ALBERT

Description: The present work intended to investigate the fate of contaminant-loaded microplastics if ingested by benthic filter feeder Mytilus edulis under laboratory conditions. In the course of a 7-day experiment the mussels were exposed to PVC microplastics in a size range 〉40 mm, in doses of 2000 particles L_1 (11.56 mg L_1). Particles were either virgin or loaded with one of four different nominal concentrations of the polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbon (PAH) fluoranthene (500, 125, 31.25 and 7.8125 mg g_1). Verification of fluoranthene concentrations on the particles provided evidence of the high absorptive capacity of PVC for this PAH, indicating that comparable particles may serve as considerable accumulation sites for high concentrations of hydrophobic contaminants in the aquatic environment. Analysis of digestive gland tissues via polarised light microscopy revealed the occurrence of particles and particle aggregates within stomach and intestines of all mussels treated with microplastics, thus making the xenobiotic bioavailable. Results of contaminant analysis in mussel tissues via equilibrium sampling point to a considerable capability of microplastics for the accumulation of hydrophobic contaminants from the environment and their potential to act as vehicles for the transport of theses contaminants into organismal tissues. of fluoranthene concentrations on the particles provided evidence of the high absorptive capacity of PVC for this PAH, indicating that comparable particles may serve as considerable accumulation sites for high concentrations of hydrophobic contaminants in the aquatic environment. Analysis of digestive gland tissues via polarised light microscopy revealed the occurrence of particles and particle aggregates within stomach and intestines of all mussels treated with microplastics, thus making the xenobiotic bioavailable. Results of contaminant analysis in mussel tissues via equilibrium sampling point to a considerable capability of microplastics for the accumulation of hydrophobic contaminants from the environment and their potential to act as vehicles for the transport of theses contaminants into organismal tissues. © 2021 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Ltd. This is an open access article under the CC BY license

Description: The spatial pattern of Antarctic surface air temperature variability on multi–decadal to multi–centennial time scales is poorly known because of the short instrumental records, the relatively small number of high–resolution paleoclimate observations, and biases in climate models. Here, changes in surface air temperature over Antarctica are reconstructed over the past two millennia using data assimilation constrained by different ice core water isotope records in order to identify robust signals. The comparison between previous statistically based temperature reconstructions and simulations covering the full Common Era driven by natural and anthropogenic forcings shows major discrepancies occurring in the period 1–1000 CE over East Antarctica, with the reconstructions displaying a warming over 1–500 CE that is not reproduced by the simulations. This suggests that the trends in the first millennium deduced from the statistically based reconstructions are unlikely to be entirely forced by external forcings. Our reconstructions show the high sensitivity of the 500-year temperature trend in Antarctica and its spatial distribution to selection of the records for the reconstructions, especially during 1–500 CE. A robust cooling over Antarctica during 501–1000 CE has been obtained in three data assimilation–based reconstructions with a larger magnitude in the WAIS than elsewhere over Antarctica, in agreement with previous estimates with the larger changes than simulated in climate models. The reconstructions for atmospheric circulation indicate that the pattern of temperature changes over 501–1000 CE is related to the positive trend of Southern Annular Mode and a deepening of Amundsen Sea Low. This confirms the role of internal variability in the temperature trends on multi–centennial scales.

Description: Extreme rainfall generated by storms and atmospheric instability causes innumerable damage to coastal areas and their marine ecosystems. This chapter describes some of the processes that generate critical precipitation events in coastal areas. Among these, the typical synoptic conditions combine with the increase in sea surface temperature and air temperature, coastal geomorphology, and sea breeze. Coastal and regional rainfall events should be studied to understand the meteorological, oceanographic, and geomorphological conditions that cause the extreme events, to later relate them with the consequences on coasts. The effects of the interaction of storms with tides originating storm surges and the effect of sea-level rise are described as well as the main consequences of extreme rainfall events such as beach erosion, decrease in water quality, changes in plankton and fish species that inhabit coastal waters, among others.

Description: The Arctic is greatly impacted by climate change. The increase in air temperature drives the thawing of permafrost and an increase in coastal erosion and river discharge. This leads to a greater input of sediment and organic matter into coastal waters, which substantially impacts the ecosystems by reducing light transmission through the water column and altering the biogeochemistry, but also the subsistence economy of local people, and changes in climate because of the transformation of organic matter into greenhouse gases. Yet, the quantification of suspended sediment in Arctic coastal and nearshore waters remains unsatisfactory due to the absence of dedicated algorithms to resolve the high loads occurring in the close vicinity of the shoreline. In this study we present the Arctic Nearshore Turbidity Algorithm (ANTA), the first reflectance-turbidity relationship specifically targeted towards Arctic nearshore waters that is tuned with in-situ measurements from the nearshore waters of Herschel Island Qikiqtaruk in the western Canadian Arctic. A semi-empirical model was calibrated for several relevant sensors in ocean color remote sensing, including MODIS, Sentinel 3 (OLCI), Landsat 8 (OLI), and Sentinel 2 (MSI), as well as the older Landsat sensors TM and ETM+. The ANTA performed better with Landsat 8 than with Sentinel 2 and Sentinel 3. The application of the ANTA to Sentinel 2 imagery that matches in-situ turbidity samples taken in Adventfjorden, Svalbard, shows transferability to nearshore areas beyond Herschel Island Qikiqtaruk.

Description: Recent demands by developing countries, like India, that developed countries need to reach net-negative emissions, must be negotiated seriously under the UNFCCC. Failure to acknowledge that limiting global average temperature rise to 1.5°C leaves very little carbon budget for equitable redistribution risks further ambiguity on how to achieve the Paris Agreement’s goals.

Description: Marine Neurotoxins, Volume Five provides comprehensive information on marine toxins present in the human food chain and the affecting targets relevant for the functioning of the brain and our nervous system, covering all the information ...

Description: Declaration of interest was missed out in the published version. The authors have confirmed in the following context: ‘The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper.’ The publisher would like to apologise for any inconvenience caused.

Description: In this book, we can read about new technologies that enhance training and performance; discover new, exciting ways to design and deliver content; and have access to proven strategies, practices and solutions shared by experts. The authors of this book come from all over the world; their ideas, studies, findings and experiences are beneficial contributions to enhance our knowledge in the field of e-learning. The book is divided into three sections, and their respective chapters refer to three macro areas. The first section of the book covers Instructional Design of E-learning, considering methodology and tools for designing e-learning environments and courseware. Also, there are examples of effective ways of gaming and educating. The second section is about Organizational Strategy and Management. The last section deals with the new Developments in E-learning Technology, emphasizing subjects like knowledge building by mobile e-learning systems, cloud computing and new proposals for virtual learning environments/platforms.

Description: Authenticating data such as image, video, and audio is an important task in digital communication. Another critical task is establishing ownership of the copyright. Digital watermarking is a technique used to provide authentication and ownership of the copyright to the data. Too much digitalization of data in the form of image, video, and audio communicated through various web and mobile applications makes authentication a challenging task. Steganography, the art of hiding tiny pieces of data in image, video, and audio, can also help in copyright protection, authentication, and access control. This book provides three watermarking and two steganography methods and will be a useful resource for graduate students, researchers, and practicing engineers in the field of electrical engineering.

Description: Intelligent systems, known as expert systems, serve to this purpose in the extent that they have signed as facilitators in this process. These are systems that are based on expert knowledge, on any subject, in order to emulate human expertise in the specific field. To obtain this knowledge, the knowledge engineers, also called software engineers, need to develop methodologies for intelligent systems. In this area there is still no unified methodology that provides effective methods, notations and tools to aid in development.