ALBERT

Beschreibung: Background: Second hand smoke (ETS)-associated particulate matter (PM) contributes considerably to indoor air contamination and constitutes a health risk for passive smokers. Easy to measure, PM is a useful parameter to estimate the dosage of ETS that passive smokers are exposed to. Apart from its suitability as a surrogate parameter for ETS-exposure, PM itself affects human morbidity and mortality in a dose-dependent manner. We think that ETS-associated PM should be considered an independent hazard factor, separately from the many other known harmful compounds of ETS. We believe that brand-specific and tobacco-product-specific differences in the release of PM matter and that these differences are of public interest. Methods: To generate ETS of cigarettes and cigarillos as standardized and reproducible as possible, an automatic second hand smoke emitter (AETSE) was developed and placed in a glass chamber. L&M cigarettes (“without additives”, “red label”, “blue label”), L&M filtered cigarillos (“red”) and 3R4F standard research cigarettes (as reference) were smoked automatically according to a self-developed, standardized protocol until the tobacco product was smoked down to 8 mm distance from the tipping paper of the filter. Results: Mean concentration (Cmean) and area under the curve (AUC) in a plot of PM2.5 against time were measured, and compared. CmeanPM2.5 were found to be 518 μg/m3 for 3R4F cigarettes, 576 μg/m3 for L&M “without additives” (“red”), 448 μg/m3 for L&M “blue label”, 547 μg/m3 for L&M “red label”, and 755 μg/m3 for L&M filtered cigarillos (“red”). AUCPM2.5-values were 208,214 μg/m3·s for 3R4F reference cigarettes, 204,629 μg/m3·s for L&M “without additives” (“red”), 152,718 μg/m3·s for L&M “blue label”, 238,098 μg/m3·s for L&M “red label” and 796,909 μg/m3·s for L&M filtered cigarillos (“red”). Conclusion: Considering the large and significant differences in particulate matter emissions between cigarettes and cigarillos, we think that a favorable taxation of cigarillos is not justifiable.

Beschreibung: ABSTRACT Despite soil erosion through water being a ubiquitous process and its environmental consequences being well-understood, its effects upon the Global Carbon Cycle still remain largely uncertain. How much soil organic carbon (SOC) is removed each year from soils by sheet wash, an important if not the most efficient mechanism of detachment and transport of surficial soil material? What are the main environnemental controls worldwide? These are important questions which largely remain unanswered. Empirical data from 240 runoff plots studied over entire rainy seasons from different regions of the world were analysed to estimate particulate organic carbon (POC) losses (POC L ), and POC enrichment in the sediments compared to the bulk soil (ER), which can be used as a proxy of the fate of the eroded POC. The median POC L was 9.9 g C m -2 y -1 with highest values observed for semi-arid soils (POC L  = 10.8 g C m -2 y -1 ), followed by tropical soils (POC L  = 6.4 g C m -2 y -1 ) and temperate ones (POC L  = 1.7 g C m -2 y -1 ). Considering the mean POC L of 27.2 g C m -2 y -1 , the total amount of SOC displaced annually by sheet erosion from its source would be 1.32 ± 0.20 Gt C, i.e. 14.6% of the net annual fossil fuel induced C emissions of 9 Gt C. Because of low sediment enrichment in POC, erosion-induced CO 2 emissions are likely to be limited in clayey environments while POC burial within hillslopes is likely to constitute an important carbon sink. In contrast, most of the POC displaced from sandy soils is likely to be emitted to the atmosphere. These results underpin the major role sheet wash plays in the displacement of SOC from its source and in the fate of the eroded SOC, with large variations across the different pedo-climatic regions of the world. This article is protected by copyright. All rights reserved.

Beschreibung: Anthropogenic CO 2 emissions currently decrease open ocean pH, but on multi-millennial time scales intensified continental weathering is expected to contribute to increasing oceanic alkalinity ( A T ) and thus mitigate the acidification signal. The Baltic Sea is an ideal study site for such A T dynamics, due to its direct link to terrestrial processes, short water residence time and long history of A T measurements dating back to the early 20 th century. We compiled an extensive A T data set that revealed the highest data quality and coverage for the past two decades. Within that period, surface water A T levels increased throughout the Baltic Sea. The rates of change were highest in the low-saline, northern areas and decreased gradually toward constant levels in the North Sea. The A T increase observed in the Central Baltic Sea (+3.4 µmol kg −1 yr −1 ) and the Gulf of Bothnia (+7 µmol kg −1 yr −1 ) has compensated CO 2 -induced acidification by almost 50% and 100%, respectively. Further, the A T trends enhanced the CO 2 storage capacity and stabilized the CaCO 3 saturation state of the Baltic Sea over the past two decades. We discuss the attribution of the A T trends to potential changes in precipitation patterns, continental weathering driven by acidic rain and increasing atmospheric CO 2 , agricultural liming and internal A T sources.

Beschreibung: Economic development of transition and developed countries is associated with increasingly unhealthy dietary habits among low-income population segments. Drawing on Ulrich Beck’s sociological theory of risk society, the present research note calls attention to the positive relation between national economic development and food risks that result in the rise of food-related diseases and healthcare costs. On this basis, we argue that the knowledge-intensive agribusiness may translate Cochrane’s technological treadmill into Beck’s risk treadmill that shifts a growing share of food-related healthcare costs from producers toward consumers, state, and the healthcare system. This argument motivates a novel research program dealing with the “food risk treadmill” that emerges in response to modern farming and agribusiness practices. Awareness of the food risk treadmill may help to streamline the development of agricultural science and to prevent it from being excessively dominated by the agricultural and food industry.

Beschreibung: Author(s): Daniel Müller, Wilbert J. Smit, and Manfred Sigrist This study analyzes thermoelectric properties of a one-dimensional random conductor which shows localization effects and simultaneously includes resonant scatterers yielding sharp conductance resonances. These sharp features give rise to a distinct behavior of the Seebeck coefficient in finite syste... [Phys. Rev. B 91, 205401] Published Thu May 07, 2015

Beschreibung: Author(s): Andrew Matas, Daniel Müller, and Glenn Starkman It is well known that compactifying a space can break symmetries that are present in the covering space. In this paper we study the effects of such topological symmetry breaking on point particle motion when the particle is coupled to a massless field on the space. For a torus topology where Lorentz… [Phys. Rev. D 92, 026005] Published Mon Jul 13, 2015

Beschreibung: Forests often rebound from deforestation following industrialization and urbanization, but for many regions our understanding of where and when forest transitions happened, and how they affected carbon budgets remains poor. One such region is Eastern Europe, where political and socioeconomic conditions changed drastically over the last three centuries, but forest trends have not yet been analyzed in detail. We present a new assessment of historical forest change in the European part of the Former Soviet Union and the legacies of these changes on contemporary carbon stocks. To reconstruct forest area, we homogenized statistics at the provincial level for AD 1700 to 2010 to identify forest transition years and forest trends. We contrast our reconstruction with the KK11 and HYDE 3.1 land change scenarios, and use all three datasets to drive the LPJ dynamic global vegetation model to calculate carbon stock dynamics. Our results revealed that forest transitions in Eastern Europe occurred predominantly in the early 20 th century, substantially later than in Western Europe. We also found marked geographic variation in forest transitions, with some areas characterized by relatively stable or continuously declining forest area. Our data suggests extensive deforestation in European Russia already prior to AD 1700, and even greater deforestation in the 18 th and 19 th centuries than in the KK11 and HYDE scenarios. Based on our reconstruction, cumulative carbon emissions from deforestation were greater before 1700 (60 Pg C) than thereafter (29 Pg C). Summed over our entire study area, forest transitions led to a modest uptake in carbon over recent decades, with our dataset showing the smallest effect (〈5.5 Pg C) and a more heterogeneous pattern of source and sink regions. This suggests substantial sequestration potential in regrowing forests of the region, a trend that may be amplified through ongoing land abandonment, climate change, and CO 2 fertilization. This article is protected by copyright. All rights reserved.

Beschreibung: ABSTRACT Although the impact of sheet erosion on the selective transportation of mineral soil particles has been widely investigated, little is yet known about the specific mechanisms of organic carbon (OC) erosion, which constitutes an important link in the global carbon cycle. The present study was conducted to quantify the impact of sheet erosion on organic carbon losses from soils. Erosion plots with the lengths of 1- and 5-m were installed at different topographic positions along a hillslope in a mountainous South African region. A total of 32 rainfall events from a three years period (November 2010 up to February 2013), were studied and evaluated for runoff (R), particulate and dissolved organic carbon (POC L and DOC L ). In comparison to the 0-0.05 m bulk soil, the sediments from the 1-m plots were enriched in OC by a factor 2.6 and these from the 5-m long plots by a factor of 2.2, respectively. These findings suggest a preferential erosion of OC. In addition, total OC losses (TOC L ) were incurred mainly in particulate form (~94%) and the increase in TOC L from 14.09 ± 0.68 g C m -1 y -1 on 1-m plots to 50.03 ± 2.89 g C m -1 y -1 on 5-m plots illustrated an increase in sheet erosion efficiency with increasing slope length. Both TOC L and sediment enrichment in OC correspondingly increased with a decrease in soil basal grass cover. The characteristics of rainstorms had no significant impact on the selectivity of OC erosion. The results accrued in this study investigating the links between sheet erosion and OC losses, are expected to be of future value in the generation of carbon specific erosion models, which can further help to inform and improve climate change mitigation measures. This article is protected by copyright. All rights reserved.

Beschreibung: Crop yields must increase substantially to meet the increasing demands for agricultural products. Crop yield increases are particularly important for Russia because low crop yields prevail across Russia’s widespread and fertile land resources. However, reliable data are lacking regarding the spatial distribution of potential yields in Russia, which can be used to determine yield gaps. We used a crop growth model to determine the yield potentials and yield gaps of winter and spring wheat at the provincial level across European Russia. We modeled the annual yield potentials from 1995 to 2006 with optimal nitrogen supplies for both rainfed and irrigated conditions. Overall, the results suggest yield gaps of 1.51–2.10 t ha −1 , or 44–52% of the yield potential under rainfed conditions. Under irrigated conditions, yield gaps of 3.14–3.30 t ha −1 , or 62–63% of the yield potential, were observed. However, recurring droughts cause large fluctuations in yield potentials...

Beschreibung: Recognition of the importance of forests for local livelihoods, biodiversity and the climate system has spurred a growing interest in understanding the factors that drive forest-cover change. Forest transitions, the change from net deforestation to net reforestation, may follow different pathways depending on a complex interplay of driving forces. However, most studies on forest transitions focus on the national level rather than the local level. Here, case studies from 10 villages in Yunnan, China, are used to clarify the complex interactions among various pathways of forest transitions, derive insights on the underlying drivers that shaped the forest transitions, and determine the importance of changes in drivers over time. The results demonstrate that China’s recent forest transition was caused by a range of interrelated pathways that were mediated by local circumstances. The degradation of forest ecosystem services caused by rampant deforestation and forest degradation created a scarcity of forest products and triggered state-initiated afforestation efforts, particularly in the 1990s, which continue to be important. More recently, economic development concomitant with smallholder intensification spurred reforestation, while the importance of state forest policy declined. The complexity of local land-use changes demonstrates the difficulty of identifying distinct transition pathways and calls for a more diverse approach that recognizes the interdependence of local processes.