Progress in the Analysis of Complex Atmospheric Particles.

PubMed

Laskin, Alexander; Gilles, Mary K; Knopf, Daniel A; Wang, Bingbing; China, Swarup

2016-06-12

This article presents an overview of recent advances in field and laboratory studies of atmospheric particles formed in processes of environmental air-surface interactions. The overarching goal of these studies is to advance predictive understanding of atmospheric particle composition, particle chemistry during aging, and their environmental impacts. The diversity between chemical constituents and lateral heterogeneity within individual particles adds to the chemical complexity of particles and their surfaces. Once emitted, particles undergo transformation via atmospheric aging processes that further modify their complex composition. We highlight a range of modern analytical approaches that enable multimodal chemical characterization of particles with both molecular and lateral specificity. When combined, these approaches provide a comprehensive arsenal of tools for understanding the nature of particles at air-surface interactions and their reactivity and transformations with atmospheric aging. We discuss applications of these novel approaches in recent studies and highlight additional research areas to explore the environmental effects of air-surface interactions.

Ethopathology and Civilization Diseases: Niko and Elisabeth Tinbergen on Autism.

PubMed

Vicedo, Marga

2018-01-01

The idea that some diseases result from a poor fit between modern life and our biological make-up is part of the long history of what historian of medicine Charles Rosenberg has called the "progress-and-pathology narrative." This article examines a key episode in that history: 1973 Nobel laureate Niko Tinbergen's use of an evolutionary framework to identify autism as a pathogenic effect of progress. Influenced by British psychiatrist John Bowlby's work, Tinbergen and his wife Elisabeth saw autistic children as victims of environmental stress caused mainly by mothers' failure to bond with their children and to protect them from conflicting situations. However, the author argues that their position was not "environmental." For them, autism was due to a failure of socialization but the mechanisms that explain that failure were established by biological evolution. Situating their views within the context of Niko's concern about the derailment of biological evolution by cultural evolution, this article shows that their ideas are of special significance for understanding the persistence of the view that civilization poses a risk to human health.

Estimating past precipitation and temperature from fossil ostracodes

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

Smith, A.J.; Forester, R.M.

1994-12-31

The fossil records of certain aquatic organisms provide a way of obtaining meaningful estimates of past temperature and precipitation. These estimates of past environmental conditions are derived from multivariate statistical methods that are in turn based on the modern biogeographic distributions and environmental tolerances of the biota of interest. These estimates are helpful in conducting slimate studies as part of the Yucca Mountain site characterization. Ostracodes are microscopic crustaceans that produce bivalved calcite shells which are easily fossilized in the sediments of the lakes and wetlands in which the animals lived. The modern biogeographic distribution and environmental conditions of livingmore » ostracodes are the basis for the interpretation of the past environmental conditions of the fossil ostracodes. The major assumption in this method of interpretation is that the environmental tolerances of ostracodes have not changed substantially over thousands of years. Two methods using these modern analogs to determine past environmental conditions are the modern analog method and the range method. The range method also considers the information provided by fossil ostracode assemblages that have no modern analog in today`s world.« less

Validation of the Learning Progression-based Assessment of Modern Genetics in a college context

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Todd, Amber; Romine, William L.

2016-07-01

Building upon a methodologically diverse research foundation, we adapted and validated the Learning Progression-based Assessment of Modern Genetics (LPA-MG) for college students' knowledge of the domain. Toward collecting valid learning progression-based measures in a college majors context, we redeveloped and content validated a majority of a previous version of the LPA-MG which was developed for high school students. Using a Rasch model calibrated on 316 students from 2 sections of majors introductory biology, we demonstrate the validity of this version and describe how college students' ideas of modern genetics are likely to change as the students progress from low to high understanding. We then utilize these findings to build theory around the connections college students at different levels of understanding make within and across the many ideas within the domain.

Terrestrial mollusk records from Chinese loess sequences and changes in the East Asian monsoonal environment

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Wu, Naiqin; Li, Fengjiang; Rousseau, Denis-Didier

2018-04-01

The terrestrial mollusk fossils found in Chinese loess strata have been studied for over one hundred years. However, the greatest progress in these studies has been made only in the last two decades. In this paper, we review the advancements, advantages and limitations of terrestrial mollusk studies in Chinese loess deposits. Improvements in research methods and approaches have allowed the extraction of more detailed paleoenvironmental and paleoclimatic information from mollusk assemblages. The broadened research scope and content have yielded many new findings and results. The mollusk record has thus become one of the most important proxies in the paleoenvironmental and paleoclimatic reconstruction of loess-paleosol sequences in China. The greatest progress in the studies of terrestrial mollusks in Chinese loess sequences can be summarized as follows: (1) modern mollusk assemblages can be classified into four ecotypes, based on their temperature and humidity requirements, including eurytopic, semi-aridiphilous and sub-humidiphilous, cold-aridiphilous, and thermo-humidiphilous types; (2) Quaternary mollusk assemblages can be modified into the following three ecological types: glacial loess, interglacial paleosol, and interstadial weakly-developed paleosol assemblages; (3) mollusk records successfully reveal long-term climatic and environmental changes reflective of the history of East Asian monsoonal variations since the Late Cenozoic, and the succession of mollusk species also indicate short-term environmental changes such as millennial climate variability during Last Glacial Maximum and unstable climatic fluctuations during glacial and interglacial periods; and (4) more recently, new analytical approaches have offered increased research potential in areas such as paleotemperature reconstruction using the isotopic compositions of modern and fossil mollusk shells, combined with higher accuracy 14C dating of Quaternary loess deposits, which will greatly improve future loess paleoenvironmental research.

Progress in the Analysis of Complex Atmospheric Particles

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

Laskin, Alexander; Gilles, Mary K.; Knopf, Daniel A.

2016-06-16

This manuscript presents an overview on recent advances in field and laboratory studies of atmospheric particles formed in processes of environmental air-surfaces interactions. The overarching goal of these studies is to advance predictive understanding of atmospheric particle composition, particle chemistry during aging, and their environmental impacts. The diversity between chemical constituents and lateral heterogeneity within individual particles adds to the chemical complexity of particles and their surfaces. Once emitted, particles undergo transformation via atmospheric aging processes that further modify their complex composition. We highlight a range of modern analytical approaches that enable multi-modal chemical characterization of particles with both molecularmore » and lateral specificity. When combined, they provide a comprehensive arsenal of tools for understanding the nature of particles at air-surface interactions and their reactivity and transformations with atmospheric aging. We discuss applications of these novel approaches in recent studies and highlight additional research areas to explore environmental effects of air-surface interactions.« less

Progress in the analysis of complex atmospheric particles

DOE PAGES

Laskin, Alexander; Gilles, Mary K.; Knopf, Daniel A.; ...

2016-06-01

This study presents an overview of recent advances in field and laboratory studies of atmospheric particles formed in processes of environmental air-surface interactions. The overarching goal of these studies is to advance predictive understanding of atmospheric particle composition, particle chemistry during aging, and their environmental impacts. The diversity between chemical constituents and lateral heterogeneity within individual particles adds to the chemical complexity of particles and their surfaces. Once emitted, particles undergo transformation via atmospheric aging processes that further modify their complex composition. We highlight a range of modern analytical approaches that enable multimodal chemical characterization of particles with both molecularmore » and lateral specificity. When combined, these approaches provide a comprehensive arsenal of tools for understanding the nature of particles at air-surface interactions and their reactivity and transformations with atmospheric aging. We discuss applications of these novel approaches in recent studies and highlight additional research areas to explore the environmental effects of air-surface interactions.« less

Designing and Testing Energy Harvesters Suitable for Renewable Power Sources

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Synkiewicz, B.; Guzdek, P.; Piekarski, J.; Zaraska, K.

2016-01-01

Energy harvesters convert waste power (heat, light and vibration) directly to electric power . Fast progress in their technology, design and areas of application (e.g. “Internet of Things”) has been observed recently. Their effectiveness is steadily growing which makes their application to powering sensor networks with wireless data transfer reasonable. The main advantage is the independence from wired power sources, which is especially important for monitoring state of environmental parameters. In this paper we describe the design and realization of a gas sensor monitoring CO level (powered by TEG) and two, designed an constructed in ITE, autonomous power supply modules powered by modern photovoltaic cells.

Metallic bionanocatalysts: potential applications as green catalysts and energy materials.

PubMed

Macaskie, Lynne E; Mikheenko, Iryna P; Omajai, Jacob B; Stephen, Alan J; Wood, Joseph

2017-09-01

Microbially generated or supported nanocatalysts have potential applications in green chemistry and environmental application. However, precious (and base) metals biorefined from wastes may be useful for making cheap, low-grade catalysts for clean energy production. The concept of bionanomaterials for energy applications is reviewed with respect to potential fuel cell applications, bio-catalytic upgrading of oils and manufacturing 'drop-in fuel' precursors. Cheap, effective biomaterials would facilitate progress towards dual development goals of sustainable consumption and production patterns and help to ensure access to affordable, reliable, sustainable and modern energy. © 2017 The Authors. Microbial Biotechnology published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd and Society for Applied Microbiology.

On What Basis Hope? Modern Progress and Postmodern Possibilities.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Danforth, Scot

1997-01-01

Examines modern and postmodern concepts of hope as applied to services for persons having mental retardation. Contrasts modernist theories of special education, based on interventionist social science, with postmodernist views, which critique modern social science as perpetuating stigmatized "mentally retarded" identities defined by…

The Rise of Women's Modern Schooling in Late Qing China (1840-1911)

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Liu, Xiaoyi

2009-01-01

The rise of women's modern schooling in late Qing China was deemed to be, by the historical trend of modern China, a progress that coincided with China's modernization and national self-strengthening movement after the humiliating defeat of the Opium War. This article is an examination of this process from 1840 to 1911, which had undergone three…

Modernity and Postmodernity Related Issues in Developing Ideas and Tasks of Adult Education in Korean Context.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Kim, Kyung Hi

Korean society is in the midst of a conflict between modern and postmodern condition. The concept of modernity is rooted in the Enlightenment, which valued reason and proposed the rational and progressive construction and transformation of society and reality. As a result of a rational differentiation between culture and society, modern phenomena…

A Century of Enzyme Kinetic Analysis, 1913 to 2013

PubMed Central

Johnson, Kenneth A.

2013-01-01

This review traces the history and logical progression of methods for quantitative analysis of enzyme kinetics from the 1913 Michaelis and Menten paper to the application of modern computational methods today. Following a brief review of methods for fitting steady state kinetic data, modern methods are highlighted for fitting full progress curve kinetics based upon numerical integration of rate equations, including a re-analysis of the original Michaelis-Menten full time course kinetic data. Finally, several illustrations of modern transient state kinetic methods of analysis are shown which enable the elucidation of reactions occurring at the active sites of enzymes in order to relate structure and function. PMID:23850893

Possible Applications of Hardening Slurries with Fly Ash from Thermal Treatment of Municipal Sewage Sludge in Environmental Protection Structures

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Falacinski, Paweł; Szarek, Łukasz

2016-06-01

In Poland, in recent years, there has been a rapid accumulation of sewage sludge - a by-product in the treatment of urban wastewater. This has come about as a result of infrastructure renewal, specifically, the construction of modern sewage treatment plants. The more stringent regulations and strategic goals adopted for modern sewage management have necessitated the application of modern engineering methodology for the disposal of sewage sludge. One approach is incineration. As a consequence, the amount of fly ash resulting from the thermal treatment of municipal sewage sludge has grown significantly. Hence, intensive work is in progress for environmentally safe management of this type of waste. The aim of the experiment was to evaluate the possibility of using the fly ash that results from municipal sewage sludge thermal treatment (SSTT) as an additive to hardening slurries. This type of hardening slurry with various types of additives, e.g. coal combustion products, is used in the construction of cut-off walls in hydraulic structures. The article presents the technological and functional parameters of hardening slurries with an addition of fly ash obtained by SSTT. Moreover, the usefulness of these slurries is analysed on the basis of their basic properties, i.e. density, contractual viscosity, water separation, structural strength, volumetric density, hydraulic conductivity, compressive and tensile strength. The mandated requirements for slurries employed in the construction of cut-off walls in flood embankments are listed as a usefulness criteria. The article presents the potential uses of fly ash from SSTT in hardening slurry technology. It also suggests directions for further research to fully identify other potential uses of this by-product in this field.

Water chemistry: fifty years of change and progress.

PubMed

Brezonik, Patrick L; Arnold, William A

2012-06-05

Water chemistry evolved from early foundations in several related disciplines. Although it is difficult to associate a precise date to its founding, several events support the argument that the field as we know it today developed in the mid-20th century--at the dawn of the "environmental era"--that is, ∼1960. The field in its modern incarnation thus is about 50 years old. In celebration of this half-centenary, we examine here the origins of water chemistry, how the field has changed over the past 50 years, and the principal driving forces for change, focusing on both the "practice" of water chemistry and ways that teaching the subject has evolved.

[Elucidation of key genes in sex determination in genetics teaching].

PubMed

Li, Meng; He, Zhumei

2014-06-01

Sex is an important and complex feature of organisms, which is controlled by the genetic and environmental factors. The genetic factors, i.e., genes, are vital in sex determination. However, not all the related genes play the same roles, and some key genes play a vital role in the sex determination and differentiation. With the development of the modern genetics, a great progress on the key genes has been made in sex determination. In this review, we summarize the mechanism of sex determination and the strategy of how to study the key genes in sex determination. It will help us to understand the mechanism of sex determination better in the teaching of genetics.

Environmental impacts of modern agricultural technology diffusion in Bangladesh: an analysis of farmers' perceptions and their determinants.

PubMed

Rahman, Sanzidur

2003-06-01

Farmers' perception of the environmental impacts of modern agricultural technology diffusion and factors determining such awareness were examined using survey data from 21 villages in three agro-ecological regions of Bangladesh. Results reveal that farmers are well aware of the adverse environmental impacts of modern agricultural technology, although their awareness remains confined within visible impacts such as soil fertility, fish catches, and health effects. Their perception of intangible impacts such as, toxicity in water and soils is weak. Level and duration of modern agricultural technology adoption directly influence awareness of its adverse effects. Education and extension contacts also play an important role in raising awareness. Awareness is higher among farmers in developed regions, fertile locations and those with access to off-farm income sources. Promotion of education and strengthening extension services will boost farmers' environmental awareness. Infrastructure development and measures to replenish depleting soil fertility will also play a positive role in raising awareness.

Progress, Exponential Growth and Post-Growth Education

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Irwin, Ruth

2017-01-01

Teleological progress is the underlying motif of modern culture, and informs education, innovation, and economic development. Progress includes a gradual increase in consumerism. Since the 1940s, the Keynesian Settlement and its embedded belief in progress is legislated in exponential 2-3% economic growth. Unfortunately, climate change is a direct…

Brief communication: a proposed method for the assessment of pubertal stage in human skeletal remains using cervical vertebrae maturation.

PubMed

Shapland, Fiona; Lewis, Mary E

2014-01-01

The assessment of age-at-death in non-adult skeletal remains is under constant review. However, in many past societies an individual's physical maturation may have been more important in social terms than their exact age, particularly during the period of adolescence. In a recent article (Shapland and Lewis: Am J Phys Anthropol 151 (2013) 302-310) highlighted a set of dental and skeletal indicators that may be useful in mapping the progress of the pubertal growth spurt. This article presents a further skeletal indicator of adolescent development commonly used by modern clinicians: cervical vertebrae maturation (CVM). This method is applied to a collection of 594 adolescents from the medieval cemetery of St. Mary Spital, London. Analysis reveals a potential delay in ages of attainment of the later CVM stages compared with modern adolescents, presumably reflecting negative environmental conditions for growth and development. The data gathered on CVM is compared to other skeletal indicators of pubertal maturity and long bone growth from this site to ascertain the usefulness of this method on archaeological collections. Copyright © 2013 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

How Farmers Learn about Environmental Issues: Reflections on a Sociobiographical Approach

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Vandenabeele, Joke; Wildemeersch, Danny

2012-01-01

At the time of this research, protests of farmers against new environmental policy measures received much media attention. News reports suggested that farmers' organizations rejected the idea that modern farming techniques cause damage to the environment and even tried to undermine attempts to reconcile the goals of modern agriculture with…

Modern Methodology and Techniques Aimed at Developing the Environmentally Responsible Personality

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Ponomarenko, Yelena V.; Zholdasbekova, Bibisara A.; Balabekov, Aidarhan T.; Kenzhebekova, Rabiga I.; Yessaliyev, Aidarbek A.; Larchenkova, Liudmila A.

2016-01-01

The article discusses the positive impact of an environmentally responsible individual as the social unit able to live in harmony with the natural world, himself/herself and other people. The purpose of the article is to provide theoretical substantiation of modern teaching methods. The authors considered the experience of philosophy, psychology,…

Progressive Sampling Technique for Efficient and Robust Uncertainty and Sensitivity Analysis of Environmental Systems Models: Stability and Convergence

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Sheikholeslami, R.; Hosseini, N.; Razavi, S.

2016-12-01

Modern earth and environmental models are usually characterized by a large parameter space and high computational cost. These two features prevent effective implementation of sampling-based analysis such as sensitivity and uncertainty analysis, which require running these computationally expensive models several times to adequately explore the parameter/problem space. Therefore, developing efficient sampling techniques that scale with the size of the problem, computational budget, and users' needs is essential. In this presentation, we propose an efficient sequential sampling strategy, called Progressive Latin Hypercube Sampling (PLHS), which provides an increasingly improved coverage of the parameter space, while satisfying pre-defined requirements. The original Latin hypercube sampling (LHS) approach generates the entire sample set in one stage; on the contrary, PLHS generates a series of smaller sub-sets (also called `slices') while: (1) each sub-set is Latin hypercube and achieves maximum stratification in any one dimensional projection; (2) the progressive addition of sub-sets remains Latin hypercube; and thus (3) the entire sample set is Latin hypercube. Therefore, it has the capability to preserve the intended sampling properties throughout the sampling procedure. PLHS is deemed advantageous over the existing methods, particularly because it nearly avoids over- or under-sampling. Through different case studies, we show that PHLS has multiple advantages over the one-stage sampling approaches, including improved convergence and stability of the analysis results with fewer model runs. In addition, PLHS can help to minimize the total simulation time by only running the simulations necessary to achieve the desired level of quality (e.g., accuracy, and convergence rate).

The evolutionary consequence of the individualistic response to climate change.

PubMed

Stewart, J R

2009-12-01

The Quaternary fossil record has abundant evidence for ecologically nonanalogue communities made up of combinations of modern taxa not seen in sympatry today. A brief review of the literature detailing these nonanalogue communities is given with a discussion of their various proposed causes. The individualistic, Gleasonian, response of species to climate and environmental change is favoured by many. The degree to which communities are nonanalogue appears to increase with greater time depth, and this progressive process is a necessary outcome of the individualistic response of species to climate change through time. In addition, it is noted that populations within species, as well as the species as a whole, respond individualistically. This paper proposes that many elements of nonanalogue communities are extinct populations, which may explain their environmentally anomalous combinations. These extinct populations are, by definition, lineages without descendents. It is further proposed that the differential extinction of populations, as a result of continuous ecological reassembly, could amount to a significant evolutionary phenomenon.

Synchrony and desynchrony in circadian clocks: impacts on learning and memory

PubMed Central

Krishnan, Harini C.

2015-01-01

Circadian clocks evolved under conditions of environmental variation, primarily alternating light dark cycles, to enable organisms to anticipate daily environmental events and coordinate metabolic, physiological, and behavioral activities. However, modern lifestyle and advances in technology have increased the percentage of individuals working in phases misaligned with natural circadian activity rhythms. Endogenous circadian oscillators modulate alertness, the acquisition of learning, memory formation, and the recall of memory with examples of circadian modulation of memory observed across phyla from invertebrates to humans. Cognitive performance and memory are significantly diminished when occurring out of phase with natural circadian rhythms. Disruptions in circadian regulation can lead to impairment in the formation of memories and manifestation of other cognitive deficits. This review explores the types of interactions through which the circadian clock modulates cognition, highlights recent progress in identifying mechanistic interactions between the circadian system and the processes involved in memory formation, and outlines methods used to remediate circadian perturbations and reinforce circadian adaptation. PMID:26286653

Innovation processes in technologies for the processing of refractory mineral raw materials

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Chanturiya, V. A.

2008-12-01

Analysis of the grade of mineral resources of Russia and other countries shows that end products that are competitive in terms of both technological and environmental criteria in the world market can only be obtained by the development and implementation of progressive technologies based on the up-to-date achievements of fundamental sciences. The essence of modern innovation processes in technologies developed in Russia for the complex and comprehensive processing of refractory raw materials with a complex composition is ascertained. These processes include (i) radiometric methods of concentration of valuable components, (ii) high-energy methods of disintegration of highly dispersed mineral components, and (iii) electrochemical methods of water conditioning to obtain target products for solving specific technological problems.

Drafting human ancestry: what does the Neanderthal genome tell us about hominid evolution? Commentary on Green et al. (2010).

PubMed

Hofreiter, Michael

2011-02-01

Ten years after the first draft versions of the human genome were announced, technical progress in both DNA sequencing and ancient DNA analyses has allowed a research team around Ed Green and Svante Pääbo to complete this task from infinitely more difficult hominid samples: a few pieces of bone originating from our closest, albeit extinct, relatives, the Neanderthals. Pulling the Neanderthal sequences out of a sea of contaminating environmental DNA impregnating the bones and at the same time avoiding the problems of contamination with modern human DNA is in itself a remarkable accomplishment. However, the crucial question in the long run is, what can we learn from such genomic data about hominid evolution?

A century of enzyme kinetic analysis, 1913 to 2013.

PubMed

Johnson, Kenneth A

2013-09-02

This review traces the history and logical progression of methods for quantitative analysis of enzyme kinetics from the 1913 Michaelis and Menten paper to the application of modern computational methods today. Following a brief review of methods for fitting steady state kinetic data, modern methods are highlighted for fitting full progress curve kinetics based upon numerical integration of rate equations, including a re-analysis of the original Michaelis-Menten full time course kinetic data. Finally, several illustrations of modern transient state kinetic methods of analysis are shown which enable the elucidation of reactions occurring at the active sites of enzymes in order to relate structure and function. Copyright © 2013 Federation of European Biochemical Societies. Published by Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Evolution of the polar oceans: the late Quaternary palaeoceanography of the Northwest Passage

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Pienkowski, Anna; Furze, Mark; England, John; MacLean, Brian; Bennett, Robbie; Blasco, Steve; McNeely, Morgan

2014-05-01

The marine channels of the Canadian Arctic Archipelago, collectively known as the "Northwest Passage" (= NWP), cover some 1.1 million km2 on the North American continental shelf and constitute one of two primary pathways for water and heat exchange between the Arctic and Atlantic oceans. Modern circulation is characterized by a net southeastward flow from the Arctic Ocean through Parry Channel (the main W-E axis of the NWP) towards Baffin Bay, with Arctic Ocean Surface Water primarily occupying the NWP channels. Data from recent and ongoing marine work* highlight a dynamic oceanographic environment since the last glaciation. A suite of five sediment records (piston and trigger weight cores) taken in a transect through Parry Channel provide important information on the long-term (deglacial to postglacial) environmental and oceanographic evolution of the region. The cores were studied by a multiproxy approach encompassing sedimentology, micropalaeontology, biogeochemistry, constrained by a chronological framework of 58 AMS radiocarbon dates. Our data suggest grounded glacial ice in the channels of the Canadian Arctic Archipelago, rapid deglaciation, and a characteristic progression from ice-proximal to ice-distal conditions. Age model extrapolations place deglaciation at ~13.0-10.3 cal ka BP (location dependent). Noticeable biological activity is marked by the appearance of planktonic foraminifera (Neogloboquadrina pachyderma) at ~11.0 cal ka BP - an important signal given the absence of these organisms in the modern NWP. This likely marks the penetration of Atlantic-derived water (Arctic Intermediate Water) into the central NWP following deglaciation, likely facilitated by higher deglacial sea-levels permitting increased flow across inter-channel sills. Though the route of this Atlantic-derived water is currently being resolved, it may have penetrated from Baffin Bay in the East into the NWP, contrary to the modern circulation. Subsequent (~9.7-7.0 cal ka BP) ameliorated conditions (open-water season greater than present) marked by substantial diversification and abundance across all microfossil groups may correspond to a previously postulated regional "Holocene Thermal Optimum". After ~7.0 cal ka BP increased sea-ice and modern microfossil assemblages imply conditions similar to modern, likely due to the exclusion of Arctic Intermediate Water due to glacio-isostatic shallowing combined with climate cooling. * [Marie Curie FP7-PEOPLE-2011-CIG 304178- QUEEN (Quaternary Environmental Evolution of the Northwest-Passage)

The unique role of halogen substituents in the design of modern agrochemicals.

PubMed

Jeschke, Peter

2010-01-01

The past 30 years have witnessed a period of significant expansion in the use of halogenated compounds in the field of agrochemical research and development. The introduction of halogens into active ingredients has become an important concept in the quest for a modern agrochemical with optimal efficacy, environmental safety, user friendliness and economic viability. Outstanding progress has been made, especially in synthetic methods for particular halogen-substituted key intermediates that were previously prohibitively expensive. Interestingly, there has been a rise in the number of commercial products containing 'mixed' halogens, e.g. one or more fluorine, chlorine, bromine or iodine atoms in addition to one or more further halogen atoms. Extrapolation of the current trend indicates that a definite growth is to be expected in fluorine-substituted agrochemicals throughout the twenty-first century. A number of these recently developed agrochemical candidates containing halogen substituents represent novel classes of chemical compounds with new modes of action. However, the complex structure-activity relationships associated with biologically active molecules mean that the introduction of halogens can lead to either an increase or a decrease in the efficacy of a compound, depending on its changed mode of action, physicochemical properties, target interaction or metabolic susceptibility and transformation. In spite of modern design concepts, it is still difficult to predict the sites in a molecule at which halogen substitution will result in optimal desired effects. This review describes comprehensively the successful utilisation of halogens and their unique role in the design of modern agrochemicals, exemplified by various commercial products from Bayer CropScience coming from different agrochemical areas.

An emergentist vs a linear approach to social change processes: a gender look in contemporary India between modernity and Hindu tradition.

PubMed

Condorelli, Rosalia

2015-01-01

Using Census of India data from 1901 to 2011 and national and international reports on women's condition in India, beginning with sex ratio trends according to regional distribution up to female infanticides and sex-selective abortions and dowry deaths, this study examines the sociological aspects of the gender imbalance in modern contemporary India. Gender inequality persistence in India proves that new values and structures do not necessarily lead to the disappearance of older forms, but they can co-exist with mutual adaptations and reinforcements. Data analysis suggests that these unexpected combinations are not comprehensible in light of a linear concept of social change which is founded, in turn, on a concept of social systems as linear interaction systems that relate to environmental perturbations according to proportional cause and effect relationships. From this perspective, in fact, behavioral attitudes and interaction relationships should be less and less proportionally regulated by traditional values and practices as exposure to modernizing influences increases. And progressive decreases should be found in rates of social indicators of gender inequality like dowry deaths (the inverse should be found in sex ratio trends). However, data does not confirm these trends. This finding leads to emphasize a new theoretical and methodological approach toward social systems study, namely the conception of social systems as complex adaptive systems and the consequential emergentist, nonlinear conception of social change processes. Within the framework of emergentist theory of social change is it possible to understand the lasting strength of the patriarchal tradition and its problematic consequences in the modern contemporary India.

Situated Environmental Learning in Southern Africa at the Start of the UN Decade of Education for Sustainable Development

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

O'Donoghue, Rob; Lotz-Sisitka, Heila

2006-01-01

Within the globalising trajectory of modernism, conservation, then environmental (EE) and now sustainability education (ESD) have each emerged as developing responses to risk produced by and in the modern state. Through adopting a long term process perspective, this paper narrates the emergence of situated learning perspectives and a developing…

Early Childhood Environmental Education in Tropical and Coastal Areas: A Meta-Analysis

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Sawitri, D. R.

2017-02-01

Early childhood years are the period of the greatest and most significant developments in ones’ life, and are generally regarded as the basis upon which the rest of their life is constructed. However, these early years are those that traditionally have received the least attention from environmental education. This paper was aimed to summarize several day-to-day activities that can be conducted to educate children in their early years about environment. Environmental education is an educational process that deals with the human interrelationships with the environment, and that uses an interdisciplinary problem solving approach with value clarification. Environmental education is aimed at producing a community that is knowledgeable about the biophysical environment and its associated problems, aware of how to solve these problems, and enthusiastic to work toward their solution. It highlights the progress of knowledge, understanding, attitudes, skills, and commitment for environmental problems and considerations. Further, environmental education can help children expand their ecological worldview, promote active care to the environment, and explain the relationship between modern life style and current environmental problems. Several types of environmental education have been identified from the literature, such as outdoor activities in natural outdoor setting, school gardening, play-based learning, and drawing activities. Each of these activities has its own characteristics and effects on children’s environmental-related attitudes and behaviors. Through these activities, the unique characteristics of tropical and coastal areas can potentially be used to facilitate children to learn about nature and environment. Recommendations for childhood education practitioners and future researchers are discussed.

Diagnosing water security in the rural North with an environmental security framework.

PubMed

Penn, Henry J F; Loring, Philip A; Schnabel, William E

2017-09-01

This study explores the nature of water security challenges in rural Alaska, using a framework for environmental security that entails four interrelated concepts: availability, access, utility, and stability of water resources. Many researchers and professionals agree that water insecurity is a problem in rural Alaska, although the scale and nature of the problem is contested. Some academics have argued that the problem is systemic, and rooted in an approach to water security by the state that prioritizes economic concerns over public health concerns. Health practitioners and state agencies, on the other hand, contend that much progress has been made, and that nearly all rural households have access to safe drinking water, though many are still lacking 'modern' in-home water service. Here, we draw on a synthesis of ethnographic research alongside data from state agencies to show that the persistent water insecurity problems in rural Alaska are not a problem of access to or availability of clean water, or a lack of 'modern' infrastructure, but instead are rooted in complex human dimensions of water resources management, including the political legacies of state and federal community development schemes that did not fully account for local needs and challenges. The diagnostic approach we implement here helps to identify solutions to these challenges, which accordingly focus on place-based needs and empowering local actors. The framework likewise proves to be broadly applicable to exploring water security concerns elsewhere in the world. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

A Nine-year Record of Groundwater Environmental Tracer Variations in a Weathered Sandstone Plateau Aquifer.

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Cendon, D. I.; Hankin, S. I.; Hughes, C. E.; Meredith, K.; Peterson, M.; Scheiber, L.; Shimizu, Y.

2016-12-01

Most groundwater isotopic studies are limited to one snapshot in time due to high costs associated with sampling and analytical procedures. The timing of sampling within long-term seasonal climatic cycles may affect interpretations, particularly in unconfined or semi-confined aquifer systems. To test the potential influence of decadal climatic trends, particularly on groundwater residence time, we have combined results from a multi-year sampling programme. Hydrogeochemistry and isotopic tracer analysis including H2O stable isotopes, δ13CDIC, 3H, 14CDIC for all samples and 87Sr/86Sr and NO3-δ15N, have been applied to groundwater recovered from the Kulnura - Mangrove Mountain aquifer hosted by a weathered sandstone plateau within the Sydney Basin (Australia). In general, the study area is characterised by alternating dry and wet periods that can be prolonged as they are linked to wider climatic events such as El Niño, La Niña and modulated by the Indian Ocean Dipole. The region experienced above average rainfall from 1985-1990 followed by generally drier conditions (1991-2007) and slightly wetter conditions to 2015. Groundwater results from the first years (2006-2010), under generally dry conditions resulted in lower groundwater levels, revealed important inter-annual variations. These are interpreted to be locally driven by groundwater extraction, resulting in a progressive influx of modern groundwater. The progressive input of modern water has exposed deeper parts of the aquifer to increased NO3- concentrations of anthropogenic origin. The change in chemistry of the groundwater, particularly the lowering of groundwater pH, has accelerated the dissolution of carbonate mineral phases that in turn affects 14C residence time assessments. Subsequent sampling results (2012-2015), under higher rainfall conditions, suggest modern recharge in areas previously without measurable tritium activities. The complex interplay between recharge, anthropogenic influences and climate may be further complicated by the local irregularities in the sandstone weathering profile and the transition to preferential groundwater fracture-flow with depth.

The Genetics of Stress-Related Disorders: PTSD, Depression, and Anxiety Disorders

PubMed Central

Smoller, Jordan W

2016-01-01

Research into the causes of psychopathology has largely focused on two broad etiologic factors: genetic vulnerability and environmental stressors. An important role for familial/heritable factors in the etiology of a broad range of psychiatric disorders was established well before the modern era of genomic research. This review focuses on the genetic basis of three disorder categories—posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD), major depressive disorder (MDD), and the anxiety disorders—for which environmental stressors and stress responses are understood to be central to pathogenesis. Each of these disorders aggregates in families and is moderately heritable. More recently, molecular genetic approaches, including genome-wide studies of genetic variation, have been applied to identify specific risk variants. In this review, I summarize evidence for genetic contributions to PTSD, MDD, and the anxiety disorders including genetic epidemiology, the role of common genetic variation, the role of rare and structural variation, and the role of gene–environment interaction. Available data suggest that stress-related disorders are highly complex and polygenic and, despite substantial progress in other areas of psychiatric genetics, few risk loci have been identified for these disorders. Progress in this area will likely require analysis of much larger sample sizes than have been reported to date. The phenotypic complexity and genetic overlap among these disorders present further challenges. The review concludes with a discussion of prospects for clinical translation of genetic findings and future directions for research. PMID:26321314

Diet and microbiota in inflammatory bowel disease: The gut in disharmony.

PubMed

Rapozo, Davy C M; Bernardazzi, Claudio; de Souza, Heitor Siffert Pereira

2017-03-28

Bacterial colonization of the gut shapes both the local and the systemic immune response and is implicated in the modulation of immunity in both healthy and disease states. Recently, quantitative and qualitative changes in the composition of the gut microbiota have been detected in Crohn's disease and ulcerative colitis, reinforcing the hypothesis of dysbiosis as a relevant mechanism underlying inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) pathogenesis. Humans and microbes have co-existed and co-evolved for a long time in a mutually beneficial symbiotic association essential for maintaining homeostasis. However, the microbiome is dynamic, changing with age and in response to environmental modifications. Among such environmental factors, food and alimentary habits, progressively altered in modern societies, appear to be critical modulators of the microbiota, contributing to or co-participating in dysbiosis. In addition, food constituents such as micronutrients are important regulators of mucosal immunity, with direct or indirect effects on the gut microbiota. Moreover, food constituents have recently been shown to modulate epigenetic mechanisms, which can result in increased risk for the development and progression of IBD. Therefore, it is likely that a better understanding of the role of different food components in intestinal homeostasis and the resident microbiota will be essential for unravelling the complex molecular basis of the epigenetic, genetic and environment interactions underlying IBD pathogenesis as well as for offering dietary interventions with minimal side effects.

Diet and microbiota in inflammatory bowel disease: The gut in disharmony

PubMed Central

Rapozo, Davy C M; Bernardazzi, Claudio; de Souza, Heitor Siffert Pereira

2017-01-01

Bacterial colonization of the gut shapes both the local and the systemic immune response and is implicated in the modulation of immunity in both healthy and disease states. Recently, quantitative and qualitative changes in the composition of the gut microbiota have been detected in Crohn’s disease and ulcerative colitis, reinforcing the hypothesis of dysbiosis as a relevant mechanism underlying inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) pathogenesis. Humans and microbes have co-existed and co-evolved for a long time in a mutually beneficial symbiotic association essential for maintaining homeostasis. However, the microbiome is dynamic, changing with age and in response to environmental modifications. Among such environmental factors, food and alimentary habits, progressively altered in modern societies, appear to be critical modulators of the microbiota, contributing to or co-participating in dysbiosis. In addition, food constituents such as micronutrients are important regulators of mucosal immunity, with direct or indirect effects on the gut microbiota. Moreover, food constituents have recently been shown to modulate epigenetic mechanisms, which can result in increased risk for the development and progression of IBD. Therefore, it is likely that a better understanding of the role of different food components in intestinal homeostasis and the resident microbiota will be essential for unravelling the complex molecular basis of the epigenetic, genetic and environment interactions underlying IBD pathogenesis as well as for offering dietary interventions with minimal side effects. PMID:28405140

Potential of Progressive Construction Systems in Slovakia

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Kozlovska, Maria; Spisakova, Marcela; Mackova, Daniela

2017-10-01

Construction industry is a sector with rapid development. Progressive technologies of construction and new construction materials also called modern methods of construction (MMC) are developed constantly. MMC represent the adoption of construction industrialisation and the use of prefabrication of components in building construction. One of these modern methods is also system Varianthaus, which is based on, insulated concrete forms principle and provides complete production plant for wall, ceiling and roof elements for a high thermal insulation house construction. Another progressive construction system is EcoB, which represents an insulated precast concrete panel based on combination of two layers, insulation and concrete, produced in a factory as a whole. Both modern methods of construction are not yet known and wide-spread in the Slovak construction market. The aim of this paper is focused on demonstration of MMC using potential in Slovakia. MMC potential is proved based on comparison of the selected parameters of construction process - construction costs and construction time. The subject of this study is family house modelled in three material variants - masonry construction (as a representative of traditional methods of construction), Varianthaus and EcoB (as the representatives of modern methods of construction). The results of this study provide the useful information in decision-making process for potential investors of construction.

Single stage reduction and stabilization of basilar invagination after failed prior fusion surgery in children with Down's syndrome.

PubMed

Hedequist, Daniel; Bekelis, Kimon; Emans, John; Proctor, Mark R

2010-02-15

We describe an innovative single-stage reduction and stabilization technique using modern cervical instrumentation. We hypothesis modern instrumentation has made more aggressive surgical corrections possible and has reduced the need for transoral resection of the odontoid and traction reduction in children with basilar invagination. Craniocervical junction abnormalities, including atlantoaxial instability and progressive basilar invagination, are relatively common phenomenon in Down's syndrome patients, and can lead to chronic progressive neurologic deficits, catastrophic injury, and death. This patient population also can be a difficult one in which to perform successful stabilization and fusion. We reviewed the records and films on 2 children with Down's syndrome and atlantoaxial instability who had undergone prior occipital-cervical fusion and then presented with symptomatic progressive basilar invagination due to atlantoaxial displacement. In both cases, the children had progressive symptoms of spinal cord and brain stem compression. Multiple approaches for surgical correction, including preoperative traction and transoral odontoid resection, were considered, but ultimately it was elected to perform a single stage posterior operation. In both patients, we performed fusion takedown, intraoperative realignment with reduction of the basilar invagination, and stabilization using modern occipito-cervical instrumentation. In both children, excellent cranio-cervical realignment was achieved; along with successful fusion and improvement in clinical symptoms. In this article we will discuss the clinical cases and review the background of craniocervical junction abnormalities in Down's syndrome patients. We hypothesis modern instrumentation has made more aggressive surgical corrections possible and has reduced the need for transoral resection of the odontoid and traction reduction in children with basilar invagination.

Role of Antioxidants and Natural Products in Inflammation

PubMed Central

Fard, Masoumeh Tangestani; Tan, Woan Sean; Gothai, Sivapragasam; Kumar, S. Suresh

2016-01-01

Inflammation is a comprehensive array of physiological response to a foreign organism, including human pathogens, dust particles, and viruses. Inflammations are mainly divided into acute and chronic inflammation depending on various inflammatory processes and cellular mechanisms. Recent investigations have clarified that inflammation is a major factor for the progression of various chronic diseases/disorders, including diabetes, cancer, cardiovascular diseases, eye disorders, arthritis, obesity, autoimmune diseases, and inflammatory bowel disease. Free radical productions from different biological and environmental sources are due to an imbalance of natural antioxidants which further leads to various inflammatory associated diseases. In this review article, we have outlined the inflammatory process and its cellular mechanisms involved in the progression of various chronic modern human diseases. In addition, we have discussed the role of free radicals-induced tissue damage, antioxidant defence, and molecular mechanisms in chronic inflammatory diseases/disorders. The systematic knowledge regarding the role of inflammation and its associated adverse effects can provide a clear understanding in the development of innovative therapeutic targets from natural sources that are intended for suppression of various chronic inflammations associated diseases. PMID:27803762

75 FR 8045 - National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) Draft Guidance, Establishing, Applying, and Revising...

Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

2010-02-23

... COUNCIL ON ENVIRONMENTAL QUALITY National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) Draft Guidance...: Council on Environmental Quality. ACTION: Notice of Availability, Draft Guidance, ``Establishing, Applying... February 18, 2010, the Council on Environmental Quality (CEQ) announced four steps to modernize...

The environmental impact of dairy production: 1944 compared with 2007.

PubMed

Capper, J L; Cady, R A; Bauman, D E

2009-06-01

A common perception is that pasture-based, low-input dairy systems characteristic of the 1940s were more conducive to environmental stewardship than modern milk production systems. The objective of this study was to compare the environmental impact of modern (2007) US dairy production with historical production practices as exemplified by the US dairy system in 1944. A deterministic model based on the metabolism and nutrient requirements of the dairy herd was used to estimate resource inputs and waste outputs per billion kg of milk. Both the modern and historical production systems were modeled using characteristic management practices, herd population dynamics, and production data from US dairy farms. Modern dairy practices require considerably fewer resources than dairying in 1944 with 21% of animals, 23% of feedstuffs, 35% of the water, and only 10% of the land required to produce the same 1 billion kg of milk. Waste outputs were similarly reduced, with modern dairy systems producing 24% of the manure, 43% of CH(4), and 56% of N(2)O per billion kg of milk compared with equivalent milk from historical dairying. The carbon footprint per billion kilograms of milk produced in 2007 was 37% of equivalent milk production in 1944. To fulfill the increasing requirements of the US population for dairy products, it is essential to adopt management practices and technologies that improve productive efficiency, allowing milk production to be increased while reducing resource use and mitigating environmental impact.

The environmental impact of beef production in the United States: 1977 compared with 2007.

PubMed

Capper, J L

2011-12-01

Consumers often perceive that the modern beef production system has an environmental impact far greater than that of historical systems, with improved efficiency being achieved at the expense of greenhouse gas emissions. The objective of this study was to compare the environmental impact of modern (2007) US beef production with production practices characteristic of the US beef system in 1977. A deterministic model based on the metabolism and nutrient requirements of the beef population was used to quantify resource inputs and waste outputs per billion kilograms of beef. Both the modern and historical production systems were modeled using characteristic management practices, population dynamics, and production data from US beef systems. Modern beef production requires considerably fewer resources than the equivalent system in 1977, with 69.9% of animals, 81.4% of feedstuffs, 87.9% of the water, and only 67.0% of the land required to produce 1 billion kg of beef. Waste outputs were similarly reduced, with modern beef systems producing 81.9% of the manure, 82.3% CH(4), and 88.0% N(2)O per billion kilograms of beef compared with production systems in 1977. The C footprint per billion kilograms of beef produced in 2007 was reduced by 16.3% compared with equivalent beef production in 1977. As the US population increases, it is crucial to continue the improvements in efficiency demonstrated over the past 30 yr to supply the market demand for safe, affordable beef while reducing resource use and mitigating environmental impact.

Microbial and diagenetic steps leading to the mineralisation of Great Salt Lake microbialites

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Pace, Aurélie; Bourillot, Raphaël; Bouton, Anthony; Vennin, Emmanuelle; Galaup, Serge; Bundeleva, Irina; Patrier, Patricia; Dupraz, Christophe; Thomazo, Christophe; Sansjofre, Pierre; Yokoyama, Yusuke; Franceschi, Michel; Anguy, Yannick; Pigot, Léa; Virgone, Aurélien; Visscher, Pieter T.

2016-08-01

Microbialites are widespread in modern and fossil hypersaline environments, where they provide a unique sedimentary archive. Authigenic mineral precipitation in modern microbialites results from a complex interplay between microbial metabolisms, organic matrices and environmental parameters. Here, we combined mineralogical and microscopic analyses with measurements of metabolic activity in order to characterise the mineralisation of microbial mats forming microbialites in the Great Salt Lake (Utah, USA). Our results show that the mineralisation process takes place in three steps progressing along geochemical gradients produced through microbial activity. First, a poorly crystallized Mg-Si phase precipitates on alveolar extracellular organic matrix due to a rise of the pH in the zone of active oxygenic photosynthesis. Second, aragonite patches nucleate in close proximity to sulfate reduction hotspots, as a result of the degradation of cyanobacteria and extracellular organic matrix mediated by, among others, sulfate reducing bacteria. A final step consists of partial replacement of aragonite by dolomite, possibly in neutral to slightly acidic porewater. This might occur due to dissolution-precipitation reactions when the most recalcitrant part of the organic matrix is degraded. The mineralisation pathways proposed here provide pivotal insight for the interpretation of microbial processes in past hypersaline environments.

Natural environments, ancestral diets, and microbial ecology: is there a modern "paleo-deficit disorder"? Part I.

PubMed

Logan, Alan C; Katzman, Martin A; Balanzá-Martínez, Vicent

2015-01-31

Famed microbiologist René J. Dubos (1901-1982) was an early pioneer in the developmental origins of health and disease (DOHaD) construct. In the 1960s, he conducted groundbreaking experimental research concerning the ways in which early-life experience with nutrition, microbiota, stress, and other environmental variables could influence later-life health outcomes. He also wrote extensively on potential health consequences of a progressive loss of contact with natural environments (now referred to as green or blue space), arguing that Paleolithic experiences have created needs, particularly in the mental realm, that might not be met in the context of rapid global urbanization. He posited that humans would certainly adapt to modern urban landscapes and high technology, but there might be a toll to be paid in the form of higher psychological distress (symptoms of anxiety and depression) and diminished quality of life. In particular, there might be an erosion of humanness, exemplified by declines in altruism/empathy. Here in the first of a two-part review, we examine contemporary research related to natural environments and question to what extent Dubos might have been correct in some of his 50-year-old assertions.

The Development of Sociocultural Competence with the Help of Computer Technology

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Rakhimova, Alina E.; Yashina, Marianna E.; Mukhamadiarova, Albina F.; Sharipova, Astrid V.

2017-01-01

The article deals with the description of the process of development sociocultural knowledge and competences using computer technologies. On the whole the development of modern computer technologies allows teachers to broaden trainees' sociocultural outlook and trace their progress online. Observation of modern computer technologies and estimation…

Facilitating the Progression of Modern Apprentices into Undergraduate Business Education.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Chadwick, Simon

1999-01-01

A case study of a program to give apprentices access to undergraduate business education at a British university in cooperation with a local chamber of commerce identified these success factors: recognition that modern apprentices are unlike traditional college students and focus on technology, outcome-based learning, personal development, and…

DOD Business Systems Modernization: Progress in Establishing Corporate Management Controls Needs to Be Replicated Within Military Departments

DTIC Science & Technology

2008-05-01

management, and continue to address the act s requirements relative to business system budgetary disclosure and certification and approval of systems costing ...DOD continues to take steps to comply with legislative requirements and related guidance pertaining to its business systems modernization highrisk

Empirical Validation of a Modern Genetics Progression Web for College Biology Students

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Todd, Amber; Romine, William L.

2017-01-01

Research in learning progressions (LPs) has been essential towards building understanding of how students' ideas change over time. There has been little work, however, into how ideas between separate but related constructs within a multi-faceted LP relate. The purpose of this paper is to elaborate on the idea of "progression webs" to…

Individual to Community-Level Faunal Responses to Environmental Change from a Marine Fossil Record of Early Miocene Global Warming

PubMed Central

Belanger, Christina L.

2012-01-01

Modern climate change has a strong potential to shift earth systems and biological communities into novel states that have no present-day analog, leaving ecologists with no observational basis to predict the likely biotic effects. Fossil records contain long time-series of past environmental changes outside the range of modern observation, which are vital for predicting future ecological responses, and are capable of (a) providing detailed information on rates of ecological change, (b) illuminating the environmental drivers of those changes, and (c) recording the effects of environmental change on individual physiological rates. Outcrops of Early Miocene Newport Member of the Astoria Formation (Oregon) provide one such time series. This record of benthic foraminiferal and molluscan community change from continental shelf depths spans a past interval environmental change (∼20.3-16.7 mya) during which the region warmed 2.1–4.5°C, surface productivity and benthic organic carbon flux increased, and benthic oxygenation decreased, perhaps driven by intensified upwelling as on the modern Oregon coast. The Newport Member record shows that (a) ecological responses to natural environmental change can be abrupt, (b) productivity can be the primary driver of faunal change during global warming, (c) molluscs had a threshold response to productivity change while foraminifera changed gradually, and (d) changes in bivalve body size and growth rates parallel changes in taxonomic composition at the community level, indicating that, either directly or indirectly through some other biological parameter, the physiological tolerances of species do influence community change. Ecological studies in modern and fossil records that consider multiple ecological levels, environmental parameters, and taxonomic groups can provide critical information for predicting future ecological change and evaluating species vulnerability. PMID:22558424

[Minus]Plastic: Influencing Pro-Environmental Attitudes among Singaporean Youth

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Chib, Arul; Chiew, Han Joo; Kumar, Chitraveni; Choon, Lim Geok; Ale, Komathi

2009-01-01

Plastics have much to offer as a modern convenience, but lack of responsible plastic waste management habits can lead to potentially harmful environmental effects. Past environmental initiatives revealed a lack of understanding about youth attitudes towards pro-environmental issues. [minus]plastic, an online public environmental promotional…

Rhizofiltration - the use of plants to remove heavy metals from aqueous streams

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

Raskin, I.; Dushenkov, V.; Kumar, P.B.A.N.

1995-12-31

Heavy metal pollution of water is a major environmental problem facing the modern world. Rhizofiltration - the use of plant roots to remove heavy metals from water is an emerging environmental clean-up technology. Roots of many hydroponically grown terrestrial plants e.g. Indian mustard, sunflower (Hefianthus annuus L.) and various grasses effectively removed toxic metals such as CU{sup -2}, Cd{sup +2}Cr{sup +6}, Ni{sup +2}Pb{sup +2} and Zn{sup +2} from aqueous solutions. Roots of B. juncea concentrated these metals 131 to 563-fold (on a DW basis) above initial solution concentrations. Pb removal was based on tissue absorption and on root-mediated Pb precipitationmore » in the form of insoluble inorganic compounds, mainly Pb phosphate. At high Pb concentrations precipitation played a progressively more important role in Pb removal than tissue absorption, which saturated at approximately 100 {mu}g Pb/g DW root. Dried roots were much less effective than live roots in accumulating Pb and in removing Pb from the solution.« less

Greenhouse gas emissions from diverse Arctic Alaskan lakes are dominated by young carbon

USGS Publications Warehouse

Elder, Clayton D.; Xu, Xiaomei; Walker, Jennifer; Schnell, Jordan L.; Hinkel, Kenneth M.; Townsend-Small, Amy; Arp, Christopher D.; Pohlman, John; Gaglioti, Benjamin V.; Czimzik, Claudia I.

2018-01-01

Climate-sensitive Arctic lakes have been identified as conduits for ancient permafrost-carbon (C) emissions and as such accelerate warming. However, the environmental factors that control emission pathways and their sources are unclear; this complicates upscaling, forecasting and climate-impact-assessment efforts. Here we show that current whole-lake CH4 and CO2 emissions from widespread lakes in Arctic Alaska primarily originate from organic matter fixed within the past 3–4 millennia (modern to 3,300 ± 70 years before the present), and not from Pleistocene permafrost C. Furthermore, almost 100% of the annual diffusive C flux is emitted as CO2. Although the lakes mostly processed younger C (89 ± 3% of total C emissions), minor contributions from ancient C sources were two times greater in fine-textured versus coarse-textured Pleistocene sediments, which emphasizes the importance of the underlying geological substrate in current and future emissions. This spatially extensive survey considered the environmental and temporal variability necessary to monitor and forecast the fate of ancient permafrost C as Arctic warming progresses.

Greenhouse gas emissions from diverse Arctic Alaskan lakes are dominated by young carbon

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Elder, Clayton D.; Xu, Xiaomei; Walker, Jennifer; Schnell, Jordan L.; Hinkel, Kenneth M.; Townsend-Small, Amy; Arp, Christopher D.; Pohlman, John W.; Gaglioti, Benjamin V.; Czimczik, Claudia I.

2018-01-01

Climate-sensitive Arctic lakes have been identified as conduits for ancient permafrost-carbon (C) emissions and as such accelerate warming. However, the environmental factors that control emission pathways and their sources are unclear; this complicates upscaling, forecasting and climate-impact-assessment efforts. Here we show that current whole-lake CH4 and CO2 emissions from widespread lakes in Arctic Alaska primarily originate from organic matter fixed within the past 3-4 millennia (modern to 3,300 ± 70 years before the present), and not from Pleistocene permafrost C. Furthermore, almost 100% of the annual diffusive C flux is emitted as CO2. Although the lakes mostly processed younger C (89 ± 3% of total C emissions), minor contributions from ancient C sources were two times greater in fine-textured versus coarse-textured Pleistocene sediments, which emphasizes the importance of the underlying geological substrate in current and future emissions. This spatially extensive survey considered the environmental and temporal variability necessary to monitor and forecast the fate of ancient permafrost C as Arctic warming progresses.

Sustainable development: concept, value and practice.

PubMed

Barrow, C J

1995-11-01

The author discusses the concept of sustainable development (SD) and explores the effectiveness of implementation strategies. Approaches to implementing sustainable development include 1) "a stocktaking approach" that involves regional and national environmental audits, resource accounting, and national environmental action plans; and 2) "changes in people's attitudes." Each approach reinforces the other. Eden examined the International Chamber of Commerce reactions to the 1987 Brundtland Report and found that business generally favored SD over no-growth environmentalism. SD occurs as a process with a variety of routes that most often involve technology that improves upon traditional methods or protects from the destructive effects of modernization. SD assures that environmental quality is maintained, and economic and social development enhances resources and the environment. SD allows for the best quality of life for people. SD assures that future generations do not have reduced options. SD prevents or avoids major natural catastrophes. The requirements are corrective treatment of root causes of nonsustainability and a shift away from consumption-oriented life styles. Trade-offs must be made. Politicians and planners must use a longer planning perspective. There must be transition to smaller population numbers. Resource conflicts must be resolved. Pollution must be reduced and resources must not be wasted. Local resources should be used for agriculture, industry, and power generation. There should be a transition to a more equitable sharing of resources. The author identifies 12 other requirements. Progress thus far is disappointing and not demonstrably evident.

Gender Balance in Leadership?: Reform and Modernization in the UK Further Education Sector

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

McTavish, Duncan; Miller, Karen

2009-01-01

The further education (FE) sector employs a high proportion of women yet relatively few women progress into leadership positions. The article seeks to provide explanations for this gender imbalance and argues that despite change and modernization initiatives, the further education sector remains gendered in many aspects of leadership, governance…

Environmental Education and Behaviour: The Case of Corporate Social-Responsibility.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Harvey, Brian

1981-01-01

Addresses the potential effects of environmental education on corporate behavior and social and environmental impact by examining connections between human behavior and environmental problems, the role of the modern corporation, a behavioral theory of the firm, and corporate social responsibility. (DC)

Agricultural innovations in Morocco's cannabis industry.

PubMed

Chouvy, Pierre-Arnaud; Macfarlane, Jennifer

2018-06-06

Cannabis cultivation in Morocco's mountainous Rif region is undergoing its most profound development since mass production of hashish began in the early 1980s. The adoption of high-yielding varieties of cannabis, modern agricultural practices, and modern hashish production techniques began in the mid-2000s and accelerated after the mid-2010s, with the result that more potent and varied cannabis derivatives are now being produced and that increased quantities of highly potent hashish are seized in Europe. This research was initiated to answer a simple research question: how, and to what extent, is the illegal cannabis industry modernizing in Morocco, now that we know that it explains the THC increase in hashish seized in Europe? To answer this question in the context of a lack of literature and quantitative data, empirical fieldwork was undertaken in cannabis fields and hashish-producing farms in Morocco in July and October 2017. A mostly qualitative approach to data collection was employed through participatory rural appraisals (discussions, interviews, direct observations). As such, this work builds predominantly upon primary research. Fieldwork showed that, subsequent to very localized, experimental beginnings in the early 2000s, the progressive and varied adoption of agricultural innovations at the cultivation and production stages has spread throughout the Rif during the 2010s. Interviews and direct observations conducted in the field indicate that the ongoing adoption of modern farming techniques has enabled the production of high-quality hashish and potent modern extracts. The still ongoing modernization and professionalization of the Moroccan cannabis industry is a testimony of the country's leading position in global hashish production. What the future holds for Moroccan cannabis growers is difficult to predict. How legalization processes manifest themselves in Moroccan and European policies, and how upcoming developments will affect the social, economic, political and ecological stability of the region, remains largely unknown. However, the spread of cannabis cultivation in the Rif is clearly pushing economic and environmental limits, and there is an obvious need for innovations that mitigate such pressures. Copyright © 2018 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

ENANTIOMER-SPECIFIC FATE AND EFFECTS OF MODERN CHIRAL PESTICIDES

EPA Science Inventory

This slide presentation presents enantiomer-specific fate and effects of modern chiral pesticides. The research areas presented were analytical separation of enantiomers; environmental occurrence of enantiomers; transformation rates and enantioselectivity; bioaccumulation; and e...

From Mystics to Modern Times: A History of Craniotomy & Religion.

PubMed

Newman, W Christopher; Chivukula, Srinivas; Grandhi, Ramesh

2016-08-01

Neurosurgical treatment of diseases dates back to prehistoric times and the trephination of skulls for various maladies. Throughout the evolution of trephination, surgery and religion have been intertwined to varying degrees, a relationship that has caused both stagnation and progress. From its mystical origins in prehistoric times to its scientific progress in ancient Egypt and its resurgence as a well-validated surgical technique in modern times, trephination has been a reflection of the cultural and religious times. Herein we present a brief history of trephination as it relates religion, culture, and the evolution of neurosurgery. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Diseases of comfort: primary cause of death in the 22nd century

PubMed Central

Choi, B.; Hunter, D.; Tsou, W.; Sainsbury, P.

2005-01-01

Objective: To describe the concept, causes, and prevention and control strategies of diseases of comfort. Methods: Brokered by a senior research scientist specialised in knowledge translation, a chair, a president, and a past president of national public health associations contributed their views on the subject. Results: Diseases of comfort have emerged as a price of living in a modern society. It is inevitable that these diseases will become more common and more disabling if human "progress" and civilisation continue toward better (more comfortable) living, without necessarily considering their effects on health. Modern technology must be combined with education, legislation, intersectoral action, and community involvement to create built and social environments that encourage, and make easy, walking, physical activity, and nutritious food choices, to reduce the health damaging effects of modern society for all citizens and not only the few. Conclusions: Public health needs to be more passionate about the health issues caused by human progress and adopt a health promotion stance, challenging the assumptions behind the notion of social "progress" that is giving rise to the burden of chronic disease and developing the skills to create more health promoting societies in which individual health thrives. PMID:16286489

Multi-objective optimization model of CNC machining to minimize processing time and environmental impact

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Hamada, Aulia; Rosyidi, Cucuk Nur; Jauhari, Wakhid Ahmad

2017-11-01

Minimizing processing time in a production system can increase the efficiency of a manufacturing company. Processing time are influenced by application of modern technology and machining parameter. Application of modern technology can be apply by use of CNC machining, one of the machining process can be done with a CNC machining is turning. However, the machining parameters not only affect the processing time but also affect the environmental impact. Hence, optimization model is needed to optimize the machining parameters to minimize the processing time and environmental impact. This research developed a multi-objective optimization to minimize the processing time and environmental impact in CNC turning process which will result in optimal decision variables of cutting speed and feed rate. Environmental impact is converted from environmental burden through the use of eco-indicator 99. The model were solved by using OptQuest optimization software from Oracle Crystal Ball.

Emerging infections: a perpetual challenge

PubMed Central

Morens, David M; Folkers, Gregory K; Fauci, Anthony S

2008-01-01

Emerging and re-emerging infectious diseases, and their determinants, have recently attracted substantial scientific and popular attention. HIV/AIDS, severe acute respiratory syndrome, H5N1 avian influenza, and many other emerging diseases have either proved fatal or caused international alarm. Common and interactive co-determinants of disease emergence, including population growth, travel, and environmental disruption, have been increasingly documented and studied. Are emerging infections a new phenomenon related to modern life, or do more basic determinants, transcending time, place, and human progress, govern disease generation? By examining a number of historically notable epidemics, we suggest that emerging diseases, similar in their novelty, impact, and elicitation of control responses, have occurred throughout recorded history. Fundamental determinants, typically acting in concert, seem to underlie their emergence, and infections such as these are likely to continue to remain challenges to human survival. PMID:18992407

77 FR 20474 - Delegation of Authority; Delegation of Authority No. 24 to the Chief Operating Officer

Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

2012-04-04

... and performance planning, measurement, analysis, assessment of progress, and use of performance...; long- range budgeting and accounting; hiring and training employees; modernizing information technology..., measurement, analysis, regular assessment of progress and the use of performance information to improve...

Progressive Era Industry and Its Legacy: Essays and Lesson Plans for Teaching Industrial History of the Progressive Era.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Murray, William J., Ed.

The Progressive Era, roughly the period between the Spanish American War and the U.S. entry into World War I, was a period of transformation, a time when the United States ceased being predominantly an agricultural economy with a minor industrial base and became predominantly a modern industrialized nation. These essays and lesson plans, the…

Complementizer Agreement in Modern Varieties of West Germanic: A Model of Reanalysis and Renewal

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Bousquette, Joshua

2013-01-01

This dissertation provides a comparative analysis of Complementizer Agreement (C-agr) in modern dialects of West Germanic from a diachronic perspective, attributing the rise and development of C-agr to the initiation and progression of a Linguistic Cycle specific to C-agr. Approached as a historical process of reanalysis and compensatory renewal…

Modern human origins: progress and prospects.

PubMed Central

Stringer, Chris

2002-01-01

The question of the mode of origin of modern humans (Homo sapiens) has dominated palaeoanthropological debate over the last decade. This review discusses the main models proposed to explain modern human origins, and examines relevant fossil evidence from Eurasia, Africa and Australasia. Archaeological and genetic data are also discussed, as well as problems with the concept of 'modernity' itself. It is concluded that a recent African origin can be supported for H. sapiens, morphologically, behaviourally and genetically, but that more evidence will be needed, both from Africa and elsewhere, before an absolute African origin for our species and its behavioural characteristics can be established and explained. PMID:12028792

Transforming Performance Measurement for the 21st Century

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Hatry, Harry P.

2014-01-01

While substantial progress has been made in spreading performance measurement across the country and world, much of the information from performance measurement systems has been shallow. Modern technology and the considerable demand for information on progress in achieving the outcomes of public programs and policies are creating major…

75 FR 8046 - National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) Draft Guidance, “NEPA Mitigation and Monitoring.”

Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

2010-02-23

... COUNCIL ON ENVIRONMENTAL QUALITY National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) Draft Guidance, ``NEPA Mitigation and Monitoring.'' AGENCY: Council On Environmental Quality. ACTION: Notice of Availability, Draft... Quality (CEQ) announced four steps to modernize, reinvigorate, and ease the use and increase the...

Meaningful crosstalk between biologists and physical scientists is essential for modern biology to progress.

PubMed

Dev, Sukhendu B

2009-01-01

The advances in biological sciences have been phenomenal since the structure of DNA was decoded, especially if one considers the input from physical sciences, not only in terms of analytical tools, but also understanding and solving some of the key problems in biology. In this article, I trace briefly the history of this transition, from physical sciences to biology, and argue that progress in modern biology can be accelerated if there is far more meaningful crosstalk between the biologists and the physical scientists, simply because biology has become far more complex and interdisciplinary, and the need for such crosstalk cannot be overemphasized. Without a concerted effort in this area progress will be hindered, and the two camps will continue to work on their own, using their own specialized language, thus making communication highly ineffective. I support my argument giving a vast array of examples and also quoting leading authorities.

Integrated environmental modeling: A vision and roadmap for the future

EPA Science Inventory

Integrated environmental modeling (IEM) is inspired by modern environmental problems, decisions, and policies and enabled by transdisciplinary science and computer capabilities that allow the environment to be considered in a holistic way. The problems are characterized by the ex...

The Engaged Organization: Corporate Employee Environmental Education Survey and Case Study Findings

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Gullo, Krista; Haygood, Leah

2009-01-01

When the modern U.S. environmental movement began in the 1970s, it relied largely on regulation to reduce negative environmental impacts. Companies responded by creating centers of environmental expertise within their organizations. The major focus of a second wave of corporate environmentalism, which began during the late 1980s, was on…

STORM WATER MANAGEMENT MODEL (SWMM) MODERNIZATION

EPA Science Inventory

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's Water Supply and Water Resources Division in partnership with the consulting firm of CDM to redevelop and modernize the Storm Water Management Model (SWMM). In the initial phase of this project EPA rewrote SWMM's computational engine usi...

Emergy Expenditure Among Municipal Wastewater Treatment Systems Across US

EPA Science Inventory

The urbanization of the modern community creates large population centers that generate concentrated wastewater. A large expenditure on wastewater treatment has to be invested to make a modern city function without human and environmental health problems. Society relies on syste...

ESP Teaching at the Institutions of Higher Education in Modern Russia: Problems and Perspectives

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Prudnikova, Nadezhda

2013-01-01

The author analyses ESP teaching at the institutions of higher education in modern Russia, explains the main problems and suggests the ways of their solving, details the quality control system of the students' progress improvement, presents the complex approach to interactive ESP teaching and views it as an integral part of up-to-date…

Putting More "Modern" in Modern Physics Education: A Knowledge Building Approach Using Student Questions and Ideas about the Universe

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Wagner, Glenn

2017-01-01

Student-generated questions and ideas about our universe are the start of a rich and highly motivating learning environment. Using their curiosity-driven questions and ideas, students form Knowledge Building groups or "communities" where they plan, set goals, design questions for research, and assess the progress of their work, tasks…

[Watsu: a modern method in physiotherapy, body regeneration, and sports].

PubMed

Weber-Nowakowska, Katarzyna; Gebska, Magdalena; Zyzniewska-Banaszak, Ewelina

2013-01-01

Progress in existing methods of physiotherapy and body regeneration and introduction of new methods has made it possible to precisely select the techniques according to patient needs. The modern therapist is capable of improving the physical and mental condition of the patient. Watsu helps the therapist eliminate symptoms from the locomotor system and reach the psychic sphere at the same time.

Analytics and Action in Afghanistan

DTIC Science & Technology

2010-09-01

rests on rational technology , and ultimately on scientific knowledge. No country could be modern without being eco- nomically advanced or...backwardness to enlight - ened modernity. Underdeveloped countries had failed to progress to what Max Weber called rational legalism because of the grip...Douglas Pike, Viet Cong: The Organization and Techniques of the National Liberation Front of South Vietnam (Boston: Massachusetts Institute of Technology

Constructing the Modern and Moral Teacher: A Genealogy of the Nineteenth Century Elementary School Teacher in England and Upper Canada.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Larsen, Marianne

This paper asserts that early teacher identity reflected wider contradictions and tensions within 19th century society, noting that Victorian society in England and Canada struggled to embrace modernity, and while committed to the Enlightenment project of science and progress and the principles of rationality and reason, much traditionalism still…

Tropical Pacific climate during the Medieval Climate Anomaly: progress and pitfalls

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Cobb, K. M.; Westphal, N.; Charles, C.; Sayani, H. R.; Edwards, R. L.; Cheng, H.; Grothe, P. R.; Chen, T.; Hitt, N. T.; O'Connor, G.; Atwood, A. R.

2016-12-01

A vast trove of paleoclimate records indicates that the Medieval Climate Anomaly (MCA; 900-1200AD) was characterized by relative warmth throughout the Northern Hemisphere and significant hydroclimate anomalies - particularly well-resolved over North America - that posed a challenge to human populations. The global-scale nature of the climate anomalies has driven speculation that the tropical Pacific, with its rich spectrum of natural variability and far-reaching impact, may have undergone a prolonged reorganization during the MCA. While some key records from across the tropical Pacific document significant changes in temperature and/or hydrology, a dynamically-consistent picture of the MCA tropical Pacific climate state has proven elusive. In particular, there are few if any robust paleoclimate constraints from the central Pacific, where even modest changes in ocean temperature translate into distinct patterns of global atmospheric teleconnections. Here, we present a new collection of fossil coral multi-proxy records from Christmas Island (2N, 157W) that provide robust constraints on both temperature and hydrological changes during the MCA. We employ both modern coral data, instrumental climate data, and climate model output in developing a framework for quantifying the uncertainties associated with the new fossil coral data. In doing so, we illustrate the clear benefits of modern environmental monitoring campaigns that inform the generation of paleoclimate pseudo-proxies.

Emergence of long distance bird migrations: a new model integrating global climate changes

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Louchart, Antoine

2008-12-01

During modern birds history, climatic and environmental conditions have evolved on wide scales. In a continuously changing world, landbirds annual migrations emerged and developed. However, models accounting for the origins of these avian migrations were formulated with static ecogeographic perspectives. Here I reviewed Cenozoic paleoclimatic and paleontological data relative to the palearctic paleotropical long distance (LD) migration system. This led to propose a new model for the origin of LD migrations, the ‘shifting home’ model (SHM). It is based on a dynamic perspective of climate evolution and may apply to the origins of most modern migrations. Non-migrant tropical African bird taxa were present at European latitudes during most of the Cenozoic. Their distribution limits shifted progressively toward modern tropical latitudes during periods of global cooling and increasing seasonality. In parallel, decreasing winter temperatures in the western Palearctic drove shifts of population winter ranges toward the equator. I propose that this induced the emergence of most short distance migrations, and in turn LD migrations. This model reconciliates ecologically tropical ancestry of most LD migrants with predominant winter range shifts, in accordance with requirements for heritable homing. In addition, it is more parsimonious than other non-exclusive models. Greater intrinsic plasticity of winter ranges implied by the SHM is supported by recently observed impacts of the present global warming on migrating birds. This may induce particular threats to some LD migrants. The ancestral, breeding homes of LD migrants were not ‘northern’ or ‘southern’ but shifted across high and middle latitudes while migrations emerged through winter range shifts themselves.

The sedentary (r)evolution: Have we lost our metabolic flexibility?

PubMed

Freese, Jens; Klement, Rainer Johannes; Ruiz-Núñez, Begoña; Schwarz, Sebastian; Lötzerich, Helmut

2017-01-01

During the course of evolution, up until the agricultural revolution, environmental fluctuations forced the human species to develop a flexible metabolism in order to adapt its energy needs to various climate, seasonal and vegetation conditions. Metabolic flexibility safeguarded human survival independent of food availability. In modern times, humans switched their primal lifestyle towards a constant availability of energy-dense, yet often nutrient-deficient, foods, persistent psycho-emotional stressors and a lack of exercise. As a result, humans progressively gain metabolic disorders, such as the metabolic syndrome, type 2 diabetes, non-alcoholic fatty liver disease, certain types of cancer, cardiovascular disease and Alzheimer´s disease, wherever the sedentary lifestyle spreads in the world. For more than 2.5 million years, our capability to store fat for times of food shortage was an outstanding survival advantage. Nowadays, the same survival strategy in a completely altered surrounding is responsible for a constant accumulation of body fat. In this article, we argue that the metabolic disease epidemic is largely based on a deficit in metabolic flexibility. We hypothesize that the modern energetic inflexibility, typically displayed by symptoms of neuroglycopenia, can be reversed by re-cultivating suppressed metabolic programs, which became obsolete in an affluent environment, particularly the ability to easily switch to ketone body and fat oxidation. In a simplified model, the basic metabolic programs of humans' primal hunter-gatherer lifestyle are opposed to the current sedentary lifestyle. Those metabolic programs, which are chronically neglected in modern surroundings, are identified and conclusions for the prevention of chronic metabolic diseases are drawn.

The sedentary (r)evolution: Have we lost our metabolic flexibility?

PubMed Central

Freese, Jens; Klement, Rainer Johannes; Ruiz-Núñez, Begoña; Schwarz, Sebastian; Lötzerich, Helmut

2018-01-01

During the course of evolution, up until the agricultural revolution, environmental fluctuations forced the human species to develop a flexible metabolism in order to adapt its energy needs to various climate, seasonal and vegetation conditions. Metabolic flexibility safeguarded human survival independent of food availability. In modern times, humans switched their primal lifestyle towards a constant availability of energy-dense, yet often nutrient-deficient, foods, persistent psycho-emotional stressors and a lack of exercise. As a result, humans progressively gain metabolic disorders, such as the metabolic syndrome, type 2 diabetes, non-alcoholic fatty liver disease, certain types of cancer, cardiovascular disease and Alzheimer´s disease, wherever the sedentary lifestyle spreads in the world. For more than 2.5 million years, our capability to store fat for times of food shortage was an outstanding survival advantage. Nowadays, the same survival strategy in a completely altered surrounding is responsible for a constant accumulation of body fat. In this article, we argue that the metabolic disease epidemic is largely based on a deficit in metabolic flexibility. We hypothesize that the modern energetic inflexibility, typically displayed by symptoms of neuroglycopenia, can be reversed by re-cultivating suppressed metabolic programs, which became obsolete in an affluent environment, particularly the ability to easily switch to ketone body and fat oxidation. In a simplified model, the basic metabolic programs of humans’ primal hunter-gatherer lifestyle are opposed to the current sedentary lifestyle. Those metabolic programs, which are chronically neglected in modern surroundings, are identified and conclusions for the prevention of chronic metabolic diseases are drawn. PMID:29225776

Progress and privilege: America in the age of environmentalism

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

Tucker, W.

Environmentalism, which was a rarity in the 1960s, approaches a national religion in the 1980s, with some environmentalists experiencing pleasure at the prospect of limited resources and no growth. The author explores this new ambivalence toward progress, and concludes that accomplishment can dampen ambition. His analysis of environmentalism as an expression of privilege examines the political and economic characteristics of environmentalists, the major environmental issues, and the public revolt against science to uncover an aristocratic element that is diappearing from our culture. Progress will continue, however, because of global ambitions. The US can build on what has been learned duringmore » the Age of Environmentalism and get on with the progress of humanity. 159 references, 1 figure. (DCK)« less

Abundance indices for determining the status of lake trout restoration in Michigan waters of Lake Superior

USGS Publications Warehouse

Hansen, Michael J.; Schorfhaar, Richard G.; Peck, James W.; Selgeby, James H.; Taylor, William W.

1995-01-01

Self-sustaining populations of lake trout Salvelinus namaycush have returned to most areas in Lake Superior, but progress toward achieving historic commercial yields has been difficult to measure because of unrecorded losses to predation by sea lamprey Petromyzon marinus and to fisheries. Consequently, we developed restoration targets (catch per effort, CPE; geometric mean number per kilometer of 114-mm stretch-meaure gill net during 1929-1943, when historic yields were sustained) from linear relationships between CPE in commercial and assessment fisheries in Michigan. Target CPEs for lake trout restoration were higher and less variable than the modern CPEs in all areas. Modern CPEs generally increased during the 1970s and early 1980s but declined during the late 1980s and early 1990s. Modern CPEs were highest in western Michigan from the Keweenaw Peninsula to Marquette (71 to 81% of target CPEs), but coefficients of variation (CV,SD/mean) of mean CPEs were 1.4 to 2.4 times greater than target CVs. Around Munising, the modern CPE was lower (41% of the target CPE), whereas the CV was 1.9 times greater than the target CV. Around Grand Marais, the modern CPE was lowest among all areas (17% of the target CPE), but the CV was nearly the same (1.1 times the target CV). In Whitefish Bay, the modern CPE was only 28% of the target CPE and the CV was 9.0 times greater, though the modern period was based on only the years 1979-1982 and 1984-1985. Further progress in restoration in most areas can be achieved only if fishery managers adequately protect existing stocks of wild fish from sea lamprey predation and fishery exploitation.

THE APPLICATION OF PHOTOGRAPHIC INTERPRETATION AND RELATED TECHNOLOGIES IN MODERN ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION

EPA Science Inventory

Imagery Interpretation is a timed-tested technique for extracting landscape-level information from aerial photographs and other types of remotely sensed data. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's Environmental Photographic Interpretation Center (EPIC) has a 25+ year history...

Reference News Release: EPA Finalizes Rule to Modernize Clean Water Act Reporting

EPA Pesticide Factsheets

Today, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) finalized a rule to modernize Clean Water Act reporting for municipalities, industries, and other facilities. The final rule will require regulated entities and state and federal regulators to use exist

Paradox in Progressive Educational Reform: The South and the Education of Blacks in the Depression Years

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Goodenow, Ronald K.

1978-01-01

Progressive educational reform in the South during the Great Depression is examined. Ways in which educational change seemingly functioned to serve modernization while concurrently maintaining racist patterns are illustrated. It is suggested that fundamental change in the conditions of oppression may not be possible without addressing the…

[Capoeira circle or sports academy? The emergence of modern styles of capoeira and their global context].

PubMed

Assunção, Matthias Röhrig

2014-01-01

The emergence of the modern styles of capoeira should be considered in the global context of the modernization of martial arts currently in progress in Europe and Asia on the one hand, and the new phase of Afro-descendant modernity on the other. The confrontation between the capoeira, jiu-jitsu and other martial arts circles led mestre Bimba to develop his regional Bahian fighting style. The revival of traditional capoeira as Angolan capoeira led by mestre Pastinha is part of the broader movement of affirmation of Afro-Bahian culture in Salvador and the growing visibility of the Afro-descendant body in the Atlantic world.

[Updating the problems of human ecology and environmental health and the ways of solving them].

PubMed

Rakhmanin, Iu A

2012-01-01

Displaying a variety of scientific areas studying the influence of the environment on human health, the state and modern issues of assessment of environmental quality, hygienic standardization of chemical and biological contamination, methodical support of sanitarian and health monitoring and risk assessment of pollution, environmental health, the need for improvement and harmonization with the international instruments of the legal and methodological framework for the protection of the human environment, of the development of a modern management system of her quality based on epidemiological methods for simulation, risk analysis, assessment of economic damage to the environment and health of the population, forming a new branch of medicine--medicine of environment.

Environmental Education--Theory and Practice.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Vidart, Daniel

1978-01-01

Discusses modern approaches to environmental education in the context of Western concepts of man's relation to nature. Contends that clear definitions of the terms "environment" and "education" are needed. Concludes that future programs of environmental education will study problems originating in human nature and will dissolve boundaries between…

Overview of the advances in environmental chemistry of animal manure

USDA-ARS?s Scientific Manuscript database

There is an increasing environmental concern over animal manure due to the volumes produced in modern intensified animal production. However, animal manure is traditionally regarded as a valuable resource of plant nutrients. Although research on environmental impacts of animal manure and associated...

[The trend and prospect of studies of East Asian medical history in Korea].

PubMed

Sihn, Kyuhwan

2010-06-30

Studies of East Asian medical history in Korea have progressively accumulated in the last twenty years. First, Korean scholars broadened the focus of research from China-centered research to East Asian research. Studies of Toyo medical history in Korea mainly concentrated on Chinese medical history. Toyo medical history originated from Japanese orientalism and imperialism. Today the studies of East Asian medical history in Korea include Korea, China and Japan, and attempt to deal with East Asia as a single conceptual category. Second, researchers in East Asian medical history are steadily increasing. They study Chinese medical history or Japanese medical history from universities. As they continue their research in academic positions, successive researchers emerge. Third, the number of Korean scholars remains relatively small, but they pursue original research. Their interests are in the discourse of East Asian medical history, colonial modernity, environmental history, oral history, and history of disease.

Biotechnology and the bioeconomy-Towards inclusive and sustainable industrial development.

PubMed

Lokko, Yvonne; Heijde, Marc; Schebesta, Karl; Scholtès, Philippe; Van Montagu, Marc; Giacca, Mauro

2018-01-25

To transform developing and least developing countries into industrialised ones, biotechnology could be deployed along the value chain, to provide support to the development of the bio-based industries in such a way to ensure sustainability of the sector and to reduce negative environmental impacts that might otherwise occur. In agribusiness development, for instance, interventions could start from inputs and agricultural mechanization, modern processing technologies, packaging of perishable products, the promotion of food safety in the processing and regulatory environment; and interventions to improve competitiveness and productivity. Worth over USD 300 billion in revenue, the role of the biotechnology goes beyond industrial growth, since it provides opportunities for progress towards many of the UN sustainable development goals (SDGs). This paper reviews the status of industrial biotechnology as it relates to inclusive and sustainable industrial development. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Nutraceuticals as potential therapeutic agents for colon cancer: a review

PubMed Central

Kuppusamy, Palaniselvam; Yusoff, Mashitah M.; Maniam, Gaanty Pragas; Ichwan, Solachuddin Jauhari Arief; Soundharrajan, Ilavenil; Govindan, Natanamurugaraj

2014-01-01

Colon cancer is a world-wide health problem and the second-most dangerous type of cancer, affecting both men and women. The modern diet and lifestyles, with high meat consumption and excessive alcohol use, along with limited physical activity has led to an increasing mortality rate for colon cancer worldwide. As a result, there is a need to develop novel and environmentally benign drug therapies for colon cancer. Currently, nutraceuticals play an increasingly important role in the treatment of various chronic diseases such as colon cancer, diabetes and Alzheimer׳s disease. Nutraceuticals are derived from various natural sources such as medicinal plants, marine organisms, vegetables and fruits. Nutraceuticals have shown the potential to reduce the risk of colon cancer and slow its progression. These dietary substances target different molecular aspects of colon cancer development. Accordingly, this review briefly discusses the medicinal importance of nutraceuticals and their ability to reduce the risk of colorectal carcinogenesis. PMID:26579381

Nutraceuticals as potential therapeutic agents for colon cancer: a review.

PubMed

Kuppusamy, Palaniselvam; Yusoff, Mashitah M; Maniam, Gaanty Pragas; Ichwan, Solachuddin Jauhari Arief; Soundharrajan, Ilavenil; Govindan, Natanamurugaraj

2014-06-01

Colon cancer is a world-wide health problem and the second-most dangerous type of cancer, affecting both men and women. The modern diet and lifestyles, with high meat consumption and excessive alcohol use, along with limited physical activity has led to an increasing mortality rate for colon cancer worldwide. As a result, there is a need to develop novel and environmentally benign drug therapies for colon cancer. Currently, nutraceuticals play an increasingly important role in the treatment of various chronic diseases such as colon cancer, diabetes and Alzheimer׳s disease. Nutraceuticals are derived from various natural sources such as medicinal plants, marine organisms, vegetables and fruits. Nutraceuticals have shown the potential to reduce the risk of colon cancer and slow its progression. These dietary substances target different molecular aspects of colon cancer development. Accordingly, this review briefly discusses the medicinal importance of nutraceuticals and their ability to reduce the risk of colorectal carcinogenesis.

Immunologic contact urticaria--the human touch.

PubMed

Wang, Christina Y; Maibach, Howard I

2013-06-01

To review immunologic contact urticaria (ICU) in the occupational and environmental context, and describe its continued relevance in light of the ever-increasing onslaught of new chemicals and products, as well as new technology placing novel interactions, such as nanoparticles, within reach of the population at home and work. Publications were searched via PubMed, using key words: Occupational, immunologic, contact urticaria, nanoparticle. ICU remains an important diagnosis to make and treat because it has widespread health and social morbidity, including job and income loss, persistent life-long allergies, and progression from self-limiting skin eruptions to multi-systemic, sometimes life-threatening, illnesses. There is no short supply of known ICU causing allergens, but it is equally important to be ever vigilant in recognizing, and even adding to, items in the constantly expanding list of novel allergenic agents provided to us by the advances of modern chemistry and technology, and by the changing social structure and lifestyle dynamics.

Recent Trends in Nanofibrous Membranes and Their Suitability for Air and Water Filtrations

PubMed Central

Balamurugan, Ramalingam; Sundarrajan, Subramanian; Ramakrishna, Seeram

2011-01-01

In recent decades, engineered membranes have become a viable separation technology for a wide range of applications in environmental, food and biomedical fields. Membranes are now competitive compared to conventional techniques such as adsorption, ion exchangers and sand filters. The main advantage of membrane technology is the fact that it works without the addition of any chemicals, with relatively high efficiency and low energy consumption with well arranged process conductions. Hence they are widely utilized in biotechnology, food and drink manufacturing, air filtration and medical uses such as dialysis for kidney failure patients. Membranes from nanofibrous materials possess high surface area to volume ratio, fine tunable pore sizes and their ease of preparation prompted both industry and academic researchers to study their use in many applications. In this paper, modern concepts and current research progress on various nanofibrous membranes, such as water and air filtration media, are presented. PMID:24957734

Lubricant Formulations to Enhance Engine Efficiency in Modern Internal Combustion Engines

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

Cheng, Wai; Wong, Victor; Plumley, Michael

2017-04-19

The research program presented aimed to investigate, develop, and demonstrate low-friction, environmentally-friendly and commercially-feasible lubricant formulations that would significantly improve the mechanical efficiency of modern engines without incurring increased wear, emissions or deterioration of the emission-aftertreatment system.

Epigenetics, Darwin, and Lamarck

PubMed Central

Penny, David

2015-01-01

It is not really helpful to consider modern environmental epigenetics as neo-Lamarckian; and there is no evidence that Lamarck considered the idea original to himself. We must all keep learning about inheritance, but attributing modern ideas to early researchers is not helpful, and can be misleading. PMID:26026157

Genetic aspects of the transition from traditional to modern fish farming.

PubMed

Moav, R; Soller, M; Hulata, G

1976-11-01

A theoretical model describing the genetic aspect of the transition from traditional to modern animal husbandry is presented. Traditional races are characterized by high tolerance to harsh environments but a low rate of response to increased management inputs. Modern, artificially-selected breeds are efficient convertors of management inputs to higher production but have a low resistance to harsh environments. Thus, under lowinput traditional husbandry, the traditional races are best adapted, while under modern, high-input husbandry, modern breeds are most productive, and in the intermediate zone, hybrids between the two races are capable of closing the 'profit gap' in the shift from traditional to modern husbandry. The domesticated European, and the Chinese Big-belly races of the common carp were tested under many environmental 'treatments' involving variation in density, polyculture, aeration, feeding and fertilization. The Big-belly showed, as expected, high resistance to the poor 'treatments' but low response to environmental improvement. The European breeds performed best in the higher half of the environmental range and their response rates were highest. The F1 hybrids between the two races excelled in the lower third of the range, exhibiting, there, a high heterosis but only an intermediate rate of response. It was concluded that successful changes from one aquaculture system to another, and particularly the change from traditional to modern husbandry, require a simultaneous search for the most efficient genotype × environment combination and, for each level of modernization of traditional fish farming, the most effective genotype must be identified and utilized. The transition from traditional to modern animal husbandry, including fish farming, is best quantified by the levels of invested inputs, other than labour, that induce higher production of the individual animals. The major management inputs of modern fresh water fish farming are expensive feeding, veterinary care, control of predators, organic and chemical fertilizers that enrich the production of natural fish food, water circulation and aeration. Since all these inputs are rather expensive, the fish have to pay for them by increased production, i.e., faster growth rate. Thus, the sina qua non of such a transition is the availability of animal stocks capable of converting increased inputs into economically attractive increased yields. We are all aware of the very great physiological plasticity of farm animals. In the case of the European carp, for example, the same genetic stocks, raised under high stocking density and low feeding level may gain an average weight of 10 to 20 g per fish in a whole year, while under low density and abundant feeding, they may gain over 2 kg in the same period. Such physiological responsiveness may give the wrong impression that all that is needed for the transition to more modern husbandry are improved environmental circumstances. The object of this paper is to point out that the proper choice and changeover of genotypes is equally important for the succesfull implementation of the usually gradual process of fish farming modernization. This demonstration will be based on results of experiments with the European and Chinese races of the common carp, and their F1 hybrids.

CHRONICLE: Third International Symposium on Modern Optics, Budapest, September 1988

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Bukhenskiĭ, M. F.; Nikitin, P. I.; Semenov, A. S.

1989-07-01

The Third International Symposium on Modern Optics (Optics-88), held in Budapest on 13-16 September 1988, was organized by the Hungarian Optical, Acoustic, and Cinematographic Society with the support of the International Commission on Optics and various scientific and industrial organizations in Hungary. The International Symposium Committee was composed of leading specialists from 11 countries in Asia, America, and Europe with A. M. Prokhorov (USSR) and N. Kroo (Hungary) as Co-chairmen. The purpose of this regular symposium is to summarize the scientific and technical progress underlying the developments in optics itself, discuss the branches of science where progress depends on optical methods in devices, and draw the attention of specialists to the most promising trends which should yield results in the immediate future.

Philosophical Aspects of Global Environmental Issues

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Lazutinaa, Tatyana V.; Baksheev, Vladimir N.

2016-01-01

The relevance of this paper is determined by understanding of global environmental problems in the context of social ecology. The purpose of this paper is the analysis of main modern environmental global problems created by the equipment representing a public and social basis for the practical transformation of public relations and also the…

Progressive Derechos in the Presence of Closed Upper-level Subtropical Anticyclones

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Guastini, C.; Bosart, L. F.

2013-12-01

Progressive derechos are a type of long-lived mesoscale convective system that produces large swaths of wind damage. In contrast to their serial derecho counterparts, which form in association with extratropical cyclones, progressive derechos often occur in the presence of benign synoptic conditions on the poleward side of closed upper-level subtropical anticyclones. Forecasters have been known to struggle predicting progressive derechos with any certainty due to the common lack of large-scale support for severe weather in regimes dominated by anticyclonic conditions. This study will classify a group of days on which there was a closed upper-level anticyclone over the United States and a progressive derecho did not occur and a group of days on which there was a closed upper-level anticyclone over the United States and a progressive derecho did occur, examine the synoptic environments of the two groups, and identify derecho null cases. By analyzing the null cases, derecho failure modes will be determined, which will help forecaster situational awareness and reveal the science behind the environmental conditions necessary for, and detrimental to, derecho development. This presentation will include climatologies of both derechos and closed upper-level anticyclones over the United States for June, July, and August of the years 1994-2013 (the modern radar era). The presentation will also include closed anticyclone-relative composites of both derecho cases and derecho null cases. The composites will elucidate which conditions are necessary for, and which are detrimental to, derecho development. The hypothesis is that derecho failure days occur due either to the lack of a triggering mechanism or other phenomena working against convective development such as a strong capping inversion or transverse ageostrophic circulations around an upper-level jet creating subsidence in an otherwise favorable environment. A representative case study will be included to highlight a common derecho failure mode.

78 FR 17204 - Pesticide Reregistration Performance Measures and Goals; Annual Progress Report; Notice of...

Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

2013-03-20

... ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY [EPA-HQ-OPP-2012-0938; FRL-9374-7] Pesticide Reregistration Performance Measures and Goals; Annual Progress Report; Notice of Availability AGENCY: Environmental... EPA's progress report in meeting its performance measures and goals for pesticide reregistration...

77 FR 19662 - Pesticide Reregistration Performance Measures and Goals; Annual Progress Report; Notice of...

Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

2012-04-02

... ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY [EPA-HQ-OPP-2011-0959; FRL-9343-5] Pesticide Reregistration Performance Measures and Goals; Annual Progress Report; Notice of Availability AGENCY: Environmental... EPA's progress report in meeting its performance measures and goals for pesticide reregistration...

US NDC Modernization: Service Oriented Architecture Study Status

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

Hamlet, Benjamin R.; Encarnacao, Andre Villanova; Harris, James M.

2014-12-01

This report is a progress update on the USNDC Modernization Service Oriented Architecture (SOA) study describing results from Inception Iteration 1, which occurred between October 2012 and March 2013. The goals during this phase are 1) discovering components of the system that have potential service implementations, 2) identifying applicable SOA patterns for data access, service interfaces, and service orchestration/choreography, and 3) understanding performance tradeoffs for various SOA patterns

Dewey, China and the Philosophy of Development: A Contrast of American Progressive Educational Thought and Practice with That of Modern China.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Sizer, Nancy F.

John Dewey's 2-year visit to China after World War I resulted in a continuing influence of his ideas on institutions and beliefs of modern Chinese education. Looked at against background of both traditional and Communist China, Dewey's ideas serve to illustrate the thesis that, while he is vilified, Deweyism is alive in Communist China and that…

Comparative Emergy Evaluation of Nutrient Removal and Nutrient Recovery Technologies and the Implications to Nutrient Management

EPA Science Inventory

The urbanization of the modern community creates large population centers that generate concentrated wastewater. A large expenditure on wastewater treatment has to be invested to make a modern city function without human and environmental health problems. Society relies on syste...

Variability within the 10-Year Pollen Rain of a Seasonal Neotropical Forest and Its Implications for Paleoenvironmental and Phenological Research

PubMed Central

Haselhorst, Derek S.; Moreno, J. Enrique; Punyasena, Surangi W.

2013-01-01

Tropical paleoecologists use a combination of mud-water interface and modern pollen rain samples (local samples of airborne pollen) to interpret compositional changes within fossil pollen records. Taxonomic similarities between the composition of modern assemblages and fossil samples are the basis of reconstructing paleoclimates and paleoenvironments. Surface sediment samples reflect a time-averaged accumulation of pollen spanning several years or more. Due to experimental constraints, modern pollen rain samples are generally collected over shorter timeframes (1–3 years) and are therefore less likely to capture the full range of natural variability in pollen rain composition and abundance. This potentially biases paleoenvironmental interpretations based on modern pollen rain transfer functions. To determine the degree to which short-term environmental change affects the composition of the aerial pollen flux of Neotropical forests, we sampled ten years of the seasonal pollen rain from Barro Colorado Island, Panama and compared it to climatic and environmental data over the same ten-year span. We establish that the pollen rain effectively captured the strong seasonality and stratification of pollen flow within the forest canopy and that individual taxa had variable sensitivity to seasonal and annual changes in environmental conditions, manifested as changes in pollen productivity. We conclude that modern pollen rain samples capture the reproductive response of moist tropical plants to short-term environmental change, but that consequently, pollen rain-based calibrations need to include longer sampling periods (≥7 years) to reflect the full range of natural variability in the pollen output of a forest and simulate the time-averaging present in sediment samples. Our results also demonstrate that over the long-term, pollen traps placed in the forest understory are representative samples of the pollen output of both canopy and understory vegetation. Aerial pollen traps, therefore, also represent an underutilized means of monitoring the pollen productivity and reproductive behavior of moist tropical forests. PMID:23320089

Variability within the 10-year pollen rain of a seasonal neotropical forest and its implications for paleoenvironmental and phenological research.

PubMed

Haselhorst, Derek S; Moreno, J Enrique; Punyasena, Surangi W

2013-01-01

Tropical paleoecologists use a combination of mud-water interface and modern pollen rain samples (local samples of airborne pollen) to interpret compositional changes within fossil pollen records. Taxonomic similarities between the composition of modern assemblages and fossil samples are the basis of reconstructing paleoclimates and paleoenvironments. Surface sediment samples reflect a time-averaged accumulation of pollen spanning several years or more. Due to experimental constraints, modern pollen rain samples are generally collected over shorter timeframes (1-3 years) and are therefore less likely to capture the full range of natural variability in pollen rain composition and abundance. This potentially biases paleoenvironmental interpretations based on modern pollen rain transfer functions. To determine the degree to which short-term environmental change affects the composition of the aerial pollen flux of Neotropical forests, we sampled ten years of the seasonal pollen rain from Barro Colorado Island, Panama and compared it to climatic and environmental data over the same ten-year span. We establish that the pollen rain effectively captured the strong seasonality and stratification of pollen flow within the forest canopy and that individual taxa had variable sensitivity to seasonal and annual changes in environmental conditions, manifested as changes in pollen productivity. We conclude that modern pollen rain samples capture the reproductive response of moist tropical plants to short-term environmental change, but that consequently, pollen rain-based calibrations need to include longer sampling periods (≥7 years) to reflect the full range of natural variability in the pollen output of a forest and simulate the time-averaging present in sediment samples. Our results also demonstrate that over the long-term, pollen traps placed in the forest understory are representative samples of the pollen output of both canopy and understory vegetation. Aerial pollen traps, therefore, also represent an underutilized means of monitoring the pollen productivity and reproductive behavior of moist tropical forests.

Quantitative Reasoning in Environmental Science: A Learning Progression

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Mayes, Robert Lee; Forrester, Jennifer Harris; Christus, Jennifer Schuttlefield; Peterson, Franziska Isabel; Bonilla, Rachel; Yestness, Nissa

2014-01-01

The ability of middle and high school students to reason quantitatively within the context of environmental science was investigated. A quantitative reasoning (QR) learning progression was created with three progress variables: quantification act, quantitative interpretation, and quantitative modeling. An iterative research design was used as it…

Interleukin-30: A novel microenvironmental hallmark of prostate cancer progression.

PubMed

Di Carlo, Emma

2014-01-01

Metastatic prostate cancer is a leading cause of cancer-related death in men worldwide. We have recently discovered that IL-30 shapes the microenvironment of prostate cancer and tumor-draining lymph nodes to favor tumor progression. IL-30 supports tumor growth in vitro, and IL-30 expression in prostate cancer patients is associated with high tumor grade and metastatic stage of disease. Thus, IL-30 may constitute a valuable target for modern therapeutic approaches to hamper prostate cancer progression.

Annual Report of the Secretary of Defense on Reserve Forces for Fiscal Year 1975

DTIC Science & Technology

1976-06-08

acquisition and distribution of equipment continued to be achieved. Progress was made in both filling uxisting shortfalls and in modernization and... progress of the KOTC flight instruction programs. vArmy Air Force Units Participating 200 56 161 Students Enrolled 412 436 2,036 Students Completed 321 361...Resurve Forces IV Current Status and Progress Made in 4 Strengthening the Reserve Components * A. General 4 1. 24 Division rorce 4 4ii 2. Total Force

Social Environmental Influences on Adolescents' Smoking Progression.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Wang, Min Qi

2001-01-01

Examined data from adolescents who had completed the 1989 Teenage Attitudes and Practices Survey and who were re-interviewed in 1993 to determine social and environmental factors that influenced their smoking progression. Smoking behavior of best friends and smoking beliefs were consistent and significant factors in predicting progression from…

Progress in Application of the Neurosciences to an Understanding of Human Learning: The Challenge of Finding a Middle-Ground Neuroeducational Theory

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Anderson, O. Roger

2014-01-01

Modern neuroscientific research has substantially enhanced our understanding of the human brain. However, many challenges remain in developing a strong, brain-based theory of human learning, especially in complex environments such as educational settings. Some of the current issues and challenges in our progress toward developing comprehensive…

Toward Ubiquitous BCIs

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Allison, Brendan Z.

The preceding chapters in this book described modern BCI systems. This concluding chapter instead discusses future directions. While there are some specific predictions, I mainly analyze key factors and trends relating to practical mainstream BCI development. While I note some disruptive technologies that could dramatically change BCIs, this chapter focuses mainly on realistic, incremental progress and how progress could affect user groups and ethical issues.

Children as Community Planners: Report on an Environmental Design Project 1.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Hanley, Gerard L.; And Others

1981-01-01

Describes a six-month project emphasizing participant-observation teaching strategy in which a third-grade class of 24 students employed methods of environmental design to design communities within a modern forest and more primitive tundra and desert regions. Discusses project goals, results, and implications for future use of environmental design…

Environmental Attitudes and Behaviour of Secondary School Students in Hong Kong.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Chan, Kara K. W.

1996-01-01

Describes an investigation into the environmental attitudes of students in Hong Kong and their readiness to engage in pro-environmental behavior that could involve change in personal lifestyle. Students' over-optimism towards technological development and the perceived importance of the benefits of modern consumer goods were major factors that…

Environmental chemistry of animal manure

USDA-ARS?s Scientific Manuscript database

Animal manure is traditionally regarded as a valuable resource of plant nutrients. However, there is an increasing environmental concern associated with animal manure utilization due to high and locally concentrated volumes of manure produced in modern intensified animal production. Although conside...

76 FR 63909 - Draft Programmatic Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) for Modernization of Training...

Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

2011-10-14

... the training requirements of military units in Hawai`i. This modernization would improve the quality... at PTA are old, are operating beyond their useful life and do not meet current DoD design standards... with the possible effects to air quality, historic resources, and threatened and endangered species...

77 FR 38377 - Notice of Availability of the Draft Environmental Impact Statement: Los Angeles County, CA

Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

2012-06-27

... modernize the design at the I-405, SR-91 and a portion of the I-5 interchanges, modernize and reconfigure... Intelligent Transportation Systems (ITS) improvements; improvements to 42 local arterial intersections within the I-710 Corridor; aesthetic enhancements; and, drainage and water quality improvement design...

Integrating health and environmental impact analysis.

PubMed

Reis, S; Morris, G; Fleming, L E; Beck, S; Taylor, T; White, M; Depledge, M H; Steinle, S; Sabel, C E; Cowie, H; Hurley, F; Dick, J McP; Smith, R I; Austen, M

2015-10-01

Scientific investigations have progressively refined our understanding of the influence of the environment on human health, and the many adverse impacts that human activities exert on the environment, from the local to the planetary level. Nonetheless, throughout the modern public health era, health has been pursued as though our lives and lifestyles are disconnected from ecosystems and their component organisms. The inadequacy of the societal and public health response to obesity, health inequities, and especially global environmental and climate change now calls for an ecological approach which addresses human activity in all its social, economic and cultural complexity. The new approach must be integral to, and interactive, with the natural environment. We see the continuing failure to truly integrate human health and environmental impact analysis as deeply damaging, and we propose a new conceptual model, the ecosystems-enriched Drivers, Pressures, State, Exposure, Effects, Actions or 'eDPSEEA' model, to address this shortcoming. The model recognizes convergence between the concept of ecosystems services which provides a human health and well-being slant to the value of ecosystems while equally emphasizing the health of the environment, and the growing calls for 'ecological public health' as a response to global environmental concerns now suffusing the discourse in public health. More revolution than evolution, ecological public health will demand new perspectives regarding the interconnections among society, the economy, the environment and our health and well-being. Success must be built on collaborations between the disparate scientific communities of the environmental sciences and public health as well as interactions with social scientists, economists and the legal profession. It will require outreach to political and other stakeholders including a currently largely disengaged general public. The need for an effective and robust science-policy interface has never been more pressing. Conceptual models can facilitate this by providing theoretical frameworks and supporting stakeholder engagement process simplifications for inherently complex situations involving environment and human health and well-being. They can be tools to think with, to engage, to communicate and to help navigate in a sea of complexity. We believe models such as eDPSEEA can help frame many of the issues which have become the challenges of the new public health era and can provide the essential platforms necessary for progress. Crown Copyright © 2013. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Biological mode of action of a nitrophenolates-based biostimulant: case study

PubMed Central

Przybysz, Arkadiusz; Gawrońska, Helena; Gajc-Wolska, Janina

2014-01-01

The challenges facing modern plant production involve (i) responding to the demand for food and resources of plant origin from the world's rapidly growing population, (ii) coping with the negative impact of stressful conditions mainly due to anthropopressure, and (iii) meeting consumers' new requirements and preferences for food that is high in nutritive value, natural, and free from harmful chemical additives. Despite employing the most modern plant cultivation technologies and the progress that has been made in breeding programs, the genetically-determined crop potential is still far from being fully exploited. Consequently yield and quality are often reduced, making production less, both profitable and attractive. There is an increasing desire to reduce the chemical input in agriculture and there has been a change toward integrated plant management and sustainable, environmentally-friendly systems. Biostimulants are a category of relatively new products of diverse formulations that positively affect a plant's vital processes and whose impact is usually more evident under stressful conditions. In this paper, information is provided on the mode of action of a nitrophenolates-based biostimulant, Atonik, in model species and economically important crops grown under both field and controlled conditions in a growth chamber. The effects of Atonik on plant morphology, physiology, biochemistry (crops and model plant) and yield and yield parameters (crops) is demonstrated. Effects of other biostimulants on studied in this work processes/parameters are also presented in discussion. PMID:25566287

Biological mode of action of a nitrophenolates-based biostimulant: case study.

PubMed

Przybysz, Arkadiusz; Gawrońska, Helena; Gajc-Wolska, Janina

2014-01-01

The challenges facing modern plant production involve (i) responding to the demand for food and resources of plant origin from the world's rapidly growing population, (ii) coping with the negative impact of stressful conditions mainly due to anthropopressure, and (iii) meeting consumers' new requirements and preferences for food that is high in nutritive value, natural, and free from harmful chemical additives. Despite employing the most modern plant cultivation technologies and the progress that has been made in breeding programs, the genetically-determined crop potential is still far from being fully exploited. Consequently yield and quality are often reduced, making production less, both profitable and attractive. There is an increasing desire to reduce the chemical input in agriculture and there has been a change toward integrated plant management and sustainable, environmentally-friendly systems. Biostimulants are a category of relatively new products of diverse formulations that positively affect a plant's vital processes and whose impact is usually more evident under stressful conditions. In this paper, information is provided on the mode of action of a nitrophenolates-based biostimulant, Atonik, in model species and economically important crops grown under both field and controlled conditions in a growth chamber. The effects of Atonik on plant morphology, physiology, biochemistry (crops and model plant) and yield and yield parameters (crops) is demonstrated. Effects of other biostimulants on studied in this work processes/parameters are also presented in discussion.

Extinctions in ancient and modern seas.

PubMed

Harnik, Paul G; Lotze, Heike K; Anderson, Sean C; Finkel, Zoe V; Finnegan, Seth; Lindberg, David R; Liow, Lee Hsiang; Lockwood, Rowan; McClain, Craig R; McGuire, Jenny L; O'Dea, Aaron; Pandolfi, John M; Simpson, Carl; Tittensor, Derek P

2012-11-01

In the coming century, life in the ocean will be confronted with a suite of environmental conditions that have no analog in human history. Thus, there is an urgent need to determine which marine species will adapt and which will go extinct. Here, we review the growing literature on marine extinctions and extinction risk in the fossil, historical, and modern records to compare the patterns, drivers, and biological correlates of marine extinctions at different times in the past. Characterized by markedly different environmental states, some past periods share common features with predicted future scenarios. We highlight how the different records can be integrated to better understand and predict the impact of current and projected future environmental changes on extinction risk in the ocean. Copyright © 2012 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Facility siting as a decision process at the Savannah River Site

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

Wike, L.D.

1995-12-31

Site selection for new facilities at Savannah River Site (SRS) historically has been a process dependent only upon specific requirements of the facility. While this approach is normally well suited to engineering and operational concerns, it can have serious deficiencies in the modern era of regulatory oversight and compliance requirements. There are many issues related to the site selection for a facility that are not directly related to engineering or operational requirements; such environmental concerns can cause large schedule delays and budget impact,s thereby slowing or stopping the progress of a project. Some of the many concerns in locating amore » facility include: waste site avoidance, National Environmental Policy Act requirements, Clean Water Act, Clean Air Act, wetlands conservation, US Army Corps of Engineers considerations, US Fish and Wildlife Service statutes including threatened and endangered species issues, and State of South Carolina regulations, especially those of the Department of Health and Environmental Control. In addition, there are SRS restrictions on research areas set aside for National Environmental Research Park (NERP), Savannah River Ecology Laboratory, Savannah River Forest Station, University of South Carolina Institute of Archaeology and Anthropology, Southeastern Forest Experimental Station, and Savannah River Technology Center (SRTC) programs. As with facility operational needs, all of these siting considerations do not have equal importance. The purpose of this document is to review recent site selection exercises conducted for a variety of proposed facilities, develop the logic and basis for the methods employed, and standardize the process and terminology for future site selection efforts.« less

Possibilities and pitfalls for modern biotechnology in the development of African genetic toxicology.

PubMed

Anwar, Wagida A

2005-09-01

Developing countries are currently going through a transitional phase facing the new challenges of globalization and its potential negative impact. Research policy should highlight the need to mobilize resources for human resource development, networking, improved research culture, information sharing, and pragmatic use of research findings. Advancement in molecular genetics whether at the educational or research level should greatly progress in developing countries so as to improve diagnosis, treatment, understanding of disease risk factors, and prevention. Currently, there is a growing interest to genetic toxicology research, the use of different biomarkers, and genetic susceptibility testing, which can contribute effectively in risk assessment. Africa has unique environmental exposures and public health circumstances, which make it ideal for environmental mutagenicity and carcinogenicity research. There are exposures to chemical genotoxicants (e.g., automobile exhaust, pesticides, metals, and cytotoxic drugs) and to lifestyle factors (e.g., consumption of tobacco products) that have been linked to the expression of biological effects and to increased risk for cancer. Infections can be associated with cancer development when the environmental factors interact with the infection and lead to the enhancement of the carcinogenic process. The high prevalence of viral pathogens and the improper use of pesticides may endanger biological functions beyond those for which they originally manufactured. Biomarkers are used to detect the effects of pesticides before adverse clinical health occurs. The scientific community plays a crucial role in understanding the environmental causes of human health problems and through its collaboration with communities, industries, and government agencies can help in resolving health problems.

Possibilities and pitfalls for modern biotechnology in the development of African genetic toxicology

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

Anwar, Wagida A.

2005-09-01

Developing countries are currently going through a transitional phase facing the new challenges of globalization and its potential negative impact. Research policy should highlight the need to mobilize resources for human resource development, networking, improved research culture, information sharing, and pragmatic use of research findings. Advancement in molecular genetics whether at the educational or research level should greatly progress in developing countries so as to improve diagnosis, treatment, understanding of disease risk factors, and prevention. Currently, there is a growing interest to genetic toxicology research, the use of different biomarkers, and genetic susceptibility testing, which can contribute effectively in riskmore » assessment. Africa has unique environmental exposures and public health circumstances, which make it ideal for environmental mutagenicity and carcinogenicity research. There are exposures to chemical genotoxicants (e.g., automobile exhaust, pesticides, metals, and cytotoxic drugs) and to lifestyle factors (e.g., consumption of tobacco products) that have been linked to the expression of biological effects and to increased risk for cancer. Infections can be associated with cancer development when the environmental factors interact with the infection and lead to the enhancement of the carcinogenic process. The high prevalence of viral pathogens and the improper use of pesticides may endanger biological functions beyond those for which they originally manufactured. Biomarkers are used to detect the effects of pesticides before adverse clinical health occurs. The scientific community plays a crucial role in understanding the environmental causes of human health problems and through its collaboration with communities, industries, and government agencies can help in resolving health problems.« less

Metabolomics in human type 2 diabetes research.

PubMed

Lu, Jingyi; Xie, Guoxiang; Jia, Weiping; Jia, Wei

2013-03-01

The high prevalence of diabetes and diabetic complications has caused a huge burden on the modern society. Although scientific advances have led to effective strategies for preventing and treating diabetes over the past several decades, little progress has been made toward curing the disease or even getting it under control, from a public health and overall societal standpoint. There is still a lack of reliable biomarkers indicative of metabolic alterations associated with diabetes and different drug responses, highlighting the need for the development of early diagnostic and prognostic markers for diabetes and diabetic complications. The emergence of metabolomics has allowed researchers to systemically measure the small molecule metabolites, which are sensitive to the changes of both environmental and genetic factors and therefore, could be regarded as the link between genotypes and phenotypes. During the last decade, the progression made in metabolomics has provided insightful information on disease development and disease onset prediction. Recent studies using metabolomics approach coupled with statistical tools to predict incident diabetes revealed a number of metabolites that are significantly altered, including branched-chain and aromatic amino acids, such as isoleucine, leucine, valine, tyrosine and phenylalanine, as diagnostic or highly-significant predictors of future diabetes. This review summarizes the current findings of metabolomic studies in human investigations with the most common form of diabetes, type 2 diabetes.

Chew Bahir, southern Ethiopia: an archive of environmental history during the evolution and dispersal of anatomically modern humans

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Schaebitz, F.; Asrat, A.; Lamb, H. F.; Trauth, M. H.; Junginger, A.; Foerster, V. E.; Guenter, C.; Viehberg, F. A.; Just, J.; Roberts, H. M.; Chapot, M. S.; Leng, M. J.; Dean, J.; Cohen, A. S.

2016-12-01

Chew Bahir is a tectonic basin in the southern Ethiopian Rift, close to the Lower Omo valley, site of earliest known fossil of anatomically modern humans. It was drilled in Nov-Dec 2014 as part of the Hominin Sites and Paleolakes Drilling Project (HSPDP) and the Collaborative Research Center (CRC806) "Our Way to Europe". Two overlapping cores of mostly clayey silts, reaching a composite depths of 280m, were collected and may cover the last 500,000 years, thus providing a potential record of environmental history during the evolution and spread of anatomically modern humans. Here we present the lithology and stratigraphy of the composite core as well as results of high resolution MSCL and XRF scanning data. Initial sedimentological and geochemical results show that the Chew Bahir deposits are a sensitive record of changes in moisture, sediment influx, provenance, transport and diagenetic processes, evident from mineralogy, elemental concentration and physical properties. The potassium record is highly sensitive to changes in moisture balance (Foerster et al. 2015). XRF and XRD data suggest that the process linking climate with potassium concentrations is the diagenetic illitization of smectites during dry episodes with high alkalinity and salinity in the closed-basin lake. The core records will allow tests of the various hypotheses about the influence of environmental change on the evolution and dispersal of anatomically modern humans. Foerster, V., Vogelsang, R., Junginger, A., Asrat, A., Lamb, H.F., Schaebitz, F., Trauth, M.H. (2015): Environmental Change and Human Occupation of Southern Ethiopia and Northern Kenya during the last 20,000 years. Quaternary Science Reviews, 129: 333-340. doi:10.1016/j.quascirev.2015.10.026.

ENVIRONMENTAL ACCOUNTING: BALANCING ECONOMIC GROWTH AND ENVIRONMENTAL QUALITY

EPA Science Inventory

Modern industrial economies depend on the environment to support economic production and a high standard of living. Economic production, in turn, impacts the productivity of ecosystems through waste production and resource use or diversion. Human activities control many energy an...

Exposure Concepts for Environmental Management

EPA Science Inventory

Modern life depends upon the use of many chemicals, products, and practices to promote well being and economic growth. However, when these chemicals, products and practices present the potential for harm to humans and ecosystems, they are termed environmental stressors and, as s...

Historical and contemporary environmental context for the Saline-Fifteen site (3BR119)

Treesearch

Don C. Bragg; Hope A. Bragg

2016-01-01

This paper summarizes the historical environmental context of the Saline-Fifteen site (3BR119) in Bradley County, Arkansas, developed from the General Land Office (GLO) public land surveys, other old documents, and an examination of current forest inventories and modern research to approximate past environmental attributes for this locality. While an imperfect source...

A "Fear" Studies Perspective and Critique: Analyzing English and Stengel's Progressive Study of Fear and Learning in "Education Theory." Technical Paper No. 37

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Fisher, R. Michael

2011-01-01

The author critiques the progressive approach of two contemporary educational philosophers (English and Stengel) on the topic of fear and learning. Using a postmodern integral approach, this article examines the tendency of reductionism, individualism, and psychologism as part of a hegemonic liberalism and modernism in discourses on fear and…

Inequality in fertility rate and modern contraceptive use among Ghanaian women from 1988–2008

PubMed Central

2013-01-01

Background In most resource poor countries, particularly sub-Saharan Africa, modern contraceptive use and prevalence is unusually low and fertility is very high resulting in rapid population growth and high maternal mortality and morbidity. Current evidence shows slow progress in expanding the use of contraceptives by women of low socioeconomic status and insufficient financial commitment to family planning programs. We examined gaps and trends in modern contraceptive use and fertility within different socio-demographic subgroups in Ghana between 1988 and 2008. Methods We constructed a database using the Women’s Questionnaire from the Ghana Demographic and Health Survey (GDHS) 1988, 1993, 1998, 2003 and 2008. We applied regression-based Total Attributable Fraction (TAF); we also calculated the Relative and Slope Indices of Inequality (RII and SII) to complement the TAF in our investigation. Results Equality in use of modern contraceptives increased from 1988 to 2008. In contrast, inequality in fertility rate increased from 1988 to 2008. It was also found that rural–urban residence gap in the use of modern contraceptive methods had almost disappeared in 2008, while education and income related inequalities remained. Conclusions One obvious observation is that the discrepancy between equality in use of contraceptives and equality in fertility must be addressed in a future revision of policies related to family planning. Otherwise this could be a major obstacle for attaining further progress in achieving the Millennium Development Goal (MDG) 5. More research into the causes of the unfortunate discrepancy is urgently needed. There still exist significant education and income related inequalities in both parameters that need appropriate action. PMID:23718745

Inequality in fertility rate and modern contraceptive use among Ghanaian women from 1988-2008.

PubMed

Asamoah, Benedict O; Agardh, Anette; Ostergren, Per-Östergren

2013-05-29

In most resource poor countries, particularly sub-Saharan Africa, modern contraceptive use and prevalence is unusually low and fertility is very high resulting in rapid population growth and high maternal mortality and morbidity. Current evidence shows slow progress in expanding the use of contraceptives by women of low socioeconomic status and insufficient financial commitment to family planning programs. We examined gaps and trends in modern contraceptive use and fertility within different socio-demographic subgroups in Ghana between 1988 and 2008. We constructed a database using the Women's Questionnaire from the Ghana Demographic and Health Survey (GDHS) 1988, 1993, 1998, 2003 and 2008. We applied regression-based Total Attributable Fraction (TAF); we also calculated the Relative and Slope Indices of Inequality (RII and SII) to complement the TAF in our investigation. Equality in use of modern contraceptives increased from 1988 to 2008. In contrast, inequality in fertility rate increased from 1988 to 2008. It was also found that rural-urban residence gap in the use of modern contraceptive methods had almost disappeared in 2008, while education and income related inequalities remained. One obvious observation is that the discrepancy between equality in use of contraceptives and equality in fertility must be addressed in a future revision of policies related to family planning. Otherwise this could be a major obstacle for attaining further progress in achieving the Millennium Development Goal (MDG) 5. More research into the causes of the unfortunate discrepancy is urgently needed. There still exist significant education and income related inequalities in both parameters that need appropriate action.

Certified reference materials and reference methods for nuclear safeguards and security.

PubMed

Jakopič, R; Sturm, M; Kraiem, M; Richter, S; Aregbe, Y

2013-11-01

Confidence in comparability and reliability of measurement results in nuclear material and environmental sample analysis are established via certified reference materials (CRMs), reference measurements, and inter-laboratory comparisons (ILCs). Increased needs for quality control tools in proliferation resistance, environmental sample analysis, development of measurement capabilities over the years and progress in modern analytical techniques are the main reasons for the development of new reference materials and reference methods for nuclear safeguards and security. The Institute for Reference Materials and Measurements (IRMM) prepares and certifices large quantities of the so-called "large-sized dried" (LSD) spikes for accurate measurement of the uranium and plutonium content in dissolved nuclear fuel solutions by isotope dilution mass spectrometry (IDMS) and also develops particle reference materials applied for the detection of nuclear signatures in environmental samples. IRMM is currently replacing some of its exhausted stocks of CRMs with new ones whose specifications are up-to-date and tailored for the demands of modern analytical techniques. Some of the existing materials will be re-measured to improve the uncertainties associated with their certified values, and to enable laboratories to reduce their combined measurement uncertainty. Safeguards involve the quantitative verification by independent measurements so that no nuclear material is diverted from its intended peaceful use. Safeguards authorities pay particular attention to plutonium and the uranium isotope (235)U, indicating the so-called 'enrichment', in nuclear material and in environmental samples. In addition to the verification of the major ratios, n((235)U)/n((238)U) and n((240)Pu)/n((239)Pu), the minor ratios of the less abundant uranium and plutonium isotopes contain valuable information about the origin and the 'history' of material used for commercial or possibly clandestine purposes, and have therefore reached high level of attention for safeguards authorities. Furthermore, IRMM initiated and coordinated the development of a Modified Total Evaporation (MTE) technique for accurate abundance ratio measurements of the "minor" isotope-amount ratios of uranium and plutonium in nuclear material and, in combination with a multi-dynamic measurement technique and filament carburization, in environmental samples. Currently IRMM is engaged in a study on the development of plutonium reference materials for "age dating", i.e. determination of the time elapsed since the last separation of plutonium from its daughter nuclides. The decay of a radioactive parent isotope and the build-up of a corresponding amount of daughter nuclide serve as chronometer to calculate the age of a nuclear material. There are no such certified reference materials available yet. Copyright © 2013 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Applying Dataflow Architecture and Visualization Tools to In Vitro Pharmacology Data Automation.

PubMed

Pechter, David; Xu, Serena; Kurtz, Marc; Williams, Steven; Sonatore, Lisa; Villafania, Artjohn; Agrawal, Sony

2016-12-01

The pace and complexity of modern drug discovery places ever-increasing demands on scientists for data analysis and interpretation. Data flow programming and modern visualization tools address these demands directly. Three different requirements-one for allosteric modulator analysis, one for a specialized clotting analysis, and one for enzyme global progress curve analysis-are reviewed, and their execution in a combined data flow/visualization environment is outlined. © 2016 Society for Laboratory Automation and Screening.

[From scabies room to modern specialty department. 90 years Ludwigshaven Dermatology Clinic].

PubMed

Voigtländer, V; Boslet, W; Tully, G

2000-12-01

The dermatology clinic Ludwigshafen was founded in 1910. Dr. Siegfried Fuss was head of the clinic for almost 40 years. The clinic's history reflects the rapid industrial growth of the city, the destruction of two world wars and the progress of dermatology during this century. Today, the clinic is an academic teaching hospital affiliated with the University of Mainz with 45 beds and offers a broad spectrum of modern dematological diagnostic procedures and therapies.

[Historical heritage and medical progress: the destiny of the scientific collections in the 'modern' Hospital of Santa Maria Nuova in Florence].

PubMed

Diana, Esther

2008-01-01

The scientific collections of Florentine Santa Maria Nuova Hospital stimulated new interest in the second half of eigthteenth century. Indeed, the modernization process of the Hospital lead to a steadily increasing alienation of its rich historical heritage, including the scientific collections. Archive documents witness the sale or the museum valorization of a number of collections including mathematical instruments and the anatomical, surgical and wax-obstetrical ones.

The Dilemma of Department of Defense Business System Modernization Efforts: Why Intended Outcomes Have Not Been Fully Met and What Needs to Change

DTIC Science & Technology

2016-06-01

between contract writing systems and the associated accounting and logistics systems. Employing this modular plug and play approach simplifies system...Automated Contract Preparation System (ACPS), Integrated Technical Item Management (ITIMP), and EProcurement are the contract writing systems that...research was on the DOD contract writing systems (CWS). This JAP seeks to report on the progress of DOD business system modernization efforts and

The Challenges Stemming from Demographic and Technology Issues Within the United Arab Emirates

DTIC Science & Technology

2010-12-01

setting. It was with Sheikh Zayed’s foresight that the government blended the desire to maintain traditions and to become an ever-progressive and modern... blend of positive methods of governance from the country’s rich past and effective methods of governance that are more modern in comparison. [The...holding positions that the new generation of Emiratis are able to replace as they graduate from higher learning institutions. This policy is

24 CFR 968.140 - On-site inspections.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2011 CFR

2011-04-01

... inspection personnel during modernization, whether work is performed by contract or force account labor and with or without the services of an architect/engineer, to ensure work quality and progress. [58 FR...

What are the livestock industries doing, and what do they need from us?

PubMed

Meeker, D L

1999-02-01

Livestock industries are facing global competition and revolutionary changes. While facing this global competition, the similarities of many animal meat products require that they compete on a cost-of-production basis. Additional issues include the environmental impact of animal agriculture, the role of animal products in human nutrition, food safety and quality, biotechnology, animal welfare, and market access. Progressive producers are becoming more aware of the needs of their customers and are striving to improve product quality. Checkoff funds are used to finance promotion, research, and consumer information programs and are increasingly used to finance producer education. Industrialization trends in the livestock industries are changing the needs of constituencies, delivery mechanisms, and relationships with the people involved. Characteristics of closed operations include high production cost, outdated technology, smaller size, older operators, and lack of management focus. Successful operations tend to be growing in capacity, are system-oriented, maintain high throughput, keep accurate records, use outside consultants, and control production costs. Modern livestock production has lowered the cost of production by integrating new production and management technologies. In order for producers to be successful in the future, access to technology, capital, and timely information will be critical. Animal scientists have many common objectives with livestock industries. Their work in research, teaching, and extension is critical for continued progress. However, people in the industries sometimes have the perception that academic arrogance, discipline myopia, uncoordinated research, slow technology transfer, increasing research costs, and counter-productive tenure systems prevent animal scientists from being as relevant and responsive as they could be. Support from the industries is essential as animal scientists and academic departments seek political and funding support. This support can be attained by including integrated systems research, improving communication skills, achieving more efficient research budgets, rapidly publishing results, reducing the cost of information distribution, developing flexible research agendas, retraining scientists, acquiring modern methods, and emphasizing critical thinking, communication, and teamwork when teaching.

Phase 2 environmental site investigation procedures and technologies for property transfer and PS and E development

DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

1999-05-01

The purpose of this project is to provide TxDOT with an improved procedure for conducting environmental site investigations at various stages during transportation infrastructure development. The project seeks to identify modern assessment technologi...

Short-term modern life-like stress exacerbates Aβ-pathology and synapse loss in 3xTg-AD mice.

PubMed

Baglietto-Vargas, David; Chen, Yuncai; Suh, Dongjin; Ager, Rahasson R; Rodriguez-Ortiz, Carlos J; Medeiros, Rodrigo; Myczek, Kristoffer; Green, Kim N; Baram, Tallie Z; LaFerla, Frank M

2015-09-01

Alzheimer's disease (AD) is a progressive neurological disorder that impairs memory and other cognitive functions in the elderly. The social and financial impacts of AD are overwhelming and are escalating exponentially as a result of population aging. Therefore, identifying AD-related risk factors and the development of more efficacious therapeutic approaches are critical to cure this neurological disorder. Current epidemiological evidence indicates that life experiences, including chronic stress, are a risk for AD. However, it is unknown if short-term stress, lasting for hours, influences the onset or progression of AD. Here, we determined the effect of short-term, multi-modal 'modern life-like' stress on AD pathogenesis and synaptic plasticity in mice bearing three AD mutations (the 3xTg-AD mouse model). We found that combined emotional and physical stress lasting 5 h severely impaired memory in wild-type mice and tended to impact it in already low-performing 3xTg-AD mice. This stress reduced the number of synapse-bearing dendritic spines in 3xTg-AD mice and increased Aβ levels by augmenting AβPP processing. Thus, short-term stress simulating modern-life conditions may exacerbate cognitive deficits in preclinical AD by accelerating amyloid pathology and reducing synapse numbers. Epidemiological evidence indicates that life experiences, including chronic stress, are a risk for Alzheimer disease (AD). However, it is unknown if short stress in the range of hours influences the onset or progression of AD. Here, we determined the effect of short, multi-modal 'modern-lifelike'stress on AD pathogenesis and synaptic plasticity in mice bearing three AD mutations (the 3xTg-AD mouse model). We found that combined emotional and physical stress lasting 5 h severely impaired memory in wild-type mice and tended to impact it in already low-performing 3xTg-AD mice. This stress reduced the number of synapse-bearing dendritic spines in 3xTg-AD mice and increased Aβ levels by augmenting AβPP processing. Thus, short stress simulating modern-life conditions may exacerbate cognitive deficits in preclinical AD by accelerating amyloid pathology and reducing synapse numbers. © 2015 International Society for Neurochemistry.

The inception and formation of the theory of hyperfiltration through the ages.

PubMed

Abdi, Reza; Sandroni, Stephen; Tolouian, Ramin

2012-03-01

With the rising incidence of metabolic syndrome and progressive kidney disease, efforts to halt this progression have become the mainstay of therapies in the era of modern nephrology. The necessity of one versus two kidneys has occupied the minds of leading scientists and philosophers throughout the ages and has laid the foundation for our understanding of progressive kidney disease. This review focuses on the major discoveries of the leading thinkers who with their paradigm shifting ideas and skepticism pushed the boundaries of our knowledge and shaped the theory of hyperfiltration.

Evaluating the Impact of Modern Copper Mining on Ecosystem Services in Southern Arizona

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Virgone, K.; Brusseau, M. L.; Ramirez-Andreotta, M.; Coeurdray, M.; Poupeau, F.

2014-12-01

Historic mining practices were conducted with little environmental forethought, and hence generated a legacy of environmental and human-health impacts. However, an awareness and understanding of the impacts of mining on ecosystem services has developed over the past few decades. Ecosystem services are defined as benefits that humans obtain from ecosystems, and upon which they are fundamentally dependent for their survival. Ecosystem services are divided into four categories including provisioning services (i.e., food, water, timber, and fiber); regulating services (i.e., climate, floods, disease, wastes, and water quality); supporting services (i.e., soil formation, photosynthesis, and nutrient cycling) and cultural services (i.e., recreational, aesthetic, and spiritual benefits) (Millennium Ecosystem Assessment, 2005). Sustainable mining practices have been and are being developed in an effort to protect and preserve ecosystem services. This and related efforts constitute a new generation of "modern" mines, which are defined as those that are designed and permitted under contemporary environmental legislation. The objective of this study is to develop a framework to monitor and assess the impact of modern mining practices and sustainable mineral development on ecosystem services. Using the sustainability performance indicators from the Global Reporting Initiative (GRI) as a starting point, we develop a framework that is reflective of and adaptive to specific local conditions. Impacts on surface and groundwater water quality and quantity are anticipated to be of most importance to the southern Arizona region, which is struggling to meet urban and environmental water demands due to population growth and climate change. We seek to build a more comprehensive and effective assessment framework by incorporating socio-economic aspects via community engaged research, including economic valuations, community-initiated environmental monitoring, and environmental human-health education programs.

Palaeoenvironmental reconstructions on the Mozambique coast as a tool to understand human evolution: from modern analogues to borehole interpretation

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Gomes, Ana; Skosey-LaLonde, Elena; Zinsious, Brandon; Gonçalves, Célia; Bicho, Nuno; Raja, Mussa; Cascalheira, João; Haws, Jonathan

2017-04-01

In the framework of the project "Stone Age Vilankulos: Modern Human Origins Research South of the Rio Save, Mozambique" a geoarchaeological survey was conducted in 2016 aiming to better understand the environmental history and landscape evolution of the study area including the environmental context of human occupation. During the survey, 23 sediment surface samples were collected across a variety of environments, namely: freshwater environment - Elephant River basin in Southwestern Mozambique - and brackish and marine tidal environments - Inhambane coastal area, Southeastern Mozambique. These samples will be used as modern analogues to interpret the sedimentological and paleontological record of 4 cores collected in a mangrove area of the Inhambane estuary and then reconstruct its palaeoenvironmental evolution. All the sampling points were georeferenced and the study area was overflown with a drone to collect photogrammetric data. Both surface and core samples were used for diatom, texture and geochemical analysis. Diatoms will be used as the main palaeontological proxy, because they are unicellular algae with a short-live cycle and largely sensible to environmental variables such as salinity, sediment texture and duration of the tidal inundation. Preliminary data on the modern diatoms analysis showed that diatom diversity is high and the equitability is low in all environments. Cores sedimentological description and dating are also presented. The work was supported by the project PTDC/EPHARQ/4168/2014, funded by the Portuguese Foundation for Science and Technology.

Understanding and Therapeutic Strategies of Chinese Medicine on Gut-Derived Uremic Toxins in Chronic Kidney Disease.

PubMed

Guo, Chuan; Rao, Xiang-Rong

2018-05-11

Chronic kidney disease (CKD) is a major disease that threatens human health. With the progression of CKD, the risk of cardiovascular death increases, which is associated with the elevated levels of uremic toxins (UTs). Representative toxins such as indoxyl sulfate and p-cresyl sulfate are involed in CKD progression and cardiovascular events inseparable from the key role of endothelial dysfunction. The therapeutic strategies of UTs are aimed at signaling pathways that target the levels and damage of toxins in modern medicine. There is a certain relevance between toxins and "turbid toxin" in the theory of Chinese medicine (CM). CM treatments have been demonstrated to reduce the damage of gut-derived toxins to the heart, kidney and blood vessels. Modern medicine still lacks evidence-based therapies, so it is necessary to explore the treatments of CM.

Mate choice and sexual selection: What have we learned since Darwin?

PubMed Central

Jones, Adam G.; Ratterman, Nicholas L.

2009-01-01

Charles Darwin laid the foundation for all modern work on sexual selection in his seminal book The Descent of Man, and Selection in Relation to Sex. In this work, Darwin fleshed out the mechanism of sexual selection, a hypothesis that he had proposed in The Origin of Species. He went well beyond a simple description of the phenomenon by providing extensive evidence and considering the far-reaching implications of the idea. Here we consider the contributions of Darwin to sexual selection with a particular eye on how far we have progressed in the last 150 years. We focus on 2 key questions in sexual selection. First, why does mate choice evolve at all? And second, what factors determine the strength of mate choice (or intensity of sexual selection) in each sex? Darwin provided partial answers to these questions, and the progress that has been made on both of these topics since his time should be seen as one of the great triumphs of modern evolutionary biology. However, a review of the literature shows that key aspects of sexual selection are still plagued by confusion and disagreement. Many of these areas are complex and will require new theory and empirical data for complete resolution. Overall, Darwin's contributions are still surprisingly relevant to the modern study of sexual selection, so students of evolutionary biology would be well advised to revisit his works. Although we have made significant progress in some areas of sexual selection research, we still have much to accomplish. PMID:19528643

Mate choice and sexual selection: what have we learned since Darwin?

PubMed

Jones, Adam G; Ratterman, Nicholas L

2009-06-16

Charles Darwin laid the foundation for all modern work on sexual selection in his seminal book The Descent of Man, and Selection in Relation to Sex. In this work, Darwin fleshed out the mechanism of sexual selection, a hypothesis that he had proposed in The Origin of Species. He went well beyond a simple description of the phenomenon by providing extensive evidence and considering the far-reaching implications of the idea. Here we consider the contributions of Darwin to sexual selection with a particular eye on how far we have progressed in the last 150 years. We focus on 2 key questions in sexual selection. First, why does mate choice evolve at all? And second, what factors determine the strength of mate choice (or intensity of sexual selection) in each sex? Darwin provided partial answers to these questions, and the progress that has been made on both of these topics since his time should be seen as one of the great triumphs of modern evolutionary biology. However, a review of the literature shows that key aspects of sexual selection are still plagued by confusion and disagreement. Many of these areas are complex and will require new theory and empirical data for complete resolution. Overall, Darwin's contributions are still surprisingly relevant to the modern study of sexual selection, so students of evolutionary biology would be well advised to revisit his works. Although we have made significant progress in some areas of sexual selection research, we still have much to accomplish.

Diseases of comfort: primary cause of death in the 22nd century.

PubMed

Choi, Bernard C K; Hunter, David J; Tsou, Walter; Sainsbury, Peter

2005-12-01

The world has started to feel the impact of a global chronic disease epidemic, which is putting pressure on our health care systems. If uncurbed, a new generation of "diseases of comfort" (such as those chronic diseases caused by obesity and physical inactivity) will become a major public health problem in this and the next century. To describe the concept, causes, and prevention and control strategies of diseases of comfort. Brokered by a senior research scientist specialised in knowledge translation, a chair, a president, and a past president of national public health associations contributed their views on the subject. Diseases of comfort have emerged as a price of living in a modern society. It is inevitable that these diseases will become more common and more disabling if human "progress" and civilisation continue toward better (more comfortable) living, without necessarily considering their effects on health. Modern technology must be combined with education, legislation, intersectoral action, and community involvement to create built and social environments that encourage, and make easy, walking, physical activity, and nutritious food choices, to reduce the health damaging effects of modern society for all citizens and not only the few. Public health needs to be more passionate about the health issues caused by human progress and adopt a health promotion stance, challenging the assumptions behind the notion of social "progress" that is giving rise to the burden of chronic disease and developing the skills to create more health promoting societies in which individual health thrives.

Modern contraceptive use, unmet need, and demand satisfied among women of reproductive age who are married or in a union in the focus countries of the Family Planning 2020 initiative: a systematic analysis using the Family Planning Estimation Tool.

PubMed

Cahill, Niamh; Sonneveldt, Emily; Stover, John; Weinberger, Michelle; Williamson, Jessica; Wei, Chuchu; Brown, Win; Alkema, Leontine

2018-03-03

The London Summit on Family Planning in 2012 inspired the Family Planning 2020 (FP2020) initiative and the 120×20 goal of having an additional 120 million women and adolescent girls become users of modern contraceptives in 69 of the world's poorest countries by the year 2020. Working towards achieving 120 × 20 is crucial for ultimately achieving the Sustainable Development Goals of universal access and satisfying demand for reproductive health. Thus, a performance assessment is required to determine countries' progress. An updated version of the Family Planning Estimation Tool (FPET) was used to construct estimates and projections of the modern contraceptive prevalence rate (mCPR), unmet need for, and demand satisfied with modern methods of contraception among women of reproductive age who are married or in a union in the focus countries of the FP2020 initiative. We assessed current levels of family planning indicators and changes between 2012 and 2017. A counterfactual analysis was used to assess if recent levels of mCPR exceeded pre-FP2020 expectations. In 2017, the mCPR among women of reproductive age who are married or in a union in the FP2020 focus countries was 45·7% (95% uncertainty interval [UI] 42·4-49·1), unmet need for modern methods was 21·6% (19·7-23·9), and the demand satisfied with modern methods was 67·9% (64·4-71·1). Between 2012 and 2017 the number of women of reproductive age who are married or in a union who use modern methods increased by 28·8 million (95% UI 5·8-52·5). At the regional level, Asia has seen the mCPR among women of reproductive age who are married or in a union grow from 51·0% (95% UI 48·5-53·4) to 51·8% (47·3-56·5) between 2012 and 2017, which is slow growth, particularly when compared with a change from 23·9% (22·9-25·0) to 28·5% (26·8-30·2) across Africa. At the country level, based on a counterfactual analysis, we found that 61% of the countries that have made a commitment to FP2020 exceeded pre-FP2020 expectations for modern contraceptive use. Country success stories include rapid increases in Kenya, Mozambique, Malawi, Lesotho, Sierra Leone, Liberia, and Chad relative to what was expected in 2012. Whereas the estimate of additional users up to 2017 for women of reproductive age who are married or in a union would suggest that the 120 × 20 goal for all women is overly ambitious, the aggregate outcomes mask the diversity in progress at the country level. We identified countries with accelerated progress, that provide inspiration and guidance on how to increase the use of family planning and inform future efforts, especially in countries where progress has been poor. The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, through grant support to the University of Massachusetts Amherst and Avenir Health. Copyright © 2018 The Author(s). Published by Elsevier Ltd. This is an Open Access article under the CC BY 4.0 license. Published by Elsevier Ltd.. All rights reserved.

Did I Say Cosmology? On Modern Cosmologies and Ancient World-views

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Iwaniszewski, S.

2009-08-01

The modern cosmology that emerged from observational astronomy in 16th century Europe meant a radical break-away from earlier conceptions of the world. While all ancient and nonwestern worldviews usually describe a multidimensional reality in which diverse environmental, economic, sociopolitical and ideological factors intersect, modern cosmologies espouse the vision of a radically different universe which is completely dehumanized, ethically indifferent and universally valid. Despite these differences cosmology and worldview tend to be used interchangeably to depict ancient and nonwestern worldviews.Any correspondences which can be found between different parts of ancient and/or nonwestern worldviews and modern cosmologies tend to transfer modern conceptions to the premodern world. Ignoring ancient cultural contexts, we risk imposing modern cosmological concepts on past worldview categories. While we have to describe ancient astronomies in our own terms, our ultimate goal is to understand them on their own terms.

Rethinking Ginkgo biloba L.: Medicinal uses and conservation

PubMed Central

Isah, Tasiu

2015-01-01

Ginkgo biloba (G. biloba) is an ancient medicinal tree species that has been in existence for millennia without undergoing modifications due to its resistance to environmental stresses. Palaeobotanical history showed a wide distribution of the species across the globe but declined over geological time, becoming restricted to narrow geographical range with few surviving individuals in the modern day. The tree is slow growing, adapted to many ecological conditions and shows numerous adaptation in developmental patterns. Medicinal use of the species is attracting research interest, especially the various parts of the tree that are used in orthodox or traditional medicine to treat diseases due to the many bioactive compounds. The primary compounds receiving increasing research interest are the triterpene lactones and flavonoids; these are the target of biotechnological strategies being employed to enhance production. Many genetic and environmental factors have contributed to the endangered status of the species; conservation measures are required to protect it from extinction. In many countries, the cultivation of plantations for the supply of ginkgo leaf-based pharmaceutical formulations is in progress, and efforts to standardize ginkgo leaf extract as herbal medication for human use are being made. Microcuttings and cuttings, cryopreservation, and plant tissue culture have all aided to conserve G. biloba. PMID:26392712

Evolved Navigation Theory and Horizontal Visual Illusions

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Jackson, Russell E.; Willey, Chela R.

2011-01-01

Environmental perception is prerequisite to most vertebrate behavior and its modern investigation initiated the founding of experimental psychology. Navigation costs may affect environmental perception, such as overestimating distances while encumbered (Solomon, 1949). However, little is known about how this occurs in real-world navigation or how…

Code modernization and modularization of APEX and SWAT watershed simulation models

USDA-ARS?s Scientific Manuscript database

SWAT (Soil and Water Assessment Tool) and APEX (Agricultural Policy / Environmental eXtender) are respectively large and small watershed simulation models derived from EPIC Environmental Policy Integrated Climate), a field-scale agroecology simulation model. All three models are coded in FORTRAN an...

ASSESSING EFFECTS OF AGRICULTURE ON TERRESTRIAL WILDLIFE: DEVELOPING A HIERARCHIAL APPROACH FOR THE U.S. EPA

EPA Science Inventory

Serious concerns exist about environmental and ecological degradation from modern agriculture. he US Environmental Protection Agency and the US Department f Agriculture have established cooperative research programs in midwestern USA to evaluate effects of different landscape str...

Attributions and Attitudes of Mothers and Fathers in the United States.

PubMed

Lansford, Jennifer E; Bornstein, Marc H; Dodge, Kenneth A; Skinner, Ann T; Putnick, Diane L; Deater-Deckard, Kirby

2011-01-01

OBJECTIVE.: The present study examined mean level similarities and differences as well as correlations between U.S. mothers' and fathers' attributions regarding successes and failures in caregiving situations and progressive versus authoritarian attitudes. DESIGN.: Interviews were conducted with both mothers and fathers in 139 European American, Latin American, and African American families. RESULTS.: Interactions between parent gender and ethnicity emerged for adult-controlled failure and perceived control over failure. Fathers reported higher adult-controlled failure and child-controlled failure attributions than did mothers, whereas mothers reported attitudes that were more progressive and modern than did fathers; these differences remained significant after controlling for parents' age, education, and possible social desirability bias. Ethnic differences emerged for five of the seven attributions and attitudes examined; four remained significant after controlling for parents' age, education, and possible social desirability bias. Medium effect sizes were found for concordance between parents in the same family for attributions regarding uncontrollable success, child-controlled failure, progressive attitudes, authoritarian attitudes, and modernity of attitudes after controlling for parents' age, education, and possible social desirability bias. CONCLUSIONS.: This work elucidates ways that parent gender and ethnicity relate to attributions regarding U.S. parents' successes and failures in caregiving situations and to their progressive versus authoritarian parenting attitudes.

Attributions and Attitudes of Mothers and Fathers in the United States

PubMed Central

Lansford, Jennifer E.; Bornstein, Marc H.; Dodge, Kenneth A.; Skinner, Ann T.; Putnick, Diane L.; Deater-Deckard, Kirby

2011-01-01

SYNOPSIS Objective. The present study examined mean level similarities and differences as well as correlations between U.S. mothers’ and fathers’ attributions regarding successes and failures in caregiving situations and progressive versus authoritarian attitudes. Design. Interviews were conducted with both mothers and fathers in 139 European American, Latin American, and African American families. Results. Interactions between parent gender and ethnicity emerged for adult-controlled failure and perceived control over failure. Fathers reported higher adult-controlled failure and child-controlled failure attributions than did mothers, whereas mothers reported attitudes that were more progressive and modern than did fathers; these differences remained significant after controlling for parents’ age, education, and possible social desirability bias. Ethnic differences emerged for five of the seven attributions and attitudes examined; four remained significant after controlling for parents’ age, education, and possible social desirability bias. Medium effect sizes were found for concordance between parents in the same family for attributions regarding uncontrollable success, child-controlled failure, progressive attitudes, authoritarian attitudes, and modernity of attitudes after controlling for parents’ age, education, and possible social desirability bias. Conclusions. This work elucidates ways that parent gender and ethnicity relate to attributions regarding U.S. parents’ successes and failures in caregiving situations and to their progressive versus authoritarian parenting attitudes. PMID:21822402

NASA STI Program Coordinating Council Eleventh Meeting: NASA STI Modernization Plan

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

1993-01-01

The theme of this NASA Scientific and Technical Information Program Coordinating Council Meeting was the modernization of the STI Program. Topics covered included the activities of the Engineering Review Board in the creation of the Infrastructure Upgrade Plan, the progress of the RECON Replacement Project, the use and status of Electronic SCAN (Selected Current Aerospace Notices), the Machine Translation Project, multimedia, electronic document interchange, the NASA Access Mechanism, computer network upgrades, and standards in the architectural effort.

Epigenetics, Darwin, and Lamarck.

PubMed

Penny, David

2015-05-29

It is not really helpful to consider modern environmental epigenetics as neo-Lamarckian; and there is no evidence that Lamarck considered the idea original to himself. We must all keep learning about inheritance, but attributing modern ideas to early researchers is not helpful, and can be misleading. © The Author(s) 2015. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of the Society for Molecular Biology and Evolution.

Environmental implications of test-to-substrate attachment among some modern sublittoral foraminifera

USGS Publications Warehouse

Poag, C. Wylie

1982-01-01

The attachment mode of these species suggests that the added weight of the quartz grains may reduce displacement during the periodic resuspension of the shelf sediments by longshore and tidal current motion. The distribution of living populations of these species corroborates sedimentological inferences that little or no modern deposition takes place on the sampled topographic highs.

ADOPTING A MODERN ECOLOGICAL VIEW OF THE METROPOLITAN LANDSCAPE: THE CASE OF A GREENSPACE SYSTEM FOR THE NEW YORK CITY REGION. (R825792)

EPA Science Inventory

Abstract

Concern about environmental quality and the long-term livability of urban areas is now a driving paradigm for planning professionals. Although a modern ecological framework exists, inappropriate or outdated concepts continue to be used in the context of land-u...

Environmental Approach to the Study of the Modern Stage of Information Society Development: Research Prospects

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Ivlev, Vitali Yu.; Barkova, Eleonora V.; Ivleva, Marina I.; Buzskaya, Olga M.

2016-01-01

The paper analyses modern information society in terms of an information ecology approach. Its aim is to determine the place of the human being in the human-society-ecosystem relations system and to study the prospects of a humanistic approach to the understanding of the essence of subject-object relationships in the communication space of…

Psychometric Properties and Normative Data for a Swedish Version of the Modern Health Worries Scale.

PubMed

Palmquist, Eva; Petrie, Keith J; Nordin, Steven

2017-02-01

The modern health worries (MHW) scale was developed to assess individuals' worries about aspects of modernity and technology affecting personal health. The aim of this study was to psychometrically evaluate a Swedish version of the MHW scale and to provide Swedish normative data. Data were collected as part of the Västerbotten Environmental Health Study, which has a random sample of 3406 Swedish adults (18-79 years). The Swedish version of the MHW scale showed excellent internal consistency and satisfactory convergent validity. A four-factor structure consistent with the original version was confirmed. The model showed invariance across age and sex. A slightly positively skewed and platykurtic distribution was found. Normative data for the general population and for combinations of specific age groups (young, middle aged, and elderly) and sex are presented. The psychometric properties of the Swedish version of the MHW scale suggest that use of this instrument is appropriate for assessing worries about modernity in Swedish-speaking and similar populations. The scale now has the advantage of good normative data being available. MHW may hold importance for understanding and predicting the development of functional disorders, such as idiopathic environmental intolerance and other medically unexplained conditions.

Late Quaternary environmental history of Lake Valencia, Venezuela

USGS Publications Warehouse

Bradbury, J. Platt; Leyden, B.; Baker, M.R.; Lewis, W.M.; Schubert, C.; Binford, M.W.; Whitehead, D.R.; Weibezahn, F.H.

1981-01-01

Chemical, paleontological, and mineralogical analyses of a 7.5-meter core from the middle of Lake Valencia, Venezuela, have provided information on the paleoclimatic history of this low-elevation, low-latitude site for the last 13,000 years. The data show that dry climates existed in this region from 13,000 years before present (B.P.) until about 10,000 years B.P. The Lake Valencia Basin was occupied by intermittent saline marshes at that time. About 10,000 years B.P., a permanent lake of fluctuating salinity formed and arboreal plant communities replaced the earlier dominant xeric herbaceous vegetation and marsh plants. By 8500 years B.P., Lake Valencia reached moderate to low salinities and discharged water; the modern vegetation became established at that time. After 8500 years B.P., the lake twice ceased discharging as a result of reduced watershed moisture. The second of these drying episodes is still in progress and has been aggravated by human activities in the watershed.

Late quaternary environmental history of Lake Valencia, Venezuela

USGS Publications Warehouse

Platt, Bradbury J.; Leyden, B.; Salgado-Labouriau, M.; Lewis, W.M.; Schubert, C.; Binford, M.W.; Frey, D.G.; Whitehead, D.R.; Weibezahn, F.H.

1981-01-01

Chemical, paleontological, and mineralogical analyses of a 7.5-meter core from the middle of Lake Valencia, Venezuela, have provided information on the paleoclimatic history of this low-elevation, low-latitude site for the last 13,000 years. The data show that dry climates existed in this region from 13,000 years before present (B.P.) until about 10,000 years B.P. The Lake Valencia Basin was occupied by intermittent saline marshes at that time. About 10,000 years B.P., a permanent lake of fluctuating salinity formed and arboreal plant communities replaced the earlier dominant xeric herbaceous vegetation and marsh plants. By 8500 years B.P., Lake Valencia reached moderate to low salinities and discharged water; the modern vegetation became established at that time. After 8500 years B.P., the lake twice ceased discharging as a result of reduced watershed moisture. The second of these drying episodes is still in progress and has been aggravated by human activities in the watershed. Copyright ?? 1981 AAAS.

The effects of genetic selection on production parameters of single comb White Leghorn hens.

PubMed

Jones, D R; Anderson, K E; Davis, G S

2001-08-01

Four commercial table egg genetic stocks consisting of the Ottawa Control Strains 5, 7, and 10 (CS5, CS7, and CS10) and the 1993 H&N "Nick Chick" (CCS) were housed in the same environment and compared for production characteristics. These birds were housed in an environmentally controlled laying facility with trideck cages. Feed consumption, egg production, and mortality were monitored daily and compiled every 28 d. The study was conducted for two egg production cycles, including the molt period. Body weight was progressively lower for the more modern strains with CS5 being the heaviest and CCS maintaining the smallest body weight throughout the production periods. The CCS had the highest (P < 0.0001) hen-day production rate, which resulted in the greatest daily egg mass among the strains. The CCS consumed the greatest amount of feed and exhibited the highest gross egg income among the strains. We concluded that genetic selection has improved production parameters in commercial layers as determined by measurements in this study.

Towards zero waste production in the minerals and metals sector

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Rankin, William J.

The production of mineral and metal commodities results in large quantities of wastes (solid, liquid and gaseous) at each stage of value-adding — from mining to manufacturing. Waste production (both consumer and non-consumer) is a major contributor to environmental degradation. Approaches to waste management in the minerals industry are largely `after the event'. These have moved progressively from foul-and-flee to dilute-and-disperse to end end-of-pipe treatments. There is now a need to move to approaches which aim to reduce or eliminate waste production at source. Modern waste management strategies include the application of cleaner production principles, the use of wastes as raw materials, the reengineering of process flowsheets to minimise waste production, and use of industrial symbioses through industrial ecology to convert wastes into useful by-products. This paper examines how these can be adopted by the minerals industry, with some recent examples. The financial, technical, systemic and regulatory drivers and barriers are also examined.

[Cardiology was born with the modern medical science].

PubMed

de Micheli, Alfredo

2015-01-01

Modern medical science was born in the post-Renaissance age and began to consolidate towards the middle of the XVII century thanks to physicists, physiologists and biologists, most of whom were direct or indirect pupils of Galileo. The discovery of blood circulation by Harvey is now considered the only progress in physiology at the beginning of the XVII century, comparable to the current advances seen in physical sciences. The history of this exploit could be written from view point of the progressive advance in knowledge. In his experiments, Harvey referred to the authentic not imaginary experiments, and put forward irrefutable quantitative arguments. We can therefore claim that his discovery of blood circulation was the first proper explanation of an organic process and the starting point leading to experimental physiology. So it seems justified to assert that modern medical science did not all rise suddenly, but was gradually structured starting from the middle of the XVII century following the path traced by William Harvey in light of Galileo's thought. Copyright © 2014 Instituto Nacional de Cardiología Ignacio Chávez. Published by Masson Doyma México S.A. All rights reserved.

Recycled agricultural wastes: biochars multifunctional role in agriculture and environment

USDA-ARS?s Scientific Manuscript database

The rapid population growth, urbanization and modernization worldwide have resulted in the significant increase of waste generated. Waste production is a major environmental problem in our society. In fact, recycling and using raw materials from the waste we generate are some of the environmental ch...

78 FR 70024 - Draft Environmental Impact Statement for the Modernization and Repair of Piers 2 and 3, Military...

Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

2013-11-22

...; water resources; biological resources; land use and coastal zone management; transportation; infrastructure; visual resources; recreational resources; socioeconomics; environmental justice and protection of... Protection Agency. ADDRESSES: Please submit written comments to Mr. Malcolm Charles, Director of Public Works...

Synchrony and Desynchrony in Circadian Clocks: Impacts on Learning and Memory

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Krishnan, Harini C.; Lyons, Lisa C.

2015-01-01

Circadian clocks evolved under conditions of environmental variation, primarily alternating light dark cycles, to enable organisms to anticipate daily environmental events and coordinate metabolic, physiological, and behavioral activities. However, modern lifestyle and advances in technology have increased the percentage of individuals working in…

77 FR 75644 - Malheur National Wildlife Refuge, Harney County, OR; Final Comprehensive Conservation Plan and...

Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

2012-12-21

..., fishing, wildlife observation and photography, and environmental education and interpretation. We will... environmental education and interpretation, would continue using the current facilities. No new public use... emphasize modern media for interpretation. The George Benson Memorial Museum would be enhanced, and...

Common Topics and Commonplaces of Environmental Rhetoric

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Ross, Derek G.

2013-01-01

Common topics are words or phrases used to develop argument, and commonplaces aid memory or catalyze frames of understanding. When used in argumentation, each may help interested parties more effectively communicate valuable scientific and environment-related information. This article describes 12 modern topics of environmental rhetoric,…

Need a University Adopt a Formal Environmental Management System?: Progress without an EMS at a Small University

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Spellerberg, Ian F.; Buchan, Graeme D.; Englefield, Russell

2004-01-01

What system does a university need to optimise its progress to sustainability? Discusses the gradation of approaches possible for a university as it strives to improve its environmental performance. Argues that an environmental policy plus mechanisms for its implementation can be adequate, and endorsement of a single formal EMS need not be…

[Psychological aspects of immunotherapies in the treatment of malignant melanoma].

PubMed

Kovács, Péter; Pánczél, Gitta; Melegh, Krisztina; Balatoni, Tímea; Pörneczy, Edit; Lõrincz, Lenke; Czirbesz, Kata; Gorka, Eszter; Liszkay, Gabriella

2016-03-02

Psychological problems may arise in connection with oncomedical treatments in three ways: 1. acute and/or 2. chronic ways, as well as 3. co-morbid psychiatric diseases that already exist must also be taken into account. Immunotherapies have the most common and also clinically relevant psychological side effects. Fatigue, anhedonia, social isolation, psychomotor slowness is reported during treatment. Anti-CTLA-4 antibody (ipilimumab) immunotherapy can present one of the most modern opportunities for adequate treatment for patients having distant metastasis or unresectable tumour. In relation to immunotherapies, acute psychological side effects (acute stress) emerging during treatments develop in a way that can mostly be linked to environmental factors, e.g. notification of diagnosis, hospitalisation, progression, deterioration in quality of life, imminent dates of control. Crisis is a temporary and threatening condition that endangers psychological balance. In such conditions, enhanced psychological vulnerability must be taken into account and doctors play a key role in the rapid recognition of the condition. Chronic psychological problems, which may arise from the depressogenic effect of the applied treatment or originated from a pre-melanoma psychiatric condition, may exceed the diagnostic and psychotherapeutic competences of a clinical psychologist. Even in case of a well-defined depressogenic biological mechanism such as the activation of the pro-inflammatory cytokine pathway, positive environmental effects can reduce symptoms and thus increase compliance. Side effects can be treated successfully using psychotherapeutic methods and/or psychiatric medicines. The application of routinely used complex psychosocial screening packages can provide the easiest method to identify worsening psychological condition during immunotherapy and give rapid feedback to the oncologist and the patient. Team work is of particular importance in a situation like this as it requires complex, interdisciplinary and high-level professional collaboration. Multidisciplinarity is the basic framework for modern tumour therapy where, under the guidance of oncologists, the work of specialist nurses, social workers, physiotherapists, dieticians and last but not least psychiatrists/psychologists are indispensable and play a significant role.

ENVIRONMENTAL EFFECTS OF OZONE DEPLETION AND ITS INTERACTIONS WITH CLIMATE CHANGE: PROGRESS REPORT 2004

EPA Science Inventory

The measures needed for the protection of the Earth's ozone layer are decided regularly by the Parties to the Montreal Protocol. This progress report is the 2004 update by the Environmental Effects Assessment Panel.

Enhancement of Laboratory and Field Instruction in Environmental Science, Biology, and Chemistry Degree Programs at University of the Incarnate Word

DTIC Science & Technology

1999-10-12

The project provided state-of-the-art training to students on the use of modern field and laboratory equipment in Environmental Science , Chemistry...laboratory instruction in Environmental Science , Chemistry, and Biology during the past 1998-99 academic year at the University of the Incarnate Word...development of maps at selected study sites. Dr. William F. Thomann, Environmental Science provided instruction on field and laboratory studies of water

Designing families and solid citizens: the dialectic of modernity and the Matrimonial Causes Bill, 1959.

PubMed

Walter, J

2001-01-01

Policy-makers in the 1940s and 50s were intent on designing families which would produce solid citizens to engage in nation building. Historians offamilism treat it as an expression of modernism: a unifying, oppressive discourse now to be countered by the destabilising project of postmodernism. But this is not the whole story, for it omits the dialectical essence of 'the modern', which promises both 'progress' through technical rationality and individual achievement/self fulfilment. The other side of the dialectic has been avoided by dismissing individualism as a process of interpellation closely tied to the interests of technocratic elites. Out of the discontinuities within modernism there emerged opportunities for agency, the chance for people to make their own lives. The public controversy over the Matrimonial Causes Bill, 1959-at the height of what we are encouraged to think of as the familist decade-is explored as one instance.

Sciences from below: feminisms, postcolonialities, and modernities.

PubMed

Weaver, Harlan

2010-01-01

Sandra Harding's newest book, Sciences from Below: Feminisms, Postcolonialities, and Modernities, continues her work in feminist standpoint theory and science and technologies studies, asking how we might judge "good" science. Attentive to race, class, gender, and imperialism, Harding critically examines Northern and Southern sciences and technologies by adopting the perspective of those who see from below. This vision from the peripheries lets Harding question stories of modern scientific progress, revealing a multiplicity of "ethnosciences" and critiquing modernity itself. However, while Harding aims to produce knowledge for the North's others by emphasizing woman's experience, she fails to question the category "woman," ignoring contemporary transgender and queer scholarship. Further, it is Harding's care for the North's subjugated others that motivates her writing, revealing that the struggle to achieve the standpoint "from below" so critical to her project is fueled by what her ally Maria Puig de la Bellacasa would term not thinking from, but thinking with, or, more precisely, "thinking with care."

Towards Eco-Reflexive Science Education: A Critical Reflection about Educational Implications of Green Chemistry

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Sjöström, Jesper; Eilks, Ingo; Zuin, Vânia G.

2016-01-01

The modern world can be described as a globalized risk society. It is characterized by increasing complexity, unpredictable consequences of techno-scientific innovations and production, and its environmental consequences. Therefore, chemistry, just like many other knowledge areas, is in an ongoing process of "environmentalization." For…

A PERSPECTIVE FROM U.S. EPA: UNCERTAINTY, SENSITIVITY, AND PARAMETER ESTIMATION IN MULTIMEDIA EXPOSURE AND RISK ASSESSMENT MODELING

EPA Science Inventory

Since its amalgamation as a Federal Agency over 30 years ago, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has undertaken many activities contributing to the international community's collective foundation for modern, multimedia environmental modeling. A key component of its c...

Teaching Green

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Waters, John K.

2011-01-01

It has been 41 years since the late Wisconsin Senator Gaylord Nelson launched the first nationwide grassroots demonstration on behalf of the environment, known as Earth Day. The event was a national "teach-in" about environmental causes, and it is widely considered the spark that ignited the modern environmental education movement. Within months,…

77 FR 13139 - Malheur National Wildlife Refuge, Harney County, OR; Draft Comprehensive Conservation Plan and...

Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

2012-03-05

..., wildlife observation and photography, environmental education and interpretation. We will review and update..., interpretation, environmental education, hunting, and fishing would continue with the current facilities and... stronger emphasis would be placed on modern media for interpretation. The George Benson Memorial Museum...

Locating Environmental Education between Modern Capitalism and Postmodern Socialism: A Reply to Lucie Sauve.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Huckle, John

1999-01-01

Claims that structural-adjustment programs, deregulation, and opening of markets may be good for international capital, but such processes increase inequalities, encourage people and countries to over-exploit natural resources, and contribute to reductions in spending on social and environmental welfare. (Author/CCM)

Advanced grazing-incidence techniques for modern soft-matter materials analysis

DOE PAGES

Hexemer, Alexander; Müller-Buschbaum, Peter

2015-01-01

The complex nano-morphology of modern soft-matter materials is successfully probed with advanced grazing-incidence techniques. Based on grazing-incidence small- and wide-angle X-ray and neutron scattering (GISAXS, GIWAXS, GISANS and GIWANS), new possibilities arise which are discussed with selected examples. Due to instrumental progress, highly interesting possibilities for local structure analysis in this material class arise from the use of micro- and nanometer-sized X-ray beams in micro- or nanofocused GISAXS and GIWAXS experiments. The feasibility of very short data acquisition times down to milliseconds creates exciting possibilities forin situandin operandoGISAXS and GIWAXS studies. Tuning the energy of GISAXS and GIWAXS in themore » soft X-ray regime and in time-of flight GISANS allows the tailoring of contrast conditions and thereby the probing of more complex morphologies. In addition, recent progress in software packages, useful for data analysis for advanced grazing-incidence techniques, is discussed.« less

Advanced grazing-incidence techniques for modern soft-matter materials analysis

PubMed Central

Hexemer, Alexander; Müller-Buschbaum, Peter

2015-01-01

The complex nano-morphology of modern soft-matter materials is successfully probed with advanced grazing-incidence techniques. Based on grazing-incidence small- and wide-angle X-ray and neutron scattering (GISAXS, GIWAXS, GISANS and GIWANS), new possibilities arise which are discussed with selected examples. Due to instrumental progress, highly interesting possibilities for local structure analysis in this material class arise from the use of micro- and nanometer-sized X-ray beams in micro- or nanofocused GISAXS and GIWAXS experiments. The feasibility of very short data acquisition times down to milliseconds creates exciting possibilities for in situ and in operando GISAXS and GIWAXS studies. Tuning the energy of GISAXS and GIWAXS in the soft X-ray regime and in time-of flight GISANS allows the tailoring of contrast conditions and thereby the probing of more complex morphologies. In addition, recent progress in software packages, useful for data analysis for advanced grazing-incidence techniques, is discussed. PMID:25610632

Obesity and chronic disease: always offender or often just accomplice?

PubMed

Egger, Garry; Dixon, John

2009-10-01

Over a decade ago, the finding of a form of low-grade systemic inflammation ('metaflammation') associated with obesity, insulin resistance and chronic disease proffered a causal explanation for the latter. However, recent work has shown that metaflammation is also associated with several modern lifestyle-related and environmental inducers, with or without obesity. Here, we present accumulating data to show a link between metaflammation and a number of non-microbial environmental and lifestyle stimulants, both with and without obesity. This implies that obesity may often be an accomplice to, as much as an offender in, major metabolic disease. The real (albeit distal) cause of such a disease appears to lie in aspects of the modern techno-industrial environment driving unhealthy lifestyle behaviours. If true, this suggests that while individual weight loss may be a component of chronic disease management, it may be neither 'necessary' nor 'sufficient' to reduce the problem at a population level. Greater multidisciplinary and policy input is needed to modify the economic and political drivers of the modern, obesogenic environment.

Computers and neurosurgery.

PubMed

Shaikhouni, Ammar; Elder, J Bradley

2012-11-01

At the turn of the twentieth century, the only computational device used in neurosurgical procedures was the brain of the surgeon. Today, most neurosurgical procedures rely at least in part on the use of a computer to help perform surgeries accurately and safely. The techniques that revolutionized neurosurgery were mostly developed after the 1950s. Just before that era, the transistor was invented in the late 1940s, and the integrated circuit was invented in the late 1950s. During this time, the first automated, programmable computational machines were introduced. The rapid progress in the field of neurosurgery not only occurred hand in hand with the development of modern computers, but one also can state that modern neurosurgery would not exist without computers. The focus of this article is the impact modern computers have had on the practice of neurosurgery. Neuroimaging, neuronavigation, and neuromodulation are examples of tools in the armamentarium of the modern neurosurgeon that owe each step in their evolution to progress made in computer technology. Advances in computer technology central to innovations in these fields are highlighted, with particular attention to neuroimaging. Developments over the last 10 years in areas of sensors and robotics that promise to transform the practice of neurosurgery further are discussed. Potential impacts of advances in computers related to neurosurgery in developing countries and underserved regions are also discussed. As this article illustrates, the computer, with its underlying and related technologies, is central to advances in neurosurgery over the last half century. Copyright © 2012 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Planning and environment linkages program : a guide to measuring progress in linking transportation planning and environmental analysis

DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

2009-12-01

Transportation agencies use a variety of metrics to document progress toward achieving specific goals and objectives. This guide, developed by Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) Planning and Environmental Linkages (PEL) program, is intended to hel...

Polish plant beats the odds to become model EU generator

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

Neville, A.

2009-03-15

Once a Soviet satellite, Poland is now transforming into a thoroughly modern nation. To support its growing economy, this recent European Union member country is modernizing its power industry. Exemplifying the advances in the Polish electricity generation market is the 460 MW Patnow II power plant - the largest, most efficient (supercritical cycle) and environmentally cleanest lignite-fired unit in the country. 3 photos.

Human History and Environmental Geology: A Match Made in Nature

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Selvans, M. M.

2014-12-01

I draw on my dual educational background in the geological sciences (PhD) and sociology (BA), with an emphasis on environmental justice, for the inspiration to approach issues in my geology courses that are directly connected to modern policy decisions with the goal of increasing students' self-awareness. I believe that giving students the opportunity for increased understanding of their own beliefs and values with respect to the environment will allow them to be more engaged in discussions and debates about environmental policies at the local, national, and global scales. I designed Environmental Geology of Prince William Forest Park (VA), a one-day Field Studies course offered through Northern Virginia Community College, to motivate students to articulate personal convictions about land use. To provide a social context for discussion of environmental issues, students first gave presentations on the demographics, economics, and methods of land use of the people that used the park over the last 400 years. At locations along Quantico Creek, students presented topics that covered geologic processes at work on the landscape, progressive farming methods promoted by some early Virginians, and agricultural methods to stabilize soil and its nutrients. Finally, at the Cabin Branch Pyrite Mine (active 1889-1920) we discussed laborer work conditions and the environmental impact of tailings, as well as the process and effects of remediation. Students tested pH levels in the creek upstream and downstream of the mine as one concrete way to personally observe the results of recent remediation (since 1994), with neutral pH in both locations indicating success. Students wrapped up the course with written reflections, from their own perspectives with respect to socially and environmentally responsible land use, on the geologic processes and human impacts that shaped the park. Social justice and environmental stewardship are two lenses that allow students to find personal meaning and social relevance in geology coursework, as emphasized in this field course. Many students, in this and other courses, have provided feedback indicating that activities I have developed and used along these lines are some of the most engaging and inspiring in their geology coursework.

NASA's Modern Era Retrospective-Analysis for Research and Applications (MERRA): Early Results and Future Directions

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Schubert, Siegfried

2008-01-01

This talk will review the status and progress of the NASA/Global Modeling and Assimilation Office (GMAO) atmospheric global reanalysis project called the Modern Era Retrospective-Analysis for Research and Applications (MERRA). An overview of NASA's emerging capabilities for assimilating a variety of other Earth Science observations of the land, ocean, and atmospheric constituents will also be presented. MERRA supports NASA Earth science by synthesizing the current suite of research satellite observations in a climate data context (covering the period 1979-present), and by providing the science and applications communities with of a broad range of weather and climate data with an emphasis on improved estimates of the hydrological cycle. MERRA is based on a major new version of the Goddard Earth Observing System Data Assimilation System (GEOS-5), that includes the Earth System Modeling Framework (ESMF)-based GEOS-5 atmospheric general circulation model and the new NOAA National Centers for Environmental Prediction (NCEP) unified grid-point statistical interpolation (GST) analysis scheme developed as a collaborative effort between NCEP and the GMAO. In addition to MERRA, the GMAO is developing new capabilities in aerosol and constituent assimilation, ocean, ocean biology, and land surface assimilation. This includes the development of an assimilation capability for tropospheric air quality monitoring and prediction, the development of a carbon-cycle modeling and assimilation system, and an ocean data assimilation system for use in coupled short-term climate forecasting.

Role of veterinarians in modern food hygiene

PubMed Central

Matyáš, Z.

1978-01-01

Veterinary services and veterinary education and training must keep pace with the constantly changing patterns of agriculture and food processing. Changes in methods of animal production are associated with many problems of food processing and food quality. Veterinary supervision of the animal feed industry and of meat and distribution is essential. Quality testing of meat, milk, and eggs requires the introduction of suitable routine sampling systems, laboratory procedures, and complex evaluation procedures. Food hygiene problems have changed in recent years not only as a result of new methods of animal production, but also because of changes in food processing technology and in the presentation of food to the consumer, increased environmental pollution, increased international trade, and increased tourist travel. Food hygienists must adopt an active and progressive policy and change the scope of food control from a purely negative measure into a positive force working towards improved food quality and the avoidance of losses during production. A modern food hygiene programme should cover all stages of production, processing, and distribution of food and also other ingredients, additives and the water used for production and processing. Veterinarians should also be involved in the registration and licensing of enterprises and this should take into account the premises, the procedures to be used, new techniques in animal husbandry, machines and equipment, etc. In order to facilitate the microbiological analysis of foodstuffs, new mechanized or automated laboratory methods are required, and consideration must be given to adequate sampling techniques. PMID:310716

Sub-federal ecological modernization: A case study of Colorado's new energy economy

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Giannakouros, Stratis

European nations have often employed policies of explicit government intervention as a preferred means of addressing environmental and economic challenges. These policies have ranged from grey industrial policies focused solely on industrial growth, competitiveness and innovation to policies of stronger ecological modernization, which seek to align industrial interests with environmental protection. In recent years these policies have been mobilized to address the threat of climate change and promote environmental innovation. While some US Administrations have similarly recognized the need to address these challenges, the particular historical and political institutional dynamics of the US have meant that explicit government intervention has been eschewed in favor of more indirect strategies when dealing with economic and environmental challenges. This is evident in the rise of sub-federal policies at the level of US states. Supported by federal laboratories and public research, US states have adopted policies that look very much like sub-federal versions of industrial or ecological modernization policy. This thesis uses the Colorado case to highlight the importance of sub-federal institutions in addressing environmental and economic challenges in the US and explore its similarities to, and differences from, European approaches. To achieve this goal it first develops an analytical scheme within which to place policy initiatives on a continuum from grey industrial policy to strong ecological modernization policy by identifying key institutions that are influential in each policy type. This analytical scheme is then applied to the transitional renewable energy policy period from 2004-2012 in the state of Colorado. This period starts with the adoption of a renewable energy portfolio in 2004 and includes the `new energy economy' period from 2007-2010 as well as the years since. Looking at three key turning points this paper interprets the `new energy economy' strategy using the analytical scheme developed and identifies the political and social institutions that frame this transition. Drawing upon these findings, the paper analyses the implications of the Colorado case for understanding sub-federal initiatives in the US and concludes with a summary of the broader comparative institutional lessons.

Screening and prioritisation of chemical risks from metal mining operations, identifying exposure media of concern.

PubMed

Pan, Jilang; Oates, Christopher J; Ihlenfeld, Christian; Plant, Jane A; Voulvoulis, Nikolaos

2010-04-01

Metals have been central to the development of human civilisation from the Bronze Age to modern times, although in the past, metal mining and smelting have been the cause of serious environmental pollution with the potential to harm human health. Despite problems from artisanal mining in some developing countries, modern mining to Western standards now uses the best available mining technology combined with environmental monitoring, mitigation and remediation measures to limit emissions to the environment. This paper develops risk screening and prioritisation methods previously used for contaminated land on military and civilian sites and engineering systems for the analysis and prioritisation of chemical risks from modern metal mining operations. It uses hierarchical holographic modelling and multi-criteria decision making to analyse and prioritise the risks from potentially hazardous inorganic chemical substances released by mining operations. A case study of an active platinum group metals mine in South Africa is used to demonstrate the potential of the method. This risk-based methodology for identifying, filtering and ranking mining-related environmental and human health risks can be used to identify exposure media of greatest concern to inform risk management. It also provides a practical decision-making tool for mine acquisition and helps to communicate risk to all members of mining operation teams.

Skewed Exposure to Environmental Antigens Complements Hygiene Hypothesis in Explaining the Rise of Allergy.

PubMed

Allaerts, Wilfried; Chang, Tse Wen

2017-06-01

The Hygiene Hypothesis has been recognized as an important cornerstone to explain the sudden increase in the prevalence of asthma and allergic diseases in modernized culture. The recent epidemic of allergic diseases is in contrast with the gradual implementation of Homo sapiens sapiens to the present-day forms of civilization. This civilization forms a gradual process with cumulative effects on the human immune system, which co-developed with parasitic and commensal Helminths. The clinical manifestation of this epidemic, however, became only visible in the second half of the twentieth century. In order to explain these clinical effects in terms of the underlying IgE-mediated reactions to innocuous environmental antigens, the low biodiversity of antigens in the domestic environment plays a pivotal role. The skewing of antigen exposure as a cumulative effect of reducing biodiversity in the immediate human environment as well as in changing food habits, provides a sufficient and parsimonious explanation for the rise in allergic diseases in a highly developed and helminth-free modernized culture. Socio-economic tendencies that incline towards a further reduction of environmental biodiversity may provide serious concern for future health. This article explains that the "Hygiene Hypothesis", the "Old Friends Hypothesis", and the "Skewed Antigen Exposure Hypothesis" are required to more fully explain the rise of allergy in modern societies.

The impact of Cenozoic cooling on assemblage diversity in planktonic foraminifera

PubMed Central

Pearson, Paul N.; Dunkley Jones, Tom; Farnsworth, Alexander; Lunt, Daniel J.; Markwick, Paul; Purvis, Andy

2016-01-01

The Cenozoic planktonic foraminifera (PF) (calcareous zooplankton) have arguably the most detailed fossil record of any group. The quality of this record allows models of environmental controls on macroecology, developed for Recent assemblages, to be tested on intervals with profoundly different climatic conditions. These analyses shed light on the role of long-term global cooling in establishing the modern latitudinal diversity gradient (LDG)—one of the most powerful generalizations in biogeography and macroecology. Here, we test the transferability of environment-diversity models developed for modern PF assemblages to the Eocene epoch (approx. 56–34 Ma), a time of pronounced global warmth. Environmental variables from global climate models are combined with Recent environment–diversity models to predict Eocene richness gradients, which are then compared with observed patterns. The results indicate the modern LDG—lower richness towards the poles—developed through the Eocene. Three possible causes are suggested for the mismatch between statistical model predictions and data in the Early Eocene: the environmental estimates are inaccurate, the statistical model misses a relevant variable, or the intercorrelations among facets of diversity—e.g. richness, evenness, functional diversity—have changed over geological time. By the Late Eocene, environment–diversity relationships were much more similar to those found today. PMID:26977064

Mathematical modeling of project management in logistics systems based on two-dimensional random vector

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Glushkova, Yu O.; Gordashnukova, O. Yu; Pahomova, A. V.; Shatohina, S. P.; Filippov, D. V.

2018-05-01

The modern markets are characterized by fierce competition, constantly changing demand, increasing demands of consumers, shortening of the life cycle of goods and services in connection with scientific and technological progress. Therefore, for survival, modern logistic systems of industrial enterprises must be constantly improved. Modern economic literature is represented by a large volume of publications on various aspects of the studied issues. They consider the issues of project management in the logistics system that inevitably encounter with triple Limited. It initially describes the balance between project content, cost, and time. Later it was suggested to either replace the content with quality or add a fourth criterion. Therefore it is possible to name such limitation as triple or four-criteria limitation.

Reviews in Modern Astronomy 12, Astronomical Instruments and Methods at the turn of the 21st Century

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Schielicke, Reinhard E.

The yearbook series Reviews in Modern Astronomy of the Astronomische Gesellschaft (AG) was established in 1988 in order to bring the scientific events of the meetings of the society to the attention of the worldwide astronomical community. Reviews in Modern Astronomy is devoted exclusively to the invited Reviews, the Karl Schwarzschild Lectures, the Ludwig Biermann Award Lectures, and the highlight contributions from leading scientists reporting on recent progress and scientific achievements at their respective research institutes. Volume 12 continues the yearbook series with 16 contributions which were presented during the International Scientific Conference of the AG on ``Astronomical Instruments and Methods at the Turn of the 21st Century'' at Heidelberg from September 14 to 19, 1998

Tracing the peopling of the world through genomics

PubMed Central

Nielsen, Rasmus; Akey, Joshua M.; Jakobsson, Mattias; Pritchard, Jonathan K.; Tishkoff, Sarah; Willerslev, Eske

2018-01-01

Advances in the sequencing and the analysis of the genomes of both modern and ancient peoples have facilitated a number of breakthroughs in our understanding of human evolutionary history. These include the discovery of interbreeding between anatomically modern humans and extinct hominins; the development of an increasingly detailed description of the complex dispersal of modern humans out of Africa and their population expansion worldwide; and the characterization of many of the genetic adaptions of humans to local environmental conditions. Our interpretation of the evolutionary history and adaptation of humans is being transformed by analyses of these new genomic data. PMID:28102248

Hopping hotspots: global shifts in marine biodiversity.

PubMed

Renema, W; Bellwood, D R; Braga, J C; Bromfield, K; Hall, R; Johnson, K G; Lunt, P; Meyer, C P; McMonagle, L B; Morley, R J; O'Dea, A; Todd, J A; Wesselingh, F P; Wilson, M E J; Pandolfi, J M

2008-08-01

Hotspots of high species diversity are a prominent feature of modern global biodiversity patterns. Fossil and molecular evidence is starting to reveal the history of these hotspots. There have been at least three marine biodiversity hotspots during the past 50 million years. They have moved across almost half the globe, with their timing and locations coinciding with major tectonic events. The birth and death of successive hotspots highlights the link between environmental change and biodiversity patterns. The antiquity of the taxa in the modern Indo-Australian Archipelago hotspot emphasizes the role of pre-Pleistocene events in shaping modern diversity patterns.

The history and progression of treatments for allergic rhinitis.

PubMed

Ostrom, Nancy K

2014-01-01

This article intends to place new treatments in the context of allergic rhinitis (AR) treatment history. The medical literature was searched for significant advances and changes in AR treatment. Historical data on AR treatment options and management were selected. Reviews of AR management published throughout the 20th century were included to provide context for treatment advances. Modern AR treatment began in the early 20th century with immunotherapy and was soon followed by the emergence of antihistamine therapy in the 1930s. Numerous treatments for AR have been used over the ensuing decades, including decongestants, mast cell stabilizers, and leukotriene receptor antagonists. Topical corticosteroid options were developed the 1950s, and, added to baseline antihistamine therapy, became the foundation of AR treatment. Treatment options were significantly impacted after the 1987 Montreal Protocol, which phased out the use of chlorofluorocarbon propellant aerosols because of environmental concerns. From the mid-1990s until recently, this left only aqueous solution options for intranasal corticosteroids (INSs). The approval of the first hydrofluoroalkane propellant aerosol INSs for AR in 2012 restored a "dry" aerosol treatment option. The first combination intranasal antihistamine/INSs was also approved in 2012, providing a novel treatment option for AR. Treatment of AR has progressed with new therapeutic options now available. This should continue to move forward with agents to alter the allergic mechanism itself and impact the disease burden that has a significant impact on patient outcomes.

Pacific Northwest Laboratory annual report for 1979 to the DOE Assistant Secretary for Environment. Part 5. Environmental assessment, control, health, and safety

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

Baalman, R.W.; Dotson, C.W.

1980-02-01

Part 5 of the 1979 Annual Report to the Department of Energy Assistant Secretary for the Environment presents Pacific Northwest Laboratory's progress on work performed for the Office of Technology Impacts, the Office of Environmental Compliance and Overview, and the Office of Health and Environmental Research. The report is in four sections, corresponding to the program elements: technology impacts, environmental control engineering, operational and environmental compliance, and human health studies. In each section, articles describe progress made during FY 1979 on individual projects.

Juvenile myopia progression, risk factors and interventions.

PubMed

Myrowitz, Elliott H

2012-07-01

The development and progression of early onset myopia is actively being investigated. While myopia is often considered a benign condition it should be considered a public health problem for its visual, quality of life, and economic consequences. Nearly half of the visually impaired population in the world has uncorrected refractive errors, with myopia a high percent of that group. Uncorrected visual acuity should be screened for and treated in order to improve academic performance, career opportunities and socio-economic status. Genetic and environmental factors contribute to the onset and progression of myopia. Twin studies have supported genetic factors and research continues to identify myopia genetic loci. While multiple myopia genetic loci have been identified establishing myopia as a common complex disorder, there is not yet a genetic model explaining myopia progression in populations. Environmental factors include near work, education levels, urban compared to rural location, and time spent outdoors. In this field of study where there continues to be etiology controversies, there is recent agreement that children who spend more time outdoors are less likely to become myopic. Worldwide population studies, some completed and some in progress, with a common protocol are gathering both genetic and environmental cohort data of great value. There have been rapid population changes in prevalence rates supporting an environmental influence. Interventions to prevent juvenile myopia progression include pharmacologic agents, glasses and contact lenses. Pharmacological interventions over 1-2 year trials have shown benefits. Peripheral vision defocus has been found to affect the emmetropization process and may be affected by wearing glasses or contacts. Accommodation accuracy also has been implicated in myopia progression. Further research will aim to assess both the role and interaction of environmental influences and genetic factors.

Enabling GEODSS for Space Situational Awareness (SSA)

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Wootton, S.

2016-09-01

The Ground-Based Electro-Optical Deep Space Surveillance (GEODSS) System has been in operation since the mid-1980's. While GEODSS has been the Space Surveillance Network's (SSN's) workhorse in terms of deep space surveillance, it has not undergone a significant modernization since the 1990's. This means GEODSS continues to operate under a mostly obsolete, legacy data processing baseline. The System Program Office (SPO) responsible for GEODSS, SMC/SYGO, has a number of advanced Space Situational Awareness (SSA)-related efforts in progress, in the form of innovative optical capabilities, data processing algorithms, and hardware upgrades. Each of these efforts is in various stages of evaluation and acquisition. These advanced capabilities rely upon a modern computing environment in which to integrate, but GEODSS does not have one—yet. The SPO is also executing a Service Life Extension Program (SLEP) to modernize the various subsystems within GEODSS, along with a parallel effort to implement a complete, modern software re-architecture. The goal is to use a modern, service-based architecture to provide expedient integration as well as easier and more sustainable expansion. This presentation will describe these modernization efforts in more detail and discuss how adopting such modern paradigms and practices will help ensure the GEODSS system remains relevant and sustainable far beyond 2027.

Global environmental crisis: is there a connection with place-based, ecosociocultural education in rural Spain?

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Glasson, George E.

2011-06-01

Environmental educators are challenged by how to teach children about global environmental crisis such as the Gulf oil spill, which only serves to engender children's fears and apprehensions about the negative impact of humans on ecosystems. Eduardo Dopico and Eva Garcia-Vazquez's article presents an interesting context from which to analyze and reflect on the connections between local and global environmental education issues. The authors' study involves student researchers in actively learning about place-based, sustainable agricultural practices in rural Spain that are passed down through generations. These ecofriendly, culturally mediated farming practices, referred to as "traditional" by the farmers, were contrasted to "modern" practices that are used throughout market-based globalized economy. The connection between local (traditional) and global (modern) practices became very important in the reflections and learning of the student participants about sustainability and ecojustice issues associated with traditional farming. Students learned from the local farmers a positive, non-dualistic approach to sustainable agriculture in which human activity and culture is connected to ecological sustainability. Further, the students' active research of sustainable and culturally medicated agricultural practices at the local level provided a frame of reference to understand global environmental crises.

Are modern health worries, environmental concerns, or paranormal beliefs associated with perceptions of the effectiveness of complementary and alternative medicine?

PubMed

Jeswani, Mamta; Furnham, Adrian

2010-09-01

To investigate to what extent paranormal beliefs, modern health worries (MHWs), and environmental concerns were related to beliefs about, and behaviour associated with complementary and alternative medicine (CAM). Of the participants, 150 completed a four-part questionnaire measuring use and perception of CAM, MHWs, paranormal beliefs, and environmental concerns. A factor analysis on the CAM questions revealed three clear components, labelled efficacy of CAM, attitudes to CAM, and safety of CAM. Age, total MHWs, paranormal beliefs, and environmental concerns were used as predictor variables in regression analyses with efficacy as criterion variable. Age was found to be a significantly related to efficacy of CAM. When total MHW score, paranormal belief score, and environmental concern score were added to the model, the r(2) increased by 29%. Environmental concern did not significantly relate to efficacy but spiritualism beliefs did. A factor analysis of the MHW scale items revealed nine factors. Out of these, radiation, doctors playing God, disasters, and epidemics, as well as harmful rays and air contaminants significantly predict belief in the efficacy of CAM. Overall, older people, with more MHWs, and who believe in the paranormal are more likely to believe that CAM works, possibly because of a more intuitive, 'holistic', thinking style. Limitations of the study are considered.

Low-level (submicromole) environmental 14C metrology

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Currie, L. A.; Kessler, J. D.; Marolf, J. V.; McNichol, A. P.; Stuart, D. R.; Donoghue, J. C.; Donahue, D. J.; Burr, G. S.; Biddulph, D.

2000-10-01

Accelerator mass spectrometry (AMS) measurements of environmental 14C have been employed during the past decade at the several micromole level (tens of μg carbon), but advanced research in the atmospheric and marine sciences demands still higher (μg) sensitivity, an extreme example being the determination of 14C in elemental or "black" carbon (BC) at levels of 2-10 μg per kg of Greenland snow and ice (Currie et al., 1998). A fundamental limitation for 14C AMS is Poisson counting statistics, which sets in at about 1 μg modern-C. Using the small sample (25 μg) AMS target preparation facility at NOSAMS (Pearson et al., 1998), and the microsample combustion-dilution facility at NIST, we have demonstrated an intrinsic modern-C quantification limit ( mQ) of ca. 0.9 μg, based on a 1-parameter fit to the empirical AMS variance function. (For environmental 14C, the modern carbon quantification limit is defined as that mass ( mQ) corresponding to 10% relative standard deviation (rsd) for the fraction of modern carbon, σ( fM)/ fM.) Stringent control, required for quantitative dilution factors (DL), is achieved with the NIST on-line manometric/mass spectrometry facility that compensates also for unsuspected trace impurities from vigorous chemical processing (e.g., acid digestion). Our current combustion blank is trivial (mean: 0.16 ± 0.02 μg C, n=13) but lognormally distributed (dispersion [σ]: 0.07 ± 0.01 μg). An iterative numerical expression is introduced to assess the quantitative impacts of fossil and modern carbon blank components on mQ; and a new "clean chemistry" BC processing system is described for the minimization of such blanks. For the assay of soot carbon in Greenland snow/ice, the overall processing blank has been reduced from nearly 7 μg total carbon to less than 1 μg, and is undetectable for BC.

Using Rasch models to develop and validate an environmental thinking learning progression

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Hashimoto-Martell, Erin A.

Environmental understanding is highly relevant in today's global society. Social, economic, and political structures are connected to the state of environmental degradation and exploitation, and disproportionately affect those in poor or urban communities (Brulle & Pellow, 2006; Executive Order No. 12898, 1994). Environmental education must challenge the way we live, and our social and ecological quality of life, with the goal of responsible action. The development of a learning progression in environmental thinking, along with a corresponding assessment, could provide a tool that could be used across environmental education programs to help evaluate and guide programmatic decisions. This study sought to determine if a scale could be constructed that allowed individuals to be ordered along a continuum of environmental thinking. First, I developed the Environmental Thinking Learning Progression, a scale of environmental thinking from novice to advanced, based on the current available research and literature. The scale consisted of four subscales, each measuring a different aspect of environmental thinking: place consciousness, human connection, agency, and science concepts. Second, a measurement instrument was developed, so that the data appropriately fit the model using Rasch analysis. A Rasch analysis of the data placed respondents along a continuum, given the range of item difficulty for each subscale. Across three iterations of instrument revision and data collection, findings indicated that the items were ordered in a hierarchical way that corresponded to the construct of environmental thinking. Comparisons between groups showed that the average score of respondents who had participated in environmental education programs was significantly higher than those who had not. A comparison between males and females showed no significant difference in average measure, however, there were varied significant differences between how racial/ethnic groups performed. Overall, the results suggest that the Environmental Thinking Learning Progression and instrument are useful and accurate tools to measure individuals along a continuum from novice to advanced. This can be helpful for environmental education programs for use in evaluation and program development within a diverse context.

The Epidemiological Characteristics of Beijing Lineage Mycobacterium tuberculosis from a National Referral Center in China.

PubMed

Li, Xiao Ying; Li, Ying; Zhang, Yao; Kang, Wan Li; Zhao, Li Ping; Ding, Peng Ju; Dai, Wen Tao; Huang, Hai Rong; Huang, Yan Feng; Li, Wei Min

2015-07-01

Our study was to investigate the epidemiological characteristics of M.tuberculosis from a national tuberculosis referral center in China. All strains isolated from TB patients, were genotyped by the RD105 deletion, 8 and 51 SNP loci and VNTR. The high differentiation SNPs of modern Beijing strains were analyzed for protein function and structure. 413 M. tuberculosis were included. Of 379 Beijing lineage M. tuberculosis, 'modern' and 'ancient' strains respectively represented 85.5% (324/379) and 14.5% (55/379). Rv2494 (V48A) and Rv0245 (S103F) were confirmed as high differentiation SNPs associated with modern strains. In a word, Modern Beijing lineage M.tuberculosis was dominant and the structural models suggested that modern sub-lineage may more easily survive in 'extreme' host condition. Copyright © 2015 The Editorial Board of Biomedical and Environmental Sciences. Published by China CDC. All rights reserved.

Monte Carlos of the new generation: status and progress

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

Frixione, Stefano

2005-03-22

Standard parton shower monte carlos are designed to give reliable descriptions of low-pT physics. In the very high-energy regime of modern colliders, this is may lead to largely incorrect predictions of the basic reaction processes. This motivated the recent theoretical efforts aimed at improving monte carlos through the inclusion of matrix elements computed beyond the leading order in QCD. I briefly review the progress made, and discuss bottom production at the Tevatron.

Biomass feedstock production systems: economic and environmental benefits

Treesearch

Mark D. Coleman; John A. Stanturf

2006-01-01

The time is ripe for expanding bioenergy production capacity and developing a bio-based economy. Modern society has created unprecedented demands for energy and chemical products that are predominately based on geologic sources. However, there is a growing consensus that constraints on the supply of petroleum and the negative environmental consequences of burning...

Environmental Education: From the Perspective of Scientific Knowledge for Constructivist Learning

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Giron, Graciela; Vasquez-Martinez, Claudio-Rafael; López, Juan Sánchez; Bañuelos, Antonio Ayón

2012-01-01

Environmental education is not merely a modern form for the didactics of natural science, but is, on the contrary, an educational process that integrates ecological knowledge, philosophy, politics, economics and sociology, among others. This is because its purpose is to change the relationships of production, social structures of economics and…

"Trees Have a Soul Too!" Developing Empathy and Environmental Values in Early Childhood

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Lithoxoidou, Loukia S.; Georgopoulos, Alexandros D.; Dimitriou, Anastasia Th.; Xenitidou, Sofia Ch.

2017-01-01

Coping with environmental crisis cannot but presuppose a change in the values adopted by modern man. Both ecocentric values associated with creating a caring relationship with nature, and the development of empathy, can become vehicles of transformation towards a society based on ecological principles. In connection with these issues, an…

Detection limits and cost comparisons of human- and gull-associated conventional and quantitative PCR assays in artificial and environmental waters

EPA Science Inventory

Modern techniques for tracking fecal pollution in environmental waters require investing in DNA-based methods to determine the presence of specific fecal sources. To help water quality managers decide whether to employ routine polymerase chain reaction (PCR) or quantitative PC...

Development of Improved Environmental Resistant Organic-Reinforced Materials Systems

DTIC Science & Technology

1975-11-01

Advanced composites , graphite and boron reinforced laminates, moisture resistance, environmental resistance, organic matrix composites . 20. ABSTRACT...in November 1975 for publication. Efforts at TOD were conducted within the Advanced Composites Engineering Departmfntrunde; L technical...weight makes^organic matrix advanced composites hardware extremely attractive for today s modern Air Force weapons systems. Accordingly, such

Transformative World Language Learning: An Approach for Environmental and Cultural Sustainability and Economic and Political Security

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Goulah, Jason

2008-01-01

In this article, the author responds to the Modern Language Association's report, "Foreign Languages and Higher Education: New Structures for a Changed World" (2007) by arguing for an explicit and interdisciplinary transformative world language learning approach toward environmental and cultural sustainability and economic and political…

Challenges in the Development of Environmental Management Systems on the Modern University Campus

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Bero, Bridget N.; Doerry, Eckehard; Middleton, Ryan; Meinhardt, Christian

2012-01-01

Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to describe challenges and lessons learned in the design and development of a comprehensive, flexible environmental management system (EMS) in a real university setting; also to inform development of similar systems elsewhere and provide a modular, extensible software architecture for such efforts.…

A Progress Report on Information Privacy and Data Security.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Salton, Gerard

1980-01-01

Describes the role of information privacy in modern society, examines recent legal cases to illustrate how privacy cases are adjudicated and to identify the limits of available privacy protection, and raises issues regarding techniques for insuring data confidentiality. (FM)

Using the History of Electricity and Magnetism To Enhance Teaching.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Binnie, Anna

2001-01-01

Explains the properties of charged objects, the nature of an electric charge, and interactions between electricity and magnetism. Suggests that the development of modern ideas about electricity and magnetism were not a linear progression. (Contains 34 references.) (Author/YDS)

Microbiome and mental health in the modern environment.

PubMed

Deans, Emily

2016-06-27

A revolution in the understanding of the pathophysiology of mental illness combined with new knowledge about host/microbiome interactions and psychoneuroimmunology has opened an entirely new field of study, the "psychobiotics". The modern microbiome is quite changed compared to our ancestral one due to diet, antibiotic exposure, and other environmental factors, and these differences may well impact our brain health. The sheer complexity and scope of how diet, probiotics, prebiotics, and intertwined environmental variables could influence mental health are profound obstacles to an organized and useful study of the microbiome and psychiatric disease. However, the potential for positive anti-inflammatory effects and symptom amelioration with perhaps few side effects makes the goal of clarifying the role of the microbiota in mental health a vital one.

The Prehistory of Antibiotic Resistance.

PubMed

Perry, Julie; Waglechner, Nicholas; Wright, Gerard

2016-06-01

Antibiotic resistance is a global problem that is reaching crisis levels. The global collection of resistance genes in clinical and environmental samples is the antibiotic "resistome," and is subject to the selective pressure of human activity. The origin of many modern resistance genes in pathogens is likely environmental bacteria, including antibiotic producing organisms that have existed for millennia. Recent work has uncovered resistance in ancient permafrost, isolated caves, and in human specimens preserved for hundreds of years. Together with bioinformatic analyses on modern-day sequences, these studies predict an ancient origin of resistance that long precedes the use of antibiotics in the clinic. Understanding the history of antibiotic resistance is important in predicting its future evolution. Copyright © 2016 Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory Press; all rights reserved.

A Learning Progression for Water in Socio-Ecological Systems

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Gunckel, Kristin L.; Covitt, Beth A.; Salinas, Ivan; Anderson, Charles W.

2012-01-01

Providing model-based accounts (explanations and predictions) of water and substances in water moving through environmental systems is an important practice for environmental science literacy and necessary for citizens confronting global and local water quantity and quality issues. In this article we present a learning progression for water in…

Post-market drug evaluation research training capacity in Canada: an environmental scan of Canadian educational institutions.

PubMed

Wiens, Matthew O; Soon, Judith A; MacLeod, Stuart M; Sharma, Sunaina; Patel, Anik

2014-01-01

Ongoing efforts by Health Canada intended to modernize the legislation and regulation of pharmaceuticals will help improve the safety and effectiveness of drug products. It will be imperative to ensure that comprehensive and specialized training sites are available to train researchers to support the regulation of therapeutic products. The objective of this educational institution inventory was to conduct an environmental scan of educational institutions in Canada able to train students in areas of post-market drug evaluation research. A systematic web-based environmental scan of Canadian institutions was conducted. The website of each university was examined for potential academic programs. Six core programmatic areas were determined a priori as necessary to train competent post-market drug evaluation researchers. These included biostatistics, epidemiology, pharmacoepidemiology, health economics or pharmacoeconomics, pharmacogenetics or pharmacogenomics and patient safety/pharmacovigilance. Twenty-three academic institutions were identified that had the potential to train students in post-market drug evaluation research. Overall, 23 institutions taught courses in epidemiology, 22 in biostatistics, 17 in health economics/pharmacoeconomics, 5 in pharmacoepidemiology, 5 in pharmacogenetics/pharmacogenomics, and 3 in patient safety/pharmacovigilance. Of the 23 institutions, only the University of Ottawa offered six core courses. Two institutions offered five, seven offered four and the remaining 14 offered three or fewer. It is clear that some institutions may offer programs not entirely reflected in the nomenclature used for this review. As Heath Canada moves towards a more progressive licensing framework, augmented training to increase research capacity and expertise in drug safety and effectiveness is timely and necessary.

Short-term modern life-like stress exacerbates Aβ-pathology and synapse loss in 3xTg-AD mice

PubMed Central

Baglietto-Vargas, David; Chen, Yuncai; Suh, Dongjin; Ager, Rahasson R.; Rodriguez-Ortiz, Carlos J.; Mederios, Rodrigo; Myczek, Kristoffer; Green, Kim N.; Baram, Tallie Z.; LaFerla, Frank M.

2016-01-01

Alzheimer’s disease (AD) is a progressive neurological disorder that impairs memory and other cognitive functions in the elderly. The social and financial impacts of AD are overwhelming and are escalating exponentially as a result of population aging. Therefore, identifying AD-related risk factors and the development of more efficacious therapeutic approaches are critical to cure this neurological disorder. Current epidemiological evidence indicates that life experiences, including chronic stress, are a risk for AD. However, it is unknown if short-term stress, lasting for hours, influences the onset or progression of AD. Here, we determined the effect of short-term, multi-modal ‘modern life-like’ stress on AD pathogenesis and synaptic plasticity in mice bearing three AD mutations (the 3xTg-AD mouse model). We found that combined emotional and physical stress lasting 5 h severely impaired memory in wild-type mice and tended to impact it in already low-performing 3xTg-AD mice. This stress reduced the number of synapse-bearing dendritic spines in 3xTg-AD mice and increased Aβ levels by augmenting AβPP processing. Thus, short-term stress simulating modern-life conditions may exacerbate cognitive deficits in preclinical AD by accelerating amyloid pathology and reducing synapse numbers. PMID:26077803

[Conservative treatment of idiopathic scoliosis with effective braces: early response to trunk asymmetry may avoid curvature progress].

PubMed

Matussek, J; Dingeldey, E; Wagner, F; Rezai, G; Nahr, K

2014-07-01

Vertical posture of the growing child requires minute central nervous control mechanisms in order to maintain symmetry of the torso in its various activities. Scoliosis describes a constant deviation in the frontal, transverse and sagittal planes from the dynamic symmetry of the trunk. Early intervention with effective bracing, physiotherapy and sports can reverse curve progression during growth spurts, once these are identified in screening. Modern braces have a derotating and reducing effect (mirror effect) on asymmetric body volumes, thus influencing the growing torso and restoring lasting symmetry. Recent data support the use of braces to reverse progressing scoliosis.

Fossil diatoms and neogene paleolimnology

USGS Publications Warehouse

Platt, Bradbury J.

1988-01-01

Diatoms have played an important role in the development of Neogene continental biostratigraphy and paleolimnology since the mid-19th Century. The history of progress in Quaternary diatom biostratigraphy has developed as a result of improved coring techniques that enable sampling sediments beneath existing lakes coupled with improved chronological control (including radiometric dating and varve enumeration), improved statistical treatment of fossil diatom assemblages (from qualitative description to influx calculations of diatom numbers or volumes), and improved ecological information about analogous living diatom associations. The last factor, diatom ecology, is the most critical in many ways, but progresses slowly. Fortunately, statistical comparison of modern diatom assemblages and insightful studies of the nutrient requirements of some common freshwater species are enabling diatom paleolimnologists to make more detailed interpretations of the Quaternary record than had been possible earlier, and progress in the field of diatom biology and ecology will continue to refine paleolimnological studies. The greater age and geologic setting of Tertiary diatomaceous deposits has prompted their study in the contexts of geologic history, biochronology and evolution. The distribution of diatoms of marine affinities in continental deposits has given geologists insights about tectonism and sea-level change, and the distribution of distinctive (extinct?) diatoms has found utilization both in making stratigraphic correlations between outcrops of diatomaceous deposits and in various types of biochronological studies that involve dating deposits in different areas. A continental diatom biochronologic scheme will rely upon evolution, such as the appearance of new genera within a family, in combination with regional environmental changes that are responsible for the wide distribution of distinctive diatom species. The increased use of the scanning electron microscope for the detailed descriptions of fossil diatoms will provide the basis for making more accurate correlations and identifications, and the micromorphological detail for speculations about evolutionary relationships. ?? 1988.

[MODERN APPROACHES TO THE DIAGNOSIS AND TREATMENT OF CHEMOTHERAPY TOXICITY IN PATIENTS WITH BREAST CANCER].

PubMed

Syvak, L A; Hubareva, H O; Filonenko, K S; Majdanevych, N M; Aleksyk, O M; Lyalkin, S A; Klimanov, M J; Askolskyi, A V; Kasap, N V

2015-01-01

The use of modern chemotherapy (CT) allowed to achieve significant progress in the treatment of many malignant tumors that were previously considered fatal. Improving the efficiency of the treatment was achieved by the intensification of chemotherapy. However, intensification of chemotherapy regimes provoked increase in the number of side effects of anticancer therapy,which often lead to a decrease in the intensity of the selected mode, the additional financial costs of treating the complications and the formation of the negative attitude of the patient to treatment. Thus, the side effects of chemotherapy are the actual problem of modern oncology. The purpose of this literature review was to investigate the frequency, symptoms and ways to prevent and treat various types of toxicity of chemotherapy.

[European health systems and the integration problem of modern societies].

PubMed

Lüschen, G

2000-04-01

With reference to the national health systems in Germany and the UK we must acknowledge that it was in particular Bismarck's Reform, originally directed toward a solidarity among the socially weak, which entailed in its development a marked redistribution via progressive health fees and standardized health services. In view of Alfred Marshall's original expectations this has resulted in a specific integration of the socially weak and with some difference for nationally tax-financed and social security financed health systems to a genuine contribution towards integration of modern society. An open research question is whether as a consequence of solidarity and integration through health systems there is a decline of social inequality for health. Equally open is the question as to the socio-structural and economic consequences the expansion of modern health systems has.

Traditional Chinese rehabilitative therapy in the process of modernization.

PubMed

Zhuo, D H

1988-01-01

In the past few years modalities of traditional Chinese rehabilitative therapy have changed from an experimental approach towards the shaping of a modernized and scientific system. The landmark of this process is characterized by adoption of scientific methods in the appraisal of efficacy, provision of experimental evidence to unveil the mechanisms for the treatments and development of new modalities by innovation with modern technology. Recent advances in clinical and experimental studies on acupuncture, Chinese massage and manipulation, qigong, and Tai Ji exercise are reviewed, with a focus on new findings in physiological mechanisms and effects on anti-senility. Comments are made on new modalities such as 'physical therapy on acupoints'. Progress in the use of qigong (meditation therapy) in tapping mental potentials and remediating mental deficiency is also reported.

Against the Grain: The Influence of Changing Agricultural Management on the Earth System

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Foley, J. A.

2007-12-01

The rise of modern agriculture was one of the most transformative events in human history, and has forever changed our relationship to the natural world. By clearing tropical forests, practicing subsistence agriculture on marginal lands and intensifying industrialized farmland production, agricultural practices are changing the worldês landscapes in pervasive ways. In the past decade, we have made tremendous progress in monitoring agricultural expansion from satellites, and modeling associated environmental impacts. In the past decade, the Earth System Science research community has begun to recognize the importance of agricultural lands, particularly as they continue expanding at the expense of important natural ecosystems, potentially altering the planetês carbon cycle and climate. With the advent of new remote sensing and global modeling methods, several efforts have documented the expansion of agricultural lands, the corresponding loss of natural ecosystems, and how this may influence the earth system. But the geographic expansion of agricultural lands is not the whole story. While significant agricultural expansion (or extensification) has occurred in the past few decades, the intensification of agricultural practices Ð under the aegis of the -Green Revolution" Ð has dramatically altered the relationship between humans and environmental systems across the world. Simply put, many of the worldês existing agricultural lands are being used much more intensively as opportunities for agricultural expansion are being exhausted elsewhere. In the last 40 years, global agricultural production has more than doubled Ð although global cropland has increased by only 12% Ð mainly through the use of high yielding varieties of grain, increased reliance on irrigation, massive increases in chemical fertilization, and increased mechanization. Indeed, in the past 40 years there has been a 700% increase in global fertilizer use and a 70% increase in irrigated cropland area. While these modern agricultural practices have successfully increased food production, they have caused extensive environmental damage across the planet. Unfortunately, the current generation of remote sensing datasets and global models only considers the geographic extent of agricultural land; the actual practice of agriculture (what is grown, how it is grown, what inputs are used) is almost completely ignored. This is a serious oversight. In this presentation, I will present new efforts to document the patterns of global agricultural practices and management regimes, and new techniques for incorporating them into global ecological and climate models.

Brain development and the nature versus nurture debate.

PubMed

Stiles, Joan

2011-01-01

Over the past three decades, developmental neurobiologists have made tremendous progress in defining basic principles of brain development. This work has changed the way we think about how brains develop. Thirty years ago, the dominant model was strongly deterministic. The relationship between brain and behavioral development was viewed as unidirectional; that is, brain maturation enables behavioral development. The advent of modern neurobiological methods has provided overwhelming evidence that it is the interaction of genetic factors and the experience of the individual that guides and supports brain development. Brains do not develop normally in the absence of critical genetic signaling, and they do not develop normally in the absence of essential environmental input. The fundamental facts about brain development should be of critical importance to neuropsychologists trying to understand the relationship between brain and behavioral development. However, the underlying assumptions of most contemporary psychological models reflect largely outdated ideas about how the biological system develops and what it means for something to be innate. Thus, contemporary models of brain development challenge the foundational constructs of the nature versus nurture formulation in psychology. The key to understanding the origins and emergence of both the brain and behavior lies in understanding how inherited and environmental factors are engaged in the dynamic and interactive processes that define and guide development of the neurobehavioral system. Copyright © 2011 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Genomics of Tropical Fruit Tree Crops

USDA-ARS?s Scientific Manuscript database

The genetic improvement of tropical fruit trees is limited when compared to progress achieved in temperate fruit trees and annual crops. Tropical fruit tree breeding programs require significant resources to develop new cultivars that are adapted to modern shipping and storage requirements. The use...

Advancing Health and Environmental Disease Tracking: A 5-Year Follow-Up Study

PubMed Central

Litt, Jill S.; Wismann, Andrea; Resnick, Beth; Dawson, Rebecca Smullin; Hano, Mary; Burke, Thomas A.

2007-01-01

Objectives. Our goal was to gain an understanding of the extent to which environmental public health tracking (EPHT) has progressed since the release of the 2000 Pew Environmental Health Commission report examining the nation’s EPHT infrastructure. Methods. As a follow-up to the Pew Commission report, we conducted a telephone survey of state practitioners in an effort to assess EPHT trends and changes in state-level capacities and activities over the past several years. Results. We found that new and enhanced federal–state partnerships; improved surveillance, data analysis, and communication capacities; and enhanced support of tracking personnel have provided a foundation for progress in the area of EPHT. Also, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s support of EPHT has strengthened the national environmental public health infrastructure and capacity to track environmental hazards, exposures, and health. Conclusions. Improved funding, data access, and translation of data to prevention activities are critical to sustaining progress in EPHT and developing the evidence base necessary for assessing the longer-term impacts and efficacy of EPHT and related environmental health improvements. PMID:17267714

77 FR 51527 - Notice of Extension of Public Comment Period for the Draft Environmental Impact Statement for the...

Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

2012-08-24

... be considered, all comments on the Draft EIS must be received by September 27, 2012. The DoN will... (DoN) is extending the public comment period for the Draft Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) for the Proposed Modernization and Expansion of Townsend Bombing Range (TBR), Georgia (GA) until September...

Rio Grande Basin and the modern world: Understanding scale and context

Treesearch

Joseph A. Tainter

1999-01-01

Environmental problems are social issues, embedded in economic and political contexts at the local, regional, national, and global levels. Placing environmental issues on the scale from local to global clarifies conflicts between the level at which problems originate and the level at which they must be addressed. Local issues today often originate in sources distant in...

Environmental Concern, Moral Education and Our Place in Nature

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Bonnett, Michael

2012-01-01

Some strands of environmental concern invite a radical re-evaluation of many taken for granted assumptions of late modern ways of life--particularly those that structure how we relate to the natural world. This article explores some of the implications of such a re-evaluation for our understanding of moral education by examining the significance…

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

Hall, F.K.

In the October 1991 Tappi Journal, TAPPI President K. Keith Hall reported on a variety of environmental issues relating to sustainability, the greenhouse effect, silviculture, and overpopulation. In this article, Hall takes a further look at environmental issues and the conflicts between rationality and emotions. He discusses the roots of the modern movement; economic dimensions; the outrage' syndrome; emotional images; and who will pay.

Environmental Effects of Weapons Technology, A Scientists' Institute for Public Information Workbook.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

McClintock, Michael; And Others

This collection of articles includes a general account of the environmental effects of modern weapons technology, a selection of news reports demonstrating the peacetime hazards of chemical and biological weapons, data on the physiological effects of the most common chemical weapons, a discussion of the hazards of biological weapons, a report of…

Exploring Use of New Media in Environmental Education Contexts: Introducing Visitors' Technology Use in Zoos Model

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Yocco, Victor; Danter, Elizabeth H.; Heimlich, Joseph E.; Dunckel, Betty A.; Myers, Chris

2011-01-01

Modern zoological gardens have invested substantial resources in technology to deliver environmental education concepts to visitors. Investment in these media reflects a currently unsubstantiated belief that visitors will both use and learn from these media alongside more traditional and less costly displays. This paper proposes a model that…

Assessing the distribution of environmental stewardship organizations and their relationship to the demographics of Los Angeles County

Treesearch

Krystle M. Golly

2017-01-01

An equal distribution of environmental stewardship organizations across the urban landscape provides an environment that facilitates community empowerment. The systemic issues found in Los Angeles County play an important role in the social development of the area. Through the utilization of modern technology and geographical mapping software, spatial distribution of...

Pleistocene reefs of the Egyptian Red Sea: environmental change and community persistence

PubMed Central

2017-01-01

The fossil record of Red Sea fringing reefs provides an opportunity to study the history of coral-reef survival and recovery in the context of extreme environmental change. The Middle Pleistocene, the Late Pleistocene, and modern reefs represent three periods of reef growth separated by glacial low stands during which conditions became difficult for symbiotic reef fauna. Coral diversity and paleoenvironments of eight Middle and Late Pleistocene fossil terraces are described and characterized here. Pleistocene reef zones closely resemble reef zones of the modern Red Sea. All but one species identified from Middle and Late Pleistocene outcrops are also found on modern Red Sea reefs despite the possible extinction of most coral over two-thirds of the Red Sea basin during glacial low stands. Refugia in the Gulf of Aqaba and southern Red Sea may have allowed for the persistence of coral communities across glaciation events. Stability of coral communities across these extreme climate events indicates that even small populations of survivors can repopulate large areas given appropriate water conditions and time. PMID:28674659

Pleistocene reefs of the Egyptian Red Sea: environmental change and community persistence.

PubMed

Casazza, Lorraine R

2017-01-01

The fossil record of Red Sea fringing reefs provides an opportunity to study the history of coral-reef survival and recovery in the context of extreme environmental change. The Middle Pleistocene, the Late Pleistocene, and modern reefs represent three periods of reef growth separated by glacial low stands during which conditions became difficult for symbiotic reef fauna. Coral diversity and paleoenvironments of eight Middle and Late Pleistocene fossil terraces are described and characterized here. Pleistocene reef zones closely resemble reef zones of the modern Red Sea. All but one species identified from Middle and Late Pleistocene outcrops are also found on modern Red Sea reefs despite the possible extinction of most coral over two-thirds of the Red Sea basin during glacial low stands. Refugia in the Gulf of Aqaba and southern Red Sea may have allowed for the persistence of coral communities across glaciation events. Stability of coral communities across these extreme climate events indicates that even small populations of survivors can repopulate large areas given appropriate water conditions and time.

Resource conservation program in terms of Vostokgazprom environmental policy

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Tsibulnikova, M. R.; Nadyumov, S. V.; Adam, A. M.; Korotchenko, T. V.

2016-09-01

The article examines a number of key areas of environmental policy of Vostokgazprom. The Associated Petroleum Gas program is an important step within the resource conservation and environmental protection framework. In addition, the company undertakes the extensive work on emergency response programs, and carries out continuous protection of the subsurface and control over environmental safety in all production sites. Vostokgazprom continuously modernizes the basic industrial facilities and invests money in new projects. The study analyzes the steps being taken by the company within the energy saving policy that leads to significant costs cut.

Annual changes in Arctic fjord environment and modern benthic foraminiferal fauna: Evidence from Kongsfjorden, Svalbard

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Jernas, Patrycja; Klitgaard-Kristensen, Dorthe; Husum, Katrine; Koç, Nalan; Tverberg, Vigdis; Loubere, Paul; Prins, Maarten; Dijkstra, Noortje; Gluchowska, Marta

2018-04-01

The relationships between modern Arctic benthic foraminifera and their ecological controls, along with their sensitivity to rapid environmental changes, is still poorly understood. This study examines how modern benthic foraminifera respond to annual environmental changes in the glaciated Arctic fjord Kongsfjorden, western Svalbard. Large environmental gradients due to the inflow of warm and saline Atlantic Water and the influence of tidewater glaciers characterise the fjord hydrography. A transect of six multi-corer stations, from the inner to the outer fjord, was sampled in the late summers of 2005 to 2008 to study the distribution of living (rose Bengal stained) benthic foraminifera. Physical properties of the water masses were measured concurrently. In general, nearly the entire Kongsfjorden region was dominated by ubiquitous N. labradorica foraminiferal assemblage that successfully exploited the local food resources and thrived particularly well in the presence of Atlantic-derived Transformed Atlantic Water (TAW). Further, the annual investigation revealed that Kongsfjorden underwent large interannual hydrological changes during the studied years related to variable inflow of warm and saline Atlantic Water. This led to a strong fauna variability particularly at the two marginal sites: the glacially influenced inner fjord and marine influenced shelf region. We also observed significant species shift from the 'cold' to 'warm' years and an expansion of widespread and sub-arctic to boreal species into the fjord.

Impact of natural products in modern drug development.

PubMed

Dev, Sukh

2010-03-01

Usage of natural substances as therapeutic agents in modern medicine has sharply declined from the predominant position held in the early decades of last century, but search for bioactive molecules from nature (plants, animals, microflora) continues to play an important role in fashioning new medicinal agents. With the advent of modern techniques, instrumentation and automation in isolation and structural characterisation, we have on hand an enormous repository of natural compounds. In parallel to this, biology has also made tremendous progress in expanding its frontiers of knowledge. An interplay of these two disciplines constitutes the modern thrust in research in the realm of compounds elaborated by nature. The purpose of this article is to underline how natural products research continues to make significant contributions in the domain of discovery and development of new medicinal products. It is proposed to present the material under several heads, each of which has made natural products research relevant in the search for new and better medication.

Physics and Modern Warfare: The Awkward Silence.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Woollett, E. L.

1980-01-01

Discusses the great dependence of the present arms race on a healthy physics enterprise and the pervasive connections between pure and applied science and military needs. This discussion is intended to orient college students about some problems directly related to progress made in science. (HM)

Driven by History: Mathematics Education Reform

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Permuth, Steve; Dalzell, Nicole

2013-01-01

The advancement of modern societies is fueled by mathematics, and mathematics education provides the foundation upon which future scientists and engineers will build. Society dictates how mathematics will be taught through the development and implementation of mathematics standards. When examining the progression of these standards, it is…

Modern advances in sustainable tick control

USDA-ARS?s Scientific Manuscript database

Ticks are the vector of the many different organisms responsible for both animal and human diseases. Understanding the progress we have made and new directions in tick control is critical to the sustainability of human and animal health. The integration of vaccines, acaricides, and new acaricide ap...

Domestication of seaweeds

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

Van der Meer, J.P.

1983-03-01

Seaweeds are an important component of marine ecosystems and are also used by man for a variety of purposes. Intelligent management and cultivation of seaweeds would greatly increase current production. Although genetic development of seaweeds is only beginning, application of modern and traditional techniques could yield rapid progress. (Refs. 36).

Contemporary imaging of mild TBI: the journey toward diffusion tensor imaging to assess neuronal damage.

PubMed

Fox, W Christopher; Park, Min S; Belverud, Shawn; Klugh, Arnett; Rivet, Dennis; Tomlin, Jeffrey M

2013-04-01

To follow the progression of neuroimaging as a means of non-invasive evaluation of mild traumatic brain injury (mTBI) in order to provide recommendations based on reproducible, defined imaging findings. A comprehensive literature review and analysis of contemporary published articles was performed to study the progression of neuroimaging findings as a non-invasive 'biomarker' for mTBI. Multiple imaging modalities exist to support the evaluation of patients with mTBI, including ultrasound (US), computed tomography (CT), single photon emission computed tomography (SPECT), positron emission tomography (PET), and magnetic resonance imaging (MRI). These techniques continue to evolve with the development of fractional anisotropy (FA), fiber tractography (FT), and diffusion tensor imaging (DTI). Modern imaging techniques, when applied in the appropriate clinical setting, may serve as a valuable tool for diagnosis and management of patients with mTBI. An understanding of modern neuroanatomical imaging will enhance our ability to analyse injury and recognize the manifestations of mTBI.

Old patterns, new meaning: the 1845 hospital of Bezm-i Alem in Istanbul.

PubMed

Shefer, Miri

2005-01-01

This paper discusses the history of an 1845 Ottoman hospital founded by Bezm-i Alem, mother of the reigning sultan Abdülmecit I (reigned 1839-1856), embedded in the medical and political contexts of the Middle East in the nineteenth century. The main focus of this paper is the Ottoman discourse of modernization, which identified progress with modernization and westernization and induced a belief in the positive character of progress, with a high degree of optimism regarding the success of the process. The Bezm-i Alem hospital illustrates the medical reality of the 19th century, reconstructed through Ottoman eyes rather than from the perspective of foreigners with their own agenda and biases. In many respects it continued previous medical traditions; other aspects reveal brand new developments in Ottoman medicine and hospital management. Ottoman medical reality was one of coexistence and rivalry: traditional conceptions of medicine and health were believed and practiced side-by-side with new western-like concepts and techniques.

Wearable Chemosensors: A Review of Recent Progress

PubMed Central

Qian, Ruo‐Can

2017-01-01

Abstract In recent years, there has been growing demand for wearable chemosensors for their important potential applications in mobile and electronic healthcare, patient self‐assessment, human motion monitoring, and so on. Innovations in wearable chemosensors are revolutionizing the modern lifestyle, especially the involvement of both doctors and patients in the modern healthcare system. The facile interaction of wearable chemosensors with the human body makes them favorable and convenient tools for the detection and long‐term monitoring of the chemical, biological, and physical status of the human body at a low cost with high performance. In this Minireview, we give a brief overview of the recent advances and developments in the field of wearable chemosensors, summarize the basic types of wearable chemosensors, and discuss their main functions and fabrication methods. At the end of this paper, the future development direction of wearable chemosensors is prospected. With continued interest and attention to this field, new exciting progress is expected in the development of innovative wearable chemosensors. PMID:29435397

Active and intelligent packaging systems for a modern society.

PubMed

Realini, Carolina E; Marcos, Begonya

2014-11-01

Active and intelligent packaging systems are continuously evolving in response to growing challenges from a modern society. This article reviews: (1) the different categories of active and intelligent packaging concepts and currently available commercial applications, (2) latest packaging research trends and innovations, and (3) the growth perspectives of the active and intelligent packaging market. Active packaging aiming at extending shelf life or improving safety while maintaining quality is progressing towards the incorporation of natural active agents into more sustainable packaging materials. Intelligent packaging systems which monitor the condition of the packed food or its environment are progressing towards more cost-effective, convenient and integrated systems to provide innovative packaging solutions. Market growth is expected for active packaging with leading shares for moisture absorbers, oxygen scavengers, microwave susceptors and antimicrobial packaging. The market for intelligent packaging is also promising with strong gains for time-temperature indicator labels and advancements in the integration of intelligent concepts into packaging materials. Copyright © 2014 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Environmental triggers in IBD: a review of progress and evidence.

PubMed

Ananthakrishnan, Ashwin N; Bernstein, Charles N; Iliopoulos, Dimitrios; Macpherson, Andrew; Neurath, Markus F; Ali, Raja A Raja; Vavricka, Stephan R; Fiocchi, Claudio

2018-01-01

A number of environmental factors have been associated with the development of IBD. Alteration of the gut microbiota, or dysbiosis, is closely linked to initiation or progression of IBD, but whether dysbiosis is a primary or secondary event is unclear. Nevertheless, early-life events such as birth, breastfeeding and exposure to antibiotics, as well as later childhood events, are considered potential risk factors for IBD. Air pollution, a consequence of the progressive contamination of the environment by countless compounds, is another factor associated with IBD, as particulate matter or other components can alter the host's mucosal defences and trigger immune responses. Hypoxia associated with high altitude is also a factor under investigation as a potential new trigger of IBD flares. A key issue is how to translate environmental factors into mechanisms of IBD, and systems biology is increasingly recognized as a strategic tool to unravel the molecular alterations leading to IBD. Environmental factors add a substantial level of complexity to the understanding of IBD pathogenesis but also promote the fundamental notion that complex diseases such as IBD require complex therapies that go well beyond the current single-agent treatment approach. This Review describes the current conceptualization, evidence, progress and direction surrounding the association of environmental factors with IBD.

Exploring Science Through Polar Exploration

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Pfirman, S. L.; Bell, R. E.; Zadoff, L.; Kelsey, R.

2003-12-01

Exploring the Poles is a First Year Seminar course taught at Barnard College, Columbia University. First Year Seminars are required of incoming students and are designed to encourage critical analysis in a small class setting with focused discussion. The class links historical polar exploration with current research in order to: introduce non-scientists to the value of environmental science through polar literature; discuss issues related to venturing into the unknown that are of relevance to any discipline: self-reliance, leadership, preparation, decisions under uncertainty; show students the human face of science; change attitudes about science and scientists; use data to engage students in exploring/understanding the environment and help them learn to draw conclusions from data; integrate research and education. These goals are met by bringing analysis of early exploration efforts together with a modern understanding of the polar environment. To date to class has followed the efforts of Nansen in the Fram, Scott and Amundsen in their race to the pole, and Shackleton's Endurance. As students read turn-of-the-century expedition journals, expedition progress is progressively revealed on an interactive map showing the environmental context. To bring the exploration process to life, students are assigned to expedition teams for specific years and the fates of the student "expeditions" are based on their own decisions. For example, in the Arctic, they navigate coastal sea ice and become frozen into the ice north of Siberia, re-creating Nansen's polar drift. Fates of the teams varied tremendously: some safely emerged at Fram Strait in 4 years, while others nearly became hopelessly lost in the Beaufort Gyre. Students thus learn about variability in the current polar environment through first hand experience, enabling them to appreciate the experiences, decisions, and, in some cases, the luck, of polar explorers. Evaluation by the Columbia Center for New Media, Teaching and Learning shows that combining historical texts with current data/simulations is an extremely powerful way of engaging non-scientists in science, and explaining the role of science and the environment in decision-making.

The mid- to late-Holocene environmental evolution at the marsh of Vravron (Attiki, SE Greece): a multidisciplinary approach

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Triantaphyllou, M. V.; Kouli, K.; Tsourou, T.; Koukousioura, O.; Pavlopoulos, K.; Dermitzakis, M. D.

2009-04-01

The Vravron bay, in the vicinity of the homonym archaeological site is a marshy area located on the eastern coast of Attiki peninsula (eastern Greece). Vravron was inhabited already since the Early/ Middle Neolithic, although it's mainly known from the famous Archaic and Classical sanctuary of Vravronia Artemis. A sediment core from the marshy deposits of Vravron was submitted to detailed palynological, micropaleontological and sedimentological analyses, in order to investigate the environmental evolution of the area since approx. 3000 BC (AMS 14C). Benthic foraminifera and ostracoda assemblages were used to trace the depositional environment of the sequence: open shallow marine conditions with constant input of fresh water due to the influx of Erasinos River are recorded until 400BC, confirming the existence of the natural port known from a Mycenaean legend, while repeated flooding events recorded between 400BC and 50 AD should be linked with the destruction of the famous sanctuary of Artemis and the abandonment of the area. Around 50 AD the ongoing progression of Erasinos River resulted in the gradual development of lagoonal environment that after 1300AD got isolated from the sea becoming progressively a fresh water marsh. Pollen assemblages included representatives from all modern phytogeographic zones, indicating the complexity of the plant communities in the area and outlined the vegetation development since the Early Bronze Age. Even if human presence has been continuously recorded, its impact on natural environment appears profound only during the Mycenaean times, when cereal cultivation seems to be the main rural activity and after 1300AD, when a remarkable rise in like ploughing and herding evidence marks the introduction of the Arvanites population in the area. The establishment of the Vravronia Artemis sanctuary during the Geometric times coincides with a turnover in agricultural activities, as cereal cultivation is neglected and olive groves are amplified.

Archaean tectonic systems: A view from igneous rocks

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Moyen, Jean-François; Laurent, Oscar

2018-03-01

This work examines the global distribution of Archaean and modern igneous rock's compositions, without relying on preconceptions about the link between rock compositions and tectonic sites (in contrast with "geotectonic" diagrams). Rather, Archaean and modern geochemical patterns are interpreted and compared in terms of source and melting conditions. Mafic rocks on the modern Earth show a clear chemical separation between arc and non-arc rocks. This points to the first order difference between wet (arc) and dry (mid-ocean ridges and hotspots) mantle melting. Dry melts are further separated in depleted (MORB) and enriched (OIB) sources. This three-fold pattern is a clear image of the ridge/subduction/plume system that dominates modern tectonics. In contrast, Archaean mafic and ultramafic rocks are clustered in an intermediate position, between the three main modern types. This suggests that the Archaean mantle had lesser amounts of clearly depleted or enriched portions; that true subductions were rare; and that the distinction between oceanic plateaus and ridges may have been less significant. Modern granitic rocks dominantly belong to two groups: arc-related granitoids, petrologically connected to arc basalts; and collision granitoids, related to felsic sources. In contrast, the Archaean record is dominated by the TTG suite that derives from an alkali-rich mafic source (i.e. altered basalt). The geochemical diversity of the TTG suite points to a great range of melting depths, from ca. 5 to > 20 kbar. This reveals the absence of large sedimentary accumulations, again the paucity of modern-like arc situations, and the importance played by reworking of an earlier basaltic shell, in a range of settings (including some proto-subduction mechanisms). Nonetheless, granitoids in each individual region show a progressive transition towards more modern-looking associations of arc-like and peraluminous granites. Collectively, the geochemical evidence suggests an Archaean Earth with somewhat different tectonic systems. In particular, the familiar distinction between collision, arcs, ridges and hotspots seems to blur in the Archaean. Rather, the large-scale geochemical pattern reveals a long-lived, altered and periodically resurfaced basaltic crust. This protocrust is reworked, through a range of processes occurring at various depths that correspond to a progressive stabilization of burial systems and the establishment of true subductions. A punctuated onset of global plate tectonics is unlikely to have occurred, but rather short-term episodes of proto-subduction in the late Archaean evolved over time into longer-term, more stable style of plate tectonics as mantle temperature decayed.

Maintenance therapy in colon cancer.

PubMed

Giuliani, F; De Vita, F; Colucci, G; Pisconti, S

2010-11-01

In the last decade dramatic improvements have been obtained in the treatment of metastatic colorectal cancer. Thanks to the introduction in the clinical practice of new drugs such as Irinotecan and Oxaliplatin, and modern biological drugs such as Bevacizumab and Cetuximab, the response rate, progression-free and overall survival are about 50-60%, 9-11 and 20-24 months respectively. Despite this progress, many questions remain unsolved especially those related to the optimal duration of treatment and the role of maintenance therapy. To treat until progression (or unacceptable toxicity) is the classical way but in the common clinical practice is frequent to perform an induction therapy (until the maximum response is obtained) followed by a complete stop and restart on progression, or by a maintenance without the drug/s responsible of the major cumulative toxicities. The following report focus on the role of different strategies respect to the classic "treatment until progression". Copyright © 2010 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Isotopic ordering in eggshells reflects body temperatures and suggests differing thermophysiology in two Cretaceous dinosaurs.

PubMed

Eagle, Robert A; Enriquez, Marcus; Grellet-Tinner, Gerald; Pérez-Huerta, Alberto; Hu, David; Tütken, Thomas; Montanari, Shaena; Loyd, Sean J; Ramirez, Pedro; Tripati, Aradhna K; Kohn, Matthew J; Cerling, Thure E; Chiappe, Luis M; Eiler, John M

2015-10-13

Our understanding of the evolutionary transitions leading to the modern endothermic state of birds and mammals is incomplete, partly because tools available to study the thermophysiology of extinct vertebrates are limited. Here we show that clumped isotope analysis of eggshells can be used to determine body temperatures of females during periods of ovulation. Late Cretaceous titanosaurid eggshells yield temperatures similar to large modern endotherms. In contrast, oviraptorid eggshells yield temperatures lower than most modern endotherms but ∼ 6 °C higher than co-occurring abiogenic carbonates, implying that this taxon did not have thermoregulation comparable to modern birds, but was able to elevate its body temperature above environmental temperatures. Therefore, we observe no strong evidence for end-member ectothermy or endothermy in the species examined. Body temperatures for these two species indicate that variable thermoregulation likely existed among the non-avian dinosaurs and that not all dinosaurs had body temperatures in the range of that seen in modern birds.

Methane seep carbonates yield clumped isotope signatures out of equilibrium with formation temperatures

DOE PAGES

Loyd, S. J.; Sample, J.; Tripati, R. E.; ...

2016-07-22

Here, methane cold seep systems typically exhibit extensive buildups of authigenic carbonate minerals, resulting from local increases in alkalinity driven by methane oxidation. Here, we demonstrate that modern seep authigenic carbonates exhibit anomalously low clumped isotope values (Δ47), as much as ~0.2‰ lower than expected values. In modern seeps, this range of disequilibrium translates into apparent temperatures that are always warmer than ambient temperatures, by up to 50 °C. We examine various mechanisms that may induce disequilibrium behaviour in modern seep carbonates, and suggest that the observed values result from several factors including kinetic isotopic effects during methane oxidation, mixingmore » of inorganic carbon pools, pH effects and rapid precipitation. Ancient seep carbonates studied here also exhibit potential disequilibrium signals. Ultimately, these findings indicate the predominance of disequilibrium clumped isotope behaviour in modern cold seep carbonates that must be considered when characterizing environmental conditions in both modern and ancient cold seep settings.« less

The Driving Forces of Cultural Complexity : Neanderthals, Modern Humans, and the Question of Population Size.

PubMed

Fogarty, Laurel; Wakano, Joe Yuichiro; Feldman, Marcus W; Aoki, Kenichi

2017-03-01

The forces driving cultural accumulation in human populations, both modern and ancient, are hotly debated. Did genetic, demographic, or cognitive features of behaviorally modern humans (as opposed to, say, early modern humans or Neanderthals) allow culture to accumulate to its current, unprecedented levels of complexity? Theoretical explanations for patterns of accumulation often invoke demographic factors such as population size or density, whereas statistical analyses of variation in cultural complexity often point to the importance of environmental factors such as food stability, in determining cultural complexity. Here we use both an analytical model and an agent-based simulation model to show that a full understanding of the emergence of behavioral modernity, and the cultural evolution that has followed, depends on understanding and untangling the complex relationships among culture, genetically determined cognitive ability, and demographic history. For example, we show that a small but growing population could have a different number of cultural traits from a shrinking population with the same absolute number of individuals in some circumstances.

Modern environmental health hazards: a public health issue of increasing significance in Africa.

PubMed

Nweke, Onyemaechi C; Sanders, William H

2009-06-01

Traditional hazards such as poor sanitation currently account for most of Africa's environmentally related disease burden. However, with rapid development absent appropriate safeguards for environment and health, modern environmental health hazards (MEHHs) may emerge as critical contributors to the continent's disease burden. We review recent evidence of human exposure to and health effects from MEHHs, and their occurrence in environmental media and consumer products. Our purpose is to highlight the growing significance of these hazards as African countries experience urbanization, industrial growth, and development. We reviewed published epidemiologic, exposure, and environmental studies of chemical agents such as heavy metals and pesticides. The body of evidence demonstrates ongoing environmental releases of MEHHs and human exposures sometimes at toxicologically relevant levels. Several sources of MEHHs in environmental media have been identified, including natural resource mining and processing and automobile exhaust. Biomonitoring studies provided direct evidence of human exposure to metals such as mercury and lead and pesticides such as p,p'-dichlorodiphenyltrichloroethane (DDT) and organophosphates. Land and water resource pollution and industrial air toxics are areas of significant data gaps, notwithstanding the presence of several emitting sources. Unmitigated MEHH releases and human exposure have implications for Africa's disease burden. For Africans encumbered by conditions such as malnutrition that impair resilience to toxicologic challenges, the burden may be higher. A shift in public health policy toward accommodating the emerging diversity in Africa's environmental health issues is necessary to successfully alleviate the burden of avoidable ill health and premature death for all its communities now and in the future.

An inventory of multipurpose avenue trees of urban Chandigarh, India

Treesearch

R. K. Kohli; H. P. Singh; Daizy R. Batish

2000-01-01

Trees in urban ecosystems play a very significant role in environmental protection by checking air and noise pollutants, abating wind, and handling many other functions, in India, Chandigarh is the most modern and environmentally safe city and qualifies to be called a GREEN CITY because of its rich tree component. This is so in spite of its high population density,...

Current Progress in Tonoplast Proteomics Reveals Insights into the Function of the Large Central Vacuole

PubMed Central

Trentmann, Oliver; Haferkamp, Ilka

2013-01-01

Vacuoles of plants fulfill various biologically important functions, like turgor generation and maintenance, detoxification, solute sequestration, or protein storage. Different types of plant vacuoles (lytic versus protein storage) are characterized by different functional properties apparently caused by a different composition/abundance and regulation of transport proteins in the surrounding membrane, the tonoplast. Proteome analyses allow the identification of vacuolar proteins and provide an informative basis for assigning observed transport processes to specific carriers or channels. This review summarizes techniques required for vacuolar proteome analyses, like e.g., isolation of the large central vacuole or tonoplast membrane purification. Moreover, an overview about diverse published vacuolar proteome studies is provided. It becomes evident that qualitative proteomes from different plant species represent just the tip of the iceberg. During the past few years, mass spectrometry achieved immense improvement concerning its accuracy, sensitivity, and application. As a consequence, modern tonoplast proteome approaches are suited for detecting alterations in membrane protein abundance in response to changing environmental/physiological conditions and help to clarify the regulation of tonoplast transport processes. PMID:23459586

Best practices in bioinformatics training for life scientists.

PubMed

Via, Allegra; Blicher, Thomas; Bongcam-Rudloff, Erik; Brazas, Michelle D; Brooksbank, Cath; Budd, Aidan; De Las Rivas, Javier; Dreyer, Jacqueline; Fernandes, Pedro L; van Gelder, Celia; Jacob, Joachim; Jimenez, Rafael C; Loveland, Jane; Moran, Federico; Mulder, Nicola; Nyrönen, Tommi; Rother, Kristian; Schneider, Maria Victoria; Attwood, Teresa K

2013-09-01

The mountains of data thrusting from the new landscape of modern high-throughput biology are irrevocably changing biomedical research and creating a near-insatiable demand for training in data management and manipulation and data mining and analysis. Among life scientists, from clinicians to environmental researchers, a common theme is the need not just to use, and gain familiarity with, bioinformatics tools and resources but also to understand their underlying fundamental theoretical and practical concepts. Providing bioinformatics training to empower life scientists to handle and analyse their data efficiently, and progress their research, is a challenge across the globe. Delivering good training goes beyond traditional lectures and resource-centric demos, using interactivity, problem-solving exercises and cooperative learning to substantially enhance training quality and learning outcomes. In this context, this article discusses various pragmatic criteria for identifying training needs and learning objectives, for selecting suitable trainees and trainers, for developing and maintaining training skills and evaluating training quality. Adherence to these criteria may help not only to guide course organizers and trainers on the path towards bioinformatics training excellence but, importantly, also to improve the training experience for life scientists.

Status report on the geology of the Oak Ridge Reservation

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

Hatcher, R.D. Jr.; Lemiszki, P.J.; Foreman, J.L.

1992-10-01

This report provides an introduction to the present state of knowledge of the geology of the Oak Ridge Reservation (ORR) and a cursory introduction to the hydrogeology. An important element of this work is the construction of a modern detailed geologic map of the ORR (Plate 1), which remains in progress. An understanding of the geologic framework of the ORR is essential to many current and proposed activities related to land-use planning, waste management, environmental restoration, and waste remediation. Therefore, this report is also intended to convey the present state of knowledge of the geologic and geohydrologic framework of themore » ORR and vicinity and to present some of the available data that provide the basic framework for additional geologic mapping, subsurface geologic, and geohydrologic studies. In addition, some recently completed, detailed work on soils and other surficial materials is included because of the close relationships to bedrock geology and the need to recognize the weathered products of bedrock units. Weathering processes also have some influence on hydrologic systems and processes at depth.« less

A home automation based environmental sound alert for people experiencing hearing loss.

PubMed

Mielke, Matthias; Bruck, Rainer

2016-08-01

Different assistive technologies are available for deaf people (i.e. deaf, deafened, and hard of hearing). Besides the well-known hearing aid, devices for detection of sound events that occur at home or at work (e.g. doorbell, telephone) are available. Despite the technological progress in the last years and resulting new possibilities, the basic functions and concepts of such devices have not changed. The user still needs special assistive technology that is bound to the home or work environment. In this contribution a new concept for awareness of events in buildings is presented. In contrast to state-of-the-art assistive devices, it makes use of modern Information and Communication and home automation technology, and thus offers the prospect of cheap implementation and higher comfort for the user. In this concept events are indicated by notifications that are send over a Bluetooth Low Energy mesh network from a source to the user. The notifications are received by the user's smartwatch and the event is indicated by vibration and an icon representing its source.

Clumped isotope calibration data for lacustrine carbonates: A progress report

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Tripati, A.

2015-12-01

Our capacity to understand Earth's environmental history is highly dependent on the accuracy of reconstructions of past climates. Lake sediments provide important archives of terrestrial climate change, and represent an important tool for reconstructing paleohydrology, paleoclimate, paleoenvironment, and paleoaltimetry. Unfortunately, while multiple methods for constraining marine temperature exist, quantitative terrestrial proxies are scarcer - tree rings, speleothems, and leaf margin analyses have all been used with varying degrees of accuracy. Clumped isotope thermometry has the potential to be a useful instrument for determining terrestrial climates: multiple studies have shown the fraction of 13C—18O bonds in carbonates is inversely related to the temperature at which the rocks formed. We have been measuring the abundance of 13C18O16O in the CO2 produced by the dissolution of carbonate minerals in phosphoric acid in modern lake samples and comparing results to independently known estimates of lake water temperature. Here we discuss an extensive calibration dataset comprised of 132 analyses of 97 samples from 44 localities, including microbialites, tufas, and micrites endogenic carbonates, freshwater gastropods, bivalves, microbialites, and ooids.

Not all GMOs are crop plants: non-plant GMO applications in agriculture.

PubMed

Hokanson, K E; Dawson, W O; Handler, A M; Schetelig, M F; St Leger, R J

2014-12-01

Since tools of modern biotechnology have become available, the most commonly applied and often discussed genetically modified organisms are genetically modified crop plants, although genetic engineering is also being used successfully in organisms other than plants, including bacteria, fungi, insects, and viruses. Many of these organisms, as with crop plants, are being engineered for applications in agriculture, to control plant insect pests or diseases. This paper reviews the genetically modified non-plant organisms that have been the subject of permit approvals for environmental release by the United States Department of Agriculture/Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service since the US began regulating genetically modified organisms. This is an indication of the breadth and progress of research in the area of non-plant genetically modified organisms. This review includes three examples of promising research on non-plant genetically modified organisms for application in agriculture: (1) insects for insect pest control using improved vector systems; (2) fungal pathogens of insects to control insect pests; and (3) virus for use as transient-expression vectors for disease control in plants.

Best practices in bioinformatics training for life scientists

PubMed Central

Blicher, Thomas; Bongcam-Rudloff, Erik; Brazas, Michelle D.; Brooksbank, Cath; Budd, Aidan; De Las Rivas, Javier; Dreyer, Jacqueline; Fernandes, Pedro L.; van Gelder, Celia; Jacob, Joachim; Jimenez, Rafael C.; Loveland, Jane; Moran, Federico; Mulder, Nicola; Nyrönen, Tommi; Rother, Kristian; Schneider, Maria Victoria; Attwood, Teresa K.

2013-01-01

The mountains of data thrusting from the new landscape of modern high-throughput biology are irrevocably changing biomedical research and creating a near-insatiable demand for training in data management and manipulation and data mining and analysis. Among life scientists, from clinicians to environmental researchers, a common theme is the need not just to use, and gain familiarity with, bioinformatics tools and resources but also to understand their underlying fundamental theoretical and practical concepts. Providing bioinformatics training to empower life scientists to handle and analyse their data efficiently, and progress their research, is a challenge across the globe. Delivering good training goes beyond traditional lectures and resource-centric demos, using interactivity, problem-solving exercises and cooperative learning to substantially enhance training quality and learning outcomes. In this context, this article discusses various pragmatic criteria for identifying training needs and learning objectives, for selecting suitable trainees and trainers, for developing and maintaining training skills and evaluating training quality. Adherence to these criteria may help not only to guide course organizers and trainers on the path towards bioinformatics training excellence but, importantly, also to improve the training experience for life scientists. PMID:23803301

Modern Chemistry Techniques Applied to Metal Behavior and Chelation in Medical and Environmental Systems ? Final Report

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

Sutton, M; Andresen, B; Burastero, S R

2005-02-03

This report details the research and findings generated over the course of a 3-year research project funded by Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL) Laboratory Directed Research and Development (LDRD). Originally tasked with studying beryllium chemistry and chelation for the treatment of Chronic Beryllium Disease and environmental remediation of beryllium-contaminated environments, this work has yielded results in beryllium and uranium solubility and speciation associated with toxicology; specific and effective chelation agents for beryllium, capable of lowering beryllium tissue burden and increasing urinary excretion in mice, and dissolution of beryllium contamination at LLNL Site 300; {sup 9}Be NMR studies previously unstudied atmore » LLNL; secondary ionization mass spec (SIMS) imaging of beryllium in spleen and lung tissue; beryllium interactions with aerogel/GAC material for environmental cleanup. The results show that chelator development using modern chemical techniques such as chemical thermodynamic modeling, was successful in identifying and utilizing tried and tested beryllium chelators for use in medical and environmental scenarios. Additionally, a study of uranium speciation in simulated biological fluids identified uranium species present in urine, gastric juice, pancreatic fluid, airway surface fluid, simulated lung fluid, bile, saliva, plasma, interstitial fluid and intracellular fluid.« less

Genetic data from algae sedimentary DNA reflect the influence of environment over geography

PubMed Central

Stoof-Leichsenring, Kathleen R.; Herzschuh, Ulrike; Pestryakova, Luidmila A.; Klemm, Juliane; Epp, Laura S.; Tiedemann, Ralph

2015-01-01

Genetic investigations on eukaryotic plankton confirmed the existence of modern biogeographic patterns, but analyses of palaeoecological data exploring the temporal variability of these patterns have rarely been presented. Ancient sedimentary DNA proved suitable for investigations of past assemblage turnover in the course of environmental change, but genetic relatedness of the identified lineages has not yet been undertaken. Here, we investigate the relatedness of diatom lineages in Siberian lakes along environmental gradients (i.e. across treeline transects), over geographic distance and through time (i.e. the last 7000 years) using modern and ancient sedimentary DNA. Our results indicate that closely-related Staurosira lineages occur in similar environments and less-related lineages in dissimilar environments, in our case different vegetation and co-varying climatic and limnic variables across treeline transects. Thus our study reveals that environmental conditions rather than geographic distance is reflected by diatom-relatedness patterns in space and time. We tentatively speculate that the detected relatedness pattern in Staurosira across the treeline could be a result of adaptation to diverse environmental conditions across the arctic boreal treeline, however, a geographically-driven divergence and subsequent repopulation of ecologically different habitats might also be a potential explanation for the observed pattern. PMID:26261899

Biological and Environmental Research Exascale Requirements Review. An Office of Science review sponsored jointly by Advanced Scientific Computing Research and Biological and Environmental Research, March 28-31, 2016, Rockville, Maryland

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

Arkin, Adam; Bader, David C.; Coffey, Richard

Understanding the fundamentals of genomic systems or the processes governing impactful weather patterns are examples of the types of simulation and modeling performed on the most advanced computing resources in America. High-performance computing and computational science together provide a necessary platform for the mission science conducted by the Biological and Environmental Research (BER) office at the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE). This report reviews BER’s computing needs and their importance for solving some of the toughest problems in BER’s portfolio. BER’s impact on science has been transformative. Mapping the human genome, including the U.S.-supported international Human Genome Project that DOEmore » began in 1987, initiated the era of modern biotechnology and genomics-based systems biology. And since the 1950s, BER has been a core contributor to atmospheric, environmental, and climate science research, beginning with atmospheric circulation studies that were the forerunners of modern Earth system models (ESMs) and by pioneering the implementation of climate codes onto high-performance computers. See http://exascaleage.org/ber/ for more information.« less

Genetic data from algae sedimentary DNA reflect the influence of environment over geography.

PubMed

Stoof-Leichsenring, Kathleen R; Herzschuh, Ulrike; Pestryakova, Luidmila A; Klemm, Juliane; Epp, Laura S; Tiedemann, Ralph

2015-08-11

Genetic investigations on eukaryotic plankton confirmed the existence of modern biogeographic patterns, but analyses of palaeoecological data exploring the temporal variability of these patterns have rarely been presented. Ancient sedimentary DNA proved suitable for investigations of past assemblage turnover in the course of environmental change, but genetic relatedness of the identified lineages has not yet been undertaken. Here, we investigate the relatedness of diatom lineages in Siberian lakes along environmental gradients (i.e. across treeline transects), over geographic distance and through time (i.e. the last 7000 years) using modern and ancient sedimentary DNA. Our results indicate that closely-related Staurosira lineages occur in similar environments and less-related lineages in dissimilar environments, in our case different vegetation and co-varying climatic and limnic variables across treeline transects. Thus our study reveals that environmental conditions rather than geographic distance is reflected by diatom-relatedness patterns in space and time. We tentatively speculate that the detected relatedness pattern in Staurosira across the treeline could be a result of adaptation to diverse environmental conditions across the arctic boreal treeline, however, a geographically-driven divergence and subsequent repopulation of ecologically different habitats might also be a potential explanation for the observed pattern.

Comparable hydrogen isotopic fractionation of plant leaf wax n-alkanoic acids in arid and humid subtropical ecosystems

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Gao, Li; Zheng, Mei; Fraser, Matthew; Huang, Yongsong

2014-02-01

Leaf wax hydrogen isotope proxies have been widely used to reconstruct past hydrological changes. However, published reconstructions have given little consideration for the potentially variable hydrogen isotopic fractionation relative to precipitation (ɛwax-p) under different climate and environmental settings. Chief among various potential factors controlling fractionation is relative humidity, which is known to strongly affect oxygen isotopic ratios of plant cellulose, but its effect on hydrogen isotopic fractionation of leaf waxes is still ambiguous. Analyses of lake surface sediments and individual modern plants have provided valuable information on the variability of ɛwax-p, but both approaches have significant limitations. Here, we present an alternative method to obtain the integrated, time-resolved ecosystem-level ɛwax-p values, by analyzing modern aerosol samples collected weekly from arid (Arizona lowlands) and humid subtropical (Atlanta, Georgia) environments during the main growth season. Because aerosol samples mainly reflect regional leaf wax resources, the extreme contrast in the hydroclimate and associated vegetation assemblages between our study sites allows us to rigorously assess the impact of relative humidity and associated vegetation assemblages on leaf wax hydrogen isotopic fractionation. We show there is only minor difference (mostly <10‰) in the mean ɛwax-p values in the two end-member environments. One possible explanation is that the positive isotopic effects of low relative humidity are offset by progressive replacement of trees with grasses that have a more negative apparent fractionation. Our results represent an important step toward quantitative interpretation of leaf wax hydrogen isotopic records.

Historical time to disease progression and progression-free survival in patients with recurrent/refractory neuroblastoma treated in the modern era on Children's Oncology Group early-phase trials.

PubMed

London, Wendy B; Bagatell, Rochelle; Weigel, Brenda J; Fox, Elizabeth; Guo, Dongjing; Van Ryn, Collin; Naranjo, Arlene; Park, Julie R

2017-12-15

Early-phase trials in patients with recurrent neuroblastoma historically used an objective "response" of measureable disease (Response Evaluation Criteria In Solid Tumors [RECIST], without bone/bone marrow assessment) to select agents for further study. Historical cohorts may be small and potentially biased; to the authors' knowledge, disease recurrence studies from international registries are outdated. Using a large recent cohort of patients with recurrent/refractory neuroblastoma from Children's Oncology Group (COG) modern-era early-phase trials, the authors determined outcome and quantified parameters for designing future studies. The first early-phase COG trial enrollment (sequential) of 383 distinct patients with recurrent/refractory neuroblastoma on 23 phase 1, 3 phase 1/2, and 9 phase 2 trials (August 2002 to January 2014) was analyzed for progression-free survival (PFS), overall survival (OS), and time to disease progression (TTP). Planned frontline therapy for patients with high-risk neuroblastoma included hematopoietic stem cell transplantation (approximately two-thirds of patients underwent ≥1 hematopoietic stem cell transplantation); 13.2% of patients received dinutuximab. From the time of the patient's first early-phase trial enrollment (383 patients), the 1-year and 4-year PFS rates ( ± standard error) were 21% ± 2% and 6% ± 1%, respectively, whereas the 1-year and 4-year OS rates were 57% ± 3% and 20% ± 2%, respectively. The median TTP was 58 days (interquartile range, 31-183 days [350 patients]); the median follow-up was 25.3 months (33 patients were found to be without disease recurrence/progression). The median time from diagnosis to first disease recurrence/progression was 18.7 months (range, 1.4-64.8 months) (176 patients). MYCN amplification and 11q loss of heterozygosity were prognostic of worse PFS and OS (P = .003 and P<.0001, respectively, and P = .02 and P = .03, respectively) after early-phase trial enrollment. This recent COG cohort of patients with recurrent/refractory neuroblastoma is inclusive and representative. To the authors' knowledge, the current study is the first meta-analysis of PFS, TTP, and OS within the context of modern therapy. These results will inform the design of future phase 2 studies by providing a) historical context during the search for more effective agents; and, b) factors prognostic of PFS and OS after disease recurrence to stratify randomization. Cancer 2017;123:4914-23. © 2017 American Cancer Society. © 2017 American Cancer Society.

Hippocratic messages for modern medicine (the vindication of Hippocrates).

PubMed

Katsambas, A; Marketos, S G

2007-07-01

Medicine feels the need to combine more than ever the traditional concepts of Hippocrates in perfect balance with the enormous power of modern biotechnology. In our times, the old message 'go back to Hippocrates' sounds like a utopian vision. On the other hand, technological progress tends to remove modern medicine from its anthropocentric mission. The realistic message for tomorrow's physicians must be 'to go forward' together with his perennial humanistic values and clinical messages, combining the recent advances of biotechnology with the Hippocratic rationalism, which is based on logical reasoning, on careful clinical examination, and on a whole humane approach to the patient and his environment. Today's physician can still learn from the Hippocratic heritage and will need to be an expert Hippocratic physician, ever more humane and competent to use all new methods and facilities of basic dermatological research.

MODERN AND HISTORIC ATMOSPHERIC MERCURY FLUXES IN NORTHERN ALASKA: GLOBAL SOURCES AND ARCTIC DEPLETION. (R829796)

EPA Science Inventory

The perspectives, information and conclusions conveyed in research project abstracts, progress reports, final reports, journal abstracts and journal publications convey the viewpoints of the principal investigator and may not represent the views and policies of ORD and EPA. Concl...

Edinburgh Working Papers in Applied Linguistics, 1996.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Parkinson, Brian, Ed.; Mitchell, Keith

1996-01-01

This monograph contains papers on research work in progress at the Department of Applied Linguistics and Institute for Applied Language Studies at the University of Edinburgh (Scotland). Topics addressed include general English teaching, English for Academic Purposes teaching, Modern Language teaching, and teacher education. Papers are:…

A Progression of Static Equilibrium Laboratory Exercises

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Kutzner, Mickey; Kutzner, Andrew

2013-01-01

Although simple architectural structures like bridges, catwalks, cantilevers, and Stonehenge have been integral in human societies for millennia, as have levers and other simple tools, modern students of introductory physics continue to grapple with Newton's conditions for static equilibrium. As formulated in typical introductory physics…

Contemporary Sexism in the South African Navy

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Van Wijk, Charles H.

2011-01-01

The military traditionally embraces highly sexist attitudes. Over the past decade, the South African Navy (SAN) has been exposed to an increasingly progressive political environment. This study investigated contemporary expressions of sexism in the SAN. A representative sample of 476 sailors completed the Ambivalent Sexism Inventory, Modern Sexism…

Attributions and Attitudes of Mothers and Fathers in Thailand.

PubMed

Tapanya, Sombat

2011-07-01

OBJECTIVE: The present study examined similarities and differences between mothers' and fathers' attributions regarding successes and failures in caregiving situations and progressive versus authoritarian attitudes as well as correlations between mothers' and fathers' attributions and attitudes. DESIGN: Interviews were conducted with both mothers and fathers in 88 Thai families. RESULTS: Mothers and fathers did not differ in mean levels of attributions regarding successes and failures in caregiving situations or in authoritarian or progressive attitudes. Mothers' and fathers' perceived control over failure, authoritarian attitudes, progressive attitudes, and modernity of attitudes were significantly correlated. CONCLUSIONS: This work suggests high similarities between Thai mothers and fathers in their attributions and attitudes related to parenting.

40 CFR 52.2037 - Control strategy plans for attainment and rate-of-progress: Ozone.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2014 CFR

2014-07-01

... and rate-of-progress: Ozone. 52.2037 Section 52.2037 Protection of Environment ENVIRONMENTAL... (CONTINUED) Pennsylvania § 52.2037 Control strategy plans for attainment and rate-of-progress: Ozone. (a... ozone nonattainment area has attained the ozone standard and that the reasonable further progress and...

Longevity and progressive abandonment of the Rocky Flats surface, Front Range, Colorado

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Riihimaki, Catherine A.; Anderson, Robert S.; Safran, Elizabeth B.; Dethier, David P.; Finkel, Robert C.; Bierman, Paul R.

2006-08-01

The post-orogenic evolution of the Laramide landscape of the western U.S. has been characterized by late Cenozoic channel incision of basins and their adjacent ranges. One means of constraining the incision history of basins is dating the remnants of gravel-capped surfaces above modern streams. Here, we focus on an extensive remnant of the Rocky Flats surface between Golden and Boulder, Colorado, and use in situ-produced 10Be and 26Al concentrations in terrace alluvium to constrain the Quaternary history of this surface. Coal and Ralston Creeks, both tributaries of the South Platte River, abandoned the Rocky Flats surface and formed the Verdos and Slocum pediments, which are cut into Cretaceous bedrock between Rocky Flats and the modern stream elevations. Rocky Flats alluvium ranges widely in age, from > 2 Ma to ˜ 400 ka, with oldest ages to the east and younger ages closer to the mountain front. Numerical modeling of isotope concentration depth profiles suggests that individual sites have experienced multiple resurfacing events. Preliminary results indicate that Verdos and Slocum alluvium along Ralston Creek, which is slightly larger than Coal Creek, is several hundred thousand years old. Fluvial incision into these surfaces appears therefore to progress headward in response to downcutting of the South Platte River. The complex ages of these surfaces call into question any correlation of such surfaces based solely on their elevation above the modern channel.

Use of modern contraceptives among married women in Vietnam: a multilevel analysis using the Multiple Indicator Cluster Survey (2011) and the Vietnam Population and Housing Census (2009).

PubMed

Vu, Lan Thi Hoang; Oh, Juhwan; Bui, Quyen Thi-Tu; Le, Anh Thi-Kim

2016-01-01

The prevalence of modern contraceptive use is an important indicator that reflects accessibility to reproductive health services. Satisfying unmet needs for family planning alone could reduce the number of maternal deaths by almost a third. This study uses multiple data sources to examine multilevel factors associated with the use of modern contraceptives among married women in Vietnam aged 15-49 years. Data from different national surveys (Vietnam Population and Housing Census, Vietnam Living Standard Survey, and Multiple Indicator Cluster Survey) were linked to create a dataset including individual and contextual (provincial) variables (N=8,341). Multilevel modeling was undertaken to examine the impact of both individual and provincial characteristics on modern contraceptive use. Odds ratios (ORs) and 95% confidence intervals (CIs) are reported. Individual factors significantly associated with the use of modern contraceptives were age 30-34 years (reference 15-19 years) (OR=1.63); high socioeconomic status (SES) (OR=0.8); having two living children (OR=2.4); and having a son (OR=1.4). The provincial poverty rate mediated the association between the individual's SES and the likelihood of using modern contraceptives. The proportion of women in Vietnam using modern contraceptive methods has remained relatively high in recent years with significant variation across Vietnam's 63 provinces. Women of lower SES are more likely to use modern contraceptive methods, especially in the poorer provinces. Achieving access to universal reproductive health is one of the Millennium Development Goals. Vietnam must continue to make progress in this area.

The cancer of bureaucracy: how it will destroy science, medicine, education; and eventually everything else.

PubMed

Charlton, Bruce G

2010-06-01

Everyone living in modernizing 'Western' societies will have noticed the long-term, progressive growth and spread of bureaucracy infiltrating all forms of social organization: nobody loves it, many loathe it, yet it keeps expanding. Such unrelenting growth implies that bureaucracy is parasitic and its growth uncontrollable - in other words it is a cancer that eludes the host immune system. Old-fashioned functional, 'rational' bureaucracy that incorporated individual decision-making is now all-but extinct, rendered obsolete by computerization. But modern bureaucracy evolved from it, the key 'parasitic' mutation being the introduction of committees for major decision-making or decision-ratification. Committees are a fundamentally irrational, incoherent, unpredictable decision-making procedure; which has the twin advantages that it cannot be formalized and replaced by computerization, and that it generates random variation or 'noise' which provides the basis for natural selection processes. Modern bureaucracies have simultaneously grown and spread in a positive feedback cycle; such that interlinking bureaucracies now constitute the major environmental feature of human society which affects organizational survival and reproduction. Individual bureaucracies must become useless parasites which ignore the 'real-world' in order to adapt to rapidly-changing 'bureaucratic reality'. Within science, the major manifestation of bureaucracy is peer review, which - cancer-like - has expanded to obliterate individual authority and autonomy. There has been local elaboration of peer review and metastatic spread of peer review to include all major functions such as admissions, appointments, promotions, grant review, project management, research evaluation, journal and book refereeing and the award of prizes. Peer review eludes the immune system of science since it has now been accepted by other bureaucracies as intrinsically valid, such that any residual individual decision-making (no matter how effective in real-world terms) is regarded as intrinsically unreliable (self-interested and corrupt). Thus the endemic failures of peer review merely trigger demands for ever-more elaborate and widespread peer review. Just as peer review is killing science with its inefficiency and ineffectiveness, so parasitic bureaucracy is an un-containable phenomenon; dangerous to the extent that it cannot be allowed to exist unmolested, but must be utterly extirpated. Or else modernizing societies will themselves be destroyed by sclerosis, resource misallocation, incorrigibly-wrong decisions and the distortions of 'bureaucratic reality'. However, unfortunately, social collapse is the more probable outcome, since parasites can evolve more rapidly than host immune systems.

Recycled Morphemes and Grammaticalization: The Hebrew Copula and Pronoun.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Katz, Aya

1998-01-01

Presents an example of a grammaticalization type not conforming to normal expectations of unidirectionality. The Biblical Hebrew third person singular pronouns are grammaticalizations from the verb root "to be." In Modern Hebrew, the zero copula in equative clauses has been replaced by these pronouns, producing the progression: copula to pronoun…

Women in the Legal Profession: A Progress Report.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Fossum, Donna

1981-01-01

The modern women's movement and the exigencies of the Vietnam War combined to produce a dramatic change in the composition of law school student bodies in only a few years. The speed with which women continue to be incorporated into the legal profession will be affected by many factors. (MLW)

Rousseau's "Emile", or the Fear of Passions

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Trohler, Daniel

2012-01-01

Notwithstanding the general accepted understanding that Rousseau is the master of modern education reflecting the progress by enlightenment this articles suggests that Rousseau's "Emile" is--as most of Rousseau's other writings are, too--testimony to a brilliant and passionate writer expressing thoughts about his concern how to deal with…

On Epochal Mission of Multicultural Education in a Perspective of Globalization

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Chen, Shi-jian

2006-01-01

The development of modern societies accelerates the process of globalization, which in turn brings about a conspicuous diversity of cultures. Cultural difference and cultural diversity are characteristics of multiculturalism, which commits itself to the construction of favorable educational climates for multiple cultures. Such a progression has…

NOVA, A BRIEF .....

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

WHITING, RICHARD; AND OTHERS

NOVA IS AN EXPERIMENTAL, 6-YEAR JUNIOR-SENIOR HIGH SCHOOL. ASPECTS OF THE PROGRAM INCLUDE THE TRIMESTER SYSTEM, THE CONTINUOUS PROGRESS CURRICULUM, TEAM TEACHING, A CLASS SCHEDULE OF FOUR 70-MINUTE PERIODS PER WEEK, THE USE OF DATA-PROCESSING EQUIPMENT, AND MODERN INSTRUCTIONAL AIDS. NOVA IS ORGANIZED CAMPUS-STYLE WITH INDIVIDUAL BUILDINGS DEVOTED…

Using Longitudinal Scales Assessment for Instrumental Music Students

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Simon, Samuel H.

2014-01-01

In music education, current assessment trends emphasize student reflection, tracking progress over time, and formative as well as summative measures. This view of assessment requires instrumental music educators to modernize their approaches without interfering with methods that have proven to be successful. To this end, the Longitudinal Scales…

Transformation in the Justice System

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Brooks, Carol Cramer; Roush, David

2014-01-01

This article describes four waves of juvenile justice reform across the past century that have profoundly impacted how youth are served in community-based, detention, and correctional settings. This first wave of reform began in 1899 as Jane Addams founded the modern juvenile court in Chicago. These progressive reforms soon spread worldwide.…

Re-Conceptualizing the Past: Historical Data in Vocational Interest Research

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Armstrong, Patrick Ian; Rounds, James; Hubert, Lawrence

2008-01-01

Noteworthy progress has been made in the development of statistical models for evaluating the structure of vocational interests over the past three decades. It is proposed that historically significant interest datasets, when combined with modern structural methods of data analysis, provide an opportunity to re-examine the underlying assumptions…

Education, Technology, and the "New" Knowledge Economy: Views from Bongoland

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Stambach, Amy; Malekela, George A.

2006-01-01

The concept of bridging the digital divide between Africa and the rest of the world draws symbolically on nineteenth century diffusion theories of linear progress and twentieth-century theories of modernization and development. This paper examines information and communication technology (ICT) policies and public-access postings on…

Intelligent Tutors in Immersive Virtual Environments

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Yan, Peng; Slator, Brian M.; Vender, Bradley; Jin, Wei; Kariluoma, Matti; Borchert, Otto; Hokanson, Guy; Aggarwal, Vaibhav; Cosmano, Bob; Cox, Kathleen T.; Pilch, André; Marry, Andrew

2013-01-01

Research into virtual role-based learning has progressed over the past decade. Modern issues include gauging the difficulty of designing a goal system capable of meeting the requirements of students with different knowledge levels, and the reasonability and possibility of taking advantage of the well-designed formula and techniques served in other…

On-site sanitation: a viable alternative to modern wastewater treatment plants.

PubMed

Lamichhane, K M

2007-01-01

Rapid population growth and urbanization are exerting excessive pressure on soil and water resources. To address these problems this paper proposes a cheap and sustainable alternative sanitation system, which accelerates nutrient recycling ("closing the loop"): ecological sanitation (ecosan) is a potential alternative to conventional sanitation systems that replenishes the organic matter and nutrients of the soil that are taken off as the crop harvest. A comparison is made of the environmental and the operation and maintenance costs between a modern wastewater treatment plant and on-site sanitation. An elevated double box urine diverting toilet ("ecotoilet") is proposed and its advantages and disadvantages over a system with a centrally controlled modern WWTP are discussed. Bagmati Area Sewerage Project in Kathmandu is taken as an example of modern WWTP and ecosan being practiced in a village in Nepal is taken as an example of ecotoilet for the comparison.

Fracking in Tight Shales: What Is It, What Does It Accomplish, and What Are Its Consequences?

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Norris, J. Quinn; Turcotte, Donald L.; Moores, Eldridge M.; Brodsky, Emily E.; Rundle, John B.

2016-06-01

Fracking is a popular term referring to hydraulic fracturing when it is used to extract hydrocarbons. We distinguish between low-volume traditional fracking and the high-volume modern fracking used to recover large volumes of hydrocarbons from shales. Shales are fine-grained rocks with low granular permeabilities. During the formation of oil and gas, large fluid pressures are generated. These pressures result in natural fracking, and the resulting fracture permeability allows oil and gas to escape, reducing the fluid pressures. These fractures may subsequently be sealed by mineral deposition, resulting in tight shale formations. The objective of modern fracking is to reopen these fractures and/or create new fractures on a wide range of scales. Modern fracking has had a major impact on the availability of oil and gas globally; however, there are serious environmental objections to modern fracking, which should be weighed carefully against its benefits.

Jumpstarting post-conflict strategic water resources protection from a changing global perspective: gaps and prospects in Afghanistan.

PubMed

Habib, H; Anceno, A J; Fiddes, J; Beekma, J; Ilyuschenko, M; Nitivattananon, V; Shipin, O V

2013-11-15

Notwithstanding ambiguities, long-term economic resurgence in Afghanistan amidst water insecurity exacerbated by climate change decisively requires a water protection strategy that will complement a multitude of agroindustrial and socioeconomic activities in an environmentally sustainable and climate resilient manner. In this paper, we begin with a perspective on institutions, legislation, and key issues in the water sector of Afghanistan. We then embark on linking the integrated water resources management (IWRM) and strategic environmental assessment (SEA) approaches as a novel framework for strategic water management and subsequently propose a strategy for post-conflict water protection based on the coalesced IWRM and SEA. Context relevant good practices worldwide are presented to provide empirical evidence for this approach whereas perceived opportunities and vulnerabilities in the Afghan context are discussed. Examination of post-conflict water sector initiatives in Afghanistan reveals the critical role of foreign assistance in both water infrastructure rehabilitation and modernization of the institutional aspect of water management. The introduction of IWRM as the basis for a progressive water sector strategy has been seen as a major milestone which is detrimentally matched by substantial deficiency in national capacity for implementation. Concurrently, the role of extra-national actors in relevant policy interventions has been considered catalytic despite criticisms of proposed regulations as being anachronistic to field realities. Therefore the view is maintained to practicable policies by accelerating policy learning in the country's water and environment sectors to encourage homegrown water strategy innovations. Demonstratively, mainstreaming IWRM-SEA coalescence will bridge institutional gaps for better feedback between local and national water stakeholders, providing a venue for improved delivery of water services to sustain post-conflict socioeconomic recovery and promote environmental stewardship. Copyright © 2013 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Advances in Exposure Science (Washington, DC Modernized TSCA meeting)

EPA Science Inventory

I am describing current research from the Chemical Safety for Sustainability research program's Rapid Exposure and Dosimetry project that relates to predicting human exposure to environmental chemicals for thousands of chemicals.

Energy Slaves and Environmental Pollution

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Blanc, Sam S.

1974-01-01

Modern man pays a price, pollution, with the dependency shift from humans as converters of energy for work to machines as converters of energy. Emphasis is placed on electromechanical appliances and their respective power ratings. (EB)

Studying Biological Responses to Global Change in Atmospheric Oxygen

PubMed Central

Powell, Frank L.

2010-01-01

A popular book recently hypothesized that change in atmospheric oxygen over geological time is the most important physical factor in the evolution of many fundamental characteristics of modern terrestrial animals. This hypothesis is generated primarily using fossil data but the present paper considers how modern experimental biology can be used to test it. Comparative physiology and experimental evolution clearly show that changes in atmospheric O2 over the ages had the potential to drive evolution, assuming the physiological O2-sensitivity of animals today is similar to the past. Established methods, such as phylogenetically independent contrasts, as well new approaches, such as adding environmental history to phylogenetic analyses or modeling interactions between environmental stresses and biological responses with different rate constants, may be useful for testing (disproving) hypotheses about biological adaptations to changes in atmospheric O2. PMID:20385257

Veritas filia temporis: The origins of the idea of scientific progress.

PubMed

Špelda, Daniel

2016-10-01

The article provides insight into the epistemological and anthropological aspect of the origination of the idea of scientific progress. It focuses on the relationship between individual's limited lifetime and the immensity of nature. The basic assumption is that the idea of scientific progress offers a solution of the epistemological problem stemming from the finding that there is no (teleological) coincidence between human cognitive abilities and the extent of nature. In order to facilitate the understanding of the origin of the idea of scientific progress, I propose distinction between the descriptive and prescriptive concepts of progress. While the descriptive notion of progress expresses the cumulative character of scientific knowledge and the superiority of the present over preceding generations, the prescriptive concept pertains to progressivist epistemology directing scientific research at the future development of knowledge. This article claims that the prevalent concept in Antiquity was the descriptive concept of scientific progress. The prescriptive notion had developed only in ancient astronomy. Early modern science was faced with similar issues as ancient astronomy - mainly the empirical finding related to the inexhaustible character of nature. Consequently to the introduction of the idea of progress, the progress of sciences became a purpose in itself - hence becoming infinite.

Assessing the Efficacy of Outdoor Education on Campers' Perceptions of Environmental Stewardship, Civic Engagement, and College and Career Pathways

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Frame, Amy

2017-01-01

Given global threats to the continued functioning of ecosystem services that sustain us all, educators would be wise to embrace the task of redefining our individual and collective orientations to the natural world. Since the inception of the modern environmental education movement in the 1970's, outdoor education at residential camps has…

A modern pollen-climate dataset from the Darjeeling area, eastern Himalaya: Assessing its potential for past climate reconstruction

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Ghosh, Ruby; Bruch, Angela A.; Portmann, Felix; Bera, Subir; Paruya, Dipak Kumar; Morthekai, P.; Ali, Sheikh Nawaz

2017-10-01

Relying on the ability of pollen assemblages to differentiate among elevationally stratified vegetation zones, we assess the potential of a modern pollen-climate dataset from the Darjeeling area, eastern Himalaya, in past climate reconstructions. The dataset includes 73 surface samples from 25 sites collected from a c. 130-3600 m a.s.l. elevation gradient along a horizontal distance of c. 150 km and 124 terrestrial pollen taxa, which are analysed with respect to various climatic and environmental variables such as mean annual temperature (MAT), mean annual precipitation (MAP), mean temperature of coldest quarter (MTCQ), mean temperature of warmest quarter (MTWQ), mean precipitation of driest quarter (MPDQ), mean precipitation of wettest quarter (MPWQ), AET (actual evapotranspiration) and MI (moisture index). To check the reliability of the modern pollen-climate relationships different ordination methods are employed and subsequently tested with Huisman-Olff-Fresco (HOF) models. A series of pollen-climate parameter transfer functions using weighted-averaging regression and calibration partial least squares (WA-PLS) models are developed to reconstruct past climate changes from modern pollen data, and have been cross-validated. Results indicate that three of the environmental variables i.e., MTCQ, MPDQ and MI have strong potential for past climate reconstruction based on the available surface pollen dataset. The potential of the present modern pollen-climate relationship for regional quantitative paleoclimate reconstruction is further tested on a Late Quaternary fossil pollen profile from the Darjeeling foothill region with previously reconstructed and quantified climate. The good agreement with existing data allows for new insights in the hydroclimatic conditions during the Last glacial maxima (LGM) with (winter) temperature being the dominant controlling factor for glacial changes during the LGM in the eastern Himalaya.

Predation and Ecology in Deep-Time: How Modern Marine Ecosystems Develop and Deteriorate

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Tackett, L.

2017-12-01

Anti-predator adaptations in shelly prey and specialized feeding-capture structures in predators can be observed nearly everywhere in modern oceans. The conditions in which these adaptive "arms-races" between predators and prey developed in the oceans can yield important insights to predict how these relationships are affected by environmental change. However, in the fossil record it can be difficult to determine if an adaptation in a shelly animal is related to predation, or some other factor, such as competition for nutrients or space. To address (1) the problem of interpreting the function of shelly invertebrate adaptations, and (2) to identify environmental factors in the development of modern predator-prey interactions, I carefully study the relative abundances of shelly prey animals and microfossil remains of their predators in marine sediments. In the Late Triassic (220-204 million years ago), a dramatic paleoecological shift occurred among shelly marine animals—immobile surface-dwelling animals that had been abundant in the oceans for 300 million years became rare, and were replaced by burrowing clams, swimming scallops, cementing oysters, and many other new taxa with surprising adaptations. This proliferation of adaptive strategies seems to be synchronous with the appearance of many predator taxa specialized for shell-crushing that mainly moved along the seafloor. To test this hypothesis, I examine microfossils of these predators in the sediments containing macrofossils of their shelly prey, to find teeth or claw features that can exhibit specializations for shell-crushing or other predation modes. With the development of this very modern system of predator-prey interactions, we can better understand how these food-webs were disrupted by climatic perturbations later in the Triassic, and make meaningful comparisons to modern ocean ecosystems.

Development of Modern Performance Assessment Tools and Capabilities for Underground Disposal of Transuranic Waste at WIPP

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Zeitler, T.; Kirchner, T. B.; Hammond, G. E.; Park, H.

2014-12-01

The Waste Isolation Pilot Plant (WIPP) has been developed by the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) for the geologic (deep underground) disposal of transuranic (TRU) waste. Containment of TRU waste at the WIPP is regulated by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). The DOE demonstrates compliance with the containment requirements by means of performance assessment (PA) calculations. WIPP PA calculations estimate the probability and consequence of potential radionuclide releases from the repository to the accessible environment for a regulatory period of 10,000 years after facility closure. The long-term performance of the repository is assessed using a suite of sophisticated computational codes. In a broad modernization effort, the DOE has overseen the transfer of these codes to modern hardware and software platforms. Additionally, there is a current effort to establish new performance assessment capabilities through the further development of the PFLOTRAN software, a state-of-the-art massively parallel subsurface flow and reactive transport code. Improvements to the current computational environment will result in greater detail in the final models due to the parallelization afforded by the modern code. Parallelization will allow for relatively faster calculations, as well as a move from a two-dimensional calculation grid to a three-dimensional grid. The result of the modernization effort will be a state-of-the-art subsurface flow and transport capability that will serve WIPP PA into the future. Sandia National Laboratories is a multi-program laboratory managed and operated by Sandia Corporation, a wholly owned subsidiary of Lockheed Martin Corporation, for the U.S. Department of Energy's National Nuclear Security Administration under contract DE-AC04-94AL85000. This research is funded by WIPP programs administered by the Office of Environmental Management (EM) of the U.S Department of Energy.

Why Environmental Education? It Is Critical to Maintaining Our Quality of Life.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Browner, Carol M.

1995-01-01

Traces the progress of environmental education and discusses its role in enhancing the quality of life on our planet. Describes several initiatives aimed at deepening environmental awareness among all Americans and enhancing participation in solving environmental problems. (JRH)

Essays on Environmental Economics and Policy

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Walker, W. Reed

A central feature of modern government is its role in designing welfare improving policies to address and correct market failures stemming from externalities and public goods. The rationale for most modern environmental regulations stems from the failure of markets to efficiently allocate goods and services. Yet, as with any policy, distributional effects are important there exist clear winners and losers. Despite the clear theoretical justification for environmental and energy policy, empirical work credibly identifying both the source and consequences of these externalities as well as the distributional effects of existing policies remains in its infancy. My dissertation focuses on the development of empirical methods to investigate the role of environmental and energy policy in addressing market failures as well as exploring the distributional implications of these policies. These questions are important not only as a justification for government intervention into markets but also for understanding how distributional consequences may shape the design and implementation of these policies. My dissertation investigates these questions in the context of programs and policies that are important in their own right. Chapters 1 and 2 of my dissertation explore the economic costs and distributional implications associated with the largest environmental regulatory program in the United States, the Clean Air Act. Chapters 3 and 4 examine the social costs of air pollution in the context of transportation externalities, showing how effective transportation policy has additional co-benefits in the form of environmental policy. My dissertation remains unified in both its subject matter and methodological approach -- using unique sources of data and sound research designs to understand important issues in environmental policy.

Progress Report

EPA Pesticide Factsheets

2018-05-15

This report summarizes the annual progress of EPA’s Clean Air Markets Programs such as the Acid Rain Program (ARP) and the Cross-State Air Pollution Rule (CSAPR). EPA systematically collects data on emissions, compliance, and environmental effects, these data are highlighted in our Progress Reports.

Progress Report

EPA Pesticide Factsheets

2018-05-16

This report summarizes the annual progress of EPA’s Clean Air Markets Programs such as the Acid Rain Program (ARP) and the Cross-State Air Pollution Rule (CSAPR). EPA systematically collects data on emissions, compliance, and environmental effects, these data are highlighted in our Progress Reports.

The complete mitochondrial genome of an 11,450-year-old aurochsen (Bos primigenius) from Central Italy.

PubMed

Lari, Martina; Rizzi, Ermanno; Mona, Stefano; Corti, Giorgio; Catalano, Giulio; Chen, Kefei; Vernesi, Cristiano; Larson, Greger; Boscato, Paolo; De Bellis, Gianluca; Cooper, Alan; Caramelli, David; Bertorelle, Giorgio

2011-01-31

Bos primigenius, the aurochs, is the wild ancestor of modern cattle breeds and was formerly widespread across Eurasia and northern Africa. After a progressive decline, the species became extinct in 1627. The origin of modern taurine breeds in Europe is debated. Archaeological and early genetic evidence point to a single Near Eastern origin and a subsequent spread during the diffusion of herding and farming. More recent genetic data are instead compatible with local domestication events or at least some level of local introgression from the aurochs. Here we present the analysis of the complete mitochondrial genome of a pre-Neolithic Italian aurochs. In this study, we applied a combined strategy employing both multiplex PCR amplifications and 454 pyrosequencing technology to sequence the complete mitochondrial genome of an 11,450-year-old aurochs specimen from Central Italy. Phylogenetic analysis of the aurochs mtDNA genome supports the conclusions from previous studies of short mtDNA fragments--namely that Italian aurochsen were genetically very similar to modern cattle breeds, but highly divergent from the North-Central European aurochsen. Complete mitochondrial genome sequences are now available for several modern cattle and two pre-Neolithic mtDNA genomes from very different geographic areas. These data suggest that previously identified sub-groups within the widespread modern cattle mitochondrial T clade are polyphyletic, and they support the hypothesis that modern European breeds have multiple geographic origins.

Climate deteriorations and Neanderthal demise in interior Iberia.

PubMed

Wolf, D; Kolb, T; Alcaraz-Castaño, M; Heinrich, S; Baumgart, P; Calvo, R; Sánchez, J; Ryborz, K; Schäfer, I; Bliedtner, M; Zech, R; Zöller, L; Faust, D

2018-05-04

Time and circumstances for the disappearance of Neanderthals and its relationship with the advent of Modern Humans are not yet sufficiently resolved, especially in case of the Iberian Peninsula. Reconstructing palaeoenvironmental conditions during the last glacial period is crucial to clarifying whether climate deteriorations or competition and contacts with Modern Humans played the pivotal role in driving Neanderthals to extinction. A high-resolution loess record from the Upper Tagus Basin in central Spain demonstrates that the Neanderthal abandonment of inner Iberian territories 42 kyr ago coincided with the evolvement of hostile environmental conditions, while archaeological evidence testifies that this desertion took place regardless of modern humans' activities. According to stratigraphic findings and stable isotope analyses, this period corresponded to the driest environmental conditions of the last glacial apart from an even drier period linked to Heinrich Stadial 3. Our results show that during Marine Isotope Stages (MIS) 4 and 2 climate deteriorations in interior Iberia temporally coincided with northern hemisphere cold periods (Heinrich stadials). Solely during the middle MIS 3, in a period surrounding 42 kyr ago, this relation seems not straightforward, which may demonstrate the complexity of terrestrial climate conditions during glacial periods.

Energy flow and the “grassification” of desert shrublands

USGS Publications Warehouse

Betancourt, Julio L.

2015-01-01

In our directionally and continuously changing world, history still matters, and it does so in increasingly novel and important ways. Human adaptation to global change will rely heavily on robust baselines of historic environmental variability and detailed understanding of how both past and modern ecosystems have responded to both individual and multiple stressors. The question of global change has motivated an upsurge in paleoecological studies that span the late Quaternary and the modern era, and has inspired a growing consideration of time as a fundamental axis in ecology (1). A major challenge in developing pertinent ecological baselines remains how to fuse, into continuous time series, observations and experiments from living systems with paleoecological reconstructions from the same sites (2, 3). Tracing and disentangling complex responses to environmental stress from paleological to present-day communities is especially daunting; for example, how climate change; accelerated land use; and biological invasions are influencing the flows of water, nutrients, and energy. The paper by Terry and Rowe in PNAS (4) is a shining example of how modern ecology and paleoecology can be spliced together to decipher how ecological processes unfold over time scales inaccessible to direct observation or experimentation, and how they can be disrupted by human impacts.

Iron microbial mats in modern and phanerozoic environments

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Baele, Jean-Marc; Bouvain, Frédéric; De Jong, Jeroen; Matielli, Nadine; Papier, Séverine; Préat, Alain

2008-08-01

The recognition of iron microbial mats in terrestrial environments is of great relevance for the search for extraterrestrial life, especially on mars where significant iron minerals were identified in the subsurface. Most researches focused on very ancient microbial mats (e.g. BIFs) since they formed on Earth at a time where similar conditions are supposed to have prevailed on Mars too. However, environmental proxies are often difficult to use for these deposits on Earth which, in addition, may be heavily transformed due to diagenesis or even metamorphism. Here we present modern and phanerozoic iron microbial mats occurrences illustrating the wide variety of environments in which they form, including many marine settings, ponds, creeks, caves, volcanoes, etc. Contrarily to their Precambrian counterparts, Modern and Phanerozoic deposits are usually less affected by diagenesis and the environmental conditions likely to be better constrained. Therefore, their investigation may help for the search for morphological and geochemical biosignatures (e.g. iron isotopes) in ancient iron microbial occurrences on Earth but also on other Planets. In particular, many of the case studies presented here show that microstromatolithe-like morphologies may be valuable targets for screening potential biosignatures in various rock types.

Some neglected contributions of Wilhelm Wundt to the psychology of memory.

PubMed

Carpenter, Shana K

2005-08-01

Wilhelm Wundt, whose name is rarely associated with the scientific study of memory, conducted a number of memory experiments that appear to have escaped the awareness of modern cognitive psychologists. Aspects of Wundt's system are reviewed, particularly with respect to his experimental work on memory. Wundt investigated phenomena that would fall under the modern headings of iconic memory, short-term memory, and the enactment and generation effects, but this research has been neglected. Revisiting the Wundtian perspective may provide insight into some of the reasons behind the historical course of memory research and in general into the progress of science in psychology.

[Analysis on origin and evolution of mumps].

PubMed

Zhao, Yan

2004-10-01

There was a preliminary recognition on mumps during the Qin-Han to Sui-Tang dynasty, laying a foundation for the scholastic development on this topic in later generations. The title of this disease was identified in Song-Jin-Yuan dynasty with gradual deepening on its principle-method-formula-medication system, a great progress of recognition as compared with the previous ages. In the Ming-Qing dynasty, the recognition became even more systematic, with certain breakthrough in the system of principle-method-formula-medication. In modern age, the experiences were inherited and developed to integrate to modern biomedicine, so that the theory and clinical practice become even more perfect.

Modern Environmental Health Hazards: A Public Health Issue of Increasing Significance in Africa

PubMed Central

Nweke, Onyemaechi C.; Sanders III, William H.

2009-01-01

Objectives Traditional hazards such as poor sanitation currently account for most of Africa’s environmentally related disease burden. However, with rapid development absent appropriate safeguards for environment and health, modern environmental health hazards (MEHHs) may emerge as critical contributors to the continent’s disease burden. We review recent evidence of human exposure to and health effects from MEHHs, and their occurrence in environmental media and consumer products. Our purpose is to highlight the growing significance of these hazards as African countries experience urbanization, industrial growth, and development. Data sources We reviewed published epidemiologic, exposure, and environmental studies of chemical agents such as heavy metals and pesticides. Data synthesis The body of evidence demonstrates ongoing environmental releases of MEHHs and human exposures sometimes at toxicologically relevant levels. Several sources of MEHHs in environmental media have been identified, including natural resource mining and processing and automobile exhaust. Biomonitoring studies provided direct evidence of human exposure to metals such as mercury and lead and pesticides such as p,p′-dichlorodiphenyltrichloroethane (DDT) and organophosphates. Land and water resource pollution and industrial air toxics are areas of significant data gaps, notwithstanding the presence of several emitting sources. Conclusion Unmitigated MEHH releases and human exposure have implications for Africa’s disease burden. For Africans encumbered by conditions such as malnutrition that impair resilience to toxicologic challenges, the burden may be higher. A shift in public health policy toward accommodating the emerging diversity in Africa’s environmental health issues is necessary to successfully alleviate the burden of avoidable ill health and premature death for all its communities now and in the future. PMID:19590675

Attributions and Attitudes of Mothers and Fathers in the Philippines.

PubMed

Alampay, Liane Peña; Jocson, Rosanne M

2011-07-29

OBJECTIVE.: This paper investigates the mean level and within-family similarities and differences in Filipino mothers' and fathers' attributions about success and failure in caregiving situations, and their progressive and authoritarian parenting attitudes. DESIGN.: Both mothers and fathers in 95 families in metropolitan Manila completed interviews. RESULTS.: Controlling for parents' age, education, and possible social desirability bias, there was a significant gender difference in modernity of attitudes, with mothers exhibiting higher levels of modernity than fathers. There was a strong correlation in mothers' and fathers' authoritarian attitudes and moderate correlations in modernity of attitudes. There were neither parent gender effects nor concordance in the attributions of mothers and fathers. CONCLUSIONS.: Cultural explanations are presented to account for the findings, specifically the sociocultural values that foster traditional attitudes favoring parental authority and child obedience, and the differences in gender and family roles of Filipino mothers and fathers.

Attributions and Attitudes of Mothers and Fathers in the Philippines

PubMed Central

Alampay, Liane Peña; Jocson, Rosanne M.

2011-01-01

SYNOPSIS Objective. This paper investigates the mean level and within-family similarities and differences in Filipino mothers’ and fathers’ attributions about success and failure in caregiving situations, and their progressive and authoritarian parenting attitudes. Design. Both mothers and fathers in 95 families in metropolitan Manila completed interviews. Results. Controlling for parents’ age, education, and possible social desirability bias, there was a significant gender difference in modernity of attitudes, with mothers exhibiting higher levels of modernity than fathers. There was a strong correlation in mothers’ and fathers’ authoritarian attitudes and moderate correlations in modernity of attitudes. There were neither parent gender effects nor concordance in the attributions of mothers and fathers. Conclusions. Cultural explanations are presented to account for the findings, specifically the sociocultural values that foster traditional attitudes favoring parental authority and child obedience, and the differences in gender and family roles of Filipino mothers and fathers. PMID:21826132

Pollen preservation and Quaternary environmental history in the southeastern United States

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

Delcourt, P.A.; Delcourt, H.R.

Reconstructions of Quaternary environmental history based upon modern pollen/vegetation/climate calibrations are more tenable if the factors responsible for variation in pollen assemblages are evaluated. Examination of the state of preservation of Quaternary palynomorphs provides quantitative data concerning the degree of information loss due to alteration of pollen assemblages by syndepositional and post-depositional deterioration. The percentage, concentration, and influx values for total indeterminable pollen are useful criteria in providing an objective and quantitative basis for evaluating the comparability of pollen spectra within and between sites. Supporting data concerning sediment particle-size distribution, organic matter content, and concentration, influx, and taxonomic composition ofmore » both determinable pollen and plant macrofossils aid in reconstructing past depositional environments. The potential is high for deterioration of pollen in sediments from the southeastern United States, although considerable variation is found in both kind and degree of deterioration between lacustrine and alluvial sites of different ages and in different latitudes. Modern analogs are a basis for late Quaternary environmental reconstructions when pollen deterioration has not significantly biased the information content of fossil pollen assemblages.« less

Sustainable intensification in agricultural systems

PubMed Central

Pretty, Jules; Bharucha, Zareen Pervez

2014-01-01

Background Agricultural systems are amended ecosystems with a variety of properties. Modern agroecosystems have tended towards high through-flow systems, with energy supplied by fossil fuels directed out of the system (either deliberately for harvests or accidentally through side effects). In the coming decades, resource constraints over water, soil, biodiversity and land will affect agricultural systems. Sustainable agroecosystems are those tending to have a positive impact on natural, social and human capital, while unsustainable systems feed back to deplete these assets, leaving fewer for the future. Sustainable intensification (SI) is defined as a process or system where agricultural yields are increased without adverse environmental impact and without the conversion of additional non-agricultural land. The concept does not articulate or privilege any particular vision or method of agricultural production. Rather, it emphasizes ends rather than means, and does not pre-determine technologies, species mix or particular design components. The combination of the terms ‘sustainable’ and ‘intensification’ is an attempt to indicate that desirable outcomes around both more food and improved environmental goods and services could be achieved by a variety of means. Nonetheless, it remains controversial to some. Scope and Conclusions This review analyses recent evidence of the impacts of SI in both developing and industrialized countries, and demonstrates that both yield and natural capital dividends can occur. The review begins with analysis of the emergence of combined agricultural–environmental systems, the environmental and social outcomes of recent agricultural revolutions, and analyses the challenges for food production this century as populations grow and consumption patterns change. Emergent criticisms are highlighted, and the positive impacts of SI on food outputs and renewable capital assets detailed. It concludes with observations on policies and incentives necessary for the wider adoption of SI, and indicates how SI could both promote transitions towards greener economies as well as benefit from progress in other sectors. PMID:25351192

Sustainable intensification in agricultural systems.

PubMed

Pretty, Jules; Bharucha, Zareen Pervez

2014-12-01

Agricultural systems are amended ecosystems with a variety of properties. Modern agroecosystems have tended towards high through-flow systems, with energy supplied by fossil fuels directed out of the system (either deliberately for harvests or accidentally through side effects). In the coming decades, resource constraints over water, soil, biodiversity and land will affect agricultural systems. Sustainable agroecosystems are those tending to have a positive impact on natural, social and human capital, while unsustainable systems feed back to deplete these assets, leaving fewer for the future. Sustainable intensification (SI) is defined as a process or system where agricultural yields are increased without adverse environmental impact and without the conversion of additional non-agricultural land. The concept does not articulate or privilege any particular vision or method of agricultural production. Rather, it emphasizes ends rather than means, and does not pre-determine technologies, species mix or particular design components. The combination of the terms 'sustainable' and 'intensification' is an attempt to indicate that desirable outcomes around both more food and improved environmental goods and services could be achieved by a variety of means. Nonetheless, it remains controversial to some. This review analyses recent evidence of the impacts of SI in both developing and industrialized countries, and demonstrates that both yield and natural capital dividends can occur. The review begins with analysis of the emergence of combined agricultural-environmental systems, the environmental and social outcomes of recent agricultural revolutions, and analyses the challenges for food production this century as populations grow and consumption patterns change. Emergent criticisms are highlighted, and the positive impacts of SI on food outputs and renewable capital assets detailed. It concludes with observations on policies and incentives necessary for the wider adoption of SI, and indicates how SI could both promote transitions towards greener economies as well as benefit from progress in other sectors. © The Author 2014. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of the Annals of Botany Company. All rights reserved. For Permissions, please email: journals.permissions@oup.com.

Indigenous Perspectives and Knowledge Informing Freshwater Management, Planning and Decision Making in Aotearoa-New Zealand

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Harmsworth, G.

2017-12-01

Indigenous Māori have distinct cultural values and perspectives that establish their identity, responsibilities, and rights to manage and use freshwater in New Zealand. Recognition of the 1840 Treaty of Waitangi and its principles has culminated in an array of modern legislation, obligations, national policy statements, statutory requirements, holistic frameworks, and approaches that strengthens Māori participation and authority in resource management and environmental decision-making. We briefly explain indigenous Māori frameworks, knowledge, values, and perspectives used to grow indigenous research and capability, enrich western scientific research, and inform freshwater planning, policy, and management. We will discuss some important methods, indicators, and tools that Māori have developed, or are developing, to support environmental assessment and the monitoring and reporting of freshwater ecosystems, particularly to help sustain and enhance customary values and practice. These tools include, for example, the Cultural Health Index, the Wai Ora Wai Māori assessment tool, the mauri compass, the mauri model, Māori wetlands assessment, kaitiaki tools, taonga assessment, which are being used to build Māori capability and capacity in freshwater sciences and management and to provide innovative approaches based on integrative knowledge systems. Many of these indigenous-led initiatives are now being used next to science and technical approaches at local, regional, and national scale in New Zealand to guide policy and help understand complex and dynamic human-environmental interactions. Māori epistemologies provide a holistic worldview well aligned with current international thinking and approaches that stress the importance of systems thinking and understanding interconnections between sub-component parts; exploring the world and universe within holistic, integrative frameworks; taking into account different perspectives, values, and worldviews, measuring progress towards outcomes across multiple goals, i.e. cultural, social, environmental and economic; developing links between human health and ecosystems; and promoting collaborative, interdisciplinary, and transdisciplinary approaches.

The rise of environmental analytical chemistry as an interdisciplinary activity.

PubMed

Brown, Richard

2009-07-01

Modern scientific endeavour is increasingly delivered within an interdisciplinary framework. Analytical environmental chemistry is a long-standing example of an interdisciplinary approach to scientific research where value is added by the close cooperation of different disciplines. This editorial piece discusses the rise of environmental analytical chemistry as an interdisciplinary activity and outlines the scope of the Analytical Chemistry and the Environmental Chemistry domains of TheScientificWorldJOURNAL (TSWJ), and the appropriateness of TSWJ's domain format in covering interdisciplinary research. All contributions of new data, methods, case studies, and instrumentation, or new interpretations and developments of existing data, case studies, methods, and instrumentation, relating to analytical and/or environmental chemistry, to the Analytical and Environmental Chemistry domains, are welcome and will be considered equally.

Filling the gap between traditional Chinese medicine and modern medicine, are we heading to the right direction?

PubMed

Chen, Xiuping; Pei, Lixia; Lu, Jinjian

2013-06-01

Traditional Chinese medicine (TCM), the ancient medicine popular in China and surrounding areas, has been recognized as a typical representative of complementary and alternative medicine. Over long period in clinical practice, especially the progress in basic research, data on the effectiveness and beneficial contribution of TCM herbs to public health and disease control have been accumulated while the quality of the evidence is generally poor. The most common clinical practice of TCM herbs is herb combination called formula which consists of several types of medicinal herbs or minerals, which is quite different from modern medicine. Definitely, tens of hundreds of compounds could be identified in even a small formula. With the regained enthusiasm on natural products based new drug R&D, the proposed multi-target drug discovery strategy, the booming of -omics technologies, and the implementation of ambitious plan of TCM modernization in China, attempts have been made to fill the gap between TCM herbs and modern drugs. However, are we heading to the right direction? Copyright © 2013 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Incorporating Environmental Justice into Second Generation Indices of Multiple Deprivation: Lessons from the UK and Progress Internationally

PubMed Central

Fairburn, Jon; Maier, Werner; Braubach, Matthias

2016-01-01

Second generation area-based indices of multiple deprivation have been extensively used in the UK over the last 15 years. They resulted from significant developments in political, technical, and conceptual spheres for deprivation data. We review the parallel development of environmental justice research and how and when environmental data was incorporated into these indices. We explain the transfer of these methods from the UK to Germany and assess the progress internationally in developing such indices. Finally, we illustrate how billions of pounds in the UK was allocated by using these tools to tackle neighbourhood deprivation and environmental justice to address the determinants of health. PMID:27472347

Incorporating Environmental Justice into Second Generation Indices of Multiple Deprivation: Lessons from the UK and Progress Internationally.

PubMed

Fairburn, Jon; Maier, Werner; Braubach, Matthias

2016-07-26

Second generation area-based indices of multiple deprivation have been extensively used in the UK over the last 15 years. They resulted from significant developments in political, technical, and conceptual spheres for deprivation data. We review the parallel development of environmental justice research and how and when environmental data was incorporated into these indices. We explain the transfer of these methods from the UK to Germany and assess the progress internationally in developing such indices. Finally, we illustrate how billions of pounds in the UK was allocated by using these tools to tackle neighbourhood deprivation and environmental justice to address the determinants of health.

Epidemiological studies of migration and environmental risk factors in the inflammatory bowel diseases.

PubMed

Ko, Yanna; Butcher, Rhys; Leong, Rupert W

2014-02-07

Inflammatory bowel diseases (IBD) are idiopathic chronic diseases of the gastrointestinal tract well known to be associated with both genetic and environmental risk factors. Permissive genotypes may manifest into clinical phenotypes under certain environmental influences and these may be best studied from migratory studies. Exploring differences between first and second generation migrants may further highlight the contribution of environmental factors towards the development of IBD. There are few opportunities that have been offered so far. We aim to review the available migration studies on IBD, evaluate the known environmental factors associated with IBD, and explore modern migration patterns to identify new opportunities and candidate migrant groups in IBD migration research.

Proceedings of the Eleventh International Symposium on Remote Sensing of Environment, volume 1

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

1977-01-01

The application of modern sensor technology and associated data processing capabilities to the assessment of earth resources and environmental monitoring is described. Problems associated with meeting future needs are explored.

ADVANCED PESTICIDE RISK ASSESSMENT TECHNOLOGY

EPA Science Inventory

The use of herbicides, insecticides, fungicides, and growth regulating chemicals is necessary in modern agriculture, silviculture, and public health vector control operations. The task for environmental risk assessment is to delineate the food chain contamination and ecological v...

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

Nancy Carlisle: NREL

This publication is one of a series of case studies of energy-efficient modern laboratories; it was prepared for "Laboratories for the 21st Century," a joint program of the Environmental Protection Agency and the U.S. DOE Federal Energy Management Program

Environmental Sciences Division annual progress report for period ending September 30, 1990

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

Not Available

1991-04-01

The Environmental Sciences Division (ESD) of Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL) conducts research on the environmental aspects of existing and emerging energy systems and applies this information to ensure that technology development and energy use are consistent with national environmental health and safety goals. Offering an interdisciplinary resource of staff and facilities to address complex environmental problems, the division is currently providing technical leadership for major environmental issues of national concern: (1) acidic deposition and related environmental effects, (2) effects of increasing concentrations of atmospheric CO{sub 2} and the resulting climatic changes to ecosystems and natural and physical resources, (3)more » hazardous chemical and radioactive waste disposal and remediation research and development, and (4) development of commercial biomass energy production systems. This progress report outlines ESD's accomplishments in these and other areas in FY 1990. Individual reports are processed separately for the data bases in the following areas: ecosystem studies; environmental analyses; environmental toxicology; geosciences; technical and administrative support; biofuels feedstock development program; carbon dioxide information analysis and research program; and environmental waste program.« less

Strategies to prevent or reduce allergic disease.

PubMed

Prescott, Susan; Nowak-Węgrzyn, Anna

2011-01-01

The need for allergy prevention strategies has never been greater. Surging rates of food allergy and eczema are now adding to the already substantial burden of asthma and respiratory allergic diseases. The parallel rise in many other immune diseases suggests that the developing immune system is highly vulnerable to modern environmental changes. These strong environmental pressures may be one reason why simple allergen avoidance strategies have not been successful. Another more recent strategy to curtail the allergy epidemic has been to identify factors associated with modern lifestyle that may be causally linked with allergic disease, in an attempt to restore more favourable conditions for immune tolerance during early development. More hygienic conditions and disruption of microbial exposure have prompted strategies to restore this balance using probiotic and prebiotic supplements. Modern dietary changes linked with allergic diseases have prompted supplementation studies to assess the preventive merits of specific immunomodulatory dietary nutrients such as polyunsaturated fatty acids. Other nutrients such as antioxidants, folate, and vitamin D are also currently under investigation. Modern environmental pollutants have also been associated with adverse effects on immune development and the risk of disease. While many of these avenues have provided some promise, they have not yet translated into specific recommendations. Current evidence-based guidelines for allergy prevention remain limited to avoidance of cigarette smoke, promotion of breastfeeding and the use of hydrolysed formula when breastfeeding is not possible. Allergen avoidance strategies have been largely removed from most guidelines. It is hoped that a number of ongoing studies will help provide clearer recommendations around the use of probiotics, prebiotics, specific dietary nutrients and the role of early introduction of allergenic foods for the promotion of tolerance. Despite the current uncertainties, prevention remains the best long-term strategy to reduce the growing burden of allergic disease. Copyright © 2011 S. Karger AG, Basel.

Climatic and physiological controls on the stable isotope composition of modern and ancient Cupressaceae

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Zinniker, D.; Tipple, B.; Pagani, M.

2007-12-01

Unique and abundant secondary metabolites found in waxes and resins of the Callitroid, Cupressoid, and Taxodioid clades of the Cupressaceae family can be identified and quantified in complex mixtures of sedimentary organic compounds. This unusual feature makes it possible to study relatively simple (taxon-specific) isotope systems back in time across the broad array of environments in which these conifers are found. Work on these systems can potentially provide both robust paleoenvironmental proxies (i.e. for source water δD and growing season relative humidity) and quantitative probes into the ecophysiology of these plants in modern and ancient environments. Our research focuses on three genera representing environmental end-members of Cupressaceae - Juniperus, Thuja, and Chamaecyparis - (1) across geographic and environmental gradients in the field, and (2) in specific Holocene and late Pleistocene environmental records. The latter research focuses on peat cores from New England and Oregon and fossil packrat middens from the southwestern United States. Modern transects highlight the sensitivity of Cupressaceae to climatic variables. These include both variables during growth (relative humidity, soil moisture, etc.) and variables affecting seasonal and diurnal growth rates (temperature, winter precipitation, insolation, microhabitat, etc.). Work on ancient records has demonstrated the sensitivity of these unique taxon-specific archives to both subtle and dramatic climate shifts during the Pleistocene and Holocene. This work will result in an improved understanding of climatic and physiological controls on the stable isotopic composition of modern and ancient Cupressaceae - and by extension, other arborescent gymnosperms and C3 plants - providing a framework for understanding more complexly sourced organic inputs to sediments, coals, and petroleum prior to the advent of C4 plants. This research also has direct implications for stratigraphic stable isotope studies of gymnosperm markers across the last millenium, the Pleistocene, and important climatic events in the Mesozoic and Tertiary.

A world-class target for ICDP drilling at Lake Nam Co, Tibetan Plateau, China: progresses and perspectives

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Zhu, L.; Wang, J.; Daut, G.; Spiess, V.; Haberzettl, T.; Schulze, N.; Ju, J.; Lü, X.; Bergmann, F.; Haberkern, J.; Schwalb, A.; Mäusbacher, R.

2017-12-01

Lake Nam Co (ca. 2000 km2, 4718 m a.s.l., maximum depth: 100 m) is located at the interaction zone of the Westerlies and the Indian monsoon on the central Tibetan Plateau. It was part of a mega-lake during Marine Isotope Stage (MIS) 3 before the Last Glacial Maximum. A long term sedimentary record from Nam Co could therefore provide an excellent paleo-environmental sequence for regional and global comparative studies. This will to deepen our understanding of large scale atmospheric circulation shifts and the environmental links between the Tibetan Plateau at low latitudes and the North Atlantic region at high latitudes. A Nam Co deep drilling will fill the gap in two large scale ICDP/IODP drilling transects (N-S: Lake Baikal, Lake Qinghai, Bay of Bengal; W-E: Lake Van, Lake Issyk-Kul, South China Sea, Lake Towuti), which will show the great significance of monsoon dynamics on a long-term scale. Multidisciplinary researches have been conducted since 2005 by a Sino-German cooperative team. The progresses during the last decade are: 1) Detailed bathymetric surveying, including a shallow sediment profiler investigation (Innomar SES 2000 light, ca. 30 m sediment penetration); 2) Paleo-environmental reconstructions covering the past 24 ka; 3) Modern sediment distribution covering the entire lake; 4) Monitoring including water temperature profiles, sediment traps, seasonal airborne pollen collection; 5) Deep seismic survey penetrating up to 800 meters of lake sediments. Based on sediment rates from reference core NC08/01, seismic results show that an age of 500 ka may be reached at 500 m, and >1 Ma at the observed base. Faulting can be clearly detected in the seismic profiles, especially from MIS 5 to early Holocene, and shows the characteristics of normal faults or strike-slip faults. Both rotation of the layers and the close spacing, along with negative and positive offsets of the faults make a transtensional origin of the basin likely. An ICDP workshop proposal was approved this year (ID: ICDP-2017/10, http://www.icdp-online.org/projects/world/asia/lake-nam-co/). The workshop will likely be held in May 2018 in Beijing, where future scientific objectives, potential coring locations and logistics of a drilling campaign will be intensively discussed to ensure a successful drilling campaign in the near future.

Holistic approach to human health and disease: life circumstances and inner processing.

PubMed

Tomljenović, Andrea

2014-06-01

Human body is dinamic, energetic system under the influences of food intake, environment, interpersonal relationships, inheritance, culture and human activities. The environmental and psychosocioeconomic factors affect the individual's health altering the performance of biological systems effecting disease risk and disease progression. The concerns in modern society are more and more devoted to stress and its influences on health. Life span is extended but the quality of life, well-being and productivity usually do not follow that extention. Body is a flow of energy and dynamic communications with inside and outside environment. The way to improve health is to address its social determinants. Only in sinergy the questions about disease and health could be better understood. It is not enough to diagnose illness, important is to diagnose circumstances and environmental influences that consequently lead to disease. Emotional disruptions make base for physical disruptions. Social gradient and stress involving personal life and work is a significant factor in physical and mental illness. The best indicator of the successful social policy result is the sense of well-being of the inhabitants. Holistic approach to a patient and discussions about the influences in patient's life can lead to a better health outcome. Anthropology studies people's habits, means and conditions of life and can be the bridge between the medicine and the life circumstances that put people's health at risk providing important insights into health and disease and assist in public health policies, preventive measures and health improvement of the populations.

Improving human welfare through appropriate technology: government responsibility, citizen duty or customer choice.

PubMed

Bell, M; Franceys, R

1995-05-01

This paper explores recent attempts to improve the effectiveness of environmental health programmes and projects by reference to the International Drinking Water Supply and Sanitation Decade (1980-1990) and beyond. Reference is made to how water and sanitation as technical interventions have drawn upon the natural sciences, notably concepts of race and sex, and the social sciences including culture and gender, for their authority and legitimacy. A new and apparently progressive movement, the Water Decade sought to challenge the powerful and enduring high tech image of development on which much western environmental and social transformations have been based. Beginning as a critique of modernism with a commitment to basic needs as human rights, it was driven by a recognition that sophisticated technology could not satisfy human health needs. Alternative technologies would, by contrast, cater for a more extensive and varied market and would promote participatory approaches to service delivery. The paper demonstrates how, during the course of the Decade, sections of the aid community began to redefine basic needs as commodities involving the efficient marketing and delivery of a product with minimal state intervention. Within a shifting international political and economic context, it examines the changing role of the expert and the links being forged between large donors, non-governmental organisations and the private sector. The significance of this reformulated progressivism for the development debate is then considered, notably in relation to concepts of citizenship, consumer choice and the role of the state.

Engineering solutions of environmental problems in organic waste handling

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Briukhanov, A. Y.; Vasilev, E. V.; Shalavina, E. V.; Kucheruk, O. N.

2017-10-01

This study shows the urgent need to consider modernization of agricultural production in terms of sustainable development, which takes into account environmental implications of intensive technologies in livestock farming. Some science-based approaches are offered to address related environmental challenges. High-end technologies of organic livestock waste processing were substantiated by the feasibility study and nutrient balance calculation. The technologies were assessed on the basis of best available techniques criteria, including measures such as specific capital and operational costs associated with nutrient conservation and their delivery to the plants.

Environmental Impact Assessment of reservoir construction: new perspectives for restoration economy, and development: the Belo Monte Power Plant case study.

PubMed

Tundisi, J G; Matsumura-Tundisi, T; Tundisi, J E M

2015-08-01

The Environmental Impact Assessment of reservoir construction can be viewed as a new strategic perspective for the economic development of a region. Based on the principles of a watershed approach a interdisciplinary and multidisciplinary systemic view including biogeophysiographical, economic and socio environmental studies the new vision of a EIA provides a basic substratum for the restoration economy and an advanced model for the true development much well ahead of the modernization aspects of the project of a reservoir construction.

Covenants with Weak Swords: ISO 14001 and Facilities' Environmental Performance

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Potoski, Matthew; Prakash, Aseem

2005-01-01

Voluntary environmental programs are codes of progressive environmental conduct that firms pledge to adopt. This paper investigates whether ISO 14001, a voluntary program with a weak sword--a weak monitoring and sanctioning mechanism--can mitigate shirking and improve participants' environmental performance. Sponsored by the International…

Genome research elucidating environmental adaptation: Dark-fly project as a case study.

PubMed

Fuse, Naoyuki

2017-08-01

Organisms have the capacity to adapt to diverse environments, and environmental adaptation is a substantial driving force of evolution. Recent progress of genome science has addressed the genetic mechanisms underlying environmental adaptation. Whole genome sequencing has identified adaptive genes selected under particular environments. Genome editing technology enables us to directly test the role(s) of a gene in environmental adaptation. Genome science has also shed light on a unique organism, Dark-fly, which has been reared long-term in the dark. We determined the whole genome sequence of Dark-fly and reenacted environmental selections of the Dark-fly genome to identify the genes related to dark-adaptation. Here I will give an overview of current progress in genome science and summarize our study using Dark-fly, as a case study for environmental adaptation. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Levels and trends in contraceptive prevalence, unmet need, and demand for family planning for 29 states and union territories in India: a modelling study using the Family Planning Estimation Tool.

PubMed

New, Jin Rou; Cahill, Niamh; Stover, John; Gupta, Yogender Pal; Alkema, Leontine

2017-03-01

Improving access to reproductive health services and commodities is central to development. Efforts to assess progress on this front have been largely focused on national estimates, but such analyses can mask local disparities. We assessed progress in reproductive health services subnationally in India. We developed a statistical model to generate estimates and projections of levels and trends in family planning indicators for subpopulations. The model builds onto the UN Population Division's Family Planning Estimation Model and uses data from multiple rounds of the Demographic and Health Survey, the District Level Household & Facility Survey, and the Annual Health Survey. We present annual estimates and projections of levels and trends in the prevalence of modern contraceptive use, and unmet need and demand for family planning for 29 states and union territories in India from 1990 to 2030. We also compared projections of demand satisfied with modern methods with the proposed goal of 75%. There is a large amount of heterogeneity in India, with a difference of up to 55·1 percentage points (95% uncertainty interval 46·4-62·1) in modern contraceptive use in 2015 between subregions. States such as Andhra Pradesh, with 92·7% (90·9-94·2) demand satisfied with modern methods, are performing well above the national average (71·8%, 56·7-83·6), whereas Manipur, with 26·8% (16·7-38·5) of demand satisfied, and Meghalaya, with 45·0% (40·1-50·0), consistently lag behind the rest of the country. Manipur and Meghalaya require the highest percentage increase in modern contraceptive use to achieve 75% demand satisfied with modern methods by 2030. In terms of absolute numbers, Uttar Pradesh requires the greatest increase, needing 9·2 million (5·5-12·6 million) additional users of modern contraception by 2030 to meet the target of 75%. The demand for family planning among the states and union territories in India is highly diverse. Greatest attention is needed in Uttar Pradesh, Manipur, and Meghalaya to meet UN targets. The analysis can be generalised to other countries as well as other subpopulations. Avenir Health through a grant from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. Copyright © 2017 The Author(s). Published by Elsevier Ltd. This is an Open Access article under the CC BY license. Published by Elsevier Ltd.. All rights reserved.

The Mountain Invasion Research Network (MIREN): Linking Local and Global Scales for Addressing an Ecological Consequence of Global Change

Treesearch

Christoph Kueffer; Curtis Daehler; Hansjörg Dietz; Keith McDougall; Catherine Parks; Aníbal Pauchard; Lisa Rew

2014-01-01

Many modern environmental problems span vastly different spatial scales, from the management of local ecosystems to understanding globally interconnected processes, and addressing them through international policy. MIREN tackles one such “glocal” (global/local) environmental problem – plant invasions in mountains – through a transdisciplinary, multi-scale learning...

Dissecting obesogenic environments: the development and application of a framework for identifying and prioritizing environmental interventions for obesity.

PubMed

Swinburn, B; Egger, G; Raza, F

1999-12-01

The "obesogenicity" of modern environments is fueling the obesity pandemic. We describe a framework, known as ANGELO (analysis grid for environments linked to obesity), which is a conceptual model for understanding the obesogenicity of environments and a practical tool for prioritizing environmental elements for research and intervention. Development of the ANGELO framework. The basic framework is a 2 x 4 grid which dissects the environment into environmental size (micro and macro) by type: physical (what is available), economic (what are the costs), political (what are the "rules"), and sociocultural (what are the attitudes and beliefs). Within this grid, the elements which influence food intake and physical activity are characterized as obesogenic or "leptogenic" (promoting leanness). Application of the ANGELO framework. The ANGELO framework has been piloted at the population level (island communities) to prioritize the settings/sectors for intervention and at the setting level (fast food outlets) to prioritize research needs and interventions. Environmental elements were prioritized by rating their validity (evidence of impact), relevance (to the local context), and potential changeability. The ANGELO framework appears to be a flexible and robust instrument for the needs analysis and problem identification stages of reducing the obesogenicity of modern environments. Copyright 1999 American Health Foundation and Academic Press.

Vocationalism and Social Efficacy: The Chinese Model.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Zhang, Chi

The development of vocational education in modern China may be traced through four stages. The progress made during the experimental stage (1949-1965) was largely reversed during the Cultural Revolution (1966-1976), at which time many secondary technical and vocational high schools were closed. The period 1977-1984 marked a recovery stage when…

Progress Report on the South Carolina Market for Foreign Languages Study.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Morgenroth, Robert L.; And Others

The Market for Foreign Languages Study was begun in South Carolina to ascertain both the state's projected needs for modern foreign language competencies and the state's foreign language resources over the next five years. Questionnaires have been sent to industrial plants, secondary schools, and junior and senior colleges. Of the plants…

Reflections on Modern China and the Progressive Power of Educational Studies

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Zhou, Yong

2011-01-01

The turn towards using domestic experience in contemporary Chinese educational studies has led to the development of theoretical frames rooted in the reality of Chinese society. This article identifies four ways of understanding and reforming Chinese society that have been developed by 20th century Chinese educators. By reflecting on these four…

Digital Learning for All. Now

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Costa, Jonathan P., Sr.

2012-01-01

The evidence is undeniable and abundant: the future of learning and work is digital. Yet despite the possibilities, progress toward a truly 21st century learning environment is painfully lacking: the printed page still forms the foundation of learning for most students. How can public schools meet the challenges of the modern learner when they are…

Grammar Teaching in Secondary School Foreign Language Learning in England: Teachers' Reported Beliefs and Observed Practices

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Liviero, Sara

2017-01-01

This study investigates teachers' beliefs relating to grammar teaching in modern foreign language (MFL) learning in England. Focus on grammatical form has been consistently supported by linguistic research and teacher practice, and has progressively been reinstated in England's National Curriculum. However, MFL learning assessment in England has…

Seeing Cells on the Web

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Liu, Dennis

2007-01-01

Cells are the fundamental unit of life and disease; therefore, many avenues of research converge on cells, making images of cells prominent in research and teaching. Much of the progress of modern biomedical science can be tied to advances in our ability to better visualize the functional morphology of cells, including higher resolution imaging,…

Science Fiction as Social Movement: Ideology and Resource Mobilization in Cultural Production and Reproduction.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Martin, William C.

The paper examines science fiction literature as a product and part of the social consciousness of the modern capitalist world order. This world order is seen as emphasizing science, technology, movement, growth, urbanization, industrialization, complex organization, and progress. The document is organized into two sections. The first section…

Progress in Brewing Science and Beer Production.

PubMed

Bamforth, C W

2017-06-07

The brewing of beer is an ancient biotechnology, the unit processes of which have not changed in hundreds of years. Equally, scientific study within the brewing industry not only has ensured that modern beer making is highly controlled, leading to highly consistent, high-quality, healthful beverages, but also has informed many other fermentation-based industries.

Radical Reform of the French University System

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Bereziat, Gilbert

2008-01-01

The French university system is in crisis. After its dismantlement during the French revolution, its rebirth was progressive under the third republic (1871-1945). But it was only after 1968 that the current universities developed, with an autonomy that is strictly supervised by the state. Since 1986 all experiments at modernizing the management of…

Second Annual Progress Report on Radiation Tolerance of Controlled Fusion Welds in High Temperature Oxidation Resistant FeCrAl Alloys

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

Field, Kevin G.; Gussev, Maxim N.; Yamamoto, Yukinori

2016-12-30

The present report summarizes and discusses the current results and on-going activity towards developing a modern, nuclear grade FeCrAl alloy designed to have enhanced radiation tolerance and weldability under the Department of Energy (DOE) Nuclear Energy Enabling Technologies (NEET) program.

John Milton Oskison and Assimilation

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Larre, Lionel

2013-01-01

John Milton Oskison (1874-1947) was a Cherokee writer, journalist, and activist and the author of novels and biographies as well as numerous short stories, essays, and articles about a great variety of subjects. Oskison thought of himself as "an interpreter to the world, of the modern, progressive Indian." The kind of representation Oskison gave…

Clinical staff development: planning and teaching for desired outcomes.

PubMed

Harton, Brenda B

2007-01-01

Nursing staff development educators facilitate learning activities to promote learner retention of knowledge: factual, conceptual, procedural, and meta-cognitive. The Revised Bloom's Taxonomy provides a modern framework for the cognitive process dimension of knowledge and guides the nursing educator in planning activities that will assure learner progress along the learning continuum.

Study on an Interactive Truck Crane Simulation Platform Based on Virtual Reality Technology

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Sang, Yong; Zhu, Yu; Zhao, Honghua; Tang, Mingyan

2016-01-01

The modern web-based distance education overcomes space-time restriction of the traditional teaching forms. However, being short of specifically observable and operable experimental equipment makes the web-based education lack advantages in the knowledge learning progress, which needs strong stereoscopic effect and operability. Truck crane is the…

The Effectiveness of Twitter as a Communication Tool in College Recruitment

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Kelly, Karen Jean

2013-01-01

Although some colleges are making progress in integrating new technology into their recruitment practices, many still lack an understanding of how to utilize modern communication tools, including social media sites such as Twitter, effectively. This study explored whether there is a relationship between Twitter usage and recruitment at U.S.…

Bioengineering and Bioinformatics Summer Institutes: Meeting Modern Challenges in Undergraduate Summer Research

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Butler, Peter J.; Dong, Cheng; Snyder, Alan J.; Jones, A. Daniel; Sheets, Erin D.

2008-01-01

Summer undergraduate research programs in science and engineering facilitate research progress for faculty and provide a close-ended research experience for students, which can prepare them for careers in industry, medicine, and academia. However, ensuring these outcomes is a challenge when the students arrive ill-prepared for substantive research…

The Redshifts in Relativity

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Singh, Satya Pal; Singh, Apoorva; Hareet, Prabhav

2011-01-01

The progress of modern cosmology took off in 1917 when A. Einstein published his paper on general theory of relativity extending his work of special theory of relativity (1905). In 1922 Alexander Friedmann constructed a mathematical model for expanding Universe that had a big bang in remote past. The experimental evidences could come in 1929 by…

Applying Technology to Unmet Needs. Technology and the American Economy, Appendix, Volume V.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

National Commission on Technology, Automation and Economic Progress, Washington, DC.

Twelve studies dealing with the problems of applying technology to unmet human and community needs are presented. "Urban Planning and Metropolitan Development--The Role of Technology," examines the possibilities of the computer and other modern planning tools. "Technology, Automation, and Economic Progress in Housing and Urban Development"…

One and Two Equals Three? The Third Mission of Higher Education Institutions

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Pinheiro, Rómulo; Langa, Patricio V.; Pausits, Attila

2015-01-01

In modern, knowledge-based societies, universities play an increasingly important role in achieving economic growth and social progress. Their traditional roles and missions are being broadened as to accommodate activities that facilitate engagement with various stakeholder groups. Universities do not want to be regarded as isolated and separated…

Modernity, Education and Its Alternatives: Schooling among the Urban Poor in Kathmandu

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Valentin, Karen

2011-01-01

Ideas of linear progress and predictability are essential to globally circulated ideas of educational planning, but do not necessarily correspond with the realities and priorities of ordinary people whose life trajectories often shape very differently. Thus, shedding light on the contradictory ideas about education and divergent expectations as to…

Direct Observation of Teacher and Student Behavior in School Settings: Trends, Issues and Future Directions

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Lewis, Timothy J.; Scott, Terrance M.; Wehby, Joseph H.; Wills, Howard P.

2014-01-01

Across the modern history of the field of special education and emotional/behavioral disorders (EBD), direct observation of student and educator behavior has been an essential component of the diagnostic process, student progress monitoring, and establishing functional and statistical relationships within research. This article provides an…

Using the Modern Technology That Is the "App"

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Bernardelli, Alessio

2013-01-01

A few years ago, the sight of the letters APP would have made teachers in England think of the Assessing Pupils' Progress assessment approach introduced by the government. Now, when they see those same letters they mostly think about smartphone and tablet applications, shortened to "apps." With the thousands of apps available in the…

City Schools as Mirrors of Modern Urban Life.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Jacobs, Gregory S.; Markowitz, Ruth Jacknow; Taylor, Clarence; Rousmaniere, Kate

2001-01-01

Reviews four books that examine educational topics that are closely linked to the history of cities. Three are rooted in the contentious, complex story of education in New York City, focusing on: Jewish women as the dominant group of public school teachers, progressive reform agendas, and school desegregation movements. The fourth examines school…

Federal/State Regulatory Reform, Cost Allocation, and CATV/TELCO Distance Learning Initiatives in Connecticut.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Pietras, Jesse John; Murphy, Robert J.

Distance learning in Connecticut has begun to develop in the wake of telecommunications (TELCO) infrastructure modernization. Progress in this area is reviewed and discussed. The state has not yet adopted a standardized statewide policy governing the delivery of educational telecommunications programing, and various private producers currently…

Smart Libraries: Integrating Communications Channels and Information Sources.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Webb, T. D.; Jensen, E. A.

Noting that the changing nature of information delivery has established immediacy as the new basis for modern library service, this paper describes the new facilities design and floor plan for the library of Kapiolani Community College of the University of Hawaii. The new library was carefully designed so that students can move progressively from…

Handwriting Implementation Project Study (HIPS). Report #1, Preparation for the Dissemination Phase.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Logan, Lloyd; And Others

The purpose of this report is to provide data on the progress of the Handwriting Implementation Project, which is designed to assist in installing the Beginner's Alphabet and Queensland Modern Cursive Script in Queensland government primary schools. Following an introduction that describes the phases and processes of curriculum development and…

Use of modern contraception by the poor is falling behind.

PubMed

Gakidou, Emmanuela; Vayena, Effy

2007-02-01

The widespread increase in the use of contraception, due to multiple factors including improved access to modern contraception, is one of the most dramatic social transformations of the past fifty years. This study explores whether the global progress in the use of modern contraceptives has also benefited the poorest. Demographic and Health Surveys from 55 developing countries were analyzed using wealth indices that allow the identification of the absolute poor within each country. This article explores the macro level determinants of the differences in the use of modern contraceptives between the poor and the national averages of several countries. Despite increases in national averages, use of modern contraception by the absolute poor remains low. South and Southeast Asia have relatively high rates of modern contraception in the absolute poor, on average 17% higher than in Latin America. Over time the gaps in use persist and are increasing. Latin America exhibits significantly larger gaps in use between the poor and the averages, while gaps in sub-Saharan Africa are on average smaller by 15.8% and in Southeast Asia by 11.6%. The secular trend of increasing rates of modern contraceptive use has not resulted in a decrease of the gap in use for those living in absolute poverty. Countries with large economic inequalities also exhibit large inequalities in modern contraceptive use. In addition to macro level factors that influence contraceptive use, such as economic development and provision of reproductive health services, there are strong regional variations, with sub-Saharan Africa exhibiting the lowest national rates of use, South and Southeast Asia the highest use among the poor, and Latin America the largest inequalities in use.

Use of modern contraceptives among married women in Vietnam: a multilevel analysis using the Multiple Indicator Cluster Survey (2011) and the Vietnam Population and Housing Census (2009)

PubMed Central

Vu, Lan Thi Hoang; Oh, Juhwan; Bui, Quyen Thi-Tu; Le, Anh Thi-Kim

2016-01-01

Background The prevalence of modern contraceptive use is an important indicator that reflects accessibility to reproductive health services. Satisfying unmet needs for family planning alone could reduce the number of maternal deaths by almost a third. This study uses multiple data sources to examine multilevel factors associated with the use of modern contraceptives among married women in Vietnam aged 15–49 years. Design Data from different national surveys (Vietnam Population and Housing Census, Vietnam Living Standard Survey, and Multiple Indicator Cluster Survey) were linked to create a dataset including individual and contextual (provincial) variables (N=8,341). Multilevel modeling was undertaken to examine the impact of both individual and provincial characteristics on modern contraceptive use. Odds ratios (ORs) and 95% confidence intervals (CIs) are reported. Results Individual factors significantly associated with the use of modern contraceptives were age 30–34 years (reference 15–19 years) (OR=1.63); high socioeconomic status (SES) (OR=0.8); having two living children (OR=2.4); and having a son (OR=1.4). The provincial poverty rate mediated the association between the individual's SES and the likelihood of using modern contraceptives. Conclusions The proportion of women in Vietnam using modern contraceptive methods has remained relatively high in recent years with significant variation across Vietnam's 63 provinces. Women of lower SES are more likely to use modern contraceptive methods, especially in the poorer provinces. Achieving access to universal reproductive health is one of the Millennium Development Goals. Vietnam must continue to make progress in this area. PMID:26950565

Focus: science, history, and modern India. Introduction.

PubMed

Phalkey, Jahnavi

2013-06-01

Histories of science in India are revisitations of the colonial question. Science is ideology to be unraveled and exposed--as modernity and progress making or violence and oppression making--depending on where you stand on the interpretive spectrum. It has been seen as ideologically driven practice, as a mode of knowledge production whose history is inseparable from the social and political uses to which it is tethered. In the colonial as well as the postcolonial context, science and technology have been seen as the "ideology of empire," "tools of empire," "tentacles of progress," and "reasons of state." Yet science and technology are practices and bodies of knowledge that inhabitants of the subcontinent have engaged with enthusiasm, that they have used to invent themselves in their global, national, and individual lives. We know remarkably little about the histories of these complex engagements. A departure from current historiographical preoccupations is called for to map and explain the lives, institutions, practices, and stories of science on the subcontinent as they connect with, and where they break away from, the world at large.

Environmental reporting and accounting in Australia: progress, prospects and research priorities.

PubMed

van Dijk, Albert; Mount, Richard; Gibbons, Philip; Vardon, Michael; Canadell, Pep

2014-03-01

Despite strong demand for information to support the sustainable use of Australia's natural resources and conserve environmental values and despite considerable effort and investment, nation-wide environmental data collection and analysis remains a substantially unmet challenge. We review progress in producing national environmental reports and accounts, identify challenges and opportunities, and analyse the potential role of research in addressing these. Australia's low and concentrated population density and the short history since European settlement contribute to the lack of environmental data. There are additional factors: highly diverse data requirements and standards, disagreement on information priorities, poorly measurable management objectives, lack of coordination, over-reliance on researchers and businesses for data collection, lack of business engagement, and short-term, project-based activities. New opportunities have arisen to overcome some of these challenges: enhanced monitoring networks, standardisation, data management and modelling, greater commitment to share and integrate data, community monitoring, increasing acceptance of environmental and sustainability indicators, and progress in environmental accounting practices. Successes in generating climate, water and greenhouse gas information appear to be attributable to an unambiguous data requirement, considerable investment, and legislative instruments that enhance data sharing and create a clearly defined role for operational agencies. Based on the analysis presented, we suggest six priorities for research: (1) common definitions and standards for information that address management objectives, (2) ecological measures that are scalable from local to national level, (3) promotion of long-term data collection and reporting by researchers, (4) efficient satellite and sensor network technologies and data analysis methods, (5) environmental modelling approaches that can reconcile multiple data sources, and (6) experimental accounting to pursue consistent, credible and relevant information structures and to identify new data requirements. Opportunities exist to make progress in each of these areas and help secure a more sustainable future. Copyright © 2014. Published by Elsevier B.V.

Environmental effects of ozone depletion and its interactions with climate change: progress report, 2008.

PubMed

Andrady, Anthony; Aucamp, Pieter J; Bais, Alkiviadis; Ballaré, Carlos L; Björn, Lars Olof; Bornman, Janet F; Caldwell, Martyn; Cullen, Anthony P; Erickson, David J; de Gruijl, Frank R; Häder, Donat-P; Ilyas, Mohammad; Kulandaivelu, G; Kumar, H D; Longstreth, Janice; McKenzie, Richard L; Norval, Mary; Paul, Nigel; Redhwi, Halim Hamid; Smith, Raymond C; Solomon, Keith R; Sulzberger, Barbara; Takizawa, Yukio; Tang, Xiaoyan; Teramura, Alan H; Torikai, Ayako; van der Leun, Jan C; Wilson, Stephen R; Worrest, Robert C; Zepp, Richard G

2009-01-01

After the enthusiastic celebration of the 20th Anniversary of the Montreal Protocol on Substances that Deplete the Ozone Layer in 2007, the work for the protection of the ozone layer continues. The Environmental Effects Assessment Panel is one of the three expert panels within the Montreal Protocol. This EEAP deals with the increase of the UV irradiance on the Earth's surface and its effects on human health, animals, plants, biogeochemistry, air quality and materials. For the past few years, interactions of ozone depletion with climate change have also been considered. It has become clear that the environmental problems will be long-lasting. In spite of the fact that the worldwide production of ozone depleting chemicals has already been reduced by 95%, the environmental disturbances are expected to persist for about the next half a century, even if the protective work is actively continued, and completed. The latest full report was published in Photochem. Photobiol. Sci., 2007, 6, 201-332, and the last progress report in Photochem. Photobiol. Sci., 2008, 7, 15-27. The next full report on environmental effects is scheduled for the year 2010. The present progress report 2008 is one of the short interim reports, appearing annually.

New York State canal system : modern freight-way

DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

2010-05-01

This study demonstrates the benefits of waterborne freight logistics and makes the case for instituting container-onbarge service on the New York State Canal System. We summarize numerous studies comparing the energy requirements and environmental ex...

Coccolithophore calcification response to past ocean acidification and climate change

PubMed Central

O’Dea, Sarah A.; Gibbs, Samantha J.; Bown, Paul R.; Young, Jeremy R.; Poulton, Alex J.; Newsam, Cherry; Wilson, Paul A.

2014-01-01

Anthropogenic carbon dioxide emissions are forcing rapid ocean chemistry changes and causing ocean acidification (OA), which is of particular significance for calcifying organisms, including planktonic coccolithophores. Detailed analysis of coccolithophore skeletons enables comparison of calcite production in modern and fossil cells in order to investigate biomineralization response of ancient coccolithophores to climate change. Here we show that the two dominant coccolithophore taxa across the Paleocene–Eocene Thermal Maximum (PETM) OA global warming event (~56 million years ago) exhibited morphological response to environmental change and both showed reduced calcification rates. However, only Coccolithus pelagicus exhibits a transient thinning of coccoliths, immediately before the PETM, that may have been OA-induced. Changing coccolith thickness may affect calcite production more significantly in the dominant modern species Emiliania huxleyi, but, overall, these PETM records indicate that the environmental factors that govern taxonomic composition and growth rate will most strongly influence coccolithophore calcification response to anthropogenic change. PMID:25399967

Coccolithophore calcification response to past ocean acidification and climate change.

PubMed

O'Dea, Sarah A; Gibbs, Samantha J; Bown, Paul R; Young, Jeremy R; Poulton, Alex J; Newsam, Cherry; Wilson, Paul A

2014-11-17

Anthropogenic carbon dioxide emissions are forcing rapid ocean chemistry changes and causing ocean acidification (OA), which is of particular significance for calcifying organisms, including planktonic coccolithophores. Detailed analysis of coccolithophore skeletons enables comparison of calcite production in modern and fossil cells in order to investigate biomineralization response of ancient coccolithophores to climate change. Here we show that the two dominant coccolithophore taxa across the Paleocene-Eocene Thermal Maximum (PETM) OA global warming event (~56 million years ago) exhibited morphological response to environmental change and both showed reduced calcification rates. However, only Coccolithus pelagicus exhibits a transient thinning of coccoliths, immediately before the PETM, that may have been OA-induced. Changing coccolith thickness may affect calcite production more significantly in the dominant modern species Emiliania huxleyi, but, overall, these PETM records indicate that the environmental factors that govern taxonomic composition and growth rate will most strongly influence coccolithophore calcification response to anthropogenic change.

Environmentally-Preferable Launch Coatings

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Kessel, Kurt R.

2015-01-01

The Ground Systems Development and Operations (GSDO) Program at NASA Kennedy Space Center (KSC), Florida, has the primary objective of modernizing and transforming the launch and range complex at KSC to benefit current and future NASA programs along with other emerging users. Described as the launch support and infrastructure modernization program in the NASA Authorization Act of 2010, the GSDO Program will develop and implement shared infrastructure and process improvements to provide more flexible, affordable, and responsive capabilities to a multi-user community. In support of NASA and the GSDO Program, the objective of this project is to determine the feasibility of environmentally friendly corrosion protecting coatings for launch facilities and ground support equipment (GSE). The focus of the project is corrosion resistance and survivability with the goal to reduce the amount of maintenance required to preserve the performance of launch facilities while reducing mission risk. The project compares coating performance of the selected alternatives to existing coating systems or standards.

Recommendations from the 4th International Conference on Environmental Education, Ahmedabad, India

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Journal of Education for Sustainable Development, 2008

2008-01-01

The first set of international recommendations to guide environmental education (EE) was developed in Tbilisi, Georgia, in 1977. Ten years later, in 1987, a conference in Moscow, Russia, reviewed progress and focused on institutional strategies and action plans to strengthen environmental education. A third international environmental education…

Site Environmental Report for 2015

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

Pauer, Ron O.; Baskin, David A.; Borglin, Ned K.

The annual Site Environmental Report documents Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory’s performance in reducing its environmental impacts, progress toward cleaning up groundwater contamination, and compliance with applicable Department of Energy, federal, state, and local environmental regulations. The report is required by DOE Order 231.1B, Environment, Safety, and Health Reporting.

Office of Environmental Education. 1991 Progress Report.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Environmental Protection Agency, Washington, DC. Office of Environmental Education.

As improvements in environmental protection become more dependent upon the activities of individual citizens, so grows the need for an environmentally literate citizenry. The stated goal of the Office of Environmental Education is to instill in students a sense of concern for, a mutual dependence upon, and an intimacy toward the natural…

Hearing loss in Usher syndrome type II is nonprogressive.

PubMed

Reisser, Christoph F V; Kimberling, William J; Otterstedde, Christian R

2002-12-01

Usher syndrome is an autosomal recessive disorder characterized by sensorineural hearing loss and progressive visual loss secondary to retinitis pigmentosa. In the literature, a possible progression of the moderate to severe hearing loss in Usher syndrome type II (Usher II) is controversial. We studied the development of the hearing loss of 125 patients with a clinical diagnosis of Usher syndrome type II intraindividually and interindividually by repeatedly performing complete audiological and neuro-otologic examinations. Our data show a very characteristic slope of the hearing curve in all Usher II patients and no clinically relevant progression of the hearing loss over up to 17 years. The subjective impression of a deterioration of the communicative abilities of Usher II patients must therefore be attributed to the progressive visual loss. The patients should be reassured that changes in their hearing abilities are unlikely and should be provided with optimally fitted modern hearing aids.

Modern astronomical knowledge as component of general education for sustainable development

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Nurgaliev, I.

{It is shown that 1) astronomical knowledge was a foundation of emerging modern physics and natural sciences based on mathematics, 2) mathematical basis of the natural sciences serves as an orientation of progress in the true objective of social sciences. The last example for this chain of impacts is the discovery of the fundamental demographic equation (N=aN^2-bN) full of the astronomical analogy [9]. Modern age endorses new imperatives on education. Reckless exploitation of the natural resources will cause irreversible exhaustion of the agro- and bio-potential of the planet during lifetime of a few generations. The adequate respond to the challenge lies in modern technologies and educating responsible (socially oriented) professionals. That is why the importance of teaching modern technologies along with providing the students with the understanding of global long term consequences of the human industrial activities is growing. The course ``Theoretical Foundations of Modern Technologies" at the Moscow State Agricultural University (Timiryazev Academy) taught by the author is discussed. New experimental project ``Space Technologies, Ecology and Safe Energetics in School of the Future" is presented as a project of a new age in the process of implementing at the Moscow city secondary schools by the colleagues and by the author. The new cosmological models in the frame of the Newtonian and general relativistic treatments developed by the author are considered in this report as an example of immediate implementation of new astro-knowledge into the education for modern agrarian students. The centrifugal forces acting between particles rotating randomly around each other are shown to be able to reverse gravitational collapse.

Positron emission tomography-guided conformal fast neutron therapy for glioblastoma multiforme

PubMed Central

Stelzer, Keith J.; Douglas, James G.; Mankoff, David A.; Silbergeld, Daniel L.; Krohn, Kenneth A.; Laramore, George E.; Spence, Alexander M.

2008-01-01

Glioblastoma multiforme (GBM) continues to be a difficult therapeutic challenge. Our study was conducted to determine whether improved survival and tumor control could be achieved with modern delivery of fast neutron radiation using three-dimensional treatment planning. Ten patients were enrolled. Eligibility criteria included pathologic diagnosis of GBM, age ≥ 18 years, and KPS ≥60. Patients underwent MRI and 18F-fluorodeoxyglucose PET (FDG PET) as part of initial three-dimensional treatment planning. Sequential targets were treated with noncoplanar fields to a total dose of 18 Gy in 16 fractions over 4 weeks. Median and 1-year overall survival were 55 weeks and 60%, respectively. One patient remains alive at last follow-up 255 weeks after diagnosis. Median progression-free survival was 16 weeks, and all patients had tumor progression by 39 weeks. Treatment was clinically well tolerated, but evidence of mild to moderate gliosis and microvascular sclerosis consistent with radiation injury was observed at autopsy in specimens taken from regions of contralateral brain that received approximately 6–10 Gy. Fast neutron radiation using modern imaging, treatment planning, and beam delivery was feasible to a total dose of 18 Gy, but tumor control probability was poor in comparison to that predicted from a dose-response model based on older studies. Steep dose-response curves for both tumor control and neurotoxicity continue to present a challenge to establishing a therapeutic window for fast neutron radiation in GBM, even with modern techniques. PMID:18055860

Towards better metrics and policymaking for seed system development: Insights from Asia's seed industry.

PubMed

Spielman, David J; Kennedy, Adam

2016-09-01

Since the 1980s, many developing countries have introduced policies to promote seed industry growth and improve the delivery of modern science to farmers, often with a long-term goal of increasing agricultural productivity in smallholder farming systems. Public, private, and civil society actors involved in shaping policy designs have, in turn, developed competing narratives around how best to build an innovative and sustainable seed system, each with varying goals, values, and levels of influence. Efforts to strike a balance between these narratives have often played out in passionate discourses surrounding seed rules and regulations. As a result, however, policymakers in many countries have expressed impatience with the slow progress on enhancing the contribution of a modern seed industry to the overarching goal of increasing agricultural productivity growth. One reason for this slow progress may be that policymakers are insufficiently cognizant of the trade-offs associated with rules and regulations required to effectively govern a modern seed industry. This suggests the need for new data and analysis to improve the understanding of how seed systems function. This paper explores these issues in the context of Asia's rapidly growing seed industry, with illustrations from seed markets for maize and several other crops, to highlight current gaps in the metrics used to analyze performance, competition, and innovation. The paper provides a finite set of indicators to inform policymaking on seed system design and monitoring, and explores how these indicators can be used to inform current policy debates in the region.

Precambrian perspectives.

PubMed

Goodwin, A M

1981-07-03

The Precambrian record is interpreted in terms of an evolutionary progression that moves in the direction of increasing continental stability. An early, highly mobile microplate tectonics phase progressed through a more stable, largely intracratonic, ensialic, mobile belt phase to the modern macroplate tectonics phase that involves large, rigid lithospheric plates. Various phases are characterized by distinctive crustal associations. Three controls-bulk earth heat production, crustal fractionation and cratonization, and atmospheric oxygen accumulation-are viewed as the cumulative cause of the trends and events that characterize the crust at different stages of development, from its inception approximately 4.6 billion years ago to the present.

Progress in Open Rotor Research: A U.S. Perspective

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Van Zante, Dale E.

2015-01-01

In response to the 1970s oil crisis, NASA created the Advanced Turboprop Project (ATP) to mature technologies for high-speed propellers to enable large reductions in fuel burn relative to turbofan engines of that era. Both single rotation and contra-rotation concepts were designed and tested in ground based facilities as well as flight. Some novel concepts configurations that were not well publicized at the time, were proposed as part of the effort. The high-speed propeller concepts did provide fuel burn savings, albeit with some acoustics and structural challenges to overcome. When fuel prices fell, the business case for radical new engine configurations collapsed and the research emphasis returned to high bypass ducted configurations. With rising oil prices and increased environmental concerns there is renewed interest in high-speed propeller based engine architectures. Contemporary analysis tools for aerodynamics and aeroacoustics have enabled a new era of blade designs that have both high efficiency and acceptable noise characteristics. A recent series of tests in the U.S. have characterized the aerodynamic performance and noise from these modern contra-rotating propeller designs. Additionally the installation and noise shielding aspects for conventional airframes and blended wing bodies have been studied. Historical estimates of propfan performance have relied on legacy propeller performance and acoustics data. Current system studies make use of the modern propeller data with higher fidelity installation effects data to estimate the performance of a contemporary aircraft system with favorable results. This paper presents the current state of high-speed propeller open rotor research within the U.S. from an overall viewpoint of the various efforts ongoing. The current projections for the technology are presented.

Managing chronic inflammation in the aging diabetic patient with CKD by diet or sevelamer carbonate: a modern paradigm shift.

PubMed

Vlassara, H; Cai, W; Chen, X; Serrano, E J; Shobha, M S; Uribarri, J; Woodward, M; Striker, G E

2012-12-01

The maintenance of normal metabolism and body defenses depends on the balance between cellular antioxidant and anti-inflammatory factors. This balance can be disrupted by agents/mechanisms in the extracellular milieu that induce excess reactive oxygen species (ROS) and inflammation. Cytopathic advanced glycation endproducts, present in ever increasing amounts in the modern diet, are one of the major environmental factors that cause excess ROS and/or inflammation at all ages and induce complications in aging, such as chronic kidney disease (CKD) and type 2 diabetes. Increased ROS and/or inflammation are present in both aging and CKD, and are associated with reduced cellular defenses against ROS and/or inflammation. Affected individuals have reduced defenses against further stress and are predisposed to organ failure, now a well-known phenomenon in aging. Thus, new methods are urgently needed to safely reduce ROS and/or inflammation in the aging type 2 diabetes patient with CKD. Studies of both normal aging and diabetic patients with kidney disease underline the fact that increased ROS and/or inflammation can be managed in these conditions by economical, safe, and effective interventions that reduce the uptake of advanced glycation endproducts by either modifying preparation of food or an oral drug. This communication reviews these data and adds new information on the efficacy of a drug, sevelamer carbonate, required to reduce ROS and/or inflammation in the aging type 2 diabetes patient complicated by CKD. If larger and longer studies confirm the hypothesis that one or both of these interventions reduce progression of CKD, it could represent a new paradigm in the management of complications in the type 2 diabetes patient with CKD.

Integrated environmental modeling: a vision and roadmap for the future

USGS Publications Warehouse

Laniak, Gerard F.; Olchin, Gabriel; Goodall, Jonathan; Voinov, Alexey; Hill, Mary; Glynn, Pierre; Whelan, Gene; Geller, Gary; Quinn, Nigel; Blind, Michiel; Peckham, Scott; Reaney, Sim; Gaber, Noha; Kennedy, Philip R.; Hughes, Andrew

2013-01-01

Integrated environmental modeling (IEM) is inspired by modern environmental problems, decisions, and policies and enabled by transdisciplinary science and computer capabilities that allow the environment to be considered in a holistic way. The problems are characterized by the extent of the environmental system involved, dynamic and interdependent nature of stressors and their impacts, diversity of stakeholders, and integration of social, economic, and environmental considerations. IEM provides a science-based structure to develop and organize relevant knowledge and information and apply it to explain, explore, and predict the behavior of environmental systems in response to human and natural sources of stress. During the past several years a number of workshops were held that brought IEM practitioners together to share experiences and discuss future needs and directions. In this paper we organize and present the results of these discussions. IEM is presented as a landscape containing four interdependent elements: applications, science, technology, and community. The elements are described from the perspective of their role in the landscape, current practices, and challenges that must be addressed. Workshop participants envision a global scale IEM community that leverages modern technologies to streamline the movement of science-based knowledge from its sources in research, through its organization into databases and models, to its integration and application for problem solving purposes. Achieving this vision will require that the global community of IEM stakeholders transcend social, and organizational boundaries and pursue greater levels of collaboration. Among the highest priorities for community action are the development of standards for publishing IEM data and models in forms suitable for automated discovery, access, and integration; education of the next generation of environmental stakeholders, with a focus on transdisciplinary research, development, and decision making; and providing a web-based platform for community interactions (e.g., continuous virtual workshops).

Determinants of human olfactory performance: a cross-cultural study.

PubMed

Sorokowska, Agnieszka; Sorokowski, Piotr; Frackowiak, Tomasz

2015-02-15

Olfaction allows us to detect subtle changes in our environment, but sensitivity of the sense of smell varies among individuals. Although a significant number of research papers discuss the relationship between olfactory abilities and environmental factors, most studies have been conducted on Western populations or in developed Asian societies. The potential environmental and cultural determinants of olfactory acuity warrant further exploration. In the current study, we compared previously published data on olfaction in an industrialized, modern society (i.e., Europeans) and an indigenous society living in unpolluted, natural environmental conditions (i.e., Tsimane'), with novel data on the olfactory acuity of inhabitants of the Cook Islands. Like the European population (and contrary to the Tsimane'), the Cook Islands people form a modern society, and like the Tsimane' population (and contrary to the Europeans), they live in an unpolluted region. Thus, these comparisons enabled us to independently assess the importance of both air pollution and changes in lifestyle for olfactory abilities in modern societies. Our results indicate that people from the Cook Islands had significantly higher olfactory acuity (i.e., lower thresholds of odor detection) than did Europeans and Tsimane' people. Interestingly, the olfactory sensitivity of Europeans was significantly lower than the olfactory sensitivity of the remaining two groups. Our data suggest that air pollution is an important factor in the deterioration of the sense of smell. However, it is also possible that factors such as agricultural and/or cooking practices, alcohol consumption, and access to medical service may also influence olfactory acuity. Copyright © 2014 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Brain matters: from environmental ethics to environmental neuroethics.

PubMed

Cabrera, Laura Y; Tesluk, Jordan; Chakraborti, Michelle; Matthews, Ralph; Illes, Judy

2016-02-15

The ways in which humans affect and are affected by their environments have been studied from many different perspectives over the past decades. However, it was not until the 1970s that the discussion of the ethical relationship between humankind and the environment formalized as an academic discipline with the emergence of environmental ethics. A few decades later, environmental health emerged as a discipline focused on the assessment and regulation of environmental factors that affect living beings. Our goal here is to begin a discussion specifically about the impact of modern environmental change on biomedical and social understandings of brain and mental health, and to align this with ethical considerations. We refer to this focus as Environmental Neuroethics, offer a case study to illustrate key themes and issues, and conclude by offering a five-tier framework as a starting point of analysis.

Environmental Decision Support with Consistent Metrics

EPA Science Inventory

One of the most effective ways to pursue environmental progress is through the use of consistent metrics within a decision making framework. The US Environmental Protection Agency’s Sustainable Technology Division has developed TRACI, the Tool for the Reduction and Assessment of...

U.S. Mexico Border Despite Some Progress, Environmental Infrastructure Challenges Remain

DTIC Science & Technology

2000-03-01

United States General Accounting Office PAQ Report to Congressional Requesters March 2000 U.S.- MEXICO BORDER Despite Some Progress...Activities Table 9: Mexican Programs to Address Border Environmental Issues 19 34 35 36 37 39 40 42 Figure 1: U.S.- Mexico Border Region and 14...Sister Cities Figure 2: Percentage Breakdown of Funding for Bank-financed Projects, 1995-99 Figure 3: U.S.- Mexico Border Funding, 1994-99 (in billions

Five Forces of 21st Century Innovation Strategy: Insights for Leaders

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

Arent, Douglas J.; Pless, Jacquelyn; Statwick, Patricia

Understanding these dynamics informs 21st century innovation strategies that government and business leaders rely upon to address modern technological, social, environmental, and demographic realities. This Research Highlight previews JISEA's continuing work on innovation strategy.

Goals, Strategies

Science.gov Websites

stability Science & Innovation Collaboration Careers Community Environment Science & Innovation . Provide a safe, secure, and effective stockpile Protect against the nuclear threat Counter emerging excellence STRATEGY We will create a modern workplace that is environmentally responsible, safe, and secure

40 CFR 52.2037 - Control strategy plans for attainment and rate-of-progress: Ozone.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2012 CFR

2012-07-01

... and rate-of-progress: Ozone. 52.2037 Section 52.2037 Protection of Environment ENVIRONMENTAL... (CONTINUED) Pennsylvania § 52.2037 Control strategy plans for attainment and rate-of-progress: Ozone. (a) Part D—Conditional Approval—the Pennsylvania plan for carbon monoxide and ozone is approved provided...

40 CFR 52.2037 - Control strategy plans for attainment and rate-of-progress: Ozone.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2013 CFR

2013-07-01

... and rate-of-progress: Ozone. 52.2037 Section 52.2037 Protection of Environment ENVIRONMENTAL... (CONTINUED) Pennsylvania § 52.2037 Control strategy plans for attainment and rate-of-progress: Ozone. (a) Part D—Conditional Approval—the Pennsylvania plan for carbon monoxide and ozone is approved provided...

40 CFR 52.2037 - Control strategy plans for attainment and rate-of-progress: Ozone.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

2010-07-01

... and rate-of-progress: Ozone. 52.2037 Section 52.2037 Protection of Environment ENVIRONMENTAL... (CONTINUED) Pennsylvania § 52.2037 Control strategy plans for attainment and rate-of-progress: Ozone. (a) Part D—Conditional Approval—the Pennsylvania plan for carbon monoxide and ozone is approved provided...

40 CFR 52.2037 - Control strategy plans for attainment and rate-of-progress: Ozone.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2011 CFR

2011-07-01

... and rate-of-progress: Ozone. 52.2037 Section 52.2037 Protection of Environment ENVIRONMENTAL... (CONTINUED) Pennsylvania § 52.2037 Control strategy plans for attainment and rate-of-progress: Ozone. (a) Part D—Conditional Approval—the Pennsylvania plan for carbon monoxide and ozone is approved provided...

Possible ancestral structure in human populations.

PubMed

Plagnol, Vincent; Wall, Jeffrey D

2006-07-01

Determining the evolutionary relationships between fossil hominid groups such as Neanderthals and modern humans has been a question of enduring interest in human evolutionary genetics. Here we present a new method for addressing whether archaic human groups contributed to the modern gene pool (called ancient admixture), using the patterns of variation in contemporary human populations. Our method improves on previous work by explicitly accounting for recent population history before performing the analyses. Using sequence data from the Environmental Genome Project, we find strong evidence for ancient admixture in both a European and a West African population (p approximately 10(-7)), with contributions to the modern gene pool of at least 5%. While Neanderthals form an obvious archaic source population candidate in Europe, there is not yet a clear source population candidate in West Africa.

Windmills: Ancestors of the wind power generation

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Rossi, Cesare; Russo, Flavio; Savino, Sergio

2017-09-01

A brief description of the windmills from the second millennium BC to the Renaissance is presented. This survey is a part of several studies conducted by the authors on technology in the ancient world. The windmills are the first motor, other than human muscles, and are the ancestors of the modern wind turbines. Some authors' virtual reconstructions of old windmills are also presented. The paper shows that the operating principle of many modern machines had already been conceived in the ancient times by using a technology that was more advanced than expected, but with two main differences, as follows: Similar tasks were accomplished by using much less energy; and the environmental impact was nil or very low. Modern designers should sometimes consider simplicity rather than the use of a large amount of energy.

How sustainable is Japan's foreign aid policy? An analysis of Japan's official development assistance and funding for energy sector projects

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Yamaguchi, Hideka

Japan has adopted a sustainable development strategy since the late 1980s in the effort to address social and environmental damages caused by past Japan-funded projects in partner nations. Even after about a decade and a half of the policy implementation, however, there are few reports which critically examine effects of the adoption of the idea of sustainable development. This dissertation evaluates Japan's foreign aid policy to determine the extent to which new revisions of aid policy have improved the environmental sustainability of the policy. This dissertation reviews the mainstream idea of sustainable development (also known as the sustainable development paradigm in this dissertation) to reveal the nature of the idea of sustainable development that Japan's foreign aid policy depends on. A literature review of two development discourses---modernization theory and ecological modernization theory---and three types of critiques against the sustainable development paradigm---focused on adverse impacts of modern science, globalization, and environmental overuse---reveals core logics of and problems with the sustainable development paradigm. Japan's foreign aid policy impacts on energy sector development in recipient countries is examined by means of a quantitative analysis and a qualitative analysis. Specifically, it examines the effect of Japan's ODA program over fifteen years that proposed to facilitate sustainable development in developing countries. Special emphasis is given to investigation of ODA disbursements in the energy sector and detailed case studies of several individual energy projects are performed. The dissertation discovers that the sustainable development paradigm guiding Japan's ODA has little capacity to accomplish its goals to bring about social and ecological improvement in developing countries. This dissertation finds three fundamental weaknesses in Japanese ODA policy on energy sector development as well as the sustainable development paradigm; first, the heavy reliance on modern science leads to a failure to use local knowledge and practices which can be more sustainable to sustainability; second, the acceptance of the international capitalist system as the basis for project implementation results in little or no long-term sustainability commitment; and third, the compatibility of economic growth with environmental sustainability, which appears unlikely in the context of global economic inequality. As an alternative, this dissertation suggests several policies for promoting energy systems for rural sustainable development in the Global South.

Rethinking the history of modern agriculture: British pig production, c.1910-65.

PubMed

Woods, Abigail

2012-01-01

This article uses a study of pig production in Britain, c.1910-65, to rethink the history of modern agriculture and its implications for human-animal relationships. Drawing on literature written by and for pig producers and experts, it challenges existing portrayals of a unidirectional, post-Second World War shift from traditional small-scale mixed farming to large, specialized, intensive systems. Rather, 'factory-style' pig production was already established in Britain by the 1930s, and its fortunes waxed and waned over time in relation to different kinds of outdoor production, which was still prominent in the mid-1960s. In revealing that the progressive proponents of both indoor and outdoor methods regarded them as modern and efficient, but defined and pursued these values in quite different ways, the article argues for a more historically situated understanding of agricultural modernity. Analysis reveals that regardless of their preferred production system, leading experts and producers were keen to develop what they considered to be natural methods that reflected the pig's natural needs and desires. They perceived pigs as active, sentient individuals, and believed that working in harmony with their natures was essential, even if this was, ultimately, for commercial ends. Such views contradict received accounts of modern farming as a utilitarian enterprise, concerned only with dominating and manipulating nature. They are used to argue that a romantic, moral view of the pig did not simply pre-date or emerge in opposition to modern agriculture, but, rather, was integral to it.

The Complete Mitochondrial Genome of an 11,450-year-old Aurochsen (Bos primigenius) from Central Italy

PubMed Central

2011-01-01

Background Bos primigenius, the aurochs, is the wild ancestor of modern cattle breeds and was formerly widespread across Eurasia and northern Africa. After a progressive decline, the species became extinct in 1627. The origin of modern taurine breeds in Europe is debated. Archaeological and early genetic evidence point to a single Near Eastern origin and a subsequent spread during the diffusion of herding and farming. More recent genetic data are instead compatible with local domestication events or at least some level of local introgression from the aurochs. Here we present the analysis of the complete mitochondrial genome of a pre-Neolithic Italian aurochs. Results In this study, we applied a combined strategy employing both multiplex PCR amplifications and 454 pyrosequencing technology to sequence the complete mitochondrial genome of an 11,450-year-old aurochs specimen from Central Italy. Phylogenetic analysis of the aurochs mtDNA genome supports the conclusions from previous studies of short mtDNA fragments - namely that Italian aurochsen were genetically very similar to modern cattle breeds, but highly divergent from the North-Central European aurochsen. Conclusions Complete mitochondrial genome sequences are now available for several modern cattle and two pre-Neolithic mtDNA genomes from very different geographic areas. These data suggest that previously identified sub-groups within the widespread modern cattle mitochondrial T clade are polyphyletic, and they support the hypothesis that modern European breeds have multiple geographic origins. PMID:21281509

Airpower and the Environment: The Ecological Implications of Modern Air Warfare

DTIC Science & Technology

2013-07-01

communications.42 Never- theless, local environmental knowledge should not be discounted; simple word -of- mouth , low-tech communication can be very eec...communications.42 Never- theless, local environmental knowledge should not be discounted; simple word -of- mouth , low-tech communication can be very eec...their non-living environment interacting as a functional unit.”9 In other words , an ecosystem is a group of interdependent organisms which share the

Prospects for reconciling the conflict between economic growth and biodiversity conservation with technological progress.

PubMed

Czech, Brian

2008-12-01

The conflict between economic growth and biodiversity conservation is understood in portions of academia and sometimes acknowledged in political circles. Nevertheless, there is not a unified response. In political and policy circles, the environmental Kuznets curve (EKC) is posited to solve the conflict between economic growth and environmental protection. In academia, however, the EKC has been deemed fallacious in macroeconomic scenarios and largely irrelevant to biodiversity. A more compelling response to the conflict is that it may be resolved with technological progress. Herein I review the conflict between economic growth and biodiversity conservation in the absence of technological progress, explore the prospects for technological progress to reconcile that conflict, and provide linguistic suggestions for describing the relationships among economic growth, technological progress, and biodiversity conservation. The conflict between economic growth and biodiversity conservation is based on the first two laws of thermodynamics and principles of ecology such as trophic levels and competitive exclusion. In this biophysical context, the human economy grows at the competitive exclusion of nonhuman species in the aggregate. Reconciling the conflict via technological progress has not occurred and is infeasible because of the tight linkage between technological progress and economic growth at current levels of technology. Surplus production in existing economic sectors is required for conducting the research and development necessary for bringing new technologies to market. Technological regimes also reflect macroeconomic goals, and if the goal is economic growth, reconciliatory technologies are less likely to be developed. As the economy grows, the loss of biodiversity may be partly mitigated with end-use innovation that increases technical efficiency, but this type of technological progress requires policies that are unlikely if the conflict between economic growth and biodiversity conservation (and other aspects of environmental protection) is not acknowledged.

Development of a service organization. CHA (Catholic Hospital Association) from post-World War II through Vatican II.

PubMed

Kauffman, C J

1990-06-01

Having weathered the Depression and war years, CHA in the late 1940s looked forward to a new era in Catholic healthcare. The third and fourth articles of Health Progress's six-part history of CHA described how Rev. Alphonse M. Schwitalla, SJ, led the association through one of the most difficult periods in U.S. history. This article follows CHA's development into a modern service organization under the leadership of Rev. John J. Flanagan, SJ. The series' final installment, which will appear in the July-August issue, describes how CHA has modernized its services and structure in the past two decades to help its members adjust to a turbulent environment.

Environmental Education in the South Pacific: An Evaluation of Progress in Three Countries.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Taylor, Neil; Topalian, Teny

1995-01-01

Evaluates formal environmental education in three countries in the South Pacific Region: Fiji (Melanesia); Kiribati (Micronesia); and Niue (Polynesia). Findings reveal that environmental education is at different stages of evolution in each of these countries and only Niue appears to deliver environmental education effectively when compared with…

[Research of regional medical consumables reagent logistics system in the modern hospital].

PubMed

Wu, Jingjiong; Zhang, Yanwen; Luo, Xiaochen; Zhang, Qing; Zhu, Jianxin

2013-09-01

To explore the modern hospital and regional medical consumable reagents logistics system management. The characteristics of regional logistics, through cooperation between medical institutions within the region, and organize a wide range of special logistics activities, to make reasonable of the regional medical consumable reagents logistics. To set the regional management system, dynamic management systems, supply chain information management system, after-sales service system and assessment system. By the research of existing medical market and medical resources, to establish the regional medical supplies reagents directory and the initial data. The emphasis is centralized dispatch of medical supplies reagents, to introduce qualified logistics company for dispatching, to improve the modern hospital management efficiency, to costs down. Regional medical center and regional community health service centers constitute a regional logistics network, the introduction of medical consumable reagents logistics services, fully embodies integrity level, relevance, purpose, environmental adaptability of characteristics by the medical consumable reagents regional logistics distribution. Modern logistics distribution systems can increase the area of medical consumables reagent management efficiency and reduce costs.

The human dimensions of climate change: A micro-level assessment of views from the ecological modernization, political economy and human ecology perspectives.

PubMed

Adua, Lazarus; York, Richard; Schuelke-Leech, Beth-Anne

2016-03-01

Understanding the manifold human and physical dimensions of climate change has become an area of great interest to researchers in recent decades. Using a U.S. nationally-representative data set and drawing on the ecological modernization, political economy, and human ecology perspectives, this study examines the impacts of energy efficiency technologies, affluence, household demographics, and biophysical characteristics on residential CO2 emissions. Overall, the study provides mixed support for the ecological modernization perspective. While several findings are consistent with the theory's expectation that modern societies can harness technology to mitigate human impacts on the environment, others directly contradict it. Also, the theory's prediction of an inverted U-shaped relationship between affluence and environmental impacts is contradicted. The evidence is somewhat more supportive of the political economy and human ecology perspectives, with affluence, some indicators of technology, household demographics, and biophysical characteristics emerging as important drivers of residential CO2 emissions. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Local Environmental Grassroots Activism: Contributions from Environmental Psychology, Sociology and Politics

PubMed Central

Mihaylov, Nikolay L.; Perkins, Douglas D.

2015-01-01

Local environmental grassroots activism is robust and globally ubiquitous despite the ebbs and flows of the general environmental movement. In this review we synthesize social movement, environmental politics, and environmental psychology literatures to answer the following questions: How does the environment emerge as a topic for community action and how a particular environmental discourse (preservation, conservation, public health, Deep Ecology, justice, localism and other responses to modernization and development) becomes dominant? How does a community coalesce around the environmental issue and its particular framing? What is the relationship between local and supralocal (regional, national, global) activism? We contrast “Not in My Back Yard” (NIMBY) activism and environmental liberation and discuss the significance of local knowledge and scale, nature as an issue for activism, place attachment and its disruption, and place-based power inequalities. Environmental psychology contributions to established scholarship on environmental activism are proposed: the components of place attachment are conceptualized in novel ways and a continuous dweller and activist place attachment is elaborated. PMID:25806672

Local environmental grassroots activism: contributions from environmental psychology, sociology and politics.

PubMed

Mihaylov, Nikolay L; Perkins, Douglas D

2015-03-23

Local environmental grassroots activism is robust and globally ubiquitous despite the ebbs and flows of the general environmental movement. In this review we synthesize social movement, environmental politics, and environmental psychology literatures to answer the following questions: How does the environment emerge as a topic for community action and how a particular environmental discourse (preservation, conservation, public health, Deep Ecology, justice, localism and other responses to modernization and development) becomes dominant? How does a community coalesce around the environmental issue and its particular framing? What is the relationship between local and supralocal (regional, national, global) activism? We contrast "Not in My Back Yard" (NIMBY) activism and environmental liberation and discuss the significance of local knowledge and scale, nature as an issue for activism, place attachment and its disruption, and place-based power inequalities. Environmental psychology contributions to established scholarship on environmental activism are proposed: the components of place attachment are conceptualized in novel ways and a continuous dweller and activist place attachment is elaborated.

Health transition: examples from the western Pacific.

PubMed

Baker, P T; Garruto, R M

1992-12-01

The Industrial Revolution ushered in a rapid transition from agriculture to industrialization. Some biological effects of this transition included increasing life expectancy, reduced infant mortality, and some decline in fertility. Reduced infant mortality first brought about an increase in life expectancy, but as humans were able to control infectious diseases, child and adult mortality also decreased. Now, accidents and chronic diseases are responsible for most mortality in many age groups. This shift from infectious diseases to accidents and chronic diseases is called the health transition. Japan and US are Pacific Basin countries which have relatively high life expectancy and low infant mortality (1988, 75.54 years vs. 71.38 years, and 4.4 vs. 9.9, respectively). These figures suggest that these countries rather advanced in the health transition. Japan may have better life expectancy than the US because of the effect of environmental factors, ethnic diversity, and health care differentials by social class on cardiovascular disease and cancer mortality. China and Thailand hold intermediate positions (67.98 years (1985-1990) vs. 63.82 years (1985-1986), and 32.4 vs. 39, respectively). Some research indicates that urban conditions and factory work increase the cardiovascular disease risk among the Chinese. Recent research suggests that access to immunization and modern medical care for acute disease are the only critical variables of the health transition rather than other variables. Papua New Guinea is not progressing very well (53.18 years and 58). Papua New Guinea has not yet been able to control infectious diseases, especially malaria. This comparison illustrates that populations progress through the health transition at different rates.

FY2017 Electrification Annual Progress Report

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

None

During fiscal year 2017 (FY 2017), the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) Vehicle Technologies Office (VTO) funded early stage research & development (R&D) projects that address Batteries and Electrification of the U.S. transportation sector. The VTO Electrification Sub-Program is composed of Electric Drive Technologies, and Grid Integration activities. The Electric Drive Technologies group conducts R&D projects that advance Electric Motors and Power Electronics technologies. The Grid and Charging Infrastructure group conducts R&D projects that advance Grid Modernization and Electric Vehicle Charging technologies. This document presents a brief overview of the Electrification Sub-Program and progress reports for its R&D projects. Eachmore » of the progress reports provide a project overview and highlights of the technical results that were accomplished in FY 2017.« less

Rethinking Environmental Protection: Meeting the Challenges of a Changing World

EPA Science Inventory

Background: The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has made great progress in addressing some major environmental problems. These successes were framed within EPA’s statutory mandates which are largely media-specific and receptor-focused and follow a segmented risk-based ...

Philosophies of Adult Environmental Education

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Walter, Pierre

2009-01-01

This article offers a typology of philosophical traditions in environmental education for adults, based on five philosophical perspectives of adult education described by Elias and Merriam. These five traditions are liberal, progressive, behaviorist, humanist, and radical adult environmental education, respectively. A summary of each philosophy's…

Development of an Interactive Immersion Environment for Engendering Understanding about Nanotechnology: Concept, Construction, and Implementation

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Schönborn, Konrad J.; Höst, Gunnar E.; Palmerius, Karljohan E. Lundin; Flint, Jennifer

2014-01-01

The advent of nanoscientific applications in modern life is swiftly in progress. Nanoscale innovation comes with the pressing need to provide citizens and learners with scientific knowledge for judging the societal impact of nanotechnology. In rising to the challenge, this paper reports the developmental phase of a research agenda concerned with…

Swedish-Portuguese Cooperation in the Field of Scientific and Technical Information and Documentation. Progress Report for Phase One, 1975-1978.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Lopes da Silva, Gabriela; And Others

This report describes the Swedish International Development Authority's (SIDA) cooperative project in Information and Documentation (I&D), an effort to introduce modern methods for information services to research and development in Portugal. SIDA's work in the following areas is examined: (1) education in information science for Portuguese…

The Economic Importance of Human Capital in Modernization.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Schultz, Theodore W.

1993-01-01

Human capital invests in new forms of physical capital, hence, human capital is key to economic progress. Lists eight attributes of human capital; for example, human capital cannot be separated from person who has it, and human capital is not visible. Human capital is necessary component when attempting to improve a person's income and welfare in…

Teaching and Learning for Sustainable Development: ESD Research in Technology Education

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Pavlova, Margarita

2013-01-01

When education for sustainable development (ESD) emerged as part of the educational agenda in the international arena, it was associated with significant shifts in the educational debate about the purpose and nature of education and with the need to respond to crises caused by the modern idea of progress. Scientists from different fields warn…

Tracking rainfall impulses through progressively larger drainage basins in steep forested terrain

Treesearch

R. R. Ziemer; R. M. Rice

1990-01-01

Abstract - The precision of timing devices in modern electronic data loggers makes it possible to study the routing of water through small drainage basins having rapid responses to hydrologic impulses. Storm hyetographs were measured using digital tipping bucket rain gauges and their routing was observed at headwater piezometers located mid-slope, above a swale, and...

Teaching Modern Latin America in the Social Science Curriculum: An Interdisciplinary Approach

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Novoa, Adriana

2007-01-01

It can be a challenge to introduce students to a world region with the cultural diversity and rich history of Latin America. In this article, the author suggests four thematic units that enable teachers to identify both general trends and important differences in the region: (1) race/ethnicity; (2) progress and civilization; (3) conflict and…

Handbook of Research on Emerging Priorities and Trends in Distance Education: Communication, Pedagogy, and Technology

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Yuzer, T. Volkan, Ed.; Eby, Gulsun, Ed.

2014-01-01

With the rise of distance education in the post-modern world, progressive research on the best methods, tools, and technologies in the field is necessary to continue to take advantage of the pedagogical opportunities and improvements offered through remote learning platforms. The "Handbook of Research on Emerging Priorities and Trends in…

A History of Sex Education in the United States since 1900

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Huber, Valerie J.; Firmin, Michael W.

2014-01-01

We provide a historical perspective toward the current public school practices of American sex education. The primary time frames include the progressive era (1880-1920), intermediate era (1920-1960), the sexual revolution era (1960s and 1970s), and the modern sex education era (1980s to the present). In each period, we highlight key developments…

Did There Exist Two Stages of Franklin Bobbitt's Curriculum Theory?

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Liu, Xing

2017-01-01

Franklin Bobbitt is the founder of modern curriculum theory. There is a generally supported saying that Bobbitt's theory went through two stages, the first focused on social efficiency with a mechanical and behavioral approach, and the second a more progressive approach, caring for the living experience of pupils. A close reading of his so-called…

Acquisition of English as a Second Language at College Level--An Empirical Study

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Anil, Beena

2015-01-01

English has a universal appeal and in India, English is associated with modernity and progress sometimes with the ideology of its cultural values. The economic value of English is very high in India as even a layman uses English words in his/her "native" communication. The second language acquisition happens for learners at various…

A School-Wide Attack on Reading Problems

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Shuman, R. Baird

2006-01-01

The teaching of reading has come to be regarded as one of the highest priority areas in modern education because schools have been failing to teach reading effectively to large numbers of students who progress to secondary school without having achieved a working competency in this basic skill. Much of the burden of reading instruction has fallen…

Optimism and Hope versus Anxiety and Narcissism: Some Thoughts on Children's Welfare Yesterday and Today

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Hendrick, Harry

2007-01-01

This article seeks to raise a number of issues concerning children's well-being in late modernity. In order to provide historical contrasts, the first part of the article considers three "optimistic" periods: the Liberal Reform Programme, 1906-1911; interwar developments in New Psychology, progressive education and child guidance; the post-1945…

Student Activism as a Vehicle for Change on College Campuses: Emerging Research and Opportunities

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Miller, Michael T.; Tolliver, David V., III

2017-01-01

Civic engagement initiatives and activities are crucial to the progression of modern society. By raising awareness of social issues and problems, citizens can make a greater impact and have their voices be heard. "Student Activism as a Vehicle for Change on College Campuses: Emerging Research and Opportunities" is a critical source of…

E-Learning Technologies and Adult Education in Nigeria

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Oguzor, Nkasiobi Silas

2011-01-01

The internet has proved to be one of the greatest learning resources available in the 21st Century. Modern education is becoming progressively more dynamic. Internet has helped man to see the other part of the world at the click of a mouse. Various forms of instructional technologies such as the overhead projector, opaque projector, filmstrip and…

Communicating silviculture: values and benefits for the new millennium

Treesearch

Robert F. Powers; Philip S. Aune

1997-01-01

Forests have been tied to social progress since the dawn of agriculture 10 thousand years ago. Silviculture, groomed the oldest application of ecological principles, contains all the skills needed to produce forests with the myriad conditions valued by modern society. Historically, we have been success-makers. Yet, our profession faces a crisis. Often we are seen as...

Multiple Serial List Learning with Two Mnemonic Techniques.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Marston, Paul T.; Young, Robert K.

The classic mnemonic for learning serial lists, the method of loci, and its modern counterpart, the peg system, were compared by having subjects learn three 20-item serial lists. In addition to the type of mnemonic training, list imagery was either high (rated 6-7) or medium (rated 4-5), and instructions were either progressive elaboration (e.g.,…

How Dry was too Dry? Evaluating the Impact of Climatic Stress on Prehistoric Human Populations in southern Ethiopia.

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Foerster, V. E.; Asrat, A.; Cohen, A. S.; Junginger, A.; Lamb, H. F.; Schaebitz, F.; Trauth, M. H.; Vogelsang, R.

2016-12-01

What role did abrupt climate shifts play in human evolution and the dispersal of Homo sapiens within and beyond the African continent? How did gradual climatic transitions on the other hand affect cultural and technological innovations in the source region of modern humans? In order to evaluate the effect of environmental instability on human evolution, with their cultural and technological innovations, and with their expansion out of Africa, it is essential to understand how the east African climate switches from dry to wet and back to dry. Determining the timespan of both long-term transitions and climate flickers eventually provides the much needed environmental information how much time early humans had to react (evolution, migration, adaption) to the profound changes in their living environment. As a contribution to providing an environmental context to these central questions on human-climate interaction, the Hominin Sites and Paleolakes Drilling Project (HSPDP) has successfully completed coring five fluvio-lacustrine archives of climate change during the last 3.5 Ma in East Africa. The five high-priority areas in Ethiopia and Kenya are located in close proximity to key paleoanthropological sites covering various steps in evolution. Here we present a comparison between the youngest part of our continuous climate reconstruction (temporal resolution of up to 3 years) from the Chew Bahir site in southern Ethiopia and the available archaeological record of human presence in the source region of modern humans for the past 20 ka. The results contribute to test hypotheses on the impact of climatic stress on migration, the role of human decision-making and environmental thresholds (Foerster et al., 2015, 2016). Furthermore, we match key technological innovations in the area with the profound environmental changes during the highly debated mid-Holocene wet-dry transition. Finally, we give a first overview over possible phases of climatic stress during the last >500 ka in the first homeland of modern humans, as a time interval that comprises the transition into the Middle Stone Age as well as the origin and dispersal of Homo sapiens.

Environmental Sciences Division annual progress report for period ending September 30, 1991

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

Not Available

1992-04-01

This progress report summarizes the research and development activities conducted in the Environmental Sciences Division of Oak Ridge National Laboratory during the period October 1, 1990, through September 30, 1991. The report is structured to provide descriptions of current activities and accomplishments in each of the division's major organizational units. Following the sections describing the organizational units is a section devoted to lists of information necessary to convey the scope of the work in the division. The Environmental Sciences Division (ESD) at Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL) conducts environmental research and analyses associated with both energy technology development and themore » interactions between people and the environment. The division engages in basic and applied research for a diverse list of sponsors. While the US Department of Energy (DOE) is the primary sponsor ESD staff also perform research for other federal agencies, state agencies, and private industry. The division works collaboratively with federal agencies, universities, and private organizations in achieving its research objectives and hosts a large number of visiting investigators from these organizations. Given the diverse interdisciplinary specialization of its staff, ESD provides technical expertise on complex environmental problems and renders technical leadership for major environmental issues of national and local concern. This progress report highlights many of ESD's accomplishment in these and other areas in FY 1991.« less

Environmental Sciences Division annual progress report for period ending September 30, 1991

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

Not Available

1992-04-01

This progress report summarizes the research and development activities conducted in the Environmental Sciences Division of Oak Ridge National Laboratory during the period October 1, 1990, through September 30, 1991. The report is structured to provide descriptions of current activities and accomplishments in each of the division`s major organizational units. Following the sections describing the organizational units is a section devoted to lists of information necessary to convey the scope of the work in the division. The Environmental Sciences Division (ESD) at Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL) conducts environmental research and analyses associated with both energy technology development and themore » interactions between people and the environment. The division engages in basic and applied research for a diverse list of sponsors. While the US Department of Energy (DOE) is the primary sponsor ESD staff also perform research for other federal agencies, state agencies, and private industry. The division works collaboratively with federal agencies, universities, and private organizations in achieving its research objectives and hosts a large number of visiting investigators from these organizations. Given the diverse interdisciplinary specialization of its staff, ESD provides technical expertise on complex environmental problems and renders technical leadership for major environmental issues of national and local concern. This progress report highlights many of ESD`s accomplishment in these and other areas in FY 1991.« less

Chemical and Environmental Exposures | Cancer Trends Progress Report

Cancer.gov

The Cancer Trends Progress Report, first issued in 2001, summarizes our nation's advances against cancer in relation to Healthy People targets set forth by the Department of Health and Human Services.

A Geographic Information Systems (GIS)-based analysis of modern South African rodent distributions, habitat use, and environmental tolerances.

PubMed

Campbell, Timothy L; Lewis, Patrick J; Thies, Monte L; Williams, Justin K

2012-11-01

GOALS OF THIS STUDY WERE TO: (1) develop distributional maps of modern rodent genera throughout the countries of South Africa, Lesotho, and Swaziland by georeferencing museum specimens; (2) assess habitat preferences for genera by cross-referencing locality position with South African vegetation; and (3) identify mean annual precipitation and temperature range where the genera are located. Conterminous South Africa including the countries of Lesotho and Swaziland Digital databases of rodent museum specimens housed in the Ditsong National Museum of Natural History, South Africa (DM), and the Division of Mammals, National Museum of Natural History, Smithsonian Institution, United States (NMNH), were acquired and then sorted into a subset of specimens with associated coordinate data. The coordinate data were then used to develop distributional maps for the rodent genera present within the study area. Percent habitat occupation and descriptive statistics for six climatic variables were then determined for each genus by cross-referencing locality positions with vegetation and climatic maps. This report presents a series of maps illustrating the distribution of 35 rodent genera based on 19,471 geo-referenced specimens obtained from two major collections. Inferred habitat use by taxon is provided for both locality and specimen percent occurrence at three hierarchical habitat levels: biome, bioregion, and vegetation unit. Descriptive statistics for six climatic variables are also provided for each genus based on locality and specimen percent incidence. As rodent faunas are commonly used in paleoenvironmental reconstructions, an accurate assessment of rodent environmental tolerance ranges is necessary before confidence can be placed in an actualistic model. While the data presented here represent only a subset of the modern geographic distributions for many of the taxa examined, a wide range of environmental regimes are observed, suggesting that more research is necessary in order to accurately reconstruct an environmental signature when these taxa are found in the fossil record.

Epidemiologic transitions: migration and development of obesity and cardiometabolic disease in the developing world.

PubMed

Forrester, Terrence

2013-01-01

For centuries, the challenge has been the maintenance of bodyweight in the face of marginal food availability. Since the industrial revolution, energy expenditure related to economic activity and domestic life has fallen progressively as technological innovation has replaced muscular power with labor-saving devices. This fall in activity energy expenditure however has not been associated over this entire period with population weight gain. In the 1970s and the 1980s, there was an abrupt uptick in the rate of rise of relative weight in industrialized countries followed rapidly by developing countries. This has led to high and increasing rates of overweight and obesity in high-income countries worldwide, but also an alarming inclusion of low- and middle-income populations in this obesity epidemic. The precise drivers of these concurrent epidemics are not agreed, but probably include on the one hand an increase in dietary energy intake resulting from the impact of industrialization and globalization on food availability and price. On the other, there is the facilitating underlying status of a steadily falling activity energy expenditure as muscle power as an input into economic production as well as household and leisure activities has been supplanted. The rise in population weight without accompanying linear growth manifests as obesity. The accretion of fat as well as the response to other environmental exposures during progressive industrialization and modernization has evoked an accompanying epidemic of cardiometabolic pathology that has significant impact on health as well as macroeconomics. Given the power and presumed irreversibility of industrialization and globalization, our ability to reverse these obesity epidemics is heavily dependent on new knowledge being developed which gives insight with prevention and therapeutic implications on the proximal and distal drivers of this progressive positive energy balance. Copyright © 2013 Nestec Ltd., Vevey/S. Karger AG, Basel.

[Modern tendencies in treatment of atypical glandular hyperplasia--our and foreign experience].

PubMed

Ivanov, S; Kovachev, E; Tsonev, A; Abbud, A

2010-01-01

Our aim was to summarize our and foreign experience in the field of diagnosis, progression and modern treatment of precancer of the endometrium-the atypical glandular hyperplasia. We researched 750 cases with glandular and atypical glandular hyperplasia for 10 years period (2000-2010). The hyperplasia were followed up for progression from glandular hyperplasia into atypical glandular hyperplasia and early endometrial cancer. The hyperplasias were evaluated with or without progestagen hormonal therapy. All patients were treated by D&C before and after the hormonal treatment. The main symptom in all patients was the postmenopausal bleeding (72% from the cases). In 90% of the patients (675) there was obesity. Exogenous use of estrogens was found in 30% (225) of the patients. The cases with complex hyperplasia in 12% (65/525) progressed into atypical glandular hyperplasia and in 4% (21/525) progressed into endometrial cancer. The patients with atypical glandular hyperplasia in 60% (90/150) progressed into endometrial cancer. Remission was observed in 70% of the patients (194/278) with glandular hyperplasia and progestagen treatment. The remission was detected by the golden standart (D&C). The patients without hormonal treatment and with complex glandular hyperplasia have in 15% (37/247) remission. Except with progestagen therapy, we have also 15 patients treated with GnRh-analogs (Zoladex a 3.6 mg) for 3-6 months. For them we have 80% (12/15) remission. The glandular hyperplasia without atypical cells can be influenced by the hormonal treatment with progestagens and GnRh-analogs. Nevertheless this hormonal treatment--before and after we have to perform D&C and to follow up patients by ultrasound measuring the endometrial thickness. If the fertility plans of the patients are over and if they are in postmenopause with histological result from D&C-atypical glandular hyperplasia--we have to treat them more radically with simple total hysterectomy.

Individual patient data analysis of progression-free survival versus overall survival as a first-line end point for metastatic colorectal cancer in modern randomized trials: findings from the analysis and research in cancers of the digestive system database.

PubMed

Shi, Qian; de Gramont, Aimery; Grothey, Axel; Zalcberg, John; Chibaudel, Benoist; Schmoll, Hans-Joachim; Seymour, Matthew T; Adams, Richard; Saltz, Leonard; Goldberg, Richard M; Punt, Cornelis J A; Douillard, Jean-Yves; Hoff, Paulo M; Hecht, Joel Randolph; Hurwitz, Herbert; Díaz-Rubio, Eduardo; Porschen, Rainer; Tebbutt, Niall C; Fuchs, Charles; Souglakos, John; Falcone, Alfredo; Tournigand, Christophe; Kabbinavar, Fairooz F; Heinemann, Volker; Van Cutsem, Eric; Bokemeyer, Carsten; Buyse, Marc; Sargent, Daniel J

2015-01-01

Progression-free survival (PFS) has previously been established as a surrogate for overall survival (OS) for first-line metastatic colorectal cancer (mCRC). Because mCRC treatment has advanced in the last decade with extended OS, this surrogacy requires re-examination. Individual patient data from 16,762 patients were available from 22 first-line mCRC studies conducted from 1997 to 2006; 12 of those studies tested antiangiogenic and/or anti-epidermal growth factor receptor agents. The relationship between PFS (first event of progression or death) and OS was evaluated by using R(2) statistics (the closer the value is to 1, the stronger the correlation) from weighted least squares regression of trial-specific hazard ratios estimated by using Cox and Copula models. Forty-four percent of patients received a regimen that included biologic agents. Median first-line PFS was 8.3 months, and median OS was 18.2 months. The correlation between PFS and OS was modest (R(2), 0.45 to 0.69). Analyses limited to trials that tested treatments with biologic agents, nonstrategy trials, or superiority trials did not improve surrogacy. In modern mCRC trials, in which survival after the first progression exceeds time to first progression, a positive but modest correlation was observed between OS and PFS at both the patient and trial levels. This finding demonstrates the substantial variability in OS introduced by the number of lines of therapy and types of effective subsequent treatments and the associated challenge to the use of OS as an end point to assess the benefit attributable to a single line of therapy. PFS remains an appropriate primary end point for first-line mCRC trials to detect the direct treatment effect of new agents. © 2014 by American Society of Clinical Oncology.

Individual Patient Data Analysis of Progression-Free Survival Versus Overall Survival As a First-Line End Point for Metastatic Colorectal Cancer in Modern Randomized Trials: Findings From the Analysis and Research in Cancers of the Digestive System Database

PubMed Central

Shi, Qian; de Gramont, Aimery; Grothey, Axel; Zalcberg, John; Chibaudel, Benoist; Schmoll, Hans-Joachim; Seymour, Matthew T.; Adams, Richard; Saltz, Leonard; Goldberg, Richard M.; Punt, Cornelis J.A.; Douillard, Jean-Yves; Hoff, Paulo M.; Hecht, Joel Randolph; Hurwitz, Herbert; Díaz-Rubio, Eduardo; Porschen, Rainer; Tebbutt, Niall C.; Fuchs, Charles; Souglakos, John; Falcone, Alfredo; Tournigand, Christophe; Kabbinavar, Fairooz F.; Heinemann, Volker; Van Cutsem, Eric; Bokemeyer, Carsten; Buyse, Marc; Sargent, Daniel J.

2015-01-01

Purpose Progression-free survival (PFS) has previously been established as a surrogate for overall survival (OS) for first-line metastatic colorectal cancer (mCRC). Because mCRC treatment has advanced in the last decade with extended OS, this surrogacy requires re-examination. Methods Individual patient data from 16,762 patients were available from 22 first-line mCRC studies conducted from 1997 to 2006; 12 of those studies tested antiangiogenic and/or anti–epidermal growth factor receptor agents. The relationship between PFS (first event of progression or death) and OS was evaluated by using R2 statistics (the closer the value is to 1, the stronger the correlation) from weighted least squares regression of trial-specific hazard ratios estimated by using Cox and Copula models. Results Forty-four percent of patients received a regimen that included biologic agents. Median first-line PFS was 8.3 months, and median OS was 18.2 months. The correlation between PFS and OS was modest (R2, 0.45 to 0.69). Analyses limited to trials that tested treatments with biologic agents, nonstrategy trials, or superiority trials did not improve surrogacy. Conclusion In modern mCRC trials, in which survival after the first progression exceeds time to first progression, a positive but modest correlation was observed between OS and PFS at both the patient and trial levels. This finding demonstrates the substantial variability in OS introduced by the number of lines of therapy and types of effective subsequent treatments and the associated challenge to the use of OS as an end point to assess the benefit attributable to a single line of therapy. PFS remains an appropriate primary end point for first-line mCRC trials to detect the direct treatment effect of new agents. PMID:25385741

The design of tea garden environmental monitoring system based on WSN

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Chen, Huajun; Yuan, Lina

2018-01-01

Through the application of wireless sensor network (WSN) in tea garden, it can realize the change of traditional tea garden to the modern ones, and effectively improves the comprehensive productive capacity of tea garden. According to the requirement of real-time remote in agricultural information collection and monitoring and the power supply affected by environmental limitations, based on WSN, this paper designs a set of tea garden environmental monitoring system, which achieves the monitoring nodes with ad-hoc network as well as automatic acquisition and transmission to the tea plantations of air temperature, light intensity, soil temperature and humidity.

Research for Foreign Advanced Ports for Protection and Development Experience

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Zhang, Lu; Tian, Mingjing; Zhao, Junjie; Shou, Youping; Wang, Ning; Qiao, Jianzhe; Li, Guanglou

2018-04-01

Into the twenty-first century, the process globalization of economic and trade is getting faster and faster, As of 2014, China's annual port trading amount topped the world, But in the port of environmental protection sustainable development approach with foreign advanced port environmental management concept has a big gap. Combined with the present situation of modern ports in China. Drawing lessons from foreign advanced environmental protection idea of port, in order to promote the protection of port environment in our country. The experience of protection and development of foreign advanced port environment will be discussed and discussed.

Fundamentals of Aqueous Microwave Chemistry

EPA Science Inventory

The first chemical revolution changed modern life with a host of excellent amenities and services, but created serious problems related to environmental pollution. After 150 years of current chemistry principles and practices, we need a radical change to a new type of chemistry k...

Environment and Alternative Development.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Kothari, Rajni

Stressing the global dimension to the adversary relationship between economic development and environmental conservation, this monograph examines the philosophical, historical, cultural, and ethnic underpinnings of modern science and technology. In addition, the monograph spells out policy implications of an alternative concept of development and…

Green Fire and Religious Spirit.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Haluza-Delay, Randolph

2000-01-01

Spirituality, even within traditional religious practices, can inspire environmentally aware lifestyles. To help this "green fire" burn well, experiential educators should acknowledge religious beliefs and practices and avoid perpetuating the modern spiritual-secular rift. A "critical experientialism" is needed when it comes to…

A Modern Approach to College Analytical Chemistry.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Neman, R. L.

1983-01-01

Describes a course which emphasizes all facets of analytical chemistry, including sampling, preparation, interference removal, selection of methodology, measurement of a property, and calculation/interpretation of results. Includes special course features (such as cooperative agreement with an environmental protection center) and course…

The Auto

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Novick, Sheldon

1976-01-01

The basic automobile design has persisted for fifty years with innovations only in production and marketing. Complex interrelationships among steel, oil, rubber, road building, and automobile industries perpetuate the "modern Model T's." Efforts to alter design to meet safety and environmental standards face tremendous resistance from a…

Candidate eco-friendly gas mixtures for MPGDs

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Benussi, L.; Bianco, S.; Saviano, G.; Muhammad, S.; Piccolo, D.; Ferrini, M.; Parvis, M.; Grassini, S.; Colafranceschi, S.; Kjølbro, J.; Sharma, A.; Yang, D.; Chen, G.; Ban, Y.; Li, Q.

2018-02-01

Modern gas detectors for detection of particles require F-based gases for optimal performance. Recent regulations demand the use of environmentally unfriendly F-based gases to be limited or banned. This review studies properties of potential eco-friendly gas candidate replacements.

Sprayer technology: reduce spray drift

USDA-ARS?s Scientific Manuscript database

Enhancing environmental quality and sustaining the economic viability of food production are keys to sustainable agriculture. Modern vegetable production uses a variety of materials to manage pest problems. Selecting the proper spray nozzle for the application of liquid products is critical to red...

Population and Consumption: What We Know, What We Need To Know.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Kates, Robert W.

2000-01-01

Discusses the modern view of the impact of population and consumption on environmental degradation. Contends that the determinants of consumption and its alternative patterns are understudied topics for the emerging science of sustainability. (Contains 33 references.) (WRM)

Information Processing and Retrieval in Arab Countries: Traditional Approaches and Modern Potentials.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Madkour, M. A. K.

1980-01-01

Discusses underlying assumptions and prerequisites for information development in Arab countries. Administrative and environmental impediments which hinder the optimum utilization of available resources and suggestions for improvements are outlined. A brief bibliography is provided. (Author/RAA)

Freshwater Institute: Focused on improving recirculating aquaculture system technology

USDA-ARS?s Scientific Manuscript database

Recirculating aquaculture system (RAS) technologies help to overcome barriers to domestic aquaculture expansion and enhance the sustainability of the modern fish farming industry through reduction in environmental impacts. With RAS, fish farm expansion is no longer highly constrained by competition ...

Shoot phototropism in higher plants: new light through old concepts.

PubMed

Christie, John M; Murphy, Angus S

2013-01-01

Light is a key environmental factor that drives many aspects of plant growth and development. Phototropism, the reorientation of growth toward or away from light, represents one of these important adaptive processes. Modern studies of phototropism began with experiments conducted by Charles Darwin demonstrating that light perception at the shoot apex of grass coleoptiles induces differential elongation in the lower epidermal cells. This led to the discovery of the plant growth hormone auxin and the Cholodny-Went hypothesis attributing differential tropic bending to lateral auxin relocalization. In the past two decades, molecular-genetic analyses in the model flowering plant Arabidopsis thaliana has identified the principal photoreceptors for phototropism and their mechanism of activation. In addition, several protein families of auxin transporters have been identified. Despite extensive efforts, however, it still remains unclear as to how photoreceptor activation regulates lateral auxin transport to establish phototropic growth. This review aims to summarize major developments from over the last century and how these advances shape our current understanding of higher plant phototropism. Recent progress in phototropism research and the way in which this research is shedding new light on old concepts, including the Cholodny-Went hypothesis, is also highlighted.

Nanomaterials for Electrochemical Immunosensing

PubMed Central

Pan, Mingfei; Gu, Ying; Yun, Yaguang; Li, Min; Jin, Xincui; Wang, Shuo

2017-01-01

Electrochemical immunosensors resulting from a combination of the traditional immunoassay approach with modern biosensors and electrochemical analysis constitute a current research hotspot. They exhibit both the high selectivity characteristics of immunoassays and the high sensitivity of electrochemical analysis, along with other merits such as small volume, convenience, low cost, simple preparation, and real-time on-line detection, and have been widely used in the fields of environmental monitoring, medical clinical trials and food analysis. Notably, the rapid development of nanotechnology and the wide application of nanomaterials have provided new opportunities for the development of high-performance electrochemical immunosensors. Various nanomaterials with different properties can effectively solve issues such as the immobilization of biological recognition molecules, enrichment and concentration of trace analytes, and signal detection and amplification to further enhance the stability and sensitivity of the electrochemical immunoassay procedure. This review introduces the working principles and development of electrochemical immunosensors based on different signals, along with new achievements and progress related to electrochemical immunosensors in various fields. The importance of various types of nanomaterials for improving the performance of electrochemical immunosensor is also reviewed to provide a theoretical basis and guidance for the further development and application of nanomaterials in electrochemical immunosensors. PMID:28475158

Progress and challenges in coupled hydrodynamic-ecological estuarine modeling.

PubMed

Ganju, Neil K; Brush, Mark J; Rashleigh, Brenda; Aretxabaleta, Alfredo L; Del Barrio, Pilar; Grear, Jason S; Harris, Lora A; Lake, Samuel J; McCardell, Grant; O'Donnell, James; Ralston, David K; Signell, Richard P; Testa, Jeremy M; Vaudrey, Jamie M P

2016-03-01

Numerical modeling has emerged over the last several decades as a widely accepted tool for investigations in environmental sciences. In estuarine research, hydrodynamic and ecological models have moved along parallel tracks with regard to complexity, refinement, computational power, and incorporation of uncertainty. Coupled hydrodynamic-ecological models have been used to assess ecosystem processes and interactions, simulate future scenarios, and evaluate remedial actions in response to eutrophication, habitat loss, and freshwater diversion. The need to couple hydrodynamic and ecological models to address research and management questions is clear, because dynamic feedbacks between biotic and physical processes are critical interactions within ecosystems. In this review we present historical and modern perspectives on estuarine hydrodynamic and ecological modeling, consider model limitations, and address aspects of model linkage, skill assessment, and complexity. We discuss the balance between spatial and temporal resolution and present examples using different spatiotemporal scales. Finally, we recommend future lines of inquiry, approaches to balance complexity and uncertainty, and model transparency and utility. It is idealistic to think we can pursue a "theory of everything" for estuarine models, but recent advances suggest that models for both scientific investigations and management applications will continue to improve in terms of realism, precision, and accuracy.

Progress and challenges in coupled hydrodynamic-ecological estuarine modeling

USGS Publications Warehouse

Ganju, Neil K.; Brush, Mark J.; Rashleigh, Brenda; Aretxabaleta, Alfredo L.; del Barrio, Pilar; Grear, Jason S.; Harris, Lora A.; Lake, Samuel J.; McCardell, Grant; O'Donnell, James; Ralston, David K.; Signell, Richard P.; Testa, Jeremy; Vaudrey, Jamie M. P.

2016-01-01

Numerical modeling has emerged over the last several decades as a widely accepted tool for investigations in environmental sciences. In estuarine research, hydrodynamic and ecological models have moved along parallel tracks with regard to complexity, refinement, computational power, and incorporation of uncertainty. Coupled hydrodynamic-ecological models have been used to assess ecosystem processes and interactions, simulate future scenarios, and evaluate remedial actions in response to eutrophication, habitat loss, and freshwater diversion. The need to couple hydrodynamic and ecological models to address research and management questions is clear because dynamic feedbacks between biotic and physical processes are critical interactions within ecosystems. In this review, we present historical and modern perspectives on estuarine hydrodynamic and ecological modeling, consider model limitations, and address aspects of model linkage, skill assessment, and complexity. We discuss the balance between spatial and temporal resolution and present examples using different spatiotemporal scales. Finally, we recommend future lines of inquiry, approaches to balance complexity and uncertainty, and model transparency and utility. It is idealistic to think we can pursue a “theory of everything” for estuarine models, but recent advances suggest that models for both scientific investigations and management applications will continue to improve in terms of realism, precision, and accuracy.

Plant Phenotyping using Probabilistic Topic Models: Uncovering the Hyperspectral Language of Plants

PubMed Central

Wahabzada, Mirwaes; Mahlein, Anne-Katrin; Bauckhage, Christian; Steiner, Ulrike; Oerke, Erich-Christian; Kersting, Kristian

2016-01-01

Modern phenotyping and plant disease detection methods, based on optical sensors and information technology, provide promising approaches to plant research and precision farming. In particular, hyperspectral imaging have been found to reveal physiological and structural characteristics in plants and to allow for tracking physiological dynamics due to environmental effects. In this work, we present an approach to plant phenotyping that integrates non-invasive sensors, computer vision, as well as data mining techniques and allows for monitoring how plants respond to stress. To uncover latent hyperspectral characteristics of diseased plants reliably and in an easy-to-understand way, we “wordify” the hyperspectral images, i.e., we turn the images into a corpus of text documents. Then, we apply probabilistic topic models, a well-established natural language processing technique that identifies content and topics of documents. Based on recent regularized topic models, we demonstrate that one can track automatically the development of three foliar diseases of barley. We also present a visualization of the topics that provides plant scientists an intuitive tool for hyperspectral imaging. In short, our analysis and visualization of characteristic topics found during symptom development and disease progress reveal the hyperspectral language of plant diseases. PMID:26957018

Progress and challenges in coupled hydrodynamic-ecological estuarine modeling

PubMed Central

Ganju, Neil K.; Brush, Mark J.; Rashleigh, Brenda; Aretxabaleta, Alfredo L.; del Barrio, Pilar; Grear, Jason S.; Harris, Lora A.; Lake, Samuel J.; McCardell, Grant; O’Donnell, James; Ralston, David K.; Signell, Richard P.; Testa, Jeremy M.; Vaudrey, Jamie M.P.

2016-01-01

Numerical modeling has emerged over the last several decades as a widely accepted tool for investigations in environmental sciences. In estuarine research, hydrodynamic and ecological models have moved along parallel tracks with regard to complexity, refinement, computational power, and incorporation of uncertainty. Coupled hydrodynamic-ecological models have been used to assess ecosystem processes and interactions, simulate future scenarios, and evaluate remedial actions in response to eutrophication, habitat loss, and freshwater diversion. The need to couple hydrodynamic and ecological models to address research and management questions is clear, because dynamic feedbacks between biotic and physical processes are critical interactions within ecosystems. In this review we present historical and modern perspectives on estuarine hydrodynamic and ecological modeling, consider model limitations, and address aspects of model linkage, skill assessment, and complexity. We discuss the balance between spatial and temporal resolution and present examples using different spatiotemporal scales. Finally, we recommend future lines of inquiry, approaches to balance complexity and uncertainty, and model transparency and utility. It is idealistic to think we can pursue a “theory of everything” for estuarine models, but recent advances suggest that models for both scientific investigations and management applications will continue to improve in terms of realism, precision, and accuracy. PMID:27721675

Influences of reverse outsourcing on green technological progress from the perspective of a global supply chain.

PubMed

Wang, Shuhong; Song, Malin

2017-10-01

As a newly appeared trade mode in recent years, reverse outsourcing has made a great impact on traditional trade modes. This paper researched the influences of reverse outsourcing on green technological progress from the perspective of a global supply chain by using micro-data of enterprises. It worked out the rate of green technological progress from two innovative concepts: potential production technology and practical production technology. The empirical analysis results indicated that reverse outsourcing stimulates, and enterprise size and ownership type potentially affects, green technological progress. State-owned or foreign enterprises with high income levels would pay more attention to environmental protection, energy saving, and emission reduction, while small and micro enterprises with low incomes would choose to ignore environmental protection. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Multifunctional Environmental Smart Fertilizer Based on l-Aspartic Acid for Sustained Nutrient Release.

PubMed

Lü, Shaoyu; Feng, Chen; Gao, Chunmei; Wang, Xinggang; Xu, Xiubin; Bai, Xiao; Gao, Nannan; Liu, Mingzhu

2016-06-22

Fertilizer is one of the most important elements of modern agriculture. However, conventional fertilizer, when applied to crops, is vulnerable to losses through volatilization, leaching, nitrification, or other means. Such a loss limits crop yields and pollutes the environment. In an effort to enhance nutrient use efficiency and reduce environmental pollution, an environmental smart fertilizer was reported in the current study. Poly(aspartic acid) and a degradable macro-cross-linker based on l-aspartic acid were synthesized and introduced into the fertilizer as a superabsorbent to improve the fertilizer degradability and soil moisture-retention capacity. Sustained release behavior of the fertilizer was achieved in soil. Cumulative release of nitrogen and phosphorus was 79.8% and 64.4% after 30 days, respectively. The water-holding and water-retention capacities of soil with the superabsorbent are obviously higher than those of the control soil without superabsorbent. For the sample of 200 g of soil with 1.5 g of superabsorbent, the water-holding capacity is 81.8%, and the water-retention capacity remains 22.6% after 23 days. All of the current results in this study indicated that the as-prepared fertilizer has a promising application in sustainable modern agriculture.

40 CFR 52.426 - Control strategy plans for attainment and rate-of-progress: ozone.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

2010-07-01

... and rate-of-progress: ozone. 52.426 Section 52.426 Protection of Environment ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION... § 52.426 Control strategy plans for attainment and rate-of-progress: ozone. (a) EPA fully approves, as... Delaware portion of the Philadelphia-Wilmington-Trenton severe ozone nonattainment, namely Kent and New...

40 CFR 52.1076 - Control strategy plans for attainment and rate-of-progress: Ozone.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2013 CFR

2013-07-01

... and rate-of-progress: Ozone. 52.1076 Section 52.1076 Protection of Environment ENVIRONMENTAL... (CONTINUED) Maryland § 52.1076 Control strategy plans for attainment and rate-of-progress: Ozone. (a) EPA is... associated contingency measures for the Cecil County ozone nonattainment area, submitted by the Secretary of...

40 CFR 52.1076 - Control strategy plans for attainment and rate-of-progress: Ozone.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2011 CFR

2011-07-01

... and rate-of-progress: Ozone. 52.1076 Section 52.1076 Protection of Environment ENVIRONMENTAL... (CONTINUED) Maryland § 52.1076 Control strategy plans for attainment and rate-of-progress: Ozone. (a) EPA is... associated contingency measures for the Cecil County ozone nonattainment area, submitted by the Secretary of...

40 CFR 52.426 - Control strategy plans for attainment and rate-of-progress: ozone.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2014 CFR

2014-07-01

... and rate-of-progress: ozone. 52.426 Section 52.426 Protection of Environment ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION... § 52.426 Control strategy plans for attainment and rate-of-progress: ozone. (a) EPA fully approves, as... Delaware portion of the Philadelphia-Wilmington-Trenton severe ozone nonattainment, namely Kent and New...

40 CFR 52.426 - Control strategy plans for attainment and rate-of-progress: ozone.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2011 CFR

2011-07-01

... and rate-of-progress: ozone. 52.426 Section 52.426 Protection of Environment ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION... § 52.426 Control strategy plans for attainment and rate-of-progress: ozone. (a) EPA fully approves, as... Delaware portion of the Philadelphia-Wilmington-Trenton severe ozone nonattainment, namely Kent and New...

40 CFR 52.426 - Control strategy plans for attainment and rate-of-progress: ozone.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2013 CFR

2013-07-01

... and rate-of-progress: ozone. 52.426 Section 52.426 Protection of Environment ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION... § 52.426 Control strategy plans for attainment and rate-of-progress: ozone. (a) EPA fully approves, as... Delaware portion of the Philadelphia-Wilmington-Trenton severe ozone nonattainment, namely Kent and New...

40 CFR 52.1076 - Control strategy plans for attainment and rate-of-progress: Ozone.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2014 CFR

2014-07-01

... and rate-of-progress: Ozone. 52.1076 Section 52.1076 Protection of Environment ENVIRONMENTAL... (CONTINUED) Maryland § 52.1076 Control strategy plans for attainment and rate-of-progress: Ozone. (a) EPA is... associated contingency measures for the Cecil County ozone nonattainment area, submitted by the Secretary of...

40 CFR 52.1076 - Control strategy plans for attainment and rate-of-progress: Ozone.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2012 CFR

2012-07-01

... and rate-of-progress: Ozone. 52.1076 Section 52.1076 Protection of Environment ENVIRONMENTAL... (CONTINUED) Maryland § 52.1076 Control strategy plans for attainment and rate-of-progress: Ozone. (a) EPA is... associated contingency measures for the Cecil County ozone nonattainment area, submitted by the Secretary of...

40 CFR 52.1076 - Control strategy plans for attainment and rate-of-progress: Ozone.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

2010-07-01

... and rate-of-progress: Ozone. 52.1076 Section 52.1076 Protection of Environment ENVIRONMENTAL... (CONTINUED) Maryland § 52.1076 Control strategy plans for attainment and rate-of-progress: Ozone. (a) EPA is... associated contingency measures for the Cecil County ozone nonattainment area, submitted by the Secretary of...

40 CFR 52.426 - Control strategy plans for attainment and rate-of-progress: ozone.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2012 CFR

2012-07-01

... and rate-of-progress: ozone. 52.426 Section 52.426 Protection of Environment ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION... § 52.426 Control strategy plans for attainment and rate-of-progress: ozone. (a) EPA fully approves, as... Delaware portion of the Philadelphia-Wilmington-Trenton severe ozone nonattainment, namely Kent and New...

Wind Power Electricity: The Bigger the Turbine, The Greener the Electricity?

PubMed Central

2012-01-01

Wind energy is a fast-growing and promising renewable energy source. The investment costs of wind turbines have decreased over the years, making wind energy economically competitive to conventionally produced electricity. Size scaling in the form of a power law, experience curves and progress rates are used to estimate the cost development of ever-larger turbines. In life cycle assessment, scaling and progress rates are seldom applied to estimate the environmental impacts of wind energy. This study quantifies whether the trend toward larger turbines affects the environmental profile of the generated electricity. Previously published life cycle inventories were combined with an engineering-based scaling approach as well as European wind power statistics. The results showed that the larger the turbine is, the greener the electricity becomes. This effect was caused by pure size effects of the turbine (micro level) as well as learning and experience with the technology over time (macro level). The environmental progress rate was 86%, indicating that for every cumulative production doubling, the global warming potential per kWh was reduced by 14%. The parameters, hub height and rotor diameter were identified as Environmental Key Performance Indicators that can be used to estimate the environmental impacts for a generic turbine. PMID:22475003

Wind power electricity: the bigger the turbine, the greener the electricity?

PubMed

Caduff, Marloes; Huijbregts, Mark A J; Althaus, Hans-Joerg; Koehler, Annette; Hellweg, Stefanie

2012-05-01

Wind energy is a fast-growing and promising renewable energy source. The investment costs of wind turbines have decreased over the years, making wind energy economically competitive to conventionally produced electricity. Size scaling in the form of a power law, experience curves and progress rates are used to estimate the cost development of ever-larger turbines. In life cycle assessment, scaling and progress rates are seldom applied to estimate the environmental impacts of wind energy. This study quantifies whether the trend toward larger turbines affects the environmental profile of the generated electricity. Previously published life cycle inventories were combined with an engineering-based scaling approach as well as European wind power statistics. The results showed that the larger the turbine is, the greener the electricity becomes. This effect was caused by pure size effects of the turbine (micro level) as well as learning and experience with the technology over time (macro level). The environmental progress rate was 86%, indicating that for every cumulative production doubling, the global warming potential per kWh was reduced by 14%. The parameters, hub height and rotor diameter were identified as Environmental Key Performance Indicators that can be used to estimate the environmental impacts for a generic turbine. © 2012 American Chemical Society