Error Analysis for RADAR Neighbor Matching Localization in Linear Logarithmic Strength Varying Wi-Fi Environment

PubMed Central

Tian, Zengshan; Xu, Kunjie; Yu, Xiang

2014-01-01

This paper studies the statistical errors for the fingerprint-based RADAR neighbor matching localization with the linearly calibrated reference points (RPs) in logarithmic received signal strength (RSS) varying Wi-Fi environment. To the best of our knowledge, little comprehensive analysis work has appeared on the error performance of neighbor matching localization with respect to the deployment of RPs. However, in order to achieve the efficient and reliable location-based services (LBSs) as well as the ubiquitous context-awareness in Wi-Fi environment, much attention has to be paid to the highly accurate and cost-efficient localization systems. To this end, the statistical errors by the widely used neighbor matching localization are significantly discussed in this paper to examine the inherent mathematical relations between the localization errors and the locations of RPs by using a basic linear logarithmic strength varying model. Furthermore, based on the mathematical demonstrations and some testing results, the closed-form solutions to the statistical errors by RADAR neighbor matching localization can be an effective tool to explore alternative deployment of fingerprint-based neighbor matching localization systems in the future. PMID:24683349

Error analysis for RADAR neighbor matching localization in linear logarithmic strength varying Wi-Fi environment.

PubMed

Zhou, Mu; Tian, Zengshan; Xu, Kunjie; Yu, Xiang; Wu, Haibo

2014-01-01

This paper studies the statistical errors for the fingerprint-based RADAR neighbor matching localization with the linearly calibrated reference points (RPs) in logarithmic received signal strength (RSS) varying Wi-Fi environment. To the best of our knowledge, little comprehensive analysis work has appeared on the error performance of neighbor matching localization with respect to the deployment of RPs. However, in order to achieve the efficient and reliable location-based services (LBSs) as well as the ubiquitous context-awareness in Wi-Fi environment, much attention has to be paid to the highly accurate and cost-efficient localization systems. To this end, the statistical errors by the widely used neighbor matching localization are significantly discussed in this paper to examine the inherent mathematical relations between the localization errors and the locations of RPs by using a basic linear logarithmic strength varying model. Furthermore, based on the mathematical demonstrations and some testing results, the closed-form solutions to the statistical errors by RADAR neighbor matching localization can be an effective tool to explore alternative deployment of fingerprint-based neighbor matching localization systems in the future.

Measuring Neighborhood Walkable Environments: A Comparison of Three Approaches

PubMed Central

Chiang, Yen-Cheng; Sullivan, William; Larsen, Linda

2017-01-01

Multiple studies have revealed the impact of walkable environments on physical activity. Scholars attach considerable importance to leisure and health-related walking. Recent studies have used Google Street View as an instrument to assess city streets and walkable environments; however, no study has compared the validity of Google Street View assessments of walkable environment attributes to assessments made by local residents and compiled from field visits. In this study, we involved nearby residents and compared the extent to which Google Street View assessments of the walkable environment correlated with assessments from local residents and with field visits. We determined the assessment approaches (local resident or field visit assessments) that exhibited the highest agreement with Google Street View. One city with relatively high-quality walkable environments and one city with relatively low-quality walkable environments were examined, and three neighborhoods from each city were surveyed. Participants in each neighborhood used one of three approaches to assess the walkability of the environment: 15 local residents assessed the environment using a map, 15 participants made a field visit to assess the environment, and 15 participants used Google Street View to assess the environment, yielding a total of 90 valid samples for the two cities. Findings revealed that the three approaches to assessing neighborhood walkability were highly correlated for traffic safety, aesthetics, sidewalk quality, and physical barriers. Compared with assessments from participants making field visits, assessments by local residents were more highly correlated with Google Street View assessments. Google Street View provides a more convenient, low-cost, efficient, and safe approach to assess neighborhood walkability. The results of this study may facilitate future large-scale walkable environment surveys, effectively reduce expenses, and improve survey efficiency. PMID:28587186

The effect of brain lesions on sound localization in complex acoustic environments.

PubMed

Zündorf, Ida C; Karnath, Hans-Otto; Lewald, Jörg

2014-05-01

Localizing sound sources of interest in cluttered acoustic environments--as in the 'cocktail-party' situation--is one of the most demanding challenges to the human auditory system in everyday life. In this study, stroke patients' ability to localize acoustic targets in a single-source and in a multi-source setup in the free sound field were directly compared. Subsequent voxel-based lesion-behaviour mapping analyses were computed to uncover the brain areas associated with a deficit in localization in the presence of multiple distracter sound sources rather than localization of individually presented sound sources. Analyses revealed a fundamental role of the right planum temporale in this task. The results from the left hemisphere were less straightforward, but suggested an involvement of inferior frontal and pre- and postcentral areas. These areas appear to be particularly involved in the spectrotemporal analyses crucial for effective segregation of multiple sound streams from various locations, beyond the currently known network for localization of isolated sound sources in otherwise silent surroundings.

Sound source localization method in an environment with flow based on Amiet-IMACS

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Wei, Long; Li, Min; Qin, Sheng; Fu, Qiang; Yang, Debin

2017-05-01

A sound source localization method is proposed to localize and analyze the sound source in an environment with airflow. It combines the improved mapping of acoustic correlated sources (IMACS) method and Amiet's method, and is called Amiet-IMACS. It can localize uncorrelated and correlated sound sources with airflow. To implement this approach, Amiet's method is used to correct the sound propagation path in 3D, which improves the accuracy of the array manifold matrix and decreases the position error of the localized source. Then, the mapping of acoustic correlated sources (MACS) method, which is as a high-resolution sound source localization algorithm, is improved by self-adjusting the constraint parameter at each irritation process to increase convergence speed. A sound source localization experiment using a pair of loud speakers in an anechoic wind tunnel under different flow speeds is conducted. The experiment exhibits the advantage of Amiet-IMACS in localizing a more accurate sound source position compared with implementing IMACS alone in an environment with flow. Moreover, the aerodynamic noise produced by a NASA EPPLER 862 STRUT airfoil model in airflow with a velocity of 80 m/s is localized using the proposed method, which further proves its effectiveness in a flow environment. Finally, the relationship between the source position of this airfoil model and its frequency, along with its generation mechanism, is determined and interpreted.

Andean rural children's views of the environment: A qualitative study

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Maurial, Mahia

Andean rural children's drawings and narratives about their crops and the immediate biological environment are rich tools to understand local views of the environment. Children's drawings and narratives were collected and linked to interviews as well as participant observation gathered from parents, leaders and teachers. The research sites are the community of Willca and the school of Mayu. Fieldwork was completed in 1998. In the conceptual framework I distinguish between two dissimilar knowledges, school knowledge and local knowledge. These knowledges produce two dissimilar views of the environment. I further analyze relationships of knowledge and power and argue that school knowledge overpowers local knowledge. Concomitantly, I studied set of ideas associated with two knowledges aforementioned: superacion (surpass) and regeneration (Apffel-Marglin 1995). Although these ideas coexist in peoples' minds they are not linked or effectively connected. In order to link local knowledge and school knowledge together, I propose the integration of environmental studies and art education to enhance a local sense of place (Blandy et. al 1993) in Andean and other schools. This will contribute to grassroots educational policy.

40 CFR 1506.12 - Effective date.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

2010-07-01

... 40 Protection of Environment 32 2010-07-01 2010-07-01 false Effective date. 1506.12 Section 1506.12 Protection of Environment COUNCIL ON ENVIRONMENTAL QUALITY OTHER REQUIREMENTS OF NEPA § 1506.12... local agencies to adopt their implementing procedures. (a) These regulations shall apply to the fullest...

40 CFR 1506.12 - Effective date.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2011 CFR

2011-07-01

... 40 Protection of Environment 33 2011-07-01 2011-07-01 false Effective date. 1506.12 Section 1506.12 Protection of Environment COUNCIL ON ENVIRONMENTAL QUALITY OTHER REQUIREMENTS OF NEPA § 1506.12... local agencies to adopt their implementing procedures. (a) These regulations shall apply to the fullest...

Tree aboveground carbon storage correlates with environmental gradients and functional diversity in a tropical forest

PubMed Central

Shen, Yong; Yu, Shixiao; Lian, Juyu; Shen, Hao; Cao, Honglin; Lu, Huanping; Ye, Wanhui

2016-01-01

Tropical forests play a disproportionately important role in the global carbon (C) cycle, but it remains unclear how local environments and functional diversity regulate tree aboveground C storage. We examined how three components (environments, functional dominance and diversity) affected C storage in Dinghushan 20-ha plot in China. There was large fine-scale variation in C storage. The three components significantly contributed to regulate C storage, but dominance and diversity of traits were associated with C storage in different directions. Structural equation models (SEMs) of dominance and diversity explained 34% and 32% of variation in C storage. Environments explained 26–44% of variation in dominance and diversity. Similar proportions of variation in C storage were explained by dominance and diversity in regression models, they were improved after adding environments. Diversity of maximum diameter was the best predictor of C storage. Complementarity and selection effects contributed to C storage simultaneously, and had similar importance. The SEMs disengaged the complex relationships among the three components and C storage, and established a framework to show the direct and indirect effects (via dominance and diversity) of local environments on C storage. We concluded that local environments are important for regulating functional diversity and C storage. PMID:27278688

Effect of gold nanoparticles on the fluorescence excitation spectrum of α-fetoprotein: Local environment dependent fluorescence quenching

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Li, Jian-jun; Chen, Yu; Wang, A.-qing; Zhu, Jian; Zhao, Jun-wu

2011-01-01

The effect of colloid gold nanoparticles (AuNPs) on the fluorescence excitation spectrum of α-fetoprotein (AFP) has been investigated experimentally. The excitation spectral peaks of AFP with low concentration from 0.01 ng ml -1 to 12 ng ml -1 increase monotonically with increasing of AFP concentration. When some gold colloids were added to the AFP solution, the excitation peak at 285 nm decreases distinctly. By comparing the excitation peak intensity of AFP solution with gold colloids and without gold colloids at different AFP concentrations, the quenching effect from gold nanoparticle was more effective at lower AFP concentration. So the range of concentration from 0.01 ng ml -1 to 0.09 ng ml -1 will be the potential range of applications because of the higher sensitivity. The physical origin based on local field effect was investigated to illuminate this local environment dependent fluorescence quenching. The changing extent of quenching with different AFP concentrations can be attributed to the nonlinear decreasing of the local field factor of gold nanoparticles as a function of environmental dielectric constant.

3-D localization of virtual sound sources: effects of visual environment, pointing method, and training.

PubMed

Majdak, Piotr; Goupell, Matthew J; Laback, Bernhard

2010-02-01

The ability to localize sound sources in three-dimensional space was tested in humans. In Experiment 1, naive subjects listened to noises filtered with subject-specific head-related transfer functions. The tested conditions included the pointing method (head or manual pointing) and the visual environment (VE; darkness or virtual VE). The localization performance was not significantly different between the pointing methods. The virtual VE significantly improved the horizontal precision and reduced the number of front-back confusions. These results show the benefit of using a virtual VE in sound localization tasks. In Experiment 2, subjects were provided with sound localization training. Over the course of training, the performance improved for all subjects, with the largest improvements occurring during the first 400 trials. The improvements beyond the first 400 trials were smaller. After the training, there was still no significant effect of pointing method, showing that the choice of either head- or manual-pointing method plays a minor role in sound localization performance. The results of Experiment 2 reinforce the importance of perceptual training for at least 400 trials in sound localization studies.

Galaxy And Mass Assembly (GAMA): growing up in a bad neighbourhood - how do low-mass galaxies become passive?

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Davies, L. J. M.; Robotham, A. S. G.; Driver, S. P.; Alpaslan, M.; Baldry, I. K.; Bland-Hawthorn, J.; Brough, S.; Brown, M. J. I.; Cluver, M. E.; Holwerda, B. W.; Hopkins, A. M.; Lara-López, M. A.; Mahajan, S.; Moffett, A. J.; Owers, M. S.; Phillipps, S.

2016-02-01

Both theoretical predictions and observations of the very nearby Universe suggest that low-mass galaxies(log10[M*/M⊙] < 9.5) are likely to remain star-forming unless they are affected by their local environment. To test this premise, we compare and contrast the local environment of both passive and star-forming galaxies as a function of stellar mass, using the Galaxy and Mass Assembly survey. We find that passive fractions are higher in both interacting pair and group galaxies than the field at all stellar masses, and that this effect is most apparent in the lowest mass galaxies. We also find that essentially all passive log10[M*/M⊙] < 8.5 galaxies are found in pair/group environments, suggesting that local interactions with a more massive neighbour cause them to cease forming new stars. We find that the effects of immediate environment (local galaxy-galaxy interactions) in forming passive systems increase with decreasing stellar mass, and highlight that this is potentially due to increasing interaction time-scales giving sufficient time for the galaxy to become passive via starvation. We then present a simplistic model to test this premise, and show that given our speculative assumptions, it is consistent with our observed results.

Primary assembly of soil communities: disentangling the effect of dispersal and local environment.

PubMed

Ingimarsdóttir, María; Caruso, Tancredi; Ripa, Jörgen; Magnúsdóttir, Olöf Birna; Migliorini, Massimo; Hedlund, Katarina

2012-11-01

It has long been recognised that dispersal abilities and environmental factors are important in shaping invertebrate communities, but their relative importance for primary soil community assembly has not yet been disentangled. By studying soil communities along chronosequences on four recently emerged nunataks (ice-free land in glacial areas) in Iceland, we replicated environmental conditions spatially at various geographical distances. This allowed us to determine the underlying factors of primary community assembly with the help of metacommunity theories that predict different levels of dispersal constraints and effects of the local environment. Comparing community assembly of the nunataks with that of non-isolated deglaciated areas indicated that isolation of a few kilometres did not affect the colonisation of the soil invertebrates. When accounting for effects of geographical distances, soil age and plant richness explained a significant part of the variance observed in the distribution of the oribatid mites and collembola communities, respectively. Furthermore, null model analyses revealed less co-occurrence than expected by chance and also convergence in the body size ratio of co-occurring oribatids, which is consistent with species sorting. Geographical distances influenced species composition, indicating that the community is also assembled by dispersal, e.g. mass effect. When all the results are linked together, they demonstrate that local environmental factors are important in structuring the soil community assembly, but are accompanied with effects of dispersal that may "override" the visible effect of the local environment.

Region effects influence local tree species diversity.

PubMed

Ricklefs, Robert E; He, Fangliang

2016-01-19

Global patterns of biodiversity reflect both regional and local processes, but the relative importance of local ecological limits to species coexistence, as influenced by the physical environment, in contrast to regional processes including species production, dispersal, and extinction, is poorly understood. Failure to distinguish regional influences from local effects has been due, in part, to sampling limitations at small scales, environmental heterogeneity within local or regional samples, and incomplete geographic sampling of species. Here, we use a global dataset comprising 47 forest plots to demonstrate significant region effects on diversity, beyond the influence of local climate, which together explain more than 92% of the global variation in local forest tree species richness. Significant region effects imply that large-scale processes shaping the regional diversity of forest trees exert influence down to the local scale, where they interact with local processes to determine the number of coexisting species.

Local navigation and fuzzy control realization for autonomous guided vehicle

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

El-Konyaly, El-Sayed H.; Saraya, Sabry F.; Shehata, Raef S.

1996-10-01

This paper addresses the problem of local navigation for an autonomous guided vehicle (AGV) in a structured environment that contains static and dynamic obstacles. Information about the environment is obtained via a CCD camera. The problem is formulated as a dynamic feedback control problem in which speed and steering decisions are made on the fly while the AGV is moving. A decision element (DE) that uses local information is proposed. The DE guides the vehicle in the environment by producing appropriate navigation decisions. Dynamic models of a three-wheeled vehicle for driving and steering mechanisms are derived. The interaction between them is performed via the local feedback DE. A controller, based on fuzzy logic, is designed to drive the vehicle safely in an intelligent and human-like manner. The effectiveness of the navigation and control strategies in driving the AGV is illustrated and evaluated.

Sensitive, site-specific, and stable vibrational probe of local protein environments: 4-azidomethyl-L-phenylalanine.

PubMed

Bazewicz, Christopher G; Liskov, Melanie T; Hines, Kevin J; Brewer, Scott H

2013-08-01

We have synthesized the unnatural amino acid (UAA), 4-azidomethyl-L-phenylalanine (pN₃CH₂Phe), to serve as an effective vibrational reporter of local protein environments. The position, extinction coefficient, and sensitivity to local environment of the azide asymmetric stretch vibration of pN₃CH₂Phe are compared to the vibrational reporters: 4-cyano-L-phenylalanine (pCNPhe) and 4-azido-L-phenylalanine (pN₃Phe). This UAA was genetically incorporated in a site-specific manner utilizing an engineered, orthogonal aminoacyl-tRNA synthetase in response to an amber codon with high efficiency and fidelity into two distinct sites in superfolder green fluorescent protein (sfGFP). This allowed for the dependence of the azide asymmetric stretch vibration of pN₃CH₂Phe to different protein environments to be measured. The photostability of pN₃CH₂Phe was also measured relative to the photoreactive UAA, pN₃Phe.

Local health department leadership strategies for healthy built environments.

PubMed

Kuiper, Heather; Jackson, Richard J; Barna, Stefi; Satariano, William A

2012-01-01

The built environment is an important but less-recognized health determinant, and local health departments need expanded guidance to address it. In such situations, leadership is particularly relevant. To assess whether and how local public and environmental health leaders increase their departments' health-promoting impact on built environment design, and what pitfalls they should avoid. Mixed-methods employing cross-sectional surveys and a comparative case study. Local public and environmental health departments. PARTICIPANTS SURVEY: A total of 159 (89%) health officers, health directors, and environmental health directors from all 62 local jurisdictions in California. Case-Study: Three departments, 12 cases, 36 health and land-use professionals, and 30 key informants. The study measured the influence of leadership practices on health departments' built environment-related collaborations, land use activities, policy developments, and contributions to physical changes. Quantitative multivariate linear and logistic regression were used. Case-study content analysis and pattern-matching, which related strong and weak leadership practices to outcomes, were also employed. Departments having highly innovative leaders with positive attitudes had greater odds of achieving physical changes to the built environment (OR: 4.5, 3.4, respectively). Leadership that most prepared their departments for built environment work (by updating staffing, structure, and strategy) tripled interagency and cross-sector collaboration (OR: 3.4). Leadership of successful departments consistently (1) established and managed a healthy built environment vision, (2) cultivated innovation, (3) supported, empowered and protected staff, (4) directly engaged in land use and transportation processes, (5) established direct contacts with directors in other departments, and (6) leveraged their professional reputation. Inconsistency in these practices was twice as common among failure as success cases (80%, 43%). Local health leadership underlies public and environmental health departments' community design efforts and should receive technical support and targeted resources to do so effectively.

Developing a model for effects of climate change on human health and health-environment interactions: Heat stress in Austin, Texas

EPA Science Inventory

Background/Question/Methods In December, 2010, a consortium of EPA, Centers for Disease Control, and state and local health officials convened in Austin, Texas for a “participatory modeling workshop” on climate change effects on human health and health-environment interactions. ...

Developing a model for effects of climate change on human health and health-environment interactions: Heat stress in Austin, Texas presentation

EPA Science Inventory

Background/Question/Methods In December, 2010, a consortium of EPA, Centers for Disease Control, and state and local health officials convened in Austin, Texas for a “participatory modeling workshop” on climate change effects on human health and health-environment int...

Google walkability: a new tool for local planning and public health research?

PubMed

Vargo, Jason; Stone, Brian; Glanz, Karen

2012-07-01

We investigate the association of different composite walkability measures with individual walking behaviors to determine if multicomponent metrics of walkability are more useful for assessing the health impacts of the built environment than single component measures. We use a previously published composite walkability measure as well as a new measure that was designed to represent easier methods of combination and which includes 2 metrics obtained using Google data sources. Logistic regression was used to assess the relationship between walking behavior and walkability metrics. Our results suggest that composite measures of walkability are more consistent predictors of walking behavior than single component measures. Furthermore, a walkability measure developed using free, publicly available data from Google was found to be nearly as effective in predicting walking outcomes as a walkability measure derived without such publicly and nationally available measures. Our findings demonstrate the effectiveness of free and locally relevant data for assessing walkable environments. This facilitates the use of locally derived and adaptive tools for evaluating the health impacts of the built environment.

Soviet Developments in Material Science No. 1, January - June 1975

DTIC Science & Technology

1975-11-30

Zotova, T. Makhanbetaliyev, B. Ya. Mel’tser, and D. N. Nasledov. Effect of fluctuations in local composition of solid solutions on...289-297. Gurin, N. T., D. G. Semak, and V. V. Fedak. Threshold switching and local states in chalcogenide glasses. FTP, no. 4, 1975...L. N. Seregina. Crystal-glass transition in Ge0 .-Te- p. and its effect on local environment of germanium atoms. FTT, no. 2, 1975, 633

Structures, History and Hope: A Case Study of Mechanisms that Maintain Advantage in Education

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Male, Alan

2011-01-01

International partners must always realise that local education systems interact with local social environments. Local perspectives are active agents in shaping the effectiveness of educational change. Underlying cultural, symbolic and social structures set the elastic limits of change and impact the formulation and implementation of policy…

Galaxy clusters in local Universe simulations without density constraints: a long uphill struggle

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Sorce, Jenny G.

2018-06-01

Galaxy clusters are excellent cosmological probes provided that their formation and evolution within the large scale environment are precisely understood. Therefore studies with simulated galaxy clusters have flourished. However detailed comparisons between simulated and observed clusters and their population - the galaxies - are complicated by the diversity of clusters and their surrounding environment. An original way initiated by Bertschinger as early as 1987, to legitimize the one-to-one comparison exercise down to the details, is to produce simulations constrained to resemble the cluster under study within its large scale environment. Subsequently several methods have emerged to produce simulations that look like the local Universe. This paper highlights one of these methods and its essential steps to get simulations that not only resemble the local Large Scale Structure but also that host the local clusters. It includes a new modeling of the radial peculiar velocity uncertainties to remove the observed correlation between the decreases of the simulated cluster masses and of the amount of data used as constraints with the distance from us. This method has the particularity to use solely radial peculiar velocities as constraints: no additional density constraints are required to get local cluster simulacra. The new resulting simulations host dark matter halos that match the most prominent local clusters such as Coma. Zoom-in simulations of the latter and of a volume larger than the 30h-1 Mpc radius inner sphere become now possible to study local clusters and their effects. Mapping the local Sunyaev-Zel'dovich and Sachs-Wolfe effects can follow.

Localization of Acoustic Transients in Shallow Water Environments

DTIC Science & Technology

1992-12-01

effect of the source signal uncertainty (in localizer performance . The localization process consists of two parts. First, a time domain propagation...for public release; distribution is unlimited 4. PERFORMING ORGANIZATION REPORT NUMBER(S) 5. MONITORING ORGANIZATION REPORT NUMBER(S) E OF PERFORMING ...SOURCE OF FUNDING NUMBERS PROGRAM PROJECT TASK WORK UNIT ELEMENT NO. NO. NO. ACCESSION NO. 11. TITLE (Include Security Classification) LOCALIZATION OF

Multimodal Interaction in Ambient Intelligence Environments Using Speech, Localization and Robotics

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Galatas, Georgios

2013-01-01

An Ambient Intelligence Environment is meant to sense and respond to the presence of people, using its embedded technology. In order to effectively sense the activities and intentions of its inhabitants, such an environment needs to utilize information captured from multiple sensors and modalities. By doing so, the interaction becomes more natural…

Transcription in space--environmental vs. genetic effects on differential immune gene expression.

PubMed

Lenz, Tobias L

2015-09-01

Understanding how organisms adapt to their local environment is one of the key goals in molecular ecology. Adaptation can be achieved through qualitative changes in the coding sequence and/or quantitative changes in gene expression, where the optimal dosage of a gene's product in a given environment is being selected for. Differences in gene expression among populations inhabiting distinct environments can be suggestive of locally adapted gene regulation and have thus been studied in different species (Whitehead & Crawford ; Hodgins-Davis & Townsend ). However, in contrast to a gene's coding sequence, its expression level at a given point in time may depend on various factors, including the current environment. Although critical for understanding the extent of local adaptation, it is usually difficult to disentangle the heritable differences in gene regulation from environmental effects. In this issue of Molecular Ecology, Stutz et al. () describe an experiment in which they reciprocally transplanted three-spined sticklebacks (Gasterosteus aculeatus) between independent pairs of small and large lakes. Their experimental design allows them to attribute differences in gene expression among sticklebacks either to lake of origin or destination lake. Interestingly, they find that translocated sticklebacks show a pattern of gene expression more similar to individuals from the destination lake than to individuals from the lake of origin, suggesting that expression of the targeted genes is more strongly regulated by environmental effects than by genetics. The environmental effect by itself is not entirely surprising; however, the relative extent of it is. Especially when put in the context of local adaptation and population differentiation, as done here, these findings cast a new light onto the heritability of differential gene expression and specifically its relative importance during population divergence and ultimately ecological speciation. © 2015 John Wiley & Sons Ltd.

Effects of Volcanoes on the Natural Environment

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Mouginis-Mark, Peter J.

2005-01-01

The primary focus of this project has been on the development of techniques to study the thermal and gas output of volcanoes, and to explore our options for the collection of vegetation and soil data to enable us to assess the impact of this volcanic activity on the environment. We originally selected several volcanoes that have persistent gas emissions and/or magma production. The investigation took an integrated look at the environmental effects of a volcano. Through their persistent activity, basaltic volcanoes such as Kilauea (Hawaii) and Masaya (Nicaragua) contribute significant amounts of sulfur dioxide and other gases to the lower atmosphere. Although primarily local rather than regional in its impact, the continuous nature of these eruptions means that they can have a major impact on the troposphere for years to decades. Since mid-1986, Kilauea has emitted about 2,000 tonnes of sulfur dioxide per day, while between 1995 and 2000 Masaya has emotted about 1,000 to 1,500 tonnes per day (Duffel1 et al., 2001; Delmelle et al., 2002; Sutton and Elias, 2002). These emissions have a significant effect on the local environment. The volcanic smog ("vog" ) that is produced affects the health of local residents, impacts the local ecology via acid rain deposition and the generation of acidic soils, and is a concern to local air traffic due to reduced visibility. Much of the work that was conducted under this NASA project was focused on the development of field validation techniques of volcano degassing and thermal output that could then be correlated with satellite observations. In this way, we strove to develop methods by which not only our study volcanoes, but also volcanoes in general worldwide (Wright and Flynn, 2004; Wright et al., 2004). Thus volcanoes could be routinely monitored for their effects on the environment. The selected volcanoes were: Kilauea (Hawaii; 19.425 N, 155.292 W); Masaya (Nicaragua; 11.984 N, 86.161 W); and Pods (Costa Rica; 10.2OoN, 84.233 W).

Human and ecological determinants of the spatial structure of local breed diversity.

PubMed

Colino-Rabanal, Victor J; Rodríguez-Díaz, Roberto; Blanco-Villegas, María José; Peris, Salvador J; Lizana, Miguel

2018-04-24

Since domestication, a large number of livestock breeds adapted to local conditions have been created by natural and artificial selection, representing one of the most powerful ways in which human groups have constructed niches to meet their need. Although many authors have described local breeds as the result of culturally and environmentally mediated processes, this study, located in mainland Spain, is the first aimed at identifying and quantifying the environmental and human contributions to the spatial structure of local breed diversity, which we refer to as livestock niche. We found that the more similar two provinces were in terms of human population, ecological characteristics, historical ties, and geographic distance, the more similar the composition of local breeds in their territories. Isolation by human population distance showed the strongest effect, followed by isolation by the environment, thus supporting the view of livestock niche as a socio-cultural product adapted to the local environment, in whose construction humans make good use of their ecological and cultural inheritances. These findings provide a useful framework to understand and to envisage the effects of climate change and globalization on local breeds and their livestock niches.

Sabuk Janur: tools to move community participation in reducing natural disasters and environment (case study at Lawu mount slope in Indonesia)

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Lestari, E.; Purnomo, S. H.; Komariah; Wibowo, A.

2018-03-01

Globalization in general both traditional values and local knowledge that exist in a society, but this is different in the community of mountain slope lawu on the Java Island precisely in Karanganyar regency of Central Java is still maintained local cultural values to maintain sustainability Springs. This is a foothold for cheaper the benefits of community culture that play an important role in environmental conservation and social solidarity to cope with natural disasters and the environment. The research method used is qualitative with explanatory case study approach. The results showed that the Myth of Sabuk Janur proved able to build public awareness in preserving the environment and overcoming natural disasters and the environment. The high level of community participation in every development is evident from every stage of community participation in a program. Where the solidarity of social visible in all conditions, namely social solidarity in the nature of the in-celebration and the nature of overcoming the disaster that befall. The preservation of local cultural values is still done because of the existence of the identity of local communities. This is because the integration of national value and local potential becomes a prerequisite in every development plan. Thus the cultural approach is an effective strategy in solving the problems exist in an area, especially in overcoming natural disasters and the environment.

Parental effects and the evolution of phenotypic memory.

PubMed

Kuijper, B; Johnstone, R A

2016-02-01

Despite growing evidence for nongenetic inheritance, the ecological conditions that favour the evolution of heritable parental or grandparental effects remain poorly understood. Here, we systematically explore the evolution of parental effects in a patch-structured population with locally changing environments. When selection favours the production of a mix of offspring types, this mix differs according to the parental phenotype, implying that parental effects are favoured over selection for bet-hedging in which the mixture of offspring phenotypes produced does not depend on the parental phenotype. Positive parental effects (generating a positive correlation between parental and offspring phenotype) are favoured in relatively stable habitats and when different types of local environment are roughly equally abundant, and can give rise to long-term parental inheritance of phenotypes. By contrast, unstable habitats can favour negative parental effects (generating a negative correlation between parental and offspring phenotype), and under these circumstances, even slight asymmetries in the abundance of local environmental states select for marked asymmetries in transmission fidelity. © 2015 European Society For Evolutionary Biology. Journal of Evolutionary Biology © 2015 European Society For Evolutionary Biology.

Local body cooling to improve sleep quality and thermal comfort in a hot environment.

PubMed

Lan, L; Qian, X L; Lian, Z W; Lin, Y B

2018-01-01

The effects of local body cooling on thermal comfort and sleep quality in a hot environment were investigated in an experiment with 16 male subjects. Sleep quality was evaluated subjectively, using questionnaires completed in the morning, and objectively, by analysis of electroencephalogram (EEG) signals that were continuously monitored during the sleeping period. Compared with no cooling, the largest improvement in thermal comfort and sleep quality was observed when the back and head (neck) were both cooled at a room temperature of 32°C. Back cooling alone also improved thermal comfort and sleep quality, although the effects were less than when cooling both back and head (neck). Mean sleep efficiency was improved from 84.6% in the no cooling condition to 95.3% and 92.8%, respectively, in these conditions, indicating good sleep quality. Head (neck) cooling alone slightly improved thermal comfort and subjective sleep quality and increased Stage N3 sleep, but did not otherwise improve sleep quality. The results show that local cooling applied to large body sections (back and head) could effectively maintain good sleep and improve thermal comfort in a hot environment. © 2017 John Wiley & Sons A/S. Published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd.

Evolution of dispersal in spatially and temporally variable environments: The importance of life cycles.

PubMed

Massol, François; Débarre, Florence

2015-07-01

Spatiotemporal variability of the environment is bound to affect the evolution of dispersal, and yet model predictions strongly differ on this particular effect. Recent studies on the evolution of local adaptation have shown that the life cycle chosen to model the selective effects of spatiotemporal variability of the environment is a critical factor determining evolutionary outcomes. Here, we investigate the effect of the order of events in the life cycle on the evolution of unconditional dispersal in a spatially heterogeneous, temporally varying landscape. Our results show that the occurrence of intermediate singular strategies and disruptive selection are conditioned by the temporal autocorrelation of the environment and by the life cycle. Life cycles with dispersal of adults versus dispersal of juveniles, local versus global density regulation, give radically different evolutionary outcomes that include selection for total philopatry, evolutionary bistability, selection for intermediate stable states, and evolutionary branching points. Our results highlight the importance of accounting for life-cycle specifics when predicting the effects of the environment on evolutionarily selected trait values, such as dispersal, as well as the need to check the robustness of model conclusions against modifications of the life cycle. © 2015 The Author(s). Evolution © 2015 The Society for the Study of Evolution.

Dynamics of a Chlorophyll Dimer in Collective and Local Thermal Environments

DOE PAGES

Merkli, M.; Berman, Gennady Petrovich; Sayre, Richard Thomas; ...

2016-01-30

Here we present a theoretical analysis of exciton transfer and decoherence effects in a photosynthetic dimer interacting with collective (correlated) and local (uncorrelated) protein-solvent environments. Our approach is based on the framework of the spin-boson model. We derive explicitly the thermal relaxation and decoherence rates of the exciton transfer process, valid for arbitrary temperatures and for arbitrary (in particular, large) interaction constants between the dimer and the environments. We establish a generalization of the Marcus formula, giving reaction rates for dimer levels possibly individually and asymmetrically coupled to environments. We identify rigorously parameter regimes for the validity of the generalizedmore » Marcus formula. The existence of long living quantum coherences at ambient temperatures emerges naturally from our approach.« less

Detection and Spectroscopy of Single Pentacene Molecules in a p- Terphenyl Crystal by Means of Fluorescence Excitation

DTIC Science & Technology

1991-07-22

suggesting that the effect may be ite td’ phonon-assisted transitions of local degrees of freedom around the pentacene defect whose source remains to...the effect may be due to phonon-assisted transitions of local degrees of freedom around the pentacene defect whose source remains to be identified...single molecule of pentacene in p-terphenyl is an exquisitely sensitive probe of the detailed local environment around the impurity molecule. It appears

The Effect of the Social and Physical Environment on Children's Independent Mobility to Neighborhood Destinations.

PubMed

Christian, Hayley E; Klinker, Charlotte D; Villanueva, Karen; Knuiman, Matthew W; Foster, Sarah A; Zubrick, Stephan R; Divitini, Mark; Wood, Lisa; Giles-Corti, Billie

2015-06-16

Relationships between context-specific measures of the physical and social environment and children's independent mobility to neighborhood destination types were examined. Parents in RESIDE's fourth survey reported whether their child (8-15 years; n = 181) was allowed to travel without an adult to school, friend's house, park and local shop. Objective physical environment measures were matched to each of these destinations. Social environment measures included neighborhood perceptions and items specific to local independent mobility. Independent mobility to local destinations ranged from 30% to 48%. Independent mobility to a local park was less likely as the distance to the closest park (small and large size) increased and less likely with additional school grounds (P < .05). Independent mobility to school was less likely as the distance to the closest large park increased and if the neighborhood was perceived as unsafe (P < .05). Independent mobility to a park or shops decreased if parenting social norms were unsupportive of children's local independent movement (P < .05). Independent mobility appears dependent upon the specific destination being visited and the impact of neighborhood features varies according to the destination examined. Findings highlight the importance of access to different types and sizes of urban green space for children's independent mobility to parks.

Real-time, interactive, visually updated simulator system for telepresence

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Schebor, Frederick S.; Turney, Jerry L.; Marzwell, Neville I.

1991-01-01

Time delays and limited sensory feedback of remote telerobotic systems tend to disorient teleoperators and dramatically decrease the operator's performance. To remove the effects of time delays, key components were designed and developed of a prototype forward simulation subsystem, the Global-Local Environment Telerobotic Simulator (GLETS) that buffers the operator from the remote task. GLETS totally immerses an operator in a real-time, interactive, simulated, visually updated artificial environment of the remote telerobotic site. Using GLETS, the operator will, in effect, enter into a telerobotic virtual reality and can easily form a gestalt of the virtual 'local site' that matches the operator's normal interactions with the remote site. In addition to use in space based telerobotics, GLETS, due to its extendable architecture, can also be used in other teleoperational environments such as toxic material handling, construction, and undersea exploration.

Parental perceptions of the impacts the built environment has on young children׳s health: a qualitative examination and lay assessment amongst residents in four Scottish communities.

PubMed

Teedon, Paul; Gillespie, Morag; Lindsay, Kate; Baker, Keith

2014-07-01

The built environment is important for children׳s health and development. Qualitative research in four communities in Scotland explored with groups of parents of young children their lay perceptions of their local environment with specific reference to its impact upon their children׳s health. Valuing most strong supportive communities; good quality public spaces and social housing, parents׳ key concerns included anti-social behaviour, incivility and a range of locally-specific concerns. As knowledgeable key gatekeepers to children׳s use of home environments and public spaces, parent׳s qualitative lay input is important for the development of children׳s effective use of outdoor spaces and the built environment over the long term. Copyright © 2014 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

The f ( R ) halo mass function in the cosmic web

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Braun-Bates, F. von; Winther, H.A.; Alonso, D.

An important indicator of modified gravity is the effect of the local environment on halo properties. This paper examines the influence of the local tidal structure on the halo mass function, the halo orientation, spin and the concentration-mass relation. We use the excursion set formalism to produce a halo mass function conditional on large-scale structure. Our simple model agrees well with simulations on large scales at which the density field is linear or weakly non-linear. Beyond this, our principal result is that f ( R ) does affect halo abundances, the halo spin parameter and the concentration-mass relationship in anmore » environment-independent way, whereas we find no appreciable deviation from \\text(ΛCDM) for the mass function with fixed environment density, nor the alignment of the orientation and spin vectors of the halo to the eigenvectors of the local cosmic web. There is a general trend for greater deviation from \\text(ΛCDM) in underdense environments and for high-mass haloes, as expected from chameleon screening.« less

Sensitive, Site-Specific, and Stable Vibrational Probe of Local Protein Environments: 4-Azidomethyl-L-Phenylalanine

PubMed Central

Bazewicz, Christopher G.; Liskov, Melanie T.; Hines, Kevin J.; Brewer, Scott H.

2013-01-01

We have synthesized the unnatural amino acid (UAA), 4-azidomethyl-Lphenylalanine (pN3CH2Phe), to serve as an effective vibrational reporter of local protein environments. The position, extinction coefficient, and sensitivity to local environment of the azide asymmetric stretch vibration of pN3CH2Phe are compared to the vibrational reporters: 4-cyano-L-phenylalanine (pCNPhe) and 4-azido-L-phenylalanine (pN3Phe). This UAA was genetically incorporated in a site-specific manner utilizing an engineered, orthogonal aminoacyl-tRNA synthetase in response to an amber codon with high efficiency and fidelity into two distinct sites in superfolder green fluorescent protein (sfGFP). This allowed for the dependence of the azide asymmetric stretch vibration of pN3CH2Phe to different protein environments to be measured. The photo-stability of pN3CH2Phe was also measured relative to the photoreactive UAA, pN3Phe. PMID:23865850

Integration of health and environment through health impact assessment: cases from three continents.

PubMed

Negev, Maya; Levine, Hagai; Davidovitch, Nadav; Bhatia, Rajiv; Mindell, Jennifer

2012-04-01

Despite the strong linkage between environment and health, institutions responsible for these fields operate in largely fragmented ways with limited interaction. As illustrated in the recent engagement between health and urban planning institutions, inter-institutional cooperation could support more effective and politically acceptable solutions for both local and global problems. Analysis of three case-studies, from three different continents, shows that HIA might serve to promote synergies among health and environmental disciplines in different local contexts, and could lead to institutional and procedural changes that promote health. Case examples provided supportive evidence for these effects, despite differences in approaches to HIA and governance levels. Obstacles to the use of HIA for inter-institutional integration also differed between countries. Lessons learned could support cooperation in other common interests of health and environment disciplines such as research, training and preparedness, and mitigation of public health emergencies related to the environment. Copyright © 2012 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

An Experiment on Enforcement Strategies for Managing a Local Environment Resource

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Murphy, James J.; Cardenas, Juan-Camilo

2004-01-01

Managing local environmental resources with moderately enforced government regulations can often be counterproductive, whereas nonbinding communications can be remarkably effective. The authors describe a classroom experiment that illustrates these points. The experiment is rich in its institutional settings and highlights the challenges that…

Blocking Spatial Navigation Across Environments That Have a Different Shape

PubMed Central

2015-01-01

According to the geometric module hypothesis, organisms encode a global representation of the space in which they navigate, and this representation is not prone to interference from other cues. A number of studies, however, have shown that both human and non-human animals can navigate on the basis of local geometric cues provided by the shape of an environment. According to the model of spatial learning proposed by Miller and Shettleworth (2007, 2008), geometric cues compete for associative strength in the same manner as non-geometric cues do. The experiments reported here were designed to test if humans learn about local geometric cues in a manner consistent with the Miller-Shettleworth model. Experiment 1 replicated previous findings that humans transfer navigational behavior, based on local geometric cues, from a rectangle-shaped environment to a kite-shaped environment, and vice versa. In Experiments 2 and 3, it was observed that learning about non-geometric cues blocked, and were blocked by, learning about local geometric cues. The reciprocal blocking observed is consistent with associative theories of spatial learning; however, it is difficult to explain the observed effects with theories of global-shape encoding in their current form. PMID:26569017

Dynamics of bulk versus nanoscale W S2 : Local strain and charging effects

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Luttrell, R. D.; Brown, S.; Cao, J.; Musfeldt, J. L.; Rosentsveig, R.; Tenne, R.

2006-01-01

We measured the infrared vibrational properties of bulk and nanoparticle WS2 in order to investigate the structure-property relations in these materials. In addition to the symmetry-breaking effects of local strain, nanoparticle curvature modifies the local charging environment of the bulk material. Performing a charge analysis on the xy -polarized E1u vibrational mode, we find an approximate 1.5:1 intralayer charge difference between the layered 2H material and inorganic fullerene-like (IF) nanoparticles. This effective charge difference may impact the solid-state lubrication properties of nanoscale metal dichalcogenides.

Dynamics of Bulk vs. Nanoscale WS2: Local Strain and Charging Effects

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Musfeldt, J. L.; Brown, S.; Luttrell, R. D.; Cao, J.; Rosentsveig, R.; Tenne, R.

2006-03-01

We measured the infrared vibrational properties of bulk and nanoparticle WS2 in order to investigate the structure- property relations in these novel materials. In addition to the symmetry-breaking effects of local strain, nanoparticle curvature modifies the local charging environment of the bulk material. Performing a charge analysis on the xy-polarized E1u vibrational mode, we find an approximate 1.5:1 intralayer charge difference between the layered 2H material and inorganic fullerene-like (IF) nanoparticles. This effective charge difference may impact the solid-state lubrication properties of nanoscale metal dichalcogenides.

When environmental action does not activate concern: the case of impaired water quality in two rural watersheds.

PubMed

Stough-Hunter, Anjel; Lekies, Kristi S; Donnermeyer, Joseph F

2014-12-01

Little research has considered how residents' perceptions of their local environment may interact with efforts to increase environmental concern, particularly in areas in need of remediation. This study examined the process by which local environmental action may affect environmental concern. A model was presented for exploring the effects of community-based watershed organizations (CWOs) on environmental concern that also incorporates existing perceptions of the local environment. Survey data were collected from area residents in two watersheds in southwestern Pennsylvania, USA, an area affected by abandoned mine drainage. The findings suggest that residents' perceptions of local water quality and importance of improving water quality are important predictors of level of environmental concern and desire for action; however, in this case, having an active or inactive CWO did not influence these perceptions. The implications of these findings raise important questions concerning strategies and policy making around environmental remediation at the local level.

POLLUTION PREVENTION, PROCESS DESIGN, AND SUSTAINABLE SYSTEMS: SOME NEW THOUGHTS

EPA Science Inventory

It has been clear for some time that the activities of modern industrial society have resulted in increasingly adverse effects on the planetary and local natural environment. Since all living things depend on this environment for their existence, this is of serious concern to all...

Decentralisation for Schools, but Not for Knowledge: The RSA Area Based Curriculum and the Limits of Localism in Coalition Education Policy

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Thomas, Louise

2011-01-01

Use of local environments and stakeholders to illuminate the school curriculum, and increase ownership of it, has been demonstrated by international research as an effective means by which to make the curriculum more relevant and engaging to students. Localism is a key tenet of the Government's policy platform, and in education policy the…

Graph-Based Cooperative Localization Using Symmetric Measurement Equations.

PubMed

Gulati, Dhiraj; Zhang, Feihu; Clarke, Daniel; Knoll, Alois

2017-06-17

Precise localization is a key requirement for the success of highly assisted or autonomous vehicles. The diminishing cost of hardware has resulted in a proliferation of the number of sensors in the environment. Cooperative localization (CL) presents itself as a feasible and effective solution for localizing the ego-vehicle and its neighboring vehicles. However, one of the major challenges to fully realize the effective use of infrastructure sensors for jointly estimating the state of a vehicle in cooperative vehicle-infrastructure localization is an effective data association. In this paper, we propose a method which implements symmetric measurement equations within factor graphs in order to overcome the data association challenge with a reduced bandwidth overhead. Simulated results demonstrate the benefits of the proposed approach in comparison with our previously proposed approach of topology factors.

Graph-Based Cooperative Localization Using Symmetric Measurement Equations

PubMed Central

Gulati, Dhiraj; Zhang, Feihu; Clarke, Daniel; Knoll, Alois

2017-01-01

Precise localization is a key requirement for the success of highly assisted or autonomous vehicles. The diminishing cost of hardware has resulted in a proliferation of the number of sensors in the environment. Cooperative localization (CL) presents itself as a feasible and effective solution for localizing the ego-vehicle and its neighboring vehicles. However, one of the major challenges to fully realize the effective use of infrastructure sensors for jointly estimating the state of a vehicle in cooperative vehicle-infrastructure localization is an effective data association. In this paper, we propose a method which implements symmetric measurement equations within factor graphs in order to overcome the data association challenge with a reduced bandwidth overhead. Simulated results demonstrate the benefits of the proposed approach in comparison with our previously proposed approach of topology factors. PMID:28629141

Of Portals, Policies, and Poets

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Bunt, Rick; Pennock, Lea

2006-01-01

Universities are drawn to portals as an effective way of organizing and delivering campus services and information. In a university environment, where the desire for local autonomy and the impetus for centralization are in constant tension, a portal seems especially appealing because it allows local solutions through a shared medium. But the fact…

Protecting children from harmful food marketing: options for local government to make a difference.

PubMed

Harris, Jennifer L; Graff, Samantha K

2011-09-01

The obesity epidemic cannot be reversed without substantial improvements in the food marketing environment that surrounds children. Food marketing targeted to children almost exclusively promotes calorie-dense, nutrient-poor foods and takes advantage of children's vulnerability to persuasive messages. Increasing scientific evidence reveals potentially profound effects of food marketing on children's lifelong eating behaviors and health. Much of this marketing occurs in nationwide media (eg, television, the Internet), but companies also directly target children in their own communities through the use of billboards and through local environments such as stores, restaurants, and schools. Given the harmful effect of this marketing environment on children's health and the industry's reluctance to make necessary changes to its food marketing practices, government at all levels has an obligation to act. This article focuses on policy options for municipalities that are seeking ways to limit harmful food marketing at the community level.

Virtual local target method for avoiding local minimum in potential field based robot navigation.

PubMed

Zou, Xi-Yong; Zhu, Jing

2003-01-01

A novel robot navigation algorithm with global path generation capability is presented. Local minimum is a most intractable but is an encountered frequently problem in potential field based robot navigation. Through appointing appropriately some virtual local targets on the journey, it can be solved effectively. The key concept employed in this algorithm are the rules that govern when and how to appoint these virtual local targets. When the robot finds itself in danger of local minimum, a virtual local target is appointed to replace the global goal temporarily according to the rules. After the virtual target is reached, the robot continues on its journey by heading towards the global goal. The algorithm prevents the robot from running into local minima anymore. Simulation results showed that it is very effective in complex obstacle environments.

A Longitudinal Analysis of the Influence of the Neighborhood Environment on Recreational Walking within the Neighborhood: Results from RESIDE

PubMed Central

Knuiman, Matthew; Divitini, Mark; Foster, Sarah; Hooper, Paula; Boruff, Bryan; Bull, Fiona; Giles-Corti, Billie

2017-01-01

Background: There is limited longitudinal evidence confirming the role of neighborhood environment attributes in encouraging people to walk more or if active people simply choose to live in activity-friendly neighborhoods. Natural experiments of policy changes to create more walkable communities provide stronger evidence for a causal effect of neighborhood environments on residents’ walking. Objectives: We aimed to investigate longitudinal associations between objective and perceived neighborhood environment measures and neighborhood recreational walking. Methods: We analyzed longitudinal data collected over 8 yr (four surveys) from the RESIDential Environments (RESIDE) Study (Perth, Australia, 2003–2012). At each time point, participants reported the frequency and total minutes of recreational walking/week within their neighborhood and neighborhood environment perceptions. Objective measures of the neighborhood environment were generated using a Geographic Information System (GIS). Results: Local recreational walking was influenced by objectively measured access to a medium-/large-size park, beach access, and higher street connectivity, which was reduced when adjusted for neighborhood perceptions. In adjusted models, positive perceptions of access to a park and beach, higher street connectivity, neighborhood esthetics, and safety from crime were independent determinants of increased neighborhood recreational walking. Local recreational walking increased by 9 min/wk (12% increase in frequency) for each additional perceived neighborhood attribute present. Conclusions: Our findings provide urban planners and policy makers with stronger causal evidence of the positive impact of well-connected neighborhoods and access to local parks of varying sizes on local residents’ recreational walking and health. https://doi.org/10.1289/EHP823 PMID:28728139

Coarse-grained models using local-density potentials optimized with the relative entropy: Application to implicit solvation

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Sanyal, Tanmoy; Shell, M. Scott

2016-07-01

Bottom-up multiscale techniques are frequently used to develop coarse-grained (CG) models for simulations at extended length and time scales but are often limited by a compromise between computational efficiency and accuracy. The conventional approach to CG nonbonded interactions uses pair potentials which, while computationally efficient, can neglect the inherently multibody contributions of the local environment of a site to its energy, due to degrees of freedom that were coarse-grained out. This effect often causes the CG potential to depend strongly on the overall system density, composition, or other properties, which limits its transferability to states other than the one at which it was parameterized. Here, we propose to incorporate multibody effects into CG potentials through additional nonbonded terms, beyond pair interactions, that depend in a mean-field manner on local densities of different atomic species. This approach is analogous to embedded atom and bond-order models that seek to capture multibody electronic effects in metallic systems. We show that the relative entropy coarse-graining framework offers a systematic route to parameterizing such local density potentials. We then characterize this approach in the development of implicit solvation strategies for interactions between model hydrophobes in an aqueous environment.

The effectiveness of visual art on environment in nursing home.

PubMed

Chang, Chia-Hsiu; Lu, Ming-Shih; Lin, Tsyr-En; Chen, Chung-Hey

2013-06-01

This Taiwan study investigated the effect of a visual art-based friendly environment on nursing home residents' satisfaction with their living environment. A pre-experimental design was used. Thirty-three residents in a nursing home were recruited in a one-group pre- and post-test study. The four-floor living environment was integrated using visual art, reminiscence, and gardening based on the local culture and history. Each floor was given a different theme, one that was familiar to most of the residents on the floor. The Satisfaction with Living Environment at Nursing Home Scale (SLE-NHS) was developed to measure outcomes. Of the 33 participants recruited, 27 (81.8%) were women and 6 (18.2%) were men. Their mean age was 79.24 ± 7.40 years, and 48.5% were severely dependent in activities of daily living. The SLE-NHS showed adequate reliability and validity. Its three domains were generated and defined using factor analysis. After the visual art-based intervention, the score on the "recalling old memories" subscale was significantly higher (t = -13.32, p < .001). However, there were no significant score changes on the "convenience" and "pretty and pleasurable" subscales. In general, the participants were satisfied with the redesigned environment and felt happy in the sunny rooms. Visual art in a nursing home is a novel method for representing the local culture and stressing the spiritual value of the elderly residents who helped create it. Older adults' aesthetic activities through visual art, including reminiscence and local culture, may enrich their spirits in later life. Older adults' aesthetic activities through visual art have been shown to improve their satisfaction with their living environment. The SLE-NHS is a useful tool for evaluating their satisfaction. © 2013 Sigma Theta Tau International.

Graph Structure-Based Simultaneous Localization and Mapping Using a Hybrid Method of 2D Laser Scan and Monocular Camera Image in Environments with Laser Scan Ambiguity

PubMed Central

Oh, Taekjun; Lee, Donghwa; Kim, Hyungjin; Myung, Hyun

2015-01-01

Localization is an essential issue for robot navigation, allowing the robot to perform tasks autonomously. However, in environments with laser scan ambiguity, such as long corridors, the conventional SLAM (simultaneous localization and mapping) algorithms exploiting a laser scanner may not estimate the robot pose robustly. To resolve this problem, we propose a novel localization approach based on a hybrid method incorporating a 2D laser scanner and a monocular camera in the framework of a graph structure-based SLAM. 3D coordinates of image feature points are acquired through the hybrid method, with the assumption that the wall is normal to the ground and vertically flat. However, this assumption can be relieved, because the subsequent feature matching process rejects the outliers on an inclined or non-flat wall. Through graph optimization with constraints generated by the hybrid method, the final robot pose is estimated. To verify the effectiveness of the proposed method, real experiments were conducted in an indoor environment with a long corridor. The experimental results were compared with those of the conventional GMappingapproach. The results demonstrate that it is possible to localize the robot in environments with laser scan ambiguity in real time, and the performance of the proposed method is superior to that of the conventional approach. PMID:26151203

Drove roads: Keystone structures that promote ant diversity in Mediterranean forest landscapes

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Azcárate, Francisco M.; Seoane, Javier; Castro, Sara; Peco, Begoña

2013-05-01

Drove roads are the traditional corridors used by pastoralists for seasonal movements of livestock (transhumance). They cover a considerable land area in Mediterranean countries and, although they are an obvious source of landscape diversity, their influence on the diversity and composition of animal assemblages has not been documented. Ant communities were studied on four active drove roads, two in forests (submediterranean and conifer) and two in open environments (croplands and rangelands). They were compared with the respective matrix communities and their contribution to local species richness was evaluated. The effects were heavily dependent on the open or closed nature of the matrix. In forest environments, drove roads increased ant species richness at the local scale, acting as clear keystone structures. Their species richness and functional diversity were highest on the fine scale, species composition was different, and a slight edge effect in the matrix was detected. In contrast, drove roads had little or even a negative effect in open environment locations. We conclude that drove roads have a high conservation value for ants in Mediterranean forest environments, in addition to their importance as reservoirs of plant biodiversity and generators of ecological goods and services.

Single-Locus versus Multilocus Patterns of Local Adaptation to Climate in Eastern White Pine (Pinus strobus, Pinaceae)

PubMed Central

Zinck, John W. R.

2016-01-01

Natural plant populations are often adapted to their local climate and environmental conditions, and populations of forest trees offer some of the best examples of this pattern. However, little empirical work has focused on the relative contribution of single-locus versus multilocus effects to the genetic architecture of local adaptation in plants/forest trees. Here, we employ eastern white pine (Pinus strobus) to test the hypothesis that it is the inter-genic effects that primarily drive climate-induced local adaptation. The genetic structure of 29 range-wide natural populations of eastern white pine was determined in relation to local climatic factors using both a reference set of SSR markers, and SNPs located in candidate genes putatively involved in adaptive response to climate. Comparisons were made between marker sets using standard single-locus outlier analysis, single-locus and multilocus environment association analyses and a novel implementation of Population Graphs. Magnitudes of population structure were similar between the two marker sets. Outlier loci consistent with diversifying selection were rare for both SNPs and SSRs. However, genetic distances based on the multilocus among population covariances (cGD) were significantly more correlated to climate, even after correcting for spatial effects, for SNPs as compared to SSRs. Coalescent simulations confirmed that the differences in mutation rates between SSRs and SNPs did not affect the topologies of the Population Graphs, and hence values of cGD and their correlations with associated climate variables. We conclude that the multilocus covariances among populations primarily reflect adaptation to local climate and environment in eastern white pine. This result highlights the complexity of the genetic architecture of adaptive traits, as well as the need to consider multilocus effects in studies of local adaptation. PMID:27387485

Modeling the effects of urban vegetation on air pollution

Treesearch

David J. Nowak; Patrick J. McHale; Myriam Ibarra; Daniel Crane; Jack C. Stevens; Chris J. Luley

1998-01-01

Urban vegetation can directly and indirectly affect local and regional air quality by altering the urban atmospheric environment. Trees affect local air temperature by transpiring water through their leaves, by blocking solar radiation (tree shade), which reduces radiation absorption and heat storage by various anthropogenic surfaces (e.g., buildings, roads), and by...

Prediction of the Seizure Suppression Effect by Electrical Stimulation via a Computational Modeling Approach.

PubMed

Ahn, Sora; Jo, Sumin; Jun, Sang Beom; Lee, Hyang Woon; Lee, Seungjun

2017-01-01

In this paper, we identified factors that can affect seizure suppression via electrical stimulation by an integrative study based on experimental and computational approach. Preferentially, we analyzed the characteristics of seizure-like events (SLEs) using our previous in vitro experimental data. The results were analyzed in two groups classified according to the size of the effective region, in which the SLE was able to be completely suppressed by local stimulation. However, no significant differences were found between these two groups in terms of signal features or propagation characteristics (i.e., propagation delays, frequency spectrum, and phase synchrony). Thus, we further investigated important factors using a computational model that was capable of evaluating specific influences on effective region size. In the proposed model, signal transmission between neurons was based on two different mechanisms: synaptic transmission and the electrical field effect. We were able to induce SLEs having similar characteristics with differentially weighted adjustments for the two transmission methods in various noise environments. Although the SLEs had similar characteristics, their suppression effects differed. First of all, the suppression effect occurred only locally where directly received the stimulation effect in the high noise environment, but it occurred in the entire network in the low noise environment. Interestingly, in the same noise environment, the suppression effect was different depending on SLE propagation mechanism; only a local suppression effect was observed when the influence of the electrical field transmission was very weak, whereas a global effect was observed with a stronger electrical field effect. These results indicate that neuronal activities synchronized by a strong electrical field effect respond more sensitively to partial changes in the entire network. In addition, the proposed model was able to predict that stimulation of a seizure focus region is more effective for suppression. In conclusion, we confirmed the possibility of a computational model as a simulation tool to analyze the efficacy of deep brain stimulation (DBS) and investigated the key factors that determine the size of an effective region in seizure suppression via electrical stimulation.

Challenges And Lessons Learned From Communities Using Evidence To Adopt Strategies To Improve Healthy Food Environments.

PubMed

Willems Van Dijk, Julie A; Catlin, Bridget; Cofsky, Abbey; Carroll, Carrie

2015-11-01

Communities across the United States are increasingly tackling the complex task of changing their local environments and cultures to improve access to and consumption of healthy food. Communities that have received the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation Culture of Health Prize have deployed numerous evidence-informed strategies to enhance their local food environments. Their experiences can provide lessons for other communities working to improve health. In this article we examine how the prize-winning communities worked in a multidisciplinary collective manner to implement evidence-based strategies, deployed suites of strategies to expand the reach of food-related work, balanced evidence against innovation, and measured their own progress. Most of the communities also faced challenges in using evidence effectively to implement strategies to promote healthy food environments. Policy makers can accelerate the adoption of evidence-informed approaches related to food and health by embedding them in program standards and funding requirements. Establishing opportunities for ongoing training to enhance community practitioners' evaluation skills and collaborative leadership would also improve the effectiveness of community implementation of these strategies. Project HOPE—The People-to-People Health Foundation, Inc.

Does the local food environment around schools affect diet? Longitudinal associations in adolescents attending secondary schools in East London

PubMed Central

2013-01-01

Background The local retail food environment around schools may act as a potential risk factor for adolescent diet. However, international research utilising cross-sectional designs to investigate associations between retail food outlet proximity to schools and diet provides equivocal support for an effect. In this study we employ longitudinal perspectives in order to answer the following two questions. First, how has the local retail food environment around secondary schools changed over time and second, is this change associated with change in diet of students at these schools? Methods The locations of retail food outlets and schools in 2001 and 2005 were geo-coded in three London boroughs. Network analysis in a Geographic Information System (GIS) ascertained the number, minimum and median distances to food outlets within 400 m and 800 m of the school location. Outcome measures were ‘healthy’ and ‘unhealthy’ diet scores derived from adolescent self-reported data in the Research with East London Adolescents: Community Health Survey (RELACHS). Adjusted associations between distance from school to food retail outlets, counts of outlets near schools and diet scores were assessed using longitudinal (2001–2005 n=757) approaches. Results Between 2001 and 2005 the number of takeaways and grocers/convenience stores within 400 m of schools increased, with many more grocers reported within 800 m of schools in 2005 (p< 0.001). Longitudinal analyses showed a decrease of the mean healthy (−1.12, se 0.12) and unhealthy (−0.48, se 0.16) diet scores. There were significant positive relationships between the distances travelled to grocers and healthy diet scores though effects were very small (0.003, 95%CI 0.001 – 0.006). Significant negative relationships between proximity to takeaways and unhealthy diet scores also resulted in small parameter estimates. Conclusions The results provide some evidence that the local food environment around secondary schools may influence adolescent diet, though effects were small. Further research on adolescents’ food purchasing habits with larger samples in varied geographic regions is required to identify robust relationships between proximity and diet, as small numbers, because of confounding, may dilute effect food environment effects. Data on individual foods purchased in all shop formats may clarify the frequent, overly simple classification of grocers as ‘healthy’. PMID:23347757

Change in ocean subsurface environment to suppress tropical cyclone intensification under global warming.

PubMed

Huang, Ping; Lin, I-I; Chou, Chia; Huang, Rong-Hui

2015-05-18

Tropical cyclones (TCs) are hazardous natural disasters. Because TC intensification is significantly controlled by atmosphere and ocean environments, changes in these environments may cause changes in TC intensity. Changes in surface and subsurface ocean conditions can both influence a TC's intensification. Regarding global warming, minimal exploration of the subsurface ocean has been undertaken. Here we investigate future subsurface ocean environment changes projected by 22 state-of-the-art climate models and suggest a suppressive effect of subsurface oceans on the intensification of future TCs. Under global warming, the subsurface vertical temperature profile can be sharpened in important TC regions, which may contribute to a stronger ocean coupling (cooling) effect during the intensification of future TCs. Regarding a TC, future subsurface ocean environments may be more suppressive than the existing subsurface ocean environments. This suppressive effect is not spatially uniform and may be weak in certain local areas.

Change in ocean subsurface environment to suppress tropical cyclone intensification under global warming

PubMed Central

Huang, Ping; Lin, I. -I; Chou, Chia; Huang, Rong-Hui

2015-01-01

Tropical cyclones (TCs) are hazardous natural disasters. Because TC intensification is significantly controlled by atmosphere and ocean environments, changes in these environments may cause changes in TC intensity. Changes in surface and subsurface ocean conditions can both influence a TC's intensification. Regarding global warming, minimal exploration of the subsurface ocean has been undertaken. Here we investigate future subsurface ocean environment changes projected by 22 state-of-the-art climate models and suggest a suppressive effect of subsurface oceans on the intensification of future TCs. Under global warming, the subsurface vertical temperature profile can be sharpened in important TC regions, which may contribute to a stronger ocean coupling (cooling) effect during the intensification of future TCs. Regarding a TC, future subsurface ocean environments may be more suppressive than the existing subsurface ocean environments. This suppressive effect is not spatially uniform and may be weak in certain local areas. PMID:25982028

Overview of the LINCS architecture

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Fletcher, J.G.; Watson, R.W.

1982-01-13

Computing at the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL) has evolved over the past 15 years with a computer network based resource sharing environment. The increasing use of low cost and high performance micro, mini and midi computers and commercially available local networking systems will accelerate this trend. Further, even the large scale computer systems, on which much of the LLNL scientific computing depends, are evolving into multiprocessor systems. It is our belief that the most cost effective use of this environment will depend on the development of application systems structured into cooperating concurrent program modules (processes) distributed appropriately over differentmore » nodes of the environment. A node is defined as one or more processors with a local (shared) high speed memory. Given the latter view, the environment can be characterized as consisting of: multiple nodes communicating over noisy channels with arbitrary delays and throughput, heterogenous base resources and information encodings, no single administration controlling all resources, distributed system state, and no uniform time base. The system design problem is - how to turn the heterogeneous base hardware/firmware/software resources of this environment into a coherent set of resources that facilitate development of cost effective, reliable, and human engineered applications. We believe the answer lies in developing a layered, communication oriented distributed system architecture; layered and modular to support ease of understanding, reconfiguration, extensibility, and hiding of implementation or nonessential local details; communication oriented because that is a central feature of the environment. The Livermore Interactive Network Communication System (LINCS) is a hierarchical architecture designed to meet the above needs. While having characteristics in common with other architectures, it differs in several respects.« less

Reputation-Based Secure Sensor Localization in Wireless Sensor Networks

PubMed Central

He, Jingsha; Xu, Jing; Zhu, Xingye; Zhang, Yuqiang; Zhang, Ting; Fu, Wanqing

2014-01-01

Location information of sensor nodes in wireless sensor networks (WSNs) is very important, for it makes information that is collected and reported by the sensor nodes spatially meaningful for applications. Since most current sensor localization schemes rely on location information that is provided by beacon nodes for the regular sensor nodes to locate themselves, the accuracy of localization depends on the accuracy of location information from the beacon nodes. Therefore, the security and reliability of the beacon nodes become critical in the localization of regular sensor nodes. In this paper, we propose a reputation-based security scheme for sensor localization to improve the security and the accuracy of sensor localization in hostile or untrusted environments. In our proposed scheme, the reputation of each beacon node is evaluated based on a reputation evaluation model so that regular sensor nodes can get credible location information from highly reputable beacon nodes to accomplish localization. We also perform a set of simulation experiments to demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed reputation-based security scheme. And our simulation results show that the proposed security scheme can enhance the security and, hence, improve the accuracy of sensor localization in hostile or untrusted environments. PMID:24982940

Population differentiation in Pacific salmon: local adaptation, genetic drift, or the environment?

USGS Publications Warehouse

Adkison, Milo D.

1995-01-01

Morphological, behavioral, and life-history differences between Pacific salmon (Oncorhynchus spp.) populations are commonly thought to reflect local adaptation, and it is likewise common to assume that salmon populations separated by small distances are locally adapted. Two alternatives to local adaptation exist: random genetic differentiation owing to genetic drift and founder events, and genetic homogeneity among populations, in which differences reflect differential trait expression in differing environments. Population genetics theory and simulations suggest that both alternatives are possible. With selectively neutral alleles, genetic drift can result in random differentiation despite many strays per generation. Even weak selection can prevent genetic drift in stable populations; however, founder effects can result in random differentiation despite selective pressures. Overlapping generations reduce the potential for random differentiation. Genetic homogeneity can occur despite differences in selective regimes when straying rates are high. In sum, localized differences in selection should not always result in local adaptation. Local adaptation is favored when population sizes are large and stable, selection is consistent over large areas, selective diffeentials are large, and straying rates are neither too high nor too low. Consideration of alternatives to local adaptation would improve both biological research and salmon conservation efforts.

Environmental effects of heavy metals derived from the e-waste recycling activities in China: a systematic review.

PubMed

Song, Qingbin; Li, Jinhui

2014-12-01

As the world's leading manufacturing country, China has become the largest dumping ground for e-waste, resulting in serious pollution of heavy metals in China. This study reviews recent studies on environmental effects of heavy metals from the e-waste recycling sites in China, especially Taizhou, Guiyu, and Longtang. The intensive uncontrolled processing of e-waste in China has resulted in the release of large amounts of heavy metals in the local environment, and caused high concentrations of metals to be present in the surrounding air, dust, soils, sediments and plants. Though the pollution of many heavy metals was investigated in the relevant researches, the four kinds of heavy metals (Cu, Pb, Cd and Cr) from e-waste recycling processes attracted more attention. The exceedance of various national and international standards imposed negative effects to the environment, which made the local residents face with the serious heavy metal exposure. In order to protect the environment and human health, there is an urgent need to control and monitor the informal e-waste recycling operations. Copyright © 2014 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

The influence of environment on the properties of galaxies

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Hashimoto, Yasuhiro

1999-11-01

I will present the result of the evaluation of the environmental influences on three important galactic properties; morphology, star formation rate, and interaction in the local universe. I have used a very large and homogeneous sample of 15749 galaxies drawn from the Las Campanas Redshift Survey (Shectman et al. 1996). This data set consists of galaxies inhabiting the entire range of galactic environments, from the sparsest field to the densest clusters, thus allowing me to study environmental variations without combing multiple data sets with inhomogeneous characteristics. Furthermore, I can also extend the research to a ``general'' environmental investigation by, for the first time, decoupling the very local environment, as characterized by local galaxy density, from the effects of larger-scale environments, such as membership in a cluster. The star formation rate is characterized by the strength of EW(OII), while the galactic morphology is characterized by the automatically-measured concentration index (e.g. Okamura, Kodaira, & Watanabe 1984), which is more closely related to the bulge-to-disk ratio of galaxies than Hubble type, and is therefore expected to behave more independently on star formation activity in a galaxy. On the other hand, the first systematic quantitative investigation of the environmental influence on the interaction of galaxies is made by using two automatically-determined objective measures; the asymmetry index and existence of companions. The principal conclusions of this work are: (1)The concentration of the galactic light profile (characterized by the concentration index) is predominantly correlated with the relatively small-scale environment which is characterized by the local galaxy density. (2)The star formation rate of galaxies (characterized by the EW(OII)) is correlated both with the small-scale environment (the local galaxy density) and the larger scale environment which is characterized by the cluster membership. For weakly star forming galaxies, the star formation rate is correlated both with the local galaxy density and rich cluster membership. It also shows a correlation with poor cluster membership. For strongly star forming galaxies, the star formation rate is correlated with the local density and the poor cluster membership. (3)Interacting galaxies (characterized by the asymmetry index and/or the existence of apparent companions) show no correlation with rich cluster membership, but show a fair to strong correlation with the poor cluster membership.

Extravehicular Activity and Planetary Protection

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Buffington, J. A.; Mary, N. A.

2015-01-01

The first human mission to Mars will be the farthest distance that humans have traveled from Earth and the first human boots on Martian soil in the Exploration EVA Suit. The primary functions of the Exploration EVA Suit are to provide a habitable, anthropometric, pressurized environment for up to eight hours that allows crewmembers to perform autonomous and robotically assisted extravehicular exploration, science/research, construction, servicing, and repair operations on the exterior of the vehicle, in hazardous external conditions of the Mars local environment. The Exploration EVA Suit has the capability to structurally interface with exploration vehicles via next generation ingress/egress systems. Operational concepts and requirements are dependent on the mission profile, surface assets, and the Mars environment. This paper will discuss the effects and dependencies of the EVA system design with the local Mars environment and Planetary Protection. Of the three study areas listed for the workshop, EVA identifies most strongly with technology and operations for contamination control.

Exploring the effect of diffuse reflection on indoor localization systems based on RSSI-VLC.

PubMed

Mohammed, Nazmi A; Elkarim, Mohammed Abd

2015-08-10

This work explores and evaluates the effect of diffuse light reflection on the accuracy of indoor localization systems based on visible light communication (VLC) in a high reflectivity environment using a received signal strength indication (RSSI) technique. The effect of the essential receiver (Rx) and transmitter (Tx) parameters on the localization error with different transmitted LED power and wall reflectivity factors is investigated at the worst Rx coordinates for a directed/overall link. Since this work assumes harsh operating conditions (i.e., a multipath model, high reflectivity surfaces, worst Rx position), an error of ≥ 1.46 m is found. To achieve a localization error in the range of 30 cm under these conditions with moderate LED power (i.e., P = 0.45 W), low reflectivity walls (i.e., ρ = 0.1) should be used, which would enable a localization error of approximately 7 mm at the room's center.

Coarse-grained models using local-density potentials optimized with the relative entropy: Application to implicit solvation

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Sanyal, Tanmoy; Shell, M. Scott, E-mail: shell@engineering.ucsb.edu

Bottom-up multiscale techniques are frequently used to develop coarse-grained (CG) models for simulations at extended length and time scales but are often limited by a compromise between computational efficiency and accuracy. The conventional approach to CG nonbonded interactions uses pair potentials which, while computationally efficient, can neglect the inherently multibody contributions of the local environment of a site to its energy, due to degrees of freedom that were coarse-grained out. This effect often causes the CG potential to depend strongly on the overall system density, composition, or other properties, which limits its transferability to states other than the one atmore » which it was parameterized. Here, we propose to incorporate multibody effects into CG potentials through additional nonbonded terms, beyond pair interactions, that depend in a mean-field manner on local densities of different atomic species. This approach is analogous to embedded atom and bond-order models that seek to capture multibody electronic effects in metallic systems. We show that the relative entropy coarse-graining framework offers a systematic route to parameterizing such local density potentials. We then characterize this approach in the development of implicit solvation strategies for interactions between model hydrophobes in an aqueous environment.« less

Characterization of a new Hencken burner with a transition from a reducing-to-oxidizing environment for fundamental coal studies

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Adeosun, Adewale; Huang, Qian; Li, Tianxiang; Gopan, Akshay; Wang, Xuebin; Li, Shuiqing; Axelbaum, Richard L.

2018-02-01

In pulverized coal burners, coal particles usually transition from a locally reducing environment to an oxidizing environment. The locally reducing environment in the near-burner region is due to a dense region of coal particles undergoing devolatilization. Following this region, the particles move into an oxidizing environment. This "reducing-to-oxidizing" transition can influence combustion processes such as ignition, particulate formation, and char burnout. To understand these processes at a fundamental level, a system is required that mimics such a transition. Hence, we have developed and characterized a two-stage Hencken burner to evaluate the effect of the reducing-to-oxidizing transition and particle-to-particle interaction (which characterizes dense region of coal particles) on ignition and ultrafine aerosol formation. The two-stage Hencken burner allows coal particles to experience a reducing environment followed by a transition to an oxidizing environment. This work presents the results of the design and characterization of the new two-stage Hencken burner and its new coal feeder. In a unique approach to the operation of the flat-flame of the Hencken burner, the flame configurations are operated as either a normal flame or inverse flame. Gas temperatures and oxygen concentrations for the Hencken burner are measured in reducing-to-oxidizing and oxidizing environments. The results show that stable flames with well-controlled conditions, relatively uniform temperatures, and species concentrations can be achieved in both flame configurations. This new Hencken burner provides an effective system for evaluating the effect of the reducing-to-oxidizing transition and particle-to-particle interaction on early-stage processes of coal combustion such as ignition and ultrafine particle formation.

Surface modifications of steels to improve corrosion resistance in sulfidizing-oxidizing environments

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Behrani, Vikas

Industrial and power generation processes employ units like boilers and gasifiers to burn sulfur containing fuels to produce steam and syn gas (H 2 and CO), which can generate electricity using turbines and fuel cells. These units often operate under environments containing gases such as H 2S, SO2, O2 etc, which can attack the metallic structure and impose serious problems of corrosion. Corrosion control in high temperature sulfur bearing environments is a challenging problem requiring information on local gaseous species at the surface of alloy and mechanisms of degradation in these environments. Coatings have proved to be a better alternative for improving corrosion resistance without compromising the bulk mechanical properties. Changes in process conditions may result in thermal and/or environment cycling between oxidizing and sulfidizing environments at the alloy surface, which can damage the protective scale formed on the alloy surface, leading to increase in corrosion rates. Objective of this study was to understand the effect of fluctuating environments on corrosion kinetics of carbon steels and develop diffusion based coatings to mitigate the high temperatures corrosion under these conditions. More specifically, the focus was: (1) to characterize the local gaseous environments at the surface of alloys in boilers; (2) optimizing diffusion coatings parameters for carbon steel; (3) understand the underlying failure mechanisms in cyclic environments; (4) to improve aluminide coating behavior by co-deposition of reactive elements such as Yttrium and Hafnium; (5) to formulate a plausible mechanism of coating growth and effects of alloying elements on corrosion; and (6) to understand the spallation behavior of scale by measuring stresses in the scales. The understanding of coating mechanism and effects of fluctuating gaseous environments provides information for designing materials with more reliable performance. The study also investigates the mechanism behind the effect of REs on scale adhesion and sulfidation behavior. Thus, the present work will have a broad impact on the field of materials and coatings selection for high temperature industrial environments such as boilers and gasifiers, and provides information on RE-modified aluminized coatings on carbon steel as an alternative for the use of bulk superalloys under high temperature sulfur bearing environments.

Finding the Genomic Basis of Local Adaptation: Pitfalls, Practical Solutions, and Future Directions.

PubMed

Hoban, Sean; Kelley, Joanna L; Lotterhos, Katie E; Antolin, Michael F; Bradburd, Gideon; Lowry, David B; Poss, Mary L; Reed, Laura K; Storfer, Andrew; Whitlock, Michael C

2016-10-01

Uncovering the genetic and evolutionary basis of local adaptation is a major focus of evolutionary biology. The recent development of cost-effective methods for obtaining high-quality genome-scale data makes it possible to identify some of the loci responsible for adaptive differences among populations. Two basic approaches for identifying putatively locally adaptive loci have been developed and are broadly used: one that identifies loci with unusually high genetic differentiation among populations (differentiation outlier methods) and one that searches for correlations between local population allele frequencies and local environments (genetic-environment association methods). Here, we review the promises and challenges of these genome scan methods, including correcting for the confounding influence of a species' demographic history, biases caused by missing aspects of the genome, matching scales of environmental data with population structure, and other statistical considerations. In each case, we make suggestions for best practices for maximizing the accuracy and efficiency of genome scans to detect the underlying genetic basis of local adaptation. With attention to their current limitations, genome scan methods can be an important tool in finding the genetic basis of adaptive evolutionary change.

Reforestation and topography affect montane soil properties, nitrogen pools, and nitrogen transformations in Hawaii

Treesearch

Paul G. Scowcroft; Janis E. Haraguchi; Nguyen V. Hue

2004-01-01

Land use changes, such as deforestation and reforestation, modify not only the organisms inhabiting affected areas, but also above-and belowground environments. Topography further influences local vegetation and environment. Effects of topography and re-establishment of N-fixing koa (Acacia koa A. Gray) trees in +100-yr-old montane grassland on...

Equivalence of qubit-environment entanglement and discord generation via pure dephasing interactions and the resulting consequences

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Roszak, Katarzyna; Cywiński, Łukasz

2018-01-01

We find that when a qubit initialized in a pure state experiences pure dephasing due to interaction with an environment, separable qubit-environment states generated during the evolution also have zero quantum discord with respect to the environment. What follows is that the set of separable states which can be reached during the evolution has zero volume, and hence, such effects as sudden death of qubit-environment entanglement are very unlikely. In the case of the discord with respect to the qubit, a vast majority of qubit-environment separable states is discordant, but in specific situations zero-discord states are possible. This is conceptually important since there is a connection between the discordance with respect to a given subsystem and the possibility of describing the evolution of this subsystem using completely positive maps. Finally, we use the formalism to find an exemplary evolution of an entangled state of two qubits that is completely positive, and occurs solely due to interaction of only one of the qubits with its environment (so one could guess that it corresponds to a local operation, since it is local in a physical sense), but which nevertheless causes the enhancement of entanglement between the qubits. While this simply means that the considered evolution is completely positive, but does not belong to local operations and classical communication, it shows how much caution has to be exercised when identifying evolution channels that belong to that class.

Near-Port Communities

EPA Pesticide Factsheets

Information to help near-port community leaders participate effectively in the decision-making process by increasing the understanding of the role of ports, how ports can impact local land use, economic trends, and environment.

Hot temperatures during the dry season reduce survival of a resident tropical bird.

PubMed

Woodworth, Bradley K; Norris, D Ryan; Graham, Brendan A; Kahn, Zachary A; Mennill, Daniel J

2018-05-16

Understanding how climate change will shape species distributions in the future requires a functional understanding of the demographic responses of animals to their environment. For birds, most of our knowledge of how climate influences population vital rates stems from research in temperate environments, even though most of Earth's avian diversity is concentrated in the tropics. We evaluated effects of Southern Oscillation Index (SOI) and local temperature and rainfall at multiple temporal scales on sex-specific survival of a resident tropical bird, the rufous-and-white wren Thryophilus rufalbus , studied over 15 years in the dry forests of northwestern Costa Rica. We found that annual apparent survival of males was 8% higher than females, more variable over time, and responded more strongly to environmental variation than female survival, which did not vary strongly with SOI or local weather. For males, mean and maximum local temperatures were better predictors of survival than either rainfall or SOI, with high temperatures during the dry season and early wet season negatively influencing survival. These results suggest that, even for species adapted to hot environments, further temperature increases may threaten the persistence of local populations in the absence of distributional shifts. © 2018 The Author(s).

Evolution of local facilitation in arid ecosystems.

PubMed

Kéfi, Sonia; van Baalen, Minus; Rietkerk, Max; Loreau, Michel

2008-07-01

In harsh environments, sessile organisms can make their habitat more hospitable by buffering environmental stress or increasing resource availability. Although the ecological significance of such local facilitation is widely established, the evolutionary aspects have been seldom investigated. Yet addressing the evolutionary aspects of local facilitation is important because theoretical studies show that systems with such positive interactions can exhibit alternative stable states and that such systems may suddenly become extinct when they evolve (evolutionary suicide). Arid ecosystems currently experience strong changes in climate and human pressures, but little is known about the effects of these changes on the selective pressures exerted on the vegetation. Here, we focus on the evolution of local facilitation in arid ecosystems, using a lattice-structured model explicitly considering local interactions among plants. We found that the evolution of local facilitation depends on the seed dispersal strategy. In systems characterized by short-distance seed dispersal, adaptation to a more stressful environment leads to high local facilitation, allowing the population to escape extinction. In contrast, systems characterized by long-distance seed dispersal become extinct under increased stress even when allowed to adapt. In this case, adaptation in response to climate change and human pressures could give the final push to the desertification of arid ecosystems.

SDSS-IV MaNGA: environmental dependence of stellar age and metallicity gradients in nearby galaxies

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Zheng, Zheng; Wang, Huiyuan; Ge, Junqiang; Mao, Shude; Li, Cheng; Li, Ran; Mo, Houjun; Goddard, Daniel; Bundy, Kevin; Li, Hongyu; Nair, Preethi; Lin, Lihwai; Long, R. J.; Riffel, Rogério; Thomas, Daniel; Masters, Karen; Bizyaev, Dmitry; Brownstein, Joel R.; Zhang, Kai; Law, David R.; Drory, Niv; Roman Lopes, Alexandre; Malanushenko, Olena

2017-03-01

We present a study on the stellar age and metallicity distributions for 1105 galaxies using the STARLIGHT software on MaNGA (Mapping Nearby Galaxies at APO) integral field spectra. We derive age and metallicity gradients by fitting straight lines to the radial profiles, and explore their correlations with total stellar mass M*, NUV - r colour and environments, as identified by both the large-scale structure (LSS) type and the local density. We find that the mean age and metallicity gradients are close to zero but slightly negative, which is consistent with the inside-out formation scenario. Within our sample, we find that both the age and metallicity gradients show weak or no correlation with either the LSS type or local density environment. In addition, we also study the environmental dependence of age and metallicity values at the effective radii. The age and metallicity values are highly correlated with M* and NUV - r and are also dependent on LSS type as well as local density. Low-mass galaxies tend to be younger and have lower metallicity in low-density environments while high-mass galaxies are less affected by environment.

The Effect of Local Violence on Children’s Attention and Impulse Control

PubMed Central

Tirado-Strayer, Nicole; Papachristos, Andrew V.; Raver, C. Cybele

2012-01-01

Objectives. We examined whether the burden of violence in a child’s community environment alters the child’s behavior and functioning in the classroom setting. Methods. To identify the effects of local violence, we exploited variation in the timing of local homicides, based on data from the Chicago Police Department, relative to the timing of interview assessments conducted as part of a randomized controlled trial conducted with preschoolers in Head Start programs from 2004–2006, the Chicago School Readiness Project. We compared children’s scores when exposed to recent local violence with scores when no recent violence had occurred to identify causal effects. Results. When children were assessed within a week of a homicide that occurred near their home, they exhibited lower levels of attention and impulse control and lower preacademic skills. The analysis showed strong positive effects of local violence on parental distress, providing suggestive evidence that parental responses may be a likely pathway by which local violence affects young children. Conclusions. Exposure to homicide generates acute psychological distress among caregivers and impairs children’s self-regulatory behavior and cognitive functioning. PMID:23078491

Local density variation of gold nanoparticles in aquatic environments

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Hosseinzadeh, F.; Shirazian, F.; Shahsavari, R.; Khoei, A. R.

2016-10-01

Gold (Au) nanoparticles are widely used in diagnosing cancer, imaging, and identification of therapeutic methods due to their particular quantum characteristics. This research presents different types of aqueous models and potentials used in TIP3P, to study the effect of the particle size and density of Au clusters in aquatic environments; so it can be useful to facilitate future investigation of the interaction of proteins with Au nanoparticles. The EAM potential is used to model the structure of gold clusters. It is observed that in the systems with identical gold/water density and different cluster radii, gold particles are distributed in aqueous environment almost identically. Thus, Au particles have identical local densities, and the root mean square displacement (RMSD) increases with a constant slope. However in systems with constant cluster radii and different gold/water densities, Au particle dispersion increases with density; as a result, the local density decreases and the RMSD increases with a larger slope. In such systems, the larger densities result in more blunted second peaks in gold-gold radial distribution functions, owing to more intermixing of the clusters and less FCC crystalline features at longer range, a mechanism that is mediated by the competing effects of gold-water and gold-gold interactions.

Examination of Traditional Medicine and Herbal Pharmacology and the Implications for Teaching and Education: A Ghanaian Case Study

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Asabere-Ameyaw, Akwasi; Sefa Dei, George J.; Raheem, Kolawole

2009-01-01

This article presents the preliminary findings of a pilot study of the practice, uses, and effectiveness of traditional medicine in Ghana. Based on in-depth interviews with local key practitioners and users of traditional medicine, the article points to some of the educational significance of local cultural knowledge on the environment and the…

Robust digital image inpainting algorithm in the wireless environment

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Karapetyan, G.; Sarukhanyan, H. G.; Agaian, S. S.

2014-05-01

Image or video inpainting is the process/art of retrieving missing portions of an image without introducing undesirable artifacts that are undetectable by an ordinary observer. An image/video can be damaged due to a variety of factors, such as deterioration due to scratches, laser dazzling effects, wear and tear, dust spots, loss of data when transmitted through a channel, etc. Applications of inpainting include image restoration (removing laser dazzling effects, dust spots, date, text, time, etc.), image synthesis (texture synthesis), completing panoramas, image coding, wireless transmission (recovery of the missing blocks), digital culture protection, image de-noising, fingerprint recognition, and film special effects and production. Most inpainting methods can be classified in two key groups: global and local methods. Global methods are used for generating large image regions from samples while local methods are used for filling in small image gaps. Each method has its own advantages and limitations. For example, the global inpainting methods perform well on textured image retrieval, whereas the classical local methods perform poorly. In addition, some of the techniques are computationally intensive; exceeding the capabilities of most currently used mobile devices. In general, the inpainting algorithms are not suitable for the wireless environment. This paper presents a new and efficient scheme that combines the advantages of both local and global methods into a single algorithm. Particularly, it introduces a blind inpainting model to solve the above problems by adaptively selecting support area for the inpainting scheme. The proposed method is applied to various challenging image restoration tasks, including recovering old photos, recovering missing data on real and synthetic images, and recovering the specular reflections in endoscopic images. A number of computer simulations demonstrate the effectiveness of our scheme and also illustrate the main properties and implementation steps of the presented algorithm. Furthermore, the simulation results show that the presented method is among the state-of-the-art and compares favorably against many available methods in the wireless environment. Robustness in the wireless environment with respect to the shape of the manually selected "marked" region is also illustrated. Currently, we are working on the expansion of this work to video and 3-D data.

Characterizing the galaxy populations within different environments in the RCS2319 supercluster

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Delahaye, Anna; Webb, Tracy

We present the results of a multi-wavelength photometric study of the high redshift supercluster RCS2319+00. RCS2319+00 is a high-redshift (z ~ 0.9) supercluster comprising three spectroscopically confrmed cluster cores discovered in the Red Sequence Cluster Survey (RCS) (Gladders & Yee 2005). Core proximities and merger rates estimate coalescence into a 1015 M ⊙ cluster by z ~ 0.5 (Gilbank et al. 2008). Spectroscopic studies of the system have revealed over 300 supercluster members located in the cores and several infalling groups (Faloon et al. 2013). RCS2319 presents a diverse range of dynamical systems and densities making it an ideal laboratory in which to study the effects of environment on galaxy properties. Imaging in optical and near infrared (griz' from MegaCam, JK s from WIRCam, both at CFHT), as well as 3.6 μm and 4.5μm from IRAC have enabled the assembly of a large photometric catalogue. Coupled with an extensive spectroscopic survey (Faloon et al. 2013) providing nearly 2400 redshifts across the field, photometric redshifts were determined using the template fitting code EAZY (Brammer et al. 2008). Nearly 80 000 photometric redshifts were measured providing a sample of nearly 3000 cluster members. To investigate effects of global environment, analysis was done utilizing a friend-of-friends group finding algorithm identifying several large and small infalling groups along with the three cluster cores. The cores are found to be dominated by massive, red galaxies and the field galaxies are populated by low mass, blue galaxies, as is the case in the local universe. Interestingly, the large groups exhibit intermediate properties between field and core populations, suggesting possible pre-processing as they are being accreted into the core halos. Relative fifth-nearest neighbour overdensity, log(1+δ5), is used as a proxy for local environment to investigate environmental dependence on galaxy colour. While there is an overall dependence of colour on local density, when controlled for stellar mass the dependence largely disappears. Indeed, galaxy mass is the dominant factor in determining colour, with local density a secondary effect only noticeable in lower mass galaxies at the 3 σ level for both colour and red fraction. RCS2319+00 presents a rare opportunity to probe many different densities and environments all located within the same object. We're able to investigate how galaxy evolution is affected by the environment, from field galaxies to infalling to groups to dense cluster cores, as well as the different density regions within each environment.

Associations between the local food environment and the severity of food insecurity among new families using community food security interventions in Montreal.

PubMed

Pérez, Elsury; Roncarolo, Federico; Potvin, Louise

2017-04-20

To examine the association between the local food environment and the severity of food insecurity among new families using community food security interventions in Montreal. In this cross-sectional study, we analyzed baseline data from 785 adults aged 18-65 years enrolled in the evaluation of the effects of organizations delivering community food security interventions in Montreal. The dependent variable was household food insecurity, while the independent variable was the local food environment, assessed through: location of the most frequently used grocery store, distance between the participant's residence and the community organization used, mode of transportation, walking time to the most frequently used grocery store, satisfaction with the acceptability and affordability of food available at the most frequently used grocery store, and self-reported difficulties in accessing food. We used polytomous logistic regression to estimate the association between household food insecurity and the local food environment. In all the models, we coded food security status in three categories: food security, moderate food insecurity and severe food insecurity. The last group was used as a reference group. Our data suggest that compared to households with severe food insecurity, those with moderate food insecurity (OR = 0.43, 95% CI: 0.28-0.62) and those with food security (OR = 0.13, 95% CI: 0.06-0.26) were less likely to report difficulties in accessing food due to food affordability. Food-secure households also had lower odds of reporting difficulties in accessing food due to transportation constraints (OR = 0.18, 95% CI: 0.06-0.55) compared with severe food-insecure households. Living a distance of between 1 and 2 km from the organization used was significantly correlated with moderate food insecurity (OR = 1.80, 95% CI: 1.12-2.88). The local food environment is associated with severity of household food insecurity among new families using community food security interventions in Montreal. Future studies should study the relationship between the local food environment and food insecurity across all dimensions of food access.

Oxygen atom reaction with shuttle materials at orbital altitudes

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Leger, L. J.

1983-01-01

Significant effects of the environment on payload bay materials observed on all flights are discussed. The STS 5 experiment is described. Increased outgassing rates resulting in possible localized effects on experiments, changes in optical control surfaces, and photoemission from reaction products are considered.

Long-term soil monitoring at U.S. Geological Survey reference watersheds

USGS Publications Warehouse

McHale, Michael R.; Siemion, Jason; Lawrence, Gregory B.; Mast, M. Alisa

2014-01-01

Monitoring the environment by making repeated measurements through time is essential to evaluate and track the health of ecosystems (fig. 1). Long-term datasets produced by such monitoring are indispensable for evaluating the effectiveness of environmental legislation and for designing mitigation strategies to address environmental changes in an era when human activities are altering the environment locally and globally.

12 CFR 303.42 - Filing procedures.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2014 CFR

2014-01-01

... contracts; (4) A statement on the impact of the proposal on the human environment, including, information on compliance with local zoning laws and regulations and the effect on traffic patterns for purposes of...

12 CFR 303.42 - Filing procedures.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2013 CFR

2013-01-01

... contracts; (4) A statement on the impact of the proposal on the human environment, including, information on compliance with local zoning laws and regulations and the effect on traffic patterns for purposes of...

12 CFR 303.42 - Filing procedures.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

2010-01-01

... contracts; (4) A statement on the impact of the proposal on the human environment, including, information on compliance with local zoning laws and regulations and the effect on traffic patterns for purposes of...

Localization and delocalization of a one-dimensional system coupled with the environment

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Zhu, Hong-Jun; Xiong, Shi-Jie

2010-03-01

We investigate several models of a one-dimensional chain coupling with surrounding atoms to elucidate disorder-induced delocalization in quantum wires, a peculiar behaviour against common wisdom. We show that the localization length is enhanced by disorder of side sites in the case of strong disorder, but in the case of weak disorder there is a plateau in this dependence. The above behaviour is the conjunct influence of the coupling to the surrounding atoms and the antiresonant effect. We also discuss different effects and their physical origin of different types of disorder in such systems. The numerical results show that coupling with the surrounding atoms can induce either the localization or delocalization effect depending on the values of parameters.

Consumer motivations toward buying local rice: The case of northern Iranian consumers.

PubMed

Rahnama, Hassan

2017-07-01

This research had two purposes. The first aim was to identify Iranian and Non-Iranian rice consumers based on demographic characteristics and examine difference of these features with buying behaviors. The second purpose of study was to investigate consumer's motivation to buy local rice in Iran. The sample were 1500 people (men and women). The data was collected by using questionnaire based on a face-to-face survey. Chi-square, confirmatory factor analysis, and multiple linear regression were applied to assess collected data by a questionnaire survey. Regarding Iranian local rice buyers, 884 people buy local rice. Chi-square test showed that there is a significant difference between gender, having children, and marital status in buying local rice. Habitual Iranian local rice buyers include: female (51%), people who are more than 45 years old (51%), people with children (63%), people who are living urban (61%), married people (48%) and individuals that their monthly income is between 321.5 and 625 Dollars (53%). Regarding non-Iranian rice buyers, 616 people buy it. Also there is a significant difference between gender, location, marital status, and income in buying local rice. For considering consumers motivation toward buying local rice the econometrical model is used. Model had three aspects including; quality aspects (taste, good appearance), economic aspects (price, convenience, consumer's ethnocentrism), and safety aspects (health, not using pesticides and environment protection) and seven subset. The results of analysis indicated that quality aspects, economic aspects and safety aspects have positive effects on buying Iranian local rice. Also, indicative variables including; taste, good appearance, price, convenience, consumer's ethnocentrism, health, not using pesticides and environment have significant effects on buying it. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Study of different atmospheric environments associated to storms development in the Madeira Island

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Couto, Flavio Tiago do

The study aims to improve the understanding about different atmospheric environments leading to the development of storms associated with heavy precipitation in Madeira Island. For this purpose, four main goals have been considered: 1) To document the synoptic and mesoscale environments associated with heavy precipitation. 2) To characterize surface precipitation patterns that affected the island during some periods of significant accumulated precipitation using numerical modelling. 3) To study the relationship between surface precipitation patterns and mesoscale environments. 4) To highlight how the PhD findings obtained in the first three goals can be translated into an operational forecast context. Concerning the large scale environment, precipitation over the island was favoured by weather systems (e.g, mesoscale convective systems and low pressure systems), as well as by the meridional transport of high amount of moisture from a structure denominated as “Atmospheric River”. The tropical origin of this moisture is underscored, however, their impact on the precipitation in Madeira was not so high during the 10 winter seasons [2002 - 2012] studied. The main factor triggering heavy precipitation events over the island is related to the local orography. The steep terrain favours orographically-induced stationary precipitation over the highlands, although maximum of precipitation at coastal region may be produced by localized blocking effect. These orographic precipitating systems presented different structures, associated with shallow and deep convection. Essentially, the study shows that the combination of airflow dynamics, moist content, and orography is the major mechanism that produces precipitation over the island. These factors together with the event duration act to define the regions of excessive precipitation. Finally, the study highlights two useful points for the operational sector, regarding the meridional water vapour transport and local effects causing significant precipitation over the Island.

The Effects of Alloy Chemistry on Localized Corrosion of Austenitic Stainless Steels

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Sapiro, David O.

This study investigated localized corrosion behavior of austenitic stainless steels under stressed and unstressed conditions, as well as corrosion of metallic thin films. While austenitic stainless steels are widely used in corrosive environments, they are vulnerable to pitting and stress corrosion cracking (SCC), particularly in chloride-containing environments. The corrosion resistance of austenitic stainless steels is closely tied to the alloying elements chromium, nickel, and molybdenum. Polarization curves were measured for five commercially available austenitic stainless steels of varying chromium, nickel, and molybdenum content in 3.5 wt.% and 25 wt.% NaCl solutions. The alloys were also tested in tension at slow strain rates in air and in a chloride environment under different polarization conditions to explore the relationship between the extent of pitting corrosion and SCC over a range of alloy content and environment. The influence of alloy composition on corrosion resistance was found to be consistent with the pitting resistance equivalent number (PREN) under some conditions, but there were also conditions under which the model did not hold for certain commercial alloy compositions. Monotonic loading was used to generate SCC in in 300 series stainless steels, and it was possible to control the failure mode through adjusting environmental and polarization conditions. Metallic thin film systems of thickness 10-200 nm are being investigated for use as corrosion sensors and protective coatings, however the corrosion properties of ferrous thin films have not been widely studied. The effects of film thickness and substrate conductivity were examined using potentiodynamic polarization and scanning vibrating electrode technique (SVET) on iron thin films. Thicker films undergo more corrosion than thinner films in the same environment, though the corrosion mechanism is the same. Conductive substrates encourage general corrosion, similar to that of bulk iron, while insulating substrates supported only localized corrosion.

[Effects of introducing Eucalyptus on indigenous biodiversity].

PubMed

Ping, Liang; Xie, Zong-Qiang

2009-07-01

Eucalyptus is well-known as an effective reforestation tree species, due to its fast growth and high adaptability to various environments. However, the introduction of Eucalyptus could have negative effects on the local environment, e. g., inducing soil degradation, decline of groundwater level, and decrease of biodiversity, and especially, there still have controversies on the effects of introduced Eucalyptus on the understory biodiversity of indigenous plant communities and related mechanisms. Based on a detailed analysis of the literatures at home and abroad, it was considered that the indigenous plant species in the majority of introduced Eucalyptus plantations were lesser than those in natural forests and indigenous species plantations but more than those in other exotic species plantations, mainly due to the unique eco-physiological characteristics of Eucalyptus and the irrational plantation design and harvesting techniques, among which, anthropogenic factors played leading roles. Be that as it may, the negative effects of introducing Eucalyptus on local plant biodiversity could be minimized via more rigorous scientific plantation design and management based on local plant community characteristics. To mitigate the negative effects of Eucalyptus introduction, the native trees and understory vegetation in plantations should be kept intact during reforestation with Eucalyptus to favor the normal development of plant community and regeneration. At the same time, human disturbance should be minimized to facilitate the natural regeneration of native species.

Understanding similarities in the local implementation of a healthy environment programme: insights from policy studies.

PubMed

Clavier, Carole; Gendron, Sylvie; Lamontagne, Lise; Potvin, Louise

2012-07-01

This paper reports findings from an evaluation of the local implementation of a procedural public health programme whose objective is to create healthy environments (HE) for vulnerable families in the province of Quebec (Canada) through the funding of local projects. Considering the potential issue of programme-context interaction, our research question was the following: Does the procedural nature of this HE programme result in variation between local cases in terms of the types of projects and collaborations it subsidizes? Given that the creation of healthy environments requires intersectoral health action to address social determinants of health, the data were analysed with respect to intersectorality and cooperation. Results of this qualitative multiple case study (n = 8), for the period 2004-2009, show that the majority of subsidized projects were in the health and social services sector and focused on parenting, parent-child attachment, nutrition and the social networks of families. Only a few initiatives reached beyond the health and social services sector to address social health determinants such as education, housing and transportation. Membership and mandates of the local groups responsible for programme implementation also showed little intersectorality. The limited variation between these eight cases can be attributed to the configuration of the local networks, as well as to specific issues in urban and rural areas. To explain the overall similarity of results across cases, we turned to the literature on policy instruments which suggests that particular characteristics of a programme may produce effects that are independent of its intended objective. In our study, several programme mechanisms, such as those framing the definition of «healthy environment» and budget management rules, could have encouraged the local development of initiatives that focus on individual skills related to parenting and attachment rather than the development of intersectoral health action to address social determinants of health. Copyright © 2012 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Local lattice distortion in high-entropy alloys

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Song, Hongquan; Tian, Fuyang; Hu, Qing-Miao; Vitos, Levente; Wang, Yandong; Shen, Jiang; Chen, Nanxian

2017-07-01

The severe local lattice distortion, induced mainly by the large atomic size mismatch of the alloy components, is one of the four core effects responsible for the unprecedented mechanical behaviors of high-entropy alloys (HEAs). In this work, we propose a supercell model, in which every lattice site has similar local atomic environment, to describe the random distributions of the atomic species in HEAs. Using these supercells in combination with ab initio calculations, we investigate the local lattice distortion of refractory HEAs with body-centered-cubic structure and 3 d HEAs with face-centered-cubic structure. Our results demonstrate that the local lattice distortion of the refractory HEAs is much more significant than that of the 3 d HEAs. We show that the atomic size mismatch evaluated with the empirical atomic radii is not accurate enough to describe the local lattice distortion. Both the lattice distortion energy and the mixing entropy contribute significantly to the thermodynamic stability of HEAs. However the local lattice distortion has negligible effect on the equilibrium lattice parameter and bulk modulus.

Effects of the local environment on CNT-based nanoelectronics: development of a microenvironment probe station.

PubMed

McClain, Devon; Thomas, Nicole; Nguyen, Tri; O'Brien, Kevin P; Jiao, Jun

2010-11-01

In this study, we report the development of a microenvironment probe station capable of detecting the effect of small changes to the local environment around a carbon nanotube conduction channel. The microenvironment probe station is highly versatile and is used to characterize alterations in carbon nanotube field effect transistor electrical behavior in response to changes in temperature, gas species, infrared and ultraviolet light. All devices were electrically characterized in atmospheric, ultrahigh vacuum and oxygen-rich environments. The results suggest that devices could be changed from n-type at 1 x 10(-8) torr through an intermediate ambipolar state at 1 x 10(-4) torr to p-type at atmosphere solely by increasing the oxygen concentration. The average resistance of these carbon nanotube field effect transistors after annealing was observed to decrease by approximately 54% from their initial value under ultrahigh vacuum to their final value in the presence of pure oxygen while corresponding threshold voltages shifts were also observed. Illumination with infrared light resulted in a approximately 10% increase in drain current with an estimated response time <1 fs due to photon-induced electron-hole pair generation. Illumination with ultraviolet light resulted in approximately 5-15% reduction in drain current due to photon-induced desorption of oxygen adsorbate.

Variation in sensitivity of large benthic Foraminifera to the combined effects of ocean warming and local impacts.

PubMed

Prazeres, Martina; Roberts, T Edward; Pandolfi, John M

2017-03-23

Large benthic foraminifera (LBF) are crucial marine calcifiers in coral reefs, and sensitive to environmental changes. Yet, many species successfully colonise a wide range of habitats including highly fluctuating environments. We tested the combined effects of ocean warming, local impacts and different light levels on populations of the common LBF Amphistegina lobifera collected along a cross-shelf gradient of temperature and nutrients fluctuations. We analysed survivorship, bleaching frequency, chlorophyll a content and fecundity. Elevated temperature and nitrate significantly reduced survivorship and fecundity of A. lobifera across populations studied. This pattern was exacerbated when combined with below optimum light levels. Inshore populations showed a consistent resistance to increased temperature and nitrate levels, but all populations studied were significantly affected by light reduction. These findings demonstrated the capacity of some populations of LBF to acclimate to local conditions; nonetheless improvements in local water quality can ultimately ameliorate effects of climate change in local LBF populations.

Halo assembly bias and the tidal anisotropy of the local halo environment

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Paranjape, Aseem; Hahn, Oliver; Sheth, Ravi K.

2018-05-01

We study the role of the local tidal environment in determining the assembly bias of dark matter haloes. Previous results suggest that the anisotropy of a halo's environment (i.e. whether it lies in a filament or in a more isotropic region) can play a significant role in determining the eventual mass and age of the halo. We statistically isolate this effect, using correlations between the large-scale and small-scale environments of simulated haloes at z = 0 with masses between 1011.6 ≲ (m/h-1 M⊙) ≲ 1014.9. We probe the large-scale environment, using a novel halo-by-halo estimator of linear bias. For the small-scale environment, we identify a variable αR that captures the tidal anisotropy in a region of radius R = 4R200b around the halo and correlates strongly with halo bias at fixed mass. Segregating haloes by αR reveals two distinct populations. Haloes in highly isotropic local environments (αR ≲ 0.2) behave as expected from the simplest, spherically averaged analytical models of structure formation, showing a negative correlation between their concentration and large-scale bias at all masses. In contrast, haloes in anisotropic, filament-like environments (αR ≳ 0.5) tend to show a positive correlation between bias and concentration at any mass. Our multiscale analysis cleanly demonstrates how the overall assembly bias trend across halo mass emerges as an average over these different halo populations, and provides valuable insights towards building analytical models that correctly incorporate assembly bias. We also discuss potential implications for the nature and detectability of galaxy assembly bias.

Population dynamics in non-homogeneous environments

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Alards, Kim M. J.; Tesser, Francesca; Toschi, Federico

2014-11-01

For organisms living in aquatic ecosystems the presence of fluid transport can have a strong influence on the dynamics of populations and on evolution of species. In particular, displacements due to self-propulsion, summed up with turbulent dispersion at larger scales, strongly influence the local densities and thus population and genetic dynamics. Real marine environments are furthermore characterized by a high degree of non-homogeneities. In the case of population fronts propagating in ``fast'' turbulence, with respect to the population duplication time, the flow effect can be studied by replacing the microscopic diffusivity with an effective turbulent diffusivity. In the opposite case of ``slow'' turbulence the advection by the flow has to be considered locally. Here we employ numerical simulations to study the influence of non-homogeneities in the diffusion coefficient of reacting individuals of different species expanding in a 2 dimensional space. Moreover, to explore the influence of advection, we consider a population expanding in the presence of simple velocity fields like cellular flows. The output is analyzed in terms of front roughness, front shape, propagation speed and, concerning the genetics, by means of heterozygosity and local and global extinction probabilities.

42 CFR 137.294 - What is the typical IHS environmental review process for construction projects?

Code of Federal Regulations, 2011 CFR

2011-10-01

... impact on the environment, and therefore do not require environmental impact statements (EIS). Under..., state, and local officials and interested parties on potential environmental effects; (2) Document...

42 CFR 137.294 - What is the typical IHS environmental review process for construction projects?

Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

2010-10-01

... impact on the environment, and therefore do not require environmental impact statements (EIS). Under..., state, and local officials and interested parties on potential environmental effects; (2) Document...

HIGH ALBEDO AND ENVIRONMENT-FRIENDLY CONCRETE FOR SMART GROWTH AND SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT

EPA Science Inventory

Concrete surfaces absorb heat from sunlight due to their low solar reflectivity (albedo). This increases the local ambient temperature in urban areas (the so-called "heat-island" effect). The heat-island effect leads to a waste of energy because of increased cooling costs. ...

Local food environment interventions to improve healthy food choice in adults: a systematic review and realist synthesis protocol.

PubMed

Penney, Tarra L; Brown, Helen Elizabeth; Maguire, Eva R; Kuhn, Isla; Monsivais, Pablo

2015-05-03

Local food environments have been linked with dietary intake and obesity in adults. However, overall evidence remains mixed with calls for increased theoretical and conceptual clarity related to how availability of neighbourhood food outlets, and within-outlet food options, influence food purchasing and consumption. The purpose of this work is to develop a programme theory of food availability, supported by empirical evidence from a range of local food environment interventions. A systematic search of the literature will be followed by duplicate screening and quality assessment (using the Effective Public Health Practice Project tool). Realist synthesis will then be conducted according to the Realist And Meta-narrative Evidence Syntheses: Evolving Standards (RAMESES) publication standards, including transparent appraisal, synthesis and drawing conclusions via consensus. The final synthesis will propose an evidence-based programme theory of food availability, including evidence mapping to demonstrate contextual factors, pathways of influence and potential mechanisms. With the paucity of empirically supported programme theories used in current local food environment interventions to improve food availability, this synthesis may be used to understand how and why interventions work, and thus inform the development of theory-driven, evidence-based interventions to improve healthy food choice and future empirical work. PROSPERO CRD42014009808. Published by the BMJ Publishing Group Limited. For permission to use (where not already granted under a licence) please go to http://group.bmj.com/group/rights-licensing/permissions.

Multiscale Modeling of Diffusion in a Crowded Environment.

PubMed

Meinecke, Lina

2017-11-01

We present a multiscale approach to model diffusion in a crowded environment and its effect on the reaction rates. Diffusion in biological systems is often modeled by a discrete space jump process in order to capture the inherent noise of biological systems, which becomes important in the low copy number regime. To model diffusion in the crowded cell environment efficiently, we compute the jump rates in this mesoscopic model from local first exit times, which account for the microscopic positions of the crowding molecules, while the diffusing molecules jump on a coarser Cartesian grid. We then extract a macroscopic description from the resulting jump rates, where the excluded volume effect is modeled by a diffusion equation with space-dependent diffusion coefficient. The crowding molecules can be of arbitrary shape and size, and numerical experiments demonstrate that those factors together with the size of the diffusing molecule play a crucial role on the magnitude of the decrease in diffusive motion. When correcting the reaction rates for the altered diffusion we can show that molecular crowding either enhances or inhibits chemical reactions depending on local fluctuations of the obstacle density.

Community-Based Outdoor Education Using a Local Approach to Conservation

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Maeda, Kazushi

2005-01-01

Local people of a community interact with nature in a way that is mediated by their local cultures and shape their own environment. We need a local approach to conservation for the local environment adding to the political or technological approaches for global environmental problems such as the destruction of the ozone layer or global warming.…

Racial Differences in the Effects of Neighborhood Disadvantage on Residential Mobility in Later Life

PubMed Central

Riley, Alicia; Cagney, Kathleen A.

2016-01-01

Objectives: Past research on the residential mobility of older adults has focused on individual-level factors and life course events. Less attention has been paid to the role of the residential environment in explaining residential mobility in older adults. We sought to understand whether neighborhood disadvantage had predictive utility in explaining residential relocation patterns, and whether associations differed between Whites and non-Whites. Method: Data are from the National Social Life, Health and Aging Project, a nationally representative sample of community-dwelling older adults. Neighborhoods were defined at the census tract level. Local movers (different census tract, same county) and distant movers (different county) were compared with stayers. Results: After adjusting for individual-level factors, neighborhood disadvantage increased the likelihood of a local move, regardless of race/ethnicity. For non-Whites, higher neighborhood disadvantage decreased the likelihood of a distant move. Among local movers, Blacks and Latinos were less likely to improve neighborhood quality than Whites. Discussion: Neighborhood disadvantage may promote local mobility by undermining person–environment fit. Racial differences in access to better neighborhoods persist in later life. Future research should explore how older adults optimize person–environment fit in the face of neighborhood disadvantage when the possibility of relocation to a better neighborhood may be restricted. PMID:27257227

Heterogeneity in a room-temperature ionic liquid: persistent local environments and the red-edge effect.

PubMed

Hu, Zhonghan; Margulis, Claudio J

2006-01-24

In this work, we investigate the slow dynamics of 1-butyl-3-methylimidazolium hexafluorophosphate, a very popular room-temperature ionic solvent. Our study predicts the existence of heterogeneity in the liquid and shows that this heterogeneity is the underlying microscopic cause for the recently reported "red-edge effect" (REE) observed in the study of fluorescence of the organic probe 2-amino-7-nitrofluorene. This theoretical work explains in microscopic terms the relation between REE and dynamic heterogeneity in a room-temperature ionic liquid (IL). The REE is typical of micellar or colloidal systems, which are characterized by microscopic environments that are structurally very different. In contrast, in the case of this room-temperature IL, the REE occurs because of the long period during which molecules are trapped in quasistatic local solvent cages. This trapping time, which is longer than the lifetime of the excited-state probe, together with the inability of the surroundings to adiabatically relax, induces a set of site-specific spectroscopic responses. Subensembles of fluorescent molecules associated with particular local environments absorb and emit at different frequencies. We describe in detail the absorption wavelength-dependent emission spectra of 2-amino-7-nitrofluorene and show that this dependence on lambda(ex) is characteristic of the IL and, as is to be expected, is absent in the case of a normal solvent such as methanol.

Eye/Sensor Protection against Laser Irradiation Organic Nonlinear Optical Materials

DTIC Science & Technology

1989-06-12

the dipole. When the electric field is small compared to the internal fields due to the electron!, the molecular polarizability (p), which is...polarizability tensors, respectively, the linear polarizability and the second and third-order hyperpolarizability. At lower field intensities ( small E’s) only...nonlinear optical effect: the bonding electrons are well localized so only small changes in charge distribution with changes in local field environments

Mixed severity fire effects within the Rim fire: Relative importance of local climate, fire weather, topography, and forest structure

Treesearch

Van R. Kane; C. Alina Cansler; Nicholas A. Povak; Jonathan T. Kane; Robert J. McGaughey; James A. Lutz; Derek J. Churchill; Malcolm P. North

2015-01-01

Recent and projected increases in the frequency and severity of large wildfires in the western U.S. makes understanding the factors that strongly affect landscape fire patterns a management priority for optimizing treatment location. We compared the influence of variations in the local environment on burn severity patterns on the large 2013 Rim fire that burned under...

[Sustainable Strategies for Health Promotion in Urban Districts].

PubMed

Große, J; Menkouo, C; Grande, G

2015-09-01

In a city district striving to sustainably develop into a healthy living environment for its residents, cooperation with locally active players as well as network management and the inclusion of citizens and local businesses as non-professional multipliers are particularly promising strategies for developing effective ways of promoting health and integrating them into existing structures in order to reach the target group. © Georg Thieme Verlag KG Stuttgart · New York.

Probing Earth's State of Stress

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Delorey, A. A.; Maceira, M.; Johnson, P. A.; Coblentz, D. D.

2016-12-01

The state of stress in the Earth's crust is a fundamental physical property that controls both engineered and natural systems. Engineered environments including those for hydrocarbon, geothermal energy, and mineral extraction, as well those for storage of wastewater, carbon dioxide, and nuclear fuel are as important as ever to our economy and environment. Yet, it is at spatial scales relevant to these activities where stress is least understood. Additionally, in engineered environments the rate of change in the stress field can be much higher than that of natural systems. In order to use subsurface resources more safely and effectively, we need to understand stress at the relevant temporal and spatial scales. We will present our latest results characterizing the state of stress in the Earth at scales relevant to engineered environments. Two important components of the state of stress are the orientation and magnitude of the stress tensor, and a measure of how close faults are to failure. The stress tensor at any point in a reservoir or repository has contributions from both far-field tectonic stress and local density heterogeneity. We jointly invert seismic (body and surface waves) and gravity data for a self-consistent model of elastic moduli and density and use the model to calculate the contribution of local heterogeneity to the total stress field. We then combine local and plate-scale contributions, using local indicators for calibration and ground-truth. In addition, we will present results from an analysis of the quantity and pattern of microseismicity as an indicator of critically stressed faults. Faults are triggered by transient stresses only when critically stressed (near failure). We show that tidal stresses can trigger earthquakes in both tectonic and reservoir environments and can reveal both stress and poroelastic conditions.

An off-lattice, self-learning kinetic Monte Carlo method using local environments.

PubMed

Konwar, Dhrubajit; Bhute, Vijesh J; Chatterjee, Abhijit

2011-11-07

We present a method called local environment kinetic Monte Carlo (LE-KMC) method for efficiently performing off-lattice, self-learning kinetic Monte Carlo (KMC) simulations of activated processes in material systems. Like other off-lattice KMC schemes, new atomic processes can be found on-the-fly in LE-KMC. However, a unique feature of LE-KMC is that as long as the assumption that all processes and rates depend only on the local environment is satisfied, LE-KMC provides a general algorithm for (i) unambiguously describing a process in terms of its local atomic environments, (ii) storing new processes and environments in a catalog for later use with standard KMC, and (iii) updating the system based on the local information once a process has been selected for a KMC move. Search, classification, storage and retrieval steps needed while employing local environments and processes in the LE-KMC method are discussed. The advantages and computational cost of LE-KMC are discussed. We assess the performance of the LE-KMC algorithm by considering test systems involving diffusion in a submonolayer Ag and Ag-Cu alloy films on Ag(001) surface.

Intense upconversion luminescence and effect of local environment for Tm3+/Yb3+ co-doped novel TeO2-BiCl3 glass system.

PubMed

Wang, Guonian; Dai, Shixun; Zhang, Junjie; Wen, Lei; Yang, Jianhu; Jiang, Zhonghong

2006-05-15

We present the results of a study that uses theoretical and experimental methods to investigate the characteristics of the upconversion luminescence of Tm3+/Yb3+ codoped TeO2-BiCl3 glass system as a function of the BiCl3 fraction. These glasses are potentially important in the design of upconversion fiber lasers. Effect of local environment around Tm3+ on upconversion fluorescence intensity was analyzed by theoretical calculations. The structure and spectroscopic properties were investigated in the experiments by measuring the Raman spectra, IR transmission spectra, and absorption and fluorescence intensities at room temperature. The results indicate that blue luminescence quantum efficiency increases with increasing BiCl3 content from 10 to 60 mol%, which were interpreted by the increase of asymmetry of glass structure, decrease of phonon energy and removing of OH- groups.

Predator-prey Encounter Rates in Turbulent Environments: Consequences of Inertia Effects and Finite Sizes

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Pecseli, H. L.; Trulsen, J.

2009-10-08

Experimental as well as theoretical studies have demonstrated that turbulence can play an important role for the biosphere in marine environments, in particular also by affecting prey-predator encounter rates. Reference models for the encounter rates rely on simplifying assumptions of predators and prey being described as point particles moving passively with the local flow velocity. Based on simple arguments that can be tested experimentally we propose corrections for the standard expression for the encounter rates, where now finite sizes and Stokes drag effects are included.

Psychological effect on single-species population models in a polluted environment.

PubMed

Wei, Fengying; Chen, Lihong

2017-08-01

We formulate and investigate the psychological effect of single-species population models in a polluted environment in this paper. For the deterministic single-species population model, the conditions that guarantee the local extinction and persistence in the mean are derived firstly. We then show that, around the pollution-free equilibrium, the stochastic single-species population is weakly persistent in the mean, and is stochastically permanent under some conditions. As a consequence, some numerical simulations demonstrate the efficiency of the main results. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Acoustic localization at large scales: a promising method for grey wolf monitoring.

PubMed

Papin, Morgane; Pichenot, Julian; Guérold, François; Germain, Estelle

2018-01-01

The grey wolf ( Canis lupus ) is naturally recolonizing its former habitats in Europe where it was extirpated during the previous two centuries. The management of this protected species is often controversial and its monitoring is a challenge for conservation purposes. However, this elusive carnivore can disperse over long distances in various natural contexts, making its monitoring difficult. Moreover, methods used for collecting signs of presence are usually time-consuming and/or costly. Currently, new acoustic recording tools are contributing to the development of passive acoustic methods as alternative approaches for detecting, monitoring, or identifying species that produce sounds in nature, such as the grey wolf. In the present study, we conducted field experiments to investigate the possibility of using a low-density microphone array to localize wolves at a large scale in two contrasting natural environments in north-eastern France. For scientific and social reasons, the experiments were based on a synthetic sound with similar acoustic properties to howls. This sound was broadcast at several sites. Then, localization estimates and the accuracy were calculated. Finally, linear mixed-effects models were used to identify the factors that influenced the localization accuracy. Among 354 nocturnal broadcasts in total, 269 were recorded by at least one autonomous recorder, thereby demonstrating the potential of this tool. Besides, 59 broadcasts were recorded by at least four microphones and used for acoustic localization. The broadcast sites were localized with an overall mean accuracy of 315 ± 617 (standard deviation) m. After setting a threshold for the temporal error value associated with the estimated coordinates, some unreliable values were excluded and the mean accuracy decreased to 167 ± 308 m. The number of broadcasts recorded was higher in the lowland environment, but the localization accuracy was similar in both environments, although it varied significantly among different nights in each study area. Our results confirm the potential of using acoustic methods to localize wolves with high accuracy, in different natural environments and at large spatial scales. Passive acoustic methods are suitable for monitoring the dynamics of grey wolf recolonization and so, will contribute to enhance conservation and management plans.

A validated agent-based model to study the spatial and temporal heterogeneities of malaria incidence in the rainforest environment.

PubMed

Pizzitutti, Francesco; Pan, William; Barbieri, Alisson; Miranda, J Jaime; Feingold, Beth; Guedes, Gilvan R; Alarcon-Valenzuela, Javiera; Mena, Carlos F

2015-12-22

The Amazon environment has been exposed in the last decades to radical changes that have been accompanied by a remarkable rise of both Plasmodium falciparum and Plasmodium vivax malaria. The malaria transmission process is highly influenced by factors such as spatial and temporal heterogeneities of the environment and individual-based characteristics of mosquitoes and humans populations. All these determinant factors can be simulated effectively trough agent-based models. This paper presents a validated agent-based model of local-scale malaria transmission. The model reproduces the environment of a typical riverine village in the northern Peruvian Amazon, where the malaria transmission is highly seasonal and apparently associated with flooding of large areas caused by the neighbouring river. Agents representing humans, mosquitoes and the two species of Plasmodium (P. falciparum and P. vivax) are simulated in a spatially explicit representation of the environment around the village. The model environment includes: climate, people houses positions and elevation. A representation of changes in the mosquito breeding areas extension caused by the river flooding is also included in the simulation environment. A calibration process was carried out to reproduce the variations of the malaria monthly incidence over a period of 3 years. The calibrated model is also able to reproduce the spatial heterogeneities of local scale malaria transmission. A "what if" eradication strategy scenario is proposed: if the mosquito breeding sites are eliminated through mosquito larva habitat management in a buffer area extended at least 200 m around the village, the malaria transmission is eradicated from the village. The use of agent-based models can reproduce effectively the spatiotemporal variations of the malaria transmission in a low endemicity environment dominated by river floodings like in the Amazon.

Speech Understanding and Sound Source Localization by Cochlear Implant Listeners Using a Pinna-Effect Imitating Microphone and an Adaptive Beamformer.

PubMed

Dorman, Michael F; Natale, Sarah; Loiselle, Louise

2018-03-01

Sentence understanding scores for patients with cochlear implants (CIs) when tested in quiet are relatively high. However, sentence understanding scores for patients with CIs plummet with the addition of noise. To assess, for patients with CIs (MED-EL), (1) the value to speech understanding of two new, noise-reducing microphone settings and (2) the effect of the microphone settings on sound source localization. Single-subject, repeated measures design. For tests of speech understanding, repeated measures on (1) number of CIs (one, two), (2) microphone type (omni, natural, adaptive beamformer), and (3) type of noise (restaurant, cocktail party). For sound source localization, repeated measures on type of signal (low-pass [LP], high-pass [HP], broadband noise). Ten listeners, ranging in age from 48 to 83 yr (mean = 57 yr), participated in this prospective study. Speech understanding was assessed in two noise environments using monaural and bilateral CIs fit with three microphone types. Sound source localization was assessed using three microphone types. In Experiment 1, sentence understanding scores (in terms of percent words correct) were obtained in quiet and in noise. For each patient, noise was first added to the signal to drive performance off of the ceiling in the bilateral CI-omni microphone condition. The other conditions were then administered at that signal-to-noise ratio in quasi-random order. In Experiment 2, sound source localization accuracy was assessed for three signal types using a 13-loudspeaker array over a 180° arc. The dependent measure was root-mean-score error. Both the natural and adaptive microphone settings significantly improved speech understanding in the two noise environments. The magnitude of the improvement varied between 16 and 19 percentage points for tests conducted in the restaurant environment and between 19 and 36 percentage points for tests conducted in the cocktail party environment. In the restaurant and cocktail party environments, both the natural and adaptive settings, when implemented on a single CI, allowed scores that were as good as, or better, than scores in the bilateral omni test condition. Sound source localization accuracy was unaltered by either the natural or adaptive settings for LP, HP, or wideband noise stimuli. The data support the use of the natural microphone setting as a default setting. The natural setting (1) provides better speech understanding in noise than the omni setting, (2) does not impair sound source localization, and (3) retains low-frequency sensitivity to signals from the rear. Moreover, bilateral CIs equipped with adaptive beamforming technology can engender speech understanding scores in noise that fall only a little short of scores for a single CI in quiet. American Academy of Audiology

Chemical, Mechanical, and Durability Properties of Concrete with Local Mineral Admixtures under Sulfate Environment in Northwest China.

PubMed

Nie, Qingke; Zhou, Changjun; Shu, Xiang; He, Qiang; Huang, Baoshan

2014-05-13

Over the vast Northwest China, arid desert contains high concentrations of sulfate, chloride, and other chemicals in the ground water, which poses serious challenges to infrastructure construction that routinely utilizes portland cement concrete. Rapid industrialization in the region has been generating huge amounts of mineral admixtures, such as fly ash and slags from energy and metallurgical industries. These industrial by-products would turn into waste materials if not utilized in time. The present study evaluated the suitability of utilizing local mineral admixtures in significant quantities for producing quality concrete mixtures that can withstand the harsh chemical environment without compromising the essential mechanical properties. Comprehensive chemical, mechanical, and durability tests were conducted in the laboratory to characterize the properties of the local cementitious mineral admixtures, cement mortar and portland cement concrete mixtures containing these admixtures. The results from this study indicated that the sulfate resistance of concrete was effectively improved by adding local class F fly ash and slag, or by applying sulfate resistance cement to the mixtures. It is noteworthy that concrete containing local mineral admixtures exhibited much lower permeability (in terms of chloride ion penetration) than ordinary portland cement concrete while retaining the same mechanical properties; whereas concrete mixtures made with sulfate resistance cement had significantly reduced strength and much increased chloride penetration comparing to the other mixtures. Hence, the use of local mineral admixtures in Northwest China in concrete mixtures would be beneficial to the performance of concrete, as well as to the protection of environment.

Chemical, Mechanical, and Durability Properties of Concrete with Local Mineral Admixtures under Sulfate Environment in Northwest China

PubMed Central

Nie, Qingke; Zhou, Changjun; Shu, Xiang; He, Qiang; Huang, Baoshan

2014-01-01

Over the vast Northwest China, arid desert contains high concentrations of sulfate, chloride, and other chemicals in the ground water, which poses serious challenges to infrastructure construction that routinely utilizes portland cement concrete. Rapid industrialization in the region has been generating huge amounts of mineral admixtures, such as fly ash and slags from energy and metallurgical industries. These industrial by-products would turn into waste materials if not utilized in time. The present study evaluated the suitability of utilizing local mineral admixtures in significant quantities for producing quality concrete mixtures that can withstand the harsh chemical environment without compromising the essential mechanical properties. Comprehensive chemical, mechanical, and durability tests were conducted in the laboratory to characterize the properties of the local cementitious mineral admixtures, cement mortar and portland cement concrete mixtures containing these admixtures. The results from this study indicated that the sulfate resistance of concrete was effectively improved by adding local class F fly ash and slag, or by applying sulfate resistance cement to the mixtures. It is noteworthy that concrete containing local mineral admixtures exhibited much lower permeability (in terms of chloride ion penetration) than ordinary portland cement concrete while retaining the same mechanical properties; whereas concrete mixtures made with sulfate resistance cement had significantly reduced strength and much increased chloride penetration comparing to the other mixtures. Hence, the use of local mineral admixtures in Northwest China in concrete mixtures would be beneficial to the performance of concrete, as well as to the protection of environment. PMID:28788648

Semiannual Report to Congress on the Effectiveness of the Civil Aviation Security Program

DTIC Science & Technology

1988-11-01

secure Zround environment and for providing local law enforcement support for airline and airport security measures. Finally, the passengers, the...operating environment for these air carriers. Airport security programs are designed to meet the threat to the specific airport. Of the 402 airports...assistance during this project. Responding to urgent requests from the Government of Liberia for onsite training of its airport security forces, FAA

Chemical Environment Effects on K[beta]/K[alpha] Intensity Ratio: An X-Ray Fluorescence Experiment on Periodic Trends

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Durham, Chaney R.; Chase, Jeffery M.; Nivens, Delana A.; Baird, William H.; Padgett, Clifford W.

2011-01-01

X-ray fluorescence (XRF) data from an energy-dispersive XRF instrument were used to investigate the chlorine K[alpha] and K[beta] peaks in several group 1 salts. The ratio of the peak intensity is sensitive to the local chemical environment of the chlorine atoms studied in this experiment and it shows a periodic trend for these salts. (Contains 1…

Species sorting and patch dynamics in harlequin metacommunities affect the relative importance of environment and space.

PubMed

Leibold, Mathew A; Loeuille, Nicolas

2015-12-01

Metacommunity theory indicates that variation in local community structure can be partitioned into components including those related to local environmental conditions vs. spatial effects and that these can be quantified using statistical methods based on variation partitioning. It has been hypothesized that joint associations of community composition with environment and space could be due to patch dynamics involving colonization-extinction processes in environmentally heterogeneous landscapes but this has yet to be theoretically shown. We develop a two-patch, type-two, species competition model in such a "harlequin" landscape (where different patches have different environments) to evaluate how composition is related to environmental and spatial effects as a function of background extinction rate. Using spatially implicit analytical models, we find that the environmental association of community composition declines with extinction rate as expected. Using spatially explicit simulation models, we further find that there is an increase in the spatial structure with extinction due to spatial patterning into clusters that are not related to environmental conditions but that this increase is limited. Natural metacommunities often show both environment and spatial determination even under conditions of relatively high isolation and these could be more easily explained by our model than alternative metacommunity models.

Graph theoretical analysis of EEG functional network during multi-workload flight simulation experiment in virtual reality environment.

PubMed

Shengqian Zhang; Yuan Zhang; Yu Sun; Thakor, Nitish; Bezerianos, Anastasios

2017-07-01

The research field of mental workload has attracted abundant researchers as mental workload plays a crucial role in real-life performance and safety. While previous studies have examined the neural correlates of mental workload in 2D scenarios (i.e., presenting stimuli on a computer screen (CS) environment using univariate methods (e.g., EEG channel power), it is still unclear of the findings of one that uses multivariate approach using graphical theory and the effects of a 3D environment (i.e., presenting stimuli on a Virtual Reality (VR)). In this study, twenty subjects undergo flight simulation in both CS and VR environment with three stages each. After preprocessing, the Electroencephalogram (EEG) signals were a connectivity matrix based on Phase Lag Index (PLI) will be constructed. Graph theory analysis then will be applied based on their global efficiency, local efficiency and nodal efficiency on both alpha and theta band. For global efficiency and local efficiency, VR values are generally lower than CS in both bands. For nodal efficiency, the regions that show at least marginally significant decreases are very different for CS and VR. These findings suggest that 3D simulation effects a higher mental workload than 2D simulation and that they each involved a different brain region.

Investigating local sustainable environmental perspectives of Kenyan community members and teachers

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Quigley, Cassie F.; Dogbey, James; Che, S. Megan; Hallo, Jeffrey

2015-09-01

Efforts to conserve and preserve the environment in developing or marginalized locales frequently involve a one-way transfer of knowledge and materials from a source in a more developed location. This situation often degenerates into a short-term donor project which risks little to no long-term impacts on local or indigenous relationships with the environment. This research study with educators in Narok, Kenya investigates the current perspectives of local key stakeholders on the environment and sustainability with the purpose of sharing these understandings among local groups to generate a locally constructed meaning of environmental conservation and sustainability. It is the researchers' aim that through locally constructed meanings of environmental hazards and conservation, the Maasai community will empower themselves to transform their relationship with their environment and begin to construct and enact sustainable alternatives to destructive environmental practices. The approach used in this study is a qualitative study of representative stakeholders' environmental perspectives called photovoice. Two major themes emerged during the data analysis: How do we co-habit? and How do we modernize? This community demonstrated a complex understandings including navigate traditional practices, made connections to a larger system, and describing positive ways in which humans influence our environment.

Improving the workplace environment for female physicists

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Butcher, Gillian

2013-03-01

The ideal workplace is one in which women and men can work to their potential and are respected and recognized for their contribution. But what are the conditions that would create this environment, and how can we achieve this? This paper highlights some of the best practices, discussed in a single-session workshop, to improve the workplace environment for female (and male) physicists. While there are many actions that can be taken at the personal, local, and even national level, it is necessary to understand when the issues have broader societal implications. Likewise, working toward the ideal environment should not lead us to ignore the necessity of training and assisting women to work effectively in the existing environment.

Small-grants programs: lessons from community-based approaches to changing nutrition environments.

PubMed

Johnson, Donna B; Smith, Lynne T; Bruemmer, Barbara

2007-02-01

Providing small grants to community organizations can be an effective way to encourage changes in the environment that support better nutrition. This is effective because these organizations can provide insights into their communities, ready-made relationships with community members, and the trust of the community. Small-grants programs are more likely to be successful when they are tailored to the needs of individual communities, led by organizations that have established reputations with the community, fully supported by the lead community organization, and engage local partners that complement the skills and resources of the lead organization. An evaluation of a small-grants program, Grants for Healthy Youth, found that grantees developed unique approaches to improving their community nutrition environments, gained experience and skills in program development, built partnerships, and received recognition for their project work. Grantees faced some common barriers, especially with program evaluation. Small-grants programs can be an effective way to improve community nutrition environments, but granting agencies need to provide effective technical assistance to communities throughout the process.

Reorienting in Virtual 3D Environments: Do Adult Humans Use Principal Axes, Medial Axes or Local Geometry?

PubMed Central

Ambosta, Althea H.; Reichert, James F.; Kelly, Debbie M.

2013-01-01

Studies have shown that animals, including humans, use the geometric properties of environments to orient. It has been proposed that orientation is accomplished primarily by encoding the principal axes (i.e., global geometry) of an environment. However, recent research has shown that animals use local information such as wall length and corner angles as well as local shape parameters (i.e., medial axes) to orient. The goal of the current study was to determine whether adult humans reorient according to global geometry based on principal axes or whether reliance is on local geometry such as wall length and sense information or medial axes. Using a virtual environment task, participants were trained to select a response box located at one of two geometrically identical corners within a featureless rectangular-shaped environment. Participants were subsequently tested in a transformed L-shaped environment that allowed for a dissociation of strategies based on principal axes, medial axes and local geometry. Results showed that participants relied primarily on a medial axes strategy to reorient in the L-shaped test environment. Importantly, the search behaviour of participants could not be explained by a principal axes-based strategy. PMID:24223869

Rebuilding Biodiversity of Patagonian Marine Molluscs after the End-Cretaceous Mass Extinction

PubMed Central

Aberhan, Martin; Kiessling, Wolfgang

2014-01-01

We analysed field-collected quantitative data of benthic marine molluscs across the Cretaceous–Palaeogene boundary in Patagonia to identify patterns and processes of biodiversity reconstruction after the end-Cretaceous mass extinction. We contrast diversity dynamics from nearshore environments with those from offshore environments. In both settings, Early Palaeogene (Danian) assemblages are strongly dominated by surviving lineages, many of which changed their relative abundance from being rare before the extinction event to becoming the new dominant forms. Only a few of the species in the Danian assemblages were newly evolved. In offshore environments, however, two newly evolved Danian bivalve species attained ecological dominance by replacing two ecologically equivalent species that disappeared at the end of the Cretaceous. In both settings, the total number of Danian genera at a locality remained below the total number of late Cretaceous (Maastrichtian) genera at that locality. We suggest that biotic interactions, in particular incumbency effects, suppressed post-extinction diversity and prevented the compensation of diversity loss by originating and invading taxa. Contrary to the total number of genera at localities, diversity at the level of individual fossiliferous horizons before and after the boundary is indistinguishable in offshore environments. This indicates an evolutionary rapid rebound to pre-extinction values within less than ca 0.5 million years. In nearshore environments, by contrast, diversity of fossiliferous horizons was reduced in the Danian, and this lowered diversity lasted for the entire studied post-extinction interval. In this heterogeneous environment, low connectivity among populations may have retarded the recolonisation of nearshore habitats by survivors. PMID:25028930

Comparing Perception-Based and Geographic Information System (GIS)-based characterizations of the local food environment.

PubMed

Moore, Latetia V; Diez Roux, Ana V; Brines, Shannon

2008-03-01

Measuring features of the local food environment has been a major challenge in studying the effect of the environment on diet. This study examined associations between alternate ways of characterizing the local food environment by comparing Geographic Information System (GIS)-derived densities of various types of stores to perception-based measures of the availability of healthy foods. Survey questions rating the availability of produce and low-fat products in neighborhoods were aggregated into a healthy food availability score for 5,774 residents of North Carolina, Maryland, and New York. Densities of supermarkets and smaller stores per square mile were computed for 1 mile around each respondent's residence using kernel estimation. The number of different store types in the area was used to measure variety in the food environment. Linear regression was used to examine associations of store densities and variety with reported availability. Respondents living in areas with lower densities of supermarkets rated the selection and availability of produce and low-fat foods 17% lower than those in areas with the highest densities of supermarkets (95% CL, -18.8, -15.1). In areas without supermarkets, low densities of smaller stores and less store variety were associated with worse perceived availability of healthy foods only in North Carolina (8.8% lower availability, 95% CL, -13.8, -3.4 for lowest vs. highest small-store density; 10.5% lower 95% CL, -16.0, -4.7 for least vs. most store variety). In contrast, higher smaller store densities and more variety were associated with worse perceived healthy food availability in Maryland. Perception- and GIS-based characterizations of the environment are associated but are not identical. Combinations of different types of measures may yield more valid measures of the environment.

EMC effect for light nuclei: New results from Jefferson Lab

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Aji Daniel

High energy lepton scattering has been the primary tool for mapping out the quark distributions of nucleons and nuclei. Measurements of deep inelastic scattering in nuclei show that the quark distributions in heavy nuclei are not simply the sum of the quark distributions of the constituent proton and neutron, as one might expect for a weakly bound system. This modification of the quark distributions in nuclei is known as the EMC effect. I will discuss the results from Jefferson Lab (JLab) experiment E03-103, a precise measurement of the EMC effect in few-body nuclei with emphasis on the large x region.more » Data from the light nuclei suggests that the nuclear dependence of the high x quark distribution may depend on the nucleon's local environment, rather than being a purely bulk effect. In addition, I will also discuss about a future experiment at the upgraded 12 GeV Jefferson Lab facility which will further investigate the role of the local nuclear environment and the influence of detailed nuclear structure to the modification of quark distributions.« less

The Thermochemical and Kinetic Properties of Ascorbate are Tuned by its Local Environment: Solution Chemistry and Biochemical Implications

PubMed Central

Warren, Jeffrey J.; Mayer, James M.

2010-01-01

Ascorbate (Vitamin C) is a ubiquitous biological cofactor. While its aqueous solution chemistry has long been studied, many in vivo reactions of ascorbate occur in enzyme active sites or at membrane interfaces, which have varying local environments. This report shows that the rate and driving force of oxidations of two ascorbate derivatives by the TEMPO radical (2,2′-6,6′-tetramethylpiperidine-1-oxyl) in acetonitrile are very sensitive to the presence of various additives. These reactions proceed by the transfer of a proton and an electron (a hydrogen atom), as is typical of biological ascorbate reactions. The measured rate and equilibrium constants vary substantially with added water or other polar solutes in acetonitrile solutions, indicating large shifts in the reducing power of ascorbate. The correlation of rate and equilibrium constants indicates that this effect has a thermochemical origin rather than being a purely kinetic effect. This contrasts with previous examples of solvent effects on hydrogen atom transfer reactions. Potential biological implications of this apparently unique effect are discussed. PMID:20476757

Development of Landscape Architecture through Geo-eco-tourism in Tropical Karst Area to Avoid Extractive Cement Industry for Dignified and Sustainable Environment and Life

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Cahyanti, Pita A. B.; Agus, Cahyono

2017-08-01

Karst areas in Indonesia amounted to 154,000 km2, potentially for extractive cement and wall paint industries. Exploitation of karst caused serious problems on the environment, health and social culture of the local community. Even though, karst region as a natural and cultural world heritage also have potential environmental services such as water resources, carbon sink, biodiversity, unique landscapes, natural caves, natural attractions, archaeological sites and mystic areas. Landscape architectural management of in the concept of blue revolution through the empowerment of land resources (soil, water, minerals) and biological resources (plant, animal, human), not only have adding value of economy aspect but also our dignified and sustainable environment and life through health, environmental, social, cultural, technological and management aspects. Geo-eco-tourism offers the efficiency of investment, increased creative innovation, increased funding, job creation, social capital development, stimulation of the socio-entrepreneurship in community. Community based geo-eco-tourism in Gunung Kidul Yogyakarta rapidly growing lately due to the local government banned the exploitation of karst. Landscape architecture at the caves, white sand beaches, cliffs in karst areas that beautiful, artistic and have special rare natural architecture form of stalactite and stalagmite, become the new phenomenal interested object of geo-eco-tourism. Many hidden nature objects that had been deserted and creepy could be visited by many local and foreign tourists. Landscape architectural management on hilltops with a wide view of the universe and fresh, sunset and sunrise, the clouds country are a rare sight for modern community. Local cultural attractions, local culinary, home stay with local communities will be an added attraction, but the infrastructure and human resources should be developed. Traveler photographs that widespread rapidly through social media and mass media became a great and effective promotion. With geo-eco-tourism, people can empowering natural resource to gain harmonization of economic, environment and social-culture aspect, without destroy it.

Long-term Pavement Performance Program (LTPP) data analysis support : National Pooled Fund Study TPF-5(013). Effects of multiple freeze cycles and deep frost penetration on pavement performance and cost

DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

2006-11-01

The objectives of this study are to: (1) quantify the effects of frost penetration on pavement performance in climates with deep sustained frost as compared to environments with multiple freeze-thaw cycles, (2) investigate the effect that local adapt...

The role of the local retail food environment in fruit, vegetable and sugar-sweetened beverage consumption in Brazil.

PubMed

Duran, Ana Clara; de Almeida, Samuel Luna; Latorre, Maria do Rosario D O; Jaime, Patricia Constante

2016-04-01

To examine the relationship between the local retail food environment and consumption of fruits and vegetables (FV) and sugar-sweetened beverages (SSB) in São Paulo, Brazil, as well as the moderation effects of income in the studied relationships. Cross-sectional study design that drew upon neighbourhood- and individual-level data. For each participant, community (density and proximity) and community food environment (availability, variety, quality and price) measures of FV and SSB were assessed in retail food stores and specialized fresh produce markets within 1·6 km of their homes. Poisson generalized estimating equations (GEE) were used to model the associations of food consumption with food environment measures, adjusted by individual-level characteristics. São Paulo, Brazil. Adults (n 1842) residing in the same census tracts (n 52) in São Paulo, Brazil as those where the neighbourhood-level measures were taken. FV availability in neighbourhoods was associated with regular FV consumption (≥5 times/week; prevalence ratio=1·41; 95 % CI 1·19, 1·67). Regular FV consumption prevalence was significantly lower among lower-income individuals living in neighbourhoods with fewer supermarkets and fresh produce markets (P-interaction <0·05). A greater variety of SSB was associated with a 15 % increase in regular SSB consumption (≥5 times/week) prevalence, after adjustment for confounding variables. Our findings suggest that the local retail food environment is associated with FV and SSB consumption in a Brazilian urban sample.

Is there an association between the home food environment, the local food shopping environment and children's fruit and vegetable intake? Results from the Dutch INPACT study.

PubMed

van Ansem, Wilke J C; Schrijvers, Carola T M; Rodenburg, Gerda; van de Mheen, Dike

2013-07-01

To examine: (i) the association between home availability of fruit and vegetables and children’s fruit and vegetable intake; (ii) the association between parental perception of the local food shopping environment and the home availability of fruit and vegetables; and (iii) whether the home availability of fruit and vegetables mediates the association between parental perception of the local food environment and children’s fruit and vegetable consumption. Cross-sectional study. A total of ninety-one primary schools in the Netherlands. In total 1501 primary caregivers completed a questionnaire to measure children’s fruit and vegetable consumption, home availability of fruit and vegetables, parental perceptions of the local food shopping environment (price, quality and availability), the child’s socio-economic status, the child’s ethnicity and maternal height and weight. The home availability of fruit and vegetables was positively associated with children’s fruit and vegetable intake (P,0?01 and P,0?001, respectively). Negative parental perceptions of the local food shopping environment were associated with less fruit available at home (P,0?05, P,0?01 and P,0?05 for price, quality and availability of fruit, respectively). No significant associations were found between parental perception of the local food shopping environment and children’s fruit and vegetable consumption. We found no evidence that home availability of fruit and vegetables mediates the association between parental perception of the local food environment and children’s fruit and vegetable intake. Interventions focusing on improving the home availability of fruit and vegetables may help to increase children’s fruit and vegetable consumption. However, more data are required on factors influencing the home availability of fruit and vegetables.

Burn wound sepsis may be promoted by a failure of local antibacterial host defenses.

PubMed Central

Deitch, E A; Bridges, R M; Dobke, M; McDonald, J C

1987-01-01

Little attention has been focused on the local burn wound environment, even though burn wound sepsis is a common cause of death in the burn victim. To characterize the effect of the local burn wound environment on neutrophil function and metabolism, the opsonic activity of blister fluid specimens against Pseudomonas aeruginosa was measured as was the effect of blister fluid on control neutrophil oxygen consumption using preopsonized zymosan and f-met-leu-phe (FMLP) as stimuli. Blister fluid did not support the killing of P. aeruginosa by normal neutrophils as well as normal serum. Additionally, blister fluid inhibited zymosan-stimulated, but not FMLP-stimulated, neutrophil oxygen consumption. The inhibitory effect of blister fluid on zymosan-stimulated oxygen consumption correlated with the extent of complement activation, measured as C3d or C3AI (p less than 0.01). That blister fluid did not inhibit the FMLP-mediated respiratory burst supports the concept that the blister fluid inhibitory effect on the zymosan-mediated respiratory burst was mediated through the complement receptor. These findings that blister fluid can affect the bactericidal and metabolic activity of normal neutrophils support the concept that cellular function can be altered by the microenvironment in which the cells are bathed. This potential impairment of host defenses within the burn wound could predispose the burn victim to burn wound sepsis. PMID:3115207

Static force field representation of environments based on agents' nonlinear motions

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Campo, Damian; Betancourt, Alejandro; Marcenaro, Lucio; Regazzoni, Carlo

2017-12-01

This paper presents a methodology that aims at the incremental representation of areas inside environments in terms of attractive forces. It is proposed a parametric representation of velocity fields ruling the dynamics of moving agents. It is assumed that attractive spots in the environment are responsible for modifying the motion of agents. A switching model is used to describe near and far velocity fields, which in turn are used to learn attractive characteristics of environments. The effect of such areas is considered radial over all the scene. Based on the estimation of attractive areas, a map that describes their effects in terms of their localizations, ranges of action, and intensities is derived in an online way. Information of static attractive areas is added dynamically into a set of filters that describes possible interactions between moving agents and an environment. The proposed approach is first evaluated on synthetic data; posteriorly, the method is applied on real trajectories coming from moving pedestrians in an indoor environment.

Job Superscheduler Architecture and Performance in Computational Grid Environments

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Shan, Hongzhang; Oliker, Leonid; Biswas, Rupak

2003-01-01

Computational grids hold great promise in utilizing geographically separated heterogeneous resources to solve large-scale complex scientific problems. However, a number of major technical hurdles, including distributed resource management and effective job scheduling, stand in the way of realizing these gains. In this paper, we propose a novel grid superscheduler architecture and three distributed job migration algorithms. We also model the critical interaction between the superscheduler and autonomous local schedulers. Extensive performance comparisons with ideal, central, and local schemes using real workloads from leading computational centers are conducted in a simulation environment. Additionally, synthetic workloads are used to perform a detailed sensitivity analysis of our superscheduler. Several key metrics demonstrate that substantial performance gains can be achieved via smart superscheduling in distributed computational grids.

Local Identity of No-Fee Preservice Students and Its Impact on Their Localized Professional Orientation

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Yang, Ze; Li, Ling; Zhu, Chengchen; Guo, Lexiang; Huang, Liangyong

2013-01-01

Based on analysis of the responses of 359 no-fee preservice students, this study found that: (1) Local identity includes the living environment, cultural environment, people, behavior, economic identity, and sense of alienation associated with one's home place. (2) Local identity is relatively high overall, but identity with behavior at home and…

Active Electro-Location of Objects in the Underwater Environment Based on the Mixed Polarization Multiple Signal Classification Algorithm

PubMed Central

Guo, Lili; Qi, Junwei; Xue, Wei

2018-01-01

This article proposes a novel active localization method based on the mixed polarization multiple signal classification (MP-MUSIC) algorithm for positioning a metal target or an insulator target in the underwater environment by using a uniform circular antenna (UCA). The boundary element method (BEM) is introduced to analyze the boundary of the target by use of a matrix equation. In this method, an electric dipole source as a part of the locating system is set perpendicularly to the plane of the UCA. As a result, the UCA can only receive the induction field of the target. The potential of each electrode of the UCA is used as spatial-temporal localization data, and it does not need to obtain the field component in each direction compared with the conventional fields-based localization method, which can be easily implemented in practical engineering applications. A simulation model and a physical experiment are constructed. The simulation and the experiment results provide accurate positioning performance, with the help of verifying the effectiveness of the proposed localization method in underwater target locating. PMID:29439495

Assessment of environmental policy implementation in solid waste management in Kathmandu, Nepal.

PubMed

Dangi, Mohan B; Schoenberger, Erica; Boland, John J

2017-06-01

In Nepal, full-fledged environmental legislation was rare before the democratic constitution of 1990. The first law covering the environment and sustainability was the Environment Protection Act 1997. While the Solid Waste Act was introduced in 1987, the problem of solid waste management still surfaces in Kathmandu. In order to understand the bedrock of this unrelenting failure in solid waste management, the manuscript digs deeper into policy implementation by dissecting solid waste rules, environmental legislations, relevant local laws, and solid waste management practices in Kathmandu, Nepal. A very rich field study that included surveys, interviews, site visits, and literature review provided the basis for the article. The study shows that volumes of new Nepalese rules are crafted without effective enforcement of their predecessors and there is a frequent power struggle between local government bodies and central authority in implementing the codes and allocating resources in solid waste management. The study concludes that Kathmandu does not require any new instrument to address solid waste problems; instead, it needs creation of local resources, execution of local codes, and commitment from central government to allow free exercise of these policies.

40 CFR 1065.630 - Local acceleration of gravity.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2014 CFR

2014-07-01

... 40 Protection of Environment 33 2014-07-01 2014-07-01 false Local acceleration of gravity. 1065.630 Section 1065.630 Protection of Environment ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY (CONTINUED) AIR POLLUTION CONTROLS ENGINE-TESTING PROCEDURES Calculations and Data Requirements § 1065.630 Local...

Non-linear effects of the built environment on automobile-involved pedestrian crash frequency: A machine learning approach.

PubMed

Ding, Chuan; Chen, Peng; Jiao, Junfeng

2018-03-01

Although a growing body of literature focuses on the relationship between the built environment and pedestrian crashes, limited evidence is provided about the relative importance of many built environment attributes by accounting for their mutual interaction effects and their non-linear effects on automobile-involved pedestrian crashes. This study adopts the approach of Multiple Additive Poisson Regression Trees (MAPRT) to fill such gaps using pedestrian collision data collected from Seattle, Washington. Traffic analysis zones are chosen as the analytical unit. The effects of various factors on pedestrian crash frequency investigated include characteristics the of road network, street elements, land use patterns, and traffic demand. Density and the degree of mixed land use have major effects on pedestrian crash frequency, accounting for approximately 66% of the effects in total. More importantly, some factors show clear non-linear relationships with pedestrian crash frequency, challenging the linearity assumption commonly used in existing studies which employ statistical models. With various accurately identified non-linear relationships between the built environment and pedestrian crashes, this study suggests local agencies to adopt geo-spatial differentiated policies to establish a safe walking environment. These findings, especially the effective ranges of the built environment, provide evidence to support for transport and land use planning, policy recommendations, and road safety programs. Copyright © 2018 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Three main paradigms of simultaneous localization and mapping (SLAM) problem

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Imani, Vandad; Haataja, Keijo; Toivanen, Pekka

2018-04-01

Simultaneous Localization and Mapping (SLAM) is one of the most challenging research areas within computer and machine vision for automated scene commentary and explanation. The SLAM technique has been a developing research area in the robotics context during recent years. By utilizing the SLAM method robot can estimate the different positions of the robot at the distinct points of time which can indicate the trajectory of robot as well as generate a map of the environment. SLAM has unique traits which are estimating the location of robot and building a map in the various types of environment. SLAM is effective in different types of environment such as indoor, outdoor district, Air, Underwater, Underground and Space. Several approaches have been investigated to use SLAM technique in distinct environments. The purpose of this paper is to provide an accurate perceptive review of case history of SLAM relied on laser/ultrasonic sensors and camera as perception input data. In addition, we mainly focus on three paradigms of SLAM problem with all its pros and cons. In the future, use intelligent methods and some new idea will be used on visual SLAM to estimate the motion intelligent underwater robot and building a feature map of marine environment.

A 2.5D Map-Based Mobile Robot Localization via Cooperation of Aerial and Ground Robots

PubMed Central

Nam, Tae Hyeon; Shim, Jae Hong; Cho, Young Im

2017-01-01

Recently, there has been increasing interest in studying the task coordination of aerial and ground robots. When a robot begins navigation in an unknown area, it has no information about the surrounding environment. Accordingly, for robots to perform tasks based on location information, they need a simultaneous localization and mapping (SLAM) process that uses sensor information to draw a map of the environment, while simultaneously estimating the current location of the robot on the map. This paper aims to present a localization method based in cooperation between aerial and ground robots in an indoor environment. The proposed method allows a ground robot to reach accurate destination by using a 2.5D elevation map built by a low-cost RGB-D (Red Green and Blue-Depth) sensor and 2D Laser sensor attached onto an aerial robot. A 2.5D elevation map is formed by projecting height information of an obstacle using depth information obtained by the RGB-D sensor onto a grid map, which is generated by using the 2D Laser sensor and scan matching. Experimental results demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed method for its accuracy in location recognition and computing speed. PMID:29186843

A 2.5D Map-Based Mobile Robot Localization via Cooperation of Aerial and Ground Robots.

PubMed

Nam, Tae Hyeon; Shim, Jae Hong; Cho, Young Im

2017-11-25

Recently, there has been increasing interest in studying the task coordination of aerial and ground robots. When a robot begins navigation in an unknown area, it has no information about the surrounding environment. Accordingly, for robots to perform tasks based on location information, they need a simultaneous localization and mapping (SLAM) process that uses sensor information to draw a map of the environment, while simultaneously estimating the current location of the robot on the map. This paper aims to present a localization method based in cooperation between aerial and ground robots in an indoor environment. The proposed method allows a ground robot to reach accurate destination by using a 2.5D elevation map built by a low-cost RGB-D (Red Green and Blue-Depth) sensor and 2D Laser sensor attached onto an aerial robot. A 2.5D elevation map is formed by projecting height information of an obstacle using depth information obtained by the RGB-D sensor onto a grid map, which is generated by using the 2D Laser sensor and scan matching. Experimental results demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed method for its accuracy in location recognition and computing speed.

Building Community for Public Schools.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Van Slyke, Sue

1997-01-01

The Hattiesburg (Mississippi) Area Education Foundation (HAEF), a local fund serving the community's educational interests since 1988, recently evaluated its own organizational effectiveness and identified barriers to its work (multidistrict environment, business ambivalence toward education, and white flight). HAEF encouraged five districts to…

Subsea Cable Tracking by Autonomous Underwater Vehicle with Magnetic Sensing Guidance.

PubMed

Xiang, Xianbo; Yu, Caoyang; Niu, Zemin; Zhang, Qin

2016-08-20

The changes of the seabed environment caused by a natural disaster or human activities dramatically affect the life span of the subsea buried cable. It is essential to track the cable route in order to inspect the condition of the buried cable and protect its surviving seabed environment. The magnetic sensor is instrumental in guiding the remotely-operated vehicle (ROV) to track and inspect the buried cable underseas. In this paper, a novel framework integrating the underwater cable localization method with the magnetic guidance and control algorithm is proposed, in order to enable the automatic cable tracking by a three-degrees-of-freedom (3-DOF) under-actuated autonomous underwater vehicle (AUV) without human beings in the loop. The work relies on the passive magnetic sensing method to localize the subsea cable by using two tri-axial magnetometers, and a new analytic formulation is presented to compute the heading deviation, horizontal offset and buried depth of the cable. With the magnetic localization, the cable tracking and inspection mission is elaborately constructed as a straight-line path following control problem in the horizontal plane. A dedicated magnetic line-of-sight (LOS) guidance is built based on the relative geometric relationship between the vehicle and the cable, and the feedback linearizing technique is adopted to design a simplified cable tracking controller considering the side-slip effects, such that the under-actuated vehicle is able to move towards the subsea cable and then inspect its buried environment, which further guides the environmental protection of the cable by setting prohibited fishing/anchoring zones and increasing the buried depth. Finally, numerical simulation results show the effectiveness of the proposed magnetic guidance and control algorithm on the envisioned subsea cable tracking and the potential protection of the seabed environment along the cable route.

Subsea Cable Tracking by Autonomous Underwater Vehicle with Magnetic Sensing Guidance

PubMed Central

Xiang, Xianbo; Yu, Caoyang; Niu, Zemin; Zhang, Qin

2016-01-01

The changes of the seabed environment caused by a natural disaster or human activities dramatically affect the life span of the subsea buried cable. It is essential to track the cable route in order to inspect the condition of the buried cable and protect its surviving seabed environment. The magnetic sensor is instrumental in guiding the remotely-operated vehicle (ROV) to track and inspect the buried cable underseas. In this paper, a novel framework integrating the underwater cable localization method with the magnetic guidance and control algorithm is proposed, in order to enable the automatic cable tracking by a three-degrees-of-freedom (3-DOF) under-actuated autonomous underwater vehicle (AUV) without human beings in the loop. The work relies on the passive magnetic sensing method to localize the subsea cable by using two tri-axial magnetometers, and a new analytic formulation is presented to compute the heading deviation, horizontal offset and buried depth of the cable. With the magnetic localization, the cable tracking and inspection mission is elaborately constructed as a straight-line path following control problem in the horizontal plane. A dedicated magnetic line-of-sight (LOS) guidance is built based on the relative geometric relationship between the vehicle and the cable, and the feedback linearizing technique is adopted to design a simplified cable tracking controller considering the side-slip effects, such that the under-actuated vehicle is able to move towards the subsea cable and then inspect its buried environment, which further guides the environmental protection of the cable by setting prohibited fishing/anchoring zones and increasing the buried depth. Finally, numerical simulation results show the effectiveness of the proposed magnetic guidance and control algorithm on the envisioned subsea cable tracking and the potential protection of the seabed environment along the cable route. PMID:27556465

Air pollution abatement performances of green infrastructure in open road and built-up street canyon environments - A review

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Abhijith, K. V.; Kumar, Prashant; Gallagher, John; McNabola, Aonghus; Baldauf, Richard; Pilla, Francesco; Broderick, Brian; Di Sabatino, Silvana; Pulvirenti, Beatrice

2017-08-01

Intensifying the proportion of urban green infrastructure has been considered as one of the remedies for air pollution levels in cities, yet the impact of numerous vegetation types deployed in different built environments has to be fully synthesised and quantified. This review examined published literature on neighbourhood air quality modifications by green interventions. Studies were evaluated that discussed personal exposure to local sources of air pollution under the presence of vegetation in open road and built-up street canyon environments. Further, we critically evaluated the available literature to provide a better understanding of the interactions between vegetation and surrounding built-up environments and ascertain means of reducing local air pollution exposure using green infrastructure. The net effects of vegetation in each built-up environment are also summarised and possible recommendations for the future design of green infrastructure are proposed. In a street canyon environment, high-level vegetation canopies (trees) led to a deterioration in air quality, while low-level green infrastructure (hedges) improved air quality conditions. For open road conditions, wide, low porosity and tall vegetation leads to downwind pollutant reductions while gaps and high porosity vegetation could lead to no improvement or even deteriorated air quality. The review considers that generic recommendations can be provided for vegetation barriers in open road conditions. Green walls and roofs on building envelopes can also be used as effective air pollution abatement measures. The critical evaluation of the fundamental concepts and the amalgamation of key technical features of past studies by this review could assist urban planners to design and implement green infrastructures in the built environment.

[Pollution characteristics of PCBs in electronic waste dismantling areas of Zhejiang province].

PubMed

Wang, Xiaofeng; Lou, Xiaoming; Han, Guangen; Shen, Haitao; Ding, Gangqiang

2011-09-01

To study the pollution level and distribution pattern of polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) in the environment media in electronic waste dismantling area of Zhejiang province. Water, soil and PM10 were sampled in electronic waste dismantling areas. The contents, distribution characteristics and toxic equivalents (TEQs) of PCBs in local environment were evaluated by ultra-trace detection methods. The PCBs contents of water, soil and PM10 in Luqiao and Zhenhai, the relatively high polluted areas, were higher than those in Longyou, the control area. The dominant PCBs detected from the environment in Luqiao were hexa-CBs (PCB138 and PCB153), while penta-CBs were dominant in Zhenhai and Longyou. TEQs in electronic waste recycling area were higher than those in control areas. The TEQs of PCBs in water and soil were the highest in Zhenhai, while the TEQs of PM10 were the highest in Luqiao. The local environment has been polluted by PCBs emitted from electronic waste recycling. PCBs pollution monitoring in electronic waste recycling area should be strengthened to prevent PCBs-induced health effects.

Local structures in mixed Li{sub x}Fe{sub 1−y}M{sub y}PO{sub 4} (M=Co, Ni) electrode materials

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Jalkanen, K.; Lindén, J.; Karppinen, M., E-mail: maarit.karppinen@aalto.fi

We employ {sup 57}Fe Mössbauer spectroscopy as a local tool to probe electrical environments of Fe{sup 2+} and Fe{sup 3+} at different lithiation (x) and cation-substitution (y) levels in Li{sub x}Fe{sub 1−y}M{sub y}PO{sub 4}/C (M=Co, Ni) Li-ion battery electrode materials. Upon delithiation the local environment of Fe{sup 3+} remains unaffected for the parent y=0 system due to the LiFePO{sub 4}/FePO{sub 4} phase separation, whereas for y>0 changes in the electrical environment are seen for Fe{sup 3+}. When the Fe{sup 2+}/Fe{sup 3+} redox couple is partially-delithiated, a decreasing quadrupole splitting value is observed for Fe{sup 3+} with increasing y, implying amore » more symmetric electrical environment. The increasing concentration of the Co{sup 2+}/Ni{sup 2+} substituent introduces increasing amounts of Li atoms in the Fe{sup 3+}-containing phase, and these nearest-neighbor Li atoms are suspected to cause the changes seen in the local environment of Fe{sup 3+}. - Graphical abstract: Local environment of iron in Li{sub x}Fe{sub 1−y}(Co/Ni){sub y}PO{sub 4} is studied by {sup 57}Fe Mössbauer spectroscopy at different lithiation (x) and cation-substitution (y) levels. - Highlights: • Local Fe environment in Li{sub x}Fe{sub 1−y}(Co/Ni){sub y}PO{sub 4} is studied by {sup 57}Fe Mössbauer spectroscopy. • Co/Ni-for-Fe substitution results in a more symmetric electrical environment for Fe{sup 3+}. • Due to presence of Co{sup 2+}/Ni{sup 2+}, Li atoms are introduced into the Fe{sup 3+}-containing phase. • These nearest-neighbor Li atoms are suggested to change the local Fe{sup 3+} environment.« less

Microhabitat choice in island lizards enhances camouflage against avian predators.

PubMed

Marshall, Kate L A; Philpot, Kate E; Stevens, Martin

2016-01-25

Camouflage can often be enhanced by genetic adaptation to different local environments. However, it is less clear how individual behaviour improves camouflage effectiveness. We investigated whether individual Aegean wall lizards (Podarcis erhardii) inhabiting different islands rest on backgrounds that improve camouflage against avian predators. In free-ranging lizards, we found that dorsal regions were better matched against chosen backgrounds than against other backgrounds on the same island. This suggests that P. erhardii make background choices that heighten individual-specific concealment. In achromatic camouflage, this effect was more evident in females and was less distinct in an island population with lower predation risk. This suggests that behavioural enhancement of camouflage may be more important in females than in sexually competing males and related to predation risk. However, in an arena experiment, lizards did not choose the background that improved camouflage, most likely due to the artificial conditions. Overall, our results provide evidence that behavioural preferences for substrates can enhance individual camouflage of lizards in natural microhabitats, and that such adaptations may be sexually dimorphic and dependent on local environments. This research emphasizes the importance of considering links between ecology, behaviour, and appearance in studies of intraspecific colour variation and local adaptation.

Microhabitat choice in island lizards enhances camouflage against avian predators

PubMed Central

Marshall, Kate L. A.; Philpot, Kate E.; Stevens, Martin

2016-01-01

Camouflage can often be enhanced by genetic adaptation to different local environments. However, it is less clear how individual behaviour improves camouflage effectiveness. We investigated whether individual Aegean wall lizards (Podarcis erhardii) inhabiting different islands rest on backgrounds that improve camouflage against avian predators. In free-ranging lizards, we found that dorsal regions were better matched against chosen backgrounds than against other backgrounds on the same island. This suggests that P. erhardii make background choices that heighten individual-specific concealment. In achromatic camouflage, this effect was more evident in females and was less distinct in an island population with lower predation risk. This suggests that behavioural enhancement of camouflage may be more important in females than in sexually competing males and related to predation risk. However, in an arena experiment, lizards did not choose the background that improved camouflage, most likely due to the artificial conditions. Overall, our results provide evidence that behavioural preferences for substrates can enhance individual camouflage of lizards in natural microhabitats, and that such adaptations may be sexually dimorphic and dependent on local environments. This research emphasizes the importance of considering links between ecology, behaviour, and appearance in studies of intraspecific colour variation and local adaptation. PMID:26804463

A New Role for Local Police in Radiological Security

DTIC Science & Technology

2007-09-01

levels of polonium 210 to warrant a health 63 International Atomic Energy Commission, 21. 64...Probability of occur. (P) Area affected Effects on Man’s health Environment/ Economics Psychological Effects Risk...isotope such as Polonium 210 , the material that was used to kill former KGB officer Alexander Litvinenko, has been proposed by Zimmeran as a

Family Planning Policy Environment in the Democratic Republic of the Congo: Levers of Positive Change and Prospects for Sustainability.

PubMed

Mukaba, Thibaut; Binanga, Arsene; Fohl, Sarah; Bertrand, Jane T

2015-06-17

Building on expressed support from the Prime Minister to the Ministries of Health and Planning, the country's new family planning commitment grew out of: (1) recognition of the impact of family planning on maternal mortality and economic development; (2) knowledge sharing of best practices from other African countries; (3) participatory development of a national strategic plan; (4) strong collaboration between stakeholders; (5) effective advocacy by champions including country and international experts; and (6) increased donor support. The question becomes: Will the favorable policy environment translate into effective local programming?

Perceptual congruency of audio-visual speech affects ventriloquism with bilateral visual stimuli.

PubMed

Kanaya, Shoko; Yokosawa, Kazuhiko

2011-02-01

Many studies on multisensory processes have focused on performance in simplified experimental situations, with a single stimulus in each sensory modality. However, these results cannot necessarily be applied to explain our perceptual behavior in natural scenes where various signals exist within one sensory modality. We investigated the role of audio-visual syllable congruency on participants' auditory localization bias or the ventriloquism effect using spoken utterances and two videos of a talking face. Salience of facial movements was also manipulated. Results indicated that more salient visual utterances attracted participants' auditory localization. Congruent pairing of audio-visual utterances elicited greater localization bias than incongruent pairing, while previous studies have reported little dependency on the reality of stimuli in ventriloquism. Moreover, audio-visual illusory congruency, owing to the McGurk effect, caused substantial visual interference on auditory localization. Multisensory performance appears more flexible and adaptive in this complex environment than in previous studies.

Methods and devices used in the wildfire localization for the protection of forest ecosystems

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Kasymov, D. P.; Fateyev, V. N.; Zima, V. P.

2017-11-01

The development of devices for localization and extinguishing of wildland fires based on knowledge of the flame structure, including the drying zone, heating, pyrolysis, mixing with oxygen in the air, using relatively small energy disturbances (shock waves), which minimizes the damage caused to the environment have been represented. Using of the considered technical solutions leading to increase the effectiveness and efficiency of activities to combat wildland fires has been shown.

40 CFR 142.4 - State and local authority.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2011 CFR

2011-07-01

... 40 Protection of Environment 23 2011-07-01 2011-07-01 false State and local authority. 142.4 Section 142.4 Protection of Environment ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY (CONTINUED) WATER PROGRAMS... local authority. Nothing in this part shall diminish any authority of a State or political subdivision...

40 CFR 142.4 - State and local authority.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

2010-07-01

... 40 Protection of Environment 22 2010-07-01 2010-07-01 false State and local authority. 142.4 Section 142.4 Protection of Environment ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY (CONTINUED) WATER PROGRAMS... local authority. Nothing in this part shall diminish any authority of a State or political subdivision...

Performance of local correlation methods for halogen bonding: The case of Br{sub 2}–(H{sub 2}O){sub n},n = 4,5 clusters and Br{sub 2}@5{sup 12}6{sup 2} clathrate cage

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Batista-Romero, Fidel A.; Bernal-Uruchurtu, Margarita I.; Hernández-Lamoneda, Ramón, E-mail: ramon@uaem.mx

The performance of local correlation methods is examined for the interactions present in clusters of bromine with water where the combined effect of hydrogen bonding (HB), halogen bonding (XB), and hydrogen-halogen (HX) interactions lead to many interesting properties. Local methods reproduce all the subtleties involved such as many-body effects and dispersion contributions provided that specific methodological steps are followed. Additionally, they predict optimized geometries that are nearly free of basis set superposition error that lead to improved estimates of spectroscopic properties. Taking advantage of the local correlation energy partitioning scheme, we compare the different interaction environments present in small clustersmore » and those inside the 5{sup 12}6{sup 2} clathrate cage. This analysis allows a clear identification of the reasons supporting the use of local methods for large systems where non-covalent interactions play a key role.« less

49 CFR 520.4 - Applicability.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2011 CFR

2011-10-01

..., DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION PROCEDURES FOR CONSIDERING ENVIRONMENTAL IMPACTS General § 520.4 Applicability... to have a significant effect on the environment. (c) Continuing actions. This part applies to any... of general revenue sharing funds, distributed under the State and Local Fiscal Assistance Act of 1972...

Changing Landscapes: Integrated Teaching Units.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Whitty, Helen, Ed.

This collection of teaching units developed in Australia arises from "Special Forever: An Environmental Communications Project," which enables students to develop critical awareness of their local environments and communicate this awareness effectively. The project also aims to encourage school-based action in support of the environment…

Some effects of sleep deprivation on tracking performance in static and dynamic environments.

DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

1976-01-01

The influence of approximately 34 and 55 h of sleep deprivation on performance scores derived from manually tracking the localizer needle on an aircraft instrument was assessed under both static (no motion) and dynamic (whole-body angular acceleratio...

Interaction of Local Anesthetics with Biomembranes Consisting of Phospholipids and Cholesterol: Mechanistic and Clinical Implications for Anesthetic and Cardiotoxic Effects

PubMed Central

2013-01-01

Despite a long history in medical and dental application, the molecular mechanism and precise site of action are still arguable for local anesthetics. Their effects are considered to be induced by acting on functional proteins, on membrane lipids, or on both. Local anesthetics primarily interact with sodium channels embedded in cell membranes to reduce the excitability of nerve cells and cardiomyocytes or produce a malfunction of the cardiovascular system. However, the membrane protein-interacting theory cannot explain all of the pharmacological and toxicological features of local anesthetics. The administered drug molecules must diffuse through the lipid barriers of nerve sheaths and penetrate into or across the lipid bilayers of cell membranes to reach the acting site on transmembrane proteins. Amphiphilic local anesthetics interact hydrophobically and electrostatically with lipid bilayers and modify their physicochemical property, with the direct inhibition of membrane functions, and with the resultant alteration of the membrane lipid environments surrounding transmembrane proteins and the subsequent protein conformational change, leading to the inhibition of channel functions. We review recent studies on the interaction of local anesthetics with biomembranes consisting of phospholipids and cholesterol. Understanding the membrane interactivity of local anesthetics would provide novel insights into their anesthetic and cardiotoxic effects. PMID:24174934

Local descriptive norms for overweight/obesity and physical inactivity, features of the built environment, and 10-year change in glycosylated haemoglobin in an Australian population-based biomedical cohort.

PubMed

Carroll, Suzanne J; Paquet, Catherine; Howard, Natasha J; Coffee, Neil T; Taylor, Anne W; Niyonsenga, Theo; Daniel, Mark

2016-10-01

Descriptive norms vary between places. Spatial variation in health-related descriptive norms may predict individual-level health outcomes. Such relationships have rarely been investigated. This study assessed 10-year change in glycosylated haemoglobin (HbA1c) in relation to local descriptive norms for overweight/obesity (n = 1890) and physical inactivity (n = 1906) in models accounting for features of the built environment. HbA1c was measured three times over 10 years for a population-based biomedical cohort of adults in Adelaide, South Australia. Environmental exposures were expressed for cohort participants using 1600 m road-network buffers centred on participants' residential address. Local descriptive norms (prevalence of overweight/obesity [body mass index ≥25 kg/m(2)] and of physical inactivity [<150 min/week]) were aggregated from responses to a separate geocoded population survey. Built environment measures were public open space (POS) availability (proportion of buffer area) and walkability. Separate sets of multilevel models analysed different predictors of 10-year change in HbA1c. Each model featured one local descriptive norm and one built environment variable with area-level education and individual-level covariates (age, sex, employment status, education, marital status, and smoking status). Interactions between local descriptive norms and built environment measures were assessed. HbA1c increased over time. POS availability and local descriptive norms for overweight/obesity and physical inactivity were each associated with greater rates of HbA1c increase. Greater walkability was associated with a reduced rate of HbA1c increase, and reduced the influence of the overweight/obesity norm on the rate of increase in HbA1c. Local descriptive health-related norms and features of the built environment predict 10-year change in HbA1c. The impact of local descriptive norms can vary according to built environment features. Little researched thus far, local descriptive norms may play an important role in the evolution of HbA1c and thus cardiometabolic risk, over time. Further empirical research on local descriptive norms is necessary to understand how residential environments shape chronic disease risk. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Predators modify biogeographic constraints on species distributions in an insect metacommunity.

PubMed

Grainger, Tess Nahanni; Germain, Rachel M; Jones, Natalie T; Gilbert, Benjamin

2017-03-01

Theory describing the positive effects of patch size and connectivity on diversity in fragmented systems has stimulated a large body of empirical work, yet predicting when and how local species interactions mediate these responses remains challenging. We used insects that specialize on milkweed plants as a model metacommunity to investigate how local predation alters the effects of biogeographic constraints on species distributions. Species-specific dispersal ability and susceptibility to predation were used to predict when patch size and connectivity should shape species distributions, and when these should be modified by local predator densities. We surveyed specialist herbivores and their predators in milkweed patches in two matrix types, a forest and an old field. Predator-resistant species showed the predicted direct positive effects of patch size and connectivity on occupancy rates. For predator-susceptible species, predators consistently altered the impact of biogeographic constraints, rather than acting independently. Finally, differences between matrix types in species' responses and overall occupancy rates indicate a potential role of the inter-patch environment in mediating the joint effects of predators and spatial drivers. Together, these results highlight the importance of local top-down pressure in mediating classic biogeographic relationships, and demonstrate how species-specific responses to local and regional constraints can be used to predict these effects. © 2017 by the Ecological Society of America.

40 CFR 745.119 - Impact on State and local requirements.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2011 CFR

2011-07-01

... 40 Protection of Environment 31 2011-07-01 2011-07-01 false Impact on State and local requirements. 745.119 Section 745.119 Protection of Environment ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY (CONTINUED) TOXIC....119 Impact on State and local requirements. Nothing in this subpart shall relieve a seller, lessor, or...

40 CFR 745.119 - Impact on State and local requirements.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

2010-07-01

... 40 Protection of Environment 30 2010-07-01 2010-07-01 false Impact on State and local requirements. 745.119 Section 745.119 Protection of Environment ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY (CONTINUED) TOXIC....119 Impact on State and local requirements. Nothing in this subpart shall relieve a seller, lessor, or...

Developing of Environmental Education Textbook Based on Local Potencies

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Ilma, Silfia; Wijarini, Fitri

2017-01-01

Environmental education subject aims to form students who have the character to maintain the environment. One effort to achieve the objectives of the Environmental education subject is the local Environmental Education Textbook Based on Local Potencies. This research was aimed to produce textbook of environment-based education subject…

40 CFR 403.4 - State or local law.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2013 CFR

2013-07-01

... 40 Protection of Environment 30 2013-07-01 2012-07-01 true State or local law. 403.4 Section 403.4 Protection of Environment ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY (CONTINUED) EFFLUENT GUIDELINES AND STANDARDS GENERAL PRETREATMENT REGULATIONS FOR EXISTING AND NEW SOURCES OF POLLUTION § 403.4 State or local law...

40 CFR 35.936-2 - Grantee procurement systems; State or local law.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

2010-07-01

... 40 Protection of Environment 1 2010-07-01 2010-07-01 false Grantee procurement systems; State or local law. 35.936-2 Section 35.936-2 Protection of Environment ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY GRANTS... rational basis. (c) Preference. State or local laws, ordinances, regulations or procedures which...

Factors Influencing Title VII Bilingual Program Institutionalization.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Lewis, Gerald R.; And Others

1985-01-01

This study of the primary restraining and driving forces that influence Title VII bilingual education programs found the external environment, the local community, to be the main factor influencing institutionalization and self-renewal. The internal environment--the local school, and the local school's organization or central office, school board,…

The Effect of Short-term Intra-arterial Delivery of Paclitaxel on Neointimal Hyperplasia and the Local Thrombotic Environment after Angioplasty

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Yajun, E, E-mail: eyj7681@yahoo.com.cn; He Nengshu, E-mail: eyajun@hotmail.com; Fan Hailun, E-mail: mydream510@yahoo.com.cn

2013-08-01

PurposeTo evaluate the effects of short-term intra-arterial delivery of paclitaxel on neointimal hyperplasia and the local thrombotic environment after angioplasty.MethodsAn experimental common carotid artery injury model was established in 60 rats, which were divided into experimental groups (40 rats) and controls (20 rats). Local intra-arterial administration of paclitaxel was applied at 2 doses (90 and 180 {mu}g/30 {mu}l), and the effects of short-term delivery of paclitaxel on neointimal hyperplasia and the expression of tissue factor (TF), plasminogen activator inhibitor-1 (PAI-1) and tissue-type plasminogen activator (t-PA) were evaluated at days 15 and 30 by hematoxylin and eosin staining and immunohistochemistry.ResultsAt 15more » and 30 days after injury, neointimal thickness and area, the ratio of intimal area to medial area and the stenotic rate were all significantly decreased in the group provided the high concentrations (180 {mu}g/30 {mu}l) of paclitaxel for 2 min or 10 min and in the group provided the low concentration (90 {mu}g/30 {mu}l) of paclitaxel for 10 min (p < 0.05). At 30 days after injury, there were no significant changes in TF expression among all experimental groups. PAI-1 expression increased in the neointima of the high concentration 10 min group (p < 0.05), while t-PA expression decreased in the neointima of the high concentration 2 min group (p < 0.05).ConclusionIn the rat common carotid artery injury model, the short-term delivery of paclitaxel could effectively inhibit neointimal hyperplasia in the long term, with very little influence on the local expression of TF and PAI-1.« less

Effect of environmental factor and microstructure on morphology of corrosion products in CO{sub 2} environments

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Ueda, Masakatsu; Takabe, Hideki

The effect of environmental factors such as HCO{sup 3+} ion, CH{sub 3}COO{minus} ion, and Ca{sup 2+} ion, and microstructure on morphology of corrosion products was investigated in CO{sub 2} environments with 0.3MPa CO{sub 2} at 80 C. Steel J55 with ferritic-pearlitic microstructure and Steel N80 with martensitic microstructure were used as testing materials. Steel J55 showed good localized-corrosion resistance compared with Steel N80. A linear relationship between pH and corrosion rate was obtained in Steel J55 with homogeneous corrosion, but the relationship was not so good in Steel N80 with heterogeneous corrosion. The good localized-corrosion of Steel J55 can bemore » explained from the morphology of corrosion products. Namely, as Steel J55 corrodes away, there is lamellar cementite left behind. An increase in the local concentration of Fe{sup 2+} ions arises in the cavities between lamellar cementites and leads to FeCO{sub 3} formation between those. Then, the lamellar cementite helps to anchor the corrosion product. In Steel N80 with the homogeneous dispersed-cementite to act as cathodic site, the corrosion product peels off partially because not having the anchor effect in Steel J55. Therefore, Steel N80 suffered from severe corrosion on locations without the corrosion product. In CaCl{sub 2} solution, FeCO{sub 3} and CaCO{sub 3} were identified as corrosion product of Steel J55 by X-ray analysis. In this case, FeCO{sub 3} forms in the cavities between lamellar cementites due to a local flow stagnation and higher local Fe{sup 2+} ion concentration, but in former ferrite phase, the higher local Fe{sup 2+} concentration does not arise and CaCO{sub 3} crystallizes.« less

Exploring the influence of local food environments on food behaviours: a systematic review of qualitative literature.

PubMed

Pitt, Erin; Gallegos, Danielle; Comans, Tracy; Cameron, Cate; Thornton, Lukar

2017-09-01

Systematic reviews investigating associations between objective measures of the food environment and dietary behaviours or health outcomes have not established a consistent evidence base. The present paper aims to synthesise qualitative evidence regarding the influence of local food environments on food and purchasing behaviours. A systematic review in the form of a qualitative thematic synthesis. Urban localities. Adults. Four analytic themes were identified from the review including community and consumer nutrition environments, other environmental factors and individual coping strategies for shopping and purchasing decisions. Availability, accessibility and affordability were consistently identified as key determinants of store choice and purchasing behaviours that often result in less healthy food choices within community nutrition environments. Food availability, quality and food store characteristics within consumer nutrition environments also greatly influenced in-store purchases. Individuals used a range of coping strategies in both the community and consumer nutrition environments to make optimal purchasing decisions, often within the context of financial constraints. Findings from the current review add depth and scope to quantitative literature and can guide ongoing theory, interventions and policy development in food environment research. There is a need to investigate contextual influences within food environments as well as individual and household socio-economic characteristics that contribute to the differing use of and views towards local food environments. Greater emphasis on how individual and environmental factors interact in the food environment field will be key to developing stronger understanding of how environments can support and promote healthier food choices.

Evidence for local adaptation and pleiotropic effects associated with melanization in a plant pathogenic fungus.

PubMed

Zhu, Wen; Zhan, Jiasui; McDonald, Bruce A

2018-06-01

We combined a common garden experimental design with digital image analysis to determine how melanization responds to temperature and fungicide stress in 126 strains of Rhynchosporium commune sampled from nine global field populations. We found that different temperatures and fungicide stress significantly affected the degree of melanization. The nine field populations showed similar patterns in response to the different temperatures. Significant correlations were found between the degree of melanization and the local environment, including mean annual temperature, latitude, and relative humidity, suggesting that melanization is a locally adaptive trait. We also found that melanization is positively correlated with both virulence and fungicide resistance. These findings suggest that melanization has pleiotropic effects in Rhynchosporium commune. Copyright © 2018 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Decentralization can help reduce deforestation when user groups engage with local government.

PubMed

Wright, Glenn D; Andersson, Krister P; Gibson, Clark C; Evans, Tom P

2016-12-27

Policy makers around the world tout decentralization as an effective tool in the governance of natural resources. Despite the popularity of these reforms, there is limited scientific evidence on the environmental effects of decentralization, especially in tropical biomes. This study presents evidence on the institutional conditions under which decentralization is likely to be successful in sustaining forests. We draw on common-pool resource theory to argue that the environmental impact of decentralization hinges on the ability of reforms to engage local forest users in the governance of forests. Using matching techniques, we analyze longitudinal field observations on both social and biophysical characteristics in a large number of local government territories in Bolivia (a country with a decentralized forestry policy) and Peru (a country with a much more centralized forestry policy). We find that territories with a decentralized forest governance structure have more stable forest cover, but only when local forest user groups actively engage with the local government officials. We provide evidence in support of a possible causal process behind these results: When user groups engage with the decentralized units, it creates a more enabling environment for effective local governance of forests, including more local government-led forest governance activities, fora for the resolution of forest-related conflicts, intermunicipal cooperation in the forestry sector, and stronger technical capabilities of the local government staff.

Decentralization can help reduce deforestation when user groups engage with local government

PubMed Central

Wright, Glenn D.; Gibson, Clark C.; Evans, Tom P.

2016-01-01

Policy makers around the world tout decentralization as an effective tool in the governance of natural resources. Despite the popularity of these reforms, there is limited scientific evidence on the environmental effects of decentralization, especially in tropical biomes. This study presents evidence on the institutional conditions under which decentralization is likely to be successful in sustaining forests. We draw on common-pool resource theory to argue that the environmental impact of decentralization hinges on the ability of reforms to engage local forest users in the governance of forests. Using matching techniques, we analyze longitudinal field observations on both social and biophysical characteristics in a large number of local government territories in Bolivia (a country with a decentralized forestry policy) and Peru (a country with a much more centralized forestry policy). We find that territories with a decentralized forest governance structure have more stable forest cover, but only when local forest user groups actively engage with the local government officials. We provide evidence in support of a possible causal process behind these results: When user groups engage with the decentralized units, it creates a more enabling environment for effective local governance of forests, including more local government-led forest governance activities, fora for the resolution of forest-related conflicts, intermunicipal cooperation in the forestry sector, and stronger technical capabilities of the local government staff. PMID:27956644

Cavity-based architecture to preserve quantum coherence and entanglement

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Man, Zhong-Xiao; Xia, Yun-Jie; Lo Franco, Rosario

2015-09-01

Quantum technology relies on the utilization of resources, like quantum coherence and entanglement, which allow quantum information and computation processing. This achievement is however jeopardized by the detrimental effects of the environment surrounding any quantum system, so that finding strategies to protect quantum resources is essential. Non-Markovian and structured environments are useful tools to this aim. Here we show how a simple environmental architecture made of two coupled lossy cavities enables a switch between Markovian and non-Markovian regimes for the dynamics of a qubit embedded in one of the cavity. Furthermore, qubit coherence can be indefinitely preserved if the cavity without qubit is perfect. We then focus on entanglement control of two independent qubits locally subject to such an engineered environment and discuss its feasibility in the framework of circuit quantum electrodynamics. With up-to-date experimental parameters, we show that our architecture allows entanglement lifetimes orders of magnitude longer than the spontaneous lifetime without local cavity couplings. This cavity-based architecture is straightforwardly extendable to many qubits for scalability.

Global positioning method based on polarized light compass system

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Liu, Jun; Yang, Jiangtao; Wang, Yubo; Tang, Jun; Shen, Chong

2018-05-01

This paper presents a global positioning method based on a polarized light compass system. A main limitation of polarization positioning is the environment such as weak and locally destroyed polarization environments, and the solution to the positioning problem is given in this paper which is polarization image de-noising and segmentation. Therefore, the pulse coupled neural network is employed for enhancing positioning performance. The prominent advantages of the present positioning technique are as follows: (i) compared to the existing position method based on polarized light, better sun tracking accuracy can be achieved and (ii) the robustness and accuracy of positioning under weak and locally destroyed polarization environments, such as cloudy or building shielding, are improved significantly. Finally, some field experiments are given to demonstrate the effectiveness and applicability of the proposed global positioning technique. The experiments have shown that our proposed method outperforms the conventional polarization positioning method, the real time longitude and latitude with accuracy up to 0.0461° and 0.0911°, respectively.

Cavity-based architecture to preserve quantum coherence and entanglement.

PubMed

Man, Zhong-Xiao; Xia, Yun-Jie; Lo Franco, Rosario

2015-09-09

Quantum technology relies on the utilization of resources, like quantum coherence and entanglement, which allow quantum information and computation processing. This achievement is however jeopardized by the detrimental effects of the environment surrounding any quantum system, so that finding strategies to protect quantum resources is essential. Non-Markovian and structured environments are useful tools to this aim. Here we show how a simple environmental architecture made of two coupled lossy cavities enables a switch between Markovian and non-Markovian regimes for the dynamics of a qubit embedded in one of the cavity. Furthermore, qubit coherence can be indefinitely preserved if the cavity without qubit is perfect. We then focus on entanglement control of two independent qubits locally subject to such an engineered environment and discuss its feasibility in the framework of circuit quantum electrodynamics. With up-to-date experimental parameters, we show that our architecture allows entanglement lifetimes orders of magnitude longer than the spontaneous lifetime without local cavity couplings. This cavity-based architecture is straightforwardly extendable to many qubits for scalability.

Cavity-based architecture to preserve quantum coherence and entanglement

PubMed Central

Man, Zhong-Xiao; Xia, Yun-Jie; Lo Franco, Rosario

2015-01-01

Quantum technology relies on the utilization of resources, like quantum coherence and entanglement, which allow quantum information and computation processing. This achievement is however jeopardized by the detrimental effects of the environment surrounding any quantum system, so that finding strategies to protect quantum resources is essential. Non-Markovian and structured environments are useful tools to this aim. Here we show how a simple environmental architecture made of two coupled lossy cavities enables a switch between Markovian and non-Markovian regimes for the dynamics of a qubit embedded in one of the cavity. Furthermore, qubit coherence can be indefinitely preserved if the cavity without qubit is perfect. We then focus on entanglement control of two independent qubits locally subject to such an engineered environment and discuss its feasibility in the framework of circuit quantum electrodynamics. With up-to-date experimental parameters, we show that our architecture allows entanglement lifetimes orders of magnitude longer than the spontaneous lifetime without local cavity couplings. This cavity-based architecture is straightforwardly extendable to many qubits for scalability. PMID:26351004

Creating Successful Scientist-Teacher-Student Collaborations: Examples From the GLOBE Program

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Geary, E.; Wright, E.; Yule, S.; Randolph, G.; Larsen, J.; Smith, D.

2007-12-01

Actively engaging students in research on the environment at local, regional, and globe scales is a primary objective of the GLOBE (Global Learning and Observations to Benefit the Environment) Program. During the past 18 months, GLOBE, an international education and science program in 109 countries and tens of thousands of schools worldwide, has been working with four NSF-funded Earth System Science Projects to involve K-12 students, teachers, and scientists in collaborative research investigations of Seasons and Biomes, the Carbon Cycle, Local and Extreme Environments, and Watersheds. This talk will discuss progress to date in each of these investigation areas and highlight successes and challenges in creating effective partnerships between diverse scientific and educational stakeholders. More specifically we will discuss lessons learned in the following areas: (a) mutual goal and responsibility setting, (b) resource allocation, (c) development of adaptable learning activities, tools, and services, (d) creation of scientist and school networks, and (e) development of evaluation metrics, all in support of student research.

PHYSICAL CHARACTERISTICS AND HEALTH EFFECTS OF AEROSOLS FROM COLLAPSED BUILDINGS

EPA Science Inventory

Airborne pollutants can rise to extreme levels when large buildings fall down. The terrorist attack on New York's World Trade Center (WTC) towers caused the release of an enormous quantity of pulverized building materials and combustion products into the local environment. Partic...

Effect of Concentration and Temperature of Ethanol in Fuel Blends on Microbial and Stress Corrosion Cracking of High-Strength Steel

DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

2012-02-01

Localized environments in fuel grade ethanol (FGE) transportation systems, where conditions are suitable for growth, may allow for microbiologically influenced corrosion (MIC) of steel components. Interstate pipeline transportation of ethanol fuels i...

Effects of iron content in Ni-Cr-xFe alloys and immersion time on the oxide films formed in a simulated PWR water environment

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Ru, Xiangkun; Lu, Zhanpeng; Chen, Junjie; Han, Guangdong; Zhang, Jinlong; Hu, Pengfei; Liang, Xue

2017-12-01

The iron content in Ni-Cr-xFe (x = 0-9 at.%) alloys strongly affected the properties of oxide films after 978 h of immersion in the simulated PWR primary water environment at 310 °C. Increasing the iron content in the alloys increased the amount of iron-bearing polyhedral spinel oxide particles in the outer oxide layer and increased the local oxidation penetrations into the alloy matrix from the chromium-rich inner oxide layer. The effects of iron content in the alloys on the oxide film properties after 500 h of immersion were less significant than those after 978 h. Iron content increased, and chromium content decreased, in the outer oxide layer with increasing iron content in the alloys. Increasing the immersion time facilitated the formation of the local oxidation penetrations along the matrix/film interface and the nickel-bearing spinel oxides in the outer oxide layer.

Corrosion behavior of a superduplex stainless steel in chloride aqueous solution

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Dabalà, Manuele; Calliari, Irene; Variola, Alessandra

2004-04-01

Super duplex stainless steels (SDSS) have been widely used as structural materials for chemical plants (especially in those engaged in phosphoric acid production), in the hydrometallurgy industries, and as materials for offshore applications due to their excellent corrosion resistance in chloride environments, compared with other commercial types of ferritic stainless steels. These alloys also possess superior weldability and better mechanical properties than austenitic stainless steels. However, due to their two-phase structure, the nature of which is very dependent on their composition and thermal history, the behavior of SDSS regarding localized corrosion appears difficult to predict, especially in chloride environments. To improve their final properties, the effect of the partition of the alloying elements between the two phases, and the composition and microstructure of each phase are the key to understanding the localized corrosion phenomena of SDSS. This paper concerns the effects of the SDSS microstructure and heat treatment on the SDSS corrosion resistance in aqueous solutions, containing different amounts of NaCl at room temperature.

Construction Material-Based Methodology for Military Contingency Base Construction: Case Study of Dhaka, Bangladesh

DTIC Science & Technology

2016-08-01

of the operational environment to anticipate the impacts that siting and operating CBs will have on the local context, and to consider the effects ...17 Figure 7. Density and effective proximity factor (McNulty 2009b...Area-wise consumption of cement, FY2010 (Nahar 2011). ...............................44 Figure 23. Overview of Bangladesh [green: office, orange

Investigating the importance of the local food environment for fruit and vegetable intake in older men and women in 20 UK towns: a cross-sectional analysis of two national cohorts using novel methods.

PubMed

Hawkesworth, S; Silverwood, R J; Armstrong, B; Pliakas, T; Nanchahal, K; Sartini, C; Amuzu, A; Wannamethee, G; Atkins, J; Ramsay, S E; Casas, J P; Morris, R W; Whincup, P H; Lock, Karen

2017-09-18

Local neighbourhood environments can influence dietary behavior. There is limited evidence focused on older people who are likely to have greater dependence on local areas and may suffer functional limitations that amplify any neighbourhood impact. Using multi-level ordinal regression analysis we investigated the association between multiple dimensions of neighbourhood food environments (captured by fine-detail, foot-based environmental audits and secondary data) and self-reported frequency of fruit and vegetable intake. The study was a cross-sectional analysis nested within two nationally representative cohorts in the UK: the British Regional Heart Study and the British Women's Heart and Health Study. Main exposures of interest were density of food retail outlets selling fruits and vegetables, the density of fast food outlets and a novel measure of diversity of the food retail environment. A total of 1124 men and 883 women, aged 69 - 92 years, living in 20 British towns were included in the analysis. There was strong evidence of an association between area income deprivation and fruit and vegetable consumption, with study members in the most deprived areas estimated to have 27% (95% CI: 7, 42) lower odds of being in a higher fruit and vegetable consumption category relative to those in the least deprived areas. We found no consistent evidence for an association between fruit and vegetable consumption and a range of other food environment domains, including density of shops selling fruits and vegetables, density of premises selling fast food, the area food retail diversity, area walkability, transport accessibility, or the local food marketing environment. For example, individuals living in areas with greatest fruit and vegetable outlet density had 2% (95% CI: -22, 21) lower odds of being in a higher fruit and vegetable consumption category relative to those in areas with no shops. Although small effect sizes in environment-diet relationships cannot be discounted, this study suggests that older people are less influenced by physical characteristics of neighbourhood food environments than is suggested in the literature. The association between area income deprivation and diet may be capturing an important social aspect of neighbourhoods that influence food intake in older adults and warrants further research.

Preventing heat-related morbidity and mortality: new approaches in a changing climate.

PubMed

O'Neill, Marie S; Carter, Rebecca; Kish, Jonathan K; Gronlund, Carina J; White-Newsome, Jalonne L; Manarolla, Xico; Zanobetti, Antonella; Schwartz, Joel D

2009-10-20

Due to global climate change, the world will, on average, experience a higher number of heat waves, and the intensity and length of these heat waves is projected to increase. Knowledge about the implications of heat exposure to human health is growing, with excess mortality and illness occurring during hot weather in diverse regions. Certain groups, including the elderly, the urban poor, and those with chronic health conditions, are at higher risk. Preventive actions include: establishing heat wave warning systems; making cool environments available (through air conditioning or other means); public education; planting trees and other vegetation; and modifying the built environment to provide proper ventilation and use materials and colors that reduce heat build-up and optimize thermal comfort. However, to inspire local prevention activities, easily understood information about the strategies' benefits needs to be incorporated into decision tools. Integrating heat health information into a comprehensive adaptation planning process can alert local decision-makers to extreme heat risks and provide information necessary to choose strategies that yield the largest health improvements and cost savings. Tools to enable this include web-based programs that illustrate effective methods for including heat health in comprehensive local-level adaptation planning; calculate costs and benefits of several activities; maps showing zones of high potential heat exposure and vulnerable populations in a local area; and public awareness materials and training for implementing preventive activities. A new computer-based decision tool will enable local estimates of heat-related health effects and potential savings from implementing a range of prevention strategies.

Fusion-based multi-target tracking and localization for intelligent surveillance systems

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Rababaah, Haroun; Shirkhodaie, Amir

2008-04-01

In this paper, we have presented two approaches addressing visual target tracking and localization in complex urban environment. The two techniques presented in this paper are: fusion-based multi-target visual tracking, and multi-target localization via camera calibration. For multi-target tracking, the data fusion concepts of hypothesis generation/evaluation/selection, target-to-target registration, and association are employed. An association matrix is implemented using RGB histograms for associated tracking of multi-targets of interests. Motion segmentation of targets of interest (TOI) from the background was achieved by a Gaussian Mixture Model. Foreground segmentation, on other hand, was achieved by the Connected Components Analysis (CCA) technique. The tracking of individual targets was estimated by fusing two sources of information, the centroid with the spatial gating, and the RGB histogram association matrix. The localization problem is addressed through an effective camera calibration technique using edge modeling for grid mapping (EMGM). A two-stage image pixel to world coordinates mapping technique is introduced that performs coarse and fine location estimation of moving TOIs. In coarse estimation, an approximate neighborhood of the target position is estimated based on nearest 4-neighbor method, and in fine estimation, we use Euclidean interpolation to localize the position within the estimated four neighbors. Both techniques were tested and shown reliable results for tracking and localization of Targets of interests in complex urban environment.

U.S. Army War College Key Strategic Issues List (KSIL) 2012-2013

DTIC Science & Technology

2012-08-01

modified and what DOTMLPF changes would be needed? 20 11. What are the impacts of changes in the local economy on a local NG unit? Do changes in the... economy have a major effect on the unit and the National Guard as a whole at state and/or federal level? 21 U.S. Army Reserve, Office of the Chief POC...movement to a DoD-wide cloud architecture (the Joint Information Environment), which would allow the repurposing of Global Information Grid ( GIG

Localized magnetism in liquid Al80Mn20 alloys: A first-principles investigation

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Jakse, N.; LeBacq, O.; Pasturel, A.

2006-04-01

We present first-principles investigations of the formation of magnetic moments in liquid Al80Mn20 alloys as a function of temperature. We predict the existence of large magnetic moments on Mn atoms which are close to that of the single-impurity limit. The wide distribution of moments can be understood in terms of fluctuations in the local environment. Our calculations also predict that thermal expansion effects within the single-impurity model mainly explain the striking increase of magnetism with temperature.

Fuzzy integral-based gaze control architecture incorporated with modified-univector field-based navigation for humanoid robots.

PubMed

Yoo, Jeong-Ki; Kim, Jong-Hwan

2012-02-01

When a humanoid robot moves in a dynamic environment, a simple process of planning and following a path may not guarantee competent performance for dynamic obstacle avoidance because the robot acquires limited information from the environment using a local vision sensor. Thus, it is essential to update its local map as frequently as possible to obtain more information through gaze control while walking. This paper proposes a fuzzy integral-based gaze control architecture incorporated with the modified-univector field-based navigation for humanoid robots. To determine the gaze direction, four criteria based on local map confidence, waypoint, self-localization, and obstacles, are defined along with their corresponding partial evaluation functions. Using the partial evaluation values and the degree of consideration for criteria, fuzzy integral is applied to each candidate gaze direction for global evaluation. For the effective dynamic obstacle avoidance, partial evaluation functions about self-localization error and surrounding obstacles are also used for generating virtual dynamic obstacle for the modified-univector field method which generates the path and velocity of robot toward the next waypoint. The proposed architecture is verified through the comparison with the conventional weighted sum-based approach with the simulations using a developed simulator for HanSaRam-IX (HSR-IX).

A Single LiDAR-Based Feature Fusion Indoor Localization Algorithm.

PubMed

Wang, Yun-Ting; Peng, Chao-Chung; Ravankar, Ankit A; Ravankar, Abhijeet

2018-04-23

In past years, there has been significant progress in the field of indoor robot localization. To precisely recover the position, the robots usually relies on multiple on-board sensors. Nevertheless, this affects the overall system cost and increases computation. In this research work, we considered a light detection and ranging (LiDAR) device as the only sensor for detecting surroundings and propose an efficient indoor localization algorithm. To attenuate the computation effort and preserve localization robustness, a weighted parallel iterative closed point (WP-ICP) with interpolation is presented. As compared to the traditional ICP, the point cloud is first processed to extract corners and line features before applying point registration. Later, points labeled as corners are only matched with the corner candidates. Similarly, points labeled as lines are only matched with the lines candidates. Moreover, their ICP confidence levels are also fused in the algorithm, which make the pose estimation less sensitive to environment uncertainties. The proposed WP-ICP architecture reduces the probability of mismatch and thereby reduces the ICP iterations. Finally, based on given well-constructed indoor layouts, experiment comparisons are carried out under both clean and perturbed environments. It is shown that the proposed method is effective in significantly reducing computation effort and is simultaneously able to preserve localization precision.

A Single LiDAR-Based Feature Fusion Indoor Localization Algorithm

PubMed Central

Wang, Yun-Ting; Peng, Chao-Chung; Ravankar, Ankit A.; Ravankar, Abhijeet

2018-01-01

In past years, there has been significant progress in the field of indoor robot localization. To precisely recover the position, the robots usually relies on multiple on-board sensors. Nevertheless, this affects the overall system cost and increases computation. In this research work, we considered a light detection and ranging (LiDAR) device as the only sensor for detecting surroundings and propose an efficient indoor localization algorithm. To attenuate the computation effort and preserve localization robustness, a weighted parallel iterative closed point (WP-ICP) with interpolation is presented. As compared to the traditional ICP, the point cloud is first processed to extract corners and line features before applying point registration. Later, points labeled as corners are only matched with the corner candidates. Similarly, points labeled as lines are only matched with the lines candidates. Moreover, their ICP confidence levels are also fused in the algorithm, which make the pose estimation less sensitive to environment uncertainties. The proposed WP-ICP architecture reduces the probability of mismatch and thereby reduces the ICP iterations. Finally, based on given well-constructed indoor layouts, experiment comparisons are carried out under both clean and perturbed environments. It is shown that the proposed method is effective in significantly reducing computation effort and is simultaneously able to preserve localization precision. PMID:29690624

40 CFR 1506.2 - Elimination of duplication with State and local procedures.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

2010-07-01

... 40 Protection of Environment 32 2010-07-01 2010-07-01 false Elimination of duplication with State and local procedures. 1506.2 Section 1506.2 Protection of Environment COUNCIL ON ENVIRONMENTAL QUALITY OTHER REQUIREMENTS OF NEPA § 1506.2 Elimination of duplication with State and local procedures. (a...

40 CFR 1506.2 - Elimination of duplication with State and local procedures.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2011 CFR

2011-07-01

... 40 Protection of Environment 33 2011-07-01 2011-07-01 false Elimination of duplication with State and local procedures. 1506.2 Section 1506.2 Protection of Environment COUNCIL ON ENVIRONMENTAL QUALITY OTHER REQUIREMENTS OF NEPA § 1506.2 Elimination of duplication with State and local procedures. (a...

Cross-Cultural Interface Design and the Classroom-Learning Environment in Taiwan

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Chang, Chia-Lin; Su, Yelin

2012-01-01

This study examined whether using localized interface designs would make a difference in users' learning results and their perceptions of the interface design in a classroom learning environment. This study also sought to learn more about users' attitudes toward the localized interface features. To assess the impact of using localized interfaces…

Strength of clean indoor air laws and smoking related outcomes in the USA

PubMed Central

McMullen, K; Brownson, R; Luke, D; Chriqui, J

2005-01-01

Objectives: Environmental tobacco smoke (ETS) is often encountered in the workplace. There have been efforts to apply and enforce state laws limiting workplace smoking. There has been little study of the relative effectiveness of state and/or local laws in affecting both rates of workplace ETS exposure and adult smoking rates. This study investigates these hypotheses, as well as the effect of these laws on youth smoking. Design: This is a secondary data analysis using sources including the Current Population Survey (CPS), Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System (BRFSS), Youth Risk Behavior Survey (YRBS), and the National Household Survey of Drug Abuse (NHSDA) between the years of 1996 and 1999. Linear regression models were used to investigate the effect of a state's clean indoor air (CIA) law (using a measure of extensiveness) on the overall amount of people who reported working in a smoke-free environment, youth smoking rates and adult smoking rates. Results: The extensiveness of a state's CIA law was found to be a reliable predictor of the percentage of indoor workers who report a smoke-free work environment and the rates of youth smoking. State CIA laws were not conclusively associated with adult smoking rates. Conclusions: The extensiveness of a state's CIA law is strongly associated with a higher percentage of indoor workers reporting a smoke-free work environment. This study did not reveal a similar association between local laws and smoke-free work environments. Youth smoking rates, shown to be related to state CIA laws, may be further affected with more stringent CIA policy. PMID:15735299

Do stressful conditions make adaptation difficult? Guppies in the oil-polluted environments of southern Trinidad

PubMed Central

Rolshausen, Gregor; Phillip, Dawn A T; Beckles, Denise M; Akbari, Ali; Ghoshal, Subhasis; Hamilton, Patrick B; Tyler, Charles R; Scarlett, Alan G; Ramnarine, Indar; Bentzen, Paul; Hendry, Andrew P

2015-01-01

The ability of populations to rapidly adapt to new environments will determine their future in an increasingly human-modified world. Although meta-analyses do frequently uncover signatures of local adaptation, they also reveal many exceptions. We suggest that particular constraints on local adaptation might arise when organisms are exposed to novel stressors, such as anthropogenic pollution. To inform this possibility, we studied the extent to which guppies (Poecilia reticulata) show local adaptation to oil pollution in southern Trinidad. Neutral genetic markers revealed that paired populations in oil-polluted versus not-polluted habitats diverged independently in two different watersheds. Morphometrics revealed some divergence (particularly in head shape) between these environments, some of which was parallel between rivers. Reciprocal transplant experiments in nature, however, found little evidence of local adaptation based on survival and growth. Moreover, subsequent laboratory experiments showed that the two populations from oil-polluted sites showed only weak local adaptation even when compared to guppies from oil-free northern Trinidad. We conclude that guppies show little local adaptation to oil pollution, which might result from the challenges associated with adaptation to particularly stressful environments. It might also reflect genetic drift owing to small population sizes and/or high gene flow between environments. PMID:26495039

Social effects on foraging behavior and success depend on local environmental conditions

PubMed Central

Marshall, Harry H; Carter, Alecia J; Ashford, Alexandra; Rowcliffe, J Marcus; Cowlishaw, Guy

2015-01-01

In social groups, individuals' dominance rank, social bonds, and kinship with other group members have been shown to influence their foraging behavior. However, there is growing evidence that the particular effects of these social traits may also depend on local environmental conditions. We investigated this by comparing the foraging behavior of wild chacma baboons, Papio ursinus, under natural conditions and in a field experiment where food was spatially clumped. Data were collected from 55 animals across two troops over a 5-month period, including over 900 agonistic foraging interactions and over 600 food patch visits in each condition. In both conditions, low-ranked individuals received more agonism, but this only translated into reduced foraging performances for low-ranked individuals in the high-competition experimental conditions. Our results suggest one possible reason for this pattern may be low-ranked individuals strategically investing social effort to negotiate foraging tolerance, but the rank-offsetting effect of this investment being overwhelmed in the higher-competition experimental environment. Our results also suggest that individuals may use imbalances in their social bonds to negotiate tolerance from others under a wider range of environmental conditions, but utilize the overall strength of their social bonds in more extreme environments where feeding competition is more intense. These findings highlight that behavioral tactics such as the strategic investment of social effort may allow foragers to mitigate the costs of low rank, but that the effectiveness of these tactics is likely to be limited in certain environments. PMID:25691973

E-waste disposal effects on the aquatic environment: Accra, Ghana.

PubMed

Huang, Jingyu; Nkrumah, Philip Nti; Anim, Desmond Ofosu; Mensah, Ebenezer

2014-01-01

The volume of e-waste is growing around the world, and, increasingly, it is being disposed of by export from developed to developing countries. This is the situation in Ghana, and, in this paper we address the potential consequences of such e-waste disposal. Herein, we describe how e-waste is processed in Ghana, and what the fate is of e-waste-chemical contaminants during recycling and storage. Finally, to the extent it is known, we address the prospective adverse effects of e-waste-related contaminants on health and aquatic life downstream from a large e-waste disposal facility in Accra, Ghana.In developing countries, including Ghana, e-waste is routinely disassembled by unprotected workers that utilize rudimentary methods and tools. Once disassembled,e-waste components are often stored in large piles outdoors. These processing and storage methods expose workers and local residents to several heavy metals and organic chemicals that exist in e-waste components. The amount of e-waste dumped in Ghana is increasing annually by about 20,000 t. The local aquatic environment is at a potential high risk, because the piles of e-waste components stored outside are routinely drenched or flooded by rainfall, producing run-off from storage sites to local waterways. Both water and sediment samples show that e-waste-related contaminant shave entered Ghana's water ways.The extent of pollution produced in key water bodies of Ghana (Odaw River and the Korle Lagoon) underscores the need for aquatic risk assessments of the many contaminants released during e-waste processing. Notwithstanding the fact that pollutants from other sources reach the water bodies, it is clear that these water bodies are also heavily impacted by contaminants that are found in e-waste. Our concern is that such exposures have limited and will continue to limit the diversity of aquatic organisms.There have also been changes in the abundance and biomass of surviving species and changes in food chains. Therefore, the need for actions to be taken to reduce entry of e-waste pollutants into Ghana's aquatic environment is real and is immediate.Heavy metals (e.g., lead, cadmium, copper and zinc) and organic pollutants (e.g.,PCDD/Fs and PBDEs) have been detected in the sediments of local water bodies in quantities that greatly exceed background levels. This fact alone suggests that aquatic organisms that live in the affected water bodies are highly exposed to these toxic, bio-accumulative, and persistent contaminants. These contaminants have been confirmed to result from the primitive methods used to recycle and process e-waste within the local environment.Only limited local data exist on the threats posed by these e-waste-related contaminants on nearby natural resources, especially aquatic organisms. In this review,we have addressed the potential toxicity of selected heavy metals and organic pollutants on aquatic organisms. Since there are no data on concentrations of contaminants in the water column, we have based our predictions of effects on pollutant release rates from sediments. Pollutants that are attached to sediments are routinely released into the water column from diffusion and advection, the rate of which depends on pH and Eh of the sediments. E-waste contaminants have the potential to produce deleterious effects on the behavior, physiology, metabolism, reproduction,development and growth of many aquatic organisms. Because it is confirmed that both heavy metal and organic contaminants are reaching the biota of Ghana's local waterways, we presume that they are producing adverse effects. Because local data on the aquatic toxicity of these contaminants are as yet unavailable, we strongly recommend that future research be undertaken to examine, on a large scale and long-term basis, both contamination levels in biota, and adverse effects on biota of the nearby water bodies.

The development and pilot testing of a rapid assessment tool to improve local public health system capacity in Australia.

PubMed

Bagley, Prue; Lin, Vivian

2009-11-15

To operate effectively the public health system requires infrastructure and the capacity to act. Public health's ability to attract funding for infrastructure and capacity development would be enhanced if it was able to demonstrate what level of capacity was required to ensure a high performing system. Australia's public health activities are undertaken within a complex organizational framework that involves three levels of government and a diverse range of other organizations. The question of appropriate levels of infrastructure and capacity is critical at each level. Comparatively little is known about infrastructure and capacity at the local level. In-depth interviews were conducted with senior managers in two Australian states with different frameworks for health administration. They were asked to reflect on the critical components of infrastructure and capacity required at the local level. The interviews were analyzed to identify the major themes. Workshops with public health experts explored this data further. The information generated was used to develop a tool, designed to be used by groups of organizations within discrete geographical locations to assess local public health capacity. Local actors in these two different systems pointed to similar areas for inclusion for the development of an instrument to map public health capacity at the local level. The tool asks respondents to consider resources, programs and the cultural environment within their organization. It also asks about the policy environment - recognizing that the broader environment within which organizations operate impacts on their capacity to act. Pilot testing of the tool pointed to some of the challenges involved in such an exercise, particularly if the tool were to be adopted as policy. This research indicates that it is possible to develop a tool for the systematic assessment of public health capacity at the local level. Piloting the tool revealed some concerns amongst participants, particularly about how the tool would be used. However there was also recognition that the areas covered by the tool were those considered relevant.

Secure Indoor Localization Based on Extracting Trusted Fingerprint

PubMed Central

Yin, Xixi; Zheng, Yanliu; Wang, Chun

2018-01-01

Indoor localization based on WiFi has attracted a lot of research effort because of the widespread application of WiFi. Fingerprinting techniques have received much attention due to their simplicity and compatibility with existing hardware. However, existing fingerprinting localization algorithms may not resist abnormal received signal strength indication (RSSI), such as unexpected environmental changes, impaired access points (APs) or the introduction of new APs. Traditional fingerprinting algorithms do not consider the problem of new APs and impaired APs in the environment when using RSSI. In this paper, we propose a secure fingerprinting localization (SFL) method that is robust to variable environments, impaired APs and the introduction of new APs. In the offline phase, a voting mechanism and a fingerprint database update method are proposed. We use the mutual cooperation between reference anchor nodes to update the fingerprint database, which can reduce the interference caused by the user measurement data. We analyze the standard deviation of RSSI, mobilize the reference points in the database to vote on APs and then calculate the trust factors of APs based on the voting results. In the online phase, we first make a judgment about the new APs and the broken APs, then extract the secure fingerprints according to the trusted factors of APs and obtain the localization results by using the trusted fingerprints. In the experiment section, we demonstrate the proposed method and find that the proposed strategy can resist abnormal RSSI and can improve the localization accuracy effectively compared with the existing fingerprinting localization algorithms. PMID:29401755

Secure Indoor Localization Based on Extracting Trusted Fingerprint.

PubMed

Luo, Juan; Yin, Xixi; Zheng, Yanliu; Wang, Chun

2018-02-05

[-5]Indoor localization based on WiFi has attracted a lot of research effort because of the widespread application of WiFi. Fingerprinting techniques have received much attention due to their simplicity and compatibility with existing hardware. However, existing fingerprinting localization algorithms may not resist abnormal received signal strength indication (RSSI), such as unexpected environmental changes, impaired access points (APs) or the introduction of new APs. Traditional fingerprinting algorithms do not consider the problem of new APs and impaired APs in the environment when using RSSI. In this paper, we propose a secure fingerprinting localization (SFL) method that is robust to variable environments, impaired APs and the introduction of new APs. In the offline phase, a voting mechanism and a fingerprint database update method are proposed. We use the mutual cooperation between reference anchor nodes to update the fingerprint database, which can reduce the interference caused by the user measurement data. We analyze the standard deviation of RSSI, mobilize the reference points in the database to vote on APs and then calculate the trust factors of APs based on the voting results. In the online phase, we first make a judgment about the new APs and the broken APs, then extract the secure fingerprints according to the trusted factors of APs and obtain the localization results by using the trusted fingerprints. In the experiment section, we demonstrate the proposed method and find that the proposed strategy can resist abnormal RSSI and can improve the localization accuracy effectively compared with the existing fingerprinting localization algorithms.

[Safety threshold of fluorine in endemic fluorosis regions in China].

PubMed

Li, Yonghua; Wang, Wuyi; Hou, Shaofan

2002-07-01

Four endemic fluorosis regions in China and their environmental epidemiological characteristics were summarized in this paper. It shows that the epidemiology of endemic fluorosis is closely related to geochemical parameters of local environment. The food-web and dose-effect relationship of fluoride from environment to human body in different types of endemic fluorosis regions were studied. And the safety threshold of fluoride in different regions was determined. The results have provided a scientific basis for environmental risk assessment of fluoride in China.

Microtubules as key cytoskeletal elements in cellular transport and shape changes: their expected responses to space environments

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Conrad, G. W.; Conrad, A. H.; Spooner, B. S. (Principal Investigator)

1992-01-01

Application of reference standard reagents to alternatively depolymerize or stabilize microtubules in a cell that undergoes very regular cytoskeleton-dependent shape changes provides a model system in which some expected components of the environments of spacecraft and space can be tested on Earth for their effects on the cytoskeleton. The fertilized eggs of Ilyanassa obsoleta undergo polar lobe formation by repeated, dramatic, constriction and relaxation of a microfilamentous band localized in the cortical cytoplasm and activated by microtubules.

Embryos of non-native anoles are robust to urban thermal environments.

PubMed

Tiatragul, Sarin; Kurniawan, Audeline; Kolbe, Jason J; Warner, Daniel A

2017-04-01

The transformation of natural habitats into urban landscapes dramatically alters thermal environments, which in turn, can impact local biota. Ectothermic organisms that are oviparous are particularly sensitive to these altered environments because their embryos cannot behaviorally thermoregulate and the surrounding environment determines the temperature experienced during development. We studied the effects of urban and forested thermal environments on embryo development and hatchling phenotypes in two non-native lizards (Anolis sagrei and A. cristatellus) in metropolitan Miami, Florida. To determine if embryos from urban and forested sites are adapted to their respective thermal environments, we incubated eggs from each site using temperatures that simulate likely nest conditions in both urban and forested environments. For both species, urban thermal environments accelerated embryonic development, but had no impact on egg survival or any of the phenotypic traits that were measured (e.g., body size, running performance, and locomotor behavior). Our results provide no evidence that embryos from urban and forested sites are adapted to their respective thermal environments. Instead, the lack of any major effects suggest that embryos of both species are physiologically robust with respect to novel environments, which could have facilitated their success in establishing in non-native ranges and in human-modified landscapes. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Local Foods, Local Places

EPA Pesticide Factsheets

The Local Foods, Local Places technical assistance program protects human health and the environment, spurs revitalization, increases access to healthy foods, and creates economic opportunities by promoting local foods.

Innovative Environmental Protection Tools

EPA Pesticide Factsheets

Local decision makers and citizens can make use of EPA tools for interacting with and learning about their local environments with tools that include green apps, My Environment, the National Stormwater Calculator, EPEAT, and EnvirFacts.

Traditional Knowledge of Local Wisdom of Ammatoa Kajang Tribe (South Sulawesi) about Environmental Conservation

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Surtikanti, H. K.; Syulasmi, A.; Ramdhani, N.

2017-09-01

Education may improve the knowledge how to build the people attitude especially environmental aware surrounding it. The aim was to study about environmental education of the local wisdom people in conserving their environment. The method was qualitative descriptive using second document, questioner/interview instrument and field observation. This research is done in local wisdom of Ammatoa Kajang village (South Sulawesi). The respondens were eldery people (tetua adat), local governmentand people(15 adult couplesand 15children). The majority of local people was educated at elementary school. Environmental education is studied in school, however informal education is heritated from eldery people. The field study showed that the people keep the environment wisely. It can be proved with the presence of sacred forest, waste recycle, moor (tegalan) maintainance, mutual cooperation, no natural resource exploitation, keep clean, etc. The people submissive customs rules and believe that people will get punishment form environment itself. In conclusion, traditional knowledge from community is implemented in caring the environment

Effect of neck warming and cooling on thermal comfort

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Williams, B. A.; Chambers, A. B.

1972-01-01

The potential use of local neck cooling in an area superficial to the cerebral arteries was evaluated by circulating cold or hot water through two copper disks held firmly against the neck. Subjective responses indicated that neck cooling improves the thermal comfort in a hot environment.

Geography and the Environment: International Perspectives. Teacher's Resource Guide.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Lang, Edward, Ed.; White, Caryn, Ed.

This document is the second curriculum development project of the Connecticut Geographic Alliance. The Alliance focuses on equipping teachers for more effective geographic instruction by providing leadership training so teachers can conduct workshops in local districts, and offering institutes for teachers that focus on important geographic…

Barriers and Benefits to Learning in Natural Environments: Towards a Reconceptualisation of the Possibilities for Change

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Dillon, Justin

2013-06-01

Policies designed to increase public engagement with biodiversity advocate increased education across a range of educational contexts. Evidence of the benefits of learning in natural environments (LINE) continues to be amassed. LINE affords direct benefits as diverse as educational, health and psychological and indirect benefits ranging from social to financial. Research into the value of LINE has failed to address the full range of benefits. Instead, there has been a narrow focus on easily measurable outcomes and a desire to seek answers to simplistic questions such as "does LINE raise standards more than learning in the classroom?" An attempt is made to outline the full range of benefits which are available to all school students. The outcomes include: benefits to individual participants (knowledge and understanding; skills; attitudes and behaviours; health and well-being; self-efficacy and self-worth); benefits to teachers, schools and the wider community, and benefits to the natural environment sector. Several barriers exist to the effective delivery of LINE. These barriers can be grouped into those that challenge the natural environment sector and those that challenge schools. The challenges facing the sector include a lack of a coordinated effective approach to working with schools at a local level. The challenges facing schools include those frequently mentioned such as the risk of accidents, cost and curriculum pressures. However, another set of challenges exists, at local, institutional and personal levels. These challenges include teachers' confidence, self-efficacy and their access to training in using natural environments close to the school and further afield.

Barriers and Benefits to Learning in Natural Environments: Towards a Reconceptualisation of the Possibilities for Change

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Dillon, Justin

2012-12-01

Policies designed to increase public engagement with biodiversity advocate increased education across a range of educational contexts. Evidence of the benefits of learning in natural environments (LINE) continues to be amassed. LINE affords direct benefits as diverse as educational, health and psychological and indirect benefits ranging from social to financial. Research into the value of LINE has failed to address the full range of benefits. Instead, there has been a narrow focus on easily measurable outcomes and a desire to seek answers to simplistic questions such as "does LINE raise standards more than learning in the classroom?" An attempt is made to outline the full range of benefits which are available to all school students. The outcomes include: benefits to individual participants (knowledge and understanding; skills; attitudes and behaviours; health and well-being; self-efficacy and self-worth); benefits to teachers, schools and the wider community, and benefits to the natural environment sector. Several barriers exist to the effective delivery of LINE. These barriers can be grouped into those that challenge the natural environment sector and those that challenge schools. The challenges facing the sector include a lack of a coordinated effective approach to working with schools at a local level. The challenges facing schools include those frequently mentioned such as the risk of accidents, cost and curriculum pressures. However, another set of challenges exists, at local, institutional and personal levels. These challenges include teachers' confidence, self-efficacy and their access to training in using natural environments close to the school and further afield.

Eco-evolutionary spatial dynamics in the Glanville fritillary butterfly.

PubMed

Hanski, Ilkka A

2011-08-30

Demographic population dynamics, gene flow, and local adaptation may influence each other and lead to coupling of ecological and evolutionary dynamics, especially in species inhabiting fragmented heterogeneous environments. Here, I review long-term research on eco-evolutionary spatial dynamics in the Glanville fritillary butterfly inhabiting a large network of approximately 4,000 meadows in Finland. The metapopulation persists in a balance between frequent local extinctions and recolonizations. The genetic spatial structure as defined by neutral markers is much more coarse-grained than the demographic spatial structure determined by the fragmented habitat, yet small-scale spatial structure has important consequences for the dynamics. I discuss three examples of eco-evolutionary spatial dynamics. (i) Extinction-colonization metapopulation dynamics influence allele frequency changes in the phosphoglucose isomerase (Pgi) gene, which leads to strong associations between genetic variation in Pgi and dispersal, recolonization, and local population dynamics. (ii) Inbreeding in local populations increases their risk for extinction, whereas reciprocal effects between inbreeding, population size, and emigration represent likely eco-evolutionary feedbacks. (iii) Genetically determined female oviposition preference for two host plant species exhibits a cline paralleling a gradient in host plant relative abundances, and host plant preference of dispersing females in relation to the host plant composition of habitat patches influences immigration (gene flow) and recolonization (founder events). Eco-evolutionary spatial dynamics in heterogeneous environments may not lead to directional evolutionary changes unless the environment itself changes, but eco-evolutionary dynamics may contribute to the maintenance of genetic variation attributable to fluctuating selection in space and time.

The unbuilt environment: culture moderates the built environment for physical activity.

PubMed

Perrin, Andrew J; Caren, Neal; Skinner, Asheley C; Odulana, Adebowale; Perrin, Eliana M

2016-12-05

While research has demonstrated a link between the built environment and obesity, much variation remains unexplained. Physical features are necessary, but not sufficient, for physical activity: residents must choose to use these features in health-promoting ways. This article reveals a role for local culture in tempering the effect of the physical environment on physical activity behaviors. We developed Systematic Cultural Observation (SCO) to observe place-based, health-related culture in Lenoir County, NC (population ~60,000). Photographs (N = 6450) were taken systematically from 150 most-used road segments and geocoded. Coders assessed physical activity (PA) opportunities (e.g., public or private activity spaces, pedestrian-friendly features) and presence of people in each photograph. 28.7% of photographs contained some PA feature. Most were private or pedestrian; 3.1% contained public PA space. Only 1.5% of photographs with any PA features (2% of those with public PA space, 0.7% of those with private) depicted people despite appropriate weather and daylight conditions. Even when PA opportunities existed in this rural county, they were rarely used. This may be the result of culture ("unbuilt environment") that disfavors physical activity even in the presence of features that allow it. Policies promoting built environments designed for healthy lifestyles should consider local culture (shared styles, skills, habits, and beliefs) to maximize positive outcomes.

Experimental evolution: Assortative mating and sexual selection, independent of local adaptation, lead to reproductive isolation in the nematode Caenorhabditis remanei.

PubMed

Castillo, Dean M; Burger, Melissa K; Lively, Curtis M; Delph, Lynda F

2015-12-01

Using experimental evolution, we investigated the contributions of ecological divergence, sexual selection, and genetic drift to the evolution of reproductive isolation in Caenorhabditis remanei. The nematodes were reared on two different environments for 100 generations. They were assayed for fitness on both environments after 30, 64, and 100 generations, and hybrid fitness were analyzed after 64 and 100 generations. Mating propensity within and between populations was also analyzed. The design allowed us to determine whether local adaptation was synchronous with pre- and postzygotic reproductive isolation. Prezygotic isolation evolved quickly but was unconnected with adaptation to the divergent environments. Instead, prezygotic isolation was driven by mate preferences favoring individuals from the same replicate population. A bottleneck treatment, meant to enhance the opportunity for genetic drift, had no effect on prezygotic isolation. Postzygotic isolation occurred in crosses where at least one population had a large fitness advantage in its "home" environment. Taken together, our results suggest that prezygotic isolation did not depend on drift or adaptation to divergent environments, but instead resulted from differences in sexual interactions within individual replicates. Furthermore, our results suggest that postzygotic isolation can occur between populations even when only one population has greater fitness in its home environment. © 2015 The Author(s). Evolution © 2015 The Society for the Study of Evolution.

Modeling and Simulating Multiple Failure Masking enabled by Local Recovery for Stencil-based Applications at Extreme Scales

DOE PAGES

Gamell, Marc; Teranishi, Keita; Mayo, Jackson; ...

2017-04-24

By obtaining multi-process hard failure resilience at the application level is a key challenge that must be overcome before the promise of exascale can be fully realized. Some previous work has shown that online global recovery can dramatically reduce the overhead of failures when compared to the more traditional approach of terminating the job and restarting it from the last stored checkpoint. If online recovery is performed in a local manner further scalability is enabled, not only due to the intrinsic lower costs of recovering locally, but also due to derived effects when using some application types. In this papermore » we model one such effect, namely multiple failure masking, that manifests when running Stencil parallel computations on an environment when failures are recovered locally. First, the delay propagation shape of one or multiple failures recovered locally is modeled to enable several analyses of the probability of different levels of failure masking under certain Stencil application behaviors. These results indicate that failure masking is an extremely desirable effect at scale which manifestation is more evident and beneficial as the machine size or the failure rate increase.« less

Modeling and Simulating Multiple Failure Masking enabled by Local Recovery for Stencil-based Applications at Extreme Scales

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Gamell, Marc; Teranishi, Keita; Mayo, Jackson

By obtaining multi-process hard failure resilience at the application level is a key challenge that must be overcome before the promise of exascale can be fully realized. Some previous work has shown that online global recovery can dramatically reduce the overhead of failures when compared to the more traditional approach of terminating the job and restarting it from the last stored checkpoint. If online recovery is performed in a local manner further scalability is enabled, not only due to the intrinsic lower costs of recovering locally, but also due to derived effects when using some application types. In this papermore » we model one such effect, namely multiple failure masking, that manifests when running Stencil parallel computations on an environment when failures are recovered locally. First, the delay propagation shape of one or multiple failures recovered locally is modeled to enable several analyses of the probability of different levels of failure masking under certain Stencil application behaviors. These results indicate that failure masking is an extremely desirable effect at scale which manifestation is more evident and beneficial as the machine size or the failure rate increase.« less

Thermal motion in proteins: Large effects on the time-averaged interaction energies

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Goethe, Martin, E-mail: martingoethe@ub.edu; Rubi, J. Miguel; Fita, Ignacio

As a consequence of thermal motion, inter-atomic distances in proteins fluctuate strongly around their average values, and hence, also interaction energies (i.e. the pair-potentials evaluated at the fluctuating distances) are not constant in time but exhibit pronounced fluctuations. These fluctuations cause that time-averaged interaction energies do generally not coincide with the energy values obtained by evaluating the pair-potentials at the average distances. More precisely, time-averaged interaction energies behave typically smoother in terms of the average distance than the corresponding pair-potentials. This averaging effect is referred to as the thermal smoothing effect. Here, we estimate the strength of the thermal smoothingmore » effect on the Lennard-Jones pair-potential for globular proteins at ambient conditions using x-ray diffraction and simulation data of a representative set of proteins. For specific atom species, we find a significant smoothing effect where the time-averaged interaction energy of a single atom pair can differ by various tens of cal/mol from the Lennard-Jones potential at the average distance. Importantly, we observe a dependency of the effect on the local environment of the involved atoms. The effect is typically weaker for bulky backbone atoms in beta sheets than for side-chain atoms belonging to other secondary structure on the surface of the protein. The results of this work have important practical implications for protein software relying on free energy expressions. We show that the accuracy of free energy expressions can largely be increased by introducing environment specific Lennard-Jones parameters accounting for the fact that the typical thermal motion of protein atoms depends strongly on their local environment.« less

Thermal motion in proteins: Large effects on the time-averaged interaction energies

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Goethe, Martin; Fita, Ignacio; Rubi, J. Miguel

2016-03-01

As a consequence of thermal motion, inter-atomic distances in proteins fluctuate strongly around their average values, and hence, also interaction energies (i.e. the pair-potentials evaluated at the fluctuating distances) are not constant in time but exhibit pronounced fluctuations. These fluctuations cause that time-averaged interaction energies do generally not coincide with the energy values obtained by evaluating the pair-potentials at the average distances. More precisely, time-averaged interaction energies behave typically smoother in terms of the average distance than the corresponding pair-potentials. This averaging effect is referred to as the thermal smoothing effect. Here, we estimate the strength of the thermal smoothing effect on the Lennard-Jones pair-potential for globular proteins at ambient conditions using x-ray diffraction and simulation data of a representative set of proteins. For specific atom species, we find a significant smoothing effect where the time-averaged interaction energy of a single atom pair can differ by various tens of cal/mol from the Lennard-Jones potential at the average distance. Importantly, we observe a dependency of the effect on the local environment of the involved atoms. The effect is typically weaker for bulky backbone atoms in beta sheets than for side-chain atoms belonging to other secondary structure on the surface of the protein. The results of this work have important practical implications for protein software relying on free energy expressions. We show that the accuracy of free energy expressions can largely be increased by introducing environment specific Lennard-Jones parameters accounting for the fact that the typical thermal motion of protein atoms depends strongly on their local environment.

State and Local Responsibility for Promoting Learning Environments of Equity and Equality: A Conceptual Analysis.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Willie, Charles V.

This paper presents a conceptual analysis of the different responsibilities that State and local levels should assume in promoting the purposes of education. It is their responsibility to provide learning environments that promote equity and equality. The problem for State and local authorities with reference to desegregated education is that of…

40 CFR 3.1000 - How does a state, tribe, or local government revise or modify its authorized program to allow...

Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

2010-07-01

... 40 Protection of Environment 1 2010-07-01 2010-07-01 false How does a state, tribe, or local... Protection of Environment ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY GENERAL CROSS-MEDIA ELECTRONIC REPORTING Electronic... state, tribe, or local government that does not have an existing electronic document receiving system...

Deformable mirror-based optical design of dynamic local athermal longwave infrared optical systems

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Shen, Benlan; Chang, Jun; Niu, Yajun; Chen, Weilin; Ji, Zhongye

2018-07-01

This paper presents a dynamic local athermalisation method for longwave infrared (LWIR) optical systems; the proposed design uses a deformable mirror and is based on active optics theory. A local athermal LWIR optical system is designed as an example. The deformable mirror is tilted by 45° near the exit pupil of the system. The thermal aberrations are corrected by the deformable mirror for the local athermal field of view (FOV) that ranges from -40 °C to 80 °C. The types of thermal aberrations are analysed. Simulated results show that the local athermal LWIR optical system can effectively detect targets in the region of interest within a large FOV and correct thermal aberrations in actual working environments in real time. The system has numerous potential applications in infrared detection and tracking, surveillance and remote sensing.

Ultra wide-band localization and SLAM: a comparative study for mobile robot navigation.

PubMed

Segura, Marcelo J; Auat Cheein, Fernando A; Toibero, Juan M; Mut, Vicente; Carelli, Ricardo

2011-01-01

In this work, a comparative study between an Ultra Wide-Band (UWB) localization system and a Simultaneous Localization and Mapping (SLAM) algorithm is presented. Due to its high bandwidth and short pulses length, UWB potentially allows great accuracy in range measurements based on Time of Arrival (TOA) estimation. SLAM algorithms recursively estimates the map of an environment and the pose (position and orientation) of a mobile robot within that environment. The comparative study presented here involves the performance analysis of implementing in parallel an UWB localization based system and a SLAM algorithm on a mobile robot navigating within an environment. Real time results as well as error analysis are also shown in this work.

Environmental Practice, the New Conservation.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Griffith, Charles J.; And Others

Environmental concern and involvement in solving environmental problems are the themes emphasized in this handbook. It offers suggestions for citizen groups who wish to contribute more effectively to a better environment. They are encouraged to start at the local level, where pollution and environmental degradation begin. If they want others to…

Global Positioning System Multipath Reduction with Correlator Beamforming

DTIC Science & Technology

2014-03-14

Collins (Member) Date //signed// 14 March 2014 Maj Marshall E. Haker (Member) Date AFIT-ENG-14-M-10 Abstract This research effort investigates the...Ohio Univerisity, 2007. 6. Haker , Marshall E. Modeling the Effects of the Local Environment on a Received GNSS Signal. Ph.D. thesis, Air Force Institute

Childhood Lead Poisoning: Developing Prevention Programs and Mobilizing Resources.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Rochow, K. W. James

The current approach to dealing with childhood lead poisoning has led to repeated diagnoses of poisoning because such children are treated and then returned to their hazardous environments. This handbook describes in detail the program requirements for effective childhood lead poisoning prevention programs at the local level based on the…

SEMINAR PUBLICATION - NATIONAL CONFERENCE ON URBAN RUNOFF MANAGEMENT: ENHANCING URBAN WATERSHED MANAGEMENT AT THE LOCAL, COUNTY, AND STATE LEVELS

EPA Science Inventory

As stormwater and snowmelt flow across the urban landscape, countless contaminants are carried into our rivers, lakes, and estuaries. The effects of these contaminant discharges on the environment can be severe. Water quality and sediment characteristics can be degraded, threaten...

Giving Life to Data: University-Community Partnerships in Addressing HIV and AIDS through Building Digital Archives

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

de Lange, Naydene; Mnisi, Thoko; Mitchell, Claudia; Park, Eun G.

2010-01-01

The partnerships, especially university-community partnerships, that sustain globally networked learning environments often face challenges in mobilizing research to empower local communities to effect change. This article examines these challenges by describing a university-community partnership involving researchers and graduate students in…

Unmanned Ground Vehicle Navigation and Coverage Hole Patching in Wireless Sensor Networks

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Zhang, Guyu

2013-01-01

This dissertation presents a study of an Unmanned Ground Vehicle (UGV) navigation and coverage hole patching in coordinate-free and localization-free Wireless Sensor Networks (WSNs). Navigation and coverage maintenance are related problems since coverage hole patching requires effective navigation in the sensor network environment. A…

Learning the Virtual Life: Public Pedagogy in a Digital World

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Trifonas, Peter Pericles, Ed.

2011-01-01

Digital technologies have transformed cultural perceptions of learning and what it means to be literate, expanding the importance of experience alongside interpretation and reflection. "Living the Virtual Life" offers ways to consider the local and global effects of digital media on educational environments, as well as the cultural transformations…

Observation of quantum-memory-assisted entropic uncertainty relation under open systems, and its steering

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Chen, Peng-Fei; Sun, Wen-Yang; Ming, Fei; Huang, Ai-Jun; Wang, Dong; Ye, Liu

2018-01-01

Quantum objects are susceptible to noise from their surrounding environments, interaction with which inevitably gives rise to quantum decoherence or dissipation effects. In this work, we examine how different types of local noise under an open system affect entropic uncertainty relations for two incompatible measurements. Explicitly, we observe the dynamics of the entropic uncertainty in the presence of quantum memory under two canonical categories of noisy environments: unital (phase flip) and nonunital (amplitude damping). Our study shows that the measurement uncertainty exhibits a non-monotonic dynamical behavior—that is, the amount of the uncertainty will first inflate, and subsequently decrease, with the growth of decoherence strengths in the two channels. In contrast, the uncertainty decreases monotonically with the growth of the purity of the initial state shared in prior. In order to reduce the measurement uncertainty in noisy environments, we put forward a remarkably effective strategy to steer the magnitude of uncertainty by means of a local non-unitary operation (i.e. weak measurement) on the qubit of interest. It turns out that this non-unitary operation can greatly reduce the entropic uncertainty, upon tuning the operation strength. Our investigations might thereby offer an insight into the dynamics and steering of entropic uncertainty in open systems.

Strong contributions of local background climate to the cooling effect of urban green vegetation.

PubMed

Yu, Zhaowu; Xu, Shaobin; Zhang, Yuhan; Jørgensen, Gertrud; Vejre, Henrik

2018-05-01

Utilization of urban green vegetation (UGV) has been recognized as a promising option to mitigate urban heat island (UHI) effect. While we still lack understanding of the contributions of local background climate to the cooling effect of UGV. Here we proposed and employed a cooling effect framework and selected eight typical cities located in Temperate Monsoon Climate (TMC) and Mediterranean Climate (MC) demonstrate that local climate condition largely affects the cooling effect of UGV. Specifically, we found increasing (artificial) rainfall and irrigation contribute to improving the cooling intensity of grassland in both climates, particularly in the hot-dry environment. The cities with high relative humidity would restrict the cooling effect of UGV. Increasing wind speed would significantly enhance the tree-covered while weakening the grass-covered UGVs' cooling effect in MC cities. We also identified that, in order to achieve the most effective cooling with the smallest sized tree-covered UGV, the area of trees in both climate zones' cities should generally be planned around 0.5 ha. The method and results enhance understanding of the cooling effect of UGVs on larger (climate) scales and provide important insights for UGV planning and management.

At which geographic scale does ethnic diversity affect intra-neighborhood social capital?

PubMed

Sluiter, Roderick; Tolsma, Jochem; Scheepers, Peer

2015-11-01

The claim that ethnic diversity within the living environment would hamper bonding and bridging social capital has been studied extensively, producing highly inconsistent findings. We studied whether ethnic diversity effects depend on the geographic scale at which ethnic diversity is measured. We examined ethnic diversity effects on intra- and inter-ethnic contacts in the neighborhood, respectively on opposition to ethnic in- and out-group neighbors. Hypotheses were derived from Blau's meeting opportunities thesis and contact theory, ethnic competition theory, and constrict theory. Using information about 2545 Dutch respondents with their locality defined as egohoods and administrative units, we found that ethnic diversity effects vary with the geographic scale. Ethnic diversity of smaller localities is positively associated with bridging social capital. At larger scales, the findings are mixed: ethnic diversity is positively related to inter-ethnic contacts and opposition to out-group neighbors. Ethnic diversity of smaller localities is negatively related to bonding social capital. In contrast to often-made claims that diversity within the local context would matter most, estimates of diversity effects are not always stronger when diversity measures are aggregated to smaller geographic areas. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

[The working environment control of anhydride hardeners from an epoxy resin system].

PubMed

Matsumoto, Naomi; Yokota, Kozo; Johyama, Yasushi; Takakura, Toshiyuki

2003-07-01

Epoxy resins are widely used in adhesives, coatings, materials for molds and composites, and encapsulation. Acid anhydrides such as methyltetrahydrophthalic anhydride are being used as curing agents for epoxy resins. The anhydride hardeners are well-known industrial inhalant allergens, inducing predominantly type I allergies. In the electronic components industry, these substances have been consumed in large quantities. Therefore, safe use in the industry demands control of the levels of exposure causing allergic diseases in the workshop. We conducted a prospective survey of two electronics plants to clarify how to control the atmospheric level of the anhydrides in the work environment. Measurements of the levels of the anhydrides in air started according to the Working Environment Measurement Standards (Ministry of Labour Notification No. 46, 1976) in April 2000, along with improvements in the work environment. A value of 40 micrograms/m3 was adopted as the administrative control level to judge the propriety of the working environment control. A total of 2 unit work areas in both plants belonged to Control Class III. The exposure originated from manual loading, casting, uncured hot resins, and leaks in an impregnating-machine or curing ovens. In order to achieve the working environment control, complete enclosure of the source, installation of local exhaust ventilation, and improvement or maintenance of the local exhaust ventilation system were performed on the basis of the results of the working environment measurement, with the result that the work environment was improved (Control Class I). It became evident that these measures were effective just like other noxious substances.

Are local laws the key to ending childhood lead poisoning?

PubMed

Korfmacher, Katrina S; Hanley, Michael L

2013-08-01

Although lead paint was banned by federal law in 1978, it continues to poison children living in homes built before that time. The lifelong effects of childhood exposure to even small amounts of lead are well established by medical research. Federal and state laws have reduced rates of lead poisoning significantly in the past three decades. However, pockets of high rates of lead poisoning remain, primarily in low-income urban neighborhoods with older housing stock. Recently, several municipalities have passed local lead laws to reduce lead hazards in high-risk areas. There has been no systematic attempt to compare the design and effectiveness of these local policies. To address this gap, we conducted comparative case studies of eight innovative lead laws promulgated since 2000. The laws used a wide variety of legal structures and tools, although certain elements were common. The impact of the policies was intertwined with local housing, economic, and legal environments. While data do not yet exist to systematically evaluate the impact of these laws on lead poisoning rates, our analysis suggests that local laws hold great promise for reducing lead hazards in children's homes.

40 CFR 1611.9 - Testimony in Federal, State, or local criminal investigations and other proceedings.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

2010-07-01

... 40 Protection of Environment 32 2010-07-01 2010-07-01 false Testimony in Federal, State, or local criminal investigations and other proceedings. 1611.9 Section 1611.9 Protection of Environment CHEMICAL SAFETY AND HAZARD INVESTIGATION BOARD TESTIMONY BY EMPLOYEES IN LEGAL PROCEEDINGS § 1611.9 Testimony in Federal, State, or local criminal...

A Support Vector Learning-Based Particle Filter Scheme for Target Localization in Communication-Constrained Underwater Acoustic Sensor Networks

PubMed Central

Zhang, Chenglin; Yan, Lei; Han, Song; Guan, Xinping

2017-01-01

Target localization, which aims to estimate the location of an unknown target, is one of the key issues in applications of underwater acoustic sensor networks (UASNs). However, the constrained property of an underwater environment, such as restricted communication capacity of sensor nodes and sensing noises, makes target localization a challenging problem. This paper relies on fractional sensor nodes to formulate a support vector learning-based particle filter algorithm for the localization problem in communication-constrained underwater acoustic sensor networks. A node-selection strategy is exploited to pick fractional sensor nodes with short-distance pattern to participate in the sensing process at each time frame. Subsequently, we propose a least-square support vector regression (LSSVR)-based observation function, through which an iterative regression strategy is used to deal with the distorted data caused by sensing noises, to improve the observation accuracy. At the same time, we integrate the observation to formulate the likelihood function, which effectively update the weights of particles. Thus, the particle effectiveness is enhanced to avoid “particle degeneracy” problem and improve localization accuracy. In order to validate the performance of the proposed localization algorithm, two different noise scenarios are investigated. The simulation results show that the proposed localization algorithm can efficiently improve the localization accuracy. In addition, the node-selection strategy can effectively select the subset of sensor nodes to improve the communication efficiency of the sensor network. PMID:29267252

A Support Vector Learning-Based Particle Filter Scheme for Target Localization in Communication-Constrained Underwater Acoustic Sensor Networks.

PubMed

Li, Xinbin; Zhang, Chenglin; Yan, Lei; Han, Song; Guan, Xinping

2017-12-21

Target localization, which aims to estimate the location of an unknown target, is one of the key issues in applications of underwater acoustic sensor networks (UASNs). However, the constrained property of an underwater environment, such as restricted communication capacity of sensor nodes and sensing noises, makes target localization a challenging problem. This paper relies on fractional sensor nodes to formulate a support vector learning-based particle filter algorithm for the localization problem in communication-constrained underwater acoustic sensor networks. A node-selection strategy is exploited to pick fractional sensor nodes with short-distance pattern to participate in the sensing process at each time frame. Subsequently, we propose a least-square support vector regression (LSSVR)-based observation function, through which an iterative regression strategy is used to deal with the distorted data caused by sensing noises, to improve the observation accuracy. At the same time, we integrate the observation to formulate the likelihood function, which effectively update the weights of particles. Thus, the particle effectiveness is enhanced to avoid "particle degeneracy" problem and improve localization accuracy. In order to validate the performance of the proposed localization algorithm, two different noise scenarios are investigated. The simulation results show that the proposed localization algorithm can efficiently improve the localization accuracy. In addition, the node-selection strategy can effectively select the subset of sensor nodes to improve the communication efficiency of the sensor network.

Obesity and diabetes, the built environment, and the 'local' food economy in the United States, 2007.

PubMed

Salois, Matthew J

2012-01-01

Obesity and diabetes are increasingly attributed to environmental factors, however, little attention has been paid to the influence of the 'local' food economy. This paper examines the association of measures relating to the built environment and 'local' agriculture with U.S. county-level prevalence of obesity and diabetes. Key indicators of the 'local' food economy include the density of farmers' markets and the presence of farms with direct sales. This paper employs a robust regression estimator to account for non-normality of the data and to accommodate outliers. Overall, the built environment is associated with the prevalence of obesity and diabetes and a strong local' food economy may play an important role in prevention. Results imply considerable scope for community-level interventions. Copyright © 2011 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Drivers of community assembly in tropical forest restoration sites: role of local environment, landscape, and space.

PubMed

Audino, Lívia D; Murphy, Stephen J; Zambaldi, Ludimila; Louzada, Julio; Comita, Liza S

2017-09-01

There is increasing recognition that community assembly theory can offer valuable insights for ecological restoration. We studied community assembly processes following tropical forest restoration efforts, using dung beetles (Scarabaeinae) as a focal taxon to investigate taxonomic and functional patterns of biodiversity recovery. We evaluated the relative importance of the local environment (i.e., canopy cover, understory cover, tree basal area, and soil texture), landscape context (i.e., habitat patch proximity and availability and percentage of surrounding area classified as natural forest or Eucalyptus spp. plantation), and space (i.e., spatial proximity of the study areas to estimate dispersal limitation or unmeasured spatially structured processes) on dung beetle species and functional trait composition across a gradient of 15 restoration sites in Brazilian Atlantic Forest. We also assessed which factors were the primary determinants in the establishment of individual dung beetle functional groups, classified according to size, food relocation habit, diet, and period of flight activity. Both species and functional trait composition were most strongly influenced by the local environment, indicating that assembly was predominantly driven by niche-based processes. Most of the variation explained by space was co-explained by local environment and landscape context, ruling out a strong influence of dispersal limitation and random colonization on assembly following restoration. In addition, nearly all of the variance explained by landscape context was co-explained by local environment, suggesting that arrival and establishment at a site depends on both local and landscape-scale environmental factors. Despite strong evidence for niche-based assembly, a large amount of variation remained unexplained in all models, suggesting that stochastic processes and/or unmeasured environmental variables also play an important role. The relative importance of local environment, landscape context, and space changed considerably when analyzing the assembly mechanisms of each functional group separately. Therefore, to recover distinct functional traits in restoration sites, it may be necessary to manipulate different components of the local environment and surrounding landscape. Overall, this study shows that assembly rules can help to better understand recovery processes, enabling improvement of future restoration efforts. © 2017 by the Ecological Society of America.

WHERE DO WET, DRY, AND MIXED GALAXY MERGERS OCCUR? A STUDY OF THE ENVIRONMENTS OF CLOSE GALAXY PAIRS IN THE DEEP2 GALAXY REDSHIFT SURVEY

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Lin, Lihwai; Cooper, Michael C.; Willmer, Christopher N. A.

2010-08-01

We study the environments of wet, dry, and mixed galaxy mergers at 0.75 < z < 1.2 using close pairs in the DEEP2 Galaxy Redshift Survey. We find that the typical environment of dry and mixed merger candidates is denser than that of wet mergers, mostly due to the color-density relation. While the galaxy companion rate (N{sub c}) is observed to increase with overdensity, using N-body simulations, we find that the fraction of pairs that will eventually merge decreases with the local density, predominantly because interlopers are more common in dense environments. After taking into account the merger probability ofmore » pairs as a function of local density, we find only marginal environment dependence of the galaxy merger rate for wet mergers. On the other hand, the dry and mixed merger rates increase rapidly with local density due to the increased population of red galaxies in dense environments, implying that the dry and mixed mergers are most effective in overdense regions. We also find that the environment distribution of K+A galaxies is similar to that of wet mergers alone and of wet+mixed mergers, suggesting a possible connection between K+A galaxies and wet and/or wet+mixed mergers. Based on our results, we therefore expect that the properties, including structures and masses, of red-sequence galaxies should be different between those in underdense regions and those in overdense regions since the dry mergers are significantly more important in dense environments. We conclude that, as early as z {approx} 1, high-density regions are the preferred environment in which dry mergers occur, and that present-day red-sequence galaxies in overdense environments have, on average, undergone 1.2 {+-} 0.3 dry mergers since this time, accounting for (38 {+-} 10)% of their mass accretion in the last 8 billion years. The main uncertainty in this finding is the conversion from the pair fraction to the galaxy merger rate, which is possibly as large as a factor of 2. Our findings suggest that dry mergers are crucial in the mass assembly of massive red galaxies in dense environments, such as brightest cluster galaxies in galaxy groups and clusters.« less

Complementary effect of natural and sexual selection against immigrants maintains differentiation between locally adapted fish

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Plath, Martin; Riesch, Rüdiger; Oranth, Alexandra; Dzienko, Justina; Karau, Nora; Schießl, Angela; Stadler, Stefan; Wigh, Adriana; Zimmer, Claudia; Arias-Rodriguez, Lenin; Schlupp, Ingo; Tobler, Michael

2010-08-01

Adaptation to ecologically heterogeneous environments can drive speciation. But what mechanisms maintain reproductive isolation among locally adapted populations? Using poeciliid fishes in a system with naturally occurring toxic hydrogen sulfide, we show that (a) fish from non-sulfidic sites ( Poecilia mexicana) show high mortality (95 %) after 24 h when exposed to the toxicant, while locally adapted fish from sulfidic sites ( Poecilia sulphuraria) experience low mortality (13 %) when transferred to non-sulfidic water. (b) Mate choice tests revealed that P. mexicana females exhibit a preference for conspecific males in non-sulfidic water, but not in sulfidic water, whereas P. sulphuraria females never showed a preference. Increased costs of mate choice in sulfidic, hypoxic water, and the lack of selection for reinforcement due to the low survival of P. mexicana may explain the absence of a preference in P. sulphuraria females. Taken together, our study may be the first to demonstrate independent—but complementary—effects of natural and sexual selection against immigrants maintaining differentiation between locally adapted fish populations.

Ecological and evolutionary drivers of the elevational gradient of diversity.

PubMed

Laiolo, Paola; Pato, Joaquina; Obeso, José Ramón

2018-05-02

Ecological, evolutionary, spatial and neutral theories make distinct predictions and provide distinct explanations for the mechanisms that control the relationship between diversity and the environment. Here, we test predictions of the elevational diversity gradient focusing on Iberian bumblebees, grasshoppers and birds. Processes mediated by local abundance and regional diversity concur in explaining local diversity patterns along elevation. Effects expressed through variation in abundance were similar among taxa and point to the overriding role of a physical factor, temperature. This determines how energy is distributed among individuals and ultimately how the resulting pattern of abundance affects species incidence. Effects expressed through variation in regional species pools depended instead on taxon-specific evolutionary history, and lead to diverging responses under similar environmental pressures. Local filters and regional variation also explain functional diversity gradients, in line with results from species richness that indicate an (local) ecological and (regional) historical unfolding of diversity-elevation relationships. © 2018 John Wiley & Sons Ltd/CNRS.

Complementary effect of natural and sexual selection against immigrants maintains differentiation between locally adapted fish.

PubMed

Plath, Martin; Riesch, Rüdiger; Oranth, Alexandra; Dzienko, Justina; Karau, Nora; Schiessl, Angela; Stadler, Stefan; Wigh, Adriana; Zimmer, Claudia; Arias-Rodriguez, Lenin; Schlupp, Ingo; Tobler, Michael

2010-08-01

Adaptation to ecologically heterogeneous environments can drive speciation. But what mechanisms maintain reproductive isolation among locally adapted populations? Using poeciliid fishes in a system with naturally occurring toxic hydrogen sulfide, we show that (a) fish from non-sulfidic sites (Poecilia mexicana) show high mortality (95 %) after 24 h when exposed to the toxicant, while locally adapted fish from sulfidic sites (Poecilia sulphuraria) experience low mortality (13 %) when transferred to non-sulfidic water. (b) Mate choice tests revealed that P. mexicana females exhibit a preference for conspecific males in non-sulfidic water, but not in sulfidic water, whereas P. sulphuraria females never showed a preference. Increased costs of mate choice in sulfidic, hypoxic water, and the lack of selection for reinforcement due to the low survival of P. mexicana may explain the absence of a preference in P. sulphuraria females. Taken together, our study may be the first to demonstrate independent-but complementary-effects of natural and sexual selection against immigrants maintaining differentiation between locally adapted fish populations.

Physical Oceanographic Real-Time System (PORTS) (Invited)

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Wright, D.

2013-12-01

The 1999 Assessment of U.S. Marine Transportation System report to Congress noted that the greatest safety concern voiced by the maritime community was the availability of timely, accurate, and reliable navigation information, including real time environment data. Real time oceanographic and meteorological data, along with other navigation tools, gives the mariner a good situational understanding of their often challenging operational environment, to make the best safety of life and property decisions. The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's (NOAA) Physical Oceanographic Real Time System (PORTS) was developed in response to accidents like the Sunshine Skyway Bridge collision in Tampa, FL in 1980, where the lack of accurate, reliable and timely environmental conditions directly contributed to an accident that resulted in a high loss of life and property. Since that time, PORTS has expanded to over 20 locations around the country, and its capabilities have been continually expanded and improved as well. PORTS primary mission is to prevent maritime accidents. Preventing an accident from occurring is the most cost effective approach and the best way to avoid damage to the environment. When accidents do occur, PORTS data is used to improve the effectiveness of response efforts by providing input for trajectory models and real time conditions for response efforts. However, benefits derived from PORTS go well beyond navigation safety. Another large benefit to the local maritime community is potential efficiencies in optimizing use of the existing water column. PORTS provides information that can be used to make economic decisions to add or offload cargo to a vessel and/or to maintain or adjust transit schedules based upon availability of water depth, strength/timing of tidal currents, and other conditions. PORTS data also helps improve and validate local National Weather Service marine weather forecasts. There are many benefits beyond the local maritime community. PORTS data often proves critical when hurricanes or other severe weather events impact an area with the data helping inform the local emergency response infrastructure. PORTS data can also help support local habitat restoration efforts through improved tidal datums, frequency of inundation projections, and sea level trends.

Genomic signatures of fine-scale local selection in Atlantic salmon suggest involvement of sexual maturation, energy homeostasis and immune defence-related genes.

PubMed

Pritchard, Victoria L; Mäkinen, Hannu; Vähä, Juha-Pekka; Erkinaro, Jaakko; Orell, Panu; Primmer, Craig R

2018-06-01

Elucidating the genetic basis of adaptation to the local environment can improve our understanding of how the diversity of life has evolved. In this study, we used a dense SNP array to identify candidate loci potentially underlying fine-scale local adaptation within a large Atlantic salmon (Salmo salar) population. By combining outlier, gene-environment association and haplotype homozygosity analyses, we identified multiple regions of the genome with strong evidence for diversifying selection. Several of these candidate regions had previously been identified in other studies, demonstrating that the same loci could be adaptively important in Atlantic salmon at subdrainage, regional and continental scales. Notably, we identified signals consistent with local selection around genes associated with variation in sexual maturation, energy homeostasis and immune defence. These included the large-effect age-at-maturity gene vgll3, the known obesity gene mc4r, and major histocompatibility complex II. Most strikingly, we confirmed a genomic region on Ssa09 that was extremely differentiated among subpopulations and that is also a candidate for local selection over the global range of Atlantic salmon. This region colocalized with a haplotype strongly associated with spawning ecotype in sockeye salmon (Oncorhynchus nerka), with circumstantial evidence that the same gene (six6) may be the selective target in both cases. The phenotypic effect of this region in Atlantic salmon remains cryptic, although allelic variation is related to upstream catchment area and covaries with timing of the return spawning migration. Our results further inform management of Atlantic salmon and open multiple avenues for future research. © 2018 John Wiley & Sons Ltd.

Titanium wire implants with nanotube arrays: A study model for localized cancer treatment.

PubMed

Kaur, Gagandeep; Willsmore, Tamsyn; Gulati, Karan; Zinonos, Irene; Wang, Ye; Kurian, Mima; Hay, Shelley; Losic, Dusan; Evdokiou, Andreas

2016-09-01

Adverse complications associated with systemic administration of anti-cancer drugs are a major problem in cancer therapy in current clinical practice. To increase effectiveness and reduce side effects, localized drug delivery to tumour sites requiring therapy is essential. Direct delivery of potent anti-cancer drugs locally to the cancer site based on nanotechnology has been recognised as a promising alternative approach. Previously, we reported the design and fabrication of nano-engineered 3D titanium wire based implants with titania (TiO2) nanotube arrays (Ti-TNTs) for applications such as bone integration by using in-vitro culture systems. The aim of present study is to demonstrate the feasibility of using such Ti-TNTs loaded with anti-cancer agent for localized cancer therapy using pre-clinical cancer models and to test local drug delivery efficiency and anti-tumour efficacy within the tumour environment. TNF-related apoptosis-inducing ligand (TRAIL) which has proven anti-cancer properties was selected as the model drug for therapeutic delivery by Ti-TNTs. Our in-vitro 2D and 3D cell culture studies demonstrated a significant decrease in breast cancer cell viability upon incubation with TRAIL loaded Ti-TNT implants (TRAIL-TNTs). Subcutaneous tumour xenografts were established to test TRAIL-TNTs implant performance in the tumour environment by monitoring the changes in tumour burden over a selected time course. TRAIL-TNTs showed a significant regression in tumour burden within the first three days of implant insertion at the tumour site. Based on current experimental findings these Ti-TNTs wire implants have shown promising capacity to load and deliver anti-cancer agents maintaining their efficacy for cancer treatment. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Assessing measurement uncertainty in meteorology in urban environments

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Curci, S.; Lavecchia, C.; Frustaci, G.; Paolini, R.; Pilati, S.; Paganelli, C.

2017-10-01

Measurement uncertainty in meteorology has been addressed in a number of recent projects. In urban environments, uncertainty is also affected by local effects which are more difficult to deal with than for synoptic stations. In Italy, beginning in 2010, an urban meteorological network (Climate Network®) was designed, set up and managed at national level according to high metrological standards and homogeneity criteria to support energy applications. The availability of such a high-quality operative automatic weather station network represents an opportunity to investigate the effects of station siting and sensor exposure and to estimate the related measurement uncertainty. An extended metadata set was established for the stations in Milan, including siting and exposure details. Statistical analysis on an almost 3-year-long operational period assessed network homogeneity, quality and reliability. Deviations from reference mean values were then evaluated in selected low-gradient local weather situations in order to investigate siting and exposure effects. In this paper the methodology is depicted and preliminary results of its application to air temperature discussed; this allowed the setting of an upper limit of 1 °C for the added measurement uncertainty at the top of the urban canopy layer.

Metapopulation extinction risk: dispersal's duplicity.

PubMed

Higgins, Kevin

2009-09-01

Metapopulation extinction risk is the probability that all local populations are simultaneously extinct during a fixed time frame. Dispersal may reduce a metapopulation's extinction risk by raising its average per-capita growth rate. By contrast, dispersal may raise a metapopulation's extinction risk by reducing its average population density. Which effect prevails is controlled by habitat fragmentation. Dispersal in mildly fragmented habitat reduces a metapopulation's extinction risk by raising its average per-capita growth rate without causing any appreciable drop in its average population density. By contrast, dispersal in severely fragmented habitat raises a metapopulation's extinction risk because the rise in its average per-capita growth rate is more than offset by the decline in its average population density. The metapopulation model used here shows several other interesting phenomena. Dispersal in sufficiently fragmented habitat reduces a metapopulation's extinction risk to that of a constant environment. Dispersal between habitat fragments reduces a metapopulation's extinction risk insofar as local environments are asynchronous. Grouped dispersal raises the effective habitat fragmentation level. Dispersal search barriers raise metapopulation extinction risk. Nonuniform dispersal may reduce the effective fraction of suitable habitat fragments below the extinction threshold. Nonuniform dispersal may make demographic stochasticity a more potent metapopulation extinction force than environmental stochasticity.

Environmental interpretation using insoluble residues within reef coral skeletons: problems, pitfalls, and preliminary results

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Budd, Ann F.; Mann, Keith O.; Guzmán, Hector M.

1993-03-01

Insoluble residue concentrations have been measured within colonies of four massive reef corals from seven localities along the Caribbean coast of Panama to determine if detrital sediments, incorporated within the skeletal lattice during growth, record changes in sedimentation over the past twenty years. Amounts of resuspended sediment have increased to varying degrees at the seven localities over the past decades in response to increased deforestation in nearby terrestrial habitats. Preliminary results of correlation and regression analyses reveal few consistent temporal trends in the insoluble residue concentration. Analyses of variance suggest that amounts of insoluble residues, however, differ among environments within species, but that no consistent pattern of variation exists among species. D. strigosa and P. astreoides possess high concentrations at protected localities, S. siderea at localities with high amounts of resuspended sediment, and M. annularis at the least turbid localities. Little correlation exists between insoluble residue concentration and growth band width within species at each locality. Only in two more efficient suspension feeders ( S. siderea and D. strigosa) do weak negative correlations with growth band width exist overall. These results indicate that insoluble residue concentrations cannot be used unequivocally in environmental interpretation, until more is known about tissue damage, polyp behavior, and their effects on the incorporation of insolubles in the skeleton during growth in different coral species. Insoluble residue data are highly variable; therefore, large sample sizes and strong contrasts between environments are required to reveal significant trends.

Ultra Wide-Band Localization and SLAM: A Comparative Study for Mobile Robot Navigation

PubMed Central

Segura, Marcelo J.; Auat Cheein, Fernando A.; Toibero, Juan M.; Mut, Vicente; Carelli, Ricardo

2011-01-01

In this work, a comparative study between an Ultra Wide-Band (UWB) localization system and a Simultaneous Localization and Mapping (SLAM) algorithm is presented. Due to its high bandwidth and short pulses length, UWB potentially allows great accuracy in range measurements based on Time of Arrival (TOA) estimation. SLAM algorithms recursively estimates the map of an environment and the pose (position and orientation) of a mobile robot within that environment. The comparative study presented here involves the performance analysis of implementing in parallel an UWB localization based system and a SLAM algorithm on a mobile robot navigating within an environment. Real time results as well as error analysis are also shown in this work. PMID:22319397

Effects of different dispersal patterns on the presence-absence of multiple species

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Mohd, Mohd Hafiz; Murray, Rua; Plank, Michael J.; Godsoe, William

2018-03-01

Predicting which species will be present (or absent) across a geographical region remains one of the key problems in ecology. Numerous studies have suggested several ecological factors that can determine species presence-absence: environmental factors (i.e. abiotic environments), interactions among species (i.e. biotic interactions) and dispersal process. While various ecological factors have been considered, less attention has been given to the problem of understanding how different dispersal patterns, in interaction with other factors, shape community assembly in the presence of priority effects (i.e. where relative initial abundances determine the long-term presence-absence of each species). By employing both local and non-local dispersal models, we investigate the consequences of different dispersal patterns on the occurrence of priority effects and coexistence in multi-species communities. In the case of non-local, but short-range dispersal, we observe agreement with the predictions of local models for weak and medium dispersal strength, but disagreement for relatively strong dispersal levels. Our analysis shows the existence of a threshold value in dispersal strength (i.e. saddle-node bifurcation) above which priority effects disappear. These results also reveal a co-dimension 2 point, corresponding to a degenerate transcritical bifurcation: at this point, the transcritical bifurcation changes from subcritical to supercritical with corresponding creation of a saddle-node bifurcation curve. We observe further contrasting effects of non-local dispersal as dispersal distance changes: while very long-range dispersal can lead to species extinctions, intermediate-range dispersal can permit more outcomes with multi-species coexistence than short-range dispersal (or purely local dispersal). Overall, our results show that priority effects are more pronounced in the non-local dispersal models than in the local dispersal models. Taken together, our findings highlight the profound delicacy in the mediation of priority effects by dispersal processes: ;big steps; can have more influence than many ;small steps;.

Understanding the local food environment: A participatory photovoice project in a low-income area in Madrid, Spain.

PubMed

Díez, Julia; Conde, Paloma; Sandin, María; Urtasun, María; López, Remedios; Carrero, José Luis; Gittelsohn, Joel; Franco, Manuel

2017-01-01

There is a need to partner between researchers, practitioners and residents to increase our understanding of environmental influences on dietary behaviors. We used the participatory method of Photovoice to understand key determinants of the local food environment influencing residents' diets. This project was conducted in Villaverde, a low-income area located in Madrid, Spain. From February to May 2015, 24 residents working in four Photovoice groups, took photographs related to their local food environment. Each group analyzed and critically discussed their photographs in small group sessions. Through a consensus-building process, participants identified 30 emerging categories, which followed five conceptual themes related to their food environment: 1) eating in moderation, 2) cultural diversity, 3) food stores, 4) social relationships and 5) economic crisis and poverty. Participants, researchers and practitioners successfully collaborated in analyzing, writing, disseminating the project results, and directly informing local policy-makers, media, and other residents. The project results may guide community-generated interventions for promoting a healthier food environment. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Local environment effects in the magnetic properties and electronic structure of disordered FePt

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Khan, Saleem Ayaz; Minár, Ján; Ebert, Hubert; Blaha, Peter; Šipr, Ondřej

2017-01-01

Local aspects of magnetism of disordered FePt are investigated by ab initio fully relativistic full-potential calculations, employing the supercell approach and the coherent potential approximation (CPA). The focus is on trends of the spin and orbital magnetic moments with chemical composition and with bond lengths around the Fe and Pt atoms. A small but distinct difference between average magnetic moments obtained when using the supercells and when relying on the CPA is identified and linked to the neglect of the Madelung potential in the CPA.

Symposium 9: Rocky Mountain futures: preserving, utilizing, and sustaining Rocky Mountain ecosystems

USGS Publications Warehouse

Baron, Jill S.; Seastedt, Timothy; Fagre, Daniel B.; Hicke, Jeffrey A.; Tomback, Diana; Garcia, Elizabeth; Bowen, Zachary H.; Logan, Jesse A.

2013-01-01

In 2002 we published Rocky Mountain Futures, an Ecological Perspective (Island Press) to examine the cumulative ecological effects of human activity in the Rocky Mountains. We concluded that multiple local activities concerning land use, hydrologic manipulation, and resource extraction have altered ecosystems, although there were examples where the “tyranny of small decisions” worked in a positive way toward more sustainable coupled human/environment interactions. Superimposed on local change was climate change, atmospheric deposition of nitrogen and other pollutants, regional population growth, and some national management policies such as fire suppression.

Local electronic effects and irradiation resistance in high-entropy alloys

DOE PAGES

Egami, Takeshi; Stocks, George Malcolm; Nicholson, Don; ...

2015-08-14

High-entropy alloys are multicomponent solid solutions in which various elements with different chemistries and sizes occupy the same crystallographic lattice sites. Thus, none of the atoms perfectly fit the lattice site, giving rise to considerable local lattice distortions and atomic-level stresses. These characteristics can be beneficial for performance under both radiation and in a high-temperature environment, making them attractive candidates as nuclear materials. We discuss electronic origin of the atomic-level stresses based upon first-principles calculations using a density functional theory approach.

Material sound source localization through headphones

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Dunai, Larisa; Peris-Fajarnes, Guillermo; Lengua, Ismael Lengua; Montaña, Ignacio Tortajada

2012-09-01

In the present paper a study of sound localization is carried out, considering two different sounds emitted from different hit materials (wood and bongo) as well as a Delta sound. The motivation of this research is to study how humans localize sounds coming from different materials, with the purpose of a future implementation of the acoustic sounds with better localization features in navigation aid systems or training audio-games suited for blind people. Wood and bongo sounds are recorded after hitting two objects made of these materials. Afterwards, they are analysed and processed. On the other hand, the Delta sound (click) is generated by using the Adobe Audition software, considering a frequency of 44.1 kHz. All sounds are analysed and convolved with previously measured non-individual Head-Related Transfer Functions both for an anechoic environment and for an environment with reverberation. The First Choice method is used in this experiment. Subjects are asked to localize the source position of the sound listened through the headphones, by using a graphic user interface. The analyses of the recorded data reveal that no significant differences are obtained either when considering the nature of the sounds (wood, bongo, Delta) or their environmental context (with or without reverberation). The localization accuracies for the anechoic sounds are: wood 90.19%, bongo 92.96% and Delta sound 89.59%, whereas for the sounds with reverberation the results are: wood 90.59%, bongo 92.63% and Delta sound 90.91%. According to these data, we can conclude that even when considering the reverberation effect, the localization accuracy does not significantly increase.

Reality of using a model from local governments' perspective-How science community can help?

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Mirzazad, S.

2016-12-01

Local governments across the US use historic data to approve capital improvement projects and update comprehensive/zoning plans. Due to the effects of climate change, historic data sets are no longer suitable, which requires communities to use climate models to project the future. However, the use of climate models also presents challenges for local governments such as: Variations between models: Because model-development methodologies vary, different climate models provide different end results. A local governments' decision concerning which climate model to use is tricky because the model drives policy direction and infrastructure investments that can be both expensive and controversial. Communicating the gaps of a model: There are always uncertainties associated with modeling. These gaps may range from the scale of a model to the type of data used in modeling. Effectively communicating this to a community is crucial to gain political support. Managing politics associated with using a model: In many cases, models project changes to the built environment that will detrimentally affect private property owners. This can result in strong push back from the community and could threaten the local tax base. Scientists have important roles; from development to delivery of models to assisting local governments navigate through these challenges. Bringing in entities with experience of working with local governments can contribute to a successful outcome. In this proposed session, ICLEI-Local Governments for Sustainability will use the USGS CoSMoS as a case study for lessons learned in establishing a framework for effective collaboration between local governments and the science community.

Depth and Motion Prediction for Earth Penetrators

DTIC Science & Technology

1978-06-01

multiple-layer targets. For targets with accurately knowni properties , the final-depth results are accurate ihný pret AM all13 EIIW FINVS S WLT n.- U lass S...Project hAl611o2AT2?, Task A2, Work Unit󈧊, " Effectiveness of Earth Penetrators in Various Geologic Environments." Mr. R. S. Bernard conducted the... effects in the selective destruction of localized targets (airfields, factories, utilities, etc.). The effectiveness of these weapons, however, is

Nanoscale strain mapping in battery nanostructures

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Ulvestad, A.; Cho, H. M.; Harder, R.; Kim, J. W.; Dietze, S. H.; Fohtung, E.; Meng, Y. S.; Shpyrko, O. G.

2014-02-01

Coherent x-ray diffraction imaging is used to map the local three dimensional strain inhomogeneity and electron density distribution of two individual LiNi0.5Mn1.5O4-δ cathode nanoparticles in both ex-situ and in-situ environments. Our reconstructed images revealed a maximum strain of 0.4%. We observed different variations in strain inhomogeneity due to multiple competing effects. The compressive/tensile component of the strain is connected to the local lithium content and, on the surface, interpreted in terms of a local Jahn-Teller distortion of Mn3+. Finally, the measured strain distributions are discussed in terms of their impact on competing theoretical models of the lithiation process.

Pre-packing of cost effective antibiotic cement beads for the treatment of traumatic osteomyelitis in the developing world - an in-vitro study based in Cambodia.

PubMed

Noor, S; Gilson, A; Kennedy, K; Swanson, A; Vanny, V; Mony, K; Chaudhry, T; Gollogly, J

2016-04-01

The developing world often lacks the resources to effectively treat the most serious injuries including osteomyelitis following open fractures or surgical fracture treatment. Antibiotic cement beads are a widely accepted method of delivering antibiotics locally to the infected area following trauma. This study is based in Cambodia, a low income country struggling to recover from a recent genocide. The study aims to test the effectiveness of locally made antibiotic beads and analyse their effectiveness after being gas sterilised, packaged and kept in storage Different antibiotic beads were manufactured locally using bone cement and tested against MRSA bacteria grown from a case of osteomyelitis. Each antibiotic was tested before and after a process of gas sterilisation as well as later being tested after storage in packaging up to 42 days. The gentamicin, vancomycin, amikacin and ceftriaxone beads all inhibited growth of the MRSA on the TSB and agar plates, both before and after gas sterilisation. All four antibiotics continued to show similar zones of inhibition after 42 days of storage. The results show significant promise to produce beads with locally obtainable ingredients in an austere environment and improve cost effectiveness by storing them in a sterilised condition. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Making cities resilient: Increasing resilience to disasters at the local level.

PubMed

Albrito, Paola

2012-01-01

Half of humanity is now living in cities, according to the United Nations Population Division. The urban population exceeded the rural for the first time in 2008, and by 2050 urbanisation will rise to 70 per cent with increased urban risk. 'Today, 100 cities are in control of 30 per cent of the world's economy.' The need for maintenance and upkeep of these cities makes safety measures for their citizens crucial. In this context, urban risk, city planning and the role of local governments in dealing with risk reduction have been recognised as key factors to build communities resilient to disasters. While many local governments have taken action to reduce vulnerability, especially when it comes to government organising capacity to deal with disasters, much remains to be done. Disaster risk has become an acute and increasingly urban issue. Poorly-planned urban environments, weak urban governance, an old and fragile infrastructure, and rapid population growth have increased pressure on the urban environment and triggered exposure to disaster risk. More and more people are settling in potential danger zones such as flood plains, volcanic flanks or earthquake faults and coastal areas. They do so because planners and local governments fail to provide alternatives, or because they cannot afford safer land. Local government officials are confronted with the threat of disasters daily, and need improved access to policies and tools to cope with them effectively.

40 CFR Appendix A to Part 70 - Approval Status of State and Local Operating Permits Programs

Code of Federal Regulations, 2012 CFR

2012-07-01

... 40 Protection of Environment 16 2012-07-01 2012-07-01 false Approval Status of State and Local Operating Permits Programs A Appendix A to Part 70 Protection of Environment ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY (CONTINUED) AIR PROGRAMS (CONTINUED) STATE OPERATING PERMIT PROGRAMS Pt. 70, App. A Appendix A to Part 70—Approval Status of State and Local...

40 CFR Appendix A to Part 70 - Approval Status of State and Local Operating Permits Programs

Code of Federal Regulations, 2014 CFR

2014-07-01

... 40 Protection of Environment 16 2014-07-01 2014-07-01 false Approval Status of State and Local Operating Permits Programs A Appendix A to Part 70 Protection of Environment ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY (CONTINUED) AIR PROGRAMS (CONTINUED) STATE OPERATING PERMIT PROGRAMS Pt. 70, App. A Appendix A to Part 70—Approval Status of State and Local...

40 CFR Appendix A to Part 70 - Approval Status of State and Local Operating Permits Programs

Code of Federal Regulations, 2013 CFR

2013-07-01

... 40 Protection of Environment 16 2013-07-01 2013-07-01 false Approval Status of State and Local Operating Permits Programs A Appendix A to Part 70 Protection of Environment ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY (CONTINUED) AIR PROGRAMS (CONTINUED) STATE OPERATING PERMIT PROGRAMS Pt. 70, App. A Appendix A to Part 70—Approval Status of State and Local...

40 CFR Appendix A to Part 70 - Approval Status of State and Local Operating Permits Programs

Code of Federal Regulations, 2011 CFR

2011-07-01

... 40 Protection of Environment 15 2011-07-01 2011-07-01 false Approval Status of State and Local Operating Permits Programs A Appendix A to Part 70 Protection of Environment ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY (CONTINUED) AIR PROGRAMS (CONTINUED) STATE OPERATING PERMIT PROGRAMS Pt. 70, App. A Appendix A to Part 70—Approval Status of State and Local...

40 CFR Appendix A to Part 70 - Approval Status of State and Local Operating Permits Programs

Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

2010-07-01

... 40 Protection of Environment 15 2010-07-01 2010-07-01 false Approval Status of State and Local Operating Permits Programs A Appendix A to Part 70 Protection of Environment ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY (CONTINUED) AIR PROGRAMS (CONTINUED) STATE OPERATING PERMIT PROGRAMS Pt. 70, App. A Appendix A to Part 70—Approval Status of State and Local...

Vertical nanopillars for highly localized fluorescence imaging

PubMed Central

Xie, Chong; Hanson, Lindsey; Cui, Yi; Cui, Bianxiao

2011-01-01

Observing individual molecules in a complex environment by fluorescence microscopy is becoming increasingly important in biological and medical research, for which critical reduction of observation volume is required. Here, we demonstrate the use of vertically aligned silicon dioxide nanopillars to achieve below-the-diffraction-limit observation volume in vitro and inside live cells. With a diameter much smaller than the wavelength of visible light, a transparent silicon dioxide nanopillar embedded in a nontransparent substrate restricts the propagation of light and affords evanescence wave excitation along its vertical surface. This effect creates highly confined illumination volume that selectively excites fluorescence molecules in the vicinity of the nanopillar. We show that this nanopillar illumination can be used for in vitro single-molecule detection at high fluorophore concentrations. In addition, we demonstrate that vertical nanopillars interface tightly with live cells and function as highly localized light sources inside the cell. Furthermore, specific chemical modification of the nanopillar surface makes it possible to locally recruit proteins of interest and simultaneously observe their behavior within the complex, crowded environment of the cell. PMID:21368157

Ultrasonic Multiple-Access Ranging System Using Spread Spectrum and MEMS Technology for Indoor Localization

PubMed Central

Segers, Laurent; Tiete, Jelmer; Braeken, An; Touhafi, Abdellah

2014-01-01

Indoor localization of persons and objects poses a great engineering challenge. Previously developed localization systems demonstrate the use of wideband techniques in ultrasound ranging systems. Direct sequence and frequency hopping spread spectrum ultrasound signals have been proven to achieve a high level of accuracy. A novel ranging method using the frequency hopping spread spectrum with finite impulse response filtering will be investigated and compared against the direct sequence spread spectrum. In the first setup, distances are estimated in a single-access environment, while in the second setup, two senders and one receiver are used. During the experiments, the micro-electromechanical systems are used as ultrasonic sensors, while the senders were implemented using field programmable gate arrays. Results show that in a single-access environment, the direct sequence spread spectrum method offers slightly better accuracy and precision performance compared to the frequency hopping spread spectrum. When two senders are used, measurements point out that the frequency hopping spread spectrum is more robust to near-far effects than the direct sequence spread spectrum. PMID:24553084

Does source population size affect performance in new environments?

PubMed Central

Yates, Matthew C; Fraser, Dylan J

2014-01-01

Small populations are predicted to perform poorly relative to large populations when experiencing environmental change. To explore this prediction in nature, data from reciprocal transplant, common garden, and translocation studies were compared meta-analytically. We contrasted changes in performance resulting from transplantation to new environments among individuals originating from different sized source populations from plants and salmonids. We then evaluated the effect of source population size on performance in natural common garden environments and the relationship between population size and habitat quality. In ‘home-away’ contrasts, large populations exhibited reduced performance in new environments. In common gardens, the effect of source population size on performance was inconsistent across life-history stages (LHS) and environments. When transplanted to the same set of new environments, small populations either performed equally well or better than large populations, depending on life stage. Conversely, large populations outperformed small populations within native environments, but only at later life stages. Population size was not associated with habitat quality. Several factors might explain the negative association between source population size and performance in new environments: (i) stronger local adaptation in large populations and antagonistic pleiotropy, (ii) the maintenance of genetic variation in small populations, and (iii) potential environmental differences between large and small populations. PMID:25469166

Expanding the utility of 4-cyano-L-phenylalanine as a vibrational reporter of protein environments.

PubMed

Bazewicz, Christopher G; Lipkin, Jacob S; Smith, Emily E; Liskov, Melanie T; Brewer, Scott H

2012-09-06

The ability to genetically incorporate amino acids modified with spectroscopic reporters site-specifically into proteins with high efficiency and fidelity has greatly enhanced the ability to probe local protein structure and dynamics. Here, we have synthesized the unnatural amino acid (UAA), 4-cyano-L-phenylalanine (pCNPhe), containing the nitrile vibrational reporter and three isotopomers ((15)N, (13)C, (13)C(15)N) of this UAA to enhance the ability of pCNPhe to study local protein environments. Each pCNPhe isotopic variant was genetically incorporated in an efficient, site-specific manner into superfolder green fluorescent protein (sfGFP) in response to an amber codon with high fidelity utilizing an engineered, orthogonal aminoacyl-tRNA synthetase. The isotopomers of 4-cyano-L-phenylalanine permitted the nitrile symmetric stretch vibration of these UAAs to be unambiguously assigned utilizing the magnitude and direction of the isotopic shift of this vibration. The sensitivity of the nitrile symmetric stretching frequency of each isotopic variant to the local environment was measured by individually incorporating the probes into two distinct local environments of sfGFP. The UAAs were also utilized in concert to probe multiple local environments in sfGFP simultaneously to increase the utility of 4-cyano-L-phenylalanine.

Nonlinear effects of locally heterogeneous hydraulic conductivity fields on regional stream-aquifer exchanges

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Zhu, J.; Winter, C. L.; Wang, Z.

2015-08-01

Computational experiments are performed to evaluate the effects of locally heterogeneous conductivity fields on regional exchanges of water between stream and aquifer systems in the Middle Heihe River Basin (MHRB) of northwestern China. The effects are found to be nonlinear in the sense that simulated discharges from aquifers to streams are systematically lower than discharges produced by a base model parameterized with relatively coarse effective conductivity. A similar, but weaker, effect is observed for stream leakage. The study is organized around three hypotheses: (H1) small-scale spatial variations of conductivity significantly affect regional exchanges of water between streams and aquifers in river basins, (H2) aggregating small-scale heterogeneities into regional effective parameters systematically biases estimates of stream-aquifer exchanges, and (H3) the biases result from slow-paths in groundwater flow that emerge due to small-scale heterogeneities. The hypotheses are evaluated by comparing stream-aquifer fluxes produced by the base model to fluxes simulated using realizations of the MHRB characterized by local (grid-scale) heterogeneity. Levels of local heterogeneity are manipulated as control variables by adjusting coefficients of variation. All models are implemented using the MODFLOW simulation environment, and the PEST tool is used to calibrate effective conductivities defined over 16 zones within the MHRB. The effective parameters are also used as expected values to develop log-normally distributed conductivity (K) fields on local grid scales. Stream-aquifer exchanges are simulated with K fields at both scales and then compared. Results show that the effects of small-scale heterogeneities significantly influence exchanges with simulations based on local-scale heterogeneities always producing discharges that are less than those produced by the base model. Although aquifer heterogeneities are uncorrelated at local scales, they appear to induce coherent slow-paths in groundwater fluxes that in turn reduce aquifer-stream exchanges. Since surface water-groundwater exchanges are critical hydrologic processes in basin-scale water budgets, these results also have implications for water resources management.

Polarity control at interfaces: Quantifying pseudo-solvent effects in nano-confined systems

DOE PAGES

Singappuli-Arachchige, Dilini; Manzano, J. Sebastian; Sherman, Lindy M.; ...

2016-08-02

Surface functionalization controls local environments and induces solvent-like effects at liquid–solid interfaces. We explored structure–property relationships between organic groups bound to pore surfaces of mesoporous silica nanoparticles and Stokes shifts of the adsorbed solvatochromic dye Prodan. Correlating shifts of the dye on the surfaces with its shifts in solvents resulted in a local polarity scale for functionalized pores. The scale was validated by studying the effects of pore polarity on quenching of Nile Red fluorescence and on the vibronic band structure of pyrene. Measurements were done in aqueous suspensions of porous particles, proving that the dielectric properties in the poresmore » are different from the bulk solvent. The precise control of pore polarity was used to enhance the catalytic activity of TEMPO in the aerobic oxidation of furfuryl alcohol in water. Furthermore, an inverse relationship was found between pore polarity and activity of TEMPO in the pores, demonstrating that controlling the local polarity around an active site allows modulating the activity of nanoconfined catalysts.« less

Environmental perverse incentives in coastal monitoring.

PubMed

Gibbs, Mark T

2013-08-15

It can be argued that the intensity of monitoring of coastal marine environments lags behind the equivalent terrestrial environments. This results in a paucity of long-term time series of key environmental parameters such as turbidity. This lack of management information of the sources and sinks, and causes and impacts of stressors to the coastal marine environment, along with a lack of co-ordination of information collection is compromising the ability of environmental impact assessments of major coastal developments to discriminate between local and remote anthropogenic impacts, and natural or background processes. In particular, the quasi outsourcing of the collection of coastal information can lead to a perverse incentive whereby in many cases nobody is actively or consistently monitoring the coastal marine environment effectively. This is particularly the case with regards to the collection of long-term and whole-of-system scale data. This lack of effective monitoring can act to incentivise poor environmental performance. Copyright © 2013 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Tree species diversity affects decomposition through modified micro-environmental conditions across European forests.

PubMed

Joly, François-Xavier; Milcu, Alexandru; Scherer-Lorenzen, Michael; Jean, Loreline-Katia; Bussotti, Filippo; Dawud, Seid Muhie; Müller, Sandra; Pollastrini, Martina; Raulund-Rasmussen, Karsten; Vesterdal, Lars; Hättenschwiler, Stephan

2017-05-01

Different tree species influence litter decomposition directly through species-specific litter traits, and indirectly through distinct modifications of the local decomposition environment. Whether these indirect effects on decomposition are influenced by tree species diversity is presently not clear. We addressed this question by studying the decomposition of two common substrates, cellulose paper and wood sticks, in a total of 209 forest stands of varying tree species diversity across six major forest types at the scale of Europe. Tree species richness showed a weak but positive correlation with the decomposition of cellulose but not with that of wood. Surprisingly, macroclimate had only a minor effect on cellulose decomposition and no effect on wood decomposition despite the wide range in climatic conditions among sites from Mediterranean to boreal forests. Instead, forest canopy density and stand-specific litter traits affected the decomposition of both substrates, with a particularly clear negative effect of the proportion of evergreen tree litter. Our study suggests that species richness and composition of tree canopies modify decomposition indirectly through changes in microenvironmental conditions. These canopy-induced differences in the local decomposition environment control decomposition to a greater extent than continental-scale differences in macroclimatic conditions. © 2017 The Authors. New Phytologist © 2017 New Phytologist Trust.

The impact of resource quality on the evolution of virulence in spatially heterogeneous environments.

PubMed

Su, Min; Boots, Mike

2017-03-07

Understanding the drivers of parasite evolution and in particular disease virulence remains a major focus of evolutionary theory. Here, we examine the role of resource quality and in particular spatial environmental heterogeneity in the distribution of these resources on the evolution of virulence. There may be direct effects of resources on host susceptibility and pathogenicity alongside effects on reproduction that indirectly impact host-parasite population dynamics. Therefore, we assume that high resource quality may lead to both increased host reproduction and/or increased disease resistance. In completely mixed populations there is no effect of resource quality on the outcome of disease evolution. However, when there are local interactions higher resource quality generally selects for higher virulence/transmission for both linear and saturating transmission-virulence trade-off assumptions. The exception is that in castrators (i.e., infected hosts have no reproduction), higher virulence is selected for both low and high resource qualities at mixed local and global infection. Heterogeneity in the distribution of environment resources only has an effect on the outcome in castrators where random distributions generally select for higher virulence. Overall, our results further underline the importance of considering spatial structure in order to understand evolutionary processes. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Non-traditional Infrasound Deployment

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

McKenna, M. H.; McComas, S.; Simpson, C. P.; Diaz-Alvarez, H.; Costley, R. D.; Hayward, C.; Golden, P.; Endress, A.

2017-12-01

Historically, infrasound arrays have been deployed in rural environments where anthropological noise sources are limited. As interest in monitoring low energy sources at local distances grows in the infrasound community, it will be vital to understand how to monitor infrasound sources in an urban environment. Arrays deployed in urban centers have to overcome the decreased signal-to-noise ratio and reduced amount of real estate available to deploy an array. To advance the understanding of monitoring infrasound sources in urban environments, local and regional infrasound arrays were deployed on building rooftops on the campus at Southern Methodist University (SMU), and data were collected for one seasonal cycle. The data were evaluated for structural source signals (continuous-wave packets), and when a signal was identified, the back azimuth to the source was determined through frequency-wavenumber analysis. This information was used to identify hypothesized structural sources; these sources were verified through direct measurement and dynamic structural analysis modeling. In addition to the rooftop arrays, a camouflaged infrasound sensor was installed on the SMU campus and evaluated to determine its effectiveness for wind noise reduction. Permission to publish was granted by Director, Geotechnical and Structures Laboratory.

Predicting the performance of a strategic alliance: an analysis of the Community Clinical Oncology Program.

PubMed

Kaluzny, A D; Lacey, L M; Warnecke, R; Hynes, D M; Morrissey, J; Ford, L; Sondik, E

1993-06-01

This study is designed to examine the effects of environment and structure of the Community Clinical Oncology Program (CCOP) on performance as measured by patient accrual to National Cancer Institute (NCI)-approved treatment protocols. Data and analysis are part of a larger evaluation of the NCI Community Clinical Oncology Program during its second funding cycle, June 1987-May 1990. Data, taken from primary and secondary sources, included a survey of selected informants in CCOPs and research bases, CCOP grant applications, CCOP annual progress reports, and site visits to a subsample of CCOPs (N = 20) and research bases (N = 5). Accrual data were obtained from NCI records. Analysis involved three complementary sets of factors: the local health care resources environment available to the CCOP, the larger policy environment as reflected by the relationship of the CCOP to selected research bases and the NCI, and the operational structure of the CCOP itself. A hierarchical model examined the separate and cumulative effects of local and policy environment and structure on performance. Other things equal, the primary predictors of treatment accrual were: (1) the larger policy environment, as measured by the attendance of nurses at research base meetings; and (2) operational structure, as measured by the number and character of components within participating CCOPs and the number of hours per week worked by data managers. These factors explained 73 percent of the total variance in accrual performance. Findings suggest criteria for selecting the types of organizations to participate in the alliance, as well as for establishing guidelines for managing such alliances. A future challenge is to determine the extent to which factors predicting accrual to cancer treatment clinical trials are equally important as predictors of accrual to cancer prevention and control trials.

The Role of Population Origin and Microenvironment in Seedling Emergence and Early Survival in Mediterranean Maritime Pine (Pinus pinaster Aiton)

PubMed Central

Vizcaíno-Palomar, Natalia; Revuelta-Eugercios, Bárbara; Zavala, Miguel A.; Alía, Ricardo; González-Martínez, Santiago C.

2014-01-01

Understanding tree recruitment is needed to forecast future forest distribution. Many studies have reported the relevant ecological factors that affect recruitment success in trees, but the potential for genetic-based differences in recruitment has often been neglected. In this study, we established a semi-natural reciprocal sowing experiment to test for local adaptation and microenvironment effects (evaluated here by canopy cover) in the emergence and early survival of maritime pine (Pinus pinaster Aiton), an emblematic Mediterranean forest tree. A novel application of molecular markers was also developed to test for family selection and, thus, for potential genetic change over generations. Overall, we did not find evidence to support local adaptation at the recruitment stage in our semi-natural experiment. Moreover, only weak family selection (if any) was found, suggesting that in stressful environments with low survival, stochastic processes and among-year climate variability may drive recruitment. Nevertheless, our study revealed that, at early stages of recruitment, microenvironments may favor the population with the best adapted life strategy, irrespectively of its (local or non-local) origin. We also found that emergence time is a key factor for seedling survival in stressful Mediterranean environments. Our study highlights the complexity of the factors influencing the early stages of establishment of maritime pine and provides insights into possible management actions aimed at environmental change impact mitigation. In particular, we found that the high stochasticity of the recruitment process in stressful environments and the differences in population-specific adaptive strategies may difficult assisted migration schemes. PMID:25286410

Eco-evolutionary spatial dynamics in the Glanville fritillary butterfly

PubMed Central

Hanski, Ilkka A.

2011-01-01

Demographic population dynamics, gene flow, and local adaptation may influence each other and lead to coupling of ecological and evolutionary dynamics, especially in species inhabiting fragmented heterogeneous environments. Here, I review long-term research on eco-evolutionary spatial dynamics in the Glanville fritillary butterfly inhabiting a large network of approximately 4,000 meadows in Finland. The metapopulation persists in a balance between frequent local extinctions and recolonizations. The genetic spatial structure as defined by neutral markers is much more coarse-grained than the demographic spatial structure determined by the fragmented habitat, yet small-scale spatial structure has important consequences for the dynamics. I discuss three examples of eco-evolutionary spatial dynamics. (i) Extinction-colonization metapopulation dynamics influence allele frequency changes in the phosphoglucose isomerase (Pgi) gene, which leads to strong associations between genetic variation in Pgi and dispersal, recolonization, and local population dynamics. (ii) Inbreeding in local populations increases their risk for extinction, whereas reciprocal effects between inbreeding, population size, and emigration represent likely eco-evolutionary feedbacks. (iii) Genetically determined female oviposition preference for two host plant species exhibits a cline paralleling a gradient in host plant relative abundances, and host plant preference of dispersing females in relation to the host plant composition of habitat patches influences immigration (gene flow) and recolonization (founder events). Eco-evolutionary spatial dynamics in heterogeneous environments may not lead to directional evolutionary changes unless the environment itself changes, but eco-evolutionary dynamics may contribute to the maintenance of genetic variation attributable to fluctuating selection in space and time. PMID:21788506

The role of population origin and microenvironment in seedling emergence and early survival in Mediterranean maritime pine (Pinus pinaster Aiton).

PubMed

Vizcaíno-Palomar, Natalia; Revuelta-Eugercios, Bárbara; Zavala, Miguel A; Alía, Ricardo; González-Martínez, Santiago C

2014-01-01

Understanding tree recruitment is needed to forecast future forest distribution. Many studies have reported the relevant ecological factors that affect recruitment success in trees, but the potential for genetic-based differences in recruitment has often been neglected. In this study, we established a semi-natural reciprocal sowing experiment to test for local adaptation and microenvironment effects (evaluated here by canopy cover) in the emergence and early survival of maritime pine (Pinus pinaster Aiton), an emblematic Mediterranean forest tree. A novel application of molecular markers was also developed to test for family selection and, thus, for potential genetic change over generations. Overall, we did not find evidence to support local adaptation at the recruitment stage in our semi-natural experiment. Moreover, only weak family selection (if any) was found, suggesting that in stressful environments with low survival, stochastic processes and among-year climate variability may drive recruitment. Nevertheless, our study revealed that, at early stages of recruitment, microenvironments may favor the population with the best adapted life strategy, irrespectively of its (local or non-local) origin. We also found that emergence time is a key factor for seedling survival in stressful Mediterranean environments. Our study highlights the complexity of the factors influencing the early stages of establishment of maritime pine and provides insights into possible management actions aimed at environmental change impact mitigation. In particular, we found that the high stochasticity of the recruitment process in stressful environments and the differences in population-specific adaptive strategies may difficult assisted migration schemes.

Correlating Nitrile IR Frequencies to Local Electrostatics Quantifies Noncovalent Interactions of Peptides and Proteins.

PubMed

Deb, Pranab; Haldar, Tapas; Kashid, Somnath M; Banerjee, Subhrashis; Chakrabarty, Suman; Bagchi, Sayan

2016-05-05

Noncovalent interactions, in particular the hydrogen bonds and nonspecific long-range electrostatic interactions are fundamental to biomolecular functions. A molecular understanding of the local electrostatic environment, consistently for both specific (hydrogen-bonding) and nonspecific electrostatic (local polarity) interactions, is essential for a detailed understanding of these processes. Vibrational Stark Effect (VSE) has proven to be an extremely useful method to measure the local electric field using infrared spectroscopy of carbonyl and nitrile based probes. The nitrile chemical group would be an ideal choice because of its absorption in an infrared spectral window transparent to biomolecules, ease of site-specific incorporation into proteins, and common occurrence as a substituent in various drug molecules. However, the inability of VSE to describe the dependence of IR frequency on electric field for hydrogen-bonded nitriles to date has severely limited nitrile's utility to probe the noncovalent interactions. In this work, using infrared spectroscopy and atomistic molecular dynamics simulations, we have reported for the first time a linear correlation between nitrile frequencies and electric fields in a wide range of hydrogen-bonding environments that may bridge the existing gap between VSE and H-bonding interactions. We have demonstrated the robustness of this field-frequency correlation for both aromatic nitriles and sulfur-based nitriles in a wide range of molecules of varying size and compactness, including small molecules in complex solvation environments, an amino acid, disordered peptides, and structured proteins. This correlation, when coupled to VSE, can be used to quantify noncovalent interactions, specific or nonspecific, in a consistent manner.

Is inequality harmful for the environment? An empirical analysis applied to developing and transition countries.

PubMed

Clement, Matthieu; Meunie, Andre

2010-01-01

The object of this article is to examine the relation between social inequalities and pollution. First of all we provide a survey demonstrating that, from a theoretical point of view, a decrease in inequality has an uncertain impact on the environment. Second, on the basis of these conceptual considerations, we propose an econometric analysis based on panel data (fixed-effects and dynamic panel data models) concerning developing and transition countries for the 1988-2003 period. We examine specifically the effect of inequality on the extent of local pollution (sulphur dioxide emissions and organic water pollution) by integrating the Gini index into the formulation of the environmental Kuznets' curve.

Non-native salmonids affect amphibian occupancy at multiple spatial scales

Treesearch

David S. Pilliod; Blake R. Hossack; Peter F. Bahls; Evelyn L. Bull; Paul Stephen Corn; Grant Hokit; Bryce A. Maxell; James C. Munger; Aimee Wyrick

2010-01-01

The introduction of non-native species into aquatic environments has been linked with local extinctions and altered distributions of native species. We investigated the effect of non-native salmonids on the occupancy of two native amphibians, the long-toed salamander (Ambystoma macrodactylum) and Columbia spotted frog (Rana luteiventris), across three spatial scales:...

75 FR 57396 - List of Nonconforming Vehicles Decided To Be Eligible for Importation

Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

2010-09-21

... environment, public health or safety, or State, local, or Tribal governments or communities; (2) Create a..., health, or safety risk that NHTSA has reason to believe may have a disproportionate effect on children. L... (MC) FX, FL, XL Series..... 1986-1997 202 ...... ...... Harley Davidson (MC) FX, FL, XL & VR Series...

NATIONAL CONFERENCE ON URBAN STORM WATER: ENHANCING PROGRAMS AT THE LOCAL LEVEL - PROCEEDINGS CHICAGO, IL FEBRUARY 17-20, 2003

EPA Science Inventory

A wide array of effective storm water management and resource protection tools have been developed for urban environments, but their implementation continues to be hampered by a lack of technology transfer opportunities. At the national conference Urban Storm Water: Enhancing Pro...

PERCEPTION OF THE MOLTING HORMONE 20-HYDROXECDYSONE BY HOMARUS AMERICANUS: LOCALIZATION OF STEROID RECEPTORS AND EFFECT ON BEHAVIOR

EPA Science Inventory

There is growing evidence that hormones, when released from an animal into the environment, act as chemical signals to other organisms. There is also evidence to suggest that hormones are released by lobsters during sexual and agonistic encounters to signal conspecifics. The go...

Influences of Regional Climate Change on Air Quality across the Continental U.S. Projected from Downscaling IPCC ARS Simulations

EPA Science Inventory

Projecting climate change scenarios to local scales is important for understanding, mitigating, and adapting to the effects of climate change on society and the environment. Many of the global climate models (GCMs) that are participating in the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate ...

Beam Dynamics Simulation Platform and Studies of Beam Breakup in Dielectric Wakefield Structures

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Schoessow, P.; Kanareykin, A.; Jing, C.; Kustov, A.; Altmark, A.; Gai, W.

2010-11-01

A particle-Green's function beam dynamics code (BBU-3000) to study beam breakup effects is incorporated into a parallel computing framework based on the Boinc software environment, and supports both task farming on a heterogeneous cluster and local grid computing. User access to the platform is through a web browser.

Meeting the Needs of Middle Grade Science Learners through Pedagogical and Technological Intervention

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Yerrick, Randy; Johnson, Joseph

2009-01-01

This mixed methods study examined the effects of inserting laptops and science technology tools in middle school environments. Working together with a local university, middle school science teaching faculty members wrote and aligned curricula, explored relevant science education literature, tested lessons with summer school students, and prepared…

The Geography of Political Communication: Effects of Regional Variations in Campaign Advertising on Citizen Communication

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Cho, Jaeho

2011-01-01

This study explores whether and how campaign-induced changes in local information environments influence citizens' everyday communication activities. The empirical analysis in this study centers on a comparison of two New Jersey media markets that showed idiosyncratic differences in the amount of political advertising during the 2000 presidential…

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Neuscamman, Stephanie J.

This section describes ways in which an urban environment can affect the distribution of airborne radiological material. In an urban area, winds at street level are significantly more variable and complex than the prevailing winds above the buildings. Elevated winds may be uniform and representative of the general flow over the surrounding area, but buildings influence the local flow such that the winds below the building heights vary significantly in location and time (Hanna et al 2006). For a release of material near an individual building, the complex effect of the building on the airflow may locally enhance the airmore » concentration of released material in some regions near the building and reduce it in others compared to a release in open terrain. However, the overall effect of an individual building is to induce a rapid enlargement and dilution of an incident plume from an isolated source upwind of the building (Hosker 1984). A plume spreading through an urban environment of multiple buildings will experience enhanced mixing and greater spreading of the contaminant plume in both the vertical and horizontal directions, compared to the same release in open terrain.« less

A Historical Perspective on Local Environmental Movements in Japan: Lessons for the Transdisciplinary Approach on Water Resource Governance

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Oh, T.

2014-12-01

Typical studies on natural resources from a social science perspective tend to choose one type of resource—water, for example— and ask what factors contribute to the sustainable use or wasteful exploitation of that resource. However, climate change and economic development, which are causing increased pressure on local resources and presenting communities with increased levels of tradeoffs and potential conflicts, force us to consider the trade-offs between options for using a particular resource. Therefore, the transdisciplinary approach that accurately captures the advantages and disadvantages of various possible resource uses is particularly important in the complex social-ecological systems, where concerns about inequality with respect to resource use and access have become unavoidable. Needless to say, resource management and policy require sound scientific understanding of the complex interconnections between nature and society, however, in contrast to typical international discussions, I discuss Japan not as an "advanced" case where various dilemmas have been successfully addressed by the government through the optimal use of technology, but rather as a nation seeing an emerging trend that is based on a awareness of the connections between local resources and the environment. Furthermore, from a historical viewpoint, the nexus of local resources is not a brand-new idea in the experience of environmental governance in Japan. There exist the local environment movements, which emphasized the interconnection of local resources and succeeded in urging the governmental action and policymaking. For this reason, local movements and local knowledge for the resource governance warrant attention. This study focuses on the historical cases relevant to water resource management including groundwater, and considers the contexts and conditions to holistically address local resource problems, paying particular attention to interactions between science and society. I will argue the research design to enhance the holistic view of local stakeholders on local resources as the key to effective transdisciplinary approach through the on-going research project focusing on the water-energy-food nexus.

Using ILD or ITD Cues for Sound Source Localization and Speech Understanding in a Complex Listening Environment by Listeners With Bilateral and With Hearing-Preservation Cochlear Implants.

PubMed

Loiselle, Louise H; Dorman, Michael F; Yost, William A; Cook, Sarah J; Gifford, Rene H

2016-08-01

To assess the role of interaural time differences and interaural level differences in (a) sound-source localization, and (b) speech understanding in a cocktail party listening environment for listeners with bilateral cochlear implants (CIs) and for listeners with hearing-preservation CIs. Eleven bilateral listeners with MED-EL (Durham, NC) CIs and 8 listeners with hearing-preservation CIs with symmetrical low frequency, acoustic hearing using the MED-EL or Cochlear device were evaluated using 2 tests designed to task binaural hearing, localization, and a simulated cocktail party. Access to interaural cues for localization was constrained by the use of low-pass, high-pass, and wideband noise stimuli. Sound-source localization accuracy for listeners with bilateral CIs in response to the high-pass noise stimulus and sound-source localization accuracy for the listeners with hearing-preservation CIs in response to the low-pass noise stimulus did not differ significantly. Speech understanding in a cocktail party listening environment improved for all listeners when interaural cues, either interaural time difference or interaural level difference, were available. The findings of the current study indicate that similar degrees of benefit to sound-source localization and speech understanding in complex listening environments are possible with 2 very different rehabilitation strategies: the provision of bilateral CIs and the preservation of hearing.

Determinants of FDI Localization in China: A County-Level Analysis for the Pharmaceutical Industry

PubMed Central

Li, Su; Angelino, Antonio; Yin, Haitao

2017-01-01

Foreign direct investments (FDIs) have been widely recognized as a crucial feature of the Chinese industrial development process. Over the past decades, China has been attracting huge amounts of inward FDIs as a consequence of both spontaneous market dynamics and place-based preferential policies at the sub-national level. However, the Chinese market exhibits large dissimilarities in terms of FDI localization across territories that are worth investigating at a more disaggregated level. In this regards, our study explores the determinants of attraction of inward FDIs in China, at the county level. It focuses on the pharmaceutical industry and attempts to assess whether factors related to location advantages, agglomeration dynamics, information cost effects and environmental regulation costs affect foreign firms’ localization choices as well as invested amounts in that location. By means of discrete choice models, our paper confirms the findings of the prevalent literature about the positive effects of location advantages on pharmaceutical FDI attraction. Different from our expectations, a higher proportion of foreign enterprises do not stimulate significant effects on FDI localization, while preferential policies and sectoral agglomeration are positively correlated with the localization of pharmaceutical foreign firms. Finally, our results suggest that investing firms tend to avoid areas with strict environment regulation. PMID:28867815

Determinants of FDI Localization in China: A County-Level Analysis for the Pharmaceutical Industry.

PubMed

Li, Su; Angelino, Antonio; Yin, Haitao; Spigarelli, Francesca

2017-08-30

Foreign direct investments (FDIs) have been widely recognized as a crucial feature of the Chinese industrial development process. Over the past decades, China has been attracting huge amounts of inward FDIs as a consequence of both spontaneous market dynamics and place-based preferential policies at the sub-national level. However, the Chinese market exhibits large dissimilarities in terms of FDI localization across territories that are worth investigating at a more disaggregated level. In this regards, our study explores the determinants of attraction of inward FDIs in China, at the county level. It focuses on the pharmaceutical industry and attempts to assess whether factors related to location advantages, agglomeration dynamics, information cost effects and environmental regulation costs affect foreign firms' localization choices as well as invested amounts in that location. By means of discrete choice models, our paper confirms the findings of the prevalent literature about the positive effects of location advantages on pharmaceutical FDI attraction. Different from our expectations, a higher proportion of foreign enterprises do not stimulate significant effects on FDI localization, while preferential policies and sectoral agglomeration are positively correlated with the localization of pharmaceutical foreign firms. Finally, our results suggest that investing firms tend to avoid areas with strict environment regulation.

Surface Penetrating Radar Simulations for Europa

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Markus, T.; Gogineni, S. P.; Green, J. L.; Fung, S. F.; Cooper, J. F.; Taylor, W. W. L.; Garcia, L.; Reinisch, B. W.; Song, P.; Benson, R. F.

2004-01-01

The space environment above the icy surface of Europa is a source of radio noise in this frequency range from natural sources in the Jovian magnetosphere. The ionospheric and magnetospheric plasma environment of Europa affects propagation of transmitted and return signals between the spacecraft and the solid surface in a frequency-dependent manner. The ultimate resolution of the subsurface sounding measurements will be determined, in part, by a capability to mitigate these effects. We discuss an integrated multi-frequency approach to active radio sounding of the Europa ionospheric and local magnetospheric environments, based on operational experience from the Radio Plasma Imaging @PI) experiment on the IMAGE spacecraft in Earth orbit, in support of the subsurface measurement objectives.

Integrated multi-sensor fusion for mapping and localization in outdoor environments for mobile robots

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Emter, Thomas; Petereit, Janko

2014-05-01

An integrated multi-sensor fusion framework for localization and mapping for autonomous navigation in unstructured outdoor environments based on extended Kalman filters (EKF) is presented. The sensors for localization include an inertial measurement unit, a GPS, a fiber optic gyroscope, and wheel odometry. Additionally a 3D LIDAR is used for simultaneous localization and mapping (SLAM). A 3D map is built while concurrently a localization in a so far established 2D map is estimated with the current scan of the LIDAR. Despite of longer run-time of the SLAM algorithm compared to the EKF update, a high update rate is still guaranteed by sophisticatedly joining and synchronizing two parallel localization estimators.

Do perceptions of the neighbourhood food environment predict fruit and vegetable intake in low-income neighbourhoods?

PubMed

Flint, Ellen; Cummins, Steven; Matthews, Stephen

2013-11-01

The aim of this study is to investigate the extent to which perceptions of the quality, variety and affordability of local food retail provision predict fruit and vegetable intake. Secondary analysis of baseline data from the Philadelphia Neighbourhood Food Environment Study was undertaken. This study investigating the role of the neighbourhood food environment on diet and obesity comprised a random sample of households from two low-income Philadelphia neighbourhoods, matched on socio-demographic characteristics and food environment. The analytic sample comprised adult men and women aged 18-92 (n=1263). Perception of the food environment was measured using five related dimensions pertaining to quality, choice and expense of local food outlets and locally available fruits and vegetables. The outcome, portions of fruits and vegetables consumed per day, was measured using the Block Food Frequency Questionnaire. Results from multivariate regression analyses suggest that measured dimensions of perceived neighbourhood food environment did not predict fruit and vegetable consumption. Further investigation of what constitutes an individual's 'true' food retail environment is required. © 2013 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Developing Urban Environment Indicators for Neighborhood Sustainability Assessment in Tripoli-Libya

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Elgadi, Ahmed. A.; Hakim Ismail, Lokman; Abass, Fatma; Ali, Abdelmuniem

2016-11-01

Sustainability assessment frameworks are becoming increasingly important to assist in the transition towards a sustainable urban environment. The urban environment is an effective system and requires regular monitoring and evaluation through a set of relevant indicators. The indicator provides information about the state of the environment through the production value of quantity. The indicator creates sustainability assessment requests to be considered on all spatial scales to specify efficient information of urban environment sustainability in Tripoli-Libya. Detailed data is necessary to assess environmental modification in the urban environment on a local scale and ease the transfer of this information to national and global stages. This paper proposes a set of key indicators to monitor urban environmental sustainability developments of Libyan residential neighborhoods. The proposed environmental indicator framework measures the sustainability performance of an urban environment through 13 sub-categories consisting of 21 indicators. This paper also explains the theoretical foundations for the selection of all indicators with reference to previous studies.

Spontaneous Magnetic Alignment by Yearling Snapping Turtles: Rapid Association of Radio Frequency Dependent Pattern of Magnetic Input with Novel Surroundings

PubMed Central

Landler, Lukas; Painter, Michael S.; Youmans, Paul W.; Hopkins, William A.; Phillips, John B.

2015-01-01

We investigated spontaneous magnetic alignment (SMA) by juvenile snapping turtles using exposure to low-level radio frequency (RF) fields at the Larmor frequency to help characterize the underlying sensory mechanism. Turtles, first introduced to the testing environment without the presence of RF aligned consistently towards magnetic north when subsequent magnetic testing conditions were also free of RF (‘RF off → RF off’), but were disoriented when subsequently exposed to RF (‘RF off → RF on’). In contrast, animals initially introduced to the testing environment with RF present were disoriented when tested without RF (‘RF on → RF off’), but aligned towards magnetic south when tested with RF (‘RF on → RF on’). Sensitivity of the SMA response of yearling turtles to RF is consistent with the involvement of a radical pair mechanism. Furthermore, the effect of RF appears to result from a change in the pattern of magnetic input, rather than elimination of magnetic input altogether, as proposed to explain similar effects in other systems/organisms. The findings show that turtles first exposed to a novel environment form a lasting association between the pattern of magnetic input and their surroundings. However, under natural conditions turtles would never experience a change in the pattern of magnetic input. Therefore, if turtles form a similar association of magnetic cues with the surroundings each time they encounter unfamiliar habitat, as seems likely, the same pattern of magnetic input would be associated with multiple sites/localities. This would be expected from a sensory input that functions as a global reference frame, helping to place multiple locales (i.e., multiple local landmark arrays) into register to form a global map of familiar space. PMID:25978736

Improving ambient noise cross-correlations in the noisy ocean bottom environment of the Juan de Fuca plate

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Tian, Ye; Ritzwoller, Michael H.

2017-09-01

Ambient noise tomography exploits seismic ground motions that propagate coherently over long interstation distances. Such ground motions provide information about the medium of propagation that is recoverable from interstation cross-correlations. Local noise sources, which are particularly strong in ocean bottom environments, corrupt ambient noise cross-correlations and compromise the effectiveness of ambient noise tomography. Based on 62 ocean bottom seismometers (OBSs) located on Juan de Fuca (JdF) plate from the Cascadia Initiative experiment and 40 continental stations near the coast of the western United States obtained in 2011 and 2012, we attempt to reduce the effects of local noise on vertical component seismic records across the plate and onto US continent. The goal is to provide better interstation cross-correlations for use in ambient noise tomography and the study of ambient noise directionality. As shown in previous studies, tilt and compliance noise are major sources of noise that contaminate the vertical channels of the OBSs and such noise can be greatly reduced by exploiting information on the horizontal components and the differential pressure gauge records, respectively. We find that ambient noise cross-correlations involving OBSs are of significantly higher signal-to-noise ratio at periods greater than 10 s after reducing these types of noise, particularly in shallow water environments where tilt and compliance noise are especially strong. The reduction of tilt and compliance noise promises to improve the accuracy and spatial extent of ambient noise tomography, allowing measurements based on coherently propagating ambient noise to be made at stations in the shallower parts of the JdF plate and at longer periods than in previous studies. In addition such local noise reduction produces better estimates of the azimuthal content of ambient noise.

Spontaneous magnetic alignment by yearling snapping turtles: rapid association of radio frequency dependent pattern of magnetic input with novel surroundings.

PubMed

Landler, Lukas; Painter, Michael S; Youmans, Paul W; Hopkins, William A; Phillips, John B

2015-01-01

We investigated spontaneous magnetic alignment (SMA) by juvenile snapping turtles using exposure to low-level radio frequency (RF) fields at the Larmor frequency to help characterize the underlying sensory mechanism. Turtles, first introduced to the testing environment without the presence of RF aligned consistently towards magnetic north when subsequent magnetic testing conditions were also free of RF ('RF off → RF off'), but were disoriented when subsequently exposed to RF ('RF off → RF on'). In contrast, animals initially introduced to the testing environment with RF present were disoriented when tested without RF ('RF on → RF off'), but aligned towards magnetic south when tested with RF ('RF on → RF on'). Sensitivity of the SMA response of yearling turtles to RF is consistent with the involvement of a radical pair mechanism. Furthermore, the effect of RF appears to result from a change in the pattern of magnetic input, rather than elimination of magnetic input altogether, as proposed to explain similar effects in other systems/organisms. The findings show that turtles first exposed to a novel environment form a lasting association between the pattern of magnetic input and their surroundings. However, under natural conditions turtles would never experience a change in the pattern of magnetic input. Therefore, if turtles form a similar association of magnetic cues with the surroundings each time they encounter unfamiliar habitat, as seems likely, the same pattern of magnetic input would be associated with multiple sites/localities. This would be expected from a sensory input that functions as a global reference frame, helping to place multiple locales (i.e., multiple local landmark arrays) into register to form a global map of familiar space.

Perceived community environmental influences on eating behaviors: A Photovoice analysis.

PubMed

Belon, Ana Paula; Nieuwendyk, Laura M; Vallianatos, Helen; Nykiforuk, Candace I J

2016-12-01

People's perceptions of local food environments influence their abilities to eat healthily. PhotoVoice participants from four communities in Alberta, Canada took pictures of barriers and opportunities for healthy eating and shared their stories in one-on-one semi-structured interviews. Using a socioecological framework, emergent themes were organized by type and size of environment. Findings show that, while availability and access to food outlets influence healthy eating practices, these factors may be eclipsed by other non-physical environmental considerations, such as food regulations and socio-cultural preferences. This study identifies a set of meta-themes that summarize and illustrate the interrelationships between environmental attributes, people's perceptions, and eating behaviors: a) availability and accessibility are interrelated and only part of the healthy eating equation; b) local food is synonymous with healthy eating; c) local food places for healthy eating help define community identity; d) communal dining (commensality) does not necessarily mean healthy eating; e) rewarding an achievement or celebrating special occasions with highly processed foods is socially accepted; f) food costs seemed to be driving forces in food decisions; g) macro-environmental influences are latent in food decisions. Recognizing the interrelationship among multiple environmental factors may help efforts to design effective community-based interventions and address knowledge gaps on how sociocultural, economic, and political environments intersect with physical worlds. Copyright © 2016 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Ltd.. All rights reserved.

Perceived community environmental influences on eating behaviors: A Photovoice analysis

PubMed Central

Belon, Ana Paula; Nieuwendyk, Laura M.; Vallianatos, Helen; Nykiforuk, Candace I.J.

2017-01-01

People’s perceptions of local food environments influence their abilities to eat healthily. PhotoVoice participants from four communities in Alberta, Canada took pictures of barriers and opportunities for healthy eating and shared their stories in one-on-one semi-structured interviews. Using a socioecological framework, emergent themes were organized by type and size of environment. Findings show that, while availability and access to food outlets influence healthy eating practices, these factors may be eclipsed by other non-physical environmental considerations, such as food regulations and sociocultural preferences. This study identifies a set of meta-themes that summarize and illustrate the interrelationships between environmental attributes, people’s perceptions, and eating behaviors: a) availability and accessibility are interrelated and only part of the healthy eating equation; b) local food is synonymous with healthy eating; c) local food places for healthy eating help define community identity; d) communal dining (commensality) does not necessarily mean healthy eating; e) rewarding an achievement or celebrating special occasions with highly processed foods is socially accepted; f) food costs seemed to be driving forces in food decisions; g) macro-environmental influences are latent in food decisions. Recognizing the interrelationship among multiple environmental factors may help efforts to design effective community-based interventions and address knowledge gaps on how sociocultural, economic, and political environments intersect with physical worlds. PMID:27863286

Design and implementation of the GLIF3 guideline execution engine.

PubMed

Wang, Dongwen; Peleg, Mor; Tu, Samson W; Boxwala, Aziz A; Ogunyemi, Omolola; Zeng, Qing; Greenes, Robert A; Patel, Vimla L; Shortliffe, Edward H

2004-10-01

We have developed the GLIF3 Guideline Execution Engine (GLEE) as a tool for executing guidelines encoded in the GLIF3 format. In addition to serving as an interface to the GLIF3 guideline representation model to support the specified functions, GLEE provides defined interfaces to electronic medical records (EMRs) and other clinical applications to facilitate its integration with the clinical information system at a local institution. The execution model of GLEE takes the "system suggests, user controls" approach. A tracing system is used to record an individual patient's state when a guideline is applied to that patient. GLEE can also support an event-driven execution model once it is linked to the clinical event monitor in a local environment. Evaluation has shown that GLEE can be used effectively for proper execution of guidelines encoded in the GLIF3 format. When using it to execute each guideline in the evaluation, GLEE's performance duplicated that of the reference systems implementing the same guideline but taking different approaches. The execution flexibility and generality provided by GLEE, and its integration with a local environment, need to be further evaluated in clinical settings. Integration of GLEE with a specific event-monitoring and order-entry environment is the next step of our work to demonstrate its use for clinical decision support. Potential uses of GLEE also include quality assurance, guideline development, and medical education.

Prioritizing urban sustainability solutions: coordinated approaches must incorporate scale-dependent built environment induced effects

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Georgescu, M.; Chow, W. T. L.; Wang, Z. H.; Brazel, A.; Trapido-Lurie, B.; Roth, M.; Benson-Lira, V.

2015-06-01

Because of a projected surge of several billion urban inhabitants by mid-century, a rising urgency exists to advance local and strategically deployed measures intended to ameliorate negative consequences on urban climate (e.g., heat stress, poor air quality, energy/water availability). Here we highlight the importance of incorporating scale-dependent built environment induced solutions within the broader umbrella of urban sustainability outcomes, thereby accounting for fundamental physical principles. Contemporary and future design of settlements demands cooperative participation between planners, architects, and relevant stakeholders, with the urban and global climate community, which recognizes the complexity of the physical systems involved and is ideally fit to quantitatively examine the viability of proposed solutions. Such participatory efforts can aid the development of locally sensible approaches by integrating across the socioeconomic and climatic continuum, therefore providing opportunities facilitating comprehensive solutions that maximize benefits and limit unintended consequences.

Differentiation of Effect Across Systemic Literacy Programs in Rwanda, the Philippines, and Senegal.

PubMed

Christina, Rachel; Vinogradova, Elena

2017-03-01

In this article, we compare three localized applications (in Rwanda, Senegal, and the Philippines) of a literacy approach for resource-lean environments and examine the factors influencing its impact in each context, considering dosage, duration, and environment. In Rwanda, a bilingual early grade literacy initiative implemented in partnership with the ministry of education included literacy standards development, training for early grade teachers, materials development, leadership support, and community-based activities. In the Philippines, a primary grades trilingual curriculum was implemented in close collaboration with the Department of Education to strengthen its literacy component through standards development, teacher and school leader training, materials development, and awareness campaigns. Finally, in Senegal, a program was conducted supporting the YMCA's efforts to improve local educational outcomes by training youth volunteers to mentor students at risk and by engaging families and communities. © 2017 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

Influence of the local environment on Mn acceptors in GaAs

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Lee, Donghun; Gohlke, David; Benjamin, Anne; Gupta, Jay A.

2015-04-01

As transistors continue to shrink toward nanoscale dimensions, their characteristics are increasingly dependent on the statistical variations of impurities in the semiconductor material. The scanning tunneling microscope (STM) can be used to not only study prototype devices with atomically precise placement of impurity atoms, but can also probe how the properties of these impurities depend on the local environment. Tunneling spectroscopy of Mn acceptors in GaAs indicates that surface-layer Mn act as a deep acceptor, with a hole binding energy that can be tuned by positioning charged defects nearby. Band bending induced by the tip or by these defects can also tune the ionization state of the acceptor complex, evident as a ring-like contrast in STM images. The interplay of these effects is explored over a wide range of defect distances, and understood using iterative simulations of tip-induced band bending.

Effective representation of amide III, II, I, and A modes on local vibrational modes: Analysis of ab initio quantum calculation results.

PubMed

Hahn, Seungsoo

2016-10-28

The Hamiltonian matrix for the first excited vibrational states of a protein can be effectively represented by local vibrational modes constituting amide III, II, I, and A modes to simulate various vibrational spectra. Methods for obtaining the Hamiltonian matrix from ab initio quantum calculation results are discussed, where the methods consist of three steps: selection of local vibrational mode coordinates, calculation of a reduced Hessian matrix, and extraction of the Hamiltonian matrix from the Hessian matrix. We introduce several methods for each step. The methods were assessed based on the density functional theory calculation results of 24 oligopeptides with four different peptide lengths and six different secondary structures. The completeness of a Hamiltonian matrix represented in the reduced local mode space is improved by adopting a specific atom group for each amide mode and reducing the effect of ignored local modes. The calculation results are also compared to previous models using C=O stretching vibration and transition dipole couplings. We found that local electric transition dipole moments of the amide modes are mainly bound on the local peptide planes. Their direction and magnitude are well conserved except amide A modes, which show large variation. Contrary to amide I modes, the vibrational coupling constants of amide III, II, and A modes obtained by analysis of a dipeptide are not transferable to oligopeptides with the same secondary conformation because coupling constants are affected by the surrounding atomic environment.

Participatory Systems Modeling to Explore Sustainable ...

EPA Pesticide Factsheets

Decision makers often need assistance in understanding dynamic interactions and linkages among economic, environmental and social systems in coastal watersheds. They also need scientific input to better evaluate potential costs and benefits of alternative policy interventions. The US EPA is applying sustainability science to address these needs. Triple Value (3V) Scoping and Modeling projects bring a systems approach to understand complex environmental problems, incorporate local knowledge, and allow decision-makers to explore policy scenarios. This leads to better understanding of feedbacks and outcomes to both human and environmental systems. The Suffolk County, NY (eastern Long Island) 3V Case uses SES interconnections to explore possible policy options and scenarios for intervention to mitigate the effects of excess nitrogen (N) loading to ground, surface, and estuarine waters. Many of the environmental impacts of N pollution negatively affect social and economic well-being and productivity. Key are loss of enjoyment and recreational use of local beach environments and loss of income and revenues from tourism and local fisheries. Stakeholders generated this Problem Statement: Suffolk County is experiencing widespread degradation to groundwater and the coastal marine environment caused by excess nitrogen. How can local stakeholders and decision makers in Suffolk County arrest and reverse this degradation, restore conditions to support a healthy thriving ecos

Integration of Wireless Sensor Networks into Cyberinfrastructure for Monitoring Hawaiian ``Mountain-to-Sea'' Environments

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Kido, Michael H.; Mundt, Carsten W.; Montgomery, Kevin N.; Asquith, Adam; Goodale, David W.; Kaneshiro, Kenneth Y.

2008-10-01

Monitoring the complex environmental relationships and feedbacks of ecosystems on catchment (or mountain)-to-sea scales is essential for social systems to effectively deal with the escalating impacts of expanding human populations globally on watersheds. However, synthesis of emerging technologies into a robust observing platform for the monitoring of coupled human-natural environments on extended spatial scales has been slow to develop. For this purpose, the authors produced a new cyberinfrastructure for environmental monitoring which successfully merged the use of wireless sensor technologies, grid computing with three-dimensional (3D) geospatial data visualization/exploration, and a secured internet portal user interface, into a working prototype for monitoring mountain-to-sea environments in the high Hawaiian Islands. A use-case example is described in which native Hawaiian residents of Waipa Valley (Kauai) utilized the technology to monitor the effects of regional weather variation on surface water quality/quantity response, to better understand their local hydrologic cycle, monitor agricultural water use, and mitigate the effects of lowland flooding.

Integration of wireless sensor networks into cyberinfrastructure for monitoring Hawaiian "mountain-to-sea" environments.

PubMed

Kido, Michael H; Mundt, Carsten W; Montgomery, Kevin N; Asquith, Adam; Goodale, David W; Kaneshiro, Kenneth Y

2008-10-01

Monitoring the complex environmental relationships and feedbacks of ecosystems on catchment (or mountain)-to-sea scales is essential for social systems to effectively deal with the escalating impacts of expanding human populations globally on watersheds. However, synthesis of emerging technologies into a robust observing platform for the monitoring of coupled human-natural environments on extended spatial scales has been slow to develop. For this purpose, the authors produced a new cyberinfrastructure for environmental monitoring which successfully merged the use of wireless sensor technologies, grid computing with three-dimensional (3D) geospatial data visualization/exploration, and a secured internet portal user interface, into a working prototype for monitoring mountain-to-sea environments in the high Hawaiian Islands. A use-case example is described in which native Hawaiian residents of Waipa Valley (Kauai) utilized the technology to monitor the effects of regional weather variation on surface water quality/quantity response, to better understand their local hydrologic cycle, monitor agricultural water use, and mitigate the effects of lowland flooding.

Testing bird response to roads on a rural environment: A case study from Central Italy

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Morelli, Federico; Jerzak, Leszek; Pruscini, Fabio; Santolini, Riccardo; Benedetti, Yanina; Tryjanowski, Piotr

2015-11-01

The construction of roads is currently well spread in many parts of our world and impacts strongly on wildlife distribution. Some bird species avoid, while other prefer to be in the vicinity of these human structures. However, studies on roads effects on birds, in terms of strength or direction of these effects, are scarce. Therefore, in a study carried out in Central Italy we tested the responses of different bird species to roads at a local spatial scale, using generalized linear models (GLM). Analysis were conducted on a large dataset (more than 1400 sampled sites, mainly on rural environments). Both positive and negative effects of roads on birds were found for bird species of close or semi-close environments, while the negative effects of roads were negligible for bird species of open and semi-open environments. This fact suggest that roads can be a source of "functional heterogeneity" on semi-open environments, providing marginal habitats, hedgerows and residual vegetation typical of roadsides, offering breeding and feeding habitat for some bird species. The proposed methodology provide a useful explorative tool, in order to develop conservation policies to preserve the biodiversity, mainly in rural landscapes. The outputs of GLM can be used as inputs in ecological planning: direction and strength of the effects of roads on bird species are adequate to estimate the response of bird community, up front to the presence of new structures, or identifying which of them should be mitigated to reduce negative effects on the biodiversity.

40 CFR 1400.6 - Enhanced local access.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

2010-07-01

... 40 Protection of Environment 32 2010-07-01 2010-07-01 false Enhanced local access. 1400.6 Section 1400.6 Protection of Environment ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY AND DEPARTMENT OF JUSTICE ACCIDENTAL RELEASE PREVENTION REQUIREMENTS; RISK MANAGEMENT PROGRAMS UNDER THE CLEAN AIR ACT SECTION 112(r)(7...

Second-Nearest-Neighbor Effects upon N NMR Shieldings in Models for Solid Si 3N 4and C 3N 4

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Tossell, J. A.

1997-07-01

NMR shifts are generally determined mainly by the nearest-neighbor environment of an atom, with fairly small changes in the shift arising from differences in the second-nearest-neighbor environment. Previous calculations on the (SiH3)3N molecule used as a model for the local environment of N in crystalline α- and β-Si3N4gave N NMR shieldings much larger than those measured in the solids and gave the wrong order for the shifts of the inequivalent N sites (e.g., N1 and N2 in β-Si3N4). We have now calculated the N NMR shieldings in larger molecular models for the N2 site of β-Si3N4and have found that the N2 shielding is greatly reduced when additional N1 atoms (second-nearest-neighbors to the central N2) are included. The calculated N2 shieldings (using the GIAO method with the 6-31G* basis set and 6-31G* SCF optimized geometries) are 288.1, 244.7, and 206.0 ppm for the molecules (SiH3)3N, Si6N5H15, and Si9N9H21(central N2), respectively, while the experimental shielding of N2 in β-Si3N4is about 155 ppm. Second-nearest-neighbor effects of only slightly smaller magnitude are calculated for the analog C molecules. At the same time, the effects of molecule size upon Si NMR shieldings and N electric field gradients are small. The local geometries at the N2-like Ns in C6N5H15and C9N9H21are calculated to be planar, consistent with the planar local geometry recently calculated for N in crystalline C3N4using density functional theory.

Aerosol Impacts on California Winter Clouds and Precipitation during CalWater 2011: Local Pollution versus Long-Range Transported Dust

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Fan, Jiwen; Leung, Lai-Yung R.; DeMott, Paul J.

2014-01-03

Mineral dust aerosols often observed over California in winter and spring, associated with long-range transport from Asia and Sahara, have been linked to enhanced precipitation based on observations. Local anthropogenic pollution, on the other hand, was shown in previous observational and modeling studies to reduce precipitation. Here we incorporate recent developments in ice nucleation parameterizations to link aerosols with ice crystal formation in a spectral-bin cloud microphysical model coupled with the Weather Research and Forecasting (WRF) model, to examine the relative and combined impacts of dust and local pollution particles on cloud properties and precipitation type and intensity. Simulations aremore » carried out for two cloud cases with contrasting meteorology and cloud dynamics that occurred on February 16 (FEB16) and March 02 (MAR02) from the CalWater 2011 field campaign. In both cases, observations show the presence of dust and biological particles in a relative pristine environment. The simulated cloud microphysical properties and precipitation show reasonable agreement with aircraft and surface measurements. Model sensitivity experiments indicate that in the pristine environment, the dust and biological aerosol layers increase the accumulated precipitation by 10-20% from the Central Valley to the Sierra Nevada Mountains for both FEB16 and MAR02 due to a ~40% increase in snow formation, validating the observational hypothesis. Model results show that local pollution increases precipitation over the windward slope of the mountains by few percent due to increased snow formation when dust is present but reduces precipitation by 5-8% if dust is removed on FEB16. The effects of local pollution on cloud microphysics and precipitation strongly depend on meteorology including the strength of the Sierra Barrier Jet, and cloud dynamics. This study further underscores the importance of the interactions between local pollution, dust, and environmental conditions for assessing aerosol effects on cold season precipitation in California.« less

‘The dangers attending these conditions are evident’: Public Health and the Working Environment of Lancashire Textile Communities, c.1870–1939

PubMed Central

Greenlees, Janet

2013-01-01

This article examines the position of the working environment within public health priorities and as a contributor to the health of a community. Using two Lancashire textile towns (Burnley and Blackburn) as case studies and drawing on a variety of sources, it highlights how, while legislation set the industry parameters for legal enforcement of working conditions, local public health priorities were pivotal in setting codes of practice. The complexities entwined with identifying the working environment as a cause of ill health and with improving it were entangled within the local community health context. In addition, the multiple understandings of Medical Officers of Health surrounding the remit of their responsibilities impacted the local health context. These did not always parallel national regulations. Indeed, it was these local, community specific forces that set the public health agenda, determined its path and the place of the working environment within this. PMID:24771979

The Local Food Environment and Body Mass Index among the Urban Poor in Accra, Ghana.

PubMed

Dake, Fidelia A A; Thompson, Amanda L; Ng, Shu Wen; Agyei-Mensah, Samuel; Codjoe, Samuel N A

2016-06-01

Obesity in the sub-Saharan Africa region has been portrayed as a problem of affluence, partly because obesity has been found to be more common in urban areas and among the rich. Recent findings, however, reveal rising prevalence among the poor particularly the urban poor. A growing body of literature mostly in Western countries shows that obesity among the poor is partly the result of an obesogenic-built environment. Such studies are lacking in the African context. This study examines the characteristics of the local food environment in an urban poor setting in Accra, Ghana and further investigates the associated risk of obesity for residents. Data on the local food environment was collected using geographic positioning system (GPS) technology. The body mass indices (BMI) of females (15-49 years) and males (15-59 years) were calculated from measured weight and height. Data on the socio-demographic characteristics and lifestyle behaviors of respondents was also collected through a household survey. Spatial analysis tools were used to examine the characteristics of the local food environment while the influence of the food environment on BMI was examined using a two-level multilevel model. The measures of the food environment constituted the level 2 factors while individual socio-demographic characteristics and lifestyle behaviors constituted the level 1 factors. The local food environment in the study communities is suggestive of an obesogenic food environment characterized by an abundance of out-of-home cooked foods, convenience stores, and limited fruits and vegetables options. The results of the multilevel analysis reveal a 0.2 kg/m(2) increase in BMI for every additional convenience store and a 0.1 kg/m(2) reduction in BMI for every out-of-home cooked food place available in the study area after controlling for individual socio-demographic characteristics, lifestyle behaviors, and community characteristics. The findings of this study indicate that the local food environment in urban poor Accra is associated with increased risk of obesity through providing access to convenience stores. In order to reduce the risk of obesity in these urban poor communities, there is the need to regulate the availability of and access to convenience stores while also encouraging healthier offerings in convenience stores.

Non-Markovian decay and dynamics of decoherence in private and public environments

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Dente, A. D.; Zangara, P. R.; Pastawski, H. M.

2011-10-15

We study the decay process in an open system, emphasizing the relevance of the environment's spectral structure. Non-Markovian effects are included to quantitatively analyze the degradation rate of the coherent evolution. The way in which a two-level system is coupled to different environments is specifically addressed: multiple connections to a single bath (public environment) or single connections to multiple baths (private environments). We numerically evaluate the decay rate of a local excitation by using the survival probability and the Loschmidt echo. These rates are compared to analytical results obtained from the standard Fermi golden rule (FGR) in wide band approximation,more » and a self-consistent evaluation that accounts for the bath's memory in cases where an exact analytical solution is possible. We observe that the correlations appearing in a public bath introduce further deviations from the FGR as compared with a private bath.« less

Exciton center-of-mass localization and dielectric environment effect in monolayer WS2

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Hichri, Aïda; Ben Amara, Imen; Ayari, Sabrine; Jaziri, Sihem

2017-06-01

The ultrathin transition metal dichalcogenides (TMDs) have emerged as promising materials for various applications using two dimensional semiconductors. They have attracted increasing attention due to their unique optical properties originate from neutral and charged excitons. In this paper, we study the strong localization of exciton center-of-mass motion within random potential fluctuations caused by the monolayer defects. Here, we report negatively charged exciton formation in monolayer TMDs, notably tungsten disulfide WS2. Our theory is based on an effective mass model of neutral and charged excitons, parameterized by ab-initio calculations. Taking into the account the strong correlation between the monolayer WS2 and the surrounding dielectric environment, our theoretical results are in good agreement with one-photon photoluminescence (PL) and reflectivity measurements. We also show that the exciton state with p-symmetry, experimentally observed by two-photon PL emission, is energetically below the 2s-state. We use the equilibrium mass action law, to quantify the relative weight of exciton and trion PL. We show that exciton and trion emission can be tuned and controlled by external parameters like temperature, pumping, and injection electrons. Finally, in comparison with experimental measurements, we show that exciton emission in monolayer tungsten dichalcogenides is substantially reduced. This feature suggests that free exciton can be trapped in disordered potential wells to form a localized exciton and therefore offers a route toward novel optical properties.

Effects of Structural Properties of Electrospun TiO2 Nano-fiber Meshes on their Osteogenic Potential

PubMed Central

Wang, Xiaokun; Gittens, Rolando A.; Song, Rosemary; Tannenbaum, Rina; Olivares-Navarrete, Rene; Schwartz, Zvi; Chen, Haifeng; Boyan, Barbara D.

2011-01-01

Ideal outcomes in the field of tissue engineering and regenerative medicine involve biomaterials that can enhance cell differentiation and production of local factors for natural tissue regeneration without the use of systemic drugs. Biomaterials typically used in tissue engineering applications include polymeric scaffolds that mimic the 3-D structural environment of the native tissue, but these are often functionalized with proteins or small peptides to improve their biological performance. For bone applications, titanium (Ti) implants, or more appropriately the titania (TiO2) passive oxide layer formed on their surface, have been shown to enhance osteoblast differentiation in vitro and to promote osseointegration in vivo. In this study we evaluated the effect on osteoblast differentiation of pure TiO2 nano-fiber meshes with different surface micro-roughness and nano-fiber diameters, prepared by the electrospinning method. MG63 cells were seeded on TiO2 meshes, and cell number, differentiation markers and local factor production were analyzed. The results showed that cells grew throughout the entire surfaces and with similar morphology in all groups. Cell number was sensitive to surface micro-roughness, whereas cell differentiation and local factor production was regulated by both surface roughness and nano-fiber diameter. These results indicate that scaffold structural cues alone can be used to drive cell differentiation and create an osteogenic environment without the use of exogenous factors. PMID:22075122

A Novel Real-Time Reference Key Frame Scan Matching Method.

PubMed

Mohamed, Haytham; Moussa, Adel; Elhabiby, Mohamed; El-Sheimy, Naser; Sesay, Abu

2017-05-07

Unmanned aerial vehicles represent an effective technology for indoor search and rescue operations. Typically, most indoor missions' environments would be unknown, unstructured, and/or dynamic. Navigation of UAVs in such environments is addressed by simultaneous localization and mapping approach using either local or global approaches. Both approaches suffer from accumulated errors and high processing time due to the iterative nature of the scan matching method. Moreover, point-to-point scan matching is prone to outlier association processes. This paper proposes a low-cost novel method for 2D real-time scan matching based on a reference key frame (RKF). RKF is a hybrid scan matching technique comprised of feature-to-feature and point-to-point approaches. This algorithm aims at mitigating errors accumulation using the key frame technique, which is inspired from video streaming broadcast process. The algorithm depends on the iterative closest point algorithm during the lack of linear features which is typically exhibited in unstructured environments. The algorithm switches back to the RKF once linear features are detected. To validate and evaluate the algorithm, the mapping performance and time consumption are compared with various algorithms in static and dynamic environments. The performance of the algorithm exhibits promising navigational, mapping results and very short computational time, that indicates the potential use of the new algorithm with real-time systems.

A novel combined SLAM based on RBPF-SLAM and EIF-SLAM for mobile system sensing in a large scale environment.

PubMed

He, Bo; Zhang, Shujing; Yan, Tianhong; Zhang, Tao; Liang, Yan; Zhang, Hongjin

2011-01-01

Mobile autonomous systems are very important for marine scientific investigation and military applications. Many algorithms have been studied to deal with the computational efficiency problem required for large scale simultaneous localization and mapping (SLAM) and its related accuracy and consistency. Among these methods, submap-based SLAM is a more effective one. By combining the strength of two popular mapping algorithms, the Rao-Blackwellised particle filter (RBPF) and extended information filter (EIF), this paper presents a combined SLAM-an efficient submap-based solution to the SLAM problem in a large scale environment. RBPF-SLAM is used to produce local maps, which are periodically fused into an EIF-SLAM algorithm. RBPF-SLAM can avoid linearization of the robot model during operating and provide a robust data association, while EIF-SLAM can improve the whole computational speed, and avoid the tendency of RBPF-SLAM to be over-confident. In order to further improve the computational speed in a real time environment, a binary-tree-based decision-making strategy is introduced. Simulation experiments show that the proposed combined SLAM algorithm significantly outperforms currently existing algorithms in terms of accuracy and consistency, as well as the computing efficiency. Finally, the combined SLAM algorithm is experimentally validated in a real environment by using the Victoria Park dataset.

Community control of alcohol and drug risk environments: the California experience.

PubMed

Wittman, Friedner D

2007-01-01

This article describes California community (city, county) uses of local powers and resources to prevent alcohol and other drug (AOD) problems by managing AOD risk environments in retail, public, and social domains. The article presents a promising framework used in several counties dedicated to community environment approaches to prevention. A case example of its application is provided. The framework has developed locally since the mid 1980s through AOD prevention demonstration grant research, policy advocacy, and state support for local initiatives. Data for this article come from the author's experience observing and consulting with California cities and counties over 25 years.

Tracking the sources and sinks of local marine debris in Hawai'i.

PubMed

Carson, Henry S; Lamson, Megan R; Nakashima, Davis; Toloumu, Derek; Hafner, Jan; Maximenko, Nikolai; McDermid, Karla J

2013-03-01

Plastic pollution has biological, chemical, and physical effects on marine environments and economic effects on coastal communities. These effects are acute on southeastern Hawai'i Island, where volunteers remove 16 metric tons of debris annually from a 15 km coastline. Although the majority is foreign-origin, a portion is locally-generated. We used floating debris-retention booms in two urban waterways to measure the input of debris from Hilo, the island's largest community, and released wooden drifters in nearby coastal waters to track the fate of that debris. In 205 days, 30 kilograms of debris (73.6% plastic) were retained from two watersheds comprising 10.2% of Hilo's developed land area. Of 851 wooden drifters released offshore of Hilo in four events, 23.3% were recovered locally, 1.4% at distant locations, and 6.5% on other islands. Comparisons with modeled surface currents and wind were mixed, indicating the importance of nearshore and tidal dynamics not included in the model. This study demonstrated that local pollutants can be retained nearby, contribute to the island's debris-accumulation area, and quickly contaminate other islands. Copyright © 2012 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Timing of favorable conditions, competition and fertility interact to govern recruitment of invasive Chinese tallow tree in stressful environments.

PubMed

Gabler, Christopher A; Siemann, Evan

2013-01-01

The rate of new exotic recruitment following removal of adult invaders (reinvasion pressure) influences restoration outcomes and costs but is highly variable and poorly understood. We hypothesize that broad variation in average reinvasion pressure of Triadica sebifera (Chinese tallow tree, a major invader) arises from differences among habitats in spatiotemporal availability of realized recruitment windows. These windows are periods of variable duration long enough to permit establishment given local environmental conditions. We tested this hypothesis via a greenhouse mesocosm experiment that quantified how the duration of favorable moisture conditions prior to flood or drought stress (window duration), competition and nutrient availability influenced Triadica success in high stress environments. Window duration influenced pre-stress seedling abundance and size, growth during stress and final abundance; it interacted with other factors to affect final biomass and germination during stress. Stress type and competition impacted final size and biomass, plus germination, mortality and changes in size during stress. Final abundance also depended on competition and the interaction of window duration, stress type and competition. Fertilization interacted with competition and stress to influence biomass and changes in height, respectively, but did not affect Triadica abundance. Overall, longer window durations promoted Triadica establishment, competition and drought (relative to flood) suppressed establishment, and fertilization had weak effects. Interactions among factors frequently produced different effects in specific contexts. Results support our 'outgrow the stress' hypothesis and show that temporal availability of abiotic windows and factors that influence growth rates govern Triadica recruitment in stressful environments. These findings suggest that native seed addition can effectively suppress superior competitors in stressful environments. We also describe environmental scenarios where specific management methods may be more or less effective. Our results enable better niche-based estimates of local reinvasion pressure, which can improve restoration efficacy and efficiency by informing site selection and optimal management.

Timing of Favorable Conditions, Competition and Fertility Interact to Govern Recruitment of Invasive Chinese Tallow Tree in Stressful Environments

PubMed Central

Gabler, Christopher A.; Siemann, Evan

2013-01-01

The rate of new exotic recruitment following removal of adult invaders (reinvasion pressure) influences restoration outcomes and costs but is highly variable and poorly understood. We hypothesize that broad variation in average reinvasion pressure of Triadica sebifera (Chinese tallow tree, a major invader) arises from differences among habitats in spatiotemporal availability of realized recruitment windows. These windows are periods of variable duration long enough to permit establishment given local environmental conditions. We tested this hypothesis via a greenhouse mesocosm experiment that quantified how the duration of favorable moisture conditions prior to flood or drought stress (window duration), competition and nutrient availability influenced Triadica success in high stress environments. Window duration influenced pre-stress seedling abundance and size, growth during stress and final abundance; it interacted with other factors to affect final biomass and germination during stress. Stress type and competition impacted final size and biomass, plus germination, mortality and changes in size during stress. Final abundance also depended on competition and the interaction of window duration, stress type and competition. Fertilization interacted with competition and stress to influence biomass and changes in height, respectively, but did not affect Triadica abundance. Overall, longer window durations promoted Triadica establishment, competition and drought (relative to flood) suppressed establishment, and fertilization had weak effects. Interactions among factors frequently produced different effects in specific contexts. Results support our ‘outgrow the stress’ hypothesis and show that temporal availability of abiotic windows and factors that influence growth rates govern Triadica recruitment in stressful environments. These findings suggest that native seed addition can effectively suppress superior competitors in stressful environments. We also describe environmental scenarios where specific management methods may be more or less effective. Our results enable better niche-based estimates of local reinvasion pressure, which can improve restoration efficacy and efficiency by informing site selection and optimal management. PMID:23967212

Advancing Sustainable Development through Understanding the Coastal Environment: The Garolim Bay in the West Coast of Korea.

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Park, M. J.

2017-12-01

The coastal environment worldwide is increasingly more populated and developed in recent years. As a result, the natural coastal environment which often provides habitats for various plants and animals and nursery grounds for fishes has become scarce. However, it is well-known that the natural coastal environment is important for the well-being of the ecosystem including human. In addition, it may contribute to the local economy by attracting many visitors who like to appreciate and enjoy the nature. Although there may be efforts to preserve the natural coastal environment by governments and environmental groups, there may be also needs to develop the coastal environment. In order to preserve the natural environment without sacrificing the local economy, it would be important to appreciate the unique characteristics of the coastal environment that may contribute to attracting many visitors. In this study, we discuss some unique characteristics of the coastal environment located in the west coast of Korea facing the eastern Yellow Sea. The Garolim Bay is a semi-enclosed bay with the narrow opening of about 2 km and the length of about 20 km, and has a spring tidal range over 6 m. It is well known for vast tidal flats and healthy ecosystems that supports high productive and diverse marine lives including spotted seals. The tidal wave propagates north along the eastern Yellow Sea and currents become strong off the Garolim Bay due to the promontory effect and mixing of the water column results in cooling of surface water. Due to its characteristic offshore environment, narrow opening and abrupt turning over 120 degrees in the midst of acceleration of strong currents, the Garolim Bay presents the unique physical and geological environment resulting in characteristic physical, biological and geological features. In fact, the name of the bay `Garolim' meaning 'Dew-induced Forest', may have resulted from these unique physical and geological characteristics of the bay.

Pervasive and strong effects of plants on soil chemistry: a meta-analysis of individual plant 'Zinke' effects.

PubMed

Waring, Bonnie G; Álvarez-Cansino, Leonor; Barry, Kathryn E; Becklund, Kristen K; Dale, Sarah; Gei, Maria G; Keller, Adrienne B; Lopez, Omar R; Markesteijn, Lars; Mangan, Scott; Riggs, Charlotte E; Rodríguez-Ronderos, María Elizabeth; Segnitz, R Max; Schnitzer, Stefan A; Powers, Jennifer S

2015-08-07

Plant species leave a chemical signature in the soils below them, generating fine-scale spatial variation that drives ecological processes. Since the publication of a seminal paper on plant-mediated soil heterogeneity by Paul Zinke in 1962, a robust literature has developed examining effects of individual plants on their local environments (individual plant effects). Here, we synthesize this work using meta-analysis to show that plant effects are strong and pervasive across ecosystems on six continents. Overall, soil properties beneath individual plants differ from those of neighbours by an average of 41%. Although the magnitudes of individual plant effects exhibit weak relationships with climate and latitude, they are significantly stronger in deserts and tundra than forests, and weaker in intensively managed ecosystems. The ubiquitous effects of plant individuals and species on local soil properties imply that individual plant effects have a role in plant-soil feedbacks, linking individual plants with biogeochemical processes at the ecosystem scale. © 2015 The Author(s).

The hybrid personal cooling system (PCS) could effectively reduce the heat strain while exercising in a hot and moderate humid environment.

PubMed

Song, Wenfang; Wang, Faming

2016-08-01

This study aimed to examine the effectiveness of a hybrid personal cooling system (PCS) in mitigating body heat stain while exercising in a hot environment. Eight subjects underwent two trials: PCS and CON (i.e. no cooling). All trials were conducted at an air temperature of 36 ± 0.5 °C and RH = 59 ± 5%. The key findings demonstrated that the PCS could significantly reduce the core temperature, mean skin temperature, heart rate and physiological strain index during both exercise and recovery periods (p < 0.05). Subjective perceptions were also significantly alleviated in PCS at the end of the exercise and during the recovery (p < 0.05). Besides, the PCS could also bring remarkable benefits in lowering local skin temperatures and in improving perceptual sensations in both upper and lower body during both exercise and recovery periods (p < 0.05). It was thus concluded that the hybrid PCS is effective in mitigating body heat strain while exercising in a hot environment. Practitioner Summary: In hot and humid environments, body heat dissipation through sweating is greatly restricted. Our newly developed hybrid PCS could effectively alleviate heat strain while exercising in hot environments. The findings contribute to the body of knowledge in improving the health and well-being of sportsmen while exercising in hot environments.

Testicular defense systems: immune privilege and innate immunity

PubMed Central

Zhao, Shutao; Zhu, Weiwei; Xue, Shepu; Han, Daishu

2014-01-01

The mammalian testis possesses a special immunological environment because of its properties of remarkable immune privilege and effective local innate immunity. Testicular immune privilege protects immunogenic germ cells from systemic immune attack, and local innate immunity is important in preventing testicular microbial infections. The breakdown of local testicular immune homeostasis may lead to orchitis, an etiological factor of male infertility. The mechanisms underlying testicular immune privilege have been investigated for a long time. Increasing evidence shows that both a local immunosuppressive milieu and systemic immune tolerance are involved in maintaining testicular immune privilege status. The mechanisms underlying testicular innate immunity are emerging based on the investigation of the pattern recognition receptor-mediated innate immune response in testicular cells. This review summarizes our current understanding of testicular defense mechanisms and identifies topics that merit further investigation. PMID:24954222

Multidimensional Optimization of Signal Space Distance Parameters in WLAN Positioning

PubMed Central

Brković, Milenko; Simić, Mirjana

2014-01-01

Accurate indoor localization of mobile users is one of the challenging problems of the last decade. Besides delivering high speed Internet, Wireless Local Area Network (WLAN) can be used as an effective indoor positioning system, being competitive both in terms of accuracy and cost. Among the localization algorithms, nearest neighbor fingerprinting algorithms based on Received Signal Strength (RSS) parameter have been extensively studied as an inexpensive solution for delivering indoor Location Based Services (LBS). In this paper, we propose the optimization of the signal space distance parameters in order to improve precision of WLAN indoor positioning, based on nearest neighbor fingerprinting algorithms. Experiments in a real WLAN environment indicate that proposed optimization leads to substantial improvements of the localization accuracy. Our approach is conceptually simple, is easy to implement, and does not require any additional hardware. PMID:24757443

Neuromorphic audio-visual sensor fusion on a sound-localizing robot.

PubMed

Chan, Vincent Yue-Sek; Jin, Craig T; van Schaik, André

2012-01-01

This paper presents the first robotic system featuring audio-visual (AV) sensor fusion with neuromorphic sensors. We combine a pair of silicon cochleae and a silicon retina on a robotic platform to allow the robot to learn sound localization through self motion and visual feedback, using an adaptive ITD-based sound localization algorithm. After training, the robot can localize sound sources (white or pink noise) in a reverberant environment with an RMS error of 4-5° in azimuth. We also investigate the AV source binding problem and an experiment is conducted to test the effectiveness of matching an audio event with a corresponding visual event based on their onset time. Despite the simplicity of this method and a large number of false visual events in the background, a correct match can be made 75% of the time during the experiment.

Pharmaceuticals and personal care products (PPCPs) in Arctic environments: indicator contaminants for assessing local and remote anthropogenic sources in a pristine ecosystem in change.

PubMed

Kallenborn, Roland; Brorström-Lundén, Eva; Reiersen, Lars-Otto; Wilson, Simon

2017-07-31

A first review on occurrence and distribution of pharmaceuticals and personal care products (PPCPs) is presented. The literature survey conducted here was initiated by the current Assessment of the Arctic Monitoring and Assessment Programme (AMAP). This first review on the occurrence and environmental profile of PPCPs in the Arctic identified the presence of 110 related substances in the Arctic environment based on the reports from scientific publications, national and regional assessments and surveys, as well as academic research studies (i.e., PhD theses). PPCP residues were reported in virtually all environmental compartments from coastal seawater to high trophic level biota. For Arctic environments, domestic and municipal wastes as well as sewage are identified as primary release sources. However, the absence of modern waste water treatment plants (WWTPs), even in larger settlements in the Arctic, is resulting in relatively high release rates for selected PPCPs into the receiving Arctic (mainly) aquatic environment. Pharmaceuticals are designed with specific biochemical functions as a part of an integrated therapeutically procedure. This biochemical effect may cause unwanted environmental toxicological effects on non-target organisms when the compound is released into the environment. In the Arctic environments, pharmaceutical residues are released into low to very low ambient temperatures mainly into aqueous environments. Low biodegradability and, thus, prolonged residence time must be expected for the majority of the pharmaceuticals entering the aquatic system. The environmental toxicological consequence of the continuous PPCP release is, thus, expected to be different in the Arctic compared to the temperate regions of the globe. Exposure risks for Arctic human populations due to consumption of contaminated local fish and invertebrates or through exposure to resistant microbial communities cannot be excluded. However, the scientific results reported and summarized here, published in 23 relevant papers and reports (see Table S1 and following references), must still be considered as indication only. Comprehensive environmental studies on the fate, environmental toxicology, and distribution profiles of pharmaceuticals applied in high volumes and released into the Nordic environment under cold Northern climate conditions should be given high priority by national and international authorities.

40 CFR 1400.11 - Limitation on dissemination to State and local government officials.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

2010-07-01

... 40 Protection of Environment 32 2010-07-01 2010-07-01 false Limitation on dissemination to State and local government officials. 1400.11 Section 1400.11 Protection of Environment ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY AND DEPARTMENT OF JUSTICE ACCIDENTAL RELEASE PREVENTION REQUIREMENTS; RISK MANAGEMENT...

Enhancing the Australian healthcare sector's responsiveness to environmental sustainability issues: suggestions from Australian healthcare professionals.

PubMed

Dunphy, Jillian L

2013-05-01

Identify strategies to implement change across the Australian healthcare sector to better support social and natural environments. Methods. Qualitative analysis of semi-structured interviews with Australian healthcare professionals. Interviewees described multiple barriers to implementing change and numerous strategies to overcome these barriers. They argued that action must be taken at the individual and systemic levels to produce substantial and effective change. The strategies recommended fall into four main categories: altering workplace cultures and professional identities, community engagement, political activity, and change from within. The overarching goals of these strategies are to reduce negative impacts on the natural environment, and increase social equity within and across generations. By implementing the strategies described, a more cohesive effort to address sustainability issues across the sector can be made. This may improve local and global health, within current and future generations. WHAT IS KNOWN ABOUT THE TOPIC? Healthcare has a significant impact on the natural and social environments, which in turn have a significant impact upon health and healthcare. WHAT DOES THIS PAPER ADD? This paper describes strategies to alter healthcare to better support environmental sustainability. WHAT ARE THE IMPLICATIONS FOR PRACTITIONERS? Collective implementation of the described strategies may allow a more cohesive and effective response across the Australian healthcare sector, to enhance local and global health for current and future generations.

The population ecology of contemporary adaptations: what empirical studies reveal about the conditions that promote adaptive evolution.

PubMed

Reznick, D N; Ghalambor, C K

2001-01-01

Under what conditions might organisms be capable of rapid adaptive evolution? We reviewed published studies documenting contemporary adaptations in natural populations and looked for general patterns in the population ecological causes. We found that studies of contemporary adaptation fall into two general settings: (1) colonization of new environments that established newly adapted populations, and (2) local adaptations within the context of a heterogeneous environments and metapopulation structure. Local ecological processes associated with colonizations and introductions included exposure to: (1) a novel host or food resource; (2) a new biophysical environment; (3) a new predator community; and (4) a new coexisting competitor. The new environments that were colonized often had depauperate communities, sometimes because of anthropogenic disturbance. Local adaptation in heterogeneous environments was also often associated with recent anthropogenic changes, such as insecticide and herbicide resistance, or industrial melanism. A common feature of many examples is the combination of directional selection with at least a short-term opportunity for population growth. We suggest that such opportunities for population growth may be a key factor that promotes rapid evolution, since directional selection might otherwise be expected to cause population decline and create the potential for local extinction, which is an ever-present alternative to local adaptation. We also address the large discrepancy between the rate of evolution observed in contemporary studies and the apparent rate of evolution seen in the fossil record.

The Development of Biology Teaching Material Based on the Local Wisdom of Timorese to Improve Students Knowledge and Attitude of Environment in Caring the Preservation of Environment

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Ardan, Andam S.

2016-01-01

The purposes of this study were (1) to describe the biology learning such as lesson plans, teaching materials, media and worksheets for the tenth grade of High School on the topic of Biodiversity and Basic Classification, Ecosystems and Environment Issues based on local wisdom of Timorese; (2) to analyze the improvement of the environmental…

User localization in complex environments by multimodal combination of GPS, WiFi, RFID, and pedometer technologies.

PubMed

Dao, Trung-Kien; Nguyen, Hung-Long; Pham, Thanh-Thuy; Castelli, Eric; Nguyen, Viet-Tung; Nguyen, Dinh-Van

2014-01-01

Many user localization technologies and methods have been proposed for either indoor or outdoor environments. However, each technology has its own drawbacks. Recently, many researches and designs have been proposed to build a combination of multiple localization technologies system which can provide higher precision results and solve the limitation in each localization technology alone. In this paper, a conceptual design of a general localization platform using combination of multiple localization technologies is introduced. The combination is realized by dividing spaces into grid points. To demonstrate this platform, a system with GPS, RFID, WiFi, and pedometer technologies is established. Experiment results show that the accuracy and availability are improved in comparison with each technology individually.

User Localization in Complex Environments by Multimodal Combination of GPS, WiFi, RFID, and Pedometer Technologies

PubMed Central

Dao, Trung-Kien; Nguyen, Hung-Long; Pham, Thanh-Thuy; Nguyen, Viet-Tung; Nguyen, Dinh-Van

2014-01-01

Many user localization technologies and methods have been proposed for either indoor or outdoor environments. However, each technology has its own drawbacks. Recently, many researches and designs have been proposed to build a combination of multiple localization technologies system which can provide higher precision results and solve the limitation in each localization technology alone. In this paper, a conceptual design of a general localization platform using combination of multiple localization technologies is introduced. The combination is realized by dividing spaces into grid points. To demonstrate this platform, a system with GPS, RFID, WiFi, and pedometer technologies is established. Experiment results show that the accuracy and availability are improved in comparison with each technology individually. PMID:25147866

Are Local Laws the Key to Ending Childhood Lead Poisoning?

PubMed Central

Korfmacher, Katrina S.; Hanley, Michael L.

2014-01-01

Although lead paint was banned by federal law in 1978, it continues to poison children living in homes built before that time. The lifelong effects of childhood exposure to even small amounts of lead are well established by medical research and include learning and behavior problems, hypertension, osteoporosis, and kidney disease. Federal and state laws have reduced rates of lead poisoning significantly in the past three decades. However, pockets of high rates of lead poisoning remain, primarily in low-income urban neighborhoods with older housing stock. Recently, several municipalities have passed local lead laws in an attempt to reduce lead hazards in these remaining areas. There has been no systematic attempt to compare the design and effectiveness of these local policies. To address this gap, we conducted comparative case studies of eight innovative lead laws promulgated since 2010. The laws used a wide variety of legal structures and tools, although certain elements were common. The impact of the policies was intertwined with local housing, economic, and legal environments. While data do not yet exist to systematically evaluate the impact on lead poisoning rates, our analysis suggests that local laws hold great promise for reducing lead hazards in children’s homes. PMID:23645870

"If You Went Out It Would Stick": Irish Children's Learning in Their Local Environments

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Pike, Susan

2011-01-01

This paper reports on the findings of a research project investigating children's experiences of their local environments. Children's experiences of spaces and places and the interaction of such experiences and their learning were investigated, using mixed research methods, informed by phenomenological and participatory methodologies. Through…

Exploration and Discovery through Maps: Teaching Science with Technology

EPA Science Inventory

Online maps have the power to bring students closer to their local natural environments. EnviroAtlas is an interactive, web-based tool that was designed by the EPA and its partners to provide access to maps that show the status of the local environment and social elements of an ...

Does Physical Activity Mediate the Associations Between Local-Area Descriptive Norms, Built Environment Walkability, and Glycosylated Hemoglobin?

PubMed

Carroll, Suzanne J; Niyonsenga, Theo; Coffee, Neil T; Taylor, Anne W; Daniel, Mark

2017-08-23

Associations between local-area residential features and glycosylated hemoglobin (HbA 1c ) may be mediated by individual-level health behaviors. Such indirect effects have rarely been tested. This study assessed whether individual-level self-reported physical activity mediated the influence of local-area descriptive norms and objectively expressed walkability on 10-year change in HbA 1c . HbA 1c was assessed three times for adults in a 10-year population-based biomedical cohort ( n = 4056). Local-area norms specific to each participant were calculated, aggregating responses from a separate statewide surveillance survey for 1600 m road-network buffers centered on participant addresses (local prevalence of overweight/obesity (body mass index ≥25 kg/m²) and physical inactivity (<150 min/week)). Separate latent growth models estimated direct and indirect (through physical activity) effects of local-area exposures on change in HbA 1c , accounting for spatial clustering and covariates (individual-level age, sex, smoking status, marital status, employment and education, and area-level median household income). HbA 1c worsened over time. Local-area norms directly and indirectly predicted worsening HbA 1c trajectories. Walkability was directly and indirectly protective of worsening HbA 1c . Local-area descriptive norms and walkability influence cardiometabolic risk trajectory through individual-level physical activity. Efforts to reduce population cardiometabolic risk should consider the extent of local-area unhealthful behavioral norms and walkability in tailoring strategies to improve physical activity.

Does Physical Activity Mediate the Associations between Local-Area Descriptive Norms, Built Environment Walkability, and Glycosylated Hemoglobin?

PubMed Central

Daniel, Mark

2017-01-01

Associations between local-area residential features and glycosylated hemoglobin (HbA1c) may be mediated by individual-level health behaviors. Such indirect effects have rarely been tested. This study assessed whether individual-level self-reported physical activity mediated the influence of local-area descriptive norms and objectively expressed walkability on 10-year change in HbA1c. HbA1c was assessed three times for adults in a 10-year population-based biomedical cohort (n = 4056). Local-area norms specific to each participant were calculated, aggregating responses from a separate statewide surveillance survey for 1600 m road-network buffers centered on participant addresses (local prevalence of overweight/obesity (body mass index ≥25 kg/m2) and physical inactivity (<150 min/week)). Separate latent growth models estimated direct and indirect (through physical activity) effects of local-area exposures on change in HbA1c, accounting for spatial clustering and covariates (individual-level age, sex, smoking status, marital status, employment and education, and area-level median household income). HbA1c worsened over time. Local-area norms directly and indirectly predicted worsening HbA1c trajectories. Walkability was directly and indirectly protective of worsening HbA1c. Local-area descriptive norms and walkability influence cardiometabolic risk trajectory through individual-level physical activity. Efforts to reduce population cardiometabolic risk should consider the extent of local-area unhealthful behavioral norms and walkability in tailoring strategies to improve physical activity. PMID:28832552

Quality of Care: A National Sample.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Ferrari, Monica

This survey of 25 day care centers in 5 regions of Italy was designed to determine the characteristics of competent centers and the effects of differing local regulations on the quality of care provided. The Infant and Toddler Environment Rating Scale (ITERS) and a questionnaire were utilized to assess the quality of the day care centers in the…

Effects of surface structural disorder and surface coverage on isotopic fractionation during Zn(II) adsorption onto quartz and amorphous silica surfaces

DOE PAGES

Nelson, Joey; Wasylenki, Laura; Bargar, John R.; ...

2017-08-05

Metal ion-mineral surface interactions and the attendant isotopic fractionation depend on the properties of the mineral surface and the local atomic-level chemical environment. Furthermore, these factors have not been systematically examined for phases of the same composition with different levels of surface disorder.

Development of a Mobile Learning System Based on a Collaborative Problem-Posing Strategy

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Sung, Han-Yu; Hwang, Gwo-Jen; Chang, Ya-Chi

2016-01-01

In this study, a problem-posing strategy is proposed for supporting collaborative mobile learning activities. Accordingly, a mobile learning environment has been developed, and an experiment on a local culture course has been conducted to evaluate the effectiveness of the proposed approach. Three classes of an elementary school in southern Taiwan…

78 FR 32269 - Notice of Availability of the Final Environmental Impact Statement/Environmental Impact Report...

Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

2013-05-29

..., state and local levels. While CDFW has participated in the development of this joint EIS/ EIR, the... alternatives on the human and physical environment, including, but not limited to, effects on biological... inspection at several libraries and government offices. A full list of locations where the final EIS/EIR is...

Effects of surface structural disorder and surface coverage on isotopic fractionation during Zn(II) adsorption onto quartz and amorphous silica surfaces

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Nelson, Joey; Wasylenki, Laura; Bargar, John R.

Metal ion-mineral surface interactions and the attendant isotopic fractionation depend on the properties of the mineral surface and the local atomic-level chemical environment. Furthermore, these factors have not been systematically examined for phases of the same composition with different levels of surface disorder.

Seafloor environments in Cape Cod Bay, a large coastal embayment

USGS Publications Warehouse

Knebel, H.J.; Rendigs, R. R.; List, J.H.; Signell, R.P.

1996-01-01

Cape Cod Bay is a glacial, semi-enclosed embayment that has a patchy distribution of modern seafloor sedimentary environments of erosion or nondeposition, deposition, and sediment reworking. Sidescan-sonar records and supplemental bathymetric, sedimentary, subbottom, and physical- oceanographic data indicate that the characteristics and distribution of these three categories of bottom environments are controlled by a combination of geologic and oceanographic processes that range from episodic to long-term and from regional to local. (1) Environments of erosion or nondeposition comprise exposares of bedrock, glacial drift, and coarse lag deposits that contain sediments (where present) ranging from boulder fields to gravelly coarse-to-medium sands. These environments are dominant on the shallow margins of the bay (water depths <30 m) where they reflect sediment resuspension, winnowing, and transport during modern northerly storms. (2) Environments of deposition are blanketed by fine-grained sediments ranging from muds to muddy fine sands. These environments are dominant across the floor of the central basin (water depths= 30-60 m) where fine- grained sediments (derived from regional and local sources and emplaced primarily during episodic wind- and density-driven flow) settle through the water column and accumulate under weak bottom currents during nonstorm conditions. (3) Environments of sediment reworking contain patches with diverse textures ranging from gravelly sands to muds. These environments occupy much of the transitional slopes between the margins and the basin floor and reflect a combination of erosion and deposition. The patchy distribution of sedimentary environments within the bay reflects not only regional changes in processes between the margins and the basin but local changes within each part of the bay as well. Small-scale patchiness is caused by local changes in the strengths of wave- and wind-driven currents and (on the margins) by local variations in the supply of fine-grained sediments. This study indicates areas within Cape Cod Bay where fine-grained sediments and associated contaminants are likely to be either moved or deposited. It also provides a guide to the locations and variability of benthic habitats.

Seafloor environments in Cape Cod Bay, a large coastal embayment

USGS Publications Warehouse

Knebel, H.J.; Rendigs, R. R.; List, J.H.; Signell, Richard P.

1996-01-01

Cape Cod Bay is a glacial, semi-enclosed embayment that has a patchy distribution of modern seafloor sedimentary environments of erosion or nondeposition, deposition, and sediment reworking. Sidescan-sonar records and supplemental bathymetric, sedimentary, subbottom, and physical-oceanographic data indicate that the characteristics and distribution of these three categories of bottom environments are controlled by a combination of geologic and oceanographic processes that range from episodic to long-term and from regional to local. (1) Environments of erosion or nondeposition comprise exposures of bedrock, glacial drift, and coarse lag deposits that contain sediments (where present) ranging from boulder fields to gravelly coarse-to-medium sands. These environments are dominant on the shallow margins of the bay (water depths < 30 m) where they reflect sediment resuspension, winnowing, and transport during modern northerly storms. (2) Environments of deposition are blanketed by fine-grained sediments ranging from muds to muddy fine sands. These environments are dominant across the floor of the central basin (water depths = 30–60 m) where fine-grained sediments (derived from regional and local sources and emplaced primarily during episodic wind- and density-driven flow) settle through the water column and accumulate under weak bottom currents during nonstorm conditions. (3) Environments of sediment reworking contain patches with diverse textures ranging from gravelly sands to muds. These environments occupy much of the transitional slopes between the margins and the basin floor and reflect a combination of erosion and deposition.The patchy distribution of sedimentary environments within the bay reflects not only regional changes in processes between the margins and the basin but local changes within each part of the bay as well. Small-scale patchiness is caused by local changes in the strengths of wave- and wind-driven currents and (on the margins) by local variations in the supply of fine-grained sediments.This study indicates areas within Cape Cod Bay where fine-grained sediments and associated contaminants are likely to be either moved or deposited. It also provides a guide to the locations and variability of benthic habitats.

Local Chemical Ordering and Negative Thermal Expansion in PtNi Alloy Nanoparticles.

PubMed

Li, Qiang; Zhu, He; Zheng, Lirong; Fan, Longlong; Wang, Na; Rong, Yangchun; Ren, Yang; Chen, Jun; Deng, Jinxia; Xing, Xianran

2017-12-13

An atomic insight into the local chemical ordering and lattice strain is particular interesting to recent emerging bimetallic nanocatalysts such as PtNi alloys. Here, we reported the atomic distribution, chemical environment, and lattice thermal evolution in full-scale structural description of PtNi alloy nanoparticles (NPs). The different segregation of elements in the well-faceted PtNi nanoparticles is convinced by extended X-ray absorption fine structure (EXAFS). Atomic pair distribution function (PDF) study evidences the coexistence of the face-centered cubic and tetragonal ordering parts in the local environment of PtNi nanoparticles. Further reverse Monte Carlo (RMC) simulation with PDF data obviously exposed the segregation as Ni and Pt in the centers of {111} and {001} facets, respectively. Layer-by-layer statistical analysis up to 6 nm for the local atomic pairs revealed the distribution of local tetragonal ordering on the surface. This local coordination environment facilitates the distribution of heteroatomic Pt-Ni pairs, which plays an important role in the negative thermal expansion of Pt 41 Ni 59 NPs. The present study on PtNi alloy NPs from local short-range coordination to long-range average lattice provides a new perspective on tailoring physical properties in nanomaterials.

Local health practices and the knowledge of medicinal plants in a Brazilian semi-arid region: environmental benefits to human health.

PubMed

Zank, Sofia; Peroni, Nivaldo; de Araújo, Elcida Lima; Hanazaki, Natalia

2015-02-23

The concept of eco-cultural health considers the dynamic interaction between humans and ecosystems, emphasizing the implications of the health of the ecosystem for the health and well-being of human populations. Ethnobotanical studies focusing on folk medicine and medicinal plants can contribute to the field of eco-cultural health if they incorporate the perspective and local knowledge of communities. We investigated the local health practices in three rural communities living within the vicinity of a protected area of sustainable use in a semi-arid region of Brazil. We analyzed the opinions of local health experts on the elements that influence human health and on how the environment contributes to this influence. We also analyzed and compared the local knowledge of medicinal plants, as knowledge of this type is an important factor when considering the interaction between environmental and human health. We performed structured interviews and free-listings with 66 local health experts. We used content analysis to systematize the elements of the influences on human health. We compared the richness of the plants cited among communities and analyzed the differences among the three communities regarding the ways in which the plants were obtained and the environments in which plants were collected. The local experts identified several influences of the environment on human health. These influences can be associated with ecosystem services, such as climatic conditions, water and air quality, recreation and medicinal and food resources. We identified 192 medicinal plant species, most of which were gathered from wild ecosystems. The most important environments for the three communities were the plateau mountain and backyards. The informants had a broad and integrated view of health, perceiving the importance of conserving the environment within the National Forest of Araripe for the health and well-being of the local populations.

A cost effective bioremediation strategy using low technology resources for reclamation of dry land hydrocarbon contamination: A case study

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Robb, A.J. III; Hoggatt, P.R.

Hydrocarbon containing soil was bioremediated at a combination wastewater and slop oil skim evaporation pond utilizing cost effective low technology resources. Fluids and sludge from the football field-sized pond were extraction procedure toxicity and purgeable organics tested, and total petroleum hydrocarbon (TPH) concentrations determined. An impact risk analysis was performed, and a corrective action plan developed and implemented. The three year project was closely coordinated with the Kansas Corporation Commission (KCC) and the Kansas Department of Health and Environment (KDHE) who established the closure level. The impacted soils at the pond were completely excavated and closure was immediately granted bymore » KDHE for the excavated area. The 24,000 cubic yards of excavated soil were then surface spread on adjacent Mobil property. A nutrient and microbial base was applied to bioaugment the soil. The preapplication land surface and the subsequently land farmed soil was periodically disced and chiseled. A job safety plan including industrial hygiene measures to eliminate workforce exposure was developed and implemented. The final remediation cost analysis amounts to $1.48 per cubic yard compared to the $30 to $150 per cubic yard industry o estimates for similar projects. Several factors were critical in ailing costs to remain so low: (1) assessment and implementation by local in-house staff, (2) conservative remedial action plan and sampling strategy; (3) local contractors; (4) locally available soil amendment; and (5) effective regulatory coordination. The methods described can be used to cost effectively characterize and bioremediate other sites where hydrocarbon-impacted soils exist in similar dry-land environments.« less

Interactive Sound Propagation using Precomputation and Statistical Approximations

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Antani, Lakulish

Acoustic phenomena such as early reflections, diffraction, and reverberation have been shown to improve the user experience in interactive virtual environments and video games. These effects arise due to repeated interactions between sound waves and objects in the environment. In interactive applications, these effects must be simulated within a prescribed time budget. We present two complementary approaches for computing such acoustic effects in real time, with plausible variation in the sound field throughout the scene. The first approach, Precomputed Acoustic Radiance Transfer, precomputes a matrix that accounts for multiple acoustic interactions between all scene objects. The matrix is used at run time to provide sound propagation effects that vary smoothly as sources and listeners move. The second approach couples two techniques---Ambient Reverberance, and Aural Proxies---to provide approximate sound propagation effects in real time, based on only the portion of the environment immediately visible to the listener. These approaches lie at different ends of a space of interactive sound propagation techniques for modeling sound propagation effects in interactive applications. The first approach emphasizes accuracy by modeling acoustic interactions between all parts of the scene; the second approach emphasizes efficiency by only taking the local environment of the listener into account. These methods have been used to efficiently generate acoustic walkthroughs of architectural models. They have also been integrated into a modern game engine, and can enable realistic, interactive sound propagation on commodity desktop PCs.

Trading quality for relevance: non-health decision-makers’ use of evidence on the social determinants of health

PubMed Central

McGill, Elizabeth; Egan, Matt; Petticrew, Mark; Mountford, Lesley; Milton, Sarah; Whitehead, Margaret; Lock, Karen

2015-01-01

Objectives Local government services and policies affect health determinants across many sectors such as planning, transportation, housing and leisure. Researchers and policymakers have argued that decisions affecting wider determinants of health, well-being and inequalities should be informed by evidence. This study explores how information and evidence are defined, assessed and utilised by local professionals situated beyond the health sector, but whose decisions potentially affect health: in this case, practitioners working in design, planning and maintenance of the built environment. Design A qualitative study using three focus groups. A thematic analysis was undertaken. Setting The focus groups were held in UK localities and involved local practitioners working in two UK regions, as well as in Brazil, USA and Canada. Participants UK and international practitioners working in the design and management of the built environment at a local government level. Results Participants described a range of data and information that constitutes evidence, of which academic research is only one part. Built environment decision-makers value empirical evidence, but also emphasise the legitimacy and relevance of less empirical ways of thinking through narratives that associate their work to art and philosophy. Participants prioritised evidence on the acceptability, deliverability and sustainability of interventions over evidence of longer term outcomes (including many health outcomes). Participants generally privileged local information, including personal experiences and local data, but were less willing to accept evidence from contexts perceived to be different from their own. Conclusions Local-level built environment practitioners utilise evidence to make decisions, but their view of ‘best evidence’ appears to prioritise local relevance over academic rigour. Academics can facilitate evidence-informed local decisions affecting social determinants of health by working with relevant practitioners to improve the quality of local data and evaluations, and by advancing approaches to improve the external validity of academic research. PMID:25838508

Glimpsing the imprint of local environment on the galaxy stellar mass function

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Tomczak, Adam R.; Lemaux, Brian C.; Lubin, Lori M.; Gal, Roy R.; Wu, Po-Feng; Holden, Bradford; Kocevski, Dale D.; Mei, Simona; Pelliccia, Debora; Rumbaugh, Nicholas; Shen, Lu

2017-12-01

We investigate the impact of local environment on the galaxy stellar mass function (SMF) spanning a wide range of galaxy densities from the field up to dense cores of massive galaxy clusters. Data are drawn from a sample of eight fields from the Observations of Redshift Evolution in Large-Scale Environments (ORELSE) survey. Deep photometry allow us to select mass-complete samples of galaxies down to 109 M⊙. Taking advantage of >4000 secure spectroscopic redshifts from ORELSE and precise photometric redshifts, we construct three-dimensional density maps between 0.55 < z < 1.3 using a Voronoi tessellation approach. We find that the shape of the SMF depends strongly on local environment exhibited by a smooth, continual increase in the relative numbers of high- to low-mass galaxies towards denser environments. A straightforward implication is that local environment proportionally increases the efficiency of (a) destroying lower mass galaxies and/or (b) growth of higher mass galaxies. We also find a presence of this environmental dependence in the SMFs of star-forming and quiescent galaxies, although not quite as strongly for the quiescent subsample. To characterize the connection between the SMF of field galaxies and that of denser environments, we devise a simple semi-empirical model. The model begins with a sample of ≈106 galaxies at zstart = 5 with stellar masses distributed according to the field. Simulated galaxies then evolve down to zfinal = 0.8 following empirical prescriptions for star-formation, quenching and galaxy-galaxy merging. We run the simulation multiple times, testing a variety of scenarios with differing overall amounts of merging. Our model suggests that a large number of mergers are required to reproduce the SMF in dense environments. Additionally, a large majority of these mergers would have to occur in intermediate density environments (e.g. galaxy groups).

Coulomb blockade in a single tunnel junction directly connected to a multiwalled carbon nanotube

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Haruyama, Junji; Takesue, Izumi; Sato, Yuki

2000-10-01

We report on Coulomb blockade in a single tunnel junction directly connected to a multiwalled carbon nanotube (MWNT) by utilizing a nanoporous alumina film. The MWNT exhibits a weak localization effect with strong spin flip scattering. Experimental results and analysis suggest that a high-impedance external environment caused by the weak localization in the MWNT can yield Coulomb blockade, in accordance with phase correlation theory in a single junction system. It is also revealed that the Coulomb blockade is very sensitive to phase modulation in the MWNT, which also acts as a high-impedance transmission line.

Maternal environment affects the genetic basis of seed dormancy in Arabidopsis thaliana.

PubMed

Postma, Froukje M; Ågren, Jon

2015-02-01

The genetic basis of seed dormancy, a key life history trait important for adaptive evolution in plant populations, has yet been studied only using seeds produced under controlled conditions in greenhouse environments. However, dormancy is strongly affected by maternal environmental conditions, and interactions between seed genotype and maternal environment have been reported. Consequently, the genetic basis of dormancy of seeds produced under natural field conditions remains unclear. We examined the effect of maternal environment on the genetic architecture of seed dormancy using a recombinant inbred line (RIL) population derived from a cross between two locally adapted populations of Arabidopsis thaliana from Italy and Sweden. We mapped quantitative trait loci (QTL) for dormancy of seeds produced in the greenhouse and at the native field sites of the parental genotypes. The Italian genotype produced seeds with stronger dormancy at fruit maturation than did the Swedish genotype in all three environments, and the maternal field environments induced higher dormancy levels compared to the greenhouse environment in both genotypes. Across the three maternal environments, a total of nine dormancy QTL were detected, three of which were only detected among seeds matured in the field, and six of which showed significant QTL × maternal environment interactions. One QTL had a large effect on dormancy across all three environments and colocalized with the candidate gene DOG1. Our results demonstrate the importance of studying the genetic basis of putatively adaptive traits under relevant conditions. © 2015 John Wiley & Sons Ltd.

Initiating change locally in bullying and aggression through the school environment (INCLUSIVE): study protocol for a cluster randomised controlled trial.

PubMed

Bonell, Chris; Allen, Elizabeth; Christie, Deborah; Elbourne, Diana; Fletcher, Adam; Grieve, Richard; LeGood, Rosa; Mathiot, Anne; Scott, Stephen; Wiggins, Meg; Viner, Russell M

2014-09-30

Systematic reviews suggest that interventions that address school organisation are effective in reducing victimisation and bullying. We successfully piloted a school environment intervention modified from international studies to incorporate 'restorative justice' approaches. This trial aims to establish the effectiveness and cost-effectiveness of the INCLUSIVE intervention in reducing aggression and bullying in English secondary schools. cluster randomised trial. 40 state-supported secondary schools. OUTCOMES assessed among the cohort of students in year 8 (n = approximately 6,000) in intervention year 1. INCLUSIVE is a school-led intervention which combines changes to the school environment with the promotion of social and emotional skills and restorative practices through: the formation of a school action group involving students and staff supported by an external facilitator to review local data on needs, determine priorities, and develop and implement an action plan for revising relevant school policies/rules and other actions to improve relationships at school and reduce aggression; staff training in restorative practices; and a new social and emotional skills curriculum. The intervention will be delivered by schools supported in the first two years by educational facilitators independent of the research team, with a third locally facilitated intervention year.Comparator: normal practice. primary: 2 primary outcomes at student level assessed at baseline and at 36 months:1. Aggressive behaviours in school: Edinburgh Study of Youth Transitions and Crime school misbehaviour subscale (ESYTC)2. Bullying and victimisation: Gatehouse Bullying Scale (GBS)Secondary outcomes assessed at baseline, 24 and 36 months will include measures relating to the economic evaluation, psychosocial outcomes in students and staff and school-level truancy and exclusion rates. 20 schools per arm will provide 90% power to identify an effect size of 0.25 SD with a 5% significance level.Randomisation: eligible consenting schools will be randomised stratified for single sex versus mixed sex schools, school-level deprivation and measures of school attainment. The trial will be run by independent research and intervention teams and supervised by a Trial Steering Committee and a Data Monitoring Committee (DMC). Current Controlled Trials ISRCTN10751359 (Registered 11 March 2014).

Challenges in assessing food environments in northern and remote communities in Canada.

PubMed

Skinner, Kelly; Burnett, Kristin; Williams, Patricia; Martin, Debbie; Stothart, Christopher; LeBlanc, Joseph; Veeraraghavan, Gigi; Sheedy, Amanda

2016-06-09

Effective tools for retail food environments in northern and remote communities are lacking. This paper examines the challenges of conducting food environment assessments in northern and remote communities in Canada encountered during our experience with a food costing project. One of the goals of the Paying for Nutrition in the North project is to develop guidelines to improve current food costing tools for northern Canada. Paying for Nutrition illustrates the complex context of measuring food environments in northern and remote communities. Through the development of a food costing methodology guide to assess northern food environments, several contextual issues emerged, including retail store oligopolies in communities; the importance of assessing food quality; informal social food economies; and the challenge of costing the acquisition and consumption of land- and water-based foods. Food environment measures designed for northern and remote communities need to reflect the geographic context in which they are being employed and must include input from local residents.

The genetic basis of local adaptation for pathogenic fungi in agricultural ecosystems.

PubMed

Croll, Daniel; McDonald, Bruce A

2017-04-01

Local adaptation plays a key role in the evolutionary trajectory of host-pathogen interactions. However, the genetic architecture of local adaptation in host-pathogen systems is poorly understood. Fungal plant pathogens in agricultural ecosystems provide highly tractable models to quantify phenotypes and map traits to corresponding genomic loci. The outcome of crop-pathogen interactions is thought to be governed largely by gene-for-gene interactions. However, recent studies showed that virulence can be governed by quantitative trait loci and that many abiotic factors contribute to the outcome of the interaction. After introducing concepts of local adaptation and presenting examples from wild plant pathosystems, we focus this review on a major pathogen of wheat, Zymoseptoria tritici, to show how a multitude of traits can affect local adaptation. Zymoseptoria tritici adapted to different thermal environments across its distribution range, indicating that thermal adaptation may limit effective dispersal to different climates. The application of fungicides led to the rapid evolution of multiple, independent resistant populations. The degree of colony melanization showed strong pleiotropic effects with other traits, including trade-offs with colony growth rates and fungicide sensitivity. The success of the pathogen on its host can be assessed quantitatively by counting pathogen reproductive structures and measuring host damage based on necrotic lesions. Interestingly, these two traits can be weakly correlated and depend both on host and pathogen genotypes. Quantitative trait mapping studies showed that the genetic architecture of locally adapted traits varies from single loci with large effects to many loci with small individual effects. We discuss how local adaptation could hinder or accelerate the development of epidemics in agricultural ecosystems. © 2016 John Wiley & Sons Ltd.

Passive Sensor Integration for Vehicle Self-Localization in Urban Traffic Environment †

PubMed Central

Gu, Yanlei; Hsu, Li-Ta; Kamijo, Shunsuke

2015-01-01

This research proposes an accurate vehicular positioning system which can achieve lane-level performance in urban canyons. Multiple passive sensors, which include Global Navigation Satellite System (GNSS) receivers, onboard cameras and inertial sensors, are integrated in the proposed system. As the main source for the localization, the GNSS technique suffers from Non-Line-Of-Sight (NLOS) propagation and multipath effects in urban canyons. This paper proposes to employ a novel GNSS positioning technique in the integration. The employed GNSS technique reduces the multipath and NLOS effects by using the 3D building map. In addition, the inertial sensor can describe the vehicle motion, but has a drift problem as time increases. This paper develops vision-based lane detection, which is firstly used for controlling the drift of the inertial sensor. Moreover, the lane keeping and changing behaviors are extracted from the lane detection function, and further reduce the lateral positioning error in the proposed localization system. We evaluate the integrated localization system in the challenging city urban scenario. The experiments demonstrate the proposed method has sub-meter accuracy with respect to mean positioning error. PMID:26633420

PILA: Sub-Meter Localization Using CSI from Commodity Wi-Fi Devices

PubMed Central

Tian, Zengshan; Li, Ze; Zhou, Mu; Jin, Yue; Wu, Zipeng

2016-01-01

The aim of this paper is to present a new indoor localization approach by employing the Angle-of-arrival (AOA) and Received Signal Strength (RSS) measurements in Wi-Fi network. To achieve this goal, we first collect the Channel State Information (CSI) by using the commodity Wi-Fi devices with our designed three antennas to estimate the AOA of Wi-Fi signal. Second, we propose a direct path identification algorithm to obtain the direct signal path for the sake of reducing the interference of multipath effect on the AOA estimation. Third, we construct a new objective function to solve the localization problem by integrating the AOA and RSS information. Although the localization problem is non-convex, we use the Second-order Cone Programming (SOCP) relaxation approach to transform it into a convex problem. Finally, the effectiveness of our approach is verified based on the prototype implementation by using the commodity Wi-Fi devices. The experimental results show that our approach can achieve the median error 0.7 m in the actual indoor environment. PMID:27735879

PILA: Sub-Meter Localization Using CSI from Commodity Wi-Fi Devices.

PubMed

Tian, Zengshan; Li, Ze; Zhou, Mu; Jin, Yue; Wu, Zipeng

2016-10-10

The aim of this paper is to present a new indoor localization approach by employing the Angle-of-arrival (AOA) and Received Signal Strength (RSS) measurements in Wi-Fi network. To achieve this goal, we first collect the Channel State Information (CSI) by using the commodity Wi-Fi devices with our designed three antennas to estimate the AOA of Wi-Fi signal. Second, we propose a direct path identification algorithm to obtain the direct signal path for the sake of reducing the interference of multipath effect on the AOA estimation. Third, we construct a new objective function to solve the localization problem by integrating the AOA and RSS information. Although the localization problem is non-convex, we use the Second-order Cone Programming (SOCP) relaxation approach to transform it into a convex problem. Finally, the effectiveness of our approach is verified based on the prototype implementation by using the commodity Wi-Fi devices. The experimental results show that our approach can achieve the median error 0.7 m in the actual indoor environment.

Spatial sparsity based indoor localization in wireless sensor network for assistive healthcare.

PubMed

Pourhomayoun, Mohammad; Jin, Zhanpeng; Fowler, Mark

2012-01-01

Indoor localization is one of the key topics in the area of wireless networks with increasing applications in assistive healthcare, where tracking the position and actions of the patient or elderly are required for medical observation or accident prevention. Most of the common indoor localization methods are based on estimating one or more location-dependent signal parameters like TOA, AOA or RSS. However, some difficulties and challenges caused by the complex scenarios within a closed space significantly limit the applicability of those existing approaches in an indoor assistive environment, such as the well-known multipath effect. In this paper, we develop a new one-stage localization method based on spatial sparsity of the x-y plane. In this method, we directly estimate the location of the emitter without going through the intermediate stage of TOA or signal strength estimation. We evaluate the performance of the proposed method using Monte Carlo simulation. The results show that the proposed method is (i) very accurate even with a small number of sensors and (ii) very effective in addressing the multi-path issues.

Environmental Stewardship: A Conceptual Review and Analytical Framework.

PubMed

Bennett, Nathan J; Whitty, Tara S; Finkbeiner, Elena; Pittman, Jeremy; Bassett, Hannah; Gelcich, Stefan; Allison, Edward H

2018-04-01

There has been increasing attention to and investment in local environmental stewardship in conservation and environmental management policies and programs globally. Yet environmental stewardship has not received adequate conceptual attention. Establishing a clear definition and comprehensive analytical framework could strengthen our ability to understand the factors that lead to the success or failure of environmental stewardship in different contexts and how to most effectively support and enable local efforts. Here we propose such a definition and framework. First, we define local environmental stewardship as the actions taken by individuals, groups or networks of actors, with various motivations and levels of capacity, to protect, care for or responsibly use the environment in pursuit of environmental and/or social outcomes in diverse social-ecological contexts. Next, drawing from a review of the environmental stewardship, management and governance literatures, we unpack the elements of this definition to develop an analytical framework that can facilitate research on local environmental stewardship. Finally, we discuss potential interventions and leverage points for promoting or supporting local stewardship and future applications of the framework to guide descriptive, evaluative, prescriptive or systematic analysis of environmental stewardship. Further application of this framework in diverse environmental and social contexts is recommended to refine the elements and develop insights that will guide and improve the outcomes of environmental stewardship initiatives and investments. Ultimately, our aim is to raise the profile of environmental stewardship as a valuable and holistic concept for guiding productive and sustained relationships with the environment.

Environmental Stewardship: A Conceptual Review and Analytical Framework

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Bennett, Nathan J.; Whitty, Tara S.; Finkbeiner, Elena; Pittman, Jeremy; Bassett, Hannah; Gelcich, Stefan; Allison, Edward H.

2018-04-01

There has been increasing attention to and investment in local environmental stewardship in conservation and environmental management policies and programs globally. Yet environmental stewardship has not received adequate conceptual attention. Establishing a clear definition and comprehensive analytical framework could strengthen our ability to understand the factors that lead to the success or failure of environmental stewardship in different contexts and how to most effectively support and enable local efforts. Here we propose such a definition and framework. First, we define local environmental stewardship as the actions taken by individuals, groups or networks of actors, with various motivations and levels of capacity, to protect, care for or responsibly use the environment in pursuit of environmental and/or social outcomes in diverse social-ecological contexts. Next, drawing from a review of the environmental stewardship, management and governance literatures, we unpack the elements of this definition to develop an analytical framework that can facilitate research on local environmental stewardship. Finally, we discuss potential interventions and leverage points for promoting or supporting local stewardship and future applications of the framework to guide descriptive, evaluative, prescriptive or systematic analysis of environmental stewardship. Further application of this framework in diverse environmental and social contexts is recommended to refine the elements and develop insights that will guide and improve the outcomes of environmental stewardship initiatives and investments. Ultimately, our aim is to raise the profile of environmental stewardship as a valuable and holistic concept for guiding productive and sustained relationships with the environment.

Molecular Electronics for Frequency Domain Optical Storage. Persistent Spectral Hole-Burning. A Review.

DTIC Science & Technology

1985-03-25

H In a real crystal, glass, or polymer, unavoidable local strains due to vacancies, dislocations, other defects, or the randomness of the host...itself cause the various molecules in the solid to have slightly different local environments. In this case (see the lower half of Figure 1), the way in...fact that the local environments of the various molecules are different that makes the various molecules absorb slightly different laser frequencies

Effect of electrochemical corrosion on the subsurface microstructure evolution of a CoCrMo alloy in albumin containing environment

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Wang, Zhongwei; Yan, Yu; Su, Yanjing; Qiao, Lijie

2017-06-01

The subsurface microstructures of metallic implants play a key role in bio-tribocorrosion. Due to wear or change of local environment, the implant surface can have inhomogeneous electrochemical corrosion properties. In this work, the effect of electrochemical corrosion conditions on the subsurface microstructure evolution of CoCrMo alloys for artificial joints was investigated. Transmission electron microscope (TEM) was employed to observe the subsurface microstructures of worn areas at different applied potentials in a simulated physiological solution. The results showed that applied potentials could affect the severity of the subsurface deformation not only by changing the surface passivation but also affecting the adsorption of protein on the alloy surface.

A novel spatially-explicit condition for the onset of waterborne diseases in complex environments

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Mari, L.; Gatto, M.; Bertuzzo, E.; Casagrandi, R.; Righetto, L.; Rodriguez-Iturbe, I.; Rinaldo, A.

2012-12-01

In spatial models of waterborne infections the condition that all the local reproduction numbers be larger than one is neither necessary nor sufficient for outbreaks to occur. Here, to properly determine epidemic onset conditions, we examine the transition from stable to unstable of the disease-free equilibrium of a system of nonlinear differential equations characterizing the evolution of susceptible and infected individuals within their respective settlements, and pathogen concentration in their accessible environment. Two different network connectivity layers are assumed to link human settlements: hydrologic pathways serve as ecological corridors for pathogens, while human mobility acts as disease vehicle through susceptibles contracting the disease and asymptomatic infectives shedding bacteria at their temporary destinations. We show that an epidemic outbreak can be triggered if the dominant eigenvalue of a generalized reproduction matrix G0, suitably accounting for spatial distribution of human settlements, hydrological pathways for pathogen dispersal and pathogen redistribution mechanisms due to human mobility, is larger than unity. Matrix G0 and its dominant eigenvalue thus replace the usual reproduction number whenever spatial effects on disease propagation cannot be ignored. Conversely, our novel criterion decays into the standard onset condition based on local reproduction numbers in nonspatial settings. By analyzing realistic test cases we show that within a connected network system the disease can start even if all the local reproduction numbers are smaller than unity, or might not start even if all the local reproduction numbers are larger than unity. We also show that onset geography in complex environments is linked to the dominant eigenvector of matrix G0. Applications to cholera outbreaks in developing countries demonstrate that our approach can be successfully used for disease prediction and emergency management.

Continuous Space Estimation: Increasing WiFi-Based Indoor Localization Resolution without Increasing the Site-Survey Effort.

PubMed

Hernández, Noelia; Ocaña, Manuel; Alonso, Jose M; Kim, Euntai

2017-01-13

Although much research has taken place in WiFi indoor localization systems, their accuracy can still be improved. When designing this kind of system, fingerprint-based methods are a common choice. The problem with fingerprint-based methods comes with the need of site surveying the environment, which is effort consuming. In this work, we propose an approach, based on support vector regression, to estimate the received signal strength at non-site-surveyed positions of the environment. Experiments, performed in a real environment, show that the proposed method could be used to improve the resolution of fingerprint-based indoor WiFi localization systems without increasing the site survey effort.

Continuous Space Estimation: Increasing WiFi-Based Indoor Localization Resolution without Increasing the Site-Survey Effort †

PubMed Central

Hernández, Noelia; Ocaña, Manuel; Alonso, Jose M.; Kim, Euntai

2017-01-01

Although much research has taken place in WiFi indoor localization systems, their accuracy can still be improved. When designing this kind of system, fingerprint-based methods are a common choice. The problem with fingerprint-based methods comes with the need of site surveying the environment, which is effort consuming. In this work, we propose an approach, based on support vector regression, to estimate the received signal strength at non-site-surveyed positions of the environment. Experiments, performed in a real environment, show that the proposed method could be used to improve the resolution of fingerprint-based indoor WiFi localization systems without increasing the site survey effort. PMID:28098773

Effect of Blast Injury on Auditory Localization in Military Service Members.

PubMed

Kubli, Lina R; Brungart, Douglas; Northern, Jerry

Among the many advantages of binaural hearing are the abilities to localize sounds in space and to attend to one sound in the presence of many sounds. Binaural hearing provides benefits for all listeners, but it may be especially critical for military personnel who must maintain situational awareness in complex tactical environments with multiple speech and noise sources. There is concern that Military Service Members who have been exposed to one or more high-intensity blasts during their tour of duty may have difficulty with binaural and spatial ability due to degradation in auditory and cognitive processes. The primary objective of this study was to assess the ability of blast-exposed Military Service Members to localize speech sounds in quiet and in multisource environments with one or two competing talkers. Participants were presented with one, two, or three topic-related (e.g., sports, food, travel) sentences under headphones and required to attend to, and then locate the source of, the sentence pertaining to a prespecified target topic within a virtual space. The listener's head position was monitored by a head-mounted tracking device that continuously updated the apparent spatial location of the target and competing speech sounds as the subject turned within the virtual space. Measurements of auditory localization ability included mean absolute error in locating the source of the target sentence, the time it took to locate the target sentence within 30 degrees, target/competitor confusion errors, response time, and cumulative head motion. Twenty-one blast-exposed Active-Duty or Veteran Military Service Members (blast-exposed group) and 33 non-blast-exposed Service Members and beneficiaries (control group) were evaluated. In general, the blast-exposed group performed as well as the control group if the task involved localizing the source of a single speech target. However, if the task involved two or three simultaneous talkers, localization ability was compromised for some participants in the blast-exposed group. Blast-exposed participants were less accurate in their localization responses and required more exploratory head movements to find the location of the target talker. Results suggest that blast-exposed participants have more difficulty than non-blast-exposed participants in localizing sounds in complex acoustic environments. This apparent deficit in spatial hearing ability highlights the need to develop new diagnostic tests using complex listening tasks that involve multiple sound sources that require speech segregation and comprehension.

Habitat heterogeneity hypothesis and edge effects in model metacommunities.

PubMed

Hamm, Michaela; Drossel, Barbara

2017-08-07

Spatial heterogeneity is an inherent property of any living environment and is expected to favour biodiversity due to a broader niche space. Furthermore, edges between different habitats can provide additional possibilities for species coexistence. Using computer simulations, this study examines metacommunities consisting of several trophic levels in heterogeneous environments in order to explore the above hypotheses on a community level. We model heterogeneous landscapes by using two different sized resource pools and evaluate the combined effect of dispersal and heterogeneity on local and regional species diversity. This diversity is obtained by running population dynamics and evaluating the robustness (i.e., the fraction of surviving species). The main results for regional robustness are in agreement with the habitat heterogeneity hypothesis, as the largest robustness is found in heterogeneous systems with intermediate dispersal rates. This robustness is larger than in homogeneous systems with the same total amount of resources. We study the edge effect by arranging the two types of resources in two homogeneous blocks. Different edge responses in diversity are observed, depending on dispersal strength. Local robustness is highest for edge habitats that contain the smaller amount of resource in combination with intermediate dispersal. The results show that dispersal is relevant to correctly identify edge responses on community level. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Fishing in troubled waters: Revealing genomic signatures of local adaptation in response to freshwater pollutants in two macroinvertebrates.

PubMed

Weigand, Hannah; Weiss, Martina; Cai, Huimin; Li, Yongping; Yu, Lili; Zhang, Christine; Leese, Florian

2018-08-15

Local adaptation is of fundamental importance for populations to cope with fast, human-mediated environmental changes. In the past, analyses of local adaptation were restricted to few model species. Nowadays, due to the increased affordability of high-throughput sequencing, local adaptation can be studied much easier by searching for patterns of positive selection using genomic data. In the present study, we analysed effects of wastewater treatment plant and ore mining effluents on stream invertebrate populations. The two different anthropogenic stressors have impacted on stream ecosystems over different time scales and with different potencies. As target organisms we selected two macroinvertebrate species with different life histories and dispersal capacities: the caddisfly Glossosoma conformis and the flatworm Dugesia gonocephala. We applied a genome-wide genetic marker technique, termed ddRAD (double digest restriction site associated DNA) sequencing, to identify local adaptation. Ten and 18% of all loci were identified as candidate loci for local adaptation in D. gonocephala and G. conformis, respectively. However, after stringent re-evaluation of the genomic data, strong evidence for local adaptation remained only for one population of the flatworm D. gonocephala affected by high copper concentration from ore mining. One of the corresponding candidate loci is arnt, a gene associated with the response to xenobiotics and potentially involved in metal detoxification. Our results support the hypotheses that local adaptation is more likely to play a central role in environments impacted by a stronger stressor for a longer time and that it is more likely to occur in species with lower migration rates. However, these findings have to be interpreted cautiously, as several confounding factors may have limited the possibility to detect local adaptation. Our study highlights how genomic tools can be used to study the adaptability and thus resistance of natural populations to changing environments and we discuss prospects and limitations of the methods. Copyright © 2018 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Effect of aqueous environment in chemical reactivity of monolignols. A New Fukui Function Study.

PubMed

Martínez, Carmen; Sedano, Miriam; Mendoza, Jorge; Herrera, Rafael; Rutiaga, Jose G; Lopez, Pablo

2009-09-01

The free radical reactivity of monolignols can be explained in terms of the Fukui function and the local hard and soft acids and bases (HSAB) principle to determine the potential linkages among them for reactions involving free radicals. Our results in gas-phase and aqueous environment elucidate the most probable free radical resonance structures in monolignols. Their reactivity toward nucleophilic or electrophilic species was described applying the Fukui function after a second analysis of the selected resonance structures. Methodology herein described could differentiate the inherent nature of one radical from another.

Measures of galaxy environment - I. What is 'environment'?

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Muldrew, Stuart I.; Croton, Darren J.; Skibba, Ramin A.; Pearce, Frazer R.; Ann, Hong Bae; Baldry, Ivan K.; Brough, Sarah; Choi, Yun-Young; Conselice, Christopher J.; Cowan, Nicolas B.; Gallazzi, Anna; Gray, Meghan E.; Grützbauch, Ruth; Li, I.-Hui; Park, Changbom; Pilipenko, Sergey V.; Podgorzec, Bret J.; Robotham, Aaron S. G.; Wilman, David J.; Yang, Xiaohu; Zhang, Youcai; Zibetti, Stefano

2012-01-01

The influence of a galaxy's environment on its evolution has been studied and compared extensively in the literature, although differing techniques are often used to define environment. Most methods fall into two broad groups: those that use nearest neighbours to probe the underlying density field and those that use fixed apertures. The differences between the two inhibit a clean comparison between analyses and leave open the possibility that, even with the same data, different properties are actually being measured. In this work, we apply 20 published environment definitions to a common mock galaxy catalogue constrained to look like the local Universe. We find that nearest-neighbour-based measures best probe the internal densities of high-mass haloes, while at low masses the interhalo separation dominates and acts to smooth out local density variations. The resulting correlation also shows that nearest-neighbour galaxy environment is largely independent of dark matter halo mass. Conversely, aperture-based methods that probe superhalo scales accurately identify high-density regions corresponding to high-mass haloes. Both methods show how galaxies in dense environments tend to be redder, with the exception of the largest apertures, but these are the strongest at recovering the background dark matter environment. We also warn against using photometric redshifts to define environment in all but the densest regions. When considering environment, there are two regimes: the 'local environment' internal to a halo best measured with nearest neighbour and 'large-scale environment' external to a halo best measured with apertures. This leads to the conclusion that there is no universal environment measure and the most suitable method depends on the scale being probed.

Range-wide reproductive consequences of ocean climate variability for the seabird Cassin's Auklet.

PubMed

Wolf, Shaye G; Sydeman, William J; Hipfner, J Mark; Abraham, Christine L; Tershy, Bernie R; Croll, Donald A

2009-03-01

We examine how ocean climate variability influences the reproductive phenology and demography of the seabird Cassin's Auklet (Ptychoramphus aleuticus) across approximately 2500 km of its breeding range in the oceanographically dynamic California Current System along the west coast of North America. Specifically, we determine the extent to which ocean climate conditions and Cassin's Auklet timing of breeding and breeding success covary across populations in British Columbia, central California, and northern Mexico over six years (2000-2005) and test whether auklet timing of breeding and breeding success are similarly related to local and large-scale ocean climate indices across populations. Local ocean foraging environments ranged from seasonally variable, high-productivity environments in the north to aseasonal, low-productivity environments to the south, but covaried similarly due to the synchronizing effects of large-scale climate processes. Auklet timing of breeding in the southern population did not covary with populations to the north and was not significantly related to local oceanographic conditions, in contrast to northern populations, where timing of breeding appears to be influenced by oceanographic cues that signal peaks in prey availability. Annual breeding success covaried similarly across populations and was consistently related to local ocean climate conditions across this system. Overall, local ocean climate indices, particularly sea surface height, better explained timing of breeding and breeding success than a large-scale climate index by better representing heterogeneity in physical processes important to auklets and their prey. The significant, consistent relationships we detected between Cassin's Auklet breeding success and ocean climate conditions across widely spaced populations indicate that Cassin's Auklets are susceptible to climate change across the California Current System, especially by the strengthening of climate processes that synchronize oceanographic conditions. Auklet populations in the northern and central regions of this ecosystem may be more sensitive to changes in the timing and variability of ocean climate conditions since they appear to time breeding to take advantage of seasonal productivity peaks.

Home-field advantage? evidence of local adaptation among plants, soil, and arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi through meta-analysis.

PubMed

Rúa, Megan A; Antoninka, Anita; Antunes, Pedro M; Chaudhary, V Bala; Gehring, Catherine; Lamit, Louis J; Piculell, Bridget J; Bever, James D; Zabinski, Cathy; Meadow, James F; Lajeunesse, Marc J; Milligan, Brook G; Karst, Justine; Hoeksema, Jason D

2016-06-10

Local adaptation, the differential success of genotypes in their native versus foreign environment, arises from various evolutionary processes, but the importance of concurrent abiotic and biotic factors as drivers of local adaptation has only recently been investigated. Local adaptation to biotic interactions may be particularly important for plants, as they associate with microbial symbionts that can significantly affect their fitness and may enable rapid evolution. The arbuscular mycorrhizal (AM) symbiosis is ideal for investigations of local adaptation because it is globally widespread among most plant taxa and can significantly affect plant growth and fitness. Using meta-analysis on 1170 studies (from 139 papers), we investigated the potential for local adaptation to shape plant growth responses to arbuscular mycorrhizal inoculation. The magnitude and direction for mean effect size of mycorrhizal inoculation on host biomass depended on the geographic origin of the soil and symbiotic partners. Sympatric combinations of plants, AM fungi, and soil yielded large increases in host biomass compared to when all three components were allopatric. The origin of either the fungi or the plant relative to the soil was important for explaining the effect of AM inoculation on plant biomass. If plant and soil were sympatric but allopatric to the fungus, the positive effect of AM inoculation was much greater than when all three components were allopatric, suggesting potential local adaptation of the plant to the soil; however, if fungus and soil were sympatric (but allopatric to the plant) the effect of AM inoculation was indistinct from that of any allopatric combinations, indicating maladaptation of the fungus to the soil. This study underscores the potential to detect local adaptation for mycorrhizal relationships across a broad swath of the literature. Geographic origin of plants relative to the origin of AM fungal communities and soil is important for describing the effect of mycorrhizal inoculation on plant biomass, suggesting that local adaptation represents a powerful factor for the establishment of novel combinations of fungi, plants, and soils. These results highlight the need for subsequent investigations of local adaptation in the mycorrhizal symbiosis and emphasize the importance of routinely considering the origin of plant, soil, and fungal components.

Incorporating Informal Learning Environments and Local Fossil Specimens in Earth Science Classrooms: A Recipe for Success

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Clary, Renee M.; Wandersee, James H.

2009-01-01

In an online graduate paleontology course taken by practicing Earth Science teachers, we designed an investigation using teachers' local informal educational environments. Teachers (N = 28) were responsible for photographing, describing, and integrating fossil specimens from two informal sites into a paleoenvironmental analysis of the landscape in…

Island Ecology: An Exploration of Place in the Elementary Art Curriculum

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Hansen, Erica

2009-01-01

The environment is comprised of multiple dimensions, including natural, social, and built surroundings that people experience locally. Taken as a whole these local environs make up the larger ecological conditions experienced globally. Fostering a critical awareness of nature is the first step in supporting ecological or social change. Art…

School Search and Seizure Law: A Guideline for K-12 Administrators

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Frandsen, Scott

2010-01-01

In an effort to safeguard the learning environment, school administrators generally rely on district or local school guidelines and professional judgment. With new technology, the proliferation of drug use, and increased school violence, schools have become a complex environment to manage for both system and local leadership. Administrators are…

Spiral Arm Morphology in Cluster Environment

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Choi, Isaac Yeoun-Gyu; Ann, Hong Bae

2011-10-01

We examine the dependence of the morphology of spiral galaxies on the environment using the KIAS Value Added Galaxy Catalog (VAGC) which is derived from the Sloan Digital Sky Survey (SDSS) DR7. Our goal is to understand whether the local environment or global conditions dominate in determining the morphology of spiral galaxies. For the analysis, we conduct a morphological classification of galaxies in 20 X-ray selected Abell clusters up to z˜0.06, using SDSS color images and the X-ray data from the Northern ROSAT All-Sky (NORAS) catalog. We analyze the distribution of arm classes along the clustercentric radius as well as that of Hubble types. To segregate the effect of local environment from the global environment, we compare the morphological distribution of galaxies in two X-lay luminosity groups, the low-Lx clusters (Lx < 0.15×1044erg/s) and high-Lx clusters (Lx > 1.8×1044erg/s). We find that the morphology-clustercentric relation prevails in the cluster envirnment although there is a brake near the cluster virial radius. The grand design arms comprise about 40% of the cluster spiral galaxies with a weak morphology-clustercentric radius relation for the arm classes, in the sense that flocculent galaxies tend to increase outward, regardless of the X-ray luminosity. From the cumulative radial distribution of cluster galaxies, we found that the low-Lx clusters are fully virialized while the high-Lx clusters are not.

Using Photovoice as a Community Based Participatory Research Tool for Changing Water, Sanitation, and Hygiene Behaviours in Usoma, Kenya.

PubMed

Bisung, Elijah; Elliott, Susan J; Abudho, Bernard; Karanja, Diana M; Schuster-Wallace, Corinne J

2015-01-01

Recent years have witnessed an increase in the use of community based participatory research (CBPR) tools for understanding environment and health issues and facilitating social action. This paper explores the application and utility of photovoice for understanding water, sanitation, and hygiene (WASH) behaviours and catalysing community led solutions to change behaviours. Between June and August 2013, photovoice was conducted with eight (8) women in Usoma, a lakeshore community in Western Kenya with a follow-up community meeting (baraza) in May 2014 to discuss findings with the community members and government officials. In the first part of the study, photovoice one-on-one interviews were used to explore local perceptions and practices around water-health linkages and how the ecological and socio-political environment shapes these perceptions and practices. This paper, which is the second component of the study, uses photovoice group discussions to explore participants' experiences with and (re)action to the photographs and the photovoice project. The findings illustrate that photovoice was an effective CBPR methodology for understanding behaviours, creating awareness, facilitating collective action, and engaging with local government and local health officials at the water-health nexus.

Order-disorder effects in structure and color relation of photonic-crystal-type nanostructures in butterfly wing scales.

PubMed

Márk, Géza I; Vértesy, Zofia; Kertész, Krisztián; Bálint, Zsolt; Biró, László P

2009-11-01

In order to study local and global order in butterfly wing scales possessing structural colors, we have developed a direct space algorithm, based on averaging the local environment of the repetitive units building up the structure. The method provides the statistical distribution of the local environments, including the histogram of the nearest-neighbor distance and the number of nearest neighbors. We have analyzed how the different kinds of randomness present in the direct space structure influence the reciprocal space structure. It was found that the Fourier method is useful in the case of a structure randomly deviating from an ordered lattice. The direct space averaging method remains applicable even for structures lacking long-range order. Based on the first Born approximation, a link is established between the reciprocal space image and the optical reflectance spectrum. Results calculated within this framework agree well with measured reflectance spectra because of the small width and moderate refractive index contrast of butterfly scales. By the analysis of the wing scales of Cyanophrys remus and Albulina metallica butterflies, we tested the methods for structures having long-range order, medium-range order, and short-range order.

Differentiating littering, urban runoff and marine transport as sources of marine debris in coastal and estuarine environments

PubMed Central

Willis, Kathryn; Denise Hardesty, Britta; Kriwoken, Lorne; Wilcox, Chris

2017-01-01

Marine debris is a burgeoning global issue with economic, ecological and aesthetic impacts. While there are many studies now addressing this topic, the influence of urbanisation factors such as local population density, stormwater drains and roads on the distribution of coastal litter remains poorly understood. To address this knowledge gap, we carried out standardized surveys at 224 transect surveys at 67 sites in two estuaries and along the open coast in Tasmania, Australia. We explored the relative support for three hypotheses regarding the sources of the debris; direct deposition by beachgoers, transport from surrounding areas via storm water drains and coastal runoff, and onshore transport from the marine system. We found strong support for all three mechanisms, however, onshore transport from the marine reservoir was the most important mechanism. Overall, the three models together explained 45.8 percent of the variation in our observations. Our results also suggest that most debris released into the marine environment is deposited locally, which may be the answer to where all the missing plastic is in the ocean. Furthermore, local interventions are likely to be most effective in reducing land-based inputs into the ocean. PMID:28281667

Order-disorder effects in structure and color relation of photonic-crystal-type nanostructures in butterfly wing scales

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Márk, Géza I.; Vértesy, Zofia; Kertész, Krisztián; Bálint, Zsolt; Biró, László P.

2009-11-01

In order to study local and global order in butterfly wing scales possessing structural colors, we have developed a direct space algorithm, based on averaging the local environment of the repetitive units building up the structure. The method provides the statistical distribution of the local environments, including the histogram of the nearest-neighbor distance and the number of nearest neighbors. We have analyzed how the different kinds of randomness present in the direct space structure influence the reciprocal space structure. It was found that the Fourier method is useful in the case of a structure randomly deviating from an ordered lattice. The direct space averaging method remains applicable even for structures lacking long-range order. Based on the first Born approximation, a link is established between the reciprocal space image and the optical reflectance spectrum. Results calculated within this framework agree well with measured reflectance spectra because of the small width and moderate refractive index contrast of butterfly scales. By the analysis of the wing scales of Cyanophrys remus and Albulina metallica butterflies, we tested the methods for structures having long-range order, medium-range order, and short-range order.

Origin-Dependent Variations in the Atmospheric Microbiome Community in Eastern Mediterranean Dust Storms.

PubMed

Gat, Daniella; Mazar, Yinon; Cytryn, Eddie; Rudich, Yinon

2017-06-20

Microorganisms carried by dust storms are transported through the atmosphere and may affect human health and the functionality of microbial communities in various environments. Characterizing the dust-borne microbiome in dust storms of different origins or that followed different trajectories provides valuable data to improve our understanding of global health and environmental impacts. We present a comparative study on the diversity of dust-borne bacterial communities in dust storms from three distinct origins (North Africa, Syria and Saudi Arabia) and compare them with local bacterial communities sampled on clear days, all collected at a single location: Rehovot, Israel. Storms from different dust origins exhibited distinct bacterial communities, with signature bacterial taxa. Dust storms were characterized by a lower abundance of selected antibiotic resistance genes (ARGs) compared with ambient dust, asserting that the origin of these genes is local and possibly anthropogenic. With the progression of the storm, the storm-borne bacterial community showed increasing resemblance to ambient dust, suggesting mixing with local dust. These results show, for the first time, that dust storms from different sources display distinct bacterial communities, suggesting possible diverse effects on the environment and public health.

Differentiating littering, urban runoff and marine transport as sources of marine debris in coastal and estuarine environments

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Willis, Kathryn; Denise Hardesty, Britta; Kriwoken, Lorne; Wilcox, Chris

2017-03-01

Marine debris is a burgeoning global issue with economic, ecological and aesthetic impacts. While there are many studies now addressing this topic, the influence of urbanisation factors such as local population density, stormwater drains and roads on the distribution of coastal litter remains poorly understood. To address this knowledge gap, we carried out standardized surveys at 224 transect surveys at 67 sites in two estuaries and along the open coast in Tasmania, Australia. We explored the relative support for three hypotheses regarding the sources of the debris; direct deposition by beachgoers, transport from surrounding areas via storm water drains and coastal runoff, and onshore transport from the marine system. We found strong support for all three mechanisms, however, onshore transport from the marine reservoir was the most important mechanism. Overall, the three models together explained 45.8 percent of the variation in our observations. Our results also suggest that most debris released into the marine environment is deposited locally, which may be the answer to where all the missing plastic is in the ocean. Furthermore, local interventions are likely to be most effective in reducing land-based inputs into the ocean.

Wireless local area network in a prehospital environment

PubMed Central

Chen, Dongquan; Soong, Seng-jaw; Grimes, Gary J; Orthner, Helmuth F

2004-01-01

Background Wireless local area networks (WLANs) are considered the next generation of clinical data network. They open the possibility for capturing clinical data in a prehospital setting (e.g., a patient's home) using various devices, such as personal digital assistants, laptops, digital electrocardiogram (EKG) machines, and even cellular phones, and transmitting the captured data to a physician or hospital. The transmission rate is crucial to the applicability of the technology in the prehospital setting. Methods We created two separate WLANs to simulate a virtual local are network environment such as in a patient's home or an emergency room (ER). The effects of different methods of data transmission, number of clients, and roaming among different access points on the file transfer rate were determined. Results The present results suggest that it is feasible to transfer small files such as patient demographics and EKG data from the patient's home to the ER at a reasonable speed. Encryption, user control, and access control were implemented and results discussed. Conclusions Implementing a WLAN in a centrally managed and multiple-layer-controlled access control server is the key to ensuring its security and accessibility. Future studies should focus on product capacity, speed, compatibility, interoperability, and security management. PMID:15339336

Wireless local area network in a prehospital environment.

PubMed

Chen, Dongquan; Soong, Seng-jaw; Grimes, Gary J; Orthner, Helmuth F

2004-08-31

Wireless local area networks (WLANs) are considered the next generation of clinical data network. They open the possibility for capturing clinical data in a prehospital setting (e.g., a patient's home) using various devices, such as personal digital assistants, laptops, digital electrocardiogram (EKG) machines, and even cellular phones, and transmitting the captured data to a physician or hospital. The transmission rate is crucial to the applicability of the technology in the prehospital setting. We created two separate WLANs to simulate a virtual local are network environment such as in a patient's home or an emergency room (ER). The effects of different methods of data transmission, number of clients, and roaming among different access points on the file transfer rate were determined. The present results suggest that it is feasible to transfer small files such as patient demographics and EKG data from the patient's home to the ER at a reasonable speed. Encryption, user control, and access control were implemented and results discussed. Implementing a WLAN in a centrally managed and multiple-layer-controlled access control server is the key to ensuring its security and accessibility. Future studies should focus on product capacity, speed, compatibility, interoperability, and security management.

Dynamics of many-body localization in the presence of particle loss

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

van Nieuwenburg, EPL; Yago Malo, J.; Daley, AJ; Fischer, MH

2018-01-01

At long times, residual couplings to the environment become relevant even in the most isolated experiments, a crucial difficulty for the study of fundamental aspects of many-body dynamics. A particular example is many-body localization in a cold-atom setting, where incoherent photon scattering introduces both dephasing and particle loss. Whereas dephasing has been studied in detail and is known to destroy localization already on the level of non-interacting particles, the effect of particle loss is less well understood. A difficulty arises due to the ‘non-local’ nature of the loss process, complicating standard numerical tools using matrix product decomposition. Utilizing symmetries of the Lindbladian dynamics, we investigate the particle loss on both the dynamics of observables, as well as the structure of the density matrix and the individual states. We find that particle loss in the presence of interactions leads to dissipation and a strong suppression of the (operator space) entanglement entropy. Our approach allows for the study of the interplay of dephasing and loss for pure and mixed initial states to long times, which is important for future experiments using controlled coupling of the environment.

40 CFR 280.107 - Local government fund.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

2010-07-01

... 40 Protection of Environment 26 2010-07-01 2010-07-01 false Local government fund. 280.107 Section... (UST) Financial Responsibility § 280.107 Local government fund. A local government owner or operator... local government statute, charter, ordinance, or order to pay for taking corrective action and for...

40 CFR 280.107 - Local government fund.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2011 CFR

2011-07-01

... 40 Protection of Environment 27 2011-07-01 2011-07-01 false Local government fund. 280.107 Section... (UST) Financial Responsibility § 280.107 Local government fund. A local government owner or operator... local government statute, charter, ordinance, or order to pay for taking corrective action and for...

40 CFR 280.107 - Local government fund.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2014 CFR

2014-07-01

... 40 Protection of Environment 27 2014-07-01 2014-07-01 false Local government fund. 280.107 Section... (UST) Financial Responsibility § 280.107 Local government fund. A local government owner or operator... local government statute, charter, ordinance, or order to pay for taking corrective action and for...

40 CFR 280.107 - Local government fund.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2012 CFR

2012-07-01

... 40 Protection of Environment 28 2012-07-01 2012-07-01 false Local government fund. 280.107 Section... (UST) Financial Responsibility § 280.107 Local government fund. A local government owner or operator... local government statute, charter, ordinance, or order to pay for taking corrective action and for...

Contrast effects on speed perception for linear and radial motion.

PubMed

Champion, Rebecca A; Warren, Paul A

2017-11-01

Speed perception is vital for safe activity in the environment. However, considerable evidence suggests that perceived speed changes as a function of stimulus contrast, with some investigators suggesting that this might have meaningful real-world consequences (e.g. driving in fog). In the present study we investigate whether the neural effects of contrast on speed perception occur at the level of local or global motion processing. To do this we examine both speed discrimination thresholds and contrast-dependent speed perception for two global motion configurations that have matched local spatio-temporal structure. Specifically we compare linear and radial configurations, the latter of which arises very commonly due to self-movement. In experiment 1 the stimuli comprised circular grating patches. In experiment 2, to match stimuli even more closely, motion was presented in multiple local Gabor patches equidistant from central fixation. Each patch contained identical linear motion but the global configuration was either consistent with linear or radial motion. In both experiments 1 and 2, discrimination thresholds and contrast-induced speed biases were similar in linear and radial conditions. These results suggest that contrast-based speed effects occur only at the level of local motion processing, irrespective of global structure. This result is interpreted in the context of previous models of speed perception and evidence suggesting differences in perceived speed of locally matched linear and radial stimuli. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

A New Localization System for Indoor Service Robots in Low Luminance and Slippery Indoor Environment Using Afocal Optical Flow Sensor Based Sensor Fusion.

PubMed

Yi, Dong-Hoon; Lee, Tae-Jae; Cho, Dong-Il Dan

2018-01-10

In this paper, a new localization system utilizing afocal optical flow sensor (AOFS) based sensor fusion for indoor service robots in low luminance and slippery environment is proposed, where conventional localization systems do not perform well. To accurately estimate the moving distance of a robot in a slippery environment, the robot was equipped with an AOFS along with two conventional wheel encoders. To estimate the orientation of the robot, we adopted a forward-viewing mono-camera and a gyroscope. In a very low luminance environment, it is hard to conduct conventional feature extraction and matching for localization. Instead, the interior space structure from an image and robot orientation was assessed. To enhance the appearance of image boundary, rolling guidance filter was applied after the histogram equalization. The proposed system was developed to be operable on a low-cost processor and implemented on a consumer robot. Experiments were conducted in low illumination condition of 0.1 lx and carpeted environment. The robot moved for 20 times in a 1.5 × 2.0 m square trajectory. When only wheel encoders and a gyroscope were used for robot localization, the maximum position error was 10.3 m and the maximum orientation error was 15.4°. Using the proposed system, the maximum position error and orientation error were found as 0.8 m and within 1.0°, respectively.

A New Localization System for Indoor Service Robots in Low Luminance and Slippery Indoor Environment Using Afocal Optical Flow Sensor Based Sensor Fusion

PubMed Central

Yi, Dong-Hoon; Lee, Tae-Jae; Cho, Dong-Il “Dan”

2018-01-01

In this paper, a new localization system utilizing afocal optical flow sensor (AOFS) based sensor fusion for indoor service robots in low luminance and slippery environment is proposed, where conventional localization systems do not perform well. To accurately estimate the moving distance of a robot in a slippery environment, the robot was equipped with an AOFS along with two conventional wheel encoders. To estimate the orientation of the robot, we adopted a forward-viewing mono-camera and a gyroscope. In a very low luminance environment, it is hard to conduct conventional feature extraction and matching for localization. Instead, the interior space structure from an image and robot orientation was assessed. To enhance the appearance of image boundary, rolling guidance filter was applied after the histogram equalization. The proposed system was developed to be operable on a low-cost processor and implemented on a consumer robot. Experiments were conducted in low illumination condition of 0.1 lx and carpeted environment. The robot moved for 20 times in a 1.5 × 2.0 m square trajectory. When only wheel encoders and a gyroscope were used for robot localization, the maximum position error was 10.3 m and the maximum orientation error was 15.4°. Using the proposed system, the maximum position error and orientation error were found as 0.8 m and within 1.0°, respectively. PMID:29320414

Seismic imaging in hardrock environments: The role of heterogeneity?

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Bongajum, Emmanuel; Milkereit, Bernd; Adam, Erick; Meng, Yijian

2012-10-01

We investigate the effect of petrophysical scale parameters and structural dips on wave propagation and imaging in heterogeneous media. Seismic wave propagation effects within the heterogeneous media are studied for different velocity models with scale lengths determined via stochastic analysis of petrophysical logs from the Matagami mine, Quebec, Canada. The elastic modeling study reveals that provided certain conditions of the velocity fluctuations are met, strong local distortions of amplitude and arrival times of propagating waves are observed as the degree of scale length anisotropy in the P-wave velocity increases. The location of these local amplitude anomalies is related to the dips characterizing the fabric of the host rocks. This result is different from the elliptical shape of direct waves often defined by effective anisotropic parameters used for layered media. Although estimates of anisotropic parameters suggest weak anisotropy in the investigated models, these effective anisotropic parameters often used in VTI/TTI do not sufficiently describe the effects of scale length anisotropy in heterogeneous media that show such local amplitude, travel time, and phase distortions in the wavefields. Numerical investigations on the implications for reverse time migration (RTM) routines corroborate that mean P-wave velocity of the host rocks produces reliable imaging results. Based on the RTM results, we postulate the following: weak anisotropy in hardrock environments is a sufficient assumption for processing seismic data; and seismic scattering effects due to velocity heterogeneity with a dip component is not sufficient to cause mislocation errors of target structures as observed in the discrepancy between the location of the strong seismic reflections associated to the Matagami sulfide orebody and its true location. Future work will investigate other factors that may provide plausible explanations for these mislocation problems, with the objective of providing a mitigation strategy for incorporation into the seismic data processing sequence when imaging in hardrock settings.

Similar Scaling Relations for the Gas Content of Galaxies Across Environments to z ∼ 3.5

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Darvish, Behnam; Scoville, Nick Z.; Martin, Christopher; Mobasher, Bahram; Diaz-Santos, Tanio; Shen, Lu

2018-06-01

We study the effects of the local environment on the molecular gas content of a large sample of log(M */M ⊙) ≳ 10 star-forming and starburst galaxies with specific star formation rates (sSFRs) on and above the main sequence (MS) to z ∼ 3.5. ALMA observations of the dust continuum in the COSMOS field are used to estimate molecular gas masses at z ≈ 0.5–3.5. We also use a local universe sample from the ALFALFA H I survey after converting it into molecular masses. The molecular mass (M ISM) scaling relation shows a dependence on z, M *, and sSFR relative to the MS, but no dependence on environmental overdensity Δ(M ISM ∝ Δ0.03). Similarly, gas mass fraction (f gas) and depletion timescale (τ) show no environmental dependence to z ∼ 3.5. At < z> ∼ 1.8, the average < {M}ISM}> , < {f}gas}> , and < τ > in densest regions is (1.6 ± 0.2) × 1011 M ⊙, 55 ± 2%, and 0.8 ± 0.1 Gyr, respectively, similar to those in the lowest density bin. Independent of the environment, f gas decreases and τ increases with increasing cosmic time. Cosmic molecular mass density (ρ) in the lowest density bins peaks at z ∼ 1–2, and this peak happens at z < 1 in densest bins. This differential evolution of ρ across environments is likely due to the growth of the large-scale structure with cosmic time. Our results suggest that the molecular gas content and the subsequent star formation activity of log(M */M ⊙) ≳ 10 star-forming and starburst galaxies is primarily driven by internal processes, and not by their local environment since z ∼ 3.5.

Sound Source Localization and Speech Understanding in Complex Listening Environments by Single-sided Deaf Listeners After Cochlear Implantation.

PubMed

Zeitler, Daniel M; Dorman, Michael F; Natale, Sarah J; Loiselle, Louise; Yost, William A; Gifford, Rene H

2015-09-01

To assess improvements in sound source localization and speech understanding in complex listening environments after unilateral cochlear implantation for single-sided deafness (SSD). Nonrandomized, open, prospective case series. Tertiary referral center. Nine subjects with a unilateral cochlear implant (CI) for SSD (SSD-CI) were tested. Reference groups for the task of sound source localization included young (n = 45) and older (n = 12) normal-hearing (NH) subjects and 27 bilateral CI (BCI) subjects. Unilateral cochlear implantation. Sound source localization was tested with 13 loudspeakers in a 180 arc in front of the subject. Speech understanding was tested with the subject seated in an 8-loudspeaker sound system arrayed in a 360-degree pattern. Directionally appropriate noise, originally recorded in a restaurant, was played from each loudspeaker. Speech understanding in noise was tested using the Azbio sentence test and sound source localization quantified using root mean square error. All CI subjects showed poorer-than-normal sound source localization. SSD-CI subjects showed a bimodal distribution of scores: six subjects had scores near the mean of those obtained by BCI subjects, whereas three had scores just outside the 95th percentile of NH listeners. Speech understanding improved significantly in the restaurant environment when the signal was presented to the side of the CI. Cochlear implantation for SSD can offer improved speech understanding in complex listening environments and improved sound source localization in both children and adults. On tasks of sound source localization, SSD-CI patients typically perform as well as BCI patients and, in some cases, achieve scores at the upper boundary of normal performance.

Microclimate variables of the ambient environment deliver the actual estimates of the extrinsic incubation period of Plasmodium vivax and Plasmodium falciparum: a study from a malaria-endemic urban setting, Chennai in India.

PubMed

Thomas, Shalu; Ravishankaran, Sangamithra; Justin, N A Johnson Amala; Asokan, Aswin; Kalsingh, T Maria Jusler; Mathai, Manu Thomas; Valecha, Neena; Montgomery, Jacqui; Thomas, Matthew B; Eapen, Alex

2018-05-16

Environmental factors such as temperature, relative humidity and their daily variation influence a range of mosquito life history traits and hence, malaria transmission. The standard way of characterizing environmental factors with meteorological station data need not be the actual microclimates experienced by mosquitoes within local transmission settings. A year-long study was conducted in Chennai, India to characterize local temperature and relative humidity (RH). Data loggers (Hobos) were placed in a range of probable indoor and outdoor resting sites of Anopheles stephensi. Recordings were taken hourly to estimate mean temperature and RH, together with daily temperature range (DTR) and daily relative humidity range. The temperature data were used to explore the predicted variation in extrinsic incubation period (EIP) of Plasmodium falciparum and Plasmodium vivax between microhabitats and across the year. Mean daily temperatures within the indoor settings were significantly warmer than those recorded outdoors. DTR in indoor environments was observed to be modest and ranged from 2 to 6 °C. Differences in EIP between microhabitats were most notable during the hottest summer months of April-June, with parasite development predicted to be impaired for tiled houses and overhead tanks. Overall, the prevailing warm and stable conditions suggest rapid parasite development rate regardless of where mosquitoes might rest. Taking account of seasonal and local environmental variation, the predicted EIP of P. falciparum varied from a minimum of 9.1 days to a maximum of 15.3 days, while the EIP of P. vivax varied from 8.0 to 24.3 days. This study provides a detailed picture of the actual microclimates experienced by mosquitoes in an urban slum malaria setting. The data indicate differences between microhabitats that could impact mosquito and parasite life history traits. The predicted effects for EIP are often relatively subtle, but variation between minimum and maximum EIPs can play a role in disease transmission, depending on the time of year and where mosquitoes rest. Appropriate characterization of the local microclimate conditions would be the key to fully understand the effects of environment on local transmission ecology.

Accurate Sound Localization in Reverberant Environments is Mediated by Robust Encoding of Spatial Cues in the Auditory Midbrain

PubMed Central

Devore, Sasha; Ihlefeld, Antje; Hancock, Kenneth; Shinn-Cunningham, Barbara; Delgutte, Bertrand

2009-01-01

In reverberant environments, acoustic reflections interfere with the direct sound arriving at a listener’s ears, distorting the spatial cues for sound localization. Yet, human listeners have little difficulty localizing sounds in most settings. Because reverberant energy builds up over time, the source location is represented relatively faithfully during the early portion of a sound, but this representation becomes increasingly degraded later in the stimulus. We show that the directional sensitivity of single neurons in the auditory midbrain of anesthetized cats follows a similar time course, although onset dominance in temporal response patterns results in more robust directional sensitivity than expected, suggesting a simple mechanism for improving directional sensitivity in reverberation. In parallel behavioral experiments, we demonstrate that human lateralization judgments are consistent with predictions from a population rate model decoding the observed midbrain responses, suggesting a subcortical origin for robust sound localization in reverberant environments. PMID:19376072

Nonlinear effects of locally heterogeneous hydraulic conductivity fields on regional stream-aquifer exchanges

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Zhu, J.; Winter, C. L.; Wang, Z.

2015-11-01

Computational experiments are performed to evaluate the effects of locally heterogeneous conductivity fields on regional exchanges of water between stream and aquifer systems in the Middle Heihe River basin (MHRB) of northwestern China. The effects are found to be nonlinear in the sense that simulated discharges from aquifers to streams are systematically lower than discharges produced by a base model parameterized with relatively coarse effective conductivity. A similar, but weaker, effect is observed for stream leakage. The study is organized around three hypotheses: (H1) small-scale spatial variations of conductivity significantly affect regional exchanges of water between streams and aquifers in river basins, (H2) aggregating small-scale heterogeneities into regional effective parameters systematically biases estimates of stream-aquifer exchanges, and (H3) the biases result from slow paths in groundwater flow that emerge due to small-scale heterogeneities. The hypotheses are evaluated by comparing stream-aquifer fluxes produced by the base model to fluxes simulated using realizations of the MHRB characterized by local (grid-scale) heterogeneity. Levels of local heterogeneity are manipulated as control variables by adjusting coefficients of variation. All models are implemented using the MODFLOW (Modular Three-dimensional Finite-difference Groundwater Flow Model) simulation environment, and the PEST (parameter estimation) tool is used to calibrate effective conductivities defined over 16 zones within the MHRB. The effective parameters are also used as expected values to develop lognormally distributed conductivity (K) fields on local grid scales. Stream-aquifer exchanges are simulated with K fields at both scales and then compared. Results show that the effects of small-scale heterogeneities significantly influence exchanges with simulations based on local-scale heterogeneities always producing discharges that are less than those produced by the base model. Although aquifer heterogeneities are uncorrelated at local scales, they appear to induce coherent slow paths in groundwater fluxes that in turn reduce aquifer-stream exchanges. Since surface water-groundwater exchanges are critical hydrologic processes in basin-scale water budgets, these results also have implications for water resources management.

AFLPs and Mitochondrial Haplotypes Reveal Local Adaptation to Extreme Thermal Environments in a Freshwater Gastropod

PubMed Central

Quintela, María; Johansson, Magnus P.; Kristjánsson, Bjarni K.; Barreiro, Rodolfo; Laurila, Anssi

2014-01-01

The way environmental variation shapes neutral and adaptive genetic variation in natural populations is a key issue in evolutionary biology. Genome scans allow the identification of the genetic basis of local adaptation without previous knowledge of genetic variation or traits under selection. Candidate loci for divergent adaptation are expected to show higher FST than neutral loci influenced solely by random genetic drift, migration and mutation. The comparison of spatial patterns of neutral markers and loci under selection may help disentangle the effects of gene flow, genetic drift and selection among populations living in contrasting environments. Using the gastropod Radix balthica as a system, we analyzed 376 AFLP markers and 25 mtDNA COI haplotypes for candidate loci and associations with local adaptation among contrasting thermal environments in Lake Mývatn, a volcanic lake in northern Iceland. We found that 2% of the analysed AFLP markers were under directional selection and 12% of the mitochondrial haplotypes correlated with differing thermal habitats. The genetic networks were concordant for AFLP markers and mitochondrial haplotypes, depicting distinct topologies at neutral and candidate loci. Neutral topologies were characterized by intense gene flow revealed by dense nets with edges connecting contrasting thermal habitats, whereas the connections at candidate loci were mostly restricted to populations within each thermal habitat and the number of edges decreased with temperature. Our results suggest microgeographic adaptation within Lake Mývatn and highlight the utility of genome scans in detecting adaptive divergence. PMID:25007329

Indoor Localization Using Wi-Fi Based Fingerprinting and Trilateration Techiques for Lbs Applications

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Chan, S.; Sohn, G.

2012-06-01

The past few years have seen wide spread adoption of outdoor positioning services, mainly GPS, being incorporated into everyday devices such as smartphones and tablets. While outdoor positioning has been well received by the public, its indoor counterpart has been mostly limited to private use due to its higher costs and complexity for setting up the proper environment. The objective of this research is to provide an affordable mean for indoor localization using wireless local area network (WLAN) Wi-Fi technology. We combined two different Wi-Fi approaches to locate a user. The first method involves the use of matching the pre-recorded received signal strength (RSS) from nearby access points (AP), to the data transmitted from the user on the fly. This is commonly known as "fingerprint matching". The second approach is a distance-based trilateration approach using three known AP coordinates detected on the user's device to derive the position. The combination of the two steps enhances the accuracy of the user position in an indoor environment allowing location-based services (LBS) such as mobile augmented reality (MAR) to be deployed more effectively in the indoor environment. The mapping of the RSS map can also prove useful to IT planning personnel for covering locations with no Wi-Fi coverage (ie. dead spots). The experiments presented in this research helps provide a foundation for the integration of indoor with outdoor positioning to create a seamless transition experience for users.

Investigation of the Structural Stability of Ion-Implanted Gd 2Ti 2-xSn xO 7 Pyrochlore-Type Oxides by Glancing Angle X-ray Absorption Spectroscopy

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Aluri, Esther Rani; Hayes, John R.; Walker, James D.S.

2016-03-24

Rare-earth titanate and stannate pyrochlore-type oxides have been investigated in the past for the sequestration of nuclear waste elements because of their resistance to radiation-induced structural damage. In order to enhance this property, it is necessary to understand the effect of radioactive decay of the incorporated actinide elements on the local chemical environment. In this study, Gd 2Ti 2–xSn xO 7 materials have been implanted with Au– ions to simulate radiation-induced structural damage. Glancing angle X-ray absorption near-edge spectroscopy (GA-XANES), glancing angle X-ray absorption fine structure (GA-EXAFS) analysis, and powder X-ray diffraction have been used to investigate changes in themore » local coordination environment of the metal atoms in the damaged surface layer. Examination of GA-XANES/EXAFS spectra from the implanted Gd 2Ti 2–xSn xO 7 materials collected at various glancing angles allowed for an investigation of how the local coordination environment around the absorbing atoms changed at different depths in the damaged surface layer. This study has shown the usefulness of GA-XANES to the examination of ion-implanted materials and has suggested that Gd 2Ti 2–xSn xO 7 becomes more susceptible to ion-beam-induced structural damage with increasing Sn concentration.« less

Effective scheme for partitioning covalent bonds in density-functional embedding theory: From molecules to extended covalent systems.

PubMed

Huang, Chen; Muñoz-García, Ana Belén; Pavone, Michele

2016-12-28

Density-functional embedding theory provides a general way to perform multi-physics quantum mechanics simulations of large-scale materials by dividing the total system's electron density into a cluster's density and its environment's density. It is then possible to compute the accurate local electronic structures and energetics of the embedded cluster with high-level methods, meanwhile retaining a low-level description of the environment. The prerequisite step in the density-functional embedding theory is the cluster definition. In covalent systems, cutting across the covalent bonds that connect the cluster and its environment leads to dangling bonds (unpaired electrons). These represent a major obstacle for the application of density-functional embedding theory to study extended covalent systems. In this work, we developed a simple scheme to define the cluster in covalent systems. Instead of cutting covalent bonds, we directly split the boundary atoms for maintaining the valency of the cluster. With this new covalent embedding scheme, we compute the dehydrogenation energies of several different molecules, as well as the binding energy of a cobalt atom on graphene. Well localized cluster densities are observed, which can facilitate the use of localized basis sets in high-level calculations. The results are found to converge faster with the embedding method than the other multi-physics approach ONIOM. This work paves the way to perform the density-functional embedding simulations of heterogeneous systems in which different types of chemical bonds are present.

Insight into the local environment of magnesium and calcium in low-coordination-number organo-complexes using 25Mg and 43Ca solid-state NMR: a DFT study.

PubMed

Gervais, Christel; Jones, Cameron; Bonhomme, Christian; Laurencin, Danielle

2017-03-01

With the increasing number of organocalcium and organomagnesium complexes under development, there is a real need to be able to characterize in detail their local environment in order to fully rationalize their reactivity. For crystalline structures, in cases when diffraction techniques are insufficient, additional local spectroscopies like 25 Mg and 43 Ca solid-state NMR may provide valuable information to help fully establish the local environment of the metal ions. In this current work, a prospective DFT investigation on crystalline magnesium and calcium complexes involving low-coordination numbers and N-bearing organic ligands was carried out, in which the 25 Mg and 43 Ca NMR parameters [isotropic chemical shift, chemical shift anisotropy (CSA) and quadrupolar parameters] were calculated for each structure. The analysis of the calculated parameters in relation to the local environment of the metal ions revealed that they are highly sensitive to very small changes in geometry/distances, and hence that they could be used to assist in the refinement of crystal structures. Moreover, such calculations provide a guideline as to how the NMR measurements will need to be performed, revealing that these will be very challenging.

Sources of stress in impoverished neighbourhoods: insights into links between neighbourhood environments and health.

PubMed

Warr, Deborah; Feldman, Peter; Tacticos, Theonie; Kelaher, Margaret

2009-02-01

This paper explores associations between residents' perceptions of social incivilities and physical disorders in local environments and self-reported health status. Surveys were conducted with 4,029 residents from 13 Neighbourhood Renewal sites and 1,857 residents of corresponding Local Government Areas in Victoria. An open-ended question asked respondents to nominate the worst things about living in their neighbourhood and this qualitative data was analysed for the range of perceptions of incivilities. Quantitative data analysis considered associations between incivilities in neighbourhood environments and self-reported health status. Issues conceptualised as social incivilities (drug and alcohol use, dangerous driving, the behaviour of other people, feeling unsafe, noise, racism) accounted for 58% of issues nominated. Quantitative analyses suggested that increased exposure to issues related to aspects of neighbourhood safety were associated with living in a disadvantaged neighbourhood. Perceptions of lower levels of neighbourhood safety were, in turn, associated with poorer health. Cumulative and compounding aspects of local environments that heighten feelings of insecurity and anxiety may be mechanisms through which places affect health. While the characteristics of populations are important determinants of health outcomes, the findings endorse the value of incorporating complementary place-based approaches for addressing mechanisms that contribute to health inequalities in local environments.

Global gene expression analysis provides insight into local adaptation to geothermal streams in tadpoles of the Andean toad Rhinella spinulosa.

PubMed

Pastenes, Luis; Valdivieso, Camilo; Di Genova, Alex; Travisany, Dante; Hart, Andrew; Montecino, Martín; Orellana, Ariel; Gonzalez, Mauricio; Gutiérrez, Rodrigo A; Allende, Miguel L; Maass, Alejandro; Méndez, Marco A

2017-05-16

The anuran Rhinella spinulosa is distributed along the Andes Range at altitudes that undergo wide daily and seasonal variation in temperature. One of the populations inhabits geothermal streams, a stable environment that influences life history traits such as the timing of metamorphosis. To investigate whether this population has undergone local adaptation to this unique habitat, we carried out transcriptome analyses in animals from two localities in two developmental stages (prometamorphic and metamorphic) and exposed them to two temperatures (20 and 25 °C). RNA-Seq, de novo assembly and annotation defined a transcriptome revealing 194,469 high quality SNPs, with 1,507 genes under positive selection. Comparisons among the experimental conditions yielded 1,593 differentially expressed genes. A bioinformatics search for candidates revealed a total of 70 genes that are highly likely to be implicated in the adaptive response of the population living in a stable environment, compared to those living in an environment with variable temperatures. Most importantly, the population inhabiting the geothermal environment showed decreased transcriptional plasticity and reduced genetic variation compared to its counterpart from the non-stable environment. This analysis will help to advance the understanding of the molecular mechanisms that account for the local adaptation to geothermal streams in anurans.

Inverse Source Data-Processing Strategies for Radio-Frequency Localization in Indoor Environments.

PubMed

Gennarelli, Gianluca; Al Khatib, Obada; Soldovieri, Francesco

2017-10-27

Indoor positioning of mobile devices plays a key role in many aspects of our daily life. These include real-time people tracking and monitoring, activity recognition, emergency detection, navigation, and numerous location based services. Despite many wireless technologies and data-processing algorithms have been developed in recent years, indoor positioning is still a problem subject of intensive research. This paper deals with the active radio-frequency (RF) source localization in indoor scenarios. The localization task is carried out at the physical layer thanks to receiving sensor arrays which are deployed on the border of the surveillance region to record the signal emitted by the source. The localization problem is formulated as an imaging one by taking advantage of the inverse source approach. Different measurement configurations and data-processing/fusion strategies are examined to investigate their effectiveness in terms of localization accuracy under both line-of-sight (LOS) and non-line of sight (NLOS) conditions. Numerical results based on full-wave synthetic data are reported to support the analysis.

Inverse Source Data-Processing Strategies for Radio-Frequency Localization in Indoor Environments

PubMed Central

Gennarelli, Gianluca; Al Khatib, Obada; Soldovieri, Francesco

2017-01-01

Indoor positioning of mobile devices plays a key role in many aspects of our daily life. These include real-time people tracking and monitoring, activity recognition, emergency detection, navigation, and numerous location based services. Despite many wireless technologies and data-processing algorithms have been developed in recent years, indoor positioning is still a problem subject of intensive research. This paper deals with the active radio-frequency (RF) source localization in indoor scenarios. The localization task is carried out at the physical layer thanks to receiving sensor arrays which are deployed on the border of the surveillance region to record the signal emitted by the source. The localization problem is formulated as an imaging one by taking advantage of the inverse source approach. Different measurement configurations and data-processing/fusion strategies are examined to investigate their effectiveness in terms of localization accuracy under both line-of-sight (LOS) and non-line of sight (NLOS) conditions. Numerical results based on full-wave synthetic data are reported to support the analysis. PMID:29077071

Effects of tourism and globalization on land cover and the influence on the quality of life of Paphos area in Cyprus

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Italos, Chrysostomos; Akylas, Evangelos; Hadjimitsis, Diofantos G.

2014-08-01

Since 1960 most of the coastal area cites across the Mediterranean Sea concentrates people due mass immigration of people from the rural to urban areas. The extensive tourism development especially across the coastal areas, create demand of infrastructures and new work positions and intensive pressure to the environment. The new spirit of the globalization creates movability of people and goods around the word. The free transfer of people from countries with big population and low economical wealth, which are moved to areas where they can work. All the above generate demands of labor and Paphos is one of these areas where during the last decades was transformed from a small agriculture village in one excellent tourist destination. Across the coastal areas big tourist infrastructure was built and lot of different people travel from all areas around the word especially during the summer months. All these generate continuous changes to the environment, to the people and the society. The globalization of the universe commerce and the free transfer of goods and people modify the community stratification. The inflow of agricultures products from third countries reduces the local production and generates degradation and desertification of the rural areas. The periodical variation of the population of the area during the summer and winter periods affect to the environment. The increment demand of sources (water, energy and food) during the summer months pressurize the coastal strip area. By estimating a ratio of inflows by the outflows of goods, people and services of the study area and a ratio of the tourists by the local population, a general index can by arise which will clarify the effects on the environment on the study area. This paper presents the results obtained by this study by examining the effects of tourism on land cover and effects on quality of life for the Paphos area in Cyprus. The authors explores the potential of blending in the sustainability study the use of remote sensing especially on the land-cover effects.

High performance computation of landscape genomic models including local indicators of spatial association.

PubMed

Stucki, S; Orozco-terWengel, P; Forester, B R; Duruz, S; Colli, L; Masembe, C; Negrini, R; Landguth, E; Jones, M R; Bruford, M W; Taberlet, P; Joost, S

2017-09-01

With the increasing availability of both molecular and topo-climatic data, the main challenges facing landscape genomics - that is the combination of landscape ecology with population genomics - include processing large numbers of models and distinguishing between selection and demographic processes (e.g. population structure). Several methods address the latter, either by estimating a null model of population history or by simultaneously inferring environmental and demographic effects. Here we present samβada, an approach designed to study signatures of local adaptation, with special emphasis on high performance computing of large-scale genetic and environmental data sets. samβada identifies candidate loci using genotype-environment associations while also incorporating multivariate analyses to assess the effect of many environmental predictor variables. This enables the inclusion of explanatory variables representing population structure into the models to lower the occurrences of spurious genotype-environment associations. In addition, samβada calculates local indicators of spatial association for candidate loci to provide information on whether similar genotypes tend to cluster in space, which constitutes a useful indication of the possible kinship between individuals. To test the usefulness of this approach, we carried out a simulation study and analysed a data set from Ugandan cattle to detect signatures of local adaptation with samβada, bayenv, lfmm and an F ST outlier method (FDIST approach in arlequin) and compare their results. samβada - an open source software for Windows, Linux and Mac OS X available at http://lasig.epfl.ch/sambada - outperforms other approaches and better suits whole-genome sequence data processing. © 2016 The Authors. Molecular Ecology Resources Published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd.

Learning from Software Localization.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Guo, She-Sen

2003-01-01

Localization is the process of adapting a product to meet the language, cultural and other requirements of a specific target environment or market. This article describes ways in which software localization impacts upon curriculum, and discusses what students will learn from software localization. (AEF)

40 CFR 280.106 - Local government guarantee.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

2010-07-01

... 40 Protection of Environment 26 2010-07-01 2010-07-01 false Local government guarantee. 280.106... STORAGE TANKS (UST) Financial Responsibility § 280.106 Local government guarantee. (a) A local government... requirements of this section. The guarantor must be either the state in which the local government owner or...

40 CFR 280.106 - Local government guarantee.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2011 CFR

2011-07-01

... 40 Protection of Environment 27 2011-07-01 2011-07-01 false Local government guarantee. 280.106... STORAGE TANKS (UST) Financial Responsibility § 280.106 Local government guarantee. (a) A local government... requirements of this section. The guarantor must be either the state in which the local government owner or...

40 CFR 280.106 - Local government guarantee.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2012 CFR

2012-07-01

... 40 Protection of Environment 28 2012-07-01 2012-07-01 false Local government guarantee. 280.106... STORAGE TANKS (UST) Financial Responsibility § 280.106 Local government guarantee. (a) A local government... requirements of this section. The guarantor must be either the state in which the local government owner or...

40 CFR 280.106 - Local government guarantee.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2014 CFR

2014-07-01

... 40 Protection of Environment 27 2014-07-01 2014-07-01 false Local government guarantee. 280.106... STORAGE TANKS (UST) Financial Responsibility § 280.106 Local government guarantee. (a) A local government... requirements of this section. The guarantor must be either the state in which the local government owner or...

Restoring faith in America's energy industries

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Lilienthal, D.E.

1978-11-23

The theme of the paper is the need for an energy program in which over time the general public will have the faith and trust which it does not now have in the energy industries. Quite simply, overwhelmingly the people of this country at the present time just do not believe what it is told about energy either by the government, by management, or by the experts and analysts. This widespread skepticism about energy did not happen overnight. It has its roots in events of the past three or four decades. In this article adapted from a speech by themore » author at the P.U.R. Utility Regulatory Conference in Washington, D.C., in October, 1978, he sketches a prescription for a re-creation of public trust and confidence in the actions and decisions of the managers of energy projects. He uses the civilian nuclear energy program to illustrate the mistakes made in trying to build public trust. He issues a word of warning in restoring confidence. The important lesson is that concern for the environment must be localized and expressed in the locality where the environment needs protection, where the local citizenry and officials can understand and see the ravages that caused their concern, where they can monitor, in their own localities, the extent to which protection is effective. (MCW)« less

High frequency source localization in a shallow ocean sound channel using frequency difference matched field processing.

PubMed

Worthmann, Brian M; Song, H C; Dowling, David R

2015-12-01

Matched field processing (MFP) is an established technique for source localization in known multipath acoustic environments. Unfortunately, in many situations, particularly those involving high frequency signals, imperfect knowledge of the actual propagation environment prevents accurate propagation modeling and source localization via MFP fails. For beamforming applications, this actual-to-model mismatch problem was mitigated through a frequency downshift, made possible by a nonlinear array-signal-processing technique called frequency difference beamforming [Abadi, Song, and Dowling (2012). J. Acoust. Soc. Am. 132, 3018-3029]. Here, this technique is extended to conventional (Bartlett) MFP using simulations and measurements from the 2011 Kauai Acoustic Communications MURI experiment (KAM11) to produce ambiguity surfaces at frequencies well below the signal bandwidth where the detrimental effects of mismatch are reduced. Both the simulation and experimental results suggest that frequency difference MFP can be more robust against environmental mismatch than conventional MFP. In particular, signals of frequency 11.2 kHz-32.8 kHz were broadcast 3 km through a 106-m-deep shallow ocean sound channel to a sparse 16-element vertical receiving array. Frequency difference MFP unambiguously localized the source in several experimental data sets with average peak-to-side-lobe ratio of 0.9 dB, average absolute-value range error of 170 m, and average absolute-value depth error of 10 m.

Education for Sustainable Development in Higher Education: State-of-the-Art, Barriers and Challenges

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Fernández-Sánchez, Gonzalo; Bernaldo, María Olga; Castillejo, Ana; Manzanero, Ana María

2014-01-01

Education for Sustainable Development (ESD) is a new educational paradigm that allows Universities to lead and respond to social needs towards a more sustainable life. The ESD is a global preparedness and complex phenomena in relation to the effects of human activity on the environment, society and economy in spatial (global, regional and local)…

78 FR 20066 - Special Local Regulations; Marine Events, Spa Creek and Annapolis Harbor; Annapolis, MD

Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

2013-04-03

... document so that we can contact you if we have questions regarding your submission. To submit your comment... do not now plan to hold a public meeting. But you may submit a request for one, using one of the... that do not individually or cumulatively have a significant effect on the human environment. This...

Reduce--recycle--reuse: guidelines for promoting perioperative waste management.

PubMed

Laustsen, Gary

2007-04-01

The perioperative environment generates large amounts of waste, which negatively affects local and global ecosystems. To manage this waste health care facility leaders must focus on identifying correctable issues, work with relevant stakeholders to promote solutions, and adopt systematic procedural changes. Nurses and managers can moderate negative environmental effects by promoting reduction, recycling, and reuse of materials in the perioperative setting.

Genetic-environment associations across the range of Pinus strobus

Treesearch

S. Nadeau; J. Housset; J. Godbout; P.G. Meirmans; M. Lamothe; M.-C. Gros-Louis; C. Simard; S.N. Aitken; K. Ritland; M. Girardin; N. Isabel

2017-01-01

Because of rapid global warming, it is critical for us to better understand the capacity of forest trees to adapt to a changing climate, especially species such as five-needle pines that are particularly at risk to threats because of fire suppression, population fragmentation, and pests. In this study, we used several methods to disentangle the effects of local...

Study of the effect of short ranged ordering on the magnetism in FeCr alloys

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Jena, Ambika Prasad; Sanyal, Biplab; Mookerjee, Abhijit

2014-01-01

For the study of magnetism in systems where the local environment plays an important role, we propose a marriage between the Monte Carlo simulation and Zunger's special quasi-random structures. We apply this technique on disordered FeCr alloys and show that our estimates of the transition temperature is in good agreement with earlier experiments.

Participatory Patterns in an International Air Quality Monitoring Initiative

PubMed Central

Sîrbu, Alina; Becker, Martin; Caminiti, Saverio; De Baets, Bernard; Elen, Bart; Francis, Louise; Gravino, Pietro; Hotho, Andreas; Ingarra, Stefano; Loreto, Vittorio; Molino, Andrea; Mueller, Juergen; Peters, Jan; Ricchiuti, Ferdinando; Saracino, Fabio; Servedio, Vito D. P.; Stumme, Gerd; Theunis, Jan; Tria, Francesca; Van den Bossche, Joris

2015-01-01

The issue of sustainability is at the top of the political and societal agenda, being considered of extreme importance and urgency. Human individual action impacts the environment both locally (e.g., local air/water quality, noise disturbance) and globally (e.g., climate change, resource use). Urban environments represent a crucial example, with an increasing realization that the most effective way of producing a change is involving the citizens themselves in monitoring campaigns (a citizen science bottom-up approach). This is possible by developing novel technologies and IT infrastructures enabling large citizen participation. Here, in the wider framework of one of the first such projects, we show results from an international competition where citizens were involved in mobile air pollution monitoring using low cost sensing devices, combined with a web-based game to monitor perceived levels of pollution. Measures of shift in perceptions over the course of the campaign are provided, together with insights into participatory patterns emerging from this study. Interesting effects related to inertia and to direct involvement in measurement activities rather than indirect information exposure are also highlighted, indicating that direct involvement can enhance learning and environmental awareness. In the future, this could result in better adoption of policies towards decreasing pollution. PMID:26313263

Participatory Patterns in an International Air Quality Monitoring Initiative.

PubMed

Sîrbu, Alina; Becker, Martin; Caminiti, Saverio; De Baets, Bernard; Elen, Bart; Francis, Louise; Gravino, Pietro; Hotho, Andreas; Ingarra, Stefano; Loreto, Vittorio; Molino, Andrea; Mueller, Juergen; Peters, Jan; Ricchiuti, Ferdinando; Saracino, Fabio; Servedio, Vito D P; Stumme, Gerd; Theunis, Jan; Tria, Francesca; Van den Bossche, Joris

2015-01-01

The issue of sustainability is at the top of the political and societal agenda, being considered of extreme importance and urgency. Human individual action impacts the environment both locally (e.g., local air/water quality, noise disturbance) and globally (e.g., climate change, resource use). Urban environments represent a crucial example, with an increasing realization that the most effective way of producing a change is involving the citizens themselves in monitoring campaigns (a citizen science bottom-up approach). This is possible by developing novel technologies and IT infrastructures enabling large citizen participation. Here, in the wider framework of one of the first such projects, we show results from an international competition where citizens were involved in mobile air pollution monitoring using low cost sensing devices, combined with a web-based game to monitor perceived levels of pollution. Measures of shift in perceptions over the course of the campaign are provided, together with insights into participatory patterns emerging from this study. Interesting effects related to inertia and to direct involvement in measurement activities rather than indirect information exposure are also highlighted, indicating that direct involvement can enhance learning and environmental awareness. In the future, this could result in better adoption of policies towards decreasing pollution.

Regional and local species richness in an insular environment: Serpentine plants in California

USGS Publications Warehouse

Harrison, S.; Safford, H.D.; Grace, J.B.; Viers, J.H.; Davies, K.F.

2006-01-01

We asked how the richness of the specialized (endemic) flora of serpentine rock outcrops in California varies at both the regional and local scales. Our study had two goals: first, to test whether endemic richness is affected by spatial habitat structure (e.g., regional serpentine area, local serpentine outcrop area, regional and local measures of outcrop isolation), and second, to conduct this test in the context of a broader assessment of environmental influences (e.g., climate, soils, vegetation, disturbance) and historical influences (e.g., geologic age, geographic province) on local and regional species richness. We measured endemic and total richness and environmental variables in 109 serpentine sites (1000-m2 paired plots) in 78 serpentine-containing regions of the state. We used structural equation modeling (SEM) to simultaneously relate regional richness to regionalscale predictors, and local richness to both local-scale and regional-scale predictors. Our model for serpentine endemics explained 66% of the variation in local endemic richness based on local environment (vegetation, soils, rock cover) and on regional endemic richness. It explained 73% of the variation in regional endemic richness based on regional environment (climate and productivity), historical factors (geologic age and geographic province), and spatial structure (regional total area of serpentine, the only significant spatial variable in our analysis). We did not find a strong influence of spatial structure on species richness. However, we were able to distinguish local vs. regional influences on species richness to a novel extent, despite the existence of correlations between local and regional conditions. ?? 2006 by the Ecological Society of America.

Environmental pollution has sex-dependent effects on local survival

PubMed Central

Eeva, Tapio; Hakkarainen, Harri; Laaksonen, Toni; Lehikoinen, Esa

2006-01-01

Environmental pollutants cause a potential hazard for survival in free-living animal populations. We modelled local survival (including emigration) by using individual mark–recapture histories of males and females in a population of a small insectivorous passerine bird, the pied flycatcher (Ficedula hypoleuca) living around a point source of heavy metals (copper smelter). Local survival of F. hypoleuca females did not differ between polluted and unpolluted environments. Males, however, showed a one-third higher local-survival probability in the polluted area. Low fledgling production was generally associated with decreased local survival, but males in the polluted area showed relatively high local survival, irrespective of their fledgling number. A possible explanation of higher local survival of males in the polluted area could be a pollution-induced change in hormone (e.g. corticosterone or testosterone) levels of males. It could make them to invest more on their own survival or affect the hormonal control of breeding dispersal. The local survival of males decreased in the polluted area over the study period along with the simultaneous decrease in heavy metal emissions. This temporal trend is in agreement with the stress hormone hypothesis. PMID:17148387

Local flow measurements at the inlet spike tip of a Mach 3 supersonic cruise airplane

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Johnson, H. J.; Montoya, E. J.

1973-01-01

The flow field at the left inlet spike tip of a YF-12A airplane was examined using at 26 deg included angle conical flow sensor to obtain measurements at free-stream Mach numbers from 1.6 to 3.0. Local flow angularity, Mach number, impact pressure, and mass flow were determined and compared with free-stream values. Local flow changes occurred at the same time as free-stream changes. The local flow usually approached the spike centerline from the upper outboard side because of spike cant and toe-in. Free-stream Mach number influenced the local flow angularity; as Mach number increased above 2.2, local angle of attack increased and local sideslip angle decreased. Local Mach number was generally 3 percent less than free-stream Mach number. Impact-pressure ratio and mass flow ratio increased as free-stream Mach number increased above 2.2, indicating a beneficial forebody compression effect. No degradation of the spike tip instrumentation was observed after more than 40 flights in the high-speed thermal environment encountered by the airplane. The sensor is rugged, simple, and sensitive to small flow changes. It can provide accurate imputs necessary to control an inlet.

Humanitarianism and local service institutions in Angola.

PubMed

Christoplos, I

1998-03-01

The role of local service institutions is not a major focus of current discourse on humanitarianism and complex emergencies. These institutions, in the few places where they are mentioned, are usually presented as either the seed of civil society and future democracy, or as pawns and components of the predatory economic, political and military élites. Few would deny that examples can be found which conform to both of these stereotypes. This simplistic representation of local institutions ignores the perspectives of the actors themselves--the nurses, extension agents, school teachers and others who actually staff most NGO-supported projects. The debate has focused on what 'we' should do; the moral dilemmas of aid agencies and their expatriate staff, inevitably leading to the question of whether or not humanitarian workers should stay or leave situations in which aid may be causing more harm than good. Without denying the fundamental importance of these issues, it is important to consider also how the discourse has unfortunately moved away from those humanitarian workers who have no such choice, since they live there. Current concerns about keeping humanitarian aid from feeding local political and military struggles may inadvertently and paradoxically serve to constrain room for maneuver in the field, particularly among those individuals with the greatest tacit understanding of the predatory environment. There is a need to understand how actors in local service institutions make sense of their own situations, including the factors which frame their moral dilemmas and their day-to-day choices. By analysing the organisational processes within local service institutions, this study is intended to provoke consideration of how these individuals and their institutions may be effectively supported in complex emergencies through a focus on how they themselves deal with danger and complexity. It is suggested that there is a value in considering the lessons learnt in recent years about how service organisations in the North function in turbulent environments. This experience points to the importance of allowing workers the discretion to develop a relationship with their clients, and in so doing make sense of a confusing and ambivalent environment.

Ion aggregation in high salt solutions. III. Computational vibrational spectroscopy of HDO in aqueous salt solutions

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Choi, Jun-Ho; Lim, Sohee; Chon, Bonghwan

The vibrational frequency, frequency fluctuation dynamics, and transition dipole moment of the O—D stretch mode of HDO molecule in aqueous solutions are strongly dependent on its local electrostatic environment and hydrogen-bond network structure. Therefore, the time-resolved vibrational spectroscopy the O—D stretch mode has been particularly used to investigate specific ion effects on water structure. Despite prolonged efforts to understand the interplay of O—D vibrational dynamics with local water hydrogen-bond network and ion aggregate structures in high salt solutions, still there exists a gap between theory and experiment due to a lack of quantitative model for accurately describing O—D stretch frequencymore » in high salt solutions. To fill this gap, we have performed numerical simulations of Raman scattering and IR absorption spectra of the O—D stretch mode of HDO in highly concentrated NaCl and KSCN solutions and compared them with experimental results. Carrying out extensive quantum chemistry calculations on not only water clusters but also ion-water clusters, we first developed a distributed vibrational solvatochromic charge model for the O—D stretch mode in aqueous salt solutions. Furthermore, the non-Condon effect on the vibrational transition dipole moment of the O—D stretch mode was fully taken into consideration with the charge response kernel that is non-local polarizability density. From the fluctuating O—D stretch mode frequencies and transition dipole vectors obtained from the molecular dynamics simulations, the O—D stretch Raman scattering and IR absorption spectra of HDO in salt solutions could be calculated. The polarization effect on the transition dipole vector of the O—D stretch mode is shown to be important and the asymmetric line shapes of the O—D stretch Raman scattering and IR absorption spectra of HDO especially in highly concentrated NaCl and KSCN solutions are in quantitative agreement with experimental results. We anticipate that this computational approach will be of critical use in interpreting linear and nonlinear vibrational spectroscopies of HDO molecule that is considered as an excellent local probe for monitoring local electrostatic and hydrogen-bonding environment in not just salt but also other confined and crowded solutions.« less

Cell adhesion heterogeneity reinforces tumour cell dissemination: novel insights from a mathematical model.

PubMed

Reher, David; Klink, Barbara; Deutsch, Andreas; Voss-Böhme, Anja

2017-08-11

Cancer cell invasion, dissemination, and metastasis have been linked to an epithelial-mesenchymal transition (EMT) of individual tumour cells. During EMT, adhesion molecules like E-cadherin are downregulated and the decrease of cell-cell adhesion allows tumour cells to dissociate from the primary tumour mass. This complex process depends on intracellular cues that are subject to genetic and epigenetic variability, as well as extrinsic cues from the local environment resulting in a spatial heterogeneity in the adhesive phenotype of individual tumour cells. Here, we use a novel mathematical model to study how adhesion heterogeneity, influenced by intrinsic and extrinsic factors, affects the dissemination of tumour cells from an epithelial cell population. The model is a multiscale cellular automaton that couples intracellular adhesion receptor regulation with cell-cell adhesion. Simulations of our mathematical model indicate profound effects of adhesion heterogeneity on tumour cell dissemination. In particular, we show that a large variation of intracellular adhesion receptor concentrations in a cell population reinforces cell dissemination, regardless of extrinsic cues mediated through the local cell density. However, additional control of adhesion receptor concentration through the local cell density, which can be assumed in healthy cells, weakens the effect. Furthermore, we provide evidence that adhesion heterogeneity can explain the remarkable differences in adhesion receptor concentrations of epithelial and mesenchymal phenotypes observed during EMT and might drive early dissemination of tumour cells. Our results suggest that adhesion heterogeneity may be a universal trigger to reinforce cell dissemination in epithelial cell populations. This effect can be at least partially compensated by a control of adhesion receptor regulation through neighbouring cells. Accordingly, our findings explain how both an increase in intra-tumour adhesion heterogeneity and the loss of control through the local environment can promote tumour cell dissemination. This article was reviewed by Hanspeter Herzel, Thomas Dandekar and Marek Kimmel.

Regional-scale drivers of marine nematode distribution in Southern Ocean continental shelf sediments

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Hauquier, Freija; Verleyen, Elie; Tytgat, Bjorn; Vanreusel, Ann

2018-07-01

Many marine meiofauna taxa seem to possess cosmopolitan species distributions, despite their endobenthic lifestyle and restricted long-distance dispersal capacities. In light of this paradox we used a metacommunity framework to study spatial turnover in free-living nematode distribution and assess the importance of local environmental conditions in explaining differences between communities in surface and subsurface sediments of the Southern Ocean continental shelf. We analysed nematode community structure in two sediment layers (0-3 cm and 3-5 cm) of locations maximum 2400 km apart. We first focused on a subset of locations to evaluate whether the genus level is sufficiently taxonomically fine-grained to study large-scale patterns in nematode community structure. We subsequently used redundancy and variation partitioning analyses to quantify the unique and combined effects of local environmental conditions and spatial descriptors on genus-level community composition. Macroecological patterns in community structure were highly congruent at the genus and species level. Nematode community composition was highly divergent between both depth strata, likely as a result of local abiotic conditions. Variation in community structure between the different regions largely stemmed from turnover (i.e. genus/species replacement) rather than nestedness (i.e. genus/species loss). The level of turnover among communities increased with geographic distance and was more pronounced in subsurface layers compared to surface sediments. Variation partitioning analysis revealed that both environmental and spatial predictors significantly explained variation in community structure. Moreover, the shared fraction of both sets of variables was high, which suggested a substantial amount of spatially structured environmental variation. Additionally, the effect of space independent of environment was much higher than the effect of environment independent of space, which shows the importance of including spatial descriptors in meiofauna and nematode community ecology. Large-scale assessment of free-living nematode diversity and abundance in the Southern Ocean shelf zone revealed strong horizontal and vertical spatial structuring in response to local environmental conditions, in combination with (most likely) dispersal limitation.

Comparison of Fecal Microbial Composition and Antibiotic Resistance Genes from Swine, Farm Workers and the Surrounding Villagers.

PubMed

Sun, Jian; Huang, Ting; Chen, Chong; Cao, Ting-Ting; Cheng, Ke; Liao, Xiao-Ping; Liu, Ya-Hong

2017-07-10

The external environment plays a critical role in shaping the structure of the gut microbiome. One potential health threat lies in the release of antibiotic resistant genes (ARGs) from cross-contaminated microbiomes. We focused this study on a comparison of fecal microbial composition and antibiotic resistant genes between farm workers, local villagers and swine. We used a high-throughput next-generation sequencing of 16S rRNA and real-time PCR for these studies. Our results indicated that workers had less species diversity as compared to the local villagers. Moreover, the bacterial communities of the farm workers, the local villagers and swine feces were clearly divided into three groups. The workers had a greater abundance of Proteobacteria as compared to swine and the local villagers. The Clostridiaceae in the workers and swine were more abundant than the local villagers. In addition, there were ARG differences between the farm workers or local villager's and swine feces. The farm workers and the local villagers had similar relative abundance except for macrolide ARGs. Taken together, these data suggest that the swine farm environment affects the fecal bacterial composition of swine farm workers. However, ARG spread was influenced by factors independent of the swine farm environment.

Impact of Hearing Aid Technology on Outcomes in Daily Life III: Localization.

PubMed

Johnson, Jani A; Xu, Jingjing; Cox, Robyn M

Compared to basic-feature hearing aids, premium-feature hearing aids have more advanced technologies and sophisticated features. The objective of this study was to explore the difference between premium-feature and basic-feature hearing aids in horizontal sound localization in both laboratory and daily life environments. We hypothesized that premium-feature hearing aids would yield better localization performance than basic-feature hearing aids. Exemplars of premium-feature and basic-feature hearing aids from two major manufacturers were evaluated. Forty-five older adults (mean age 70.3 years) with essentially symmetrical mild to moderate sensorineural hearing loss were bilaterally fitted with each of the four pairs of hearing aids. Each pair of hearing aids was worn during a 4-week field trial and then evaluated using laboratory localization tests and a standardized questionnaire. Laboratory localization tests were conducted in a sound-treated room with a 360°, 24-loudspeaker array. Test stimuli were high frequency and low frequency filtered short sentences. The localization test in quiet was designed to assess the accuracy of front/back localization, while the localization test in noise was designed to assess the accuracy of locating sound sources throughout a 360° azimuth in the horizontal plane. Laboratory data showed that unaided localization was not significantly different from aided localization when all hearing aids were combined. Questionnaire data showed that aided localization was significantly better than unaided localization in everyday situations. Regarding the difference between premium-feature and basic-feature hearing aids, laboratory data showed that, overall, the premium-feature hearing aids yielded more accurate localization than the basic-feature hearing aids when high-frequency stimuli were used, and the listening environment was quiet. Otherwise, the premium-feature and basic-feature hearing aids yielded essentially the same performance in other laboratory tests and in daily life. The findings were consistent for both manufacturers. Laboratory tests for two of six major manufacturers showed that premium-feature hearing aids yielded better localization performance than basic-feature hearing aids in one out of four laboratory conditions. There was no difference between the two feature levels in self-reported everyday localization. Effectiveness research with different hearing aid technologies is necessary, and more research with other manufacturers' products is needed. Furthermore, these results confirm previous observations that research findings in laboratory conditions might not translate to everyday life.

Effect of pregnancy on periodontal and dental health.

PubMed

Laine, Merja Anneli

2002-10-01

Clinical studies have shown that oral tissues can be affected by pregnancy. Pregnancy-related changes are most frequent and most marked in gingival tissue. Pregnancy does not cause gingivitis, but may aggravate pre-existing disease. The most marked changes are seen in gingival vasculature. Characteristic of pregnancy gingivitis is that the gingiva is dark red, swollen, smooth and bleeds easily. Women with pregnancy gingivitis may sometimes develop localized gingival enlargements. The gingival changes usually resolve within a few months of delivery if local irritants are eliminated. The inflammatory changes are usually restricted to the gingiva and probably do not cause permanent changes in periodontal tissues more often than those in the non-pregnant state. Although it is widely believed that pregnancy is harmful to the teeth, the effect of pregnancy on the initiation or progression of caries is not clear. Previous studies, however, indicate that the teeth do not soften, i.e. no significant withdrawal of calcium or other minerals occurs in the teeth. It is mainly the environment of the tooth that is affected. The number of certain salivary cariogenic microorganisms may increase in pregnancy, concurrently with a decrease in salivary pH and buffer effect. Changes in salivary composition in late pregnancy and during lactation may temporarily predispose to dental caries and erosion. Although their underlying mechanisms of action are not fully understood, pregnancy-related changes in the oral environment may have some untoward temporary or permanent effects on oral health. Most of these effects could be avoided by practising good oral hygiene.

The Potential of Silk and Silk-Like Proteins as Natural Mucoadhesive Biopolymers for Controlled Drug Delivery.

PubMed

Brooks, Amanda E

2015-01-01

Drug delivery across mucus membranes is a particularly effective route of administration due to the large surface area. However, the unique environment present at the mucosa necessitates altered drug formulations designed to (1) deliver sensitive biologic molecules, (2) promote intimate contact between the mucosa and the drug, and (3) prolong the drug's local residence time. Thus, the pharmaceutical industry has an interest in drug delivery systems formulated around the use of mucoadhesive polymers. Mucoadhesive polymers, both synthetic and biological, have a history of use in local drug delivery. Prominently featured in the literature are chitosan, alginate, and cellulose derivatives. More recently, silk and silk-like derivatives have been explored for their potential as mucoadhesive polymers. Both silkworms and spiders produce sticky silk-like glue substances, sericin and aggregate silk respectively, that may prove an effective, natural matrix for drug delivery to the mucosa. This mini review will explore the potential of silk and silk-like derivatives as a biocompatible mucoadhesive polymer matrix for local controlled drug delivery.

Control strategy of grid-connected photovoltaic generation system based on GMPPT method

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Wang, Zhongfeng; Zhang, Xuyang; Hu, Bo; Liu, Jun; Li, Ligang; Gu, Yongqiang; Zhou, Bowen

2018-02-01

There are multiple local maximum power points when photovoltaic (PV) array runs under partial shading condition (PSC).However, the traditional maximum power point tracking (MPPT) algorithm might be easily trapped in local maximum power points (MPPs) and cannot find the global maximum power point (GMPP). To solve such problem, a global maximum power point tracking method (GMPPT) is improved, combined with traditional MPPT method and particle swarm optimization (PSO) algorithm. Under different operating conditions of PV cells, different tracking algorithms are used. When the environment changes, the improved PSO algorithm is adopted to realize the global optimal search, and the variable step incremental conductance (INC) method is adopted to achieve MPPT in optimal local location. Based on the simulation model of the PV grid system built in Matlab/Simulink, comparative analysis of the tracking effect of MPPT by the proposed control algorithm and the traditional MPPT method under the uniform solar condition and PSC, validate the correctness, feasibility and effectiveness of the proposed control strategy.

Stakeholders Opinions on Multi-Use Deep Water Offshore Platform in Hsiao-Liu-Chiu, Taiwan

PubMed Central

Sie, Ya-Tsune; Chang, Yang-Chi; Lu, Shiau-Yun

2018-01-01

This paper describes a group model building activity designed to elicit the potential effects a projected multi-use deep water offshore platform may have on its local environment, including ecological and socio-economic issues. As such a platform is proposed for construction around the island of Hsiao-Liu-Chiu, Taiwan, we organized several meetings with the local stakeholders and structured the debates using group modeling methods to promote consensus. During the process, the participants iteratively built and revised a causal-loop diagram that summarizes their opinions. Overall, local stakeholders concluded that a multi-use deep water offshore marine platform might have beneficial effects for Hsiao-Liu-Chiu because more tourists and fish could be attracted by the structure, but they also raised some potential problems regarding the law in Taiwan and the design of the offshore platform, especially its resistance to extreme weather. We report the method used and the main results and insights gained during the process. PMID:29415521

Spatial variation in soil biota mediates plant adaptation to a foliar pathogen.

PubMed

Mursinoff, Sini; Tack, Ayco J M

2017-04-01

Theory suggests that below-ground spatial heterogeneity may mediate host-parasite evolutionary dynamics and patterns of local adaptation, but this has rarely been tested in natural systems. Here, we test experimentally for the impact of spatial variation in the abiotic and biotic soil environment on the evolutionary outcome of the interaction between the host plant Plantago lanceolata and its specialist foliar pathogen Podosphaera plantaginis. Plants showed no adaptation to the local soil environment in the absence of natural enemies. However, quantitative, but not qualitative, plant resistance against local pathogens was higher when plants were grown in their local field soil than when they were grown in nonlocal field soil. This pattern was robust when extending the spatial scale beyond a single region, but disappeared with soil sterilization, indicating that soil biota mediated plant adaptation. We conclude that below-ground biotic heterogeneity mediates above-ground patterns of plant adaptation, resulting in increased plant resistance when plants are grown in their local soil environment. From an applied perspective, our findings emphasize the importance of using locally selected seeds in restoration ecology and low-input agriculture. © 2017 The Authors. New Phytologist © 2017 New Phytologist Trust.

Two Frameworks for Preparing Teachers for the Shift from Local to Global Educational Environments

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Craig, Barbara; Stevens, Ken

2012-01-01

The research outlined in this paper is based on the convergence of two conceptual frameworks that guide the transfer of knowledge and skills from traditional teacher education, which focused on teaching in single classrooms, to open networked learning environments that include both inter-institutional teaching and learning and local and global…

Perceptions of the Maltese Public towards Local Marine Protected Areas

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Mifsud, Mark; Verret, Marielle

2015-01-01

The marine environment represents a central component of Malta's local environment, and its ecosystem services play a vital role in supporting the economy as well as human well-being. Plans have been made to protect the unique ecology found within Maltese waters through the institution of five marine protected areas (MPAs). This quantitative study…

Practical Performance Analysis for Multiple Information Fusion Based Scalable Localization System Using Wireless Sensor Networks.

PubMed

Zhao, Yubin; Li, Xiaofan; Zhang, Sha; Meng, Tianhui; Zhang, Yiwen

2016-08-23

In practical localization system design, researchers need to consider several aspects to make the positioning efficiently and effectively, e.g., the available auxiliary information, sensing devices, equipment deployment and the environment. Then, these practical concerns turn out to be the technical problems, e.g., the sequential position state propagation, the target-anchor geometry effect, the Non-line-of-sight (NLOS) identification and the related prior information. It is necessary to construct an efficient framework that can exploit multiple available information and guide the system design. In this paper, we propose a scalable method to analyze system performance based on the Cramér-Rao lower bound (CRLB), which can fuse all of the information adaptively. Firstly, we use an abstract function to represent all of the wireless localization system model. Then, the unknown vector of the CRLB consists of two parts: the first part is the estimated vector, and the second part is the auxiliary vector, which helps improve the estimation accuracy. Accordingly, the Fisher information matrix is divided into two parts: the state matrix and the auxiliary matrix. Unlike the theoretical analysis, our CRLB can be a practical fundamental limit to denote the system that fuses multiple information in the complicated environment, e.g., recursive Bayesian estimation based on the hidden Markov model, the map matching method and the NLOS identification and mitigation methods. Thus, the theoretical results are approaching the real case more. In addition, our method is more adaptable than other CRLBs when considering more unknown important factors. We use the proposed method to analyze the wireless sensor network-based indoor localization system. The influence of the hybrid LOS/NLOS channels, the building layout information and the relative height differences between the target and anchors are analyzed. It is demonstrated that our method exploits all of the available information for the indoor localization systems and serves as an indicator for practical system evaluation.

Intracellular redox status controls membrane localization of pro- and anti-migratory signaling molecules.

PubMed

Hempel, Nadine; Melendez, J Andres

2014-01-01

Shifts in intracellular Reactive Oxygen Species (ROS) have been shown to contribute to carcinogenesis and to tumor progression. In addition to DNA and cell damage by surges in ROS, sub-lethal increases in ROS are implicated in regulating cellular signaling that enhances pro-metastatic behavior. We previously showed that subtle increases in endogenous H2O2 regulate migratory and invasive behavior of metastatic bladder cancer cells through phosphatase inhibition and consequential phosphorylation of p130cas, an adapter of the FAK signaling pathway. We further showed that enhanced redox status contributed to enhanced localization of p130cas to the membrane of metastatic cells. Here we show that this signaling complex can similarly be induced in a redox-engineered cell culture model that enables regulation of intracellular steady state H2O2 level by enforced expression of superoxide dismutase 2 (Sod2) and catalase. Expression of Sod2 leads to enhanced p130cas phosphorylation in HT-1080 fibrosarcoma and UM-UC-6 bladder cancer cells. These changes are mediated by H2O2, as co-expression of Catalase abrogates p130cas phosphorylation and its interaction with the adapter protein Crk. Importantly, we establish that the redox environment influence the localization of the tumor suppressor and phosphatase PTEN, in both redox-engineered and metastatic bladder cancer cells that display endogenous increases in H2O2. Importantly, PTEN oxidation leads to its dissociation from the plasma membrane. This indicates that oxidation of PTEN not only influences its activity, but also regulates its cellular localization, effectively removing it from its primary site of lipid phosphatase activity. These data introduce hitherto unappreciated paradigms whereby ROS can reciprocally regulate the cellular localization of pro- and anti-migratory signaling molecules, p130cas and PTEN, respectively. These data further confirm that altering antioxidant status and the intracellular ROS environment can have profound effects on pro-metastatic signaling pathways.

Associations between disability prevalence and local-area characteristics in a general community-living population.

PubMed

Philibert, M D; Pampalon, R; Hamel, D; Daniel, M

2013-10-01

Disability is understood to arise from person-environment interactions. Hence, heterogeneity in local-area characteristics should be associated with local-area variation in disability prevalence. This study evaluated the associations of disability prevalence with local-area socioeconomic status and contextual features. Disability prevalence was obtained from the Canada census of 2001 for the entire province of Québec at the level of dissemination areas (617 individuals on average) based on responses from 20% of the population. Data on local-area characteristics were urban-rural denomination, social and material deprivation, active and collective commuting, residential stability, and housing quality. Associations between local-area characteristics and disability prevalence were assessed using multilevel logistic regressions. Disability was associated with local-area socioeconomic status and contextual characteristics, and heterogeneity in these factors accounted for urban-rural differences in disability prevalence. Associations between contextual features and disability prevalence were confounded by local-area socioeconomic status. Some associations between local-area socioeconomic status and disability prevalence were moderated by contextual characteristics. The importance of this effect modification is greater when expressed in terms of the absolute magnitude of disability than in the relative likelihood of disability. Explanation of rural-urban differences by the contribution of other local-area characteristics is consistent with the conceptualization of urban-rural categories as the reflection of spatially varying ensembles of compositional and contextual factors. Although local-area socioeconomic status explains most variability in disability prevalence, this study shows that contextual characteristics are relevant to analyses of the spatial patterning of disability as they predict spatial variations of disability, sometimes in interaction with socioeconomic status. This study demonstrates that absolute and relative perspectives on effect modification may lead to differing conclusions. Copyright © 2013 Elsevier Masson SAS. All rights reserved.

Skin Electroporation: Effects on Transgene Expression, DNA Persistence and Local Tissue Environment

PubMed Central

Roos, Anna-Karin; Eriksson, Fredrik; Timmons, James A.; Gerhardt, Josefine; Nyman, Ulrika; Gudmundsdotter, Lindvi; Bråve, Andreas; Wahren, Britta; Pisa, Pavel

2009-01-01

Background Electrical pulses have been used to enhance uptake of molecules into living cells for decades. This technique, often referred to as electroporation, has become an increasingly popular method to enhance in vivo DNA delivery for both gene therapy applications as well as for delivery of vaccines against both infectious diseases and cancer. In vivo electrovaccination (gene delivery followed by electroporation) is currently being investigated in several clinical trials, including DNA delivery to healthy volunteers. However, the mode of action at molecular level is not yet fully understood. Methodology/Principal Findings This study investigates intradermal DNA electrovaccination in detail and describes the effects on expression of the vaccine antigen, plasmid persistence and the local tissue environment. Gene profiling of the vaccination site showed that the combination of DNA and electroporation induced a significant up-regulation of pro-inflammatory genes. In vivo imaging of luciferase activity after electrovaccination demonstrated a rapid onset (minutes) and a long duration (months) of transgene expression. However, when the more immunogenic prostate specific antigen (PSA) was co-administered, PSA-specific T cells were induced and concurrently the luciferase expression became undetectable. Electroporation did not affect the long-term persistence of the PSA-expressing plasmid. Conclusions/Significance This study provides important insights to how DNA delivery by intradermal electrovaccination affects the local immunological responses of the skin, transgene expression and clearance of the plasmid. As the described vaccination approach is currently being evaluated in clinical trials, the data provided will be of high significance. PMID:19789652

An Accurate Direction Finding Scheme Using Virtual Antenna Array via Smartphones.

PubMed

Wang, Xiaopu; Xiong, Yan; Huang, Wenchao

2016-10-29

With the development of localization technologies, researchers solve the indoor localization problems using diverse methods and equipment. Most localization techniques require either specialized devices or fingerprints, which are inconvenient for daily use. Therefore, we propose and implement an accurate, efficient and lightweight system for indoor direction finding using common smartphones and loudspeakers. Our method is derived from a key insight: By moving a smartphone in regular patterns, we can effectively emulate the sensitivity and functionality of a Uniform Antenna Array to estimate the angle of arrival of the target signal. Specifically, a user only needs to hold his smartphone still in front of him, and then rotate his body around 360 ∘ duration with the smartphone at an approximate constant velocity. Then, our system can provide accurate directional guidance and lead the user to their destinations (normal loudspeakers we preset in the indoor environment transmitting high frequency acoustic signals) after a few measurements. Major challenges in implementing our system are not only imitating a virtual antenna array by ordinary smartphones but also overcoming the detection difficulties caused by the complex indoor environment. In addition, we leverage the gyroscope of the smartphone to reduce the impact of a user's motion pattern change to the accuracy of our system. In order to get rid of the multipath effect, we leverage multiple signal classification to calculate the direction of the target signal, and then design and deploy our system in various indoor scenes. Extensive comparative experiments show that our system is reliable under various circumstances.

A Novel Real-Time Reference Key Frame Scan Matching Method

PubMed Central

Mohamed, Haytham; Moussa, Adel; Elhabiby, Mohamed; El-Sheimy, Naser; Sesay, Abu

2017-01-01

Unmanned aerial vehicles represent an effective technology for indoor search and rescue operations. Typically, most indoor missions’ environments would be unknown, unstructured, and/or dynamic. Navigation of UAVs in such environments is addressed by simultaneous localization and mapping approach using either local or global approaches. Both approaches suffer from accumulated errors and high processing time due to the iterative nature of the scan matching method. Moreover, point-to-point scan matching is prone to outlier association processes. This paper proposes a low-cost novel method for 2D real-time scan matching based on a reference key frame (RKF). RKF is a hybrid scan matching technique comprised of feature-to-feature and point-to-point approaches. This algorithm aims at mitigating errors accumulation using the key frame technique, which is inspired from video streaming broadcast process. The algorithm depends on the iterative closest point algorithm during the lack of linear features which is typically exhibited in unstructured environments. The algorithm switches back to the RKF once linear features are detected. To validate and evaluate the algorithm, the mapping performance and time consumption are compared with various algorithms in static and dynamic environments. The performance of the algorithm exhibits promising navigational, mapping results and very short computational time, that indicates the potential use of the new algorithm with real-time systems. PMID:28481285

The role of visual context in manual target localization

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Barry, Susan R.

1993-01-01

During space flight and immediately after return to the 1-g environment of earth, astronauts experience perceptual and sensory-motor disturbances. These changes result from adaptation of the astronaut to the microgravity environment of space. During space flight, sensory information from the eyes, limbs, and vestibular organs is reinterpreted by the central nervous system in order to produce appropriate body movements in the microgravity. This adaptation takes several days to develop. Upon return to earth, the changes in the sensory-motor system are no longer appropriate to a 1-g environment. Over several days, the astronaut must re-adapt to the terrestrial environment. Alterations in sensory-motor function may affect eye-head-hand coordination and, thus, the crewmember's ability to manually locate objects in extrapersonal space. Previous reports have demonstrated that crewmembers have difficulty in estimating joint and limb position and in pointing to memorized target positions on orbit and immediately postflight. The ability to point at or reach toward an object or perform other manual tasks is essential for safe Shuttle operation and may be compromised particularly during re-entry and landing sequences and during possible emergency egress from the Shuttle. An understanding of eye-head-hand coordination and the changes produced during space flight is necessary to develop effective countermeasures. This summer's project formed part of the study of the sensory cues use in the manual localization of objects.

Real-time localization of mobile device by filtering method for sensor fusion

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Fuse, Takashi; Nagara, Keita

2017-06-01

Most of the applications with mobile devices require self-localization of the devices. GPS cannot be used in indoor environment, the positions of mobile devices are estimated autonomously by using IMU. Since the self-localization is based on IMU of low accuracy, and then the self-localization in indoor environment is still challenging. The selflocalization method using images have been developed, and the accuracy of the method is increasing. This paper develops the self-localization method without GPS in indoor environment by integrating sensors, such as IMU and cameras, on mobile devices simultaneously. The proposed method consists of observations, forecasting and filtering. The position and velocity of the mobile device are defined as a state vector. In the self-localization, observations correspond to observation data from IMU and camera (observation vector), forecasting to mobile device moving model (system model) and filtering to tracking method by inertial surveying and coplanarity condition and inverse depth model (observation model). Positions of a mobile device being tracked are estimated by system model (forecasting step), which are assumed as linearly moving model. Then estimated positions are optimized referring to the new observation data based on likelihood (filtering step). The optimization at filtering step corresponds to estimation of the maximum a posterior probability. Particle filter are utilized for the calculation through forecasting and filtering steps. The proposed method is applied to data acquired by mobile devices in indoor environment. Through the experiments, the high performance of the method is confirmed.

Scales of Star Formation: Does Local Environment Matter?

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Bittle, Lauren

2018-01-01

I will present my work on measuring molecular gas properties in local universe galaxies to assess the impact of local environment on the gas and thus star formation. I will also discuss the gas properties on spatial scales that span an order of magnitude to best understand the layers of star formation processes. Local environments within these galaxies include external mechanisms from starburst supernova shells, spiral arm structure, and superstar cluster radiation. Observations of CO giant molecular clouds (GMC) of ~150pc resolution in IC 10, the Local Group dwarf starburst, probe the large-scale diffuse gas, some of which are near supernova bubble ridges. We mapped CO clouds across the spiral NGC 7793 at intermediate scales of ~20pc resolution with ALMA. With the clouds, we can test theories of cloud formation and destruction in relation to the spiral arm pattern and cluster population from the HST LEGUS analysis. Addressing the smallest scales, I will show results of 30 Doradus ALMA observations of sub-parsec dense molecular gas clumps only 15pc away from a superstar cluster R136. Though star formation occurs directly from the collapse of densest molecular gas, we test theories of scale-free star formation, which suggests a constant slope of the mass function from ~150pc GMCs to sub-parsec clumps. Probing environments including starburst supernova shells, spiral arm structure, and superstar cluster radiation shed light on how these local external mechanisms affect the molecular gas at various scales of star formation.

Local-scale topoclimate effects on treeline elevations: a country-wide investigation of New Zealand's southern beech treelines.

PubMed

Case, Bradley S; Buckley, Hannah L

2015-01-01

Although treeline elevations are limited globally by growing season temperature, at regional scales treelines frequently deviate below their climatic limit. The cause of these deviations relate to a host of climatic, disturbance, and geomorphic factors that operate at multiple scales. The ability to disentangle the relative effects of these factors is currently hampered by the lack of reliable topoclimatic data, which describe how regional climatic characteristics are modified by topographic effects in mountain areas. In this study we present an analysis of the combined effects of local- and regional-scale factors on southern beech treeline elevation variability at 28 study areas across New Zealand. We apply a mesoscale atmospheric model to generate local-scale (200 m) meteorological data at these treelines and, from these data, we derive a set of topoclimatic indices that reflect possible detrimental and ameliorative influences on tree physiological functioning. Principal components analysis of meteorological data revealed geographic structure in how study areas were situated in multivariate space along gradients of topoclimate. Random forest and conditional inference tree modelling enabled us to tease apart the relative effects of 17 explanatory factors on local-scale treeline elevation variability. Overall, modelling explained about 50% of the variation in treeline elevation variability across the 28 study areas, with local landform and topoclimatic effects generally outweighing those from regional-scale factors across the 28 study areas. Further, the nature of the relationships between treeline elevation variability and the explanatory variables were complex, frequently non-linear, and consistent with the treeline literature. To our knowledge, this is the first study where model-generated meteorological data, and derived topoclimatic indices, have been developed and applied to explain treeline variation. Our results demonstrate the potential of such an approach for ecological research in mountainous environments.

Local-scale topoclimate effects on treeline elevations: a country-wide investigation of New Zealand’s southern beech treelines

PubMed Central

Buckley, Hannah L.

2015-01-01

Although treeline elevations are limited globally by growing season temperature, at regional scales treelines frequently deviate below their climatic limit. The cause of these deviations relate to a host of climatic, disturbance, and geomorphic factors that operate at multiple scales. The ability to disentangle the relative effects of these factors is currently hampered by the lack of reliable topoclimatic data, which describe how regional climatic characteristics are modified by topographic effects in mountain areas. In this study we present an analysis of the combined effects of local- and regional-scale factors on southern beech treeline elevation variability at 28 study areas across New Zealand. We apply a mesoscale atmospheric model to generate local-scale (200 m) meteorological data at these treelines and, from these data, we derive a set of topoclimatic indices that reflect possible detrimental and ameliorative influences on tree physiological functioning. Principal components analysis of meteorological data revealed geographic structure in how study areas were situated in multivariate space along gradients of topoclimate. Random forest and conditional inference tree modelling enabled us to tease apart the relative effects of 17 explanatory factors on local-scale treeline elevation variability. Overall, modelling explained about 50% of the variation in treeline elevation variability across the 28 study areas, with local landform and topoclimatic effects generally outweighing those from regional-scale factors across the 28 study areas. Further, the nature of the relationships between treeline elevation variability and the explanatory variables were complex, frequently non-linear, and consistent with the treeline literature. To our knowledge, this is the first study where model-generated meteorological data, and derived topoclimatic indices, have been developed and applied to explain treeline variation. Our results demonstrate the potential of such an approach for ecological research in mountainous environments. PMID:26528407

Generic emergence of classical features in quantum Darwinism.

PubMed

Brandão, Fernando G S L; Piani, Marco; Horodecki, Paweł

2015-08-12

Quantum Darwinism posits that only specific information about a quantum system that is redundantly proliferated to many parts of its environment becomes accessible and objective, leading to the emergence of classical reality. However, it is not clear under what conditions this mechanism holds true. Here we prove that the emergence of classical features along the lines of quantum Darwinism is a general feature of any quantum dynamics: observers who acquire information indirectly through the environment have effective access at most to classical information about one and the same measurement of the quantum system. Our analysis does not rely on a strict conceptual splitting between a system-of-interest and its environment, and allows one to interpret any system as part of the environment of any other system. Finally, our approach leads to a full operational characterization of quantum discord in terms of local redistribution of correlations.

Generic emergence of classical features in quantum Darwinism

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Brandão, Fernando G. S. L.; Piani, Marco; Horodecki, Paweł

2015-08-01

Quantum Darwinism posits that only specific information about a quantum system that is redundantly proliferated to many parts of its environment becomes accessible and objective, leading to the emergence of classical reality. However, it is not clear under what conditions this mechanism holds true. Here we prove that the emergence of classical features along the lines of quantum Darwinism is a general feature of any quantum dynamics: observers who acquire information indirectly through the environment have effective access at most to classical information about one and the same measurement of the quantum system. Our analysis does not rely on a strict conceptual splitting between a system-of-interest and its environment, and allows one to interpret any system as part of the environment of any other system. Finally, our approach leads to a full operational characterization of quantum discord in terms of local redistribution of correlations.

Non-Markovian decay and dynamics of decoherence in private and public environments

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Dente, A. D.; Zangara, P. R.; Pastawski, H. M.

2011-10-01

We study the decay process in an open system, emphasizing the relevance of the environment’s spectral structure. Non-Markovian effects are included to quantitatively analyze the degradation rate of the coherent evolution. The way in which a two-level system is coupled to different environments is specifically addressed: multiple connections to a single bath (public environment) or single connections to multiple baths (private environments). We numerically evaluate the decay rate of a local excitation by using the survival probability and the Loschmidt echo. These rates are compared to analytical results obtained from the standard Fermi golden rule (FGR) in wide band approximation, and a self-consistent evaluation that accounts for the bath’s memory in cases where an exact analytical solution is possible. We observe that the correlations appearing in a public bath introduce further deviations from the FGR as compared with a private bath.

Multi-focused geospatial analysis using probes.

PubMed

Butkiewicz, Thomas; Dou, Wenwen; Wartell, Zachary; Ribarsky, William; Chang, Remco

2008-01-01

Traditional geospatial information visualizations often present views that restrict the user to a single perspective. When zoomed out, local trends and anomalies become suppressed and lost; when zoomed in for local inspection, spatial awareness and comparison between regions become limited. In our model, coordinated visualizations are integrated within individual probe interfaces, which depict the local data in user-defined regions-of-interest. Our probe concept can be incorporated into a variety of geospatial visualizations to empower users with the ability to observe, coordinate, and compare data across multiple local regions. It is especially useful when dealing with complex simulations or analyses where behavior in various localities differs from other localities and from the system as a whole. We illustrate the effectiveness of our technique over traditional interfaces by incorporating it within three existing geospatial visualization systems: an agent-based social simulation, a census data exploration tool, and an 3D GIS environment for analyzing urban change over time. In each case, the probe-based interaction enhances spatial awareness, improves inspection and comparison capabilities, expands the range of scopes, and facilitates collaboration among multiple users.

Locality and universality of quantum memory effects.

PubMed

Liu, B-H; Wißmann, S; Hu, X-M; Zhang, C; Huang, Y-F; Li, C-F; Guo, G-C; Karlsson, A; Piilo, J; Breuer, H-P

2014-09-11

The modeling and analysis of the dynamics of complex systems often requires to employ non-Markovian stochastic processes. While there is a clear and well-established mathematical definition for non-Markovianity in the case of classical systems, the extension to the quantum regime recently caused a vivid debate, leading to many different proposals for the characterization and quantification of memory effects in the dynamics of open quantum systems. Here, we derive a mathematical representation for the non-Markovianity measure based on the exchange of information between the open system and its environment, which reveals the locality and universality of non-Markovianity in the quantum state space and substantially simplifies its numerical and experimental determination. We further illustrate the application of this representation by means of an all-optical experiment which allows the measurement of the degree of memory effects in a photonic quantum process with high accuracy.

Adaptation disrupts motion integration in the primate dorsal stream

PubMed Central

Patterson, Carlyn A.; Wissig, Stephanie C.; Kohn, Adam

2014-01-01

Summary Sensory systems adjust continuously to the environment. The effects of recent sensory experience—or adaptation—are typically assayed by recording in a relevant subcortical or cortical network. However, adaptation effects cannot be localized to a single, local network. Adjustments in one circuit or area will alter the input provided to others, with unclear consequences for computations implemented in the downstream circuit. Here we show that prolonged adaptation with drifting gratings, which alters responses in the early visual system, impedes the ability of area MT neurons to integrate motion signals in plaid stimuli. Perceptual experiments reveal a corresponding loss of plaid coherence. A simple computational model shows how the altered representation of motion signals in early cortex can derail integration in MT. Our results suggest that the effects of adaptation cascade through the visual system, derailing the downstream representation of distinct stimulus attributes. PMID:24507198

Influence of a municipal solid waste landfill in the surrounding environment: toxicological risk and odor nuisance effects.

PubMed

Palmiotto, Marinella; Fattore, Elena; Paiano, Viviana; Celeste, Giorgio; Colombo, Andrea; Davoli, Enrico

2014-07-01

The large amounts of treated waste materials and the complex biological and physicochemical processes make the areas in the proximity of landfills vulnerable not only to emissions of potential toxic compounds but also to nuisance such as odor pollution. All these factors have a dramatic impact in the local environment producing environmental quality degradation. Most of the human health problems come from the landfill gas, from its non-methanic volatile organic compounds and from hazardous air pollutants. In addition several odorants are released during landfill operations and uncontrolled emissions. In this work we present an integrated risk assessment for emissions of hazard compounds and odor nuisance, to describe environmental quality in the landfill proximity. The study was based on sampling campaigns to acquire emission data for polychlorinated dibenzo-p-dioxins and dibenzofurans, dioxin-like polychlorobiphenyls, polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons, benzene and vinyl chloride monomer and odor. All concentration values in the emissions from the landfill were measured and used in an air dispersion model to estimate maximum concentrations and depositions in correspondence to five sensitive receptors located in proximity of the landfill. Results for the different scenarios and cancer and non-cancer effects always showed risk estimates which were orders of magnitude below those accepted from the main international agencies (WHO, US EPA). Odor pollution was significant for a limited downwind area near the landfill appearing to be a significant risk factor of the damage to the local environment. Copyright © 2014 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Two new confirmed massive relic galaxies: red nuggets in the present-day Universe

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Ferré-Mateu, Anna; Trujillo, Ignacio; Martín-Navarro, Ignacio; Vazdekis, Alexandre; Mezcua, Mar; Balcells, Marc; Domínguez, Lilian

2017-05-01

We confirm two new local massive relic galaxies, I.e. untouched survivors of the early Universe massive population: Mrk 1216 and PGC 032873. Both show early and peaked formation events within very short time-scales (<1 Gyr) and thus old mean mass-weighted ages (˜13 Gyr). Their star formation histories remain virtually unchanged out to several effective radii, even when considering the steeper initial-mass-function values inferred out to ˜3 effective radii. Their morphologies, kinematics and density profiles are like those found in the z > 2 massive population, setting them apart from the typical z ˜ 0 massive early-type galaxies. We find that there seems to exist a degree of relic that is related to how far into the path, to become one of these typical z ˜ 0 massive galaxies, the compact relic has moved. This path is partly dictated by the environment the galaxy lives in. For galaxies in rich environments, such as the previously reported relic galaxy NGC 1277, the most extreme properties (e.g. sizes, short formation time-scales, larger supermassive black holes) are expected, while lower density environments will have galaxies with delayed and/or extended star formations, slightly larger sizes and not that extreme black hole masses. The confirmation of three relic galaxies up to a distance of 106 Mpc, implies a lower limit in the number density of these red nuggets in the local Universe of 6 × 10-7 Mpc3, which is within the theoretical expectations.

Vision-based navigation in a dynamic environment for virtual human

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Liu, Yan; Sun, Ji-Zhou; Zhang, Jia-Wan; Li, Ming-Chu

2004-06-01

Intelligent virtual human is widely required in computer games, ergonomics software, virtual environment and so on. We present a vision-based behavior modeling method to realize smart navigation in a dynamic environment. This behavior model can be divided into three modules: vision, global planning and local planning. Vision is the only channel for smart virtual actor to get information from the outside world. Then, the global and local planning module use A* and D* algorithm to find a way for virtual human in a dynamic environment. Finally, the experiments on our test platform (Smart Human System) verify the feasibility of this behavior model.

Tsunami sediments and their grain size characteristics

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Sulastya Putra, Purna

2018-02-01

Characteristics of tsunami deposits are very complex as the deposition by tsunami is very complex processes. The grain size characteristics of tsunami deposits are simply generalized no matter the local condition in which the deposition took place. The general characteristics are fining upward and landward, poor sorting, and the grain size distribution is not unimodal. Here I review the grain size characteristics of tsunami deposit in various environments: swale, coastal marsh and lagoon/lake. Review results show that although there are similar characters in some environments and cases, but in detail the characteristics in each environment can be distinguished; therefore, the tsunami deposit in each environment has its own characteristic. The local geological and geomorphological condition of the environment may greatly affect the grain size characteristics.