e.g. reporting carbon emission in protected areas and from citizens providing information (e.g. illegal dumping in a voluntary way. Complex Event Processing (CEP technologies allow processing large amount of event data and detecting patterns from them. However, they do not provide native support for the geographic dimension of events which is essential for monitoring requirements which apply to specific geographic areas. This paper proposes a geospatial extension for CEP that allows monitoring environmental requirements considering the geographic location of the processed data. We extend an existing platform-independent, model-driven approach for CEP adding the geographic location to events and specifying patterns using geographic operators. The use and technical feasibility of the proposal is shown through the development of a case study and the implementation of a prototype.
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Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)
FITTS,J.P.; KALB,P.D.; FRANCIS,A.J.; FUHRMANN,M.; DODGE,C.J.; GILLOW,J.B.
2004-03-01
Although DOE's Environmental Management program has made steady progress in cleaning up environmental legacies throughout the DOE complex, there are still significant remediation issues that remain to be solved. For example, DOE faces difficult challenges related to potential mobilization of radionuclides (e.g., actinides) and other hazardous contaminants in soils, removal and final treatment of high-level waste and residuals from leaking tanks, and the long-term stewardship of remediated sites and engineered disposal facilities, to name just a few. In some cases, new technologies and technology applications will be required based on current engineering expertise. In others, however, basic scientific research is needed to understand the mechanisms of how contaminants behave under specific conditions and how they interact with the environment, from which new engineering solutions can emerge. At Brookhaven National Laboratory (BNL) and Stony Brook University, scientists have teamed to use state-of-the-art synchrotron techniques to help understand the basic interactions of contaminants in the environment. Much of this work is conducted at the BNL National Synchrotron Light Source (NSLS), which is a user facility that provides high energy X-ray and ultraviolet photon beams to facilitate the examination of contaminants and materials at the molecular level. These studies allow us to determine how chemical speciation and structure control important parameters such as solubility, which in turn drive critical performance characteristics such as leaching. In one study for example, we are examining the effects of microbial activity on actinide contaminants under conditions anticipated at the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant. One possible outcome of this research is the identification of specific microbes that can trap uranium or other contaminants within the intracellular structure and help mitigate mobility. In another study, we are exploring the interaction of contaminants
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International Nuclear Information System (INIS)
FITTS, J.P.; KALB, P.D.; FRANCIS, A.J.; FUHRMANN, M.; DODGE, C.J.; GILLOW, J.B.
2004-01-01
Although DOE's Environmental Management program has made steady progress in cleaning up environmental legacies throughout the DOE complex, there are still significant remediation issues that remain to be solved. For example, DOE faces difficult challenges related to potential mobilization of radionuclides (e.g., actinides) and other hazardous contaminants in soils, removal and final treatment of high-level waste and residuals from leaking tanks, and the long-term stewardship of remediated sites and engineered disposal facilities, to name just a few. In some cases, new technologies and technology applications will be required based on current engineering expertise. In others, however, basic scientific research is needed to understand the mechanisms of how contaminants behave under specific conditions and how they interact with the environment, from which new engineering solutions can emerge. At Brookhaven National Laboratory (BNL) and Stony Brook University, scientists have teamed to use state-of-the-art synchrotron techniques to help understand the basic interactions of contaminants in the environment. Much of this work is conducted at the BNL National Synchrotron Light Source (NSLS), which is a user facility that provides high energy X-ray and ultraviolet photon beams to facilitate the examination of contaminants and materials at the molecular level. These studies allow us to determine how chemical speciation and structure control important parameters such as solubility, which in turn drive critical performance characteristics such as leaching. In one study for example, we are examining the effects of microbial activity on actinide contaminants under conditions anticipated at the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant. One possible outcome of this research is the identification of specific microbes that can trap uranium or other contaminants within the intracellular structure and help mitigate mobility. In another study, we are exploring the interaction of contaminants with
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Monitoring and Analysis of Environmental Gamma Dose Rate around Serpong Nuclear Complex
Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)
I.P. Susila
2017-08-01
Full Text Available An environmental radiation monitoring system that continuously measures gamma dose rate around nuclear facilities is an important tool to present dose rate information to the public or authorities for radiological protection during both normal operation and radiological accidents. We have developed such a system that consists of six GM-based device for monitoring the environmental dose rate around Serpong Nuclear Complex. It has operated since 2010. In this study, a description of the system and analysis of measured data are presented. Analysis of the data for the last five years shows that the average dose rate levels were between 84-99 nSv/h which are still lower than terrestrial gamma radiation levels at several other locations in Indonesia. Time series analysis of the monitoring data demonstrates a good agreement between an increase in environmental gamma dose rate and the presence of iodine and argon in the air by in situ measurement. This result indicates that system is also effective for an early warning system in the case of radiological emergency.
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Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)
Khokhotva, Oleksandr, E-mail: khokhotva@bigmir.net [School of Sustainable Development of Society and Technology, Maelardalen University, Box 883, SE-721 23, Vaesteras (Sweden); Waara, Sylvia, E-mail: sylvia.waara@hh.se [School of Sustainable Development of Society and Technology, Maelardalen University, Box 883, SE-721 23, Vaesteras (Sweden)
2011-06-15
In this study the influence of environmental conditions, most likely prevailing in filter beds used for intermittently discharged pollutant streams such as landfill leachate and storm water, on the stability of the heavy metal-filter complex was investigated for 2 filter materials; non-treated and urea treated pine bark, using leaching experiments. The metal-filter complex stability was higher for urea treated than for non-treated pine bark and dependent on the metal adsorbed. The type of environmental condition applied was of less importance for the extent of leaching. - Highlights: > Metal-pine bark complex stability under changing environmental conditions is studied. > Metal leaching from non-treated bark is much higher than from urea-treated bark. > No significant influence of changing environmental conditions on the leaching extent. > Metal leaching from wet bark samples exposed to freezing is somewhat higher.> Zn leaching is the highest and Cu leaching is the lowest for both bark samples. - The study assess the metal-filter material complex stability when metal removal using filter material is used in locations with fluctuating environmental conditions.
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International Nuclear Information System (INIS)
Khokhotva, Oleksandr; Waara, Sylvia
2011-01-01
In this study the influence of environmental conditions, most likely prevailing in filter beds used for intermittently discharged pollutant streams such as landfill leachate and storm water, on the stability of the heavy metal-filter complex was investigated for 2 filter materials; non-treated and urea treated pine bark, using leaching experiments. The metal-filter complex stability was higher for urea treated than for non-treated pine bark and dependent on the metal adsorbed. The type of environmental condition applied was of less importance for the extent of leaching. - Highlights: → Metal-pine bark complex stability under changing environmental conditions is studied. → Metal leaching from non-treated bark is much higher than from urea-treated bark. → No significant influence of changing environmental conditions on the leaching extent. → Metal leaching from wet bark samples exposed to freezing is somewhat higher.→ Zn leaching is the highest and Cu leaching is the lowest for both bark samples. - The study assess the metal-filter material complex stability when metal removal using filter material is used in locations with fluctuating environmental conditions.
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Using environmental tracers in modeling flow in a complex shallow aquifer system
DEFF Research Database (Denmark)
Troldborg, Lars; Jensen, Karsten Høgh; Engesgaard, Peter Knudegaard
2008-01-01
shapes and sizes without being similar to the assumed age distributions used in the analytical approach. The shape of age distribution to some extent depends on sampling size and on whether the system is modeled in a transient or in a steady state, but shape and size were largely driven......Using environmental tracers in groundwater dating partly relies on the assumption that groundwater age distribution can be described analytically. To investigate the applicability of age dating in complex multiaquifer systems, a methodology for simulating well specific groundwater age distribution...... was developed. Using a groundwater model and particle tracking we modeled age distributions at screen locations. By enveloping modeled age distributions and estimated recharge concentrations, environmental tracer breakthroughs were simulated for specific screens. Simulated age distributions are of irregular...
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Understanding coral reefs as complex systems: degradation and prospects for recovery
Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)
Raymond T. Dizon
2006-06-01
Full Text Available The present century is witness to unprecedented levels of coral reef degradation worldwide. Current understanding based on traditional ideas is unlikely to capture adequately the dynamics of phenomena accompanying this trend. In this regard, the ideas of complexity are reviewed. Some applications to coral reefs as complex systems have already been discussed in the literature although further progress is warranted as the search for new and more effective management tools continues, and the direction towards more holistic, integrative and large scale approaches gains wider acceptance. We distinguish between the concepts of robustness and resilience in the face of disturbance, highlight the various mechanisms that foster these stability properties and provide some coral reef examples. We identify some of the driving forces behind succession that are critical for community assembly and possible reef recovery. Finally, we consider how self-organization arises out of apparently random and chaotic processes and interactions to exhibit certain regularities and patterns especially when moving up on the scale of space and/or time.
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Zhu, Dongming
2014-01-01
Environmental barrier coatings (EBCs) and SiCSiC ceramic matrix composites (CMCs) systems will play a crucial role in next generation turbine engines for hot-section component applications because of their ability to significantly increase engine operating temperatures with improved efficiency, reduce engine weight and cooling requirements. The development of prime-reliant environmental barrier coatings is essential to the viability and reliability of the envisioned CMC engine component applications, ensuring integrated EBC-CMC system durability and designs are achievable for successful applications of the game-changing component technologies and lifing methodologies.This paper will emphasize recent NASA environmental barrier coating developments for SiCSiC turbine airfoil components, utilizing advanced coating compositions, state-of-the-art processing methods, and combined mechanical and environment testing and durability evaluations. The coating-CMC degradations in the engine fatigue-creep and operating environments are particularly complex; one of the important coating development aspects is to better understand engine environmental interactions and coating life debits, and we have particularly addressed the effect of Calcium-Magnesium-Alumino-Silicate (CMAS) from road sand or volcano-ash deposits on the durability of the environmental barrier coating systems, and how the temperature capability, stability and cyclic life of the candidate rare earth oxide and silicate coating systems will be impacted in the presence of the CMAS at high temperatures and under simulated heat flux conditions. Advanced environmental barrier coating systems, including HfO2-Si with rare earth dopant based bond coat systems, will be discussed for the performance improvements to achieve better temperature capability and CMAS resistance for future engine operating conditions.
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Environmental forensic research for emerging contaminants in complex environmental matrices
The United States Environmental Protection Agency has established criteria to address many of the significant traditional pollutants demonstrated to have adverse affects on environmental quality. However, new chemicals are being created almost daily, and these new chemicals, as ...
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Complex Environmental Data Modelling Using Adaptive General Regression Neural Networks
Kanevski, Mikhail
2015-04-01
The research deals with an adaptation and application of Adaptive General Regression Neural Networks (GRNN) to high dimensional environmental data. GRNN [1,2,3] are efficient modelling tools both for spatial and temporal data and are based on nonparametric kernel methods closely related to classical Nadaraya-Watson estimator. Adaptive GRNN, using anisotropic kernels, can be also applied for features selection tasks when working with high dimensional data [1,3]. In the present research Adaptive GRNN are used to study geospatial data predictability and relevant feature selection using both simulated and real data case studies. The original raw data were either three dimensional monthly precipitation data or monthly wind speeds embedded into 13 dimensional space constructed by geographical coordinates and geo-features calculated from digital elevation model. GRNN were applied in two different ways: 1) adaptive GRNN with the resulting list of features ordered according to their relevancy; and 2) adaptive GRNN applied to evaluate all possible models N [in case of wind fields N=(2^13 -1)=8191] and rank them according to the cross-validation error. In both cases training were carried out applying leave-one-out procedure. An important result of the study is that the set of the most relevant features depends on the month (strong seasonal effect) and year. The predictabilities of precipitation and wind field patterns, estimated using the cross-validation and testing errors of raw and shuffled data, were studied in detail. The results of both approaches were qualitatively and quantitatively compared. In conclusion, Adaptive GRNN with their ability to select features and efficient modelling of complex high dimensional data can be widely used in automatic/on-line mapping and as an integrated part of environmental decision support systems. 1. Kanevski M., Pozdnoukhov A., Timonin V. Machine Learning for Spatial Environmental Data. Theory, applications and software. EPFL Press
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Setting priorities for environmental restoration at the DOE Nuclear Weapons Complex
International Nuclear Information System (INIS)
Ton, My K.; Morgan, Robert P.
1992-01-01
This paper provides an evaluation of the computerized methodologies and approaches that the Department of Energy (DOE) has developed to assist in setting cleanup priorities and in allocating Environmental Restoration funds to various activities within the DOE Nuclear Weapons Complex. Issues examined include the appropriateness of the methodologies for priority setting or budget planning, their strengths and weaknesses; the limitations to the use of such systems to aid decision making; public acceptance of these systems; and the level of participation by affected or interested parties and the public in the development and implementation processes. (author)
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Walloth, Christian
2016-01-01
This book presents a theory as well as methods to understand and to purposively influence complex systems. It suggests a theory of complex systems as nested systems, i. e. systems that enclose other systems and that are simultaneously enclosed by even other systems. According to the theory presented, each enclosing system emerges through time from the generative activities of the systems they enclose. Systems are nested and often emerge unplanned, and every system of high dynamics is enclosed by a system of slower dynamics. An understanding of systems with faster dynamics, which are always guided by systems of slower dynamics, opens up not only new ways to understanding systems, but also to effectively influence them. The aim and subject of this book is to lay out these thoughts and explain their relevance to the purposive development of complex systems, which are exemplified in case studies from an urban system. The interested reader, who is not required to be familiar with system-theoretical concepts or wit...
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Project Galaxy - Sustianable Resource Supply and Environmental Implications
Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)
Downing, Mark [ORNL; Wimmer, Robert [Toyota Motor Corp.
2012-03-01
Understanding what it takes to move from a corn-based liquid fuels industry to one that is cellulosic-based requires a complex transition over time. This transition implies, among other things, a shift from annual cropping systems considered under United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) policy as commodity crops, to perennial lignocellulosic crops that are herbaceous and wood-based. Because of changes in land use as well as biomass and other crop supplies, land-based environmental amenities such as water quality, soil health and tilth, air quality, and animal and avian species populations and their diversity change also. Environmental effects are measured as magnitudes (how much they are impacted), and direction of the impact (either positive or negative). By developing a series of quantitative and qualitative metrics, the larger issue of defining relative sustainability may be addressed, and this can be done at a finer detail of regional (scale) and environmental amenity-specific impacts. Although much literature exists about research relevant to specific environmental variables, there is no published, documented, nor research literature on direct application of environmental over-compliance with regards a 'biorefinery.' Our three goals were to (1) understand and quantify bioenergy sustainability and some key environmental effects in a generic set of examples; (2) explain the effort and means to define and quantify specific qualitative environmental measures, and to determine a way to understand changes in these measures over time and what their implications might be; and (3) use these outcomes to evaluate potential sites in any geographic area. This would permit assessment of candidate locations, combined with an understanding of co-production of fuels, chemicals, and electric power, to interpret sustainability measures and the relationship between environmental sustainability and economic sustainability. The process of determining environmental
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Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)
Alessandro Ossola
2015-10-01
Full Text Available Habitat complexity is a major determinant of structure and diversity of ant assemblages. Following the size-grain hypothesis, smaller ant species are likely to be advantaged in more complex habitats compared to larger species. Habitat complexity can act as an environmental filter based on species size and morphological traits, therefore affecting the overall structure and diversity of ant assemblages. In natural and semi-natural ecosystems, habitat complexity is principally regulated by ecological successions or disturbance such as fire and grazing. Urban ecosystems provide an opportunity to test relationships between habitat, ant assemblage structure and ant traits using novel combinations of habitat complexity generated and sustained by human management. We sampled ant assemblages in low-complexity and high-complexity parks, and high-complexity woodland remnants, hypothesizing that (i ant abundance and species richness would be higher in high-complexity urban habitats, (ii ant assemblages would differ between low- and high-complexity habitats and (iii ants living in high-complexity habitats would be smaller than those living in low-complexity habitats. Contrary to our hypothesis, ant species richness was higher in low-complexity habitats compared to high-complexity habitats. Overall, ant assemblages were significantly different among the habitat complexity types investigated, although ant size and morphology remained the same. Habitat complexity appears to affect the structure of ant assemblages in urban ecosystems as previously observed in natural and semi-natural ecosystems. However, the habitat complexity filter does not seem to be linked to ant morphological traits related to body size.
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Nash, Michael A.; Christie, Fiona J.; Hahs, Amy K.; Livesley, Stephen J.
2015-01-01
Habitat complexity is a major determinant of structure and diversity of ant assemblages. Following the size-grain hypothesis, smaller ant species are likely to be advantaged in more complex habitats compared to larger species. Habitat complexity can act as an environmental filter based on species size and morphological traits, therefore affecting the overall structure and diversity of ant assemblages. In natural and semi-natural ecosystems, habitat complexity is principally regulated by ecological successions or disturbance such as fire and grazing. Urban ecosystems provide an opportunity to test relationships between habitat, ant assemblage structure and ant traits using novel combinations of habitat complexity generated and sustained by human management. We sampled ant assemblages in low-complexity and high-complexity parks, and high-complexity woodland remnants, hypothesizing that (i) ant abundance and species richness would be higher in high-complexity urban habitats, (ii) ant assemblages would differ between low- and high-complexity habitats and (iii) ants living in high-complexity habitats would be smaller than those living in low-complexity habitats. Contrary to our hypothesis, ant species richness was higher in low-complexity habitats compared to high-complexity habitats. Overall, ant assemblages were significantly different among the habitat complexity types investigated, although ant size and morphology remained the same. Habitat complexity appears to affect the structure of ant assemblages in urban ecosystems as previously observed in natural and semi-natural ecosystems. However, the habitat complexity filter does not seem to be linked to ant morphological traits related to body size. PMID:26528416
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Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)
Rebecca Bowd
2015-03-01
Full Text Available Consideration of biophysical impacts has historically dominated environmental impact assessment (EIA practice. Despite the emergence of social impact assessment, the consideration of socioeconomic impacts in EIA is variable, as is the extent of their integration in EIA findings. There is growing recognition for the need to move EIA practice toward sustainability assessment, characterized by comprehensiveness, i.e., scope of impacts, integration, i.e., of biophysical and socioeconomic impacts, and a greater strategic focus. This is particularly the case in developing regions and in countries like South Africa, which have statutory requirements for the full consideration of socioeconomic impacts in EIA. We suggest that EIA practice could benefit from incorporating evolving theory around social-ecological systems (SES as an effective way of moving toward sustainability assessment. As far as we are aware, our study constitutes the first attempt to apply and formalize SES constructs to EIA practice within a regulated procedure. Our framework goes beyond conventional scoping approaches reliant on checklists and matrices by requiring the EIA practitioner to cocreate a conceptual model of the current and future social-ecological system with the implicated communities. This means social and biophysical impacts are assessed integratively, and that communities participate meaningfully in the EIA process, thereby helping address two of the most common shortfalls of EIA practice. The framework was applied in two case studies, establishment of community-based accommodation linked to existing tourism infrastructure (Eastern Cape, South Africa, and a proposed wine estate (KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa. The framework revealed impacts, which would not be considered in a biophysically-oriented EIA, and helped identify development synergies and institutional and governance needs that are equally likely to have been overlooked. We suggest the framework has value as a
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Public involvement in environmental, safety and health issues at the DOE Nuclear Weapons Complex
International Nuclear Information System (INIS)
Taylor, Laura L.; Morgan, Robert P.
1992-01-01
The state of public involvement in environmental, safety, and health issues at the DOE Nuclear Weapons Complex is assessed through identification of existing opportunities for public involvement and through interviews with representatives of ten local citizen groups active in these issues at weapons facilities in their communities. A framework for analyzing existing means of public involvement is developed. On the whole, opportunities for public involvement are inadequate. Provisions for public involvement are lacking in several key stages of the decision-making process. Consequently, adversarial means of public involvement have generally been more effective than cooperative means in motivating change in the Weapons Complex. Citizen advisory boards, both on the local and national level, may provide a means of improving public involvement in Weapons Complex issues. (author)
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Historically the natural sciences have played a major role in informing environmental management decisions. However, review of landmark cases like Love Canal, NY and Times Beach, MO have shown that the value of natural science information in decision making can be overwhelmed by ...
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Portsmouth Uranium Enrichment Complex environmental monitoring report for calendar year 1985
International Nuclear Information System (INIS)
1986-05-01
At the Portsmouth Uranium Enrichment Complex all effluent streams are sampled regularly and analyzed to assess compliance with applicable environmental standards. Radioactivity is measured in air, water, fish, produce, soil, sediments and vegetation; and radiation doses to the public are calculated. The calculated public radiation doses from process effluents are within US Department of Energy (DOE) and US Environmental protection Agency (USEPA) standards. An extensive amount of engineering effort is underway to modify existing airborne radioactivity emissions sources to further reduce emissions in compliance with DOE policy. Non-radioactive effluents either presently comply with federal standards or will comply upon completion of planned projects. CY-1985 was the fifth full year under the current National Pullutant Discharge Elimination System (NPDES) permit for liquid effluents, and the third year since the Ohio Environmental Protection Agency (OEPA) assumed responsibility for administering the NPDES program. Compliance with the permit's discharge limits, with the exception of violations due to the Coal Pile Treatment Facility and the Biodenitrification Plant for which projects to improve performance are currently underway, did not present any significant problems. Overall compliance was 95.5%. There was increased activity in the areas of groundwater monitoring, hazardous waste and PCB waste management to comply with Federal regulations
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Travis B. Paveglio; Pamela J. Jakes; Matthew S. Carroll; Daniel R. Williams
2009-01-01
The lack of knowledge regarding social diversity in the Wildland Urban Interface (WUI) or an in-depth understanding of the ways people living there interact to address common problems is concerning, perhaps even dangerous, given that community action is necessary for successful wildland fire preparedness and natural resource management activities. In this article, we...
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DEFF Research Database (Denmark)
Hoggard, Christian Steven; Sauer, Florian Rudolf; Zernack, Anke Verena
Over the last twenty years, advances in geometric morphometric methodologies have revolutionised how archaeologists understand changes in artefact shape and form (size plus shape) throughout the Quaternary period. Such methodologies provide a high resolution of artefact coverage, and allow...... a critical analysis of previous taxonomic classificatory schemas and human tool-use in the past. Despite this, methodologies into artefact shape through geometric morphometrics have not been integrated within extensive geochronological data to better understand periods of high environmental stress and......, with respect to archaeology, how past societies reacted to such stress. The Laacher See volcanic eruption (c. 13,000 BP) in western Germany is believed, given its hypothesised characteristics, to have had profound impact on the lifeways of hunter-gatherers towards the end of the Final Palaeolithic (Riede, 2017...
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Environmental surveillance for the INEL Radioactive-Waste-Management complex. Annual report 1981
International Nuclear Information System (INIS)
Janke, D.H.; Zahn, T.P.
1982-09-01
The 1981 environmental surveillance report for the Radioactive Waste Management Complex of the Idaho National Engineering Laboratory contains data and discussions about routine radiological monitoring of the atmospheric, hydrologic, and geologic environments of the RWMC. Additional discussions include results of routine monitoring of two surplus facilities, the Stationary Low-Power Reactor No. 1 Surplus Area and the Organic Moderated Reactor Experiment. Each area has produced localized effects on the environment, but containment is well within the INEL site boundary
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Atomic switch networks as complex adaptive systems
Scharnhorst, Kelsey S.; Carbajal, Juan P.; Aguilera, Renato C.; Sandouk, Eric J.; Aono, Masakazu; Stieg, Adam Z.; Gimzewski, James K.
2018-03-01
Complexity is an increasingly crucial aspect of societal, environmental and biological phenomena. Using a dense unorganized network of synthetic synapses it is shown that a complex adaptive system can be physically created on a microchip built especially for complex problems. These neuro-inspired atomic switch networks (ASNs) are a dynamic system with inherent and distributed memory, recurrent pathways, and up to a billion interacting elements. We demonstrate key parameters describing self-organized behavior such as non-linearity, power law dynamics, and multistate switching regimes. Device dynamics are then investigated using a feedback loop which provides control over current and voltage power-law behavior. Wide ranging prospective applications include understanding and eventually predicting future events that display complex emergent behavior in the critical regime.
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Harikrishnan, K. P.
2018-02-01
We consider the simplest model in the family of discrete predator-prey system and introduce for the first time an environmental factor in the evolution of the system by periodically modulating the natural death rate of the predator. We show that with the introduction of environmental modulation, the bifurcation structure becomes much more complex with bubble structure and inverse period doubling bifurcation. The model also displays the peculiar phenomenon of coexistence of multiple limit cycles in the domain of attraction for a given parameter value that combine and finally gets transformed into a single strange attractor as the control parameter is increased. To identify the chaotic regime in the parameter plane of the model, we apply the recently proposed scheme based on the correlation dimension analysis. We show that the environmental modulation is more favourable for the stable coexistence of the predator and the prey as the regions of fixed point and limit cycle in the parameter plane increase at the expense of chaotic domain.
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National Research Council Canada - National Science Library
Cobb, Marshall
1999-01-01
This study examined how manipulating the level of environmental complexity and the type of team training given to subject volunteers impacted important team process behaviors and performance outcomes...
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Environmental Perception as a Diagnostic Probe of Environmental Complexity Levels
Freitas, Mirlaine R.; Macedo, Renato L. G.; Freitas, Matheus P.; Nunes, Cleiton A.; Venturin, Nelson
2015-01-01
Purpose: Educational methods to diagnose and improve the level of environmental conception are required. The present work reports a methodology based on studies about the environmental perception of a university public, divided into general students and those related to the forest sciences, who are involved with disciplines and researches related…
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Environmental evaluation of the air in a quarry in complex land
International Nuclear Information System (INIS)
Bedoya V, Julian
1999-01-01
Wind motion in a mountain terrain is hard to model, especially if it is located in the dividing line of the mountain where different wind regimes meet. In addition to difficulties in assessing wind fields, air pollution modeling requires special handling of receptors to estimate pollutant concentration (basically total suspended particulate for the case of a quarry). Modeling procedures are explained based on an exceptionally complex application for a quarry located in a mountain gorge in an eastern Colombian mountain. Emission factors of the US Environmental Protection Agency were applied to this example and the information was processed to use the ISCLT (Industrial Source Complex Long Term) dispersion model. Required meteorological information was obtained by interpolation of wind roses recorded in the two sides of the mountain (Santa fe de Bogota and Villavicencio). Two scenarios were modeled generating satisfying results since the highest air quality impacts are inside property line where occupational hygiene is applied
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Foundations of Complex Systems Nonlinear Dynamics, Statistical Physics, and Prediction
Nicolis, Gregoire
2007-01-01
Complexity is emerging as a post-Newtonian paradigm for approaching a large body of phenomena of concern at the crossroads of physical, engineering, environmental, life and human sciences from a unifying point of view. This book outlines the foundations of modern complexity research as it arose from the cross-fertilization of ideas and tools from nonlinear science, statistical physics and numerical simulation. It is shown how these developments lead to an understanding, both qualitative and quantitative, of the complex systems encountered in nature and in everyday experience and, conversely, h
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International Nuclear Information System (INIS)
Bennett, D.A.; Lawrence Berkeley Lab., CA
1990-01-01
The formation constants for the reactions PuO 2 + + H 2 O = PuO 2 (OH) + H + and PuO 2 + + CO 3 2 = PuO 2 (CO 3 ) - were determined in aqueous sodium perchlorate solutions by laser-induced photoacoustic spectroscopy. The molar absorptivity of the PuO 2 + band at 569 nm decreased with increasing hydroxide concentration. Similarly, spectral changes occurred between 540 and 580 nm as the carbonate concentration was increased. The absorption data were analyzed by the non-linear least-squares program SQUAD to yield complexation constants. Using the specific ion interaction theory, both complexation constants were extrapolated to zero ionic strength. These thermodynamic complexation constants were combined with the oxidation-reduction potentials of Pu to obtain Eh versus pH diagrams. 120 refs., 35 figs., 12 tabs
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Ways of understanding parental chronic pain: a typology.
Umberger, Wendy; Martsolf, Donna; Jacobson, Ann; Risko, Judy; Calabro, Mary; Patterson, Mary
2014-12-01
Chronic non-cancer pain (CNCP) is a prevalent occurrence and is experienced by adults in their child-rearing years. Communication within the family about parental illness can be formidable, and family members are often uninformed about illness details. To date, there is no research exploring how children and adolescents understand parental chronic pain, a very complex phenomenon, and its related disability. The aim of this study was to develop a substantive theory that describes how adolescents manage the experience of living with a parent suffering with CNCP and environmental factors that help or hinder this process. Grounded theory was used, the focus of which was adolescents' processes of dealing with parental illness in the interpersonal and environmental contexts of their daily lives. A sample of 30 young adults was recruited in northeastern Ohio using theoretical sampling. During open-ended interviews, participants were asked to look back on their adolescence and talk about how they managed living with parental chronic pain. Interview transcripts and field notes were analyzed using constant comparative methods. Six ways of understanding parental chronic pain emerged from the data: noticing something is different, wrestling with not knowing, searching for answers, questioning the validity of pain, developing insight into the complexity of pain, and learning important life lessons. Findings shed light on how adolescents understand and attach meaning and significance to parental chronic pain and disability and serve as the basis for the development of personalized family interventions. Copyright © 2014 American Society for Pain Management Nursing. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
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Understanding Crew Decision-Making in the Presence of Complexity: A Flight Simulation Experiment
Young, Steven D.; Daniels, Taumi S.; Evans, Emory; deHaag, Maarten Uijt; Duan, Pengfei
2013-01-01
Crew decision making and response have long been leading causal and contributing factors associated with aircraft accidents. Further, it is anticipated that future aircraft and operational environments will increase exposure to risks related to these factors if proactive steps are not taken to account for ever-increasing complexity. A flight simulation study was designed to collect data to help in understanding how complexity can, or may, be manifest. More specifically, an experimental apparatus was constructed that allowed for manipulation of information complexity and uncertainty, while also manipulating operational complexity and uncertainty. Through these manipulations, and the aid of experienced airline pilots, several issues have been discovered, related most prominently to the influence of information content, quality, and management. Flight crews were immersed in an environment that included new operational complexities suggested for the future air transportation system as well as new technological complexities (e.g. electronic flight bags, expanded data link services, synthetic and enhanced vision systems, and interval management automation). In addition, a set of off-nominal situations were emulated. These included, for example, adverse weather conditions, traffic deviations, equipment failures, poor data quality, communication errors, and unexpected clearances, or changes to flight plans. Each situation was based on one or more reference events from past accidents or incidents, or on a similar case that had been used in previous developmental tests or studies. Over the course of the study, 10 twopilot airline crews participated, completing over 230 flights. Each flight consisted of an approach beginning at 10,000 ft. Based on the recorded data and pilot and research observations, preliminary results are presented regarding decision-making issues in the presence of the operational and technological complexities encountered during the flights.
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Improving our understanding of environmental controls on the distribution of C3 and C4 grasses.
Pau, Stephanie; Edwards, Erika J; Still, Christopher J
2013-01-01
A number of studies have demonstrated the ecological sorting of C3 and C4 grasses along temperature and moisture gradients. However, previous studies of C3 and C4 grass biogeography have often inadvertently compared species in different and relatively unrelated lineages, which are associated with different environmental settings and distinct adaptive traits. Such confounded comparisons of C3 and C4 grasses may bias our understanding of ecological sorting imposed strictly by photosynthetic pathway. Here, we used MaxEnt species distribution modeling in combination with satellite data to understand the functional diversity of C3 and C4 grasses by comparing both large clades and closely related sister taxa. Similar to previous work, we found that C4 grasses showed a preference for regions with higher temperatures and lower precipitation compared with grasses using the C3 pathway. However, air temperature differences were smaller (2 °C vs. 4 °C) and precipitation and % tree cover differences were larger (1783 mm vs. 755 mm, 21.3% vs. 7.7%, respectively) when comparing C3 and C4 grasses within the same clade vs. comparing all C4 and all C3 grasses (i.e., ignoring phylogenetic structure). These results were due to important differences in the environmental preferences of C3 BEP and PACMAD clades (the two main grass clades). Winter precipitation was found to be more important for understanding the distribution and environmental niche of C3 PACMADs in comparison with both C3 BEPs and C4 taxa, for which temperature was much more important. Results comparing closely related C3 -C4 sister taxa supported the patterns derived from our modeling of the larger clade groupings. Our findings, which are novel in comparing the distribution and niches of clades, demonstrate that the evolutionary history of taxa is important for understanding the functional diversity of C3 and C4 grasses, and should have implications for how grasslands will respond to global change. © 2012
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Larson, Lincoln R.; Green, Gary T.; Castleberry, Steven B.
2011-01-01
An understanding of children's environmental orientations is of critical importance as opportunities for authentic contact with nature diminish. Current instruments for measuring children's environmental attitudes are complex, and few have been tested across diverse audiences. This study employed a mixed-methods approach that included pilot tests,…
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Kiviniemi, Marc T; Ellis, Erin M; Hall, Marissa G; Moss, Jennifer L; Lillie, Sarah E; Brewer, Noel T; Klein, William M P
2018-01-01
Researchers have historically treated cognition and affect as separate constructs in motivating health behaviour. We present a framework and empirical evidence for complex relations between cognition and affect in predicting health behaviour. Main Outcome, Design and Results: First, affect and cognition can mediate each other's relation to health behaviour. Second, affect and cognition can moderate the other's impact. Third, context can change the interplay of affect and cognition. Fourth, affect and cognition may be indelibly fused in some psychological constructs (e.g. worry, anticipated regret and reactance). These four propositions in our framework are not mutually exclusive. Examination of the types of complex relations described here can benefit theory development, empirical testing of theories and intervention design. Doing so will advance the understanding of mechanisms involved in regulation of health behaviours and the effectiveness of interventions to change health behaviours.
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Gender, Environment and the Theory of Complexity
Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)
Regina Célia Di Ciommo
2003-01-01
Full Text Available We use the theory of complexity to analise gender questions, showing that those are built by society in an exchange of interactions between nature and culture. The bioanthropological rootsand and the sociocultural characteristics contain different experiences, knowledge and wisdom, in a complex organization in which oposition does notmean extinction, and difference does not imply hierarchy. We can apply Morin’s “tetralogical ring” concept, which admits disorder, organization, order and interaction to the understanding of the impasse between masculine and feminine, humans and non-humans, towards a paradigmatic change in the social and environmental relations.
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Heon Kim, Tae; Yoon, Jong-Gul; Hyub Baek, Seung; Park, Woong-Kyu; Mo Yang, Sang; Yup Jang, Seung; Min, Taeyuun; Chung, Jin-Seok; Eom, Chang-Beom; Won Noh, Tae
2015-07-01
Fundamental understanding of domain dynamics in ferroic materials has been a longstanding issue because of its relevance to many systems and to the design of nanoscale domain-wall devices. Despite many theoretical and experimental studies, a full understanding of domain dynamics still remains incomplete, partly due to complex interactions between domain-walls and disorder. We report domain-shape-preserving deterministic domain-wall motion, which directly confirms microscopic return point memory, by observing domain-wall breathing motion in ferroelectric BiFeO3 thin film using stroboscopic piezoresponse force microscopy. Spatial energy landscape that provides new insights into domain dynamics is also mapped based on the breathing motion of domain walls. The evolution of complex domain structure can be understood by the process of occupying the lowest available energy states of polarization in the energy landscape which is determined by defect-induced internal fields. Our result highlights a pathway for the novel design of ferroelectric domain-wall devices through the engineering of energy landscape using defect-induced internal fields such as flexoelectric fields.
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Kim, Tae Heon; Yoon, Jong-Gul; Baek, Seung Hyub; Park, Woong-kyu; Yang, Sang Mo; Yup Jang, Seung; Min, Taeyuun; Chung, Jin-Seok; Eom, Chang-Beom; Noh, Tae Won
2015-07-01
Fundamental understanding of domain dynamics in ferroic materials has been a longstanding issue because of its relevance to many systems and to the design of nanoscale domain-wall devices. Despite many theoretical and experimental studies, a full understanding of domain dynamics still remains incomplete, partly due to complex interactions between domain-walls and disorder. We report domain-shape-preserving deterministic domain-wall motion, which directly confirms microscopic return point memory, by observing domain-wall breathing motion in ferroelectric BiFeO3 thin film using stroboscopic piezoresponse force microscopy. Spatial energy landscape that provides new insights into domain dynamics is also mapped based on the breathing motion of domain walls. The evolution of complex domain structure can be understood by the process of occupying the lowest available energy states of polarization in the energy landscape which is determined by defect-induced internal fields. Our result highlights a pathway for the novel design of ferroelectric domain-wall devices through the engineering of energy landscape using defect-induced internal fields such as flexoelectric fields.
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HEIS: An integrated information system for environmental restoration and monitoring at Hanford
Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)
Tzemos, S.; Kissinger, B.
1991-11-01
The US Department of Energy`s Hanford Site has about 1500 waste sites that contain a complex mixture of chemical and radioactive contaminants. After many years of environmental monitoring to assess the impact of Hanford operations to the environment, the Site`s mission is shifting to environmental restoration. The Hanford Environmental Information System (HEIS) is being developed to provide advanced tools to (1) support environmental restoration and routine site-wide monitoring, and (2) aid the scientists in understanding and conducting the restoration efforts. This paper describes some of the highlights and distinctive features of HEIS.
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Complexity, rhizome and magma, three key elements in pattern building in environmental research
International Nuclear Information System (INIS)
Noguera de Echeverri, Ana Patricia
2002-01-01
The following reading synthesizes the rur-urban-agrary environmental research pattern that appear from the research Caldas Agrary Environmental Profile (IDEA, National University, Manizales - Colciencias, 1998 - 2000). This pattern is constructed from three ideas of the contemporary philosophy: complexity, rhizome and magma that comes from another disciplines: the mathematics, botanic, and geology. The genetics-historical method that follows this article, starts with a critical analysis to the relation forms between society and nature that belongs to the modernity, to do then, a presentation of the influence of the ecology in the construction of new relations between society and nature, culture and nature, and the influence of the theory of systems in a systemic view of society, culture, and nature. Finish with a presentation of the pattern ecosystem-culture made for Augusto Angel Maya and the critical-development that becomes form this pattern, that we had named rur-urban-agrary rhizoma. For example we show how this research pattern let us to amplify the methodology of river basins that we use inside the Agrary Environmental Profile
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Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)
Tonnessen, K.; Tewes, H.A.
1982-08-01
The US Department of Energy (USDOE) is planning to construct and operate a structure, designated the Nuclear Test Technology Complex (NTTC), on a site located west of and adjacent to the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory. The NTTC is designed to house 350 nuclear test program personnel, and will accommodate the needs of the entire staff of the continuing Nuclear Test Program (NTP). The project has three phases: land acquisition, facility construction and facility operation. The purpose of this environmental assessment report is to describe the activities associated with the three phases of the NTTC project and to evaluate potential environmental disruptions. The project site is located in a rural area of southeastern Alameda County, California, where the primary land use is agriculture; however, the County has zoned the area for industrial development. The environmental impacts of the project include surface disturbance, high noise levels, possible increases in site erosion, and decreased air quality. These impacts will occur primarily during the construction phase of the NTTC project and can be mitigated in part by measures proposed in this report.
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Scown, Murray W.; Thoms, Martin C.; DeJager, Nathan R.; Gilvear, David J.; Greenwood, Malcolm T.; Thoms, Martin C.; Wood, Paul J.
2016-01-01
Floodplains can be viewed as complex adaptive systems (Levin, 1998) because they are comprised of many different biophysical components, such as morphological features, soil groups and vegetation communities as well as being sites of key biogeochemical processing (Stanford et al., 2005). Interactions and feedbacks among the biophysical components often result in additional phenomena occuring over a range of scales, often in the absence of any controlling factors (sensu Hallet, 1990). This emergence of new biophysical features and rates of processing can lead to alternative stable states which feed back into floodplain adaptive cycles (cf. Hughes, 1997; Stanford et al., 2005). Interactions between different biophysical components, feedbacks, self emergence and scale are all key properties of complex adaptive systems (Levin, 1998; Phillips, 2003; Murray et al., 2014) and therefore will influence the manner in which we study and view spatial patterns. Measuring the spatial patterns of floodplain biophysical components is a prerequisite to examining and understanding these ecosystems as complex adaptive systems. Elucidating relationships between pattern and process, which are intrinsically linked within floodplains (Ward et al., 2002), is dependent upon an understanding of spatial pattern. This knowledge can help river scientists determine the major drivers, controllers and responses of floodplain structure and function, as well as the consequences of altering those drivers and controllers (Hughes and Cass, 1997; Whited et al., 2007). Interactions and feedbacks between physical, chemical and biological components of floodplain ecosystems create and maintain a structurally diverse and dynamic template (Stanford et al., 2005). This template influences subsequent interactions between components that consequently affect system trajectories within floodplains (sensu Bak et al., 1988). Constructing and evaluating models used to predict floodplain ecosystem responses to
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Environmental Sampling FY03 Annual Report - Understanding the Movement of Mercury on the INEEL
International Nuclear Information System (INIS)
Michael L. Abbott
2003-01-01
Environmental mercury measurements were started in Fy-01 at the Idaho National Engineering Laboratory (INEEL) to monitor downwind impacts from on-going waste treatment operations at the Idaho Nuclear Technology and Engineering Center (INTEC) and to improve our scientific understanding of mercury fate and transport in this region. This document provides a summary of the sampling done in FY04. Continuous total gaseous mercury (TGM) measurements were made using a Tekran Model 2537A mercury vapor analyzer during October 2002 and from February through July 2003. The equipment was deployed in a self-contained field trailer at the Experimental Field Station (EFS) four kilometers downwind (northeast) of INTEC. Mercury surface-to-air flux measurements were made in October 2002 and from February through May 2003 to better understand the fate of the estimated 1500 kg of mercury emitted from 36 years of calciner operations at INTEC and to improve our scientific understanding of mercury environmental cycling in this region. Flux was measured using an INEEL-designed dynamic flux chamber system with a Tekran automated dual sampling (TADS) unit. Diel flux was positively correlated with solar radiation (r = 0.65), air temperature (r = 0.64), and wind speed (r = 0.38), and a general linear model for flux prediction at the INEEL was developed. Reactive gaseous mercury (RGM) was measured at EFS in July using a Tekran Model 1130 mercury speciation unit. Based on comparisons with other published data around the U.S., mercury air concentrations and surface flux rates directly downwind from INTEC were not distinguishable from remote area (non-industrial) background levels during the monitoring period
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Interdisciplinary Environmental-health Science Throughout Disaster Lifecycles
Plumlee, G. S.; Morman, S. A.; Hoefen, T. M.
2014-12-01
Potential human health effects from exposures to hazardous disaster materials and environmental contamination are common concerns following disasters. Using several examples from US Geological Survey environmental disaster responses (e.g., 2001 World Trade Center, mine tailings spills, 2005 Hurricane Katrina, 2007-2013 wildfires, 2011 Gulf oil spill, 2012 Hurricane Sandy, 2013 Colorado floods) and disaster scenarios (2011 ARkStorm, 2013 SAFRR tsunami) this presentation will illustrate the role for collaborative earth, environmental, and health science throughout disaster lifecycles. Pre-disaster environmental baseline measurements are needed to help understand environmental influences on pre-disaster health baselines, and to constrain the magnitude of a disaster's impacts. During and following disasters, there is a need for interdisciplinary rapid-response and longer-term assessments that: sample and characterize the physical, chemical, and microbial makeup of complex materials generated by the disasters; fingerprint material sources; monitor, map, and model dispersal and evolution of disaster materials in the environment; help understand how the materials are modified by environmental processes; and, identify key characteristics and processes that influence the exposures and toxicity of disaster materials to humans and the living environment. This information helps emergency responders, public health experts, and cleanup managers: 1) identify short- and long-term exposures to disaster materials that may affect health; 2) prioritize areas for cleanup; and 3) develop appropriate disposal solutions or restoration uses for disaster materials. By integrating lessons learned from past disasters with geospatial information on vulnerable sources of natural or anthropogenic contaminants, the environmental health implications of looming disasters or disaster scenarios can be better anticipated, which helps enhance preparedness and resilience. Understanding economic costs of
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Developing integrated methods to address complex resource and environmental issues
Smith, Kathleen S.; Phillips, Jeffrey D.; McCafferty, Anne E.; Clark, Roger N.
2016-02-08
IntroductionThis circular provides an overview of selected activities that were conducted within the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) Integrated Methods Development Project, an interdisciplinary project designed to develop new tools and conduct innovative research requiring integration of geologic, geophysical, geochemical, and remote-sensing expertise. The project was supported by the USGS Mineral Resources Program, and its products and acquired capabilities have broad applications to missions throughout the USGS and beyond.In addressing challenges associated with understanding the location, quantity, and quality of mineral resources, and in investigating the potential environmental consequences of resource development, a number of field and laboratory capabilities and interpretative methodologies evolved from the project that have applications to traditional resource studies as well as to studies related to ecosystem health, human health, disaster and hazard assessment, and planetary science. New or improved tools and research findings developed within the project have been applied to other projects and activities. Specifically, geophysical equipment and techniques have been applied to a variety of traditional and nontraditional mineral- and energy-resource studies, military applications, environmental investigations, and applied research activities that involve climate change, mapping techniques, and monitoring capabilities. Diverse applied geochemistry activities provide a process-level understanding of the mobility, chemical speciation, and bioavailability of elements, particularly metals and metalloids, in a variety of environmental settings. Imaging spectroscopy capabilities maintained and developed within the project have been applied to traditional resource studies as well as to studies related to ecosystem health, human health, disaster assessment, and planetary science. Brief descriptions of capabilities and laboratory facilities and summaries of some
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Environmental coupling and population dynamics in the PE545 light-harvesting complex
Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)
Aghtar, Mortaza; Kleinekathöfer, Ulrich, E-mail: u.kleinekathoefer@jacobs-university.de
2016-01-15
Long-lived quantum coherences have been shown experimentally in the Fenna–Matthews–Olson (FMO) complex of green sulfur bacteria as well as in the phycoerythrin 545 (PE545) photosynthetic antenna system of marine algae. A combination of classical molecular dynamics simulations, quantum chemistry and quantum dynamical calculations is employed to determine the excitation transfer dynamics in PE545. One key property of the light-harvesting system concerning the excitation transfer and dephasing phenomena is the spectral density. This quantity is determined from time series of the vertical excitation energies of the aggregate. In the present study we focus on the quantum dynamical simulations using the earlier QM/MM calculations as input. Employing an ensemble-averaged classical path-based wave packet dynamics, the excitation transfer dynamics between the different bilins in the PE545 complex is determined and analyzed. Furthermore, the nature of the environmental fluctuations determining the transfer dynamics is discussed. - Highlights: • Modeling of excitation energy transfer in the light-harvesting system PE545. • Combination of molecular dynamics simulations, quantum chemistry and quantum dynamics. • Spectral densities for bilins in the PE545 complex.
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Environmental metabolomics: a SWOT analysis (strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats).
Miller, Marion G
2007-02-01
Metabolomic approaches have the potential to make an exceptional contribution to understanding how chemicals and other environmental stressors can affect both human and environmental health. However, the application of metabolomics to environmental exposures, although getting underway, has not yet been extensively explored. This review will use a SWOT analysis model to discuss some of the strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats that are apparent to an investigator venturing into this relatively new field. SWOT has been used extensively in business settings to uncover new outlooks and identify problems that would impede progress. The field of environmental metabolomics provides great opportunities for discovery, and this is recognized by a high level of interest in potential applications. However, understanding the biological consequence of environmental exposures can be confounded by inter- and intra-individual differences. Metabolomic profiles can yield a plethora of data, the interpretation of which is complex and still being evaluated and researched. The development of the field will depend on the availability of technologies for data handling and that permit ready access metabolomic databases. Understanding the relevance of metabolomic endpoints to organism health vs adaptation vs variation is an important step in understanding what constitutes a substantive environmental threat. Metabolomic applications in reproductive research are discussed. Overall, the development of a comprehensive mechanistic-based interpretation of metabolomic changes offers the possibility of providing information that will significantly contribute to the protection of human health and the environment.
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Strategies and perspectives of influential environmental organizations toward tropical deforestation
International Nuclear Information System (INIS)
Ozanne, L.K.; Smith, P.M.
1993-01-01
In recent years, environmental nongovernment organizations (NGOs) have been active in alerting the public and governments to tropical forest issues. Many feel that these efforts have begun to affect the trade in tropical timber and influence the perceptions of logging in the tropics. However, the influence of environmental organizations is not restricted to tropical timber trade but has the potential to impact the global wood products industry. The wood products industry has an opportunity to address these pressures by understanding the strategies and perceptions of the environmental community on this issue and developing proactive strategies to deal with the situation. This study included a phase 1 prestudy, which reported the results of interview with over 39 environmental NGOs in both the US and Europe to develop an overview of this complex industry. A phase 2 followup fax questionnaire was administered to the most relevant US environmental NGOs in order to classify them on two important criteria: (1) their level of specialization; and (2) their organizational strategy. This paper provides an overview of the complex issues in the environmental debate regarding tropical deforestation and how environmental organizations are attempting to address these issues
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Context matters — the complex interplay between resistome genotypes and resistance phenotypes
DEFF Research Database (Denmark)
Dantas, Gautam; Sommer, Morten
2012-01-01
Application of metagenomic functional selections to study antibiotic resistance genes is revealing a highly diverse and complex network of genetic exchange between bacterial pathogens and environmental reservoirs, which likely contributes significantly to increasing resistance levels in pathogens...... the resistome genotype, and we highlight examples of genes and their hosts where this distinction becomes important in order to understand the relevance of environmental niches that contribute most to clinical problems associated with antibiotic resistance....
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Kelly, Rebecca A.; Jakeman, Anthony J.; Barreteau, Olivier; Borsuk, Mark E.; El-Sawah, Sondoss; Hamilton, Serena H.; Henriksen, Hans Jorgen; Kuikka, Sakari; Maier, Holger R.; Rizzoli, Andrea Emilio; van Delden, H.; Voinov, A.
2013-01-01
The design and implementation of effective environmental policies need to be informed by a holistic understanding of the system processes (biophysical, social and economic), their complex interactions, and how they respond to various changes. Models, integrating different system processes into a
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Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)
Love Ekenberg
2011-08-01
Full Text Available During recent years, a great deal of attention has been focused on the financial risk management of natural disasters. One reason behind is that the economic losses from floods, windstorms, earthquakes and other disasters in both the developing and developed countries are escalating dramatically. It has become apparent that an integrated water resource management approach would be beneficial in order to take both the best interests of society and of the environment into consideration. One improvement consists of models capable of handling multiple criteria (conflicting objectives as well as multiple stakeholders (conflicting interests. A systems approach is applied for coping with complex environmental and societal risk management decisions with respect to flood catastrophe policy formation, wherein the emphasis is on computer-based modeling and simulation techniques combined with methods for evaluating strategies where numerous stakeholders are incorporated in the process. The resulting framework consists of a simulation model, a decision analytical tool, and a set of suggested policy strategies for policy formulation. The framework will aid decision makers with high risk complex environmental decisions subject to significant uncertainties.
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Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)
Holmes, C.W.; Lewis, R.E.; Hunt, S.T. (Pacific Northwest Lab., Richland, WA (United States)); Finn, M.G. (Oak Ridge Associated Universities, Inc., TN (United States))
1992-06-01
A study was conducted Pacific Northwest Laboratory and Oak Ridge Associated Universities, Inc. to assess the supply and demand for 53 scientific, engineering, and technical occupations relevant to the US Department of Energy's (DOE's) Office of Environmental Restoration and Waste management (EM). These assessments were made by examining budget projections and the input of program/project and human resources managers throughout the DOE complex. Quantitative projections of full-time equivalent employees slots for each occupation have been developed for the 1993--1997 time frame. Qualitative assessments of the factors that affect recruitment, staffing, and retention are also reported. The implications of the study are discussed within the likely skills mix of the future workforce and the education and organization interventions most likely to address the needs of the DOE complex.
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International technology transfer to support the environmental restoration needs of the DOE complex
International Nuclear Information System (INIS)
DuCharme, A.R.; Jimenez, R.D.; Roberds, W.J.
1992-01-01
One of the principal objectives of the International Technology Exchange Program (ITEP) is the exchange of waste management and environmental restoration (WM/ER) technologies between the US and other nations. The current emphasis of ITEP is the transfer of technologies to the US that could provide better, faster, cheaper, or safer solutions to the needs of the DOE complex. The 10 candidate technologies that have been identified thus far by ITEP are discussed. The highlights of preliminary evaluations of these technologies through a systems approach are also described. The technologies have been evaluated by a screening process to determine their applicability to the leading WM/ER needs of the DOE complex. The technologies have been qualitatively compared with the known or anticipated capabilities of domestic, base case technologies
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Chia, Robert
2017-01-01
Purpose: This paper aims to articulate a practice-based, non-cognitivist approach to organizational learning. Design/methodology/approach: This paper explores the potential contribution of a process-based "practice turn" in social theory for understanding organizational learning. Findings: In complex, turbulent environments, robust…
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Empirical research on international environmental migration: a systematic review.
Obokata, Reiko; Veronis, Luisa; McLeman, Robert
2014-01-01
This paper presents the findings of a systematic review of scholarly publications that report empirical findings from studies of environmentally-related international migration. There exists a small, but growing accumulation of empirical studies that consider environmentally-linked migration that spans international borders. These studies provide useful evidence for scholars and policymakers in understanding how environmental factors interact with political, economic and social factors to influence migration behavior and outcomes that are specific to international movements of people, in highlighting promising future research directions, and in raising important considerations for international policymaking. Our review identifies countries of migrant origin and destination that have so far been the subject of empirical research, the environmental factors believed to have influenced these migrations, the interactions of environmental and non-environmental factors as well as the role of context in influencing migration behavior, and the types of methods used by researchers. In reporting our findings, we identify the strengths and challenges associated with the main empirical approaches, highlight significant gaps and future opportunities for empirical work, and contribute to advancing understanding of environmental influences on international migration more generally. Specifically, we propose an exploratory framework to take into account the role of context in shaping environmental migration across borders, including the dynamic and complex interactions between environmental and non-environmental factors at a range of scales.
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LaBel, Kenneth A.; Berg, Melanie D.
2015-01-01
Electronic parts (integrated circuits) have grown in complexity such that determining all failure modes and risks from single particle event testing is impossible. In this presentation, the authors will present why this is so and provide some realism on what this means. Its all about understanding actual risks and not making assumptions.
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Li, Xiang; Sun, Ming-Zhu; Li, Xu; Zhang, Shu-Hui; Dai, Liang-Ti; Liu, Xing-Yu; Zhao, Xin; Chen, Dong-Yan; Feng, Xi-Zeng
2017-11-01
The extensive usage of xenobiotic endocrine disrupting chemicals (XEDCs), such as Bisphenol A (BPA), has created obvious threat to aquatic ecosystems worldwide. Although a comprehensive understanding of the adverse effect of BPA on behaviors and physiology have been proven, the potential impact of low-dose BPA on altering the basic ability of aquatic organism in adapting to the surrounded complex environment still remains elusive. In this research, we report that treatment of adult male zebrafish with chronic (7 weeks) low-dose (0.22 nM-2.2 nM) BPA, altered the ability in adapting the complex environment by disturbing the natural color preference patterns. In addition, chronic 50 ng/L (0.22 nM) BPA exposure alleviated the anxiety behavior of male zebrafish confronted with the novel environment by enhancing the preference towards light in the light/dark preference test. This phenotype was associated with less expression of serotonin (5-TH) in the hypothalamus and the down-regulation of tyrosine hydroxylase (TH) in brain tissues. As such, our results show that low-dose BPA remnant in surface waters altered zebrafish behavior that are known to have ecological and evolutionary consequences. Here we reported that the impact of chronic low-dose BPA exposure on the basic capability of zebrafish to adapt to the environmental complexity. Specifically, BPA at low concentration, under the environmental safety level and 3000-fold lower than the accepted human daily exposure, interfered with the ability to discriminate color and alleviate anxiety induced by the novel environment, which finally altered the capability of male zebrafish to adapt to the environmental complexity. These findings revealed the ecological effect of low-dose BPA and regular BPA concentration standard are not necessarily safe. The result also provided the consideration of retuning the hazard concentration level of BPA. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
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Advances in the understanding of the BBSome complex structure and function
Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)
Hernandez-Hernandez V
2015-10-01
Full Text Available Victor Hernandez-Hernandez, Dagan JenkinsGenetics and Genomic Medicine Programme, UCL Institute of Child Health, London, UKAbstract: Bardet–Biedl syndrome (BBS is an autosomal recessive condition characterized by important clinical features, including obesity, blindness, renal cystic disease, and intellectual disability. BBS is caused by mutations in >20 genes, a subset of which form the so-called BBSome. The BBSome is a complex that coats intracellular vesicles and interacts with key proteins, such as small GTPases, that regulate the trafficking of these vesicles to the base of cilia. Cilia are microtubular protusions present on the surface of most cells that are defective in a key group of disorders known as ciliopathies, of which BBS is one. BBSome components particularly localize to the basal body of cilia, and also centrosomes, where they interact with pericentriolar material proteins that regulate their function. The BBSome also facilitates the transport of key cargo within cilia by acting as an adaptor protein for intraflagellar transport complexes, and as such BBS mutations lead to a variety of functional defects in cilia in a tissue- and cell-type-specific manner. This might include defects in photoreceptor trafficking linked to the connecting cilium, abnormal hedgehog signaling within bone, and aberrant calcium signaling in response to fluid flow along renal tubules, although the precise mechanisms are still not completely understood. Taken together, the BBSome is an important complex that may be targeted for treatment of a variety of common and important disorders, and understanding the precise function of the BBSome will be essential to capitalize on this translationally.Keywords: retinitis pigmentosa GTPase regulator, polycystin, disrupted in schizophrenia 1, Hedgehog signaling, calcium signaling, photoreceptors
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Peterson, Tarla Rai; Horton, Cristi Choat
1995-01-01
Uses mythic criticism to examine missed opportunities for identifying with landowners in ways that would enhance the constructive management of environmental disputes. Offers an alternative mythic understanding of the American West drawn from discourse with Texas ranchers. Argues for the inclusion of communities that are directly influenced, yet…
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Spatio-temporal environmental correlation and population variability in simple metacommunities.
Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)
Lasse Ruokolainen
Full Text Available Natural populations experience environmental conditions that vary across space and over time. This variation is often correlated between localities depending on the geographical separation between them, and different species can respond to local environmental fluctuations similarly or differently, depending on their adaptation. How this emerging structure in environmental correlation (between-patches and between-species affects spatial community dynamics is an open question. This paper aims at a general understanding of the interactions between the environmental correlation structure and population dynamics in spatial networks of local communities (metacommunities, by studying simple two-patch, two-species systems. Three different pairs of interspecific interactions are considered: competition, consumer-resource interaction, and host-parasitoid interaction. While the results paint a relatively complex picture of the effect of environmental correlation, the interaction between environmental forcing, dispersal, and local interactions can be understood via two mechanisms. While increasing between-patch environmental correlation couples immigration and local densities (destabilising effect, the coupling between local populations under increased between-species environmental correlation can either amplify or dampen population fluctuations, depending on the patterns in density dependence. This work provides a unifying framework for modelling stochastic metacommunities, and forms a foundation for a better understanding of population responses to environmental fluctuations in natural systems.
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Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)
Bargar, John R
1999-05-07
This workshop was requested by Dr. Robert Marianelli, Director of the DOE-BES Chemical Sciences Division, to update the findings of the Workshop on Molecular Environmental Sciences (MES) held at Airlie, VA, in July 1995. The Airlie Workshop Report defined the new interdisciplinary field referred to as Molecular Environmental Science (MES), reviewed the synchrotron radiation methods used in MES research, assessed the adequacy of synchrotron radiation facilities for research in this field, and summarized the beam time requirements of MES users based on a national MES user survey. The objectives of MES research are to provide information on the chemical and physical forms (speciation), spatial distribution, and reactivity of contaminants in natural materials and man-made waste forms, and to develop a fundamental understanding of the complex molecular-scale environmental processes, both chemical and biological, that affect the stability, transformations, mobility, and toxicity of contaminant species. These objectives require parallel studies of ''real'' environmental samples, which are complicated multi-phase mixtures with chemical and physical heterogeneities, and of simplified model systems in which variables can be controlled and fundamental processes can be examined. Only by this combination of approaches can a basic understanding of environmental processes at the molecular-scale be achieved.
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International Nuclear Information System (INIS)
Bargar, John R
1999-01-01
This workshop was requested by Dr. Robert Marianelli, Director of the DOE-BES Chemical Sciences Division, to update the findings of the Workshop on Molecular Environmental Sciences (MES) held at Airlie, VA, in July 1995. The Airlie Workshop Report defined the new interdisciplinary field referred to as Molecular Environmental Science (MES), reviewed the synchrotron radiation methods used in MES research, assessed the adequacy of synchrotron radiation facilities for research in this field, and summarized the beam time requirements of MES users based on a national MES user survey. The objectives of MES research are to provide information on the chemical and physical forms (speciation), spatial distribution, and reactivity of contaminants in natural materials and man-made waste forms, and to develop a fundamental understanding of the complex molecular-scale environmental processes, both chemical and biological, that affect the stability, transformations, mobility, and toxicity of contaminant species. These objectives require parallel studies of ''real'' environmental samples, which are complicated multi-phase mixtures with chemical and physical heterogeneities, and of simplified model systems in which variables can be controlled and fundamental processes can be examined. Only by this combination of approaches can a basic understanding of environmental processes at the molecular-scale be achieved
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Advance simulation capability for environmental management (ASCEM) - 59065
International Nuclear Information System (INIS)
Dixon, Paul; Keating, Elizabeth; Moulton, David; Williamson, Mark; Collazo, Yvette; Gerdes, Kurt; Freshley, Mark; Gorton, Ian; Meza, Juan
2012-01-01
The United States Department Energy (DOE) Office of Environmental Management (EM) determined that uniform application of advanced modeling in the subsurface could help reduce the cost and risks associated with its environmental cleanup mission. In response to this determination, the EM Office of Technology Innovation and Development (OTID), Groundwater and Soil Remediation (GW and S) began the program Advanced Simulation Capability for Environmental Management (ASCEM). ASCEM is a state-of-the-art scientific tool and approach for integrating data and scientific understanding to enable prediction of contaminant fate and transport in natural and engineered systems. This initiative supports the reduction of uncertainties and risks associated with EM?s environmental cleanup and closure programs through better understanding and quantifying the subsurface flow and contaminant transport behavior in complex geological systems. This involves the long-term performance of engineered components, including cementitious materials in nuclear waste disposal facilities that may be sources for future contamination of the subsurface. This paper describes the ASCEM tools and approach and the ASCEM programmatic accomplishments completed in 2010 including recent advances and technology transfer. The US Department of Energy Office of Environmental Management has begun development of an Advanced Simulation Capability for Environmental Management, (ASCEM). This program will provide predictions of the end states of contaminated areas allowing for cost and risk reduction of EM remedial activities. ASCEM will provide the tools and approaches necessary to standardize risk and performance assessments across the DOE complex. Through its Phase One demonstration, the ASCEM team has shown value to the EM community in the areas of High Performance Computing, Data Management, Visualization, and Uncertainty Quantification. In 2012, ASCEM will provide an initial limited release of a community code for
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CERN. Geneva
2014-01-01
The Inaugural Grace-CERN Lecture The daunting complexity of cancer: understanding the battlefield is a step towards winning the war Douglas Hanahan, Ph.D. Director, Swiss Institute for Experimental Cancer Research (ISREC) Professor of Molecular Oncology, School of Life Sciences, Swiss Federal Institute of Technology Lausanne (EPFL) Vice Director, Swiss Cancer Center Lausanne Synopsis (version francaise ci-dessous) Cancer is a disease with hundreds of variations, both in affected organs and in responses to different therapies. Modern human cancer research is producing an avalanche of data about the distinctive genetic aberrations of its specific types, further accentuating the diversity and vast complexity of the disease. There is hope that elucidating its mechanisms will lead to more informed and more effective therapeutic strategies. Understanding the enemy is paramount, and yet tumors arising in different organs can be so different as to de...
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HEIS: An integrated information system for environmental restoration and monitoring at Hanford
Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)
Tzemos, S.; Kissinger, B.
1991-11-01
The US Department of Energy's Hanford Site has about 1500 waste sites that contain a complex mixture of chemical and radioactive contaminants. After many years of environmental monitoring to assess the impact of Hanford operations to the environment, the Site's mission is shifting to environmental restoration. The Hanford Environmental Information System (HEIS) is being developed to provide advanced tools to (1) support environmental restoration and routine site-wide monitoring, and (2) aid the scientists in understanding and conducting the restoration efforts. This paper describes some of the highlights and distinctive features of HEIS.
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Erika s. Svendsen; Lindsay K. Campbell
2008-01-01
Urban environmental stewardship activities are on the rise in cities throughout the Northeast. Groups participating in stewardship activities range in age, size, and geography and represent an increasingly complex and dynamic arrangement of civil society, government and business sectors. To better understand the structure, function and network of these community-based...
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International Nuclear Information System (INIS)
Arango Fernandez, Wilfer Ignacio
2008-01-01
Reality is not as simple as we would like. It is complex so that can't always be understood through simple rules. That's why the explorations of the science have catalyzed a profound reconceptualization of the universe. A wholly new way of seeing, thinking, knowing in the world has been introduced. The new perspective seeks to understand systems that change in ways not amenable to the linear vision. The organizations, most particularly the enterprise, are subject to the very same principles of the new science, and one major impact in applying the concepts of complexity is the way in which they are seen. In the X Xl century, companies will no longer be effectively managed by rigid and lineal objectives or perspectives. The state of chaos leads to creativity, innovations and self organisation?disorder, dissipation and change are the rules, no more the exceptions. This article proposes the understanding of organizations in terms of a holistic perception confronts the traditional visions and explores the relevance of the new paradigm in the field of the relation between organizations and environment. An overview of the significance of the change of perception is provided, followed by the way in which the theory (complexity, ecopoiesis, and dissipative structures, living organization) can be applied to the field of management
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Web mapping system for complex processing and visualization of environmental geospatial datasets
Titov, Alexander; Gordov, Evgeny; Okladnikov, Igor
2016-04-01
Environmental geospatial datasets (meteorological observations, modeling and reanalysis results, etc.) are used in numerous research applications. Due to a number of objective reasons such as inherent heterogeneity of environmental datasets, big dataset volume, complexity of data models used, syntactic and semantic differences that complicate creation and use of unified terminology, the development of environmental geodata access, processing and visualization services as well as client applications turns out to be quite a sophisticated task. According to general INSPIRE requirements to data visualization geoportal web applications have to provide such standard functionality as data overview, image navigation, scrolling, scaling and graphical overlay, displaying map legends and corresponding metadata information. It should be noted that modern web mapping systems as integrated geoportal applications are developed based on the SOA and might be considered as complexes of interconnected software tools for working with geospatial data. In the report a complex web mapping system including GIS web client and corresponding OGC services for working with geospatial (NetCDF, PostGIS) dataset archive is presented. There are three basic tiers of the GIS web client in it: 1. Tier of geospatial metadata retrieved from central MySQL repository and represented in JSON format 2. Tier of JavaScript objects implementing methods handling: --- NetCDF metadata --- Task XML object for configuring user calculations, input and output formats --- OGC WMS/WFS cartographical services 3. Graphical user interface (GUI) tier representing JavaScript objects realizing web application business logic Metadata tier consists of a number of JSON objects containing technical information describing geospatial datasets (such as spatio-temporal resolution, meteorological parameters, valid processing methods, etc). The middleware tier of JavaScript objects implementing methods for handling geospatial
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Qualitative environmental health research: an analysis of the literature, 1991-2008.
Scammell, Madeleine Kangsen
2010-08-01
Recent articles have advocated for the use of qualitative methods in environmental health research. Qualitative research uses nonnumeric data to understand people's opinions, motives, understanding, and beliefs about events or phenomena. In this analysis of the literature, I report the use of qualitative methods and data in the study of the relationship between environmental exposures and human health. A primary search on ISI Web of Knowledge/Web of Science for peer-reviewed journal articles dated from 1991 through 2008 included the following three terms: qualitative, environ*, and health. Inclusion and exclusion criteria are described. Searches resulted in 3,155 records. Data were extracted and findings of articles analyzed to determine where and by whom qualitative environmental health research is conducted and published, the types of methods and analyses used in qualitative studies of environmental health, and the types of information qualitative data contribute to environmental health. Ninety-one articles met inclusion criteria. These articles were published in 58 different journals, with a maximum of eight for a single journal. The results highlight a diversity of disciplines and techniques among researchers who used qualitative methods to study environmental health, with most studies relying on one-on-one interviews. Details of the analyses were absent from a large number of studies. Nearly all of the studies identified increased scientific understanding of lay perceptions of environmental health exposures. Qualitative data are published in traditionally quantitative environmental health studies to a limited extent. However, this analysis demonstrates the potential of qualitative data to improve understanding of complex exposure pathways, including the influence of social factors on environmental health, and health outcomes.
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USER principle as relating the human environmental management
International Nuclear Information System (INIS)
Kernakis
2005-01-01
The environmental variable can be understood as the resulting biosphere space that has suffered the occurrence of pre-biotic, biotic and anthropic processes. This necessary expansion of the environmental frontier allows understand clearly the magnitude the great complexity of the process immersed in the current environmental problematic. This, taking into account the analysis of the reference systems used by the different species to face their interaction with the nature. Hence, it is necessary to evaluate the human referential process of reality, as a responsible specie of the derange shown by the Environmental Mother Eve. The latest hominid development of an Artificial Reference System (ARS) (linguistic symbols), points to the constitution of the casual factor that triggers such an environmental problematic. The expansive dynamics accomplished by the ARS has not always made reference to the natural ambience that created them. The formulation of the Unprivilegeness of Symbolic Endogenous Referents (USER) Principle (Kernakis 1986, 1997), as a necessary epistemological consequence of the Special Relativity from Einstein, entails to the reversion of the local privileges created by the ARS, stating a referential crisis as alternative to a potential environmental collapse. AII these could lead to the most intra-specific understanding with the nature, antonomastical fragmented by the privileges of the ARS. Such integration species-nature would allow to make possible an spontaneous natural-cultural arranging of the environmental balance
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Sammel, Alison J.
How do five new teachers understand and enact counter-hegemonic pedagogies in their own classes? This study developed from this question. The question arose as I taught critical environmental education, a counter-hegemonic pedagogy, to preservice science teachers. I encouraged the exploration of social and environmental injustices and how they function to reproduce dominant economic agendas. To understand how five teachers, in the second year of their practice and my former students, made sense of the critical environmental education I taught them, I used Gadamer's hermeneutic phenomenology as my research frame. Gadamer argues that meaning develops through dialogue, so data collection occurred mainly through lively research conversations over leisurely dinners. As practicing teachers, the six of us jointly explored taken-for-granted meanings and actions in our everyday pedagogical experiences. In these conversations we made meaning (the hermeneutic aspect) of the lived experiences (phenomenological aspect) of incorporating critical environmental education into our practices. This led me to a deeper understanding and increased awareness of how science education reform agendas have influenced and shaped our individual science pedagogies. The analytic lens of critical education showed that these teachers were strongly influenced by the dominant science reform agenda. Regardless of the science curriculum, or the strong social and environmental beliefs some of these teachers held, they did not perceive the teaching of the social and environmental justice issues to be 'critical' or 'their job.' They demonstrated a belief that it was 'critical' to teach well-defined, "hard science" facts. Student success, hence teacher success, involved playing the academic game well and gaining long-term financial security. Re/viewing the data stories through the additional analytic lens of feminist poststructuralism, I saw how dominant discourse constructs the identity of teachers
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Environmental concern and environmentally responsible behaviour ...
African Journals Online (AJOL)
In this study, environmental concern has been conceptualised as the manifestation of attitudes that are directed at behavioural intentions of active personal involvement in caring about environmental matters. Based on a critique of theoretical approaches towards understanding the formation of environmental attitudes, ...
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A General Linear Model (GLM) was used to evaluate the deviation of predicted values from expected values for a complex environmental model. For this demonstration, we used the default level interface of the Regional Mercury Cycling Model (R-MCM) to simulate epilimnetic total mer...
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Kassotis, Christopher D; Tillitt, Donald E; Lin, Chung-Ho; McElroy, Jane A; Nagel, Susan C
2016-03-01
Hydraulic fracturing technologies, developed over the last 65 years, have only recently been combined with horizontal drilling to unlock oil and gas reserves previously deemed inaccessible. Although these technologies have dramatically increased domestic oil and natural gas production, they have also raised concerns for the potential contamination of local water supplies with the approximately 1,000 chemicals that are used throughout the process, including many known or suspected endocrine-disrupting chemicals. We discuss the need for an endocrine component to health assessments for drilling-dense regions in the context of hormonal and antihormonal activities for chemicals used. We discuss the literature on a) surface and groundwater contamination by oil and gas extraction operations, and b) potential human exposure, particularly in the context of the total hormonal and antihormonal activities present in surface and groundwater from natural and anthropogenic sources; we also discuss initial analytical results and critical knowledge gaps. In light of the potential for environmental release of oil and gas chemicals that can disrupt hormone receptor systems, we recommend methods for assessing complex hormonally active environmental mixtures. We describe a need for an endocrine-centric component for overall health assessments and provide information supporting the idea that using such a component will help explain reported adverse health trends as well as help develop recommendations for environmental impact assessments and monitoring programs.
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Kassotis, Christopher D.; Tillitt, Donald E.; Lin, Chung-Ho; McElroy, Jane A.; Nagel, Susan C.
2016-01-01
Background: Hydraulic fracturing technologies, developed over the last 65 years, have only recently been combined with horizontal drilling to unlock oil and gas reserves previously deemed inaccessible. While these technologies have dramatically increased domestic oil and natural gas production, they have also raised concerns for the potential contamination of local water supplies with the approximately 1,000 chemicals used throughout the process, including many known or suspected endocrine-disrupting chemicals.Objectives: We discuss the need for an endocrine component to health assessments for drilling-dense regions in the context of hormonal and anti-hormonal activities for chemicals used.Methods: We discuss the literature on 1) surface and ground water contamination by oil and gas extraction operations, and 2) potential human exposure, particularly in context of the total hormonal and anti-hormonal activities present in surface and ground water from natural and anthropogenic sources, with initial analytical results and critical knowledge gaps discussed.Discussion: In light of the potential for environmental release of oil and gas chemicals that can disrupt hormone receptor systems, we recommend methods for assessing complex hormonally active environmental mixtures.Conclusions: We describe a need for an endocrine-centric component for overall health assessments and provide supporting information that using this may help explain reported adverse health trends as well as help develop recommendations for environmental impact assessments and monitoring programs.
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A framework for unravelling the complexities of unsustainable water resource use
Dermody, Brian; Bierkens, Marc; Wassen, Martin; Dekker, Stefan
2016-04-01
The majority of unsustainable water resource use is associated with food production, with the agricultural sector accounting for up to 70% of total freshwater use by humans. Water resource use in food production emerges as a result of dynamic interactions between humans and their environment in importing and exporting regions as well as the physical and socioeconomic trade infrastructure linking the two. Thus in order to understand unsustainable water resource use, it is essential to understand the complex socioecological food production and trade system. We present a modelling framework of the food production and trade system that facilitates an understanding of complex socioenvironmental processes that lead to unsustainable water resource use. Our framework is based on a coupling of the global hydrological model PC Raster Global Water Balance (PCR-GLOBWB) with a multi-agent socioeconomic food production and trade network. In our framework, agents perceive environmental conditions. They make food supply decisions based upon those perceptions and the heterogeneous socioeconomic conditions in which they exist. Agent decisions modify land and water resources. Those environmental changes feedback to influence decision making further. The framework presented has the potential to go beyond a diagnosis of the causes of unsustainable water resource and provide pathways towards a sustainable food system in terms of water resources.
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International Nuclear Information System (INIS)
1988-03-01
There is a growing awareness that it is necessary to identify, assess, and manage the risks of energy and other complex industrial activities in order to minimize their potential to harm public health and the environment. Therefore, quantitative risk analysis with emphasis on risk management has become an important aspect in high level decision making for regulation in developed and developing countries. The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) and the World Health Organization (WHO) have initiated a project to promote the use of risk assessment and risk management in environmental health and safety decision making throughout the world. A meeting was held in Paris, France on October 13-17, 1986. The purpose of the meeting was to: a) Discuss the state of the art of national and international experience in conducting case studies in the field of assessing and managing industrial risks from energy and other complex industrial systems either at the plant level or in highly industrialized areas within a country; b) Present and discuss planned regional risk management case studies within a country or international research projects on risk management to be implemented in the future; and c) Review the Project Document on ''Assessing, Controlling, and Managing Health and Environmental Risks from Energy and Other Complex Industrial Systems''. The full texts, together with abstracts, of the papers given at the meeting are presented. The summary reviews briefly some of the major points that arose in papers or in the ensuing discussions. Where a consensus view resulted, conclusions were drawn. Major differences of opinion are also noted
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Enabling complex genetic circuits to respond to extrinsic environmental signals.
Hoynes-O'Connor, Allison; Shopera, Tatenda; Hinman, Kristina; Creamer, John Philip; Moon, Tae Seok
2017-07-01
Genetic circuits have the potential to improve a broad range of metabolic engineering processes and address a variety of medical and environmental challenges. However, in order to engineer genetic circuits that can meet the needs of these real-world applications, genetic sensors that respond to relevant extrinsic and intrinsic signals must be implemented in complex genetic circuits. In this work, we construct the first AND and NAND gates that respond to temperature and pH, two signals that have relevance in a variety of real-world applications. A previously identified pH-responsive promoter and a temperature-responsive promoter were extracted from the E. coli genome, characterized, and modified to suit the needs of the genetic circuits. These promoters were combined with components of the type III secretion system in Salmonella typhimurium and used to construct a set of AND gates with up to 23-fold change. Next, an antisense RNA was integrated into the circuit architecture to invert the logic of the AND gate and generate a set of NAND gates with up to 1168-fold change. These circuits provide the first demonstration of complex pH- and temperature-responsive genetic circuits, and lay the groundwork for the use of similar circuits in real-world applications. Biotechnol. Bioeng. 2017;114: 1626-1631. © 2017 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. © 2017 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.
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Deficiencies in Vadose Zone Understanding at the INEEL
Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)
Wood, Thomas Ronald; Bates, Dona Louise; Bishop, Carolyn Wagoner; Heard, Robert Eugene; Hubbell, Joel Michael; Hull, Laurence Charles; Lehman, Richard Michael; Magnuson, Swen O; Mattson, Earl Douglas; Mccarthy, James Michael; Porro, Indrek; Ritter, Paul David; Roddy, Michael Scott; Singler, Robert Edward; Smith, Richard Paul
2000-08-01
Subsurface contamination in the vadose zone, that portion of the subsurface pathway between land surface and an underlying aquifer, poses environmental problems at the Idaho National Engineering and Environmental Laboratory (INEEL) in eastern Idaho and across the U.S. Department of Energy complex. Assessing potential adverse impacts from these contaminated sites requires an understanding of the mechanisms controlling contaminant transport. Currently, vadose zone experts at the INEEL cannot with confidence predict the movement of water and contaminants in the complex, heterogeneous, fractured subsurface at the INEEL, especially within the vadose zone. In the draft version (Revision 1) of the Vadose Zone Deficiencies document, deficiencies in scientific understanding of flow and transport processes in the vadose zone at the INEEL were identified and grouped into 13 categories and recommendations were provided to address each of the deficiencies. The draft document provided the basis for an INEEL Vadose Zone Workshop that was conducted October 20 and 21, 1999, in Idaho Falls, Idaho. The workshop was conducted to group and rank the previously identified deficiencies and for the subsequent development of science plans to address the deficiencies that limit reliable predictions of water and contaminant movement in the subsurface. The workshop participants, comprising INEEL and scientists and project managers and non-INEEL scientists knowledgeable about the vadose zone, developed science- and technology-based recommendations derived through a series of technical sessions at the workshop. In this document, the final version of the Vadose Zone Deficiencies document, the draft document has been incorporated, largely intact, as well as the results from the workshop. The workshop participants grouped the deficiencies in vadose zone understanding at the INEEL into seven categories. These seven categories will be the focus areas of five science plans that are being developed to
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Environmental triggers in IBD: a review of progress and evidence.
Ananthakrishnan, Ashwin N; Bernstein, Charles N; Iliopoulos, Dimitrios; Macpherson, Andrew; Neurath, Markus F; Ali, Raja A Raja; Vavricka, Stephan R; Fiocchi, Claudio
2018-01-01
A number of environmental factors have been associated with the development of IBD. Alteration of the gut microbiota, or dysbiosis, is closely linked to initiation or progression of IBD, but whether dysbiosis is a primary or secondary event is unclear. Nevertheless, early-life events such as birth, breastfeeding and exposure to antibiotics, as well as later childhood events, are considered potential risk factors for IBD. Air pollution, a consequence of the progressive contamination of the environment by countless compounds, is another factor associated with IBD, as particulate matter or other components can alter the host's mucosal defences and trigger immune responses. Hypoxia associated with high altitude is also a factor under investigation as a potential new trigger of IBD flares. A key issue is how to translate environmental factors into mechanisms of IBD, and systems biology is increasingly recognized as a strategic tool to unravel the molecular alterations leading to IBD. Environmental factors add a substantial level of complexity to the understanding of IBD pathogenesis but also promote the fundamental notion that complex diseases such as IBD require complex therapies that go well beyond the current single-agent treatment approach. This Review describes the current conceptualization, evidence, progress and direction surrounding the association of environmental factors with IBD.
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Environmental contaminants: assessment and control
National Research Council Canada - National Science Library
Vallero, Daniel A
2004-01-01
... Understanding Policy by Understanding Science Connections and Interrelationships of Environmental Science Environmental Assessment and Intervention Engineering Technical Note: Cleaning up a Hazardous Waste Site Social Aspects of Environmental Science Introduction to Environmental Policy The National Environmental Policy Act Issues in Environmental Science: Co...
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Environmental stress and assessment program
International Nuclear Information System (INIS)
Adriano, D.C.; Brisbin, I.L.; Gibbons, J.W.
1981-01-01
Research progress is reported in sections entitled: Savannah River Plant (SRP) studies provide general models for thermal research; in vivo studies of thermal stabilities of cattail isozymes reveal interspecific differences; thermal regimes in Par Pond have little effect on micronutrient uptake by cattails; continued tree kill in the SRP swamp may have an adverse impact on the swamp's cooling capabilities; Par Pond provides understanding of complexity of lake ecosystems affected by thermal effluents; temperature affects size, species distribution, and emergence date of dragonfly larvae; the midge subcommunity in Par Pond maintains relative integrity across a multi-faceted environmental gradient; temperature does not alter contribution of predators to community stability; habitat affects enzyme activity levels in natural populations of Gambusia affinis; studies of large-mouth bass in Par Pond system reveal lipid cycles; long-term turtle research provides information on survivorship and longevity; data on SRP watersnakes contribute to understanding of sexual dimorphism in animals; terrestrial drift fences and pitfall traps prove to be an effective technique for quantitative sampling of animal populations; and, Steel Creek targeted for environmental assessment
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Time series models of environmental exposures: Good predictions or good understanding.
Barnett, Adrian G; Stephen, Dimity; Huang, Cunrui; Wolkewitz, Martin
2017-04-01
Time series data are popular in environmental epidemiology as they make use of the natural experiment of how changes in exposure over time might impact on disease. Many published time series papers have used parameter-heavy models that fully explained the second order patterns in disease to give residuals that have no short-term autocorrelation or seasonality. This is often achieved by including predictors of past disease counts (autoregression) or seasonal splines with many degrees of freedom. These approaches give great residuals, but add little to our understanding of cause and effect. We argue that modelling approaches should rely more on good epidemiology and less on statistical tests. This includes thinking about causal pathways, making potential confounders explicit, fitting a limited number of models, and not over-fitting at the cost of under-estimating the true association between exposure and disease. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
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Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)
Dario Sambunjak
2015-05-01
Full Text Available Mentoring is a complex developmental relationship that contributes to individual growth and career advancement in different areas of human activity, including academic medicine. This article describes a broader environmental milieux in which mentoring occurs and considers the ways in which the environmental factors may affect the process and outcomes of mentoring. An ecological model of mentoring is proposed that takes into account various factors broadly operating at three contextual levels. The first is societal or “macro” level, which implies cultural, economic, and political factors. The second is institutional or “meso” level, consisting of a system-related factors such as field and discipline characteristics, and government policies, and b organization-related factors such as mentoring climate, reward structure, and work design. The third contextual level relates to intrapersonal and interpersonal characteristics of mentor-mentee dyads. If mentoring dyad is viewed as the focal point, societal and institutional levels may be labeled as “external”, and personal level as “internal”. The conceptual diversity and methodological challenges in the study of mentoring need to be acknowledged, but should not be an excuse to leave the external contextual elements out of the researchers’ horizon, as they inevitably shape and modify the mentoring relationships. Conclusion. Model presented in this article offers a holistic view of mentoring in academic medicine that may help one comprehend and appreciate the complexity of influences on mentoring, and inform the future research agenda on this important topic.
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Remote Sensing of Soils for Environmental Assessment and Management.
DeGloria, Stephen D.; Irons, James R.; West, Larry T.
2014-01-01
The next generation of imaging systems integrated with complex analytical methods will revolutionize the way we inventory and manage soil resources across a wide range of scientific disciplines and application domains. This special issue highlights those systems and methods for the direct benefit of environmental professionals and students who employ imaging and geospatial information for improved understanding, management, and monitoring of soil resources.
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Strategies for Evaluating Complex Environmental Education Programs
Williams, V.
2011-12-01
Evidence for the effectiveness of environmental education programs has been difficult to establish for many reasons. Chief among them are the lack of clear program objectives and an inability to conceptualize how environmental education programs work. Both can lead to evaluations that make claims that are difficult to substantiate, such as significant changes in student achievement levels or behavioral changes based on acquisition of knowledge. Many of these challenges can be addressed by establishing the program theory and developing a logic model. However, claims of impact on larger societal outcomes are difficult to attribute solely to program activities. Contribution analysis may offer a promising method for addressing this challenge. Rather than attempt to definitively and causally link a program's activities to desired results, contribution analysis seeks to provide plausible evidence that can reduce uncertainty regarding the 'difference' a program is making to observed outcomes. It sets out to verify the theory of change behind a program and, at the same time, takes into consideration other influencing factors. Contribution analysis is useful in situations where the program is not experimental-there is little or no scope for varying how the program is implemented-and the program has been funded on the basis of a theory of change. In this paper, the author reviews the feasibility of using contribution analysis as a way of evaluating the impact of the GLOBE program, an environmental science and education program. Initially conceptualized by Al Gore in 1995, the program's implementation model is based on worldwide environmental monitoring by students and scientists around the globe. This paper will make a significant and timely contribution to the field of evaluation, and specifically environmental education evaluation by examining the usefulness of this analysis for developing evidence to assess the impact of environmental education programs.
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International Nuclear Information System (INIS)
Hopkins, A.M.; Heineman, R.; Norton, S.; Miller, M.; Oates, L.
2003-01-01
Maintaining compliance with environmental regulatory requirements is a significant priority in successful completion of the Plutonium Finishing Plant (PFP) Nuclear Material Stabilization (NMS) Project. To ensure regulatory compliance throughout the deactivation and decommissioning of the PFP complex, an environmental regulatory strategy was developed. The overall goal of this strategy is to comply with all applicable environmental laws and regulations and/or compliance agreements during PFP stabilization, deactivation, and eventual dismantlement. Significant environmental drivers for the PFP Nuclear Material Stabilization Project include the Tri-Party Agreement; the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act of 1976 (RCRA); the Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation and Liability Act of 1980 (CERCLA); the National Environmental Policy Act of 1969 (NEPA); the National Historic Preservation Act (NHPA); the Clean Air Act (CAA), and the Clean Water Act (CWA). Recent TPA negotiation s with Ecology and EPA have resulted in milestones that support the use of CERCLA as the primary statutory framework for decommissioning PFP. Milestones have been negotiated to support the preparation of Engineering Evaluations/Cost Analyses for decommissioning major PFP buildings. Specifically, CERCLA EE/CA(s) are anticipated for the following scopes of work: Settling Tank 241-Z-361, the 232-Z Incinerator, , the process facilities (eg, 234-5Z, 242, 236) and the process facility support buildings. These CERCLA EE/CA(s) are for the purpose of analyzing the appropriateness of the slab-on-grade endpoint Additionally, agreement was reached on performing an evaluation of actions necessary to address below-grade structures or other structures remaining after completion of the decommissioning of PFP. Remaining CERCLA actions will be integrated with other Central Plateau activities at the Hanford site
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Environment-Gene interaction in common complex diseases: New approaches
Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)
William A. Toscano, Jr.
2014-10-01
Full Text Available Approximately 100,000 different environmental chemicals that are in use as high production volume chemicals confront us in our daily lives. Many of the chemicals we encounter are persistent and have long half-lives in the environment and our bodies. These compounds are referred to as Persistent Organic Pollutants, or POPS. The total environment however is broader than just toxic pollutants. It includes social capital, social economic status, and other factors that are not commonly considered in traditional approaches to studying environment-human interactions. The mechanism of action of environmental agents in altering the human phenotype from health to disease is more complex than once thought. The focus in public health has shifted away from the study of single-gene rare diseases and has given way to the study of multifactorial complex diseases that are common in the population. To understand common complex diseases, we need teams of scientists from different fields working together with common aims. We review some approaches for studying the action of the environment by discussing use-inspired research, and transdisciplinary research approaches. The Genomic era has yielded new tools for study of gene-environment interactions, including genomics, epigenomics, and systems biology. We use environmentally-driven diabetes mellitus type two as an example of environmental epigenomics and disease. The aim of this review is to start the conversation of how the application of advances in biomedical science can be used to advance public health.
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ICPP: Approach for Understanding Complexity of Plasma
Sato, Tetsuya
2000-10-01
In this talk I wish to present an IT system that could promote Science of Complexity. In order to deal with a seemingly `complex' phenomenon, which means `beyond analytical manipulation', computer simulation is a viable powerful tool. However, complexity implies a concept beyond the horizon of reductionism. Therefore, rather than simply solving a complex phenomenon for a given boundary condition, one must establish an intelligent way of attacking mutual evolution of a system and its environment. NIFS-TCSC has been developing a prototype system that consists of supercomputers, virtual reality devices and high-speed network system. Let us explain this by picking up a global atmospheric circulation group, global oceanic circulation group and local weather prediction group. Local weather prediction group predicts the local change of the weather such as the creation of cloud and rain in the near future under the global conditions obtained by the global atmospheric and ocean groups. The global groups run simulations by modifying the local heat source/sink evaluated by the local weather prediction and then obtain the global conditions in the next time step. By repeating such a feedback performance one can predict the mutual evolution of the local system and its environment. Mutual information exchanges among multiple groups are carried out instantaneously by the networked common virtual reality space in which 3-D global and local images of the atmospheric and oceanic circulation and the cloud and rain maps are arbitrarily manipulated by any of the groups and commonly viewed. The present networking system has a great advantage that any simulation groups can freely and arbitrarily change their alignment, so that mutual evolution of any stratum system can become tractable by utilizing this network system.
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van Emmerik, T. H. M.; Li, Z.; Sivapalan, M.; Pande, S.; Kandasamy, J.; Savenije, H. H. G.; Chanan, A.; Vigneswaran, S.
2014-10-01
Competition for water between humans and ecosystems is set to become a flash point in the coming decades in many parts of the world. An entirely new and comprehensive quantitative framework is needed to establish a holistic understanding of that competition, thereby enabling the development of effective mediation strategies. This paper presents a modeling study centered on the Murrumbidgee River basin (MRB). The MRB has witnessed a unique system dynamics over the last 100 years as a result of interactions between patterns of water management and climate driven hydrological variability. Data analysis has revealed a pendulum swing between agricultural development and restoration of environmental health and ecosystem services over different stages of basin-scale water resource development. A parsimonious, stylized, quasi-distributed coupled socio-hydrologic system model that simulates the two-way coupling between human and hydrological systems of the MRB is used to mimic and explain dominant features of the pendulum swing. The model consists of coupled nonlinear ordinary differential equations that describe the interaction between five state variables that govern the co-evolution: reservoir storage, irrigated area, human population, ecosystem health, and environmental awareness. The model simulations track the propagation of the external climatic and socio-economic drivers through this coupled, complex system to the emergence of the pendulum swing. The model results point to a competition between human "productive" and environmental "restorative" forces that underpin the pendulum swing. Both the forces are endogenous, i.e., generated by the system dynamics in response to external drivers and mediated by humans through technology change and environmental awareness, respectively. Sensitivity analysis carried out with the model further reveals that socio-hydrologic modeling can be used as a tool to explain or gain insight into observed co-evolutionary dynamics of diverse
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Finding Positive Feedback Loops in Environmental Models: A Mathematical Investigation
Sheikholeslami, R.; Razavi, S.
2016-12-01
Dynamics of most earth and environmental systems are generally governed by interactions between several hydrological (e.g., soil moisture and precipitation), geological (e.g., and erosion), geochemical (e.g., nutrient loading), and atmospheric (e.g., temperature) processes which operate on a range of spatio-temporal scales. These interactions create numerous feedback mechanisms with complex behaviours, and their understanding and representation can vary depending on the scale in space and/or time at which the system is analyzed. One of the most crucial characteristics of such complex systems is the existence of positive feedback loops. The presence of positive feedbacks may increase complexity, accelerate change, or trigger multiple stable states in the underlying dynamical system. Furthermore, because of the inherent non-linearity, it is often very difficult to obtain a general idea of their complex dynamics. Feedback loops in environmental systems have been well recognized and qualitatively discussed. With a quantitative/mathematical view, in this presentation, we address the question of how the positive feedback loops can be identified/implemented in environmental models. We investigate the nature of different feedback mechanisms and dynamics of simple example case studies that underlie fundamental processes such as vegetation, precipitation and soil moisture. To do this, we apply the concept of "interaction graph" from mathematics which is built from the Jacobian matrix of the dynamical system. The Jacobian matrix contains information on how variations of one state variable depends on variations of other variables, and thus can be used to understand the dynamical possibilities of feedback mechanisms in the underlying system. Moreover, this study highlights that there are some situations where the existence of positive feedback loops can cause multiple stable states, and thereby regime shifts in environmental systems. Systems with multiple stable states are
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Single-cell technologies in environmental omics
Kodzius, Rimantas
2015-10-22
Environmental studies are primarily done by culturing isolated microorganisms or by amplifying and sequencing conserved genes. Difficulties understanding the complexity of large numbers of various microorganisms in an environment led to the development of techniques to enrich specific microorganisms for upstream analysis, ultimately leading to single-cell isolation and analyses. We discuss the significance of single-cell technologies in omics studies with focus on metagenomics and metatranscriptomics. We propose that by reducing sample heterogeneity using single-cell genomics, metaomic studies can be simplified.
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Single-cell technologies in environmental omics
Kodzius, Rimantas; Gojobori, Takashi
2015-01-01
Environmental studies are primarily done by culturing isolated microorganisms or by amplifying and sequencing conserved genes. Difficulties understanding the complexity of large numbers of various microorganisms in an environment led to the development of techniques to enrich specific microorganisms for upstream analysis, ultimately leading to single-cell isolation and analyses. We discuss the significance of single-cell technologies in omics studies with focus on metagenomics and metatranscriptomics. We propose that by reducing sample heterogeneity using single-cell genomics, metaomic studies can be simplified.
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Waugh, Christian E; Fredrickson, Barbara L
2006-04-01
Based on Fredrickson's ((1998). What good are positive emotions? Review of General Psychology, 2, 300-319.; (2001). The role of positive emotions in positive psychology: The broaden-and-build theory of positive emotions. American Psychologist, 56, 218-226) broaden-and-build theory and Aron and Aron's ((1986). Love as expansion of the self: Understanding attraction and satisfaction. New York: Hemisphere) self-expansion theory, it was hypothesized that positive emotions broaden people's feelings of self-other overlap in the beginning of a new relationship. In a prospective study of first-year college students, we found that, after 1 week in college, positive emotions predicted increased self-other overlap with new roommates, which in turn predicted a more complex understanding of the roommate. In addition, participants who experienced a high ratio of positive to negative emotions throughout the first month of college reported a greater increase in self-other overlap and complex understanding than participants with a low positivity ratio. Implications for the role of positive emotions in the formation of new relationships are discussed.
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WAUGH, CHRISTIAN E.; FREDRICKSON, BARBARA L.
2007-01-01
Based on Fredrickson's ((1998). What good are positive emotions? Review of General Psychology, 2, 300–319.; (2001). The role of positive emotions in positive psychology: The broaden-and-build theory of positive emotions. American Psychologist, 56, 218–226) broaden-and-build theory and Aron and Aron's ((1986). Love as expansion of the self: Understanding attraction and satisfaction. New York: Hemisphere) self-expansion theory, it was hypothesized that positive emotions broaden people's feelings of self–other overlap in the beginning of a new relationship. In a prospective study of first-year college students, we found that, after 1 week in college, positive emotions predicted increased self–other overlap with new roommates, which in turn predicted a more complex understanding of the roommate. In addition, participants who experienced a high ratio of positive to negative emotions throughout the first month of college reported a greater increase in self–other overlap and complex understanding than participants with a low positivity ratio. Implications for the role of positive emotions in the formation of new relationships are discussed. PMID:21691460
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International Nuclear Information System (INIS)
Zhang Yu; Cai Xiyun; Lang Xianming; Qiao Xianliang; Li Xuehua; Chen Jingwen
2012-01-01
Co-contamination of ligand-like antibiotics (e.g., tetracyclines and quinolones) and heavy metals prevails in the environment, and thus the complexation between them is involved in environmental risks of antibiotics. To understand toxicological significance of the complex, effects of metal coordination on antibiotics' toxicity were investigated. The complexation of two antibiotics, oxytetracycline and ciprofloxacin, with three heavy metals, copper, zinc, and cadmium, was verified by spectroscopic techniques. The antibiotics bound metals via multiple coordination sites and rendered a mixture of various complexation speciations. Toxicity analysis indicated that metal coordination did modify the toxicity of the antibiotics and that antibiotic, metal, and their complex acted primarily as concentration addition. Comparison of EC 50 values revealed that the complex commonly was highest toxic and predominately correlated in toxicity to the mixture. Finally, environmental scenario analysis demonstrated that ignoring complexation would improperly classify environmental risks of the antibiotics. - Highlights: ► The complex of antibiotic with metal is a mixture of various complexation modes. ► Antibiotic and metal act as various combined interactions when their complexation is ignored. ► Antibiotic, metal, and their complex act as concentration addition interaction. ► Complex commonly is the highest toxicant. ► Neglecting complexation renders improper classification of risks for antibiotics. - Antibiotic, heavy metal and their complex act primarily as concentration addition interaction and the complex commonly is highest toxic.
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Chinman, Matthew; Burkhart, Q; Ebener, Patricia; Fan, Cha-Chi; Imm, Pamela; Osilla, Karen Chan; Paddock, Susan M; Wright, Annie
2011-06-01
Environmental strategies to prevent the misuse of alcohol among youth--e.g., use of public policies to restrict minors' access to alcohol--have been shown to reduce underage drinking. However, implementation of policy changes often requires public and private partnerships. One way to support these partnerships is to better understand the target of many of the environmental strategies, which is the alcohol sales outlet. Knowing more about how off-premises outlets (e.g., liquor and convenience stores) and on-premises outlets (e.g., bars and restaurants) are alike and different could help community-based organizations better tailor, plan, and implement their environmental strategies and strengthen partnerships between the public and commercial sectors. We conducted a survey of managerial or supervisory staff and/or owners of 336 off- and on-premises alcohol outlets in six counties in South Carolina, comparing these two outlet types on their preferences regarding certain alcohol sales practices, beliefs toward underage drinking, alcohol sales practices, and outcomes. Multilevel logistic regression showed that while off- and on-premises outlets did have many similarities, off-premises outlets appear to engage in more practices designed to prevent sales of alcohol to minors than on-premises outlets. The relationship between certain Responsible Beverage Service (RBS) practices and outcomes varied by outlet type. This study furthers the understanding of the differences between off- and on-premises alcohol sales outlets and offers options for increasing and tailoring environmental prevention efforts to specific settings.
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Johnston, Jessica L; Fanzo, Jessica C; Cogill, Bruce
2014-07-01
The confluence of population, economic development, and environmental pressures resulting from increased globalization and industrialization reveal an increasingly resource-constrained world in which predictions point to the need to do more with less and in a "better" way. The concept of sustainable diets presents an opportunity to successfully advance commitments to sustainable development and the elimination of poverty, food and nutrition insecurity, and poor health outcomes. This study examines the determinants of sustainable diets, offers a descriptive analysis of these areas, and presents a causal model and framework from which to build. The major determinants of sustainable diets fall into 5 categories: 1) agriculture, 2) health, 3) sociocultural, 4) environmental, and 5) socioeconomic. When factors or processes are changed in 1 determinant category, such changes affect other determinant categories and, in turn, the level of "sustainability" of a diet. The complex web of determinants of sustainable diets makes it challenging for policymakers to understand the benefits and considerations for promoting, processing, and consuming such diets. To advance this work, better measurements and indicators must be developed to assess the impact of the various determinants on the sustainability of a diet and the tradeoffs associated with any recommendations aimed at increasing the sustainability of our food system. © 2014 American Society for Nutrition.
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Complex dilemmas of identity and practice
Enyedy, Noel; Goldberg, Jennifer; Muir Welsh, Kate
2006-01-01
Identity is a complex construct, yet extremely important if we wish to understand the practice of teaching as a profession. In this paper, we examine the ways two middle school teachers talk about their identity and teaching practices and coordinate these self-reports with our own observations of how they implement a new environmental science curriculum. More specifically, we compare the teachers' beliefs about learning, goals for the classroom community and for instruction, and their knowledge of science content, and pedagogy. Furthermore, we discuss teaching dilemmas, which arise for these teachers as their identities and practices intersect and at times conflict. We argue, however, that a focus on practice and outcomes is an important, but limited aspect of what we, as a field, need to consider when attempting to understand the complexities of teaching and learning. Therefore, we continue to expand our understanding of two science classrooms as we examine the teachers' multiple identities in relation to their implementation of a science curriculum. The identity portraits from this study provide a rich and complicated account of the implementation of a science curriculum and illuminate a number of potential obstacles and pitfalls, which may inform the way we as a field reflect on curriculum and professional development.
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Gene-Environment Interactions in the Development of Complex Disease Phenotypes
Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)
Kenneth Olden
2008-03-01
Full Text Available The lack of knowledge about the earliest events in disease development is due to the multi-factorial nature of disease risk. This information gap is the consequence of the lack of appreciation for the fact that most diseases arise from the complex interactions between genes and the environment as a function of the age or stage of development of the individual. Whether an environmental exposure causes illness or not is dependent on the efficiency of the so-called “environmental response machinery†(i.e., the complex of metabolic pathways that can modulate response to environmental perturbations that one has inherited. Thus, elucidating the causes of most chronic diseases will require an understanding of both the genetic and environmental contribution to their etiology. Unfortunately, the exploration of the relationship between genes and the environment has been hampered in the past by the limited knowledge of the human genome, and by the inclination of scientists to study disease development using experimental models that consider exposure to a single environmental agent. Rarely in the past were interactions between multiple genes or between genes and environmental agents considered in studies of human disease etiology. The most critical issue is how to relate exposure-disease association studies to pathways and mechanisms. To understand how genes and environmental factors interact to perturb biological pathways to cause injury or disease, scientists will need tools with the capacity to monitor the global expression of thousands of genes, proteins and metabolites simultaneously. The generation of such data in multiple species can be used to identify conserved and functionally significant genes and pathways involved in geneenvironment interactions. Ultimately, it is this knowledge that will be used to guide agencies such as the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services in decisions regarding biomedical research funding
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Wang, Bo
We are living an era wherein nanoparticles (NPs) have been widely applied in our lives. Dendrimers are special polymeric NPs with unique physiochemical properties, which have been intensely explored for a variety of applications. Current studies on dendrimers are bottlenecked by insufficient understandings of their structure and dynamic behaviors from a molecular level. With primarily computational approaches supplemented by many other experimental technics, this dissertation aims to establish structure-function relationships of dendrimers in environmental and biomedical applications. More specifically, it thoroughly investigates the interactions between dendrimers and different biomolecules including carbon-based NPs, metal-based NPs, and proteins/peptides. Those results not only provide profound knowledge for evaluating the impacts of dendrimers on environmental and biological systems but also facilitate designing next-generation functional polymeric nanomaterials. The dissertation is organized as following. Chapter 1 provides an overview of current progresses on dendrimer studies, where methodology of Discrete Molecular Dynamics (DMD), my major research tool, is also introduced. Two directions of utilizing dendrimers will be discussed in following chapters. Chapter 2 will focus on environmental applications of dendrimers, where two back-to-back studies are presented. I will start from describing some interesting observations from experiments i.e. dendrimers dispersed model oil molecules. Then, I will reveal why surface chemistries of dendrimers lead to different remediation efficiencies by computational modelings. Finally, I will demonstrate different scenarios of dendrimer-small molecules association. Chapter 3 is centered on dendrimers in the biomedical applications including two subtopics. In the first topic, we will discuss dendrimers as surfactants that modulating the interactions between proteins and NPs. Some fundamental concepts regarding to NPs
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Environmental/Biomedical Terminology Index
International Nuclear Information System (INIS)
Huffstetler, J.K.; Dailey, N.S.; Rickert, L.W.; Chilton, B.D.
1976-12-01
The Information Center Complex (ICC), a centrally administered group of information centers, provides information support to environmental and biomedical research groups and others within and outside Oak Ridge National Laboratory. In-house data base building and development of specialized document collections are important elements of the ongoing activities of these centers. ICC groups must be concerned with language which will adequately classify and insure retrievability of document records. Language control problems are compounded when the complexity of modern scientific problem solving demands an interdisciplinary approach. Although there are several word lists, indexes, and thesauri specific to various scientific disciplines usually grouped as Environmental Sciences, no single generally recognized authority can be used as a guide to the terminology of all environmental science. If biomedical terminology for the description of research on environmental effects is also needed, the problem becomes even more complex. The building of a word list which can be used as a general guide to the environmental/biomedical sciences has been a continuing activity of the Information Center Complex. This activity resulted in the publication of the Environmental Biomedical Terminology Index
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Connectivity in the human brain dissociates entropy and complexity of auditory inputs.
Nastase, Samuel A; Iacovella, Vittorio; Davis, Ben; Hasson, Uri
2015-03-01
Complex systems are described according to two central dimensions: (a) the randomness of their output, quantified via entropy; and (b) their complexity, which reflects the organization of a system's generators. Whereas some approaches hold that complexity can be reduced to uncertainty or entropy, an axiom of complexity science is that signals with very high or very low entropy are generated by relatively non-complex systems, while complex systems typically generate outputs with entropy peaking between these two extremes. In understanding their environment, individuals would benefit from coding for both input entropy and complexity; entropy indexes uncertainty and can inform probabilistic coding strategies, whereas complexity reflects a concise and abstract representation of the underlying environmental configuration, which can serve independent purposes, e.g., as a template for generalization and rapid comparisons between environments. Using functional neuroimaging, we demonstrate that, in response to passively processed auditory inputs, functional integration patterns in the human brain track both the entropy and complexity of the auditory signal. Connectivity between several brain regions scaled monotonically with input entropy, suggesting sensitivity to uncertainty, whereas connectivity between other regions tracked entropy in a convex manner consistent with sensitivity to input complexity. These findings suggest that the human brain simultaneously tracks the uncertainty of sensory data and effectively models their environmental generators. Copyright © 2014. Published by Elsevier Inc.
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Toward sustainable environmental quality: Identifying priority research questions for Latin America.
Furley, Tatiana Heid; Brodeur, Julie; Silva de Assis, Helena C; Carriquiriborde, Pedro; Chagas, Katia R; Corrales, Jone; Denadai, Marina; Fuchs, Julio; Mascarenhas, Renata; Miglioranza, Karina Sb; Miguez Caramés, Diana Margarita; Navas, José Maria; Nugegoda, Dayanthi; Planes, Estela; Rodriguez-Jorquera, Ignacio Alejandro; Orozco-Medina, Martha; Boxall, Alistair Ba; Rudd, Murray A; Brooks, Bryan W
2018-05-01
The Global Horizon Scanning Project (GHSP) is an innovative initiative that aims to identify important global environmental quality research needs. Here we report 20 key research questions from Latin America (LA). Members of the Society of Environmental Toxicology and Chemistry (SETAC) LA and other scientists from LA were asked to submit research questions that would represent priority needs to address in the region. One hundred questions were received, then partitioned among categories, examined, and some rearranged during a workshop in Buenos Aires, Argentina. Twenty priority research questions were subsequently identified. These research questions included developing, improving, and harmonizing across LA countries methods for 1) identifying contaminants and degradation products in complex matrices (including biota); 2) advancing prediction of contaminant risks and effects in ecosystems, addressing lab-to-field extrapolation challenges, and understanding complexities of multiple stressors (including chemicals and climate change); and 3) improving management and regulatory tools toward achieving sustainable development. Whereas environmental contaminants frequently identified in these key questions were pesticides, pharmaceuticals, endocrine disruptors or modulators, plastics, and nanomaterials, commonly identified environmental challenges were related to agriculture, urban effluents, solid wastes, pulp and paper mills, and natural extraction activities. Several interesting research topics included assessing and preventing pollution impacts on conservation protected areas, integrating environment and health assessments, and developing strategies for identification, substitution, and design of less hazardous chemicals (e.g., green chemistry). Finally, a recurrent research need included developing an understanding of differential sensitivity of regional species and ecosystems to environmental contaminants and other stressors. Addressing these critical questions will
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Ahmad, Farooq; Richardson, Michael K
2013-01-01
This study aimed to develop and characterize a novel (standard) open field test adapted for larval zebrafish. We also developed and characterized a variant of the same assay consisting of a colour-enriched open field; this was used to assess the impact of environmental complexity on patterns of exploratory behaviours as well to determine natural colour preference/avoidance. We report the following main findings: (1) zebrafish larvae display characteristic patterns of exploratory behaviours in the standard open field, such as thigmotaxis/centre avoidance; (2) environmental complexity (i.e. presence of colours) differentially affects patterns of exploratory behaviours and greatly attenuates natural zone preference; (3) larvae displayed the ability to discriminate colours. As reported previously in adult zebrafish, larvae showed avoidance towards blue and black; however, in contrast to the reported adult behaviour, larvae displayed avoidance towards red. Avoidance towards yellow and preference for green and orange are shown for the first time, (4) compared to standard open field tests, exposure to the colour-enriched open field resulted in an enhanced expression of anxiety-like behaviours. To conclude, we not only developed and adapted a traditional rodent behavioural assay that serves as a gold standard in preclinical drug screening, but we also provide a version of the same test that affords the possibility to investigate the impact of environmental stress on behaviour in larval zebrafish while representing the first test for assessment of natural colour preference/avoidance in larval zebrafish. In the future, these assays will improve preclinical drug screening methodologies towards the goal to uncover novel drugs. This article is part of a Special Issue entitled: insert SI title. Copyright © 2012 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.
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Panarchy use in environmental science for risk and resilience ...
Environmental sciences have an important role in informing sustainable management of built environments by providing insights about the drivers and potentially negative impacts of global environmental change. Here, we discuss panarchy theory, a multi-scale hierarchical concept that accounts for the dynamism of complex socio-ecological systems, especially for those systems with strong cross-scale feedbacks. The idea of panarchy underlies much of system resilience, focusing on how systems respond to known and unknown threats. Panarchy theory can provide a framework for qualitative and quantitative research and application in the environmental sciences, which can in turn inform the ongoing efforts in socio-technical resilience thinking and adaptive and transformative approaches to management. The environmental sciences strive for understanding, mitigating and reversing the negative impacts of global environmental change, including chemical pollution, to maintain sustainability options for the future, and therefore play an important role for informing management.
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Modelling environmental dynamics. Advances in goematic solutions
Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)
Paegelow, Martin [Toulouse-2 Univ., 31 (France). GEODE UMR 5602 CNRS; Camacho Olmedo, Maria Teresa (eds.) [Granada Univ (Spain). Dpto. de Analisis Geografico Regional y Geografia Fisica
2008-07-01
Modelling environmental dynamics is critical to understanding and predicting the evolution of the environment in response to the large number of influences including urbanisation, climate change and deforestation. Simulation and modelling provide support for decision making in environmental management. The first chapter introduces terminology and provides an overview of methodological modelling approaches which may be applied to environmental and complex dynamics. Based on this introduction this book illustrates various models applied to a large variety of themes: deforestation in tropical regions, fire risk, natural reforestation in European mountains, agriculture, biodiversity, urbanism, climate change and land management for decision support, etc. These case studies, provided by a large international spectrum of researchers and presented in a uniform structure, focus particularly on methods and model validation so that this book is not only aimed at researchers and graduates but also at professionals. (orig.)
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Renewable biomass energy: Understanding regional scale environmental impacts
Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)
Graham, R.L.; Downing, M.
1993-12-31
If biomass energy is to become a significant component of the US energy sector, millions of acres of farmland must be converted to energy crops. The environmental implications of this change in land use must be quantitatively evaluated. The land use changes will be largely driven by economic considerations. Farmers will grow energy crops when it is profitable to do so. Thus, models which purport to predict environmental changes induced by energy crop production must take into account those economic features which will influence land use change. In this paper, we present an approach for projecting the probable environmental impacts of growing energy crops at the regional scale. The approach takes into account both economic and environmental factors. We demonstrate the approach by analyzing, at a county-level the probable impact of switchgrass production on erosion, evapotranspiration, nitrate in runoff, and phosphorous fertilizer use in multi-county subregions within the Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA) region. Our results show that the adoption of switchgrass production will have different impacts in each subregion as a result of differences in the initial land use and soil conditions in the subregions. Erosion, evapotranspiration, and nitrate in runoff are projected to decrease in both subregions as switchgrass displaces the current crops. Phosphorous fertilizer applications are likely to increase in one subregion and decrease in the other due to initial differences in the types of conventional crops grown in each subregion. Overall these changes portend an improvement in water quality in the subregions with the increasing adoption of switchgrass.
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Renewable biomass energy: Understanding regional scale environmental impacts
International Nuclear Information System (INIS)
Graham, R.L.; Downing, M.
1993-01-01
If biomass energy is to become a significant component of the US energy sector, millions of acres of farmland must be converted to energy crops. The environmental implications of this change in land use must be quantitatively evaluated. The land use changes will be largely driven by economic considerations. Farmers will grow energy crops when it is profitable to do so. Thus, models which purport to predict environmental changes induced by energy crop production must take into account those economic features which will influence land use change. In this paper, we present an approach for projecting the probable environmental impacts of growing energy crops at the regional scale. The approach takes into account both economic and environmental factors. We demonstrate the approach by analyzing, at a county-level, the probable impact of switchgrass production on erosion, evapotranspiration, nitrate in runoff, and phosphorous fertilizer use in two multi-county subregions within the Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA) region. Our results show that the adoption of switchgrass production will have different impacts in each subregion as a result of differences in the initial land use and soil conditions in the subregions. Erosion, evapotranspiration, and nitrate in runoff are projected to decrease in both subregions as switchgrass displaces the current crops. Phosphorous fertilizer applications are likely to increase in one subregion and decrease in the other due to initial differences in the types of conventional crops grown in each subregion. Overall these changes portend an improvement in water quality in the subregions with the increasing adoption of switchgrass
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Epigenomic strategies at the interface of genetic and environmental risk factors for autism.
LaSalle, Janine M
2013-07-01
Autism spectrum disorders (ASD) have been increasing in prevalence over the last two decades, primarily because of increased awareness and diagnosis. However, autism is clearly a complex human genetic disorder that involves interactions between genes and environment. Epigenetic mechanisms, such as DNA methylation, act at the interface of genetic and environmental risk and protective factors. Advancements in genome-wide sequencing has broadened the view of the human methylome and revealed the organization of the human genome into large-scale methylation domains that footprint over neurologically important genes involved in embryonic development. Future integrative epigenomic analyses of genetic risk factors with environmental exposures and methylome analyses are expected to be important for understanding the complex etiology of ASD.
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Krogseth, Ingjerd Sunde; Breivik, Knut; Arnot, Jon A; Wania, Frank; Borgen, Anders; Schlabach, Martin
2013-01-01
Short chain chlorinated paraffins (SCCPs) raise concerns due to their potential for persistence, bioaccumulation, long-range transport and adverse effects. An understanding of their environmental fate remains limited, partly due to the complexity of the mixture. The purpose of this study was to evaluate whether a mechanistic, integrated, dynamic environmental fate and bioaccumulation multimedia model (CoZMoMAN) can reconcile what is known about environmental emissions and human exposure of SC...
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Digital Repository Service at National Institute of Oceanography (India)
Sivadas, S.; Ingole, B.S.; Ganesan, P.; Sautya, S.; Nanajkar, M.
In most ecosystems, community structure emerges as a result of the complex interaction between biotic and environmental variables. Sandy beaches connected to adjacent ecosystem like estuaries/creeks provide an opportunity to understand the role...
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Understanding global health governance as a complex adaptive system.
Hill, Peter S
2011-01-01
The transition from international to global health reflects the rapid growth in the numbers and nature of stakeholders in health, as well as the constant change embodied in the process of globalisation itself. This paper argues that global health governance shares the characteristics of complex adaptive systems, with its multiple and diverse players, and their polyvalent and constantly evolving relationships, and rich and dynamic interactions. The sheer quantum of initiatives, the multiple networks through which stakeholders (re)configure their influence, the range of contexts in which development for health is played out - all compound the complexity of this system. This paper maps out the characteristics of complex adaptive systems as they apply to global health governance, linking them to developments in the past two decades, and the multiple responses to these changes. Examining global health governance through the frame of complexity theory offers insight into the current dynamics of governance, and while providing a framework for making meaning of the whole, opens up ways of accessing this complexity through local points of engagement.
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Competition, predation and species responses to environmental change
Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)
Jiang, Lin; Kulczychi, A. [Rutgers Univ., Cook College, Dept. of Ecology, Evolution and Natural Resources, New Brunswick, NJ (United States)
2004-08-01
Despite much effort over the past decade on the ecological consequences of global warming, ecologists still have little understanding of the importance of interspecific interactions in species responses to environmental change. Models predict that predation should mitigate species responses to environmental change, and that interspecific competition should aggravate species responses to environmental change. To test this prediction, we studied how predation and competition affected the responses of two ciliates, Colpidiumstriatum and Parameciumtetraurelia, to temperature change in laboratory microcosms. We found that neither predation nor competition altered the responses of Colpidiumstratum to temperature change, and that competition but not predation altered the responses of Paramecium tetraurelia to temperature change. Asymmetric interactions and temperature-dependent interactions may have contributed to the disparity between model predictions and experimental results. Our results suggest that models ignoring inherent complexities in ecological communities may be inadequate in forecasting species responses to environmental change. (au)
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ICT for environmental sustainability. Green ICT roadmap
Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)
Ahola, J.; Ahlqvist, T.; Ermes, M.; Myllyoja, J.; Savola, J.
2010-03-15
This report presents a VTT roadmap on ICT for environmental sustainability, based on the assessments and evaluations made by VTT technology experts. We adopt a broad and systemic view to the issue; in other words, we believe that ICT's effectiveness depends on mutual understanding and changing the system level activities, i.e. the complex web of behaviour of people, institutions, organisations and political jurisdictions, like nation-states. We use the term ICT for environmental sustainability or environmentally sustainable ICT, instead of green ICT, and defined it as: The optimal use of ICT for managing the environmental sustainability of societal activities. The roadmap is divided into three themes. Empowering people means using ICT to raise people's awareness of the environmental impact of their actions and to channel their behaviour in a more environmentally-friendly direction. Extending natural resources involves reducing the use of diverse environmentally unsustainable resources through ICT-based solutions. Optimising systems refers to minimising the environmental load of diverse systems by optimising their operation. As a synthesis, we identified four focal topics within the roadmap themes that are most promising for further investigation. These are: (1) environmentally sustainable consumption, (2) smart energy and buildings, (3) lifecycle efficient production, and (4) optimised and adaptive networks. (orig.)
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Emerging issues in environmental cracking in hot water
International Nuclear Information System (INIS)
Andresen, P.L.; Morra, M.M.
2007-01-01
Extensive research and engineering application efforts have been made to understand and manage environmentally assisted cracking (EAC) in high temperature water. EAC is a complex phenomena involving dozens of important parameters, and important issues continue to emerge as careful studies have been performed. This paper summarizes a number of emerging issues, and highlights the need for improvements in experimental sophistication and for deeper probing into the nature and importance of these emerging issues. (author)
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Environmental Restoration Strategic Plan. Remediating the nuclear weapons complex
International Nuclear Information System (INIS)
1995-08-01
With the end of the cold war, the US has a reduced need for nuclear weapons production. In response, the Department of Energy has redirected resources from weapons production to weapons dismantlement and environmental remediation. To this end, in November 1989, the US Department of Energy (DOE) established the Office of Environmental Restoration and Waste Management (renamed the Office of Environmental Management in 1994). It was created to bring under a central authority the management of radioactive and hazardous wastes at DOE sites and inactive or shut down facilities. The Environmental Restoration Program, a major component of DOE's Environmental Management Program, is responsible for the remediation and management of contaminated environmental media (e.g., soil, groundwater, sediments) and the decommissioning of facilities and structures at 130 sites in over 30 states and territories
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Zhu, Dongming; Bhatt, Ramakrishna T.; Harder, Bryan
2016-01-01
This paper presents the developments of thermo-mechanical testing approaches and durability performance of environmental barrier coatings (EBCs) and EBC coated SiCSiC ceramic matrix composites (CMCs). Critical testing aspects of the CMCs will be described, including state of the art instrumentations such as temperature, thermal gradient, and full field strain measurements; materials thermal conductivity evolutions and thermal stress resistance; NDE methods; thermo-mechanical stress and environment interactions associated damage accumulations. Examples are also given for testing ceramic matrix composite sub-elements and small airfoils to help better understand the critical and complex CMC and EBC properties in engine relevant testing environments.
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Collier, Carolina A; Almeida Neto, Miguel S de; Aretakis, Gabriela M A; Santos, Rangel E; de Oliveira, Tiago H; Mourão, José S; Severi, William; El-Deir, Ana C A
2015-09-15
The use of interdisciplinary approaches such as the proposed report provides a broad understanding of the relationship between people and the environment, revealing reliable aspects not previously considered in the study of this relationship. This study compiled evidence on the environmental degradation of an urbanized river over the past few decades, providing a diagnosis of the consequences of this process for the river, its ichthyofauna, and the local human population. The study was focused on the Beira Rio community on the Capibaribe River in the municipality of São Lourenço da Mata, Pernambuco, Brazil. Data were collected using geoprocessing and ethnobiological approaches, as well as environmental parameters. This research was conducted with the most experienced long-term residents in the local community, through interviews and participatory methodologies to recovering information about the river environment, its ichthyofauna and its environmental services for the last decades. According to the GIS analysis, the study area was subject to an accelerated process of urbanization, with the total urban area increasing from 73 565, 98 m(2) in 1974 to 383 363, 6 m(2) in 2005. The informants perceived the urban growth, especially in the late twentieth century, being this period recognized as the phase of greatest negative changes in the river environment. The perceived decline of fish stocks was indicated by the community as one of the effects of river degradation. According to the interviews, the deterioration of the river affected the ecosystem services and the relationship of the adjacent human community with this ecosystem. The environmental data indicated that the river is suffering eutrophization and has fecal coliform concentrations 160 times higher than the maximum level permitted by Brazilian legislation. The interdisciplinary approach used in this research allowed the understanding of the degradation process of an urban river and some negative effects
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Lovell, Rebecca; Husk, Kerryn; Cooper, Chris; Stahl-Timmins, Will; Garside, Ruth
2015-09-07
Action taken to enhance or conserve outdoor environments may benefit health and wellbeing through the process of participation but also through improving the environment. There is interest, amongst both health and environmental organisations, in using such activities as health promotion interventions. The objective of this systematic review was to investigate the health and wellbeing impacts of participation in environmental enhancement and conservation activities and to understand how these activities may be beneficial, to whom and in what circumstances or contexts. A theory-led mixed-method systematic review was used to assess evidence of effect and to identify pathways to change (protocol: http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/ 10.1002/14651858.CD010351/full ). Due to the multi-disciplinary, dispersed and disparate body of evidence an extensive multi-stage search strategy was devised and undertaken. Twenty-seven databases and multiple sources of grey literature were searched and over 200 relevant organisations were contacted. The heterogenous evidence was synthesised using a narrative approach and a conceptual model was developed to illustrate the mechanisms of effect. Due to the limited nature of the evidence additional higher order evidence was sought to assess the plausibility of the proposed mechanisms of effect through which health and wellbeing may accrue. The majority of the quantitative evidence (13 studies; all poor quality and lower-order study designs) was inconclusive, though a small number of positive and negative associations were observed. The qualitative evidence (13 studies; 10 poor quality, 3 good) indicated that the activities were perceived to have value to health and wellbeing through a number of key mechanisms; including exposure to natural environments, achievement, enjoyment and social contact. Additional high level evidence indicated that these pathways were plausible. Despite interest in the use of environmental enhancement activities as a
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Teaching Energy Concepts by Working on Themes of Cultural and Environmental Value
Besson, Ugo; De Ambrosis, Anna
2014-01-01
Energy is a central topic in physics and a key concept for understanding the physical, biological and technological worlds. It is a complex topic with multiple connections with different areas of science and with social, environmental and philosophical issues. In this paper we discuss some aspects of the teaching and learning of the energy…
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Visualizing and Understanding Socio-Environmental Dynamics in Baltimore
Zaitchik, B. F.; Omeara, K.; Guikema, S.; Scott, A.; Bessho, A.; Logan, T. M.
2015-12-01
The City of Baltimore, like any city, is the sum of its component neighborhoods, institutions, businesses, cultures, and, ultimately, its people. It is also an organism in its own right, with distinct geography, history, infrastructure, and environments that shape its residents even as it is shaped by them. Sometimes these interactions are obvious but often they are not; while basic economic patterns are widely documented, the distribution of socio-spatial and environmental connections often hides below the surface, as does the potential that those connections hold. Here we present results of a collaborative initiative on the geography, design, and policy of socio-environmental dynamics of Baltimore. Geospatial data derived from satellite imagery, demographic databases, social media feeds, infrastructure plans, and in situ environmental networks, among other sources, are applied to generate an interactive portrait of Baltimore City's social, health, and well-being dynamics. The layering of data serves as a platform for visualizing the interconnectedness of the City and as a database for modeling risk interactions, vulnerabilities, and strengths within and between communities. This presentation will provide an overview of project findings and highlight linkages to education and policy.
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Understanding the complex relationships between environmental exposures and early life susceptibility in assessing the risk for adverse pregnancy outcomes requires advanced knowledge of biological systems. This broad research is one of several drivers for the Children’s Environme...
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Global environmental change: local perceptions, understandings, and explanations
Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)
Aili Pyhälä
2016-09-01
Full Text Available Global environmental change (GEC is an increasingly discussed phenomenon in the scientific literature as evidence of its presence and impacts continues to grow. Yet, while the documentation of GEC is becoming more readily available, local perceptions of GEC - particularly in small-scale societies - and preferences about how to deal with it, are still largely overlooked. Local knowledge and perceptions of GEC are important in that agents make decisions (including on natural resource management based on individual perceptions. We carried out a systematic literature review that aims to provide an exhaustive state-of-the-art of the degree to and manner in which the study of local perceptions of change are being addressed in GEC research. We reviewed 126 articles found in peer-reviewed journals (between 1998 and 2014 that address local perceptions of GEC. We used three particular lenses of analysis that are known to influence local perceptions, namely (i cognition, (ii culture and knowledge, and (iii possibilities for adaptation.We present our findings on the geographical distribution of the current research, the most common changes reported, perceived drivers and impacts of change, and local explanations and evaluations of change and impacts. Overall, we found the studies to be geographically biased, lacking methodological reporting, mostly theory based with little primary data, and lacking of indepth analysis of the psychological and ontological influences in perception and implications for adaptation. We provide recommendations for future GEC research and propose the development of a "meta-language" around adaptation, perception, and mediation to encourage a greater appreciation and understanding of the diversity around these phenomena across multiple scales, and improved codesign and facilitation of locally relevant adaptation and mitigation strategies.
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Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)
Yu, Zhang [Key Laboratory of Industrial Ecology and Environmental Engineering (Ministry of Education), School of Environmental Science and Technology, Dalian University of Technology, Dalian 116024 (China); Cai Xiyun, E-mail: xiyuncai@dlut.edu.cn [Key Laboratory of Industrial Ecology and Environmental Engineering (Ministry of Education), School of Environmental Science and Technology, Dalian University of Technology, Dalian 116024 (China); Xianming, Lang [Liaoning Academy of Environmental Sciences, Shenyang 110031 (China); Xianliang, Qiao; Xuehua, Li; Jingwen, Chen [Key Laboratory of Industrial Ecology and Environmental Engineering (Ministry of Education), School of Environmental Science and Technology, Dalian University of Technology, Dalian 116024 (China)
2012-07-15
Co-contamination of ligand-like antibiotics (e.g., tetracyclines and quinolones) and heavy metals prevails in the environment, and thus the complexation between them is involved in environmental risks of antibiotics. To understand toxicological significance of the complex, effects of metal coordination on antibiotics' toxicity were investigated. The complexation of two antibiotics, oxytetracycline and ciprofloxacin, with three heavy metals, copper, zinc, and cadmium, was verified by spectroscopic techniques. The antibiotics bound metals via multiple coordination sites and rendered a mixture of various complexation speciations. Toxicity analysis indicated that metal coordination did modify the toxicity of the antibiotics and that antibiotic, metal, and their complex acted primarily as concentration addition. Comparison of EC{sub 50} values revealed that the complex commonly was highest toxic and predominately correlated in toxicity to the mixture. Finally, environmental scenario analysis demonstrated that ignoring complexation would improperly classify environmental risks of the antibiotics. - Highlights: Black-Right-Pointing-Pointer The complex of antibiotic with metal is a mixture of various complexation modes. Black-Right-Pointing-Pointer Antibiotic and metal act as various combined interactions when their complexation is ignored. Black-Right-Pointing-Pointer Antibiotic, metal, and their complex act as concentration addition interaction. Black-Right-Pointing-Pointer Complex commonly is the highest toxicant. Black-Right-Pointing-Pointer Neglecting complexation renders improper classification of risks for antibiotics. - Antibiotic, heavy metal and their complex act primarily as concentration addition interaction and the complex commonly is highest toxic.
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Johnston, Jessica L.; Fanzo, Jessica C.; Cogill, Bruce
2014-01-01
The confluence of population, economic development, and environmental pressures resulting from increased globalization and industrialization reveal an increasingly resource-constrained world in which predictions point to the need to do more with less and in a “better” way. The concept of sustainable diets presents an opportunity to successfully advance commitments to sustainable development and the elimination of poverty, food and nutrition insecurity, and poor health outcomes. This study examines the determinants of sustainable diets, offers a descriptive analysis of these areas, and presents a causal model and framework from which to build. The major determinants of sustainable diets fall into 5 categories: 1) agriculture, 2) health, 3) sociocultural, 4) environmental, and 5) socioeconomic. When factors or processes are changed in 1 determinant category, such changes affect other determinant categories and, in turn, the level of “sustainability” of a diet. The complex web of determinants of sustainable diets makes it challenging for policymakers to understand the benefits and considerations for promoting, processing, and consuming such diets. To advance this work, better measurements and indicators must be developed to assess the impact of the various determinants on the sustainability of a diet and the tradeoffs associated with any recommendations aimed at increasing the sustainability of our food system. PMID:25022991
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DEFF Research Database (Denmark)
Svabo, Connie; Ekelund, Kathrine
2015-01-01
The philosophical subfield environmental aesthetics can contribute to the design of sustainable futures. Environmental aesthetics provides a conceptual framework for understanding the relationship between nature and culture. Current positions in environmental aesthetics are lined out and used...
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Multiple telecouplings and their complex interrelationships
Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)
Jianguo Liu
2015-09-01
Full Text Available Increasingly, the world is becoming socioeconomically and environmentally connected, but many studies have focused on human-environment interactions within a particular area. Although some studies have considered the impacts of external factors, there is little research on multiple reciprocal socioeconomic and environmental interactions between a focal area and other areas. Here we address this important knowledge gap by applying the new integrated framework of telecouplings (socioeconomic and environmental interactions between two or more areas over distances. Results show that even a protected area - i.e., the Wolong Nature Reserve for giant pandas in southwest China - has multiple telecoupling processes with the rest of the world; these include panda loans, tourism, information dissemination, conservation subsidies, and trade of agricultural and industrial products. The telecoupling processes exhibit nonlinear patterns, they change over time, and they have varying socioeconomic and environmental effects across the world. We also find complex relationships among different telecouplings - e.g., amplification, offsetting, spatial overlaps - which cannot be detected by traditional separate studies. Such an integrated study leads to a more comprehensive understanding of distant human-environment interactions and has significant implications for global sustainability and human well-being.
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Environmental/Biomedical Terminology Index
Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)
Huffstetler, J.K.; Dailey, N.S.; Rickert, L.W.; Chilton, B.D.
1976-12-01
The Information Center Complex (ICC), a centrally administered group of information centers, provides information support to environmental and biomedical research groups and others within and outside Oak Ridge National Laboratory. In-house data base building and development of specialized document collections are important elements of the ongoing activities of these centers. ICC groups must be concerned with language which will adequately classify and insure retrievability of document records. Language control problems are compounded when the complexity of modern scientific problem solving demands an interdisciplinary approach. Although there are several word lists, indexes, and thesauri specific to various scientific disciplines usually grouped as Environmental Sciences, no single generally recognized authority can be used as a guide to the terminology of all environmental science. If biomedical terminology for the description of research on environmental effects is also needed, the problem becomes even more complex. The building of a word list which can be used as a general guide to the environmental/biomedical sciences has been a continuing activity of the Information Center Complex. This activity resulted in the publication of the Environmental Biomedical Terminology Index (EBTI).
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An environmental assessment system for environmental technologies
DEFF Research Database (Denmark)
Clavreul, Julie; Baumeister, Hubert; Christensen, Thomas Højlund
2014-01-01
A new model for the environmental assessment of environmental technologies, EASETECH, has been developed. The primary aim of EASETECH is to perform life-cycle assessment (LCA) of complex systems handling heterogeneous material flows. The objectives of this paper are to describe the EASETECH...
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Mesick, S.; Weathers, K. W.
2017-12-01
Data complexity can be seen as a continuum from complex to simple. The term data complexity refers to data collections that are disorganized, poorly documented, and generally do not follow best data management practices. Complex data collections are challenging and expensive to manage. Simplified collections readily support automated archival processes, enhanced discovery and data access, as well as production of services that make data easier to reuse. In this session, NOAA NCEI scientific data stewards will discuss the data complexity continuum. This talk will explore data simplification concepts, methods, and tools that data managers can employ which may offer more control over data management costs and processes, while achieving policy goals for open data access and ready reuse. Topics will include guidance for data managers on best allocation of limited data management resources; models for partnering with NCEI to accomplish shared data management goals; and will demonstrate through case studies the benefits of investing in documentation, accessibility, and services to increase data value and return on investment.
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International Nuclear Information System (INIS)
Nelson, R.W.
1990-09-01
A summary approach has been developed within groundwater hydrology to communicate with a broad audience and more completely evaluate the long-term impacts of subsurface contamination problems. This synoptic approach both highlights the dominant features occurring in subsurface contamination problems and emphasizes the information required to determine the long-term environmental impacts. The special merit of a summary approach is in providing a better understanding of subsurface contamination problems to adjoining technical disciplines, public decision makers, and private citizens. 14 refs
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Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)
Jyotirmoy Banerjee
2013-01-01
Full Text Available Investigating the changes associated with the development of epileptic state in humans is complex and requires a multidisciplinary approach. Understanding the intricacies of medically intractable epilepsy still remains a challenge for neurosurgeons across the world. A significant number of patients who has undergone resective brain surgery for epilepsy still continue to have seizures. The reason behind this therapy resistance still eludes us. Thus to develop a cure for the difficult to treat epilepsy, we need to comprehensively study epileptogenesis. Although various animal models are developed but none of them replicate the pathological conditions in humans. So the ideal way to understand epileptogenecity is to examine the tissue resected for the treatment of intractable epilepsy. Advanced imaging and electrical localization procedures are utilized to establish the epileptogenic zone in epilepsy patients. Further molecular and cytological studies are required for the microscopic analysis of brain samples collected from the epileptogenic focus. As alterations in inhibitory as well as excitatory synaptic transmission are key features of epilepsy, understanding the regulation of neurotransmission in the resected surgery zone is of immense importance. Here we summarize various modalities of in vitro slice analysis from the resected brain specimen to understand the changes in GABAergic and glutamatergic synaptic transmission in epileptogenic zone. We also review evidence pertaining to the proposed role of nicotinic receptors in abnormal synaptic transmission which is one of the major causes of epileptiform activity. Elucidation of current concepts in regulation of synaptic transmission will help develop therapies for epilepsy cases that cannot me managed pharmacologically.
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Hethcoat, Matthew G.; Chalfoun, Anna D.
2015-01-01
Demographic consequences of human-induced rapid environmental change (HIREC) have been widely documented for many populations. The mechanisms underlying such patterns, however, are rarely investigated and yet are critical to understand for effective conservation and management.
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Environmental Management Science Program Workshop. Proceedings
Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)
None
1998-07-01
The Department of Energy Office of Environmental Management (EM), in partnership with the Office of Energy Research (ER), designed, developed, and implemented the Environmental Management Science Program as a basic research effort to fund the scientific and engineering understanding required to solve the most challenging technical problems facing the government's largest, most complex environmental cleanup program. The intent of the Environmental Management Science Program is to: (1) Provide scientific knowledge that will revolutionize technologies and cleanup approaches to significantly reduce future costs, schedules, and risks. (2) Bridge the gap between broad fundamental research that has wide-ranging applications such as that performed in the Department's Office of Energy Research and needs-driven applied technology development that is conducted in Environmental Management's Office of Science and Technology. (3) Focus the nation's science infrastructure on critical Department of Energy environmental problems. In an effort to share information regarding basic research efforts being funded by the Environmental Management Science Program and the Environmental Management/Energy Research Pilot Collaborative Research Program (Wolf-Broido Program), this CD includes summaries for each project. These project summaries, available in portable document format (PDF), were prepared in the spring of 1998 by the principal investigators and provide information about their most recent project activities and accomplishments.
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The development of a liquid chromatography‐mass spectrometry (LC‐MS)‐based strategy for the detection and quantitation of acrylamide and surfactant‐related compounds in aqueous complex environmental samples.
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Frohlich, Katherine L; Abel, Thomas
2014-02-01
While empirical evidence continues to show that people living in low socio-economic status neighbourhoods are less likely to engage in health-enhancing behaviour, our understanding of why this is so remains less than clear. We suggest that two changes could take place to move from description to understanding in this field; (i) a move away from the established concept of individual health behaviour to a contextualised understanding of health practices; and (ii) a switch from focusing on health inequalities in outcomes to health inequities in conditions. We apply Pierre Bourdieu's theory on capital interaction but find it insufficient with regard to the role of agency for structural change. We therefore introduce Amartya Sen's capability approach as a useful link between capital interaction theory and action to reduce social inequities in health-related practices. Sen's capability theory also elucidates the importance of discussing unequal chances in terms of inequity, rather than inequality, in order to underscore the moral nature of inequalities. We draw on the discussion in social geography on environmental injustice, which also underscores the moral nature of the spatial distribution of opportunities. The article ends by applying this approach to the 'Interdisciplinary study of inequalities in smoking' framework. © 2013 The Authors. Sociology of Health & Illness © 2013 Foundation for the Sociology of Health & Illness/John Wiley & Sons Ltd.
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Romolini, Michele; Morgan Grove, J; Ventriss, Curtis L; Koliba, Christopher J; Krymkowski, Daniel H
2016-08-01
Efforts to create more sustainable cities are evident in the proliferation of sustainability policies in cities worldwide. It has become widely proposed that the success of these urban sustainability initiatives will require city agencies to partner with, and even cede authority to, organizations from other sectors and levels of government. Yet the resulting collaborative networks are often poorly understood, and the study of large whole networks has been a challenge for researchers. We believe that a better understanding of citywide environmental governance networks can inform evaluations of their effectiveness, thus contributing to improved environmental management. Through two citywide surveys in Baltimore and Seattle, we collected data on the attributes of environmental stewardship organizations and their network relationships. We applied missing data treatment approaches and conducted social network and comparative analyses to examine (a) the organizational composition of the network, and (b) how information and knowledge are shared throughout the network. Findings revealed similarities in the number of actors and their distribution across sectors, but considerable variation in the types and locations of environmental stewardship activities, and in the number and distribution of network ties in the networks of each city. We discuss the results and potential implications of network research for urban sustainability governance.
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Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)
Helal, A A; Iman, D M; Khalifa, S M; Aly, H F [Hot Laborities Center, Atomic Energy Authority, Cairo, (Egypt)
1996-03-01
Strontium-90 represents one of the main radionuclides produced in fission products. Migration of strontium in the environment in case of accidental release is governed by many factors, besides its interaction with the materials present in the environment. Both humic acid and fertilizers are present on agricultural lands or aqueous streams. Other ligands such as EDTA, citrates, and phosphates are present in the environment. The binding and exchange of cations by the soil organic fractions is of importance in soil fertility because the supply of Na{sup +}, K{sup +}, Ca{sup 2+}, Mg{sup 2+} and certain micro nutrients (Cu{sup 2+}, Mn{sup 2+}, Zn{sup 2+} and Fe{sup 3+}) to plant is strongly dependent on the cation exchange capacity of the soil which may be induced by organic matters. The effect of the presence of certain fertilizers and some environmental ligands on the Sr-humate complex was studied. In general, the fertilizers and the complexing ligands investigated are compared with humic acid in its complexation with strontium. 6 figs.
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Liang, Jie; Qian, Hong
2010-01-01
Modern molecular biology has always been a great source of inspiration for computational science. Half a century ago, the challenge from understanding macromolecular dynamics has led the way for computations to be part of the tool set to study molecular biology. Twenty-five years ago, the demand from genome science has inspired an entire generation of computer scientists with an interest in discrete mathematics to join the field that is now called bioinformatics. In this paper, we shall lay out a new mathematical theory for dynamics of biochemical reaction systems in a small volume (i.e., mesoscopic) in terms of a stochastic, discrete-state continuous-time formulation, called the chemical master equation (CME). Similar to the wavefunction in quantum mechanics, the dynamically changing probability landscape associated with the state space provides a fundamental characterization of the biochemical reaction system. The stochastic trajectories of the dynamics are best known through the simulations using the Gillespie algorithm. In contrast to the Metropolis algorithm, this Monte Carlo sampling technique does not follow a process with detailed balance. We shall show several examples how CMEs are used to model cellular biochemical systems. We shall also illustrate the computational challenges involved: multiscale phenomena, the interplay between stochasticity and nonlinearity, and how macroscopic determinism arises from mesoscopic dynamics. We point out recent advances in computing solutions to the CME, including exact solution of the steady state landscape and stochastic differential equations that offer alternatives to the Gilespie algorithm. We argue that the CME is an ideal system from which one can learn to understand "complex behavior" and complexity theory, and from which important biological insight can be gained.
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Serman, E. A.; Akanda, A. S. S.; Ginsberg, H. S.; Couret, J.
2015-12-01
Each year, there are an estimated 50-100 million cases of dengue fever worldwide, roughly 30 times the number of cases as 50 years ago, with some estimates even higher. Puerto Rico (PR) has experienced epidemic dengue activity since 1963, and the disease is currently endemic. Since 1990 there have been 4 large epidemics, the most recent in 2010 where there were nearly 27,000 cases reported, amounting to almost 1% of the island's total population. Because no vaccine is currently available, effective control is dependent on our ability to understand the complex relationship between environmental factors, mosquito vector ecology, and disease epidemiology. Dengue virus is transmitted primarily by Aedes aegypti mosquitoes, as humans are the preferred host for Ae. aegypti. The purpose of our analysis is to assess temporal and spatial patterns of dengue transmission in PR and relate this to both climatic and anthropogenic factors. Unlike past studies, which have used San Juan to represent the island as a whole, our research will investigate regional dynamics in dengue transmission, as preliminary results have shown significant differences in population density, disease incidence, and environmental and climatic variables. Data from the Passive Dengue Surveillance System of CDC, meteorological observations from NCDC, and remote sensing data from USGS and NASA will be used together to identify relationships between climate, urbanization, and dengue incidence for PR at various spatial and temporal scales. Preliminary climatic factors considered include precipitation, temperature, humidity, and soil moisture. Finally, we will assess measures of urbanization such as land cover, land use, population density, and infrastructure that can make regional differences in dengue incidence each year. Results from this study could help create early warning systems for dengue surveillance in Puerto Rico, and develop techniques that can be applied to other areas of the world.
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Next Steps Toward Understanding Human Habitation of Space: Environmental Impacts and Mechanisms
Globus, Ruth
2016-01-01
factor alone implying at least some shared underlying mechanisms. Thus, both ground based and spaceflight research utilizing model organisms provide the opportunity to better understand environmental factors and biological mechanisms that contribute to human health and survival in space.
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Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)
Nhi Nguyen
2018-04-01
Full Text Available Extractive industries are often claimed to contribute to both poverty reduction and economic growth. Yet, there is also a body of research that suggests natural resource dependence can result in limited development, environmental degradation and social upheaval. This paper examines differences in the socioeconomic and environmental state of mining and non-mining communities in rural Vietnam in order to understand the extent to which mining contributes to livelihood development and socioeconomic well-being. In particular, we examine the role that “corporate social responsibility” (CSR plays in supporting community development in Phuoc Son and Phu Ninh districts, Quang Nam province. Content analysis of newspapers, government documents and mining company reports provided a contextual overview of mining operations and community relations in each study area. Semi-structured interviews were used to collect information from local and regional stakeholders to further understand perceived impacts of mining operations on local communities. Our study finds that in comparison to non-mining communities, communities with active mines demonstrated increased job development, decreased poverty rates, enhanced infrastructure and social development along with increased incidences of CSR initiatives. However, a number of adverse effects from mining activities were reported including environmental degradation (e.g., deforestation, water pollution, etc. increased criminal activity and drug addiction. Dependence on mine-related employment in local communities becomes acutely apparent when temporary mine closures result in widespread unemployment. Local governments may be the greatest beneficiaries of mining with increased tax revenues and enhanced management potential of leased land. Non-mining communities without direct benefits from mining activities maintained economic diversity and were therefore more resilient to economic shocks such as nearby mine closures.
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Alekseeva, Nina; Arshinova, Marina; Milanova, Elena
2017-04-01
Systems of global environmental rankings have emerged as a result of the escalating need for revealing the trends of ecological development for the world and for certain countries and regions. Both the environmental indicators and indexes and the ratings made on their basis are important for the assessment and forecast of the ecological situation in order to tackle the global and regional problems of sustainable development and help to translate the research findings into policy developments. Data sources for the global environmental ratings are most often the statistical information accumulated in databases of the international organizations (World Bank, World Resources Institute, FAO, WHO, etc.) These data are highly reliable and well-comparable that makes the ratings very objective. There are also good examples of using data of sociological polls, information from social networks, etc. The global environmental ratings are produced by the international organizations (World Bank, World Resources Institute, the UN Environment Program), non-governmental associations (WWF, Climate Action Network Europe (CAN-E), Germanwatch Nord-Süd-Initiative, Friends of the Earth, World Development Movement), research structures (scientific centers of the Yale and Colombian universities, the Oak-Ridge National Laboratory, the New Economic Foundation), and also individual experts, news agencies, etc. Thematic (sectoral) ratings cover various spheres from availability of resources and anthropogenic impact on environment components to nature protection policies and perception of environmental problems. The environmental indicators cover all parameters important for understanding the current ecological situation and the trajectories of its development (the DPSIR model, i.e. drivers, pressures, state, impact and response). Complex (integral) ratings are based on environmental indexes which are combined measurement tools using a complex of aggregated indicators based on a wide range of
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Larkin, D Justin; Swanson, R Chad; Fuller, Spencer; Cortese, Denis A
2016-02-01
The current health system in the United States is the result of a history of patchwork policy decisions and cultural assumptions that have led to persistent contradictions in practice, gaps in coverage, unsustainable costs, and inconsistent outcomes. In working toward a more efficient health system, understanding and applying complexity science concepts will allow for policy that better promotes desired outcomes and minimizes the effects of unintended consequences. This paper will consider three applied complexity science concepts in the context of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (PPACA): developing a shared vision around reimbursement for value, creating an environment for emergence through simple rules, and embracing transformational leadership at all levels. Transforming the US health system, or any other health system, will be neither easy nor quick. Applying complexity concepts to health reform efforts, however, will facilitate long-term change in all levels, leading to health systems that are more effective, efficient, and equitable. © 2014 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
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Toward sustainable environmental quality: Identifying priority research questions for Latin America
Furley, Tatiana Heid; Brodeur, Julie; Silva de Assis, Helena C; Carriquiriborde, Pedro; Chagas, Katia R; Corrales, Jone; Denadai, Marina; Fuchs, Julio; Mascarenhas, Renata; Miglioranza, Karina SB; Miguez Caramés, Diana Margarita; Navas, José Maria; Nugegoda, Dayanthi; Planes, Estela; Rodriguez‐Jorquera, Ignacio Alejandro; Orozco‐Medina, Martha; Boxall, Alistair BA; Rudd, Murray A
2018-01-01
ABSTRACT The Global Horizon Scanning Project (GHSP) is an innovative initiative that aims to identify important global environmental quality research needs. Here we report 20 key research questions from Latin America (LA). Members of the Society of Environmental Toxicology and Chemistry (SETAC) LA and other scientists from LA were asked to submit research questions that would represent priority needs to address in the region. One hundred questions were received, then partitioned among categories, examined, and some rearranged during a workshop in Buenos Aires, Argentina. Twenty priority research questions were subsequently identified. These research questions included developing, improving, and harmonizing across LA countries methods for 1) identifying contaminants and degradation products in complex matrices (including biota); 2) advancing prediction of contaminant risks and effects in ecosystems, addressing lab‐to‐field extrapolation challenges, and understanding complexities of multiple stressors (including chemicals and climate change); and 3) improving management and regulatory tools toward achieving sustainable development. Whereas environmental contaminants frequently identified in these key questions were pesticides, pharmaceuticals, endocrine disruptors or modulators, plastics, and nanomaterials, commonly identified environmental challenges were related to agriculture, urban effluents, solid wastes, pulp and paper mills, and natural extraction activities. Several interesting research topics included assessing and preventing pollution impacts on conservation protected areas, integrating environment and health assessments, and developing strategies for identification, substitution, and design of less hazardous chemicals (e.g., green chemistry). Finally, a recurrent research need included developing an understanding of differential sensitivity of regional species and ecosystems to environmental contaminants and other stressors. Addressing these critical
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Environmental radiation levels around Nuclear Fuel Complex, Hyderabad during 1981-1988
International Nuclear Information System (INIS)
Mehta, Navnit; Lakshmanan, A.R.; Kathuria, S.P.; Nambi, K.S.V.
1989-01-01
This report presents environmental radiation monitoring results around Nuclear Ffuel Complex (NFC) at Hyderabad for the period, 1981-'88. During 1981-'83 only indoor radiations were monitored at 12 locations in the region of about 15 km. radius around NFC plant. However, during 1984-'88 both indoor and outdoor monitoring was done in a standardised manner at 8 locations. In this routine monitoring programme, environmental thermoluminescent dosimeters were used in quarterly integrating cycles. The average outdoor natural radiation level around NFC during 1984-'88 is found to be 227 ± 34 (σ) mR/y, which is the highest among the various sites in the country where DAE units are located. Such a high level of natural background radiation in and around Hyderabad is due to granitic terrains which normally have significant amounts of primordial radioactivity. The indoor to outdoor radiation ratio is found to be 1.35 ± 0.1 (σ). Application of this ratio on all the available indoor radiation monitoring results of 1981-'88 gives an estimate of 230 ± 26 mR/y as the average outdoor radiation level, and this is in very close agreement with the directly measured value mentioned earlier. The temporal variations seen in the quarterly results of each location have been tested for Normal and Log-Normal distributions and found to yield satisfactory correlations, although the plots reveal slight skewness; the latter however, could not be attributed to the NFC operations. (author). 7 refs., 4 tabs., 12 figs
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Multicriteria decision analysis: Overview and implications for environmental decision making
Hermans, Caroline M.; Erickson, Jon D.; Erickson, Jon D.; Messner, Frank; Ring, Irene
2007-01-01
Environmental decision making involving multiple stakeholders can benefit from the use of a formal process to structure stakeholder interactions, leading to more successful outcomes than traditional discursive decision processes. There are many tools available to handle complex decision making. Here we illustrate the use of a multicriteria decision analysis (MCDA) outranking tool (PROMETHEE) to facilitate decision making at the watershed scale, involving multiple stakeholders, multiple criteria, and multiple objectives. We compare various MCDA methods and their theoretical underpinnings, examining methods that most realistically model complex decision problems in ways that are understandable and transparent to stakeholders.
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Hara, Keishiro; Uwasu, Michinori; Kurimoto, Shuji; Yamanaka, Shinsuke; Umeda, Yasushi; Shimoda, Yoshiyuki
2013-01-01
Systemic understanding of potential research activities and available technology seeds at university level is an essential condition to promote interdisciplinary and vision-driven collaboration in an attempt to cope with complex sustainability and environmental problems. Nonetheless, any such practices have been hardly conducted at universities…
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Apostolopoulos, Yorghos; Lemke, Michael; Sönmez, Sevil; Hege, Adam
2016-01-01
Background: Commercial trucker health is a vital public health concern. Enhanced understanding of the multiplicity, diversity, interdependence, and complexity of policies, resources, and stakeholders relevant to healthful living in trucking worksites can guide future interventions. Purpose: This article examines how the environmental attributes of…
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Erdi, Peter
2008-01-01
This book explains why complex systems research is important in understanding the structure, function and dynamics of complex natural and social phenomena. Readers will learn the basic concepts and methods of complex system research.
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International Nuclear Information System (INIS)
Oliveira, J.A.P. de
2003-01-01
This article analyzes how governments and an oil company adapted their institutional and organization frameworks to manage actual and potential environmental impacts of oil-related activities in Brazil. Two major factors are important for understanding these changes. First, the monopoly of the state to explore and produce oil is over. Foreign companies have entered Brazil and increased the competitiveness of the oil sector. Second, major oil spills into waterways in recent years resulted in severe fines and an increasing outcry from government and civil society representatives for greater control over oil activities. These two factors raised a debate about what are, or should be, the roles of various stakeholders involved in controlling oil activities and their impacts on the environment. Legislative changes assigned different roles to the state oil company, to a newly created regulatory agency, to the Navy and to federal and state environmental agencies. Because many of the legal changes were not well defined, accountability among institutional actors remained unclear and institutional conflicts about who is accountable for what were likely to occur. As well, government organizations, public prosecutors, media and civil society increasingly influenced the regulation of both government agencies and companies. As a result, these responded to regulatory change and market forces by changing their relations with external stakeholders and their organizational arrangements for environmental management. This article identifies some of the institutional conflicts in selected case studies from the oil industry, the difficulties in clarifying regulatory roles within the industry, and responses in terms of the environmental strategies of regulatory bodies and oil companies, specifically the Brazilian state company, Petrobas. (author)
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Strategies and Rubrics for Teaching Complex Systems Theory to Novices (Invited)
Fichter, L. S.
2010-12-01
algorithms, etc.) leading to 19 learning outcomes that encompass most of the universality properties that characterize complex systems. They are developed in a specific order to achieve specific ends of understanding. We use these models in various depths and formats in courses ranging from gened courses, to evolutionary systems and environmental systems, to upper level geology courses. Depending on the goals of a course, the learning outcomes can be applied to understanding many other complex systems; e.g. oscillating chemical reactions (reaction-diffusion and activator-inhibitor systems), autocatalytic networks, hysteresis (bistable) systems, networks, and the rise/collapse of complex societies. We use these and other complex systems concepts in various classes to talk about the origin of life, ecosystem organization, game theory, extinction events, and environmental system behaviors. The applications are almost endless. The complete learning progression with models, computer programs, experiments, and learning outcomes is available at: www.jmu.edu/geology/ComplexEvolutionarySystems/
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Through the eyes of children: perceptions of environmental change in tropical forests.
Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)
Anne-Sophie Pellier
Full Text Available This study seeks to understand children's perceptions of their present and future environments in the highly biodiverse and rapidly changing landscapes of Kalimantan, Indonesian Borneo. We analyzed drawings by children (target age 10-15 years from 22 villages, which show how children perceive the present conditions of forests and wildlife surrounding their villages and how they expect conditions to change over the next 15 years. Analyses of picture elements and their relationships to current landscape variables indicate that children have a sophisticated understanding of their environment and how different environmental factors interact, either positively or negatively. Children appear to have landscape-dependent environmental perceptions, showing awareness of past environmental conditions and many aspects of recent trends, and translating these into predictions for future environmental conditions. The further removed their present landscape is from the originally forested one, the more environmental change they expect in the future, particularly declines in forest cover, rivers, animal diversity and increases in temperature and natural disasters. This suggests that loss of past perceptions and associated "shifting environmental baselines" do not feature strongly among children on Borneo, at least not for the perceptions we investigated here. Our findings that children have negative expectations of their future environmental conditions have important political implications. More than other generations, children have a stake in ensuring that future environmental conditions support their long-term well-being. Understanding what drives environmental views among children, and how they consider trade-offs between economic development and social and environmental change, should inform optimal policies on land use. Our study illuminates part of the complex interplay between perceptions of land cover and land use change. Capturing the views of children
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Understanding dyadic promoter-stakeholder relations in complex projects
Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)
Janita Vos
2016-01-01
Full Text Available In this study, we propose a Bilateral Double Motive framework of stakeholder cooperation in complex projects. The framework analyses and explains dyadic promoter-stakeholder relationships at a micro level by acknowledging both transactional and relational motives. We demonstrate the framework’s usefulness by illustrating its explanatory power in two instances of cooperation and two of non-cooperation within two health information technology projects. The study contributes to project management theory through its combined focus on transactional and relational motives. Further, the study contributes to practice by providing a tool for planning and evaluating cooperation in health Information Technology projects and similar complex multi-stakeholder environments.
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Environmental policy assessment and the usefulness of meta-analysis
Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)
Button, K. [Loughborough Univ. of Technology (United Kingdom); Nijkamp, P. [Dept. of Spatial Economics. Fac. of Economics and Econometrics. Vrije Univ., Amsterdam (Netherlands)
1995-12-31
Incorporating environmental considerations fully into decision-making is a complex process. To develop improved assessment techniques and procedures it is important to understand these complexities. This paper sets out to explore the underlying nature of the issues involved and to develop a systematic schema which makes transparent the types of consideration which need to be incorporated in the assessment process and the forms of tradeoffs which are inevitable. It then proceeds to the more practical issue of looking at where better use could be made of the information that we already have. Environmental assessment is not new and a body of information and experience already exists. An important question is whether we are using the body of knowledge fully. The paper explores the areas in which meta-analysis could provide new insights in the assessment process by extracting more information from previous work but, in doing this, it also highlights areas where further primary research would yield the greatest return. 4 figs., 21 refs.
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Understanding Student Cognition about Complex Earth System Processes Related to Climate Change
McNeal, K. S.; Libarkin, J.; Ledley, T. S.; Dutta, S.; Templeton, M. C.; Geroux, J.; Blakeney, G. A.
2011-12-01
The Earth's climate system includes complex behavior and interconnections with other Earth spheres that present challenges to student learning. To better understand these unique challenges, we have conducted experiments with high-school and introductory level college students to determine how information pertaining to the connections between the Earth's atmospheric system and the other Earth spheres (e.g., hydrosphere and cryosphere) are processed. Specifically, we include psychomotor tests (e.g., eye-tracking) and open-ended questionnaires in this research study, where participants were provided scientific images of the Earth (e.g., global precipitation and ocean and atmospheric currents), eye-tracked, and asked to provide causal or relational explanations about the viewed images. In addition, the students engaged in on-line modules (http://serc.carleton.edu/eslabs/climate/index.html) focused on Earth system science as training activities to address potential cognitive barriers. The developed modules included interactive media, hands-on lessons, links to outside resources, and formative assessment questions to promote a supportive and data-rich learning environment. Student eye movements were tracked during engagement with the materials to determine the role of perception and attention on understanding. Students also completed a conceptual questionnaire pre-post to determine if these on-line curriculum materials assisted in their development of connections between Earth's atmospheric system and the other Earth systems. The pre-post results of students' thinking about climate change concepts, as well as eye-tracking results, will be presented.
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Tutorial: Electroporation of cells in complex materials and tissue
Rems, L.; Miklavčič, D.
2016-05-01
Electroporation is being successfully used in biology, medicine, food processing, and biotechnology, and in some environmental applications. Recent applications also include in addition to classical electroporation, where cells are exposed to micro- or milliseconds long pulses, exposures to extremely short nanosecond pulses, i.e., high-frequency electroporation. Electric pulses are applied to cells in different structural configurations ranging from suspended cells to cells in tissues. Understanding electroporation of cells in tissues and other complex environments is a key to its successful use and optimization in various applications. Thus, explanation will be provided theoretically/numerically with relation to experimental observations by scaling our understanding of electroporation from the molecular level of the cell membrane up to the tissue level.
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Fogarty, Laurel; Wakano, Joe Yuichiro; Feldman, Marcus W; Aoki, Kenichi
2017-03-01
The forces driving cultural accumulation in human populations, both modern and ancient, are hotly debated. Did genetic, demographic, or cognitive features of behaviorally modern humans (as opposed to, say, early modern humans or Neanderthals) allow culture to accumulate to its current, unprecedented levels of complexity? Theoretical explanations for patterns of accumulation often invoke demographic factors such as population size or density, whereas statistical analyses of variation in cultural complexity often point to the importance of environmental factors such as food stability, in determining cultural complexity. Here we use both an analytical model and an agent-based simulation model to show that a full understanding of the emergence of behavioral modernity, and the cultural evolution that has followed, depends on understanding and untangling the complex relationships among culture, genetically determined cognitive ability, and demographic history. For example, we show that a small but growing population could have a different number of cultural traits from a shrinking population with the same absolute number of individuals in some circumstances.
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Swank, Melissa Farrell; Brennan, Laura K; Gentry, Daniel; Kemner, Allison L
2015-01-01
To date, few tools assist policy makers and practitioners in understanding and conveying the implementation costs, potential impacts, and value of policy and environmental changes to address healthy eating, active living, and childhood obesity. For the Evaluation of Healthy Kids, Healthy Communities (HKHC), evaluators considered inputs (resources and investments) that generate costs and savings as well as benefits and harms related to social, economic, environmental, and health-related outcomes in their assessment of 49 HKHC community partnerships funded from 2009 to 2014. Using data collected through individual and group interviews and an online performance monitoring system, evaluators created a socioecological framework to assess investments, resources, costs, savings, benefits, and harms at the individual, organizational, community, and societal levels. Evaluators customized frameworks for 6 focal strategies: active transportation, parks and play spaces, child care physical activity standards, corner stores, farmers' markets, and child care nutrition standards. To illustrate the Value Frameworks, this brief highlights the 38 HKHC communities implementing at least 1 active transportation strategy. Evaluators populated this conceptual Value Framework with themes from the strategy-specific inputs and outputs. The range of factors corresponding to the implementation and impact of the HKHC community partnerships are highlighted along with the inputs and outputs. The Value Frameworks helped evaluators identify gaps in current analysis models (ie, benefit-cost analysis, cost-effectiveness analysis) as well as paint a more complete picture of value for potential obesity prevention strategies. These frameworks provide a comprehensive understanding of investments needed, proposed costs and savings, and potential benefits and harms associated with economic, social, environmental, and health outcomes. This framing also allowed evaluators to demonstrate the interdependence
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Drought, Agriculture, and Labor: Understanding Drought Impacts and Vulnerability in California
Greene, C.
2015-12-01
Hazardous drought impacts are a product of not only the physical intensity of drought, but also the economic, social, and environmental characteristics of the region exposed to drought. Drought risk management requires understanding the complex links between the physical and human dimensions of drought. Yet, there is a research gap in identifying and explaining the socio-economic complexities of drought in the context of the first world, especially for economic and socially marginal groups who rely on seasonal and temporary jobs. This research uses the current drought in California as a case study to identify the socioeconomic impacts of drought on farmworker communities in California's San Joaquin Valley, with a specific focus on the relationship between drought and agricultural labor. Through both a narrative analysis of drought coverage in newspaper media, drought policy documents, and interviews with farmworkers, farmers, community based organizations, and government officials in the San Joaquin Valley, this research aims to highlight the different understandings and experiences of the human impacts of drought and drought vulnerability in order to better inform drought risk planning and policy.
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Present status of understanding on the genetic etiology of polycystic ovary syndrome.
Dasgupta, S; Reddy, B Mohan
2008-01-01
Polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS) is the most common endocrinopathy in women of reproductive age with a prevalence of approximately 7-10% worldwide. PCOS reflects multiple potential aetiologies and variable clinical manifestations. This syndrome is characterized by serious health implications such as diabetes, coronary heart diseases and cancer and also leads to infertility. PCOS can be viewed as a heterogeneous androgen excess disorder with varying degrees of reproductive and metabolic abnormalities determined by the interaction of multiple genetic and environmental factors. In this paper, we have attempted a comprehensive review of primarily molecular genetic studies done so far on PCOS. We have also covered the studies focusing on the environmental factors and impact of ethnicity on the presentation of this syndrome. A large number of studies have been attempted to understand the aetiological mechanisms behind PCOS both at the clinical and molecular genetic levels. In the Indian context, majority of the PCOS studies have been confined to the clinical dimensions. However, a concrete genetic mechanism behind the manifestation of PCOS is yet to be ascertained. Understanding of this complex disorder requires comprehensive studies incorporating relatively larger homogenous samples for genetic analysis and taking into account the ethnicity and the environmental conditions of the population/cohort under study. Research focused on these aspects may provide better understanding on the genetic etiology and the interaction between genes and environment, which may help develop new treatment methods and possible prevention of the syndrome.
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Present status of understanding on the genetic etiology of polycystic ovary syndrome
Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)
Dasgupta S
2008-01-01
Full Text Available Polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS is the most common endocrinopathy in women of reproductive age with a prevalence of approximately 7-10% worldwide. PCOS reflects multiple potential aetiologies and variable clinical manifestations. This syndrome is characterized by serious health implications such as diabetes, coronary heart diseases and cancer and also leads to infertility. PCOS can be viewed as a heterogeneous androgen excess disorder with varying degrees of reproductive and metabolic abnormalities determined by the interaction of multiple genetic and environmental factors. In this paper, we have attempted a comprehensive review of primarily molecular genetic studies done so far on PCOS. We have also covered the studies focusing on the environmental factors and impact of ethnicity on the presentation of this syndrome. A large number of studies have been attempted to understand the aetiological mechanisms behind PCOS both at the clinical and molecular genetic levels. In the Indian context, majority of the PCOS studies have been confined to the clinical dimensions. However, a concrete genetic mechanism behind the manifestation of PCOS is yet to be ascertained. Understanding of this complex disorder requires comprehensive studies incorporating relatively larger homogenous samples for genetic analysis and taking into account the ethnicity and the environmental conditions of the population/cohort under study. Research focused on these aspects may provide better understanding on the genetic etiology and the interaction between genes and environment, which may help develop new treatment methods and possible prevention of the syndrome.
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Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)
Yu Okamoto
2011-10-01
Full Text Available Four chiral Schiff base binuclear 3d-4f complexes (NdNi, NdCu, GdNi, and GdCu have been prepared and characterized by means of electronic and CD spectra, IR spectra, magnetic measurements, and X-ray crystallography (NdNi. A so-called artifact peak of solid state CD spectra, which was characteristic of oriented molecules without free molecular rotation, appeared at about 470 nm. Magnetic data of the complexes in the solid state (powder and in PMMA cast films or solutions indicated that only GdCu preserved molecular structures in various matrixes of soft maters. For the first time, we have used the changes of intensity of artifact CD peaks to detect properties of environmental (media solid state (KBr pellets, PMMA cast films, concentration dependence of PMMA in acetone solutions, and pure acetone solution for chiral 3d-4f complexes (GdCu. Rigid matrix keeping anisotropic orientation exhibited a decrease in the intensity of the artifact CD peak toward negative values. The present results suggest that solid state artifact CD peaks can be affected by environmental viscosity of a soft mater matrix.
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ENVIRONMENTAL CONCERN AND ENVIRONMENTALLY ...
African Journals Online (AJOL)
critique of theoretical approaches towards understanding the formation of environmental attitudes, a model has been developed ... instances, people must have the motivation and know- ... feelings and emotion, and behaviour to behavioural.
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Kruitwagen, Sonja; Reudink, Melchert; Faber, Albert
2009-04-01
Despite a general decrease in Dutch environmental emission trends, it remains difficult to comply with European Union (EU) environmental policy targets. Furthermore, environmental issues have become increasingly complex and entangled with society. Therefore, Dutch environmental policy follows a pragmatic line by adopting a flexible approach for compliance, rather than aiming at further reduction at the source of emission. This may be politically useful in order to adequately reach EU targets, but restoration of environmental conditions may be delayed. However, due to the complexity of today's environmental issues, the restoration of environmental conditions might not be the only standard for a proper policy approach. Consequently this raises the question how the Dutch pragmatic approach to compliance qualifies in a broader policy assessment. In order to answer this question, we adapt a policy assessment framework, developed by Hemerijck and Hazeu (Bestuurskunde 13(2), 2004), based on the dimensions of legitimacy and policy logic. We apply this framework for three environmental policy assessments: flexible instruments in climate policy, fine-tuning of national and local measures to meet air quality standards, and derogation for the Nitrate Directive. We conclude with general assessment notes on the appliance of flexible instruments in environmental policy, showing that a broad and comprehensive perspective can help to understand the arguments to put such policy instruments into place and to identify trade-offs between assessment criteria.
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Epting, Shane
2016-12-01
Transportation infrastructure tremendously affects the quality of life for urban residents, influences public and mental health, and shapes social relations. Historically, the topic is rich with social and political controversy and the resultant transit systems in the United States cause problems for minority residents and issues for the public. Environmental justice frameworks provide a means to identify and address harms that affect marginalized groups, but environmental justice has limits that cannot account for the mainstream population. To account for this condition, I employ a complex moral assessment measure that provides a way to talk about harms that affect the public.
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Ryabukhina, M. V.; Maiski, R. A.; Salikhova, R. H.
2017-11-01
The modern rates of oil and gas production, developed industry, high technologies in the field of the construction and operation of wells, pipelines and other facilities of the oil and gas industry, as well as growing environmental control do not fully solve the problem of the negative impacts on natural objects, in particular, landscape botanical complexes. Taking into account the increasing oil and gas production rates, the existing objects-Orenburg NGKM and constructed ones, for example, by 2015 in the Orenburg region was organized a “new thread” oil company, LLC, the activities of which include exploration, design and preparation of the Mogutovskoye deposits, a part of the Vorontsov and a part of Gremjacheskoye deposits, as well as their exploitation, should explore and develop some effective mechanisms to minimize and eliminate the environmental risks of industrial impact. In our view the multi-component continuous monitoring of environmental risks will help to formulate an effective strategy and develop an effective preventive mechanism of technological activities, identify landscape botanical complexes which are more exposed to environmental risks as well as the regional forecast component changes in terms of a landscape botanical complex in the zone of technogenic influence exerted by the objects of the oil and gas industry.
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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.
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Ide, T.; Fröhlich, C.
2015-10-01
The existing literature faces difficulties when accounting for the simultaneity of socio-environmental conflict and cooperation. We suggest that this puzzle can be solved by more recent constructivist works, which argue that conflictive or cooperative behavior is driven by discursively constructed interests, identities and situation assessments. Based on a literature review and field interviews, we analyze and compare the dominant water discourses in Israel and Palestine with the discourse dominant among the activists of a water cooperation project between communities from Israel and the West Bank. Our main result is that discourses are indeed crucial for understanding water-related conflict and cooperation. This finding highlights the relevance of constructivist approaches in the study of socio-environmental conflict and cooperation as well as of practices of bottom-up discursive conflict transformation.
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Environmental conflict and decision-making: the case of hydroelectric power
Watkin, L.
2012-01-01
As management of the environment becomes more complex and the number of potentially conflicting issues to be balanced expands, there will be increasing and more intense debates about the course(s) of action(s) to be taken. Navigation of conflict determines trade-offs established and decisions taken, and will become progressively important, as the need to unify incompatible uses grows. Both definition and management of environmental conflict is ambiguous, lacking in understanding and mechanism...
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Hwang, Seyoung
2011-04-01
This paper considers how the school science curriculum can be conceptualised in order to address the contingent and complex nature of environmental and sustainability-related knowledge and understanding. A special concern lies in the development of research perspectives and tools for investigating ways, in which teachers are faced with complex and various situations in the sense-making of science-related issues, and subsequent pedagogic issues. Based on an empirical examination of Korean teachers' sense-making of their curricular practice, the paper develops a narrative approach to teachers' perspectives and knowledge by considering the value of stories as sense-making tools for reflective questioning of what is worth teaching, how and why. By employing the idea of 'repertoire', the study regards teachers' stories about their environment-related personal and teaching experiences as offering angles with which to understand teachers' motivation and reflection in curricular development and implementation. Furthermore, three empirical cases present ways in which the nature of knowledge and understanding is recognised and potentially integrated into pedagogies through teachers' narratives. Finally, the paper argues for the need to reconsider the role of the science teacher in addressing environmental and sustainability-related issues, in ways that facilitate teachers' reflexive interpretation of meanings in cultural texts and the construction of pedagogic text.
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DeBeer, C. M.; Wheater, H. S.; Carey, S. K.; Pomeroy, J. W.; Stewart, R. E.
2016-12-01
The past several decades have been a period of rapid climatic and environmental change. In western Canada, as in other areas globally, warming and changes in precipitation have led to vast reductions in seasonal snowcover and freshwater ice cover, retreating glaciers, thawing permafrost, changing forest composition and structure, increasing northern shrub coverage, and earlier timing of river flows in spring. Yet streamflow volume has exhibited a variety of responses across the region and over different time scales, and patterns of change are not easily generalizable. Improved understanding, diagnosis, and prediction of the rapidly changing components of the Earth system are key to managing uncertain water futures, but this is challenging due to complex system behavior and sometimes compensatory responses. The Changing Cold Regions Network (CCRN) is a Canadian research network and GEWEX Regional Hydroclimate Project that is addressing these issues, with a geographic focus on the Saskatchewan and Mackenzie River basins. This paper will present examples of the changes that have been observed at a set of long-term and well-studied headwater research basins, and highlight how various processes confound hydrological responses here, pointing to the need for careful diagnosis. We will discuss some recent CCRN activities and progress toward improving conceptual understanding and developing scenarios of change for the 21st century, which can then be applied within process-based hydrological models for future prediction. Several priority research areas that will be a focus of continued work in CCRN will be recommended.
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Pappas, C.
2017-12-01
Terrestrial ecosystem processes respond differently to hydrometeorological variability across timescales, and so does our scientific understanding of the underlying mechanisms. Process-based modeling of ecosystem functioning is therefore challenging, especially when long-term predictions are envisioned. Here we analyze the statistical properties of hydrometeorological and ecosystem variability, i.e., the variability of ecosystem process related to vegetation carbon dynamics, from hourly to decadal timescales. 23 extra-tropical forest sites, covering different climatic zones and vegetation characteristics, are examined. Micrometeorological and reanalysis data of precipitation, air temperature, shortwave radiation and vapor pressure deficit are used to describe hydrometeorological variability. Ecosystem variability is quantified using long-term eddy covariance flux data of hourly net ecosystem exchange of CO2 between land surface and atmosphere, monthly remote sensing vegetation indices, annual tree-ring widths and above-ground biomass increment estimates. We find that across sites and timescales ecosystem variability is confined within a hydrometeorological envelope that describes the range of variability of the available resources, i.e., water and energy. Furthermore, ecosystem variability demonstrates long-term persistence, highlighting ecological memory and slow ecosystem recovery rates after disturbances. We derive an analytical model, combining deterministic harmonics and stochastic processes, that represents major mechanisms and uncertainties and mimics the observed pattern of hydrometeorological and ecosystem variability. This stochastic framework offers a parsimonious and mathematically tractable approach for modelling ecosystem functioning and for understanding its response and resilience to environmental changes. Furthermore, this framework reflects well the observed ecological memory, an inherent property of ecosystem functioning that is currently not
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International Nuclear Information System (INIS)
Granstaff, V.E.; Chambers, W.B.; Doughty, D.H.
1994-01-01
A new application for surface complexation modeling is described. These models, which describe chemical equilibria among aqueous and adsorbed species, have typically been used for predicting groundwater transport of contaminants by modeling the natural adsorbents as various metal oxides. Our experiments suggest that this type of modeling can also explain stainless steel surface contamination and decontamination mechanisms. Stainless steel transportation casks, when submerged in a spent fuel storage pool at nuclear power stations, can become contaminated with radionuclides such as 137 Cs, 134 Cs, and 60 Co. Subsequent release or desorption of these contaminants under varying environmental conditions occasionally results in the phenomenon known as open-quotes cask weeping.close quotes We have postulated that contaminants in the storage pool adsorb onto the hydrous metal oxide surface of the passivated stainless steel and are subsequently released (by conversion from a fixed to a removable form) during transportation, due to varying environmental factors, such as humidity, road salt, dirt, and acid rain. It is well known that 304 stainless steel has a chromium enriched passive surface layer; thus its adsorption behavior should be similar to that of a mixed chromium/iron oxide. To help us interpret our studies of reversible binding of dissolved metals on stainless steel surfaces, we have studied the adsorption of Co +2 on Cr 2 O 3 . The data are interpreted using electrostatic surface complexation models. The FITEQL computer program was used to obtain the model binding constants and site densities from the experimental data. The MINTEQA2 computer speciation model was used, with the fitted constants, in an attempt to validate this approach
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Among the challenges of characterizing emerging contaminants in complex environmental matrices (e.g., biosolids, sewage, or wastewater) are the co-eluting interferences. For example, surfactants, fats, and humic acids, can be preferentially ionized instead of the analyte(s) of in...
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Advances in understanding river-groundwater interactions
Brunner, Philip; Therrien, René; Renard, Philippe; Simmons, Craig T.; Franssen, Harrie-Jan Hendricks
2017-09-01
River-groundwater interactions are at the core of a wide range of major contemporary challenges, including the provision of high-quality drinking water in sufficient quantities, the loss of biodiversity in river ecosystems, or the management of environmental flow regimes. This paper reviews state of the art approaches in characterizing and modeling river and groundwater interactions. Our review covers a wide range of approaches, including remote sensing to characterize the streambed, emerging methods to measure exchange fluxes between rivers and groundwater, and developments in several disciplines relevant to the river-groundwater interface. We discuss approaches for automated calibration, and real-time modeling, which improve the simulation and understanding of river-groundwater interactions. Although the integration of these various approaches and disciplines is advancing, major research gaps remain to be filled to allow more complete and quantitative integration across disciplines. New possibilities for generating realistic distributions of streambed properties, in combination with more data and novel data types, have great potential to improve our understanding and predictive capabilities for river-groundwater systems, especially in combination with the integrated simulation of the river and groundwater flow as well as calibration methods. Understanding the implications of different data types and resolution, the development of highly instrumented field sites, ongoing model development, and the ultimate integration of models and data are important future research areas. These developments are required to expand our current understanding to do justice to the complexity of natural systems.
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Pereira, Paulo; Siarova, Hanna; Misiūnė, Ieva; Cerda, Artemi; Úbeda, Xavier
2015-04-01
Nowadays, environment is accepted to be an important element of our welfare. Our activities and societal status are strongly related with the quality of the environment where we live. On the other hand historical and cultural backgrounds shape importantly our views about the environment and how we act towards it in our daily life. In a context of globalization and increase of competition at international level, knowledge appears to be one of the key components for the advance of the word. Most of the knowledge produced comes from high level education institutions and research centres, which have responsibility to create and encourage critical thinking. Individuals aware of the problems can be more active and can push things forward. We think that environmental knowledge and awareness are fundamental for the future of the society. In order to develop better methodologies are developed if we have a better perception of students understanding of environmental problems. The objective of this work is to study the Lithuanian university level student's perception about some environmental challenges of our society. We selected several questions for the students rate according the relevance of the question, as "Air Pollution", "Waste Management", "Resources overexplotation", "Biodiversity reduction", "Human Overpopulation" "Poverty", "Global Warming/Climate change", Natural disasters", "Terrorism", "Economical crisis", "War and armed conflicts" and the "Spread of infectious diseases". We ask to the respondents to rate the importance using a likert scale (1=Not Important, 2= not so important, 3=important, 4=very important, 5=the most important). Among all the questions, the most rated where the Water pollution, the Spread of infectious diseases and Air Pollution and the less important where Biodiversity Reduction, Human overpopulation and climate change. These results helped us to identify where some efforts should be taken to raise student's awareness about global
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Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)
Blackman, A.; Boyd, J.; Simpson, R.D.; Toman, M.
1996-12-31
The factors affecting the diffusion of technical discoveries among firms and nations remain one of the most interesting and important but least understood elements of economic behavior. Recently, interest in technology diffusion has been heightened by a recognition that the spread of technologies could have important implications for environmental quality as well as for market goods and services. A specific motivation for this study was the question of how rapidly technologies that reduce greenhouse gas emissions might diffuse. Technologies in this category include technologies that improve the efficiency of fossil energy use or promote substitution of renewable energy resources. The speed with which these technologies spread could have a significant effect on the rate of accumulation of carbon in the atmosphere. From a modeling perspective, the rate of innovation and diffusion of carbon-reducing technology is known to be a crucial parameter in integrated assessments of climate change risks and policy responses. Thus, a better understanding of factors that might influence the spread of carbon-reducing technologies could be valuable in studies on long-term global change and policy assessment.
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Condon-Paoloni, Deanne; Yeatman, Heather R; Grigonis-Deane, Elizabeth
2015-01-01
Health and related claims on food labels can support consumer education initiatives that encourage purchase of healthier foods. A new food Standard on Nutrition, Health and Related Claims became law in January 2013. Implementation will need careful monitoring and enforcement to ensure that claims are truthful and have meaning. The current study explored factors that may impact on environmental health officers' food labelling policy enforcement practices. The study used a mixed-methods approach, using two previously validated quantitative questionnaire instruments that provided measures of the level of control that the officers exercised over their work, as well as qualitative, semi-structured, in-depth interviews. Local government; Australia. Thirty-seven officers in three Australian states participated in semi-structured in-depth interviews, as well as completing the quantitative questionnaires. Senior and junior officers, including field officers, participated in the study. The officers reported a high level of autonomy and control of their work, but also a heavy workload, dominated by concerns for public health and food safety, with limited time for monitoring food labels. Compliance of labels with proposed health claims regulations was not considered a priority. Lipsky's theory of street-level bureaucracy was used to enhance understanding of officers' work practices. Competing priorities affect environmental health officers' monitoring and enforcement of regulations. Understanding officers' work practices and their perceptions of enforcement is important to increase effectiveness of policy implementation and hence its capacity to augment education initiatives to optimize health benefits.
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Ichoku, Charles; Gatebe, Charles; Bolten, John; Policelli, Fritz; Habib, Shahid; Lee, Jejung; Wang, Jun; Wilcox, Eric; Adegoke, Jimmy
2011-01-01
The northern sub-Saharan African (NSSA) region, bounded on the north and south by the Sahara and the Equator, respectively, and stretching from the West to the East African coastlines, has one of the highest biomass-burning rates per unit land area among all regions of the world. Because of the high concentration and frequency of fires in this region, with the associated abundance of heat release and gaseous and particulate smoke emissions, biomass-burning activity is believed to be one of the drivers of the regional carbon and energy cycles, with serious implications for the water cycle. A new interdisciplinary research effort sponsored by NASA is presently being focused on the NSSA region, to better understand the possible connection between the intense biomass burning observed from satellite year after year across the region and the rapid depletion of the regional water resources, as exemplified by the dramatic drying of Lake Chad. A combination of remote sensing and modeling approaches is being utilized in investigating multiple regional surface, atmospheric, and water-cycle processes, and inferring possible links between them. In this presentation, we will discuss preliminary results as well as the path toward improved understanding'of the interrelationships and feedbacks between the biomass burning and the environmental change dynamics in the NSSA region.
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Evsukoff, Alexandre; González, Marta
2013-01-01
In the last decade we have seen the emergence of a new inter-disciplinary field focusing on the understanding of networks which are dynamic, large, open, and have a structure sometimes called random-biased. The field of Complex Networks is helping us better understand many complex phenomena such as the spread of deseases, protein interactions, social relationships, to name but a few. Studies in Complex Networks are gaining attention due to some major scientific breakthroughs proposed by network scientists helping us understand and model interactions contained in large datasets. In fact, if we could point to one event leading to the widespread use of complex network analysis is the availability of online databases. Theories of Random Graphs from Erdös and Rényi from the late 1950s led us to believe that most networks had random characteristics. The work on large online datasets told us otherwise. Starting with the work of Barabási and Albert as well as Watts and Strogatz in the late 1990s, we now know th...
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Brooks, J. F.; Trainor, S.
2017-12-01
Over 20,000 residents in Alaska and Yukon Territory rely upon the Yukon River to provide them harvests of Pacific salmon each year. Salmon are a highly valued food resource and the practice of salmon fishing along the Yukon is deep rooted in local cultures and traditions. Potential future impacts of climate change on the health of Yukon River salmon stocks could be significant. Collaborative managerial processes which incorporate the viewpoints of subsistence stakeholders will be crucial in enabling communities and managerial institutions to adapt and manage these impacts. However, the massive extent of the Yukon River makes it difficult for communities rich with highly localized knowledge to situate themselves within a drainage-wide context of resource availability, and to fully understand the implications that management decisions may have for their harvest. Differences in salmon availability and abundance between the upper and lower Yukon, commercial vs. subsistence fishery interests, and enforcement of the international Pacific Salmon Treaty further complicate understanding and makes the topic of salmon as a subsistence resource a highly contentious issue. A map which synthesizes the presence and absence of Pacific salmon throughout the entire Yukon River drainage was requested by both subsistence fishers and natural resource managers in Alaska in order to help facilitate productive conversations about salmon management decisions. Interviews with Alaskan stakeholders with managerial, biological, and subsistence harvest backgrounds were carried out and a literature review was conducted in order to understand what such a map should and could accomplish. During the research process, numerous data gaps concerning the distribution of salmon along the Yukon River were discovered, and insights about the complexities involved in translating science when it is situated within a charged political, economic, and cultural context were revealed. Preliminary maps depicting
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Understanding and managing environmental liability in the Saskatchewan oil and gas industry
International Nuclear Information System (INIS)
Andrychuk, L.D.; LeBlanc, L.B.
1998-01-01
An overview of Saskatchewan legislative framework regarding the oil and gas industry was presented. In the oil and gas industry, environmental issues are regulated at the provincial level, but the industry must also be aware of federal environmental law when dealing with federal lands, federal financial assistance, interprovincial or international projects or projects which have transboundary environmental effects. In this context, the provisions of the Oil and Gas Conservation Act (OGCA) and the Oil and Gas Conservation Regulations (OGCR), the licensing of oil and gas wells, the acquisition and surrender of surface rights, and the procedures involved in environmental assessment approval were outlined. Emission control, air pollution abatement, the storage and disposal of hazardous materials, environmental issues in property transactions, and corporate environmental management are also subject to regulation under OGCA and OGCR. 42 refs
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The environmental pedagogy in the construction of an ethics for the urban life
International Nuclear Information System (INIS)
Noguera de Echeverri, Ana Patricia
2001-01-01
In this paper on ask the instrumental rationalities presents in the environmental urban process in since contemporary studies about city show us, not as model and not as category although, like a success where the lines that make him are of that density like that have a rhizome form. The urban success like rur-urban-agrarian rhizome, demands an ethic and pedagogic about urban environmental that make the deconstruction of the modernity theories ethic, and pedagogies and de other side and hermeneutic attitude that allow, to understand a net complexity of value relations between the ecosystem, expressions forms and the cultures expressions forms. On porpoise an environmental of the ethic, pedagogic and education and not speak more about the environmental ethic, pedagogic and education, like news disciplinarians or interdisciplinary compartments
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Understanding vaginal microbiome complexity from an ecological perspective
Hickey, Roxana J.; Zhou, Xia; Pierson, Jacob D.; Ravel, Jacques; Forney, Larry J.
2012-01-01
The various microbiota normally associated with the human body have an important influence on human development, physiology, immunity, and nutrition. This is certainly true for the vagina wherein communities of mutualistic bacteria constitute the first line of defense for the host by excluding invasive, nonindigenous organisms that may cause disease. In recent years much has been learned about the bacterial species composition of these communities and how they differ between individuals of different ages and ethnicities. A deeper understanding of their origins and the interrelationships of constituent species is needed to understand how and why they change over time or in response to changes in the host environment. Moreover, there are few unifying theories to explain the ecological dynamics of vaginal ecosystems as they respond to disturbances caused by menses and human activities such as intercourse, douching, and other habits and practices. This fundamental knowledge is needed to diagnose and assess risk to disease. Here we summarize what is known about the species composition, structure, and function of bacterial communities in the human vagina and the applicability of ecological models of community structure and function to understanding the dynamics of this and other ecosystems that comprise the human microbiome. PMID:22683415
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A genomic point-of-view on environmental factors influencing the human brain methylome.
LaSalle, Janine M
2011-07-01
The etiologic paradigm of complex human disorders such as autism is that genetic and environmental risk factors are independent and additive, but the interactive effects at the epigenetic interface are largely ignored. Genomic technologies have radically changed perspective on the human genome and how the epigenetic interface may impact complex human disorders. Here, I review recent genomic, environmental, and epigenetic findings that suggest a new paradigm of "integrative genomics" in which genetic variation in genomic size may be impacted by dietary and environmental factors that influence the genomic saturation of DNA methylation. Human genomes are highly repetitive, but the interface of large-scale genomic differences with environmental factors that alter the DNA methylome such as dietary folate is under-explored. In addition to obvious direct effects of some environmental toxins on the genome by causing chromosomal breaks, non-mutagenic toxin exposures correlate with DNA hypomethylation that can lead to rearrangements between repeats or increased retrotransposition. Since human neurodevelopment appears to be particularly sensitive to alterations in epigenetic pathways, a further focus will be on how developing neurons may be particularly impacted by even subtle alterations to DNA methylation and proposing new directions towards understanding the quixotic etiology of autism by integrative genomic approaches.
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International Nuclear Information System (INIS)
Weber, G.
1994-01-01
Within today's reality a public manager often needs to develop cooperative relationships among a number of individual, program, and organizational stakeholders to accomplish particular projects, programs, or policies. A DOE site manager charged with accomplishing environmental restoration and conversion at former weapons production sites is no exception. Important reasons for this include the technical and political complexity of the clean-up problem; limits on the funding, authority, and other resources available to DOE; authority, responsibilities, and interests of other stakeholders; and the ever present potential for conflict among stakeholders, and power of any one to hinder, if not halt, the clean-up process if conflicts aren't managed and cooperative relationships established and maintained
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Urban Flooding: A Social and Environmental Issue
Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)
Luciana Travassos
2012-06-01
Full Text Available Investigate the introduction of environmental considerations in public policy and urban interventions are complex. This article aims to observe the parameters that have been established in plans and projects for the management of storm and river water in urban watercourses located in a variety of cities, looking to raise some essential premises for public policy on urban drainage in the Brazilian context. It seeks to understand how these plans deal with floods and urban settlements in flood areas, and also explore the actions taken before, during and after extreme events. It could be say that adequately address drainage is primarily for institutional changes and, alongside the actions detailed throughout the article, for an investment of major consequence to allow decent housing to a significant portion of the population, an important set of environmental imprint actions.
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Primary Student-Teachers' Conceptual Understanding of the Greenhouse Effect: A mixed method study
Ratinen, Ilkka Johannes
2013-04-01
The greenhouse effect is a reasonably complex scientific phenomenon which can be used as a model to examine students' conceptual understanding in science. Primary student-teachers' understanding of global environmental problems, such as climate change and ozone depletion, indicates that they have many misconceptions. The present mixed method study examines Finnish primary student-teachers' understanding of the greenhouse effect based on the results obtained via open-ended and closed-form questionnaires. The open-ended questionnaire considers primary student-teachers' spontaneous ideas about the greenhouse effect depicted by concept maps. The present study also uses statistical analysis to reveal respondents' conceptualization of the greenhouse effect. The concept maps and statistical analysis reveal that the primary student-teachers' factual knowledge and their conceptual understanding of the greenhouse effect are incomplete and even misleading. In the light of the results of the present study, proposals for modifying the instruction of climate change in science, especially in geography, are presented.
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Gibert, Karina; Horsburgh, Jeffery S.; Athanasiadis, I.N.; Holmes, Geoff
2018-01-01
Environmental data are growing in complexity, size, and resolution. Addressing the types of large, multidisciplinary problems faced by today's environmental scientists requires the ability to leverage available data and information to inform decision making. Successfully synthesizing heterogeneous
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Environmental metabolomics with data science for investigating ecosystem homeostasis.
Kikuchi, Jun; Ito, Kengo; Date, Yasuhiro
2018-02-01
A natural ecosystem can be viewed as the interconnections between complex metabolic reactions and environments. Humans, a part of these ecosystems, and their activities strongly affect the environments. To account for human effects within ecosystems, understanding what benefits humans receive by facilitating the maintenance of environmental homeostasis is important. This review describes recent applications of several NMR approaches to the evaluation of environmental homeostasis by metabolic profiling and data science. The basic NMR strategy used to evaluate homeostasis using big data collection is similar to that used in human health studies. Sophisticated metabolomic approaches (metabolic profiling) are widely reported in the literature. Further challenges include the analysis of complex macromolecular structures, and of the compositions and interactions of plant biomass, soil humic substances, and aqueous particulate organic matter. To support the study of these topics, we also discuss sample preparation techniques and solid-state NMR approaches. Because NMR approaches can produce a number of data with high reproducibility and inter-institution compatibility, further analysis of such data using machine learning approaches is often worthwhile. We also describe methods for data pretreatment in solid-state NMR and for environmental feature extraction from heterogeneously-measured spectroscopic data by machine learning approaches. Copyright © 2017. Published by Elsevier B.V.
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Iared, Valéria Ghisloti; de Oliveira, Haydée Torres
2012-01-01
To investigate if the units of the São Carlos Ecological Pole (São Carlos, São Paulo, Brazil) are educating spaces that may contribute to the understanding of the complexity of environmental issues and stimulate a sense of belonging and social responsibility, we interviewed primary school teachers who had accompanied visits to these places and…
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Senan, D. C.; Nair, U. S.
2015-12-01
In the context of complex environmental problems facing societies, environmental education is becoming an integral part of curriculum all levels of education, including teacher education. Traditional teaching methodology is often criticized for being reductionist and empirical and thus not optimal for training next generation of students who are expected to formulate solutions to complex, interdisciplinary environmental issues. This study will report on the use of mobile application, based on the Open Data Kit (ODK), along with the Google Earth Engine (GEE) to implement a better approach, namely experiential learning, for teacher education in Kerala, India. The specific topic considered is land use and land cover change due to human activity. The experiential learning approach implemented will involve students using Android mobile application to collect a sample of geo-locations for different land cover types. This data will be used to classify satellite imagery within Google Earth Engine and used to understand how their neighborhoods have changed over the years. Rather than being passive information recipients, the students will develop understanding based on their own analysis of how urban regions grow, crop lands shrink and forests disappear. This study will report on the implementation of experiential learning approach through the use of ODK and GEE, and on the ongoing evaluation of effectiveness of experiential learning approach for environmental education. A Pretest-Posttest study design will be used for evaluation. Change in environmental consciousness, as characterized by a well-designed and validated Environmental Consciousness Scale will be determined for a study group of 300 Pre-service teachers of Kerala, India. The significance between the mean scores of the data collected during pretest and posttest will be analyzed using paired t tests. Qualitative feedback about the Mobile Application through focus group interviews will also collected and analyzed.
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Education for climate changes, environmental health and environmental justice
International Nuclear Information System (INIS)
Hens, L.; Stoyanov, S.
2013-01-01
Full text: The climates changes-health effects-environmental justice nexus is analyzed. The complex issue of climate changes needs to be approached from an interdisciplinary point of view. The nature of the problem necessitates dealing with scientific uncertainty. The health effects caused by climate changes are described and analyzed from a twofold inequalities point of view: health inequalities between rich and poor within countries, and inequalities between northern and southern countries. It is shown thai although the emission of greenhouse gasses is to a large extent caused by the industrialized countries, the effects, including the health effects, will merely impact the South. On the other hand, the southern countries have the highest potential to respond to and offer sustainable energy solutions to counteract climate changes. These inequalities are at the basis to call for environmental justice, of which climate justice is part. This movement calls for diversification of ecologists and their subject of study, more attention for urban ecology, more comprehensive human ecological analyses of complex environmental issues and more participation of stakeholders in the debate and the solution options. The movement advocates a more inclusive ecology targeted to management, sodo-ecological restoration, and comprehensive policies. The fundamental aspects of complexity, inter-disciplinary approaches, uncertainty, and social and natural inequalities should be core issues in environmental health programs. Training on these issues for muitidisciplinary groups of participants necessitates innovative approaches including self-directed, collaborative, and problem oriented learning in which tacit knowledge is important. It is advocated that quality assessments of environmental health programs should take these elements into account. key words: environmental justice, climate changes, sustainable energy solutions
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Cotterill, Carol J.; Phillips, Emrys; James, Leo; Forsberg, Carl Fredrik; Tjelta, Tor Inge; Carter, Gareth; Dove, Dayton
2017-09-01
This paper presents a summary of the results of a detailed multidisciplinary study of the near surface geology of the Dogger Bank in the southern central North Sea, forming part of a site investigation for a major windfarm development undertaken by the Forewind consortium. It has revealed that the Dogger Bank is internally complex rather than comprising a simple ;layer cake; of the Quaternary sediments as previously thought. Regional and high-resolution seismic surveys have enabled a revised stratigraphic framework to be established for the upper part of this sequence which comprises the Eem (oldest), Dogger Bank, Bolders Bank formations and Botney Cut Formation (youngest), overlain by a typically thin Holocene sequence. Detailed mapping of key horizons identified on the high-resolution seismic profiles has led to the recognition of a series of buried palaeo-landsystems which are characterised by a range of features including; glacial, glacifluvial and fluvial channels, a large-scale glacitectonic thrust-moraine complex with intervening ice-marginal basins, a lacustrine basin and marine ravinement surfaces. Interpretation of these buried landscapes has enabled the development of an environmental change model to explain the evolution of the Dogger Bank. This evolution was driven by the complex interplay between climate change, ice sheet dynamics and sea level change associated with the growth and subsequent demise of the British and Irish and Fennoscandian ice sheets during the Weichselian glaciation. Following the decay of these ice sheets the Dogger Bank entered a period of significant climatic and environmental flux which saw a terrestrial landscape being progressively inundated as sea levels rose during the Holocene.
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Lessons Learned From the Environmental Public Health Tracking Sub-County Data Pilot Project.
Werner, Angela K; Strosnider, Heather; Kassinger, Craig; Shin, Mikyong
2017-12-07
Small area data are key to better understanding the complex relationships between environmental health, health outcomes, and risk factors at a local level. In 2014, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's National Environmental Public Health Tracking Program (Tracking Program) conducted the Sub-County Data Pilot Project with grantees to consider integration of sub-county data into the National Environmental Public Health Tracking Network (Tracking Network). The Tracking Program and grantees developed sub-county-level data for several data sets during this pilot project, working to standardize processes for submitting data and creating required geographies. Grantees documented challenges they encountered during the pilot project and documented decisions. This article covers the challenges revealed during the project. It includes insights into geocoding, aggregation, population estimates, and data stability and provides recommendations for moving forward. National standards for generating, analyzing, and sharing sub-county data should be established to build a system of sub-county data that allow for comparison of outcomes, geographies, and time. Increasing the availability and accessibility of small area data will not only enhance the Tracking Network's capabilities but also contribute to an improved understanding of environmental health and informed decision making at a local level.
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Evolution and the complexity of bacteriophages.
Serwer, Philip
2007-03-13
The genomes of both long-genome (> 200 Kb) bacteriophages and long-genome eukaryotic viruses have cellular gene homologs whose selective advantage is not explained. These homologs add genomic and possibly biochemical complexity. Understanding their significance requires a definition of complexity that is more biochemically oriented than past empirically based definitions. Initially, I propose two biochemistry-oriented definitions of complexity: either decreased randomness or increased encoded information that does not serve immediate needs. Then, I make the assumption that these two definitions are equivalent. This assumption and recent data lead to the following four-part hypothesis that explains the presence of cellular gene homologs in long bacteriophage genomes and also provides a pathway for complexity increases in prokaryotic cells: (1) Prokaryotes underwent evolutionary increases in biochemical complexity after the eukaryote/prokaryote splits. (2) Some of the complexity increases occurred via multi-step, weak selection that was both protected from strong selection and accelerated by embedding evolving cellular genes in the genomes of bacteriophages and, presumably, also archaeal viruses (first tier selection). (3) The mechanisms for retaining cellular genes in viral genomes evolved under additional, longer-term selection that was stronger (second tier selection). (4) The second tier selection was based on increased access by prokaryotic cells to improved biochemical systems. This access was achieved when DNA transfer moved to prokaryotic cells both the more evolved genes and their more competitive and complex biochemical systems. I propose testing this hypothesis by controlled evolution in microbial communities to (1) determine the effects of deleting individual cellular gene homologs on the growth and evolution of long genome bacteriophages and hosts, (2) find the environmental conditions that select for the presence of cellular gene homologs, (3) determine
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Evolution and the complexity of bacteriophages
Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)
Serwer Philip
2007-03-01
Full Text Available Abstract Background The genomes of both long-genome (> 200 Kb bacteriophages and long-genome eukaryotic viruses have cellular gene homologs whose selective advantage is not explained. These homologs add genomic and possibly biochemical complexity. Understanding their significance requires a definition of complexity that is more biochemically oriented than past empirically based definitions. Hypothesis Initially, I propose two biochemistry-oriented definitions of complexity: either decreased randomness or increased encoded information that does not serve immediate needs. Then, I make the assumption that these two definitions are equivalent. This assumption and recent data lead to the following four-part hypothesis that explains the presence of cellular gene homologs in long bacteriophage genomes and also provides a pathway for complexity increases in prokaryotic cells: (1 Prokaryotes underwent evolutionary increases in biochemical complexity after the eukaryote/prokaryote splits. (2 Some of the complexity increases occurred via multi-step, weak selection that was both protected from strong selection and accelerated by embedding evolving cellular genes in the genomes of bacteriophages and, presumably, also archaeal viruses (first tier selection. (3 The mechanisms for retaining cellular genes in viral genomes evolved under additional, longer-term selection that was stronger (second tier selection. (4 The second tier selection was based on increased access by prokaryotic cells to improved biochemical systems. This access was achieved when DNA transfer moved to prokaryotic cells both the more evolved genes and their more competitive and complex biochemical systems. Testing the hypothesis I propose testing this hypothesis by controlled evolution in microbial communities to (1 determine the effects of deleting individual cellular gene homologs on the growth and evolution of long genome bacteriophages and hosts, (2 find the environmental conditions that
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Higher-Order Structure in Bacterial VapBC Toxin-Antitoxin Complexes
DEFF Research Database (Denmark)
Bendtsen, Kirstine L; Brodersen, Ditlev E
2017-01-01
Toxin-antitoxin systems are widespread in the bacterial kingdom, including in pathogenic species, where they allow rapid adaptation to changing environmental conditions through selective inhibition of key cellular processes, such as DNA replication or protein translation. Under normal growth...... that allow auto-regulation of transcription by direct binding to promoter DNA. In this chapter, we review our current understanding of the structural characteristics of type II toxin-antitoxin complexes in bacterial cells, with a special emphasis on the staggering variety of higher-order architecture...... conditions, type II toxins are inhibited through tight protein-protein interaction with a cognate antitoxin protein. This toxin-antitoxin complex associates into a higher-order macromolecular structure, typically heterotetrameric or heterooctameric, exposing two DNA binding domains on the antitoxin...
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Understanding the biological and environmental implications of nanomaterials
Lin, Sijie
quantified by UV-vis spectrophotometry and fitted with the Freundlich isothem. Effects of the adsorption of QDs on the photosynthetic activities of the algae are evaluated using O2 evolution and CO2 depletion assays, and the ecological impact of such adsorption is discussed. To understand the effects of nanomaterials on the cell membrane, nanoparticles (Au, TiO2, and QDs) of different surface charges and chemical compositions are introduced to HT-29 mammalian cells in Chapter 4. The polarization of the cell membrane is investigated using a FLIPR membrane potential kit. The phase of the cell membrane, in the presence of both positively and negatively charged nanoparticles, are examined using laurden, a lipophilic dye that serves as a molecular reporter on the fluidic or gel phase of the host membrane. To address the effects of nanomaterials on biological and ecological systems within the same context, Chapter 5 offers a first parallel comparison between mammalian and plant cell responses to nanomaterials. This study is conducted using a plant cell viability assay, complimented by bright field, fluorescence, and electron microscopy imaging. Discussions of this study are presented based on the hydrophobicity and solubility of C60(OH) 20 and of supramolecular complex C70-NOM, hydrophobicity and porous structure of the plant Allium cepa cell wall, and the amphiphilic structure and endocytosis of the plasma cell membrane of both Allium cepa and HT-29 cells. Chapter 6 summarizes and rationalizes results obtained from the entire dissertation research. Future work inspired by this research is presented at the end of the chapter. Specifically, this dissertation is structured to embody the following essential and complementary chapters: (1) Chapter 1: Literature review (2) Chapter 2: Nano-Eco interactions at the whole organism level; (3) Chapter 3: Nano-Eco interactions at the cellular level; (4) Chapter 4: Nano-Bio interactions at the cellular level; (5) Chapter 5: Parallel comparison
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Environmental system analysis of waste management. Experiences from applications of the ORWARE model
Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)
Bjoerklund, Anna
2000-11-01
stakeholders have expressed the value of participating in ORWARE case studies. It provides improved decision-basis, but also wider understanding of the complexity of waste management and of environmental issues in general. The thesis also contains a first suggestion of a framework to handle uncertainty in ORWARE, based on a review of types of uncertainty in LCA and tools to handle it.
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Enacting understanding of inclusion in complex contexts: classroom ...
African Journals Online (AJOL)
Hennie
2015-08-14
Aug 14, 2015 ... Dan Tlale. Department of Inclusive Education, College of Education, University of South Africa, Pretoria, South Africa ..... challenges and teachers' understanding of inclusive ..... agency.org/sites/default/files/Profile-of-Inclusive-.
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Using x-ray microprobes for environmental research
International Nuclear Information System (INIS)
Cai, Z.; Jastrow, J.; Kemner, K. M.; Lai, B.; Lee, H.-R.; Legnini, D. G.; Miller, R. M.; Pratt, S. T.; Rodrigues, W.; Yun, W.
1998-01-01
Understanding the fate of environmental contaminants is of fundamental importance in the development and evaluation of effective remediation strategies. Among the factors influencing the transport of these contaminants are the chemical speciation of the sample and the chemical and physical attributes of the surrounding medium. Characterization of the spatial distribution and chemical speciation at micron and submicron resolution is essential for studying the microscopic physical, geological, chemical, and biological interfaces that play a crucial role in determining contaminant fate and mobility. Hard X-ray spectroscopy and imaging are powerful techniques for the element-specific investigation of complex environmental samples at the needed micron and submicron resolution. An important advantage of these techniques results from the large penetration depth of hard X-rays in water. This minimizes the requirements for sample preparation and allows the detailed study of hydrated samples. This paper discusses some current problems in environmental science that can be addressed by using synchrotron-based X-ray imaging and spectroscopy. These concepts are illustrated by the results of recent X-ray microscopy studies at the Advanced Photon Source
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International Nuclear Information System (INIS)
Blahutova, Z.
2011-01-01
Tracking Environmental Costs and Investments in SAP will provide us with a managerial tool that will help us understand better the magnitude of the financial resources we are dedicating to environmental protection activities and investments. Environmental Cost Accounting is a new project in Slovenske Elektrarne that will be particularly valuable for the Company's environmental management initiatives, such as waste monitoring, cleaner production, eco-design and environmental management systems; its launch is expected in September. (author)
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Hong, Eunju; Lee, Seokwon; Kim, Geun-Bae; Kim, Tae-Jong; Kim, Hyoung-Wook; Lee, Kyoungho; Son, Bu-Soon
2018-04-24
This study aims to identify environmental air pollution adversely affecting pulmonary function among a community-based general population living in Korean industrial complexes. A total of 1963 residents participated in a pulmonary function test (PFT). The sample population consisted of an exposed group ( n = 1487) living within a radius of 5 km of industrial complexes and a control group ( n = 476) living over a radius of 10 km from the industrial complexes in Gwangyang and Yeosu cities. PFT results were calculated for each resident of the study population. On-site questionnaire surveys with face-to-face interviews were also conducted to collect more detailed information on personal lifestyles, medical history, exposure to air pollution, and respiratory disease and related symptoms. A total of 486 measured samples were collected by eight automated air-monitoring stations installed in four counties of Gwangyang and four counties of Yeosu in South Korea from January 2006 to February 2007. Mean levels of SO₂ (0.012 ppm), CO (0.648 ppm), NO₂ (0.02 ppm), O₃ (0.034 ppm), and PM 10 (43.07 μg/m³), collected within a radius of 5 km, were significantly higher than those collected over a radius of 10 km from Gwangyang and Yeosu industrial complexes. Prevalence odds ratio (OR) of abnormal pulmonary function in the exposed group of residents ( 0.05). In multiple linear regression analysis, forced expiratory volume in one second (FEV₁) and forced vital capacity (FVC) levels significantly declined as SO₂, CO, and O₃ levels increased when adjusting for age, sex, body mass index (BMI), alcohol, smoking, secondhand smoke, and respiratory disease and related symptoms ( n = 1963) ( p < 0.05). These results suggest that exposure to air pollution affects pulmonary function levels of residents living in Korean industrial complexes.
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Immunotoxicological effects of environmental contaminants on marine bivalves.
Renault, T
2015-09-01
Coastal areas are complex environments frequently contaminated by numerous pollutants that represent a potential threat to marine organisms, especially bivalves. These pollutants may have major ecological consequences. Although effects of different environmental contaminants on the immune system in marine bivalves have been already reported, a few of reviews summarizes these effects. The main purpose of this chapter relies on summarizing recent body of data on immunotoxicity in bivalves subjected to contaminants. Immune effects of heavy metals, pesticides, HAP, PCB and pharmaceuticals are presented and discussed and a particular section is devoted to nanoparticle effects. A large body of literature is now available on this topic. Finally, the urgent need of a better understanding of complex interactions between contaminants, marine bivalves and infectious diseases is noticed. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
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Burke, Ian T; Mosselmans, J Frederick W; Shaw, Samuel; Peacock, Caroline L; Benning, Liane G; Coker, Victoria S
2015-03-06
Diamond Light Source Ltd celebrated its 10th anniversary as a company in December 2012 and has now accepted user experiments for over 5 years. This paper describes the current facilities available at Diamond and future developments that enhance its capacities with respect to the Earth and environmental sciences. A review of relevant research conducted at Diamond thus far is provided. This highlights how synchrotron-based studies have brought about important advances in our understanding of the fundamental parameters controlling highly complex mineral-fluid-microbe interface reactions in the natural environment. This new knowledge not only enhances our understanding of global biogeochemical processes, but also provides the opportunity for interventions to be designed for environmental remediation and beneficial use.
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Cell functional enviromics: Unravelling the function of environmental factors
Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)
Alves Paula M
2011-06-01
Full Text Available Abstract Background While functional genomics, focused on gene functions and gene-gene interactions, has become a very active field of research in molecular biology, equivalent methodologies embracing the environment and gene-environment interactions are relatively less developed. Understanding the function of environmental factors is, however, of paramount importance given the complex, interactive nature of environmental and genetic factors across multiple time scales. Results Here, we propose a systems biology framework, where the function of environmental factors is set at its core. We set forth a "reverse" functional analysis approach, whereby cellular functions are reconstructed from the analysis of dynamic envirome data. Our results show these data sets can be mapped to less than 20 core cellular functions in a typical mammalian cell culture, while explaining over 90% of flux data variance. A functional enviromics map can be created, which provides a template for manipulating the environmental factors to induce a desired phenotypic trait. Conclusion Our results support the feasibility of cellular function reconstruction guided by the analysis and manipulation of dynamic envirome data.
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Metabonomics of ageing - Towards understanding metabolism of a long and healthy life.
Martin, Francois-Pierre J; Montoliu, Ivan; Kussmann, Martin
2017-07-01
Systems biology approaches have been increasingly employed in clinical studies to enhance our understanding of the role of genetics, environmental factors and their interactions on nutritional, health and disease status. Amongst the new omics technologies, metabonomics has emerged as a robust platform to capture metabolic and nutritional requirements by enabling, in a minimally invasive fashion, the monitoring of a wide range of biochemical compounds. Their variations reflect comprehensively the various molecular regulatory processes, which are tightly controlled and under the influence of genetics, diet, gut microbiota and other environmental factors. They are providing key insights into complex metabolic phenomena as well as into differences and specificities at individual and population level. The aim of this review is to evaluate promising metabolic insights towards understanding metabolism of a long and healthy life from pre-clinical and clinical metabonomics studies. We will also discuss analytical approaches to enable data integration, with an emphasis on the longitudinal component. Herein, we will illustrate current examples, challenges and perspectives in the applications of metabonomics monitoring and modelling approaches in the context of healthy ageing research. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier Ireland Ltd. All rights reserved.
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LC-MS/MS signal suppression effects in the analysis of pesticides in complex environmental matrices.
Choi, B K; Hercules, D M; Gusev, A I
2001-02-01
The application of LC separation and mobile phase additives in addressing LC-MS/MS matrix signal suppression effects for the analysis of pesticides in a complex environmental matrix was investigated. It was shown that signal suppression is most significant for analytes eluting early in the LC-MS analysis. Introduction of different buffers (e.g. ammonium formate, ammonium hydroxide, formic acid) into the LC mobile phase was effective in improving signal correlation between the matrix and standard samples. The signal improvement is dependent on buffer concentration as well as LC separation of the matrix components. The application of LC separation alone was not effective in addressing suppression effects when characterizing complex matrix samples. Overloading of the LC column by matrix components was found to significantly contribute to analyte-matrix co-elution and suppression of signal. This signal suppression effect can be efficiently compensated by 2D LC (LC-LC) separation techniques. The effectiveness of buffers and LC separation in improving signal correlation between standard and matrix samples is discussed.
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International Nuclear Information System (INIS)
Matalucci, R.V.
1995-07-01
This document represents a summary of 27 foreign-based environmental restoration and waste management technologies that have been screened and technically evaluated for application to the cleanup problems of the Department of Energy (DOE) nuclear weapons complex. The evaluation of these technologies was initiated in 1992 and completed in 1995 under the DOE's International Technology Coordination Program of the Office of Technology Development. A methodology was developed for conducting a country-by-country survey of several regions of the world where specific environmental technology capabilities and market potential were investigated. The countries that were selected from a rank-ordering process for the survey included: then West Germany, the Netherlands, France, Japan, Taiwan, the Czech and Slovak Republics, and the Former Soviet Union. The notably innovative foreign technologies included in this document were screened initially from a list of several hundred, and then evaluated based on criteria that examined for level of maturity, suitability to the DOE needs, and for potential cost effective application at a DOE site. Each of the selected foreign technologies that were evaluated in this effort for DOE application were subsequently matched with site-specific environmental problem units across the DOE complex using the Technology Needs Assessment CROSSWALK Report. For ease of tracking these technologies to site problem units, and to facilitate their input into the DOE EnviroTRADE Information System, they were categorized into the following three areas: (1) characterization, monitoring and sensors, (2) waste treatment and separations, and (3) waste containment. Technical data profiles regarding these technologies include title and description, performance information, development status, key regulatory considerations, intellectual property rights, institute and contact personnel, and references
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Information Fusion Issues in the UK Environmental Science Community
Giles, J. R.
2010-12-01
The Earth is a complex, interacting system which cannot be neatly divided by discipline boundaries. To gain an holistic understanding of even a component of an Earth System requires researchers to draw information from multiple disciplines and integrate these to develop a broader understanding. But the barriers to achieving this are formidable. Research funders attempting to encourage the integration of information across disciplines need to take into account culture issues, the impact of intrusion of projects on existing information systems, ontologies and semantics, scale issues, heterogeneity and the uncertainties associated with combining information from diverse sources. Culture - There is a cultural dualism in the environmental sciences were information sharing is both rewarded and discouraged. Researchers who share information both gain new opportunities and risk reducing their chances of being first author in an high-impact journal. The culture of the environmental science community has to be managed to ensure that information fusion activities are encouraged. Intrusion - Existing information systems have an inertia of there own because of the intellectual and financial capital invested within them. Information fusion activities must recognise and seek to minimise the potential impact of their projects on existing systems. Low intrusion information fusions systems such as OGC web-service and the OpenMI Standard are to be preferred to whole-sale replacement of existing systems. Ontology and Semantics - Linking information across disciplines requires a clear understanding of the concepts deployed in the vocabulary used to describe them. Such work is a critical first step to creating routine information fusion. It is essential that national bodies, such as geological surveys organisations, document and publish their ontologies, semantics, etc. Scale - Environmental processes operate at scales ranging from microns to the scale of the Solar System and
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Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)
Alejandra Serrano
2017-09-01
Full Text Available Grapevine fruit development is a dynamic process that can be divided into three stages: formation (I, lag (II, and ripening (III, in which physiological and biochemical changes occur, leading to cell differentiation and accumulation of different solutes. These stages can be positively or negatively affected by multiple environmental factors. During the last decade, efforts have been made to understand berry development from a global perspective. Special attention has been paid to transcriptional and metabolic networks associated with the control of grape berry development, and how external factors affect the ripening process. In this review, we focus on the integration of global approaches, including proteomics, metabolomics, and especially transcriptomics, to understand grape berry development. Several aspects will be considered, including seed development and the production of seedless fruits; veraison, at which anthocyanin accumulation begins in the berry skin of colored varieties; and hormonal regulation of berry development and signaling throughout ripening, focusing on the transcriptional regulation of hormone receptors, protein kinases, and genes related to secondary messenger sensing. Finally, berry responses to different environmental factors, including abiotic (temperature, water-related stress and UV-B radiation and biotic (fungi and viruses stresses, and how they can significantly modify both, development and composition of vine fruit, will be discussed. Until now, advances have been made due to the application of Omics tools at different molecular levels. However, the potential of these technologies should not be limited to the study of single-level questions; instead, data obtained by these platforms should be integrated to unravel the molecular aspects of grapevine development. Therefore, the current challenge is the generation of new tools that integrate large-scale data to assess new questions in this field, and to support
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Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)
Catherine-Alexandra Grégoire
Full Text Available Environmental enrichment (EE exerts powerful effects on brain physiology, and is widely used as an experimental and therapeutic tool. Typical EE paradigms are multifactorial, incorporating elements of physical exercise, environmental complexity, social interactions and stress, however the specific contributions of these variables have not been separable using conventional housing paradigms. Here, we evaluated the impacts of these individual variables on adult hippocampal neurogenesis by using a novel "Alternating EE" paradigm. For 4 weeks, adult male CD1 mice were alternated daily between two enriched environments; by comparing groups that differed in one of their two environments, the individual and combinatorial effects of EE variables could be resolved. The Alternating EE paradigm revealed that (1 voluntary running for 3 days/week was sufficient to increase both mitotic and post-mitotic stages of hippocampal neurogenesis, confirming the central importance of exercise; (2 a complex environment (comprised of both social interactions and rotated inanimate objects had no effect on neurogenesis itself, but enhanced depolarization-induced c-Fos expression (attributable to social interactions and buffered stress-induced plasma corticosterone levels (attributable to inanimate objects; and (3 neither social isolation, group housing, nor chronically increased levels of plasma corticosterone had a prolonged impact on neurogenesis. Mouse strain, handling and type of running apparatus were tested and excluded as potential confounding factors. These findings provide valuable insights into the relative effects of key EE variables on adult neurogenesis, and this "Alternating EE" paradigm represents a useful tool for exploring the contributions of individual EE variables to mechanisms of neural plasticity.
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Grégoire, Catherine-Alexandra; Bonenfant, David; Le Nguyen, Adalie; Aumont, Anne; Fernandes, Karl J. L.
2014-01-01
Environmental enrichment (EE) exerts powerful effects on brain physiology, and is widely used as an experimental and therapeutic tool. Typical EE paradigms are multifactorial, incorporating elements of physical exercise, environmental complexity, social interactions and stress, however the specific contributions of these variables have not been separable using conventional housing paradigms. Here, we evaluated the impacts of these individual variables on adult hippocampal neurogenesis by using a novel “Alternating EE” paradigm. For 4 weeks, adult male CD1 mice were alternated daily between two enriched environments; by comparing groups that differed in one of their two environments, the individual and combinatorial effects of EE variables could be resolved. The Alternating EE paradigm revealed that (1) voluntary running for 3 days/week was sufficient to increase both mitotic and post-mitotic stages of hippocampal neurogenesis, confirming the central importance of exercise; (2) a complex environment (comprised of both social interactions and rotated inanimate objects) had no effect on neurogenesis itself, but enhanced depolarization-induced c-Fos expression (attributable to social interactions) and buffered stress-induced plasma corticosterone levels (attributable to inanimate objects); and (3) neither social isolation, group housing, nor chronically increased levels of plasma corticosterone had a prolonged impact on neurogenesis. Mouse strain, handling and type of running apparatus were tested and excluded as potential confounding factors. These findings provide valuable insights into the relative effects of key EE variables on adult neurogenesis, and this “Alternating EE” paradigm represents a useful tool for exploring the contributions of individual EE variables to mechanisms of neural plasticity. PMID:24465980
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Advancing Environmental Health: A Ballroom Dance Between Human Health and Earth Sciences Research
Miller, A.
2016-12-01
The mission of the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences (NIEHS) is to discover how the environment affects people in order to promote healthier lives. Translation of this mission into a meaningful reality entails extensive interdisciplinary interactions, expertise, and collaborations between the traditional health and earth sciences communities. Efforts to advance our understanding of adverse effects and illness associated with environmental factors requires not only a refined understanding of the biological mechanisms and pathways (e.g., inflammation, epigenetic changes, oxidative stress, mutagenesis, etc.) related to function and disease, but also the incredibly broad and complex environmental exposures and systems that influence these processes. Further complicating efforts to understand such interactions is the need to take into account individual susceptibility to disease across the human life span. While it is clear that environmental exposures can be readily linked to disease in individuals and to disproportionate health disparities in populations, the underlying risk factors for such findings are often elusive. Health and earth scientists have a long tradition of crossing their scientific divides to work together on a wide range of problems and issues, including disasters. Emergency situations, such as the environmental asbestos contamination in Libby, Montana, the Gulf Oil Spill, numerous chemical releases into air and water, wildfires, the World Trade Center Attack, and responses to Ebola, and now Zika, demand the collective expertise of the "environmental health sciences enterprise" to protect the public's health, facilitate recovery, and improve future preparedness. Furthermore, such high visibility efforts stand as a clear example of what human and earth sciences research can accomplish when transformative interdisciplinary approaches and a diverse well-trained cadre of scientists dance together on the ballroom floor.
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Approaches for the environmental evaluation of two swamp complexes of the Momposina depression
International Nuclear Information System (INIS)
Caballero, Humberto; Durango, Consuelo
1998-01-01
The swamp complexes of the Momposina depression in the lower Magdalena River have been submitted to irrational exploitation, transformation and contamination mainly since the beginning of the century, process that has be en getting worse in the last decade. The most evident manifestation of the environmental deterioration is expressed by the drastic reduction of fishing, with important socio-economic effects to the population that lives from this source. The most notorious causes of the actual state of the ecosystem were detected, and some preliminary considerations for its management are presented. However, due to the modifications that the complexes have suffered (closure of the natural sewer, construction of jarillones, modifications of the internal water flows and sediments, over exploitation, of fish and herpetofauna), the deterioration of the limnologic conditions is moderated, which allows to begin recuperation plans. The major impacts were observed in the fauna of birds and reptiles associated to the swamps; the decrease of the ictics populations seems to be related to the strong impact generated by the fishing action used and the interruption of the natural cycles of fish. The possibility of rebuilding the communication swamp-river should be studied with care because it seems the system has arrived to new conditions. The re-opening of the sewers could mean a new unbalanced condition represented mainly by the contamination coming from the Magdalena River
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Environmental Implementation Plan
International Nuclear Information System (INIS)
1993-01-01
The purpose of the Environmental Implementation Plan (EIP) is to show the current and future (five years) environmental plans from individual site organizations and divisions, as well as site environmental programs and initiatives which are designed to protect the environment and meet or exceed changing environmental/regulatory requirements. Communicating with site organizations, departments, and committees is essential in making the site's environmental-planning process work. The EIP gives the site the what, when, how, and why for environmental requirements. Through teamwork and proactive planning, a partnership for environmental excellence is formed to achieve the site vision for SRS to become the recognized model for Environmental Excellence in the Department of Energy's Nuclear Weapons Complex
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Environmental Implementation Plan
Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)
1993-03-15
The purpose of the Environmental Implementation Plan (EIP) is to show the current and future (five years) environmental plans from individual site organizations and divisions, as well as site environmental programs and initiatives which are designed to protect the environment and meet or exceed changing environmental/regulatory requirements. Communicating with site organizations, departments, and committees is essential in making the site's environmental-planning process work. The EIP gives the site the what, when, how, and why for environmental requirements. Through teamwork and proactive planning, a partnership for environmental excellence is formed to achieve the site vision for SRS to become the recognized model for Environmental Excellence in the Department of Energy's Nuclear Weapons Complex.
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Environmental Implementation Plan
Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)
1993-03-15
The purpose of the Environmental Implementation Plan (EIP) is to show the current and future (five years) environmental plans from individual site organizations and divisions, as well as site environmental programs and initiatives which are designed to protect the environment and meet or exceed changing environmental/regulatory requirements. Communicating with site organizations, departments, and committees is essential in making the site`s environmental-planning process work. The EIP gives the site the what, when, how, and why for environmental requirements. Through teamwork and proactive planning, a partnership for environmental excellence is formed to achieve the site vision for SRS to become the recognized model for Environmental Excellence in the Department of Energy`s Nuclear Weapons Complex.
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Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)
Javed Mohammed Khan
Full Text Available Understanding the basis of the binding of a T cell receptor (TR to the peptide-MHC (pMHC complex is essential due to the vital role it plays in adaptive immune response. We describe the use of computed binding (free energy (BE, TR paratope, pMHC epitope, molecular surface electrostatic potential (MSEP and calculated TR docking angle (θ to analyse 61 TR/pMHC crystallographic structures to comprehend TR/pMHC interaction. In doing so, we have successfully demonstrated a novel/rational approach for θ calculation, obtained a linear correlation between BE and θ without any "codon" or amino acid preference, provided an explanation for TR ability to scan many pMHC ligands yet specifically bind one, proposed a mechanism for pMHC recognition by TR leading to T cell activation and illustrated the importance of the peptide in determining TR specificity, challenging the "germline bias" theory.
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Brower, A. M.; Corfu, F.; Bybee, G. M.; Lehmann, J.; Owen-Smith, T.
2016-12-01
The Kunene Anorthosite Complex, located in south west Angola, is one of the largest massif-type anorthosite intrusions on Earth, with an areal extent of at least 18 000 km2. Previous studies considered the Complex to consist of a series of coalesced plutons. However, the ages and relative emplacement sequence of these plutons are unknown. Understanding the relative timing of the pluton emplacement is crucial for understanding how these enigmatic magmas form and how they rise through the crust. Here we present new high precision U-Pb ID-TIMS ages (n=10) on zircons and baddeleyites for many of the coalesced plutons across the 300-km-long anorthositic complex. These new geochronological results reveal subtle variations in crystallization age between the coalesced plutons. There is no gradual age progression between plutons, but distinct groupings of ages (Fig.1). Age clusters of 1379.8 ± 2 Ma (n=5) occur north of the Red Granite NE-SW-striking intrusions, whereas in the south there is an older age grouping of 1390.4 ± 2.3 (n=3). Two additional ages of 1400.5 ± 1.3 in the centre and 1438.4 ± 1.1 Ma in the south east have been obtained. These results indicate that the Kunene anorthosites were emplaced over 60 Ma and may suggest long-lived magmatic systems and/or slowly ascending plutons. We also find a link between pluton composition and age. In general, leuconoritic domains are older than the leucotroctolitic domains. This may imply that the first pulses of magma received a greater degree of contamination, forcing the broadly basaltic magma to produce orthopyroxene as the main mafic phase. The later pulses receive less contamination as they ascend through the already partially melted crust, producing olivine as the mafic phase and deforming the older domains. This study reiterates the multiphase petrogenesis of Proterozoic anorthosites and sheds light on the assembly of crystal-rich magmas as they ascend through the crust.
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Understanding, Classifying, and Selecting Environmentally Acceptable Hydraulic Fluids
2016-08-01
traditional mineral oil; therefore, the life cycle costs over time may be reduced . REPLACEMENT OF EXISTING HYDRAULIC FLUIDS: Hydraulic fluids in existing...properly maintaining the fluid can extend the time interval between fluid changes, thus reducing the overall operating cost of the EA hydraulic fluid. It...Environmentally Acceptable Hydraulic Fluids by Timothy J. Keyser, Robert N. Samuel, and Timothy L. Welp INTRODUCTION: On a daily basis, the United States Army
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The Complex Relationship Between Diet And Health.
Bleich, Sara N; Jones-Smith, Jessica; Wolfson, Julia A; Zhu, Xiaozhou; Story, Mary
2015-11-01
The relationship between food and health is complex. Everyone needs food to live, but too little food, too much food, or the wrong type of food has negative consequences for health. To increase understanding of this relationship, we describe trends and patterns in food-related diseases among both adults and children. Using an ecological framework, we then describe why food intake is complex with a discussion of three broad levels--macro (including policy and social-cultural norms), local community, and individual environments--and their relationship to food consumption. Given the strong relationship between an individual's food choice and his or her surrounding environment, we end with examples of policy responses that aim to help people overcome environmental disincentives toward healthy eating. Finding ways to make eating healthfully easier and affordable for all populations is essential to shifting the average American diet toward one that promotes health. Project HOPE—The People-to-People Health Foundation, Inc.
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DEFF Research Database (Denmark)
Fang, Lingzhao; Sahana, Goutam; Ma, Peipei
2017-01-01
sequence variants in Holstein (HOL) and Jersey (JER) cattle were analysed. We first carried out a post-GWAS analysis in a HOL training population to assess the degree of enrichment of the association signals in the gene regions defined by each GO term. We then extended the genomic best linear unbiased......BACKGROUND: A better understanding of the genetic architecture underlying complex traits (e.g., the distribution of causal variants and their effects) may aid in the genomic prediction. Here, we hypothesized that the genomic variants of complex traits might be enriched in a subset of genomic...
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International Nuclear Information System (INIS)
Cavelli, C.M.; Sartori, S.
1993-06-01
This review of evaluation criteria for environmental impacts assessments in Italy covers the following aspects: the efficacy of current Italian normatives governing assessment methods, the current approach of regional public administrations, the necessity for the creation of a national regulating board, environmental impacts assessment for complex environmental systems, the application of impacts assessment recommendations to resource development modelling in the planning of integrated environmental-economic systems, the involvement of the general public in decision making, techniques to determine the monetary worth of environmental resources, the use of multi-criteria analysis techniques
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Promoting obesity prevention together with environmental sustainability.
Skouteris, Helen; Cox, Rachael; Huang, Terry; Rutherford, Leonie; Edwards, Susan; Cutter-Mackenzie, Amy
2014-09-01
There is mounting evidence that current food production, transport, land use and urban design negatively impact both climate change and obesity outcomes. Recommendations to prevent climate change provide an opportunity to improve environmental outcomes and alter our food and physical activity environments in favour of a 'healthier' energy balance. Hence, setting goals to achieve a more sustainable society offers a unique opportunity to reduce levels of obesity. In the case of children, this approach is supported with evidence that even from a young age they show emerging understandings of complex environmental issues and are capable of both internalizing positive environmental values and influencing their own environmental outcomes. Given young children's high levels of environmental awareness, it is easy to see how environmental sustainability messages may help educate and motivate children to make 'healthier' choices. The purpose of this paper is to highlight a new approach to tackling childhood obesity by tapping into existing social movements, such as environmental sustainability, in order to increase children's motivation for healthy eating and physical activity behaviours and thus foster more wholesome communities. We contend that a social marketing framework may be a particularly useful tool to foster behaviour change beneficial to both personal and environmental health by increasing perceived benefits and reducing perceived costs of behaviour change. Consequently, we propose a new framework which highlights suggested pathways for helping children initiate and sustain 'healthier' behaviours in order to inform future research and potentially childhood obesity intervention strategies. © The Author (2013). Published by Oxford University Press. All rights reserved. For Permissions, please email: journals.permissions@oup.com.
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The Impact of Evolutionary Driving Forces on Human Complex Diseases: A Population Genetics Approach
Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)
Amr T. M. Saeb
2016-01-01
Full Text Available Investigating the molecular evolution of human genome has paved the way to understand genetic adaptation of humans to the environmental changes and corresponding complex diseases. In this review, we discussed the historical origin of genetic diversity among human populations, the evolutionary driving forces that can affect genetic diversity among populations, and the effects of human movement into new environments and gene flow on population genetic diversity. Furthermore, we presented the role of natural selection on genetic diversity and complex diseases. Then we reviewed the disadvantageous consequences of historical selection events in modern time and their relation to the development of complex diseases. In addition, we discussed the effect of consanguinity on the incidence of complex diseases in human populations. Finally, we presented the latest information about the role of ancient genes acquired from interbreeding with ancient hominids in the development of complex diseases.
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Understanding How to Support Family Caregivers of Seniors with Complex Needs
Charles, Lesley; Brémault-Phillips, Suzette; Parmar, Jasneet; Johnson, Melissa; Sacrey, Lori-Ann
2017-01-01
Purpose of the Study The purpose of this study was to describe the experiences and challenges of supporting family caregivers of seniors with complex needs and to outline support strategies and research priorities aimed at supporting them. Design and Methods A CIHR-funded, two-day conference entitled “Supporting Family Caregivers of Seniors: Improving Care and Caregiver Outcomes” was held. An integrated knowledge translation approach guided this planning conference. Day 1 included presentations of research evidence, followed by participant engagement Qualitative data was collected regarding facilitators, barriers/gaps, and recommendations for the provision of caregiver supports. Day 2 focused on determination of research priorities. Results Identified facilitators to the provision of caregiver support included accessibility of health-care and community-based resources, availability of well-intended health-care providers, and recognition of caregivers by the system. Barriers/gaps related to challenges with communication, access to information, knowledge of what is needed, system navigation, access to financial resources, and current policies. Recommendations regarding caregiver services and research revolved around assisting caregivers to self-identify and seek support, formalizing caregiver supports, centralizing resources, making system navigation available, and preparing the next generation for caregiving. Implication A better understanding of the needs of family caregivers and ways to support them is critical to seniors’ health services redesign. PMID:28690707
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Environmental Systems Research Candidates Program--FY2000 Annual report
Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)
Piet, Steven James
2001-01-01
The Environmental Systems Research Candidates (ESRC) Program, which is scheduled to end September 2001, was established in April 2000 as part of the Environmental Systems Research and Analysis Program at the Idaho National Engineering and Environmental Laboratory (INEEL) to provide key science and technology to meet the clean-up mission of the U.S. Department of Energy Office of Environmental Management, and perform research and development that will help solve current legacy problems and enhance the INEEL’s scientific and technical capability for solving longer-term challenges. This report documents the progress and accomplishments of the ESRC Program from April through September 2000. The ESRC Program consists of 24 tasks subdivided within four research areas: A. Environmental Characterization Science and Technology. This research explores new data acquisition, processing, and interpretation methods that support cleanup and long-term stewardship decisions. B. Subsurface Understanding. This research expands understanding of the biology, chemistry, physics, hydrology, and geology needed to improve models of contamination problems in the earth’s subsurface. C. Environmental Computational Modeling. This research develops INEEL computing capability for modeling subsurface contaminants and contaminated facilities. D. Environmental Systems Science and Technology. This research explores novel processes to treat waste and decontaminate facilities. Our accomplishments during FY 2000 include the following: • We determined, through analysis of samples taken in and around the INEEL site, that mercury emissions from the INEEL calciner have not raised regional off-INEEL mercury contamination levels above normal background. • We have initially demonstrated the use of x-ray fluorescence to image uranium and heavy metal concentrations in soil samples. • We increased our understanding of the subsurface environment; applying mathematical complexity theory to the problem of
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Challenges and Opportunities in Genome-Wide Environmental Interaction (GWEI) studies
Aschard, Hugues; Lutz, Sharon; Maus, Bärbel; Duell, Eric J.; Fingerlin, Tasha; Chatterjee, Nilanjan; Kraft, Peter; Van Steen, Kristel
2012-01-01
The interest in performing gene-environment interaction studies has seen a significant increase with the increase of advanced molecular genetics techniques. Practically, it became possible to investigate the role of environmental factors in disease risk and hence to investigate their role as genetic effect modifiers. The understanding that genetics is important in the uptake and metabolism of toxic substances is an example of how genetic profiles can modify important environmental risk factors to disease. Several rationales exist to set up gene-environment interaction studies and the technical challenges related to these studies – when the number of environmental or genetic risk factors is relatively small – has been described before. In the post-genomic era, it is now possible to study thousands of genes and their interaction with the environment. This brings along a whole range of new challenges and opportunities. Despite a continuing effort in developing efficient methods and optimal bioinformatics infrastructures to deal with the available wealth of data, the challenge remains how to best present and analyze Genome-Wide Environmental Interaction (GWEI) studies involving multiple genetic and environmental factors. Since GWEIs are performed at the intersection of statistical genetics, bioinformatics and epidemiology, usually similar problems need to be dealt with as for Genome-Wide Association gene-gene Interaction (GWAI) studies. However, additional complexities need to be considered which are typical for large-scale epidemiological studies, but are also related to “joining” two heterogeneous types of data in explaining complex disease trait variation or for prediction purposes. PMID:22760307
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Stewart, Alex G; Luria, Paolo; Reid, John; Lyons, Mary; Jarvis, Richard
2010-01-01
Applied research in a public health setting seeks to provide professionals with insights and knowledge into complex environmental issues to guide actions that reduce inequalities and improve health. We describe ten environmental case studies that explore the public perception of health risk. We employed logical analysis of components of each case study and comparative information to generate new evidence. The findings highlight how concerns about environmental issues measurably affect people’s wellbeing and led to the development of new understanding about the benefits of taking an earlier and more inclusive approach to risk communication that can now be tested further. PMID:20617024
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"We Don't Know Enough": Environmental Education and Pro-Environmental Behaviour Perceptions
Ajaps, Sandra; McLellan, Ros
2015-01-01
This study sought to understand environmental knowledge and attitudes among young people to explain the relationship between environmental education (EE) and reported pro-environmental behaviours (PEB). A mixed-methods design was employed: 88 university students in the UK and Nigeria were surveyed and 6 were subsequently interviewed. The findings…
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Final Site-Wide Environmental Impact Statement for the Y-12 National Security Complex
International Nuclear Information System (INIS)
2001-01-01
The National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) a separately organized agency within the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) is responsible for providing the Nation with nuclear weapons and ensuring that those nuclear weapons remain safe, secure, and reliable. As one of the DOE major production facilities, the Y-12 National Security Complex has been DOE's primary site for enriched uranium processing and storage, and one of the manufacturing facilities for maintaining the U.S. nuclear weapons stockpile. In response to the end of the Cold War and changes in the world's political regimes, the emphasis of the U.S. weapons program has shifted dramatically over the past few years from developing and producing new weapons to dismantlement and maintenance of a smaller, enduring stockpile. The ''Stockpile Stewardship and Management Programmatic Environmental Impact Statement'' [SSM PEIS], DOE/EIS-0236, issued in September 1996, evaluated alternatives for maintaining the safety and reliability of the nuclear weapons stockpile without underground nuclear testing or production of new-design weapons. In the SSM PEIS Record of Decision (ROD), DOE decided to maintain the national security missions at the Y-12 National Security Complex, but to downsize Y-12 consistent with reduced requirements. These national security missions include (1) maintaining the capability and capacity to fabricate secondaries, limited life components, and case parts for nuclear response; (2) evaluating components and subsystems returned from the stockpile; (3) storing enriched uranium that is designated for national security purposes; (4) storing depleted uranium and lithium parts; (5) dismantling nuclear weapons secondaries returned from the stockpile; (6) processing uranium and lithium (which includes chemical recovery, purification, and conversion of enriched uranium and lithium to a form suitable for long-term storage and/or further use); and (7) providing support to weapons laboratories. During the
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Environmental management at Nuclear Fuel Complex
International Nuclear Information System (INIS)
Choudhary, S.; Kalidas, R.
2005-01-01
Nuclear Fuel Complex (NFC) a unit of Department of Atomic Energy (DAE) is manufacturing and supplying fuel assemblies and structurals for Atomic Power Reactors, Seamless Stainless Steel/ Special Alloy Tubes and high purity/special materials for various industries including Atomic Energy, Space and Electronics. NFC is spread over about 200 acres area. It consists of various chemical, metallurgical, fabrication and assembly plants engaged in processing uranium from concentrate to final fuel assembly, processing zirconium from ore to metallic products and processing various special high purity materials from ore or intermediate level to the final product. The plants were commissioned in the early seventies and capacities of these plants have been periodically enhanced to cater to the growing demands of the Indian Nuclear Industry. In the two streams of plants processing Uranium and zirconium, various types and categories including low level radioactive wastes are generated. These require proper handling and disposal. The overall management of radioactive and other waste aims at minimizing the generation and release to the environment. In this presentation, the environment management methodologies as practiced in Nuclear Fuel Complex are discussed. (author)
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Managing inherent complexity for sustainable walleye fisheries in Lake Erie
Roseman, Edward F.; Drouin, Richard; Gaden, Marc; Knight, Roger; Tyson, Jeff; Zhao, Yingming; Taylor, William W.; Lynch, Abigail J.; Léonard, Nancy J.
2012-01-01
In Lake Erie, Walleye (Sander vitreus vitreus) is king. The naturally occurring species is the foundation of commercial fishing operations on the Canadian side of the lake and is a much-prized sport fish on the American side. Management of Lake Erie walleye fisheries is complex and takes place in an inter-jurisdictional setting composed of resource agencies from the states of Michigan (MDNR), Ohio (ODNR), Pennsylvania (PFBC), and New York (NYDEC) and the province of Ontario (OMNR). The complexity of walleye management is exacerbated by interactions among environmental and ecological changes in Lake Erie, complex life-history characteristics of the species, public demand for walleye, and cultural/governance differences among managing groups and their respective constituents. Success of future management strategies will largely hinge upon our ability to understand these inherent complexities and to employ tactics that successfully accommodate stock productivity and human demand in a highly dynamic environment. In this report, we review the history of Lake Erie walleye management, outline the multi-jurisdictional process for international management of walleye, and discuss strategies to address challenges facing managers.
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How to build public information and understanding : some French examples
International Nuclear Information System (INIS)
Bergeonneau, P.
1998-01-01
Public perception of nuclear issues and of the environmental impact is largely dependent on the general public's knowledge and understanding of complex scientific and technical matters which characterize the nuclear world, and on information provided by mass media which primarily tends to emphasize dramatic aspects. Consequently public information must be provided as completely and in as straightforward a manner as possible, and be adapted for people who do not have a clear understanding of nuclear technologies. Information must be objective in all cases, in order to increase credibility over time. This is important because confidence in scientists, and more generally in technical progress, has been eroded. In addition, when providing information, one has to anticipate events as much as possible in order to avoid misunderstandings when crises occur. Explanations during crises will then be better understood and confidence will be maintained. Examples of campaigns undertaken by the French Atomic Energy Commission are given in this paper. (author)
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International Environmental Institute
International Nuclear Information System (INIS)
DiSibio, R.R.
1992-01-01
The International Environmental Institute is being established at the Hanford Site to provide training and education in environmental restoration and waste management technologies and to serve as an interface for exchange of information among government laboratories, regional and federal governments, universities, and US industries. Recognized as the flagship of the nation's environmental management effort, the Hanford Site provides a unique living environmental laboratory that represents the most extensive, complex, and diverse cleanup challenges anywhere. An Environmental Institute director has been selected, the organizational structure has been established, and initial phases of operation have begun. The combined resources of the Hanford Site and the Environmental Institute offer unprecedented technological capabilities for dealing with the nation's environmental issues
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DEFF Research Database (Denmark)
Pawson, Eric; Christensen, Andreas Aagaard
2017-01-01
Environmental history is an interdisciplinary pursuit that has developed as a form of conscience to counter an increasingly powerful, forward-looking liberal theory of the environment. It deals with the relations between environmental ideas and materialities, from the work of the geographers George...... risks”. These are exposed by environmental history’s focus on long-run analysis and its narrative form that identifies the stories that we tell ourselves about nature. How a better understanding of past environmental transformations helps to analyse society and agency, and what this can mean...... for solutions and policies, is the agenda for an engaged environmental history from now on....
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The precautionary principle in environmental science.
Kriebel, D; Tickner, J; Epstein, P; Lemons, J; Levins, R; Loechler, E L; Quinn, M; Rudel, R; Schettler, T; Stoto, M
2001-01-01
Environmental scientists play a key role in society's responses to environmental problems, and many of the studies they perform are intended ultimately to affect policy. The precautionary principle, proposed as a new guideline in environmental decision making, has four central components: taking preventive action in the face of uncertainty; shifting the burden of proof to the proponents of an activity; exploring a wide range of alternatives to possibly harmful actions; and increasing public participation in decision making. In this paper we examine the implications of the precautionary principle for environmental scientists, whose work often involves studying highly complex, poorly understood systems, while at the same time facing conflicting pressures from those who seek to balance economic growth and environmental protection. In this complicated and contested terrain, it is useful to examine the methodologies of science and to consider ways that, without compromising integrity and objectivity, research can be more or less helpful to those who would act with precaution. We argue that a shift to more precautionary policies creates opportunities and challenges for scientists to think differently about the ways they conduct studies and communicate results. There is a complicated feedback relation between the discoveries of science and the setting of policy. While maintaining their objectivity and focus on understanding the world, environmental scientists should be aware of the policy uses of their work and of their social responsibility to do science that protects human health and the environment. The precautionary principle highlights this tight, challenging linkage between science and policy. PMID:11673114
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International Nuclear Information System (INIS)
Johnson, D.; Beach, C.
1990-01-01
Hydride generation techniques are used routinely for the determination of As, Se, Sb and Sn in water samples. Advantages include high sensitivity, simplicity, and relative freedom from interferences. Continuous-flow designs greatly reduce analysis time as well as improve precision and allow for automation. However the accurate analysis of more complex environmental samples such as industrial sludges, soil samples, river sediments, and fly ash remains difficult. Numerous contributing factors influence the accuracy of the hydride technique. Sample digestion methods and sample preparation procedures are of critical importance. The digestion must adequately solubilize the elements of interest without loss by volatilization. Sample preparation procedures that guarantee the proper analyte oxidation state and eliminate the nitric acid and inter-element interferences are needed. In this study, difficult environmental samples were analyzed for As, Se, Sb, and Sn by continuous flow hydride generation. Sample preparation methods were optimized to eliminate interferences. The results of spike recovery studies will be presented. Data from the analysis of the same samples by graphite furnace AAS will be presented for comparison of accuracy, precision, and analysis time
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Understanding the visual resource
Floyd L. Newby
1971-01-01
Understanding our visual resources involves a complex interweaving of motivation and cognitive recesses; but, more important, it requires that we understand and can identify those characteristics of a landscape that influence the image formation process. From research conducted in Florida, three major variables were identified that appear to have significant effect...
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Lukcso, David; Guidotti, Tee Lamont; Franklin, Donald E; Burt, Allan
2016-01-01
Building Health Sciences, Inc. (BHS), investigated environmental conditions by many modalities in 71 discreet areas of 12 buildings in a government building complex that had experienced persistent occupant complaints despite correction of deficiencies following a prior survey. An online health survey was completed by 7,637 building occupants (49% response rate), a subset of whom voluntarily wore personal sampling apparatus and underwent medical evaluation. Building environmental measures were within current standards and guidelines, with few outliers. Four environmental factors were consistently associated with group-level building-related health complaints: physical comfort/discomfort, odor, job stress, and glare. Several other factors were frequently commented on by participants, including cleanliness, renovation and construction activities, and noise. Low relative humidity was significantly associated with lower respiratory and "sick building syndrome"-type symptoms. No other environmental conditions (including formaldehyde, PM10 [particulate matter with an aerodynamic diameter work but at reduced capacity), and increase in reported symptom-days, including symptoms not related to respiratory disease. We found that in buildings without unusual hazards and with environmental and air quality indicators within the range of acceptable indoor air quality standards, there is an identifiable population of occupants with a high prevalence of asthma and allergic disease who disproportionately report discomfort and lost productivity due to symptoms and that in "normal" buildings these outcome indicators are more closely associated with host factors than with environmental conditions. We concluded from the experience of this study that building-related health complaints should be investigated at the work-area level and not at a building-wide level. An occupant-centric medical evaluation should guide environmental investigations, especially when screening results of building
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The interaction between environmental insults and human health is complex. Environmental exposures tend to cluster, with disamenities (e.g., landfills, industrial plants) often located in high-minority and largely poor neighborhoods, while wealthier neighborhoods contain amenitie...
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What Motivates Student Environmental Activists on College Campuses? An In-Depth Qualitative Study
Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)
Cadi Y. Fung
2017-11-01
Full Text Available Public concern for the natural environment continues to grow as complex environmental problems emerge. One avenue where concern for the environment has been expressed is through activism. However, research on environmental activism, often aimed at understanding the motivations behind activist behavior, has largely focused on older adults. In this study, we extend the state of knowledge on environmental activism further by focusing on college students. We use qualitative methods (in-depth interviews and observations to examine the motivations behind student involvement in environmental activism on a state university campus. Our findings underscore that young people’s activist motivations are not stand-alone phenomena; they work in tandem with other processes and factors in a dynamic way and are influenced by an individual’s history, previous experiences and passion, a sense of community, existing incentives, and self-satisfaction derived from activist behavior.
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Pesavento, Maria; Alberti, Giancarla; Biesuz, Raffaela
2009-01-12
Different experimental approaches have been suggested in the last few decades to determine metal species in complex matrices of unknown composition as environmental waters. The methods are mainly focused on the determination of single species or groups of species. The more recent developments in trace elements speciation are reviewed focusing on methods for labile and free metal determination. Electrochemical procedures with low detection limit as anodic stripping voltammetry (ASV) and the competing ligand exchange with adsorption cathodic stripping voltammetry (CLE-AdCSV) have been widely employed in metal distribution studies in natural waters. Other electrochemical methods such as stripping chronopotentiometry and AGNES seem to be promising to evaluate the free metal concentration at the low levels of environmental samples. Separation techniques based on ion exchange (IE) and complexing resins (CR), and micro separation methods as the Donnan membrane technique (DMT), diffusive gradients in thin-film gels (DGT) and the permeation liquid membrane (PLM), are among the non-electrochemical methods largely used in this field and reviewed in the text. Under appropriate conditions such techniques make possible the evaluation of free metal ion concentration.
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An Essay on “Pre-elements” for the Renovation of Environmental Thoughts
Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)
Drago Kos
2015-12-01
Full Text Available The article discusses blind spots in the knowledge about the historical development of nature-culture relations. The result is a weak and anthropocentric “warped” understanding of the basic historical stages of the social relationship to nature. This default stance has an impact on modern versions of environmental reflection, and consequentially impacts the efficiency of solving today’s environmental dilemmas and problems. The topic is extremely extensive and complex, therefore an essayist and selective approach is inevitable. The purpose of the article is not to offer a new and more comprehensive “truth”, but to promote discussion and dialogue on alternative interpretations, which have been and are still largely marginalized. The ultimate objective is to draw attention to discussions on the revitalization of the fundamental constitutive elements of the relationship to nature that would also allow for the revitalization of environmental reflections, and thus perhaps also the revitalization of contemporary environmental theories and trends.
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Rodo, Christophe; Sargolini, Francesca; Save, Etienne
2017-03-01
The entorhinal-hippocampal circuitry has been suggested to play an important role in episodic memory but the contribution of the entorhinal cortex remains elusive. Predominant theories propose that the medial entorhinal cortex (MEC) processes spatial information whereas the lateral entorhinal cortex (LEC) processes non spatial information. A recent study using an object exploration task has suggested that the involvement of the MEC and LEC spatial and non-spatial information processing could be modulated by the amount of information to be processed, i.e. environmental complexity. To address this hypothesis we used an object exploration task in which rats with excitotoxic lesions of the MEC and LEC had to detect spatial and non-spatial novelty among a set of objects and we varied environmental complexity by decreasing the number of objects or amount of object diversity. Reducing diversity resulted in restored ability to process spatial and non-spatial information in MEC and LEC groups, respectively. Reducing the number of objects yielded restored ability to process non-spatial information in the LEC group but not the ability to process spatial information in the MEC group. The findings indicate that the MEC and LEC are not strictly necessary for spatial and non-spatial processing but that their involvement depends on the complexity of the information to be processed. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.
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Environmental Fundamentals. Environmental Education Curriculum.
Topeka Public Schools, KS.
This unit presents materials to develop some of the basic knowledge necessary for grasping the complex processes associated with environmental relationships. It is divided into five topics: (1) Basic Needs for Life--the biological necessities of plants and animals; (2) Food Web--the interactions between organisms; (3) Observational Skills--ways…
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Environmental Art as an Innovative Medium for Environmental Education in Biosphere Reserves
Marks, M.; Chandler, L.; Baldwin, C.
2017-01-01
A key goal of Biosphere Reserves (BR) is to foster environmental education for sustainable development. In this study we systematically analyse two cases in which environmental art is used as a mechanism to engage communities in "building environmental understanding", in Noosa BR in Australia and North Devon BR in the United Kingdom.…
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Age-dependent associations between telomere length and environmental conditions in roe deer.
Wilbourn, Rachael V; Froy, Hannah; McManus, Marie-Christina; Cheynel, Louise; Gaillard, Jean-Michel; Gilot-Fromont, Emmanuelle; Regis, Corinne; Rey, Benjamin; Pellerin, Maryline; Lemaître, Jean-François; Nussey, Daniel H
2017-09-01
Telomere length (TL) represents a promising biomarker of overall physiological state and of past environmental experiences, which could help us understand the drivers of life-history variation in natural populations. A growing number of studies in birds suggest that environmental stress or poor environmental conditions are associated with shortened TL, but studies of such relationships in wild mammals are lacking. Here, we compare leucocyte TL from cross-sectional samples collected from two French populations of roe deer which experience different environmental conditions. We found that, as predicted, TL was shorter in the population experiencing poor environmental conditions but that this difference was only significant in older individuals and was independent of sex and body mass. Unexpectedly, the difference was underpinned by a significant increase in TL with age in the population experiencing good environmental conditions, while there was no detectable relationship with age in poor conditions. These results demonstrate both the environmental sensitivity and complexity of telomere dynamics in natural mammal populations, and highlight the importance of longitudinal data to disentangle the within- and among-individual processes that generate them. © 2017 The Authors.
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Cohen, Daniel; Vlaev, Ivo; McMahon, Laurie; Harvey, Sarah; Mitchell, Andy; Borovoi, Leah; Darzi, Ara
2017-05-11
The Health and Social Care Act 2012 represents the most complex National Health Service reforms in history. High-quality clinical leadership is important for successful implementation of health service reform. However, little is known about the effectiveness of current leadership training. This study describes the use of a behavioral simulation to improve the knowledge and leadership of a cohort of medical doctors expected to take leadership roles in the National Health Service. A day-long behavioral simulation (The Crucible) was developed and run based on a fictitious but realistic health economy. Participants completed pre- and postsimulation questionnaires generating qualitative and quantitative data. Leadership skills, knowledge, and behavior change processes described by the "theory of planned behavior" were self-assessed pre- and postsimulation. Sixty-nine medical doctors attended. Participants deemed the simulation immersive and relevant. Significant improvements were shown in perceived knowledge, capability, attitudes, subjective norms, intentions, and leadership competency following the program. Nearly one third of participants reported that they had implemented knowledge and skills from the simulation into practice within 4 weeks. This study systematically demonstrates the effectiveness of behavioral simulation for clinical management training and understanding of health policy reform. Potential future uses and strategies for analysis are discussed. High-quality care requires understanding of health systems and strong leadership. Policymakers should consider the use of behavioral simulation to improve understanding of health service reform and development of leadership skills in clinicians, who readily adopt skills from simulation into everyday practice.
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Kira, Ernest S.; Komba, Sotco C.
2015-01-01
The study aimed to determine whether there was any significant difference in understanding levels between secondary school boys and girls on the concepts of environmental degradation, meteorology and climate change. Both structured survey and focus group discussions were used to collect information from 480 students, sampled randomly from 12…
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Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)
Eunju Hong
2018-04-01
Full Text Available This study aims to identify environmental air pollution adversely affecting pulmonary function among a community-based general population living in Korean industrial complexes. A total of 1963 residents participated in a pulmonary function test (PFT. The sample population consisted of an exposed group (n = 1487 living within a radius of 5 km of industrial complexes and a control group (n = 476 living over a radius of 10 km from the industrial complexes in Gwangyang and Yeosu cities. PFT results were calculated for each resident of the study population. On-site questionnaire surveys with face-to-face interviews were also conducted to collect more detailed information on personal lifestyles, medical history, exposure to air pollution, and respiratory disease and related symptoms. A total of 486 measured samples were collected by eight automated air-monitoring stations installed in four counties of Gwangyang and four counties of Yeosu in South Korea from January 2006 to February 2007. Mean levels of SO2 (0.012 ppm, CO (0.648 ppm, NO2 (0.02 ppm, O3 (0.034 ppm, and PM10 (43.07 μg/m3, collected within a radius of 5 km, were significantly higher than those collected over a radius of 10 km from Gwangyang and Yeosu industrial complexes. Prevalence odds ratio (OR of abnormal pulmonary function in the exposed group of residents (<5 km was elevated at 1.24 (95% CI 0.71–1.96, but not statistically significant (p > 0.05. In multiple linear regression analysis, forced expiratory volume in one second (FEV1 and forced vital capacity (FVC levels significantly declined as SO2, CO, and O3 levels increased when adjusting for age, sex, body mass index (BMI, alcohol, smoking, secondhand smoke, and respiratory disease and related symptoms (n = 1963 (p < 0.05. These results suggest that exposure to air pollution affects pulmonary function levels of residents living in Korean industrial complexes.
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1991 Annual report on scientific programs: A broad research program on the sciences of complexity
Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)
1991-01-01
1991 was continued rapid growth for the Santa Fe Institute (SFI) as it broadened its interdisciplinary research into the organization, evolution and operation of complex systems and sought deeply the principles underlying their dynamic behavior. Research on complex systems--the focus of work at SFI--involves an extraordinary range of topics normally studied in seemingly disparate fields. Natural systems displaying complex behavior range upwards from proteins and DNA through cells and evolutionary systems to human societies. Research models exhibiting complexity include nonlinear equations, spin glasses, cellular automata, genetic algorithms, classifier systems, and an array of other computational models. Some of the major questions facing complex systems researchers are: (1) explaining how complexity arises from the nonlinear interaction of simples components, (2) describing the mechanisms underlying high-level aggregate behavior of complex systems (such as the overt behavior of an organism, the flow of energy in an ecology, the GNP of an economy), and (3) creating a theoretical framework to enable predictions about the likely behavior of such systems in various conditions. The importance of understanding such systems in enormous: many of the most serious challenges facing humanity--e.g., environmental sustainability, economic stability, the control of disease--as well as many of the hardest scientific questions--e.g., protein folding, the distinction between self and non-self in the immune system, the nature of intelligence, the origin of life--require deep understanding of complex systems.
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1991 Annual report on scientific programs: A broad research program on the sciences of complexity
Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)
1991-12-31
1991 was continued rapid growth for the Santa Fe Institute (SFI) as it broadened its interdisciplinary research into the organization, evolution and operation of complex systems and sought deeply the principles underlying their dynamic behavior. Research on complex systems--the focus of work at SFI--involves an extraordinary range of topics normally studied in seemingly disparate fields. Natural systems displaying complex behavior range upwards from proteins and DNA through cells and evolutionary systems to human societies. Research models exhibiting complexity include nonlinear equations, spin glasses, cellular automata, genetic algorithms, classifier systems, and an array of other computational models. Some of the major questions facing complex systems researchers are: (1) explaining how complexity arises from the nonlinear interaction of simples components, (2) describing the mechanisms underlying high-level aggregate behavior of complex systems (such as the overt behavior of an organism, the flow of energy in an ecology, the GNP of an economy), and (3) creating a theoretical framework to enable predictions about the likely behavior of such systems in various conditions. The importance of understanding such systems in enormous: many of the most serious challenges facing humanity--e.g., environmental sustainability, economic stability, the control of disease--as well as many of the hardest scientific questions--e.g., protein folding, the distinction between self and non-self in the immune system, the nature of intelligence, the origin of life--require deep understanding of complex systems.
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Alternative Testing Methods for Predicting Health Risk from Environmental Exposures
Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)
Annamaria Colacci
2014-08-01
Full Text Available Alternative methods to animal testing are considered as promising tools to support the prediction of toxicological risks from environmental exposure. Among the alternative testing methods, the cell transformation assay (CTA appears to be one of the most appropriate approaches to predict the carcinogenic properties of single chemicals, complex mixtures and environmental pollutants. The BALB/c 3T3 CTA shows a good degree of concordance with the in vivo rodent carcinogenesis tests. Whole-genome transcriptomic profiling is performed to identify genes that are transcriptionally regulated by different kinds of exposures. Its use in cell models representative of target organs may help in understanding the mode of action and predicting the risk for human health. Aiming at associating the environmental exposure to health-adverse outcomes, we used an integrated approach including the 3T3 CTA and transcriptomics on target cells, in order to evaluate the effects of airborne particulate matter (PM on toxicological complex endpoints. Organic extracts obtained from PM2.5 and PM1 samples were evaluated in the 3T3 CTA in order to identify effects possibly associated with different aerodynamic diameters or airborne chemical components. The effects of the PM2.5 extracts on human health were assessed by using whole-genome 44 K oligo-microarray slides. Statistical analysis by GeneSpring GX identified genes whose expression was modulated in response to the cell treatment. Then, modulated genes were associated with pathways, biological processes and diseases through an extensive biological analysis. Data derived from in vitro methods and omics techniques could be valuable for monitoring the exposure to toxicants, understanding the modes of action via exposure-associated gene expression patterns and to highlight the role of genes in key events related to adversity.
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Environmental improvement with additional instruments for environmental protection in port areas
MARINSKI, Jordan; FLOQI, Tania; DROUMEVA, Gergana; BRANCA, Tatiana; VATRALOVA, Albena
2012-01-01
Abstract1. The context analysis of environmental situation in Corridor8 ports shows growing sensibility of the management authorities to the environmental issues and objective difficulties for development of appropriate environmental policies due to the following reasons: the complex legislation which has not found yet the balance between the business interests in sea transport and the environment protection and poor enforcement of the regulations. In order to mitigate the negative impact of ...
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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
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Understanding and determining the etiology of autism.
Currenti, Salvatore A
2010-03-01
Worldwide, the rate of autism has been steadily rising. There are several environmental factors in concert with genetic susceptibilities that are contributing to this rise. Impaired methylation and mutations of mecp2 have been associated with autistic spectrum disorders, and related Rett syndrome. Genetic polymorphisms of cytochrome P450 enzymes have also been linked to autism, specifically CYP27B1 that is essential for proper vitamin D metabolism. Vitamin D is important for neuronal growth and neurodevelopment, and defects in metabolism or deficiency have been implicated in autistic individuals. Other factors that have been considered include: maternally derived antibodies, maternal infection, heavy metal exposure, folic acid supplementation, epigenetics, measles, mumps, rubella vaccination, and even electromagnetic radiation. In each case, the consequences, whether direct or indirect, negatively affect the nervous system, neurodevelopment, and environmental responsive genes. The etiology of autism is a topic of controversial debate, while researchers strive to achieve a common objective. The goal is to identify the cause(s) of autism to understand the complex interplay between environment and gene regulation. There is optimism that specific causes and risk factors will be identified. The results of future investigations will facilitate enhanced screening, prevention, and therapy for "at risk" and autistic patients.
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Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)
Meinberg, V. (Max-Planck-Institut fuer Auslaendisches und Internationales Strafrecht, Freiburg im Breisgau (Germany, F.R.)); Moehrenschlager, M. (Bundesministerium der Justiz, Bonn (Germany, F.R.)); Link, W. (eds.)
1989-01-01
The book intends to present the complexity of the penal code pertaining to environmental protection including the law on environmental offences in a way which makes the subject understandable for the reader. It is therefore not limited to the criminal law proper but looks at the administrative background and aspect of legal proceedings under these laws. Each area is dealt with by specialists from science and practice. The book is adressed to the experts in judiciary administration, industry, science and the interested layman. (orig.).
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Albertos, Pedro; Blanke, Mogens; Isidori, Alberto; Schaufelberger, Walter; Sanz, Ricardo
2001-01-01
The world of artificial systems is reaching complexity levels that es cape human understanding. Surface traffic, electricity distribution, air planes, mobile communications, etc. , are examples that demonstrate that we are running into problems that are beyond classical scientific or engi neering knowledge. There is an ongoing world-wide effort to understand these systems and develop models that can capture its behavior. The reason for this work is clear, if our lack of understanding deepens, we will lose our capability to control these systems and make they behave as we want. Researchers from many different fields are trying to understand and develop theories for complex man-made systems. This book presents re search from the perspective of control and systems theory. The book has grown out of activities in the research program Control of Complex Systems (COSY). The program has been sponsored by the Eu ropean Science Foundation (ESF) which for 25 years has been one of the leading players in stimula...
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DEFF Research Database (Denmark)
Tavella, Elena; Pedersen, Søren Marcus; Gylling, Morten
2012-01-01
Agricultural systems are complex, because managers need to cope with interlinked and dynamic ecological, social, political and economic aspects. Understanding and analysing such systems requires researchers to adopt a holistic approach to grasp the links between those aspects. Holistic approaches...... within agricultural research - known as Farming Systems Research (FSR) support researchers in sharing knowledge and different perspectives concerning the research process and problems. Sharing knowledge and perspectives enables to holistically understand and conceptualise complex systems, as well...... as to structure and manage research projects. The aim of this paper is to suggest and present a guideline for agricultural researchers to carry out an economic and environmental analysis of food supply chains with a FSR approach. We describe how participants of the EU-project SOLIBAM (Strategies for Organic...
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Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)
Edna Lemes Martins Pereira
2013-12-01
Full Text Available Economic globalization affects different countries on the globe, has positive effects mainly related to access to communication, which promotes the exchange of ideas, information, products and quality of life. However, extends numerous negative aspects such as marginalization, economic dependencies, political, cultural, scientific, educational accentuate social inequalities and cultural conflicts and territorial. In this article it is a dialogue with authors (Cunha 2009; BARNETT 2005; MORIN 1999, 2006, among others, who understand these changes in society from the contemporary world as conceived as the "Complexity era" or "supercomplexity". To understand and cope with this reality, they propose a paradigm that is able to overcome the fragmentation and reductionism of knowledge and to relate the multiple approaches and visions to meet the complexity of reality. Although this paper presents proposals to the aforementioned authors point to education and the university found in this tangle of interconnected global transformations, given the need to be subject to act in a complex reality that requires critical and self-critical professionals, able to think about their own ability to think, understand and act within this complex context.
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Assembling large, complex environmental metagenomes
Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)
Howe, A. C. [Michigan State Univ., East Lansing, MI (United States). Microbiology and Molecular Genetics, Plant Soil and Microbial Sciences; Jansson, J. [USDOE Joint Genome Institute (JGI), Walnut Creek, CA (United States); Lawrence Berkeley National Lab. (LBNL), Berkeley, CA (United States). Earth Sciences Division; Malfatti, S. A. [USDOE Joint Genome Institute (JGI), Walnut Creek, CA (United States); Tringe, S. G. [USDOE Joint Genome Institute (JGI), Walnut Creek, CA (United States); Tiedje, J. M. [Michigan State Univ., East Lansing, MI (United States). Microbiology and Molecular Genetics, Plant Soil and Microbial Sciences; Brown, C. T. [Michigan State Univ., East Lansing, MI (United States). Microbiology and Molecular Genetics, Computer Science and Engineering
2012-12-28
The large volumes of sequencing data required to sample complex environments deeply pose new challenges to sequence analysis approaches. De novo metagenomic assembly effectively reduces the total amount of data to be analyzed but requires significant computational resources. We apply two pre-assembly filtering approaches, digital normalization and partitioning, to make large metagenome assemblies more computationaly tractable. Using a human gut mock community dataset, we demonstrate that these methods result in assemblies nearly identical to assemblies from unprocessed data. We then assemble two large soil metagenomes from matched Iowa corn and native prairie soils. The predicted functional content and phylogenetic origin of the assembled contigs indicate significant taxonomic differences despite similar function. The assembly strategies presented are generic and can be extended to any metagenome; full source code is freely available under a BSD license.
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Smith, Sherri L; Pichora-Fuller, M Kathleen
2015-01-01
Listeners with hearing loss commonly report having difficulty understanding speech, particularly in noisy environments. Their difficulties could be due to auditory and cognitive processing problems. Performance on speech-in-noise tests has been correlated with reading working memory span (RWMS), a measure often chosen to avoid the effects of hearing loss. If the goal is to assess the cognitive consequences of listeners' auditory processing abilities, however, then listening working memory span (LWMS) could be a more informative measure. Some studies have examined the effects of different degrees and types of masking on working memory, but less is known about the demands placed on working memory depending on the linguistic complexity of the target speech or the task used to measure speech understanding in listeners with hearing loss. Compared to RWMS, LWMS measures using different speech targets and maskers may provide a more ecologically valid approach. To examine the contributions of RWMS and LWMS to speech understanding, we administered two working memory measures (a traditional RWMS measure and a new LWMS measure), and a battery of tests varying in the linguistic complexity of the speech materials, the presence of babble masking, and the task. Participants were a group of younger listeners with normal hearing and two groups of older listeners with hearing loss (n = 24 per group). There was a significant group difference and a wider range in performance on LWMS than on RWMS. There was a significant correlation between both working memory measures only for the oldest listeners with hearing loss. Notably, there were only few significant correlations among the working memory and speech understanding measures. These findings suggest that working memory measures reflect individual differences that are distinct from those tapped by these measures of speech understanding.
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Smith, Sherri L.; Pichora-Fuller, M. Kathleen
2015-01-01
Listeners with hearing loss commonly report having difficulty understanding speech, particularly in noisy environments. Their difficulties could be due to auditory and cognitive processing problems. Performance on speech-in-noise tests has been correlated with reading working memory span (RWMS), a measure often chosen to avoid the effects of hearing loss. If the goal is to assess the cognitive consequences of listeners’ auditory processing abilities, however, then listening working memory span (LWMS) could be a more informative measure. Some studies have examined the effects of different degrees and types of masking on working memory, but less is known about the demands placed on working memory depending on the linguistic complexity of the target speech or the task used to measure speech understanding in listeners with hearing loss. Compared to RWMS, LWMS measures using different speech targets and maskers may provide a more ecologically valid approach. To examine the contributions of RWMS and LWMS to speech understanding, we administered two working memory measures (a traditional RWMS measure and a new LWMS measure), and a battery of tests varying in the linguistic complexity of the speech materials, the presence of babble masking, and the task. Participants were a group of younger listeners with normal hearing and two groups of older listeners with hearing loss (n = 24 per group). There was a significant group difference and a wider range in performance on LWMS than on RWMS. There was a significant correlation between both working memory measures only for the oldest listeners with hearing loss. Notably, there were only few significant correlations among the working memory and speech understanding measures. These findings suggest that working memory measures reflect individual differences that are distinct from those tapped by these measures of speech understanding. PMID:26441769
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Seddon, A. W. R.; Mackay, A. W.
2015-12-01
Current understanding of ecological behaviour indicates that systems can experience sudden and abrupt changes in state, driven either by a large external change in environmental conditions (extrinsically forced), or the result of a set local feedbacks and site-specific interactions (intrinsically mediated responses). Responses mediated by intrinsic processes are notoriously diffi- cult to predict, they can occur as slow environmental variables gradually erode the resilience of the system eventually resulting in threshold transitions between alternative stable states. Finding ways to identify, model and predict such complex ecosystem behavior has been identified as a priority research challenge for both ecology and paleoecology. The paleoecological record can play a role in understanding the processes behind abrupt ecological change because it enables the reconstruction of processes occurring over decadal-centennial timescales or longer. Therefore, paleoecological data can be used to identify the existence of ecological thresholds and to investigate the environmental processes that can lead to loss of resilience and abrupt transitions between alternate states. In addition, incidences of abrupt vegetation changes in the past can serve as palaeoecological model systems; analogues of abrupt dynamics which can be used to test theories surrounding ecological responses to climate change. Here, I present examples from a range of terrestrial ecosystems (Holocene environmental changes from a coastal lagoon in the Galapagos Islands; Northern European vegetation changes since the last deglaciation; the North American hemlock decline) demonstrating evidence of abrupt ecosystem change. For each system I present a set of statistical techniques tailored to distin- guish between extrinsic versus intrinsically mediated ecological responses. Examples are provided from both single sites (i.e. landscape scale) and multiple sites (regional-continental scale). These techniques provide a
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Holding, Matthew L; Drabeck, Danielle H; Jansa, Sharon A; Gibbs, H Lisle
2016-11-01
SynopsisVenom and venom resistance are molecular phenotypes widely considered to have diversified through coevolution between predators and prey. However, while evolutionary and functional studies on venom have been extensive, little is known about the molecular basis, variation, and complexity of venom resistance. We review known mechanisms of venom resistance and relate these mechanisms to their predicted impact on coevolutionary dynamics with venomous enemies. We then describe two conceptual approaches which can be used to examine venom/resistance systems. At the intraspecific level, tests of local adaptation in venom and resistance phenotypes can identify the functional mechanisms governing the outcomes of coevolution. At deeper evolutionary timescales, the combination of phylogenetically informed analyses of protein evolution coupled with studies of protein function promise to elucidate the mode and tempo of evolutionary change on potentially coevolving genes. We highlight case studies that use each approach to extend our knowledge of these systems as well as address larger questions about coevolutionary dynamics. We argue that resistance and venom are phenotypic traits which hold exceptional promise for investigating the mechanisms, dynamics, and outcomes of coevolution at the molecular level. Furthermore, extending the understanding of single gene-for-gene interactions to the whole resistance and venom phenotypes may provide a model system for examining the molecular and evolutionary dynamics of complex multi-gene interactions. © The Author 2016. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of the Society for Integrative and Comparative Biology. All rights reserved. For permissions please email: journals.permissions@oup.com.
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Nevada National Security Site Environmental Report Summary 2016
Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)
Wills, Cathy [National Security Technologies, LLC. (NSTec), Mercury, NV (United States)
2017-09-07
This document is a summary of the full 2016 Nevada National Security Site Environmental Report (NNSSER) prepared by the U.S. Department of Energy, National Nuclear Security Administration Nevada Field Office (NNSA/ NFO). This summary provides an abbreviated and more readable version of the full NNSSER. NNSA/NFO prepares the NNSSER to provide the public an understanding of the environmental monitoring and compliance activities that are conducted on the Nevada National Security Site (NNSS) to protect the public and the environment from radiation hazards and from potential nonradiological impacts. It is a comprehensive report of environmental activities performed at the NNSS and offsite facilities over the previous calendar year. The NNSS is currently the nation’s unique site for ongoing national security–related missions and high-risk operations. The NNSS is located about 65 miles northwest of Las Vegas. The approximately 1,360-square-mile site is one of the largest restricted access areas in the United States. It is surrounded by federal installations with strictly controlled access as well as by lands that are open to public entry. In 2016, National Security Technologies, LLC (NSTec), was the NNSS Management and Operations Contractor accountable for ensuring work was performed in compliance with environmental regulations. NNSS activities in 2016 continued to be diverse, with the primary goal to ensure that the existing U.S. stockpile of nuclear weapons remains safe and reliable. Other activities included weapons of mass destruction first responder training; the controlled release of hazardous material at the Nonproliferation Test and Evaluation Complex (NPTEC); remediation of legacy contamination sites; characterization of waste destined for the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant in Carlsbad, New Mexico, or the Idaho National Laboratory in Idaho Falls, Idaho; disposal of low-level and mixed low-level radioactive waste; and environmental research. Facilities and
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Using GIS to understand the environmental chemistry of manganese ...
African Journals Online (AJOL)
Iron on the other hand is very low in the mine working area and is high on the northern part of the study area. Suggestions are advanced for the Mn interplay in the soils and environment around the Kgwakgwe abandoned Mn oxides ore mine. Journal of Applied Sciences and Environmental Management Vol 9(2) 2005: 37- ...
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Khattar, Randa
What do the new sciences of complex relationality offer education? This work draws on complexity theory, neurological understandings of biology and phenomenology, and attentiveness to study what the new sciences might offer education and the possibilities of a pedagogical understanding of embodied knowing. Complexity theory provides understandings of local-global relationality, self-organization, far-from-equilibrium conditions, and emergent dynamics that are important for describing pedagogical relationality. In itself, however, complexity theory is lacking an attention to issues of embodiment that respond directly to an ethical understanding of relationality. Phenomenology provides important views on the human experience of perception, for example, Merleau-Ponty's, whose research opens up possibilities for embodiment and attentiveness. At the level of pedagogical practice, I will pose, following biologists Humberto Maturana and Francisco Varela's autopoietic self-making understanding of life, that attentiveness perspectives, which have been largely absent from western pedagogical theory and practice, are crucial to promoting embodied knowing for education. Maturana and Varela's autopoietic perspective offers an embodied understanding of living---and therefore education---which opens up necessary attentive spaces to listen to one another in non judgmental awareness in the present moment of experience. I offer insights into a relationally complex conception of education drawing on this biological and autopoietically-grounded framework. These insights are framed in the context of five clusters of relations: (1) emergence, far-from-equilibrium, and local-global relationality; (2) autopoietic autonomy, structural determination and sensory-motor coupling; (3) triggering perturbations, structural plasticity, and autopoietic organization; (4) knowing as adequate action, domains of interaction, and blind spots; and (5) attentiveness and responsive relationality. Four
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Collective behaviour, uncertainty and environmental change.
Bentley, R Alexander; O'Brien, Michael J
2015-11-28
A central aspect of cultural evolutionary theory concerns how human groups respond to environmental change. Although we are painting with a broad brush, it is fair to say that prior to the twenty-first century, adaptation often happened gradually over multiple human generations, through a combination of individual and social learning, cumulative cultural evolution and demographic shifts. The result was a generally resilient and sustainable population. In the twenty-first century, however, considerable change happens within small portions of a human generation, on a vastly larger range of geographical and population scales and involving a greater degree of horizontal learning. As a way of gauging the complexity of societal response to environmental change in a globalized future, we discuss several theoretical tools for understanding how human groups adapt to uncertainty. We use our analysis to estimate the limits of predictability of future societal change, in the belief that knowing when to hedge bets is better than relying on a false sense of predictability. © 2015 The Author(s).
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Salve, Solomon; Harris, Kristine; Sheikh, Kabir; Porter, John D H
2018-06-07
Public Private Partnerships (PPP) are increasingly utilized as a public health strategy for strengthening health systems and have become a core component for the delivery of TB control services in India, as promoted through national policy. However, partnerships are complex systems that rely on relationships between a myriad of different actors with divergent agendas and backgrounds. Relationship is a crucial element of governance, and relationship building an important aspect of partnerships. To understand PPPs a multi-disciplinary perspective that draws on insights from social theory is needed. This paper demonstrates how social theory can aid the understanding of the complex relationships of actors involved in implementation of Public-Private Mix (PPM)-TB policy in India. Ethnographic research was conducted within a district in a Southern state of India over a 14 month period, combining participant observations, informal interactions and in-depth interviews with a wide range of respondents across public, private and non-government organisation (NGO) sectors. Drawing on the theoretical insights from Bourdieu's "theory of practice" this study explores the relationships between the different actors. The study found that programme managers, frontline TB workers, NGOs, and private practitioners all had a crucial role to play in TB partnerships. They were widely regarded as valued contributors with distinct social skills and capabilities within their organizations and professions. However, their potential contributions towards programme implementation tended to be unrecognized both at the top and bottom of the policy implementation chain. These actors constantly struggled for recognition and used different mechanisms to position themselves alongside other actors within the programme that further complicated the relationships between different actors. This paper demonstrates that applying social theory can enable a better understanding of the complex relationship
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Personal and social factors that influence pro-environmental concern and behaviour: a review.
Gifford, Robert; Nilsson, Andreas
2014-06-01
We review the personal and social influences on pro-environmental concern and behaviour, with an emphasis on recent research. The number of these influences suggests that understanding pro-environmental concern and behaviour is far more complex than previously thought. The influences are grouped into 18 personal and social factors. The personal factors include childhood experience, knowledge and education, personality and self-construal, sense of control, values, political and world views, goals, felt responsibility, cognitive biases, place attachment, age, gender and chosen activities. The social factors include religion, urban-rural differences, norms, social class, proximity to problematic environmental sites and cultural and ethnic variations We also recognize that pro-environmental behaviour often is undertaken based on none of the above influences, but because individuals have non-environmental goals such as to save money or to improve their health. Finally, environmental outcomes that are a result of these influences undoubtedly are determined by combinations of the 18 categories. Therefore, a primary goal of researchers now should be to learn more about how these many influences moderate and mediate one another to determine pro-environmental behaviour. © 2014 International Union of Psychological Science.
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International Nuclear Information System (INIS)
Rezendes, V.S.
1991-03-01
In this book, GAO characterizes DOE's January 1991 Nuclear Weapons Complex Reconfiguration Study as a starting point for reaching agreement on solutions to many of the complex's safety and environmental problems. Key decisions still need to be made about the size of the complex, where to relocate plutonium operations, what technologies to use for new tritium production, and what to do with excess plutonium. The total cost for reconfiguring and modernizing the complex is still uncertain, and some management issues remain unresolved. Congress faces a difficult task in making test decisions given the conflicting demands for scarce resources in a time of growing budget deficits and war in the Persian Gulf
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Complex Systems Science for Subsurface Fate and Transport Report from the August 2009 Workshop
Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)
None
2010-03-01
The subsurface environment, which encompasses the vadose and saturated zones, is a heterogeneous, geologically complex domain. Believed to contain a large percentage of Earth's biomass in the form of microorganisms, the subsurface is a dynamic zone where important biogeochemical cycles work to sustain life. Actively linked to the atmosphere and biosphere through the hydrologic and carbon cycles, the subsurface serves as a storage location for much of Earth's fresh water. Coupled hydrological, microbiological, and geochemical processes occurring within the subsurface environment cause the local and regional natural chemical fluxes that govern water quality. These processes play a vital role in the formation of soil, economically important fossil fuels, mineral deposits, and other natural resources. Cleaning up Department of Energy (DOE) lands impacted by legacy wastes and using the subsurface for carbon sequestration or nuclear waste isolation require a firm understanding of these processes and the documented means to characterize the vertical and spatial distribution of subsurface properties directing water, nutrient, and contaminant flows. This information, along with credible, predictive models that integrate hydrological, microbiological, and geochemical knowledge over a range of scales, is needed to forecast the sustainability of subsurface water systems and to devise ways to manage and manipulate dynamic in situ processes for beneficial outcomes. Predictive models provide the context for knowledge integration. They are the primary tools for forecasting the evolving geochemistry or microbial ecology of groundwater under various scenarios and for assessing and optimizing the potential effectiveness of proposed approaches to carbon sequestration, waste isolation, or environmental remediation. An iterative approach of modeling and experimentation can reveal powerful insights into the behavior of subsurface systems. State-of-science understanding codified
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Complex Systems Science for Subsurface Fate and Transport Report from the August 2009 Workshop
International Nuclear Information System (INIS)
2010-01-01
The subsurface environment, which encompasses the vadose and saturated zones, is a heterogeneous, geologically complex domain. Believed to contain a large percentage of Earth's biomass in the form of microorganisms, the subsurface is a dynamic zone where important biogeochemical cycles work to sustain life. Actively linked to the atmosphere and biosphere through the hydrologic and carbon cycles, the subsurface serves as a storage location for much of Earth's fresh water. Coupled hydrological, microbiological, and geochemical processes occurring within the subsurface environment cause the local and regional natural chemical fluxes that govern water quality. These processes play a vital role in the formation of soil, economically important fossil fuels, mineral deposits, and other natural resources. Cleaning up Department of Energy (DOE) lands impacted by legacy wastes and using the subsurface for carbon sequestration or nuclear waste isolation require a firm understanding of these processes and the documented means to characterize the vertical and spatial distribution of subsurface properties directing water, nutrient, and contaminant flows. This information, along with credible, predictive models that integrate hydrological, microbiological, and geochemical knowledge over a range of scales, is needed to forecast the sustainability of subsurface water systems and to devise ways to manage and manipulate dynamic in situ processes for beneficial outcomes. Predictive models provide the context for knowledge integration. They are the primary tools for forecasting the evolving geochemistry or microbial ecology of groundwater under various scenarios and for assessing and optimizing the potential effectiveness of proposed approaches to carbon sequestration, waste isolation, or environmental remediation. An iterative approach of modeling and experimentation can reveal powerful insights into the behavior of subsurface systems. State-of-science understanding codified in models
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Molecular Sociology: Further Insights from Biological and Environmental Aspects
Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)
Ahed Jumah Mahmoud Al-Khatib
2015-11-01
Full Text Available The present study expanded our previous study in which features of molecular sociology were mentioned. In this study, we added the microbial dimensions in which it is thought that religiosity may be impacted by microbes that manipulate brains to create better conditions for their existence. This hypothesis is called “biomeme hypothesis”. We talked about other environmental impacts on human behaviors through three studies in which exposure to lead caused violent behaviors ending with arresting in prisons. By conclusion, the present study has expanded our horizon about interferences on various levels including biological and environmental impacts with our behaviors. Although we are convinced that behavior is a very diverse and complex phenomenon and cannot be understood within certain frame as either biologically or environmentally, but further new insights are possible to participate in better understanding of human behaviors. Many behaviors have their roots in religion, and we showed how religious rituals may be affected by some microbes that make to form a microenvironment within the host for microbial benefits.
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Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)
Ruth McNally
2012-03-01
Full Text Available Genomic and environmental sciences represent two poles of scientific data. In the first, highly parallel sequencing facilities generate large quantities of sequence data. In the latter, loosely networked remote and field sensors produce intermittent streams of different data types. Yet both genomic and environmental sciences are said to be moving to data intensive research. This paper explores and contrasts data flow in these two domains in order to better understand how data intensive research is being done. Our case studies are next generation sequencing for genomics and environmental networked sensors.Our objective was to enrich understanding of the ‘intensive’ processes and properties of data intensive research through a ‘sociology’ of data using methods that capture the relational properties of data flows. Our key methodological innovation was the staging of events for practitioners with different kinds of expertise in data intensive research to participate in the collective annotation of visual forms. Through such events we built a substantial digital data archive of our own that we then analysed in terms of three traits of data flow: durability, replicability and metrology.Our findings are that analysing data flow with respect to these three traits provides better insight into how doing data intensive research involves people, infrastructures, practices, things, knowledge and institutions. Collectively, these elements shape the topography of data and condition how it flows. We argue that although much attention is given to phenomena such as the scale, volume and speed of data in data intensive research, these are measures of what we call ‘extensive’ properties rather than intensive ones. Our thesis is that extensive changes, that is to say those that result in non-linear changes in metrics, can be seen to result from intensive changes that bring multiple, disparate flows into confluence.If extensive shifts in the modalities of
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Exploring decision-making for environmental health services: perspectives from four cities.
Hunt, C; Lewin, S
2000-01-01
Increasing resources are being allocated to environmental health monitoring, especially for developing methods and collecting data to construct environmental health indicators (EHIs). Yet, little research has focused on understanding how communities and service providers make decisions with regard to environmental health priorities and the role of indicators in this process. This paper presents insights regarding local decision-making that arose from a project to test the feasibility of using community-based EHIs to facilitate communication between the providers and the recipients of environmental services in four developing-country cities. The results of the study indicate that decision-making for environmental health services is complex and iterative rather than rational and linear. Contextual and process factors play an important role. These factors include the morale of service providers, the extent of collaboration between service agencies, the priorities of different community groups and relations between service providers and communities. Scientific information, in the form of EHIs, did not appear to be a key element of decision-making in the settings studied. As tools, EHIs are unlikely to become part of the decision-making process unless they are integrated with local agendas and backed by strong local representation.
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A novel approach to simulate gene-environment interactions in complex diseases
Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)
Nicodemi Mario
2010-01-01
Full Text Available Abstract Background Complex diseases are multifactorial traits caused by both genetic and environmental factors. They represent the major part of human diseases and include those with largest prevalence and mortality (cancer, heart disease, obesity, etc.. Despite a large amount of information that has been collected about both genetic and environmental risk factors, there are few examples of studies on their interactions in epidemiological literature. One reason can be the incomplete knowledge of the power of statistical methods designed to search for risk factors and their interactions in these data sets. An improvement in this direction would lead to a better understanding and description of gene-environment interactions. To this aim, a possible strategy is to challenge the different statistical methods against data sets where the underlying phenomenon is completely known and fully controllable, for example simulated ones. Results We present a mathematical approach that models gene-environment interactions. By this method it is possible to generate simulated populations having gene-environment interactions of any form, involving any number of genetic and environmental factors and also allowing non-linear interactions as epistasis. In particular, we implemented a simple version of this model in a Gene-Environment iNteraction Simulator (GENS, a tool designed to simulate case-control data sets where a one gene-one environment interaction influences the disease risk. The main aim has been to allow the input of population characteristics by using standard epidemiological measures and to implement constraints to make the simulator behaviour biologically meaningful. Conclusions By the multi-logistic model implemented in GENS it is possible to simulate case-control samples of complex disease where gene-environment interactions influence the disease risk. The user has full control of the main characteristics of the simulated population and a Monte
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Mancini, Vincent O.; Rigoli, Daniela; Cairney, John; Roberts, Lynne D.; Piek, Jan P.
2016-01-01
Poor motor skills have been shown to be associated with a range of psychosocial issues, including internalizing problems (anxiety and depression). While well-documented empirically, our understanding of why this relationship occurs remains theoretically underdeveloped. The Elaborated Environmental Stress Hypothesis by Cairney et al. (2013) provides a promising framework that seeks to explain the association between motor skills and internalizing problems, specifically in children with developmental coordination disorder (DCD). The framework posits that poor motor skills predispose the development of internalizing problems via interactions with intermediary environmental stressors. At the time the model was proposed, limited direct evidence was available to support or refute the framework. Several studies and developments related to the framework have since been published. This mini-review seeks to provide an up-to-date overview of recent developments related to the Elaborated Environmental Stress Hypothesis. We briefly discuss the past research that led to its development, before moving to studies that have investigated the framework since it was proposed. While originally developed within the context of DCD in childhood, recent developments have found support for the model in community samples. Through the reviewed literature, this article provides support for the Elaborated Environmental Stress Hypothesis as a promising theoretical framework that explains the psychosocial correlates across the broader spectrum of motor ability. However, given its recent conceptualization, ongoing evaluation of the Elaborated Environmental Stress Hypothesis is recommended. PMID:26941690
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What Do People Know about Key Environmental Issues? A Review of Environmental Knowledge Surveys
Robelia, Beth; Murphy, Tony
2012-01-01
This paper presents results from 15 little publicized state and national environmental surveys in the US that used similar questions. Our analysis reveals trends in adult understanding of environmental issues. These trends indicate that many may have difficulty making informed decisions about environmental policy as citizens, voters, and…
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Analysis of gold(I/III)-complexes by HPLC-ICP-MS demonstrates gold(III) stability in surface waters.
Ta, Christine; Reith, Frank; Brugger, Joël; Pring, Allan; Lenehan, Claire E
2014-05-20
Understanding the form in which gold is transported in surface- and groundwaters underpins our understanding of gold dispersion and (bio)geochemical cycling. Yet, to date, there are no direct techniques capable of identifying the oxidation state and complexation of gold in natural waters. We present a reversed phase ion-pairing HPLC-ICP-MS method for the separation and determination of aqueous gold(III)-chloro-hydroxyl, gold(III)-bromo-hydroxyl, gold(I)-thiosulfate, and gold(I)-cyanide complexes. Detection limits for the gold species range from 0.05 to 0.30 μg L(-1). The [Au(CN)2](-) gold cyanide complex was detected in five of six waters from tailings and adjacent monitoring bores of working gold mines. Contrary to thermodynamic predictions, evidence was obtained for the existence of Au(III)-complexes in circumneutral, hypersaline waters of a natural lake overlying a gold deposit in Western Australia. This first direct evidence for the existence and stability of Au(III)-complexes in natural surface waters suggests that Au(III)-complexes may be important for the transport and biogeochemical cycling of gold in surface environments. Overall, these results show that near-μg L(-1) enrichments of Au in environmental waters result from metastable ligands (e.g., CN(-)) as well as kinetically controlled redox processes leading to the stability of highly soluble Au(III)-complexes.
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Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)
Peek, Dennis W. [Sandia National Lab. (SNL-NM), Albuquerque, NM (United States)
2016-10-01
The “subject property” is comprised of a parcel of land within the Kirtland Military Reservation, Bernalillo County, New Mexico, as shown on the map in Appendix B of this document. The land requirement for the parking lot addition to the 9940 Main Complex is approximately 2.7 acres. The scope of this Supplemental Environmental Baseline Survey (SEBS) is for the parking lot addition land transfer only. For details on the original 9940 Main Complex see Environmental Baseline Survey, Land Use Permit Request for the 9940 Complex PERM/0-KI-00-0001, August 21, 2003, and for details on the 9940 Complex Expansion see Environmental Baseline Survey, Proposed Land Use Permit Expansion for 9940 DETS Complex, June 24, 2009. The 2.7-acre parcel of land for the new parking lot, which is the subject of this EBS (also referred to as the “subject property”), is adjacent to the southwest boundary of the original 12.3- acre 9940 Main Complex. No testing is known to have taken place on the subject property site. The only activity known to have taken place was the burial of overhead utility lines in 2014. Adjacent to the subject property, the 9940 Main Complex was originally a 12.3-acre site used by the Department of Energy (DOE) under a land use permit from the United States Air Force (USAF). Historical use of the site, dating from 1964, included arming, fusing, and firing of explosives and testing of explosives systems components. In the late 1970s and early 1980s experiments at the 9940 Main Complex shifted toward reactor safety issues. From 1983 to 1988, fuel coolant interaction (FCI) experiments were conducted, as were experiments with conventional high explosives (HE). Today, the land is used for training of the Nuclear Emergency Response community and for research on energetic materials. In 2009, the original complex was expanded to include four additional 20-acre areas: 9940 Training South, 9940 Training East, T-Range 6, and Training West Landing Zone. The proposed use of
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Understanding catchment dynamics through a Space-Society-Water trialectic
Sutherland, Catherine; Jewitt, Graham; Risko, Susan; Hay, Ducan; Stuart-Hill, Sabine; Browne, Michelle
2017-04-01
Can healthy catchments be utilized to secure water for the benefit of society? This is a complex question as it requires an understanding of the connections and relations between biophysical, social, political, economic and governance dimensions over space and time in the catchment and must interrogate whether there is 'value' in investing in the catchment natural or ecological infrastructure (EI), how this should be done, where the most valuable EI is located, and whether an investment in EI will generate co-benefits socially, environmentally and economically. Here, we adopt a social ecological relations rather than systems approach to explore these interactions through development of a space-society-water trialectic. Trialectic thinking is challenging as it requires new epistemologies and it challenges conventional modes of thought. It is not ordered or fixed, but rather is constantly evolving, revealing the dynamic relations between the elements under exploration. The construction of knowledge, through detailed scientific research and social learning, which contributes to the understanding and achievement of sustainable water supply, water related resilient economic growth, greater social equity and justice in relation to water and the reduction of environmental risk is illustrated through research in the uMngeni Catchment, South Africa. Using four case studies as a basis, we construct the catchment level society-water-space trialectic as a way of connecting, assembling and comparing the understanding and knowledge that has been produced. The relations in the three elements of the trialectic are constructed through identifying, understanding and analysing the actors, discourses, knowledge, biophysical materialities, issues and spatial connections in the case studies. Together these relations, or multiple trajectories, are assembled to form the society-water-space trialectic, which illuminates the dominant relations in the catchment and hence reveal the leverage
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Understanding Interdependency Through Complex Information Sharing
Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)
Fernando Rosas
2016-01-01
Full Text Available The interactions between three or more random variables are often nontrivial, poorly understood and, yet, are paramount for future advances in fields such as network information theory, neuroscience and genetics. In this work, we analyze these interactions as different modes of information sharing. Towards this end, and in contrast to most of the literature that focuses on analyzing the mutual information, we introduce an axiomatic framework for decomposing the joint entropy that characterizes the various ways in which random variables can share information. Our framework distinguishes between interdependencies where the information is shared redundantly and synergistic interdependencies where the sharing structure exists in the whole, but not between the parts. The key contribution of our approach is to focus on symmetric properties of this sharing, which do not depend on a specific point of view for differentiating roles between its components. We show that our axioms determine unique formulas for all of the terms of the proposed decomposition for systems of three variables in several cases of interest. Moreover, we show how these results can be applied to several network information theory problems, providing a more intuitive understanding of their fundamental limits.
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Complexity and simplification in understanding recruitment in benthic populations
Pineda, Jesú s; Reyns, Nathalie B.; Starczak, Victoria R.
2008-01-01
reduces the number of processes and makes the problem manageable. We discuss how simplifications and "broad-brush first-order approaches" may muddle our understanding of recruitment. Lack of empirical determination of the fundamental processes often
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Qin, Chao; Kang, Fuxing; Zhang, Wei; Shou, Weijun; Hu, Xiaojie; Gao, Yanzheng
2017-10-15
Environmental persistence of free DNA is influenced by its complexation with other chemical species and its aggregation mechanisms. However, it is not well-known how naturally-abundant metal ions, e.g., Al(III) and Fe(III), influence DNA aggregation. This study investigated aggregation behaviors of model DNA from salmon testes as influenced by metal cations, and elucidated the predominant mechanism responsible for DNA aggregation. Compared to monovalent (K + and Na + ) and divalent (Ca 2+ and Mg 2+ ) cations, Al(III) and Fe(III) species in aqueous solution caused rapid DNA aggregations. The maximal DNA aggregation occurred at 0.05 mmol/L Al(III) or 0.075 mmol/L Fe(III), respectively. A combination of atomic force microscopy, transmission electron microscopy, Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy, and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy revealed that Al(III) and Fe(III) complexed with negatively charged phosphate groups to neutralize DNA charges, resulting in decreased electrostatic repulsion and subsequent DNA aggregation. Zeta potential measurements and molecular computation further support this mechanism. Furthermore, DNA aggregation was enhanced at higher temperature and near neutral pH. Therefore, DNA aggregation is collectively determined by many environmental factors such as ion species, temperature, and solution pH. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
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DEFF Research Database (Denmark)
Lindelof, Anja Mølle; Schmidt, Ulrik; Svabo, Connie
2017-01-01
Do ants and grasshoppers perform? Do clouds, plants and melting ice? Do skyscrapers, traffic jams and computer vira? And what happens to our understanding of liveness if that is the case? This chapter takes ongoing theoretical disputes about the nature of live performance in performance studies...... as its starting point to investigate liveness within a specific kind of contemporary performance: ‘environmental performances’. Environmental performances are arts practices that take environmental processes as their focus by framing activities of non-human performers such as clouds, wind and weeds - key...
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The politics of federal environmental education policy
Crouch, Richard Craig
Both environmental governance1 and education governance 2 occupy contested territory in contemporary US political discourse. Environmental education (EE) policy has emerged at this intersection and taken on aspects of both controversies. Central to debates surrounding environmental education are still unresolved issues concerning the role of the federal government in education, the role of education in citizen-making, and the role of the public in environmental governance. As a case study of the politics of environmental education policy, I explore these issues as they relate to the National Environmental Education Act of 1990,3 attempts at its reauthorization, its continued appropriations, and its current state of policy stasis. The political controversy over the federal role in environmental education is an appropriate case study of environmental education politics insofar as it reflects the different positions held by actor groups with regard to the definition, efficacy, and legitimacy of environmental education. At the core of these debates, as we will see, is a definitional crisis---that is, there is no common understanding across the relevant actor groups as to what environmental education is, or should be. I suggest here that this definitional issue can be best understood as having technical, ideological, and structural components4---all of which are mutually reinforcing and thus perpetuate the stasis in federal environmental education policy. 1I rely on Durant, Fiorino and O'leary's definition of environmental governance in Environmental Governance Reconsidered ; "In the term environmental governance, we refer to the increasingly collaborative nature of [environmental and natural resource] policy formulation and implementation. In this vein, a wide array of third parties (for example, actors in the profit sector, the nonprofit sector, and civic society), in addition to government agencies, comprise non hierarchical networks of actors wielding a variety of
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Lessons of the 11 years of environmental monitoring of the Phase 1 LaGrande complex, Quebec, Canada
International Nuclear Information System (INIS)
Demers, C.
1993-01-01
Phase 1 of the LaGrande complex involves creation of five hydroelectric reservoirs covering 11,335 km 2 in northwestern Quebec. Environmental studies began in 1973, at the same time as construction started. Since 1978, when the first reservoir was filled, an environmental monitoring network has been in place to follow the evolution of the aquatic environment. The network has shown that the water quality has remained adequate for the survival of aquatic organisms. The observed modifications have generally been of weak amplitude in the productive zone of water habitats and have reached their maximum 2-3 y after installation of facilities. For most of the LaGrande reservoirs, the modifications in water quality are related to decomposition of submerged organic matter. In most of the modified environments, an increase in zooplankton biomass has been noted which reached a maximum in the fourth summer season after reservoir filling. Fish populations, after an initial decrease in density, increased in subsequent years to reach a maximum and then declined to a level slightly above the pre-reservoir population
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Environmental Concerns, Environmental Policy and Green Investment.
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.
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Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)
NONE
1997-03-01
This report describes the research trend survey results on the synthesis and reaction of water-soluble metal complexes which are regarded as environmentally benign catalysts. For the synthesis and catalysis of water-soluble complexes, synthetic methods of water-soluble phosphines, such as sulfonated TPPMS and TPPTS, are described in detail. Synthesis and reactivity of hydroxymethylphosphines are introduced, and the application of electrospray mass spectroscopy is elucidated as a tool for the analysis of them. Changes of the application of transition metal complexes with water-soluble phosphines to catalysis are described. Dual catalysts which have both functions of phase transfer catalysts and homogeneous catalysts are introduced. Concept of counter phase transfer catalysts is also introduced, and some catalytic reactions are described. In addition, this report introduces catalysis of water-soluble polymer-supported metal complexes, immobilization of metal colloids with water-soluble ligands and their analysis, and water-soluble complexes as hybrid catalysts. 144 refs., 94 figs., 10 tabs.
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Riordan, Sean M.; Bittel, Douglas C.; Le Pichon, Jean-Baptiste; Gazzin, Silvia; Tiribelli, Claudio; Watchko, Jon F.; Wennberg, Richard P.; Shapiro, Steven M.
2016-01-01
Genetic-based susceptibility to bilirubin neurotoxicity and chronic bilirubin encephalopathy (kernicterus) is still poorly understood. Neonatal jaundice affects 60–80% of newborns, and considerable effort goes into preventing this relatively benign condition from escalating into the development of kernicterus making the incidence of this potentially devastating condition very rare in more developed countries. The current understanding of the genetic background of kernicterus is largely comprised of mutations related to alterations of bilirubin production, elimination, or both. Less is known about mutations that may predispose or protect against CNS bilirubin neurotoxicity. The lack of a monogenetic source for this risk of bilirubin neurotoxicity suggests that disease progression is dependent upon an overall decrease in the functionality of one or more essential genetically controlled metabolic pathways. In other words, a “load” is placed on key pathways in the form of multiple genetic variants that combine to create a vulnerable phenotype. The idea of epistatic interactions creating a pathway genetic load (PGL) that affects the response to a specific insult has been previously reported as a PGL score. We hypothesize that the PGL score can be used to investigate whether increased susceptibility to bilirubin-induced CNS damage in neonates is due to a mutational load being placed on key genetic pathways important to the central nervous system's response to bilirubin neurotoxicity. We propose a modification of the PGL score method that replaces the use of a canonical pathway with custom gene lists organized into three tiers with descending levels of evidence combined with the utilization of single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) causality prediction methods. The PGL score has the potential to explain the genetic background of complex bilirubin induced neurological disorders (BIND) such as kernicterus and could be the key to understanding ranges of outcome severity
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Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)
Kimberly eLane
2014-03-01
Full Text Available Parental reports of attention problems and clinical symptomatology of ADHD among children with fetal alcohol syndrome disorder (FASD were assessed in relation to performance on standardized subtests of attantional control/shifting and selective attention from the Test of Everyday Attention for Children (TEA-Ch; Manly et al., 1998. The participants included 14 children with FASD with a mean CA of 11.7 years and a mean MA of 9.7 years, and 14 typically developing (TD children with no reported history of prenatal exposure to alcohol or attention problems with a mean CA of 8.4 years and a mean MA of 9.6 years. The children with FASD were rated by their caregivers as having clinically significant attention difficulties for their developmental age. The reported symptomatology for the majority of the children with FASD were consistent with a diagnosis of ADHD, combined type, and only one child had a score within the average range. These reports are consistent with the finding here that the children with FASD demonstrated difficulties on the Creature Counting subtest of attentional control/shifting, but inconsistent with the finding that they outperformed the TD children on the Map Mission subtest of selective attention. These findings are considered within the context of the complexity in understanding attentional functioning among children with FASD and discrepancies across sources of information and components of attention.
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3D complex: a structural classification of protein complexes.
Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)
Emmanuel D Levy
2006-11-01
Full Text Available Most of the proteins in a cell assemble into complexes to carry out their function. It is therefore crucial to understand the physicochemical properties as well as the evolution of interactions between proteins. The Protein Data Bank represents an important source of information for such studies, because more than half of the structures are homo- or heteromeric protein complexes. Here we propose the first hierarchical classification of whole protein complexes of known 3-D structure, based on representing their fundamental structural features as a graph. This classification provides the first overview of all the complexes in the Protein Data Bank and allows nonredundant sets to be derived at different levels of detail. This reveals that between one-half and two-thirds of known structures are multimeric, depending on the level of redundancy accepted. We also analyse the structures in terms of the topological arrangement of their subunits and find that they form a small number of arrangements compared with all theoretically possible ones. This is because most complexes contain four subunits or less, and the large majority are homomeric. In addition, there is a strong tendency for symmetry in complexes, even for heteromeric complexes. Finally, through comparison of Biological Units in the Protein Data Bank with the Protein Quaternary Structure database, we identified many possible errors in quaternary structure assignments. Our classification, available as a database and Web server at http://www.3Dcomplex.org, will be a starting point for future work aimed at understanding the structure and evolution of protein complexes.
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Understanding Educational Change through the Lens of Complexity Science
Girtz, Suzann
2009-01-01
The purpose of this study was to investigate four attractor states in schools through the perceptions of formal leaders that engaged in and reflected upon school reform regarding the Millennial generation. The term attractor was used as a metaphor for a habitual pattern, gleaned from complexity science which informs of new ways in which to…
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Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)
Brown, G
2004-02-05
Synchrotron-based techniques are fundamental to research in ''Molecular Environmental Science'' (MES), an emerging field that involves molecular-level studies of chemical and biological processes affecting the speciation, properties, and behavior of contaminants, pollutants, and nutrients in the ecosphere. These techniques enable the study of aqueous solute complexes, poorly crystalline materials, solid-liquid interfaces, mineral-aqueous solution interactions, microbial biofilm-heavy metal interactions, heavy metal-plant interactions, complex material microstructures, and nanomaterials, all of which are important components or processes in the environment. Basic understanding of environmental materials and processes at the molecular scale is essential for risk assessment and management, and reduction of environmental pollutants at field, landscape, and global scales. One of the main purposes of this report is to illustrate the role of synchrotron radiation (SR)-based studies in environmental science and related fields and their impact on environmental problems of importance to society. A major driving force for MES research is the need to characterize, treat, and/or dispose of vast quantities of contaminated materials, including groundwater, sediments, and soils, and to process wastes, at an estimated cost exceeding 150 billion dollars through 2070. A major component of this problem derives from high-level nuclear waste. Other significant components come from mining and industrial wastes, atmospheric pollutants derived from fossil fuel consumption, agricultural pesticides and fertilizers, and the pollution problems associated with animal waste run-off, all of which have major impacts on human health and welfare. Addressing these problems requires the development of new characterization and processing technologies--efforts that require information on the chemical speciation of heavy metals, radionuclides, and xenobiotic organic compounds and
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International Nuclear Information System (INIS)
Brown, G
2004-01-01
Synchrotron-based techniques are fundamental to research in ''Molecular Environmental Science'' (MES), an emerging field that involves molecular-level studies of chemical and biological processes affecting the speciation, properties, and behavior of contaminants, pollutants, and nutrients in the ecosphere. These techniques enable the study of aqueous solute complexes, poorly crystalline materials, solid-liquid interfaces, mineral-aqueous solution interactions, microbial biofilm-heavy metal interactions, heavy metal-plant interactions, complex material microstructures, and nanomaterials, all of which are important components or processes in the environment. Basic understanding of environmental materials and processes at the molecular scale is essential for risk assessment and management, and reduction of environmental pollutants at field, landscape, and global scales. One of the main purposes of this report is to illustrate the role of synchrotron radiation (SR)-based studies in environmental science and related fields and their impact on environmental problems of importance to society. A major driving force for MES research is the need to characterize, treat, and/or dispose of vast quantities of contaminated materials, including groundwater, sediments, and soils, and to process wastes, at an estimated cost exceeding 150 billion dollars through 2070. A major component of this problem derives from high-level nuclear waste. Other significant components come from mining and industrial wastes, atmospheric pollutants derived from fossil fuel consumption, agricultural pesticides and fertilizers, and the pollution problems associated with animal waste run-off, all of which have major impacts on human health and welfare. Addressing these problems requires the development of new characterization and processing technologies--efforts that require information on the chemical speciation of heavy metals, radionuclides, and xenobiotic organic compounds and their reactions with
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Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)
Brown, G. E., Jr.; Sutton, S. R.; Bargar, J. R.; Shuh, D. K.; Fenter, P. A.; Kemner, K. M.
2004-10-20
Synchrotron-based techniques are fundamental to research in ''Molecular Environmental Science'' (MES), an emerging field that involves molecular-level studies of chemical and biological processes affecting the speciation, properties, and behavior of contaminants, pollutants, and nutrients in the ecosphere. These techniques enable the study of aqueous solute complexes, poorly crystalline materials, solid-liquid interfaces, mineral-aqueous solution interactions, microbial biofilm-heavy metal interactions, heavy metal-plant interactions, complex material microstructures, and nanomaterials, all of which are important components or processes in the environment. Basic understanding of environmental materials and processes at the molecular scale is essential for risk assessment and management, and reduction of environmental pollutants at field, landscape, and global scales. One of the main purposes of this report is to illustrate the role of synchrotron radiation (SR)-based studies in environmental science and related fields and their impact on environmental problems of importance to society. A major driving force for MES research is the need to characterize, treat, and/or dispose of vast quantities of contaminated materials, including groundwater, sediments, and soils, and to process wastes, at an estimated cost exceeding 150 billion dollars through 2070. A major component of this problem derives from high-level nuclear waste. Other significant components come from mining and industrial wastes, atmospheric pollutants derived from fossil fuel consumption, agricultural pesticides and fertilizers, and the pollution problems associated with animal waste run-off, all of which have major impacts on human health and welfare. Addressing these problems requires the development of new characterization and processing technologies--efforts that require information on the chemical speciation of heavy metals, radionuclides, and xenobiotic organic compounds and
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Warning Triggers in Environmental Hazards: Who Should Be Warned to Do What and When?
Cova, Thomas J; Dennison, Philip E; Li, Dapeng; Drews, Frank A; Siebeneck, Laura K; Lindell, Michael K
2017-04-01
Determining the most effective public warnings to issue during a hazardous environmental event is a complex problem. Three primary questions need to be answered: Who should take protective action? What is the best action? and When should this action be initiated? Warning triggers provide a proactive means for emergency managers to simultaneously answer these questions by recommending that a target group take a specified protective action if a preset environmental trigger condition occurs (e.g., warn a community to evacuate if a wildfire crosses a proximal ridgeline). Triggers are used to warn the public across a wide variety of environmental hazards, and an improved understanding of their nature and role promises to: (1) advance protective action theory by unifying the natural, built, and social themes in hazards research into one framework, (2) reveal important information about emergency managers' risk perception, situational awareness, and threat assessment regarding threat behavior and public response, and (3) advance spatiotemporal models for representing the geography and timing of disaster warning and response (i.e., a coupled natural-built-social system). We provide an overview and research agenda designed to advance our understanding and modeling of warning triggers. © 2016 Society for Risk Analysis.
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Intelligent Environmental Nanomaterials
Chang, Jian
2018-01-30
Due to the inherent complexity of environmental problems, especially water and air pollution, the utility of single-function environmental nanomaterials used in conventional and unconventional environmental treatment technologies are gradually reaching their limits. Intelligent nanomaterials with environmentally-responsive functionalities have shown potential to improve the performance of existing and new environmental technologies. By rational design of their structures and functionalities, intelligent nanomaterials can perform different tasks in response to varying application scenarios for the purpose of achieving the best performance. This review offers a critical analysis of the design concepts and latest progresses on the intelligent environmental nanomaterials in filtration membranes with responsive gates, materials with switchable wettability for selective and on-demand oil/water separation, environmental materials with self-healing capability, and emerging nanofibrous air filters for PM2.5 removal. We hope that this review will inspire further research efforts to develop intelligent environmental nanomaterials for the enhancement of the overall quality of environmental or human health.
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Intelligent Environmental Nanomaterials
Chang, Jian; Zhang, Lianbin; Wang, Peng
2018-01-01
Due to the inherent complexity of environmental problems, especially water and air pollution, the utility of single-function environmental nanomaterials used in conventional and unconventional environmental treatment technologies are gradually reaching their limits. Intelligent nanomaterials with environmentally-responsive functionalities have shown potential to improve the performance of existing and new environmental technologies. By rational design of their structures and functionalities, intelligent nanomaterials can perform different tasks in response to varying application scenarios for the purpose of achieving the best performance. This review offers a critical analysis of the design concepts and latest progresses on the intelligent environmental nanomaterials in filtration membranes with responsive gates, materials with switchable wettability for selective and on-demand oil/water separation, environmental materials with self-healing capability, and emerging nanofibrous air filters for PM2.5 removal. We hope that this review will inspire further research efforts to develop intelligent environmental nanomaterials for the enhancement of the overall quality of environmental or human health.
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Brain matters: from environmental ethics to environmental neuroethics.
Cabrera, Laura Y; Tesluk, Jordan; Chakraborti, Michelle; Matthews, Ralph; Illes, Judy
2016-02-15
The ways in which humans affect and are affected by their environments have been studied from many different perspectives over the past decades. However, it was not until the 1970s that the discussion of the ethical relationship between humankind and the environment formalized as an academic discipline with the emergence of environmental ethics. A few decades later, environmental health emerged as a discipline focused on the assessment and regulation of environmental factors that affect living beings. Our goal here is to begin a discussion specifically about the impact of modern environmental change on biomedical and social understandings of brain and mental health, and to align this with ethical considerations. We refer to this focus as Environmental Neuroethics, offer a case study to illustrate key themes and issues, and conclude by offering a five-tier framework as a starting point of analysis.
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Bevelhimer, Mark S; Deng, Z Daniel; Scherelis, Constantin
2016-01-01
Underwater noise associated with the installation and operation of hydrokinetic turbines in rivers and tidal zones presents a potential environmental concern for fish and marine mammals. Comparing the spectral quality of sounds emitted by hydrokinetic turbines to natural and other anthropogenic sound sources is an initial step at understanding potential environmental impacts. Underwater recordings were obtained from passing vessels and natural underwater sound sources in static and flowing waters. Static water measurements were taken in a lake with minimal background noise. Flowing water measurements were taken at a previously proposed deployment site for hydrokinetic turbines on the Mississippi River, where sounds created by flowing water are part of all measurements, both natural ambient and anthropogenic sources. Vessel sizes ranged from a small fishing boat with 60 hp outboard motor to an 18-unit barge train being pushed upstream by tugboat. As expected, large vessels with large engines created the highest sound levels, which were, on average, 40 dB greater than the sound created by an operating hydrokinetic turbine. A comparison of sound levels from the same sources at different distances using both spherical and cylindrical sound attenuation functions suggests that spherical model results more closely approximate observed sound attenuation.
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2009 Gordon Research Conference, Applied and Environmental Microbiology
Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)
Dubilier, Nicole [Max Planck Inst. for Marine Microbiology, Bremen (Germany)
2009-07-12
The topic of the 2009 Gordon Conference on Applied and Environmental Microbiology is: From Single Cells to the Environment. The Conference will present and discuss cutting-edge research on applied and environmental microbiology with a focus on understanding interactions between microorganisms and the environment at levels ranging from single cells to complex communities. The Conference will feature a wide range of topics such as single cell techniques (including genomics, imaging, and NanoSIMS), microbial diversity at scales ranging from clonal to global, environmental 'meta-omics', biodegradation and bioremediation, metal - microbe interactions, animal microbiomes and symbioses. The Conference will bring together investigators who are at the forefront of their field, and will provide opportunities for junior scientists and graduate students to present their work in poster format and exchange ideas with leaders in the field. Some poster presenters will be selected for short talks. The collegial atmosphere of this Conference, with extensive discussion sessions as well as opportunities for informal gatherings in the afternoons and evenings, provides an ideal setting for scientists from different disciplines to exchange ideas, brainstorm and discuss cross-disciplinary collaborations.
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Research priorities in environmental education
George H. Moeller
1977-01-01
Although natural processes operate in urban areas, they are difficult to observe. Much discussion during the symposium-fair was devoted to finding ways to improve urban children's environmental understanding through environmental education programs. But before effective environmental education programs can be developed, research is needed to: test the...
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Transcriptional Profiling of Chromera velia Under Diverse Environmental Conditions
Tayyrov, Annageldi
2014-05-01
Since its description in 2008, Chromera velia has drawn profound interest as the closest free-‐living photosynthetic relative of apicomplexan parasites that are significant pathogens, causing enormous health and economic problems. There-‐ fore, this newly described species holds a great potential to understand evolu-‐ tionary basis of how photosynthetic algae evolved into the fully pathogenic Apicomplexa and how their common ancestors may have lived before they evolved into obligate parasites. Hence, the aim of this work is to understand how C. velia function and respond to different environmental conditions. This study aims to reveal how C. velia is able to respond to environmental perturbations that are applied individually and simultaneously since, studying stress factors in separation fails to elucidate complex responses to multi stress factors and un-‐ derstanding the systemic regulation of involved genes. To extract biologically significant information and to identify genes involved in various physiological processes under variety of environmental conditions (i.e. a combination of vary-‐ ing temperatures, iron availability, and salinity in the growth medium) we pre-‐ pared strand specific RNA-‐seq libraries for 83 samples in diverse environmental conditions. Here, we report the set of significantly differentially expressed genes as a re-‐ sponse to the each condition and their combinations. Several interesting up-‐ regulated and down-‐regulated genes were found and their functions and in-‐ volved pathways were studied. We showed that the profound regulation of HSP20 proteins is significant under stress conditions and hypothesized that the-‐ se proteins might be involved in their movements.
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Fisher, Stephen D
1999-01-01
The most important topics in the theory and application of complex variables receive a thorough, coherent treatment in this introductory text. Intended for undergraduates or graduate students in science, mathematics, and engineering, this volume features hundreds of solved examples, exercises, and applications designed to foster a complete understanding of complex variables as well as an appreciation of their mathematical beauty and elegance. Prerequisites are minimal; a three-semester course in calculus will suffice to prepare students for discussions of these topics: the complex plane, basic
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Nutritional and environmental effects on reproduction in small ruminants.
Martin, G B; Rodger, J; Blache, D
2004-01-01
Animals live in environments that are both complex and continually changing, so they have to respond to short- and long-term variations in a wide range of factors, such as photoperiod, nutrition and sociosexual signals. Before they were domesticated, animals developed reproductive strategies that coped with these changes and often took advantage of them. The physiological processes that implement these strategies have been modified to some extent during several millennia of controlled breeding, but most persist. Thus, many genotypes still exhibit profound responses to external inputs, such as the induction of ovulation by sociosexual signals and the doubling of litter size by a change in nutrition. The complexity in these responses is now becoming clearer. For example, with sociosexual signals, we now need to consider the stimulatory effects of males on females, of females on males and of females on females. Similarly, the impact of nutrition has been extended beyond the control of puberty and the production of gametes to include phenomena such as 'fetal programming', with its potentially profound effects on the life-long performance of the animals. Fortunately, our capacity to research these phenomena has been greatly enhanced by technical improvements in hormone assays, molecular and cellular biology, and real-time ultrasound. This has brought us a better understanding of several of the environmental influences on reproduction, including: the cellular processes within ovarian follicles that mediate the effect of nutrition on ovulation rate; the neuroendocrine pathways through which nutritional inputs affect the brain centres that control appetite and reproduction; and the intracerebral pathways through which sociosexual signals (olfactory and non-olfactory) stimulate the reproductive axis. Importantly, we are now beginning to realise that, as well as considering interactions between environmental inputs and genotype, we need to take into account interactions
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The sleeping brain as a complex system.
Olbrich, Eckehard; Achermann, Peter; Wennekers, Thomas
2011-10-13
'Complexity science' is a rapidly developing research direction with applications in a multitude of fields that study complex systems consisting of a number of nonlinear elements with interesting dynamics and mutual interactions. This Theme Issue 'The complexity of sleep' aims at fostering the application of complexity science to sleep research, because the brain in its different sleep stages adopts different global states that express distinct activity patterns in large and complex networks of neural circuits. This introduction discusses the contributions collected in the present Theme Issue. We highlight the potential and challenges of a complex systems approach to develop an understanding of the brain in general and the sleeping brain in particular. Basically, we focus on two topics: the complex networks approach to understand the changes in the functional connectivity of the brain during sleep, and the complex dynamics of sleep, including sleep regulation. We hope that this Theme Issue will stimulate and intensify the interdisciplinary communication to advance our understanding of the complex dynamics of the brain that underlies sleep and consciousness.
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The politics of environmental narratives
Sconfienza, Umberto
2017-01-01
What makes environmental conflicts complex and difficult to solve? This question is increasingly important because, more and more, environmental problems are going to shape local, national, regional, and international politics. Not surprisingly, this question has generated a lot of scholarship. Most
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Integrating health and environmental impact analysis.
Reis, S; Morris, G; Fleming, L E; Beck, S; Taylor, T; White, M; Depledge, M H; Steinle, S; Sabel, C E; Cowie, H; Hurley, F; Dick, J McP; Smith, R I; Austen, M
2015-10-01
Scientific investigations have progressively refined our understanding of the influence of the environment on human health, and the many adverse impacts that human activities exert on the environment, from the local to the planetary level. Nonetheless, throughout the modern public health era, health has been pursued as though our lives and lifestyles are disconnected from ecosystems and their component organisms. The inadequacy of the societal and public health response to obesity, health inequities, and especially global environmental and climate change now calls for an ecological approach which addresses human activity in all its social, economic and cultural complexity. The new approach must be integral to, and interactive, with the natural environment. We see the continuing failure to truly integrate human health and environmental impact analysis as deeply damaging, and we propose a new conceptual model, the ecosystems-enriched Drivers, Pressures, State, Exposure, Effects, Actions or 'eDPSEEA' model, to address this shortcoming. The model recognizes convergence between the concept of ecosystems services which provides a human health and well-being slant to the value of ecosystems while equally emphasizing the health of the environment, and the growing calls for 'ecological public health' as a response to global environmental concerns now suffusing the discourse in public health. More revolution than evolution, ecological public health will demand new perspectives regarding the interconnections among society, the economy, the environment and our health and well-being. Success must be built on collaborations between the disparate scientific communities of the environmental sciences and public health as well as interactions with social scientists, economists and the legal profession. It will require outreach to political and other stakeholders including a currently largely disengaged general public. The need for an effective and robust science-policy interface has
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Introduction to environmental engineering
Šalić, Anita; Zelić, Bruno
2018-02-01
Nowadays we can easily say that environmental engineering is truly an interdisciplinary science. Combining biology, ecology, geology, geography, mathematics, chemistry, agronomy, medicine, economy, etc. environmental engineering strives to use environmental understanding and advancements in technology to serve mankind by decreasing production of environmental hazards and the effects of those hazards already present in the soil, water, and air. Major activities of environmental engineer involve water supply, waste water and solid management, air and noise pollution control, environmental sustainability, environmental impact assessment, climate changes, etc. And all this with only one main goal - to prevent or reduce undesirable impacts of human activities on the environment. To ensure we all have tomorrow.
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Xu, Ronghua; Wong, Wing-Keung; Chen, Guanrong; Huang, Shuo
2017-02-01
In this paper, we analyze the relationship among stock networks by focusing on the statistically reliable connectivity between financial time series, which accurately reflects the underlying pure stock structure. To do so, we firstly filter out the effect of market index on the correlations between paired stocks, and then take a t-test based P-threshold approach to lessening the complexity of the stock network based on the P values. We demonstrate the superiority of its performance in understanding network complexity by examining the Hong Kong stock market. By comparing with other filtering methods, we find that the P-threshold approach extracts purely and significantly correlated stock pairs, which reflect the well-defined hierarchical structure of the market. In analyzing the dynamic stock networks with fixed-size moving windows, our results show that three global financial crises, covered by the long-range time series, can be distinguishingly indicated from the network topological and evolutionary perspectives. In addition, we find that the assortativity coefficient can manifest the financial crises and therefore can serve as a good indicator of the financial market development.
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Couzo, Evan A.
Several factors combine to make ozone (O3) pollution in Houston, Texas, unique when compared to other metropolitan areas. These include complex meteorology, intense clustering of industrial activity, and significant precursor emissions from the heavily urbanized eight-county area. Decades of air pollution research have borne out two different causes, or conceptual models, of O 3 formation. One conceptual model describes a gradual region-wide increase in O3 concentrations "typical" of many large U.S. cities. The other conceptual model links episodic emissions of volatile organic compounds to spatially limited plumes of high O3, which lead to large hourly increases that have exceeded 100 parts per billion (ppb) per hour. These large hourly increases are known to lead to violations of the federal O 3 standard and impact Houston's status as a non-attainment area. There is a need to further understand and characterize the causes of peak O 3 levels in Houston and simulate them correctly so that environmental regulators can find the most cost-effective pollution controls. This work provides a detailed understanding of unusually large O 3 increases in the natural and modeled environments. First, we probe regulatory model simulations and assess their ability to reproduce the observed phenomenon. As configured for the purpose of demonstrating future attainment of the O3 standard, the model fails to predict the spatially limited O3 plumes observed in Houston. Second, we combine ambient meteorological and pollutant measurement data to identify the most likely geographic origins and preconditions of the concentrated O3 plumes. We find evidence that the O3 plumes are the result of photochemical activity accelerated by industrial emissions. And, third, we implement changes to the modeled chemistry to add missing formation mechanisms of nitrous acid, which is an important radical precursor. Radicals control the chemical reactivity of atmospheric systems, and perturbations to
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International Nuclear Information System (INIS)
Rezendes, V.S.
1992-04-01
In addition to long-standing safety and environmental problems plaguing the nuclear weapons complex, this paper reports that the Department of Energy (DOE) faces a major new challenge-how to reconfigure the weapons complex to meet the nation's defense needs in the 21st century. Key decisions still need to be made about the size of the complex; where, if necessary, to relocate various operations; what technologies to use for new tritium production; and what to do with excess weapons-grade material. The choices confronting DOE and Congress are difficult given the conflicting demands for limited resources
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Clinical Complexity in Medicine: A Measurement Model of Task and Patient Complexity.
Islam, R; Weir, C; Del Fiol, G
2016-01-01
Complexity in medicine needs to be reduced to simple components in a way that is comprehensible to researchers and clinicians. Few studies in the current literature propose a measurement model that addresses both task and patient complexity in medicine. The objective of this paper is to develop an integrated approach to understand and measure clinical complexity by incorporating both task and patient complexity components focusing on the infectious disease domain. The measurement model was adapted and modified for the healthcare domain. Three clinical infectious disease teams were observed, audio-recorded and transcribed. Each team included an infectious diseases expert, one infectious diseases fellow, one physician assistant and one pharmacy resident fellow. The transcripts were parsed and the authors independently coded complexity attributes. This baseline measurement model of clinical complexity was modified in an initial set of coding processes and further validated in a consensus-based iterative process that included several meetings and email discussions by three clinical experts from diverse backgrounds from the Department of Biomedical Informatics at the University of Utah. Inter-rater reliability was calculated using Cohen's kappa. The proposed clinical complexity model consists of two separate components. The first is a clinical task complexity model with 13 clinical complexity-contributing factors and 7 dimensions. The second is the patient complexity model with 11 complexity-contributing factors and 5 dimensions. The measurement model for complexity encompassing both task and patient complexity will be a valuable resource for future researchers and industry to measure and understand complexity in healthcare.
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Krogseth, Ingjerd S; Breivik, Knut; Arnot, Jon A; Wania, Frank; Borgen, Anders R; Schlabach, Martin
2013-12-01
Short chain chlorinated paraffins (SCCPs) raise concerns due to their potential for persistence, bioaccumulation, long-range transport and adverse effects. An understanding of their environmental fate remains limited, partly due to the complexity of the mixture. The purpose of this study was to evaluate whether a mechanistic, integrated, dynamic environmental fate and bioaccumulation multimedia model (CoZMoMAN) can reconcile what is known about environmental emissions and human exposure of SCCPs in the Nordic environment. Realistic SCCP emission scenarios, resolved by formula group, were estimated and used to predict the composition and concentrations of SCCPs in the environment and the human food chain. Emissions at the upper end of the estimated range resulted in predicted total concentrations that were often within a factor of 6 of observations. Similar model performance for a complex group of organic contaminants as for the well-known polychlorinated biphenyls strengthens the confidence in the CoZMoMAN model and implies a relatively good mechanistic understanding of the environmental fate of SCCPs. However, the degree of chlorination predicted for SCCPs in sediments, fish, and humans was higher than observed and poorly established environmental half-lives and biotransformation rate constants contributed to the uncertainties in the predicted composition and ∑SCCP concentrations. Improving prediction of the SCCP composition will also require better constrained estimates of the composition of SCCP emissions. There is, however, also large uncertainty and lack of coherence in the existing observations, and better model-measurement agreement will require improved analytical methods and more strategic sampling. More measurements of SCCP levels and compositions in samples from background regions are particularly important.
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Zhu, Y.; Jeon, S. W.; Seong, M.
2017-12-01
In case of wind-power, one of the most economical renewable energy resources, it is highly emerged owing to the strategic aspect of the response of environmental restriction and strong energy security as well as the upcoming motivation for huge industrial growth in the future. According to the fourth Fundamental Renewable Energy Plan, declared in Sep. 2014, the government instituted the scheme to minimize the proportion of previous RDF(Refused Derived Fuel) till 2035, promoting the solar power and wind power as the core energy for the next generation. Especially in South Korea, it is somewhat desperate to suggest the standard for environmentally optimal locations of wind power setup accompanied with the prevention of disasters from the climate changes. This is because that in case of South Korea, most of suitable places for Wind power complex are in the ridge of the mountains, where is highly invaluable sites as the pool of bio-resources and ecosystem conservations. In this research, we are to focus on the analysis of suitable locations for wind farm site which is relevant to the meteorological and geological factors, by utilizing GIS techniques through the whole South Korea. Ultimately, this analyses are to minimize the adverse effect derived from the current development of wind power in mountain ridges and the time for negotiation for wind power advance.
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International Nuclear Information System (INIS)
Viswanathan, S.; Surya Rao, B.; Lakshmanan, A.R.; Krishna Rao, T.
1991-01-01
Nuclear Fuel Complex, Hyderabad manufactures uranium dioxide fuel assemblies for PHWRs and BWRs operating in India. Starting materials are magnesium diuranate received from UCIL, Jaduguda and imported UF. Both of these are converted to UO 2 pellets by identical chemical processes and mechanical compacting. Since the uranium handled here is free of daughter product activities, external radiation is not a problem. Inhalation of airborne U compounds is one of the main source of exposure. Engineered protective measures like enclosures around U bearing powder handling equipment and local exhausts reduce worker's exposure. Installation of pre-filters, wet rotoclones and electrostatic precipitators in the ventillation system reduces the release of U into the environment. The criticality hazard in handling slightly enriched uranium is very low due to the built-in control based on geometry and inventory. Where airborne uranium is significant, workers are provided with protective respirators. The workers are regularly monitored for external exposure and also for internal exposure. The environmental releases from the NFC facility is well controlled. Soil, water and air from the NFC environment are routinely collected and analysed for all the possible pollutants. The paper describes the Health Physics experience during the last five years on occupational exposures and on environmental surveillance which reveals the high quality of safety observed in our nuclear fuel fabricating installations. (author). 4 refs., 6 tabs
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Fusion in computer vision understanding complex visual content
Ionescu, Bogdan; Piatrik, Tomas
2014-01-01
This book presents a thorough overview of fusion in computer vision, from an interdisciplinary and multi-application viewpoint, describing successful approaches, evaluated in the context of international benchmarks that model realistic use cases. Features: examines late fusion approaches for concept recognition in images and videos; describes the interpretation of visual content by incorporating models of the human visual system with content understanding methods; investigates the fusion of multi-modal features of different semantic levels, as well as results of semantic concept detections, fo
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Islam, Roosan; Weir, Charlene R; Jones, Makoto; Del Fiol, Guilherme; Samore, Matthew H
2015-11-30
Clinical experts' cognitive mechanisms for managing complexity have implications for the design of future innovative healthcare systems. The purpose of the study is to examine the constituents of decision complexity and explore the cognitive strategies clinicians use to control and adapt to their information environment. We used Cognitive Task Analysis (CTA) methods to interview 10 Infectious Disease (ID) experts at the University of Utah and Salt Lake City Veterans Administration Medical Center. Participants were asked to recall a complex, critical and vivid antibiotic-prescribing incident using the Critical Decision Method (CDM), a type of Cognitive Task Analysis (CTA). Using the four iterations of the Critical Decision Method, questions were posed to fully explore the incident, focusing in depth on the clinical components underlying the complexity. Probes were included to assess cognitive and decision strategies used by participants. The following three themes emerged as the constituents of decision complexity experienced by the Infectious Diseases experts: 1) the overall clinical picture does not match the pattern, 2) a lack of comprehension of the situation and 3) dealing with social and emotional pressures such as fear and anxiety. All these factors contribute to decision complexity. These factors almost always occurred together, creating unexpected events and uncertainty in clinical reasoning. Five themes emerged in the analyses of how experts deal with the complexity. Expert clinicians frequently used 1) watchful waiting instead of over- prescribing antibiotics, engaged in 2) theory of mind to project and simulate other practitioners' perspectives, reduced very complex cases into simple 3) heuristics, employed 4) anticipatory thinking to plan and re-plan events and consulted with peers to share knowledge, solicit opinions and 5) seek help on patient cases. The cognitive strategies to deal with decision complexity found in this study have important
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Scheiner, Samuel M
2014-02-01
One potential evolutionary response to environmental heterogeneity is the production of randomly variable offspring through developmental instability, a type of bet-hedging. I used an individual-based, genetically explicit model to examine the evolution of developmental instability. The model considered both temporal and spatial heterogeneity alone and in combination, the effect of migration pattern (stepping stone vs. island), and life-history strategy. I confirmed that temporal heterogeneity alone requires a threshold amount of variation to select for a substantial amount of developmental instability. For spatial heterogeneity only, the response to selection on developmental instability depended on the life-history strategy and the form and pattern of dispersal with the greatest response for island migration when selection occurred before dispersal. Both spatial and temporal variation alone select for similar amounts of instability, but in combination resulted in substantially more instability than either alone. Local adaptation traded off against bet-hedging, but not in a simple linear fashion. I found higher-order interactions between life-history patterns, dispersal rates, dispersal patterns, and environmental heterogeneity that are not explainable by simple intuition. We need additional modeling efforts to understand these interactions and empirical tests that explicitly account for all of these factors.
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Molecular environmental geochemistry
O'Day, Peggy A.
1999-05-01
The chemistry, mobility, and bioavailability of contaminant species in the natural environment are controlled by reactions that occur in and among solid, aqueous, and gas phases. These reactions are varied and complex, involving changes in chemical form and mass transfer among inorganic, organic, and biochemical species. The field of molecular environmental geochemistry seeks to apply spectroscopic and microscopic probes to the mechanistic understanding of environmentally relevant chemical processes, particularly those involving contaminants and Earth materials. In general, empirical geochemical models have been shown to lack uniqueness and adequate predictive capability, even in relatively simple systems. Molecular geochemical tools, when coupled with macroscopic measurements, can provide the level of chemical detail required for the credible extrapolation of contaminant reactivity and bioavailability over ranges of temperature, pressure, and composition. This review focuses on recent advances in the understanding of molecular chemistry and reaction mechanisms at mineral surfaces and mineral-fluid interfaces spurred by the application of new spectroscopies and microscopies. These methods, such as synchrotron X-ray absorption and scattering techniques, vibrational and resonance spectroscopies, and scanning probe microscopies, provide direct chemical information that can elucidate molecular mechanisms, including element speciation, ligand coordination and oxidation state, structural arrangement and crystallinity on different scales, and physical morphology and topography of surfaces. Nonvacuum techniques that allow examination of reactions in situ (i.e., with water or fluids present) and in real time provide direct links between molecular structure and reactivity and measurements of kinetic rates or thermodynamic properties. Applications of these diverse probes to laboratory model systems have provided fundamental insight into inorganic and organic reactions at
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Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)
Vincent Oreste Mancini
2016-02-01
Full Text Available Poor motor skills have been shown to be associated with a range of psychosocial issues, including internalizing problems (anxiety and depression. While well-documented empirically, our understanding of why this relationship occurs remains theoretically underdeveloped. The Elaborated Environmental Stress Hypothesis by Cairney, Rigoli, and Piek (2013 provides a promising framework that seeks to explain the association between motor skills and internalizing problems, specifically in children with Developmental Coordination Disorder (DCD. The framework posits that poor motor skills predispose the development of internalizing problems via interactions with intermediary environmental stressors. At the time the model was proposed, limited direct evidence was available to support or refute the framework. Several studies and developments related to the framework have since been published. This mini-review seeks to provide an up-to-date overview of recent developments related to the Elaborated Environmental Stress Hypothesis. We briefly discuss the past research that led to its development, before moving to studies that have investigated the framework since it was proposed. While originally developed within the context of DCD in childhood, recent developments have found support for the model in community samples. Through the reviewed literature, this article provides support for the Elaborated Environmental Stress Hypothesis as a promising theoretical framework that explains the psychosocial correlates across the broader spectrum of motor ability. This evidence promotes the external validity of the framework for use across the broader spectrum of motor ability. However, given its recent conceptualisation, ongoing evaluation of the Elaborated Environmental Stress Hypothesis is recommended.
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International Nuclear Information System (INIS)
Steneberg, A.
1996-01-01
'Environmental medicine' deals with the manifold health problems from environmental factors of chemical, physical and psychosocial origin that are possible or have been observed. The book gives insight into the current state of knowledge of environmental medicine institutions, possibilities of diagnosis and therapeutic methods. It offers a systematic overview of pollutant sources and pollutant effects and points out, inter alia, syndromes that are discussed in connection with environmental factors: not only allergies and carcinogenous diseases but also symptom complexes that are hard to diagnose by ordinary methods such as the sick-building syndrome, multiple sensitivity to chemicals, electrosensitivity, amalgam intoxications, disorders due to wood preservatives and fungal diseases. The lingering course of a disease and a set of symptoms varying from one patient to another are the rule, not the exception, because environmental diseases are due above all to the chronic uptake of low pollutant doses (orig./MG) [de
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Impacting Early Childhood Teachers' Understanding of the Complexities of Place Value
Cady, Jo Ann; Hopkins, Theresa M.; Price, Jamie
2014-01-01
In order to help children gain a more robust understanding of place value, teachers must understand the connections and relationships among the related concepts as well as possess knowledge of how children learn early number concepts. Unfortunately, teachers' familiarity with the base-ten number system and/or lack of an understanding of…
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Looking at the Complexity of Two Young Children's Understanding of Number
Thom, Jennifer S.; Pirie, Susan E. B.
2006-01-01
This paper presents a qualitative study that investigated two third-grade students' understanding of number. The children were videotaped while they worked to record everything they knew about the number, 72. Their artifacts and conversations were then analyzed using the Pirie-Kieren dynamical theory for the growth of mathematical understanding as…
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Zhang, Xiaoyang; Rogowski, Artur; Zhao, Lei; Hahn, Michael G; Avci, Utku; Knox, J Paul; Gilbert, Harry J
2014-01-24
Microbial degradation of plant cell walls is a central component of the carbon cycle and is of increasing importance in environmentally significant industries. Plant cell wall-degrading enzymes have a complex molecular architecture consisting of catalytic modules and, frequently, multiple non-catalytic carbohydrate binding modules (CBMs). It is currently unclear whether the specificities of the CBMs or the topology of the catalytic modules are the primary drivers for the specificity of these enzymes against plant cell walls. Here, we have evaluated the relationship between CBM specificity and their capacity to enhance the activity of GH5 and GH26 mannanases and CE2 esterases against intact plant cell walls. The data show that cellulose and mannan binding CBMs have the greatest impact on the removal of mannan from tobacco and Physcomitrella cell walls, respectively. Although the action of the GH5 mannanase was independent of the context of mannan in tobacco cell walls, a significant proportion of the polysaccharide was inaccessible to the GH26 enzyme. The recalcitrant mannan, however, was fully accessible to the GH26 mannanase appended to a cellulose binding CBM. Although CE2 esterases display similar specificities against acetylated substrates in vitro, only CjCE2C was active against acetylated mannan in Physcomitrella. Appending a mannan binding CBM27 to CjCE2C potentiated its activity against Physcomitrella walls, whereas a xylan binding CBM reduced the capacity of esterases to deacetylate xylan in tobacco walls. This work provides insight into the biological significance for the complex array of hydrolytic enzymes expressed by plant cell wall-degrading microorganisms.
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Creativity Understandings, Evolution: from Genius to Creative Systems
Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)
Jūratė Černevičiūtė
2014-10-01
Full Text Available The understanding of creativity in the social sciencies became more complex with the course of time. The concepts of creative individual, creative process and environment are discussed. Looking at the environment, distinction was made on three levels: macro, meso and micro. The impact of environments on creativity is analyzed, focusing attention on the collective creativity as the positive micro-environmental factor for innovations. Insights are gained about the tendency to move from an exclusive, elite, narrow concept of creativity, measured by the creation of products and their abundance, towards a broader, democratic concept of everyday creativity of the most people. The conclusion is that the creative industries of the exceptional creativity of genius or talent and mysticism are gradually transformed to broader creativity as the governed system, emphasizing creativity links with internal elements of the system and with the social context.
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Environmental Implementation Plan
International Nuclear Information System (INIS)
1994-02-01
The Environmental Implementation Plan (EIP) is a dynamic long-range environmental-protection plan for SRS. The EIP communicates the current and future (five year) environmental plans from individual organizations and divisions as well as site environmental initiatives which are designed to protect the environment and meet or exceed compliance with changing environmental/ regulatory requirements. Communication with all site organizations is essential for making the site environmental planning process work. Demonstrating environmental excellence is a high priority embodied in DOE and WSRC policy. Because of your support and participation in the three EIP initiatives; Reflections, Sectional Revision, and Integrated Planning, improvements are being made to the EIP and SRS environmental protection programs. I appreciate the ''Partnership in Environmental Excellence'' formed by the environmental coordinators and professionals who work daily toward our goal of compliance and environmental excellence. I look forward to seeing continued success and improvement in our environmental protection programs through combined efforts of all site organizations to protect our employees, the public health, and the environment. Together, we will achieve our site vision for SRS to be the recognized model for Environmental Excellence in the DOE Nuclear Weapons Complex
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Environmental Implementation Plan
Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)
1994-02-01
The Environmental Implementation Plan (EIP) is a dynamic long-range environmental-protection plan for SRS. The EIP communicates the current and future (five year) environmental plans from individual organizations and divisions as well as site environmental initiatives which are designed to protect the environment and meet or exceed compliance with changing environmental/ regulatory requirements. Communication with all site organizations is essential for making the site environmental planning process work. Demonstrating environmental excellence is a high priority embodied in DOE and WSRC policy. Because of your support and participation in the three EIP initiatives; Reflections, Sectional Revision, and Integrated Planning, improvements are being made to the EIP and SRS environmental protection programs. I appreciate the ``Partnership in Environmental Excellence`` formed by the environmental coordinators and professionals who work daily toward our goal of compliance and environmental excellence. I look forward to seeing continued success and improvement in our environmental protection programs through combined efforts of all site organizations to protect our employees, the public health, and the environment. Together, we will achieve our site vision for SRS to be the recognized model for Environmental Excellence in the DOE Nuclear Weapons Complex.
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Hardy, Liam; Smith, Martin; Hood, Leo; Heller, Shaun; Faltyn, Rowan; Blum, Astrid; Bamberger, Axel
2017-04-01
). Rare earth elements: A review of production, processing, recycling and associated environmental issues; EPA600/R-12/572. United States Environmental Protection Agency. Hardy, L. (2016). A novel mechanism for the formation of REE ion-adsorption deposits. Presented to: MDSG Winter Meeting, Bristol University, 20/12/16. Jenkins, R. (1979). The Road to Alto: An account of peasants, capitalists and their soil in the mountains of Southern Portugal. London: Pluto, ISBN: 0861040767. Marquis, E. (2016). Ion Adsorption-Type REE Deposit associated with the Ambohimirahavavy Alkaline Complex: Potential Controls on Mineralisation. Presented to: MDSG Winter Meeting, Bristol University, 20/12/16.