ALBERT

Description: Extended producer responsibility (EPR) legislation in the United States, which currently only exists on the state level, now includes three mattress EPR acts, which intend to shift the financial and operational burden of mattress end-of-life (EOL) management away from local and state government. It is important to keep in mind, however, that the original objective behind EPR is to reduce the environmental life cycle impacts of products. This article therefore quantifies the greenhouse gas (GHG) savings potential of mattress and boxspring recycling and reuse in the United States and also discusses labor implications and mattress design issues. We find that all three acts are unlikely to generate redesign incentives, but are expected to dramatically increase mattress collection and recycling. The collection and recycling of all 35 million EOL mattress and boxspring units estimated to reach the end of their lives in the United States every year would generate in the order of 10,000 jobs and GHG savings between 1 and 1.5 million metric tonnes.

Description: The plasma membrane protein CaRch1p of Candida albicans , homologous to the human solute carrier protein SLC10A7, is involved in the regulation of calcium homeostasis. C. albicans cells lacking CaRCH1 are hypersensitive to high extracellular Ca 2+ concentrations and show increased tolerance to ketoconazole (KCZ). We assume a higher basal Ca 2+ influx in the rch1/rch1 mutant strain at low extracellular Ca 2+ concentrations which is not detrimental to C. albicans cells but may be sufficient to activate calcineurin, finally resulting in an increased tolerance to KCZ. However, at 8 µg/ml KCZ plus 3 mM Ca 2+ the rch1/rch1 mutant and the wild type strains showed identical growth. By further increasing the Ca 2+ concentration to 30 mM this phenotype completely reversed and the rch1/rch1 mutant strain became extremely sensitive to 8 µg/ml KCZ, probably due to synergistic toxic effects of Ca 2+ and KCZ under these conditions. Furthermore, we aimed to clarify if CaRch1p interacts with the Cch1p component of the voltage-gated calcium influx channel Cch1p/Mid1p in C. albicans cells. As disruption of the two alleles of CCH1 in the rch1 / rch1 mutant strain did not alter its hypersensitivity to high extracellular Ca 2+ , and, as this phenotype was completely abolished by low amounts of Mg 2+ in the rch1/rch1 mutant as well as in the cch1/cch1 rch1/rch1 double mutant, we conclude that CaRch1p is a functional component of the low-affinity calcium uptake system (LACS) system and does not functionally interact with Cch1p. This article is protected by copyright. All rights reserved.

Description: A 34-year (1979–2012) high-resolution (7 km grid) atmospheric hindcast over the Bohai Sea and the Yellow Sea (BYS) has been performed using COSMO-CLM (CCLM) forced by ERA-Interim reanalysis data (ERA-I). The accuracy of CCLM in surface wind reproduction and the added value of dynamical downscaling to ERA-I have been investigated through comparisons with the QuikSCAT Level2B 12.5 km version3 (L2B12v3) swath data and in situ observations. The results revealed that CCLM has a reliable ability to reproduce the regional wind characteristics over the BYS. Added value to ERA-I has been detected in the coastal areas with complex orography. CCLM wind quality had strong seasonal variability, with better performance in the summer relative to ERA-I, even in the offshore areas. CCLM was better able to represent light and moderate winds but has even more added value for strong winds relative to ERA-I. The spatial digital filter method was used to investigate the scale of the added value, and the results show that CCLM adds value to ERA-I mainly in medium scales of wind variability. Furthermore, wind climatology was investigated, and significant increasing trends in the south Yellow Sea especially in winter and spring were found for seasonal mean wind speeds.

Description: Abstract The replacement of the late Precambrian Ediacaran biota by morphologically disparate animals at the beginning of the Phanerozoic was a key event in the history of life on Earth, the mechanisms and the time‐scales of which are not entirely understood. A composite section in Namibia providing biostratigraphic and chemostratigraphic data bracketed by radiometric dating constrains the Ediacaran–Cambrian boundary to 538.6–538.8 Ma, more than 2 Ma younger than previously assumed. The U–Pb‐CA‐ID TIMS zircon ages demonstrate an ultrashort time frame for the LAD of the Ediacaran biota to the FAD of a complex, burrowing Phanerozoic biota represented by trace fossils to a 410 ka time window of 538.99 ± 0.21 Ma to 538.58 ± 0.19 Ma. The extremely short duration of the faunal transition from Ediacaran to Cambrian biota within less than 410 ka supports models of ecological cascades that followed the evolutionary breakthrough of increased mobility at the beginning of the Phanerozoic.

Description: Terra Nova, 23, 220–224, 2011 Abstract The Teide–Pico Viejo stratovolcanoes constitute one of the major potentially active volcanic complexes in Europe but have traditionally been considered to be non-explosive and not to represent a significant threat to the island of Tenerife. However, the reconstruction of their eruptive record is still far from complete, and better knowledge of their volcano-stratigraphy and physical volcanology is required to undertake a comprehensive hazard assessment of these volcanoes. We conducted a detailed field investigation of the northern side of Teide–Pico Viejo, a poorly known area, and identified several deposits of explosive eruptions of phonolitic magmas. Herein we report for the first time the presence of density current deposits, including ignimbrites and block and ash deposits, in the Holocene eruptive history of the Teide–Pico Viejo stratovolcanoes. We discuss the characteristics of these deposits, their eruption mechanisms and their implications for hazard assessment at Teide–Pico Viejo.

Description: El Hierro eruption started on 10 October 2011 after an unrest episode that initiated on 17 July, 2011. This is the first eruption in the Canary Islands that has been tracked in real time. Although being submarine and not directly observable, the data recorded allowed its reconstruction and to identify its causes and mechanisms. Seismicity, surface deformation, and petrological data indicate that a batch of basanitic magma coming from a reservoir located at depth of about 25 km below El Hierro island was emplaced at shallower depth creating a new reservoir about 10–12 km above, where magma evolved till the initiation of the eruption. The characteristics of seismicity and surface deformation suggest that the necessary space to accumulate magma at this shallower position, which coincides with the crust/mantle boundary beneath El Hierro, was created in about two months by elastic deformation and magma-driven fracturing of the crust. After this first intrusion episode part of the magma started to migrate laterally toward the south-east for nearly 20 km, always keeping the same depth and following a path apparently controlled by stress barriers created by tectonic and rheological contrasts in the upper lithosphere. This lateral migration of magma ended with a submarine eruption at about 5 km offshore from the southern corner of El Hierro island. The total seismic energy released during the unrest episode was of 8.1x10 11 Joules, and the total uplift previous to the onset of the eruption was of 40 mm. Combining geological, geophysical, petrological data and numerical modeling, we propose a volcanological model of the causes and mechanisms of El Hierro eruption that shows how the stress distribution in the crust beneath El Hierro, which was influenced by rheological contrasts, tectonic stresses, and gravitational loading, controlled the movement and eruption of magma. We also discuss the implications of this model in terms of eruption forecast in the Canary Islands.

Description: Analyses of field observations and numerical model results have identified that sediment transport in the Hudson River estuary is laterally segregated between channel and shoals, features frontal trapping at multiple locations along the estuary, and varies significantly over the spring-neap tidal cycle. Lateral gradients in depth, and therefore baroclinic pressure gradient and stratification, control the lateral distribution of sediment transport. Within the saline estuary, sediment fluxes are strongly landward in the channel and seaward on the shoals. At multiple locations, bottom salinity fronts form at bathymetric transitions in width or depth. Sediment convergences near the fronts create local maxima in suspended-sediment concentration and deposition, providing a general mechanism for creation of secondary estuarine turbidity maxima at bathymetric transitions. The lateral bathymetry also affects the spring-neap cycle of sediment suspension and deposition. In regions with broad, shallow shoals, the shoals are erosional and the channel is depositional during neap tides, with the opposite pattern during spring tides. Narrower, deeper shoals are depositional during neaps and erosional during springs. In each case, the lateral transfer is from regions of higher to lower bed stress, and depends on the elevation of the pycnocline relative to the bed. Collectively, the results indicate that lateral and along-channel gradients in bathymetry and thus stratification, bed stress, and sediment flux lead to an unsteady, heterogeneous distribution of sediment transport and trapping along the estuary rather than trapping solely at a turbidity maximum at the limit of the salinity intrusion.

Description: Element ratios and water stable isotopes reveal the presence of only two independent deep brines in the Kinnarot Basin, Israel: the evaporite dissolution brine of Zemah-1 and the inferred Ha’on mother brine (HMB) with low and high Br/Cl ratios, respectively. HMB is considered to be a representative of the Late Pliocene evaporated Sedom Sea. The freshwater-diluted evaporation brine emerges as Ha’on brine on the eastern shore of Lake Tiberias and is also identified in the pore water of lake sediments. HMB is converted into Tiberias mother brine (TMB) by dolomitization of limestones and alteration of abundant volcanic rocks occurring along the western side of the lake. The Ha’on and Tiberias brines, both characterized by high δD and δ 18 O values, are similar in Na/Cl and Br/Cl ratios but are dissimilar in Br/K ratios because these brines were subjected to different degrees of interactions with rocks and sediments. Excepting the brine from KIN 8, all brines from the Tabigha area including the nearby off-shore Barbutim brine are related to the TMB. The brine KIN 8 and all brines from the Fuliya and Hammat Gader areas are related to the HMB. The brine encountered in wildcat borehole Zemah-1 is generated by halite-anhydrite/gypsum dissolution and is independent from the HMB system.

Description: Due to the local-scale nature of hail and a lack of appropriate observation systems, comprehensive, reliable and consistent information about hail frequency and intensity in Europe is not available. To overcome this constraint, we developed a logistic hail model that quantifies the potential of the atmosphere to form hailstorms. The model is based on a combination of appropriate hail-relevant meteorological parameters. This paper presents the application of an adjusted version of the logistic model with the objective being to estimate the hail potential across Europe based on dynamically-downscaled NCEP/NCAR1 reanalysis over a long-term period of 60 years (1951–2010). The model output, in terms of the Potential Hail Index (PHI), identified several hot spots that are well known from other observational studies. Time series of the PHI over the 60-year period show a high correlation at different sites across Europe, high annual and multiannual variability, but no overall trend.